A Poker Education

Down Week but Lessons Learned

2010-02-03T18:46:00.002-05:00

Last week was a down week and I took some beatings at the cash table. I started to read Gus Hanson's book "Every Hand Revealed" and I became too aggressive. The book is geared toward tournament play and I tried to take advantage of some small edges in a cash game and was significantly burned. There was one person who sucked out on me for one buy in but I have no one else to blame for the other significant losses. Many times I was pot committed with outs and never hit. I need to slow down a little bit and make sure the pots don't get too big. I need to slow down on my continuation bets and pick and choose where they make the most sense.

My tournament play seems to be hot and cold. I seemed to play in several tournies but did not place in many of them. With that being said, the ones I did place in were usually wins or 2nd place. The biggest bonus was cashing in the $200K Double Deuce on Sunday afternoon. I finished in about 1,300th place of about 16,000 runners. It was only $45 on a $20 buy in but I played well even though I was card dead for the majority of my time. There were a couple of times when I was shortstacked that I doubled up and we all know that those types of situation are typically coin flips at best. On the last hand I had a guy with a stack just a little smaller than mine go all in. I had AJo and pushed. I felt pretty good about my hand but I became instantly depressed when the guy next to me went all in. He had KK and another King on the turn sealed my fate. BTW - the guy I raised had KQ so I was ahead of him ... good call, bad result.

Cash Wins? Who, ME? Whatta Ya Know!

2010-01-18T08:07:00.003-05:00

I played quite a bit this weekend trying to relax and a funny thing happened ... I actually did well playing cash! And in a reversal of fortune, I played 5 tournaments and did not cash in any of them.

Let's talk about the tourney first. I played in two $5 MTTs, two $11 MTTs and I decided that I was going to start playing in at least one $26 MTT each week. The only one worth mentioning is the $26 MTT. I was card dead for most of the first 90 minutes. It was a Double Stack tourney so I started with T3000 chips. At the end of the first 90 minutes I had one a couple small pots and lost a little bit so I was hovering around my starting chip count. The blinds started to take their toll and before I knew it I was way down. Then I started to pick up some hands and before I knew it I was at T7000 chips and feeling like I was making a move. I picked up JJ two in back of the button, raised to T1200 and was promptly reraised by the guy behind me who has a lot of chips. At this point I figure that I am ahead and, worst case scenario, I am in a race. I go all in and he calls. AK vs JJ ... yup, you guessed it. Ace comes on the turn and am I sent to the rail 939th out of 3,637. The top 380 got paid so I needed to make a move if I was going to cash. Picking up JJ is as good a spot as any. Overall, I am not disappointed in my play but I really want to go deep in one of these $26 tourneys.

My cash play is another story. I can't get over how much easier NL25 is than NL01 or NL05. I guess the nits at NL01 and 05 are just really bad and I thoroughly enjoyed moving up to NL25. I made $163 this week playing NL25 and I am confident that a) the play is inferior to NL01 and NL05 and b) I am more comfortable where I stand. Two things that I seem to be more conscious of lately. First, I seem to be more aware of position - I am analyzing position when deciding whether or not to come in or open and I am also more aware as play continues. I make sure that I am betting when it is checked around to me in position.

I managed to win several large hands over the week and most came at the expense of players with really bad stats. I am learning that table selection does not necessarily mean "finding a table with a bunch of losers" ... it is sufficient to find a table with one loser. Just avoid getting into big hands with competent players with big stacks and pick on the guy who is calling down every hand.

As it relates to my progress, I added $240 to my account this week. I had not added $50 per month for 3 months so I added $150 to catch up (remembering that my intent was to add $50 to my online bankroll at the outset of each month). Also, I added $90 that I won when I played at Choctaw a couple of weeks ago. I actually should add another $30-40 because I played in home games twice over the last couple of months and walked away with about $25 from the game that Kent plays in and another $10-15 from a game in Edenham. I may add that additional bank on 2/1 ... truth is, I just forgot.

Played Well ... Nothing to Show

2010-01-16T16:01:00.003-05:00

As is typical with poker, I feel like I played 4 MTT SNGs well but have nothing to show for it. Of the 4 tournaments, I was in the top 3 for the majority of the time. Unfortunately, I came across a bad situation. For example, I got it all in with the best of it ... KK vs AQ. He hit his 3 outer to knock me out. With that being said, I did make a questionable call with JJ. Guy with good stats raised to 3X BB and I raised. He went all in ... sure sign that I am behind especially if you consider his stats. I called and hit a Jack on the flop ... unfortunately, the other two cards were aces. He hit 4 of a kind on the flop. Truth is, I never should have gone to the flop. Ended up losing $11 x 2 and $5.50 x 2 ... $33. That is all the money that I won playing cash last night so over the last two days I am even.

Uhhhh ... Anyone Home?

2010-01-16T13:06:00.002-05:00

Have still been removed from the online poker scene although I have got away and played live a couple of times. I played at Choctaw in southern OK most recently. I got there a little late and was put on a wait list for the 7:30 tournament which only has enough runners for 1 table. I sat at a cash table and proceeded to win $60 pretty quickly playing $1/$2. Now I am free-rolling in the tournament. I sit down and win a couple of pretty big hands quickly. Before I know it I am the chip leader and we are 4 handed. Unfortunately, I knock heads with the guy whose chip stack is a little smaller than mine (we are dominating the other two players). I have JJ and the flop comes 89J. I check and he bets. I call with a plan to slow play. The turn is the worst card possible for me as it is a Q. I still think I am OK because the guy called a pretty big raise pre-flop so I think the only hand he can call with that beats me is TT. He bets big on the turn and I am now concerned. I am hoping he has a lower set or maybe flopped two pair so I call. The river is a blank and he goes all in. I am pretty sure he has a 10 now but I make the call. Sure enough, he has TT and I am decimated. I only last a few more hands and go out on the bubble. I head back to the cash game and get put on a waitlist. I proceed to blow $60 at the roulette table and then head back to the game. I play for a couple hours and turn $200 into $350 - net $90 for the night. Could and should have been much more had I cashed in the tourney. I should know better than to mix it up with big stacks when we are on the bubble.

Regarding my plan - I am re-motivated now that I see the WSOP '10 schedule posted. My initial plan was to play one $1,500 tourney but now I see that they have 5 or 6 $1,000 tourneys planned and they will also have daily $550 non-bracelet tournaments. I may bypass the plan to play in the Venetian DSE tourneys if these $550 tourneys get as many runners. I have been reading that all the fish are at the WSOP and the skilled players are at the Venetian ... I would rather play with the fish.

Some other things I have read that get me excited.

- All the tourneys will be in two large ballrooms. I was always concerned that my WSOP experience would be diminished if I ended up in some small ballroom. I want to be in the middle of it all.

- Nightly tournaments at 7 and 11. These are probably going to be $100-like tourneys and might be nice if I get knocked out of a larger tourney.

- Expanded capacity - there will be 20% more tables than last year and I am guessing that this is because of the increased number of $1,000 tourneys.

I am starting the planning now and will be booking a hotel room shortly. As it relates to the online bankroll funding my trip ... I'll do my best to raise the $1,200 or so I have now to $5,000. I am going though ... regardless of the balance in May/June!

All Work and No Poker Makes Chris ... Sad!

