CraigSG1 Cash Diary and new goals. Starting BR £500. Current: £540

LARSON7

Well done on getting to 1k.

Have you been cleaning up, while i've not been playing cash?:)

Good going, what's the next challenge?

CraigSG1

Days 121 and 122

Thanks Spinky and Larson. If thats my results while you are away then please, stay away!!

Well, im over the moon to report I have reached my goal!! I am amazed at how much my BR increased over the last three weeks. I have this challenge to thank as when I started this my cash game was well below what it is now. Its still got a long, long way to go but there is no way I would have been able to compete at 10nl day in, day out like I do now and make decent profit. My hand AND opponent reading is better as long as my discipline and getting value out of hands.

Also, setting goals within goals has also helped as it helped break down my target and stop me focusing purely on finishing up in each session, but rather concentrate on playing well and letting results take care of them selves.

Im well on target to break the 3000 PP barrier. I currently have the most I've ever accumulated and also will easily finish in the £10 bracket of this months promotion. 

This month I have just concentrated on cash, next month (promotion dependant - if there is another good cash promotion I can do well in things will change) I am going to primarily focus on MTT's with my bigger than usual buyins. Ive not got anything specific in mind other than to just play well. 

As for other challanges, I would be willing to keep this going but obviously only if there is interest. Would not want to bore you all. Thanks for reading and your encouragement.

BR £1005.24

THEROCK573

well played

alex1229

Where u going on holiday to then?

waller02

Well played Craig, enjoy your holiday

jimb0d1

Congrats Craig. Enjoy!

TeddyBloat

Congratulations.  Nothing like the feeling when you achieve summat difficult through effort and ability.

Well played

GaryQQQ

Boom! Very well played, congratulations. Enjoy that holiday

mrsduck

Well done Craig! You're a big inspiration for me Happy spending!

CraigSG1

Thank you all!!!! 

Really nice that ive inspired someone. Its really nice to make almost £900 in four months just from small stakes poker. I played mainly 10nl (with some 20nl but not much) and no MTT's over £5 to get there so it can be done.

Next stage is to gradually play higher and higher limits but ive proven to myself that if I take it slow I can do it. 

Looking back through my diary its amazing what ups and downs I had and how ive improved immensly in accepting losses. I used to feel bad about losing £10+ at 4nl but now if I finish 3/4 buyins down at 10nl I just shrug it off as I have proved I can beat it and have the profit to prove it. 

For example tonight, I got off to a horrible start. Firstly running KK into AA against the table fish who was in every pot. Then when my set of 6's on the flop lost a £40 pot to AA that retook the lead after money went in. Add to that AK losing with top two to a rivered flush. So almost £40 straight away. Earlier I would have tilt chased, either playing more pots or moving up levels. I now just have a little moan and groan to get it out and then quickly move on. I actually manged to finsh about £4 up which is brilliant and goes to prove I have come a long way.

As I have said, I still have a lot to learn and will do for as long as I play. Its been a tremendous learning curve to have this diary and I encourage anyone wanting to improve any aspect to go for it. Being honest really helps and writing it down helps to organise it in your own mind.

As for my holiday, I wanted to book a flight to Vegas and put all my winnings on red. But my GF did not agree at all. She said we should put it all on black! So after arguing for a few hours we finally settled on a trip to Rhodes (Greece) in May for a week over my birthday. Been twice before and I love the place! Can not wait!!! 

Thanks again, everyone.

TeddyBloat

"Looking back through my diary its amazing what ups and downs I had and how ive improved immensly in accepting losses. I used to feel bad about losing £10+ at 4nl but now if I finish 3/4 buyins down at 10nl I just shrug it off as I have proved I can beat it and have the profit to prove it. 

