I have played over 200k hands of shorthanded no limit cash games.
The majority of my hands have been at 200NL.
I have lost over $5,000 in non showdown pots.
In other words my red line goes down.
SHOCK……HORROR……OMFG……..CALL THE RED LINE POLICE
Ok seriously this whole red line thing is getting a little bit silly now and I think it’s time everyone started focusing on what is really important – winning at poker.
I strongly believe that many ‘break even’ or ‘slight winners’ own themselves day in day out and don’t improve because they aspire to play a certain style more than they aspire to win money.
Obviously they aspire to both and think they go hand in hand but unfortunately this isn’t always the case.
There seems to be a misconception that a straightforward TAG is not profitable anymore and you need to play ‘small ball’ or ‘LAG’ or ‘red line poker’ (I just made that up but you know what I mean) if you are to be a regular winner.
People watch a coaching video, or read a book, and then hit the tables to try and copy the style. Most choose their spots badly and own themselves because they don’t understand why they are making these plays. They just think they ‘should’ be making these plays and want to be like *insert pro here*.
The biggest problem I see is that these players do not understand a TAG style at all.
They do not understand TAG and they do not want to. They want to be a LAG.
They do not understand that all winners play a style that has TAG foundations.
The biggest winners may have built a wonderful game on top of those foundations but the TAG style is still there.
In fact the very best players are able to effortlessly switch between TAG and LAG at just the right time. Yes a LAG will play TAG sometimes too!
So back to the red line.
I am not saying that a positive red line is bad. It’s usually good.
What I am saying is you should look to improve your overall game and focus on making the best decision on every street of every hand and make your decisions based on the information available.
As your decisions improve your red line may shoot up, it may level out, or it may crash like the stock market.
Who cares?
I guarantee that as your decisions improve your most important line (the green one) will only go one way - UP.
Aspire to maximise your green line.
Thursday 27 November 2008
Tuesday 25 November 2008
Supernova ftw
Played for an hour last night and finally made Supernova on Stars.
Have been saving up my FPP’s for ages and will probably use them to claim cash the cash bonuses which are looking pretty good, especially as the pound is so weak at the moment.
To clear each $1,500 bonus I need to earn FPP’s equivalent to around 20,000 hands and have 3 months to do it.
Time to start playing a bit more!
Have been saving up my FPP’s for ages and will probably use them to claim cash the cash bonuses which are looking pretty good, especially as the pound is so weak at the moment.
To clear each $1,500 bonus I need to earn FPP’s equivalent to around 20,000 hands and have 3 months to do it.
Time to start playing a bit more!
Monday 17 November 2008
A fine plan
For a long time I have been searching for a way to stop myself looking at my results during a session.
I am not going to go into the reasons why but looking at results during a session is –EV.
It just is.
If you disagree you are wrong!
So at the weekend I looked into the possibility of removing winrate from HEM and it is not quite possible to do so. I can remove it from the reports tab, but not the sessions tab, so curiosity is still just a click of a button away.
In view of this I have come up with the following plan:
1) For every session I will have HEM open on the Hands tab. There are no results here but I will still be able to mark hands for later review.
2) Every time I go to look at my stats during a session I will be fined $10. This money will be removed from my bankroll and put into a savings account for my daughter.
3) To ensure that I don’t just leave the results tab open (to avoid frequent fines obv :) my wife will do random checks on me whilst I am playing. If caught I must stop my session immediately and will have to put an additional $100 into the savings account.
4) All fines will be recorded and included in my overall stats summary spreadsheet. Funds will removed from bankroll at the end of each month.
This is a big challenge.
Bring it on!
I am not going to go into the reasons why but looking at results during a session is –EV.
It just is.
If you disagree you are wrong!
So at the weekend I looked into the possibility of removing winrate from HEM and it is not quite possible to do so. I can remove it from the reports tab, but not the sessions tab, so curiosity is still just a click of a button away.
In view of this I have come up with the following plan:
1) For every session I will have HEM open on the Hands tab. There are no results here but I will still be able to mark hands for later review.
2) Every time I go to look at my stats during a session I will be fined $10. This money will be removed from my bankroll and put into a savings account for my daughter.
3) To ensure that I don’t just leave the results tab open (to avoid frequent fines obv :) my wife will do random checks on me whilst I am playing. If caught I must stop my session immediately and will have to put an additional $100 into the savings account.
4) All fines will be recorded and included in my overall stats summary spreadsheet. Funds will removed from bankroll at the end of each month.
This is a big challenge.
Bring it on!
Monday 10 November 2008
No news is good news
The baby, coaching and my ‘real job’ are keeping me so busy that apart from a reverse sweat coaching session I haven’t played any poker for over a week!
I do have a plan that will increase my playing time significantly in 2009 and will hopefully have everything sorted in the next few weeks. Watch this space….
I do have a plan that will increase my playing time significantly in 2009 and will hopefully have everything sorted in the next few weeks. Watch this space….
Sunday 2 November 2008
$1k Club
Been knocking on the door for a while and today they were kind enough to let me in :)
$1/$2 No Limit Holdem
6 players
Converted at weaktight.com
Stacks:
Pre-flop: ($3, 6 players) Hero is CO
2 folds, Hero raises to $6, 1 fold, SB raises to $16, 1 fold, Hero calls $10
Flop:
($34, 2 players)
SB bets $22, Hero raises to $62, SB calls $40
Turn:
($158, 2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $110, SB calls $110
River:
($378, 2 players)
SB checks, Hero goes all-in $366.85, SB goes all-in $334.90
Final Pot: $1047.80
Hero shows:
SB shows:
Hero wins $1076.75 ( won +$521.90 )
SB lost -$522.90
$1/$2 No Limit Holdem
6 players
Converted at weaktight.com
Stacks:
| UTG | ($281.00) | ||
| UTG+1 | ($200.00) | ||
| Hero | ($554.85) | ||
| BTN | ($485.00) | ||
| SB | ($522.90) | ||
| BB | ($200.00) |
Pre-flop: ($3, 6 players) Hero is CO
2 folds, Hero raises to $6, 1 fold, SB raises to $16, 1 fold, Hero calls $10
Flop:
($34, 2 players)SB bets $22, Hero raises to $62, SB calls $40
Turn:
($158, 2 players)SB checks, Hero bets $110, SB calls $110
River:
($378, 2 players)SB checks, Hero goes all-in $366.85, SB goes all-in $334.90
Final Pot: $1047.80
Hero shows:
SB shows:
Hero wins $1076.75 ( won +$521.90 )
SB lost -$522.90
Saturday 1 November 2008
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