Lower Limit Again...
So I have been unable to get down to the Muck or up north to play in any bigger games lately. Just too much stuff happening at work, and not enough time to play cards. I have been resigned to quick stops up at Parkers. So last Thursday I had time after dinner to head out for a few hours. As it turned out a few friends from a company we do work with happened to be there and they were playing a little $8/16. One is a more of a NL player and the other I think is just learning the game and not a very strong player. Good spot to play. I got the best seat in the house. Directly to the left of both players. I spent the whole night isolating them with strong hands, and the rest of the table seemed to cooperate with my isolation plays so I ended up having a pretty good night for $8/16. No great hands to speak of so I won't bore you with the details. I did end up winning more a little more than 2 buyins.
Since I have not had much to talk about, how about I talk about managing. You can be one of the best poker players in the world but if you can't manage your game selection, bankroll, and personal life to keep playing, you are not really one of the best poker players in the world are you?? Poker is more than just playing the cards, you have to play yourself.
If you are not in the right frame of mind to play, you will lose most likely, so the right decision is to not play. If you have many distractions in your life it makes it very tough to concentrate and play well. You need to recognize that, and maybe not play. If you have been up for a long period of time, or been playing for a long period of time and are sleepy, you need to quit and go to bed. Don't take a winning session and turn it into a loser because it was a good spot. If you can't concentrate because you are tired, you will most likely loose.
Let's look at game selection. There are many articles about this but I see many people make this mistake so I guess people are not reading, they are not comprehending, or they just choose to ignore the information and gamble. There might be the best $1000/$2000 game going in the world with 5 guys that have no clue how to play, or do know how to play and are drinking and gambling it up, but if you are not bankrolled correctly you can go broke. If you go broke you can not play poker any more. That is the worst sin of all. Tough to get even, when you can't even play. Poker does have a luck factor, duh? 90% hands do lose, lots sometimes. Take a 50 BB loss in that game and you just lost $100,000. Don't sit in a game that can break you. That seems obvious, but not well understood. Don't take shots with your whole bankroll, hell 50%. You take shots with 10% or 20% of your roll. It still hurts, but does not put you out of business. This applies to all limits. If all you have to play with is $1,000 don't play $20/$40. Play $8/$16 and give yourself a chance to win over many session. That might even be too big for $1,000 but I can't recommend $4/$8, you can not beat that game with a $4 rake. I don't care how good you are, you will not win in the long run unless you are super good, and lucky. If you are both then you are not in that game anyway. That is another post however.
The other mistake, one which I make too often, it to sit in a game with too many good players in it. If you are trying to make money, it gets tough when everyone plays well, and then it becomes a card catching contest. Now sometimes there is only one game going around my limits, so I just decide I am going to play. At that point however I put a stop loss in place. If the game is full of good players, and it looks like I am not going to run well, I just quit. Having that discipline is really important over the long run. Don't book a huge loss that will take you days to get out of. I made this mistake at the WSOP this year. There were only a few $100/200 games going down there, and most of the time they had some really good players in it. The game was tough for me and to add insult to injury I was in the middle of running really poorly. I did not lose much, but the $30/60 games were just awesome down there. I should have just decided to play those games. I know it would have been a much better spot to make money. Bad choices.
The most lethal combination is to take a shot in a big game when you are tired or your head it not right. That will kill you fast. Seen it done, far too often. I am sure there are more thoughts on managing, but I have to run off to another meeting. You guys add to my list. I hope you are all winning and I will talk to you soon..SJ
Since I have not had much to talk about, how about I talk about managing. You can be one of the best poker players in the world but if you can't manage your game selection, bankroll, and personal life to keep playing, you are not really one of the best poker players in the world are you?? Poker is more than just playing the cards, you have to play yourself.
If you are not in the right frame of mind to play, you will lose most likely, so the right decision is to not play. If you have many distractions in your life it makes it very tough to concentrate and play well. You need to recognize that, and maybe not play. If you have been up for a long period of time, or been playing for a long period of time and are sleepy, you need to quit and go to bed. Don't take a winning session and turn it into a loser because it was a good spot. If you can't concentrate because you are tired, you will most likely loose.
Let's look at game selection. There are many articles about this but I see many people make this mistake so I guess people are not reading, they are not comprehending, or they just choose to ignore the information and gamble. There might be the best $1000/$2000 game going in the world with 5 guys that have no clue how to play, or do know how to play and are drinking and gambling it up, but if you are not bankrolled correctly you can go broke. If you go broke you can not play poker any more. That is the worst sin of all. Tough to get even, when you can't even play. Poker does have a luck factor, duh? 90% hands do lose, lots sometimes. Take a 50 BB loss in that game and you just lost $100,000. Don't sit in a game that can break you. That seems obvious, but not well understood. Don't take shots with your whole bankroll, hell 50%. You take shots with 10% or 20% of your roll. It still hurts, but does not put you out of business. This applies to all limits. If all you have to play with is $1,000 don't play $20/$40. Play $8/$16 and give yourself a chance to win over many session. That might even be too big for $1,000 but I can't recommend $4/$8, you can not beat that game with a $4 rake. I don't care how good you are, you will not win in the long run unless you are super good, and lucky. If you are both then you are not in that game anyway. That is another post however.
The other mistake, one which I make too often, it to sit in a game with too many good players in it. If you are trying to make money, it gets tough when everyone plays well, and then it becomes a card catching contest. Now sometimes there is only one game going around my limits, so I just decide I am going to play. At that point however I put a stop loss in place. If the game is full of good players, and it looks like I am not going to run well, I just quit. Having that discipline is really important over the long run. Don't book a huge loss that will take you days to get out of. I made this mistake at the WSOP this year. There were only a few $100/200 games going down there, and most of the time they had some really good players in it. The game was tough for me and to add insult to injury I was in the middle of running really poorly. I did not lose much, but the $30/60 games were just awesome down there. I should have just decided to play those games. I know it would have been a much better spot to make money. Bad choices.
The most lethal combination is to take a shot in a big game when you are tired or your head it not right. That will kill you fast. Seen it done, far too often. I am sure there are more thoughts on managing, but I have to run off to another meeting. You guys add to my list. I hope you are all winning and I will talk to you soon..SJ
posted by Seattlejohn at 9:00 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home