HOURS
Administrative 2.00
Study 3.00
Play 31.75
-------
Total Hours 36.75
I guess it was unrealistic to expect to get 40 hours in on the week that included Christmas, so in general I'm reasonably happy with my hours.
Administrative is whatever it takes to keep my records up to date, and that's going to vary from week to week. Sometimes I daily update the spreadsheet with my hours, and other times I will wait and then update several days to catch up.
That depends partly on how the large MTTs go. If I give myself a block of time to play large tournaments and I'm knocked out early, then I can use some of that time either to play small tournaments, or to catch up on the administrative work.
I'm happy with the play hours. I always want to get a minimum of 30 hours a week playing time.
I am not at all happy with my study time. I haven't been working on the memorization flash cards much lately. And whatever I'm studying, my hours should never be less than 10% of my time,. One of my long-term goals is to have studying be 25% of my time. For some of the top players, it's 50%. Next year I will be tracking my study hours by the month, to make sure it's always at least 10% of my time.
PROFIT AND LOSS
Beginning bankroll, 12/19 $49.08
Ending bankroll, 12/25 $54.40
---------
Profit +$5.32
What a wild week! I was up more than $20 at one point, then I finished on the 24th and 25th by cashing in only 2 of the last 12 tournaments. Since about half of those 12 tournaments were just one or two tables (which meant that I had to only be in the top 1/3 or 1/4 of the field to cash), that's a very poor way to end the week.
But poker can be like that. To be a poker player you have to have a strong stomach to ride that roller coaster, and you have to understand what the word random really means. If a coin flip is random, most people thing that if you flip a coin 20 times, you will get approximately 10 heads and 10 tails. That could happen, but you could also get 3 heads and 7 tails, or 10 heads and 0 tails.
There is a luck factor (in math terms, statistical varience) in poker. Sometimes you will get great cards, and sometimes bad cards. Sometimes your opponent is playing his "A game" and sometimes he isn't. So poker "luck", like the coin flip, is about the long-term (in mathspeak, a large enough sample size). Just like if you flop a coin a thousand times the results should be fairly close to half heads and half tails, poker luck evens out over time as well, and the runs of good cards and bad cards eventually cancel each other out.
As few hands as I play compared to some players who play 24 or more tables at a time, what happens to me over the course of a week is not a large enough sample size to measure anything. That's why next year I'm going to track my results in larger increments, possibly going by my last 30, 60, and 90 days along with the weekly update.
So, my big start and bad finish last week, given the small sample size, could have been about me, it could have been about luck, or it could have been a combination of both. I do think that I have been pressing a little bit the last couple days. The big time for poker players is between Christmas and New Years Day, with a lot of online players off work and on their computers. I think that I was trying a little too hard to make something big happen. My results have been frustrating, and I'm falling into the trap of tying to turn it around quickly.
That's a pretty stupid thing to do, especiallly since in one of my recent posts a fellow member of the 2+2 forums mentioned that just two large tournament cashes were a large percentage of his profits for the year. I have to stop thinking like a SNG player who steadily grinds small but consistent profits every week. I need to fully commit to the ups and downs of being a multitable tournament specialist, which over the course of a year will make poker a much more profitable enterprise.
Saturday, December 25, 2010
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
12/23/2010 Entering a tournament late
A few days ago someone asked about this on the twoplustwo.com poker forums. In my post, M is the number of times that the dealer button can go around the table such that the player would still have chips left if he did not play a hand. Q is a relationship to the average chip stack in the tournament--a Q of 1.0 is an average chip stack.
The question is in red, my response is in blue.
inspired by the thread above, i wanted to question if it is good to wait for the last possible moment to late register in a tournament, as you will have lesser players to survive. The downside is of course, that most maniacs and fishes have already given their chips away.
in an extreme case scenario for instance if it were possible to register anytime you would want to buyin after the bubble.
Re: buying in late in tournaments
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In the MTTs that I play on PokerStars (10-15 minute blinds), I've noticed that as a rough measurement, I have to double my stack every hour in order to keep up with the average chip stack, at least for the first couple hours. To put in another way, if the tournament starts with 1,500-chip stacks, by the first break I should have ~3,000 chips to have a Q of 1.
