More of the Same

Still playing the $2.00 heads up games. Slowly winning but not a lot of money. I like the 4 player heads up games as one of the 3 wins is guarantied. So you simple win two games in a row and get $8 on a 2.20 investment. The rake kills you every ten games is $2. Although I'm winning small the site is winning even more than me (on my play alone). I think if most of the average (bad) players knew what their chances of winning long term were they would quit playing.

Case in point: I'm a little over $100 on a $15 investment on Poker Stars Their rake is .09 on the 4-up games. I've played well over 1000 games. They've made $90 for every 1k games. Of course I'm getting better and I know my next 1k games will have a higher win rate, but still that's a lot of money they are making. Thats not to even mention the fact that all the others playing me are paying .09 too. so thats $180 the house wins to my $85 profit.

Playing to win gets boring. I did play some rush poker but I can't play that focused. I lost $50 and stopped playing. I know I can play that to win but man it is soooo boring. Sometimes its fun just to play for entertainment – but that's not playing to win.

I do enjoy playing live at the weekly game. I placed second last year. It's a totally different game but it's good company and I learn something every time I go out there.

I'm going to play 20 game the best I can and report back on the results for a challenge. Talk more then.

Update Heads Up and the rest of the story

Ok so my graph looked really impressive last time and of course I had a nice downfall right after. but I did realize what I was doing wrong. A., I said that I would post my results... Pressure. (lol) B., I did try a different format of heads up during that time and realized that it just doesn't suit my game. C., Played when tired and or when just not willing to pay full attention.
Once I realized this I was able to correct and I'm noticing gains once again. This graph shows probably 400+ total games.
Now for the rest of the story. I can no longer play on the site I used to play because they don't support my Mac anymore. However, I traded a $15 transfer from FT to another site with a friend of mine and I've been able to turn that $15 (on that site) into $50 over the last couple of weeks. The graph above doesn't reflect those games. If you put those two graphs together, it looks much more impressive. I was afraid I would go bust with just $15 to start but am comfortably bankrolled now for the games I play and have no fears of that anymore.
Basically I've been able to turn $20 into $100 over the course of some 400+ games.

What is next? More of the same. I need to prove that I can be a winning player at these stakes and build my bankroll over the next 6 months or so. Then decide if I want to play a harder game.

Running Update:
Not really running much lately but there is a half marathon on my birthday this year. I'm considering making a new goal to run that race. It will be one of the hardest goals I've tried, because I'm so out of shape – but I've been really lacking in the motivation department and a half may be just what I need. I'll decide sometime this week.

Could it be that I've Found My Game?

I've been playing a whole lot of dollar heads up lately and believe I may have found my game. Here's my graph from the last almost 200 games. I did try a different format towards the end there but realized quickly that I wasn't being successful at it and moved back to the format I'm comfortable with – regular heads up or turbo heads up.It is so nice to see my graph going up for a sustained period of time. It may be a good streak, but I really don't think so – we'll see in another month or so. If it is a good streak, it's the longest one I've ever had. I did experience 15 straight wins in a row and a few days later about 9... That is a huge confidence builder.

Lately when I sit down at these games I really think I'm going to win each game – and am surprised if I don't. I do run into a good player every now and then but avoid them if I lose a couple games. I have also had my share of bad beats, but most often I can recover the game. I've been down to 10% or under many times and have come back to win. I feel pretty confident until I get to that point (10 big blinds)... then it's time to make a move.

I'll report back in 30 days and show where I've gone from here... good news, or bad.

Heads Up!

Last night I decided to play heads up $1 +.10 game. The other player was passive and I just plowed right through him, raising every hand. By the time he started pushing back it was just too late and he pushed when I had a huge hand.

The second game was more of the same.

The third game I started out pushing hard but this guy was pushing back. A change in strategy – deciding to trap instead of push. My favorite move with a great hand against a player like this is to check-raise his raise. It most often means you're in a big pot with a good starting hand.
But this guy was pretty good and I really had to trap him several times before he went down, but he over-bluffed, that was his weakness. I caught him several times with my good hands.

I was feeling pretty good about my play but went to bed. At lunch at work I decided to try another game – $2 +.15. This guy was a player and it took a while but I finally broke him, or maybe he just gave up – I don't know. But his play went from great to horrible and I won in about 30 min. so I'm up to 4 straight wins...

Then I come home play another $1 game and sweep through a really bad player. Walk away, come back a couple hours later and Again walk right through another player for $2...

Decided to play one last game tonight and am now afraid of messing up my streak. $2 game and I run into a very good and aggressive player. And I'm not getting any cards! UHHHG. he gets me down to about 1k out of 3k total. But I'm hanging in there. He keeps pushing me and I continue to fight back. soon he has me down to 380 chips and my streak is looking like it will end. Then I catch a run of good cards and I start pushing back. Before you know it we are even again... but I have the momentum and the blinds are creeping up. Because my play changed he just didn't know what to do with me. I had him down almost to the felt (300) and I started making him make all in decisions. I had him all in 3 times (me with the better starting hand) and he caught cards each time... but I kept the pressure on him and he finally cracked, me with KK in the hole.

I'm up to seven straight wins.

I love heads up because it is such a head game. You have to find patterns in the other player but at the same time keep yourself from becoming predictable. I generally raise with shit cards at first (because they often fold and I can get paid with crap) plus if they have a good starting hand and you catch the flop they don't see it coming. But when they finally catch you and know your game.. I then start raising with premium hands, again they don't see it coming. With passive players I play aggressive and maniacs I trap. I often catch people trying to trap me – such as they bet I raise they call 4th comes down and they check (come on) you really think I'm betting without the nuts there? I check, fifth st and another check or a tiny bet... I just laugh because it's so transparent. I'm sure they are disappointed with my check or call.

