My Live Mechanics Are Improving

I played a live tournament last night.  No cash again, 23rd of 57.  The good news is that I'm starting to see some improvement in my live tournament mechanics.  I spent a lot more time trying to keep track of the exact pot size, both when I was in the pot and when I wasn't. I'm not good at it, but I'm better than I was a month ago.  Only once did I fold my big blind when I could have checked.  Just a couple months ago I would get confused, lose track of play and make that unnecessary fold five times a night.

I'm improving in another area, but as is often the case when trying to master something, I keep finding more and more things that I need to work on.  I picked up reads on a couple players on my left that were contesting my raises almost every time.  They obviously were just trying to push me off my hands, often while not having strong hands themselves.

I probably should have picked up on what those two players were up to sooner than I did, and more important, after playing for an hour I should have some sort of read on almost everyone at my table, not just two players.

I'm not even close to keeping exact track of the pot size every time, so that will continue to be my main focus for a while, but I will try to generate better reads of my opponents as well.  I have no doubt that once I am able to play full-time, a lot of things that I'm struggling with will start to fall into place.

Trying To Get Something Done

I'm with my mother-in-law today.  I'm usually too tired to play or study at  night after she goes to bed, so I decided to make the most of the time when I'm with her in the living room during the day.  It didn't work.

Even though she was reading the paper most of the time that I was working in the living room,  I couldn't concentrate.  I can't even do something as simple as update my poker records and files with the TV on and directly in my line of sight.  I knew if I kept trying to do it, I would just mess it up.  I have ADD, and I have to accept my limitations.

What is harder to accept is that I'm going to be here 3-4 days of the week and sleep a lot the day I get home--and I'll acomplish nothing poker-related during that time.  I can't continue like this.

I remember listening to radio talk show host Bruce Williams.  He is a self-made millionaire, and one of his callers needed some help with his time management.  Williams said that at one time he was a full-time college student, worked full-time, and still had time for his wife and children.  The incredulous caller wanted to know how he did it.

Williams replied with a question--"Do you watch TV?"  The caller said that he did.  Williams said, "I didn't.  For a year."  Long silence from the caller.  He wasn't happy.  

I'm very resistant to making that decision.  I guess that shows where my priorities are.  There are a lot of TV shows that I really like watching, but if I'm serious about poker, my choice is obvious. I have to be able to play enough, study enough, and keep my records straight, whatever it takes.

Things I'm learning About myself

It continues to be difficult to accomplish much while I'm taking care of my mother-in-law three or four days a week, then coming home and spending much of the next day catching up on my sleep.  I managed to play one live tournament each of the last two weeks.  I'm not making any money, but some of the signs are promising.  I'm going deeper and getting better, but I'm spending a lot of buy-ins doing in doing it.  I need to keep reminding myself that Jonathan Little, a two-time World Poker Tour Player of the Year, talks about how difficult the adjustment from online to live poker can be.  He states that it takes at least 100 live tournaments to fully adjust to the differences.  I guess I can't expect to improve a lot when I've only played live about 40 times in 2014.

As a musician, I continue to discover ways that music and poker are similar. To be a successful musician you have to study and learn the fundamentals of music, but you also need to practice and perform. Poker is no different.

How a poker player should divide his time between playing and studying is a hotly debated topic.  Some pros state that studying should be about 20% of poker time, while others say it should be as high as 50%.  I don't have the numbers in front of me, but the study component of my time this year is way over 50%.  I just don't play enough to make any money at it, or to apply the things that I'm practicing and learning.  When I subtract my expenses from my winnings, I'll almost certainly show a small net loss this year.  My job really isn't poker, it's taking care of my mother-in-law, and it's the right thing to do.  I am fortunate that my wife makes enough to keep us going until we get through this difficult time for our family.

That said, studying is of necessity my main focus while I continue to learn a lot about the live game, my opponents, and my strengths and weaknesses.  I'm now playing tournaments in two different cities.  The players in those cities have very different skills and playing styles. Learning to adapt on the fly to whatever is happening at my table will prove very useful in the long run.

