I have been reviewing where things are and where I need to be and I have decided to set some goals for June.
MT ratio
I need to increase my multi-tabling ratio from the 2.10 where it currently stands to somewhere up around 3. This will be difficult to be honest, as I will need to try to play longer sessions to achieve this and I don’t know if this will be possible. I might try to play late sessions a couple of times a week, instead of playing shorter sessions most nights. Also, I will need to put in a decent session or two on a weekend. Again this might be difficult as there are other things that require my time.
Hands per hour
This currently stands at approx 190 and I would like this to be much higher.
There are however a couple of problems with setting this as a target. First, it is pretty much dependent on the number of tables I can manage to be seated at. Also, I could improve this figure dramatically by playing more shorthanded tables but the only way to do this would be to sit at 6-max tables. This isn’t something I want to do, as the 6-max community is generally much more aggressive, with much better players. I think that starting new 10-seater games is +EV for me as the players who normally sit down will generally be weaker ones than would join me at a 6-max game.
Win-rate
Obviously, as well as playing more hands it would be nice if I could win more per hand too. As previously mentioned, I don’t feel as though there is much drop-off in my game between my second and fourth table, so hopefully I can at least maintain my win-rate despite playing more tables more often.
Looking back at my stats for the last 5000 hands or so it looks as if I have been committing too much money at times only to fold before showdown. This is a leak that needs to be plugged: either by committing less money before folding or going to showdown more. For the hands that I have taken to showdown I am showing a huge margin (+19.5%). While this looks good, it also indicates that I am probably folding some hands that are +EV. I need to squeeze every last drop from these hands.
Target for the month here is to improve my decision-making at the point of commitment to the pot. Hopefully an improved win-rate will demonstrate improvement in my decision-making here although it is not properly quantifiable.
I don’t feel as though a long-term win-rate of 3 PTBB/100 is impossible for me. This is something I should be aiming for, because if I could make this at $5-$10 then we are in the ballpark of $200k per year pro-rata. This should be the long-term goal.
Tuesday, 3 June 2008
Monday, 2 June 2008
Multi-tabling
I started multi-tabling at $2-$4 a couple of weeks ago and things have been going OK although not great. There are a few adjustments to be made, as basically I am able to only play in ‘no-read’ mode, despite having PA Hud to give me useful stats on my opponents.
Basically, if I am concentrating less than 100% on a particular table then I am unable to make specific player-determined plays based on detailed reads of my opponents state of mind etc. However, I have a solid enough B-game that I am still able to play in a +EV way without fully concentrating on that table. Also, it seems that I am able to play this B-game on 3 ‘side’ tables just as easily as one 'side' table.
So, what I have been doing is keeping one main table, where I start playing heads-up or occasionally join a short-handed table already in progress. This table gets my almost total attention, and on the other tables I play my B-game: very tight in early positions, looser later, aggressive when in the pot. Sometimes this table will stay heads-up or short-handed for a while, occasionally it will fill up quickly. If it fills up, I simply start another table until I have 4 going.
I think the ideal situation is to have one short-handed table and three full auto-pilot tables. That way, I still feel as though I am actually playing a game rather than working a job.
Like I said, so far things have been going OK. One of the problems is that at the moment I rarely have more than an hour or maybe an hour and a half to play a session. So, if there are no seats available I am spending the first 20 minutes or so playing heads-up or maybe 3-handed until things fill up or a seat becomes available on another table. Obviously, the main reason to play at many tables is to increase the number of hands played per hour. In order to truly maximise this it would be better to play longer sessions, therefore reducing the impact of the session start-up. It can sometimes take the best part of an hour to become seated at 4 tables, by which time I am often getting ready to finish.
I’ve also noticed an unexpected anomaly in my results when playing a full table. I have won at a reasonable if unspectacular rate (1.77 PTBB/100) but this has been despite losing a lot of money in non-showdown hands. I have got involved in too many pots where I have put too much money in without getting to showdown. Sometimes I will have folded the winner, sometimes I should have folded earlier, and sometimes I have made the pot too big and allowed my opponent to steal it. This is generally bad play and I need to correct this. Looking back, some of these hands were quite tough to play but I need to have a plan for these types of hands and stick to it.
