RoleTide~ Overcoming Katrina, FBI, & Lock
Posted by RoleTide
Posted by
RoleTide
posted in
Poker Journals
RoleTide~ Overcoming Katrina, FBI, & Lock
Background- I am in my late 30s and I have played poker on/off for almost 20 years. Three major events have hindered my poker playing during this time. 1) I was a live limit holdem player during the poker boom of the the early 2000s. In the beginning, I was in my early 20s and would play 18-hour sessions to make $200. However, I worked my way up from 4/8 limit to 10/20 limit holdem and started making some pretty good money. I became a regular at the Grand Casino in Biloxi, and almost dropped out of college in the process. Poker was going really well, and I was not managing my time for school. Unfortunately, mother nature had other plans for me. I played the very last hand dealt at the Grand before Hurricane Katrina wiped out the Gulf Coast and took down the casinos with her. The Grand was lifted on top of the nearby Holiday Inn. It was devastating. This caused me to give up poker and I used my bankroll to finish college. 2) After graduation, I started to play online with a $20 bankroll to see if I could transition into online poker while bartending full time. I read an article from Chris Ferguson about bankroll management and his attempt to turn $1 into $10,000. Since I was new to online poker, I decided to challenge myself in the same fashion. I started at 2nl and grinded my way up to 400nl. I was crushing it and moving up the stakes. I quit bartending and focused 100% on poker. I was studying poker every day and plugging leaks to make it to high stakes. Unfortunately, the government had other plans for me. It was devastating to see the FBI symbol on the Full Tilt website, and to have my funds held from me. I had just worked my way up to being a black card member and really started to make great money. Sadly, most of my roll was on Full Tilt so I was left with very little money. At this point, I decided to give up poker and to start looking for a full-time teaching job. I did not care for the live scene and online was now dead to me. I started a family and got a full-time job teaching history. 3) Life was good so I decided to make a small $200 deposit on a new online site called Lock Poker to see if I could grind it up in my free time. I did well and grinded it up from 10nl to playing 400nl. I was balancing work, family, and poker. This was working out to be a nice extra income. Unfortunately, greedy bitches at Lock had another plan for me. Cash outs started to slow down, and the value of Lock funds were quickly decreasing. The owners were pulling out player money and running low on funds. People were buying and selling Lock funds on the twoplustwo marketplace, so I started to get nervous. Luckily, I wised up before it was completely too late and ended up selling off about $15k for around 30 cents to the dollar before Lock completely shut down. This was it for me…I was done!! Hurricanes, the FBI, and Greedy Bitches finally broke me.
2020- I am married with 4 kids and I teach AP U.S. History. I started playing again once the Coronavirus hit and sent us teaching remotely. With all my extra free time, I started to watch a few poker videos on YouTube. The poker itch was coming back, and I watched a video by Johnathan Little where he interviewed a lawyer about the legality of poker in the U.S. The lawyer basically said that Global Poker was the most legal site with its sweepstakes model. I did a little bit of research and decided to make a $500 deposit to see how it would go. I started at 25nl and moved through 100nl quickly. Once I got to 200nl, I was struggling to understand many of the lines my opponents were taking. The game had changed a lot and my edge seemed small. At this point, I decided to create a RIO account to see what was going on. I started to understand why my opponents were choosing these random bet sizes. I had not done any solver work up to this point. I was wayyyyyy behind the curve, and it was time to work my way from the ground up. Currently I play 200nl and sit at good 500nl tables. I have adjusted to the games but still have a long way to go. I made a little over $30k playing roughly 15 hours a week since April. I am happy with my results and have improved tremendously.
