Team Never Tilt

As I stated in part 1 of this post, financial gain is not the only reason people take up competitive poker.  We get value out of poker from different angles.  Entertainment value does not exclude the value of competition, it completes it.  In short, we play poker for VALUE.  The goal of this blog is to produce a series of strategy posts that will help players gain maximum value from playing poker competitively.

Let me conclude this two part post with three lists;  1) A list of People that can benefit the most from reading this blog.  2) A list of things you can expect to see in this blog 3) A list of things you should not expect to find in this blog.

People that can benefit the most from reading:

• Players who are thinking about giving competitive poker a try
• Players who are looking to understand the fundamentals of poker strategy
• Players who have started studying poker but feel frustrated by lack of progress
• Players who want to learn how to enjoy poker to its fullest

Things you can expect to see in this blog

• Strategy posts about the poker mindset
• Reviews of poker resources such as tracking software, strategy books and training sites
• An honest look at how I have approached the game in the past, things that have worked and things that have not

Things you should not expect to find in this blog

• Sexy Poker Tracker or HEM databases showing how I crush the biggest of poker games (these don not exist, nor do they need to exist for the content of this blog to be valuable)
• Cookie-cutter systems on how to beat poker and make millions
• Regurgitation of popular poker strategy (I will not reinvent the wheel but everything I post will have my thoughts driving it)

Simply stated, we play poker to get value out of it. We have specific expectations about what we will get out of our game of choice. Ask all of your poker playing friends why they play; you will inevitably get all sorts of different answers. When I examined the answers I got from my friends, I realized they all fit into one of the following 3 categories:

1. They play poker for its entertainment value
2. They play poker for the social aspect of the game
3. They play poker because they enjoy the competitive aspect of the game

People tend to think that being part of categories 1 and 2 exclude you from being in category 3. The idea is that playing poker competitively means playing it for the sole purpose winning money. Unlike other popular sports and pastimes like golf, billiards and chess, the perception is, if you invest time and money on your poker skills, you must play to win money. Playing with any other goals in mind is simply a waste.
The reason for this outlook is simple. Keeping score in poker is as simple as counting money. Money won and money lost is how we keep score. Golf success is measured in strokes, it is displayed via your handicap and can be dissected by statistics such as putts per round and greens in regulation. In poker, the bottom line is the only relevant statistic.
This mind-set seems to have affected the way we develop poker strategy. The internet is full of poker strategy (some good, some bad), but it seems to be quite polarized. Current poker strategy mainly focuses on either teaching players how to play the game for the first time or on teaching them how to make a steady income playing the game.
My goal with this blog is to help fill this gap. I feel strongly that a huge number of poker players want to improve their poker skills without having financial gain as the only reward. Here is a short list of things that motivate these poker players:

• They enjoy the cerebral challenge poker offers
• They enjoy competing with their family, friends, the world
• Improving at poker is tough; they enjoy the ride
• They enjoy being part of the poker strategy community

Now that I have offered up the reason being for this blog, stay tuned for the continuation of this post that will explain what you can expect from it.

Hey guys, I am have been writing a little about poker strategy lately.  My interest has been mostly “poker basics”.   To me, the first basic skill necessary to becoming a strong players is to recognize the situation.  Not only is it important to recognize what is going on around you, but it’s also crucial to know what to look for.

So the question is.  Can you add to this list of elements of a poker decision that has to be considered?  Can you try and put them order of importance?  Do you agree with the order of importance others have posted?

I will start…

1) What game are we  playing (tournament, ringgame etc)

2)  What position am I in…

3)  What are the stack sizes

4)  What are my opponents tendencies

5)   What is my table image

I think there are plenty more to add, but in my opinion, these are the crucial basic variables that need to be observed.

Ok your turn…

Dear Blog, you will never be forgotten.

RIP

Last night at the final leg of the LPT, I had 77 under the gun, we were 6 or 7 handed (I think).  The blinds are 500/1000T I have about 16k chips and look at pocket 7′s.  I remember thinking a bit preflop, limping felt bad as it would encourage a multiway pot where I would need to flop a set to win the pot.  I decided to raise to 2.5k. It  was folded all the way to Dango who I think was on the button or in the smal blind.  He shoved his stack of about 7K.  So he raised an extra 4.5K or so…I look down and I have about 13.5 K remaining, if I call and lose, I have about 8K left, 8 Big Blinds or so.  I am getting abit over 3-1 pot odds to call. 

I put Dan on pretty tight range here.  I knew him 3betting my early position raise was not a resteal attempt.

The range I put him on was A-K and AA through 10-10 and possibly A-Q…

I figured this was a coin toss alot of the time and I am a big dog the rest of times.   The pot odds of almost 3.5 to 1 were very enticing, but in the end I had to factor in tournament factors.  In some tournament/near bubble spots ICM considerations are quite important.  Losing and getting crippled vs folding and still having a relatively healthy stack was part of the mindset.  I strongfly feel that this was a marginal spot either way yet I have heard some rumblings that my play was horrible.

Any opinions?

Hey guys and gals,

There is a new 6 week poker league starting up next week at Dooly’s Elmwood Dr, Sports Rock in Dieppe and Legends in St-John.  They will be played on the Electronic poker tables set up there.  These will be 2 table 20 player tournaments and the entry fee will be $40 per tournament (80 percent of nightly fees go to that night’s prize pool, 10 percent goes to the final pot, 10 percent goes to admin fees).

The league consists of three bars combined  and will consist of 2 games per week.

