New NL Texas Hold'em cash table goals for September

My mission statement for this month is to pour time and focus into playing NL Texas Hold'em cash game tables at 0.05c/0.10c $5 max buy in, 0.10c/0.25c $10 max buy in and 0.25c/0.50c $25 and that's it. Nothing else, no football bets or anything. I'll be clocking the hours of playing time between 30-40 hours per week, and I'll be investing an initial $150 to do this (about £120).

I will proceed to move up the levels if and when I have built my bankroll to 30 times the adequate maximum buy in  for the level and I will be recording every session's win and loss with an aim only to play one table at a time.

THE STAKES

So this means that in order to play the 0.05c/0.10c levels I will need a $150 bankroll.

- to play the 0.10c/0.25c I will need a $300 bankroll.

- to play the 0.25c/0.50c I will need a $750 bankroll.

If I have a substantial losing session at any of the levels, say $100-$200 at the 0.10c/0.25c level I will need to move down to the 0.05c/0.10c level again in order to re-build the bankroll.

So altogether I will need to be disciplined and have full emotional control. I'll repeat to myself; no more football bets as they hurt me in the long run! I will show total commitment to this cause, stay disciplined and not 'steam' if I lose, now that I now, and accept, that it is part of the game.  I will take my time and 'watch' the tables in order to discover the way other players are playing and how best I can capitalise and take advantage of opponents with certain cards and in certain situations.

I will learn, follow and re-learn the advanced pre flop strategies from the Sklansky & Miller book because it is full of the best advice, but I will also continue to refer to other books as well, dedicating at least an hour a day to this. I will play aggressively and build big pots when I have strong holdings and fold in the opposite if I think the opponent is strong. I will work on my river play. I will generally play from late position, knowing that most profits are made from there, and sometimes I will fold strong hands if I think I am behind. Altogether I will play strong, tight and aggressive poker and will be feared by opponents. If I feel I am straying from this path or find myself 'steaming' after a bad beat or simply getting unlucky despite playing well I will take a break, and a long sustained one if required!

There you have it. My mission statement for this month.

Before I go, let me share with you two interesting hands I had this morning, one bad beat, one gut shot straight draw hit for cheap setting up for a good sized win, so overall it was a positive start to the September campaign!

First I hit a set of 444 by calling a 20c raise at the 0.05c/0.10c $5 max buy in cash game tables (6 players).

The raiser to my left was steaming (tilting) a little bit, having just lost most of his buy in money, so I was happy to have him in raising the flop when I hit my set.  We also had another loose bad player in late position also still in the hand. :)  

The initial pre flop raiser, raised to 45c after I checked' on the flop below, and the late position player just called.  I was mainly worried about his call, so I re raised (check raised) to $1.05 - as expected, the 'tilting' player to my left went all in and the last player folded.

As you can see, I had a 91.41% chance of winning this hand...

The turn came a 9 💎  giving the player just 4 outs...

So on the turn I still had a 90.91% chance of winning this hand!

Of course the turn came a 10 of spades giving my fortunate tilting opponent a lucky win - but only for $3.33

My second (more successful) significant hand during the morning session helped me to double up my stack when I hit a gut shot straight from early position.

I decided to call with J9 unsuited from early position and saw the flop cheap with two other players behind me.

The flop came 5 ♥️ 10 💎 7 ♣️ 

The player on the big blind raised small to like 11c, the player behind him called and I though 'why not' and felt if I hit my 8 I would make some money.  The 8 💎 did indeed arrive on the turn!

5 ♥️ 10 💎 7 ♣️ 8 💎 

I checked, the player on the big blind raised the pot (45c) and the player behind him called again.  I decided to take the risk and just call.

I thought it unlikely either player was that strong considering there was no pre flop raise.  Unfortunately the river was a 10 ♠️ to add an element of doubt to my mind.  

I checked again and again the big blind raised, this time to $1.45 and the final player called also.  I briefly considered re-raising, before deciding just to call and took the pot down with my straight.  The raiser had absolutely nothing with k 💎 3 ♣️ and the other player had two pair with 5 clubs ♣️ 8 ♥️ giving me the double up win to increase my stack to $10. 💰

A GOOD START.

Let's see how much I can improve my results in September and whether I can practice what I preach!  It's time! I will let you know my results in a few weeks time.

Thanks for reading - a revived Maroonfish :)