Mind Games

I did not think that I had a problem with tilt.

I am able to take bad beats in stride -- within reason.

Well at least better than Phil Hellmuth.

I can win without going all gloaty and high-fivey.

Welll, at least better than Tony G.

I was wrong.

It is fairly easy to keep on an even keel when you win a few lose a few.

However since November 10, when I signed up for the Party 27% bonus, I have lost 18 All-ins, and won only 3. This is over a total of about 7K hands of NL 10.

This marks the worst downswing I have yet experienced, in terms of both length and depth. I am so glad I decided to use a conservative BRM -- I started w/ 100 NL 10 buy-ins

What woke me up to the fact that my mental state had deteriorated was the elation I felt when I finally won a hand. I had not even noticed that I was not playing with a full deck. Actually, come to think of it -- If it really wasn't a full deck that would explain a lot.

So I have now purchased, "The Mental Game of Poker" by Jared Tendler.

This blog is intended to document the journey through the book, and to document my journey from being a totally mental poker player, to a mentally adept poker player.

From "The Mental Game of Poker" by Jared Tendler

Think of the mental game as an actual game. As with any other game, winning requires skill and a good strategy.

It also requires an opponent. That would be me.

In my next post, I'll define the starting point, and the field on which mental game is played.

For now, we're playing those mind games together...

Mind Games (Remastered 2010) - YouTube

Tap to unmute

Mind Games (Remastered 2010) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QLeObvcUii4)John Lennon - Topic (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcSL2nYSJp_IgdzH0xBBdcg) John Lennon - Topic

and a quote:

We shall not cease from exploration

And the end of all our exploring

Will be to arrive where we started

And know the place for the first time.

T S Eliot in "Little Gidding"

If I'm not mistaken, the above is quoted in Hermann Hesse's Steppenwolf -- a book that documents a journey similar to the one we now begin...

I have now finished my first pass through the book.

I have already adopted a few things suggested by Jared.

I had intended at this point to define the starting point of the project, and the goals.

However before I get to that, there are two things I want to mention about the material in the book itself.

First, there is something that I think is missing from the book.

The role of Faith in Poker

"Faith" in this context means "The core assumptions that must be accepted without evidence -- or in spite of evidence to the contrary -- in order to believe all of the other premises of the subject".

In the world of poker, the items that must be taken "on faith" are these:

♦ It is a mathematical certainty, that in the long run, luck is the same for all players. Stated another way, "variance will eventually average to 0 for all players"

♦ The card shuffler, whether it be a machine in a casino, or a random-number generation algorithm, truly represents randomness.

♦ It is within the capability of any person of otherwise average intelligence to learn the skills necessary to win in the long run. "Win" in this context means a positive return greater than rake.

Simply put:

The game is not rigged.

If you cannot accept this, then you a fool to play the game.

(unless of course, it is rigged in your favour, in which case, Good Luck when you get caught)

Furthermore, if you do not believe that you yourself are capable of learning the necessary skills, then you must absolutely stop playing. *Ed note: If you are really, really bad, you are welcome to play in my home games. Add me in the community tool for directions to my place

The next item that gave me pause was "Talent"

I don't necessary believe in talent. I have the skills and abilities I have because when they first started to manifest themselves, I got positive feedback from parents, teachers, coaches and other people I respected, and since I enjoyed the feedback, I proceeded to develop the skill and abilities further.

My wife is an accomplished artist. She has been drawing since age 5. She got praise and honour for her drawings at that age, liked it, and drew more and more and still draws vast amounts.

Could I be an artist? I think I could.

In fact, when I first met my wife, I could only draw unemployment insurance.

Now, with her encouragement, I can draw a salary!

If we are to believe that some people start with more of the "right stuff" than others, then those of use lacking in "pokerability" need to study, train and practice that much more in order just to break even.

The fact that I am here in the world's largest professional poker school should be taken to mean that I believe that I am capable of developing the skills and abilities necessary to achieve a long-term positive winrate -- after rake of course.

Post is already too long...

Starting point and goals tomorrow...

Starting Point

♦ I'm in my late 50's, have a stable, well-paying job, and play poker recreationally.

♦ I like to win. In the past I have played other games, notably backgammon, hearts and scrabble that all have a skill / luck mix. None of those ever gave me the feeling of tilt that poker has. Mind you, I was better at ALL of those than I am at poker -- and with seemingly much less effort.

♦ To a large extent, I am able to control my anger and emotions when dealing with people and events that randomly occur. I have a saying that I use -- out loud when necessary -- to help me maintain balance.

"When happens I have a problem. If I lose my temper I have TWO problems. One of those I can control".

♦ I have sufficient life experience to have withstood several crises.

♦ After just over 2 years, I am still an overall losing poker player.

♦ As defined in the "The Mental Game of Poker" by Jared Tendler (MGP) I am in the throes of several different varieties of tilt simultaneously,

Mental Game Goals

♦ Achieve a state of "Stable Confidence" as defined in MGP

Sub-Goals

♥ Be aware of, and recognize changes in my mental state as I play

♥ Be able to respond appropriately to perceived changes in my mental state.

Poker Goals

♦ Achieve a positive winrate at NL 25 -- including rake

Process

♦ Each session will consist of:

♥ Preparation -- what I do to get ready to play

♥ Performance -- playing a pre-defined poker session

♥ Evaluation -- examine both the mental performance, and the poker performance in view of my current known weaknesses in each area

♥ Analysis -- determine changes that need to be made either in the mental game or in the actual poker play.

Next Post

I will pick one of the various mental game leaks I have identified, on which to concentrate.

I will also select on poker leak to improve.

At the moment, I believe that almost all of my major leaks are mental in origin, so identifying a purely strategic error might require some outside assistance. Hmm...The notion that my poker leaks are all purely mental is almost certainly wrong, but at this stage, I'm not actually capable of making the distinction

I will also provide a description of the preparation, evaluation and analysis steps for a session.

Subsequent posts will each describe a session, along with the evaluation and analysis steps.

Until next time...

Originally posted by VorpalF2F

So I have now purchased, "The Mental Game of Poker" by Jared Tendler.

Definitely +EV decision, well played. ♠_love:

subscribed, gl sir!

Session Preparation

In MGP are some things to do before playing. I had pretty much met the standard already. To formalize, though I will detail my current practice.

♦ Play 2 - 5 Freecell or minesweeper games

♦ Review any Hand Evaluations from previous sessions

♦ Review a relevant video or review a relevant article

♦ Start HM2 and log on to poker client.

♦ optional Review hands from previous session in HM2

♦ Review Mental game leak definition and avoidance measures

♦ Review Poker leaks and avoidance measures

♦ Open first table, with others to follow.

I found that playing freecell, hearts or minesweeper gives me a good indication of my mental ability at the time. If I can see the moves quickly and intuitively then I judge that my mind is functioning well. Sudoku and cryptic crosswords also work, but they're not always available. BTW, this trick of testing mental performance is not in MGP, but something I discovered for myself several years ago. If I am struggling to see the moves -- or making wrong ones -- then I don't even play poker.

I once tried to use play money as a mental warm-up, but the play is so poor, that it can poison your play on the cash tables, even when playing at the highest play money stakes available.

I only review hands in HM2 when I have posted no hands for evaluation from the previous session.

Mental Game Leak

♦ I find it difficult to give up on hands, especially decent made hands.

Poker Target

♦ I have a high WTSD (~35%). I have identified several things that inflate this value:

♥ Playing draws too long

♥ Overplaying made hands -- especially good ones -- while ignoring flush draws and straight draws that may have hit.

♥ Being too passive. In this case, I will call down with a medium made hand -- say 2nd pair on an A-high board only to find that villain was just as scared by the A as I was. A stab would likely have taken the pot.

To combat this I have come up with two mnemonics to help me focus on the poker principles rather than my emotions while playing:

Pre-Flop

PHASER

Position

Hand

Action before me

Stats / Stack sizes / Steal

Ego

Risk

Post-Flop

SHOT

Strength / Stack-to-Pot / Size of Bet

Hand

Odds (includes implied odds)

Texture

So hopefully I will play a session tonight using the new mental game tools.

I did not play yesterday. By the time I got home I was bagged, so gave poker a miss.

This brings up another handicap I have.

At the only time in my day that is available to me, most of Europe is asleep, and the only ones still playing are the good solid regs.

Session Report

Once again too tired after work to play NL 4

I screwed up playing freecell, and just didn't seem to have the energy for it.

I played a hundred hands of 5-Card Draw though, just to see how I did mentally.

My 5CD leaks are similar to my Holdem leaks, so it was a decent test.

Right out of the gate, I improved a pair of 3s to trips, but lost to a trip 8s.

I give myself full mental game points on that one, in that villain had drawn two, and while it may be that he was keeping a kicker he could also have had trips from the outset. So I didn't lose much. Villain #2 had drawn one, and led out, and I did call though, which I think was reasonable.

Only a few hands later, I improved a pair of 8s in the BB to trips vs SB who limped and drew 1.

Feral Cow Poker Hand Converter (http://www.feralcowpoker.com/poker-hand-history-converter.php?version=1.27)

PokerStars Limit 5 Card Draw $0.10/$0.20 - 6 players

Button: $3.17

SB: $1.14

BB: $3.70 (Hero)

UTG: $1.65

UTG+1: $1.56

CO: $2.03

Dealing Hands: ($0.15) 8♥ 8♣ 7♥ 5♣ 3♠ (6 players)

4 folds, SB calls $0.05, Hero checks

First Draw: ($0.20) (2 players)

SB discards 1, Hero discards 3,

8♥ 8♣ || 8♠ 9♥ 7♠

SB bets $0.20, Hero raises to $0.40, SB raises to $0.60, Hero calls $0.20

SB showed 3♣ 3♦ 6♣ 3♥ 6♦, a full house, Threes full of Sixes

Hero mucked

SB won $1.34

(Rake: $0.06)

Since the limp seemed more to me like a flush draw than 2 pair, and since an unimproved 2 pair, and a busted flush draw could also be CBet, I thought this worth a raise for value.

Wrong again.

