New Year resolutions?

I've finally come up with my goal for December. Come up with proper goals for January. I've realised that I'm not a goal oriented person. Partly because I've been fortunate in life not to need them and partly because targets can be restrictive and have an unnecessary adverse psychological effect if you're not trying to get anywhere in particular.

In my businesses, I've never had a business plan. I've known roughly where I've wanted to get to. It is often ambitious by other people's measures. Then I just try to get the important things right and avoid the big mistakes. Every so often when I arrive somewhere, I pause look around and 9 times out of 10 I'm happy with where I have arrived and set out again. A big downside is that employees often need targets and I sometimes feel like I fail them in that regards. Other times I think that I demonstrate not to get hung up on the result but concentrate on the decision making.

And so to poker. Dan Harrington wrote something along the lines of "NLH is the perfect game as it simulates life in a compressed way". Actually it was probably nothing like that but that is the impression that he left me with and the more I play the more I know it to be true.

The BCG shared with me how he would approach Badugi and there is no doubt that the blindman's rational man would agree 100% with that approach. Also, LaffyChappy wrote about his Flying Scot inspiration (I now need to watch the movie as I virtually know someone with first hand experience). But the good thing about meaningful goals is that they need to be personal.

I will learn Badugi, I'm sure. I'll probably not stick with it as it seems flawed but it will be a sound introduction to draw games. Winning a HORSE bracelet would be for me the pinnacle of success. I've been playing with O/8 as a split game and then I just need to master the stud variations and go for it in retirement.

Last night at PLO, which was a disaster for me this time last year, I sat on Stars at two PLO25 tables and stood up with $130 and $112 dollars. I got lucky cards, but I folded way more than usual with no regrets and got it all in the middle holding the nuts or close to it a few times. More right moves and less mistakes.

So as we near year end, it is time to pause and have a look around:
- I am a competent online player which is far from easy these days.
- Amongst my network of local friends I have an edge, but only one or two of them take poker anyway seriously.
- I have a healthy hobby that stimulates the brain and doesn't cost me anything other than my time.
- All my life I've been an above average all-rounder and this is showing through in my poker.

The massive downside is that it takes me away from my family and has consumed too many thinking cycles. I am less up to date with current affairs, get less exercise and have a skewed perception on the value of money in these turbulent economic times.

So, I will ponder goal setting for the New Year, I've never had resolutions. And hopefully they will have more to do with Laffs fitness regime and life balance that winning x dollars. As always, thanks to all of you who happen by this neck of the internet woods.

I love Badugi, Jitterbug Badugi

Well, not quite. The game is every bit as frustrating as everyone says. I haven't found the fun aspect as yet, but I haven't given up looking either.

For those that don't know Badugi, it is a bit of a fad amongst the gamblers. It is far from solved and very little known about strategy. That aspect has appeal to me, a bit like my PLO learning days (which will continue for a lifetime).

Badugi is a case of getting the lowest hands of different suits. A234r is the nuts. A 4-card Badugi (different suits) beats a 3-card Badugi. It is triple draw and the frustrating part is that your draw rarely completes whereas your opponents show down A235r etc all the time. Must be doing something wrong!

Anyway, I joined Pokerstars for the WBCOOP and found myself distracted as often happens. A couple of hours of Badugi later, I was almost break-even. If you want to give it a go, try this link first - http://www.badugipro.com/strategy.html.

Blindman reckons that the games may be softish elsewhere on Stars so I may go back to basics over the weekend. I was turned off by the interface. Does anyone know a way of customising it for multi-tabling so bets, pot size, bet pot etc is simpler? I found the interface to take up too much unnecessary real estate, with the all important maths data unintuitive.

Pokerstars WCOOB

I have registered to play in the PokerStars World Blogger Championship of Online Poker!

The WBCOOP is an online Poker tournament open to all Bloggers.

Registration code: 214460

Pending Pokerstars approval ... I'm in!

Late night cash game and deep stack live tourney

I really enjoyed yesterday's poker. It started with a phone call from a friend on my way home from work pulling together a home game. I turned up 1 hour later than everyone else and only missed two pots, both AI. The structure was cash $.5/1 with a $30 buy in. You can rebuy as often as you like.

I've played a few times before and as the field is soft, if you can get a stack early you are pretty set. Unfortunately, I lost a couple of buy ins early on coin flips, limp steal attempts from the BB, and trips over trips. Over $100 down, I had my first break and doubled up. Won another big hand to more than double again. Up about $20 with a decent stack and getting late, I waited for cheap chances to double up. It didn't come and I ended up $20 down. All in all, I think I played OK. It's my first loss in that company and I'm well up overall.

