Fear

Whether it's cash games or tournaments... once you're out of money, or out of chips... that's the end.

I think the fear of that happening is hindering me. As far as it prevents me from playing weak hands, it's not such a bad thing. However, it also restricts my betting, and that gets in the way of winning, which is bad.

I've done fairly well playing lots of speculative hands, at some points... it's rather risky, though, especially if you misread other peoples' hands. So nowadays, I play very conservatively, just the top fifty or so hands, with rather careful betting most of the time.

I've been on the receiving end of aggressive betting, myself - something like 5x - 6x blinds on a pre-flop betis enough to put people off even potential winning hands, myself included. I probably should't be that afraid of those bets.

In any case, my bankroll has hit a flat zero, again. :(

Ups And Downs

I act... rashly, with my bankroll. So, I hereby promise to only play the 1/2 cent blinds cash games, outside the freeroll tournaments, until I have more than $10 on my bankroll.

...which will take a while. Which is a problem, as I'm in serious need of cash, as in I only got to eat today because my brother is visiting and he bought me dinner.

So, yeah, my bankroll went down to $0.45. Oops.

Maybe I'll play better today, now that I'm not so hungry anymore.

$5 Click Card

Free money, yay!

I'm playing 2 cent blinds NL cash game, and a $1 rebuy speed tournament, I should see which one is more profitable for me at this point, if I keep playing the cash game simultaneously with the tournament.

*edit*

Got eliminated around 80th spot in the tournament, so winning about $2.20 on cash game, is clearly the winner.
A shame, as the profit margin is much better at winning tournaments. *sigh*

WPT Vienna

Digged up the passwords for the $1000 live stream ( - which is an interesting watch - ) and the $500 Twitter game. At least placing would give me access to cash games, again. Hm.

Placed 160th on the WPT Barcelona Freeroll game. My late game is still weak.

Update: Only managed to get about 1100th place in the live stream game - I had a long streak of no good hands, so I went all in with AJ offsuit, and... so, yeah.

I also do very badly on $50 and $250 freeroll games, for some reason. Hm.

Update 2: So... Um... I was kinda asleep past the start of Vienna Twitter game. The game had gone on for nearly fifty minutes when I got up, at which point the blinds had pretty much eaten up my stack.  So... yeah.

Oops.

WPT Vienna

Digged up the passwords for the $1000 live stream ( - which is an interesting watch - ) and the $500 Twitter game. At least placing would give me access to cash games, again. Hm.

Placed 160th on the WPT Barcelona Freeroll game. My late game is still weak.

So how am I doing?

Well, it's been... nearly three weeks since I started playing.
I managed $0.04 worth in a $50 limit holdem, and so forth. I'm not just sure...

*sigh*

I'm hungry.

It's easy to reach the top, oh, 10% of any tournament by only playing the premium hands, and even then conservatively, but that means one'll probably be short-stacked when there's only that 10% left, unless you run into a lucky streak when the blinds start getting big.

I don't do quite as many bone-headed mistakes any more, so that's good, at least. Now, if only I had food....

A Tournament-mistake would be to bet large sums - say, more than half of your remaining chips - in an early spot - while there are still thousands of players remaining - when there's a distinct possibility of the other player having a better hand.

Or how I just lost 95% of my chips with a JK vs. a KK hand. I should have read it from the bets, but frankly, the player had a tendency to bet big with all sorts of hands, so....

Losing with Aces

During the last day, I've had two aces come up five times in my games. Once, I doubled up. Once, I just won the blinds. Three times, I lost completely, with opponents lucking into flushes or draws by the time River arrives.

Just now, my Aces went up against a pair of sevens, all pre-flop, and the other guy is all-in. So, what cards hit the table? Why, three, four, five and six, of course.

I'm feeling just a tad unlucky.

When to throw away a set of aces?

Well, obviously, when there's a straight or a flush on the table and someone just went nuts with the betting.

Yes, there's a tragic tale behind this advice.

Looser hands

That is, suited connectors, or sometimes just suited cards - if you can see the flop for the price of the big blind, you get access to a lot more winning situations, which can be useful.

