Time to get started again. Had an interesting end of the year, not all gravy but I’m a true believer that everything happens for a reason and that’s that. Took a couple of trips, ended a relationship, and learned some lessons.
Anyways I’ve decided to get back on the blog trail. I’ve been playing a lot recently and winning a decent amount in the $200 buy-in ($3/5 blinds) at Hollywood Park and also Commerce. I took a trip to Vegas with some friends during the NBA All-Star weekend and had a good time beating up on some extremely beginning players. Felt bad at some points but I’d rather take their money then have the casino take their money.
This past weekend I pulled off what basically amounted to three all-nighters. Thursday night I went all night and ended up a little. Friday was my best night and Saturday was a good night too. It’s really important to me to keep winning sessions going, no matter if the profit is large or small. I know that winning is contagious and I believe it’s addictive as well. There are many different types of gamblers and I’ve gone through almost all the stages. There are gamblers who play for the thrill of the gamble. These are usually losing gamblers because the larger the risk, the greater the thrill. I’ve been there before, taking on a challenge so great that I am doing it just to defeat the odds. There are also gamblers that become addicted to losing. They think their luck is so bad that they forget to correct their mistakes and continue doing what they’re doing despite the fact that they continue losing. They simply blame their losses on bad luck. These are usually losing poker players. For instance, a player that always pushes all-in with top pair when he sees a flush draw on the board, will lose a majority of the time, even if he is going all-in with the best hand. He is going to lose to a flush draw one out of three times to a flush draw, and the time he loses will cost him his stack. He will also lose to a better hand (set, two pair, etc.) every time. Therefore, even though he thinks he is always pushing with the best hand, he’s really putting his entire stack at a risk. These are players that lose consistently. No creativity and no improvement.
Then there are winning gamblers. These are gamblers that learn to bet when the odds are in their favor. When they lose money, they learn how to increase their chances the next time. If they lose at something, say craps, they pick up a new game where they have a better chance, maybe sports betting or poker.
I believe that both winning and losing is addictive in gambling. Losers don’t know when to stop – essentially they don’t stop for the night until they have gone broke. They will win $400 but keep playing until they are down $400. Then the next time they will show up and won’t stop until they win that $400 back. Bad idea. This is why I am trying to focus on winning, no matter what the amount is. I know it will become not only an addiction but a habit to win.
Not even more than five months ago, I played such a wider range of hands out of position than I do now and I can feel myself changing. Now I look at so many things before playing a hand---the obvious things such as hand quality, position, etc. But also at who’s in the hand? Can I raise them off a bluff? Do they continuation bet every time they raise pre-flop? Do they call me down every time I bet? I’ve learned that these things are key to picking up chips. They seem very obvious when written or read but it is completely different to learn the players and apply these ideas and strategies when playing.
The thing that I’ve noticed over my past few sessions is that it takes me a few buy-ins before I start building my stack. Each of my last four sessions, all of which were winning sessions, I’ve bought in three times. At first it was confusing to me why do I have to buy in three times to start winning? But when I think about it, it is extremely obvious. By the time I’ve made my third buy-in, I’ve pegged each player at the table and learned his playing style. I know which guy I can re-raise off of top pair and which guy will call me down all the way with middle pair. The adjustment I need to make is to play much tighter when I sit down until I’ve learned the players.
My last session I made a huge mistake when a new player sat down towards the end of my session, around 4 a.m. I raised pre-flop with 99 in late position and six people called. The flop came AQ4 and no one bet, including myself. I felt like someone might be trapping, so I checked to try and hit the 9 on the turn. A second ace came on the turn and the new guy bet $30, which wasn’t much. I insta-called him, trying to make it look as if I had a monster. The river was another four. Now I put him on the Queen. He checked to me and I bluffed $125. He called right away and showed an ace for aces full of fours. The player next to him says to me “You obviously haven’t played with him before,” indicating that he would have played this hand with nothing less than the ace. I felt pretty stupid because I tried to bluff a player who is obviously extremely tight and I could have just checked it down. This is why it is extremely important to learn players and their tendencies…each poker player is so different from the guy next to him.
Anyways I’m learning a lot every time I play and I feel like I’m applying what I learn, which is a great feeling.
I’ve been going with my boy Matt (hence the Jada Kiss quote) and we’ve both been having winning sessions, which is great because we used to only have losing sessions in common. I guess it’s funny because we kind of came up through gambling together. We started off playing black jack, learned craps the same weekend and now we both stick to poker. Hopefully we’ll keep improving and moving up in the ranks.
Not sure when I’m going to start posting numbers again, I’m kind of undecided on that but I do like to do it to keep track of hourly profit or loss, etc.
I’m not sure when I’ll play next, probably Friday at the latest. I have a basketball game tonight and then the movies. Tomorrow I might go if a dinner doesn’t last too long.
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