The Black Bottle's Forex

The Mental Game of Poker - Book Review

2012-01-20T14:32:00.002+08:00

The Mental Game of Poker (TMGP)

I am not a good book reviewer so pardon me, but I felt a need to recommend this book to my friends and whomever (poker players or even traders) that are reading this blog. After picking up this book and going through to the 4th chapter, Jared Tendler has become my new hero.

Jared Tendler is not a poker player. He was a mental game coach for golf. Typically, this fact is enough to have most of us thinking "hey what does he know about poker to advise us?", even me. But I picked it up because after flipping and reading all those poker strategy books I have always been telling my girlfriend, "For the past 1.5 years in poker I am just losing 9 out of 10 days and reloading my bankroll!" It is that sad and its true, just click on my blog label: Poker and you will know my sad past. I pick it up because I have enough and I know there is something wrong underlying that is within me. I know positioning, playing range, pot-odds, calculate bet-sizes etc. than my friends but they are still winning players than me.

Jared Tendler (JT) has studied the game of poker and then coach top professionals, and after reading reviews I decided to give it a try.. in his book he wrote an excellent analogy: "A mechanic working on a race car doesn't need to be world-class driver to understand how to prepare a car to win. He needs to have a deep understanding of what the driver needs, the conditions the car will race in, and how the car works, and he must be able to diagnose and fix problems quickly."

You can get hardcopy or even eBook format in his official website. As I am living out of U.S. of course eBooks are good enough for me.

And enough of my stories lets get to the book. A typical "Conventional Poker Psychology" (what he calls it, such as deep breath, take breaks, meditation etc.) often helps to a point, which he regarded as short-term fixes, but not a long-term resolutions. In the TMGP he drills into the underlying problem of "Mental Game Fishes" and advise you. Even a solid winning poker player is a mental game fish if he has (a list of) thinking habits which are flawed.

The book covers 4 central areas of every poker player's mental game: Tilt, Fear, Motivation and Confidence. Before reading any new book, I suggest you approach it with an open-mind (not thinking that you-know-it-all).

The Adult Learning Model (ALM) which was mentioned is a theory of a process in which all of us learn. It breaks down into 4 levels of our learning model, which he uses throughout the book to explain to us some things which affect us at which level (for example, if you go on tilt your mind will shut down what you are learning in the Conscious Competence, and will only be left using skills from Unconscious Competence level).

Another powerful concept is the "Inchworm". It explains when poker players play their Best-game at times and trying to improve their best. But like an inchworm (it moves by stretching its body straight, anchors the front part, lifts up the back end, anchor the back part, then stretches its body straight to take a step forward) our game progresses like that. We need to fix our weakness (the back part), before we can move forward to learn our best (front part) to the next level. In short, improvement happens from two sides.

In between the chapters, there are also short sections on Client's Story. Where they tell stories about what they did in the past before approaching JT on their mental game. What they experienced in the past was something I can truly relate and its funny.

Here is one of the best chapter IMO, Emotions. Here in this chapter, JT breaks down technically how our emotions affect our thinking, that causes tilt. For example, it you hold A5 and flop the nut straight with 2-3-4. A fish all-in you and hit a runner-runner flush in the river. You may go "FUCKING IDIOTIC FISH DAMN!!"..... like I did. Your emotion has risen to a point which it basically malfunction your analytic mind (the higher brain functions such as thinking, planning, awareness etc). So if emotion is overactive, it shuts down the higher brain functions. That is one of the reason why tilt costs you more money.

To resolve, TMGP has advices on 'injecting logic', not only at the table (because that will be too late). You have to work on your brain muscle away from the table to fix this in the long-term. Strategies for this resolution are also covered intensively in the chapter on Strategy.

In the Tilt chapter, it also break down the common types of tilt poker players encounter and fixes. I can easily circle 5 out 7 tilts I am infected with.

In the Fear chapter, it explains player playing out of fear, like after losing sessions they may stop playing what is their usual profitable style, because they lost their trust due to fear (of beats or outdrawn etc). Sections such as Fear of Success and Fear of Mistakes are also covered.

