Four days, 6 tournaments. Cashed for nearly $800. Basically these cashes payed for all of my buy-ins, food and the hotel. I had to eat the costs of the flight and a rental car which sat in the garage the entire time.
Could've been better, could've been a lot worse.
I cashed twice, on Thursday and Friday nights at the Aria and Mirage respectively.
I don't think it's a coincidence that I failed to cash on Saturday and Sunday. I was dead tired at that point, from staying up way too late to indulge in a Treasure Island donkament (one that I don't even count as one of the tournaments I played because the structure was so bad) and a similar shove fest at 9am on Saturday at the fabulous Monte Carlo.
First off, the Aria is a tremendous new poker room. The daily tournament at 1pm has an outstanding structure with 30 minute rounds. The evening tournament is less fantastic, same structure, but 20 minute levels make a big difference.
We went to the Aria because the Venetian was running a big event, the NAPT (North American Poker Tour) with all of it's regular tournaments suspended and even the cash tables shut down.
My friends Sven and PGriff both registered for a $350 Thursday noon event; I was proud of myself for not doing the same for two reasons. One, it was way out of my budget. Two, I was absolutely dead money in such an event.
It's hard as a poker player to let go of one's ego. There's an old saying that poker is like sex. Everyone thinks they are the best at it, and very few actually know what they are doing. I'd like to think that I can get busy and fly my freak flag no problem, but I wouldn't match my manhood up with the talent at a porn convention.
So I walked on down to Aria (my salvation on this trip was long 20-30 minute walks, did wonders for my heart and guilt over large meals) and had a blast, even staying there when I busted out and registering for the 7pm tournament - which I final table chopped 6 ways for $280.
Sven didn't cash until the following night at the Mirage; where again we were at a final table chop (along with another friend Potter) for $450 each. This was probably the most fun tournament - it was a bounty event, in which I failed to get a single bounty; but everyone was boisterous in a mostly good way, and it made for a very entertaining evening.
Sven, I'm proud to say, cashed and cashed and cashed again for the remainder of the trip - including the noon Aria on Sunday for over $1000. All told, he pocketed more than $2000, up almost a grand in pure profits.
My other buds didn't fare so well. PGriff I believe didn't cash, Potter once and Feist only once as well. I'm not sure how they all fared in the cash games, though another friend that I met for the first time, Giri, was splashing around for awhile at 2-5 No Limit! Yikes!
I wish I could say that the only reason I didn't cash for over a grand in profits was that I ran bad (I did have my aces cracked by quads and I did run my kings into aces with all the chips going in pre-flop) but alas, I can look back on too many mistakes (at least 2 or 3 major ones per tournament) to say that I didn't win because of luck.
By the same token, I'm jealous of Sven's success, but he made me feel better by saying that he was running exceptionally well and found some ridiculously huge hands in his deep run at the Aria nooner on Sunday. He also shared that he made some colossal boners in earlier events where he didn't cash.
I sat next to him three times on the trip, and I can report that he was from an observers standpoint just about mistake free. He also has a great intimidating table presence - with his bald head and stoic demeanor. Of course, if he ever opens his mouth, people learn very quickly that he's far too friendly and gracious to be a lifelong grinder.
I was pleasantly pleased to have a conversation with a couple of boys (one very drunk) from Texas as we all railed our friends at the Aria on Sunday. They both mentioned to me that I was an intimidating presence at the table! I find this rather laughable, but they seemed sincere. Perception is a funny thing, and I'm happy that I came across as in control and not someone to be trifled with, though that wasn't my intention.
I play poker to have fun, and a big part of that fun is winning and making money. I need to give myself credit now, that I am very comfortable in a live poker situation - especially with a table full of tourists like me.
I also need to work on my mum poker - a concept I've recently read about by poker author Tommy Angelo.
Mum poker means keeping one's mouth shut on the subject of cards, hands - anything related to poker. It's okay to socialize a bit about other topics, but when someone asks about a previous hand or wants to chat it up about how to play jacks out of position, the very best option is to be mum.
I tried very hard in Vegas to keep mum on cards, of course I failed more than a few times, but I'll definitely keep trying to keep my lips zipped when some gabby gabby is spilling info on how he loves to limp with junk.
Angelo is very hung up on being "Tiltless" (a great play on the word) and I agree. Better to be calm and cool when your aces get cracked. Of course I failed at this too - I couldn't help but being a bit snarky a world class douche bag cracked my aces with his A9 hitting quad nines on the turn. I also couldn't help being a bit visibly aghast that my kings ran headlong into aces against a swarthy degenerate - but these were my only real transgressions. I can live with them, but next time I'll do better to keep my emotions in check.
It's okay to feel, but I do nothing for myself or my game by giving my opponents insight into my weaknesses as a player.
The other third habit I'm trying hardest to break is explaining myself. Angelo calls this "Splaining". No need to Splain to others why I would call off the remainder of my stack on the turn if I KNEW I was beat - because I was pot committed. Decent players at the table already know this, and why would I want to educate the fishes that don't.
