Schneids
07-04-2004, 08:39 PM
Day Forty Nine (June 30), Day Fifty (July 1), Day Fifty One (July 2), and Day Fifty Two (July 3) -- 07.04.04, 18:36
Firstly, I hope everyone is having a happy and safe fourth of July weekend with family and friends. Regardless of poker results and money, those two things always have and always will be more important (que Captain Obvious).
I know in the past four days I've spent more time playing multi table tournaments than I have ring games. Those have been going reasonably well, since I've moneyed in five of seven of them and even got a 3rd place in a $50+5. It seems like I'm making good strides in achieving the proper level of aggression in the mid-to-late stages of the tournaments though that isn't to say I'm not also benefiting from some fortunate luck. In the tournament when I got knocked out third, my death hand was amusing: Blinds were 2000/4000 and I had roughly T27,000 remaining. Button made it T9000 or T10,000 to go, and I pushed all in from my SB with 22. Button called with QQ. Flop AA2r. Yay! Turn A. Boo! It's kind of neat to think about that a hand like this shows if hand A > hand B > hand C, and button's QQ is hand C, the button would rather I flop a full house (hand A) than a set (hand B) since the full house gives the button more outs to catch up, even though a full house itself is stronger than a set. Twodimes is down so I cannot confirm what I've just said, but I assume it's true.
I've been doing a lot more looking/shopping for a car lately. Man, I cannot stand going to dealerships and having the salesmen shadow me like a dog at the dinner table. I honestly wonder if a car dealership would do any better just by simply posting all prices on all cars, with a list of features on the car as well, and leaving customers to shop like as if they were at Target? It is so suffocating having to walk a floor with a salesman next to you, yapping into your ear about this and that. I would think it also turns up some defense mechanisms in many people. Like, take when the salesman was explaining that a car with a silver paint job won't begin to show its age as quickly as a black one, given all other circumstances equal. Itself true, but when the silver car is $2,000 more I'm sure many people would immediately question if the salesman is saying it for alternative motives.
I relate all of this to my job experience working for Sam's Club four summers ago. In my hometown, a new Sam's Club was being built, and I was hired to be a cart guy there once the store opened. Before it opened, I did soliciting for memberships, in many different forms. One of them was by setting up shop in Wal-Mart, and trying to get people to buy memberships from us there. Most days, I'd work with one other person. Before my first trip, I was told by management we were to approach customers directly and ask them if they had interest. I worked with many people who did it this way, as well.
In four hour shifts at Wal-Mart, most days two people would bring back about a dozen new memberships. Maybe a few more, maybe a few less. Soon after this, one of my friends got a job at Sam's Club too. Before long, we were given a shift to solicit inside Wal-Mart, together. Since we both agreed this job sucked and we both hated approaching people who were almost always irritated by our approaching them, we set up a table, made a sign that said "Sam's Club Memberships! Purchase one here, today!" and sat back and did nothing. We didn't say a word to anybody as they passed. We didn't try to sell anything. We didn't even initiate conversation with someone who'd stop and look over our table of pamphlets. Instead, we used our time to do things like make a tally of the female shoppers at Wal-Mart with ratings of "milf," "hot," "ok," "fat," "old," and "fat old and rank," or make mazes on paper, etc etc. Immature and unprofessional? Most certaintly. I'm sure the ghost of Sam Walton was frowning upon our practices -- except that, we produced results. By being non-initiative, by handing all the power over to the people passing by us, we in fact took control of them. In our worst days we sold 30 memberships in those same four hours. In our best, we sold upwards of 70. Us two quickly became "the team" that the Sam's Club management wanted sent to Wal-Mart for membership selling. In fact, one of the managers even referred to us two as the "ace up his sleeve." How fitting!
Long story short, I really question the effectiveness of direct salesmanship. Obviously salesmen are often trained in the art of selling and know more ways to break through peoples' initial defense mechanisms (in comparison to Sam's Club employees with zero/minimal selling experience sent out to Wal-Mart after a 10 minute summary of "how to sell memberships"), but I still question the whole process. I think there"s merit to letting people feel zero pressure and deciding things with their own will while feeling totally in control of the situation. This is usually why phone solicitors are meet with negative reactions, for instance.
P.S. Even after extensive shopping around, I'm still unsure about what vehicle I plan to purchase.
