Filobetto's Blogs

Not up not down

Sat, 27 Nov 2010 9:27:25 -0600

Well, it has been a while so I figured I would blog a little.

About a month ago, I did transition to the $25 6 max nl games.  Things went well enough that I slipped into some $50 games.  Actually my win rate has been better there than at the $25.  But my win rate has been nothing to brag about.  I think I'm winning about $4 per hour.  Playing the slightly higher stakes does get me more rakeback than I have previuosly been used to.  So that is a nice plus.

Watching/rewatching Tim's videos has been helping me improve and make better decisions lately.  But, I am still fully capable of making some horrible mistakes.  Couple that with variance and it has been a recipe for breaking even this month.

Looking at that HUD when I play definetly has helped me out too.  It is amazing how much you can learn about opponents as you play.  I don't datamine hands (I don't feel it's in the spirit of fair play) so all the info I get is from scratch.  Still, I have found when you play enough sessions you really can build up some decent stats on the regulars.  It is amazing how many players you see that really do play right out of the OP handbook.  Stay away from them I suppose unless you flop the immortal nuts.

I just copied and pasted HG's checklist.  I plan on having it in front of me while I play for a while.  I'm sure it will help me stay in tune for every hand I play.

Moving up

Mon, 04 Oct 2010 7:49:33 -0500

Alright, some or most of you will shake your head I know.  I really broke protocol as far as bankroll management is concerned. 

I am moving officially to the $25 buy ins.  Just got sick of playing the $10.  Up and down up and down! Like a yo-yo.  The part where I went wrong was I cheated a bit and played 800 or so hands at the $50 tables.  I just played 1 table at a time and found it to be much easier than playing 4 tables at the 10$ buy in.

I know it was the wrong thing to do, but it worked out.  I was getting some great reads, made some good plays and won some cash.  No real serious bad beats either.  In the end on The $50 tables I am 20.51bb/100.  so that will leave me enough in my roll to start playing the $25 tables.  Even still, I think I will treat myself to a $50 buyin once in a while.  It felt good, but kinda wrong at the same time.  Like eating chocolate cake when you are trying to lose a few pounds.

I won't make a habit out of it though:)

Rebound plus

Sun, 26 Sep 2010 11:32:07 -0500

Heya!

Had a rough couple of weeks, only played about 3000 hands.  In the first 2000 hands, I kept getting my teeth kicked in playing for stacks.  I swear I was running sooo bad.  First, I had AA, I got 1/2 a buyin in the middle preflop.  The flop came AQQ and I lost.  The truth is I could have just made a call on the river as I suspected the villian had QQ, but it seemed that they would have played similar if they had AQ.  So, I got it all in and lost to quad queens.  Perhaps I will be a little more prudent if a similar situation occurs down the road.

Then, I was getting chips in while hitting a set on the flop and getting out drawn or being flat out behind even before the river showed its ugly head.  But you know, I can honestly say I never felt really tilted.  Bankroll management has been so critical for me that I just don't worry so much when things get ugly.  Oh yes, I may take a break and go smoke a cig or something when I get beat up like that, but I have been realizing more and more to keep playing my game and trust in the things I am learning here and it will turn itself around.

That's what this post is about I guess, turning things around.  As frequent poker players, we can't forget that with every new hand, every new table or every new session comes new opportunity.  Yes, we can be doing it all correct and still get whupped.  That's why bankroll management is the biggest part of our game. But, if we keep doing it right the worm will turn and our bankroll will grow, even if it is just a little at a time.

So this week I stayed the course.  I played somewhere between LAG and TAG and I won back the 5 buyins I lost previously.

I do constantly look to improve my play.  The things that I have been working on most are:

Bet sizing-  I have been finding more and more when I hit a flop strong and I am up against a caller with a 1/2 stack, that making a smaller cbet about 1/2 pot or slightly less seems to trigger a lot of shoving from these 1/2 stackers or lag players.  I know that atta22 and the rest talk about it in videos so if you haven't been thinking about it enough when you play, you should probably start
C bets-  I watch my own stats as well as my opponents.  First, I don't cbet as much as I used to.  I still do it often, but not 100% of the time.  It seems more credible if I keep it at about 70%.  Then I get enough action when I want and a fold when I want.  Looking at opponents that cbet 100%, brings selective cash winning opportunities that can easily be won with a raise or squeeze. At the micros it seems guys just cbet automatically.  You know they don't have it every time.  More often than not, they just fold.  If they play back at me I let it go.  It will probably get some good action for me later.

Spotting a draw-  When possible while multi-tabling, the biggest tell I have seen is the snap call when there is a draw on the board.  It is a highly reliable tell.  I just go with it for what it is and more often than not the tell was correct.  The only other things I have seen with this tell is someone calling with a mid or bottom pair or it was intentionally done with the intent to bluff if the draw hits the turn.

