Buh-bye, March, don't let the door hit you on the way out

Started off continuing a hot streak where I felt I was playing well, running well, and really enjoying poker.  But most of the month was a train wreck, results-wise.  My play has been so-so.  For the most part not atrocious, but certainly not inspired.  I guess my B or B- game.  Until today, I actually hadn't played much because too many other things were going on, and I was really tired.  From that perspective, my discipline was really good.

The layoff didn't do me any good today, though, as I punted another 2+ BI, to cap off the month.  Overall, it was a negative 9 BI month, but the downswing I'm on is more like 17 BI (can't see the exact #s right now).  A lot of beats and coolers in big pots, some repeated mistakes in medium pots.  Mostly getting too passive (or maybe fancy).  So, I get one less street of value with winners and pay off one extra street with losers a lot of the time.

Still fairly well rolled for 200NL if I decide to stay, although I do need to pull out of the slump soon or I'll be tempting BR fate.  But as usual for me, my confidence at the tables is a bit shot, even if upon review that's not warranted.  I guess as long as I can find decent seats, my attitude going in to the session is good, I avoid any overt tilt at the tables, and my post-session reviews don't reveal anything hideous, I'll keep plugging away at 200NL.

Josh was talking about some video swaps.  I'd also mentioned it to Brian, but never took action.  I'd like to start some video sweats with the Ninjas (and ex-Ninja) periodically.  Video sweats work better for me than live sweats because I have more time to do them.  I think they work well in small groups, too, because you can pause the action to delve into a point, in a way that you cannot do in a live session. 

I'll be out of town/away from the computer for the week after Easter (visiting the in-laws in Palm Springs, playing some golf on great courses, and more fun).  But other than that, I should have some time during the day, as we just hit a huge project milestone at work, and things should be pretty quiet for 3-4 weeks until we ramp up again.  Not that it will translate into more poker, thanks to little league season!  Anyway, let me know if you're interested in some video sweats.

OK, bring on April!

New PLO Book

I received an early draft of an upcoming PLO e-book written by Tri "Slow Habit" Nguyen.  He's already written an e-book on NLHE with cts which I heard great things about, but which is currently out of my price range.  So, even though I've never played PLO or even watched a video on it, I was pretty interested in reading through the book.

It struck me as I was reading it that I used to read an awful lot of poker books. I've got books that I've read scattered throughout the house and garage, and stopped counting my old poker books at 19, but there were probably a few more.  And actually, just about all of them were pretty good (never bought a poker book before discovering 2+2, so between their decent quality and book forum, I was able to do decent research before buying).  I've got several on theory/math, a bunch on limit hold'em, a few on NL, and a few on other games, but none on PLO.  I know there are some PLO books out there, but not many, and since using Cardrunners and other video sites, I stopped reading as much anyway.

So, I don't know how to compare this one to other PLO material, but I can pretty well compare it to other poker literature in general, IMO.  The most immediate thing is that there is very little preamble, which is great.  I don't need another book to review pot odds and other basic ideas.  That means that this is not a book someone who saw a few episodes of High Stakes Poker and wants to get a poker book should get.  But that's fine, since I doubt that's Tri's target audience anyway.

Anyway, he jumps right into preflop play.  Although there are some hand charts, he actually spends most of the preflop section talking about a couple things that are way more important than what hands to play:  why you should play (and avoid) certain types of hands; and how equity analysis in PLO works (somewhat differently than NL).  Although the preflop section deals with some postflop content, obviously the meat of the book comes after preflop.  Like any other game with decent stack sizes, postflop is where the money is made and lost in PLO.

I like the way Tri organized the postflop section.  He didn't just go from preflop to flop to turn to river in the book.  The postflop section actually starts out talking about some general concepts and common mistakes, that to me at least, framed the postflop street by street content.  One of the things that would have helped me personally going through it the first time is more of using both the similarities and contrasts to NL in order to explain PLO concepts.  However, upon reflection, I think that may be because I have a decent amount of NLHE experience and zero PLO experience.  After getting some PLO under my belt and coming back to the book, perhaps I won't really care about the contrasts.