A Tournament mistake to eliminate:
I seem to have the tendency to go all-in against people with more chips, when all I have is a mid-pair.

Okay, I had A-T heart suite, and flop was K-7-T, with a single heart card. Turn card was a heart, so I bet expensively on it - after all, I had quite a few outs. But, the heart didn't come on the river, and naturally the opponent had a King, and that's all she wrote for that tournament. I was doing pretty well until then, too. :(

Anyway, the mistake here was betting all my chips on such an expensive duel in a tournament.

I'm My Own Worst Enemy

I did really badly on the tournaments. I placed well enough in the $1.5K newbie one to get $1, but I really blew it on the $2.5K qualifier ( which would have included a place on a much bigger monthly game ) as well as the 50 seat  frenzy. Both were stupid plays on bad hands, and I even had an inkling of the hand my opponent had in both situations.

I'm mad at myself, sure enough.

Good, or not? It's kind of like fishing.

Waiting for good hands - high card suited connectors at least - can get pretty tedious. So, poker is a lot like fishing - lots and lots of waiting, short moments of frenzied action, and even if you catch your prey (the pot) it may be undersized.

I'm not the most patient person in the world, although I am pretty good at waiting. Still, watching one's stack of chips dwindle while waiting for a good hand in a good position can be quite taxing.

Cash games are especially nerve-wracking. as you can directly see it's money you lose on the blinds, while waiting for good cards, and even if  you happen to get a good hand, the flop may completely spoil things for you... and sometimes it's hard to let a good hand go, after the flop spells doom.

And there's the thing - You mustn't be controlled by greed. A degree of humility is needed for survival - humility and boldness - not quite courage - but, as you win very rarely, when you do, you must reap decent-sized rewards. This means, you can't just use moderately-sized bets. It's possible to increase your stack by an order of magnitude in three hands or less, but it requires, well, gambling.

Big day tomorrow

I have four big tournament games tomorrow, all starting between 8 and 10 PM. Oh dear.

• The 50 Seat Frenzy, with a prize pool of $10,750
• New Player $1.5K Freeroll, with a reward of $266.25 for number one slot
• WSOP New Player Freeroll, with a prize pool of $7,500
• Bankroll Builder $2.5K Weekly with a reward of $250 for the top spot. 

If, by some freakish stroke of luck and good condition I'd happen to win, I'd be finally okay for a while, again. 

Four tournaments at the same time, however, is tough. I can't really follow other players' game that well, so I won't be able to track their betting behavior that well, which is a hindrance. Especially, as I'm only a mediocre player myself, at this point. 

Concentrate!

As much as I like tournaments, I only really do well if I focus on them rather intently, If I watch High Stakes or read a book at the same time, or so --- I may still end up in the top 10%-20% - but that's not good enough when there may be thousands of participants. Also, I'll be ignorant of the playing style of the players in my table, and that matters a whole lot. A big pre-raise gets wasted, if the chip leader is All-In happy.

So, to win, I stare. It's very draining. There's also a risk I get over-excited and start playing bad hands.

In any case, I've done terribly in most cash-reward games, usually dying on a stupid all-in call, sometimes wasting significant chip lead on bad play just before - I have issues with long-term endurance and concentration, but improving those is one of the benefits of playing poker...

Note to self, I need to write a post about the mental and behavioral benefits of playing Texas Hold'em.

Play style musings.

So yeah... tight-aggressive.

I've done significantly better by sticking to better hands - no worse than suited connectors, suited As, both cards high and so forth - AND betting more aggressively. By putting a nice, 4x big blind raise into the pot with a good hand pre-flop, will either win you the blinds then and there - or you might get money in the pot, and thus win more.

One thing I find useful, though, is trying to avoid risking more than one-fourth - a quarter - of the pot on one hand, unless I'm pretty sure I have the nuts. Avoiding All Ins, while leaving me with less wins, also leads to less devastating losses - most of my big losses - also some of the big wins - have come from All Ins. I mean, if I have the ace-high flush, it's obviously the right thing to do, but, say, with a three of a kind when there's a higher pair on the table? Much more risky.

