I'm writing this post because I'm procrastinating my TA duties. I have 100 lab reports that I need to grade, and I have absolutely no desire to do it. Grading sucks. One thing that I've come to realize, though, is that I actually like teaching people things. I actually enjoy my office hours when people come to me with questions and I can help them out with understanding concepts and how to do the homework problems. It's very satisfying because you're actually adding to the knowledge base of the people you teach. Grading on the other hand, to me, doesn't serve much of a purpose. It's an arbitrary measure of somebody telling you how much you know, on an artificially created assignment.
This leads into something that I've been thinking about for a while. I actually want to teach somebody what I know about poker. It will serve two purposes. I will be giving back to the poker community and helping somebody with their game, and it will help me internalize and better practice the concepts that I do know, in much of the same way that TAing has helped me better learn the subject that I TA. I don't know how I'll find a student, but hopefully some of my friends will read this post and realize that they really do want to commit to learning poker, or somehow I'll find a student some other way. Note that I use the term "student" here very loosely. By "student" I mean somebody who wants to be serious about the game of poker and is willing to discuss poker concepts with me.
Okay, now I'm back to grading....
Monday, September 17, 2007
Sunday update
I was watching updates from the WSOP Europe last night and to my surprise a young internet phenom, Anette_15 was on the final table. If you don't know about her, just go to pocketfives.com, and you can read her fanclub there. I have to admit, back in my donkament days, I was part of that fan club. Well when I woke up this morning I decided to stream the final table coverage over the internet, and to nobody's surprise she took down 1st place for 1 million pounds. Just reading about her is pretty sick. She started her roll through online freerolls, and she's been destroying online mtts ever since. And get this, she's only 18! I can't wait till she turns 21 and starts destroying the WSOP here in the States.
Well, I also played two mtts today. After seeing her play, I was pretty determined to play my best in the two that I played. I played in the WCOOP event #5 $530 NLHE 9 handed event, and in the Stars 55k guaranteed 10+ rebuys. I got absolutely no cards in the WCOOP event, and busted in about 1500/5000, and in the rebuy I busted out in 6/1000+ for a payday of $2700. If I made $2700 today playing cash, I would be ecstatic. However, I was pretty pissed that I busted out in 6th because the play on that final table was soooooooooooo awful. If any of those players were on any cash tables I would fleece them. I also think that I messed up once on the final table in a crucial spot. If people were making solid plays, and I got beat, I wouldn't be that pissed. I saw that 15k payout for 1st place and knew that I had a great chance in taking it down. Sigh. On a positive note, I'm finally in the positive for Stars mtts.
Well, I also played two mtts today. After seeing her play, I was pretty determined to play my best in the two that I played. I played in the WCOOP event #5 $530 NLHE 9 handed event, and in the Stars 55k guaranteed 10+ rebuys. I got absolutely no cards in the WCOOP event, and busted in about 1500/5000, and in the rebuy I busted out in 6/1000+ for a payday of $2700. If I made $2700 today playing cash, I would be ecstatic. However, I was pretty pissed that I busted out in 6th because the play on that final table was soooooooooooo awful. If any of those players were on any cash tables I would fleece them. I also think that I messed up once on the final table in a crucial spot. If people were making solid plays, and I got beat, I wouldn't be that pissed. I saw that 15k payout for 1st place and knew that I had a great chance in taking it down. Sigh. On a positive note, I'm finally in the positive for Stars mtts.
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
September Update
Just wanted to say that I dug myself out of that hole that I was in. I made back those 20 buyins that I lost, and I'm glad to say that I've been playing some pretty good poker. Yesterday I played a lot of HU and six max, and I must say that I really enjoy HU poker again. I just moved up to playing 2/4nl for HU, and I don't feel intimidated by the competition anymore. I got my money in good a bunch of times, however, I ended up getting drawn out on a bunch.
I just got PokerEV, and it calculates your equity for hands that went to showdown street by street. I've been running pretty far behind expectation. I'm owed about $2100 in equity. Here's the graph of my last week. Hopefully, I'll be going on a sick run pretty soon.
I just got PokerEV, and it calculates your equity for hands that went to showdown street by street. I've been running pretty far behind expectation. I'm owed about $2100 in equity. Here's the graph of my last week. Hopefully, I'll be going on a sick run pretty soon.
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Poker's been real frustrating
So earlier on this month I went on an absolute heater. I was killing 2/4nl. However, I'm in the process of moving into my apartment in Virginia, and since I know absolutely nobody here right now, I've been playing a bunch of poker.
