Computers are Hard
Date: Wed, Jun 25, 2008 Professional Internet
So last week I was playing some hands against Polaris 2 on my PC and it melted down (they'll do anything to get an edge). Being that I'd kept this particular computer up and running for nearly four years it was probably due, so I decided that I would throw a new rig together before leaving for Vegas. In retrospect I can't help but wonder if I did this out of the sheer force of habit of owning a home PC, when I might have made out just as well with my laptop (which is rather beefy by day-to-day standards) and a few external hard drives for storage space. In any case I purchased a fairly muscle-clad computer for around $800 (oh how much cheaper this stuff has gotten) and hauled the parts home to throw them together.
The first thing I found out that IDE technology has been replaced, so I bought an external drive converter for my old HDD, which better-than-solved that issue. 60 minutes later, voila, new computer. Putting hardware together is easy. Software, however, kicks my ass. The first time around it tells me my partition is corrupt, so I re-re-format and later find out that this is just a quirk the computer has when you try and boot it while it's plugged into an external flash drive (Did I put an external drive on the boot list? No). Next up I install the drivers for my motherboard. On reboot it gives me the option in DOS to either a) make a boot disk for Windows XP or b) make a boot disk for Windows Vista on a floppy disk. Since this is not 1995 and my machine doesn't have a floppy drive I eventually reboot the machine after some consternation as to how to get past the repeating boot-disk screen. This corrupts something or other and I immediately start looping blue screens at startup. So we're on the re-re-reformat (could repair, but I'd rather start fresh) and who knows what after that. The other, as of yet unresolved, issue, is the fact that my video card doesn't seem to feel like talking to one of my two completely standard 21" Dell monitors, quite possibly out of spite.
Drunken Ramblings
Date: Tue, Jun 24, 2008 Professional Internet
Drunken Ramblings
Ok, so I'm not drunk. June is one of those months at my house. Lots of kid things, school things, work things, summer things all piling up and getting me behind and I'm just getting around to my project blog post. I ended up with a bunch of notes in my little notes list, so this post is going to be particularly rambly. Buckle your chin straps. It may be a bumpy ride.
Apologies
First things first. I ended up getting behind on a lot of things including getting hands to Ed to review. Initially Ed had mentioned that we might want to look at some specific sorts of hands with river decisions. I dropped the ball on that. I had been recording some videos with that in mind. Didn't really work out that well. I found that it is a lot harder to talk through my decisions and I captured some real train wrecks. In the course of that debacle I got stuck pretty good. I decided to hang around and try to get unstuck and I ended up at a couple of tables at the end of a session that had gotten pretty deep. I threw on Camtasia and thought there was a chance to get some interesting play. I think it turned out kind of ordinary. Hopefully Ed can Save my bacon and put together a good video out of it. As I understand it, Ed also has a million things going on in his life right now. So, to all the membership, my apologies. Also, to myself, my apologies. In most learning situations, what you get out is dependent on what you put in. I'm not satisfied with my effort this time around.
Coaching
I get questions about the coaching experience every once in a while. Am I enjoying it? Is it everything I'd hoped for? That sort of thing.
Yes I am enjoying it. I like the process. It gives me focus. I have improved my game in some pretty specific ways. I feel that I'm a better player than I was 3 months ago. Part of that is general stox influence. Part of that is some specific things I've implemented based on Ed's comments. I also think about some situations a little differently based on Ed's comments. Particularly around representing hands.
As a specific example, I bet more turns. In the past, I would represent top pair sorts of hands with a bet/check/bet sort of line. Looks like pot control, line adds up, that sort of thing. Made sense. I played a lot of top pair hands that way. One of the problems is that is deleverages the bet. There's a nice bit in the Harrington cash series about getting value on the river by checking the turn and deleveraging the value bet. Ed didn't say it exactly this way, but a turn bet is much more heavily leveraged and as such more effective. I now use a more leveraged bluffing line on average. Particularly in games without many regulars. I think this has been a good change. Same amount of money bet. Bigger threat. Works more on average.
I've been thinking a lot about leverage lately (having just finished Harrington on cash). I've tinkered with some lines and I really like those results as well. Both Ed and Leatherass have talked about flop checks with 1 pair hands. I've had it in the back of my mind for a while, but I had yet to really internalize it. I guess you just have to hear some things a few times.
