Alright so I have been messing around with different mindsets to take to the table, and the last one the I messed around w was playing not to lose. Now growing up as a competitive person all of my life, playing a game not to lose just never really sat well with me. I like the idea to try and help tone down my aggression, but I am never going to play a game w a goal of not losing.
So what I think my new mind set should be, is playing to win small pots. The small pots are the ones that players just don't play well at all, and the big pots are usually the ones that play themselves. So while I should really look to be getting away from big pots, at all possible costs, I will be trying to win as many small pots as possible. This is where the most skill comes in and where I can feel that I can boost my WR most.
I have to remember the omen...BIG POTS DON'T HELP YOUR WIN RATE, THEY DESTROY IT!
While that seems counter-intuitive I believe it to be completely true. The only way that I should win a big pot at full ring is through coolering another player, or someone else playing ridiculously poorly. So I can not ever at all be trying to win big pots. If I go out trying to win big pots I will get destroyed, I have to let the big pots come to me.
The big pots aren't fun to me anymore, because they are usually just so standard, and things that are out of my control determine whether or not I will win that pot. I hate being out of control, and I love being in control of my results. So in the small uncontested pots, I have much more control of the outcome, I don't have to just ship all my money in and hope.
So I now I am going to try my best and play what they call small ball poker. I think this is the best way to build my roll that is currently lower than it has been in a very long time. If I can do it right I will be on the right path to becoming a small baller!
Sunday, April 5, 2009
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Trying to post some hands
Ok so I just got done with about a 2 hour session, and I played some big pots pretty horribly. I don't really know why, but I didn't have the proper mindset when playing. When I sit down at the tables I really want to be trying not too lose rather than trying to win. I am already over aggro and try to win too many pots, so for me to play my best I need to be trying not too lose.
When I am playing not too lose I am still playing very aggressively in almost every pot that I enter, the only seemingly difference to me is that I get am able to get away from the mediocre situations a lot easier. When I am at a spot that is neutral EV, or very close to it, I will be more inclined to muck without putting too much money in the pot when I am playing not to lose. However, when I am playing to try and win as much money as possible I feel that I need to embrace these spots and try and push around the weak-passives at the full ring tables.
The way that this can be most effective is by picking my spots as carefully as possible. Be looking for reasons not to enter a pot, and if I just can't find any reasons not to make a play, then go ahead and do it. Rather than looking for every possible reason to make a play, and only not making a play if I can't find any reasons to do so.
So today I was playing in the wrong mindset, and I was looking for every spot possible to make a move, and not trying to play a low EV style of poker.
So here goes, really hope it works because every other time I have tried to post a hand in my blog i have failed miserably, so I am basically going to upload the HH to weaktight.com and then post a link to each hand, that seems to be the way to do it.
http://weaktight.com/950226
So in this hand I decided just to flat the shove to try and entice some other players to come along with hands that I had absolutly crushed, because there were some really bad players at this table, the players in the blinds both had over 40% VPIP.
Now a player playing 40/20/1.4 with a 3bet of 20% decides to 3bet after we get another caller, and at this point I could have shoved, but since I had position I decided to just flat it and then stick it in on any flop.
So I probably butchered this hand, but that will be a common theme in this blog post.
http://weaktight.com/950239
KK against breekijzer
So he was playing 42/12/.8 with a 3bet of 10%. So when I 4bet him OOP to 32BB's I don't think I can get away from my hand on many flops and I really don't think I can get away from it here, but I go ahead and check anyways, cause I don't feel that a bet is necessary.
So after the flop I feel that this player is way to passive to check it too him again, however I do think if I just ship it in he will never fold TT-QQ, and if he has an A then I think that is a much smaller part of his range.
So after looking at it I really like how I played that hand, but I would def like some feedback
So these next two hands are what I was talking about before when I said I am trying to hard to win money. I hate giving up pots to these weak players, and I usually have to try way too hard to win a hand, when I could easily muck and find a MUCH better, and less stressful spot.
http://weaktight.com/950231
JohnnnyD was playing 40/10/1, and the btn opener had a very high steal % so I thought this would be a great spot to put on a sqeeze, and I was basically expecting the SB to call, and that was going to be a very profitable spot for me in position.
