Since this was a quick update, I am not going to post hands, but I am about to do a video, so be on the lookout for that.
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
A quick update
It has been a few days since I have posted, so I will post a quick update. Yesterday I finally got in the black for the month as far as cash games are concerned with and $808 day. Here are my results since my last post.
Since this was a quick update, I am not going to post hands, but I am about to do a video, so be on the lookout for that.
Since this was a quick update, I am not going to post hands, but I am about to do a video, so be on the lookout for that.
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Ship the $1/hand sesh!
Just got done with a 538 hand sesh in which I made $546, and EASILY could have made
700+. It is nice to finally run well, and I have nothing but high expectations for the rest of the month. I will post some hands below, but I want to discuss this swing a bit more. First off, I ran like shit. A player of my caliber (not saying that I am good, merely just a marginal 100nl winner) needs to run like shit to lose as much as I did in that period of time. However, I also played poorly throughout. I tried to make far too many plays, and couldn't find folds in spots that I should have been doing quite easily. I have always had difficulty folding. The ability to fold is really what sets us (winners) apart from losers. This statement is really quite obvious if you think about it. We have all had a million discussions in which we say how bad a player is, he never folds preflop. This concept doesn't just apply to preflop though. Folding goes against everything that is embedded in our psychological framework. As humans, we are naturally curious animals. Folding doesn't allow us to satisfy our curiosity. Furthermore, when we are playing poker, we want to do just that. We want to play, not withdraw. When I am playing like shit, I am simply not folding. I imagine a lot of you are the same.
On to some hands:
Villain in this one was pretty laggro/maniacish. I had 3 bet him a few times already, and since he only had $50 on the table, I simply wasn't folding to his shove. To be results oriented, I am crushing his range anyways, so it doesn't much matter.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1982480
Villain in this hand was a standard 16/12 tag with a high ag factor of 4. I decided to flat call the flop to give him some rope since he was very aggressive. I think that I got close to maxing value over the rest of the hand, but I probably could have bet a bit more on the river. I am not sure if checking this turn is best though and would like to hear some opinions on it.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1982482
This one was a little fancy, perhaps too much so, but I like to get sexy, and no one folds a boat.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1982488
This one was questionable, and possibly bad. Villain was 26/20 and I had been 3 betting him a bit. I could see him doing this with a pretty wide range from the button, but utg not so much. I pretty much let my emotions get the best of me in this one.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1982495
Villain is a pretty solid player here and I knew he was on exactly 8T. This line is so uber standard for me. Jared has got me milking with bigger hands, and it works a lot at 100. At 50 nl, people are sooooo bad that you can bet whatever size you want and still get action. On a side note, last night during a sweat sesh with Jared, it was remarkable how well he interpreted bet sizes. One thing that I realized is that as you move up, the more important being able to interpret bet sizes becomes.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1982495
Villain in this hand is like 36/8 and pretty bad. His play here is really really bad as he is a coinflip at best here.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1982508
Villain in the next two hands was some 18/13 tagfish swede. Calling a 3 bet with T7ss is just going to be trouble in this spot, he is lucky I played it like shit. This is a bad spot for me to induce a raise. I really need to be betting much more on both the flop and turn in retrospect.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1982515
Same villain, awful play by him. I am simply never playing a pot this big with JJ. Ever.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1982518
There are all of my winners, here are all of my big losers.
Villain in this one was another tagfish. I got him to put his money in as a 3:1 dog, but thank you turn.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1982519
This one may have been a bit on the aggro side. I basically ran into one of the worst hands possible. Oh well.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1982525
In all honesty, I played pretty well this sesh, but not fantastic. I don't like two hands out of this set. It feels damn good to finally run good for once though.
Ps, do you guys like the pokerhand.org format? I really would like to be able to figure out a way to show the actual hands here, but can't figure out a way to do that.
700+. It is nice to finally run well, and I have nothing but high expectations for the rest of the month. I will post some hands below, but I want to discuss this swing a bit more. First off, I ran like shit. A player of my caliber (not saying that I am good, merely just a marginal 100nl winner) needs to run like shit to lose as much as I did in that period of time. However, I also played poorly throughout. I tried to make far too many plays, and couldn't find folds in spots that I should have been doing quite easily. I have always had difficulty folding. The ability to fold is really what sets us (winners) apart from losers. This statement is really quite obvious if you think about it. We have all had a million discussions in which we say how bad a player is, he never folds preflop. This concept doesn't just apply to preflop though. Folding goes against everything that is embedded in our psychological framework. As humans, we are naturally curious animals. Folding doesn't allow us to satisfy our curiosity. Furthermore, when we are playing poker, we want to do just that. We want to play, not withdraw. When I am playing like shit, I am simply not folding. I imagine a lot of you are the same.