Back to Poker
Until last night when I finally did a 6 hour ring game session, my ring game playing has been very minimal these past four days. In fact, I even took Friday (Day 50) off from ring game play. Outside of a 278 hand 10/20 6-max session (+$78 in it), all of my ring game playing has been 15/30 full games. In one 1-2 hour session on Day 49, I lost $861. My next ring game session on Thursday met me with a $598 loss, but was countered by some alright tournament results leaving me up $242 on the day. I played a little early Saturday morning and won $330, then played six hours Saturday night and lost $1790. Losing $1790 though is positive because at my worst on the night I was down $3200. I'm to the point right now where I'm questioning whether I'm +EV or not in 15/30 full. I've played 10,000 hands now at that limit, and I'm still losing in it. I feel like I'm getting bad beated a ton, often against people that raise me on the turn with a worse hand before catching on the river, which in turn causes me to pay off against other's who I shouldn't, who raise me on the turn as well. It's a weird catch 22. I know I could play better (ie fold more against opponents I should be folding to), yet I know the results should be better than they are in my first 10,000 hands. I don't know, I'll give it another 10,000 hands before deciding whether 15/30 fulls should be a part of my gameplan or whether I am exclusively a 6-max player. These 15/30 fulls just seem so soft though, I cannot understand how I'm not winning yet in them. In this particular game, it has gotten to the point where I cringe when I receive a good starting hand, and I try to imagine "in what way am I going to lose this time?" This type of thinking sucks, and shouldn't be happening to me.
Anyway, I want to gloat about the largest pot I've ever won, this in 15/30. There was a lot of action by different people, so, I'll provide the full hand history converted summary:
Preflop: Schneids is SB with 6/images/graemlins/diamond.gif, 6/images/graemlins/spade.gif.
UTG calls, <font color="666666">1 fold</font>, UTG+2 calls, <font color="CC3333">MP1 raises</font>, <font color="666666">2 folds</font>, CO calls, <font color="666666">1 fold</font>, Schneids calls, <font color="666666">1 fold</font>, <font color="CC3333">UTG 3-bets</font>, UTG+2 calls, <font color="CC3333">MP1 caps</font>, CO calls, Schneids calls, UTG calls, UTG+2 calls.
Flop: (21 SB) 6/images/graemlins/heart.gif, J/images/graemlins/spade.gif, K/images/graemlins/heart.gif <font color="blue">(5 players)</font>
<font color="CC3333">Schneids bets</font>, UTG calls, UTG+2 calls, <font color="CC3333">MP1 raises</font>, CO calls, <font color="CC3333">Schneids 3-bets</font>, UTG calls, UTG+2 calls, <font color="CC3333">MP1 caps</font>, CO calls, Schneids calls, UTG calls, UTG+2 calls.
Turn: (20.50 BB) 8/images/graemlins/spade.gif <font color="blue">(5 players)</font>
<font color="CC3333">Schneids bets</font>, UTG calls, UTG+2 calls, MP1 calls, <font color="CC3333">CO raises</font>, <font color="CC3333">Schneids 3-bets</font>, UTG calls, UTG+2 calls, MP1 calls, CO calls.
River: (35.50 BB) Q/images/graemlins/club.gif <font color="blue">(5 players)</font>
<font color="CC3333">Schneids bets</font>, UTG folds, UTG+2 folds, MP1 calls, CO calls.
Final Pot: 38.50 BB
MP1 and CO both held AA, so my hand was good.
Conversely, in the past few days I've also experienced one of the more difficult river jobs in my playing experience (only due to pot size, not due to odds of being overtaken): 2 limps and a raise from a LAG, 1 cold call, I cold call on the button with 8c8h, BB calls as do all the limpers. Ad5d8s flop; checked to PFR who bets, 1 fold, I call, BB raises, 2 cold calls to the PFR who 3-bets, I call, BB caps, all call. Turn 5c; BB bets, 2 calls, PFR raises, I 3-bet, BB calls, both limpers call (one of which is all in now) and PFR calls. River As; 2 checks, PFR bets, I fold (but wonder whether I should have called even though it was "obvious" to me this LAG had an ace), SB calls and the other remaining limper calls as well. ATo for PFR, 85o and smaller turned boat for BB, and Kd6d missed flush draw for the limper on a fantastic overcall after all that action... Plus a queen high missed flush draw from the all-in on the turn.
One final hand, where I'm still trying to learn how much action is appropriate to give in this game. 3 limpers to me on the button and I raise with AdKs, SB folds, BB 3-bets, 2 limpers call and one folds, I cap, all call. 6d9d7h flop; checked around. Kh turn; BB bets, two calls, I raise, BB 3-bets, two calls, and I call. Here, I'm thinking AK, AA, or set for BB, so no cap from me, right? River 7c; BB bets, 1 fold, 1 call, I call. AKo for BB, K4o for the other caller, and a chopped pot for me. Despite getting 3:1 money on my hand on the turn it is being too aggressive capping TPTK, right?
So hopefully concludes a bad chapter that has been poor since I logged zero hours on day 45.