Here’s an example:
I am in mid-position with JJ and open to $12, Only the big blind (tight aggressive with $372, which I cover) calls and checks the 642 rainbow flop. I bet $28 and he raises to $56. At this point I have no plan as to what to do for the best. Basically I want to get to showdown as cheap as possible but its pretty obvious that a good opponent knows this. After I call the turn card comes a King, which could slow down my opponent if he thinks I would call for $28 more with AK especially if he has QQ or the other JJ. However he bets another $96 which I call again. The river comes another 6 and he bets all-in for $209. I cant think of any hand that I can beat, other than a 3-barrel bluff, and I fold.
I think, on reflection I was OK calling the flop min-raise, after all a Jack on the turn puts me ahead of everything except a flopped straight and we still had more than $300 behind. However, the real decision was on the turn. I really ought to have folded here, at least in part because he should have feared that I could have AK. So, it looks like I wasted $96 here. Obviously, against a loose opponent I would be much happier to get more money in on the flop.
This guy made the check-raise so that the pot-size was just right for him to get all his money in without having to make two really big bets. Well played him!
I played OK too for the most part, averaging about $40 per hour, despite my MT ratio being as low as 2.10. By playing longer sessions I would be able to get this up to 3+ and I should see the hourly rate go up by a similar proportion.
Basically, if I am concentrating less than 100% on a particular table then I am unable to make specific player-determined plays based on detailed reads of my opponents state of mind etc. However, I have a solid enough B-game that I am still able to play in a +EV way without fully concentrating on that table. Also, it seems that I am able to play this B-game on 3 ‘side’ tables just as easily as one 'side' table.
So, what I have been doing is keeping one main table, where I start playing heads-up or occasionally join a short-handed table already in progress. This table gets my almost total attention, and on the other tables I play my B-game: very tight in early positions, looser later, aggressive when in the pot. Sometimes this table will stay heads-up or short-handed for a while, occasionally it will fill up quickly. If it fills up, I simply start another table until I have 4 going.
I think the ideal situation is to have one short-handed table and three full auto-pilot tables. That way, I still feel as though I am actually playing a game rather than working a job.
Like I said, so far things have been going OK. One of the problems is that at the moment I rarely have more than an hour or maybe an hour and a half to play a session. So, if there are no seats available I am spending the first 20 minutes or so playing heads-up or maybe 3-handed until things fill up or a seat becomes available on another table. Obviously, the main reason to play at many tables is to increase the number of hands played per hour. In order to truly maximise this it would be better to play longer sessions, therefore reducing the impact of the session start-up. It can sometimes take the best part of an hour to become seated at 4 tables, by which time I am often getting ready to finish.
I’ve also noticed an unexpected anomaly in my results when playing a full table. I have won at a reasonable if unspectacular rate (1.77 PTBB/100) but this has been despite losing a lot of money in non-showdown hands. I have got involved in too many pots where I have put too much money in without getting to showdown. Sometimes I will have folded the winner, sometimes I should have folded earlier, and sometimes I have made the pot too big and allowed my opponent to steal it. This is generally bad play and I need to correct this. Looking back, some of these hands were quite tough to play but I need to have a plan for these types of hands and stick to it.
Here’s an example:
I am in mid-position with JJ and open to $12, Only the big blind (tight aggressive with $372, which I cover) calls and checks the 642 rainbow flop. I bet $28 and he raises to $56. At this point I have no plan as to what to do for the best. Basically I want to get to showdown as cheap as possible but its pretty obvious that a good opponent knows this. After I call the turn card comes a King, which could slow down my opponent if he thinks I would call for $28 more with AK especially if he has QQ or the other JJ. However he bets another $96 which I call again. The river comes another 6 and he bets all-in for $209. I cant think of any hand that I can beat, other than a 3-barrel bluff, and I fold.
I think, on reflection I was OK calling the flop min-raise, after all a Jack on the turn puts me ahead of everything except a flopped straight and we still had more than $300 behind. However, the real decision was on the turn. I really ought to have folded here, at least in part because he should have feared that I could have AK. So, it looks like I wasted $96 here. Obviously, against a loose opponent I would be much happier to get more money in on the flop.
This guy made the check-raise so that the pot-size was just right for him to get all his money in without having to make two really big bets. Well played him!
I played OK too for the most part, averaging about $40 per hour, despite my MT ratio being as low as 2.10. By playing longer sessions I would be able to get this up to 3+ and I should see the hourly rate go up by a similar proportion.
Monday, 19 May 2008
A-game good, B-game bad
I managed a huge $67 win this week in a rather disjointed 12 hours of play!