On to some hands:
Villain in this one was pretty laggro/maniacish. I had 3 bet him a few times already, and since he only had $50 on the table, I simply wasn't folding to his shove. To be results oriented, I am crushing his range anyways, so it doesn't much matter.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1982480
Villain in this hand was a standard 16/12 tag with a high ag factor of 4. I decided to flat call the flop to give him some rope since he was very aggressive. I think that I got close to maxing value over the rest of the hand, but I probably could have bet a bit more on the river. I am not sure if checking this turn is best though and would like to hear some opinions on it.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1982482
This one was a little fancy, perhaps too much so, but I like to get sexy, and no one folds a boat.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1982488
This one was questionable, and possibly bad. Villain was 26/20 and I had been 3 betting him a bit. I could see him doing this with a pretty wide range from the button, but utg not so much. I pretty much let my emotions get the best of me in this one.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1982495
Villain is a pretty solid player here and I knew he was on exactly 8T. This line is so uber standard for me. Jared has got me milking with bigger hands, and it works a lot at 100. At 50 nl, people are sooooo bad that you can bet whatever size you want and still get action. On a side note, last night during a sweat sesh with Jared, it was remarkable how well he interpreted bet sizes. One thing that I realized is that as you move up, the more important being able to interpret bet sizes becomes.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1982495
Villain in this hand is like 36/8 and pretty bad. His play here is really really bad as he is a coinflip at best here.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1982508
Villain in the next two hands was some 18/13 tagfish swede. Calling a 3 bet with T7ss is just going to be trouble in this spot, he is lucky I played it like shit. This is a bad spot for me to induce a raise. I really need to be betting much more on both the flop and turn in retrospect.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1982515
Same villain, awful play by him. I am simply never playing a pot this big with JJ. Ever.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1982518
There are all of my winners, here are all of my big losers.
Villain in this one was another tagfish. I got him to put his money in as a 3:1 dog, but thank you turn.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1982519
This one may have been a bit on the aggro side. I basically ran into one of the worst hands possible. Oh well.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1982525
In all honesty, I played pretty well this sesh, but not fantastic. I don't like two hands out of this set. It feels damn good to finally run good for once though.
Ps, do you guys like the pokerhand.org format? I really would like to be able to figure out a way to show the actual hands here, but can't figure out a way to do that.
Monday, January 21, 2008
Tourney night and coaching
Last night, I didn't play any cash. Just a buncha tourneys. I went deep in a few, cashed in 3 out of 7, and made like $30. The other big thing was that I got another coaching sesh from my friend Jared. Two sessions alone have prolly added 2 bb/100 to my earn. In nlhe, it really is easy to think that someone is making a move on you. Playing a solid patient game without any pizazz is going to make you the money in the long run. If you feel the need to be flashy, go buy some nice clothes with the money that you make from playing a standard abc poker game. I have school on wednesday so that means that tomorrow is a hw day, but I will post again on Thurs evening. Cyall then.
