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.

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.

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

HAND 1

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



$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

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



$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)

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?

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.