Poker suckout of the year
Date: Sun, Aug 3, 2008 Internet
It had been a long 11 day break from poker and I was in the mood for some cards. I wanted to see just how long this good streak of poker would last. Today was going to be a real test as I dug myself into a huge hole in the early going on PokerStars. I was the victim of a player who loved to play any suited Ace early on. A nice big open raise and a smooth call from this player resulted in him flopping a nut flush and me a TPTK. Luckily I didn't blow all of my chips and was down to just 400 chips at the 25/50 level. But it was still early and I could pick and choose a time to be aggressive.
I managed to claw my way back up to 1700 chips with 6 players left and found myself an interesting hand. I had an Ace Jack offsuit from middle position and decided to raise it up big with about 1/3rd of my stack. One of the big stacks re-raises me another 1000 chips. If I wanted to play this hand, I would essentially be all-in committed. I knew this guy had been aggressive early on with his stack and felt that he might be trying to steal this hand back. Here is where my sense of reason was a bit out of whack. It was going to be fold or commit everything. If I lost I'd be out in 5th place. I was in 4th place and could still afford to fold this hand, but I couldn't let it go. I pushed and was immediately called. He shows Ace King suited (hearts) and I'm getting dominated. Looks like it's bust out for me.
The flop essentially sealed the deal. He flops a nut Ace high flush. But wait, I had an open ended straight flush draw! I had 2 outs to save my ass. I started calling out for the straight flush at my keyboard. "COME ON - ONE TIME - GIVE ME THAT STRAIGHT FLUSH!"
The turn was not help despite being a Jack. I was down to my last card but wasn't out yet. I yelled hard for the river to hit me - and BINGO! Queen of hearts on the river to give me a Queen high straight flush! Talk about a major suckout! See the PokerTracker replay screenshot above to see how it played out.
In retrospect, I was a fool for pushing and accepting a coin toss at this stage of the game. Sometimes I take too much confidence that I'll hit what I need. Either PokerStars has the Golden Cash Switch turned to on for me, or else the Doom Switch was turned on for that other player. Whatever the reason, I double up and proceed to knock everyone else out later on and take down another 1st place win.
So far in my last 7 Sit-n-Go's, I've got 4 1st, 2 2nd and 1 out of the money. Not bad. The bankroll continues a near vertical climb and I'm up to $767. I'm darn close to having a $600 win streak at the $10 SNG's. Dumb luck? Or lucky streak?
I think having been down to the 400 chip level and coming back to 1700 chips got me a bit too cocky and overly confident - and thus reckless. I shouldn't even be posting about my fortune today if not for a 2-outer on the river saving my ass. Whatever the reason, thank you PokerStars for slowly but surely returning my long lost bankroll to me. And sorry to the player I sucked out on big time. He took it mostly well despite my typing "Suckout for the win!" in the chat window. I'm sure he'll get it back later.
PokerStars 10+1 SNGs are very beatable
Date: Thu, Jul 24, 2008 Internet
Fact: The $10+1 9-person NL Holdem Sit-n-Gos on PokerStars are highly beatable. Since the 1st of the year, I've played sparingly in just over 70 Sit-n-Go matches at that level and have been cleaning up. I play each match slowly but deliberately. Those with ADD need not bother playing these non-turbo matches as the typical game can take between 60 to 75 minutes each to complete. I think one of the main reasons many people don't do well at these slower paced games is because they run out of patience and get themselves into trouble. Players are fairly easy to read at this level. Sure, there are some good players who hang out here and are cleaning up like I am. However, the majority of low level players either play very poor hands or simply too many hands.
My progress chart for this year is posted above. I've turned $175 into $730 in 6 months by playing just a few SNG's a week on average. I've been in the money between 65% and 75% of the time. My biggest losing streak has been 2 games all year. A patient style in 2008 seems to fit the low level tables just fine and it's really starting to pay off.
Some people have asked me why I stick around at this level. Why don't I move up to the $20+2 or $30+3 level? Certainly I'm tempted. But I've got one main reason for staying put: I'm winning consistently. Why mess up a good thing? Why not ride it out for as long as it's good?
