Simple Poker Logic

Currently very busy working on all sort of strategy concepts for this seasons DeucesCracked series “Playbook”. I’m working with Josh Plotkin (Stheif09) and with two episodes already finished I’ve learned loads already, the only downside to all this is that I’m playing even less poker.

However that short term loss is well worth it, Josh’s concept for EP1 “Expected Value is Additive” blew my mind and changed how I think about poker. It really set the bar high so I’m doing my best to get some high quality contributions in.

We are aiming that each episode contains something new ,  different and previously unseen,  in today’s near saturated poker training market that’s not easy but hopefully the end result will be worth it.

I just finished reading “Talent Is Overrated” by Geoff Colvin. A very interesting and very informative read, although it doesn’t mention poker it probably has got me thinking more about my game than any poker book ever has. I strongly recommend this for all players.

There are two main points that have hit home after reading this book.

(1) Good/great performers (and therefore poker players) are not born they are made

It’s funny how people with zero or very little poker experience will almost always suffer from the disillusion that there is a hidden “soul reading gift” and that they might just have it. Clearly that’s what makes the game good – no one thinks “Hey, maybe I can play chess really well even though I don’t know the rules”.

From the moment we start to learn the game we begin to realise that this “poker gift” is a myth. We go about improving our talents and almost everyone will show an improvement in performance.

Then, at some point the myth strikes afresh, we plateau at a certain stakes. The next level seems just out of reach, shots fail, break even stretches ensue. Mix all this with the mind fuck that is variance and soon we start to believe again…. maybe those other guys just “have it” and I don’t.

(2) The only way to improve performance is to work damn hard. Every. Single. Day.

It took more than just emptying a bucket of balls at the driving range for Tiger Woods to get good (insert joke here). Likewise it takes more than reading listening and watching videos to move ahead of the curve in poker.

There is no secret code, no quick fix, no shortcut to getting good at this game.  The only thing that will move performance to the next level is to push yourself beyond what you already know with long hours of poker study.

95% of my play this year has been at Ongame 5-max, for some reason half-way through last month I decided to have another pop at the FR tables. I guess they looked juicy and I do need to keep myself in touch with that game for my FR  students.

It just doesn’t do it for me any more though, folding AK pre-flop, gritting my teeth with overpairs when raised on the flop just are not much fun. Ranges are just too damn tight that the game really only comes down to who can make the disciplined folds most often.

I suppose I’m being unfair on the game that has served me so well and yes, this is partially because I ran super bad for a while but there’s nothing to match the thrill of playing shorthanded on a euro site with stacks flying all over the place.

I’m still going to keep coaching the FR for  and will of course be playing if the game is super good, but from here on in it’s mixing it up Scandinavian style.

Just out over the weekend was the last in the series of “Full Ring Squadron” over at Deuces Cracked. I was lucky enough to take part in 4 of the episodes, first teaming up with my good friend Threads13 then luckboxing (again) my way into sweating The Godfather of Mid Stakes FRNLHE Sean Nolan.

I sweated Sean for a 1000NL session, I thought it turned out pretty interesting and the session ran on well over the normal 60mins so we got a bonus vid out of it too. As always Sean was excellent in his thought process and it was an honour sweating one of the best around.

Just a note to everyone that my coaching rates are going up on the 1st Feb.

Single Sessions – $70/Hr
5+ Bulk Sessions – $60/Hr

I have been thinking of writing a series of workbooks as part of my coaching routine. A lot of my students are in a similar “place” in terms of poker development and I think that having something to work on physically is somewhat underused – in spite of the constant flow of poker learning material available.

At the same time I’m not going to spend weeks on something you guys don’t need want or like so the first one is free to everyone. Email me at soundedsimple@deucescracked.com for the answer sheet when you are finished.

SPL Workbook 1 – 3-Betting Steals QUESTIONS

All I ask is some general feedback and suggestions for topics.

I’m rarely ever giving pokersites much credit and this is probably as much of a PR thing as anything else but hats of to Pokerstars. They are doubling any donation to the the Red Cross in aid of the people of Haiti made through their site.

http://www.pokerstarsblog.com/2010/pokerstars-sets-up-haiti-earthquake-appe-063299.html

I don’t normally go off talking about how good Deuces Cracked is, firstly people know I’m biased and secondly I let the content there speak for itself. But I simply have to make a note of one of the really good developments over there that’s really coming on leaps and bounds at the moment and that is the DC strategy forums.

Mainstream forums (you know where I mean) have become more than a little diluted strategy wise, it’s not just the noob/pro ratio but the fact that many people don’t put enough effort into their games and the better players more or less think “well if you don’t put the effort into learning I’m not putting the effort into helping” – that leads to a downward spiral of rote lines and group-think one-line answers. Then add torrent of low content stuff (fine in small doses but let’s talk cards ffs!) throw in lot’s of epeen measuring and you have a mixture that, for the most part doesn’t give up and coming players the same benefit that some of us benefited from a few years back (I luckily just caught the tail end of the “good days” on a few of the forums when learning myself).

The forums at DC however are much better – a proper learning community environment, the coaches are encouraged to get responding to the threads. In the FR forum hardly a thread goes by that one of us doesn’t pop in with an opinion and in some threads 3-4 coaches chime in with opinions – that’s essentially 100% free coaching. The best thing for those ballin’ on a budget is that you don’t even have to pay membership to the forums. Just join in the community no matter what your stakes, nobody knows nor cares if you subscribe to the video content or not.

Finally if any of you DC members post a question and it drops under the radar feel free to PM me with a link and I will check it out.

So it’s the time of year for taking stock and making some goals.

2009 – Meh

In terms of poker I feel like I’m making progress but not at the rate I ‘d really like. On one hand I managed to make a good chunk of change as a part time player, my HEM database went belly up at the start of Dec but at that point winnings+RB was just under $40k, Dec was a fail with lousy volume and I doubt I hit the $40k at cash games alone. The biggest fail is volume at 270k hands for the year.

I’m probably up another $5-6k in live poker, tournaments etc.  so overall I’m kind of happy.

On the downside I still have not made the leap to 400NL, the worst thing is that I havn’t even had a real shot. I limit myself to a few orbits on a table or two now and then, even though I’m up over the small sample I’m not really confident in game. I think the answer lies in bankroll requirements, my 20bi rule is fine for small stakes but I’m setting a 30bi rule for 400NL+.

Life

Business has been tough, I had a couple of customers go busto on me. One came through with the $, another one I got most through the courts and one may have gotten away but as they say – “It’s a long road there’s no turn on”.

That aside I have tightened up the financial stuff and weathered the storm, I’m pretty confident that in 2010 a lot of the hard work will be paying dividends.

2010 Goals

- Work on mindset and tiltlessness every day.
- Work harder on my game (no more procrastination and random browsing – get it done!!)
- Get the volume up, 1k hands/day average.
- 400NL to be my regular game by May.
- Get back in shape, aim to run 20k of the Belfast marathon (3rd May).
- Hit the weights, back to benching 80kg+ by May.
- Take the girls on a holiday instead of talking about it.
- Learn to cook.

Haha, I like to make things difficult for myself but now these are up there and public I need to get my ass in gear and do them.

Finally

Thanks and GL to everyone I have worked with or discussed poker in 2009.