11/19/2010--Update, an "aha" moment

It's been a couple weeks since I've posted. As for poker, it's been unremarkable. A couple weeks ago I put 51 hours in, and that's a very encouraging development. I'll be changing a few things next year, and one of those will be to have my spreadsheet track things by the month.

I can look at my paperwork and spreadsheets and get that data easily enough, but I would like to be able to track, and graph, both my hours and my bankroll by the week and the month. I guess that means that I'll finally have to break down and learn how to post images on this blog, so that I can put my graphs up.

There has been one big development. My grandchildren are now back with his son and his wife, which will make things much better for everyone. I won't feel the obligation to take the kids for a certain amount of time each week, and I can do it when it's convenient for me and/or my wife.

Now, the "aha" moment. It's been bothering me that I can't seem to break through. I"m not making any money, but I'm not really losing money either. Even the best online players are going to have long breakeven sessions, and that's all I thought it was. But as it lasted longer and longer, I've had the feeling that something more is going on. My work habits are getting better (it's taken some time to get used to being my own boss.) And I know that I'm learning a lot in my study time--and that's the key.

I responded to a 2+2 post today regarding one of the newer poker books, The Full Tilt Poker Strategy Guide: Tournament Edition, edited by Michael Craig. While I was proofreading the post, I had my "aha moment."

The reason that I'm not making any money is that I'm learning so many new things, things that I have to do differently in very large tournaments, that it's taking me a while time to assimilate everything into my game, so that I can reach the point where I can profitably use my new skills.

Although I am very intelligent, I am also a step-by-step, plodding type of learner, and I shouldn't be surprised that it's taken me a while to learn so many new things and use them productively when I play. I grasp new concepts very quickly. I learn and apply details much more slowly.

As I am more comfortable with play suited to the structure of large tournaments, I know that it's only a matter or time, probably a very short time, before I have a breakthrough. My wife certainly hopes that it happens sooner rather than later!

Here is the post from 2+2, followed by my response:

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Hello Everyone,
Sorry to be posting this because I'm sure it's already been covered, just couldn't find the thread.
What do you guys think of the Full Tilt Poker Strategy Guide for MTT play? I'am a disciple of the Harrington On Holdem series but a lot of fellow players say that it's too "old school" and the play is way too tight for "todays" game.
I looked over Bloch's pre-flop opening hands chart and it just seems really loose especially in EP. Bleeding chips especially at a loose table? I like some of what Ferguson said about betting but not sure I totally agree with NEVER calling pre-flop. Is the ALWAYS raising an open limper and ALWAYS re-raising an open raise really the optimal way to go?

Thanks for all your imputs,
Sam
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I am, and have been for a while, going through the process of adding more starting hands (both calling and raising) to my game.

Two of the first poker authors that I read were Harrington and Hellmuth. And I decided pretty early to specialize in normal speed STTs. This was about 3 years ago, when STTs did not have antes, and I could sometimes fold my way into the top 3. So you can imagine how tight I was. From the button I would only play JJ+, AT+. Later, I started playing DONs as well. As you can imagine, that didn't exactly loosen up my game.

While this was going on, I would occasionally play an MTT, mostly for variety and because it was more fun. Recently I decided to switch my specialty to MTTs, because I think I can make more profit per hour in the long run. I figured out pretty quickly that I needed to open up my game.

I didn't know how to get comfortable playing more hands, so I decided to just jump in and do it. I looked for starting hand charts that were looser than how I played (but not too wild--baby steps.) I did this a little bit at a time--adding just a few hands, trying one idea in a poker book that I had not tried before, and gradually I got comfortable playing more and more hands.

I have not yet played as loose as the Andy Bloch recommendations, but eventually I would like to get comfortable with playing that many hands. Even if I didn't stick with the Bloch system as my default plan, it would be nice to have it as "another gear." It's not unusual for me to play 100 hands or more against someone in an online MTT before the table breaks, so if I don't vary my play, I'm going to get exploited by good players.

One of the things that has helped me is rereading Harrington talking about the Zone System (in HOH2). Just the idea of starting to play more hands with an M under 20 really helped me open up, and I"m now much less afraid to play more hands against a full table. To give one example, instead of playing JJ+, AT+ from the button, my default now TT+, Ax from the cutoff or button, at least until I see how the players on my left react.

In answer to your question about never calling preflop, once your M is under 20, Harrington says,

"The pre-flop criteria that I described in Volume 1 should be adjusted downward a bit, so that you will raise or call with a few more hands than before." (HOH2, p.133)