Well, that's interesting.

I was playing on a Nordic 50 Seat qualifier, and since I've already scored a place, I was playing around and learning.

I played silly aggressive, playing almost every hand and bluffing when the opportunity came, and I was winning left and right. I guess it could be because the common strategy early in a tournament is to play really tight.

I did still crash, when I faced a tempting all-in where I was waiting on a 10 to complete a straight on the River, which didn't come, so my opponent took all but 600 chips with a JT pair.

But still, aggressive and loose is strong when everyone else is being tight and passive. Good way to get a chip lead early on, as long as one can switch gears later. In any case, my post-flop play still sucks, in my opinion.

I'm also flat broke again; I need to start winning some tournaments.

WSOP Freeroll

Placed 36th out of... how many thousands? Was doing fairly well, too, but judged a person's all-in call to be a bluff and STUPIDLY, SO STUPIDLY went all-in myself. Would have probably made the final table otherwise.

Especially as I had a mid-pair and it WAS likely the raising guy had a Jack.

It's never been more obvious than it is now, that I'm my own worst enemy.

Thinking of Some Simple Heuristics

Uppercase words again? What's up with that?
It seemed more like a title that way, I guess?

I need to keep the starting hands listed in Wikipedia I referred to in an earlier post in mind, constantly. It makes me a better player. Otherwise I keep playing crap - or at least semi-crap - hands a lot more.

Even a small raise, such as 2x blinds is enough of a psyochological block to wean out non-confident players. A large raise after the river card can scare off a lot of people, too.... Of course, recognizing people's playing habits IS rather necessary for that to work reliably... and when one's scared, it's hard to change that on a whim.

So... I only play hands listed, for the most part, or if there's no ante and blinds are small. Stealing blinds is  important once they get big enough, but at, oh, 1/20th of stack, not really an issue.

Most of the time, I aim to either raise or fold, since I need to be either winning, or cutting my losses and running.

My biggest losses come from miscalculating a situation and betting big when I _think_ I have the best hand, but really... don't.

I also lose quite often when I have a good hand but must avoid All In on tournaments - I lose most All Ins, and the ones I haven't were where I had about 90% winning chance after the flop.

Sometimes I disregard my instincts and call something I pretty much know I'll lose, because I just have to see. That's less than fun.

I may have learned the wrong lesson

The uppercase first letter thing bugs me; I'm not gonna do it anymore.

I was reading Small Stakes Hold 'em: Winning Big With Expert Play, and I think I saw there the reason I haven't been doing so hot lately: I've had some lucky streaks, as well as unlucky ones, and I've learned the wrong lesson from them, I think. I'm either too reckless or too conservative, so I lose in the long run, right now.

I hope I can change this habit; I'll keep reading more of the book, it's interesting.

In Retrospect, Yesteday Wasn't Good

English is a funny language, not sure what's up with capitalizing every word in title.

I lost quite a bit yesterday, due to bad risks, but also due to getting bullied out of winnable pots by aggressive players. On the other hand, taking unreasonable risks is supposed to be a no-no, but if a player notices you're too afraid to go All In, they'll use that leverage to bully you around - unless you're the chip leader.

So, it's a big issue when short-stacked. Not sure what to do about it, besides trying to luck into winning flops.

I did run into situations where the opponents lucked into a straight or a flush on the river card when I did take risks, so... T_T

Here's something to read by Phil Ivey.
I think he's on to something. I've studied strategies and whatnot, but at some point I stopped seeing the cards.
I mean, at the level I play, very few players bluff at all, so what cards they have can often be determined by whether they check or raise at the flop.

A Table Full of Fish

I did okay at the 5/10 cent stakes, ran into a table full of fish, as mentioned. Won $17, which is a nice chunk going towards recouping my losses.

Invested $6 on a tournament. We'll see how that goes. I haven't been doing too hot on tournaments lately.

*edit*
Well, I ranked just barely. I've made the final table only ONCE and even then it was cancelled, as the reward for all seats was the same - a place in a bigger tournament.