Friday, January 18, 2008
A few interestinng hands today
Ok guys, I am delivering. I will not discuss resluts, rather, I will discuss hands that i think I played well. Last night, my friend Jared did a sweat session of 2 tables of 100 6 max, and one table of 200 hu. Jared plays 25/50 and occasionally higher, and is up 240k this month which is obviously a monster month. Having him is an invaluable resource that I don't take advantage of enough. He does coach guys that play high stakes and charges $500/hr. It is a real treat to have that type of service for free even if it only happens once a month. Jared if you are reading this, I really do appreciate your help. Anyways, Jared is a VERY solid player. There is so much hype over the sexiness that is a lag style. However, most of the players who are making good money have accepted the fact that playing a lag style is VERY difficult to do. Also, people make sooo many mistakes. The style that Jared teaches is to just wait for mistakes. People will make them. You do not have to force mistakes, you do not have to always try to outplay. It is amazing how much money playing an abc game will make you. On to some hands:
This one was against a total laggro donk. It is nothing special, but that is kind of the theme of this post. It is also the biggest pot of the day.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1960360
Another hand against a laggro donk. I have been playing around with three betting small when strong. It has worked pretty well to this point, although this ape was getting it in regardless of how I bet it.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1960369
Yet another hand against a donk
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1960377
There were 5 pots that I won a buyin on last sesh, but the other two were ones that I won a coinflip with a big draw. Profit from poker really comes from playing against apes. At the lower stakes, the rake is so big that you really have no reason to be playing at a table full of tags. The rest of the hands are ones that I think I played particularly creatively. Have a look:
This hand comes from a hu session that I prolly had no business playing. The guy smoked me for $350. He definitely ran better, but I also called off $150 that I shouldn't have, so he played better as well. As far as him having an edge, it helped that he got up early and that likely gave him an edge over me as being up in a match is simply a huge edge in hu play as everyone plays better when they are winning (my favorite poker quote is Dan Harrington's "My edge over a weaker player when we are both having good luck is not nearly as big as it is when we are both having bad luck") Anyways, the flow of this match was that at this point, he had taken a few small pots off me, and had the momentum, but I had made a check raise bluff that he folded to about 10 hands earlier.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1960402
I actually ran pretty well in my first session, but lost most of the $500 that I was up back in a hu match. I so desperately want to play hu, but I can't afford to until I pull out of this tailspin. More later. Also, I would like feedback on what you guys like from this. In my previous blog, a lot of people liked that I was bluntly honest. The majority of you guys are from the study group, so I imagine you are looking for hands etc. Call me a whore, I tailor to what my readers want.
This one was against a total laggro donk. It is nothing special, but that is kind of the theme of this post. It is also the biggest pot of the day.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1960360
Another hand against a laggro donk. I have been playing around with three betting small when strong. It has worked pretty well to this point, although this ape was getting it in regardless of how I bet it.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1960369
Yet another hand against a donk
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1960377
There were 5 pots that I won a buyin on last sesh, but the other two were ones that I won a coinflip with a big draw. Profit from poker really comes from playing against apes. At the lower stakes, the rake is so big that you really have no reason to be playing at a table full of tags. The rest of the hands are ones that I think I played particularly creatively. Have a look:
This hand comes from a hu session that I prolly had no business playing. The guy smoked me for $350. He definitely ran better, but I also called off $150 that I shouldn't have, so he played better as well. As far as him having an edge, it helped that he got up early and that likely gave him an edge over me as being up in a match is simply a huge edge in hu play as everyone plays better when they are winning (my favorite poker quote is Dan Harrington's "My edge over a weaker player when we are both having good luck is not nearly as big as it is when we are both having bad luck") Anyways, the flow of this match was that at this point, he had taken a few small pots off me, and had the momentum, but I had made a check raise bluff that he folded to about 10 hands earlier.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1960402
I actually ran pretty well in my first session, but lost most of the $500 that I was up back in a hu match. I so desperately want to play hu, but I can't afford to until I pull out of this tailspin. More later. Also, I would like feedback on what you guys like from this. In my previous blog, a lot of people liked that I was bluntly honest. The majority of you guys are from the study group, so I imagine you are looking for hands etc. Call me a whore, I tailor to what my readers want.
Thursday, January 17, 2008
What I am focusing on.
As the few of you guys who read this know, I recently moved up to 100 nl from 50 nl. The biggest difference I noticed between the two levels is that most people at 100 nl (even fish) think about what their opponents have. Therefor, I have 3 things that I will make a conscious effort to do. They are listed as follows
1. Think on the second level at all times until villain proves he is not on the first level.
2. Factor my image into EVERY decision that I make
3. Think in terms of relative hand strength rather than absolute strength.
Points 1 and 2 are both pretty self explanatory to anyone who has played this game for any amount of time. The third may need a bit of explaining. One of my leaks is that I think in terms of absolute strength. A guy that I used to coach has a thread on ssnl on 2p2 about folding a set. When he showed me the thread I lol'd but after some thought, I like the fold that he made. He flopped a set of 3s on a 39T board in a multiway limped pot. One guy called in position and the turn came a 6 making the board 39T6. He bet into the guy, and the guy who was a regular tag that didn't get out of line raised him an amount that committed him. I thought that this was an fist pump because we have a set ldo (sorry for the 2p2 jargon.) The problem with this is that I was thinking in terms of absolute strength, not the strength of my hand relative to my opponents (which is really the name of the game.) Eventually I will turn this blog into a fun hand/results blog, but with the shit stretch I had I got away from that. From here on out, every post will be focusing on improving my game as it relates to these three things as I think these are the three things that will enable me to beat the midstakes.
