No Tapping The Fish Tank

Imagine yourself sat down at the poker table, you check your hole cards to see big slick smiling right back at you(Ace, King). You instantly reach for your chips and throw out a raise. To your delight, the one player that you've been longing to play a pot with calls. This player is the soft spot at the table, the mark, the sucker, the fish!
The flop is dealt, King of spades, seven of hearts and a two of spades. The fish is first to act making a smallish bet into 'your' pot, This is the moment you've been waiting for, this guy hates to fold and will call you all the way, as far as you're concerned, you have the nuts. After taking a moment to plan your move or at least trying not to look too excited, you announce "I raise" as you calmly yet confidently push a stack of chips into the pot. The fish hesitates for a moment, looks at his cards and calls. At this point you're trying to use your superior poker savvy to ascertain his possible holdings. Being the shark that you are, you don't just put him on one specific hand, you choose a range of hands that you think this sucker is likely holding. In any case, at this moment you are happy to see more chips entering 'your' pot.

The turn is dealt, a three of hearts and our unwitting victim checks. Now you've read a few chapters of super system, posted maybe four times in an online poker forum and even subscribed to a poker magazine, you deserve this, this is your reward for all the effort that you put into your game, it's time to get paid! When the guy checks again, you're sure you still have the best hand, you put him on a weaker king, an under pair or a flush draw. You fire out another bet, this time with meaning, directness and aggression, you want the guy to know, we mean business, of course if you're online it'll just be the automated sound of artificial chips being chinked into the centre of a cyberpot. Our opponent once again looks down at his cards, thinks for a second and again elects to call.

The river card is rolled over, it's the eight of clubs. The pot is huge by this point and our fishy little friend decides to check for the final time. You're feeling happy, the eight doesn't complete any straight or flush, if he had a set then he probably wouldn't check on the river, you put him on a busted flush draw, weaker king or a hand like QQ,JJ,TT that just didn't believe we had the king or he's just too fishy to fold. Based on your thinking, you decide to move all in. At this point you're already planning how to spend the money, you're already enjoying the sense of victory, the fact that you'll show the rest of the poker table how much of a guru you are, the other players will be in awe of your mightiness, "I call" and right then a slightly unsettling feeling kicks in, you still think you're good but it's a feeling of uncertainty that many poker players have felt by this point and with good reason. Your heart skips a beat as the guy rolls over a seven (please dont have 77, please) and finally an 8, and then it happens, your emotions hit the fan, your toys get thrown out of the pram. "How the f**k do you call me with that s**t??" "you fu**ing fish" "you know how many outs you had?" "dumb mother"Well you get the picture.

If I'm honest, I've been in this very situation or situations like it many times. Early on in my career I was one of most abusive 'good players' there was. That was until one day another player said to me "No tapping the aquarium please".After thinking about it, all you're doing is scaring the fish, by berating them you look weak and pathetic but even worse than your poker playing, guru status being slightly tarnished you might do one of the most damaging things that you can do to your poker profits, you might scare away the fish. Think about it, do you really want them to stop playing?Of course not, for a start they still have your money. That's the worst case scenario, but lets think about other negative side affects of your verbal assault, well they might listen to you. Yeah they might go away and learn how to play, great, another competent player, just what we want.

The best course of action that you can take will be the toughest pill for you to swallow, yes the best thing that you can do for your bankroll is to politely (not sarcastically) say, "nice hand". What? I hear you cry in protest, complement them on getting lucky, on getting a miracle?...... Yes! If they feel good for chasing against the odds and feel that's an acceptable way to play poker, then they'll keep doing it and that my friend is plus EV for all of us.

Good Luck

Broker

Out with the Nitt and in with Super Tag

Finally I'm starting to step out of my super nit comfort zone, like Clark Kent stripping off his rain coat and glasses for Superman to emerge. For so long now I've been a winning poker player - I haven't had a losing month all year and have played hundreds of thousands of hands. 'What's the problem then?' I hear you cry. The problem is that I've been playing twelve tables at once and only sitting down to play when there is a super huge fish sat on my right (for those that don't know, a fish is just a horrible player and preferably one that doesn't even know how to play).

