mathare's 2011 Poker Diary

[mathare]

Anyone who has read any of my previous poker diaries (and there is at least one in this section of the forum) has seen me flit between limit hold'em cash games, no-limit hold'em sit-n-go tourneys, Rush Poker cash games, dabble with no-limit hold'em cash games and generally keep swapping games every time results turned against me. I'm hoping that this year will be different and I want to make 2011 the year I crack micro-limit no-limit hold'em cash games.

A part of my brain will always keep nagging at me unless I get somewhere as a cash game player. In some ways I view it as a purer form of poker than SnGs and also see it as a better route to a bigger bankroll so it is in my interests to get better as a cash game player.

So starting today I will be tracking my cash game play at the micro-limit no-limit hold'em tables, noting down a few stats about each session along with any relevant notes and thoughts as well as maintaining an overall picture of how things are progressing.

As with many ventures I feel it is advisable to get a feel for where I am starting from. I'm obviously not starting from scratch as I have been playing poker in its various forms for several years now but what is my starting level? Could I be expected to crush the $0.05/10 NL games with what I already know about poker for example? I figured the best way to find out was to play a few sessions, get a feel for what my natural game is and from there I can start to think about the weaknesses in my play and as the hands build up I can hopefully identify a few leaks and set about addressing them. I haven't really set a time limit on this evaluation phase, I'll just see how it goes to some extent, but I hope to have an idea of my current skill level within the next couple of weeks.

[mathare]

5th January
Game: $0.05/10 NLHE (Full Tilt)
Tables: 2
Hands: 265
Profit/Loss: +$2.87

Three times I got dealt AQ today - including being dealt that hand at both tables at the same time - and each time I struggled to play it 'properly' or 'right'. Should I be calling or three-betting pre-flop? What about when I miss on the flop? It's a hand I have struggled with for a while now. First in I can raise pre-flop, I get that. But what if it has been raised before my action, then what?

1. UTG+2 raises to 3xBB, I 3-bet to 9xBB in mid-position. The button 4-bets to 22xBB, UTG+2 shoves for around 80xBB and I fold. Maybe I was in with a shout in that hand, assuming I was up against other high card hands or underpairs but I didn't really want to stack off to find out. If I was up against AA, KK or QQ I was in trouble and of course I'm dominated by AK and AQs has a freeroll against me so the fold was sensible there.

2. AQo in the SB; button open raises to 4xBB, I 3-bet to 10xBB which button calls. Out of position I feel I need to be raising here, hence the 3-bet. I bet 15xBB into a 21xBB pot on the flop of 8-K-K. Button tanks but calls. Turn is 6 and I check-fold to a bet from the button. I could have bluffed again on the turn but I'm not sure what was the right line here. Should I have bluffed at the flop and in doing so built a pot I wasn't entirely comfortable bluffing at again on the turn or checked the flop?

3. AQo UTG+1 six-handed; I open raise to 3xBB, BB min-raises to 6xBB, I call. Flop is K-2-9. BB bets around 40% of pot, I fold.

Those tricky hands aside it was a fairly uneventful session. I managed to win a decent pot (for these stakes) when I hit trips and had an opponent looking to massively overplay a small pocket pair. At the end of it all I made a profit, not a massive one by any means but I am starting at very low stakes looking to build up my skills alongside my bankroll so I don't expect to make much money from this exercise for a while to say the least. I want to learn the game and pick up a few quid here and there really. And I guess today was a reasonable start towards that goal.

[mathare]

6th January
Game: $0.05/10 NLHE (Full Tilt)
Tables: 2
Hands: 380
Profit/Loss: -$1.68

Total P/L: +$1.19

Not too bad a session when you bear in mind I had a few awful hands, including one or two I really misplayed in a rather costly manner. The most expensive hand of the session cost me almost a full stack and I still can't decide whether I played it as badly as I first thought. Let's have a quick look...

