Grand Adventure

Modifying my starting hands lately has paid tremendous dividends. In the last 3 weeks I’m up about $20, and for the level of buy in I play that’s pretty significant. I’ve switched to almost exclusively “non-turbo” game formats, which allows for 10 mins per blind structure. The natural adjustment to this is being more selective on hands. Once you’ve decided to play a hand, you must play post-flop well too. One thing I didn’t have an appreciation for is that I play pretty well post-flop (for the buy in level I jump in at). The result is many days of being slightly ahead, with a second place today in a $1 buy in tourn of 90 players which is a nice rake. Below are my results:

The really cool thing for me is that I feel much more in control of my game by not feeling rushed. Some players want to think they are good enough to play a loose-aggressive style of play (Gus Hansen and Phil Ivey are pros who pull this off wonderfully) but the reailty is that we just don’t have the skills to pull it off consistently. I’m now what is referred to as a “tight aggressive” player. I am selective about my starting hands, but once I’m engaged I’m playing aggressively. I’m playing less speculative starting hands, and really am paying attention to position and the betting style of my opponents. When you combine these I’m becoming a formibale opponent.

I’ve been voraciously reading poker texts to improve my game and even the worst of them has had a nugget I’ve internalized. But it wasn’t until the Poker Mindset text (refer to previous postings) did I make a quantum leap in the outcomes of my play. The key concept: play like you will play poker for your lifetime (my interpretation). Don’t feel “lucky” or like you are “due for a good hand” or pressure yourself into situations where you have tough decisions. That last piece is increasingly important…when I’m in a hand I pretty much know if I’m going to fold or not these days. I’ve layed down some pretty nice hands if the situation warrants. And even bad beats are absorbed relatively okay. The other night I raised pre-flop 5x the BB with AKo ( also known as Big Slick, not suited). This is a powerhouse of a starting hand, and even worth a reraise if someone raises in front of you. Anyways, I raised 5x the BB and a guy on the button called me. I figure he has a pocket pair, but I’m only worried about Kings or Aces in the hole, and I figure (correctly) he didn’t have that or he’d reraise me. One other philosophical point: there are hands where you must resign that you might be all in, that the other guy will beat you, and that’s just the way it is. Can you really fold pocket Kings if someone pushes all in?? If they have Aces chalk it up to the poker gods. If they have Queens and hit a third queen, c’est la vie. Anyways, this guy had 32o…the worst hand by many texts to do anything. The flop gave him two pair, but I blindly thought I was in command because who calls with 32 a preflop raise?? Unfortunately I hit an Ace on the Turn, so I pushed hard, and he reraised me all in. I snap called thinking I had him. And…he hit a 3 on the river giving him a full house.

The old me would have bitched in the chat window about how poor it was he even called me. The current me typed in “nh” and left it at that. If I am playing good poker I am MORE in danger of losing to a bad beat than if I wasn’t. I played my hand by the book, and the doofus called me on a whim and a prayer and hit a monster hand. There is nothing you can do about that, and getting steamed only helps him and doesn’t do squat for me. I am in this for the long haul, remember?

It truly feels like I’ve turned the corner for my play, and winning is MUCH more fun than losing even if my play style is less exciting than it used to be.