Two points on poker from the mile high perspective.

1. I'm not beating 25NL with my C-game.
2. Forum Fails and Forum Wins.

I'm not beating 25NL with my C-game.
I swap sweats with two players, both of whom are very good for their limits.  I feel like I can keep up my side of the conversation fairly well about ideas and mistakes.  But I can't put in the hours or pull of the results that they do.  The reason why is C-game.

I can commit some fairly trivial errors if I am not paying attention.  This is something that is hard  for me to surmount for several reasons.  For one, I like to solve difficult puzzles.  So I enjoy playing in marginal spots, to the point that I unconsciously let myself play a -EV to find myself in tricky spots.  Second, I level myself.  I give my opponents too many opportunities to play straightforwardly without and benefit.  Thirdly, I play my C-game far, far too much.  I have to correct these if I want to play NL at higher stakes (where I will undoubtedly have more fun).

Forum Fails and Forum Wins. 

Nick "Stoxtrader" Grudzien, one of perhaps a half-dozen people who has had the greatest indirect impact* on my poker game has admitted to multiaccounting and resigned from his coaching position at a site he was instrumental in founding.  Moreover, allegations of collusion (at least softplaying collusion) linger in one of the accounts he has confessed to using.  Obviously this sucks, but the aftermath was equally frustrating.

On the subject of Stoxtrader's actions, I'd like to make it clear that what he did was wrong and deserves punishment, the same way multiaccounting by Brian Townsend and Justin Bonomo did were wrong and deserved punishment.  But, I don't think the scandal fell out in such a way that Nick got exactly what he deserved.  I think what he has confessed to is worthy of a ban from poker for a little while, but certainly not the loss of his position at a website that shares his name.

A great deal of contemptuous talk has been bandied about on the subject.  I think the allegations need to be fully investigated (Personally I hope Nick can be completely cleared and return to playing cards and being a decent guy).  I am dismayed by how efforts to advocate for neutrality (I wish I could claim this), or even an alternate view (I am definitely a pro-stoxtrader and pro-run the numbers right then make the call guy) are treated on the forums.  That's a big forum fail. 

A few assertions.  Forums are an easy place to be a douchebag.  In forums and in the world at large, decent people fuck up and do stupid, reckless, and arrogant things without thinking them through.  Most harmful actions deserve some reprimand, as Nick''s multiaccounting definitely does.

But that does not mean you should be a douchebag or that you should appease or side entirely with the victims in a terrible spot.  As a community member, look at what the implications are for the long hall.  Also, it most certainly does not mean you should destroy a person for their moment of weakness, even if you dislike them.  I learned this the hard way when I realized my reaction to the Justin Bonomo scandal and the Brian Townsend scandal were totally different.  The difference was in my very high prior opinion of Townsend.  Lately, I just proceed as if I did hold that person in high regard, even if I don't.  It just works better in the long run.  My low opinion of Jason Ho did not keep me from asking for objectivity on his behalf.  He was still punished to the fullest extent that he could be.  I'm not saying that's "forum win", it's just a means to avoid fails.

Another example of thinking one thing and doing something better: anytime I read the phrase "lol" in a forum discussion involving critical thinking, I immediately imagine the most terrible things happening to the person who said it (friend or no friend) and their mother.  But that's not the way I respond.  I try to be critical, direct and open in what arguments I offer back.  And if I think there is a crossed wire, I'll often PM the party who I am debating and try to make it clear what my position is and that I have nothing personal against them.  Again "fail avoidance"

On the subject of "forum win", I have to give credit to the collective PR savvy and dominance of the debate exhibited by the HSNL forum on 2+2.  I'll just quote my thoughts on it from a previous forum post.

If you read between the lines in the thread, a few of the more prominent members were basically (and $EV-optimally) angling very hard to keep on three things:

1) Nick had multiple accounts.
2) Nick changed accounts and wouldn't say why.
3) One of Nick's previous accounts had been accused of collusion in the past...

