GaryLaud's diary TEMP SELF SUSPENSION (as at Fri June 20th, 2014)

GaryLaud · April 2014

Totally Mixed Bag of a week - On Tuesday 22/4 I had mixed results playing DYM's, entered four, cashed in two, lost two. On Wednesday 23/4 I decided to try some cash tables and got chatting to some really nice people, made new friends and played very well indeed, adding around 60p in each of the two sessions I enjoyed.

Thur 24/4

This session again was a 2p/4p cash table and was the time when I won by MILES the biggest cash hand/pot of my short Sky Poker career! Dealt Ten's I raised and was called. I flopped a set and this was when the money flew in from all directions! I thought I was deffo good with my set so called and ended up with three players all-in with the third player getting money back as he over-stacked me and the original A/IN for 87p.

What I only realised later when looking back at my hand, is one player had actually FLOPPED a straight! So the hand continued and the turn was a dead-card but the river was a 9, paired the board and I ended up with a Full-House and had out-drawn the others! Just over £6.20 was flying my way and I had doubled-up my buy-in!

I finished that session with around £2.83 up from my buy-in!

Fri 25/4 & Sat 26/4

These two days were losing days - I tried two DYM's, the first I didn't do to well at all and totally shouldn't have played the second as I didn't realise my dinner was ready and was served a few minutes into the game - by the time I came back it was all-over! WHAT A WASTE!

Thought I had played the cash tables poorly that night too and ended up losing 76p & 17p in the two sessions I completed, although on review I didn't lose as many hands as I thought, and a large percentage of the negative figures were the blinds circulating through me.

SUN 26/4

Spent some time reviewing my hand-history from my losing sessions and these made encouraging reading - Other than a couple of fairly hefty pots, which could very easily have gone the other way, I hadn't played the cash tables too badly.

I entered a 10pt FR, but did poorly in this - Im not very good at these turbo freerolls.

Played around an hr of cash tables 2p/4p and this was a much better session. Played the hands I had very well and finished the session 60p-70p UP! which is a similar result like I achieved during the week - I KNOW I can DO this!

My B/Roll according to my XL Spreadsheet, from play this week has gone up around £2, it should be double this, save for my DYM losses and my poor cash tables on Friday - However, my balance is beginning to move in the RIGHT direction, and the comfortable buffer I have in my bankroll is helping especially to cope with the inevitable downswings!

mrsduck · April 2014

Well done Gary..keep it going

GaryQQQ · April 2014

Excellent progress, well played.

I'm impressed by your enthusiasm and determination to improve. This diary is a good read, I wish you the best of luck at the tables.

GaryLaud · April 2014

How much can a mood change in the matter of a few days?? BIG Style! In the last 24hrs I have been such a muppett it's unbelieveable! I may even make a request to sky poker to change my name - with the c**py feeling I have about myself and some of my play. After feeling so positive when I made that diary post on Sunday afternoon, I have managed to eek away a HUGE chunk of my Bankroll in two consecutive night's of play - WHY?!

Well, I'll tell you. IF you look in the "Cash Table Strategy" section of this forum you wil find stupid hand #1 where I ran KK's into a flush - the SECOND time Ive managed to run a premium hand and stuck with it, when ALL evidence was screaming at me I was outdrawn.

I did pretty much the same tonight, but in an even more spectucular fashion, so much so I dont want to go into too much detail such is the embarrasing reading it makes and how much it anger's me so much, especially when I reviewed the rest of my hand history for the session showed very little losses apart from the blinds! IF I can control myself enough I think carry on this form and I'll be back on me feet in no time. A learning curve this poker malarky isn't it!

alex1229 · April 2014

In Response to Re: Diary of a "Rookie" GaryLaud:

How much can a mood change in the matter of a few days?? BIG Style! In the last 24hrs I have been such a muppett it's unbelieveable! I may even make a request to sky poker to change my name - with the c**py feeling I have about myself and some of my play. After feeling so positive when I made that diary post on Sunday afternoon, I have managed to eek away a HUGE chunk of my Bankroll in two consecutive night's of play - WHY?! Well, I'll tell you. IF you look in the "Cash Table Strategy" section of this forum you wil find stupid hand #1 where I ran KK's into a flush - the SECOND time Ive managed to run a premium hand and stuck with it, when ALL evidence was screaming at me I was outdrawn. I did pretty much the same tonight, but in an even more spectucular fashion, so much so I dont want to go into too much detail such is the embarrasing reading it makes and how much it anger's me so much, especially when I reviewed the rest of my hand history for the session showed very little losses apart from the blinds! IF I can control myself enough I think carry on this form and I'll be back on me feet in no time. A learning curve this poker malarky isn't it!
Posted by GaryLaud

Hey

Firstly dont kick yourself to much, everyone loses hands, dont be afraid to post up the hand when you lose its important to get feedback and learn from it even if u think its silly

That KK hand you spoke about you were always going to lose money in that hand, Phil Ivey will have everyone will have, that wasnt the point, the point was you played it to weak to begin with, you were always losing that hand, so relax about it and learn.

How did you do most of your money? Cash? Have you thought about focusing on DYMm;s?

hhyftrftdr · April 2014

Can't see the hand properly, but can see enough to think it might not have been played optimally. Over limping with QQ will rarely be the best line to take. It's the third best starting hand in the game, we should be generally raising accordingly. If someone limps before us and we hold QQ, then get it pumped up and feel good about it. No idea how the hand panned out, but you've made a mistake pre flop IMO.

The_Don90 · April 2014

Gary just havinga little read. Been on ur tables a few times but havent seen u for a few days hope all is well.

I respect the 60p dyms are a cheap game, and given your low br that is good, but the rake is almost impossible to beat. As such id advise stopping these until your playing £3.30 or high which would need a much larger br.

daiw · April 2014

In Response to Re: Diary of a "Rookie" GaryLaud:

Gary just havinga little read. Been on ur tables a few times but havent seen u for a few days hope all is well. I respect the 60p dyms are a cheap game, and given your low br that is good, but the rake is almost impossible to beat. As such id advise stopping these until your playing £3.30 or high which would need a much larger br.
Posted by The_Don90

Yeh gets off these games rake way to much

GaryLaud · April 2014

In Response to Re: Diary of a "Rookie" GaryLaud:

Can't see the hand properly, but can see enough to think it might not have been played optimally. Over limping with QQ will rarely be the best line to take. It's the third best starting hand in the game, we should be generally raising accordingly. If someone limps before us and we hold QQ, then get it pumped up and feel good about it. No idea how the hand panned out, but you've made a mistake pre flop IMO.
Posted by hhyftrftdr

Yes - Looks like the hand hasn't posted properly. seems to happen alot on the forum and there is apparently a certain way to select everything in order to get it to display on the forum properly.

I'll try and repost it later on when I get the chance.

mrsduck · April 2014

https://www.skypoker.com/secure/poker/sky_lobby?action=show_static&page=poker_community_forums&plckForumPage=ForumDiscussion&plckDiscussionId=Cat%3a2e4f51cb-c64c-449f-a843-8db9c5fe7283Forum%3a1c6aca1e-3fea-4914-8d99-3f30a0f01e50Discussion%3a09c8ccf2-d526-4ccf-8247-1eac5a73f9f7
How to post a hand x

GaryLaud · April 2014

In Response to Re: Diary of a "Rookie" GaryLaud:

In Response to Re: Diary of a "Rookie" GaryLaud : Had a similar occurrance in my King's hand where I had Queen's and ran them into a set, though I was silly enough to keep betting to the point where I had around a whopping 80 BB's in the middle.Posted by GaryLaud

Player	Action	Cards	Amount	Pot	Balance
SB	Small blind		£0.02	£0.02	£7.36
BB	Big blind		£0.04	£0.06	£5.47
	YR CRDS	Qc Qd
b	Call		£0.04	£0.10	£2.70
GaryLaud	Call		£0.04	£0.14	£3.31
m	Fold
Villain	Raise		£0.16	£0.30	£9.83
n	Fold
k	Fold
b	Call		£0.12	£0.42	£2.58
GaryLaud	Call		£0.12	£0.54	£3.19
Flop
		Kc 4h 3h
b	Check
GaryLaud	Check
Villain	Bet		£0.41	£0.95	£9.42
b	Fold
GaryLaud	Call		£0.41	£1.36	£2.78