Is the project everything I hoped for? That's hard to say. I don't think I had any sort of strong expectation. There's a thread in the 2+2 stox forum with a guy questioning whether a private coach or membership would be better for an NL100 player. The general consensus is that a year's membership costs 1 coaching session and it really is a no brainer for a low limit player. Someplace in the thread a fellow states that an hour of coaching might be more valuable. I think this guy has an unrealistic expectation. I don't think coaching works like that. You prepare, listen to critique, implement and practice, repeat. Over time, you get better. That has been my experience. I still have a little work to do on the preparation part. Figuring out how to examine different parts of your game is harder than it seems and, in itself, requires practice. That's probably something to keep in mind for those seeking private coaching.
So, the project has been good to me and I only see it getting better.
One bit of advice on coaching. If you are seeking coaching on game play, I would suggest you get yourself a copy of Camtasia and make some videos for yourself first to get that part down. I ended up purchasing Camtasia recently after using the demo for a while. I wish I had done it earlier. Fantastic tool for game analysis and a great tool for coaching. It does take some experience to use it well to capture specific things.
Creativity and Learning
Speaking of learning. There are two really great talks on learning and education from the TED conferences. I love TED.
http://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/66
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/dave_eggers_makes_his_ted_prize_wish_...
PokerScars
PokerStars is really wearing thin on me. I don't know what it is, but I'm really running like crap there right now. Cold. Art Deco Frigidaire cold. Whatever game, 
whatever limit. Doesn't seem to matter. Grind, grind, grind, cooler. Grind, grind, grind, cooler. Very aggravating. I was playing PLO last night and held steady for a couple fo hours. A little up, a little down. Then in 5 orbits, I got all-in on the turn with a guy-drawing to 6 outs and he gets there and twice I end up all-in with AAxx in reraised pots with nut flush draws and gutshot broadway draws and end up losing the flips to JJ rag rag that caught sets. I am just getting killed in flips. Yes, I'm whining. Nobody really wants to hear me whine, but whine I will dammit. That is all.
I'm also getting killed in flips in hold 'em. Arguably I'm playing the wrong game for the low limits I'm playing there. It's a balance with working on more aggression and hand reading. Still, I really don't play there all that often because of the aggravation and my bankroll building project is going entirely to crap. Hopefully this is just a test of patience and I'll get it turned around.
Galfond
As Cottonseed said, the is an article that every serious poker play should read. Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant.
http://www.bluffmagazine.com/onlinefeature/gbucks.asp
I also ran across this old hand:
http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showthread.php?t=659
Lots of interesting discussion. It also made me chuckle at myself a bit. Reading the hand and his discussion of the opponent, it seemed like an obvious call given his holdings, what the villain could be holding because of this and what the opponent was capable of. At the end, JMan's analysis was that the bet was bad, but once made it was an easy call. It's clearly not funny that I agreed with JMan. Frankly he should be a little concerned at this point. What I found funny is that I make these "the villain is capable of" sorts of calls with villains that just aren't capable. Seems like I need to play me some 300/600 HU.
WSOP
The WSOP is in full effect. Anyone not reading the Tao of Poker should be ashamed of themselves:
http://www.taopoker.blogspot.com/
Pauly is, in my humble opinion, the best poker writer of this generation. He's Al Alvarez and Hunter S. Thompson rolled up in web 2.0. His daily dispatches are so, so good. He keeps threatening to write a book. Hopefully he finds a publisher. Read the day 22 and 23 posts, "WSOP Day 23: The Killing Fields, Benyamine Wins First Bracelet, and the Corridor of Hookers" and "WSOP Day 22: Layne Flack Six Pack and the Luckiest Man". You won't be disappointed.
In terms of video, The Scoop over at CardPlayer is particularly good:
http://www.cardplayer.com/tv/15-the-scoop/32794
Ship Ship McGrip
I always thought aejones was mostly an arrogant jerk. I stumbled across this and really enjoyed it:
http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showthread.php?t=89941
Worth a read, I think.
River Decisions
The next installment of the ActionStan chronicles will focus on river decisions. With any luck. It's something I'm really interested in. No more Sklansky bucks. Just bucks. Hopefully it will turn out well.
Death Knells at Bodog
Finally we're at the end. Speaking of the end, there's been some talk about the death of Bodog. I must say that traffic is noticeably down and the games I generally play are getting tougher. I still feel my edge is good (and still getting better). There are, though, a number of people descending into the 2/3 game that I play from 3/6 and 5/10. I'm not a big fan of those guys coming down. Hopefully when the NFL season gets rolling we'll see an up tick of players. I'm a fan of the sites that limit the tables (fewer serious grinders) and Bodog has been good to me. I'd hate to see traffic to decline much more. So from now on, I'm declaring Thursdays "Bring a Friend to Bodog Day". So bring a friend, just not a stox grinder.