...[M]y father was involved in corporate litigation. He once told me the worst thing you could face in a courthouse was a "professional expert witness" who could not be moved off the coached statements. In a way, that's how tenaciously the HSNL guys kept on the topic. Any effort to disagree or establish a different majority consensus was effectively and rapidly shut down and they were back on target. This isn't to say they were coached (far from it), rather that they took hold the high ground and obstinantly stuck to it. They just never let it go.

"Kirk Sr." also said the crowning moment of his career was cross examining an executive with a need to feel like a benevolent authoritarian. Over the course of an afternoon, he basically ground this guy's testimony into the dirt by constantly pressing him to account for actions (which were reprehensible) in front of the jury. He could not manage to stick to the story, because of his desire to be admired. By the end of it, he came off looking like he was not entirely on the up and up and/or unable to make tough decisions that most leaders are required to face, effectively demolishing his credibility and thus his arguments for the breach of contract being entirely on the other party.

In a way, this is what I feel happened to Nick and some community leaders (paid or otherwise) in 2+2. Rather than saying nothing until the right thing could be said (and by the right thing I mean the truth if you are an optimist, or the +$EV thing if you are a pessimist), they offered up weak half-responses bidding folks to continue to bide their time on the matter. These were torn to shreds and thrown back in their faces effortlessly by the regs at HSNL. In the end, I think the some of the leadership here and there backed themselves into a corner and paid for it.

And in the aftermath, I have some free advice from Kirk Sr, that colorful old polar bear.

"When you've been accused of something serious, shut the f*ck up and call your lawyer, whether it's true or not."

*Ed Miller, David Sklansky, Mason Malmuth, Dan Harrington, Collin Moshman, in case you were wondering.

Anatomy of a spewathon.

Over about 4k hands of 25NL rush poker, I dropped 15 buyins.  Here's my breakdown of how.

1. I wasn't using a HUD.
2. The blinds that I left on the table ate up (-4BIs)
3. Ran bad on preflop all ins.  Over 13 "exciting moments" I ran $99 under EV and at -$126 or (-5 BIs).   For greater than 60BBs, the worst hand I shipped against was AK.  The worst hand I shipped was AQ.  I also saw some "mid sized stacks shipping with JJ.  In addition to the (what is now obvious) spew with AQ, I also shipped QJs vs a 40BB nitwit (questionable, at best) and KJo vs a 44/11 (my head explodes at the losses I take reciprocally here).
4. I ran bad in pots where I three bet (-$7).  I got a lot of action from marginally better hands and only got in one pot where I value towned a range for two streets.
5. I got creamed when I faced a 3 bet and didn't get all in (-$180.00) (-7  BIs).  Once I spewed off 1.5 BIs facing what I though was likely a desperation river bluff from a draw (wasn't).  A second time I called three streets with an overpair when I could've dumped the turn vs the villain's range (-1.25 BI).  I shipped KQ vs a three-bet range much narrower than I thought.  I missed with a semibluff shove once and semibluffed into what I presumed was a weak range (wasn't) and I only got paid a few times. This, alongside with the marginal losses is enough to empty a pocket.
6. I wasn't using position or betting information well.  So I picked up a little bit of value here and there, but not nearly as much as what I left lying around.  Barf.

Take home lessons:

1. Use a HUD for Rush poker.
2. Betting ranges are narrower than I thought.  I broke one of the fundamental rules of poker and was denying I did it while I did: I was giving nitty, solid regs action with marginal hands.  Doing this 5 times was enough to cost me, well five or more buy-ins.
3. Nobody else is playing in thin spots, so I should adjust my strategy.  More raise and one barrel.  Less multistreet play.  Less drawing to two pair/straight combo hands.
4. Start using stop losses in RUSH poker.  The game just goes to fucking fast.

Mid-February Review

I have had a rough and tumble, but successful start of the month.