This Journal- Back in the day, I blogged regularly on CardRunners as Needbankroll and found that very helpful during my progression from live to online. I plan to post here regularly to put some of my thoughts out there and to get feedback from the community. Connecting with other players is one of the best ways to truly improve my game. I am reading Acevedo’s Modern Poker Theory, watching videos on RIO, doing solver work with GTO+, and battling the bot on GTO Sensei to improve my overall play. I am almost done with Acevedo’s book so if you have a recommendation for my next book please let me know. I might open up an account with another site as well. I miss using a HUD and reviewing my hands/sessions. I might try Bovada? Global does not allow tracking software so there will not be any graphs etc… Let me know what you think!
Loading 50 Comments...
Why the name RoleTide? For one, I am from the south and football is life. But mainly because Tom Dwan is one of my favorite players and he said that he chose the name Durrrr to annoy his competitors. I needed something that would annoy people but still represent me.
People across the country hate Alabama football so this seemed like a good way to annoy some people. Then I chose to misspell the name to just really annoy those type A personality types. See y'all at the national championship ;)
How do you handle a new player in the pool??
I just played a session where a new player was in the pool. The player ended up being pretty good and I found myself turning into a bit of a monkey/call station. This is a tendency of mine when playing against an unfamiliar opponent. I default to bluff catching a bunch, because I don't want them to sense weakness on my part. I also 4bet a little more often to let them know that I can't be pushed around. There is no tracking software allowed on Global so this could work out for me in the long run. Players have a tendency to cling to first impressions. If he uses a color coding system, I am likely coded as a monkey. This is similar to how many HU players will start out a session pretty aggro to get their opponent to stack off light later in the session. This exploitative logic does not work against a GTO player, but you aren't going to find many strong GTO players at 200nl and below in my pool. Is it best to approach a new player with caution or go after them and make your presence known?
This hand defines how my 2021 poker sessions have gone so far.
Looking forward to reading this one. Exciting journey up until this point!
As far as playing against unknown players, I tend to play my standard lines. Just no specific adjustment for the player. It doesn't matter if they consider you a nit on a small sample size, because your strategy is still solid.
Yeah but I like to annoy my opponents...hence the name lol
Best of luck on the new journey bro!
Thanks man! We got a long way to go but a short time to get there.
Sweet to see how you've been able to transition to 'modern' play pretty quickly after a while out of the game! In regards to unknown players, I guess that's where having a solid 'baseline strategy' comes in to place, and then finding exploits as you learn more about your opponent
I appreciate it! I still feel clueless in a lot of spots, but the new tools really help me understand the game at a much higher level. I get more excited about my study time because I have the resources to find a reliable answer. Back in the day we just posted a hand in a forum and everyone played multiple guess.
Study Sessions: I decided to dedicate each of the first 6 months to a position at the table. So January will be SB, February BB, March BTN, April CO, May HJ, and June LJ.
How do you study preflop ranges?
I use the ranges from Zenith poker as my baseline. I then convert them to something manageable in Flopzilla. For practice, I like to try and build my range, without peaking, in Flopzilla to see how close I can get to my Zenith approved preflop range. I create my opening range from one position, 3bet range, 3bet defense range, 4bet range, etc... I then compare them to my saved ranges. If I get it really close, I give myself a small treat like a hershey kiss. This keeps the brain happy and wanting another reward. We are simple creatures. This is just a 10-15 minute drill to start my study session.
Hopefully I will have the SB down by the end of the month. I am not a look at a bunch of charts while I play kind of guy. I need these ranges memorized so I can focus on some spots further down the game tree.
How good are you at adjusting on the table dynamic with your ranges?
I used to adjust my preflop ranges a bunch depending on table dynamics but I find it very hard to play a more GTO strategy when doing this. Having consistent preflop ranges will help me get further down the game tree. Therefore, I am only going to adjust my range when a pretty weak player is either already in the pot or in the BB.
First week in the books and I played about 13 hours and lost about 6 buy ins. I found a few spots that I was over bluffing with bad blockers. Turns out you can't just jam the river all of the time when you have 0 showdown value. :(
On the bright side, I am feeling more confident with my SB play. I really like the GTO Sensei app on my phone. It is hard for me to work in study time with my work/family obligations so it is nice to have something that I can pull up quickly on my phone and rep out a few scenarios in a moments notice.
