Follow up to previous post

One of my many followers made a comment about my profits on the previous post..LOL…I have sooo many followers.. He seemed surprised most of my profits came from DoN SNG’s. The obvious reason is because that is what I play 95% of the time when I am online. The real question is why though?? There are several reasons why I focus on DoN tourneys instead of all the other options I have. 1) EXTREMELY LOW variance. I don’t think there is anything else out there with nearly as low of a variance as DoN SNG’s. You only need to beat ½ the table and there is always at least 5 losing players at each table in the low buy-in levels. Low variance for me means less chance to go on tilt. I am in the money 70-75% of the time in these at the $1 & $5 levels. What’s a good standard SNG rate? 35%? I used to be and most likely am still a horrible tilter so this is a safe game for me. 2) I HATE to gamble! A 50-50 coin flip makes me sick. That’s not good enough for me.. I want 80-20 when I put all my chips in. I did a regular SNG last night just for a change. I had 4 coin flips during the tourney..luckily I won all 4 or I would not have cashed. I went to heads up dead even in chips with the other guy and got my 80-20 and he went runner runner to get a straight to give me a 2nd. I can live with losing the 80-20 at the end, but I hate playing tourney after tourney flipping coins. In DoN’s there is no need to be flipping coins and since you only need to beat ½ the table you can be more patient and wait for the 80-20’s more often. 3) Every type of game has it’s own nuances that you need to know to really be good at it. There’s a certain feel and flow to each type of game and if you are out of synch with that flow it makes things tough. I am really in synch with that flow on DoN’s. I know exactly when I need to change my style and when to attack or when to fold. So basically I think I have figured out how to play a DoN well and when I say “figured out how to play” I mean in repeatable execution in actual game play. I KNOW how you are supposed to play a regular SNG or a MTT and even a cash game ( I’ve read all those fancy books remember! LOL ). But “knowing” how to play and actually doing it in live play is two different things. I just am not in synch with those nuances in the other games very well. Needless to say I was not comfortable in that regular SNG last night and kind of felt like a fish out of water.
A couple of drawbacks to the DoN’s that I have seen and heard other complain about is their earning potential and how boring they are. A good MTT player or a good SNG player is going to make more money than a good DoN player playing equal number of tourneys, but DoN’s really lend themselves to massive multitabling because the endgame is so different. They also don’t last nearly as long as a regular SNG so if you are multitabling you can put in a much higher volume with lower variance on DoN’s. The other main complaint I hear is that they are boring. What does that have to do with anything? If you are just an action junkie you are going to probably be a losing player anyway so play something else then. Your other option is if you think they are boring just play more tables. You get enough tables going and you should be able to stay plenty busy.
So that’s “why” my profit comes mainly from DoN tourneys. At least from my point of view..but then again.. I suck at poker. As long as I don’t suck as bad as five other people at my table though I am o.k. LOL

Until next time.
Dave

How good am I????

How good am I? I think that’s something every poker player in the world wants to know. Let’s analyze the data and see… I have read all the major and well respected poker books ( several times for some of them ). I might have missed a few..but the total is probably 15 books or so. I have watched and still continue to watch the high stakes table play and try to learn from their play. When I plan to move up a level I scope out the tables at the new level and watch the play for a few days and take notes on some of the notable players (both good and bad players) so I don’t go in completely cold. I have analyzed some of my hand histories to try and figure out if I made a huge blunder that caused a loss (or a lucky win). I practice good bankroll management and stay away from games above my BR level and I quit playing when I am tired or tilting. It’s pretty easy to stand here and puff out my chest and say I am a good poker player. Heck my literary resume looks pretty good and I can talk a good game. Well I am old enough now that I don’t play the dick measuring ego game anymore… I suck… I do really well at Double or nothing SNG’s and that is where almost all my profits come from. I am a total cash game donkey.. my ONLY chance to book is win is to quit immediately once I make a nice score. The longer I play a cash game the more certain it is that I am going to dump my buy-in right back. I do o.k. at MTT tourneys as far as cashing. My problem is that I ALWAYS want to cash and I never accumulate a ton of chips unless I happen to go on a heater. In MTT’s I tend to be an average or less than average stack most of the tourney and end up with a minor cash after several hours of play. I just don’t like to gamble enough to build a nice stack in a tourney. I only play NL holdem. I have dabbled in Badugi in the past very little but other than freerolls and have never played anything for money other than NL holdem. I can’t multitable for shit either.. I have tried.. 2 tables no sweat…3 tables not a problem.. 4 tables..if I start all 4 about the same time then I have issues in the endgame of a SNG. More than 4 and forget it…I start making too many mistakes at that point. Lets face it.. I suck at poker overall. It took some time to figure out I suck and some of the reasoning as to why. My only saving grace is that I am getting better at staying away from the things I bleed in for now so I can continue to build a new bankroll. I know I can get better at the cash games, MTT & other variations of poker, but it’s going to take some time and effort.. Right now I don’t have either the time or the bankroll to do that so it looks like I am going to be mainly a DoN player for the time being. Maybe some day in the distant future I can honestly say I am a good poker player, but for now… I suck! LOL