So, if I would have to have 3,000 chips to start level 2, I would need 6K to start level 3, and 12K to start level 4. Given that reality, I almost never start more than 1 blind level late. I'm just too far behind in the chip accumlation race, and it doesn't make sense for me to be playing catch-up 4 or 5 levels into the tournament.
The other issue is how limiting it can be to start a tournament with a relatively small M. Being in that position seriously lowers your fold equity, and more specifically, the possiblity of facing a big move (even all-in) from you won't be very scary from the perpsective of someone who has acculated 3X your stack while you were waiting to join the tournament.
If you join a tournament an hour late, you're bringing to knife to a gunfight.
The question is in red, my response is in blue.
inspired by the thread above, i wanted to question if it is good to wait for the last possible moment to late register in a tournament, as you will have lesser players to survive. The downside is of course, that most maniacs and fishes have already given their chips away.
in an extreme case scenario for instance if it were possible to register anytime you would want to buyin after the bubble.
Re: buying in late in tournaments
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In the MTTs that I play on PokerStars (10-15 minute blinds), I've noticed that as a rough measurement, I have to double my stack every hour in order to keep up with the average chip stack, at least for the first couple hours. To put in another way, if the tournament starts with 1,500-chip stacks, by the first break I should have ~3,000 chips to have a Q of 1.
So, if I would have to have 3,000 chips to start level 2, I would need 6K to start level 3, and 12K to start level 4. Given that reality, I almost never start more than 1 blind level late. I'm just too far behind in the chip accumlation race, and it doesn't make sense for me to be playing catch-up 4 or 5 levels into the tournament.
The other issue is how limiting it can be to start a tournament with a relatively small M. Being in that position seriously lowers your fold equity, and more specifically, the possiblity of facing a big move (even all-in) from you won't be very scary from the perpsective of someone who has acculated 3X your stack while you were waiting to join the tournament.
If you join a tournament an hour late, you're bringing to knife to a gunfight.
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
12/21/2010 Results for week of 12/12-12/18
HOURS
Administrative 1.00
Study 4.00
Play 36.50
--------
Total Hours 41.50
Not bad. I put in over 40 hours and spent more than 10% of my time studying. That's right where I want to be.
PROFIT AND LOSS
Beginning bankroll, 12/5 $47.95
Ending bankroll, 12/11 $50.18
--------
+$2.23
Not a big week (or month or year) but that's kind of how the year has gone. I'll have more about that to say at the end of the year. I'll just say that I'm confident that next year there is going to be a big breakthrough.
I haven't been posting very regularly, and that's one of the things that I plan to change in 2011.
Administrative 1.00
Study 4.00
Play 36.50
--------
Total Hours 41.50
Not bad. I put in over 40 hours and spent more than 10% of my time studying. That's right where I want to be.
PROFIT AND LOSS
Beginning bankroll, 12/5 $47.95
Ending bankroll, 12/11 $50.18
--------
+$2.23
Not a big week (or month or year) but that's kind of how the year has gone. I'll have more about that to say at the end of the year. I'll just say that I'm confident that next year there is going to be a big breakthrough.
I haven't been posting very regularly, and that's one of the things that I plan to change in 2011.
Thursday, December 2, 2010
12/2/2010--Making money playing large multitable tournaments
Sometimes you know something, but things happen that make you, or those around you, doubt what you know to be true. That has been the case with my switching my specialty to large MTTs (multitable) tournaments. Large, in my case, means generally between 1,000 and 8,000 players.
I have not been getting the large cashes to make it viable, in other words, I'm not making any money. But that's the nature of the beast. In my former specialty, SNGs (sit 'n goes, usually a one-table tournament of 9 or 10 players) you make money by getting a lot of small cashes to add up. With MTTs, you have a few very but very large cashes (even large $1 tournaments can have a first place prize of $1,000 or more) that can make your month or your year, with long breakeven periods or dry spells in between.
I know this. I know it's normal. I also know that good MTT players make a lot more money over the course of a year than good SNG players (the exceptions are some SNG players that can play 12, 24 or more simultaneous tables).. Even so, when it's not going well, it's easy to loose confidence in your plan, and your playing.