2009-11-19T10:14:00.002-05:00

The acquisition of Perot Systems by Dell has made my world crazy. A financial windfall has made it difficult a) to find time to play, and b)for me to play for small stakes. With that being said, I understand that this little experiment has raised my game considerably and I committed to getting back on track. The cold weather is rolling in, my two projects have wrapped up and kid's activities have slowed to a crawl - time to get back into this.

As for the last week, it is easy to see that the time off has impacted my play. I got crushed in a couple of $0.50/1.00 cash games and a rivered full house is the only thing that saved me from losing well over $100. I am alternating between $10 and $5 SNGs. I still feel most comfortable in these games but the $10 games are twice as tough.

Back in the saddle and ready to roll!

Missing in Action - But Doubled Up the BR!

2009-10-11T13:25:00.003-04:00

With my company being acquire by Dell and my work schedule being crazy I have failed to get any significant play in at all. With that being said, I mentioned early on that if I played any poker that was not online then I would pay for entry fees with non-bankroll dollars but put any winnings toward my bankroll. Well, I headed to Mohegan Sun last week while I was in Boston for business and managed a 3rd place in a $125 buy-in Bounty Tournament. Between the payout and 4 bounties I netted $500. Giddyup! That doubles up my bankroll. I also 4-tabled 9-person $5 SNGs on my flight back and ended up with 2 firsts and a second. I am playing well and although the cards seem to be hitting I also think that my play has significantly improved. My bankroll is now in excess of $1,000 and I am feeling pretty good about my goal of $5,000 by June 2010!

No Play, No Pay

2009-09-21T07:39:00.003-04:00

Work is crushing me right now and I am not able to get any time in at the tables. This week I managed to play 182 hands in just one session of cash winning $13.76 and I played in 9 SNGs (single and multi-table) losing $4.50. I don't see work letting up over the next 3 or 4 weeks so I think my play will be down.

The lack of play caused me to ponder my progress to date and evaluate how much time I had left. I started my challenge 15 weeks ago. It does not seem like I have been going that long and I am once again beginning to question my ability to meet the goal of $5,000 by June of next year. I have to get more play in and after work slows down I am going to try and play more in the evenings. Also, if I am traveling to Dallas I will only play in bar league games once per week.

I Never Remember When I Win With Kings … But Losing? Oh, Yes!

2009-09-11T08:19:00.000-04:00

Decided to celebrate the 4th anniversary of my 39th birthday with a trip to Mohegan Sun for a $100 NLHE Bounty tournament. It was a $60 entry fee, $15 juice and a $25 bounty. I started out well when I hit a set of 9s over a set of 8s in the 2nd blind level but, alas, that would be my last decent win in a short night. It didn’t take long for me to take notice of 3 individuals at the table. I was in seat 6 and the guy to my left kept raising but when he was called down he always showed the goods. This guy ended up getting pocket aces 3 times in my hour and 45 minutes at the table. The guy in seat 9 was majorly tight and he laid down Jacks when faced with a big bet. The third villain (in seat 4) ended up being my nemesis. He was a middle-aged guy who wanted to be everyone’s friend but annoyed me more than anything. He would bet and someone would call and he would say “how much do I have to bet to get you to lay down your AQ”? He was one of those guys who play a lot of hands and he probably does so because he felt like he could outplay anyone at the table post flop. Well, he wasn’t succeeding but still had a decent stack when he opened for $650 when the blinds were 100/200. I look down at KK and I figure that he would not have bet that big if had AA so I figured he had TT or JJ and just wanted to take the pot down. I decided to call knowing I would be ahead but also knowing that it was a significant portion of my stack. He turns over A6o and I don’t know what to think. He has no flush or straight possibilities so I count him for 3 outs. The flop comes 3,5,7 and I grimace. He just picked up a gut shot out and, sure enough, here comes the effin 4 on the turn. I am now drawing dead and he makes some half-hearted apology but I just say in my most disgusted tone, “nice hand sir”. I am out after a couple more revolutions when I pick up A6 spades. After a couple limpers I raise. It chases everyone but one guy. The flop hits 2 spades and an Ace. I bet out the pot and I get a caller. I now know that he has an ace and it is likely bigger but I don’t have him on AK-AJ or I would have anticipated a raise from him. I figure if he has A7-AT then I can chase him by going all in. I figure I am behind but I have 9 spade outs as well as the three 6 outs. Unfortunately, he calls and shows A9. I am gone.

I thought I played well but a suckout and a semi-bluff that did not work was my downfall. Quite honestly, I am not sure I would have played any hand differently so I am not too upset.

Best Week Yet but Still Cash Holes!

2009-09-07T18:22:00.002-04:00

This was a good week. I did not get to play much during the week as work has been pretty crazy but the long holiday weekend and a light home calendar allowed me to get some play in. I played just under 1,000 hands in tournament play (total of 10 sessions) and netted a total of $71 including two first place finishes; one for $85.50 and another for $22.50. I thought I played well and actually finished first in two tournaments, 2nd in another and was literally the bubble boy in 3 others.

The Cash Game action was up and down. I was down $20.53 for the week (playing strictly 25NL) but I had some tables where I stacked off multiple players but, unfortunately, there were other tables where villains stacked me off. I was down $34 on one table and $37 on another. There were other tables where I ended up $10, $16 and $26. There were a couple hands that I would love to take back. One I had AQ on a Axx board and bet big. Villain goes all in and I tank. I know he has AK but I call anyway ... sure enough, AK and I stack him off. Not sure what possessed me to call. There was another hand that I played poorly on the River. I have JTh and the turn gives me Jacks and a flush draw. The River spikes another Jack and villain bets $4. The minute I raised All In I thought to myself that the board paired and I could have just called. Sure enough, the villain had trips Aces all along and hit his full house with the second Jack ... I stacked him off for $25 ... ARGH! These are the hands that I have to get away from.

Overall, a pretty good week and I am real happy with my tournament results. When I get knocked out it is typically because I am ahead when I get my money in. I wish I could say the same for the cash game action!

Limited Play; Decent Results

2009-09-02T08:41:00.001-04:00

I did not get to play much this week. I had jury duty all week and needed to catch up on work in the evenings. Saturday was busy as well so I really did not get a chance to put time in until Sunday. I did pretty well in cash games and was up $8.41 from 8 cash sessions. I would have been up another $10 but my Kings ran into Aces pre-flop. The villain raised 3xBB and I re-raised him. He went all-in and I just KNEW he had aces but I called anyway. I had just sat down at the table so that was $10 that I kissed good bye. I need to be able to get away from KK in that situation.

Tournament play did not go well until I finished 6th in a 180 person SNG. I have tried to multi-table tournaments and I am finding that this is more difficult than cash games. It is more important to understand the individual players in a tournament and take advantage of loose callers. Time is limited in a tournament so you can’t play ABC poker or you’ll be out before you know it. I played a total of 12 SNGs and tourneys amounting to $24.50 in buy-ins. I cashed in 2 and won $26.28 for a net gain of $1.78.

I received a $125 check from Jury Duty so I am going to use that to a) buy Poker Tracker (the trial period ends this week), and b) supplement my monthly bankroll addition. I will add the standard $50 monthly amount plus the extra $35 from Jury Duty. This will bring my bankroll up to $385.

Finally, I am going to move up in the SNG and ring game levels. I plan to start playing $5 tourneys and SNGs but I will not play more than 2 at a time. Also, I am going to start playing 2 tables of $0.05/0.10 and 2 tables of $0.10/0.25. This will mean that I will sit down with $20 on the 10NL tables and $50 on the 25NL tables. This is a little bit of a stretch for my bankroll but I have to start putting more at risk if I am going to make my goal. If I start to lose then I will go back down to 10NL .

