Enlightenment
I beg to differ from Ben's statement of earlier tonight. Poker is awesome.
It's just that, until tonight, I was approaching the game all wrong. All I needed was to move up in stakes and play against tougher competition.
This may not make sense at first to anyone with any knowledge of poker. I started my latest Doylesroom stint just yesterday, and my bankroll was the measly $187 that I had left over from a decent run on Party over the previous two weeks. Playing 1/2 was dumb enough as it is; moving up any higher would be suicide. The most common rule of thumb for limit poker bankrolls is to carry 300 big bets into any limit. I was playing 1/2 with 93.5, not even a third of the standard bankroll.
But I was feeling extremely bored tonight and couldn't find a 1/2 table, but with two 2/4 tables open and waiting for me, I couldn't help myself. Not even a sixth of the way to the amount of money I should have had, but it didn't matter. If I won, it would be a huge confidence booster. And if I lost, it wasn't the end of the world. I follow the Golden Rule of Gambling -- "never gamble with money you can't afford to lose" -- so the worst-case scenario for me was taking time off from poker and going back to having a life.
But as it turns out, moving up made me into a better poker player. I'm not kidding. I had put in so many hands at 1/2 that I was beginning to make the slip from confidence into complacency. I needed to be risking more money. It isn't a matter of unhealthy gambling addiction (quitting poker is easy; I've done it a thousand times), it's simply the fact that raising the stakes helps to keep me focused. It's not as though I can't beat a 2/4 game; I've read enough poker literature, both online and in books, and put in enough practice that I can handle any low-limit game.
At 1/2, I would make too many stupid bluffs, knowing I would get called, and I would quickly come to terms with the fact that I was throwing money away. It was worth the extra two bucks to see if I could make the stupid 1/2 fish (as I viewed them in my more arrogant days) throw the best hand away. At the same time, I would also play worse when the opponents were the aggressors. I would make loose calls, knowing they were loose -- either I was too lazy to calculate my pot odds or I knew them and just didn't care -- because it was fun.
So today came an amazing realization: I was a better player at 2/4, despite the tougher competition, than I had ever been. Fear of losing serious money motivated me to play with the skill that I had actually had all along, buried deep inside this cluttered mind of mine.
As for the results, they could have been better. I took a couple of terrible beats, including one where I fired hard on every street with QQ, holding an overpair, and was called all the way down by A4 offsuit, which won by making a single solitary pair of aces on the river. I ended up overcoming my early troubles and finishing a one-hour session with a $46 profit. I quit, got some studying done, had some dinner, went to class, came back, and later tonight logged on again. I made another $1o, but then realized I was too tired to play my best, and quit again. I was getting more disciplined not only as a player, but as a manager of my play.
In short, everything's falling into place, and I'm feeling more confident than ever.
3/6 anyone?
Just kidding.
I hate limit poker!
Remember my last post when I explained my passion for fixed-limit games? Yeah, that was a lie. All of it. Limit poker is stupid, inane, idiotic, asinine, and, dare I say it? Yes, I think I do. Ridiculous.
It's hands like this that just drive me crazy.
[Sep 14 17:32:42]: crankbait is the dealer.
[Sep 14 17:32:42]: hawaii11 posted small blind.
[Sep 14 17:32:43]: slimman1 posted big blind.
[Sep 14 17:32:43]: Game [48132] started with 6 players.
[Sep 14 17:32:43]: Dealing Hole Cards.
[Sep 14 17:32:43]: Seat 5 : EvanWithAnS has As Kd
[Sep 14 17:32:46]: EvanWithAnS called $1 and raised $1
[Sep 14 17:32:47]: POOPLAYER called $2
[Sep 14 17:32:48]: sierraphan folded.
[Sep 14 17:32:49]: crankbait folded.
[Sep 14 17:33:03]: hawaii11 folded.
[Sep 14 17:33:04]: slimman1 folded.
[Sep 14 17:33:04]: Dealing flop.
[Sep 14 17:33:04]: Board cards [5s Ah Kh]
[Sep 14 17:33:08]: EvanWithAnS checked.
[Sep 14 17:33:10]: POOPLAYER bet $1
[Sep 14 17:33:12]: EvanWithAnS called $1 and raised $1
[Sep 14 17:33:16]: POOPLAYER called $1
[Sep 14 17:33:17]: Dealing turn.
