I've had a pretty bad run the past few days. I had a good string of coolers and suckouts, which led to me tilting, which led to a pretty massive downswing by my standards. My bankroll is fine, but it is pretty frustrating when this type of thing happens. I know I should have better discipline to not let this type of thing happen, and I have in the past. I'm taking the day off of cash games today so that I can cool off a bit. I will, instead, be owning some $6 turbos for most of today, and maybe tomorrow as well. Here's the damage:

It's kind of interesting how this sort of thing happens. Everything is going well, then pow, it hits. I hate for this sort of thing to happen, but I like to find some positive side to things like this. I think finding some good in terrible situations helps me deal with adversity and move on. The good thing about having a bad run, playing poorly, or whatever, is that it motivates me to really think long and hard about my game and do a lot of studying/finding new ideas. I constantly am trying to improve my game anyway, but this type of thing tends to give me an extra kick in the ass.

I find losing at poker to be a very interesting part of the game. Many players are long-term losers. Some of these players will work on their games and become winners, but many of them will be lifetime losers. I think it is particularly interesting that some lifetime losers may lose a significant amount of money over time, but still think they are breakeven or even small winners. I guess that is part of the beauty of the game, for if the game was not as deceptive as it is people would lose and give up very quickly, and the massive pool of donators would dry up. In order for there to be long-term winners there have to be long-term losers.

A lot of these chronic losers blame things like bad luck, getting "doomswitched," ect on their poor results. These people are absolulely wrong. I am a firm believer of being 100% responsible for results. Sure everyone hits a cold stretch of bad cards and suckouts, but in the long run these things don't matter. I have over 300K hands recorded in PT, and I am pretty sure that I can not find one 10K stretch of hands where it was not possible to win money. There are almost always different things that can be done in hands to alter the results, and over a large sample of hands I find it hard to believe that losing could not be prevented. It's all about consistantly making correct decisions. Yes, we are playing for the long run, but it's each little hand that adds up to that long run, which makes up the large picture of our results. This leads to some thoughts on those small decisions.

Every hand does matter, but does that mean that we should go in to deep thought about every little decision made at the table? No. If we did mull over every little thing, it would take up too much cognitive space and we would get bogged down with overloaded thoughts. Think of it as running too many programs on your computer at one time. You, and your computer, can only do so many things before things slow down. What matters is thinking about the right things, and taking extra time when needed. Like with most things in poker, it's all about balance. To keep from overloading ourselves we use things like PAHud and we revert to "standard play." This frees up cognitive space that may be used when it is really needed in a tough hand or to make a creative/sophisticated play (note to self: creative plays should be used sparingly and almost never against donks). I think to be really good at poker you have to have a very solid "standard" game. If you do not have this foundation, you will not have the cognitive energy to make "expert" plays that may set you apart from other players. How do you get a solid "standard" game? It takes a lot of practice. Sounds simple, but it's not.

Research has shown that expert performance at a task may take as much as 10 years of deliberate practice for 8 hrs/day. That is a massive amount of practice, which almost seems impossible, but it is not. Only a small percentage of the population will ever reach this state, but plenty of people are "experts:" Many Olympic athletes, for example are experts at their respective sports. You may think, "How is this possible", since many of them are so young (some in the early teens even). If you look at when they began, however, you will find that many of these athletes got started at a very young age. Here is a very awesome article on the subject: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/04/sports/playmagazine/04play-talent.html?_r=1&oref=slogin Doctors are another good example of expert performance. Why do you think it takes so damn long to become a doctor, especially a surgeon? Do you want someone performing a surgury on you that is not an absolute expert? Hell no!! If you look at the process it takes to become a surgeon, you will find that it takes about 10 years.

Does this mean that you will not win very much at poker until you have played for 10 years? Of course not. Many people are obviously very successful at poker (as well as other things) with much less practice. It does often take a lot of hard work to get very good at something, and I think it's that drive to get to the ultimate level of "expert" that makes people very successful along their journey to the top. As we know, most people give up or get burnt out before they ever get there. Actually, I think that no one ever actually gets there completely, and this is something that people who give up don't realize. There is alway room for improvement. No one is perfect. You cannot allow yourself to be a complete perfectionist or you will drive yourself crazy, yet you should always try to move in the direction of perfection. A great fiction read that contains some related philosophy is Shibumi by Trevanian.

There are stages of learing that we travel through along the way. While on that journey, I have to work hard, I have to take some extra time to make decisions, I have to try to think about the right things, and I have to perservere. Eventually, things will come together and there will be a feeling of hightened awareness, freedom for creative thoughts, and an overall sense of "flow" in the game. Until then...............

I just lost an entry that I spent about 20 min typing......HYCHACHACHACHACHA!!!!!

Anyway cliffs notes on that: Going away tomorrow for Thankgiving holiday.

Food, family, hunting.

Back on Sunday.

November has been a bit swingy.

Working on game increases variance.

Several coolers don't help either.

