By this point in my poker journey, I have made lots and lots of mistakes. And I'm not talking about how I misplayed certain hands, but rather how I managed my bankroll throughout my career, piece taking, selling (or not selling) action, staking, etc. Furthermore, the most detrimental and common mistakes that I make also relate to personal management, recognition of when I'm not playing my "A" game, and not quitting.

I will start with an example from a live game I play in (in Boston). The game is 5/10 NLHE (this night it was playing bigger because people were Mississippi straddling for anywhere up to $50). I had lost a hand earlier when I bet a flop multiway in position with A2cc on AQ7c, and called a c/r from an old guy. I should stop right there. It was a min c/r btw, which makes it al the more worse. The turn was about the worst card in the deck for me, the 7c, making it less likely he had 77. He had also limped pre so I didn't put him on AA/QQ/AQ. In any case I called his turn bet, and the river was another 7. He bet and I called and was shown the A7. In any case I wound up losing around a buy-in on the hand. I know better, but this only started my downfall.

I later got in a 3way pot with a live mixed-game pro, and a competent Russian guy. Flop was 1097h I had raised in position with Q8hh. Check, mixed-game player bets out 150, I make it 450 with around 1100 back, Russian guy cold calls (he has us both covered), and mixed-game pro ships for around the same as what I had, and I reship my stack. Russian guy tank-calls off both of us. Turn came a 7, river an 8. Russian guy (without waiting to see our hands), says "straight" and turns over JJ. Mixed-game pro disgustedly mucks 86o face up. I toss my cards to the muck. The mixed-game pro says he wants to see my hand. Now technically, while he is allowed to request to see the hand of an all-in player, it's considered extremely poor etiquette to do so in a private game. This guy has been around forever and he knows this, he was obviously just steamed. Unfortunately for me, the dealer caught my cards. He says again he wants to see my cards, but the dealer (not knowing the precise rule, or rather, not wanting to do something rash), held onto the cards. The mixed-game player then grabs the cards out of her hands and flips them up. Now, whether or not he is right to request to see my cards is irrelevant, he certainly should not have grabbed them out of the dealers hands. Worst comes to worst, he could have asked for the host of the game (ie, the effective "floor" in a private game) to make a ruling. Instead of shrugging it off, I let his actions affect my play. If I had perfect discipline, I would have quit at that moment in the game and called it a night, knowing that I would not play my best. Instead I wound up staying in the game and had my biggest loss ever in that particular game.

Long story short, one of my primary goals in the new year is to be more disciplined, both in terms of my personal management (as described in the example above), and peripheral financial management. At this point I believe I am a strong favorite in the games I play in, and if I play my A game I will bring some serious pain. There was a point last year where I won 14 straight live sessions (my longest streak ever). I basically decided that if these guys were going to beat me, they were going to have to outplay me. I was not going to make mistakes for them and defeat myself. As easy as it is to say that, it's also equally easy to make a loose call pre with QJo, or not fire a turn bluff when you know even if called it's a good play for overall meta-game and balance.

Recently I played in a live game in NYC where the mix of games was the usual NLHE, NL O8/b, and NL Stud 8/b. Unfortunately, we did not play any NL Omaha hi that night, because the host of the game dislikes the game, and he argues most vociferously for the other games. I wish someone else in the game were a big proponent of Omaha hi, but the guys who like to play that game were not there. In any case I played a nice little hand, it goes as follows.

Around 22k effective. Player whose preferred game is Omaha 8/b opens and I flat to his direct left with AA46 with A4hh. We are 6 or 7 handed. Yes I know I could 3-bet this hand all day, but villain was UTG and I was UTG+1 and I wanted to open the possibility of someone squeezing behind. SB calls as well. Flop is 7x5h2h. Chk, villain bets 500 I flat and SB flats. Turn is the beautiful 3h (as if sent from heaven). Check, villain bets 1500, and again I flat. River is a blank Q. He bets 5k, and I jam him for the remainder of his stack. He tank-calls off with A4 and I get the 3/4.

I wound up cruising that night to a big win in the game. Unfortunately for me, that big win was directly followed by that big loss in boston. Luckily for me, the NYC game is about 4x the size of the Boston game.

In any case, if anyone has any ideas or ways that they keep or stay disciplined as it relates to personal management I would love to hear your suggestions, please send me a PM and we can chat on IM.

Here's a fun hand I played recently.

Merry Christmas,

David

Full Tilt, $25/$50, $10 ante Pot Limit Omaha Cash, 6 Players

Poker Tools by CardRunners - Hand Details

UTG: $9,539 (190.8 bb)

MP: $13,278.50 (265.6 bb)

CO: $8,028 (160.6 bb)

BTN: $10,370 (207.4 bb)

Hero (SB): $13,688.50 (273.8 bb)

BB: $4,148 (83 bb)

Preflop: ($60) Hero is SB with A A 8 7

2 folds, CO raises to $150, BTN calls $150, Hero calls $125, BB calls $100

Flop: ($660) 5 8 A (4 players)

Hero checks, BB checks, CO checks, BTN checks

Turn: ($660) K (4 players)

Hero bets $600, BB folds, CO raises to $2,460, BTN folds, Hero raises to $8,040, CO calls $5,408 and is all-in

River: ($16,568) Q (2 players, 1 is all-in)

Results: $16,568 pot ($4 rake)

Final Board: 5 8 A K Q

CO showed K 7 3 K and lost (-$8,028 net)

BTN mucked and lost (-$160 net)

Hero showed A A 8 7 and won $16,564 ($8,364 net)

BB mucked and lost (-$160 net)