Friday 30 September 2011

Don't force it ....

It's kind of sick just how little I have to be tilted to play completely awfully. This morning I was slightly off colour mentally, but decided to plough on with lots of fish around. 500bb pot later with AA that I'm on the wrong side of and I'm throwing cups at the dog again.

Yes this one:


(He's a real visionary)

I have to get my chin up, but feeling extremely fed up with poker and life at the moment. Part of it is being injured, so from playing footy 6 times per week I'm left sulking every day instead, craving to get out of the house but with nowhere particular to go. Foot is just being a bastard. I'm normally a super quick healer, but for a foot that the hospital swears isn't broken it hasn't half just given up getting better.

So this morning was probably a bit of 'feeling down, lets make money', and played despite me knowing full well my B game doesn't exist. Well it does, but it's equivalent to my Z game. Blah blah blah blah you've heard all this shit before I've written it before and i'll write it again.

So with poker, I simply need to not force it. Easier said than done with the pressing need to make money, but my best 3 month spell of the year I was getting steaming drunk every other day, and somehow in the habit of only playing when feeling top notch. I know all the theories, I just have trouble acting upon them.

Hmm, so new goal. Don't play when less than 100%. Wow Dan, what a brand new spanking idea, an idea that's almost as revolutionary as your faux-communist dog! Btw people who talk about themselves in the 3rd person are utter wankers. That last sentence didn't qualify though in my opinion so there.

Shower. Play. Well.


Current Goals:
Time for every decision. Is the obvious option incorrect, or is there a third option?
Trust instincts.
Avoid reverse equity spots without reads.
Make notes in game, not just post session, and work on using inferred knowledge.
Not feeling 100% ? Then go have a beer ! Yup, problem solved.

Wednesday 28 September 2011

Something I need to do better ......

I'll start with things I have been doing better. Reviewing all hands post session, making notes, acting upon those notes during session.


Something I was doing very well a couple of months ago, inferring a general 'level' of the player based on other stuff. Things like obviously overshoving to look like draws, bet check bet lines that can simply never be bluffs, betting big in obvious bluff catching spots that again are simply always value. Overbetting obvious bluffcatcher spots that are, again, almost always value. So I guess I can already infer the general level of Mr 200nl, but there are plenty of exceptions.


Stackoffs today I wouldn't have made a few months ago when on fire with this stuff:


Date:Wednesday, September 28, 07:42:30 ET 2011
Type:Cash Games
Game:Hold'em NL
Table:Rarahu III
Blinds:$1/2

Table info:

Posts small blind $1
Seat 2: NotACatOK? ($204)
Posts big blind $2
Seat 3: SungSooSim ($324.65)
Seat 4: zoleykgb ($514.60)
Seat 5: Est-Ace ($492.80)
Dealer
Seat 6: Yaboy.M ($204.10) 
Dealt to NotACatOK?
 


Preflop: (Pot: $3)

FOLD zoleykgb
FOLD Est-Ace
CALL Yaboy.M, $2
CALL NotACatOK?, $1
CHECK SungSooSim 


Flop: (Pot: $6)

  
BET NotACatOK?, $7
FOLD SungSooSim
RAISE Yaboy.M, to $20
RAISE NotACatOK?, to $37 ---------- SHIT RAISE SIZE BTW
CALL Yaboy.M, $24 


Turn: (Pot: $87)

   
CHECK NotACatOK?
BET Yaboy.M, $75
RAISE NotACatOK?, to $150
RAISE Yaboy.M, to $82.70
CALL NotACatOK?, $7.60 

River: (Pot: $327.30)

     

Showdown:

SHOWS NotACatOK?
 
SHOWS Yaboy.M
 
Yaboy.M wins the pot of $.10
Yaboy.M wins the pot of $409.20

And then .........

Hand info:

Date:Wednesday, September 28, 07:55:04 ET 2011
Type:Cash Games
Game:Hold'em NL
Table:Antielus V
Blinds:$1/2

Table info:

Seat 1: NotACatOK? ($200)
Seat 2: CaptainGant ($222)
Dealer
Seat 3: FL0R1DA ($233)
Posts small blind $1
Seat 4: EvilGiuGi ($253.50)
Posts big blind $2
Seat 5: samsdrake ($120.50)
Seat 6: hotwussy ($424.45) 
Dealt to NotACatOK?
 