The chapter on Motivation is also detailed on laziness, procrastination etc. which result in absence of learning and stop focusing on the process but only result every single time. What I can relate is Hopeless, when losing 9 out of 10 sessions is no joke. I even stop playing for a month at a point of time. These are covered, and to help it, the next chapter (which is a surprise to me) is to fix the problem of Hopeless.

Confidence. What I am surprise is that, even too much confidence can be harmful. Maybe because I never felt that way. Overconfidence leads to thinking you can play many hands and thinking you can beat the game for example you were simply running good and you began playing many too many hands which are out of your usual range. This chapter includes teaching you how to develop a stable confidence.

The Appendix includes a questionnaire that is supposed to help you identify and recognise your mental game problem.

I have not mastered the book obviously, but I am beginning to see progress in my game. Getting rivered by opponent who has only 1-3 outer in the past definitely tilt me to the point that I will lose more (spewing stacks), I never win after getting tilted in the past. Although it does not mean I definitely will win even if my mental game is good, but for the firstime I see myself getting beats and slowly grinding my way back.

Here are my progress for the past weeks.. it may not seem excellent to you, but it is a result good enough for me based on my past.

Cash Games.

Tourneys.

One reason for my tourney is that I began moving down stakes to try and beat the game a bit to rebuild my confidence. I proceeded up after that and won a few. Yesterday me and my buddy played a 45 Home Game tourney league (past 3 games my chip never even reach $3,000), I cashed out 4th and he cashed out 3rd.

This may be a period of running good and I may experience bad runs but what is important is to learn to "inject" the logic of variance into our game. I am trying my best now and love to see my progress.

Conclusion? This book does not have any poker strategy in it. But before you need any strategy, you need to master yourself. If you have tilt problem (I believe all poker players do), it is good enough you get this book. After countless poker books on my shelf, I must say this is one of the best and highly recommended book!!

Black.

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EDITED:

My post was fed into our twitter @blacknbottle and we got a Retweet from the author Jared Tendler @jaredtendler himself!

Ride It Up & Stop-Hunt

2012-01-19T14:07:00.000+08:00

Eur/Usd: +50 pips.

Gbp/Usd: +28 pips.

Usd/Chf: +17 pips.

Before the opening of Asian session, my trades were all green. But after the Aussie unemployments news were out, Aussie fell drastically and I supposed the sell-off (sell Aud and buy Usd) made all my positions into RED. But I held it there and I closed out all after my Eur/Usd hits the target.

Last week I still messed up, before the market closes for the weekend, my Aud/Usd got triggered and hit a very quick stop/loss. Woke up see my twitter and wow.. gift from god. Here is something that looks a little like "stop-hunting" to me. 50 pips gone !

Black.

Scraping Back A bit

2012-01-13T16:22:00.000+08:00

Managed to scrape back to break-even for the month. This is it for the week.

Lucky escape here for Aud/Usd.

Frustrating exit on Eur/Aud. Wasted 20 over pips.

Same for Eur/Usd.

An impatient exit.

Decided to screenshot this from myfxbook.com, easier!

Happy weekend!

Black.

Probably...

2012-01-12T16:22:00.000+08:00

..about -200 pips and above. One of those days!

Black.

Article on Tilt (Extracted Post)

2012-01-08T14:46:00.000+08:00

Below is a very interesting article I came across browsing the net:

Link of original site: Freezeout Player http://www.freezeoutplayer.com/wht-tilt-is-your-enemy.html

To poker players (even traders) I think you've heard this over & over before but I think it still serves as a very good reminder for us because in the field of trading and poker (even athletes), mindset and psychological factor plays such an important role. I recommend reading because I think the concept also applies not only the poker players, but even to traders. Markets are so random (at times) and we should always factor in losses along the way, as long as we focus doing the 'right' thing, we will succeed over the long run!

Enjoy.

"Overcoming Tilt and Your State of Mind.

Have you ever gone on tilt ? I don’t think there is a person I’ve talked to that hasn’t at one time or another. There are a number of things that may happen that make you go on tilt, and some even have to do with poker ! Let me explain.

