The real test of a poker player

The past week has been rough for me, both in life and poker. I felt really frustrated about my living situation at school, and felt like nothing has gone right in poker lately. Life tilt, mixed with the bad side of variance, can be a recipe for disaster. I am currently on a $2500 downswing (about 9 BI at 1/2 to 3/6 NL), which is my largest ever. Summer break was completely smooth sailing for me, so to hit a brick wall now has been tough. I have taken shots at 2/4 and 3/6 games that were definitely profitable, and they have not worked in my favor.

When I spoke with my mom on the phone this afternoon, she gave me a pep talk that I was in badly need of. She told me that everyone needs to battle through tough times, and that I need to persevere. The things she told me are ideas that I would have said I already know, but actually hearing my mom tell me it gives a much more powerful meaning. After speaking to her, I feel rejuvenated (in comparison to the feeling of helplessness that I had last night).

Class started back up today, so that will take up a lot of my time... but I feel the energy and desire to continue my journey to be the most successful poker player I can be. I know that I have to fight through the downswing and just play my A-game, not letting short term results get to my head. Someone can be the best technical player in the world when they're winning, but if they can't fight through the rough times, they will have no staying power in poker.

Finally experiencing the opposite side of variance

Having my first rough day in a while. I had a few tough pots at 200NL 6 max, and was down 2 buy-ins. I challenged an over-aggro donk (who stacked me in a coin flip) to a heads up match. He said 2/4 and I was more than happy to oblige, I felt just by spending a half hour at one table with him that I had an edge. Challenging people to HU is fun - it's the way dorky internet players (and I am one) challenge each other's manhood.

Anyway, we got down to business. He is very aggressive, and C/Red my continuation bet at a ridiculously high frequency. We were about even, when this pot happened. We played for another half hour or so after that, and then he quit on me, still up a buy-in. I'm down $815 so far today. According to my equity in all-in pots today, I should only be down $92. Oh well. That's poker... the same poker that has awarded me many pots that I didn't deserve in sessions past.

In the past, during sessions like today, I'd either get depressed, or just get angry and continue to play on tilt. I felt like I maintained my composure today, though... which makes me happy. Being able to quit when you're starting to tilt is very important, but even more important is to maintain emotional stability (so the tilt never happens in the first place).

Gonna try to log a long session or two tonight, after I eat dinner and get some light exercise.

Back at school

I moved back into college at Pittsburgh on Saturday. There can be a lot of distractions that take away from poker here. I live in a 6 person off-campus apartment. Roommates trying to get you to hangout, plus noise distractions, etc could really take away from me putting solid hours in playing poker this fall. It makes me miss home because I had an incredibly relaxed setting with more/healthier food at my disposal. I'll have to make due though - gonna try to log at least 2K hands today now that I've finally settled in.

I bought an inexpensive poker table on eBay so I can try to run some cash games in our basement here. It'll give me the opportunity to play some live poker without having to drive anywhere, or have to deal with ridiculously large rake. I'll still try to play 5/5 NL a few times a month, but it'll be nice to just play 6 handed 1/2 NL games (with friends) right in the comfort of my own place.

My biggest pot ever

I decided to 3 table 400NL tonight. I was feeling pretty focused and didn't feel afraid to play the stakes. Moving up is a big step for me, so I get a little jittery about the stakes (even if I'm comfortably rolled for 2/4 NL). I had a clear head tonight and was ready to get down to business. I was up $700, then lost a few tough pots including KK vs AA, and was back down to even for the session. Then I had this happen...

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1372228

The strangest thing is I just sat emotionless at my computer. Not because I was in shock, but just because I was unaffected by it. I'm actually disappointed I didn't get really excited over something like this. It goes to show that poker really does make you unaffected by the money, and I just treat pots like they're another pot. Good or bad thing? You decide.

Anyway, I've logged only 2K hands at 400NL so far, but it is going reasonably well because my confidence is slowly building. I will keep playing 400NL on certain nights when I feel good about my game that day, and the games look good. Now is the time that it's important for me to run good. All the high stakes players have generally run good when they moved up - they had to in order to move up so many limits. Things are looking good so far.

Holding my friends (and myself) accountable

I've decided that this post will show where I, and my 4 closest friends in online poker are currently at. It will also show where we want to be by the end of 2007. This is to help motivate each other to advance in poker and not get complacent. Everyone is being held accountable by each other. I had my friends answer a 4 question survey, which will be looked back on periodicially over the next few months. This will be successful if all 5 people are in a better spot (playing higher and bigger BR) by the end of the year.

Questions
1. What stakes do you play online in the past month?
2. What is your net result for the months of June and July (strictly for your main cash game stakes)?
3. How much money do you have online that you currently consider your online bankroll?
4. Where do you want to see yourself in poker by the end of 2007?


