Totally figured out the 110 turbo

I've been crushing the 110 turbo lately, so i guess the 1 week break I had was a good idea.
It's really hard to imagne how I possible could downswing more than 1K in this game if I keep playing like genius, because the edge is so huge, especially when I'm 1-tabling, its almost like a chess game then. They need a lot of luck to beat me because the edge vs most of the players is pretty nice.

I've got this level totally figured out now and I believe I've got my tilt problem fixed. Some people never learn and do the same mistakes for ever. Smart people might do the mistakes 1 time, maybe 10 times, or maybe even 100 times, but they will learn in the end.

It's very tough to fix mental problems like tilt. So what is the best way to deal with it when youre having a bad run and youre feeling frustrated and angry? Is it a good idea to simply say to your self: ok im angry and frustrated now, but I'm gonna keep on playing my A-game and hopfully win back the money?
Well it's a lot better than going on a monstertilt where you don't care at all and are shoving superlight and bluffing big etc. But Trust me, even though you are motivated to play your A-game it is stell a terrible way to deal with it, because it's very difficult to play your A-game when you're feeling bad. Poker is such a mental game, if you are feeling bad, especially angry and frustrated, its more difficult to think rational. Moreover your feel about what your opponents are holding is slightly worse. Is he bluffing or not? Simply said, if your feelings are hurt your feel is hurt as well, because we are humans, not machines. And the final point is that when you keep on playing when youre angry and frustrated youre one step closer to the mostertilt even though you saying you gonna play your A-game.

The best way to deal with frustration and anger is to take a break, and dont come back before you are feeling a lot better.

Here I got a A-game hand played against against a self clamed cash game big ringer that got really mad when I pawed him. He challanged me to play a 500 after, which I obviously declined.

PokerStars Game #25055335359: Tournament #141612249, $110+$5 Hold'em No Limit - Match Round I, Level III (25/50) - 2009/02/17 16:19:51 ET
Table '141612249 1' 2-max Seat #1 is the button
Seat 1: donkno2 (1585 in chips)
Seat 2: thomasny (1415 in chips)
donkno2: posts small blind 25
thomasny: posts big blind 50
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to thomasny [Qs 9c]
donkno2 said, "i knew u got a"
donkno2: calls 25
thomasny: checks
*** FLOP *** [9d 5h 6s]
thomasny: bets 100
donkno2: calls 100
*** TURN *** [9d 5h 6s] [4h]
thomasny: bets 150
donkno2: calls 150
*** RIVER *** [9d 5h 6s 4h] [2d]
thomasny: checks
donkno2: bets 555
thomasny said, "snap call baby"
donkno2 said, "?"
donkno2 said, "whats snap"
thomasny said, "i checked to let you bluff"
donkno2 said, ":)"
donkno2 said, "im excited"
thomasny: calls 555
*** SHOW DOWN ***
donkno2: shows [7h 6d] (a pair of Sixes)
thomasny: shows [Qs 9c] (a pair of Nines)
thomasny collected 1710 from pot


I was about 60% sure he was bluffing here, based on how he had played the previous hands, so it was a easy call, but I got lot of pleasure from it, because I played the hand like a genius. Against most opponents I would just valuebet 200 on river here and maybe fold to a re-raise. But against this guy I decided to check.
I did not check because I was affraid or wanted pot controll, in fact I checked to get more money in the pot, its such a superplayer move. Because I was pretty sure my hand was good, because based on my reads I was pretty sure he would re-raise me on turn if he made his had there, or had slowplayed a big hand on the flop, so I was pretty sure my hand was good on the turn. The river might look scarry because of the 4-to a str8 on the board but I loved it, because I'm pretty sure he dosnt got a 3 in his hand because he would probably not call my flop lead in that case, he is not floating wide and he's not a fish. The only hand that make sense the way he played it is 34, which he obviously probably does not have. So I was pretty sure my hand was good, now I wanted to get paid max on river. If I make a standard 200 value bet I think he would probably fold and if he re-raise me huge there I'm not that sure about my hand anymore and would consider folding, because I was not sure about he was capable to pull off a big move or not if I showed streangth on river. However if I checked I was pretty sure he was capable to pull off a big bluff and based on how he had played the previous hands I was excpecting it.
I mean, we got to give him credit for that he knew second pair was no good. Because he seemd to have decent showdown value there when I checked.

I'll probably just play the 110 the next months now, I can make plenty there. I'll try the 220 again when I've becomed a whole lot richer.