I guess my screenname is working as planned. This guy Rytoast is a bit annoying to have at the table. He sits around and waits for QQ+,AK to just limp jam. I had KK this time and he had AA. Shout out to Udjh for the nice troll.
All in all, poker is going well and I am still getting in at least 30 minutes of study time a day. I am feeling better about SB situations but I have spent too much time looking at other spots. I have found myself reviewing hands on the solver a little too much to verify my play. I need to just stay focused on the SB and let things develop as planned. I just don't have that much time to get distracted. School starts back tomorrow and my son is running a 102 fever at the moment. Hopefully, I will still be able to balance everything and not get wore out in the process.
Hope your son feels better! Happy to see you took my suggestion to update :)
Also I hear schools can be pretty rough healthwise these days, stay safe
Lol @rytoast, I’m always glad to have him at the table, makes for a fun time. Gg
Thanks man! Schools are interesting to say the least. We started back face to face in August and it has been a difficult transition. I am not a fan of the mask because it destroys our classroom dynamic. Kids are less likely to talk with a mask on and I have no idea what their face looks like. We did a virtual week and I had a few Google Meets with my students. This was the first time I have seen most of them without a mask on and I did not recognize some of them. I had to depend on the name listed at the bottom of their video to know who was even there.
Rytoast is great for the game. I don't interact with him much when he goes on one of his rants. Not worth the time but entertaining at least.
Tell me about your experience with limping from the small blind. I don't think it is necessary below 200nl, but I would like to explore using it before implementing it in the 500nl and 1knl games. I am reading over Acevedo's Modern Poker Theory again, and I am going to attempt to implement his small blind strategy into my game. First thing I had to do was alter the ranges in a way that I could actually remember them and use them while multi tabling. I don't like looking at charts while playing so I needed to keep it simple with my mixing. I have a fairly balanced 37% limping range with a 24% 3x rfi range. This will allow me to play an overall wider range, but it is going to put me in a lot of unfamiliar spots. I plan to use a linear 3betting range vs. BB raises to my limps. I plan to use a polarized 4betting range vs. BB 3bets to my 3x opens. It is going to take a while to feel out the pool on this one.
Well that was short lived. I spent more time preparing and learning preflop ranges for limping small blind than I spent implementing the strategy at the tables. Overall, my opponents played passively against my limps at 200nl. This was nice because I got to see a lot of flops but I found myself in a lot of unfamiliar situations. This caused me to lose focus of the action at my other 5 tables. I think this is something that needs to be worked into my game if I want to move up to 1knl but I have other spots that I need to focus on at the moment. I think I need to come back to this in July after I go through each position. I need to spend an entire month on just limping the small blind and how to respond post flop. I am going to go back to my base strategy for now.
Poker Update: Week 2
I only got in 10 hours of play because my son had a stomach virus and ran a 104 fever and threw up a bunch. We didn't sleep much because he was super clingy. School started back as well so my time was limited. Also, Bama won the national championship so we had to celebrate that.
Hopefully, one day I can improve my poker playing like Mac Jones improved his football skills while at Bama.
My results were good for when I did play. I am up about $2k for the year after being stuck $2k on the first day of the year. I have played around 13,000 hands this year. Global doesn't allow you to use any tracking software so I keep a detailed spreadsheet. I keep up with my total hands by multiplying the number of tables I play by 80 (I play around 80 hands per hour at each table) and then I multiple that by the number of hours I play that session. This is by no means exact but it gets me close.
I think my biggest leak at the moment is over bluffing with bad blockers. My blocker selection needs to improve when barreling off. My work with the solver his helping me a ton in this area.
Today was a little rough. Here is my graph for the year so far.
