Living in Southern California everything was closed for quite a long time. I didn't go anywhere near Los Angeles for 2 years. I ventured out one time to Morongo over a year ago and the poker room was empty as well as the entire casino. We had to wear masks and there were maybe 2 or 3 tables going.
Overall I had started poker right after Party Poker went up and played a lot online at a number of sites for small stakes. I started going to live clubs or poker rooms about a year after that. Overall I was negative in my winnings. I did have some nice runs but overall not a winning player.
I have spent the last couple of years just watching the poker vlogs and some televised poker even if it was just on YouTube previously filmed. I also have done a lot of reading here on hands played and advice given. I think all of this has been really helpful to my game. I have only had 2 outings, both in the 4 to 6 hour range but both were profitable. k
My first outing was December in Las Vegas for a convention so I was able to get a few hours in with a 2/5 NL game and did well with it. Just recently I did Rancho Mirage for a convention and did the same thing, 6 hours of 2/5 NL and did pretty well with some errors, actually one big error.
So what changed?
- I no longer play small stakes limit. I would consider something like an 8/16 Kill game if the killer gets last action preflop which I have never seen in SoCal. I might go to a 20/40 or a 40/80 or something similar for limit.
- I am now comfortable with playing NL up to 10/20 although both games I was in above were 2/5 and those were the biggest available for holdem at the time I was there. I brought enough money to play bigger though.
- I still like 7CS and O8 but would prefer to play those limit with a full kill. To me this makes it more like a NL game. I haven't played these games in well over 5 years. I wouldn't mind a good place to play them.
- I stopped snap/act. This was probably my biggest weakness. I would take an action without fully thinking it through. This was actually the one bad play I made at Rancho Mirage calling an all in with a nut flush draw when I could have saved myself $300 against a player I knew had a made hand. I acted out of haste and if I had taken a moment I would have saved myself $300+.
- I stopped looking at my cards before the action was to me. This allows me to now observe player behavior that I would have missed. This helps me with the point above. Once I do this I get into a rhythm. Side note, this lead to the player at Rancho Mirage moving my cards to me that were dealt in front of him. It actually broke my concentration which is why I mentioned it before. Since the action had not gotten to me I didn't even notice where my cards were.
- I consider the pot size relative to my bet or raise based on what I know about who I am up against. I previously would make oversized bets and raises that would either chase away draws or invite made hands.
- I discriminate my hand selection based on position. Something I didn't do enough of before.
- I will raise to a called preflop action if I am going to play the hand from late position. After all, if everyone wants to see a free flop, I will see how bad they really want to see it.
- I vary my look over time with the same players at the table for a long time. I might play as a NIT, a LAG, a TAG, etc. but do so over time so hour 1 and 2 might be one look and hour 3 might be another and so on. I am not a regular so the regulars are quick to pick up on my style thus the need for the change. So far it has served me well over just a few hours of play in small rooms. I don't know how this would play out in Commerce or The Bike. I may soon find out.
- I will try to steal the blinds more often.
There is probably more but that is what I can think of for now.
I am working on taking a 6 hour shift on a Saturday night once a week in the Los Angeles clubs, Commerce, The Bike, Hustler and The Gardens. My focus would be more on the NLH games but I still wouldn't mind O8 or 7CS but the stakes need to be high enough. I miss the San Manuel poker room. The O8 Kill there ( I think it was a half kill) was pretty good along with the 7CS. I did see a young woman win a single pot of over $50K in NLH while I was playing 4/8 7CS. It was quite exciting.
Overall I found the break with Covid to help me so far. It gave me time to evaluate, learn and apply.
