Ok, as promised here’s my assessment of how I turned around my losing run.

All poker players go though periods where they lose more than they win. Myself included. My longest losing run previously was around 5 weeks. On this occasion it lasted around 15 weeks. As I’m sure you can imagine, this gave me great cause for concern.

At first, you adjust accordingly. You tighten up and wait for the better hands. But I think this is where my problems started.

For those of you who don’t understand this concept, I’ll try and explain. Over my poker career, I will be dealt the same amount of good hands as bad. Likewise, so is every other player. A poker player then makes a decision on which hands to play. Some like to play loose and therefore play most hands, others play really tight and wait for the premium hands. Working on the law of averages, if you only play the premium hands, you’ll going to have an edge over the guys who play a large majority of their hands. This of course doesn’t guarantee success, but over time, it will give you an edge.

So that’s what I did. I tightened up my game. However, players who already know my game will already be saying “Hey, you already play a tight game.” They are indeed correct. So I’m already in a predicament. I’m someone who plays a tight game and have now decided to play even fewer hands in the hope they produce better results. That in turn has it’s own problems. Because I play fewer hands than the opposition, it means I needed to play those hands more aggressively. This is because I need to earn more money-per-hand. Previously, some hands I would call, others I would raise. Now, it was just raise, raise, raise. Sometimes it paid off, but on the whole, it didn’t. I became predictable and one dimensional.

So you’re now thinking, “Why don’t you just play more hands?”. Yes and no. I could simply loosen up my game and play more hands, but that also means I need to increase my outlay for no guaranteed return. Yes, poker involves and element of risk, but I’m not in the habit of taking risks. The risk takers are the loose players. They give themselves more chance of winning by playing more hands. It also means they risk more money.

I therefore had to consider playing a style I’m was not entirely happy with. So how did I go about it?

First of all, I had to play more hands, but only in the correct positions. I plan to talk in more depth about this subject at a later date, but to sum up, if you are sat on the “dealer button”, you will always be last to act. This is a big advantage as you will always be able to see what the other players do first. I decided to play non-premium hands on the dealer button or to the left of the dealer. Because I was always last to react, I could also loosen my starting requirements. I.e. the hands I decide to play can be weaker, as I get to see how the betting develops before I make a decision.

The third thing I had to consider was my table image. As already discussed, I’m a tight player, who plays very few hands. Therefore, through the process of elimination, when I decide to bet, I usually have a hand. Basically, unless the other players hands are fantastic, the observant players will automatically fold whenever I play. Therefore I decided I could mix up my game more. From time to time, I would play hands out of position, just to keep the other guys thinking.

So that’s what I did. I played good, solid poker with the occasional uncharacteristic play. In fact, it was an “uncharacteristic play” that got me my lucky break.

I’d been sat at a 10 seater $0.10-$0.20, no limit Hold’em table for about two hours. I started with $20 and was down to about $18.40. The table had been pretty loose, but all of a sudden it became really tight. So tight in fact, I decided to raise 8 hands in 10. Sure enough, over the following 30 minutes, I increased my stack to around $27.


The table then became fairly loose and around 4 players usually limped in to see the flop. I then decided to tighten up again.

It was then, that things got interesting. I’d been dealt pocket queens (a pair of queens). I raised $0.60 and got one caller. The flop came AKK, the other guy checks, I bet $2 (as I‘m in position) , the other guy raises $8, I fold. On the following hand I was dealt AK off suit. Once again, I raised $0.60. I also got one caller. The flop comes Q74. The other guy bets $0.20, I raised $1.40, they fold.

(Keep with me, this is where the fun starts)

My table image is now very loose. I have now played 95% of all my hands within the last 45 minutes. Combined with the two hands I’d just played, the players must of thought I was a really manic.

The next hand, I get dealt pocket 8’s. I decide to limp in. (only call the blind bets, instead of raising). There are three other limpers who see the flop. The flop arrives AK8. This is a perfect flop for me as the chances are one of the other players has an Ace or King. Therefore I was likely to get some action.. Player 1 bets $1, player two raised to $3, I call, player four folds. Player 1 then calls the raise. The turn is a 6. Player 1 bets $4 and player 2 raises to $8. My table image is now really loose and I therefore decide to raise (as the other players will think I’m trying to steel the pot with my aggressive, loose play. I re-raise all-in. Players 1 and 2 both call. I end up winning $52.

