It should go without saying that the primary purpose of playing poker is to make the most money possible. For me that means using my time as efficiently as possible while playing.
Here are a few things I do to accomplish this at the tables:
I play the maximum amount of tables my brain permits me at all times. When I’m thinking clearly I can play 5-7 tables at a time (depending on number of players at each) with one being heads up or 3-handed. If I start having trouble keeping up with the action or if I begin to forget what has happened in a hand, I will drop a table. If two tables become heads up or 3-handed, then I need to drop at least one full table. In these cases, I will sit out at my worst table before leaving. I do this in case one of my remaining tables breaks so I’m able to sit back in without having to get back on a waiting list.
I always try to have a heads up or 3-handed game going. My win rate drops from 6 BB/100 at heads up to 3 BB/100 at 3-handed to 2 BB/100 at 4-handed to about 1 BB/100 at 5-10 handed. Incredibly, I make the same amount at one heads up table as I do at 4-5 full tables even factoring in bonuses. So regardless of how many full tables I have going, I’ll always being sitting alone at a table trying to get a new game started with the intention of sitting out or leaving one of my full tables if I get a short-handed game going.
Assuming there are enough tables going, I’m trying to game select and find tables where my earn will be highest. This can be tricky and involves some guesswork, especially playing different limits . I start with what I average given the number of players at that table and limit. So, if there is a 6 handed 15-30 game going, I’ll assume that I can make $30 per 100 hands if it’s a typical game. From there I’ll look at the players in the game and try to guess how much above or below average the players are compared to a typical 15-30 game. If it’s a really soft game I might estimate that I can make $60. There might be a 5-handed 30-60 game going at the same time that’s about an average game where I’d also guess I can make $60 per 100 hands. At this point, I’d choose the 15-30 game because I can make the same amount of money with less variance. This all assumes I need one more table to max out whatever I’m able to play that day. But once I’ve hit my max of 5-7 tables, I’m surveying the lobby as much as possible to see if a new game is starting or if an easier game has opened up. I’m estimating what my earn would be at a potential new table and comparing it with the worst earning table I have going and swapping out if necessary.
Lastly, assuming I have a choice, I try to choose the best seat possible at a table. My belief is that the best seat at the table is either immediately before or immediately after a bad player. The ideal seat being in between two bad players. Money is won by making better decisions than your opponents and you make the most decisions against the players seated to your immediate right and left. So, I want to make the most decisions possible against the people that will make the most mistakes against me.
All this is what I call the game within the game. Strangely it can be just as, if not more, important to my bottom line as how I’m playing the actual game of poker.
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Back to 50-100
That may be a record for the shortest amount of time taken off from a limit. My 50-100 hiatus lasted all of 3 1/2 days. I've been on quite a tear winning 598 big bets and 33K since breaking from 50-100.
I did actually play a few 50-100 hands this morning, there were a couple games I couldn't resist. I'll continue to be very selective about the 50 games I get in. There have been a lot of good games at that limit so I anticipate I'll be putting in a fair amount of hands in the upcoming weeks.
The World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) starts in a little over a month. I haven't decided exactly which events I'll be playing but at least a handful of them. I've been playing several tournaments a week since I got back from the World Series trying to stay sharp for all the big tournies I'll enter next year. So I look forward to the WCOOP, it should be a good test of my no-limit game.
I did actually play a few 50-100 hands this morning, there were a couple games I couldn't resist. I'll continue to be very selective about the 50 games I get in. There have been a lot of good games at that limit so I anticipate I'll be putting in a fair amount of hands in the upcoming weeks.
The World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) starts in a little over a month. I haven't decided exactly which events I'll be playing but at least a handful of them. I've been playing several tournaments a week since I got back from the World Series trying to stay sharp for all the big tournies I'll enter next year. So I look forward to the WCOOP, it should be a good test of my no-limit game.
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Check your Ego at the Door
There is no place for an ego at a poker table. It can be argued that it's helpful away from the table but at the table it's only detrimental.
One of the biggest mistakes I see players make is playing in games with better players because they can't or don't want to admit to themselves that a game is too tough. This includes staying at tables where bad players leave and are replaced by good players. It also includes knowingly playing in tougher games to prove to themselves or others they can beat those players or that limit. I see this often with heads up players. A good player will sit with someone they can't admit is better than them and lose all of their money. Poker is about winning money, it's not about saying, "I beat so and so" or being able to say "I crushed the 300-600 game for x amount of $'s". If it is about that, poker will humble you*
*Phil Hellmuth excluded
I find I play my best poker when my ego has absolutely nothing to do with my thought process at the tables. It's at these times that poker is strictly about making decisions which will yield the highest expected return for me. This applies to in-hand decisions as well as game selection decisions. When playing, I'm constantly juggling tables, swapping better tables in and bad tables out - this is a big part of my overall success. I'm also leaving tables if there are no fish sitting at them, regardless of whether I think I'm the best player left at the table or not. In addition to avoiding better heads up players than me, I also avoid players I think I have a small to medium edge over. There are enough bad heads up players at my limits that playing even average players is not efficient use of my time or mental energy.