As some of you know Alex Yen over at Card Runners has been my personal coach for a few weeks now and whenever he watches me play I find my self playing in a style that I'm not used to. I only play four tables as opposed to my usual twelve, and all those with alarms going off letting me know it's my go, hurry up!!!! Playing fewer tables allows me to spot far more opportunities to make plays against the regulars and I find myself almost showing off when he watches me. I make squeeze plays, defending my blinds like a Viet cong soldier, in a tunnel, poised, waiting for someone to try and steal them. I am, indeed, a superhero. But the next day, with Alex no longer shadowing me, I load up 12 tables and Clark Kent, the Nit of the poker world, comes back out to play.

I realised too that the regular players at the table could read me like a book. If I ever showed any sign of aggression they could make big folds as I was so tight, I may as well have played my cards face up.

For some time now I've been feeling cheap. I've stopped feeling any sense of victory - beating fish and just losing the minimum to regular players for a small profit is the equivalent of Usian Bolt challenging a one legged, epileptic to a race in a night club, it's just pathetic!

Alex (my coach) on our first ever session together said to me, "just sit at a few tables and play, whilst telling me what you're thinking". Immediately I protested, telling Alex that I hadn't had any time to table select (where any profit I ever made came from). Alex calmly responded, "It doesn't matter, the style that I'll teach you will make money from the regulars as well as the fish, the fish will just increase your hourly win rate".

A couple of days ago the penny (or $160 an hour that he charges) finally dropped, and without Alex being by my side, I played only four tables and finally managed to pull the 20/17/2.7 style that I had been longing for, out of the bag. I felt like Dumbo the first time he flew without a feather. All of my money came from regs 'making plays' at me at totally the wrong times.

To give you an idea of the sheer contrast in styles, my previous stats, whilst on twelve tables were (can't believe I'm even admitting this) 14/11/2.6 with a 3.4 3bet %

Today (over the last 1000 hands) they are 20/17/2.6 with a 6.72 3bet % (it also doesn't hurt that I have been running at 9ptbb/100, I know it's a small sample but just let me wallow in my glory).

In conclusion, I questioned the benefit and value that Alex was bringing to my game; is it really worth while? Could tonight be the last of my sessions with him? I'm pleased to say that it wont. It's opened up a whole new dynamic to my game, a dynamic that might not seem like a revelation to some but one that's new to me and one that I want to fine tune, polish and shape into the weapon that I know it will be. As with any style of poker, be it tight, loose, aggressive, passive, tricky or straight forward, each has it's own challenges and I'd sooner face them with the experience and insight that Alex has to offer. Now the only question is, do I c-bet that low board after I squeezed and got called???

The Protege - Part 2

Continuing turning a friend who to be fair was an enthusiastic, recreational, yet sadly losing poker player into the beast that will tear up the low stakes world.

OK so after out initial 2.5 hour tune up, Alex is indeed running like Usian Bolt. I'm super impressed by Alex's results so far and the best news is that there are still lots of spots that he can improve on to really Crush the NL50 games on Full Tilt.

Al shipped me over his entire poker tracker database. I've studied his last 4000 hands in depth and so far found a fair few leaks that can still be plugged along with another $150 that he should of had in his account. I know better than anyone that in the heat of battle, your judgment can be somewhat impaired as you throw your chips around and caution to the wind, but some of the spots that I've seen Alex in, he should never of been in, in the first place.

Alex is now playing (for those of you into the poker jargon) a 21/19/3.6 style which at NL50 makes him a force to be reckoned with, the only real tweaks i want to focus on with him now are hand reading and ill timed bluffs, which to be fair, kinda go hand in hand as subjects.

I'm really excited about our next session together, I'm certain that if he takes in what I have to say, he will be an even stronger player and moving up to NL100 within a couple of months.

My Protege - Project Hoff

Whilst I've decided to take a leap of faith, hand my game over to the 'pros' to work on, help in my development as a player and give me back the edge that I once had, I in turn thought about how I could use my ability to help someone with less experience.

