Just discovered a new leak in my game that has been costing me a lot of money in the past. This has been something that should have been pretty clear to me in the past as well, but somehow I managed to over look it again. Simply stated, I play way too loosely preflop, especially in the beginning and middle stages of tournaments. My new goal is to identify these trouble spots and hands, analyze the overall situation, and figure out what the best play is. for example if it would make more sense to fold a hand like AQs or AJs to an early position raise if it means risking a healthy stack thaht would be more useful opening pots, stealing blinds, and picking better spots to get my money in.
Recently I just noticed that, most of the times that I do bust out of a tournament, its because I took a gamble to race for all of my chips with a mediocre hand... really got me to thinking.
leak #1 : Overplaying Ax where x is anywhere from a 2 through a Q, and in extreme cases, a King. While these hands are typically strong when opening a pot when you have position, it becomes a whoe other story when you have to play them out of position or facing a raise in front of you. Unless you spike an A or an even better two pair, chances are youll be facing a sticky situation if you face any resistance. I think for alot of us, we forget that A x (2-K) is still a drawing hand, you need to spike one of your hole cards to make it a real hand, so unless you can confidentally put your opponnent on a range of hands where your Ace kicker is bigger than his ace rag, its probably best not to get so aggressive with it and play the hand as best as possible, all depends on the situation.
Monday, April 30, 2007
Saturday, April 21, 2007
Making the Best Decisions
So after reviewing my game for the past 2 weeks, I realized I had one huge leak in my game to go along with a few other smaller leaks that really killed my game in this bad run. But none the less I'm glad that it happened and gave me a chance to review my play as a whole and improve myself yet again.
My big leak. I think for me it's more of problem with how I think mentally and how I am more math/money thinking oriented that caused me to have a huge leak in my game. It's really frustrating too because this whole time it was right under my nose, and I've had people tell this before... but it just never set in like how it has now. Something about figuring it out for myself that really made me change my ways.
Anyway, Growing up and while I was in school, I always excelled in math related subjects. In fact it was the only thing I was ever good at in school, I'm sure you can tell by now that my writing and english is pretty terrible... I'm not gonna lie I know it sucks. Same goes for History and all other core subjects in school, I did just the bare minimum to pass and get by... mainly because I didnt care enough to excell or even try hard enough to get good grades. But with math, It always came easy to me, Usualy resulting in me passing with a high A or at worse a B when I wasn't motivated, cutting classes, or whatever.
Well with this same subconcious obsession with numbers... also caused me to be really tight, obsessed, and focused on the money while at the tables. It should be clicking in your heads now, just exactly where I went wrong in my approach to poker. I was focused too much on making/saving money in poker that it caused me to make really poor decisions at the poker table. Instead of making the best decisions that I really I knew I should have, I'd change my thinking to making/saving money and act on that. For example, If I saw a huge pot building and I had anykind of a hand, even though I knew there was be a good chance I was beat, I'd chase that huge pot. I'd stab it time and time again until it was given up or my chips got allin. And It didn't help either that I have this huge ego that makes me so stubborn to have to give up pots and what not.
I'd also go into any poker session with my mind totally focused on winning so much money for that one session. Or I'd play so my stats would like nice when I would have to present them to the forums or whoever for whatever reasons. These are just a few examples of the many problems I had with my approach to poker... up until now that is.
I realize now that all these things, are not what poker is about, but rather making the best decisions at every juncture possible at the poker tables. Wether it be with bankroll management, playing a weak hand oop preflop, or calling off your stack with a weak pair to a huge river bet. Anything that the poker gods may throw in your direction, it's all about making the best decision possible at that current moment, and nothing else matters. Not the money, not the pot odds, not your cards, but what you trully to believe to be is your best play in that current situation.
My big leak. I think for me it's more of problem with how I think mentally and how I am more math/money thinking oriented that caused me to have a huge leak in my game. It's really frustrating too because this whole time it was right under my nose, and I've had people tell this before... but it just never set in like how it has now. Something about figuring it out for myself that really made me change my ways.
Anyway, Growing up and while I was in school, I always excelled in math related subjects. In fact it was the only thing I was ever good at in school, I'm sure you can tell by now that my writing and english is pretty terrible... I'm not gonna lie I know it sucks. Same goes for History and all other core subjects in school, I did just the bare minimum to pass and get by... mainly because I didnt care enough to excell or even try hard enough to get good grades. But with math, It always came easy to me, Usualy resulting in me passing with a high A or at worse a B when I wasn't motivated, cutting classes, or whatever.