Player 1 then wrote; “S**t, I thought you were bluffing”. Another player not involved in the hand then wrote “Yeah, so did I, he has been raising all night”.

I hang around for another few hands, then leave the table. My only regret is I didn’t hang around longer, as I’m guessing my win would of made the other players weary of me. I could of therefore continued to be aggressive.

So what have I learnt? That’s simple; Table image. I was always aware of the other players table image, but for some reason never considered how I was portrayed to the others. I will now play slightly looser, which will hopefully disguise my hands more.

I always try to assess the way I play, but only hand-by-hand. Therefore I now also plan to evaluate not only hands, bit also sessions.

I’m not out the woods yet, but hopefully I’m now facing in the right direction.

It's been three minutes since my last blog and I can't leave you with what i did.

When I started writing this blog, i was going through a really crap time.

Now all of a sudden, I inform you; "I've come out of the hole, but am unsure why" .

Yes that is the case, but giving such a feeble response to the issue is wrong.

The truth is; inless I learn from my mistakes, my game won't develop. Therefore my next blog will include a list of
1. What I've learnt from my losing run.
2. What I plan to do to make sure I don't end up in the same position again.
3. How I recovered and increased my bankroll.

Once again, I appologise.

(Yeah, I know it's a predictable title, but i couldn't think of anything else)

I guess it’s that time of the year when I’m supposed to summarise what I’ve achieved and where I’m going. So here goes.

All-in-all. It’s been a pretty amazing year. Although I’m nowhere near my end of year, (it was $1000), I only set this in October, purely because I was progressing nicely. At the start of the year my bankroll was around $260’ish and at one point I was up to $670’ish. This has obviously dropped to around $500, but I’m still happy with that.

My main concern this year was the 13 week losing run I experienced starting in late October. I’ve had losing runs before but never that long. At first it was a case of ’grin and bare it’, but around week 10, my play started to become negative and my game suffered. I can’t explain the turn around. I thought it was best to tighten up and maybe I did this too much. I played in one specific 10 seater cash game which made a difference to my losing run. There was one player who IMO played pretty well, but kept losing. He was getting flushes and losing to full houses. He was getting full houses and losing to quads (4-of-a-kind). It made me realise that sometimes you just need to accept that it’s not your day. Sometimes, when your lucks down, you’ve just got to laugh.

Anyway, gradually I started winning a few hands. I started calling 50/50’s and winning. Maybe that’s all it took. Maybe I just picked up a few wins and my confidence improved and before you know it I’m laughing all the way to the bank.

To sum up, I have learnt so much this year that I am determined to succeed next year. I’ve been giving things a lot of thought and I think $2000 is a realistic target. That’s $1,500 in 12 months.

I also want to pick up a few dollars on the tournaments. That doesn’t mean wins, just top ??? finishes.

I’m also planning to increase my bankroll slightly as I’m thinking about putting a small deposit ($100) in another poker site, probably Pokerstars or Fulltilt. If this is the case my target will then obviously move slightly to $2,100 etc.

I’m also planning to spend a small amount of my winnings on materialistic things. I read this suggestion in a poker magazine. The reason behind it, is so that you actually have something to show for your efforts. It suggests I start with CD’s and books, then progress accordingly. I’ve not considered the exact details and amounts yet , but I’m probably going to give myself a CD after gaining my first $200. After all, I still need to hit my targets.

Anyway, happy new year to all of you that have read my blog. Hope you have a great 2007.

In my last blog, I discussed the basic theory of poker. Yes it was boring, but that’s because poker is boring. Poker is the most boring game on earth, until you learn three basic concepts. The first is reading your opponents and the second is extracting money from them.

However it’s the third that gives poker an exciting and thought provoking twist. It’s called the blind bets (blinds). In theory, it’s a very simple concept; on every new hand, the dealer button moves around the table, player by player, in a clockwise direction. The two players to the left of the dealer button put a small amount of money into the pot (called a blind bet). The first player places a bet half the minimum bet (small blind or SB), the next player a full sized bet (called the big blind or BB). This means there is now something in the pot for everyone to fight for.

The next person must therefore “call” the bet equal to the person to his right (the BB), raise, or fold. This then continues around the table until it arrives back with the SB. Because they have already placed a half-sized bet, they now only need to put the remainder into the pot.

