So there are two main aspects of poker, the thoughts you put into a hand, and how well you range your opponents hands.
There is no question you can be a successful uNL'er without good skills in either, but just knowing fundamentals and using your basic deduction skills.
As I have progressed in poker, I have discovered what I think are four levels to real time thinking.
1.) I has xx, I know its a _____ strength hand.
2.) I has xx, the board is xxx, I know the relative strength of my hand to the board.
3.) I has xx, my opponent has done ___, on this board he can have this range of hands and my hand has ___ value agaisnt that range.
4.) My opponent's range is ____, on this board he can have x combos of ___, if i take ___ action my EV is ___.
I don't know if everyone else has trouble with this, but I certainly do. I often hear people refer to their A,B,C games etc, from what I have discovered, the way I am thinking is directly related to the way I would label my play.
I am not quite sure why [perhaps muscle memory of the brain], but I have had a lot of struggle getting into the correct thinking mindset, and sometimes still regress. Now, I have been playing poker for ages, and have really just discovered what I feel is the correct way to think in the last few months. It still disgusts me that it is so challenging to think correctly, and I feel like it is actually quite a hurdle to players. [as it is to myself]
I would like to know, how do you all think in real time ? Why do you think that way ? and how do you want to think ?
AG
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Introductions and Intetions
Given that it's the year 2009, I'm sure anyone reading this blog has read a dozen others - many of which will almost certainly be much more interesting and informative than mine. I think the purpose of blogging is as much personal as it is a way to share information and creative ideas with others. I hope to look back on this first post and each consequent post with sense that I'm going somewhere and as my blog progresses that I do too.
About Me
My name is Josh, I am 21 years old and about to finish my second to last semester at college. I attend NYU and live in Manhattan (the Gramercy Area). I study Math primarily, with a minor in Business Studies. Up until the last 5 months, I thought (and still may) I would graduate and work for a large-well known company as an actuary (see end for definition of actuary). While interning for one such company this past summer, I began playing poker online in earnest.
(Actuary: The actuarial profession is basically a field of study that uses different kind of applied mathematics in order to quantify and price financial risk. For instance, as an actuarial student one studies probability, financial mathematics, life contingencies, etc... The purpose of this discipline would be for instance to set rates on a health insurance policy. In fact, if you are insured in any way (auto insurance, anyone?) the price you pay on your plan is in part paid to an actuary for their services.)
During August, I borrowed 10$ from a friend (aka Scotty too Hotttttie) on Pokerstars. I did some brief research, found the 2+2 forums, where I was introduced to Pokertracker/Hold'em Manager. I started playing 2 tables of 2NL... until my bankroll could support more tables. By the end of July I was 24-tabling 2NL and by the end of August I 24-tabled 10NL. (Basic Bankroll Management meaning I needed 30 buy-ins of 100 big blinds to move up a limit.) Here is my lifetime graph from July and August. As you can see there are some bumps and ebbs, but pretty much no troubles.
Would I prefer to sit in an office from 9-5 with a guaranteed wage, or play a game I love in order to support myself? So I returned to school in the Fall with the goal of improving my poker game to the point were I could make an economic choice to play for a living rather than to work, at least for the time being.
To date, September (my first month back at school) was my best month of poker and the sky was the limit. I started September "shot-taking" 25NL, which means I still considered myself a 10NL player. By the end of September, I was shot-taking 50NL and considered myself a graduate of 25NL. I'm not sure what has changed since then... some people might call it "drift" but my game has changed significantly perhaps, for the worse since then.
Here is my graph from September 2009.
As you can see my NSD is slightly negative, but I'm playing pretty solid TAG poker. For those more familiar with "poker numbers" I was playing about 13/10, 12/9 through this period with about 3-4% 3-bet. My winnings were very very good. I was a soild 4ptbb winner over my life-time at 25NL (while 24-tabling).