I had a discussion on the twoplustwo.com poker forums with someone, a former SNG specialist who had made the switch, and he has gone through exactly the same things. It's nice to know that in fact nothing is wrong, and that what I'm going through is completely normal.
Here are parts of that discussion:
Poker Clif
Posts: 2,430
Profitability of deepstacked tournaments
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hi. I am a former SNG specialist (14% ROI at $10) who is converting to MTTs as my specialty. I was very tight, even for a SNG/DON player, so I'm back in the micros while I get comfortable playing a lot more hands.
[Some questions about specific tournament types]All comments are appreciated.
Sinking Ship
Posts: 844 Re: profitability of deepstack tournaments
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A while back I made a similar transition from mid-stake turbo SNGs to mid/high-stake MTTs. I've calculated that my hourly would be less than 1/5 of what it was when I grinded SNG's IF I omitted 2 big scores, which ultimately boosted my hourly above what it was previously.
Basically, the variance can be a gift and a curse. I also have not put in nearly as much volume in MTTs (even when measured in time spent playing), so my results are relatively unreliable.
Additionally, SNGs (especially turbos) where very much a mechanical undertaking for me. I find MTTs, deepstacked or turbos or not, to be more enjoyable and to have more subtleties, and to thus be more challenging (not having a fixed amount of chips at the table [as in a SNG] is one of the fundamental changes).
As far as your returns go, only you can predict with any accuracy. I'd say to just start playing and, if after a sufficiently large sample, you find your hourly is significantly less, then it is what it is. Just remember that 1 or 2 big scores (and by big score I don't mean taking down the 1Mil Garauntee, I mean placing top 3 in a few of your own stake MTTs) can drastically change your ROI and hourly.
Poker Clif
Posts: 2,430
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thanks for your response. Yeah, I'm definitely waiting for that big score. I'm getting in the top 5% of large fields (over 2,000 players) more than 10% of the time--which usually means playing for 4 hours and winnning 2 or 3 buy-ins. I'm not playing enough tables right now that my sample size is going to mean anything for quite a while, so I understand exactly what you mean about the big scores.
I remember a post by Pzhon, where he recounted a day where he played 19 MTTs and didn't cash. He cashed in his 20th and final tournament--which gave him a profit of almost exactly zero for the day.
I have not been getting the large cashes to make it viable, in other words, I'm not making any money. But that's the nature of the beast. In my former specialty, SNGs (sit 'n goes, usually a one-table tournament of 9 or 10 players) you make money by getting a lot of small cashes to add up. With MTTs, you have a few very but very large cashes (even large $1 tournaments can have a first place prize of $1,000 or more) that can make your month or your year, with long breakeven periods or dry spells in between.
I know this. I know it's normal. I also know that good MTT players make a lot more money over the course of a year than good SNG players (the exceptions are some SNG players that can play 12, 24 or more simultaneous tables).. Even so, when it's not going well, it's easy to loose confidence in your plan, and your playing.
I had a discussion on the twoplustwo.com poker forums with someone, a former SNG specialist who had made the switch, and he has gone through exactly the same things. It's nice to know that in fact nothing is wrong, and that what I'm going through is completely normal.
Here are parts of that discussion:
Poker Clif
Posts: 2,430
Profitability of deepstacked tournaments
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hi. I am a former SNG specialist (14% ROI at $10) who is converting to MTTs as my specialty. I was very tight, even for a SNG/DON player, so I'm back in the micros while I get comfortable playing a lot more hands.
[Some questions about specific tournament types]All comments are appreciated.
Sinking Ship
Posts: 844 Re: profitability of deepstack tournaments
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A while back I made a similar transition from mid-stake turbo SNGs to mid/high-stake MTTs. I've calculated that my hourly would be less than 1/5 of what it was when I grinded SNG's IF I omitted 2 big scores, which ultimately boosted my hourly above what it was previously.
Basically, the variance can be a gift and a curse. I also have not put in nearly as much volume in MTTs (even when measured in time spent playing), so my results are relatively unreliable.
