Year-End Weatherford Tournament

It has finally arrived.  All the work and hours put in at the Thursday night tournaments in Weatherford have led up to this weekend.  Every tournament I played, I received points depending on how deep in the tournament I made it and this year I qualified by receiving at least 3,000 points.  I actually have 4,150 points, which is how many chips I will start the tournament with.

While I'm not sure of the exact seating order, I do know I will be at a table with Darrel, Brandon C., Wes, Randall, Baird, Danny, Dennis, and J.P.  Of those eight opponents, three have less starting stacks than I do and the biggest stack is Darrel, with $8,575.  Four of those guys (Brandon, Wes, Randall, and Danny) are very active players who like to bluff.  What that means is that despite starting with so few chips, which the average starting stack in the room is $5,275 and at my table it is $5,100, I feel confident that if I can play a solid game early then I should be able to build a large enough chip stack that I can start playing a normal strategy.

In the past few weeks I've implemented a few new tactics at the table and the most recent tournament last night resulted in a second-place finish (which I chopped with first and third, so I might have finished one place higher or lower if it had played out).  I am feeling good right now about my mental approach and hopefully I can get a little lucky in order to finish high in the money.

First place wins $2,000 and that would be a great boost to my bankroll for 2017.  Wish me luck and I will post results on Monday.

New Strategies To Incorporate

I don't know what it is about 2017, but I am really into poker again.  I have been consuming as much strategy and advice about poker as possible and want to really improve my game over the next few months in order to have this be the most profitable year yet for my poker playing.  While I have already set forth some yearly goals in regard to my play, I need to also have a place for strategy goals.  And that is what this will be.

When I hear a tip or strategic play that could be introduced into my game more to see whether it improves my profitability, I want to write it down somewhere that I can remember it and look back at it again and again in order to see in what situations it works and in what situations it doesn't.  This post will be that reference point.  As I learn more tips and try new tips, I will post their results and see if it works.

Strategy #1

• Check-raise more.  Especially on the flop, pull off the check-raise bluff.

Strategy #2

• In tournament play, limp early with low-to-medium pocket pairs when the pot starts small and raise late in order to steal blinds that are worth more.

Strategy #3

• Raising in late position more frequently with a wider array of hands.

As I come across more pieces of information to better my game I will include them, but for now I am going to focus on just doing these three tactics.

Thinking Poker Podcast Tip #2

In the semi-monthly game I've been playing in Weatherford we have introduced Omaha, and even more recently we've added Omaha High-Low, which I don't love but am trying to get better at as quickly as possible because I think it will be a profitable game for me in the end if I can learn the correct way to play it.  In a recent podcast from late last year on the Thinking Poker website I listen to, they included an Omaha High-Low hand that incorporated a tip I wanted to get down onto paper.

"Non-nut lows are a lot more valuable when an ace or deuce is on the board, given that ace-deuce is so commonly played.  When ace-deuce does make the nut low, especially in a raised pot, it’s pretty likely out there, versus when there is an ace on the board, now the chances are better of someone else having a non-nut low be the winner.  It’s far more likely that someone with a four-three will win for the low with an ace on the board than ace-four will win with a three on the board."

Poker Tip From Thinking Poker Podcast

I've had a recent resurgence in wanting to play poker and because of that I've been digesting as much information about the game as I can, which has led to listening to a poker podcast from Andrew Brokos and Nate Meyvis called Thinking Poker.  It's pretty good and I specifically listen to the strategy lessons that are provided with each podcast.

Since I am trying to meet some poker goals that are a bit loftier than I've ever attempted before, I want to ensure that I have the most knowledge and greatest edge at any given table.  Therefore, any tips or pieces of information that I feel require remembering will be put down on this blog so I can refresh my memory in the months and years to come.  So here is a tip I got from a recent podcast.

"When you have strong hands you should not be trying to induce bluffs.  When you have strong hands you should be trying to induce calls.  And you have to bet to do it."

