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.
Friday, November 27, 2009
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Daily Recap 11-19-09
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.
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.
Monday, November 16, 2009
Bad Call
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:
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.
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Daily Recap 11/01/09
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.
---
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.
---
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.
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.
---
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.
---
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.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)