Monday was a day off and then Tuesday and Wednesday were largely uneventful before the fireworks began on Thursday. This was fireworks in a good way to begin with as I won one large pot with AA against a very stubborn JJ, most of the money going in on a Q84 2-flush flop. What was he thinking? Was I re-raising pre-flop with rags?
Friday’s early play was a train wreck before some of the damage was repaired in a steady late session. There were two big losses and I think a better player would have avoided at least one of them, although I’m not certain which one.
First, playing 3-handed I raised on the button with K7 and was called by the big blind, who was maybe a little on the tight side. The flop came KK5 with two hearts and I bet a standard $40 when checked to. He raised me to $120 and I re-raised to $310, in theory, so that I could fold if he went all-in. After all, what could he have if not a better King than me or possibly pocket fives? Or maybe a flush draw? I pondered right down to the end of the time allowance whether to call his subsequent all-in and then a strange reflex action kicked in and I called, only to be shown 55.
Then, a bit later, when playing 10-handed I made a river bluff that I suspect would come off a high percentage of the time. I called a mid-position raise with T8 and with the big blind we saw the K75 (two hearts) flop 3-handed. After the raiser checked, which I wasn’t expecting, I decided to have a stab at the pot and fired $80 which the raiser called. The turn was an offsuit 8, and I didn’t want to bet myself out of the pot now that I had picked up a pair, so I checked behind. Also, I wasn’t worried about giving a free card to a flush-draw as this would have been a good flop for the raiser to bet at if he had flopped the flush-draw. By checking maybe it would look to the raiser as if I had a flush-draw. The river came the 9 of hearts and the raiser bet $140 into me. I raised all-in (he had about $640 behind), trying to represent the flush, thinking that I could make him lay down most hands here. In actual fact, he had a straight with the 86 and after great deliberation made the call.
The week-end was a break-even affair, and I only managed a measly 3 hours in total. I lost three biggish pots making second-best hands, but this was erased totally with a nice win when I flopped quad twos. I limp-called against a tight and very aggressive regular who I had tussled with before. The flop came 922 with two clubs and I decided to check to see how much he was going to bet. He made it $70, which I thought was on the high-side in an attempt to get as much in as possible early on, to chop the odds available for a flush-draw with overcard. At this point I decided to raise to $210, as I reckoned it would look no stronger than a flat-call to him and would have the added advantage of possibly getting all the money in on the flop. Like I said, we had tussled before. To my total joy but not total surprise he went all-in and I had the easiest call imaginable.
Overall the week was a disappointment as there were a couple of spells where I lost a bit of focus and started to try to make things happen where the opportunities were not really there. If I am honest with myself, I probably could have made $600-700 if I had played my A- game all week. Like I said, a better player would have probably folded the K7 v 55 hand and that would have saved another $200-300 in equity. On the positive side, I managed to win just short of $1000 in the smaller (non-showdown) pots. This shows that my general level of aggression is OK.
This week I need to maintain my focus at all times. Sometimes I feel as though I am due to hit a run of good situations, like I see others hit day after day. This is just a fallacy: we need to concentrate on maximising all opportunities that come our way. This often means picking up one extra small pot (say $60) every couple of hours. At the time it looks like no big deal but it’s massive in the context of a player’s results.
Monday was a day off and then Tuesday and Wednesday were largely uneventful before the fireworks began on Thursday. This was fireworks in a good way to begin with as I won one large pot with AA against a very stubborn JJ, most of the money going in on a Q84 2-flush flop. What was he thinking? Was I re-raising pre-flop with rags?
Friday’s early play was a train wreck before some of the damage was repaired in a steady late session. There were two big losses and I think a better player would have avoided at least one of them, although I’m not certain which one.
First, playing 3-handed I raised on the button with K7 and was called by the big blind, who was maybe a little on the tight side. The flop came KK5 with two hearts and I bet a standard $40 when checked to. He raised me to $120 and I re-raised to $310, in theory, so that I could fold if he went all-in. After all, what could he have if not a better King than me or possibly pocket fives? Or maybe a flush draw? I pondered right down to the end of the time allowance whether to call his subsequent all-in and then a strange reflex action kicked in and I called, only to be shown 55.