The other thing that protects you in hold'em heads up is the all-in bet. They either have a great hand or crap and it's easy often to tell which from their previous moves – but if you don't know assume they have it. I hardly ever am surprised at what they have after I call. I love the guy who uses the all in too often. You can fold a lot and then BAM you're back in the game and his chips are chopped.

I really think that I understand heads up play better than any other form of NL poker and I have patience – and that's probably the best thing to be good at in heads up.

Wait 'til I lose seven in a row and I will hate heads up and think I'm horrible! But it's nice going to bed on top of the world!

Thoughts on Tournaments

I played three games this past week:

The first was a $10 buy in with 10 players. I was doing pretty well in the tournament but was eventually knocked out one place before the bubble (when it starts paying). That sucked and I went out on an ok hand, but I had about 10 times the B-blind and with a new level coming, I knew it was time to start pushin'. Just bad timing.

The second game I played was interesting a turbo 9 sit and go. Never, have I played this format before and it sucks. I think this was a $2 or $3 game and you get 300 chips and the blinds are 15/30 so as you can see you need to make something happen fairly quick and everyone is all-in happy. I did catch two people pushing when I had pocket aces. I tripled up and then put the pressure on everyone else and won that game easily.

I then played a $3 knock out tournament with about 1600 people .50 per knock out. I was pretty quiet at first, then I started getting hands and one KO after another. I had probably 12 KOs when I ran into another big stack, she raised, next person called. I had KK but I didn't want to go up against both of them so I pushed all in. They both called and she won the hand: she called my all in with 89s – how stupid. That didn't knock me out but it did cripple me. I played for about another 45 min and had to push with pocket tens – ran into AK that caught on the flop.

I think I'm a much better tournament player than cash game player. I just don't like the time commitment involved in big tourney's that you will probably lose.

In fake chips I'm getting killed. Mostly, just one really bad day after several small gains. I know I can win easy at the lower limits but I can't stand the play.

I do have a goal to get to a million chips (again). I've won several million, many times, but I then get bored and start playing above my head and lose a ton. This time it's taking me a long time to get back to a million, I don't know why. Probably dis-interest.. who knows.

Why Running Bad

Running bad. I've decided to start a new blog to discuss two topics that I always want to talk about but it's extremely boring, almost painful for the people that accidentally get suckered into talking to me be about each. That is running and poker.

Running has been a part of my life on and off for about 5 years now. I've never been good at it (running bad). But it has rewarded me in many ways. It improves my health and it gives me personal time work things out in my head.

I've been hiding from running the last few months but I've decided to change that and get back to health. Running is like playing poker for money – it's scary and hard when you first begin, people do too much too fast, people often quit because it just hard or worse just don't even start. But like poker if you get over the pain, it becomes enjoyable – extremely enjoyable.

Poker is the other reason for this forum and probably what I will talk about more, because it is more intellectual. I am a losing poker player – I've lost $300 over a three year period. At times I've been up over $200. I've always kept track (financially) and I know exactly where I am in my game. Most poker players over-rate themselves at the game – I try not to do that and be completely honest with myself.

(Running bad) is a term used to describe the low side of the fluctuation you have in the game of poker. It could be because of a natural fluctuation in the game, or because of a leak (bad play) in your game.

Luck and gambling:
I truly don't look at poker as gambling in the sense that you are hoping to get lucky. There is no such thing as luck in poker – really. There is variance. Over time, everyone is delt the same number of good cards vs bad cards. What you do with those cards determines how "lucky" you are – I call that skill. Poker is a game of skill and no other game at a casino can you have a better edge over your opponent than in the game of poker. The reason for this is you are not playing against the casino. You are playing other people. How many professional craps, roulette, or slot machine players are there? None. Why? They are not a games of skill.

Sure, more skillful players lose their money more slowly and even blackjack players can get the edge almost even, but the casino will always win in the long run. Skillful poker players know this and are not "hoping to get lucky" when they sit down at a table. If anything they are hoping that the other players are not as skillful as themselves – but skillful players can tell right away if they are outmatched at a table. The more skillful you are, the less variance you will have in your game.

In the definition of gambling you will find words such as: hope, uncertain outcome, chance, risk... This is not poker and in no other game does the money move more quickly from the unskilled players to the skilled players than no limit hold 'em.

When I said before that I'm a losing poker player, I was talking financially. But money has very little to do with the reason I play. I've spent way more money on Coke Cola and pizza over those last three years, heck most likely Coke alone. so then why even play for money? Well, What money does in the game is keeps people more honest.

... The Post above was written long, long ago, but I never posted it. However, I love this idea and this blog so I will keep it going. I haven't run since December. I've done some 5k's in October, November and December and was running pretty good until I became very busy.

I haven't played poker as much as I used to and haven't played for money since November. Back then I was doing quite well at the live poker game I often play. I won probably three weeks in a row. This is fairly low risk, as the most you can lose in a night is $13 buy in and however more $5 rebuys you feel like spending. The most I've ever lost in a night is $40. The most I've ever won is about $180 live.

I've been playing rush poker a lot with fake chips and killing at it. The other night I sat down with 2k and ended a few hours later with over 100k. I've had some variance (losing) but I'm still up quite a bit.

I plan to start running more soon, maybe even try to do the October half Betsie Valley Run. I may even try to do the April Rat Race in Mt Pleasant. That would be a great goal.

This is all for now.