For example tonight, I got off to a horrible start. Firstly running KK into AA against the table fish who was in every pot. Then when my set of 6's on the flop lost a £40 pot to AA that retook the lead after money went in. Add to that AK losing with top two to a rivered flush. So almost £40 straight away. Earlier I would have tilt chased, either playing more pots or moving up levels. I now just have a little moan and groan to get it out and then quickly move on. I actually manged to finsh about £4 up which is brilliant and goes to prove I have come a long way."

brilliant attitude to the game.

CraigSG1

Hi again. 

I know, another diary but after the success of my last challenge I feel I need a new purpose and goal to aim for to help me further improve and focus my game again. 

I took £125 - £1000 during my first challenge and on the way I improved immensly in my BR management, attitdue as well as a few other things and it moved me from being primarily an MTT player to a cash player. I found success and have done well since but have lately stalled on my progress and I dont feel i've moved on. I am still making an ok profit each month (about 20-30 buyins at 10nl) but I obviously want to improve that and my play. 

I had a fantastic holiday with my winnings from my last challenge and I feel like I need to do this again to help motivate me and hopefully gain help too.

So, with a starting BR of £500 and no PP's I will try and concentrate primarily on improving my play and have my BR goal as secondary. I dont have a set in stone goal but I think £2k by christmas is definatley atchievable. I will be playing MTT's in this as well so it wont be all cash.

Anyway, I'm about to have my first session with this new mindset so hopefully I can play well and not worry about results and I will try my best not to make this a bad beat diary and try and make it interesting.

Thanks for reading. All input welcome.

Jac35

Good luck Craig.

Here's a thought. You're clearly doing well and have good discipline in your play. Why not take the odd punt playing live cash? Don't know if you've played live before but you would be amazed by the standard in most 50/1 games. IMO nl20 on Sky is tougher. 

Obviously you would have to prepared for losing a buy in or two, cards can always go against us. However, it could also be very profitable 

CraigSG1

In Response to Re: CraigSG1 Cash Diary and new goals.:

Good luck Craig. Here's a thought. You're clearly doing well and have good discipline in your play. Why not take the odd punt playing live cash? Don't know if you've played live before but you would be amazed by the standard in most 50/1 games. IMO nl20 on Sky is tougher.  Obviously you would have to prepared for losing a buy in or two, cards can always go against us. However, it could also be very profitable 
Posted by Jac35

Hi - Thanks. I would take a shot but there is not much oppertunity here in Hull, or at least none that I'm not aware of. I have played 4 live MTT's and amazingly bubbled every single one! 

GreekWay

More infos on the holiday please.

How was Rhodes? Where did you stay? How was the weather? Did you get a chance to swim?

And most importantly. Have you managed to find the Colossus of Rhodes?

CraigSG1

Session 1: 

1h45 + £23.07 

PP: 74

Played 6 tables (for the most part) and I felt I did play pretty well although I did make 2 debatable river calls when the obvious draws came in on river and I had to call min raises. Its hard to fold when you get 7 or 8-1 on your money when you know your probably beat but sometimes you are surprised to be ahead and as I was getting great odds you feel you have to call and you have a pretty strong hand yourself. 

I did get one donation when with AA I had someone jam J5o UTG for 96BB and of corse it was an easy call and a hold. Not had one of those for a while!

CraigSG1

In Response to Re: CraigSG1 Cash Diary and new goals.:

More infos on the holiday please. How was Rhodes? Where did you stay? How was the weather? Did you get a chance to swim? And most importantly. Have you managed to find the Colossus of Rhodes?
Posted by GreekWay

Hey! Rhodes was awesome thanks, been three times now and as I've said before I would move there if I could. I stayed in Ixia which is a lovely place if a bit quiet but it is only a 5 minute bus ride away from Rhodes town so your never bored. Apart from two very british days (rain and cloud - which is the first time i've seen either of those when away!) it was very good. Two hot days, three very warm and the two cloudy/rain days. I didn't get to swim in the sea which I missed as on this side of Rhodes it is windy and cold but I did get a nice big pool at the hotel. 