Then, a bit later, when playing 10-handed I made a river bluff that I suspect would come off a high percentage of the time. I called a mid-position raise with T8 and with the big blind we saw the K75 (two hearts) flop 3-handed. After the raiser checked, which I wasn’t expecting, I decided to have a stab at the pot and fired $80 which the raiser called. The turn was an offsuit 8, and I didn’t want to bet myself out of the pot now that I had picked up a pair, so I checked behind. Also, I wasn’t worried about giving a free card to a flush-draw as this would have been a good flop for the raiser to bet at if he had flopped the flush-draw. By checking maybe it would look to the raiser as if I had a flush-draw. The river came the 9 of hearts and the raiser bet $140 into me. I raised all-in (he had about $640 behind), trying to represent the flush, thinking that I could make him lay down most hands here. In actual fact, he had a straight with the 86 and after great deliberation made the call.
The week-end was a break-even affair, and I only managed a measly 3 hours in total. I lost three biggish pots making second-best hands, but this was erased totally with a nice win when I flopped quad twos. I limp-called against a tight and very aggressive regular who I had tussled with before. The flop came 922 with two clubs and I decided to check to see how much he was going to bet. He made it $70, which I thought was on the high-side in an attempt to get as much in as possible early on, to chop the odds available for a flush-draw with overcard. At this point I decided to raise to $210, as I reckoned it would look no stronger than a flat-call to him and would have the added advantage of possibly getting all the money in on the flop. Like I said, we had tussled before. To my total joy but not total surprise he went all-in and I had the easiest call imaginable.
Overall the week was a disappointment as there were a couple of spells where I lost a bit of focus and started to try to make things happen where the opportunities were not really there. If I am honest with myself, I probably could have made $600-700 if I had played my A- game all week. Like I said, a better player would have probably folded the K7 v 55 hand and that would have saved another $200-300 in equity. On the positive side, I managed to win just short of $1000 in the smaller (non-showdown) pots. This shows that my general level of aggression is OK.
This week I need to maintain my focus at all times. Sometimes I feel as though I am due to hit a run of good situations, like I see others hit day after day. This is just a fallacy: we need to concentrate on maximising all opportunities that come our way. This often means picking up one extra small pot (say $60) every couple of hours. At the time it looks like no big deal but it’s massive in the context of a player’s results.
Monday, 12 May 2008
Behind all week...
By the end of the week the result was a satisfactory one: an $887 win in just over 16 hours of play. However, that doesn’t tell the whole story: not by a long way.
Monday was poor but that loss was recovered immediately on Tuesday. The Wednesday loss was a bit worse than Monday’s but took until Saturday to clear off.
There were three big pots where I lost more than I should have done, as I had position on my opponent in all three cases and should probably have folded the river on all three occasions.
First, I raised a loose early position limper from the button holding AA and we took the 955 flop heads-up. He check-called my solid $70 flop bet. The turn came another 9 and instead of shutting down I decided I would try to get some value for my AA. Again he check-called: this time $200. The river was a 7 and he immediately went all-in. For some reason I couldn’t persuade myself to fold against his obvious full-house and called all-in for $545. He showed J9.
Second, I raised from one off the button with AQ and was re-raised to $110 by a solid regular in the big blind. I decided to call and also called his flop (AJ2) bet of $150. When he checked the blank turn I decided that my hand was probably best and bet $360, which he called. The river was the King of spades which put a third spade on board and despite this scary card he bet all-in. Again, ridiculously, I couldn’t persuade myself that I was beat despite the weight of evidence. He showed AK.
Third, I raised to $70 after 5 limpers and the only caller was a fairly tight regular in first position. The flop came 235 (all spades) which was not great for my red Kings. I checked behind hoping to see a blank on the turn, which came an offsuit Jack. My plan was to make a reasonable bet if checked to and then hopefully check behind on the river. Phase one went OK and I bet $120, but he raised me to $275. I called this, thinking I may have the best hand but I got a sinking feeling when he bet all-in on the river, which was an off-suit Queen. Looking back, I couldn’t beat much that he might play like this, but still called only to be shown 64 of spades for the flopped straight-flush.
So, three big pots played poorly by me. But there were others that went OK. Its just a bit annoying that I couldn’t find a fold in a couple of these pots, as the bottom line for the week would have been so much better.
All in all, despite being behind for much of the week, I was able to hang in there and play somewhere near my best game for long periods and finally get ahead for the week. Looking at the microcosm of a single week’s results isn’t really that helpful but some sort of a review process is necessary if I am to avoid falling into bad habits. Gradually, by playing well, the results will come together and I will be able to look back at a successful year.
