Plug small leaks and get better at poker (very tl;dr worthy)

[OziBattler]

<font color="green"> Yes! Ive bumped this...if interested...go to the first new post dated July 07 for an update on my progression </font>



Cliff Notes: TY 2+2, after much effort, Aussie is playing better POSTFLOP - but still not perfecto - and also running better. BOOYAH. HOLLA. Shipit.

This post is a continuation of my 1k post. It is not a great strategy post as it is more like a post that contains things that have been relevant to me and may be relevant to some of you. There is nothing particularly new in it but maybe it will be a timely reminder or even inspire some ppl.

1k post, the short version
In it I said
1. "the biggest leaks we have are the ones that we can make frequently"
2. "if you find yourself playing marginal hands in 3-6BB pots when you feel you are beat...stop doing it. These medium sized pots a a great way to consistently and repetitively spew $. Paying 2BB to see SD when you know you are beat to win 6BB is really [censored]!"

I also pledged to myself to improve such that I get my Went2SD down and my W$SD up since this had been identified as my biggest leak.

What happened right after than 1k post....something not pretty
I made that 1k post in on August 9 2006 however I need to confess that it wasnt all plain sailing. Whilst I was playing better I wasnt playing the best all the time because I have (I am now optimistic and say had. lol) a minor tilt problem which is that when I start of dropping a [censored] load if BB early in a session I am sometimes prone to playing catchup. this results in more calldowns and more Showdowns/spewage. But lets be clear....Im not just talking about calling down a CR or TPWK but Im also talking about seemingly harmless loose flop and turn calls WHEN THE ODDS do NOT warrant it. I found this to be a function of playing too many tables and failing to be bothered doing odd calculations during the "play catchup" periods. Funnily enough there was a defining moment that occured when I did a self review that was posted as an example session review (I cant find the link dammit) that Str8fish also reviewed. The reviewed session was from a catchup session (see above) and was spewville.

As a result, I realised that I didnt like losing and I was quite possibly chasing monies FROM PREVIOUS sessions. I think I Was down like 100BB or so at 0.5/1 and that sucked. What did I do? I drew a mental line in the sand on SEPT 5 2006 It is noted on the graph below. The idea being that I dont (well I sometimes do but thats not the point) worry about any stats or data before that date. It was largely mental but considering all play prior to that to be educational has been good for me to do. I started "Afresh" on that day. If you are the sort of person who chases losses then you may want to clean house too.

Since this date my attitude has changed and so has my results. ZOMG Ive actually gone on a few heaters and my WonAtSD has gone above 50 for the first time in a LONG time. THis is inspite of My weakness is sleepy.

What happened next?
How I have I done since this time. Well the short answer is that I have taken big strides to my goals. MY W2SD is still &lt;32 but this is partly attributable to
a. running hot ... finally
b. big bonus whoring sessions (eg party poker xmas whoring) were my play was not so good but the bonus more than compensated for this.

The thing is though I simply know that Im playing better post flop. My stats indicate this and it whilst it can be hard to quatify, I just know I am. Seriously, I remember many hands where I played better even if that meant making the right fold and it paid off (sometimes I even got to see that I made the right play as some other schmuck called down getting me the SD info 4 free).

What ive worked on that helped me get better
1. Session Reviews.....and actually playing like Im supposed to
2. Listening to my reads
3. Getting Better at shorthanded and headsup. ty HULA
4. Remembering that IF a decision is close and the pot is small then tend to fold
5. Remembering that If a decision is close and the pot is big then tend to call/raise
6. Not trying to outlag the lags. Calling down in certain situations is actually ok. booyah.
7. C-Betting...love the micro wiki but check out this Awesome Post by jrz
8. Seat Selection...yes, I said SEAT selection as for me reasonable table selection was already in my skillset
9. HAve a good read and/or significant stats on villians to deviate from default lines.....
10. Doing Self reviews where you try identify mistakes per 100 hands and try and assign a $ value (this is hard but it iwll make you think...the thinking is what is important)

