About 3 months ago, I started attempting to note all the hands I play during the session. I do this by sending a text to myself. Even to the point of noting that I called a small open in LP with 76s, missed the flop & folded. That wakes you up to how often you whiff the flop & fold with these SCs. Since I've started there have been times when I'd be 3-6 hrs into a session, play a hand very poorly & after texting myself, have it upset me so much more that I'd have to take a walk.

I've learned a lot about myself & my game from this practice & have improved. Has anyone been doing anything else that has been a revelation to their game for them?

good idea....i like it

Floating paired boards and dry boards with only 1 Broadway card. Opens your eyes up to all the free money lots of people are missing out on

Writing down 100% of hands is a very good way to see what spots you are torching money in.

Cold calling suited connectors being one of them

Yeah, don’t play a hand with any card lower than an 8 and print. I don’t do that of course, but you should.

yeah don't call unless there are multiple callers with no habitual squeezers after you. If you're only noticing these things by writing it down that's awesome I wish I had better hand recording skills (or actually motivation to record more hands than I do). Recording hands is what helps people excel in the game without doubt.

Well done, Zune. You are definitely on the right path. Realizing how much of your money you are losing in situations where "nothing happened" is a great way to fine tune your game.

Unfortunately, these are the places where a forum like this is less helpful. Too many times we see a hand posted, and many posters come in with something like "super standard call with SCs closing the action". And, in a vacuum, they may be right, but we cannot call all of our SCs or we quickly become unbalanced. Nothing against any of these posters, since we have to analyze each hand on it's own merits, but one could imagine a beginner to these forums reading a slew of these posts, and coming away with the impression that it is always correct to call our SCs when closing the action in a multiway pot, which may or may not be correct (ie. "it depends").

Anyway, great idea, and you have definitely taken the next step!

About 9 years ago I played in a game where people would flip open their hands if everyone still in the hand was allin before the river.

This had an interesting and positive effect on me. The first effect was I was far less likely to commit my stack in -ev spots (initially because I was embarrassed).

Later, I made a rule that if someone called me bluffing on the river, I would always just confidently flip over my hand even if I knew I was no good. All of this contributed to a habit of not reacting negatively or positively regardless of the result of a hand. Even if I make a difficult fold or a difficult call, I try not to show that in my actions. It often requires a bit of discipline but if anything, I find it helps me maintain focus.

I also feel I'm more likely to get paid off when betting large for value because people are interested to see what I have.

A lot of people wont value these two habits: (i) always showing hands when called and when allin before the river; and (ii) not showing visible emotion when playing. But it's worked well for me.

People on this forum way overvalue SC’s. Either running way above expectation or oblivious to how much they are bleeding. Can’t quite figure it out.

I actually did this recently. I played a 3hr session and recorded almost 100 hands. Every single hand I wrote down, including things like:
36. Fold J7o UTG+1 (+$0)
37. Fold K2o UTG (+$0)
38. Fold 62s BB facing $15 open (-$3)

Thanks folds! NewClintEastwood, Can you elaborate on this Floating paired boards and dry boards with only 1 Broadway card. Opens your eyes up to all the free money lots of people are missing out on

I'm not writing down 100% of hands, just those hands [90% of them anyways] that I paid to see the flop with. I don't want to become a stenographer at the table & I think paying attention to the action is more important. I'll fold T2o pre & forget what I had when the flop comes, 'cause I'm so wrapped up in the action.

I took 2 years of typing in H.S. 'cause that was where the girlz were & it's paying off today.

Agree BIGTIME with johnnyBuz that people overvalue SCs! When I read on the forum that you need to believe you can make 25+ your money with a SC like 87s, I couldn't believe it. I do now.

However, give me T9s OTB/HJ & let 4 people limp in & watch me punish them! With my $3 call [1/3NL] that's $16 in the pot; I raise it $16 [pot] + 4x the BB = $28 & they fold the vast majority of the time.

Tonight I had KTs & the guy in the SB so wanted to call but was short stacked & certain his AJs was dominated. Everyone else folded without much thought. But I am not a loose player. I succeeded at this move 4 times tonight OTB or CO over 4 hours, never being called.

