AzUdet and poker (SnG)

Hey AzUdet.

Really nice blog start - and gongratz on becoming a father. I presume for some reason you're the father, don't know why.

Cash is definitly not the only way to make money. If you want to read a little about succesfull SnG players you should read these two for sure. I read them and enjoy them.

MiskoKvo- SNG player poker blog
Hlynkinn Poker blooog

The best of luck,
Kimber88

Okay, first poker night after blog start was everything but a success BR wise. Yet, I think I learned some things and I think that is something valuable too. And I realized a big leak in my game that I need to fix ASAP or I will be owned a lot without huge luck.

Well, let me start at the beginning. My goal were to play comfortabley on 3 tables. Well, I wouldn't call it comfy but it is getting definitely better but in push-fold situations I focus so much on the outcome of 1 table that I miss the action on another. This is something that needs to get better. But it also might have something to do with my bankroll. I don't want to put money on my poker account. So seeing my BR shrinking is something that makes me nervous.

Okay, for the play: I got slapped around pretty bad in the beginning. Bad beat in combination with unconcentrated out-of-position play is something you really want to avoid. Hehe... well, I didn't in the beginning and even later in the night I had the occasional slip. Also I felt I was playing too loose in the beginning. Once I tightend up a bit things went somewhat smoother.

Still I was kicked 4 or 5 times directly before the money with plays that are incredible... Let me post one example (hope this works) from the Ferguson Tournament. It wasn't directly before the money but it stands for what happened last night a lot.

No Limit Holdem Tournament
The Ferguson
9 players
Converted at weaktight.com

Stacks:
UTG Irish Democrat (1560)
UTG+1 Electrocutioner (1245)
MP1 mickey dove (2780)
MP2 librarianone (825)
MP3 l800GetLaid (1395)
CO Swollen Johnson (1440)
BTN xxxObesxxx (5620)
SB Hero (1415)
BB KPH (1500)
[KPH is sitting out]

Blinds: 20/40

Pre-flop: (60, 9 players) Hero is SB K A
Irish Democrat calls 40, Electrocutioner raises to 80, 4 folds, xxxObesxxx calls 80, Hero goes all-in 1,415, 1 fold, Irish Democrat calls 1,375, Electrocutioner goes all-in 1,165, xxxObesxxx folds

Flop: A Q 5 (4,195, 3 players)

Turn: 3 (4,195, 3 players)

River: 2 (4,195, 3 players)

Final Pot: 4,195
Hero shows: K A
Irish Democrat shows: 4 7
Electrocutioner shows: T Q

Irish Democrat wins 4,195 ( won +2,780 )
xxxObesxxx lost -80
Hero lost -1,415
Electrocutioner lost -1,245

So, someone pushes all in in the beginning of a big tournament with 47s pre-flop. If someone can explain this with more then: "dumb luck" I would be grateful.

Well after some more of this I was in negative BR. 48 of the 50$ from my base bankroll. In that moment I started thinking moving back down one limit to 1& but then again I wasn't on that point yet. And it was good I didn't as I could recover at least some of my losses until I went to bed and I am sitting now on 60.94$. Still 7 down from the peak yet but not too bad either.

What annoys me most of the getting beaten in 4th place is that you already spend a lot of time on this table (especially with some of the tighter ones I played last night) and with 4 players left no one really tries to make a move to limp into the money. Hm, maybe I should do the same...

Okay, last thought on the leak I found: I have a really hard time seeing draws coming. Now that might only be inexperience but this killed some tables for me too. Seeing but not recognizing the 3 suited flop cards and pushing all in only to be called. Which is the same thing I would do. The same thing with straight draws. I kinda get a grip for pairs / triples but I did not see one straight draw against me coming.

Is there any way one could practice that or is it just experience? Also it seems so fast in online poker and even more when I try to divert my attention to 3 tables. On the other hand if I play only on 1 or 2 tables there is no guarantee I would see this but a) I would fall asleep being bored half of the time and spending a lot of time on too few tables to be somewhat profitable. What do you think?

About the hand:
Why do you push all in? Just raise to 3 times the original raise, and then get the others out on the flop.

If it was the beginning of the tournament and it was a freroll or a low buyin tournament, then a lot of players go all in with any hand just to get a nice start. You have to be ultra tight in the beginning of such tournaments.