Well with this same subconcious obsession with numbers... also caused me to be really tight, obsessed, and focused on the money while at the tables. It should be clicking in your heads now, just exactly where I went wrong in my approach to poker. I was focused too much on making/saving money in poker that it caused me to make really poor decisions at the poker table. Instead of making the best decisions that I really I knew I should have, I'd change my thinking to making/saving money and act on that. For example, If I saw a huge pot building and I had anykind of a hand, even though I knew there was be a good chance I was beat, I'd chase that huge pot. I'd stab it time and time again until it was given up or my chips got allin. And It didn't help either that I have this huge ego that makes me so stubborn to have to give up pots and what not.
I'd also go into any poker session with my mind totally focused on winning so much money for that one session. Or I'd play so my stats would like nice when I would have to present them to the forums or whoever for whatever reasons. These are just a few examples of the many problems I had with my approach to poker... up until now that is.
I realize now that all these things, are not what poker is about, but rather making the best decisions at every juncture possible at the poker tables. Wether it be with bankroll management, playing a weak hand oop preflop, or calling off your stack with a weak pair to a huge river bet. Anything that the poker gods may throw in your direction, it's all about making the best decision possible at that current moment, and nothing else matters. Not the money, not the pot odds, not your cards, but what you trully to believe to be is your best play in that current situation.
Sunday, April 15, 2007
tought times...
Where do I begin?
These past two months have been some of the hardest times I've had to endure in my so called poker career. Nothing at all seems to be going my way, and I can't exactly tell you why this is all happening. I'm not sure if it's my play or lack there of that is causing me to lose day in and day out, or if it really is just variance rearing its ugly head again. If thats the case, where variance seems to kick in every other month and take a toll on me mentally and physically... then I'm just not sure if "poker" is the answer for me. I just dont think my skin is thick enough to put myself through this kind of torture this constantly. Maybe it's time to be real and be honest with myself... maybe I need to open up my eyes and see that this just wasn't meant to be.
When I moved up to San Francisco in February, I'll be honest, I thought it was going to be the start of my poker fame and fortune. I thought I would go on to win huge mtt's, dominate cash games, live financialy secure, and just "live" the dream life. I thought I would travel the world playing poker and playing in WSOP and WPT events, making millions. I was blinded by other players success... I thought hey if they can do it, so can I. And being the over-competitave, ingnorant, egotistical person that I am... I wasn't going to let anybody tell me otherwise nor was I going to let anything else get in the way of my vision and dreams.
I thought that my plan was full proof and within months i'd be rich. I mean I started getting coached from a professional, I was learning alot and winning alot at the same time. I thought I had payed my dues for the last two and a half years cutting my teeth trying to learn this game. All of the hard work, time, and dedication I put into it, I figured would have to pay off now. I thought I had it all figured out. I thought I knew everything about the game that would lead me to success...
Next thing you know... I'm losing hundreds of hundreds dollars by the day... money that could easily make a huge impact on my current financial state. My biggest winning day (over the span of 2 months) aside from doing good in a mtt... was a plus fourty dollars day.
I was coming up short in all of the spots that matter... taking 4th in a big mtt and blowing the chiplead 4 handed... possibly missing out on an extra $4,000 payday. Taking 8th in a $50 mtt where 1st was $9,000+. Getting 30th out of 2,000+ in the $5 rebuy while I was in 4th place chip position and made some terrible plays against the chipleader to make an early exit... who knows... I possibly missed out on 8k there.
These are the things that really get to me, thinking about what could have been if I could have just sucked out that one time... or win that 60/40 for a huge chiplead, maybe If I didnt lose that huge pot where I was a dominating favorite to win, What if I won that one coinflip 4 handed... all of these shortcomings where all of the time I have been let down one way or another, wether It was my own mistakes or just bad luck... It took a toll on me mentally. In a big way.
So what now?
Im left here with my confidence and my dreams shattered. Wondering how much more pain and suffering I can put myself through before I have to give up on this and live with myself knowing that I failed giving it my all.
I'm not really sure of what I should do now.
One thing that I am certain of though, I could not put myself in position to have to rebuild from scratch all over again. If I go bust or close to it one more time... I'm sure it will be the last. And that will be that.
These past two months have been some of the hardest times I've had to endure in my so called poker career. Nothing at all seems to be going my way, and I can't exactly tell you why this is all happening. I'm not sure if it's my play or lack there of that is causing me to lose day in and day out, or if it really is just variance rearing its ugly head again. If thats the case, where variance seems to kick in every other month and take a toll on me mentally and physically... then I'm just not sure if "poker" is the answer for me. I just dont think my skin is thick enough to put myself through this kind of torture this constantly. Maybe it's time to be real and be honest with myself... maybe I need to open up my eyes and see that this just wasn't meant to be.
