Quotes that clicked for me

I am going to try to blog about poker learnings that finally clicked for me.

One was Clonie's article in Bluff this month. She said that even pro players only plan to win approx. 60% of the time.

For me this was a light turning on moment. I have heard many times similar advice relating to this. For example "don't manufacture a win" from Mike Caro makes sense, but didn't click.

I think I am ready to have regular loosing sessions now and I think this will make me a better player. This may seem counter intuitive but sitting down expecting to win, rather than expecting to make good decisions I think is a critical difference.

I am not expecting the fact that this clicked for me to have the same light bulb moment for all of you. For this comment from Clonie to click with me, it took layers and layers of other learning to cap it off. What I am excited about is that lately I have had a lot of these moments. I think this comes from much more hand review and analysis and not playing.

Again this may seem counter intuitive, how can not playing make me a better player? Well I guess the wise old general stands back and watches the war, sometimes being in the thick of it can cause you to repeat past behaviors.

good luck at the tables and come out ahead 60% of the time and take it to the bank eh!
--Felter

Worthy of note

I haven't been blogging as much as I have been posting on PCH, but here is a post that I think I need to post here to remember:

btw I think it's a good idea to share what finally fixed my want to step up. I held a belief that caused most of the want to step up. I believed that poker wasn't really poker until you hit $1 because anything lower the craziest shit happens because it's only $20 bucks or $50 bucks.But what fixed me to see this is WRONG was:

1) Slurpee Dude - saying it 4000 times to me and consistently showing me that he had that humble ability to play at any level and for a cocky mf he kept his ego out of his stakes.... it eventually started to sink in....
2) Being here showed me that the same insane manic crazy ass play happen at higher stakes too. Take some of Travis's or Clayton's posted hands. It is all relative and I see that now,
3) This facebook mess age from a friend who was regularly winning at live poker. This guy I respect a lot. He is basically a mad genius in life and he was this straight with me after a "why me, I am so good" rant like you have all seen here. He replied with this:

Quote
"I hear you're pain. I've good news and bad news for you although maybe it's kind of arrogant for me to presume I can give you advice. First, though, you can't really be serious about a million hands can you? Um, I figure that's about 15 years at 40 hours a week. So the answer's no. Anyhow, the bad news is that although the donkeys at micro limits can definitely get lucky and stack you once in a while, they are still easier to beat than simply bad, good and very good players. In other words, if you can't beat bad players, you can't beat good ones. Sorry dude. The good news is that it sounds like you're doing the things you need to do to become a good player, mostly meaning it sounds like you've got discipline. And you're reading books. It sounds like you're playing freerolls when you can but spend the rest of your time playing NL cash games. That sounds like a pretty good idea. Although it may not be intuitive, NL cash games have a lower variance than limit cash games at what seem to be comparable stakes and certainly less variance than tourneys. So, NL cash games are definitely where you want to spend you time. All I can say is keep reading books. Let me know if I got the wrong impression about what you're doing. Like, let me know if you're playing more limit than NL, because there's some good computer programs you could get that will help you build mad skills fast."

I tried hard to reply back and save my dignity after that reply.... an couldn't. The light went on, I get it now.

--Felter

btw that buddy of mine isn't playing right now because he feels he "just doesn't need more money right now" bless him. Mad genius I tell you. I have a agreat story about getting arrested with this Dude that I will share later lol oh and as a live only player he had a hard time believing the 800k+ hands I have played

Session

I originally posted this on PCH then though it would be better here on my Blog. I was posting this as I was playing and man it was six pounds of ugly in a five pound bag.

Felt like playing a little hard core for fun say what you want but I am finishing this session up huge just you wait!

So I sit down at a SH table of at least two maniacs and two known fish...

I am buying in with $25 (short stacking it)Saw this guy raise with anything and anything 4 out of the last 8 hands 5-10x blinds, so figured I had the best hand, and I did
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1441649

Trying a little push on the flush draw... we turn over... YES.... river... lol
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1441624

Sweet Ship it (but look at the river and tell me you didnt think it just happened again):
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1441657

Now is there anyone here besides me who would make this call against this guy. figure he had a K likely a weak one.... I had a gut shot and the flush draw...
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1441668
I know, a better push than a call but on a coin flip sure.

This is starting to get serious!! Updates again in a few minutes.... right now down what is that $100 bucksEDIT: no that's only $75

Wow
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1441703
and the best part he says sorry I put you on AK!! ROFLROFLROFL (I just wet myself)

hmmmm
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1441743


http://www.pokerhand.org/?1441784
sigh....

well now the way up for this session is getting a little tough lol Can't rebuy, stop loss in effect ...

hopefully things will turn around

Edit:I fold here but this is the hand where that guy donks all my chips away to another player:
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1441918
What percentage of times do you need your oponent to fold to make this the right push? What an idiot!

and this will do it for me, wow again today
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1441949

Bit of a Big Feltering in this session I must say...Wanted to play a little more, but figured I was on tilt so I went down to 10 cent:
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1441994

yeah that's enough of that for today lol$244 down to ..... $125, and stopping there!! Really wanted to post some good stuff.... guess there is always next time

Then I moved over to Full Tilt and things went a little better

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1442025
(.... and I had him on AK LOL )

OH heres a new one that went my way.
I let him bluff the river and he did, I did struggle with the call a bit though
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1442180

SHIP IT!!! (dirty Felter I know)
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1442233

Didn't continue posting after this one but things went well. I ended up up $150 at Full Tilt and down $125 or so at Absolute. Roller coaster ride, but I enjoyed the agression. I can't afford the swings right now, so I will chill out in future sessions once again.

Anyone wants to comment or trash my playing of any of these, post away....


--Felter

Week 1

Well in week one how did I do to stick to my promises?

I give it a B-

I have successfully changed my mind set. I no longer have a poker goal in mind and I no longer have aspirations of working hard and improving until being semi pro (and it has helped). Actually it has helped me play better as well. Could it be easier to not look at the money already in the pot as lost money when you aren't frustrated to high heaven that your PT graph is flat for two weeks... I think it is. It is amazingly easier to operate as Caro would say with the philosophy of "you are even right now" in a hand, out of a hand, before a session, after a session, you are not up or down you are even right now.

This has allowed me to make some folds that I have not been making and my game that I always believed in, added with some solid folds has given me a confidence at the table that I have not felt since my last heater. As a mater of fact I have never felt this strong at the tables and not gone on a huge heater.

Anyway as I have said I recently got the gift of $44 to have a little life and I have been short stacking it at 50 cent 200BB short handed on Absolute with it. It almost seems too easy this week, so I am likely hitting when I need to, and folding when I need to, a good combination.

The $44 with some slow careful play has turned into $244. Only one sit and go, and I won that, and only one MTT for 1$ and was in first just before the bubble and ...... bubbled somehow (two bad beats in a row to the only chip stacks that could hurt me... I got some good advice off line from Bronx and see how I could have avoided them now however. Huge favorite yes, needed to be involved ... not so much.

So how have I been balancing things, as this was my promise that I couldn't play at all (cold turkey) if I Couldn't get the rest of my life in balance. This is where the A goes to a B-

I have played about four sessions of an hour or two. They were after I had exercised, finished work, taken time with the kids, and they were not taking away from family time. So all of that is good. There is a lot of sharp making session elements there now that I look at it. I have lost my first few pounds, reversing a two+ year trend. So about as good as could be expected.

I do still feel the pull to play too much however. Four sessions of an hour or two was absolutely more than I had intended to play, but then again I had some holidays in the past week so maybe it's OK.

I am not playing when I should be working (this was never a big problem but more of a little leak that happened once in a while) so work is as productive as possible.

So all in all, it is nice to have a few bucks to play with, I wish I could be at higher stakes, but I have learned the same lessons enough times now to know that I might as well flush the cash down the toilet if I am going to step up.

So you should see me at 50 cent short stacking it to $500 then 100BB stacks until 1K then full buy in to 2K before I consider anything else. Some sit & go's and MTT mixed in. I will keep posting honest references to the amount I am playing and the balance in my life I am keeping.

In that way the BLOG is likely to be a great way to be honest with myself and anyone who reads it. Without it maybe I could slippery slope it.