I generally don't rely on others to make bets for me and don't try to check-raise on rivers much.  I've just seen too many times it go check-check for a showdown and the player in an earlier position is beside himself because he thought his opponent was going to bet for him.  However, this tip is worth noting because it can be utilized in other scenarios than just a river bet.

Obviously there are situations when a check is warranted because you hold such a powerful hand that you don't mind someone drawing to a lesser hand and betting early in the hand doesn't allow them to have good enough cards yet.  But most of the time when holding a powerful hand, you don't want to miss opportunities for putting money in the pot.

So remember this: don't plan to check-raise unless you don't see any other way of getting money in the pot on a certain street, your opponent is such an aggressive player you are certain he will take a stab at the pot, or your hand is such a good one that allowing free cards can't possibly hurt.

Yearly Reviews: 2009-2016

It's been nearly two years since I've posted anything to this website.  With the little time I have to write I mostly focus my time on my other blog.  Another reason I don't have too much to say on this website is my poker play is limited to about twice a month in a regular Weatherford game.  So there just isn't much to even discuss when I do have the time to focus on this part of my writing.

Since it has been so long, I figured it was time to look back on 2016 (and 2015 since I didn't post anything about that year either) and see how my year-end results compared to previous years.

In the past year I played approximately 110 hours and won $1,675.  This equates to a $15.26 hourly rate.  My biggest win for the year was $960 in a Texas hold 'em/Omaha hi-lo mixed game.  My largest loss was $450, also in a hold 'em/Omaha hi-lo mixed game.

My tournament play  for the year was pretty poor, seeing only a few cashes in a $40 re-buy tourney.  For the most part my money was made in the cash games that followed the tournament.  I do a good job of limiting my buy-ins for the tournaments to a maximum of two (and normally it is just the single buy-in), but once the re-buys end I usually haven't amassed enough chips to handle the increasing blinds.  I need to have a large enough stack once the re-buy period ends to be able to make some plays pre- and post-flop and be aggressive enough to not play scared against the players I consider better than me.

So how does my 2016 compare to previous years.  Let's take a look.

2016 - profited $1,675 at a $15.26 hourly rate

2015 - profited $955 at an $8.20 hourly rate

2014 - profited $745 at a $10.31 hourly rate

2013 - lost $450 at a $3.79 hourly rate

2012 - profited $1,205 at a $12.96 hourly rate

2011 - profited $770 at a $15.56 hourly rate

2010 - profited $1,615 at a $10.25 hourly rate

2009 - profited $1,615 at a $35.50 hourly rate

In the past eight years, I have profited $8,130 playing poker.  My average profit per year is $1,016.25.  My average hourly rate is $13.03.  That is better than minimum wage, but certainly not good enough to make poker a viable option as my only source of income.

Stacked up against previous years, 2016 was a great one.  I had my highest profit for the year and my third largest hourly rate.  I also saw my second highest single-session profit (the first being a profit of $1,185 in 2010 that paid for our refrigerator).  This year's big win came in December and helped pay off some Christmas debt.

Looking forward to my poker playing in 2017 I would like to set a few goals for myself.  The most hours I've ever played in a year is 157.5 (that was in 2010, prior to adding the two boys to our family).  I'd like to increase my total time played to the most ever since keeping these stats and I'd also like to have a winning hourly rate of $20.  If I meet both of those goals, my minimum profit for the year should be nearly $3,200.  That would be almost twice as much as I have ever won before in a single year and would help establish a full-time bankroll dedicated toward poker only.  That leads into my third goal for 2017: to have a bankroll again.  I would also like to get back into continuing my education in poker with other means that experience, even if that means reading some books I've studied before.

So the four goals for 2017 are this:

1. Play at least 158 hours of poker.

2. Win at an hourly rate of $20.

3. Start a bankroll dedicated entirely to poker that will provide for 2018.

4. Read some literature on poker strategy.

Hopefully I can meet all four goals and post a few entries here along the way.