Still sick... F*** the flu!

Yeah, so i've still got the flue, and i decided not to play poker, because it would be way to expensive, if you know what i mean ;-)

I don't really have anything to blog about, since I'm just laying here on the couch, and nothing special going on.

Altho' i have prepared a little gift for all you guys out there. More on that later. Stay tuned :-)

Sick

No, i didn't get a sick beat - not a bad beat story in here, i promise! ;-)

Altho, i'm sick. I have the flu. And to play poker when you're sick isn't a very good idea... But i did it anyway earlier today. I should not have done that.

For your information, it's not that easy being focused on playing good poker when your nose is running 24/7, you're sneezing, and your body temperature changes constantly.

I decided to stop playing, unfortunately, i didn't stop before i had lost some money. I ended up losing almost -€600. I should have used them on buying Kleenex, tea and blankets, instead i spewed them to one of the best PLO regulars on 24hPoker, but hey, revenge is coming!... when I'm healthy.


That's all for today, sorry for whining, but please bear with me, my body temperature varies between 200000 degrees and -400000... 


- Kristian

World Series Of Poker Main Event live stream!

Here's the link for WSOP Live stream!

http://www.wsop.com/2011/live-video/default.aspx?TID=11497

It should work, works for me :)

Poker site reviews comming up!

The article on game selection will have to wait. I decided to do a poker site review first, i think i'll start with my favourite site, 24hPoker!

I'll post this later this evening.

- Kristian.

Small losing session

I was playing a few hours on 24hPokeryesterday, after the first hour i was up solid €23! But then i started getting unfocused, and people started hitting their draws a little better than they usually do.

Nothing special there, it happens from time to time that you have a unlucky day.
Fortunately, when things were going bad, and i getting cold cards, my Hold'em Manager decided to crash on me, which made me think i'd better stop for the day. I ended the day in -€733. Could have been alot worse :) 

Besides that, there's not much to say about the events of the last 24 hours. I'll probrably be playing some more on  24hPoker tonight, and I've been considering writing an article on game selection, since people liked my Bankroll Management article, i thought i might as well cover all the most important areas in poker.

I think that's all i have to say right now.

Remember to follow me on twitter, and check my blog for updates :)
Thanks
- Kristian

Bankroll management 101

Welcome to my article on bankroll management.

In my opinion, healthy bankroll management, or BRM, is the most important factor, if you want to become a solid, winning, successful poker player.

It doesn't matter what kind of poker you are playing, if it's tournaments, sit and gos, hold'em cash game, omaha cash game, whatever you are playing, no matter what stakes, it is very - VERY important to have solid bankroll management.

Now this might sound very, very dry and boring, but i'm not kidding, this is so vital.
Think of your next deposit, or your current bankroll, as an investment. Don't you want that investment to last as long as possible? Get the highest return? Make you the biggest profit possible?
I thought so, read on...

In the game of poker, there is a lot of variance, depending on what game you are playing, the variance is bigger than others, but more on that later.
This variance, means swings in your results. No one is winning everyday, some very successful poker players even have weeks, months, YEARS where they aren't winning, or not just winning as much as they should be.

For theese players not to go broke, they need to play at stakes where their roll has sufficient funds, that they can afford to play on that limit. Everyone has different opinions on how many buy-ins you should have for each level, but i have created a standard thumb-rule for you guys to use:

For no-limit hold'em cash games:

• For NL10 to NL50 i recommend having 30-40 buy ins for your level if you are playing on a less serious basis. If you are playing seriously, i recommend 50-80 buy ins.
• For NL100 to NL400 i recommend having 50 buy ins for your level if you are playing on a less serious basis. If you are playing seriously, or even pro, i recommend 80-100 buy ins. 
• For NL600 to NL2k i recommend having 100 buy ins, since this is the point where you can't NOT take poker seriously.
  
  For Omaha cash games, it is a very good idea to have a bigger bankroll, since the varians and swings in PLO is higher: 
• For PLO10 to PLO50 i recommend having 50-60 buy ins for your level if you are playing on a less serious basis. If you are playing seriously, i recommend 70-100 buy ins.
• For PLO100 to PLO400 i recommend having 70-80 buy ins for your level if you are playing on a less serious basis. If you are playing seriously, i recommend 100-120 buy ins.
• For PLO600 to PLO2k and above i recommend having atleast 200 buy ins.
  
  
  For multi table tournaments, i recommend having at least 100 buy ins for your level, if you are taking it seriously, but having more can never hurt, since there are some huge swings in MTTs.
  
  For sit'n'go tournaments:
• For full ring SNG's up to $33, i recommend having 40-50 buy ins. 70-80 for turbos. 
• For full ring SNG's up to $109, i recommend having 100-200 buy ins. 150-250 for turbos.
  
  I believe that the same BRM rules apply for 6 max, and HU SNG's, but take the SNG rules with a grain of salt, since i never have been a very serious SNG grinder. 

_______________________________________________________________________
I hope you found some usefull information in the article above, if you have any comments or changes for the article, please comment on this post.

I have not been playing any poker today at all. I just didn't feel like it, i think it had something to do with me playing a lot yester day.

I'll have a new blog ready tomorrow, see you guys there.
Remember to follow me on twitter, @365pokerblog

Thanks.
- Kristian

The "monster" session

So yesterday i decided to do a "monster" session, where i would just grind my ass off.