Nice hand. I think villain played that well, tbh. I would still open raise this if I was in his position though

I get mental game points for this since I managed to stay focused, concentrate on the play of each hand and not "try to hard" in subsequent hands.

Session Report

After a warmup playing the Party $100 PokerStrategy.com freeroll, I decided to play 200 hands of NL 4 HE

This was my first actual NLHE session after completing MGP

Overall, I took no bad beats, and though I lost several hands, none qualify as "bad beat". A generally positive session, mentally & economically.

Mental Game

My current Mental Game Leak that I am focussing on is my tendency to hang on to hands too long.

I overcorrected on at least one hand, and failed to notice the problem appearing on another. I posted both hands in the HE forums, but I'll put them here also.

You can follow the links if you want to see the coaches eval of the hands.

So I get a 70% for mental game today, I kept emotionally stable, and employed my PHASER & OSHIT to good effect.

Just for the record, I hereby revise my mnemonics by change the R in PHASER from "Review" to "Range".

OSHIT becomes just "SHOT" since Odds & Implieds are more-or-less part of the same consideration post flop.

The new mnemonics then, are:

Spoiler

Pre-Flop

PHASER

Position

Hand

Action before me

Stats / Stack sizes / Steal

Ego

Range

Post-Flop

SHIT

Strength / Stack-to-Pot / Size of Bet

Hand

Odds (includes Implied Odds)

Texture

Poker Game

Other than the two hands mentioned, I more-or-less played sensibly.

My WTSD for the session was well below my average, and therefore, my W$SD was well above my usual average. Yay me.

However, one of the hands I played badly (as I write this hand judge has not yet spoken) really hurt my blue line. Over the session, my non-showdown winnings saved my ass.

Here is the hand I folded too fast (https://www.pokerstrategy.com/forum/thread.php?threadid=218987):

Spoiler

Party, $0.02/$0.04 No Limit Hold'em Cash, 5 Players

Insufficient hands for any relevant post-flop stats

v/p/8.3/1.5

SB: $1.58 (39.5 bb) 39/7/0/1.4 28H

BB: $4 (100 bb)

Hero (BTN): $5.40 (135 bb)

CO: $2.93 (73.3 bb) 65/22/8.3/1.5 37H

MP: $7.86 (196.5 bb)

Preflop: Hero is BTN with 9:h 9:s

MP folds, CO calls $0.04, Hero raises to $0.16, SB calls $0.14, BB folds, CO calls $0.12

Flop: ($0.52) 6:c 3:d 8:d (3 players)

SB bets $0.12, CO calls $0.12, Hero calls $0.12

Turn: ($0.88) 2:s (3 players)

SB bets $0.08, CO raises to $0.28, Hero folds

CO showed 8:h K:h

SB showed 8:d 9:c

And the hand I hung on to that I should have folded on the river (https://www.pokerstrategy.com/forum/thread.php?threadid=218996)

Spoiler

Party, $0.02/$0.04 No Limit Hold'em Cash, 6 Players

SB: $4.43 (110.7 bb)

Hero (CO): $4.27 (106.7 bb)

MP: $2.16 (54 bb)

BTN: $4.07 (101.8 bb)

BB: $5.14 (128.5 bb)

UTG: $3.24 (81 bb)

Preflop: Hero is CO with 7:h A:h

UTG folds, MP calls $0.04, Hero raises to $0.16, 2 folds, BB calls $0.12, MP folds

Flop: ($0.38) J:d A:c K:c (2 players)

BB bets $0.12, Hero raises to $0.54, BB calls $0.42

Turn: ($1.46) A:s (2 players)

BB bets $0.60, Hero calls $0.60

I think that I should have raised this to pot size or even more.

I can't tell though, whether I'm beaten by a better A, or being bluffed at.

If the former, then I should just fold, if the latter, then I should raise.

River: ($2.66) 3:c (2 players)

BB bets $1.12, Hero calls $1.12

This was just stupid, and quite representative of one of my worst leaks.

Results: $4.90 pot ($0.24 rake)

Final Board: J:d A:c K:c A:s 3:c

Hero mucked 7:h A:h and lost (-$2.42 net)

BB showed 8:c 7:c and won $4.66 ($2.24 net)

Session Report

I warmed up by busting out of the Party Freeroll in about 6 hands.

So it goes.

The freecell test showed that I was more-or-less alert.

I did NOT review my leaks prior to play.

I looked at my notes is all.

I'm SUPPOSED to go over the hand evals from the previous session to help avoid the poker leaks. I'm also supposed to review the techniques necessary to avoid my mental leaks.

There's WAAAYY too many mental leaks to avoid all at once, and if you remember correctly, The mental leak I'm supposed to be avoiding is "Holding on to hands too long".

So I'm totally ashamed of myself for this hand:

Spoiler

Party, $0.02/$0.04 No Limit Hold'em Cash, 6 Players

BB: $4.82 (120.5 bb)

Hero (MP): $4.06 (101.5 bb)

BTN: $3.13 (78.3 bb) (unknown)

SB: $5.77 (144.3 bb)

UTG: $4.04 (101 bb)

CO: $4.43 (110.7 bb)

Preflop: Hero is MP with T:d A:s

UTG folds, Hero raises to $0.12, CO folds, BTN calls $0.12, SB folds, BB calls $0.08

Flop: ($0.38) J:h 8:s K:d (3 players)

BB checks, Hero bets $0.22, BTN calls $0.22, BB folds

Turn: ($0.82) A:h (2 players)

Hero bets $0.58, BTN raises to $1.16, Hero calls $0.58

River: ($3.14) K:h (2 players)

Hero checks, BTN bets $1.63 and is all-in, Hero calls $1.63

Results:$6.40 pot ($0.32 rake)

Final Board: J:h 8:s K:d A:h K:h

Hero showed T:d A:s and lost (-$3.13 net)

BTN showed K:s A:d and won $6.08 ($2.95 net)

I convinced myself that AK would raise pre.

By the turn, there is no sensible hands villain could hold that I beat, and I could have shut it down then, but oh, no, I have to go and spew.

Saved by the fact that villain only started w/ 75 BB.

Not only did I play the hand badly, I also totally forgot to use my PHASER SHOT.

However, following that travesty, I settled down and played some solid poker, helped by getting v lucky on this hand (https://www.pokerstrategy.com/forum/thread.php?threadid=219179):

Spoiler .

Party, $0.02/$0.04 No Limit Hold'em Cash, 6 Players

MP: $4.16 (104 bb)

Hero (SB): $5.11 (127.8 bb)

CO: $3.61 (90.3 bb)

BB: $5.44 (136 bb)

UTG: $6.54 (163.5 bb)

BTN: $4.04 (101 bb)

Preflop: Hero is SB with A:h 5:h

4 folds, Hero raises to $0.12, BB calls $0.08

Flop: ($0.24) 5:s 5:c 3:c (2 players)

Hero bets $0.11, BB calls $0.11

Turn: ($0.46) 3:h (2 players)

Hero bets $0.22, BB raises to $0.44, Hero raises to $4.88 and is all-in, BB calls $4.44

River: ($10.22) A:d (2 players, 1 is all-in)

Results:$10.22 pot ($0.51 rake)

Final Board: 5:s 5:c 3:c 3:h A:d

Hero showed A:h 5:h and won $9.71 ($4.60 net)

BB showed J:d J:h and lost (-$5.11 net)

I say "getting lucky" because the only reason I got paid off here is that villain had something he thought that he could go broke with.

So many times I get nice flops like this, and just get the usual chorus of folds.

No matter how skillful we may be -- or become -- having great hands is useless unless someone has a not-so-great hand.

I posted the 2nd hand in the HE forum. I'm interested in what the coaches think (https://www.pokerstrategy.com/forum/thread.php?threadid=219179) of the shove.

Overall score for the session:

Poker: C+

Mental game: D

Session was 4 tables of NL 4 195 hands in 46 minutes.

WTSD 27.8% W$SD 75%

FWIW, I posted one other hand just out of curiosity -- it does not apply directly to my leaks:

NL QQ hits Q on turn -- how to get more value? (https://www.pokerstrategy.com/forum/thread.php?threadid=219180)

Session Report

No NLHE today -- I was going to be having way too many interruptions.

No matter, I played 2 500 hand sessions of 5-Card Draw $0.10/$0.20

The first session I bounced up and down, for 548 hands, finishing down $0.06

OMG Can I survive such a blow to my bankroll?

It was an easy session mental game wise.

I added another meaning to the "P" in PHASER though.

It now also stands for "Patience".

5-Card Draw can be maddening at times.

You hit trips, but villain hits his flush, straight or higher trips.

It takes several orbits to learn your opponents, too.

Some draw 1 w/ 3 of a kind, some draw 2.

Some keep a kicker w/ their pair.

Drawing 1 can mean a flush draw, oesd or 2pr.

If they pat, are they snowing?

The second session was rather brutal to begin with.

I lost the first 5 "good" hands -- two pair or better after draw -- but managed to stay on track mentally.

PHASER works here two, but after the draw it is harder to put opponent on a hand, but I managed to do it several times.

I finally gained back all I had lost, and a bit more.

I did this by being patient and focussing on the game -- and by switching to better tables whenever one table got bad

After the session I examined the session stats, to see if any of my actions stood out as being in need of improvement.

Post draw, I checked 36 times, and lost 21 of those.

However I BET post draw 28 times, and won 24 of those.

I'm wondering if I can profitably turn some of those checks into bets, and take down some pots.

Calling was pretty much a split -- 3 wins, 3 losses.

The Check/Call column was another one that might need some improvement.

8 losses vs only 1 win.

Perhaps some more folding is in order?

On the other hand, XF and XC net results were about the same.

Now that I'm aware though, I'll pay more attention.

Scores:

Mental Game rating: B

Poker Rating: C+

How did I miss this?

[x] Subscribed!

Session Report

Felt bagged when i got home from work.

Busted out of the FT Canadian Freeroll as usual.

Got KK on the BTN just after the break, and nobody at the table felt inclined to even limp, so I ended up stealing the blinds. Woo hoo!

I folded 9c8c a few hands before because there was a 10BB raise and an re-raise ahead of me. PHASER says fold.

