Ramble's Ramblings

So after 733 SnG's, I am officially a fish :f_cry:. My bankroll has dipped in to the red and I am down 42 buy-ins in less than 200 games... I am surprisingly not that phased by it... I think it's because of these 3 things:

I have been studying a lot every day (psychology, strategy, session reviews, hand-evals, etc...) I think I just need to put what I am learning together and so far haven't been able to do that in a balanced way - but I think I am getting closer.

I have already booked a coach (hopefully he has a life-preserver), asking for help can be a very freeing experience and something I haven't been good at IRL - but I am learning to do so.

:spade:I found a way to stop tilting when I get a bad beat... When somebody really kicks me in the crotch with a ridiculous beat, I give them a quick Arsenio Hall Fist-Pump and a couple of Hoohoo's... seriously after doing that it is impossible to stay tilted - try it!

You have to be able to take the bad in order to accept the good

I was reading the common learning errors psychology article yesterday - and it hit pretty close to home.

Especially this part:

One of the most common learning issues I see among poker players happens when they try to learn too many things at once. Using many different resources—books, articles, training videos, forums, etc—is a great thing. But if you try to use everything and learn everything all at once, you overwhelm the mind's ability to absorb that information. Instead of learning you’re really just cramming information into your head. The mistake is that you believe just cramming it in means you’ll be able to easily get it out. That’s not how the brain works.

I think my recent run of disastrous results is that I tried to change too much of my game all at once and am making poor decisions because I can't remember everything I should be considering, so I latch on to the first thing I remember and ignore the other things I should be considering.

Usually during my session review or in the Hand-Eval forums I can think about a hand and come up with a decent line. I think that is because I am remembering instead of understanding - I need to focus on a couple of things until it is second nature and then move on to another area.

Hello,

Really good blog here man! I used to play $1.50s FR before I moved to 50fifties and I can definitely relate to a lot of what you post.

When I was playing $1.50 FR I was 20 tabling for awhile and it was killer! In total I got about 1.2k games down with a profit of ~$92.00 if you include KO sngs too.

Tim64 is definitely a +EV coach, he coached me for $1.50 6max (6 times) and some of the stuff he taught me I carried it over to 9 max.

Another thing I want to say is becoming a winning poker takes time. Last year, I wasn't even a winning player, but with dedication and a pure interest in the game I put in the hours and I am doing much better this year now.

You know you are a dedicated person when you read Collin Moshman's book about beating single table SNG's during your lunch break :).

Believe it or not I am actually coaching a very close friend of mine who is playing normal speed $1.50 FR sng's. It is hard at times seeing him make mistakes, but after we review together and I point out some of his errors and explain why, he begins to see things a lot clearer.

So all in all, I will definitely be following this blog and I wish you the best man!

Take Care,

Maythany

Thanks for that post Maythany

Originally posted by maythany
Hello,
Really good blog here man! I used to play $1.50s FR before I moved to 50fifties and I can definitely relate to a lot of what you post.

Thanks Maythany - I definitely appreciate!

I haven't updated in a couple of days because I wanted to have a break and clear my head before my coaching with Tim64 yesterday. I have to say it was a great experience having someone (so knowledgeable and approachable) review a complete tournament with me and discuss various situations. It turns out I'm not a horrible player, but Tim did identify a couple of HUGE leaks I need to work on.

Even though, since my coaching I am still only break-even (extremely small sample size), I am enjoying playing much more than I have since I started up again. I feel like I have a lot more control over the final outcome and my confidence is bolstered. I know I am not going to kill the game after one coaching, but I feel like I have taken a step towards becoming a winning player. Baby-steps right?

Originally posted by Ramble

Originally posted by maythany
Hello,
Really good blog here man! I used to play $1.50s FR before I moved to 50fifties and I can definitely relate to a lot of what you post.

Thanks Maythany - I definitely appreciate!

I haven't updated in a couple of days because I wanted to have a break and clear my head before my coaching with Tim64 yesterday. I have to say it was a great experience having someone (so knowledgeable and approachable) review a complete tournament with me and discuss various situations. It turns out I'm not a horrible player, but Tim did identify a couple of HUGE leaks I need to work on.

Even though, since my coaching I am still only break-even (extremely small sample size), I am enjoying playing much more than I have since I started up again. I feel like I have a lot more control over the final outcome and my confidence is bolstered. I know I am not going to kill the game after one coaching, but I feel like I have taken a step towards becoming a winning player. Baby-steps right?

You gotta learn how to walk before you can run.

If it's no biggie, what kind of HUGE leaks did he identify?

If it's no biggie, what kind of HUGE leaks did he identify?

It's funny because it is all things that are in the basic/bronze articles on this site, that I have read and reread. Things that I understood very well at a theory level, but wasn't putting them into practice. When someone like Tim looks at your play and asks you questions like "Why?" and you have to explain it, light bulbs start getting turned on.