I hate getting sucked out on. I hate hitting trips after a rainbow flop, I bet and there is a raise all in. I call and a weak player hits runner runner for a flush. I HATE it but it is something you just have to take because it happens from time to time. That’s poker and that’s what makes it such an interesting game to play. You can make all the correct plays and still lose!

What I try to do to combat going on tilt is train myself to think about the suck out and believe that I made a correct call and more often then not I will win given the same circumstances. That’s why there are percentages for any given hand to win. Even a hand that’s favored 90% of the time will lose 10% of the time. So you must hang on to that belief that you made the correct move and just got unlucky. Then you have to put it behind you and move on.

I know what your thinking, easier said than done.

You're right, it is, but you must find a way to do this otherwise you could lose a lot of money. When you do this you might even discover you made an incorrect play so you can change your thinking the next time a similar situation comes your way. You also have to look at your long term results and not just this one hand.

Thinking about your long term results will put this one suck out into perspective. If your long term results are not good then perhaps other areas of your game need some analysis. The point I am trying to make is that you have to be able to take an unlucky hand and move on.

Some other things that have nothing to do with poker can affect your game and even put you on tilt before the game has started. These factors you have direct control over and can eliminate so as to not affect your game. If you’ve had a fight with your wife/husband, if you’ve had a bad day at work, if you have a headache or are feeling under the weather you should not be looking to start playing a poker tournament online. These are just a few of the many non poker factors that can have an influence on how you play. I think to play consistently well over a period of time you have to play with what I call a good ‘poker mindset’ going in. I think this gives you a better opportunity to win.

Your state of mind is very important when sitting down to play a mtt.

As said above many things in the world around you can effect your mindset before playing a tournament. To me the trick is if those factors affect you too much perhaps a break from poker for that evening is in order. Maybe a longer brake is in order, only you know for sure. Something else I try to do is to sit in front of the computer 10 minutes before the tournament I signed up for starts and close my eyes and just think of how I’m going to start this tournament, what strategy will I use, making good decisions and so forth. Just get into a ‘poker’ mindset. Its like a little quiet time before the tournament gets going. This is the mental part of the game. Look at any sports stars. I’ve seen interview after interview where the athlete says “much of what I do is mental, if I believe I can win I’m half way there”.

Anything you can do to increase your chances of making good decisions at the poker table is worth while doing. Different players do different things to prepare for a tournament. Figure out what your ‘thing’ is and do it. Having a good poker mindset going into a tournament gives you a better opportunity to make those good decisions therefore increasing your chances to win. If you can come up with a good way to avoid going on tilt and eliminate outside distractions then you have achieved a good ‘poker state of mind’! "

Dollar Rallies I Rode & Missed

2012-01-06T07:00:00.000+08:00

Planted a sell-stop in the Gbp/Usd and rode a +100 pips move (stop/loss set was 100 away too). Closed it out before previous low. Thanks to bullish USD on ADP Non-farm employment change, boosted the move.

Eur/Usd is the pair I felt I missed a great move too, probably because the euro's been bearish enough recently. Could have bagged a good 50 pips.

Will probably give NFP a miss tomorrow.

Black.

Start of the Year

2012-01-05T16:35:00.000+08:00

Started the year with a loss on Eur/Usd. -54pips

Later yesterday I did a buy-stop and sell-stop, sell-stop got hit and it was moving down smoothly. While sell-stop was hit, I was on long in Usd/Chf below:

+47 pips each for both pairs.

While both Eur/Usd and Usd/Chf were moving in favour of the dollar, my Aud/Usd buy-limit hit. Afraid that the dollar would appreciate further, I closed it at +10 pips. Buy-stop of this pair was that I wanted to catch some movement while in its range.

Happy New Year.

Black.

2011 Review - Plus Usd/Chf & Poker Wiped Out

2011-12-20T19:56:00.000+08:00

Forex

Kinda early? I decide to wrap this up because tomorrow night I am flying away to Harbin, China, for a week trip. It is going to be freezing cold I heard.. about -20 deg celsius. On top of that, my Usd/Chf trades have finally hit the stop loss.

