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Eliminating 'C' Game

Honestly I am starting to realise how often I have played my C game this year and I feel ashamed (this is a good thing now it has been recognised and acknowledged as a major flaw in my play). No wonder I have had such disappointing results.

The Jared Tendler vids on CR are awesome and I am very happy with my latest way of scoring sessions. Since my last posts my sessions scores have been A,B+,A+,A,A,A,B.

Not a bit of C game in sight and I feel like a new player.

My target for the last 3 months is to eliminate C game from my play completely which will then give me a true reflection of my A game over a decent sample.

If my target is met and results suck for the 3 month period then obvioulsy it is my A and B games that are the problem. They could suck too but until C game is gone there is no way of knowing!

'A game'

How often do you play your A game?

How often do you make the best decision you can for each street of every hand for an entire session?

The answer to the above questions should be the same and I have been thinking about this a lot of the past week or so. I don't play my A game anywhere near as much as I need to and this is reflected in my results.

I watched a Jared Tendler video on cardrunners and this has inspired me to list certain variables/distractions and I am usuing this post to try and categorise what I have listed so far. (Note that looking at session results during play is a previously confirmed tilt indicator for me personally.)

E Game Indicators
Look at session results and continue session

D Game Indicators
Look at session results and stop session
Playing more than 4 tables

C Game Indicators
High emotive response to losing pots
Taking things personally and looking for revenge
Making snap decisions on any street
Surfing Internet
Checking E-mail
Folding Frustration
Boredom

B Game Indicators
Autopliting and/or over reliance on HUD

A Game Indicators
Embracing quiet periods
Range Awareness and REM
Image/Gameflow Awareness
Table Selection
Marking hands for review

A+ Game Indicators
Session/hand reviews
Concept studies
Study of regular opponents

This is my first go at this and am hoping to evolve list and categories over time.

Any comments/suggestions welcome :)

Security & Customer Satisfaction

A while ago I purchased the RSA security token from the Pokerstars VIP store, which is a solid decision given what I read on Misanthropic's blog today, and at the weekend I received an e-mail from stars informing me they had reduced the price of the token significantly.

We can only do so much in terms of protecting our money online and then have to put our trust in our chosen sites security to protect our money on our behalf. I trust stars to do this and have confidence they would be there to step in and help should anything bad happen. Fwiw I don't have that confidence in any other site.

Not only are stars making the security token cheaper, I was pleasantly surprised to hear that they were also going to refund to my account the difference between the price I had paid and the new lower amount. How good is this for customer relations?

Pokerstars have yet again proven to me they are a gazillion miles in front of any other poker site available.

August Results

August is done:


I ran pretty bad overall in both EV and hidden EV situations so am pretty pleased with how things have gone this month.

In particular I am happy that I have found a way of scoring my progress and August scores are:

Mark Hands Durings sessions - 100%
No Looking at Results - 43%
4 Tables Max - 73%
Review Marked Hands - 78%
Session Summary - 73%

I have been a bit harsh on myself in these results. For example a session were I play for 2 hours and 6 table for only ten minutes counts as a failure for the session. Likewise looking at stats 15mins before the end of a session also fails.

Marking hands is now natural to me, which is great progress, and I am going to combine marking hands and reviewing hands into 1 category for September.

September Targets:
Improve looking at results percentage
Work on 3,4 & 5 betting ranges
Maintain Good Poker Mindset

Gl to everyone in September.

Targets Update

Am up a bit but running very bad this month.

Am pleased with how I am coping with the variance though and here is an update on my targets for August:

Mark Hands Durings sessions - 21/21 100%
No Looking at Results - 8/21 38%
4 Tables Max - 15/21 71%
Review Marked Hands - 15/21 71%
Session Summary - 17/21 81%

Room for improvement and but am starting to build some very useful notes during my marked hand reviews.

Not looking at stats is toughest one but I would guess that 38% would be my personal best if results had been recorded prior to this month.

Ratholers

Used to hate them, starting to love them :)