Playing in fun with no time frame or goals in mind. Health and family first.
--Felter

Life Lessons

I am going to try to keep this post brief as I really need to get to work, but I tell you I have learned a lot of life lessons over the past few weeks

First of all there is no question that I was at risk of allowing poker to take over my life. The shadow mission concept certainly applies here. Poker was taking away from my quality of life and certainly not adding to it in many ways.

Secondly with poker as with anything in life if you want it too badly you may choke it too death by trying to hard. I ended up chasing long bad sessions, with twice as long worse sessions, and while yes it was a bad run, it also could almost have been a cosmic intervention of some kind too. I needed something to show me how stressful poker was making my life.

Thirdly a community is very important for whatever you do in life. Don't isolate yourself, and be honest with those around you. You may just find that they are either struggling with the same things you are and or even better they may have a better solution than you.

So all in all I did retire.... and I still am retired from my quest to hit that run and not go pro but have poker contribute significantly to my financial position with regularity would be the best way to say it.

I practically was busted out, and it was for good I can say now. I gave away my last few freerolls, to Gilby and shyguy and they came through for me. Sort of a reverse intervention of sorts. Gilby took on the challenge of a 5K free roll and took an ugly beat to finish out of the money. The chips went in as a huge favorite what more can be done. Shyguy ran better and played really well (or so it sounds) and hit a mid level micro stakes cash, and we split it.

I am not even worried about what is there now to keep me alive. I am putting all other aspects of my life first now and it feels great!

And you know what. The hour or two I might sit down when I truly have some leisure time, I am having fun, not stressing out, and .... winning

Now before anyone says slippery slope, please understand that when there is a completely different mind set in place, it really isn't about that. The goal switch is off, the hope switch is off, and the only thing that is there if I get some time to play, is what brought me to the game in the first place.... and what makes me love chess for that matter.... to learn, to improve, to have the mental challenge and make the best decisions I can, and learn when it doesn't work out.

So retired yes, but that doesn't mean I won't be improving at a slow burn.... well enough for now, I have stuff to do people!!!

Note: for future posts I will enjoy getting out of life's lessons and back into poker lessons as the opportunity arises

Time I hung it up

I have been playing for about two years now and it has been a roller coaster ride to say the least. I have studied hard, read many books, magazines, internet articles, blogs, and put into practice advice from all of you. I have played no less than 400,000 hands of cash and likely more than that. I have either studied or played poker for 15 hours or more a week for those two years as well.Unfortunately I have built what I feel is honestly a pretty decent body of knowledge over that time, but I can't change the fact that I have stretched to stay in the game and not been able to.

I took one final shot tonight and as anything in poker does it had it's up and downs, but I was sucked out on in two tourneys, and no less than 6 times at cash. The river she was cruel but that's OK that's what it's meant to do, and it do it well. I have worked to be painfully honest at all times so I won't stop now, that's how it was. None of the 8 had me at less than a four to one favorite into the river... and frankly I don't think I need to do this to myself any more What I have known for some weeks now while I was in my death throws was that poker, while I love it, has had a more negative impact on my life than positive. It brings a thrill yes, but really a lot of stress that I think I will be better without. I have built a thicker and thicker skin (although likely not ever thick enough) but there is no denying the knots in my stomach that I carry for days lately every time I see a river that sends the pot the other way again. Frankly the knots are there lately when I just think about playing poker.

Take tonight for example, my wife is out of town, it's just me and my son at home tonight, I could have curled up with him and fallen asleep happily. Instead after he was in bed I gave it one more kick at the cat and now I am sitting awake at 2 AM feeling another of the lowest of the lows of poker.It takes time from my kids, it takes time from my wife, time from work, and well that's enough right there.I refuse to let this go any further. Life is too sweet and fantastic to need this stress. Don't worry, I am have not allowed it to affect me significantly financially at all, I have always tried to not buy in and I have come pretty close to that. I am only out a small amount of cash, but I will say that I have pushed relationships a bit to do it. And most importantly I see in my drive to do well at this, a huge risk that I may get lost in it, and or want to buy in one more time, one more time, one more time.

I have dreamed of poker supplementing my income for the past two years. Every day thinking about what it would be like to work hard enough and go pro, what I would buy with a couple grand more... now however the idea of having and unavoidably learning to depend on, a poker related income, now has a claustrophobic feeling to it.So I retire, I may stick my nose in here from time to time but I really hope I don't do it too often, I have kids to raise and a house to work on and a community to give my heart and soul to every day. (This is not to say that you can't do it all, I just so happen to not be able to do it all)

I completely respect you guys for either having the constitution required to live this way, or the intelligence and wisdom to keep it better than I have seen it, and or for some of you the ability to keep it truly recreational and be happy with that.You are an honourable admirable bunch I hope the world for you all, and I will admit it does kind of suck to burn out just before live legal NL and the PCH league comes to Winnipeg.If anyone is wondering why the heck this nutty guy typed all this ... I mean who the hell cares!?!? Well I care, giving this dream up actually means something to me, but I need to do it. I hope that makes sense and who knows maybe someone else one day will read this and identify with it.Take Care,Big Felter - out

Wild couple of months

Well it has been a wild couple of months to say the least. I was within striking distance of my 2K goal built up from micro stakes, then had to buy a laptop with half of it and went on a bad run for the rest.

I can't deny two things about my bad run 1) it was bad, nothing held up and it really really really sucked and 2) it beat me down mentally so that what I didn't give away to the bad run, I did give away at the end to bad play.

So despite all my bitching and moaning on PegCity I have made some changes to my game with what I have left to play with, (and that is next to nothing). I hope it holds up because if I loose this it will be a very long time before I rebuy. I managed to let my credit card grow to a sufficiently wife angering point somehow (and she is right,. and no it was not poker money, as posted before I have not directly bought in) so I need to be very very careful.

The changes are helping and with hands holding up I have had a nice week. Not a profitable week but a nice one. Cards have played as they should and no big surprises... Now this is only four days since I was viciously 2 and 3 outed for two more buy ins, but with the support of the guys I may have managed to stay sane.

I talked about the changes in the posts, but here are a couple that have helped:
1) Continuation betting less or at least being more selective when I do it, and also factoring in a decrease in continuation betting simply because of the stakes I am playing at. Guys will do all kinds of crazy shit once you drop below $1 (although 50 cent is not bad I will admit). So assuming I am going to get called by just plain bad poker say 15% of the time so keep the chips a little closer to me... I am aware that there is a fine line between this change and playing worse less aggressive poker. I think I see the difference clearly and it may be putting me closer to optimal play anyway.

2) As was recommended to me recently I am sticking closer to the top ten hands. I am doing this for two reasons. First with the limited bank I have, I need to be mixing it up less, and I think I have allowed myself to open up too much again. Something feels good about the last few session when I am folding hands without position that I was pretty much leaning towards playing from any position. The only time I am playing the sneakier hands right now is when it is a no brainer and I just CANT fold it. You know what... that sounds about right. I feel that I have been making the suited connector in early or AJ in early folds that I need to be making.

With these changes I have also increased my aggression with the top ten hands, and or when the time is right which also feels good.

Anyway basically I am working on my TAG game rather than my LAG game that I prefer. Not a bad thing.

I think if I can survive this lowest point, then I may be able to look back on the last two months as needed learning.

Oh and one more thing. I haven't been playing much at all. I have made time for other things lately and that has also been feeling good. My sessions have been a focused short 1-2 hour at most, and then rather than take the risk of loosing concentration I leave and get something done around the house... I intend to continue to play less or at least shorter sessions for a while. I must admit I do feel like I am coming out of a bit of a poker induced mental fog around the rest of my life..

Anyway I am tired and I am rambling so good night !!

--Felter

The love of a four year old...

I was outside cleaning the pool early this morning enjoying the peace and quiet and the cool morning breeze. A great moment. Then this little voice calls out from the open upstairs window "Daaaaaad, are you up here".
"I am outside bud what's up"
"I'n awake and I wann, I wann play Spiderman"
"How about some breakfast first, buddy?"

