June Graph

At least the poker gods played fair for the last couple of weeks :-)

June Review

One session to go this month so will post graph later. June has been profitable but I always seem to have a bad start to the month which sucks. I have bouncebackability though and numbers are green again :-)

Premier League
1. Review every hand of each session played where I VPIP and see flop.(NB. On hold pending new PT3 replayer. I need opponents stats overlayed on replayer in order to review the hands objectively.)
I have switched to Holdem Manager and the replayer does everything I need. Having said that I have not been reviewing every VPIP hand and this may be less of a priority as I become more comfortable with my game. Or maybe I am just a slacker.

2. No looking at stats during session. This is a tilt indicator and must stop session immediately
I don’t do very well with this and need to do better!

3. Give study full 100% concentration. It is not an inconvenience!
I am doing pretty well with the studying and enjoying the Deuces Cracked videos.

4. Maintain Session Checklist
This is no longer required a Holdem Manager does it for me.

Championship
1. More work on understanding of Leverage.
Nothing to report.

2. Develop monthly review filters/reports for PT3;
3. Think about my coaching requirements (ie how to get most from being coached)
These two are grouped together as I am thinking about getting my coach to do a monthly review for me.

4. Develop workflows for balanced strategy in 3 bet pots
Am looking into various software applications to help me with this and other workflows (eg cbetting).

5. Use button more
More work needed. Also need to mix up my play when in position.

6. Adjust opening hands more depending on opponents still to act.
Getting better but need to adjust to opponents better in general. Switching tables too often is not good for me so I need to just stick around and adjust instead. (Obviously I will leave if table is very bad).

7. Check Raise sometimes!
I just never seem to get into spots where check raising is necessary. I must be missing something!

Lower League
1. Revise FLAG starting hands - Done
2. Website
3. Learn Omaha - Played a few $20 heads up sit n goes. Showing a profit over a tiny sample.
4. Learn Full Ring
5. Learn HU

I want to crush 200NL

My new coach has come back with a review of my video and an unprompted apology for the delay. Maybe I don’t need to look elsewhere just yet!

I am going to review his comments in more detail at the weekend but he has said that overall my game is strong and I can be a winner at higher levels ;)

I want to be totally happy with my game before I consider moving up though and this is certainly not the case at the moment. I still have some leaks that would be pounced on by the better players at 400NL and I am happy to carry on at 200NL for the time being.

To be fair these leaks were probably not evidenced in the video I sent over and I am thinking some PT review/workshop style coaching sessions would work for me.

Coaches run below expectation as standard

So coach number 2 seems to have disappeared off the face of the earth. A bit of a shame as he really did help me a lot in just a few sessions.

In view of this I submitted an application to Deuces Cracked and sent payment of $175 for my first hour lesson with yet another coach. The DC coaching process is a little cumbersome to begin with but after a week or so I had an e-mail conversation with coach number 3 and agreed to submit a 60 minute video for him to review.

The analysis was due by the weekend and I am still waiting. Have heard nothing further from him so have no idea what is causing the delay but yet again I feel like I will need to look elsewhere sooner rather than later.

Maybe I am just unlucky but this makes me even more determined to give my own students the best possible service at all times.

Memo to Poker Gods

OK Poker Gods.

I know I said I am happy to leave things in your hands but this is getting silly now.

There are only so many 2 outers a man can take before he starts thinking that this variance thing is nonsense and the clear way to poker fortunes is to play 80/40 and never fold.

So come on poker gods just play fair and have me running at neutral EV by the end of the month.

In other words you owe me $2,754.03 dammit :)

EV Adjustments

Above is s snapshot of my stats for all of May and June to date.

The interesting thing with these stats is that if you look carefully it shows that I was running hot in May and the doomswitch has returned for June.

Now this is all just variance that I have experienced many times throughout my poker 'career' but normally around this time my confidence would be crushed and I would be thinking about rebuilding my game once again.

This time, however, I have concrete evidence that I am running badly and therefore have no reason to panic. As long as I am getting my money in good more often than not then I am happy to leave the rest in the hands of the poker gods :)

OMG HM FTW!!

