Friday 27 March 2009

The Battle Within

"POKER RULE #42: Your biggest opponent, and worst enemy, is always yourself."
- Larry W. Phillips - Zen and the Art of Poker

Sunday 22 March 2009

Zen and the Art of Poker

As you may have guessed my poker mindset has sucked a bit lately. For one reason or another short term varaince has been affecting my play but I have now identified some problem areas of the mental kind and am working on fixing them.

I have also started reading Zen and the Art of Poker and am only 12 pages in so far but it already looks like it will be worth the read.

I like this quote:

"How is patience translated in poker terms? For the most part, the answer can be summed up in a single word: folding."

This is very true and people will probably say that for the most part they are patient because they play well pre flop and fold a lot, however my problem lately has been not showing enough patience in post flop situations.

Monday 16 March 2009

Self Coaching

Yesterday I got some nice feedback from a new student:

"I have been playing winning poker for nearly 40 years, observing good players, and reading books and articles by the dozens. I can honestly say that I learned more in a 2 ½ hour coaching session with Steve, than I did from all that observation and study. With his review of my hand histories, Steve was able to immediately point out the weaknesses in my game, and instruct me on how to improve them. His coaching style is pleasant and he is clearly very knowledgeable of the subject matter."

I clearly talk a good game and am able to improve my students thought process pretty quickly yet I do not practice what I preach as often as I should.

A lot of times lately I have been reviewing my hands and thinking my students would be getting a hard time from me if it were their play we were looking at rather than mine.

My wife has now started to notice it too! 'Why did you do that when I hear you telling your students the opposite every day?' is fast becomming a FAQ in our house and in view of this I have decided to self coach for a while and put myself through my own coaching programme.

Hopefully I will be able to start listening to my own advice :)

Friday 13 March 2009

Monday 9 March 2009

Trust Yourself

I haven't had a great year so far and have been running bad but to be honest I think part of it has been trying to play a style I am not comfortable with.

Over the weekend I decided to play slightly tighter, which is more natural to me personally, and the results really speak for themselves.



This immediate change in fortunes may be coincidence but I logged some wins and played with much more confidence. It's a nice feeling :)

I think it's time to beleive in my game and just play profitable poker.

Friday 6 March 2009

Stox EV

At the tables I have been running bad and probably playing bad a bit too.

Away from the tables I have joined a study group and have been playing around with stoxev (www.stoxev.com) which looks pretty awesome.

Still learning how to use most of the functions but looks perfect for analysing hands and also for coming up with theoretical situations and moves.

Monday 2 March 2009

February Review

Well I made a small profit at the tables in February so an improvement of sorts! Will post pics when I can.

Here is reveiw of February Targets.

Premier League

Weekly Review
Weekly reviews are coming along nicely and I have indentified some leaks. I need to work harder to use what I learn in my reviews when making decisions at the tables.

Stick to Play Schedule
Play schedule is evolving but I managed to hit my target for hours played and/or coached.

Session Checklist
Have been testing this and almost ready to use. It will enbale me to score my sessions with consistency but without focusing on results at all.

Line Analysis
I seem to think about a line for a few days, have some success with it, then forget what situations suit the line best and spew accordingly!

Use Time Bank
I am getting better at this but plenty of room for improvement. Please no more snap calls.


Championship

Fold AK Pre-Flop sometimes!
I folded AK pre flop once :)

Improve Bet Sizing
Am pretty happy with my bet sizing in general at the moment. Many time during sweats sessions with my coach he would tell me how much to bet, yet because of the lag between screen sharing software and skype I had already made the bet within a dollar or two.

Study Ranges
This is ongoing and improving but again need to convert into improvements during game time.

Work on Reasons for Calling
Part of weekly reviews.