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A hand example to extend on the last post..
by risk2Dupside on 01/26/09
Hi all...
I've had a crummy downswing today..so what better way to distract myself than to discuss strategy and good playing. I wanted to post a few HH's that underscore some of the points I made in my last post. I don't know whether I fully explained them correctly but hopefully this first example helps.
1. Pot control/extracting river bluffs by checking the turn
This is one is the most common situations I see in 4.40/180-max and is generally the way I build a decent chip stack through the early/mid stages with minimal risk. Note that I have position on the player and he is check/calling which tells me he is either on 1) a weak top pair, 2) a flush draw, or 3) a set. Usually with a two-suited flop a reasonable player knows not to slowplay a set, so I'm playing this one reasonably confident I am ahead...
PokerStars Game #24286393393: Tournament #136506320, $4.00+$0.40 Hold'em No Limit - Level I (10/20) - 2026/01/26 2:25:17 ET
Table '136506320 3' 9-max Seat #1 is the button
Seat 1: pokersikkie (1400 in chips)
Seat 2: winnergroen (2360 in chips)
Seat 3: kylew132 (1410 in chips)
Seat 4: Undra1 (1180 in chips)
Seat 5: S.fox 82 (1370 in chips)
Seat 6: randall7stud (1450 in chips)
Seat 7: risk2Dupside (1760 in chips)
Seat 8: thailanddave (680 in chips)
Seat 9: ninetensuit (1500 in chips)
winnergroen: posts small blind 10
kylew132: posts big blind 20
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to risk2Dupside [Kc As]
Undra1: folds
S.fox 82: calls 20
randall7stud: calls 20
risk2Dupside: raises 110 to 130
thailanddave: folds
ninetensuit: folds
pokersikkie: folds
winnergroen: folds
kylew132: folds
S.fox 82: calls 110
randall7stud: folds
*** FLOP *** [Kd 8h 3h]
S.fox 82: checks
risk2Dupside: bets 250
S.fox 82: calls 250
*** TURN *** [Kd 8h 3h] [6s]
S.fox 82: checks
risk2Dupside: checks
*** RIVER *** [Kd 8h 3h 6s] [Qc]
S.fox 82: bets 240
risk2Dupside: calls 240
*** SHOW DOWN ***
S.fox 82: shows [Ah 5h] (high card Ace)
risk2Dupside: shows [Kc As] (a pair of Kings)
risk2Dupside collected 1290 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 1290 | Rake 0
Board [Kd 8h 3h 6s Qc]
Seat 5: S.fox 82 showed [Ah 5h] and lost with high card Ace
Seat 7: risk2Dupside showed [Kc As] and won (1290) with a pair of Kings
I thought this example also showed how hard it is to play weak suited aces or suited connectors out of position. Limp/calling with hands like this makes it really difficult to disguise your hand post-flop and hence get value out of it.
Notice also that I checked the river, rather than raised. We only have top pair here, we think we're ahead but there are plenty of hands that beat us (namely two pair and a set). If we raise for value, the only hands that are realistically going to call us down are hands that beat us, and a lot of times we might be facing a re-raise or shove which we'd then have to fold.
Hopefully that makes sense...comments, corrections, feedback welcome :)
Cheers
rd2u
I've had a crummy downswing today..so what better way to distract myself than to discuss strategy and good playing. I wanted to post a few HH's that underscore some of the points I made in my last post. I don't know whether I fully explained them correctly but hopefully this first example helps.
1. Pot control/extracting river bluffs by checking the turn
This is one is the most common situations I see in 4.40/180-max and is generally the way I build a decent chip stack through the early/mid stages with minimal risk. Note that I have position on the player and he is check/calling which tells me he is either on 1) a weak top pair, 2) a flush draw, or 3) a set. Usually with a two-suited flop a reasonable player knows not to slowplay a set, so I'm playing this one reasonably confident I am ahead...
