Poker Odyssey

Moving the blog

Thu, 26 Aug 2004 19:14:08 GMT

This will be my last post at LiveJournal, please update your links. To see the new version of my blog please visit: http://blog.pokerodyssey.com

Thanks,
J

Mid-Summer Update

Thu, 22 Jul 2004 02:47:22 GMT

Poker has been ok to fair (I've been running sorta bad to breakeven). This is mostly due to my decision to learn to play shorthanded poker. I started playing the 1/2 6-max at party but quickly graduated to the 2/4 6-max at UB and the 3/6 at paradise. These games are a little more challenging (especially the paradise 3/6) but have found them to be beatable. I still have much to learn about shorthanded strategy, but I've become a much stronger post flop player thanks to the expereince playing short-handed. I'll be returning to my regular 3/6 and 5/10 games within the next couple weeks and (once I build up the bankroll a little) will feel confident moving into the 5/10 6-max at Party.

The challenge is still going, although I'm well behind pace at this point due to my decision to learn the short-handed game. At this point it's sorta pointless because barring a huge rush (HUGE) I won't get anywhere close to my original goal. I don't really mind, I've really enjoyed playing shorthanded and am a better player for it.

Hope everyone is having a good summer. Peace.

Stuff

Thu, 24 Jun 2004 22:07:34 GMT

The last month has been a very exciting time for me. I've put in a considerable amount of work and have turned my game around and improved more than I thought I could in such a short time. By making the proper adjustments to my game I have successfully moved up a limit and over the next couple weeks I will be moving up again into the next higher limit.

On Monday of this week I started a personal challenge to win X dollars in Y days. You'll probably remember that I've talked about these "results oriented" goals in the past....I've changed my tune a little. I think these sort of projects are flawed because they are based on results and because of the luck factor in poker you can run hot or cold over the short run and the results can be misleading. Despite their flaws there are some positive aspects to these challenges and one of the biggest is that it is EXCITING.

I've only been working on my challenge for the last four days, but I've really enjoyed my time at the tables this week, I now have a "goal" to shoot for instead of just grinding it out. I'm sure the other full-time players out there know what I'm talking about. I'm going to keep the right attitude about my project (if I hit a cold streak I'm not going to let it bother me), and if I maintain that attitude throughout the challenge I feel I'll have an enjoyable experience regardless of my results. I'm going to keep the details of my challenge private, but lets just say that if I am successful it will be significantly more money than I've ever made (in a 2 month period at least).

After some debate, I've decided that I'm going to put the blog on hiatus over the summer. These days I'm working a lot more than I have in the past and I rarely have anything new to say...I might pop in here or there and make a post, but I doubt I'll be making regular posts again until September. I hope all of you have a great summer. Peace.

Fri, 18 Jun 2004 05:52:19 GMT

I had a couple people take a look at some hands for me this week and give me feedback on what they saw. Both of them identified similar weaknesses in my game (including a couple new leaks), and I'll be working to fix those mistakes over the next couple weeks. I'm "happy" that some new mistakes were discovered because it shows that my game is evolving. I am making changes/improvements to one area and in turn causing other mistakes to appear in another area. For example, I've said before how I've become more aggressive with betting and semi-bluffing over the last couple weeks (which is a good thing), but I took it a bit too far and as a consequence I was missing some good opportunites to maximize my earn by going for a check/raise. So now I'll go back and work on that side of the equation until I get things back in balance.

I feel very much on top of my game right now. The changes I've made over the last month or so have dramatically improved not only my earnings but my confidence as well. I've realized that I was too passive about learning & improving my game in the past...always worried I'd go too far in one direction or the other and consequently I wasn't moving at all. I was trying to discover some magic formula that would turn me into a perfect player in just one step, but now I realize that simply isn't possible....you need to get in there with a sledgehammer and beat the hell out of your game if you want to improve. Don't be afraid to push things too far, it's not a bad thing if you can learn from it. Each time you push too far and then make the correct adjustments you're getting closer and closer to your goal. I still have a long way to go, but at least I'm moving again. Peace.

