Nutty Cash

Okkkk I just finished reading an awesome book on Poker 'Leatherass' by the ultimate cash game grinder (he has played like 7 million hands lol). It explains a lot about the elements that surround poker aswell as a few tips on strategy, mainly bankroll management and respecting your poker career as a business to minimize the risk of bankruptcy I guess.

Back on the MTT's now that the month has ended, I seem to be putting a lot of hours in (which isn't too much of a problem because I haven't much else to do at the moment) - Usually playing a MTT session (4-5 hours), then a short break and an epic Cash session (4-5 hours also). However those hours do include breaks inbetween and studying, e.g. I spent only 3 hours playing cash today (made 100 bucks woohoo) and then another 2 hours reading Leatherass and reviewing my hands in Hold Em Manager.

I finally feel like I have filtered out about 90% of my mistakes in cash, and for the last 10 hours or so I have consistently made a profit per hour of average 15-20 bucks per hour playing 8 tables at 10:25. Very happy with this..altho granted it took me about 100 hours and 35000 hands to get to it (lol), however I'm confident it is a good long term investment and will hopefully reap the rewards for the rest of my Poker Career. However I still want to invest in Leak Buster to see how I can optmize my game....I love stats. I'm also thinking of moving up to 10 tables as I'm usually bored between hands and often have to entertain myself by replaying hand historys and putting notes on people, or I chat on IM/open IE whatever which is not good because then it becomes a distraction!!!!!!!

It seems silly that you can play so many tables and not be entertained but if you can see every table (and hence plan ahead, can read the notes on people who have limped etc, check out their stats) it isn't too tricky. Once you have played so many hands most decisions become automatic and require only a small amount of processing...its only a small percentage that does, nightmare when 2 or 3 of them come in at the same time haha, smash up timebank! smash smash smash. MTTs are different because the environment is forever changing (blinds).

I'm looking forward to getting to 1000 nugs in my account (its on 400 now however I'm owed 100 from my bro and a fellow Pokerisk'er, and I took out 150 last week for my birthday lol and I'm also owed rakeback around 150 bucks also), and then I can finally play 25:50cent without worry. I figure it might take 2 or 3 attempts until I am actually profitably at that level (being very pesimistic tbh), however I can always drop down to the safe lower level if things go wrong to regroup!

On the sponsorship side, MTT's have been very fustrating - it's driving me nutty that there is such a big element of luck involved that you just cannot manage, I don't think I'm the most skilled player in every tournament but it seems like I can't cut a break lately! Consistently getting late and mini-cashing; feels like I'm either epically set up or can't win the inevitable showdowns at the final stages, its very annoying but I know I just gotta stick with it - it'll come good.

I was down about 1000 in 2 days this week, but won a small tournament today for 350 and 2nd in another for 100e, and urghhh bubbled 350$ worth of games today so bitter...(worst one where I'm going well in the 6 man 25e rebuy on Microgaming and small blind shoves all in preflop for just over half my stack, I call with KK and he shows K7 and hits a mofo straight, then a few hands later I bubbled with AK grrrrrrrrrrrr).

Anyway got to stick with it, it will be good if I can consistently make money from playing cash and then I can take more risks in the sponsored MTT bigger stake games, thus being win win for everyone. Pokerisk emailed me some interesting research from today which showed that I am lot more profitable in rebuy/deepstack than freezeout tournament (in fact freezeouts hardly profitable at all relative to rebuys/deepstacks). So the freezeouts are being chopped! Funnily enough the tourny I won today was a 25 buck deepstack.

I'm going to see the Pokerisk crew next week in Birmingham, should be fun.

Think I'm going to aim to update the blog every other sunday minimum (or by every other sunday), had a crazy weekend for my birthday and spent the week at Baba's so hardly got anything done..but at least one a fortnight is a good amont and realistic.

Here are some interesting points I learnt from cash (for Cash not for MTTs!!), in a very high level summary in case anyone is interested:

• Be super patient (easy on 8 tables haha - don't let bad beats or being outdrawn or consistently missing affect your play, it definately has less affect if your multitabling because the variance is lowered and also you just think...bitter oh well "next", "mina mina aces")
• Rarely slow play - take the pots that are rightfully yours as thats your money in the middle that your letting people have free cards to claim
  
• Rarely fish without premium odds / implied odds (make sure your the person charging the fish and not the fish! it's easy to get them mixed up lol and give up if you think the fish has hit, don't pay him off!!)
  