Additionally, SNGs (especially turbos) where very much a mechanical undertaking for me. I find MTTs, deepstacked or turbos or not, to be more enjoyable and to have more subtleties, and to thus be more challenging (not having a fixed amount of chips at the table [as in a SNG] is one of the fundamental changes).
As far as your returns go, only you can predict with any accuracy. I'd say to just start playing and, if after a sufficiently large sample, you find your hourly is significantly less, then it is what it is. Just remember that 1 or 2 big scores (and by big score I don't mean taking down the 1Mil Garauntee, I mean placing top 3 in a few of your own stake MTTs) can drastically change your ROI and hourly.
Poker Clif
Posts: 2,430
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thanks for your response. Yeah, I'm definitely waiting for that big score. I'm getting in the top 5% of large fields (over 2,000 players) more than 10% of the time--which usually means playing for 4 hours and winnning 2 or 3 buy-ins. I'm not playing enough tables right now that my sample size is going to mean anything for quite a while, so I understand exactly what you mean about the big scores.
I remember a post by Pzhon, where he recounted a day where he played 19 MTTs and didn't cash. He cashed in his 20th and final tournament--which gave him a profit of almost exactly zero for the day.
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
12/1/2010--Results for week of 11/21/--11/27
POKER PROFIT AND LOSS
Beginning bankroll, 11/21 $66.32
Ending bankroll, 11/27 $54.57
---------
-$11.75
I lost some money this week, but those things happen. I lost a lot of tournaments with the best hands, but I played well, and I'm learning a lot. The money isn't even my biggest concern right now.
POKER HOURS
Administrative 2.00
Study 7.50
Playing 22.75
---------------
Total hours 32.25
I've been thinking a lot about what I can change next year. I have found a lot of things I can do better, primarily organizing my records and my time, and I want to implement that next year. But the more I think about it, especially managing my time, the more frustrated I get. I can't get control of my hours and scheduling.
My hours have been getting better, but they are not consistent. The week before this I had 39.5. For the week being reported, I was down. As I type this it's Wednesday morning, and at the end of Tuesday I already have 21 hours for this week.
I can't decide whether consistency is important or not, but I'm coming to the conclusion that it's not. It will always be true to an extent that as someone who works at home and set his own hours, I will always be the one that has to adjust. I can't say that I can't adjust because "I have to work", because everyone knows better.
I had pretty much settled into the idea of going to church half the time. I want to go to church, but I want to be able to play at night, and eventually, to play the "Sunday Majors", the big online tournaments that start on Sunday afternoon. So going to church half the time seemed like a reasonable compromise. A lot of people have to work Sundays, and I've done it in many different jobs. So, I told my wife that this was the plan.
The way that I plan to work that out will mean that two weeks a month, the weeks that I was going to church, I would be on my morning schedule, I would get up early for two weeks,and I would be locked into that schedule. I would get up for church on Sunday morning. And I would get up early the rest of the week.
For now, there are some early tournaments that I would like to target, so I will be mostly on the early schedule. But as soon as I have the bankroll to move up to $2 and $3 tournaments, there are a lot more good tournament options throughout the day, and I will want to be playing more at night, at least part of the time.
So, my idea is that for two weeks I would be on the late schedule. I would not go to church, and I would take advantage of being able to play all night, especially on Saturday, when more people are playing and the online games are better. And once I start playing live again (which only happens on afternoons and evenings) I will be avalible for live tournaments those two weeks as well.
But now that's changed. We will be taking our grandchildren to church with us starting in January, and surprise!--I have to adjust again. Evidently I have to be there every time the girls are (and be on the early schedule), and I did NOT know that that was part of the plan. I can be on my late schedule only the one week a month when my wife works weekends,when the girls will not be going to church with us.
That's a problem. If I'm only on the late schedule for one week (which would mean getting up sometime around noon), since it takes a few day to adjust, that's not very practical. And since the best-attended live tournaments start on Saturday night can go past midnight, playing those will be a problem as well. I do not want to "wing it" here. I want a plan in place for the way I am going to do things in 2011.
Somehow I have to come up with a plan, and make it stick that, short of a genuine emergency, it's not changing. I like to have some flexibility--that's a major benefit of being your own boss. But it's becoming clear that if I'm too flexible, I'm going to get "rolled". I really need to come up with a solution to this.
