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.
Friday, December 24, 2010
Sunday, November 14, 2010
A Fresh Start
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.
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.
Thursday, July 8, 2010
WSOP Main Event - Prep Blog
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.
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.
Saturday, July 3, 2010
Never put anyone on a pedestal
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.
---------------
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.
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
The Voice in Your Head
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.
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.
Thursday, June 3, 2010
Blinded by the flop
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.
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.
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Maybe This Time...
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.
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.
Saturday, May 15, 2010
Best Session Yet
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.
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.
Monday, May 10, 2010
Cash games vs. tournaments - quick update
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.
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.
Thursday, April 22, 2010
New Perspective; Training Mental Skills
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.
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.
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Why Can't I Just Leave the Falkdfja;kdfin Table?
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.
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.
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Starting the night with some kid tilt
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.
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.
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Competitiveness in Poker
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.
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.
Friday, April 9, 2010
Rough Session
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.
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.
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Stop trying to outplay the regs
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.
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.
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Started a little rough, made some adjustments & then ran good
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.
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.
Monday, April 5, 2010
Focused Session
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.
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.
Friday, April 2, 2010
Tilt Prevention & a Rough Night
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.
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.
Thursday, April 1, 2010
Great Session Tonight
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.
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
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.
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.
Monday, March 29, 2010
Night 4 of Cash
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).
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).
Thursday, March 25, 2010
2nd Night of Cash
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.
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.
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Good first cash session
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
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
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.
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.
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Treat Your Poker Like Your Business - What I Learned
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.
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?
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.
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.
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Staying Patient While Running Bad
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.
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.
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Stress, money and the affect on poker
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.
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.
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Daily recap 1-24-10 - Deep Run
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.
------
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.
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Earning Pots - Recap 1-20-10
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.
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.
Sunday, January 10, 2010
Biloxi WPT Event - Jan 2010
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.
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.
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