I decided to work with a Friend (Alex) who is a keen poker player on a recreational level. He phoned me up recently and asked my advise on what books to read, DVDs to buy and where to gain the information to improve his game.

Alex was playing on William Hill poker and playing in games that to be fair he was under rolled for and that were above his skill level, to make matters worse Alex seems to love playing volume intensive sessions and his account with William Hill did not have any sort of rake back deal set up.

The first thing I did was point Alex in the direction of a free poker training site where there were a huge amount of free tutorial videos that he could watch and learn from. The next thing was to get him a rake back deal, so I pointed him in the direction of my rakeback provider ( www.tagpoker.co.uk) and through them he decided on www.fulltilt.com that has plenty of games going so that he could practice good table selection. Once signed up I asked Alex to save his hand history (every hand he plays, sounds like a pain in the arse but it's literally a couple of clicks to set up) and play loads of poker so that i could review his game and see where I could help.

A couple of weeks in Alex had played about 12,500 hands at Full Tilt Poker which was enough to give me an insight to his fundamentals and style of play. Straight off the bat I could see that Al had sound reason for a lot of his plays but found himself in lots of marginal situations coupled with a tremendous amount of aggression and the desire to really study the game, I knew I could help out straight away.

I plugged about six major leaks in his game and cut out all marginal situations for the time being
(that was all that I had time to do in our initial2.5 hour session). I now have his entire Poker Tracker data base and will be sure to find more spots where we can make even more money. I'm going to post his before and after graphs so far and continue to help, shape and monitor his progress until he is ready to move to higher stakes, where more qualified coaches will be waiting to help him.

The first Graph is Alex before I got involved and the second is after our 2.5 hour initial session.

First 7000 hands since I employed a poker coach

I've been looking at my game since I've employed a poker coach to help tweak my play, but to be fair on him, it's too early to judge results based on one lesson. I have ironically found my self playing even tighter (ironic since my goal was to improve and open up my game), especially out of position, but I think my post flop skills are getting better, especially against regular players, I feel more comfortable making 'moves' in good looking situations. Oh yes baby, it's only a matter of time before I get back into the souls of my poor victims, gathered around the table, like cattle rounded up for the slaughter (touch wood).

The above graph is the result of playing 9 tables, running at 650 hands per hour (sick, wasted life, but decicated none the less).

I'm so pleased that Obama won - Posted in a poker forum

I saw a post on one of my poker training sites that read "congratulations Obama". I immediately opened up the thread to share my support and was horrified by what I saw. Some of the people in said forum were truly not happy to see Obama win so here is a comment in particular that I had to put my two cents worth across. lol


Originally Posted by The_Drake
Not sure how a junior senator with no experience could be someone's hero but to each their own I guess..why people in American want to become more like Europe & be taxed to death is beyond me....

I'm not sure how...
Taxing Small Business
Unionizing Small Business
Enacting the Fairness Doctrine
Nationalizing Healthcare
NOT drilling for Oil in the US
Bankrupting the Coal industry
appointing judges who legislate from the benchand
having unchecked liberalism in both houses, could be good for this country...

Hopefully a true conservative can run in 2012 and help change the destruction an Obama admin will have on this country.....Having said all that I hope I am wrong and we will more moderate then what he's record otherwise suggests..


My reply

LOL

I'm not American but from a european standpoint I'm so relieved that we no longer have a war mongering, fundimentalist Christian, nutcase sat in the white house with his hand hovering over the self destruct button, eyes rolling round the back of his head whilst chanting "tell me when lord, tell me when!"

This is such a significant day in history period! I sat up until 3am to watch this momentous occasion and wow I'm impressed, speechless that it's actually happened. Surley this renews and brings true meaning to the term "The American Dream".

Just a quick one on being so heavily taxed and Obama destroying the country. Americas economy is on its knees, the world wide perception of the states is certainly not good (shoot first, ask questions later) the health care system looks expensive, corrupt and a mess (in the UK if I need major surgery for the next ten years, on a weekly basis, it won't cost me a penny) and to top it off, you as a poker player get taxed... Tax free over here baby!