I occasionally play up a level or two and while I've had some success, I don't feel comfortable shelling out that much money at a time. I'm still reeling from past nightmares of blowing most of my bankroll last year with loss after loss at the $20 level. Besides, I'm so tied up into my other blogs and real life job lately that I don't really have a lot of time to dedicate to poker. I'm back to just above where I started a while back and I'd like to continue my success for a while before even considering moving up permanently.
The chart above shows my results for the last 8 games. Most of my wins are either from 1st or 2nd place. The couple of times I busted out was on the bubble or losing when I had a huge advantage and got sucked out on. I've even had streaks of 3rd place finishes. Those finishes are very unsatisfying.
What am I doing differently this year?
For one thing, I'm talking my way through each and every hand. I take notes on most of the players right from the start. I take notice of which situations these players are willing to risk their chips in and take a chance. I'm also putting players on hands and am getting darn close to figuring it out on most occasions. I like to predict which moves a player will make and based on my predictions I either choose to make a move or not.
My style is a patient one but I can be super aggressive at other times. By the time it gets down to 5 or 6 players left, I'm usually ahead and have shown my aggressive streak when least expected. I'm not a table bully but I usually end up giving the impression that I can be quite unpredictable and very aggressive if I sense a bluff. It's been forever since I've been able to brag a bit and this year it's finally coming together. It could be just a long lucky streak and it could all end soon. Fair enough. I'm just enjoying it while it lasts.
Tips: Avoid playing during prime time on Fridays and Saturdays. The drunken crazies come out and the games get too unpredictable. Choose a mid-evening on weekdays and that's when the best playing conditions exist. Take good notes and be selective. Take advantage of position and a chip lead. Don't make the mistake of slowplaying too long or else you'll end up get burned. And lastly, don't forget to have fun. Anything worth doing is worth doing well.
I'm getting into Wii Fit
Date: Fri, Jul 18, 2008 Internet
I've decided to stop counting the years after this one. I turned 49 this week and my age is starting to show. At least that's what I've been told by my kid's Nintendo Wii. My wife and kids surprised me with a Wii Fit for my birthday. Now at first I was a bit surprised but then again, all of my recent beer reviews have started to take their toll. So I was more than happy to try out this little gizmo.
After a lengthy series of test and set-up screens, I was ready to go. Even though I'm 49, the Wii Fit software told me that I had the balance and fitness of a 52 year old. Yikes! Despite the Wii Fit registering me in at 10 pounds less than I actually am (must be off from using it on a soft carpet) I felt that I was in better shape than that. Little did I know until I started working out on this thing.
Within 35 minutes and having tried out several of the Aerobic workouts, I was sweating big time. This thing tracks how often you work out and how much you weigh. It will even insult you every once in a while. For example, when my daughter steps on the Wii Fit it tells her "Great!". But when I step on the thing, it emits a concerned "Oh!" sound. Go figure. It even plumped me out to look like a fat guy.
Now I may weigh in at just a pound or two under 200 pounds at 6' tall but I swear I don't look a thing like the waistline that software gave me. I guess you have to get embarrassed a bit first before you figure you need to lose weight.
This thing has tons of different exercises and games to try. I figure if I work out with this for 30-40 minutes every day that I'm sure to take a few pounds off my beer belly. I'll give it a go for a month and see if it helps get me in better shape. Who knows? It might just help keep me more alert for those late night poker games.
Pot committed or full of crap?
Date: Tue, Jul 15, 2008 Internet
Over the course of any Sit-n-Go you may be tempted to make a move. It may be either for the right reason or on a full bluff. You make those moves based on the situation and from what you've observed. During my nightly Sit-n-Go on PokerStars I came across a hand that made me wonder if I had made the right move for the given situation or not. Let me set up the situation.
I had been struggling in this Sit-n-Go. Took a couple of big losses early on and found myself in 5th place out of 7 players left. The blinds had climbed up to 50/100 and I found myself on the Button with an Ace 5 suited. With three folds ahead and the guy just in front of me limping in, I saw this as a good opportunity to see a cheap flop. The blinds both came along for the ride without a raise. OK, great. This was the opportunity I was looking for. What happened next is definitely in question. Take a look at how this hand played out and tell me if I made the right move here.
