meh

Ok, so I had plannet to make like this really niceee big end of the month post with all my stats and #s and whatever but I am super-tired and really feeling horrible right now. Anyways, my awsome upswing was destroyed by me ... well being me and putting in like 50-70 reg speed games / day, letting my game deteriorate and blowing a bunch of $, the last 3 days in a row I have been +1k and ended -1k or more... which is miserable, and have just run like complete garbage for what seems like eternity (from playing too much). Also bought a $1500 bonus and used 9k FPP or so to satt into the sunday million to make myself feel a bit better (took the T$).

Won my first round match of the 2p2 HU tournament, 3-0 so that was pretty solid, I played really non-standard and overly aggressive, 3betting a ton as my opp was a cash game player and really just played a bit too tight when defending his button opens, I also won a flip and hit a FD (it was best 3/5), but I felt like I had the pace of the match in my hands for more or less all of it.

Anyways, took my gf out to dinner the other night which was nice to get out, she works super hard with school and we dont get to do much these days with finals coming up so it was nice to get out even if it was just for a dinner. She also has some special night planned she made reservations for (tomorrow night I think), so that should be cool too since we have tomorrow til sunday off here for some hungarian holdiday.

I ordered this:
















which actually doesn't look that good in the picture and I don't remember the name of it (Hungarian), but it's delicious, and the salad at the bottom of the plate is iced salad and somehow goes fantastically with the hot meat, anyways it's the second time i've had it there and it's a great dish :).

and my gf (pictured below) got her standard carbonara cause im a pretty picky eater and she never finishes her meals, so she makes sure she gets something i'll finish for her (LOL).

















So the month was still OK, but I made almost nothing in HU, just like 2.5k from FPP and a bit from HU, a bit from buying action, and like 2k live or something, far from the month I thought I might have. I should have dropped back to 100s / 110s like 1-2k in my downswing ago... but im gonna hang on for another 1k as I really feel like I should be able to beat them, it's no longer within my BR to do so... but im gonna go for it as I know I should be able to beat the 100s/110s for a pretty decent clip in may if this doesnt go well. Also if it does go well it will allow me to be farrr better rolled for NL HU this summer, which I kinda need to be to learn it and get into it without messing up my HU BR, so it would be nice if I could put together a good amount of extra $$$ to do that with as I get out to vegas and cwar and whoever else helps me try to transition into playing HU NL and actually being decent at it :).

So hopefully things will turn around, my goal is still 7.5k for May, so it is definently reasonable, even though i'll be putting in a bit less time since I will only be home for 9-10 days before I head off to vegas, and i've been in Europe for almost 9 months, so i'll want to catch up with family and friends. Good luck everyone, and i'll try to make my next post a little bit more up-beat and maybe have something informative in it ;p,

-Primo

So my past 3 day's have been pretty awsome. I moved to 110 turbos and 200 regulars, and have been crushing, most of my 4man games have been with rokdafunk (with a few with nofear), but I have been playing alot of 2 mans, and was 3-4 tabling today when the games would fill fast enough, anyways, my days went +1500, +1850, +2150 or so, and my stats and graph look like this: 124 $40 $168 22% $4,988






anyways, so that's been really great, and put me on pace for one of my biggest months so far (about 10-12k) with this, my live play, and my FPP.

so for an update of where I stand this month it's something like this:

SNG : +$5k (yea... I had a really terrible start to the month)
Live: +$1300
buying action: +$500ish
FPP: +$1500 (88k FPP ~ $1500 through concierge)
$$ off in 4mans: +$1400
live blackjack: -$600 :(
------------------------------------
+$9,100

so by far my best normal month ever, I had some crazy times in September played a TON of 220s and 550s on FTP and placing top 16 in the WCOOP HU matches and was like +24k that month, and then broke up with my gf who was back in the states, life tilted and blew like 18k in a week on cash and 550s, regardless to say I was a huge degen and should never have been playing when emotionally stressed like that, so I dont like to count September as my best month, but I still count November as my worst, so this will be my best month under normal solid BR management, and im very happy with that, my goal this year is 60k and I seem to definently be on pace, although I won't expect 10k months monthly just yet ;p

anyways I had a pretty good day today, woke up and just hung out took it easy this morning didn't think about or play poker, then I had just started to play (2-1 in the 200 regs, with my one loss to cat5cane who is really solid, but I got it in good so I was fine with it) when my girlfriend called and asked me to go have lunch, so I ended up having a 'picnic' of sorts at the Buda Castle in Budapest, which was actually really nice and relaxing and had a pretty beautiful view so it was a nice break.

