I promised I'd blog some hands, or at least one in particular so here are a couple of interesting ones from the past couple of days. Both are against massively overaggressive opponents who do tend to experience massive swings in their chips stacks.
Heart in Mouth Decision Making - http://www.pokerhand.org/?1826815
I have KK in early position in this hand and flat call the raise preflop from an aggressive player looking to capitalise on his aggression later on. 358 flop which is pretty much ideal as he is selectively aggressive but very little in his range is beating me here so I elect to flat call again, probably getting him to put me on a flush draw. 6 on turn and I check again looking to raise his next bet. He bets about the full pot putting me in a very awkward position - if I am to play this remotely properly I have to raise if I continue and will be committed for the rest of my chips.
His bet is very very strong and if I'm wrong I will be in a very bad situation. I think about his play and go with my thoughts pre and post flop and raise to $510 thereby taking away the decision if he raises as I have only $330 or so left. I am definitely looking for a fold at this point as anything else will usually signify I'm behind. Sadly he raises and I have to call as I know he can do this with a lot of weaker hands than mine. River comes a Q which was ok (not a flush) and pleasingly I saw him flip JJ to rake a big pot.
This was a hand which got my pulse racing a lot as it is way outside my comfort zone and explains why players like this can win a lot as it is so hard to put them accurately on a hand an you need to be willing to commit to decisions rather than bailing out when they bet every street. Rectified my evening and I was pretty happy with my play as I had a plan and followed it through in the face of some strong discouragement.
Right no pictures as I am an idiot and copied down the wrong HH and am not about to trawl through to find it. Anyway, 4 way pot for $30 preflop and I have 66 and will be second to act of the four players after the flop. A beauty of 26Q comes down with two spades and preflop raiser puts $100 in, I flat call with aggressive player behind to disguise and hopefully drag the flush draw in too. Aggro boy raises to $250 which means very little as he rarely has anything near what he represents, strangely last player to act calls this and raiser drops. Me to act and I have to push here as anything else is weak and I will get called by a lot behind me. Both call and I am praying for no spade as I am certain one of them at least has the flush draw. Both called creating a massive $3k pot (these hurt to lose, they really hurt) Turn a 2 - get in as I have the fh and river another 2 which momentarily worried me. They flipped and aggressive player had AQ???????????????????????????????????????? and the other guy had AT spades.
I really hate both sets of play for a variety of reasons. My play is fine theirs is genuinely horrid and here is why. The guy with AQ - knows he is likely ahead of preflop raiser and raises to define position vs me - ok so far, however when player behind calls and I raise all in an easier fol could not be had, it isn't even a decision but NO, he pushs all his chips in when 95% he is behind. Awful, just awful.
Player with the flush draw - on the flop facing a big bet, call, raise he has two options depending on his reading the best of which is fold, an acceptable one is all in if he reads the players as capable of getting off hands like AQ or two pair - I wouldn't like it but it is a viable option. His call is terrible. Two players still to act and either may be on a biggie. Even if we just call the next bet will commit all his chips and make a call terrible if he has not hit on the turn. He is effectively paying $250 to see one card with a maximum 9 outs - 20% chance of hitting, as I have the set he has less outs and makes his call look even worse. His call of two people being all in after doing this is fine, expensive but ok I guess that is justifiable.
Honestly with play like this how am I not a millionaire, I just do not understand either of them in this hand and it was like christmas had come early
Good day today as a result although I am tired so may not play any more, I've put a solid 2 hours in which is pathetic but maybe I need more sleep.
Steve
Showing posts with label poker pro. Show all posts
Showing posts with label poker pro. Show all posts
Tuesday, 18 December 2007
Tuesday, 11 December 2007
Some Hands, Some Analysis, Some Waffle
I've not posted that many hands recently so I thought I'd put a few in to one post for analysis. They are a range of different hands which have created interesting pots.
Opponent Based Play - http://www.pokerhand.org/?1800126
Yesterday I was saying that I had been up against some overtly aggressive players and failed miserably with hitting anything where I could take them down. In this hand I succeeded and my play was based purely upon the opponent. Let me take you through the hand. I'm dealt QQ and my opponent has made a standard raise to $35 from mid-late position which he does a lot. I flat call in the hope of picking up a fairly sizeable pot later on. Flop comes 842 two diamonds and he bet near pot size at me. I have two options here but whereas I would usually raise this to discover how good my hand is, I decide flat calling is far preferable here as he is likely to either fold or repop and I don't want him to do either as my hand although strong could conceivably be in for a world of hurt.
Turn comes a 6h which felt very safe and to my surprise he bet $175, I would consider dropping here to many opponents on the basis that they are representing a fair amount of strength and I'm going to have to commit a lot to the pot as I HAVE to raise if I play on - a call is just horrible in my opinion. I decided that my opponent's raise was very very wide here and I was 75%+ sure that I was ahead and he was trying to run over me. Therefore I min raised, leaving myself enough to get away from it if needs be. I expected him to fold but he repopped all in. Did not like this at all and again against many opponents this would be going straight in the muck. However he is more than capable of doing this with diamonds/hearts/straight draw/weaker pair and after much thought I decided to go with my initial feelings and make the call. River a K and he flips TT so I was bang on in my decisions.
During this hand I truly did not specificly know where I was at, usually that is enough to get me to fold as I don't like taking guesses but because of the history with this opponent I was able to make good decisions throughout against some extremely well executed pressure. I still am unsure as to whether I think he's good or not, I've seen a lot of poor hands winning massive pots for and against him and he will make massive calls with mid pair etc. On the whole I like him being at the table as it loosens everyone up a bit but as he succeeds in making me uncomfortable a lot I suppose I should give him a lot of credit for being a pretty good maniac.
For a lot of unthinking players my play in the hand may seem obvious and simple as I had an overpair and went with it - trust me 75%+ of the time where the betting makes you feel like you're beat you are and being able to lay down the big hands is a key element in becoming a winning player long term.
Poor/unlucky for my opponent - you decide - http://www.pokerhand.org/?1800174
I like my play here and dislike my opponents as he checks the likely winner and gives up a free card in silly fashion. I have KK early pos and call a raise from the button. Flop comes T high and I suspect I am ahead here and decide to check raise what looks to be a good flop. My opponent who has a set of 5's checks behind. Turn comes a K giving me the current nuts, again assuming my opponent has nothing I go for a check raise and pump it to $170. Again my opponent flat calls. Turn comes a 9 leaving me thinking that the only possible hand I've lost to is JQ hearts but let's face it I cannot drop this to his river push ever as I'm way too committed and despite being a touch worried I bet the river strongly and called the raise. Huge pot and you may think I got lucky but lets look at my opponent's play.
