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peterbirksI spunked away $250 on Ultimate last night, following a fairly horrific $90 loss at Omaha (three sets on the flop getting beaten onthe spin etc etc, you know the drill) with an equally horrific $160 loss at $3-$6. All of which meant that I was late to bed. But, really, I couldn't leave this game. One guy over 100 hands saw 70% of flops and won nearly half of them. In a full ring game. I've seen nothing like it for yonks. Thankfully he decided to leave after a couple of hourse, else I might still be playing. Even so, only 5 hours' sleep; I do wonder why I bother with it all at times. Still, today's another day. I've got to get out of this rut soon, or I might take up something else, like Bridge. Three months of going nowhere is a long time. Thank god the writing money comes in.
At least the Omaha had some interesting hands rather than pure bad beats. I'm still not very good at this game, I know. What's worrying me is that I am not sure that I have the mental drive to become good — a situation in which I have never found myself before. Is this really age. or what?
I bought some flowers last night. This morning I have to look like a chump carrying them to work. Someone in the office was very sad yesterday (I suspect family problems back home), so I thought they might cheer her up a bit. I mention this only in light of the Challinger's "small doses of altruism" recommendation. Does it make me feel better? At the moment, not really. It makes me feel irritated that I have to carry them to work. This is clearly not working.
++++
Later:
Oh well, the girl at work was very happy with the flowers, so that bit was worthwhile.
The other thing that I meant to mention, and one fortunate side-effect from going to bed so late, was that I saw Mars. I was walking up the stairs to bed and saw the moon through the extended skylight. A little lower down in the sky was this red thing, no larger than a pinhead. "Wossat? I thought to myself". So I got the binoculars, caring not one whit about the rstraining order that silly woman across the road took out on me, and looked up at the sky. Sure enough, it looked like an asteroid, well, a round asteroid. I went onto the web, and was duly informed that it was Mars. That was a stroke of luck.
If I had any interest in astronomy, I guess that it would be luckier still.
At least the Omaha had some interesting hands rather than pure bad beats. I'm still not very good at this game, I know. What's worrying me is that I am not sure that I have the mental drive to become good — a situation in which I have never found myself before. Is this really age. or what?
I bought some flowers last night. This morning I have to look like a chump carrying them to work. Someone in the office was very sad yesterday (I suspect family problems back home), so I thought they might cheer her up a bit. I mention this only in light of the Challinger's "small doses of altruism" recommendation. Does it make me feel better? At the moment, not really. It makes me feel irritated that I have to carry them to work. This is clearly not working.
++++
Later:
Oh well, the girl at work was very happy with the flowers, so that bit was worthwhile.
The other thing that I meant to mention, and one fortunate side-effect from going to bed so late, was that I saw Mars. I was walking up the stairs to bed and saw the moon through the extended skylight. A little lower down in the sky was this red thing, no larger than a pinhead. "Wossat? I thought to myself". So I got the binoculars, caring not one whit about the rstraining order that silly woman across the road took out on me, and looked up at the sky. Sure enough, it looked like an asteroid, well, a round asteroid. I went onto the web, and was duly informed that it was Mars. That was a stroke of luck.
If I had any interest in astronomy, I guess that it would be luckier still.
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Poker
Date: 2005-09-22 10:49 am (UTC)Sorry to hear you are still running bad. In light of my previous advice to go over your hand histories and to conduct "missions", I would like to reccomend that you consider spending 1 night a week doing just that, i.e. pouring over your week's HH's especially the pots in which you lost much money. Although I don't use poker tracker and don't remember reading that you do, I think it might be worth the modest investment for you to do so. I have examined the software, and it has a game replayer that makes going over HHs easy. There are also apparently some other replayers available out there. Even just manually going through your HHs you can examine them to great profit.
The questions to ask yourself:
1) Does playing this hand in this position given the game conditions (loose/tight/aggressive/passive) fit with a good starting hand strategy?
2) How am I playing the bread & butter hands, overpairs and top pair/top kick? Do I need to checkraise more on each street to eliminate players and make them pay more to draw? Do I rather need to keep the pot small on the flop so as to present them with unfavorable drawing odds on the turn?
3) Am I chasing draws and marginal hands like middle pair without proper odds to do so?
