Back To Basics

What do you do when you come down with a case of the run bads?

Switch to games with lower variance. I've started mass multi-tabling SnG's with about half of them being turbos and so far I've had positive results.

It's nice to put one in the win column even if it's not what you originally had in mind.

SnG's are pretty mindless, too. You can figure out who is good and who is not very quickly just by seeing what hands get played in the first three levels.

After that if you haven't managed to build a big chip stack you play your push/fold game and hope for the best.

I don't personally know anyone who enjoys playing SnG's but they are very profitable and the object of this game is to make money - some times I forget that and play games that are "fun" for me like Pot Limit Omaha even if I don't have an edge at the table.

This downswing reminded me there's a time for fun and a time to make that scrilla. I'm going to stick with the SnG's for a while in order to better practice bankroll management and also be able to manage my poker playing time a little better.

A couple times I'd find myself down in New Jersey deep in a tournament with a healthy chip stack, but starting to nod off a bit. Not good. Not good for your bankroll or your health so it's time to change that.

When I made a couple Final Tables in March it was ok - but now reality and variance has set in so I need to balance a lot of things: My sleep, my diet, my relationship, my 3-bet range ... it never ends.

But poker is last in line. It has to be.

My Chart Looks Like the F'ing Stock Market

The majority of 2010 has been a real exercise in patience for me.

I can now count 8 times where I went extremely deep in large tournaments (down to 3 tables) only to lose a 70/30 situation or better.

Because I've been hauling my ass back and forth between Boston and New Jersey every week I've been playing low volume. Seems like no matter what the volume is I get the same results:

Shit. Right on my face.

I played a $10 Rebuy not that long ago and we were down to 23 players. Awesome, right? Sure. First place was about $6500 I think.

I was dealt KK in the big blind. I'm not a doom and gloom person. My first instinct is never, "Great, here comes the bad beat." Screw that shit. I was thinking of a nice little double up when the chipleader raised from middle position. A double up would put me around 3rd or 4th in chips.

Blinds were 2500/5000/250 (?) - I always forget the ante amounts.

He raised to 20,000 and I'm not sure how you guys feel, but whenever I see someone raise 3X or larger when the antes kick in I immediately classify them as a bad player, or a novice. But that's only because fish make big raises when smaller ones will still earn folds. Call me a cynic ...

I can play this two ways.

1. Jam the pile in his stupid Russian face (no offense if any of you are of Russian lineage - it's just that they are still horrible at "the poker")

2. Flat and either lead out or check-jam a non-ace flop.

He's a loose player so I decide to flat instead of jamming and seeing a fold the majority of the time.

The flop is 9s 3h 2c so basically a perfect flop for me. And a perfect flop for him, so he thinks, if he has TT, JJ, or QQ. With his 4X raise preflop I think he is very likely to have a medium pair a lot of the time. Or he has something like AK/AQ but I place AK lower on the chart since I'm holding two of the kings.

I decide to check-raise all-in. Not to worry, he open jams a shit ton chips when I check to him. I of course instacall to see him turn over the monster A9 and watch as a third 9 hits on the turn.

Know what the worst part of being a good player is? You're never on the right side of that.

A good player never plays so badly that he needs a miracle card unless you get caught in a total cooler situation.

I can't remember the last time I owned myself and lucked out massively. I guess that's a good thing only I don't have the results to support it.

FML.

Maybe it's the fact I'm only playing around eight tournaments per week these days. I played four this week and cashed in three of them. Nothing substantial, though - 6 times my buy-in was the largest one, but it was a $100 MTT so I guess I have that going for me.

I'm done with the pokering for a bit. I've been home in Boston all week and spending a lot of time with my girlfriend which has been nothing short of perfect. It's also been really nice out and our apartment has two skylights and tons of windows so everywhere I look is a constant reminder to stop sitting on my ass and enjoy life.

Speaking of ...

You do the same, got it? Right now. Go on... get out of here!

My New Favorite Tournaments

I'm enjoying the single rebuy and add-on tournaments a lot lately. They aren't turbo structured so there is a lot of room for making moves during these tournaments. I think the optimal strategy is to use your rebuy immediately and play it like a freezeout for the first hour.

Last night I played 2 of these and a lot of players are calling off massive amounts of chips with a single pair in their hand - me likey.

It's a very advantageous format for people used to deep stacked cash games. If you've played fairly well or not run into any crippling beats or coolers you should be able to add-on and have at 40+ bb's behind.

I'm completely done with all turbo tournaments. I had managed to final table a couple of these and took that to mean I'm "good" at them. No. The blinds and antes skyrocket so much that it's merely luck.

I've done well with avoiding the turbos unless I decide to play SnG's which is a different animal. Not much going on with cash games lately. I haven't had enough time to study up on PLO to feel like it's profitable for me to sit down and play.

And the Hold Em games on Full Tilt are too rockish to hold my interest. I enjoy tournaments a lot and am actually starting to learn how to take the bad beats in stride (I have a short temper).

I think a lot of it has to do with using my girlfriend's laptop while traveling. I won't think twice about breaking my own mouse or keyboard in a moment of weakness but I respect other people's things too much to ever get that angry. So... helpful by proxy I suppose.