First of all he has raised with 55 and hit when in position - his check on the flop is ghastly as now if he shows strength later I'm gonna be suspicious also if I have AK he is missing out on the reraise I would undoubtably throw out to any bet. I will not have him on a set during the hand if he bets and the check guarantees minimum value from my hand if I fail to connect further. I could have lost a big pot if he'd played this better and I hadn't hit IF he bets the flop - a healthy amount of suspicion to the preflop raiser who checks the flop then shows a lot of strength is almost always a good idea.
He bets the turn and I reraise - he has got to reraise here, he must think he is ahead and I could be raising with a variety of draws and will be tempted to call in these cases. The flat call asks for trouble if really does, many draws available and he is giving me every opportunity. River leaves a straight possibility which he must at least realise I could have so when I bet 3/4 pot his raise is not good given how the hand has played as If I had AK I could easily drop it (also wouldn't have got in this situation but still...) Basically he has raised when he no longer has any idea where he is and is only getting called by hands which have him crushed.
This opponent is one of my current favourites to see as I don't think much of his game, he bluffs too much and then misplays his big hands.
How to play a set of 5's (sharp contrast to above) - http://www.pokerhand.org/?1800214
Having called preflop I hit a wonderful flop of KQ5 two hearts and am first to act. I decide the bet helps disguise my hand best and stick in $30, I am reraised to $90 and as I will do in these cases I flat call looking for a good turn card where I will commit. Turn comes a 2 and I felt that my opponent had something like AK or a flush draw so I put in a weakish bet to define where I was. I exepcted to be raised here and it duly happened as he banged it to $222. This is a no brainer for me as a call asks for trouble, if I raise I am committed no matter what comes on the river so I go for one of my favourite moves the big all in reraise (works well with the nuts or without if you know your opponents) and he calls it. He had KQ so I can understand that he couldn't get away, or at least felt that he couldn't - I'd have dropped personally unless I had a good read on my opponent.
Anyway this is somewhat different to how my opponent played his 5's in the hand previously and on the whole I rather prefer my more thought out play to his donkey antics.
Hero Call - http://www.pokerhand.org/?1800233
I'm not in this last one but my god what was he thinking, anybody? No... I don't have a clue either. Splash is one of the aggressive players I failed to connected against and he is very capable of moving the chips about with air BUT - you just don't call with the 3 here, there is no way that can ever be a winning play, almost everything beats him, even if he had a draw on the flop - he has hit. Oh I hate this call so much - you need such a good read to do this and with Splash's range you just cannot call this.
For all those who like making the big calls, please try making the big raises instead as at least that way you'll get paid off more when you have the goods and give your opponent the option of a fold. Splash's play is quality purely because he would have done the exact same thing with the nuts which can make him damn hard to play. Patience is the key in picking off the big bluffs, just don't get involved until you have something you are willing to put your whole stack in with.
I still cannot put splash on a single hand which the caller could beat, not one and I will die long before I figure out what on earth his opponent was thinking.
Right that's it for now, hopefully some interesting stuff for you and I'm going to try to sleep again
Steve
Opponent Based Play - http://www.pokerhand.org/?1800126
Yesterday I was saying that I had been up against some overtly aggressive players and failed miserably with hitting anything where I could take them down. In this hand I succeeded and my play was based purely upon the opponent. Let me take you through the hand. I'm dealt QQ and my opponent has made a standard raise to $35 from mid-late position which he does a lot. I flat call in the hope of picking up a fairly sizeable pot later on. Flop comes 842 two diamonds and he bet near pot size at me. I have two options here but whereas I would usually raise this to discover how good my hand is, I decide flat calling is far preferable here as he is likely to either fold or repop and I don't want him to do either as my hand although strong could conceivably be in for a world of hurt.
Turn comes a 6h which felt very safe and to my surprise he bet $175, I would consider dropping here to many opponents on the basis that they are representing a fair amount of strength and I'm going to have to commit a lot to the pot as I HAVE to raise if I play on - a call is just horrible in my opinion. I decided that my opponent's raise was very very wide here and I was 75%+ sure that I was ahead and he was trying to run over me. Therefore I min raised, leaving myself enough to get away from it if needs be. I expected him to fold but he repopped all in. Did not like this at all and again against many opponents this would be going straight in the muck. However he is more than capable of doing this with diamonds/hearts/straight draw/weaker pair and after much thought I decided to go with my initial feelings and make the call. River a K and he flips TT so I was bang on in my decisions.
During this hand I truly did not specificly know where I was at, usually that is enough to get me to fold as I don't like taking guesses but because of the history with this opponent I was able to make good decisions throughout against some extremely well executed pressure. I still am unsure as to whether I think he's good or not, I've seen a lot of poor hands winning massive pots for and against him and he will make massive calls with mid pair etc. On the whole I like him being at the table as it loosens everyone up a bit but as he succeeds in making me uncomfortable a lot I suppose I should give him a lot of credit for being a pretty good maniac.
For a lot of unthinking players my play in the hand may seem obvious and simple as I had an overpair and went with it - trust me 75%+ of the time where the betting makes you feel like you're beat you are and being able to lay down the big hands is a key element in becoming a winning player long term.
Poor/unlucky for my opponent - you decide - http://www.pokerhand.org/?1800174
I like my play here and dislike my opponents as he checks the likely winner and gives up a free card in silly fashion. I have KK early pos and call a raise from the button. Flop comes T high and I suspect I am ahead here and decide to check raise what looks to be a good flop. My opponent who has a set of 5's checks behind. Turn comes a K giving me the current nuts, again assuming my opponent has nothing I go for a check raise and pump it to $170. Again my opponent flat calls. Turn comes a 9 leaving me thinking that the only possible hand I've lost to is JQ hearts but let's face it I cannot drop this to his river push ever as I'm way too committed and despite being a touch worried I bet the river strongly and called the raise. Huge pot and you may think I got lucky but lets look at my opponent's play.
First of all he has raised with 55 and hit when in position - his check on the flop is ghastly as now if he shows strength later I'm gonna be suspicious also if I have AK he is missing out on the reraise I would undoubtably throw out to any bet. I will not have him on a set during the hand if he bets and the check guarantees minimum value from my hand if I fail to connect further. I could have lost a big pot if he'd played this better and I hadn't hit IF he bets the flop - a healthy amount of suspicion to the preflop raiser who checks the flop then shows a lot of strength is almost always a good idea.
He bets the turn and I reraise - he has got to reraise here, he must think he is ahead and I could be raising with a variety of draws and will be tempted to call in these cases. The flat call asks for trouble if really does, many draws available and he is giving me every opportunity. River leaves a straight possibility which he must at least realise I could have so when I bet 3/4 pot his raise is not good given how the hand has played as If I had AK I could easily drop it (also wouldn't have got in this situation but still...) Basically he has raised when he no longer has any idea where he is and is only getting called by hands which have him crushed.
This opponent is one of my current favourites to see as I don't think much of his game, he bluffs too much and then misplays his big hands.
