Haven't played much at all over xMas (to my credit). When I did return yesterday, I wasn't so hot.
I can't amalgamate all my results from different DBs, but my PTR for the year is pretty accurate. What is interesting is that a year ago in this blog a made a proper emo post about how shit I am and I'm clueless about poker now etc etc. I posted my 2010 results as proof.
Now my 2011 results are almost identical to the 2010! The difference being that this year I'm a lot more positive/ deluded, confident/ presumptuous, happy with how I did/ satisfied with failure.
So yeh it was around $45k in cash + bonuses or something. I won at 0.7BB over 140k hands of 400nl. Won at 1.9BB over 450k hands of 200nl or something.
Thoughts about the year .......... well I was always tilted by having no bankroll. I've had to support me, Nic, 2 dogs, and occasionally the business whenever we want it to expand or whatever. For someone who hasn't bought a new T shirt in 6 months, who's idea is going out is to watch Monday night football at the local around the corner once a week, who never eats out and who doesn't bother to tax or insure his car, I don't half go through a lot of money.
As I've said before I'm doing more leggo vids though so hopefully I can live off that. Hate putting out videos when I'm losing or when I think they're just too substandard though so that always affects how many I do.
What else, well for lots of the year I was playing 12+ tables. That obviously has been a ruinous disaster and won't be repeated. I'm on 6 at the moment, and I think that has to be close to optimal. I feel very in control at 200nl playing 6 and I just need to plough and plough and plough until I make $10k more and I have $20k to play 400nl again.
'oh I didnt play my A game'. Obviously makes an appearance in everyone's blog. As if playing your A game 100% of the time is something you can just do. Someone should tell Fernando Torres to start playing his A game, duh. Just do it. It's also rather silly, because the players VS whom you won money this year were also most likely not always playing their A game. So it's not like you can say, I'm a 2BB winner but actually I know I'm 5BB better than people 'cos I don't play my A game enough.
We can strive to get healthier though. Already done/ doing that through vegan diet and a ton of football. The most important thing though is having the ability to stop when not playing your A game. Sometimes it's annoying, you're stuck a little bit, there's fish everywhere, you have fuck all else to do. But you're concentration isn't quite there, your mind is wandering, and you just found yourself 4bet calling off TT in a marginal spot. At times like this only the sickest professionals amongst us have the ability to click the sit out button. Probably one of the hardest things to do, but if money saved= money earned, then surely once you reach a certain level one of the most profitable things you can do as well. I'm sure we can all remember $20k worth of money we would've saved this year.
Tournys are also a leak. I need to stop leaking. One month this year if all goes well I'll have a month of playing em and I'll overcome all the variance and run hot in one and realise my equity. Until then, I need to stop randomly regging $1ks worth and then be sat 1 tabling the $10 rebuy at 10.30pm.
So goals. There's no point making short term goals in poker, at least monetary ones. Making a goal over 300k hands is fine, but over a day week or month, not so fine. My goal this year is to do much better. I'll have smaller goals based only on things I can control along the way.
Thursday 29 December 2011
Saturday 17 December 2011
Session Review
I won I won $518.79. Was very good session actually, I felt much more confident with my thought process and felt very happy 'putting myself in their shoes'.
I had a sxtxd&kd% moment on the river, but then thought it through a bit. Checked PTR he's a decent winner, he snap called flop and turn. Any flushdraw on this board is worthy of at least a few seconds thought, as every flushdraw is a huge hand being it a combo/GS thing or the NFD. Small flushdraws don't always even get shoved, so assuming he knows anything about me he'll know I'm capable of value betting fairly thinly, and so vI looked him up on that basis.
Villain is a very big winning HU player, 8BB over 100k hands or something. I used to get myself in such a mess on turns here with the PSR being the way it is. Like should I crai repping nothing, bet and be forced to bet fold etc? Looking at it from his POV though, he's the one screwed by the PSR here with almost any hand when I bet this amount. AA you have to throw in a decent overlay when the times you're called you're crushed, and draws can perceive zero FE. Throw in a standard read that everything really decent always get fastplayed on these boards and I think he's folding a ton.