Mon, 14 Jun 2004 03:03:04 GMT

I took some things down and will be moving stuff around over the next couple days....I'm working on an update. This past week was my 3rd best ever. Woot!

card rack

Sat, 12 Jun 2004 07:34:27 GMT

Incredible 3/6 session this afternoon, a non-stop rush for about two hours. One of those days where you catch great cards all day, hit the flop or make your draw everytime...and those few occasions where you're behind you're able to see what's going on and dump your hand. It was mostly luck and I realize that, but it was certainly a lot of fun while it lasted.

Fri, 11 Jun 2004 04:57:25 GMT

Yes, I'm still alive. I just haven't felt like writing very much. Poker is good, although I'm still not working enough. I've been playing 3/6 more frequently with pretty solid results. I've been crushing the 2/4 games which has been fun and gave me enough encouragement/confidence to get back into the 3/6 games. Yadda, yadda, yadda. Still smoke free after two weeks...now I just need to get my lazy ass to a gym.

Sat, 05 Jun 2004 04:29:59 GMT

I think I figured out why I've felt like crap this past week and haven't been wanting to play, as of today it's been a week since I last had a cigarette. I know that sounds really weak, but for anyone who's been in this sort of situation they probably understand.

To be honest I'm surprised I'm surprised I didn't figure this out sooner. I just feel numb/foggy/groggy without the constant stream of nicotine flooding my system and consequently I don't feel focused enough to play. I'm going to start walking next week (the second half of my secondary goals for summer), I think the activity will help me with my cravings and help to clear my head as well. I'm gonna be way behind schedule after this week.

Fri, 04 Jun 2004 02:20:31 GMT

I haven't been playing the last few days. I felt "off" my game (which is strange because the last two weeks have been very good), but whatever...I generally don't play unless I feel like I'm 100% and I haven't felt that way so I haven't been playing. Today I finally sat down and put in a few hours, I posted a modest win which felt good.

I had my first phone meeting with my coach tonight. I had been really nervous to speak with him (I was a bit intimidated because of his level of experience/skill/etc), but it turns out he's just a regular guy who happens to know a thing or two about poker. We only talked for a few minutes tonight, but I'm really glad I finally made the jump and spoke with him. We reviewed a couple hands and he was able to explain things as we walked through the hand which was very helpful. I'm confident that as time goes on and I can speak with him more frequently it will really improve my play.

Sat, 29 May 2004 04:24:09 GMT

2+2'r Brings Home the Bracelet!!!!!

Congrats to Greg "Fossilman" Raymer who tore up the final table to win the 2004 World Series of Poker!!! Greg takes home 5 million dollars in prize money as well as the championship bracelet. Greg qualified for the WSOP on Poker Stars (in addition to 3 other final table players including runner up David Williams). The WSOP was recorded by ESPN and will be broadcast starting in June...get ready guys it's going to be a great $ummer (thanks Greg...us grinders appreciate the help).

Congrats Fossilman!!!

Three months from now EVERY wanna-be will be wearing these glasses, find out who makes them and buy stock.

Absolutely FANTASTIC picture...I think it pretty much sums up what poker is all about.

Ever wonder what five million looks like? He's gonna need a forklift to get that home. Congrats again Greg!

Ugh...

Fri, 28 May 2004 05:01:47 GMT

Today was a downer...I slept late and didn't get much accomplished this afternoon (other than trying to catch up on the Greg Raymer WSOP updates). Tonight was the second game of stanley cup playoffs so I watched most of that...after game one tampa had something to proove and calgary just couldn't keep up. I played some 3/6 for a couple hours and dropped about 25 BB's. It's disappointing but not really unexpected considering the run I've been on lately and also the fact that I wasn't as focused as I should have been.