How to play a set of 5's (sharp contrast to above) - http://www.pokerhand.org/?1800214
Having called preflop I hit a wonderful flop of KQ5 two hearts and am first to act. I decide the bet helps disguise my hand best and stick in $30, I am reraised to $90 and as I will do in these cases I flat call looking for a good turn card where I will commit. Turn comes a 2 and I felt that my opponent had something like AK or a flush draw so I put in a weakish bet to define where I was. I exepcted to be raised here and it duly happened as he banged it to $222. This is a no brainer for me as a call asks for trouble, if I raise I am committed no matter what comes on the river so I go for one of my favourite moves the big all in reraise (works well with the nuts or without if you know your opponents) and he calls it. He had KQ so I can understand that he couldn't get away, or at least felt that he couldn't - I'd have dropped personally unless I had a good read on my opponent.
Anyway this is somewhat different to how my opponent played his 5's in the hand previously and on the whole I rather prefer my more thought out play to his donkey antics.
Hero Call - http://www.pokerhand.org/?1800233
I'm not in this last one but my god what was he thinking, anybody? No... I don't have a clue either. Splash is one of the aggressive players I failed to connected against and he is very capable of moving the chips about with air BUT - you just don't call with the 3 here, there is no way that can ever be a winning play, almost everything beats him, even if he had a draw on the flop - he has hit. Oh I hate this call so much - you need such a good read to do this and with Splash's range you just cannot call this.
For all those who like making the big calls, please try making the big raises instead as at least that way you'll get paid off more when you have the goods and give your opponent the option of a fold. Splash's play is quality purely because he would have done the exact same thing with the nuts which can make him damn hard to play. Patience is the key in picking off the big bluffs, just don't get involved until you have something you are willing to put your whole stack in with.
I still cannot put splash on a single hand which the caller could beat, not one and I will die long before I figure out what on earth his opponent was thinking.
Right that's it for now, hopefully some interesting stuff for you and I'm going to try to sleep again
Steve
Friday, 7 December 2007
Reflections on the first month as a pro
This post is going to be looking over how my first month of full time play has gone. Lessons which I've learnt, mistakes I've made and how it all differs from my expectations.
First and most important thing to acknowledge is that I'm unlikely to struggle to make a comfortable living playing poker as my only source of income. Regular readers will know that I have suffered some massive swings and some poor discipline during this time. However despite this I am still making a decent amount and have been able to build up after bad swings by dropping stakes and forcing better discipline upon myself.
I think this is a very important realisation for me. It hasn't by any means gone how I'd hoped and I've had to play lower than I would wish to but it's abundantly clear that I am (financially) at least a successful player.
What I have also realised is that my expectations and aspirations are extremely high and I demand a lot from myself. It is not going to be enough for me to make a comfortable living - I want a lot more and will not be happy unless I am making somewhere around $4k a week on average. This is more than attainable and is ultimately the minimum level which I wish to aim for when I return full time to 5-10nl.
What I have found a major problem is the lack of routine. This has surprised me with how difficult it is to impose when I have virtually no requirements upon my time or energies other than to focus on my game. I had assumed that I would fall into a routine of going to bed around 4am, rising by 1pm and then playing poker from around 10.30pm - 3.30am. This ain't happened, not even slightly.
I have taken to staying up all night on occasion, finding it difficult to bother going to bed - what this has resulted in is an ever varying schedule where I don't give myself the time during daylight hours to do other things. When I get up at 4pm Nat is home within an hour or so and my opportunity to do anything productive for myself disappears as I spend the evening with her and then when she goes to bed I play poker. It also means that I don't excercise as I'm lazy and need to do it when I'm in by myself during the afternoon.
I have found that when I keep to a more sensible routine I am happier, more productive and because of this I become more motivated with my game. My goal for the next month is to get into a proper routine which will involve getting up at a reasonable hour and not staying up through the night for no apparant reason other than because I can.
I have such a fantastic opportunity to be this relaxed, cheerful, carefree person with very few things to worry about and I've not been. I put this down to my lack of routine leaving me tired, my body confused and then I compound it by doing stupid things at poker. I need to refocus on why I am doing this for my job. I'm not going to say that it's not about the money because it so blatently is (at least in part). The money is a necessary and nice byproduct of doing something which I love, this will happen anyway so what I need to concentrate on is living my life to the full, making the effort with things and generally enjoying my time.
I didn't anticipate this being a problem, I don't struggle with boredom, I am happy with my own company for long periods but it has become one because ultimately I'm lazy. Because there is little which I have to do - I do nothing and that is not healthy or enjoyable. I've snapped out of my bad mood and lethargy now and I am going to make this work in a way I enjoy and am happy with. Step 1 in this is going to be imposing that routine on myself and the sooner I successfully do that the sooner everything else will fall into place.
It's not an easy life and I can see why people struggle with it, this way of being would not suit the majority of people I know. For me it is all about willpower and belief at the table coupled with discipline away from it. I manage ok with the first of these and have been woefully inadequate at the second - that must and will change over the next few weeks.
I'll keep you all updated on how it goes
Steve
First and most important thing to acknowledge is that I'm unlikely to struggle to make a comfortable living playing poker as my only source of income. Regular readers will know that I have suffered some massive swings and some poor discipline during this time. However despite this I am still making a decent amount and have been able to build up after bad swings by dropping stakes and forcing better discipline upon myself.
I think this is a very important realisation for me. It hasn't by any means gone how I'd hoped and I've had to play lower than I would wish to but it's abundantly clear that I am (financially) at least a successful player.
What I have also realised is that my expectations and aspirations are extremely high and I demand a lot from myself. It is not going to be enough for me to make a comfortable living - I want a lot more and will not be happy unless I am making somewhere around $4k a week on average. This is more than attainable and is ultimately the minimum level which I wish to aim for when I return full time to 5-10nl.
What I have found a major problem is the lack of routine. This has surprised me with how difficult it is to impose when I have virtually no requirements upon my time or energies other than to focus on my game. I had assumed that I would fall into a routine of going to bed around 4am, rising by 1pm and then playing poker from around 10.30pm - 3.30am. This ain't happened, not even slightly.
I have taken to staying up all night on occasion, finding it difficult to bother going to bed - what this has resulted in is an ever varying schedule where I don't give myself the time during daylight hours to do other things. When I get up at 4pm Nat is home within an hour or so and my opportunity to do anything productive for myself disappears as I spend the evening with her and then when she goes to bed I play poker. It also means that I don't excercise as I'm lazy and need to do it when I'm in by myself during the afternoon.
I have found that when I keep to a more sensible routine I am happier, more productive and because of this I become more motivated with my game. My goal for the next month is to get into a proper routine which will involve getting up at a reasonable hour and not staying up through the night for no apparant reason other than because I can.