And now you have a President who can actually string a sentence together, seems like a decent person, has real morals, and may try to avoid wars instead of instigate them. Man this is the best thing that could of happened to the states and probably the rest of the world (lots less innocent people being bombed and shot by crazy soldiers just looking to kill something like back home on the ranch).

Did make me laugh though, on TV here there was a program about some white, religous nutters over there that say an African should not be able to lead America... Laughable really as I don't think Bush's ancestors would of been native American.

Anyway when I think of the USA and the next four years I do it with a smile, a thought that I was here when that happend (a black president) and a feeling of safety that I havn't felt for nearly decade.God Bless America!

Edit: (I have my fingers crossed that you guys at least try, just try, for the love of god and innocent third world countrys, not to assasinate this president. Everytime you have a cool president some nutter gets out his free gun that he probably got for opening a bank account then goes and shoots the poor git before he has a chance to make a difference)

Just my two cents!

Going On Tilt! - How to make more money playing poker

Any of you that play poker for long enough will , at one point or another, experience tilt! I think this affects everyone but it especially affects guys. To anyone who may be reading this that finds themselves unfamiliar with the term 'tilt', let me try and explain.

Tilt is the beast that consumes and overrides logic, it is an emotional fury that supersedes even that of road rage, or being refused entry to a night club on grounds of being 'too drunk'.

Now I expect I'm talking more towards the guys in this post, and the part of you in particular that I am talking to is the alpha male, dominant monkey, aggressive, caveman that lurks in us all. I don't care if you get your hair cut at Toni & Guy, use moisturiser every day, drink latte coffee's or even drive a convertible car, deep down we all have the beast to answer to.

I'm talking about the part of you that leaves the toilet seat up, the part that doesn't need to ask for directions, the part of you that wants steak and chips every night, the part of you that hurls abuse at the TV when England don't win a match.

However well you try to play good, solid, rational poker, the fact of the matter remains that the beast will come out at some point. It might be after a horrible bad beat, your sexy AA gets cracked twice in a row or you have a super aggressive monkey (aka Agro Monkey) at your table who just keeps on re-raising your bet, every time!

Whatever the reason why, you need to get a handle on the red mist that consumes you at this point, the best advice I can give you is walk away. I'm laughing as I read this as it seems ironic that I have never been capable of walking away from a fight in my life, but you have to. Making money in poker is not easy and any edge you may have is small at best but being able to identify when the beast has you and then acting on that by closing the laptop, calmly standing up walking away and maybe breaking an inexpensive object will show massive returns in your overall win rate. breaking a £10 vase is nothing compared to blowing another 3-4 buyins and then potentially throwing your laptop against the wall.

Good luck at the tables

Chapter One - I need a Poker Coach

My first blog! Wow I've become a cyber geek, it was only a matter of time.

Recently I realised that I'm not the absolute Don of the poker world. I felt like I could reach into peoples soul and take away their money before they even knew what hit them. Well that's how it went for a few months until i hit the wall (20 buyin downswing).

Rather than cry about it, well rather than keep crying at least, I've decided to take my game to the next level by giving it over to the 'professionals'. Yes Tiger Woods might be a legend on the golf course but even he has enlisted coaches to improve his game, ensuring that he stays one step ahead of the competition. I've employed a poker coach! yes you heard (read) that right, a twenty something, online poker player who's going to watch me play and improve my game to the tune of $160 per hour. My god, whats that in real money? nearly £95 an hour, he wants to be able to work some miracles for that! lol

Anyway, I've had one lesson/session so far and it mainly consisted of him watching me play and asking what I'm thinking as I make my decision's (for £95 an hour I think I could force myself to do that). To be honest there were a few spots where he genuinely got me thinking and the answers didn't come as quickly as I had hoped. It slowly dawned on me that I don't think as much as I should, I just kind of run on auto pilot, and although I think my auto pilot is better than a lot of people play in my game, it's clearly far from optimal.

I have two more lessons booked in and at the end of which I'm going to decide if I really feel this guy is adding value to my game.