Wait...I just got check-raised?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Poker Goals Revisited

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


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


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


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

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

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

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


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

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

2009 WSOP Results

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

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


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

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


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

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

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

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

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

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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


• I stayed confident and never second guessed myself

New/Old Realizations

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

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

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

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

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

Don't Bring Baggage to the Table

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

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

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

Examples of Baggage:

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

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

Found a new groove

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

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

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

Poker Goals for 2009

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

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

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

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

So...goals for 2009.

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

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

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

That's it.