This blog will be one year old at the end of this month. Maybe then I will do a review of the year.
Monday was poor but that loss was recovered immediately on Tuesday. The Wednesday loss was a bit worse than Monday’s but took until Saturday to clear off.
There were three big pots where I lost more than I should have done, as I had position on my opponent in all three cases and should probably have folded the river on all three occasions.
First, I raised a loose early position limper from the button holding AA and we took the 955 flop heads-up. He check-called my solid $70 flop bet. The turn came another 9 and instead of shutting down I decided I would try to get some value for my AA. Again he check-called: this time $200. The river was a 7 and he immediately went all-in. For some reason I couldn’t persuade myself to fold against his obvious full-house and called all-in for $545. He showed J9.
Second, I raised from one off the button with AQ and was re-raised to $110 by a solid regular in the big blind. I decided to call and also called his flop (AJ2) bet of $150. When he checked the blank turn I decided that my hand was probably best and bet $360, which he called. The river was the King of spades which put a third spade on board and despite this scary card he bet all-in. Again, ridiculously, I couldn’t persuade myself that I was beat despite the weight of evidence. He showed AK.
Third, I raised to $70 after 5 limpers and the only caller was a fairly tight regular in first position. The flop came 235 (all spades) which was not great for my red Kings. I checked behind hoping to see a blank on the turn, which came an offsuit Jack. My plan was to make a reasonable bet if checked to and then hopefully check behind on the river. Phase one went OK and I bet $120, but he raised me to $275. I called this, thinking I may have the best hand but I got a sinking feeling when he bet all-in on the river, which was an off-suit Queen. Looking back, I couldn’t beat much that he might play like this, but still called only to be shown 64 of spades for the flopped straight-flush.
So, three big pots played poorly by me. But there were others that went OK. Its just a bit annoying that I couldn’t find a fold in a couple of these pots, as the bottom line for the week would have been so much better.
All in all, despite being behind for much of the week, I was able to hang in there and play somewhere near my best game for long periods and finally get ahead for the week. Looking at the microcosm of a single week’s results isn’t really that helpful but some sort of a review process is necessary if I am to avoid falling into bad habits. Gradually, by playing well, the results will come together and I will be able to look back at a successful year.
This blog will be one year old at the end of this month. Maybe then I will do a review of the year.
Wednesday, 7 May 2008
Back home
Last week was the first time since the re-focus on $5-$10 that I managed to play well all week and the results were great.
I played just under 11 hours and won $2,740. About a half of this was won in 90 minutes on Monday and after that I had a fairly steady run. On Sunday I took the day off.
The surprising thing about the win was the fact that in the big pots I only managed to break even. This shows that I must have won a lot of small and medium-sized pots without going to showdown: actually a rather unusual occurrence as I have been playing much tighter than I had previously. (In hands contested by 7 or more players my VPIP is down to 15%). Maybe I have been better at picking spots to steal the pot by playing fewer hands out of position: something I had been conscious of doing in the last week or so. (Even in the cut-off seat I was down to 12% VPIP, compared with 19% and 23% respectively in the cut-off and buttons seats).
As usual the biggest winning and losing pots happened when either me or my opponent, or both of us, flopped a set. I just about broke even in these situations, on one hand flopping set over set, but on another hitting top two pair against bottom set.
The only other big loser for me during the week was when I got $684 in pre-flop with AQ against AK. This sounds bad but is partially justified as it was heads-up against a very aggressive player.
Another development for me is my newfound ability to multi-table! If I start out at a short-handed table I am happy to play just that one table, but I have started to play a second table if they are both full. This lead to me playing an average of 1.59 tables during the week and I don’t feel as though my play suffered.
I feel reasonably comfortable back at the $5-$10 level now and am confident that in future weeks I can continue on an upward curve. After 3-4 months moving around it now feels like I am back at my ‘home game.’ Let’s hope my future results prove this correct.
I played just under 11 hours and won $2,740. About a half of this was won in 90 minutes on Monday and after that I had a fairly steady run. On Sunday I took the day off.
The surprising thing about the win was the fact that in the big pots I only managed to break even. This shows that I must have won a lot of small and medium-sized pots without going to showdown: actually a rather unusual occurrence as I have been playing much tighter than I had previously. (In hands contested by 7 or more players my VPIP is down to 15%). Maybe I have been better at picking spots to steal the pot by playing fewer hands out of position: something I had been conscious of doing in the last week or so. (Even in the cut-off seat I was down to 12% VPIP, compared with 19% and 23% respectively in the cut-off and buttons seats).