So basically I learned a huge lesson on the flop and will really take something from this hand. Basically I think I can make a really good rule of thumb, that if a passive player donks in a 3bet pot, he is almost never looking to get away from his hand. I just need to fold to that bet and save myself all kinds of stress and money.
Then on the turn I just thought that was too perfect of a card to check behind, when in all reality he was probably never folding at that point.
So basically I love my preflop squeeze, but the 90 or so BB's that I lost after that was a complete spew.
http://weaktight.com/950237
Then this hand was a against a players who was 3betting 8% w a 3 a.f. over 500 hands or so. Now when players are 3betting light I think it is usually a good idea to play pocket pairs strong, but this was def not one of those spots.
I don't really mind the call in position here, just because I am so aggro in late position and players like this start playing back at me.
And then once I call pre I don't think I can fold this flop, but where things turned disaterous was on the turn.
I think he basically checks every hand that I have beat on the turn, so when he double barrels in a 3bet pot, I can be assured that he has a pocket pair higher then mine 95% of the time. So there is no point in trying to pick of when he is bluffing, I have to muck here basically 100% of the time.
So despite all of that bad play I still was up 3 BI's over 1K hands in a two hour session today which is obv. pretty ridiculous. Also some other good news, after that I found out of to view my daily results w/out having to check results, so I am going to remain disciplined and only play for my hourly rate, and try not to check my results until the end of this month.
When I am playing not too lose I am still playing very aggressively in almost every pot that I enter, the only seemingly difference to me is that I get am able to get away from the mediocre situations a lot easier. When I am at a spot that is neutral EV, or very close to it, I will be more inclined to muck without putting too much money in the pot when I am playing not to lose. However, when I am playing to try and win as much money as possible I feel that I need to embrace these spots and try and push around the weak-passives at the full ring tables.
The way that this can be most effective is by picking my spots as carefully as possible. Be looking for reasons not to enter a pot, and if I just can't find any reasons not to make a play, then go ahead and do it. Rather than looking for every possible reason to make a play, and only not making a play if I can't find any reasons to do so.
So today I was playing in the wrong mindset, and I was looking for every spot possible to make a move, and not trying to play a low EV style of poker.
So here goes, really hope it works because every other time I have tried to post a hand in my blog i have failed miserably, so I am basically going to upload the HH to weaktight.com and then post a link to each hand, that seems to be the way to do it.
http://weaktight.com/950226
So in this hand I decided just to flat the shove to try and entice some other players to come along with hands that I had absolutly crushed, because there were some really bad players at this table, the players in the blinds both had over 40% VPIP.
Now a player playing 40/20/1.4 with a 3bet of 20% decides to 3bet after we get another caller, and at this point I could have shoved, but since I had position I decided to just flat it and then stick it in on any flop.
So I probably butchered this hand, but that will be a common theme in this blog post.
http://weaktight.com/950239
KK against breekijzer
So he was playing 42/12/.8 with a 3bet of 10%. So when I 4bet him OOP to 32BB's I don't think I can get away from my hand on many flops and I really don't think I can get away from it here, but I go ahead and check anyways, cause I don't feel that a bet is necessary.
So after the flop I feel that this player is way to passive to check it too him again, however I do think if I just ship it in he will never fold TT-QQ, and if he has an A then I think that is a much smaller part of his range.
So after looking at it I really like how I played that hand, but I would def like some feedback
So these next two hands are what I was talking about before when I said I am trying to hard to win money. I hate giving up pots to these weak players, and I usually have to try way too hard to win a hand, when I could easily muck and find a MUCH better, and less stressful spot.
http://weaktight.com/950231
JohnnnyD was playing 40/10/1, and the btn opener had a very high steal % so I thought this would be a great spot to put on a sqeeze, and I was basically expecting the SB to call, and that was going to be a very profitable spot for me in position.
So basically I learned a huge lesson on the flop and will really take something from this hand. Basically I think I can make a really good rule of thumb, that if a passive player donks in a 3bet pot, he is almost never looking to get away from his hand. I just need to fold to that bet and save myself all kinds of stress and money.
Then on the turn I just thought that was too perfect of a card to check behind, when in all reality he was probably never folding at that point.
So basically I love my preflop squeeze, but the 90 or so BB's that I lost after that was a complete spew.
http://weaktight.com/950237
Then this hand was a against a players who was 3betting 8% w a 3 a.f. over 500 hands or so. Now when players are 3betting light I think it is usually a good idea to play pocket pairs strong, but this was def not one of those spots.