Tomorrow is the WSOP final table, Poker Stars Is doing a final table simulcast which starts at 4pm. If Greg makes the final table (which seems very likely barring a huge disaster) I'm probaby going to spend most of the day watching that. My roommate's family is going to be visiting this weekend so things might get pretty hectic. I just hope I can get in some hours here and there, this week started off really well and I'd like to stay on track...if not, that's how life is sometimes. Peace.

Thu, 27 May 2004 05:48:50 GMT

Another good day, 8.5 hrs at the tables. I cleared the Poker Room deposit bonus tonight in one sitting (about 5 hours). I'm not really happy with how I played at poker room, the cards were running cold and I let it get to me. I ended up taking a small loss at the tables but turned a profit with the bonus money. Paradise has a reload bonus coming up this weekend, but I'm not sure if I'm going to take it. I ran really poorly last time I played at paradise and 1000 hands for $100 at a site I'm not a big fan of is probably costing me more in expectation than I could get playing at Empire Poker. We'll see, I haven't made up my mind yet. Time for adult swim on cartoon network, peace.

Wed, 26 May 2004 05:59:05 GMT

Big day today...I put in 10 hours at the tables and ran really well. I'm beat.

Tue, 25 May 2004 01:36:06 GMT

Poker Room is running a neteller deposit bonus, 10%, $100 max. You need to use deposit code NET to get the bonus and deposit a dime to max it out. Games at pokerroom are fair to good, if you play 2/4 and above it takes roughly the same amount of time to clear as a Party bonus (you need 7 player points/$1 in bonus money, 1 point for hands where rake is $1 or more, 0.5 points where it is less than $1 but greater than .50).

Anyways, I've been reading today, I finally finished TOP and will be starting on Cooke's book later tonight. I decided not to play today. Our A/C died yesterday and I simply can't think in the heat (I'm a wuss, I know). The repair guy finally showed up at like 7pm, he said they had over 30 service calls today because of problems from the weekend. I guess having them show up late is better than getting bumped til tomorrow, so thanks for working late guys. I don't think I could have handled another night, plus my allergies were going nuts having the windows open (did I mention I'm a wuss?). Anyways, two and a half hours later and our apartment is still pretty warm, it'll take a while for the system to get the heat/humidity out of the air I guess...either way it's about 100 times better than it was so I can't really complain.

This week will be a lot more play oriented, I have to finish the Party bonus as well as the pokerroom bonus now, so those should help make up for the low playing hours last week. I'm looking forward to it. Peace.

Week 1 Complete

Mon, 24 May 2004 04:02:12 GMT

The first week of my summer challenge is complete. I'm very happy with the way things turned out this first week and I feel confident I'm going to be successful. My combined study and playing hours for the week were 43.75, basically right on target (target is 45). I ended up putting in a lot of extra study time this week (sacrificing some playing time, but I feel it was time well spent). I'm in this for the longrun and I'm confident that things will balance out over the course of the summer.

Mon, 24 May 2004 01:07:55 GMT

(Copied from a post at 2+2 I'm pretty sure this is the correct payout...WOW)

WSOP prize money.

Prize Money $$$$s
Total Prize Pool $24,214,400

225 will make the money

1st $5,000,000
2nd $3,500,000
3rd $2,500,000
4th $1,500,000
5th $1,100,000
6th $800,000
7th $675,000
8th $575,000
9th $470,000
10th - 12th $373,000
13th - 15th $275,000
16th - 18th $175,000
19th - 26th $120,000
27th - 36th $80,000
37th - 45th $60,000
46th - 54th $45,000
55th - 81st $25,000
82nd - 108th $20,000
109th - 180th $15,000
181st - 225th $10,000

Sun, 23 May 2004 22:30:08 GMT

It's like 300 degrees in my apartment right now. Our A/C seems to be having issues, it's been working fine for the last couple weeks but now it's dead. We're a 2nd floor apartment and so the heat rises...it's actually cooler outside right now than inside. We finally gave up on the A/C like an hour ago and now we have all the windows open and fans going full blast trying to get the heat out....ugh. I just hope we can get it fixed ASAP, I hate the heat, I can't think straight. Makes me glad I can work in my underwear as it might come to that if we can't get this fixed.

