Stress makes for bad poker playing. No doubt about it.
I've learned that the hard way. After my bankroll grew consistently for three or four months, it has absolutely flat-lined over the past six weeks or so. Not surprisingly, I have been going through some life-changing stuff at work for the past six weeks or so. Clearly, my head is not clear.
But I think I have identified two major leaks in my game:
— I don't believe anyone.
When people start betting back at me, I have been looking for any reason possible to doubt them.
You made a big bet? You must be bluffing. Your icon is a clown, a boxer or a ninja dude? You're automatically loose-aggressive bordering on a maniac.
Last night was a good example. I was second in chips with 11 people remaining in an 18-person SNG. The big stack (a ninja, for the record) min-raised in early position. I called his raise with AT offsuit in position. Another guy tagged along for the flop.
Now, I don't remember exactly how it came down, but I ended up going broke after flopping second pair. The board came J-T-x, and I ended up all-in on the turn. Guy turned over T-T for a flopped set.
Two months ago, I wouldn't have lost a chip on this hand. And I was in great shape to cash. But for some reason, I lost my mind. And it's not the first time it's happened lately.
— I'm racing too often.
All too often, I've ended up all-in preflop with a hand like AT vs. a guy with KJ. Of course, people are morons for getting it in with KJ offsuit early in a tournament. But if you get all your chips in in a 55-45 or 60-40 advantage two or three times in a tournament — as I have been doing — you're going to flame out.
I need to mellow out preflop. Be more patient. Take a deep breath.
I will. And I will. And I will. And when I do, I expect that the bankroll will start climbing again.
Current bankroll: $1,260
OPR ranking: 98.09.
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Saturday, March 14, 2009
Stupid call? Likely. Good result? Sure.
Still not sure whether I played this hand well, but I think I miscalculated the math at the time and counted all the chips villain shoved in and not just the chips I could win since he had me covered. Regardless, I don't generally shove all my chips in with a hand like this:
Stacks:
BB with 1570
UTG with 4650
UTG+1 with 1300
MP1 with 1955
MP2 with 2525
MP3 with 3345
CO with 1010
BTN with 2625
SB with 2235
Poker Forum
Blinds:
Site: Full Tilt Poker
Dealt to BB: J♣ K♥
Sklansky group 5
Preflop:
2 players fold.
MP1 calls [100]
Hero checks
5 players folded.
Total folds this street: 7
Potsize: 250
Flop:
3♦ 9♠ 10♣
Hero bets [200]
5 players fold.
MP1 raises to 1,855, and is all in
So there's in essence about 1,850 in the pot (250 preflop, plus my 200 and his 200, plus the 1,200 I have left), so I I'm getting 3-to-2 odds. Am I better than 40 percent to win?
If he has one pair, which I decided he did, then I am close. (If he had two pair or a set, I don't think he shoves.) That likely gives me wins with a jack, a king or a queen for a straight. Odds calculators say I'm about 38.5 percent to win, which makes this a borderline call at best.
But I think I counted the extra 600 that he had pushed in when I did my calculations, which led me to call. Still, even if I had a shot at those extra chips, this was for my tournament life. Should have folded.
In the end, I hit a jack on the turn and a king on the river for two pair and a double up. Didn't matter. Slump continued with another middle-of-the-pack finish.
Current bankroll: $1,261
OPR ranking: 98.41
Stacks:
BB with 1570
UTG with 4650
UTG+1 with 1300
MP1 with 1955
MP2 with 2525
MP3 with 3345
CO with 1010
BTN with 2625
SB with 2235
Poker Forum
Blinds:
Site: Full Tilt Poker
Dealt to BB: J♣ K♥
Sklansky group 5
Preflop:
2 players fold.
MP1 calls [100]
Hero checks
5 players folded.
Total folds this street: 7
Potsize: 250
Flop:
3♦ 9♠ 10♣
Hero bets [200]
5 players fold.
MP1 raises to 1,855, and is all in
So there's in essence about 1,850 in the pot (250 preflop, plus my 200 and his 200, plus the 1,200 I have left), so I I'm getting 3-to-2 odds. Am I better than 40 percent to win?
If he has one pair, which I decided he did, then I am close. (If he had two pair or a set, I don't think he shoves.) That likely gives me wins with a jack, a king or a queen for a straight. Odds calculators say I'm about 38.5 percent to win, which makes this a borderline call at best.
But I think I counted the extra 600 that he had pushed in when I did my calculations, which led me to call. Still, even if I had a shot at those extra chips, this was for my tournament life. Should have folded.
In the end, I hit a jack on the turn and a king on the river for two pair and a double up. Didn't matter. Slump continued with another middle-of-the-pack finish.
