A Blended Grind

Had an interesting week of poker.

Both this Monday (5/12) and last Monday (28/11) I've had decent 5k+ scores in online mtts (this is not exactly what it seems because usually you win one tournament or do well in one and lose all the others) they were still both significant scores though
which is nice, the path to get to this point though has been pretty rough and very very swingy. Sharkscope says I'm back in the positive for scheduled tourneys but i think it lies about rebuy tournaments and so is far from accurate.

On Thursday night i played a little bit of heads up in Jesse Mckenzie's home games holding my own with a solid player and then stacking Micheal Arietm as he joined us for a 3 player cash bonanza. After this i headed to the city to chill with Rhys Gould and play some magic online.

I played some live 5/10 and 10/20 cash on Friday and Saturday nights, got there twice when it was necessary and just played pretty solid straightforward poker which is all that really needs to be done in live passive fields where the overlay and skill edge is significant.

On Sunday the 4th i played the 1k nlh event at 'The Star' which had 108 entrees. My opening table was one of the tougher ones but the other good players (Brendon Rubie etc) seemed to die off. Rhys Gould came to my table with almost no chips, doubled up and then got stacked a few hands later as one of the regs Danny predicted. Alek Smith showed up and immediately got in a 6 bet war then proceeded to run over the table with a combination of aggression and big pocket pairs.

I soon got moved tables and watched my friend Nick Polias run into a monster with 88 and then found myself in a tough spot, i opened with ato utg (had a semi loose image) the table folded to the sb who min raised with 16bbs (an amateur), the bb called (also an amateur player) and i called. The flop came a25 the sb lead for 4k the bb folded and i called, the turn came a queen and sb led for 9k with 15 behind, i tanked and decided to call and fold to any river action if the board did not change. The river repeated the 5 and the sb shoved. Based on his play i didn't expect him to ever have ak and rarely have aq (i thought his most likely holding was aj)as i expected he would have shoved pre flop with these hands and his stack size eventually i called and he turned over qq and scooped a big pot.

Back to 10bb i ground away and doubled up with JJ. We soon moved tables and only 40 players were left. I sat on the right side of a pretty adventurous Sydney regular, Tolly. My table overall was pretty tight and i found a few spots to pick up chips. I was up to 30bb as some new players moved to our table. One of the new players to the table came into the cutoff and when folded to opened to 3k @ 600/1200 200ante(from a 50bb stack), in the sb i decided to 3 bet him with kjs to 8k he called. Flop came a52rainbow (1 card to my suit) and i made a half pot continuation bet, the new player called. The turn was a queen which helped my hand a little, the pot had gotten pretty big roughly 34k and i had 24kish left, i decided this was a good opportunity to pick up a big pot I shoved and was called.

Usually this would be super super bad for me. To my amazement my opponent turned over q4s for 2nd pair and a gutshot, i had 7 outs as opposed to the 4 i expected i would have when called unfortunately i missed them all. My opponent played pretty interestingly in this hand calling a 3 bet with a really bad hand, calling a flop bet on an ace high board with only a gutshot and then calling a turn shove in this spot. I want my opponents to play badly so even though things did not go my way i was pretty happy with the tournament and how i played.

So in the last week i have played lots of online tourneys, heads up cash, big live games and a 1k livament.

Officially poker'd out for at least the rest of the night

The Sunday Grind, Why Ride the Wave?

In Australia our Monday falls when the rest of the world is busy enjoying their Sunday. This means that the Sunday majors happen on an early Monday morning, once a week every player worldwide jumps online and every Australian player wakes up at 4am to get their grind on. It is a necessary evil to play this day if you want to be an online mtt (multi table tournament) player.

The reason Sunday majors are a big deal is multi faceted. First of all the tournaments are the largest on this day, Secondly the guarantees are the biggest and thirdly fields are generally the weakest.



The reason is because more leisurely or part time players can play on these days so in addition to all the regulars (who are looking to benefit from this scenario) you now have a largest amount of players ever online.

Satellites run all week long for the Sunday schedule and build up the amount of players. Players that have satellited into events are generally weaker then those who choose to play the event normally. The reasoning for this is that the player who satellites into lets say Sunday millions which is a $215 buy in would usually only buy into tournaments that cost under $50.

As the buy-in (BI) goes up the fields get tougher and so the player who has an average BI of $10 is generally going to be weaker then a player who has an avg BI of $100. It's a process of elimination, if a player keeps losing at a higher stake eventually they drop down to a lower more suitable game. Poker is more fun when you are winning.

Sunday is the most swing day, larger fields create higher variance. If you play in a tournament with 10 players and all players were of equal skill you would win 10% of the time. If you play in an event with 10 000 players and all were equal skill you would win .01%. Because tournaments are top heavy in payout structure we always want to play to win, when you take up this kind of mindset in high variance big fields players will tend to win or lose a lot on this day.

Most players play higher BI on the Sunday. Because the fields are weaker players who usually play $50 BI usually will play $100 BI plus Sunday millions. Every player wants to play Sunday millions because it is the biggest regular tournament online and it runs the most satellites and so at its particular BI is great value for almost every real player.