Matt Blogs the WSOP: Two More Events
Date: Tue, Jun 24, 2008 Professional Internet
Over the weekend I played two more short-stack events here at World Series of Poker 2008. The first was Saturday's $1,500 No Limit Hold 'Em event, featuring 2,700 of the finest (and not-so-finest) tournament players this side of the Mississippi. Early in the tournament I raised preflop with AA in the hijack and got two callers. The flop came QT2. I bet, and only the big blind called. The turn brought a jack and the big blind checked. I bet 825 and the big blind moved in for 750 more. I grudgingly called. He showed AQ. The river came king and we chopped.
I chipped up with a couple resteals, but then lost a showdown with A3s to 67s. By some miracle, I then ran T9o through AA to double up. I soon found myself in the final quarter of the field with a real shot to push further. Unfortunately, I reraised all-in with AQs, got called by 88, lost the race, and that was that.
On Sunday I played the $1,500 mixed Hold 'Em event. The first thirty minutes, all Limit Hold 'Em, went fine and I slightly increased my starting stack. Then we switched games. I opened for 75 in the cutoff (25-25) blinds with KQo, and the aggressive small blind (I say aggressive because he had raised the most during the limit round, and he had three-bet me once on the flop, only to end up folding on the river) made it 325 to go. I called. The flop came Q44. He bet 750, I thought about it and called. The turn brought a 7. He almost immediately moved in for 1525. I thought for a while and eventually called. He had AA. I thought after he moved in on the turn that there was probably about a 40-45 percent chance I had the best hand--far too much to fold getting 2.4-1 on my money. Down to 19 blinds, I got the rest of my chips in with the nut straight against a flush draw. I lost and that was that.
Some Best and Worst Plays...
Best Play From Me: In the $2k Pot Limit event, the button raised, and I defended my blind with J6s. The flop came Q74 and it went check-check. The turn brought a 5 and I led out for about 60 percent of the pot. The button called quickly. The river brought a nine and I fired 60 percent of the pot again. My opponent thought for a while, then showed 65o saying "I should've raised the turn" before mucking. I don't always fire the second bullet when I should, and I did here because my opponent's call on the turn really looked like a draw. So I was pleased with that.
Best Play From Others: Same event, getting near the money. The hijack raises, I call on the button with low suited gappers (I had my reasons), the small blind calls, and then the big blind raises the pot with QJo. This was a perfect spot for a squeeze, and the big blind recognized it, had a hand for it, and acted on it. As it turned out, he got called by the small blind's TT and spiked a jack on the river.
Worst Play From Me: The KQ hand from above. Yes, all my decisions were reasonable, but I really didn't have to call the reraise at all preflop. Sure my opponent had been aggressive in the limit round, but I should've read him for strength when he stuck in a big reraise in no limit.
Worse Play From Others: This isn't the "worst" play necessarily, but the guy who made it should really know better, so I'll call it the worst play. In the Pot Limit event, UTG opened for 900. A woman, playing tight, reraised to 3150 two seats from UTG+2, leaving herself 600 behind. David Singer then cold-called 3150 in the next seat. It folded around to the small blind, who decided to shove all his chips in with QQ. Now, I know queens are a big hand. But David Singer will literally never show you two jacks or ace-king in that spot, in my opinion. Even if he could have those hands (which I don't think he can), you're a dog to his range. Sitting at the table, queens seemed like an easy fold to me. The woman had kings, David had aces, and the queens spiked on the turn and won a monster pot.
I'm taking some time off now, and my next event will be the $2,000 No Limit on Friday. Wish me luck.
Dusty's Visit so far
Date: Tue, Jun 24, 2008 Professional Internet
I should have a complete trip report in a few days, but Dusty has only been here for a day so far and already we've had a great trip.
Our current hot topic of conversation is this thread:
http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showthread.php?p=4789936&posted=1#post...
Airportaments/An Open Challenge
Date: Mon, Jun 23, 2008 Professional Internet
My wife and I got to the airport today in plenty of time only to find out our flight was so far delayed that we were going to miss our connecting flight to Santa Rosa if we got on the delayed flight. None of our options were very good. Some flights sent us all over the place and got us in in the middle of the night. So we just decided to take a pass on trying to fly out today and booked an early AM flight to San Francisco where we were headed anyway for the day. I am quite glad I missed my flight actually because we went back home and I squeezed about 1,500 hands in for a nice $10k profit!!! This month has really been something special. I have run quite well and for once, have finally avoided having a massive downswing this month. I usually toss in a handful of nasty 10-20 buy in downswings that make it tough to really get a lot of momentum going. This month the downswings have all been in the 5-10 buy in range and that sure helps keep away grey hairs.