I am playing with a better chip stack in most tournaments  so that's good...

My current balance is $3.16, which isn't much...

I think I'm getting better

Placed 15th in a win-a-TV tournament - a shame, final table would have scored some money.

Also did okay on a $1 rebuy tournament, without, y'know, rebuying. I blame my lack of success on me getting sleepy.

I mean, I do okay AND even become my table's chip leader semi-reliably, so that's... good?

In other news, my keyboard broke on my workstation. Writing onna laptop.

*edit*

I think one of the key aspects for me doing better has been that I know when to risk larger sums, and I'm getting better at being sufficiently patient, and knowing when to fold.

I do better when I just play the very good cards - both cards 8 or higher, minimum - most of the time. My natural sloppiness and impatience puts in the sufficient amount of accidental weak hands and bluffs, which keep the opponents off-balance, I hope.

Nordic 50 seat frenzy qualifier

Came in second, qualified for a ten grand game. :D
I played my game, and it worked. Stealing blinds totally dominated late game.

I'm very happy.

I tried some cash games, and I sucked badly... I did okay initially, but then I crash&burned. :/

That was fun.

Wsop Freeroll, 197 out of 3500.
Went from a chip stack of 44000 to zero in one hand, and was doing really well until then, even if I had few All In close calls. That's the type of excitement I must learn to avoid. I was up against a player with 100000K, and my hand was KQ, which gave me a high pair K, and there was nothing else on the table...

Except he coulda had trips or something. In this particular case, he had AAs.

So, again, I failed, not due to luck, but by my own impulsive nature. T_T

I cannot play

A K8 beat my AK on the $§1.5K game. Once again I broke my rule of never going all in.

I can't see the cards right now. I mean, I do still often call the cards others have, but I just, sort of hope I'm wrong and play and screw up. It's really really annoying.

I'm going to play the next game very conservatively - giving up anything beyond the flop, if they don't fold on my raise, just checking everything and folding on a raise. Let's see how that goes

*edit*

Whoo, pretty well. I had a decent amount of chips (about 2x average) and at 500th position on the big $50 game (big as in lots and lots of participants, not much in the way of rewards).

Anyway, with blinds at 1200 and ante rising, I started playing properly, and quickly, after playing a few decent hands, got really excited with an AK hand, especially as I had a high pair, and went all in against another guy.

*sigh*

I even thought of the phrase "Anna Kournikova - looks good, never wins" before playing. The other guy had A4, and there was 4 in the flop, so his two pairs beat me.

That was very invigorating, and I did win all of $0.01, so I don't feel TOO bad, however I would have won at least ten times that much by the virtue of being away, and allowing ante and blinds to just eat my stack of chips. *sigh*

Still can't control my emotions. In any case, sticking to sniping with good hands is a good strategy at least 'til Ante comes along.

Big day // Tired

Won nothing yesterday.

Today there's the $1.5K New Player Freeroll game - winning that would put me in a nice position.

I wonder, when I come into some money - that is, at least $1 - if ring games are the best play for me, or if I should go for tournaments, instead. I've done okay on ring games, but I've also lost, so I guess it does depend.

I do have a serious tendency to start playing weak hands, so I gotta be careful with it.

I'm really fatigued today. I won't register into any new games in a while, I still have few more in queue - I'll do those and then rest for a while.

I'll report if I happen to win anything, or place impressively enough to mention.

I always lose when I do things I know I shouldn't

Okay, so I had A T and flop gave me the T highest pair. Two players went all-in, and I had the best hand, but I would also have to go all in.

Now, I KNEW that in tournament  you NEVER risk all your chips if you can help it - sure, dropping into 1400 chips with big blind at 300 would have hurt, and the probability of another player having TT was unlikely - admittedly, they could also had a higher pair in hand.

So, I went all in, knowing I shouldn't, and lost,  as luck came down with a K on the River, which gave the highest pair to another player.

