About 18 months ago I started a PG&C thread chronicling my efforts to become a more confident, aggressive poker player. It centered around my competition in a local tournament league, one that a good friend of mine convinced me to play. He also happens to be the one who has dominated the league since he started playing in it several years ago. In some of my posts in the thread I made some rather uncharitable comments about my friend and his attitude towards poker – that he has a big ego, thinks he’s god’s gift to poker, that I didn’t think he was that great a player – that kind of thing. He found out about it and was understandably very upset. It was also very out of character for me. I'm not the kind of person to talk smack about friends behind their back, so it forced me to do some serious self-reflection. What would drive me to do such a thing?

My process of self-reflection led me to some difficult realizations about myself and my relationship with poker, which all served as the context in which that thread was born.

Ever since I was a child I've had an issue with confidence and self-esteem. I'm more confident now at 43 years of age than I was as a child and teenager, but I'm still not a confident person. And every now and then something will happen that brings those issues to the forefront. It turns out that poker is one of those things.

Over the years I've tried poker recreationally in a variety of different ways and, aside from a brief period playing micro 45-man turbos online, I never had much success. I've put effort into it too. I've read poker books, strategy articles, and I've participated in hand analysis discussions on 2+2. Live poker has always been particularly challenging for me. When I sit down at a poker table, especially in an unfamiliar environment, I immediately feel intimidated. I become weak, tight, passive, and get pushed around. And every time that happens I feel the emotional sting that comes with it. I feel like a loser. Like a failure. Like a wimp.

So I had actually given up playing for the most part, aside from some occasional dabbling online, until my friend invited me to play in this local league a few years ago. I decided to give it a try - after all, I was 40 years old and maybe the confidence issues were behind me.

I didn't have much success at all in the first season of the league but I made excuses for myself. I had to get used to the structure, learn people's games...next year would be different. And it did start that way. I had a couple of min-cashes in the first three tourneys and thought I was finally figuring things out. But then it all came crashing down. I busted in the next 4 or 5 tourneys before the Christmas break and all the emotions associated with my lack of confidence came flooding back. I'm failing at poker again. I'm such a loser. I felt like a kid getting bullied on the schoolyard. There were nights where I literally had to fight back tears after busting out because I felt so terrible. Some people noticed and commented on how miserable I seemed when I played.

So I knew I had a problem and something had to change, but I didn't fully (or consciously) appreciate how deep the problem went. I knew I had a problem with my mindset so I started doing research on the topic. I read articles and books on mindset, psychology, and poker, and started listening to podcasts. I'm happy to say that I have made some progress too. I've come along way since I hit rock bottom 18 months ago. I still get pushed around at the table too much, but I don't feel so emotional about it anymore.

The thing is, although my mindset has improved and I've put a lot of work into my strategic game as well, my results haven't really improved. I finished this past 3rd season at about the same place in the standings as I finished my 2nd season. I only won one of the 19 or 20 tourneys this season, and that was only because I ran like G-d on the final table and got lucky. Other than that my results only included a handful of 4th and 5th place finishes.

What I've only recently (and finally) realized is that confidence is an integral part of successful poker. I've been looking at poker as a way of trying to boost my confidence, thinking that if I can get good at the game and have some success I will feel better about myself. But the relationship works the other way too. The reason I've been such a failure, especially at live poker, is precisely because I lack confidence. I play weak, scared, and risk-averse, and that's why I get pushed around. So I struggle with a lack of confidence because I keep failing at poker, but I keep failing at poker because I lack the confidence at the table.

The good news is now that I'm aware of this I can truly appreciate the game of poker as my therapy. Winning at poker will definitely help build my confidence and self-esteem, but I need to play with confidence in order to win at poker.

My plan over the summer, with a lighter work schedule and the league on hiatus, is to set some goals and break through this barrier once and for all.

failure in poker is really just making the wrong decision, sometimes you call river and lose and it still was the right decision, you should strive for failure so you can learn and get better

also don't be emotionally attached to results, best of luck buddy

Thanks for reading. I've certainly had plenty of failure to learn from

And you are right, one of the things I'm trying to learn is to focus on the process and not the results. Where I often fail in the process is taking weak or passive lines and, therefore, not making the best decisions.

Summer goals

I like to use a goals pyramid for setting my goals in part because I’m a very visual person and I like being able to see how my overall goal cascades into more specific goals. I can’t recreate the visual here but I’ll try to capture the essence.

Overall goal: I will be a confident, aggressive, and respected poker player.

