Many of us have been playing poker online about the same time....following the Moneymaker win and the hoopla surrounding it, about 6 years, yet you ballers have found a way to take the game to a whole new level.
What makes the difference here between a winning player at the low and mid stakes to a crushing player at all stakes? What is it you have done to get to where you're at?
I'm sure that for some it was winning a big payout tourney but that doesn't make a player a true baller...consistency, endurance/stamina/staying power, adaptation etc downswings/upswings, doesn't matter, relentless desire to improve and succeed at the highest levels imo make a baller.
Change is apparent...I remember when I started you couldn't pay me to play turbos because I didn't understand why these would be +EV or yet what +EV even meant, now I'll play 25 at a time. I started playing just 1 or 2 tables yet now I'm playing on 4 lcd monitors and pushing for supernova status, early on I never thought of bankroll management or playing staked/staking others...Change just happens when you let it I guess.
Now there are so many tools that become 2nd nature and at one time seemed so hard to adapt to...ie Pokerstove, PokerTracker, TableNinja, HoldemManager, strategy forums, Using HUDs, video training sites etc.
Some step into high level cash games, big buy in tournies, live tournements etc. and simply crush the game and build a fat piggy bank. Sure lacking respect for money is a good trait when your not a degenerate gambler but someone who knows why they are playing the games they are playing, and why a pot is just a pot not a new car in the back of your mind.
So how much time and dedication does this really take, is it luck? Perhaps but luck is when preperation meets opportunity. For those grinders that think the day stops when they close their last table..you have it wrong, that's when the day really starts....
For example you want to be a doctor...great! So what do you do to get there and stay up your practice, medications, laws, etc. Sure you go to work everyday after years of study with no payout but now your done with that and you have your own practice and are making some good money to pay back those student loans, does this mean you made it? Well kind of but the real question is do you have staying power which takes relentless hours of study not for a degree but so you can be the best practicioner you can be, stay up on hippa compliance etc.
The ballers have this figured out imo, they study their game, discuss strategy with their peers, fixing leaks finding new edges to push for that slight edge that can bring them a win not just a final table finish. I mean you ever watch a baller towards the end of a tourney...usually the most active and often the most successful finishes...sure moving up in payouts for most of us is on our mind but then we are just sheep to those that push edges risking failure to make a bigger success of their time, and to be honest without the cards falling our way when we are up against a baller we really have no shot, the baller makes their own shots.
So what's the secret? What do you ballers do that the average winning player does not? How much time do ballers dedicate away from the tables working on their game? What have you found to be the best way to improve your game? Please discuss....I'm sick of being a sheepish player!
One Love
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Stop...Before you play your hand....think why am I doing this?
Seems simple....but it's a real question we should all be asking ourselves...
So many factors go into every raise/bet/check/fold situation that we really should focus on the why of what we're doing. What's your position, what's your stack in relation to the blinds, how tag or lag are the players left to act, what are their stacks plus about 20 more quesitons you should be thinking about.
Is your goal to steal the blinds/play a big pot/use pot control to manage a hand/ or wait ugh oh I just got reraised from the SB all in and I'm in the cutoff...Ugh what could this mean? Does SB really have a hand? Am I above his range? Why am I in this pot to begin with...I snap call with my JJ, damn he has QQ, I was 60 BB deep why did I do this? Prolly because I wasn't thinking about the big picture. Sure JJ looks pretty and SB has been fairly active but should you really be risking a deep stack on this exact hand?
This situation comes up often and it's this kind of situation that should easily be avoided. Why have your hand on the trigger...take your time and THINK through the situation...It's early let it go...you can't win every pot and when your deep pot control is very important to protect your stack. There will be plenty of opportunites that warrant shove fold and much better spots to get your chips in...Don't be afraid to play post flop.
Basically if your shorter say 20BB or so it's an easy call why? Because you made the decision to play for your stack as soon as you put chips in the pot..there is no situation where you should be raise folding here. Your goal should be live or die.
This is just a small example of a situation where a lot of low level thinking players go broke...Was the SB even justified in shoving 60BB? No but you can't control what he did you can only control how you reacted.
Moral here is to think through hand situations and what your trying to accomplish...there are plenty of fishes that play without thinking...do your best not to swim in their school.
One Love
So many factors go into every raise/bet/check/fold situation that we really should focus on the why of what we're doing. What's your position, what's your stack in relation to the blinds, how tag or lag are the players left to act, what are their stacks plus about 20 more quesitons you should be thinking about.
Is your goal to steal the blinds/play a big pot/use pot control to manage a hand/ or wait ugh oh I just got reraised from the SB all in and I'm in the cutoff...Ugh what could this mean? Does SB really have a hand? Am I above his range? Why am I in this pot to begin with...I snap call with my JJ, damn he has QQ, I was 60 BB deep why did I do this? Prolly because I wasn't thinking about the big picture. Sure JJ looks pretty and SB has been fairly active but should you really be risking a deep stack on this exact hand?
This situation comes up often and it's this kind of situation that should easily be avoided. Why have your hand on the trigger...take your time and THINK through the situation...It's early let it go...you can't win every pot and when your deep pot control is very important to protect your stack. There will be plenty of opportunites that warrant shove fold and much better spots to get your chips in...Don't be afraid to play post flop.
Basically if your shorter say 20BB or so it's an easy call why? Because you made the decision to play for your stack as soon as you put chips in the pot..there is no situation where you should be raise folding here. Your goal should be live or die.
This is just a small example of a situation where a lot of low level thinking players go broke...Was the SB even justified in shoving 60BB? No but you can't control what he did you can only control how you reacted.
Moral here is to think through hand situations and what your trying to accomplish...there are plenty of fishes that play without thinking...do your best not to swim in their school.
