I had some debts that were payed to me online and I found that I had alot of cash online. I saw some good high stakes PLO games and decided to roll the dice and see how it went. I ended up doing really poorly the first day but the today I had some great results winning 240k. I don't know if I am going to withdraw this money or just keep it online for some good games, we will have to see.

The mixed game action has been dead the past few days which is part of the reason I have been playing PLO. My results have been pretty poor in the mixed games since I moved up to 100/200 mix. I just need to keep grinding a plugging leaks.

Here are some of the big pots from the past few days.

Here I slow play aces. I thought for sure we were getting it in preflop for nearly a 500k pot. I probably would have won the way the board ran off as well. After this hand I PMed Hastings bitching at him saying how I could have won this pot. He responded "You just won a 150k pot where you faded a flush draw and a gutter. Be happy." I guess hes right, but I thought for sure 458854 was shipping preflop the way the action went down.

http://www.stoxpoker.com/pokertools/hand/55730/


A river bluff raise gone wrong. This was an all round poorly played hand...

http://www.stoxpoker.com/pokertools/hand/55731/

Getting coolered...

http://www.stoxpoker.com/pokertools/hand/55732/

The past two days I have done really well in the mixed games winning about 50k. I even got so confident to move up and play some 200/400 mix which was pretty aggressive as I only have a 150k online. The game looked good though and I had a bit of gamble in me.

I think I have done a very good job of learning how to learn. When I was first learning LHE a few years ago I didn't really think much about my play. I just played and by trial and error got better. Well it takes a LONG time of trial and error before you start to realize some plays are incorrect, particularly if you have played another game where that decision was correct.

For example in NLH its correct to fold you big blind to a CO raise when you hold Q8o. Well in limit holdem folding here would be a horrible mistake. When I was first learning limit I never he contemplated these decisions, I just automatically folded with little thought. Now I analyze every decision I make which is really helping my learning process.

I also carry things that are applicable from other games to the new ones I am learning. For example in O8 as a general strategy I want to defend my big blind vs a steal with about 65% of hands and as my postflop skill increases I think I can defend more. I took this concept from LHE and I think its very applicable to O8.

Don't get me wrong tho, I have alot to learn. But I feel as though two years ago it would have taken me 3-4 years to learn all these games. Now I think I maybe able to do it in a year or two because of how I am approaching the learning process. Also having learned games in the past is really helpful.

Beyond the studying I have a coach for each specific game. I don't pay anyone, usually I just trade information with them between games as they all want to learn PLO. Its really helpful for me to go over hands with an expert from every game and really sped up my learning process.

Anyways here are some hands from today.

I could probably fold here on 4th street.

http://weaktight.com/1542088

I could probably raise 5th. Or call 5th raise a blank 6th maybe. Will have to think about it.

http://weaktight.com/1542090">http://weaktight.com/1542090

Sorry about the blog formating being screwed up. Its a pain to fix but I will do it tomorrow.

I have been getting beat up in 100/200 mixed games. In the past week I am down 13k in holdem and omaha and 24k in the stud games. Opponents are MUCH tougher at 100/200 than 40/80. Although some are the same the level of play really takes a large jump between these two limits.

Even though I am losing I feel as though I am playing well. Obviously this may not be the case since I am losing, but I like almost every other poker player would like to believe it. :) Anyways I am gonna spend a few more days here and if I drop below 30 or 40k online I will move back down. I would prefer not to move down, but what can you do. Also in this stretch of last week I am down in NLH and PLO which are obviously two games I am a big winner in.

Today I really got crushed in NLH. Basically I took some high variance plays which cost me.

http://weaktight.com/1536285

http://weaktight.com/1536281

http://weaktight.com/1536278

The first two are defn spew. The third is pretty standard.

A nice Stud 8 hand. I actually won 12k today in the stud games which is great.

http://weaktight.com/1536293

I think my peal on 4th is pretty thin. Rough river.

I am feeling a million times better today. I went for an hour and 15 minute swim which really cleared my head. Saddly it didn't transfer to the poker tables where I lose about 3k overall and 9k in the Stud games. As I said in my previous blog the games Stud games are much tougher at the 100/200 limit. I am definitly a loser in them, even though initially I thought I would be a winner. The bottom line is it takes me a very long time to master a game.

I am very glad I moved way down in limits to learn these mixed games. I would have lost alot of money playing 1k/2k before I mastered the games. I would imagine I would have dropped 2 million or so, just to become break even in a 1k/2k line up.

I normally really hate losing, but in games I am learning I don't mind it as much. It forces me to go over my decisions and correct them, while when I run good I get a bit lazy about going over hands. Here are some of the Stud ones from today.

