Snakes will smoke

Originally posted by VorpalF2F
I never thought of it before, but auctions are a lot like betting.

In a way, they are. Except that in auctions, only the winner has to pay, which is pretty much the opposite to betting in poker. But other than that, similar principles apply. The only way to "win" is to get your opponent to "fold", which is achieved by making your bids big enough to drive your opposition out of the deal, but not any bigger than necessary to keep the price as low as possible. It's a bit like a poker game without cards.

The only experience I have with auctions comes from eBay, which is, of course, a totally different ball game. All you need to do there is basically typing in the maximum amount you are willing to spend as late as possible. No need to scare anyone away.

But even on eBay, I'm familiar with this feeling of having "lost" an item. This can often occur with bulky, 'pick up only' items in your vicinity, or hard to find auctions that include typos. Deals like these really don't come up every day.

By the way, I'm sure you're more familiar with Jared Tendler's The Mental Game of Poker than I am. Does it address the point I mentioned in my last post somewhere, by any chance?

Originally posted by lkdr9494
Hey mate It's been a while. Hope you are doing well besides those suckups in Omaha ♠
If I may ask why did you switch?

Hi Luis, it's really great to see you here again! So how are you doing lately? How did your studies go?

A lot of things happened in the meantime. I actually gave up on Hold'em cash games altogether about half a year ago because I no longer felt like I had an edge in there. I could win big pots if my opponent was unlucky enough to hit a 2nd best hand and I could take down a pot unopposed once in a while, but other than that, I just didn't think that I could consistently make profitable decisions. Since I didn't really have the motivation to do the necessary studying on these subjects, I decided to move on to other formats and even other poker variants instead.

For a while, I've been grinding Five Card Draw SNGs, for example, and only stopped because the traffic in there was far below acceptable levels. If it was anything like the traffic for Hold'em SNGs, I would have been more than happy to make them my main game.

My current attempts at PLO are more of an experiment, really. I gave these games a try once and saw the potential in them, so I wanted to see whether I would be able to make a profit if I concentrated on them for a while. One advantage is that there are less people who are familiar with Omaha and there is less training material around, so it should be easier to exploit beginner's mistakes, which happen quite a bit. Moreover, and that was the main reason for me, PLO forces you to really think about every one of your hand just by the way it is played, so it seemed more like a genuine mind game than the robotic Hold'em Zoom grind that I was accustomed to.

Besides, I just like trying out new things.

Originally posted by lkdr9494
you usually don't know where you stand unless you have the possible best hand.

Well, that's pretty much the point. You only draw to the nuts in Omaha, especially in multiway pots. Q-high flushes and 2nd best straights are often nothing more than bluffcatchers.

The key is to look out for hands that can dominate your opponent. For example, you may both go for the same straight draw, but your hand also allows you to draw for the flush. Or you have the same made straight, but you have additional outs for a higher one. Since a lot of players are unfamiliar with this at the micros, you can build some nice pots this way.

But I'm currently just learning this game myself.

Well I was supposed to start my last year on september 7, but my university (which is completely subsidized by the government) is out of money again. The university is asking for a 500% raise in their budget that is necessary given the high inflation in the country, but it is still unrealistic. So while this crazy situation is settled I'm back at the tables. Started with nothing more than 200 FPP in Pokerstars playing the 20 FPP 500$ tournaments, managed to cash in $4 from them and now I'm back at NL2 Fold Ring. Right now my bankroll is $7.6 and my only goal is to not get busted while I make it to at least $50. Depending on the win rate I might not even up the stakes since NL5 is so different to NL2 and I'm quite outdated on how people is playing. Right now minimum wage in Venezuela is $10 a month and I'm aiming to make at least 2-3 dollars a day when my bankroll is steady. That's my plan while I wait for my university to resume activities.

That is indeed a crazy situation.

I think we could be in for a very nice 'moving up' story if you manage to turn those 200 FPP into a respectable poker bankroll. Will you keep me and the other guys updated in your blog? You did a great job turning $20 into $300 last year, maybe you can pull off something even better this time.