As usual the biggest winning and losing pots happened when either me or my opponent, or both of us, flopped a set. I just about broke even in these situations, on one hand flopping set over set, but on another hitting top two pair against bottom set.
The only other big loser for me during the week was when I got $684 in pre-flop with AQ against AK. This sounds bad but is partially justified as it was heads-up against a very aggressive player.
Another development for me is my newfound ability to multi-table! If I start out at a short-handed table I am happy to play just that one table, but I have started to play a second table if they are both full. This lead to me playing an average of 1.59 tables during the week and I don’t feel as though my play suffered.
I feel reasonably comfortable back at the $5-$10 level now and am confident that in future weeks I can continue on an upward curve. After 3-4 months moving around it now feels like I am back at my ‘home game.’ Let’s hope my future results prove this correct.
Tuesday, 29 April 2008
$5-$10 NLHE (the return)
About three weeks ago I decided to move back to $5-$10 NLHE, despite being short on bankroll. I had been a big winner there for a significant period of time and it is a game I should feel comfortable in. I’ve decided to re-focus on this game.
This was my bread-and-butter for the whole of August, September, October and November last year. I had a bad run in December and lost my nerve a bit, deciding to withdraw a huge chunk of bankroll before moving down and trying other games (mostly PLO). The last few months chopping and changing have been largely unsuccessful and I decided to go back to what worked well for months.
This move has not been without its ups and downs, and so far since my return I have been a small loser. I didn’t help myself in this regard by playing an appalling session on the second day of my move. I realised since then that, maybe because of my Omaha experiences, I was going too far with too many hands. The bad session resulted in a $1400 loss in just under an hour. After this I gave myself a good talking to: I wasn’t entitled to win just because I had won there before. I acknowledged that I would have to play my best game to be a big winner again at this level. Then, a week or so ago, after three good days I had a huge ($3000) losing day. This was very frustrating, although in truth it was largely down to being on the wrong end of 2-3 big coolers.
Last week I broke even ($43 profit, actually) but this was disappointing because I played pretty well for the most part.
Here are some of the questionable plays I made, which cost me my profit for the week:
(1) Raised pre-flop with 77 and check-called a Q92 flop with two spades. I suspected from the odd bet-size that the tight aggressive caller on the button was actually quite weak in this hand. I checked again and decided to raise big (but with little behind as I started the hand with only $650). Unfortunately he had picked up a flush draw to go with his flopped middle pair and so my line had actually priced him in for the call. I bet my remaining $90 on the river, when surely a check would have been better – he cant fold anything because of the size of the pot and he probably wouldn’t bet a weak hand like the one he had.
(2) Playing heads-up (trying to get a new table going as there were huge lists on the other 10-seaters) I limped in the small blind with QQ. I had limped a few times before and often when I did the villain made it $45 or $50 causing me to fold. I decided that I needed to stop him doing this, so I limp-reraised to $150 with 79, causing him to fold. The next time I made that move was this hand with the QQ. He called my re-raise to $150 and the flop came 885 with two clubs. I bet $280 and after a while he flat-called. Alarm bells went off, but I felt compelled to push in my last $569 on the blank turn. He happily called with 98 offsuit.
(3) A loose-aggressive player who I’d tangled with a lot in the past raised in mid-position and there were three callers before it got to me in the big blind with pocket 10s. I decided to reraise to $150 and the opener reraised to $390, folding out all the flat-callers. I got a bit too frisky here and decided to re-raise all-in, thinking that he was putting me on a squeeze play. I was fairly sure that he had something that he wanted to get all-in with (either overcards or a bigger pair) but decided to gamble. He called me with pocket Jacks. I couldnt have played this much worse. First of all, why reraise and create a difficult situation like this? I could have simply paid $35 to try to flop a set (or an overpair, which might have been good). Secondly, why couldn’t I get away from the hand pre-flop after he puts in the third raise? This was clearly a bad spot to get all-in pre-flop and another example of bad play.
On the plus side, I feel I fitted back into the ebb and flow of the game much better last week. There are still one or two weak spots sitting in the games – even some of the ‘new’ regulars – and I am hoping to exploit these players in the coming weeks and months.