Call flop/ lead turn, or call raise/ lead turn is something that needs thinking about. In a standard world, the reason we always check one street after calling another OOP is that: if he's bluffing then he continues to bluff, if we're behind his value, then we minimise our losses. On a complete blank though, your opponent doesn't continue bluffing enough to make this play worthwhile. With this PSR, minimising losses also goes out the window as we're always going broke with top pair. What we're left with then, is preventing him exercising pot control on the turn with GSs and OESDs, and trying to get the money in in a manner where our opponent can be spazzing out. My thinking could be off here, but I think this also translates to single raised pots too a lot. I'm not sure how, but instinctively I feel CC flop, lead turn on blank has to be good.
Hmm ........... one for crEV I reckon.
$1/$2 No Limit Holdem • 6 Players • PokerStars
Generated by weaktight.com.
| UTG | grogheadflow | $242.40 | |
| UTG+1 | navas10 | $49.15 | |
| CO | inomdle55 | $150.55 | |
| BTN | sergey321 | $210.05 | |
| SB | El_dzik | $323.75 | |
| BB | TopLad14 | $207.70 | |
- Pre-Flop ($3, 6 players)Hero is UTG
grogheadflow raises to $6, 2 folds, sergey321 calls $6, 2 folds
- Flop ($15, 2 players)
-
grogheadflow bets $10, sergey321 calls $10
- Turn ($35, 2 players)
grogheadflow bets $25, sergey321 calls $25
- River ($85, 2 players)
grogheadflow bets $62, sergey321 goes all-in $169.05, grogheadflow calls $107.05
- Final Pot: $423.10
- sergey321 shows
- grogheadflow shows
- grogheadflow wins $420.10 (net +$210.05)
- sergey321 lost $210.05
I had a sxtxd&kd% moment on the river, but then thought it through a bit. Checked PTR he's a decent winner, he snap called flop and turn. Any flushdraw on this board is worthy of at least a few seconds thought, as every flushdraw is a huge hand being it a combo/GS thing or the NFD. Small flushdraws don't always even get shoved, so assuming he knows anything about me he'll know I'm capable of value betting fairly thinly, and so vI looked him up on that basis.
$1/$2 No Limit Holdem • 6 Players • PokerStars
Generated by weaktight.com.
| UTG | MikiOpasniy | $208.55 | |
| UTG+1 | pobolero | $200 | |
| CO | Axelzzz | $200 | |
| BTN | otarius | $190.10 | |
| SB | jj_raise | $201 | |
| BB | grogheadflow | $267.30 | |
- Pre-Flop ($3, 6 players)Hero is BB
MikiOpasniy raises to $6, 2 folds, otarius calls $6, 1 fold, grogheadflow calls $4
- Flop ($19, 3 players)
-
grogheadflow checks, MikiOpasniy bets $12, otarius calls $12, grogheadflow raises to $42, MikiOpasniy calls $30, otarius folds
- Turn ($115, 2 players)
grogheadflow bets $84, MikiOpasniy folds
- Final Pot: $199
- grogheadflow wins $196 (net +$64)
- MikiOpasniy lost $48
- otarius lost $18
Villain is a very big winning HU player, 8BB over 100k hands or something. I used to get myself in such a mess on turns here with the PSR being the way it is. Like should I crai repping nothing, bet and be forced to bet fold etc? Looking at it from his POV though, he's the one screwed by the PSR here with almost any hand when I bet this amount. AA you have to throw in a decent overlay when the times you're called you're crushed, and draws can perceive zero FE. Throw in a standard read that everything really decent always get fastplayed on these boards and I think he's folding a ton.
