Its like HEM or PT3.....but different

Playing on a Mac can be very frustrating if you want to take your game to the highest level. There just isn't a lot poker software out there that are compatible and of great quality for Mac users. On the flip side, most pc owners have an almost unlimited amount of options for poker software and some are very strong. That means people are getting better and you aren't. 

Poker Copilot is specifically designed for Macs and is pretty solid. I've used the trial now for 20 days and there is a lot to like. I also feel my game has improved in these 20 days quite drastically. 

When you start the software it will immediately search your hard drive for any hand histories and load them into the database. After that when you fire up whatever site you play your heads up display (hud) will pop up. In the 20 or so days that I have used PokerCo the hud has worked flawlessly and although I might disagree with how some of the stats are calculated it works really well. I really wish you could leave notes on players inside the hud but I think the creator has already mentioned that he's working on this function. 

After a session you can use Poker Copilot to review your hands, especially any that at the time you were really unsure of how to handle. It has the ability to spot weaknesses and also show your strengths. Doing session reviews is really what has taken my game to a different level. Knowing what hands I'm losing most of my money on or even what position has been a tremendous help. There are also these poker leak finders that PokerCo has that can help. There is a detector that runs your preflop aggression, positional awareness, blind stealing, and your ability to play pocket pairs. I haven't spent a lot of time using these because I don't have a realistic about of hands to really test it accurately but this seems like a really cool feature. 

Lastly, I had a couple of minor issues trying to figuure out certain aspects of the functions and had to email the creator Steve. He responded within 12 hours and was extremely helpful and knowledgeable both times. 

If you play poker on a Mac Poker Copilot is a must buy. For only 69.99 you'd be foolish not to take advantage of the hud and software for session reviews. 

An old friend

Ever since ive started this stake its been for the most part pretty variance free. I had a downswing when i played like a horses ass but havent been coolered etc. I have been keeping my sessions short and just booking win after win really. But the more i win, the more volume ive been putting in....the more volume you put in, the more swings you are going to experience. Its just the standard deviation of the game. Well today, variance caught up with me. It looked something like this:

It doesnt take much imagination to figure out who represents me in this picture. I did get a bit of a reach around though as i had this one fish at one table just keep paying me off and paying me off and going out of his way to play pots vs me so it kind of cushioned the blow of AA < 10 10  in a 3bet pot, and KK into AA 3x within 500 hands. I pretty much broke even over the rest of my hands and am down an insta 4 buy ins.

And like that, even after beating 25nl for 4BB/100 over 35k'ish hands and murdering 50nl the last 2 weeks or so over about 10k hands, im doubting myself. And this is an example of the ever present fragile psyche of a poker player. Given my current situation i dont really know which way to go with this. Im still up proly 11 or 12 buy ins profit and another $100 bonus over the last two weeks at 50nl. But im not sure if playing on staked money and having to cash out/reset at the end of this month if i really want to go through these psychologically damaging swings.

This is where HEM can be so valuable a tool, it can just kinda reassure me that im not spewing, that it was just a variance, that my winrate was insane and is coming back down to earth. But after that dirty asian whore of a hacker put that virus on my laptop im still waiting for the reboot disc in the mail. So maybe ill move back down until HEM is up and running and doing its full time job of stroking my poker ego and calming my nerves.  Or maybe ill wake up refreshed tomorrow and ready to get back in the ring. But I guess for now ill just settle for this vent

and to thank you for listening

Moving on up

Trying to get my piece of the pie

So after much deliberation i decided that i have beaten 50nl over a long enough sample before and was playing good enough at 25nl that i could move up and at the least give it a 10 buy in shot. If i had

I would have cashed out the remaining profit and rebuilt at 25nl. Thankfully however it has gone pretty well since moving up to 50nl. No exact numbers due to hem still being down but im up about 16 buy ins over maybe 10k hands. I plan on cashing out back down to a certain amount to maintain an adequate bankroll for 50nl but still pay off a couple bills i need to get to. Im also sure my backer wont mind pulling some off the table. 