In order to achieve this goal I will:
1. Play without fear
2. Play solid, sound strategy
3. Put people to tough decisions
4. Have a positive mindset and enjoy poker

In order to achieve these objectives I will:

• Develop a system for keeping track of aggression and fear spots in-game, both for review off-table and to score my performance

• Revise and utilize my session evaluation tool to focus on my new objectives

• Gain more live experience

• Study strategy to refine my skills and knowledge

• Develop tools and “hacks” to assist with skill development and implementation, such as:

o 3-betting decision tree (something I’ve been working on)

o Perspective-shifting questions for in-game

In order to achieve the above objectives I will:

• Take notes on at least 2 videos each week

• Take notes on at least one podcast each day

• Properly analyze and comment on at least one 2+2 forum hand every day

• Play MTTs online at least once/week

• Take a vacation day in July and August to play poker

• Go to a local poker club at least twice over the summer (don’t have casino poker close by)

• Meditate before each session to relax and use reminders and positive affirmations during each session

• Set specific aggression goals for each MTT (e.g., 3-bet at least x #times)

• Utilize CBT techniques to combat my limiting beliefs

It's worth bearing mind that to win any tournament you need to get lucky to some degree. Whether that's in winning flips, getting dealt more than your fair share of premium hands, hitting flops a lot more often that you should, or having monster hands when your opponent has a very strong hand themselves allowing you to get full value.

Whilst you might have mis-played and got lucky to win and you should reflect on that to improve, you shouldn't feel bad for the times you played correctly and situations played out in your favour.

Absolutely, but that win was luck to the extreme. So even though I was proud of myself for the win, the reality is that I really didn't earn it. And the points I earned from that one win were the only reason I was in the running for the end-of-season prizes at all. So I'm just putting the whole season into context. I do think my game improved compared to the previous season, and there were some nights were I played really well, but I didn't play well enough consistently and still passed up on way too many opportunities to take aggressive lines.

Knowing nothing about how you play I can confidently say you need to tighten up preflop. If you feel like you are getting pushed around too much you need to be starting with better hands that way it will be harder for your opponents to push you around. In the beginning stages of a tournament only raise JJ-AA, AK, and AQ. Limp with KQ, AJ, AT, and pairs 55-TT and fold everything else. I know that probably sounds crazy tight but try that at the start of tournaments and see if you get better results. Literally just fold KJ and A9 and 44 instead of calling. Try it out. Suited cards are garbage. Until you get to the final table play this tight, trust me. Open up your game if you have a big chip lead. You are still going to bust most tournaments no matter what strategy you use keep that in mind, even the best players bust most tournaments so it's a LOT of luck. Good luck!!!

Best thing for confidence is to interact with people. Talk, etc. Exposure therapy. I have had a lot of the same feelings that you've had about lack of confidence and feeling out of place and I've cried on the drive home from the casino a couple of times. It's an emotional game but you gotta try to put your emotions aside when you play or at least not let them overwhelm you. And move around, hiking is awesome.

I really hope you overcome any issues, confidence and poker wise. I’m rooting for you. Try to always tell yourself it’s a game when you feel those thoughts creeping in.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I disagree with this actually. This was my first reaction to feeling intimidated - I became nitty and passive - and it has destroyed my game. What you describe is precisely the problem, I've played too tight for years. What I need is to develop the confidence to open up my game and make the moves that I know rationally I should make but I'm often too afraid to pull the trigger.

Thanks, I appreciate it. As you can see above, one of my goals is to get to a point where I have a positive mindset and enjoy playing.

So the wife and son are out of town this weekend at a baseball tournament; I'm staying behind with my daughter who is finishing exams. My plans for the weekend are simple: play poker. Here's what I'm looking at as a schedule.

Tonight
1. 888 $5 R&A (8:00pm)
2. Stars Hot 4.40 (8:15pm)
3. Stars Hot 16.50 (9:15pm)

Saturday
1. Stars Hot 4.40 (8:15am)
2. Party $11 6-max bounty hunter (10:00am)
3. Stars 2.20 PKO (10:15am)
4. Stars Hot 5.50 (11:15) - not sure about this one, depending on how I feel
5. Local poker club live $100 re-entry tourney

Sunday
1. Stars Hotter 4.40 (8:15am)
That's probably it for Sunday since I have to get some stuff done around the house and there aren't many other options early in the day. I was hoping to play one of the Common Cents kickoff events but the $100k kickoff at 2:05pm isn't a turbo and I don't think I'll be able to do the later ones. I find the schedule for the entire event (tourneys at 11:15am, 2:05pm, and 4:05pm) quite inconvenient. There isn't a single evening tourney for those of us in the Western hemisphere who work for a living and can't play in the middle of the day.

Anyway, I'm really looking forward to the poker club tourney. I've played there once before and was introduced to it by one of the guys from the local league I play - a bunch of them play there semi-regularly and have good things to say about it. The structure is decent, the tourneys are well organized, and they typically fill 4-5 tables. It will be my first opportunity since the league season ended to start experimenting with some aggressive play.