Summary:

A. I experienced the worst tilt I've had in years. 5 BIs in no time flat out of nothing but frustration.

Problems:

1. Poor preflop hand selection in general.
2. Poor hand reading when frustrated.
3. Overwhelmed by number of tables occasionally.
4. Unable to make the correct decision due to general frustration and aforementioned issues.
5. Loss of desire to play and win, due to oversensitivity to the losses.

My solution:

1. I'm working on committing a tighter preflop range to muscle memory by playing fewer tables and devoting more active attention to preflop action. I've made a preflop table.
2. I'm working through Jared Tendler's stuff on these issues. I've made two reminder cards, one for PLO8 and one for NLH.
3. I'm comparing how I play in sit n gos to cash games. I almost never let frustrations do a number on me in sit n gos. Overall, it is my comfort level with each decision in the time I've alotted myself due to multitabling. I just don't find myself in unmanageable spots that often.
4. I took two days off from grinding to think seriously about it. I think this was a mistake. In the future, I hope to be more dilligent about recognizing where and when I make errors due to frustration, ending my session and analyzing my mistakes so that in the future I am eager to go outand play well again.

B. I am a Sit n Go Champion.

Seriously, I murder this game. The solution is to play sit n gos and think about them more often. Every day.

C. I love PLO8.

The game is fun, it's less volatile and I kill the bad players. Unfortunately, I am still an easy mark for the good, thinking (albeit too passive and not aggressive enough) regulars in the low stakes.

D. I hate PLO.

No, I don't. But I'll be damned if I understand it. I really need to get in there and watch some videos. I have no clue what ranges I face in a big pot on the flop, nor do I understand equity in thin preflop spots.

E. I'm really nervous about moving up to 50NL.

Despite the spews, my bankroll has grown to my self-mandated 40 buy-in minimum for the next game up. I feel it's just not going to work until I get a handle on my frustrations.

For the next week, my goals are the following.

a) Commit my new preflop chart to memory (especially the UTG/EP and Hijack info. Verify that I can 4+ table with it through videos of my own play.
b) Play sit n gos once per day. Make money.
c) Get a grip on preflop play in PLO. Try it out a little. Make a video and review it.
d) Try to play more during peak hours and normalize my sleep schedule to it.

January in Review.

1. I played some no limit hold 'em. Rush poker was invented.
2. I learned how to play PLO8 at minor costs to myself.
3. I played some 180 and 90 man tourneys.
4. I didn't play any sit n gos.

A few things I learned.

I am still a bit of a stubborn jerk when it comes to bankroll management.
The right time to decide how much you are willing to risk trying a new game is right before you take a spot at the table. I definitely learned that the hard way with rush limit hold 'em. I took it for granted that I could still beat the game down. Nope. I did correctly assess this problem with tournaments. But, I need to be more consistent.

My "poker sense" needs a little warm-up time.
Lately I've noticed that I am too loose and passive when I first sit down. I make bad decisions and read hands poorly. It's not good poker.

PLO8 is an awesome game.
It's superbly fun, and the whole game runs on postflop equity.

Putting in volume is a lot of fun.
I've played >25k hands since mid-January and I reckon I'll get in another 140k by the end of February.

Summary of play from Monday to Friday.

Summary of play from Monday to Friday.

I've put in a ton of hands, but only about 2/3 of what I thought I could. A few things come to mind.

