A Bit of This & That
April 8, 2007
After the little explosion of new blogs and posts, things seem to have slowed down a little bit. Probably due to many things, work, the novelty wearing off a little and other commitments etc.
Writing a blog is not for everyone, understandably many people do not have the time or maybe the inclination to write a journal come blog. I mean if everyone in the group decided to write a blog, can you imagine how much time it would take to read through them all!
Back again and been playing!
April 7, 2007
I got back from the trip yesterday and took a pokerfree evening. I’ve been playing while staying at the hotel and have to admit that it was a stupid move! I didn’t play to win, it was more of the feeling of needed something to do at nights when sitting at the hotelroom and it was to early to get sleep! Despite better judgement i knew it’s stupid to take a step from the discipline even if i didn’t loose much money I still lost it. And not to better players who really earned my money. Actually i feel i rather could have step out into the street and handed my money over to just anyone!
But today i entered both ladies game HU nlholdem, a omaha h/l sitngo at vegas and a $2.50 nlholdem at the swedish site! And i did put up a fight so even if i lost out in ladies game i’m proud of my performance there! the omaha h/l i didn’t focus as much as i should have and ended up at a 6th place but the nl holdem i really played a focused game and i caught the second place and regained some of my lost money!
Svcmgr talked about goals in his blog and i feel do have to emphasize the importance of putting up goals, even if you put up small or big goals with some stages in them it’s important to take notes about them to clarify and to make you really focus on what you want and how to get there! I doesn’t really matter if the goals are about your pokergames or in daily life put up goals! I never do anything without planning and puting the goals on paper to get me focused on the task ahead!
I did read a book on how to put up goals and it said something that stuck with me!
focus on something you really want for example a new car. Imagine yourself stepping into that new car on a stage, feel the proud and joy of getting that car infront of thousands of people who are watching you at that stage getting your car, then try to feel how that new car smells and feels like when you sit in it! That is how you’re supposed to focus even sitting at an online-pokertable or anything you want to!
Starting hands – part one
April 7, 2007
For the next couple of entries, I’m going to look at starting hands to play throughout a tournament. It’s more suited to novices, but is a good reminder to the more proficient players too. This guide is mainly for multi table tournaments. The later parts can be used for sit and go tournaments too.
Beginning
The start of a tournament requires very good discipline. Only premium hands should be played. If you are playing a low buy-in game ($1-$5) you will find a load of loose players who will overplay almost any medium to strong hand pre-flop just to try and double up in chips. This is a very risky strategy. Why put all your chips on the line at the very start of a tournament?
I would recommend sticking to playing the top 10 hands. These are:
The first levels of a tournament should be used mainly to pick up information on the other players at the table. However, if you pick up one of the hands above, by all means play it. Just don’t get overly agressive if you happen to have AJ suited – especially if there has been a raise in front of you. AJ is not that good a hand. There are nine other hands that could beat it! If you see that a tight player has raised in front of you then you should seriously consider folding. If its a loose player raising then you should consider calling.
You may think that 
is a great hand, but loads of people value more. It’s wrong to think this. A pocket pair is always favourite over any drawing hand pre-flop. OK, it’s only a couple of % but favourite all the same. But, if overcards hit the flop, you have to be prepared to fold your pocket pair.
The key thing to remember when playing any hand is position. Playing position is one of the fundamental startegies in poker. Early to mid position is a hazerdous zone to be in. Once the flop is dealt you will be one of the first to act. You will have no information on any later players. Use position to your advantage where possible. If you happen to get one of the above hands in late position, you have the freedom to raise as you will be last (or next to last) to act after the flop. This key position gives you information on the players before you. To read more on playing position have a read at this article with links on the subject.
Sound simple doesn’t it! Easy in theory, but so many can’t put it into practice.
So, you are playing tight agressive poker, only playing the top 10 starting hands. Hopefully, you’ve played them well and managed to avoid suckouts and bad beats and have built up a respectable chip stack.
After the 1st hour
One hour has passed. At this time, the majority of the monkeys will have gone out of the tournament and you will be left with more good/cautious players. But by this time you should know how the majority of the players at your table play, if not all of them. This is where you can try to exploit their weaknesses. Always keep in mind though that position is still key!
