There's not much in what I'm about to write that will engage your poker brain. I haven't played a hand of poker for two weeks now. Instead, this is a perspective post. Still interested? Read on.
As part of my new position as a Technical Writer, I had to travel to Virginia Beach, VA to interview the development team as part of a writing project. My daughter lives in Virginia with her husband, so it was a chance to see her as well. Of course, one of the things I did before I left was to look up where I could play some poker while I was there. Well, the answer was nowhere. The closest place was Dover, DE. Well beyond driving distance. I spent my time watching the WSOP on ESPN2 instead--when I wasn't on the beach or working. I also had The Poker Blueprint with me which I read on the plane and when dining alone.
For those who are struggling with their post-flop play, I recommend this book and I recommend you wade through the first half, which is mostly common sense, and get to the second half, where post-flop play is disected. I didn't have any real "Aha!" moments, but it did a better job than Super System (imho) to describe how to be aggressive effectively, rather than just generally. After reading Super System the first time I was much too aggressive to the point of border-line spewing. I had to unlearn some of that aggression to return to profitability.
Anyway, at this point I've read Poker Blueprint twice, and I'll reread it again over the next week or two. If you need help reading hands or putting opponents on a range, this book helps. Will I be playing poker in that time? Maybe, maybe not. My poker drive is not what it was before I started working again. I have more money in the bank right now than I've had in years. Some of that is thanks to tournament wins, but most of it is due to having a good job that pays a decent wage. So I may be stepping away from poker as a profession, and treating it more like what it was when I started: entertainment.
I never tore up the felt during my short career as a poker player. I made more than I could have made working at Target, and about the same as a data entry clerk, but without the regular hours or having to answer to anyone but myself. My live poker win rate this year is between 5 and 6 BB per hour at 1/2NL. Not exactly bragging material, but I suppose it could have been worse. Full time employment has tripled that, without swings, without bad beats, without the constant worry of whether I'll be able to pay my bills that week or month.
If nothing else, I have a greater respect for those of you who play the game for a living. I don't know if I'm cut out for that kind of life. I still love the game and will always play, but the stress, now that I no longer have to bear it, is a real joy killer. So my hat's off to you, guys. Keep up the good work. This humble player is going back to his game a bit wiser, and is rediscovering his joy in the game.
M
Showing posts with label poker win rates. Show all posts
Showing posts with label poker win rates. Show all posts
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
Sunday, April 24, 2011
First week of live grinding complete ... recap and goals for week 2
I completed my first week of live grinding.
I played 6 of 7 days, posted 4 wins and 2 losses.
I played in 2 different casinos, and now know for certain which has the best games.
I played both $1/$2 NLHE and $3/$6 LHE.
Playing LHE, I lost $213.
Playing NLHE, I won $1293.
Altogether, I worked a total of 28.75 hours and won $1080. ($37.57/hr)
What I did right:
I chose games with the fewest regulars, whenever I could.
I was all in with the best hand 10 out of 13 times in heads-up pots.
I quit early on Friday night after being card dead for 2 hours and getting no respect for my preflop raises. Could have changed tables but wasn't in a positive frame of mind, so I quit.
Did not play scared.
Developed reads and went with them (was wrong only twice--that I know of).
Somehow managed to get seats directly to the left of maniacs on a regular basis.
Effectively exploited maniacs with a call-call-raise/shove line.
What I did wrong/need to work on:
I called too liberally with speculative hands OOP.
I failed to 3-bet preflop with hands that play best heads-up (i.e., AK, AQs, 88-JJ).
C-bet the turn too often after getting called on the flop.
Flatted too many c-bets (in raise/fold situations) and gave too many free cards.
Played too fit or fold without the initiative.
Betting too small on the turn and river.
Not bluffing in good spots for it.
I have a lot of non-poker projects that are going to get in the way of my felt hours next week, so I'm setting a goal of 20 hours for poker, and to move as many items as possible from the "work on" list to the "did right" list.
M
I played 6 of 7 days, posted 4 wins and 2 losses.
I played in 2 different casinos, and now know for certain which has the best games.
I played both $1/$2 NLHE and $3/$6 LHE.
Playing LHE, I lost $213.
Playing NLHE, I won $1293.
Altogether, I worked a total of 28.75 hours and won $1080. ($37.57/hr)
What I did right:
I chose games with the fewest regulars, whenever I could.
