DP's Poker Reads

WSOP Recap - Now What?

2011-06-27T14:09:00.005-05:00

Just got back from my week long trip to Vegas and I'm re-adjusting to my "normal" life. It's funny how you can play poker for 7 days straight and essentially feel like you are playing for a living and then, wham!, back to life.

If you've read any of the previous posts, you already know that I didn't get my bracelet yet. Am I disappointed? Of course. But I knew going into it that I hadn't put nearly the volume in to make it a statistically realistic goal. I've played a total of 5 WSOP events with two cashes. These are gigantic fields, so in order to win I would need to not only play my best, but also run great too.

I still have big goals for myself and still plan on winning a bracelet as well as a Circuit ring, but now is probably a good time to just chill and work on my bankroll beating the local scene. I'm gonna let the next week or so just kind of happen without setting any new goals. I need a period of time where I just play poker without any sort of extra pressure on myself. No bankroll goals, no anything. Just play, have fun and keep improving my game.

Right now I need to find a good 1/2 game and build up my roll so I'm comfortable playing 2/5. I'm certainly not worried about a skill jump at 2/5. In fact I'm sure I could crush 5/10 games. But I'm still a bit bankroll deficient and I don't want the risk of loss to affect my game. I'll also get myself on a regular schedule playing the legion tournaments. I still don't like the extra charity rake, but they improved the structure so it makes up for it a bit.

I'm also going to put together my own short tournament series. This is really where I'd have the most equity. It would be deep structures, no rake and bankroll friendly. Without online poker, I can't play $20 and $30 tournaments, but a smaller field $50 rebuy or $100 freeze out is good for now.

So the plan for now, is to not really have much of a plan. I'm just gonna let things come to me and see what happens.

The Bracelet Still Eludes

2011-06-23T12:00:00.002-05:00

Well, I gave it a valiant effort but came short busting out of the $1,500 WSOP event #38. I started out great chipping up from 4,500 to about 11,000 in the first two blinds levels. I took some hits during the next two levels running my pocket pairs into boards of A9x and K9x, only to c-bet and fold to a raise...both times they showed a set of 9s. I then raise AJ and one of the same guys calls me and checks back a flop of QJTx, the turn is a blank, I bet and he calls. River is a scary card and we both check..he has KQ. Next thing you know I'm back to like 7,000 and go pretty card dead.

I guess looking back, maybe I could have changed gears and gotten super aggro with trash cards but these are hour long blind levels and the beginning has no antes. I also had a very good and aggressive Costa Rican to my left so I didn't feel this strategy made a lot of sense. Unfortunately I pretty much stalled the rest of the day but was able to hover between 15-20bb. Blinds went up and I finally was at 10bb when a player opened under the gun. He was somewhat active and he's someone that has had some TV success. I know his utg range is somewhat narrow but you could tell he was starting to get frustrated being card dead as well. I look down at 99 and decide that while he certainly can have TT+, he can also have AJ, AQ, AK, 77, 88. He may also open KQs and I would think he might mix in some suited connectors every once in a while. So I shove and of course he has AA. GG me. Busted about 400 out of 2190.

So that sucked. I was certainly disappointed, but I don't regret the decisions I made. I adjusted to each table and my chip stack. Tournament poker has crazy variance and I sometimes wonder why I like it better than cash games...but I do. And winning a bracelet is still a goal of mine and something I plan on achieving. I'm going to finish out my trip with a Venetian Deep Stacked event that will hopefully make me push back my flight one day. I'm just as motivated as ever to keep improving and taking down some big tournaments.

Nasty Tuesday

2011-06-22T00:42:00.003-05:00

I started the day excited and focused. I jumped into a single table satellite and played great. We agreed to give 3rd place their buy-in back and ended up in 3 coolers...KK vs. AA then AJ vs. AK 3 handed. I still had chips and played short stack ninja and then shoved AJ only to have the BB wake up with AQ.

I then played a daily $235 tournament at the Rio that ended up getting about 900 entrants. It started out well and then went down hill quickly. I lost pot after pot and finally got in a 3 way all in with AK and bricked out. Despite the quick evaporation of my chips, I feel really positive about all my decisions other than one weird hand where I turned my set of 5s into a bluff (I know it sounds weird, but it was the only way I was gonna win the pot... and it almost worked...almost).

At this point I was still feeling great and the lack of winning pots wasn't getting me down. I then decided to play the $185 nightly at the Rio. I started off playing well and ended up chipping up in a weird pot where I squeezed with AK and the middle guy called for half his stack with 79os and tank/called my shove on J89. I binked a K on the turn and had about 60bb. BUT...then I made a big mistake in a pot in a spot that I know better but couldn't let go of the bluff. Without going into the details, I was in the small blind and raised a brand new player to the table who limped in. I then double barrel bluffed half my stack and folded when he shoved the turn. Based on how the day had went, you would think I'd be tilty at this point but I recovered. I then raised QQ, got two callers A on the flop, K on the turn...ugh. After another orbit now I'm down to 8bb and went into short-stack ninja mode. I picked my spots and got myself back to about 18bb. I then got KK under the gun (exciting huh?) and raised. The player next to me who was pretty tight re-raised. I jam and of course he has AA. King on the flop....and guess what...A on the river.

So overall the day started well and got kinda nasty. I really only made two mistakes with one of them I regret. The main reason I regret it is that I didn't listen to my gut. I've been trusting my instinct all trip so far and this is the first time I ignored it. It's a good reminder and it's not a mistake I'll be making again.

Tomorrow is the $1,500 WSOP bracelet event and I am ready to take it down. I've been working hard on my game and feel confident. 5 years ago I set a goal to win a bracelet by 2011 and I'm going to make it happen.

Some Fun Hands in Vegas

2011-06-21T11:35:00.004-05:00

So my last post talked about some good laydowns that I made. Let's talk more about some of the hands I won. Here are a few fun ones.

Position, Position, Position - Blinds are 100/200 and I have about 28,000 in chips. Two players limp and I have K9s in the cutoff. I will often raise here to isolate the limpers but my image was somewhat aggressive already so I decided to switch it up a bit. The button folds and the small blind (who I had previously noticed staring someone down hard in a spot that looked like a bluff), stares at me and makes it 1,000. The limpers fold and while I at first thought about folding because "he probably has a better hand", I took a few seconds to think about the situation. I have position with a hand that can flop reasonably well and I can easily get away from top pair with a ton of action if needed. So I decide that instead of playing scared money, that I would see a flop and play some poker. The flop is Kxx and he insta-leads 2k into 2,500. I look at him and his eyes are HUGE, like an owl at night. His bet sizing and his staring is telling me to go away. So I'm pretty confident my king is good here. If he had AA or a better king, he wouldn't be betting so much. So I decide to call. Raising will get all worse hands to fold and better hands to call, so I elect to flat and hope to get value on later streets if he has a pocket pair under the King. The turn brings a second spade (which is beautiful) and he checks as expected. No reason to bet here because it's pretty obvious he doesn't have a King. I check and the turn is a blank. He checks and I bet 3k into the 6,500 pot hoping to get a hero call from QQ but he folds. He probably had something like AQ. But the moral of the story is that having position can outweigh the concept of him "having better hands in his range". It's more about the situation, having position and then considering that my cards have decent equity vs. his range (despite being behind).

Weak Bets from Weak Opponents Usually Mean Weakness - At 150/300 + 25 there are two limpers and I open AJos on the button and get flatted by an older Asian guy in the small blind who liked to see flops. This drug along the limpers and the flop came KdQd4s. There is 5050 in the pot, the Asian guy checks dark and it checks around to me. I could c-bet here, but the flop is somewhat coordinated and often times leading into 3 players here will lose money in the long run so I decide to peel off a free card to try and bink a ten. The turn is a Q and the Asian guy leads for 600. So this seems kinda weird. Yes he checked dark, but if he had a K or Q he wouldn't bet so small into 3 others. I decided that calling was best here because if he had a hand like KQ or 44 for a full house, he would bet the river and I would know where I stood if I hit a Ten or an Ace. The river brought a third diamond on board and he checks. Now I'm confident that he was weak and was just taking a small stab at the pot. This diamond was a great card because now I can represent a wide range of scary cards and get him to fold. There are times that Ace high might be good here, but I think betting is better in case he does have a King or maybe a pocket pair. There was 6,250 in the pot and I bet 3,500 to make it enough to get a fold but also look like it was for value. He folded and I took down a nice sized pot.

The Importance of Breathing - This isn't really a hand per se and could probably be it's own blog post. But for now I'm just going to comment on what I'm seeing is something that is really important (at least to me). Breathing brings oxygen to the brain, slows your heart rate and also relaxes your muscles and blood vessels. All of these physiological effects allow you think clearly and logically, limiting emotion or fear from influencing your decisions. I'm getting myself into the habit of exhaling slowly and then thinking about the situation before I look at my cards. I will also take this same ritual before deciding what line I'm going to take and how much I'm going to bet. I've mostly done this before, but there are times where I've played and subconsciously had my mouth closed and thus holding my breath during a hand. This can sometimes be a whole session of being tense and getting into auto-pilot, leading to impatience (which feeds the cycle of being tense). You will often times see the high stakes players with their mouth's open during a hand. They are in the zone and probably aren't really thinking about how they look. But they are relaxed and focused. Oxygen is flowing and because they aren't tense, blood can flow freely to bring that oxygen to their brains. This is something that has to be natural of course. You can't really "fake" being relaxed. But if you are conscious about breathing, the rest of your body tends to follow suit.

WSOP Trip Update

2011-06-21T02:45:00.002-05:00

It's Monday night in Vegas and I've been here for 2 1/2 days now. So far the trip is going well and I'm playing good poker. Here's a quick run down of how things have gone:

Saturday Night - Played MGM $80 nightly as a warm up and had a great first table where I was running over things and even successfully raised blind two hands in a row. I got moved and on the very first hand, I got it all in pre-flop with KK vs. 88 and and 8 hit the flop. I was down to 10bb and got knocked out a few orbits later. Oh well, shit happens.

Sunday - Played my first WSOP event of the year. I set a goal for myself 5 years ago to win a WSOP bracelet and this was my first shot. I went in to the event very confident and had a good table where I had a good read on how to beat everyone. Things were going well until I had to make a bunch of good laydowns. I kind of stalled and next thing you know I'm short stacked and I shove AK and lose a race to JJ. I obviously didn't like busting out, but I was fine with it as I feel I didn't pass up spots and made good decisions.

Sunday Night - Played the nightly $110 at Caesar's Palace and ended up winning it! We chopped it 4 ways, but I was the chip leader and got a little extra. There was a little over 100 players so that was good for $1,800. I played patient and finally got a double up that gave me enough chips to start running over the table. I abused the bubble and it felt great.

Monday - I decided to play the $120 Mega Stack event at Caesar's which ended up getting 680 players. It's a deep stacked event and I started off playing great and chipped up to about 35,000 from the initial 15,000 starting stack. I lost a pot with TT and was down a bit to about 31,500 and then had to make a big laydown with QQ. Two limpers and I raise QQ in the small blind. The big blind (who was a pretty tight player) calls, first limper folds and the button calls. The flop is a nice J45 rainbow. I bet, the bb calls and the button then raises. Normally you'd be happy to get it in with QQ here, but both of the players in the hand were tight old guys who were not capable of bluffing in a spot like this. I ended up folding and the button finally told me he had J5s! WTF? Either way, I'm happy I made a good decision and folded still having a decent stack. BUT...I then stalled and was in shove mode and lost JTs vs. AK. Again, I am very happy with my decisions and wouldn't change a thing about how I played.

Monday Night - The plan was to take a break from the pressure of escalating blinds and just grind out a cash session. We got to the Venetian and the first hand I play is AA. Once again I get into a spot where I have to fold an over pair. Long story short is an older guy donk leads into me on an KsQc8s board, I raise and someone else behind me shoves all in. Based on the strength showed in the hand before he acted, this was very likely a big hand and AA was no good. So again I show discipline and make what I think is a good laydown. This is probably the 5th or 6th big laydown I've had to make with top pair or an over pair. Unfortunately this time the guy shows....Js5s!!! What is it with J5? Regardless, I'm still happy with the fold and think I'm behind there enough where calling will be a losing play in the long run.

So that's where I am so far. I'm playing well and had a good result with the one win. I'm having to make some pretty tough laydowns, but I'm a good enough player to be able to make them. I am very confident that these are not spots where I'm nitting up and folding to pressure. My reads on these players were good and I was not folding because I was scared of losing a big pot or getting knocked out.

There's a lot of poker left to be played and I'm pumped to really win something big. I've played poker for 7 years now and it's my time to shine. It's my time to take it to the next level and accomplish the things I've been working my ass off for. I know that luck will prevail in the short-run and I have been a profitable player since I've been playing. But it's time for me to win something substantial. I have the confidence that I can do it and I'm ready. My next post will be celebrating a big win.

Training Camp Update

2011-06-12T08:17:00.007-05:00

So I've started my "training camp" and I've stuck to the plan so far. I've actually added more playing to it. Because I've been laid up in bed, I've been able to put a lot of hands in online. My concentration level isn't one where I can 8 table, but I started at one and comfortably built up to 3. Playing on percoset isn't all that bad.

Again, part of training camp is building up the mental and emotional endurance required for playing poker for days on end at the series. This is an important part of the training process and I'm actually kinda lucky I had surgery so I could do this. Toward the end of yesterday's daytime session, I realized I was starting to tilt a bit. So after a rough day of beats and coolers, I took a break yesterday around 5pm, focused on some other things and came back strong for the night.

Things started off great and I was really zoned in on the game flow and tendencies of the other players. I was making good reads and chipping up nice. I ended up building a top 5 stack as we got to the middle and late stages of one tournament and I was cruising near the bubble. But then it all came crashing down in one hand. One thing I discovered last night was that I still need to work on some emotional aspects of losing control in certain situations. Maybe I got a bit cocky or felt like I was invincible, but as this hand progressed things got out of control quickly and I lost focus on the other players in the hand.

We're down to about 23 (paying 20 but I wasn't really focused on that) and the chip leader to my right raised. I had TT on the button and 3bet and then the BB who only had a bit more, shoved. I didn't really fathom the big stack being in the pot, so when he called and it came to me, I was a bit thrown off. The shove was less than a min raise, so I couldn't isolate and we took a flop of 8d3d5c. The big stack checked and here's where my first mistake happened...I didn't take the time to really think through the situation and assign him a range of hands. I felt like he would have iso'd with JJ+ so I just threw in a 1/2 pot bet assuming he would just fold and I'd iso the short stack. But...he called. This completely threw me off. As I'm trying to figure out what he has, the Td is put out there and he insta-shoved. I got caught up in the moment, and just said "I don't know what you have buddy, but I have a set and I'm not folding". Of course he turns over Ad9d and I'm drawing to 10 outs. I don't get there and in one fowl swoop, I'm out. WTF?

So now it's the day after and I'm trying to figure out what the hell happened. Would I have called in a non-ego driven, emotional state? Not sure. If I had been calm and focused, I would have realized that I needed 3.5-1 to draw to a boat/quads and I was only getting 3-1. I would have logically realized that the ONLY thing he can have here is a flush. This is not a bluff or semi-bluff in this situation and my set of Tens are beat. I know it's easy to say this after the fact, but in this situation it's true. If he had a lower set that was slow playing, he would have checked it down...or at least thought for a bit before shoving. It was like he had shoved before I had a chance to process anything and I didnt' take any time to think about it. So...the question is why?

Yeah, I put a lot of pressure on myself and I take pride in making good decisions. I know this is a blessing and a curse. But I'm glad this happened during "training camp" so I can keep getting better and improving my game in these spots. There is a blog post I wrote almost 5 years ago called "Reset Your Mind for the End Game" and it talks about this very situation. Basically, I had a rough initial part of the day so winning something meant more than it should. I wanted to validate my skills and prove that the morning was just variance (which by itself is flawed thinking). So when I had this big stack and was very comfortable at the table, I may have let my guard down a bit and assumed nothing bad could happen to me. When this hand started to unravel and even on the flop, I wasn't completely focused and I just assumed any bet would take it down. I really didn't think about proper bet sizing for the situation. I just mashed the 1/2 pot button and gave him reverse implied odds to draw. And while my blow up happened on the turn, where I really could have prevented the hand from going the way it did was pre-flop. When I saw the TT, I should have taken a bit more time to analyze the situation and more importantly, had my guard ready. I just assumed he had nothing and my re-steal would take it down. I needed to be mentally prepared for all possible situations instead of being cocky. You have to be prepared for anything in poker and my shortsightedness cost me my stack. It's important to remember, no matter how long you have been playing or concentrating for, that the END GAME is when you need to step it up a notch. It's fine to feel confident, but not so confident that you aren't taking the time to fully think through each situation.

Okay, that's my rant for today. I'm trying not to be too hard on myself and I know my expectations are high. I'm not really "mad" at myself per se, but I want to learn and be prepared for future situations like this when the stakes are higher. The more I'm in these situations the more I can be comfortable in them.

WSOP Training Camp

2011-06-02T13:09:00.008-05:00

My WSOP plans are finalized for this year and I'll be playing in a $1k on Sunday June 19th and a $1,500 on June 22nd. Each year I've written a blog post that is more of a mental prep for the trip, but this year I'm thinking about things a little differently. I'm going to treat these next 2 weeks as a "training camp" as if I was an athlete peaking for competition.

So what will be involved in my peaking routine? Here are the skills I need to hone & sharpen:

Accurate reading skills and assigning hand ranges
Mental & emotional endurance
Confidence
Acting on my reads

How will I train and peak these skills?

Play only Hold'em tournaments
Hand history reviews and equity calculations
1/2 hour daily 2+2 forum reviews
1 hour of video reviews
Finish 2 additional advanced videos for Pokerology
Reduce coffee intake and focus on longer work sessions throughout the day not relying on external energy sources

Mon June 6 - Review HHs on 2+2, Play online tournaments

Tues June 7 - HH reviews & EV calcs, Make 1 new pokerology video

Wed June 8 - Surgery - likely no activity except possibly watching videos and/or 2+2 late

Thur June 9 - Post Surgery recovery - watch videos and read 2+2 threads

Fri June 10 - Post Surgery recovery - watch videos and read 2+2 threads; play online (tbd)

Sat June 11 - HH reviews, 2+2 Threads, play online, watch videos

Sun June 12 - HH reviews & EV calcs

Mon June 13 - Read 2+2 threads, play online (OR play Legion Tournament)

Tues June 14 -Make Pokerology video

Wed June 15 - Watch videos, read 2+2 threads, Play online

Thur June 16 - Wrestling meeting

Fri June 17 - Rest

Sat June 18 - Leave for Vegas!

Live Cash Update

2011-05-30T20:15:00.003-05:00

Just a quick update from Saturday night. The house agreed to buy my action, but it turned out to not be necessary. They didn't have enough for a separate 2/5 table so we ended up playing a 1/2 game with a round of Hold'em, PLO and PLO8. It's funny though. The table hated when the Hold'em round came because they know that's my game. In 3 out of the first 4 orbits of Hold'em, I raised the first hand each time and of course they are all like, "ugh...back to Omaha please". It turned out to be a good night though. I felt a bit more comfortable with Omaha and made some better decisions. I crushed it in Hold'em though and took down a gigantic pot when someone misplayed their set vs. my flush draw and we got stacks in on the turn.

I bought an Omaha book and plan on putting some effort into gaining an edge in that as well. Hopefully they will run two tables next week though, as I need to stick with Hold'em since the WSOP is coming up. I'll have a pre-WSOP blog post coming soon.

Limited live options

2011-05-28T11:36:00.002-05:00

So I put some $$ on Carbon Poker and last week more poker sites were shut down. Doyle's Room shared the same payment processor of some sports betting sites and then Carbon announced they were not allowing players in New York, Maryland, Missouri and France (huh?). New York was the state that busted Full Tilt and Stars and Maryland busted Doyle's Room.

So...I'm probably going to cash out of Carbon now. So frustrating!!! This basically means I'm limited to live play. So my options are:

Play the high rake/fast structure legion tournaments
Start running games on a regular schedule
Play more live cash

I'll probably do some combination of all three, but #3 is tough because the people that I know that run games, typically run mixed games OR want to start running 2/5 games. Trust me, I would LOVE to play 2/5 games because I feel I have a great edge and can make some good money playing. The only problem is bankroll. It's funny because most people that play around town wouldn't even understand the concept of having a separate poker bankroll. They might use the word, but they don't actually manage a separate poker bankroll.

For me, managing my bankroll is very important. I'm still at a point with my business where I'm certainly not rich and I can't replenish my roll with ease. Keeping my poker money separate from my life money has been something I've been proud of as I never want poker to interfere with my family's financial well being. So now I have a dilemma. Many of the cash games have moved to 2/5 and I don't know anyone who runs a 1/2 game. I'm sure they are out there, but I would need to be invited. I would personally rather play with people I know. Of course, I'm sure at any given game I would probably know someone, but I guess I'm a bit uncomfortable with seeking out a game.

The other thing is that I'm a little embarrassed that I'm not rolled for 2/5. I really shouldn't be since MY definition of being rolled for it is way different than most people who play the game. For me, I would feel much more comfortable having $10k - $15k. But the reality is that I'm still hovering around $2,500. That's only 5 buy-ins at 2/5. Yes, there are lots of people who will buy in for $200 and $300, but to play optimally I can't be worried about losing a couple of buy-ins. To me right now, losing $1,000 would be devastating. Not in terms of the value of the money, but in terms of the percentage of my bankroll. I'm already handicapped with what games I can play as it is.

Now the other side of me that wants to justify playing says "you can crush the game, don't worry...the money you start making playing 2/5 will build your roll up". Is this potentially true? Sure. But at the same time, I could hit a nasty patch of variance...or worse, I could nit up and make overly cautious decisions causing me to play bad and lose money that way. Now...am I a chronic worrier and overthinker? Yeah, at times. If I just stay confident and play a little lower variance style I could grind out some small winnings in the beginning. I may not have as much fun, but I could be profitable. I could also just give myself a 1 buy-in stop-loss. That certainly isn't optimal but it's a way to play.

OR I could talk to the house about buying part of my action. This would reduce my bankroll variance and allow me to play more comfortably. The down side of course is that I wouldn't make 100% of my winnings. But the profits at 2/5 will be greater than 1/2 and it would help me get started. I think they would be open to this as they already talked about staking me to be a house player if they started a 5/10 game. I've already had them stake me for things, but I also hate to always ask for money. We'll see. Maybe I'll float the idea by them to see what they say.

Anyway...that's enough rambling for now. There is a game tonight, so I'll report back as to my decision.

Online play, determination & short stacked plays

2011-05-20T23:12:00.008-05:00

So I deposited some money on Carbon Poker last week. While it is definitely NOT the same as PokerStars and Full Tilt, at least it is poker from the convenience of my own home.

The biggest difference really is just game selection and field sizes. I'm okay with the smaller fields since it helps reduce variance, but it does make it less likely to hit a big score. But the game selection at the mid stakes is pretty slim. There are plenty of $5 tournaments, but I prefer to play $20 - $50 games with deeper stacks. Hopefully this will improve over time, but I guess for now the role of online poker is to help me get reps for my live game.

I did just return from New Orleans at the WSOP Circuit event. I did well, placing 24th in a daily $355 and 5th in a nightly $185. But the friend of mine I went with ended up winning 2 rings for over $100k in 5 days. This was obviously a monster run, but he played great as well. He was fearless making big calls and bluffing in the right spots. He made up his mind before he went that he was winning a ring and that determination has inspired me. It's made me even more determined than ever to take down a big live tournament.

Biggest Leak - One thing I still need to work on is my fear of going bust early on in a tournament. I will often times fold in spots with the justification of "picking a better spot". Now I'm not saying that I do this all the time or even that folding in these spots is wrong, but I had a hand that bugged me from New Orleans. Long story short - An aggressive internet player raised in mp and I had TT on the button. I decided that 3betting was the best play...BUT, I did not have a very confident plan for the hand based on how he may respond. I probably even looked a little nervous. I raised 2.8x his raise and thought to myself "he probably thinks I'm 3 betting light here". He thought for a while and he 4bet me for a bit over 1/2 his stack. I considered all options and shoving was definitely in my mind...but then I talked myself out of it because he had put in so much of his stack and I didn't want to look like a fool shoving and him snapping me off with QQ or something. I folded and later on he told me he had A7s. Now he could have been lying of course, but that pot was significant in my momentum and his momentum in the tournament. I hit a downswing at that point and he continued to run over the table....it probably also made me gun shy. But had I won that pot, I would have had a lot more chips, but more importantly a ton of confidence. I still made day 2 and cashed, but I nursed a short stack for like 7 hours and never put myself in a position to win. So these are the ways I'm going to work on this leak:

Have a plan for all situations when making a decision so I'm not influenced by emotions
Be comfortable with going busto in big pots early IF I have strong reads

Now the good thing is, later that night in the nightly I played without fear and it paid off. I iso-shoved a big squeeze play vs. an aggro kid with 55 and I was right about flipping and won a big pot. I also raised blind with 4s2s and when I hit a flop of 4xKsJs, I raised someone's donk lead and got it in. I could have easily played it passive and just called the flop, but then I would have had to fold the turn. I felt like I had fold equity and the best hand so I took the aggressive route and it paid off on the river.

Goal Setting - So like I said, my friend's determination to win was inspiring and I know that it fueled his big week. He was not going to be satisfied without a win and it helped him have the strength to follow his gut without caring about being wrong. I am determined to win a big live tournament and it will happen soon.

New Desire - I've been thinking about this more lately and I want to back a small stable of players. I've always loved being a mentor and helping others become successful because of my influence. I also like the idea of spreading out my risk. Of course, the problem right now is that I don't have the bankroll to back others. If Full Tilt & PokerStars were still alive in the US, I could back players for micro-stakes online, but with that being dead there aren't as many people like me who are playing on the remaining US sites. So really I would be backing live players and I do have a concept for the Atlanta Poker Fund which would gather a group of investors together to back multiple players at the same tournaments. But that requires me to recruit others who are interested in staking and that is proving to be more difficult than I thought for myself at the main event (I have to shore that up this week...I probably have $6k locked up). Backing others is still something I am going to pursue.

New Strategies with 20-25bb stack - This is another part of my game that I need to keep working on. I sometimes feel crippled at this stage and end up waiting it out until I get shorter so I can 3bet shove. And while my arsenal might be limited with this stack, I need to have some plays I can utilize to keep chipping up here. Here are a few thoughts:

Don't worry about a 3bet shove feeling like an overbet. If it's the most +EV decision then do it
Delayed shove - interesting article on Cardplayer on this...basically call a raise in position with good, but not great holdings (i.e. KQ, KJ, AT/A9, etc. and shove over any c-bet). Sometimes you'll get called but they will whiff 2/3 of the time and they can't call. This is good against someone you think might call your pre-flop shove with small pairs or possibly better broadway cards, but will fold on the flop
Inducing squeezes by flatting raises in lp with a more merged value range. This only applies vs. really aggro players in the blinds, but instead of just trapping with AA, KK, etc. I could consider flatting a raise with a hand like AJ with the intention of calling/shoving over a squeeze. Again, it is player specific and somewhat high variance but when you have someone squeezing with worse Aces and suited connectors, AJ turns into a big hand.
Limp the button or cut-off vs. players who defend a lot, but won't raise from the blinds. This may seem a bit on the passive side, but it's really more about pot control and playing position. It is player specific and the plan is to bet almost any flop. This isn't a play I would do a lot, but in the right situations it can be the best choice with this stack size.

River plays - One other area I'm going to be thinking about is river plays. I tend to have a very limited bluffing arsenal on the river, but river bluffs can often be very believable. I probably need to find spots where I could bluff raise the river more (not that I need to be spewing rivers, but this is not in my arsenal that much). Obviously it needs to make sense for the hands I'm representing and board textures need to make sense.

Alright, that's it for the giant brain dump for now.

Adapting to Change

2011-04-19T10:40:00.002-05:00

Ugghhhhh. So instead of firing up 8 tables last night, I went to the American Legion to play in one of their weekly live tournaments. Don't get me wrong. The field is super soft and I enjoy playing live poker a lot. But it just wasn't the same. Its a turbo structure so if you don't pick up some hands or good bluffing situations early it's just waiting for a good spot to push. And the field is full of old guy calling stations, so you have to be pretty selective about bluffing.

It was kind of frustrating last night because I finally worked out a nightly online schedule where I wasn't playing turbos and I was REALLY enjoying playing regardless of winning or not. I got to play a lot of post flop poker and I was building and keeping big stacks consistently. I finally felt like I wasn't nitting it up all the time and I was in full control. I was also getting very comfortable 8 tabling and getting in the zone.

The other thing that really sucks about Stars and Tilt shutting down is that I could play poker all from the comfort of my own home. I could put the kids to bed and not feel guilty about skirting my family responsibilities to play poker. Now I feel guilty or selfish anytime I want to play. The thing is, I've been playing poker 3-4 times a week for the last 6-7 years now. All of a sudden this freedom is ripped away from me and now I have to adapt to the change.

The thing is, I LOVE playing poker. This is my personal outlet to become really good at something and I have a burning passion for the competition and personal growth it provides an avenue for. This is something that I am not going to stop doing and I'm not going to stop striving to continuously improve and be great at it. If I did not have something to fuel this part of my personality, I would honestly go crazy and be crabby all day.

All that being said, I just need to work out a regular and predictable schedule that is fair to my family and so that I don't feel guilty every time I go play.

So what about the other US friendly poker sites? Honestly it's still too soon to tell in my opinion. I would love to put money on the Merge network sites but with a limited bankroll, anything I put on I would need to be prepared to have it potentially frozen. And honestly I'd be somewhat okay with that if my roll were still over $10k. But for me to deposit $500 right now and it to be frozen would be significant. I'm not going to put on $100 and play $1 tournaments. That just wouldn't be fun for me. I guess I'm still with the wait and see mentality. How long am I waiting and what I am waiting to see? That's a good question. I guess ideally I want the DOJ to publish a statement that says they aren't going after these sites. But obviously that's not going to happen. I think what I am realistically waiting for is either for Full Tilt or PokerStars to be cleared or some confident movement on regulation. Or maybe just for funds to be unfrozen. I think if funds are unfrozen in the relative short-term that will make me more confident that even if the Merge Network or other sites get shut down, that I can still get my money back.

So there it is I guess. Once there is positive word about funds being unfrozen from PokerStars and FTP then I will consider playing on other sites. Until then, I am a live player and I need to adapt to the change and play games where I will have fun and can capitalize on my skill edge (and obviously beat the rake).

Black Friday and Adjustments

2011-04-17T11:28:00.004-05:00

So wow...online poker...yeah. I'm still in a bit of a state of shock about the FBI arresting the owners of Full Tilt and Poker Stars and virtually shutting down online poker to the US market. There are tons of articles out there on Pocket Fives, Poker News and other sites about the details so I'm not going to go into all of that.