• Bet out when you hit and re raise draws (subject to opponent)
• Avoid check-raising as most people fold to it and are super suspicious (Use check-raise mainly for bluffing - people are a lot less suspicious of a bet out and it builds a pot quicker..e.g. you call in BB with 33 after button raises with JJ, flop is 378 you bet out he re raises = big pot with his cash and he think he is strongest and most likely willing to put more money in....same situation except you check raise and he becomes very sceptical about his JJ and most likely not to put more money in, and the pot is mainly your cash)...best to have your opponent as the aggresor when you have the stronger hand!
  
• Analyse every flop individually - figure out a list of hands they could be calling /raising with and determine from that list the chances of them improving on later streets and whether you need to charge them again or not with a value bet
  
• Dont defend blinds...it aint worth it, only call if valued in or if you have a strong hand
• In the absence of information on opponent - always value bet and rarely bluff!
• Game selection (fish on right, tight players on left), try and get in a lot of hands with the weaker players and avoid hands with the stronger players. As with woman, if you don't like the situation just get up and leave, go find a better one...plenty more fish in the sea
  
• Position (basically never play out of position) - Fold small pairs pre unless good position
• Bank roll management - read leatherass ;)
  
• Make detailed notes on opponents, figure them out and try to understand how they are thinking (why did they bet here? are they capable of doing a river 'value bet' bluff? if not would could they have to be value betting with?)
• Use stats to back up assumptions (e.g. I think he could be 3-betting light here, stats say he has 3-bet 20% of time out of 50 hands in the small blind, so 4-bet the mug!)
• Review/study hands after every session, you can use Hold Em Manager to mark hands very easily (just click on the hand then click the tick box), then you can select "show marked hands only" in Hold Em Manager when your reviewing your hands later, better than bimbling trying to replay the hand when your in 8 tables and seeing where it all went nutty. Good to play the hands back through and especially with someone else who is clued up watching to discuss
  

There is so much I could write about cash since the last month's work, I could probably populate a book on it - I guess we will see what happens over the next 10-20k hands to see whether I've learnt anything useful lol

I also just downloaded loads of books to read over the next few months (useful links provided from the Pokerisk site), so this should help towards my goal of studying for 5 hours ever week.

However...its 7am and I need to walk the dog (or the dog needs to walk me)

I love plansssssssss

Bimble Bimble

So after a review of my appoach to poker (more than just a plan post), I had a scout for the optimal time I can play plans - and with the best conditions.

It seems like at the moment (cos I'm at my parents house) the best time is late at night when they have gone to bed....which isn't very social hours but suits the needs must best. So I have been starting at about 10:30-11pm and finishing around 5am for the last few days - either sleeping or just bimbling in the day.

It has turned out pretty well so far, I've been really happy with my play. For my sponsored accounts I made 100 bucks 2 nights ago and last over 1000 bucks where I came 3rd in the 25e rebuy for 900e, making up for my bad weekend at Baba's lol.

Funny though, because I played 4 games last night. 30 buck doublestack, 25e rebuy, 55e freezeout and 50 buck freezeout (sticking to the plan no more than 4 games). Within 5 minutes I was out of two games...I shoved all in first hand on the 50 buck preflop with AA after a few limpers trying to represent a mad gambler and AT called (awesome result ), obviously he hit a 4 carded flush and knocked me out, 90% plays 10% although I'm sure I get mugged more than 1 in 10 times lol - I guess better to get mugged off 1 second into the game that 1 hour in.

The 55e I reshoved all in preflop with AK vs a weak raise and the guy called with A5...then he hit a 5 so I went out (about 5 minutes in, oh my days thought it was going to be a short night)

However the 30 buck double stack I made final table (7th) for around 170 nugs which covered my buy ins (always a treat).

And the 25e rebuy 6 seater, which I seem to be running well in at the moment (I made a post about it a few days ago regarding mentors, KJ vs TJcc and again came last 12 in it yesterday for 180e), I came 3rd and with top pair vs a straight draw..so bitter as 3rd 900e, 2nd 1500e, 1st 2300e.......bitttttttttteeeeeeeeerrrrr I sharkscoped the other 2 aswell and they had rubbish stats.

Think I'm about 3.5k up for month now on my sponsored accounts (so glad I reviewed my standings and recovered my bad weekend at baba's) and still got a 200 ticket to use.