Hi,

I didn't see your blog at first but now I'm gald I found it. Nice read. About the hand you posted: even though those 2 guys are obviously playing bad you also made a huge mistake when pushing all in in this spot. A lot of bad beats can be prevented if you stick to the strategies.. But getting busted out of a MTT by someone who absolutely misplayed their hand is soooo standard for me..
If you have a hard time seeing draws you should turn the 4 color deck on or if you already have that on just get a different set of cards there are a lot custom decks for full tilt.. Then you will always see the 3 suited cards. It's a bit harder with the straights but that will improve with time..
Anyway, just stick with the 1$ sngs and practice with the ICM trainer a lot and you should get back to the green numbers in no time..

Lubor

EDIT: SNGs are far superior to cash games, obv...

Okay, I hit all time low. Yesterday my results were down already but after last night I am definitely in the need to go back to 1$ SnG.
The real problem is that I have not really a clue what I am doing wrong. Overconfidence – maybe. Maybe the “education” starts to kick in and I am thinking too much, trying to interpret every move and bet and finally decide to do something just to get it right in the face again. Is my play style too obvious? Or is it one of these infamous downswing moments? But for a downswing, shouldn’t there be an upswing before and after?
Honestly, I only play micro SnG but I seriously doubt my abilities. Talking to better players than me I realized that my betting and post flop play is not really good. I would appreciate more tips on that matter.

I also have to train more with the ICM – took 100 situations in SnGwizard and came out with 79%. That is way too low I guess. I have to read up on that matter as well because there are some situations I really don’t get why they are pushed or folded as they are.

Okay, that’s the graph:

And that’s the rankingstable:

And that’s my empty BR:


Got some replays looked and and got some good advice already. (Tanks Lubor!) So maybe just one hand then:

No Limit Holdem Tournament
$2 + $0.25 Sit & Go
6 players
Converted at weaktight.com

Stacks:
UTG KarlKaracho (762)
UTG+1 Ace the Face (2620)
CO mccalame (2065)
BTN KillaCam818 (1678)
SB NicoM23 (3550)
BB Hero (2825)

Blinds: 40/80

Pre-flop: (120, 6 players) Hero is BB 2 K
KarlKaracho calls 80, 2 folds, KillaCam818 calls 80, NicoM23 calls 40, Hero checks

Flop: 5 A J (320, 4 players)
NicoM23 checks, Hero checks, KarlKaracho checks, KillaCam818 checks

Turn: Q (320, 4 players)
NicoM23 checks, Hero checks, KarlKaracho checks, KillaCam818 checks

River: T (320, 4 players)
NicoM23 bets 120, Hero raises to 720, 2 folds, NicoM23 goes all-in 3,470, Hero goes all-in 2,025

Final Pot: 5,810
NicoM23 shows: K T
Hero shows: 2 K

NicoM23 wins 6,535 ( won +2,985 )
KillaCam818 lost -80
Hero lost -2,825
KarlKaracho lost -80

No problem!
If I were you I wouldn't use SNGwizard just yet. The software is great but the default ranges it gives to your opponents are not very accurate which leads to wrong evaluations pretty often IMO. You have to already have some experience in order to be able to give the correct ranges to your opponents and get the correct results..
I think that the pokerstrategy ICM trainer (you can find it in the download section if you haven't downloaded it yet) is a great piece of software and can help you a lot and pretty fast, too. When I first started using it my mouse flew around my room a couple of times and couple of other things were pretty close to being smashed but once you get the hang of it you should be beating the lowest levels like nothing..
I'll take a look at another of your sessions now. Hopefully this one at least gets to push or fold .

Hm, I still have the ICM light. I will get the other one tonight.

As every week day I try: 30 minutes of training and 2:30 of play. Will try to play tighter tonight and get to push and fold more often.

Haha, back on track… well, something like that at least. I was able to put a stop to the freefall and actually take a step to pick up the pieces – light at the end of the tunnel. I hope this isn’t the proverbial train which will hit me with more loosing days but the sun shining on my re-growing BR.

