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byronkincaid
02-17-2004, 05:25 PM
Hi All,

This is my first post, I'm poking my head up out of Lurkdom because I've got some spare time now having just come in last place in the 2+2 SNG.

This is just the latest in a run of bad results so please bear with me while I talk myself through it.

I started playing poker online in June last year. Hey if Chris Moneymaker can win that cash why couldn't I. I bought Poker for Dummies opened it up at the starting hands page and off I went. And I pretty much started winning from the off, not much, tiny amounts for the hours that I play but hey I'm a winning player man cool.

And then I found SnGs, how much fun are these. They made ring games feel so boring and from then on I was pretty much only playing them. But what to play? Limit, NL, PL I tried them all at party and finally decided to play only 30+3 PL HE. I logged my first hundred up about $500 again peanuts for the hours put in but a winning player nontheless.

But I found I was playing the same people all the time and I thought I might find more fish at the NL tables so I started playing there and won a bit but not a huge amount of money. All the time I have been lurking here and reading the usual books, so when I read about the Europe 2+2 SnGs I thought it would be a chance to see how good I am. Average placings on the first 3 with at least 2 bad beats to put me out IMHO! So I reread TPFAP and something in that mixed with some of the stuff I've read here mixed with having my first child last week and I was flying. I cashed out of party and put $100 on stars. Played some different levels and decided to log 100 20+2 1 table tourneys. New born daughter gave me lots of time to play at night with her on my lap and could life be any better? I doubt it.

First 15 tourneys;- 6 firsts, 2 seconds, 2 fifths, 1 sixth, 3 eights and 1 ninth. So I'm working out how much I'm gonna earn each month and if I go up to $30 I'm gonna be earning that and soon I'm gonna be good enough to be in the 50s blah blah blah.

Next 19;- 1 second, 3 thirds. Oh dear.

Why is this? Because I'm playing crap? Normal varience? 19 bad beats? I think it's the first reason. I'm playing like the biggest, stupidest fish in the SnG world. I used to try to play tight agressive now I'm way too loose and aggressive in totally the wrong places. Like tonights event I make a couple of stupid bluffs then I get poket jacks, raise get reraised and go all in. Now if I'd stopped to think for a millisecond I might have thought about what someone at a 2+2 event would reraise all in with. AA KK QQ or AK perhaps? All of which are probably gonna kill my jacks. Typical of my play at the moment.

I'm sure most of you have fallen asleep by now but if anyones still awake thanks for reading such a load of self indulgent nonsense.

My plan now,read TPFAP again, I've got TJs NL book on order and I'm going to start posting my thoughts on peoples hands here. This is a great board, I've learnt (and forgot) a lot here. Don't be too harsh on me now. /images/graemlins/smile.gif

Utah
02-17-2004, 06:32 PM
Hi Byron,

Could be bad play or just variance. However, there is always room for impovement. I suggest logging more info.

Myself, I log every SNG, my result, my thoughts on my play, how I busted out, etc. I also, track every single allin situation - the situation, whether I pushed or called, did I have the advantage, etc.

This way, I have some information to make some judgements about my play. For example, in my last 56 $20 to $50 SNGs I am returning only 20%. Not good for me. However, when I dig deeper I found that:

I had 38 major all in showdowns
I lost 22
But I had the advantage 29 times

This tells me that I am getting allin at the correct times and the cards are just not behaving.

As far as JJ, that is a tough hand to play. If someone significantly reraises you and they are not crazy you can throw them away as they are now trash. You are either a small favorite or you are way behind. But dang, they look so pretty.

Also, I suggest you post some hands to get people's advice.

Good luck.