Gulf Coast Poker Championship
Haven't wrote in a while. My break from casinos feels like it is lasting forever when it has only been 2 months. It is getting closer to the Gulf Coast Poker Championship in Biloxi, MS. I am ready to go play and excited to play some Half n Half. I wasn't able to sell all of my action but I have a good portion of it sold. 25% so I will be adjusting the action to 7.5% on just 2 events
Those events are the $230 Half NLHE Half PLO on Tuesday August 30 and the $130 multiple Re Entry on Wednesday August 31. If I have success in those I will most likely extend my stay for one more day to play the $230 1R/1A on Thursday. I don't plan on investing much in re-buys for the multiple reentry tournament but I'm sure there will be players that will be loose cannons that I can build a stack off of. I even convinced a poker buddy to come with me as I got my room for 2 queens since they were out of just 1 King rooms. I much prefer going with someone I can discuss poker with rather than just go to events by myself. The wife will be tagging along as well so she'll most likely be basking in the sun and finding random ways to blow money but as long as she lets me focus in the poker room it will be all good.
APP League
I have to say I am very confident and will be using this Friday's League game (last Texas Holdem regular season game of the year) as practice for the Biloxi Trip. I mostly want to work on my patience and not getting involved in pots that don't have alot of + EV. I don't want to over value my suited connectors and keep pots small that need to be small and maximize pots that need to be huge. If I can accomplish this will playing most pots in position I know I will be able to cruise to success. other than the League game this friday will be the last League game on Sept. 9 which is NL 2-7 Single Draw which should be interesting and the Championship FreeRoll for the top 9 point earners for the year which will be Sept. 23. I am currently in 2nd in points and 6 points behind the first place player. Im gunning for First to earn an extra $200 but as it stands I am lined up to get atleast $100 of the bonus winnings for either Most Final Tables or Most cashes. I am also in the hunt for Mixed games champ in second with 4 points behind. I also added a 24 person Head Up tournament to the schedule just because I have been wanting to play one live and it should be pretty fun. The top 8 players will have a first round Bye. 9-24 will play to advance to the next round. Most likely the top 4 will be paid so it should be a decent prize and good competition. Seeding will be based on the point standings for the APP league.
The seeding will be as follows:
1 vs (16/17)
8 vs (9/24)
6 vs (11/22)
4 vs (13/20)
3 vs (14/19)
5 vs (12/21)
7 vs (10/23)
2 vs (15/18)
I have been playing around with bleaching designs on shirts but only like a couple of them so far So idk how much time or money I will invest as far as that goes. I also want to try spray painting designs but again if it doesn't come out good it won't be worth the investment. Don't want to make Shirts that no one will want to wear. I had a Screen Printing company that would make my previous shirts but they are just completely unorganized, unprofessional. I guess that is what I should expect when dealing with a mom and pop printing company though. The worst part is every time I go to order more shirts they have a different price and its always higher than what it was. I have to bring in the receipt for the previous purchase every-time when proving to them that it isn't the right price. They stay busy as hell but IDK how because there is nothing professional about them and the last batch of shirts they made for me were more on the bleh side.
Fantasy Football
I am so excited about football and sooo happy the football season is back (my wife does not share the mutual feeling...So I plan on torturnig her 4 nights a week for the next 3 months). I missed tailgating the UL Ragin' Cajun games and there has been so much anticipation built up around Coach Hudspeth and the new Recruits it is ridiculous! I expect to see a huge crowd for the first home game and hopefully for the rest of the season.
Last year I said I wasn't going to play Fantasy football for money but instead I got in 2 leagues this year for More money haha. My original league is drafting Sept. 4 right before the NFL season begins and it is a $50 league. I also joined one of Will "Poker Monkey" Souther's $100 leagues which has 16 teams! That draft is Aug 27 and coming up soon! The largest league I've been in previously had 12 teams so the draft should be stupid deep and whoever picks the best 3rd stringers and back up QBs will have the best season! Its all about finding those Hidden Gems. I am still yet to see the payouts in these leagues though but they should be awesome! I'll post my teams once I have drafted. Just in case some of y'all are reading this though I'm not giving away any drafting plans. Just gonna play it by ear and take what everyone gives me lol.
Peace.