Originally posted by lkdr9494
Right now minimum wage in Venezuela is $10 a month

Are you sure that's not a typo?
I'm aware that there are some massive differences between our two countries, but $10 is more or less the minimum wage for an hour of work over here.

Do you have any other plans to make some money for the time being, besides poker?

In any case, best of luck!

Originally posted by Harrier88
By the way, I'm sure you're more familiar with Jared Tendler's The Mental Game of Poker than I am. Does it address the point I mentioned in my last post somewhere, by any chance?

If you mean the bit about "Table Sherriff" then yes, it does.

The book is well worth the $ spent. Not just in poker, either.
It covers a lot of RL items that cause tilt.

VS

I agree, I own this book myself.

Do you happen to know the exact chapter where the book addresses this point?

Originally posted by Harrier88
That is indeed a crazy situation.

I think we could be in for a very nice 'moving up' story if you manage to turn those 200 FPP into a respectable poker bankroll. Will you keep me and the other guys updated in your blog? You did a great job turning $20 into $300 last year, maybe you can pull off something even better this time.

Yeah I was thinking about updating it, if I reach $10 I'll be posting, as I write I have $4.64, made some bad decisions.

Originally posted by Harrier88

Originally posted by lkdr9494
Right now minimum wage in Venezuela is $10 a month

Are you sure that's not a typo?
I'm aware that there are some massive differences between our two countries, but $10 is more or less the minimum wage for an hour of work over here.

Well not $10, maybe $12-$13. It's sad. I remember when I started playing last year it was almost $70. In January $30. Good old socialism. Professors of my university (phD 20 years of research and teaching, highest paid position) make about $60 a month.
Maybe I'll tell the whole story in my thread since the story is not well known. It's just a bit long and I'm lazy

Originally posted by Harrier88
Do you have any other plans to make some money for the time being, besides poker?

In any case, best of luck!

Well since working for bolivares is not efficient (since I can beat any salary playing NL2 at the comfort of my home). My plan is as simple as play poker until my classes begin. Or until I get busted.

Logging in to my Pokerstars account, I noticed that I was suddenly $10 richer than yesterday. I can only guess that this had something to do with their latest promotion where you could win tickets to all-in shootout tournaments. I collected quite a few of them, so this would make sense.

When I started with Omaha 1-2 weeks ago, I had $380 and wanted to see if I can make it to $400 playing nothing but PLO2 Zoom. If I could achieve that, I'd move up to PLO5, and if I kept winning there as well, I would make it my new main game and invest in the Omaha version of Pokertracker.
Right now, I have about $392, so I'm pretty much breaking even so far, if we ignore the $10 bonus. I remember being $15 up at one point, but unfortunately, that didn't last very long.

I'll stay at it, with my new goal being $410. If I reach $400, I'll consider adding a second Zoom table.

Despite the rather modest results so far, I see no reason to be discouraged right now. I tend to get myself into pretty profitable situations when I'm on my a-game, whether they actually pay off or not, and I think I made some nice improvements recently.

Besides, I had a successful week at the Mahjong tables. I cashed in 4 out of 5 freerolls, and once again came really close some significant prize money in a $1.10 Hong Kong tournament.
Here's a screenshot from somewhere in the middle of the very final hand in my last Japanese Riichi freeroll. Look at the scores on the right side, this is the closest game I have ever seen (25k starting points).

I have a busy schedule tomorrow containing three freerolls (though I'll probably skip the first one) and two $1.10 tournaments. A cash in the freerolls should ideally cover the expenses from the other tournaments, while a cash in the paid entry tournaments could finally give me a serious bankroll to work with.

Let's see how this goes.

Originally posted by Harrier88
Let's see how this goes.

Not too well, unfortunately. I didn't cash in any of those tournaments. Omaha went quite terribly as well in the beginning, but I managed to recoup most of my losses later on.

I also decided to play two Zoom tables from now on. It actually seems to help my game a bit.

Originally posted by Harrier88
I also decided to play two Zoom tables from now on. It actually seems to help my game a bit.