I have such a fantastic opportunity to be this relaxed, cheerful, carefree person with very few things to worry about and I've not been. I put this down to my lack of routine leaving me tired, my body confused and then I compound it by doing stupid things at poker. I need to refocus on why I am doing this for my job. I'm not going to say that it's not about the money because it so blatently is (at least in part). The money is a necessary and nice byproduct of doing something which I love, this will happen anyway so what I need to concentrate on is living my life to the full, making the effort with things and generally enjoying my time.
I didn't anticipate this being a problem, I don't struggle with boredom, I am happy with my own company for long periods but it has become one because ultimately I'm lazy. Because there is little which I have to do - I do nothing and that is not healthy or enjoyable. I've snapped out of my bad mood and lethargy now and I am going to make this work in a way I enjoy and am happy with. Step 1 in this is going to be imposing that routine on myself and the sooner I successfully do that the sooner everything else will fall into place.
It's not an easy life and I can see why people struggle with it, this way of being would not suit the majority of people I know. For me it is all about willpower and belief at the table coupled with discipline away from it. I manage ok with the first of these and have been woefully inadequate at the second - that must and will change over the next few weeks.
I'll keep you all updated on how it goes
Steve
Saturday, 24 November 2007
Not whinging now!!
Right I have definitely been runnign bad in the big pots recently however that has just changed somewhat with one absolute monster on 3-6nl. I'd already got up to $1500 through a nicely played full house on the flop when the below hand came up
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1735766
I have been playing short handed a bit recently and quite enjoying it as it is more aggressive and some people really overplay their holdings. I have a more conservative style with well timed river bluffs and playing my big hands hard. Anyway I had AA pre flop with $1500 in front of me, the guy to my left raised but he also had $1500 so I didn't fancy reraising out of position and revealing some strength and setting myself up to be bluffed later in the hand.
Flop came AT6 with 2 clubs, obviously this is magnificent for me but I want to extract value. I check raised and then very unexpectedly got reraised to $300. Now this is a very interesting situation because of the stack sizes. I KNOW I am very unlikely to get away from this hand if a scare card comes. I also know that most likely he has either a straight flush draw, 2 pair or a set. To be honest I expected the set. Generally he would be unlikly to re-re-raise me in this situation without a BIG hand mainly due to stack sizes.
Anyway having realised this I also thought that IF he had the set he would most likely call any bet as AA was unlikely due to my pre-flop flat call. SO I decided that it was a good situation for me to shove - takes the decision out of it and if he wants to make a bad call with a draw then so be it. Anyway he thought for a LONG time before calling with TT for mid-set. the river brough a 7 which scared me a little as the 89clubs was a possible holding but the $3k pot came to me and turned a bad day into a very very good one.
I have been running bad but this hand makes up for a lot, an awful lot. I am now $5100 up since returning to hold'em and life just feels a touch sweeter right now.
Sadly as I've been playing 2-4 only $1k of this is from 2-4, the other $4k is from 3-6 and a short session of $5-10. I just do better at higher stakes, my game fits them better which is as it should be because that is where I played since April and have logged many hours at 5-10.
In fairness I feel really sorry for my opponent here, I would have thought about dropping the TT but I doubt I could have, it's just too strong in that situation so it was a real cooler for him. Shame!
All my friends and Nat have been telling me it'd turn around and I have been playing with a really positive attitude (and whinging away from the tables) and it's just so nice to have a really good day and win a monster pot.
WOOOOO HOOOOOOOO
Run well when it really matters - that is the key
Steve
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1735766
I have been playing short handed a bit recently and quite enjoying it as it is more aggressive and some people really overplay their holdings. I have a more conservative style with well timed river bluffs and playing my big hands hard. Anyway I had AA pre flop with $1500 in front of me, the guy to my left raised but he also had $1500 so I didn't fancy reraising out of position and revealing some strength and setting myself up to be bluffed later in the hand.
Flop came AT6 with 2 clubs, obviously this is magnificent for me but I want to extract value. I check raised and then very unexpectedly got reraised to $300. Now this is a very interesting situation because of the stack sizes. I KNOW I am very unlikely to get away from this hand if a scare card comes. I also know that most likely he has either a straight flush draw, 2 pair or a set. To be honest I expected the set. Generally he would be unlikly to re-re-raise me in this situation without a BIG hand mainly due to stack sizes.
Anyway having realised this I also thought that IF he had the set he would most likely call any bet as AA was unlikely due to my pre-flop flat call. SO I decided that it was a good situation for me to shove - takes the decision out of it and if he wants to make a bad call with a draw then so be it. Anyway he thought for a LONG time before calling with TT for mid-set. the river brough a 7 which scared me a little as the 89clubs was a possible holding but the $3k pot came to me and turned a bad day into a very very good one.
I have been running bad but this hand makes up for a lot, an awful lot. I am now $5100 up since returning to hold'em and life just feels a touch sweeter right now.
Sadly as I've been playing 2-4 only $1k of this is from 2-4, the other $4k is from 3-6 and a short session of $5-10. I just do better at higher stakes, my game fits them better which is as it should be because that is where I played since April and have logged many hours at 5-10.
In fairness I feel really sorry for my opponent here, I would have thought about dropping the TT but I doubt I could have, it's just too strong in that situation so it was a real cooler for him. Shame!
All my friends and Nat have been telling me it'd turn around and I have been playing with a really positive attitude (and whinging away from the tables) and it's just so nice to have a really good day and win a monster pot.
WOOOOO HOOOOOOOO
Run well when it really matters - that is the key
Steve
Tuesday, 20 November 2007
Progress
I've actually had a reasonable day, hoorrah!! After ending up even yesterday I've made about $800 today and played pretty well really. It's been a very consistent day with small gains at regular intervals and one or two big pots. I've been betting my hands for value extremely well and working out with some decent accuracy whether the scare card on the river has me beaten or not.
I'm now $2700 up since switching back to holdem last week along with about $400 in party points and deposit bonuses alongside this. It's not a bad win rate and has been achieved with minimal stress which had accompanied the previous weeks at omaha. I'm still not happy with my overall win rate as it is currently at 2 ptbb/100 hands which is alright but I'm really looking for around 4-5. Still it is nice to be making some progress and it will hopefully mean that by the start of december I feel in a position to move back up to my 5-10 games and make some real money.
What I need to remember is the omaha experience as I went against all of my principles regarding redepositing money which I had taken out. Yes, I was unlucky and didn't deserve to be losing - far from it, however I created my own hole and lost far more than should be possible given my bankroll requirements and level at which I drop back down.
However I feel that the experience I have had should stand me in good stead in the future as I WILL remember dropping $12k in a week and not want a repeat. I will remember watching my bank account drop down which should never ever happen. And most importantly I will remember how stressed this all made me and sapped my enthusiasm for everything for a relatively long period.
One of the main reasons I have chosen this lifestyle is the quality of life which I can expect, it gives me he opportunity to read, excercise and sleep properly. It means that I can spend more quality time with Nat and these are the benefits which I need to remember when things go badly.