After Usd/Chf broke the ten-month high last week, I made a fruitful ride up the pair for about 175 pips (closed), I also long a second position on retrace which was peaked at +50 over pips. But overconfidence and greed caused me this huge drawdown.. in addition to my bad habit of averaging losers.

I was so confident with the trades that when I was switching between my chart and news.. right before the SNB announcement about 30 minutes.. my second position was down to about break-even. Then I went in a third position, after another alt-tab between chart, both positions were instantly -50 -60 floating loss.

Jaw-dropping.

Brutal.

Disbelieved, I later long another position stubbornly when price looks like it will hold. But it didn't.

It went on for days and all the way until today, giving me hope but false hope. The initial broken 0.9350 level of ten month high resistance turned support didn't hold. The slow and steady fall and rise a little these few days by this pair feels like some one who is trying to kill you, pushes the knife slowly into your stomach instead of stabbing right in it. Slowly, and gently. And before you know it, JAMMED IT IN.

Trading: Year-to-date profit/loss: +30% (loss count of pips, probably -2000 plus)

First year of profit since I live traded in 2009.

I have an account for myfxbook which Trader32 recommends, my nick is black147. Don't know the add-friend function and not sure if it exists.

Early part of the year, trading hasn't been much active due to work and exams. I did have major drawdown twice, in March and in August, both occur within each day. After my come back in October, things has been going pretty smooth except for my last trade in Usd/Chf. Oh well, shit happens.

Like what FX used to tell me, trading skills doesn't happen overnight or monthly, it takes years to realise. And this year, I am glad to finally found my trading style. Not completely I guess but somehow. I can't scalp, I can't position trade. I have to do intra-day to medium term swing trades. I can't sit at the chart for hours because any losses will tilt me and I will bust my account within one night like I did countless times.

Next up, I will need to focus on my discipline (again), on my risk:reward ratio, tendency to widen stop/losses, averaging losers, and over confidence and more.. Before this Usd/Chf drawdown, for the past two months I kept my stop/losses within what my account can take, about 2-4%, so that in case it hit the stop/loss, I don't take it that hard. I need to work on that. I will come back 2012 focusing on trading and reading up more, as well as working on discipline.. why not poker.. which comes to the next topic..

Poker

I been on it for about 1.5 years now. I am not sure how long usually profitable poker players took to be profitable. So far in my experience, profitable players are profitable, losing players are losers, they stay that way.

Yesterday, I busted my account once again. Past two weeks, I was reading up and working on 6-max online. I had HUD installed and was utilising it well. I maxed two-tabling, and focused on my game. Finally in my cash game career, I am grinding out profits for 6-max. I was happy.

Yesterday, I sat down and played my second session of the day. Within one hour, I was dealt 4 pocket aces.

First one, I raises 3bb and was called. I valued bet all the way and was called down and opponent hit a river flush. Well, I may be didn't bet enough to drive him out, but I thought I was value-betting?

Second aces, all folded to me except SB who called my preflop raise and folded to my c-bet. Earned a little.

Third aces, I raised 4bb and sb called me and hit a deuces set on flop. Oh well, stacked again.

Before my fourth pocket aces, I was dealt A4. Except first player who folded, all 4 other players limped and I raised to 7bb from SB, trying out a different aggression. Only the cut-off called.

Flop came 9 2 5.

I raised 15bb, he called.

To my delight, turn came 3, giving me a straight.

I raised 25bb and he re-raised me all in.

I put him on a set and he turned over 4 6 for a higher straight.

Welcome to micro-stakes.

Ultimate tilted, as always I went over the low stakes table, CAP (cap meaning only cap maximum bet). I played tight and only planned to go all-in with premiums, like almost every other players were doing.

There was a lady who called down and all-in a lot. With a hud stats of about 50/20/60. Too loose.

Finally from BB I was holding my fourth ACES of the night. She raised me from SB to 3bb I re-raised to 6 bb.