Bad Week - Holes in My Game

2009-08-25T18:30:00.004-04:00

I had a bad week on the virtual felt and ended up down $0.72 for the week. Truth is, I cleared another $10 of bonus this week so I was really down $10.72. I gave away quite a bit of money in cash and was up and down in tournaments. I won $10.05 but my ROI was only 10%. I was up but I played in 28 tournaments and only cashed in 10. As it relates to ring games, I was down about $20. I am getting REAL impatient with my ring game progress and I am learning that I get very frustrated and tilt more easily. I have a tendency of staying at a table because I do not want to have a losing session. If I am down then I continue to press hoping to get back in the black. I need to move away from this tendency.

Also, I seem to be having a real problem with continuation bets. I never win the pot when I make a continuation bet. I am finding that even if I am in late position that a 75% c-bet rarely takes down the pot. I am going to move towards a strategy of ONLY c-betting when I have a pair or a strong drawing hand. I hate to check when it is checked around to me in last position but I keep getting burned on these hands.

Also, I am going to move more towards a strategy of going after other players stacks. If I play a flop and miss then I don't need to win the pot. Save it for another hand. If I hit then I need to start concentrating more on value. Just like when I c-bet and get callers I need to c-bet when I hit so that I get a caller or two. This will build the pot and make my strong hands more profitable. I don't need to be sneaky in .05/.10 because I will always get callers.

Bar League Poker

2009-08-14T10:16:00.002-04:00

In Dallas on business and decided to try to win one of two $225 freeroll events at the End Zone in Plano. I have learned that the rapidly escalating blinds in these types of tournaments require that you play tight but also take advantage of any thin advantages and risk a lot. If I feel like I am 51/49 then I should be prepared to put it all on the line. This worked for me in the first session as there were times when I felt strongly that I was ahead and made large bets that I knew would be called. There were no suckouts and I finished in 4th place out of about 80 runners. The 2nd tournament was underway when we were 4 handed and I was short stacks. We decided to chop and I took home $20. Not a big score but I would have been happy to play 5/10NL in my hotel room and make $20.

I played well in the 2nd session but I was tired and probably got a little sloppy at the end. I finished 16th out of approximately 80 people.

I am finding it increasingly difficult to play these league games now that I am multi-tabling online ... it is SOOOOOO slow. Especially in Dallas where they only allow one deck of cards on the table at a time.

Bad Weekend for Cash

2009-08-10T08:41:00.003-04:00

After starting out so strong on Friday night I absolutely bombed on the cash tables on Saturday and Sunday. I was down $36.36 for the worst stretch since I began this little adventure. The most troubling aspect is that I went on tilt a couple of times and threw money away on draws trying to "catch up".

I lost $10 on one hand and it was frought with mistakes:

I am dealt 56h in early position and decide to limp (MISTAKE 1). There is a raise by a loose Brit on my left ... $0.40 to go ... there are two callers after him and I call (probably MISTAKE 2). This may not have been a bad call as suited connectors could hit and I might make a good bit of money. Alternatively, it could get me in a lot of trouble.

Flop comes 2h Ah 4s. I hit a flush draw and a gutshot straight draw. I check and the Brit bets out $1.75. I have been playing with him for quite a few hands and I guess he has a mediocre to good Ace so my flush and straight draws should be good for a win. There is another caller from a tight aggressive player and it puts him all in. I don't imagine he is going to go all in on a flush draw and figure that he is on a big Ace. Now there is $5.25 in the pot and it costs me $1.75 to call. I have 13 outs which puts me at about 48% to hit. I call - probably not a mistake but it feels like it now. The turn comes and it is a 6c giving me a pair. Assuming that he is still on a pair of aces I just gained 5 more outs. There is the remaining two 6's to give me a set and there is any of the 3 remaining 5's to give me two pair. I don't think two pair will beat the other guy but I am not sure. I check and the Brit bets $7. I now have 18 outs and with one card to come I am about 39% to hit and it will cost me 50% to see the river ... guess what I do ... yup, I raise all-in. This is an absolutely stupid bet because he is pot committed and of course he is going to call. So now I just made things worse.

Of course, the River is a blank and I just donked off an entire buy-in. I was right on the villain ... he ended up with a pair of aces 9-high. The other guy had KQh and I was behind him the entire time. I have GOT to start getting away from hands that a) are speculative and can get me into trouble, and b) are -EV after the flop, turn or river. Also, I can't count full outs when I have the low end of a flush or straight - I was behind on my flush draw.

This is just one extreme example of some very pooly played hands this weekend. I have GOT to smarten up if I am ever going to hit my goals.

Went Fishing Last Night ... Caught a Big One!

2009-08-06T09:02:00.006-04:00

I had a breakthrough in my cash game play last night. I started 4 tabling for the first time and was doing pretty good. One of the benefits of 4 tabling is that you are typically always in a hand. If I am playing below a 20 VP$IP then there are lulls but they do not last long at all. One of the problems I was having was that when I tiled my windows the tables were small and the PT stats were taking up most of the windows. I tried to fix it while I was playing but I was getting distracted. I logged off of those tables and, combined, I was up almost $5. I then started monkeying with Pokertracker and needed to log onto a table to see how it looked. When I sat down I really wasn't paying much attention to what was going on but soon I noticed that the guy on my left kept raising people. I looked at his stats and after 10 hands he had not folded once. I thought "hmmm, I should pay attention to what is happening here". I was also surprised to see that this fish had over $28 on a table where the most you could sit down with is $10.

I put away thoughts of "I'm sure he will suck out on me to" and started to think back to all the information I read about wanting to have this guy at your table and, in the long run, these fish will pay off. So I sat there and waited for that special hand.

I was in several hands with him but it was either because it was checked around to me in the big blind or I had a speculative starting hand that could get his stack if I hit (e.g., suited connectors, Ax suited, pairs that I could set mine). Nothing was hitting and I kept thinking "patience, Chris, patience". Well they say that lightning never strikes twice in the same place but it did for YOYOMA69. He got zapped by pocket aces two hands in a row.

In the first hand I raised and he re-raised me. I decided this was my chance and I went all in. He snap calls and turns over KQc. I wasn't expecting him to wake up with a hand this good ... they're suited and they're connected and they are the perfect candidate to crack aces. I have to sweat it out because the flop comes with a club and the turn hits one as well. Fortunately, the river is a blank and I double up.

The very next hand I find aces again. Knowing that this player thinks about the wrong kind of odds (for example, he was probably thinking "what are the odds that this guy could beat me two times in a row") I decide to bet heavy and pop it to $0.70 or 7x the BB. Sure enough, he wastes little time and proceeds to re-raise me to $1.30. Knowing that he is probably raising with ANY hand and it's not likely he can get away from the hand considering he is probably on major tilt from the previous debacle I go all in. He insta-calls with 10-5s and is probably screaming at the computer when I turn over aces again. Although his cards are not connected, I am concerned that he has two spades. He hits a 5 on the flop (with 2 Kings) and I begin to realize that no matter how much you have someone dominated it's never easy. Fortunately, the turn and river provide him no help and take the rest of his stack. In one hour I went from $10 to $25 ... thank you YOYOMA69!

Oh, and I released the first $10 of my $100 bonus. Unfortunately, it took 5 days to earn out 10% of my bonus. At this rate I will only release $60. Considering that I have started to play 4 tables I think there is a chance that I could release $70-80. I just need to concentrate on cash games and make sure that I am not playing irresponsibly just to earn bonus.