Coaching group is awesome.

Excited about working on game more upon return from trip.

Graph for November:

Would like to get back to graphs like these (July 07):

So I had a little prop bet with my girlfriend about the finally of The Bachelor tonight. Yeah, it's kind of gay that I've been watching it, but it is kind of entertaining and I've been doing well with prop bets on it. So the bet was on who he would choose in the end. My pic was DeAnna and hers was Jenni. If I won she had to make me a huge lasagna dinner, and if she won I had to make her a nice steak dinner (filet mignon, per her request).

When it got to the end, Jenni was up to talk with Brad first. He ended up telling her "goodbye" and I was like "Ship the lasagna!!"

Well, as some of you know (admit it, some of you watched it), when DeAnna talked to Brad he kicked her to the curb as well. WTF?? So not only do I get a totally anti-climactic ending to this damn show I've been watching for weeks, but I don't get my lasagna dinner any time in the near future. Damn you Brad and your empty heart!!

I've been doing a lot of thinking about poker lately and have been taking a close look at my game. Over the past year, I have pretty a fairly solid winning player and have moved from $25NL to $200NL. All this time, though, I have played basically the same 19/14 TAG style. Sure, I've made some small adjustments here and there, but I have played a very similar style for a long time. If I was doing well and able to move up, why would I want to do anything different?

Well, I think not changing things up in your game is probably a major error that a lot of players make. People easily become complacent when things are going ok, and are afraid to make any changes. The problem is: DOING OK SHOULD NOT BE GOOD ENOUGH, AND YOU HAVE TO TAKE RISKS IF YOU WANT TO REAP REWARDS. My 19/14 style will probably get me crushed in a lot of higher stakes games, and even if I do win, I will probably not win the maximum I could.

I think a big key to long-term success at poker is never being satisfied. Is 3bb/100 good enough? Hell no! What about 5bb/100? I don't think it should be. Higher? Many people think that win rates much higher then5-8bb/100 are not sustainable. I think higher rates just might be possible. Many physiologists thought that it was impossible for any human to run the mile in under 4 minutes, but once Roger Bannister did it, people started doing it left and right. It takes a lot of determination and will to try to do things that most people haven't done, and a major reason people find themselves at the top (in any area) is that they don't let themselves be satisfied very easily. Yes, there are people for which things come easily, but I would argue that very few people get to the top on talent alone.

Why do card players have such a hard time changing their games? I think one reason might be a fear of losing. Often, when we make changes to our games, concepts will be misapplied, things won't always work out as they should, and we will lose money. Thus we get negative reinforcement from doing the things that will help us in the long run, and we give up. It can be scary at first to try high variance plays like pushing big draws, 3 and 4-betting light, and making thin value bets on the river, but we have to overcome the fear of losing if we want to apply these and other things correctly.

I think you also have to be innovative. It seems like a lot of advanced (or even standard) plays trickle down from the high stakes games. The biggest winners in the high stakes have to constantly come up with new ways to beat their opponents or they will fall behind. They have to be innovative if they want to maintain success. It's basic survival of the fittest. If you constantly use the same plays that have trickled down from the creative high stakes players, what are you going to do when you find yourself in a high stakes game with players who already know how to adjust to your tricks? (This leads to a whole other discussion about hitting a ceiling in stakes, but we won't tackle that now)

Top players like GP, Aba, CTS, and others seem to be very innovative. I'll use CTS as an example: He mentioned in one of his videos that he tried raising every button for a while. He said that it didn't work out very well, but that he gained valuable experience playing on tricky situations as a result. I also recently read an old blog post by CTS on trying different 3-4 betting styles, which contains a lot of interesting stuff (cts687.livejournal.com/#cts68714591). It's coming up with new and creative ideas like this, and trying them out, that will keep these players at the top.

The point of all this is that you have to never be statisfied with your game, and always be looking for ways improve. You also have to overcome the fear that comes with trying new things. How do you do this? I haven't come up with a complete list yet, but I think that a few good things to try are as follows:

1. Do a lot of thinking about your game, and do in depth analysis of yourself. This is obvious. You are not going to come up with new ideas or ways to improve, if you don't try.

2. Surround yourself with others who share your same desire to improve and also think about the game. If you try to do everything yourself, you will probably end up spinning in circles. You need to share your ideas with others and have them share things with you.

3. Gradually work new things into your game. If you make very large changes, often the results turn out negatively and you give up before they have a chance to succeed.

4. Don't be afraid to drop something if it is not working. Some things just won't work out as you thought they would. If you give something a good shot, and realize it is not working out for you, it may be best to move on to something else. Don't constantly shoot yourself in the foot by hanging on to bad habbits.

5. Move down in stakes to ease the transition. If you are afraid of losing money by trying new things, move down to where it doesn't hurt so much to lose. Seems simpe, but some people don't like to move down for any reason. It is for your long term success. DO IT!!