Matt Stroud
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
Sunday, August 14, 2011
Weekend Poker rundown
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| The Usual suspects of APP |
Well we set up a cash game 0.25 0.50 NL holdem, I wanted to do half n half but 2 players declined. Everyone bought in for 30-40 and the grind began. I Won a decent pot, then picked a spot where I had middle pair and open ended straight draw. I bet it hard when the straight card came and almost took down the pot but someone just called a 6x bet pre-flop with 6 5 off and turned the low end of the straight. He was about to fold thinking I had the High end but ended up calling and took a hefty chunk of my chips. That's how most of the night went for me. Either picked bad spots and lost pots, won some pots with decent hands, then busted when people caught on me etc.
One hand a player considered was a "Bad play by both players" which was my last hand of the night I was just exhausted, annoyed and overall done after this. I straddled for $1 with $20 behind and the LAG player was in the bb for .50 and he was in the hole for the game but had about $65-70. there were 3 or 4 limpers and LAG bb raises to 5.25. There is 9.25-10.00 in the pot and I have 98 off. I know he is raising with a speculative hand here and figured I can get him off of it by coming over the top. but I didn't have enough to raise a portion of my stack so it was either all in or fold. I opted to go all in for 21.00 total and everyone folded and LAG player goes in the tank. Then a player out of the hand says "OK 2 of you HAVE to put each other on a hand first" I should have just stayed quiet not saying anything but like a dumb ass I chose to play along and put him on KQ or something to that range (A10, KJ, A9s) Since I said that he put me on 88 and gave some goofy logic saying "well I'm behind, I'm down some money and playing catch up, its virtually a coin-flip so I call"...lol
Flop comes out 9s 6d 5h and I have the lead but he still has 2 overs as he shows As 10s and I say give me the 7 just to cushion my lead more.
Turn is the 6s giving him more outs with the flush draw. And I ask again, Give me the damn 7....
River 8s giving me 2 pair but him the flush...and that's how I roll (Rolls eyes)
I just kinda laughed got up, LAG goes into justifying his play and saying it wasn't a bad call, I say yes it was, then Superstar says Y'all both made bad plays and the discussion ensued how I disagreed. You can base an argument on strategy, but when you incorporate results with strategy your logic is flawed. The thing I messed up on was playing into the game by putting him on a range when I should have just sat quietly and waited for him to act. But it wasn't a bad play at all in my opinion.
The next night we played Half NL holdem Half PL Omaha and my friends house in Carencro.
It was 4 of us from last night and 3 new faces I haven't played before. I was spot on with my reads in Omaha but early on picked a couple bad spots in Holdem, made some adjustments and played solid poker after that. I ended up profiting $35 for the night as I let someone borrow $20 of my stack and also cashed out $100. I was in the game for $85 and thought I played pretty well for the most part. I had an interesting Omaha hand Where the friend that was hosting was to my direct right all night and raised preflop to 1.50 I called along with 2 others making it 6 in the pot. flop came 989 and I told him I am only calling cause I like half my hand. Q9 suited 7 2 off, I was in the bb for .50 and needed to call 1.00 more into a pot that was already 3.00 so i figured why not. When I saw the flop i liked what I saw and they did have a possible flush draw as well so he bet 3.00 into a 6.00 pot and I raised pot immediately to get everyone else off their hand. He went into the tank for about 2 minutes then said Pot to me. I start to think about it and the Trip 9s is all I have, it was very possible for him to have A high flush draw with his trips or even flopped a boat with 88 and just didn't like it as I would have to call about 25-30 so i made the lay down and he showed 98 for the boat.
There was another hand where I had A4A8 double suited and hit the flop pretty hard with an inside straight draw and flush draw and guy who went all in asked to go once or twice, so I initially put him on flush draw and said once. He shows TOP SET 99 with no redraw so I need to hit my flush or one of the last 2 aces in the deck. I missed the turn. Then BOINK the Ace on the river!! I also made an interesting play against a player who had AA and not much of a redraw on a 10 4 7 board I was holding a back door flush draw and inside straight draw with top pair. We opted to run it twice as he was ahead statistically but slightly. First I hit the 10 on the turn for trips to take the pot. The next one I hit my runner runner flush! It was gross.