Preflop: (Pot: $3)

FOLD hotwussy
RAISE NotACatOK?, to $6
FOLD CaptainGant
CALL FL0R1DA, $6
FOLD EvilGiuGi
CALL samsdrake, $4 


Flop: (Pot: $19)

  
CHECK samsdrake
BET NotACatOK?, $12
CALL FL0R1DA, $12
FOLD samsdrake 

Turn: (Pot: $43)

   
BET NotACatOK?, $30
RAISE FL0R1DA, to $215 ------------------ IM JAMMING A STACK WITH A BARE AND EXTREMELY OBVIOUS DRAW, HONEST!!!!!!!!!
CALL NotACatOK?, $152 

River: (Pot: $440)

     

Showdown:

SHOWS NotACatOK?
 
SHOWS FL0R1DA
 
FL0R1DA wins the pot of $33
FL0R1DA wins the pot of $404
So I need to give this area a lot of concentration going forward. I know I'm good at inferring all sorts of stuff based on one or two seemingly irrelevant notes. It takes some thought though and that's what I'll give it.

Current Goals:
Time for every decision. Is the obvious option incorrect, or is there a third option?
Trust instincts.
Avoid reverse equity spots without reads.
Make notes in game, not just post session, and work on using inferred knowledge.

Tuesday 27 September 2011

A small, healthy shock

I just played a bad session. Wasn't completely disastrous in terms of money lost, 3 BIs can happen, but rather the deterioration in the quality of my play.

With the run Manchester Utd have been having, crushing everyone and everything, there is just no chance that some form of complacency or overconfidence set in somewhere to let Basle back into the game tonight. You can be sure that after this game it won't happen again for a while, and because it is probably ultimately pretty harmless, should actually prove quite healthy. This is where I stand after my latest session.

Complacency and overconfidence is maddening. I know that winning at poker consistently is extremely hard. At least I know this in terms of the conscious part of my mind. 5 BI upswings render me playing like a moron though. Weeee I don't need discipline, or thought, and now I can actually play games with regs I hate just for the hell of it. Dan, you can be a real tool sometimes.

So not getting complacent is a massive goal for me from now on.......

Probably most controversial hand of the day (btw, I just literally copied and pasted this from pokerhand and it worked, good eh?)


Hand info:

Date:Tuesday, September 27, 04:57:26 ET 2011
Type:Cash Games
Game:Hold'em NL
Table:Pepita IV
Blinds:$1/2

Table info:

Posts small blind $1
Seat 1: Kiuhelbeker ($525.40)
Posts big blind $2
Seat 2: jackTO15 ($357.70)
Seat 3: NotACatOK? ($500)
Seat 4: TimStone ($522.10)
Seat 5: memphis1847 ($520.60)
Dealer
Seat 6: YaDaDaMeeN21 ($667.80) 
Dealt to NotACatOK?
 

Preflop: (Pot: $3)

RAISE NotACatOK?, to $8
CALL TimStone, $8
FOLD memphis1847
FOLD YaDaDaMeeN21
FOLD Kiuhelbeker
FOLD jackTO15 

Flop: (Pot: $19)

  
CHECK NotACatOK?
CHECK TimStone 

Turn: (Pot: $19)

   
CHECK NotACatOK?
BET TimStone, $14
CALL NotACatOK?, $14 

River: (Pot: $47)

    
CHECK NotACatOK?
BET TimStone, $32
RAISE NotACatOK?, to $96
RAISE TimStone, to $237
CALL NotACatOK?, $173 

Showdown:

SHOWS TimStone
 
SHOWS NotACatOK?
 
TimStone wins the pot of $584

Was just so hard to give him anything. The 1 A8s is not there because of PF stats, anything but perhaps a random AA is surely betting earlier given stacks and the urgency to get money in. I felt my river CR was fine, probably doesn't expect 8x to CR and I rep mainly weak hands turning themselves into bluffs. But timing wise etc I knew I was beat, he was playing 20 tables too! 
I can't handle the swings associate with playing deep atm, so important I cut that out. Shower now and last session of the day............

dan