We all Donk sometimes - at least I did

Last night was the final game of Season 3 for the Twitter Poker Tour - Euopean edition which started at 2pm ET or 7pm BST hosted by the Twitter Poker Tour and played onFullTilt poker.

There were 13 entrants for the final game. After the first hour of play, I had gained the lead and after two hours there were just five of us left with me still having the lead. I was the under the gun player and was dealt Qs 9s and opened with a raise of 800 chips. The blinds were 200/400 with an ante of 40 at the time. I got one caller heads up. The flop was 9h Qh Js.  I put in a C-bet of 800. After a couple of seconds my opponent shoved all in for the remaining 5,080 chips. I thought about it few a few seconds, which as you will see, was an error, and I called.  I turned over my Q9 and my opponent turned over KK.  This should have been an easy fold. Pre-flop, I did not have a made hand but just a draw.  I had only hit top pair and did not consider what my opponent could possibly have such as AA, AK, KK, KQ, QQ, etc.

There really was no reason for me to jeopardize any of my chips or my lead with just a drawing hand. Donk. Donk. Donk.  What was I thinking? Not, of course. But wait … the turn was an eight … I was saved … two pair … wow … I could just coast to my fifth TPTE win .. WooT.

But the river did not forget my Donk call and a King hit giving my opponent trip kings and about 7,000 of my chips moved away from my stack to my opponents. From that point on, I made a series of bad moves designed to give away the rest of my chips. I was not patient enough to recover and regain the lead. I finished in fifth place.

When ever I make bad decisions like these, I usually beat myself up for about 24 hours or so. But, I can go on to the next game and not let it effect my play. After busting out, I joined in two H.O.R.S.E sit and go’s and placed second in one and next to last in the other. Currently I am not a good H.O.R.S.E player and need the practice.

Have you ever donked in a tourney? Did you ever make a move that did not have a positive? Did you go on mini-tilt afterward? How do you handle making bad decision?

Adapting at Limit Hold ‘Em Poker

I have completed two long cash sessions at Pokerhost playing Limit Hold ‘Em at the .25/.50 levels. My first two hour session was a disaster in that I could not make any hands hold up. My second session was altogether different. In fact, I made up for the losses in the first session. So, overall, I was net zero for the day in cash results.

But I gained more experience as I tired to put into practice ideas and concepts about how to play poker correctly.  These concepts come from the “Poker Essays” of Mason Malmuth: Poker Essays, Poker Essays, Volume II, and Poker Essays, Volume III.

If I am to survive and prosper at this game called poker, I need to adapt my playing skills based on the opponents that I play, the cards that I select to play. I need to have a plan based on each hand dealt. My play needs to deal with how to play the players both pre-flop and post flop. I also need to improve my card reading skills in order to determine what my opponents have. In fact there are over 5 skills that need improvement and each skill used can vary based on the circumstances. While these books are terrific, they are not a boiler plate. This is not ABC poker, but limit hold ‘em, which has been described as the toughest form of hold ‘em to master and to be successful at playing.

What form of poker do you play? Are you able to adjust quickly to your opponents style of play? Are you successful at it?

A pair of Aces sometimes are just not enough!

I have been playing a combination of micro-limit cash games and multi-table tourneys with mixed but positive results the last few days. On occasion I would get a pair of aces and one of two things would happen. Either I would win a small pot or I would lose a large pot.

In general, I try to see the flop before committing all of my chips but late in a tourney I will try to isolate my opponent from the group by going all in or making a large raise hoping to get my opponents to fold.

Last night was no exception. On the 76th hand of the session, I was in the big blind and was dealt As Ac. I had two people limp in for 80 chips and I raised them up to 360 more hoping to drive one or both of them out. Instead they both called the raise by putting in the additional 280 chips into the pot. The flop was a scary one, Qd 9h Jc, which could easily make a straight but not necessarily a flush. I made a pot size bet of 1,120 hoping to win the pot right then but one opponent folded and the other re-raised me to 2,240 which would leave me with 850 chips if I folded and all in if I called.

I thought it over for a few seconds. I tried to decide what he might have. AA? AK? AQ? AJ? I was worried that he might have a  King Ten for the straight. I took a deep breath and called with my remaining 850.  My opponent showed a Kc Jd. I was somewhat relieved to see that he had only a pair of jacks with a king kicker. But then the wind went out of my sail when the flop card was a jack of hearts, giving him three jacks to my two aces. The only card that would help me now was an Ace on the river (makes a nice book title doesn’t it). The river card however was a five of clubs, giving him trip jacks against my two pair; aces and jacks. It was the end of the tourney for me.

I felt that I had played the hand as well as I could and had gotten my money in with the best hand. I was disappointed with the results. Many phrases ran through my head but  “Oh dear darn it” was not one of them however.