Lets look at a full example. It’s a $1-$2 NL hold’em cash table. There are 10 players at the table.

The dealer button is on player 1. Therefore player 2 (SB) must put $1 into the pot, player 3 (BB) must place $2 into the pot. There is now $3 in the pot for the whole table to fight for. The cards are dealt. Player 4 must therefore equal the bet made by player 3, raise the bet, or fold. In this example, players 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 & 9 all fold. Players 10 & 1 call (for $2). Player 2 (the SB) has already put $1 into the initial pot, therefore only needs to bet $1. (or can fold or raise as well). Player 2 decides to “call” for $1. Player 3 has already made the BB bet and can therefore “check” for nothing. Of course, he can also raise if he wishes. In this case, player 3 checks. The flop is dealt.

In all sequent rounds, the first “live” player to the dealers left is first to go. In the example above it’s the SB. Of course, sometimes the play will be raised pre-flop. Therefore both the SB and BB may have already folded. In this case it’s still the first “live” player to the left of the dealer button.

On the following hand, the dealer button moves to player 2. Therefore player 3 is the SB and player 4 the BB. Player 5 goes first.

On the example above, it’s a cash game. Therefore the “blinds” stay the same all the time. They never increase nor decrease.

In a tournament the story is totally different. Although the principle is exactly the same, the blinds usually increase though out the whole tournament. As a quick example lets say it’s a tournament that costs $20 to enter and 50 players enter. Every player will start with the same amount of chips, say 1000. The blinds will start on maybe 10 (SB) & 20 (BB). The blinds are so small they are hardly worth playing. Even if you folded every hand for a couple of hours, you’d still only lose around 200. However, the blinds start to increase, usually starting at 20/40, then 50/100, 75/150 etc. Before you know it, the blinds are so big you’re forced to play. The increase continues until the end of the tournament.

Now, at the start of this blog, I suggested the blinds introduce an “exciting and thought provoking twist”. To understand this, you need to understand the way different players think and play. I will go into this I more detail in January 2007. However to summarise, some players like to play lots of hands, therefore always “call” the blind bets hoping to see the flop for minimum investment. Others play very tight. They will fold every hand, unless it’s a premium hand. (AA, KK, QQ, AK, AQ etc). If you know the BB plays really tight, it’s easy to “steal” their blind bets by raising pre-flop. Some players fight for it, others give it away easily. In short it’s a very simple tactic that can earn you a lot of money.

(Hope this makes more sense Christine!)

My hand of the day is pretty boring, but non the less important. I think it’s worth analyising because I got the distinct impression I was walking into a trap.
It’s a $0.10-$0.20 NL Hold’em, 10 seater cash table. I’m on the BB with K6 offsuit. Everyone folds around to the SB who raises $0.20. I think he’s making a bid to "steel the pot" and decide to call. The pot is now $0.80. The flop is K83. The SB bets $0.20. I think this is a cheap attempt t steel the pot again and decide to re-raise to $1. The SB calls. The pot is now $2.80. The turn is a 2. The SB now bets $1.40.

This is where get confused. Looking at his hand, he raised pre-flop, bet really small on the flop, called my raise, then makes a half-the-pot-sized bet on the turn. There is no rhyme nor reason to his betting pattern and is therefore slow-playing me, or bluffing.

Looking at it from my point of view. I see a pre-flop raise, which I originally think is an attempt to steel the pot. Looking back now, I think he could be trying to increase the size of the pot without scaring me off. I call this. The flop gives me top pair (KK) with a rubbish "kicker" (6). He makes a very small bet, which once again, think is an attempt to steel the pot.

Therefore I needed to do on of 2 things. Raise or fold. Calling is no good in this position as I fail to learn anything about his hand. I therefore make a pot-sized raise, but he calls. Alarm bells are now ringing in my head Why would you call this????. If you had a hand he would of checked or bet larger first. He then bets half the pot on the turn.

Once again, why not more? Or nothing? To me, this hand stinks. I think the SB is slow-playing me and decide the best thing to do is fold.

I’m still not sure if this was the right decision. I could of changed a few things, (Folded or re-raised pre-flop), but apart from I’m happy with the way I played.

