It all started when I was at the worst point of the biggest downswing I've ever gone through (10+ buy-ins at NL10), with just $35 left after having been sucked out on (again) twice already in a span of 1 hour when I was favored 3to1. Sick of all this bullshit, I decided to give up on poker, and decided to finish myself off by playing/*moving up* to NL25.
NL25, a level which I have never previously beaten. Hell, a level which I've never been "UP", ever. It seems everytime I've played this level I start losing right away.
NL25, with just 1.5 buyins. Very nice.
Anyway, I've resigned myself to my fate, and wondered how long before I can finally drain my bankroll to $0. I'd put the over-under at probably at 1.5 hours. Let's see...
20 minutes in, I get into a big pot with a medium stack and surprisingly, my hand holds up. Okay, so maybe it might take me 2 hours. Over wins.
30 minutes later, I get into another big pot with a medium stack once again. And again, the poker gods shone a ray of light on the random number generator and my hand help up once again. When I finally left the table, I was up 2 buyins, bringing my bankroll up again to just under $80. I told myself what the hell, I'd call it a night, and play again tomorrow, staying at the NL25 until I go broke.
That was 3 weeks ago.
Poker is like a girl who wears slutty clothes but won't put out. She'll show you enough to keep you interested, she'll be friendly enough to let you think about the possibilities, but all that is just so she can turn down our busted asses broke. I HAVEN'T HAD A LOSING DAY IN 3 WEEKS! One tabling the NL25 all these weeks has left me with a bankroll of about $250. (You can see that I don't play that often).
Some days I win $5, some days I $35, last night I won $2. But the fact is I'm winning again, against all odds, against all rational explanation, against all that is possible, I'm winning again when I shouldn't. I'm playing scared money for crying out loud!! Shitty too. I raise JJ preflop and I'm reraised big? Fold. 7-4 in the big blind and the flop is 7 high? Check fold the flop. Small blind and everyone folds to me? Fold as well.
I'm still SEVERELY underolled for my level (just 10 buyins), but at this point I don't care anymore about playing correctly. I'll just keep chugging along in this manner for the time being until I reach disaster once again.
Of course, now that I've written about it, I've just jinxed myself and the disaster will be coming to me soon.
Tuesday, December 4, 2007
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Reality Bites
And the reality is I'm a losing player.
Sucks, the truth hurts and all that, but I just gotta accept it. I gotta accept the fact that I'll never make any money from this game. I should stick to playing it because I enjoy it and I just love playing poker, but never expect to win.
Sigh.
Sucks, the truth hurts and all that, but I just gotta accept it. I gotta accept the fact that I'll never make any money from this game. I should stick to playing it because I enjoy it and I just love playing poker, but never expect to win.
Sigh.
Thursday, October 18, 2007
Reflections
I've been trying to analyze why I suck so much lately and here's a few things I've noticed about my game.
1. I suck so hard preflop
I'm a preflop pussy. I'd never raise anything but Pocket Jacks and up, and would fold anything else to an average preflop raise by someone else. Yes, I'd fold AK to a preflop raise of 3 or times the blinds, all in the name of "trying to lessen my variance", which I've always thought was a good thing. This is also why I always used to play the 6max tables instead of FR, my reasoning being that in 6max I don't need to raise since with less players the need for preflop raising is less as well. What an idiot I am.
As for lessening my variance, that's a big mistake to begin with. I read something about this on 2+2 which hit me pretty hard. It states The best players don't try to avoid or lessen their variance. the best players simply don't even care about the variance." If you're playing correctly like you should, variance is just what it is, a short term spike in luck. Over the long run variance disappears anyway and your true results will be evident, which makes worrying about it stupid and worthless.
2. Repeat after me: Bankroll, bankroll, bankroll...
Of course, I need to actually be able to reach the long term first. That means having a bankroll that can withstand the variance. I, in my everlasting intelligence, decided to start playing 25NL with a bankroll of around only $250. With just 10 buy-ins, I had to play carefully and avoid too much gambling. This also relates to my 1st point where I was trying to avoid variance. And as any knowledgeable player will tell you, if you're playing with scared money you might as well give it all up right now and stop wasting time, you're going to lose it all eventually anyway.