Have you ever played a hand the way you thought was best and still did not achieve the results you wanted? Did you think over the various ways you could have played the hand differently? How long did it take you to get over the feeling that being beaten left you with?

Note: This was the second tourney in a row that my pocket pair of aces had been beaten by  trip jacks at the turn. Oh dear darn it!!!!

FTP Tourney - What happens when 3rd in chips goes against the CHIP Leader!

I was in a 45 person “Multi-Table Sit and Go” on FullTilt last night. Of late I have been playing a better style of poker. I had worked myself up to the top 5 at least 5 times during the tourney.

Some hands I would bet for value,  some hands were bluffs or semi-bluffs. I even called a short stack with pocket Aces by going all in to prevent anyone else from joining me. I was pleased to see him have AJ off suit. I was still pleased when the flop had a Jack and two blanks. The turn was a blank which was good. But I was not pleased when a Jack hit the river costing me about 15% of my chips.

I brushed off the beat as that is what happens in poker. Two hour later I reached the final table in second position in chips. There was a lot of raising and folding and for the most part I stayed out of the fray unless I had premium hands or a strong draw. The chip leader had almost five times as much chips as any of us and was not afraid to use them to force us to fold small pairs or marginal hands.

My usual strategy at the final table is to let almost everyone beat each other up and then go up against the chip leader head to head. We were  down to five players and all of us were in the money. At this point I caught a pocket pair of tens. The blinds were 500/1000 and I raised to 3,000 from the cut off position. The button folded, the small blind was the chip leader and he raised me 3,000 more. At this point he had 25,000 and I hand 7,900. He had been shoving people around for the last five hands and I thought for about 3 seconds … and shoved all in. He insta-called and showed pocket Queens. My pocket tens did not improve and I was out in 5th place.  Had I folded and ended up in forth, I would have doubled my cash out.

I did not stick to my original strategy and it cost me a significant amount of prize money due to my boldness. At the least, if I had called and seen the flop, I would still have had enough chips to maneuver for an orbit or two more. I could say that I was going for the gold but in reality I did not follow my time proven game plan.

Do  you ever stray the course and let testosterone rule your play? Do you have a game plan going into a tourney or do you just play and see what happens and go from there?

Using new concepts - before you are ready … results might varp

I am concentrating on playing limit hold ‘em in cash games while playing no limit hold ‘em in tournaments. I am doing this while reading a series of  “PokerEssays” written by Mason Malmuth. The books I am reading are titled: Poker Essays, Poker Essays, Volume II, and Poker Essays, Volume III.

I am doing this because of my desire to improve my poker skills and the results are interesting in that they are mixed. I have finished reading the first two in the series and have just started the third. What I have been trying to do is to take some of the concepts I have learned to the table while they are fresh in my mind.

Some of these ideas have to do with how to select what hands to play in what position; how to think about what you are trying accomplish with that hand and what actions you should take to accomplish it. Each idea builds on previous ones and the strategy varies as it applies to your opponent’s playing abilities.

The challenge I have run into is trying out an idea, only to find that the next unread paragraph or chapter contained further information that would have further explained how to use that idea or concept properly. But overall, I can see an improvement in my understanding of the poker thinking process. I should be able to finish the series this week and put into practice many of these concepts.

When you learn a new concept or idea, how do you test it out? Do you try it online or at a poker room? Do you test online using the play money games or do you use your poker bankroll to test the theories?

Reading the “Poker Essays” and thinking a little really does help

As I mentioned in the last few posts, I have been stuck of late, playing poker online. Overall, I am still in the red, but, thanks to the essays of Mason Malmuth, I am starting to overcome some of my numerous shortcomings. The books I am reading are titled: Poker Essays, Poker Essays, Volume II, and Poker Essays, Volume III.

Malmuth has a lot to say about various parts of the game and since there is so much to poker if played right, you need to review each phase of your game.

One of the problems that I was having was leaving a session with less than I started with. I know it is too easy to say that you always should leave the table a winner. That might be the goal of everyone else at the table as well. But in my case, I was playing too many hands. I would win with the good hands and then give back the winnings with the marginal hands.

Just being careful about hand selection has helped both my cash game and my tourney play. Yesterday afternoon, I captured my fourth 1st place finish of the Twitter Poker Tour’s European event played at 7pm BST (2 pm EST) hosted by the Twitter Poker Tour played on PokerStars. While many of the hands were not great, they ended up winning me all of the chips.

I still have a lot of work left to improve in my game including game selection, site selection, and many ideas from the essays to incorporate. This is a start in the right direction.

How do you work to improve your game? Do you think about each move you make before you do it? Does even thinking about folding or calling or raising help? How do  you grow as a player?

