sevens

I haven’t been updating as much lately because, well, I haven’t really felt like it.  I’m experiencing the worst downswing I’ve ever been through.  It’s somewhere between 18 and 20 BIs.  Now, I’m not arrogant enough to say that it’s all due to back luck; I know some spots were just horrible spew - probably a few BIs worth in total - but most of it is just dumb coolers/suckouts.  It’s really starting to take a toll on me psychologically, in that I’m no longer sure if I’m playing well.  

Also, I’ve somehow managed to get the absolute worst image among most players at 50nl.  I routinely get floated by players who are OOP, no pair, no draw, no initiative…just ace high.  I c-bet my air on a T-high rainbow board, they call.  Turn is an ace, I think “sweet, I can rep Ax and get them to fold Tx/pocket pairs”.  I bet, they call.  Check through on the river, and they flip up AQ.  ????  Or, I double barrel a K9x board and get called by J9, villain folds 70% of the time to c-bets.  what. the. hell.  

It works out for the better sometimes…like when apparently solid players c/r with AK and then insta-snap call all in with AK high.  Pretty much…all players seem to think that tawp pare is good against me by now. I don’t know if that’s a good thing or bad thing…but Poker Tracker tells me that this month, I am like 1.6 PTBB per hand when I c-bet the flop, so I can’t be too mega-spewy.  =)

3 things I resolve to work on during this downswing:

1 - Look for spots to not c-bet; be able to verbalize why I am c-betting when I do

2 - Have a ultra narrow 4b range; stop 4b bluffing

3 - Take as many notes as I can, as soon into the session as I can

4 - Make a 50nl video at some point for review purposes

Other than that, I’ve mostly been happy with my play.  I’m still trying to figure out how to adjust to asshats who float with ace high and then hit, but damn…I really hope I start running a little better.  

It’s finals week, which means I’m gonna be ridiculously be busy the next couple of days getting last minute final projects complete, which means there’s a chance I go a night or two w/o poker.  But probably not.  I’m gonna work my ass off to get my stuff done so I have my nights free.  The thing about me (and probably true of most INTJ’s) is that I have a very high expectation of myself and I’m very competitive.  Meaning, I hate not completing tasks, or turning in second-rate work if I feel like I’m capable of top notch work.  Good for poker, good for work, good for music, good for life…bad because I put a lot of unnecessary stress on myself and can be pretty damned self critical (like….if I didn’t turn in work that met your standards, it’s obviously because I suck horribly and should just quit now, that sort of thing).  It’s not always like that, but that’s more of an extreme scenario.

The Old: Last week.  Looking at my PT stats, it showed just over a 6 BI downswing in all.   Right before I was gonna shot-take 100NL too.  Oh well.  I might have spewed in a couple spots, but they were mostly cooler hands.  I took this time to work on my play.  Which brings me to the new.

The New:  Stox and Card Runners is offering a deal through Full Tilt which basically allows you to get membership for free.  I jumped on the opportunity when I saw it, purchased a 1 month Stox membership via the FT Store, and I’ve already earned January for free.  I’ve been watching as many videos as I can, so far it’s been all of Split Suit’s videos.  Specifically, the “Back to Basics” series.  It was mostly stuff I knew intuitively, but to hear it in words made it concrete and I started to apply some of those concepts in a more deliberate way.  

Tonight was a great night, +$225.  There’s only one hand I didn’t really agree with what I did.  I had ATo vs a 19/2 or something fish, IP.  I c-bet a 7 high board and got called.  The turn gave me an A for top pair, and I got check min raised.  Rather than fold there, I called and folded on a brick river.  Other than that, I’ve been playing well, but it sure is easy to think people are playing back at you when you’re running like total crap. 

I plan on doing  a video some time over break and also finishing work an article I started a while ago called “Position and Initiative Part 1: Relative vs Absolute Strength”.  Oh yeah, my new favorite stat is the 3-bet % stat. =)

I’m working on an article called “WTF Is Poker?  Thoughts on Keeping Poker Simple.”  In there, I am including a section on “Hero Calls.”  I wanna jot down my thoughts here and get some feedback.  I’ve been experiencing making Hero Calls firsthand, so I feel qualified to give thoughts on it. 

First, let’s define what makes a Hero Call.  A Hero Call is when you call a decent sized river bet with a weak made hand, usually second pair on a dry board or two pair on a flush board or whatever.  Of course, lol disclaimeraments, this is villain dependent and action dependent.  For example, say raise 88 OTB, get called by an unknown in the SB, flop comes 732hh.  Villain c/c’s flop, check check on a Q turn, river is a blank and villain suddenly bets.  You Hero Call because you’re such a genius and great poker player; obviously villain is bluffing a missed draw and you won’t be pushed around!  Of course he has KhQh like he always does, and you look like the fish.  

Let’s look at another scenario.  You have AK OOP vs a fish, you value bet 3 streets on a Kxxxx board, and Villain shows KTo.  The fish called because he believed he had the best hand (he either thought there was a chance you were bluffing, or just fell in love with tawp pare).  In both hands, the person on the river called with a weak hand because they thought there was a chance their hand was best, despite how the action played out.  

My point is that there is really not much difference between fish getting value towned and Heros making Hero Calls.  Yes sometimes they will be bluffing.  Yes sometimes you have to call because the odds indicate a call being correct.  Most of the time you end up value towning yourself.  Don’t be the fish for the sake of boosting your poker ego the times you end up being right.  Stop making hero calls.  And remember an economic principle told to me by Split Suit of Stox Poker, minimizing losses is the same as maximizing gains.

Because it’s time for an update!

I’ve been pretty busy, between finishing projects for school (2 more weeks, score!), putting in my own hands of poker, and well…being lazy about updating my blog.  50NL has been going really well, and I’m very satisfied with my play.  I’m currently playing between 8 and 10 tables, and am finding a good balance between exploiting my tight image and actually playing tight.  I’ve been able to adjust pretty well so far…still gets frustrating though when everyone seems to catch cards against you.  But still, must be doing something right if, even during those times, I can manage to break even or come out slightly ahead.  

I’m getting closer to my goal for 50NL and that is to be able to see the game the same way I did at 25NL.  I could tell where people made mistakes.  I could see what regs to 3b light.  I knew who to stack off light against.  It was like I could tell what was going to happen before it happened.  lol TEH MATRIX HAS YOU!  I’m getting closer to that point at 50NL.  Also I lost the biggest pot of my life (fives full vs quad aces) tonight.   We were $100 deep (200 BBs) and got it all in on the river for a $200 pot.  It didn’t really phase me.  Probably it was partly due to the fact that I was already up like $300 on the night, but I think if I can lose that much on one hand and not care, then it means I’m getting more confident in my game and my ability to win at this level.  Also, lol coolers.  

And I’m still on track to take my 5 BI shot at 100NL by the end of the month.  Go me.