Too much 'splaining. It's never necessary, and it makes me look like Phil Hellmuth, which is the last thing I need.
All in all, a fantastically fun trip - especially the long walks, it was kind of nice to get lost in my own thoughts (and not just the ones about poker) and get a little exercise for a change. Though the pron slappers do confuse me a bit (I'll be blogging about them on the manzoniman soon enough).
In conclusion, I actually do feel very, very good about my game right now. Naturally on Monday Flatline I had my kings slam into aces on the third hand, all the money in pre-flop against PGriff. And last night in Worldline, I got it all in pre-flop with kings against queens, with a sickening two outer hitting on the turn.
But that doesn't matter so much, these were clearly right and wrong situations and I played them right. It's the gray stuff that keeps me up at night - like at the Saturday Aria nooner where I over played TPTK against an uber-fish by forgetting that there was a third player in the hand! I AM AN IDIOT!
But at least an idiot who can hopefully learn; and still love the game.
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Monday, January 25, 2010
Feel the RUSH
Milestones.
We've seen a lot in the history of poker - from the WSOP's humble beginnings in the early 1970's, to the Moneymaker effect of 2003 and the incredible boom of online poker that followed.
All in between there have been significant events of varying degree.
Two weeks ago there was a tremor in the force, one that will have long lasting repercussions on the digital felt and on live poker as well.
Full Tilt introduced "Rush" poker. And it is absolutely incredible.
The concept is this - sit down at a cash game table, if you like your hand and your position you play as normal. If you don't like your cards well enough to play, you fold - and INSTANTLY are transported to a completely different table with a different hand. And when I say instant, I mean under 2 seconds. It's crazy cool.
There is even a "Quick Fold" button, that you can click, before the action even gets to you. You are whisked away instantly, to another table and another position - chosen randomly by the computer. The players on the previous table don't know that you are already gone until the action reaches your avatar and you fold.
A "Rush" poker game, is a large pool of players - 3000 or so in the most popular rooms, all being automatically moved to a brand new hand at a brand new table when they fold.
I hope I've described it adequately - but for the full scoop click here.
It is the crack cocaine of online poker.
When I first went to check it out, I went to the lobby and noticed that the lowest stakes in real money were 10NL. That is not quite low enough for my online bankroll of less than $200. So I clicked over to play chips and tried it out there.
Very cool, but absolutely not poker in any way, shape or form. I quintupled my buy-in in about 20 minutes, which was moderately fun, but my inner player recognized very quickly that this wasn't helping my game - nor was it feeling at all like the real thing.
So I took a big breath, and fully aware that I was going in over my head (bankroll-wise), I took the plunge into real money play.
It was SO, MUCH, FUN.
Don't like the trash that you're catching? Just fold for about 5 minutes, and you'll catch some good ass cards.
It is literally 250 to 300 hands an hour.
Put it in perspective, at a normal online table, you're lucky if you get to 75 to 100 hands an hour.
I played 1000 hands in under 3 1/2 hours the other night.
Ah-mazing.
The bad news - I dropped 2 1/2 buy-ins the first night, playing for less than 2 hours.
The good news - I got most of it back a couple of nights later, my 1000 hand effort.
I went back for more (after a catastrophic hit to my bankroll) only because I intuitively felt that the game was beatable.
The fish are even nittier - and the sharks are pretty helpless because they cannot bum hunt, data mine or use their HUDs. (Heads Up Displays).
I found it was pretty easy to steal blinds in late position, and yet paradoxically I got paid off big time with Kings or Aces pre-flop when I shoved!
Of course, I also had my Aces cracked a couple of times by runner runner garbage catchers - but I knew for sure each time that my decisions leading to the heart ache were almost all correct.
Rush Poker is something else, and has rekindled my love for cash game play.
I have to be careful playing above my roll, but I really believe deep down that I can blast this baby, despite potentially huge swings of variance.
If I do bust, then that will be that for this year in real money online on Full Tilt - but I have every intention of enjoying the ride and playing the rush as much as I can!
So much for resolutions! (Though I am still banning myself during the week, despite my playing Rush on the Wednesday that it came out.)
We've seen a lot in the history of poker - from the WSOP's humble beginnings in the early 1970's, to the Moneymaker effect of 2003 and the incredible boom of online poker that followed.
All in between there have been significant events of varying degree.
Two weeks ago there was a tremor in the force, one that will have long lasting repercussions on the digital felt and on live poker as well.
Full Tilt introduced "Rush" poker. And it is absolutely incredible.
The concept is this - sit down at a cash game table, if you like your hand and your position you play as normal. If you don't like your cards well enough to play, you fold - and INSTANTLY are transported to a completely different table with a different hand. And when I say instant, I mean under 2 seconds. It's crazy cool.
There is even a "Quick Fold" button, that you can click, before the action even gets to you. You are whisked away instantly, to another table and another position - chosen randomly by the computer. The players on the previous table don't know that you are already gone until the action reaches your avatar and you fold.
A "Rush" poker game, is a large pool of players - 3000 or so in the most popular rooms, all being automatically moved to a brand new hand at a brand new table when they fold.