There are fewer loose players than there were a few months ago but I feel as though the tighter players can be exploited in certain spots. There’s a big difference between a 16/8 player and a 16/14. Maybe the 16/14 guy is the one who can be 4-bet off his hand when he 3-bets a late position raise. Also, the regulars seem to be very aggressive post-flop; surely to the point of possible exploitation.
Its tough to make money with small pairs as there are fewer multi-way pots than before. Also, there seems to be a lot more reraising from the blinds than previously. I think making the occasional flat-call with AA or KK will be a money-maker against some of the more aggressive post-flop TAGs, with the added advantage that it may attract a ‘squeezer’ in the blinds.
Overall, I think sticking to the same game for a while will help me get back to playing well again. That really is the key to success in this game: play well.
This was my bread-and-butter for the whole of August, September, October and November last year. I had a bad run in December and lost my nerve a bit, deciding to withdraw a huge chunk of bankroll before moving down and trying other games (mostly PLO). The last few months chopping and changing have been largely unsuccessful and I decided to go back to what worked well for months.
This move has not been without its ups and downs, and so far since my return I have been a small loser. I didn’t help myself in this regard by playing an appalling session on the second day of my move. I realised since then that, maybe because of my Omaha experiences, I was going too far with too many hands. The bad session resulted in a $1400 loss in just under an hour. After this I gave myself a good talking to: I wasn’t entitled to win just because I had won there before. I acknowledged that I would have to play my best game to be a big winner again at this level. Then, a week or so ago, after three good days I had a huge ($3000) losing day. This was very frustrating, although in truth it was largely down to being on the wrong end of 2-3 big coolers.
Last week I broke even ($43 profit, actually) but this was disappointing because I played pretty well for the most part.
Here are some of the questionable plays I made, which cost me my profit for the week:
(1) Raised pre-flop with 77 and check-called a Q92 flop with two spades. I suspected from the odd bet-size that the tight aggressive caller on the button was actually quite weak in this hand. I checked again and decided to raise big (but with little behind as I started the hand with only $650). Unfortunately he had picked up a flush draw to go with his flopped middle pair and so my line had actually priced him in for the call. I bet my remaining $90 on the river, when surely a check would have been better – he cant fold anything because of the size of the pot and he probably wouldn’t bet a weak hand like the one he had.
(2) Playing heads-up (trying to get a new table going as there were huge lists on the other 10-seaters) I limped in the small blind with QQ. I had limped a few times before and often when I did the villain made it $45 or $50 causing me to fold. I decided that I needed to stop him doing this, so I limp-reraised to $150 with 79, causing him to fold. The next time I made that move was this hand with the QQ. He called my re-raise to $150 and the flop came 885 with two clubs. I bet $280 and after a while he flat-called. Alarm bells went off, but I felt compelled to push in my last $569 on the blank turn. He happily called with 98 offsuit.
(3) A loose-aggressive player who I’d tangled with a lot in the past raised in mid-position and there were three callers before it got to me in the big blind with pocket 10s. I decided to reraise to $150 and the opener reraised to $390, folding out all the flat-callers. I got a bit too frisky here and decided to re-raise all-in, thinking that he was putting me on a squeeze play. I was fairly sure that he had something that he wanted to get all-in with (either overcards or a bigger pair) but decided to gamble. He called me with pocket Jacks. I couldnt have played this much worse. First of all, why reraise and create a difficult situation like this? I could have simply paid $35 to try to flop a set (or an overpair, which might have been good). Secondly, why couldn’t I get away from the hand pre-flop after he puts in the third raise? This was clearly a bad spot to get all-in pre-flop and another example of bad play.
On the plus side, I feel I fitted back into the ebb and flow of the game much better last week. There are still one or two weak spots sitting in the games – even some of the ‘new’ regulars – and I am hoping to exploit these players in the coming weeks and months.
There are fewer loose players than there were a few months ago but I feel as though the tighter players can be exploited in certain spots. There’s a big difference between a 16/8 player and a 16/14. Maybe the 16/14 guy is the one who can be 4-bet off his hand when he 3-bets a late position raise. Also, the regulars seem to be very aggressive post-flop; surely to the point of possible exploitation.
Its tough to make money with small pairs as there are fewer multi-way pots than before. Also, there seems to be a lot more reraising from the blinds than previously. I think making the occasional flat-call with AA or KK will be a money-maker against some of the more aggressive post-flop TAGs, with the added advantage that it may attract a ‘squeezer’ in the blinds.
