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.

Welcome

I decided to begin blogging for the same reasons as everyone else I suppose. Just to hear myself talk. However I have now realized that there is value to this exercise. As I read back to the posts I made even a few months ago I laugh (and sometimes even get a little embarassed). I have fought tempatation to delete some of those posts to keep this an honest record of my proggress (allright I admit I deleted two posts... but that is it)

I have been playing poker for a year and half with passion. Unfortunatly like my golf game, my passion for it has not as of yet translated over into success.

During my time playing, I have played a mixture of live and online, and consider myself a player that is good enough to get an accurate read... but not good enough to trust my read and lay down a big hand. For some reason I think that does a good job of recapping where I am at in one sentence (albeit a run on sentence)

Games: I am focusing on NL hold em, I am weak at Limit as based on my current pot odds calculations, seem to find odds, or implied odds in every call. I very much like Omaha, but other than Super System have not read anything on it, and really have no business putting bad money after good here.
Live Poker: I have of course played many home games, Barca tournies and 1-2 PL cash games, I had the good fortune of some travel for work lately so I had the opportunity to play at every major Casino Toronto through to Vancouver The only exception is Fallsview... a big regret. The day I was to go there, I had just lost $300 at Casino Regina and with much regret decided my bank roll was not in shape for another live game. So even though I was within a few miles of Fallsview I returned to my hotel and played online. In all cases I will play 1-2 NL or 3-6 limit given no option when live.
Online Poker: I am a micro stakes player, usually inhabiting the 25 or 50 cent tables, but I am in my element when I am at 1$. That is where it feels real. But with my ever bouncing bankroll depending on the day of the week I likely have no business sitting there. My online home is Hollywoodpoker (Ongame), mainly because as I learn, the decent bonuses keep me from going completely broke (more often than I already do). I also play at Full Tilt, Absolute poker, Titan Poker, but have no money worthy of mention at those sites.

I am a serious student of the game. I do a lot of reading and analyses. I have purchased Poker Tracker and try to be dilligent reviewing my play looking for gaps.

Biggest Weakness: Over agression. Working to tone it down.

More later....

Pulling a Ferguson...

I posted yesterday that after reading an article from Chris Ferguson that I was inspired to try the same thing. For anyone who didn't read it, he is trying to take $0.00 to $10,000 on line in... some finite period of time.When I first started out Titan Poker was a site that I deposited cash into... and lost the entire deposit in a single session. So I did the honorable thing and never showed my face there again. However, apparently all of the other players at Titan Poker are pooling money together and sending me free tickets to shit so that I come back, deposit and continue funding their basement renovations.So Titan has been sending me a free ticket to the "Dirty Dozen Jackpot sit and go". So I finally thought let's do this. I took third (with an infinite ROI I might add) of $3.60... and I was off and running.Yes, Yes I hear you, who the hell cares... Well in my poker part time job I am as you know on a quest to conquer the tilt and find fun in the game when all is ... not ... fun. Too often I seem to be watching my bankroll slide uncontrollably through my fingers... and I got to say I think I have another tilt quencher.This week I have been flat in my real on line game (mostly thanks to a last minute quadruple up kick ass hand last night... otherwise would be down four buy ins this week)... feeling like I am playing shit poker and trying with each new session to set up myself with more sharps than flats (reference to "killer on line poker II" a decent but light read).Honestly I am so desperate for a win in my real bankroll on Ongame that I could see myself dragging when I shouldn't, and calling a wider range of hands with every session... trying to hit a positive session. RECIPE FOR DISASTER.SO... I did the Titan thing... and I have had more fun playing poker over the last four days than I can remember in a long long time.We know poker is not about the result of the hand but the decision... well never can you let the result go better than when you are sitting at a 2 4 cent table with $3.60. My need for a win or need to withdraw cash for the cruise we are planning to go on in a few months disappears completely (okay time for honesty... I gotta pay Slurpee Dude his stake back first before I am paying for my cruise)Anyway it is poker for poker and with a goal of not going broke and no need or value to the win, only the reward for a correct decision. I am in a better mood, I feel like it's fun again, and I have discovered that yes I still love poker for poker.Anyway a few hours in I am at $25.89 ... on my way to $10,000 one cent at a time, and loving it.Note: In my real bankroll session at ongame last night... The first positive session in about 10 days or so.... I know it's because I was in a better "sharper" place thanks to the fun I was having patting myself on the back for good decisions at the penny tables.--Felter

Rage against the myth of the bad beat....