Flop came T 9 7. She shoved me on the flop. I called, and she turned over J 9.

River J. She scooped the pot.

I am not sure how to go about from here because I think I have tried my best. I have spent a considerable sum (of money and time) for the past 1.5 years, and I am really feeling this is it. Looking over to my poker books gives a chill down my spine now. My cousin is a profitable poker player who earns my yearly pay and haven't read a single book. He even became the last standing Singapore player during yesterday's Sunday Million. He was so close to winning and so many of us were rooting for him to win, but he was busted with KK vs AA during the last 150 out of 61,000 over entrants. Sad for him, but it was such a deep run.

I am going to take a break and focus on my trading first. Take poker as casual play and I am still finding ways not to tilt (like in trading) and accept variance. Or looking for the most suitable game for my playing style. But will all be casual, or may be not at all.

Year-to-date profit/loss: BUSTED

Tomorrow night I will be flying off and my next post will probably be in 2012.

Good luck to y'all and have a great winter break!

Black.
Off to my first white Christmas~

Crushed

2011-12-16T13:49:00.000+08:00

Very smooth hit on the GBPUSD during the opening of London session yesterday. The pair was only the one break very fast up side. During their Retail Sales announcement, Oanda's spread for this pair widen to 30 pips. That is the highest me and Bottle has ever since. That is the down-side of having a floating spread broker. -50 pips

As for my Usd/Chf trade, my first trade was closed at +175 pips. During retrace, I entered another long hoping to ride further. Now that averaging winner became an average losers and my current position is in jeopardy right after Swiss National Bank on their monetary policy assessment. Not only my first trade position profit will be gone, there is more. Not sure what will happen now though, if it breaks down below 0.9350 I think this is it.

All too familiar.

Black.

Gbp/Usd & Drawing Dead

2011-12-13T23:49:00.000+08:00

Sell-limit for Gbp/Usd on 50 SMA line wasn't triggered (less 1 pip away) and it went down a bit.. was kinda pissed and it later come back up and filled me in along with its ride.. take-profit +50 pips at previous low.

Usd/Chf is still running and been on ranging whole of today. Currently looking good. I am hoping to ride a long one for this. Do or die.

Am currently playing 6-max cash game for poker. Yesterday's session was running fine until I busto against a maniac who was raising overbet like 2x pot size for a few hands, as if trying to play punk.

So immediately the next hand I was dealt an AJ. He didn't look strong on pre-flop. Flop came A-J-5 and I thought I had this guy. He checked and I bet the shit out of him. In the end, he turned over pocket Aces, I was drawing dead since the flop. I opened my mouth staring blank and at the moment felt like how Mike McDermott got busto by KGB in the Rounders.. of course I didn't lose 3 high-society.. just my buy-in.

Today I was trying deep-stack 6-max. I played loosely (how I thought it was) and almost halved my stack. Quickly tightened up and luckily won back my losses, yesterday's losses and about a buy-in. Rare days for me for poker like this.

Black.

Start of Week

2011-12-13T00:48:00.000+08:00

Did a sell-stop on Aud/Usd, take-profit at previous low. +61 pips

Buy-stop for Usd/Chf at 0.9350 triggered, above 10-month high. Hoping the trend won't end here but continue to go up.

Black.

Reality of life.

2011-12-07T22:00:00.003+08:00

The day we smash our head into the wall together. Hand in hand.

Bottle

Love Price Action & PokerStars World Record Tourney

2011-12-06T02:48:00.000+08:00

My first trade on this pair Eur/Gbp. Set-up today is basically an ALL-CABLE day. Nothing much about this pair, during Gbp/Usd rally up, Eur/Usd was holding strong too so Eur/Gbp didn't fall that much. That's why I took a profit at just +3 pips. Lucky enough as most of the time this trade was floating loss.

One mistake in the above trade is looking at my entry, I was supposed to short after candle closes. But I didn't, I short right before it closes and it went back up the white 50SMA line. Only at the start of New York session did it break through, but still not that strong.