As for my favouraite place on the Island, the Colossus pillars, I did go there twice and enjoyed every minute. It would be an amazing place to go back in time and view and see if there realy was a giant statue at the bay entrance. 

At least I now have a lot of great pictures to use on my desk top background (one I am looking at right now) to remember another great Greek holiday. Heres to many more!

Lambert180

Good stuff and GL Craig with the new goals.

All ready for the coaching thing btw (I updated the thread the other night) so if you let me know your Skype name we can get it sorted.

GreekWay

In Response to Re: CraigSG1 Cash Diary and new goals.:

In Response to Re: CraigSG1 Cash Diary and new goals. : Hey! Rhodes was awesome thanks, been three times now and as I've said before I would move there if I could. I stayed in Ixia which is a lovely place if a bit quiet but it is only a 5 minute bus ride away from Rhodes town so your never bored. Apart from two very british days (rain and cloud - which is the first time i've seen either of those when away!) it was very good. Two hot days, three very warm and the two cloudy/rain days. I didn't get to swim in the sea which I missed as on this side of Rhodes it is windy and cold but I did get a nice big pool at the hotel.  As for my favouraite place on the Island, the Colossus pillars, I did go there twice and enjoyed every minute. It would be an amazing place to go back in time and view and see if there realy was a giant statue at the bay entrance.  At least I now have a lot of great pictures to use on my desk top background (one I am looking at right now) to remember another great Greek holiday. Heres to many more!
Posted by CraigSG1

Rhodes is a magnificent island. Really beatifull. I haven't been there yet but I have some friends who are living on the island. They have invited me couple of time but didn't have the time to go there and see them.

Its also quite a big island compared to others so you always find something to do. You will never get bored.

Try going to Rhodes early September next time. Weather is like August but there are less people around and prices are also much lower compared to August. Just keep this for yourself.

CraigSG1

In Response to Re: CraigSG1 Cash Diary and new goals.:

In Response to Re: CraigSG1 Cash Diary and new goals. : Rhodes is a magnificent island. Really beatifull. I haven't been there yet but I have some friends who are living on the island. They have invited me couple of time but didn't have the time to go there and see them. Its also quite a big island compared to others so you always find something to do. You will never get bored. Try going to Rhodes early September next time. Weather is like August but there are less people around and prices are also much lower compared to August. Just keep this for yourself.
Posted by GreekWay

Seriously you have to go!!! Whats up with you! I have been September twcie and that is far and away the best time.

CraigSG1

Session 2: 

1h30 + £18.67

PP: 150

Managed to get in another session with pretty much the same outcome, playing quite well but it would have been far better again for some more river beats although I did get lucky with 1010 v AA v KQ when allin pre (the AA guy was very active and the KQ guy called everything no matter what) but I did hit a straight to tripple my £6 stack.

Tried to put up 3 hands but no luck, will try again tomorrow. One was a nice tripple up with J10s with flopped nut straight against two lower straights. The other was a £40 pot that went against me with KQ when I turned trips and lost to a river 9 against 99. Not sure if I was right to call off so will defo try and put this up. I made a snap call without thinking so i'm not happy. One of those calls you make and instantly regret before you know what happens.

liamboi11

Gl craig with your diary and goals

glad see you ran better today than yesterday buddy

HYPETING

In Response to Re: CraigSG1 Cash Diary and new goals.:

Session 2:  1h30 + £18.67 PP: 150 Managed to get in another session with pretty much the same outcome, playing quite well but it would have been far better again for some more river beats although I did get lucky with 1010 v AA v KQ when allin pre (the AA guy was very active and the KQ guy called everything no matter what) but I did hit a straight to tripple my £6 stack. Tried to put up 3 hands but no luck, will try again tomorrow. One was a nice tripple up with J10s with flopped nut straight against two lower straights. The other was a £40 pot that went against me with KQ when I turned trips and lost to a river 9 against 99. Not sure if I was right to call off so will defo try and put this up. I made a snap call without thinking so i'm not happy. One of those calls you make and instantly regret before you know what happens.
Posted by CraigSG1

I may of been active but what hand am I calling with that your in good shape against? Only AK really. Also sit with a full stack so you dont have to ship 60bb over a 3x utg w/ 1010.