After all I can say: Tank you for very valuable tips! I think the whole downfall was caused by me doing stupid moves in stupid situations. Sometimes you need someone who tells you: “ [i] […]Such a bad play. […][/i] “

I tried sticking to the strategy and played pretty tight in the beginning and went push and fold in the end. And it worked: 4 tables 1$ SnG = 1.80$, 2.70$ and 4.50$. On one table people were even complaining about my all-or-nothing play when I was in push-fold mode. (/flex) Too bad I tried playing a satellite table along (twice) and had 1$ (buying and rake) cost for each of them.

I guess I leave these win or loose tables as only the first gets the ticket (that is soooo mean btw.) and concentrate on collecting some money, get my game together and then move comfortably back up to 2$ SnG.

That is actually my goal for the first half of February: get the BR up to 60$ again and start playing 2$ buy-in. (I know the BR should be higher than that but the .25$ rake is killing so much of the winnings in the 1$ buy-ins.)

Goal for the 2nd half is that I get the BR up to ~100$ which would mean I have doubled the investment. It will have taken me 3 months then but I believe that is an acceptable time.

Also I want to have my ROI back up to at least 30% (rather 40%) by the end of February.

And of course I will keep the 30 minutes education / day as I really want to improve.

And here is one HH from yesterday:
http://weaktight.com/r767954 (If you have any tips, please share them...)

Az.

Okay, today quite a short update.

I had about 30 minutes of ICM training yesterday and watched the first half of Sit and Go / Tournaments $11 Session Review (The Nose).

And then I hit the tables. Yay! Played the first 2 and finished 3rd. Started the next 2, played for like 10 minutes and then the lights went dark.

Well, not really dark and not all lights. Actually it was limited to the lights of my modem and they went red... and stayed that way for about 90 minutes. So instead of waiting any longer I went to bed pretty upset that again I would have a negative balance.

This morning first thing checking on officialpokerrankings how my stats changed because of the internet outage (more out of curiosity - not really for the stats). And then I started laughing. I finished on of the tables where I had the disconnect in 3rd place. Thats just crazy. I did not have more then 1700 chips at the time of the d/c. I have no clue what happened but this way my balance is 0.40$ up.

A question: I mean the goal isn't to finish 3rd but how does one make money on 1$ SnGs? You win 1,80 in 3rd place. You spend 1,25 to sign up. Thats 55cents. How does one increase ones bank roll with this?

Anyway, here the current graph:



See you at the tables tonight!

Hi AzUdet!

Glad to hear you are making some money again! I will try to take a look at your other tourneys when I get the time. I had a big exam at school today and then I had to take care of some other things and tomorrow I have to work all day so I'm quite busy right now.
I'm glad that you decided to spend some time before evey session with the ICM trainer that what I used to do before every session and still do it pretty often..
About the ROI... You can't expect your ROI to be 40%. That is just impossible. 30% might be achievable but not with this rake. You have to consider one thing: the average ROI on this limit is lower than -20%. (because more than 20% of the buyin you pay as a rake) That means that if you win anything you already are taking 20% more from the price pool than you put in and you can't really expect to get 60% more to achieve 40% ROI.
The way you win money is turning the most of your 3rd place finishes into 1st place finishes. That, of course, needs a lot of experience and training but I think you can do it. Your doing good so far...

Lubor

Thanks for the motivating words. Means a lot to me coming from someone who actually got me back on track.

I hope your draws on the exam hold up (holding my thumbs there for you).

Yeah, the ICM trainer helps a lot. I go into the play with a lot more confidence while I kind of "catch up on the real life". So I can say I am not overconfident but I feel good enough to play my game. Something that actually feels awesome.

And FullTilt cheats! I knew it! The dealer had another Ace of Spades up his sleeve!

Originally posted by AzUdet
And FullTilt cheats! I knew it! The dealer had another Ace of Spades up his sleeve!

Wut?

Problem in your skin? Or photoshop?

Think it was the skin. It was fine while playing. Just when I wanted to look at the last hand I realized the 2 Aces.

Well, okay - time for an update anyway.

At the moment I am too tired (baby just keeps us awake) to play a game poker. I had some hands I played wrong, some I did not pay enough attention and some the bad beat got to me.

