Breakthrough

I am playing cash games almost exclusively after my February Vegas trip. I won a bunch in the cash games in Vegas and have decided to settle more into cash games.

This has been a good decision. My on-line bankroll is at an all time high. After Party closed its doors to Americans and then the UIGEA, I thought that good cash games were never to be found again. For a long while, I was either winning in the SNGs and losing in cash games, or vice versa. I found the games tough and I struggled grow the bankroll. My results were stagnant -- several months of play and no up-tick in the bankroll.

During my Vegas trip and after, my cash game play has just clicked. $2/4NL on FullTilt has been great.

The most important thing that has happened is that my reads are getting better. I am trusting my instincts more, and making decisions based more on my feel and read of a hand rather than analysis during the hand. I no longer do much calculation during hands -- its all second nature now. So, I focus on relaxing during play and reading opponents. Most of the time, I can get a decent to strong feel for where I am at in a hand. If I can’t, it usually means I’m too tired or have been playing in a session for too long.

With on-line play, its mostly just absorbing the betting patterns and reaction times. With live play, its much easier. Just watching people tells me almost all that I need to know about where I am at in a hand. People give off so many signs about hand strength.

If I had to summarize my recent upswing, it would be due to:

1. Relaxing and reading my opponents.

2. Open-raising or calling more raises in late position. Playing a wide range of hands on the button. The importance of late position has finally sunk in. I find myself folding amazingly strong hands in early position to a raise.

3. Taking the lead in betting and continuing with the lead.

4. Identifying the LAGs and waiting for an opportunity to pick them off with a strong hand. I used to develop a strong retaliation mentality toward LAGs -- try to play back at them with their type of game. A better approach in NL is to wait for one key hand to take their stack.

5. Not categorizing my play. I don’t go into a game thinking about a style of play. Sometimes I find myself playing really LAG, and other times I find myself playing like a giant rock. It depends on my mood, the table, and most importantly my read of the players.

6. On-line, I’ve finally found a useful function for player notes -- I’ve started copying and pasting whole hands into my notes. I focus on hands where (a) a player paid off really big, (b) got caught in a bluff, or (c) won a big pot. Rather than some cryptic note that I peck out during play, reading an entire hand can actually provide critical insight into playing styles. And, I’m seeing a lot of the same players at the $2/4NL games, so my notes are actually being put to use.