Lopping off the C game

It's been a fairly decent week. Nothing too big to speak of. I think I've been playing extremely well although I found a few hands where I think I just butchered them. Still I think I have been playing about a 4-6 ptbb game and I think if I can continue to keep emotionally stable and increase the amount of time that I can play, and continue to work on my “A” game as well as my “C” game (or, as I refer to it, my “F” game) I could easily be an even bigger long term winner. I have been trying to work at “lopping off the C game” which just means that I am trying to get better at my bad poker and reduce the frequency of my bad poker.

Rather than trying to get my best poker game even better by learning more tricks and watching videos and reading books and on and on, I am trying to increase the amount of time I can play my best game, and I am also trying to make my poorer games less poor. I am in effect trying to reduce the gap between my good play and my bad play, so that my play is consistent.

If I can do that, and if I can play longer hours, then getting better is merely a problem of putting the effort in, since I think I am smart enough and good enough to be able to understand and properly apply most any concept or tool I find in videos and books.

Right now, playing good poker is a problem of always checking on my emotions and wondering if I am going to tilt, not playing too many hands because I burn out quickly, etc. I feel I am closing the gap between my best and my worst poker little by little, but it is very difficult. I have watched a few Stox Poker videos by Jared Tendler about this and I think he's got some decent advice. One piece I liked was about writing down all the aspects of my game, so I have started a list, but it is certainly not complete. The current list is at the end of this blog entry.

I also have been looking at my financial situation, and I have come up with a decent working plan for my future. I think I will stay in Seattle here until January or maybe February and if I keep putting in the hands and hours, I should have enough saved up where I can move back to Vegas and have enough money to play 200NL online. Then hopefully within a few months I can save up enough where I can also regularly play 2/5 live which is very juicy, and which is also more interesting and fun than online poker. I also want to stay in Seattle until early next year to find out if a contact at Boeing can end up getting me a job there which would pay about $50K.

If I get it, I can take that job and save up very very quickly and halt my getting-back-to-Vegas plan for a year or two, and if I don't, like I said, I hope to have enough to be able to make it on my own two feet by then. We'll see what happens. I am at least optimistic about my future, which I haven't been in a while, and it feels nice.

I forgot to make a screen cap this week, so I just have my stats and then my current list of aspects of my poker game which I mentioned earlier. I also have started a weekly 10K hands contest with my friend Edals, and although it's no 50K hands challenge, it's still enough to motivate us both to put in more hands, and it will also be good practice to see if I can put in 10K of actual GOOD play, as opposed to just getting the hands in no matter how shitty I am doing! He wanted a week by week challenge because he has some other things going on and is not sure if he can commit to it every week, but I definitely could use the motivation, so I pleaded with him to do the challenge and he kindly caved.

--My Poker Game-- (Incomplete list)

I. My Current A Game

--A. Having fun

--B. Able to focus without difficulty

--C. Can very easily tell what people have because I recognize their betting actions and I interpret stats without my own bias

--D. Use similar lines against them with different hands in order to make them think I have what they'd have in that situation.

--E. Very cognizant of my image and can sense the "timing" of a session so I know when people are likely to play back at me or let me run them over.

--F. Can make loose calls and tight folds when it's appropriate given the circumstances, and can recognize those circumstances without effort. I know the right play and I do it without worry; I do not attempt to justify one action over another based on what I want to be true rather than what is true.

--G. Red line stays about even, maybe slightly negative. I have very few, if any, big non-showdown losses.

--H. I frustrate my opponents

II. My Current B- Game

--A. I am not having fun.

--B. I sometimes go on autopilot. (My autopilot is a losing autopilot.)

--C. I play more than 5 tables

--D. I don't feel like I'm able to play but try to force it anyway because I have not put in enough A game hours.

--E. I try to justify some moves, which aren't too bad, but still are losers in the long run.

--F. I am consistently wrong about what people have because I am clouding my judgment with other things and projecting onto them.

--G. I try to play "solid poker" by having set preflop standards and set betting lines rather than just trying to focus on beating up the other players at the table. This "solid poker" is a very steady losing game I have.

--H. I am emotionally unstable and cannot focus and even when I try to focus, I am wrong.

--I. I get easily frustrated, and even when I calm down, I am still on soft tilt, often without realizing it.

--J. I don't think ahead in the hand as often, which leads to folding in later streets, which leads to much larger non-showdown losses (which in no way contribute to increasing my showdown wins).

--K. My B- game is one bet/call/raise away from my F game.

III. My Current F Game

--A. I am not having fun.

--B. In two words: I tilt. Even when I have not had a "bad beat" or have been run over, I let other frustrations of my life seep into my game, which causes me to play poorly, which causes me to either lose or get even more upset (because I'm playing poorly and know it) or more likely, both. I stop when I see this happening, but I don't always see it, and it happens frequently enough that it's prohibitive to any long term success to just quit when it happens.

--C. Sometimes during my F game, I view poker as a "who's got a bigger dick" contest instead of a game that I am amazing at (or rather, amazing at when I am at my best). I get frustrated at being run over and force a stand when it's clearly the wrong time to do so, rather than recognizing the situation and my image and my opponents adjusted range and snapping him off, or rather than simply changing tables or seats.

--D. I make calls or shoves (shoves that I know will be called) with hands that I know are going to lose.

--E. I can see all of these things happening but do not stop them.

IV. My Ideal Game

--A. (Haven't made a list yet.)