When I moved up to San Francisco in February, I'll be honest, I thought it was going to be the start of my poker fame and fortune. I thought I would go on to win huge mtt's, dominate cash games, live financialy secure, and just "live" the dream life. I thought I would travel the world playing poker and playing in WSOP and WPT events, making millions. I was blinded by other players success... I thought hey if they can do it, so can I. And being the over-competitave, ingnorant, egotistical person that I am... I wasn't going to let anybody tell me otherwise nor was I going to let anything else get in the way of my vision and dreams.
I thought that my plan was full proof and within months i'd be rich. I mean I started getting coached from a professional, I was learning alot and winning alot at the same time. I thought I had payed my dues for the last two and a half years cutting my teeth trying to learn this game. All of the hard work, time, and dedication I put into it, I figured would have to pay off now. I thought I had it all figured out. I thought I knew everything about the game that would lead me to success...
Next thing you know... I'm losing hundreds of hundreds dollars by the day... money that could easily make a huge impact on my current financial state. My biggest winning day (over the span of 2 months) aside from doing good in a mtt... was a plus fourty dollars day.
I was coming up short in all of the spots that matter... taking 4th in a big mtt and blowing the chiplead 4 handed... possibly missing out on an extra $4,000 payday. Taking 8th in a $50 mtt where 1st was $9,000+. Getting 30th out of 2,000+ in the $5 rebuy while I was in 4th place chip position and made some terrible plays against the chipleader to make an early exit... who knows... I possibly missed out on 8k there.
These are the things that really get to me, thinking about what could have been if I could have just sucked out that one time... or win that 60/40 for a huge chiplead, maybe If I didnt lose that huge pot where I was a dominating favorite to win, What if I won that one coinflip 4 handed... all of these shortcomings where all of the time I have been let down one way or another, wether It was my own mistakes or just bad luck... It took a toll on me mentally. In a big way.
So what now?
Im left here with my confidence and my dreams shattered. Wondering how much more pain and suffering I can put myself through before I have to give up on this and live with myself knowing that I failed giving it my all.
I'm not really sure of what I should do now.
One thing that I am certain of though, I could not put myself in position to have to rebuild from scratch all over again. If I go bust or close to it one more time... I'm sure it will be the last. And that will be that.
Saturday, April 7, 2007
SHIP THE SHOYU!!!
Oh its been awhile, but I finally bagged an mtt today. It was the $33 double stack on fulltilt. It was a pretty small field of only 133 entries, but still... a win is a win. Ship the $1,077 please!
It was quite the roller coaster ride ill tell you that. At one point I was down to 1400 chips at 100/200, that was right after I built up a 12k stack and dusted that off on a hand where I turned 2 pair vs a flopped straight. Then I doubled that with K8>AQ, then from there built my stack back up to 13k without ever getting a real hand, just making plays where I thought my oponnents were weak. I didnt even get a big pocket pair until it got to 12 handed.
After that though, I finally got my monster rush of cards, QQ in the sb shortstack shoved K2 into me, limped AA utg vs agro bb (got checked around to bb btw, ghey but w/e) he led out a Q78 flop and I popped it up, he folded, AT>A3, 55>AQ, and almost every other hand I played went my way. That was nice for a change.
Another big factor that helped me to win was when it was 11 handed, I was short and this super agro guy to my right thought he could just run over me like he was the rest of the table. I had about 20k at the time (blinds 1k/2k, some huge antee) and he had about 50k. gets folded around to him in the sb and he completes my bb when I have AQ. So at this point im thinking id rather double up then have him fold to my allin, and risk me going out to a weaker hand... just a chance I was willing to take... and it paid off. I raised it to 6600 and he instacalled, flop was MONEY when it hit AQx... better yet he instant shoveled right into me.... he had 37. SHIP!!!
Same guy again, folds to his sb and this time he minraises into my K4cc in the bb. We have about the same amount of chips, a little more than 30k @ 1.5k/3k I think. So I flat call and the flop comes 45T two clubs, thats a pretty damm good flop for K4 in my eyes. He checks into me and I know he wants this pot bad, so I just lead a weakish bet of 4k into a 14k pot... insta check raise shovel the 68.... Turn the ace of clubs, hes drawing dead, gg... SHIP!!!
Not bad, accompished some of my goals today, but im just not satisfied enough yet. Gonna keep up the good play and hopefully bag more W's.
Peace
It was quite the roller coaster ride ill tell you that. At one point I was down to 1400 chips at 100/200, that was right after I built up a 12k stack and dusted that off on a hand where I turned 2 pair vs a flopped straight. Then I doubled that with K8>AQ, then from there built my stack back up to 13k without ever getting a real hand, just making plays where I thought my oponnents were weak. I didnt even get a big pocket pair until it got to 12 handed.