For my own accounts I just been playing cash with premium rakeback and bonus on full tilt. I don't have much money so my account had only a starting bank roll of 100 nugs, and I began playing only playing 2 tables at 10:25 cent blinds. Now it has moved up to 350 nugs due to grinding the tables and I usually do 4 or 6 tables at 10:25 cents - however when I get to 500 nugs bankroll I'm going to start playing 4 table 25:50 cent blinds (500 nugs equates to 10 buy ins at 50 nugs which is a 100 big blinds).

It's good to have a mix of cash and MTT them you can use the advantages of both relative to the time you have. E.g. cash you can start and finish whenever you want, MTT's you need to have 5 hours spare ahead.

Mitigating Loses without Comprising Value

Here's an interesting poker hand I thought I would write about:

It was from earlier tonight when I was playing cash on Full Tilt, I was sat at 4 tables during this hand all 0.25c BB stakes:

Fortunately I use Hold'Em Manager now (awesome tool highly recommended) so I can give the exact details of the hand using the Hold'Em Manger replayer; usually I write hands from memory so some details are blurry - although granted I think I have a good talent for remembering poker hands! ;)

So we are in an 8 man Cash table, small blind 0.10c and big blind 0.25c

I started on $25 and have worked up to $46.89 after about an hours play (currently on 4 separate tabs)

It folds round to me and I do my standard raise of 0.85c on the cut off with 67cc. I have a tight table and raising with hands like 67cc is good for a long list of reasons....to ensure I get paid of when I do have a premium hand, to hit a disguised monster on the flop for a premium payday, to take advantage of position, etc. etc.

A tight player on the button with $28.89 re raises to $2.50 dollars and the small/big blind fold.

I'm very confident at this point that he has a top 5 holding, minimum JJ or AQ, but most likely AK / KK / AA. He has been very tight and a straight forward player.

Folding here is not a bad option, 67cc is not a great holding and is probably about 20-25% vs AA? But it is a very easy hand to fold post flop, whereas AA is not. So if I don't hit a big hand I can easily fold, whereas if I do hit a big hand then I doubt he can easily fold (hence implied odds). At this moment in time I expect I have a much better read on his hand, than him on mine. Just as importantly, we are both deepstacked relative to the blinds, so I elect to call and hope for a fishy flop for a big payday.

The flop brings 8KQ, all clubs.

I check my made flush, expecting him to bet out his top 5 hand and then I can re-raise him all in. Betting out myself would also be a good play as it is highly likely he will re raise which aligns with our objective (to get all the chips in the middle) - it's generally bad practise to slow play out of position.

He bets out the pot, $5.35 leaving $21 behind and I instantly go all-in (which covers his stack) knowing he has a high pair that he won't fold.

He calls and shows AA, with the ace of clubs included

The turn brings J clubs to give him a higher flush....so I lose the pot.

Seem's like a pretty straight forward mug-off, and the play cannot be faulted (got all my chips in ahead and it's a cash game so losing all the chips is not an issue, in a MTT it might not be worth the risk as you can't rebuy into the tournament).

However, although a good play - it could have been changed into an excellent play (and in the process potentially saved me $20)

Instead of re raising all in on the flop, I could have just called to the see the turn and then if another club card came (and if he continued betting with strength) folded accordingly. This strategy only has two flaws which are:

1) It allows him the opportunity to bluff me if another club card appears on the turn. If he bets into the turn representing a high club I would have to fold (although I don't think this would be an issue as I did not believe the player to be capable of making such a bluff)

2) If the turn card brings a club and he doesn't have a club card, he might not put any more chips into the pot that he would have put it on the flop, impacting our potential profits

However in both of the 2 scenarios listed above, I do not lose the additional $20 he has behind.

If the same scenario occurs, and I just call his bet on the flop as above - except this time the turn card is not a club, then in most cases he would still raise or call an all in bet with his premium hand AA KK AK (which we are sure he has - it's very doubtful he knows out holding).

In which case, I have a 2x more chance of winning (or more accurately 1/2 chance of losing) because the turn card is not a club. He only has 1 chance to hit a club, which is on the river - not 2 chances, which would be on the turn or the river.

So by just calling the flop bet and not re-raising all in, I change my options from:

Winning his whole stack or losing his stack 31.5% of the time (chances of a club on the turn or the river), to

Winning his whole stack, losing only my flop bet or losing his stack 16% of the time (chances of a club on the river)

*Assuming the amount of times he bluffs into a club on the turn and the amount times he checks down a club on the turn are equal and don't impact the hand

Obviously the latter being a lot more profitable (or seeing as we are always getting mugged off, a lot less expensive).