One way you can lose money at the cash games - play too many hands

I have been in a slump recently in my cash and tourney play at the felt. It was time to go back and look at what I was doing in order to turn things around. As I mentioned in my last post, I am reading the “Poker Essays” of Mason Malmuth: Poker Essays, Poker Essays, Volume II, and Poker Essays, Volume III.

One of the ideas that Mr. Malmuth mentions as a possible weakness is playing too many hands. Most of the online sites that I play on record the number of hands that I play, the number of flops that I see, as well as the number of turns and the number of rivers.

While your mileage may vary, in general it is suggested that a good player will only play 17% of the hands that are dealt.  One of the reasons that the percentages might go higher is that you will be in the big and the small blind about twice every nine or ten hands. It is very easy to be in at least 25 to 40% of the hands when you get cards that you think you can win with, along with defending your blinds.

During one session last night I actually played in almost 45% of all the hands dealt to me. Of the 122 hands dealt, I played 54 hands and won with 22 of them. The bottom line after two hours of play was that I was .50 cents ahead.  Had I been more selective, my earnings would probably have been higher. The 32 hands that I lost in were part of the problem. Some of the hands did not have a high expectation of winning.  Although a few of these hands were good, the opponent’s hand was better. For sure I could have played in 16 less hands and had a larger profit at the end of the session.

Do you play too many hands? Do you have a high win rate? Are you selective about entering a pot? Does position matter?

Poker Essays by Mason Malmuth - A partial review

I currently own Poker Essays, Poker Essays, Volume II, and Poker Essays, Volume III written by Mason Malmuth. I acquired the first volume by purchasing it and I received the other two as gifts from my wife, Diane.

So far, I have read the first volume completely, and 95% of Volume II. These books could not have come at a better time. Currently my results at poker playing are in the red. This can mean one of two things. I am either having a run of “bad luck” (in poker, there really is no such thing as luck so lets say I am have a losing spell) or I am a poor player.

It is entirely possible that both statements are true. I may be having a downturn and I may also be a poor player. The good news is that I have some tools that might help me discover which problem I really have and could help me to turn it around. One of the problems is that poor results can cause a good player to play poorly and a poor player to become a worse one. That is quite a dilemma for the aspiring poker professional.

As I stated, I have help in the form of these essays. Mason Malmuth discusses various aspects of a player’s game. He presents poker ideas in a simple and easy to understand format. He gives examples. He gives quizzes. He instructs and above all he challenges the players who read his books to think. To think about how to act; to think about why you should act. Above all, he also tells  you he does not have all the answers. But many of the answers he does have are worth the cost of acquiring these books of essays.

I also have a spreadsheet showing my results. And I have a plan using these essays. My goal is to be come a more consistent winning player. To do this, I must think about my game and plan to act accordingly. In fact, based on Poker Essays, Volume II, I play to stay at the levels I am currently in, which are the micro levels of .10/.20, .25/.50 and .50/1.00. More than likely, the .25/.50 will be fine unless I continue to loose, then I will step down to the next level.

These problems and solutions come at a good time for me because they give me the opportunity to effect change before I damage my bankroll and before I give up on the idea of poker as a profession. I have these tools and more to help me develop as a player.

Do you ever have losing sessions? Do you wonder about your skill as a player? Do you blame bad luck for your loses? Do you have any tools or aids to help you improve? What do you do to try to turn things around?

Online Cash games and Note taking

When I play online poker of late, I take notes about the other players. Their betting patterns, the type of hands they show down. How they enter a pot, how they act after the flop, the turn and the river. Then whenever I play them again I can review my notes in order to make decisions on how to play them.

I do take into account that the last actions I may have recorded might not be how they normally play. So I will add to my observations about them for future reference.  It sometimes helps to know that a certain player will go on tilt when they have lost two or three large pots in a row. You can take advantage of that type of information.

There is one player that I play that I will fold pocket Kings, Queens or Jacks to if he reraises me and I do not improve after the flop. He usually has the goods. As I mentioned, you do have to be careful as some players vary the way that they play.

Do you take notes while playing online? Are your notes helpful to you? Do you ever take notes at a live game?

Tourneys and Cash Games - Mixed results

Since playing in the #TPT last Thursday night, I have played in three small tourneys, placing third in one, losing in the second one and breaking even in the third one. I think I am going to be more selective about the tourneys that I play in. I certainly will continue to play the #TPTE and on occasion, the #TPT as well as some of the Friday #miniTPT’s.

I have slowly made some gains in my Limit Hold ‘Em cash games, taking back more cash then I started with in the last three sessions I have played in. The last session was in the .50/1.00 levels, where I intend to stay at until the end of June, which is fast approaching. My goal is to work up to the $2/4 and perhaps the $3/6 levels by the end of July or August. In order to do this, I will be reading my new books and watching videos to get pointers about playing at these levels profitably.

Do you have goals for your poker playing? Are there separate goals for cash games versus tourneys? How do you go about organizing your poker career?