Time to take some Time

I have to say this has been a very trying month. Here are a few things.

Cardplayer: I've been posting there for about a year now. I've greatly enjoyed the forum and most of the people in it. Two things happened this week that really effected me. First cbal84 left. He's a bout the only "regular" left in the limit forum, and with him posting less, I really don't know how much being there will improve my game, and that's really the whole purpose. Chris has some great insight into the game, and delivered it in a witty & entertaining manner. We'll miss you pal.
The second was a theft. A member of the forum made was careless with his account information and ended up having it cost him about 1.5k. The whole event sickened me. I really wonder about people these days. I think I'll spend some more time over at 2+2 in July. I could post one or 2x a week at CP and not miss anything of substance.

Online Poker: This month was my first losing month in 8, and only my second in 14 months. In addition to taking my game very seriously, I also derive a portion of my income from it and pay some bills with it. Fortunately I had a great live session so I didn't have to hit my roll up for the bills. I've given it a lot of thought and here's what I think is the root of the problem: I really want to be playing 2 levels up from where I am. I decided to try a 5k hand experiment. I'll spare you the details. They are below if you want to read them. In returning to my usual game, the stakes were much lower than I had become accustomed to, and I was playing WAY too loose. I reviewed hands, and I really was playing poorly. The last ten days or so have been much better, and the last few sessions were great. I'm back, so stay out of my way.

Live poker: I struggle with this. I like the live game. I enjoy reading the people, the hands, and the game in general. It's a blast. I used to go every 2 or 3 weeks, but I haven't been in the last 6 months. I can't justify the cost of fuel/rake/tips compared to the online game. If I leave with 3x my buyin again this weekend I may have to re-think that strategy. Hopefully they'll have a higher stakes game going this week.

Last night: I played really well last night. I started out getting no cards, then one table (I was playing 2) heated up and I hit some nice hands and got paid off. I finished up the evening up about 40bb after 253 hands and about 2 hours. I'll take it.
I made a couple of stupid mistakes. On 2 hands in the span of about 5 minutes, I checked a river I should have bet. The one board was 9,Q,Q, 4, 2, and I had A9. There was no flush possibility out there, and I was certain my opponent didn't have a queen. On the other a flush card came and really didn't have a solid read on my opponent. I still think in both cases I would have been called. I gave away 2bb there. Shame on me.
I'd like to mention one other mistake of note. I was in the big blind with 77, and there were 4 limpers. The flop came A,Q,x (3 or 4 I believe). I clicked the "Fold to any Bet" button. Needless to say noone bet that flop, a 7 came on the turn, the small blind bet and I was auto-folded before I could do anything about it. Man that sucked.

This weekend: I will be leaving late this afternoon to go camping with my sweetheart. The deal was that I'd take time off of work and in exchange I get to spend Saturday in the casino. The weekend looks to be rather dreary, so I'm not missing much. I plan on getting a lot of reading done. I brought some magazines (Autoweek, Car & Driver, Smithsonian, Card Player), as well as Super System (I'm just finishing the Limit section for the 4th time or so) and Harrington on Hold-em. I haven't opened HOH yet, and I hope it's as good as I've been told. I'd really like to concentrate more on my tournament game this winter.


Overall, I feel my game is the best it's been in months. I'm playing aggressive, focused & disciplined poker. After Saturday, I'm going to take spend time over the weekend reviewing HH's, stats, and reading to make my game better. Oh, I'll probably have a few drinks, swim, water ski, and ride the mountain bike too. Yeah, vacation. I've got to keep that in mind...

A good day makes it a good day...

Saturday the 24th was my first live session in about 6 months. I had planned on going the 1st, and I figured since I had to be half way there for business anyway, I'd play this week also. Man I'm good at justifying that. I'm amazed it's been so long since my last live session...

This was also my first live session since my transition from Sit-n-Go play to cash games. I sat down to a primarily loose-passive table table with one loose aggressive player. Perfect! I lost a couple of really tough ones (flopped set lost to river straight x2, flopped trips w/ best kicker lost to river boat), but was dealt some good cards overall and ended up tripling my buyin in a session just under 13 hours. Time flies when you're winning...

