How did I improve?

Sunday, October 25th, 2009

I was searching through some of my old posts, searching for cashout/deposit information because I was trying to build a spreadsheet that tracks my “net”; my online bankrolls plus my net cashout/deposits. It’s actually starting to get to the point that I can’t keep track easily any more because of redeposits (chasing redeposit bonuses) and [...]

Problem gambling, Part I

Friday, September 25th, 2009

Pat, who is a regular reader of this blog, sent me an interesting question. Pat discovered that one of the regular players in the circuit is losing money, a fair amount of money, and in a short period of time. Here’s a graph and some results:

Across the top summary line you can see 715 tournaments [...]

Experience bias, perception bias

Wednesday, September 9th, 2009

One of the gaps that I’m having difficulty with is putting players on ranges.
This is most obvious when I mix playing levels; going down to 10nl to play at a different site, playing a cheap tournament or SnG for something to do. Oddly enough it doesn’t seem to be a problem when I play the [...]

The Poker Playbook: Categorized listing of basic poker plays and styles I: Preflop plays

Saturday, August 8th, 2009

(Note: obv I wrote this post and part II in advance, then accidentally scheduled them backwards with Part II being posted first)

This is a collection of poker plays, separated into preflop plays and postflop plays. It’s a different way of analysing players according to what actions they have in their playbook. Rather than [...]

The Poker Playbook: Categorized listing of basic poker plays and styles II: Postflop plays

Thursday, August 6th, 2009

Continuation of the listing, for postflop plays.
Categorized plays; Postflop
Fit or Fold; Stats: low postflop aggression and bet frequency

easy decision making
minimizing risks
probably need to see lots of flops and to call down with underpairs and 2nd or even 3rd pair on flop
may need to be a chaser as well, chasing with draws and with overcards
give up [...]

The learning process, and learning to think

Wednesday, May 13th, 2009

I want to try to work my way through the development of a thinking process for poker.
Partly this is for academic purposes; to try to lay out the developmental stages, but it’s also partly because I’ve been through a lot of the stages, but often forget or skip some in as I develop and start [...]

Basics of Pot Limit Omaha, for Hold’em players

Monday, September 15th, 2008

Pot Limit Omaha (Hi) is not Hold’em with two hands. In other words, AK66 of four different suits is not a hand. T987 with two of two suits is. Besides the basic rule difference that you must use two of your hole cards to make a hand, not just one or none as in Hold’em, [...]

Can’t win, always losing at micro level Holdem poker?

Monday, July 14th, 2008

One of the tough things for a beginner at no limit holdem poker is the way poker theory is seemingly at odds with what seems to win. This will happen often at the low levels. Someone who tries to play more or less within the range of recommended basics can get frustrated and bewildered when [...]