What I'm going to do is give my thoughts about the potential landscape change and how I am going to personally adjust to everything.

Other US friendly sites

As of today, the Merge Poker network (Carbon Poker, Lock Poker, Hero Poker, etc.), Bodog and Cake Poker still serve the US market. How they process deposits and cashouts is unknown to me, but I imagine they are employing similar means as the big players. I WANT to believe that these sites somehow found a legal loophole for financial transactions and will continue to serve the US market. If they do I will move my money (even though their interfaces suck). The tough thing right now though is that there is A LOT of money tied up in accounts on PokerStars and FullTilt and it may be some time before that money can be moved to new sites. I am personally going to monitor the news for a few weeks and then make a decision.

Macro-economic Ramifications

Poker shows such as the Big Game, Poker After Dark and High Stakes poker will be affected and may even go away since the two major companies spending advertising dollars were Full Tilt and PokerStars. This could also lead to less new players entering the poker economy in the short-run and the overall skill edge decreasing.

Limbo & Resurgence

While there could be a long limbo period (1-2 years) for online poker in the US, 0ne possible positive outcome of all of this is that once things shake out and poker finally gets regulated that there will be a major influx of new players. New companies in the market such as Harrahs and MGM could pump a bunch of new advertising dollars and leverage their existing casinos to promote their online poker brands. This will bring in more casual players and those who stayed away from online poker because of barriers and fears about depositing. In the past, you had to really want to play online poker to put money on, which means people were more serious about wanting to play. While there were still definitely a lot of soft players, I think things will soften up even more.

In addition, more of the poker economy's advertising dollars will now be re-directed to foreign markets which will bring in more new players from other countries (and we all know how bad they play). In fact, if the limbo is this long it may also cause a large group of younger online pros to get "real jobs" and not be so saturated in the online poker world. These dynamics could cause the overall quality of poker play to go down, providing a more overall edge for skilled players.

Live Poker

I think live poker will now see a surge. People still want to play and if online is no longer an option, the traffic at home games, VFW games and local casinos will increase.

New Goals-New Focus

A lot of my poker goals were based on volume. IF the other US friendly sites do not become an option I will have to re-adjust my goals and where I focus my energy a bit. Tournament variance in 1,000 man fields means you have to put in a lot of volume for your skill edge to profit. If I will be focusing my attention on live games, then my volume goals will be different and I will need to place more emphasis on both cash games and Omaha (and other games).

I will need to work out a regular schedule of live tournaments and cash games and adjust my volume goals down accordingly since I can't multi-table. I will also need to re-assess my bankroll management needs. While there are regular live tournaments, most of them are super high "charity rake", so cash games will be in the mix more. The average buy-ins will be much higher now though since there are no live $20 tournaments. But, the field sizes will be much less and I will have a much greater edge on the overall field, so there should be less variance. I'm not exactly sure what this will mean yet but I will set my goals accordingly and work to move up in live stakes comfortably. I want to be comfortable bankroll wise to take at least 3-4 poker trips a year playing the $300 and $500 circuit events and eventually the main events.

How I'm going to study my game and improve now

The great thing about online poker is that you can get experience with a high repetition of similar situations and speed up the learning curve. You also have the ability to review hand histories after the fact and calculate the EV of each situation. This enables you to continuously study, learn and improve your game. If the other sites don't pan out and I end up focusing on live poker, I will need to devise a system for regularly improving my game. This may be taking notes on hand situations while I play for later review, more communication with poker friends about hands, etc. Obviously tools like Hold'em Manager become obsolete, but I still have a plethora of past hands to review. Hopefully, training sites like Cardrunners and PokerXFactor stay in business (and stay in English), so those can still be ways to stay in the mindset of thinking through hands. Obviously live betting patterns can sometimes vary but it's the regular conditioning of your thought process that is important.

Here are a list of things I will do to keep improving:

Regular blog posts about hand situations and inflections in the game
Monthly play recap like I've been doing
Will still keep up with my play stats and volume
Live hand discussions with poker friends who I respect
More 2+2 forum reading/posting (since I will have less hands of my own than normal to review, this will increase my repetition of thinking through a hand)
Possibly keep notes on regular live players, their tendencies and how to exploit them
From a skill standpoint, I am going to really focus on playing full betting lines and having a plan for each hand, as well as assigning hand ranges. Online this was becoming very automatic and I will need to make sure I translate this to live play.
I also plan on stepping up my Omaha & Omaha Hi/Lo game since a lot of cash games are mixed. I plan on making an investment in some video training with those games in order to get myself to a level where I am confident in all situations.

Bringing new players into the poker economy

There are definitely major soft spots in the live, local poker scene but over time if no new players are introduced then the regulars keep swapping money back and forth. I plan on keeping and widening my edge and finding more edges to exploit (this could be as simple as finding ways of staying alert when everyone else is tired and making mistakes or knowing when to stop playing)

But I firmly believe there needs to be a way to keep introducing new players into the local live poker economy. Maybe it's through bonuses for bringing a friend, smaller buy-in tournaments, etc. Not exactly sure what the strategy is yet but I feel some responsibility to make it happen.

So what can I do to keep poker going strong?

Host regular live tournaments
Attend regular events to keep numbers up
Host satellite events and set up the Atlanta Poker fund to send players to live circuit events
Support the organizers of local games by bringing them new players
Recruit new players to the game
Regular support of the Poker Players Alliance

Well those are my thoughts for now. We'll see how the next couple of weeks go for the other US sites and hopefully the government will move faster to regulate online poker.

Practicing Tilt Endurance

2011-04-10T20:39:00.004-05:00

Wowowowow. Tonight started off as a major train wreck. I've still got 3 tables going and it's taking everything I have to stay focused. I mean I'm building stacks in a lot of the tournaments and then running into nasty spots and have been behind every time. I'm losing flips and my bust outs were all coming in groups.

I also think that playing until 2am last night is starting to affect my ability to recover right now (which I won my live tournament btw). I feel like I'm not fully thinking through situations now and I need to slow it down a bit. So, that's why I'm calling this practicing Tilt Endurance. I figure that if I can pull it together and focus on the proactive elements of the game after being in that many bad situations, it will make me stronger and more resilient for other times when this may happen.

So...right now I'm going to stop clicking buttons and start recognizing situations.

--------

Okay, good recovery. I ended up playing much better and cashed in two tournaments. Nothing big $$ wise, but I played well and put myself in a position to accumulate chips. Felt much better about the night and I think I successfully built up some tilt endurance.

March Recap

2011-04-01T11:04:00.003-05:00

Since I've done some mid month progress reports for March already, I'll keep this post brief.

Goal: 100 tournaments
Actual: 53 tournaments played

With my own money
Played 43 (7 were turbo multi-table sngs)
$1,137.80 in buy-ins
$1,136.18 in cashes
- $1.62 in profit

Backed:
Played 10
$1,706 in buy-ins
$155.29 in cashes
- $1,600.85 in profit

Summary
Short month volume wise, but I knew that would be the case sense it was the end of wrestling season. Now that wrestling season is over, I'm working out a 4 day a week schedule where I should easily be able to accomplish the 100 tourney goal. I'm also consistently 6 tabling with a high comfort level so I'm confident I'll get the volume in and still be rested and fresh while I play. My backer and I also decided to add one more night a week of backed games on Wednesday nights. Playing Sundays is great but if I want both of us to be profitable and with the limited volume it makes it hard.

Also, based on my conversation with my backer (see last post), I'm not going to even look at the makeup. He's right. My only job is to play and keep evolving my game. With my low monthly volume it's somewhat pointless keeping up with profit, etc. as a measurement of success. I might have 3-4 negative months and then whammo...one big month. So I may stop doing that in my monthly recaps.

I'm also getting DEEP stacks consistently now. I've been hovering closer to 30-70bb when things start getting into the middle/late stages vs. my standard 10-20bb shove, double, wait, shove, shove, wait, shove, bust.

In March, I also started playing the games I want to play. I stopped playing the turbo multi-table sngs except for some 90 mans on Tilt. I played deeper stacked games where I could exploit my post-flop edge and have more fun playing.

How I Improved vs. February (and some of January's) Leaks

1. Light 3 Betting - Toward the end of the month I really started getting comfortable here. I 3bet blind a few times and started 3betting people I felt were stealing from early position or those I knew could fold. Still needs some practice, but definitely a big improvement.

2. Fear of Mistakes - This last Wednesday, after I had the chat with my backer, I really let a lot of things go. He ended up ghosting me toward the end of the session and I felt very confident in my decisions. I would make a decision for a play and he would chat the same thing. It really validated a lot of my thought processes.

3. Hero Calls - Not an issue at all. Less pressure to succeed = ability to let go of hands

4. Light Steals - Another big improvement. I keep covering my cards and it's really helping. My VPIP/PFR for the month increased to 17/12 and I found myself at several tables running around 25/20 over 100+ hands. Obviously it's all table and situationaly dependent, but I'm definitely more comfortable opening up my game.

5. Double Barreling - I improved here. I think more so in the fact that I was confident in whatever line I decided to take, whether it was a double barrel, check-raise, delayed cbet or whatever.

6. Folding to 3bets - After the session where my backer ghosted me, I started seeing spots where I may have been folding too much with the KQ, AT type hands. This is going to take more practice, possible mistakes and possible suckouts, but I definitely saw some common spots where I'm leaving equity on the table.

7. Long-Ball Bluffs/Alternate Lines - Still needs some work getting comfortable playing certain multi-street lines when in the deeper stages of the tournament with marginal holdings, but gonna keep working on this.

Areas to Work On
At this point I think the biggest thing to keep working on is consistently practicing the above areas. Repetition makes things automatic. Other than that, I think just staying confident and trusting my reads during the later stages without really focusing as much on the consequence of what making a mistake means to my stack. Just play out the line and make the EV decision. Tony Dunst had a good line at the end of the last WPT television broadcast. He said, "It's not about winning the most pots, it's about making the most correct decisions."

Being Backed

2011-03-30T19:00:00.005-05:00

Had a good chat with my backer today. I get backed for Sunday tournaments and it's been going well despite being in make up. It's interesting being backed. It's not your money and you assume none of the risk, so you would think this would make me feel free to play however I wanted without the fear of losing money. But for me, it's not about the money. It's about succeeding and doing my best.

The only measurement of how well I'm doing are the results, so I think I've tended to fixate on those a bit much. Even though I'm really improving as a player, the results haven't quite showed it yet. I believe this is primarily due to a rough early start where I nitted up like crazy not wanting to make mistakes and the fact that I've only played 70 tournaments. I recently hit a final table in the $30r, but 8th place didn't make a significant dent.

BUT, despite my worst fears of him thinking I'm not doing well because I'm 10k in makeup, he's totally fine. In fact, he's happy with the progress I'm making. He can tell through hand history reviews that my thought processes are solid. He reminded me that he's had other horses that were 50k in make up.

His exact words: "Don't worry about the make up. Not only don't worry about it, don't think about it. You got it easy, all you do is have to play. Zero risk."

That really helped me put things in perspective...ZERO risk. Who cares. Don't put extra pressure on yourself when, in fact, there is less pressure to succeed then with your own bankroll.

"Just keep trying to improve. I'll help as much as possible and lets see what happens."

So I went into last nights session in an attack mode and I was able to build up deep stacks consistently. I rarely got below 30bb and usually hovered around 50bb. I had an unfortunate pot in the $30r when I iso shoved 88 and the big blind woke up with AA. This left me with about 8bb and I went out in 65th (paid 63). But then my momentum really started picking up and I found myself one of the chip leaders in the 50/50 (the 50 Hundo this week). I really felt a lot more confident with the super aggro players and was picking my spots well 3 betting, flatting, etc. I didn't really think about the strength of my hand and just played the situations.

Unfortunately I busted in like 89th place out of 2300 when I overplayed top pair. My backer was watching me play and vs. a very aggro player he said "play top pair like it's the nuts vs. him". Which of course in concept is correct. However I took the advice too literal and I didn't take the time to read my situation appropriately. Short story, I defended KTos in the bb vs. a min raise. Flop is T45 and after I checked, he checked behind. In my mind he had something of showdown value and was pot controlling. This could be a mid pocket pair or tp with a weak kicker. The turn was an 8 and after I bet, he raised me pretty large. To me, there were red flags. Of course this could be a delayed bluff and I have to consider that. But based on my original read, 88 was possible as was 67 or even T8. Instead of just calling the raise, I jammed and he snap called me with T8. I think because the call left me with like 17bb left I didn't want to call and have a pot sized bet left. BUT at this stage of the tournament it's not like I can't fold the river (if needed). I don't HAVE to get it in here. Plus, by jamming, I'm not getting a lot of worse hands to call me so there really isn't much value. Again, I think I kinda spazzed out and took the advice of "play it like the nuts" too literal. In my mind it was "I'm not going to fold to this lagtard".

Anyway it was a great session overall and I built up a ton of confidence. Ready for more!!

Deep run in $22 rebuy

2011-03-25T00:36:00.003-05:00

My session started out with a lot of bust outs, but none of them phased me and I just kept focusing on playing situations. I was finally down to only the $22 rebuy on stars and really got into the zone after a while. I consciously started opening up my game and found myself one of the chip leaders getting close to the bubble. It REALLY helps covering your cards and contemplating decisions first. I made about 4-5 blind steals and one blind 3bet. After I was called I looked at my cards and had flopped 2pr with J7s, but unfortunately the other guy hit bottom set. So I went from about 75bb to around 50ish.

I wasn't phased and was happy with the way I played the hand. I knew I had to change gears a bit since I was running like 25/23 over 50 hands. I did, but as the bubble grew near I wanted to capitalize on it. Unfortunately I kept getting picked off and I had to scale back a bit. The bubble burst and I still had a nice stack of about 40-45bb or so, but then the table dynamics changed with new players and I found it harder to pick my spots. I had a lot more aggressive players to my right and I probably passed up a few too many spots for 3 bets. Since this tournament only plays 36 I knew the final table wasn't too far off. I tried to force myself to not worry about that, but when push came to shove, I didn't want to give up my stack by risking a light 3bet. ****WRONG**** As I type this out, I realize that my subconscious still needs some training. I did GREAT this tournament and honestly played some of my best poker. But as the tables consolidated I kept passing up spots thinking I would have at least some sort of hand I could play. Unfortunately that didn't happen and next thing you know, I was down to 20bb which made it much harder to open pots. I did open one pot with 55 and got insta-shoved on by a really passive player, so I folded with about 15bb. Blinds go up and now I have 10bb with 2 tables left. I did shove once blind, but the big stacks to my right made it really hard to open shove and I couldn't 3bet since I had zero fold equity. I finally shove 89s 7 handed utg+1 and lost to JJ in 15th.

Overall I'm really happy with how I played and I am really seeing where I've had leaks in my game passing up 3bet spots when it gets deep. Not that I need to go crazy, but I have to keep my stack afloat or the blinds will creep up on you before you know it.

Great March So Far

2011-03-22T16:18:00.006-05:00

March started off pretty slow in terms of volume because of the end of wrestling season, but the last week or so has been great. I've started coming to terms a bit regarding volume & variance and I've been playing with a very clear head. Eliminating the looming dark cloud of needing poker for income has allowed me to really focus on following my gut in certain spots.

I'm also trying to mix in tournaments with smaller field sizes and better structures. This is helping me feel a bit more in control of my game and I'm enjoying playing post flop a lot more.

Here are some improvements I've made lately:

Looking for spots to 3bet 25-30bb stacks - I've made this something I'm consciously aware of, but I'm not forcing it either. I'm considering my options though.
Considering my cards last - I'm making myself practice getting logical, emotion free reps thinking through all situations. I'm also not relying on my HUD stats as much, but more on game flow first. I'm thinking "why did they do that?" first. Also, when I only have a couple of tables, I've been covering my cards. I'm not playing blind per se, but I'm thinking about the situation first. Sometimes I will force myself to play blind when it makes sense so that I don't talk myself out of it. Basically, I'm finally making thinking about the situation first a habit instead of just something I do when I'm in the zone.
Thinking about who is left to act behind me before I act
I'm really considering their logical hand range when deciding my line and decisions - this is resulting in good bet sizing, the right spots for aggression, etc.
I'm not defaulting to the "standard" play - I'm considering what may be standard for a situation, but I'm also not falling into the trap. While sometimes this can lead to over thinking, I've been trying to make the decision that feels right and remind myself not to over think it.
I'm focused on execution - I'm not thinking about external factors such as wanting or needing to go deep, the pressure for money, etc. I realize more and more that you can't put a lot of emotional stock in any one tournament. All you can do is focus on making good decisions. I've learned this before, but as I gain more experience the meaning becomes that much more clear.

Here are some things I need to work on:

3 betting/squeezing aggressive early position raisers - not that it needs to happen all the time, but there are definitely profitable spots for doing this, especially from the button or cut-off. I still hesitate because of position and the "what if they have a real hand this time" factor.
3 betting Ax - Very read dependent of course, but I often fold more than I need to with a hand like A7s vs. a button steal. Why Ax? Not because I think it's a great hand, but because I have an Ace blocker, it makes it less likely that they have an Ace and they have more hands that will fold to a 3 bet.
Stealing with trash - again, I don't need to force it but there are still spots where the stacks & players behind me say raising makes sense. At the same time, there have been spots where I raised the button with trash knowing that the situation/stacks were perfect for the small/big blind to re-steal and I needed to pick a better spot.
Calling overbets on the river - Most of the time I fold when it's obvious they have a big hand, but against donkey spewy aggro players I will sometimes hero call. It's usually when I have a bunch of tables up, so just need to think through the spot more and not worry about the other tables beeping.
I may also be missing calling/iso shoving some spots with A-mid when a shorter stack shoves. Example: A middle position player shoves 8bb and I'm on the button or in the cutoff with A8 or A9. I will often fold here because it's somewhat of a thin spot, but the reality is I'm still somewhat ingrained with habits from years ago where people didn't shove as wide as they do now.

February Recap

2011-02-28T23:56:00.007-05:00

Here's a recap of February 2011 went.

Goal: 100 tournaments
Actual: 83 tournaments played

With my own money
Played 68(39 were turbo multi-table sngs)
$1,353 in buy-ins
$1,073 in cashes
- $280 in profit

Backed:
Played 15
$3,480 in buy-ins
$1,596.75 in cashes
- $1,883.25 in profit

Summary

Feb started out being a tough month with a lot of self-discovery toward the end. Up until the 2nd to last day, I had cashed once in the last 54 tournaments on Full Tilt for only $17 and my make up in backed tournaments continued to grow. The weight of tournament variance started to take hold a bit and I started getting frustrated.

BUT I started making a nice rebound just this Sunday with a final table in the $30r and 3 cashes on Monday night (3rd in a 45 man on Tilt, 2nd in a $10 bounty tournament and another small cash). Sunday was actually the first session where I turned a profit in backed games.

When you are only able to put in limited volume in high-variance games your mind can play tricks on you, but I was able to rebound and wrestling season is almost over so I'll be able to play more soon. But, I'm also working on a blog post where I'm taking a step back and trying to figure out what games are best for me based on my goals and my situation. I'm in a good and determined frame of mind, so I'm ready for March.

How I Improved vs. January's Leaks

1. Light 3 Betting - I consciously looked for these spots and increased my 3bet % to 4.8% from 4.2%. I still probably missed a few spots and I there were a couple of questionable oop 3bets that cost me some chips. I'm mostly 3betting in position, but if I am going to 3bet oop, I need to increase my sizing.

2. Fear of Mistakes - I improved here as well, especially in backed games. It makes it much easier when you can focus on just playing good and not being overly results oriented.

3. Hero Calls - I made some progress, but then toward the end of the month some tilt must have set in from my impatience of achieving results as I found myself not able to let go of a few hands when my gut said I was beat. In those sessions, however I was able to recognize this leak and make adjustments accordingly.

4. Light Steals - I definitely improved here. I actually started covering my hole cards with those electronic post-it notes. It's helping force me to make situational decisions first and think about my cards last. I've stolen blind a handful of times as well. My VPIP/PFR for the month increased to 16/12 as compared to 15.4/11.4 last month. It's not a giant jump, but it's an improvement.

Stuff I'm Doing Well
1. Floats - I'm really recognizing good boards and situations to float and bluff the turn.

2. Extraction from Big Hands - I've always been good at this, but I think I'm improving on making decisions between building the pot on early streets and trapping to extract on later ones.

Areas to Work On
1. Double Barreling - Not that I need to force this, but I found myself c-betting once and giving up more than I should.

2. Folding to 3bets - Since I'm still playing a lot of shallow turbos there are less spots where this makes sense, but I also think I get bluffed off of KQ and AT type hands more than I should.

3. Long-Ball Bluffs/Alternate Lines - Again, you can't force these spots but I feel like there are a few situations where I need to mix up my lines a bit so I'm not exploitable. This could be cbet/giving up or calling flop, checking turn and folding to river bet. But, I feel like when I'm calling these river bets that I'm beat by pot control lines too. I also think there are some spots where I can turn my hand into a bluff in deeper stages. In early stages I am better at recognizing these spots, but in later stages I hold back because of the fear of losing a semi-healthy stack.

So that's February. Not the worst month in the world, but not the momentum swing I was hoping for. I ended the month strong however and in just these last few days I feel I've made major progress in both my mental approach and my focus.

Why I Play Poker - Revisited

2011-02-27T11:23:00.008-05:00

I was reading back through some old blog posts from 5 years ago and realized...wait!...that was 5 years ago. Time has really flown by and according to those posts I've been playing almost 7 years now. That is really crazy to think about.

Back then I had an "a ha moment" and decided that the reason I play was for competitiveness and for the fun of playing. I talked about how money was a nice by product but really it was a means of keeping score. I still do feel this way for the most part, but I have been putting a lot more pressure on myself lately to use the money I win playing poker to help pay off debt that has built up as a result of now being a business owner.

Unfortunately over the last few months I haven't turned a profit and while I've mostly kept an even keel attitude about variance, it started to get to me the other day. I haven't had to deposit money since I started playing with only a few site transfers to replenish, the funds in my online accounts are basically at zero. NOW, let me also say that this is me being a tad melodramatic because I have a good bit of my bankroll in cash or in a savings account AND had to buy-in with my own funds for some backed games and I'm owed money. But that isn't a ton and I think the psychological affects of not being able to buy into anything right now started pissing me off.

It's been about 4 months since my roll took a big nose dive due to life bills and a big downswing and while I thought my bruised ego was over it, I think I assumed I would have hit a decent score by now to move the line graph upward. Unfortunately I've only had a few minor ups and downs of my own roll and the makeup of my backing deal continues to grow.

I can't tell if I'm being impatient, if my sample size for expecting some movement is too small, if I'm still in some overall downswing, or maybe certain holes in my game are preventing me from achieving success. I'm really in a state of confusion and at a loss as to what to do. I'm hoping that blogging about it will provide some clarity.

As far as my game goes, I truly feel that I'm making big improvements. I mean yeah, I've had a couple of brain farts that cost me a couple of deep runs, but overall I think I'm playing good. I don't think that my feeling this way is some sort of ego protection mechanism where I can't admit that I have holes. I am always looking for ways to improve. And I can confidently say that I have an edge on most fields I'm playing in.

So if that's not it, what is it? Am I being impatient? It's possible. Maybe the volume needed to succeed in online tournament poker is more than I'm able to put in based on my desire to achieve "short-term" results. I mean everyone talks about the swings and when you are only putting in 70-100 tournaments a month versus large field sizes maybe it's simply going to take longer. I mean with even skill level and a payout of the top 15% of a 1,000 person tournament, you are only going to cash ON AVERAGE of 15% of the time. So when you do cash in a 1,000 person tournament, that means you are top 150. The real money is at the final table, so you then have to be top 9, which is less than 1% of the total field (.9%). So...if you final table .9% of the time, out of 1000 tries that is only 9 final tables.

Okay, I just looked at how many tournaments I've played in the last 4 months and not including the backed games, I've played 223. If you just look at the turbos, I played 115. So we're only talking 108 tournaments, of which many of them have more than 1,000 entries. Even if I were running even, I would have only made less than 1 final table.

So I guess I answered my earlier question and it continues to be a question of volume. Time in terms of months is irrelevant if you are playing tournaments with large field sizes. If I was playing the same amount of tournaments with smaller field sizes, I would cash and final table more. Or if I put in more volume in the same period of months, I should statistically final table more. Time only prolongs feelings of running good, bad or even. Time, then only stretches and skews reality and can play tricks on your mind.

So the trick then is to control your perception of reality by either:

A. Reducing actual variance
B. Improving your ability to keep perspective on what your real skill level is and how much variance there is in tournament poker
C. Play more volume

In order to reduce variance, you have to understand what factors influence it and risk in general. Here are a few:

Field size
Blind structure/time (the faster the blinds, the less time for skill to prevail and the thinner the edges you have to take)
Volume of play
Information to make decisions (live play arguably provides more info, better blind structure means more time with the same people which means more information, which reduces guessing, which reduces variance).
Decisions to take small edges

Higher risk/variance (but in some cases a higher reward):

Take small edges
Larger field size
Turbo structures (which force taking smaller edges)
Low volume of play
Low information on opponents
Play higher % of bankroll

Lower risk/variance (but in some cases a lower reward):

Take larger edges (less gambling, more confidence in decision)
Small field sizes
Slower structures/Deeper stacks
High volume of play
High information on opponents (playing with similar players over time, more predictable play, high confidence in reads)
Play small % of bankroll

Another factor to consider is also the quality of other players:

Good players = more risk & lower ROI in both short & long run. Too offset this risk, you may need to gamble more since you won't have a skill edge and need to take small edges
Bad players = less risk & high ROI over long run BUT can be lower ROI in short-run. This means you can pass up some small edges since there are more edges to take and can find higher EV spots. If you have a mix of good and bad players in a game, you can forgoe a small edge vs. a good player since there will be larger edges against the bad players.

Basically, the faster the blind structure and the larger the field sizes, the more volume you have to put in to succeed over the same period of time. Because of the increased variance of fast &/or large field sizes, this also means larger swings up and down. Arguably there is more potential payout in larger fields so IF you can put in the volume you can make more here in terms of ROI. If you can't put in the volume, you are handicapped in the short-run unless you hit a good patch of variance.

So...if you cannot put in a lot of volume and are going to play tournaments, you are better off playing against smaller field sizes with better blind structures if you want more success in terms of winning or making final tables. This doesn't necessarily mean you will make more money but you will make money more consistently.

So what is the magic formula? If you can only put in X volume and want to make X dollars, what field size, blind structure and buy-in should you play?

Well, the answer to this question finally brings us back to the whole point of this blog post. It depends on why you play poker?

Since it has taken me a few weeks to complete this post, some things have changed that affect my answer to this question. We decided to move some investment money around to pay off the debt. This has basically eliminated the burden that has been looming for the last couple of years and has taken the pressure off of me to make a big score. It's hard to know how much this pressure affected my game, but it certainly didn't help. I feel like there will be a new freedom to play for the joy of the game and not the hope of a big cash that would remove stress in my life. Had you asked me two weeks ago why I play, it would probably be some combination of fun hobby and to eliminate debt (with about 75% weighted toward debt relief).

But now...I not only don't have to play for income, I have increased perspective on variance. As I was trying to mathematically determine what games I should play based on my limited volume (limited in comparrison to an MTT pro), I also read a great blog series that did some of the work for me (http://www.nsdpoker.com/2011/01/mtt-pros/). Without repeating this post, it re-inforced just how much variance affects the game. Even the highest skilled players can be losing players even over a 1,000 and 5,000 tournament sample size in large field MTTs.

So to break it down simply, here's why I play:

I enjoy the competition. Which means I enjoy out playing my opponents and I like winning. I want to be the best and I want re-inforcement that I am from my results. I enjoy cash games, but I prefer tournaments because I also like the feeling of beating the field and taking home the top prize. I also like the strategic decisions required based on multiple factors. While cash games present several more meta-game factors and multi-street decisions, the thrill of beating the field out weighs those cerebral pleasures.

So I'm back to where I was 5 years ago...just with more experience and a matured perspective.

Now what?

Now I need to decide where I will focus my time and energy. I still prefer tournaments, but I should mix in more cash games. Also now that wrestling season is over, I can play more and get to more live games as well. Based on why I play the game and the volume I can put in, I really need to focus on tournaments with smaller fields and deeper stacks. This will allow me to feel like I'm actually playing poker and enjoy playing more. The turbos are okay, but it's not as fun to push and pray. It's actually kind of stressful being subject to the poker gods. When you factor in the thrill of the payouts and where I've seen success in the past, I think my sweet spot is mid-stakes rebuy tournaments. This doesn't mean its all I will play, but I should seek these out (and possibly expand to playing on other sites). By focusing on smaller fields, I will final table and win more often (both in frequency and over the course of time) which will re-inforce my feeling of success. This will increase my confidence and reduce stress while playing.

From the above list of risk/variance & reward factors, here is what I chose to primarily focus on:

Take most + EV edges - I will still strive to make profitable long-term decisions as I am still playing MTTs. However these decisions may be adjusted slightly depending on the tournament structure.
Play a comfortable % of bankroll - I'll still follow most bankroll management rules as I'm not in a position to replinish fully. But I may have to bend the rules a bit for local live tournaments.
Low number of entrants (in relation to large field MTTs)
Slower structures/Deeper stacks
High volume of play (as much as I can)
High information on opponents

Based on this, here are the types of games I'll be focusing on (non-backed games) :

Smaller field rebuys ($10 1r+1a, $20r and $30r when my roll increases)
Non-guaranteed prize pools - These are less likely to have massive fields
Deeper stacked guaranteed games - If the field is larger, I want more chips
Poker Stars Home Games - I'm gonna try and increase the number of players in the league to up the prize pools and use reads to my advantage.
Local live tournaments (I'll likely mix in a weekly Thursday game or monthly "Big Show").
Local cash games

This isn't to say that I won't play any turbos, but I will certainly play less of them. Wrestling season is over so I'll have more time to play but if I get an itch and I only have a few hours, I may still fire up a 45, 90 or 180 man.

So that's the plan. I've got to say I'm pretty pumped about going through this exercise. It's really helped me clear my head and know where to focus my energy. I'm excited about the rest of this year and can't wait to play again.

February so far

2011-02-11T17:01:00.004-05:00

I've started of February not playing much at all. I've played 23 tournaments, which if I keep this pace I'm only projected to play 64 this month. Wrestling season, the Super Bowl and feeling exhausted have prevented me from playing the volume that I want so far. I can definitely still make it up, but it's frustrated when you want to play yet you know that you'll play like crap because your too tired.

On a positive side, I set up a home game league on Poker Stars and that has gone really well. The first of 10 events had 30 people and the league is now at 43 members. I took 8th in the first event, but I felt like I played really well. I made some big laydowns early and I trusted my reads on some important 3bet spots and a big squeeze pot where the bb had KQ to my AQ.

Anyway, short entry for today. Just feeling anxious to play and not having enough time to squeeze games in.