At least, you are up :p
Old Doug v. New Doug
In this interview after losing a session to Dnegs, Polk was asked to explain how he thinks old school "peek" Doug would do in a match against new "2021" Doug. Not surprisingly, Doug said that new "2021" Doug would crush old "peek" Doug because he has studied so much more now. Joe Ingram points out that Doug is not likely at peek performance because he is clearly not happy about playing. This quote hit me pretty hard at the time and I can really relate.
Sadly, this is poker in 2021. Solvers were not a widespread thing when I left the game. Clearly the play is better today because of the solvers, but it is not nearly as much fun. I struggle at times to study, and I find myself asking what would the solver do in this situation while playing! I think the young guys have a much easier time grinding out the solvers because that is all they have known. I find it extremely helpful, but I don't have the same thoughts, ideas, and dreams about the game anymore. I just listen to the robot overlords and try to emulate them the best I can.
There is one area that I think I have an advantage against my younger GTO opponents and this makes a pretty big difference. I can exploit the fish much better than they can. I have spent a good bit of time on these forums and others, and I keep seeing questions from players about what to do in spots against fish. Immediately, players start coming up with the GTO strategy to play against a fish who takes a common fish line like x/c, x/c, donk pot line. This is strength from the fish like 75% of the time, but players are still trying to justify all of the hands that make it a call. I am sorry but your one pair is beat and it is just a fold. I don't care that he only has 4 combos with a five in it to make a straight...you must fold vs. this line.
So that being said, I am going to keep growing my GTO game to keep up with the Reg pool, but be mindful where the money comes from. Because I'm gonna go where da gold at. I don't like the robot overlords but I got to make that money.
January went really well overall. My volume at the table was limited and I only got about 40 hours of play in at the tables. I played around 20k hands and profited right at $3k. It was a pretty nice turn around after being stuck almost $2k on day one of the year.
My study sessions went well and I feel much more comfortable from the small blind. That being said, I have a long way to go from this position. I improved my preflop ranges by opening wider when folded to and 3betting a more linear range. My post flop play has improved from the small blind because I have a better understanding of which board textures to cbet. GTO Sensei has helped me a lot with this. I really liked repping these situations vs. the Bot overlord. Part of me wants to keep grinding the SB spot because I find it extremely interesting. Who doesn't like playing every hand from out of position?!? I plan to focus on the BB during February. I will be out of position the majority of the time but the ranges will be completely different. I am sure it is going to be fun!
Comparing Flop Cbets-3bet BBvBN & SBvBN
I used to play pretty much the same 3betting range from the SB and the BB. I basically had a polarized range for both and mixed in a bunch of calls from the BB. Now, I use a more linear range from the SB and a more mixed range from the BB. This changes our flop Cbetting strategy a little more than I expected.
BBvBN on Left------------SBvBN on Right
Orange= Similar Frequency Cbets from SB&BB
Yellow= Check >15% or Cbet <85%
Green= Check <50% or Cbet >50%
I think this provides a great visual for how we should approach our linear v. mixed ranges. Man I have been misplaying this spot for years.
Great work, keep it up :)
The 15 sessions I have played this month have gone really well. I am on a bit of a heater, but I have struggled getting in the volume I want. I haven't been in the lab as much as I want either. I am focusing on BB play this month, but I only feel like I have scratched the surface of this very difficult position to play. It is difficult trying to master the pre-flop ranges...much less the post-flop play. Overall, I have made a lot of progress and I am still motivated to get a little better each day.
Old Habits vs. GTO
Listening to Polk and Negreanu talk about their experience trying to play a more GTO style is pretty interesting. Their discussion about how we used to play monotone flops vs. how they should be played according to the solver struck home with me. Stripping away some of those old habits to play closer to GTO has been a struggle.
"No poker player alive plays as good as when they are winning as they do when they are losing." -Phil Ivey
I couldn't find the other interview where he discusses one of the biggest differences between good players and bad players. In a nutshell, "Good players play longer when they are winning and less when they are losing, while bad players do the opposite and play shorter sessions when winning and longer sessions when losing."
