A quote.

From an old proverb via Samuel Johnson by way of a Slate blogger.

“He who would bring home the wealth of the Indies must carry the wealth of the Indies with him.”

Pre-strategy. An end of month summary.

As far as first months go, January of 2009 did not go great or even well. I lost money overall trying to adapt my rusty, unsteady my NLH game to the modern $25NL 6max. At $10NL, limit, and in tournaments, I was a winner, but not enough to compensate for my craptacular results in $25NL.

To put it in perspective, the amount I am down is roughly a bad night at $3/$6 limit hold em, or a live tournament buy in:$100. The Kirktholemew J. Thompson of April 2008 cackles at the thought of lamenting a loss of that small size. Nonetheless, it sucks and it's kind of quaint that money the size of a medium pot is now a good or bad month.

I will go into details about zee plan for the next month and overall evalutation by the end of the weekend.

Delayed bets: the best technique I keep forgetting.

In "good poker play" some things are givens. When you hit a flop, you should bet it. That way, when you miss a flop, you can bet it. That way, it looks like your hand hit.

But sometimes, you have no reason to start betting.

Some "not to bet" reasons:

1. Your hand may be best but is very very unlikely to remain that way.
2. Your hand will never become second best and your opponents will not call a bet with their likely holdings on the flop.
3. Your opponents play too straightforwardly.

Some requirements:

1. You are the raiser on the last street.
2. You have position.
3. The pot is heads up.
   

So here's all you do. You raise. The flop comes and your opponent checks. You check behind. On the turn, your opponent either checks again or bets. If they check, always bet. If they bet, raise your good hands and fold the rest.

Either way, a straightforward player's hand is face up. Pretty nice.

Tournament Borenament Snorenament.

I played sit n' gos and several large buy in tourneys. My day was slow and a little unsatisfying monetarily. However, I did book a winning day and made a deep run in a 400 person tourney. It exhausts my patience so quickly.

I lose track of the fact that in a tournament, the later decisions are worth, far far more money. I need to have some sort of ritual for ramping up for the end. They way I busted was quite vexing - I decided to make a marginal shove and went headfirst into an overpair.

I'm reading a Schoonmaker's book "Your Best Poker Friend". When I bought it, I thought it sucked. After a few months of thinking about it, this book is right up my alley- it is systematic and thoughtful about the process of self improvement, it relates everyday life things to poker and vice versa, and talks about how to be realistic about plans and data evaluation. Neat.

Check out an awesome example of good poker from a limit hold 'em scenario. I think my opponent played very well and was likely bluffing high hearts the whole way. Also, see my worst misclick of the day on the hand below.

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HAND 1

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$0.25/$0.50 Limit Hold'em Cash Game, 4 Players

Poker Tools by Stoxpoker - Hand Details

Replay This Hand



CO: $6.20 (24.8 bb)

BTN: $26.65 (106.6 bb)

SB: $19.45 (77.8 bb)

Hero (BB): $23.30 (93.2 bb)



Pre-Flop: Hero is BB with A 9

2 folds, SB raises, Hero 3-bets, SB calls



Flop: ($1.50) 5 5 4 (2 players)

SB checks, Hero bets, SB raises, Hero calls



Turn: ($2.50) 8 (2 players)

SB bets, Hero calls



River: ($3.50) 6 (2 players)

SB bets, Hero raises, SB folds



Results: $4.50 pot ($0.20 rake)

Hero mucked A 9 (a pair of Fives) and won $4.30 ($2.05 net)







--------------------

HAND 2

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$0.25/$0.50 Limit Hold'em Cash Game, 6 Players

Poker Tools by Stoxpoker - Hand Details

Replay This Hand



BB: $19.25 (77 bb)

Hero (UTG): $21.25 (85 bb)

MP: $5.35 (21.4 bb)

CO: $25.10 (100.4 bb)

BTN: $10.45 (41.8 bb)

SB: $4.25 (17 bb)



Pre-Flop: Hero is UTG with A 9

Hero raises, MP calls, CO folds, BTN calls, 2 folds



Flop: ($1.85) 9 T 9 (3 players)

Hero bets, MP calls, BTN calls



Turn: ($2.60) Q (3 players)

Hero bets, MP calls, BTN calls



River: ($4.10) 8 (3 players)

Hero checks, MP checks, BTN bets, Hero folds, MP calls



Results: $5.10 pot ($0.25 rake)

MP mucked A 3 (a pair of Nines) and lost (-$1.75 net)

BTN showed 7 7 (two pairs, Nines and Sevens) and won $4.85 ($3.10 net)

The Professional.