I also found a great goal-tracking app, called Habitica. You can set daily goals, longer term to-dos, and it even has a habit tracker that I'm going to use to track my scared/aggressive play in-game on Saturday.

So the poker weekend has officially come to a close since I'm back at work tomorrow but it was a fantastic weekend.

Online I was very happy with my play but ran pretty badly and busted in every tourney. When I have some time I'll go through the hand histories and do a full analysis, but my impression is that I was aggressive, in control, and unfortunately either ran into big hands at the wrong time or suffered bad beats to bust. I've been experimenting with the approach of small c-bets (35-40% pot) followed by larger turn barrels (55-60%) and it seems to work remarkably well. It might lose a bit of value when you have a good hand because you might only get the smaller flop amount, but I think it increases the profitability of bluffs by getting more turn folds. The other tactic I've been working on is increasing my aggression with small-medium pairs in the mid-late stages. I've always had difficulty with these hands when I have an awkward stack size that is too small to set-mine, especially when out of position, and so I often end up folding them to avoid the headache. So I've been experimenting with playing them more aggressively by 3-betting and sometimes 3-bet shoving a little on the large side and I've been happy with the results.

The other part of my poker weekend was the live tourney I played last night, which was an amazing experience. I ended up finishing 4th out of 24 for a min-cash, but got knocked out on a bad beat for a large pot that would have vaulted me into the chip lead. The small blind shoved into me, I called with AQ, he had A8 and rivered an 8. He actually should have been out early on the final table when I had him dominated (again), AK vs AQ, and the board ran out 9889J for the chop.

But the important thing is that I played the best poker of my life. Something has obviously clicked recently because I felt more relaxed and confident than ever before, not intimidated at all. I was aggressive all night, made some great plays and great reads, and was relentless on the final table. One of the dealers commented on break about how well I was playing and I could tell I was a thorn in the side of the other players, which is exactly what I want. When I have more time I'll post some of the interesting hands from the night.

The other thing I noticed was how different I felt on the drive home. Because I'm often in the position of being shortstacked and grinding my way through the final table (when I get there), the bad beat I suffered to exit in 4th would have upset me so much more in the past than it did last night. Don't get me wrong, it was still annoying to work so hard and play so well only to have that happen, but the fact that I played the game I wanted to play and did everything I could to give myself the best chance to win made it so much easier to accept the bad beat when it happened. For the first time in a long time I really enjoyed myself in a poker game.

Tighten up preflop is all I suggested. If you think you are playing too tight preflop, I doubt it, especially since you feel like you get bullied and pushed around at the table. Don't play passively. Duh. But play tight preflop especially in a tournament where you aren't the big stack. Like you want to open up your range regardless of stack size stack depth the players at the table anything?? This is why I said to tighten up. Trust me you need to tighten up dude. You don't make money in poker by going out on a limb all the time. 50bbs deep early in a tournament 9 handed and you get AQos utg. I can almost guarantee you are better off folding a hand like that in that spot. At least online. Live its fine to play but even then you should be stupid tight.

Post some hands so I can give you specific advice about which hands you should have just folded pre. When you do play a hand you want to attack attack attack. You probably also definitely need to play even more aggressively.

Good job playing more confidently and good luck with everything.

My game might have flaws but loose hand selection isn't one of them. If anything I've been too tight at certain times, throwing away hands that I should play because I'm afraid of difficult spots postflop. I don't get pushed around because I'm hitting weak hands, I get pushed around because I'm afraid to put my chips at risk. A lot of my weakness also occurs preflop, where I opt to call or even fold in spots where I should be 3-betting (both for value and bluffs).

A few interesting hands from the live tourney:

Hand 1
Level 2, blinds 50/100, still super deep. Two players limp, I make it 400 with TT, both limpers call. Flop (1350) AK7r. They both check, I bet 500, one player calls. Went with the small flop bet here because he will likely fold any non-Ace/non-King hand to any bet and there are no good draws on the board. Turn is a T, giving me the set (2350). Villain checks, I check behind. There isn’t really a river card that scares me, and if he’s on a suited Ax/Kx I want him to think I’ve given up in the hopes that he’ll stab at the river. River is a Q and villain leads out for 1600. The Q is really the only ugly card in the deck but villain can’t have too many Jx in his limping range pre, so I make the call and show. Villain mucks.

Hand 2
This was the one hand all night I questioned. It cost me a good chunk of my stack early on the FT.

