The Sessions in Between
Hope everyone had a great memorial weekend. I took the whole weekend off and did not play one hand or click of cards. Just relaxed in the rain of Seattle. I hope the summer is not like this last weekend or we are going to be moldy by the end of summer.
Of course I was out and about last night at the Muck which is why all five of you are here. I walked into the usual crowd of the bigger games now on Tuesdays. I got there and they started the $100/200 game but made it a controlled move from the $50/100 game, so I ended up getting a seat right away in the $50/100 game. Last night turned into one of those sessions in between. I say that because there are sessions where you run great and you are just going to win in spite of yourself and are playing to maximize your win. Then there are those where you run terrible and are destined to lose or you must really grind it out to squeak out a win/breakeven. Then there are those where you run normal breakeven cards, nothing happens, just a boring normal non-event session where really most of your sessions occur. I have not really had many of these lately so it was fine by me yesterday. This is where you get to spend time working on your game. Working on reading people, controlling your boredom but staying alert, trying to learn something from the session. Controlling your emotions, and watching those that are not, or seeing how they change when running other than normal, hot and hitting, or cold and cold decked. In other words, trying to get better. I don't think most players really think about that part of their game. You don't always need to be in the action, sometimes you can just be an observer and work on other things that will make you a better player in the long run. Last night was just one of those nights.
I think I only played one orbit in the $50/100 game before moving to the $100/200 game. Usual cast of players with a few sporadic regulars as well, nothing out of the ordinary. The one out of normal occurrence was that my friend Aaron came down to play as well. He showed up a little later than I did, but there was a seat open when he got there so not a problem. He actually proceeded to play a good controlled game. He did not talk much, which was a plus, and did not do too much whining, again a plus. He did not even get too aggressive with his hand selection, just a good solid controlled game. His big hands held up and he played to maximize most of them. He booked a good win and left after about 4 hours leaving me to fend for myself and took a decent chuck of change out of the game.
I on the other hand was going nowhere. I was watching a lot of hands go by, and those that I did play were not great, I had to make some stuff up as I went. Neither up more than $2,000 nor down more than $1,000, which is a pretty tight range in a game of this size, but that was the nature of this session. The one hand which could have made my night was when I picked up pocket KK's on the button and it had been raised, called and then three bet by LP and I capped. We took the flop off 5 handed for $400 each, and an A spiked right on the flop. Muck you very much, send the pot to the guy who called two more bets cold with 88's and flopped a set that held up for a $4,000 pot. Nice Hand! I ground my way through a few people hitting and running and finally called it a night at 1:30am up +$1,144. Not a very good win rate, but still a small win. I will take it. I may play this Friday up at Tulaliup where they have been running $100/200 up there now on that day. Same players with a few north end regulars added in.
I lost a comment on my last post that asked about how I try to minimize my emotions and tells. Blogger ate it. The first thing that comes to my mind is to be aware of yourself. Know thyself as Thomas Aquinas once said. Know what feelings you are having, then try to neutralize them. If you are happy and rushing, don't get too cocky. Don't rub it in, play it down as lucky, which sometimes it is. If you are running poorly, don't get too down. Don't let the other players know you are depressed and running poorly, don't show them weakness, they will pick on you. Try to keep a positive attitude. If you can't, then take a walk, or quit. Better to come back in a positive state of mind then to keep getting beat on and let a small loss turn into one that takes more than one session to get back. Lastly, ask some of your friends in the game to watch you as you play. You may be playing hands predictably, or betting in patterns, or making movements with your body during certain conditions or hands that you are unaware of. You may not like the answers or agree with them, but there is usually a grain of truth in what you may hear. Aaron gave me some feedback last night on a few things. I may disagree with him, but I also know there is something to the feedback and I will work on it. I am not going to talk about it here as there are a few players in the game that read this blog, but I will work on it the next time.
Also, to the comment of how poker players are in relationships, I have this thought. I am very lucky to have a wife that while she may not like the fact that I play as much as I sometimes do, she is mostly supportive. She understands that I love this game, and would hate to give it up. She puts up with it, and even sometimes encourages my play. I scale it back when life at home gets busy, and sometimes she asks me not to play. Which I do. I have no idea how a full time player could have a real relationship. They play stupid hours, usually all night and for long periods of time. The other person in the relationship will not understand why you need to put in that many hours "gambling" which is how they will see it and not with her/him. So you need spend a ton of time and energy explaining that it is not really gambling but controlled gambling and not against the house with an edge but against other players separated by skill. Energy spent on that other than the game, which will detract from your game. The other side to that is to have a relationship with another player, which I am sure can work, but I would not want that either. I am lucky I have a job and am married because it adds balance to my life which in turn makes me a much happier person and hopefully a better player. I would not want to do this full time. I don't think I even could, to be honest with myself. I get bored with the game pretty quick if I am playing for 4 or 5 days straight. I also know that I would not be that much fun to be around if I did this full time either. I guess good news I have a job. Bottom line new or newly forming relationships and poker are not a good mix. If you have a good strong foundation to build from then I think it works fine, but otherwise I think is sounds like a disaster. I am a lucky person.