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Similiar situations to this occur very often in Poker and are often overlooked / disregarded, for this play to be effective it has to be complemented with a solid read on the opponent (in this case it was quite obviously he had a big hand).

Another major factor that should be considered when faced with a situation like this is the position in the hand, if you will have to act first or last after the next card.

In this scenario I was out of position, which gave me the disadvantage and allowed more justification for re-raising all in on the flop (takes away the disadvantage of being out of position because there are no more actions to take place after a player has gone all in) - the top players are always aware of their position on the table and who will act in front/behind them when the cards drop, this has major influence in the choice of which cards they will play and which they won't - worth considering!

So hopefully this is a lesson learnt and next time we will able to lower the risk of being outdrawn, without comprimising our premium value ;)

back to the plans

More than just a Plan

I'm sure there is a lot more to being successful at poker than just being a good poker player. There are a lot of factors that influence a player's performance and, as with any activity, the performance can be affected by the surrounding environment. I'm always open to new ways of improving my game, even if not directly linked to the Poker game itself.

After a harsh day at the tables today (about 700 down in MTTs on my sponsored accounts and my laptop broken sigh - although about 100 up in cash on my own account is a bit of relief), I took some time out to review my playing environment and professional strategy. It is always a good idea to review the current situation after a bad spell (even if you have just had a mug off day or week) in case your missing something important, and on a personal level, it also re-inspires me to play poker.

So after various discussions with Baba, Kam and Iz, I decided to start by making a basic list of requirements for my preferred (and I think optimal) poker playing conditions:

Dual Displays:
Dual display is key when multi-tabling. It allows you to be able to see everything at the same time as well as (if required) have programmes such as MSN open without intefering or overlapping your games. If you can see all your games it is a lot easier to concentrate, more relaxing to play and hence easier make decisions - having games overlap and flash up on top of each other causes a disorganised and rushed environment which affects the amount of information you can process and the way your brain processes it.

Reliable and High Performance Hardware/Software:
A high quality specification computer and reliable internet provided, with a back up of both in case there are any technical difficulties. Poker is hard enough by itself; additional technical problems, internet delays and computer performance issues are an unnecessary burden that should not affect playing!

Quiet and Comfortable Environment:
A quiet and comfortable location to play is important, as it should be with any work that requires high levels of concentration. It is very easy to get distracted when playing poker - especially if there is not much action on the tables or a game is in the early stages. However it is imperative to stay focused in the games being played, otherwise valuable information is missed. Often when not focused, players revert to just playing the own hole cards without much regard for the surrounding factors such as blind sizes, stack sizes, oppenant playing styles, table dynamics, etc. etc. Poker players definately perform best when they are "in the zone" and are very aware of the table and it's players, it's easier to get "in the zone" in a quiet and comfortable environment.

Regular Intervals:
It's not possible to perform consistently at your highest performance level over long periods of time, regular breaks are required. This could be a break every 2 hours from the screen and also a day or two's break (e.g. every week) to empty the thoughts of playing Poker and give the player some time off to relax.

Well Nourished and Rested:
A good result almost always follows a good nights sleep and a good meal. As with any other activity, plenty of sleep and a decent diet is required to ensure top performance.

Nice simple list of requirements.

*When I stayed at my parents house last week, whilst they were on holiday, all of above were requirements were met and I finished the week nearly 4k up!

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Next I made a list of ideas that could improve the way I manage my Poker playing:

Organisation and Time Management:
Playing poker/studying poker/having time off / regularly update blog

Game Selection and Bankroll Management:
Additional bank account (just for poker) / playing stakes relative to amount of cash available / optimising the sponsorship accounts

Avoiding Negative Emotions:
It is easy to think the whole world is against you when playing poker - especially if you have had a few moments of bad luck, or are fustrated with a mistake. However what makes the Poker game interesting, potentially profitable and fun is the element of luck and if your on the wrong end of it...Suck it up soldier and move on! Cos your a pro and have seen it a million times. If you make a mistake, you review it, discuss it, analyse it, and move on knowing that next time in a similiar situation you will be better prepared and more confident. Try this for a day...don't tell anyone about any of your bad beats (in fact just pretend none of them ever happened)!