Turn

		6d
GaryLaud	Bet		£0.24	£1.60	£2.54
Villain	Call		£0.24	£1.84	£9.18

River

		10d
GaryLaud	Bet		£0.24	£2.08	£2.30
Villain	Raise		£2.56	£4.64	£6.62
GaryLaud	All-in		£2.30	£6.94	£0.00
Villain	Unmatched bet		£0.02	£6.92	£6.64
GaryLaud	Show	Qc
GaryLaud	Show	Qd
Villain	Show	10c
Villain	Show	10h
Villain	Win	Three 10s	£6.40		£13.04

The_Don90 · April 2014

this QQ hand makes so litlle sense.

3b pre cont flop etc

as played flop call fine. turn lead is strange i c/c again to assess river but not lovin it might c/f v some. river is a very easy fold

Matt237 · April 2014

Raise to 16-24p pre flop. Then you can continue as aggressor.

As played you should check/call turn, like don said to reassess river. River i think is a check/call again, whilst we arent beating much the flush draw missed and he may take a stab at it on the river. I'm no cash wiz though. Just a little unfortunate that came on the river but when he shoves that river i think it's a fold.

GaryLaud · April 2014

Did I achieve my APRIL targets? Let's review

1a) Build my BR above £5 - YES I achieved that target in a BIG way by winning some money in the turbo open, athough thanks to a recent (and well documented poor run, this has declined somewhat)

1b) MTT's:- MIXED RESULT:- I Finished I.T.M in the turbo open recently for just over £20 and cashed again a few days later - since then I've not won anything so Mixed result here.

2) DYM's:- Done quite well in these and my record stands at 7-in-a-row. (in terms of successes- IE I won/Cashed)

3) CASH:- YES I managed to have a sufficient bankroll to play in 2p/4p games, although I now realise that ideally I am going to need a minimum of around £40 for this, which will cover me for 100 games, altough I can't imagine I'd end up losing my entire B/I every time I play.

NEXT POST;- MY TARGET'S for MAY!

GaryLaud · April 2014

MAY TARGETS for GARYLAUD

MONTH TARGETS

1) spin up B/ROLL so that it is 2x what it is at the time of this posting: TARGET: £12.50

2) Earn that Magic 100poker points or "Cash for points" (Need to Avg 3-4 per day)

3) Score at least ONE Cash in an MTT.

4) Above 50% Winning Margin in DYM entries

WEEK TARGET

To B/Even or Increase Bankroll

DAILY TARGETS:-

1) to play sufficient volume to attract above 3pts

2) Win more than lose at DYM's.

GaryLaud · May 2014

In Response to Re: Diary of a "Rookie" GaryLaud:

MAY TARGETS for GARYLAUD MONTH TARGETS 1) spin up B/ROLL so that it is 2x what it is at the time of this posting: TARGET: £12.50 2) Earn that Magic 100poker points or "Cash for points" (Need to Avg 3-4 per day) 3) Score at least ONE Cash in an MTT. 4) Above 50% Winning Margin in DYM entries WEEK TARGET To B/Even or Increase Bankroll DAILY TARGETS:- 1) to play sufficient volume to attract above 3pts 2) Win more than lose at DYM's.
Posted by GaryLaud

Well, my may challenge is well under-way! I actually started monitoring my DYM progress on wednesday, and although a little cheating I admitt , the bulk of my DYM entries didn't actually come until after 10pm when I had finished playing the £1.10 deepstack.

So, May 1st Results ARE:-

Pld 4

Success 2

Fails 2

Win rate: 50% (which is neither success or fail on my daily target)

BR:- Slight decrease of 20p, which is acceptable, sort of, due to the fact that one could argue that the rake will account for the losses.

I'll log all of these in a similar way to how Mrsduck & Peter27 do thiers and put me comments in below the results - Probably keep this updated every couple of days and post a weekly summary on sundays.

