November's Results

Ok I'm going to be brutally honest here, I have not been looking forward to making this post but whatever this month is now over for me and it is what it is, I can't do anything about it.

I am going to split the Poker Tracker Stats into 2 different sets - an overall post and also stats since we had our 1st group session with Verneer as since this session I have finally started playing at 18/16 and for the most part have not had any real problem in keeping at these levels. Why it took so long I don't know but at least there is a positive to come from this month: -

Graph For Month



Not really too much too say here. The month had a bad start which I recovered from and then had an absolute nightmare before recovering a bit at the end. The main cause of the down swings is my Post Flop Play, it is a major leak in my game at the moment and is going to need a lot of work over the next few weeks to get it do the Standard Required to play solid ABC Winning Poker.

Poker Tracker Stats For The Month



As this shows for the month I have been playing 15.86/14.44 which is still a bit low overall although as I will show shortly, I have been playing at 18/16 lately which is where I think I can sustain it before moving up to aroung 20/18 which is ultimately where I want to be at the lower limits.

The thing that jumps out at me here is the Flop Aggression Factor it looks way out of line and will probably explain why I'm having problems post flop although I'm not too sure what the optimum level is.

Position Stats For November



For the month these show that I am positionally aware in that I am playing less hands as I move further away from the button. The Cut Off is definitely too low and maybe Middle Position is slightly lower than it should be.

Poker Tracker Stats Since Session With Verneer





Since that 1st session which I got so much out of, I have been playing at 18.03/16.59 which I want to sustain and consolidate for a couple of months whilst working on other area's of my game. Again, I need to increase my VPIP from the Cut Off and MP at the same time I may need to reduce the hands I'm playing from the SB.

Action Plan For December

I've specifically not set any goals for December because I want to focus in the main on working on my game especially Post Flop as too me this is where I am losing most of my money. The area's I want to work on include: -

• Considering Table Image so that this becomes Second Nature
• Post Flop Play in general needs a total overhaul in particular the following: -

1. Stop getting attached to strong pre flop hands post flop
   
2. Reign in my c-betting a bit. I think I am probably c-betting too much
3. Sort out my play on the turn as more often than not I am not too sure what to do here.
4. Take my time when face with a big decision. I act very quickly and need to slow down
   

Over the course of the next few days, I am going to watch as many Card Runner's Videos as I possibly can at 100NL and below in particular paying attention to Post Flop Play. If any one has any other suggestions as to where I can look to improve my Post Flop Play, let me know it will be very much appreciated.

This may sound a bit stupid, but I am going to treat November as a necessary Step backwards to move forward over the long term.

Starting to Get Annoyed

Just played for an hour or so and am starting to get seriously annoyed by my inability to win a hand. Lost 3 big hands which I've posted below. Other than these hands my biggest loss was $3 which was a c-bet called. There's no comments necessary I just need to vent my anger somewhere. 2 Outer's on the River, Sets running into flushes and Aces being cracked which I think is the only one of these I may have got away from but unlikely. Whats really annoying is that I'm not playing that badly but just am not getting anywhere and this month is a total disaster.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1746924

The other player has got similar stats to me and looking back I could possibly have put him on AK but it was looking more likely to me that he had KK/QQ. I've just run this through Poker Stove and when the money went in I'm an 82.323% favourite which is good enough odds for me. After the turn, this had turned to 90.91%.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1746947

I think I could maybe have read him for a set here especially as the board was totally unthreatening but maybe I'm clutching at straws. He's playing 26.47/10.86

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1746964

I kind of knew he had the flush on the turn here and this is possibly where I could have layed this down but for me this is a tough spot as I'm never too sure what to do in these situations. I hadn't been at the table for long at this point and had no reads.

Sorry for all the negative posting lately hopefully things turn around soon. I've got three days to gain a bonus after that I'm taking a break for a few days.

A few Hands and General Ramblings

So much for the regular updates. Was going to post about the embarrassment of an England Football Team but if those Over paid and over hyped prima donnas aren't prepared to put any effort in I don't see why I should waste my time posting about them.

I've not really played that much this week until yesterday which wasn't the greatest success in the world but things haven't been going too bad of late so can't complain too much.

Any way yesterday I played 1000 hands and lost 3 buy ins. For some reason I had trouble with players I normally have no problem with whether I am easy to read I'm not sure but it might be the case. I've been playing on the Crypto Network for some time now and there are alot of regulars on there. Think I might try a new site next month if I can find somewhere which will give me rakeback I will come back to Crypto because the bonuses and Rakeback are good but I need to take a break from there. I wanted to play alot more hands because I had the day off but in the end decided enough was enough. Any way here's some hands that did the damage some of which need no comment and are posted as a note to myself: -

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1733644

This was probably a bad read by me. I had just took a pot from him on another table when he pushed with an Underpair to the board on the flop. In this hand, I never even considered he might be playing a suited connector from utg and raising with it I had him on an overpair to the board. Obviously that will now come into my thinking with this player. His stats are 18.83/9.62 over 239 hands. That being said, flopped set against flopped straight not sure there's any getting away from this especially with my misread.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1733654