1. Think on the second level at all times until villain proves he is not on the first level.
2. Factor my image into EVERY decision that I make
3. Think in terms of relative hand strength rather than absolute strength.
Points 1 and 2 are both pretty self explanatory to anyone who has played this game for any amount of time. The third may need a bit of explaining. One of my leaks is that I think in terms of absolute strength. A guy that I used to coach has a thread on ssnl on 2p2 about folding a set. When he showed me the thread I lol'd but after some thought, I like the fold that he made. He flopped a set of 3s on a 39T board in a multiway limped pot. One guy called in position and the turn came a 6 making the board 39T6. He bet into the guy, and the guy who was a regular tag that didn't get out of line raised him an amount that committed him. I thought that this was an fist pump because we have a set ldo (sorry for the 2p2 jargon.) The problem with this is that I was thinking in terms of absolute strength, not the strength of my hand relative to my opponents (which is really the name of the game.) Eventually I will turn this blog into a fun hand/results blog, but with the shit stretch I had I got away from that. From here on out, every post will be focusing on improving my game as it relates to these three things as I think these are the three things that will enable me to beat the midstakes.
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Another sweet fucking day
Fellas, I was hoping to have some interesting hands for you all as I hate focusing on the negative, but I feel sick to my stomach after that last session. No human being should have to endure what I am going through. I guess putting my life into perspective should help. I am healthy, and I live in a country where there is opportunity. I was not born into extreme poverty, and I have two parents that love each other as much today as they did on their wedding day. I am just going through a rough stretch right now. There are BILLIONS of people on this planet who would love to be in my situation but all I can think about is how miserable I am because of a stupid fucking game.
There, I needed that.
The negativity in this blog ends today. The next post I make will not focus on results. I am reading T. Angelo's book and there is some great advice in it. For those who haven't read it, it is titled Elements of poker. The book is 250 or so musings about poker written by one of the foremost experts in tilt control. The element that I am most fond of thus far is element 51, "object of the game." For those who haven't read it (I am doing this no justice, Tommy is a master of the English language) the summary is that the object of playing poker is to make money. That is why we get so wrapped up in winning or losing. If we change the object of the game to fold the most hands, or to talk the least of the group, we no longer get upset about making the right play. I have enough money to get by off of for the next few weeks. I have many friends that are able to loan me money if I go broke. I am by no means in financial trouble. I do not need the money (although it would help.) From now on, the object of every poker game I play in will be to make the correct decision regardless of how my emotions want me to play. If I can do this, I will win the game.
There, I needed that.
The negativity in this blog ends today. The next post I make will not focus on results. I am reading T. Angelo's book and there is some great advice in it. For those who haven't read it, it is titled Elements of poker. The book is 250 or so musings about poker written by one of the foremost experts in tilt control. The element that I am most fond of thus far is element 51, "object of the game." For those who haven't read it (I am doing this no justice, Tommy is a master of the English language) the summary is that the object of playing poker is to make money. That is why we get so wrapped up in winning or losing. If we change the object of the game to fold the most hands, or to talk the least of the group, we no longer get upset about making the right play. I have enough money to get by off of for the next few weeks. I have many friends that are able to loan me money if I go broke. I am by no means in financial trouble. I do not need the money (although it would help.) From now on, the object of every poker game I play in will be to make the correct decision regardless of how my emotions want me to play. If I can do this, I will win the game.
Monday, January 14, 2008
Im done for a bit
This month has been absolutely brutal. Here is my graph from 12/1-12/29 at 50 nl
I moved up on 12/29, and here is my graph since:
I have lost in 15 out of my last 18 sessions. I just need a break. School started last week and I am going to focus on that until Wednesday evening, and then likely get back into the grind on a new site for a bit (Prima). The games at prima are tougher than Tilt at 50 nl, but the 50 nl is not as tough as 100 nl on tilt, and the extra rakeback will be nice. That's all I have for today. I hate being so negative in my first two posts, but it is pretty difficult to be upbeat given the way my month has shaped up.
I moved up on 12/29, and here is my graph since:
I have lost in 15 out of my last 18 sessions. I just need a break. School started last week and I am going to focus on that until Wednesday evening, and then likely get back into the grind on a new site for a bit (Prima). The games at prima are tougher than Tilt at 50 nl, but the 50 nl is not as tough as 100 nl on tilt, and the extra rakeback will be nice. That's all I have for today. I hate being so negative in my first two posts, but it is pretty difficult to be upbeat given the way my month has shaped up.
Thursday, January 10, 2008
It has been a really shitty new year.