This!
I was playing on a single table thinking I'd be making less mistakes as I'd be able to focus more. I wasn't winning and it was because I'd get impatient (especially when chasing losses) waiting to hit a hand and when I did hit I couldn't lay the hand down since I waited so much to hit or the opposite bluffing pots because 'villain can't hit every table'. Also playing a single table I was too loose which also led to losing more chips. In my opinion the key factors are:
- Better focus (single table is too slow -> boring -> less focus -> more mistakes).
- Tighter gameplay (single table is too slow -> loose gameplay -> more mistakes).
PD: My bankroll is now $10.65 I'll be updating my thread with more details.
Good luck grinding mate!

Originally posted by lkdr9494
I was playing on a single table thinking I'd be making less mistakes as I'd be able to focus more. I wasn't winning and it was because I'd get impatient (especially when chasing losses) waiting to hit a hand and when I did hit I couldn't lay the hand down since I waited so much to hit or the opposite bluffing pots because 'villain can't hit every table'. Also playing a single table I was too loose which also led to losing more chips.

Yeah, this is actually a very common problem. I have heard of plenty of people who opened up some additional tables just so they can concentrate better.

Also, congrats on your winnings! Hopefully, you can use this as a stepping stone for a nice comeback.

I wish I would have something nice to report as well, but that's not the case. After losing an impressive amount of money in some unfocused PLO sessions, I decided to depart a bit from my schedule and play some Five Card Draw SNGs again. I played a $1.50, a $3.50 and a $7 tournament and ended up losing them all. I returned for some PLO, but I wasn't really feeling it.

In light of that, I'm ready to declare my PLO Zoom experiment a failure and get back to playing a wider variety of games. That doesn't mean that I give up on Omaha, I just won't focus on it exclusively anymore. I already started by playing a 6-tabled session of 45-man SNGs, and once again, lost all of them.

Oh, and I lost at Mahjong as well.

So did anything go right today? Well, I got a haircut, and they didn't cut off my ear. I guess that counts.

Let's try this again tomorrow... even though I don't really know yet what I'll be playing from now on.

It's September 23rd, which marks the beginning of Fall. For us Northerners, at least...

Also, it's my birthday! I had some excellent wine at a local Italian restaurant today.

When it comes to poker, I believe I have three options apart from the occasional PLO session:

1. 6-man SNGs: Variance can be a bitch, but my game seems to be relatively solid in them. It's a nice option if nothing else works out.
2. regular SH cash games at 888: I always found table selections and waiting list a bit cumbersome, but I actually did all right in these games when I tried them earlier this year. 888's loyalty system is quite forgettable, but the increased fishiness of the tables should be worth it.
3. MTTs: Those were my go-to-games when I started out with poker. Should be a decent choice if I can accept playing a lower volume.

Whatever I pick, I need to work on my mental game. I noticed recently that losing bothers me more than it should, whether it's in cash games or tournaments, and no matter if it is due to bad luck or bad play.

But there's no need to rush right now. For those who don't know, my brother and I will be making a trip to the UK starting next Friday to see the Rugby World Cup. We'll be watching Australia vs. Uruguay at Birmingham next Sunday. This should definitely give me enough time to unwind a little.

Hey man happy birthday!

I didn't watch rugby until South Africa vs. Japan. I never felt excited about it, but it's always amazing to see David beat Goliath. Not only the surprise, but the motivation. If Japan could beat South Africa you are capable of anything. I guess that's the reason why people loves the underdog. Maybe I'm just being silly

Anyway mate have a good week, enjoy!

Thanks, Luis!

I didn't see the Japan vs. South Africa game, but it's an absolutely mind-blowing result. As far as I know, this was their second World Cup win in their entire history, the other one was against Zimbabwe in 1991. Defeating a huge rugby nation like South Africa is nothing short of amazing.

And rooting for the underdog is definitely not silly at all. People have been inspired by classic underdog stories since pretty much the dawn of time. That's also one of the reasons why I'm not sure yet who I will be supporting when I see the match. I'll surely bring my Wallabies jersey and it will be exciting to see a top-level team like Australia in action, but it would be just as exciting to see a team like Uruguay give them a run for their money. Also, when I played rugby up until last year, our fly-half and kick taker was actually from Uruguay, so that's a bonus.

