Sticking to hold em has paid off. As of July 18 I was up @$2600 for the month. My mindset at that time was to not give it all back, or at the very least, not give any back in a large chunk. Unfortunately, I had a rough day at the 2/5 NL game and lost $1000 -- exactly what I didn't want to do! Ugh. Fortunately I can pinpoint exactly why the session was a loser and corrections can be made for future sessions.
In a non-poker book I've started to read there is a bit about investing and how greed and stability can each be trouble for investors. I think the same applies to a poker game. Greed can be trouble -- staying too long in a session trying to win more, for instance. Stability can be trouble -- staying in a game even when it is unprofitable simply because it may hold promise for eventual profit.
If you haven't guessed, here's what happened to my 2/5 session that day. I had made about $150 in an hour -- usually more than enough for the short sessions I'd been playing. The game appeared to be good, so I got greedy, lost back my profit and then misplayed a hand that cost me the rest of my chips. That was enough to get me on tilt so that when I rebought for another $500 I lost all that in a couple of hands, too. At least I was quick enough to leave after that!
Let's see how the end of the month shapes up! Despite the ugly loss, it's been a month of progress.
Saturday, July 21, 2007
Tuesday, July 3, 2007
In Review
Well, here it is early July and this is the 4th post on this blog. Lame? Lazy? Busy? Parts of all three, to be sure. Let's review the previous couple of months to bring this thing up to speed.
In April I made money overall. Just over $500, or about a third of what I'd like to be making at a minimum for the month. During this month I began to play Omaha 8 or better extensively as my "main" game. I'd read that in the right game, one can make a better hourly rate than in comparable Hold Em games. It's also a more interesting and perhaps more involved game because each player gets 4 cards to work with and the pot is split between high hand and low hand. And sure enough, some of the biggest pots I've ever taken have occured in this game.
The month of May began horribly for me and never got much better. I lost about $1600 overall when it was all said and done. Most of this was in Hold Em games, primarily No Limit, and at one location (Mandalay Bay) over a few sessions. Of course, nobody likes to lose, but I had to suck it up and move on to June in the hopes that things could turn around.
June started out fantastic. At one point I was up around $2200 for the month. I finished 25th of 360 players in an Omaha tournament. Took 6th of 98 players in a Hold Em tournaments and basically carved up every game I came across. Until one day at the Omaha tables I ran into what I'll now call a "learning experience". One player came into the 10/20 game (and later the 20/40 game) and jacked up the action on every hand. Not just on every hand he played; he raised every hand and turned the entire game into a coin flip. I should have left -- gone home, gone for a walk -- whatever. Instead, I got good cards and got competitive. He got lucky and I gave up most of my profits for the month in one day. Bad bad bad! Expensive lesson there. Finished the month down $770. Again, not too bad really, but certainly a bit alarming from the whole lack of income perspective.
Looking forward:
So, after much discussion and introspection and analysis I've refocused on what I'm really trying to do. The Omaha game will be shelved for the time being while I focus again on finding good Hold Em games. Somewhere along the way, I became a little competitive and concerned with ego-related poker rather than taking care of the bottom line. I've got a lot of work to do in July to catch up. But a positive month would be a good beginning.
In April I made money overall. Just over $500, or about a third of what I'd like to be making at a minimum for the month. During this month I began to play Omaha 8 or better extensively as my "main" game. I'd read that in the right game, one can make a better hourly rate than in comparable Hold Em games. It's also a more interesting and perhaps more involved game because each player gets 4 cards to work with and the pot is split between high hand and low hand. And sure enough, some of the biggest pots I've ever taken have occured in this game.
The month of May began horribly for me and never got much better. I lost about $1600 overall when it was all said and done. Most of this was in Hold Em games, primarily No Limit, and at one location (Mandalay Bay) over a few sessions. Of course, nobody likes to lose, but I had to suck it up and move on to June in the hopes that things could turn around.
June started out fantastic. At one point I was up around $2200 for the month. I finished 25th of 360 players in an Omaha tournament. Took 6th of 98 players in a Hold Em tournaments and basically carved up every game I came across. Until one day at the Omaha tables I ran into what I'll now call a "learning experience". One player came into the 10/20 game (and later the 20/40 game) and jacked up the action on every hand. Not just on every hand he played; he raised every hand and turned the entire game into a coin flip. I should have left -- gone home, gone for a walk -- whatever. Instead, I got good cards and got competitive. He got lucky and I gave up most of my profits for the month in one day. Bad bad bad! Expensive lesson there. Finished the month down $770. Again, not too bad really, but certainly a bit alarming from the whole lack of income perspective.
Looking forward:
So, after much discussion and introspection and analysis I've refocused on what I'm really trying to do. The Omaha game will be shelved for the time being while I focus again on finding good Hold Em games. Somewhere along the way, I became a little competitive and concerned with ego-related poker rather than taking care of the bottom line. I've got a lot of work to do in July to catch up. But a positive month would be a good beginning.
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