I know there is a lot more that needs to be said about these topics but, it's not my place as I don't feel fully qualified.

The point of it all is, don't give up.  Keep working to improve.  When you evaluate your own play be honest with yourself.  Make  a "Things to do list" and start working it on the tables.   If you haven't been winning or at least not enough, you will.

Played a little this week!

Mon, 13 Sep 2010 1:49:29 -0500

Busting my hump again all this week.  Only had Sunday off. I wanted to play poker and work on my site but I was just too tired.  I did manage to squeeze in 500 hands this evening and was able to gain 2 more buyins.

 I had a choice of working on my site or playing poker.  It is easy to see where my priorities lay I guess.  I was definitely more in the frame of mind for playing than working.  Honestly, I sometimes feel like I'm just spinning my wheels in web building anyways.  I really don't have any background for it other than I like poker and don't mind trying to write about it.  I did get some traffic to my article section from a woman on facebook.  She submitted an article about a hand she played at the Dunes in Vegas vs the infamous Jimmy the Greek. It was short but sweet and I posted it.  What the heck, it's content and it brought a surge of traffic that I never would have had.  Not a great big surge but for me it was good..

Meanwhile, I think about another $60 in the bankroll and I will completely move up to the $25nl.  What I mean by that is I have sort of been overlooking the bankroll requirement a little anyways.  What I have been doing is playing 2 or 3 $10NL tables and 1 $25nl table.  I know I probably shouldn't do that, but I am very comfortable at the $25 NL.  If I would never cash out, I would still be at those stakes or possibly higher by now I think. Well you never know for sure, but that's what I think.

Had a home game

Mon, 06 Sep 2010 4:48:30 -0500

I realize now why I play so much on-line poker.  It can be pure misery trying to set up and organize a good home game. 

I mean it is easy enough to have beer, food, table, chairs, poker chips and cards.  The hard part is getting a solid commitment from friends and friends of friends to commit to coming to play.  I think the rule of thumb should be to invite 5 or 6 more than you would really want and then maybe.... maybe you will have enough for a good game.

As it turned out, we ended up with enough at the table for a decent game.  By decent, I mean we had 7 players at one point. 

The game itself was OK.  Mostly, weak play from inexperienced players.  You know...  limp/call everything and hope for the best.  Which, isn't all too bad for poker regulars I suppose.

The game was NL Holdem with a $10 buy-in.  I played my usual style (which I learned here) and while the others were not mad, you could see it upset them when I was seemingly raising often in position etc. 

I just told them "Hey, if you want to bring it in, then bring it in right!"  Needless to say, it paid off often in the game, because they would look me up with bottom pair and even King high.

I think it was important to have conversation, jokes and laughter.  In the end, they all said they had a good time and expressed the willingness to do it again. 

I did find it hard to get used to the slow motion of the game though, waiting for someone to come back from the bathroom or making them aware it was their turn to act etc.

Overall, it was fun to make new friends and a cheap way to have a social gathering.  I am hoping that one of the others will put out the next invite, but if not I will try it again later.

To wrap this up, I just want to say that while it was fun and I won a few buy- ins it seemed like the challenge of poker was not really there.  I guess that is as it should be though, as it was nice to just make friends and establish new acquaintances.

Hockeyguys article

Tue, 31 Aug 2010 6:50:59 -0500

Just a post to mention that HG wrote a very nice article on my site about what Outstanding Poker has done for him.  It's a great article for newcomers thinking about joining as well some oldtimers working their way up in stakes.

The article is located at http://www.holdem-planner.com/microstakes-nl-holdem.html

Needless to say, I am a big fan of Outstanding Poker.  Now with the new site having been launched being a member and learning about poker  has never been a more pleasurable experience.  So, if anyone else would care to chime in about Outstanding Poker feel free to drop by http://www.holdem-planner.com/poker-articles.html

You can post your great thoughts about OP or anything poker related for that matter.

A special thanks to HG.  Great article!

Feeling good!

Sat, 28 Aug 2010 5:55:53 -0500

I'm on a high right now.  Between yesterday and today I'm up 10 buy-ins.  For me, that's pretty good.  I want to play right now, but I'm afraid I have a slight case of winner's tilt.

 I did not really play any different than I normally do either.  My vpip/pfr was between 23/22 and 17/15 spread across 4 tables.  That is about the norm for me.  It just depends who I have sitting next to me I guess. 

One thing I want to work on more is fold equity.  I think I have somewhat of a handle on it, but would be grateful to have someone talk about in comments here or in a forum post.  It seems like there can be a lot of profit involved if the concept is applied correctly.

In fact, I'm still looking for some volunteers to come and post something on my site in the article section.  If you have a good handle on fold equity please give me a hand.  We would put a link back here to OP from the article.