PokerStars Game #18850878926: Tournament #95906467, $10+$1 Hold'em No Limit - Level IV
(50/100) - 2008/07/15 - 21:44:48 (ET)
Table '95906467 1' 9-max Seat #1 is the button
Seat 1: ChipperDave (1665 in chips)
Seat 2: Player2 (2270 in chips)
Seat 3: Player3 (1870 in chips)
Seat 4: Player4 (2215 in chips)
Seat 6: Player6 (1250 in chips)
Seat 7: Player7 (2280 in chips)
Seat 9: Player9 (1950 in chips)
Player2: posts small blind 50
Player3: posts big blind 100
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to ChipperDave [5d Ad]
Player4: folds
Player6: folds
Player7: folds
Player9: calls 100
ChipperDave: calls 100
Player2: calls 50
Player3: checks
*** FLOP *** [As 9h Qs]
Player2: bets 400
Player3: folds
Player9: folds
ChipperDave: raises 500 to 900
Player2: raises 1270 to 2170 and is all-in
ChipperDave: calls 665 and is all-in
Uncalled bet (605) returned to Player2
*** TURN *** [As 9h Qs] [5h]
*** RIVER *** [As 9h Qs 5h] [Ac]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Player2: shows [9d Qh] (two pair, Aces and Queens)
ChipperDave: shows [5d Ad] (a full house, Aces full of Fives)
ChipperDave collected 3530 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 3530 | Rake 0
Board [As 9h Qs 5h Ac]
Seat 1: ChipperDave (button) showed [5d Ad] and won (3530) with a full house, Aces full of Fives
Seat 2: Player2 (small blind) showed [9d Qh] and lost with two pair, Aces and Queens
Seat 3: Player3 (big blind) folded on the Flop
Seat 4: Player4 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 6: Player6 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 7: Player7 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 9: Player9 folded on the Flop
Player2 said, "dog sh*t"
ChipperDave said, "yup"
Forget for the moment that I ended up winning this hand. Player2 had been limping in during several occasions from the blinds just to see a cheap flop and had been known to raise from the blinds with a decent hand. When he bet out a pot sized bet on this hand I did not put him on an Ace as I felt that he would have punished the limpers pre-flop with a decent Ace. I felt that my Ace was good and I was going to call him out on it. I put in well over half of my remaining stack in on a re-raise. This essentially pot committed me.
Once he pushed I knew I had possibly figured him wrong, yet my gut told me he didn't have an Ace. Yup, I was right but failed to read him for two pair. He could have had trips for all I knew, but the decision was done. Was I incorrect for trying a re-raise in this case? Was I at fault for calling his push after I already put in 1000 chips? Obviously Player2 thought so.
I was already in the mind set of needing to make a move. This was the hand. I guessed wrong but ended up getting the card I needed on the very next card. It was insult to injury for Player 2 that I hit yet another of my 5 outs on the river. Dog crap? Perhaps. Either way, I went on to win the entire SNG. The other 5 guys were not easy either. My upward streak continues.
Trending upwards - still seeing wild hands
Date: Tue, Jul 15, 2008 Internet
The amount of time I'm spending on online poker seems to have picked up a bit this last week. I'm playing roughly 1 to 2 Sit-n-Go's per night. While I'm still winning and the results keep heading upwards, I'm finding that play is getting harder and harder. What makes things more interesting are the number of wild hands that I'm seeing.
The other day I reported that I saw four sets of quads all in the same Sit-n-Go. Yesterday I saw another interesting Quad, but this time it fell completely on the board itself. Take a look at the screenshot above. After this hand, one player was quoted as saying "Everyone who folded on this hand folded quads".
And it's not just quads that are happening more often these days, but seemingly impossible draws are being hit right and left that are knocking people out. Luckily, I've been able to avoid being hit by these wild hands but I did get knocked out in 2nd place yesterday when I flopped two pair and pushed and a guy called and beat me with a runner runner flush. The bad beat switch is in the on position this week.
While reviewing my results on Sharkscope.com the other day, I noticed that my results showed that I had apparently played in a $16 Turbo Sit-n-Go. Now I don't remember ever playing in Turbos as I avoid them like the plague. I must have inadvertently signed up for one while believing I had clicked on a $10+1 SNG. Sure enough, I checked my hand history and I did play in a Turbo. I had to change the game selection filter on PokerStars to just show the types of SNG's I was really interested in. That should keep me from hitting the wrong type of game again. Just goes to show ya, you gotta be careful when signing up for a game.