AKs in the BB, the button raises to 3.5xBB, SB calls, I 3-bet to 10xBB, button calls and SB folds. Flop is 8-T-4 rainbow and I bet $1.50 into a $2.35 pot. The villain thinks a while then calls. Turn is a blank (2) and I bet $3 into a $5.35 pot. Villain calls. River is another blank, a 5, and with no flushes possible I shove for $4.20 into a pot of $11.35. Let's just pause there a second.

I have nothing here. I have the nut high card hand but am losing to the villain having paired any of the board plus pocket pairs and so on. I have been representing a very narrow range too. If my hand is as strong as my bets seem to claim then what can I have? A big pocket pair, a set or an unlikely two pair. Nothing else makes sense. If it is a set it has to be 8s or Tens really; I wouldn't 3-bet pocket 4s pre-flop. The villain has been calling along behind me so he's obviously not worried by the hands I am representing, which is slightly worrying. I suppose that means his hand strength is probably up there with mine and he could have a big pocket pair or a set of 8s or 10s. I suppose the river bet is trying to make my bluff convincing and hopefully get him to lay down a decent (but not premium) pocket pair or a hand like AT.

The villain calls my river bet and shows 67s for a rivered straight. He was drawing to a gutshot on the last two streets. Pfft!

In some respects I was unlucky to lose that hand but I played it pretty badly looking back. I wasn't considering his hand range and given what I had I should have exercised a bit more pot control and kept that pot smaller and lost less to his lucky draw.

The other major hands in this session saw me lose 65xBB with TT to the rivered flush (he had open-ended straight flush outs from the flop) and 56xBB with AQs with odds to draw but in the end I didn't get there and folded on the river.

To finish down under $2 seems like a pretty good result given those hands.

[mathare]

8th January
Game: $0.05/10 NLHE (Full Tilt)
Tables: 2-4
Hands: 411
Profit/Loss: -$14.95

Total P/L: -$13.76

I knew partway through this session it was a mistake but did I stop? No, and that's mistake number one. It was like I was watching someone else play poker for a lot of this session; a sort of out-of-body poker experience that didn't feel real. At no stage did I really feel connected to the game that was taking place around me and consequently I made a few mistakes. I overplayed pocket Aces when up against a set (I thought he had a set but I couldn't be sure so called his bet to find out) and got my pocket Kings battered by pocket Aces which accounts for the bulk of today's loss.

Next time I will make sure I am a but more with it before firing up Full Tilt

[mathare]

9th January
Game: $0.05/10 NLHE (Full Tilt)
Tables: 4
Hands: 546
Profit/Loss: -$14.97

Total P/L: -$28.73 (-8.97BB/100)

Another really naff session, losing big with AA against KQs that flopped a flush draw and turned the flush. I had the suited Ace so had a redraw on the river but it didn't come. I had the guy on a big pocket pair or small set on the flop, not aggressively playing a flush draw with overcards so was relatively pleased when I saw his hand on the flop, not so much on the turn though. The other big losing hand was KTo on the button, I raised after a limper, SB called and limper folded. Flop came K-A-K so ideal for me really. SB check-called every street as I was betting out but he showed down KQ to take the hand with a better kicker. Grrr! Oh, I forgot about another AQo, UTG this time. My 3xBB raise got 3 callers, I flopped top pair on a board of Q-5-9 two suited. My flop bet thinned to field to me and the BB who held 76s and made his flush on the turn - again. And again I had a nut flush redraw but it didn't happen for me on the river and I lost that pot too.

I am trying to banish the inevitable thoughts that NLHE cash really isn't my game but I am prepared to spend my bankroll (I started this exercise with a tad under $300 so properly bankrolled by this game) confirming that. Maybe I do just need experience and keep giving up before I really get going every time I try cash games.

