Greetings,
My name is Jeff and this constitutes my first post on this website. I only play at Pokerstars and I've unfortunately I recognize too many of the names on the coaching list. Anyway, I've recently made an honest appraisal of my Sit and Go experience and I'm bleeding money at my HU sit and go game (I'm a long-term winner at conventional full ring games).
Anyways, I've taken recently taken a few steps to start modifying my behavior:
1) Membership on HUSNG and watched Skates Video 1 three times.
2) Downloaded Pokerstove and have been entering hundreds of hands and boards from games I've had.
3) Purchased Sharkscope for one month with 150 searches/day (will not use there HUD as using Sharkscope live is a violation of TOS on Pstars)
4) Bought in for a sufficient bankroll at Pstars to endure swings and not let limited funds affect my psychology.
5) Tried using the free odds calculator offered by PPA, which I soon discarded.
6) Emailed Pokerstars to make sure I am compliant with TOS if I use certain software programs.
7) Started a paper journal w/ basic notes after every HU game. Also am having Pstars send me a transcript of all hands so I can do a cursory review.
8) Exercised every day for 30 minutes for the last week.
9) Am trying to focus on thinking, feeling, and behaving rationally at all (or most) times when playing HU sit and go's by using REBT.
10) Lastly, am considering starting some sort of blog.
I just wanted to introduce myself and let you know that you will probably see me post here off and on. I'm very impressed with what I've seen so far and have already utilized some of the tips with favorable results. If anybody has any feedback on I might think about approaching a winning game, please chime in. I'm just not that good at HU sit and go's.
Thank you,
Jeffrey
Welcome to the forums.
It sounds like you are taking this game seriously. If you stick to what you said, you will have great success. Just stay confident and true to your goals.
1) What is REBT?
2) If you'd like to start a blog just let me know and I will set you up with one.
3) You don't need Stars to email you the HHs, you can go into the lobby and go to:
Options > Hand History Options > check "save my hand history" and make sure you know where it is saved to (default is in the Stars folder in program files I believe). Also make sure you change the "keep hand histories for x days to a big number, you don't want to lose any.
4) Let us know how you progress. Do try to watch a few of the videos from each instructor. Primo's HUF videos are highly recommended, as are Croix's videos, the more recent the higher rated they seem to be. I'd suggest at least looking over my end game videos too. Cog and Hokie offer some very useful strengths in their videos as well and of course you're already watching Skates' videos.
Good luck.
Greetings Ryan,
Thank you for taking the time to read and respond to my lengthy post. I appreciate your words of encouragement and general advice. I'm already feeling more confident as I'm seeing better results and making more rational, informed decisions. In terms of your questions, I will respond to them individually:
1. What is REBT? REBT stands for Rational Emotive Behavioral Therapy. It was invented in the early 50's by a psychotherapist and sexologist named Albert Ellis, He became discouraged with Freudian psychoanalysis as it gave clients insights into their problems, but didn't produce lasting change.
The basic premise is that other people, things and events do not disturb us, rather, it's our nutty beliefs and ideas about things that cause disturbance. For example, Joe goes on tilt after losing eight hands in a row on the river. Some might conclude he's angry because of his terrible luck. However, REBT would say there an intervening variable that is missing from this analysis. That is to say, his reaction is a direct result of his belief about losing at poker. If Joe rationally concluded it was unfortunate but a normal part of poker, he wouldn't suffer any negative consequences. However, since he clings to nutty ideas about the fairness of random events, he unnecessarily disturbs himself and suffers unfortunate consequences. REBT would be focused on teaching Joe to see the relationship between his anger and his irrational beliefs. It would teach him to actively dispute his irrational ideas and replace them with rational beliefs. Furthermore, it might prescribe behavioral exercises to produce thorough, lasting change.
2. It would be totally cool if you could set me up with a blog. I would appreciate it!
3. Thanks for the information on saving hand histories. It's been a long time since I messed with hand histories (I used PT3 in BETA a while back, but it was a minimal exposure as I imported only a few hand histories).
4. Thanks for the suggestions on how to approach the videos. As it stands, I've watched and seriously studied three videos (each instructor was different). I really extracted a lot of utility out of PrimordialAA's video no. 13. It's helped me with reading boards, slowing the pace of a game down, hiding tells, and playing two games at once. All the vids have been useful for different reasons. I'm going to watch a couple of yours next ;-)
Jeffrey
Hey Jeff! You sound like a very systematic person who likes to keep things organized and such. First thing I came up while reading your post was that dont burn out! It's a new game, there are tons of things to learn, don't try to master the game in one day, week, or even a month.
My point is, you have to understand what things are relevant and what not. Focus your learning. Entering hundreds of hands into pokerstove is just waste of time IMO. Review hands that are somewhat relevant and think what could you have done differently or what did you do right.
I think the best way a starting player can improve is by beginner videos, and by experience - playing the game. HU is a more complex game than six max, not to mention full ring. You could play 10 different styles and still be winning. The point is, don't try to build your own style by copying someone else's. There's no idea to mimic hyper lag players if you can't put pressure postflop, steal pots, or lay down a hand where you have put lots of chips in. I'm sure you know what I mean. It all comes by experience.
Watch the videos, read strat posts, review hhs posted of forums, and try to get a picture of how is this game played. Hone your OWN style.
Lastly, I'd recommend writing some sort of "diary" after session. Put your thoughs there, mistakes you make, what could you do to improve your game and so on.
Greetings,
I appreciated your honest feedback and reasonable suggestions. Your commentary provided me with an awesome insight. I'm a very systematic and intense person. Sometimes that gets me into trouble as it's hard to maintain a high level of intense energy. It also reflects my tendency towards black or white, all-or-nothing dichotomous thinking.
It would be foolish to actually compound my problems by not only losing at poker, but losing at poker while slowly drowning in a sea of useless data. Your point about entering hands into Pokerstove is well-taken. I was doing that on a frequent basis before I became engulfed with this website. More recently, I've been studying the charts at holdemresources.net. To be honest with you, some of my investigations are done out of curiosity without concern for profit. I love learning new information, even if it's obscure or seemingly useless.
That being said, I have to pay for my assorted collection of poker aids, so playing winning poker is my primary goal. Having a reasonable strategy is of paramount importance. I haven't played many games since I've been watching videos and exploring other materials. And as you recommended, I've been watching the beginner videos. What I've done so far (with the exception of PrimordialAA's video on multi-tabling) is watch the first four videos in the 19.99 video pack.
Also, I spoke with Ryan and he's going to hook me up with a blog so I can keep a running commentary on my poker activities. I think you're absolutely right about appreciating the complexity of the game and realizing the futility of trying to mimick some perfect ideal. It would be nice is there was some formula, but there isn't. I've came to this conclusion with my 6 max and full ring games (I'm extremely laggy and should be losing long-term, but I'm not in the ring).
Basically, I'm so sick of draining my hard-earned chips at heads-up sit and go using my existing poker ideology. It's flawed. I've pissed away so much by trying to muscle other players out of pots or adopting the opposite extreme. That's why I'm attempting to be somewhat systematic in my approach. General goals are fine, but precise prescriptions are often insane. Also, I can't distance completely disassociate myself from my game. My personal imprint will ultimately be reflected in my game on some level. Again, illustrating the futility of striving for ONE ultimate ideal. I'll stop rambling.
I really appreciated your honest and insightful comments.
Jeffrey "Don't piss in the well that quenches your thirst."