Tommy Angelo, world's greatest poker taxonomist- he coined both the terms* Hijack and Buttoff- has done it yet again.

The Professional. Its ways are a simple, moderate path like "The Tao"**. Or as in the Zen tradition, it represents the finger pointing heavenward and the moon itself. Perhaps it is a poker player's superego.

No matter. The Professional doesn't care what you call it.

When you think about your play, you hear the voice of the Professional. As you think, the voice changes. Not because the Professional changes but because your ability to relate to it changes.

Running well?

Play well, says the Professional.

Running bad?

Play good, says the Professional.

Done with playing?

Don't play, says the Professional.

The Professional is the best instinct and the best decision in all of us, all the time.

It sees the angles and states the right action. How we hear it and if we listen are up to us.

* Hijack: the seat two off the button. By playing aggressively there, you remain too strong to be called lightly- thus you hijack late position's ability to steal the blind. Buttoff: when the button fails to react to raises from the seat right in front of it- the cutoff- appropriately, the cutoff become the new button.

**Or better yet the Art of War. A good general sees Death Terrain before he marches an army into it.

BLARGH to the hand range haters.

After a nice session last night- I logged nice wins in NLH, limit, and some tourneys. I shut down the computer feeling pretty good about my play. I posted a couple hands from the past few days on the forums and got decent feedback.

This morning, I woke up and started playing 10 NL to practice 8 tabling (my problem is not feeling lost or overly busy now, just not quiiiite fast enough, so practice makes perfect) and a more fundamentally disciplined no limit hold 'em style without detriment to my somewhat light bankroll.

A few observances.

1) I have been running horribly with my overpairs when they get their action from loose players- these are the guys overpairs are made to bet into!

2) I myself am very, very loose in early postions. I need to get back to my original ranges. I have no need to balance or raise in early positions. KTs, QJo. All in- THE MUCK! I need to practice this, perhaps with shorter tables. Time to build and practice a core strategy.

3) I need to talk to the shippo more. I play better with his advice.


QQ in the small blind, short stack (35 BB in the BB). THinking, steal capable button raises, I reraise (automatically) (12 BB, probably), big blind shoves. Button overshoves. Given that BB can be reisolated, I 3-bet light and button knows both..... does this become the snapcall that I made it?

Pot is 82 with 17 to call. Side pot is 60 with 60 to call.

Villains show the two better pairs. BB I put on 99+, AJs, AQ+. Button I put on AK+, JJ+. reasonable?

More like the sloppy lion.

I have been playing no limit like crap. To boot, I have not been running well.

I have dropped 6 buy-ins in no limit. Losing and playing soft poker engender the worst feeling in the world- if you feel like a marginal winner and the deck is being cruel, you're a big loser. At this rate, that will be 1/2 a bankroll in 10k hands. Only my tournament winnings keep me in breakeven territory. Even those have been a pain in the butt kind of grind though.

To remedy that I did the best thing I know: I logged a quick winner. After about a half hour, I was up a little less than a buy-in and I quit. Then I moved down a limit to simply play more hands.

I am reviewing microstakes no limit strategy videos and books,and trying to adjust my game significantly.

This week, my goals are:

1) Grind in tourneys, limit and no limit.
2) Focus on adjusting postflop play against careless players. Specifically, adjust continuation betting, turn aggression, and showdown strategies.
3) Watch my brother play this week.
4) Study the crap out of low stakes poker.

Derek Heater.

Two hours of play today ran positively swimmingly at both.

First hour of $25 NL Griding. 60 bucks I barely deserve (even after blowing a stack- badly, terribly- against a loose and fast player).

One hour of 12 tables SNG action: 50 bucks. I even mouthed off back at a guy. Anybody who shoots their mouth off on SNGs had better be aware of Sharkscope. Basically, I know whether or not you lose money playing poker. So, umm, yeah don't tease me.

Getting more value with an OK hand and a great line.

Too many situations in poker play out exactly as they should. It cuts down on risk, sure. But is can also reduce profits. Here's a good example of a quick move to generate more value from a decent but not killer hand against a decent opponent.

I am a secret super genius: wackadoo

Yknow, after all the work priming the pump: squuezes, iso-raises, floats, I finally get this LAG spewbot in over his head. And what does the board do?