Sun, 23 May 2004 05:56:11 GMT

Whew. Study time continues to be on overload. I finished Psychology of Poker today. I'll probably finish TOP tomorrow, maybe a chapter or two will carry over to Monday. The UPS man brought my books on Thursday...can't wait to get to them. hehe. My results at the tables continue to be very solid. I'm still on a good run, that is clear. It will be interesting to see how things balance out in the long run. Party is running a deposit bonus right now so be sure to cash in on that.

The WSOP main event started today, there are 2600 people entered. 2600!!!!!! That's a 26 MILLION dollar prize pool!!! I'm pretty sure the top four or five finishers will be going home millionaires, incredible. For those who aren't aware Poker Stars will be simulcasting the final table on May 28th (Friday). I'm pretty sure the final table starts at 12pm Pacific (3pm eastern), but don't quote me on it. I'm making popcorn.

Thu, 20 May 2004 07:20:00 GMT

I'm officially running good.

Another good day, I split it right down the middle...3 hours of play and 3.5 hours of study. I’m very happy with how things are going with my study of TOP and PoP. I’m very confident I’ll be able to finish them by the end of the weekend. Next week things will normalize, as I’ll only be studying one book instead of two.

I am continuing to make improvements to my overall strategy. I’ve probably improved my game more in the last three days than I did in the last year. It’s truly a night and day difference from the way I was playing a week ago.

It’s difficult to describe all the changes I’ve made simply because there are so many. I’ve basically had one of those moments where you make a discovery and everything looks different. I wasn’t being nearly aggressive enough, I wasn’t using the semi-bluff as effectively (or as often) as I should have been, I was getting too cute too often (Fancy Play Syndrome) and not getting maximum value on my hands...the list goes on and on.

What’s really disturbing is how habitual my mistakes had become. So much so that even now (after I’ve had my revelation and am conscious of these flaws) I still find myself reflexively wanting to keep doing the wrong thing. I’ve had to focus more intently then ever before to retrain myself and stop making these knee-jerk reactions.

Anyways, this week is only half over and it’s already been the most exciting week I’ve ever had in poker...it can only get better at this point. Even if my results suddenly go in the tank, I know that I’m ten times the player I was a week ago. No looking back at this point. Peace.

Wed, 19 May 2004 06:25:21 GMT

A good day, but not a great one...5 hrs of play, 1 hr of study. I can see already that this first week is going to be very study intensive, and I'm ok with that. I've had a "lightbulb moment" that has revealed some major mistakes I was making with my strategy and I want to research those areas further, review some hands, and fine tune the adjustments I'm making to make sure they are correct. In addition, I want to digest two books this week (it's likely the second one is going to carry over to next week).

I have a feeling that the whole summer is going to be like this...a cycle where I discover a problem area, focus on studying/reviewing hands/making adjustments and then go back to the tables and put in the hours with the newfound knowledge. It's unlikely I'll be playing exactly 35 hrs a week and studying for 10...much more likely to be one week of heavy study followed by a week or two of heavy play, rinse, repeat, etc.

Tue, 18 May 2004 04:04:35 GMT

I'm off to a good start on my summer challenge, I put in 6 hours of study time and 3 hours of playing time today (what's strage is that it's only midnight...amazing how much you can get done in a day when you put your mind to it, eh?). I'm about halfway through TOP and I also started reading The Psychology of Poker today...I'm hoping to get both of these finished by the weekend, so I'll probably be putting in some extra hours of study this week.

