Too much to take
I read him right. I sat there before the river and said. It.Can't.Happen.Again.
Well It Happened.
Again.
And it's just not fun any more.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?4695604
Grinding the cash does not make for an exciting blog...
One of the reasons that this blog appears to be on its last legs is that I used to do a lot of the writing on a lunchtime. Then the powers that be decided that blogs were an evil waste of time, even when someone is technically not working, and that access would be denied.
I know I’m not alone in this (Burnley Mik, for one, has the same problem) somewhat random censorship. I can log into many sites, but nothing related to gambling, which poker seems to be according to WebSense, though Raise The River is for some reason exempt. Anyway, I’ve decided to type this at work today and e-mail it home. Why I’ve never thought of this before I don’t know…
The other reason is that compared to the high octane world of MTTs & STTs cash really is the poker equivalent of a tortoise. You have great hands and rushes such as I highlighted in this thread on RTR but generally you plod on at my level, which is NL5 for those who don’t know or who had forgotten that such micro-stakes exist.
Don’t get me wrong, I am very happy playing the games I am, it’s just that it doesn’t make for an exciting narrative. The few S&Gs I now play aren’t exactly sexy either because they’re the Poker Stars ‘double or nothings’. Despite having had next to no practice I think I’ve cashed in 75% of those I’ve entered (about 4 in total lol) and am convinced that if I refined my technique and really gave it a go it would become a money maker for me. In fact, let’s face it, virtually any of the people I know read this blog (hello to you both!) could guarantee a profit. When you have people who will push with marginal hands when well placed on the bubble, and even more importantly people who will call, you can sail through them almost without playing a hand. But let’s be honest poker for most of us is not just about making money it’s the thrill of the chase etc.
So, cash it is, and it’s going mighty fine thank you (he said modestly). I can’t see my last substantive blog update (towards the end of October) but I believe that I was looking at hitting a Stars roll of $400 by the end of my holiday. I’m now up to $452 and over 25,000 hands am averaging nearly 11Big Bets per 100 hands, or, with the Big Blind at 5c, 1c per hand, every hand. I’ve had eleven winning weeks out of twelve and the one losing week was where I played very little.
Unfortunately this comes at a cost that I am very aware of – my overall poker skills are becoming flabby. The way to win at NL5, even 6 max, is simple. Play tight with trash, but if you get half a decent starting hand (such as any suited ace or even Kx suited sometimes) it pays to limp. Raising is pointless as you actually want opponents in the game when you hit big. My pre flop raise percentage is about 7%. If you’re raised then throw it away and try again. This is completely against the conventional wisdom, but then NL5 isn’t a ‘conventional’ game. It’s full of exploitable players who are easy to read as a large print version of Thomas The Tank Engine. The essential bit is to get to the flop if you can and take it from there.
Generally speaking it’s easy to tell what people have – chunky raises pre-flop turn into weaker continuation bets and then often become merely a token. If I’m in a hand with a paired board, for example, I might check call if I’m uncertain as to the strength of my hand. When the overbet comes in on the river 99% of the time the guy might as well send me an e-mail that he’s hit and I can get away. If my hand improves I’ll hang a bet out there which will make him call. And so it goes on.
All of which is lovely, were it not for the fact that even at NL10 the play is better and anywhere above that would see my milking style of play obsolete. I’d get fried alive. So I’m playing passive poker for the most part which is making me some decent money in my terms, but is probably harming my game overall.
I suppose I’m at least aware of it, and as I’m happy to see the profit graph at a 45 degree angle all is good I guess. Poker isn’t a vocation for me, it’s a wee bit of light relief. I don’t ever feel the need to smash the monitor or kick the cat if we had one. It’s like a game within a game, and it’s one which I do well at in relative terms.
Why would I want to change? The answer is obvious. I’d actually like to be winning at higher stakes, but am hooked on low value but easily beatable games. I have $30 left on Party – perhaps I’ll experiment a bit on there to see what adjustments I have to make.
But all in all poker life is good – little by little.
Good luck at the tables and thanks for reading :)

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As if any of us needed reminding that spongy material between our ears is a wondrous machine. It translates everything that we see, everything that we do. It controls our responses and each person's is individual to them. It is our very essence.Labels: Calculatem, mind over matter, poker office