Also, two best screen names of last night's session: "tooncestdc" and "Forest Crunk".

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HAND 1

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$0.10/$0.25 No Limit Hold'em Cash Game, 6 Players

Poker Tools by Stoxpoker. Replay This Hand



I have been putting the pressure on this LAG pretty hard, hoping to get him to put a move on me. Here it is.



Hero (UTG): $27.25 (109 bb)

MP: $41.30 (165.2 bb)

CO: $29.05 (116.2 bb)

BTN: $38.30 (153.2 bb)

SB: $36.50 (146 bb)

BB: $27 (108 bb)



Pre-Flop: Hero is UTG with K K

Hero raises to $0.75, 2 folds, BTN raises to $2.60, 2 folds, Hero raises to $6.75, BTN calls $4.15



Flop: ($13.85) J 8 2 (2 players)

Hero bets $10, BTN calls $10



Turn: ($33.85) 9 (2 players)

Hero bets $10.50 and is all-in, BTN calls $10.50



River: ($54.85) 9 (2 players, 1 is all-in)



Results:

Spoiler:

$54.85 pot ($2.70 rake)

Hero showed K K (two pairs, Kings and Nines) and lost (-$27.25 net)

BTN showed 4 9 (three of a kind, Nines) and won $52.15 ($24.90 net)

I only played about 1k hands of live play to day- some of the swingiest of my life. In part this was because today marked the first sweat session shippopotamus and I did together. Talking, thinking and playing poker with him is fantastically fun. Tomorrow morning, I will post the sickest beat I've ever seen, as well as some stuff about my play. To boot, I think my game was a little off. I want to go over some decisions in my tournament play a little more carefully.

I watched a couple vids today by Pokey and Code7654321. The basic no limit stuff is a good place for me to start right now-- I have been away from it too long. I also read and posted a ton of hands. Including one I am terribly embarassed by (I overplay AJ- a hand called "parking lot" because of its weakness against narrow raising ranges- against a fishes three bet. yuk). I also listened to a short treatise by "The Bryce" on good poker. Surely "the" belongs in front of no other first name as much as his.

The best part of my "fantasy poker"- I thought the advice I was receiving from other players was bad and Matt Matros -a "famous" pro- said I played it right. Shippopotamus said that when he read it, he imagined Matros' book jacket photo winking and saying "You played it perfectly!"

Ship it.

Fantasy Poker Hand of the Week.

Where do you attack the turbo betting maniac with your AA?

Pokey is hard to beat in fantasy poker, but I have to give this hand to Hunter.

My line was to triple his bet and call the shove.

Pokey says call.

Hunter says shove the river every time. I agree now.

Poker Goals for the Week.

1/11-1/17

Study: Watch 6 Videos.
(3) 1, 2, 3 of Pokey's videos.
(1) pt 3 of Jason Ho
(1) Brian Townsend 3/6 (target for June).
(1) The Bryce on limit hold 'em (1/2) or less.

Play Some Poker
Play 3-4 hours at $25 NL. (3.5 k hands)
Grind SNGs. (30 Games)
Weekend: Play poker around the playoff games. Try to play an MTT with a large field.

Get Some Data
Continue to data mine .5/1 limit and $25 NL.
Post 10 hands in the forum.
Grunch 10 hands in the forum.

Manage your money
-Deposit ~500 buck on stars. Start grinding there.

Results Graphs.

Results 1/1-1/12.









Tourney Winnings:+$72, 13% ROI.







Cash games +$79.

Embracing the Stove

I got a little bit of poker in this morning before football/work time started.

I also did a few calculations on Pokerstove regarding thin plays in limit hold 'em

1) Range to three bet (or ugh... call) when facing a raise. Each range is suited to play against an opponent whose raising range approximates the given percentile or better. Each hand is roughly sorted by type, e.g. 55+ equals all pairs greater than 5s,AJo is an ace with a jack or better, and so on.


Villain's Raise Range:
Hands to play:
40% 55+, A7o+, A4s+, KTs+, KJo+, QJs
35% 55+, A6s+, A8o+, KTs+, KJo+
30% 66+, A8s+, A9o+, KJs+, KQo
25% 77+, A9s+, ATo+, KQs+, KQo
20% 88+, ATs+, ATo+, KQs
15% 99+, AJs+, AJo+
10% TT+, AQs+, AQo+
5% JJ+, AKs

2) Hands to defend in the big blind. The chart is formatted the same, but is wider because the price afforded by the posted big blind permits more hands to be played. I compensated for positional deficit crudely, making the criterion to call a lone raisers bet Equity >35%.