FWIW:- I'll more & likely keep away from cash tables at the moment as I can't play them to "save my life" and if I'm winning loads, then occasionally I'll treat myself to an entry in a cheap deepstack tourney or something like that, as although I fancy a crack at a timed tournament, they are a little TOO expensive at present with my limited bankroll.

Speaking of Bankroll, I'll also post limited comments on 'Orfords forum too..

GaryLaud · May 2014

A Few days since my last post, so time for an update. Poker is game of swings & roundabouts so it would appear and sometimes you run good and sometimes no matter what you do, if the poker-gods are angry, you will just lose, lose, lose....oh wait.......AND lose some more!

After a sort of OK start, where I had posted Micro-losses of around 1B/I day two I had taken a significant decline in my BR of around 4 BIs (@30p level) After posting a run of 4x straight losses...However the sting was taken away by the HUGE result in the TOTP's tournament where my BR had a significant revival with me banking £25. However I'm not including this in any of my current BR monitoring although I may reveal at the end of may whether this has directly influenced the outcomes of one of my main targets.

May 3rd was a mostly winning day, I won 6/10 games although the BR decline of 10p I can mainly attribute to playing the larger 60p DYM's - I certainly am NOT used to these formats as yet, and finding them VERY Difficult to beat!

GaryLaud · May 2014

Sun May 4th I played just four games, after being at my sister's for a large part of the evening and being very tired during the day. Two Wins from four games.....Slight decline obviously - profits were 'outdrawn' from the losses.

LAST NIGHT 5/5:- VERY Swingy Indeed. STUCK to 30p games and had a "Crystal Palace" of an evening - played 8 games, first two were shared, 1x Win, 1x Loss, then I conceeded FOUR on the bounce, couldn't get a break and then Cashed/'Won' my last three of the evening..but Still -40p...Need to stop these creeping backwards of my BR!!!

TONIGHT:- OH DEAR, OH DEAR ME! WHAT a POOR EVENING! As I still have many, many BI's for 30p level and a good number of games at 60p, I decided to give the 60p's a couple of goe's tonight...Didn't play very good at all in the first one, although I got me chips in good on a couple of occasions, was always destined to lose this one circa poor form.

The second I was treading water fine, and it was beginning to come down to four players nicely. Couple of well timed win's by other's meant I was 4/4 and having to get pretty shove-happy..Shoved a couple of occasions and lucked in, and was now 3/4..However wasn't to last, the short-stack got shove happy too and hit a couple of outragious outs..My exit hand was truely memorable. I had QQ's and I shoved into a pair of DEUCES...

HAPPY DAYS Usually...Not for me tonight, ANGRY POKER GODS very clearly!!!!! Floppy is dealt 2,k,2 and my OPPY as flopped FOUR OF A KIND!! EEK!#

GaryLaud · May 2014

Tonight:- (Cont) - REVERTING BK TO 30p

I decided to revert myself back to playing 30p turbo's at this point, thinking "I'm good at these I might be able to salvage something...First game was pretty standard, but alas a defeat ensued.

Second game, was going quite well, and I was pretty much fairing between 3rd-4th, and thinking of the spots that I c..............DAMN! WHATS HAPPENED I asked...

TV Show Frozen, Poker Table Frozen...No activity from browser window! OH ****..

So I ended up re-starting both my laptop and router and by the time my antiquated equipment was back up & running the DYM I was playing in had finished, and alas I had been blinded out!

30p GAME THREE

So I plod-on into one more 30p DYM, all i want is ONE win tonight pls...Just ONE!!! NAH! I called my 33's into a player shoving with A-K. Which looked OK as I was over-stacked on my Oppy, until the river comes and Oppy has a str8..

Next hand, THREE of us are A/In with my J-T facing off vs 2's and A-3o. Flop is 889, Turn a K and the river a 3, meaing I'm out to two pairs 3 & 8's.

GaryLaud · May 2014

In Response to Re: GaryLaud's diary + May Challenge:

Tonight:- (Cont) - REVERTING BK TO 30p......Next hand, THREE of us are A/In with my J-T facing off vs 2's and A-3o. Flop is 889, Turn a K and the river a 3, meaing I'm out to two pairs 3 & 8's.
Posted by GaryLaud

So what's the plan then? well tomorrow (weds, well today now) I will probably sit down and review all my losing hands and winning hands t see what exactly has gone so badly wrong for me and why I am failing to turn around a game which was proving quite straight-foward a few days ago..

