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.

Quarantine Poker

Playing online while sheltering in place.  Doing multi table 6-max 50nl. 

Played around with the number of tables and 3 seems to be the best for me.  I am trying to think about my hand and what my opponent has, and I get flustered with more then 3 tables.  Played up to 6 tables and it was not pretty. 

Was up, then way down.  Re-deposited and ran it back up.  Got back into the flow of online vs live poker and evened out.  Watched a few videos and the bankroll challenges look like fun.  Not in any hurry but lets make a goal.  I can't do 100 to 10,000 but maybe 900 to 5,000.

So I started 2 days ago and  lost a few coin flips.  Battled back but still down 100.  Not the end on the world, just need to buckle down.  Tend to bluff to much, so I am trying to control myself and just give it up when I am beat.  Got my pre-flop, positional, starting hand charts and and sticking to them.  Have to get them into memory and then will move on to the UPswing.com training site.  Cost a few dollars but I have the time now.

Going to just play straight forward poker.  No traps or trick plays.  Will adjust bet sizes to induce calls or raises but nothing fancy. 

Random Thoughts

In case a few people actually read these posts, I wanted to point out that I matured (a little) and mellowed during my 7 year break.  If you read the previous posts you might notice a different focus and tone.  I was still out to get rich and use poker as my only source of income.  Having a steady, well-paying-job, has changed my outlook and goals for poker.  Without the pressure to win and make money, I have relaxed and can enjoy the game and improve without a narrow focus.

 

Eventually I will share hands I play and hope to get feed-back from other points of views, but I am posting these first few posts to get my thinking and approach straight in my own head.  They may be boring so feel free to skip them. 

I am starting to form a style of play that works for me and my financial concerns, emotional state, and personality.  All these factors are subject to change from hand to hand and will affect my play from a session to forever.  I can only say this is what I am trying to do to improve and win at poker.  If you don’t like it or it doesn’t work for you, then skip over it and read the parts that interest you.

One factor that you will probably pick up on is that I am not aggressive enough. So I will say it now.  “I am results oriented.”  It may be more profitable to push here or raise there but I won’t in order to protect my stack.  As I win, build a bankroll and confidence in my game, I will increase my aggression.  As for now, the confidence builder of a small win allows me to focus on my “MANY” other short comings.  Hand and player reading is my current focus.  As I get better, I am also trying to bet for value on a scary river.  Small steps, there is a reason(s) why I play 1-2nl.

Playing Cards vs Playing Poker

I read a dozen or so poker books over the years, good and bad.  Many are packed full of all the poker knowledge you need to be a winning player and I would suggest reading a few to get a good poker foundation.  Ed Miller is my favorite, along with David Sklansky, and two plus two.  I read and studied all about pot odds, outs, discounted outs and implied odds.  I memorized the rough percentages of draws, bet sizing, and how to control the pot size.   Armed with this knowledge, I rushed out to play; sure I would rake in the chips. 

All this knowledge did help and I had many winning sessions but overall, I still lost.  I may have won more often then I lost, but the losses would wipe out multiple winning sessions.  I know tilt and bad play helped, but it wasn’t the full picture.  I was only paying attention to my hand.  I wasn’t oblivious to my opponent, just over fixated on my odds, outs, and percentages.  It is commonly referred to as “Falling in Love with Your Hand”.  I was “Playing Cards” instead of “Poker”.  Poker changes with every turn of the card or even player action and I was only paying attention to what I was doing.

 

Maybe I got bored after half the book, or was so excited to put into action all the wonderful things I learned, but I stopped reading, or at least, stopped paying attention half way through.  After all, I learned how to play “my hand”.  In my defense, the sections covering how to put it all together, special situations, and reading your opponents’ hands were smaller.  It took me a long time and a lot of money to realize, just because the sections were smaller, doesn’t mean they are less important.  So if you are like me, thick headed and short sighted, go back and re-read the second half of your books.  This time pay attention and absorb the information.