Then my sons little four year old face appears at the window

"There you are" with a beaming smile, "OK.... we can have breakfast fiiiirst, but you better come upstairs for a hug first"

Nice moment, for those of you with kids, I know you understand. As I finished up with the pool in a hurry to go and see my boy buddy (I have a best girl buddy, a daughter too) , I was left with the thought of how he is growing up so fast and I need to soak up every moment I get.
Never again in my life will someone show me this unconditional love as he does right now. A treasure more than measure.
As for my daughter... well unconditional hate may be more like it, she turned 12 and is all of a moody teenager. But she is a treasure too in her own way right now ;) Talk about surviving swings, I walk into one room and I am the smartest, coolest guy in the world. Then on a high I walk into the next room, say hi and get the eye roll, dismissal of a teenager.
Take care of those families people!

Well it's time

I just typed up a two page post that set me straight on the past two months. I was really proud of the insight and the recap of all the errors I had made ...

Then the fucking Blogger site lost the post and brought me back to a fucking empty page... you don't expect to take a bad beat when writing a post on how you are going to avoid taking beats in the future....

Sorry to anyone who reads this, but I just don't have it in me to type it all over again.

Dammit...

--Felter

Articles: Starting from Zero

Articles: Starting from Zero: "To ensure that I keep my bankroll intact, I've adopted some key rules:

• 
  I'll never buy into a cash game or a Sit & Go with more than 5 percent of my total bankroll (there is an exception for the lowest limits: I'm allowed to buy into any game with a buy-in of $2.50 or less).
• I won't buy into a multi-table tournament for more than 2 percent of my total bankroll and I'm allowed to buy into any multi-table tournament that costs $1.
  If at any time during a No-Limit or Pot-Limit cash-game session the money on the table represents more than 10 percent of my total bankroll, I must leave the game when the blinds reach me. "

I have adopted this and it really really sucks, but likley it will really really help....

Limit

The last post is way better than this one, but I need to vent I HATE LIMIT!!!

Playing heads up limit Omaha Hi and this DAMN CALLING STATION RIVER RAT keeps hit ungodly hands on the river... for an hour now he hits crazy shit every freaking time. I could kill him, I really could. THIS IS STEAMING BROTHER, I AM IT,

... better go, I need to hit something!

Ran bad, but with new learning... so I am ok with that

I haven't done the math yet, but it was not a pretty week. I must have cut my +$1500.00 run down by a third this week. I will check and post the damage but there is something interesting to go over first (ugh as I type this I had another guy (a total fish) hit a set to my over pair... I hate those kicks in the gut!).... sigh



Anyway, as I said I certainly ran bad this week, lots of hands I just could not get away from. Over sets, two pair to my top top, over flushed, coolered you name it, I hit it this week. But there is more to it than that. This was also a week that I Added a new element to my ....



HOLD ON I have the fish heads up... ok made a few more bucks before the table filled up again.



As I was saying this is also a week that I added a new element to my game. Through discussion with poker partner Slurpee Dude on some reading he was doing recently we decided that the biggest difference between ourselves and the players that have the ROI trajectory that we are trying to get to is money left on the table in the hands that are somewhat marginal wins. This may sound like some pretty basic stuff but knowing it is one thing, put it into practice is entirely another.



The change I was trying to implement was to call less and be the last bet into the pot more often. For example it was a while ago that I realized that AK should be a raising hand not a call when the pot is already opened kind of hand... but that is the easiest one to do.



So I took the advice to raise more, or fold, not call and tried to work it into my game (Keep in mind that last set of changes I made made a huge impact on my profitability giving me the best stats and profit run I have experienced). But how to implement it...



If AK is a hand I want to be the last raise in pre flop with more often, does that apply to AQ? If not why not. While it did not feel good, I was trying to move out of my comfort zone so I pushed myself to do it, more because I could not see why not really. So imagine the leak in your game when someone opens the pot with AK and you go to the flop as the final raiser with AQ.



The other part of the changes I wanted to implement was to sharpen my reads to be able to value bet more, and allow my opponent to make drawing calls with slightly bad pot odds, but not always bet them out of the pot.



Two problems with these changes this week.... 1) They were hitting their draws every time, and 2) I was getting frustrated with the hitting and lost the ability to fold when I needed to. Next since the poker Gods seemed content to let every opponent hit a set on me, the very week I was increasing my aggression or value betting hands like large over pairs more... this also created a leak or gaping hole in my game. Obviously if you allowing your opponents to draw more often to add some to your pot 3/4 times, then you need to know a) what they are drawing to and b) be able to freakin fold when they hit and over bet their hit!!


One hand comes to mind where this hurt, I have KK against 55, an overaggressive player at 2$ hits his set on me in a rag flop, he bets into me and I raise. Then his bet on river pretty much commits me, and boom another big loss.

So all in all I don't think that it is the wrong thing to add more value to the hands I am going to win, but overall it is a mistake to go into a session adding in two more aggressive layers into your game at the same time, and thinking, ok I am going to increase the aggression to max out my profit... nothing wrong with the sentiment but if the table texture and action requires a less aggressive position you are leaving yourself very exposed... So a bad time to run bad for sure

Here is a hand where I did max out the value on:

I am Phase II with (9h9c)

Texas Hold'em $0.50-$0.50 NL (Real Money), #528,069,099
Table Mogadischu, 30 Jun 2007 12:20 PM ET
Seat 1: Phase II ($88.70 in chips)
Seat 4: Seraph235 ($96.80 in chips)
Seat 5: flundra10 ($12.45 in chips)
Seat 6: CMETAHA ($56.10 in chips)
Seat 10: DonLC14 ($53.80 in chips)
ANTES/BLINDSSeraph235 posts blind ($0.25), flundra10 posts blind ($0.50).

PRE-FLOP:
CMETAHA folds, DonLC14 folds,
Phase II bets $1.50, (9h9c)
Seraph235 calls $1.25,
flundra10 calls $1.

FLOP:
[board cards 6H,2H,8C ]
Seraph235 bets $3
flundra10 calls $3,
Phase II bets $10,
Seraph235 calls $7,
flundra10 calls $7.

TURN:
[board cards 6H,2H,8C,5S ]
Seraph235 checks, flundra10 checks, Phase II checks.

RIVER:
[board cards 6H,2H,8C,5S,9D ]
Seraph235 checks,
flundra10 checks,
Phase II bets $5,

- I thought about this bet for a long time. The had to be coming with something, and it would only take a 7 to beat me... I normally would check here, but decided from the actions of my opponents that I was a likely to get a call and that no one was open ended on the turn. I did not think I was leading the whole way I will admit.

Seraph235 calls $5,
flundra10 calls $0.95 and is all-in.

SHOWDOWN:
Phase II shows [ 9H,9C ]
Seraph235 mucks cards [ KH,8H ]
flundra10 mucks cards [ AS,6S ]

Phase II wins $8.10, Phase II wins $35.85.

So the idea is this is the extra few bucks I need to be taking down when I am far from the nuts, but likely in the lead. This big fat middle area is where I believe the profit to be that will make the difference for me.

New, New High

Things continue to go well. I am keeping myself out of trouble for the most part, and overall I am comfortable with my play. Of course I have been here before so I need to stay alert to any developing leaks in bank roll management, or play.

This is an nice place to be right now. I am not terribly worried about my cash flow which is great. It is nice to play at the limit that I can afford and have it also be a game that I can beat.

there is no question that I have been hitting and last nights session actually had some sick beats in it. For example twice I flopped top two to my opponent flopping a set, and a few other hands that are a little sticky to get away from. But I made it back and finished the session positive anyway. Believe it or not I am actually thankful for that session as I was starting to worry about the lack of sicker hands that I have been experiencing lately. I have lived through or gone broke through weeks of running bad, and it can happen again (look forward in time through my blog for the next "Man, NOTHING will hold up" post).

Anyway where I am at now:

Cash and tourney since May 2nd 2007: +1440.00

I am feeling the itch to buy myself a cheap laptop, and or pay off a little of my credit card with some of this cash, but will hold off as long as I can.

So close in a tourney

Finished 9th today in a 5K tourney for $150.00

While I should be happy as this is my best tourney cash for a very long time, I am disappointed with the final hand. Once we hit the final table, every person out would guarantee me anther 50 then 100 then more pretty quickly. So I wanted to tighten up as every position I move up the cash has value to me. There really was no room for play though, the blinds were up pretty high so for 70% of the table it was all in or nothing. I got AK and pushed. I was isolated by the chip leader (who had his money in bad several times and took guys out yuck) turns over AQ. I couldn't be happier than to have him pinned to a three outer. Flop 9 9 Q. Lights out.