So I'll be starting off the new year with no idea how I'm going to work my schedule out. And for someone with ADD, who cam struggle with both dilligence and with keeping things straight, that is definitely not good. When I don't have a plan, things don't go well. When I "wing it", very bad things happen. I absolutely have to have a plan and some structure.
I had even decided to get a different kind of calendar for 2011 (again, this has been discussed) the kind that has a line for all 24 hours of the day. Then I could really plan out blocks of time, know exactly when I was playing/studying/recordkeeping, and I could tell people that short of a genuine emergency, I was not available at those times.
I keep remembering the 2+2 admonitions to new players, where they are told over and over that poker is a nights-and-weekends business, and that your family must to be able to deal with that or it won't work. I've told people that!.
The closer it gets to January 1st, when I want to have a lot of things in place and better organized, the more frustrated I get about my losing control of my time and my plans.
Beginning bankroll, 11/21 $66.32
Ending bankroll, 11/27 $54.57
---------
-$11.75
I lost some money this week, but those things happen. I lost a lot of tournaments with the best hands, but I played well, and I'm learning a lot. The money isn't even my biggest concern right now.
POKER HOURS
Administrative 2.00
Study 7.50
Playing 22.75
---------------
Total hours 32.25
I've been thinking a lot about what I can change next year. I have found a lot of things I can do better, primarily organizing my records and my time, and I want to implement that next year. But the more I think about it, especially managing my time, the more frustrated I get. I can't get control of my hours and scheduling.
My hours have been getting better, but they are not consistent. The week before this I had 39.5. For the week being reported, I was down. As I type this it's Wednesday morning, and at the end of Tuesday I already have 21 hours for this week.
I can't decide whether consistency is important or not, but I'm coming to the conclusion that it's not. It will always be true to an extent that as someone who works at home and set his own hours, I will always be the one that has to adjust. I can't say that I can't adjust because "I have to work", because everyone knows better.
I had pretty much settled into the idea of going to church half the time. I want to go to church, but I want to be able to play at night, and eventually, to play the "Sunday Majors", the big online tournaments that start on Sunday afternoon. So going to church half the time seemed like a reasonable compromise. A lot of people have to work Sundays, and I've done it in many different jobs. So, I told my wife that this was the plan.
The way that I plan to work that out will mean that two weeks a month, the weeks that I was going to church, I would be on my morning schedule, I would get up early for two weeks,and I would be locked into that schedule. I would get up for church on Sunday morning. And I would get up early the rest of the week.
For now, there are some early tournaments that I would like to target, so I will be mostly on the early schedule. But as soon as I have the bankroll to move up to $2 and $3 tournaments, there are a lot more good tournament options throughout the day, and I will want to be playing more at night, at least part of the time.
So, my idea is that for two weeks I would be on the late schedule. I would not go to church, and I would take advantage of being able to play all night, especially on Saturday, when more people are playing and the online games are better. And once I start playing live again (which only happens on afternoons and evenings) I will be avalible for live tournaments those two weeks as well.
But now that's changed. We will be taking our grandchildren to church with us starting in January, and surprise!--I have to adjust again. Evidently I have to be there every time the girls are (and be on the early schedule), and I did NOT know that that was part of the plan. I can be on my late schedule only the one week a month when my wife works weekends,when the girls will not be going to church with us.
That's a problem. If I'm only on the late schedule for one week (which would mean getting up sometime around noon), since it takes a few day to adjust, that's not very practical. And since the best-attended live tournaments start on Saturday night can go past midnight, playing those will be a problem as well. I do not want to "wing it" here. I want a plan in place for the way I am going to do things in 2011.
Somehow I have to come up with a plan, and make it stick that, short of a genuine emergency, it's not changing. I like to have some flexibility--that's a major benefit of being your own boss. But it's becoming clear that if I'm too flexible, I'm going to get "rolled". I really need to come up with a solution to this.
So I'll be starting off the new year with no idea how I'm going to work my schedule out. And for someone with ADD, who cam struggle with both dilligence and with keeping things straight, that is definitely not good. When I don't have a plan, things don't go well. When I "wing it", very bad things happen. I absolutely have to have a plan and some structure.
