On Being An Illusionist

I was reading a blog post by Shamus over at http://www.hardboiledpoker.com/ about how he feels he's been running in place over the past year at the tables--a feeling I've certainly felt. While reading, I was of course relating my own experience to his and was reminded of the frustration of knowing that I can play what i think is good poker, making a minimal amount of mistakes, and still lose or just break even over a significant stretch of sessions.

I don't know Shamus personally (nor could I pick him out of a crowd), but from having read his blog for some time, I perceive him to be a methodical thinker, writer, and poker player, paying attention to many details and making only rational plays. For example, I've never found a single grammatical error in his blog. Ever. Given my take on him, when I read of his troubles, I pictured him being a disciplined, thinking player, and perhaps a little on the risk-averse end of the spectrum, never making any -EV plays and such. Possessing some of these player qualities myself, I naturally wondered of a way out of a rut like Shamus's, and an answer immediately popped out at me.

A player like Shamus, and myself at times, can easily sit at a table for over an hour and go virtually unnoticed by other players. The unnoticed player never makes terrible plays, rarely wins huge pots at showdown, doesn't enter many pots as a result of playing tight preflop, and just seems to fly under his opponents' radar. Now, players may notice that he's being a nit or a rock, and, while this could be a good thing in that the unnoticed player could then profitably switch gears by loosening up, I think there's something better. Be the player that everyone can't help but notice. Why not have a crazy image, whether it's donkish, or just extremely loose-aggressive? Why not run the show? Why not make everyone annoyed by your play and get them emotionally invested in each hand?

Last Summer I was in Biloxi on a bachelor party trip playing some 1/2NL late night when I found myself up a buy-in after having caught a few hands. It may be fundamentally bad, but after winning some chips, I tend to loosen up and start seeing flops with marginal cards. This is what I did this night. I got aggressive, and people started to notice. I made a lot of post flop moves, pushing people off of hands and pouncing on every inkling of a weakness I detected. Before long, I found myself up another buy-in, and I noticed that the table dynamics had totally changed. I had become the "table bully". When I entered a pot, all players waited to see what I would do, and usually anticipated raises, reraises, c-bets, etc. At one point I was in LP with garbage, and it was my turn to act with two limpers ahead of me, and I was about to fold after some hesitation when the first limper says, "Here he goes again, raising it up." What was soon to be a fold suddenly seemed a good spot to raise. He had created a premise from which I could deduce lots of information later in the hand.  Or I could have just been drunk.  Nonetheless, he was emotionally invested.

This became such a tool for me that night. I noticed that since I had become the table bully, everyone's moves seemed so apparent. They were all acting defensively, as if to deliver me justice for having pushed them around all night, and, as a result, the strength of their hands seemed to polarize--they were either obviously strong or obviously weak.

So after reading Shamus's post, the idea that came to me is that there's a difference in my ability to gauge the strengths of my opponents' hands when I'm running the show at the table and when I'm flying under everyone's radar. Everyone loves to trap bullies. It's irresistible. It's pure psychology. Everyone wants justice. Not only will it satisfy the player to win some of his chips back from you, but he will satisfy the mob (the other players at the table) by delivering the justice that you, the bully, deserve. It becomes you vs. the mob. And in each hand your opponent sort of represents the rest of the table that aren't involved in the hand, and he feels a responsibility to deliver justice to them by punishing you. And the mob is surely paying attention because you are running the show, so your opponent will be trying hard not to disappoint (no one wants to lose their stack when their whole table is watching, so it becomes more apparent if they are strong or not by their commitment to their hand). This makes it easier to tell what each opponent is doing because you know their motives. They're being influenced by the mob. Then you can act accordingly without them realizing that they are making your decisions for you.

So while you are running the show, you're still flying under the radar, which is exactly what you want--to be deceptive. When you're flying under the radar by just, well, flying under the radar, you're not really deceiving anyone. So sometimes I think it's a good idea to blatantly create an illusion by means of a big production at your table. Otherwise, you may just be waiting for cards your whole life only to find you've been running in place.

Final Tables (plural !!!)

