American in America – Page 3

_Anonymous_ · 2012-02-05T12:13:34Z

Black Friday was brutal for most American poker players. I've spent the last four years thinking deeply about my game and trying to stay up-to-date with the evolution of poker. My results from 2010 and 2011 were consistent - something I would attribute to working hard on the emotional part of my game which I still struggle with: Around 300K of this was at 100NL, 260K at 200NL, 125K at 50NL, 100K at 25NL, and 95K at 10NL. As you can see, I played the whole micro-SSNL spectrum and felt comfortable grinding up a bankroll as was necessary. Poker was fun and something I was good at, but there was a question that I couldn't get out of my head ever since I started playing: Why do some players win and other don't in the long run? It was not luck and pretty quickly I realized it was not intelligence. Don't get me wrong - both luck and intelligence are necessary, but they aren't the final answer. This is a question that drove me much more than the money involved. To try to answer this question, I repeatedly moved down to the lowest limits and tried to claw my way back up. I reflected on how differently the limits play and what I felt was necessary to succeed in going from 10NL to 200NL and then being able to play there at a high level. Writing about the ideas I had helped me organize my thoughts, but it led to more questions than answers. There are some ideas which I believe to be critical to understand which are hard to articulate. Once you start exploring them, you realize their complexity. For example: "When should you c-bet?" I also coached a lot of different players in that period - always looking for why they were not reaching their goals. This led me to focus on the mental and emotional parts of learning. A common thread among most of my students was a constant feeling of anxiety and paranoia when they played. It's almost like as soon as they sat down to play there was a metaphorical hurricane of emotion in their mind. I imagined it to be something like this: The ideal of course would be more like this: In some ways, Black Friday was a relief. Before it, I felt constant pressure to play all the time. I felt that when I wasn't playing, I was losing money. Of course there were plenty of times where I played quite a bit AND lost money. I was very stressful. After Black Friday, that stress of always needing to play was gone - I simply was no longer able to do it. It was nice for the first month or two to have a forced break, but then the full reality started sinking in and now it's bad. Not being able to play allowed me to really focus on my writing and start spending more time with coaching. Coaching is another thing I thought about quite a bit. I believe that most micro stakes players need to do lots of individual study before they even begin thinking about getting a coach. That's not to say that a typical 5NL player cannot benefit from hiring an expert coach (of course they can), but most of the time the price of the coach outweights the value of the experience from the session. That's a whole other topic though. It seems like you guys at PokerStrategy have a good system in place that supports beginning players though - with the hands being reviewed by pros and lots of material (articles and videos) for beginners to explore. Having such resources in one place is critical for growth. So why am I writing this blog? I want my writing to serve as a reflection tool and get feedback on the fundamental question I highlighted above: Why do some players win and other don't? What can you do to be in the first camp and not the second? There is no quick and easy answer. The quick and easy answers ("Play tight, aggressive, and don't tilt!") are incomplete although they often have enough truth behind them to sound good. Well - this first blog post went a little long, but hopefully you got a sense of both me as a person and what I'm hoping to do here :)

lanopano

Joined: 04.01.2012

Posts: 38

06.02.2012, 12:23 0

verneer on PS? omgomgomgomg! ♦

Defo make this blog a daily lecture!

Loved your micro-challenge blog on 2+2 and your vids in general. Really still helps me a lot!!

I personally like replayer vids much more as a coaching video... explanations are much deeper and structured. Live seems always kind of a mess.
I guess I'll follow your advice and make a vid in a non-lazy time to watch myself playing

- Early Morning Poker -

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Nivlem

Joined: 28.05.2008

Posts: 350

06.02.2012, 13:04 0

Welcome, verneer! Good to have you on the forum

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_Anonymous_

06.02.2012, 13:11 0

Originally posted by lanopanoI guess I'll follow your advice and make a vid in a non-lazy time to watch myself playing
Haha ... you don't sound too motivated to make it happen

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trickybob

Joined: 28.07.2010

Posts: 914

06.02.2012, 13:55 0

Basic yesterday and today Diamond.

Good call PS.

(I hope they didn't make you pay - that would be a bit crass)

Full steam ahead with Verneer at the helm.

Happy days.

My Blog

Trying to keep it simple.

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Wriggers

Joined: 21.07.2009

Posts: 3,250

06.02.2012, 16:17 0

Welcome ♦ Just wanted to mention how much your micro guide in 2010(?) helped me move from FR to SH, it was an excellent read ♦

Cowboys Into Rockets

CLICK

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wnbMG

Joined: 10.04.2011

Posts: 586

06.02.2012, 18:07 0

Great blog by a great poker player. ♠_cool:
Glad to see you here
GL!