Yes yes, it happens, but I played well and wanted a big cash badly so I am pretty pissed. Can't shake it so I gotta shut down my session for now, I wont be any good for cash. Knowing I am not in the mindset to play cash well does make me feel a little better (at the good decision).

Anyway moving on...

So the good news is this means I am sitting at +1200.00 since my last bust out (will need to check the date for future posts).

So I Will steal a page from GroovyT's blog and start to post my wins tracking:

Wins since May 2007: +1200.00

New High

Closed my bankroll at a new high (for this newest run since I think early 07 - would have to read my blog to be sure of the start date, but who the hell reads these things anyway)

I have $645.00 in play, but have also given my wife $90 since my restarts and of course the $250 back to Slurpee Dude. So all in all I have ran nothing but a free tourney entry into $988.00 over the past couple of months at 25 cent to 2$.

I will stop mentioning the paid outs now and just focus to the actual cash I have going forward. So as it stands right now:

$153 in click 2 pay
$83 @ Full Tilt
$412 @ Hollywood

This puts me over a quarter of the way to my 2K goal by the end of August.

What has happened over the past week. Well, I had a two day fantastic run here this week, starting last night in a 50 cent short handed NL HE game with a $5 or $10 straddle on. No word of a lie, I am in a session and this guy (bless you sir) sits down and starts to bet 5.50 or 10.50 every hand. So he takes down about 15 blinds in a row before the table starts to react to him and push back. Then all hell broke loose.

The average pot at this 50 cent table was $173.00 and not much below that for about an hour. This guy is all in preflop with anything and everything and or betting people off of the turn and the river with an all in. Soon he is up to over $700.00 (remember this is a $50.00 max buy in) and I am down about $180 (the hands don't matter playing this guy). My favorite hand that this maniac won was a re-raise all in against a guy with KK for a $180.00 pot... with 10 7 diamonds... and he hits his diamond, J high, straigh flush, very lovely.

It was neat to have to adapt my game to how he was betting, as did a couple of other better players. for example, blinds 25 and 50 cent... he makes it $10.50 I have AK o, I raise to $35, he calls, I hit I check, he bets $30 then folds to my $48 check raise. So we can say the action was sick. But I refused to play a call and pray type of game, and I think I was right.

I called up Slurpee Dude and he cashed in for a triple up before leaving. The hardest part was when I started to catch, soon I have $220 (and only up about $35) at this table, and now tangling with this guy is getting really risky. He is all in for his $600, on a hair trigger.

Thankfully he was not a good enough player to recognize that the table had adapted and he was now giving back heavily to three of us. He would bet $10.50 and he would call a big raise with his rags... sometimes catching something sick and cleaning out yet another poor sap. Anyway I kept my head and used him as I should and after he left the table I had $300 and was up about $110. Don't get me wrong it was easy , I had to fold for $130 more into a $220 pot with AQ, A high board, no straight, no flush, on river he pushed at me, and I KNOW it was a good fold against sumb crumby two pair. So I really had to keep my head. (how did I know, well I did pick up on enough betting patterns (thanks PCH boys!) to make my decision based on his betting pattern... the cards DID, NOT, MATTER, he told me what he had by how he bet.

btw he left at just under $400.00 for and there was at least three of us at the table with $200 in play at this point. Very impressive really, I applaud this guy I really do. If he was a hair saner there would be a really good chance that he could have left us all negative hundreds and savagely on tilt.

Anyway so I stayed at the table and took over his roll as the big stack. Not exactly the same far more TAG than he was playing but it was confusing for the players to call my $35 flop or turn bet, and I was taking down some nice pots. So I closed the table up about $150 with over $350.. phew....

Today I took $40 of my winnings and gambled (no other word for it) with a short stack buy in at a $2 table, using the short stack gaem that I am building for myseld (I have a draft post saved with about a page of things I do and don't do, and it is working). But the table was full of short stacks so it was a game I could beat. I soon showed a couple bluffs put a guy on tilt and left after 20 minutes and $140 up.

This weekend I should hit my next $100 bonus, as I am getting close now.

So all is running well, and even better I feel more and more weathered for when it doesn't. We will see, but I know my learning has moved farther in the past three months than in the past year.

The Nordberg

I just want to post to say that Nordberg is a force to be reckoned with. I was but chaff in the wind to his might. I tried to take notes but it was too complicated to even write down.

(all in fun)
--Felter

When nothing holds up

Bad day, nothing held up (appropriate title eh?). The hands don't matter as there is no learning in any of them, but once all in I was 6 outed, 2 outed, runner runner flushed, oh and my favorite my nut flush vs his bluff K 5 miss... runner runner fives, with a paired board on the flop.

There is often learning but I am not so sure this time, other than this is an opportunity for me to work on not being angry for the rest of my night. Poker is a hard hobby for this reason, the feeling when these things happen is kind of hard to know if you don't play poker.

An attempt at explaining it might be a feeling of your gut has this weird empty feeling and you heart is sliding down into the empty space where your guts once were (ignore the graphic reference, I am going for a feeling here). Kind of a winded punched in the gut feeling.

Anyway so as I was saying the challenge is not to snap at your kids, or want to go sit alone in a room somewhere... and likely play more poker. I don't profess to be an expert at anything related to poker and this is another example of where I have a lot to learn.

I have not snapped at my kids and my lovely wife has nothing to fear, but I did need to sequester myself to a private place to blog for a few minutes. This is the only thing that I know of to cool me off.

Anyone have any ideas out there on what to do to cool off?

Wow as I type this... my AK for the rest of my stack all in vs a call from QJ for his whole stack (I have him covered by three bucks).... Flop 10 5 A, Turn K, river who cares... lol no biggie par for the course today

Back to poker

Well after a very distressing week in the Winnipeg poker community, it is time to return back to poker. Make sure you are checking out pegcityhustling.com for all that has happened in our little poker community. But it's time to move on, unless there is some support needed like the social they are talking about holding. If we do anything like that count Felter in.

I have returned to solid play, but it has not been very profitable. I think I may have found a leak in my game where I can have sessions that are way under aggressive. Almost as if there are two Felter's. But I have had a couple of sessions where I have noticed it mid session and changed it up. If I can notice it when it is happening it will be solved. I am beginning to understand how Phil Laak uses brainwave monitoring equipment and can see certain patterns in the images when he is playing well. When I am too laid back I bet it would be identifiable (as insane as this sounds, he really does it apparently).

I have had some swingy session and took my $209, down to $75 back to $205 a couple of times in a couple of sessions, but without tilting the solid play will keep you coming around. As I said before unless I run bad, and I just can't worry about that, I don't have the bankroll for it. So if it happens it happens.

Anyway I have about $212 right now and will continue to plug away. The next bonus is coming soon ($100) so that will help inject a little life back into my game.

Nothing else to report other than my thoughts are with the players who were charged in the raids. I hope nothing untoward happens as a result.

--Felter

Old ghosts returning

It appears that I am more of a creature of habit than I can control. In the past I have taken a small stake or small tourney cash, run it up to just under or just over a thousand dollars and then something happens, and I can not hold on to that bankroll as it slides through my fingers like a handfull of sand. The harder I grab at it the faster it slips through with only the sound of crushed aspirations as it slides into the abyss of failed dreams.

Sound a bit dramatic, yes it is, but to make a point. The micro grinders like me, the ones that are reading and studying and talking and blogging and posting are not really doing this for fun. We are doing it to beat the game; to prepare like a chess player to become a grand master. Until we can make a real go of it, it is not about the money but about the decisions (yet somehow all those Sklansky dollars ain't paying for this education).

