Yesterday, for the first time in awhile... I made 2 plays which ended up costing me 1 2/3rds buy-ins. (~$16). And just this session, I spewed off about another 3. Still up decent in .02/.05. So i was at 62.50 with a $13 rake at one point, now i'm at $42.44 with a $13 rake. Losing money tilts me. I don't feel like losing more, so I'm just gonna cool down a little bit and put my thoughts on paper(internetz).
Occasionally, I'll have this problem. I'll play near-optimal, ABC poker and start winning and then I'll make a wrong play, which will lead to a chain of wrong plays. Then I'll be down 2-3 buy-ins. This ends up costing me quite a bit. I'm sure you've all heard the saying, "Time is money." It couldn't be more true for Poker. The object of Poker is to win your opponent's money by making less mistakes than them, and playing in such a way that you cause them to make more mistakes. The fewer mistakes you make, the more money you make, and the faster you can move up in the limits. The more mistakes you make... the inverse, I think you get the point. See, I'm still not completely tilt-free. I don't think I ever will be, nor will anyone. Anyway, I've gotta figure out a way to conquer my thoughts.
Today I will be discussing Tilt, Thought Process, and my Goals-Revised. (Yes, this is going to be
very long.)
1) What tilts me? How do I deal with it? I believe I am better than most of the people who play .02/.05 No-Limit Cash. Not trying to brag, but if i wasn't, I wouldn't be winning, correct? Here's where tilt comes in. When I play for awhile, and starting winning a lot of money, I think I make some sub-optimal plays because I feel like I can outplay my opponents. I get a little cocky, and start raising with sub-par hands, and then try and push people off of their quality holdings. When I raise preflop, and then c-bet and take down a pot, I feel like I can win pretty much every pot off that opponent because most of the time he doesn't show up with anything. Yesterday, I tried to bluff a relative unknown off his flush. Why? Well, whenever I raised preflop, he would always call behind me. I think in a way, it upset me. "Why is this clown calling my raises EVERY hand!?" I am POSITIVE that I have a better hand than him. I'm going to win all his money then by making him call down with worse because he's such an idiot for calling." Boy was I wrong. I hold pocket tens in early. I make it four times the big blind. He calls, everybody else folds. Flop comes 79A, all of clubs. I'm out of position, so I check. He overbets the pot. ~75 in a 45 cent pot. Why would he do that? I had the ten of clubs in my hand.. so I was thinking.. hmm well he either hit it or missed it. I'm guessing maybe he has a weak ace. So I call. Turn comes a brick. Like.. a 3 of spades or some shit. I check again. I probably should have bet out here to see where I was at. He'll either bluff again here, or fire with something real. Checking here doesn't give me any information. So that was a stupid play from me. He fires again, about $1.50 into a ~$2 pot. This is where I really fuck up. For some retarded reason.. (spew monkey took over my brain imo), I put him on a complete bluff, and call. Why would he fire the turn with a large bet? He almost certainly has Ax here, if not a made flush. There's no way I'm beating him with a PAIR OF TENS. River comes another brick.. something else of spades. Now I decide to bet out.. for information... a kinda of small bet.. 1/3rd of the pot. He raises all-in.. and I call.. still putting him on a complete bluff. He flips over 68c, for a made flush on the flop. Nice hand, I'm an idiot.
Let's analyze what went wrong here. He called to much preflop, so I automatically gave him credit for being some kind of retard. The thing is.. almost always.. when people bet out, they have something.
UNLESS YOU HAVE SEEN EVIDENCE TO THE CONTRARY, GIVE CREDIT FOR A HAND IN THE FACE OF AGGRESSION. THEY ARE NOT PLAYING BACK AT YOU. I need this motto tattooed to my face, obviously. I'm pretty sure I've stated something like this before. So how do I deal with my inner spew-monkey? Well, I've already exercised one method, go away for a little bit and come back when the monkey is tamed. That's the extreme way for a poker player, because they want to earn money and not have to quit playing. So I'm looking for a way to reduce my spew so I can play more or prevent it altogether.
2) Thought Process:
What should I be thinking?This is probably one of the most important concepts in poker. Taking notes about your play after a session and then reviewing them has been a key component in how I've become successful. What is costing me money, and what do I do to fix it? Take note of it, and remind yourself about it while you play a session. Also, thinking about the game OUTSIDE the game and asking myself questions about how I can prepare for certain situations I've encountered playing has helped a lot. Could I have played that last hand better? How could I have extracted value better, or how could I have saved money? People think poker is about playing cards. At microstakes this is true to a degree, but it always has been primarily a game about playing
PEOPLE. What is my position at the table? Who is left to act? What are the stack sizes? Who do I want in the pot? Do you have any past history with the opponent? Has he taken any bad beats? Will I raise, fold, or call? Given this hand, what type of pot do I want to see with it, and what type of board texture am I hoping for? Based on the board texture, is it likely my opponent caught any piece of this board? Do I want my opponent in the hand? Which opponent am I facing? Is he a LAG(loose aggressive), TAG, LP(loose-passive), WT(weak-tight), AGGROFISH? Which type of action is likely to get the response that I want? How do I plan my bet sizing to get his whole stack? This is a lot of stuff to think at the table. There is so much going on, and you have to pay attention to EVERYTHING. I like to use the note-taking feature that the site provides to take notes on people as I play.
3) Goals Revised. These goals are set for the sessions I will be playing from hereon out.
A) Work on Range/Board Texture EvaluationI've been doing pretty decent at board texture evaluation, but I feel I still need to work on putting people on a range. Although I must admit, this is getting easier and easier as I see a ton more tight-passive/weak-tight type players than crazy aggro-fish who you can never put on a range. Mainly, it's the loose-passives whom I have trouble with putting on a range. Ask questions like "Are they positionally aware?" "What is their calling range given their position?" "What is their raising range given their position?" "What is their cold-calling range?"
B) Evaluate 3-betting/4-betting situations I'm not so sure this one needs much work yet, seeing as how most of my opponents are weak-tight/loose-passives with stats like 30/2, and 8/4, so if they're raising.. i'm pretty much not 3-betting/4-betting them except when I have Kings or Aces. But I may have to exercise this a bit more when I start facing solid regs, with 17/11 -ish stats.
C) Have a plan for the session, Have a plan for your hand.This one has been semi-neglected. Every session, I should be asking myself, "Okay, what am I trying to accomplish here?" Then I respond, "I'm going to play solid poker. I will avoid marginal situations and know that my opponents are not playing back at me. I'm going to put everybody on a range of hands given the position they are in, the action they are facing, and what type of opponent they are." "Evaluate good positions to 3-bet. Only use light 3-betting on TAG-style regulars who try and steal the blinds with marginal holdings." That would be my session plan. Planning for the hand would be what I stated in the thought process section. "Do I want a small pot or big pot with this hand?" etc etc.
I could always go into more detail with all this stuff as this game is nigh-infinitely complex, but I think I've got the core of what I wanted to express down here. Well, I'm off to go meditate and read. Until next time... lates.
And now I sit at $535.25 for my bankroll. Bleh. It's been a rollercoaster ever since I stopped playing .05/.10. I'm going to have to get used to this new limit it seems and discover new tactics to exploit the regulars there, as the ones for .05/.10 aren't working. As you see, I have been running a SLAGish 25/20/10 (3bet) game. This is a lot looser than I have been in the past, but coming back to the .05/.10 it seemed to do well for me. I'm going to go back to trying ~17/15 ish stats for .10/.25 and see how it works for me. And for fun.. most money I ever won with Ace High! ;)
A
3
(2 players)
Q
J