Interesting trade for my Gbp/Usd. Again it was floating loss the whole Asia to London session until it hit take profit in New York session for +50 pips. One of the mistake here is I short when the candle still closes below the white 50 SMA line (the latest yellow line is today's trade). So the moment my order of long hit, it re-bounced back downwards.

Here is one reason why I believe in support and resistance in trading, though it doesn't happen 100% all the time. My past 3 Gbp/Usd trades has been exactly the same price entry - long at 1.5660, notice all 3 yellow lines, and my take profit level somewhat the same.

The first trade for this price was actually an aim to pull through the resistance, taking a ride around 50 pips. The second trade was actually buy-limit, because as you know, once a resistance has been broken, it will turn to a support (can read more on support and resistance here). And the third was like the first, though a little dangerously done due to the MA lines.

-------

As for poker, currently bankroll is ranging and slightly down a bit. Not as spiral down as last week. I am currently playing only sit & gos STT & MTT and learning to be tight. I also played the PokerStars Guinness World Record tournament, yesterday morning at my country time 1:30am!! The record was that there are 200,000 players registered for the tournament. Top 12k got cash prize and first was $50,000. The buy-in was only $1.

I was done before the first break finishing around 170,000+ ranking lol. The game was like 20k tables happening at the same time and thousands of people were eliminated even 5 minutes into the game. I am beginning to enjoy the thrill of MTT. I tried the best I could to just shoved n fold play, but my 99 ran into KK and that was it. I thought I will have a tired night since it started at 1.30am but ended up I longed to be tired from it.

I am now playing maximum two tables and taking things slowly. After straight 6 days of losses and beats I think I need a break from poker soon. Except yesterday after the guinness tourney my cash games won one of the biggest pot I played - guy with KK limp, button raises with QK and I called with JJ. Flop came QJx. I checked, KK raises, QJ re-raises all in, I also re-raised all in as I had them covered. KK called, and turn came another J giving me the quads and WHAM! Felt like finally a sunlight after streaks of losses.

There must be something wrong with my play and I need to reflect and work on it.

Good luck for the week people!

Black.

USD/CAD down but not out....

2011-12-02T23:57:00.003+08:00

A cold chilly night, im bored... itchy.. urge came.. urge to click n trade. Never been able to totally cast this bad habit out. It has been alot better though.

So when shit happens, u can only hope that the damage can be minimized, better still... profit from it. But tonight isnt going to be a easy night.

The above printscreen image maybe the ugliest u have even seen, im sorry but im still very much a [accessories >> paint] user.

Time is 2000 local time, 2 datas pointing weakness in CAD... thats when i went in LONG on USD/CAD, entry level @ "1" . After entry, it has been hovering around that area...

Then came 2130 local time, green datas for USD, it confirms my believe that this pair with go higher... BUT!!!! Prices plunge down for dont know what fciasjcsax reason, and end that 5min session with a long shadow.. Sadly, my stop loss got triggered as a result. Thats for "2".

Went LONG again, on "3", targetting around "4" area.. TP hit, profitted 5pips at the end of the day.. Moral of the story? Market doesnt care about ur predictions or whatsoever, its merciless i guess??

But im happy to end green for the day after a scare at the start...

Bottle

November Review

2011-12-02T18:34:00.000+08:00

FXDD: Withdrawn
Oanda: +17%
Poker: Busto! (have re-deposit)

November passed by really quickly. I had losing streak starting of the month, and slowly fought my way back. I still maintain a non-scalping mode, where I simply set my orders and leave the chart. I also learn about not messing too much with the trade when they have not hit your stop/loss or take-profit, I still meddle though but reduced. Leaving trades over night no longer bother me as much as used to be.

I am currently using a very comfortable position size, increased a little. I will continue to increase when my capital grow a little more. In fact I did increase early this month but the moment I increased I faced losses thats why I reduced them again lol so typical. I maintain a stop/loss of about maximum 5% of my account, because I don't want a huge drawdowns again. Even successful traders move up the ladder with a little lost here and there. I am still working on my risk:reward ratio.