Yesterday I had my first face-to-face coaching session with one of my students who I found out was from Budapest (Szamvan from 2p2 and pokerstars), anyways we just started working together and it was cool to do a session like this, I spent some time going through games we played together and where I could pick out leaks in his game from an opponents stand-point (i.e. betsizing tells, obvious incorrect-frequencies, if his ranges are super-polarized on river bets, etc.) and we reviewed only from my the standpoint of my HHs for the games (7 matches) but reviewed his actions without knowing his cards. Then I sweated him for 3 matches commenting all the way through, basically walking him through spots I think he was doing things incorrectly in, and then I had him play one where I didnt comment at all but he to walk-through his logic on all major decisions and streets verbally, and then at the end we talked about what holes we found and tried to give him some things to work on. That was basically the end of the session but he watched me play a couple of the 200 regs (he is currently playing $20 + 1 non-turbos). It was a cool experience as it was my first time working like this, and we did a session online today, but I think I will try to get a few more face-to-face sessions in with him before I leave Budapest as I really enjoy being able to watch in real time and hear him explaining or thinking it through as it plays out (as I feel alot of players aren't completely honest with themselves when they review and kind of place 'perfect-reads' on some situations saying oh yea, he did this a ton so thats why it was OK here), but when they were playing it out they didn't really have that absolute concept which made it alot more marginal, I dunno, that's just what i've seen from alot of people

but this has turned into another long post so im gonna cut it short here, and i'll be sure to give an update on how I finished the month at the end of the month, so good luck guys, I hope you enjoy reading my ramblings occasionally (also im going to ask for comments after the blog has been up and running for a little more time on what you would prefer to see, keep it as it is (a mixture of everything, make it more strategy-based, leave out my personal-life stuff, see more hands, etc.). Until later,

-Primo

A better day

So I don't plan on updating daily, but they will be sporadic and hopefully not just once a month or something. anyways, today I had a great day, I was 13-5 at the 110s, and 1-0 at the 220s, and 5-1 in 200(reg speed) 4-mans with a partner. But beside that, I started playing and just felt fantastic, I really felt like I had a mental breakthrough. After reading MLJ's Well and him talking about how he did small household things like making his bed EVERY morning to build discipline which in turn helped him with game and focus, I then was reading through a discussion sparked in the LC thread on 'warm-up' routines people do before they play. So today, when I got home I didn't jump right on the laptop, I put all my stuff down, relaxed, started up the comp, ate my lunch, got something to drink and put on some music and really got settled. I then went into my bedroom and did a few real quick stretches / breathing exercises just to give it a shot, even if it felt embarrassing, and I feel like it really helped out, I sat down 100% focused, relaxed and ready to play. Anyways, here is my graph for the day (the massive upswing up had half of the profit going to rokdafunk ($800), and the downswing had $1200 coming to me (600 profit + my buy ins back), so I ended the day about +1500 which is more or less what the graph shows, but it's easy to get off when your playing 4-mans.





So another thing that really made something click in my mind was discussing a hand played at foxwoods by a friend who is a really good full ring player:


Friend (9:10:19 PM): this guy
Friend (9:10:21 PM): to my direct right
Friend (9:10:26 PM): this is in the foxwoods 5/10 game
Friend (9:10:31 PM): its 11am
Friend (9:10:34 PM): and ive been playing for about an hour

Friend (9:10:36 PM): and have had like two beers.
Friend (9:10:41 PM): which seems to petrify the old dudes playing
Friend (9:10:43 PM): table is mega soft.
Friend (9:10:53 PM): one young live grinder kid (slick rick if you ever play the games, watch out for him hes actually good)
Friend (9:11:00 PM): anotehr guy who plays the SNG's but was sitting for some reaso
Friend (9:11:02 PM): but is probably OK
Friend (9:11:07 PM): and then like 7 random old shitty dudes
Friend (9:11:13 PM): the guy on my right
Friend (9:11:18 PM): was playing something like 95/1
Friend (9:11:21 PM): vpip/pfr
Friend (9:11:23 PM): if you know what im saying.
Primo (9:11:26 PM): yea
Friend (9:11:29 PM): he actualyl commented on me
Friend (9:11:32 PM): about why dont i try and see more flops
Friend (9:11:38 PM): cause i was like playing nitty
Friend (9:11:42 PM): i probably play like 12/8 in that game
Friend (9:11:43 PM): fwiw.
Friend (9:11:44 PM): so anwyays.
Friend (9:11:49 PM): folds around to the old 95/1 guy
Friend (9:11:52 PM): who limps (obv)
Friend (9:11:57 PM): i make it 40 with Q9 suited (hearts)
Friend (9:12:00 PM): and it folds back to him and he calls
Friend (9:12:05 PM): the flop is J84 rainbow
Friend (9:12:14 PM): he checks, i bet like 55 i htink and he snapcalls.
Friend (9:12:18 PM): turn is 3 putting up two spades.
Friend (9:12:21 PM): he checks and i check it back.
Friend (9:12:24 PM): the river is the Ts
Friend (9:12:36 PM): and he bets 1500 into the $200 pot
Friend (9:12:41 PM): we're both around 4k deep.
Friend (9:12:42 PM): thoughts?

