Friday, November 10, 2006
Foxwoods Trip Report (part 3) - Lessons
There are some things you know. And, then there are some things YOU KNOW. For example, you know that you shouldn't eat an old piece of pizza you find in the company fridge, but until you've been in the hospital with an IV shoved in your arm as a result of food poisoning from eating some suspect food out of the company fridge, you don't really KNOW. This is the difference between common sense and first-hand experience. There is no real substitute for that first-hand experience.
I had a couple of these experiences recently during a few marathon sessions at Foxwoods. These are items that everyone knows, but until this weekend, I didn't really KNOW.
Move to the left of a manic We've all been advised to the wisdom of seat selection. In limit poker, I've been advised that you'll want to position a manic to your right. This gives you the advantage of knowing how the manic will act before you take action. I learned this lesson is a real meaningful way during a session of Omaha8. Originally, I was positioned 2 spots to the right of this maniac. After about 5 hands, I realized the fact that if I limped with a marginal hand (A488 rainbow), it was getting raised. If I raised for value with a strong hand after a couple of limpers (A238 w/suited A), he'd shut out the table with a re-raise. Anyway, when a seat became open 1 positions to this player's left, I took it. This gave me an extremely strong position. In low limit poker (4/8 holdem or 4/8 omaha), you often have lots of dreamers playing marginal hands pre-flop hoping to get lucky. This is especially true in Omaha8. I hate these players.
With the maniac to my right, I would use him to help "protect" my medium to strong hands. For example, I was dealt A4KK w/suited A. Maniac is UTG and opens for a raise. I can now re-raise to protect this hand. I'd love to get this pot head's up or 3-way. Players behind me are now facing 3 bets cold. I've got to assume that some of them may fold holdings like 2389 or JJ87. When they fold, I benefit as my holdings are promoted up a notch. Plus, this type of "protection" 3 bet really helps me understand the holdings of those who call 3 bets cold behind me. If someone behind me smooth calls three bets and then leads/raises/calls on a low flop, I'm pretty sure my low is no good.
On the other hand, if I have a very strong hand that I'd like to take against a large field (A246 with a suited A), when the maniac raises, I can smooth call. This smooth call gives the table some relief that they may be able to sneak in with just 2 bets preflop. My smooth call tends to start a series of calls behind. Often times, this turns out to be a sort of "pot building" call as the other gamblers at the table will come in for a discounted 2 bets preflop (as opposed to the more frequent capped preflop pot). If it subsequently gets raised/re-raised, no problem. Bring it.
Anyway, having the maniac to my right worked like a charm. I felt I like had had a lot of control over the table from this position. This is pretty rare in low limit poker games I've played in where players often complain about suckers who play weak holdings and chase them down to the river to catch some miracle.
Change gears and swim upstream Once again, I've heard different experts espouse the virtues of "shifting gears" (alternately playing loose, then tight). This is especially useful in NL Hold'Em ring games and tournaments where confusing an opponent into making just one mistake can make your whole evening a success. As a corollary, it is also important to "swim upstream" (when the table is playing loose, you play tight. When the table is playing tight, you play loose). This worked like a charm during another session of Omaha8. We had just finished playing about 4 hours with a mega maniac at the table. We had received about 6 new players to the table who all seemed to know each other and play together. I could tell right away that these were solid players. They knew the lingo. The folded a lot of hands pre-flop and they raised a lot. Things were tightening up and the aggression was going way up.
I was approaching the end of a very long (14 hour day) Omaha8 session. I was still stuck about $200 (down from a peak of about -$400). I was feeling a little giddy. So I started playing a little reckless. I was raising with weak holdings, getting the pot short-handed and showing down marginal hands for winners or splits. This group of guys then began to grumble and mumble about how poorly I played and how weak my hands were that I was showing down. I could sense a collective effort to "punish" the ass in seat 4 who keeps making stupid plays (that be me). After about the 5th such pot (I caught a 3 on the river to promote my A5 to the best low and take ½ the pot), I literally got cussed out for playing so bad. Then, I shifted gears. I made a mental contract with myself to only play premium hands and see if I could get paid off. It worked great. I was getting called/raised, usually by one of the table "cops" who decided it was their job to punish me. On one hand I held A31010. The flop came 2 8 10 (admittedly a great flop). I bet and was raised. I call. Turn was a 2. I bet, was raised, and called. The river was a K. I bet, was raised, I 3 bet, he 4 bet. I call. He showed A235 and I scooped a monster. I can understand the flop and turn betting, but the 4 bets on the river was exclusively a payoff from shifting gears.
Don't play when you are tired This one is such basic common sense that I shouldn't need to elaborate...but I will. If you play long enough, you should, on average, be dealt just as many big hands as everyone else. If you are supposed to be dealt AA once every 3 hours, on average you will be...and so will everyone else. The problem with averages is that there is always this nasty thing called "variance" that comes along for the ride. Sometimes you'll be dealt those pocket rockets 5 times in three hours. Sometimes, you won't see pocket AA for 8 straight hours. Hey, it happens. The real issue comes in when you are playing exhausted. You start to loose proper perspective on time. When you are dead tired, after being dealt rags for 6 straight hands, your mind starts to compress time and distorted these 6 successive rag hands. In your mind, you start believing you've been dealt rags for 30 straight hands. When you are dealt KQo, your mind starts to convince you that this hand is just as strong as AKs. When you are dealt pocket 8s, you start to assign the same strength to this hand that is ordinarily reserved for JJ.
When you're playing NLHE, the margins are so thin. You need to pay a time charge ($5/hr) and tokes. Your risk/reward ratio is so thin that you just can't make mistakes and expect to win money. You just can't afford to play less than excellent poker when playing No Limit.