PokerStars Game #24286393393: Tournament #136506320, $4.00+$0.40 Hold'em No Limit - Level I (10/20) - 2026/01/26 2:25:17 ET
Table '136506320 3' 9-max Seat #1 is the button
Seat 1: pokersikkie (1400 in chips)
Seat 2: winnergroen (2360 in chips)
Seat 3: kylew132 (1410 in chips)
Seat 4: Undra1 (1180 in chips)
Seat 5: S.fox 82 (1370 in chips)
Seat 6: randall7stud (1450 in chips)
Seat 7: risk2Dupside (1760 in chips)
Seat 8: thailanddave (680 in chips)
Seat 9: ninetensuit (1500 in chips)
winnergroen: posts small blind 10
kylew132: posts big blind 20
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to risk2Dupside [Kc As]
Undra1: folds
S.fox 82: calls 20
randall7stud: calls 20
risk2Dupside: raises 110 to 130
thailanddave: folds
ninetensuit: folds
pokersikkie: folds
winnergroen: folds
kylew132: folds
S.fox 82: calls 110
randall7stud: folds
*** FLOP *** [Kd 8h 3h]
S.fox 82: checks
risk2Dupside: bets 250
S.fox 82: calls 250
*** TURN *** [Kd 8h 3h] [6s]
S.fox 82: checks
risk2Dupside: checks
*** RIVER *** [Kd 8h 3h 6s] [Qc]
S.fox 82: bets 240
risk2Dupside: calls 240
*** SHOW DOWN ***
S.fox 82: shows [Ah 5h] (high card Ace)
risk2Dupside: shows [Kc As] (a pair of Kings)
risk2Dupside collected 1290 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 1290 | Rake 0
Board [Kd 8h 3h 6s Qc]
Seat 5: S.fox 82 showed [Ah 5h] and lost with high card Ace
Seat 7: risk2Dupside showed [Kc As] and won (1290) with a pair of Kings
I thought this example also showed how hard it is to play weak suited aces or suited connectors out of position. Limp/calling with hands like this makes it really difficult to disguise your hand post-flop and hence get value out of it.
Notice also that I checked the river, rather than raised. We only have top pair here, we think we're ahead but there are plenty of hands that beat us (namely two pair and a set). If we raise for value, the only hands that are realistically going to call us down are hands that beat us, and a lot of times we might be facing a re-raise or shove which we'd then have to fold.
Hopefully that makes sense...comments, corrections, feedback welcome :)
Cheers
rd2u
Almost a month in
by risk2Dupside on 01/25/09
Hi all..
I've been chipping away for almost a month now so figured I'd update. I work at least 50 hours a week so my volume is probably not as much as some people, but I've managed to log about 165 4.40/180-max games on Stars in the last three weeks or so for a 30% ROI, which I'm not super happy with yet. I've started to realise how much variance there is to your profitability once you go deep...I've FT'ed about 15 times in that sample and haven't managed better than a second, with four thirds..mostly thanks to some unfortunate suckouts or coinflips that didn't go my way. Always disappointing when you feel like you have a handle on the players and managed to get it in good/even and not convert. The sample size is still small though, so we'll see how the next month pans out.
I thought I'd chip in some initial thoughts on the game...some things I'm learning, others that just really piss me off, etc. As follows...
1. The majority of 4.40/180 players OPEN LIMP. This really annoys me and I try hard to exploit this. I either use it as a way to get a cheap look in position with speculative hands, or if I have a premium hand I will make sure I get as much value out of it as I can pre-flop. Sometimes this means you end up holding something like AKs or KK and getting five callers of your PFR, but the key to making this work for me is being a little tighter post-flop. This leads into my next thought...
2. Pot control is crucial. Controlling the size of the pot is really important, especially early in the tournament and if you have no read on your opponent's holding. This often means doing things like checking behind on the turn when holding things like TPTK. Occasionally this will allow your opponent to suckout on the river by hitting his weaker kicker, but it will also prevent you from getting pwned if he has a set. The other really cool bit about checking the turn is players will automatically assume that you don't have TP and will either attempt a bluff on the river or call you down with TPWK. The only exception to this is if you think your opponent is flushing/drawing (almost always obvious because they nearly always check/call rather than bet out), and I go right out and make them pay. They will never get another chip out of me if they do hit, and ironically you see a lot of times people will hit their draw and check to you anyway assuming you will bet.
The other thing I don't do is re-raise pre-flop early in a tournament unless I have QQ+ (late in the tourney is another matter). I am happy to flat call a raise with something like AK since the strength of your hand is disguised and I find I can get paid off from weaker aces (as above), and because 30% of the time I'm going to brick and with a starting stack of 1500 you don't have a lot of times you can brick before you get stuck. With things like QQ+ I am almost hoping to get all the chips in the middle on the flop, which leads into my next thought..
