It is becomming more and more apparent to me that most people stuck at microstakes think they have a good understading of 'ABC' poker but when they are sitting at the tables they struggle to beat bad players.
This is usually due to one of two reasons:
1. They go on tilt easily and don't fry fish as they know they should.
2. They don't have the solid 'ABC' game that they think they do.
My advice to everyone is to make sure you understand how to fry fish.
They taste better when cooked to perfection and don't make you ill.
Friday, 17 September 2010
Sunday, 12 September 2010
Time does not equal effort
A lot of people seem to think putting a lot of time into their poker automatically means they are putting in sufficient effort. I have news for all those people. It doesn't!!
The time you put into your poker needs to be focused on improving and this is what pretty much everyone struggles with to some degree. People listen to the 'playing to learn' philosopy but do not truly understand what is required to be successful.
I hope that this post sticks in the mind of everyone reading, especially those to which it is aimed at, you know who you are :)
It is all well and good putting the time in. You play plenty of hands and learn from experience.
You do a session review and realise you played badly yesterday. Sometimes you review some hands and realise you didn't play as badly as you thought you did. The whole point of reviewing hands is to improve your thought process in order to make better decisions next time that spot comes around again. If that spot comes around again are you going to remember what you have learned from your session reviews? Maybe you will if that spot comes up again tomorrow but what if it doesn't come up for another 2k, 4k or even 10k hands? Are you going to remember anything from the session review you did 3 weeks ago? Have you studied this 'not sure what to do' spot sufficiently enough to ensure that you will know what to do next time, and have therefore eliminated the possibility that you will make the same mistake again?
Do you suffer from tilt at all? If so have you ever thought it may be a good idea to try and identify what makes you tilt and try to elimate tilt from your game? Tilting is unacceptable and should be taken seriously, not just shrugged off as something you do from time to time. If you need to study tilt then that's what you should be doing.
Do you find yourself reviewing hands but are just going through the motions (ie not putting the effort into your reviews)?
If you think you review your hands well answer some more questions. How many times have you written down your opponents range and analysed exactly how it connects with the board? How many combinations of each hand in their range do they have? How do you expect them to play each of those combinations if you bet?
How many times have you written down every option available to you for a particular street and calculated the EV of each decision? Uhm never? Thought so............
I don't doubt that lot's of people spend lots of time playing and thinking about poker when they are not playing. Putiing that time in does not mean you are going to win, nor does it mean you deserve to.
Time does not equal effort.
The time you put into your poker needs to be focused on improving and this is what pretty much everyone struggles with to some degree. People listen to the 'playing to learn' philosopy but do not truly understand what is required to be successful.
I hope that this post sticks in the mind of everyone reading, especially those to which it is aimed at, you know who you are :)
It is all well and good putting the time in. You play plenty of hands and learn from experience.
You do a session review and realise you played badly yesterday. Sometimes you review some hands and realise you didn't play as badly as you thought you did. The whole point of reviewing hands is to improve your thought process in order to make better decisions next time that spot comes around again. If that spot comes around again are you going to remember what you have learned from your session reviews? Maybe you will if that spot comes up again tomorrow but what if it doesn't come up for another 2k, 4k or even 10k hands? Are you going to remember anything from the session review you did 3 weeks ago? Have you studied this 'not sure what to do' spot sufficiently enough to ensure that you will know what to do next time, and have therefore eliminated the possibility that you will make the same mistake again?
Do you suffer from tilt at all? If so have you ever thought it may be a good idea to try and identify what makes you tilt and try to elimate tilt from your game? Tilting is unacceptable and should be taken seriously, not just shrugged off as something you do from time to time. If you need to study tilt then that's what you should be doing.
Do you find yourself reviewing hands but are just going through the motions (ie not putting the effort into your reviews)?
If you think you review your hands well answer some more questions. How many times have you written down your opponents range and analysed exactly how it connects with the board? How many combinations of each hand in their range do they have? How do you expect them to play each of those combinations if you bet?
How many times have you written down every option available to you for a particular street and calculated the EV of each decision? Uhm never? Thought so............
I don't doubt that lot's of people spend lots of time playing and thinking about poker when they are not playing. Putiing that time in does not mean you are going to win, nor does it mean you deserve to.
Time does not equal effort.
Friday, 10 September 2010
Focused Grinding
Been working very hard at my game and coaching loads lately.
Is nice when the hard work gets recognised :)
Is nice when the hard work gets recognised :)
Monday, 30 August 2010
Don't bluff fish imo.
Poker Stars $1/$2 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players - View hand 896277
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter
UTG: $40.00
MP: $868.55
Hero (CO): $123.25
BTN: $219.00
SB: $101.00
BB: $100.00
Pre Flop: ($3.00) Hero is CO with Q
J
1 fold, MP raises to $4, Hero raises to $14, 3 folds, MP calls $10
Flop: ($31.00) 3
2
6 (2 players)
MP checks, Hero bets $10, MP raises to $40, Hero raises to $109.25 all in, MP folds
Final Pot: $111.00
Hero mucks Q J
Hero wins $108.00
(Rake: $3.00)
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter
UTG: $40.00
MP: $868.55
Hero (CO): $123.25
BTN: $219.00
SB: $101.00
BB: $100.00
Pre Flop: ($3.00) Hero is CO with Q
J1 fold, MP raises to $4, Hero raises to $14, 3 folds, MP calls $10
Flop: ($31.00) 3
2 6 (2 players)MP checks, Hero bets $10, MP raises to $40, Hero raises to $109.25 all in, MP folds
Final Pot: $111.00
Hero mucks Q
JHero wins $108.00
(Rake: $3.00)
Friday, 27 August 2010
Back Grinding :)
Holiday season is over, wife and baby are away all weekend and I finally find some time to get some hands in!