Symptoms of the inevitable slide are:
1) Having a great run - CHECK
I took $25 from a free tourney entry win to $765, cashed out $250 to pay back my staker (from a previous $250 stake that I very nearly went broke on). At my high the remaining $475 was at $575 (mid session)

2) Beginning to play too much - CHECK
on a heater the game pulls you in. My goal of reaching a $2,000 bankroll seems like it will be within reach any minute now, the game gets easy, idiots try to bluff you off the second nuts and life is good

3) Since I am running this well here, at a higher limit I can.... - CHECK
If I am running this well at $1, I can step up to $2 and buy in short and ... yes I shamefully admit I made a return to $2 this week, with a $60 short stack buy in (but just one buy in was all I was going to risk) took a cooler and re bought... I ended this session, up 20 cents. When I doubled up the second buy in, I somehow came to my senses and left a table full of better players, or at least players with a much larger bankroll (and with aggressive poker being good poker, sometimes those two things are not as different as I would like to think)

4) Bad sessions increase in their depth - CHECK
I recovered magically from several sessions that cut my bankroll in half, or WORSE this week

5) Then the bad sessions BUT the recovery doesn't happen and you have two big bad sessions in a row - CHECK
I put back to back sessions together that ran me from $575 down to $98 - literally turning my baby bankroll into liquid shit. The first of these session had NO SHARPS in it at all. I played after coming home late just off the plane from a 19 hour day and lost more than $200 (it is hard to type that sentence and not erase it btw)

6) Playing sessions that are likely to be down - CHECK
(from the above point)

Doctor check me into the hospital, it was all coming to reality too quickly, and I slipped again. In the second large down session I was calling near pot bets with third pair sure he was bluffing, and was never right (funny how when I am on my game, I am sometimes right, when I am not, I am never right). Yes it is absolutely correct that my hands were just not holding up, my continuation bets were always getting called, I wasn't finding tables with the maniacs and LAGs that have built my bankroll up, but all of these things are symptoms of poor play too.

For example if your continuation bets are "always getting called" guess what, your competition has adapted to you, but you haven't adapted to you. Through playing too much and running poorly from some legitimate nasty river cards, I almost go into auto pilot. This is where I begin to play the game mechanically, I am concentrating and trying to play correct poker (notice I did not say Good poker) so I revert to a very safe, very predictable strategy and almost could sleep while doing it.

Anyway to wake myself up I went to a 25 cent table and played as an absolute LAG. This may look like tilt but absolutely was not. It was intentionally having a session where I intended to shake up my game (not the table, sorry badass23 but it was not about you at all). I opened every pot for the standard 8x blind raise and showed every garbage hand that was not called. Every time I caught a piece I over bet it, I would bet pre flop whatever the guy next to me had left. All of this when I thought I had the best hand or would not get a call. I finished that session at $57 from the $25 buy in... hmmm and I felt mentally alert again. I shook off the autopilot.

Then I returned to the game I have been doing well at. I bought into a $1 table for $20 and through good short stack poker I closed the table at $88 when I felt tired.

Hopefully my math is all correct but my baby bankroll currently sits (stake free) at $209.35 after those small recovery sessions. Unfortunately all it will take is solid good poker play, but on a bad run to eliminate this, but I can't worry about that. All I can do is return to setting as many things in my favour as possible. For example I virtually never win in early AM Sat and Sun sessions... and I am blogging rather than playing right now.

--Felter

Poorly Played Session

I am a little mad at myself right now for playing an extended session when I was too tired to do so. My hope was to finish the last 75 points to hit my $100 bonus, and when I hit I was $40 down, so then I decided just to get that flat... you guessed it, I closed $160 down.

Now this is not a huge deal as I was up $100 earlier in a session, and the day ended positive... but there is no way to let myself off the hook, I wasted $160.00 I did not need to waste.

Let's take a step back for a second. It was only two months ago that I pulled myself back to life in a cash from a points entry tourny and nursed that $25 into more than $700... If this is how I am going to play when I get a bit of baby fat on my bankroll I am not impressed.

As I type this ... three handed, AA to JJ he bets $5.50 pre flop I flat call J high flop, of course set of Jacks to AA - ouch... so down again now, but this was pretty tough to get away from not as big a deal... Need to focus and play careful

Like so many library books... I was overdue.

Well I certainly was due for a loosing session. My last few I was down a bunch early and then caught cards to bring me even or positive and didn't get rivered in the process. This time I started up, and then seesawed nicely between even and close to a double up. So a better start. I stayed away from big risks got my money in good all was well.

In the middle of the session I leaked a lot of money on nice drawing hands that never hit and a couple of I thought well placed bluffs that were called (not on easy calls so I am ok with that).

A little later on I let a guy get under my skin. A pet Peeve of mine is aggressive pricks that bet your stack on the river when you were the aggressor getting there. I paid a guy off twice when he hit a 3 and a 5 outer on the river. So for the rest of the session he would bet my stack on the river knowing I would not know where the heck I was in the hand. I had to sit there thinking damn is he betting my stack because he thinks I am too scared to call because he had the goods twice... or is he betting my stack again because he's good and thinks I am a big enough fish to keep calling?! Good on him, it was good poker, I will have to put that in my bag of tricks when the situation presents itself.

Then this hand came - I fished him in and ... nice river!!

















In all honesty I had stayed good in the same hand the day before for a nice pot so can't win em all. No biggie

Anyway while writing this article I started at a staggering $180 down... saw a glimpse of hope as I got back to $20 down.. then I Had to made several very tough fold ... and I made them all, and I know they were good folds... my nut flush when the river paired for example. And there were others, but I folded them which is a good sign. this tells me I am improving on my ability to weather a bad turn without tilting. So I can take that away from this session.

Well I think I had better pack it in for this session. I just lost a gem of a hand to put me back at $140 down... He is big pre flop better 5-9 times blind all the time. So I call with K 10... I can smell the continuation bet, so I check raise him, he calls with his KQ miss. Turn comes an A I put him all in for $30 more he call with his miss to hit a Q on the river - WOW!

Anyway, as I said I was due

-- Felter

Post note: MAN I wish I ended the session there.... I was outdrawn NASTY for another $100 after that over several hands where I couldn't get a hand to hold up!! It may sound crazy but I still think I was not hitting the any threshold of misery, I was just outdrawn, and had bet appropriatly ... I hope I still feel that way in a few days when I look back on this session :P Session finished down $265... whoa

Post post note: My evening session was very nice, sat down with $40 left with $210 for a nice $170 recovery. Then while waiting for my Tues night tourny to start another table I am at $107 right now (ususal $40 buy in). Just wanted $50 bucks to cover some tournies I wanted to play tonight ... but it seems I stumbled on a good table

Post post post note: Well I am off to bed, took another table to $100 so I now go to bed down $25 bucks for the day. Considering I spent $35 bucks on tournies, I am up lol

So don't lose heart, keep your cool - AND EXPECT this ride to be a roller coaster ;)

Time out for a little inventory...

I continue to run well and instead of continuing with this positive Sunday morning session (the first early Sunday AM positive session in recent memory) I think it's time to make some notes on what is flying around in my head relating to poker. It may be disorganized... but hey it's a Blog. You want better buy a magazine ;)

1) I highly recommend finding an online community, or "support group" if you will. While talking poker to close poker buddies is essential, a community will give you a whole lot more in the way of concepts and strategies that you can get from your buddies. I am sure there are many, (2+2 being the biggest I know of) but if you don't have one I recommend you check out Pegcityhustling.com. There are a good group of players there that are very open and willing to weather a bunch of dumb questions from hacks like me.

2) I am re-reading "Killer Poker Online 2" right now. I like his style and the lack of math is refreshing but I found for the first time that I disagree with a concept in his book. So much so that I am likely going to write an article on it's own about it. What excites me about this is that I feel this shows that I am developing as a player and I know enough to know that every guy who writes a book is not an expert on all topics he chooses to discuss. In this case he discuss the short stack buy in approach and frankly he couldn't be more wrong. He misses all of the things that can make this a very profitable endeavor. It is only a few pages, but if I played it his way I would not be on the trajectory I am now. More on this later

3) The last four sessions have been... dangerous to say the least. Every one of them I end up down, way down, early. I do this through taking chances and playing a loose style that I did not have in my game while I was grinding out my first few hundred. I need to be very careful and monitor myself that I don't loose respect for the dangers of the game because I am running well. I should point out that all but one of the session ended nicely positive, but that was after I tightened down. I am sure the loose image, or frankly in one session, fish image that I gave helped me to get paid later, but I don't have the bankroll for that kind of game. Two of those sessions had me down more than a hundred dollars before grinding it positive. I may not always get the cards to save me from myself. Definitely in two of the sessions I was running bad with a slightly worse hand than my opponent every damn time so it is not all loose play, but I need to keep the discipline that turned my game around (seemingly) to the forefront of my mind.