[mathare]

10th January
Game: $0.05/10 NLHE (Full Tilt)
Tables: 4
Hands: 609
Profit/Loss: -$2.33

Total P/L: -$31.06 (-7.02BB/100)

Another losing session and sooner or later I have to start questioning why I am bothering. Unless I really feel I am learning skills that will stand me in good stead later down the line can I really justify the time and money spent playing poker and losing? I played for a couple of hours this morning and while I lost less than the price of a pint that's not really the point as that time could have been spent doing something more positive, something that could either directly generate a greater profit or lead to a larger profit in time. It's still early days though I suppose.

Rather than analyse the key hands from this session (how does one pick out key hands anyway? The biggest losers/winners are one way but who is to say they are truly the key hands? What about a hand I folded on the flop when I could have taken down a big pot against a bluff, is that a key hand?) I wanted to go over some thoughts I noted down while I was playing instead.

That I had the time and opportunity to note down these thoughts provides a prime example of the first point - I was having real focus issues, even with four tables running. To a seasoned poker pro I know that four tables doesn't sound like much but I always try to limit myself to four tables as I feel that's the right balance of action (enough to keep me interested) and time (so I can act on each hand accordingly). Maybe I am wrong though, maybe I should play fewer tables and take more time to think things through. Do I need to be thinking about hand ranges, my plan for each hand and so on? Or is that too advanced for the stakes I am playing? Who knows!

I don't know what I am doing when I am facing a PFR. When I am first to act or following limpers I know what I am doing, I know what hands I can reasonably play from each position. But when it's raised ahead of me I feel far less confident. Am I playing too tight and folding too many hands that I could take a flop with? Should I ever call a PFR and if so, with what and in what position? What hands should I 3-bet with (part from the obvious)? And what should I do when I am facing a 3-bet? If I open raise AQs on the button and the BB 3-bets should I call? What about AJo?

I want to improve my game, and get answers to questions like the ones I have asked above, but I am not sure how best to go about it. I see loads of mistakes being made at the tables and feel I am playing so much better than average but I am not seeing the benefits of this supposed better play. After all I keep recording losing sessions. I could analyse my game looking for leaks but to do any sort of proper analysis I need tens of thousands of hands in my database. I have a couple of thou, that's all. That means I would need to keep plodding through sessions for another couple of months to build up a decent sample size before I can start to think about where I am going wrong. Maybe it's just me but that just feels wrong. I have to carry on playing (potentially) awful poker for ages before I can work out where I am going wrong - what's that all about? Why throw away more money playing a game I am struggling with when there is no guarantee that I will find any obvious leaks during the analysis and even if I do there is no guarantee that I can easily address them and even if I can there is no guarantee that plugging the leak will significantly change my fortunes. To my mind it is like having to run 50 marathons before a running coach can tell you what is run with your running style and even then he may shrug, tell you to try lifting your knees a bit more but in the end it makes no difference to your time.

Another thing I am really struggling with is connection with the game, a sense of involvement and a keenness to play. I like starting up the tables and like the anticipation of playing but that is soon lost, along with my focus. The last few sessions I haven't enjoyed that much and certainly today I didn't feel like I was going to win at any stage. If I don't feel like I am going to win then that is going to affect my play isn't it? I have seen a number of studies that say mental attitude can readily affect performance and that one should think positively but that's just not happening for me at the tables. Crap hand after crap hand and folding semi-decent hands because the action ahead of me doesn't fit the way I want to play the hand, or getting a reasonable hand out of position - is this grinding me down and affecting my mental attitude? The fact that I have no idea where I am in any hand probably has an impact too.

What I need is a game I can really dial into to, tunnel vision and not allow anything else to distract me from my play. I need to be sure of my own hands and where I stand at any point. I need to put my opponents on hand ranges and know (not suspect, know) how my hand stacks up against their likely range. But what is this game? Does it even exist? Can I actually focus on anything in such a dedicated manner or am I doomed to fail at poker regardless? Is my set-up all wrong for poker? Should I be changing my environment such that it is more conducive to concentrating on one game? Do I need more action (e.g. Rush Poker) to ensure that my brain doesn't have a chance to think about anything other than poker?