As my story goes, I was able to give back over $500 in profit in just a few hours. I'd like to say I gave back the money as a result of some bad beats or making some aggressive moves in coin flip situations. This was not the case. I simply donk called and donk bluffed in bad-bad spots. Oh well, live and learn!
I had a couple of these experiences recently during a few marathon sessions at Foxwoods. These are items that everyone knows, but until this weekend, I didn't really KNOW.
Move to the left of a manic We've all been advised to the wisdom of seat selection. In limit poker, I've been advised that you'll want to position a manic to your right. This gives you the advantage of knowing how the manic will act before you take action. I learned this lesson is a real meaningful way during a session of Omaha8. Originally, I was positioned 2 spots to the right of this maniac. After about 5 hands, I realized the fact that if I limped with a marginal hand (A488 rainbow), it was getting raised. If I raised for value with a strong hand after a couple of limpers (A238 w/suited A), he'd shut out the table with a re-raise. Anyway, when a seat became open 1 positions to this player's left, I took it. This gave me an extremely strong position. In low limit poker (4/8 holdem or 4/8 omaha), you often have lots of dreamers playing marginal hands pre-flop hoping to get lucky. This is especially true in Omaha8. I hate these players.
With the maniac to my right, I would use him to help "protect" my medium to strong hands. For example, I was dealt A4KK w/suited A. Maniac is UTG and opens for a raise. I can now re-raise to protect this hand. I'd love to get this pot head's up or 3-way. Players behind me are now facing 3 bets cold. I've got to assume that some of them may fold holdings like 2389 or JJ87. When they fold, I benefit as my holdings are promoted up a notch. Plus, this type of "protection" 3 bet really helps me understand the holdings of those who call 3 bets cold behind me. If someone behind me smooth calls three bets and then leads/raises/calls on a low flop, I'm pretty sure my low is no good.
On the other hand, if I have a very strong hand that I'd like to take against a large field (A246 with a suited A), when the maniac raises, I can smooth call. This smooth call gives the table some relief that they may be able to sneak in with just 2 bets preflop. My smooth call tends to start a series of calls behind. Often times, this turns out to be a sort of "pot building" call as the other gamblers at the table will come in for a discounted 2 bets preflop (as opposed to the more frequent capped preflop pot). If it subsequently gets raised/re-raised, no problem. Bring it.
Anyway, having the maniac to my right worked like a charm. I felt I like had had a lot of control over the table from this position. This is pretty rare in low limit poker games I've played in where players often complain about suckers who play weak holdings and chase them down to the river to catch some miracle.
Change gears and swim upstream Once again, I've heard different experts espouse the virtues of "shifting gears" (alternately playing loose, then tight). This is especially useful in NL Hold'Em ring games and tournaments where confusing an opponent into making just one mistake can make your whole evening a success. As a corollary, it is also important to "swim upstream" (when the table is playing loose, you play tight. When the table is playing tight, you play loose). This worked like a charm during another session of Omaha8. We had just finished playing about 4 hours with a mega maniac at the table. We had received about 6 new players to the table who all seemed to know each other and play together. I could tell right away that these were solid players. They knew the lingo. The folded a lot of hands pre-flop and they raised a lot. Things were tightening up and the aggression was going way up.
I was approaching the end of a very long (14 hour day) Omaha8 session. I was still stuck about $200 (down from a peak of about -$400). I was feeling a little giddy. So I started playing a little reckless. I was raising with weak holdings, getting the pot short-handed and showing down marginal hands for winners or splits. This group of guys then began to grumble and mumble about how poorly I played and how weak my hands were that I was showing down. I could sense a collective effort to "punish" the ass in seat 4 who keeps making stupid plays (that be me). After about the 5th such pot (I caught a 3 on the river to promote my A5 to the best low and take ½ the pot), I literally got cussed out for playing so bad. Then, I shifted gears. I made a mental contract with myself to only play premium hands and see if I could get paid off. It worked great. I was getting called/raised, usually by one of the table "cops" who decided it was their job to punish me. On one hand I held A31010. The flop came 2 8 10 (admittedly a great flop). I bet and was raised. I call. Turn was a 2. I bet, was raised, and called. The river was a K. I bet, was raised, I 3 bet, he 4 bet. I call. He showed A235 and I scooped a monster. I can understand the flop and turn betting, but the 4 bets on the river was exclusively a payoff from shifting gears.
Don't play when you are tired This one is such basic common sense that I shouldn't need to elaborate...but I will. If you play long enough, you should, on average, be dealt just as many big hands as everyone else. If you are supposed to be dealt AA once every 3 hours, on average you will be...and so will everyone else. The problem with averages is that there is always this nasty thing called "variance" that comes along for the ride. Sometimes you'll be dealt those pocket rockets 5 times in three hours. Sometimes, you won't see pocket AA for 8 straight hours. Hey, it happens. The real issue comes in when you are playing exhausted. You start to loose proper perspective on time. When you are dead tired, after being dealt rags for 6 straight hands, your mind starts to compress time and distorted these 6 successive rag hands. In your mind, you start believing you've been dealt rags for 30 straight hands. When you are dealt KQo, your mind starts to convince you that this hand is just as strong as AKs. When you are dealt pocket 8s, you start to assign the same strength to this hand that is ordinarily reserved for JJ.
When you're playing NLHE, the margins are so thin. You need to pay a time charge ($5/hr) and tokes. Your risk/reward ratio is so thin that you just can't make mistakes and expect to win money. You just can't afford to play less than excellent poker when playing No Limit.
As my story goes, I was able to give back over $500 in profit in just a few hours. I'd like to say I gave back the money as a result of some bad beats or making some aggressive moves in coin flip situations. This was not the case. I simply donk called and donk bluffed in bad-bad spots. Oh well, live and learn!