Article on Bankroll Management

2009-08-04T15:41:00.002-04:00

I want to make sure I bookmark this article on Bankroll Management. Here is a good section from the article and one that I need to keep in mind:

You want it back to where it was and you want it back immediately. As soon as you have that thought, you've started "chasing your losses." You're going to start forcing your play to get back to where you think you should be.

This can be the first step towards total self destruction. Typically in poker, making money is a slow grind, and losing money is a quick drop.

If you're watching your balance, you'll fall into the depression of "a week's work lost" or "It will take me a week to get back what I just lost in an hour."

The only way to get it back fast is to jump limits and take a shot at a big score.

There was also an article that I read earlier and there was the following statement:

In a No-Limit game, you want to call pairs and A-x suited on small raises so that when you do hit a hand you can potentially get their all-in or close to it.

I want to follow up on 2+2 to determine other people's response to this theorem.

Up and Down Weekend

2009-08-03T18:14:00.003-04:00

I tried to concentrate on Cash Games this weekend as I just received a $100 bonus and I am trying to earn as many FTP points as possible to clear as much as possible between now and the end of the month.

I have moved to two-tabling 5/10 NL. I took some advice from 2+2 and moved from 1/2 NL as it really isn't teaching me anything other than how to get sucked out on by bad poker players. It seems so far that 5/10 is much more sane and there are fewer players to the flop.

I have now played 1,121 hands of 5/10 NL and I am down $0.13. Overall, from a cash game perspective I am down $4.02. This is frustrating as I am making no headway towards my goal. I know I am learning and the win rate will improve but I was hoping for faster progress.

Stupid hand of the week: Losing $5 because I could not get away from pocket aces on a J-Q-K flop and turn of Q and river a 2. Lost to K-Q hitting his full house on the turn. I'm such an idiot!

First Big Breakthrough!

2009-07-30T09:19:00.001-04:00

I entered the Daily Dollar last night and lasted 10 hands … the killer was losing a big pot to set over set. So rather than getting discouraged I entered a $2 180-person SNG that was almost full. I played very tight and moderately aggressive and before I knew it I was in the money. I won a couple of big pots after that and after 4.5 hours I finished in 2nd place for $61.20. This was my first foray into the $2 range and I found the game to have the usual mix of donkeys, loose aggressives (still don’t really know how to play them effectively – they steal from me a lot) and good players. It was evident that tight prevails as my last few tables were filled with players with a V$PIP of less than 20 (including me). I am also learning to lay down 2nd best hand and to believe people. One of my biggest leaks has been calling BS on post-flop raises (especially from the loose-aggressive type). These calls have cost me money in the long run. I was laying down TPTK on more than one occasion last night and put it out of my head. There was also a hand where I called a min-raise with 3d4d. The flop came 5d-Js-7d giving me a gutshot straight and flush draws (12 outs). I led out with a $600 bet into a $1,100 pot and the villain re-raises to $1,400. At this point there is now $3,100 in the pot and it only costs me another $800 so I call. I have him on a big pocket pair so I assume that I will win if my flush or straight come home as he is not likely to improve. I hit the turn when a 6s falls giving me a straight. I check and villain bets $1,800 to put me all in. I call and he begins to call me all sorts of names when he sees that I called his pre-flop raise and his re-raise on the flop. The call on the flop was questionable but I played that hand well from that point forward. I doubled up and was on my way to a 2nd place finish!

Good Week

2009-07-28T00:08:00.001-04:00

I had a pretty good week and weekend compared to recent results. Although I did not have the opportunity to play as much as I would have liked I still managed to build my bankroll by almost $10.

Tournaments: I played in 6 SNGs and cashed in 5 of them for total buy-in of $8.75 and winnings of $16.83 (net of $8.08) and played the Daily Dollar twice and finished out of the money in each one.

Cash: I sat at a total of 8 tables and made $3.50. I had 2 losing tables but limited my losses to $0.50, $0.57 and $0.26. Much better results but I still need to work on getting my VPIP down below 20 when I play. My Cash stats for the week: 22.99/13.34/3.85 over 622 hands. This area is definitely improving and I even started to experiment with multi-tabling 2 cash and 1 tournament.

This week I am going to move towards $2 buy-ins on SNGs and multi-tabling the cash games. If I am playing fewer hands (like I am supposed to be doing) then multi-tabling 3 cash games at a time should not be a problem.

Questioning the Reasonableness of my Goal

2009-07-21T10:16:00.000-04:00

After a weekend of playing online poker I am beginning to question my sanity as well as the reasonableness of my goals. I spent many hours playing poker and ended up down approximately $2. I was down almost $4 in cash games (even with my newly discovered strategy involving a tighter range of opening hands and more aggressive raising). The tournaments don’t seem to be going as bad and I have made marginal cashes in some of the 5 FTP point tournaments.

In post session review I am finding that I am stacking people off when they have a better hand than my perceived monster. Over the weekend my biggest losing hands were as follows:

JJ ($-1.28)
AKo ($-0.97)
AKs (-$-0.38)
KK ($-0.36)
KK ($-1.12)
KQo ($-1.00)
JJ ($-0.36)
ATo ($-2.03 – flopped 2 pair – villain had case Aces for set)

These 8 hands add up to $7.50 in losses. ARGH! I guess I need to learn to get away from great starting hands if either a) someone is betting like they have a better hand or b) the board is textured such that my hand has lost value. I need to research it but I assume that I should not be shipping my stack in unless I have the nuts or 2nd nuts at a minimum (regardless of the villain and his/her stats).

Although I wanted to move towards multi-tabling more than 2 cash games this week, I think I will hold out another week and see if I can’t log some winning sessions. Also, other than the Daily Dollar, I think I will take a break from the SNGs and MTTs and try and improve the cash game skills this week.

Interesting Saturday

2009-07-19T09:34:00.002-04:00

Played online for several hours on Saturday. Started out slow and then finished strong but ended up about even for the day. I was playing a cash game with my new uber-tight/aggressive style and was not finding myself in situations where I could capitalize on the fish. I finally came across a fish that had been calling people down with crap hands and hitting 2-outers on the river. I pick up A-10 and the flop comes A-10-7. I bet the pot which is $0.54 and he raises to $1.14. I am not the least bit nervous about what he has so I plop him again and go all-in. Well, this is proof that even a fish can pick up a hand - he has the nut set of aces. So I played this session well over 2 hours and played very conservatively and the lose the whole wad in one hand to a fish - ARGH.

Played in a 45 person SNG towards the end of the day and placed 4th for $4.50.

Played in the tough McPherson Beach game last name. There are some really good players in this game and I always go in a little bit intimidated. I can tell that I have brought my game to a new level because I found myself outplaying many of the players. I also had the benefit of having this guy Ted on my right and he is an ultra-aggressive stud. It was great having him on my right and I actually stole some pots from him. He made two comments that told me volumes about my game: 1) I made a point about stealing and he said "like you've been doing to me all night", and 2) I re-raised him and he said "I have to lay down because I have no idea where I am against you".

