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Message: [QUOTE="Eugenius, post: 868936, member: 32318"] Hey everyone, I promised to post a follow-up to this thread: [URL]https://www.cardschat.com/forum/general-poker-13/thinking-going-pro-looking-feedback-those-who-made-switch-119097/[/URL] I've done 5 sessions since then, and here is my report. [B]Session 8 & 9:[/B] I finally experienced my first down-swing. While it was a sucky experience, I am glad to have received the lessons that came with it. I was able to identify a few problems with my game, the most important of which was dealing with a slight tilting problem. Most of the losses came from losing 3 big hands, each for $500-$700. Two of them were due to the tilting issue, each time I [B]knew[/B] my AA was cracked, but I couldn't force myself to put them down. The other was a very hard to avoid situation where I turned a boat, and the other player rivered a higher boat (that one really sucked). I came down with a nasty flu after that weekend and had a lot of 'down time', during which I picked up and read a few poker books. I absorbed some good knowledge as well as the mindset and techniques to help me avoid going on tilt. I came back to play the next weekend (last weekend), and I could see an instant improvement in my game from what I had learned in the books as well as during the previous two losing sessions. [B]Sessions 10 & 11[/B] Session 10: Friday's session was pretty good - in fact, I achieved a new earnings/hour record for a single session. I think that Friday is generally a good day to play, as there is a good number of people playing, and many of them worked that day, and are therefore tired and not playing their A game. Session 11: Started out a bit rocky - I played well but hit some bad situations (will go over some specific key hands in a bit), and was stuck for $600 after about 4 hours of play. Eventually I turned it around and was up $950 8 hours later. This was also probably the most card-dead session I've ever played, and I'm quite proud of myself for doing as well as I did. [B]Biggest losing hand from session 11[/B] My biggest losing hand was when I lost an all-in for my stack of $240. I was playing :qd: :7d:. The flop came :ad: :qs: :5d:. About $45 in the pot on the flop. A player in earlier position bet $15, I was the only caller. The turn card was :7c:. I now had 2 middle pair and a flush draw. The player in earlier position bet $50 into the $65 pot. I pushed all in. He called me down with AQ. The river card wasn't a diamond and I lost the hand. Even though I lost, I didn't think I played the hand very badly. I didn't put him on AQ when he only bet 1/3 the pot on the flop. I think a better player would have bet it more aggressively with the flush draw out there. I had him on something like A9/AT/AJ. When I turned 2 pair I was at least 65% sure I had the best hand at the time, and in the case my opponent had a set or top 2, I still had the flush draw as an additional safety net. [B]My best winning hand of session 11[/B] This wasn't my most profitable hand of the night, but the one which I made a fantastic read on a moderately skilled player and won a $300 pot. It was also the hand which was the turn-around point of the night for me (having been down $600 up to that point). Some background: I had been playing for about 4 hours now. Seeing a cheap flop was getting somewhat difficult as there were a few maniacs at the table, which including the chip leader. He would constantly overbet the pot pre-flop by opening with a $25 bet, and he played every small pocket pair that way - of course, he'd play the big pocket pairs that way, too. As far as maniacs went, he was generally more skilled than the garden variety maniac - he had some reading skill and had the sense to lay some hands down. On to the hand: I was in 3rd position (first to act after the big blind). I was dealt :10s: :8s: and I wanted to see a cheap flop. Since I was dealing with a bunch of maniacs, I decided to throw out a small blocking bet out for $6. The action folded to the chip leader maniac. He raised to $25. Maniac #2 immediatly behind him calls, as did 2 other players. The rest of the action folds to me. At this point I'm getting almost 6:1 on my money, so I call to see the flop. The flop comes :qs: :8c: :3d:. I am first to act and I check. The chip leader maniac bets $35, and the rest of the action folds to me. Here's where it gets interesting. I KNOW he overplays small pocket pairs all the time, but, sometimes he has a real hand. I start to stare at him like a hawk trying to pick up a read. He wears sunglasses when he plays, so I know that being read is one of his concerns. Now, here's where he messed up. Whenever in a hand and trying to hide his tells, he would take this passive position of ducking his head down and looking at his cards. What didn't occur to him is that when he does that, he gives other players a perfect line of sight to his eyes, making his sunglasses defense completely useless. I stared at him for about a minute, and I saw his eyes move a number of times - and I identified that eye movement as him being legitemately nervous. I put him on a weak hand and pushed all in for my remaining $90. He called me down after about 5 seconds - he was holding 77. My 8's held up on the turn and river and I won the hand for about $299. A few players at the table applauded me and one said that it was truly a "brilliant play" - which was a pretty good ego/self-esteem booster. [B]Wrap-up[/B] During the last weekend two players including a local pro player who, had been playing professinally for about 5 years, suggested that I should try moving up to 2/5. I am going to take their advice soon. My goal is to try 2/5 once my bankroll reaches $5000. However, the last weekend was probably my last time playing at my local casino. I am moving to SF soon, and I hope that their card rooms will be as lucrative for me as the ones here in the North East. On the way to SF I am also going to stop by Vegas for 3 days. That will be a good test for me. I know that if I can come out ahead after grinding it out in Vegas, then I can grind it out anywhere. Here is my current running bankroll chart as well as updated session results data: [/QUOTE]

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