Wow, this turned out long. Anyway, I mainly wrote this for myself and my fellow coaching group players, but if any of you have things to add feel free to comment.

Fast-playing, the new slow-playing (actually kind of old now I guess, lol):

Hand 1: http://www.pokerhand.org/?1695049

This guy was pretty aggressive, so I'm 99.99% sure my set is the nuts on the turn. The way he played it I was pretty convinced he had a smaller set. He almost never has AQ or Q9 here, but if he does I'm going to have to go broke. What do I do on this turn? Value-shove all day long!!

Hand 2: http://www.pokerhand.org/?1695083

I had been beating on this guy for a while, and I think he was pretty tilted. When he mini-raised the flop, I though he was pretty strong so I 3-bet expecting a call or shove. He was pretty committed at that point, but I felt like a small bet would induce a shove. Worked like a jedi mind trick :)

Hand 3: http://www.pokerhand.org/?1695114

I think this guy is blocking the turn with a weak made hand or draw, so I raise pot and he folds pretty quickly.

Spew hand of the day: http://www.pokerhand.org/?1695135

This guy was a loose/passive fish, although I didn't have that read yet as is was early in the session. When he bets this turn so strong I think it's an easy fold, yet I still went "WTF, I have an overpair, I'm going all-in!" Dumb. I partly blame this on not giving $50NL players very much credit. I will not be so quick to make such assumptions in the future. At least later in the session I learned that this guy would lead all of his decent made hands, which I was able to exploit for about half of a stack back.

Here are stats from my session yesterday on FTP $50NL. No play today, as it's my girlfriend's birthday and we have a bunch of stuff going on. I had a fun pot for like 360bb in this session. I'll try to post that later sometime.

I played a few sessions after the first few group lessons w/verneer. I have been playing about 19/13, and I've really been working on getting my pf raise closer to my vpip, as well as loosening up a little overall. I played a little more LAG than I had planned, but I think this was partly due to running good. I was really focused on opening up in the CO and on the Button. I also worked on finding some spots to 3-bet light, and being more aggressive on later streets. I felt pretty good about the adjustments, and it didn't hurt that I ran goot. One session was 4-tabling $50NL on FTP, and the other was 4-tabling $200NL on UB. Here are the combined stats from those sessions:

Standard into stuff: My name is Matt, I'm 28, live in Tampa, FL, and I play poker and do private fitness coaching.

I'm starting this blog mainly because I was recently accepted into verneer's coaching group, and this is a way for all involved to keep tabs on eachother's progress and whatnot. I think, in general though, that blogging is a great tool for improving your game. I have kept a poker journal since 2005, when I kind of started working on my game, and I think writing down your thoughts on different aspects of the game is really helpful. It will be great to now be getting some feedback from other thinking players on my personal thoughts, and I will enjoy seeing others in the group progress through their own blogs.

I'm really excited about this coaching group. I have been playing for about 3 years so far, yet have never really connected with many other successful poker players. Most of the players that I used to talk to about poker, have given up on taking the game seriously and trying to win. I think there is a ton of value in connecting with sharp, motivated people, with similar goals, and I'm very glad to be a part of this.

Like I said, I've been playing for about 3 years so far, but I didn't get real serious about working on my NL game until Sept 06 when I joined Cardrunners. Prior to that, I went back and forth a few times from NL to limit and experimented with some other games as well. Just prior to joining Cardrunners, I spent almost year casino-bonus-whoring. Those were good times. So much easy money. When that started to dry up, I went back to focusing on poker. Prior to joining CR, I think I made about $3K from play. Since joining CR, my play has improved by leaps and bounds.

I'm still not where I would like to be though, which is one reason I wanted to join verneer's coaching group. I also just love learning about the game. A great thing about poker is that you can never know everything about it. It is a game of incomplete information, and there are always new opponents and different situations to adapt to. I think that it will always present a challenge to me, and I love that about it. I get bored if I no longer find things challenging, and I think if poker ever gets that way for me I will have to move on.

I currently spend most of my time playing $200NL on Ultimate Bet. I also plan to spend some time building my roll at Full Tilt. I'm currently rolled for $50NL on FTP, and would like to build up to a roll for $200NL there. Overall, I would like to be up to and beating $400NL within 6 months. I'm almost rolled for it on UB, and will probably be taking some shots before this coaching program is over.

I've been focusing recently on some technical aspects of my play. The main things I think I need work on are: loosening up more in position, tightening up more OOP, 3-betting light, being more aggressive on later streets, blind vs blind play, and bet-sizing according to opponent's ranges. On the non-technical side, I need to work on self management stuff like: quitting when losing focus, controlling tilt, and not thinking too deeply against non-thinking players. So, those are kind of the main things I'm looking at right now. I'm sure this coaching program will bring some other things to light as well.

Below are my stats since joining Cardrunners. I don't have my stats prior to these, but even though I made about $3K, I'm sure they were kind of ugly. Anyway, I'm looking forward to posting all kinds of stuff in here and hearing from others. Take care.