poker journal - 7

[theBruiser500]

Been a while since I last posted a journal entry to say how my poker is going but people have been asking me on IRC and someone PMed me asking, it is time for another one. The past few weeks I've been playing $5/$10 NLHE on PS, not nearly as much as I used to, about 1/2-2 hours a day (very rough estimate). Here are my stats since I started playing again when I got back at the beginning of June

As I was writing this post, this hand occured...

http://www.pokerhand.org/index.php?p...&hand=5333

Anyway, stats...

$2/$4 NLHE - $8,200, 1200 hands, 8.5 BB/100 hands
$3/$6 NLHE - $8,000, 4,200 hands, 16 BB/100 hands
$5/$10 NLHE - $7,300, 6,000 hands, 6 BB/100 hands

and a total of 130 hours of playing time (242 table hours)

I feel comfortable at 5/10, haven't played too many hands but I think I can keep winning there. I see a lot of people asking how hard the different levels are, this is how I'd break it down for each higher level... There are more good players, and the good players are better than good players at lower levels, there are less fish and the fish are not as bad. At 5/10 the good players are better than me so I have been very careful with game selection (when I'm trying to win money, sometimes if I'm just goofing around I'll sit with Diablo or Gift of Gab).

I can see often where the fact that I'm playing with better players is costing me money. I've posted a couple of hands I've had with Diablo on here that show it. GoG bluffed me out of that big one when I had QQ. There was a hand against BusDriver I remember with a board of T9866 on the river I checkraise him all in with a fullhouse and he folds the nut flush. That is something which would never happen at lower stakes and it cost me a lot. However, I think I'm making more money at 5/10 just by virtue of the fact that the blinds are bigger so even if I win less big pots, those pots are still bigger. Plus it I will get better quicker at 5/10 than at lower stakes.

I used to play 3 or 4 tables, now I play 1 or 2, and rarely 3 tables. That's why my table hours is just 240 to 130 playing hours. I find this has worked better, it lets me concentrate a lot more, make reads and play real poker. At 5/10 I need to do this to win.

The problem now with playing poker online is just getting the hours in, as Diablo has said many times. I just don't feel like playing and I have to make myself play. This is good though because if I can maintain my hourly rate then I won't need to play many hours a day and when I was playing a lot of hours a day before and it was depressing just playing poker all day by myself in front of the computer. So I'll keep playing this small amount everyday, keep improving my NL game, learn limit hold'em hopefully if I can make myself do this. It's hard to start a new game when I know I can play NLHE and make a lot as opposed to play the new game and make $15 an hour. (BTW, in another thread someone said ray zee said it is important to learn a lot of poker games if you want to make a lot playing poker, why is this?). Save the money up and invest it soon.

[hoc]

hi bruiser,

this has probably come up before but does the software always show mucked hands.

[coltrane]

out of curiousity, why are you learning limit hold'em?...

[theBruiser500]

hoc, it doesn't show them in pokerstars, it is however in the hand histories

[theBruiser500]

coltrane, i like the idea of being a well rounded player. people i've talked to who play limit jay, diablo, vagos, daryn make good hourly rates. plus when i go to casinos liek turning stone there isn't always NL games running, limited game selctection at 5/10 NLHE. i want to be able to play this with my friends too. of course i've said i wanted to learn limit for a month or two now so the fact that it is just easier for me to log into a NL game and make money NOW might override all that.

[morello]

hey bruiser,

I'm sure you know I used to play a lot of the 5-10 NL game, and I still play occasionally. The last little while I've been focused on playing limit, mainly shorthanded.

I think it will help you out a lot. Not only in being a more robust player, but also because it will give you different perspectives on different situations. And maybe more importantly, it can help you break the monotany that you might start feeling.

And above all, the biggest games are always going to be limit, so if you aspire to play for higher stakes, you don't have any choice. (Sure, you can play 25-50 NL, but your game selection will be a lot worse, so you won't get a ton of oppurtunities.)

Of course, if you aspire for the highest stakes, then you need to learn all the games (stud, lowball, omaha etc).

[tewall]

I think it's a good idea (to learn limit). There are some concepts that come into play in limit frequently that only occasionally occur in NL, but they do occur, and having a firm grasp on them will help you against opposition which don't have such a grasp.

Regarding why it's good to learn many poker games, there are two reasons that come to mind. First of all, the more games you know well, the more opportunity you give yourself to take advantage of a good game. Secondly, there are different concepts which come up in the different games. Learning these concepts can be useful in whatever game you may decide to specialize in.

[turnipmonster]

I think it's a good idea too. I like to play big bet live, but the past couple months I've been playing online 3/6 limit, and also some stud 8 and PLO. it definitely teaches you some different stuff, and for online poker I think limit is really where it's at as far as possible earn.

--turnipmonster

[gergery]

I’d be careful about trying to “force” yourself to play more. That’s a good recipe for burning yourself out, or putting yourself on tilt. So much of successful poker requires good emotional equilibrium. You have to find the fine line between not doing it just because you’re feeling lazy/undisciplined that day vs. really a bit burned out.

Couple suggestions.
1) Try messing around with other games. I play most NL, mainly tourneys, but I like playing the ring games for change of pace. Recently, I’ve jumped in and played both Omaha and 7CStud to mix things up. It’s good because the principles of good play are the same (tight, aggressive, get reads, etc.), but the dynamics are different enough that it feels fresh.
2) Try injecting little games into your play. Negreanu once said he’d go and play every hand some days to practice his post-flop play. He also said he would sometimes sit next to a friend in a home game and only play his friends preflop muck hands. Obviously, you probably want to move way down in limits doing this, but it should make poker little more fun for you this way.

--Greg

[scrub]

[ QUOTE ]

hey bruiser,

I'm sure you know I used to play a lot of the 5-10 NL game, and I still play occasionally. The last little while I've
been focused on playing limit, mainly shorthanded.

I think it will help you out a lot. Not only in being a more robust player, but also because it will give you different
perspectives on different situations. And maybe more importantly, it can help you break the monotany that you
might start feeling.

And above all, the biggest games are always going to be limit, so if you aspire to play for higher stakes, you
don't have any choice. (Sure, you can play 25-50 NL, but your game selection will be a lot worse, so you won't
get a ton of oppurtunities.)

Of course, if you aspire for the highest stakes, then you need to learn all the games (stud, lowball, omaha etc).

[/ QUOTE ]

I agree--limit games are where the game selection and the big money are.

Additionally, shorthanded limit games have more situations in common with NL/PL than a lot of people realize. Playing small pots in shorthanded limit games with marginal holdings often looks a lot like playing one-pair-ish hands in NL games with decent stack depths. Experience in both will make you a better player and probably enhance your situational exploitation skills.

It's tough moving back and forth between the two games, though. I played my first NL session in a while this week, and made all sorts of mistakes that I don't think I would have made in the past.

scrub