I'm trying to get myself into something of a routine now and have started setting an alarm for 2pm and going to bed some time in the early hours - 7.30am yesterday and it is currently 5am as I write this so it's likely to be a similar time today. If I can get myself back into the routine of excercising when I get up then it will be extremely beneficial as it sets me up for the day and I am able to concentrate better on my game.
If I managed to achieve a similar winrate at 5-10 when I move back up then I'd be looking at over $20k a month and that is without any spectacular success. This is something which I need to remember and keep my focus on the long game and not get obsessed with short term results.
I'm waffling now so I'm going to watch a bit of Red Dwarf and have a look over the day's play
Steve
I'm now $2700 up since switching back to holdem last week along with about $400 in party points and deposit bonuses alongside this. It's not a bad win rate and has been achieved with minimal stress which had accompanied the previous weeks at omaha. I'm still not happy with my overall win rate as it is currently at 2 ptbb/100 hands which is alright but I'm really looking for around 4-5. Still it is nice to be making some progress and it will hopefully mean that by the start of december I feel in a position to move back up to my 5-10 games and make some real money.
What I need to remember is the omaha experience as I went against all of my principles regarding redepositing money which I had taken out. Yes, I was unlucky and didn't deserve to be losing - far from it, however I created my own hole and lost far more than should be possible given my bankroll requirements and level at which I drop back down.
However I feel that the experience I have had should stand me in good stead in the future as I WILL remember dropping $12k in a week and not want a repeat. I will remember watching my bank account drop down which should never ever happen. And most importantly I will remember how stressed this all made me and sapped my enthusiasm for everything for a relatively long period.
One of the main reasons I have chosen this lifestyle is the quality of life which I can expect, it gives me he opportunity to read, excercise and sleep properly. It means that I can spend more quality time with Nat and these are the benefits which I need to remember when things go badly.
I'm trying to get myself into something of a routine now and have started setting an alarm for 2pm and going to bed some time in the early hours - 7.30am yesterday and it is currently 5am as I write this so it's likely to be a similar time today. If I can get myself back into the routine of excercising when I get up then it will be extremely beneficial as it sets me up for the day and I am able to concentrate better on my game.
If I managed to achieve a similar winrate at 5-10 when I move back up then I'd be looking at over $20k a month and that is without any spectacular success. This is something which I need to remember and keep my focus on the long game and not get obsessed with short term results.
I'm waffling now so I'm going to watch a bit of Red Dwarf and have a look over the day's play
Steve
Sunday, 18 November 2007
Another Day Another Dollar - This is almost my current win rate
I'm not sure how much better I can play. Have been involved in 2 pots which were all in affairs, one the guy was drawing dead and the other I was a 4-1 favourite for a $1000 pot, guess what I lost it. So instead of being $1200 up I am about $200 up. It is so disappointing to play so well, be so keyed up and then continue with the run of my big hands losing more than they mathamatically should.
I'm quitting whinging now, I'm playing fantastically well and deserve a lot more success at 2-4nl than I am currently getting. However despite the fact I swear I have run horrifically this week I am still $2k up - I can live with that, it pays the bills and the rest but it just feels like a massive disappointment because I feel it should be double if not treble that figure for the number of hands I've played. My win rate currently sucks and I am due a big BIG day where my hands all hold and I get dealt into a number of coolers where I am on the right side of it!
Overall I am feeling a lot more positive although my luck is not there I am still winning, I am still avoiding tilt and I am building my bankroll up (albeit less quickly than I would like). I have set targets and when I achieve them I move back to where I belong - 5-10nl. The only reason I'm not playing there is that I couldn't handle losing at those stakes right now so I shall win some more and then move back up. Once that happens we may start to see some proper wins and some good weeks/months. I expect to be able to make $15K plus a month and that has been done by me before so my genuine realistic wish is to have a $50k month at some point by early next year. This will happen as I'm bound to run well at some point and when it happens if my game is as solid as it is right now the big wins will follow.
Anyway enough talk of big cash, I'm playing much lower right now without massive success so keeping my head straight and ignoring the higher games etc is essential to my continued rebuilding programme.
Steve
I'm quitting whinging now, I'm playing fantastically well and deserve a lot more success at 2-4nl than I am currently getting. However despite the fact I swear I have run horrifically this week I am still $2k up - I can live with that, it pays the bills and the rest but it just feels like a massive disappointment because I feel it should be double if not treble that figure for the number of hands I've played. My win rate currently sucks and I am due a big BIG day where my hands all hold and I get dealt into a number of coolers where I am on the right side of it!
Overall I am feeling a lot more positive although my luck is not there I am still winning, I am still avoiding tilt and I am building my bankroll up (albeit less quickly than I would like). I have set targets and when I achieve them I move back to where I belong - 5-10nl. The only reason I'm not playing there is that I couldn't handle losing at those stakes right now so I shall win some more and then move back up. Once that happens we may start to see some proper wins and some good weeks/months. I expect to be able to make $15K plus a month and that has been done by me before so my genuine realistic wish is to have a $50k month at some point by early next year. This will happen as I'm bound to run well at some point and when it happens if my game is as solid as it is right now the big wins will follow.
Anyway enough talk of big cash, I'm playing much lower right now without massive success so keeping my head straight and ignoring the higher games etc is essential to my continued rebuilding programme.
Steve
Thursday, 15 November 2007
Creating the right mentality for play
You may have noticed in recent posts that I have been getting somewhat emotionally attached to my results which have, lets be honest, not been great. However throughout this period despite internal fears of losing and the fact that my misery at the tables has spilled over into my homelife and meant that I've been a pain to live with (ask Nat), depsite this I have maintained my calm and made good decisions at the tables. There have in nearly 6000 hands of holdem only been one hand which I would play differently. Obviously I have made mistakes and misread situations BUT I have been happy with what I have done in a playing sense.
This is absolutely fundamental to poker and success in the game. If you approach the game with a negative attitude and assume you are going to lose, then shock, horror you will virtually every time. Now I know I have felt like this and have written about it here, but whenever I have sat down to play I have done so looking to win and playing the situation rather than my bankroll. I have not been scared by losing and laid down hands because it all got a bit big in the betting. I have not chased flushes and straights trying to win a monster. I've played good fundamental poker and am genuinely happy with how I have played at both hold'em and omaha.
Sadly results have been in a downward spiral and it is very difficult to look positively when outside of sessions when all you seem to have is misfortune.
Today I sat down after having had minimal sleep but I felt good and was concentraing well so I played a short session. I hadn't intended to play but it felt right for me and I was back into the right frame of mind to play. I've only played 600 hands and have quit for the day as tiredness has caught up with me again. For once hands hit me and I played nicely once more. The very last hand I played before quitting I was dealt AA in early position and the following happened
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1703593
It had been going pretty well and I decided to take a bit of a flier with my AA and overplayed it quite deliberately. I wanted to raise and get one not two callers. This said my raise is one where I am comitting to the pot a quarter of my stack so it is most unlikely I will be folding this regardless of the flop. My usual raise here with AA would be lower but I like mixing it up with my big hands and the overraise felt right to me.