I may have over played my hand here.

http://weaktight.com/1528869


How do I miss? I actually like my river bluff, I have got alot of folds in spots like these. Unfortunatly he snap called.

http://weaktight.com/1528870


I can probably fold to the river 3 bet.

http://weaktight.com/1528874


A nice river.

http://weaktight.com/1528880

The past few days have been really bad in terms of poker. I have been really unfocused and not feeling 100%,but not really sick either. I haven't wanted to workout or generally leave the house. Its really odd for me when I only leave the house once or twice I day, usually I am outside alot.

I have also been sleeping in really late. I don't think I have been up before noon once this week and I like to be on a schedule where I get up at 8 or 9. I find it really helps me interact with people around me. When I get up at 2 in the afternoon I feel groggy most of the day.

Beyond this I haven't really wanted to play much poker, which is really strange. I have basically been lying around the house/bed for the past three days. When I have played I have done really poorly. I just finished a session where I lost 16k playing the stud games, but won 7k playing holdem and omaha. I felt pretty unfocused in it and made some poor plays which I don't think I would have if I were feeling great.

I am not going to force my play. Tomorrow I am going to get up and head to the beach and take a swim in the afternoon. That should help me refocus.

Here are some hands from that session.

Gonna stove this one and see if I have equity to call down.

http://weaktight.com/1524344


Its probably a fold.I think I like this line, tho I am going to weight it with the option of calling.

http://weaktight.com/1524353

Sucks running into trips again. I think I played this fine, I don't see how I can fold 4th when my opponents door pairs. There are so many draws he can have and I have decent equity against two pair smaller than a ten.

http://weaktight.com/1524353


Again I don't think I can fold, but I need to spend some time on a Stud simulator to double check everything.

I fell like I hit a bit of a road block the past couple of days. I had been doing really well in my mixed games, but its pretty clear I need to improve my Stud and O8 games to beat 100/200. I think the play is substantially harder than the 20/40 and 40/80 games and some of my leaks have gone from unnoticeable to glaring.

Today was the first day I played 100/200 mixed games and it went very well for me winning 18k not counting 2-7 triple draw where I think I had a winning day. I won big in holdem and stud and lost elsewhere. Here is the breakdown of games.

PLO: -$160
NLH: $14,500
LHE: $9,100
Razz: -$6,500
Stud 8: -$3,920
Stud: $9,525
O8: -$4,030
2-7: ???

As I have said before I have lost alot of money playing games I wasn't skilled in. The most notable was PLO, but before that I tried limit holdem and lost lots of money before becoming skillful in it. I am very worried that my great holdem and omaha play will mask the fact that I am not very good at the other games and make me move up to quickly. Even at the 100/200 limits I confident I am a big winner just off my NLH and PLO, but when the stakes rise, people will be more skilled at those games and my edge will drop.

Today I played about 3,500 hands. As I sit here writing this I can't articulate why I won in the games I am not skilled at. I can articulate mistakes my opponents are making in NLH, LHE, razz and PLO. But when it comes to the other games I can't articulate where my edge is. I really want to beable to say I am winning beacause of x, y and z.

So instead of just going to bed tonight, I plan on going through a bunch of hands and analysis spots and determining why I am winning. Anyways here are some interesting hands from the day.

A big razz pot that I lost.

http://weaktight.com/1511158


A lucky river for me.

http://weaktight.com/1511161


Concealed trips are fun to play. I think I could have folded preflop.

http://weaktight.com/1511163


Maybe I can find a fold on the river...

http://weaktight.com/1511165

I think its time to take some shots at the 100/200 mixed games. In the past month I built my 50k up to 100k which is a great start. This gives me 20BI for the big bet games and 500 big bets for the limit games. This month I have finally turned my Stud results around and am doing great in all three games. I am getting completely crushed at O8 though. Here are my results in each respective game along with some comments about how well/poorly I am playing.

PLO:



I am not to worried about these results. 1700 hands in PLO is nothing and my results over the past month is better than any of the other mixed games. Basically I need to remind myself that limit players don't fold. My bluffing frequency against them is very low right now, but I think I need to drop it to almost zero. They are so used to going to showdown, that most don't adjust well in the big bet games particularly PLO.

I know when I first started learning limit holdem all my experiences were in NLH. So I wasn't showing down nearly enough and it took me a very long time to adjust.

NLH:



No real comments need here. Running really hot, though I am not worried that I don't have an edge in NLH. People seem to be very happy to get it in with AJ/AQ vs me so I think I may need to tighten up my 3 betting range a bit. Other than that I think I am playing great.