So many questions and so many uncertainties. Unfortunately the biggest uncertainty is how to answer all these questions...

[mathare]

I've been thinking about game types again, in the light of what I wrote above.

Cash Games v Tournaments
Tournaments come in two flavours: MTTs and SnGSso let's look at these separately. MTTs have scheduled start times and generally speaking don't favour the UK player, at least not on the bigger poker rooms. There are some MTTs that start at a sensible time for the UK player i.e. they won't require one to stay up till the wee small hours for the final table but the majority involve late finishes. Another significant point about MTTs is that most of the time a player won't cash, and if they do they won't make a decent score (compared to the buy-in). It's a low strike rate approach to poker and the drain on the bankroll is punctuated here and there by decent cashes. And it may sound stupid or obvious but you can't cash out of an MTT until you bust out. SnGs have a lot of the same 'flaws' at MTTs, in particular the inability to end the game when you want to (without busting out) but at least they start at sensible times. I prefer to play poker during the day, and during the morning and early afternoon if possible, so most MTTs are out but SnGs can fit into that schedule. One advantage tourneys have over cash games is a limited liability. When you sit down in a tourney your losses are limited to your buy-in (unless it's a rebuy event I suppose) so you know before you even play a hand what the worst case scenario is. Your profits are mostly limited too, at least in practical terms. In large MTTs this limit could be several hundred times your buy-in but in SnGs it is only a few buy-ins.

With cash games you can play when you like. At most stakes the games are always running, or at least they are at the stakes I play, so that convenience factor is there in spades. I don't need to play through mealtimes and several hours past my bedtime if I am running well, I can just quit and take the money off the table rather than having to wait to be eliminated and get my prize money. Unlike tourneys though cash games are not so limited in terms of liability as one can rebuy chips at any stage making it possible to burn through several buy-ins in quick succession. The nature of the game does mean that profits are less limited though - if you can lose several buy-ins then so can your opponents which means you can win those chips off them.

For me the convenience factor is the biggest issue. The way my days are structured now is that I have some free time in the mornings and through till around lunchtime, plus another couple of hours in the afternoon if I so desire. But I may need to stop playing at relatively short notice which puts cash games streets ahead of either form of tournament poker. Add to that my burning desire to show a real profit from cash game poker and it's clear I should be focusing on cash games.

Limit v No-Limit
Is this the next logical question to debate? Should I be thinking in terms of game speed (standard v Rush) or even in terms of actual game (hold'em v Omaha)? I don't know but let's stick with this question for now and see how it goes.

I like limit poker, I grew up on limit poker but I found when I tried to play limit poker a few months back that I just couldn't do it any more. I started on limit poker but since then I have played NLHE SnGs and cash games. I can't think in terms of limit poker hands properly. I want to play a tight-aggressive game but I can't play the right level of tight. I think about stealing blinds and marginal hands I could/should be raising with without thinking that what I am actually doing is pricing others into the hand because the PFR isn't (and can't be) big enough due to the betting structure. I view limit poker as a lower variance game though so does that make it a better choice for building a bankroll. The game is steadier though, the lower variance and betting structure means there are fewer decisions to make which means less action (in terms of buttons to press, things to think about etc) so I tend to lose focus on the game faster and to a greater degree than with other games, and that's a real problem.

I thought I sort of knew what was going on with NLHE but after today's session I am not so sure. As I mentioned above I have had numerous questions pop into my brain and I don't know what to do about them. Many of them are strategy questions (what do I do with AJo when BB 3-bets my button raise? and so on) but some of them are bigger than that, almost meta-game questions I suppose (e.g. how many tables should I play at once? how should my PT3 HUD be set up to benefit me most?) I could answer many of these questions myself given the right data but I don't have enough hands in my database to know what my game is at present so can't work out how to improve it. I think I am stronger pre-flop than post-flop but I don't know that, and if that is the case I don't know what my post-flop weaknesses are in detail so how can I set about addressing them?