4) Bonus: I am essentially playing with an overlay on my cash games right now and it is working out very well. I signed up through Rake the Rake to Hollywood Poker and the bonus that you can buy with poker points lets me earn $100 for every 800 points (8x). At short handed $1 tables with a decent amount of hands played will bring in a bonus every week. I am a solid enough player that this injection of cash will bring me to even from a bad session or two during the week. So far I have NOT had to use it to bring me even I am up nicely so the added "fat" this is adding to my young bankroll is essential for when it starts to rain... and I am sure it will.

5) Short handed game (max 5) with a short stack buy in. I mentioned this above and I will come back to how I think I am making this work, but real quick right now, this seems to be my game. While I have modified and advanced my game over the past couple of months, I have also moved to a game that I seem to be able to beat. At first I sat in with $20 into a $1 game and would find the most aggressive table I could find, with at least two shorter stacks so that not everyone would be pushing me all in. Then I try to sit immediately to the left of the most aggressive player at the table. Aggressive players really have a hard time with short stacks, and I think they make an assumption that I am buying in short because I can't afford more. Therefore they use their muscle and I let them. Any LAG player reading this will know that nothing hurts the ego more than a guy with $18 to your $220 check raising you. You put him all in without even thinking. I play aggressively with my short stack as if I had a larger bankroll, but I am careful not to get committed to hands I shouldn't (I blogged a few days ago a good example of when you need to fold if you have opened). Not getting away from hands is death with a short stack as many many pots appear to have you committed.

Generally I come in when I feel I have the best hand, and try to look weak, to get a raise and then hammer the all in back. They can't fold for $14 more right, it would kill their table image. After I double up once or twice I change over to a full stack game. I will add more deception into my play, tighten up as there is more at risk, draw more, change up my play by say, betting a draw heavy this time and checking it down the next. I find that this change in style as my stack grows is very hard for my opponents to adapt to. I want to expand on this more but I also have another A in my pocket... while money not lost is money earned, I only bought in for $20 bucks... so if I do happen to get into a tight spot, I have the option to jam a pot with the worst of it, as I am essentially fre-rolling anyway. This adds another layer of a deceptively loose game for those who came to the table after I was nearing the $100 mark.

The only thing I will add for now is that I am now buying in for $40 and following the above plan, instead of $20. Two reasons, 1) It allows me a little more muscle from the moment I sit down and the returns are greater 2) The growth in my bankroll now allows for me to put $40 at risk as a buy in.

So for the players who know better (and I DO NOT know better) when they tell you to drop in limits so you can afford the buy in, you don't necessarily have to. To challenge yourself you can step up in limits if you like, but try a short stacked buy in. It requires a decent level of skill and a lot of discipline but it can be done without playing BINGO at the quarter tables. I got this idea from a local pro who told me I needed to make a proper buy in of about 2 grand and play nothing but one dollar tables with it until I hit 10 grand, as the lower limits are less like real poker and may even help you develop a few bad habits. So I found a middle ground and it is working so far.

-- Felter

Running well

I have been running well for the last couple of days. After I withdrew $250 to pay back Slurpee I have replaced half of it in my first session since.

My challenge now is to stay grounded. I have been hitting nice and playing well, but RESPECT THE GAME and don't get caught up in it. I think this is abut where my game usually changes and I run bad... after getting too aggressive or too high in limit.

I am sticking to my $1 40$ buy in game plan that has been working.
Now it's about Discipline.

After paying Slurpee back and this good session I have about $320.00 (note that is a $610.00 recovery from where I was)

--Felter

Freeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeedom

I have been struggling for too long to get Slurpee Dude paid off from his stake. And dammit I have done it. Put together a couple of solid sessions and withdrew the full amount plus interest.

Just now I am still feeling the buzz of a session that I can say I absolutely destroyed! I bought in to a $1 table for $40 rather than 20 to try the agressive short stack game I have been commenting on. Took some early pots then re-invested that money into getting "caught" a couple of times, started a little friendly trash talk and I tightened down as soon as they started firing back. All of that and positive $5... golden....

then some hands came my way and did I ever get PAID. King of the world time.

Only one poker thought here really - I think I was too aggressive with the complete nuts on one hand leaving some money on the table. He bet 10 on flop, 30 on turn so I pushed for 20 more and he was able to get away from it. Likely I should have just called. After some discussion with SD I would have to say that likely there is a hole in my game where I don't get the max pay out of hands when I hit them. It is a higher level but I need to get to the point where I can judge what is in the hands of my opponents to allow those strong and semi strong holdings to pay me off that much more... "rounding out the corners of a building game" I would call it

It's Miller time Byatch!

-- Felter

That's enough for now

Should I listen to the stats?

As I said in my last post PT tells me that I am terrible at 1$ so I hit a 50 cent table for a full buy in and loose that while quadrupling up my short stack buy in at 1$.....

Again today, I sit for $20 at 1$ make a nice call with an AK miss (I had him on AQ, turns out he had AJ miss) to double up my first time... then Christmas comes early on this hand:

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1125280
I think I played it right pre flop and on the flop, when I get called I know I am done with the hand... then a gift of a turn card comes :)

So I need to make a decision do I stay where I "feel" I am ready to play, or do I listen to PT (about 6000 hands loaded only right now) and drop down. I am beyond bankroll management advice at this point so I KNOW I should not be at 1$

Session up $73 more than making up for the two days down, and I hit my bonus which comes much quicker at this level. So that's another $100.00 almost time to pay back Slurpee Dude at this rate.

Another Day...

So here I am with my continuation from last nights session. In hind sight I think I was taking my tight game plan too far. I did not find a lag that I could surprise and likely therefore finished down. Today I am going to try to open it up a bit.

1$ short handed, short stack buy in of 20$

Early on a bunch of AK and AQ misses runs me through my first buy in short order. Shortly after this hand comes up:

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1122824

If I had to guess the first 20$ spent on AK and AQ continuation bets paid me back when I had a big pair and he had to call me with any touch.


Just playing one table right now, my LAG left pretty quick after I sat down but the table seems timid. Good opportunity to try a much more dangerous, aggressive short stacked game. Note that too many friends that watch me play short handed are looking for aggression that you can not get away with. Things like "You have AJ he raised you up you only have $20 left push" This is not going to get me very far playing short stacked. If I wanted to play the LAG I would take a full buy in (at lower limit due to my bankroll).

Enjoying it so far, nice to feel the aggression back in the game (as opposed to last night). But this taking concentration. You have to pick the right player at the table to fold to a short stack. I have my target, I have my game plan... let's roll.

Half hour in the session is at 5$ positive. Enjoyed some check raises and letting myself get caught with weaker holdings. Just starting to get guys to push back at me a bit. In my opinion I am up huge already if I have been able to develop a loose image and make 5$ doing it. Time to tighten down a bit and take advantage of the tables irritation... lol just had an image of the grain of sand in an oyster irritating and growing into the big pay day. I can taste it...

... and my trips on flop (that I slow played so I deserved it) bust by gutter on the river. Kept it reasonably cheap now $17 down

About an hour of up and down thank goodness for bonuses or it would seem I am wasting my time here.... still 17 down. Was up for a short while as one table ran perfect for me against my LAG of choice:

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1124008
I call that one pocket fives dot com. I had him on a King but since he couldn't call my last re-raise apparently he had nothing... again

Then I immediately lost $25 at a fifty cent table (full buy in) pocket 10's to his pocket KK's on an under board. Right away after I have K 6 flop set of Kings loose a remarkably small pot to the other guy who flopped a set of Kings...

Fighting the urge to start to feel like I am running bad over the last few hours logged...

Well... this isn't running bad I guess...

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1124059

But this crap every third hand is.. And this is three handed too. sick small pots like this are turning my stomach:

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1124086


So with hands like that happening at my 50 cent table about every millisecond or so I am down to 8$ from my buy of $50 at the 50 cent.. and at my 1$ table ($20 buy in) is now at $110...

And this finishes off my stack at the 50 cent I hit two pair and ....

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1124098 I thought I was going down to levels I can afford lol

Okay where am I here, time to get my bearings: Looks like I am up almost even including yesterdays session. If I can get even between both of these rough sessions, I will call that a win and head to bed for sure.