I hope you are all winning and will talk to you soon....SJ
Of course I was out and about last night at the Muck which is why all five of you are here. I walked into the usual crowd of the bigger games now on Tuesdays. I got there and they started the $100/200 game but made it a controlled move from the $50/100 game, so I ended up getting a seat right away in the $50/100 game. Last night turned into one of those sessions in between. I say that because there are sessions where you run great and you are just going to win in spite of yourself and are playing to maximize your win. Then there are those where you run terrible and are destined to lose or you must really grind it out to squeak out a win/breakeven. Then there are those where you run normal breakeven cards, nothing happens, just a boring normal non-event session where really most of your sessions occur. I have not really had many of these lately so it was fine by me yesterday. This is where you get to spend time working on your game. Working on reading people, controlling your boredom but staying alert, trying to learn something from the session. Controlling your emotions, and watching those that are not, or seeing how they change when running other than normal, hot and hitting, or cold and cold decked. In other words, trying to get better. I don't think most players really think about that part of their game. You don't always need to be in the action, sometimes you can just be an observer and work on other things that will make you a better player in the long run. Last night was just one of those nights.
I think I only played one orbit in the $50/100 game before moving to the $100/200 game. Usual cast of players with a few sporadic regulars as well, nothing out of the ordinary. The one out of normal occurrence was that my friend Aaron came down to play as well. He showed up a little later than I did, but there was a seat open when he got there so not a problem. He actually proceeded to play a good controlled game. He did not talk much, which was a plus, and did not do too much whining, again a plus. He did not even get too aggressive with his hand selection, just a good solid controlled game. His big hands held up and he played to maximize most of them. He booked a good win and left after about 4 hours leaving me to fend for myself and took a decent chuck of change out of the game.
I on the other hand was going nowhere. I was watching a lot of hands go by, and those that I did play were not great, I had to make some stuff up as I went. Neither up more than $2,000 nor down more than $1,000, which is a pretty tight range in a game of this size, but that was the nature of this session. The one hand which could have made my night was when I picked up pocket KK's on the button and it had been raised, called and then three bet by LP and I capped. We took the flop off 5 handed for $400 each, and an A spiked right on the flop. Muck you very much, send the pot to the guy who called two more bets cold with 88's and flopped a set that held up for a $4,000 pot. Nice Hand! I ground my way through a few people hitting and running and finally called it a night at 1:30am up +$1,144. Not a very good win rate, but still a small win. I will take it. I may play this Friday up at Tulaliup where they have been running $100/200 up there now on that day. Same players with a few north end regulars added in.
I lost a comment on my last post that asked about how I try to minimize my emotions and tells. Blogger ate it. The first thing that comes to my mind is to be aware of yourself. Know thyself as Thomas Aquinas once said. Know what feelings you are having, then try to neutralize them. If you are happy and rushing, don't get too cocky. Don't rub it in, play it down as lucky, which sometimes it is. If you are running poorly, don't get too down. Don't let the other players know you are depressed and running poorly, don't show them weakness, they will pick on you. Try to keep a positive attitude. If you can't, then take a walk, or quit. Better to come back in a positive state of mind then to keep getting beat on and let a small loss turn into one that takes more than one session to get back. Lastly, ask some of your friends in the game to watch you as you play. You may be playing hands predictably, or betting in patterns, or making movements with your body during certain conditions or hands that you are unaware of. You may not like the answers or agree with them, but there is usually a grain of truth in what you may hear. Aaron gave me some feedback last night on a few things. I may disagree with him, but I also know there is something to the feedback and I will work on it. I am not going to talk about it here as there are a few players in the game that read this blog, but I will work on it the next time.
Also, to the comment of how poker players are in relationships, I have this thought. I am very lucky to have a wife that while she may not like the fact that I play as much as I sometimes do, she is mostly supportive. She understands that I love this game, and would hate to give it up. She puts up with it, and even sometimes encourages my play. I scale it back when life at home gets busy, and sometimes she asks me not to play. Which I do. I have no idea how a full time player could have a real relationship. They play stupid hours, usually all night and for long periods of time. The other person in the relationship will not understand why you need to put in that many hours "gambling" which is how they will see it and not with her/him. So you need spend a ton of time and energy explaining that it is not really gambling but controlled gambling and not against the house with an edge but against other players separated by skill. Energy spent on that other than the game, which will detract from your game. The other side to that is to have a relationship with another player, which I am sure can work, but I would not want that either. I am lucky I have a job and am married because it adds balance to my life which in turn makes me a much happier person and hopefully a better player. I would not want to do this full time. I don't think I even could, to be honest with myself. I get bored with the game pretty quick if I am playing for 4 or 5 days straight. I also know that I would not be that much fun to be around if I did this full time either. I guess good news I have a job. Bottom line new or newly forming relationships and poker are not a good mix. If you have a good strong foundation to build from then I think it works fine, but otherwise I think is sounds like a disaster. I am a lucky person.
I hope you are all winning and will talk to you soon....SJ
posted by Seattlejohn at 11:50 AM
1 Comments:
Thank you for responding to my comment about relationships, your insight has really given me a more understanding on such topic :-)
Poker is or can be a lifestyle for some people. I was interested particularly because I dated someone whom I found out plays poker professionally and since he left to vegas to play, he dissapear. hahah. ( I hear thats common among players once they get into the game, the outside world suddenly does not exist)
You are very lucky to have someone like your wife that understands you and well.. you understand her, I think thats why you are able to manage and balance things in your personal life, and that I know not many guys can do. :-)
Congrats
anyways I know your blog is to talk about poker and not love :-) No need to post this for everyone to see, but I wanted to comment back.
Ivonne
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