3. Short stacks should only happen in tournaments
With my bankroll not large enough for the stakes I was playing, I had to make things worse by starting to buy-in short. I resorted to hit and run tactics, I bought in for $7 or $8 at 25NL, looked to double up, then moved to a different table, rinse, and repeat.
Short stacking is bad for a variety of reasons. First, I was negating my advantage and playing to my disadvantage. I've already said I suck at preflop poker, but it didn't bother me too much before because I think I'm above average postflop. Postflop, I know can generally make the right decisions, even get away from a big hand if I sense I'm beat. With shorstacking, I'm looking to gamble preflop to double up quickly or bust, so my advantages were reduced to nil.
Also, as a shortstack I can't put too much pressure on my opponents, my bets have no leverage whatsoever. I noticed that when I play for the max buy-in, I prefer to have shortstacks opponents instead of other big stacks. I find it easier to make decisions against them, plus there's a certain satisfaction that comes with busting someone. Knowing all this I still tried to play a shortstack for a significant amount of time. What. The. Fuck.
I'm trying to correct all 3 above, but it will take some time. I've dropped back to 10NL, now always starting with a full buy-in, and raising and calling preflop more. Last night I made it a rule where if I'm the first one in the pot, I'm raising it if I decide to play. No more open limping, if at all possible. Of course I'll have to refine that again and again, but it's a good start. It's a long, very hard road from where I am right now to where I want to be.
1. I suck so hard preflop
I'm a preflop pussy. I'd never raise anything but Pocket Jacks and up, and would fold anything else to an average preflop raise by someone else. Yes, I'd fold AK to a preflop raise of 3 or times the blinds, all in the name of "trying to lessen my variance", which I've always thought was a good thing. This is also why I always used to play the 6max tables instead of FR, my reasoning being that in 6max I don't need to raise since with less players the need for preflop raising is less as well. What an idiot I am.
As for lessening my variance, that's a big mistake to begin with. I read something about this on 2+2 which hit me pretty hard. It states The best players don't try to avoid or lessen their variance. the best players simply don't even care about the variance." If you're playing correctly like you should, variance is just what it is, a short term spike in luck. Over the long run variance disappears anyway and your true results will be evident, which makes worrying about it stupid and worthless.
2. Repeat after me: Bankroll, bankroll, bankroll...
Of course, I need to actually be able to reach the long term first. That means having a bankroll that can withstand the variance. I, in my everlasting intelligence, decided to start playing 25NL with a bankroll of around only $250. With just 10 buy-ins, I had to play carefully and avoid too much gambling. This also relates to my 1st point where I was trying to avoid variance. And as any knowledgeable player will tell you, if you're playing with scared money you might as well give it all up right now and stop wasting time, you're going to lose it all eventually anyway.
3. Short stacks should only happen in tournaments
With my bankroll not large enough for the stakes I was playing, I had to make things worse by starting to buy-in short. I resorted to hit and run tactics, I bought in for $7 or $8 at 25NL, looked to double up, then moved to a different table, rinse, and repeat.
Short stacking is bad for a variety of reasons. First, I was negating my advantage and playing to my disadvantage. I've already said I suck at preflop poker, but it didn't bother me too much before because I think I'm above average postflop. Postflop, I know can generally make the right decisions, even get away from a big hand if I sense I'm beat. With shorstacking, I'm looking to gamble preflop to double up quickly or bust, so my advantages were reduced to nil.
Also, as a shortstack I can't put too much pressure on my opponents, my bets have no leverage whatsoever. I noticed that when I play for the max buy-in, I prefer to have shortstacks opponents instead of other big stacks. I find it easier to make decisions against them, plus there's a certain satisfaction that comes with busting someone. Knowing all this I still tried to play a shortstack for a significant amount of time. What. The. Fuck.
I'm trying to correct all 3 above, but it will take some time. I've dropped back to 10NL, now always starting with a full buy-in, and raising and calling preflop more. Last night I made it a rule where if I'm the first one in the pot, I'm raising it if I decide to play. No more open limping, if at all possible. Of course I'll have to refine that again and again, but it's a good start. It's a long, very hard road from where I am right now to where I want to be.
