Home sweet home game

Last night my girlfriend and I hosted our first home game in our new flat and after an awkward late start a good night was had by all. This was out first sit-and-go and we managed to make the structure shallow enough to give a bit of feeling-out time at the start, yet steep enough to bring on the shove/fold stage at about the right time. Subbuteo felt made for a nice surface to play on and a friend brought round fresh cards as a present so there was a sufficient veneer of professionality. Thankfully the six handed format and clued in players meant the pace was nice and brisk and there was little time wasted on mis-deals and unposted blinds. Highlights included a quads vs full house cooler which virtually sent 'KingTubby' to the rail and my comedy wine-induced blow-up when I donk-pushed an open ended straight draw into the abyss! Three handed was a typically short affair and my girlfriend 'Pokerhontasz' executed a sound push/fold strategy to battle to heads-up. 'TheConge' put on a text book display of power poker and quickly turned a decisive chip lead into a win, then a few of us stuck around for a fun, boozy and loose cash game afterwards. I hope we can get it together to do this on a regular basis, although I plan to play a cap-game next time: no more than two glasses of wine!

Levelling the Land

I have been thinking far too deeply about levels in poker. A friend and I discussed a hand recently and we both felt very silly when it turned out we had overthought each others' moves to such an extent that all the tiny subplots of the hand were wasted on both of us.  I scooped the pot on the turn and could have been thwarted if my opponent had gone with a simpler read of the situation. This led me to thinking about and streamlining my process of categorising and note taking online opponents with (so far) very positive results. I have also switched back to playing sit and gos to simplify my learning process and 'fix leaks.' I am not wasting time trying to spot patterns or analyse reasons behind donkey moves anymore I try to identify the type of  player and their level as quickly as possible in a game and use the next level of play above their game to beat them. The levels are:

Level 0-(Me or) my opponent is so erratic in their play, their moves or cards cannot be predicted.
To beat a level 0 player play level 1 poker.

Level 1-Me or my opponent considers their hand. Is it a strong hand? If so,they bet. If they are raised, they may consider folding.
To beat a level 1 player play level 2 poker.

Level 2-Me or my opponent considers their hand and what the other players might be holding. At this level there is typically a sound reason to bet eg for value, for protection.
To beat a level 2 player play level 3 poker.

Level 3. Me or my opponent considers their hand, their opponents' hands and how their moves will be perceived and acted upon in the eyes of their opponents (this will of course vary depending on their various levels)
To beat a level 3 player first you have to find them at micro stakes!

Egoveride

I tried a break from poker and I could only last 24 hours. The problem I have is essentially down to ego and lack of self control. These twin demons keep me playing and keep me losing. It would be a profoundly depressing situation if I weren't playing for such small stakes on a truly recreational basis. Like all things in my life I take poker too seriously, try too hard to be the best and when the reality of mediocrity comes crashing down I want to quit. The further problem is that my ego won't accept that I can't ever learn how to play this infernal game,since it is essentially a strategy game like any other. I therefore conclude that I should learn better strategies and gain more experience, so I get stuck in a cycle heading back to the books&stats then back to the tables and so on and so forth....My girlfriend realises this, and since she is a far more successful microstakes player than I am I should listen to her advice when she tells me to stop taking it too seriously and to play less. It just pains me to think of the money I could be winning (admittedly in small increments) when all I have to do to win this pot of gold is make less mistakes than the next player.

The downswing continues

I am now falling foul to all my general rules about playing poker and it is resulting in massive leaks left right and centre! The pattern goes like this: log on, bad beat lose a stack, tighten up, win a few hands, bluff off small profit trying to 'represent' a hand instead of letting go of my dead in the water overpair. There is a such a big difference between knowing you shouldn't play tired, knowing you should take a break every half hour, knowing you should table select a softer spot instead of sitting on a table of tight passive rocks and doing all of these things. I have officially lost control and it sucks. It is time to take another extended break from online poker and be gald I only play for peanuts and am not learning all this the hard way for larger stakes!

Running bad

I have had a bad day playing a few sessions online, dropping around 2 buy ins in total. My head has been swimming with tilt, tiredness stubborness and all sorts of mess that has made today seriously -E.V. I have decided to analyse all my sessions from now on. When you make so many mistakes all at once errors start compounding and it is hard to make sense of where you are going wrong. I have had aces cracked twice today(including a donk 3bet shove with 69o pre flop!), lost loads with jj, qq etc but these are the big hands, the coolers that take care of themselves in the long run and balance out with the suckouts. It is the small mistakes that are my real problem, such as cbetting without assessing a villain's range and how it may have connected with the board. I have also been making elementary river mistakes such as betting medium strength hands on the end with overcards on board. I have also not been reraising enough when betting for protection, which is inviting trouble from callers and giving my opponents the perfect shove to deny me pot odds to call. I have been getting run over by all sorts of players at the tables and I need to go back to basics and sort it out. My goal is to be able to multitable but I'm not ready for that yet, not even close.

Free money

I just signed up to pokerstrategy.com who give you free money if you pass a quiz on no limit texas holdem.
Yes that's right, free money. I'm sure the catch will become apparent in time. I just moved house so the only poker I've played lately was a steep blind-structure sit and go with my buddies which I luckboxed my way to victory in, and a little fun cash game with the same dudes. I am developing the ability to assess flops a little better than I used to and to quickly observe player traits and likely hand ranges, which is improving my post flop game. I've just got back online in the new pad and things are still the same playing cash: I am a little too passive, and not quite ready for multitabling as i have a leaky preflop game. I am starting to think that what I need in poker is some like minded friends to 'sweat session' with and to haul my ass to some live tournements.