After that though, I finally got my monster rush of cards, QQ in the sb shortstack shoved K2 into me, limped AA utg vs agro bb (got checked around to bb btw, ghey but w/e) he led out a Q78 flop and I popped it up, he folded, AT>A3, 55>AQ, and almost every other hand I played went my way. That was nice for a change.
Another big factor that helped me to win was when it was 11 handed, I was short and this super agro guy to my right thought he could just run over me like he was the rest of the table. I had about 20k at the time (blinds 1k/2k, some huge antee) and he had about 50k. gets folded around to him in the sb and he completes my bb when I have AQ. So at this point im thinking id rather double up then have him fold to my allin, and risk me going out to a weaker hand... just a chance I was willing to take... and it paid off. I raised it to 6600 and he instacalled, flop was MONEY when it hit AQx... better yet he instant shoveled right into me.... he had 37. SHIP!!!
Same guy again, folds to his sb and this time he minraises into my K4cc in the bb. We have about the same amount of chips, a little more than 30k @ 1.5k/3k I think. So I flat call and the flop comes 45T two clubs, thats a pretty damm good flop for K4 in my eyes. He checks into me and I know he wants this pot bad, so I just lead a weakish bet of 4k into a 14k pot... insta check raise shovel the 68.... Turn the ace of clubs, hes drawing dead, gg... SHIP!!!
Not bad, accompished some of my goals today, but im just not satisfied enough yet. Gonna keep up the good play and hopefully bag more W's.
Peace
Friday, April 6, 2007
back on the grind and motivated
Well I actually started playing again two nights ago, but nothing too report there. Played some cash games and a few mtt's but nothing really big happened. But... at least I did book two winning days since my comeback. Thats right baby, first night I won $40 and the next I won $15... lol money money moneeeeeyyyy.
So I really want to accomplish my goals this month and take down some huge mtt's. I feel really good about my play and now I just have to put in the time... and with that, I know I am going to take one down.
One of my favorite mtt's right now is the double stack 14k gtd $26 buyin on full tilt. the field is always around 700 but weak as shit. It's sick too because you get alot of chips too work with in the beginning stages and gives you alot of time to build a big stack. But I also need to find another mtt that I can play daily and be consistent in. I've been playing the $5 rebuy on stars and its good, but its just too much of a marathon.
OK thats enough for now, time to go kill some poker. peace
So I really want to accomplish my goals this month and take down some huge mtt's. I feel really good about my play and now I just have to put in the time... and with that, I know I am going to take one down.
One of my favorite mtt's right now is the double stack 14k gtd $26 buyin on full tilt. the field is always around 700 but weak as shit. It's sick too because you get alot of chips too work with in the beginning stages and gives you alot of time to build a big stack. But I also need to find another mtt that I can play daily and be consistent in. I've been playing the $5 rebuy on stars and its good, but its just too much of a marathon.
OK thats enough for now, time to go kill some poker. peace
Sunday, April 1, 2007
So much for dominating in April, Time for a Break
Losing has become way too much of a habit for me in the last month, So i've decided to take a small break for like a week or so. Try to clear my head, not think about poker at all, and hope that this break will help cure me of losing day in and day out.
It's gonna be tough since I dont have a job, the gf is at school most of the week days, and I dont have any close friends out here in San Francisco yet. Basically I'll be bored out of my mind for this whole week. Idk, maybe ill get back into exercising again or something, maybe pick up a few books and reading material... idk.
Sucks to have to take a break right now, I feel like I am playing really well like 95% of the time. But I have to try something different because even playing your best game a majority of the time isnt even enough to cut it sometimes. L8ers
<3 poker forever
and oh yeah, dropped $175 bucks today trying to qualify for the sunday million. played the $10 turbo rebuy (10 buyins for 100), the $8 rebuy for $24, and the $55 super satellite... went 0/3 and would have been better off buying in directly to the sunday mill.... so sick
also busted out of 3 different mtt's before 1st break
It's gonna be tough since I dont have a job, the gf is at school most of the week days, and I dont have any close friends out here in San Francisco yet. Basically I'll be bored out of my mind for this whole week. Idk, maybe ill get back into exercising again or something, maybe pick up a few books and reading material... idk.
Sucks to have to take a break right now, I feel like I am playing really well like 95% of the time. But I have to try something different because even playing your best game a majority of the time isnt even enough to cut it sometimes. L8ers
<3 poker forever
and oh yeah, dropped $175 bucks today trying to qualify for the sunday million. played the $10 turbo rebuy (10 buyins for 100), the $8 rebuy for $24, and the $55 super satellite... went 0/3 and would have been better off buying in directly to the sunday mill.... so sick
also busted out of 3 different mtt's before 1st break
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