Since my last post I've logged some pretty successful sessions on Full Tilt. This past weekend I final-tabled two 135-man Rush tourneys back to back. I attribute it to having tightened up a bit and running quite well. I hit sets with pocket pairs by the turn more times than I didn't, which is staggering considering a sample size of around 20-25 and that the probability of flopping a set is around 12%. I was also dealt Aces well above expected value (10+ times in less tournaments), and only had them cracked once.

Poker is quite easy when the deck is hitting you in the face like that, but I think I played well, too. I was able to get away from a lot of marginal hands that I haven't been able to get away from in the recent past, which is obviously very important early in a MTT. This is one of the handful of fundamental concepts that I had begun to stop considering before I decided to tighten my game up. Here's a short list of some others that I think have contributed to my recent success. Most of these apply to early/middle stages of MTTs:

• Bluff less, and with good reason, and don't bluff at all in the first two or three levels. If your c-bet is called on the flop, there better be a good reason to fire a third barrel on the turn. Don't raise when in doubt. Check/fold.
• Don't play A9-AJo in EP unless it's late or you're short stacked. I find myself not knowing where I stand with any number of callers on the flop. (Esp if an Ace comes) Plus you're out of position. It just doesnt usually turn out good.
• Don't overvalue suited cards. Qh10h is really not as good as it looks. Top pair is too frequently 2nd best here, and a flush is a long shot. Even if two hearts come, you may find yourself committing your stack (and risking your tourney life) as a dog. Tourneys are all about surviving.
• If you do find yourself in a sticky situation with a marginal hand, keep the pot small. Don't c-bet. I think people c-bet too much in general. Check/call if you think there's a chance you may have the best hand, and check behind if checked into. This also keeps you out of traps.
• I think others are also aware that people c-bet too much, so bet you're strong hands, as opponents won't believe you a lot of the time. You're passing up value if you don't.
• Pay attention to flop textures and practice determining if they hit your opponents. Use your opponents' position and bet-sizing to help you determine this. I like raising a flop with one broadway card and two low cards if c-bet into. You'll likely take it down if your opponent didn't pair the broadway card, and chances are he didn't. If you're called, however, slow way down.

I know this is some pretty basic stuff, but I think it's what I needed. Remember, though, that in the later stages, there's a point where you're playing for the win, and you have to take more chances with a shorter stack. Most of the above points apply to the early/middle stages, which are very important stages because they get you to the later stages. I think I was getting ahead of myself trying to be more aggressive all the time. There were too many times where I was raising without knowing why. Since I've stopped doing that, I've been able to better identify spots where bluffing/raising is appropriate, and my success rate with bluffing has dramatically increased. I pulled off one hell of a bluff yesterday with air. I was actually quite impressed by myself, and it wasn't even that difficult of a decision. I thought, "Who am I right now?" It felt great. And it's all a result of slowing down and thinking through things logically--not blind aggression.

Or I could just be donkin' it up. Luckbox style.

Who knows?

Gotta love poker.

Cheers.

Time for a Revamp

I am currently overhauling my poker game. The past couple of months haven't been that great. I'm losing big pots and winning small ones. Variance? Maybe. Leaks? Probably. As a result, I'm not only studying 2+2 posts more, but also REPLYING to them and joining in on the discussions. This has made a world of difference for me. It's easy to read something and say, "Yeah, that makes sense, I would do the same thing." However, it wasn't until I started posting my own thoughts that I realized I wasn't considering many factors that I should be considering while involved in a hand. I only thought I was. Instead, I've been playing my same old robotic style of poker that isn't as malleable as it needs to be.

Poker players are getting better. Much better. And very quickly. I've been learning that the hard way. If I want to keep up, I'll have to get better with them. The first step is knowing you have a problem.

I'll be playing in one tournament in Vegas this year, and, no, it's not the WSOP again. As I mentioned, I haven't exactly been fattening my bankroll of late, and I just can't fund another run-in with Phil. Shame, I know. Instead I'll be playing in the bobo, off-brand series, the prestigious Venetian Deepstack Extravaganza!! And I'm only going to Vegas because we have a wedding to attend there. The $340 entry fee is much more my speed right now, especially given my recent purchases (house, car). So now I have a short term goal--revamp my game over the next month and see how deep I can go in this thing on June 4th. Final table would be sweet!

Cheers.