3. Appropriate bet-sizing is where you get most of your chips from. If I have something like QQ+ and I'm facing a raise, I am usually re-raising to a size where I can either commit my opponent to the pot on the flop (early in a tournament) or on the turn. For example, if we are still at 15/30 and I'm sitting with KK looking at a three-bet to 90 and a caller, I will re-raise to 300. Assuming I get both of them to the flop, I am looking at a pot of about 945 when we probably have 1200 behind. On any non-ace board I am either betting 600-800 on the flop so that we are virtually committed on the turn, or shoving if anyone bets out. I don't know if I've explained this perfectly, but what I'm trying to emphasise is having a plan of action pre-flop that includes thoughts about how to size your bets such that you can maximise the amount of chips that get into the middle.
4. Fold equity is almost non-existent in some games. Unless you have a particularly good read that your opponent is weak/tight, there is almost no point bluffing at pots as many players will call you down with second pair or worse. The way you exploit this is maximising value from your good hands by not being afraid to bet them hard. Don't think, "omg how can you call me in that situation?!?!" - just expect that they will, and bet/check/fold accordingly.
5. Note taking is really useful. Even just in my limited sample size, you see the same people reloading in game after game. I make sure I take notes on players and always go through the instant hand replayer to check what hands they have mucked. The things I am keeping a look out for are:
- whether they open limp
- whether they will call speculative hands out of position
- standard betting size and whether it changes with premium hands or non-premium hands
- propensity to bluff
- propensity to three-bet reraise preflop (rare)
- whether they are board/position/stacksize aware
- what hands they are shoving/raising with
Obviously I don't get that down for every player, but I definitely get a lot of it down in shorthand. And I am usually checking OPR once we're ITM or if I identify what looks like a 'thinking' player.
6. Never give up. If you've got less than 10BBs for some reason you are far from out of the tournament. So many of these players will look you up really light if you shove, or will be completely unaware that you have sized your bet such that you will be committed to virtually ANY flop (and therefore probably have a premium holding) and unwittingly commit themselves to a non-premium/speculative hand when they don't have implied odds to call you.
The other thing is that player personalities become a lot more obvious in small stakes. You can usually tell who is there for fun, who gets their pleasure from shoving/bluffing, who thinks they're Gus Hansen, and who plays tight and complains about everybody else. All useful things are you are (hopefully) scooping up pots and making your way towards the money.
Anyway there are probably some great players on these blogs that can correct, extend upon or add to these comments, but this is what seems most apparent to me thus far.
Cheers
r2du
I've been chipping away for almost a month now so figured I'd update. I work at least 50 hours a week so my volume is probably not as much as some people, but I've managed to log about 165 4.40/180-max games on Stars in the last three weeks or so for a 30% ROI, which I'm not super happy with yet. I've started to realise how much variance there is to your profitability once you go deep...I've FT'ed about 15 times in that sample and haven't managed better than a second, with four thirds..mostly thanks to some unfortunate suckouts or coinflips that didn't go my way. Always disappointing when you feel like you have a handle on the players and managed to get it in good/even and not convert. The sample size is still small though, so we'll see how the next month pans out.
I thought I'd chip in some initial thoughts on the game...some things I'm learning, others that just really piss me off, etc. As follows...
1. The majority of 4.40/180 players OPEN LIMP. This really annoys me and I try hard to exploit this. I either use it as a way to get a cheap look in position with speculative hands, or if I have a premium hand I will make sure I get as much value out of it as I can pre-flop. Sometimes this means you end up holding something like AKs or KK and getting five callers of your PFR, but the key to making this work for me is being a little tighter post-flop. This leads into my next thought...
2. Pot control is crucial. Controlling the size of the pot is really important, especially early in the tournament and if you have no read on your opponent's holding. This often means doing things like checking behind on the turn when holding things like TPTK. Occasionally this will allow your opponent to suckout on the river by hitting his weaker kicker, but it will also prevent you from getting pwned if he has a set. The other really cool bit about checking the turn is players will automatically assume that you don't have TP and will either attempt a bluff on the river or call you down with TPWK. The only exception to this is if you think your opponent is flushing/drawing (almost always obvious because they nearly always check/call rather than bet out), and I go right out and make them pay. They will never get another chip out of me if they do hit, and ironically you see a lot of times people will hit their draw and check to you anyway assuming you will bet.