Patience seems to be paying off. Most of my SNG finished have been either in 1st or 2nd place. My loses usually just come in streaks of 1 or 2 games but then I've somehow comeback and gotten a 1st place after that and end up slightly ahead. My bankroll is up to just under $650. Considering that I've more than tripled my starting point since January, I couldn't be happier.
I've considered going up to the $20+2 SNG level as my bankroll is more than enough to handle that, but I'm hesitant to do so. The last thing I need is to encourage myself to play even more and at higher stakes. That usually spells trouble for me. So, I may temp myself every once in a while. When the win streak is doing good and I'm playing well, I may just pop up to the higher games. After all, I can attest a $100 spike in my bankroll from jumping up to a $30+3 SNG and getting 1st place. That was a nice boost that got me going and I haven't looked back since.
Sometimes deliberately playing weak for a time helps set a trap for later on. I often find myself folding pre-flop over and over again. Playing in non-turbo games gives you the luxury of waiting for better opportunities. Blind rounds usually last 10 minutes or so and the first few rounds are spent experimenting and waiting for opportunities.
Playing from position usually pays dividends, particularly when you study your opponents tendencies. Hopefully, the table you get doesn't have a very aggressive player sitting directly to your left or 2 to your left. I'd rather keep those guys on my right where I have position over them a good percentage of the time. It pays to take notes right from the start. See how loose or aggressive players are and how their play changes during the course of the SNG. Many good players play weak early on and then turn up the pressure later in the game.
Other players are just too damn aggressive for their own good. They become too predictable and are subject to traps. This is where I love to play weak and let them end up burying themselves. Players who are too quick to push out a raise or an all-in shove too often usually don't last long on my table. Watch and learn. Their betting patterns become predictable.
Speaking of predictable, try playing this little game when you're not involved in a hand. Watch the other players and try to predict their moves. Certain situations call for specific actions. The good players will know this and use those actions most of the time. It's when you see a player make an unusual move or fail to act as you would have causes you to want to try and figure out why they did what they did. If you're lucky, you'll get to see their cards at the end of the hand. Never pass up a chance to get a peak at what they were holding. Review hand history often after a showdown. I keep the hand history window up most of the time so I can do a quick review. This helps you understand what a players tendencies are.
PokerStars deals big hands frequently
Date: Fri, Jul 11, 2008 Internet
There are days when you think you've seen it all on the poker table and then stuff like this happens. During one of my usual $10+1 Sit-n-Gos on PokerStars the other night I was show the perfect flop. It should be absolutely rare to to flop quads in this game. Click the picture to get a peek at what I was blessed with. Both of my opponents called my 4x opening raise. Normally when a pair hits the board and the person in position bets out you have to wonder if he is bluffing or not. I felt it was my job to bet out on the flop after open raising the pot pre-flop. I gave each of these guys a 6 to 1 pot odds to call, good enough for a flush draw to consider calling here. To my surprise and delight, the guy in the small blind puts in a 340 chip raise on me. Oh wow, I'm loving it. I hesitated for a moment then pushed in all of my chips in thinking that this guy has a 10 and can't get away from this hand. Unfortunately for me, this guy was on a huge bluff and folded. He told me he held junk and I had caught him bluffing. I should have just called him and hoped he had hit something on the turn.
That wasn't the end of this type of hand however. It turns out just an orbit or so later, the very same guy from the small blind ends up hitting quad Queens against me when I hit my flush. OK so two quads in one SNG isn't too exciting, but that wasn't the end. I end up hitting quad Kings about 2 orbits later with KJs against a guy who had me beat pre-flop with Ace Queen. I hit trips on the flop and quads on the turn. Thinks that's the end of it? Nope, the hand that busted me out came about 2 orbits after that. A guy hit quad 10s on me to beat out my pair of Aces. That's 4 sets of quads in one SNG - FOUR TIMES WITH QUADS IN LESS THAN 1 HOUR.
Think online poker is rigged for big hands? What are the odds of that happening in one hour on the same table? Somebody got a calculator? While I didn't make the money on that SNG I did end up continuing my upward streak. My bankroll is now over $620 since it's low point of $175. My Sharkscope chart is still heading up and to the right. It's had a few more road bumps lately but I'm managing to break new highs still on the chart. This year has been very good for me so far. I'm hoping to just keep going on this approach and not push my luck. $10 SNGs have been very profitable this year. I play about 3 to 5 SNG's a week and stop after two games. At this pace, I should have my WSOP Main Event buy-in by tourney time in 2010.
