Doogie44's blog

This may be a little RBT (results based thinking), but I'm gonna blog it anyway.

I played a tournament recently in which winning the tourney did not offer life changing money, and cashing would be a matter of bragging rights only. Deepstack turbo tourney, slow at the beginning and fast at the end, not the preferred structure by any sense of the imagination.

The LAG's are easy to spot as they push a lot of the action. They also usually wear their game on their sleave, just look at their shirt and figure out their hand.

So I get into a hand with the LAG at the table. I'm out of position which is ok as I know how he's gonna play. I raise 4x in EP to 600 chips with AQ off.

Recently joining SpadeClub has been an experience, but I'm not sure it's for everyone, and I'm sure it's not for me. Playing with points, instead of dollars, makes it very hard to take the game seriously. It makes it very hard to think out decisions, play correct poker, correct position, reading betting patterns, opponents, using all the mechanics and tools of trade of the game I love and hate. My results so far, out of 14 days and 14,000 points, I have two blue tokens and zero points (other than the 1,000 free daily reload). In both games I won tokens, I can't say I played well. I can only say I chipped up early and held on the rest of the way.

So I'm running bad. Really bad. It seems any game whether ring, sng, mtt.. whether hold 'em, omaha, or Monopoly Deal. I just can't win. Anything. Ever. Yeah I'm still steaming, and ready to take some time off from the game. I've passed over the idea presented by the "real" poker pro's, or Tampa's Angry Jacks poker pro's alike, but without giving it too much thought. Until now anway. Too addicted? Perhaps. Too stubborn? Most likely. When my friends fear I may take a baseball bat to their car from the latest run down on the felt, ousting me from a home game, yeah I need a break.

Perhaps leaks and errors have snuck into my game. I did used to think I could play well. After all, I've been to the WSOP twice, both on satty wins... and there lies a problem. Losing sight of decisions and correct play, and focused instead on results, could be bad for the positive thinking . They say the pro's cash an average of 1 in 9 mtt's, and 3 in 5 sng's. SO maybe amateurs are much worse, and my stats may be 30 losses before the 3 wins in a row to bring up the batting average. lol. Wait, I don't know my average, and there lies another problem. I'm not taking notes and tracking statistics as well as I should (online anyway), but my live game performances are also seriously lacking. And those statistics are easy to see in the AJPOY standings.

So I'm running bad. Really bad. Taking a little time off, I hope, will help turn this around. Only time will tell.

Interesting read. Partial script taken from: "Easy Money" by David Apostolico, Card Player Magazine, May 7, 2008.

"...What happens, however, when you are the one on a rush? We tend to be aware of going on tilt when things go badly, but players can also go on tilt when things are coming too easily. Even a hardened player can start to feel an air of invincibility when sitting behind a mountain of chips.
Inevitably, any rush is going to end... use your big stack as leverage. Just be sure you are adopting a big-stack strategy and not playing just because you believe 'you can't lose and the money will keep coming your way'. Concentrate on making correct decisions for the situation, taking into account all factors. Certainly, the size of your chip stack and the fact that your opponents may be afraid to go up against you should figure into the mix, and you may be able to use that to your advantage if you retain objectivity and stay detached emotionally.

about-cbetting-26898.jpg" vspace="10">Calling a raise preflop generally means facing a C bet. Whether you've hit the flop or not, and whether the PF raiser hit the flop or not, the C bet is often.. check that LIKELY.. going to be there. Consideration must be given to the size of the bet in relation to the pot, to decide whether to continue or fold, and whether or not you feel the PF raiser is capable of slowing down on the turn. Point is, expect it. Now what.

Here's what I've found has worked with good success, both online and live, AJ games excluded (since no one slows down, ever! lol):

Of interest, has anyone else found themselves more 'in tune' with opponents and their hands after you fold? Why is this? Fold, then catch the BB exhale and raise. Or the 'hand over the mouth' and/or holding breath bet on the river. Or the stare and bet. Or the overcall. Or the player who looks at his cards and immediately his chips. So why don't we always catch this info. while IN the hand?

Perhaps we spend too much time planning our next move, instead of observing?

It's a tricky combination of concealing tells, while trying to observe them AND interpret them correctly.