I was all in with the best hand 10 out of 13 times in heads-up pots.
I quit early on Friday night after being card dead for 2 hours and getting no respect for my preflop raises. Could have changed tables but wasn't in a positive frame of mind, so I quit.
Did not play scared.
Developed reads and went with them (was wrong only twice--that I know of).
Somehow managed to get seats directly to the left of maniacs on a regular basis.
Effectively exploited maniacs with a call-call-raise/shove line.
What I did wrong/need to work on:
I called too liberally with speculative hands OOP.
I failed to 3-bet preflop with hands that play best heads-up (i.e., AK, AQs, 88-JJ).
C-bet the turn too often after getting called on the flop.
Flatted too many c-bets (in raise/fold situations) and gave too many free cards.
Played too fit or fold without the initiative.
Betting too small on the turn and river.
Not bluffing in good spots for it.
I have a lot of non-poker projects that are going to get in the way of my felt hours next week, so I'm setting a goal of 20 hours for poker, and to move as many items as possible from the "work on" list to the "did right" list.
M
Thursday, April 7, 2011
Stats that make me LOL
I posted last night about my disappointment in my performance at the tables yesterday. But today, it's just making me chuckle.
Looking at my stats, I'm still improving. For instance, My win rate for all of 2010 was around 0.3BB/100. My win rate for 1st Qtr 2011 was 0.8BB/100. And despite giving back half of my April winnings in one night, my win rate for April stands at 1.11BB/100. Definitely headed in the right direction.
Looked at my session from last night and saw this and just couldn't believe it. AA won only 78.3% of the time, and KK won only 63.6% of the time. That's really, really low. Historically those numbers have been in the 85 to 90% range. In fact, they've been cracked so often this month that I've broken even playing KK. That's pretty hard to do. In limit hold'em, you're going to take KK to showdown unless you have an A on board, or the board pairs and there's too much action, or you get coordinated boards multi-way. I've been pretty good about letting KK go in these situations. It's the rivered 2-outers and rivered gutshots that are getting paid off for 2 big bets, and I don't think it's realistic to think I can (or should) get away from KK on the river in these spots while getting what is usually 8-to-1 on a call or better. The fact is the deck just isn't breaking even, and my aces and kings are getting cracked.
It's amusing to me, really, because it means I'm doing something right. It tells me that my method of game selection is working like it should. It tells me, combined with other stats I've looked at, that I'm picking the right opponents and continually putting myself in +EV situations. They aren't working out according to expectation, that's all. In the long run, however, they will. And I'm fine with that.
M
Looking at my stats, I'm still improving. For instance, My win rate for all of 2010 was around 0.3BB/100. My win rate for 1st Qtr 2011 was 0.8BB/100. And despite giving back half of my April winnings in one night, my win rate for April stands at 1.11BB/100. Definitely headed in the right direction.
Looked at my session from last night and saw this and just couldn't believe it. AA won only 78.3% of the time, and KK won only 63.6% of the time. That's really, really low. Historically those numbers have been in the 85 to 90% range. In fact, they've been cracked so often this month that I've broken even playing KK. That's pretty hard to do. In limit hold'em, you're going to take KK to showdown unless you have an A on board, or the board pairs and there's too much action, or you get coordinated boards multi-way. I've been pretty good about letting KK go in these situations. It's the rivered 2-outers and rivered gutshots that are getting paid off for 2 big bets, and I don't think it's realistic to think I can (or should) get away from KK on the river in these spots while getting what is usually 8-to-1 on a call or better. The fact is the deck just isn't breaking even, and my aces and kings are getting cracked.
It's amusing to me, really, because it means I'm doing something right. It tells me that my method of game selection is working like it should. It tells me, combined with other stats I've looked at, that I'm picking the right opponents and continually putting myself in +EV situations. They aren't working out according to expectation, that's all. In the long run, however, they will. And I'm fine with that.
M
Friday, April 1, 2011
Ended March on a high note
Net for the month was a paltry $60 for 100 hours of play. I'm ballin, yo. When I go out to a club tomorrow night, all I have to do is say, "Hey, girl, I play poker for 60 cents an hour. Wanna jump my bones?"
Just for fun, here's the graph.
Here's to our hands holding up in April. Cheers!
M
Just for fun, here's the graph.
Here's to our hands holding up in April. Cheers!