By the way, I got another reason to celebrate today. This afternoon, I finally managed to reach my first final table in a paid entry Mahjong tournament, after coming really close to it so many times.

It was not looking good for me in the semi-final after the first 2 out of 4 hands, but this was the turning point:

As you can see, it wasn't even a big hand. It was a so-called "chicken hand" with no value on its own, but a combination of other factors turned it into a monster: I was sitting in the East position and we were playing the East round, which instantly made my Pong of East Winds be worth 2 Fans (hand value points), and my hand also included the plum blossom, which was the fitting flower tile for my seat, adding another Fan. Add another Fan for drawing the winning tile myself, and suddenly, I was able to collect 32 points from every other player. It's little things like these that can turn a Mahjong game upside down sometimes.

I got close to building a similarly big hand at the final table, but didn't make it. I finished 3rd, for an $11.90 prize, bringing my Mahjong bankroll to $13.22. Never deposited, never will. This should be enough to keep me playing for a while.

I played a few hands and some SNGs yesterday, but I wasn't really feeling it. I don't know what it is, but I just don't seem to have the drive right now. The passion is gone.

Looks like I can use a bit of a break. Maybe things will look different when I'm back.

Hey everyone!

I've had a great time in the UK, I should do this kind of thing more often, really. The ale in the pubs was great as always, and the Indian food was simply fantastic (since we were in Birmingham, we went to the legendary Balti Triangle, of course). You just don't get this stuff in mainland Europe. Unfortunately, I didn't have time to try some fries (or chips, as they call them) with vinegar, and I also would have liked to see how they serve their kebabs, since this is pretty much my snack food of choice in Germany. Maybe next time...

Australia clearly dominated the game, as expected, but Uruguay gave it a good fight. They certainly would have deserved to score a try. Definitely a nice experience, either way. We also would have had the option to watch Birmingham City vs Rotherham United the day before, but I decided against it because I was still dog tired after a sleepless night and a flight early in the morning.

The newspapers were full of stories and comments about England's shocking defeat against Wales. I watched bits and pieces of this game in our hotel room, but missed the disastrous final moments. I can only imagine what things are like after their loss against the Wallabies right now, which guarantees their early exit.

Anyway, I've been back for quite a while now, but didn't post anything yet because I simply didn't play any poker. I'll certainly donk around in some of the 'Common Cents' tournaments at Pokerstars next week, but other than that, I'm not sure when I'll be back to the tables.

There will be other things to do as well. It was recently confirmed that I completed all the requirements for my Bachelor's degree, so getting my certificate will only be a formality now. I will officially register as unemployed next Monday and see what I can find.

In the meantime, there's always Mahjong to satisfy my gambling needs. In addition to the couple of freerolls and tournaments I play each week, I also started to play some Kansai Riichi cash games, which actually have somewhat acceptable traffic. This game works like the Japanese version, but it's played with three instead of four players and a stripped deck, and well as some minor rule changes. I've had a bit of a hot streak over there, which, however, is long gone now. I feel like I'm improving, though, and the games are fun, so I'll stick around as long as my bankroll (which took a bit of a beating) can take it.

Speaking of Mahjong, here are some more monster hands from my last two cash games:

Here, my opponent apparently managed to get a 'Kazoe yakuman'. I had to look this one up - basically, it just means that he scored a shit ton of points. It doesn't even look that big, but once again, a combination of many little things really added up to make this hand as huge as it is. It's not even possible to score any higher in this format, which is why it is listed as a 'limit hand'.

This hand from me in the next cash game against the same opponents, however, had 'BIG' written all over it:

I could have scored even higher if I had picked up a white dragon instead of a bamboo 9, but it is still the biggest hand I ever made in this format.

I even managed to completely stack one of my opponent in this one, after which the game simply ends. This is also why can see the amount of money I won in this game. It doesn't look like much, but it is actually a very nice payout for the limit I'm playing in. I couldn't really afford to play any higher with the few bucks in my bankroll, after all.