I have to say the best hand of the night goes to Mr.LAG though Beau Brewer. He made a spectacular play on my friend who was hosting in Texas Holdem with a J 8 6 board. There was a raise preflop by Beau and host called. Beau checked on the flop and host bet 2.75 into $4 pot Beau raised to $6. The host went in the tank then 3bet to $20 (when he does this I expect him to win the pot almost 80% of the time if not more because he plays a very solid game). Beau must have had either picked up a tell or had a dead on read on his opponent because without even thinking he announce all in and had the host well covered. I believe the host had about $40-50 behind and Beau had $80-100 after the $20 was in the pot. I was thinking to myself this guy has a monster to snap shove like this and I guess the host was thinking the same thing as he folded but didn't show (I put him on top pair, maybe KJ or AJ but not strong enough to feel confident calling all in). Then Beau turns over 9 8 off for 2nd pair on the biggest bluff of the night!
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| Pretty much my face after seeing the 9 8 off with a 4bet shove all in |
That was my weekend in a nutshell, hope you enjoyed the read.
Good Luck,
Matt Stroud
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
BankRollerCoaster Pt. 2
When you last read, I was explaining the occurences of my first melt down involving my Poker bankroll that did not completely make me broke but put a healthy dent in my Roll. Enough of which would stick to my mind and possibly affect my play leading to the next meltdown that resulted Early this year.
Louisiana State Poker Championships, Isle of Capri Lake Charles
Once again, I regained my confidence, Cashed or Won 4 straight weekly tournaments at the local casino as well as went on a span of either Winning or cashing consecutively in my home game as well from Early January up until Late march. I was close to being back even from what I lost in the time span of October-November 2010 and couldn't wait to continue climbing up the later. I went spend a weekend in Lake Charles for the Louisiana State Poker Championships in the month of April 2011 and pulled of a Nice profit playing the 5 5 NL cash games there but the first day was rocky as I was in the negatives. The following day I had a huge day grinding the cash games from 10 am - 9 pm to pull a $1200 profit, giving me a $400 profit for the weekend. This was a good thing, but again, I felt a need to chase the money I had loss and showed more compulsive tendencies rather than well thought out calculated risks. I was playing in Lake Charles in preparation for the next upcoming Tournament event series in New Orleans, LA in May.
The WSOP Circuit Regional stop Harrah's New Orleans
I was going to make my name here, I was planning to play multiple tournaments and go deep in atleast one. I brought a significant amount of my bankroll to do so and only planned on using half of it. This was another bad idea and lack of discipline managing my bankroll. Especially with the previous occurences I have been having with my brand new habit of chasing my money. The first day I arrived, I went directly to the 1/2 NL table as I never had a losing session (out of about 8 experiences) at Harrahs casino in New Orleans. knowing this I was extremely confident, but needless to say I was about to get the coldest deck I could ask for and definitely the worst timing possible. It started out with my AA getting cracked by KK for a $300 pot leaving me short stacked so I bought in for another $200. I then got involved with a guy who fell in love with his flush draw and shoved the flop when I flopped 2 pair. Naturally the pattern of this trip was I call when way ahead and get drawn out on saying good bye to my chips. I ended the day with a $400 loss and figured I would make up for it on day 2.
I entered the biggest field in a $340 tournament with 676 entrants (I believe Captain Tom Franklin went on to win this event) and was put at the same table as a friend of mine oddly enough. I really liked my table as they were very easy to read. I picked my spots perfectly, avoided players when I had to, got involved with the weak players when I had to, things were going great. got passed the dinner break. Our table broke up and I was moved to a new table on the short stack and the aggressive Chip Lead of the table was to my direct Right. This sucked for me as I had to pick spots to take blinds and rebuild my stack but yet avoid getting derailed by this guy who seemed to almost raise every other hand. The first two times I shoved my 12-17bb stack everyone folded and i raked the antes and blinds. but the last time....the Big Blind decided to wake up with KK and my 10 9 suited didnt touch the flop what so ever. I was out 130-140ish and the top 80 paid.
I still wanted to play though (thinking I can try to atleast get my buyin back....more chasing thoughts) and buy in to a $125 sit n go. I come out 5th when I shove 77 and get called by JJ and get knocked out.
