it's a time of change throughout and I'm making a change in this area. I'm finally going to get moving on the sports project. starting with football this season. will see how it goes. I'd also like to give hockey a try. start with football.
I'm pretty far behind. I realized I couldn't name the teams in all 8 NFL divisions. I can now. from there do some more studying to try to get a feel for it again. know the records, coaches, and key players on all 32 teams.
so will start small and see how it goes. maybe there's some potential in totals. is pro-line beatable? I don't know, maybe not. I think it's time to give it a try and find out.
Sunday, June 29, 2014
Saturday, December 28, 2013
2014 poker goals
Haven't done a poker resolutions in a few years. Guess I've gotten boring or nothing much new happens.
For 2014 the plan is to basically continue where 2013 left off. Still playing online $10 PLO. Presently just crossed the 10k hands milestone and still numerous buyins in the red. For consistency I'm underwater in all 3 sites Stars, Tilt and Party. Well that makes it a bit easier in a sense as I can tackle them separately while chasing the occasional bonuses or whatnot.
It's disappointing to be a losing player in $10 PLO after these months and thousands of hands but whatever. I've become more used to the variance which I'm pretty sure is greater than that in hold'em. So the plan is to keep trying to game select well and play well and eventually positive results will follow. 10k is a minimum sample size anyway so the plan is to just be optimistic and keep at it. So the goal is to erase the losses and bring it back to even.
While focusing on online I haven't been to the local casino in over 6 months. $1/$2 no limit was fine, I enjoy playing live and nothing terrible happened. Time is just limited so I decided to focus on online PLO. The goal for 2014 is to reappear at the casino and become a weekend reg again. As I've alluded to before there may be a bit more to say about live play in the hopefully nearer future.
For online a goal is to get back into tournaments. I haven't been anything of an online tournament player in several years now. Read a new tournament book, start at the $5 level in PLO and NLHE and across whatever sites. The goal is to get playing tournaments again and at least break even at the $5 level.
For 2014 the plan is to basically continue where 2013 left off. Still playing online $10 PLO. Presently just crossed the 10k hands milestone and still numerous buyins in the red. For consistency I'm underwater in all 3 sites Stars, Tilt and Party. Well that makes it a bit easier in a sense as I can tackle them separately while chasing the occasional bonuses or whatnot.
It's disappointing to be a losing player in $10 PLO after these months and thousands of hands but whatever. I've become more used to the variance which I'm pretty sure is greater than that in hold'em. So the plan is to keep trying to game select well and play well and eventually positive results will follow. 10k is a minimum sample size anyway so the plan is to just be optimistic and keep at it. So the goal is to erase the losses and bring it back to even.
While focusing on online I haven't been to the local casino in over 6 months. $1/$2 no limit was fine, I enjoy playing live and nothing terrible happened. Time is just limited so I decided to focus on online PLO. The goal for 2014 is to reappear at the casino and become a weekend reg again. As I've alluded to before there may be a bit more to say about live play in the hopefully nearer future.
For online a goal is to get back into tournaments. I haven't been anything of an online tournament player in several years now. Read a new tournament book, start at the $5 level in PLO and NLHE and across whatever sites. The goal is to get playing tournaments again and at least break even at the $5 level.
Sunday, October 27, 2013
Omaha preflop raise sizing
I've been thinking about preflop raising in pot-limit Omaha. I've decided to try a new plan. Until now I'd opened with a minraise when first in. I'd read it in a book. But it looks like I may have misread it.
With the switch to buying in full I'm going to instead open with a 3x raise. Historically in no limit hold'em, the other big bet game I've played, I've used 4x, the max in pot limit is 3.5x. So 3x seems about right. To keep it simple I'll use the 3x from all positions.
In the micro stakes the minraise didn't seem to accomplish much. It didn't build a pot or thin the field or create position. So it seemed to just leave me out of position. Playing with deeper stacks it also makes it trickier in some ways in 3bet pots as stacks became harder to work with.
With the switch to buying in full I'm going to instead open with a 3x raise. Historically in no limit hold'em, the other big bet game I've played, I've used 4x, the max in pot limit is 3.5x. So 3x seems about right. To keep it simple I'll use the 3x from all positions.
In the micro stakes the minraise didn't seem to accomplish much. It didn't build a pot or thin the field or create position. So it seemed to just leave me out of position. Playing with deeper stacks it also makes it trickier in some ways in 3bet pots as stacks became harder to work with.
Sunday, October 06, 2013
let's Party!
I've joined PartyPoker. I'd been lurking for a bit and decided to sign up. I made just a small $30 deposit since I don't play enough to clear any kind of bonus.