Highlight of the month was probably the last week of the month, with a big reaped off Aud/Usd +480 pips, my highest record ever (still much lower than my record loss hehe). That trade I have also cultivated a good risk:reward ratio, letting the profit run feels really good. Admittedly, there was one position I did close early, but was compensated early this week with a few Longs.

I learn how I should swing the trades and not sit down and bust my account, my temper get blown up easily. So I am not gonna trade the NFP news tonight. Some people prefer scalp, some swing, some intraday, and some position. It is finding out who you are. I kinda know the answer for me, but being a profitable trader is still another story.

That leads me to think about my poker journey. I was still thinking early last month whether I should simply focus on full-ring cash games, sit & gos (STT & MTT), or heads-up SNG.

I have bad results with cash games, but played them because they are fastest way to earn VIP points for bonuses. My time for sit & gos are limited because you can't leave the table whenever you want. I have been doing good with heads-up SNG and has shown profit. I love it and my buddy (who plays with me) also feel I should simply focus on heads-up.

And then I realised otherwise. I have a e-mail pen-pal friend (who read this blog) told me heads-up are like scalping trading. I thought I could conquer it but ALAS, I have bad beats and I keep on registering for new tourney (HU-SNG) and even highest buy-ins and I play badly due to tilting, much like revenge trading.

I got crushed in cash games either. Playing too much table and bad beats made me re-buy n re-buy and throw the money into the pot, fastest way to drawdown in poker IMO.

Now I am turning to Sit & Gos and not multi-tabling, not touching the rest (HU-SNG & FR Cash games). So if I got beaten I may not be so tempted to re-buy because they are more tiring games. I working on it now. For past two days I simply played the Sit & Gos, finishing a few of them right before the money finishes -_-. But on the other hand, it shows some improvements. My last two games of 45 men SNG came in 3rd & 7th.

Lets take it nice and slow from here, tilty head.

Anyway, have a good weekend people.

Black.

Orders Hit & Run!

2011-12-02T00:09:00.000+08:00

Yesterday EURUSD long order at 1.3440 hit and it was ranging throughout the Asia session before take-profit 1.35 hit during the second hour into London session. Bagged a good +60 pips.

My GBPUSD order also hit, 1.5660, noticed it was the price as the day before, I felt where resistance will now turn into support. My take-profit is almost exactly the same spot, but I also manually closed them on a +60 pips profit.

Good way to start the month. Tomorrow's Non-Farm Payroll announcement I should be sitting at the side lines (hopefully). So that maybe it for the week. Will post a November review tomorrow.

TGIF & Good luck friends!

Black.

Another Fantastic Day

2011-12-01T00:14:00.000+08:00

Caught some nice move off Aud/Usd when my limit order finally hit and there was a surge during the major central banks announcement on reducing the dollar loans to banks by half percentage point. Well, I didn't expect that move to be that huge though, but always glad enough I wasn't on the opposite side! +80 pips

My Gbp/Usd has also been triggered during the surge. It was moving towards my 80 pips take-profit but I closed them on +50, under-estimating the news effect.

Current orders:
Eur/Usd - Long 1.3440
Aud/Usd - Long 1.0075
Gbp/Usd - Long 1.5660

Black.

Aud/Usd & Gbp/Usd

2011-11-29T21:31:00.000+08:00

Place buy-limit on Aud/Usd again on 1.0010. Price hit during mid London session and quickly surge towards 1.0070 area, hitting my +50 pips take-profit.

Gbp/Usd was close.. I buy limit on 1.5660, price surge along with Aud/Usd (and also Eur/Usd) towards 1.5656 but went back down. Hoping if price able to reach this level, it will continue to go up.

Leaving the order on, now watching Aud/Usd again..

Black.

Aud/Usd Big Reap & Poker Dick

2011-11-28T18:44:00.000+08:00

Aud/Usd opened 100+ pips higher over the weekend in my favor. I continued my long on the pair hoping for a reversal. Before the weekend, I also did a buy-stop at 0.98 (which hit the moment the market open). The reversal continue throughout the day and finally two position hit the take-profit at 0.99 and one closed on 0.995. Bagged about +480 pips.

