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 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

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.

So Im on a business trip when I see a casino with a live donkament €100 in. I have never played live poker before (home games aside) so I figure I better get my feet wet sometime.

The donkament starts and it quickly becomes clear that this is a local reg fest and I’m struggling to learn how to play live (seriously). Thankfully the dealers are excellent (well they made zero mistakes and the game moved well) and the natives seem accustomed to noobish fish such as myself not knowing what to do.

In the first hour I manage to
(1) Limp UTG three times thinking I’m in the BB (the dealer says “100″ or whatever the bb is and I think he means for me to post the blind)
(2) Open fold KK in the SB, I thought I was the BB getting a walk. I was like WTF!! inside when the dealer moved the pot to the guy to my left but thankfully I realised what happened before I made a total fool of myself. Interestingly the BB flashed an Ace after I folded and I later thought if he had of showed AA that I could have showed my KK for the most awesome soul read ever.
(3) Blinds 150/300 and I repeatedly attempt to raise by putting 1k chip in without saying anything. Apparently this counts as a call, learned after the third time.
(4) Eventually give up trying when the chips/antes get messy and let the dealers do most of it (sorry dealers).

Thankfully everyone sucked balls and their main strategy seemed to consist of rolling their eyes and mucking in disgust quite often. Rawr FU I thought building a stack and settling nerves (I’m a very big introvert so I actually hate crowds and get weirded out sometimes). I got the feeling I was already getting the image of table monkey.

Halfway through a guy gets moved to the table and raises 5/6 hands, he and I are chip leaders and I decide to open a can of 3-bet on him with A9 about 40bb deep (lol donkaments) figuring… well **** figuring….. you work out the math.
So he tanks for ages and flats OOP flop A92, he donks into me and already I’m almost wetting myself in anticipation if this gets to showdown, I flat turn A and it goes c/c, river J he shoves I snap and he says “Sorry big lad…. JJ” I say nothing and turn over A9 and watched a cascade of jaws drop – I really think none of them had ever seen a light 3-bet before (this theory was re-inforced when I overheard a discussion of how me and some old guy overplayed JJ/AK AIPF for a whopping 30bb).

“Nice hand well played” as he walked away, I knew what he meant and it gave me a warm feeling inside.

So basically I run them over with my massive amount of tournament knowledge based on playing (not beating, playing) $5.50 SNGs 3 years ago – live players are no match for that level of know how.

Once in the money and down to avg stack of 14bb with antes I go into hyper mode but restrain myself by checking that I always have 1 card above 9 or a pair before I shove.
My favourite hand of the night was 4 handed when an otherwise pleasant young lady opened the button for 3bb and KQo was all I needed. She tanks for like 5 minutes and mutters about “moves” and eventually (lol) calls with AJ which is ahead of my range nevermind pot odds.
Of course I’m running hot and bink a QQx flop, I can honestly say I felt almost no emotion on the flop I’m very good about not sweating the board or caring about results. However when the young lady half shouts half cries (i.e. is nearly in tears)“I have been watching you all night and your the biggest ****ing donkey I have ever seen” I get a sudden swell of schadenfreude, which when mixed with copious amounts of alcohol and winning what’s now decent prize money is a fine cocktail of emotion if I’m honest.

So I shove and luck box my way to first place which is worth ~$3k.

Cliffs -
- Alcohol.
- Random Donkament.
- SS cant play live.
- All in.
- LOL live players.
- All in.
- LOL donkaments.

Poker has taken a back seat with some more important real life stuff to the fore. Preparing to settle back into the grind now – so I will be online a lot more . Volume remains the main problem poker-wise, I’m pretty happy with how I’m playing and the results, I’m enjoying my poker but I remain cautious about moving up. I’m 99% sure I can beat 400NL if I can find the grind (and not raid my roll so often) so the goal is for the end of September to top up my roll by 3k  and put myself in a position to steam ahead at midstakes for the rest of the year.

Also I’m trying my best to get something sorted so I can play on an iphone/blackberry while out and about. I spend way too much time waiting around for meetings and stuff that I could put to good use.

Recent Results: I have been probably over cautious by either not playing at all or not playing challanging stakes when I’m not feeling A+ (which was most of the past couple months) , nothing to shout about but something to build on.