As soon as I was called by the early position caller I put him on AK/JJ/TT. If he had more he would have reshoved and the way he played it the AK felt most likely. Plus he hesitated a lot before calling so I was confident it was not KK.
Anyway the flop came KJ8 which was going to be either brilliant or disasterous. Either way I am playing this hard. I raised just under pot and got put all in. Standard call (can't drop now) and luckily he did have the AK which I suspected. However it is always a relief when it gets pushed to you in these situations. It could have been JJ and gone the other way quite easily.
I've spoken before about how I like the overplay of hands. Usually they either pre or on the flop so I like to do it with big hands and more marginal ones as well so I keep people guessing. Plus because I do get seen (and show) when I do this with lower hands it gives me more margin for getting called and stacking someone when I do have the goods.
After the preflop call he can't do anything but go all in when he hits the K, if he doesn't go in then why has he played the hand in the first place? Anyway it was a superb note to finish on and is a good example of one way I occasionally play AA.
Anyway I won $1000 for the session and that makes rather a difference to how I feel about poker right now.
Hands - 6006
Profit - $1616.95
PTBB/100 - 3.37 (still not high enough 5.0 is the aim long term)
Steve
This is absolutely fundamental to poker and success in the game. If you approach the game with a negative attitude and assume you are going to lose, then shock, horror you will virtually every time. Now I know I have felt like this and have written about it here, but whenever I have sat down to play I have done so looking to win and playing the situation rather than my bankroll. I have not been scared by losing and laid down hands because it all got a bit big in the betting. I have not chased flushes and straights trying to win a monster. I've played good fundamental poker and am genuinely happy with how I have played at both hold'em and omaha.
Sadly results have been in a downward spiral and it is very difficult to look positively when outside of sessions when all you seem to have is misfortune.
Today I sat down after having had minimal sleep but I felt good and was concentraing well so I played a short session. I hadn't intended to play but it felt right for me and I was back into the right frame of mind to play. I've only played 600 hands and have quit for the day as tiredness has caught up with me again. For once hands hit me and I played nicely once more. The very last hand I played before quitting I was dealt AA in early position and the following happened
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1703593
It had been going pretty well and I decided to take a bit of a flier with my AA and overplayed it quite deliberately. I wanted to raise and get one not two callers. This said my raise is one where I am comitting to the pot a quarter of my stack so it is most unlikely I will be folding this regardless of the flop. My usual raise here with AA would be lower but I like mixing it up with my big hands and the overraise felt right to me.
As soon as I was called by the early position caller I put him on AK/JJ/TT. If he had more he would have reshoved and the way he played it the AK felt most likely. Plus he hesitated a lot before calling so I was confident it was not KK.
Anyway the flop came KJ8 which was going to be either brilliant or disasterous. Either way I am playing this hard. I raised just under pot and got put all in. Standard call (can't drop now) and luckily he did have the AK which I suspected. However it is always a relief when it gets pushed to you in these situations. It could have been JJ and gone the other way quite easily.
I've spoken before about how I like the overplay of hands. Usually they either pre or on the flop so I like to do it with big hands and more marginal ones as well so I keep people guessing. Plus because I do get seen (and show) when I do this with lower hands it gives me more margin for getting called and stacking someone when I do have the goods.
After the preflop call he can't do anything but go all in when he hits the K, if he doesn't go in then why has he played the hand in the first place? Anyway it was a superb note to finish on and is a good example of one way I occasionally play AA.
Anyway I won $1000 for the session and that makes rather a difference to how I feel about poker right now.
Hands - 6006
Profit - $1616.95
PTBB/100 - 3.37 (still not high enough 5.0 is the aim long term)
Steve
Sunday, 11 November 2007
Return to Hold'em
And would you look at that, a successful day, a very successful day. There has been a multitude of fist pumping and general expressions of excitement, enthusiasm and less of the ennui which I have at times associated with this fine game.
I haven't played hold'em for about a month and you know what, it's good to be back. The break seems to have refreshed my attitude towards the game and my omaha experiences have probably made me a stronger player. I am very smartly playing below my usual level and am at the 2-4nl game which means a $400 buy in. This has a number of advantages, the main one being that I am not at all scared to lose and am willing to back myself stronger than when playing higher stakes. I make a decision and I live or die by it at these stakes so I am probably a more dangerous player for others to come up against.
Anyway I've won 3.5 buy ins today or $1400ish which feels gooooooooooooooooood. I am not a hugely swingy player at holdem, never have been, never will be. 3-4 buyins is an excellent day and I tend to slowly build with my tight aggressive style. This somewhat less stressful form of poker is very useful for me given recent history in omaha and I have maintained my patience and good humour throughout the three sessions I have played today.
Patience is always key to my success as I win a low percentage of pots but tend to make them count for a lot so if I allow frustration to sink in my gameplan suffers accordingly. I've enjoyed my play today, made a few well calculated bluffs along with some less well calculated ones. Have managed to extract huge value from my big hands and the worst hand in terms of profitability today has been AA where I've lost $250. Usually AA is my biggest winner, in fact long term it is by a massive amount and I play it well. Sadly I've been a bit unlucky with it today whereas QQ has been marvellous. Thank you ladies!
I needed today. I really really did, although I know that I now have to continue where I have left off it feels good to have not only played well but been rewarded for it too. I'm gonna post two hands from today (ones where I win) and discuss to some degree.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1688770
This first one is hugely, hugely significant as for the first time in a long time I flopped top set and it won.Let me repeat that IT WON. It was not the nuts when I bet or went all in as he could have had a straight however there is zero chance I am putting that hand down on the scant possibility of 9T being my opponent's holding. I always feel that aggressive play rewards itself when done in a controlled fashion and this hand my aim was to calculate bet size to ensure my opponent committed his whole stack should he have a big hand. He did andsadly for him I had a higher set. This is a really tough beat in hold'em and I would probably have gone down in similar fashion with his hand. BUT I won with top set lalalallalalalala, can you tell that this is a significant weight off my previously overburdened shoulders.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1688734
I reraised a fair amount preflop today with AK and many others but decided to play it slower in this one and the AK7 flop seemed to be a bit of a gift. I checked to the preflop raiser adn was quite sad that nobody else called to juice the pot a bit. Anyway as I was out of position I raised to $100 (had I been behind him in the play I would have flat called most times) and for some reason which I truly can't explain he pushed all in for $300 with AQ. Idiot! What can I have which I check raise with which he is beating. So unlikely that he isn't drawing very very light and a call or fold were the only real options in my opinion. Multiway pot where I check raise when I must suspect he has an A should send warning signals but apparantly and luckily not.