I hope I've described it adequately - but for the full scoop click here.
It is the crack cocaine of online poker.
When I first went to check it out, I went to the lobby and noticed that the lowest stakes in real money were 10NL. That is not quite low enough for my online bankroll of less than $200. So I clicked over to play chips and tried it out there.
Very cool, but absolutely not poker in any way, shape or form. I quintupled my buy-in in about 20 minutes, which was moderately fun, but my inner player recognized very quickly that this wasn't helping my game - nor was it feeling at all like the real thing.
So I took a big breath, and fully aware that I was going in over my head (bankroll-wise), I took the plunge into real money play.
It was SO, MUCH, FUN.
Don't like the trash that you're catching? Just fold for about 5 minutes, and you'll catch some good ass cards.
It is literally 250 to 300 hands an hour.
Put it in perspective, at a normal online table, you're lucky if you get to 75 to 100 hands an hour.
I played 1000 hands in under 3 1/2 hours the other night.
Ah-mazing.
The bad news - I dropped 2 1/2 buy-ins the first night, playing for less than 2 hours.
The good news - I got most of it back a couple of nights later, my 1000 hand effort.
I went back for more (after a catastrophic hit to my bankroll) only because I intuitively felt that the game was beatable.
The fish are even nittier - and the sharks are pretty helpless because they cannot bum hunt, data mine or use their HUDs. (Heads Up Displays).
I found it was pretty easy to steal blinds in late position, and yet paradoxically I got paid off big time with Kings or Aces pre-flop when I shoved!
Of course, I also had my Aces cracked a couple of times by runner runner garbage catchers - but I knew for sure each time that my decisions leading to the heart ache were almost all correct.
Rush Poker is something else, and has rekindled my love for cash game play.
I have to be careful playing above my roll, but I really believe deep down that I can blast this baby, despite potentially huge swings of variance.
If I do bust, then that will be that for this year in real money online on Full Tilt - but I have every intention of enjoying the ride and playing the rush as much as I can!
So much for resolutions! (Though I am still banning myself during the week, despite my playing Rush on the Wednesday that it came out.)
Monday, January 4, 2010
Gearing up for 2010
Excited about the new year in Poker!
2009 was a blast, but in the interests of self improvement and in spending more time with my family I will be taking the following steps.
Resolutions:
I Will ban myself from poker on Full Tilt every week - Late Monday through Thursday night.
On Full Tilt I Will only play $1 rake-free tournaments (that is, only the Ferguson or the Daily Dollar freezeout.) No more sit-n-go's, satellites or rebuy tourneys. I cash in these about 15% of the time, which is probably profitable in the live arena with a substantial buy-in amount invested but not at micro-stakes online. I've slowly bled out my online winnings - down under $200 after being up almost $400. No need to panic, but micro-stakes are damn near unbeatable with a rake/entry fee that floats around 20%.
Flatline will be Monday nights and Worldline will be every other Wednesday through April - Absolutely NO Full Tilt on either of these nights. (The exception being Monday night IF I bust out from Flatline I can enter the Ferguson Razz, Oh joy.)
Tuesday and Thursday nights are reading nights! ONLY after 10pm. Tuesday is poker content optional, Thursday is poker study only.
Friday night is Video night; ONLY AFTER 9pm. I will either renew my ProPlayLive or try out Cardrunners. I am allowed to play the Ferguson on Friday night, but only after watching a full hour of video - I am not allowed to play the Daily dollar.
Saturday and Sunday I am allowed to play the Daily Dollar/Ferguson only on days without a live event or on days without family plans that involve leaving the house. (Example; a day of yard work and playing with Natalie at home would be okay - going to the Zoo, my sister in law's or brothers house would not.)
Once a month on Full Tilt I am allowed to play in the BLT (The Big Little Tournament) which is a $5 MTT with a prize pool of $250,000.
Once a month I may choose to play a live tournament in an LA cardroom with a buy in of $150 or less- with the wife's full knowledge and consent of course.
My home game will have two games a month, a tournament on a Saturday night and a cash game on a Friday night.
That's about it! At a glance it seems like a lot, but I'm pretty sure I can stick to these guidelines a- and in doing so greatly increase my knowledge of the game and at the same time drastically reduce burn out and insure that my priorities are where they are supposed to be.
Also, very much looking forward to my annual Vegas poker odessy in February. I'm not going to put any pressure on myself to cash - only to have as much fun as possible!
Last year, you may remember, I cashed twice in Vegas, including chopping for first place - effectively negating my entry fees and expenses for the trip. I also cashed quite a bit at HPC.
But having said that - I had my aces cracked TWICE at HPC, both times all the chips were in pre-flop, both times were the end of my tournament life. Once against a pair of nines which spiked trips on the river and the second time against AQ which made a set on the turn. The second instance was particularly nasty, as it was 80/20 pre-flop AND I had a big stack of chips that got tangled up with the only other stack in the entire tournament that had me covered. Yuck.
I also recently lost a heartbreaking 60/40 race with a pair of tens against a bad player's K7os. Very frustrating to get my money in good and have the river rip up the chance for another really good run at the money.