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gadget51

Joined: 23.06.2008

Posts: 5,622

06.02.2012, 18:30 0

Hi verneer, cute doggie, but didn't seem to keen to be photographed!

I also noticed the cute avatar; whew, that's sick volume dude! ♦

Very best to you,

Mal.

My blog: NSFW Language (Push the Limits).

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_Anonymous_

06.02.2012, 18:52 0

Originally posted by gadget51I also noticed the cute avatar; whew, that's sick volume dude! ♦

Life is a grind, what can I say ♦

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_Anonymous_

06.02.2012, 19:19 0

The proof of my book came in the mail!

I'm super excited. Ever since Black Friday, I've had a lot of time to write and I wanted to include everything that a beginning player needs to think about in one place. I also wanted to make it look good. I am very happy on both accounts

I don't want to spam this blog about my book, but since I just got it and I've been working on it for the past 4-5 months (write/edit/write/edit/write ... zzzz), I needed to share!

I would like to send a few free copies to PokerStrategy members, but will need to work it out with the mods on how to pick them.

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darkprice

Joined: 20.04.2009

Posts: 6,574

06.02.2012, 19:29 0

Guess you probably could have some kind of competition. Can't see any problem in that.

♣♦♠♥

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_Anonymous_

06.02.2012, 19:37 0

Originally posted by darkprice
Guess you probably could have some kind of competition. Can't see any problem in that.

I'm all for that.

I'm definitely going to send one copy out strictly on need. If you think you are in a long losing/break-even stretch, outline your case. The person who seems in the biggest need of some extra help with get a copy + an hour of private 1-1 coaching.

Big winners need not apply for this one

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TwiceT

Joined: 15.07.2007

Posts: 4,451

06.02.2012, 19:39 0

Originally posted by verneer

Originally posted by darkprice
Guess you probably could have some kind of competition. Can't see any problem in that.

I'm all for that.

I'm definitely going to send one copy out strictly on need. If you think you are in a long losing/break-even stretch, outline your case. The person who seems in the biggest need of some extra help with get a copy + an hour of private 1-1 coaching.

Big winners need not apply for this one

JB vs Roo

:diamond: Follow me on Snapchat and Twitter @Tw1ceT
The Education of a Modern Poker Player by TwiceT, jbpatzer & EmanuelC16

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gadget51

Joined: 23.06.2008

Posts: 5,622

06.02.2012, 20:00 0

Would it make sense to open a dedicated thread for this verneer? Just a thought.

I think it's an awesome idea by the way and speaking for our members - not that they are shy in that department - much appreciated.

My blog: NSFW Language (Push the Limits).

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michel2311

Joined: 14.11.2011

Posts: 330

06.02.2012, 20:04 0

I'm not a big winner. ♦ ♦ ♦ And very eager (see links in sig) to learn so this book will be a gift from heaven for me.

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Saren113

Joined: 06.03.2009

Posts: 2,148

06.02.2012, 22:02 0

OMG OMG a micros shirt! That's epic!

Cursing at fish
Check my blog!

♠ ♥ ♦ ♣

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_Anonymous_

06.02.2012, 22:23 0

Is it available as pdf please?

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jbpatzer

Joined: 23.11.2009

Posts: 6,972

06.02.2012, 22:57 0

Originally posted by TwiceT

Originally posted by verneer

Originally posted by darkprice
Guess you probably could have some kind of competition. Can't see any problem in that.

I'm all for that.

I'm definitely going to send one copy out strictly on need. If you think you are in a long losing/break-even stretch, outline your case. The person who seems in the biggest need of some extra help with get a copy + an hour of private 1-1 coaching.

Big winners need not apply for this one

JB vs Roo

I can whine better than Roo. No contest.

My Blog: Midlife crisis? What Midlife Crisis?

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lanopano

Joined: 04.01.2012

Posts: 38

06.02.2012, 23:42 0

Originally posted by Saren113
OMG OMG a micros shirt! That's epic!

lol thought so too. Where's the competition to win the shirt???

- Early Morning Poker -

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_Anonymous_

07.02.2012, 00:27 0

Originally posted by matel17
Is it available as pdf please?

Not right now and no major plans to do so right now. I don't know enough about e-books to make that happen.

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_Anonymous_

07.02.2012, 00:29 0

Originally posted by jbpatzer
I can whine better than Roo. No contest.

Prove it. Graphically.

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