January Recap

2011-02-11T16:58:00.001-05:00

Here's a recap of January 2011 went.

Goal: 100 tournaments
Actual: 102 tournaments played (taking tonight off)

With my own money (gah! I need my bankroll back...stupid life bills)
Played 77 (43 were turbo multi-table sngs)
$1,620 in buy-ins
$1,413 in cashes
- $207 in profit

Backed:
Played 25
$3,523 in buy-ins
$1,668 in cashes
- $1,855 in profit

Reasons for Success:
1. Opened up my game from early position
2. Played a great post-flop game and chipped up nice during the early stages
3. Got out of the habit of c-betting every single flop. Picked and choose my spots wisely. My cbet % was 61.3 where it's usually around 85 or so.

Things to Work On:
1. Light 3 betting - I definitely did not do this enough. My 3bet % for January was 4.2. I need to actively look for more opportunities to attack 25-35bb stacks and close my eyes so I don't see my cards. By 6 tabling I sometimes miss these spots because it isn't part of my normal game unless I have good reads. I need to make these spots automatic.

2. Fear of making mistakes - For some reason, in backed games I'm hesitant in the close decisions and found myself taking a more passive route in the middle stages. I crushed it early when I could play all three streets, but as blinds got higher I found myself blinding out because I either didn't pull the trigger in certain spots (see #1) OR talked myself out of a shove or 3bet shove because it was close (i.e. A-rag or A-mid vs. late position raise).

3. Hero calls - On boards that were kinda scary or people potted I found myself making more hero calls than normal and being wrong. The pot odds were -EV since they weren't bluffing a high enough %.

4. Light steals - I don't think I need to open up too much, but I could use a few more steals with trashy hands when the situation is right. I ran 15.4 / 11.4 / 4.2. Part of that is because I didn't get too deep or short handed as often as I would like. I'm not going to try and force a certain stat, but if I open up a bit in the right situations I could see myself being closer to like 17/13/7 or 19/14/8.

2011 Poker Goals

2010-12-24T11:40:00.011-05:00

So 2010 was a pretty tough year overall. It started off with a Biloxi trip where I bubbled something like 7 out of 9 tournaments and was down probably $2k. I then went through some major ups and downs over 25,000 hands trying my hand at being a cash game player. I expected to have a nice pretty upward graph, instead I barely eeked out a profit. I then busted out of the Main Event with 17 min left to go in Day 1. Upon returning from Vegas, I went through pretty much the worst downswing I have ever had, had a Biloxi trip where I didn't win a single thing, and right in the middle of that I had to use about 1/3 of my bankroll to pay off a major life expense.

Now in between all of that I had some good moments as well. I did really well at local tournaments and I came home about +$2,500 from the World Series. So when you factor everything in, while my bankroll did actually grow to about $11,500 or so I saw it plummet to $2,500 in 5 months. For the most part I played within my bankroll, but when you combine the downswing with the life expense all at the same time it really hit me in the gut.

So where am I now? Well, I was able to put myself in a great opportunity by becoming backed by one of the top up & coming players. He actually used to play at my house a few years back and I initiated a re-connection. My plan wasn't to become backed or anything. I just wanted to pick his brain. But as our conversation evolved, I paid for a few hours of invaluable lessons and the topic of being backed came up. After a few weeks, he asked me if I wanted to do it and after doing research on the pros & cons, I decided it was for me.

So now it's been about a month and I've played a handful of Sunday majors. I haven't had a big cash yet, but I have been able to go deep in a few big tournaments. More importantly, I'm adjusting and improving my game. There have been a few spots that I've been a little unsure of because I'm applying new skills, but for the most part I'm building bigger stacks in tournaments.

I feel like 2011 will be a big year for me.

Here are my goals for the year with associated action items:

1. Get my confidence back and not beat myself up over tough decisions

Actions:
- Review hand histories the next day with fresh perspective and not wait until a week later. I need to incorporate more study time of my own hands which will help me continue to learn and increase my confidence when similar situations come up.
- Review hand histories with my backer
- Pull the trigger more when getting deep in a tournament. If I'm wrong, then I can review the hand with my backer to adjust for next time. I'm not going to worry about the results of any one tournament.
- Get consistent sleep. Keeping my brain fresh will help me not make emotion based decisions. This will be incorporated into my play schedule (see below) where I am balancing in rest days.

2. Put in 100 tournaments a month (note: while this is easy for many players my limited schedule makes it challenging. After March I may be able to increase this.)

Actions:
- Create monthly play calendar with daily/weekly volume goals
- Get more comfortable making reads playing 6-8 tables consistently

3. Finally win a "real" tournament with over 180 players - Believe it or not, I still haven't done this.

Action: By focusing on #1 and especially #2, this will happen...and likely more than once.

4. Get a 10k cash by June

Action: Just need to make sure that my volume includes tournaments where this is possible. My focus really is on volume and making the right decisions and the results will come.

5. Have profitable quarters in my backing deal - since I'm only playing Sundays and a handful of nightlys I think measuring this every 3 months is good.

Actions:
- Set a reminder for myself to review my quarterly results
- Focus on deep runs and not just cashing, knowing that my backer isn't interested in a bunch of min cashes.

6. My original goal 5 years ago was to win a bracelet by 2011. While based on volume alone it isn't realistic, I still want to make it something I'm shooting for.

Action: In order to play at the WSOP this year I'm going to have to have a great first half of the year and/or be backed to play live events. Even to be backed, I'm gonna have to prove myself so I am going to concentrate the majority of my efforts on volume goals and hand history reviews for the first half of the year.

So overall there are some things I want to accomplish, but most of it will be achieved because I'm focused on a solid play schedule getting both volume in, but also enough sleep to play fresh. I know that volume will help balance out variance and if I'm constantly trying to study specific hands in order to improve, it will help me make better, impartial decisions at the table.

A Fresh Start

2010-11-14T17:03:00.004-05:00

I haven't posted in a while, so I'll give a super brief update to give some context to this post. The short story is that I hit one of "those" downswings you hear that other people have and it makes your downswing seem like nothing. Are there worse downswings out there? I am absolutely sure of it. Now for me I am using buy-ins and % of my bankroll as the measuring stick. The dollar value of my downswing is NOTHING in comparison to the majority of serious poker players. But for me, it was still significant. How much was it? About 1/2 my bankroll.

That is phase 1. Phase 2 is a major expense that I have had for a year that we set up as a no payments/no interest for a year. Well I was hoping to build my bankroll enough where I could pay for this and not affect my roll. Unfortunately that didn't happen and now my once $11k+ roll is down to about $2,300.

So that is the past. On to the future.

I have two choices. Dwell on the past and act like "poor me" or make a new start. I chose to approach things with a fresh mind and start a new chapter in my poker career. It won't be easy, but the alternative sucks. In fact, I got some inspiration this morning on my decision. I went to church this morning for some reason (I never go) and the message today was that when life hands you the worst of it, it is those with faith and fortitude who will receive god's support and wisdom (or something like that).

Starting this morning, I am working with a new bankroll. I also know that things happen for a reason and my recent re-connection with someone who I just started a backing agreement with was meant to be. I am one that believes that god will present paths for us to choose and it is ultimately our decisions that dictate the directions we move in.

Moving forward, I am not going to try and catch back up or chase losses. I am not going to make decisions that carry emotional baggage from past results or use my ego or "need to win". I am going to think positive and stay focused on profitable decision making.

WSOP Main Event - Prep Blog

2010-07-08T11:22:00.000-05:00

In a few hours I'll be playing in my third WSOP. It's always an exciting time as poker players from all over the world come together to compete. The last two times I came, I played in $2,000 events and had pretty deep runs. I cashed both times and last year I finished 47th out of about 1,700 players.

This year will be my first main event and I'm as ready as ever. I was backed for the event so it certainly takes the bankroll pressure off, but I plan on playing my best regardless. I'm not going to spew chips because it doesn't matter if I bust and I'm also not going to nit it up because I'm playing with someone else's money. They know they are taking a risk and they just want me to play my best.

The Main Event is a super long tournament so it really is just a series of poker decisions just like any other session or tournament. By treating it like a media spectacle and a “big deal” takes away from proper decision making and clouds your judgment. To be mentally prepared n most big sporting events, you should block out the distractions in order to focus on your skills. A poker tournament is no different except that in addition, poker has a variance factor. What this means is that in order to be successful you truly have to treat poker as one big session and not get caught up in the results of one specific tournament, whether it be a small buy-in online tournament or the biggest tournament in the world.

Having said that, there are some adjustments that can be made to optimize my results in a tournament like this. While I will do my best to treat it like any other tournament, other players may not and it's my job to capitalize on that.

So my overall strategy is just like any other tournament. I will identify player tendencies, assign hand ranges and make my decisions accordingly. If I need to be aggro in the beginning to pick up easy chips from passive players then I will. If I need to stay conservative because people are playing like a home cash game because the stacks are so deep, then I'll do that. The key will be understanding the individual players mindsets. For some, there will be interesting meta-game considerations since we'll likely be at the same table for a while in the beginning, but for others who are just playing their cards they don't even know what meta-game means. Some players will nit up when it cost them their stack because they don't want to bust from the main event and some players will gamble it up because they feel they have nothing to lose. I have no idea what my table will bring...it could be filled with internet pros who might be super aggro and it might be filled with live pros who have something to prove (which may cause them to be more or less nitty than normal). I might also have a bunch of guys who won their seat through bar poker freerolls. Who knows. But the main thing is that I'll make my decisions based on observed tendencies. Everyone has leaks and it is my job to exploit them.

So like last year, I jotted down a few statements to help me get in the right mindset and stay focused. Here they are in no particular order:

- I will not get caught up in the fan fare and the emotion of the event
- I'm not going to put a bunch of pressure on myself to make "perfect decisions"
- If I make mistakes I will adapt and move on...there will be lots of poker to play
- I will not let ego affect my play vs. aggro players (esp guys who are trying to look like cool poker players)
- I will not force spots trying to outplay people. I will make reads and make confident decisions.
- I will not try to play like other people. I will stay true to my game.
- They are all poker players with patterns & tendencies. They are just people and I will not play in fear of celebrity or reputation.
- I will play to win. My stack will dictate how I play on the bubble and I will take advantage of bubble dynamics as best as I can.
- I have no need to prove to myself or anyone that I am not afraid to bust out on a big call or shove. If those plays come up they will be based on sound, confident & logical decisions.
- I will not get emotionally attached to a hand
- I will stay patient
- I will not be afraid of the outcome of my decisions (aka I will not be afraid to bust). But at the same time, I will make plays that I am confident in and I will not force spots.
- I will not play any different whether I am at a TV table, a feature table or the final table (other than to take advantage of how others might be playing because of these dynamics)

So I think the theme of all of this is to stay patient and make decisions I am confident in. If I get a bad feeling, I'll just let the hand go and move on to another hand. If I'm confident in the play; whether it be fold, call or raise; I'll make it.

Wish me luck.

Never put anyone on a pedestal

2010-07-03T19:43:00.002-05:00

Was sorting some old emails and found something I sent to myself in regards to a lesson to teach wrestlers that I coach. I find it interestingly poignant considering I am about to leave for the World Series.

---------------

Never put anyone else up on a pedestal.

You can respect their skills and learn from them, but when you deify someone it makes them unbeatable in your mind and assumes that you can never reach that level. Levels and limits are placed by your own mind and you must consciously break through the invisible barriers that your mind creates.

The Voice in Your Head

2010-06-30T08:39:00.008-05:00

I feel like I use this blog more for a way to vent after making mistakes than anything else. I certainly don't brag on myself enough, but that's okay. (For the record, I have been playing great lately and have been cashing & getting deep in tournaments consistently over the last month or so.) I'm a perfectionist by nature, so while I feel great after making good decisions, in the back of my head I kind of expect it. And when I make a mistake, I tend to dwell on it.

Now, let me say I have made MASSIVE strides as years have gone by regarding this. I used to beat myself up over making little mistakes and it used to cripple my performance in sports. I would over think things, causing me to freeze up and as a result I used to punch lockers after I would lose. That was high school. Of course I'm an adult now and have matured quite a bit since then, but there is still a voice in the back of my head that is always critiquing me.

Playing poker over the last 6 years has helped me calm this voice, but it is always there. I started out playing like a nit, always seeing monsters under the bed and nitting it up because I was afraid of making a mistake. After a few years, I swung the pendulum the other way making elaborate bluffs and hero calls just to prove to myself that I wasn't afraid. Over the last year or so, I've controlled the pendulum and I feel have struck a good balance between being nitty and spewy. I have placed a high emphasis and recognizing hand ranges, removing emotions and making the most +EV decisions.

Every once in a while, however, that constant ongoing voice escapes from it's cell and starts whispering in my ear. What it mostly tells me is "stop playing like a nit and start stealing with trash more" or "if you want to win more tournaments you have to get more aggressive 'like those top internet players'". While this voice is sometimes right, it's extremely one sided. It's only a voice because it represents the opposite of my old nitty tendencies when I first got started playing poker. The reality is that my game is based on so many other factors including the other players, stack sizes, my image, etc. Good poker doesn't mean being spewy aggro all the time. Trust me, I open up my game when it makes sense and while there might be spots that I might pass up, I have been doing a really good job lately at pulling the trigger when my gut says to. But I guess for some reason, I still have something to prove to myself and the voice came back on Sunday.

To give a quick synopsis, I was playing great and made a comeback to be one of the chip leaders. I had built up my stack and then started running into situations where when I opened up my game, I got tons of action and I had to fold. I was down to 9bb and was able to build it back up to almost 40bb (which for this tournament's structure is great).

Now there is 12 left, we are 6 handed and I have about $140K at 4k/8k + 1k. Average stack is $80K. I raise with JTos to 21K and the BB who recently got moved to the table, who I have NO reads on asks how much it is, thinks about folding, then calls. BB has $106K.

Flop is QT9 with 2 diamonds (I have no diamonds). $52K in the pot and he leads into me for $30K leaving himself $55K behind. Without really thinking about what he has (although I assume some sort of Q), I jam. Now that I'm thinking about it after the fact and realizing stack sizes and thinking about WHAT HAND DOES HE HAVE, I have to fold this. I can't just say "he probably has a Q and I have outs). The reality is that he has a Q that either crushes me or has my outs. Q9, QT, QJ, KQ all suck for me. I have zero fold equity and at BEST I have 9 outs. I can easily fold this hand and still have a good stack, yet I freaked and said "OMG I have a pair and a draw, I can't fold at this stage of the tournament".

So the voice made me not think through the hand and I forced a play that didn't make sense because "I'm supposed to be aggressive now." Where emotion clouded my thinking started when he defended his bb. Instead of putting him on a range, I just got pissed a little because I just wanted to steal the blinds and I had been playing tight, slowly losing my big stack because of antes. This was the first time I opened up a bit and of course now I get called. I took it personally I guess because I must have felt the poker gods were punishing me for being aggressive. (lol @ poker gods...no such thing...it's all uncontrollable variance and the human mind's desire to find patterns in things where there are no patterns...but that's another topic.) Now when he leads into me, I get even more pissed because I'm stuck in a tough spot and I guess I felt offended that he led into me. Another lol, because while I had no reads I know this guy only plays his cards so he is telling me face up that he has a good hand and that I have no fold equity. So if he is betting HIS hand, his bet is not a personal attack...and it's NOT a personal attack from the "poker gods".

Anyway, it's strange that after playing 7 hours of great poker that this crept up. I think because we were at the final table and essentially the money bubble, I was putting pressure on myself to be "like those aggro top internet players". This pressure led to emotions and the emotions led to the spew. The reality is that the best players hand read and make situational decisions. Sometimes aggression makes sense and sometimes you have to make great laydowns. Sometimes it makes sense to be super aggro on the bubble and sometimes you have to pick your spots carefully. Also, it's pretty silly and -EV to compare myself to anyone or make plays that I think others would make. Every single situation is different and has different factors that influence them. My hand is going to be different than other hands and as long as I am confident in my decision that's all that matters.

So moving forward I am going to stay confident in my game and when I feel like emotion or pressure I'm putting on myself or "the voice" is getting louder, I will take a step back and take time to think through the situation logically and make the play that is correct for that specific situation.

Blinded by the flop

2010-06-03T20:12:00.008-05:00

Had an interesting situation occur tonight at a live tournament. I say it's interesting because of how it affected my thinking.

Now let me safe face a bit here by saying that since I switched back to tournaments in preparation for the WSOP, I've been playing really well. I've had deep runs and a few final tables online over the last couple of weeks. Having said that, I made a bad call in a big pot tonight and it was due to two reasons:

1. I had lost a big pot early (but with right reads and the right play - he just happened to catch 2pr on the river). I was cool, and then I won a big pot and then got KK the very next hand. I was facing a raise and when I 3bet it, a guy in the blinds called and so did the original raiser. So now I'm in a big pot again and I guess my emotions got high, hoping I would win a big pot and scared of getting sucked out on. BLEH...what's with the "hoping" and emotion based thinking?

2. I was blinded by a monotone flop - The flop comes T7J all diamonds and I have no diamond. It checks to me and I bet 1525 into 2100. The bb folds and the other player calls saying "well I have to call because of the 25". At this point, my range narrowed squarely on him having a J or a diamond. All I saw was the flush/flush draw and a "coordinated board", but at this point I got so caught up in being scared of losing the pot that all I could think about was the diamonds. I failed to start calling out in my mind all the specific hand combinations he could have. The turn is the 9s. He checks and I tank. For some reason he seems a little relaxed and talkative to the others around him and I pick up on it, but I don't really study him. Not that live tells are the nuts, but it can be a factor in a hand like this. After thinking for a while, I check behind. He had less than a pot sized bet left (3,800) and I weighed the pros and cons of giving a diamond draw a free card. Could he have an 8? Maybe, but I would think he bets the turn with a low straight. There are also random 2 pair combos that are pot controlling. But I still kept thinking about all those diamonds. The river was a blank 3 and he insta-shoved. I deliberated for a bit, but kept thinking he missed his draw. I didn't even consider that he could have a straight or even possibly flopped a flush. I mean I was worried about straight type hands, but I never put him on specific hand ranges. Alas, I called and he showed KQ with the Kd. Once he got there he played it well and it all makes sense. He checked and looked comfortable because he was only worried about me having the Ad. He had the nuts with a nuttish re-draw. Could he have had a missed draw? Maybe some % of the time, but probably not the 30% or so I needed. This was also the second orbit at the table and I have no reads on how this guy plays. And I didn't really even look at pot odds and the likelyhood of being ahead or behind. Had I come to an unemotional and logical conclusion, I would be fine. But I narrowed his range to a missed draw and couldn't let go of it.

3. Another possible reason I made the call was because of an energy drink I had. Huh? An energy drink? Yes. Usually if I have one it helps me stay focused, but sometimes it jacks up my heart rate and makes me feel a little anxious. Throughout this hand, I never felt emotionally detached so I could make logical decisions. When I'm emotionally detached, my breathing slows, my muscles relax and my heart rate drops. In this case, my heart rate had been elevated from the previous big hand but I wasn't able to bring it down. I'm not saying this was an excuse for making the call, but it did have an effect.

Anyway, I'm over it now. Just played a couple of 45 and 90 man tournaments on Tilt and took 2nd in one of them. I brushed it off and moved on.

Maybe This Time...

2010-05-18T12:46:00.005-05:00

Just an interesting observation from a hand the other night. When making decisions during a hand, our brain often tricks us into thinking about situations based on what we "want" the outcome to be in order to justify a play. We want to "win" every pot, but sometimes winning means folding.

You have to remind yourself that decisions are about long-term expected value and not "maybe this time he has X" or "there's a chance he has X". If you ever trick yourself into thinking this way, you have to remember that "maybe" and "there's a chance" probably equate to about 5-10% of their range MAX. Maybe this time he has AK and my pair is good; maybe this time he's bluffing...well, what is the other 90-95% of his range include? How confident are you in your read that they hold the hands that you think they "might" have? If your read is that they are a super aggro spewtard then your decision isn't based on "maybe this time" it's "he's bluffing here a large % of the time...at least 50%". If you have no reads, then "might", "there's a chance" and "maybe this time" aren't enough to justify a decision.

Best Session Yet

2010-05-15T15:19:00.005-05:00

I just played my best session of cash games ever. I was up, but that is irrelevant. I plugged a ton of leaks in this session that I plan to make habitual. I made the right plays at the right time vs. the right players. I think that last part was a big piece of why I was barely up after 25,000 hands. I was making good plays and good decisions, but just not against the right players. Today, I did my PTR homework on almost everyone at the table and did a better job observing the players (vs. tinkering around with my table scanner to find better tables).

Leaks I've improved today:

- I didn't speculate out of position unless I had great implied odds vs. certain players and I knew how they would play post flop
- When playing multiple tables, I used to act too quickly and would forget to make a play based on that specific players tendencies and hand ranges (I would default back to my hand)
- I didn't force plays from out of position. I would make a play vs. the appropriate players if it made sense instead of against the regs.
- I didn't make moves against players I have no reads on - no need to force, just let it go until you have a read on their range/tendencies
- I focused my 3betting from position and vs. the right opponents
- I played during the day for less than 2 hours (in other words I was fresh and could make clear decisions)
- I wasn't afraid of big pots, but I controlled the pot when it made sense
- I talked through specific hand ranges before making a logical, fear free, emotion free decision (both not afraid to make the play, but also not afraid to make the fold)---***this was a big one***

From a stats standpoint, I'll dig through HEM later for more details, but it looks like my 3bet % is up compared to my last 10 or so sessions (5.8) and my aggression factor is up a notch (3.38). My VPIP and PFR are actually a little lower than normal, but I did go through a pretty dry patch towards the end of the session.

Overall I'm really happy. I may have missed a couple of spots (i.e. one river value bet and one time 3betting someone without a read), but I'm not going to be a crazy perfectionist and get down on myself about it. I will strive to continue to improve those spots though.

Cash games vs. tournaments - quick update

2010-05-10T19:16:00.002-05:00

I am learning a TON by playing cash games. By playing deep stacked and multiple tables, it truly reveals the strengths and weaknesses in your game. When you have no choice but to go on autopilot, you make decisions without the benefit of having time to fully analyze your decisions. If you are playing your A game and are in the zone or are presented with standard situations that you have seen hundreds or thousands of times before, these decisions are easy. However, if you aren't in the zone and are faced with situations you may not have encountered as much OR things haven't quite been going your way, your B or C game starts to reveal itself. According to Jared Tendler, your C game is the complete autopilot game that doesn't really require much conscious thought.

So what I am finding is that when I'm not playing my A game, because I am playing so many hands by multitabling cash games it makes is easier for me to discover holes in my game that I didn't realize were there before. By using Hold'em Manager I am able to analyze these leaks and make improvements. Okay, so yeah, duh. Analyzing my game makes me better...of course. But I am seeing so many more flops than I ever did playing tournaments. This means that I'm able to make more poker decisions during a hand and a session than I did before. I'm getting better at reading and narrowing down hand ranges because it's not as simple as a quick pre-flop equity decision. All of these post-flop decisions reps that I'm getting in are really starting to improve my early tournament play. I haven't played many tournaments lately, but the ones I have played I've done well in and have been able to play a lot deeper because I'm not in push/fold mode so early.

So the WSOP is coming up and I'm getting backed for the main event. I'm pretty excited and ready to play some great poker. I am trying to play more live tournaments in Atlanta so I keep those skills sharp and I will be playing more deeper stacked online tournaments in the coming months to prepare for the structure of the main event. I'll still play cash, but I'll be tapering back how many tables I play in order to train myself to make fully thought out decisions instead of "insta" ones.

Anyway, gonna put in some cash hands tonight. It's actually been a full week since my last session. I've been playing well lately and I discovered a few leaks recently that I plan on plugging up tonight.

New Perspective; Training Mental Skills

2010-04-22T07:07:00.006-05:00

So I've had a couple of days to marinate on how to improve my leak of chasing losses during a session. I believe that this is a skill that must be drilled like any other skill in order to make it automatic. I also think that tilt control is the same thing. I used to have tilt control in tournaments, but multi-tabling cash games introduced a new dynamic and it also is a skill I must re-apply consistently. Knowing how to apply these skills and practicing the skill so that it is second nature are two different things.

So, in order to progress forward and develop these skills I will be doing the following:

1. Training myself and drilling reps making disciplined decisions outside of poker on a daily basis. Self-discipline is a mental skill that can be applied to all areas of life and I will be starting with simple things on a daily basis. So far I'm starting with not texting while driving, doing dishes when they have piled up, not adding sugar to my coffee and getting out of bed when I wake up (instead of snoozing)

2. I am only going to look at how many hands I've played (and not wins or losses) and will stop my session whether or not it is shaded green or red. Of course there will be two exceptions:

a. If the session is going exceptionally well, I will keep playing (and still not look at the results).
b. If the session is going exceptionally bad (not just running bad but if I am also not playing optimally), I will check and see how close I am to my stop loss of 3 buy-ins.

Once I improve my discipline, I will also add in a third exception:

3. If I'm playing great and there are huge fish at the tables, yet I'm shaded red. In this case, I will make sure I'm not near my stop loss. If I am, I will leave the session. If I'm not, I will continue to play BUT I will stay focused on playing optimum poker and NOT trying to get back to green. I will also not force plays against the fish in order to stack them. I will just keep playing good poker.

So basically I am putting mechanisms in place that will enable me to focus on just playing poker and not being results focused. This, along with training my own self-discipline is going to be a major positive direction in my game.

Why Can't I Just Leave the Falkdfja;kdfin Table?

2010-04-20T08:44:00.007-05:00

I have noticed a trend now of the last 6-7 sessions. I am playing great and making great reads and then I get involved in a pot where I stack off in a marginal situation. While sometimes it is somewhat of a cooler (like KK vs. a set on a ten high board), it has also recently been when I'm jamming my chips in pre-flop with AK only to be up against AA or KK. Or I'm making a bad read vs. a tight short-stack and end up way behind. It has also been situations where I speculate in a situation where I'm out of position because "he can't always have something" and end up losing a 40-50bb pot.

So each play in a vacuum isn't the end of the world, but what is happening is that I'm letting each one get under my skin and it starts to manifest. Each small loss after that adds ever so slightly to the tilt. Next thing you know I'm down for the session.

Example from the last couple of sessions:

Chasing losses is my single number one leak. Now it's not that I start to splash around and want to see flops with any suited card or start limp/calling from out of position. I think I've gotten my C game to a point where I can still play decent and recognize situations. My problem is that I stay in the game "hoping" for some big hand to happen where I make it all back and while I am waiting, along comes a marginal situation where I convince myself that I am ahead when it's clear I'm behind. Or I know I'm behind and then I pick up a draw on the turn and because the pot is so big, I chase it anyway ignoring pot odds because I can "end the session positive".

It's really such a stupid, ego driven mentality. And I KNOW not to do it. I even have the following posted on my computer to help me re-focus if things start going bad:

--------------------------------------------------------
What's my job?

1. What range of hands does this particular player have?
2. What is the most +EV decision?

Take your time to analyze the situation, no matter what the hand is or who the player is.

Discipline.

Poker is one big session. Fight to improve when things are going bad, but if you are not playing well and are around your stop loss, just stop and live to fight another day.
---------------------------------------------------------

So obviously something has to happen. The way I see it, I have two choices:

1. Hang my head and assume I'll never be a long term winner in cash games because of this leak.

2. Step the fck up and either improve my discipline when stopping sessions or get better at dealing with adversity...or both.

See, it's not just about feeling like I want to leave a session as a winner (or at least not a loser). That desire to not lose has to go deeper than that. There is a reason WHY I am having trouble just stopping the session when I am literally saying out loud "okay, time to stop so you don't tilt off any more money". One is certainly a matter of self-discipline and training myself to just let go. But I've had down sessions before and had no problem leaving a table. And I also fully recognize that poker is one big session and it doesn't matter how you do each individual session.

I think it's that B and C game things are showing up that I often times don't let bother me. For example, I got it in with AK vs. KK, which in hindsight may have been a mistake. But either way, I didn't really let it bother me. I marked the hand so I could look at it later and went on with my session. I then started playing really well and felt like I was making progress upward. Around 11:45pm I decided to see how many hands I had played and when I refreshed Holdem Manager, I saw that my session was red (meaning negative). I was surprised and disappointed, but knew that it had to be somewhat close to even and I told myself I would play until about 12pm and, in the back of my mind, thought I could win a few more pots and would leave the session up a bit. Around 12am, I looked and I was down $50. I was a little disappointed, but still wasn't a huge deal and I told myself I should stop now and be happy that I played the session well overall. Of course, for some reason (which I still need to discover the reason in order to fix the problem) I said "just a little longer to see if I can leave up...just 100 more hands...just 15 more minutes." Well, in those 15 minutes I got caught in a marginal spot with TT and lost about $70. I played a little longer, then won back a bit, then decided to "just play a little longer" and stacked off with JJ on a ragged flop when EVERY FIBER OF MY BEING said I was behind, yet I stacked off anyway.

So...something is happening that either:

1. Makes me feel like I can't have a negative session even if it's only a few bucks(pressure to win, ego to have a pretty upward graph, etc.)

2. Makes me beat myself up over negative results (or at least making a negative EV decision)

3. Is causing me to slip into my B and C game too easily (not being fresh, letting baggage from previous sessions affect my play, perfectionism)

Okay, obviously I'm not going to find the magic answer in one blog post. I know I'm onto something and I know that it is a combination of multiple factors. I really think it has mostly to do with #3. I know how to play well and I know all of the psychological components of the game. I also think that this is just part of the learning process for me to go through when playing cash games. Maybe I'm expecting overnight results with a skill that, while I recognize that it is important, that I haven't drilled enough times where it is part of my subconscious. Those skills being to emotionally detach in cash games and the discipline to leave a session. Because I expect a lot out of myself, I am further beating myself up when I don't perform the skill and the cycle continues.

Starting the night with some kid tilt

2010-04-14T19:56:00.003-05:00

Tonight will be a good opportunity to step up my game and focus when other stuff started tilting me. Without going into the details, when you have 3 kids under 8 years old at home and you have to put the kids to bed by yourself, it isn't always easy. I have to make 100% sure they are actually sleeping before starting my session, otherwise they will keep saying "I'm not tired, I'm scared, etc." It's all an act now and they know it but sometimes you just gotta play the game or it escalates into something worse.

At this point I think they are asleep, so I'll be starting the session a little later than normal. My goal tonight is to really focus on individual player tendencies in order to put them on a range of hands. I'm adjusting to some of the more straight forward play at .50/1, but at the same time I don't want to lose sight of those players who are thinking at another level. It's a constant game of adjustment when multi-tabling so I am going no higher than 5 tables tonight in order to fully think through the situations without feeling rushed or missing a step.