One Love
How do you approach your day when you plan on grinding hours on end?
It's Sunday and you have the go ahead from the girlfriend, boyfriend, wife, husband etc. to make a day out of playing poker. A full day with no distractions, just a day for you, your computer, and thousands of players at the virtual felts. You didn't go out with friends or family the night before and you got up early eager to play....feeling good.
So how do you approach the day of all days, your day?
Do you just register for whatever tournament that is here or there or do you have a structure? If you have a structure then your ahead of the game. Organization = Clarity and Clarity = Focus.
A typical structure that proves successful for me is to have a spreadsheet of what tournaments I'm going to play and to not deviate from that list. Once I have this completed I cook a good breakfast, stock the mini fridge with my meals for the day, make sure my desk is clean and that the T.V. even though it's getting to be football season is off (no worries most have Tivo these days)
Once this is complete I go to the gym to work on my fitness goals, build some lean muscle and do a crazy HIIT cardio session, sit in the sauna for 30 minutes focusing my mental energy on the day that is about to take place.
Shower head home, take a 30 minute power nap, get my headphones and ipod ready, make a cup of coffee and it's go time.
The only thing I'm focusing on is a day in my man cave, me myself and poker....
Having a structured routine will help you in your poker journey, don't slack in this department, feeling good makes playing good even more sweet, well that and a big Sunday score.
One Love
So how do you approach the day of all days, your day?
Do you just register for whatever tournament that is here or there or do you have a structure? If you have a structure then your ahead of the game. Organization = Clarity and Clarity = Focus.
A typical structure that proves successful for me is to have a spreadsheet of what tournaments I'm going to play and to not deviate from that list. Once I have this completed I cook a good breakfast, stock the mini fridge with my meals for the day, make sure my desk is clean and that the T.V. even though it's getting to be football season is off (no worries most have Tivo these days)
Once this is complete I go to the gym to work on my fitness goals, build some lean muscle and do a crazy HIIT cardio session, sit in the sauna for 30 minutes focusing my mental energy on the day that is about to take place.
Shower head home, take a 30 minute power nap, get my headphones and ipod ready, make a cup of coffee and it's go time.
The only thing I'm focusing on is a day in my man cave, me myself and poker....
Having a structured routine will help you in your poker journey, don't slack in this department, feeling good makes playing good even more sweet, well that and a big Sunday score.
One Love
Bad Beats, Frustrations, Breaking mice, and Chillin out
I think I'm going to try and make atleast one thought provoking post a day if not for you the PTP the community then for myself as it keeps me thinking about poker even when it's hard to keep focused.
I just busted the 10R 1 place before the money...It was a rough poker session with no results. I could have waited another hand but I want to win not cash so I took a situation where I was fairly certain I was getting a fold and suprise a bad call and a bad beat took me out of the running.
This happens far more than success but it's how you handle defeat that will keep you going towards your goal of crushing tournaments.
How many of you have broke something, maybe a body part, maybe a laptop or mouse, or yelled at your significant other to vent when you know you are on life tilt and it's nobodies fault but lady luck on the last hand, or was it. Don't bring your negativity toward someone else....focus.
How many times have you seen a pitcher ridiculed because he lost a save? It could be his fault but the team put themself into that situation and then the pitcher takes all the heat for a team failure..is that fair? No.
Noone and I mean noone in poker cares about others bad beats...why would we? It happens, deal with it. Get better, play better, but guess what, it's still going to happen. Losing sessions will always be there as long as you play this game no matter how good you get.
Will better preperation get you there? Yes. Is losing a tournament a big deal an hour or so after it happens? Not really. Look over your hand histories in a reviewer and plug the leaks in your game so you are more prepared next time.
Taking out your frustration in a non constructive way is worthless....does it really make you feel better? For some maybe. But that still isn't going to win you that last hand.
Complaining, yelling, breaking things? How bout go for a run, forget then spend some time working on your game for the next session. If you still get mad over bad beats well....play more. Be happy you got your chips in good and that's all you can do on that last hand. If it works out....great, If it doesn't which will most likely happen 40%, 20% of the time then move on and let it go.
I just busted the 10R 1 place before the money...It was a rough poker session with no results. I could have waited another hand but I want to win not cash so I took a situation where I was fairly certain I was getting a fold and suprise a bad call and a bad beat took me out of the running.
This happens far more than success but it's how you handle defeat that will keep you going towards your goal of crushing tournaments.
How many of you have broke something, maybe a body part, maybe a laptop or mouse, or yelled at your significant other to vent when you know you are on life tilt and it's nobodies fault but lady luck on the last hand, or was it. Don't bring your negativity toward someone else....focus.
How many times have you seen a pitcher ridiculed because he lost a save? It could be his fault but the team put themself into that situation and then the pitcher takes all the heat for a team failure..is that fair? No.
Noone and I mean noone in poker cares about others bad beats...why would we? It happens, deal with it. Get better, play better, but guess what, it's still going to happen. Losing sessions will always be there as long as you play this game no matter how good you get.
Will better preperation get you there? Yes. Is losing a tournament a big deal an hour or so after it happens? Not really. Look over your hand histories in a reviewer and plug the leaks in your game so you are more prepared next time.
Taking out your frustration in a non constructive way is worthless....does it really make you feel better? For some maybe. But that still isn't going to win you that last hand.
Complaining, yelling, breaking things? How bout go for a run, forget then spend some time working on your game for the next session. If you still get mad over bad beats well....play more. Be happy you got your chips in good and that's all you can do on that last hand. If it works out....great, If it doesn't which will most likely happen 40%, 20% of the time then move on and let it go.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