In retrospect, the probability of a J, Q, or K in their hands was high, and that gave them all in all 9 cards which would beat me, in addition to dropping a small pair, which might have them three-of-a-kind, did exist, so they had... um, about 1 in 4 chance of beating me, so...

Argh! In my defense, I didn't intend to play, my head was just too hot to sleep.

Green tea seems to help on that, btw.

Poker blogs are boring!

I wonder what to do about it? I guess talking of specific hands gets boring.

Today, I won nothing. I did place 22nd on another Nordic Spring qualifier game.
Ah well.

But, seriously, I need to win some cold, hard cash, pronto.

Found an interesting article

How To Win On Hold'Em Tournaments.

I can at least agree that one must be SUPER-tight most of the way - only problem you'll have like that, is that you may end up being short-stacked when the blinds start rising. Just being very tight can easily get you to top 90th percentile.

I'm currently playing on another WPT Bratislava Freeroll, so we'll see.

*edit* Was doing pretty well, until I made a bad call, and dropped low. I managed to build myself back up, but made another bad call. After that it was pretty much waiting for a good hand and going all in. Finished about 160th or so. T_T

Now on the Nordic Frenzy tournament, I'm doing okay so far, but it just started.

*Edit* Finished NINETEENTH!!!!1one. Small blind on a A8, lost to all-in bet on a A9. Damn damn damn!

Time to start playing less and winning more.

Okay.

Yesterday, I made it to 68th position out of 5000 or so. However, I needed to hit 50th to get a prize - which would have included a seat in another tournament with bigger prizes. However, with just few more places to go, I took too big a risk too early, and ....

It was bitter. Really, really bitter.

I've been playing more than 5 tournament games per day, which is a nice way of gaining experience, however I get REALLY worn out pretty fast.

Using a tight-aggressive strategy, I can make it to the top 95% in tournaments pretty reliably, however, I must concentrate pretty hard to avoid self-destructing or falling into traps.

I also need money pretty soon. This means, I need to start placing way better. Like, I need to reach final tables.
So, I will play fewer tournaments per day, focusing on the ones with the biggest pay-off.

Limit or No Limit?

I prefer the style of gameplay in no-limit games, but since I tend to go for various All-In traps, I can survive a bit better at Limit games. Hm.

Went all-in again on a Nordic 50 Seat Frenzy Qualifier Speed game. Admittedly, I was already seriously short-stacked, but regardless, I should just avoid that unless I have a flush or higher.

*edit*
Won $0.04 at $50 Freeroll Limit Hold'em, putting me at $0,13.

I was eliminated again due to going All In. I might have hung on long enough if I hadn't bet on a mediocre hand  - Q9 suited.

Failed on WSOP freeroll early, too, went all in on a pair of aces and ran into a straight. Stupid.

To reiterate:

• Never go all in, if you don't have to
• check for straight, flush, full house before thinking your hand is the best.

Do you feel lucky?

I really don't, not right now. There's something odd about my behavior. I had a $50 freeroll game, but I flubbed it, practically intentionally - went All In with a weak hand, although I had roughly 1/2 odds of winning, but still... one should never risk that big early in the tournament, in my opinion.

So why did I do it? Am I on Tilt?

Was too lazy to cook so swallowed some rice grains and drank a lot of water. Sorta works. I'll eat properly later.

$250 Freeroll

Currently on break. Not doing too good, but hanging in there.

Stats:

Table: MTCTs

Game: Hold'em

Hands played: 789

Your actions:

Fold: 30%

Call: 28%

Check: 10%

Bet: 18%

Raise: 11%

Re-raise: 0%

Where you fold:

Pre-Flop: 46%

Flop: 8%

Turn: 5%

River: 3%

No-Fold: 36%

Hands won: 30%

Showdowns won: 9%

Flops seen: 42%

Win % of Flops Seen: 44%

Not sure if it's good or bad. Being more conservative than in earlier games.

*edit*

Placed 1078 out of 11195. Got $0.05. Again, lost my placing simply due to making a bad call, and pushing when I shouldn\t have, since I had good cards and ran straight into a straight. Still, I'm up to $0,07 bankroll...