Well Done completing your goal.

CraigSG1

In Response to Re: CraigSG1 Cash Diary and new goals.:

Gl craig with your diary and goals glad see you ran better today than yesterday buddy
Posted by liamboi11

Thanks. I do sometimes moan a little bit (a lot less than I used too) and not something I'm proud of but it does help a little bit to let off steam and stop me from tilting. That's another goal I have, find better ways to stop tilting. 

CraigSG1

In Response to Re: CraigSG1 Cash Diary and new goals.:

In Response to Re: CraigSG1 Cash Diary and new goals. : I may of been active but what hand am I calling with that your in good shape against? Only AK really. Also sit with a full stack so you dont have to ship 60bb over a 3x utg w/ 1010. Well Done completing your goal.
Posted by HYPETING

Hi. Firstly I totally agree, it was actually a misclick of sorts. I intended to raise but for some reason the slider jumped all the way to my full stack. Something that happens a lot actually and I wonder if anyone else has this problem? It also happens when I go to select a raise size and then it will make it a min raise instead or a huge over bet! It can be very annoying when multitabling and trying to make quick decisions. That happened when I was UTG with AA and I only min raised. I got four callers before someone thankfully raised but sadly it made my hand ridiculously transparent when I 4 bet! 

Secondly I mostly do sit with a full stack but I dislike auto topup as it makes working out profit/loss super difficult. I usually top up manually but obviously when multi tabling I sometimes lose sight of my stack. 

Sorry about the outdraw (sort of!) but if it means you will now call me lighter then I may ship more often on purpose! I have you tagged as a decent player so any help on some hands I manage to post would be helpful. 

GreekWay

In Response to Re: CraigSG1 Cash Diary and new goals.:

In Response to Re: CraigSG1 Cash Diary and new goals. : Seriously you have to go!!! Whats up with you! I have been September twcie and that is far and away the best time.
Posted by CraigSG1

Every summer I say I will go but always something happens and I end up not going. Its so annoying.

CraigSG1

So far I have played a further 4 sessions over the past few days and after last week where I couldn't hold and found it hard to have a winning session I have recorded 6/6 winning sessions since I resumed this diary. 

Session 3: 

45m + £7.82

PP: 185

I got off to a bad start when I lost KK v AQcc all in on a flop of 84x cc board. But from there I just concentrated on making good decisions.

Session 4: 

45m + £5.06

PP: 218

It was another frustrating start when AA lost to AKs to rivered flush but I could have lost more so I'll take what I can get. I did make a few decent hands but it was one of those occasions where everyone snap folded! Still, to make a little profit was pleasing as I though I had broke even at best.

Session 5: 

1h15 + £11.92  Did play one £2.30BH in which nothing happened and eventually went out aipf AQ v AK v K8

PP: 263

Yet again a bad start (seems to be a theme) when my flopped set lost to another rivered flush and then ran KK into AA into a very, very active player. Always frustating that! But the value of staying calm, not tilting or playing away from my game (lessons that I have learnt very well since starting cash and improving all the time) meant I just concentrated on making good decisions. Thankfully that paid off as I managed to win a lot of small/mid pots and then on my last orbit managed to record a profit for the session when this hand came up:

Player	Action	Cards	Amount	Pot	Balance
Chris_Mc	Small blind		£0.05	£0.05	£23.12
Sir-Gary	Big blind		£0.10	£0.15	£19.90
	Your hole cards	6 6
32boy	Fold
CraigSG1	Raise		£0.30	£0.45	£17.04
VINEY73	Fold
b	Call		£0.30	£0.75	£25.75
Chris_Mc	Fold
Sir-Gary	Fold
Flop
		5 6 3
CraigSG1	Bet		£0.30	£1.05	£16.74
b	Call		£0.30	£1.35	£25.45
Turn
		4
CraigSG1	Bet		£0.68	£2.03	£16.06
b	Call		£0.68	£2.71	£24.77
River
		4
CraigSG1	Bet		£1.36	£4.07	£14.70
b	Raise		£4.22	£8.29	£20.55
CraigSG1	All-in		£14.70	£22.99	£0.00
b	Call		£11.84	£34.83	£8.71
CraigSG1	Show	6 6
b	Show	5 5
CraigSG1	Win	Full House, 6s and 4s	£33.43		£33.43

Session 6:

1h + £17

PP: 301

Yes, you guessed it, another bad start but this time it was down to me with two bad calls when I knew I had gone behind yet convinced myself they where bluffing! But after playing a bit too lose and passive I concentrated a bit harder and made better decisions and managed to chip up on a few tables winning a lot of small/medium pots. I was surprised to be almost 2 buyins up but at least it was a nice surprise.

In summary I have played a bit more solidly but not that much more. Gaining a little more confidence back which is always good but the biggest improvement is focusing solely on making the best decisions I can in every pot and not focusing on what I have won/lost.

This is a hand that came up that got me confused. He was quite an active and loose player but never seemed to put all his money in with nothing.

So, I chose to call the 3 bet because I think against him he will fold all his weaker hands and only give me action with strong PP's and A's. Get a great flop so chose to c/c for same reasons as pre. Was intending to c/r as I have called and then folded to a few turn bets in past few hands so thought be a good chance he would bluff again or value bet worse Q's/PP's. When he checks I think he may have either given up or has a hand that is scared of the 10. Seems a great river so I bet out incase he has a medium PP. Then the quick all in has me thinking. He could have AA,KK or the 10 so I chose to fold as I had only invested £4.50 and im only calling to chop at best.

Bad fold or not?

Player	Action	Cards	Amount	Pot	Balance
Ploppy33	Small blind		£0.05	£0.05	£28.38
cloon	Big blind		£0.10	£0.15	£13.48
	Your hole cards	Qs Ah
CraigSG1	Raise		£0.40	£0.55	£22.72
I	Raise		£1.10	£1.65	£20.86
Ploppy33	Fold
cloon	Fold
CraigSG1	Call		£0.70	£2.35	£22.02
Flop
		Qc 10h 5d
CraigSG1	Check
I	Bet		£1.18	£3.53	£19.68
CraigSG1	Call		£1.18	£4.71	£20.84
Turn
		10d
CraigSG1	Check
I	Check
River
		10c
CraigSG1	Bet		£2.00	£6.71	£18.84
I	All-in		£19.68	£26.39	£0.00
CraigSG1	Fold
I	Muck
I	Win		£8.05		£8.05
I	Return		£17.68	£0.66	£25.73

Another hand, this one I think is a bad call. I made it very quick and before outcome I instantly regretted not thinking, I just got to button happy (or sad thanks to this). I dont think I'm being results orientated at all, I dont think Im ahead here enough (we always have to count the occasional bluff/bad play) and should have folded.

Player	Action	Cards	Amount	Pot	Balance
Ploppy33	Small blind		£0.05	£0.05	£28.23
cloon	Big blind		£0.10	£0.15	£14.29
	Your hole cards	K Q
CraigSG1	Raise		£0.40	£0.55	£18.32
IC3MAN88	Fold
Ploppy33	Call		£0.35	£0.90	£27.88
cloon	Fold
Flop
		Q 5 3
Ploppy33	Check
CraigSG1	Bet		£0.45	£1.35	£17.87
Ploppy33	Call		£0.45	£1.80	£27.43
Turn
		Q
Ploppy33	Check
CraigSG1	Bet		£0.90	£2.70	£16.97
Ploppy33	Call		£0.90	£3.60	£26.53
River
		9
Ploppy33	Check
CraigSG1	Bet		£2.70	£6.30	£14.27
Ploppy33	All-in		£26.53	£32.83	£0.00
CraigSG1	All-in		£14.27	£47.10	£0.00
Ploppy33	Unmatched bet		£9.56	£37.54	£9.56
Ploppy33	Show	9 9
CraigSG1	Show	K Q
Ploppy33	Win	Full House, 9s and Queens	£36.14		£45.70

Any help appreciated.