4) Headsup, am I playing good but not lock hands out of position in a way so as not to lose as much if beat but still allow an aggressive player to bluff off more money (check/call more in some spots so as not to get raised by tricky players with draws or marginal hands)?
Regarding plo:
5) Do I only play quality hands in early positions and do I resist the impulse to frequently complete the small blind in an unraised pot with a hand that I should not play under the gun?
6) Do I avoid getting involved in big pots with classic trap hands like a flopped straight with no redraws or bottom set with no other draws?
7) Can I fold top set when a draw hits on the turn and I am only getting 2-1 to fill up?
Also regarding both your own and other's hands you see played, ask yourself, what are the losers doing that cause them to lose? If you identify these things then you know what to avoid to a large degree.
If you examine your HHs this way, then you will find things to work on and have your "mission" for the coming week, like just 3 things to work on and improve. I myself am in my early 40s and I still have the mental drive to improve although since I play for a living it is of paramount importance that I do, so I don't think age is a reason not to improve, but rather your motivations in playing might be.
Anyway, good luck and good skill.
BluffTHIS!
Re: Poker
Date: 2005-09-22 12:12 pm (UTC)I have had Pokertracker since the beginning of 2003, I think. I was certainly one of its earliest purchasers, because Pat and I exchanged e-mails about how it should be developed. I now link it up with GameTime for Party games (GameTime doesn't seem to work so well for Stars, while for Ultimate it puts the players in the wrong seats). If anything, I rely on the damn thing too much!
I suspect that, if I am going wrong anywhere, it is that I am not bluffing enough. This means that I am not getting paid off when I hit hands. OK, I'm not paying off the other people either (although I will call down when the odds or my instincts dictate it).
To be frank, I think I'm just in the middle of a horrible run. Last night I hit a set of Aces from my AA in PLO three times out of three, and they all got beaten. Various other minor bits and pieces went wrong, and PLO is very much a matter of margins for me at the moment. I laid down a set of 10s on the turn with an Ace on the board because I was convinced that my opponent had limped with AA pre-flop. But I can't be sure that I was right. I flopped a set of Jacks (I had JJ24 ss on the button) on a board of J52 rainbow. After betting the pot each time the river brought a board of J5263. I called opponent's $20 bet and he showed 7654 for the higher straight.
The hold'em last night was just a bad set of cards. Not many errors.
I go through HHs occasionally, and while they tell me things about oppponents that I did not notice at the time (and are therefore useful) I don't seem to learn much about leaks in my own play. I have pulled back from leading out with three opponents when I have missed a flop (curiously, shortly after I decided that this was the right play, I saw Harrington recommend it in HonHE2).
I'll answer your other points in the next post.
Re: Poker
Date: 2005-09-22 12:24 pm (UTC)1b) In the looser madder games I have less experience, but I do well.
2) This is a game where I have improved since moving into 5/10 and 15/30. I have other players taped down fairly well (I think!). I have even confidently laid down Queens on a flop of something like 853 a couple of times recently, and been spot on. Alternatively, I have reraised a bettor and a raiser on a flop of 568 with 77.
3) No, my "chases" are never at unfavourable odds. I also allow for the possibility of raises behind me. Occasionally I have folded, there hasn't been a raise behind me, so I missed some implied odds.
4) This is another area where my play has improved, although I still have a tendency to check-raise when I should check-call. It's an area that I am looking at.
In hold'em, I really think that it's a bad run, coupled with opponents learning to fold when they should rather than call when they shouldn't.
5) Completing in SB. Yes, if a hand looks like a potential trouble hand, I fold even without a raise.
6) I have been known to get mad with bottom set on the flop, but it has usually paid off. I am always aware of "backdoor outs". I am aware of positional matters, although controlling the hand is still difficult.
7) I've folded top set on turn several times.
My Omaha problems are that I should avoid the better players. If I can manage that, I will win well! I am putting stats into PLO Pokertracker, because the same names come up again on UB.
I know that it will come right eventually. I had five months of it at the same time last year. It's incredibly frustrating, but at least I'm not doing my bollox.
Re: Poker
Date: 2005-09-22 05:21 pm (UTC)chaos
Re: Poker
Date: 2005-09-22 05:41 pm (UTC)Obviously you can't check-raise when you are last to act, which I would think I am quite a large percentage of these flops seen.
