Best line from “Celebrity Poker Showdown” tonight: “Coolio just flopped the nuts.”
Well, I played a bit at Party tonight. Didn’t go overly well, but mental-wise I’ll take it. In fact, maybe I need to start with a “bad” night. I am going to play by the book (”Winning Low Limit Hold ‘Em” by Lee Jones) as much as I can (although I haven’t been able to totally grasp the whole book yet) and try to mentally ride the wave. Keep in mind this is at 50/1, so it’s not big money, but I want to build up the bankroll and losing is not the way to do it. The “mental” thing I have to remember is the variability that can happen over the short term.
I know once I fold I shouldn’t worry about what happens, especially when played correctly, but sometimes it does get frustrating. Example? Dealt 38 UTG and I fold. Board ends up 3T348. At this table there were almost always 6 people seeing the flop. You can see, however, why people at the lower limits may play them even if it’s not “correct”. I think it comes dow to why people play the game. Is for fun or is it to make some money? If for fun, you probably start at the lower limit and just want to play. What’s 50 cents, right? If you don’t play all that often you can look at it as a night out. So what if you lose $25 over the course of a couple hours. If it’s for fun you play, and it’s no fun folding all the time. If, however, you are playing to play “correct”, then it can get frustrating. I know this is nothing new, but now that I’m actually trying to do the right thing it is more frustrating.
I know, I’ve got an idea! I’ll post to RGP and ask if anybody can beat the 50/1 game on Party! Then I’ll jump to 2+2 and do the same thing. I’m sure everybody will be understanding and agree with me.
Lots of good blogging going on lately relating to poker theory, odds, etc. Keep it up people, I’m learning. I liked hdouble’s explanation on probability in ring vs. tournament games. Poker Penguin also has some good discussions on odds and game theory lately. Determining odds quickly is one of the things I really need to work on. I’ve got to take some time and really read (and re-read) Jone’s book and see if I can work my way into Sklansky’s “Hold ‘Em Poker” although when I looked through it when I bought it I was bored and found his writing style to be pretty bad. I’m sure the info is good, and in the end I’ll have to read it and his other books, but in the short term Jones is the one I’m going to concentrate on.
That reminds me, I need to pony up for the full version of PokerTracker, I’ve maxed out my 1000 hand freebie. Then I need to start using it the way it was intended. I’ve got a lot of studying to do.
There was an “interesting” thread on RGP today about what to do if your wife (girlfriend, whatever) doesn’t approve of your poker playing. Of course it degenerated very quickly, so there was little real value (ie. don’t bother reading it unless you want to read a dozen “Dump the bitch” posts), but the topic is kind of interesting. My wife is pretty understanding (after all, she bought me Hellmuth’s book), plus it’s not like I’m gambling away the mortgage. She usually goes to bed early anyway (I’m up at least 2 hours later than she is), so I’m not taking time away from my family. Additionally, once I get to the point where I’m winning (think positive) I’m sure it will be even less of a deal.
Added a few more blogs to the roll. Thanks to hdouble and Iggy for pointing them out.
Don’t forget, WPT marathon on Friday. I’m going to TiVO as many as I can.
SO far, in my limited experience I have been playing by feel only. I know a little about what hand is good and whatnot, but not the odds…..yet.
You want to recommend a book to start with to learn game theory?
Oh, and thanks for visiting by blog. I’m real new at it. Think green.
Those wild .50/1 games are good training for B&M play. On weekend nights, the $6-12 at my local B&M plays much like these games… 6 people going to the river, ramming and jamming the whole way. It is really a different game when played like this, so the skills you learn here will be very valuable if you can find a loose game.
Lee Jones’ book doesn’t really address games like this, and I would suggest you loosen up a little bit (not so much that you play 83o though) on your starting hands when there are 4 or more players making it to the showdown. Think about that whole implied odds thing.
Hey Chris… sounds like your wife is pretty cool about your poker play. Does she like your blog? The woman I’ve been dating and live with (Haley a struggling actress her in NYC) seems very cool with all of my gambling… she understood that I used to work on Wall Street, so she takes my poker play seriously. I’ve been trying to teach her… very slowly. All her friends watch Celebrity Poker Showdown, which I insist will do more harm than good for their poker game… alas, they don’t care. Lol. Anyway, I guess I got lucky… we’ll see how long it lasts… happy holidays, Pauly McG
Well, actually I didn’t tell her about starting this blog, she found it by accident. I wasn’t hiding it, but I tried doing this a year or so ago and gave up on it after a couple of weeks, so I figured I’d wait until I made sure I’d keep going on it. She’s pretty cool about it though, she’s pretty easy going (thankfully because I’m sure I do a lot to piss her off at times).
I totally agree about Celebrity Poker though, it sucks. The “West Wing” episode was the worst, they knew zero about the game. The only passable one was the first one with Ben Affleck on it, but the rest have been terrible. Why do I watch it? First off, I have my TiVO setup to record anything with “Poker” in the title or description, secondly, it’s on right before “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy.” I can use all the clothes and general issues that I can get. I love that show
My wife played a little bit on UB with my account while I first started, but she hasn’t played since. I’d like to get her started, if for no other reason than it’d make things more “acceptable”
Good luck!
Chris
hdouble, I hear ya re: implied odds. Like I’ve said, I need to work on my odds figuring and such. In the interim I think I need to stay semi-tight in order to build up the bankroll. Of course, loosening up may help it more. Hmm…I need to read up and play some more, that’s for sure.
Thanks for the compliments Chris.
I loved the sarcasm about posting to RGP and everyone being supportive. Brilliant.
I swear by my handy pot-odds cheat sheet. It doesn’t do all the fancy ass reverse odds or any of that stuff.
What it does do is tell me exactly what odds I have on filling my four flush, or getting the set I need. It’s stolen, more or less out of the back of Ken Warren.
Work out the number of odds, and multiply by the size of the bet required and it tells you how much cash needs to be in the pot to call.
This results in me being somewhat tight when I’m playing full table, but it works for me (I actually bluffed a $33 pot on the river in a $1-2 game because of my tight image, and right betting pattern.
I might type it up at some point, otherwise, it’s easy enough to do yourself.