Some thoughts and observations from the weekend:

Bet the River: What is wrong with you people! I had one young man to my left that apparently didn't like money. He went through 1.5 smallish buyins in a couple of hours. He LOVED to chase. That problem, however, was almost secondary to his aversion to betting the river when he made his hand. Listen, if you're going to call with nothing but a draw, at least bet or raise when you make it!

Limping In: This doesn't seem to be as much of an issue online, but in the game I was at this weekend, I watched a man limp in once with AA (lost), and 3 times with QQ (lost 2 of 3). His logic was that he seems to lose with them so much, he slow plays to maximize value. I can see slow playing live when you get above 5/10, but at a lower limit table, if you feel you have the best hand, bet it. I see no justification for anything else:

Pain: Riding a bicycle hurts your bum, among other things...

Past & Current Projects

I normally pick one thing per month and work on it. So far this year my topics have been as follows:

River Betting: In reviewing my PT stats & hand histories I was finding that when the river card came, in far to many cases I was checking the best hand. This was costing me bets. I took a month and really worked on it. I had some good results. Sure, there are occasions where someone check-raises me, but it’s the exception rather than the rule.

Betting with a Draw: This one was quite some time ago, but a big one. In many cases, I just wasn’t value betting. I know the theory behind it, but it was after a move up in levels, and I think I was afraid to put the money in. I concentrated on 2 things: I would raise post flop with a good flush draw, and 3-bet with the nut flush draw and/or a flush & straight draw.

The above scenarios really helped the bottom line, and can be the difference between having a break-even session and showing a profit.

This Month:

I didn’t go into this month with something to work on. Instead I was going to do a 5k-hand experiment at the level I’d like to be at next. It’s 2 levels up from my current. I plan to skip the next level up as the blind structure is different and for some reason I don’t adjust to it well online. I am currently 4k hands into my experiment and I’ve shelved it. I was playing one table at the normal level and one at the higher, and my results are the normal tables were horrendous. Over the 4k hands I’m down 4.2BB. A perfectly acceptable result, and I think I have a good handle on what I need to do in order to be successful at that level, and I’ll make the move when I’m comfortable w/ my bankroll (needs to be 400bb at the new level to make the move permanent).
Ok, back to the matter at hand. I had been having a miserable month at my normal level. It’s incredibly frustrating. I’m way too competitive to lose. So I’ve reviewed my #’s (with some assistance, thanks guys) and found 2 areas I really need to work on. They are as follows:

Position Play: This is basic, but I’ve found over the past few months I’m playing WAY too many hands from early position. I feel that because of the difference in ability I can get away with my slightly loose play, but I need to rein it in (this is VP$IP by Position for you PT folks…).

Pots won at Showdown: This is costing me money. I’ve always been in the 47% range, and it’s

just not acceptable. The goal is to get it up to about 49%. We’ll see how that goes. This is something that’s been in the back of my mind for a while, and I think it’s time to address it.
Due to the fact we’re better than halfway through June, I’ve picked 2 items and will work on both of them through the end of July.

Here goes nothin'

This being my first real blog post, I though I would give a little background.

About me: Yeah right. I think not.

Blog's purpose: I work on one or two things a month to improve my poker game. I plan on sharing them, as well as giving a basic idea of my progress.

What can The Stash do for you? Probably not much, but if you're like me and enjoy reading the exploits of others with the same hobby, and are open to a unique perspective on the fundamentals, you may find something of interest.

Format: For legal and privacy reasons, online play will not have specific levels attached to it. I'll list my base level, and the % above or below that where I'm playing. Confused yet? For live play I'll list specifics.

Post Frequency: I'll try to post 2 or 3 times a week. If I'm out of town I'll post when I'll return so you don't waste time looking for updates that aren't there (not that anyone will see this).

Comments/Feedback: They are of course welcome, good or bad. If I can handle losing 100bb's in a weekend (yeah, I've been there), then I can surely handle comments from someone on the other end of a data line.

That's all I've got for now, I'll try to put up the first post with content later on today.


Oh, and thanks for the kind words t8rtotz, I'm impressed you make it through the "3 easy steps" to create blog and say something creative on mine.

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