February profit +3.3K

GL Thomas.

Finally back in the game

It was pretty sick to be banned from the game a whole week. It got painfull after 5 days, I was so eager to play again. This game is like drugs.

However if I find my self in the same antisocial, self-destructive pattern as I did before I banned my selv, I'll be happy to force another weekly ban.

I can really feel the difference now when I'm a fresh player again. It's more fun to play, I'm beeing more alert, perceiving more information, and I focus on how to get the best deal out of every hand. I'm able to take more beats without getting too emotional about it, because I've had a week break from all the BS. Moreover its fun to be playing again, even though I might be losing a bit.

Breaks are so key to success. BCM11 said this in his blog 2 years ago. I know it, you know it, all the pros knows it. But only very few manage to take a break when needed. Sometimes a 10 min break is enough, other times a day, and some very few times we seriously need to get the hell out of there and take a week or more off.

But don't get me wrong here. Taking breaks when needed is not necessarily to win. I mean, I've been making 3-4K a month a long time now often playing non-stop obviously B-game play, and many other winning players are doing the same. But to be able to become a great player that gets maximum profit and pleasure out of the game, you got to know when to take breaks. Not taking breaks leads to a lot frustration and under-performance.

Playing all day/ all night when stuck is terrible because of two main reasons:
1. You might be playing a -ev game, especially if youre re-matching a lot when losing.
2. Youre getting outburned. Even though you might hit a good run and get out of the hole, you'll stell get outburned/bored and tired of playing 100 games a day with no social life or other things going on outside of the game. Then it might be more difficult to play a fresh A-game the next day.

I'm going to do it the professional way now. I look forward to be stuck 1K and be feeling bad soon now, and quit the day. That's the ultimat test.

Bay the way, got to love the 250 dollars "free cash" re-load bonus.

February profit +2.4K

Donking it off - 7-days self-exclusion

I've been playing a ton the last week and i'm totally outburned now. I just can't fold a hand even though I know i'm beat. It's sick how often a big pocket get cracked vs underpair or just two low cards. In a 230 game I 3-bet up to 180 with QQ and villian called with 47 off! (alfonsionob), and hit two pairs on the flop right away to stack me. Beats like that typically won't affect me much, but when I'm outburned like now it feels like "I just want to strangle those fkn idiots", totally forgetting that those guys are paying my bills every month by giving great action. I really hate to write nasty stuff in chat, especially to a fish. They are contributing with great action to the game, and losing a ton in the long run - they don't deserve to be harrased.

Yesterday I played so bad and really began to hate the game. To make sure to re-ignite I took advantage of the self-exclusion function in the responsible gambling meny. So I'm banned from playing the next 6 days now. When I make my comback I'll try to play less games a day, especially when losing.

February profit: +1.4K

Sick downswing follow by nice 4-man recovery

I was stuck 1.9K yesterday in the 110 turbo, which is obviously very very bad. How is it even possible to dropp 18 buy ins against those clowns. Well, I simply played bad and ran bad, moreover I played a lot vs other relatively tough opponentens. All this factors are pretty much the recipe for disaster. I mean, I will hardly every downswing more than 1K in the the 110 if I manage to play play A-game or at least close to my A-game all the time - and just as important, don't get competitive with regulars.

Yesterday I managed to decrease the hole to about 1.2K, gambling a bit in the 230 as well. I was about to call it a bad day and go to sleep or something before frankthomas8 asked me to chop some 4-mans in the 230. After getting decent rail support from searching, shep754, and even more surprisingly plowking22, we won 6/6 which is +2520/2 and a totally recovery.

february profit: +2.4K

Total Cremation of the 110 turbo

Ok, the 110 turbo has been like an internet bank to me lately. I just log on pokerstars every day and money is flowing in from players that are throwing money all over the place. It's ridiculous, and sometimes not even interesting.

In my last 500 games in the 110 turbo I got +10/game, two-tabling most of it. That's pretty much all i ask, and all I need to make more than 100K/year when I'm done with my studies and able to play more.

But I've obviously been running good so far in february, I need to improve a bit before I can make +10/game consistently. I would guess I'm more like +7/game (included rakeback) with my skill level now.

I hope to pull off a great month, hopefully +6K. Time will show. Since my edge is solid in the 110 and I play a ton, I can 90% sure know that I will profit at least 2K every month. But I cant predict whether I'll make 2.5K or 8K. It's up to me and the poker gods to decide.

Last 500 games 110 turbo