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