And finally, with the above in mind; I have made a list of objectives that are realistic and achievable with hard work and discipline:

Financial Objectives:
Short Term (3 months):
Payoff Credit Card: £4K

Long Term (6 months+):
Rent own pad (incl deposit & 3 months rent): £2K
Build own bankroll (low stakes): £1K
Buy new PC / Desk / Display: £1K
Payoff Sultan Mates: £3.5K (sorry guys bottom priority! however if any of you need the money back please let me know ASAP and I will make sure you get it, I have means to do so it won't be a problem for me!)

Although it seems to make more sense to invest in a professional set up and have my own bankroll available before paying of my debt so that I can make more money to pay of the debt (left my locker key in the locker/chicken or egg paradox...), after discussing with my mentor and friends I have decided that my primary objective should be to pay off the credit card debt.

Once the debt is payed I can play poker without this burden on my shoulders and have some means of funds available if required.

However, I do have a small bankroll of just over 400$ in my Full Tilt Poker account (which has another 100$ pending from rakeback), simply because I am addicted to plans and as soon as I got paid last month I put a 100 bucks in there lol - especially after having invested 80 nugs in Hold Em Manager and spending so much time researching into Cash games.

I was reading today online (and also in Letherass) that I should not play any higher stakes than 10:25c Cash games with this bankroll of 400$....which ironically is the limit I started at to get to $400 lol (I originally put 100$ in) and the advice also states that if I get to $1000 dollars then I will have enough bankroll to consider playing 25:50c Cash games.

However when I make it to $1000 I will re-review and decide at the time whether I want to move up to 25:50c, or cash out 600$ and keep playing 10:25c

Cash has been going quite well, you can use Hold Em manager to see your EV (basically how much profit or loss you would have if the element of "luck" was perfectly fair). I've been playing after hours once my parents have gone to bed (like 3am to 6am when my MTT's are all finished), so that I can use their monitor and play without distractions. With the second display I'm comfortable playing 8 games at the same time...I'd like to try more but that would require additional real estate (i.e. another monitor), although I doubt many more than 8 would be profitable as I would not be able to give each table enough attention.

Anyway thats the financial objectives, here are the (minimum) Poker objectives:

Poker Objectives:
5 MTT sessions per week, each MTT session usually lasts around 6 hours (on sponsored accounts)
2 Cash sessions per week (on own accounts)
30 Mins per session (before or after, or 15 min before, 15 min after) to review results - exit hands, big pots, etc.
5 Hours study a week, forums, articles, books, mentor sessions
1 Blog update a week

Personally I reckon I can do 1.5x the above [no sweat;)] but anyway that's a good baseline and something realistic and fair to work with. I've written these objectives down in my personal poker book so I will see them everytime it is opened (which is very regularly!)

So, looking forward to starting - I'll probably write my first (1 per week) blog post about the progress!

plans plans plans plans plans plans plans plans plans plans

Nutty days as a sponsored pro

first month 1.5k up

second month 2.6k up

third month 2.6k up

fourth month (so far)...

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what another nutty day

spent all day playing (4pm to 4am)

finished 300 up - was 600 down at one point (obv was still in games tho). Cashed in loads of stuff, and lots of late positions but no epic premium cash, closest was:

200e in the 55e fo (5th) went out tj vs ak but fair enuff grr,

250e in the 20e fo (4th), was looking awesome then lost AT vs KT for 100k pot mugged! (i raise sb he shoves bb i call - awesome call punished!) then won AQ vs KQ to get back to 50k, then lost AJ vs TT for another 100k pot grrr and out

and 550$ in the 50 buck ds (3rd) - me and cl were basically same stack 3 handed other guy low, then i got a2 button, raised pre and other big stack re raised, i called.

flop 225 (euphoria) he bet flop I call, 6 turn, he bet I call, J river he shove I call...not really thinking what he had lol obv the pot was epic now anyway never folding - there was 2 clubs on flop so i was just calling behind all the way to pretend i had fd and praying it wudnt come in and slow him down lol .

He had 66 in hand. sick. had alrdy loaded my pants, as other guy was so low - basically the winner of that pot was gtd fist place which was 1.3k.

bitter however i also won a 200 ticket and a 50 ticket so i guess technically 550 up (200 ticket, game is 50k for first mina mina)

anyway this month im about 3.2k + got 2 tickets, up for month so far (1 week in lol). nutty

intending to update blog regularly now (current post rough to be edited)