CraigSG1

Managed a quick hour session, and another profitable one. For once didn't start off bad, the opposite actually. Managed to get paid off with three quick good hands and double up on one table. I ran ok and didn't suffer any bad outdraws and more importantly played well so very happy. 

Session 7: +£23.65

PP: 328

Hopefully will get poker training session in with Paul Lamert180 at some point this weekend, tomorrow night or Sunday hopefully. Bit nervous as I have never done anything like this before and never had anyone to really discuss poker, particularly cash poker, before. I'm self taught and play more off feel than maths. And I still have a lot of MTT thinking. Hopefully he can help me get a feel for using more aggression and in the right manner. I'm ok at bluffing but I don't do it enough in big pots. 

Anyway, we shall see. 

LARSON7

Hey Craig,

Very unlucky in that hand we played tonight.

It'll be good talking to Paul about the hands, always interesting getting some one elses view point or perspective on a hand.

How do you find cash versus mtts?

Are you still keeping your hand in with MTT's?

I love playing cash after mtts, seems like the focus during the tournie really gets you set up  to play cash.

I've sent you a pm mate about that hand as well.

Good luck!

CraigSG1

Well, yesterday was...lets say pants. I have other words but they are very colourfull. I wont moan too much but after an 8th straight winning session of £6+ I then had a really bad session 9 in which I dropped over 4 BI's. I didnt play any differently just lost a buyin when top set lost to a gutshot straigh all in on flop! Then 1010 v JJ against a guy shoving all in every hand and then AA v AQs to a running flush on my first and only nl20 table (larson7 hand) and a few others. 

Session 8: +£6.59  PP: 383

Session 9: -£42.91 PP: 445

Suffice to say felt pretty rubbish and confidence dropped. I could suffer these beats better if I had a few of my own or I made money when they missed but in the last couple weeks (apart from last few days) everyone just gets there. Anyway, enough of that.

Today played a couple MTT's here, got off to a good start in a £5.75BH but then suffered three suckouts to go out in 5 hands. Twice with dominating Aces and then against the table fish I finally hit with AK only to lose to a flopped flush! Did really well in the £2 freebuy but went out in 8th, again with the best hand when chips went in. 

Played 1h30 mins cash but broke even, again with me not hitting draws when getting great odds and others hitting theres when getting bad odds. 

Session 10: +£0.54 PP: 495

Being new to cash it is really frustrating to be getting a lot of money in ahead but not getting the rewards. I feel that even though I've made profit every month I dont feel I've ever 'ran well' more than just a session or so every now and then. The math says it will come so I guess I have to be patient.

Hi Larson, I replied to your PM as you know, and I am so very grateful to have read what you said this morning as it made me feel better. Did feel quite down. I really want to improve and I just feel i'm doing things wrong when I get these beats as if im missing something.

I haven't played as many MTT's as I used too as when I set my sights on something I try and give it my all and at the monent improving my cash game and doing well is top of my list at the minute. I find that MTT's are more exciting and winning one is the best feeling you can get in poker IMO, especially over big fields. Cash I find I make better profit but it is more of a grind and I feel you have to concentrate more as MTT's have a lot of standard spots and plays where as cash is always changing. I think I will try your way for a bit, load up a few MTT's to relax into it and then play cash at the end or when I only have an hour or so to play.

Thanks, I have a lot of luck I just need to get some good luck.