I owe all this good luck to my beer. It gives me confidence. It keeps me thinking straight and helps me stay aggressive. Perhaps I should bottle it up and market it.
An Overlooked Anniversary
Date: Mon, Jul 7, 2008 Internet
No not a wedding anniversary (luckily), I completely overlooked the fact that this little poker blog celebrated it's 3rd year anniversary last month. Doesn't seem that long ago that I started writing about my poker and life adventures. While I may not be blogging about poker as much as I do about beer these days, blogging is still a big part of my life right now. My two beer blogs take up most of my spare personal time, but I'm still playing a bit of poker over on PokerStars still and holding my own. This year has been very good poker wise despite it being just a passing thought. By not playing all of the time, I find that I'm much looser and relaxed when I'm at the tables. That goes a long way towards lasting longer and getting into the money in Sit-n-Gos these days. Money is tight everywhere and there are still a lot of impatient players out there wanting to make a quick buck. So I slow things down a bit, avoid the Turbo fast games and focus on the slow hour long SNGs. It's fun that way. I've learned not to get impatient. It has helped a lot. Perhaps it's the beer that's relaxing me more. One can only hope.
Occasional Poker Seems to be Working
Date: Mon, Jun 16, 2008 Internet
I'm glad that I'm only playing online poker sparingly these days, otherwise I might just be tempted to play it a lot more. Go figure, I stopped playing poker and blogging regularly about it back last fall. I kept just less than $200 in my PokerStars account just in case I ever wanted to come back and play for fun. Well, after 6 months of just occasional play, I've tripled my bankroll just by playing 1 Sit-n-Go a night (if that). Check out my graph. The graph shows all but one other $34 win, so I'm actually up a bit more than it shows here. My bankroll has swelled to $588 just by playing $10 SNGs (non-turbo kind). I may as well quit and go buy myself some nice homebrewing equipment. I could use a really good brew pot.
I ran across this hand yesterday. I wasn't even planning on playing this hand but it was cheap to see a flop. The flop hit me with middle pair and not much else. Since I was against a couple other opponents I checked and was shocked to see everyone else check too. The turn gave me an open ended straight flush draw and I was suddenly feeling bold. I bet out and got just 1 simple call. OK so he's on a draw still. Look at the river card and view the results. Couldn't have worked out better.
PokerStars Game #18165769260: Tournament #92226380, $10+$1 Hold'em No Limit - Level II (15/30) - 2008/06/15 - 22:04:14 (ET)
Table '92226380 1' 9-max Seat #4 is the button
Seat 2: Player2 (1355 in chips)
Seat 3: Player3 (1275 in chips)
Seat 4: Player4 (4615 in chips)
Seat 5: Player5 (1390 in chips)
Seat 7: ChipperDave (3185 in chips)
Seat 9: Player9 (1680 in chips)
Player5: posts small blind 15
ChipperDave: posts big blind 30
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to ChipperDave [6c 7c]
Player9: raises 60 to 90
Player2: folds
Player3: calls 90
Player4: folds
Player5: folds
ChipperDave: calls 60
*** FLOP *** [9c 6h 5h]
ChipperDave: checks
Player9: checks
Player3: checks
*** TURN *** [9c 6h 5h] [8c]
ChipperDave: bets 120
Player9: calls 120
Player3: folds
*** RIVER *** [9c 6h 5h 8c] [5c]
ChipperDave: bets 150
Player9: raises 600 to 750
ChipperDave: raises 2225 to 2975 and is all-in
Player9: calls 720 and is all-in
Uncalled bet (1505) returned to ChipperDave
*** SHOW DOWN ***
ChipperDave: shows [6c 7c] (a straight flush, Five to Nine)
Player9: shows [Ac Jc] (a flush, Ace high)
ChipperDave collected 3465 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 3465 | Rake 0
Board [9c 6h 5h 8c 5c]
Seat 2: Player2 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 3: Player3 folded on the Turn
Seat 4: Player4 (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 5: Player5 (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 7: ChipperDave (big blind) showed [6c 7c] and won (3465) with a straight flush, Five to Nine
Seat 9: Player9 showed [Ac Jc] and lost with a flush, Ace high
STRAIGHT FLUSH BABY!!! BOOOYA! Gotta love it. I'm so tempted to keep playing. But no. I'm not gonna bite again. Nope. Uh uh. Not gonna happen...
