My Poker Goals - Summer 2005

[shadow29]

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Playing lotsa hands is good for you, but don't forget that it's also important to read, study, and reflect. I've got less than 20,000 hands in the last three years, but I've improved in leaps and bounds because of the non-table time I spend on poker.

Good luck.

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Jeez.

I hope you know how much money you've left on the tables.

That's ridiculous.

OP: Homeschool? Ouch. I have newfound respect for you. (I wasn't homeschooled nor have I known anyone that is/was, but it sounds like a bitch).

[detruncate]

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Ok but you're leaving money on the table. And for a guy who "needs to move up" that is a problem.

-DeathDonkey

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It's more complicated than that. You make up at least some of that in other ways -- increased volume, for instance. I've also found that it helps me keep focus + maintain a healthy persective re. bankroll fluxuation. In short, I end up making up much more than I give up given that the disparity between "will play when I want to play" and "will play if I plan to play" is so large.

It's not worth arguing about. I'll reaffirm my aggreement that it's best to only play when you feel like it. There are undoubtedly other people who feel like it much more often than I do. I need a bit more structure if I'm going to hit my hand targets, and consistently hitting reasonable hand targets has been far and away the most efficient way for me to maximize my earnings over a given time period.

I guess I was just suprised that you were so adamant in your opposition. Given a limited amount of free time (and especially the apparent lack of significant flexibility wrt session length), his plan seemed like a resaonable one.

[DeathDonkey]

You're right that the plan is good and I harped on the issue a bit. I guess my own perspective is I certainly don't want to treat poker like a "job" so the rigidity of the plan stuck out to me. You have explained a lot of positives for such a plan, however, for me, one thing I love about poker is the striking dissimilarity between it and regular work.

-DeathDonkey

[sungod]

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OP: Homeschool? Ouch. I have newfound respect for you. (I wasn't homeschooled nor have I known anyone that is/was, but it sounds like a bitch).

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Spending one year in an American high school was enough for me to realize that every parent in the states should have homeschool (as I thought the schoolsystem was a complete joke).

[KingOtter]

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Hi,

I think your plan of attempting to play an approximately set number of hands per night to be silly. It's also going to cost you money. Some nights you will want to play more, you may be winning, you may be concentrating, you may have a good feel for your opponents, whatever. On these nights you will probably win more money if you continue playing. Some nights will be the opposite, and continuing to play may very well cost you money.

Attempting to treat poker like a 9-5 job goes against some key components to playing that make it profitable. Like S&M point out in at least one of their books, if the game is a good one for you the time to quit is never.

Oh, and do some bonuses and you should be bankrolled for higher limits in like a month.

-DeathDonkey

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Wow, I thought this dropped off the radar with no replies, sorry it took so long.

Hmm, maybe you misunderstood.... I need to average that many per night. I don't expect to play 333 hands every night. For example, I'll be going on a lot of family trips with no internet access.

So I need to make up a good many of those hands over weekends, etc.

333 is what I need to average, and what I will use to benchmark my progress.

The first night I wanted to see what it was like playing that many hands in one night, and for what it's worth, I think it was very valuable playing beyond where I normally would have played.

Thanks for the response, tho.

KO

[KingOtter]

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Oh, and do some bonuses and you should be bankrolled for higher limits in like a month.


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Exactly, I just whored around a little bit, and after a month of just over break-even poker, I was more than bankrolled for 2/4. It's a little more difficult now than a few months prior due many sites changing their bonus structures, but there are still more than enough out there to keep you occupied.

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I definitely plan on whoring... but right now my bankroll is small enough that the contribution is minimal.

I deposited my entire bankroll for part's recent one and I got $55. That definitely HELPED, and I'll be better in the future (have more for bonus).

So anyway, bonuses are going to count for building it, too.

KO

[KingOtter]

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If you're only beating .5/1 for 1.5/100 over a 30-60k sample, I'm not sure you should be moving up with such excitement.

-d

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Actually my current overall rate is 2.62 BB/100 (maybe close to 3, since I've been doing well lately) over 28k hands.

But I wanted to account for a possible downswing, whatever. I'm also going to be 3 and 4 tabling some during this which may affect my winrate a bit.

It's called hedging my bets, and giving myself enough of a challenge so it really is a challenge. Besides, if I earn more that's more of a reward I can give myself at the end.

KO

[KingOtter]

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Depends what your goals are. It's certainly better to have the flexibility to adjust your sessions to conform to how you feel + how the games are, but sometimes you don't have the luxury, especially if you're facing time constraints. It's not uncommon for people who play frequently to build their schedule around time or hand count. I know I do. There are certainly times where you're not at your best, and learning how to improve the quaility of your play on the less than optimal days is a skill in itself.

Whatever. Do what you want. All I mean to say is that I find consistent, planned sessions easist to sustain over an extended time period -- there's always a clear understanding of when I'm going to stop, and it goes a long way toward aleviating the desire to bank a win or get unstuck. It also helps me compartmentalize, as my poker time is clearly defined.

Best of luck in your quest, Your Royal Otterness.

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Thanks!

It also lets me tell my wife, 'I need to put in 500 hands today .. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]honey, so don't bother me for the next 3 hours' ... etc.

She's respecting my poker quite a bit since I was able to take out $750 when we really needed it, that we otherwise just plain wouldn't have.

KO

[KingOtter]

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So, I need to play hands. Lotsa lotsa hands. I've been tracking my game in PT since January, and I've played 27000 hands. Six months, 27000 hands. I don't get to play alot, do I? It boggles my mind people play that many in a month.

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Playing lotsa hands is good for you, but don't forget that it's also important to read, study, and reflect. I've got less than 20,000 hands in the last three years, but I've improved in leaps and bounds because of the non-table time I spend on poker.

Good luck.

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Thanks... it helps seeing it in practice, too. I read alot of 2+2, and I just finished reviewing SSH again. Every time I reread the books I see sometihng I missed before.

My HEPFAP review is next.. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

KO

[KingOtter]

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OP: Homeschool? Ouch. I have newfound respect for you. (I wasn't homeschooled nor have I known anyone that is/was, but it sounds like a bitch).

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Is that what it took? lol...

My kids are 5 and 7, so the math I'm teaching them is '3+2=5' so it isn't that hard. Not like last year when I was teaching Algebra to highschoolers last year. And Chemistry.. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] (My wife's kids from a previous marriage + some other family's). But even then, it was just high school stuff so it wasn't that hard.

My wife does all the hard work. Finding the curriculum and that kind of thing.

KO