In The Long Run

I read the Antonius article in the most recent CardPlayer issue, noting with particular interest where he called out Doyle Brunson to any game for any stakes at any time. Doyle!

Then I read the most recent entry in Doyle's blog last night where he accepts the challenge. The interest part is where he says "I’m willing to commit to for at least a seven figure match." I can only assume that this statement means that the match could also possibly involve both players putting up eight figures. Yikes. I just think its cool that Doyle has a blog. It certainly sounds like his voice -- I can hear the folksy, easy-going southern drawl in my head as I read his blog.

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Dr. Pauly devoted an entire blog post to my all-time favorite hand, which is T8s, and specifially T8-spades if I can select a suit. Cool.

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I read poker blogs much more than I write in my own. I try to learn what I can from the mistakes and discussions of others. There are not to many that consistently stick to the meat of the game -- strategy, hand analysis and review of their own play.

One thing that I have noticed to be almost a universal truth about the way poker players think. In the early and middle stages of a player's career arc, there is intense focus on hand analysis and learning game strategy to reach a desired skill level. Then when the player believes they have reached that skill level, they slow down or entirely stop the strategy discussion and just play, and their focus turns to other aspects of the game.

This is when many players get beat -- they focus more on bad beats, variance, the behavior of other players, and generally stop learning the game. But I have noticed that the very best players acknowledge that they are always learning. They learn from each mistake in each session.

When you read poker blogs or maybe the poker forums, you can quickly tell where players are at in their career arc and which players will continue to learn the game.

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I went skiing today in Utah. Actually, the rest of the family went skiing, and I went snowboarding for the first time. Learning to snowboard involves a lot of falling down. I already know that tomorrow morning I will feel like I have been beat up by secret police during the night.

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While on vacation, I still get a bit of poker in at night after everyone else crashes. Its still my refuge from the world, no matter whether I am at home or on vacation. Its my thing that I do for myself and that I don't have to explain to anyone else, except those that are interested in listenng. My charm at the on-line NLHE cash games seems to have returned. Despite my prior whining about the downfall of on-line cash games -- of maybe because of that? -- I have rediscovered a winning game. I think I know why.

I saw the movie "No Country for Old Men" a few days ago. I will save a full discussion of that movie for another time, but the movie had an interesting effect on my mindset toward life, and also poker. Only the poker part is relevant to this blog. It made me realize that life is very long and that over the course of my life, God willing, I will play hundreds of thousands and maybe even millions of poker hands. I will be playing this game for the rest of my life. I already know this to be true.

Consequently, I am in no rush for immediate victory. I know that my "long run" will be as long of a run as I can put in -- the rest of my life. I have a newfound contentment to play at a steady, even pace and patiently wait for the good starting hands and the best board cards to get my money in the pot. This is my style. Its wonderful when you can dig deep into a work of art -- a book, a movie, whatever catches your interest -- and pull out meaning that changes your life. These sort of events don't happen to often, and you have to pay attention or they will slip out of view like a ghost.

Poker is Easy

First hand of a new SNG –

PokerStars Game Tournament Level I (10/20)
Seat 1: (1500 in chips)
Seat 2: (1500 in chips)
Seat 3: (1500 in chips)
Seat 4: (1500 in chips)
Seat 5: (1500 in chips)
Seat 6: (1500 in chips)
Seat 7: Darvcus (1500 in chips)
Seat 8: (1500 in chips)
Seat 9: (1500 in chips)
Seat 2: posts small blind 10
Seat 3: posts big blind 20
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Darvcus [Ad Ac]
folds
folds
Seat 6: raises 20 to 40
Darvcus: raises 80 to 120
folds
folds
folds
Seat 2: raises 80 to 200
folds
Seat 6: calls 160
Darvcus: raises 460 to 660
Seat 2: calls 460
Seat 6: calls 460
*** FLOP *** [Ah As Qc]
Seat 2: bets 840 and is all-in
Seat 6: folds
Darvcus: calls 840 and is all-in
*** TURN *** [Ah As Qc] [Qh]
*** RIVER *** [Ah As Qc Qh] [Kh]
Seat 6 said, "nh"
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Seat 2: shows [7d 7s] (two pair, Aces and Queens)
Darvcus: shows [Ad Ac] (four of a kind, Aces)Darvcus collected 3680 from pot

On Bluffing

Gus Hansen has some recent blog post about bluffing here. Some interesting thoughts by him that are worth consideration:

“Bluffing is a key component to a winning poker strategy, and therefore I am constantly trying to add more and more bluffing features into my game. Some might think that I already bluff too much, but truth be told I still need to work on my bluffing frequencies in some specific situations.The fact that trickery and deception play a significantly larger role in short-handed poker makes the matter even more imminent. In heads-up play you are constantly on the move, and being able to pull the trigger in all sorts of situations with or without a hand is of utmost importance.”