I made the final table and was probably 6th or 7th in chip stack. My strategy was to play ultra tight and if I get blinded away then maybe I could finish in 5th place and cash. After about 1 revolution I picked up Cowboys in late position and bet 3x BB. The BB re-raises me to put me all in. I wanted to extract value from this hand but I certainly did not want to put all my chips at risk but the book says call. I call and I have him dominated KK vs. 77. He looks dejected and even says "I'm dominated". Sure enough, the flop gives him a gutshot straight draw and hits his 8 on the river for the straight and I am sent to the rail in 9th place. If that hand holds up then I am probably 3rd in chips and have a good stack to work with. I guess that's the nature of poker but I am sick of always being on the bad end of the luck scale ... let's see what happens today!

Random Musings

2009-07-17T11:22:00.005-04:00

1. I have been reading the poker rags and found some interesting articles that have provided me a learning opportunity. Some of it is probably best categorized as "I knew that but its good to be reminded and concentrate on it".

- An article in Bluff talks about the 5 levels of Excellence: 1) Unconscious Incompetence (overplays mediocre hands, calls down with long shots), 2) Conscious Incompetence (understands that there are gaping holes but puts in the time and effort to improve, 3) Conscious Competence (understands that the practice could lead to success and has mid-level tournament finishes or low limit cash game wins), 4) Unconscious Excellence (results are consistently good with little analysis - many poker stars are at this level), 5) Conscious Excellence (playing long winning sessions with great results and no loss of concentration - elite poker stars like Ivey)

- I believe that I am a Level 2 heading towards Level 3. Ideally, I am at Level 3 heading towards Level 4 at this time next year.

- Small and Medium Pocket Pair Article - A couple of good points here regarding set mining - 1) set mining does not necessarily mean fold if you miss the flop - it is important to remember that seeing another card could lead to a huge pot if you hit one of your two-outers - take into account actual and implied odds, 2) In loose-passive games you want to get in cheap because if you miss then you can get away and if you hit then you can keep everyone around and win a large pot, 3) It is worth raising if there are (or you anticipate) several players - fewer players has better EV if you limp.

- Timing Online Tells - This article was interesting and, as a rule of thumb, how long someone takes to bet can often times indicate a week or strong hand. 1) Insta-call of c-bet: they are weak - no time to analyze whether a call or raise is a better approach, 2) Delayed Check: may be an attempt to hide weakness, 3) Delayed Bet: Figuring out what bet value to make so it is likely a strong hand. Remember that players often times are multi-tabling so be careful when putting meaning behind their timing - if they are always slow to make a decision then check to see if they are on other tables. The key here is to notice when players deviate from their standard timing.

2. I am realizing that I need to concentrate on position. I am going to analyze my hands that I am playing out of position and determine my winnings and losing by position. If I come in or raise UTG and get re-raised then I need to fold my hand. It is likely that I am behind and now I am playing out of position. With that being said, I need to take into consideration that a) someone stealing will likely have a wider range, b) the raiser's aggression tendencies, and c) how strong my hand is (I am guessing against a tight aggressive player that my range needs to be QQ+, AKs, AKo)

3. The family is going to the beach for the week and I will be at home alone this weekend. I intend to log several hours - I am going to concentrate on making significant positive progress over these many hours.

Feedback on Session Review

2009-07-17T11:18:00.003-04:00

I received a couple of responses on 2+2 regarding my question on session reviews.

1. Suggestions were made to review my large winning hands as well as my losing hands. The idea is that I should make sure that I am maximizing my winnings when I win a monster.

2. When reviewing hands make sure that you learn from the mistakes that villains make.

3. Use the "Mark Hand for Review" menu item in PT3

4. Be sure and seek outside review for those hands where you are unsure what went wrong.

Session Reviews - Asking 2+2 For Help

2009-07-15T12:12:00.001-04:00

Here is my recent posting to the 2+2 Beginners Forum regarding Session Reviews. I will include meaningful responses as they roll in:

I have just begun the process of building my bankroll from $50 using sound bankroll management. My intent is to add $50 to my FTP account on the first of each month and, at the end of 12 months, take a trip to Vegas. Ideally, I will have built my bankroll enough to enter multiple Venetian Deep Stack tournaments and, if I play really well over the next year, maybe a $1,500 WSOP event.

It is not my intent to play professionally or to even supplement my income. In fact, I could certainly start with a larger bankroll but I am choosing to slowly add to it over time as I realize I still have much to learn. I have two goals: 1) learn to play better poker, and 2) make enough money to head to Vegas and play in some tournaments once per year. I travel for a living so I have frequent flyer points and there are several Marriott hotels that I could stay at for free if I wanted to (but I would probably suck it up and stay in a casino). This means that I can take my entire bankroll and apply it towards entry fees. Ideally, I can build it to $2,000-$3,000. Obviously, this depends heavily on a) how well I play, b) how lucky I get (was leading the FTP Daily Dollar late in the tournament recently but ran into a major cooler - $1,500 added to my BR would have been nice) and c) how much I play.

So, back to my question. What exactly do you do when performing a session review? I have been going into PokerTracker and filtering on the hands that I have lost the most money and looking at what went wrong. I assume it would be worthwhile to post some of those hands and look for feedback because I am not sure I would do anything different on some of them. Other than reviewing those hands in which you experienced a significant loss, what else do you do?

Variance, Poor Play or Cooler?

2009-07-13T21:06:00.002-04:00

I have played in 7 tournaments this week accounting for 10.5 hours and I cashed in 1 ... 315th place in a Daily Dollar for a whopping payout of $4.20. I have played 1,000 hands in cash and paid out $5.13.

The question I am asking myself is "am I experiencing variance"? Am I on a "cooler"? Am I playing poorly? I would venture to guess there is a little of each. As it relates to my play in the cash games ... it seems like I have so many losing sessions and I have to get to the bottom of it. I am currently re-reading the small stakes poker book but I may need to look for a book that is more geared towards "standard" cash game strategies.

In the meantime, I am going to shift my focus towards SNGs and MTTs. I seem to be doing much better in those and can hopefully build the bankroll a little bit.

UGH!

2009-07-08T12:47:00.002-04:00

Finally had a chance to log some time at FTP ... now I wish something had come up! I two-tabled NL01/02 and entered the Daily Dollar. I managed to blow through $2 on table one pretty quickly and put in another $2. That lasted a little longer but when it was all said and done I went through $4 on table 1 in about 3.5 hours. I was actually dwindling down on Table 2 when I won a big hand late in the session and was up $1.73 ... net loss from last night's cash session of $2.27. Add another $1 for the Daily Dollar that I did not cash in and it was a $3.27 downswing.

Couple of points from the ring games ... I seemed to be playing more hands on table 1 than on table 2. I guess I ended up paying for being loose but I seemed to be hitting good starting hands and then missing the flop. I lost $4.64 with the following starting hands: AKs 3 times, AKo 1 time, ATs 2 times, ATo 1 time and AJs 1 time. Those are pretty solid starting hands and I lost a bunch. I assume the right advice is to NOT slow down on the initial bet but don't be afraid to get away from the hand if you miss the flop.

The Daily Dollar was going well and I was above the chip average for most of the night and then decided to gamble with the remainder of my chips:

KQo in mid position with a stack of T15,500 - I limp and Villain comes in with a bet of T2,250 (blinds are 200/400) - I call.

Flop comes T, K, 8 Rainbow and I feel confident that I have top pair, top kicker. I bet out T5,550 and villain raises to put me all in. I tanked for a little bit and figured I was behind although I was holding out hope that he was playing K9 but I think I knew that there was a good chance that he had a) two pair, b) a set, or c) AK or AA. With that being said, I knew that my stack would be decimated if I folded and it was not likely that I would win the tournament - so I called.