8 players left, top 4 pay. I have about 70k at 1500/3000 with a 3000 button ante, so just under 25bb. I open to 7k with QTdd in MP and the button calls. I didn’t really have a good sense of his stack size because I wasn’t familiar with the chip denominations at this tourney and with my colour-blindness I had a hard time telling the difference between two similar chips. Anyway, the flop comes T83 with 2 spades (no diamond). I lead out for 10k and he shoves. With an SPR on the flop of about 3 it’s hard to think about folding top pair and it’s a pretty drawy flop. I say out loud, “I think you’re drawing,” to see if I could get a reaction, but he didn’t react. I decide to make the call and he flips over the worst case-scenario, ATcc for TPTK. Luckily his stack turned out to be about half mine, so it cost me half my stack but I still had about 10bb to work with.

The mistake I made was not asking for a chip count after he shoved. It wouldn’t have made a difference because his stack size would have added to the case for making the call, but I should never make a decision like that without knowing exactly how much it costs. I think I suffered from a bit of tunnel vision, focused only on the fact that it was a relatively low SPR spot for me and can’t fold top pair under those conditions.

Now that I’ve run the numbers I’m reassured that the call was clearly the right play. Making some assumptions because I don’t recall the exact numbers, I only need about 27% equity because of his smaller stack (roughly 25k to win 91.5k). To play it safe since my numbers aren’t precise and it is the final table, let’s say I need 30%. If I give him a range of A2ss+/KJss+/QJss/AT/KT/T9/T8/88/33/J9/97, I have way more than enough equity at a hare under 50%. I don’t have enough of a read on this player to know whether he would shove a draw or not, so I have to assume he would since most players likely would in that spot.

Hand 3
One other interesting spot I noted was a hand where I picked up a behavioural tell and ran a successful bluff because of that information. I’ve been listening to the audio version of Zachary Elwood’s Exploiting Poker Tells lately, and one of the tells he talks about is double-checking cards at specific times on specific boards. The specific details aren’t important but it was a spot in the middle of the tourney where I raised something like A5hh and got one caller in the BB. Flop comes something like 973dd, he checks and I check behind. Turn is the Td and he checks. I decide now to fire a bet since I think he would have bet with anything of value, at which point he double-checks his cards and makes the call. I think to myself, “A-ha, he checked for a diamond and called because he has one and is drawing. I’m going to bluff any non-diamond if he checks to me.” The river was a non-diamond low card and he checks. I fire out a decent sized bet and he folds. Of course it is possible that I still had the best hand if he had completely missed the board and only had a single diamond, but he also could have had a better A-high or something like bottom pair with the Ad/Kd/Qd. Or even a baby pair, like 22/44 with a diamond. This was one of many hands I played that night where I took an aggressive line I might not have taken in the past, and did so based on good observation and a behavioural tell.

Loss aversion and regret aversion

I’ve been doing a lot of research lately on psychology in an effort to better understand my own psychology related to poker and how I can overcome my biases and improve my mindset. One thing I’ve always known about myself is that I am generally a fairly risk-averse person. Some people are drawn to poker as a form of gambling – they love the rush that comes with playing giant pots and huge financial swings. I’m not like that at all. I was drawn to poker because I’m fascinated by the strategic elements and the challenge of trying to become a good player. That’s also part of the reason I prefer tournament poker to cash games – my risk is limited, and once I’ve paid the entry fee I don’t have to worry about the potential of forking over large sums of money if I lose a few big hands.

Risk aversion is one thing, but when it interferes with decision making then it becomes a cognitive bias: a kind of error in reasoning that results when our psychological flaws prevent us from making rational decisions. “Loss aversion” is the name for this cognitive bias. There is a wealth of research demonstrating that people perceive losses to be more painful than not gaining something, and will make irrational decisions to avoid the pain of such losses. A little while ago I noticed that this was a prominent bias in my poker mindset and affected how I played in the league tourneys. If I never got going during the rebuy period and started the post-rebuy phase with shorter stack, I would usually have little problem getting aggressive and taking risks because I had nothing to lose, so to speak. But something different happened when I got off to a good start and accumulated chips early: I would become overprotective of those chips that I had gained, and would slide into nitty passive play to avoid losing those chips. As a result I would stagnate and watch my stack dwindle relative to other players, often going to the final table as a shortstack. That’s the loss aversion bias at play.

I recently came across another related concept that spoke to me: regret aversion. The website “The Decision Lab” (https://thedecisionlab.com/bias/regret-aversion/) describes it this way:

“When making decisions, one should consider all outcomes, the likelihood and effect of each outcome, and make a choice based on that. What people really do is often different. They think about the worst possible outcome, and how they would feel about that outcome (their level of regret). They then choose the option that minimizes regret, even if it is not optimal. This often leads to less risk-taking, as risks increase the maximum potential regret. For this reason, regret aversion is closely linked to risk aversion. It is important to differentiate between regret and disappointment. Regret describes displeasure with the current state related to one’s actions, while disappointment describes displeasure with the current state related to circumstance or luck. People tend to be much more averse to the further than the latter, and their actions are different as a result.”

