Well guys, this is it. I need help!
As you can obviously notice by the posts I've made over the last week, it has been extremely difficult. However, looking at those same posts, I came to ask myself some questions: "Is this it? Have I become to guy who only complains about bad beats? Who doesn't look back at himself to see if he made the right decisions the whole way? In short, even if I like the guy a lot, have I become Phil Hellmuth????"
"If it wasn't for luck, I'd win 'hem all" We all have heard that one before and even though we know it's part joke/part persona, if we get to this exact point as a poker player, thinking that all bad results are because of some awful luck streak, I always believed we needed to look at ourselves, without ego, and see if the decisions were right or wrong.
Well, i'm there now. So i've gone back to my mentor Dan Harrington, read volume 2 again, redid the exercises in volume 3 again and scored even higher than the last time. Is it because I know what I should do and end up not doing it? Is it something about online play that I'm not doing. I'm doing so much better live, there must be something about that.
So, in the end, I've got to take a long and hard look at my online play. And for this, I would reallyyyyyyy appreciate your input. So here are a few items/questions that I need to look at:
1)I usually make it to the last 20% of players in good shape. By that time, blinds and antes are very high and there is a lot of stealing going on. I tend to wait for pretty good hands to try and steal so I've got "some" security if I get called. So broadway aces and pp, something like 77 and up. Also, obviously, i tend to wait to be first in and not to have too many behind me. The problem I've seen many times lately is that if my M is below 12 or so, I tend to steal by shoving allin. The problem is obvious, if I get called and lose, I'm out...which happened quite a lot lately. So the issue is, if I make a move putting 50% of my stack in there, not really wanting to get called, and I get put allin, I have to call right? So if that's the case, might as well go allin right away which has a better chance of taking the b&a right then. Any thoughts?
2)I've noticed that the smaller the buyin, the bigger pots get played. You don't see many lowballers in small buyins. Which is kind of a problem with my game as I prefer to go lowball. Never mind my example but if you wanna use a certain kind of strategy and opponents continuously play differently, you should adapt right? But playing big pots all the time, to me anyways, is losing-poker. Thoughts on that?
3)This one is really tough. I know it's better to concentrate and therefore play one tourney and play your best. But I get so freakin bored having only one game going, that I always try to play a few at a time and I know that this takes away from my game. I tried music, movies, everything...just can't help it, only one game and I get bored! Live is not a problem even if it is actually slower...i can watch all my opponents even when im not in a hand...but online? Freakin clocks going yellow and jerks chatting about anything...I dont know. Thoughts?
4)Lets say I decide to concentrate on playing only the top prize pool tourneys like the 30rebuy and up(40k, 80k, 200k, etc). Do you think I should spend the time and energy on trying to win seats in those via satellites or just buyin directly and play only those? Dash already gave me his pt of view on this a few weeks back but any other help would be good.
5)I think I'm going overboard with setmining. If I get dealt 44 in 2nd position, I tend to try to limp when my M is lower than 15...but being this early position, when someone raises...i'll often fold, having lost another chunk of my decreasing stack. So i've noticed that I do that a lot, in early position with 22 all the way to 99...anything above that, I raise. In late position? Below 77s, I tend to try to limp or see a cheap flop, calling an eventual raise by one of the blinds. So thoughts on setmining? I know position is really important here but lets say 44s in 2nd position and 44s in the cut off. Give me thoughts on those 2 situations...
6)Finally, the most important question: Do I really suck? I mean, am I a loser and just don't want to admit it?
Be 100% honest here...at this point, I can take it.
Cause I gotta say, as happy as I am for the big ecrew winners this past week like FoxyCheryl, Metro and Houn....it just reflects my game back to me.
So for now, FrankyBgood is out of order....HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
3 comments:
Ok to start off..Your not hellmuth Nobody bitches that much
1) Are you trying to cash or win? that is the first question you need ask yourself. Waiting for a hand you think gives you security tells me your not going for the gusto and trying to take it down and your playing scared. I am guilty of this myself at times and not taking chances I should.
2)Lots of small pots wins tourneys..Over Big pots. You can lose a bunch of small pots but you can only lose one big one
3)One thing I will Always do when I am in a big game and need to concentrate is open a penny table. Boredom will kill you in a tourney and at least you can play a penny game that will kill the boredom without taking away from your Big tourney and avoid Bordom calls and ultimatly cost you ships because you have not had a hand in awhile and made a dumb play just because you think it was time you did something.
4)Sats are ALWAYS good. Why buy in when you can satelite. I for one wont even consider playing the 20k 40k or 200k without a satty seat. I am a firm believer in sattys
5)I was doing the same thing you are doing with set mining..Limping TOO MUCH limping!!! I have found that raising those hands is def better in the long run. Your pot is bigger for one if you do hit. And as long as your not calling a 3rd raise with 33 then you should raise it up. you still are representing a good opening hand and you CB will get more respect if your not limping all the time. One thing the great leggy taught me...If your not raising your folding!
6) of course you dont suck. This game is a work in progress. So many factors are present while playing. Table image..ability to fold big hands...playing position properly..being able to adjust your game at the drop of a hat. The hole in your game or just a plain bad run is always a possibilty. Paitence is Huge...learn it and adjust your faults and adjust to the ever changing game and you will be fine. And If I thought you sucked you wouldnt be playing with the best of UB!
