Update

Sorry for the lack of entries lately. Have been busy mainly studying rather than playing. I have racked up almost 5000 hands now though. I intend on putting some hand history's and hand analysis on here in the near future.

At the moment, I am just crushing the game, I think I must be on the high end of variance, as I have never run quite so good. I have been working really hard on my game, but I am sure I can't continue at this rate forever. I will do another update at 10000 hands to evaluate. My plan is to play at least 25000 hands of $25 NL and evaluate my bankroll, and if I feel ready to move up to $5o NL .








My aim was to play tight, and just start off by beating the game, however I have just been running so good. I know I can improve even more. I want to open up my game, and start Isolating players much more, however I am in no rush to change anything to drastic while things are going so well. I know there is probably a huge downswing around the corner, but all in all I am really happy with how things are progressing.

I am working hard on the maths of the game at the moment, I feel this is a big weakness in my game, although at the micro's you can get away with playing solid poker, I intend on moving up, so I am trying to get it all sooner rather than later.

Back soon with more updates.

Pre-Flop

My plan is to play super tight in early position, and open up as I get to the cut off, and even more so on the Button. I want to make post flop decisions as easy as possible to begin with, as i strive to improve my hand reading skills and post flop play.

I will be avoiding playing marginal hands out of position. Playing to raises out of position will depend largely on the villains range. It is something I will be trying to avoid right now, but I certainly won be passing up + EV situations.

This is a very rough guide to my preflop starting ranges. It will be flexible depending on the table dynamics, but I wont be straying to far away from it. I want to stay tight and aggressive.

Opening Ranges

* UTG AKo , AQs, 22-AA 7.4%

* UTG +1 Add AQo, AJs, A10s, KQs 9.2%

* Cut off Add AJo,A9S,A8s KQo, KJo, A10o , any suited broadway,109s, 89s , 78s 15.8 %

* Button Add A9-A8o , A7-A2s,K9s, 76s,65s,54s, J9s , 108s, 79s, 86s,75s,Any Broadway. 25.8%

As you can see, very tight UTG, gradually opening up, until it is quite loose on the button. I wont be straying far away from my UTG range, but the others can be adjust slightly depending on the table dynamics. I plan to use this Range for my first 10,000 hands, then if things are going well, gradually add more hands.

Tools of the trade

To begin with I want to use the tools I have at my disposal. Here is a list of what resources I have, and how I intend to use them.


Holdem Manager

Absolutely priceless tool. Holdem manager is similar to Poker Tracker. It has so many uses it is unreal. It saves all your play , and gives you enough stats to make your head explode. It is vital for analysing your play. You can view all of the hands you played in a hand re player. You can study your stats, to find leaks in your game. It also saves how much you have won/lost , so you can track your bankroll. That is just the tip of the iceberg. It also has a built in heads up display, which shows you stats on your opponents in real time while you are playing. This is great for manipulating player tendencies, which is just one of many concepts I am going to be working on.

Poker Stove and Range Stove

Similar programmes. Excellent for working on hand ranges, and working out your equity in any given hand. Both of these were free, and are worth their weight in gold.


Websites and Forums

There is so much information out there right now. I am lucky enough to have found 3 main sites which I find excellent. The Forums are excellent, you can post your hands on there for people to analyse, and you can also read other peoples hands to see how you would have played them, it all gets you thinking. They are also full of poker articles which are all worth reading. There really is so much stuff to read it is endless.

Poker Training sites.

I have membership at two poker sites. Stox Poker, and Deuces Cracked. They are full of training videos, I have already watched about a hundred, still so many more to get through. They are really worth the money for sure.

So all this talk of study, and not much talk of actually playing poker. Well the poker is coming, but the study is so important. I must get in to the routine of studying for an hour for every 3 hours I spend at the tables. I must also get in to the habit of doing post session reviews using Holdem Manager.

Keep reading, the poker is coming, it is just so important to set out my plan in full detail, to keep me focused, and on the right track.

April/May Goals

With there only being a few days of April to go, I am setting out goals now for the end of April and May together. I felt it better than giving myself a mountain to climb in the remaining days of April. It will give me plenty of things to assess at the end of May.

I want to avoid using money in my goals. Poker is a long term game, and short term results are misleading. Making good decisions is the most important thing, goals are there to challenge me, and should be things that are in my control.