All too often recently I have found myself thinking "Argh, now what should I do?" in a hand. Unless I have a very strong hand and am driving proceedings (or I have a weak hand I am happy to fold) I am somewhat lost in hands. The villain check-called my flop bet but now bets out two-thirds pot on the turn which I thought of as a blank - what does this tell me? I don't know! Maybe I will learn with experience (I hope so) but all too often I am floundering right now. And why don't I know where I am in a hand? Because I am not concentrating in part. I don't have that focus that means I can think back over the earlier streets and recall what the villain did. I am viewing hands in terms of the strength of my hand and that's about it so I may have top-top and be betting out but get beaten by an overpair at showdown because I am not thinking.

I can recall a few recent hands where I strongly suspected the villain had a flush and thus had me beaten but I still paid him off - why? Am I too afraid to make a good (or even solid) laydown and risk losing a pot? Is the fear of folding the winning hand too great and driving me to lose more than I should? What am I thinking during these hands? Am I thinking during these hands, more to the point?

My past records point to the fact that my limit results are WAAAY better than my NLHE results for cash games, but my limit wins came several years back for the most part so don't really count so much as my poker attitude and mindset is different now. I can't quite pinpoint how or why it is different but my game has changed. It's hard to know now what form of poker I should be playing. I have had most success at limit but my current game may be more suited to no limit.

Focus
One thing that hasn't really changed over the years is my complete inability to focus on the game in hand. I was always pretty rubbish at concentrating on the tables but I think the games were softer a few years back and my lack of focus didn't really matter too much. Now it does. If I can't focus on the game in hand I shouldn't be playing, I know that. But what I really need to get to the bottom of is why I can't focus on the game.

There are two main possibilities I think: either there's not enough going on to keep my brain engaged and/or the sums involved aren't sufficient to concern me.

I said earlier that limit poker has less action per hand than no limit. I suppose the best way to generate more action (decisions) is to play more hands but as I can't get my head round a LAG game I have to play TAG at multiple tables. But I am worried this isn't working. I shouldn't have time to check my email, post on the forum, update spreadsheets and all the other things I do during my cash game sessions at the minute, and that while I have four NLHE tables on the go. My head clearly isn't in the game. Am I subconsciously thinking the PT3 HUD will watch the game for me and I don't need to know anything about my opponents so don't need to watch the action after I have folded?

Or is it just that win or lose a pot, even a buy-in, and it doesn't really matter at these stakes? If I lose my stack at the NLHE games I have been playing the past few days then I lose $10 which is barely a couple of pints (not that I drink these days but it's still a useful yardstick). Am I going to miss that sort of sum? No, so why spend the mental energy looking after it? If I don't get maximum value for a hand then so what? If I fold a hand I should have 3-bet then I lose a few chips but they don't really mean anything. What's the alternative though? Play much higher stakes and be like a rabbit in headlights every hand? Play higher stakes desperately hoping for a big hand I can play safely but get outdrawn by a lucky muppet costing me a big chunk of my bankroll. That's not very sensible is it? I know the importance of bankroll management so I won't be raising the stakes just to scare me into concentrating. If I can't focus on the small stakes games then I shouldn't be playing.

Health
There could be another reason for my poor focus, and this one may seem like I am clutching at straws a bit but go with it for now - my health. I'm going into hospital next week for an operation as I found out a few months ago I have a rare tumour on one of my adrenal glands. In short my body chemistry and hormones are not where they should be. God only knows how long I have had this tumour and what sort of effect it is having on some of my hormone levels so could it be that it is affecting things like my ability to concentrate on a single task and my attention span? I guess I will find out when I get out of hospital and see how I am with certain tasks then compared to how I get on with them now I suppose. But it will be interesting to see how the op will affect my poker game.