I described it last night to my wife as "not feeling the poker feeling". Not sure what better to call it. I have evenings when I play and I am really into the game and I feel the "flow". And then I have nights when I am sittnig there (maybe I am a bit distracted by baby) and the play is like I have to break a hole in a wall with a really big hammer. Some days it just feels elegant and light and other days stagnant and rough and like I would play against the flow.

Yesterday was one of these "against the flow nights". I did some ICM training and anded at 83% after 165 situations. (Normally I get to 85%+.) I had problems with Ax, Kx and Qx situations which is something I usually have, just not to this extend. This has to get better.

Also I attanded my first coaching yesterday and it was really nice even though there was trouble. It was a german coaching but the coach was stuck in traffic so one of the attendees took over in the beginning and after some starting difficulties it was a very fun and educational coaching.

Also I received another 5€ Bonus and with this my BR is back to 41.54. But to be honest, I am not happy at all with these results. I know I could do better and I really want to improve but I guess it will take more time. And this is something I don't like at all. Guess I am just the type thats needs short term results to keep mepositively motivated for long term. But: I decided to stick to it and see it through to the end.

The stupid thing is that I think the whole day about poker and look forward to the time I can actually play. Then I hit the tables and play and realize I put way too much pressure on myself. So I take the pressure out and try to get into the flow but it won't work anymore. Which means I could have played a nice round of poker for fun but I made it a battle against myself and some stupid graph and lost.

Well, here is the graph and I am off to enjoy some nice weather and after that read through some self-management and psychology articles.

We are back in business baby!
Okay, that sounded better than it actually is, but on the other hand I must say I am happy that my BR is above 50$ again. My ROI is still too bad and the winnings are not yet back to where I want them but I received rakeback and 5$ bonus and thus I am getting closer to my goal.
Also I feel that my play has improved quite a lot over the last week. 2 Trainings over my weekend (Thu / Fri / Sat), videos and ICM trainer helped a lot as did actually playing the game.

Now I want to get ready to move up to 2$ SNG again and achieve silver here on PS so I can dig deeper into the matter. Also I am awaiting 2 books I ordered:

• How to Beat Sit-&-Go Poker Tournaments: A No-Limit Hold'em Guide to Beating Sit-&-Gos by Neil Timothy

• "Secrets of Sit 'n' Go: Winning Strategies for Single-Table Poker Tournaments" by Phil Shaw


Okay, 2 more things: One I am curious about and the other I am pissed about.

Curious:
No Limit Holdem Tournament
$1 + $0.25 Sit & Go (Turbo)
7 players
Converted at weaktight.com

Stacks:
UTG LadyBinky_83 (1620)
UTG+1 Hero (1485)
MP Grindline (1320)
CO msm252 (2770)
BTN levon511 (1270)
SB LexD7 (1740)
BB Sosex (3295)

Blinds: 20/40

Pre-flop: (60, 7 players) Hero is UTG+1 K K
1 fold, Hero raises to 120 (1,365), 1 fold, msm252 calls 120 (2,650), 2 folds, Sosex calls 80 (3,175)

Flop: J K 5 (380, 3 players)
Sosex checks (3,175), Hero bets 40 (1,325), msm252 calls 40 (2,610), Sosex folds (3,175)

Turn: 3 (460, 2 players)
Hero bets 40 (1,285), msm252 calls 40 (2,570)

River: 6 (540, 2 players)
Hero bets 80 (1,205), msm252 raises to 400 (2,170), Hero goes all-in 1,285 (0), msm252 folds (2,170)

Final Pot: 1,340

Hero wins 2,225 ( won +740 )
msm252 lost -600
Sosex lost -120


I am curious what do you think? Should I have done more to get more chips in the pot? Could I even have done more? Was the all in too much in the end? I actually figured him for a player that would follow all in. What could I have done differently here?