Since then, my game has gotten significantly looser and not in a good way. I've been playing between 17/14, 15/12 but I haven't turned up the aggression enough (I think!). As a result I'm losing a lot of money NSD... (the bad redline). Here is graph since the end of September. Essentially over this period I'm about a 1.5-2ptbb/100 winner at 50NL playing anywhere between 16 and 24 tables at time.
The looser that one plays the more variance there is. I think overall an optimal winrate would be achieved playing about 17/14, but one cannot shirk their nature - I need to get back to where I was before - tighter is better for me. Why change something that's working well?
Typically I'd like to set up a system where I set goals at the beginning of every month and see how I do at the end. Here are the goals for now until the end of December.
1) Focus on school, not poker!
My grades this semester have not been bad (split A's and B's). However, my formal education will be over soon and even though I do not care about grades per say, they do stick and it would be nice to have some solid scholastic credentials to my name. I also have the second actuarial exam coming up, I have not been putting close to enough time into studying so I'd like to at least put up a good fight as November comes to a close. My test is December 4th.
2) Poker goals
Tighten my game back up to 14/11 at the loosest, 12/10 at the tightest. I need to stop opening marginal hands UTG/EP especially some small pairs and implied odds hands. I think play at 50NL isn't to the point where I need to worry about my image too much. I think playing with an imbalanced range isn't too big of a leak here. Numerically, I'd like to see myself beating 50NL for 3-4ptbb/100 over 100k hands in the next 40 days.
I hope this first post was some-what entertaining. Thanks for reading!
About Me
My name is Josh, I am 21 years old and about to finish my second to last semester at college. I attend NYU and live in Manhattan (the Gramercy Area). I study Math primarily, with a minor in Business Studies. Up until the last 5 months, I thought (and still may) I would graduate and work for a large-well known company as an actuary (see end for definition of actuary). While interning for one such company this past summer, I began playing poker online in earnest.
(Actuary: The actuarial profession is basically a field of study that uses different kind of applied mathematics in order to quantify and price financial risk. For instance, as an actuarial student one studies probability, financial mathematics, life contingencies, etc... The purpose of this discipline would be for instance to set rates on a health insurance policy. In fact, if you are insured in any way (auto insurance, anyone?) the price you pay on your plan is in part paid to an actuary for their services.)
During August, I borrowed 10$ from a friend (aka Scotty too Hotttttie) on Pokerstars. I did some brief research, found the 2+2 forums, where I was introduced to Pokertracker/Hold'em Manager. I started playing 2 tables of 2NL... until my bankroll could support more tables. By the end of July I was 24-tabling 2NL and by the end of August I 24-tabled 10NL. (Basic Bankroll Management meaning I needed 30 buy-ins of 100 big blinds to move up a limit.) Here is my lifetime graph from July and August. As you can see there are some bumps and ebbs, but pretty much no troubles.
Would I prefer to sit in an office from 9-5 with a guaranteed wage, or play a game I love in order to support myself? So I returned to school in the Fall with the goal of improving my poker game to the point were I could make an economic choice to play for a living rather than to work, at least for the time being.
To date, September (my first month back at school) was my best month of poker and the sky was the limit. I started September "shot-taking" 25NL, which means I still considered myself a 10NL player. By the end of September, I was shot-taking 50NL and considered myself a graduate of 25NL. I'm not sure what has changed since then... some people might call it "drift" but my game has changed significantly perhaps, for the worse since then.
Here is my graph from September 2009.
As you can see my NSD is slightly negative, but I'm playing pretty solid TAG poker. For those more familiar with "poker numbers" I was playing about 13/10, 12/9 through this period with about 3-4% 3-bet. My winnings were very very good. I was a soild 4ptbb winner over my life-time at 25NL (while 24-tabling).
Since then, my game has gotten significantly looser and not in a good way. I've been playing between 17/14, 15/12 but I haven't turned up the aggression enough (I think!). As a result I'm losing a lot of money NSD... (the bad redline). Here is graph since the end of September. Essentially over this period I'm about a 1.5-2ptbb/100 winner at 50NL playing anywhere between 16 and 24 tables at time.