Well I am closing down for the night (two days in a row now) a total between the two sessions of about $40 or two buy ins of $20. I re-installed poker tracker during this session and pulled up this months results. It is a blow to my ego but I have to admit that as you might expect I am way up at 25 and 50 cent but way down at $1 over all. Maybe I need to give up on my $1 dreams for a while... man that sucks

I am going to try to write this post as I play. Therefore the discussion of my play will come chronologically


So my session starts out just as ugly as the last one left off. I decide to draw to a flush that I miss against a short stack timid player costing me 14$ then I get the bad beat (three outer) here costing me a triple up


My AQ vs his AJ

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1119707

Then A5 BB small stack all in every hand pushes with 99 into an A high flop... I dont like it but I call correctly... turn 9...

The action is strangely hot so I should stay at these tables according to Sklansky. My Sklansky dollars are way up already here. I am sure things will have to turn around.

My turn for a break - money in bad though oops: My 88 vs his AJ

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1119771

Some small hand recovery now only down $35 trying to keep cool and patient. Not the best time for poker I will admit the kids seem to want some attention so I might need to put this off for a bit.

called a couple of pocket pairs to try to hit a set back down to $41 down

20 min later card dead $38 down.

After a short break, kids are in bed and three rapid fire hands later.. down to only $20 down then loose a table with two pair to a guy who calls pot for his gutter.. hands like that are why people think it's rigged lol - he even hit it twice turn and river... $65 down... then double up the other table back to where I started $46 down

Flop Quads ... cant even get 1$ call on the river... Currently $40 down

30 min later a couple of smaller pot tough calls to the good. The action has cooled somewhat but I am now only down about $25.

Pocket AA vs a small stack... one player I am watching grind up nice opened the pot and then got out of the way quick when I only called the small stack all in. I was hoping for a call to push on flop. Currently down about $18

Down to $30 again from blinds and some heads up play as a table fell apart. Starting to think that I may be outclassed at the table that I managed to pull positive from negative 65$. I am going to continue my session at a couple of new tables.

Changed tables... slim pickins, tables are all winding down for the night... now down $31


Luck does not seem to be changing I lost the new table for another 20$ but was able to double up and then some at a 50c sh table... so I am going to bed about 35$ down. Going to pick up this thread tomorrow I think this session gave me all it had... can't say I made a lot of mistakes but I may have been outclassed at one of the tables keeping me from picking up any loose pots.

-- Felter

Ahhhh that ... felt .... gooood

Really nice session tonight. Felt like I was in just the right mental state as the session swung wildly back and forth and I kept my cool.

I bought into two 1$ tables short handed for 20$ at each table as has been my M.O. lately. I tend to try to find a LAG to pick on as they seem to have trouble playing short stacks. I am able to play standard poker, attacking pots I should play with aggression, all as normal but I need to be hyper sensitive to re-raises and pushing back. For example early pos I raise AQ 3.5 times blind. Button raises to 8$ I fold. While this may seem extremely tight (and I agree) it is what I feel right now that you need to do to play a short stack. In short you need to be very careful not to get yourself pot committed on a draw or a fairly weak holding. That is certainly a disadvantage of the short stack buy in.

However the advantage is that you can practice building a very aggressive game at higher limits where I Feel I deserve to play, but don't have the bankroll for. If you have chosen a table with the average LAG you can play straight out on your good hands. It really takes an above average skilled player to not look at your last 12$ and put you all in no matter what they have. So play aggressively when you do have a hand or are leading the aggression pre-flop. Be ready to change gears quickly when pushed back.

I Play standard against all other players but modify my play for my LAG. I like to give them the impression that I am intimidated by them by making a couple of small bets that when they smack down the re-raise I easily let the hand go. I avoid trying to draw out against a LAG if at all possible. Generally they will make it too pricy and not give you odds, and often the LAG is a skilled enough player to know you hit your draw and not pay you off another dollar for it. I Use my big pairs and or two pair flops against my LAG, getting all my chips in the middle on the turn if at all possible.

I may have mentioned this before but the short handed game has really allowed me to work on my playing the player rather than the cards. In a full ring game it takes too long for me to see the same move from the same player more than twice. While at short handed very quickly I have some good notes on everyone at the table and pretty much know how I am going to proceed.

So to my session tonight. I am really pleased with my play. I am closing it at $100 up again but that is not what is so pleasing. Three times during the session I was able to claw myself to the 100$ + mark only to loose the table while getting my money in good on a solid play where the cards fell against me. Therefore the third run at it was from 40$ down. (I wasn't set up to post the interesting hands. I will remember to do that next time again.)

I didn't loose my cool, or change my game plan when they hit me hard, I simply wished them a nice hand and got back to work. Had one or both of those bigger hands gone my way I would be up two or three hundred. At all times I felt in control and kept myself out of trouble when it was possible.

So far I am having swings that are to be expected trying out a new game. I am getting more comfortable at short handed every day, and the short stack is a neat game to learn as well. I will try to post a more complete game plan as soon as I can but this is enough for now.

As I am closing this off another sick hand has just biten me in the butt, so I guess I am closing only $80 up. Take a look at this sick mess; this is the same kind of hand that happened now four times tonight to keep me from being a few hundred up.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1117281

All good baby, all good

-- Felter

Out at the lake

Brief session out at the lake with the boys - lots of flats should not have been playing. Down two 20$ short stack 1$ table buy ins. The lesson, have fun at the lake and leave the poker to the pros ;)

Brief Session

Had a short but satisfying session tonight. I selected a table with a maniac (actually I pretty sure a faciac as I saw some nice tight folds when his agression got push back) and then exploited him. I took down some real nice big pots with 66 and later with 88 against him (wthout improving). Played some nice poker, tripled up my short stack buy in and banked it. Some days you do everything right.

Opened another short stack buy in, and doubled it up as well... I am falling asleep between hands so off to bed. Up $100 for the night.

Frustrating but normal session....

so I sit down with 20$, run it to $73 and then somehow walk away with $11. Pretty sure it was just poor play though, so no one to blame but me. I was running well and as they say, it's easier to loose it than win it.

Ended the night with a sit and go and won that so there is some solace that I can call the session positive in total at least. When we got down to heads up I really liked the way I played. He was not agressive enough which made it easier, but I did my job and forced him to get lucky when we had all the chips in. For example when I was pounding on him he knew he had little choice but to call for all his chips on a flush draw which he hit and prolonged the match. I flopped two pair 9 and 3 and he had JJ all the chips go in and the board pairs sevens on the river for him. Then I would grind back the chip lead until eventually his luck ran out.

So pretty happy with that, but the other 50 bucks I left out there tonight doesn't feel good at all.

Want it so bad... play by play on a session with ACTION!

I can taste it, clowns to my left maniacs to my right the waters are teeming with action. Two guys out of 5 at each of my two tables are absolute maniacs (no faciacs need apply!)

Here is the first one:
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1092675

This guy pushes all in every hand:
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1092691

Finally one goes my way (this action is sick!):
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1092712

"Pay the felter"
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1092720
but of course I hadnt reloaded yet... grrrr

Bad Felter - SUCK OUT! (not sure how to play a guy with 14$ in my defense
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1092746

Chewing up poker points in record time in this frenzy... tough to give the play by play but 100 poker points in.... 24 minutes WOW. Oh one of the tables is a turbo table lol .. are they always this crazy?

Phew the guy that thinks I am uber timmid, (and frankly I am by his standards I am) has left the table. Everyone stand for the departing LAG, hats off to you sir... May my notes pay off next time. For now go in peace...

Okay tally is down 20$ after those nasty beats and hitting hands when I was short stacked... out of breath....

Bullets bring me back to even...

And bullets giveth again about four hands later...
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1092797

then I waste 15$ against a short stack when I have JJ and the flop comes Q high, I bet out he thinks loooong then pushes ten more dollars at me ... easy fold right? No I pay off Q 10 ... smooth move Ex-Lax :)

Grinding and continuation betting gets the 15$ back and I close a CRAZY one hour session 25$ up lol

Short Sun AM session, I have no right to be at a 1$ table bank roll wise, but I thought I would celebrate getting my 150$ back after some sick hands and chance $50 at an agressive 1$ table

For table selection I chose a table with at least 3/5 short stacks. Not sure why i guess if you are buying in short stacked you may want to go to a table where everybody is deep and more likely to play loosely against you. Anyway this way I got to play at my favorite level 1$ with a little less bullying from the peanut gallery.