------

Wow, I started off the session feeling great. I was playing awesome and had great reads on each of the players. Then it all started to crumble...a guy called my 4bet with A5s and hit 2pr vs. my AK, QQ got sucked out on at the river by 44 after calling two streets, my set of kings got beat by JT and I didn't even see it. I value shoved the river thinking he had an Ace or two pair. My graph for the night is sad. I really tried to keep it together and managed to only make one tilty play. Obviously I ended up down for the session and now that is 3 2-3 buy-in losses in the last 4 sessions. I am fully prepared to move on from tonight and I know that variance will turn around. I did manage a couple of suckouts of my own tonight, but they were both kinda cooler situations anyway. There were a couple of questionable hands, but all in all I think I actually played great tonight. Sure, I'm disappointed in the results, but I definitely found some new fish tonight to it will all even out.

Competitiveness in Poker

2010-04-11T00:12:00.006-05:00

Now that I'm multi-tabling cash games, a few leaks are getting exposed every once in a while when I have subtle tilt creeping in. And it is the source of the tilt that also manifests itself into the result of tilt. I figured out that what actually tilts me is just losing in general. I'm a very competitive person and I don't like to "give up". I don't like to be bluffed and I don't like losing pots.

When I played tournaments, I don't think releasing a pot wasn't as much of an issue because of the implications to my stack size. I was okay letting it go because I didn't want to risk losing a big pot and taking a hit to my stack. In cash games, I can just reload. Plus, when multi-tabling you have to make your decisions quicker so you have to not get caught up in the moment. I'm still learning to make sure I go through the steps of assigning hand ranges when 5-7 tables need my attention.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not constantly spewing chips because my ego can't handle losing a pot. It's more about specific spots against specific opponents and only when I have a little tilt setting in. I tend to not want to believe aggressive or really bad opponents and I put blinders on to the other factors in the hand. I may recognize them, but I ignore them because I don't want them beating me. For example if an aggro opponent 4bets me and I decide to 5bet shove, but I ignore that they are doing this from early position and they know that I have a good hand (yet why are they still 4betting me? Oh wait, they have KK.) Or a donkey checks and insta-calls flop and turn bets and then insta shoves the river. They are obviously drawing, so what hand is most likely that they have? 2 pair no good, why am I calling?

Well the one thing that I thought I knew, but am gaining a deeper appreciation for, is that in poker the "winning" and "losing" isn't about each individual hand. It truly is about long-term expected value on each decision. You have to look at pot odds and decide how often they have a hand that beats you and how often you are ahead and then make your decision accordingly. If you are getting 3-1 odds and you think they can be bluffing here more than 25% of the time then it's a call. Sometimes you will be right and sometimes you will be wrong. But you can't want them to be bluffing 25% of the time in order to justify a call because your ego wants to call. You have to inject logic and make a decision based on the way the hand played out and your history with that opponent. I think often times people get competitive and they justify decisions based on what they "want" the outcome to be. This is something that must be trained. I think it is part of my C-game and one of the things I will be working on is improving my C-game. I won't go into what that means too much, but I suggest watching videos from Jared Tendler on CardRunners. Basically, he says that your C-game is what shows up when you are tired, on tilt, etc. It is when you are on auto-pilot and your game is stripped down to only the aspects you don't have to think about.

Back to the concept of winning an individual hand, you can win a hand by folding and that can be a victory. When someone bets what seems to be a better hand and you fold, you can have pride in saying "nice try buddy, you aren't getting that extra $70 out of me". They may have gotten there on a draw, but what's in the pot is owned by the pot. By not calling that $70 bet, you can look at it as "winning" $70 because it's $70 you didn't lose. Or if you want to get technical about the math, let's say you figure you are only ahead 25% of the time. The $EV that you won is $70-($70*.25) = +$52.50.

Since I'm on the topics of improving my skills, something I'm learning and still need to work on is adjusting to different types of opponents on the fly while playing several tables at once. I'm still getting used to what all the HUD stats really mean in terms of interpreting someone's tendencies. I don't want to rely on them, but I also want to make sure I am making appropriate decisions when I haven't been able to observe their play. Sometimes I'll make a play based on stacks & bet-sizing but I have no reads and the play will be wrong because it didn't make sense for that particular person.

So moving forward, my goal is to do what I did last night and only play 5 tables so that I can focus on making reads and assigning hand ranges. This will help me interpret HUD stats better and just overall tendencies in cash games. As I make it second nature, I will start adding more tables. And now that I'm aware of my competitiveness being a leak, I can start identifying spots where it takes over and becomes something that affects my $EV.

Rough Session

2010-04-09T20:52:00.004-05:00

Starting the night having trouble folding big hands. QQ on a 9 high board vs. a set of 9s was kind of a cooler based on the way the hand went down. But in another hand I turned a flush on a paired board where I was sure no one had a set, then when the T hit the river and I got raised big I was sure I was beat but there were literally only two hands that could beat me, a king high flush or TT and I called and was shown TT...he knew I had a flush so he could only raise with a hand that beats me...i justified the call thinking he could have a smaller flush.

Other than that, my flopped nut straight got in a 3way all in when a set hit quads, a super donk made 2 pair vs. my QQ for a stacked off pot and there were a few other all in pots vs. short stacks where they tripped up against my top pair.

I did my best to control tilt and after being down about 4 buy-ins (I was down 3.5 in about an hour), I took a break. I had originally decided that I should have a stop loss at 2 buy-ins but a few of the tables were really juicy and I didn't think I was playing bad. After the break, I was doing okay but I really felt like tilt was creeping in and it was affecting me in that I basically stopped 3 betting and I was being a little passive. Then after realizing this, I got TT in a 4 or 5 handed table and I 3bet the button. He had really tight stats and playing back at the nits was something I have been trying to work on...well, when he 4 bet me the tilt affect set in and I justified the fact that we were short-handed to shove it in. Honestly, I don't know if it was good or bad, but he's a nit so he has a real hand. A new table popped up and I noticed he snapped me off with JJ...luckily when I came back to the table there was a T on the flop. I knew then that it was time to stop the session. I made it back to around a 2 buy in loss, but I wasn't happy about how I got there.

Overall tonight was kind of a train wreck. I mean there were a few good hands and I think for the most part I controlled tilt early on, but then the suckouts kept happening and even though I wasn't going on monkey tilt and bluffing off my stack, I wasn't playing my best. Once again, I am not focusing on individual sessions. I care about the long run and making +EV decisions. This session was a tough one after running and playing good for the last 4. I'm going to call it a night and review some hands tomorrow to see if I could have gotten away from a few of the big ones and even a few where I could have made more. I think I still sometimes let my tournament experience influence me and I assume people are going to stack off with crap. In cash games, it seems like if someone is getting it in they have the goods (at least at .50/1). Maybe not everyone, but definitely the regs.

Stop trying to outplay the regs

2010-04-08T21:57:00.002-05:00

Somehow regs always have something when they call the check-raise. Don't 3 barrel them because their hand has high value. They are playing 20+ tables and aren't calling to try and outplay you.

Not sure why I even called in this hand...horrible spew. I think I looked at his stats and wanted to outplay him since he had a high aggression factor..dumb.

***** Hand History for Game 42393791309 ***** (Poker Stars)
$100.00 USD NL Texas Hold'em - Thursday, April 08, 11:21:05 ET 2010
Table Aten V (Real Money)
Seat 7 is the button
Seat 1: DP388 ( $119.00 USD )
Seat 2: Wakegod ( $100.00 USD )
Seat 3: outside_lol ( $113.40 USD )
Seat 4: AcEsUp8599 ( $267.55 USD )
Seat 5: malik089 ( $217.10 USD )
Seat 6: alan333 ( $104.25 USD )
Seat 7: DannyOhBoy ( $122.80 USD )
Seat 9: Prooxy ( $101.50 USD )
Prooxy posts small blind [$0.50 USD].
DP388 posts big blind [$1.00 USD].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to DP388 [ Td Js ]
Wakegod folds
outside_lol folds
AcEsUp8599 folds
malik089 raises [$3.00 USD]
alan333 folds
DannyOhBoy folds
Prooxy folds
DP388 calls [$2.00 USD]
** Dealing Flop ** [ 4h, Qh, 8s ]
DP388 checks
malik089 bets [$4.00 USD]
DP388 raises [$12.00 USD]
malik089 calls [$8.00 USD]
** Dealing Turn ** [ 3c ]
DP388 bets [$17.00 USD]
malik089 calls [$17.00 USD]
** Dealing River ** [ 7c ]
DP388 bets [$37.00 USD]
malik089 calls [$37.00 USD]
DP388 shows [Td, Js ]
malik089 shows [Ac, Ah ]
malik089 wins $135.50 USD from main pot

Gave up on this one since I just knew...Definitely not profitable vs. someone running 12/8/1.4.

PokerStars Game #42393036664: Hold'em No Limit ($0.50/$1.00 USD) - 2010/04/08 22:53:41 ET
Table 'Aten V' 9-max Seat #9 is the button
Seat 1: DP388 ($100.50 in chips)
Seat 2: cocxiphe ($188.50 in chips)
Seat 3: outside_lol ($100 in chips)
Seat 4: AcEsUp8599 ($281.10 in chips)
Seat 5: malik089 ($114.95 in chips)
Seat 6: alan333 ($105.05 in chips)
Seat 7: DannyOhBoy ($103.25 in chips)
Seat 8: TitFed219 ($100 in chips)
Seat 9: gappo2009 ($101 in chips)
DP388: posts small blind $0.50
cocxiphe: posts big blind $1
TitFed219: posts small & big blinds $1.50
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to DP388 [6s 6c]
outside_lol: folds
AcEsUp8599: folds
malik089: folds
alan333: folds
DannyOhBoy: raises $4 to $5
TitFed219: folds
gappo2009: folds
DP388: calls $4.50
cocxiphe: folds
*** FLOP *** [8d 8h Ts]
DP388: checks
DannyOhBoy: bets $7
DP388: raises $12 to $19
DannyOhBoy: calls $12
*** TURN *** [8d 8h Ts] [Qd]
DP388: checks
DannyOhBoy: checks
*** RIVER *** [8d 8h Ts Qd] [Jc]
DP388: checks
DannyOhBoy: checks
*** SHOW DOWN ***
DP388: shows [6s 6c] (two pair, Eights and Sixes)
DannyOhBoy: shows [Th Jd] (two pair, Jacks and Tens)
DannyOhBoy collected $48.05 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $50.50 | Rake $2.45
Board [8d 8h Ts Qd Jc]
Seat 1: DP388 (small blind) showed [6s 6c] and lost with two pair, Eights and Sixes
Seat 2: cocxiphe (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 3: outside_lol folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 4: AcEsUp8599 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 5: malik089 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 6: alan333 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 7: DannyOhBoy showed [Th Jd] and won ($48.05) with two pair, Jacks and Tens
Seat 8: TitFed219 folded before Flop
Seat 9: gappo2009 (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)

Other than those, I had a decent night. A lot of ups and downs. Got AA and KK cracked for full stacks and managed to end the night up getting spewy players to shove into my nuts. Part of it had to do with better table selection. I download a cool tool called TableScan Turbo and I'm using it to score certain things about tables to pick the best ones.

Started a little rough, made some adjustments & then ran good

2010-04-07T21:29:00.003-05:00

Good session tonight overall. I lost a few chips in marginal spots where I got feisty and didn't commit to the river on a couple bluffs or hands where I was either way behind or way ahead. It was mostly in pots vs. aggressive regs or people I didn't have enough hands on. I did really well with that last session so made a mid session adjustment and corrected that leak. I just gotta work on not taking 3bets personally.

I'm a big fan of a new move...donk lead the flop with a big hand then check raise the turn. It's a lot of fun and puts more money in the pot. There are times when check/calling the turn might be better but if I'm playing an ego player it's a great move when they look me up.

I'm also getting better at playing big hands fast on flop in order to get more money in the pot.

There were a few pots where I jammed the river and I felt like I could have check the river and gotten them to bluff shove. One was a 44KKx board when I had AK. There was a lot of money in the pot and I thought the guy was committed, but really what would he call me with there other than another K or quads. I should have gave him a chance to turn his hand into a bluff with the way I played the other streets.

Overall I am really liking cash games and multitabling. You almost always have a hand to play and I love having lots of stats on my play to use for improving my game.

Focused Session

2010-04-05T19:47:00.003-05:00

Goal for the night: Think through situations fully

Fully = what are his stats, position, history, other factors

Mid Session note: One thing I am doing tonight is resisting the temptations to make moves or fancy plays without solid reads or enough hands on someone...or making big moves against hyper-aggressive players without confident reads or outs.

Post Session notes: Tonight was a great session. Not only did I run good (which obviously helps), I was able to pick much better spots than I have in the past. I was also able to maximize my winnings with my big hands and minimize my losses when behind. I felt like I had great reads, even though I was 6 tabling for most of the night. I was in tune with game flow and it really paid off.

Session stats:
3.63 hrs
1026 hands
VPIP 17.5
PFR 12.5
3bet 7.0
Agg Factor 2.91

Overall my stats are much lower than I thought they would be, but they are roughly in line with how I have been playing. I'll do a deeper analysis and figure out ways to up this a bit without becoming too obvious and having to deal with more 3bets. I'm surprised my 3bet stat is so big, but I think it more had to do with running well. I'm usually between 5 and 6.

As usual, I'm not posting bb/100 or $ won since I am not focusing on each session. But we'll just say I had a good night.

Tilt Prevention & a Rough Night

2010-04-02T20:27:00.005-05:00

The session has started pretty rough and I feel like I'm starting to misfire a bit. I'm going to use this as an opportunity to learn how to overcome and prevent tilt during a session. I am going to dig deep and focus on not doing the things I've notice happen when I tilt:

1. Force pots
2. Lose sight of reads and put blinders on
3. Ignore reads and "hope" they fold, don't bet, etc.
4. Speculate out of position
5. Call on draws hoping to hit instead of putting them on a hand and being aggressive when it makes sense
6. Tighten up afraid of trusting my reads because I might lose a big pot
7. Involve my ego in decisions facing bets/raises

For now, I am going to tighten up just a bit and re-focus on asking the questions "what do they have" and "what do they think I have".

----

Well, I stayed cool until the end when QQ got sucked out by JJ on the turn for a buy-in. Tonight was rough...like really rough. I don't even know where to begin. Suckouts, bluffs not working, not laying down big hands when I know I'm beat, etc. For the most part I don't feel like I played that bad, but I had everything not go my way. I certainly lost more pots than I won and the ones I lost were sizeable. After the QQ suckout, I took a break and looked at my session stats to see if I should stop the bleeding early tonight. To my shock, I was down $363.15! I figured I was close to 2 buy-ins, but I had no idea it was over three. I know from past experiences that putting in a stop loss now is not even an option. As much as I may want to try and at least make it a respectable night, playing now will only lead to disaster. If poker is just one big session, I can pick a better spot and play another time. I'm still making progress forward and I knew I would take some steps backward, but I didn't know it would be this big. I've still only played 7 sessions and 5433 hands, so it's way early. I'll just stop for the night and keep grinding on.

Great Session Tonight

2010-04-01T21:51:00.003-05:00

I don't even know my stats or my results for the night, but I know I had a good night. I felt confident in my plays and made some big laydowns. I extracted from the fish and got aggressive players to fall into my traps.

Now it's not like I ran incredible, but I felt like I played well. As far as plugging leaks go, I made a conscious effort to open up my game a bit from early position and focused on not going crazy with double and triple barrels without a confident read.

I really only had one hand that I didn't play well and I'll go ahead and put it out there as a reminder of what not to do. The villain in this hand is very aggressive and 3bets a lot. See my analysis below.

PokerStars Game #42058954499: Hold'em No Limit ($0.50/$1.00 USD) - 2010/04/01 22:46:06 ET
Table 'Nata' 9-max Seat #9 is the button
Seat 1: DidYouSeeWHy ($100 in chips)
Seat 2: mydodi ($138.30 in chips)
Seat 5: RudiTurbo ($102.20 in chips)
Seat 6: NYIsles_fcp ($100 in chips)
Seat 7: booger369 ($116.55 in chips)
Seat 8: Porkie Pine ($94.55 in chips)
Seat 9: DP388 ($119.60 in chips)
DidYouSeeWHy: posts small blind $0.50
mydodi: posts big blind $1
xpjsx: sits out
JuantotheC: sits out
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to DP388 [Kc Jc]
RudiTurbo: folds
NYIsles_fcp: folds
booger369: folds
Porkie Pine: folds
DP388: raises $2 to $3
DidYouSeeWHy: raises $8 to $11
mydodi: folds
DP388: raises $16 to $27
DidYouSeeWHy: calls $16
*** FLOP *** [Qd 5h Td]
DidYouSeeWHy: checks
DP388: checks
*** TURN *** [Qd 5h Td] [Qh]
DidYouSeeWHy: checks
DP388: checks
*** RIVER *** [Qd 5h Td Qh] [3h]
DidYouSeeWHy: checks
DP388: bets $24
DidYouSeeWHy: calls $24
*** SHOW DOWN ***
DP388: shows [Kc Jc] (a pair of Queens)
DidYouSeeWHy: shows [Jd Js] (two pair, Queens and Jacks)

I felt like my 4 bet in this spot was good. When he flats my 4bet I know he has a good hand. I feel like I can put him on a finite range of TT-AA. I think he folds or shoves 88-99 and he likely shoves AK. I feel like he's either trapping me or wants to see the flop texture before deciding what to do. I don't think I've 4bet at all, so he probably doesn't put me on a super wide range. When he calls, and this board comes Q5T, this hits two sets in his range. I also think JJ will call a c-bet and based on his range I'm not ready to go all the way here. I think my check is good because it gives me a free card to the straight where I can stack him. On the turn, this isn't a good card for me because it now becomes very hard to rep anything. If I had a big pair, wouldn't I have bet the flop for value? If I had AQ wouldn't I have bet? Even if I was being tricky with AQ, it is hard for him to put me on a single hand. So the river comes and I just didn't want to give up the pot. I knew it was wrong but I bet anyway. What am I representing here? One leak I need to work on is when I'm about to bet, if I am cringing "hoping" it will work, then it probably a bad bet. I was able to correct this in future hands tonight, but it wasn't like I stopped being aggressive. I had a few successful double barrels and 1-2 3 barrels.

Understanding My Stats

2010-04-01T14:04:00.004-05:00

I finally started really trying to understand the stats that are compiled by Hold'em Manager. I had some hunches, but it is really eye opening. I only have about 4,000 hands in there (I would have more but my computer recently crashed and I lost some data), but it's enough to start noticing tendencies that I can work on.

I am basing this on some articles written in the HEM program that are based on a study of 5,000 different players and how their stats in certain situations relate to their overall win rate at bb/100 hands.

Without going through every stat, these are the ones that I need to work on:

Turn Cbet% - As a former nit, you would think my % would be too low, but it's actually too high. This is one of the few stats where if you are too aggressive, it will cost you money. The highest win rate is with a turn bet % of between 40.8 - 45.3%. At 51.6% and above it's actually a negative win rate. My rate is 51.1. I think what is happening is that I'm getting slow played a lot and I'm just blind betting the turn hoping to get a fold instead of really looking at board texture and player tendencies.

Fold to Flop Cbet% - When I'm in a hand, I like to be in control. If I wasn't the pre-flop raiser I'm often not giving a lot of resistance in the hand. Now that I'm seeing this stat, I realize that I'm not raising c-bets or floating enough. The ideal rate is 56.8 - 61.7%. Once you are folding more than 61.7% it's a steep drop in win rate. But it also drops when you are pushing back too much (folding less than 56.7%). I've been folding 63.1% of the time. So basically, I need to pick a few more spots to raise c-bets on boards where it was unlikely to hit my opponent or if they fear that it hit me.

Position - HEM lets you see what your stats are based on %. As a quick summary of ways it looks like I can improve, I need to find ways to lose less in the small & big blinds. I'm not exactly sure why I'm losing as much as I am, but I suspect it is in big pots where I've 3bet light and double & triple barrel too often. What's crazy though is that I'm running 98.94bb/100 hands on the button and 1.14/100 hands in the cut-off. I'll have to find out why I'm not winning as much in the cut-off.

Another thing that is interesting is that my VPIP and PFR stats in early position are really low. To me that means that I am not stealing from early position enough and it probably explains why when I do get big hands in early position that I'm not getting much action. It doesn't mean I need to go crazy, but I definitely need to open up a bit. I could bump it up from middle position as well. Upping both of these stats will also increase my overall VPIP/PFR stats to be a little more on the aggressive side and should increase my win rate.

Night 4 of Cash

2010-03-29T22:21:00.002-05:00

The first two nights felt awesome. I was running the tables and my reads were crystal clear. I played last night and also felt like I had a great session. There were a selection of hands that I felt like were good opportunities to learn (some winners and some losers). All three nights I was up in the session. BUT, I am really trying hard to focus on the long run and not the financial success of each session.

Tonight has been a bit on the rough side. I'm a little tired and I have been bleeding a bit. I don't think the first half of the session was bad because of being tired, but it has started wearing on me a bit. It's nothing too out of the ordinary, but it's one of those nights where AK keeps missing and my c-bets are getting raised/floated and my double barrels aren't working (and I know the triple won't work). Or when I decide to triple, I'm getting called down...or I get KK and everyone folds to my raise. I'm getting 3bet when I have crap and they are folding when I have big hands. I'm really trying to not nit up and stay aggressive, but at the same time pick my spots, but I think I might be forcing a bit toward the end of the session. I'm playing a bit more passive pre-flop but then I'm attacking post flop without telling an accurate story. I think partially because I accidentally saw how much I was down for the session earlier, it has made me a little hesitant to 4-bet. Okay, enough venting.

As per the advice in the latest book I read, I am using this session as an opportunity to push through and focus when the night isn't so hot (which I do believe in so long as you are keenly aware of your mental state). By hunkering down and focusing it will only make me stronger. I've got about 100 or so hands to go to hit 800, so I'm going to finish strong.

-----

So the last 100 hands were pretty much like the first 700. Tons of action when I'm bluffing and zero action when I flop the virtual nuts. Oh well, such is variance. If I had to grade the sessions on overall playing ability (and NOT results or running good) I would roughly say:

Day 1: B+
Day 2: A-
Day 3: B
Day 4: C

I'm giving myself a C mainly because of mental state. I realized toward the end of the session that I was becoming passive pre-flop and a bit spewy post flop. I needed to probably 4-bet in a few spots (I only 4 bet once tonight and got jammed on) mainly to make them think twice before 3 betting me. I did, however have some good moments as well. I made a really good Ace high call in a relatively big pot when my read was that their pair got counterfeited. I also did a good job of moving tables when there weren't enough fish.

So it wasn't all bad. But I definitely have some things to work on when sessions aren't going my way. I mean, it's not like I started going crazy and spewing chips. It was more of a slow bleed. I need to recognize when the bleeding is growing and then make the necessary adjustments (and also learn what those adjustments need to be).

2nd Night of Cash

2010-03-25T22:36:00.003-05:00

I really felt great playing tonight. I was a bit on the tired side, but my reads were spot on. There are definitely some hands that occurred that are situations I need to work on, but all in all it was a great session. I bluffed at the right times, 3-bet, value bet and induced action.

I'm not sure what the final result of the session was and it really doesn't matter. I was working hard not to even really know what my stack size was except for the purpose of how many I had in relation to the other people. They were just chips used for ammunition.

I only had one major hand go wrong with JJ on a ragged flop where my read was that they were super strong. I played the flop fine, but my radar really went off on the turn. I ended up jamming it in anyway though and lost a buy-in there. But overall I think I was up about $150 or so. Either way it doesn't matter though. My goal right now is number of hands.

I felt really comfortable 4 tabling and I think I'll be able to add 5 after a few more nights. I ended up with 716 hands after about 3 hours of play. I might of been able to keep the session going, but I'm trying to ease into things a bit. I need to get used to the consistency and the amount of hands. When I was playing tournaments it was different because a lot of the time I was just waiting for a good shove spot vs. using my brain to think through multiple lines of a hand. I want to build my endurance up so I'm able to have longer sessions that are productive.

Good first cash session

2010-03-24T23:08:00.003-05:00

Tonight was a good first session. Not necessarily in terms of winnings (although I was up $120.30 playing .50/$1), but more in terms of how comfortable I was playing. I actually started the session pretty card dead and wasn't getting to involved in many pots. I wanted to, but the situations just weren't there. I started with 2 tables and after about 30 min I added a third. I won a few small pots, had to fold a few hands I didn't want to and got looked up on a couple of bluffs. BUT the success was in just staying focused on flowing on to the next hand. I didn't wallow or start getting frustrated because things weren't going great. I'm in this for the long haul and I took a very business like approach to the session.

One cool thing about multi-tabling cash games is that its easier to get over tough hands. Stuff happens, but then you are forced to just keep playing new situations and eventually forget about what happened. You just kind of keep playing and then let the dust settle at the end of the night to see if you've made any money. Some stacks at some tables are up and some are even and you have no idea how much you've lost at those tables. This will help me break the habit of getting attached to stack sizes and being upset if my stack goes down.

Another good lesson that I re-inforced to myself was when contemplating between two plays, go with the one with your strongest & initial gut feel (i.e. I probably should X because his range is strong, but he could also have this range, so maybe I should Y.) Without going into the hand too much, a tight player that I had no info on check/called a ragged flop after raising pre. He checked the turn and i felt I should check behind with TT for pot control, but then I changed my mind because I thought he could also have pairs that were smaller than mine. I bet and then he raised and I ended up folding because his line was super strong for a tight player.

I also decided to use the Full Tilt colors for tagging players:

Green = loose/passive/stationy fish
Purple = spewy aggro
Light Blue = tight nit
Orange = regular player
Red = really good aggro
Yellow = decent aggressive

Versus my goals, I felt I did well for my first night:

Hours Played: 3
Hands: 631
bb/100: I'm not even close to being able to report on a big enough sample size

Cash Games it is

2010-03-24T19:36:00.002-05:00

I decided that despite being primarily a tournament player that my current goals for consistency outweighed my love for chasing the big cash. I also have a strong desire to play a more deepstacked game and my time limitations make it challenging for me to play long MTTs. Once I came to a logical conclusion, it was a no brainer decision.

I'm very excited about this new forray and am ready for the challenge. I'm not naive and I know there will still be swings. I also am fully aware that I am playing with "real money". I've been playing long enough to appreciate the game.

I am also excited to treat poker like a business and focus on the long-term metrics of the game. I have a plan for the volume I need and I have a "work schedule" ironed out to achieve it. My initial goals are the following:

1. Work up to 840 hands per day or 16,800 hands per month (this is approx 3.5 hrs of 4 tabling full ring games for 25 days a month). Once I work up to and am comfortable 4 tabling, I will add more tables.

2. Earn 5bb/100 hands - I see so many different rates that people say is "good". I think 5bb/100 may be a little on the high end, but I will just play through the first 50k hands or so and see where I stand.

Anyway, tonight is my first session. I would say that I will post some results, but after one night that's pretty counter-intuitive to grinding. I will post results based on more important metrics such as how comfortable I felt playing, my reads, etc. I think I'm going to start 2 tabling and then add a third or possibly 4th table. I usually 3 or 4 table tournaments, but I want to be comfortable with table flow first.

Treat Your Poker Like Your Business - What I Learned

2010-03-23T13:50:00.009-05:00

In an effort to make new knowledge permanent by re-writing my notes, the following is a re-cap of what I learned by reading the new book "Treat Your Poker Like Your Business". Some of these are new discoveries and some are great reinforcements of things I've previously learned, but they are all crucial in using poker to make money.

1. Because poker is a game of variance, the more important metrics to focus instead of money earned is hours/hands played. After that, then focus on hourly rate. You can make a high bb/100 hands, but if you are only playing 100 hands a night you won't be putting the volume in necessary to make consistent income.

2. You have to make yourself accountable for a total number of hours spent on poker. Just like success in wrestling or any endeavor, to be great you have to commit yourself to it. You have to put in the reps and you have to constantly find ways to improve your game.

3. Be proactive about improving your weaknesses. Be honest about where you need work and then study the situations you most commonly struggle with. But don't just focus on the big pots. Focus on the smaller situations that occur more frequently where you may be losing more overall money. After each session, write down the smaller situations that bothered you and then post those in forums, talk to friends, study the $EV, etc. By improving and finding those small edges, you are optimizing your winning and looking at big profits over time.

4. Your hours must be filled with quality time. If you are having a hard day or are distracted, then you need to push yourself to focus and NOT reduce the number of tables you play. If you normally play 8 and are having a hard time, you shouldn't just play 1 or 2 tables. You will improve your overall game if you can learn to play in tough situations. Dedication to becoming great means plowing through each day no matter what comes your way. Tilt, variance, doubt and pressure are all emotions you will feel at some point but you can chose to push through them or let them hold you back.

5. Be realistic about your current abilities (both skill and time you can commit). Focus on making small improvements each time you play instead of trying to be the next Phil Ivey overnight. You must develop mental endurance, not only to build up to longer sessions, but also to have a long-term focus. If you expect too much too soon, it's like trying to run a marathon when you are only comfortable running 5 miles.

6. After learning new tactics, focus on implementing only one or two new ideas when you are playing. Don't try to overhaul your game in a few sessions.

7. When multi-tabling, don't feel like you have to rush your important decisions. Run through a mental check-list and then act confidently. 1. What do my opponents actions mean? 2. What is the best action vs. his range of hands? 3. Consider all options carefully, take a deep breath and go with your initial and most confident gut instinct no matter how big or small the pot might be. Once you have seen the situation over and over, the decision making process becomes quicker.

8. Mistakes are not caused by tilt. Tilt simply reveals them and strips your skill set down to it's core. Tilt reveals you what skills you need to work on so that they can be automated and not effected by emotion in the future.

9. When moving up in stakes, don't consider taking a shot to be a pass or fail scenario. Instead, use the pressure to identify any weaknesses and focus on improving skill instead of the end result of winning or losing a session.

10. Mistakes are opportunities to improve. Improving means more money, confidence & enjoyment. You can choose to get mad at mistakes or you can embrace them.

11. Top psychological mistakes that were identified that I connected with are:
a. Premature realization of skill - skill is only proven when it shows up in tough spots, not the standard ones.
b. Pressure to improve fast
c. High expectations - this becomes a problem because of how you feel when you fall short. Don't expect things to happen, figure out how to get there.

12. Don't look at the cashier - focus on individual situations rather than the total in your account after each session. In that same light, don't focus on your stack size on each table other than to know how it relates to others at the table.

13. Table selection - since this is a poker business, you would want to spend your valuable time with the best possible chance at maximizing your profits. If you are at a table full of regulars, you don't have position on the fish, or there is someone constantly 3-betting you, it simply makes business since to find a new table. You don't have to waste time fighting an ego war or swapping money back and forth with the regulars.

So other than some valuable board texture and hand tips and, these are the main lessons that I learned from the book. If anything, it has given me a renewed sense of motivation and perspective on the game that I have already felt will make a massive difference on my long-term success.

Cash Games vs. Tournaments - Where to focus?