Bingo, this describes my mindset exactly. Here’s what often goes through my head, although not always at the conscious level: I have a stack of chips in front of me and I face an opportunity to make an aggressive move or a big call that puts that stack (or a large chunk of it) at risk. If I bust out as a result, I’m going to feel regret associated with my decision. What if I waited for a better spot? Maybe if I waited a bit longer I would finally get a big hand. Why did I take that risk? But if I opt for the safer decision that preserves my chips, I stay in the tournament and at least have a chance to run deep. So I opt for the safer decision and preserve my chips.

One of the things that has helped me make some progress getting over this bias, as evidenced by my play in the live tourney over the weekend, is the realization that the way I was approaching things wasn’t working anyway. Sure, preserving my chips means I avoid the risk of busting out and my potential to win therefore remains alive, but opting for the safe decision only resulted in repeatedly ending up grinding as a short stack. Not only is that stressful and not particularly enjoyable, but it means I leave my fate up to the cards – I end up playing the latter part of the tourney in push/fold mode and hoping for a double. And it clearly hasn’t worked, since I’ve now played three full seasons in the league and have failed to have a winning season. So I really have nothing to lose by trying something different and just going for it.

Subbed.

GL with mental game and mindset goals!

Thanks!

Took a while to find the time but I finally finished my review of my day-off session a while back. Overall I was quite pleased with my play - lots of aggression and generally good success with my experiments.

One theme that emerged from my review is the need to increase my PF raise size when I don't want to play multiway, especially when there are limpers.

Over all the tourneys I ran 24/17/8. I was barreling frequently with a CBF of 61 and a CBT of 62.5, and had a total AF of 4.2. Out of the 8 tourneys I busted three times with my money in good, one time had my JJ cracked by a set of 7's, and one time shoved KQs and ran into AQ.

Some good hands

Hand 1, early in the Hot 4.40 on Stars:

PokerStars - 15/30 Ante 4 NL - Holdem - 8 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

CO: 187.9 BB (VPIP: 100.00, PFR: 0.00, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 1)
BTN: 166.03 BB (VPIP: 0.00, PFR: 0.00, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 3)
SB: 159.7 BB (VPIP: 100.00, PFR: 0.00, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 1)
BB: 166.53 BB (VPIP: 0.00, PFR: 0.00, 3Bet Preflop: -, Hands: 1)
UTG: 153.7 BB (VPIP: 100.00, PFR: 100.00, 3Bet Preflop: -, Hands: 1)
UTG+1: 166.53 BB (VPIP: 0.00, PFR: 0.00, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 1)
MP: 166.53 BB (VPIP: 0.00, PFR: 0.00, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 1)
Hero (MP+1): 166.53 BB

8 players post ante of 0 BB, SB posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 2.57 BB) Hero has 5 4

UTG raises to 2.5 BB, fold, MP raises to 4 BB, Hero calls 4 BB, CO calls 4 BB, fold, fold, fold, UTG calls 1.5 BB

Flop: (18.57 BB, 4 players) K 3 8
UTG checks, MP bets 10 BB, Hero calls 10 BB, fold, fold

Turn: (38.57 BB, 2 players) 3
MP checks, Hero checks

River: (38.57 BB, 2 players) 6
MP checks, Hero bets 19.3 BB, fold

Hero wins 38.57 BB

Hand 2, early in the Hot 16.50:

PokerStars - 40/80 Ante 10 NL - Holdem - 8 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

Hero (BB): 63.3 BB
UTG: 194.6 BB (VPIP: 23.81, PFR: 9.52, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 21)
UTG+1: 33.05 BB (VPIP: 9.52, PFR: 9.52, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 21)
MP: 107.06 BB (VPIP: 66.67, PFR: 38.89, 3Bet Preflop: 25.00, Hands: 18)
MP+1: 42.82 BB (VPIP: 26.09, PFR: 21.74, 3Bet Preflop: 9.09, Hands: 23)
CO: 62.5 BB
BTN: 159.29 BB (VPIP: 38.10, PFR: 19.05, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 21)
SB: 59.02 BB (VPIP: 25.00, PFR: 0.00, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 4)

8 players post ante of 0 BB, SB posts SB 0.5 BB, Hero posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 2.5 BB) Hero has 5 6

fold, UTG+1 raises to 2 BB, fold, fold, fold, fold, SB calls 1.5 BB, Hero calls 1 BB

Flop: (7 BB, 3 players) Q 2 6
SB checks, Hero checks, UTG+1 bets 2.44 BB, fold, Hero calls 2.44 BB