SO yeah, nice list but Aussie prefers tl;dr posts so.....heres a few things I want to write, even if they are just for my benefit

Getting you W2SD down....can be hard work
These may be obvious to some but
1. I continued analysis of areas where I was leaking (overcards, no odds to call, bet/raising where calldown is better)
2. If I use a bet/raise to get info..then i actually started to use it
3. Paying 2 Bets after being raised on the turn is so uncool in small/medium posts with mediocre hands
4. MUST have a reason to call a river bet with ace high
5. It takes a stronger hand to overcall the river. When overcalling consider my hand against villians ranges
6. It is ok to c/c with AK OOP in a multiway pot or take a freee card sometimes with AKUI
7. Dont bluff calling stations
8. got better and UNDERSTANDING the stats my HUD showed me and be able to analyse a villians stat together and somewhat profile them
9. 3 barrel bluffs rarely work...for some reason KQo was my 'favourite' hand to 3 barrel when OOP. Ive cut that one out mostly.

As a result of application of these ideas, for the first time in a year my W$SD is consistently above 50%. Holla.

Variance....downswings are rarely just variance

Negative variance....almost impossible to avoid. Positive variance...holla...that happens too. Seriously, I so believe that everyone is destined to run very bad at some point to the point where you just cant seem to win. If a newer player hasnt experienced this frustration then in realitity they probably havent played much poker. IMHO Downswings can be a education if you have the patience to work through them, plug leaks and come out the other side a better player. If you cant do this, then poker may not be a game for you if you like money.

WhatI also want to comment on is that downswings hurt because losing hurts. However IMHO downswings are rarely just bad luck (unless you run the perfecto bot) and it is quite probably true that lots of people play worse when getting bad luck or at least get punished badly by their bad play, thus increasing the losses. The better the player the less they may contribute to their downswing via bad play and visa versa.

Simply put as a poker player one of your goals should be to limit losses in bad situations and to maximise your winnings when things are going your way.. This applies to a single hand, a table, a session and any period of time you choose to choose.

Now, as far as variance goes, if you look at the graph below you see a reasonable 'downswing'. My reaction for quite a while was that this was mostly the pokergods hating me....now I realise that the reality is that ALOT of my losses were self induced. Sure I had bad luck and couldnt win big pots but I spewed in little pots. I would estimate that 50% of my downswing was caused by my bad play.....I am probably wrong...it was probably &gt;50%.

Therefore I challenge anyone on a downswing to do a totally honest assessment. Maybe your situation is different, may it is not....

Table selection is awesome....but get the best seat too
So you think you know table selection, huh? what ya do? If you are lucky to play at a site with decent lobby stats you might pick what you perceive to be a decent table and get on its waiting list or take a seat straight away. Well that is all fine and dandy but if you have the time to wait a few minutes, then I recommend going for the jugular and picking the best seat you can..or at least a decent one. Yes, even good tables have bad seats (stating the obvious for clarity). When Im not blatantly bonus whoring Ive been doing this and it is making a non-trivial contribution to my winrate. I cant quantify it but it is there.

A post on seat selection is a post unto itself and Im not going to write one here. I just wanted to explicitly mention it to say that it is important and if you dont know what to look for when choosing a seat then you probably need to work that skill.....so I havent got any decent links to post here so if anyone has some decent links to choosing seats then please post. tyvm.

Adjusting to the table...I got better at this too
One attitude adjustment Ive made is how I think about other players at the table. As I play more and more hands Im getting better and better at reading table conditions and player stats. Ive also found that when I play certain sites at certain limits then I can adjust my play. As I get better at this my results get better. For example, Party players during reload time are traditionally tight but not necessarily good, many are predictable. Also at Paradise however most fish are loose AND predictable and this makes playing there easy once you sort the fish from the maniacs. Basically I love predictable players because they dont put you in many tough spots and allow you to play closer to the fundamental theorem of poker. My point being, that making adjustments to the game you are in is important and for me doing so has shown quite stunning results. I personally find Full Tilt harder to beat because I struggle somewhat against semi-lags who bluff with reasonable frequency and try to push me off hands.