Played 11 hours in total today and feeling good despite a small loss;
Was looking like a bad day for a while :)
Friday, 20 August 2010
Rusty but refreshed
Not too much happening and haven't played hardly at all this month due to vists from family and friends.
Am also having some computer problems and really hope the new bits I have ordered turn up soon and are a good short term fix. I don't think it will be long before I need a new setup though which sucks.
PC permitting I will be back grinding tomorrow and am excited to start implementing some of the stuff I discussed with Corwin last week. Will start off with some 100nl to blow the cobwebs away and take it from there.
Am also having some computer problems and really hope the new bits I have ordered turn up soon and are a good short term fix. I don't think it will be long before I need a new setup though which sucks.
PC permitting I will be back grinding tomorrow and am excited to start implementing some of the stuff I discussed with Corwin last week. Will start off with some 100nl to blow the cobwebs away and take it from there.
Wednesday, 11 August 2010
Corwin Cole & Clicking the Right Button
Inspired by my group coaching / profit share experiment, and coupled with the fact that I feel my own game has gone a bit stale lately, I decided to contact Corwin Cole - [vital]Myth on CR - to register my interest in his profit share program.
After some inital discussions by PM, Corwin kindly offered to give me a free lesson to see where I am at, with no obligation to sign up to any of his coaching services. I am extremely grateful for this and was blown away by his coaching style, professionalism and amazing ability to listen to problems and offer innovative solutions instantaneously.
In just over an hour we managed to identify a number of issues in my thought process, discuss the reasons behind these failings, look at ways to make better decisions during game time and set up a daily study/development routine focused on learning (as opposed to putting the time and effort in which has never been a problem for me).
I am not going reveal all his tricks and tips publicy, nor my leaks, but I will give you an example:
Corwin advocates a 4 step thought process:
1. Make a read
2. Consider All Options
3. Calculate EV
4. Click the Right Button
Everyone can improve in all four areas, me included, but I have seen this 4 step process in his videos and am always thinking logically when at the tables.
A problem for me, however, is when my logical thought process is telling me one thing and my insticts (or gut feelings) are telling me another. This presents me with an inner conflict and the logical side usually wins as I can provide reasoning for my decisions rather than 'just knowing' which always sounds vauge and stupid. Or so I thought!
Having explained this to Corwin I was blown away by the discussion that followed. This is getting a bit tl;dr already so I will leave out the nitty gritty details but in short I have been making a big mistake trying to shut out my insticts, which have been developed through almost 1 million hands and hundreds of hours coaching and analysing hands, and I now fully understand how my brain is functioning and why this conflict occurs.
So I have a leak that lies somewhere between steps 3 and 4 and need to start recognising the value of my insticts. I don't think that gives away too much :)
Unfortunatley we didn't have time to iron out the details of future coaching and/or profit share but I sincerely hope we can work something out. I have an opportunity here to take my game to a whole new level and really have to take it!
After some inital discussions by PM, Corwin kindly offered to give me a free lesson to see where I am at, with no obligation to sign up to any of his coaching services. I am extremely grateful for this and was blown away by his coaching style, professionalism and amazing ability to listen to problems and offer innovative solutions instantaneously.
In just over an hour we managed to identify a number of issues in my thought process, discuss the reasons behind these failings, look at ways to make better decisions during game time and set up a daily study/development routine focused on learning (as opposed to putting the time and effort in which has never been a problem for me).
I am not going reveal all his tricks and tips publicy, nor my leaks, but I will give you an example:
Corwin advocates a 4 step thought process:
1. Make a read
2. Consider All Options
3. Calculate EV
4. Click the Right Button
Everyone can improve in all four areas, me included, but I have seen this 4 step process in his videos and am always thinking logically when at the tables.
A problem for me, however, is when my logical thought process is telling me one thing and my insticts (or gut feelings) are telling me another. This presents me with an inner conflict and the logical side usually wins as I can provide reasoning for my decisions rather than 'just knowing' which always sounds vauge and stupid. Or so I thought!
Having explained this to Corwin I was blown away by the discussion that followed. This is getting a bit tl;dr already so I will leave out the nitty gritty details but in short I have been making a big mistake trying to shut out my insticts, which have been developed through almost 1 million hands and hundreds of hours coaching and analysing hands, and I now fully understand how my brain is functioning and why this conflict occurs.
So I have a leak that lies somewhere between steps 3 and 4 and need to start recognising the value of my insticts. I don't think that gives away too much :)
Unfortunatley we didn't have time to iron out the details of future coaching and/or profit share but I sincerely hope we can work something out. I have an opportunity here to take my game to a whole new level and really have to take it!
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