2010-03-23T10:51:00.005-05:00

So I've been playing poker almost 6 years now and I probably spend 95% of my time playing tournaments varying from 45 & 90 man turbos to larger MTTs. Based mostly on my ability to commit time to play I generally focus on the turbos. And while I have a good shove-botting game and have had success in these tournaments, I don't actually prefer to play them...especially the 45 man turbos on Stars. There is no real concept of post-flop play and even your pre-flop play is mostly all-in or fold. The 90-mans on Full Tilt have a lot more room to play and I prefer those; but toward the end there still aren't enough chips in play to really "play" poker without committing your stack.

The reason I'm even bringing this up is that I started reading an interesting book yesterday called "Treat Your Poker Like Your Business". Basically, this book talks about how if you are going to play poker for money (and not just purely recreation), then you need to treat your time and your bankroll as pieces of inventory...or assets that you are investing. I started reading it last night and flew threw about 75 pages in about 1 1/2 hours.

Now up until recently, I was a recreational player who has had some good success and only focused on growing my bankroll so that I could eventually make significant enough cashouts to do fun things with my family, etc. When I started my business, I withdrew everything except $250 on Stars and started back from scratch. I was able to build that back to about $11.5k. I've mentioned in recent blog posts that we have encountered some bills and my wife came up way to tackle it without having to withdraw my bankroll again. For our insurance, which is a little over $700/month, we set it up to auto-draft out of the ING account where I keep my bankroll reserves. This is a great plan! BUT, that also means that I have now shifted from "recreational player" to "semi-professional player".

So that's pretty cool. I get to say I'm a semi-pro poker player. Well guess what? That also means I'm on a timeline to make money. I am now accountable for a certain amount of volume each month and ultimately need to make, at minimum, $700+ each month just to keep my bankroll in tact. Of course right when we make this decision, I start running horribly. It comes with poker, but now I have the added pressure of getting results.

At first I was becoming tilted and last night I was tested again, playing 7 tournaments without a cash. I pushed through the pain and while I was a little annoyed at the end, it prompted me to download the book I mentioned above. After reading through the first 75 pages, I have a renewed sense of perspective on some things (including variance) and I am actually excited to take on the challenge of grinding each month. The question now becomes, do I continue to play tournaments or do I switch to cash games?

I really enjoy tournaments and have gravitated toward them for a reason. However, my priorities have shifted for now and I need to do what is best for my "poker business". I know that I only have a limited amount of time to play each week and I need to maximize my output during the times that I play in order to ensure my bills are being met. My original plan was to look at the ROI at each tournament type and put in the volume required to at least profit $700 each month. I am currently doing that and unfortunately started off going backwards. I don't necessarily want to abandon the plan now because when variance swings back the other way, I want to reap the benefits. But I guess that's not the best way to look at things. Variance doesn't know what games I'm playing and I can easily go through 10 more tournaments without a cash. I could start playing cash games and hit a hot streak too and make it up just as quick.

I feel like I'm rambling now and I need to come to a conclusion. It all goes back to what my goal for playing is. My primary goal right now is to make consistent money each month. Tournament swings are going to be more dramatic on average than cash games, thus I would need to put in more tournament volume than cash games within a fixed period of time. My time is also limited because I can only play at night, so I can only put in a fixed amount of hours each month. Because of the need to make a consistent amount of money in a fixed period of time, it only makes sense to focus on cash games. Either way, I need to pick one so that I can focus my time and attention on the mental muscles it takes to be successful at that game. I can throw in a tournament or two here and there to keep those muscles warm, but my focus needs to be on cash now.

The only thing I'm a little worried about is that the majority of my training and experience has been in tournaments. There are obviously similarities, but there are also big differences as well. I also need to deal with the emotional aspect of playing with "real money". The last time I was experimenting with playing 6-max cash, I had a $700 loss one night and it freaked me out. My heart was beating through my chest. But I really like the idea of playing multi-street poker and honing my reads. I also could just be nervous because I will be going outside of my comfort zone. I will just have to go through a bit of a learning curve and an adjustment in the beginning and deal with any losses that occur because of it.

Staying Patient While Running Bad

2010-03-18T13:41:00.001-05:00

I guess I can be running worse (and I have), but it always seems like when you need to win everything is working against you. I guess there is something psychological about it though. It's not that you are running worse, it's just that you put more stock into each individual tournament, coin flip or bad beat. The loss just stings more because you need to win. The trick, of course, is avoiding tilt and staying patient.

I recently set up my ING account (which holds my bankroll that isn't on each site) to be drafted for my monthly insurance. Jenni came up with this idea instead of cashing everything out and paying off bills. I thought it was a great idea so I wasn't dependent on trying to hit a big score in a MTT. It would be different if I could put in the time and volume needed to overcome variance, but my playing time is limited. So instead, I figured out my ROI and determined how much volume I would need to put in playing 45 and 90 man tournaments. So it's kind of cool because I guess I can consider myself a semi-professional player in that part of my monthly income now comes from poker. Of course with that comes a little more pressure to make sure I'm not only putting in the volume, but also producing results.

So I set up the auto-draft about a week ago and I had taken a week off of playing because I was busy with wrestling. I had started running bad before the break, so I figured it would start reversing itself but it hasn't. I've had a few min cashes and I did place 2nd in a smaller buy-in 90 man, but over the last few days I'm definitely running at a loss. It isn't the worst thing in the world, but it's one of those things where I'm losing big coin flips, getting sucked out on when I shove and overall not having great starting hands. It's normal and certainly not the worst run I've had, but I'm getting acclimated to playing with the "need" for money. It's like I'm playing with a time clock running down. As the time gets closer to the draft, I get more and more anxious to hit a score. That is obviously not conducive to good poker and I'm trying to not let it affect my play. It's one of those things where I am going to have to keep a detached perspective and truly play for the long-term. I know that I can't get mad at bad beats and losing flips and I know that I can't force the action. That's the key. I need to work on not putting as much emotional stock in any one tournament. I need to stay confident that I'm going to make good decisions and when I decide a move is right, I need to pull the trigger without fear of consequences. It doesn't mean I need to force bluffs all the time, just well timed spots that I feel confident in.

So the key moving forward is to stay emotionally detached and just put in the volume. Don't worry about when money is going to come out or even worry about being in a current "bad" or "good" run. Just play poker and the luck will even out.

Stress, money and the affect on poker

2010-03-04T20:44:00.004-05:00

So here's the deal. I've been stressing pretty hard about money lately. We have slowly accumulated debt over the last couple of years due to starting the business and not making as much as I used to. In addition, we owe one some loan payments and we are probably going to pay taxes this year (which was unexpected). We will have a big payment coming up on a humidification system and we just found out our insurance is going up $100 a month.

Why am I venting this on a blog no one reads? Because it's been affecting my poker game lately. Is it affecting how I play? Maybe a little. But worse, it is making me feel extremely tense and stressed every time I play. If a pot goes bad, I get pissed. If I get card dead, I stop looking for situations when I don't need cards or I start feeling either impatient or I start getting on myself for being a nit and not opening the pot with any two cards. Either way, it's putting me in a funk. I love to play poker, but the pressure of needing the money has been starting to get to me.

I have the money in my bankroll to at least take a large chunk out of our debt, but then I'll have to go back to grinding micro-stakes. I'm trying to play more MTTs in hope that I'll hit a big cash and can take care of some things. Some days I'm playing fine and I'm not forcing results because of the need for money and some days I'm just completely stressing while I play.

So...what's the solution? As much as I hate to say it, it falls back on the principles of achieving success in any endeavor...especially poker. I have to stay patient. I can't change the cards, I can't force things. I have to completely separate the need for money from the goal of playing poker. I have to play poker for the fun of it and any good result that may occur in the short run will be gravy. But poker IS a game of the long run and it has variance. For me to stress about results would be the equivalent of me flipping a coin and getting pissed that it didn't land the way I picked. I have to find other means of earning money and if it comes to it in the next few months, then I may need to withdraw some of my bankroll. If I'm able to make it bigger by that time, then that's great. But I need to focus on playing poker and not on winning money.

Daily recap 1-24-10 - Deep Run

2010-01-24T21:59:00.013-05:00

After waking from a nap cranky, I wasn't going to play tonight even thought I had planned to all day. I didn't feel that I would play my best because of it and so I ate about 1/3 box of ice cream. After some encouragement from Jenni, I decided to play anyway. I'm playing the $30 rebuy on Tilt for the first time and the $20 rebuy on Stars. My play so far has been pretty good, but I haven't really had a lot of hands. Being a bit tired and feeling the effects of the sugar crash, I'm not quite in the zone yet as far as hand reading and pulling the trigger. I'm kinda going on auto pilot. The first real breaks are just ending so my goal right now is to start putting people on hands.

------
Just hit the money in the $30 rebuy and just bubbled the $20 rebuy. I'm feeling good right now. I'm running good and playing good and I'm 7 out of 35 with $71K at the 1k/2k + 250 level. So I've got chips, but it still isn't a ton. I've got MoormanI two to my right as the chip leader and he is definitely using his stack. I've had to play somewhat patient since I haven't been able to really read his play thus far. In order to win this thing I'm going to have to pick good spots and make good reads. I'm not going to nit up because he's aggressive, but I'm also not going to just 3 bet him every chance. I'm gonna have to do my best to put him on a range and trust my gut.

Right now I'm fighting my own emotions of wanting to final table and ultimately win. I told Jenni that any profit I make in the next month or so was going to pay off some bills, so my hope is to obviously just take down one big tournament and not have to worry about it. But it is counterproductive to play that way. So much can happen in a tournament that I just need to stay +EV focused. I mean I get super deep and it's a big jump and a marginal situation I may pass it up, but I am still focused on making the top 3 at least so I need to accumulate chips.

I'm also trying not to be affected by having Moorman to my right. Normally I don't care about who I'm playing against, but he is literally opening every pot so I can't put him on any sort of range. I've never played with anyone this atgressive before. In order to play my best I can't worry about that stuff. All I can do is play each situation to it's fullest and not worry about the results of one tournament. Even though I bubbled the $20R after playing great and building a big stack, I'm going to push those emotions aside and concentrate on this table now.

----

Just won a massive pot with QQ vs. TT and I'm up to 116K at the 1200/2400 level.

----

Moorman just got taken out, so I should be able to open more pots now.

---

Took a big hit a bit ago...ugh...in shove mode now with 16 left.

Full Tilt Poker Game #17890349164: $25,000 Guarantee (Rebuy) (134861280), Table 8 - 1500/3000 Ante 400 - No Limit Hold'em - 1:26:17 ET - 2010/01/25
Seat 1: AKSharky (76,764)
Seat 3: heavyv63 (162,199)
Seat 4: JOSEKATE (24,276), is sitting out
Seat 5: Romario25 (21,821)
Seat 6: ErikTheKing7 (41,024)
Seat 8: sMokInMySkIzArD (45,166)
Seat 9: DP388 (120,614)
AKSharky antes 400
heavyv63 antes 400
JOSEKATE antes 400
Romario25 antes 400
ErikTheKing7 antes 400
sMokInMySkIzArD antes 400
DP388 antes 400
heavyv63 posts the small blind of 1,500
JOSEKATE posts the big blind of 3,000
The button is in seat #1
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to DP388 [Ks Kh]
Romario25 has 15 seconds left to act
Romario25 calls 3,000
ErikTheKing7 folds
sMokInMySkIzArD folds
DP388 has 15 seconds left to act
DP388 raises to 10,500
AKSharky folds
heavyv63 raises to 18,000
JOSEKATE folds
Romario25 folds
DP388 has 15 seconds left to act
DP388 calls 7,500
*** FLOP *** [6h 7d Jc]
heavyv63 bets 9,000
DP388 raises to 27,000
heavyv63 has 15 seconds left to act
heavyv63 calls 18,000
*** TURN *** [6h 7d Jc] [As]
heavyv63 bets 9,000
DP388 calls 9,000
*** RIVER *** [6h 7d Jc As] [9d]
heavyv63 bets 9,000
DP388 calls 9,000
*** SHOW DOWN ***
heavyv63 shows [Kd Ad] a pair of Aces
DP388 mucks
heavyv63 wins the pot (134,800) with a pair of Aces
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 134,800 | Rake 0
Board: [6h 7d Jc As 9d]
Seat 1: AKSharky (button) folded before the Flop
Seat 3: heavyv63 (small blind) showed [Kd Ad] and won (134,800) with a pair of Aces
Seat 4: JOSEKATE (big blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 5: Romario25 folded before the Flop
Seat 6: ErikTheKing7 folded before the Flop
Seat 8: sMokInMySkIzArD folded before the Flop
Seat 9: DP388 mucked [Ks Kh] - a pair of Kings

----
Fck...can't pick a spot to shove...3bb now.

----
Grrr...13th for $325.20. That KK hand killed me and I couldn't pick a good spot to get my chips in until I was so low I had to get called. I'm still happy with the way I played, but I lost another big hand late that really hurt me.

---

Post note: I think I just realized a small leak that's been happening in bigger tournaments. I'm talking myself out of shoving with marginal cards when I'm a little above 10bb or so. I'm assuming I will find a better spot than shoving J9 from the hijack and I'm letting myself blind out. I used to never do this, but I think because of the possibility of higher payouts I'm a little more timid shoving ATC. I need to be conscious of that in the future without overcompensating for it.

Earning Pots - Recap 1-20-10

2010-01-20T22:55:00.003-05:00

I'm feeling really good about my play so far tonight. After playing with Chris Layton in Biloxi, I've started noticing more spots where I can profitably bluff. I realized that I was nitting up a bit in Biloxi and only taking one stab and check/folding when called. Tonight I am 2 barreling when it makes sense for the board and I'm leading more. I'm not going crazy, but I am definitely making good reads and balancing my play. So far I was pretty card dead in the beginning, but I opened up my game sooner than normal and it helped me stay afloat until I picked up a few hands. I was also 3betting in position as well as from the blinds vs. just calling to set mine, etc.

Well, after taking a few beats and then earning my way back up I had to make a big laydown which I think was correct, but not sure. Shortly after that I doubled back up to 70K with 2000/4000 blinds. The utg shorty shoved and the button min raised. I had KK and shoved and the button thought it would be funny to show up with AA. gg me. 31st in the 50/50.

Gonna keep playing mtts. I am good at grinding the 90 mans, but we need money right now and I'm due for a big cash so I will sacrifice sleep so we can pay some bills.

Biloxi WPT Event - Jan 2010

2010-01-10T16:25:00.003-05:00

I'm currently in an RV heading down to Biloxi to play for about 5 days at the WPT Southern Poker Open. I'm looking forward to the trip and I'm ready to get down to business. I'm going into this trip with kind of a grinders mindset. I haven't played much over the last few weeks compared to normal, but when I have played I have played really well. I feel like a lot of the multiple factors that most good players still don't think about are now coming to me at a subconscious level.

So I'm going down to take care of some business and make a profit. Of course there is the phenomenon of constantly seeing 1:11 or 11:11 on the clock for the last few months that gets me excited that the tournament on 1/11 could be a big one. But I really can't put stock or extra emotion into a tournament simply because of a coincidence. Of course, if it was a sign then I'm not going to argue with that.

We played a few tournaments up on a flat screen in the RV using the WiFi, so that was pretty cool. We tag teamed the decision making and it was comforting to hear myself think about hands at a different level than others.

Anyway, I'll try to post any significant hands as the trip goes on.

Daily Recap 12/20/09

2009-12-21T15:06:00.003-05:00

My last two cash game sessions went really well. I probably ran above normal, but I also extracted max value and used my image to pull off a few well timed bluffs as well. I was up $600 online the other night and left with $505 ($200 buy-in) from Snow's .50/$1 game last night.

I feel like I'm adjusting to cash games, and specifically 6-max online much better now. I'm not forcing situations as much, I'm going with my reads and I'm adjusting to the table and player dynamics. It is definitely improving my poker skills by playing more turns & rivers, which will ultimately help my tournament play.

It's a little weird though since I haven't played a tournament in like 3 weeks. I know 3 weeks isn't that long of a time, but it's probably about 15 sessions or so. I'm probably going to start shifting back to tournaments over the next couple of weeks to get ready for Biloxi.

Daily Recap 12/07/09

2009-12-07T21:13:00.003-05:00

About to start a session of 1/2 6 max. I'm ready to make adjustments from last night and play solid poker. I know the things I need to work on, so I'm gonna just play my best and make +EV decisions.

...I'm letting my emotions ride with the size of my current stack, which by nature is being results oriented. This is something I'm really going to have to get over, no matter how much money it is.

Wow....all I can say is wow. I started playing great and was up about $400, then I was still playing decent and next thing you know I'm down $300. Then I made a really bad play and went 100% against my strong read. Brazza was super tight and is NOT raising here with AJ, but I convinced myself that he could have it (even though it was really that I was tilting and couldn't fold KK). Playing 6max 1/2 is really different than tournaments. Not only am I involved in way more hands, I am getting affected emotionally with the ups and downs of my stack size. I am determined to adjust to this game and I think this is going to be huge for my overall game. Not only in terms of tilt control (which I didn't realize I had a problem until now), but also in terms of my ability to make read and plays in deep stacked situations.

Full Tilt Poker Game #16625861301: Table Weave (6 max) - $1/$2 - No Limit Hold'em - 1:37:45 ET - 2009/12/08
Seat 1: DP388 ($406.95)
Seat 2: BrazzaNivel ($412.70)
Seat 3: mark857 ($61)
Seat 4: KyleGass ($306.45)
Seat 5: ziggyjer21 ($164.10)
Seat 6: pointnutter ($97.25)
ziggyjer21 posts the small blind of $1
pointnutter posts the big blind of $2
The button is in seat #4
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to DP388 [Kd Kc]
DP388 raises to $6
BrazzaNivel calls $6
mark857 folds
KyleGass has 15 seconds left to act
KyleGass folds
ziggyjer21 calls $5
pointnutter calls $4
*** FLOP *** [5c Jc 8h]
ziggyjer21 checks
pointnutter has 15 seconds left to act
pointnutter bets $10
DP388 raises to $30
BrazzaNivel has 15 seconds left to act
BrazzaNivel raises to $112
ziggyjer21 folds
pointnutter has 15 seconds left to act
pointnutter calls $81.25, and is all in
DP388 has 15 seconds left to act
DP388 has requested TIME
DP388 raises to $400.95, and is all in
BrazzaNivel has 15 seconds left to act
BrazzaNivel has requested TIME
BrazzaNivel calls $288.95
DP388 shows [Kd Kc]
BrazzaNivel shows [5h 5d]
pointnutter shows [6d 7s]
*** TURN *** [5c Jc 8h] [As]
*** RIVER *** [5c Jc 8h As] [Ks]
DP388 shows three of a kind, Kings
BrazzaNivel shows three of a kind, Fives
DP388 wins the side pot ($619.40) with three of a kind, Kings
pointnutter shows Ace King high
DP388 wins the main pot ($294.75) with three of a kind, Kings
BrazzaNivel adds $194.25
pointnutter is sitting out
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $917.15 Main pot $297.75. Side pot $619.40. | Rake $3
Board: [5c Jc 8h As Ks]
Seat 1: DP388 showed [Kd Kc] and won ($914.15) with three of a kind, Kings
Seat 2: BrazzaNivel showed [5h 5d] and lost with three of a kind, Fives
Seat 3: mark857 didn't bet (folded)
Seat 4: KyleGass (button) didn't bet (folded)
Seat 5: ziggyjer21 (small blind) folded on the Flop
Seat 6: pointnutter (big blind) showed [6d 7s] and lost with Ace King high

Daily Recap 12/06/09 - Tough Day

2009-12-06T23:38:00.006-05:00

Tonight's recap is going to be a bit sporadic. I contains some tilty notes from my 1/2 6 max session where I lost about $450. I started off playing well and then it kinda went to crap. I was doing some things that I would never do in a tournament thinking it was what I was supposed to do in a cash game. I experimented (which isn't horrible) and I did my best to go with my reads, but in many cases I didn't adjust and I spewed a lot of chips in marginal situations.

What are some of the things I did wrong?

....calling too much with no plan for future streets; people double and triple barrel way more in cash games. I am check-calling out of position WAY too much and I know that is bad, but for some reason I am trying to float them with what I think the best hand is hoping they won't bet the turn, but the reality is (AND I KNOW THIS), I should be check-raising not check-calling unless I can stand to call multiple streets.

....trying to manuver and win everypot instead of letting some hands go

...didn't change gears and play abc poker vs. loose bad spewy stations/aggros

...didn't really read the player like I normally do. I mean I was putting people on hand ranges somewhat, but I was trying to make plays like I've been seeing in videos instead of using my gut to make decisions about how that particular player will respond.

I may be forcing a few things too, raising all my mid suited connectors from the 2 seat, etc.
It seems like I'm starting to run really bad too. I was running good earlier in the session and playing well and now even if I have showdown value, I'm running into bigger hands or they have the one hand that can beat me.

I'm not going to lie...the guy to my left has me a little tilted. I can't seem to win a pot against him no matter how I play it. But he is a huge fish and I think I can use our history to win a few nice pots off of him. I'm close to the 2 buy-in stop loss, so I'm kind of tightening up a bit since he is a station and is difficult to bluff. There's a guy on my other table who is a huge aggro fish too, so I'm reluctant to stop playing even though I am a bit tilted. I'm trying to control my tilt in order to play at these profitable tables. I just need to stay patient and keep focusing on putting players on hand ranges, even though they are playing every pot and very non-traditional.

Fish left and I have one other table open with another fish. So far tonight has been a humbling transition into 1/2 6 max. I tried a bunch of plays that didn't work (some did) and then I made a bunch of turn calls with showdownable hands only to have them fire the river. I don't think I got outplayed per se, I just didn't play my best. Taking some hits while experimenting and learning about 6max is part of the learning process. But I definitely stayed too long at the tables. There was about an hour of the session early on when I was playing really good poker and making really good reads and then I think I just started to force plays without making solid reads and narrowing hand ranges. Then I stopped getting any semblance of playable situations and stopped making reads.

I still have that one table open hoping something miraculous will happen. I've had a hard time in cash games in the past not chasing my losses. I think that's one reason I play tournaments. BUT, if I want to be the best, I have to adjust my game to different situations. I think tonight will be a good learning experience.

...45 min later and I'm still trying to chase losses. It's really hard to get up from the table. As soon as you try to, it starts dealing another hand and you think "just this last one", then "just one more orbit", then "ooh, I'm up a bit now...maybe I can ride this heater". JUST GET UP AND LEAVE!

Finally, I left. But not before I changed a gear that I mentioned in this above post. Instead of check/calling the aggressive button's c-bet with middle pair, I decided to check-raise and he folded. Still a big time losing session, but I have a lot of hands to analyze in the next day or so.

Daily Recap 11/27/09

2009-11-27T20:11:00.010-05:00

Haven't posted on the blog in a while so I'll just give a quick recap since I'm playing right now.

As noted with a couple of the more recent posts, a week went by where I was having some hiccups making a few bad calls. I re-watched a few great video series on Cardrunners about the difference between good and great players and it helped me re-set my head. Since then I've only played a few times, but I took down a 90 man for over $1k and had another final table.

My goal tonight is to make my read, decide on an action based on my read and then pull the trigger confidently without second guessing. That decision may be to fold a big hand or it may be to raise on a bluff. But whatever it is, I'm going to make an ego-free, unemotional decision and act on it. I'm not going to force results. I'm just going to play good poker.

----
First break....hit a set and was fortunate to have 2 people give me their stacks with top pair in the $150. Down to 1/2 my stack in the $24. I don't think I'm playing bad...was able to make a pretty easy laydown with 2 pair when both possible straight cards hit so lost a few chips there. So far so good. Lots of soft spots, so should be able to chip up in the $24. No big names at my tables in the $150 so far. One guy I've heard of "SaulGood", but other than that only a few guys who have had decent results.

---
Lost a few chips in a pot when I raised on a draw and got 4bet all-in. Need to separate emotion and not second guess my decision to raise. I can analyze the hand later.

A few orbits later and I have this nagging feeling to get involved in a pot and "prove" that I can outplay people. I'm writing about this in order to recognize that this is a form of tilt so I can control it and prevent it. After this next break I am going to get myself into more of a soft focus and just concentrate on the table dynamics and not worry so much about myself.

---
I just realized that the feelings I had before were also a form of jealousy. There is an aggro player on my right who has had great results based on OPR. He's the player that I lost the earlier hand to. I need to focus on playing my game based on my reads and not try to play like someone else. Smart decisions and not FPS for the sake of FPS. Like always, narrow the range and make the decision from all the hands in the range not the need to outplay someone. I'm also not going to force results for the win. I feel a little like I'm thinking about the results of cashing deep and winning instead of postive expectation.

---
Was top 10 in chips in the $150 and was playing really well and then misplayed my hand. I 3bet a lose player and flopped the nut straight with 2 hearts on board. I checked instead of leading, even though my gut said to lead. I got a little greedy and another heart hit the turn. I bet into it to see his reaction and then he insta-shoved. I still called for some reason when I still had about 25bb left drawing dead to his 5h6h. The problem is that I didn't stop long enough to put him on a hand. I got caught up the emotion of flopping a straight that I couldn't let go of it once he shoved. I wanted to put him on a draw or some sort of 2 pair or something as opposed to just stopping for a second and thinking about his hand range. Pre-flop I put him on a smallish pair or a weaker Ace, so him shoving with the Ah and a straight draw is certainly possible but I don't think he insta-shoves...I don't know really. He was the chip leader and I hadn't played enough hands with him to know what he was capabale of. Overall I'm a little disappointed that I didn't go deeper, but mostly because I made an emotional decision vs. a logical one. I had been making emotionless decisions most of the night, but I guess because we were getting deeper into the money and I was starting to taste a big cash I slipped a little. Good lesson learned.

Daily Recap 11-19-09

2009-11-19T22:21:00.003-05:00

Went to the Thursday game at the American legion tonight and made a couple nice reads and picked up some good pots. Then I got involved in a hand where I used faulty logic to make a decision on the turn. Now that I think about it, the reason why I made this particular turn decision was because I let the lingering effects of a previous hand affect me...but not how you think.

I had made a good read and good river blocking bet a few hands earlier and I guess I got a little cocky. Without going to deep into the hand, I raised a pot after two limpers with AQs. I flopped a flush draw on a ten high board and bet when they checked to me. In my mind, I completely shut off any thought of what they had and said to myself "I'm going with this hand no matter what." Mathematically that is probably the right decision, but I didn't even try to put anyone on a hand. So one of the players called me and this guy is a HUGE calling station. He likely had a ten and he was likely not going to fold no matter what his kicker was. He checked a blank turn and there was 14K in the pot, with both of us having about 8k in our stacks. I decided to shove, mainly because I was still feeling cocky and convinced myself that I was going to hit anyway so it didn't matter. There was like a 5% chance he was folding. Of course he snap called me with KT and I didn't hit. My decision to shove wasn't necessarily the worst in the world, but my logic for shoving was. It was based on being cocky and assuming I was going to hit. My decision to shove should have been because I had a read that the player was capable of folding. In this case against this player, checking was superior. He would have paid me off regardless and I still had plenty of chips if I missed the river. Now if he had shoved the turn, I was getting the right odds to call but that isn't how the action went.

It just goes to show that emotion effecting your decisions swings both ways. It can be because of tilt and it can also be because of ego & pride in the positive sense of things.

Bad Call

2009-11-16T10:32:00.005-05:00

I made an uncharacteristically bad call on Saturday night. And when I say that, I don't mean it was bad because of the result. And I also don't mean so much that the call was bad because of the card situation (although it was probably bad too). Why it was bad was because of some of the justification I used to make my decision.

Here's the hand:
Villain has been projecting a laggy image during the rebuy period showing down a few bluffs. Blinds are 100/200 and both of us are sitting around 6,500K. He raises to 450 utg and I call with TdTh on the button. So the pot is 1,200.

Flop is Qs3s5h. He checks and I check behind for pot control, to let him bluff the turn, etc. The turn is 7s and he checks again. I figure my hand is best at this point and I can get some value from smaller pairs and protect against hands with overcards. I bet 800 and he says "you bet into me? I'm all in.".

So now there is 2K + his remaining 6,000 out there for a pot of $8,000 and $5,200 to call, so I needed about 39% equity against his range. I put him on a hand like AK with a single spade and decided to call, even though I was left with plenty of chips if I folded.

Why it was bad:

My decision was partly influenced by not wanting to look like I was being pushed around. He used a line that really should have been obvious to me that he was strong by saying "You bet into me? You can't bet into me?" That's really kind of a line used on beginners and it slightly affected my decision.
Part of me wanted to prove that I am capable of making sick hero calls. And not necessarily to the table, but more to the person since he's been around the poker scene and has an way of talking that is as if he is constantly judging the skills of those around him. The concept that I would want to "prove" anything to anyone is what makes the decision bad. Good poker is played with unemotional decisions and I have nothing to prove to anyone.
I had rebuy lag. I was still feeling kind of loose and willing to gamble for a big stack since we just got done with the rebuy period.
I didn't follow my first gut instinct. I tried to read into verbal and physical tells too much instead of simplifying the situation and using the betting pattern and tournament situation to dictate my decision. I should have just shut off my ears and focused more on what the bets were telling me and not all the verbal chit chat.
As far as the chips/stack goes, I didn't take the time to really think about how much of an overbet it was. I just kept thinking about my hand and all the hands that I was beating that he could do this with...I didn't factor in hands I was behind in his range.
It was one of the first hands after the rebuy period, so even though he had been projecting a really laggy image, he is good enough to switch gears and wasn't going to be putting his stack at risk in a huge overbet situation on a bluff. If he was bluffing, he would have raised an amount that still left him with plenty of chips behind.

So even though it was a good thing that I wasn't afraid of busting out early, I still let a lot of unimportant factors influence my decision on the hand. As always it was a good reminder and a good lesson learned.

Daily Recap 11/01/09

2009-11-01T16:20:00.009-05:00

I'm getting ready for a long night of poker. I just registered for the Sunday Million on Poker Stars for the first time in a while. Jenni gave me the green light to play, so I took it. I'm coming off of a win at the VFW tournament on Thursday so I'm feeling pretty good. I played well and got lucky a few times to take it down for $1,200 including the last longer bet.

Before starting the Million, I have a little bit of anxiety but I'm not sure where it's coming from. I think mostly from spending the day with the kids and constantly having to correct behaviors. I guess I'm a little worried that that stress will carry over into my play. But that's one of the reasons I use this Daily Recap. I like to clear my head of any lingering thoughts in order to get focused and be ready to play my A-game.

As far as today's tournaments go, I'm just gonna play poker. I'll fire up a couple of events and just play my best. While I guess there is always a little bit of extra "this would be awesome if I won or cashed big" associated with the Million, it's really not anything I can concern myself with until I get really deep. I've got at least 6 more hours until that happens and even then, I'm just gonna focus on making +EV decisions. If I get to the bubble, I'm going to do my best to chip up against the tight players and I'm going to play for the win. I'm not going to force anything or try and make fancy moves. I'm just going to make reads and make decisions based on those reads.