To be honest, if I have called a raise from the blinds or limped from the small blind, and I am going to take part in the hand, a check is virtually automatic. The only question is when and if I am going to pull the trigger.
I can't supply stats of how often I check-call compared with how often I check-raise, but I suspect that I do not check-call enough.
Re: Poker
Date: 2005-09-22 11:21 pm (UTC)Re: Poker
Date: 2005-09-22 11:24 pm (UTC)I would add that 3% looks a bit low for the river, but I play a mixture of gamesm so I'm not sure about the ring game norms.
Re: check-raise as % of possible actions
Date: 2005-09-23 05:51 pm (UTC)Re: check-raise as % of possible actions
Date: 2005-09-23 10:32 pm (UTC)chaos
Re: Poker
Date: 2005-09-22 06:36 pm (UTC)$3/$6 Texas Hold'em - Table Table 27567 (Real Money)
(Button) Seat 2: the_bernt ( $180 )
Seat 8: Lerollale ( $326.50 )
Seat 9: Birks ( $408.50 )
Seat 7: ploven84 ( $246 )
Seat 1: BustedFlush7 ( $141 )
Seat 10: Bristolian1 ( $136 )
Seat 4: julemann ( $193.50 )
Seat 5: rfox50 ( $33 )
Seat 3: vangthao ( $110.36 )
Seat 6: Clipper_fan ( $147 )
vangthao posts small blind [$1].
rfox50 posts big blind [$3].
Dealt to Birks [ 4c 4h ]
Clipper_fan calls [$3].
ploven84 folds.
Lerollale folds.
Birks calls [$3].
Bristolian1 folds.
BustedFlush7 folds.
the_bernt folds.
vangthao folds.
rfox50 checks.
There's an argument for raising here and I might do so half the time.
** Dealing Flop ** [ 7d, 5h, Ts ]
rfox50 checks.
Clipper_fan bets [$3].
Birks raises [$6].
rfox50 folds.
Clipper_fan calls [$3].
** Dealing Turn ** [ 2h ]
Clipper_fan checks.
bets [$6].
Clipper_fan folds.
Birks does not show cards.
Birks wins $27
From my stats on Clipper. I put him on KQ, maybe KJ or Ax suited, or a modest pair. As soon as he bets out the flop, I am raising. For several weeks I never seemed to fail to walk into a three-bet here, as the player had limped with KT. I know that my raise is correct and that it will win money in the long run. In this case, Clipper almost certainly had overcards and called to "take one off".
So, I am moderately aggressive pre-flop, very aggressive on flop and turn, and quiet again (perhaps too quiet) on the river.
Re: Poker
Date: 2005-09-23 03:00 am (UTC)Regarding omaha, you seem to have identified your problem. Better players by definition play better preflop and on all streets so you don't have the cushion for making a certain amount of mistakes like you do versus bad players. And being against a good player when you are out of position is the worst case, and often a reason to play more meekly and keep the pot small even when you think you have the best hand. In fact good players bluff more than passive bad players so inducing bluffs when out of position is something that can add to your results against them and also punish the more aggressive ones who then might start giving you more free cards and cheap showdowns.
BluffTHIS!
Re: Poker
Date: 2005-09-23 07:37 am (UTC)I think that the "re-reading" certain books might well be some kind of answer. One's game needs to develop away from book theory, but it can't develop too far away from thr ground rules. I learn well from books (I wish I learnt as well from experience!).
Incidentally, The Zen of Poker arrived (along with about half a dozen other poker-related works. It's very good indeed, although I can see how some people might see it as "wooly". I suspect that this book could do a lot for my game.
PJ
The flowers
Date: 2005-09-22 12:55 pm (UTC)Re: The flowers
Date: 2005-09-22 06:15 pm (UTC)Such is human nature that the girl now thinks: "great, not only has my dog died/boyfriend left me/debts piled up I now have Birksy trying to get in my knickers...."
:)
Re: The flowers
Date: 2005-09-22 07:36 pm (UTC)Re: The flowers
Date: 2005-09-22 10:07 pm (UTC)Cynic or otherwise, if you try and help 10 old ladies cross the road one of them will think you are after their pension.
We all have dry runs in life, I take no pleasure at all from the fact that Pete seems to be getting his turn at the moment, but you need to be able to manage a dry smile at the inequity that life deals otherwise things start to look very gloomy.