I have $180 left in my wallet and decide to put it down at 1/2 NL again. My table is mostly filled with loose drunks and passive nits. I am doing great and taking advantage of this table. I work my stack up to $735 and did something I told myself I wouldnt do. I gave myself a number to reach before I got up from the table. I was shooting for $800 when 3 hands knocked me down to $320. First, 2 pair lost to a rivered straight. Next, drunk guy was calling with A high and I have JJ on 10 high flop trying to bet him off the hand. Ace hits turn and drunk guy went from talking non stop to immediately quiet (while rotating in circular motions of drunkness of course) then shoves all in.....we both had about $500 and I just rolled my eyes then folded. Very Next hand I am UTG and look down at QQ. the standard raise was $12-15 and I had a very loose image and was raising alot so this passive nit in late position reraised to $40. I go in the tank, try to put her on a hand and figure she thinks im trying to bully the table again so I reraise her to $150 (I now wish I would have just flatted to see the flop and spike the Q because I would have stacked her if I did so.) She immediately goes all in for about $600 and has me covered. If I call this and lose I would be broke and just the way she played it screamed AA or KK here. I go in the tank...I then look at her and she is looking at the felt, not me and I ask her....Do you have Aces or Kings?? and she looks at me and say, "Which one do you want it to be." (I was thinking to myself JJ but I knew I was beat and folded the Queens face up to show her I had a huge hand. She later told me it was Aces and I played with the person back home that was sitting on the left of her that she flashed her cards to. When I brought the story back up again at our local casino she did confirm that it was pocket aces. Back to the cash game I managed to get back to $500 after a couple hours, then at 3 am, my last hand I played was 9d 8d and flop fell 8s 9h 3s. I bet got 2 callers and a drunk rich looking frat kid says "All in" then smirks at his goofy Frat brother who thought he was the comedian of the table. I Called and the other 2 folded. the pot was just over $1000 and the frat boy showed As 5s...I needed to sweat any spade to take down this pot...and of course on the river. the Q of spades slaps me in my face.
Local Casino Tournaments
This was just disgusting and I continued to try to play the local casinos tournaments and cash game but could tell that I was playing bad due to the beats that I have experienced in New Orleans. I wasn't playing my A game and was trying to play through it instead of taking a much needed break. I continued to play once or twice a weak until mid July at casinos when my last straw was 3 horrible cold decks in a row. The First experience seemed like every other pot I was involved I had 2nd best and then left when I misplayed AA in early position against a super aggro rich guy and allowed pocket 8s to see a flop as well because I failed to Reraise everyone else off the hand preflop. Naturally on the flop he gets his 8 and I don't catch up. The next week I play the tournament and flop top 2 pair and lose because someone decided to try and be superman by shoving Ah Qs on a Kh 10d 9h board and I have Ks 9s not going anywhere. The turn and river are running Hearts and I get knocked out because a guy who normally plays super Tight and I put him on AK shoves with Ace high and sucks out. Finally I am getting bad beats and shove my short stack with AK off and get called by 3 4 off and he said he was calling cause 4s having been hitting every flop. This may be true because the dealers are incapable of correctly washing the deck after each hand and of course the 4 hit and I don't catch up. This hurt my roll down to about $400. I was no longer able to play at the casino safely and needed to take a break for multiple reasons but mostly to build my confidence back up.
Since that time I have not been at the casino and been just playing home games and small cash games .25 .50 to try and rebuild as well as putting money to the side. I have learned from my mistakes and trying to practice better bankroll management skills. I have been studying more and more during the days that I do not play. I will do my best to make sure I don't repeat the faults that I have recently because with proper bankroll management I could be sitting on a profit instead of in the negatives for trying to chase my money. I did not respect my limits and showed poor decisions rather than keeping a level head and trying to make the best decisions financially and strategically.Since then, I have noticed a turn around in profits once again and my confidence is beginning to come back.
I hope you can learn from the mistakes that I have made reading this. Success in poker is majorly correlated with the management of your bankroll. The best players in the world could also go broke with poor habits or decisions. Good practice will create more success!
Good Luck,
Matt Stroud
Louisiana State Poker Championships, Isle of Capri Lake Charles
Once again, I regained my confidence, Cashed or Won 4 straight weekly tournaments at the local casino as well as went on a span of either Winning or cashing consecutively in my home game as well from Early January up until Late march. I was close to being back even from what I lost in the time span of October-November 2010 and couldn't wait to continue climbing up the later. I went spend a weekend in Lake Charles for the Louisiana State Poker Championships in the month of April 2011 and pulled of a Nice profit playing the 5 5 NL cash games there but the first day was rocky as I was in the negatives. The following day I had a huge day grinding the cash games from 10 am - 9 pm to pull a $1200 profit, giving me a $400 profit for the weekend. This was a good thing, but again, I felt a need to chase the money I had loss and showed more compulsive tendencies rather than well thought out calculated risks. I was playing in Lake Charles in preparation for the next upcoming Tournament event series in New Orleans, LA in May.