The other thing I don't do is re-raise pre-flop early in a tournament unless I have QQ+ (late in the tourney is another matter). I am happy to flat call a raise with something like AK since the strength of your hand is disguised and I find I can get paid off from weaker aces (as above), and because 30% of the time I'm going to brick and with a starting stack of 1500 you don't have a lot of times you can brick before you get stuck. With things like QQ+ I am almost hoping to get all the chips in the middle on the flop, which leads into my next thought..
3. Appropriate bet-sizing is where you get most of your chips from. If I have something like QQ+ and I'm facing a raise, I am usually re-raising to a size where I can either commit my opponent to the pot on the flop (early in a tournament) or on the turn. For example, if we are still at 15/30 and I'm sitting with KK looking at a three-bet to 90 and a caller, I will re-raise to 300. Assuming I get both of them to the flop, I am looking at a pot of about 945 when we probably have 1200 behind. On any non-ace board I am either betting 600-800 on the flop so that we are virtually committed on the turn, or shoving if anyone bets out. I don't know if I've explained this perfectly, but what I'm trying to emphasise is having a plan of action pre-flop that includes thoughts about how to size your bets such that you can maximise the amount of chips that get into the middle.
4. Fold equity is almost non-existent in some games. Unless you have a particularly good read that your opponent is weak/tight, there is almost no point bluffing at pots as many players will call you down with second pair or worse. The way you exploit this is maximising value from your good hands by not being afraid to bet them hard. Don't think, "omg how can you call me in that situation?!?!" - just expect that they will, and bet/check/fold accordingly.
5. Note taking is really useful. Even just in my limited sample size, you see the same people reloading in game after game. I make sure I take notes on players and always go through the instant hand replayer to check what hands they have mucked. The things I am keeping a look out for are:
- whether they open limp
- whether they will call speculative hands out of position
- standard betting size and whether it changes with premium hands or non-premium hands
- propensity to bluff
- propensity to three-bet reraise preflop (rare)
- whether they are board/position/stacksize aware
- what hands they are shoving/raising with
Obviously I don't get that down for every player, but I definitely get a lot of it down in shorthand. And I am usually checking OPR once we're ITM or if I identify what looks like a 'thinking' player.
6. Never give up. If you've got less than 10BBs for some reason you are far from out of the tournament. So many of these players will look you up really light if you shove, or will be completely unaware that you have sized your bet such that you will be committed to virtually ANY flop (and therefore probably have a premium holding) and unwittingly commit themselves to a non-premium/speculative hand when they don't have implied odds to call you.
The other thing is that player personalities become a lot more obvious in small stakes. You can usually tell who is there for fun, who gets their pleasure from shoving/bluffing, who thinks they're Gus Hansen, and who plays tight and complains about everybody else. All useful things are you are (hopefully) scooping up pots and making your way towards the money.
Anyway there are probably some great players on these blogs that can correct, extend upon or add to these comments, but this is what seems most apparent to me thus far.
Cheers
r2du
Continuing the run..sort of.
by risk2Dupside on 01/20/09
Hi all...currently just finishing off my tables for the night. I load up no more than five tables when I get home from work, and load no tables later than 9pm so I can be in bed at a reasonable hour.
Tonight I got smashed early on two ridiculous hands on separate tables, loaded up one more and kept it at four for the rest of the night. I don't mind getting sucked out on early, but it's when you've invested four hours or more and then cop it that I just have to smile, go pour a cognac and watch TV to wind down before bed lol.
Out of the five I managed to mincash one, make two final tables and then took two ugly beats.
The first one I have about 15BBs and sitting fourth out of seven (with 2nd to 4th about even in chips), it's folded to me on the button holding 10-10. I three-bet and the BB who is chip leader flat calls. The flop is 10-Q-9 and is checked to me. I bet 2/3 of the pot and the CL shoves.