I'll say that my very early game was not adequate and this hurt me for the whole tourney, and my late game was quite weak as well. I'd rather not get more specific than that for a couple of reasons:

I don't want to steal business from Tim, by giving his advice out for free
I don't want to give out info that would let others exploit me :P (I still need a lot of practice before I can shrink/close those leaks)

I didn't realize you were from Canada - I'm on the east coast!

I don't want to steal business from Tim, by giving his advice out for free

:( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :(

East coast eh? Newfoundland?

I'm chilling down here in Toronto haha!

Originally posted by maythany
East coast eh? Newfoundland?

New Brunswick

Not much for updates planned this week. With all the down-time I took last week to review my game, I am gonna have to grind for the rest of the week to maintain my Silver status at Stars... I feel that my game has picked up some, but I am running about 6 buy-ins under EV right now though so that is frustrating.

Month-end results and graph will probably be my next post... it should be pretty ugly so make sure you all come and check it out! ♦

Well, it looks like life had other plans for me... so the race to maintain silver status at Stars is off. It is probably for the best anyways as trying to put in that much volume was probably not +EV for my BR anyway. Now running about 11 buy-ins under EV over the month - but more on that in my end-of month post in a couple of days...

Thought I would share a hand for some giggles.

Damn Sidekick!!!
I shoved all-in on this hand for the sole purpose of getting the "in Da Club" Kick by winning a hand with A♣T♣...

Poker Stars, $1.32 Buy-in (25/50 blinds) No Limit Hold'em Tournament, 7 Players
Poker Tools Powered By Holdem Manager - The Ultimate Poker Software Suite.

SB: 3,635 (72.7 bb)
BB: 1,345 (26.9 bb)
MP1: 235 (4.7 bb)
MP2: 1,530 (30.6 bb)
MP3: 3,990 (79.8 bb)
Hero (CO): 2,725 (54.5 bb)
BTN: 40 (0.8 bb)

Preflop: Hero is CO with T A
MP1 raises to 235 and is all-in, 2 folds, Hero raises to 2,725 and is all-in, BTN calls 40 and is all-in, SB calls 2,700, BB folds

Flop: (5,775) J K 4 (4 players, 3 are all-in)
Turn: (5,775) 2 (4 players, 3 are all-in)
River: (5,775) 8 (4 players, 3 are all-in)

Results:

Once I shove, SB should only be calling with JJ+ (but of course being a fish with a VPIP of 50%, any two will do).
Meh - what you gonna do, fish gonna fish.

As promised, here are the results for my second month of play - No-Good November:

November:
Tournaments Played: 419
ITM: 34.4%
ROI: -10.4%
$EV: running 20 buy-ins below EV

Lifetime:
Tournaments Played: 852
ITM: 36.4%
ROI: -2.7%
$EV: running 10 buy-ins above EV

So obviously I am not thrilled with the results, but I keep reading that we shouldn't be results oriented right? (that's a little joke)

A couple of interesting notes about the graph this month...

Note 1: This is where I decided I was going to examine my game and adjusted my ranges (remember that post?), and where I started studying a lot of articles and reviewing my hands in greater detail.

Note 2: This is following my coaching - so the downward spiral slowed down but unfortunately I started running well under EV around the same time

So not as much improvement as I would have liked but it is still early. Just to be clear - I think the coaching was well worth the investment and applying what I learned is making a big difference, but I am still making some poor decisions in certain spots and need to train myself to recognize them before I decide to get involved or not.

I've also started paying more attention to what I eat... This was my breakfast yesterday - A Strawberry/Banana Smoothie with Onions, Mushrooms, Peppers, Broccoli, Garlic, Spinach, Tomatoes, Cheese and Egg - delicious!

:

duuude but where is bacon ???

bleax

Run good December!!

If you ever want to skype review games or something like that I would totally be down for that.

Since I also play $1.50 STTs, my advice holds some water right? Not as much as Tim's, but hey! It's FREE..... FFFFRRRRREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

Originally posted by Yonose
bleax

Hahaha Yonose - I hope the blech is for the food pic and not my blog

Originally posted by maythany
Run good December!!
If you ever want to skype review games or something like that I would totally be down for that.
Since I also play $1.50 STTs, my advice holds some water right? Not as much as Tim's, but hey! It's FREE..... FFFFRRRRREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

Thanks Maythany - the skype review might be a good idea - you saw firsthand how I played last night
I'll probably be looking to do that after the holidays - I'll PM you!

I got a message today that I won a goodie bag for the November Marathon raffle!

It includes a PokerStrategy.com card deck, dealer button, lanyard, poker chips, and a rubber duck named "Squeezy". ♦

Pretty excited honestly. Can't wait for it to come in! Thanks PS!

Gratz Ramble,

I am so envious.

I want one too.

Well done

Laz

Originally posted by Ramble
I got a message today that I won a goodie bag for the November Marathon raffle!

It includes a PokerStrategy.com card deck, dealer button, lanyard, poker chips, and a rubber duck named "Squeezy". ♦

Pretty excited honestly. Can't wait for it to come in! Thanks PS!

Nice!!

Gratz on the goodie bag! I won it too.