Not rich yet, but for today's trades, my account has finally go to the green side. It usually don't last so long as you can see, hope to be more consistent from today. Happy with the trades.

As for poker...

Continue the downtrend... can someone ask me to quit? I been on online poker for a year and a half now, and its been really tough for me. I don't know what to do now, I probably take a day or two break from it and think it over.

Good luck for the week people!

Black.

Hold'em Graph & Recent Trading

2011-11-25T15:28:00.000+08:00

Going tighter & aggressive style. I been 6-tabling recently and playing a better ABC poker than my previously fanciful and loose style that ripped my bankroll very quickly. I find that multi-tabling makes me play tighter and lesser range of hands because good hands comes at a higher frequency, instead of single tabling where you may have to wait for so many hands before a playable one arrives.

I give myself a pause on HU-SNG & only play occasional MTTs. My bankroll is still "ranging" and I hope to go uphill soon for once.

Trading has been pretty bad lately. Been on losing streaks and on small wins. Some times I just meddle with the trades, and then regret where it should have reached take-profit, some times I regret not meddling with my trades because it went to stop-loss, and the cycle keeps on and on.

Look at the beautiful downtrend of Aud/Usd, where price resisted off 50 SMA continously. I have two long positions on-going. I am going to leave it for now. Yesterday I just cut my Eur/Usd at -30pips before it turn around and move towards my take-profit.

Will be withdrawing my remaining funds in FXDD and focus on my Oanda. FXDD has been fine, but my under-capitalised account are of no use and there is no MetaTrader available for my iMac. Oanda has an office here in Singapore and support are much convenient, even in terms of funding & withdrawing.

Happy Thanksgiving people and enjoy the weekend! Good luck!

Black.

Eur/Usd & MyFxBook

2011-11-15T21:59:00.000+08:00

Can I say its a head & shoulder (not the shampoo) forming off Eur/Usd 1H?

Orders for a retracement:
Long: 1.3485
TP: 1.3585
SL: 1.34

Was reading Trader32 blog on his views on Currensee and myfxbook. I have Currensee account already. Earlier I gave myfxbook a try and really impressed. It is detailed on your account I felt as if I am using a Poker Tracker of trading. It gives you a much better understanding of your account overall. I am still exploring and will post up more reviews later.

Black.

My Hold'em Equity Graph

2011-11-14T23:48:00.000+08:00

Proudly present to you..

Black.

A Little Recovery

2011-11-10T23:46:00.000+08:00

Nothing beats coming a little bit back on track...

Gbp/Usd - Love setting orders off support & resistance. I didn't get all the moves, but bagged a 50 pips, playing safe.

Aud/Usd - I set my sell orders again at the price where I set it earlier this week. For some reason I cancelled it yesterday, but price indeed move down so I shorted it again, initial take-profit target was day-low but closed it at +91 pips instead, itchy ass again. I wanted to close it at 100 pips but it just stuck at 99 once and never got back. Now it is retracing.

I am trying out Poker Tracker 3 (the only software I know for Mac) and it is quite cool. Should have explored these long time ago.

Cousin wedding this Saturday and tomorrow night we are going over the party. Should be it for the week.

Good luck people.

Black.

ZOMG! Day

2011-11-09T21:52:00.000+08:00

Had calculated stop-loss in my first trade, which was 70 pips away, 2% of my account.

Struggling its way up to my take-profit, a brutal London session sent Gbp/Usd about 150 pips down.

-70 pips, and then average down -70 pips, and another average down -70 pips.

*deep breath*

Having no edge against the market is not as deadly as an uncontrolled tilt.

I am going to watch the TV and have some cookies n' cream ice cream for the night.

Like in a snake and ladder game - "Go Back to Start".

Black.

For Once....

2011-11-08T23:34:00.000+08:00

...entry and take profit were smooth. Was on 1H chart.

Current long orders hit Gbp/Usd @ 1.6070

Target: 1.6150

Stop/loss: 1.6

Looks dangerous.

Black.