Being Backed

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Deep run in $22 rebuy

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

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

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

Great March So Far

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

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

Here are some improvements I've made lately:

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

Here are some things I need to work on:

1. 3 betting/squeezing aggressive early position raisers - not that it needs to happen all the time, but there are definitely profitable spots for doing this, especially from the button or cut-off. I still hesitate because of position and the "what if they have a real hand this time" factor.
2. 3 betting Ax - Very read dependent of course, but I often fold more than I need to with a hand like A7s vs. a button steal. Why Ax? Not because I think it's a great hand, but because I have an Ace blocker, it makes it less likely that they have an Ace and they have more hands that will fold to a 3 bet.
   
3. Stealing with trash - again, I don't need to force it but there are still spots where the stacks & players behind me say raising makes sense. At the same time, there have been spots where I raised the button with trash knowing that the situation/stacks were perfect for the small/big blind to re-steal and I needed to pick a better spot.
4. Calling overbets on the river - Most of the time I fold when it's obvious they have a big hand, but against donkey spewy aggro players I will sometimes hero call. It's usually when I have a bunch of tables up, so just need to think through the spot more and not worry about the other tables beeping.
   
5. I may also be missing calling/iso shoving some spots with A-mid when a shorter stack shoves. Example: A middle position player shoves 8bb and I'm on the button or in the cutoff with A8 or A9. I will often fold here because it's somewhat of a thin spot, but the reality is I'm still somewhat ingrained with habits from years ago where people didn't shove as wide as they do now.