Foxwoods Sat LHE hands / my live tourney achilles heel (long)

[Byrn]

Played in the LHE tourney at Foxwoods this morning. I game my usual live tournament performance: play well for a while, then make a couple of mistakes and bust out. More on that later – a little trip report and then few hands first.

Total 200 players, most make an add-on (T1000 to start, T1000 added on), so just under 400,000 in play.

I am happy with my play throughout the first levels, I am relaxed and thinking clearly about every decision. My first table is mostly weak and passive, with a very aggressive player directly to my right (plays a lot of hands and bets almost every street) – I play realizing I am not going to get any free rides when he is in a hand. I liked my play at this table, but leave at either T1300 or T1800 in level 6 (200 – 400 blinds, 400-800 rounds – I can’t recall for sure how many T500 chips I had). I had been up to T2500 at a few points, but the cards were slowing down for me – there was no stealing at this table, it was a showdown table. Fortunately, the table was broken up as I was posting my BB – I take it back and move to a better position at my new table.

The new table was very tight – some raising and taking it down, not very many multi way pots. I get my stack to about T6000 with a few good hands that held up or weren’t shown down.

First hand for review. I have T6800 and post bb of 800. All fold to sb who limps, I take free ride with 32o. SB is an early 20’s wanna-be pro – sunglasses and very serious look, no chat. Flop comes K54. He checks and I bet my straight draw. He folds. If he didn’t bet I thought there was a good chance he would fold – he was pretty tight and aggressive, and that was a “big blind special” flop. I think this is a pretty standard play in this situation.

Now here begins my classic live tournament downfall. Bad decisions. A few hands then I will theorize about my weakness.

Next hand I have K9o in sb. Folded to me (last hand before the break and color-up) and I fold. Fold?? Fold K9 heads up against a relatively passive opponent??? Am I crazy?? She shows T8s. In my defense I only barely registered that there were no limpers, I was still stacking my chips from the prior hand. In other words, I didn’t think at all. Bad, bad, bad.

Post break and I am in bb after circuit of table: I have T7000, level is 1000-2000 (maybe a few more hands away from 1500 – 3000). I am the bb with 96o. One limper, sb folds and I take the free ride. I have played the entire tournament with this limper, we moved at the same time. She is a calling station. She will just call to the end with anything – a gutshot straight, a couple of high cards, any pair. I haven’t seen her raise, and I don’t think I’ve seen her fold post flop or bet out very often. Flop comes K 6 5 rainbow. Now, if she has been observant she will have seen I only bet out on strong hands thus far. I doubt she has been observant or cares. I have T6000 after the bb and I bet the flop, thinking I likely have the best hand here. Turn is an 8 giving me a gutshot straight to go with my pair. I bet 2000 and she is not going away. I have seen her do this with top pair, bottom pair, and two unpaired cards. I think she could have any ace (maybe she has hit her kicker), QT, JT, J9 – quite a range. Maybe she hit the King. River is a J. I check, knowing she will check it down no matter what and not fold a hand I can beat if I bet. She shows 77 to beat my 6’s. From what I have seen of her, she might have checked it down the whole way with me if I did not bet. I don’t know if that would have been a great play. It feels too passive, but maybe it would have been the right thing to do – check and fold to a bet (a bet from her would be a strong hand).

Next hand in the sb I have A4s. MP raises. This has been a relatively tight table so far, a lot of raises taking it down. I make what I think is a pretty silly decision and reraise all in, figuring if he has an A I am in trouble, but if he doesn’t (and doesn’t have a pair) I am getting decent odds on my money (my last T2500 to the pot’s T4500 if BB folds and he calls). BB folds and he calls with 33. Could have been much worse. No help for me and I am gone around 65th or so.



Ok now to my standard live tournament downfall:
Most of my experience is online, and I’m very comfortable playing online. I’ve only played live 7-8 times, a few ring games and a few tourneys. In the tourneys I find myself playing and thinking well for the first few levels, and I usually gain some chips with a solid hand. At some point though the ability to make good decisions and think clearly leaves me. It happens in later levels. The combination usually goes like this – I get a little tired, then something sets me off emotionally. Usually I win a bluff, a semi bluff, or a blind steal and I notice it flusters me a little bit. I have no idea why, its kind of like I took a risk and got away with something. Sometimes what sets me off though is I lose a hand that costs me a nice portion of my chips. Either way I stop thinking clearly and being relaxed – I end up making or calling bets I wouldn’t have otherwise or getting the last of my chips in without analyzing the situation in depth. I don’t think through and do the hand analysis I normally do. I don’t do anything terribly crazy, I just don’t make really thought out decisions. I fold K9 from the sb when it is folded to me. This isn’t a problem in online tourneys, so I’m sure it has something to do with being live specifically. Online I can always think things through and make a good decision, even next hand.

The only parallel I can think of for this (for those that are still with me) is being in my teenage years, or heck even now, and trying to talk to a female I am interested in. You remember that flustered feeling? You’re not thinking quite straight and nothing comes out quite right. Sure ok I was the only one. That what I am reminded of when I think about what happens to me in live tournaments. I avoided it for quite a while today, but it always seem to hit me at some point.