• Set out a pre flop starting hand guide

• Watch 10 poker training videos
  

• Read Ryan Fee's 6 Max guide

• Post 10 hands of forums for review

• Find 5 Articles on the internet about 6 max strategy. Read them

• Do a full session reveiw after every session of poker I play

• Play 15000 hands of $25 NL 6 Max

That is plenty to be going on with. I shall be taking notes, and doing blog posts about all of the above. I shall also be setting out Weekly goals each friday, to make sure I stay on course to complete these goals.

The Goal

My goal is to be a winning player at $100 No limit. It isn't setting the bar to high, however I wanted to set a goal that was achievable, but at the same time challenging.

My starting bankroll is $875 which allows me to play $25 NL (See bankroll management) So I shall begin playing $25 NL 6 Max. 6 max is all the rage these days, and I must admit I have found the games hard to beat. However with some hard work, I know I can achieve it.

I don't intend on every depositing again, so sticking to the bankroll management guidelines is so important. If my bankroll were to fall below around $650, then I will be moving down to $10 NL. This may seem like a backwards step, but in my eyes it is better than shoveling money in to my poker accounts. I am determined to make this work, regardless of the time scale.

In addition to my main goal, I will be setting out weekly and monthly goals, to keep me focused, give me a reason to play, and a sense of achievement when I reach them.

Bankroll Management

To be a winning player at Poker, Bankroll management is a concept you have to understand, and practice. Many great poker players go busto because they play above their bankroll. Below are the bankroll guidelines I will be following.

* $100, play 5nl. (20 buy-ins)
* $250, play 10nl. (25 buy-ins)
* $750, play 25nl. (30 buy-ins)
* $1750, play 50nl. (35 buy-ins)
* $4000, play 100nl. (40 buy-ins)


Above is a chart showing the amount of money I need to play at a certain level. Downswings are just a part of poker you have to live with. Practicing good bankroll management allows for those downswings, and stops you going busto.

Just for an example. Say I was playing $25 NL. I would need a bankroll of $1750 before moving up and taking a shot at $50 NL. If I suffered a downswing, I would consider moving back down to $25 NL when my bankroll was down to around $1200, and build it back up to have another shot at $50NL. It may well be that I just can't beat the next level yet, so I go back down work harder and give it another shot.

There is some flexibility in this, I will move back down a bit sharpish if I feel I am not good enough at any level. The aim is to always be playing for enough money that it matters, but never playing with "scared" money.

In addition to these guidelines, I can never move up a limit before I have played at least 20,000 hands at the previous limit, and been a winning player over those hands. It is quite possible to go on a hot streak and think I am the next Phil Ivey. Playing the 20,000 hands will at least give me a decent sample size to judge myself on. In reality it will take longer than this at most levels anyway, but the rule is there for my own benefit.

About Me

Welcome to my Poker Blog. If you are reading this blog, then I am guessing you have an interest in poker. Rest assured there will be plenty of poker content, before I get to that, I just wanted to introduce myself, and tell you all a little about myself.

My name is Mark, Aka, Blazing_Saddler. I am in my early thirties, I mean really early, like the very beginning of them, ok 33 it is then :-) I live in England in the UK, in a town called Walsall. I would love to say what a wonderful town it is, ok so it's not much, but it's my home town, and I love it. It is actually quite a historic town, just google it if you wish to know more, I am pretty sure the word leather will pop up somewhere, not in a kinky way!

I am the proud father of a gorgeous little girl, she is 5 years old, and everything I live for. Every day is worth living because she is in the world. Most of this blog will be about my goals in poker, but my real goal in life is to make sure i do everything I can to make sure she lives a happy life. If I achieve that goal, everything else is rather insignificant.

My hobbies, erm yes poker! You guessed ? Damn it. Other than poker, football is my main hobby. Watching that is, I'm the wrong age shape and size for playing! Walsall are my team, I follow my home town team, I always have, and I always will. Always will be proud to be a Saddler.

The reason I am making this blog is an attempt to make my hobby poker, more than a hobby. Instead of floating along with no aim, I shall be setting out goals, and strategy's to help me improve my game, and who knows actually beat the game.

I must add, this is actually my second attempt at doing this. My first attempt failed miserably, I had a few bad beats early on, and tilted off over a $100 of my bankroll. Starting again seems an easy way out, but I felt it best to clear my head, re adjust my strategy and goals, and really focus on making this work. No more excuses, I know I can do this, I am focused on doing it. I don't give in easily.

As a person I find it difficult to take life to seriously, so I hope to make this blog fun to read, but at the same time it is serious, I want to improve, stick with it, and you never know you may just learn something along the way.