This hand and the next one are kind of similar in that the same player flopped a set against my premium hand and I was obviously in a charitable mood and decided to pay him off. I have to learn to fold AA/KK post flop otherwise I will never progress my game to the next level. On this hand I don't think I 3-bet enough on the flop not that he was going anywhere but with the nut flush draw coming on the turn I think the money was going in at some point. Is there any way I can get away from this. His stats are 21.33/11.9

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1733666

With this hand, I should have bet more on the flop but I think I should have learnt from the previous hand with this player and obviously didn't.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1733671

This hand was on an I-Poker skin and I basically decided to become a calling station for some reason. This should have been an easy fold by the turn and certainly on the river because I am not beating a great deal if anything and I knew that at the time but still decided to carry on calling. His stats are 35.94/10.94

On the hole I played badly yesterday and thought I'd stopped doing some of the things I was doing in the last three hands I have posted but slipped back into old habits.

I'm going to have a go at making a video over the weekend which should be enlightening.

Changing My Game

This week, the Group I'm involved in had a Session with Verneer and Hookem148 which was a really good session and from my point of view invaluable and has given me an insight into the level of thinking that is required to be a successful winning player and where I want my game to be. In particular, there was a discussion at the end of the session on 3-betting which I kind of lost half way through.

The session also identified certain situation's where I was missing out on because I was folding but he was exploiting and I have finally been able to open my game up since then by not doing much different but at the moment I am getting more respect at the tables and I think the penny has dropped on this one, about time!

When I post my results at the end of the month, I'm going to do a comparison of my play from before the session with Verneer and Brian and afterwards and I'm hoping I see a fundamental difference.

Most of what I got out of the session was related to Table Image and how fundamentally important it is here are some of the key points I picked up: -

Table Image

• Be aware of Table Image at all times. This was something I knew about but hadn't really brought into my game at all as I felt it wasn't relevant at the levels I'm playing at. However, this is a mistake and it is something I am now conciously thinking about and hopefully before long it will become second nature.
• The importance of Changing Gears and doing the opposite of how you were playing at the start of the session i.e. if playing loose initially tighten up and playing tight loosen up. This is probably going to take a bit of time to bring into my game as I don't feel its a very easy thing to do.
• Someone's 1st impression of you as a player tends to be what they remember and you can take advantage of this.

General Points Made

• Playing re raised pots is a big weakness
• Punish limper's in position
• The Use of Blocker Bets
• Playing for Stack's alot of the time with sometimes marginnal hands against Shortstacks.
• Hands like QJ/ Weak Ax are trouble hands
• AJS doesn't play well post flop
• A & K high flops are good flops to c-bet with as people can't call unless they have the Ace/King. I thought this was the reverse so will see how this goes. Obviously if meet with resistance shut down
• Playing Re Raised Pots is a big weakness unless you have a good hand

There may be other things I missed but these were the main area's for me that I got out of the session and my interpretation of his comments. I hope that we can do some more of these as a group.

Aside from this, myself and Willie also got in a sweat session this week and its something I think we're going to try and do on a regular basis. Neither of us really got into any difficult situations but over time we should be able to help each other as we have totally different playing styles.

Finally I have got out of the habit of blogging and my updates have become more and more infrequent so from now on I am going to try and post an update 3 times a week.

Knowing When to Take A Break

It seems to be a week for blog posts about the Psychological aspects of the game or in the blogs I've read anyway and I'm going to continue that theme.

Last weekend, I was really struggling and starting to force things a bit, making some really bad decisions and basically playing like an idiot i.e. starting to do something I don't do very often and tilt.

As a result of this, I took a break for a few days and its done me a world of good and I'm a totally different player from the one that I was earlier in the week and I feel that over the past couple of days I've played some of the best poker I've played in a while.

This leads me onto the point I'm trying to make. In the past when I go through spells like this - too frequently for my liking, I've tried to play through them hoping things would turn round.

I now realise that this is a big mistake and not playing in these circumstances is a better option.

I also play most days of the week and I'm going to make sure from now on that on one day of the week at least I do not play at all to give my self an enforced break.

I've not really though too much about the psychological aspect of poker in the past but its something I'm going to really look into and consider from now on.

Hopefully I'll have some hands to put up in my next post as I'm not at work until Wednesday.

Can I Start November Again?

So far this month has been pretty horrendous. I've contrived to lose 4 buy ins so far. This is obviously mostly through bad play on my part because I guess I could have got away from some of the hands I lost money with but some of them I don't think I could have done much about.

At least I've got time to recover from this but I was hoping for another solid month and then to move back up to 50NL. This is going to set back those plans because its going to be tough to get back at 25NL.

Anyway here's a couple of hands, which I've also posted on the CR forum: -

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1661981

The other player in this hand is playing at 50.30/23.08 and I made a bad read here as I thought he was drawing to the flush. I think I should have pushed on the turn. Also, what does the Min bet on the flop mean is he trying to enduce a bet from me?

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1661998

Is this a bad call on the flop. Should I have let this go and waited for a better spot. This goes back to problems I keep having with over valuing top pair The other player is playing at 37.5/5.77.

The other hands where I lost significant amounts are hands where I don't think I could have done much about them so there's not much point in posting them.