So my eyes are open to the fact that even great cards and correct decisions are not immune to the whim of the poker Gods.
I stand my best chance of having a blast - not by running over the table and somehow miraculously taking down a tourney, but by savoring the experience and finding lots of things to laugh about.
Can't wait!
2009 was a blast, but in the interests of self improvement and in spending more time with my family I will be taking the following steps.
Resolutions:
I Will ban myself from poker on Full Tilt every week - Late Monday through Thursday night.
On Full Tilt I Will only play $1 rake-free tournaments (that is, only the Ferguson or the Daily Dollar freezeout.) No more sit-n-go's, satellites or rebuy tourneys. I cash in these about 15% of the time, which is probably profitable in the live arena with a substantial buy-in amount invested but not at micro-stakes online. I've slowly bled out my online winnings - down under $200 after being up almost $400. No need to panic, but micro-stakes are damn near unbeatable with a rake/entry fee that floats around 20%.
Flatline will be Monday nights and Worldline will be every other Wednesday through April - Absolutely NO Full Tilt on either of these nights. (The exception being Monday night IF I bust out from Flatline I can enter the Ferguson Razz, Oh joy.)
Tuesday and Thursday nights are reading nights! ONLY after 10pm. Tuesday is poker content optional, Thursday is poker study only.
Friday night is Video night; ONLY AFTER 9pm. I will either renew my ProPlayLive or try out Cardrunners. I am allowed to play the Ferguson on Friday night, but only after watching a full hour of video - I am not allowed to play the Daily dollar.
Saturday and Sunday I am allowed to play the Daily Dollar/Ferguson only on days without a live event or on days without family plans that involve leaving the house. (Example; a day of yard work and playing with Natalie at home would be okay - going to the Zoo, my sister in law's or brothers house would not.)
Once a month on Full Tilt I am allowed to play in the BLT (The Big Little Tournament) which is a $5 MTT with a prize pool of $250,000.
Once a month I may choose to play a live tournament in an LA cardroom with a buy in of $150 or less- with the wife's full knowledge and consent of course.
My home game will have two games a month, a tournament on a Saturday night and a cash game on a Friday night.
That's about it! At a glance it seems like a lot, but I'm pretty sure I can stick to these guidelines a- and in doing so greatly increase my knowledge of the game and at the same time drastically reduce burn out and insure that my priorities are where they are supposed to be.
Also, very much looking forward to my annual Vegas poker odessy in February. I'm not going to put any pressure on myself to cash - only to have as much fun as possible!
Last year, you may remember, I cashed twice in Vegas, including chopping for first place - effectively negating my entry fees and expenses for the trip. I also cashed quite a bit at HPC.
But having said that - I had my aces cracked TWICE at HPC, both times all the chips were in pre-flop, both times were the end of my tournament life. Once against a pair of nines which spiked trips on the river and the second time against AQ which made a set on the turn. The second instance was particularly nasty, as it was 80/20 pre-flop AND I had a big stack of chips that got tangled up with the only other stack in the entire tournament that had me covered. Yuck.
I also recently lost a heartbreaking 60/40 race with a pair of tens against a bad player's K7os. Very frustrating to get my money in good and have the river rip up the chance for another really good run at the money.
So my eyes are open to the fact that even great cards and correct decisions are not immune to the whim of the poker Gods.
I stand my best chance of having a blast - not by running over the table and somehow miraculously taking down a tourney, but by savoring the experience and finding lots of things to laugh about.
Can't wait!
Friday, November 6, 2009
Long time no bloggy...
Wow, I didn't realize I had neglected this journal for so long.
Things have been going well with my game - I just took down second place last Monday in Flatline, and last night I took second in a one table sit-n-go without even trying on Full Tilt.
I am reading other players exceptionally well right now - probably better than I ever have in my life. I'm paying people off if they min-value bet me, just to get information; then I'm using that information later to bet correctly and/or to push people off of hands. I've even managed to push off some spectacularly bad calling stations in our league, because my reads have been so precise.
I can truly see for the first time now - and I guess it's only come about because of experience; that if I truly wished to become a professional poker player, I actually could.
The good news is, I would never want to. I love the game to much and have way too much fun when I play.
More importantly, I like taking long breaks away from the game now. I recently went to Vietnam for 10 days for work, and barely thought about cards. It was wonderful. Then I sat down a week after I got back and promptly destroyed my friends online - with nary a good starting hand in my possession throughout the tournament.
Yes, I'm very comfortable now. I feel like I'm just barely scratching beneath the surface of the game, but that surface is so rich with understanding and knowledge of poker, that I'm sated with satisfaction, realizing that my ability has stepped up to the next level.
Good times.
Things have been going well with my game - I just took down second place last Monday in Flatline, and last night I took second in a one table sit-n-go without even trying on Full Tilt.
I am reading other players exceptionally well right now - probably better than I ever have in my life. I'm paying people off if they min-value bet me, just to get information; then I'm using that information later to bet correctly and/or to push people off of hands. I've even managed to push off some spectacularly bad calling stations in our league, because my reads have been so precise.