---
First real break and I'm down about 6k in the million. I'm not playing bad or anything, I'm just getting caught in spots where I have to make laydowns. Just gonna look for good 3 bet spots and should be right back in it.
---
Bleh, out of the million. I just couldn't get anything going. I had a very loose active table and I was card dead for most of the tournament. Finally got it in good with 55 vs. Q2 and they flopped a Q. Oh well. Even though you can't put too much stock into one tournament, it's still a little dissapointing since I never get to play it and Jenni gave me carte blanch to play tournaments today. All I can do is just play my best in the others that I play and not put much stock into getting knocked out of a single tournament.

---
Wow, that was ugly. Just got runner runnered with QQ on a 234 flop when someone bluffed a massive overbet with KJs...they hit 2 more diamonds and we were both very deep. Lost a flip with AK in the $70K guaranteed. Gonna eat something and reset before the 7pm full tilt tournament.

I definitely feel a sense of dissapointment because it seems like everytime Jenni says she'll watch the kids and I get excited about playing a bunch of MTTs, and end up running bad. However, I realized that the way I am feeling right now is because I really want to make deep runs and I put a sense of pressure on myself. I don't feel it too much when I play, but if I didn't address it now, it would definitely turn into tilt and affect my future play. I did notice a couple of times I started focusing more on my cards than the situation as a result. The reality is that this session shouldn't be any different than any other session. Nothing is different and I don't "deserve" to win big because I'm starting to play earlier than normal. I have a full tilt tournament starting so I'm going to use this as an opportunity to practice re-focusing and putting past emotional baggage behind me.

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Got out of the funk and I'm playing really well in a 6 max tournament. Was 2nd in chips for a while out of like 80 left and I think I'm still around the top 10. The player to my right has been giving me fits. He started out really tight and then changed gears. I made a huge laydown bvb after 3 betting him (which I had not done before) and he 4bet 1/2 his stack. We were both around 80-100bb deep, so I wasn't ready to play such a big pot yet. Right now I still have a very healthy stack, so I just need to not play with my ego against him and go with my reads.

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Disappointing is the word for the night I guess. After having that massive stack, I ended up losing a big pot against that same villain. I'm not sure it was a good call or not, but I think based on all the dynamics of the tournament and the way he shoved, it may have been good. I called an all in with JJ after he called my 3.5x re-raise bvb and insta shoved an AQx board with 2 hearts on it. I was right that he didn't have an Ace. He had QT and I got knocked down to a little over 20bb. I did make the money, but busted in 36th when I shoved 69 on the button and the BB called with KT. Dissapointing to go from 2nd in chips to out in 36th place. But I can't focus on results obviously. I need to go back through this hand history to look at EV and see if I could have made better decisions. I'm obviously happy at the way I chipped up and made bluffs at the right times and extracted from my big hands. It just all started falling apart toward the end, so I'll focus on analyzing those hands.

Daily Recap 10/21/09

2009-10-21T19:10:00.008-05:00

Played at the VFW last night and took 3rd out of 36. It was a small field compared to normal, but I'll take the cash. I also chopped the last longer 3 ways, so it added some profit to the night. The thing about it though is that I was only dealt one pocket pair the entire night and I couldn't play it. I got 55 and was facing a shove from a tight player. So for the whole time, I accumulated chips with either steals, one good big blind flop and well timed shoves. I made good decisions based on my opponents ranges, whether or not the actual hand was best at the time. So I'm really happy about how I played.

Gonna play tonight both because I want to, but also because of my new focus to play as much volume as possible while I'm running good and playing good. I'm starting off a little tired, but I think I'll be fine once I get going.

---
Okay, so I'm starting to feel a little tilted mainly because I'm questioning a couple of my plays that ended with bad results...the KQ hand was a little coolerish because there was only one hand that I was worried about. The AQ hand miffed me a little because I'm not sure my pf raise size was good, even though I had a reason for it...but I was thinking more about "what do 'they' say I should do here...by "they" I mean books, forums, etc. instead of me putting my opponent on a range and proceeding from there. Then on the flop I made kind of an emotional decision vs. a logical one. The result may have been the same, but I want to make good decisions. But I need to snap out of it...I can't make a couple of marginal plays and beat myself up. That will only make things manifest into something worse...back to focusing on good decisions.

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I feel like I'm starting to make emotion based plays vs. logical ones. I'm forcing plays to happen because I think I'm trying to keep a win streak going vs. just observing and making decisions based on my reads.
---
Glad I recognized that last thing I wrote. Understanding that helped me come back to earth a bit and start opening up my mind to poker situations, not emotions. I also decided that since I'm not playing my A game I would only play the remaining table I was on and then judge how I felt after that. I ended up playing a lot better, but busted in 20th out of 90. I decided that since something was off tonight that I would minimize my losses and not chase a win. If had been playing better and still lost 4 tournaments I would likely keep playing, so this was a judgement call. I have a few hands to go over tomorrow when I am a little more focused.

Daily Recap 10/19/09

2009-10-19T19:28:00.005-05:00

It's been about 4 days since I played last and it feels like an eternity. I wasn't able to play on Friday or Saturday due to previous obligations and I was just too tired last night from wrestling during the day. I still feel a little physically beat up, but I really wanted to play. One thing that I am going to be focusing on is playing as much volume as I can while I am running good and playing good. I felt like I was playing my A game last week and I was fortunate to run good at the same time.

So I'm starting the session tonight a little physically tired, but I'm drinking some coffee and I think I'll be okay. I know from previous experience that if I get really tired, I fall into a rhythm of nitting up too much or blindly betting without putting someone on a range. So my focus tonight is to find spots where I can be selectively aggressive and find the rhythym of accumulating chips.

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67s hand...didn't put him on a range..just gave up b/c fd. check/folding isn't horrible on the river and my line was probably okay, but I should have probably c-bet and maybe double barrelled...results oriented..but my reasoning for not cbetting wasn't good...it was scared

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That's always annoying. Made it deep in 3 tournaments with 2 final tables and no cashes. Twice a called all-ins with AK and AQ where I was 65% and 60% respectively...flop 2 pair and get runnered for straights and flushes. I made good shove decisions getting there though where sometimes I would shove any two cards when the situation was right. I shoved 42s in the bb when the sb limped and I shoved 94os into the BB when I was the sb. I was going to fold the latter, but getting those chips allowed me to survive a rotation.

It's only 10:30 and I want to keep playing, but I don't want to stay up too late tonight. I might play some head's up or something.

---
Played a 4 person HU tournament just for the fun of it. Only a $20 buy in. It was fun. The first person was frustrating because they didn't bluff and was somehow a station only when I was bluffing, not when I had big hands. Still, I felt like I adjusted pretty well to both players and ended up taking it down.

Daily Recap 10/15/09

2009-10-15T21:18:00.003-05:00

I'm starting tonight's session after busting from the Thursday live tournament I play in. I played fine and actually made a couple of non-standard plays. One of which was a blocking bet, but the guy was probably going to check behind so I lost a few extra chips there. One was when I shoved 9xTh on a all heart board with top pair after I was check-raised. I went with my gut that he was actually putting a move on me and I was kind of right. I was actually freerolling against an offsuit 9T. I didn't hit, but I was happy that I went with my read even though it was kind of early on.

I ended up busting when my KK was all in pre vs. 99 and he hit a 9 on the turn. I wanted to keep playing tonight hoping that I can continue my run from Wednesday. Just gonna focus on solid play and making good reads.

---
Got exactly what I wanted tonight...jump in, play a couple of quick turbos and walk away with some cash. I took 2nd in a $60/45 man on Stars. I put myself in a position to take a massive chip lead head's up but unfortunately suckouts happen. But prior to that I am really happy with the way I played. I picked a few really nice spots near the bubble where I put pressure on everyone even though I wasn't a massive stack yet. I c-bet into 3 players with an Ace on board because I knew that they would have 3bet me with an Ace and they didn't want to bust with a couple of super short stacks still in. I also chose to raise a few marginal hands when the short stacks were about to be committed into the blinds. Of course I lost my fair share of sucked out pots and I was able to hit a big suckout 4 handed when I shoved KQ from the SB into a 9bb stacked BB. He woke up with AK and I hit a straight on the turn. My play was absolutely correct, but you do have to get lucky sometimes to win a tournament. Overall I felt like I played my A-Game. I took gambles when I needed to and was able to change gears from being aggressive and conservative.

Daily Recap 10/13/09

2009-10-13T20:02:00.010-05:00

I haven't played in a few days it seems. I finally got over being sick and I've been crazy busy and have been pretty tired lately. I didn't want to play when I wasn't able to focus. Today it was still hectic at work, but I was able to get a major project done and felt the relief of the big part being over. I was able to get the kids to bed and start playing around 8pm, so it was nice to start early.

I started the night misplaying QQ pretty badly in the Stars nightly $27.50. I'll review it tomorrow, but the jist is that I went broke with a set that had both a flush and 4 card straight showing. I could have easily check/folded or even check/called the river, but I decided to bet/call the guys shove trying to convince myself he had AK for 2pr. But that is what I WANTED him to have, not what my read was. So...I'm in 2 tournaments right now and I've started playing much better. Although I do have to admit that I'm not 100% clear headed for some reason. I'm gonna relax a bit and find a focus.

---

Got 3 tables going and one is a final table of a $48/90 man. I'm sitting around average at 32K at the 1200/2400 level. I was down to nothing earlier and trippled up, then I chipped up really nice on the bubble only to have a couple of hands go bad and I lost some chips. But I'm happy with the way I played the bubble. We're down to 8 in this one, so I'm going to just pick my spots and go for the win using my reads. Need to pick up some chips in the nightly $35K. Gotta find some re-steal spots.

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So I take the chip lead and have over 100K going into 5 handed play. I played every hand pretty much perfectly and got crushed when a SS woke up with AK vs. my AT 4 handed, then my AK lost a huge race to 77, then I have 30k left at 3000/6000 and shove 97s...same 77 guy wakes up with AQ...gg me in 4th place. Definitely gonna look at that HH to see if tomorrow I still like the way I played. I feel like all the spots were standard, but it being a turbo I just hit a downswing at the wrong time. I do wonder if I should have shoved the 97s though. I had been super active already and there was another short stack. Don't get me wrong, I am playing for the win. But I wonder if the jump from 4th to 3rd is enough to consider ICM.

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btw...really happy with my reads when calling all ins with semi-marginal hands like KQ or suited middle Ace. They are solely player based reads and not an attachment to my hand. I used to be afraid of making calls like that, but when there is a super aggressive player on your right, those hands go way up in value because you are so ahead of their range.

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I just took 2nd in a crazy up and down $48/90 man where I lost a massive pot and was down to being forced all in by the blinds 3 handed. I ended up doubling up a few times and then took the chip lead going into head's up play. Then I called a min raise, hit top pair, check-raised strong and he shoved. I was forced to call and he showed BOTTOM PAIR...and hit a 3 outer for 2pr on the river. That river was worth about $400, so that kinda sucked. I still had some chips left, but not many...about 6bb. Overall I felt my short-handed push-bot play was good and just got unfortunate head's up. I got lucky a few times and then got unlucky as well. That was definitely a wild tournament so I'm happy to have 2 final table and deep cashes tonight, but first would have definitely been sweet. Just gonna keep grinding and try to play some during the day tomorrow.

Daily Recap 10/09/09

2009-10-09T20:57:00.010-05:00

I'm starting this entry during the first break tonight. I started playing a little later than normal (about 9pm) and I am not playing in optimal conditions. I had a big dinner and drank a couple of beers, so I was already a little tired. I felt okay when I started but now I'm a little drowsy. I also chose to play longer tournaments tonight as well instead of the 45 and 90 man ones. So I guess my motivations for playing tonight were more because I haven't played much this week and not because I felt like I would play my A game. So...now going into the rest of the session, I am going to have to work doubly hard to stay focused and make +EV decisions. I'm going to be conscious about tendencies to make loose calls because I'm tired or tripple barrel bluff without a read. I will be more focused on making reads and putting players on a hand and I will also not nit up like I used to do when falling back to B game tendencies. I will trust my instincts and act on them and not make emotion based decisions.

---

Break #3 - I misplayed a hand when I called a flop bet with 77 on a monotone board looking to spike a 7 high flush. I got there, but so did AA. I didn't bust on the hand, but I lost a fair amount of chips. It was a 3 bet pot and I called to set mine and then called around a 1/2-2/3 pot bet to hit the flush. I think calling was a mistake not because he could have a higher draw, but because I'm not going to get paid when I hit. It's a scary board and I don't have the implied odds to make the call profitable. That's actually a good lesson learned that I don't think people realize sometimes.

I was also able to lose the minimum with KK vs. AA. It was a pretty obvious spot, but still one that many people go broke in because they "aren't going to fold KK".

PokerStars Game #33846077695: Tournament #200031055, $10+$1 USD Hold'em No Limit - Level VIII (60/120) - 2009/10/09 22:40:46 ET
Table '200031055 157' 9-max Seat #8 is the button
Seat 1: DDSM31 (945 in chips)
Seat 2: bannedfrmFTP (11310 in chips)
Seat 3: goleafsgo31 (4320 in chips)
Seat 4: DP388 (6230 in chips)
Seat 5: Jestok (2544 in chips)
Seat 6: imgrinding23 (10015 in chips)
Seat 7: gomezdedeye (12765 in chips)
Seat 8: wrios_23 (5090 in chips)
Seat 9: streetpup (8920 in chips)
DDSM31: posts the ante 15
bannedfrmFTP: posts the ante 15
goleafsgo31: posts the ante 15
DP388: posts the ante 15
Jestok: posts the ante 15
imgrinding23: posts the ante 15
gomezdedeye: posts the ante 15
wrios_23: posts the ante 15
streetpup: posts the ante 15
streetpup: posts small blind 60
DDSM31: posts big blind 120
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to DP388 [Kc Kd]
bannedfrmFTP: folds
goleafsgo31: calls 120
DP388: raises 360 to 480
Jestok: folds
imgrinding23: folds
gomezdedeye: folds
wrios_23: folds
streetpup: folds
DDSM31: folds
goleafsgo31: raises 360 to 840
DP388: calls 360
*** FLOP *** [8d 3d Ah]
goleafsgo31: checks
DP388: checks
*** TURN *** [8d 3d Ah] [Th]
goleafsgo31: checks
DP388: checks
*** RIVER *** [8d 3d Ah Th] [Qd]
goleafsgo31: bets 360
DP388: calls 360
*** SHOW DOWN ***
goleafsgo31: shows [Ac Ad] (three of a kind, Aces)

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4th Break - Looking decent and playing well. I feel like I'm playing my A-game and I'm consciously finding steal spots where I often start nitting up and blinding down during the mid stages. I'm raising JT type hands in earlyish/middle position with like 9M. I think staying active stealing is important with that stack size and I usually completely shut down because I'm afraid of losing 1/2 my stack c-betting. But I think if I just focus on stealing and only stick with high percentage c-bet situations/boards then I'll be fine. I need to keep my stack afloat while I pick other spots to double up. We're getting closer to the bubble in the two tournaments I'm in, so we'll see who tightens up and if I can chip up.

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Just busted in the Stars $70k in 221st. Bubble was 216. Meh, oh well. AK vs. TT. I tried to keep myself from getting to 10bb, but I didn't find enough situations. But the way stacks were, I would have ended up in that race anyway so oh well. I was hoping to cash 2 out of 3 tonight, but I didn't so I'm gonna focus on getting deep in this other one and putting myself in a position to win.

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I just found out something about my play. It can be a good thing and bad thing. I sometimes wait too long before opening up my pre-flop raising range because I don't have reads on the other players. This is fine early on, but when it's late and people keep moving back and forth between tables you can't wait forever. Sometimes you have to just be aggressive and learn for yourself what their tendencies are.

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Break 6 (I think) - Was able to chip up nice at a new table and made some good reads. I almost got to 100k at the 1k/2k level but lost a flip with 88 vs. AK and went to 65K. Picked up a couple of steals, but for the most part I've been kind of dead. I'm staying patient and I'm about 11bb now, so I'm looking for good shoving opportunities. I don't know how deep I am and I really don't want to know yet. I just want to keep playing and making good decisions.

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Grrrr...super aggro table and I can't pick a spot to shove. Finally shove QQ for 5bb and AK wins the race. 37th. I'm happy to get deep don't get me wrong, but it was a $10 tournament too. I can't complain about results. I think I played well, but I think there are a few spots where I needed to probably 3bet shove with trash or open the pot with trash simply to stay alive. Not sure...I felt like I was reading the tables well and I wasn't too nitty, but I still ended up blinding down a good bit towards the end. I'll analyze the HH tomorrow.

Flka;lkdfapoihg...just checked the payout and for getting 37th out of 1900 people it's only $34.20. That's pretty rediculous. I'll have to make a note of that and never play this tournament again.

Daily Recap 10/08/09

2009-10-08T17:17:00.004-05:00

Gonna head to the Legion tonight. I've been sick for a week so this will be my first time playing since my game on Saturday. My focus tonight is to play a similar game as last week by opening up a little bit. I'm going to also really focus on maximizing my +EV on each street. Part of me was debating staying home and playing online so I could get more tables and hands in, but I really feel like I want to get out of the house and play some live poker. I feel like I'll be able to focus better by leaving since the kids have been kind of a pain lately at bed time. I want to start at an hour when I'm actually fresh.

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Went to the legion and played well. I feel like I was playing my A game but then made a borderline call of a tight player's shove. UTG limped, mp player raised and tight guy shoved. I have JJ in the sb. The shover had 3800 at the 150/300 level so he doesn't have to have a monster hand necessarily, but his shoving range in that spot is going to be pretty narrow. I'm gonna run the numbers and see how close it is tomorrow.

Came home and played a few turbo 45 and 90 man sngs. Took 6th in one of the 90 mans, but I just made another borderline call. 6 handed, I have 66 utg with 32K at the 1,200/2,400 level and I make it 5900. The most conservative player at the table shoves and I'm getting exactly 2-1. If I fold I have 26000. I'm getting the right odds, but this guy was really tight and I am am always either behind or racing here. I'm fine with the race, but his range is weighted toward a lot of pairs. This is another hand I need to run the numbers on.

In both hands, I had a strong feeling that they had overpairs but the situation made it very close in that it could have widened their range. I ended up calling in both spots and in both spots the had KK. I'm gonna approach each hand without being results oriented, but at the same time I have to trust my reads as well.

Daily Recap 10-1-09

2009-10-01T17:27:00.003-05:00

Gonna start this post before going to the America Legion tournament tonight. I've been feeling kinda sick today, but just like in any sport you have to sometimes push yourself and train your mind/body to perform in sub-par situations. I mean, I'm not throwing up or anything so I'm fine.

My goal tonight is to try and open up a little earlier. The blind structure is a little fast and the players are really bad so normally I just play super patient and play push fold in the later levels. It doesn't mean that I'm going to go nuts because many of the players are calling stations, so I'll have to pick my spots. BUT, it does mean I'm going to open a little looser in late position (if it folds to me) and not pass up any blind stealing opportunities. It also means I'll probably open a little lighter from early position. Again, not too much, but enough to keep my stack healthy so I can absorb any hits later if need be.

------------
I played great tonight. I didn't win, but I feel like every decision was +EV. I opened up my game a bit and played the players. I doubled barreled one time and I bluffed the river into a tight player when the board paired Aces. Aside from bluffs, I think I extracted well although I check-raised a set once and I might have been able to get more value by check/calling. The board had a flush draw showing but I put the player on a lower pocket pair. I felt like check/calling might kill my action if another spade hit and I don't think he fires again on the turn anyway. Against this particular player I think I probably made the most. I ended up final tabling and busting in 9th out of 53, but I chopped the last longer and basically broke even for the night.

Daily Recap 9/28/09

2009-09-28T19:34:00.005-05:00

I'm starting this post before I get started tonight. I feel like it would be helpful to clear my mind a bit before settling into playing and I want to chronicle where my mind is at before I start as a way to prevent it from affecting my play and help me start off with a positive mindset.

I had to do a lot of investigation today into accounts that were being billed improperly, so it was part needle in a hay stack, part logic problem. I ultimately like solving problems, but it's also frustrating to know that thousands of dollars have not been billed to our members because of errors we made as a result of a confusing interface. We will be rid of this problem soon, but I still have to solve the immediate issues of getting our accounts straight. I was successful in identifying the problems and realizing that they were not nearly as bad as they could be, so that was satisfying. In addition to this I was working from home and with the basement still in disarray, I had to deal with screaming kids around me. Our 3 year old has been a handful lately, so it takes great patience not to fly off the handle. Normally I'm cool, but I felt myself breaking a bit today since I was trying to concentrate on solving the complex billing problems. On top of everything, the backyard is still a mess from the flooding and the house is messy.

Okay, now that that is out of my system I am going to work on playing my A game and making good decisions tonight. I will say that I am still starting the session with a little anxiety about unfinished business at the house, needing to finish a training manual for new employees that are starting tomorrow and leftover stress from the kids. In the past, I've sometimes transferred these negative feelings into negative thoughts about how I would run...getting sucked out on, missing flops, etc. But at the same time, I need to train myself to push those things aside when it comes time to play. I can't wait for perfect scenarios. Sometimes, you have to teach yourself to focus and become disciplined. So I'm going to step it up and work hard at making good decisions and staying calm while doing it. I'm also going to work on not beating myself up over decisions that might not go as planned or feeling like I'm playing too tight. I'm just going to settle into the rhythm of the game and take in all situational factors before making a decision.

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Okay, in the middle of playing and getting deep in a $48/90 man. I'm having these feelings of inevitably busting by shoving into a monster or getting sucked out on because I'm getting short and I have loose donks to my left. I'm gonna stay positive and just pick good spots without being too nitty.

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Bink. 2nd place for $702 + $32 in bounties. I chipped up nice on the bubble and I got lucky in a couple of spots, but I still think the calls were good vs. some short stack shoving ranges. Once I got a few chips I started putting pressure. Head's up was a standard crap shoot since we both had 10bb. I ended up shoving Q9 with 8bb and he woke up with TT. As far as A game goes, I got into a nice rhythm and I was very decisive about my decisions. I made a few folds that were tempting, but I just made a gut read of the situation.

Daily Recap 9/27/09

2009-09-27T22:22:00.002-05:00

The good news is that I barely remember any hands. I felt like I was playing in the zone and I was not afraid to go with my gut in a few marginal spots. I was right in a couple of them and I lost a really big pot in another, but I'm not too unhappy about it. I'm gonna take another look tomorrow to see if it was a good call or not. Basically I called a pot sized all-in on the river with 99 with a board of xKxKx. The way the hand was played he could have had a small/mid pair in his range as well as a slow played King. I had a big stack already and could afford it, but it was still a substantial pot.

The bad news is that I didn't cash in any of the KO tournaments except for a few bounties. I bubbled two of them in 13th and 15th respectively and took like 25th in another. In one of them I was down to 2-3bb twice, came back to a nice stack and then ran into a some coolers like TT vs. JJ. I was picking my spots for shoving and probably nitted in a few situations (albiet I had crap hands). There were two super short stacks on the other table and while I wasn't playing to cash, they were so short that I assumed they would be busting. I kept floating between 3 and 6bb and finally lost when I shoved QJ 5 handed vs. AK.

Overall I felt I played my A game. I was able to chip up really nice in most of the tournaments and lost in pretty standard spots either losing a flip or re-shoving with a mid pp and them waking up with a bigger pair. I stayed in control emotionally when I lost pots and stayed confident in my game.

Daily Recap 9/26/09

2009-09-26T23:49:00.002-05:00

Played at Bentwater tonight. Started off with a crazy laggy table with 2 really bad players who played every pot. I chose to sit back and play my big hands for max value and not get caught in a bunch of marginal spots or try to bluff them. Good strategy, but I unfortunately had really unplayable cards. They both eventually were knocked out and I was able to make a few key double ups and brought my stack up to 55K at the 1k/2k level. At Bentwater, that is a really nice stack.

Overall I felt like I was playing my B game most of the night before that. Not based on the hands I was playing but the reads I was making. I wasn't fully engaged in each hand and I was feeling a little sick/cloudy headed. In some hands I was thinking through all the factors and some I wasn't. One hand that I fully thought through was right after I doubled up shoving AQ for 9bb. An early passive player limped 7 handed for 1k, Snow (with a big stack) made it 3,500. It folded to me in the small blinds and I had ATs with about 22K. I was still stacking chips and was thinking through my options. I felt like I was ahead of Snow because I know he was going into big stack bully mode. I thought about folding since I was out of position, but I was pretty confident I was ahead. I then thought about calling, but again being out of position sucks and I'm just playing my cards and "hoping" to hit a flop. I decided that shoving was optimal since a normal raise would commit 1/2 my stack. I also felt that with my image, I could get him to fold a small pair or even AJ. I shoved and scooped the pot.

My bustout hand was kinda of crappy and I felt like this was an example of playing my B game and not fully thinking through the hand. I probably thought through 90% of it. We are 5 handed on the final table bubble and Brian Sullivan limps utg for 2k. I have KT and decide to be aggressive and raise to 8k. Brian often limps here with hands like QJ, J9, etc. Brian looks really annoyed and decides to call. At this point I put him also on a weak Ace. The flop is J97 with two spades and he checks. There is 18K in the pot because there was a dead small blind, so I c-bet to 11K. I'm not sure c-betting is the best here because it hits a lot of his range. Not that c-betting is always wrong here, but I felt like I wasn't playing my A game because I blindly c-bet instead of thinking through the optimal line in the hand, stack sizes, etc. I just bet hoping to win. Brian calls and the turn is a blank. He checks. There is 40K in the pot now and I have about 28K behind. I considered shoving, but thought he might have a J. I also thought a flush draw with an Ace was in his range as well. I decided to check behind. The river is the 8 of spades giving me a straight. Brian checks. Here is where I misplayed the hand. I did put him on a range of hands which included a J, maybe a 9 or a flush draw. When he checks the river I thought he didn't have a flush although it was still possible. After thinking through a bit, I decide to shove because..."I have a straight. Maybe he'll call if he has a J. I don't want to lose out on a value bet here." The problem with shoving here is that I'm only getting a better hand to call me. Brian also sees there is a flush out there and would fold in fear that I had it. He could also have QT here for a better straight and checked, but would still call because the pot got so big. So while I thought through the hand, I didn't consider that value shoving had no value and that he only calls with hand that beats me. He could have a small flush or he could even be inducing me to bet. It turns out he had As3s and knocked me out.

So overall, I played decent. Definitely not a C game tournament, but not A game either. In the last hand I needed to think through his entire range to determine if I can get called with a worse hand...not "I have a straight, so I should shove". Why am I shoving if all worse hands fold?

Good lesson learned tonight.

Daily Recap 9/25/09

2009-09-25T21:14:00.003-05:00

I feel really good playing right now. I'm focused and making good decisions. Keeping it light tonight again since I was kind tired. I'm adapting to using the HUD as something in the background for a reference tool as opposed to focusing on the numbers too much, so that's good.

Got 8th in a $69/45 man on Full Tilt and unfortunately busted at the bubble making a standard shove with A9 and getting called by AT. I had like 6bb left and was in the cutoff.

....

Just made a really nice play with KK on a J high board, got it in on the turn vs. tp and a J hit the river...happy with my play though since I got tp to stack off.

....

Got deep in a $48/90 man KO and was playing really well and lost a flip with AK to the chip leader who was winning every single flip. I made a couple of well timed bluffs and I think I picked good spots for the couple of multi-barrel bluffs I made tonight. I was very confident they would work as opposed to betting and hoping.

I made a really strange call earlier in the night with AK on the river and no pair. The guy had been flatting all my raises and betting into me and in this hand he checked flop, min bet turn and potted river when a flush draw hit. I thought for a while and called 1/2 my stack. I'll have to re-look at the hand tomorrow and see if making a big hero call like this was good. I mean obviously committing half my stack isn't good, but I was comfortable with making a big call there. The one thing I'm not sure is if I was making it more out of ego than a solid read...I think a little ego was in there, but my justification was somewhat logical. It wasn't a spite call or anything.

Anyway, no cashes tonight other than some bounties, but bubbled two tournaments and lost in completely standard situations so I felt good about my play.

Daily Recap - 9/22/09

2009-09-22T21:28:00.002-05:00

Light night again. Only played 3 multi-table sngs.

$38/45 man turbo - 38th (ick...lost an early flip with AK to a SS and then lost another flip with an 8bb shove..oh well)

$36/180 man tubo - I got teased by my 2nd place finish so I played again. 21 left I shove 8.5bb (which is a good stack with this many left) with AK. BB snap calls with A8 and hits an 8.

$24/90 man KO - Played really well here and don't really remember any hands. So that's a good thing. I was on complete auto-pilot and didn't have to think much. I had one hand where a big stack randomly shoved the river and I had tp (K) with KJ on the flop. Nothing made sense with the way the hand played out and I was about to call but my time bank ran out. Who knows if I was right or not, but lasted longer than that player and ended up out in 6th place when I shoved A5 and 75 called in the BB and hit a 7.

So overall the night was a profit and I felt good about my play.

Daily Recap 9/20/09

2009-09-20T21:36:00.002-05:00

I felt good playing tonight. I kept it really light since I was tired and only played 3 45 man turbos. I have been playing under my roll the last few sessions just because I was getting over some tilt and didn't want to be affected by big losing sessions. I've started to run well and I've re-tooled myself so my confidence is high.

At first I wasn't going to play tonight but one thing I have noticed in the past is that I don't ride the upswings enough. I'm not sure I'm on a full upswing yet, but I have started to run better and I've hit a few wins the last couple of days, so I decided to at least play some. I didn't cash tonight, but I played really well. I honestly don't really remember many hands because I was instinctively making reads and plays. So that's a good thing. I'm no longer thinking about things on a conscious level. I did save one hand from tonight which I was proud of.