Turn: (11.87 BB, 2 players) 6
Hero checks, UTG+1 checks

River: (11.87 BB, 2 players) A
Hero bets 5.94 BB, fold

Hero wins 11.87 BB

Hand 3, early in the $4.40 4-max PKO on Stars:

PokerStars - 15/30 Ante 4 NL (4 max) - Holdem - 4 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

CO: 99.87 BB (VPIP: 0.00, PFR: 0.00, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 1)
BTN: 104.4 BB (VPIP: 100.00, PFR: 100.00, 3Bet Preflop: 100.00, Hands: 1)
SB: 98.87 BB (VPIP: 0.00, PFR: 0.00, 3Bet Preflop: -, Hands: 1)
Hero (BB): 96.87 BB

4 players post ante of 0 BB, SB posts SB 0.5 BB, Hero posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 2.03 BB) Hero has K J

fold, BTN raises to 4.03 BB, fold, Hero calls 3.03 BB

Flop: (9.1 BB, 2 players) Q T 4
Hero checks, BTN bets 5 BB, Hero raises to 15 BB, BTN calls 10 BB

Turn: (39.1 BB, 2 players) 7
Hero bets 15.9 BB, BTN calls 15.9 BB

River: (70.9 BB, 2 players) A
Hero checks, BTN bets 35 BB, Hero raises to 61.8 BB and is all-in, BTN calls 26.8 BB

Hero shows K J (Straight, Ace High)
(Pre 36%, Flop 37%, Turn 23%)
BTN shows Q A (Two Pair, Aces and Queens)
(Pre 64%, Flop 63%, Turn 77%)
Hero wins 194.5 BB

Hand 4, from a $5 rebuy on 888:

888 Poker - 400/800 Ante 100 NL - Holdem - 9 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

UTG: 16.6 BB (VPIP: 17.86, PFR: 0.00, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 56)
UTG+1: 18.31 BB (VPIP: 14.29, PFR: 14.81, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 28)
MP: 28.08 BB (VPIP: 14.29, PFR: 7.14, 3Bet Preflop: 8.33, Hands: 28)
MP+1: 33.91 BB (VPIP: 32.14, PFR: 3.57, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 28)
MP+2: 12.69 BB
CO: 33.91 BB (VPIP: 42.86, PFR: 25.00, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 28)
BTN: 12.77 BB (VPIP: 22.73, PFR: 0.00, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 22)
SB: 40.01 BB (VPIP: 17.86, PFR: 18.52, 3Bet Preflop: 22.22, Hands: 28)
Hero (BB): 18.71 BB

9 players post ante of 0 BB, SB posts SB 0.5 BB, Hero posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 2.62 BB) Hero has Q 8

fold, fold, fold, fold, fold, CO raises to 2 BB, fold, fold, Hero calls 1 BB

Flop: (5.62 BB, 2 players) 4 T K
Hero checks, CO checks

Turn: (5.62 BB, 2 players) 7
Hero checks, CO checks

River: (5.62 BB, 2 players) 9
Hero bets 2.23 BB, fold

Hero wins 5.62 BB

Some not so good hands

Hot 4.40:
PokerStars - 50/100 Ante 12 NL - Holdem - 9 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

Hero (SB): 34.12 BB
BB: 57.43 BB (VPIP: 20.00, PFR: 0.00, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 5)
UTG: 110.33 BB (VPIP: 78.57, PFR: 21.43, 3Bet Preflop: 11.11, Hands: 14)
UTG+1: 107.59 BB (VPIP: 14.29, PFR: 7.14, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 14)
MP: 11.82 BB (VPIP: 50.00, PFR: 7.14, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 14)
MP+1: 98.24 BB (VPIP: 30.77, PFR: 23.08, 3Bet Preflop: 16.67, Hands: 13)
MP+2: 42.98 BB (VPIP: 20.00, PFR: 0.00, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 10)
CO: 50 BB
BTN: 46.24 BB (VPIP: 16.67, PFR: 16.67, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 6)

9 players post ante of 0 BB, Hero posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 2.58 BB) Hero has J A

fold, fold, fold, fold, fold, fold, BTN raises to 2 BB, Hero raises to 6 BB, fold, BTN calls 4 BB

Flop: (14.08 BB, 2 players) 2 8 5
Hero bets 28 BB and is all-in, BTN calls 28 BB

Turn: (70.08 BB, 2 players) 2

River: (70.08 BB, 2 players) Q

Hero shows J A (One Pair, Twos)
(Pre 48%, Flop 24%, Turn 14%)
BTN shows 3 3 (Two Pair, Threes and Twos)
(Pre 52%, Flop 76%, Turn 86%)
BTN wins 70.08 BB

Super donkey move with the 2x shove on the flop.