Current bankroll: $1,261
OPR ranking: 98.41
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Breaking even
Not much movement in the online balance for the past month, which is a change from the previous two months or so, when my bankroll skyrocketed. Lots of reasons:
— Took most of a week off while playing live poker and getting ready to go to Vegas.
— Took a week off while in Vegas.
— Played not so great on my return from Vegas.
— Spent one night taking the worst run of bad beats in my life. Lost the following hands, all of them all-in before the flop. (Didn't get run down trying to slowplay people.)
AQ vs. AT: Villain rivered a straight.
AK vs. JT: This was the very next hand from the one listed above. Villain rivered a straight.
KK vs. TT: Villain rivered a ten.
QQ vs. 56s: Villain raised and then called my shove because he was committed. Ran me down.
TT vs. AT: Villain turned a straight.
AK vs. AA: OK, so I had the worst of this one. But it's wonderful when you're shortstacked and an opponent wakes up with AA at a shorthanded table.
Oddly enough, I ended up ahead for this night. Finished fourth and first in the last two tournaments I played.
Current bankroll: $1,288.
OPR ranking: 98.45.
— Took most of a week off while playing live poker and getting ready to go to Vegas.
— Took a week off while in Vegas.
— Played not so great on my return from Vegas.
— Spent one night taking the worst run of bad beats in my life. Lost the following hands, all of them all-in before the flop. (Didn't get run down trying to slowplay people.)
AQ vs. AT: Villain rivered a straight.
AK vs. JT: This was the very next hand from the one listed above. Villain rivered a straight.
KK vs. TT: Villain rivered a ten.
QQ vs. 56s: Villain raised and then called my shove because he was committed. Ran me down.
TT vs. AT: Villain turned a straight.
AK vs. AA: OK, so I had the worst of this one. But it's wonderful when you're shortstacked and an opponent wakes up with AA at a shorthanded table.
Oddly enough, I ended up ahead for this night. Finished fourth and first in the last two tournaments I played.
Current bankroll: $1,288.
OPR ranking: 98.45.
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Crunching the numbers
While playing in a 45-player, $26 SNG the other night, I took a moment to study my numbers on officialpokerrankings.com. After clicking a few buttons and sorting my stats several different ways, I realized I was 0-for-7 in $26 tournaments.
A few minutes later I was 0-for-8.
Since I was barely bankrolled for $26 tournaments, it seemed like a good indication that I should take a step back, so I dropped down to the $11 level and scored a good cash right away. (I would have preferred to drop to $22, but those don't seem to fill up very often.)
I'll do my best to kill the $11 SNGs for a while before moving up again.
A few minutes later I was 0-for-8.
Since I was barely bankrolled for $26 tournaments, it seemed like a good indication that I should take a step back, so I dropped down to the $11 level and scored a good cash right away. (I would have preferred to drop to $22, but those don't seem to fill up very often.)
I'll do my best to kill the $11 SNGs for a while before moving up again.
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Not posting … or cashing
Where the heck have I been? Busy. And in Vegas, where I received a fine poker education at the cost of $550. More on that later.
The cast of characters in Vegas was bizarre, as usual. There was the guy from Milan (Italy, not Michigan) who kept pulling chips off the table during a cash game and giving them to his handler.
The guy in the same game who had so little clue about how to play poker that he kept asking the dealer if he could check after others had bet. (Interesting strategy.)
The guy in the same game (what kind of a game did we walk into) who pushed me out of a hand by betting into a dry sidepot (the previous guy, who a fellow poker rate has since dubbed "Check-oslavakia was already all-in) with 4-3 suited (he was playing the board).
The guy in the same game who asked where we were from and responded with an excited "Really?!" only to tell us he was from Utah. When I said, "I've never seen anyone so excited to hear we were from Michigan who had no connection to Michigan," he just sat there and smiled, oblivious to anything I was saying.
Then there was the "Gentleman Assassin," who deserves his own blog post.
The poker didn't go so well. After cashing in an $80 shovefest at Planet Hollywood, I went 0-for-4 the rest of the week. Three of the games had great structures, and I flamed out of all of them stupidly. I also managed to roll through $100 or so online in the first couple nights back.
The cast of characters in Vegas was bizarre, as usual. There was the guy from Milan (Italy, not Michigan) who kept pulling chips off the table during a cash game and giving them to his handler.
The guy in the same game who had so little clue about how to play poker that he kept asking the dealer if he could check after others had bet. (Interesting strategy.)
The guy in the same game (what kind of a game did we walk into) who pushed me out of a hand by betting into a dry sidepot (the previous guy, who a fellow poker rate has since dubbed "Check-oslavakia was already all-in) with 4-3 suited (he was playing the board).
The guy in the same game who asked where we were from and responded with an excited "Really?!" only to tell us he was from Utah. When I said, "I've never seen anyone so excited to hear we were from Michigan who had no connection to Michigan," he just sat there and smiled, oblivious to anything I was saying.
