New Discovery

So i really thought i was a card player with some decent skills that could hold there own at a poker table. I wont say i was totally wrong but i was only scratching the surface of what texas holdem and poker are all about. talking with jon and a few other poker players and having them ask me what things like showdown value,pot control,fold equity, implied odds all mean man i thought i knew but i only have the basic outline and there are so many things i have left to learn. jon gave me a task to post on a 2+2 forum of my definition of each one and see if anyone has any sort of reading or information i could read up on. well i am still in the process of doing that i just felt the need to blog about the realizations i have been making just tin the past 2 weeks. i mean i have read alot of poker books strategy books probably totaling 30-40. i feel i can go back now and reread those book and really understand the concepts. i thought i knew what fold equity and implied odds were but the only thing i really knew how to do was calculate outs. (on the flop if you count your outs and x4 you will get the % to win the hand and on the turn if you count your outs x2 you will get the % to win) just thought i would toss that in there for everyone.

i have really been putting some hard study time and having some really good talks with john about poker there and about moves in certain situations. i feel i have been equipped with new weapons to unleash on my sit n go games. after talking with john i played 6 sng's and won 2 of them 1-2nd place and 1-3rd. i changed my aggression level when we were down to 4-5 people and the blinds were getting high. i was able to steam roll a heads up battle by stealing almost every hand. i took the thought process of if he will let me do it i will push till he pushed back. in the time i pushed i took 1/3 of the chips to hold 2/3 of the chips. when he did push back he had aa. so i just kept pushing till he pushed back and i had aq and busted his a9 when he had 3bb left.

i guess what i am getting at is i understand that aggression is very important but to not get to crazy with it or a bluff can cost you all your chips or a good chunk of them. i got used to playing the don's where u chip up early and sit and wait till u get to the push fold stage. a sng is different as the goal is to get all the chips so u need to play more pots. i started to limp in a few spots where i might have raised in a don as the push fold was alot closer than in a sng in position of course. i have had 2 golden rules instilled in my head
1- in holdem position is everything-you can play a far worse hand in position as you get to see what the other guy does so you can adjust your plays towards the action he takes.
2-great players know how to acquire chips early and know when to reraise to pick up small-medium ish pots. a great player in a sng will be around 2000k in chips by the 3rd level on the norm if the table is playing a straight forward style. mtt can be the same in the early going but being alot deeper can make for more post flop play.

i feel one of my strengths is post flop play as i have played alot of live cash games and done very well at them. but a thing like continuation betting or c-betting into 3-4 guys just doesn't cut it online where in a cash game you can get away with cutting the field in half or to heads up. not to say it is a normal thing i do but just trying to show the difference between the two.

i am looking forward to my first crack at the spring online championships on poker stars- scoop. i will be playing in the low level $22 buy in and i think its nlhe 6max which is something i am very comfortable with as most of my cash game play and early sng play was 6max. i also feel my aggression level is something that is rewarded in a 6 max environment. i am also playing the following Sunday nlhe low limit again as well as something i have done very well in on stars the 2-7 triple draw and 5 card single draw. something about me and draw poker that i seem to run well on stars. looking forward to a great showing and my first big cash on pokerstars. i feel i am primed and ready to win my first scoop bracelet.