From the Party tourney:
partypoker - 0/0 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

Hero (BB): 57.81 BB
UTG: 64.42 BB (VPIP: 28.41, PFR: 19.32, 3Bet Preflop: 10.26, Hands: 89)
MP: 95.56 BB (VPIP: 28.33, PFR: 8.33, 3Bet Preflop: 1.67, Hands: 124)
CO: 69.11 BB (VPIP: 34.43, PFR: 20.49, 3Bet Preflop: 8.93, Hands: 124)
BTN: 13.76 BB (VPIP: 24.44, PFR: 15.00, 3Bet Preflop: 4.00, Hands: 182)
SB: 94.74 BB (VPIP: 25.00, PFR: 25.00, 3Bet Preflop: 16.67, Hands: 16)

6 players post ante of 0 BB, SB posts SB 0.5 BB, Hero posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 2.19 BB) Hero has 9 7

UTG raises to 2.1 BB, fold, fold, fold, fold, Hero calls 1.1 BB

Flop: (5.39 BB, 2 players) J 4 8
Hero checks, UTG bets 2.69 BB, Hero raises to 7.5 BB, UTG calls 4.81 BB

Turn: (20.39 BB, 2 players) 2
Hero bets 8.16 BB, UTG raises to 22.5 BB, fold

UTG wins 51.04 BB

I like the move but picked the wrong time/villain against a stronger UTG range on a Jxx flop. I've been looking for spots to play weak draws more aggressively as semi-bluffs, and gutter+backdoor FD is a good candidate.

Poker podcasts have been integral to my development, both from a skill and a mindset point of view. I listen to countless hours of podcasts and I like to jot down notes in my phone whenever I hear a nugget of wisdom I want to remember. Unfortunately I didn’t note the sources so I can’t give credit where credit is due, but here are my favorites:

- Measure your success by what you learn every day.

- Amateurs get upset when they suffer bad beats; pros get upset when they make mistakes.

- When fear is a factor in your decision making, failure is the most likely result.

- Figure out what other players do that makes your life difficult, then figure out why they do it and how you can incorporate it into your game.

- Everybody has a pain threshold that determines when they become risk averse. Find your opponent’s pain threshold and apply pressure.

- Don’t think about hands, learn to think in terms of ranges.

- Poker tournaments are like raffles. Having a skill edge only gives you more tickets for the raffle than other players.

- Have the mindset of the casino not the gambler. The casino isn’t bothered by individual losses because they know they have the edge over the long term.

- Figure out what your opponent wants to happen and then disappoint him.

Summer midpoint review

So it’s been about a month since I first posted my goals for the summer and since we’re now at approximately the midpoint of the summer, I decided to review my progress.

Objectives

1) Develop a system for keeping track of aggression and fear spots in-game
Done. Using the Habitica app for this purpose. I used it during the one live tourney I played but since I don’t really feel fear when I play online, I haven’t bothered to use it for my online sessions.

2) Revise and utilize my session evaluation tool after each session
Done. I highly recommend this kind of structured process to hand history reviews. Message me if you’d like to see what my tool looks like.

3) Gain more live experience (go to a local poker club 2-3 times)
Done once but would like to go one more time in August. My son’s baseball schedule heats up again next month so hopefully I’ll find the time.

4) Study strategy to refine my technical skills
a. Take notes on at least 2 videos/week
This one has been difficult to keep up with because videos are much less convenient than podcasts, but I find podcasts so much more valuable anyway.

b. Take notes on at least one podcast/day
On track

c. Properly analyze and comment on at least one 2+2 strat hand every day
On track

5) Develop tools and “hacks” to assist with skill development and implementation
a. Finalize 3-betting decision tree
Still to do

b. Utilize perspective-shifting questions in-game
I have these at the ready but haven’t really found the need for them yet. For example, “What would you tell someone else to do in this spot if they posted the hand on 2+2?” Asking a question like this is a great way to get around your own biases and emotional barriers and to take a more objective view of a situation.

6) Play online MTTs at least one day/week
Not sure if I’ve managed to do it every week but I have found time to put in some half-decent volume. There are a couple of good tourneys at a convenient time on Stars every evening that can be done before it gets too late (I can only play turbos because of my time limitations), so I’ve tried to find an evening each week to play them.

7) Take a vacation day in July and August to play poker
I booked two days off in July but ended up spending the first one with the wife when she took the same day off, so that’s a fail from a poker point of view. I have one more day at the end of the month and haven’t planned August yet. Days off in August might be tougher though because my son has a bunch of baseball tournaments and I might need to take some of those Fridays off.

8) Meditate before each session to relax and use reminders and positive affirmations during each session
Did a brief meditation before the live tourney I played. I arrived a bit early so I sat in my car with my earphones and listened to my relaxation app for a few minutes.