The only other hand I'd like to mention is one where I faced an overbet flop from the raiser with A87 showing and two clubs. I like the overbet as a sign of weakness where you really have a monster and fell hook, line and sinker for it on this occasion as I didn't think my opponent was that smart. I pushed all in over the top with my AQ only to be quickly called (never good) by his AK. I spiked a Q on the turn to take down a $500 pot and boy did a suckout feel good. This sort of thing just hasn't happened for me over the past 2 weeks, in fact it has happened always against me on every occasion so this turn of fortune managed to give me some spark back and I would say that today I have actually run well and a bit above expectation. Maybe I'm due eh!
Anyway I'm going to sign off by giving my stats for the day, and I may be doing this a bit more regularly
Hands - 1786
Profit - $1424.72
PTBB (per 100) 9.97
Good win rate, great win rate in fact. For those of you who do not understand the PTBB it stands for Poker Tracker Big Blinds per 100 hands. Poker tracker big blinds are for some reason calculated differently to what makes sense to me but if you double it then you have the real rate. So I've won nearly 20 BB per 100 hands today or $80 per 100 hands. I'll take it, considering I can get in around 300 hands an hour that is a useful rate and one which I would like to see continued.
It's not a loss, get in, get in, get in, maybe I can play after all
Steve
I haven't played hold'em for about a month and you know what, it's good to be back. The break seems to have refreshed my attitude towards the game and my omaha experiences have probably made me a stronger player. I am very smartly playing below my usual level and am at the 2-4nl game which means a $400 buy in. This has a number of advantages, the main one being that I am not at all scared to lose and am willing to back myself stronger than when playing higher stakes. I make a decision and I live or die by it at these stakes so I am probably a more dangerous player for others to come up against.
Anyway I've won 3.5 buy ins today or $1400ish which feels gooooooooooooooooood. I am not a hugely swingy player at holdem, never have been, never will be. 3-4 buyins is an excellent day and I tend to slowly build with my tight aggressive style. This somewhat less stressful form of poker is very useful for me given recent history in omaha and I have maintained my patience and good humour throughout the three sessions I have played today.
Patience is always key to my success as I win a low percentage of pots but tend to make them count for a lot so if I allow frustration to sink in my gameplan suffers accordingly. I've enjoyed my play today, made a few well calculated bluffs along with some less well calculated ones. Have managed to extract huge value from my big hands and the worst hand in terms of profitability today has been AA where I've lost $250. Usually AA is my biggest winner, in fact long term it is by a massive amount and I play it well. Sadly I've been a bit unlucky with it today whereas QQ has been marvellous. Thank you ladies!
I needed today. I really really did, although I know that I now have to continue where I have left off it feels good to have not only played well but been rewarded for it too. I'm gonna post two hands from today (ones where I win) and discuss to some degree.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1688770
This first one is hugely, hugely significant as for the first time in a long time I flopped top set and it won.Let me repeat that IT WON. It was not the nuts when I bet or went all in as he could have had a straight however there is zero chance I am putting that hand down on the scant possibility of 9T being my opponent's holding. I always feel that aggressive play rewards itself when done in a controlled fashion and this hand my aim was to calculate bet size to ensure my opponent committed his whole stack should he have a big hand. He did andsadly for him I had a higher set. This is a really tough beat in hold'em and I would probably have gone down in similar fashion with his hand. BUT I won with top set lalalallalalalala, can you tell that this is a significant weight off my previously overburdened shoulders.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1688734
I reraised a fair amount preflop today with AK and many others but decided to play it slower in this one and the AK7 flop seemed to be a bit of a gift. I checked to the preflop raiser adn was quite sad that nobody else called to juice the pot a bit. Anyway as I was out of position I raised to $100 (had I been behind him in the play I would have flat called most times) and for some reason which I truly can't explain he pushed all in for $300 with AQ. Idiot! What can I have which I check raise with which he is beating. So unlikely that he isn't drawing very very light and a call or fold were the only real options in my opinion. Multiway pot where I check raise when I must suspect he has an A should send warning signals but apparantly and luckily not.
The only other hand I'd like to mention is one where I faced an overbet flop from the raiser with A87 showing and two clubs. I like the overbet as a sign of weakness where you really have a monster and fell hook, line and sinker for it on this occasion as I didn't think my opponent was that smart. I pushed all in over the top with my AQ only to be quickly called (never good) by his AK. I spiked a Q on the turn to take down a $500 pot and boy did a suckout feel good. This sort of thing just hasn't happened for me over the past 2 weeks, in fact it has happened always against me on every occasion so this turn of fortune managed to give me some spark back and I would say that today I have actually run well and a bit above expectation. Maybe I'm due eh!
Anyway I'm going to sign off by giving my stats for the day, and I may be doing this a bit more regularly
Hands - 1786
Profit - $1424.72
PTBB (per 100) 9.97
Good win rate, great win rate in fact. For those of you who do not understand the PTBB it stands for Poker Tracker Big Blinds per 100 hands. Poker tracker big blinds are for some reason calculated differently to what makes sense to me but if you double it then you have the real rate. So I've won nearly 20 BB per 100 hands today or $80 per 100 hands. I'll take it, considering I can get in around 300 hands an hour that is a useful rate and one which I would like to see continued.
It's not a loss, get in, get in, get in, maybe I can play after all
Steve
Monday, 29 October 2007
Playing the 2nd Nuts in omaha
The second nut flush or straight has to be one of the hardest hands in PL omaha to play well as it is so difficult to find out cheaply whether you are ahead or not. Often (especially with the flush) people will strongly bet the blockers.
The best example of this is when you hit the K high flush and someone else at the table has the Ace but no flush. A strong player can bluff this situation extremely effectively leaving you with a decision for all your chips knowing that you may well be drawing dead. If you bet he pot with the K flush and then are raised how do you decide what to do? It's a huge decision as if they have what they are representing you lose your whole stack, however they may just have the Ace and be representing the nut flush.
So how do you know which it is? Simple answer is that you don't, you have an idea based on the situation and player but they may well play both hands in the same fashion giving you no information.
I never know how to play these as although you do have a fantastic hand if any strong resistance is shown it is quite likely to be beaten - I usually play these hands extremely passively as to be honest they scare me as I don't know how to play them. By doing this however you allow aggressive players to steal and draws to the boat to hit. Obviously the ideal is somewhere in the middle of these two approaches - lets call it cautious aggression. You will reraise but be ready to stop betting if they stay in the pot.
Situations like A high flush vs K high flush can be extremely expensive and a misread cost you your entire stack. The second nuts is the one hand in omaha which I feel I struggle with - I manage to play it profitably BUT I often feel that I have minimised my winning on many pots because I can't fully commit.
I'd be interested in any advice anyone has on hands like this as it's an area I can definitely improve upon.