I did that. And it worked out pretty well. I played approx. 2.9k hands, on 4-6 tables, playing for 8 hours, mostly on 24hPoker's €1/2, €2/4 and €3/6 tables, and ended up booking a €1674 win for the day! I'm pretty happy with that result. I'm very happy with my results since i opened this blog ;)

I know, 2.9k hands, 8 hours of grind, i know some people out there can do triple that, but i'm actually pretty lazy when it comes to poker, so it's a pretty long session for me.

I don't think i'll be playing much today, if anything at all, i got some stuff i need to do, go to the gym, etc etc, but later today, or tomorrow, i'll be posting my thoughts, and a little guide on a very important subject, if not the most important (drumroll please...) :     BANKROLL MANAGEMENT!


I'll call the article "Bankroll Management 101", and i'll give you a basic look into my opinion on the subject. I can't call it the correct opinion, since everyone has a different one on the subject, but ofcourse, i believe mine is the right one ;) 

Read that later. 


As for the hand i posted yesterday, here goes my thoughts, and result: 

I actually ended up flat-calling, after i thought about it for a while.
My decision was based on: I don't think we would have a problem getting paid off
if improve on the river. We have a decent number of outs, and i think our implied odds
are good enough to just call here. Altho' i think you could argue for a shove...

The river was, lucky for me, the ace of spades, which gave us a full house, BB ended up betting again, i shoved, and he folded, unfortunately ;) 


Thanks for reading, remember to check back again tomorrow, and follow me on twitter! 
- Kristian
 

Interesting hand from the session

As i mentioned on my Twitter ( https://twitter.com/#!/365pokerblog ), i would have a big grinding night this evening. I'm in the middle of it, i've decided to take a break to refresh, and evaluate.

I played ~1k hands, i'm up €984, i would say that's a good result for now, i hope i don't lose it all back when i start playing again later. :)

The most interesting hand of the session was played on 24hPoker, on PLO400. Villain is a tight aggressive player, with donkish tendencies, altho we haven't played much yet. Only like 100 hands all in all, but here's the hand:

Grabbed by Holdem Manager
PL Omaha €4(BB) Replayer
SB (€542)
BB (€483)
UTG (€1,143)
HERO (€526)
CO (€487)
BTN (€229)

Dealt to Hero AhThKsTs

fold, Hero raises to €12, fold, fold, fold, BB calls €8

FLOP (€26) 2s Kd Ad

BB bets €20, Hero calls €20

TURN (€66) 2s Kd Ad 5s

BB bets €50, Hero doeeeeeeeeeees?



Discuss in comments, if you want to, i'll post my thoughts and result tomorrow :)

Thanks.

A little bit about me

Hey guys.

So i started up this blog yesterday, basically just to tell my friends and familly about my life, and how i was doing, pokerwise.

But since not all know me personally, i thought i would tell you a little bit about myself.

I go to business school, but on the side i play poker for a "living". I usually play pot-limit omaha, or PLO, i play mostly on my favourite site, 24hPoker, i play the stakes €.25/.50 (PLO50€), €0.5/1 (PLO100), €1/2 (PLO200), and finally €2/4 (PLO400), yet i do take the occasional shot at PLO600, but i just can't seem to break through. Those guys are waaaaay to though for me ;)

In the next few days i'll tell you about what my favourite site to play on is, why that is, and i'll probrably put up and interesting hand or 2 from my sessions.

I also play alot of Multi Table Tournaments, or MTTs. Actually, as late as yesterday, i finished 5th in a pretty big tournament, on 24hPoker - it paid 744€, so not life changing money, but it still made a break-even day, a winning day, which is always nice :)

I've been lucky to have some okay MTT scores in the past, but i do not consider myself a good MTT player, at all. I'm just sometimes good at getting lucky at the right times, but well, you need a little luck to win, right?

In the past, before grinding the PLO games, i was playing no-limit cash games, but oh'boy did i suck at no limit. I was probrably the biggest fish the sites have seen, i could'nt fold a hand, i was sure everyone was bluffing all the time. Then i luckily found PLO, and haven't been looking back since.

I was winning at the lowest stakes from the start, i don't know why, i just think i had a feel for the game. Altho' i could'nt break the higher stakes, i was playing a little money scared, i think... My bankroll management was'nt the best at that time ;)

Then i joined a poker training site, and watched alot of videos, actually a few every day, where i was informed of the importance of aggression, position, bankroll management, game selection, and analysing you, and your opponents game with tracking software, all of these are subjects, that i will try to explain and learn you guys about later on.

It was first when i started winning continuously at PLO100€ i decided to quit my half-time job, it does'nt seem that attractive to go to work at 6 in the morning and work for 8 hours when you've won 8 times the pay online the previous night. I was making alot more in a month than i ever could working half-time, so i decided to quit the job and focus a little more on poker.

After that i got alot more time to analyse and work on my game, which is never a bad thing to do :)

Since then i've kept on moving up stakes, slow and steady, 'cause we all know that slow and steady wins the race!

Thanks for listening to my story, in the next few days i'll tell you how my days have gone, poker wise and real life wise, and i will also probrably put up some information on some of the important strategic things in poker.

- Kristian.

Welcome

Welcome to my blog.

This is my first post, so please bear with me.
I think i'll start out by telling you guys a little bit about myself.

My name is Kristian, i'm 18 years old, i go to a business school, and then i pretty much live off poker. Being young and doing something like that puts me in alot of different situations. I will try to tell you how it affects my life, and what else is going on through this blog.

I'm very sorry if my english isn't that good, i hope it will still be readable anyway.

I'll make the first "real" post first thing tomorrow.

Have fun, and stay tuned.