Whitewash:
1. 90% at 200NL, and starting to dabble in 400NL
2. 32,146 hands; +$7,511
3. 15K
4. Comfortably beating 400NL and playing 600NL when games look good. Would like to keep 25K online.

cntgetmedown:
1. 200NL
2. 53,034 hands; +$7,336
3. 10K
4. Beating 600NL

Jethro87/SootedNines:
1. 95% at 400NL, 5% at 600NL
2. 42,876 hands; +$7,519
3. 20K
4. Crushing 600NL for sure, possibly beating 1000NL

Haupt_234:
1. 60% at 400NL, 40% at 600NL
2. 45,066 hands; +$15,634
3. 24K
4. Comfortably beating 1000NL and sometimes 2000NL if the games are good... after a few cashouts

Andr3w321:
1. 200NL
2. 58,624 hands; +$7,212
3. 11K
4. Comfortably beating 400NL for a nice winrate

Emotional rollercoaster today

First off - yesterday I decided to buy into the FTOPS Event #1 ($200+16 tournament) on Full Tilt. I busted a little more than an hour in. While I lost most of my chips in an 8K pot AA vs JJ all-in preflop, I still feel that I wasn't playing my best. I get impatient in tournaments, especially full ring. Like limit hold em, I am going to make myself get better or stay away from tournaments from now on. If I'm not going to enter a tournament with a hunger to try my best to win it, then I'm not going to enter it period.

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Now onto today's session. I started off the day playing 1K hands, and I ran hot as hell. I was up $1200 after the afternoon session, and feeling really good. I did my usual routine of taking a break to eat, stretch and clear my head, and then logged back on. I had a rough session tonight, losing back half of the profit I made earlier in the day. Some rough hands, some stupid bluffs. All in all, I logged 1784 hands for a +$552 day. Looks decent on paper, but really feels disappointing given the way it happened.



I want to do a rundown of several of the large pots I played on the day, to review my play. Gaucho, a guy who plays 25/50 NL online and who I respect a lot as a person, talks about how you should always be questioning your plays... both in pots you lose, and even pots you win. Just because you had a winning session doesn't mean you played well, and certainly doesn't mean there was nothing to learn from.

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Hand 1: Unorthodox play with KQ vs fish

At the time, villain was running something like 40/30 and getting really out of line. He seemed like a really weak player. I normally hate 3 betting preflop with KQ, but my opponent was really out of line, and I had position. With the flop coming Q62, I'm either way ahead or way behind now. Usually never check behind after RRing preflop, but I figured villain was aggressive (and stupid) enough he may think I'm giving up. Once he checks turn, I feel 95% confident I have the best hand, and decide it's time to get some value. He quickly C/Red all-in, which felt weird. I did not feel like he would play AA/KK/AQ in this way. Also, the fact that I checked behind the flop meant I felt I had to make this call vs a LAGtard.

Hand 2: When in doubt, just reraise AK

Villain (running like 25/15 on the session, no read otherwise) 3 bets me as second to act. This looks really strong, and when it folds back around to me w/ AK, I contemplate just calling. When people make small 3 bets, it's often a sign of strength, but I didn't think his range had to be extremely small here. I decided to 4 bet because I hate playing passive poker, and I hate being out of position postflop. Do you guys think this really thin vs an unknown player? I felt that if I just bet out the flop, he will get away from KK-TT too easily. I checked, hoping he do something stupid so I could do an easy C/R all-in. He obliged, immediately bet pot, and I pushed. He thought for 5 seconds and then folded, which seems really odd for me. I assume he had a big pocket pair, so his play on the flop is really bad.

Hand 3: I'm a spewtard sometimes

aka Shooter is a 200NL regular, pretty standard TAG (runs like 21/15). AQo is a very easy 3 bet when he opens on the button. When he calls my reraise, I put him on 77+, AQ+. I contination bet a flop with all babies...I felt it is a bad flop for me to bluff, but his range includes overcards just enough that it is +EV to c-bet. Once he calls, I almost always give up in this spot. At the time, I thought the jack might be a scare card. I really should just give up here and never bet. Shooter is going to like his hand enough here, and the pot is big enough that it is stupid to try to push him off his pocket pair. only 88-TT might fold here, and even those may not fold out if he feels stubborn. Once he pushed, I am getting 4.6-to-1, meaning I need 18% equity to call. Even if I have 6 outs, I'm not getting the right price, so it is a bad call at the end.

Hand 4: Why didn't I just fold?