50nl is the first noticeable jump in skill at the micro limits imo. The fish are much more aggressive and there is a lot more 3betting pre, floating post flop, and it becomes significantly harder than at 25nl to play hands oop. The one benefit is i have been able to sniff out some of the better situations in which i can 4bet pre where at 25nl i feel like this is a bad idea to do ever. At 50nl the money is starting to sting a little, opponents are 3betting wider but also folding to a 4bet, where at 25nl they are more "oh yeah ill show you and shove my entire range" or they just dont know better. 

I realize im riding a bit of a heater and there will be some variance in the near future but what can i do. Hopefully i have HEM back shortly as i really like evaluating my sessions.

So yeah i think this stake is exceeding my expectations and that was really the goal when i set my goals so low. 

GL at the tables and watch out 100nl hopefully i will be back soon and better than ever

Virus!!!!

As I have stated in here several times i do not use a hud while i play. I suppose i should and i just might start but up to this point all i use HEM for is keeping myself in check and tracking my play. I have only put in about 30k hands so far since this stake started at 25nl and im up exactly 900 after bonus and rakeback and profit. But its still a bit frustrating that i will have to lose those 30k hands because I got a virus. Its weird cuz i havent watched much porn or downloaded anything. I did click on this link that somebody posted and i fear thats where it came from. So I am waiting for my newly reordered reboot disc to arrive and then i will reboot to new and start over with everything. The good news is i did get a picture of said hacker

That bitch! Ok shes forgiven.

Once i reboot i think ill try to stick to only using my cheap laptop for poker and school work and use this nice one for browsing, storing shit, etc.

Im having a  bit of a dilemma maybe a couple of you could comment on. As you know im being staked right now. After i hit about 3500 profit i will be able to go out on my own. Im winning at about 4BB/100 over my last 30k hands of 25nl and if i cut off this stake at 3500 profit then i will want to play 25nl. The problem is right now i think i could move up and play 50nl and proly have about the same success. But then i might have trouble readjusting to the lower stakes after this stake has ended. Also i am a bit concerned that i wont have as  good of a winrate at 50nl but that should be more than offset by the rakeback. So should i move up and then move back down after the stake? Or should i just stay focused on 25nl and beat it until i can move up on my own dime?

February hasnt been too great volume wise and sadly i have a paper to write today and a wife to appease due to it being valentines day so off i go

Gl at the tables

The journey back

Really this should be titled the journey, because 1) the journey back to where? I was never really much of an anybody to begin with and 2) as long as we play poker no matter the level of success or failure we are at at the current time, we are still on our poker journey.

So yeah, im at 25k hands now and i gotta say i think im a much better player than i was pre hiatus. I havent studied but i think i un auto piloted some things i was doing that were holding me back. Like i think my cbet flop % was much lower b4. I have never before over even this much of a sample had a positive redline like i do here. I wonder if thats the stakes im playing or that im more focused on cbetting and its showing up in that stat and my winrate? I think im paying off too light on the river sometimes but i checked my river call efficiency stat and its solid at like 1.65. I think i can do better esp at this limit as the betting on the river it is pretty obvious when im beat.

Other than that, poker wise the stake is up a really good amount given that i didnt start until 10 days or so into January. One thing bothering me is pokertableratings.com has been missing almost all my hands in February. Its weird cuz i use HEM to track my results but something about it being posted on the internet is gratifying and it satisfies the narcissist in me.

Ive been thinking about the direction of this stake and i think i just want to grind 25nl until i hit a predetermined amt of profit and then go out on my own still at 25nl and move up when i feel comfortable. You know as opposed to setting goals and such. I suppose by the end of year id like to be playing 50nl but other than that im trying not to put too much pressure on myself or raise the expectation bar to a point where i fall short and lose motivation on my first setback. For now ill say that id be happy to play 25k hands/mth and make about 500 - 750/month that i can use for my vegas vacations and family vacations. Its funny to think that last year this time i had just finished my best online month at the cash tables (8k at 100nl) and had a sick good november and december the months preceding that. Now if i can grind annual vegas vacation money ill be happy.

*blog entry saver*

Stay focused on the reasons youre playing for and gl to you all

Ahhhhhsht