Chasing

I continue to read and re-read the upswing lab material.  I am still picking up little tid bits I missed the first time through while still filling in wholes in my poker understanding.  For example, chasing draws.  I was off on my odds for my draws.  This could be why I have roller coaster poker results.  A few sessions they come in and I will win big and the next few I miss and give it all back.

In case you are wandering, I am on a give it back cycle.  My bankroll is down to just over $100.  I tried doing some small tournaments to get a few hundred back quick but no luck. Did cash on a few free rolls for 4 to 8 cents but who cares. 

Dropped down to 20nl and put the new knowledge to use.  Chased less and changed up my betting.  Was able to double the bankroll from 50 to 100 but 20nl is tough with players dropping down and high rake.  I play 2 tables for 1 hour sessions and stop.  Most of the time I am up or down less then $10.  I am fighting the urge to re-deposit, as building a bankroll  at 20nl is slow.  Using it as a lesson in patience.

Tip.  Browsing through the training videos there aren't many to choose from at the micro stakes on the training site.  I turned to, Youtube, were there are more choices but suspect quality.  I also found many are zoom tables or have multiple small screens going.  It is hard to see and keep up with the action if you are really trying to learn. 

The best I have found for me, have been Doug Polk's bankroll challenge videos.  Some videos are tournaments but many are of him grinding out 20 and 50nl on WSOP.com.  He is multi tabling but he only puts 1 table up on the screen at a time so you can see and follow the action.  Although he does explain some of his thought process while he is playing, these videos aren't really training videos.  They allow you to watch what he does and figure out some things on your own without him spoon feeding everything to you. 

I am playing on WSOP.com so it is also a direct comparison to what I am seeing at the same stakes.  It is also without HUDs.  This takes away the crutches and make you draw on the material you are trying to learn.  Lastly, this is as close to live games you can get on the internet.  Playing live is my main goal once the pandemic is over, so this fits nicely into my plan.

  

Still Learning

Following the new preflop charts helped tremendously.  I can see how I was being pushed around before and I understand the concepts behind the actions.  Some was faith and hope, but as it worked I gained more confidence.

I went on a good run of cards timed with the improvement in my game and almost made my bankroll back.  Just when I was counting my money while sitting at the table, my luck ran out.  I got into a half dozen or so spots that I thought my equity was better then it was and started loosing.  Plugged the hands into Equilab and found my true equity was only 30%.  Not the best investment to do multiple times.  Not as bad as the first down swing but still hurts after battling back.

I went back to the training chapters and my notes and re-read.  Went down to playing just 1 table and started to work through my spots.  Started to come back but it is a slow climb.  Have to put in the hands now to see where my next issue will pop up.

Preflop Charts Everywhere

When I learned how to play poker, I found the preflop hand charts.  There was a chart for each position.  Just play these hands in these positions and you are your way to poker greatness.  Not so much.

In my last post I started to touch on the questions these charts can't answer.  Should I raise or call?  He 3 bet me, now what?

The guys at Upswing took the time to create a chart for each of these questions and more.  First in action, what I do if this or that position was first in the pot and now it is my turn, and if I am 3 bet, play these hands.  They go on to 4 bet action but I ran out of room on the page.  I cut and pasted each matrix and sized them so they could fit mostly to one page.  They are even color coded to say sometime re-raise with this hand instead of calling.  So very detailed.  They took the time to review their hand results along with all the equity calculators out there to find optimal and deceptive plays so I didn't have to.  That is what membership fees are for.  lol

My goal isn't to blindly follow these new charts but to understand the theory behind how they made them.  Thinking about why each hand is included and how to play it.  Not just preflop but how it sets up the play on the remaining streets.

All these charts also broadens my thinking when it comes to preflop play.  Play starts preflop not on the flop.  There is no reason you can't semi bluff or out right bluff preflop, by raising.  When you think about the hand ranges a position may play, you can make educated guesses about how your hand strength compares to theirs.  If you think you are ahead, then raise.  Preflop is the most creative part of the hand.  The flop can make any hand great or bust.  It is on the later streets you have to narrow your holdings to win the pot.  Of course you can take these ideas to extremes but I know I have room to loosen up.

Excited to see how this new way of playing works.  It looks like I will be playing more hands and 3 betting frequently.  Will put more pressure on my post flop game so I don't go broke.  Being able to fold will be very important when I miss the flop or am just beat.

Going Up

Worked on my faith in my fellow players and got there more then half way.  I did believe 60% of the time and my bankroll doubled.  Yes, it was that low.  Back up to 44% of starting size.

True to my personality, I lost faith a hand full of times and paid the price.  It just seems amazing that they have it.  You are sitting there and thinking, wouldn't it be great to have AA right now, then someone raises big and that is exactly what they have.  To help my ego, I did have the good end of a flip or two and still lost.