Anyone dealt with this problem before? I am sure more experience in the situation will help. I was watching for it today, but it just sneaks up on me. Perhaps it is just a live tourney "performance anxiety" and will go away over time.

[Kurn, son of Mogh]

She will just call to the end with anything – a gutshot straight, a couple of high cards, any pair. I haven’t seen her raise, and I don’t think I’ve seen her fold post flop or bet out very often.

You have your read, now act on it. Check-fold this flop unless you flop a huge hand or just check it down to the river. It's your big blind and you would've folded it to any preflop pressure.

[cferejohn]

When playing live, there is this constant pressure and constant need to stay focused and keep up your "mask", whereas online you can talk to yourself and screw up your face and think and not worry about tells. As to how to fix it. Well, I'm mostly an online player too and I've noticed that my game can fall apart just like describe. Find something to focus on, some key phrase or word that will re-center you and remind you how to play poker.

I've definitely had it happen that I've gotten away with a bluff and then I start bluffing like crazy. I try to watch for this, and if I see my self doing it, I just start saying 'TIGHTaggressive' (emphasis on TIGHT) to myself over and over again in my head. Like "TIGHTaggressiveTIGHTaggressiveTIGHTaggressive...". Once I start doing this, it becomes much easier, even "obvious" to lay down KJ in EP. If I were of a more religious bent, I guess I would call it a mantra.

Time for more improv theory and how it relates to my poker game. Tune out if you like. I got the idea from an improv teacher/writer named Kieth Johnstone. He has actors do scenes while repeating "IloveyouIloveyouIloveyouIloveyou" in their heads. Its a pretty hard thing to do (since you are trying to say lines at the same time), but when you see someone who is able to do it, its amazing to watch. It changes their whole persona.

When I play poker, especially NL, I want to have change into a different person, one who is, well, tight and aggressive. Keeping these words in my head at all time really changes the way I play. It also helps me ignore other things. Most importantly, it gives me something to come back to when I feel like I am losing my focus.

Another example (and I am so far afield now its ridiculous). There was an art critic whose name I don't remember who was sad that she could not look at art anymore because whenever she did she just started analyzing it and could not truly enjoy it. Someone suggested to her that when she looked at art, she should try repeating "IWantNothingIWantNothingIWantNothing..." over and over again in her head while she looked at it. She found when she did this, she became, in some ways, a different person and that part of her brain that wanted to decontruct and analyze was shut off, and she could appreciate what she saw as art again.

That had all the focus of Andy Rooney on a Niquil bender, but I hope that you can see what I am getting at. Hope it helps.

[Kurn, son of Mogh]

I look to a golf analogy for keeping myself alert during a live tournament. Just as a golfer's preshot routine focuses his mind and body on executing the shot, I try to make my movements as standard as possible, from how and when I look at my cards, to how I look at the board, to how long I take to act. One of the things good players focus on is bet speed, so even if I've decided what I will do before the action gets to me, I'll pause before I act and count to five, say, before I move my hand to my chips.

I think this is the kind of discipline that you develop over time, one that playing online doesn't help.

[Byrn]

Cfere-

Thanks for your input. I was wondering if anyone would relate to what I was talking about or if I would just sound slightly off kilter. Well, perhaps you understand what I am talking about and we both sound off kilter!

Seriously though the things you lay out are exactly what I am looking for. I’m not going to play the tourney this weekend, but I am going to try to go next weekend. I will have to figure out something to do to keep my focus as I start losing my best decision making capabilities. I usually end up putting in bets or calling when I should check or fold, so perhaps a mantra about conserving chips and thinking thoroughly about each play is in order.

Of course then I have to remember to use the mantra, which I’m sure will be hard to do after playing for a couple of hours!

I do use some of the methods to change into a different person in situations in which it is helpful. I often have to confront situations in my job that my “normal” personality just won’t handle optimally, so I have to adjust certain things slightly (aggression, empathy, being a pushover) to get the best results. I actually use this sometimes in single table NLHE tourneys. My “hyper-aggressive bully” personality has a much better record in these tourneys than the tourneys I play when I can’t find that guy. Sometimes I NEED that guy and can’t quite find him.

[Byrn]

I've been trying to keep my actions consistent, my routines consistent, etc., but that is a hard habit to develop. In fact, 90 minutes or so into the live tourneys I am sure I am an open book to the guys who have been playing for years (and have the ability to read people). Once I am playing for a while I think I get too loose on my routines. In a ring game I don't find this a problem as much for some reason - the added pressure of a tourney must be a factor. Maybe I'm too harsh on myself here and I am not so bad, I dunno.

I think once I make it far in a couple of tourneys, I will be more comfortable in the levels I have already been. Kinda like "Ok, been here, I know how to get through."

[Jerboa]

Byrn,

Little off topic, but I plan to be at the tourney next week (19th)as well. (My first trip to foxwoods in a very long time...too far to drive it regularly.)

I don't have a lot of live experience, but I second what has already been said. A 'preshot routine' will probably work wonders for you. It doesn't need to be some elaborate thing, just something you do every time waiting for the action to get to you.

[curtains]

I dont like checking and folding with the 96o, I would bet on the flop almost for sure. After she calls on the flop it becomes a lot trickier...