Overall, I think sticking to the same game for a while will help me get back to playing well again. That really is the key to success in this game: play well.
Tuesday, 1 April 2008
Back to the future (PLO)
I know I have done a fair bit of shifting about in this blog, with both stakes and game selection, but I have learned a lot about myself and my poker game in the last 9-10 months. I think writing about things has aided the learning process.
That said, I have decided that I should concentrate my efforts on Pot Limit Omaha for the forseeable future. There are a number of reasons for this:
- it is the game of the future (most super-high stakes games are now PLO);
- the fish:shark ratio is higher than at NLHE;
- I am prone to tilt less than I am at NLHE.
I have had very good results so far playing PLO and I am confident that the game suits my personality. I am happy to make decisions based on the odds, win or lose, and am confident that because of the confidence in my play re-inforced by my detailed analysis I am comfortable with the short-term swings.
I have put aside more money from the bankroll to cover expenses for the next few months, so there will be no immediate bankroll pressure. However, I have decided to go back to small stakes and play within bankroll limits and rules, building up to a point where I can maintain a playable bankroll at higher stakes.
The target for April is to play 2 tables of 6max PLO at 50c-$1 blinds, starting with a roll of $1600. (I did actually start with $800 playing 25c-50c but moved up pretty quickly).I hope to get to $3000 by the end of the month and will then move up to $1-$2. If I do happen to lose - these things happen from time to time - and I drop below $800 bankroll I will move down to 25c-50c and rebuild. To be honest I can't see this happening but its important to have a plan for losses.
The $1-$2 level is one that can support a win-rate of about $50 per hour and so its important to try to win consistently at stakes higher than this level, assuming I can win at a higher rate at the higher level. That way, if things do go bad then at least I will be dropping down to a level that can support a decent win-rate.
If I can manage to win at a decent rate at $3-$6 or higher, which isn't that unlikely, then we are entering the territory of significant earnings. However, I don't expect this to happen before August. I then plan to take a 5-buy-in shot at $3-$6 when the bankroll is at $15,000, moving back down to $2-$4 if that is unsuccessful.
I intend to review this plan every month and I will update the blog with future amendments to the plan. However, I do not plan on making as many posts as I have been doing. I have put a lot of effort into writing posts that I thought might appeal to the thinking poker player and I have been disappointed by the lack of comments received, despite having quite a few readers.
That said, I have decided that I should concentrate my efforts on Pot Limit Omaha for the forseeable future. There are a number of reasons for this:
- it is the game of the future (most super-high stakes games are now PLO);
- the fish:shark ratio is higher than at NLHE;
- I am prone to tilt less than I am at NLHE.
I have had very good results so far playing PLO and I am confident that the game suits my personality. I am happy to make decisions based on the odds, win or lose, and am confident that because of the confidence in my play re-inforced by my detailed analysis I am comfortable with the short-term swings.
I have put aside more money from the bankroll to cover expenses for the next few months, so there will be no immediate bankroll pressure. However, I have decided to go back to small stakes and play within bankroll limits and rules, building up to a point where I can maintain a playable bankroll at higher stakes.
The target for April is to play 2 tables of 6max PLO at 50c-$1 blinds, starting with a roll of $1600. (I did actually start with $800 playing 25c-50c but moved up pretty quickly).I hope to get to $3000 by the end of the month and will then move up to $1-$2. If I do happen to lose - these things happen from time to time - and I drop below $800 bankroll I will move down to 25c-50c and rebuild. To be honest I can't see this happening but its important to have a plan for losses.
The $1-$2 level is one that can support a win-rate of about $50 per hour and so its important to try to win consistently at stakes higher than this level, assuming I can win at a higher rate at the higher level. That way, if things do go bad then at least I will be dropping down to a level that can support a decent win-rate.
If I can manage to win at a decent rate at $3-$6 or higher, which isn't that unlikely, then we are entering the territory of significant earnings. However, I don't expect this to happen before August. I then plan to take a 5-buy-in shot at $3-$6 when the bankroll is at $15,000, moving back down to $2-$4 if that is unsuccessful.
I intend to review this plan every month and I will update the blog with future amendments to the plan. However, I do not plan on making as many posts as I have been doing. I have put a lot of effort into writing posts that I thought might appeal to the thinking poker player and I have been disappointed by the lack of comments received, despite having quite a few readers.
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