I had a hand a couple weeks ago that put me on the the biggest, kick the dog, yell at the kids, quit your job and move to the Antartic kind of tilt that I had ever experienced. I had to do some serious thinking or give up the game as I was going broke ... again ... and helpless to stop it again.... and about to be staked by Slurpee Dude and pay him some stupid (but voluntary) interest when I made my recovery.... again.So I did some more reading, and writing and came up with some self help... Let me know what you think of the article I wrote below, I had a blast writing it and after hammering the points in it, into my thick skull, I have been playing some of the best poker of my life.Thanks,Big Felter aka Phase II aka micro limit (20x buy in or not sitting down) guy.
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Title: Rage against the bad beat.... or JUST SUCK IT UP princess!

As I write this I am aware that the last thing that the world needs in yet another article on bad beats. However, before you tune me out, if after a bad beat you have any reaction other than a slight blip in pulse, for about a second, and then you wish your opponent a NH, then there is something for you here.My guess is we still have the vast majority of you with me? lets move on.

First of all you need to know that I am absolutely in the upper echelon for online players who will whine incessantly about a bad beat... seemingly forever. I have been known to email the hand history to everyone I know, tell anyone who would listen... including my mother in law, who doesn't know EVA from PMS. I whine to my wife who (and the sickest part is I KNOW its coming) will always use the bad beat as an ideal opportunity to remind me that I am playing too much poker and this is likely the reason why I was destined, no, likely deserved the hand to beat me severely. Surely the bad beats I take would come less often if I walked the dog more often. (I know, I know statistically and intellectually she is right).I am not proud of these things; I am trying to be a bigger person. However, at this point in my poker career I promise nothing.

So to the article: I, like so many writers, write because we generally want people to listen to us ramble. I believe George Carlin put it as "Dig me!", "look at me, aint I cute" while this is quite true, I am also writing this as a form of self therapy. So as you all read this article containing things that I truly do know, (but often react as if I don't), those that know me can add a chorus of "physician heal thyself" free of charge.

I bring to you 7 points worthy of your consideration:

1) "Bad beats happen so often to me!" What's your point? Oh I see, you are saying they happen to you more than the next guy? Bullshit. They don't and you need to keep reading to learn why they don't. Shut-up, Bullshit, stick it up your ass, it just doesn't. Now are we big enough boys to move on? With online poker bad beats do happen more often than ever before. But as we should all know by now, that is only because everything happens more often than ever before. Thanks to the speed of online poker you see thousands of hands where in live play you would only see a few hundred during the same time frame. Likely you have read that 1,000 times already from better authors, so moving right along? "Why don't they happen as often to my buddy?" They do, yes they do, one last time, yes they do, ok go to your room for a time out until you are ready to listen.

They do happen as often for other players. However here is the trick: They happen to the players who play with the same style as you, and play an equal amount of hands as you, as often as they happen to you.

Read that last sentence again then we will move on. You will experience more bad beats if a) you play more poker, or b) if you need to read the rest of this article for a whole bunch of other reasons why. For answer "a" let's do some simple math. If you play 20% more hands than your buddy you will get ?. You got it, 20% more bad beats than him. You will also get AA 20% more often than him and 72 off suit 20% more often than him. I can't think of any other way to drive this home other than with a ball ping hammer. No volunteers? Great! Moving on?.

If you still can't come to terms with it, your buddy (no different than you) is a gambler by nature and, (by the very laws of human behavior) this likely means that HE IS ALTERING THE TRUTH too improve upon his real results. That or he has already applied the principles in this article and has a different perception than you do on bad beats. Note that, perception of bad beats is the key!

2) Bad beats are more often than not far less "bad" than the loser would have us believe Often miscalculated pot odds -- When I get fuming over a bad beat because he landed a 10 to one shot on the river. I rarely am a big enough to person to say "hey wait a minute, well gosh silly me, I miscalculated that one, he was actually only a two to one dog. Nh sir nh I will get the next one k? " Screw that I have a good head of steam going and I am going to show the next guy that tries to raise me! Likely that lesson I give him will be: "how to donk off the rest of my chips to teach YOU a lesson" but he is getting a lesson by God!