Flop comes 7TJ of who knows what suits.

Flunked the freecell test, so played a hundred hands of 5-Card Draw.

Made two mistakes. I learned something from each.

One is that if you draw one, and one of the villains draws 3 and STILL leads before you -- call, don't raise. He KNOWS you have 2Pr, trips or even a possibly made flush draw. If he bets out, and you raise, then he can get you with his quads.

The second is check carefully before you discard.

Busted up two pair, and didn't notice until I'm ready to bet post-draw.

Oops. From this I also learned that it's a damn good thing I wasn't playing NL 4

I ran good, and generally played well.

So nice session.

Score

Mental game: C

Poker game: C

Session Report

Prep: Reviewed my current mental & poker leaks.

The current mental leak is that I tend to hold on to hands tenaciously.

I realized at work today that this is a very positive trait in my job.

I troubleshoot computer problems often in the course of my work, and once I've found a problem I have a very, very hard time thinking about other things until it is solved. I'm told I'm stubborn in other areas too.

Even at work, though this tenacity can get to be a problem, if other areas of my work get neglected because I am riveted to a single problem.

After reviewing the current leaks, I decided to warm up by playing 200 hands of 5-Card Draw, focusing on possible ranges of opponents hands.

I made a few folds I otherwise would not have made pre-draw. In the past I would almost never fold 2pr hands pre, but after consideration and PHASER I let a couple go. In both cases villains were unusually tight, and i had never seen them raise less the 2pr before, and I had only small pairs in both cases -- 7733x was one I remember.

Go Me!

I was rewarded by a bit of run-good, and had a win rate for the session of over 4 BB/100

After supper, I sat down to play an hour of NLHE.

Had one major interruption, and when I returned I opened 4 tables and got started.

Ran really good. Not only did I get several raisable hands per orbit, I raised them. And like good little fishies I got called by worse a bunch, and in a whack more my raises got the chorus-of-folds treatment.

Problem is -- there is always a problem, isn't there? -- all the tables were breaking up, and no sooner did I sit down than there would be only two of us left.

Are they THAT afraid of me?

Score:

Mental game: B

I felt solid, but not overconfident. Played disciplined, and aggressively.

Poker: Folded AK on a 653 two-suited board OOP vs an unknown. That, along with the 5-Card Draw folds gives me a B as well.

I might dig up the AK hand an post it.

Might be too nitty, but no hand & no draw == no play.

Cheers,

--VS

Wow, this is so interesting, way different than the other blogs I've read. I also do believe that you are your own worst enemy, and at times your only enemy. It's great that you grade yourself in these aspects, and perhaps this kind of self-evaluation will really translate into other wins outside of poker. +1 follower for sure =).

In terms of bad beats though, I definitely think that as poker players we tend to remember so much more vividly when we are on the receiving end of it. I don't ever remember reading about someone who keeps track of how many times during one day/session they delivered some guy a really bad beat/got their money in when in bad shape and got there on the turn or river. I recall one day when I lost AA vs AK and I just dropped my mouse and got a real deck dealing over and over again the same situation because I was so incredulous. Also, we have such a limited perspective because rarely will we be able to compile specific situations to an extent that it becomes relevant on a large sample size scale.

You mention two things that are brought up in MGP

First, the book recommends that you take notes on your mental state, just as you take notes on other player.

So the purpose of this blog is to be the journal of those notes.

The second thing you bring up is the notion of recognizing your own good luck when it does happen. He also suggests that we recognize good play in our opponents.

The problem is that we feel that we DESERVE it when we hit our 1 out.

When villain hit HIS one out, we feel "robbed".

Both points of view are mental distortions of the facts -- either we got lucky or he did. Both cognitive distortions can lead to tilt.

Overconfidence on the one hand, or "Injustice tilt" on the other.

To be a player with "Stable confidence" we need to eliminate both.

I've also identified another aspect of luck in poker I don't hear much about.

As in stand-up comedy, timing is everything in poker.

AA is no better than 72o if you raise either and get a chorus of folds.

A hand is no good unless somebody out there has a slightly worse one -- or thinks he does.

So often instead of "nice hand" in chat, I'll use "nice timing".

The incident I remember most was when I first switched to SH as my primary game. I was being rather nitty, and 3Bet. The guy on my right chatted: "You have to play a lot more hands if you want us to call".

Next hand or two I got QQ in the BTN.

I 3Bet again.

He shoved.

He had AA

Timing is everything.

Cheers,

--VS

Update

Busted out of Canadian Freeroll to open my night.

But worth it, as it revealed the next form of tilt I need to work out of my game.

It bugs me more than it should when I hold AA and I get a walk, or I raise and get a chorus of folds. It happened to me twice in the zimmers tournament today.

And following the freeroll bustout, I decided to play a hundred hands of 5-card draw as a warmup. Sure enough, dealt a pat flush in the BB. Walk.

I made several mistakes playing 5CD, misclicks, calling 3Bets from cash donors and so on.

I decided my mental skills weren't up to par so I'll skip playing NLHE today.

So:

Mental leaks I'm working on:

♦ Hate to let go of hands (bulldog leak)

♦ Get annoyed when premium hands get no action. (wasted hand leak). This is a form of "Entitlement Tilt" where somehow I have the crazy idea that I somehow deserve to make $$ from my good hands.

Poker leaks:

♦ Go to showdown too much (goes hand-in-hand) with first mental leak)

♦ Call too many river bets. Also a consequence of the bulldog leak

Until next time, I'll review ways of combating Entitlement Tilt.

Fear

I think I mentioned before that my downswing had lasted so long and gone so deep that I was expecting to lose.

The following hand is a good example.

It is a v simple hand, but I had to FORCE myself to make the correct play.

(assuming that it is the correct play)

Party, $0.02/$0.04 No Limit Hold'em Cash, 5 Players

MP: $14.87 (371.8 bb)

Hero (BTN): $4.25 (106.3 bb)

SB: $4.63 (115.8 bb)

BB: $4 (100 bb)

CO: $4.37 (109.3 bb)

Preflop: Hero is BTN with 7:s 7:d

MP calls $0.04, CO folds, Hero calls $0.04, SB folds, BB checks

PHASER says this is a definite bet. No reason to raise with two others in. If I do hit a 7 it would be nice to get two stacks.

Flop: ($0.14) 5:d 2:d J:s (3 players)

BB checks, MP bets $0.07, Hero calls $0.07, BB folds

I think pretty much any hand worth raising is worth CBetting here, so I have no real reason to suspect that he has a J. He could, but I'm OK w/ that.

I have no relevant stats, my hand is 2nd pair, which is probably good at this point. I really have only 2 outs to get to a hand worth going broke over.

Board texture is rather ugly, with both straight, flush and combo draws.

Turn: ($0.28) A:d (2 players)

MP checks, Hero bets $0.20, MP folds

His CBet was 1/2 pot -- a token amount, and he checks the turn.

He does not appear to want this pot much.

If does not have a ♦ in his hand, he might just fold here, especially if he is holding 66-TT

Now here is where the mental game awareness kicks in.

As I contemplated making a bet here, and was thinking about an appropriate bet size, I became aware of the fact that my heart was beating fast. Not exactly pounding, but with a definite sense of danger.

So I'm going to re-read the section of MGP that deals with fear.

It is amazing to me that i did not notice this before.

My experience has taught me that I'm going to lose, that this is some slow-playing AA or flush draw that is going to come over the top and pwn me.

So I develop a fear response that kicked in over a bet of $.20

But "Fatigue makes cowards of us all" [1] and it may be that I am just too tired.

[1] I found this attributed to George Patton and Vince Lombardi. Maybe both said it at one time or another.

Originally posted by VorpalF2F

Preflop: Hero is BTN with 7:s 7:d

MP calls $0.04, CO folds, Hero calls $0.04, SB folds, BB checks

PHASER says this is a definite bet. No reason to raise with two others in. If I do hit a 7 it would be nice to get two stacks.

I think if it's in a tournament/SnG you should raise for sure since your hand is vulnerable and it is preferrable to thin the field, especially as there are lots of QT/QJ/JT/T9 type hands limping to see a cheap flop. But since it's a cash game, I think it's a valid point for set mining, if you keep 2 customers it's more likely one can flop something to pay you off.

In cash games, I generally raise TT+, sometimes 99 over limpers.

I'll raise first in w/ any pair on the BTN though.

I'm also reading MGP but only read the first couple chapters so far.

I used to suffer from what you call entitlement tilt, now when I squeeze with AA and get two folds, I think wow I've just made 6BB very easily in one hand!

I think another way you could combat this is to try working out the math, if you raise from say MP then what are the chances someone has a playable hand. If it's say 20% then at least next time you raise you can say to yourself well there is a 80% chance I'll win the blinds un-contested.

From the little I've read of MGP, I think the key to having a successful mental strategy is to be as logical as possible. I find this quite easy because I see myself as typically a logical person but I'm sure with enough work, anyone can be logical if they let themselves.

Really like how your structuring your blog and your use of mnemonics, I have a couple myself.

When I'm considering when to bluff:

In (Inflating the pot, don't do it!)

The (Texture, is the board wet, would many hands be willing to call?)

Netherlands (Number of opponents, more than 2 then say no!)

People (Player types, don't bluff fish but be more willing to bluff tight players)

Drink (Draws, be more willing to bluff when your hand can improve)

Rum (Represent, can you actually represent a strong hand with a bet?)

Look forward to seeing how you progress

Originally posted by Raknyo

I'm also reading MGP but only read the first couple chapters so far.

From the little I've read of MGP, I think the key to having a successful mental strategy is to be as logical as possible. I find this quite easy because I see myself as typically a logical person but I'm sure with enough work, anyone can be logical if they let themselves.

Thanks for stopping by...

Logic works to overcome emotion. It is actually pretty much the subject of chapter 4.

"Injecting logic is the short term strategy that contains mental game problems while playing and also takes a small step toward resolving them."

I think that the biggest difference for me though is actually recognizing when I DO have a mental problem developing that needs an injection of logic.

Thanks for the mnemonic, and good luck in your quest

Update

I was feeling energetic after work -- I mean, why not?

