Couple things I struggle with...

I'm just going blog down the things that's been bugging me.

So, I really really hate making marginal calls these days. But for some reason, this has been bugging me. I mean I think opposed to before, I'm more profitable without making those calls. The problem now is that I feel if you can make these calls by using good reads, it really gives you that edge and extra winrate.

While I don't want to become a calling station that never believes anybody, it's really difficult to determine if a call is profitable or not. At the scale of 1 to 10, 10 being the strongest of hands, I'm probably only calling a big bet with 8 and up. I've been thinking about how to exploit the guys that bluff a little more than average but not quite out of line. Those guys definitely have an edge over me if I fold 90% of my hands when he represents huge strength.

Also these days, I'm checking out the high stakes forums. The regulars are not afraid to build a pot with a draw and get his stack in as a bluff if the situation calls for it. I'm not thinking to make big bluffs, but it makes me reevaluate how I think about the game and how I think about a "BI". I've said this before that the money on the table is a tool to win more money, so if it's profitable to extract 30-40bb from the villian with your 100bb, you should definitely do it. You don't need to be correct that often and usually if you shove your stack in, you get a fold over 80+% of the time.

Anyways, these situations remind me of the things talked about in Mathematics of Poker. It is all about making the correct adjustments toward to a particular villian. The scale I talked about earlier, against some villian, you might need to make calls with a 3 or a 4. Some aggro villian will raise the flop with 1OC, and fire a second barrel. To exploit these villian, you need to stack off real light. It calls for some variance, but in a long run, you should expect profit every time he has to fold the turn raise after committing over 20-30bb. It's extremely difficult to make these adjustments because they are extremely marginal and it relates to the next point I'm about to make.


The toughest thing about poker is the ability to handle the swings. It's also something I'm constantly working on improving. I want to get to the point where I'm up 5 BIs I feel nothing, or down 5 BIs I feel nothing. Logically I understand the math behind expectations and variance, but emotionally, it's very difficult to swallow down. Maybe I'm just a perfectionist, because I know I handle swings much better than average both logically and emotionally. But I really want to achieve that "state of indifference". I have improved in my mental toughness by a lot since I started playing already. But I feel if I can really get to that state, I would be much more productive. Also, it'll be a huge edge against my competitors. More importantly, poker tends to creep into the rest of my life either in good and bad ways. I think if I plan to keep playing, I need to keep working on this.