So I debated over it for a minute and then asked a few questions

Friend (9:12:56 PM): (i stacked someone AA vs KK, and hit a set with TT vs AA prior, so basically i look like a luckbox probably)
Friend (9:13:04 PM): i dont know how he got his stack but running like god is presumably why,.
Primo (9:13:19 PM): hrmm, anything on what you've seen him do previously
Friend (9:13:22 PM): yeah
Friend (9:13:23 PM): limp
Friend (9:13:25 PM): call a lot of flop bets
Primo (9:13:25 PM): seen him ck/raise often (i.e. setting you up on the turn)
Friend (9:13:26 PM): and fold
Friend (9:13:27 PM): but he has overbet
Primo (9:13:30 PM): seen him overbet
Friend (9:13:30 PM): like 2-3 times
Friend (9:13:32 PM): w/o showdown.
Primo (9:14:27 PM): God, hrmm, lol, I dunno personally I prolly double barrell the turn but im a HU Aggro-donk, and luckily enough im actually just a big enough station to call there


so I was weighing a call or fold and finally said I would prolly hate it but call, but im not sure I dont play much cash and a fold seems like it can't be too bad there

and he said yea, maybe a call is OK

but..

Friend (9:14:41 PM): i shoved though.


and then it just clicked, while I was weighing the options in this hand I hadn't even taken into consideration a shove at all, just the mere fact on whether or not I was ahead of his range and could justify a call, but he brought up the point to me afterwards that when he fires out $1500 there he is NEVER folding basically, so your losing a TON of value from being ahead of his range by having his sets and 2pair hands and maybe even like AA/KK played horribly paying you off there, but just the fact that I hadn't even taken that into consideration was really shocking to me, and I could feel some previously barred doors suddenly *CLICK* being unlocked.

I mean this situation applies to alot of things though, not even the specifics of this hand and whether a call, fold or raise is best, as this hand could be mis-analyzed by both of us, but looking at the WAY we think about things, and if you guys ever take the time to read through JMan's the Well thread, verrrryyy good read and well worth it (http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showthread.php?t=88525&highlight=jman28&page=1)
he speaks about a similar moment when he was listening to HO@ENGGOL and someone else discuss a hand, almost the exact same situation, but it just comes down to the fact that for us to really be able to take our game to the next step, we need to be looking at ALL possible lines, I mean sure, I consider myself to be farr above average in analytical skills when it comes to analyzing spots HU, however just because it's so easy for us to break it down into the two obvious decisions and decide which is preferred over the other isn't always correct, we really need to look at ALL possible options from ALL possible lines to be able to maximize our EV in any given spot, and therefore our edge against any given opponent, I will try to elaborate on this further in some later posts as I feel like i'm rambling now, but it was a great day, both at the tables, and off of them, as taking the time to think and read about the game, as well as discuss it with competent players who are really trying to take topics into deep discussions can help your game a TON and it's something you can easily do when your feeling burnt out from playing, not focused for some reason, or any time really, I think about hands and concepts constantly on my tram ride to school, between classes, every free second I have alone, so be sure to open up your minds and your thought processes in your future(s) and you'll be sure to grow much faster and see better results for sure, good luck all,

and don't miss the 2p2 HU Forum ($50) Tournament coming up, you can find the thread to sign up here (http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showthread.php?t=186330) , just send $50 to cwar20 (Las Vegas) on Pokerstars and send me (PrimordialAA) a PM on 2p2 letting me know you've done so,

-Primo

meh

so yesterday was a really really bad day for me poker-wise. I enjoy live and have been crushing the casino here in Budapest as the game is super weak-passive. I got done my 8am class and skipped my noon one to chill, play online, was like +500 or so feelin pretty great except im tired, head over at 2 cause that's when the game starts. So long story short, I didnt have any discipline, had TERRIBLE table position, as the only 3 competent / semi-aggressive players were all to my left, anyways I was like +$400 before ending -$1200, I bluffed my stack off into two hugee $2,000ish pots. anyways, I played one pot that is always good for a confidence booster:

(1k forint = $6.1 or so)

10 handed... 500 / 1k (Forint) Pot Limit Hold'em

Dealt to Primo in the SB: 9s 3c

UTG Straddles to 2k
UTG + 1 calls
UTG+2 -> MP3 folds
hijack raises to 7k
CO + Button fold.
Primo raises to 24k

UTG checks and checks and says something in hungarian and folds his straddle ;p
UTG+1 folds
hijack checks his cards, thinks, and calls

ok, so for some history, i've played with the hijack a couple times, he is pretty tight but knows how to attack weakness and the UTG and UTG+1 fold a TON for a 7k bet in this game, it def wasn't to induce or anything, game plays really weak-passive, but he knows me to be (fairly) aggro but doesn't adapt enough to it, and last time we played I took a 130k (forint) pot off him and everyone at the table made fun of him for it cause he called me down super-light for 3 streets of value, so I dont expect him to want to call me down too light.

anyways, Hijack (older guy): ~48k after the call
Primo: 165k

after he called I figure he is reshoving QQ-AA (maybe counter-intuitively), flats AQ/AK/QK and maybe some other weird broadway combinations, he folds any low pp, and SOMETIMES flats 88-JJ but they play so weird here, like in a previous hand, HJ and CO limp and I make it 5k OTB and he folds TT face up.

so anyways, long story short, flop comes 3 9 3 rainbow I fire 27k and he thinks and folds and I take down like a $400-ish pot

anyways now that i've written about it I guess it really isn't a spectacular hand in any way/shape/or form, but I don't play much live and felt pretty fearless at the time :).


as for HU SNG, today was super swingy, I went 6-1 playing 220/200 4mans with my partner, then 0-3, 0-3 with a different partner, and finally 3-0 at 110 4-mans with ChicagoRy. It was kind of a crazy day and I ended basically break-even, (-$30) I think, but I think I will try to stay away from the 220s entirely unless im feeling really good and am playing 4-mans with someone for the lessened variance, i'll try to focus more on some key hands i've played in HU in my next post and maybe some on the topics of limping and non-standard bet-sizing that i've been working on, until later,


-Primo

The Beginning of a New Age of Primo

So i'm finally pulling the trigger and making an HU SNG blog.

So i've played for a long time, like over 2 years of almost strictly HU, but hadnt ever studied, learned, been coached or found 2p2 until July of this 08. Since then I was taken under the wing of indyindiana on 2p2, worked extensively with him and cwar, branched out after a while and began coaching and continuing to study on my own, I coached bbbushu on 2p2 (waltermelon on FTP) along with some other shorter term setups and a semi-long term deal with Paranoia87 which fell out after a month or two as he found 6max to be his true love.

anyways, that's my past with HU SNG, I've played poker for over 5 years now, originating in STTs while always having some success in MTTs as well, and trying cash on and off, scoring big but never studying or improving past my own poker-sense, and then I fell in love with HU and found 2p2 and a great coach and now I am here.

Recently I have been playing 4 man's with Hokiegreg (although not so much in April) and we've had super-good results and been pretty dominant in them. I am currently playing the $110 level as an average buyin, dropping to 55s or taking shots at 220s whenever I am feeling bad or feeling good and game selecting.

so anyways I had no clue how to introduce myself to a blog, so just spewed some random info up there about myself. But now for what you can expect from me in the future. I plan on making this blog to track aspects of my life for those who are interested (im moving to vegas for 2 months this summer and just coming back from a year abroad in europe) so I may have some interesting stuff to post about, I am also staked in MTTs by Rarestake, so maybe the occasional update on that progress, but it will almost entirely be based around my progression with HU SNG, things i've noticed about the game, mental epiphanies, interesting hands, etc. So I hope you all enjoy and i'll be adding more as I can.




On a final note: I'm 20 years old (21 on May 20th), I play HU SNG, and this SS graph is where I begin this blog.




After reflecting on the graph for a bit, I feel like I will also try to add a great deal of psychology to the graph, as I have always had a problem with discipline and tilt, I have come a longggg way in recent months, most specifically since January 2008, but it is something I am constantly thinking about ways to really neutralize the dangerous parts of my own psychology, so I will try to touch on that as situations arise. Good luck all,

-Primo