1. The variance in all forms of poker is wider than I recall, but if anything, a little less overtly flustering. It's good to know that while I was being a lazy bum about actually playing poker I possibly acquired some patience.
2. There are many ways for my game to go off-track or look that way. Three tough hands at a time is still a bit much for me and my autopilot brain takes over. He doesn't the best decisions all the time :).
3. When you multi-table X number of tables, it shouldn't be your goal to play X tables at a time. It should be to look for and get the X best seats available. There are regs even at these limits, and they play much better than the fish.
4. Autolabeling is a neat feature and it permits me to devote more energy to labeling as many of my opponents as I can. HEM's auto-label feature is pretty good for 25NL players. I've seen a few I disagree with but not many.
5. Two barreling and three streets for value go great together, but they also require enormous precision. When I start to get overwhelmed these things lose their value. I think I left 20 bucks on the table through a combo of missing some double barrels and making a few bad ones.
6. Almost no players bluff the turn or bluff commitment on the flop in these games.
7. Bet sizing tells are everywhere.
8. Exploiting your opponents poor hand reading skills and transparent tendencies is a hugely valuable here.

In tourney's I've run face first into variance as well. And according to info I now have, the downswings I have faced will occur at a frequency of less than a few hundred games. Time to step down.

Right now, I'm putting aside a little time to play some PLO8. This game seems really intriguing to me and I've always had a blast playing split-pot games.

Lessons learned this week

1. Variance is still around
2. Aggression is killer in NL25
3. Being able to get 3 streets of value from any type of opponent is really valuable. The more opponents you have cinched, the better.
4. Knowing who does what in response to which betting lines is something that would be impossible to record for all opponents, but with a little more practice I think I'll have it.
5. Playing loads of hands creates a huge opportunity to learn and think.
6. I need to maintain focus better towards the middle of my sessions.
7. I am a long way from my previous abilities and I'm ok with that.

Objectives for next week:

1. Try for another 8k hands of 25NL minimum.
2. Try to increase aggression even more.
3. Try to get my blind defense and cold-calling IP ranges a little more precise.
4. Look at double barreling hands and how it works.
5. Get a sweat session or two in.
6. Review some more hands to look at successful and less successful non standard lines.
7. Move down in MTTs and SNGs, get aquainted with the $4-6 crowd on stars. PLay at least 3 morning or afternoon sessions.
8. Watch some Tendler stuff on improving focus and "in-game mindsets"
9. Continue watching videos and learning.
10. See whatr PLO8 is like.

3k hands.

Today's No Limit Lessons:

1)I'm too showdown happy with weak made hands.

I made three mistakes that each cost me >50% of a buy-in with marginal made hands and drawing potential.

On the first, I had AcAx in a 4-way pot with one player behind me. The board was Jc9c9d. My hand is certainly vulnerable and may be good enough to play for showdown. It certainly would benefit from some protection. But instead of betting, to bet-fold or bet-call, I chose a loose-weak strategy and check called a half-pot bet.

Two things occur to me in retrospect. (1) The villain is surely drawing or betting a second best hand and virtually any line short of open-folding or check-folding would be better than a check call here. (2) This was an easy pot-sized bet to nearly commit to the bloated pot and encourage semi-bluffing hands to shove over. If one player shoved and another called, I can fold. I think a push/call push is a little thin at 25NL, but better than a fold facing one raise behind you. People are just very weak bettors at this limit without a strong made hand.

In the second, I made a slightly loose call preflop from the BB with Axs to defend a loose and aggro players HJ raise. I flatted, and check-called second pair on a dry board. The turn completed a straight draw and gave me a flush draw. I checked and the villain bet. I thought for a bit then check raised small. Villain thought for a sec shoved over me. I should have snap-folded, but I thought there was a slight chance he was playing a worse draw.

In retrospect, the implied odds in this hand are thin and I have little fold equity. OOP against a loose and sticky opponent, I'll run into some trouble. Folding pre- should be my standard except against steal position raisers. Secondly, if I had raised larger on the turn to straight up commit to the hand, villain might have thought of my hand as much stronger.

My third hand was one where I raised in the hijack with JJ and called a tight 3bettor to spike a set with JJ. The board was 234 rainbow and I checked. The villain bet. In this case, I do think that at least calling is prudent. It's too likely that the villain would cbet the A-broadway hands in his range.

But if I had raised and the villain shoved, I had an easy fold. I'm repping a set, a big pair or AK and the villain should be scared of these with any hand worse than mine. Whether or not that's the play, I just called.