A young player at the casino said he plays at Party. He said the software is bad but the games are good. The software has improved in recent weeks or is at least different. It's playable enough the hand replayer is inferior to what Stars and Tilt have. I really just want a visual snapshot of the hands at showdown most of the time I care to see it but it's a hassle to work with. So I hope Party will improve that.
In a recent update Party is going on about challenges or some such. meh, I just want to go to a table and play cards. I can see what they are getting at trying to integrate it with your social scene to try to naturally get your buddies to also play. If it brings in bad players then sure. The games do seem friendly. So I'll give it a try along with the other sites and see how it goes.
A young player at the casino said he plays at Party. He said the software is bad but the games are good. The software has improved in recent weeks or is at least different. It's playable enough the hand replayer is inferior to what Stars and Tilt have. I really just want a visual snapshot of the hands at showdown most of the time I care to see it but it's a hassle to work with. So I hope Party will improve that.
In a recent update Party is going on about challenges or some such. meh, I just want to go to a table and play cards. I can see what they are getting at trying to integrate it with your social scene to try to naturally get your buddies to also play. If it brings in bad players then sure. The games do seem friendly. So I'll give it a try along with the other sites and see how it goes.
Tuesday, October 01, 2013
halfway back?
In a small sample of 1000 hands I've won back half the loss from the $10 PLO downswing. Buying in full has gone very well. I've definitely been running well flopping sets, draws coming in, big hands and AA holding up. Still I feel I'm playing better, more patient. With money behind I've been thinking a bit more clearly it seems.
At the micro stakes the rake is effectively uncapped. So the small edges from playing short are actually often wiped out by the rake. Plus since people don't like to fold you often end up nearly all in on the flop multiway and having to call off the rest as a large underdog as you may be getting like 8:1 so what can you do.
The better plan at $10 PLO has been to play full and get paid off and win the max on your strongest hands. So far so good. I don't know how the next 1000 hands will go but hopefully can continue to run well.
At the micro stakes the rake is effectively uncapped. So the small edges from playing short are actually often wiped out by the rake. Plus since people don't like to fold you often end up nearly all in on the flop multiway and having to call off the rest as a large underdog as you may be getting like 8:1 so what can you do.
The better plan at $10 PLO has been to play full and get paid off and win the max on your strongest hands. So far so good. I don't know how the next 1000 hands will go but hopefully can continue to run well.
Sunday, September 01, 2013
thinking in levels
The concept of thinking in levels in poker is well known and well documented. A great many poker books and many websites cover it. This post isn't to describe thinking in levels. This subject is something that I've always had a bit of trouble organizing, especially past level one.
By that I mean am I thinking about his hand or my hand? or what's the difference between level 2 and level 3 thinking. or what level is I think that he thinks reasoning. I've found that this "I think that he thinks ..." and mapping that to levels quickly gets confusing and requires a lot of effort to me.
Now it has finally become a bit more organized to me and some patterns have emerged which I will describe here. First the levels in a more ad hoc way.
level 0 realizing what I have
level 1 thinking about what the other guy has
level 2 thinking about what the opponent thinks I may have
and so on
ok I found that by expressing the levels as questions to yourself some patterns start to emerge which simplifies things and helps to scale to higher levels
level 0 what do I have?
level 1 what does he have?
level 2 what does he think I have?
level 3 what does he believe I think he has?
the even numbered levels 0,2,4 ... are egocentric. it's about my hand, and what the opponent thinks I may have
the odd numbered levels 1,3,5 ... are extroverted. it's about figuring out villain's hand, and what opponent thinks the other players believe he has.
By that I mean am I thinking about his hand or my hand? or what's the difference between level 2 and level 3 thinking. or what level is I think that he thinks reasoning. I've found that this "I think that he thinks ..." and mapping that to levels quickly gets confusing and requires a lot of effort to me.
Now it has finally become a bit more organized to me and some patterns have emerged which I will describe here. First the levels in a more ad hoc way.
level 0 realizing what I have
level 1 thinking about what the other guy has
level 2 thinking about what the opponent thinks I may have
and so on
ok I found that by expressing the levels as questions to yourself some patterns start to emerge which simplifies things and helps to scale to higher levels
level 0 what do I have?
level 1 what does he have?
level 2 what does he think I have?
level 3 what does he believe I think he has?
the even numbered levels 0,2,4 ... are egocentric. it's about my hand, and what the opponent thinks I may have
the odd numbered levels 1,3,5 ... are extroverted. it's about figuring out villain's hand, and what opponent thinks the other players believe he has.
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