Secondly, and importantly I have also gotten better at recognising my own perceived image at the table. Whilst most villians simply arent paying attention over the long term it seems to me that even MrFishyMcFish aka TheGoldFish has a short term memory. Eg say you raise preflop 3 times in a row....that 3rd time you are so going to get called because one of TheGoldFish is going to figure you cant possibly have been dealt AA/KK/AK 3 times in a row. Also it seems to me that when you got on a hot streak or are on a real cold streak of wining/losing hands (regardless of whether your flopped monster got rivered) that people notice. Seems to me that when you are hot that bad players actually 'believe' you more so you can c-bet and bluff more cos they may fold....the reverse seems to apply, if I cant win a hand against a fish then wtf is the point of bluffing, as he will call down with some BS hand that beats AKUI. **yada yada...insert disclaimer here at this been a generalisation yada yada yada

Heads up and short handed play...you just gotta learn it d00d
Heads up. I really want to say a few things about Blind Stealing and to a lesser degree, blind defence. This is something I have gotten much better at in the last 6 months and the HULA comp was a bit part of it. Part of getting better is getting rid of the fear of raising light. If you cant get rid of this fear then you probably arent playing at a limit that is confortable with. Now, I dont have the expertise to do a post dedicate to this but if there is one general thing I ahve learnt about stealing blinds is that IT DEPENDS. What does it depend on, well for starters?
1. Who is the SB, who is the BB and the implicit combination of them
2. What do I perceive my image to be (to the blinds and LP players yet to act)
3. Im not going to reinvent the wheel so this is where the list stops in this post. sry.

Graph time, shipit1111ONEeleven
So, those a few things that Ive been able to focus on and that have helped me get better. But hey, everyone loves a graph so here you go. This basically covers all 2006/2007. It just so happens that I have had a sick upswing at the end that is clearly unsustainable but actually Ive gone through a few iterations of this post prior to that sweet sweet run so I shall blindly claim that I know my play is better and that this upswing is just coinciding with the time when I post this behemoth of a post

Thanks for reading this tl;dr post and thankyou to all the posters on the forum who contribute to this zomg awesome learning tool that is 2+2

Aussie

[martybonus]

great post oz. thanks

[Str8Fish]

DAMN you aussies are writers! Don't you have a day job you should be doing??

[Jago]

I have a WTSD of 36, is that bad?

[DrModern]

Mad props, Aussie. Totally agree with you and keep it real.

P.S. Str8Fish sucks.

[ottsville]

Great post Ozi

[MrWookie]

Great post. I still don't like reading "bet/raise to get info," but I trust you mean that you're just getting incidental info after a bet/raise for value.

[CrMenace]

Great post. Clarifying question:

You say your goal is to get your WTSD down, but then you later say "My WTSD is still &lt;32%, but..." Spider's FAQ advises WTSD of 28-32. Is the "&lt;" a typo for "&gt;"?

[Bona]

Nice post as usual Ozi, found myself in there a lot and your perspective is helpful as always.

You, and some other posters, have extolled the value of learning to play short handed and learning to play HU. I have bitten the bullet as far as short handed goes and feel like I am making progress at learning it by playing a few K hands of 6-max. I agree that it is helpful in some ways with playing FR. I haven't brought myself to HU yet (except in NL SnG's the more of that I get the better I like it of course) but as far as trying to learn HULHE what do you think is the value and how does it help a persons game overall. Perhaps you and other posters might expand on this.

[22pajo]

Wow, a close on 300BB upswing over your last 3k hands. nice!!