How bad do you want it?

Posted by longclaw

August 14, 2008

OK, so it has been a loooooooooong time since I wrote anything. There is a good reason for this. I doubted anyone was interested in how bad I was running. Nobody wants to hear how my bankroll was destroyed by coolers, bad beats, and just plain bad plays on my part. Let’s just say it was pretty ugly. I was down in the dumps and back at the microstaked and I had to ask myself how bad I really wanted to be a winning poker player.

I am happy to say that something has finally clicked here on my end and I am starting to play better, probably better than I ever have before. I have turned into “that player.” You know the one, it’s the player that you really don’t want at your table. I have been playing a semi-LAG style now and I think I have finally gotten the hang of it. My VPIP has climbed up to about 30% and my PFR has been about 25% (6max NL cash.) I have become much more aggressive after the flop, raising my AF from 1.8 to about 3.5 or so. I am playing a style that is hard to counter. I am raising enough that you know I can’t have it every time, but not enough to know if this is the time to come after me or not.

How has this change come about? Well, I have really decided to work hard on my game. I have been reading a lot of posts over at the 2+2 forums, seeing how other people play their hands and just getting other people thoughts. This has helped me with the “standard line” type of play quite a bit. I was also contacted on the stox poker forums by Paul, another member who was looking for a study buddy. We now IM each other a couple times a week to talk about hands we have played and poker theory in general. It is a little difficult catching each other because he live in Australia and there is a 14 hour time difference so it seems like every time we chat one of us is eating breakfast and the other is getting ready for bed. It did feel pretty cool to get my first authentic “gday” though.

I have also been studying more videos over at Stoxpoker.com, really paying attention to how the instructors were playing. The thing I tried to work on most is reading hands. If I can put my opponent on a hand I can make a better guess about how hard it will be to make them fold. The videos have also helped me sell my bluffs better and identify boards where I should just give up. I am getting a much better read on my opponents and why I am getting called. This has really helped me on the river. I have been able to steal a lot of pots with hands like eight-high when I can put my opponent on something like a busted straight draw that might have me out high-carded. I am also getting better at bluffing scare cards on the river and sizing my bets to get my opponent to believe me. In general I have just been doing better at picking up on my opponents and what they are most likely to do.

The third thing that has helped me is Cash Plays with Bart Hanson. It is a podcast over on Pokerroad.com that is all about cash games (Short-Stacked Shamus’s review can be found here.) The thing that I have really gotten from this show is mixing up my play against opponents. I have been able to get reads on my opponents thoughts about my play and use it against them. Here is a good example of what I mean-

Poker Stars, $0.10/$0.25 NL Hold’em Cash Game, 4 Players
Hand History Converter by Stoxpoker

BB: $4.75 (19 bb)
Hero (CO): $25 (100 bb)
BTN: $18.90 (75.6 bb)
SB: $23.40 (93.6 bb)

Pre-Flop: Hero is CO with 6d 3d
Hero raises to $0.75, BTN folds, SB calls $0.65, BB calls $0.50

Flop: ($2.25) 7h 7d 5h (3 players)
SB bets $1.50, BB folds, Hero calls $1.50

Turn: ($5.25) Qd (2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $4, SB calls $4

River: ($13.25) 9c (2 players)
SB checks, Hero checks

Results: $13.25 pot ($0.65 rake)
SB showed Kc 5d (two pairs, Sevens and Fives) and won $12.60 ($6.35 net)
Hero mucked 6d 3d (a pair of Sevens) and lost (-$6.25 net)

OK, here I was just kinda lost so I shut down on the river. I don’t know if he was going to call me down with the 5’s or not if I fired the third barrel but I decided not to push it. Anyway, that hand led up to this one-
——————–
HAND #2
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Poker Stars, $0.10/$0.25 NL Hold’em Cash Game, 6 Players
Hand History Converter by Stoxpoker

CO: $18.45 (73.8 bb)
BTN: $16.75 (67 bb)
SB: $26.15 (104.6 bb)
Hero (BB): $25 (100 bb)
UTG: $17.05 (68.2 bb)
MP: $24.65 (98.6 bb)

Pre-Flop: Hero is BB with Jh As
UTG folds, MP calls $0.25, CO folds, BTN calls $0.25, SB folds, Hero raises to $1.50, MP calls $1.25, BTN calls $1.25

Flop: ($4.60) Ah 4h 8d (3 players)
Hero bets $2.25, MP calls $2.25, BTN folds

Turn: ($9.10) 9s (2 players)
Hero checks, MP checks

River: ($9.10) 9c (2 players)
Hero bets $7.50, MP calls $7.50

Results: $24.10 pot ($1.15 rake)
Hero showed Jh As (two pairs, Aces and Nines) and won $22.95 ($11.70 net)
MP mucked Js 8s (two pairs, Nines and Eights) and lost (-$11.25 net)

I was trying to go for a check-raise on the turn but he didn’t bet for me. I decided to make a good size value bet on the river and he snap-called me with a pair of eights. I knew he thought I was full of crap and I used that to take him to valuetown. Overall I am just much more aware of the flow of the table and I am playing much better. I am hoping this swing is really over and I have learned my lesson. Only time will tell.

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