There are three important things that I have learned about myself and my play:

1.  I need to get better at keeping track of the pot size.  I can do a pretty good job of looking at the chips in the pot, estimating the total, and deciding how that affects my decisions.  But I need to do better than that.  Every time someone puts chips in the pot, I should be able to add that in my head and know that the pot size is $13,275 (or whatever the number is.)  Then I can much more accurately calculate the odds that the pot is offering, and make much better decisions.

2.  I need to pay attention even when I'm not in a hand.  I should be using that time to practice a variety of skills.  As stated above, I need to get better at keeping track of pot size.  When I'm not playing, every time someone makes a bet, I should add the amount to the total pot size number in my head.

When I watch the World Poker Tour on television, I know that the players at the final table can do that.  I need to be able to do that.  As I work on paying constant attention to the pot size, I will find myself increasingly able to do the same thing when playing a hand.

Once keeping track of the pot size becomes automatic I can work on other things when I'm not in a hand, for example, I could choose a player and see if I can pick up any tells.  Does Joe used different motions to put chips in the pot with a strong hand than with a weak one?  Does Joan suddenly sit up and pay attention when a card that helps her hits the board?  When I can do that with one player, I can increase the degree of difficulty and watch more players, and again, I will find myself increasingly able to do those things when I'm in a hand.

3.  I have to get more comfortable with taking big risks at the table. There were several times in my tournament tonight that the poker books would say I should have made a certain play, and I know I should have made that play, but I played it safe.

I have to keep reminding myself, over and over and over, that one tournament doesn't matter.  It's OK to make a play when I know that it is very likely to get me knocked out of a tournament, in fact, it's necessary.  I'm playing to make money over a year, not on one night.  A play might not work several times in a row, and get me knocked out of a bunch of tournaments.  But the odds I'm being offered by the pot might be telling me that the few times that I do win a similar hand, the amount of money added to my stack will give me a good shot at going very deep in that tournament.  Winning just one big tournament can, depending on the size of the prize pool, add 5 or 25 or 100 buy-ins to a poker bankroll.  The entry fee for my most recent out-of-town tournament was $50.  First place money was $1,000.

The counterintuitive truth is that poker isn't about how often you cash, it's about total profit over a year or more.  Sometimes 50% or more of annual profit can come from just a few very large cashes.  One player stated on the twoplustwo.com poker forums that during the previous year, more than 50% of his profit came from just 2 large cashes.

That is so counterintuitive that I continue to struggle with the concept.  Of course I should try to cash every time.  I'm want to go out and play poker, and come home with money.  That's what it's all about, right?

No, that's not right.  Math doesn't lie.  Poker is all about the math, and if that math keeps saying that I have to risk being knocked out of tournaments early, I better start listening.

So Much Has Happened

Wow, I can't believe I haven't posted for a month.  So many things have changed that I don't know where to start.  They certainly can't all be tackled in one post, so here are some of the things that have happened during that month. I might be talking about some of them in future (and more frequent) posts:

I'm now playing in both Grand Rapids and Muskegon, and each has advantages and disadvantages.

I was the chip leader in a tournament in Muskegon a couple days ago which had a first prize of $700.   I was the chip leader for about two hours.  I went out in 8th place--seven players cashed.  Players that I've talked to have agreed that my all-in was a very close call under the circumstances, and that folding would have been an equally good, but not necessarily better, choice in that spot.

We have car problems again, and our only car is in the shop as I type this. Having one car is tricky when it's running, and I'm trying to play poker it two cities and move between two residences.

The state of Michigan can't seem to stop making rules which make it harder for both charity poker rooms and the players.

Both of our computers were in the shop at the same time.  We have them back now.

I'll be playing in Grand Rapids

In my previous post, I talked about the need that poker players, especially tournament specialists, have for more and more information on what's going on in the poker world.  We want to know where and when the tournaments are running, how much they cost, what the structure is, how long it usually takes to finish, how deep the structure is, etc.  I found a room, near the city of Grand Rapids, that looks like it will be a good fit for me.

The room has just about everything that I'm looking for, and I'm reasonably certain that I can do well enough there to make up for the travel expense for playing a little farther from home.  I sent an E-mail to the folks that run a room in Walker (a Grand Rapids suburb) and they agreed, at my request, to put a schedule of blinds and antes for each tournament on their web site.