I insta-call knowing KJ the only possible hand he could holds that crushes me, and he turns over 78o for the open ender. Sick, I hate it when people call these hands out of position. I'm gunning for a boat on the turn to lock it down, but no dice...he rivers a 6 for the straight and I'm out in 7th place.
The second one I am 8/8 and facing an early position raise from a loose player whilst holding 99 in the SB. I flat because I still have 6 blinds left and recognise I am quite possibly behind here but prepared to gamble and see it as likely he'll call a pot sized shove if the flop likes me. The flop comes 6-6-10 and I believe I am good here quite a bit of the time. I shove, he calls and turns over KQo drawing to six outs. He rivers the K and I'm out in 8th place.
I'm currently on the last table for the night, sitting 11/11 with 12BBs. Three FTs would be nice :)
post script: I ended up 9th, all in AKo v QJs - bring on tomorrow night :)
Tonight I got smashed early on two ridiculous hands on separate tables, loaded up one more and kept it at four for the rest of the night. I don't mind getting sucked out on early, but it's when you've invested four hours or more and then cop it that I just have to smile, go pour a cognac and watch TV to wind down before bed lol.
Out of the five I managed to mincash one, make two final tables and then took two ugly beats.
The first one I have about 15BBs and sitting fourth out of seven (with 2nd to 4th about even in chips), it's folded to me on the button holding 10-10. I three-bet and the BB who is chip leader flat calls. The flop is 10-Q-9 and is checked to me. I bet 2/3 of the pot and the CL shoves.
I insta-call knowing KJ the only possible hand he could holds that crushes me, and he turns over 78o for the open ender. Sick, I hate it when people call these hands out of position. I'm gunning for a boat on the turn to lock it down, but no dice...he rivers a 6 for the straight and I'm out in 7th place.
The second one I am 8/8 and facing an early position raise from a loose player whilst holding 99 in the SB. I flat because I still have 6 blinds left and recognise I am quite possibly behind here but prepared to gamble and see it as likely he'll call a pot sized shove if the flop likes me. The flop comes 6-6-10 and I believe I am good here quite a bit of the time. I shove, he calls and turns over KQo drawing to six outs. He rivers the K and I'm out in 8th place.
I'm currently on the last table for the night, sitting 11/11 with 12BBs. Three FTs would be nice :)
post script: I ended up 9th, all in AKo v QJs - bring on tomorrow night :)
A better night
by risk2Dupside on 01/19/09
After copping a few sick beats over the weekend resulting in mincashes or bubbling, I had a good run last night - three cashes from five tourneys, including two final tables. The way the 180-max structures work mean that your profits really come from final table placings, so when I get there I am really trying hard to be patient, pick my spots, attack the right players/flops and place as high as I can so I can hopefully move up levels in a few months.
These tourneys do not require much in the way of fancy play - I find that thinking, ABC poker is all you need. The most crucial elements for success at these levels in my opinion are bet sizing/pot control, which is generally what builds/protects your chipstack, and keeping notes on players so you know who you're up against. I will write more about these topics and other things I'm learning about this level when I get some more time, but I'll leave you with an interesting final table hand from the night.
We're down to three runners, Villain has just been boosted up by knocking two other players out to take the chip lead. Other than that I have had a comfortable lead for the entire final table. Villain has started to get a bit pushy to keep the distance between us, but has mostly been showing down reasonable hands. An orbit ago I three bet in the SB with KQo and he three-bet raised me in the BB to which I time bank/folded. He didn't show but told me in the break he held QQ, other than this there has been no re-raising pre which is not that uncommon in a 4.40 180-max game (which I why I doubt I'm getting played at here). My image has been active, but I have only shown down good holdings and have knocked out most of the other final tablers. The short stack has not seen a flop and pretty much folded/blind stole his way to the final three so I have no reads other than to assume he is tight.
The payouts are $216, $144 and $86. Far from life-altering, but important to me given I'm trying to build my roll and move back up in stakes again, since the difference between third and first is significant.
Blinds are 2000/4000
Villain (button): 160k in chips
Shortstack (SB): 30k in chips
Me (BB): 80k in chips
Villian raises the button to 12k, SB folds, I opt to flat holding K
Q
in the BB.
My rationale for flatting pre was that he was the big stack and I didn't wanna get pointlessly committed preflop with the shorty about to bust. I figure the button probably has a range of average holdings that he will use his button to raise in this situation and I can take it away with top pair good kicker on the flop or let it go if I brick and look for a better spot.