I can truly see for the first time now - and I guess it's only come about because of experience; that if I truly wished to become a professional poker player, I actually could.
The good news is, I would never want to. I love the game to much and have way too much fun when I play.
More importantly, I like taking long breaks away from the game now. I recently went to Vietnam for 10 days for work, and barely thought about cards. It was wonderful. Then I sat down a week after I got back and promptly destroyed my friends online - with nary a good starting hand in my possession throughout the tournament.
Yes, I'm very comfortable now. I feel like I'm just barely scratching beneath the surface of the game, but that surface is so rich with understanding and knowledge of poker, that I'm sated with satisfaction, realizing that my ability has stepped up to the next level.
Good times.
Friday, August 21, 2009
Maybe I won't jump off the cliff just yet...
Monday night I finally cashed in Flatline, playing expertly and taking down third place for a nice little cash that basically wiped out my losses for the last month.
On the same evening I (for some foolish reason) entered the Full Tilt Ferguson, a one dollar tournament that starts every night at 1030pm.
Actually, I'd say I was a fool to enter for two reasons - one, it starts late and typically you can end up playing till 2 or 3 in the morning if you go deep. Two, it was Razz night.
Razz, yikes.
It's not a difficult poker game to play, and I actually have a pretty good grasp on the fundamentals. But razz, perhaps more than any other poker game, illustrates with crystal clarity, the beast that is variance.
You can make every correct decision possible, but when the cards come and you "brick" out, there is very little you can do but suffer.
Razz is a sadists game, in that you can feel so clearly, exquisite pain and anguish as each face card hits. Example; you start with A2 in the hole and a four door card, then you catch a 6 on fourth street, and then a jack, a queen, another jack and finally you pair your ace on the river to finish with a J, 6, 4, 2, A, while the 10,8,6,5,3 gets under you and scoops the chips.
Nasty, nasty game.
Monday night I beat out 464 other players to take down second place and $117.
Sweet, sweet, razz.
In one MTT I wiped out my losses of the last two months.
I played well, but I also got lucky in that my low cards came and I didn't brick out too often. At one point early in the tournament I was down to less than 4 big bets, but I hung in there and just tried to make good decisions, including committing to the hand very early by raising and reraising to get all my chips in quickly.
I think the MTT is the way to go for me - the $1 tourneys seem to really be a good low stress way to occasionally get lucky and basically increase my bankroll substantially in one shot - potentially even doubling it or more if I get very lucky. The Ferguson, when it's NLHE, typically has a first place prize of 1K or more. Who knows, some day.
I'm a bit soured on SNG's, they're very hard to beat consistently. I think part of this is that I'm more experienced with and temperamentally more suited to the marathon of the MTT rather than the sprint of a Sit-n-Go.
The other part is, there are a LOT of people making their living or at least supplimenting their income with SNG's these days by using poker tracking software and elaborate math based formulas. This is so they can multi-table (upwards of 20 tables or more) and really make money based on a very formulaic approach. For a lot of people this works very well, and is hard for someone like me who is more player oriented and really enjoys the single table feel of live poker.
I have neither the aptitude nor the inclination to involve myself in a math-centric and software assisted approach to online poker. And I honestly don't have the ADD to endure a 4 table blitz of images, let alone 20 or more.
I find that if I have a nice starting stack (as in the Full Tilt daily dollar) and a nice gradual blind structure, I can hang with most players. These two factors are absent from most SNG's.
A third factor that just occurred to me, is the rake in SNG's. It's massive, especially in the lower limits. The Ferguson has no rake and the daily dollar has a guaranteed prize pool that effectively negates the rake.
So yes, I feel better, about myself and about the game. There is still money to be made, and I think by sticking to the MTT's, I'll have the best chance of really enjoying the game (even when I run bad) and actually showing a profit.
On the same evening I (for some foolish reason) entered the Full Tilt Ferguson, a one dollar tournament that starts every night at 1030pm.
Actually, I'd say I was a fool to enter for two reasons - one, it starts late and typically you can end up playing till 2 or 3 in the morning if you go deep. Two, it was Razz night.
Razz, yikes.
It's not a difficult poker game to play, and I actually have a pretty good grasp on the fundamentals. But razz, perhaps more than any other poker game, illustrates with crystal clarity, the beast that is variance.
You can make every correct decision possible, but when the cards come and you "brick" out, there is very little you can do but suffer.
Razz is a sadists game, in that you can feel so clearly, exquisite pain and anguish as each face card hits. Example; you start with A2 in the hole and a four door card, then you catch a 6 on fourth street, and then a jack, a queen, another jack and finally you pair your ace on the river to finish with a J, 6, 4, 2, A, while the 10,8,6,5,3 gets under you and scoops the chips.
Nasty, nasty game.
Monday night I beat out 464 other players to take down second place and $117.
Sweet, sweet, razz.
In one MTT I wiped out my losses of the last two months.