Late to bed and then off to the other side of Sydney for a long tournament. It's the best structure I've played with 30 min blinds. I promised myself tight early and I would have been out for sure if I hadn't. Only took two smallish pots with JJ and QQ and folded everything else pretty much. 2.5 hrs later I am level with my starting stack at the break.

Not long after the restart I've made the worst blunder for some time. 9Ts in early position, I limped with blinds of $200/$400 and had one raiser, the SB for $1200. I called with a stack of $10000. Flop came 983r, the SB led out for $3500 and without much hesitation, I raised AI. The SB thought for quite a while but he was never folding, just checking his logic (which I should have done). He called with JJ and almost crippled me. I'm very unhappy with my play, but to tell you the truth, I'm not sure what the right move was. That's the biggest problem - I'd like to be able to perform a structured hand analysis and be confident it was right.

I did gather myself up again which I was pleased with and then as the blinds rose, they were $5000/$10000 when I got KK UTG with $80000 in front. I pushed AI and was called by TT. Q89r wasn't what I wanted to see and definitely not the J on the river.

All in all, a realistic step up from the local pub games to the bigger gigs and I was found wanting but I'll be better prepared next time for the experience. More than 12 hours live has helped.

I spotted a great tell at a crucial point that I was proud of. I had the J on a board of 6789T. The river put a 3rd club on the board. I value bet and was raised AI. Did he have the flush or not? I couldn't get a read even though I tried until his friend walked past and they started a conversation. I'd read in Caro that its very difficult to have a natural conversation when under pressure. I reasoned that he was very comfortable and folded, showing the J. He showed the flush and congratulated me on the lay down. A by-product was a bit more respect at the table.

Sorry this post isn't a bit more structured or coherent but its been a long weekend of poker. Pleased to see that my fellow bloggers are all posting better results, long may it continue.

I'll register for Pokerstars when I read advice on a good RB deal (or similar) and have a go at the Blogger events hopefully (haven't checked out the timezone). Anyone interested in a last longer side bet?

9-table chart rivaling BCG's linearity

You all know that I am envious of BCG's chart. Finally, I found one of mine that resembles it, but it is only for 2hrs of play. It was for 1000 hands though, which equates to about 30 hours of casino play.

I was a beneficiary of positive variance with quads 3 times last night in 500 hands. All up it only added to $14 in winnings, one player and 2 short-stackers. Can't recall any badbeats, but I don't even get to learn the result of a lot of hands. I just get prompted for actions, others folding just moves quickly to the next hand before I realise.

It's a different way of playing poker. I'll try for another session tonight. Next post will be regarding 12+ hours of live play yesterday.

9-tabling on my new laptop - woo hoo!

Just off to bed after my first 9-tabling session. Quite liked it and I think I got lucky - not sure - a bit of a blur. Played for 90 mins and now I have to get to sleep with my head buzzin'.

I love this new laptop with its big screen. I was playing the <10c NL tables and sat down with a total of $65 and stood up with $121.90. The best thing is that there was no temptation to play KQo from MP. If anything, 72o with a couple of QQ, JJ hands on the go is a relief. I think I'll give it another go again soon.

Win a trip to the WSOP

A couple of days without poker which I will put right at the weekend when I have a passout to play in the deepstack tournament that I won a ticket to 2 weeks ago.

That and the final table of the WSOP got me thinking ... Anyone interested in getting together and running a mini tournament series over the next 4 or 5 months with the winner going to the WSOP? We wouldn't need to play the main event as there are a lot of smaller buy-in tourneys? Also, Ivan Demidov only had 20% of himself I believe when he came 2nd, we'd have a similar arrangement.

Obviously, there'd be a lot of trust involved but the concept would be that all winnings from the WSOP would be distributed equally amongst the group. I think I have a few friends that would be happy to participate. The winner would have the experience but the downside is that they'd need the time off work. By running a series of tournaments online, we'd be assured of sending our best horse. With the supposed dead money there is (we'd just escape that category) it is probably a +ev situation.

Not sure of the logistics and as my wee blog has only attracted a couple of visitors the cost per person may be prohibitive. That said, as we are all hobby players, perhaps it will be something poker-related to do with our bankrolls. Just an idea that I hope has legs. Leave me a comment if you're interested.