$1/$2 No Limit Holdem • 6 Players • PokerStars
Generated by weaktight.com.
| UTG | nayita88 | $88 | |
| UTG+1 | pappadogg | $204 | |
| CO | HKing81 | $254 | |
| BTN | fabstenator | $208.25 | |
| SB | grogheadflow | $246 | |
| BB | sipinho13 | $200 | |
- Pre-Flop ($3, 6 players)Hero is SB
3 folds, fabstenator raises to $4, grogheadflow raises to $16, 1 fold, fabstenator calls $12
- Flop ($34, 2 players)
-
grogheadflow bets $18, fabstenator raises to $48, grogheadflow calls $30
- Turn ($130, 2 players)
grogheadflow bets $54, fabstenator folds
- Final Pot: $184
- grogheadflow wins $181 (net +$63)
- fabstenator lost $64
Call flop/ lead turn, or call raise/ lead turn is something that needs thinking about. In a standard world, the reason we always check one street after calling another OOP is that: if he's bluffing then he continues to bluff, if we're behind his value, then we minimise our losses. On a complete blank though, your opponent doesn't continue bluffing enough to make this play worthwhile. With this PSR, minimising losses also goes out the window as we're always going broke with top pair. What we're left with then, is preventing him exercising pot control on the turn with GSs and OESDs, and trying to get the money in in a manner where our opponent can be spazzing out. My thinking could be off here, but I think this also translates to single raised pots too a lot. I'm not sure how, but instinctively I feel CC flop, lead turn on blank has to be good.
Hmm ........... one for crEV I reckon.
Eye Off The Ball ??
I watched an AeJones video the other day. I haven't watched his vids in ages as he doesn't always use a HUD, and my impression has basically been that you can't credibly say you're maximising your EV without one. He did make one point that really hit home with me though, and that is that the downside of using a HUD, especially a complex HUD, is that you come to depend on it at the expense of other stuff.
So yeah, of late I've been super HUD-ey. This is a good thing, but what has certainly happened is that it's come at the expense of doing what I used to do so well; the intangible skill of getting on a player's level and inferring tons of stuff about his play based on seeing one or two things. So currently, I might see a player 3bet a dry board IP with the nuts, and be able make an absolute technical read that therefore his flatting range IP to a raise is going to be weakened. I note this, and get on with life. I might look at raise flop stats and stuff and maybe think of some more stuff.
But like, this one hand potentially tells me a ton more intangiable stuff about this player and his attitude to poker. Can't situation read very well, afraid of getting drawn on, probably plays poorly in spot X Y and Z too.
So........ my thought process of late has been: check opponents PF range stat, adjust range based on other stats, adjust range based on pure technical observations and reads.
What it needs to change to, is something along the lines of: check opponents PF range, put myself in his shoes and based on his overall calibre, how does the PF situation adjust this range? Postflop, based on my opinion of his ability, how is he seeing this situation? Make appropriate decision, and if close swing it one way or another based on stats and reads. Basically, stats and reads need to become the smaller details rather than the entire bulk of my decision making.
So yeah, I basically feel as though I've been a whole level behind of late. I feel like this revelation is going to kick-start another heater.
I've spent the last 2 hours trying to open a Stars.Fr account. I need to make a ton of leggo vids, so I'm depositing 1000E on there and having a vid series where I basically play with 10BIs at each stake and run it up (hopefully). I think 4 tabling in my current low variance-ish style should make this fine to do. I'm actually quite excited to have opponents with which I have absoluely nooo history, and they none with me. I often worry that I have no clue how a lot of stars.com regs see me. Crazy, weak, passive, loose, nitty, foldy......... I've been all of those things at various times and I find myself in the dark quite often.
So anyway, tidied the house today. Cleaned my office. Cleaned my clothes. Roll is $10k almost exactly, let's run this uppppppp!!!!!!!!
Session review to follow ........
So yeah, of late I've been super HUD-ey. This is a good thing, but what has certainly happened is that it's come at the expense of doing what I used to do so well; the intangible skill of getting on a player's level and inferring tons of stuff about his play based on seeing one or two things. So currently, I might see a player 3bet a dry board IP with the nuts, and be able make an absolute technical read that therefore his flatting range IP to a raise is going to be weakened. I note this, and get on with life. I might look at raise flop stats and stuff and maybe think of some more stuff.
