Yesterday, I was off into town for the live pokers. First stop, at 5PM, was The Fox to lay down money for their £38 freezeout. There was a cash game kicking off but with only 3 or 4 players at the table I decided against it and headed off to The Empire. Buying in for £300 at a table with just one bigger stack I got given some tasty cards, which I played quite aggressively, and spun my stack up for a £63 profit. That was the MTT paid for and a few pennies for beers.
After a pint it was back to The Fox for the freezeout. Here I managed to min cash for a £45 return and a £7 profit. Yep, during this I proceeded to get merrily drunk and then misbehaved at a private table with James Sudworth, Ashley Hames and PKR's Danski. The reason this occured was because I saw them playing at a table across the way and wormed my way into their game for a tenner. I looked down at 44 first hand, went all-in and was promptly called by the aforementioned villain (Sudworth). He flipped over the jacks and I duly donated. I don't know what came over me but I just had to plant a big kiss on his cheeks - why must I always behave like a fool?
Oh well, after this it was a case of heading back to the freezeout for that min cash. After that I made another attempt to get back on Sudworth's table but I don't think they really appreciated some nutter gatecrashing their table and they were ready for me this time with a rule that I can't really remember but it sounded VERY -ev. It was a polite way of seeing me off and I really don't blame them for this - a lot of peeps would have just told me to fuck off!
Anyway, to round off the evening I plonked myself down at a £1/£1 cash table with my £45 winnings and duly donked it all off by going all-in on a board which gave me top pair good kicker. I even improved my hand to two pair on the turn - but when the villain spiked his flush on the river it was goodbye to the £45. With £10 going to James Sudworth it was a modest £15 profit for the evening. Hardly worth shouting about and I must have paid at least double that for the beers but at least I got to kiss a PKR pro!
Sunday, 20 March 2011
Saturday, 19 March 2011
Table Selection: Most Overlooked Tool In The Box
(Note: In this post I refer to some principles laid out by MyPokerLab.com. This was due to the fact that I was reminded of an article in Bluff Magazine contributed by a player who runs that site. This is NOT an advert for MyPokerLab. I have never subscribed to it nor intend to.)
To my mind, table selection is one of the most neglected aspects of online poker and just like yours truly is the most overlooked tool in the box. In MTTs you do not get this privilege but if you entered a room full of players playing a game for money and there was a spare seat at each table, you'd have a little think where to sit, right?
Your "micro-game", according to MyPokerLab, refers to the ability to tackle hand to hand combat at the table. This includes many things such as:
1. Hand-reading skills.
2. Understanding position.
3. Bet-sizing considerations.
4. Which action to take according to the table dynamics.
5. Figuring out opponents' skill-level.
etc etc etc
Your "macro-game" consists of the considerations you make away from the table. Again, taking MyPokerLab as a source, this includes things such as:
1. Bankroll Management.
2. Tilt Control.
3. Looking at stats from the tracking software.
4. Studying the game.
5. Table Selection.
etc etc etc
The article that appeared in Bluff Magazine talked about how the quality of tools from your "micro-game toolbox" can mean diddly-squat if you don't use and apply the tools from your "macro-game toolbox" in the right way. To get a better angle on this you can click here.
The point that I'd like to make is that online, judging by the way that people seem to dive head-first onto the first table that becomes available, a large majority of players just don't use the "Table Selection Tool" at all and, hence, they damage their bottom line. Or, to put it bluntly, loads of players just don't care who they play! True, in order to apply the "Table Selection Tool" you do need to possess a certain degree of humilty; a little thing inside that says you just might get outplayed were you to sit down at Table X, but methinks if it were used properly and more often it would save many players a lot of money in the long run.
If more players tapped into their meek and humble side, took the time to work out who the decent players are, avoided sitting at the table with too many of them (you can't avoid them completely) then certain players would save a ton of money. There again, my darkside says, fine, let the dunderheads dive head first into their demise - sod 'em.
To my mind, table selection is one of the most neglected aspects of online poker and just like yours truly is the most overlooked tool in the box. In MTTs you do not get this privilege but if you entered a room full of players playing a game for money and there was a spare seat at each table, you'd have a little think where to sit, right?
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Forgive the cliche but the long-term poker player knows that he has to bring all sorts of tools with him from the toolbox to do the job. Some might bring better quality tools than others but it's also how those tools are used that define the player. At MyPokerLab.com these "tools" can be divided under two headings: the "micro-game" and the "macro-game." Your "micro-game", according to MyPokerLab, refers to the ability to tackle hand to hand combat at the table. This includes many things such as:
1. Hand-reading skills.
2. Understanding position.
3. Bet-sizing considerations.
4. Which action to take according to the table dynamics.
5. Figuring out opponents' skill-level.
etc etc etc
Your "macro-game" consists of the considerations you make away from the table. Again, taking MyPokerLab as a source, this includes things such as:
1. Bankroll Management.
2. Tilt Control.
3. Looking at stats from the tracking software.
4. Studying the game.
5. Table Selection.
etc etc etc
The article that appeared in Bluff Magazine talked about how the quality of tools from your "micro-game toolbox" can mean diddly-squat if you don't use and apply the tools from your "macro-game toolbox" in the right way. To get a better angle on this you can click here.