“Notice that if I don't have any experience playing 'live' against someone, I always put them in a much tighter category than where I would be found. Against most opponents in big buy-in tournaments, a decent-sized bet on the turn will be enough to take out hands like AQ and AJ and maybe even 88 as well.”

“From past experiences I know for a fact, that each and every tournament player, I have encountered out there, cherish their chips to such a degree that bluffing should be upgraded from an occasional occurrence to a major weapon at your disposal in every hand you play.”

I don’t know if he is just advertising, but I would wager not. Against the right players, its very important to keep these thoughts in mind. Against the right players.

Call of the Day

Occasionally, rarely, I can make a read on-line.

PokerStars Tournament $25+$2 WSOP Steps
Hold'em No Limit - Level III (25/50)
9-max Seat #8 is the button
Seat 3 (1270 in chips)
Seat 8 (1445 in chips)
Seat 9: Darvcus (1715 in chips)
Darvcus: posts small blind 25
Seat 1 posts big blind 50
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Darvcus [Ac 9c]
folds
Seat 3 raises 100 to 150
folds
folds
folds
Seat 8 calls 150
Darvcus: calls 125
folds
*** FLOP *** [3c 4d 9h]
Darvcus: checks
Seat 3 bets 150
Seat 8 folds
Darvcus: raises 300 to 450
Seat 3 raises 670 to 1120 and is all-in
Darvcus: calls 670
*** TURN *** [3c 4d 9h] [As]
*** RIVER *** [3c 4d 9h As] [2s]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Darvcus: shows [Ac 9c] (two pair, Aces and Nines)
Seat 3 shows [Kh Qh] (high card Ace)
Darvcus collected 2740 from pot

My C/R was to test whether I was ahead. His push should signal that I am not. He could very easily have something like JJ here, or any overpair. No real logic to the decision, and this was not a math based call. I could just feel it. This often happens live for me, but so rarely on-line.

American Beauty

Quite by accident I have watched most of the movie American Beauty twice in the last couple of weeks. Upon the second viewing, I am struck by the symbolism in the movie.

I liked this movie when I originally saw it in the theaters, but it did not strike the chord with me then as it does now. I do not exactly relate to Lester Burnham, but I understand what brought him down in his world. I have seen in others how the stress of life’s routines can create what happened to his family.

There is significant use of color in the movie, and a few other symbols. My take on their meaning:

Red = The unobtainable for Lester

Red is the most significant color in the movie. Lester’s front door is red. Lester’s wife, Carolyn, meticulously grows red roses. Before Carolyn starts to clean the house that she is trying to to sell, she takes off her dress and reveals a bright red slip, in which she runs around the house in a frantic cleaning spree. Lester’s object of desire, Angela, is viewed alternately covered by, showered by, and bathing in a sea of red rose petals.

Lester’s first encounter with Angela at the basketball game concludes with Angela opening her sweater to a burst of red rose petals. Lester sees Angela on his bedroom ceiling awash in red rose petals. In a dream, Lester wanders into the bathroom to find Angela in a bathtub filled with water and red rose petals. Lester’s root-beer encounter with Angela in his kitchen results in him urping up a red rose petal. In the final scenes of the movie, where Lester and Angela almost consummate their lustful relationship, a vase of red roses is in the background behind Angela in nearly every shot. The dancing white grocery bag that symbolizes the ultimate beauty for Ricky Fitz appears before bright red doors; Lester sees this scene while delivering his eulogy at the end of the movie. Red symbolizes the things that Lester wants but cannot or will not have in life.

Blue = sexuality

Jim and Jim, the gay couple that live on Robin Hood Trail with whom Lester jogs, both wear blue. The wife of the Real Estate King wears blue at the party. The Real Estate King wears a blue suit when he seduces Jane at their lunch. When Jane strips in her bedroom for Ricky while he is filming her from his bedroom next door, the curtains framing Jane’s figure are blue.

When Ricky’s father, Frank, watches Ricky and Lester through the window of Lester’s garage, when Frank mistakenly believes that Ricky is going down on Lester, Lester is reclining in a large, round chair with blue cushions. Lester and Carolyn almost get it on their blue and white striped couch in their living room, before Carolyn warns Lester that he’s about to spill beer on the couch and ruins the moment.