As I write this I am thinking I am not looking at this properly.  Most of these are preflop battles for stacks.  I put the hands in the equity calculator after and I usually have the worse of it.  Even against ranges.  Not sure if no all in preflops are correct but I definitely need to reduce mine.  I can think of several times I regret pressing that button.  If I had believed I could be back to even by now. 

I worked more on my post flop game Saturday.  Trying to bet more for value instead of checking it down.  This worked out very well.  Playing less games gave me the time to think through the action and bet when I was ahead.  It was usually small but every dollar helps.

In fact, bet sizing is another item I have been playing with.  I found myself saying, If you bet it, they will call.  This did work a few times and I caught a few non believers for big pots.  I just bet very aggressively and they assumed I was trying to run them over.  Most of the time I had been trying to bet just enough to give them bad odds to call.  Don't know if this is the best way in these games.  The players seem to read it as weakness to get to a cheap river.  And then I am thinking I could have bet more.

Wow!  Writing this out really shows me how many holes I have in my game.  In conjunction with the number of hands you see playing on the internet, your errors really stand out if you look for them.  Playing live at the local casino was giving me a false sense of my skill level. 

I seem to have 1 reader and need your help.  I want to record my sessions to review my hands since wsop.com doesn't support tracker software.  What is a software that can record what is on my screen?  There is a game recorder built into my computer but I can only record one table.  I want to record what ever I see, even if I drag various windows on and off screen to look at different information.  Any ideas?

Be a Believer

So I have been playing 50nl on WSOP.com and loosing.  Still have some money left but if I don't turn it around fast, I will have to make another deposit.

I have found that the more I believe, the less I loose.  No matter how unlikely it is that a person called down pot sized flop and turn bets with 72o, when it gets there on the river and they raise, they have it.  I am watching videos of high stakes pros that drop down to play 50nl and are calling off their stacks with AQo and loosing to AKo on a A23 board.  I would have said the pot is to small and he can have it, but the pro called and lost.  I did that last week and now have a small bank roll.

Still have some believing to do.  I lost to a 93s flush in a raised pot last night.  Just couldn't fold my nut straight.  Down another buy in for the session.  Continued reading and watching upswings' Lab modules and still enjoying them.

Tonight and this weekend I will play even tighter preflop, more selective when putting money in the pot post flop, and being a better believer.

Down Swing

Down Swing.  Variance.  Curse of the challenge.  Trying to hard.  Watching videos and thinking I can do that.  Unlucky.  Bad play.  Spewing.  Horrendous play.  Don't know what I am doing play.

All the above and more, describes my play on Saturday.  I am down over $400.  Insert all the bad beat and bad play stories you heard and that is what happened.  So what now?

I signed up with Upswingpoker.com.  I went all out and got a YEAR subscription.  That is commitment!  Being as bad as I am, I will have to go through the Lab multiple times now and again and again before it sinks in.  The commitment should help me stay focused so I get my moneys worth.  Started the first couple of modules and like the approach.  Starts from square one and builds very logically.  Fits my learning style so far.

Dropped down to 20nl on Sunday so I could try out a few concepts and still lost.  Gives me hope it wasn't all bad play.  lol  At least I lost next to nothing compared to Saturday.

Going to use the Upswing Poker membership to the fullest and put real effort into each module, even the ones I think I know.  I will continue to play during this time, but for shorter times and with less tables.  Maybe even just one table at a time.  Worst case, I redeposit.  I will keep my day job.

First Day

First day and I already broke my rules.  I fired up 4 tables of 6-max.  My thoughts were to play tight and even sit out on the other tables if I had a tough decision to make.  This did work for the most part and I did sit out to make a tough read for a big pot, but I think I am still missing stuff.

I ran up my tables 2 buy ins and was holding strong for over an hour.  Then my little upswing went to my head and I took the worst of a small flip and lost.  Then I defended my small blind and flopped top pair.  Bet strong on the flop and turn and he called.  Thinking I could play like all the videos I have been watching lately, I went all in for 3x pot on the river and lost.  Shortly after that, I ran AK into a set on a K high board and lost again.  Went from up 2 buy ins to down 1.75 buy ins.

Took a short break to regroup and get my head on straight.  I have a tendency to get over confident and high on my success.  I  start to gambool and that rarely works out well.  To help manage this, I limited my playing time to 2 hours.  Apparently this was to long so I went down to 1.5 for the next session. 

This time I only opened 3 tables and talked out loud through my hands as I played them.  Trying the see, speak, and hear learning strategy to get it through my thick head.  This may be my first hurdle to over come.  As I talk, I am calling out what I think my opponent has, like you should to get reads and play the hand well.  I am not able to keep this up.  I stop fully thinking through the hand and only think maybe 60 to 70% of the way.  This mental block is causing me to check down turn and especially river cards, giving my opponent a chance to win.  I am leaving a lot of money on the table with these missed bets or paying off when they are clear folds. 

Even with the above mental issues, I managed to battle back and book a solid $5.89 win for the night.  Yay!!  My first problem defined and a plan to fix it in place.  Easier said then done but I will keep trying.