It's Friday, I have a ticket on the $50 million LottoMax and supper's in the oven.

The discussions about recognition and logic had me review Ch 4 in MGP.

I skipped the Canada Freeroll today (maybe that's why I didn't tilt later).

I then played 237 H of 5-Card Draw.

I had read an article on the math of 5-Card Draw (http://people.math.sfu.ca/~alspach/comp18/) which made me realize just how badly I had been sucked out on before. 5-Card Draw is supposed to be a low-variance game, but SO many times I lost flushes to full houses, full houses to quads and quads to straight flushes.

So with logic behind me, I felt a bit bolder, and didn't fold so many buttons as I normally would. I got some good hands, too, which helps.

I think that when you show down several nice hands, people just think "Fk that, I'll fold, since it's his turn in the luck box tonight". Fine by me. Fold away.

I did get pwned pretty neatly by one of the better regs.

We played this hand early on -- perhaps even my 2nd hand.

I don't like this guy being on my left, because he three-bets quite a bit.

Feral Cow Poker (http://www.feralcowpoker.com/poker-hand-history-converter.php?version=1.27)

PokerStars Limit 5 Card Draw $0.10/$0.20 - 6 players

SB: $3.64 (Hero)

BB: $21.53

UTG: $3.99

UTG+1: $3.17

CO: $0.89

Button: $4.32

Dealing Hands: ($0.15) 5♣ A♠ 2♥ K♥ K♣ (6 players)

4 folds, Hero raises to $0.20, BB raises to $0.30, Hero calls $0.10

Like I said, he 3Bets quite a bit.

I would raise here quite widely myself -- and he knows it, so I could even be good here

First Draw: ($0.60) (2 players)

Hero discards 2, BB discards 1,

A♠ K♥ K♣ || 7♦ 2♦

Hero checks, BB bets $0.20, Hero calls $0.20

I don't normally keep a kicker, but did here just because I normally don't, and it makes only a slight difference to the outcome.

I checked intending to call any bet, since a)He could be snowing -- ie drawing 1 w/ his mediocre pair

b)he could have a busted flush draw.

Hero showed 7♦ A♠ 2♦ K♥ K♣, a pair of Kings

BB showed 8♥ 7♥ 9♥ K♠ Q♥, high card King

Hero won $0.96

(Rake: $0.04)

OK Fine...

He played fairly sedately for quite a while, folding to my steals and respecting my raises etc.

Then this, maybe 100 hands in

Feral Cow Poker Hand Converter (http://www.feralcowpoker.com/poker-hand-history-converter.php?version=1.27)

PokerStars Limit 5 Card Draw $0.10/$0.20 - 6 players

SB: $3.63 (Hero)

BB: $21.47

UTG: $4.64

UTG+1: $2.94

CO: $0.23

Button: $9.70

Dealing Hands: ($0.15) T♦ 5♣ J♦ J♥ A♣ (6 players)

4 folds, Hero raises to $0.20, BB raises to $0.30, Hero calls $0.10

First Draw: ($0.60) (2 players)

Hero discards 2, BB discards 3,

J♦ J♥ A♣ || 8♦ 7♦

Hero bets $0.20, BB raises to $0.40, Hero calls $0.20

Hero mucked

BB showed K♠ K♣ A♥ 3♠ A♦, two pair, Aces and Kings

BB won $1.34

(Rake: $0.06)

So he had me beat from the outset.

I don't know for sure that he used the previous experience to alter his play on this hand, but I'll give him credit for doing just that.

MGP says we need to learn to recognize good play, and distinguish it from pure luck. He did have luck here, but he played it well.

In general he is one of the better players at this game & limit.

His winrate over nearly 1K hands is about 5 BB/100 -- over 4x what mine is.

I felt quite proud of my mental performance on this hand.

I had no upset feelings, and actually chuckled at my own folly.

Yay me!

I finished the session up, even after that...

Score

Mental Game: B

Poker Game: C+

Yeah, I know it isn't NLHE, but hey, it's poker.

Instead of poker tonight, I'm going to do the mental profile exercise from MGP

Have a great weekend.

Update

Tough 350 Hand Session

Playing NL 4 I opened with a string of good solid raising hands, which all hit flops and most lost. 100 hands in I was down 5 BI.

I will review them later, but I am pretty sure all were legitimate plays.

I kept my focus, and played solid for another 250 hands, and made 3 BI back.

I think I kept my mental focus for the most part.

I was seeing a lot more 3Betting than I usually do, so I tightened up.

Caught myself flatting a few times -- this is a fear move.

3Bet or fold, dammit!

My WTSD was once again high -- this is my big poker leak, so I'll say I flunked this exercise.

My W$SD though was 50% -- I just wish the ones I won == the ones I lost.

Because of the opponents reaction, I stole less, than usual --

My steal % was only 27, w/ a success rate of 50.

My avg is 34 w/ success 59.

Score

Mental: C+ I think I could have done better with the river calls -- but I didn't even come close to tilting.

Poker: D I'll know better when I review, but I'm pretty sure I could have saved some of the BIs with a discreet fold or two.

Originally posted by VorpalF2F

Session Preparation

To combat this I have come up with two mnemonics to help me focus on the poker principles rather than my emotions while playing:

Pre-Flop

PHASER

Position

Hand

Action before me

Stats / Stack sizes / Steal

Ego

Risk

Post-Flop

O SHIT

Odds

Strength / Stack-to-Pot / Size of Bet

Hand

Implieds

Texture

Awesome! (or should I say stunning?)

Subscribed.

PHASER SHOT even better!

I watched Schnitzelfisch's video on staying focussed (http://www.pokerstrategy.com/video/27186/) today.

At least I tried to. I just kept getting distracted...

The video talks about things you focus on while playing a hand.

The PHASER SHOT mnemonics were meant to serve a similar purpose.

Yesterday, my brother came into town from Edmonton, and we took the highway to Squamish. They made us put it back, though.

On the way back, I was describing this blog to Mrs Vorpal, and mentioned that one of the big mental problems I was working on was Patience.

She replied, "YOU!!! You are the single most patient person I know!"*

"Well, you're patient about big problems, but you have no tolerance for little ones".

She then described several instances where I either a) handled a major crisis coolly and calmly, or b) blew my top at something trivially stupid.

So I wonder how I would handle losing a stack at NL 1000 ?

(I won't be finding out soon).

So today, I was scheduled to play in a couple of big freerolls.

You know the kind...

First there is the Drama Queen round, where 4 (or more) people at each table shove on the first hand. After that, 6 people at each table limp each hand.

So I decided to use these as an exercise in pure patience.

The rules were, I had to use PHASER SHOT on every decision.

If I was going to raise over limpers, it had to be a solid hand -- not bottom-of-the-range for that position.

It was excruciatingly painful, since for over 4 orbits I did not get a SINGLE playable hand. I finally got uncorked, and built up to just over average stack, and then had my KK busted, and was down to 1/4 average, then worked my way back up, then ended up losing two flips in a row.

The other two were no better.

In the 2nd freeroll, there was one of these guys who open-shoves every 2nd or 3rd hand. He had build up a stack nearly triple mine when I got AK on the button and called him. He had K6 of clubs. Two clubs on the flop, and I thought, "Oh, yeah, here it comes..."

I was wrong though. No more clubs.

It was the 6 on the turn that ended my day.

Next I decided to play 200 hands of 5-Card Draw.

Nice session, 201 hands at over 7 BB/100 (14 bb/100) winrate.

I think that I am folding better, and stealing better.

Of course, I could just be getting lucky...

Until next time...

*Note:

We've been married 32 years. She knows what to say to me...

Update

Played 100 hands of 5-Card Draw, and the Canada Freeroll.

Made it to the 2nd break in the freeroll -- but since only 27 places cash, it would take a bunch more than that.

So now that I've been playing logically for a week or more, I have to ask myself:

Am I running good because my tilt is subsiding?

or is my tilt subsiding because I'm running good????

There is no question that I've been a bit luckier of late.

There is also no question that without the defeatist attitude, I am playing scary, but +EV hands. I'm winning some, and losing some, but winning more than I'm losing -- both in pot size and # of pots won & lost.

I'll ponder the answer to the question for a while.

It has only been as week, after all.

Discovery

Success can only be found if you are in position to find it.

Pleno1 says, "You can't win if you fold".

It is also true that "Villain cannot fold if you don't raise".

Session Report

Busted out of the Canada Freeroll on the 3rd hand KK < 87s Hit a king on the flop, but he hit a str8 on the turn.

Played 300 hands or so of 5-Card Draw.

Took a break for supper, then 285 hands of NL 10 6-Max

Current Focus

Mental Game leaks I focus on at the moment:

♦ Patience -- or rather lack of it...

♦ Holding on to hands too long

Poker Leaks:

♦ Taking too many hands to showdown.

♦ Bluffing too much

Results

5-Card Draw

The 5-Card Draw session was quite trying.

I sat down to a pat str8, and got a few good hands in the first hundred, so I was comfortably up about 5BB.

I then lost 3 big pots:

Made flush lost to made FH -- drawing 3 no less. Nice hand, dude!

Made str8 lost to made flush

Made trips lost to higher trips.

I could feel the urge come over me to "get my money back", by raise-bluffing etc. But I told myself: "Vorpal *, you are going to play 300 hands. You will play each one sensibly. You will be patient, and wait for your turn in the luckbox. When sensible, you will steal, and bluff-raise, but only when sensible".

So I calmed myself down, played sensibly, and not only avoided spewing more and not only did I not quit in a snit, I played out the 300 hands and finished up 6BB. Yay me.

NL 10

If you've been following along, you'll remember that when I started this I had just recognized that a) I was on a rather chronic tilt. and b) I had just dropped down to NL 4.

This, then is my first real NL 10 session since I've started this.

I resolved to play 1 hour or 300 hands, whichever took longer, with no more than 4 tables of NL 10 6-Max

I was surprised at the difference in feel between the NL 10 and the NL 4 I had been used to. During this session, on any table, hardly and orbit went by without a 3Bet.

I therefore had to back away from my usual steal rate of 35% -- or at least I thought I did. I ended up with a steal rate of 32%, but instead of my usual steal success rate of 59%, I was only at 46%.