Pot size is roughly 26k.
Flop is K 10
8.
I fire out 18k (roughly two-thirds of the pot) and the button insta-shoves. I have 50k behind.
His shove makes for a sick situation, and highlights why not raising pre for information can get you in a lot of trouble. I figured Villain could shove under the following scenarios:
- he holds a weak King
- he holds a mid-to-high pair that he is defending, thinking that I may bet out with any 10, 8 or pair here
- he holds any other hand with some showdown value and does not consider it likely that I will call without a set here since I am almost guaranteed second place or better if I fold
The latter influenced me to call, figuring that the only hands I am crushed against is a flopped set. Even two pair gives me outs here, and I am dominating his K-x hands more than he dominates mine.
Result: He turns over AK and I don't improve. 86 bucks for third.
Pretty basic hand vs hand combat, it's the dynamics around it that have me wondering whether or not I acted correctly given the type of game, payouts and relative stack sizes. I thought about the alternative actions (reraising preflop, shoving preflop, flat calling pre/check raising flop) and conclude that they are all likely to have resulted in the same outcome - me busting. Does anyone agree/disagree? I am happy to hear feedback from any readers.
Ironically, the next hand the shorty picks up 77
, shoves into AJ and loses the flip.
These tourneys do not require much in the way of fancy play - I find that thinking, ABC poker is all you need. The most crucial elements for success at these levels in my opinion are bet sizing/pot control, which is generally what builds/protects your chipstack, and keeping notes on players so you know who you're up against. I will write more about these topics and other things I'm learning about this level when I get some more time, but I'll leave you with an interesting final table hand from the night.
We're down to three runners, Villain has just been boosted up by knocking two other players out to take the chip lead. Other than that I have had a comfortable lead for the entire final table. Villain has started to get a bit pushy to keep the distance between us, but has mostly been showing down reasonable hands. An orbit ago I three bet in the SB with KQo and he three-bet raised me in the BB to which I time bank/folded. He didn't show but told me in the break he held QQ, other than this there has been no re-raising pre which is not that uncommon in a 4.40 180-max game (which I why I doubt I'm getting played at here). My image has been active, but I have only shown down good holdings and have knocked out most of the other final tablers. The short stack has not seen a flop and pretty much folded/blind stole his way to the final three so I have no reads other than to assume he is tight.
The payouts are $216, $144 and $86. Far from life-altering, but important to me given I'm trying to build my roll and move back up in stakes again, since the difference between third and first is significant.
Blinds are 2000/4000
Villain (button): 160k in chips
Shortstack (SB): 30k in chips
Me (BB): 80k in chips
Villian raises the button to 12k, SB folds, I opt to flat holding K
Q in the BB.My rationale for flatting pre was that he was the big stack and I didn't wanna get pointlessly committed preflop with the shorty about to bust. I figure the button probably has a range of average holdings that he will use his button to raise in this situation and I can take it away with top pair good kicker on the flop or let it go if I brick and look for a better spot.
Pot size is roughly 26k.
Flop is K
10 8.I fire out 18k (roughly two-thirds of the pot) and the button insta-shoves. I have 50k behind.
His shove makes for a sick situation, and highlights why not raising pre for information can get you in a lot of trouble. I figured Villain could shove under the following scenarios:
- he holds a weak King
- he holds a mid-to-high pair that he is defending, thinking that I may bet out with any 10, 8 or pair here
- he holds any other hand with some showdown value and does not consider it likely that I will call without a set here since I am almost guaranteed second place or better if I fold
The latter influenced me to call, figuring that the only hands I am crushed against is a flopped set. Even two pair gives me outs here, and I am dominating his K-x hands more than he dominates mine.
Result: He turns over A
K and I don't improve. 86 bucks for third.Pretty basic hand vs hand combat, it's the dynamics around it that have me wondering whether or not I acted correctly given the type of game, payouts and relative stack sizes. I thought about the alternative actions (reraising preflop, shoving preflop, flat calling pre/check raising flop) and conclude that they are all likely to have resulted in the same outcome - me busting. Does anyone agree/disagree? I am happy to hear feedback from any readers.
