hand reads

lately i'm honing my hand reading skillz. like when i play my neighbor joe, by the time the river hits, i can tell him what hand he has based on how he's played it, or at least narrow the 169 possible starting hands down to 2-5.

for example, the last time we played, based on the timing of joe's flop call and my knowledge of how he'd play a pair/draw/etc, i knew he had a 5 or 6 along with a J, Q, or K in his hand. in another hand, i knew my opponent had TT, JJ, QQ, KK, or AK and one of the suits was a club.

it's fun to figure hands out, i just need to trust myself more...it's easy to justify not trusting my read just to see that i was right or something.

quickie

i'm going to get this before the summer is up, and i plan to make a bunch of money along the way.

then i'm going to attend some real estate classes, read about it, talk about it, etc...and develop property.

more to come...like my car crash (i'm fine...was the audi :( but now gonna get a subaru..), n shit.

new car

new car, and old van behind it (candy dispenser in back)




10 week old Max (awwwwww)




7 month old Max (whachoo lookin at foo?)

Check Call The Flop

PokerTracker (a program to analyze poker hands and stats) tells me I'm about 8 times as likely to bet or raise than I am to call on the flop. Playing that aggressively is detrimental when my opponents play back effectively.

So I need to check-call more on the flop. One spot that I can check call is when I flop 2nd pair or even top pair. I bet this type of hand almost every time, even multiway. Checking can get information, and induce bluffs.

Check-calling more will make me less predictable. Since I don't check-call or check-raise often, I am usually going to fold when I check. Decent/good players pick up on that, and bet most of the time I check to them.

How I Make Money In Poker

Something I have thought about lately is exactly how I make money in poker. It's important for me to realize the areas of the game that I am better or worse at than other players.

Here are the tools (with an explanation below) that I use better than most players (i.e. what makes me money in poker):

1. Value Betting.
--A lot of players will miss value bets because they fear getting raised, or just aren't used to betting for value in certain spots. I am confident enough to get in these "thin" value bets.
Another example is betting large amounts on the flop and turn, but then betting small on the river, because the opponent has a 1 pair hand that had a draw on the flop and turn, but now that the draw missed...or else they believe I wouldn't bet the river big as a bluff...so they can only call a small river bet. A lot of players will continue betting big and thus miss value on the river (tho sometimes a big bet will get called, and I am smart enough to adjust and bet big in that spot).

2. Analyzing Bets on the River.
--I'm not afraid to make big calls when I think someone is bluffing on the river. A common spot is someone who just calls on the flop and/or turn on a scary board, and then makes a big bet or raise on the river when draws miss...I am capable of calling these with a hand as weak as queen high (no pair).

3. Reading Timing Tells.
Timing tells are clues opponents give off based on how quick or slow they act. For example, when someone insta-calls the flop, they often have a weak hand/draw since they don't take time to consider raising.
If they then instantly check the turn when a draw completes...they often completed their draw, because with the nuts, they're excited to hit their hand and automatically try to set a trap, but with a weak hand, they'd take more time.
There are too many different situations with timing tells to list them all here...basically I am good about realizing spots I act instantly and remembering why, and doing the same when I see others doing it.

this is a good start, but I am tired of writing about this for now. Next time I'll write a thing or two more that I do better, and some stuff I do worse than others to make mo money, mo money, mo money!

what upsets me about downswings

i typed this as a reply to a question on this forum post. The question was pretty much, "what makes you upset while going through a downswing?"

what really upsets me is the feeling of accomplishing something but then starting over again because of a downswing.

for example, last summer i thought i permanently moved up to 2/4 and higher. i had 100 BIs for 2/4 and hadn't swung down more than ~12 BIs ("buy ins"..ie for 2/4 blinds, the buy in is $400) or 20k hands over a 200-300k sample.
then i took a month to move/take a road trip, and around then, started a downswing that has now lasted over 100k hands and 20-30 BIs...but because of the $ spent moving/vacationing...is more like 50-60 BIs.

so i'm back again playing .5/1 and 1/2. what upsets me is to move back down after thinking i would always play and make good $ at 2/4+. i can see how some "pros" end up going busto or borrowing for a BR...but i am determined not to do that.

the next time i am in a spot like i was last summer, making enough $ to move up and playing good/confident/stable...i'm going to play a ton and go to higher stakes.