That aside, what struck me about the postflop play is that there was a good balance between the theory/reasoning and the practical application of that theory with both practical lines and actual hands.  I think for me why I emphasized books less as I got into video training and coaching is that the latter was able to provide a lot more case studies, and I had already built some sort of theory foundation.  With PLO, although I've got some general poker foundation and a good amount of hold'em foundation specifically, I needed the foundation as well as the case studies.  So, the balance in the e-book was great.

Here's where my thoughts on the book will be least satisfying to anyone reading this:  I have no way to verify right now that this is a correct approach to PLO.  For that, we would have to trust Tri :).  In all the other books I've read, I either knew enough to work out what made sense and what did not in the books, or there was already enough positive opinion about the books that I took it on faith that the authors were correct (for instance, my first two books where "Small Stakes Hold'em" by Ed Miller and "Theory of Poker" by David Sklansky).

Assuming that Tri knows his stuff in PLO -- and I would think he does (and it wouldn't take long for PLO experts to contradict him if he's wrong) -- his e-book seems like it will give a nice blueprint to the game, at least for a while.  The timing for me reading the book is pretty good.  I've been thinking about giving PLO a try, Hold'em Manager has a public beta of an Omaha tracker coming out soon, and it seems like there is a fantastic PLO series combined between Deuces Cracked and Blue Fire Poker out as well.  The only thing that makes me nervous is that I hate running bad at NL, and it seems that with PLO, you're more subject to variance.  One of the ways that I keep myself level-headed while running bad at NL is being able to know pretty much when it was played well and unlucky, and I won't have that luxury in PLO.  However, with Tri's book, I'll at least have a concise reference guide to measure my play against, and that will help a ton.

OK, I'd intended to keep this post shorter, so I'll stop now.  By the way, Tri's site, where you can see a full table of contents and an excerpt, is http://www.dailyvariance.com/

This douchetard fails at life (no poker)

Disclaimer:  this is a post pretty much for pure venting.  It's not poker related, but if you're not interested in a rant, stop now, catch you next time :).

Every once in a while you come across something that strikes you as so over-the-top obnoxious that you wonder if you're actually being leveled.  My wife is president of our school's parent faculty club (PFC, another name for a PTA).  She received a note yesterday in the PFC suggestion box. 

If you have kids in school or good friends with kids in school, you might know how hard some parent volunteers work for the benefit of all the kids, not just their own.  I would say Jennifer puts in about 20 hours per week volunteering for our kids' school, between all the stuff the PFC does, plus all the volunteer work she does directly in the classrooms.  The PFC organizes two fundraisers:  a Fall carnival for kids and the families, and a Spring dinner/dance for parents.  The note below was written on a dinner/dance announcement:

==============
PFC:
Let me see if I understand this correctly...you want me to give PFC more money?  Let's see...the last time I wrote a check to PFC was for a sweatshirt that someone dropped off at my son's kindergarten class and expected a 5 year old to carry it through EDCC and home.  As you already are aware from emails to/from my wife, it never arrived (surprise, surprise!).  Now, you want me to write another check?  You **must** be kidding.  Let me see if I can make this very clear to you -- **NO**.  Please take us off of your solicitation list.  If you would like to discuss this in detail, please phone me at the number listed.  If not, *do not* send any more requests home with my child.  **No exceptions!**
===============

Little background:  immediately after being contacted by this guy's wife (the emails he was talking about), the lady who coordinated ordering and distributing the sweatshirts wrote back and said that she dropped off the sweatshirt with the kid's teacher who said she would put it in the kid's backpack to take home.  Then she followed up twice in the next 3 days to confirm that the parents talked to the teacher and got their precious sweatshirt.  The parents never responded back.