I also had to toss a LOT of hands post flop.

No Hand, No Draw, No Play.

Even hands w/ decent pairs and decent draws I had to toss them because the odds weren't right. Now I'm certain that some of these were bluffs, but which ones?

But my WTSD was nicely down, and my W$SD nicely up.

Overall, I had a tanking red line, and a soaring blue line that combined to equal w/ a $0.38 loss on the 285 hand session.

Score

Mental Game: B+

I kept calm, I did not get frustrated at the bad beats, I remained calm, I did not get impatient and start playing poor or marginal hands chasing losses.

I SAID I REMAINED CALM. OK? CALM!!! *

*attendant's note: Mr Vorpal will be out of restraints shortly to complete this blog entry. Thank you for your patience.

Seriously, though, the only downside was the gloating I did when I stacked a player when I had JJ > AK on an AJJxx board.

Gloating is a form of tilt. Well, not tilt really, merely a slight list to starboard.

Poker Game: C+

I think I took waaay too long to adjust to the higher aggression on the NL 10 tables.

I'm not back to work until the 10th, so I will try to do a long session of at least NL 10 before than. Long for me is >500 hands.

I will also try to do at least enough to get the "Advent Calendar" promo prize each day on Party.

Love the reviews

I've always wanted to get into 5CD and have dabbled in it from time to time that and Stud Hi and 2-7SD/TD

If only we could have another 8 hours in the day or we didn't require sleep

Hope the tilt issues are resolved now.

I found I was calling down too much with 'backdoor this and backdoor that', too many videos watching coaches with much more talent than me.

I also started 5cd but couldn't find a game at micros on microgaming. Shame.

Originally posted by gadget51

Hope the tilt issues are resolved now.

I also started 5cd but couldn't find a game at micros on microgaming. Shame.

Tilt issues are far from fixed.

The goal is "stable confidence".

At this time, my emotional state is neither stable nor confident.

However, I am able to RECOGNIZE early when I am starting to lean over.

That is the critical first step.

I'm using the techniques described in "The Mental Game of Poker".

So far, I've managed to avoid "insane monkey tilt" since I've been applying them.

I still get disappointed / elated when I lose / win though.

Only 5-Card draw I know of is on stars.

It is a great game for learning to read people, rather than cards.

You get several pieces of information from bet sizes and draw amounts that can either tell you something or mislead you.

I enjoy it quite a bit.

Session Report

Played 300 hands of 5-Card Draw early on.

Skipped the freerolls.

Played 250 hands of NL 10 after supper.

Results

5-Card Draw

Fairly straightforward game. Won a few, lost a few,

I did bluff 3Bet from the BB vs a button raise and showed it down.

This was intended only to help fix my super-tight image.

It worked a little too well, as I suffered several suckouts from people who probably would have folded before.

I'll have to look closely to see if it helped overall.

Ended down 3bb -- no big deal.

5-Card Draw

I only had a scant hour to play after supper, but managed to get in 260 hands or so.

I was playing 4 tables, but built up to 4 gradually, since I had to wait for all tables after the first. Waiting lists make table selection difficult.

I played each hand logically, which meant I folded several hand.

I did get a lot of logically raisable hands early on. At one time, I would tighten up after a run of 3 or 4 raises, because I knew that the inevitable 4Bet was coming.

Now, however, I realized that I WANT to be 4Bet with hands that can take it.

So I was pleased at this hand, which came near the end of a string of raises.

Party, $0.05/$0.10 No Limit Hold'em Cash, 6 Players

CO: $10.15 (101.5 bb)

BTN: $14.55 (145.5 bb)

Hero (UTG): $11.57 (115.7 bb)

MP: $10 (100 bb)

SB: $18.90 (189 bb)

BB: $9.91 (99.1 bb)

Preflop: Hero is UTG with K:d K:c

Hero raises to $0.30, 2 folds, BTN calls $0.30, SB raises to $1, BB folds, Hero raises to $11.57 and is all-in, BTN folds, SB calls $10.57

Flop: ($23.54) J:h 4:c T:s (2 players, 1 is all-in)

Turn: ($23.54) 7:c (2 players, 1 is all-in)

River: ($23.54) 6:d (2 players, 1 is all-in)

SB showed A:d K:s and lost (-$11.57 net)

I'll post this hand in the HE forum -- not for the hand, but for the thought processes that I went through.

Overall, the session looked like this:

At one point I thought:

Now there is a session that would erase tilt in a flash.

However, the goal is "Stable Confidence", which means that:

♦ We aren't on tilt in the first place

♦ A but of run-good does not change our demeanour either.

The red line is mostly due to my steal success being 62%

Score

5-Card Draw

Mental Game: B+

I played a solid logical game, without any anxiety or emotion influencing decisions.

Poker: B

Other than the questionable bluff 3Bet, I played a conservative game.

NL 10

Mental Game: B

Played logically throughout. I think I'm allowed a fist-pump or two now and again without it being "winner's tilt"

Poker: B

Stayed with the game plan, and adjusted well to the player on my left on two tables who defended aggressively. 3Bet 4x on several occasions. I've noted him, and even called a 4Bet, but that might have been a mistake. I steal over 30% so once they catch on I need to 4Bet or fold.

#2K

As usual, she finds out there is a party when the party is finished. Hopefully here I got there quite early

I will catch up during the weekend, subscribed

Update

Freerolls.

Tough games, high variance, huge pools of people playing shove-em bingo.

It is difficult to apply good poker logic to them.

On the other hand, it is free cash, and no matter how little you have won over the years, your ROI is infinite.

Please don't calculate your $/hr, though.

I had picked up an entry to one of Party's "Advent Calendar" $2000 freerolls, and registered this morning.

I created two new "Inject Logic" statements to cover the situations that usually tilt me in freerolls.

Don't Panic (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phrases_from_The_Hitchhiker%27s_Guide_to_the_Galaxy)

This comes from "The HitchHikers Guide to the Galaxy (http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/books/Hitchhikers-Guide-Galaxy-Douglas-Adams-Eoin-Colfer/9780330508117-item.html?cookieCheck=1)".

I have this printed in 144pt type on a letter-sized sheet of paper posted on my office wall. Since I regularly get people all anxiety-ridden looking to me to solve all of the computer problems, it seems apt.

This phrase is used when I have a marginal hand hand I'm running low on chips -- say less than 3/4 average stack. Typically I get tempted into either shoving with too many people behind me, or calling a shove I really shouldn't.

Is this the hill you want to die on? (http://www.phrases.org.uk/bulletin_board/60/messages/1082.html)

Another similar phrase, "Choose the hill you want to die on" is one we taught to parents who were struggling to acting out teens when Mrs Vorpal and I ran a group for beleaguered parents.

The idea is that if they fight this battle to its inevitable end, it means the breakup of their family.

In poker -- especially in tournaments -- once the blinds are a significant fraction of your stack, on every hand you must choose whether or not to commit your tournament life.

The purpose of injecting this phrase into the logic is twofold:

♦ It reminds you to evaluate this hand against position, blinds and stack size and thus make a logical decision on whether to go with it or not. The hand could be a premium hand, speculative hand or 3Bet bluff -- but you make a logical decision to go with it.

♦ It sets up the mental game defence against coolers and suckouts. For good or ill, You chose this action, in full awareness of the consequences, perfectly willing to take whatever comes.

So the freeroll progress, and I maintained a slightly less than average stack through to level 24, when I got this hand.

I did not panic.

I was quite prepared to die on this hill.

Party, 5,000/10,000 blinds, 1,000 ante No Limit Hold'em Tournament, 10 Players

Hero (MP2): 68,568 (6.9 bb)

SB: 9,228 (0.9 bb)

BTN: 29,240 (2.9 bb)

UTG+1: 158,516 (15.9 bb)

MP1: 53,004 (5.3 bb)

UTG: 53,087 (5.3 bb)

MP3: 20,692 (2.1 bb)

UTG+2: 12,689 (1.3 bb)

BB: 122,843 (12.3 bb)

CO: 108,198 (10.8 bb)

Preflop: Hero is MP2 with K:d K:s

UTG folds, UTG+1 raises to 30,000, 2 folds, Hero raises to 67,568 and is all-in, MP3 calls 19,692 and is all-in, 4 folds, UTG+1 calls 37,568

Flop: (179,828) K:c 7:h 6:h (3 players, 2 are all-in)

Turn: (179,828) 9:c (3 players, 2 are all-in)

River: (179,828) A:h (3 players, 2 are all-in)

Results: 179,828 pot

Final Board: K:c 7:h 6:h 9:c A:h

Hero showed K:d K:s and won 179,828 (111,260 net)

UTG+1 showed A:d Q:c and lost (-68,568 net)

MP3 showed T:s T:c and lost (-20,692 net)

This was about 20 places before the bubble, so I had to include "bust out of the money" in the thought process.

I actually finished 170th out of the original 8600 participants.

Session Report

Played 500 hands of 5-Card Draw just for the fun of it.

Down 15 BB at the end.

I played good poker, but maybe tried a little too hard to exploit a couple of rather loose players. I succeeded for the most part, but the hardest part of being aggressive is knowing when to back down.

I then set out to play 500 hands of NL 10, but I could tell by the time I was 200 hands into the session that I was a bit too tired. I misread a couple of stats, and made a couple of rather dumb movers.

It's too bad really, because I was getting good cards, and was getting good action on them.

Finished overall up 2BI for a nice day.

The Score

Mental Game: B+

Nothing bothered me, nothing got me too excited. A few adrenaline rushes when the race was on, but nothing major.

Poker: B

I made a few out-of-character moves, but when other people do that they are "balancing their ranges" or other similar sounds-like-an-excuse-for-a-screw-up drivel.

So, yeah, I was balancing my ranges.

Steal % was a whopping 50%, but steal success was only 40%.

Compared to the other day when it was 32% w/ a success of 60%, I still stole roughly the same absolute # of pots give or take a few.