Franky,
Don't despair. Susie got it all right in what she said to you (of course I wouldn't expect anything less).
The one thing I will add about setmining in early position is that you should mix it up. Don't always limp and don't always raise. Especially when playing familiar players.
The streaks in this game can be brutal, both live and online. You have to be able to take the bad streaks in stride and slow down your play until you feel your game coming back. I did that over the holidays when I kept running into bad beat after bad beat (live and online) - example: just before New Years I bubbled in back-to-back tournaments at Borgata losing with my AQ to QJ, and KK to 44. I was constantly losing when I was 85-95% favorite to win going to the river. Just a couple weeks later I'm one of the fortunate e-crewers that had a decent cash this past week during UBOC by making the FT in Saturday's UBOC 11 (100 rebuy) for 7,300.
Hang in there. You're a quality player.
Ok to start off...You're not ME! Nobody bitches as much as me.
1. I tend to have the same problem when I am playing in tourneys.
Sit tight, wait to get paid off by others mistakes and play TAG (most of the time anyways)
Reach last 20% of the field like yourself and then get busted by a moron who built a big stack or run into a monster.
One thing I am working on at the moment though is.... In the smaller buy in tourneys I will be a little more patient than I have been. I do'nt like to do so but I will let my "M" go a little bit lower than I have in the past as I have in the past started shoving my chips in way too early in order to try and double.
In the bigger buy-ins I am trying to adopt a different approach. This means making more resteals and squeezes against what I would consider better, more educated players who wont stack off with any old junk like the lowers.
I spent a lot of time mid 2008 watching the higher profile players in the bigger buy-ins and what I noticed was the amount of restealing that goes on late in a tourney.
It's an age old saying "IF YOU WAIT FOR CARDS? YOU WILL ONLY WIN THE TOURNEYS WHERE YOU PICK UP CARDS!"
2, I, myself like to play a bunch of small pots rather than shove a big chunk in, in any one hand but you have to accept that in the lower stakes,, you are gong to be frced repeatedly to play big pots because most players in the micros do'nt know the first thing about pot control etc and fall in love with their top pair etc.
I find that you do'nt have to give bad players the odds to make the call because they will make it anyway.
I think losing a little value in some hands is more than compensated for by one idiot that will call you every now and then.
And they will.(eg: morons on flush draws)
So IMHO, smallball in higher buy ins, overbet your good hands in smaller ones.
3, Susie is spot on in her answer to this question.
Afriend of mine wrote an article on this very subject recently and it's great advice.
Play a 1c/2c cash table or enter a freeroll to relieve the boredom.
Pay enough attention to the game s that you don't get bored but not enough so that it distracts you too much.
If you take a bad beat or feel like you're on tilt then do it in the freeroll or penny table.
(or,,,, you could log into MSN and listen to me talking bullshit for a while, I'm always around talking crap as Susie and a few others will tell you)
4, Deffo SAT into the bigger buy-ins.
Personally speaking I can't justify me paying those sort of buy-ins because it would just cost me too much money.
If I can make those tourneys then I will only play them if I've "SATTED" in or if I've had a particularly good week/month and deceide to "treat" myself to a decent game.
Take Cheryl for example.
She won her seat to the 40k on Saturday through a $15 sat.
SATTING in is deffo +EV.
5, SET MINING!!!
I have a problem here too.
However, in the early stages I will limp from early position with a small pair and will fold to any sort of reasonable action preflop.
If I'm mid to late position and there has been a few limps before me I will still limp with any PP upto JJ.
Reason being,,, why isolate?
If I "FLOP" a set in a multi way pot then my implied odds are greater than playing heads up V one player with a vulnerable hand.
Limping with hands such as this is considered weak I know but, there's always one player you will get post flop action from playing hands like these early in a tourney.
Obviously later in a tourney my line on how to play PP's will change but thats my opinion on how to play em early.
6, As far as you sucking????
I have'nt played with or against you a whole bunch but from what I have saw in the past you have got a lot of game.
I remember when we used to run into each other a lot in the sats and before I knew you I had you pegged as a guy I did'nt want to mess with too much.
Maybe part of the problem for yourself is the fact that you do play "good,solid, educated" poker and expect more.
I am pretty much the same as yourself here.
I expect "solid" poker to be enough to win tourneys, especially the smaller buy-ins, but it just doesn't happen that way.
I bitch a lot when I'm "running bad" but I accept the fact that I want idiots who can't lay down flush draws to stack off to me.
Keep grinding, keep playing solid,
keep striving to improve your game, keep being honest with yourself about how well/badly you have played.
Run your tourneys through a HH replayer and look for spots later in tourneys where you could have did things a little bit better.
Find out where you could maybe have been a little more aggro or a little less aggro.
It's a fine line between the two, and I haven't found it yet either but I will continue to search.
Hang in there Franky.
When you feel yourself getting frustrated by "lucky" players, remember, "The best players aren't the best players because they are luckier than anyone else"
I'm obviouslynot the best person in the crew to get advice from but,I feel that with a bunch of comments from the guys you will find your answers somewhere within.
Good luck until I see you again Frank. It's only a matter of time I'm sure.
Mooooooooo!!!!
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