I'm sure that I'm biased because I have a firsthand look at how much a relatively few number of parents do for all the kids at the school, both volunteering and donating money.  And it's my wife that the guy is addressing his note to.  And now she has to deal with both this asshole and the school principal to straighten everything out. 

Obviously, this guy has not done shit for the school.  And that's fine, I guess.  It is a public school, and I know that not everyone is in a position to give money and don't care to give time.  But in California, our school systems are woefully underfunded (we now rank dead last in education spending, and are headed for even more school budget cuts next year), so if everyone took this guy's attitude, the schools would be a whole lot worse.  It takes a crap-ton of extra support from the parent community for our kids' schools to be better.  So for him to fire off a nice note like that to the very people who benefit his kid basically out of the goodness of their hearts obviously touches a nerve.

If you've made it to the end, thanks for bearing with my venting!

Back to normal

Actually, not sure what is normal for me lately, but after a couple days rest, I did playa  quick session that was nicely uneventful and I could book a win.  Consciously tried to not push hard on any hand, folded a little more than I normally would overall, was extra careful to pitch OOP hands, let guys have small and medium pots if it was at all close.  Basically, sacrificed some small, high-variance edges.  And it went according to plan.  Only hand close to 100bb was this one:

Full Tilt Poker $1/$2 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

SB: $241.65
BB: $274.15
UTG: $175.25
MP: $34.70
Hero (CO): $200.00
BTN: $200.00

Pre Flop: ($3.00) Hero is CO with Js Jh
2 folds, Hero raises to $7, BTN raises to $20, 2 folds, Hero calls $13

Flop: ($43.00) Ks Kc 5c (2 players)
Hero checks, BTN bets $26, Hero calls $26

Turn: ($95.00) Jc (2 players)
Hero checks, BTN bets $48, Hero calls $48

River: ($191.00) 8c (2 players)
Hero bets $106 all in, BTN calls $106 all in

Final Pot: $403.00
Hero shows Js Jh (a full house, Jacks full of Kings)
BTN mucks Ac 3c
Hero wins $400.00
(Rake: $3.00)

I'm not sure of the best line to get all the money in on the turn.  It looked to me like he was maybe giving himself room to fold, so I didn't want to checkraise him, but calling seems kind of strong, too, and any hand I'd be counting on him to bet the river, he'd call my raise.  I'd decided to lead any river, and just hope that it would help him somehow, in case he was on the fence about calling off.

Outside of poker, I finally started this season of 24...I've got a lot queued on the DVR...all episodes this season for 24, Lost, and Battlestar Gallactica.  The wife won't watch any of those shows, can't watch them when the kids are around, and when I've got some time to myself, I'd rather play poker :P.  Good thing I set up an external terrabyte of storage for my DirecTV receiver.

Haven't played golf in a while, but did make it to the driving range.  Might play Friday morning before going into work, but if not, it will be the first month in which I've recorded no rounds in I don't know how long :(.  Hopefully, I'll make up for it in April.  Besides any weekend play I'll get in, the family is going to Palm Springs for the kids' week off school after Easter.  I should get in 2-3 rounds there.  Got a range finder for the iPhone that looks pretty cool, which will be nice for the unfamiliar courses, especially the ones in the desert where a lot of times you really need to hit all your shots to a good yardage, instead of just bombs away.

Puking in my mouth

Lost 5.5 BI in 916 hands, continuing to run like death.  Not that my play was stellar.  I haven't reviewed the whole session, but I lost 5 stacks in 4 hands.  2 of them were when I turned a set 3-way and made a really poor payoff when a backdoor flush got there and a TAG checkraised me...I knew I was in trouble, but made a terrible, undisciplined frustration call.  I thought villain was good, but he played the flop and turn pretty bad -- unless he was counting on me to pay off big on the river, which I did, so who knows, maybe he played it pretty well.  2 of the other stacks were trying to push people off hands, which I've been trying to do too much.  I'm glad I'm working some of that into my game, but it should be rare and opportunistic, rather than forcing it, which I think I'm doing.