I don't really mind the call in position here, just because I am so aggro in late position and players like this start playing back at me.
And then once I call pre I don't think I can fold this flop, but where things turned disaterous was on the turn.
I think he basically checks every hand that I have beat on the turn, so when he double barrels in a 3bet pot, I can be assured that he has a pocket pair higher then mine 95% of the time. So there is no point in trying to pick of when he is bluffing, I have to muck here basically 100% of the time.
So despite all of that bad play I still was up 3 BI's over 1K hands in a two hour session today which is obv. pretty ridiculous. Also some other good news, after that I found out of to view my daily results w/out having to check results, so I am going to remain disciplined and only play for my hourly rate, and try not to check my results until the end of this month.
full ring turtles
So I am hoping that I did this right, because I am a complete technology donk, even though setting up a blog probably doesn't even count for technology, o well. I am pretty sure I got it right on my first try.
So I am usually terrible about keeping an updated blog, but I am going to change that because I think a well kept blog can be a crucial part to improving my game. So now I am going to try and list ways to improve my blog to a "well kept blog"
First of all I think one of the most important parts to having a blog is posting hands that I think I could have poorly and going over my thoughts about the hand. Once I go over why I made the play that I did, it is now my job to seek out other opinions on how I could have played the had better, instead of just trying to justify why I played the hand the way that I did.
I remember when I used to read Muckemsayuhhhh's blog, back when he still used to go by that, and when he was moving up the ranks in NL he posted every single hand on his blog in which he got stacked. Even if it was completely standard or not, he posted every single hand and went over why he played it that way. This had to be such a huge part to his quick success, and I think this is a good idea for everyone to do.
I am probably not going to post every hand where I get stacked, but also try and look over the medium sized pots that I could have played differently, and any hand that I had trouble with and wasn't sure how I wanted to play it, or felt there were multiple lines that could be good.
My only problem with that is I really want to quit checking my results after each session. I want to just keep track of how long I played, and then plug in my hourly rate and I will know precisely how much I made in that session, and then I never ever have a losing session, as long as I play well and don't lose more than variance entails. So the problem is with PT3 I don't quite know of a good way to go through a sessions hands without looking at my overall results, and I don't really know if there is a good way to do it. However I think this is possible in Holdem Manager, which I plan on purchasing shortly.
So basically I am going to start maintaining my blog more regularly, and posting hands from that days session that I think were questionable. I will then seek out some responses from the members in my study group, and post them on forums, and if it's a really good hand I will seek out my coaches advice. These are the things that I must start doing, and if done correctly I think my game will improve dramatically.
So I am usually terrible about keeping an updated blog, but I am going to change that because I think a well kept blog can be a crucial part to improving my game. So now I am going to try and list ways to improve my blog to a "well kept blog"
First of all I think one of the most important parts to having a blog is posting hands that I think I could have poorly and going over my thoughts about the hand. Once I go over why I made the play that I did, it is now my job to seek out other opinions on how I could have played the had better, instead of just trying to justify why I played the hand the way that I did.
I remember when I used to read Muckemsayuhhhh's blog, back when he still used to go by that, and when he was moving up the ranks in NL he posted every single hand on his blog in which he got stacked. Even if it was completely standard or not, he posted every single hand and went over why he played it that way. This had to be such a huge part to his quick success, and I think this is a good idea for everyone to do.
I am probably not going to post every hand where I get stacked, but also try and look over the medium sized pots that I could have played differently, and any hand that I had trouble with and wasn't sure how I wanted to play it, or felt there were multiple lines that could be good.
My only problem with that is I really want to quit checking my results after each session. I want to just keep track of how long I played, and then plug in my hourly rate and I will know precisely how much I made in that session, and then I never ever have a losing session, as long as I play well and don't lose more than variance entails. So the problem is with PT3 I don't quite know of a good way to go through a sessions hands without looking at my overall results, and I don't really know if there is a good way to do it. However I think this is possible in Holdem Manager, which I plan on purchasing shortly.
So basically I am going to start maintaining my blog more regularly, and posting hands from that days session that I think were questionable. I will then seek out some responses from the members in my study group, and post them on forums, and if it's a really good hand I will seek out my coaches advice. These are the things that I must start doing, and if done correctly I think my game will improve dramatically.
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