Some of you are probably aware of this huge thread on 2+2 http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showthread.php?t=231630 but I’ll talk about it a little for those that haven’t seen it or that want to hear more about it. Basically I got on the type of run at 5/10 this month that I felt was probably unprecedented at that limit at least post UIGEA. I won about 7.5ptbb/100 ($1.50 a hand) for about 65k hands and although I rarely make brag posts, I like to make them when I think I have done something pretty special. After all that is what a forum like BRAG’s, beats and variance is for right? Well I got a lot of props from everyone and that always makes you feel really good. The range of comments was pretty awesome. The way people phrase things sometimes makes me laugh pretty hard and there was plenty of that in the thread. I am used to a few haters of course, but this time there was only one who happened to be a fellow high stakes pro I play with regularly. He is one of those guys that thinks if you aren’t a LAG (I play TAG for high limit games) you aren’t any good and he made sure to tell me that early in the thread. It was quite funny the way the rest of the 2+2ers tore him a new one over the course of the thread. I didn’t really even need to say a word, everyone else was sticking up for me and that was pretty exciting.
About midway through the thread, a guy who seems to be a pretty nice and level headed guy as well as someone who I have been friendly with in chat/forums for awhile, Andrew Robl (aka Good2cu), gave his assessment of my game and at the end of his post said that he has trouble grinding hands at lower (relatively anyway) limits. He said he gets excited for 50/100 games, but doesn’t get too excited for much else too often. He then said he would love to do a prop bet for like $20k (which seems like a pretty friendly wager when you consider the money we play for) to see who could win the most money in a month at 5/10 and probably 10/20. He proposed this prop bet not because he thought I sucked or that he had huge edge, but rather something to get his attention and make him grind hands for awhile. I told him that I would do it with him if he wanted, but what that did was spark another thought in my head.
I think that when it comes to grinding 5/10 and 10/20nl I will have edge on anyone. I honestly don’t think that anyone could make more money than me in these games in a 30 day period. So I issued a challenge open to anyone on earth for an amount up to a quarter of a million dollars (but not less than $100k) that I could make more money than them at 5/10 and 10/20 only over a 30 day period. The games also must be 6 max or full ring so no heads up is allowed. I offered this not because I think I am the best player in the world because I surely am not, but rather because I think that under these conditions that I have set, that no one can beat me. I will also even be willing to consider laying odds to some people if they are interested. I don’t expect anyone to take me up on this though. I think there might be some who may give it some thought, but I can’t think of anyone who in their right mind would think they have edge in this bet. I really don’t say this to sound cocky at all. I will be the first to admit that there are better players out there than me without question. But I do one aspect of poker really well and that is to intensely grind insane numbers of hands while playing my A game the entire time. So I just think that under the conditions I have set forth in this challenge, I will have edge on anyone. If I am wrong and someone beats me, then I will tip my hat to them and pay them their money. Simple as that. It will be interesting to see if anyone takes me up on it, but I don’t expect anyone to.
The month has been going nicely still. I am up around 130k points. I plan on playing 30k more hands by the end of the month. So the chance does exist that I could break my record of 170k, but I think to expect to run well for another 30k hands this month would be asking a lot. I know that the deck has no idea if you ran well before and so past results aren’t indicative of future results, but I have never run hot for an entire month so I’m not going to hold my breath. It would be nice to have some steady results those last 30k hands and book an awesome month. I will get to actually celebrate the month too, because as soon as it ends I am going to Vegas for what will probably amount to a weeklong party. I have many, many friends coming into town that week and some friends who I have probably yet to make as well. I am going to get a chance to meet a ton of people while I am there and it would be nice to make some more friends along the way. That is really what life is all about anyway. Just having fun with the people you enjoy is hard to beat. What good would it be to be successful only to have no one to share it with?
Discuss this blog here:
http://www.stoxpoker.com/forums/showthread.php?p=89727#post89727
Matt Blogs the WSOP: $2,000 Pot Limit Hold 'Em, Close But No Cigar
Date: Sat, Jun 21, 2008 Professional Internet
I finished 71st out of 605 starters in the $2k Pot Limit today. 63 were paid. Overall I was pretty pleased with my play, minus a few very subtle spots where I could've taken a slightly more aggressive line. I lost two big coin flips when we got close to the money and they pretty much did me in. It's frustrating to play for 12 hours, make no money, and then have to go right back to it with a measly starting stack in the next tournament 12 hours later. But that's the nature of the beast, and if you play to win, you're going to have a lot of bubble-ish finishes.
Next: $1,500 No Limit Hold 'Em (yes, there's another one of these already)