I can see why pleno1 opens 2.5bb from the CO & BTN -- I'll do that and see if it affects my steal %

One hand needs evaluating:

Party, $0.05/$0.10 No Limit Hold'em Cash, 6 Players

MP: $16.92 (169.2 bb)30/27/13.6/28.0 v/p/3/af 143 hands

Hero (BTN): $10 (100 bb)

UTG: $10.69 (106.9 bb) 82/21/28.6/3.2 v/p/3/af 28 hands

BB: $2.85 (28.5 bb)

CO: $11.07 (110.7 bb)

SB: $13.83 (138.3 bb)

Preflop: Hero is BTN with Q:d A:h

UTG calls $0.10, MP raises to $0.40, CO calls $0.40, Hero raises to $2.10, 2 folds, UTG calls $2, MP calls $1.70, CO folds

Flop: ($6.85) K:h 9:d 3:s (3 players)

UTG checks, MP checks, Hero checks

Turn: ($6.85) J:s (3 players)

UTG bets $2.20, MP folds, Hero ???

I've really nothing but a gutshot left.

Hmmmm......

Session Report

5-Card Draw

500 Hands.

I had some bad beats, but I also caught myself calling CBets I should not have, and I also made some I should not have.

I did make some sensible bluffs, though -- most successful, some not.

So it goes.

NL 10

500 Hands.

Up to my old tricks again. I chased a couple of bad draws, and floated a few times I should not have.

i turned a couple into successful river bluffs, though.

I played several non-premium hands -- suuuuiiited connectors and the like.

Some success.

The big story though was in two massive crap-outs.

I held pocket 5s, and flopped JJ5.

Half-pot CBet was called.

Turn came another J.

I realized that my boat was now useless if villain paired up, so I shoved to force him to fold a higher card.

He called w/ 77.

Had I not shoved, I would have called his shove I think

Just one of those things.

The other I fire on 3 streets w/ TPTK, but villian already had trip 8s and rivered the case 8.

Score

5-Card Draw

Mental: B+

I think it is time to go looking for another mental game leak to work on.

Poker: C

I can still use improvement in 5-Card Draw recognizing when to bluff and when to 3Bet for value pre-draw.

NL 10

Mental: C+

I hung on to some hands I should have folded.

I can't really say if the full house over full house tilted me or not. I recognized at the time how the hand went down. It was the very last hand of the session though It will be interesting to see how I react next time I'm in that position.

Poker: C+

I think I played too passively the entire session. It is hard not to though, when the other players at the table are being aggro.

I did adjust, but maybe a little too late.

I'm posting the following hands for evaluation:

Hand #1: NL 10 TP turned into a bluff (https://www.pokerstrategy.com/forum/thread.php?threadid=221822)

Party, $0.05/$0.10 No Limit Hold'em Cash, 6 Players

Hero (BB): $12.19 (121.9 bb)

MP: $10 (100 bb)

CO: $14.30 (143 bb)

BTN: $5.76 (57.6 bb) 41/26/13/6/1.8 107H (v/p/3/af) wtsd = 20 Steal 42% from BTN 60%

SB: $11.76 (117.6 bb)

UTG: $10.95 (109.5 bb)

Preflop: Hero is BB with A:c 9:h

UTG raises to $0.20, 2 folds, BTN calls $0.20, SB folds, Hero calls $0.10

Flop: ($0.70) 9:c 5:d 2:h (3 players)

Hero bets $0.40, UTG folds, BTN calls $0.40

Turn: ($1.50) J:s (2 players)

Hero checks, BTN bets $0.81, Hero calls $0.81

River: ($3.12) 5:s (2 players)

Hero bets $2.22, BTN folds

bluff based on pairing the 5

2nd Hand:

This came v early in the session.

The other players at this table had been quite aggro, so I was attempting to counter by being passive

NL 10 Flop set -- draw completes on river (https://www.pokerstrategy.com/forum/thread.php?threadid=221823)

Party, $0.05/$0.10 No Limit Hold'em Cash, 6 Players

BTN: $9.18 (91.8 bb) 66/16/16.7/2.1 75H v/p/3/af steal=33% wtsd=18%

CO: $8.92 (89.2 bb)

Hero (SB): $13.90 (139 bb)

BB: $10 (100 bb)

UTG: $10.56 (105.6 bb)

MP: $9.35 (93.5 bb)

Preflop: Hero is SB with T:s T:c

UTG calls $0.10, 2 folds, BTN calls $0.10, Hero completes, BB checks

Flop: ($0.40) T:d 7:c A:d (4 players)

Hero checks, BB checks, UTG checks, BTN bets $0.40, Hero raises to $1.25, 2 folds, BTN calls $0.85

Turn: ($2.90) 8:c (2 players)

Hero bets $2, BTN calls $2

River: ($6.90) Q:d (2 players)

Hero bets $10.55 and is all-in, BTN folds

with the 3rd diamond on board, I think this is turning the hand into a bluff..

I think that this guy has anything at all here, and may even have a piece of this board. I think my bet sizing here is totally wrong though

I am not sure I would play it the same preflop, but won't bother about that. As play, my humble opinion goes:

hand 1: after he is floating you like that, I think you might even have the best hand there. That 5 on river is basically a blank, and your opponent showed some willingness to bluff if he is holding something weak. So I think you might make more money in that spot by check/calling river to a reasonable bet rather than leading. You might well have the best hand there so no need to think you are turn it into a bluff.

2nd hand:

If you are ready to risk that amount of money on river, wouldn't it be better to check/call again? He might bet missed draws among his nutty hands. Also river is not that great, not only completes a draw, but also brings the 2nd highest card to the board (if he was following with JT, he doesn't like that). So I don't think he likes what he sees in the river unless he has a hand that beats yours, which he won't fold. You have been showing lots of strength though, and he has a low wts...so I doubt he will try to bluff you there, but you might want to try. Q is such a bad river, so I find it hard to pin a bet size I would like. But may be something between 1/3-1/2 pot, if I think he is rather passive and he won't be bluff raising me (which he seems very unlikely to do). Having said that, again, he might not call anything...and it seems like a good spot to float you from his point of view...

Did you read the post about "Don't Panic"?

I think I forgot that in the second hand..

check/call is probably the better option against aggro players, but in these hands the villains were being passive, so maybe it makes sense for me to go all hairy aggro on 'em

Wish I knew what they had...

Update

The next mental game leak I will tackle is frustration.

It takes a reasonably long downswing to bring it out, but the feeling of futility is definitely still there.

I have now played over 2000 hands of 5-Card Draw since my last winning session.

I repeatedly get my straights beaten by flushes, my two pr hands by trips, and tonight I even had a boat beaten by another boat TTTxx < JJJxx .

Mine was a pat hand, he drew 1.

I don't get upset at all on each hand, but after a few days, it wears you down.

I'm certain that it affects play, I caught myself holding back on a perfectly valid steal attempt because of it.

Poker:

I've been playing "Fast Forward" NL 10 and NL 4 on Party.

LOTS of mid & short stackers there.

Results have been up & down, but overall I'm satisfied I'm playing well.

Same story though. Coolers and suckouts.

The benefit is it highlighted another mental game problem to tackle.

The downside is about 6 BI over 4 days -- and there were even some up sessions in there.

I think I'll put another poster up:

"One hand at a time"

Update

Frustration

I've been attempting to come up with some logic to inject when feeling frustrated.

I'm having a hard time finding one, and it's getting, well, frustrating.

So far, the best I have come up with is, "Embrace the inevitable".

Drivel.

But I had yet another losing day at 5-Card Draw.

The losing part was helped my misclicking on this hand:

Feral Cow Poker Hand Converter (http://www.feralcowpoker.com/poker-hand-history-converter.php?version=1.27)

PokerStars Limit 5 Card Draw $0.10/$0.20 - 6 players

CO: $3.13

Button: $6.57

SB: $2.35

BB: $1.56

UTG: $1.50

UTG+1: $4.67 (Hero)

Dealing Hands: ($0.15) 6♣ K♣ 6♦ K♥ 6♠ (6 players)

UTG folds, Hero folds, CO folds, Button raises to $0.20, SB raises to $0.30, 2 folds

I was playing 3 tables, which is just about my maximum, because when you are in a pot, it is really important to see how many cards your opponents draw.

I saw this hand, and clicked in a "blank spot" in the table just as the fold button popped up underneath it.

I laughed, which rather surprised me. But yay me for not tilting.

I have now picked a neutral part of the table, and will always, always, always click there and only there.

My 500-hand session was W shaped. The bottoms were both 20 BB deep, and I finished only 1.5 BB down. So I did have my turn in the luckbox.

It would be interesting to have a session where I start on the upswing though. I can't say I remember that happening.

Hmmmmm

At least it was a misclick, lol. I checked back the nut straight flush on the river because OBVIOUSLY he had a better flush. He had the A high flush

And I am sure you are very familiar (as I remember you mentioning it) with the fast fold aces in middle position ♦ Oh well. Hopefully our poker career success doesn't rely on only one hand...

Update

Well, oddly enough, there is no specific instructions on "Frustration" in MGP

So, I'm going to use "Entitlement Tilt" as my target Mental leak.

Entitlement Tilt is when you get angry when you think that you deserve to win but you don't.

This is going to be difficult because, dammit, I DO DESERVE TO WIN

I'm a nice guy, I shower regularly, and I'm kind to small animals.

So today I fought off tilt over a 500 hand 5-Card Draw session that saw me down 30 bb at one point. I managed to hold my self in check, and although I made a couple of unconventional plays, I did them deliberately and for a purpose. (I have no idea WHAT that purpose was, mind you, but I do assure you, there was one).

Throughout the course of the session I had the usual several times where my draws got beaten by better ones.

I hung in there, and did not let fear take over, and continued to CBet and 3Bet properly, and eventually hit a run of non-suckout-space and managed to claw back all but 6 bb.

I felt good about my play, and about my mental state.

I recognized getting on the edge of frustration, and warded it off by reminding myself that I was playing well, and I would get my turn in the luckbox one day.

Feeling entitlement tilt is very often my sit out moment.

I was thinking about your idea of coming up with something logical when feeling frustrated. If you inject the logic first, wouldn't that pre-empt the feeling? Having said that, it sounds a bit robotic though, hmmm.