Villain was unknown at this point, so I think my light 3 bet when he raises UTG is spew. Once he calls, I think the flop is a good flop to c-bet. He calls and unless he is a fish (which I can't know with no read), he probably has a big hand now. The turn gave me an OESD, and instead of just taking a free card, I decided to shove for a little more than pot. Do you ever not take a free card here? Obviously, my biggest mistake is getting involved preflop in the first place. I need to learn to not get aggressive at 200NL when I don't know if my opponent is even capable of folding yet.

lol live poker

Last night I played a live 1/2 NL game for the first time in months. I convinced myself that it was worth it because there would be no rake, and the game is right by my dad's house. When I got there, the game was never more than 5 handed (which I don't mind) and almost everyone bought in short (which I do mind). I was up small until the last half hour of the session, where I coolered someone, and I ended +$401 on the session for 5 hours of work. Pretty much the biggest win possible given the amount of money on the table.

Live poker can feel dissatisfying at times, even when you win. You come across a lot of degenerates, and they're often miserable people who you can't help but wonder how humans can turn out like that. I prefer playing online a lot more because you get to play from the comfort of home, where I can start and end a session whenever I want to. Live poker is also obviously very slow. Even though the game was 4-5 handed last night, I still felt myself getting bored because people took extremely long with their decisions.

Regardless, any win live feels good right now because I'm trying to build my live bankroll up a little more. I want to feel comfortable playing the 2/5 and 5/5 NL games in Pittsburgh this upcoming semester, and it's very annoying to have to move my online money around. I actually have a live NL freezeout against my friend Mike coming up at the end of the month - $400 stacks, 1/2 blinds. Hopefully that will help boost my live roll a bit too. Should also be a fun challenge.

Donking around in HU poker

I decided to play some heads up today. I don't have a whole lot of HU experience, but like to play a few days a month just to try something new. I also want to improve my heads up game. I feel very comfortable when a game is 4-6 handed, but need more experience playing 2-3 handed.

I first sat at 3/6 heads up Limit Hold em this morning. LHE has been my leak this year. I have both run badly and played badly, I'm sure. I lost $500 in about 1.5 hours, which is pretty disgusting for 3/6. After that, I am pledging to stay away from LHE until I do more research on the game. I may trade coaching with a limit player from 2+2 or Cardrunners (get coaching from a shorthanded limit player, in exchange for coaching them on 6 max NL).

On life tilt, I finally left the limit tables, and sat at 1/2 NL heads up. I wound up playing a fish who stayed for 4 hours (which is very long for online HU sessions). He outdrew me in a $550 pot (set vs straight draw), but he stayed long enough that I got all my money back and busted him. I was very friendly with him in the chat box, and we actually exchanged email addresses so we can play again in the future. I find that networking is very important in poker... yet no one talks about it.


I have started the month well at my main game, 200NL 6 max. I am probably running above expectation in the games lately, but at the same time I think my game is pretty strong vs the competition. It's almost time to move on to greener pastures. My bankroll is big enough to play 400NL, it's just a matter of working up the courage to start taking shots.

Best month ever; bright future

Hey guys, welcome to my poker blog. This blog is mostly for me to keep a log of my happenings - I want to keep myself honest, and be able to look back on sessions and learn from my mistakes. I've seen a few of my online poker friends keep blogs, and it seems to work well for them. I'd love for you guys to leave me comments anytime, especially when I post hands.

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July has just gone into books, and was by far my best month yet for poker.





This crushes my record for best month. I spent the first several months of 2007 not accomplishing much. I was having very mediocre results, and only played 10-15K hands a month - drastically less than I could have played given my relaxed schedule. I finally took a turn in the right direction in June, when I had my best month (at the time). I set several goals for June, and followed through with them.

I feel that I can attribute my results to three main causes: running hot, pushing myself harder, and having friends through poker. The latter is by far the biggest reason. In the middle of June, I began talking to about 3-5 guys from Cardrunners who play similar stakes to me. We discuss hands and general theory, as well as help motivate each other. Having them as friends has really helped speed up my progress. I feel like a much better poker player now than I was two months ago.

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GOALS FOR AUGUST:

-Play at least 25K hands of NL cash
-Take a shot at 400NL when I feel confident, and the games look good

I'm still really hungry to push myself further, and having recent success has only helped build my confidence in poker. I feel like the sky is the limit right now. I am not going to set a monetary goal, because a.) I think it can lead to not playing your A-game, and b.) I don't know which stakes I will be playing the bulk of my hands at. I expect almost all of my hands to still be at 200NL, but I would not be surprised if I end up logging several thousand hands at 400NL either.

I will post on the blog semi-regularly, posting some long/interesting sessions with their results and a few interesting hands. Here's to my good run continuing as we head into August.