I played well, but I also got lucky in that my low cards came and I didn't brick out too often. At one point early in the tournament I was down to less than 4 big bets, but I hung in there and just tried to make good decisions, including committing to the hand very early by raising and reraising to get all my chips in quickly.
I think the MTT is the way to go for me - the $1 tourneys seem to really be a good low stress way to occasionally get lucky and basically increase my bankroll substantially in one shot - potentially even doubling it or more if I get very lucky. The Ferguson, when it's NLHE, typically has a first place prize of 1K or more. Who knows, some day.
I'm a bit soured on SNG's, they're very hard to beat consistently. I think part of this is that I'm more experienced with and temperamentally more suited to the marathon of the MTT rather than the sprint of a Sit-n-Go.
The other part is, there are a LOT of people making their living or at least supplimenting their income with SNG's these days by using poker tracking software and elaborate math based formulas. This is so they can multi-table (upwards of 20 tables or more) and really make money based on a very formulaic approach. For a lot of people this works very well, and is hard for someone like me who is more player oriented and really enjoys the single table feel of live poker.
I have neither the aptitude nor the inclination to involve myself in a math-centric and software assisted approach to online poker. And I honestly don't have the ADD to endure a 4 table blitz of images, let alone 20 or more.
I find that if I have a nice starting stack (as in the Full Tilt daily dollar) and a nice gradual blind structure, I can hang with most players. These two factors are absent from most SNG's.
A third factor that just occurred to me, is the rake in SNG's. It's massive, especially in the lower limits. The Ferguson has no rake and the daily dollar has a guaranteed prize pool that effectively negates the rake.
So yes, I feel better, about myself and about the game. There is still money to be made, and I think by sticking to the MTT's, I'll have the best chance of really enjoying the game (even when I run bad) and actually showing a profit.
Saturday, August 8, 2009
Lucky in life...
...unlucky at cards I guess.
Get all the money in with AK, fish has AQ. Flop K6J. Turn 2. River 10.
Get all the money in with TPTK and Nut flush draw. Nut flush comes, but fish hits a runner runner for a straight flush.
Flop the wheel. Fish catches a two on the turn to give his six rag a higher straight.
Flop trip jacks. Fish shoves and backdoors a flush.
Lose every race for three weeks.
AK loses to AQ.
Pair of eights loses to AQ on the river.
Pair of fours loses to AK on the river.
Flop the nut flush, fish turns two pair and fills up on the river -after the chips are all in.
Good times.
Every good decision recently it seems is met by the inevitable five outer hitting on the turn. I've gotten to the point where I feel sick to my stomach if I get my money in good. On the infrequent occasion where I make a bad or marginal decision and get in behind, I don't even bother to hope to get lucky.
I used to detest the whiners on the poker forums. Who wants to listen to some results oriented loser bemoan the record number of two outers foisted on them by some cosmic doomswitch in the online realm.
I used to roll my eyes, I used to think "whatever". I am decision oriented - I am calm cool and collected. I had my aces cracked by A4 at HPC and barely got my heart rate up. I fooled myself into being happy because of such an uber-donk call.
Today, I think I'm starting to sympathize with the pity party jackasses.
Sigh. Not really. I guess.
The good news is, that if I lose my online bankroll (which you may remember started as 0 and was up to over $400) I get to be finished with online poker forever. It's not very likely (I'm still at $200) but it is nice to have a sensible fallback plan.
As for live poker - I final tabled at HPC and had my aces cracked by nines before the money. Then I went back and got six outered on the river - then I was back today and got sucked out (again) on a crucial hand and then for the next hour (with my stack a shell of its former self) found myself about as card dead as can be.
When I finally got around to making a move with the first face card I had seen in 45 minutes (the ripe with potential Jc10c) I ran smack into a snap call with A10 by a guy who didn't have many more chips than me. Well played sir.
I'm trying so hard of late to find my old zen poker self - and I know I'll get there. Yes, I still don't play during the week, but maybe I need a longer hiatus.
In any event, the biggest point really is that I need to re-find the fun. My game always seemed to grow the most when I wasn't concerned with being Phil Ivey - I always did the best when I just played for the love of the game. It seems tougher now, because I truly can see that I'm better than all but 2 or 3 players at the average table. I expect to do better than I have been.
I do still love the game. Thankfully, on Full Tilt I don't have any losses to chase. If I get back down to zero, it will back to play chips.
Flatline is a fixed budget of $150, which I have yet to ever fall under - and I still have $100 left for this season.
As for live, I am actually still up quite a bit - but if I get under zero again, I still plan to stick to my budget, which is one live tourney a month (which I rarely make anyway, it's usually every other month).
And no, I'm not concerned with supplementing my income, and certainly don't see making a living any time soon. Nor would I want to, being a poker pro is a soul sucking grind, of that I'm sure. Playing recreationally is too on occasion I've noticed.
Get all the money in with AK, fish has AQ. Flop K6J. Turn 2. River 10.
Get all the money in with TPTK and Nut flush draw. Nut flush comes, but fish hits a runner runner for a straight flush.
Flop the wheel. Fish catches a two on the turn to give his six rag a higher straight.