But like, this one hand potentially tells me a ton more intangiable stuff about this player and his attitude to poker. Can't situation read very well, afraid of getting drawn on, probably plays poorly in spot X Y and Z too.
So........ my thought process of late has been: check opponents PF range stat, adjust range based on other stats, adjust range based on pure technical observations and reads.
What it needs to change to, is something along the lines of: check opponents PF range, put myself in his shoes and based on his overall calibre, how does the PF situation adjust this range? Postflop, based on my opinion of his ability, how is he seeing this situation? Make appropriate decision, and if close swing it one way or another based on stats and reads. Basically, stats and reads need to become the smaller details rather than the entire bulk of my decision making.
So yeah, I basically feel as though I've been a whole level behind of late. I feel like this revelation is going to kick-start another heater.
I've spent the last 2 hours trying to open a Stars.Fr account. I need to make a ton of leggo vids, so I'm depositing 1000E on there and having a vid series where I basically play with 10BIs at each stake and run it up (hopefully). I think 4 tabling in my current low variance-ish style should make this fine to do. I'm actually quite excited to have opponents with which I have absoluely nooo history, and they none with me. I often worry that I have no clue how a lot of stars.com regs see me. Crazy, weak, passive, loose, nitty, foldy......... I've been all of those things at various times and I find myself in the dark quite often.
So anyway, tidied the house today. Cleaned my office. Cleaned my clothes. Roll is $10k almost exactly, let's run this uppppppp!!!!!!!!
Session review to follow ........
Tuesday 13 December 2011
I keep looooosing
Felt the first slight dint in my confidence today. Just a run of spots where I didn't quite have a clear idea, and some spots where my plans failed:
Well he didn't have the nuts, at least I got that part right!
I played ok the last session but still lost.
Runbad breakers:
Time on every decision
^ In fact, that's hopefully all I need. I was going to list things like don't be such a PF monkey play poker etc, but actually timing on every decision will result in me doing the right thing anyway.
Worst blog post ever.
Time to win.
$1/$2 No Limit Holdem • 6 Players • PokerStars
Generated by weaktight.com.
| UTG | dreamtech129 | $203 | |
| UTG+1 | ssde45788 | $200 | |
| CO | ITGFAB | $200 | |
| BTN | fish0601 | $200 | |
| SB | cool-lucas | $190.65 | |
| BB | grogheadflow | $208 | |
- Pre-Flop ($3, 6 players)Hero is BB
2 folds, ITGFAB raises to $6, fish0601 calls $6, 1 fold, grogheadflow calls $4
- Flop ($19, 3 players)
-
grogheadflow bets $12, ITGFAB calls $12, fish0601 folds
- Turn ($43, 2 players)
grogheadflow bets $30, ITGFAB calls $30
- River ($103, 2 players)
grogheadflow bets $160, ITGFAB calls $152
- Final Pot: $415
- grogheadflow shows
- ITGFAB shows
- ITGFAB wins $405 (net +$205)
- grogheadflow collects $8 (net -$200)
- fish0601 lost $6
Well he didn't have the nuts, at least I got that part right!
I played ok the last session but still lost.
Runbad breakers:
Time on every decision
^ In fact, that's hopefully all I need. I was going to list things like don't be such a PF monkey play poker etc, but actually timing on every decision will result in me doing the right thing anyway.
Worst blog post ever.
Time to win.
Monday 5 December 2011
Swings & Roundabouts
A thought stuck me the other day with regards that elusive thing called consistency. Hull City were playing, and we've been enjoying a pretty decent run of winning games playing a style of football where we pas the ball around in an eye pleasing fashion. At the level at which we play, the more common style is play much more direct. The direct style is one I supposed I'd describe as a 'levelling' style, ie you're never going to be the best team in the league playing it, but it does stop a lot of silly mistakes that make you the worst side in the league. If you don't have the players to take the higher variance route of passing the ball around, then knock it up to the big man up front and you can't go far wrong.
