Strange times in the poker world with the shermans getting the boot.
I've noticed very little difference in the games on stars if i'm honest. They seem to be just as good. As long as there are some crazy Russians I don't care.
While I'm on the subject, what is it with Russians and their inability to play poker? If 2+2 translate their books we're all fucked.
Thursday 21 April 2011
Sunday 3 April 2011
not posted in a looong time but this is semi interesting...
So I've always been a pretty solid full ring limit hold em player. Over the course of my poker playing career I've always made decent money playing this game but lets be honest, it's as boring as fuck.
In my relentless search to find something that piques my interest and makes me money I've pretty much tried every form of poker ever with varying degrees of failure. I got pretty hooked on heads up limit a while ago but, truth be told, I'm not very good at it. That's ok though because it has solved more problems than it's created.
About 3 months ago I was pretty hard up in poker and in life. Yeah I had a job that earned me decent wages but not much of a bankroll and very little spare cash.
One semi drunken evening I logged on to stars on a whim and sat at a 6 max lhe table. I've tried 6 max before but it was a disaster. This time something really clicked. I handled my opponents aggression really well after being used to playing huhu and there was no tilt, never over defended my blinds and just played really solid loose and aggressive poker.
fucking hallefuckinglujah.
anyhoo... 3 months down the line I've worked my way up from .10/.20c to $2/$4 playing a shitload of hands and actually enjoying poker again.
Moral of the story: If you want to go from full ring to short handed, learn to play heads up.
In my relentless search to find something that piques my interest and makes me money I've pretty much tried every form of poker ever with varying degrees of failure. I got pretty hooked on heads up limit a while ago but, truth be told, I'm not very good at it. That's ok though because it has solved more problems than it's created.
About 3 months ago I was pretty hard up in poker and in life. Yeah I had a job that earned me decent wages but not much of a bankroll and very little spare cash.
One semi drunken evening I logged on to stars on a whim and sat at a 6 max lhe table. I've tried 6 max before but it was a disaster. This time something really clicked. I handled my opponents aggression really well after being used to playing huhu and there was no tilt, never over defended my blinds and just played really solid loose and aggressive poker.
fucking hallefuckinglujah.
anyhoo... 3 months down the line I've worked my way up from .10/.20c to $2/$4 playing a shitload of hands and actually enjoying poker again.
Moral of the story: If you want to go from full ring to short handed, learn to play heads up.
Monday 9 August 2010
I'll Be Back
Currently planning a glorious return to poker in January all going well.
Still playing - not anything like full time and don't think I've got anything very interesting to add to this blog in terms of the pokers at this time.
Still playing - not anything like full time and don't think I've got anything very interesting to add to this blog in terms of the pokers at this time.
Friday 5 March 2010
Fucking Jeebus
Can't believe I haven't posted here for so long - thought about it, never got round to it. Not a helluva lot to report on the poker front. Played a bit live, won some moneys, shirked online, fucked around.
I got back into online play a little last month and made a return to 9 tabling full ring limit hold em or 2 tabling O8 with another 4 of LHE. It's really gone pretty ok so far. The tilt problems have completely vanished, the motivation levels are up and I'm pretty happy with stuff so far.
I've got like a vague goal of getting supernova this year and going for supernova elite next year - grinding like a motherfucker.
Right now it's all pretty chilled. I don't really need to play every day. I'm pretty comfortable for the foreseeable future and I'll take my time getting back into the swing of things.
Hope all of you are well and pwning the tables!
I got back into online play a little last month and made a return to 9 tabling full ring limit hold em or 2 tabling O8 with another 4 of LHE. It's really gone pretty ok so far. The tilt problems have completely vanished, the motivation levels are up and I'm pretty happy with stuff so far.
I've got like a vague goal of getting supernova this year and going for supernova elite next year - grinding like a motherfucker.
Right now it's all pretty chilled. I don't really need to play every day. I'm pretty comfortable for the foreseeable future and I'll take my time getting back into the swing of things.
Hope all of you are well and pwning the tables!
Wednesday 15 July 2009
Two Steps Forward, One Step Back...
... is still better than one step forward, two steps back.
more later
more later
Wednesday 8 July 2009
Hard Going
I've been finding it pretty difficult to adapt to heads up play and hit a run of bad luck over a few days - particularly in AIPF situations. I'll spare you the details as I'm sure you're all familiar with the type of stuff I'm talking about. Unfortunately it also coincided with moving up so back down I went to rebuild my confidence.
I'm continuing to plug away though and I've managed to stick to the goals I set myself at the beginning of the month (apart from the make money part obv). I was probably a bit niaive to think I could just step in and dominate at the lower limits.
I'm just going to keep playing and studying the game and the results will follow. I might book a coaching session with a hu player at the end of the month to go over my hand histories and point out any leaks. Reviewing them myself has pointed out a few mistakes that I'm trying to rectify.
A breakeven month certainly wouldn't be the end of the world.
I'm continuing to plug away though and I've managed to stick to the goals I set myself at the beginning of the month (apart from the make money part obv). I was probably a bit niaive to think I could just step in and dominate at the lower limits.