Ironically, the next hand the shorty picks up 7
7, shoves into AJ and loses the flip. Kicking off
by risk2Dupside on 01/18/09
This is my first blog here, so greetings. I have another (social) blog, but it was getting very poker-oriented and wanted a separate one to be able to distinguish between my poker and non-poker life, so expect reasonably regular updates.
The reason I'm here is, well, I had spent most of last year building up a smallish ($2k) roll playing cash games and the odd tourney on PokerStars, and thought everything was going great. I got a little bit ahead of myself in terms of buy-in size for my roll, had a downswing in terms of wins, and consequently donked the lot of it off over the last month or two. The other thing that contributed was trying to qualify for a few local events via PokerStars satellites using my existing bankroll rather than topping up for it.
I've heard people go busto before and I guess it's a pretty humbling experience, but I figure I can learn something from it and I'm happy to admit it. I've got a reasonably well paying job so I've never really worried about the cash for buy-ins, so I considered just reloading. Then I thought about it some more, and figured if I was really going to be spending so much time playing it, I'd rather it be profitable.
I have always been a student of the game, as well as railing lots of tourneys and finding those who are more skilled at the game and trying to learn from them. That's my general approach for most things that I'm interested in. So I spent a bit of time going through the old 2+2 forums, reading books and blogs such as the ones on here and took a short break from the game.
2009 kicked off, and I started that year with a specific strategy that will hopefully keep me permanently rolled for the game and improve my discipline.
The basic premise is that I intend to make sure I always have 100x my average buy-in in my bankroll, and to keep grinding away at a level until I have enough to move up. I'm sure most successful players have already figured this out.
To avoid super micro stakes, I am funding myself into the 4.40 180-max games on PokerStars until I can get up to the next level ($3+R and $11 180-max). I could have loaded more on and played the $11 straight away, but I figured it wouldn't be as much of a learning experience if I did, since the $11 are not that much of a step down from where I used to play. That's why the blog is called 'the successful path is rarely a short one'...since I figure the grind at the beginning to build up my bankroll is going to take a while, but that's how it has to be - there are no real shortcuts here :)
So I deposited 50 dollars or so into my PokerStars account and started off on January 1. I will keep you updated each month as to my progress. Happy to field any comments or questions along the way, and will probably discuss some of my thoughts/learning process on the game as I go.
The reason I'm here is, well, I had spent most of last year building up a smallish ($2k) roll playing cash games and the odd tourney on PokerStars, and thought everything was going great. I got a little bit ahead of myself in terms of buy-in size for my roll, had a downswing in terms of wins, and consequently donked the lot of it off over the last month or two. The other thing that contributed was trying to qualify for a few local events via PokerStars satellites using my existing bankroll rather than topping up for it.
I've heard people go busto before and I guess it's a pretty humbling experience, but I figure I can learn something from it and I'm happy to admit it. I've got a reasonably well paying job so I've never really worried about the cash for buy-ins, so I considered just reloading. Then I thought about it some more, and figured if I was really going to be spending so much time playing it, I'd rather it be profitable.
I have always been a student of the game, as well as railing lots of tourneys and finding those who are more skilled at the game and trying to learn from them. That's my general approach for most things that I'm interested in. So I spent a bit of time going through the old 2+2 forums, reading books and blogs such as the ones on here and took a short break from the game.
2009 kicked off, and I started that year with a specific strategy that will hopefully keep me permanently rolled for the game and improve my discipline.
The basic premise is that I intend to make sure I always have 100x my average buy-in in my bankroll, and to keep grinding away at a level until I have enough to move up. I'm sure most successful players have already figured this out.
To avoid super micro stakes, I am funding myself into the 4.40 180-max games on PokerStars until I can get up to the next level ($3+R and $11 180-max). I could have loaded more on and played the $11 straight away, but I figured it wouldn't be as much of a learning experience if I did, since the $11 are not that much of a step down from where I used to play. That's why the blog is called 'the successful path is rarely a short one'...since I figure the grind at the beginning to build up my bankroll is going to take a while, but that's how it has to be - there are no real shortcuts here :)
So I deposited 50 dollars or so into my PokerStars account and started off on January 1. I will keep you updated each month as to my progress. Happy to field any comments or questions along the way, and will probably discuss some of my thoughts/learning process on the game as I go.