[Sep 14 17:33:17]: Board cards [5s Ah Kh 7s]
[Sep 14 17:33:19]: EvanWithAnS bet $2
[Sep 14 17:33:23]: POOPLAYER called $2 and raised $2
[Sep 14 17:33:25]: EvanWithAnS called $2 and raised $2
[Sep 14 17:33:27]: POOPLAYER called $2
[Sep 14 17:33:28]: Dealing river.
[Sep 14 17:33:28]: Board cards [5s Ah Kh 7s Td]
[Sep 14 17:33:29]: EvanWithAnS bet $2
[Sep 14 17:33:31]: POOPLAYER called $2 and raised $2
[Sep 14 17:33:33]: EvanWithAnS called $2
[Sep 14 17:33:33]: Showdown!
[Sep 14 17:33:33]: Seat 5 : EvanWithAnS has As Kd
[Sep 14 17:33:35]: Seat 6 : POOPLAYER has 7h 7c
[Sep 14 17:33:35]: POOPLAYER has 3 of a Kind: 7s
[Sep 14 17:33:36]: POOPLAYER wins $28.50 with 3 of a Kind: 7s
All right, I don't mean to brag, but sometimes I just can't help myself. I really think I played this hand flawlessly. My opponent, on the other hand? Well, let's just say he doesn't deserve his $28.50, and leave it at that.
Just kidding. Let's go into detail describing the five (yes, that's right, FIVE) different ways in which this guy played his hand horribly.
1. Pocket sevens are a garbage hand to play against a raise. Conventional wisdom says that against a raise, you need a much better hand to play than you otherwise would. Pocket tens or better is a common recommendation; I sometimes go as low as nines if the circumstances look right. Sevens are just too often dominated. He should throw them away.
2. If he's going to play his weak pair, he should reraise, not call. Cold-calling raises is almost always a terrible play. Either your hand is too weak to beat the raiser and you should throw it away, or your hand is very strong and you should be reraising. There's very little middle ground. In this case, 77 should go into the former category, but if you're going to play it, you should be the aggressor. Obviously he's not putting me on a big pair; he's playing the hand, after all. So he thinks I have a couple of big cards, in which case he should get the money in while his pair is ahead.
3. When I check the flop, checking it back is the obvious play. Honestly! What kind of raising hand doesn't have him beat? Anything with an ace or a king has hit this flop, and a medium pair is still ahead of his sevens. For him to think his hand is good here, he has to think I'm incredibly aggressive and will raise under the gun with QJ, sixes, or fives. I'm not, and there's no way he has a read on me that would say otherwise. It's much more likely that I'm on either a checkraise or a slowplay than it is that I've missed.
4. When I checkraise him, he should give the hand up. When he gets checkraised, he has to assume I have at least some strength. I've either hit an ace or a king, or I've done even better than that. In other words, it should be clear to him that he needs to hit a seven. That's about a 22:1 shot, and the $8.50 pot is offering him far worse odds than that on his dollar. It's a bad proposition for him.
5. When he actually does hit his miracle card, he should be capping the betting. Right... so he hits his seven, and raises me. I reraise with the top two pair, and he calls? Basically the only two hands he's afraid of are AA and KK. There are only three possible combinations of each in the deck. I am playing this hand in a way that could represent AK (9 combinations), AQ (12), AJ, (12), or maybe even 55 (3). Obviously he's the favorite, but he prefers to miss a bet on the turn where he could easily be raising me. Fine by me.
Okay... so after suffering that and a couple of other lesser bad beats, I was down almost $50 playing limit today. So I decided to try making the money back playing $10 SNGs. I sat down to play a couple, and an hour later I had cashed in both, placing first and second, and was up 41 cents on the day.
For your reading pleasure, I've included two of the most entertaining hands I've ever seen, both from the SNG that I eventually won by trapping a complete bluff after flopping a set of threes.
First...
[Sep 14 18:09:35] : dustumho is the dealer.
[Sep 14 18:09:35] : zencohiba posted small blind.
[Sep 14 18:09:35] : $PIMPIN$ posted big blind.
[Sep 14 18:09:35] : Game [28] started with 7 players.
[Sep 14 18:09:35] : Dealing Hole Cards.
[Sep 14 18:09:35] : Seat 7 : EvanWithAnS has Ts 8h
[Sep 14 18:09:38] : bbbarney folded.
[Sep 14 18:09:38] : nay'swilted folded.