I started keeping a spreadsheet to keep track of my sessions and I make notes about my quality of play at the end of the session. I describe any big mistakes that I reviewed, my general focus during session, or any form of tilt.
From this, I have determined that I play much longer sessions when I am losing. I am quick to book a 3-5 buy-in win after only playing an hour or so. However, I play more 2-3 hour sessions when losing. I have also determined that I have a habit of overbluffing during losing stretches. I am quick to turn a pair with blockers into a bluff or just punt a stack because "they can't have it again...can they? Call!!" Basically, I ignore range construction and just click a few buttons. Fortunately, this is a rare occurrence at this point in my career. However, it happens once every 20 sessions or so. I am pretty good at stopping a session when I make obvious mistakes, but I am ready to hit the tables hard after a short break or the next day. I am going to start adding to my notes about how each session might impact the next session so I become more aware of my own habits.
This is so much me as well :)( Very good about the spreadsheet, I hope and I am certain it helps! Do you have a set amount of time you play?
No set amount. However, I haven’t played a single session over 3.5 hours all year.
Like this. Ive started scoring myself on 6 key areas that i know if im playing my best, i will score high on. If im playing poorly its usually because I'm not considering these areas.
You might benefit from setting a schedule for the week ahead. But then plan check points to identify if you need to take a small break if playing poorly.
Gl
I like the idea of adding a ranking system of key areas.
Unfortunately, scheduling is difficult for me with my family obligations. My sessions run around things like nap time and cheerleading practice. Lol
This month ended on a rocky note. I just ran into some variance after starting the month out super hot. This month was the exact opposite of last month but with almost the exact same end result.
I learned a lot this month, and I really enjoyed adding Lucid GTO trainer to my routine. It lacks cloud sims, but the developer is in the process of adding more each week.
I submitted a session to RIO pro Steve Paul to make a video with. I am excited to see that come out next month, and to receive some feedback from him on my play. One of the things I learned from just making the video is the importance of accountability. Since I knew this recording would be used in a video, I obviously wanted to play well. However, I was concerned about how my play would look to others. Steve and my peers would hold me accountable for any big mistakes. Therefore, I was more focused during my recorded session than I typically am. The session was only one hour long, but I was pretty focused for each hand. I can't say that is always the case during a session. It is easier to stay focused when you know someone is going to critique your play. I need to find a way to harness that level of focus and apply it to every session.
Pendulum Swings in Poker
Berkey has a great discussion on a recent podcast about how much poker has evolved over the past few years since solvers took over. He has an interesting perspective, and he really helped me not feel so overwhelmed about my studies. His discussion about simplifying the game gave me all the feels.
you have an interesting life & poker story. tbh I'm surprised you're able to still find time for this amazing game all this while having a family.
best of luck !
FlorinCJK It is pretty difficult but I have a very understanding wife that is the backbone of our family. I make sure to get in most of my studies during the day when I have down time at school like lunch or study hall. I don't start playing at home until the kids go down for bed. That leaves me 1 to 3 hours to play during the weekday nights and then I can squeeze in a few more hours on the weekend. I only get in about 10-15 hours of playing time a week and I get in 10-15 hours of study time each week. The nice thing is that I only play during peak hours so my games are generally soft.