How good are you?

Until next time..
Dave

BR $66

Is everyone good?

In this age EVERYONE playing poker online seems to think they are an expert. With all the poker books and forums available there is a tremendous amount of information easily within reach of any player. Are the games harder now than they were 5-6 years ago? Of course.. Are they still beatable at every level by anyone with decent bankroll management? Of course… How is that possible if everyone is reading the same books and the same forums?? Well the obvious answer is just because you read a book on how to play poker doesn’t mean you will play just the way it told you to. You might “think” you do..but in reality you are far from it. That doesn’t mean you aren’t an expert though and just full of knowledge you like to impart upon other players during a game…LOL.

A few tidbits of late…

First one.. Micro buy-in tourney with 90 runners. I am at the final table and since we have been at the final table the guy on my right has raised my blind EVERY SINGLE time. I had horrid cards the first few times and I let it go, but after 3 or 4 orbits it was obvious what he was doing to me. We were down to 5 people left already and he did his normal over the top raise on me. I had K-10 suited so I went all in and he called w/ A-7. I ended up with a boat and he was crippled to just a blind or two left. He starts going off on me about what a horrible push that was and that he was ahead and I should have never called. LOL… WTF… what did he expect when he raised me EVERY SINGLE time I was in the blind?? Did he not think I would push back?? We were 5 handed too!! I wasn’t much of a dog to begin with and when I pushed I was almost positive I was ahead anyways. He spent his last few minutes of the tournament just hammering me on my horrible call before he crashed out.

Second one.. Micro double or nothing tourney. We are down to 8 people already and the blinds are going up with antes so it’s worth it to just pick those up. I am in middle position and have A-K and push. The guy to my left thinks a second and calls for almost all his chips with 6-6. I get an ace and win. He comments “I never win races”. Well this is about my 4th or 5th tourney for the night and I had seen this person at 2 or 3 of my previous tables and he liked to “comment” about his play or other people’s play. I figured I could piss him off pretty easily so I typed “why call at this point for almost all your chips with just 6-6? You had to know you were a coin flip AT BEST and could be crushed by several over pairs!”. Yep…that’s all it took. He starts typing like crazy in caps..”I at least had a pair..you called with nothing” “ I was ahead”. LOL… yeah.. that was easy!! I typed back “I pushed…YOU called…you made the bad play not me” Then he scopes me and comes back with a “your biggest cash is $45 and you are giving me advice?” LOL… oh boy… so I scope him and he has 2 big tourney cashes for nearly $1K and has proceeded to bleed it away REALLY quick in both MTT & SNG’s over two months. He looks like he is almost broke because he’s in a $1 tourney and you can see his buy-in’s keep dropping over the past 2 months as he blew through his bankroll. So I typed “so you luck boxed 2 tourneys..now you have donated everything back”.. he goes off about how big his cashes were and he’s the best. I typed “looks like you are about ready to deposit again huh?” and then just kept typing “donator” after each of his spews until he crashed out of the tourney. LOL… that always puts a smile on my face and puts me in a good mood!! I tried chasing him around to some other SNG’s but they fill up so fast at that level that by the time I found him they were always full.