Hey guys,

After reading a bit of The Mental Game of Poker recently, I once again realized how many leaks there are in my mental game. But discovering this wasn't discouraging for me at all. Quite the contrary, seeing all this potential for improvement was actually quite motivating for me.

Speaking of motivation, I also read the part of the book about motivation vs. inspiration. Contrary to popular belief, they are not the same. Inspiration is defined as one of those short-term boosts of energy you can get from inspirational movies, songs, quotes and other things like watching the Japanese rugby team beat South Africa against all odds. Motivation, on the other hand, applies mostly to the long term. It is the "solid and stable energy that keeps you consistently working over the long term", to directly quote the book.

While inspiration is very important, relying too much on it can be dangerous. If you have to constantly look for things to inspire you, this might just mean that you are doing it to compensate for bigger problems in your long-term motivation. And without correcting these flaws, short bursts of inspiration probably won't get you very far in the long run. This is seen as one of the reasons why New Year's resolutions typically fail.

In the last few weeks, I did not have any motivation or inspiration for poker, which is why I was taking a break. But now I have found my motivation. All of these mental leaks I discovered don't just apply to poker. I have had these issues in sports, academia, and just about any aspect of real life. I have decided that it is time to put these demons to rest now.

So I'm back at the tables. My game of choice right now is good old NL5 SH Zoom, playing two tables. I played a bit today, and so far, I've been quite happy with both my actual and my mental game.

This hand was the costliest for me. I wonder if I could have done anything to prevent it?

And here's the biggest one, just for fun:

Yesterday's cash games went really well, and I finished with a profit of about 4-5 BIs after around 1.2k hands.

Today's sessions started out similarly, but I eventually ended up with a slight loss.

Of course, hands like this would have something to do with it:

There was another very costly set over set situation where I actually believe I made a mistake. Based on my opponent's action, a higher set was extremely likely, I believe. I couldn't find the hand anymore, but I guess there's not much point in sharing it anyway. You guys all know the classic set over set situation.

Overall, I'm still quite happy with the way I'm playing. If I remember correctly, I started playing NL5 with a bankroll of around $352, now I'm at $371. My goal is to get to $400, so I can take a 10 BI shot at NL10.

Also, I decided to track my Mahjong progress as well, just to see how I'm doing in the long run. Today, I played one Japanese Riichi cash game and finished 3rd for a slight loss. I don't think I made too many mistakes, but two other players were just more successful picking up their hands. I eventually managed to get a decent honitsu (half flush) to finish off the player in 4th place and end the game, but that wasn't enough to get past the two other players, who had a massive lead by then.

I did get lucky in a $1.10 Hong Kong rules tournament, though, where I shared 3rd place with another player for $9.30. 1st place was shared by the other two guys, so it was really as close as it gets.

So this is how it looks like after day 1:

Japanese Riichi cash games
Form: 3rd
Profit: -$0.26

Mixed tournaments
Freeroll winnings: none
Paid-entry tournament profit: $8.20
Total profit: $8.20

Hi harrier, I just started reading the first paragraph of your blog, and spotted a leak in your mental game, I know this because it was one of my own, that hopefully is now fixed to the level of unconscious competence :f_thumbsup:, I have only just fixed this and you wouldn't believe the impact its had on my game.

I quote

It seems my main problem is not necessarily lack of knowledge, but more likely failure to implement said knowledge, and making mistakes when I should have known better.

Here is your problem, you think you should have known better, when the reality and logic here is, you don't know better, because you wouldn't be making them mistake's, this also creates an illusion, that you believe you know your mistakes well enough, not to make them, so logically, why would you need to work on your mistakes if you know them already? The fact your still making the same mistakes, tells you, that you don't know the correction well enough.

I have been reading and studying the mental side of poker, on and off for about 6 months, but it does get easier, I am still a mental game fish, but im going to change that!

If you are still struggling with mistakes, a better understanding of how you learn completely fix's this, so, my advice to you, is to read the mental game of poker, in the adult learning model, and mistake tilt. Don't just read it, study it.

Also its a nice blog, im intrigued, and I will follow your progress, I will read it all and catch up, but not tonight I need to go to sleep I have work in a few hours. sigh!