$50 Freeroll

Placed 437th out of 5745 participants, gained $0.02.

I... once again, took too big a risk - I was at 20K chips, which wasn't much, but would have kept me in game for quite a while, just checking and folding. Probably would have been more profitable. No, definitely would have been more profitable.

I must improve my self-control.

Playing badly

I'm not feeling too good right now. I may have caught a bug of some sort last weekend, or maybe I ate something unsuitable.

Basically, I just lost three tournaments BADLY. Basically, I play too weak hands, like T8 suited, and from too weak / early and mid positions. Ugh.

Never ever go all in!

Aargh!
On the WPT Bratislava tournament I lost chunks of money on bad All In calls again, and went All In while still having 40K in chips --- with only 93 out of 3500 remaining, and top 50 would'a gained a tournament entry!

I hate myself so much right now.

The above rule isn't that iron tight - when you're too low on chips, you can go all in, or when you have fours, full house, straight or some other highly likely to win set.

*edit*
On a $250K Gtd Sunday 10 Point Qualifier NL Hold'em, I did very badly, and again lost on All In.
I bet on unsuited AK and KQ and other high pairs, but I guess I failed on reading my opponents. I was low enough on chips and I had a good hand, KQ, with a flop of JQA so I risked it, but my opponent had A7.

*sigh*

Let's try to rank this time.

Today's first tournament: WPT Bratislava freeroll.
I didn't do all that well yesterday... I felt like I was doing okay, but in the end, I didn't manage to rank once, and since I have no bankroll at Partypoker, it'd be kind of useful to rank even in the lowest of scoring positions.

I'm still not playing tight enough - especially my post-flop game is too loose - even with a low or no hand, I pay too much money to see the turn and river cards.

So... Tighter, tighter. When I play hands, I try to do it small ball style, but I need to play less hands. I fold pre-flop about 40% of the time, so that means I play with about 60% of the cards. That's a lot ---- OTOH, part of the point of small ball is playing a lot of hands, and it does give good rewards when it works.

It's GREAT for stealing blinds, of course, doing that with cheap blinds doesn't give much...

Hm.

*update*
Ran into a weird bug where everyone just keeps folding. When they dropped out they were replaced by 'functioning' players. Huh.

I'm a work in progress

Still not there --- I feel like I need to reach at least 50K or so in chips, to be secure to wait a prize slot. Also, playing multiple simultaneous tournaments is a bad idea - I don't do TOO badly, but I do make more mistakes, which are more often costly than not.

In any case, I'm too sleepy right now, and the next tournament is in 8 hours or so, so I'm going to sleep for now....

Big flaw on loving them big pairs

Nooo!

Finished at position 138, when position 100 gains money! On a stupid stupid risk! Saw a near-complete straight, but still played my pocket aces! Idiot! Stupid!

An expensive psychological weakness. I really should'a waited in that situation until a cash reward was assured.
I'm really bitter right now.

Had some exciting moments with three simultaneous tournaments running. A bit too confusing, but I did okay in all of them. STILL taking too many risks. *Sigh*

But! I can win! or at least rank high enough for a reward!

New commitment: Do NOT love the big pair past Flop!

Next tournament in 24 minutes.

Nordic Spring Million Qualifier and $250 GTD.

This one has no cash rewards, so I'll use it for practicing my play.

It seems I still have trouble following my own advice - I'm quite certain I played too low hands in that last Bankroll Builder game.
Two new rules:

• Avoid All Ins as much as possible. I'm not good enough to risk those consistently yet
• Try not to invest more than one-fifth of the stack in one round. Need experience.

These... will be revoked, later on. More like guidelines?

A total of five tournaments for today, BTW. That's a lot, oh dear... Well, I need to gain experience fast, so there ya go...

Anyway, some gameplay logging follows....

00:00 - chips start at 3000, I'm up to 3320 after first round - not giving you the big blind for free, b...
Oh, did I mention I hate those guys who just go all-in constantly? It's poker, not lottery! Anyway, I'll just fold on 'em for now....