The WSOP Circuit Regional stop Harrah's New Orleans
I was going to make my name here, I was planning to play multiple tournaments and go deep in atleast one. I brought a significant amount of my bankroll to do so and only planned on using half of it. This was another bad idea and lack of discipline managing my bankroll. Especially with the previous occurences I have been having with my brand new habit of chasing my money. The first day I arrived, I went directly to the 1/2 NL table as I never had a losing session (out of about 8 experiences) at Harrahs casino in New Orleans. knowing this I was extremely confident, but needless to say I was about to get the coldest deck I could ask for and definitely the worst timing possible. It started out with my AA getting cracked by KK for a $300 pot leaving me short stacked so I bought in for another $200. I then got involved with a guy who fell in love with his flush draw and shoved the flop when I flopped 2 pair. Naturally the pattern of this trip was I call when way ahead and get drawn out on saying good bye to my chips. I ended the day with a $400 loss and figured I would make up for it on day 2.
I entered the biggest field in a $340 tournament with 676 entrants (I believe Captain Tom Franklin went on to win this event) and was put at the same table as a friend of mine oddly enough. I really liked my table as they were very easy to read. I picked my spots perfectly, avoided players when I had to, got involved with the weak players when I had to, things were going great. got passed the dinner break. Our table broke up and I was moved to a new table on the short stack and the aggressive Chip Lead of the table was to my direct Right. This sucked for me as I had to pick spots to take blinds and rebuild my stack but yet avoid getting derailed by this guy who seemed to almost raise every other hand. The first two times I shoved my 12-17bb stack everyone folded and i raked the antes and blinds. but the last time....the Big Blind decided to wake up with KK and my 10 9 suited didnt touch the flop what so ever. I was out 130-140ish and the top 80 paid.
I still wanted to play though (thinking I can try to atleast get my buyin back....more chasing thoughts) and buy in to a $125 sit n go. I come out 5th when I shove 77 and get called by JJ and get knocked out.
I have $180 left in my wallet and decide to put it down at 1/2 NL again. My table is mostly filled with loose drunks and passive nits. I am doing great and taking advantage of this table. I work my stack up to $735 and did something I told myself I wouldnt do. I gave myself a number to reach before I got up from the table. I was shooting for $800 when 3 hands knocked me down to $320. First, 2 pair lost to a rivered straight. Next, drunk guy was calling with A high and I have JJ on 10 high flop trying to bet him off the hand. Ace hits turn and drunk guy went from talking non stop to immediately quiet (while rotating in circular motions of drunkness of course) then shoves all in.....we both had about $500 and I just rolled my eyes then folded. Very Next hand I am UTG and look down at QQ. the standard raise was $12-15 and I had a very loose image and was raising alot so this passive nit in late position reraised to $40. I go in the tank, try to put her on a hand and figure she thinks im trying to bully the table again so I reraise her to $150 (I now wish I would have just flatted to see the flop and spike the Q because I would have stacked her if I did so.) She immediately goes all in for about $600 and has me covered. If I call this and lose I would be broke and just the way she played it screamed AA or KK here. I go in the tank...I then look at her and she is looking at the felt, not me and I ask her....Do you have Aces or Kings?? and she looks at me and say, "Which one do you want it to be." (I was thinking to myself JJ but I knew I was beat and folded the Queens face up to show her I had a huge hand. She later told me it was Aces and I played with the person back home that was sitting on the left of her that she flashed her cards to. When I brought the story back up again at our local casino she did confirm that it was pocket aces. Back to the cash game I managed to get back to $500 after a couple hours, then at 3 am, my last hand I played was 9d 8d and flop fell 8s 9h 3s. I bet got 2 callers and a drunk rich looking frat kid says "All in" then smirks at his goofy Frat brother who thought he was the comedian of the table. I Called and the other 2 folded. the pot was just over $1000 and the frat boy showed As 5s...I needed to sweat any spade to take down this pot...and of course on the river. the Q of spades slaps me in my face.