3) Misunderstood pot odds -- Many a poker table argument has been held around a plain old incorrect pot odds calculation. Since there aren't as many professionals at the table as we would like to think it took for us to have a down session, many of us have a poor to tolerable grasp of the correct odds of your opponents draw. Before you get truly steamed check it out on your pot odds calculator. If you were right then go ahead and do your little Helmuth dance. Otherwise try your best to either make a note on the error you made and how you will behave next time, or if you can't do that leave the table. Your pride and ego don't mean shit here. Nobody is paying attention to you anyway, and you may even get a little respect when you leave with your small stack intact. You want discipline?! Try to pick up your last 13$ off a table when you bought in for $400, right after a guy drew out on you. "No way! I won't let that happen. I have my pride! I am going to throw this 13$ on whatever the hell I get handed to me next hand. That will SAVE my pride!? Wise move, dumb ass!

I want to highlight what I just said, there is NO place for pride or ego at the poker table. If you want to find a dick measuring contest at the poker table I suggest you take up a different hobby?. Like dick measuring. Seems appropriate, and I hear the dick measuring World Series is real blast for people like you. What you need is patience, confidence, and longevity. Likely your dick has none of those things or you would be in porno. Moving on...

4) "There are only two hands I am worried about here, so my odds of him hitting are?" -- Hold on now, before you push or make that call, what are the starting hands that could beat you here really? If any A9, or A2 would beat you and there is one two and two aces on the board, there are 8 possible starting hands that could beat you here, not two. Some of those hands may even make sense for the player to have. A9 suited? . even A2 suited? is not an impossible starting hand holding. "But I raised pre-flop!" Good for you, you made the right decision, and the right play, feel good about it. You have reduced the odds that he has a hand like that. You haven't eliminated them. The only way you can eliminate the odds of him starting with that hand is for you to not have sat down to play poker in the first place. Other than that you have allowed a percentage of the time for him to be holding the hand that you are worried about. The point here is, give it some thought. There are likely more starting hands that have you beat now, or they have better odds than you are giving them credit for.

Now if I have shaken your confidence and now you feel too much fear to make the push all in when you think he is a 5 to 1 dog? then stop playing poker. Get your money in when it is the right decision. If you want a sure thing? put your money in? WAIT A MINUTE never mind poker. NOTHING is a SURE thing for your money. Even your mattress may get discovered by the drunk friend of your cousin that passed out in your bedroom last night in his own vomit. You have reduced the odds that it will go missing but you haven't eliminated them?.

After the fact pot odds DON?T MATTER -- The odds of you winning can only be what you determine them to be before the cards were all turned over. They didn't improve or change after the fact when he drew out and, you learn the horrible reality of how thin he was drawing.

For example I had a hand (the hand that made me re-think my play, and write this article). In this hand I determined that if I was to push in against my two opponents, one or both of them would call as the turn had made a full house for me, but one, or both them just hit trip aces and one, or both were going to call because they were just that kind of trout. I calculated the odds of the board pairing, or of either, and or both of them pairing their kicker on the river to be a better full house. I determined that there were four outs for the board to pair or another A to come that would beat me, and three outs EACH for them to pair their kicker. So the odds of me winning this hand were at worst 3 to 1 drawing against ten outs (at worst). So roughly 3/4 times I am going to win this hand. When I pushed, and they both called, not only did they each have an A removing one out, but they shared a kicker, taking away another four outs! Truly they were drawing to five outs, not the ten I may have been up against.

Suddenly I went on a full blown tilt. I put my money in trying win with either fold equity, or with the 3 times I should win this hand. And loosing one in four times is something I can handle? but the reality was they rivered me with a pathetic chance of winning, so I lost a hand I should win approx. 8 times to one! NOW THAT HURT! Sure those hurt but when you made the decision you could not have known how good you were, so you can?t flip out over the real odds. You put your money in on a 3 to 1 shot, good for you, correct decision, feel great about it, over your lifetime of playing poker you will find the other three outcomes (you likely won?t remember them like you will remember this one). Now if you won't survive long enough on your bankroll to let those odds average out, then that brings me to the next point?..