They run a tournament every night from Wednesday through Sunday.  The buy-ins are in a range that is reasonably OK considering my growing, but still inadaquate, bankroll.  Sunday is way too big for me at $125 and Wednesday is questionable--it's only a $20 tournament, but with unlimited $10 rebuys, so I'll wait on that until I find out how many times you have to buy in to stay competitive.  If that number is 3 or less, then it's an option.  That still leaves Friday and Saturday nights, and it looks like the tournaments are fairly deepstacked. I'll know for sure when the blinds and antes are posted on their web site.  I'm usually not on duty with my mother-in-law on either of those days.

Poker Players Need Information

Poker players need information.  I'm not talking about paying attention at the table, or even what we learn when we study.  We need to know what's going on.  We need to know what tournaments are scheduled where and when.  We need a good estimate of how many players there will be, because that tells us how big the prize pool we be.  We need to know if the players are in general good, bad, or average.  We want all of that information and more.

Some casinos, charity rooms, and tournament directors understand that, and they compete for the players by giving them as much information as they can.  Some even have charts showing the blind levels, how long the levels last, and how much the blinds and antes are at each level.  On the other hand some places, especially charity rooms, often won't do this.

Players talk about this.  They ask questions on poker forums.  They read charity room or casino web pages.  They talk to other players.  Players here in Michigan check the Michigan Gaming Control Board web site. They want every bit of information that they can get their hands on.  Here is an example of that information seeking, from the Detroit thread on the twoplustwo.com poker forums:

Q:  update from vision? how many seats did they sell? what was the buyin? what time did it sell out?

A1:  50 seats. Flip is out already. I'm down half a stack. Sold out before 630 I believe. Flip would know.

A2:  Coach there were about 4 2-5 games running all day & all night till I left at 3 in the mornin, and even when I left there were 12 on the list waiting. It's a $500 max 2-5, but the thing I liked about this room was it was a time-rake. Also the games seemed to play pretty deep, I had atleast 4 stacks of 2k on my table, and only 3 or 4 "regulars" in the game, the rest seemed to be from somewhere or another. Solid dealers, room is run well.

Q: Looking to play some live cash during the day near the waterford area.. any rooms open??

A:  300 bowl. Not sure what time they open or if there is any cash running during the day but you can call them to find out.

Players do this constantly.  We want every detail that can be nailed down.  "Where should I play" questions can sometimes dominate several pages of the Detroit thread.  If they can't get the information they want, they will go somewhere else.

I live about 200 miles from Detroit.  There is no poker networking here that I am aware of.  There is no site where people in my part of Michigan can share such information, which is why I spend so much time keeping up with the Detroit thread.  I can at least find out how it's supposed to work.

A few months ago I asked the tournament director at my local room if I could get a printout of, or link to, the levels, blinds and antes.  The TD said that I couldn't do that.  I told him that I know the information is available, because it shows on an overhead monitor when we are playing.  The TD again said that it wasn't possible.

I posted about this on the Detroit thread, and the first response was (not a direct quote, but close, "Are you serious?  He has to give you that information."

In Detroit, the players have clout.  They can, and will, go to another room if they don't get the information that they want.  In a stretch of four contigous counties bordering Lake Michigan there are no casinos and no open charity rooms.  We might have one room open in October.*  We have no clout and unfortunately, the owner of that one available local room knows that.

The web site for my local room, their Facebook page, and direct information from the owner sometimes all conflict with each other.  After I asked the owner about this a few (4?) times, including telling him about information errors on both the web site and the Facebook page, he finally typed, "CLIF JUST STOP"

Since there is little information sharing, the only way to find out about the other rooms is to try them, which in my case would require at least a 35-minute drive.  If it's not a good room or tournament, then I've wasted time and money on a 70 mile round trip.  The nearest casino that deals poker is 103 miles from where I live.  Detroit area players often have no problem driving 40 miles or more to a charity room--but only if they know what they're getting.

Last week there was a tournament 20 miles from me, at an American Legion Post.  I don't think they had done it before.  I hope that the first time wasn't the last time.  I need information, and I need options.