Local Casino Tournaments
This was just disgusting and I continued to try to play the local casinos tournaments and cash game but could tell that I was playing bad due to the beats that I have experienced in New Orleans. I wasn't playing my A game and was trying to play through it instead of taking a much needed break. I continued to play once or twice a weak until mid July at casinos when my last straw was 3 horrible cold decks in a row. The First experience seemed like every other pot I was involved I had 2nd best and then left when I misplayed AA in early position against a super aggro rich guy and allowed pocket 8s to see a flop as well because I failed to Reraise everyone else off the hand preflop. Naturally on the flop he gets his 8 and I don't catch up. The next week I play the tournament and flop top 2 pair and lose because someone decided to try and be superman by shoving Ah Qs on a Kh 10d 9h board and I have Ks 9s not going anywhere. The turn and river are running Hearts and I get knocked out because a guy who normally plays super Tight and I put him on AK shoves with Ace high and sucks out. Finally I am getting bad beats and shove my short stack with AK off and get called by 3 4 off and he said he was calling cause 4s having been hitting every flop. This may be true because the dealers are incapable of correctly washing the deck after each hand and of course the 4 hit and I don't catch up. This hurt my roll down to about $400. I was no longer able to play at the casino safely and needed to take a break for multiple reasons but mostly to build my confidence back up.
Since that time I have not been at the casino and been just playing home games and small cash games .25 .50 to try and rebuild as well as putting money to the side. I have learned from my mistakes and trying to practice better bankroll management skills. I have been studying more and more during the days that I do not play. I will do my best to make sure I don't repeat the faults that I have recently because with proper bankroll management I could be sitting on a profit instead of in the negatives for trying to chase my money. I did not respect my limits and showed poor decisions rather than keeping a level head and trying to make the best decisions financially and strategically.Since then, I have noticed a turn around in profits once again and my confidence is beginning to come back.
I hope you can learn from the mistakes that I have made reading this. Success in poker is majorly correlated with the management of your bankroll. The best players in the world could also go broke with poor habits or decisions. Good practice will create more success!
Good Luck,
Matt Stroud
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
BankRollerCoaster Pt. 1
I'm sure if I put this much effort into anything in life that I would find great success. I would have probably got my degree without losing my scholarship in college (Even though I lost it because I had finished a semester with 11 credits instead of 12 after dropping one class and the administration didn't even give me a chance to take a summer class to regain my scholarship GRRR) I could have maybe started my own business. There are endless possibilities that my mind, hell anyone's mind, is capable of accomplishing but it is just amazing that it depends on how much passion you have in something that you are willing to truly excel in what grasps the majority of your attention. For me its something that its a constant struggle. It is something that I have to try to be successful at with a limited amount of funds to do so, never really having a lot of wealth but working my ass off just to get where I am today.
At the beginning of the year I was doing pretty well at poker but over a course of 2010-2011, I was managing my bankroll horribly. It started with me having success on Full Tilt poker back in February and March of 2010. I did my usual $50 deposit and decided to play a cheap satellite to a $535 tournament (Forgot which one) but there were like 64 people that entered and was a huge overlay, but unfortunately only 1 place was paid for the seat.....well that person was me. I grinded out the win and instead of playing the
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| How I felt when talking to Full Tilt support when trying to cash out. |
When I started playing more live poker, I experienced some success Late August - October 2010. I was cashing my home games and local casino tournaments, went down to Lake Charles and Played the Fall Poker Classic in September and cashed in both events that I played but had to go back to work and missed out on the main event which I was feeling completely confident in playing. I then went to IP Biloxi in October for their WSOP circuit and played in a $235 Mega-satellite. It awarded $2000 in tournament chips and $250 in cash for every 10 players that entered the tournament. There were 86 players that entered and top 8 got this prize. I was once again playing superb poker and my fundamentals were dead on as I was able to make the top 8
and was prepared to free roll for the rest of my weekend. Well I decided to play one more tournament (A $340 buy in) and then play just cash games. I lost the tournament i entered halfway through the field then had minimal success at the cash games finishing -$250 and ended up bringing home $1350 after paying for hotel and expenses as well. This is a pretty good weekend but It also made me get greedy and want more. So I got cocky and made another trip the very next weekend and met up with a couple poker buddies that allowed me to crash in their room. I brought $1000 in cash with me and went back to the 1-2 NL cash game. I would buy in for $200 at a time and had the worst run of luck I have ever witnessed. Got 3 outed twice, was in a huge pot in the lead with a set when someone rivered the flush against me and after 1 more buy in I was busted at 3 a.m.on a Saturday morning. I was playing like a compulsive gambler chasing my money and not like a level headed poker player making calculated risks. I could feel myself getting more and more angry or frustrated but instead of leaving, I stayed and played in hopes that my luck would change. But the fact of the matter is, I didn't want to accept that it wasn't my luck that was bad, it was my mental image. It was my lack of confidence. I was off my game and stayed there dumping my chips until they were all gone. I immediately left without telling the guys bye. I called them about 25 minutes away from home and said sorry but I just had to get out of there. During my 4 hour journey home I was stuck thinking of the stupid actions that I decided to take in blowing my winnings, but didn't have an answer to avoid it from happening again.My success of 2010 was short lived as I quickly expended the winnings in hopes to jump up in bigger stakes and get a larger bankroll. I was trying to get ahead of myself and instead of thinking rationally and actually taking my time to build my bankroll, I would risk it at every possible chance and would play out of my bankroll trying to beat the fish at the game. Unfortunately, when I would take a bad beat I would not have enough funds to reload and keep playing, thus leaving the game with a loss and another dent to my funds.