Plus I'm in a hotel so I can't exactly start yelling swears at 2 AM. I mean... I could, but then I'd find myself driving down the street looking for Vacancy signs. And that's no fun.

Low Volume

I haven't been playing or think about poker much lately. My regular job has me traveling from Boston to Princeton, NJ every week. I leave on Monday mornings and go back to my girlfriend on Saturday mornings. It will taper off but for now it is what it is.

Last night I took 4th in a smallish $10 rebuy for $1400 which was nice. I was cripped when my AcQc lost to Ad6h all-in preflop. I busted when I ran KJo into A8o and didn't catch. FTOPS is going on now and I plan on playing a few events. Would be nice to bink one and get a gold jersy.

I've also been playing, and having much success, in the 145 Man Rush Poker tournaments.

Cash games have been break even for the most part with profit coming from rakeback but I'm starting to get the desire to focus on tournaments again. I think that desire will always be there until I can manage a solid 5 digit or 6 digit score because I know I'm capable of multiple ones. I've gotten close three times now by final table bubbling some large events.

Change of Plans

I've decided to start off on the 40 bb short-stacked PLO tables on Full Tilt and so far it's working out pretty well.

The beauty of these tables are that with a single 3-bet and call you're all in on the flop and so difficult decisions on later streets are taken out of the equation.

This makes hands like AAxx and KKxx far easier to play than when you're sitting there with 180 bb's and facing a big decision.

As I get more confidence in my PLO game I'll move to 100 BB tables where position is the most important thing in the world, but being able to calculate your outs/odds quickly is a close second. It should be obvious what types of hands to play in PLO ... very coordinated and suited hands plus your hands like AA67, etc.

QQxx and JJxx are almost worthless. AKxx isn't far behind.

Yesterday I won 5 buy-ins and this morning I lost 3.5 - I've been told this is very standard.

PLOwnage

I'm taking my cash game action to the PLO tables. I've been short-stacking 1-2 and 2-4 with decent success. Ideally I want to read a couple books, watch training videos, and play full stacked PLO at 1-2 as my starting point. I signed up for a new Full Tilt name and now receive rakeback (finally!).

If I play no-limit it will most likely be heads-up. 6-Max is quite tough at 2-4 and 3-6 these days and it's not worth my time to grind it out against many solid players.

PLO is still soft from what I've seen - players commit with very susceptible two pair hands or overcommit with a single overpair to the board, etc. You very rarely see that in mid-stakes NL anymore. In fact set mining isn't even that profitable anymore because these guys are capable of making many good folds.

More to come on my PLO adventures. There are several books I want to order on Amazon so I plan on reading up before I venture any further.

Careful Who You Challenge

Yesterday I was playing some 1/2 NL short-stack tables on Full Tilt while watching Syrcause lose to Butler and chatting on AIM. It's a pretty mindless game and I was basically just out to score some more points for satellites.

I accidentally bad beat a guy when we got it all in on a flop of 5s 6s Jc. I had KsQs and he had As4s. I spiked a queen to stack him and he started flipping out in the chat box about me "playing 18/10 weak tight" and then challenged me to a heads-up game (of course). I checked my FTP balance and saw I had a little under $3,000 so I decided to keep it modest and ask if he wanted to play 3/6.

He of course accepted, thinking I was full of it. I instantly sat at 4 tables and asked him to join all four to which he replied, "1 table". Sure.

386 hands later I'd taken $1900 off of him. My heads-up game is strong. I won't lie. I instantly establish a balanced 3-betting range against randoms and then begin to lure them into the meta-game that is light 4-betting and 5-betting. A couple hands of note:

Hand 1: Approximately 60 hands into the session and I had been 3-betting him with a pretty standard range. I opened on the button for $18 and he made it $48 which was his 3-betting size for all raises. I made it $129. He folded and I showed 72o and asked if we were playing prop bets.

Hand 2: Maybe 20 hands after the 72o bluff. He opened for $18 and I made it $52 with JsQs. He called and we saw a flop of 10c Ad 2s. I led for $62 and he called after some deliberation which initally made me think he had a 10 in his hand. Kh on the turn gave me the nuts and I checked. He bet half pot and I called. The river brought another 2 and I checked again. He jammed and I instacalled. He was strong that I thought with ATo, obviously planning to trap me by flatting my c-bet.

Hand 3: This was near the end of the session and he was getting 3-bet a lot by me and was probably steaming. I had around $1900 and he kept topping off and was sitting on 100 bb's. I opened to $18 from the button with JsJc and he made it $48. I made it $129 and asked if we were still playing prop bets. He jammed and I called. He had 88 and I held for another $600 profit.

This is far from a brag post. I use it as a cautionary tale not only to you but as a reminder to myself

He sat out after that and left about 10 minutes later. Just because someone is playing a certain way at a certain time does not mean that is their normal game and you should never move to a totally different game and play them the same way. He thought I was just some guy who sat and waited for the nuts when the reality was I was simply goofing around while watching a basketball game and not playing anything close to my normal game.

I've made this mistake before and I'm sure I will make it again. I'd just like to think I would realize my mistake before I lost three buy-ins.