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.

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.

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.