To avoid misclicking as much as possible, I take my hand off the mouse completely these days until ready to act. This gives me a vital few seconds to try to think, rather than just clicking buttons.

Mrs Vorpal and I took a bit of a break this week.

Her sister runs a theatre in Creston, British Columbia (http://www.hellobc.com/creston.aspx), and was going to open "The Hobbit" with a special midnight showing Thursday night.

On the spur of the moment, we decided to drive there and surprise her.

The trip is 750 km, and over 7 mountain passes, including Kootenay Pass (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kootenay_Pass)

There are webcams (http://images.drivebc.ca/bchighwaycam/pub/html/www/5.html) for 6 of the 7 passes. Kootenay Pass has the distinction of being the highest year-round highway pass in Canada.

The driving conditions were "Mostly bare, with compact snow, slushy and slippery sections. Limited visibility at higher elevations due to fog and blowing snow." To quote the road report.

Bear in mind that in British Columbia from November to March that is the road report for every highway in the province except for the lower Fraser valley and southern Vancouver Island.

Quite the surprise.

We showed up at the theatre as the line was forming, and exchanged pleasantries with the people (mostly teenagers) waiting in line.

We had a blast taking the tickets, handing out the 3D glasses and generally harassing the clientèle

On the way, we stopped off to see our grandchildren, who revel in the knowledge that there grandpa is Santa Claus

Here are some trip pics for the skeptics

Gandalf & Galadriel getting ready in Rivendell

Does she look at all surprised?

Gandalf & Galadriel On the job

Gandalf? No, sometimes I'm Santa Claus

The summit of Kootenay Pass in the fog

More scenes on the Kootenay Pass highway

Look for faces in the icicles

Highway 3 Hairpin on descent from Anarchist Mtn

Originally posted by VorpalF2F

Look for faces in the icicles

Wow that's a nice photo

wow! great pics Bruce! Looks like you guys had a lot of fun!

Superb idea, looks like it was a lot of fun! Nice one Santa!

Anarchist Mountain!? ♦ ♦

Originally posted by gadget51

Superb idea, looks like it was a lot of fun! Nice one Santa!

Anarchist Mountain!? ♦ ♦

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anarchist_Mountain

Now we both know.

I never questioned the name before.

So many strange names around here...

Awesome pics. They remind me of my place. I want to move to Canada and live near a mountain with that name

Spoiler Anarchist in the UK. E1 5b

http://yorkclimbers.com/profiles/blogs/hard-rock-trip

Originally posted by MisClick

Awesome pics. They remind me of my place. I want to move to Canada and live near a mountain with that name

The closest town is Osoyoos (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osoyoos) (pr Oh-sue'-yuss) which is a native word meaning "Hot as hell in summer" ( I think). It sits between 2 lovely lakes, and is one of the top retirement destinations in Canada.

It is the northernmost extension of the Great Sonoran Desert which starts in Mexico and extends all the way up to Penticton, BC

The climate is super dry there, and has one of the highest hours of sunchine in the entire province.

I used to take my telescope there all the time.

wow, that sounds like the perfect place!!! Hot in summer, snow in winter = proper summer and proper winter. That's the kind of climate I like!!! checking house prices ♦

Update

5-Card Draw

5-Card Draw is supposed to be a low variance game.

I find it very streaky, though.

I get long stretches of a hundred hands or more with just crap, and then I go on a 100-hand tear and make a bunch.

I had battled back tonight and was up about 10 BB nearing the 500-hand mark when I lost a boat - over - boat hand.

It seems to me that I NEVER win when I turn my two pair hands into full houses.

That is not true, however.

I ran a query on my pokerhands database, and discovered that In 36000 hands, I am + $92.00 in 315 hands when holding a full house post-draw.

However when I am facing a boat I have won only once in the 13 times this has occurred, for a net lost of $10.85 -- or 54 BB

I played no NLHE tonight.

Tomorrow I have an appointment w/ HM tech support who are curious as to why HM2 won't show a HUD on Party fast forward, so I've been getting ready for that.

On the mental side, I'm still doing the hand-by-hand mental assessment, and injecting logic as necessary.

It has almost become a habit to evaluate my mental performance on each and every hand as I play it. I don't know at this point if that is a good thing, an intermediate step or a bad habit.

Some things I've noticed:

♦ I don't like to raise 4 or 5 times in a row, even if the hands are all legitimate raising hands.

♦ I play pocket 7s - 9s more aggressively than Ts or Js

♦ I rely on stealing a huge amount -- but tend to call 3Bets too often.

I start every hand with one or more of these:

"Each hand stands on its own merits."

"I make no decisions based on events of the past, nor hopes for the future. "

"This hand, and only this hand"

I was pretty pleased with my play tonight.

Poker: B+

Mental: B+

Update

NL 4

I was playing today to test the work that HM2 support did fixing my inability to see a HUD on Party FF tables.

I had a fantastic session:

Now that may not look like much, but the big loss early on A used to be a major setback.

After a big initial loss, I would turn weak-tight, and play my big hands passively, and fold most speculative hands entirely.

I continued to play aggressively, playing each hand as the situation demanded.

The two hands marked B also represent a victory. They were fairly good made hands, but I managed to let them go due to the near certainty that I was beat. If I was bluffed off a better hand, then well played villain. Formerly, I would have taken these to showdown, and lost even more.

I wonder a bit about the hand at C

In this hand, the board is fairly wet and made straights are possible on the flop.

Party, $0.02/$0.04 No Limit Hold'em Cash, 6 Players

CO: $6.62 (165.5 bb)

Hero (UTG): $11.41 (285.3 bb)

BTN: $3.64 (91 bb)

MP: $3.92 (98 bb)

SB: $8.97 (224.3 bb)

BB: $5 (125 bb)

Preflop: Hero is UTG with Q:d Q:h

Hero raises to $0.12, MP calls $0.12, 3 folds, BB calls $0.08

Flop: ($0.38) 7:s T:d 6:h (3 players)

BB checks, Hero bets $0.27, MP folds, BB calls $0.27

Turn: ($0.92) J:h (2 players)

BB checks, Hero bets $0.66, BB calls $0.66

River: ($2.24) 5:s (2 players)

BB checks, Hero checks

Results:

Spoiler $2.24 pot ($0.11 rake)

Final Board: 7:s T:d 6:h J:h 5:s

Hero showed Q:d Q:h and won $2.13 ($1.08 net)

BB showed 9:h A:h and lost (-$1.05 net)

Previously I would have played for pot control here, and won the blinds and a bit. However this player was playing 24/18/0 and had lost almost half his stack at this point.

I posted this hand for evaluation (https://www.pokerstrategy.com/forum/thread.php?threadid=223893) -- I rather think I should have bet bigger. On the whole, I think I managed to avoid all of the mental mistakes I'm currently working on.

Yay me.

In conversation today with some other PokerStrategy.com members, the statement was made that variance increases with aggression.

It seems true on the surface, but without aggression I tend to lose a lot more -- or at least I seem to lose a lot more.

The trick is to be aggressive when doing so will prompt your opponent to make a mistake. If you are aggressive at a time when you opponent is unlikely to make a mistake, then you are wasting your time -- and your aggression.

If you are aggressive TOO much, then you get played back at -- hard.

I offer in evidence this hand from today's 5-Card Draw session.

Dont have a cow, heres your converted hand (http://www.feralcowpoker.com/poker-hand-history-converter.php?version=1.27)

PokerStars Limit 5 Card Draw $0.10/$0.20 - 5 players

BB: $4.64 (Hero)

UTG: $2.40

CO: $4.36

Button: $4.16

SB: $3.24 71/41/13/2 v/p/3/af over 117 hands

His ATS was 61%

CBet 70%

but his fold to CBet was also 70%

Dealing Hands: ($0.15) T♥ J♥ 6♣ 7♥ Q♥ (5 players)

3 folds, SB raises to $0.20, Hero raises to $0.30, SB raises to $0.40, Hero calls $0.10

This was so typical of his play. I was reasonably sure that he was bluffing, and that after I drew 1 and CBet he would fold. I intended to do that whether I hit the flush or not.

First Draw: ($0.85) (2 players)

SB stands, Hero discards 1,

T♥ J♥ 7♥ Q♥ || 9♥

SB bets $0.20, Hero raises to $0.40, SB raises to $0.60, Hero raises to $0.80, SB calls $0.20

Hero showed T♥ J♥ 9♥ 7♥ Q♥, a flush, Queen high

SB showed 6♥ T♦ 9♠ 7♦ 8♣, a straight, Six to Ten

Hero won $2.30

(Rake: $0.10)

So:

His aggression induced his opponent (me) to make a mistake.

A month ago I would NEVER have bet such a hand, let alone raise it.

So his aggression induced people to play back at him.

I was pretty sure that he was snowing on this hand -- he had done it before:

Stand pat and c/f after draw.

It turns out he was not snowing at all, however he did overplay it.

If you have a straight, and opponent (me) draw 1 and bets, a straight isn't all that strong any more.

However against a tighter opponent, a flush isn't either.

It was a fun hand to play.

For his 117 hands, he went 100 hands or so moving up and down between even and +$2.00

Following this hand, though several other players jumped on the "play back at the maniac" bandwagon and he left the table with his tail between his legs and $4.19 of his money in our stacks.

I finally hit 750 FPP on P** today and doubled my bankroll.

$10 bonus, and I spent a 1000 FPP on another $10.

WooHoo

I'm going to use my 37K hands of 5-Card Draw to attempt to correlate various stats to amount won.

More on that later.

Sorry not have noticed your blog before.

Originally posted by VorpalF2F

His aggression induced his opponent (me) to make a mistake.

It's not clear to me that you made a mistake. If you go by the Sklansky definition of a mistake, then I suppose you did, but you have to think in terms of ranges, not hands. I think raising a flush draw against an opponent with a wide range who c/f a lot post flop is a very reasonable strategy. Next time you get into the same situation with him and you have two pair plus and 3bet him predraw, what's he going to do? I would say he's going to be even more inclined to pay you off. Just because you do something -EV against a particular hand doesn't mean it's -EV against his range.