Total for Day 49: -$783
Total for Day 50: $242
Total for Day 51: $0
Total for Day 52: -$1460
Goal to date after 52 days: $28,939.08/$60,000
Week Six Summary (Days 43-49): $311.17, 21.5 hours, $14.47/hr
Firstly, I hope everyone is having a happy and safe fourth of July weekend with family and friends. Regardless of poker results and money, those two things always have and always will be more important (que Captain Obvious).
I know in the past four days I've spent more time playing multi table tournaments than I have ring games. Those have been going reasonably well, since I've moneyed in five of seven of them and even got a 3rd place in a $50+5. It seems like I'm making good strides in achieving the proper level of aggression in the mid-to-late stages of the tournaments though that isn't to say I'm not also benefiting from some fortunate luck. In the tournament when I got knocked out third, my death hand was amusing: Blinds were 2000/4000 and I had roughly T27,000 remaining. Button made it T9000 or T10,000 to go, and I pushed all in from my SB with 22. Button called with QQ. Flop AA2r. Yay! Turn A. Boo! It's kind of neat to think about that a hand like this shows if hand A > hand B > hand C, and button's QQ is hand C, the button would rather I flop a full house (hand A) than a set (hand B) since the full house gives the button more outs to catch up, even though a full house itself is stronger than a set. Twodimes is down so I cannot confirm what I've just said, but I assume it's true.
I've been doing a lot more looking/shopping for a car lately. Man, I cannot stand going to dealerships and having the salesmen shadow me like a dog at the dinner table. I honestly wonder if a car dealership would do any better just by simply posting all prices on all cars, with a list of features on the car as well, and leaving customers to shop like as if they were at Target? It is so suffocating having to walk a floor with a salesman next to you, yapping into your ear about this and that. I would think it also turns up some defense mechanisms in many people. Like, take when the salesman was explaining that a car with a silver paint job won't begin to show its age as quickly as a black one, given all other circumstances equal. Itself true, but when the silver car is $2,000 more I'm sure many people would immediately question if the salesman is saying it for alternative motives.
I relate all of this to my job experience working for Sam's Club four summers ago. In my hometown, a new Sam's Club was being built, and I was hired to be a cart guy there once the store opened. Before it opened, I did soliciting for memberships, in many different forms. One of them was by setting up shop in Wal-Mart, and trying to get people to buy memberships from us there. Most days, I'd work with one other person. Before my first trip, I was told by management we were to approach customers directly and ask them if they had interest. I worked with many people who did it this way, as well.
In four hour shifts at Wal-Mart, most days two people would bring back about a dozen new memberships. Maybe a few more, maybe a few less. Soon after this, one of my friends got a job at Sam's Club too. Before long, we were given a shift to solicit inside Wal-Mart, together. Since we both agreed this job sucked and we both hated approaching people who were almost always irritated by our approaching them, we set up a table, made a sign that said "Sam's Club Memberships! Purchase one here, today!" and sat back and did nothing. We didn't say a word to anybody as they passed. We didn't try to sell anything. We didn't even initiate conversation with someone who'd stop and look over our table of pamphlets. Instead, we used our time to do things like make a tally of the female shoppers at Wal-Mart with ratings of "milf," "hot," "ok," "fat," "old," and "fat old and rank," or make mazes on paper, etc etc. Immature and unprofessional? Most certaintly. I'm sure the ghost of Sam Walton was frowning upon our practices -- except that, we produced results. By being non-initiative, by handing all the power over to the people passing by us, we in fact took control of them. In our worst days we sold 30 memberships in those same four hours. In our best, we sold upwards of 70. Us two quickly became "the team" that the Sam's Club management wanted sent to Wal-Mart for membership selling. In fact, one of the managers even referred to us two as the "ace up his sleeve." How fitting!
Long story short, I really question the effectiveness of direct salesmanship. Obviously salesmen are often trained in the art of selling and know more ways to break through peoples' initial defense mechanisms (in comparison to Sam's Club employees with zero/minimal selling experience sent out to Wal-Mart after a 10 minute summary of "how to sell memberships"), but I still question the whole process. I think there"s merit to letting people feel zero pressure and deciding things with their own will while feeling totally in control of the situation. This is usually why phone solicitors are meet with negative reactions, for instance.
P.S. Even after extensive shopping around, I'm still unsure about what vehicle I plan to purchase.