Villain had AA and I was drawing to 2 outs - they didn't hit.

In hindsight, I could have folded and been left with a stack of about T7,000 and I would have had an M of 17.5. I easily could have cashed and a couple of double-ups and I am back in the thick of things. There is certainly a lesson learned here.

Forward Progress … But is it Progressive Enough?

2009-07-06T10:16:00.001-04:00

Officially, it has been 16 days since I began my Poker Education and this Monday’s results show forward progress. I have now increased my bankroll by $11.10 in earnings. There have been more winning sessions than losing sessions and I have recently learned to keep my losing sessions under control. My cash game skills are improving and, as mentioned in an earlier post, my SNG/MTT sessions are on fire right now. I have cashed in 7 in a row and 10 out of 17 and my ROI is 40.39% over the span of those 17 tournaments. In the cash games I am averaging a little over 6 BB/hr. This is not stellar by any means (it translates to $0.24 per hour for crying out loud) but I have played almost 1,300 hands, I am in the black and I feel like my cash game skills have improved immensely in just 16 days.

Now, with all that being said, I have started to do the math and I am getting concerned that my goal of $50 to $5,000 in 1 year might be too aggressive. Here are some of my initial thoughts in no particular order and I will be noodling through this stuff over the next couple of days and put things in perspective:

1. I am making $0.24 per hour playing cash – at that rate I would need to play 2,000 more hours to get my bankroll to $500. I haven’t played for 3 days now because of “life”. There is no way I can play as many hours necessary to get me to $5,000 at the current rate. With that being said, I need to re-evaluate when to move up to the next level of cash. I am hesitant to move to NL2/4 until I am more consistent in the NL1/2.

2. How much will the exponential growth help me? In other words, I know that I am grinding NL1/2 right now but when I get my BR to $1,000 then I will be able to cash in for $50 and NL25/50. At my current rate of 6 BB/hr I would then be making $6.00 per hour and now it does not seem so daunting to start raising the BR. When I am at $2,000 I will be making $12 per hour.

3. I believe that I play well and play consistently enough then I believe that there is a chance that I could score a significant cash that could boost my BR significantly. I have played the Daily Dollar on three occasions now and I believe that it is not outside the realm of possibility that I could win that thing. On the first occasion I was in the top 5 for the better part of the first 3 hours. Adding $1,500 to my bankroll via a Daily Dollar cash would make this all more realistic.

4. I have to play a lot. This is the most disheartening of all those things stacked against me. First, although I enjoy playing, I don’t want to spend the hours that some grinders do. I have spent 44 hours in 16 days playing poker and I don’t think I can keep that up. I will be able to get some time in when I am on the road but the weekends are going to be tougher … I will not steal from the family in order to achieve this goal (I’ve already started down that path and it’s a bad path). Second, there are other things I need to get back into … most notably, running. I am putting on weight and playing poker will only facilitate that process. I need to reasonably expect to play no more than 20 hours per week and probably closer to 15.

Running Hot

2009-07-03T10:49:00.002-04:00

Just like the title says, I am running hot right now. I have cashed in 7 straight STT or MTTs culiminating in last night's Daily Dollar in which I placed 399th out of 7,502 for winnings of $3.50.

The difference lately is that I am tightening up at the table and concentrating on a) playing top hands, and b) only relaxing those standards when I have position. Also, I am finding that it is necessary to believe people more often and muck a hand in which I have been re-reaised by someone with position. Although I have looked up a couple of people in this situation, I expect that I am -EV in these scenarios.

Right now my bankroll has increased $10.38. Considering that I was down $5 pretty soon out of the chute, I have done pretty well lately.

Here are some relevant PokerTracker stats:

Cash
VP$IP: 28.85% (Voluntarily Put $ In Pot Pre-flop)
PFR: 9.23% (Pre-Flop Raise)
AF: 2.03 (Aggression Factor)

Tournament
VP$IP: 26.46% (Voluntarily Put $ In Pot Pre-flop)
PFR: 12.29% (Pre-Flop Raise)
AF: 2.60 (Aggression Factor)

This week I am going to concentrate on analyzing what these numbers really say about me. I would guess that my VP$IP has been lower the last several days as I have been playing quite a bit tighter and it really seems to be working out for me.

4 Free Bowling Tickets

2009-07-02T09:33:00.002-04:00

I won the 70+ person bar league tournament at Stars and Strikes last night. The WSOP Main Event Champion will receive close to $10 million dollars and a gold bracelet ... I won 4 free bowling tickets.

These games are a little ridiculous here in Atlanta because they keep giving you extra chips for buying food and drink. At one point I received a T10,000 chip for ordering a beer ... we only started the tournament with T4,000. Most people order something so you are on somewhat of a level playing field.

I actually felt like I played well. I won a couple of situations where I got my money in a) with the best of it, or b) with many outs. In one hand I hit a straight on the river when I had top pair as well as straight and flush outs.

I am going to try and compete in these types of tournaments at least once a week but not more than twice - I think I am getting better experience playing online.

Interesting Night

2009-07-01T11:17:00.004-04:00

Played in a 90 person SNG - I was in the top 5 for most of the session including 1st for a good bit of it. Here is the hand where I went from first to worst:

Me: JJ
Her: ??

Flop: 699
Me: Bet Pot
Her: All In
Me: Call (reluctantly) - I did not have her on a 9 because she would have slowplayed it. I also did not think she had a big pocket pair because she did not bet huge pre-flop. I thought she probably had a middle pocket pair but I was confused as to why she would have risked it all knowing that I led out AND I bet the pot after the flop. I was flumoxed but still made the call - questionable call but I was happy to see what she had.

She turns over 88 - I am way ahead

Turn: 10

OK, she just found some outs. She needs one of two 8's or one of four 7's for the straight (so I have her about 4 to 1).

Yup, you guessed it! A dirty, dirty 7 hits on the River. Runner-Runner ... ARGH!

I still cashed but only netted $0.73 - was really eyeing the $22.50 first place money.

I was two-tabling with a .01/.02 cash table and netted $1.98 on that table. This offset losses of $3.65 earlier in the day ... someone donked out on me not once but twice!

My earlier session was the pits and I think I am playing too many hands - especially out of position. I seem to be getting into situations where I hit a piece of the flop but I am out of position and lose any advantage I might have.

One other note - I find that I am not believing people. I have this paranoia that everyone is bluffing me. I need to rely on the statistics and do a better job of paying attention to what hands people are showing down to see if they have a bluff in them.

Ups and Downs

2009-06-30T16:53:00.003-04:00

The last few sessions have been up and down. I was on fire in a 1 table SNG where I was catching good cards, making good calls and played well heads up ... first win at a 9 person SNG since I started this experiment. I also competed in another Daily Dollar and was playing well and kept my chips at the chip average and then went cold late and did not finish in the cash.

As it relates to the Cash Game, I had a losing session last night where I saw almost 200 hands and was -$1.41. Did some hand analysis via Poker Tracker today and noticed that I played my big losses pretty poorly although one hand I lost to the absolute nuts.

Trying to keep plugging away. It is the first of the month so I just added $50 for July and another $19 of home game winnings. My bankroll now stands at $121.83 ... only $4,878.17 to go!

The Daily Dollar ... First Time

2009-06-29T00:18:00.003-04:00

I entered the Daily Dollar on FTP tonight. Kristie and I played. I had never played this tournament before and was surprised to see that the prize pool was a guaranteed $10,000. There were 8,299 entrants which means that FTP funded some of the prize pool. It also paid 1,080 places which means that almost 13% of the entrants would be paid. This seems like a tournament I might want to play on a somewhat regular basis.