You get many hands like this over the course of a game. These are sometimes more important than the bigger pots. In this case, there were too many negative factors for me to continue. These included the value of my hand and the lack of information I had on the other player.


BTW. My bankroll is now $512. (I'll explain why in my next blog)

1. I got my first three comments on this blog. The first suggests I should give up poker and invest my money in Premium Bonds. Thanks for your opinion. I started this year with $260. I now have $435. That is a 67% increase on my initial stake. I'm unsure on the return ratio for premium bonds, but I'm guessing it's no where near this.

2. The same comment suggests I should stop gambling. I don’t actually consider what I do as gambling. To explain this you need to understand the game. I play a variation of poker called Texas Hold’em. It is currently the most popular form of poker and is usually televised a few nights a week (on Sky).

In a nutshell, you get dealt two cards. You then need to decide how good your cards are and bet accordingly. Five more cards are then dealt for the whole table to see and use. You then need to make the best five card-hand, with the seven available. The “extra five cards” can improve your hand, but of course they can also improve your opponents. There are betting rounds after the first 3 cards (called the flop), after the 4th card (called the turn) and after the 5th (called the river).

The other key factor is betting. Texas hold’em can be played “Pot Limit” (PL), “Fixed Limit” (FL), or “No Limit” (NL). I play NL. This essentially means you can throw as little or as many chips as you like into the middle of the table at any time.

To understand these principles, lets look at a four examples. The game is a 10 seater, NL Texas Hold’em Cash table. In all the scenario’s I have been dealt a pair of Jacks and am sat in seat 6. Everyone starts with $100. We will ignore the blind bets (I’ll explain about this another day!)

Example one-Player 1 bets $5, player 2 raises $5 to $10. Players 3, 4 and 5 fold. I now need to decide how good my hand is compared to players 1&2. I also need to consider the fact that there is four players still to go after me. In this example, I’ll “call” for $10. Players 7, 8, 9 and 10 all fold. Player 1 calls for another $5 and we then get to see the flop.

The flop is dealt. It is Ace, King, Six. Player 1 checks, player 2 bets £30. What do I do? The answer is simple. I fold. The reason is; The flop dealt two “over cards”. This means if either player 1 or 2 has a Ace or King, I’m already beaten as they will have a higher pair than me. I fold and so does player 1. Therefore player 2 wins $30 without showing his hand.

Example two-Player 1 bets $5, player 2 raises $5 to $10. Players 3, 4 and 5 fold. Just like the first example, I now need to decide how good my hand is compared to players 1&2. Again, I decide to call. Players 7, 8, 9 and 10 all fold. Player 1 also folds. The flop is dealt Jack, Eight, Three. This is a brilliant hand for me. I now have 3-of-a-kind, (trip-Jacks). Once again, Player 2 bets $30. What do I do? I have two choices. I either call his $30 bet, or I raise. I decide to raise $50. Player 2 folds. I win $55.

Example three-Player 1 bets $5, player 2 raises $5 to $10. Players 3, 4 and 5 fold. Just like the other examples, I now need to decide how good my hand is compared to players 1&2. Again, I decide to call. This time player 7 re-raises to a total of $30. Players 8, 9 and 10 fold. Players 1 and 2 also fold. What do I do? In this case there is now $55 in the pot and I need to place another $20 to call. I decide to call. The flop is Queen, Seven, Three. It’s my turn to go first. There is now $75 in the pot. There are a number of hands that player 7 can have that beats mine. These include QQ, 77 or 33 (giving him trips), Q7, Q3 or 73 (giving him two-pair) or Q?. Either way if he has a queen, I’m beat. I decide to check. Player 7 also checks and we get to see the turn. The turn is a Four. What do I do? Player 7 never made a bet. This means he either has nothing, or he’s slow playing me. I decide to bet $20. Player 7 folds. I make a easy $95.

Example four- Player 1 bets $5, player 2 raises $5 to $10. Players 3, 4 and 5 fold. Just like the other examples, I now need to decide how good my hand is compared to players 1&2. Again, I decide to call. Player 7 re-raises to a total of $60. Players 8, 9 and 10 fold. Players 1 and 2 also fold. What do I do? In this case there is now $80 in the pot and I need to place another $50 to call. My hand is good but not that good.

Therefore I should fold. Or should I?

