A Month In Review & November Targets

Ok here goes with this month's review of my play.

On the whole its not been a reasonable month as the graph shows. I could have used a bit of consistency from hand 2,000 to 12,000 but on the whole its not too bad. Another month like this combined with bonuses/Rakeback and I should be able to move back up to 50NL: -



With regards to my actual play, my VPIP is still too low at 14.89 butfor the last week or so I have been playing at about 17 so hopefully I'm close to getting this figure somewhere near where it should be. The one thing that stands out to me from my position stats is that my VPIP from the cut off needs to be 5% higher at least: -





I will do a similar PT analysis as I did last month at the weekend when I have more time. Hopefully I've fixed some of the leaks that I discovered although some of them are ongoing area's to work on.

November Goals

• Play a minimum of 15K hands at a VPIP of 16 with a BB/100 of 4.00.
• For every 2 hours I play, study the game/analyse my sessions for 1 hour. This was recommended in a recent video. I think it was Fruity Pro's last video but I'm not 100% sure.
• Work on my Post Flop game because at times I feel that I don't maximise my potential winnings and also where I am liable to lose alot of money at times.
  
• Watch all the CR Cash Video's and do a detailed review of the low stakes video's in the SSNL Grinder's Group Page.
  
• Actively participate in the Group Sessions.
• Be more active in the CR Forum particularly the Small Stakes NL Forum bot h with the posting of hands and responding to other threads.
• Update my blog on a more regular basis.
  

Quick Update

I've not really played much this week for a number of unforseen - Car trouble and Severe Hangover mainly although I'm hoping to put that right today and will do a proper update later today or tomorrow.

Who Needs Consistency?

Well I do, I just can't seem to string a decent run of sessions together. One day good the next not so good. At times I can't help thinking I don't make life easy for my self: -

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1610807

I think I could/should have got away from this hand on the flop to the all in re raise. I think its pretty obvious he had a set. He's playing 48.33/30.09.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1610814

This player was playing at 63.45/0.00 and was just annoying as he was such a bad player but I kept donating to him trying to bust him. I got guilty here of playing the player as opposed to the situation. The issue I have with this hand is my regular problem of calling river bets when behind. Will I ever learn!!!!

http://www.pokerhand.org/?161082

This guy bought in short and I basically felt he was playing with filth trying to double up. I have no stats on him as he'd only been at the table a few minutes but was in every hand. I think I have to wait for a better opportunity here as I also have nothing here post flop.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1610829

Ok here I think I have to bet out the turn and fold the river with a paired board and a possible straight draw. He's at 23.36/14.58.

Overall, I don't think I am playing that badly and know the area's I need to improve as these are where I am losing most of my money. If I can sort these out I think I will see a marked improvement in my results not that I'm results orientated I just want to improve my bankroll and I'm just treading water at the moment

• Overvaluing Top Pair
• Overvaluing Premium Hands Post Flop at the end of the day there only 1 pair
• Stop making hero River Calls when I'm pretty sure I'm behind - I act too quickly and need to take my time a bit more
• My vpip is still too low but I think I have more pressing issues at the moment
  

I'm going to have to come up with some personal guidelines to help me with the top three so that I can get myself into a routine and eradicate these leaks from my game sooner rather than later.

A Backward Step

I'm currently in the middle of what is an all to regular downward run which has seen me lose 6 buy ins over the past week. And the month had a good start to it as well.

I'm happy with my game at the moment and know that there's a couple of things I need to eradicate as there major leaks - Over valuing Top Pair and also Making really stupid calls on the River when I know I'm behind or even worse than that reraising.

Anyway here's a few of the hands that have caused my downswing: -

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1601585

One scenario that seems to be happening to me at the moment is that I am constantly being minimum reraised by a number of different players as this hand shows. Should I have folded this on the flop to the check raise which I am inclined to think now or was I basically done for when the King came down on the flop. The other player is playing at 17.44/10.82 and I knew he had a strong hand.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1601605

This guy was constantly min raising me and a read I spotted later on him was that any Pocket Pair he will min raise. I posted another hand with the same player in the CR Forum a couple of days ago as I played back at him after being min raised for the 900th time that session. He's playing at 48.67/12.55.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1601619

Finally this is probably won of the worse turn bets that has been made in the history of Poker. This is check fold all the way having been called on the flop. He's 21.59/12.5.