I will also be checking out John Connor's excellent DYM guide again to see if there's anything which i am clearly missing, and also I think some hours on the practice tables will be in order-watching them first to ensure that play is as good as I need it to be and not being populated with Shove-heavy guys just along for a bit of fun!

alex1229 · May 2014

In Response to Re: GaryLaud's diary + May Challenge:

Tonight:- (Cont) - REVERTING BK TO 30p I decided to revert myself back to playing 30p turbo's at this point, thinking "I'm good at these I might be able to salvage something...First game was pretty standard, but alas a defeat ensued. Second game, was going quite well, and I was pretty much fairing between 3rd-4th, and thinking of the spots that I c..............DAMN! WHATS HAPPENED I asked... TV Show Frozen, Poker Table Frozen...No activity from browser window! OH ****.. So I ended up re-starting both my laptop and router and by the time my antiquated equipment was back up & running the DYM I was playing in had finished, and alas I had been blinded out! 30p GAME THREE So I plod-on into one more 30p DYM, all i want is ONE win tonight pls...Just ONE!!! NAH! I called my 33's into a player shoving with A-K. Which looked OK as I was over-stacked on my Oppy, until the river comes and Oppy has a str8.. Next hand, THREE of us are A/In with my J-T facing off vs 2's and A-3o. Flop is 889, Turn a K and the river a 3, meaing I'm out to two pairs 3 & 8's.
Posted by GaryLaud

Why are u calling someones shove with pocket 3's?

GaryLaud · May 2014

My last posting I made to this diary I was in the midst of a Run-Bad. However I did alot of reading on the 7th and played 10x30p Turbo DYM's. Cashed in Four of them, so made a loss for the day.

8th May, was the day I lost my Grandmother, so I didnt play any competitive poker and railed a few friends in the evening, whilst talking alot to other S/P members.

Fri 9th

8x30p Turbo's in the evening hrs, only cashed in two of them - decided to change strategy somewhat after practicing on a play-money site at a much slower pace of DYM and winning regularly, I moved UP to the 60p Standard speed (5min Blind) DYM. I CASHED IT!

Sat 10th

After yet more practice and analysis of hands & techniques and another watch-thru of the DYM show with Rich & Ross, I played some more 60p DYM's with VAST improvements, 75% win-rate for the 4x I had time for in the evening hrs. Only time I failed in a DYM today was when I lost my computer for a good 10-mins or so and had to re-start. By the time I got back to the table, I had a mere 200 chips!

Sund 11th

Didn't play on SKY until late tonight. However another run-good followed and I cashed 2/3 of the games played, again at 60p. I GII with AA's and got UL when my oppy finished with 2x pair against my AA's, which was the only time tonight I failed in a DYM.

The finish to tonight's play was an incredible hand. I GII with my pocket QQ's having the table 4x handed with me on 5bb's next nearest on 7BB's and two large stacks @ around 30-40 BIGS.

7 bigs came along with 77's as did one of the larger stacks with AJo. Flop was QA2, Turn=9, and another 2 on the river meant I had a Full House and had my cash safely locked up, and the larger stack was also awarded a few chips with 2x pair.

Good way to finish a gr8 weekend.

mrsduck · May 2014

Well done Gary! What's your BR now?

GaryLaud · May 2014

Hi Mrsduck,

Thanks for your message - I have sent you a private message back in response to ur question.

belsibub · May 2014

I much prefer the structure on the 5min dym's over the turbo's(more beatable in long run for solid play).

The only problem is since the introduction of hi lo splitting liquidity(& the loss of 30p 5min blinds) the standard micro dym's do not run as often.So as a rec I end up playing whats running & what I can earn the 10 points a day to play the £300 freeroll in the limited time I have to play.

GL with your challenge.

unknown_username · May 2014

Hi Gary

I've just read your diary by chance from start to finish and it rather refreshing to see a player not fighting and complaining because their bankroll hasn't increased as exponentially as it should due to their ability. This is good because it show an honesty in your emotions as well as ability. You deserve to improve for the effort you are putting in. Your organisation seems good but you must look at how good players are playing hands.