I find I play my worst poker when I let my ego interfere with my thought process. For example, player X has raised my big blind sixteen straight times. My ego says, "Doesn't he know who I am, I've won more money then he'll ever win." Instead of focusing on what I should be doing to counter his strategy, I'm letting my ego and emotions get the best of me. Another example, a 3rd player sits down to my immediate left when I'm playing somebody heads up. My ego says, "Why does this guy keep sitting at my heads up games, doesn't he know sitting with me in a 3-handed game is a losing proposition. And why does he always have to sit on my left?" Instead I should be refocusing my thought processes and strategy for 3-handed play. After all, someone will sit at my table eventually and there will always be somebody acting after me regardless of where they sit.
Losing your ego at a poker table is a huge obstacle out of the way. You can focus solely on playing poker and making the best decisions.
One of the biggest mistakes I see players make is playing in games with better players because they can't or don't want to admit to themselves that a game is too tough. This includes staying at tables where bad players leave and are replaced by good players. It also includes knowingly playing in tougher games to prove to themselves or others they can beat those players or that limit. I see this often with heads up players. A good player will sit with someone they can't admit is better than them and lose all of their money. Poker is about winning money, it's not about saying, "I beat so and so" or being able to say "I crushed the 300-600 game for x amount of $'s". If it is about that, poker will humble you*
*Phil Hellmuth excluded
I find I play my best poker when my ego has absolutely nothing to do with my thought process at the tables. It's at these times that poker is strictly about making decisions which will yield the highest expected return for me. This applies to in-hand decisions as well as game selection decisions. When playing, I'm constantly juggling tables, swapping better tables in and bad tables out - this is a big part of my overall success. I'm also leaving tables if there are no fish sitting at them, regardless of whether I think I'm the best player left at the table or not. In addition to avoiding better heads up players than me, I also avoid players I think I have a small to medium edge over. There are enough bad heads up players at my limits that playing even average players is not efficient use of my time or mental energy.
I find I play my worst poker when I let my ego interfere with my thought process. For example, player X has raised my big blind sixteen straight times. My ego says, "Doesn't he know who I am, I've won more money then he'll ever win." Instead of focusing on what I should be doing to counter his strategy, I'm letting my ego and emotions get the best of me. Another example, a 3rd player sits down to my immediate left when I'm playing somebody heads up. My ego says, "Why does this guy keep sitting at my heads up games, doesn't he know sitting with me in a 3-handed game is a losing proposition. And why does he always have to sit on my left?" Instead I should be refocusing my thought processes and strategy for 3-handed play. After all, someone will sit at my table eventually and there will always be somebody acting after me regardless of where they sit.
Losing your ego at a poker table is a huge obstacle out of the way. You can focus solely on playing poker and making the best decisions.
Monday, July 20, 2009
Some Relief
The poker gods are either trying to tell me something or are just having fun with me. After about the worst 30,000 hand stretch I've been through and the decision to stop playing 50-100 (see last blog entry), it's as if a switch has been turned on and I can't lose a hand.
On top of this, I final tabled the $100 rebuy on Stars finishing 9th and winning about 9 out of 10 coin-flips along the way. I'm not complaining by any stretch but couldn't this have happened sometime during the prior 30,000 hands?
On top of this, I final tabled the $100 rebuy on Stars finishing 9th and winning about 9 out of 10 coin-flips along the way. I'm not complaining by any stretch but couldn't this have happened sometime during the prior 30,000 hands?
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Dropping Down a Limit
I made the decision to stop playing 50-100 until I'm able to build my bankroll back up to 100K. I had decided earlier this week that if my Stars bankroll dropped below 60K, that I'd stop 50-100 - I had started the month with about 80K and am now down to 58K. Nearly every day this month has looked eerily similar to this:
What's frustrating (besides losing a lot of money) is that the 50-100 games aren't too much different than the 30-60 games in terms of skill level. In fact they are probably easier on a whole because I'm more selective with them. A big difference however is that I haven't been able to get many heads up and 3-handed hands in. There aren't a lot of heads up players at 50-100 and if a bad player sits, the sharks instantly swarm in and it ends up being 6-handed where my win rate is lower and variance is higher. So for my bankroll and mind's sake, 50-100 will have to wait.
This is what my dismal month has looked like to this point:
The Won$SD stat tells it all. I'm usually at about 50%.
On an unrelated note, I got to play heads up with Orel Hershiser for a while last night. He seemed like a very nice guy and a competent limit player. An observer asked him what he used to do when he was off his game and he said, "Practice, practice and I'd switch up my daily routine from time to time without changing the core components. Some of my best pitches were thrown in the bullpen. Also, I always believed I was the best." That's a champion talking.
What's frustrating (besides losing a lot of money) is that the 50-100 games aren't too much different than the 30-60 games in terms of skill level. In fact they are probably easier on a whole because I'm more selective with them. A big difference however is that I haven't been able to get many heads up and 3-handed hands in. There aren't a lot of heads up players at 50-100 and if a bad player sits, the sharks instantly swarm in and it ends up being 6-handed where my win rate is lower and variance is higher. So for my bankroll and mind's sake, 50-100 will have to wait.
This is what my dismal month has looked like to this point:
The Won$SD stat tells it all. I'm usually at about 50%.
On an unrelated note, I got to play heads up with Orel Hershiser for a while last night. He seemed like a very nice guy and a competent limit player. An observer asked him what he used to do when he was off his game and he said, "Practice, practice and I'd switch up my daily routine from time to time without changing the core components. Some of my best pitches were thrown in the bullpen. Also, I always believed I was the best." That's a champion talking.
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