Tonights session was up and down. I built up my chip total to 85,000 (from 3,000) and was going quite well. It all went south when I had AK on a KJ10 board. I bet big and the guy went over the top all in. I said to Kristie that I think this guy just hit the miracle flop with his AQ ... I begrudgingly made the call and, sure enough, he hit the A high straight. This knocked me down to about $14,000 with blinds at 600-1200. I pushed with KQ and ran up against AA to get knocked out in 470th place and won $3.50.

Weekend Update

2009-06-28T16:25:00.002-04:00

I have been playing quite a bit since Friday - it's hot in Atlanta and there is not much else to do. I have played 5 Cash Game sessions since Friday and I have won about $7.50. I have played 3 SNGs (two with 90 players and one single table). I finished second in the single table and out of the money in the MTTs.

I have had some great hands and knocked myself out of a good stack in my last MTT with a crazy call. Some good lessons and I am encouraged by my BR being at $51.50 now!

PokerTracker

2009-06-26T14:35:00.003-04:00

I have downloaded PokerTracker HUD software onto my laptop. I will be using this software to a) better understand the tendancies of the players at my table, and b) track and monitor my progress.

I am going to begin posting weekly statistics with the first week being this Monday, June 29. I am still trying to determine which are the best statistics to monitor but once I figure it out I am going to try and post each Monday morning for the previous week's play.

Running Cold or Holes in My Game?

2009-06-25T15:35:00.000-04:00

I am getting frustrated early on. I had a losing $.01/.02 session on Tuesday night and then another on Wednesday night. I am getting in with the best hand but I seem to be losing after the opponent catches up by the river. This is even the case in Bar Room Poker. Last night I got in with pocket Kings and had two callers: JJ and AQ. I felt like I had to dodge an ace. You guessed it ... a Jack hits on the turn. I need to read up and figure out if I am just running cold and experiencing some bad luck or if there is a hole in my game.

The only thing that I should look at doing is minimizing pot size. Instead of getting it all in with the best hand maybe I need to be looking at minimizing the pot size so that when someone catches me I am not busting. Obviously, there is a fine line there. If I don't bet or if I bet small then I am giving my opponents the chance to catch up. Need to work on this.

Live Action ... Bar League Style

2009-06-23T09:56:00.000-04:00

As I have mentioned, it is my intent to play in bar leagues 1 or 2 times per week to a) get more experience with live play, and b) practice patience. Last night I played in the AHL Poker League in Dallas. There were 8 tables (approximately 64 players) and I was knocked out with about 20 players left. These leagues are tough because if you don't get good cards then it is hard to build up a chip stack before the blinds get ridiculous. That was my problem last night - I won two hands in 2 hours and, although they were big pots, it was not enough to handle the blinds after the second break (about 2 hours in).

With that being said, I achieved my objectives: I played good cards, got my money in with good hands and won big pots, and practiced patience. I really think that my patience in these games will pay off when I play a deep stack tournament.

To the Tables ...

2009-06-21T13:59:00.000-04:00

Well, I have had mixed results so far. I have played four $1 9-player SNGs and have cashed in three (two 2nds and a 3rd). I have used FTP points for a couple of MTTs to try and qualify for a larger tourney but finished 4/27 and 33/63. The worst news is that I sat down at my first ring game with no more than 5% of my bankroll (that would be a measley $2) and did not last long and exhausted the entire $2. I did get my money in with two good hands but got sucked out on the river. I had 77 vs AK on one hand and hit a 7 on the turn (after a flop of Qx 2x 10x). He spiked a J on the river for the straight. I had KJ vs A9 and I made a substantial bet after I flopped top/top. He hit a 9 on the flop and another one on the river to take it down with trips. I lost $0.60 on the first hand and $1.00 on the 2nd. This is the variance that I need to expect over time. As long as I am making good bets and losing money when someone comes from behind then I will be doing good in the long run.

Trip Report to Vegas

2009-06-16T12:39:00.001-04:00

I need to document my last trip to Vegas as it is an important part of my education … especially as it relates to “what not to do”!

I arrived on a Thursday afternoon, checked into the Imperial Palace (a dive but $45 per night and a location right in the middle of the strip), and headed to the Venetian to play in their 7:00 $125 tourney. I had researched online and the best tournaments in terms of structure were the Venetian and Caesars Palace tournament (both around $125 entry fee).

Tournament 1 – Venetian – Thursday – 7:00 PM - $125 entry fee: Approximately 80 entries and I went to the final table with 9 others but had a short stack. Me and another guy convinced everyone to chip in $20 so that 10th place would at least win their money back. Turned out good for me because I was in a push or fold situation. After a couple of hands I pushed and was ahead (don’t recall the hand) but the turn did me in and I was out. Not a bad start - I buy in for $125 and leave with $200. Note: I have beer during this tournament.

Tournament 2 – Casesar Palace – Thursday – 12:00 AM - $80 entry fee: Approximately 50 entries. I decided to take my meager winnings and head over to the midnight at Casesars. That was a mistake. The late tournaments start you with a small chip stack, rapidly increasing blind levels and it only takes about a half hour before everyone is shoving. I am sure that there is a strategy to win these tournaments but I am betting that my tight aggressive approach is not the way to do it. I am out before 1:00 but I finish somewhere in the middle – crazy tournament. Note: I continue to drink beer during this tournament.

Cash Game 1 – Imperial Palace – Friday – 9:00 AM – Cash in $200: I am on East Coast time and can’t sleep so I get up and have a good breakfast and head downstairs to the poker room in the IP. This does not go well at all. I have been reading Slansky’s book on Cash Games and try and adopt the principles but I am getting walked on by guys at the table. Before I know it my stack is cut in half and I decide to adopt a tight aggressive style. The guys at the table read right through me and they keep raising me whenever I come into a pot. The other half is gone before I know it and I am pretty dejected that I lost $200 in less than 90 minutes.

Tournament 3 – Venetian – Friday – 12:00 PM - $125 entry fee: Over 100 entries. This is a big gathering and I now know why the Venetian is the best place to play tournament poker in Vegas. I go pretty deep in this tournament and I believe I missed the money by about 4 or 5 spots. Note: I have beer during this tournament.

Tournament 4 – Venetian – Friday – 7:00 PM - $125 entry fee: Over 100 entries. Another big gathering but I continue to drink beer. I start to play in more pots than I normally would and only last a few hours. I would guess that I finished somewhere in the middle. Note: not only did I have beer but I am technically drunk now.