Beyond all that, I'm bracing myself for another rough week at work.  The week before last we put in 72 hours.  Last week 48.  This coming week 60 -72.  Ugh!  Not much time for playing poker or web building.  I will probably just watch another poker video here when I get home, then lights out.

After reading Morten's blog post, it sure motivates me to work hard to improve my game.  My needs are simple and I don't really make that much at my real job anyways, so it would not be that hard to replace the income I get from that.  Well, it could be hard if I do not continue to improve my game.  All I'm trying to say is I wouldn't have to replace the income of a politician or rocket scientist or something like that.  :)

Stayin Alive

Sun, 08 Aug 2010 1:16:27 -0500

I didn't play much poker this week.  I've been busy grinding out for 60 hours at work this week printing gift wrap paper.  We call this the silly season, getting the bulk of production out before Thanks Giving in the US.  It is probably just as well because I have been running a little bad the last month or so.

 Ah, but I did get to play some today and won a few buyins, so hopefully things will start picking back up (poker wise) and maybe this time I can keep the ol' lady from seeing how I'm doing and actually move up in stakes.  She is still skeptical that you can honestly win money playing online even though I have had some nice cashouts since I first played at Party poker back in 2004. 

 So here, I sit in micro-stakes hell, grinding it out.  It kind of makes me feel like a professional  "breakeven" player" because when I cash out $200 or $300 once every few months,  I  don't really appreciate the money for the effort I put in.  Certainly, it's not a bad thing to have it if you need it, but I'm basically looking to reach much higher goals when it comes to poker.  I guess that's why I spend so much time here at OP.  

I know there are guys/girls here that do well for themselves playing poker.  My mind is made up and I plan to be one of them.  No more sweating it out in 110 degree heat 40 -60 hours a week printing gift wrap.  ( All my hard work gets tossed in the dumpster by 9:00 A.M. on  Christmas morning anyways). That's my real purpose and hopefully poker will be the means.

 So, no more cashing out.  I want to find out how it feels to buyin for $200 or $400 and win one or two or more of those every day.  I think I could get used to that. 

It felt good getting that off my chest! :) 

Article writing

Sun, 01 Aug 2010 3:27:56 -0500

Hello All!

We are all here because we love poker.  There is no question about that.  I'm sure that most have read books, watched videos and spent countless hours at the tables.  I know most of you spend a lot of time thinking of poker and recounting memories of hands played, games won and lost.  Therefore, it makes sense that you have a lot you can share in regards to poker.

 I would like to invite you all to visit my site "Holdem-Planner" and check out the article section.  I have it set up so that visitors can contribute a poker related article.  It can be anything they want including graphics as long as it is about poker.  So what do ya say?  How about lending a fellow member a hand? 

 Please check it out at http://www.holdem-planner.com/poker-articles.html 

If you submit an article, you can even have friends and family come see it and rate it for you.  In essence, you will be creating a web page and it will be fun.  

All the Best!

Looking at results

Sun, 01 Aug 2010 1:49:45 -0500

Most of us judge how we are doing in poker on a daily basis, session by session or even hour by hour.  We all look at our chip stack constantly and have expectations of seeing it continuously grow.  Wouldn't it be nice if it always did?  

Can we play great poker and still lose money?  Ya, I think sometimes we will.  I think sometimes we can run bad for extended periods.  There is nothing we can do about it, it just happens.  No matter how good we are playing or how good our read was, we can always lose at the river if you don't have the nuts.  It is just that simple.

Outstanding Poker has been a great place for me to learn more and more about poker.  I do things now that I never would have done before.  I have a much better thought process now than I ever did and for that, I'm grateful.  The best part is that I'm still learning.

The point I think is to realize, that there are also some intangibles when we play.  Things that we will never be able to put your finger on.  Whether we are in a live game or playing on-line. 

I think Mike Caro refers to it as the "Law of loose wiring".  Now, the rest of this is not an exact quote but I think the jist of it is; Even though we can control some aspects of the game, like the tempo or how we want our opponents to react, we certainly cannot control all the things that go on around us.  It can be the craziest little things that can disrupt the outcome of a hand and some of them might not even be poker related.  The phone rings or a baby cries and the outcome can be changed.  Poker is mostly a thinking game.  Even the slightest interruption can alter an opponent's thought process and in that millisecond, a different outcome has just been born.

Therefore, for me, I don't worry about winning or losing in a monetary sense any more.  As Atta 22 says, all you can do is look back and see if you played a hand correctly based on the information, you had at the time.

My bankroll goes up and down and I just keep pluggin along doing my best to enjoy the finer aspects of the game.  Like figuring out ways to exploit an opponent's weaknesses :) and deep down if I am being honest with myself and evaluate my own play effectively my bankroll will keep growing.  Even if it's only a little at a time.