Villain's Raise Range
Hero can call.
5% 88+, ATs+, AQo+, KQs+,
10% +22+, A2s+, A2o+, K9s+, KJo+, QTs+
15% +K2s, KTo, Q9s, QJo, JTs, J9s, suited conn-->54s
20% +K2o, Q2s, QTo, J8s, JTo, T8s->75s, T9s->54s
25% +Q9o+, J2s+, J9o, 85s+, 64s, 43s
30% +Q3o+, J7o+, T8o+, 95s+, 98o+, 74s+


The difference between the ranges is drastic and I will say that some of the hands near the bottom of the 30% range are very tough to play (especially against good opponents). Nonetheless the range of equity with equity is wide.

Review.

Last night I had my first "bad night". I lost a little bit- 30 bucks- playing limit and another twenty in tournaments. At first I was pissed, but the absurdity of the losses in the tourneys reminded me how stupid it is to yoke your ego to your results.

Golly Gee Jeepers you get a ton of hands multitabling. I'm nearly to 10k hands, which (I believe), is enough to account for variance to the level of 1BB. Meaning, your returns after 10k hands are 95% likely to be with in 1 BB/100 of your theoretical win rate. After a full week of the grind at microstakes limit, I have acquired new insights.

*The rake is the Whore of Babylon. She is the Whore of Babylon especially in games where showdown is guaranteed. I am not exagerating. She is an evil creature of the night, intent on destroying all that is pure. Even at 5%, it's a huge chunk at 6-max.

*Because of this, it is probably EV-neutral to avoid high variance situations. I should fold hands which may seem marginally profitable.

*In the game at large, I must say that there is a huge degree of variance in the microstakes. Because no one folds, getting there (or not) three big big flush draws has a huge impact on returns (for better or worse). I forgot how much action there is.

*In reviewing my hands, I now think that I've misplayed a ton of hands.

*I am not getting paid off on low and mid size pocket pairs. Not because my opponents are not savvy, but rather because I am not flopping sets as awesomely as chance would expect, and I have still run into a proportional number of oversets. Also, I am not check folding them often enough when I haven't improved and I've been check-raised.

*Automatically raising pocket pairs into weak and loose blinds is not profitable. Their equity as a stealing hand relies on the opponents fondness for folding bottom pair.

*Calling down is not profitable even against overly aggressive opponents without a mid pair top kicker or better hand.

*The action I'm facing mandates a reduced need to steal and isolate. From now on, I will only "steal raise" if both blinds will fold. I will probably limp a few hands on the button unopened even. :(.

*Hand ranges, especially 3 betting and hand ranges. I need to crunch some numbers and, to quote kaah on 2+2, "embrace the stove".

All in all a good day.

Before I played today, I watched a video from a cardrunners player and Kyle Hendon about playing no limit in a looser, more showdown oriented way. I have an itch to play no limit soon, so maybe I'll do that next time I play.

I started off playing limit hold 'em, but I was neither winning nor playing particularly well. I still deviate from a solid strategy too much when I am not focused on it. This is very frustrating. So, I decided to move on and play some tournament poker. Holy smokes, tournament poker can be a breeze. I ran pretty well in my larger buy in tournaments and my multitable tournaments, so I made some decent scratch. After a few hours though, I was pretty bored, so I decided to make an effort back in limit play. I feel like I did much better.

In wrapping up, I reviewed my data from the year so far. I think I have been running a little poorly, but my play has some leaks. I am paying off too much with one pair and losing some money with suited connectors. I'll post some more analysis and my ideas of how to improve tomorrow.

Meanwhile, behold! My awesome tournament result: 66% ROI over 12 tournaments.

Tool chest.

While I admit that "poker training sites" are a luxury, they are fun.

Stoxpoker recently created a "tool chest". If this works, it will be teh awesome.

Lazy Day/The Mondays.

I slept for nearly 13 hours last night and had a hard time getting my brain going. It did occur to me that along with my current goal of a more dedicated poker play and study schedule, I should develop a "core strategy".

Meaning, even when I am feeling overwhelmed or frustrated I have a fall back style of play that is nearly automatic. This will allow me to grind much more efficiently.

Ideally, a core strategy should approximate an unexploitable strategy but accomodate some weaknesses and tendencies of the field you play poker against.