Getting More Fishy as Time Goes By
Ok, so I'm playing really bad, and I'm on a downswing. Admittedly it's more of the former, but they're a really bad combination to be in. Last night I lost 2 buy-ins playing 10NL at UB. In the first one I open raised to 3xBB from middle position with AJ offsuit, everyone folds to the BB who min-raises, and I call. We both have somewhere around $8-$9. Flop came AJ5 rainbow, BB checks, I bet 2/3 the pot and he calls. Turn comes a 10, he checks again. I bet half the pot and he min-reraises. Feeling commited I move all in and he shows me KQ for the straight. Dammit.
2nd time, I get 44 middle position and limp along with almost everyone else. Flop is a beauty with 10-8-4 rainbow. BB raises pot, I reraise him 2.5 times his bet, and he moves all in. I call and he shows KK. Turn? K. River? K. Dammit.
A couple of things to note. I'm trying to bonus whore and moved most of the bankroll to Ultimate Bet to take advantage of rakeback and the 111% first deposit bonus. After I claim this I plan to keep on moving my bankroll around to claim as many bonuses as I can. Of course, the flaw in this plan is that I need to avoid busting and and at least break even playing the tables for the bonuses to make any difference. With the way I've been playing the last few weeks, it's starting to come into doubt.
I've also moved back down to 10NL. I just simply had my ass handed back to me in pieces when I tried 25NL. I lost $100 in the 2 weeks, cutting my bankroll almost in half when combined with the $50 I cashed out. I'll have to rebuild at 10NL for the meantime before I try moving up again, and next time I'm going to do it right.
To make matters worse, I've lost another 2k playing at the Metro. I'm just playing so bad it's getting embarrassing. I'm starting to think that the players' eyes light up when I sit at the tables as they think I'm going to be "easy money", and I can't blame them. Sigh.
I read somewhere that until you've reached a point where you really, really, really hate this game, well, you just haven't played enough poker. I'm starting to reach that point now. Ah well, hope I can snap out of this.
2nd time, I get 44 middle position and limp along with almost everyone else. Flop is a beauty with 10-8-4 rainbow. BB raises pot, I reraise him 2.5 times his bet, and he moves all in. I call and he shows KK. Turn? K. River? K. Dammit.
A couple of things to note. I'm trying to bonus whore and moved most of the bankroll to Ultimate Bet to take advantage of rakeback and the 111% first deposit bonus. After I claim this I plan to keep on moving my bankroll around to claim as many bonuses as I can. Of course, the flaw in this plan is that I need to avoid busting and and at least break even playing the tables for the bonuses to make any difference. With the way I've been playing the last few weeks, it's starting to come into doubt.
I've also moved back down to 10NL. I just simply had my ass handed back to me in pieces when I tried 25NL. I lost $100 in the 2 weeks, cutting my bankroll almost in half when combined with the $50 I cashed out. I'll have to rebuild at 10NL for the meantime before I try moving up again, and next time I'm going to do it right.
To make matters worse, I've lost another 2k playing at the Metro. I'm just playing so bad it's getting embarrassing. I'm starting to think that the players' eyes light up when I sit at the tables as they think I'm going to be "easy money", and I can't blame them. Sigh.
I read somewhere that until you've reached a point where you really, really, really hate this game, well, you just haven't played enough poker. I'm starting to reach that point now. Ah well, hope I can snap out of this.
Monday, September 24, 2007
Reversal of Fortunes
The biggest news in town is that the Metro is now open, making my heart rejoice and fulfilling the hopes and dreams of every cardplayer and/or degenerate gambler that doesn't live in the fucking South. Honestly, it's about damn time that a cardroom opened up in the area, now we no longer need to travel all the way to Paranaque to get our legal poker fix.
Since it opened a month ago, I've taken to playing there somewhat regularly, mostly in their 10-20 cash games. I've played a total of 5 sessions averaging about 4-5 hours on each, and my total take is: -P1200.
Dammit!
I don't understand it, I've won big the last few times I've played at the ACF, and really had good confidence in my live game, at least for the 10-20. However so far with the Metro I've had 4 losing sessions and only 1 winning one. And if it wasn't for that monstrous winning one (Up 3.5k after playing 3 hours), I'd be a deeper hole than I'm currently in.
