Live Tournaments

I am definitely struggling to stay focused, and to spend time studying and keeping my records organized.  When I don't really have any kind of goal, it's much, much harder for me to stay focused.  I shouldn't feel this way, but it is nonetheless a fact when I don't have any study goals such as topics to work on during the week, or a certain number of hours, it's very easy for me to, in true ADD fashion, just not get around to it.  I've been doing a lot of that lately.

Fortunately, I do have one thing that I can focus on.  My wife and I talked about the car situation, and we agreed that with tournaments running seven days a week at the Big Game Room, I can get the car at least one night a week to play live.  I'm really excited about that, and it's given me one aspect of my studies to focus on.

I'm constantly tweaking something, and lately it's been how many hands to play from each position (from first to last to act in the hand.)  Since most of the live tournaments are deep for at least an hour or two, all of the options that I'm reading and learning about are open to me.  If I want to semibluff with small pairs or suited connectors, I can open those hands from any position.  If table or tournament conditions change, I can switch back to what has been my usual default tight style.  I can switch back and forth at will, making me nearly unreadable to my opponents.  To that end, I've come up with some new hand charts, where I could be playing up to 10% of my hands in first postion, and up to 53% of my hands when last to act.  Almost no one does that except at the highest levels, but it's mathematically correct to raise that often when last to act, even with a hand as weak as 97o. And coming from an old white guy known to be a tight player when he played live a couple years ago, it will be completely unexpected.

Playing a bunch of hands is definitely a high-variance strategy, which could get me knocked out pretty quickly  It could also get me first place a lot more often.  When fourth place is $90 and first place is $360, as was the case in one of my recent tournaments where I won the $90, that's a risk worth taking.

I will still have to be somewhat careful.  My live bankroll is only about 5 buy-ins, and I would rather not have to add more to get it going, so I have to be at least a bit risk averse.  I really can't start to relax until I have around 20 buy-ins, and I'm not really safe until I have at least 100, but -ins, which would mean a live bankroll of around $4,000.  But I can start mixing things up in spots and get used to playing more hands, which in the long win should be a big winner for me.  From what I've seen in my first four live tournaments, the fields are weaker than in a $1 online SNG.  I need to make sure that I push every advantage that I have.

I Give Up

No, I have not given up on poker.  I have given up the idea of  having any kind of plan.  The technical problems with online poker are too great, my schedule is too uncertain, and when and how much I will be able to sleep can change from day to day.

I am no longer aiming for a certain number of hours playing or studying.  So many things are outside my control that numerical goals have no meaning.  I have no idea how long it would take me know to finish my usual three readings of a new poker book.  I have no idea what I should be studying, for how long, or if I can be awake enough long enough that particular day to give a study topic any significant time.

In my world, there isn't much that is scarier than having ADD and not having a plan.  Goal setting keeps me focused long-term, and organization and structure keep me going short-term.  But there are no goals on which I can focus, and no structures that I can impose, that have any practical relevance.

It's very scary, and more than a little ironic.  The discipline required to become a good poker player from scratch, and being able to pull that off, have mean an awful lot to me.  Poker has helped me to learn good habits, and to have more confidence.  I feel all of that slipping away.

I'm very scared that I will become Bad Clif again.  The Clif that couldn't try out for the wrestling team because I misremembered the date and missed the required physical.  The Clif that showed up for a Boy Scout campout, only to find no one at the meeting place--they left the previous night.  The Clif that damaged his military career due to being disorganized and overwhelmed.  The Clif who failed to graduate from two colleges because I couldn't stay focused long enough to study or write long papers.  I did all of that, and much worse.

That said, I'll reuse a popular saying that has already been beaten to death--It is what it is.  All I can do is hang on, remember what Bad Clif was like, and do my best to never be that person again.

I hope I can pull it off.  I'm not sure that I can.

The Importance of Tournament Structure

Today is the first day that I received applause for one my posts on the twoplustwo.com poker forums.

There have been some players on the forums complaining about tournaments that can take as long as eight hours.  A few players countered that we need those tournaments, and I agreed.  Here is my post on the forums on 10/1/2013:

I agree as well. Half of the stuff that I study in advanced poker books doesn't even apply if everyone is short-stacked early in the tournament. I love playing with an M of 100 and being able to stay there for at least a little while. I can do that in my local poker room, and I would love to be able to do that, or something close to it, online.

When I look at a tournament, I ask three questions:

1. Am I bankrolled for it?
2. How many starting chips do I get?
3. How fast is the blind structure?

If I don't like the answer to any of those questions, I usually won't play. For example, I won't play on demand or bounty tournaments on WPN because the blinds go up much faster than those in scheduled tournaments.

As far as deep tournaments going too long, if someone else doesn't like that, that is their choice. I always play as deep as I can, because that's where I have an edge. I am prepared to play all night.

When I enter the $5.50 with a $3,500 guarantee and three hours of late registration, I know exactly what I'm getting into. I know that if I go deep I could be playing for seven hours or more, and I prepare accordingly, from when I eat to how much sleep I get. Deep tournaments give me a big edge over the field.

The deeper the tournament, the more I like it, and I'm sure that many in this thread feel the same way. Who wouldn't want a good structure and a chance to win 200 buy-ins?


Here is the post immediately following mine:


Well fkn said Clif.