9) Set specific aggression goals for each MTT
Haven’t done this since I seem to be playing pretty aggressively without it

10) Utilize CBT techniques to combat my limiting beliefs
Did this a couple of weeks ago and found it very helpful. It helped open my eyes to the barriers that have been preventing me from playing the way I want to play, and I had a bit of an epiphany when I realized that my passive, cautious play wasn’t working so I really have nothing to lose by trying something different. I think that was a big part of what flipped the switch for me.

Although I don’t want to focus on short term results at all, it is nice to see some fruits of my labor. I’ve had a couple of good online results recently, including a win in a 75-runner tourney on 888 and my deepest finish ever in a large field MTT on Stars – 8th in the Hot 4.40. That one was particularly satisfying since I have never had any real success on Stars.

Next steps
I’ve identified a few things I want to accomplish before the summer is out:
1) Finalize and practice with my 3-betting decision tree so that the thought process becomes habitual.
2) When I have a larger sample I want to analyze some of the moves I’ve been working on, such as my CB/barrel sizing and flop x/raising. It feels like those spots have been profitable but it will be interesting to dive into it and actually see the results.
3) Go through all the notes I’ve taken on the podcasts I’ve listened to and summarize the key lessons.
4) Go through hand histories and session evaluations tourneys I played previously and see how I would play those spots now.

Took another day off today to play some poker only to find out my 888 account has been temporarily disabled for some reason. Didn't even get an email from them explaining why.
I don't use any software other than PT4 so I can't figure out what the problem might be. I played a few days ago and won a $12 tourney so could it be connected to that somehow? Like maybe the guy I beat HU got pissed and accused me of cheating or something?

Waiting for a response from support...

Got everything sorted out with my 888 account. Support said I must have entered incorrect login info too many times, which would suggest that someone was trying to hack my account. So they sent me a password change link and I re-installed the poker client, and everything is fine now.

My next live test will be Friday. My poker league takes the summer off but the host wants to get a tourney together on Friday. He's hoping to get 2 tables to play.

So this will be a perfect opportunity to build on my progress from the poker club experience, especially since I will be playing with guys from the regular league. This will enable me to test out some targeted plays based on my reads, and also to see how different players react to what I'm doing. And all without having to worry about the league points, which has negatively impacted my approach in the past.

Played the home game tourney last night and was fairly happy with the way I played, though I didn't really get much opportunity to make any interesting moves. The structure moved quite quickly (we were at 50bb by level 2), so there really wasn't much time to play deep. The table was also playing quite aggressively, so I wasn't able to see many flops with speculative hands with so much 3-betting going on.

We started with 10k and we could rebuy for 8k if we dropped below 5k, so my plan was to mix it up and then rebuy at 5k (if I didn't accumulate) to get to a the full 13k. I did that, and then managed to win a couple of decent pots to get up to about 23k, but couldn't build past that. With the 5k add-on I started the post-rebuy period with about 24k. Then on the first level after the rebuy I got bluffed off half my stack.

Blinds are 300/600 and I have about 23k at that point. An aggressive gambler type raises to 1800 UTG (7-handed and he has me covered) and I call on his left with QQ. Full 3x raises were uncommon once we got to these blinds and I figured it would likely get through, so I opted for the call rather than the 3b. I also knew he's a laggy player and didn't want to fold out the weaker part of his range. We go to the flop heads up.

Flop (4500): JJ3r. Villain bets 2500, I call.

TUrn (9500): 5. Villain bets 7k. I think for a bit and start to worry about running into AA/KK and more likely Jx but I make the call.

River (23500): 9. Villain shoves. Ugh. I know he's an aggressive player capable of running big bluffs but there are also a decent number of hands in his range that beat me: AA/KK/Jx and sets. And there weren't any realistic missed draws on the board. I go into the tank and eventually fold. He shows 87s for the stone cold bluff.

Everyone at the table agreed I can't make that call, and I feel pretty confident that it was a correct fold, but I started to wonder if I might have given away some information on the turn. I definitely took some time to make the call, and knowing myself I might have unconsciously revealed that I wasn't happy about it, which could have given him enough information to bluff the river. If he senses that I reluctantly called the big bet on the turn, he knows I have a hand I'm not excited to call with. So I can't have Jx, and likely don't have AA/KK either. If I did look uncomfortable making the call anyone paying attention could have likely put me on a hand like QQ/TT. In fact after I folded and he showed, one of the players at the table guessed I had QQ. So I'm going to have to be more aware of stuff like that when I play live and try to ensure that I don't portray any discomfort or lack of confidence in spots like that.

Anyway, the rest of the night was pretty uneventful. We started with 16 and I went out in 9th, after doing nothing but shoving and stealing blinds for a while. Couldn't get a double up and eventually ran K9 into KQ with like 5bb.