Opponent raising ranges, hand reading, and player reads are were you start playing Poker.  It is like playing two hands at once.  If you put yourself in your opponents place and ask yourself which cards would you have to have in order to do what he just did, you can start to narrow down his likely holding.  Once you have an idea what your opponent has, playing your hand is easier.  Adding the second level of thinking is when you truly start to play “Poker”.  I say “start” because there are always levels to add when you are thinking.

So you knew all that and I just wasted your time and mine repeating it.  We also know that going to the gym and eating healthy is good for you, but here I am, out of shape and fat.  I repeat it until it sinks into my thick head.  Then when I get bored at the table, lax in my thinking, and start to lose, I repeat it again.  Its training, even top professionals in all jobs train or go to seminars to remind themselves that the basics still apply and you need to pay attention to them.  So re-read your books, poker blogs, and watch the new Vlogs that review hands and concepts.  There is so much quality poker material out there, don’t dismiss it just because you already “know it”.  Train! Train! Train!

7 Year Break

After 7 years I wasn't sure this blog was still here. I guess nothing really goes away on the internet. Vblogs are the new fad. That is one of the things that re-sparked my interest in poker, but I don't have the time to edit footage. Editing time is a common complaint on a few blogs I have seen. (Plug for Brad Owen and Andrew Neeme)

 I haven't spent much time playing poker during my break, maybe a session here and there when a friend came to town, but nothing serious. Stayed busy climbing the career ladder. Jobs came and went until I landed a dream job in Las Vegas, where I now live. Great pay, benefits, and work life balance does the bankroll good. But alas, new house and remodel costs does the bankroll bad. Hence, another reason to play poker again, extra money!

Extra money maybe the end goal, but just being a break even player is the first step. It finally sunk in that I am a losing poker player. I am the player you hope for when you play poker. Thinks he knows how to play, but ultimately loses all his money. I do enjoy playing and like the challenge it offers, so I keep trying. Taking some time now to scrape off the rust and re-think my game. Breaking out the old books and reading a few new ones. Watching the Vblogs for entertainment and also as mini training videos. They offer commentary about specific hands and how they think through their play and explain why they take the actions they do. Even if you don't agree with the action, you can get an idea how other players think through hands.

 So the plan is back to basic ABC poker and slowly apply higher principles. I also am paying more attention to my frame of mind when I play. Making sure I am rested, paying attention at the table, and not playing hands out of boredom. In an attempt to keep my losses small, I opened an account on WSOP poker and started hitting the 10/20 and 25/50 cent tables. Started with $100, ran it up to $260, then back down to $50. There is some variance in there but plenty of bad play to correct. I will keep you posted and we will see if I can reach break even.

Where Am I Now

The internet is down and I got a job. The interesting part is that I moved to Las Vegas. Yes there are real jobs here and I have one.

I am playing more and more which is good and bad. I told myself I was going to get a life but I am not making enogh money at my job to pay all my bills and still have fun. So back to the tables for some extra cash.

It has been working so far but I haven't been keeping track to know exactly how much or little I am making. A friend keeps bugging me so I am breaking down and doing starting it today.

The games are obviously good and when I loose it is more my fault then bad cards. I get bored or anxious at the table and just give some or all my chips away. I regret it in the morning but it is to late. I am my own worst enemy.

My plan to control myself is my ipod and limiting my sessions. If I am totaly card dead I can get the internet on my ipod to read and keep me awake. I may miss some stuff but not as much as you would think since Live play is so much slower.

I will also limit my sessions to between 2 and 4 hrs. When I play after work 2 to 2.5 hrs is plenty before I start to fall apart. Just because I have been up since 6:30am and I am getting tired by 9:30pm. I should be awake at work anyway. On the weekends I will have to be honest with myself and take walks or change casinos. If I am card dead a change is what I need anyway.

I will see how this goes. I like to plan but I know it never works in poker. I read my old posts and chuckle at myself. I just can't help it. It is what I do.