Since I primarily play microstakes limit now, I should expect players who are by and large too loose and too passive preflop. They'll call too many bets and fail to bet their hands strongly. So:

1. I should expect more, not less, action.
2. I should expect many situations with domination and reverse domination to appear, given hand strength.

So "stealing" in the classic sense is silly. Nonetheless, in 6 max, it is rarely a good idea to open a hand without raising. Of course, when I raise, I should want action. Thus in early position, I should raise hands that play well out of position in both multiway and heads-up pots.

1. Pairs. AA-88. 77 and below are too weak.
   
2. Suited aces. A8s+.
   
3. Suited Connectors. Any two true suited connectors with an 8 or better. Any two gappers down to QTs. 78s+, QTs +.
   
4. Big unsuited aces. A9o+.
   
5. KQo.
   

This represents 11 per cent of all possible hands. It is a difficult range to play against, but still contains some balance. For example, the big pairs and low suited connectors perform well against hands that my opponents will 3-bet- AQ+, 99+. All of the hands but the big unsuited aces perform very well multiway. The big aces do ok, too.

If UTG limps, I would play the same hands, but limp behind with the suited connectors and medium pairs to encourage multiway action. I would limp three bet QJs, JTs, and T9s. In the hijack with a fold in front of me, I would add:

1. Pairs 66+
2. Suited aces A6s+
   
3. Suited connectors QTs+, 87s+
4. Big unsuited aces. A7o+
5. KJo+, QJo+.

The range is widening a little, but AJo is still incorrect to play simply because of the dominating effect of the pairs and the bigger aces.

In late position, I should be able to assess the likelihood of a pot being multiway. If there is a limper, I should expect a multiway pot. Here I should call with some hands and raise with others.

Call:

1. Pairs 22-77. This is a bread and butter spot.
2. Suited aces and kings A2s-A8s, K2s-K9s. Again, bread and butter.
3. Suited connectors. No gappers 54s-98s. One gappers 86s-QTs. Two-gappers J8s-Q9s. Three gappers Q8s, J7s.
4. Offsuit cards. KTo, 67o+, T8o+
   

Raise.

1. Pairs 88+. Partly to conceal the top part of the range but almost entirely for value.
2. Suited aces and kings. A9s+, KTs+.
3. Suited connectors JTs+.
4. Offsuit aces A9o+.
5. Offsuit Kings KJo+

This hand range is fairly wide and all of them stand up in large pots.

If it is folded to me in the cutoff, I attack with a very wide range.

1. Pairs 44+
2. Suited aces A2s+
3. Suited Kings K9s+
   
4. Suited connectors 76s+, One gappers T8s+, Two gappers Q9s+.
5. Unsuited aces A5o+
6. Unsuited Kings KTo+.
7. QTo, JTo.

On the button, I open even wider still.

1. Pairs 22+
2. All suited aces and kings. A2s+, K2s+.
3. Suited connectors 54s+, 75s+, T7s+, J7s+.
4. A2o+
5. K7o+
6. Q8o+, J8o+, T8o+

Granted, I expect action, but all of these hands fair very well in small pots against 1-2 people.

Every day is like Sunday

Today I played a little bit of poker. In the morning, I signed up for several KO tourneys. Tournament poker sucks for one reason above all: when you lose to a terrible player, you cannot buy-in and take a shot at them. By and large, it is a frustrating experience until the day is over and the money is counted. I was also playing sit n gos. There is no game more easily multitabled than tournament poker. My results were solid and I felt productive.

After football, I played some limit hold 'em. I started off ok, but could not settle into a groove. I suspect I was playing bored- exactly what I have been afraid of. This was classic C-game. Not tilt, but still not tightly resolved decision making. Blargh. So, I took a break from the grind to play up a level. It was satisfying and refocused my energy. Focus is not my strong suit.

I need to figure out how to limit this liability as I move up.

Nonetheless, a winning day with more challenges ahead!


Other interesting poker gems.

-I watched a video from "code7654321" about hand ranges. Not the best I've ever seen, but his description of hands as notes- some hard to hit, some easy- was clever. His description of CTS as "The Mariah Carey" of poker is what sealed the deal. Charming simile.

-I watched a second video from pokey about blind defense. I liked its simplicity, but I disagree fundamentally with the notion that three betting simplifies pots. What needed to be said and wasn't is this: "Only sophisticated play can overcome the difficulty of playing out of position. That is not something you develop overnight. Here are some techniques to use." I recall the first moment I realized that TAG blind stealing was impossible to get the best of. The only reassuring fact is that you can stop calling tight raisers with ace eight offsuit.

