Out of fucking nowhere.
I've recently really improved my technical game. I can think and talk about poker in a skilful way again. What is missing is application, that sense of 'if you cant apply what you know then you are not good at poker'.
I think what I need most is to get into the habit of delivering a video style narrative commentary within my brain.
Take this hand:
***** Hand History for Game 2011056168 ***** (Absolute)
$400.00 USD NL Texas Hold'em - Wednesday, April 21, 09:58:00 ET 2010
Table MARCUS ST (Real Money)
Seat 3 is the button
Seat 3: EZ888888 ( $637.90 USD )
Seat 4: PEGON81 ( $891.80 USD )
Seat 5: CATWOTISADOG ( $800.00 USD )
Seat 6: JACKASSRIVER ( $952.00 USD )
Seat 1: BERBA ( $852.00 USD )
Seat 2: COCO763 ( $112.60 USD )
PEGON81 posts small blind [$2.00 USD].
CATWOTISADOG posts big blind [$4.00 USD].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to CATWOTISADOG [ Tc Jc ]
JACKASSRIVER folds
BERBA raises [$12.00 USD]
COCO763 folds
EZ888888 folds
PEGON81 calls [$10.00 USD]
CATWOTISADOG calls [$8.00 USD]
** Dealing Flop ** [ Qc, 3s, 5c ]
PEGON81 checks
CATWOTISADOG bets [$25.00 USD]
BERBA raises [$78.00 USD]
PEGON81 folds
CATWOTISADOG calls [$53.00 USD]
** Dealing Turn ** [ 6h ]
CATWOTISADOG checks
BERBA checks
** Dealing River ** [ 8c ]
CATWOTISADOG bets [$148.00 USD]
BERBA raises [$762.00 USD]
CATWOTISADOG calls [$562.00 USD]
BERBA wins $52.00 USD
BERBA shows [Kc, 9c ]
BERBA wins $1609.00 USD from main pot
CATWOTISADOG shows [Tc, Jc ]
My thinking on the flop was: well, I'm crushed by better flushdraws that are well within his range, even he has a strong made hand it's going to be pretty difficult to get paid off OOP- say I hit on the turn, do I lead? Or check, and lead river. It's just a horrible spot.
So, my thinking was all there. What was missing was the video narrative (the sane part of me) saying, 'so in that case, even though it seems very tight, I'm actually just going to fold flop'.
But I didn't, and then again on the turn when he checks behind I'm thinking "well, any nutted hand would surely bet again, so it seems like he's happy to check IP both to see a free card to this draw, and also ensure that I hit my own draw". I thought about this, I knew this, I was sure he had a flush draw at this point, probably one better than my own.
So then on the river, I bet and he shoves. It is massively obvious that he has a better flush than mine, indeed the Khi flush is probably the very bottom of his range. I knew this, I had addressed all the problems on each street, I had essentially read the guys mind at every stage, but I clicked call anyway.
The crucial point here is: had I been making a live video, or actually narrated out loud the solution to the various points of the hand that I recognised, then I would have clicked fold around 7 times in this hand. I would've said on the river 'well I think my main mistake was made on the flop, but Im not going to compound the error now by calling this when he nakedly has a better flush. Does he expect me to fold flushes? No, so this is actually quite easy.'
It's not easy to keep picking myself up, setback after setback. Time and time again I think I've cracked it, have some small winning sessions, then one humoungous losing one.
So, it's back to 200nl for me. 20k hands at the very least. In theory of course, I should win $4000 doing this. I'm taking no such thing for granted.......
At the risk of sounding like a stuck record, I have to keep things very simple. Blogs before each session, short sessions, and graded on all the crucial aspects. If I'm still losing, then I'm obviously failing at one or more of the crucial aspects.
Aspects are:
- Stay on the front foot.
- Fold early on the back foot.
- No PF spew- QQ+/AK.
- VIDEO NARRATIVE AT ALL TIMES
So, STRICTLY a 45 minute session starting now, then a review to see how well, or otherwise, I achieved my goals.
dan
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