[Sep 14 18:09:40] : Eagle8 called 100
[Sep 14 18:09:42] : EvanWithAnS called 100
[Sep 14 18:09:42] : dustumho folded.
[Sep 14 18:09:43] : zencohiba called 50
[Sep 14 18:09:46] : $PIMPIN$ checked.
[Sep 14 18:09:46] : Dealing flop.
[Sep 14 18:09:46] : Board cards [8d 7s 2s]
[Sep 14 18:09:53] : zencohiba bet 100
[Sep 14 18:09:58] : $PIMPIN$ folded.
[Sep 14 18:10:01] : Eagle8 called 100 and raised 400
[Sep 14 18:10:03] : EvanWithAnS folded.
[Sep 14 18:10:08] : zencohiba called 400 and raised 1,120 and is All-in
[Sep 14 18:10:11] : Eagle8 called 1,120
[Sep 14 18:10:11] : Showdown!
[Sep 14 18:10:13] : Seat 1 : zencohiba has 7h 7d
[Sep 14 18:10:13] : Seat 6 : Eagle8 has 2h 2c
[Sep 14 18:10:19] : Board cards [8d 7s 2s 2d 3d]
[Sep 14 18:10:19] : Seat 1 : zencohiba has 7h 7d
[Sep 14 18:10:19] : zencohiba has Full House : 7s full of 2s
[Sep 14 18:10:19] : Seat 6 : Eagle8 has 2h 2c
[Sep 14 18:10:19] : Eagle8 has Four of a kind: 2s
[Sep 14 18:10:19] : Eagle8 wins 3,640 with Four of a kind: 2s
Okay, I wasn't even involved in this one, but it was exciting. "Set over set" hands can be devastating, because bottom set is left with only one out in the deck to come back and win the hand. For the first time in my life, I saw a one-outer hit today. Quad deuces beating sevens full. Not only was it exciting, but it gave chips to a guy I really liked to see getting chips. (He's not exactly the world's best poker player.)
All right, this next one I was actually involved in. In a big way, too. At this point I was dominating the table, picking up almost every pot. So pocket nines looked great to me; no one really thought they needed a real hand to stand up to me. As it turns out, I got all the money in while getting excellent pot odds to do so. I'm satisfied.
[Sep 14 18:14:04] : $PIMPIN$ is the dealer.
[Sep 14 18:14:04] : bbbarney posted small blind.
[Sep 14 18:14:04] : Eagle8 posted big blind.
[Sep 14 18:14:04] : Game [36] started with 5 players.
[Sep 14 18:14:04] : Dealing Hole Cards.
[Sep 14 18:14:04] : Seat 7 : EvanWithAnS has 9d 9s
[Sep 14 18:14:07] : EvanWithAnS called 100 and raised 200
[Sep 14 18:14:09] : dustumho folded.
[Sep 14 18:14:14] : $PIMPIN$ called 300
[Sep 14 18:14:17] : Stakes: 50/100 Current level: 3 Next level in: 1 min.
[Sep 14 18:14:17] : bbbarney called 250 and raised 1,530 and is All-in
[Sep 14 18:14:17] : Eagle8 folded.
[Sep 14 18:14:20] : EvanWithAnS called 1,530 and raised 4,100 and is All-in
[Sep 14 18:14:23] : $PIMPIN$ called 1,940 and is All-in
[Sep 14 18:14:23] : Showdown!
[Sep 14 18:14:23] : Seat 7 : EvanWithAnS has 9d 9s
[Sep 14 18:14:26] : Seat 2 : $PIMPIN$ has As Jc
[Sep 14 18:14:26] : Seat 3 : bbbarney has 8d 8c
[Sep 14 18:14:34] : Board cards [Ah 9c Jh 8h 4h]
[Sep 14 18:14:35] : Seat 7 : EvanWithAnS has 9d 9s
[Sep 14 18:14:35] : EvanWithAnS has 3 of a Kind: 9s
[Sep 14 18:14:35] : Seat 2 : $PIMPIN$ has As Jc
[Sep 14 18:14:35] : $PIMPIN$ has Two Pair: Aces and Jacks
[Sep 14 18:14:35] : EvanWithAnS wins 820 with 3 of a Kind: 9s
[Sep 14 18:14:35] : Seat 7 : EvanWithAnS has 9d 9s
[Sep 14 18:14:35] : EvanWithAnS has 3 of a Kind: 9s
[Sep 14 18:14:35] : Seat 2 : $PIMPIN$ has As Jc
[Sep 14 18:14:35] : $PIMPIN$ has Two Pair: Aces and Jacks
[Sep 14 18:14:35] : Seat 3 : bbbarney has 8d 8c
[Sep 14 18:14:35] : bbbarney has 3 of a Kind: 8s
[Sep 14 18:14:35] : EvanWithAnS wins 5,590 with 3 of a Kind: 9s
Wow. I'm not guilty -- after all, I had the best hand all along -- but that was quite a roller coaster of a hand. Set over set -- AGAIN -- and my other opponent flopped two pair. So two opponents go broke on one hand, I pull into the chip lead, and I never look back. $45 for that win and $27 for a second-place finish at the other table.