HOLDEM MANGER RULES - THIS IS THE REPLAYER

Seiroulsy buy it and I promise you will not be disappointed. Have been using for one day and the features are just so unbelievable good compared to anything I have used before. Things I can now do include:

Hover over stats to get even more comprehesive stats. This gives nice uncluttered screen.
Click on HUD stats to see every stat you can imagine about that player.
Double click to switch to stats for that session only.
Flag hands just played for review after the session.
Make notes in HUD.
See EV stats for each hand/session

In addition to that the replayer is just superb. It overlays the HUD on the replayer exactly as if you were playing in real time and you can make notes etc in replayer for future HUD reference.

I'm sure I have only scratched the surface but I have been in a great mood today despite my crappy run at the tables continuing.

PT3 can keep my money. I will win it back from all those loyalists on the forums insiting PT3 is great. I'm off to look up their squeeze play percentages.

Poker Tracker - It's all over!

My relationship with Poker Tracker is coming to a close.

I have been constantly changing my mind on the whole PT3 vs HM issue and have stayed loyal to Poker Tracker predominately for the following reasons:

1. PT2 was a great product.
2. PT2 support was fantastic.
3. PT3 beta was buggy, but this is expected of any beta and the commercial release promised to have everything I was looking for
4. PT3 had a ‘secret’ feature to be unveiled with the commercial release that would blow away all competition
5. HM looked good but had a limited trial of 2,500 hands
6. HM would take more getting used to (in other words PT is the easy option)
7. HM support was a little lacking

In view of the above I pre-ordered the PT3 commercial release. Unfortunately this has proven to be a mistake and I have just read on the forums that they have decided not to give any more refunds.

It has come to light since I pre-ordered that:

1. PT3 has been released far too soon.
2. The commercial release is less stable than the unstable beta.
3. People responsible for PT3 are not the same guys as PT2. I think pat sold out.
4. The new people are offhand and unprofessional (some are borderline rude) on the forums when customers dare to complain about the lack of functionality.
5. They have a support ticket system which is overloaded and they have decided best policy is to ignore all tickets. Their attitude now is along the lines of ‘you people should realise we have more important things to do than reply to the support tickets.’
6.The PT3 ‘secret’ feature happens to be a fish finder/tables selection tool that will require a monthly subscription and is actually an add on from a ‘business partner’. There are other similar products available for a one off payment.

It is acknowledged by the new PT3 people that HM is a currently a far superior product.

PT3 are relying on the loyalty and patience of their existing customers whilst they catch up, and are supremely confident (some would say arrogant) that PT3 will blow away the competition when it is fully functional.

This is all well and good if PT3 was close to being fully functional but it isn’t. Another thing they haven’t grasped is that HM is also adding new features and not standing still waiting for PT3 to catch up. I am starting to doubt it ever will.

So today I have taken the plunge and paid for HM. Am currently waiting for my validation code and looking forward to getting all my hands imported. I’m sure there will be some teething problems but I’m ready to take them on. (Note to my IT Consultant aka Aaron – you are on call this weekend!)I have effectively written off the amount I paid for PT3 (did I mention they won’t give any more refunds because too many people want one?) but maybe one day I will be enticed back by the fully functional version.

It will probably be PT4 by then though and I will be expected to pay again!

Brutal Session

This is split into 2 short sharp sessions.

I cut the first session short when I ran a bluff into quad 5's and my AA into KK at the same time (the K hit).

I took a break and came back determined to put the 1st session behind but soon found myself being owned by 60/15/3 types with half buy in stacks.

I have been back through the hands and I can honestly say I have played OK.

The challenge now is to bounce back tomorrow and I am going to record the next session for my coach to review.

June Targets

Premier League

1. Review every hand of each session played where I VPIP and see flop.
(NB. On hold pending new PT3 replayer. I need opponents stats overlayed on replayer in order to review the hands objectively.)
2. No looking at stats during session. This is a tilt indicator and must stop session immediately
3. Give study full 100% concentration. It is not an inconvenience!
4. Maintain Session Checklist

Championship

1. More work on understanding of Leverage.
2. Develop monthly review filters/reports for PT3
3. Think about my coaching requirements (ie how to get most from being coached)
4. Develop workflows for balanced strategy in 3 bet pots
5. Use button more
6. Adjust opening hands more depending on opponents still to act.
7. Check Raise sometimes!

Lower League

1. Revise FLAG starting hands
2. Website
3. Learn Omaha
4. Learn Full Ring
5. Learn HU