Full Tilt Poker Game #14832008906: $69 + $6 Sit & Go (108866952), Table 5 - 25/50 - No Limit Hold'em - 21:20:52 ET - 2009/09/20
Seat 1: hdkeisk (1,375)
Seat 2: DP388 (3,725)
Seat 3: vardar14 (1,825)
Seat 4: KRISDRU (1,305)
Seat 5: DIMJR (1,765)
Seat 6: voff voff voff (1,615)
Seat 7: Sando85 (3,285)
Seat 8: Dr_Krimsonn (1,375)
Seat 9: Tinmannohearts (1,325)
hdkeisk posts the small blind of 25
DP388 posts the big blind of 50
The button is in seat #9
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to DP388 [7d 8c]
vardar14 folds
KRISDRU calls 50
DIMJR has 15 seconds left to act
DIMJR has timed out
DIMJR folds
DIMJR is sitting out
voff voff voff folds
Sando85 folds
Dr_Krimsonn folds
Tinmannohearts has 15 seconds left to act
Tinmannohearts calls 50
hdkeisk folds
DIMJR has returned
DP388 checks
*** FLOP *** [3s Jc 8s]
DP388 checks
KRISDRU checks
Tinmannohearts checks
*** TURN *** [3s Jc 8s] [5d]
DP388 bets 100
KRISDRU calls 100
Tinmannohearts calls 100
*** RIVER *** [3s Jc 8s 5d] [Jh]
DP388 checks
KRISDRU bets 200
Tinmannohearts folds
DP388 has 15 seconds left to act
DP388 calls 200
*** SHOW DOWN ***
KRISDRU shows [Ah Kd] a pair of Jacks
DP388 shows [7d 8c] two pair, Jacks and Eights
DP388 wins the pot (875) with two pair, Jacks and Eights

Him having a jack didn't make since since he checked the flop that had a couple of draws. When he called the turn, I put him on a flush draw or possibly a hand like 89, A8 or A5. After he bets the river and the other guy folds, it just didn't make since. He would likely check behind with an 8 since it had showdown value and he'd be afraid of the other guy having a Jack. So I called and it was a poorly played AK. I did think for a moment before calling to go through a range of hands and once it didn't ad up, I called with confidence.

Daily Recap - 9/19/09

2009-09-19T12:55:00.007-05:00

AM Session:
So Jenni took the kids to a play date and I figured I'd fire up a few turbo multi-table sngs. I was feeling good from the nice cash the night before and wanted to start riding an upswing. I played only 2 tables at a time so I could concentrate better and played well, but busted out on completely standard shoves. But for some reason, I still felt angry that I busted. I was hoping that the night before would have helped erase some of that but obviously there is still some lingering emotion from the downswing.

While I've felt pretty good, I've only given myself a couple of small 1-2 day breaks. I didn't think I needed it, but it might be time for me to take 3-4 days off to fully reset my head. I still have two tables going so we'll see what happens. Unfortunately I'm sitting at like 8bb because I had to rush to the bathroom and folded JJ when I would have doubled up...oh well.

Bleh...A8 > my AT...one left. I'm cool though.

...Ship it! Had a super passive final table and completely took control. It was just a $24/45 man on Full Tilt, but I played well and did not settle for anything other than first. I pushed back the voices that were telling me to not get too aggressive and it paid off. I just kept raising until people played back and they never did.

PM Session:
Things are starting to click back into focus now. I am kind tired so I only 2 tabled and played just a few turbo multi-table sngs so I could go to be early. I took 7th in a 90 man and was unfortunate to have my AT get beat pre-flop by Q8, but that's how it goes. So overall profit for the last two days is around $1,100 or so.

Here's a pretty big hand that came up:

Full Tilt Poker $24 + $2 KO No Limit Hold'em Tournament - t120/t240 Blinds + t25 - 8 players

CO: t1335 M = 2.38
BTN: t6200 M = 11.07
SB: t11325 M = 20.22
BB: t1125 M = 2.01
Hero (UTG): t6425 M = 11.47
UTG+1: t6740 M = 12.04
MP1: t2360 M = 4.21
MP2: t7480 M = 13.36

Pre Flop: (t560) Hero is UTG with KsJs
Hero raises to t595, 2 folds, MP2 calls t595, 2 folds, SB calls t475, 1 fold

Flop:(t2225) JdKd6s (3 players)
SB bets t960, Hero raises to t2640, MP2 folds, SB requests TIME, SB calls t1680

Turn: (t7505) Qc
SB bets t3840, Hero requests TIME, Hero calls t3165 all in

River: (t13835) 8s

SB shows [7h Kh]
Hero shows [Js Ks]

Opening KJs utg is definitely marginal and loose for me, but my image was tight and I felt I could get away with it and definitely get away from a marginal spot if I needed to. When he bet the flop, it felt like a probe bet to see where he was or possibly a flush draw that was trying to control the action. When he called, it really didn't change his range much. He could have various diamond draws and hands like KT and K9. I think KQ bets out stronger or check-raises here, but either way I'm taking him to value town.

When he bets the turn, it really threw me off. Could he have AdTd? Maybe...but why would he want me to fold here? Why not check and let me shove what looks like AK? I also think a set jams the flop since I showed strength. KQ was definitely something I was worried about but based on the flop play it wasn't as likely so I decided to call. This was the pivotal hand of the tournament.

Daily Recap - 9/18/09

2009-09-18T23:02:00.004-05:00

So I was inspired by a Cardrunners video to start doing a brief recap of each night's session as a way to evaluate my play while it's fresh in my mind.

Tonight started off brutal as it has for the last couple of months. A flush draw got there on the river leaving me short and my AQ vs. TT ran out QxxxT...weeee. I was okay after that and picked up some really nice pots playing the players tendencies. Then a massive hand occurred where I flopped a straight with J8 in the big blind with a straight flush draw. The pot was only 450 and a guy shoved for 2700 and gets flatted by the button. I shove and the button calls with a king high flush draw! He spikes a gut shot J on the turn (3 outer!) and knocks us both out. I kind of laugh that one off and then play a hand what I feel was very optimal with QT. With the board reading T4x44, I check to induce a bluff or possible chop with another T. He shoves, I call, he shows A4! At this point a really start steaming. It had been like this for a while now and I literally started breathing like a pregnant woman trying to stay calm.

I had one more tournament still going and it was a $36 180 man turbo on Stars. I rarely play these (maybe 5 times total) because the variance was so high. But I was trying to play under my roll tonight and figured I would give it a shot since the payout to buy-in ratio is really high. I won a couple of pots and eventually I calmed down and managed not to tilt-shove my way out. Eventually it got down to about 40 people and as a super short stack I was able to win a crucial flip with 66 vs. KJ. I double up to 10bb and then pick up AA the next hand and build up to $25K. Down to 30 and I win a huge flip with AK vs. QQ and now I'm up to $45K at the 1k/2k level which is huge for this tournament.

I then make a bad play when we are down to 3 tables left I believe. A new player arrives at the table and he min raises the cut off and it folds to me in the BB with Ah8h. Believe it or not, I can often times find a fold here and my instincts were screaming to fold since I did not know how the guy played yet. But I called because of odds, I had a decent stack and the fact that I could have the best hand. The flop is 832 rainbow. I check to evaluate his play and he bets over 1/2 his stack to $16K into a $5k pot. My initial reaction was that people in these tournaments sometimes make these really weird overbet plays with big hands to make it look like they are bluffing even though no one really ever bluffs like this. BUT where I went wrong was not trusting my initial instinct and convincing myself that he had overcards or a hand like AK and he was just trying to take down the pot. I mean there were no draws present, so what is he protecting. So I shove to put him all in and he flips up KK. I guess he assumed that if I had a PP that I would stack off. Well, I hit the 8 and stacked off. So it's not the worst thing in the world, but the main thing is that my instincts are crazy good and I've been so emotional and anxious to win lately that I'm not trusting them because I'm forcing wins.

Well, the good news was that I didn't berate myself and just stayed calm and focused. I ended up taking 2nd for $1,188 which was a much needed win that felt really good. I would have loved to take it down, but I felt like I played well overall.

So this recap was longer than expected. I plan on making them shorter. But evaluating the A8 hand was good because it reminds me to trust my gut even if there is no logical explanation. It doesn't have to be logical at the moment, it just has to feel right.

High Expectations

2009-09-17T07:44:00.002-05:00

I've noticed a trend over the last few years. When I make a really deep cash or have big success, I tend to follow that up with a downswing. Now some of this is just the natural ups and downs of poker, but I also realized that the downswings have a much more emotional effect which can start affecting my play.

Case in point - I had a great WSOP this year and hit a few wins right after that building my bankroll up to $11.5K. I then hit a bit of a downswing and I was down about $1600 in August and then had a negative trip to Biloxi. I've hit a few wins here or there online, but nothing major. So far, I'm down in September as well and my roll is down to about $7,500. So that really sucks.

For the most part, I feel like there are parts of my game where I am killing it. And honestly, I feel like I am a better player now than I have ever been. I am going through a rough patch in terms of not winning coin flips and getting 3-outered. BUT, the more important thing is that I have been letting it affect me emotionally. I might play fine in 3-4 tournaments and then the last 2-3 I am either getting anxious or nitting up and afraid to bust or I am not making clear reads.

I think the trend I am noticing is that after a big win I am on top of the world and I start expecting my "superior play" to yield continuous wins and put me in the ranks of poker's elite or something. Am I good? Yes. Do I have things to learn? Absolutely. Do I expect to make big cashes and 5 figure scores online? Yes. BUT...I can't force that to happen. I can't assume I will run like god and because I had a nice WSOP that I "deserve" to keep winning. So therefore I can't get mad when it doesn't happen. I have to keep making +EV decisions and finding edges. I have to keep improving my play. And I have to be consistent about controlling my emotional reaction to situations. If I start the night playing great, I can't let one or two bad outcomes affect the rest of the night or rest of the week. All I can do is control my decision making process and trust my instincts and the results will come.

Baggage & Tilt - Side Effects

2009-08-17T12:54:00.004-05:00

I'm usually really good about brushing off beats and staying calm during a down swing, but I've recently had what seems like one of the worst downswings ever and I hit my breaking point on Sunday.

For the week of August 10-16 I played 28 tournaments and I cashed in only two. One of the cashes was just after the bubble and in a $10 tournament, so my net result was about - $1,100 for the week. Am I worried? Do I care about losing the money? No. I'm playing well within my bankroll with really only one tournament that was a stretch, so it's not affecting me financially. But I'm going to take a couple of days off now because it's starting to affect the way I play.

Up through about 25 of the tournaments, I was playing fine. In fact, I was playing some of my best poker ever. I was getting a lot of 2 outers and runner runners against me, but I just brushed it off and moved on to the next tournament. But since I am playing more volume now, I have to be prepared for bigger swings and my tolerance level for taking the blunt end of the variance stick is going to have to increase. So, at about 25 tournaments I was starting to get sick of the nastiness and while I didn't make any tilty donk shoves or anything, emotion was starting to cloud my judgement and decision making.

The following are the ways in which I think running bad was affecitng my play:

Bet sizing, stack size and pot size calculation - for some reason my emotions cloud everything and I don't think on multiple planes. I just think 2-dimensionally (bet or check/fold, call or raise vs. how much, what will my/their stack be on future streets, etc.). This might be coupled with being tired as well, but either way I need to take a couple of breaths and make sure I'm thinking multi-dimensionally.
Narrowing the range too much and focusing only on the hands that might beat me - After running bad, the baggage/scar-tissue starts to build up and sometimes play in fear of a hand that might beat me vs. playing against my opponents entire range. For example, I raised with KK in ep, the sb calls and the flop is AcTcXd. Villain checks and I check behind for pot control, inducing bluffs, etc. The turn was Qc. So now I have a gut shot and nut flush draw. Villain checks again. Well...because of baggage in a few hands a couple of weeks ago where an Ace checked twice and my KK lost, I decided to check behind again and let 44 catch up to make a set on the river. Now, this doesn't mean that next time I'm going to overshove so that I don't let someone suckout on me. It just means that I need to bet the turn because while he could have an Ace (or even a made flush), he can also have a lot of other hands as well. Some of those hands fold and some weaker hands call. I also have lots of outs if he does have an Ace.
Folding instead of stealing, 3-betting or bluffing - when I am playing and running good, I am very confident in pulling the trigger when I sense the situation is right for a steal. However, when I'm running bad I start fearing people waking up with hands and talk myself into a fold. I am losing a lot of equity by doing this and while it doesn't mean that I need to play like a maniac, it means that I need to quit worrying about the "what ifs" and pull the trigger when I have a read...even if I have been running bad in those situations....NO BAGGAGE!
Not assigning a hand range - When the affects of running bad start wearing on me, I start betting based on the value of my hand and stop putting the other guy on a range. I mean, I might think "strong vs. weak", but I really need to think deeper and say to myself the hands he could have played pre-flop that lead us to this situation.
Betting for thin value - I know there are times I checked behind on the river and left value on the table because I was afraid of losing a bet
Not c-betting - While I don't think this happened recently, I know in the past I had a tendency to shut down in spots where a c-bet is standard because I didn't want to get check-raised or called.

So...those are the things that I am going to start being more conscious of if I find myself tilting again. I have to know that my new volume of play is going to lead to bigger swings. Which is fine because it also means I'll have bigger upward swings as well so long as I stay confident in my play.

Wait...I just got check-raised?

2009-07-03T11:44:00.003-05:00

So I made a blunder on Tuesday night that almost caused me to be eliminated very early in a live tournament. I was able to grind my short stack all the way to third place, but results aside, I made a really bad and seemingly obvious call in the second level.

Blinds are 50/100 and I still have around the starting stack of 5,500. I haven't played a pot yet, but most of these players aren't really paying attention to anything other than their cards anyway.

So an older gentleman, probably in his late 60s or even older limps in early position and 2 other people limp behind. So far, the older guy has shown to be a calling station. I'm on the button and look down at AQ. I'm sometimes torn as to what the best play in this situation is. I hate limping when I know I'm ahead, but I know that raising can bloat the pot with a bunch of loose limpers at early levels of a tournament. In this case, part of my instinct said to call, but I decided to raise because the tournament only had 20 minute blinds and I couldn't wait forever to accumulate chips. Knowing that I had several limpers behind, I made it 600. Everyone calls!!!

I suppose I could have made it 700 so that it wasn't as easy as just throwing out a single 500 chip to call. But either way, now I have 3 callers and a 2,550 pot. The flop is 2Q9 with two hearts. Old guy postures as if he's going to bet and then checks and everyone else checks. With the possible draws out there, I decide to bet 1,700 and the old guy shoves all in for about 2,800 more. UGHHHH!!!

I honestly think that looking back, this is an easy fold. Old calling stations, don't check-raise on a bluff. I put him on Q9 or 22 since I think he raises 99 pre-flop, but that is not unlikely either. My gut said Q9. He then started talking about wanting me to put my chips in there. Again...RED FLAG. But...the more I thought about it, I convinced myself that his table talk was trying to act strong and really wanting me to fold. But WAIT...I just got check-raised!

I think that sometimes it's easy to forget that the raise itself was a check-raise, which shows a lot of strength from an older player. Not that they aren't capable of check-raising on a semi-bluff, but it's not as likely. Plus, there were 2 other people in the hand left to act. He's not bluffing. He's also not doing this with a hand that I beat like KQ or QJ. He has either Q9, 22 or 99 only. FOLD!

But I talked myself into calling for some reason and I was right...Q9. I got knocked down to 750 chips. Luckily I snapped out of it and played great short-stack poker after that and took 3rd.

Poker Goals Revisited

2009-06-22T13:59:00.006-05:00

Now that I've boosted my bankroll over $10k and have had two WSOP cashes, I think it's time to revisit the topic of what role poker plays in my life and where I want to take it.

For the last 5 years poker has been a hobby and a vehicle for me to become good at a skill. The following is from a blog post in November of 2006 about how I got started playing poker (http://poker-reads.blogspot.com/2006/11/how-i-got-started-in-poker.html).

"As I started playing poker, I realized that it could be something that I did for myself and that I could use it as a way to realize my full potential in something that I was passionate about. So now, I have made it my mission to become one of the best. I know that it won't happen over night, but the great thing about poker is that I can play it the rest of my life. "

This statement is still very true and I strive to improve my skills every day. But now that I've finally reached a higher bankroll level, I can start playing at higher stakes than I have been.

Now I realize that winning $15K isn't life changing money or that now I'm rich and can play any tournament I want. In fact that is far from the truth. But this was a major milestone that I've been shooting for for a while and it now enables me to play consistently at higher levels. It is a catalyst that will catapult me to more significant bankroll gains. But even more significantly, cashing twice at the WSOP in pretty tough fields has given me the confidence that I am on the path to reach the levels I am shooting for.

But let's keep things in perspective. My new bankroll isn't even close to "high stakes" or anything like that. But what it means is that it will afford me the ability to change the role poker plays in my life. I will use this to go from "casual part-time low stakes hobby player" to "mid-stakes local player and part-time tournament circuit player". I can now go to the juicy local $2/$5 games if I chose or not feel like I'm playing outside of my bankroll when I get invited to a $200 or $300 local tournament. With proven results at the WSOP, I can also start hitting up 2-3 WSOP Circuit or WPT events each year and play a handful of preliminary events (not just one), feeling confident that will be one of the best players there.

From a financial perspective, I can start using poker as a way to supplement my family's income. I was on that path a couple of years ago when I decided to leave my job and become a partner in X3 Sports. I cashed out all but $250 in Poker Stars and any money I won live was used to pay for groceries while finances were tight. Now, however, X3 Sports is doing well and my monthly paycheck is a little more stable. My plan is to now take a percentage of my poker winnings and use it for semi-regular side income that can be used for extra spending cash, a family trip, etc. Ideally, I would like to use it for fun things that we can do as a family. At the same time, however, my bankroll is not at the point where it needs to be to allow me regularly play the tournament circut and to accomplish my ultimate goal...a WSOP Bracelet. So the majority of my winnings will still go back into my bankroll so that I can continue on the path upward.

So far, my progress has been relatively slow if you compare it to the majority of successful 20-something year old online pros. I simply don't have the time to play 20 tournaments a day. The bankroll gains that they might see in a month will take me over a year. That being said, I know that it will still take some time to reach the $20K & $30K mark. I also know that I will see bigger swings now, but I'm prepared for that. I've always been good about managing my money and I've been playing long enough now that I am mentally prepared for dips. Again, it's not like I'm going to start playing $500 online tournaments or anything. But I can start consistently playing ones like the nightly $150 on Stars where the payouts are much better. I no longer have to subject myself to the $3 rebuy or $27 - 45 man turbo sngs. From a live perspective, I will make more of an effort to regularly play the local tournaments (Tuesday/Thurs night, Bentwater, etc.) and possibly the $2/$5 cash games (although I still enjoy tournaments more).

From a commitment standpoint I also plan to start playing more, both live and online. Whether I needed to or not, cashing in my 2nd consecutive WSOP has proven that I am good enough to use poker as a way to make money for the family. I know my wife has never doubted my abilities, but coming home with cash certainly helps the next time I want to take time away from my family to go play poker. If anything, I think it helps me fee less guilty about it.

2009 WSOP Results

2009-06-22T08:28:00.013-05:00

So I just got back from my 2nd trip to the WSOP. I played event #36, which was a $2K NL Hold'em event.

Two years ago I cashed and while I played good, I also ran like crazy hitting 4-5 sets along the way. This time I didn't run especially great, but I played really well. That doesn't mean I ran a lot of fancy bluffs necessarily, but I picked my spots well and I made plays based on my stack size and the situation in front of me.

Out of 1,695 players, I came in 47th place for $9,096. I truly felt like I was going to win the tournament and was playing great. Unfortunately, when I shoved my 8M stack with 88 into an aggressive late position raiser he woke up with 99 and I was out. I still feel like I was one of the best players in the field and had a great chance to take it down.

The next day, I also played in a $300+40 nightly event with 215 players. I made the final table and once we were 6 handed, the blinds were rediculously high (and I had to make my flight) so we chopped it for about $6K each.

So $15K in 3 days...I'll take it.

What were my keys to success? Going into the event, I wrote down a few rules for myself in order to stay focused:

I will remain calm, focused and aggressive
I will make my reads first, then consider my cards
Each player will be a faceless, nameless body with patterns and tendencies
I will not bring baggage to the table
I will not force the action
I will be fluid
I will fear no man
I will make plays that I have confidence in
I will change gears and adapt to table dynamics
I will make decisions based on my reads, not based on what a book or forum says I should
I will not worry about what others think about my play
I believe that I will win
I will play to win without fear of busting out
I will always be conscious of how many chips are in the pot
I will trust my gut feeling
I will accumulate chips on the bubble
I will have fun

Of those, there are a few that were really key to playing well at this type of an event. While I've never been one to put pros on a pedestal or be intimidated, it is very easy to create pre-conceived notions about how someone will play (i.e. young online pros are always hyper-aggressive bluffers). So #3 was really huge. Also, being someone who doesn't regularly play the tournament circuit (but knows who all the successful live and online players are), it is easy to fall into the trap of either wanting to impress them with your play or not look foolish making a mistake they would critize or laugh at on the forums. So being a perfectionist, #11 was important for me personally to play my best. But ultimately #15 was the most important one. I've been playing for 5 years now and regularly study the game. I know what the best play is for the situation and I was able to both win and save a lot of chips by trusting my instincts.

In addition to the rules listed about, the following are other reasons I played well and lessons I learned from the trip:

I concentrated on my breathing, especially when not in a hand and getting a dry run of cards/situations to play in. It helped me prevent getting impatient and also helped to keep my head clear and focused

I allowed myself to get into a state of being relaxed and calm, which allowed me to take the time to trust my instincts and eliminate emotional decisions

I counted the chips each pot (weather I was in it or not). This allowed me to understand my opponents betting patterns and quickly calculate pot odds. But it also helped keep my mind active and prepared for battle.

I proactively made reads on each situation, assigning hand ranges, and considering plays before even looking at my cards.

I stayed disciplined and made tough laydowns, even when I was getting anxious to win a pot

I took advantage of my image. In one situation I used my tight image to shove 42 off-suit on a re-steal when the small blind was not at the table and the button raised. In other situation, I over-shoved KK to get a call when it looked like I may have been on tilt.

I followed the same physical routine each hand as to not give off tells

I was really good about not giving away verbal information about my style, the cards I play, etc. through "casual table talk"

I stayed confident and never second guessed myself

New/Old Realizations

2009-05-31T20:31:00.002-05:00

Now that I've been playing poker almost 5 years now, there are a few things that I've realized over the last year. A lot of these are things I may have read about a long time ago, but experience is solidifying them.

1. Narrow the range, but not to a single hand - While it's fun to put someone on a specific hand, it's important not to dismiss the other holdings he could have. I've realized that I sometimes pick a specific hand my opponent might have and proceed accordingly, only to find out that I didn't account for the other holdings (some of which beat me). The lesson is that I need to work on assigning a % to the different holdings in a hand range and then make my decisions based on my gut from there.

2. Get into the flow of the game - When you go into a game trying to make pre-planned specific moves they can often blow up in your face. You have to get into the flow of the game and then make decisions accordingly. You can have a certain mindset (i.e. be aggressive), but you have to pick your spots according to your reads.

3. You can't force results - It just doesn't happen that way. If you go in with a results oriented mindset, you lose sight of your reads and you make decisions that can cost several chips. Examples are 2 or 3 barreling on a scary board out of not wanting to lose the pot vs. based on a specific read. You may trick yourself into thinking you are making a good aggressive play, but the reality is you are failing to put the person on a hand range.

4. It's okay to fold sometimes - The goal is to minimize losses and maximize winnings. While sometimes it is appropriate to make a hero call based on your reads, no one knows what cards you hold. It can be sometimes be correct to make a laydown and be bluffed out of a pot. You don't have to win every battle, you just have to win all the chips at the end of the tournament.

Don't Bring Baggage to the Table

2009-05-20T14:00:00.000-05:00

A year or so ago, a very good online player named Soupie said something to me that clicked one night. When referencing a hand where I contemplated raising on the button and didn't because I was afraid that the big blind might re-raise all in, he asked me why I was worried about the big blind shoving. I said that it seemed like lately everyone is shoving to a button raise and his response was, "so was this person re-raising people's late position raises?" I thought for a moment and realized that the particular player had not shown this tendency and I was making an assumption based on other games I had recently played in. He coined this as "bringing the baggage to the table".

But let's be clear...baggage is not tilt. Tilt is a short-term emotional response based on one or two negative outcomes. Baggage masks itself as a logical response that, like scar tissue, has started to build up from recent experiences. These experiences could be as recent as a few hours of play from other tables to as much as a few weeks of play. And like scar tissue, baggage can start to make itself permanent causing the decisions you make to be skewed.

So just because a certain play hasn't worked recently or you've recently gone through a hard patch of variance, it doesn't mean a decision is not +EV.

Examples of Baggage:

Fear of Negative Variance - "I always lose coin flips, so I'm gonna fold even though I probably have the best hand"
Negative Assumptions - "I'm not gonna raise since someone will probably shove on me" or "I don't want to get sucked out on, so I'm gonna bet big since people usually suck out on me" or "I might as well not bet since he's probably gonna call"
Generalizations - "People who play these stakes always play a certain way" or "Pros are always bluffing"

So what can you do to overcome this? The key is to remain level headed and keep in mind is that each decision at the poker table is unique because each player is unique. You should also not let recent outcomes emotionally affect your decision making. Each time you start a new game, you must reset your head focusing on the present moment. And while your previous experiences are a reference tool, you should constantly evaluate your plays and analyze their expected value to keep your decision making crisp.

Found a new groove

2009-01-03T22:53:00.002-05:00

Tonight was my first night of grinding out sngs. I played well within my bankroll and stuck with $30 9-handed tables and $25 9-handed turbos. I just played 3 tables at a time and played 7 total. Of those, I had two wins, two 2nds and 3 without cashing for a total profit of $189. And I only played about 2hrs and 15min.

I really felt great playing too. I went into the session focusing specifically on trusting my instinct. This could be making moves based on my reads, making a hero call or extracting chips. I was able to pull off a couple of re-steals and flop check-raise bluffs as a result. If I got caught, no big deal. I didn't go crazy or anything, but I balanced my play much better than I have recently. I was focused and played a good session.

Obviously, I know that not all sessions will be profitable. But I feel like I've found a good niche for now until my bankroll grows and my time frees up. I plan on working my way up to 4 tables next time.

Poker Goals for 2009

2009-01-03T09:08:00.002-05:00

I'm not big on new year's resolutions, but now is as good a time as any to set some poker goals. I haven't posted in over a year since I didn't play too much in 2008 and I cashed out everything except $250 on PokerStars. I've been super focused on getting my new business off the ground and I was getting home at 10pm every night so I really never had the energy to play.

I'm really re-invigorated now and I'm ready to take my game to new heights. I've realized that one of the major things that has held me back is volume. I don't play nearly enough to overcome variance in large MTTs. Not having a big cash for long stretches at a time can start to make you question your abilities. I am confident and understand that even the best players only win/final table a small percentage, so I'm cool. But knowing this and the time I can allot for playing poker, I am going to re-distribute my play to the following:

1. Single table SNGs = 70%
2. Multi-table SNGs (45 & 90 man) = 20%
3. MTTs = 10%

I started using PXFs bankroll manager, and although I have a small sample size it's made me realize that in order to get my bankroll where I want it, I'm going to have to grind 3-5 tables of SNGs at a time. Everytime I read something about successful MTT players, they all say they started out grinding SNGs and cash games. I kinda have gone through this stage already, but I've never been focused and consistent. I keep bouncing around and never quite "grind" enough to build up.

So...goals for 2009.

1. Build the bankroll to $5,000: I will do this mainly from multi-tabling sngs and the occasional sprinkling in of multi-table sngs and MTTs. I know this will take some time, but I'm ready to start multi-tabling more.

2. Have bankroll patience: It's not like I used to take a lot of big shots, but I think one thing that has held me back is negative streaks while playing slightly above the "unprotected" bankroll recommended playing level. I know myself and I know that I don't play as confident if I feel like I'm breaking the bankroll rules. It holds me back sometimes and perpetuates the downswings. My sticking closer to the protected level, and only taking a few small shots when I "feel it" it will allow me to reduce the impact of downswings and not affect me mentally.

3. Increase my volume: Since I can't play poker every night, I will start increasing the number of tables I play in a given session. Instead of playing 2-3 at a time, I will start playing 3-4 and eventually 5-6 tables. I'm not going to rush this process, but I'm going to work on getting in 6-12 games a night.

That's it.

I Care Too Much

2007-11-30T16:31:00.000-05:00

I found this great quote in a thread on 2+2.

"investing a huge amount of emotion into a single tournament is pretty stupid and counterproductive to achieving sick results."

While I have kinda known this, I realized that this is probably my single biggest leak, even when I multi-table. I try too hard to make good decisions and I fear making a mistake. I'm playing way too much on a conscious level instead of letting it flow.

I'm going to work on this. One sign that I've noticed tells me I might be thinking too much is constantly calculating my M. While it is important to be conscious of it, I don't have to figure it out every orbit. I've also notice that if I'm playing live and I don't count my chips all the time, it helps me play looser because I'm not so worried about the ups and downs of my stack. As long as I have a general idea of my M, that is enough to make good decisions.

10bb is Not a Magic Number

2007-07-12T22:05:00.000-05:00

I used to use 10bb as some odd line of demarcation between needing to push all in vs. making a standard raise. For some reason, this has stuck with me even after I learned about M and zone play. The overly specific side of me always figured I was"safe" if I was above 10bb and by making a standard raise, I could fold if someone came over the top.

As I've gained more experience in tournament play, I'm realizing that any number...be it #bb or M shouldn't be looked as the only reason to make a certain play. There are so many other tournament and player specific situations that go into making a decision that you can't pigeon hole your decisions based solely on a number. There may be times where you have 12bb and it's right to push with KQ and there are times when it's just fine making it 2.5x.

I normally play looking at all tournament situations, but for some reason, I forget all about this when I hover near that 10bb line. But now that I've recognized this leak, I can start playing situations no matter what stack size I have.

Major Tournament Cash Goal Met...What's Next?

2007-06-18T21:01:00.001-05:00

I just got back from the WSOP and met one of my short-term goals for this year by cashing in Event #25. It was a $2,000 buy-in event and I placed 109th out of 1,619 people for $4,123.

While I'm very happy to have cashed in my first WSOP event, I'm looking at this as a stepping stone towards my 5 year goal of winning a bracelet. In a way, I expected this to happen. I've been playing well and have been confident about my skills. I went into this trip fully believing that I was going to do well.

Of course, in tournament play anything can happen and I'm fortunate that I was able to run well. But cashing in this event really validated that I can hang with anyone out there from a skill perspective. While I have always thought that sometime in the next 5 years I would gain enough experience and knowledge about the game of poker to win a bracelet, there was still something in the back of my mind where I wasn't 100% sure. My experience at the WSOP this year has fully solidified my belief and I have no doubt that I will do it.

So, what's next?

1. I need to buckle down and focus on building my bankroll. If my family situation affords me the ability, I would like to play in a few events next year. In order to do that, I need to have a bankroll that supports it. I still have two bankroll goals to meet. One is the $10K milestone and the other is $20K. I think my primary goal should be to hit $20K before next year's WSOP.

2. Final Table - Now that I've proven I can cash in a major event, the next step is a final table. Obviously I'll be shooting for the win, but a final table is the next logical milestone. I'm not sure if I'll be able to play in any other events (i.e. Tunica) before next year's WSOP, but if so I'll be going into each one shooting for that final table.

Taking the Blinders Off

2007-06-02T13:57:00.000-05:00

Often times, as a hand progresses, you lose sight of all the information you've been collecting and you start playing on momentum and instinct. While that is a good thing, it is important not to abandon the exercise of putting someone on a hand.