And in a weird reversal, lately I've been winning great online. Usually it's I win in my live cash games and bumble around with my online poker at Full Tilt. It's almost a year since I first deposited there and I was still break even for my $50 for fuck's sake, and I already count myself a lucky bastard with that since I could have gone broke lots of times with my dumbass play. But in the last month playing 10NL, I've doubled my roll easily by following Chris Ferguson's bankroll tips. If things go as well as planned (i.e., I don't tilt again), I'm expecting to move up to 25NL by mid-October.
I'm a bit depressed with the state of my live play right, I'm just playing really bad and without any heart. I'm forcing myself to take a break from live play for awhile, at least I can move up to the 25NL online. Hopefully that'll give me enough time to clear my screwed up head and regain my confidence regarding my live play. It should also let me concentrate on improving online as well, which will be a good thing. I tried 3-tabling for the first time last night, hopefully I can get more used to multi-tabling.
Since it opened a month ago, I've taken to playing there somewhat regularly, mostly in their 10-20 cash games. I've played a total of 5 sessions averaging about 4-5 hours on each, and my total take is: -P1200.
Dammit!
I don't understand it, I've won big the last few times I've played at the ACF, and really had good confidence in my live game, at least for the 10-20. However so far with the Metro I've had 4 losing sessions and only 1 winning one. And if it wasn't for that monstrous winning one (Up 3.5k after playing 3 hours), I'd be a deeper hole than I'm currently in.
And in a weird reversal, lately I've been winning great online. Usually it's I win in my live cash games and bumble around with my online poker at Full Tilt. It's almost a year since I first deposited there and I was still break even for my $50 for fuck's sake, and I already count myself a lucky bastard with that since I could have gone broke lots of times with my dumbass play. But in the last month playing 10NL, I've doubled my roll easily by following Chris Ferguson's bankroll tips. If things go as well as planned (i.e., I don't tilt again), I'm expecting to move up to 25NL by mid-October.
I'm a bit depressed with the state of my live play right, I'm just playing really bad and without any heart. I'm forcing myself to take a break from live play for awhile, at least I can move up to the 25NL online. Hopefully that'll give me enough time to clear my screwed up head and regain my confidence regarding my live play. It should also let me concentrate on improving online as well, which will be a good thing. I tried 3-tabling for the first time last night, hopefully I can get more used to multi-tabling.
Saturday, April 7, 2007
The worst bad beat I've ever had
"There is an annual cap of 65,000 H1-B’s that are granted every year. The USCIS announced on Tuesday, April 3rd, that they received H-1B petitions in excess of the annual allotment (65,000)..."
"...we need to cancel your travel plans and postpone your interviews. ...we do need to wait until we get more information on how this recent development will affect your work eligibility. I expect that we’ll know how to proceed best in the next 4 weeks."
The US Congress is a bunch of idiots. You know what will be the downfall of America? Every year a million illegal immigrants enter their country to work in farms, but only 65,000 visas are allocated for highly skilled for workers that want to stay in their country legally.
Putangina.
"...we need to cancel your travel plans and postpone your interviews. ...we do need to wait until we get more information on how this recent development will affect your work eligibility. I expect that we’ll know how to proceed best in the next 4 weeks."
The US Congress is a bunch of idiots. You know what will be the downfall of America? Every year a million illegal immigrants enter their country to work in farms, but only 65,000 visas are allocated for highly skilled for workers that want to stay in their country legally.
Putangina.
Tuesday, April 3, 2007
Testing 1,2,3...
So this is how low we've stooped, from the glory that was Jino's World 2.0, to the never populated jino.88-mph.net, to this, being hosted on Blogger. Ah, well, at least I don't have to worry about you freaks trying to hack my pages anymore =p (Man I miss those days).
So here's to a new start. It's been half a year since I last had one of these (I still hate the word 'blog'), and I'm not even sure why I thought of getting one again anyway, but what the heck. At least I don't have to pay P60/month anymore.
Miss ya guys.
So here's to a new start. It's been half a year since I last had one of these (I still hate the word 'blog'), and I'm not even sure why I thought of getting one again anyway, but what the heck. At least I don't have to pay P60/month anymore.
Miss ya guys.
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