There are another couple of hands which are total coolers and I'm not going to bother posting these.

Any way I have the day off tomorrow so hopefully I will be able to get a decent amount of hands in.

General Ramblings

I'm on a bit of a downswing this week. Nothing too serious but am down a couple of buy ins although I'm still showing a slight profit for the month.

Most of the damage was caused when by full house 8's over K's ran into quad K's. The money went in on the flop when we both hit a set. Nothing you can do there.

Here's another couple of hands that have caused me a few problems where I have flopped top pair : -

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1582599

The other player here was playing at 58.33/20.83 but only over 48 hands but not really too much to go on.

With this being 4 handed I decided to open raise utg hoping to steal the blinds. Not against someone with those stats. Its the flop where I have a problem with how I played this. Is the reraise ok here or would you have flat called with Top Pair. Having then been 3-bet to my raise I think I should have folded then instead of calling.

On the turn, even though I picked up the flush draw, I had no option but to fold.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1582625

In contrast to the previous hand, the other player here is playing 13.66/6.05 (there is someone tighter than me!) which should have told me everything I need to know.

Should I have folded to the bet on the flop here. He obviously had something pretty strong. Also, I know the turn play is horrible and I should have check folded.

Group Sessions

As has been alluded to in other blogs, there's a few of us who are holding Group sessions currently running at 1 a week although I think we may be able to expand this may be not involving all of us in the group but with 2/3 of us holding sweat sessions.

I have found the sessions invaluable as it has shown me a couple of obvious leaks in my game i.e checking the flop continuosly with decent hands which I didn't realise I was doing and also I am playing far too quickly. Hopefully over the coming weeks this will help us all.

English Sport Fest

Being a massive sports fan today is a great day to sit in front of the TV with a beer or 2 as all three of the main English National Teams are in action. With the cricketer's already winning the series in Sri Lanka looking to end it in style and the Footballer's in a must win game against Estonia before the vital game against Russia on Wednesday afternoon. However, these are just the hors deuve before the big game later tonight when the Rugby Team play the World Cup Semi Final in Paris against the French. Having been written off earlier in the tournament in defence of the title they won 4 years ago, they caused a huge upset last week in beating a complacen Aussie's who thought they just had to turn up too beat us. We now have every chance of being the first team to defend the title. Rugby s usually a distant second to me to football but not today.

I have registered to play in the PokerStars World Blogger Championship of Online Poker!

This Online Poker Tournament is a No Limit Texas Holdem event exclusive to Bloggers.

Registration code: 3164063

Not Much Poker This Week

I've not really had much time to play this week for one reason and another. But I'm hoping to put that right over the weekend and get a fair few hands in.

One thing that has happened is that there's a few of us on here who have set up a Study Group to go through hands etc. I ended up as the person being watched this week and it really brought home a few things I didn't realise I was doing.

I am increasing the amount of analysis I am doing both on my game and more importantly at the moment I think on people I have logged alot of hands against. I would rather play fewer hands but of a higher quality than play loads of hands without learning anything.

September Results

Overall, September has been a better month than the past couple a bit up and down and I'd like to reduce the impact of the dips but I made money this month. I'd like to see that trend continue!!!!

My VPIP is still not where I'd like it to be but its gradually getting to a more beneficial level. Also, I didn't play as many hands as the past couple of months as I took a break for a week: -

Any way here's this month's Graphs and information: -









October Targets

1. Play at least 10,000 hands during the month
2. With Bonuses, Rakeback and Profitable play (I hope), build up my bankroll so that I can play 50NL again. Once at theat level, book a couple of lessons
   
3. Fix the leaks in my game that I uncovered following my previous post and PT analysis
4. Watch all Cash Game Video's uploaded during the month.
5. Constantly analyse my play and also that of my opponents
6. Post problematical hands each day in the CR Forum and respond to at least 5 new threads each day.
7. Read and understand No Limit Holdem Theory and Practice and also Professional No Limit Holdem