Overall, I am pretty lucky! Today is a good example of my usual day. Up at 6:15 and my wife and I get all 4 kids ready for school. She takes the 1 year old to daycare and I take the the other 3 to school. I teach all day and squeeze in some time against the solver on GTO Sensei during study hall and watch Forrester's new video while I eat my lunch. Leave school at 3:15 and take my daughter to ballet. Hangout at the book store/coffee shop with other two kids and update my students' grades. Grab some coffee and snacks. Pick up my daughter from ballet at 4:45. Then drive to pick up my son from daycare because my wife is showing a client a house. We meet up for dinner at near by restaurant. Eat some ribs and drink a beer. Head home and get everyone ready for bed and clean up around the house. Read a few stories and tuck a few kids in. Play a 1.5 hour session 6 tabling 200nl & 500nl. Run a couple of sims from some of the hands I play and realize that I was badly overbluffing with missed draws that should just give up. Hop on RIO to wind down and maybe watch a video or post in the forums. Finish this post...shower and go to bed to do all again tomorrow. I would be making millions of $$$ if I had this much work ethic in my early to mid 20s.
Your backstory is very interesting and wholesome RoleTide! Pretty mind boggling that you manage time so well. Your reflection on having work ethic earlier in life will stick with me for awhile. See you at the tables!
Omniscient make that money while you can without burning yourself out. You see a lot of guys that just grind too much and "retire" before they are 30 years old. To a certain degree it makes sense if you have made a few million and you can make more money by investing your money instead of playing with it. Let your money do the work for you so that you can enjoy more free time.
I recall struggling to play more than 25 hours a week when I was 25 years old. I tried to create daily schedules to increase my volume that included breaks, yoga, and workouts. However, I would oftentimes find myself tempted to do something with my friends that didn't involve poker. Very often, I would play a morning session and then detour to play golf in the afternoon with some buddies. This would lead to a few drinks and me deciding not to play that night so that I could keep enjoying myself. The next day, I would play a morning session but skip my night session because my girlfriend wanted to go out. etc...etc....
The Phil Galfond's of the world were out there playing 60-80 hours a week. I wanted my free time more than I wanted to be an elite player with lots of money. Jordan Peterson's lecture on productivity and the pareto distribution is a pretty interesting discussion for this topic.
See you around!
Nuno Alvarez's recent video on simplifying our strategy has forced me to reconsider my current approach to studying poker.
I have been studying and training specific spots using two different GTO trainers 1) GTO Sensei on my phone & 2) Lucid GTO on my desktop. Both of these are great programs to help you train, however, they give you multiple bet sizes for each decision. This complicates our strategy and is likely necessary to crush high stakes.
But I need to be honest with myself. I am not going to be crushing high stakes any...time...soon. I have a full time job and a big family. I can only commit so much of my time to poker. I would be much better off simplifying my strategy so that I can make less mistakes against competent opponents, and still make the majority of the money from the weaker players at the table.
Reality check...I have a ton of leaks that can easily be fixed without trying to develop a complicated strategy with so many bet sizes. As the old saying goes "Keep It Simple Stupid" ;)
On LucidGTO with their cloud sims you can edit the turn & river sizings and you simipler betsizes. This also has the added benefit of making everything much quicker! I generally just have two flop sizes (30,75) three turn & river sizes (30, 75, 150). What is your simplyfied set up?
CatorMan thanks for letting me know you can edit the sizing. I didn’t realize that was possible on the program. I will look at it tonight.
I am going to simplify my strategy to only using one sizing based on board texture and position. So on some flops I might only use a 30% sizing and other flop textures I will only use a 75%. I will only use 75% on turn. River will be a little more mixed. The river is easier to play if you can better balance flop and turn play. I’m getting away from taking lines that I haven’t really studied like overbetting turn for now and trying to be more sound preflop.
I do love poker but I am much more paranoid now. I used to be a lot more comfortable keeping money online and building my roll but now I cash out monthly to keep my online bankroll at my minimum threshold for the stakes I play.
Sounds good mate, I do think adding overbets adds significant EV because without them its not possible to get all in by the river in SRPs. Even so I think whatever sizings you pick as long as you execute a well thought out strategy you will end up doing very well (obv you already are doing well).
Yeah it is really shit that it is so hard for Americans to play online poker in a secure way. Do deposits / withdrawals come with significant fees?