Merry Xmas

JB

I spent the afternoon today carefully examining my pokerhands 5-Card Draw database looking for SOMETHING that would explain this graph.

The points of interest are:

A I read the PokerStrategy.com articles on 5-Card Draw by EV Galois.

B Following an exchange in the forums w/ Huricano and JBPatzer, I learn the art of open-raising FDs and OESDs and CBetting unimproved vs select villains. Thanks Guys!

C I have absolutely no idea why things suddenly went so sour. The section from here to D was such a confidence breaker that I fell back into overly tight, passive play.

I do not know what -- if anything -- I was doing wrong.

D to E I just played hit-and-run when I got good hands. I avoided known good players and basically used 5-Card Draw to kill time in the evenings when I didn't feel like playing poker. Even so, all along I was a slightly winning player.

E Around here I realized that with a few more VPPs I could get $20 worth of free cash. I started playing fixed-length sessions of 500 hands. Also somewhere around here, I started this blog, and with it my mental game excursion. I started 3Betting strong hands both pre- and post-draw. Even so, there is a lengthy downswing.

To examine the data, I first eliminated all sessions less than 100 hands.

I then used Excel's pivot chart to view each stat vs bb/100 in turn.

There was a VERY loose correlation between after-draw aggression frequency and winrate -- the more the merrier.

NOTHING ELSE SEEMED TO MATTER AT ALL.

So, all things taken together -- just variance. Why so swingy though?

One other factor I CAN'T measure is who I'm playing against.

When table selecting, I try to pick either unknowns or player's I've coded green, and avoid those I've coded red.

I take lots of notes at 5-Card Draw, since stats may tell you how many he drew and when, but not WHAT he kept nor how he played it.

I'll keep at this limit (the lowest $0.10/$0.20) to 50K hands, then move up to $0.25/$0.50 -- though there is not so much action there.

I had a bit of a nap this afternoon.

I reviewed the data from my 5-Card Draw analysis and concluded that I was not CBetting enough when OR w/ my 2Pr hands. I found that I won a lot at showdown, where all players checked the hand post-draw.

Since I don't OR crap too often, if I could only get a call 1/4 of the time on those hands, I would be ahead.

Well it turns out, that not only do they call, they call LOT. At least to start with, then they fold pre-draw when you OR

So now you can OR crap, and if they call, you can CBet and THEN they fold.

On the mental side, I found I was in the zone.

I was charging into hands, and occasionally getting out-drawn, and having NO EMOTIONAL REACTION AT ALL.

This admittedly felt very odd.

In the past, when there was a 3Bet hand in progress, I had the "fight-or-flight" type physical response. When out-drawn, I would feel let down, disappointed, or downright angry.

In the graph in my previous post, the overall winrate is $0.68 BB/100.

After the last 268 hands, it has gone to $0.74 BB/100

helped in large part by this hand:

Feral Cow Poker (http://www.feralcowpoker.com/poker-hand-history-converter.php?version=1.27)

PokerStars Limit 5 Card Draw $0.10/$0.20 - 5 players

Button: $1.63

SB: $4.48 (Hero)

BB: $2.50

UTG: $1.74

CO: $0.10

Dealing Hands: ($0.15) 7♠ A♠ J♥ 4♣ A♦ (5 players)

UTG calls $0.10, CO calls $0.10 and is all-in, Button calls $0.10, Hero calls $0.05, BB checks

First Draw: ($0.50) (5 players)

Hero discards 3, BB discards 1, UTG discards 3, CO discards 2, Button discards 1,

A♠ A♦ || 4♠ A♥ A♣

Hero bets $0.20, BB raises to $0.40, UTG calls $0.40, Button folds, Hero raises to $0.60, BB raises to $0.80, UTG folds, Hero calls $0.20

Note that BB has a mediocre flush, and he's capping with it.

Since I had drawn 3, this might be reasonable.

Even UTG cold-called post-draw after drawing 3.

Hero showed 4♠ A♠ A♥ A♣ A♦, four of a kind, Aces

BB showed 9♥ 2♥ T♥ 3♥ 4♥, a flush, Ten high

CO mucked

Hero won $2.40

(Rake: $0.10)

I have only flopped quads once in NLHE that I can remember.

Why did I not raise pre?

With all those players in the pot, it is quite possible that I am beaten already, since a lot of these players limp smaller 2 pr, and I'm OOP

But maybe that tactic is a hold-over from my fear-tilt days.

I'll have to ask Huricano or JB whether it is advisable to raise this.

Oh -- and just to make my wonderful day complete, I hit a full house drawing 1 to 2pr, and WONDER OF WONDERS I out-drew another 2pr => full house.

I'm 2 out of 14 in the boat vs boat battle.

I wanted to see whether or not a much more aggressive strategy would be effective at NLHE

Yes and no.

The trick to being aggressive is knowing when to back off.

I played 275 hands of NL 5 Rush on Full Tilt.

I don't care about my FT bankroll, so it was the ideal platform for this.

I started by overplaying by playing Bet/Raise w/ QQ on a 5KT board, but villain wasn't having any of that, thank you very much, and I lost rather more than I should have to K5

However, I rather liked these three hands.

NONE of which I could have played like this while fear, entitlement and injustice tilt had accumulated to the point of making me a timid, tentative and ultimately a weak, passive player.

I'm not declaring that I have reached "stable confidence".

Far from it. In fact, in at least one of the hands, I got a bit excited -- with the increased heart rate and the whole works.

Hand 1:

I fold AA on the flop.

Full Tilt, $0.02/$0.05 No Limit Hold'em Cash, Rush, 6 Players

BTN: $5.36 (107.2 bb)

SB: $2.63 (52.6 bb)

BB: $5.09 (101.8 bb)

Hero (UTG): $12.37 (247.4 bb)

MP: $3.27 (65.4 bb)

CO: $5.16 (103.2 bb)

Preflop: Hero is UTG with A:h A:d

Hero raises to $0.15, MP folds, CO calls $0.15, BTN calls $0.15, 2 folds

Flop: ($0.52) 4:c 8:h 5:d (3 players)

Hero bets $0.40, CO calls $0.40, BTN raises to $1, Hero folds, CO calls $0.60

Turn: ($2.92) 3:d (2 players)

CO checks, BTN bets $1.60, CO raises to $4.01 and is all-in, BTN calls $2.41

River: ($10.94) 9:h (2 players, 1 is all-in)

Results: $10.94 pot ($0.72 rake)

Final Board: 4:c 8:h 5:d 3:d 9:h

BTN showed 7:d 6:d and won $5.11 (-$0.05 net)

CO showed 6:s 7:c and won $5.11 (-$0.05 net)

I was somewhat lucky in that I got to see what villains had.

The call and raise made me think that at least one of them had hit a set.

I was a bit surprised to see two players calling a raise & call w/ 76.

At least the 2nd caller was getting decent odds.

Entitlement tilt would have me shove here.

Well done me.

Hand 2.

Sorry, mate, I just don't believe you have a hand.

Full Tilt, $0.02/$0.05 No Limit Hold'em Cash, Rush, 6 Players

UTG: $2.50 (50 bb)

MP: $2.28 (45.6 bb)

CO: $12.49 (249.8 bb)

BTN: $1.89 (37.8 bb)

SB: $3.69 (73.8 bb)

Hero (BB): $11.47 (229.4 bb)

Preflop: Hero is BB with Q:s A:h

4 folds, SB completes, Hero raises to $0.20, SB raises to $0.40, Hero calls $0.20

Flop: ($0.80) 5:h J:c 2:d (2 players)

SB bets $0.50, Hero calls $0.50

Turn: ($1.80) 3:c (2 players)

SB checks, Hero checks

River: ($1.80) 5:c (2 players)

SB bets $0.55, Hero calls $0.55

Results: $2.90 pot ($0.19 rake)

Final Board: 5:h J:c 2:d 3:c 5:c

SB showed Q:h 6:d and lost (-$1.45 net)

Hero showed Q:s A:h and won $2.71 ($1.26 net)

I could not imagine what hand a person could have that they would complete then minraise with, that they would not raise with outright.

On such a dry flop, I held 2 overs which I though worth at least one bet.

I free card on the turn, and a silly little river bet. By this time, I'm just calling out of curiosity. He seems to think he has something, but I sure don't know what. He could have a whole gamut of hands I don't beat.

The whole pot is barely over 10% of my stack, so I'm not really too put out if I lose anyway.

Hand 3.

This is why I like playing deep stacked

Full Tilt, $0.02/$0.05 No Limit Hold'em Cash, Rush, 6 Players

CO: $7.23 (144.6 bb)

BTN: $2.50 (50 bb)

SB: $2.50 (50 bb)

BB: $5.21 (104.2 bb)

UTG: $3.03 (60.6 bb)

Hero (MP): $12.94 (258.8 bb)

Preflop: Hero is MP with 7:c 7:d

UTG folds, Hero raises to $0.15, CO raises to $0.40, 3 folds, Hero calls $0.25

Since villain has almost 150 bb, he easily fits the call 20 rule.

Flop: ($0.87) K:h K:d 5:c (2 players)

Hero checks, CO bets $0.50, Hero raises to $1.50, CO folds

Since I'm now OOP and w/o initiative, I pretty much have to check on this board, if I bet first, he can 3Bet me with or without a K and I'm gone.

OTOH if he is just CBetting out of habit, then he cannot possibly continue w/o a K, and I can easily get away.

The fear tilt me would have played c/f trying to "protect" my stack instead of using it as a hammer.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Merry Xmas!

a gift for your blog

Spoiler

:diamond:Merry Christmas

I didn't play poker at all yesterday or today.

I did visit my daughter-in-law briefly, though and found her boyfriend playing two MTTs on FTP.

He was doing fairly well -- min cashing in the $50 but busting out in the $10.

His play seemed quite sound, and his mindset seemed pretty good too.

He plays only MTTs and large buy-ins, and says he does well.

Hmmmm....

I'll have to think about that. I find MTTs very hard to take, in that the games run so long, and the rewards come so rarely.

Did I mention that I don't handle frustration well?

Maybe I'll play the Daily Dollar on FTP until my FTP bankroll is gone.

Nice Blog