Benefits of a Teacher

It's funny, so I was browsing the new CR forums and I just notice so many people are giving pretty bad advice. I mean I'm not saying I'm perfect by any means but some stuff is just "standard". And I think back before PIF that I'm probably the same as the bunch there. And I came to a few realizations about how much Brian has changed my game.

There are many bad habits you learned while playing on your own. I still remember playing 25nl and folding so much in reraised pots with big OPs. This is something I learned playing 25nl that I called enough of the times and got shown a set many many times, so I adapted the "folding policy" in that situation. Of course, I obviously learned something right to get to where I am now.

But thinking back, it's obvious that PIF has changed me and changed how I think about the game. Obviously I will take some credit to my own because it's my constant evaluating of situations that help me develop my current poker intuitions. But much of that credit came from Brian and Pawel's example as I was relearning new habits. My complete trust in their knowledge is what allowed me to accept those knowledge as my own. Honestly, I cannot and will not beat 1/2 if I still retain most of those bad habits I had. Paying someone to teach you those things is definitely +ev, and I wouldn't have noticed until I look back at my old self. Of course I was blessed with the PIF opportunity so I did not have to pay. But honestly, I don't know how much it would have cost me to rid those bad habits by myself.

I definitely recommend people to find a coach with a game that you completely respect. Remove your doubts, and be active while absorbing the new information. Understand their thought process, keep asking until you understand exactly why they do what they do. I admit sometimes Brian gets upset at me because I keep asking the same types of questions. In his perspective, he probably thinks I'm challenging him as a teacher but it was merely my constant search for understanding of his thought processes. But through this, you really get to pick someone's brain and benefit from it fully.

There is one other thing that is important. It is to lay down your egos and have the will to listen. There are times when I get stubborn and think I'm always right. But that's the wrong attitude. As a poker player, you need to constant absorb new information and understand how people think. Every play that you make on a table should be backed by your understandings of the villian's thought process. Even if his thought process is incorrect, you need to understand it and use it for your advantage. Therefore, if your ego is on the way, you shut your ears and not take in valuable information. But the point is that, you will be wrong sometimes and if your ego is too big to realize it, this will just halt your development as a player. It's really a death trap. I find myself within this trap more often as I feel more and more confident about my game. You need to realize that "yes, I'm pretty good but there are still tons of things I need to learn and improve upon. The day I stop learning is the day I become a loser." Hence I always say that a downswing is a good swing because it destroys your ego.

Complete BS!

I ran really really bad in my early session today, I don't remember the last time I ran this poorly(can't win any hand, and every big hand was counterfeited/coolered/sucked out). Then I decided to come back for another session. I won a few big pots from value betting very thin and coolered fish with turned/rivered big hands. The highlight though was that I sucked out one 200bb pot against a TAG.. A8s vs AA all in pf. I just felt villian was frustrated with me, and it was sb vs bb. Obviously I shoved on him. I haven't had such a bad suckout for a very very long time. I hate it when in a long run, that was like huge -ev.

But the BS thing was that, I was down a lot and came back close to even.

misclicks are costly(nt)

PS 2/4

I finished a session today, and I didn't run good at all. I was curious how much I'm down on the site overall. So in PS, I'm down 13BIs in 2/4 over 16k hands. I really don't know what to think about that. 16k is definitely a small sample but it's significant enough I think. While this doesn't necessary bother me right now, it does make me think about what other people are doing that are winning.

I'm really thinking about opening up a lot and playing the villian instead of my cards. I mean I'm not going to go maniac but I know I can use my hand reading ability to make profitable bluffs. Obviously the variance is going to shoot up, but I really think I can make them long term profitable.

One thing I admit that I am weak at is villian reading. I rely on stats way too much and it comes to the point that I make most plays based on stats. I think if I lay it out, it's about 80% stats, 20% tendencies. To make good bluffs, you really need to know what type of player he is and what types of laydowns he's willing to make. I got to ask these questions: what type of hands does he value bet? what type of hands is he checking down? what type of hands is he calling down with? what kind of things can I exploit from this villian? should I be bluffing him more or should I be value betting more lightly?

So like always, the next couple sessions, I'm going to be playing very few tables and develop really good read on each players. This will be good practice for my hand reading abilities and obviously working on what I am weak at.

Lesson Tonight

I was up for lesson tonight. The result wasn't good, but I just want to note that I'm glad how well I can handle swings of the game. I think I can be down a lot for a session and still not feel a whole lot about it. All you can hope for is that you make good decisions and that you'll swing the other way sooner or later. Honestly, I feel I neither deserves to win or lose in this game. I'm not saying I should be break even. I'm saying win or lose comes from your ability in making the correct decisions therefore you deserve exactly what you deserve, whatever that might be. So it's best not to think about it or let it affect you. I'm definitely closer to being indifferent about the results.

But with that said, I really like to be winning on PS especially I need to be playing shit tons of hands there in the next 2 weeks. We'll see.

I'm screwed

I'm screwed.. It's the 17th, and I need 7k VPP on PS by the end of the month. No FT for me this month, that's for sure. Even so I'm not sure if I'll make it, given the limited hands I can play this month.

Busy School

School's been busy, my amount of hands per week is really weak. For the limited hands I've been playing, I think I'm running well(as opposed to running bad). 2/4 definitely doesn't intimidate me much any more, though there are still some tough regulars that I need to adapt to. Definitely though, I am pretty sure I can beat it in a long run. My roll is over 20k for a while now, let's see when I'll make 30k.

Playing by Table Image

I think this is such an important concept as you play higher stakes. While it's almost always "standard" to open with an low PP in EP in a 6max game, is it correct to always open it? I believe it's a huge spew to do that when you are playing with a really bad image. Of course I'm talking about the extremes, say you open raised like 4 times in a row in this one orbit. I mean if anybody has any type of decent hand, they should be 3betting you. Sure, you only lose 4bb or so, but why put yourself in that situation when it's obvious you know what will happen over 60% of the time. Consider keeping those 4bb, how much more profits would you have now? That's a good question.

These days, I've been playing my hands based on my table image more often. If I'm very tight, you'll see me open with all types of hands in all position but if I'm loose, my range will tighten up dramatically. The goal of this is that I'm trying to sustain a constant "small ball" winrate as opposed to slowly spewing. My lines postflop will vary too based on this same image, if I have a more tight image, I'll lean toward to bluffing more and if I have a more loose image, I'll play tighter and bluff way less. I think this style is way more easier to play than to push against the flow of the table and dig your hand in where you shouldn't be in the first place.

I think I'm getting somewhere here. I've been really thinking about the true LAG style. While I might not necessarily play LAG, I want to understand their thought process and adapt it to my own. You know, I used to think Taylor's videos are kind of crazy most of the time. He'll be bluffing with air almost at least once a video and I'm starting to understand those thought process behind the play. It's great, but you really need to wait for the right timing to start to appreciate his style. For me, I think I'm getting there.