Cash Game 2 – Planet Hollywood – Friday 10:00 PM – Cash in $200 and then another $200. Here is the dark side of poker. As mentioned, I am drunk. My plan was to go to PH and take advantage of the young and drunk hyper-aggressive guys. I am now that guy (except I am not young). I start out well. There is a talkative table and it is truly friendly. There is a guy there throwing names around (“when I played in a cash game with Dwan and blah blah blah"). I am in a good mood though and feed his ego. I am splashing around in a lot of pots when I have position and trying to adopt the cash game strategy that I had learned. I also pick up quad Kings and win $150 from the house. I am told that someone else just had quad Kings and the guy won $500 which reset the jackpot. Oh well, I was still not expecting it and my stack is now about $400 ($200 buy-in, up $50 and the $150 jackpot. I am there a couple of hours and continue to drink beer. The table turns over and I am probably getting loud and a little obnoxious at this point. Some guy across the table starts to needle me and I let him get to me. I pick up a small hand and call a raise. I whiff on a 10-high flop and the guy ahead of me bets out. I am back down to about $175 and I decide to bluff all-in. Instant call from the guy in front of me – yup, he hit a set of tens. The guy at the end of the table laughs hysterically and I am pissed as I reload another $200. I have a loose image now and I am going to try and exploit it. Within 5 hands I pick up pocket Kings. I go all-in again hoping to get 1 caller. One guy after me thinks very briefly and calls. Then another guy goes in the tank for about 3 minutes and calls. They both have me covered so the pot is about $600. I am certainly concerned that I have two callers. The first caller has Qs which I feel good about. The 2nd guy has 8-9 off suite. I can’t figure out why that guy would call with that hand but I don’t have any time to mull it over because the flop comes 5-6-7. The SOB flopped a straight. Needless to say my Kings don’t improve and the jerk at the end of the table is in absolute hysterics. I decide to get my butt out of there. I spent $400 of my bankroll but I effectively lost $600 as I was up $200 during my first buy in. Granted, I like my Kings in that spot but I will never, ever play cash games a) drunk, and b) with cash that is earmarked for tournaments. I had planned to play the Venetian noon tournament on Friday. Instead, I found myself at the Hard Rock casino playing in a $40 buy in tournament. It was 3 tables and first place was going to take a whopping $400. I got knocked out early by a donkey call on the river and my bankroll is officially gone! I wonder up and down the strip sightseeing but it is not much fun when the memory of the previous night’s cash game action at PH is still gnawing at me.

Lessons learned:

1. Do not drink when playing poker. I enjoy playing poker when I have had a few drinks and sitting here sober I can tell you that the ideal entertainment scenario for me is to play in a $100 cash game or a $40 tournament while having some free Sam Adams beer. The problem is that I can’t guarantee that I won’t cash back in if I lose my $100. I guess I could leave all cash and my bank card in the hotel room.

2. Don’t spend money ear-marked for tournaments in cash games. Right now it is not my intention to play cash games when I head to Vegas next June but if I do I need to set aside a cash game bankroll and a tournament bankroll. I hated being in Vegas all day on Saturday and not having the cash to play in a good tournament.

3. Don’t experiment with new strategies and techniques in Vegas. My previous trip to Vegas resulted in significant cash game winnings by playing a tight aggressive style. I would have done much better had I stuck to the philosophy I knew worked for me (even if it is not the optimal approach to cash games).

4. I met a guy at the Friday night Venetian tourney who lived in Vegas and played online for a living. He ventured out to the casinos to play live and thought the Venetian tournament was an easy one that he cashed in “regularly”. His large stack led me to believe him and it reinforced my desire to learn better techniques. I probably have 101 tells and drinking beer probably makes me a target for these strong players as well.

There it is … my nightmare trip to Vegas that I intend to never relive!

Shuffle Up and Deal … My Poker Education

2009-06-15T18:08:00.000-04:00

It is approximately 365 days before I embark on a trip to Vegas and take part in the World Series of Poker to demonstrate what I learned about poker over the previous year. My plan is to use this blog to track many things including progress, lessons learned, a critique of different tools and techniques and, of course, my bankroll.
I guess the first step is to benchmark where I am today. This is a self assessment and I have no idea whether I am considered a donkey, a fish or something better. All I know is that I intend to use sound principles to reach a level where I can compete against a vast majority of the field in a WSOP event in 2010.

My brother got me interested in Texas No Limit Hold ‘Em about 3 years ago. I found it fascinating and began playing in neighborhood games. It wasn’t long before I was in a bookstore buying books on poker theory and strategy. I scoured the internet and started following sites such as Two Plus Two. About two years ago I started playing free poker on Full Tilt Poker. That didn’t last long because I thought it was doing me more harm than good as no one follows good poker strategy when playing for free. I decided to deposit $50 and before long I was off and running with $1 sit ‘n’ go’s (SNGs are 9 person tournaments that last approximately 1 hour). Around the same time period I was traveling to Richmond, VA on a weekly basis for work. One night I was out for drinks with some co-workers and I saw a poster that promoted a bar room poker league. I decided to try my luck the next night. The league/company is called Jack Nine Poker and it was my first introduction into true live poker play. At the time I was absorbing quite a bit of “beginner” knowledge and seemed to be learning more by playing live then I was online. Although I saw more hands online I found that I was better able to concentrate on sound principles when I played live. I know people will likely comment that bar league poker is a significant step below casino poker but I would say that the quality of poker was pretty strong in Richmond. The majority of players were addicted to the game and they went from bar to bar playing every night of the week. There was typically anywhere between 40 and 60 players each night and I was playing 1 or 2 nights per week. It didn’t take too long before I was final tabling on a regular basis and winning the whole tournament more frequently than most. There was one stretch of 4 tournaments where I finished in 1st, 2nd, 1st and 2nd place. It was at this point that I thought my skills were better than average.

In the meantime, I was playing online as well. My problem with online play was that I lacked the discipline necessary to succeed. There was never enough money involved to really concentrate on success. I probably deposited $50 on 4 different occasions. I found myself coming back from a bar league poker game with a couple of beers in me and before I knew it I was playing $1/$2 ring games. Sometimes I would have success but most of the time I was down. I would build my bankroll to $200+ but before I knew it I was depositing another $50. I thought of it as entertainment so I was careless.

Last year I made an attempt at building a bankroll using sound principles but fell into the trap of boredom again. I brought a $50 deposit up over $200 primarily via $1 and $2 SNGs and I had a ranking on offcialpokerrankings.com in the 90th percentile at the time. I started to play multi-table tournaments (MTTs) for $1 and $2 entry fees but before too long I was buying in for $5 and $10. Poor bankroll management exhausted my deposit and I decided I was not going to play online again until I was ready to adopt a better philosophy. Well, here I am.
My focus is going to be as follows:

1. Building an online bankroll from $50 to $5,000 over the next year using sound bankroll management, playing online at least 10 hours per week, and contributing $50 per month (on the first day of each month starting in July) to the balance.

2. Playing in 1-2 bar league games per week to practice patience and continue gaining experience in live play

3. Playing in home games / tournaments – I will fund these events using “entertainment” dollars but will put any winnings towards my bankroll

4. Absorbing as much education as possible via online sources as well as books and magazines

My ultimate goal will be to build a bankroll that allows me to travel to Vegas next year during the WSOP and compete in 1 event (likely a $1,500 entry fee No Limit Hold ‘em tourney). Additionally, I will spend a week there and take part in the Caesars Palace Mega Stacks events and the Venetian Deep Stacks Extravaganza. Each of these tournaments typically have $300 tournaments during the week and $500 tournaments during the weekend. If I play in one $1,500, three $500 events and two $300 events then I will need to cover $3,600 in entry fees. My goal will be to cash in one or more events and hopefully winning more than what I brought with me. Assuming I stay committed to this endeavor over the next year than I think my chances are as follows:

- Win a significant amount of money – in this case more than $10,000 (5%)
- Leave with more than my bankroll – (25%)
- Cash at least once – (40%)
- Blow entire bankroll – (30%)

I am going to monitor the likelihood of these expectations during the course of the year but, as of right now, I would be fine blowing the entire $3,600 in order to spend a week in Vegas and experience the action. Stay Tuned!