M
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
PTR accuracy, live poker attendance
I have a 2-part question. First, how accurate is PTR? I don't know and I'd really like some feedback. According to my Poker Tracker database, my lifetime winrate at LHE (excluding RUSH) for all stakes 0.46BB/100 over 389k hands. According to PTR, it's 0.89BB/100 over 223k hands. PTR missed 166k hands? So the accuracy/error rate for PTR stats is anywhere from 42% at worst to 57% at best? Hardly seems useful. I've been looking up some of my most frequent opponents to see if they're winning players or not, and if they are, then I spend a bit more time analyzing my play against them. Vs. losers I simply note to play ABC vs them as there's less adjusting to do to maximize profit. Anyways, can I really trust PTR when it reports a player as a winner?
2nd part: We all know the goal of making 1 BB per hour playing live LHE. What's a reasonable expectation for a winning player online? Yes, I know it depends. I don't expect to hear 1.5 and for that to be the whole story. I'd just like to hear from some winning players and figure out a range to see just where the range falls. If you're a LHE player, please leave a comment and tell me what your winrate is. (Or hook me up with a link or forum thread that covers it.) Thanks!
***
Tulsa's live poker scene has been struggling the last couple of years. First, this was due to the downsizing of the Cherokee Casino poker room. The Cherokee was renamed the Hard Rock Casino and renovations have been going on for as long as I've been going there, which has been over three years now. I don't know exactly when it happened, but at some point the portion of the building the poker room (with its 25 tables) was in was demolished, and they moved the poker room to a much smaller area (13 tables) with no windows, no views looking out to the casino, etc. Second, and at the same time, the Creek Nation Casino opened it's new version of itself, the River Spirit casino. Personally, I think this one was an improvement. The new poker room is better lit, better design, 5 plasma screens, has more room between tables, and there are more food and beverage choices. So except for the notion that people don't like change, this one should have helped the situation. Third, the economy is in the toilet. I read a story every week that asserts Tulsa is better off than most of the nation, but no matter how you sugar-coat it our economy is still the pits. The limit games, which used to start daily at 5pm and run til 2am, lately they don't start til 8pm and then break by midnight. The 4/8 and 6/12 games can no longer be found; you have to be happy with 2/4 or 3/6...or switch to NL, but those games are light on players, too. Our third local casino, the Osage Million Dollar Elm, has the smallest poker room of the three and it's cash games, which used to run 24/7, now has hours of down time where no games are running at all. Their Friday morning NLHE tournament only had 25 entries.
Barring a reversal of fortune in the economy, what can be done to get people to the tables? I'm serious about this question, I really need some ideas.
2nd part: We all know the goal of making 1 BB per hour playing live LHE. What's a reasonable expectation for a winning player online? Yes, I know it depends. I don't expect to hear 1.5 and for that to be the whole story. I'd just like to hear from some winning players and figure out a range to see just where the range falls. If you're a LHE player, please leave a comment and tell me what your winrate is. (Or hook me up with a link or forum thread that covers it.) Thanks!
***
Tulsa's live poker scene has been struggling the last couple of years. First, this was due to the downsizing of the Cherokee Casino poker room. The Cherokee was renamed the Hard Rock Casino and renovations have been going on for as long as I've been going there, which has been over three years now. I don't know exactly when it happened, but at some point the portion of the building the poker room (with its 25 tables) was in was demolished, and they moved the poker room to a much smaller area (13 tables) with no windows, no views looking out to the casino, etc. Second, and at the same time, the Creek Nation Casino opened it's new version of itself, the River Spirit casino. Personally, I think this one was an improvement. The new poker room is better lit, better design, 5 plasma screens, has more room between tables, and there are more food and beverage choices. So except for the notion that people don't like change, this one should have helped the situation. Third, the economy is in the toilet. I read a story every week that asserts Tulsa is better off than most of the nation, but no matter how you sugar-coat it our economy is still the pits. The limit games, which used to start daily at 5pm and run til 2am, lately they don't start til 8pm and then break by midnight. The 4/8 and 6/12 games can no longer be found; you have to be happy with 2/4 or 3/6...or switch to NL, but those games are light on players, too. Our third local casino, the Osage Million Dollar Elm, has the smallest poker room of the three and it's cash games, which used to run 24/7, now has hours of down time where no games are running at all. Their Friday morning NLHE tournament only had 25 entries.
Barring a reversal of fortune in the economy, what can be done to get people to the tables? I'm serious about this question, I really need some ideas.
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