This typically happens in a big hand. Instead of narrowing your opponents hand range, you simply classify it into "weak" or "strong" or "he's committed or not". In order to play optimally, I think it is important to not allow these blinders to be placed on. Staying focused on narrowing down your opponents range will allow you to extract the most chips out of a situation instead of just winning a small pot.

Here's an example. A tight opponent raises pre-flop in early position 4x the big blind and you call getting the right odds for a set with 77. The flop is 478 with two hearts. Now there are two reactions that can occur. One is sub-optimal and one is optimal.

Sub-optimal: ZOMG I have a set! But there are two hearts and a possible straight draw out there. I better protect my set.

Optimal: Okay, now what does HE have and what line can I take to extract the most? Does he have a big pair or just overcards. I'm not worried about the straight draw because I know he is a tight player and is likely not raising with T9. Yeah, there are two hearts, but I can't play scared of that unless I'm given information to suggest that he does have a draw.

The actual line to take here is dependant on a lot of factors...leading or checking are both possible choices....whatever will earn you the maximum. But the point of this post is not to react simply based on the texture of a flop or just one or two pieces of information. To play optimally, you have to take the blinders off and allow yourself to take in and process ALL the information at hand in order to put your opponent on a hand. That will help you determine the best line to win the most when you are ahead and lose the least when you are beaten.

WSOP Bound!

2007-05-15T18:38:00.000-05:00

The journey begins.

I just pre-registered for Event #25 of the 2007 World Series of Poker. This is a $2,000 buy-in event that had over 1,500 people last year, in which the winner took home about $650,000.

While I'm excited about going, I plan on treating it like any other poker session. Of course, the environment, players and large fields make it a unique session. So in preparation for this event, I've put together a set of important rules that I will follow while I'm there.

Have fun & don't take it too seriously
Don't get caught up in the excitement and fan fare. I have a job to do.
Treat it like any another tournament
Don't play stereotypes; play tendencies that day/tournament
Don't worry about what others (i.e. pros) think about my play. I'm not there to impress them; I'm there to take their chips.
Don't overthink situations. Just process information and act.
Always follow my instincts
Play people and situations; cards are last
It's a long tournament. Eat right, get sleep and balance energy & focus across all three days.
Go for the win, F the bubble

Time for Some Short Term Goals

2007-03-28T16:28:00.000-05:00

The WSOP bracelet is obviously a long-term goal, so I need some shorter-term steps along the way that will keep me focused and making progress.

1. Build my bankroll to $10K - This has really been a goal for a while now and I think that the only thing really keeping me from it is volume. If I'm going to be a tournament player and mix in cash games and sngs here and there, I need to ensure that I'm playing enough poker where volume makes up for variance. I can't expect to build a bankroll within a reasonable time period by only playing 1-2 tournaments a week. I'm going to have to play 3-5 tournaments each session and try to have 3-4 sessions a week. I'm not too far away from this really, so it's just a matter of grinding it out. I don't expect to reach this with one big cash. I'll keep playing the 20/180s and smaller buy-in tournaments with an occasional $150 when I feel like I'm playing my "A" game. I don't want to put a ton of pressure on myself to reach this goal by a certain time period because I think this can lead to forcing results. But getting here sooner than later will help me acheive my other goals.

2. A 5 figure tournament cash online by July 1 - Again, I think this will come with both volume and playing tournaments where this payout is possible. For the times I play, there are only a couple of tournaments that can make this happen - the nightly $150, the $20 rebuy and the $10 rebuy. Ideally, however, I want to reach my $10K goal before playing the $150 on a regular basis. I might need to evaluate the timing of this goal based on how I'm doing bankroll wise. I think if I play the $150 every night I play, I'll certainly get here faster, but I need to make sure I have the bankroll for it. I also will look into other sites like Full Tilt to see if they have tournaments around 8-9pm that could produce a 5 figure cash.

3. Build my bankroll to $20K - Once I acheiving #2 I will be a lot closer to reaching this goal and it will just be a matter of leveraging my increasing roll to keep playing events that ensure further progression. Reaching this goal will enable me to regularly play circuit events and a few WSOP events during the next couple of years.

4. Cash in a WSOP or WPT Event in 2007 - This doesn't even need to be a main event for now. It can be a $500 event or whatever. But this will help me break the seal and just be a nice stepping stone. I've been to a couple of WSOP Circuit events and have only played in about 5-6 events so far and I bubbled a $200 second chance tournament last time. I'm confident that I can final table, if not win one of these events, but it's not like I have the opportunity to let variance play itself out, so let's just start with a goal of cashing for now.

I think it's important to note that some of these monetary goals are simply benchmarks to chart my progress and keep me focused on moving forward. They are not magical numbers that open some new door to poker greatness and they won't be imaginary sticking points that prevent me from acheiving other goals. The worst thing I could do is get too caught up in acheiving these and let it affect my play. The money will come. It's just a matter of taking the steps to get there.

A Little Results Oriented

2007-03-24T22:20:00.000-05:00

For some reason, I've been a little anxious to have a big online score over the last few days and it's affecting my play. I'm not clear headed. I think since a friend shared with me their stats, I got a little jealous that they've won a few tournaments lately. His stats are comparable to mine, so its not that I'm jealous of him.

I'm jealous that he's been playing a lot more than I have lately and he's had the opportunity to win. Although I did take 2nd in a tournament for about $600 last month, for some reason it still feels like I haven't had the results that I feel I'm capable of. But it's really just about volume. I've been playing better than ever lately, so maybe I'm just anxious to reap the rewards of those skills by playing more and more tournaments. While playing more isn't a bad thing. The mindset of anxiousness is.

I forced myself to 3-table tonight and I haven't done that in a while now, so I wasn't used to it. I ended up building a nice stack in the $20 rebuy on Stars and then just pissed it away to a guy who obviously had a set to my TPTK. If I was shorter stacked, the outcome would have been the same, but I had about 20M and was in great shape. There was no need to go broke there with just one pair. But because I wasn't clear headed, my ego got involved a little and I convinced myself he was making an ego play against me because of a previous hand. But really, his play screamed set. I mean, check-mini raise from a tight player in the BB on a K97 board? The only hand I'm beating there is KQ. But I got myself emotionally committed to the hand.

Anyway, just had to vent a little. I'll come out of this stronger than ever. Just needed to recognize that I was chasing results. I'll take a couple of days off and then slowly increase my volume of play. Maybe 2 table a few days a week instead of just playing 1 day a week online.

EDIT: Man I'm hard on myself. It wasn't that big of a deal really. Unfortunate that I ran into a set. Had a good email conversation last night and a friend ran the hand by one of the top online pros that he's friends with and they felt they would have gone broke there too based on my agressive image. Anyway...on to more.

Hope Has No Place In Poker

2007-03-20T15:20:00.000-05:00

What is hope?

In the context of poker, hope is wishing for an event to occur that is beyond your power. It means that you are not in control of your own destiny.

While it's true that in the short-run you are subject to the luck of the cards, we know that to play poker optimally the cards are only one factor of the decision making process. By hoping, it is limiting your focus on the cards, making it difficult to process all the information on the table. What this means is that if you are busy hoping, your state of mind is not proactive, it is reactive. You are subjecting yourself to simply dealing with what the poker gods are dishing out instead of making things happen for yourself.

If you find yourself hoping for something to happen at the poker table, it should be a sign that you are not playing your best. In fact, if you are hoping, you are probably bleeding chips away. Since hope is reactive in nature, it usually manifests itself into speculative or passive play. Here are a few examples of hoping you may have done at the table.

Speculations:

I hope I hit this flop with my suited connectors
I hope he doesn't bet the turn
I hope I make my draw
I hope I hit a monster by completing the small blind

Passive or Scared Play:

I hope I get good cards
I hope he doesn't have Aces (or a set or whatever monster is under the bed)
I hope he didn't just make his flush
I hope the big blind doesn't go all in if I raise the button
I hope I cash in this tournament

So what should we do about hope? Vanquish it from our minds. Instead of waiting for things to happen at the table, make them happen. Take in all the information you can and use it to your advantage. If the button is raising every orbit, don't hope for AA to re-pop him. J5os will do just fine.

"A Ha" Moment - The Decision Making Process

2007-03-15T19:52:00.000-05:00

I listened to the PocketFives.com podcast today with Barry Greenstien and after processing some of the things he was saying, I had one of those "a ha" moments where something clicked.

I won't go into too much detail, but one of the things he was talking about was the difference between online and live play and how online poker trains you to pay attention to your cards more. This is somewhat obvious, in that you don't have the benefit of table feel and live reads, and the fact that you see your cards first. But what this means is that online poker can create bad habits that are counterintuitive to successful play. Online poker, more so than live poker, gives the cards you hold a higher weight in your decision making process than they should since you don't have some of the other information you might otherwise have.

Most everyone has read somewhere that the actual cards you hold should only be one small factor to consider. And while I think people fundamentally agree with this concept, hearing him say it in this way made me realize that most people are not implementing this correctly in the process they take when deciding their actions at the table. I know that I try to a certain extent, but repetition through playing online has caused me to think backwards at times.

By the decision making process, I specifically mean the steps you go through in your mind before deciding how to act on every hand. Here is a typical order of events (assuming you are looking at your cards last):

1. Observe the action thus far
2. Think about situational factors and the past play and tendencies of other players
3. Put each person on a range of hands based on #2
4. Hope you pick up a hand that is conducive to the action and the factors
5. Look at hand and then decide if it is the right hand to play
6. Narrow down possible actions to take and how the players would react
7. Act

This is faulty thinking and isn't the right process in order to capitalize on each situation. I've felt like I've done a much better job at playing the players lately and when I think about the thought process I've used, and how to continue to improve it, this is what I think is closer to optimal.

1. Observe the action thus far
2. Think about situational factors and the past play and tendencies of other players
3. Put each person on a range of hands based on #2
4. Narrow down possible actions to take and how the players would react
5. Think about what they think I would have based on those actions
6. If my actual hand has to be a factor, consider the results based on a show down
7. Act

The key here is simply moving #6 from the first list up to #4. I also think that #5 in the second list is something that most good players usually do, but it is harder to perform this 3rd level thinking AFTER you've already decided to play a particular hand. Keep in mind that EV is always part of this decision making process and comes into play when narrowing down all the alternative choices of how to act. But the essence of this line of thinking is that we should be thinking about our cards AFTER we have considered possible courses of action. For pre-flop play, this means not even looking at our cards until we've done this. But this decision making process isn't just about pre-flop hold'em. It's all poker on all streets.

Now with this line of thinking, it doesn't mean that the action itself is a bluff or a "move", it just means that we are considering our actual hand last in the process and not somewhere in the middle.

This type of decision making process is something that I think separates the great players from the good ones. They key now is to get into a new habit of performing these steps on a subconscious level.

And while I had felt like I'd understood "playing the player" for a while now, I realize it was more on the conceptual level than anything else with glimpses of applying it at certain times of focus. Unfortunately, it is easy to drift back into just playing cards (maybe this is safer and requires less effort?).

The difference now is that I can see how to "operationalize" my thought process accordingly in order to make it habitual. Any good skill development involves understanding the basics steps and then practicing them over and over until they are second nature. The difference with this is that the decision making process is a mental skill that most would not recognize as something you would need to practice.

Playing Cash Games Again (and playing well)

2007-03-14T22:20:00.000-05:00

I finally started playing cash games again, approaching them with the same discipline and principles of my tournament play. The only exception being that I'm adapting my play to the cash format of course. I'm playing $1/$2 on PokerStars right now.

I've felt really good about my play, and not just because of results (although doubling my buy-in the last two sessions was nice too). Here's a quick list of what I'm doing right:

1. I'm playing third and fourth level poker, but only with players that are thinking 2nd and 3rd level. I feel like I'm one step ahead of their plays and their emotions based on the way I've been playing. BUT, I also feel I'm adapting to those who are only playing their cards at the same time.

2. I'm playing position well.

3. I'm controling the pot size and not overbetting hands.

4. I'm not afraid to bet, raise or call when it makes sense to do so against the right players at the right time.

5. I'm mixing up my play - both betting patterns and hand selection.

6. Well timed bluffs against the right players based on their past patterns. Example was a nice squeeze play into a habitual button raiser who was re-popped a few times by another player and had shown the tendency to fold. The SB was a habitual caller. Button raises $6, SB calls, I make it $30 with J9os...both fold. It worked better for me because it was the first time I made that play into him.

7. I'm not afraid to fold AA on a scary flop against a tight player, but at the same time, I'm not afraid to call with middle pair against a different player.

8. I'm not limping and hoping with connectors. I used to never do that, but then during a string of bad local cash game losses, I found that was a major leak. I was essentially chasing all night because everyone else was and I was trying to force a big pot. It's funny because that is the complete opposite of how I play. If I'm going to play connectors, you should never really now how I'm going to play them...fold, raise, random limp on button only to mix it up, raise into limpers, call a raise, fold again to a different person's raise, limp behind others....who knows (mostly fold though :-))

9. I'm observing and capitalizing on changing table conditions based on recent hands and emotions between other players. I can feel who's frustrated, playing with ego, getting passive, etc.

10. I'm aggressive

11. I'm patient

I'm really enjoying the cash game play. I feel like I'm able to exercise my ability to fully trust my reads without that worry of busting out. Don't get me wrong...I LOVE tournaments and tournament strategy. But the cash game play is allowing me to flex some different muscles that I normally would only get to do very deep stacked and I think the repetition of it will help me continue to both trust my reads, but also bet accordingly. Ultimately, it will help my tournament play and get me closer to my goal.

This Felt Good

2007-03-12T22:43:00.000-05:00

This guy had been trying to outplay me the whole time and I recently bluffed him out of a pot. The turn bet had ego written all over it. I figured he had AK or AQ (eh, I guess I was close).

PokerStars Game #8876408923: Hold'em No Limit ($1/$2) - 2007/03/12 - 23:35:33 (ET)
Table 'Chaldaea IV' 9-max Seat #7 is the button
Seat 1: ova dawg ($293.95 in chips)
Seat 2: pickpok ($131.10 in chips)
Seat 4: -Ori-Prior- ($59.05 in chips)
Seat 5: cursed6466 ($103.40 in chips)
Seat 7: TheYeti ($195.70 in chips)
Seat 8: jpg7n16 ($309.40 in chips)
Seat 9: DP388 ($157.90 in chips)
jpg7n16: posts small blind $1
DP388: posts big blind $2
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to DP388 [8h 8c]
ova dawg: folds
pickpok: raises $6 to $8
-Ori-Prior-: folds
cursed6466: folds
TheYeti: folds
jpg7n16: folds
DP388: calls $6
*** FLOP *** [9s 3h 9d]
DP388: checks
pickpok: bets $12
DP388: calls $12
*** TURN *** [9s 3h 9d] [Jh]
DP388: checks
pickpok: bets $40
DP388: raises $97.90 to $137.90 and is all-in
pickpok: calls $71.10 and is all-in
*** RIVER *** [9s 3h 9d Jh] [4h]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
DP388: shows [8h 8c] (two pair, Nines and Eights)
pickpok: mucks hand
DP388 collected $260.20 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $263.20 Rake $3
Board [9s 3h 9d Jh 4h]
Seat 1: ova dawg folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 2: pickpok mucked [6d Ah]
Seat 4: -Ori-Prior- folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 5: cursed6466 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 7: TheYeti (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 8: jpg7n16 (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 9: DP388 (big blind) showed [8h 8c] and won ($260.20) with two pair, Nines and Eights

Winning and Being Humble

2007-02-26T15:44:00.000-05:00

I just posted about some recent wins and how I feel like I’m playing at a new level. Part of that new level is also learning from past mistakes.

When I had my first big cash for $2,500 over a year ago, I wanted that feeling again immediately. This need for achievement caused me to play impatiently, especially near the bubble, and the result was not cashing in 14 straight sit-n-go’s for a net loss of $1,400. I was trying to force the win and control every situation, which is counter-intuitive to successful poker play. I also had a feeling of invincibility, like I could never lose again. I started getting Fancy Play Syndrome trying to craft complex plays against opponents who were just playing their cards. The poker gods quickly put me in my place.

So I’ve had recent success and I’m feeling good about my skills. But now I’m humble. I’ve learned from past situations and I’m going to continue to approach future games emotionally neutral. I will have increased confidence in my abilities, which will allow me to follow my instincts more and more. But I will not come into games thinking my skill advantage is so great that I can control the outcomes. I will also not be anxious and impatient trying to capture the next win. I may continue this fortunate run for a few days, weeks or even months. I also know that the fortune might end today and I’ll face a drought of negative variance. All I can do is continue to make smart +EV decisions and I know the results will follow.

Playing at the Next Level

2007-02-26T13:21:00.000-05:00

So I’ve been on a nice run lately. Out of the last 8 tournaments (including 2 online) I’ve won 3, placed 2nd once and bubbled once. My total investment was $550 and I won a total of $1830. I also won a couple of head’s up sit-n-go’s online as well.

Am I catching cards? Not really actually. I mean I’ve had a few situations where I’ve made a drawing hand or hit a set, but nothing out of the ordinary really. I don’t even think I’ve had AA or KK that many times either. What I am doing really well though is playing the player and the situation. MY cards are part of that situation, but they are just a small piece of the pie. I really feel like I’m playing at a new level. Where in the past I may have had glimpses of this, I’m much more consistent about it now. The great thing is that this hasn’t been isolated over the course of a couple of days. I’ve been playing at this level the last couple of months.
What are some examples of playing at this level?

I’m sensing weakness better than before. This helps me decide how to play certain cards. For example, after an early and a mid-position limper, I might also limp with a hand like KQ or AJ because “the book” says to. However, depending on stack sizes, the blind level and the tendencies of those who players who have limped, I now will mix things up and put in a sizeable pre-flop raise simply to win the pot then and there. If I get a caller, it’s okay because I’ll also have position and can make a situational decision based on the flop. BUT, I won’t do this all the time. Mixing up your game is important.
I’m varying my play a lot better.
I’m reading physical tells better. Navarro’s book is pretty damn accurate.
I’m staying patient during the end game.
I’m playing my draws strong a higher percentage of the time (either leading or check-raising). Obviously my choice of plays is dependent on the players and situation, but I’m now looking at draws as opportunities to win a hand multiple ways and not just if I hit.
I’m picking up the pots no one else wants.
I’m maximizing my winnings. Instead of value betting, I’m shoving all-in more when I think there is a chance I’ll get a call. This is HUGE in tournaments when having a big stack creates an advantage later. The other thing this is doing is making my all-in plays later in the tournament seem more believable. For example, if I re-steal pre-flop by putting someone to the test (and I use the same exact timing and mannerisms as when I had the nuts), I am way more believable.
I’m not playing as passively and I’m not afraid to go with my gut. A great example of this is when I was 3-handed the other night when the tournament paid top 2. I had a good chip lead and a solid, but somewhat passive player who was third in chips (about 12 bb at 14K) was in the small blind. He limped and I checked in the BB with 82os. Flop is J83 with two hearts. Pot is 2400 and he bets 2000. I have a lot of options here and raising is certainly something I could do in this situation, but he knows that. As a standard raise could put me in an awkward situation if he pushes, an all-in is also a slight over-bet and he might read me as a bully. Folding is also an option, but I decide to call to see how he plays the turn. With his chip stack, he is going to be basically telling me his strength based on how he plays. The turn is an Ace of spades and he bets 2000 again. I almost resorted back to the line of thinking that says “He bet therefore I must be beat here”, but then I stopped and asked myself, “Why 2000? What does that say about the strength of his hand?”

With the Ace being a spade, it now put two flush draws on the board. If he had a strong Jack (or better), wouldn’t he bet more? Maybe, maybe he has a big hand (set, two pair, etc.), but I still think that he bets more or pushes here to protect his hand.
If he does have a Jack he seems awful afraid of that Ace.
If he has an 8 with a better kicker, he could be betting here to define his hand cheaply.
He could also have a heart draw and is trying to control the betting.

For all these instances, I felt like I either had the best hand OR I could push him off a better hand a high enough of a % of time to make pushing all-in a +EV play. He also saw me push all-in with big hands previously, so that previous action made this a strong play. So I pushed, and he folded. THIS line of thinking is one reason why I feel I’m at a new level, BUT, the action I decided to take is the real reason. I had the guts to go with my instincts even though my first reaction was to fold.

Head's Up Tournament Win Re-cap

2007-01-28T12:18:00.000-05:00

Last night I played in a $30 buy-in Head's Up tournament and took it down for $210. Well, technically I chopped the final match because Doug had to go "dancing" and we would have had a re-match. We're still not quite sure what he meant be that, but I hope he had fun.

It was a $30 buy-in with 16 people. The format was really fun, where 4 people were seperated into 4 pools and you played everyone in your pool first. The top 2 from each pool advanced into a single elimination 8 man bracket.

What were the keys to my success? I think it stemmed from three things:

1. Strategy - I took a little time a couple days before to understand the blind structure and figure out an optimal strategy for changing gears in relation to the blinds. This was pretty big, as I think most people didn't recognize the need for a strategic shift and played too tight when the blinds started rising.

2. Confidence - I came in focused and poised, knowing that I was probably the best head's up player there. I kept that focus with each match and the concept of losing never entered my mind.

3. Praying on Weakness - While I allowed the other person to take down a few pots (when I either felt like they had a strong hand or just wanted to keep my image relatively solid), I picked up all the pots they didn't want. I think I only checked it down a couple times. I also picked really good spots for long-ball bluffs in the first two blinds levels when I had the stack to do it. This may have been check-raising on a draw or representing a hand all the way through.

Here are a couple of examples:

1. Blinds at 100/200. SB raises to 400 and I call in the BB with T9. Flop is 683, I check/call a small bet. Was I chasing a gut shot? Kinda...but it was just one of my outs. My plan was to see how he played the turn and react accordingly. I felt like he would fold to a bet on the turn if he was just continuation betting, depending on the card. The turn was a 6, so this was a great card for me to represent trips. I bet and he called. Okay, now I know he has something. Probably an overpair. River is an 8. A timid player, who is only playing his cards would most likely check here and give up. I decided that if I was going to represent either the 6 or the 8, then I needed to keep going. If anything, I would get called and be pegged as a bluffer and I could use that in later hands.

So I bet. But one thing I've improved on recently is betting enough to make them fold, while still representing my hand. I can't remember how much I bet, but I got him to lay down KK face up.

2. In my semi-finals match, a good player (but one that I know can make a laydown and knows that I play solid), raised pre-flop and I called with 89. The flop was 6Q7 and I checked, with the intention of check-raising if something about his bet seemed weak. He bet about 2/3 of the pot, which was a little more than his normal continuation bets, but I felt that with my image, a check-raise would represent a very strong hand. I could either get a laydown here or earn a free card on the turn. Again, I can't remember the size of the pot at the time, but I raised him about 3.5 - 4x his original bet. He took a while before folding and it was more than acting, so again I got someone to lay down the best hand.

Of course, I didn't bluff the entire time. I felt like I extracted the most of out my good hands as well and played on the emotions of the other players in order to induce the action that I wanted.

Tunica Trip Report & Lessons Learned

2007-01-18T16:31:00.000-05:00

Overall this was a great trip. I had a lot of fun and made a little money. More importantly, my confidence once again grew and I learned some good lessons. Overall I was up $216 for the trip and made most of my money in satellites. Out of 6 satellites:

3 first (1 was a chop and one paid 2 places even)
1 protection (got 4th, but Doug and I had a protection deal so I got my buy-in back)
2 busts (one where my nut straight was rivered)

Gee...think tournaments are my thing?

Anyway, I flew into Memphis at 11:30am. Sit down at my first single table satellite around 12:45. First hand is AA (mmmmm...this is going to be a good trip).

So I chopped this table for $500. Ended up playing more cash games than I expected, but I felt like I needed to exorcise some demons. I played a lot of 1/2 NL and ended up down on cash games overall at - $189. Good play, good decisions, just lost a couple of big pots that hurt me. I definitely feel much more comfortable in cash games now. I just need to stay disciplined when playing out of position against those damn straddles. For some reason my ego kicks in when people play straddles.

Played awesome in a $500 event with 750 people and ended up in a big pot where I decided to lay down a flush draw after committing 1/3 of my stack (misplayed hand - http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showflat.php?Cat=0&Number=8782544&an=0&page=1#Post8782544). I wasn't super short after that, but then went card/situation dead and busted around 170 (top 72 paid).

Got a little bummed, burned some steam playing black jack and came up with a vigor into a satellite. Took it down for $1,100. Went over to Doug's table and played his stack while he helped me sell my satellite chips and won a $350 pot with a set of Jacks. He was nice enough to flip me $100.

I can't wait to go again! Maybe New Orleans??? Probably unlikely. Leaving Jenni for 5 days with 3 kids isn't easy on her. She is AWESOME for supporting my goals, but I know how much energy the kids can zap from you. I might just need to wait for the main event. Hopefully I can figure out a good schedule for going and maybe make it a family trip.

Lessons Learned

1. Don't be afraid to get your money into a +EV gambling situation when the odds are right and the situation warrants it. More specifically, don't be afraid to put your "tournament life on the line" in live tournaments if it is the right thing to do.

2. Don't try to outplay someone (i.e. long ball moves) until you've been at the table long enough to have strong reads.

3. Navaro's tells book really works (please don't tell anyone though)

4. Friendly table talk helps you keep control over the pace of the table

5. Sometimes you do have to go with a "feeling" if you are running well. It doesn't mean a donkey play, but if it is a close decision, sometimes you just gotta go with it.

6. Smiling and wit at the table tends to help me stay confident and mentally sharp

7. Not expending a lot of effort to observe others actually helps me take in more information. Overconcentrating can erode your ability to focus over a long session.

8. The table is a gold mine of information if you know how to extract it. People are much more likely to give up information if they like you. I gained a ton of valueable experience on this trip in asking the right questions in the right way and by simple observation.

9. Overt and dynamic friendliness is contageous. You can get even the tightest of rocks to open up.

10. I got better at adjusting to the blind structure better on this trip. Sometimes you have to be more agressive early to accumulate chips with fast structures. This also means open up raising and stealing requirements when your M is starting to dip, even if the blinds are relatively low (i.e. you have 1K at 25/50 level).

11. ALWAYS be aware of the blind structure for a tournament. Don't get caught not realizing that the blinds are doubling next.

12. Be aware of your M and play accordingly in live tournaments. Even if you are one of the table chip leaders, one mistake or marginal situation can have a significant long-term affect if you don't have room to recover.

My Plans for Tunica

2007-01-01T00:48:00.000-05:00

I'll be in Tunica, MS from Jan 10 - 14 for the WSOP Circuit Event and the WPT World Poker Open.

While I'm getting excited about going, I'm treating it as just another set of poker sessions. It really is no different than any other session except I'll have more playing time in a condensed period.

An adjustment I will be making this time is that I won't let myself sink into just playing my cards if I go through a cold period. I'll be focusing on playing the players and the situations, just like any other session. My game is at a new level now and I'm confident in my abilities to adjust to different table dynamics better in a robust live setting.

The only difference between this and other sessions is that I'll need to manage my energy and sleep differently. While I plan on having longer than normal sessions, I will also make sure I'm getting enough sleep and eating well.

The other difference in this trip is that I will have the opportunity to meet one of my goals for this year, which is to cash in a WSOP Circuit or WPT Event in 2007 (2007 goal post coming soon). How I expect having this goal to change my play is simply that I will bring my A game to each session. I'm not going to focus on the outcomes and allow that to affect my play. I don't even need to cash in a main event this year. It can be a $200 event or whatever. But this will help me break the seal and just be a nice stepping stone. I've been to a couple of these events and have only played in about 5-6 tournaments so far; I bubbled a $200 second chance tournament last time. I'm confident that I can make a final table, if not win one of these events, but it's not like I have the opportunity to let variance play itself out, so I'm just starting with a goal of cashing for now.

As far as what I'm going to play in, I'm just going to treat the trip like a long poker session and try to maximize profitability, while at the same time, trying to satellite my way into the $500 and $1K events. Unlike last time, I'm not going to play in a $1K event unless I satellite in. Once I make enough in satellites, I'm going to go ahead and buy-into an event and treat the satellites as sit-n-go's. I probably won't play cash games much, but if I do, it will be the 1/2 game at the Gold Strike.

I'll try to keep up with trip reports while I'm there. Wish me luck.

Reset Your Mind for the End Game

2006-12-30T17:42:00.000-05:00

I've been getting deep lately in online tournaments, but seem to make some sort of wierd mistake that I can look back on and clearly see where it went wrong. Call it a brain fart or whatever, but for some reason I'm dominating early and mid stages and when it starts getting closer to the final table, I'm making mistakes.

Part of this could be because I recently went through a downswing and hadn't made it deep in a while, but I figured out it was something else. I'm getting anxious (in an excited, impatient sort of way) about making the final table and making a big cash and I'm narrowing my focus to my cards. I'm losing sight of putting others on a hand and I'm forcing situations in order to win a specific (sometimes insignificant) pot. I'm not thinking about any particular hand I'm representing and I'm just blindly being agressive without regards to my opponent's holdings.

Why am I doing this and what am I going to do about it?
It only makes sense that after hours of play you are going to have wound up tension from multiple coin flips and dodging miracle river cards. This can create an anxious feeling as you get closer and closer to hitting it big. It's certainly a normal reaction, but in order to excel at this game (and any other competition for that matter), you have to eliminate this emotional response...especially when tensions are mounting. It all goes back to that detachment thing I keep talking about.

So the first thing I need to do is recognize that the tension exists. Do a gut check...literally. When you're all wound up, your stomach muscels tend to tighten. If your stomach and shoulders seem to be tensed up, it's a good sign you need to do something. This tension needs to be released in order to think clearly and approach the end game as a new beginning.

What I have done in the past when I recognize this feeling is to Re-set my mind. Consider it half-time or a TV timeout or whatever, but there needs to be moments of stepping back and re-assessing your game plan.

How you re-set is simple:

Step 1: Recognize - Just keep a general tab on your psychological and emotional state throughout the game so you can identify when you might need to do something about it. It's not like you have to constantly monitor yourself and make it a big deal, just be able to determine if your play is being affected.

Step 2: Relax - Step away from the computer (or table in live play), get a drink, stretch, take a big deep breath, shake it off, yell out, etc. Whatever works for you to break the tension and clear your mind, do it.

Step 3: Re-Focus - Take a look around the table. What are the stacks like around you, what are the emotions like of the other players, what types of plays are optimal based on your stack size and these other situational factors? In other words, determine a proactive game plan moving forward instead of being subjected to the luck of the cards. Thinking about the future helps you focus on the end goal and how each decision impacts that.

So moving forward, I'm going to incorporate this re-set plan as a regular routine for tournaments. I'm not necessarily going to stand up from the table everytime things start getting heated. It may be as simple as taking a quick breath and adjusting my game plan to the dynamics of the table. But I will definitely start using it to keep a clear, focused and determined mindset to take down more final tables.