The looser that one plays the more variance there is. I think overall an optimal winrate would be achieved playing about 17/14, but one cannot shirk their nature - I need to get back to where I was before - tighter is better for me. Why change something that's working well?
Typically I'd like to set up a system where I set goals at the beginning of every month and see how I do at the end. Here are the goals for now until the end of December.
1) Focus on school, not poker!
My grades this semester have not been bad (split A's and B's). However, my formal education will be over soon and even though I do not care about grades per say, they do stick and it would be nice to have some solid scholastic credentials to my name. I also have the second actuarial exam coming up, I have not been putting close to enough time into studying so I'd like to at least put up a good fight as November comes to a close. My test is December 4th.
2) Poker goals
Tighten my game back up to 14/11 at the loosest, 12/10 at the tightest. I need to stop opening marginal hands UTG/EP especially some small pairs and implied odds hands. I think play at 50NL isn't to the point where I need to worry about my image too much. I think playing with an imbalanced range isn't too big of a leak here. Numerically, I'd like to see myself beating 50NL for 3-4ptbb/100 over 100k hands in the next 40 days.
I hope this first post was some-what entertaining. Thanks for reading!
Plans for the rest of 2009
First off, I'd like to apologize right now. I'm not nearly as good of a writer as Andrew is. Now that we got that out of the way, I wanted to mention a little bit about myself and my goals for the rest of 2009.
I predominantly play 50nl FR on Pokerstars under the s/n "crzytimes". Sometimes you will see me at 25nl FR, 25nl/50nl 6max, 25plo or 2nl/2plo flipping away stacks. Here is a list of my goals for the rest of the year.
I look forward to updating weekly on my status towards my goals. Here's a screenshot of my "countdown to 'Nova" vpp tally on 'stars.
Good luck on the tables and stay off my blinds,
James Horein
I predominantly play 50nl FR on Pokerstars under the s/n "crzytimes". Sometimes you will see me at 25nl FR, 25nl/50nl 6max, 25plo or 2nl/2plo flipping away stacks. Here is a list of my goals for the rest of the year.
- Reach Supernova status on Pokerstars
- Reach a 3k bankroll for shotakements at 100nl FR Jan 1st
- Study more 6max poker after achieving Supernova status
- Study more PLO
- Continue to do sweat sessions and provide guidance to nanostakes players
I look forward to updating weekly on my status towards my goals. Here's a screenshot of my "countdown to 'Nova" vpp tally on 'stars.
Good luck on the tables and stay off my blinds,
James Horein
Moving into 100nl, getting a blog.
As I have recently discovered, poker is an enigma. There are days where we swear we are destined for stardom, and then hours later feeling like all the air in the world wouldn't be enough to get us feeling fresh again.
My mission in starting this blog is to get whatever one is feeling out at that certain time. Poker is a game of information and knowledge, yet it is a game that rides the emotional coaster better than anything else. You may have a nugget of knowledge one day, and forget it in the excitement the next. Hopefully this blog will serve as a method of getting out what you want to say, be it an interesting theory, getting your thoughts on a hand out, or just posting about your recent downswing.
Mostly I will be trying to chronicle my rise [or fall] through the ranks, and getting as many thoughts on paper as I can after a session.
Hopefully we get some authors on this blog, if you are browsing and would like to join, just shoot me an email.
May you all run good,
Andrew Gambino
My mission in starting this blog is to get whatever one is feeling out at that certain time. Poker is a game of information and knowledge, yet it is a game that rides the emotional coaster better than anything else. You may have a nugget of knowledge one day, and forget it in the excitement the next. Hopefully this blog will serve as a method of getting out what you want to say, be it an interesting theory, getting your thoughts on a hand out, or just posting about your recent downswing.
Mostly I will be trying to chronicle my rise [or fall] through the ranks, and getting as many thoughts on paper as I can after a session.
Hopefully we get some authors on this blog, if you are browsing and would like to join, just shoot me an email.
May you all run good,
Andrew Gambino
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