I find I'm learning a lot more with this reading of TOP. I'm highlighting and taking notes in addition to posting my chapter summaries on the odyssey forums. I'm basically going to be shooting for a book a week over the summer. This first week I'm doing two, which is rather ambitious (one a week is ambitious to be honest), but at this point I think it's acceptable. Most of the books I'll be studying this summer I've read at least once in the past, so a lot of the information is "review" in some ways, I'm just going back over it and digesting it more throughly this time. I'm sure there will be several more readings in the future. I hope that the discussion picks up on the odyssey forums as this will aid in my study.

I was able to touch base with my coach today and get his thoughts on 25 hands that I sent to him. It was really rewarding to send him this many hands at once, as it revealed a number of major errors on my part. Things are really starting to click and I have a better understanding of WHY my play was wrong in those situations. Now it becomes a matter of making the proper corrections. I was thinking about it a lot during my session tonight...I still made a few blunders (old habits die hard), but did adjust my strategy for the most part and I can already see the difference his advice is making. I think my study of TOP is also helping in making the proper adjustments...I'm gaining a better understanding of the game overall. With my increased hours I'm hoping to be able to prepare another set of hands that my coach and I can discuss sometime later this week (I don't want to lose momentum now that I'm moving forward), when we get together later this week it will be over the phone and I'm really looking forward to that.

Anyways, I'm beat after a hard day of work...can't believe I'm going to bed at midnight, but I am. Goodnight everybody.

Sun, 16 May 2004 18:28:37 GMT

As requested, I have made my 2004 earnings graph public. You'll notice that around mid-March (when I started to prepare for my move) is when things started to go downhill, and I really haven't gotten back on track since. You'll also notice the vertical line representing the start of my summer challenge (starts tomorrow). I decided to edit out the dollar amounts because more and more I prefer to keep this information private; however, the graph should give you an idea of how things are going for me overall. I'm off to finish clearing the Empire bonus. Peace.

Sun, 16 May 2004 07:08:09 GMT

So I was bored and decided to graph out my results so far for this year. I've used graphs before, it's a pain in the ass to get them set up, but being able to see a graphical representation of your results is pretty cool. You get to look beyond the numbers to see how poker really works. Those big upward spikes when you're running good, the painful downward drops when when you're running bad....the straight lines of frustration as you break even for a week. That's what poker is all about. When you get past those short term results and see that your graph is headed in a positive direction overall it can be very comforting when you're having one of those runs like I've been having the last couple weeks.

Actually, graphing things out has been quite inspirational for me, it has put things into perspective. I started out the year really well, my first quarter earnings were probably above expectation (I was running good). The last month and a half has been a disappointment...a combination of wasting too much time, not taking things as seriously as I should be and a bad run to make things that much worse has really killed my profits (I'm still positive, just not doing nearly as well in the second quarter as the first).

Anyways, I feel like things are falling into place. All the work I've been doing the last week, preparing my long term goals, opening up the Odyssey Forums, making my log page to track my results, and making my earnings graph has really got me stoked to get things back on track. I even put a big black line on my earnings graph on May 17th (the day my summer challenge official begins)....essentially saying to myself behind this line is the old me, in front of it is the new me.

I'll admit that in some ways I'm a little nervous, I've spoken before about being a "planner" rather than a "do-er" but I think things are different this time, they certainly feel like it. I almost feel like I'm about to start a new job...that nervousness you get the day before, part excitement and part fear, but it's a good thing. Only time will tell if I can live up to the path I've prepared for myself, but I'm confident that I'll be a very different person by the end of the summer. Peace.

Sun, 16 May 2004 02:27:28 GMT

Arg...I lied, my losing streak is definately not over, down about 50 BB's today trying to clear the Empire bonus. Looking at my poker tracker stats for the last week AA, AKs, and AK are all losers (despite the one solid day I had, it wasn't enough to bring them back...AA is actually my 3rd worst hand over the last week, lol). Things will turn around eventually...just gotta keep plugging away until they do. Peace.

required reading

Sat, 15 May 2004 05:07:35 GMT

Inthacup posted a trip report at 2+2. Keep reading all the way down as the other people on the trip fill in the gaps...this is the best trip report I've ever read.