Find the "Dead Money"

One of the key things to take into consideration in every poker session is table selections.  This I believe is a huge difference between a player who wins an average amount versus a LARGE amount.  Late last year I spent a few months playing poker “full time”.  I played usually 5 days out of the week and the first couple of months I did not pay any attention to table selection.  I still came out a winner over those months, but after evaluating how well I was doing I tried to come up with ways I could improve.  One of the things I changed was my table selection.  The next couple of months I was able to win almost twice as much as I had won in the previous months.  You always want to make sure that there are at a minimum of two players that are “dead money” at the table.  “Dead money” means a player who does not know how to play very well, is there to have fun, and came to the casino with the mindset that they are ok with losing money.  That is the type of player that I want at my table…and I am happy to be the one they give their money toJ.  In order to find the tables with the most dead money at the table…just observe the poker room for 10 minutes and look at the size of the pots and number of people in them at each table.  The tables that have the larger pots and most people active are the better ones you want to sit at.  In the next blog I will discuss seat selection.  How do you pick your seat after you have found that good table with all the dead money.  A very big tip to picking the right seat is as soon as you sit down ask for a seat change button…you may or may not use it depending on what you learn in my next postJ

$193 Bluff...Going Home a Winner! - Gary's Poker Journey

Planning my Session - Gary's Poker Journey

He's On Fire Like NBA Jam

I "won" another tournament...I have cashed in about 50% or more of the tournaments I enter on Thursdays when my wife and I go play.  This tournament was interesting...I did extremely well in the beginning and middle, however towards the end I went card dead and regained life just in time to take the chip lead within a 30 minute timeframe.  I will take you through two hands that I played.

The first hand I will discuss I picked up 99 in late position.  Blinds were $150/300 with a $25 ante.  I usually would raise in this spot, but I had a maniac raising every hand to my left, so I just called expecting him to raise...but he didn't.  There were 4 players to the flop:

K99

I flopped four of a kind.  No you might think my best move is to bet out here...well I disagree.  I have a MONSTER hand and there is virtually nothing out there that can beat me.  So I checked and the maniac decided to bet $1000, I just called.  The turn came:

5

I checked, and the maniac bet $3000 and I called.  The river came:

A

I checked and he checked behind.  I was mad that he checked behind because I wanted him to bluff at the pot again, but he did not.  I probably should have bet the river on in hindsight but who knows...he might have just folded anyway.  

The key to a MONSTER hand like quads is not to bet your opponent off of their hand and allow them to do the betting.  There is nothing out there that can beat me and I shouldn't be betting in this spot because there is a huge chance that no one has anything on a K99 board and in this spot if they did have a King it was a bad one because there was no raise pre-flop.  

The 2nd hand that I will discuss is a hand where I had about $25,000 in chips left.  I raised to $6,500 on the button with AK.  What happened next surprised me...the small blind shoved all in over top of me putting me in a position where I had to call all my chips in order to see the flop, turn, and river.  Now In this spot I gave up about 25% of my chip stack on the raise.  If I fold that is a huge lose for me and if I call I could be going home.  Now I thought about this reraise I was facing and realized this guy barely had me covered with his chip stack.  I asked myself, what type of hand would he do that with?  I also thought about the facts of the situation...I have been at the table and only played one or two hands and had been EXTREMELY tight.  I knew when I raised he expected me to have VERY BIG cards.  So for him to put himself at risk by shoving all his chips into the middle meant he had a way better hand than he thought I would have.  This thought process lead me to believe I was beat and I folded.  He graciously showed me AA and I was like OH YEAH!!!! because I knew my read was correct and could assume my reads moving forward would be spot on in most cases with him.  Anywho I enjoyed sharing with you this time about a couple of the hands that I played during my session.  I hope you enjoyed my post.  

The Final Table...My chips in the bottom right.  This chip stack next to the dealer was the chip leader until I doubled up through him.  Before he could pay me we decided to chop 4 ways.

The Guys Chopping up the Money...Blurry picture.  Trying not to let the floor see me:)

Picture of the tournament just before break was ending.

Picture of the money I won

Lucky Babysitter has to Work, Committment, & Cut That One Out

So I have mentioned a couple of times that I would be posting updates.  I had every intention to do that, however this new software that I have to improve the videos I am putting out took a little longer to get the hang of than I expected.  I recorded one long video and split it into 3...hence the triphecta as the title.  I played extremely well the last few sessions winning over $1000.  Check out the videos and enjoy...I  made an attempt to take pictures of my chip stack and the other guys and the sheet I had to sign saying I won...but they are blurry.  I will post them anyway.  It feels good to be back up a significant amount I am up to $2,125 from just $200.  That is $1,925 in profit from $200.  I am pretty sure that will continue to increase and go past my original profit of $3500 or $3700 total.  Enjoy the videos and next week I will get into some poker strategy.

My stack is on the Left his on the Right...The Yellow is $1000 in tournament chips.

This is my blurry pic...I wish I could have gotten another one...but the floor (poker room supervisor) told me stop taking pictures.

Born Again

Last night was my first cash game session after putting the rules of engagement in place.  I left after 5 hours of play with $286 in profit.  That win brings my total up to $942 which equates to $742 in profit.  I played the $50-$200 table of no limit texas hold em.  I played very good poker and was extremely patient.  I decided to step down one level after the massive down swing to get my bearings back a little.  I am going to go back up to the $200-500 game in the next couple of sessions and continue making the right plays.  I wanted to give a status update and didn’t want to make this post long.  I feel like I am a born again semi-professional poker player...So until next time take care and check out the videoJ

Life After Death...

It has been a while since I have done a blog post.  I took a little break from poker after going from $200 up to $3700, and then back down to $656.  Now sometimes a down swing like this happens in any poker player’s journey, but as I look back on how everything happened I understand how I won and how I lost.  So what I would like to do on this post is explain what I was doing to win $3500 in profit, what I did to lose and go down to only $456 in profit, and what I am putting in place to guarantee it doesn’t happen again.  When I started this challenge I went into every session rested, sober, and focusing on making the best play.  I did that consistently and watched my bankroll grow fast.  After several winning sessions I lost sight of what helped me to win those sessions.  After a couple of losing sessions I started to focus on the money, winning every hand, and added alcohol into the mix.  If you read any poker literature or talk to any professional poker player they will tell you not to focus on the money you win or lose, but focus on making the best decisions that will lead to inevitable profit.  Reflecting on the last two months of losing session after losing session I realized in order for me to become the poker player I aspire to be I have to make some drastic changes, put rules in place and follow them. 

Gary’s Rules of Engagement:
1.  Play 5 hours and if I am not catching cards QUIT.
2.  While in a session alcohol is allowed in the last 15 minutes of the session only.  After one beer the session is over.
3.  I have to stop playing if I lose:

a.  Game:   $50-$200-->Stop Loss:  $200 (4 buy-ins)

b.  Game:  $200-$500-->Stop Loss:  $400 (2 buy-ins)

c.  Game:  $300-$2000-->Stop Loss:  $600 (2 buy-ins)

4.  I must be well rested in order to play in a session.
5.  Anytime I am focusing on the money and not making the right play I must take a break or leave. 

Believe it or not this is what I was doing when I initially started…these were unwritten and something I did initially to make sure I could be profitable and make this journey intertaining.  After winning a ton and then losing it all back after some stupid mistakes I realize that playing by these rules is the only way to take my poker to the next level and show everyone following this blog that Gary knows his stuff.  Until next time!!!