Black & white = normalcy

Ricky wears only black and white clothes. Ricky’s room consists of black and white, mostly video tapes lining the shelves. Ricky wears a tuxedo with a white jacket for his catering work at the party. Jane is always dressed in black and white. Her lipstick is some dark, colorless shade. Ricky films things that are white – the dead dove, the dancing white grocery sack. By the end of the movie, despite their troubles, Jane and Ricky are the normal people who survive their twisted family lives and presumably escape to New York to start their new life.

Gun = release and salvation

The Real Estate King tells Jane that he relieves stress by shooting a gun. Jane takes up handgun target practice to relieve the stress in her life. She is most happy after shooting a gun. Frank has a handgun collection that is housed in locked cabinets. Ricky opens a cabinet with a duplicate key to show Jane the Nazi serving plate. His access to an item stored with the gun collection is a way of connecting with Jane, to later escape his world with Jane.

At the end of the movie, Carolyn is walking up to the house in the rain clutching a gun, energized by her self-help tapes and ready to kill Lester. Frank kills Lester at the end of the movie with a handgun, which saves Lester from his depressing world. Lester’s red blood splatters on a pure white wall when he is shot in the head.

Reality Check

“Play is the work of children.” My children work very hard, at times! If this statement is also true for adults playing poker, then I can see why so many teens and 20-somethings are enamored with the idea of playing poker for a living. They think that work could be just a fun game. I do not want to play poker for a living. But, poker needs to remain fun. Which leads me to the reality check…

Its good to be brutally honest with yourself as a poker player. I am way past whining about bad beats and variance. Its just part of the game. But after a while, its hard to ignore trends, even if you are immune to and account for the variance. So, here is how my current game stacks up –

Live Cash Games – Love it, and I've had much success. I’ve won a lot in live cash games. Both in Vegas and locally. I’ve never ventured beyond $5/10 NLHE, but I’ve had success at all levels up to this level. I’ve worked hard on my reads and my feel of the game, and its what I like the most. For me, the most satisfying aspect of playing poker is sitting at a table, shutting out the real world for the entire session, tuning in to the vibe of the table, using all the math that I have learned without consciously thinking about the calculations, and then making good reads. When I am in the zone and making good decisions based on my read, this is ultimately why I play the game.

Live tournaments – Decent results, some nice cashes, but I haven’t really played that many tournaments. The luck factor is higher than in cash games, which is why I like deeped-stacked cash games the best. I would play more tournaments if I had the time, but for now I will have to settle for the annual Vegas pilgrimage and the occasional Ameristar tournament. Live tournaments are fun because they are an event, even if the variance is high, which is why I still like to play them.

On-line tournaments – Very high variance. I don’t have the time or take the time to play many on-line tournaments except the Thursday night Chiptalk tournament. I’m relatively satisfied with my ITM% over several years in the Chiptalk series, but I still have yet to win the damn thing. I don’t play the Chiptalk tournament as much due to work and life commitments.

On-line SNGs – This is clearly my strongest on-line game. I have consistently won SNGs up to the $50 level. Sharkscope.com data keeps track better than I do (“Darvcus” on PokerStars). I like the strategy that I have developed over the years for SNGs, and there are still a good number of players that make easily avoidable mistakes in SNGs up to the $30 level. I’ve had much more success at SNGs than on-line cash games.

On-Line Cash Games – After the UIGEA, I am a losing on-line cash game player. Not huge losses, I just don’t have an edge in these games any more. Back during the good PartyPoker days, I was a big winner in the cash games. I guess everyone was (except for the contributors, of course). Its how I built my on-line bankroll from $200 into the thousands. But after the UIGEA, I think the cash games became extremely hard. I sense that a lot of the grinders have learned to live at the low stakes tables, and just play a lot of tables to minimize variance. Last week, I sat at two tables where one player on each table was taking an incredibly long time with each decision. I did a search on each, and they were both playing 15+ tables! Crazy.

Very recently, I’ve come to realize something else about on-line cash games: I need more time to make my decisions. I don’t need any more time that is allotted to make decisions in SNGs, but I routinely need more time than allowed in cash games. So, my decisions are often hurried. Not all the time, and not by a significant amount, but still often hurried. Routinely feeling slightly hurried can make a huge difference between making good laydowns and horrible, money-losing calls. Make this mistake a few times each session, and you have a recipe for –EV results.

I’m not saying this as an excuse for my poor on-line cash game performance, but its just a reality of my game. Admitting your weakness is a strength, right? Feeling hurried, coupled with limited reading abilities at the on-line cash tables, plus playing at night when I am generally tired, has resulted in losses. I don’t have an edge in on-line cash games any more. I’m sure this will change when the law changes at some point in the future, when donators can again easily make deposits, but until these floodgates re-open, I’m going to stick to on-line SNGs for a positive return.