The point that I'd like to make is that online, judging by the way that people seem to dive head-first onto the first table that becomes available, a large majority of players just don't use the "Table Selection Tool" at all and, hence, they damage their bottom line. Or, to put it bluntly, loads of players just don't care who they play! True, in order to apply the "Table Selection Tool" you do need to possess a certain degree of humilty; a little thing inside that says you just might get outplayed were you to sit down at Table X, but methinks if it were used properly and more often it would save many players a lot of money in the long run.
If more players tapped into their meek and humble side, took the time to work out who the decent players are, avoided sitting at the table with too many of them (you can't avoid them completely) then certain players would save a ton of money. There again, my darkside says, fine, let the dunderheads dive head first into their demise - sod 'em.
Winning Tilt
Just as every cloud has a silver lining so does every rose have a thorn and after being showered with gifts at the online game this month, I'm at that point where I'm experiencing just a little bit of frustration at the tables. Now, of course, getting frustrated is all part of the general scheme of things but when "winning tilt" rears its head we have to be as wary as ever and be especially on our guard. Protecting ourselves from the onset of tilt is crucial.
To clarify my thoughts on this, "Winning tilt", as far as I know, is the feeling you get when you've been so used to getting rewarded, that when the pipes suddenly get blocked and things don't quite flow as they have - a tiny feeling of resentment sets in. Thoughts like; "Where have my pocket kings and aces gone?"; "Why aren't I hitting any goddam flops anymore?" and "Why the hell am I calling so much?" come creeping into the consciousness.
I suppose, in a way, it's like being spoilt.
Now as these thoughts have taken me over a bit in the last few days I've decided it's best to have a short break from the online game today. It's Saturday morning and the sun is shining down gloriously so I'm heading off into town. Later, I'll be popping into The Fox to play their £38 freezeout which starts at 7PM and then, maybe, I'll hit The Empire or stay at The Fox for a little £1/£1; I don't know, it all depends where the mood takes me.
To clarify my thoughts on this, "Winning tilt", as far as I know, is the feeling you get when you've been so used to getting rewarded, that when the pipes suddenly get blocked and things don't quite flow as they have - a tiny feeling of resentment sets in. Thoughts like; "Where have my pocket kings and aces gone?"; "Why aren't I hitting any goddam flops anymore?" and "Why the hell am I calling so much?" come creeping into the consciousness.
I suppose, in a way, it's like being spoilt.
Now as these thoughts have taken me over a bit in the last few days I've decided it's best to have a short break from the online game today. It's Saturday morning and the sun is shining down gloriously so I'm heading off into town. Later, I'll be popping into The Fox to play their £38 freezeout which starts at 7PM and then, maybe, I'll hit The Empire or stay at The Fox for a little £1/£1; I don't know, it all depends where the mood takes me.
---------------
SO LET'S DO THIS!!
Thursday, 17 March 2011
Full House V. Nut Flush
A flopped full house versus a turned nut flush happens rarely but when it happens in your favour, it's marvellous. So when you get this:
Which is this:
And then get this:
That's the ball in the back of the net.
Wednesday, 16 March 2011
A Loud Blow On The Trumpet
As my march through March continues to gallop on apace and with a certain milestone being reached (see below) - I have to say that my blog is ripe for a good old brag post. We're about half-way through March now and with just 1.5K hands being played this month, I'm still delighted to inform y'all that I've managed to hit a $1160 (~£715) profit at the online game for the month so far. Unfortunately, with all my hand-histories going AWOL, I'm going to have to split my graphs up a bit. The first one shows my progress from the 1st to the 10th March:
Between taking an image of this and my next chart (below) I had a bit of an accident when my entire bank of PKR hand-histories disappeared. I must have played a good few hundred hands on the laptop and the PC in the interim (including my flippin heck hand) but any record of these have also now been lost. This chart shows my progress since Sunday 13th March up until now:
Between taking an image of this and my next chart (below) I had a bit of an accident when my entire bank of PKR hand-histories disappeared. I must have played a good few hundred hands on the laptop and the PC in the interim (including my flippin heck hand) but any record of these have also now been lost. This chart shows my progress since Sunday 13th March up until now:
As you can see by the total hands played, I've not exactly been having heavy sessions over the last few weeks but I've sure been running pretty damn good. Due to mild distractions around me and simply because I've just wanted to play the game at a more leisurely pace I've mainly just been single-tabling - and this suits me just fine.I know I've said it before but Jesus H Christ I'll say it again - bringing the A game to the table is priority number 1.
Now this brings me to my little milestone: thanks largely to a live game profit of £1750 for the year, along with a modest £250 annual profit at the online game, I'm happy to say that I've just topped an overall profit of £2000 for the year 2011! Now in one respect it's good to see that we're looking at a profit here but, in another respect, with more hands that could have been played and a first month from hell it could be (should be?) so much more!! Of course, let's not lose sight of the fact that this figure could easily go down as well as up. But we'll see...we'll see.
Anyway, with another bleedin' parents' evening approaching tomorrow (God I hate them) I'm going to take it easy for the rest of the night, logout from the poker and just bask smugly in the glory of it all for now. Still, with all that self-congratulatory twaddle going on, I sense the self-fulfilling doomswitch being clicked resoundly in the background. Why the hell do I bring this upon myself? Jesus.
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FOR THE GLORY OF THE TWADDLE!!
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