This is a rare occasion for me.. I normally never type in the chatbox and tend to mind my own business. But…on occasion I will stir the pot some. LOL..

On a side note..what is it with donk calls? I know these are micro stakes but come on… I ran pretty deep in a $2.20 MTT with 4,000 runners.. we were almost to the money and a big stack at my table is being aggressive and raising a lot of pots. I get K-K and he does his normal 4X blind raise and I push all in. It folds around to him and he insta calls for over ½ his stack…with…3-2 offsuit??? Well that hand is the one that boosted me towards the top chip counts at the time so I was happy but WTF?? This is over 2 hours into the tourney. How in the world did this guy survive that long to begin with? I see this crap every time I play early on in a tourney..but usually not after a few hours.

Well that’s enough spewing for one post…Until next time..
Dave

New DON Strategy

I am going to try a step buy-in strategy for my DON’s and see how it works out after a week. I currently am playing the $5.20 DON’s and am getting close to wanting to move up to the $10.40 DON’s, but I only have 20 buy-ins for those. I am expecting them to be a little harder than the $5.20’s and have more variance so I was wanting to have more buy-ins for that level. I am going to try a “3 in a row” win streak to trigger my next jump in buy-in and see how that works out. A series of 3 wins in a row will give me a profit of $14.40 for the $5.20 DON’s. I can then buy into a $10.40 DON and if I lose I will still have made $4.00 profit and will drop back down to the $5.20 and try again. If I win the $10.40 I will keep buying in to try and get 3 in a row so I can take a pop at a $20.80 maybe. Hopefully doing this will take advantage of when I am running good and increase my profits. On a side note on the DON’s…I hope that these don’t go away. I have seen several posts on the forum’s where people hate these and think they are horrible for poker. Maybe they are bad for poker, but they sure have been good for my bankroll!! I do have to admit that a Double or Nothing tournament is probably the only time you can cash without ever getting a hand. I have had several when I was completely card dead and only managed a few steals when the blinds went up and managed to survive. Even a regular SNG you are going to have to catch some cards or you won’t cash. DON’s have vastly improved my MTT tourney end game also. I have seen those results in 2 final tables in MTT tournaments the past week. Final tables are something I just haven’t seen before in MTT. I have always been able to run deep and sometimes even had monster stacks but I always seemed to spew them towards the end and fall short of the final table where all the money is. DON’s have helped me become much more patient and wait for good hands or good spots to steal. I have also seen an improvement in my regular SNG’s too. I haven’t played very many, but my results have been much better in them too. I am not sure if I am going to have a chance to meet my BR goal this month. I do the majority of my table time on Friday-Sunday but I have to work the next two weekends at my job so that’s going to really limit my hours online. Kind of a bummer but oh well..this is just a hobby.

Round #2 a new beginning

O.k.. I was ready for try again. This was about 2 weeks ago. Same plan as before.. Micro SNG's and Heads-up SNG. I planned on staying away from ring games. It seemed I would always get ahead quite a bit and end up losing it to a bad beat later in the session. I prefer the SNG as I know what my loss/profit will be for each one. While I took my month off Pokerstars came out with their Double or Nothing SNG's (DON'S from now on). I read a few articles on these and watch a couple and they looked pretty easy so that's where I began. TAG TAG TAG.. if you are going to play these you better have a set of balls on you.. Shove fests late in the game and aggression wins. Well I love these things. I have seen all kinds of posts of how boring they are and low ROI%, but I disagree.. I multitable 4 of the $1.10 turbos and that keeps you plenty busy. for the 1st week I ran 36% ROI and then I started mixing in a $5.20 turbos every now and then the 2nd week. It didn't hurt that I ran 9/9 on the $5.20 during the 2nd week while I kept up the $1.10's. The great thing about these (at least for me) is that I don't tilt when I lose a few. So now we are to the present day.

Starting BR $25
Current BR $90