Play Online Poker Like An Emperor
Date: Thu, Jun 12, 2008 Internet
Here's another entry for the technogeek in all of us. Check out this new workstation setup from NovelQuest. It's their upcoming Emperor workstation. It looks like a combination of a scorpion, a prop from the Alien movie and the Death Star throne from Star Wars. Just think how you'd look wrapped inside one of these while playing 20 tables at Full Tilt or PokerStars! Would work well for the upcoming StarCraft II also. This picture was shamelessly captured from Gizmodo. This bad boy is due out in July 2008. Save your pennies.
False Alarm on Full Tilt
Date: Thu, Jun 5, 2008 Internet
After doing a lot of follow up, I found out the imposter was NOT on my Full Tilt account but rather created a similar name out on AIM. Still, it was a gentle reminder that I should change my passwords on my online accounts regularly. While I'm glad none of my accounts were hacked, it still is upsetting that someone could pick a name identical to one of mine and be accused of trying to scam people. That's just not my style. I just hope this whole thing blows over and that person doesn't fool someone else.
Full Tilt Account Hacked
Date: Wed, Jun 4, 2008 Internet
It pays to read your blog stat logs. I noticed a spike in readership today and it was all coming from a particular poker forum, one that I have never heard of before. I went to that site to look at who was referring to my site and found a thread where someone had posted a conversation that they had with a suspicious character on Full Tilt. Turns out it was MY ACCOUNT! Apparently, someone has hacked into my long dormant Full Tilt account and is using it to try to scam people out of money. They chit chat it up and ask strangers if they can help transfer money to other poker accounts and tell them they will pay them back later.
This scares the crap out of me if someone has tapped into my account. Luckily for me, I don't have any money out on Full Tilt anymore, but what does scare me is that this person is acting as me and people somehow linked it back to my blog. I am going to immediately notify Full Tilt to shut down and close out that account for good. I haven't even logged into Full Tilt in ages. Makes me wonder if I somehow had a keylogger on my PC from many months ago or if accounts on Full Tilt have been compromised. Be warned!
2008 A Good Year For Poker
Date: Tue, May 13, 2008 Internet
I didn't have much luck playing online poker for the first few years. I played a variety of games and at a variety of buy-in points. I'd struggle for a while, come back and then go on a bad streak. Rinse, repeat. But something has changed this year. I'm consistently winning. Why, all of a sudden, I seem to have found a groove? I haven't a clue. Have I been studying more? No. Have I been looking for easier tables? Not exactly. So what has been the reason for a tripling of my bankroll this year? I'll try to put some pieces together.
As many of my former blog readers may know. I nearly stopped playing online poker altogether last fall after going on a hellacious down streak. As you can see by the graph, the years prior to 2008 had been simply aweful for Sit-n-Gos for me on PokerStars. To make up for that, I had been playing limit holdem on the side (not included in graph results). But this year, I returned to the SNG tables on PokerStars and things have been looking up.
I made the decision early on that I'm not going to play a lot, but rather sparingly. I'm playing almost exclusively at the $10+1 single table (non-turbo) SNG NLHE tables. I'm staying away from the Turbos. Why? You don't have much time to be patient. Turbos force you to be much more aggressive and take higher chances. There is a lot more pushing involved in Turbos than in the regular SNGs. The tables I'm on now allow you to play an orbit or two per round. You can afford to fold hand after hand and wait for a good opportunity. Note that I didn't say "wait for good cards", I said "wait for a good opportunity". There's a big difference. Opportunities come in many varieties: good position and no raisers ahead, sensing weak play and throwing in the occasional re-raise, and of course playing a hunch and hitting the flop big time.
I don't just wait for big cards anymore to be aggressive. I don't rush my moves like I use to. I think about each hand as it gets to me. I don't just hit the fold button at the start of a hand. I also pay a lot more attention to how the other players are betting and reacting to the hands they play. To minimize distractions, I play just one game at a time. I try to talk through every hand as it unfolds and try to guess the players next move. It can be fun to predict not only a raise from a player but just how much of a raise they actually make. If a player makes a move that I totally didn't expect, I spend some time trying to place them on a hand or understand their motivation for making such a move.