We lose two games on the bounce, and suddenly posters in forums are saying things like 'we need to stop fucking about with the ball so much, we need to learn when to hit it long' etc etc. This viewpoint is pervasive enough that there's bound to have been managers out there who've thought exactly the same thing and made drastic changes to a proven successful formula based on a few short term results. For me, I think the ability to learn not to completely overhaul things based on a small sample is something that only comes with experience.
Young football players are notoriously inconsistent. Being young, they start off like a house on fire. One or two bad performances though and confidence can be shot to pieces. During this time they'll be over analysing things, wondering if they've been 'found out', worried that maybe they were lucky to play so well in their first 11 or so games.
Experienced players have their tried and tested playing style. Someone like Frank Lampard is not going to change up after a few mediocre performances. He'll keep doing the same stuff and eventually things will turn around. He knows this.
I have been massively guilty of changing up all the time throughout my whole poker 'career'. A style that's given me a month of winning goes the window with 3 bad sessions.......
I made a huge leap though around a month ago. I'd been playing for 7 or so days, doing the same things that I'd done the 4 weeks before that netted me $10k 4 tabling at 200nl. Over these 7 days I broke even and basically nothing seemed to be going right.
For the first time though I just kept plugging away doing the exact same thing. I timed on my decisions, made notes, inferred reads, asked questions, planned some adjustments, and then pressed the corresponding button. Q another heater. After 3 years playing poker full time, I've finally made the jump in experience that tells me not to worry.
So after a breakeven start to December that's where I am again today. I just need to keep doing the right things, and I feel a million times stronger mentally for knowing that if I'm still breakeven in 7 days or so then that's absolutely fine.
I need to knock deep tables on the head for a little while though. Results have not been stellar there, and have tons of swings. Dodgy can attest to another failed 500bb pot bluff this morning, and basically it makes me ask too many questions of myself and my game. 100bbs, I I can play a completely low variance game at 200nl and do very well. That's my gameplan the rest of the month. I'll post interesting hands as and when they come up ...........
We lose two games on the bounce, and suddenly posters in forums are saying things like 'we need to stop fucking about with the ball so much, we need to learn when to hit it long' etc etc. This viewpoint is pervasive enough that there's bound to have been managers out there who've thought exactly the same thing and made drastic changes to a proven successful formula based on a few short term results. For me, I think the ability to learn not to completely overhaul things based on a small sample is something that only comes with experience.
Young football players are notoriously inconsistent. Being young, they start off like a house on fire. One or two bad performances though and confidence can be shot to pieces. During this time they'll be over analysing things, wondering if they've been 'found out', worried that maybe they were lucky to play so well in their first 11 or so games.
Experienced players have their tried and tested playing style. Someone like Frank Lampard is not going to change up after a few mediocre performances. He'll keep doing the same stuff and eventually things will turn around. He knows this.
I have been massively guilty of changing up all the time throughout my whole poker 'career'. A style that's given me a month of winning goes the window with 3 bad sessions.......
I made a huge leap though around a month ago. I'd been playing for 7 or so days, doing the same things that I'd done the 4 weeks before that netted me $10k 4 tabling at 200nl. Over these 7 days I broke even and basically nothing seemed to be going right.
For the first time though I just kept plugging away doing the exact same thing. I timed on my decisions, made notes, inferred reads, asked questions, planned some adjustments, and then pressed the corresponding button. Q another heater. After 3 years playing poker full time, I've finally made the jump in experience that tells me not to worry.
So after a breakeven start to December that's where I am again today. I just need to keep doing the right things, and I feel a million times stronger mentally for knowing that if I'm still breakeven in 7 days or so then that's absolutely fine.
I need to knock deep tables on the head for a little while though. Results have not been stellar there, and have tons of swings. Dodgy can attest to another failed 500bb pot bluff this morning, and basically it makes me ask too many questions of myself and my game. 100bbs, I I can play a completely low variance game at 200nl and do very well. That's my gameplan the rest of the month. I'll post interesting hands as and when they come up ...........
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