Flop trip jacks. Fish shoves and backdoors a flush.
Lose every race for three weeks.
AK loses to AQ.
Pair of eights loses to AQ on the river.
Pair of fours loses to AK on the river.
Flop the nut flush, fish turns two pair and fills up on the river -after the chips are all in.
Good times.
Every good decision recently it seems is met by the inevitable five outer hitting on the turn. I've gotten to the point where I feel sick to my stomach if I get my money in good. On the infrequent occasion where I make a bad or marginal decision and get in behind, I don't even bother to hope to get lucky.
I used to detest the whiners on the poker forums. Who wants to listen to some results oriented loser bemoan the record number of two outers foisted on them by some cosmic doomswitch in the online realm.
I used to roll my eyes, I used to think "whatever". I am decision oriented - I am calm cool and collected. I had my aces cracked by A4 at HPC and barely got my heart rate up. I fooled myself into being happy because of such an uber-donk call.
Today, I think I'm starting to sympathize with the pity party jackasses.
Sigh. Not really. I guess.
The good news is, that if I lose my online bankroll (which you may remember started as 0 and was up to over $400) I get to be finished with online poker forever. It's not very likely (I'm still at $200) but it is nice to have a sensible fallback plan.
As for live poker - I final tabled at HPC and had my aces cracked by nines before the money. Then I went back and got six outered on the river - then I was back today and got sucked out (again) on a crucial hand and then for the next hour (with my stack a shell of its former self) found myself about as card dead as can be.
When I finally got around to making a move with the first face card I had seen in 45 minutes (the ripe with potential Jc10c) I ran smack into a snap call with A10 by a guy who didn't have many more chips than me. Well played sir.
I'm trying so hard of late to find my old zen poker self - and I know I'll get there. Yes, I still don't play during the week, but maybe I need a longer hiatus.
In any event, the biggest point really is that I need to re-find the fun. My game always seemed to grow the most when I wasn't concerned with being Phil Ivey - I always did the best when I just played for the love of the game. It seems tougher now, because I truly can see that I'm better than all but 2 or 3 players at the average table. I expect to do better than I have been.
I do still love the game. Thankfully, on Full Tilt I don't have any losses to chase. If I get back down to zero, it will back to play chips.
Flatline is a fixed budget of $150, which I have yet to ever fall under - and I still have $100 left for this season.
As for live, I am actually still up quite a bit - but if I get under zero again, I still plan to stick to my budget, which is one live tourney a month (which I rarely make anyway, it's usually every other month).
And no, I'm not concerned with supplementing my income, and certainly don't see making a living any time soon. Nor would I want to, being a poker pro is a soul sucking grind, of that I'm sure. Playing recreationally is too on occasion I've noticed.
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Just when you think you're really good...
Poker comes along and humbles you.
The good news is, I haven't been playing terrible or even that bad really. But the shoe has dropped, and I'm 0-3 in flatline, not even making it to the final 20 let alone the final table! I also managed to drop about 10 buy ins on MTT's before cashing on Full Tilt, losing seemingly every race and getting in behind time after time with premium or middling cards.
Everyone loves bad beat stories, so here's mine. (BTW, as Homer Simpson would say, "That's sarcasm in case you didn't know.")
Flatline:
T1 - I wake up with kings in the third hand. Standard raise, one caller behind in the SB. Flop comes rags, he check raises me. Like an idiot (because I happen to be playing an idiot) I shove. He snap calls with a set of sixes. Exit me.
I played that one badly, though I'll concede in our turbo structure that it's pretty hard to get away from cowboys when no over cards hit.
T2 - This one is all on the donkey to my right. Again, about half a dozen hands in, a whole gang of limpers, I look down at Aces and shove. Single caller - with A9. He flops a set of nines, then turns quads. That is what we call a fucking cooler.
I played this one exceptionally well - knowing with a virtual stable of burros behind me, chances are I would get a call. I was ecstatic when he showed his cards, though in the back of my mind I feared a flush (his A9 was sooooted you see).
Be happy. You want that call.
T3 - Last night, about a dozen hands in. I had already stacked donkey number one by slow playing my flopped two pair that turned into a boat - got all of his chips when he had aces in the hole that he played so slowly as to allow himself to be bitch slapped by my Gus Hansen like garbage. Hey, he gave me the right price by just smooth calling my limp.
For the bad beat that saw me exit early for the third straight week I had A9 suited, though I played it correctly by raising from the cutoff. The button called and I flopped two pair. I led out, the button raised. I tanked. There was a flush draw, but I knew this player (Timmy, a guy who is about the best in the league besides me lol) was not likely to get out of line on a draw so early in the tournament and with stacks so deep, nor was he likely to have a set of aces or nines or threes (the third card) he would have re-raised with aces and folded with threes and I already had a nine. I shoved, wanting to give the impression of a bluff. It worked.
He snap called with TPTK - yep, big slick. Big stinking trap hand in this instance that saw him dead to three cards, one of which of course he hit on the river.
GG me.
