Lover of trading, tacos, 3D/AR/VR, cryptos, and most things Japanese

#poker #recap #stats
I managed to play a good bit this weekend. In the 48 hours from Friday to Sunday nights, I played 1450 hands, not including a tournament. I took some time off from the tables to do other things, so it wasn’t all poker all weekend. On Saturday I won a satellite tournament into the WPT’s Alpha8 again, but I opted not to play the tourney because I wanted to spend some quality dads time Sunday. Sunday I went to church (I have an interview with them tonight for a Media Director-type position), do a UA, and watch the Broncos game with my son and my dad. It was a good day, despite the Broncos’ loss, and it was nice to hang out with the other Orr men. 🙂

Poker this weekend was about two things: putting in some serious time at the tables, and learning to multi-table. I spent most of Saturday playing, starting with about a seven hour stretch without a break. I noticed that, as I got tired/bored, my play slipped – unsurprisingly. This is one of the reasons I’m looking forward to getting back in the gym this week – get the bod back into shape so I can go longer without getting tired and losing focus. As my time went on without a break, I noticed I started letting emotion into my play more than I do when I’m fresh. I was more willing to gamble too. Part of this stemmed from my building up a decent chip stack and then wagering a larger portion than I normally would on more questionable plays. And sometimes I would make bad calls, knowing I was beat, but still paying off hands. But I recognized this tendency and was aware of it at the time I was doing it, but I kept playing because I wanted to push myself a bit more. All I really needed to do was take a break for a few minutes to refocus my energies. Oh, and I was eating Hot Tamales too and the sugar certainly didn’t help.

The new thing I started learning how to do this weekend was multi-tabling. This is where you play more than one game or table at a time. Some of the pros will have as many as twenty games going at once. Multi-tabling is a great way to see more hands and bypass all the time spent waiting when you’re not in a hand. It also is a more math-based way to play. Since you are playing more games simultaneously, you have less time to learn about your opponents’ tendencies and therefore have a tougher time picking off bluffs. The basic approach is to just wait for premium hands and play them aggressively, essentially playing a NIT/TAG style.

I still prefer to get reads on my opponents, so I only had two games going at once. This let me still get reads on my opponents’ betting patterns and not miss things like “Player X always raises pots, no matter what he has” and “Player Y only plays strong hands, proceed with caution.” I think that if I were to play more tables, my win rate would probably improve as not only would I be playing more hands, but I’d be playing only stronger hands. Since there would be more games going on, I’d have more to focus on and be less tempted to mess around with the more questionable holdings. I’m essentially even on the weekend, having run up my stack several times, but losing some big pots too. I had pocket Jacks (JJ) dealt to me on five occasions tonight, played them reasonably well, and lost every time. On the other hand I’ve had Aces (AA) maybe three times and they held up twice, winning me two big pots and losing me one. Like Doyle Brunson says, “everything can change while those cards are in the air.”

All in all, it was a good weekend of play. I’m even or up a little for my experimentation, which is a lot better than losing, and I’m learning a new facet of the game. I could bet a little better – I definitely lost some value by betting nut hands too strongly and scaring players off. When you have the nuts – the best hand possible – the last thing you want to do is get rid of betters. A few times I’ve gotten greedy, thinking they’d call a raise against me, only to have them fold. If I had just kept letting them bet into me and calling them down, and only raise them on the river, I could have made a bunch more.

Anyway, the stats for my sessions are below. I had a 12% win rate over 1450 hands, which seems to be pretty standard for me. I’m curious to know how these stats compare to the pros, if I’m still playing too many hands, what their win rates are, and where I’m missing value. Time to visit the forums!

Statistics for 1450 Hands

#poker #flow I’ve been reading a lot about the psychological state of flow lately. According to Wikipedia, “Flow, also know as Zone, is the mental state of operation in which a person performing an activity is fully immersed in a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and enjoyment in the process of the activity. In essence, flow is characterized by complete absorption in what one does.” My dad has recently given me two books that talk about it at some length.

The first book, that I’m about halfway through, is “Reality Is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change The World”. It talks a lot about how games allow us to get into and maintain a state of flow for long periods of time.

The second book that I just finished is “DRiVE: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us”. This one talks about how we need purpose, autonomy and to strive for mastery for optimum performance, particularly at work. It also talks a lot about intrinsic vs. external motivation.

We all feel best when we’re experiencing flow, when we’re in “The Zone.” It’s the perfect blend between facing a challenge and having the skills to be up to that challenge. Poker does that for me. It allows me to find that flow, to be fully in the moment, to face and hopefully surmount the challenges of playing tough opponents. Without the tough opponents, where I’m constantly trying to figure out if they have the best hand or are just bluffing, poker becomes pretty routine – just wait for good hands and play them. But, when facing a creative opponent, all sorts of other factors come into play. What cards does he/she have? What cards do they think I have? Are they good enough to be thinking about what I have? Are they good enough to be thinking about what I’m thinking about, and how can I best level them?

There are infinite levels in poker, if the players are good. The first level is, “What cards do I have?” The second level is, “What cards do I think my opponent has?” The third level is, “What cards to I think my opponent thinks I have?” And so on and so on. This is what makes the game so challenging: figuring out what level your opponent is operating on and then going one level above them. It can backfire though, and you will often here players lamenting, “I ended up leveling myself” when they’ve taken it too far.

During last night’s session, there were two other good players at the ring game I was playing. (Ring games are full tables of nine players.) Six of them were fair players, not totally ramming and jamming with any two cards, but the two players that I had previously noted were solid are what made the game really interesting. This meant that there were fewer huge pots to be won, the three of us pretty much controlled pot sizes so they didn’t get too bloated and we didn’t risk much on any given hand. We generally avoided playing against each other most of the session, each knowing the other was a good player and capable of making plays. These are the types of opponents I seek out when I want to play for realz.

Unfortunately for me, I was tired and didn’t stay more than a couple hours because of it. That’s another important skill to have – knowing your limits and staying within them. I had found a table I wanted to keep playing at, but my mental state just wouldn’t allow me to keep playing. I could have pushed on, caffeinated up, and kept going, but I knew my game would ultimately suffer if I did, so I quit. I was up 40k and tired, so I left. Perhaps the real challenge would have been if I was stuck 40k, but I’ve left games before when I’ve started losing, so I don’t think it would have taken much for me to do so again. All in all it was a good session and I just wish I could have played longer. But there’s always another time to play, another session, another game.

I also experience flow when I’m getting a good workout on at the gym. I’m totally focused on the exercise, the challenge of lifting the weights just one more time. The feeling of fatigue and the great pumps I get. I’ve realized that I need to spend time exercising every day to feel right. I put in a team request for permission to join a local gym so that I can make working out a priority in my life again, and should find out Monday whether it’s been approved. I expect it will be, and am looking forward to getting back in there. The bet I have with Greg about whether he can get to 191 before I get to 195 is still on, and he’s been busting his butt and making steady progress. I definitely need to step up my game in that department. I did get a few good walks in this week, so I’m not feeling like a total lump of ooze, but getting back in the gym will really help me take it to the next level.

What are your thoughts on flow? Where do you find it most in your daily life? What do you do to achieve it? I’d love to hear your comments, leave ’em below. 🙂

#poker
James “SplitSuit” Sweeney has another great video on the different types of poker players and strategies for playing against them. He talks about Loose-Aggressive (LAG), Tight-Aggressive (TAG), Ultra-tight (NIT), the two types of Fish (Aggressive and Passive) as well as Unknowns. It’s a 40 minute video, but well worth the watch if you want to improve your game. Check it out