Lost one more stack set over set where the guy made an awful call on the flop with 66 on a J54 board.  But I had him read for calling anything, so I shouldn't be surprised...I raised his c-bet big on a J54 flop and he called with 66.  Oh well.  Next biggest pot was 60bb lost when my trips lost to a straight.  I won 3 pots more than 100bb, so I had a decent amount of big pots go my way.

Kids' sports and other family activities will probably keep me away from the tables for a few days, unless I really try to squeeze in a session, which I won't do, in all likelihood.  I walked away from this session disappointed, but not feeling totally tilted.  However, it was the 4th loser in a row, and if my personal history is any guide, I could use a cooling off period.

In better news, my son's baseball team, which I coach, had opening day today, and the kids looked pretty good.  We definitely need to work on some stuff, but we've already come a long way since we started practicing a month ago.

Volatile

For about 3 weeks, I was running really well for the most part (couple blips here and there), and playing pretty well, although a little robotic.  Then as good as things were, they turned that bad for the last week or so.  One of malfaire's recent posts talked about not ascribing too much to your clearly unsustainable results, and continuing to work hard on your game even when winning.  He's right about how important that is, and I'm happy to say that I didn't change my routine much when running well, although that's not saying a lot for me...I probably spend too little time seriously studying/thinking.  I'm really good with session reviews and picking out hands for Jared to review, but pretty bad with videos, sweats, forums, etc.  Realistically, though, between job and family, I already have so little time to play, it is what it is.  But I digress.

One of the difficult things about running super hot and super cold is that it's tougher than usual to attribute your results to your play, at least it is for me.  One of the reasons the games can stay good is that bad play gets rewarded a decent amount of the time.  Conversely, you can play pretty well and still lose, right?  The effects are worse for me (as they are for you, most likely) when losing, because at some level, your confidence is undermined.  In both hot and cold you lose some objectivity, but at least when you're winning, you tend to play more relaxed and confidently.  Now, I'm not shaken over a poor week -- and for me that's only a few thousand hands at most -- but I did a sweat with Jared for my lesson last night, losing 2.5 BI in 350 hands...and that was after starting the lesson with a preflop all-in flip that went my way (JJ > AKs, I think). 

So, the loss was really more extreme than that.  We had several big coolers, and I don't think any horrendous beats or anything.  Not that you ever want to have sessions like these, but you do, and sometimes they happen for an extended time.  If you are going to have them, it can be nice to have a coach or other good player/trusted advisor watching.  I didn't think I did anything wrong, but it was reassuring to have Jared agree. 

The only thing I didn't do well is table select -- a couple tables were total shit, but it was a conscious decision to play against tougher regs with Jared sweating me.  The funny thing is that an 85/10 guy completely owned me, and I lost a few pots to a couple other lesser fish.  My results would have been a lot better -- maybe all the way up to break even -- if I would have just stuck to playing against the solid TAG regs :P.

Friday nights are weird

I think I probably trade more stacks on Friday night than all other nights put together. 

Tonight I think I was checkraised more than the rest of the hands this month put together.  Sick thing was I only played about 450 hands. 

On one table, the guy on my left was like 40/2 over a few thousand hands and had not 3-bet a single time.  He 3-bet me once from MP when I opened UTG, and once on the button when I opened CO.

After the first 100 hands or so, nothing seemed to be going right for me...I mean I think I played OK (though probably not great), but mainly only got action on the hands I didn't want it.  It's still early for me...I might venture back onto the tables later.  But for now, I think I'm going to make a little dent in the shows sitting on my DVR :).  Have a good weekend.

WWJTD

There's a series in progress at Deuces Cracked called What Would Joe Tall Do.  Joe takes some NL hands he's played, supplies some reads, then creates a running quiz using surveys, asking what the correct action is at various points in the hands.  After the survey closes down, Joe records a hand replayer video with another NL coach/video producer.  In the video, they reveal the the best option and talk about why that option is indeed the best one.