I won't bore you further with the details of my weekend cold streak over on Full Tilt. Let's just say it was a healthy mixture of brutal cards and my own tilt induced donkage that contributed to the $20 chunk being taken out of my bankroll. The good news is on that front that I've stabilized a bit and gone fairly deep in two huge field dollar tourneys. Still haven't managed to get into the real money though (upwards of $50).
Poker crushes the souls of people on a regular basis. Those of us who are blessed with the awareness of variance and being decision oriented have a much easier time than those who are emotion driven and focused on results. Still, poker is a brutal beast - even for the most detached and zen like hobbyists, one of which I am struggling to be in this current streak.
Still, I will carry on. I've taken to banning myself from Full Tilt during the week except for Monday nights - and I make sure that I don't play late on Sunday night, it can be a real bear to go to work when you've been up until 3am. This makes it alot easier to be enthusiastic about the game when I get to return to it - I'm hoping that enthusiasm will start resulting in better play and a better focus when the bad beats inevitably reoccur.
My live game has been fair to middling - I recently had a H.O.R.S.E. tournament at my home which was great fun even though I went out early (busted by a combustible card rack who is typically a passive fish). Up next is Omaha/8, before we return to NLHE for the remainder of the year. I don't expect I'll get that far, unless the poker Gods can see fit to get me off of my current spate of running bad. O8, especially in tournament format, is a pretty card dependent game. I have no doubt if I can by some miracle run half decent I will cash.
The good news is, I haven't been playing terrible or even that bad really. But the shoe has dropped, and I'm 0-3 in flatline, not even making it to the final 20 let alone the final table! I also managed to drop about 10 buy ins on MTT's before cashing on Full Tilt, losing seemingly every race and getting in behind time after time with premium or middling cards.
Everyone loves bad beat stories, so here's mine. (BTW, as Homer Simpson would say, "That's sarcasm in case you didn't know.")
Flatline:
T1 - I wake up with kings in the third hand. Standard raise, one caller behind in the SB. Flop comes rags, he check raises me. Like an idiot (because I happen to be playing an idiot) I shove. He snap calls with a set of sixes. Exit me.
I played that one badly, though I'll concede in our turbo structure that it's pretty hard to get away from cowboys when no over cards hit.
T2 - This one is all on the donkey to my right. Again, about half a dozen hands in, a whole gang of limpers, I look down at Aces and shove. Single caller - with A9. He flops a set of nines, then turns quads. That is what we call a fucking cooler.
I played this one exceptionally well - knowing with a virtual stable of burros behind me, chances are I would get a call. I was ecstatic when he showed his cards, though in the back of my mind I feared a flush (his A9 was sooooted you see).
Be happy. You want that call.
T3 - Last night, about a dozen hands in. I had already stacked donkey number one by slow playing my flopped two pair that turned into a boat - got all of his chips when he had aces in the hole that he played so slowly as to allow himself to be bitch slapped by my Gus Hansen like garbage. Hey, he gave me the right price by just smooth calling my limp.
For the bad beat that saw me exit early for the third straight week I had A9 suited, though I played it correctly by raising from the cutoff. The button called and I flopped two pair. I led out, the button raised. I tanked. There was a flush draw, but I knew this player (Timmy, a guy who is about the best in the league besides me lol) was not likely to get out of line on a draw so early in the tournament and with stacks so deep, nor was he likely to have a set of aces or nines or threes (the third card) he would have re-raised with aces and folded with threes and I already had a nine. I shoved, wanting to give the impression of a bluff. It worked.
He snap called with TPTK - yep, big slick. Big stinking trap hand in this instance that saw him dead to three cards, one of which of course he hit on the river.
GG me.
I won't bore you further with the details of my weekend cold streak over on Full Tilt. Let's just say it was a healthy mixture of brutal cards and my own tilt induced donkage that contributed to the $20 chunk being taken out of my bankroll. The good news is on that front that I've stabilized a bit and gone fairly deep in two huge field dollar tourneys. Still haven't managed to get into the real money though (upwards of $50).
Poker crushes the souls of people on a regular basis. Those of us who are blessed with the awareness of variance and being decision oriented have a much easier time than those who are emotion driven and focused on results. Still, poker is a brutal beast - even for the most detached and zen like hobbyists, one of which I am struggling to be in this current streak.
Still, I will carry on. I've taken to banning myself from Full Tilt during the week except for Monday nights - and I make sure that I don't play late on Sunday night, it can be a real bear to go to work when you've been up until 3am. This makes it alot easier to be enthusiastic about the game when I get to return to it - I'm hoping that enthusiasm will start resulting in better play and a better focus when the bad beats inevitably reoccur.
My live game has been fair to middling - I recently had a H.O.R.S.E. tournament at my home which was great fun even though I went out early (busted by a combustible card rack who is typically a passive fish). Up next is Omaha/8, before we return to NLHE for the remainder of the year. I don't expect I'll get that far, unless the poker Gods can see fit to get me off of my current spate of running bad. O8, especially in tournament format, is a pretty card dependent game. I have no doubt if I can by some miracle run half decent I will cash.
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