I understand why turn overbets are more +EV than 3/4 pot, however, it is way more -EV if you are not balancing them correctly. Since I am not balancing my turn barrels correctly at the moment, I feel that I need to master a more simplified strategy before adding the overbet to my turn arsenal. I am only 2 months into using solvers so I have a long way to go. I was getting a bit overwhelmed to be honest. Trying to constantly decide between multiple bet sizes was mentally draining and it would leave me a bit frustrated at times. It caused me to have a lot of self doubt in my decisions...which can cause some pretty bad play. I currently feel ok with river overbets but I need some serious work before adding turn overbets to my strategy.
There are not any fees on the site that I currently play on, but banks could shut you down if they find out the money is coming from a gambling site. Therefore, I don't like big deposits/withdraws going in and out of my account. I keep it to a couple grand a month to stay under the radar. I also withdraw a lot in gift cards to avoid my bank. It is not ideal but it is better than nothing.
Yeah that makes complete sense, pretty amazing the level you have managed to get to with only a few months of solver usage. I imagine sky will be the limit after a few more months!
I hope so! Even though I lack a lot of GTO knowledge, I do a lot of the little things needed to be successful in the game that have nothing to do with GTO. Overall, I play in good games during peek hours, and only when my mind is focused on playing. I get less volume but better quality sessions.
It is kind of like having a good alignment/setup in a golf swing. You don't have to be athletic to have a good setup and get aligned correctly. In poker, there are a lot of things that can help you be successful that have nothing to do with your playing ability.
1.) Game selection- make sure there are players at the table you can make a lot of money from.
2.) Seat selection- try to keep the worst players to your right. You make the most amount of money from the players on your right so make sure the weaker players are there when possible.
3.) Limit distractions- don't watch a movie while playing, messaging friends, etc...
4.) Total tables- Don't play more tables than you can handle. I can easily play 9 tables but it cost me a few bb/100 so I only play 6 really soft tables or 4 tougher tables.
5.) Session Length- Play longer when you are winning and less when you are losing. I find it difficult to focus after 2 hours and rarely play longer than that.
6.) Exercise- Do something active before your session. Even for just 10-15 minutes to get the blood flowing. Yoga is great for this.
7.) "A" Game- Try to only play when you feel like you can commit your A game to the session. Sometimes we have stresses outside of poker that impact our playing, so be sure that you are ready to fully commit to the session before sitting down at the tables.
8.) Diet- Eat healthy and have a snack before your session.
9.) Tilt Control- Know what tilts you and either overcome it or be sure to stop when you sense a trigger.
10.) Study- Constantly challenge yourself to grow a little everyday.
We all have our bad days but the key is to limit those more often than our opponents. I tilt at times but I tilt less than my opponents on average. I get distracted at times but I get less distracted than my opponents on average. Etc...etc...
Great blog mate, you must really love poker having two of your first two sites go down and still keep running it up! GL
Crazy stressful month, but poker went really well. On the life side of things, my son had surgery and got tubes in his ears, then he got pink eye a few days later, and then he got strep throat a few days after that. Little man was on the struggle bus for 2 weeks. I got some kind of virus that destroyed my sinuses and gave me a deep nasty cough. I have been spitting up green stuff and a little blood for about a week. Hopefully, I am on the downside of this virus now. My Covid, Strep, and Flu test all came back negative, so I haven't missed any school along the way. Spring Break starts on Friday and I have a lot of chores around the house and yard work lined up for the week.
My poker volume was down due to life, but I made a ton of progress this month. It has been a big learning experience to see Steve Paul break down my play this month. I have attempted to simplify my overall strategy, and I have spent a lot of time studying bluff catchers. I started reading Andrew Brokos "Play Optimal Poker 2" to help me better understand range construction to add more balance to my game. I am really happy with my progress and my results are looking up.