All the major sites (pokerstars, carbon, party poker, bwin, titan etc) have enough games on a Sunday that you will never have trouble getting a quantity of tables up at whatever stake you desire. Some players who like to play really high BI just play the biggest BI on each site, however using different software from different sites at the same time can be annoying.

Sunday is the funday where hopes and dreams are at a high but due to variance are generally crushed, it is an emotional fast passed day. It is certainly a wave which is ridden worldwide once a week by many many people. If you are going to win big in poker this is the day to get it done.

All i can say is good luck on the grind and for the Australian's don't miss your alarms

Mid Stakes Mtt Video

I've been interested in coaching for a while both from the side of learning and the side of teaching as a way to develop both myself and my game as a whole. Often when watching other players you are put into new scenarios you would not often find yourself in.... Sometimes we find new and good ways to play hands and other times we just have to attempt to clean up a mess, but i think the thought process is interesting

This is a video i made for my team-mate "the infamous Jacky Wang" a few months ago (he has been doing amazingly since and id like to think i had a little hand in helping him along the way). A lot of things have changed in my game since this point but i thought id put this up as a freebee for all those interested. It was my first attempt at making a video so go easy and feel free to leave comments

7 deadly sins

I confess its been 7 or so months since my last update. Ive been a busy boy playing poker, learning new formats, getting in some big live games and trying to stay sane.
I'm going to discuss some bad things in regards to online play and then talk about how i deal with them.

Online poker deadly sins

Sin 1 Not having enough fun
Sin 2 Playing tournaments
Sin 3 (Not) Controlling your emotions
Sin 4 Not waking up fully before grind sessions
Sin 5 Chatting too much/ or any distraction that does not let you focus on your game
Sin 6 Being on your computer way way to much
Sin 7 Being lazy

"but finally I've learnt this, (if you don't do enough things that make you happy and keep your life separate from your work) your whole life can become a grind"
As a professional poker player you must have some other vices outside of this game, we all need an escape. The reason for this is probably based on variance which comes from the land of tournaments (at least more then in any other field of this game).

I think there are many controllable factors which mostly tie in with not being lazy. You need to use your time wisely when you are not forced to work, but this is not just for work this is also for the time you dedicate to your family your relationships and all other aspects of your life.

You can control your sleep patterns so you wake up well in advance of your sessions, for some people sessions are scheduled in but for me this would make it seem very much like a grind if i was obligated to play x hours at x time. In fact it is one of the reasons i don't like jobs...the freedom to be my own boss is highly important

In online poker tournaments on the major sites all players get a five minute break every hour, if you were ever going to use your time wisely this is the period in which it must be done. Personally i spend this five minutes away from my computer stretching and doing general fitness to get blood circulation happening and clear my mind from the fast passed decision making that happens the rest of the time. Toilet breaks, showers and quick meal preparation also fill in this time. Usually i prepare meals before sessions so i am never distracted by hunger, any meal that can be reheated in the microwave during breaks is a winner.

Turn off your facebook, twitter etc and don't get to involved in skype chats when you have more then nine tables ruining. This seems pretty obvious but distractions are super bad and will lose you money long term. You only have a small amount of time to process information on tables and shortening this time by allowing yourself to be distracted is the equivalent of playing a whole lot more tables with none of the gains.

As professional poker players we are going to be tied to our computers a whole lot, this can be balanced by some amount of live play and getting outdoors when you finish your sessions. We all need some escapes from poker at times try to make these activities which distance you from your desktop.

Controlling emotions is one of the hardest things to deal with. There is no easy solve, but it is important to stay positive and give off positive energy to others around you even when things are not going well. I personally struggle with this and catch myself doing things that i know are bad from this perspective. You don't have to keep it all inside but limit your venting and negativity as much as you can/ or just don't play tournaments because they are the most tilting thing in the world :)

With all this said have fun with your poker and fun with your life. Remember that you took up this career because you love this game, if this is not why you are here then may i suggest a different path.

the chesper update

Its been a while since my last confession.

A lot has happened in my poker adventure. In December 2010 i found a coach and a willing backer and decided it was a good time in my life to take a chance. On the 2nd Jan i quit my job which was fine by me because i pretty much hated it.

I went down to Aussie millions and had a pretty awesome trip which included playing lots of satellites the main event and some 5/10/20 cash action.. I think i played pretty well across the event but did not favor well overall in the satelites and ran into a cooler in the main event.

Unfortunately sometimes bad things happen and my backer to put it simply isn't in an apt position to back me. A little bit frustrating but now i think i will just work on building my bankroll without assistance.

I have been trying to put in hands online, i am currently 12 tabling 50c/1 full ring on stars and am working with mike gano (a cardrunners coach known as "fooz") on my game. My current plan is to try play more hands online each month then the previous month and continue on my learning curve.

I have also been playing live games and been faring pretty well. At the begging of next month i can play at star city again and then i can really try to put my stamp on this town.

thats about all hope you enjoy