Then there was the "Gentleman Assassin," who deserves his own blog post.
The poker didn't go so well. After cashing in an $80 shovefest at Planet Hollywood, I went 0-for-4 the rest of the week. Three of the games had great structures, and I flamed out of all of them stupidly. I also managed to roll through $100 or so online in the first couple nights back.
Friday, February 13, 2009
Runner. Runner. Done. (Errr.)
Pretty standard preflop with short stacks. After that, there was nothing standard about it.
Stacks:
UTG with 13115
MP with 3550
BTN with 3320
SB with 2065
BB with 4950
Blinds: 150-300
Site: Full Tilt Poker
Dealt to BTN:J♦ A♦
Preflop:
1 players fold.
MP raises to 3,550, and is all in
Hero calls [3,320] [ all-in ]
SB calls [1,915] [ all-in ]
MP shows: 7♦ 7♠
Hero shows: J♦ A♦
SB shows: Q♠ Q♣
1 players fold.
Uncalled bet of 230 returned to MP
Total folds this street: 2
Potsize: 9235
Flop: 10♦ 8♦ 2♦
Potsize: 9235
So I flop the nuts and am about a 95 percent favorite. And then:
Turn: 7♣
Potsize: 9235
River: 7♥
MP shows four of a kind, Sevens
Hero shows a flush, Ace high
MP wins the side pot (2,510) with four of a kind, Sevens
SB shows two pair, Queens and Sevens
MP wins the main pot (6,495) with four of a kind, Sevens
Poker Hand Converter By Cardschat.com Poker Forum
Stacks:
UTG with 13115
MP with 3550
BTN with 3320
SB with 2065
BB with 4950
Blinds: 150-300
Site: Full Tilt Poker
Dealt to BTN:J♦ A♦
Preflop:
1 players fold.
MP raises to 3,550, and is all in
Hero calls [3,320] [ all-in ]
SB calls [1,915] [ all-in ]
MP shows: 7♦ 7♠
Hero shows: J♦ A♦
SB shows: Q♠ Q♣
1 players fold.
Uncalled bet of 230 returned to MP
Total folds this street: 2
Potsize: 9235
Flop: 10♦ 8♦ 2♦
Potsize: 9235
So I flop the nuts and am about a 95 percent favorite. And then:
Turn: 7♣
Potsize: 9235
River: 7♥
MP shows four of a kind, Sevens
Hero shows a flush, Ace high
MP wins the side pot (2,510) with four of a kind, Sevens
SB shows two pair, Queens and Sevens
MP wins the main pot (6,495) with four of a kind, Sevens
Poker Hand Converter By Cardschat.com Poker Forum
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Surrounded by donkeys
Played an 45-person, $11 tournament last night and found myself surrounded by some of the worst poker players in history.
One guy had played 25 tournaments and cashed once. Another guy had played enough to "win" $20,000 yet has never, ever had a winning month online. (Clearly, he has spent much, much more than $20,000 in entry fees.) Then there was the guy who thought A-6 suited was plenty good enough to reraise all-in early in the tournament (then mocked me for folding a hand later in the night) and the guy who called him with a worse hand. There was another guy who late in the tournament reraised post-flop and then called an all-in push with 8-4 suited. There was no eight, no four and only one of his suit when he called. I guess he was counting on runner-runner for a crappy flush.
For a while, I was mad at myself for not being able to take these guys — and the other suspect players — to the cleaners. Really, at one point while playing nine-handed there was really only one player, directly to my left, who I thought knew how to play.
In the end, I did end up cleaning up. First place in that one helped cover for an 0-for-3 effort Monday night and earlier Tuesday. The climb continues.
Current bankroll: $1,290.
OPR ranking: 98.41. (All-time high.)
One guy had played 25 tournaments and cashed once. Another guy had played enough to "win" $20,000 yet has never, ever had a winning month online. (Clearly, he has spent much, much more than $20,000 in entry fees.) Then there was the guy who thought A-6 suited was plenty good enough to reraise all-in early in the tournament (then mocked me for folding a hand later in the night) and the guy who called him with a worse hand. There was another guy who late in the tournament reraised post-flop and then called an all-in push with 8-4 suited. There was no eight, no four and only one of his suit when he called. I guess he was counting on runner-runner for a crappy flush.
For a while, I was mad at myself for not being able to take these guys — and the other suspect players — to the cleaners. Really, at one point while playing nine-handed there was really only one player, directly to my left, who I thought knew how to play.
In the end, I did end up cleaning up. First place in that one helped cover for an 0-for-3 effort Monday night and earlier Tuesday. The climb continues.
Current bankroll: $1,290.
OPR ranking: 98.41. (All-time high.)
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