Tuesday, January 10, 2006

Thank You Interpoker

Back in Sept. I beleive, Interpoker ran a contest that for so many racked hands I got a cap and Super System 2. I like the cap, I were it occasionally but onto the book.

It is great. I am reading the limit section written by Jennifer Harman. It is not earth shattering as far as information about play. Tight is right! It is interesting to here her point of few on some situations as well as hands to play and how far to go with them. A small example is that she may one of the first I have seen that says lay down AKo on the flop MOST of the time in a multi way pot if you miss. As in everything poker "it depends" and she covers that but I like her approach here and with other examples that vary a little from popular views.

I haven't finished this section yet much less the whole book, but I like it so far. Get it, read it, you won't regret it.

Again I find myself having to concentrate on the aggressive side of my limit game. I have let that slide a little lately and it is showing. Have had some bad sessions in a row as of late but that it to be expected. I have been running extremely well. To the tune of about 7 bb's/hour over the last 3 1/2 weeks or so. It's about time for a variation swing I just don't want to introduce bad habits and losing aggressiveness is definately one I don't want to start messing with.

One of my goals this year is to stay on top of my poker. I had a lot going on towards the end of last year with moving back home, new computers, growth in my site and of course grandpa dying. It took a lot out of me as far as competitive spirit and drive. I want to stay on top of that this year and really work on progressing up the food chain a little. I am working on something that may help me do that by posting a starting dollar amount here and making myself update it daily. Of course I have done this before and it lasted about a week. Not real good at keeping up with stuff like that. I know it will not make for good reading so I will keep it in a small section and try not to make a big deal out of it.

Guess we'll see if I can keep up with it.


Till Next Time!

Sunday, January 08, 2006

It's Up

I wrote this as a guide for beginners as well as a guide for players to "get back to basics". 72os thought enough of it to post it.

72os.com

Here is a sample:

PAY ATTENTION

There are only two things you have to pay attention to while playing limit holdem; yourself and the other players. That’s it, that’s all the
information you will need to play good limit holdem. So let’s start with the easy one first…..yourself.

Are you mentally ready to play the game?
Are you focused?
Have you set enough time to play a solid session?
Are there any distractions?

As you know, emotionally, poker is tough. The suck outs, unreal
calls, luck and just bad play can stress you to the maximum level in a short time. You have to be prepared for the inevitable and try to stay on as smooth an emotional level as possible. You never know when that next opportunity will arise to take advantage of bad play.

That is a lot easier said than done. Hand after hand of losing to pure dumb luck can work on a person. So during a session, re-evaluate yourself and make sure you are still emotionally “in the game”. If not, sit out a few hands, take a break, switch tables or whatever it will take to calm you enough to play solid poker again. Be honest with yourself, whether you have played 2 minutes or 2 hours, if you are getting emotionally out of control QUIT! From our example above, if you can lose an hour of profit from one misplayed hand, imagine what tilted play will cost you over the long term.



Till Next Time!