I didn't see the pain of this until my next encounter since I began to flirt with going broke while experimenting with my strategy and seeing my balance after paying bills....
Thursday, August 4, 2011
Poker Books and Training websites
I figured This would be a good time to give my thoughts on some really great training tools for poker. If you are serious about your game, you will want to do as much studying, research, and practice as you can in order to be successful.I have read multiple books through my tenure of learning the game and have alot more that I would like to read. The thing I find helpful when reading Poker books is getting other peoples understanding on how they play the game and actually see their explanation or thought process in particular situations or hands vs. tricky or deceptive opponents.
You will notice that since the Poker Boom of 2003, there are multiple poker books that hit the shelves whether it be mathematical to psychological, you have to weed the good material from the bad. It is also important to find which books compliment your style of play so it will be incorporated in your game with a smoother transition rather than trying to understand the methods of LAG (Loose Aggressive) if you're a TAG (Tight Aggressive) player or vice versa because your thought process on many things will contrast and you may not agree that it is the best line to take in situations. Poker in general is read dependent, player dependent, stack dependent, etc. so its hard to play a single hand correctly the exact same way EVERY TIME. If you do this you need to stop because it is basically making you an open book to those that are observant at the table. With that said you will not be able to maximize your profits on key hands or key situations. If you want to be successful in poker, you must be deceptive.
Anyway, here are a few suggestions that I think are great Poker reads for your collection to Learning more about the game you love to play.
Winning Poker Tournaments One Hand at a Time Vol. 1 and 2
Authors: Eric (Rizen) Lynch, Jon (PearlJammer) Turner, Jon (Apestyles) Van Fleet
These books are very well written and the commentary and explanation on their play of key hands in tournaments they have won are very helpful as they discuss betting patterns, pot sizing, and pot odds/implied odds. None of the books I will suggest are for the beginners who are trying to learn the game as it may be a bit over their head but if you play a TAG style then you may find that you can correlate this perfectly into your style of play.
Kill Everyone: Advanced Strategies for No-limit Hold'em Poker Tournaments and Sit-n-go's
Authors: Lee Nelson, Tysen Streib, Steven Heston, Joe Hachem (Foreword), Bertrand "Elky" Grospellier
This book is very intense and fun to read. It has a strong understanding for the mathematics of the game and exploits weaknesses in passive opponents. It is a great read for the Super LAG player and even good for someone who is trying to disect the brain of a Loose Aggressive Maniac at the table. If you plan on incorporating this into your game I would say enjoy the ride because there is alot of varience involved.
Read'em and Reap: A career FBI agent's guide to decoding poker tells
Authors: Joe Navarro, Marvin Karlins, Phil Hellmuth
Now everyone has heard of the book Mike Caro's Book of Tells. I have read this book and there is some good content. A much shorter Read though is the one I have mentioned here. It has Some really great insight on subliminal tells a player may not realize they are revealing. Joe Navarro is the Ex FBI agent and he has some interesting information I have used at the table and is dead on, You can even practice by watching some players at the WSOP making these tells and get a read on what they might have. If you haven't noticed they have been having a section during the WSOP Broadcasts with him explaining what he is witnessing on the players body language. The best part I like about this book is that he expresses the signs as either "Strong/weak" "confident/nervous". The really talented players will give off reverse tells so the Author stresses to be wary of this.