Well, things have gotten absolutely awful. I've gone on a 20 buy in downswing. The good thing is that I don't think I've really gone on emotional tilt yet. There was a moment that I remember it creeping up on me, but I curbed that right away. Not to say that I haven't gone on tilt, I don't think that I've been playing optimally, I tried to bluff a little too much. However, I'm glad that I haven't really let emotional tilt, where I just call all types of bets for no reason get to me. I've gotten a couple people go over some of my big pots that I've lost, and I'm glad to say that quite a few of them have been coolers. Needless to say, it has sucked. It also doesn't help that I still don't have any furniture yet, and playing long hours of losing poker on the floor is not fun at all. Here's a graph of my result up till today for the past week.
However, I don't think my head has been in the right place in the past couple hands that I've played. I started playing poker for the big pots, and not the little ones which is more my style. Well today, I got a coach, and he reminded me about general theoretical rules of thumb about poker. And it's definitely put my mind in the right frame work. There were also a couple concepts that I knew, but somehow forgot, about who to value bet, and who not to.
Well today started off like every other day that I've been playing. I got completely destroyed the first couple hands I put in. The difference between today and the other sessions was that I felt like I truly was playing my "A" game today. I didn't see too many spots on the river, where I felt like I missed a value bet. It felt great. And the results, I think, showed up. It feels great battling back after a bunch of crappy sessions. I could be wrong, but I think today is the turning point to my downswing. Below is the graph of today's session.
Tomorrow is my first day of classes, and I'm actually a TA now. It feels kinda weird. I'm TAing for kids a year younger than me, and the profs in my department explained to me that it's not okay for me to socialize with my students because I'm now part of the teaching staff. Strange.
Well, things have gotten absolutely awful. I've gone on a 20 buy in downswing. The good thing is that I don't think I've really gone on emotional tilt yet. There was a moment that I remember it creeping up on me, but I curbed that right away. Not to say that I haven't gone on tilt, I don't think that I've been playing optimally, I tried to bluff a little too much. However, I'm glad that I haven't really let emotional tilt, where I just call all types of bets for no reason get to me. I've gotten a couple people go over some of my big pots that I've lost, and I'm glad to say that quite a few of them have been coolers. Needless to say, it has sucked. It also doesn't help that I still don't have any furniture yet, and playing long hours of losing poker on the floor is not fun at all. Here's a graph of my result up till today for the past week.
However, I don't think my head has been in the right place in the past couple hands that I've played. I started playing poker for the big pots, and not the little ones which is more my style. Well today, I got a coach, and he reminded me about general theoretical rules of thumb about poker. And it's definitely put my mind in the right frame work. There were also a couple concepts that I knew, but somehow forgot, about who to value bet, and who not to.
Well today started off like every other day that I've been playing. I got completely destroyed the first couple hands I put in. The difference between today and the other sessions was that I felt like I truly was playing my "A" game today. I didn't see too many spots on the river, where I felt like I missed a value bet. It felt great. And the results, I think, showed up. It feels great battling back after a bunch of crappy sessions. I could be wrong, but I think today is the turning point to my downswing. Below is the graph of today's session.
Tomorrow is my first day of classes, and I'm actually a TA now. It feels kinda weird. I'm TAing for kids a year younger than me, and the profs in my department explained to me that it's not okay for me to socialize with my students because I'm now part of the teaching staff. Strange.
Friday, August 3, 2007
Back in the States
I just got back a month long vacation back home and I had an absolute blast. For the first time in 8 years, I know kinda sad, some of my friends from America visited me in Indonesia. We did all the touristy things that I hadn't done in more than 8 years and it was a lot of fun. Partially because we were all jet lagged, but mainly due to the fact that we had very full days, we only went out drinking twice on this tripped. I don't think I've had so much sober fun in a while.
Anyways, because of that, I didn't get to play poker that much in the month of July, but I did get some hands in. I think I've turned a corner in my 2/4nl game. The times that I did play, I was very on top of my game, and I'm very proud of it. Below are my stats for the month of July.
It's nice that I'm playing pretty well online, but I did lose quite a bit of money in live games this month. I went to London, UK to get my student visa for next year, and I decided to play in a couple live cash games. I have to say the competition in London was absolutely awful! I've been to casinos in Vegas where I played 2/5nl and the players in London where much much worse. I was playing 1/2pound plhe and 1/3 pound plhe and the players were absolutely atrocious.
There was a huge fish there who was calling 3/4 pot bets on the turn with nothing but a gutshot. And he was doing it constantly too. Well, I was involved in a huge pot with him, and I bet the turn kinda small, like 1/2 pot with basically the stone cold nuts. I wanted to bet enough so that I could shove any river. Well he called, along with another person, and rivered a 1 outer on the river when I shoved into him. That was a 1000 pound pot, and people started berating me that I didn't bet enough on the turn to push him off a draw! Anyways, in total I lost about 1200 pounds in the live cash games, so that amounts to $2400 using todays exchange rate. Oh well.