00:05 bet 320 on a pair of threes, came out with a bit over 4000 chips, thanks to getting three threes on the turn. 


00:09 got QQs, went to 600 on raises 'til a guy went, *sigh*, All in. Now I only have 3300 in chips.


00:15 Raised to 200 on a Q9. a bit risky.... but got a Q on flop. Bet additional 700 for a total of 900. I checked on turn & river, won, and went up to 5200.


00:20 After AQ I'm at 6240 chips. Was on BB, so only paid 1000 to call 1200, then when I got a second Q I raised by half the pot, and they folded.


00:24 WHOOO! Okay, went to raise with T3 suited crap, got three threes and now I'm up to 22K since I was forced to go All In. (Only A3 or AA hand woulda won at that point.) I'm currently FOURTH. 


Okay, another tournament begins so no more logging The other tournament is called a $250 GTD, and there's a cash reward up to 100th position, so I'll be really tight with it, just trying to hang in there...


NOOO!! 


Okay, Nordic Spring whatnot, came in 38th - Went all in in an iffy situation, which sucks. Was doing pretty well, would'a probably finished in top 10, if I'd hold to my 46K when I had it, but I had a pair of trumps, so I was... overvaluing pairs, again. Was defeated by a pair of Jacks. My best position was SECOND at one point.


Now, forcusing on the $250 GTD. 


00:55 Doing averagely well, nearly 2x avg chips remain. Current position 54/487.... 

Free Tournaments

Are awesome. Also, damn hard! My best result thus far was 161st position.
Today, I've already dropped out of one $50 Freeroll one early on, totally my fault. I wasn't playing particularily badly, just a bit too riskily in the short term. I'm trying to learn Negreanu's Small Ball Poker, and I tried it out a bit --- a bit too much when I had a mediocre stack compared to the stack leader.

I think, sitting out most of the early play unless you have a Tier 1 or 2 hand (as per Wikipedia) is probably a good idea, as there seems to be a lot of reckless people who go all-in pre-flop constantly.

Oh, yeah - the poker jargon - I'll just link you to Wikipedia, again. I'm a bit fuzzy on it myself, at this point. In any case, my basic strategy is to play some mediocre cards, not bet too much, and to try to bluff pretty often after the flop, if there's an obvious potential in the flop.

Still, at my skill level, it's best if I just play really tight - I wonder how high could I go if I just avoided all but the blinds, and just folded anything but those - with the exception of Tier 1s, I guess - would be a shame not to try out if I happen to get AA or suited AK....

I'm currently playing on Bankroll Builder $100 Freeroll tournament, which has reward from position 50 up. Basically, if I just survive that long, I should get something... so, I'll try only playing top hands and blinds until blinds get so large I must get more aggressive.

So:

• Only play top tier hands outside blinds
• When playing, user Small Ball tactics
• Most importantly, SURVIVE.

I'll be logging here.

23:12 - I tried to play with JJs, but failed. Got hit by a pair of queens. Same failure as last game, tried calling too risky a bet when the possibility of QQ was way high. Stupid me.

23:14 - AJ unsuited. Flop was a pair of queens. Folded, stack down to 220.

23:16. Folded BB, losing 60, played SB, got back to 220. 

23:18. AGAIN I had a pair, and played, and the opponent went all in, forcing me to do so too. That's the third time. I clearly overvalue getting a pair in hole cards. Finished 971/1630. Lame.

Oh well, next tournament in 37 minutes. Think I'll take a nap 'til then.

Zero

Is my balance at Partypoker, which was the network I chose, for my attempts at getting rich relatively quick. 

I'm... not exactly joking, but I don't have high expectations. Still, I'll give it a good try, as I quite enjoy Texas Hold'em, since it isn't a luck-based game. Sure, luck has a huge effect, but a careful player should profit in the long run. 

In any case, as I have no cash balance at Partypoker, I'll be trying my hand at the freeroll tournaments, to build a balance of at least 0,80$ - which is the minimum sum - rake, I think, it's called - for playing no-limits hold'em at Partypoker. 

I'm a near-total newbie, so we'll see how it goes.