I had even decided to get a different kind of calendar for 2011 (again, this has been discussed) the kind that has a line for all 24 hours of the day. Then I could really plan out blocks of time, know exactly when I was playing/studying/recordkeeping, and I could tell people that short of a genuine emergency, I was not available at those times.
I keep remembering the 2+2 admonitions to new players, where they are told over and over that poker is a nights-and-weekends business, and that your family must to be able to deal with that or it won't work. I've told people that!.
The closer it gets to January 1st, when I want to have a lot of things in place and better organized, the more frustrated I get about my losing control of my time and my plans.
Friday, November 19, 2010
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:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
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
-----------------------------
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)
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:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
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
-----------------------------
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)
Sunday, October 31, 2010
10/31-2010--Results for week of 10/24-10/30
POKER HOURS
Administrative 1.50
Study 2.75
Play 28.00
----------
TOTAL HOURS 37.25
I goofed off last week, and I'm not happy about it. We had some storms and the internet wasn't very reliable for a couple days. I played one tournament where, according to Holdem Manager, I played for 1.2 minutes before I lost the internet.
So, I got disgusted, decided not to waste any more money, and didn't play for 2 days. That was probably a good decision, but instead of studying or working on something poker related, I didn't do much of anything those two days. If I had used that time more wisely, I would have easily put in more than 40 hours. I can't let that happen again.
PROFIT AND LOSS
Starting bankroll, 10/24 $58.43
Ending bankroll, 10/30 $71.56
-------------------
+$13.13
It's nice to see my bankroll going up toward one of my two magic numbers, $114, which will allow me to play $2.20 MTTs. I've been looking at the lineup quite a bit. There are a lot of tournaments with a good, or at least reasonable stucture, enough so that, combined with the $1.10 MTTS, there will be one available with a good structure every 2 hours or so.
Not only will this give me more options, but I won't have to be on an early daytime schedule. As a natural night person who hopes to play live tournaments (which happen mostly at night) soon, getting up around noon makes a lot more sense.
There still is the problem of getting up for church in the morning, especially since, as I mentioned in an earlier post, the tournaments with the weakest fields run on Saturday night. (Many players have checked their databases and reported that Saturday, especially late at night, is their most profitable time to play.)
I'm going to schedule my time to go to church twice a month. I'm not sure yet if I'll change my schedule for those times, or whether I'll just play all night and go to church tired. I'll probably have to experiment with that for a while and see what works best.
Administrative 1.50
Study 2.75
Play 28.00
----------
TOTAL HOURS 37.25
I goofed off last week, and I'm not happy about it. We had some storms and the internet wasn't very reliable for a couple days. I played one tournament where, according to Holdem Manager, I played for 1.2 minutes before I lost the internet.
So, I got disgusted, decided not to waste any more money, and didn't play for 2 days. That was probably a good decision, but instead of studying or working on something poker related, I didn't do much of anything those two days. If I had used that time more wisely, I would have easily put in more than 40 hours. I can't let that happen again.
PROFIT AND LOSS
Starting bankroll, 10/24 $58.43
Ending bankroll, 10/30 $71.56
-------------------
+$13.13
It's nice to see my bankroll going up toward one of my two magic numbers, $114, which will allow me to play $2.20 MTTs. I've been looking at the lineup quite a bit. There are a lot of tournaments with a good, or at least reasonable stucture, enough so that, combined with the $1.10 MTTS, there will be one available with a good structure every 2 hours or so.
Not only will this give me more options, but I won't have to be on an early daytime schedule. As a natural night person who hopes to play live tournaments (which happen mostly at night) soon, getting up around noon makes a lot more sense.
There still is the problem of getting up for church in the morning, especially since, as I mentioned in an earlier post, the tournaments with the weakest fields run on Saturday night. (Many players have checked their databases and reported that Saturday, especially late at night, is their most profitable time to play.)
I'm going to schedule my time to go to church twice a month. I'm not sure yet if I'll change my schedule for those times, or whether I'll just play all night and go to church tired. I'll probably have to experiment with that for a while and see what works best.
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