You're an apex predator! First day of the grind.

The grind remains the grind. I sat at $0.25/$0.50 6-max limit hold 'em today for about 2600 hands, or roughly 4 hours. I also played an hour of sit n' goes. The goal of the day was not to make a heap of money, but rather to adjust to playing with my new approach. I made out ok and played as well as I could have. I'll rate it as a 7 out of 10.

After the sessions, I posted some hands on 2+2 and stoxpoker. My names are kirkt and kirkthompson if you want to look them up.

Playwise, I am pretty rusty. I can no longer easily octo-table, even with my sexy monitor. I start to auto-pilot a litte, loosening up against raises, playing my hands more straightforwardly, and forgetting my reads and lines on previous turns. This will improve with practice.

Observations:
The game is far more aggressive than I remember from the sunny days of 2004. Value betting is a standard skill in 6max and calling down is much more nuanced.

I am far less aggressive postflop and not accustomed to heads-up play postflop, especially in marginal spots.

I have a lot to learn, but I am still pretty good an I learn quickly.

Where I am.

Well, last year poker genrated a significant amount of my income. It allowed me to court a young lady from accross our mighty continent and help her move to my fair city. However, that took its toll on my bankroll.

I rebuilt it partially through grinding SNGs. I used some of this money to buy a jumbo monitor and then lost quite a bit of what was left (about half), in a downswing. I failed to recognize how often I was entering losing situations in heads up play and limit hold 'em by playing casually without my arsenal of equipment and dilligent review.

I don't plan to let this happen again. Right now I have enough money to play at the lowest stakes possible at both pokerstars and fulltilt (just to pass the time really). I plan to deposit $1k into each site by the end of next week. This will give me a decent sized bankroll.

It's enough to play 3 games I know I can beat:

1. $50 NL.
2. $.5/$1 Limit games.
3. $10-$30 sit n' gos.

It is also enough to practice $10 pot limit Omaha and take some shots at mid buy in tourneys.

At these limits, I can play 4-8 tables comfortably and achieve an earn on the level of a skilled tradesman's wage if I am winning. Right now, I wouldn't earn that, so I have to start down a level to practice.

So, until later in January I'll be playing $5 SNGs, $25 NL and 0.25/0.5 limit hold 'em and getting used to playing poker for longer sessions and more money.

This will be difficult because these stakes don't cost a lot of money. Playing badly doesn't affect me enough mentally, so I must practice good decisions for good decision's sake. I'll post more as I play.

Welcome.

One of my new year's resolutions this year is to improve my poker play through greater consistency and dilligence. In the past, I have played a lot of poker with some "success". I have been a slight winner with periods during which I play a good focused game and reap good returns. However, it has required enormous time commitments and I have not had the opportunity to play with a bankroll I could keep separate from the rest of my net worth.

In 2009, I plan to:

1. Increase the value of the time I spend playing poker. Presently I goof around too much and don't take the poker-rest of life boundary seriously. It is too time consuming and each is distracting to the other.
   
2. Move up to mid-to-high stakes no limit hold em. Previously the highest I consistently played was $5 BB live and $1 BB on the internet. I have had some success with bigger shots. I would like to move up to at least one level higher, possibly more.
3. Return to my high level of limit hold 'em play. Before I got distracted by no limit, I was a very good limit player. I was comfortable at the highest stakes available in my area. I think I can still make money at this.
   
4. Play more high-EV tournaments. Tournament poker is dull, but it makes money. I need to play more of it.
   
5. Expand my poker repetoire. Although I do not think it is as dire as others may claim, no limit hold em is getting to be less appealing as a game. I want to perfect my limit stud and razz play,improve in omaha 8 or better, and learn pot limit omaha.
   
6. Increase the effectiveness of my study time. I intend to become a better "fantasy poker" player, responding to and generating hand discussions on the internet. I also want to increase my use of poker training vids and books.
   
7. Become better at identifying and discussing parts of my game where I am missing or losing value. This way I can discuss them as above.
8. Write about poker players and ideas I find relevant or fascinating.
   
9. Publish my progress and thoughts as an exercise in self-reflection, growth, and self-improvement. This way I can read and share my thoughts.

For the most part, this blog will be a way to permanantly record my efforts and their returns. Feel free to contact me about anything I talk about.