LHE:



Although I am a small loser over 1800 hands I am not to worried. I have the third best results over the past month and am doing well overall. I think I am a bit to loose with my call downs. I think tightening up a bit on some of the ace high call downs would help my win rate.

Stud:



Some nice initial results. Obviously 2k hands is pretty meaningless, but I have felt comfortable while playing. I think my results have been good to my hand reading. I can really tell what hand ranges to put people on since there is so much information in Stud with seeing your opponents boards.

I also think in the mix games people generally play very weak and don't value bet well. A 30/60 stud game is much tougher than stud that is played in the mixed games.

To improve further in Stud I need to put in a bunch of hands and spend some time with troutulator determining equities. I spend a few hours going over some things which helped me alot. I basically have a general idea of how often people have what types of hands in there range. I think for now my base knowledge it stud is decent enough that I could beat 30/60 online Stud stud game right now. But I think it would require more study to beat a straight 100/200 game. That said I think I have enough skill in stud to do well in a 100/200 mix game.

Stud 8:



It feels good to run hot in a game while learning it. I think there are a few reasons for my results in Stud8, with the major one being the boomswitch. I have not put in much time to improve my stud 8 game, beyond watching as many videos as I could find. As I mentioned before Chipsahoya's videos helped me immensely. It will be interesting to see how my next few thousand hands of Stud 8 go. Although I have had great results, I don't feel nearly as comfortable as I do in Stud high. My hand reading in Stud 8 is not nearly as good as Stud high.

To improve my game I think I need to spend time with troutulator looking at how my equity changes on different turn cards. For example if my opponent calls a raise with a 6 he catches an ace on 4th, I know this is a good card for his range and a bad one for mine, but I am still unsure of how bad and what pairs I should consider folding at that point.

Razz:



This is by far my most improved game thus far. I have come so far in this game over the past month. I have spent alot of time looking at equities and running numbers and its really paid off. I also had a computer program designed which helps me with these calculations. I think I just need some more hands now. I feel as though I have all the tools at my finger tips to solve any razz situation, which I don't have in PLO. I think I just need to grind a few more hands going over some more equities to get a more complete picture of the game. That said I feel very good about my razz game and that the work I put into it really paid off.

Omaha 8:



Well now we are on the ugly. I think its pretty clear that I have some MAJOR leaks in O8. I seem to tilt really badly while playing, which I don't do in any other games. I am so embarrassed of these stats. I have started working with an O8 coach who is reviewing some videos that I made to find some leaks. I could stop playing the 75/150 games and focus on the 30/60 while playing O8 alone. That would probably be wise as I am on a 300BB downswing. Pretty ugly and I have alot of work to do in O8. One positive note is that even though I am losing I am still playing. Its good to put the most hands in a game where your results are the worst.



Overall I am really happy with my results. Its great to be already thinking about playing 100/200 mixed after only grinding the 20/40 and 40/80 for a month. I hope that I am playing 200/400 and 400/800 mix games by the end of the year. Then hopefully I will be playing 1k/2k by the start of the summer and will be ready for the mix game action live during the WSOP. That may be way to ambitious though, so I will take what I can get.

When I was comparing limit games to no limit or pot limit I always used a 6x multiplier. So 10/20 NLH requires similar bankroll and has similar swings as 50/100 or 60/120 LHE. In the mix game rotation they use a 4x multiplier which I feel is to small and doesn't give the limit games enough weight. I have been playing 1k+ hands every day and my results are always determined by one or two big PLO or NLH pots.

To counter this lower multiplier tho there are only two big bet games and five or six limit games depending on if you are playing on stars or fulltilt. I guess this helps negate some of the edge that someone good at the big bet games will have. Still though I think to make it more fair they should use at least a five times multiplier on the limit games.

The past couple of days I have also been thinking how I want to learn. I have been giving alot of thought to computer models and I realize that people are limited in there calculations. Poker was a game which computers are best served to help us model situations. I have hired a computer program who is designing some programs which will hopefully help me alot with the mixed games.

As I have been playing the past week I realized I am sort of wasting my time learning by grinding. I think its important to grind some but I think I should split my time between study away from the tables with computer simulations and at the tables learning from experience. I think ultimately learning away from the table with sims is ideal, but unfortunately computers aren't powerful enough right now to do a complete model of most poker games.

That said reviewing hands is very boring for me compared to playing so hopefully I can keep putting in the time away from the computer.

Here are a few hands from the past couple of days.

A big Stud8 pot that I played very aggressively with my one pair.