Nice month. I'm inspired by your ability to balance work, family, life and poker. GL for April
Dan Self Thanks Dan! I owe my work ethic to my father. He didn't graduate from high school, but he is one of the hardest working people you will meet. When I was a kid, he worked 40-70 hours a week operating heavy equipment for the
for the road construction department with the county, and then he always had side jobs from construction to shrimping. He worked about 325 days out of the year. He only took off a few days for hunting season and major holidays. I can count on one hand how many times I saw him take a sick day off from work. He is "retired" now and still works 40 hours a week operating heavy equipment for some guy he knows. He doesn't really know how to not work. I consider myself lazy compared to him.
My wife is the reason for any kind of balance in my life. When I first started teaching, I asked my principal (who coached me in baseball during high school) how he used to balance teaching, coaching football, and coaching baseball. His answer was simple..."my wife." I didn't fully appreciate or understand what he meant at the time, but the old saying is true in my case "Behind every great man, there is a great woman."
Goodness...this month has started out pretty rocky. Which is expected considering that I was on the high side of variance last month. I am proud of my mental game over the last few sessions. My last two sessions started with me going -$3k within the first 30 minutes of each session. Just a ton of coolers and standard preflop all ins that I lost. In the first 10 minutes of this last session, I ran AK into KK 3 times and QQ into AA. Fortunately, these situations don't tilt me, and I was able to continue playing well. I managed to only lose $1k between the two sessions.
Here is a good snapshot showing how my overall month is going so far. In this hand I 4-bet QQ pre, bet flop, and shoved turn.
I have struggled this month to get in the volume I would like. I have been pretty motivated during my study time, but I am constantly losing focus during my sessions. Therefore, I have quit a lot of sessions early. I have a good habit of just quitting a session when I am not focused. I have played 18 sessions this month, and I have only played 8 sessions over 1 hour long. I quit a couple of sessions early because of family situations, but most of them were simply because I was not focused. I am going to call it an early night to get some good sleep and try to hit the tables with a higher level of focus tomorrow.
Here is my session chart for the month thus far. It started out pretty rough, but I got things turned around.
Poker was put on the back burner toward the end of the school year. I was struggling to balance life, work, and poker so I decided to let go of poker until the school year finished out. I have played very little since my last post.
Current Perspective of My Game after 6 Months
The Good
I can crush 200nl and I am a small winner at 500nl. I have a better understanding of GTO, but I am no where near a GTO player. I have a much better understanding of playing SRPs in/out of position, and how to navigate 3bets from the blinds pre/post. I have an understanding of what I am trying to achieve with my bet sizing in SRPs and 3bet pots based on board texture. I have a better plan for turn cards and sizing.
The Bad
I am clueless in 4bet pots, and I haven't really studied them much. The extent of my 4bet study is simply looking at preflop charts. My biggest weakness is playing SBvBB. It is difficult when ranges are this wide and we are out of position. Which is also why I suck at HU. It takes a ton of study time to perform well in this scenario, and I haven't been able to put in the time.
I am not going to crush 500nl anytime soon. Why?? 1.) Limited time to study. This is not my full time job, and I can't keep up with the regulars. Most of the same players play 2knl, 1knl, and they play 500nl. Most of them are better than me, and I won't be able to keep up. I am more or less breakeven against the weaker Regs and losing 1-2 bb/100 vs. the stronger Regs. 2.) The games fill up quickly when a weaker player sits at a table. This means that there is usually only one weak player at the table, and it is hard to get good position. The one weak player goes broke within an hour or so, and the table quickly breaks.
Future Direction
I have decided to finally jump into the PLO pool. I have always loved playing the game, but I have never actually studied it. I am going to commit this summer to beating 200 PLO. I just bought the From the Ground Up PLO course, and I plan to start a new journal to talk about my progress. I will still play NLH when the PLO games are dead but 75% of my play/study time will be dedicated to PLO.
Look for my new journal to keep track of my PLO progress. Good luck at the tables!
Be the first to add a comment