5) Playing at a level that you can afford -- Likely this will be the most important lesson you can ever learn. You can make an awful lot of mistakes at the 10 cent or 2 cent tables. But when life is good and you are riding the "Wa" and you sit down with your entire bankroll at 20$ NL cause you are "ready" for the big time (or as I said when I did it, "I am going to step up, and I will never look back!" and that worked out, as well as you all likely would expect. Funny, and I seem on the outside to be fairly intelligent too. A far better poker player than I once said, first get your money in 10 to 1, now be prepared to lose that 20 times in a row. This means that you need to follow the 20x buy in rule. No not rule COMMANDEMENT! Burn it into your brain, tattoo it on your ass, and name your kids 20x buy in and 20x buy in Jr. and then maybe you will be on the right track. There is nothing more stupid than doing something that you accept to be a fact, a universal principle, and then ignoring it and playing above your 20x buy in level anyway. If you ignore this rule, and loose all your money to a one outer, good, fuck you, you dumb mother fucker. You deserved what you got shit head (really talking more to myself than you)

6) Giving a name to the "beat" gives it power. NOTHING is truly a bad beat. Poker is a game of odds. If you can reasonably expect 3/4 times you will win a pot then guess what be prepared when 1 of the times you loose. Do you consider the % of the time a "good beat"? Do you spend as much time celebrating the % of the time that it came through as you do focusing on the % that hurt you? Stomping around because something that you know can happen one in four times and did ? well that's the second dumbest thing I have heard today. (The first as you may have guessed, was detailing the bad beat to my mother in law earlier this afternoon.)

Define bad beat, and stick to that definition. If you use the definition that the casinos usually use, you will find that a bad beat is anything equal to or worse than your boat, Aces full of Jacks getting cracked by quads. What! You mean that hasn?t happened to you? Then what are you whining about? Frankly if that happened to you I hope it was at a casino with a bad beat jackpot. Likely it was the best beat you will ever take in your life. So we may want to lower that definition a tad. Say when your opponent hits his 2 outer? Remember that is going to happen approx 5% of the time. Still too high? Well, where do you want to set the bar for your drama queen crying session? A six outer? OK so now you need to get yourself all worked up approx. 14% of the time.

You are welcome to do that but I personally don't have that kind of energy. I suggest that you determine a bad beat as an outcome that will happen 5% of the time or less. Also it should be when you were all in and he had no better than that 5% chance to win. I can feel the bad beats slipping away as we speak. Those bad beat "chips" on your shoulders are suddenly shrinking up pretty quick aren't they? All of this is to drive home the point that poker is NOT ABOUT THE HAND YOU ARE PLAYING RIGHT NOW. Never was, never will be. If you get pocket AA 100 times or 1000 or 1,000,000 times, you will win with them most of the time. But that does not affect at all how this hand will play in any way. So you need to consider all of the points above and develop a long term game plan that will suit your temperament, your skill level, and your bankroll.

Now if you still want to email me your bad beat hand histories, here's the deal. Keep it until you have 1000 occurrences of that scenario, when you have it, compare the results to the expected results statistically. Now... yeah I thought so. I can move on right?

Luck is for suckers! If you are playing the game optimally you don't need luck, ever! Your opponent is going to need plenty though. How do you make this happen? Get your money in when you have the odds on your side. BAM instantly he needs the luck. If you can't clearly yet determine where you are at in a hand, and what amount of luck your opponent is going to need, then I suggest you tighten up, or drop limits until you have a pretty good idea. This strategy will require a whole article on its own to discuss. But for now, play in a way that the odds are in your favour when they strike back at you. Then let the odds do it's work. More often than not, a bad beat for you means, if you keep your head, and play good poker, you will get it all back anyway. He will be giving it away; it's only a matter of who it will go to.

See you at the tables,Big Felter

The new Blog...

As of this post I hope to improve the quality of the Blog for anyone who might read it. Up to now it was mostly my venting tool... but necessarily productive.

As of today I am no richer than in the blog entries belo, but hopefully wiser...