Another very useful tool I have found that is free is Cardplayer Poker School
There is an unlimited amount of Articles and Videos that discuss multiple strategies about the game. You can also quiz yourself after viewing, reviewing, and studying each section of this awesome tool. It gets explanations from many great Live and Online pros each having their own twists of situations they have experienced through their years of play at the table. Other than that the best way to gain knowledge is by playing as much as you can and analyzing your own play as well as discussing poker with a group of friends or mentors as much as possible.
I didn't put the most obvious books like Doyle Brunson's Super Systems, Harrington on Holdem, etc because I believe these are Hidden Gems that have alot of great poker intel and may be unfamiliar to most.
If you have any suggestions of Books or websites that have helped you in your journey to success let me hear it!
Good Luck,
Matt Stroud
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| Education is our Friend |
You will notice that since the Poker Boom of 2003, there are multiple poker books that hit the shelves whether it be mathematical to psychological, you have to weed the good material from the bad. It is also important to find which books compliment your style of play so it will be incorporated in your game with a smoother transition rather than trying to understand the methods of LAG (Loose Aggressive) if you're a TAG (Tight Aggressive) player or vice versa because your thought process on many things will contrast and you may not agree that it is the best line to take in situations. Poker in general is read dependent, player dependent, stack dependent, etc. so its hard to play a single hand correctly the exact same way EVERY TIME. If you do this you need to stop because it is basically making you an open book to those that are observant at the table. With that said you will not be able to maximize your profits on key hands or key situations. If you want to be successful in poker, you must be deceptive.
Anyway, here are a few suggestions that I think are great Poker reads for your collection to Learning more about the game you love to play.
Winning Poker Tournaments One Hand at a Time Vol. 1 and 2
Authors: Eric (Rizen) Lynch, Jon (PearlJammer) Turner, Jon (Apestyles) Van Fleet
These books are very well written and the commentary and explanation on their play of key hands in tournaments they have won are very helpful as they discuss betting patterns, pot sizing, and pot odds/implied odds. None of the books I will suggest are for the beginners who are trying to learn the game as it may be a bit over their head but if you play a TAG style then you may find that you can correlate this perfectly into your style of play.
Kill Everyone: Advanced Strategies for No-limit Hold'em Poker Tournaments and Sit-n-go's
Authors: Lee Nelson, Tysen Streib, Steven Heston, Joe Hachem (Foreword), Bertrand "Elky" Grospellier
This book is very intense and fun to read. It has a strong understanding for the mathematics of the game and exploits weaknesses in passive opponents. It is a great read for the Super LAG player and even good for someone who is trying to disect the brain of a Loose Aggressive Maniac at the table. If you plan on incorporating this into your game I would say enjoy the ride because there is alot of varience involved.Read'em and Reap: A career FBI agent's guide to decoding poker tells
Authors: Joe Navarro, Marvin Karlins, Phil Hellmuth
Now everyone has heard of the book Mike Caro's Book of Tells. I have read this book and there is some good content. A much shorter Read though is the one I have mentioned here. It has Some really great insight on subliminal tells a player may not realize they are revealing. Joe Navarro is the Ex FBI agent and he has some interesting information I have used at the table and is dead on, You can even practice by watching some players at the WSOP making these tells and get a read on what they might have. If you haven't noticed they have been having a section during the WSOP Broadcasts with him explaining what he is witnessing on the players body language. The best part I like about this book is that he expresses the signs as either "Strong/weak" "confident/nervous". The really talented players will give off reverse tells so the Author stresses to be wary of this.
There is an unlimited amount of Articles and Videos that discuss multiple strategies about the game. You can also quiz yourself after viewing, reviewing, and studying each section of this awesome tool. It gets explanations from many great Live and Online pros each having their own twists of situations they have experienced through their years of play at the table. Other than that the best way to gain knowledge is by playing as much as you can and analyzing your own play as well as discussing poker with a group of friends or mentors as much as possible.
I didn't put the most obvious books like Doyle Brunson's Super Systems, Harrington on Holdem, etc because I believe these are Hidden Gems that have alot of great poker intel and may be unfamiliar to most.
If you have any suggestions of Books or websites that have helped you in your journey to success let me hear it!
Good Luck,
Matt Stroud
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