You can maybe ‘open up’ a little and start to play the top 15-20 starting hands now. Along with the 10 hands above think about playing these hands too:
As before, position is still key here. If you have a raise in front of you, you have to consider folding ALL of the above hands. Again, it all depends on what ‘read’ you have on the players at the table.
Keep playing tight, agressive poker and you should keep buidling your chipstack. If you have people limping into hands and you have one of the top 20 starting hands in late position, raise to push the limpers out, even with . If you get called, then you have to suspect your opponent has a half decent starting hand. You should get enough information after the flop to decide what your next move should be.
I try to only play the top 20 hands for the majority of a tournament. Limping with some and raising with others. But again, I must reinforce that it depends on my position at the table. For example; at a table with 9 players, I would limp in at most with the top 11-20 hands in early to mid position, but I would fold them a hell of a lot too.
Above all when playing MTTs, be patient. If you’ve not had a hand for a while boredom can set in and you get sucked into playing rubbish hands. You have to avoid this as you will more than likely pay dearly for it.
Also, when not involved in a hand, WATCH how the other players play. You have to concentrate on the other players. You can pick up on a lot of flaws in their game, like betting patterns and if there is a showdown, what type of hands they play. The more information you gather, you can use to your advantage.
Next time, I’ll cover starting hands to play in the latter stages of a tournament – approaching the bubble!
Motivation and poker
April 5, 2007
What motivates me to play poker?
I have been thinking about this lately because my desire to play seems to be lower than normal.
Prior to determining my type of motivation, I think the first question I should ask myself is, “what are my goals?”
I have talked to other players and there seem to be a few “general” goals.
Been out of town
April 3, 2007
I haven’t posted for a couple of days because I have been out of town on business. As a matter of fact, I am writing this from my Hotel room now.
I did get to play for a little while last night. I got together with Dog, Ash, gotmewrong, and Blagger on skype. Mostly though I just listened and laughed. I ended up breaking about even for the night. Lost in 2 $2 sng’s but made $10.00 at a $5 sng.
For those of you that don’t know, my screen name is Svcmgr. Svcmgr = Service Manager.
I work in the Machine Tool industry as a Service Manager.
A winning week
April 1, 2007
After my moaning and groaning over the last couple of months, this past week seen a change in fortunes for me at the tables. And funny enough, its all been down to what I had written in the last post! Variance!
Throughout the last 3 months I’ve had one or two cashes at sit and go tables, but overall I’ve lost a helluva lot! That all changed on Tuesday when I decided to play a $1 sit and go at PKR. I just played my usual game and was fortunate not to be rivered or sucked out when holding the best hand. This carried on to my forums private game at PKR on Thursday.
Down to 3 players in that game, I was under 2000 chips along with Blagger who had around the same. The chip leader – an apparent gate crasher to the game – had over 22,000 in chips. After some patient play I had managed to get up to 5000 in chips before Blagz went out. The chip leader still had a 4/1 advantage in chips. More patient play followed, but I just couldn’t get him to call my raises. But with this aggressive approach to heads-up play payed dividends as I soon starting clawing my way right into the game. Before I knew it I was only 3000 chips behind. Then came the big turning point.
I was dealt AK suited in the small blind. As this guy was playing very tight I only raised it double the big blind, hoping he would tag along. He went one better by going all in. Instant call from me and he turns over KQ. I ended up with 2 pair to take down the pot and decimate his stack. Reeling from that hand he went all in on the next. Unfortunately for him, i was holding pocket 10s which I was never going to lay down heads-up. He turned over J4. Flop and turn helped no-one, but another 10 on the river put the icing on the cake for me!
A win!!! I had almost forgot what one was like!
On the Friday, I was more or less in the same position – short stack again up against 2 big stacks – CrazyYorkie and Magpot. I ploughed forward with some aggressive play and it payed dividends as I accumulated chips quickly. Once I became the chipleader, I started getting some good hands and I was making Sue and Mags pay to see any flops. Eventually, the win came making it 3 games in a row I’d won.
Last night I went for a live game instead of the private games but got there too late to play, so hit the casino instead for a wee bit of 3 card brag. After over 2hours playing I called it a night with a minuscule profit, but still, I enjoyed it immensely. If you have never been to a casino to play the tables, you should give it a shot. Even more so if you can get a game of poker. It’s a great night out!
Well, that’s it for now. look out for another strategy article coming later this week.