I guess I should play no-limit more often. It drives me slightly less insane these days.
My story
Well, it's that time again. Time to embark upon a long, fruitful blogging career with the great Benjamen Starkweather. Perhaps this time it'll last longer than a month? We shall see.
I'm guessing it will, because this time we're talking about poker, and since both of us are addicts as far as this despicable little game goes, we probably won't be able to stop writing.
Anyway, Ben is the no-limit tournament specialist of our duo. I started playing poker before the big TV craze started, which means I first learned the ropes by playing limit games. This may sound strange to people who have picked the game up in the past couple of years, but I still prefer limit poker. Anyone who knows me knows that I'm a humongous math nerd, so this really shouldn't be all that surprising. Let me explain.
Any form of poker can be considered a science, one that can be constantly examined, studied, and theorized upon. But the science of no-limit poker is psychology. You've all heard it before; the best no-limit players "play the player, not the cards." No-limit is all about making the perfect reads, and outsmarting the opponent. Limit poker is a science too: statistics. It's a completely different game. Rather than agonize over every last decision (because, after all, it could be your last) a limit player takes a different approach. He can consider a range of possible reads, and use this range to calculate the most likely correct decision.
On one hand, the game is better for a player's sanity because no one decision can "make you or break you." However, the common complaint about limit is that it's impossible to protect a hand, because everyone tries to draw out on you when it only costs them one bet. So you can't lose all your money in one hand, but you can definitely find some strange, infuriating new ways to lose pots. It's a frustrating game, but it's one that can be mastered if you go about it the right ways.
I first started playing online when I was 17, and boy, was that a mistake. Without any legal means of depositing money as a minor, I got a $10 free gift from 7Sultans Poker (part of the Prima network, which is as close as online poker has to a terrorist regime), and tried to build a bankroll. In a way, my plan worked. I played limit seven-card stud, starting at the .05/.10 stakes, and quickly moving up. Within a couple of months I was playing 1/2 on a $300 bankroll.
I signed up for a FirePay account within minutes of turning 18, and was shocked to discover that my money was stuck in my account; there was no possible way to withdraw it. Rather than simply quit, I had a better idea. I went to a 2/4 no-limit table and bluffed it all away with 6-4 offsuit. (I didn't want that money staying in my account; that would mean letting those Prima bastards keep it forever. So instead I gave it away to a very lucky holder of pocket kings. I hope I meet the guy someday, he owes me a nice dinner or something.)
When I started playing for real money, it was on DoylesRoom, Doyle Brunson's online venture. He was offering a free leatherbound hardcover advance copy of Super System 2 to anyone who collected 10,000 Action Points, which are earned by playing ungodly amounts of hands and being paid for each raked pot.
It was love at first sight for me and DoylesRoom. I had my book within weeks, and to date I've earned almost 50,000 AP. The players are fairly weak, the software is fairly good, and depositing and cashing out are both easy. I made about $200 between November and January, then stopped playing for a few months, opting to spend both the added time and money on having a life.
Then I got back into it over the summer. I had a lot of trouble finding steady work for the first month or so of this summer, and decided to become a semi-pro poker player of sorts, putting in a few hours a day multi-tabling the limit hold'em tables. June 2005 was a +$600 month of playing mostly 1/2 limit.
I've tried tons of other poker sites too, but at most of those, I came out about even, eventually got bored with them, and quit. DoylesRoom has been good to me, so it's where I do most of my playing these days. I just finished a two-week stint on PartyPoker up $26, and gave up on that. Unless I feel a sudden urge to make a change, I'll be on DoylesRoom for a long while.
Enjoy my ranting about tales from my online play, the occasional commentary on the rest of the poker world, and maybe even some recommendations on poker literature. This should be fun.