Where am I?
All of that hasn't helped much has it. I knew I wanted to play cash games but I still haven't been able to narrow down whether I should play fixed limit or no limit, standard speed or Rush and I haven't even discussed hold'em v Omaha. Maybe I will save that for another day but I do need a plan going forward now. Do I stick with multi-tabling NLHE cash games as I have been the last few days?

My biggest problem is focus so if I can reduce the time between decisions then I don't have time to get distracted. But at the same time I don't want too many different situations to think about at the same time; I want to concentrate on one hand at a time if I can. How can I achieve this? I haven't really discussed this option but it seems like Rush Poker would be a sensible idea. One table of Rush at a time though, playing the same micro-stakes level as I am now. When I don't have a hand I can quick fold. When I can't quick fold I should spend the time planning my hand and what I will do on each street and how I will react to what my opponents do. In short I will do what I should do on every hand but struggle to see through because my mind wanders. I hope to be able to train my brain to wander less and as a result hopefully improve my poker results. At least that's the plan and no-one can argue I haven't given it some thought.

[MattR]

Mat,

Interesting read as always. There does always seem to be an underlying trend of you identifying a lack of focus on all of your poker threads. I don't think you should dismiss playings higher stakes games on just one table. You say if you can't focus on small stakes then you shouldn't be playing but you also said that it doesn't mean anything losing small amounts which makes perfect sense to me so therefore the focus issue may be addressed by the sums involved meaning something. Also shouldn't there be less muppets at that level and more people playing the game 'properly'? You seem to know what's best to do with what hands and so on, so I would say it is definitely the focus that is costing you. So, maybe up the stakes and give it one last go and if that doesn't work try some in running betting on football or something!

Good luck with the op, I know your health has been bothering you for some years now

[mathare]

Not a bad idea that Matt, thanks for looking in.

I have been playing some Rush Poker while I try to work out what to do with this thread (I may convert it to a proper blog I am thinking of setting up) and things have been better than they were at the normal NLHE cash tables. I'm playing the same stakes ($0.05/0.10) at Rush as I was with standard cash but I am more interested in the game than I was with standard cash games.

I hadn't really thought about stepping up the stakes for a single table but it's a good idea. I'm very much one for order and everything in it's rightful place and things done in the proper manner so have always wanted to start small and build the bankroll needed to play a certain game (except for the very lowest of stakes). With that in mind I haven't thought about stepping up from the level I currently play until I have wiped out the losses I have made at those stakes (around $250 on Rush) plus shown I can make a profit. But maybe you're right, maybe I need to step it up a level and go for it hoping that I can either find my feet and start to make a small profit or if I lose my bankroll I can forget about poker and concentrate on something else. A final throw of the dice, as it were. Hmmm, that sounds quite appealing really. It can't really go much worse than previous attempts to find my game have.

If I am going to try this sh.t or bust attempt at higher stakes then I should really try to identify the biggest leaks in my game and watch out for them cropping up again when they will cost me more as the stakes increase. I am confident that my main issues are in my post-flop play, especially laying down hands when I am probably but not definitely beaten. I don't find PT3 that useful for spotting post-flop leaks, or any post-flop analysis really. I always think you need to come up with scenarios and run them through the filters rather than use the filters to identify problem points. For example, I feel you need to set the filters to pick out hands where I have raised pre-flop and c-bet the flop to get some idea of how these hands pan out. Then I can look at hand ranges, positional breakdowns and so on. But I don't find it so easy to be more generic for post-flop analysis. I'm not explaining things very well but I know what I mean.

Anyway, I will think over Matt's idea but it makes sense on many levels. What stakes to step up to though? I have around 10 buy-ins for the level up from the one I am currently playing (i.e. $0.10/0.25) or do I go another level higher ($0.25/0.50) to where I only have around five buy-ins? I don't think going higher than that makes sense though as it's too risky a venture at that point.