Nogyong said: A lot of people wont value these two habits: (i) always showing hands when called and when allin before the river; and (ii) not showing visible emotion when playing. But it's worked well for me.

I've been working on the emotion thingy over the past year. Friday night I played in the 4 seat directly across from the 1 seat for 6 hours. My last hand I got AA [I had been sucked out on several times during the night] and I got some action on this hand & was bet into & called OTF. My raise was enough to put the guy on my right all-in as he was extremely short-stacked [$125 or so to start] & he had like $80 left.

After seat 1 folded, he decided to gamble [he said it out loud] & called with his 98dd giving him a flush draw & gut shot. Seat 1, who said "Here we go again" had seen me get sucked out on against just a gut shot OTT.

When it was all over & I won, seat 1 commented on stone faced I was and showed no emotion when it was all over & I raked in the pot.

I guess when you avg 1400 hrs a year for 3 1/2 years, you become numb to the variance. My problem was that due to the fact that I primarily played in one casino & so many knew me, I would relieve the stress by over-reacting at the outcome, even though I knew it was just variance. It's not that it bothered me anywhere near to the degree that my reaction would lead one to believe, because it didn't. My bankroll can handle 1/3NL swings easily, it's just that I had got into the habit of doing it & was told by a friend who shows no emotion that I should consider the benefits of not showing emotions.

I track my VPIP/PFR, and record in my database. Has kept me focused on entering pots more often with a raise than with a limp.

good practice

It's nothing special, literally just basic floating for the most part. So often I'll see stuff like pf raise to 15, 2 callers including me in CO/Button. The board will come something like 558 or J63 and the pf bettor will cbet 15 into 45 and it folds to me. He is unlikely to have hit that, his bet lacks conviction, so I'll float almost ATC. He checks turn, I bet, he folds, easy money. Depending on villain and turn sizing I also have good success raising turn bets if he continues.

It's not that I do anything special, but it was definitely a huge revelation when I realized I could miss boards for hours but still turn a profit just by floating.

there's an android app called Donkey Tracker which acts as a HUD for live games. It only counts vpip/pfr but you just click a raise/call/fold button for each seat assignment as the action goes around. I found avg table vpip to be 35%, with 1-2 players always at 60+, 5 or 6 at 30+, and 1 or 2 at 15+.

Isn't it awkward to use at the table? Don't people notice that you're constantly taking notes on your phone?

Well you just click a button on the phone, so worst case scenario you appear to be tapping your phone a lot, something which a lot of people do at the poker table anyway. Also I dont think anyone would know what they were looking at anyway if they caught a full glimpse, besides most people try not to stare at others' phones.

I like. Must check it out.

I'm going to try donkey tracker tonight, thanks for the tip.

Best hands to have IP against a majority of LSNLHE players if you know what you are doing.

I actually just watched a vlog (Jaman) where he said he records all his hands in text format - but poker hand recording is so tedious to get all the relevant details down - just seems like it would get tiresome at the table. I love the idea, but can't see myself executing it very well.

Warning: I found this extremely painful to watch:
https://youtu.be/x1AfQkoGHUk

It's 17 minutes of Jonathan explaining how he records hands for tournaments.

I don't do that for all my hands but after reading this thread I better start.

You don't need to record every hand you VPIP. Say EP opens $10 [1/3NL] 2 callers, you call in CO with 66; you miss on a flop of KT9 & fold. Why record that? You know you played it right. I want to be paying attention the rest of the hand.

$500 high hand every 15 minutes & everyone is chasing it. 4 limps [1/3NL], you raise to $30 with KQs OTB, they all fold. No record needed.

However, when you get 1 caller, the flop is QT7r c/b/c turn Jdd [meaning 2nd ] c/bet, fold, I record as:

R4 $30 CO KQdd; LP calls $65 $73 raked -tip; flop QT7r c/b $35 call $135; turn Jdd [turned flush/str8 draw] c/b $80, fold.

The majority of you didn't take 2 years of typing in H.S., but with all the texting you do, I'm sure you can send the above text to yourself in seconds. I don't put in the commas & semi-colons when sending the text.