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*There might actually be two rooms open, but only one at a time.  One room open Monday through Wednesday, the other Thursday through Sunday.

To travel, or not to travel? That is the question.

This is still another one of the short-term vs. long-term issues, complicated by a lack of reliable information.

I know that when I limit myself to playing live tournaments in one location, I am limiting my options.  I also know that playing in small local tournaments, where first prize might only be ten buy-ins, I'm not going to make a lot of money.

At some point,when I am finally able to play full-time, if I really want to make poker a viable option where I am making more than the average individual income in the United States (about $36,000 if I remember correctly) I have to be willing to go to charity rooms or casinos in other cities, where the first prize is 25 or 50 times the buy-in, or more.  But for now, I have to stick pretty close to home.

Here is the current situation, as I see it:

1. I no long consider The Big Game Room to be reliable, and the information that they put out is often wrong.  I once went to TBGR and found it closed, even though the web page said that there was a tournament running that day.

Due to state meddling and overregulation, TBGR can no longer operate as a standalone business in their own space.  From now on, most of the weekday operations will be at a room in a sports bar, and weekend operations will be at a room at a bowling alley.  Or so they say.

In late August, the TGBR web page said that they were closed for now, but they would post an update after Labor Day.  The update was finally posted several days after Labor Day, and it said that operations would start on 9/18.  That never happened.  A few days ago, they posted on the web page that operations in the bowling alley would start on 10/2.  I'm not sure that I believe anything they say any more.

Information is always either lacking, incorrect, or contradictory.  The web page says that they will be open on 10/2 at the bowling alley.  However, the Facebook page not only says nothing about the new openings and locations, it still shows the old (standalone) address, with a map of how to get there--and the name of the strip mall is misspelled.

I have pointed out the information problems and inconsistencies, and for the most part nothing gets done.  At one time the owner of TBGR told me (this isn't an exact quote but very close) that he wasn't responsible for the web page, and didn't know what was on it.

So, soon there could be poker at a bowling alley that is less than two miles from my house.  Maybe.  It might be a pretty small prize pool if a lot of players check the Facebook page first.

The good news is that there is another option in Muskegon County.  There is a tournament Saturday night in Holton, a city about 20 miles from where I live.  It's a one-shot deal, but they have had their one-day state license in place for about a month, so I can be pretty sure that it's actually going to happen.  TBGR still does not have their state license.

Here's the problem.  Cost matters, and when I enter a tournament, I consider all of the costs, including travel, in this case, the cost of gas for the 40-mile round trip.  I have an account for live tournaments, and also an account for other expenses, including travel.   My Live Bankroll account is only about $450.  My Poker Expense account has about $300. That may sound like a lot of money, but my live bankroll, which I have built from nothing, is not enough money to play ten $50 tournaments.  The minimum bankroll to play MTTs should be about 100 buy-ins.  I don't have nearly that for even $25 tournaments (but you have to start somewhere) but at triple that cost plus travel expenses, it doesn't make much sense.  Or does it?

Again, I have an information problem.  The tournament in Holton could have an entry fee of $75 or it could be $25.  I have played at both levels..  Again, I have no information.  I called the Holton American Legion, and the people that I talked to on the phone either didn't know about the tournament, or knew none of the details.  This seems to be new to them.

Here is a best-case scenario:

1. If it's a tournament with an entry fee at or below $40, it's a lot less risk, because it's a relatively small piece of my bankroll.

2. Since tournaments don't run often in rural areas, it could be a big event for them, attracting a lot of players, and building a big prize pool.  I have seen those situations.

3. If the charities and the American Legion make a lot of  money, they might want to do it again soon.

4. If they become a viable option, it might give TBGR just what they need, competion.  TBGR no longer has the advantage of being a standalone, poker-only, poker-friendly environment.  If TBGR is to be competitive, their will have to up their game and do a better job of giving the players what they want.

If two or three of those four conditions exist in Holton, it will certainly make me think hard about at which place to play  And I will be happy to advise the folks in Holton on how to make themselves a viable option, on behalf of all of the players who are desperately looking for good options.