There are a number of cool aspects to this series.  To start with, you can obviously just watch the video without having taken the accompanying quiz.  There are other hand replayer videos discussing interesting hands, which are quite effective.  If you don't have the interest in going through the quizzes, you can still benefit from watching the videos.

But there are extra rewards for going through the quizzes.  First, the top performing DC members get rewarded for that performance.  Having missed one quiz and tanked another (relatively speaking), I doubt that I'll be able to make enough of a comeback for the cool prizes :P. 

However, the real value for going through the quizzes is that it engages you deeper in the learning process.  How many times have you watched videos somewhat passively?  I mean, you can still pick up stuff from them, but a lot slips by because you think you know it, or maybe it makes sense to you when you're watching the video, but really you have not internalized.  If you take the quiz ahead of time, though, you will find out what you know and what you don't know.  You can confirm what's right, and can really focus in on what's wrong. 

What I personally do (although it makes taking the quiz kind of a pain in the ass), is to keep a spreadsheet with the questions, my answers, and the reasons I picked those answers.  I leave columns for the coach's answers and their explanations.  I then follow along with that spreadsheet as the answers are being revealed in the video, along with the explanations, entering the coach's ideas.  For a follow-up, I highlight the ones I missed (whether I missed the answer altogether, or I had the right answer but for the wrong reason).  Later, I intend to hide my answer and the coach's answer for the ones I missed, and see if I've learned anything in the time since I initially took the quiz.  Kind of like self-coaching.

A couple more cool things.  First, although Joe is a fantastic limit player (all sorts of games), he relatively inexperienced at NL.  By that, I mean, he makes some of the same mistakes I do.  So, he gets himself into trouble spots on the turn and river by mistakes he makes on the earlier streets...in some cases, the same sorts of spots I find myself on occasion.  Watching a more traditional video where the producer is a lot better than I am, you never get to see how to limit the damage you cause yourself earlier in the hand.

Finally, the DC executive producers also take the quizzes and publish their results.  While none of them tank, they're not all at the top, either.  I think what that shows is that there are a number of different ways to reasonably play a hand...depending on your general style and your interpretation of villain reads.  That underscores the importance of having the correct rationale for your plays, rather than just having a bag of tricks.

Back to the grind

Dropped Dad off at the airport last night and back to work today.  He moved to the East Coast when he retired, so we don't get to see much of each other any more, which sucks.  We went on our yearly ski trip.  It was raining the first day, except at the very top of mountain, but it turned into snow, and kept going for the next 36 hours or so...more than 80 inches total for the storm.  The first day, the powder was about thigh-deep, and the second day was waist-deep and more, basically bottomless.  The snow in the Sierras is pretty heavy, at least compared to places like Colorado and Utah, but it was still very nice!  Also, props to my dad, who is now old enough to ski for free at Squaw Valley, but still going down the black diamonds.

Almost no internet access last week, thanks to the storm (knocked out the WiFi, evidently) and no cell coverage in Truckee, at least where we were staying (the front desk said only Verizon gets coverage there).  So, I am hopelessly behind everyone's blogs, played hardly any hands, and of course have a mountain of stuff to catch up at work.  But, I don't think it will happen today...it's my daughter's birthday, so I'm going to cut out early and go out to a birthday dinner.

I did play a couple short sessions that were totally opposite.  In one I played bad and ran worse.  In the other, I played well and ran better.  Next week, my wife is going on a trip of her own -- with her sister, meeting her folks in Palm Springs -- so I should have some time to get in some hands, then.  I think that the bad session was more due to being stupid about forcing a session in because I haven't played much...I was exhausted and in a distracting environment.  I made a couple plays where I really knew better.

Looking forward to our next review session, too...the first one was great.  Hope to get caught up with everyone's blogs tonight and tomorrow...see you guys.