Back in the game!

Hi All!,
It's been a busy week this week and I've not been able to put some time in for the poker but this weekend I will be online at VCpoker (redshades86) playing SnGs for $10 stakes. So come along and have a go! I've just started reading 'The Science of Poker' (http://www.amazon.com/Science-Poker-Mahmood-N/dp/1843440148)

It's good as a reference I think showing you the probability of hitting cards etc! Just a recommendation and another weapon in the armoury.

On another note I think pokertracker is cursed as I have not played well since using it!

Adios, Shades

Multi-tournament (MTT) play

'Tight is right'. Why is it that I spend 3-4 hours playing in one tournament, building up considerable chips and then decide to blow a load of chips playing something like J-8? Ridiculous! Ah well, we live and learn. I'll put it down to going for a massive chip lead!

Lost it?

I didnt' place in 3 tournaments in a row last night on vcpoker, playing $10 SnGs. This is unprecedented. When I looked at my play though I was playing too loose and got stung. Also some really bad beats. You know what they say, "if you're getting bad beats, you're playing well" (still hurts though). On the +ve side, the HUD on poker tracker is sensational, I think it gives you a 5% edge on everyone not using it. Ill put an overview of it's features on here shortly!

Adios, (stay positive Red, stay positive, that's what I keep telling myself)

Poker Tracker - Hud Explanation

Right, here's a brief explanation of the poker tracker HUD. Once you've configured it to auto-import your hand histories and your opponents a HUD appears on the table showing you stats for each player, these include:

Player Name,Player Icon,Total Hands,Voluntarily Put $ in the Pot,
Pre-flop Raise,Total Aggression Factor

I won't go into detail of what each one is right now but in essence it tells you how tight or lose a player is and how aggressive they are when they bet etc. This really does give you an advantage e.g. If you've holding A-10 and the flop comes 10-9-K, you've bet and a re-raise from another player comes in. You can check that players stats on the HUD. If they're super tight then they prob have you beat. If they play loose then go ahead and call it! Don't get me wrong it should never take away playing with your instincts but I think it gives you a 5% - 10% edge on people who don't have it. It could save / win you a lot of money if you use it correctly!

More aggressive flop play - Success!

Well, you may remember my earlier post regarding changing my play to be more aggressive on the flop when Ive missed. Well it was extremely successful last night. I absolutely massacred a couple of Sit n Gos (SNGs) and never had to put myself all in once! This is definitely the way to go now I feel.

On the -ve side I decided to play some cash limit poker ($1 - $2) and was losing cash quickly. So annoying not being able to get people off draws when you are ahead! Ill be writing a blog item about this shortly! (frustration overload and I need to collect my thoughts).

The theory of poker by David Sklansky - 'The Sklansky Slide'

Every time I read this book I end up changing my poker strategy and go on a run of losing chips and getting knocked out of tournaments. I end up thinking, "mm, I've got 4,6s he's prob got 8-8. He's bet 17,000 chips (a big bet), but if I call that then I'm getting value as I could take his whole stack (170,000).Needless to say, I don't get the cards I need. I end up putting in too many calls and bets based on implied odds etc. I think I'm far better off playing super tight , aggressive before the flop and make the big hole cards pay.

Although, just to let you in to a little secret. I've identified that I'm not very strong playing after the flop so I'm going to make a conscious shift towards being more aggressive after the flop. I think this is a side of my game that's letting me down. I'm going to adopt a more 'devilfish' approach.

Anyway, let me know if you've experienced the 'Sklansky Slippery Slide' as I'm now calling it!

Adios,

Get as much information as you can!

One of the key aspects of improving at poker is making as much information available to yourself as possible. I'm not entirely sure what standard of poker player this blog is being picked up by yet so I apologise if you already know this but....
A weapon you need in your armoury is pokertracker. This is by no means an advertisement, I simply use it and find it a big weapon. It's such an eye opener to see which hole cards you generally lose money on or in which position you are giving away chips consistently. It's a quick install downloadable from the site. I use it with VC Poker which just requires a quick manual install (simply pointing pokertracker to the directory where the hand histories are stored). So if you don't have some sort of system like this then get one installed quickly and learn from your mistakes.

Ill be playing online at VC Poker again tonight if anyone fancies a game (redshades86)!