Pissed:
No Limit Holdem Tournament
$1 + $0.25 Sit & Go (Turbo)
8 players
Converted at weaktight.com

Stacks:
UTG dashortstack (1535)
UTG+1 Lagroumph (1355)
MP1 hanno002 (1145)
MP2 la marrana (1345)
CO neverdeposit1 (4260)
BTN cw777 (1210)
SB Hero (1285)
BB LubavaKaluga (1365)
[la marrana is sitting out]

Blinds: 40/80

Pre-flop: (120, 8 players) Hero is SB 9 K
4 folds, neverdeposit1 calls 80, 1 fold, Hero calls 40, LubavaKaluga checks

Flop: 5 K T (240, 3 players)
Hero bets 160, LubavaKaluga folds, neverdeposit1 raises to 320, Hero calls 160

Turn: 7 (880, 2 players)
Hero checks, neverdeposit1 bets 880, Hero goes all-in 885, neverdeposit1 calls 5

River: 4 (2,650, 2 players)

Final Pot: 2,650
Hero shows: 9 K
neverdeposit1 shows: 4 K

neverdeposit1 wins 2,650 ( won +1,365 )
Hero lost -1,285
LubavaKaluga lost -80

Okay, I lost this hand. Shit happens.
BUT: This neverdeposit1 guy even had the nerve to “lol me out” and call me a fish after I lost my chips to him. Now I might be overreacting here but I think that telling someone how to play a hand after he misplayed it is bad. Mocking him is worse but I could have still lived with that. Insulting one that already lost is the lowest form of behaviour in my opinion and especially if the win wasn’t even justified and a result of better play but the result of a lucky draw and major suckout.
I was sure I had the better cards and until the river I sure had. But then the lucky flip. And I know this is poker. But is this behaviour poker as well? How do you react to something like this? I always thought casino and poker are some form of adult / gentlemen’s entertainment. And even if we don’t sit in front of the computer in a smoking (at least I certainly don’t) shouldn’t there be basic rules of conduct?

Glad to see that you are doing better again! I'm really busy tight now but if you think I could still help you in any way just let me know.. I should have more free time in a week or so...
I think it might be a good idea to post both of these hands in the hands evaluation forum you will more feedback there..

Okay, did I say I am back in business? Mistake! Not yet!

At the moment I am a little clueless what is wrong. I can’t get my BR up again and I am not sure why. I post some more sample hands on the evaluation board (I have to do this more regularly) and I have to do more ICM training.

Also I could not attend the coaching this week but I will do it again next week. It helps a lot! Also I need to find some way of really keeping track of my games. It seems I am not hitting any draws but I think it is just some kind of wrong perception. The problem with it is that I feel it affecting my game. I have the nut flush draw in middle phase after a free play and get a min raise. Now I feel inclined to drop my cards to be on the “safe side”. On the other hand I am not sure this is what I should do.

Also I need a tip on my mindset. My goal is at the moment to move back up to 2$ games. Now it seems I can’t beat the 1$ ones and my BR keeps shrinking which makes moving up sometime soon even more unlikely. So I think this is also affecting the way I play – too passive in some and then to kamikaze in other situations. Not sure how I can change that mindset though.

I really want to become successful. Even if it is only because so many other people can at least play the low limits earning money (not that I want to live of it – just because!). Now it seems I am unable too. That drives me nuts!
Read 2 more books on SnG strategy. The thing is, they all say the same thing, the same thing that is already written here on PS - so not much to learn from them.

New goals:

[] stick to the strategy
[] stick to the strategy
[] stick to the strategy
[] more ICM training
[] post at least 1 sample hand each day

Oh, actual BR is around 45$ after some rakeback and 15$ bonus already.

Sorry to hear you're not doing so great again. It's raelly tough to learn all the things you need to win money in SNGs but once you master ICM you can be winning money on 11$ SNGs still do I think it's really worth all the effort..

Okay, this evenings numbers crunched:


[x] more ICM training
ICM training: 252 of 301 have been answered correctly. (84%)

[x] stick to the strategy
[x] stick to the strategy
[x] stick to the strategy
Done that, even unpacked the starting hands chart so I don't give in to temptation


[x] post at least 1 sample hand each day
Posted 3 hands I am unsure if I played them correctly.

= 6 tables played
= 5th, 3rd, 3rd, 5th, 3rd, 4th

BI: 6*1,25=7,5
PO: 3*1,8=5,4

Result: -2,1$

Current BR: 43,45$

Need to do more ICM training. 84% is not too bad I guess but too far from good. So I need to improve there. Will keep at it. Also I will keep a look at the place I finish the tournament in and will start working there with the ICM training. Tomorrow 1-6handed standard again though.