Nice to beat a lag in a race once in a while - this same guy took half my stack QQ 7 x blind bet he calls to hit two pair J 3... hello chips nice to have you back
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1090845

hovered 10 bucks or down for a half hour nothing worthy of note.
Table fell apart.. too bad had some good book on these guys, pretty standard play was looking forward to a juicy hand. Before I could leave new players reloaded so same table new game...

Ridiculous hand against a clown that is trying to give money away and can't do it:
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1090917

so of course a hand like that is why you can't step up. The same clown took my last 15$ my AK suited vs his AQ o - with a Q on the river. Then he leaves the table with his quadruple up to 50$ .... I'm a little tea pot short a stout.... when I get all steamed up.....

well so much for my treat. I will try to find more positive to post next time

never mind...

Never mind... just had a $150 negative session leaving me at $125. Oh am I angry right now. The 50$ down that I mentioned below turned into the $150 down.

I feel raped and pilaged!

Here is what did it:
Very agressive table and villan menioned here in all cases is very agressive.

I have pocket 33, he makes it 6x I called to try to hit set. he checks flop, I bet pot he calls. Turn hit my 3... I pot commit myself wanting the call he puts me all in, the three hit his belly buster on the turn... river nothing.

I have AA pop it up a bunch, villan calls flop all spades I have A spades.. I check as I know he will bet, turn blank low card, he bets big again... I call knowing he will fire again.... river red J... and his gut shot. I read the hand exaclty right he had f all... DAMN

Next hand I limp K10 suited mid pos. he makes it 5x, I call. flop four hearts 449, he bets out pot, I am a little tilty and decide to make a bad call, but I know when I hit I will get his stack. Turn 8h I flush... he makes bigger bet I push he calls with 88 in the pocket... ouch

All in about 10 minutes!

Bank Roll - Update

my live bank roll at Ongame has a little life in it now. As I posted recently, I busted out again and decided to invest more time in reading and learning and cut back on the play. Actually I had decided to take a rest from playing and study the game before going at it again, but Travis encouraged me to continue with the playing education if at all possible.

I took 2nd in a poker points entry tourney for 25$ then playing cash got it up to $325 this week. My lovely wife reminded me I owed her poker account 50$ from past transgressions so that took it down to $275... and in short session this AM I took a 50$ hit so $225 (what is it about Sat and Sun am session where I never seem to close positive? I had no distractions... no one is awake yet in the house, no reason to always seem to be negative Sat and Sun AM... wonder if anyone else notices that?)

Anyway so I am hopeful that the time I invested in 2+2, the reduction in but continuing with playing time, and of course the excellent discussion and support at pegcityhustling.com is paying off. I am almost getting some hope that I can hit my goal of a starting bank roll of 2K.

In fact let's put a deadline on that there goal... By August 31st I will have played micro limits to sharpen my skills and create a "starting" bank roll of $2000 USD. Then Phase III of my career will start.

Here's to Phase III

--Felter

Something else I have tried

Over this past week I have tried something else new. When I am going to have a session where I am going to concentrate and set up the sharps for the best possible session, I will step up to the limits I like. For the times that I am playing for fun or distraction, or have a table open while I am doing something else I am stepping back down in limit.

So kids running around..... 25 cent table
everyone in bed asleep and I am awake and alert and ready to play ...... 50 cent or 1$ table

Same goes for short handed vs full ring. Later tonight when I sit down for a real session 1$ or 50 cent short handed. Right now while I blog, cook dinner for the kids, and chat on the phone with my laptop on the kitchen counter... 25 cent full ring game.

That, and overall I am playing less poker than I have for a long time so don't mistake this for a way for me to play MORE. But the simple fact is that every online player cant help but play sessions in non ideal environments. I will put it under advisement to follow this rule when I am going to play and I am not at my sharpest for whatever reason.

-- Felter

Heads up Cash coming along

It was a great opportunity for me to look at poker through different eyes after reading that I shouldn't be afraid of short handed and heads up play. Loosely phrased it said "In heads up there are generally fewer miracle cards, and to a very large extent the best player will win the day" and it struck a chord.

The key to what makes my game, my game is an ability to read marginal situations very well. The down side to that is that I tend to know I am good now... and put too much on that. It was very, very common for me to put someone on a draw early in the hand and hammer that pot. The pro here is it made for a bad call, the con here is that it made players that are used to deep stack play, salivate. Couple that with playing above my limits and bam, recipe for "the best break even poker player on the net" (meant in jest of course).

The math I had not done before now showed me the simple truth that hands tend to hold up much better short handed and heads up. Now, with fewer bad beats (or what I used to think as as a bad beat: anyone who called against odds on me and hit) I am more able to play my marginal game and come out ahead.

As I write this I am sitting at a full ring game table where I was outplayed on two hands nicely and was down 25% of my stack (50 cent table, so not big dollars mind you). As the table disintegrated around me, I realized I was in an optimal situation. The remaining four players, two of which were up nicely and just didn't want to leave the nice session they were having, were, I could suppose not short handed players. For the most part short handed players are a different crew and rarely will you see the same faces at full ring games.

Having realized this I put my game face on, and went to work. Shortly after the two players that were up nicely were even and I was up nicely. They left to be replaced by two more, and it kept on going. Interestingly enough I found that the full table guys, even some that I respect, were out of their element.

I am sitting there alone now. The last five players that sat down with me (short stack buyins mostly) have all gone home empty handed, and some of them with two or three re-loads.

There is a lot here to think about for my table selection, but I have had a fantastic session. All of the wins have come from the marginal hands. I have had, 0 full houses, 1 set, 1 flush, 1 two pair, and better yet no miracle rivers going either way. I have made 1 bad call for 4$ not a huge deal so my reads have been bang on.

Well I better get on my flight. The friendly West Jet agent just paged me as "the guy playing poker in front of me it's time to get on the flight :)"

I better take my quadruple up table and close it down... but I will thinking about this session the whole way on my flight.

--Felter

Cash Session

Had a nice cash session last night. Doubled my Ongame money at 10 cent and 25 cent tables. Now I am back up to just over 100$ from nothing.

(I finished 2nd out of 35 for a 25$ cash and played at 10 cent and 25 cent to quadruple that up over the past few days)

I will take it.

Not a really note worthy session other than to state the environment.

Sharps: (Sharps are the things that made my session more likely to be successful, as opposed to flats like being exhausted or not caring or having my kids running around to distract me)

Fairly alert / awake (played from 10:00 PM until just after 1 AM)
Two tables (enough action to keep my attention, yet few enough tables to develop better reads on the players)

TV was on (really a flat not a sharp) but I wasn't watching it as I focused securely on the play

NO Poker Tracker or Poker Ace hud: I un-installed this recently as a part of a computer back up and repair and haven't reinstalled it yet. Interestingly enough I might have done better this session without replying on the read that HUD has on the playing style but instead making my decision based on my reads... and better yet... made a few folds saying... "I would love to bet here, but I have zero read on this guy... so I will play this one fairly tight". Made a few tough folds based on my own memory recall vs a player (even my notes are backed up to an external hard drive and not re-installed yet). I think it was good for me to go back to a more "live" version without technology cuing me. Players better than me don't need to do this, and don't need to sharpen their game like I do, but perhaps for us mid range 1.5 year freshman, this makes sense once in a while.

Nearly no slow play: Not a problem of mine anyway, but sometimes when I am struggling I want to ease up on a pot to get more action... (a bad pattern after some beats you will see me drag pots). Even though it cost me some action early it paid off later when they couldnt fold to me anymore.

No show of cards: I don't show anyway, but as a record of my history of play worthy to note

Changed tables. I stayed at the first table I opened for the whole session but as I was grinding back to even I decided to open a second table and look for more action there and just to sit back and wait at my first table (lurk in the weeds..). Worked out well as I closed both tables of 25 cent one doubled up and one tripled up (from 16$ short stack buy in).

Once I noticed my head was bobbing, even though I was at a table I liked, I took off auto post and went to bed.