I'm just going to keep playing and studying the game and the results will follow. I might book a coaching session with a hu player at the end of the month to go over my hand histories and point out any leaks. Reviewing them myself has pointed out a few mistakes that I'm trying to rectify.
A breakeven month certainly wouldn't be the end of the world.
Tuesday 30 June 2009
July and Some Goals
I'm making some (a lot) of changes with regards to poker this month. Since I went back to playing for a living things have been ticking over nicely and I've been making a steady income but my shortcomings as a player have been made apparent as I moved up in stakes. I'm going to take a more professional approach to poker and try to follow the example of other people.
First of all I'm going to play HUSNG's. I've developed some leaks in my game which are going to take a bit of fixing. I think the best way for me to do this is to take a month out of my normal games and learn something new. I can then go back (if i want to) with a clear head and analise my game better. Basically my options were plo or hu - plo can wait.
The main benefit of learning something new is that I'll get back in to the habit of study and review, something I used to do religeously but has fallen way down on my list of priorities. It's very east to get stuck in a rut with poker and before you know it the games have evolved and your win rate slowly dwindles to nothing. With the absolute wealth of poker kowledge out there you need to take advantage of it just to stay ahead of the fish.
I've played a couple of hundred HUSNG's over the past few days and the great thing I've discovered is that there are games going 24 hours. I woke up at 4am the other day and managed to get a game no problem. There seems to be bad players at all hours too.
The Plan
Play $11 HU with 50 buy ins - move up when i hit 50 buy ins for the next level. I'm going to be using rakeback and bonuses as part of my bankroll this month - this is something I never ever do but it'll help me move up pretty fast. The reason I'm doing this is to help me find a level where I'm not quite comfortable - again encouraging me to review my play and seek out answers for tough situations.
Volume
I don't know if I can sustain 100 or more matches in a day as i find them quite mentally draining. I'm going to aim for 50 as a minimum but think I'll get into the swing of things in a week or so.
Tilt
None. Ever. Step away from the computer. Play no poker. This is going to be a big factor this month. I'm only going to be 2 tabling and I'll be paying close attention so those runner runner straights and rivered sets are going to sting a little. I need to stay positive.
Study
I'm renewing my subscriptions for Stoxpoker and Deucescracked and will use them on a daily basis. I've also got the book I'll plough through a couple of times. I'm going to post hands and try to contribute to forums. It might be time to dust off Theory of Poker too.
Take Notes
I'm really lazy when it comes to taking notes on opponents but I NEED to start doing this.
Money
Make some. I don't have a clear money goal as that would be pretty silly given I'm totally new to HU games. I'll be trying to move up so I won't have the comfort of rakeback to fall back on.
In addition to the poker challenges, I have to stop my wife spending all of my bankroll which is winging it's way to my bank account as we speak. She's already said "if you can make money with a $500 bankroll what do you need the rest for?"
Alarm bell are ringing.
First of all I'm going to play HUSNG's. I've developed some leaks in my game which are going to take a bit of fixing. I think the best way for me to do this is to take a month out of my normal games and learn something new. I can then go back (if i want to) with a clear head and analise my game better. Basically my options were plo or hu - plo can wait.
The main benefit of learning something new is that I'll get back in to the habit of study and review, something I used to do religeously but has fallen way down on my list of priorities. It's very east to get stuck in a rut with poker and before you know it the games have evolved and your win rate slowly dwindles to nothing. With the absolute wealth of poker kowledge out there you need to take advantage of it just to stay ahead of the fish.
I've played a couple of hundred HUSNG's over the past few days and the great thing I've discovered is that there are games going 24 hours. I woke up at 4am the other day and managed to get a game no problem. There seems to be bad players at all hours too.
The Plan
Play $11 HU with 50 buy ins - move up when i hit 50 buy ins for the next level. I'm going to be using rakeback and bonuses as part of my bankroll this month - this is something I never ever do but it'll help me move up pretty fast. The reason I'm doing this is to help me find a level where I'm not quite comfortable - again encouraging me to review my play and seek out answers for tough situations.
Volume
I don't know if I can sustain 100 or more matches in a day as i find them quite mentally draining. I'm going to aim for 50 as a minimum but think I'll get into the swing of things in a week or so.
Tilt
None. Ever. Step away from the computer. Play no poker. This is going to be a big factor this month. I'm only going to be 2 tabling and I'll be paying close attention so those runner runner straights and rivered sets are going to sting a little. I need to stay positive.
Study
I'm renewing my subscriptions for Stoxpoker and Deucescracked and will use them on a daily basis. I've also got the book I'll plough through a couple of times. I'm going to post hands and try to contribute to forums. It might be time to dust off Theory of Poker too.
Take Notes
I'm really lazy when it comes to taking notes on opponents but I NEED to start doing this.
Money
Make some. I don't have a clear money goal as that would be pretty silly given I'm totally new to HU games. I'll be trying to move up so I won't have the comfort of rakeback to fall back on.
In addition to the poker challenges, I have to stop my wife spending all of my bankroll which is winging it's way to my bank account as we speak. She's already said "if you can make money with a $500 bankroll what do you need the rest for?"
Alarm bell are ringing.
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