Steve
The best example of this is when you hit the K high flush and someone else at the table has the Ace but no flush. A strong player can bluff this situation extremely effectively leaving you with a decision for all your chips knowing that you may well be drawing dead. If you bet he pot with the K flush and then are raised how do you decide what to do? It's a huge decision as if they have what they are representing you lose your whole stack, however they may just have the Ace and be representing the nut flush.
So how do you know which it is? Simple answer is that you don't, you have an idea based on the situation and player but they may well play both hands in the same fashion giving you no information.
I never know how to play these as although you do have a fantastic hand if any strong resistance is shown it is quite likely to be beaten - I usually play these hands extremely passively as to be honest they scare me as I don't know how to play them. By doing this however you allow aggressive players to steal and draws to the boat to hit. Obviously the ideal is somewhere in the middle of these two approaches - lets call it cautious aggression. You will reraise but be ready to stop betting if they stay in the pot.
Situations like A high flush vs K high flush can be extremely expensive and a misread cost you your entire stack. The second nuts is the one hand in omaha which I feel I struggle with - I manage to play it profitably BUT I often feel that I have minimised my winning on many pots because I can't fully commit.
I'd be interested in any advice anyone has on hands like this as it's an area I can definitely improve upon.
Steve
Sunday, 28 October 2007
Speed of descent
Playing poker for a living, it can be very easy to get distracted and play on autopilot for long periods during a day's play. Normally this is not a major issue and you get away with it, as dependent on your playing style, many hands/situations kind of play themselves and limited thought is required. In fact you can play whilst tired/distracted and make a tidy sum if the hands hit you right.
However playing on these occasions will come back to bite you on the arse and it is something which I try very hard to eliminate from my game. Sadly this has not been fully achieved by any means.
Sadly when your mentality is wrong or you are not paying full attention you are far more likely to be affected by bad beats and create worse situations for yourself on future hands. I am usually ok at avoiding this but on Friday I was playing 4 tables, talking to a friend on messenger and browsing the internet. Oh yeah watching TV as well. This is not to be recommended and it led to me through some bad play and some bad luck dropping $3000 in about 25 minutes.
During this period I got sucked out of one $2300 pot where I was a 64% favourite and had split chances too, because of how things were going and cos I was tired this bothered me far more than it would otherwise do. Usually I call the fortunate person some choice words by talking to my laptop where he must be able to hear me! But this time I proceeded to make lose calls pre and post flop hoping to get lucky in a big multiway pot. Didn't happen and I went to bed annoyed with myself.
The point I am driving at is this. Regardless of whether you pay poker for fun, or as a profession you need to focus on the games you are playing. If you want to do something else then do that instead. Take 5 to browse the net, have a break to watch some TV just don't try to multitask in a way which will ultimately have a negative impact on your play.
Now I just need to practise this myself. Typically when I play I am multi-tasking, I watch TV, listen to the radio, talk on messenger and browse the internet, sometimes all at once. These are bad habits and although I can cope with TV or radio (not on the laptop you see) the others do lead to me losing my focus and playing a less profitable game than I otherwise would.
Right Baseball and Poker this evening - come on the Rockies as I really could do with another few nights with games being played
Steve
However playing on these occasions will come back to bite you on the arse and it is something which I try very hard to eliminate from my game. Sadly this has not been fully achieved by any means.
Sadly when your mentality is wrong or you are not paying full attention you are far more likely to be affected by bad beats and create worse situations for yourself on future hands. I am usually ok at avoiding this but on Friday I was playing 4 tables, talking to a friend on messenger and browsing the internet. Oh yeah watching TV as well. This is not to be recommended and it led to me through some bad play and some bad luck dropping $3000 in about 25 minutes.
During this period I got sucked out of one $2300 pot where I was a 64% favourite and had split chances too, because of how things were going and cos I was tired this bothered me far more than it would otherwise do. Usually I call the fortunate person some choice words by talking to my laptop where he must be able to hear me! But this time I proceeded to make lose calls pre and post flop hoping to get lucky in a big multiway pot. Didn't happen and I went to bed annoyed with myself.
The point I am driving at is this. Regardless of whether you pay poker for fun, or as a profession you need to focus on the games you are playing. If you want to do something else then do that instead. Take 5 to browse the net, have a break to watch some TV just don't try to multitask in a way which will ultimately have a negative impact on your play.
Now I just need to practise this myself. Typically when I play I am multi-tasking, I watch TV, listen to the radio, talk on messenger and browse the internet, sometimes all at once. These are bad habits and although I can cope with TV or radio (not on the laptop you see) the others do lead to me losing my focus and playing a less profitable game than I otherwise would.
Right Baseball and Poker this evening - come on the Rockies as I really could do with another few nights with games being played
Steve
Friday, 26 October 2007
Work goes bye bye
I now never have to go back in to work again, have finished handing over my job and so I can now fully concentrate on poker. It's been slightly weird over the last 3 weeks as although I've not been working full time the two days a week I have been in have severely disrupted my schedule. It's hard work going from getting up at midday to having to get up before 9am and has meant that I've not been able to fully focus.
However that is now gone so we should start to see what sort of figures I can theoretically put up each month. November is going to be interesting! I'm not honestly sure what sort of money I expect to make, when I quit my focus was to try to get to about $20k a month on average. Now I've switched to omaha I really don't know what I expect to make, I still haven't moved into the biggest game which I will do soonish I think and that will obviously have an impact on my profits.
Although I've suffered some swings so far none have been severe and I've experienced a very solid upslope. Obviously I have no way of knowing whether my current win rate of somewhere around 20BB per 100 hands is my level or if I am just running hot. So really I'm reduced to guesswork when trying to workout my earning potential. I think I could make $30k plus a month if not more BUT I don't know this, my omaha career is still very much in its infancy and I really am just projecting figures which I'd like to be hitting. In three weeks I've made over $20k and that is with huge numbers of days off and distractions.
I'm tired and am rambling so I shall stop here, I'll try to post something a bit more coherent later
Steve
However that is now gone so we should start to see what sort of figures I can theoretically put up each month. November is going to be interesting! I'm not honestly sure what sort of money I expect to make, when I quit my focus was to try to get to about $20k a month on average. Now I've switched to omaha I really don't know what I expect to make, I still haven't moved into the biggest game which I will do soonish I think and that will obviously have an impact on my profits.
Although I've suffered some swings so far none have been severe and I've experienced a very solid upslope. Obviously I have no way of knowing whether my current win rate of somewhere around 20BB per 100 hands is my level or if I am just running hot. So really I'm reduced to guesswork when trying to workout my earning potential. I think I could make $30k plus a month if not more BUT I don't know this, my omaha career is still very much in its infancy and I really am just projecting figures which I'd like to be hitting. In three weeks I've made over $20k and that is with huge numbers of days off and distractions.
I'm tired and am rambling so I shall stop here, I'll try to post something a bit more coherent later
Steve
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