The final event will consist of 20 players (5 top point getters from each bar plus 5 drawn names) and the final prize pool has a guaranteed $5000.

The leagues start on the week of Feb 8th, and play starts at 7pm.  People can pre-register, so if you are interested in playing, visit one of these locations ASAP if you want to make sure you have a seat seat (be sure to bring a piece of ID to register).  The league nights are:

Dooly’s Elmwood:  Tuesdays and Thursdays, first night is on feb 9th

Sports Rock: Mondays and Wednesda’s, First night is on feb 8th

Legends (St-John): Wednesday’s and Fridays, First night is on Feb 10th

Again, the final prize pool is a guaranteed $5000 and it is only a 20 player tournament!!!

Contact me or comment in the comments if you would like further information…

So I have been thinking about the re-emergence of the forums and the associated decline of the TnT blog for the last couple of weeks.  I have decided that I am going to start writing a lot more on the blog again.  My main focus from here on in is going to be to post about what ever poker topic I am tackling at the moment.   I will throw in some posts about other topics, some notable hands I have encountered and some LPT recaps as well.

To kick off this “new beginning”, I am going to ask the readers of this blog a couple of  questions.  It’s something that my poker mind is very much  preoccupied with at the moment.  I would really appreciate comments surrounding the questions below.  I am not hunting for specific answers, I am very interested in hearing what YOU think about this topic.  Please do not try and mold your answer to other’s  that might pop up in the comments.  Here goes:

The premise

Most of the readers of this Blog have passed the stage of playing poker for the “sheer social aspect of it”.  We have all at some point, decided that we were going to take the strategic part of poker seriously.  In my opinion, there is  a certain mindset you need to attain to be able to learn the game properly.   This is the “prerequisite” needed to start studying the game of poker and to try and take a realistic stab at getting proficient at it.  If  I ever decide to teach my son how to play poker when he is of age to do so I will definitely make sure he understands certain things about the game even before I pointed him towards his first poker book, the best online poker communities or to even begin trying to give him pointers about playing specific poker situations.  I think a lot of us try to learn how to play poker before we are ready to do so.   This has mixed results.  Eventually we can all get there, but for some of us it takes a lot more time then others.

The questions

What do you think are your weaknesses (mindset,characteristics etc)  that “stunted your poker growth?”  What personal obstacles do you think you need to overcome to take your poker game to the “competitive level”?

For example.  The three things that i know slowed down my progress or still does so today are:

• My ego:  I thought I was a “natural” at poker and anything “counter intuitive” had to be wrong
• My fear of failure:  I will do anything I can do to avoid facing being a poker failure.  This means I play as little as possible in the name of protecting winning sessions and to protect myself from huge losing one’s…
• I am too result oriented.  I micro manage my wins/loses from every session instead of focusing on making winning poker decisions

Again, I would appreciate any comments about your past and present poker learning obstacles and even some that you feel are common to most recreational players looking to take the next step.

No Limit Hold’em Heads Up Poker Tournament ( Buy-in $ 30.00 )
( w/ second chance Sit and Go )

REGISTRATION REQUIRED
TO REGISTER, RESPOND TO drawflush (at ) gmail . com, call me OR BE THERE BEFORE 7:45 P.M

!! THERE WILL BE NO EXCEPTIONS !!

DATE :
JANUARY 29TH

REGISTRATION
7:00 PM – 7:45 PM

START TIME:
8:00 PM

WHERE :
JOSH & MELS HOUSE ( 71 BeauJolais Cressent, Dieppe, Ph # 855-7003 )

OTHER INFO:

We will be hosting the annual LPT heads up poker tournament this friday, january 29th @ 8 pm. It is going to be very important to know how many players are going to be attending due to the dynamics of heads up so please try and respond if you plan on attending.

The format of the tournament has also been changed so that it does not run until 4.00AM like last time but should also make things a little more fun.

Please see the full rules by following the link below,

Tournament Rules ( link )

Additional Info:

As always , a cash game will be available to anyone eliminated from the tournament. In the interest of keeping things friendly and fun the house cash game will have the following rules imposed;

Blinds : 10 cent / 20 cent
Maximum Buyin : $20.00
Minimum Buyin : $ 5.00

YOUR RESERVATION IS REQUESTED, IF YOU PLAN TO ATTEND THIS EVENT

Where have I been? Well, honestly, not here. Sure I browse every now and then. I’ve read most of the posts, but in general, I’m just laying low seemingly to get a dig in at Shane.

My posting is directly related to my playing. Over the past 2 years, I’ve done a minimal amount. I had a stint at Dooly’s, I had a few short stints online, I played the last PSO, and I’m a regular at the LPT. But, that’s it. My stints have been short at best.

Why? Honestly, I’m disinterested. Well, no, that’s not the right word. Disheartened maybe. I don’t have the drive. I actually do have the interest, but have stopped doing all the things that make one a good player. I stopped reading, I stopped watching, I stopped following, I stopped discussing. My game has suffered tremendously because of this.

Kids, my job, my interest in my XBOX are all factors in this. None of these are really stopping me from doing the above. I could find the time, I just don’t. I still get the bug, but it’s fleeting.

Am I gone for good. Absolutely not. I still truly enjoy the game. I love playing the LPT and wouldn’t trade it for anything. I love playing with friends. I love live play. Maybe the game right now is just a social vehicle. You guys have read a lot about all the players out there, have they gone through periods where poker just didn’t “do it” for them for a bit?

I don’t think this is my first post where I’ve announced I’m not dead. It probably won’t be my last. Keep on posting guys, one of you will get me to bite!