One other thing is that at very low bi's etc or 30p dyms, there will inevitably be a naivety, shall we say, of play. The mental side of poker involves what level of thinking you are appling(key it in to your internet). If you can be a level 3 thinker then you will have an advantage.

Also, it seems fairly obvious that you are whats known as a passive player at times. You need to see the advantages etc of LAGs Tags etc and start to use a particular way of playing.

There are so many stages to improve at but you will see that improvement by recording. One thing is that you may find it difficult when you are playing a mixture of games especially cash v mtt's as they are different beast.

All the best in your journey...

GaryLaud · May 2014

In Response to Re: GaryLaud's diary + May Challenge:

There are so many stages to improve at but you will see that improvement by recording. One thing is that you may find it difficult when you are playing a mixture of games especially cash v mtt's as they are different beast. All the best in your journey...
Posted by profman15

Hi profman,

Thanks for your kind words and ecouragement - have given me a couple of little bits to lookup now. You said about recording results so that I can track improvement. I've started a comprehensive spreadsheet where every game is copied from the account page into it, and I've got a running score of my DYM play, in both 30p turbo & 60p standard variant, as well as an overal total of DYM's regardless of format. Together with this I have also recorded a win % which I am actively tracking on a day-to-day basis, with one of my main daily targets for may, to score an above 50% win rate.

I am also actively monitoring the movement on my bankroll so both good & bad days are showing up clearly, both in terms of win % and net effect of profit/loss on my BR.

You'll see my analysis of yesterday's play which will follow in the next posting.

Regards

Gary

GaryLaud · May 2014

BLEEEUURRRGGGGHHH

I think I can use this word to best sum up my performance at the tables last night. I took part in 4x 60p DYM's and only cashed in 1, my last one of the evening..

I noticed that ALL of the games I played in were very tough, tight afairs and that in one game, the first elimination didn't come until Blind-level 8!

Would have expected this sort of standard at much higher levels than 60p!

In my last game that I cashed, I think I locked up my result when I changed my attitude from one of playing tight, (as per advice on Ross/Rich DYM Guides) to very loose/aggressive.

Towards the end, getting fed up, I put in a 3x raise with AT UTG, and got fold's all around!

Next suitable hand I had AK in the BB, I got a raise in front, and called off the raise. Flopped 1x pair of A's and put in a 2x Bet. Q on the turn, 8 on the river and I bet all three streets. Only player left folded on the river and I collected a very nice pot..

With such aggressiveness getting through, I am beginning to wonder if it's worth trying the odd aggressive bluff?

The_Don90 · May 2014

Thanks for a little rail last night bud.

The dyms will come in time and you highlight a big issue imo of them in your above post. If the table knows what its doing the edge is tiny and you have to adapt, but adapting isnt always great dym strat.

You mention trying bluffs, this is something worthwhile at the right times. Id encourage you to build your roll a little more first but trying new things, and seeing how they go is never bad, expessially if you take time t understand why it did or didn't work.

The world is your oyster and you seem to be enjoying it alot bud.

All the best

GaryLaud · May 2014

CAN I THROW MY LAPTOP ACROSS THE ROOM PLEASE?

This is basically the feeling I have at present. I have this evening played in 5 DYM Sit/Go's and have failed to cash in EVERY ONE, even being FIRST eliminated in my most recent game..

Seemed what-ever I tried, I was destined to fail; Got virtually blinded out having sat there pressing FOLD numerous times haveing been dealt total and utter BS cards, and having pressed fold, having seen myself would have flopped, turned or rivered at least two pairs, sets, flushes etc...Yet when a reasonable hand comes along like AJ, QK, QA, JJs I somehow fail to flop anything and when I did try and bet, found my opponent ended up with anything from JJ's to AA's and Straight/Flushy draws on the board...

With my current mind-set I just gonna go and pack-it-in for tonight, and sit and watch the europa league final

GaryLaud's diary TEMP SELF SUSPENSION (as at Fri June 20th, 2014)

Comments