We need to look into what we know about player 7. If I’ve only been sat at the table a while, I wouldn’t have any information about him. Therefore I should fold. If I’ve been sat at the table for an hour and player 7 hasn’t played a single hand, the chances are they have something really good. Therefore I should also fold (as they only play premium hands). However, lets say this player likes to raise pre-flop on a regular basis. Although they could have a good hand, the chances are, they're trying to steel the pot again. My hand isn’t brilliant, but it’s probably good enough to test him. I decide to re-raise him everything I have. That’s right, I’m going to call his $60 and raise another $30. I’m “all-in”. Player 7 decides to fold.

Every time I sit at a table, I play real players. They are not computers, they have feelings and react differently to various situations. Each and every person plays their own way. They have mood swings and off days. They have gut instincts and hunches. I do not play the “system” or casinos. In example four, I re-raised, but only because I knew their style. I could of held 72, and I would of still came away with the same result. Of course, I could of lost the lot.

Notice the fact that on all four examples, we never got to the showdown (where both players show their cards and the best hand wins). This is normal. I would hazard a guess and say that one-in-five hands continues to the showdown. Everything else is won before.

This is why poker is a game of skill not luck. On anyone of the four examples, I could of raised, called or folded. A pair of Jacks (usually called pocket jacks or hooks), is not the best hand in the world.

Also another key thing that has to be remembered is; in all the examples, everyone had the same size stack ($100). In a real game, the values vary from a few dollars to a few hundred. Therefore a $10 bet would be played differently with a player who has £300, than to someone who only has $20.


3. As promised, my hand of the day;

This came from a $0.10-$0.05 NL Texas hold’em cash table.
I get dealt Jack, Ten offsuit. (not the same suit). 6 players see the flop, including myself. It arrives King, Queen, Nine. I flop a mammoth Straight. Therefore the problem I have is not winning the hand, but extracting the most from the other players. Some players panic in this situation and just raise everything they have. This usually means everyone else folds and they then win very little. I need to do two things. I need to bet enough to narrow the field. (just in case one of them gets really lucky with the other cards), but I also want to get a few callers (to increase the size of the pot).

I get one person before me and they bet $0.20. There are four players to act after me and therefore I think I can get more money in the middle. I raise $0.60. Two of the guys fold, the last calls, but the first re-raises me $7. This is just what I wanted. There is now just over $9 in the pot and I need another $6.40 to call. The first guy has over $40 in his stack. I have $22. Therefore I need to get as much of this into the pot without scaring him off. I call his $7 and raise another $4. Both guys call. The pot is now $34. The turn is an eight. The first guy checks, I bet $6, the third guy folds and the second guy calls. The river is another eight. I now bet everything I have which is only $5. He calls.

I show my cards and he mucks (folds without showing his cards because he lost). I win a total of $56.

There’s not much to analyse on this hand . I ended up getting all my chips in the middle with a caller. I could of bet a bit less on the turn ($3 instead of $6). This means the third guy MAY of called instead of folding, but I’m not to worried about that.

I hope I’ve opened your eyes a little more to the world of poker. Hopefully you’ll realize why this is a game of skill, not luck.

4. On a final note. In answer to Karen Lee's comment, yeah I like the Kaiser Chiefs, but I wouldn't call myself a fan. (More of a Take That and Salt 'n' Pepa fan actually)

My bankroll is increasing fast, but so is the end of the year. I'll keep you posted.

Merry Christmas

Ok, I'm back with a another plan.

After writing my last blog, I realised my previous plans were not "plans", but more "targets". Yes, I set myself a realistic target, but I hadn't thought about how I was going to achieve them.

Now the way I see it is this; 1.I've been losing now consistantly for 13 weeks. 2.I am a long way from my target. 3.Because of factors 1 & 2, my morale is low and therefore effecting the desicions I make hand-to-hand, game-to-game. Therefore I need to do two things. 1. Become a winner 2. Set a short term target that is realistic.

My current bankroll is $435. I have set three goals. The first, is to quit after increasing my stack. Therefore if I make $1 profit, I'm going to walk away. My second goal; is to have 5 winning sessions in a row. My third is to get to $450. That's only $15 away!!!!!!!! (6 months ago I would of laughed at that comment, but times have changed. Survival is now my main concern.)

I also plan to have a "hand of the day". This will give me a chance to talk about a different hand every blog, which will hopefully give me more things to work on.