The turn brought a 7, which with the possible exception of an 8 was the safest card in the deck for my hand vs. the villain's range. I checked and the villain made a committing bet. I thought for awhile and check-raised, because I knew a call would be terrible.

In retrospect, I don't think this villain is second barreling with 88-TT ever on this board and I think AK plays scared here as well. A fold would have been better.

2) It's really hard to identify the villains who will raise light, semibluff hard, or fire additional barrels with air at 25 NL. There's folks who will do all this stuff, but fewer than my strategy hopes for. So, I just need to back off in the following ways.

a) stop being a showdown wizard.
b) Tighten up my range in EP and facing EP raises OOP.
c) Recognize and exploit good IP floating opportunities, either for cheap bluffs or good spots to valuepwn someone.
4) Ramp up my aggression even further.

My AF is nearly a point higher than it has been in the past and I think I can take it up another point.

I'm back!

I'm back after a summer hiatus. Here are some awesome things I have been thinking about.

Poker Tools

1) Evernote. It is free and has a screen capture/autosave feature. This is badass for looking at hands later. It fits in my favorite streamlining concept: "universal capture". Have a spot to put crap and go to that spot later when you have time. Evernote is almost there. I just need a cheap scanner and I'll be all over it.

2) Fourplusmore. Until those bastards at google go to a full beta of the wave, this is the best way I have to compare poker hands with people whose opinions I want. It's been slow since I had "real life" stuff to do, but I am loving thinking about poker lately. I expect it to pick up. Here is how to get set up.

3) Making your own videos. This is so useful. I would like to initiate a "make your own videos month" in September in small stakes no limit. Session reviews, live play, live play with sweat buddy, all will be worth watching.

4. Thinking about the rake. The rake is killing me in low limit hold em. Check this stuff carefully yourself if you haven't. It certainly makes me want to snuggle up and mass multitable or switch back to full time SNGs.

5. Thinking about my big hand DB. Actually doing sophisticated queries and follow up analysis is taking forever, but in general I've learned a bit. Check my old blog entries if your interested.

6) Feed readers. For the love of all that is, sign up for an RSS feed reader and subscribe to poker forums in them. It makes browsing them much smoother.

Poker Play.

1) Heads-up LHE. This game is fun. It is also the only game I have ever encountered where playing two tables at once becomes difficult. I am starting to "grok" showdown decisions and when they occur (or don't as is the case for many villains). This game will only get more fun as I improve.

2) Cash NLHE. This game is still fun, but I hate losing at it and don't play at stacks where booking a win is a big deal to me. Really I just need to get over myself so I can put in the hours to improve. I am getting there.

3) SNGs. These are still so juicy. I'm going to play them more.

4) Omaha. One day I will make time to get good at this game. Until then, I will lose at $5 HU PLO SNGs.

New Poker slang I want to introduce,.

1) "Jon Bon Jovi", "Bon Jovi", "JBJ". I want this to mean "really good". Particualrly, to replace the phrase "is like the nuts". It can be used to describe a play, a hand, or a player. Exs, a) "Against this guy, to pair with second kicker is a Bon Jovi hand here." b) "I'd quit but I'm running like Bon Jovi and I think this guy's about to tilt."

2) "Sid and Nancy". The opposite of JBJ.

3) "Seizure Robots". Players who do incredibad stuff for no apparent reason. Certainly the term "retarded" is used to describe these guys. The second hardest thing I ever did was learn not to say "retarded" or "gay" when I meant "stupid", "awful" or "not that great". I think that in general retarded people spend their time more productively than seizure robots and I'm not sure how I'd feel if I found out I was actually playing a retarded person and getting mad that I lost a hand. "I'd fold but the pot is huge and this guy has been playing like a seizure robot."

4) "Sprinkles". A raise. In honor of the ice cream topping and nearly as effective.