Back to Poker
Until last night when I finally did a 6 hour ring game session, my ring game playing has been very minimal these past four days. In fact, I even took Friday (Day 50) off from ring game play. Outside of a 278 hand 10/20 6-max session (+$78 in it), all of my ring game playing has been 15/30 full games. In one 1-2 hour session on Day 49, I lost $861. My next ring game session on Thursday met me with a $598 loss, but was countered by some alright tournament results leaving me up $242 on the day. I played a little early Saturday morning and won $330, then played six hours Saturday night and lost $1790. Losing $1790 though is positive because at my worst on the night I was down $3200. I'm to the point right now where I'm questioning whether I'm +EV or not in 15/30 full. I've played 10,000 hands now at that limit, and I'm still losing in it. I feel like I'm getting bad beated a ton, often against people that raise me on the turn with a worse hand before catching on the river, which in turn causes me to pay off against other's who I shouldn't, who raise me on the turn as well. It's a weird catch 22. I know I could play better (ie fold more against opponents I should be folding to), yet I know the results should be better than they are in my first 10,000 hands. I don't know, I'll give it another 10,000 hands before deciding whether 15/30 fulls should be a part of my gameplan or whether I am exclusively a 6-max player. These 15/30 fulls just seem so soft though, I cannot understand how I'm not winning yet in them. In this particular game, it has gotten to the point where I cringe when I receive a good starting hand, and I try to imagine "in what way am I going to lose this time?" This type of thinking sucks, and shouldn't be happening to me.
Anyway, I want to gloat about the largest pot I've ever won, this in 15/30. There was a lot of action by different people, so, I'll provide the full hand history converted summary:
Preflop: Schneids is SB with 6/images/graemlins/diamond.gif, 6/images/graemlins/spade.gif.
UTG calls, <font color="666666">1 fold</font>, UTG+2 calls, <font color="CC3333">MP1 raises</font>, <font color="666666">2 folds</font>, CO calls, <font color="666666">1 fold</font>, Schneids calls, <font color="666666">1 fold</font>, <font color="CC3333">UTG 3-bets</font>, UTG+2 calls, <font color="CC3333">MP1 caps</font>, CO calls, Schneids calls, UTG calls, UTG+2 calls.
Flop: (21 SB) 6/images/graemlins/heart.gif, J/images/graemlins/spade.gif, K/images/graemlins/heart.gif <font color="blue">(5 players)</font>
<font color="CC3333">Schneids bets</font>, UTG calls, UTG+2 calls, <font color="CC3333">MP1 raises</font>, CO calls, <font color="CC3333">Schneids 3-bets</font>, UTG calls, UTG+2 calls, <font color="CC3333">MP1 caps</font>, CO calls, Schneids calls, UTG calls, UTG+2 calls.
Turn: (20.50 BB) 8/images/graemlins/spade.gif <font color="blue">(5 players)</font>
<font color="CC3333">Schneids bets</font>, UTG calls, UTG+2 calls, MP1 calls, <font color="CC3333">CO raises</font>, <font color="CC3333">Schneids 3-bets</font>, UTG calls, UTG+2 calls, MP1 calls, CO calls.
River: (35.50 BB) Q/images/graemlins/club.gif <font color="blue">(5 players)</font>
<font color="CC3333">Schneids bets</font>, UTG folds, UTG+2 folds, MP1 calls, CO calls.
Final Pot: 38.50 BB
MP1 and CO both held AA, so my hand was good.
Conversely, in the past few days I've also experienced one of the more difficult river jobs in my playing experience (only due to pot size, not due to odds of being overtaken): 2 limps and a raise from a LAG, 1 cold call, I cold call on the button with 8c8h, BB calls as do all the limpers. Ad5d8s flop; checked to PFR who bets, 1 fold, I call, BB raises, 2 cold calls to the PFR who 3-bets, I call, BB caps, all call. Turn 5c; BB bets, 2 calls, PFR raises, I 3-bet, BB calls, both limpers call (one of which is all in now) and PFR calls. River As; 2 checks, PFR bets, I fold (but wonder whether I should have called even though it was "obvious" to me this LAG had an ace), SB calls and the other remaining limper calls as well. ATo for PFR, 85o and smaller turned boat for BB, and Kd6d missed flush draw for the limper on a fantastic overcall after all that action... Plus a queen high missed flush draw from the all-in on the turn.
One final hand, where I'm still trying to learn how much action is appropriate to give in this game. 3 limpers to me on the button and I raise with AdKs, SB folds, BB 3-bets, 2 limpers call and one folds, I cap, all call. 6d9d7h flop; checked around. Kh turn; BB bets, two calls, I raise, BB 3-bets, two calls, and I call. Here, I'm thinking AK, AA, or set for BB, so no cap from me, right? River 7c; BB bets, 1 fold, 1 call, I call. AKo for BB, K4o for the other caller, and a chopped pot for me. Despite getting 3:1 money on my hand on the turn it is being too aggressive capping TPTK, right?
So hopefully concludes a bad chapter that has been poor since I logged zero hours on day 45.
Total for Day 49: -$783
Total for Day 50: $242
Total for Day 51: $0
Total for Day 52: -$1460
Goal to date after 52 days: $28,939.08/$60,000
Week Six Summary (Days 43-49): $311.17, 21.5 hours, $14.47/hr