I don't know how often I'll play in live cash games anymore though. The action is way too slow, and I think that I don't concentrate hard enough. It's hard to concentrate on the action for hours when you only see 25 hands an hour. By the time the blinds come around a couple times, I play on autopilot, and I lose a lot of +ev opportunities. Since people are so passive, I think that I missed a lot of times where I could have 3 betted and taken down pots on moves. I think that, and the fact that I don't have too much experience in 9 handed games anymore makes me a little too cautious, and make me only play my cards. Plus some players are so atrocious I have no idea what their range is.
I'll post some pics on my trip Indonesia later.
Anyways, because of that, I didn't get to play poker that much in the month of July, but I did get some hands in. I think I've turned a corner in my 2/4nl game. The times that I did play, I was very on top of my game, and I'm very proud of it. Below are my stats for the month of July.
It's nice that I'm playing pretty well online, but I did lose quite a bit of money in live games this month. I went to London, UK to get my student visa for next year, and I decided to play in a couple live cash games. I have to say the competition in London was absolutely awful! I've been to casinos in Vegas where I played 2/5nl and the players in London where much much worse. I was playing 1/2pound plhe and 1/3 pound plhe and the players were absolutely atrocious.
There was a huge fish there who was calling 3/4 pot bets on the turn with nothing but a gutshot. And he was doing it constantly too. Well, I was involved in a huge pot with him, and I bet the turn kinda small, like 1/2 pot with basically the stone cold nuts. I wanted to bet enough so that I could shove any river. Well he called, along with another person, and rivered a 1 outer on the river when I shoved into him. That was a 1000 pound pot, and people started berating me that I didn't bet enough on the turn to push him off a draw! Anyways, in total I lost about 1200 pounds in the live cash games, so that amounts to $2400 using todays exchange rate. Oh well.
I don't know how often I'll play in live cash games anymore though. The action is way too slow, and I think that I don't concentrate hard enough. It's hard to concentrate on the action for hours when you only see 25 hands an hour. By the time the blinds come around a couple times, I play on autopilot, and I lose a lot of +ev opportunities. Since people are so passive, I think that I missed a lot of times where I could have 3 betted and taken down pots on moves. I think that, and the fact that I don't have too much experience in 9 handed games anymore makes me a little too cautious, and make me only play my cards. Plus some players are so atrocious I have no idea what their range is.
I'll post some pics on my trip Indonesia later.
Monday, July 2, 2007
My Best Month Yet
I just had the best month in poker yet. I started the month alright, but I think I had some major leaks in my game. I had sort of forgotten how to play solid poker. I had the right reads, but I was fighting for too many pots and making too many bluffs that people would never believe.
And then I went on tilt one day. Almost all my tilt was on a single day. You can see the red in the 2/4nl and the HU tables. I was playing against an overaggro donk, and he kept on sucking out on me in the big pots, and sooner or later, I was down about 1,500 to him.
After that ass whooping, I took a break and reevaluated my game. I went back through all my poker tracker hands to see what I was doing. I have to say, I'm pretty proud of how I recovered. The next step is to not have these blowups in the first place.
The fact that I only started playing poker this month after June 12th is pretty cool, too. Hopefully I'll carry over what I learned this month over to the next couple months and I'll have a monster summer.
I'd also like to mention that I started playing MTTs again, and I've also taken one down this month. MTTs are fun.
Here's a graph of my month. You can see where I start tilting.
Well I'm off to go home to Jakarta, Indonesia now. I don't know how much poker I'll be able to play there. The internet there was so shitty the last time I was there it tilted me to try and play. Hopefully I won't forget how to play again.
And then I went on tilt one day. Almost all my tilt was on a single day. You can see the red in the 2/4nl and the HU tables. I was playing against an overaggro donk, and he kept on sucking out on me in the big pots, and sooner or later, I was down about 1,500 to him.
After that ass whooping, I took a break and reevaluated my game. I went back through all my poker tracker hands to see what I was doing. I have to say, I'm pretty proud of how I recovered. The next step is to not have these blowups in the first place.
The fact that I only started playing poker this month after June 12th is pretty cool, too. Hopefully I'll carry over what I learned this month over to the next couple months and I'll have a monster summer.
I'd also like to mention that I started playing MTTs again, and I've also taken one down this month. MTTs are fun.
Here's a graph of my month. You can see where I start tilting.
Well I'm off to go home to Jakarta, Indonesia now. I don't know how much poker I'll be able to play there. The internet there was so shitty the last time I was there it tilted me to try and play. Hopefully I won't forget how to play again.
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