As I type this, I am currently in the middle of my biggest downswing ever that is mostly 100 nl, and a little bit of 50 nl.
There has been some tilt involved, and some poor play, but for the most part it has been just pure shit. I can't get payed when I have a hand, when I do get money in, I am usually second best, whenever I make a bluff, they have the nuts, and of course, everyone is flopping sets on me. Either way, the only thing that I can do is to keep on playing my game. Here are all of the big pots that I lost tonight.
Undersets are the nuts
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1923552
This little gem was great. Villain was something like 22/18. I really hate his call here. My range for 4 betting is exactly AK, AA, KK. That doesn't bode well for him.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1923559
Here is another cooler. When I saw his hand flip, I didn't think I was in bad shape, but poker stove disagreed. I am actually a 2:1 dog in this situation.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1923568
This hand was tilt. I had a similar hand last night when I got raised on a KTTddh flop holding AK in a multiway pot, and we decided a fold was definitely the best option. I was stuck $300 at this point, and after this run it got to me considering that I had been playing well up to this point.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1923583
This one was probably the only hand that I didn't like. The button in this hand had squeezed every single opportunity possible to the point where the next time I had a big hand pre and someone raised before I was 100% going to flat call.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1923597
Villain in this hand was awful at something like 50/12/2. In retrospect, I think that the turn is a fold, but I am not too pissed about it as I definitely made sklansky bucks from him since he only won $75 instead of the $110 necesarry to break even.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1923602
Finally, this one is my pride and joy. Last week, I go broke here. This week, I save $50
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1923609
Net results on the session 760 hands -$444. On a happier note, I just got Krantz' DVD and Tommy Angelo's new book in the mail. Both are excellent and I highly recommend checking out http://www.professionalpoker.com if you are interested in getting them as he is the best in the business. I have used him numerous times and his service is outstanding. I will prolly play a few more sessions tonight, but for now I am going to take it easy for an hour or two just to gather my thoughts together.
There has been some tilt involved, and some poor play, but for the most part it has been just pure shit. I can't get payed when I have a hand, when I do get money in, I am usually second best, whenever I make a bluff, they have the nuts, and of course, everyone is flopping sets on me. Either way, the only thing that I can do is to keep on playing my game. Here are all of the big pots that I lost tonight.
Undersets are the nuts
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1923552
This little gem was great. Villain was something like 22/18. I really hate his call here. My range for 4 betting is exactly AK, AA, KK. That doesn't bode well for him.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1923559
Here is another cooler. When I saw his hand flip, I didn't think I was in bad shape, but poker stove disagreed. I am actually a 2:1 dog in this situation.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1923568
This hand was tilt. I had a similar hand last night when I got raised on a KTTddh flop holding AK in a multiway pot, and we decided a fold was definitely the best option. I was stuck $300 at this point, and after this run it got to me considering that I had been playing well up to this point.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1923583
This one was probably the only hand that I didn't like. The button in this hand had squeezed every single opportunity possible to the point where the next time I had a big hand pre and someone raised before I was 100% going to flat call.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1923597
Villain in this hand was awful at something like 50/12/2. In retrospect, I think that the turn is a fold, but I am not too pissed about it as I definitely made sklansky bucks from him since he only won $75 instead of the $110 necesarry to break even.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1923602
Finally, this one is my pride and joy. Last week, I go broke here. This week, I save $50
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1923609
Net results on the session 760 hands -$444. On a happier note, I just got Krantz' DVD and Tommy Angelo's new book in the mail. Both are excellent and I highly recommend checking out http://www.professionalpoker.com if you are interested in getting them as he is the best in the business. I have used him numerous times and his service is outstanding. I will prolly play a few more sessions tonight, but for now I am going to take it easy for an hour or two just to gather my thoughts together.
Wednesday, January 9, 2008
Welcome all
I don't have a ton of time to post anything lengthy, but since I am so long winded and I love to talk about myself (who doesn't) I will likely make a big long introductory post here later this evening after I have played a session tonight. This is the second blog that I have made. The first ended when I ended my attempt at life as a professional poker player (I will post my poker story in the aforementioned long winded post.) This one was started when I found out that I had a free $10 sitting in my ub account last August. I posted in unl on 2p2 about how I intended to turn the $10 into $2k and become rolled for $100 nl again, but I got lazy, and that never ended up writing about it even though I eventually turned the $10 into more than $2k. This blog is now dedicated to a study group that I recently joined, and I may or may not release it to more people as I had a pretty big following in my original blog.
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