My bankroll, such as it was at the end of 2007, was meager at best. I hadn't deposited any new funds since the UIGEA went into affect over a year ago. I let it dwindle down to almost nothing, $170 to be exact. But since the new year began, and having been away from poker for months, I had a new attitude. I had forgotten the frustration of my past play. I simply started believing that patience and timing were all I needed (that and a bit of luck). So far this year, I've grown that $170 into $510 playing nothing but $10+1 SNGs (with the occasional $20+2 thrown in). I'm comfortable at the level I'm playing at. I don't feel the need to go to higher and higher levels. Heck, why bust a good thing when you see it?
I play about once or twice a week and typically just one SNG during that night. I've been in the money about 75% of the time so far. And in my last 8 games, I'm 7 out of 8 in the money. I swear, patience has been the big key here. I'm perfectly content playing for 45 minutes and one buy in. Losing has a way of keeping me playing, but when I'm winning, I'm content to take that win and call it good. Then it's time to sit back and enjoy a nice craft beer.
I feel the doom switch sits there for players who are impatient and play all too often. Take the time. Slow down your play. You'll start noticing things you might not have before. Players tend to get into patterns. Don't fall into one yourself. Mix up your play. Vary your betting. Test your opponents. Many times position and a continuation bet is all that is needed.
I realize that the streak I'm on can't last for long. I'm bound to start hitting a few bad beats sooner or later. But for now, I can say that I'm enjoying poker in moderation again. I don't intend to start playing a lot, but rather, on occasion when I feel the timing is right for me. I'm even thinking about cashing out and calling it good. There's some things I'd like to buy with that latest return. So who knows. Poker had been my big obsession for 3 years, now it's just a side hobby. I'm into several other interests now and I think that helps. I'll post an update every so often. Let's see just how long this streak will go.
We Are Not Alone?
Date: Thu, May 1, 2008 Internet
I had to pass this along as I saw this in my morning paper. Apparently, there has been a rash of UFO sightings in our area over the last couple of nights and over the course of the last 6 months. Northern Colorado seems to be a hot spot for UFO sightings lately. Here is a link to the article in the Greeley Tribune (where our good poker buddy PokerPeaker works).
UFO Story
I'm going camping this weekend out in the open grasslands just northeast of town. If there's anything in the sky this weekend I'm going to see it. Heh - this should be good for a laugh. Mulder? Scully? That you?
Being Away From Poker Helps Your Game
Date: Mon, Apr 14, 2008 Internet
Surprise! I'm actually posting about poker today after a long, long, long hiatus. I recently had a LOT of time to myself last week when my wife and son were gone for 5 days, so I naturally thought of playing a few Sit-n-Go's over at PokerStars. It had been a while since I had fired up the old site and I was eager to play some cards.
To make an extremely long story short: I kicked ass. Not just for one SNG but over the course of 25 SNG's. I must have been in the money about 75% of the time. I've been on quite an up streak. I stopped playing last fall when I fell into a big dive. Want to know just how bad a dive? Just look at the chart above and see. It got outright bad. But then over the course of the last 25 or so SNG's, I've turned that completely around. It's one of my best winning streaks ever.
What's the difference between my play back then and now? One simple thing. PATIENCE. Play only the long slow full table $10+1 SNG's and NOT the turbos. This gives me a lot of time to wait for a good opportunity or good hand. The few times I've gone out, it's usually been on the bubble and when I've had the best of it pre-flop.
Add to patience the ability to throw away junk and to sense when someone is trying to buy the pot. Timing is everything. I limit myself to only a couple of SNG's in a sitting. So far, I've never lost both games in one sitting. I guess I'm just lucky. But I tell myself it's only a temporary thing. I can live with that. I'm up just over $200 play $10 SNGs in a very short span. Man, where was that streak last fall when I needed it?
I find that my attention span is typically only good for 1 or 2 SNG's and then I start to get too involved in the game. I simply force myself not to continue and save my energy for another time. It's worked well this last couple of weeks. But I'm not coming back to play regularly now. I've still got much too much going on to make this a focus again. I think I've learned my lesson. Moderation. I think the doom switch stays off the longer you stay away from poker. If you start playing too much, it gets turned back on. Take care all. I'll drop in again sometime soon.
Chipper Dave out.
-->