Absolutes in Poker

Ronna: I need a favour.
Todd: Wow, I didn't know we'd become such good friends, because if we had, you'd know that I give head before I give favours and I don't even give my best friends head so your chances of getting a favour are pretty fucking slim.

”Go”

Hmm, it seems I might have to ban anonymous comments on this blog, as attractive as the offer for an easy degree is, I may have to pass.

Had a good quick session last night, up in the end at $1/$2 as well as taking the cookies in a 20 person SNG. In the SNG, with seven players left (and one was absent) I was able to steel the blinds about 3 times every orbit – and I was coming 4th! Before long I had a 3-1 chip lead over the second place player and just waited for the short stacks to be blinded out. It was a shame, the absent player survived twice when the big blind forced him to be all-in, and thus finished in forth place collecting $10 for their trouble. When we got to heads up, I had $20K vs $8K or there abouts, and needed to end it quick. It was back and forth steeling and bluffing, nothing exciting really, but then I wanted to watch something on TV (actually it was a Joe Haschem interview on “Rove”, a show kinda like Jay Leno) and called an all-in with Queen-high. He had King high and I hit two queens on the flop. Yeah, whatever.

I moved up to $1/$2 (big jump huh?) because I got to thinking about what I consider a “good” session. Just recently I read on an Australian poker forum about a local player who went from 50c/$1 to $30/$60 in 9 months and has made over $80K this year. It could be all bullshit because I don’t know him personally, but he also plays live at the only poker room here in Sydney and many people were willing to back up his claims and verify his poker tracker results that he posted. Anyways, basically he said what a lot of other players at higher levels than myself say, and that is that they average around 2BB/100. This is enough to make decent coin and keep moving forward as an average. Which got me thinking, that means if after 100 hands at my levels, if I have gone from $60 to $66, I’m above average.

Now the first goal of any player is to make the correct decisions at the correct time, that is the ultimate. But after evaluating my play it is only naturally to have a look at the doe-ray-me situation. If I sat down with $60, I’d want to cash out at $100 or more. Every time. While it’s good to set high goals, I don’t think I understood that I can make 2-3BB per 100 hands and still be considered a good session. As it turns out last night was 10BB over 128 hands, so that is a good session, all be it a small one and just one table. It will be interesting to see what the long term results are of this, it is just a new way for me to look at my results and gauge how I am going. I think I have hit a new state of willingness to observe and learn.

Damn, if this keeps up I might even start playing 3 tables at once! Shock! Horror!

Nah, for some reason I can still only handle two at a time at the moment.

While in my some-what philosophical state, and with me preaching the evils of slow playing last post, one thing I do believe in poker is there is no such thing as an absolute when it comes to how to play a hand. There is no way style that is optimal 100% of the time – well, maybe calling your opponents all-in with the nuts is. I don’t know, I’m just dribbling here. I mean, even if you flop a Royal Flush, it might work if you come out betting UTG – might make it look like a steel attempt and induce a bluff? It all depends on the situation you are in.

One last thing: You know you have matured as a poker player when the following sentence makes sense and you don’t giggle when you hear it:

“He was betting on the come into my nuts.”

So I’m not that mature yet, sue me.