The Mental Game of Poker

When I started out playing HUSNG's I decided to get some coaching from a fellow player, who is somewhat an inspiration to me for the way he conducts himself in a very professional manner. I decided the best way to go about it was send him some hand histories to look at and his initial feedback was "This is all constructive criticism. You have a ton of leaks and almost no structure/method to your play. Your play is so random and unstructured that it is almost impossible for me to give you legitimate hh reviews." which was an entirely valid point. I had no idea what I was doing, with my raises, ranges or anything. I was given some great advice on how to combat these leaks & it took a ton of work to improve to where I am now.

I've come a long way since then, but in many ways, those leaks still exist. Not so much in my poker playing but in the way I prepare for playing poker. Until recently, my typical schedule was to sit down first thing in the morning & play for as long as I could which was typically around 2 hours until the kids got up. I'd get up bleary eyed, with a strong coffee in hand & sit at the first table I saw. In addition to this I'd also have opportunities to play for extended periods of time like during bank holidays where I just played as long as I was able to, which was usually until I was asked to help out around the house or the kids got too noisy. The below graph is typical of one of these days, it happened time & time again & I couldn't figure out why.

That was until I started reading a book, recommended to me by the very same coach who improved my game, written by Jared Tendler & Barry Carter entitled 'The Mental Game of Poker'. While reading the opening chapters, it made me realise the leaks I was told I had years ago were still present in my mental game. My poker sessions lacked any structure.

Waking up early in the morning & grabbing a coffee before sitting down at any table that was free had to be the worst preparation for playing my best, especially as half the time I was still blurry eyed. Since then, I've been educated into a pre-session warm-up in which I have a set structure before I even look at the lobby. The session is bookended with a warm-down looking at how I preformed in the session (which helps with tilt tremendously).

I've also come to realise that the mega-sessions I put in every now & then were always destined to fail & seems so obvious when I consider the fact I'm playing 460% more games in a single sitting than I'm used to without any prior training to improve length of time spent at the tables or number of games played in a single sitting.

I'm only a third of the way through the book, but already I've had a significant improvement to my overall game & mindset, just by implementing a few simple changes. I'd go as far as saying it has paid for itself already. I'd definitely recommend this book to anyone that plays poker, even at a casual level.

Get your copy here: http://mentalgameofpoker.com/

SCOOPing the mincash - The key hands Part 1

Last night was my one chance at taking down a SCOOP event this year. It's the second time I've played & was hoping to improve on my dismal performance last year when I exited in the first round. I was incredibly nervous last year & the schedule for SCOOP events was very much targeted at the now excluded American players so a 10pm first round was quite late for me.

This year was very different, in many ways helped by the blackout my schedule has moved from 5am playing sessions to 8pm with no early mornings, so my body wasn't giving up just yet. My game has developed incredibly & although I'm playing the same limit I was last year due to restarting my roll from scratch I feel I'm playing a lot better. Not only that, but mentally I feel more stable & prepared to cope with frustration, tough opponents & make quicker adjustments.

Unfortunately for me I didn't get a bye into the next round, I had to earn my spot. The game was over fairly quickly, I didn't need to make too many adjustments as my aim in the opening stages was to only play value hands until I had a few reads to work from. First interesting hand was:

Poker Stars, $15 + $1.50 NL Hold'em Tournament, 30/60 Blinds, 2 Players
Hero (BB): 4,865
BTN: 5,135

Pre-Flop: (90) 6 6 dealt to Hero (BB)
BTN raises to 180, Hero calls 120

Flop: (360) 9 7 7 (2 Players)
Hero checks, BTN checks
Turn: (360) 8 (2 Players)
Hero checks, BTN bets 240, Hero calls 240
River: (840) T (2 Players)
Hero checks, BTN bets 540, Hero calls 540

Results: 1,920 Pot
Hero showed 6 6 and WON 1,920 (+1,020 NET)
BTN showed K 5 and LOST (-930 NET)

So, we're around 80bb effective stacks deep. 66 is a fine hand to call OOP for set mining purposes. The check behind was actually a little concerning, up to now he'd been cbetting 100%. The 8 on the turn is a pretty good card for us, giving us an OESD with 8 outs along with our 2 6's for the full house. So to justify the call I need 28.5% equity & I think overs can be a big part of his range here so I think I've easily got the required equity, if not 50% here. On the river, the T rolls off. My intention here is to check & allow him to continue to bluff, I think if I bet out I fold out all his air & only get called by the stronger part of his range. I didn't consider raising for the same reason & I think there are a lot of Jx hands in this range.

Poker Stars, $15 + $1.50 NL Hold'em Tournament, 40/80 Blinds, 2 Players
Hero (BTN): 5,925
BB: 4,075

Pre-Flop: (120) 3 A dealt to Hero (BTN)
Hero raises to 160, BB calls 80

Flop: (320) 5 6 8 (2 Players)
BB checks, Hero bets 160, BB calls 160

Turn: (640) 9 (2 Players)
BB checks, Hero bets 320, BB raises to 640, Hero calls 320

River: (1,920) 9 (2 Players)
BB checks, Hero bets 1,360, BB calls 1,360

Results: 4,640 Pot
Hero showed 3 A and WON 4,640 (+2,360 NET)
BB mucked J 7 and LOST (-2,240 NET)


I've tended to raise my weaker hands against this guy to take the initiative in the pot, he had started to raise some of my limps & figured this hand wasn't strong enough to call if he put a sizeable raise in. Flop is pretty good, I figure a standard cbet will only fold out his absolute trash as he's shown the propensity to float a lot but even if he has top pair here my equity in the hand is around 40%. Turn is a pretty interesting street. I didn't want to slow down & show weakness, I still potentially had outs to my Ace & my nut flush draw are also good here. So I decide to bet 1/2 pot, mainly because I think he will fold his air to this sized bet after 2 streets. Now, I get check raised. So it narrows his range a ton to either 7x or over pairs. His min raise is a HUGE mistake! If I put him on a range of exactly 72+ TT+ my equity is 22% but I only need to call 320 to win a pot of 1920 to I need only 16.6% equity to make this call profitable. Had he made a raise of 1k or more my equity required would be 25%+ therefore a -EV play if called. As it turns out I naturally called & hit the flush card. I think my sizing given my read is a little on the small size & potentially lose a couple hundred chips here.

Poker Stars, $15 + $1.50 NL Hold'em Tournament, 40/80 Blinds, 2 Players
Hero (BB): 8,245
BTN: 1,755

Pre-Flop: (120) J J dealt to Hero (BB)
BTN raises to 200, Hero raises to 8,245 and is All-In, BTN calls 1,555 and is All-In

Flop: (3,510) 6 5 6 (2 Players - 1 is All-In)
Turn: (3,510) A (2 Players - 1 is All-In)
River: (3,510) 7 (2 Players - 1 is All-In)
Results: 3,510 Pot

Hero showed J J and LOST (-1,675 NET)
BTN showed A Q and WON 3,510 (+1,795 NET)

Standard hand. Villain has just over 20bbs & I'm getting this in all day long as I crush his range.

Poker Stars, $15 + $1.50 NL Hold'em Tournament, 40/80 Blinds, 2 Players
Hero (BTN): 6,210
BB: 3,790

Pre-Flop: (120) 9 9 dealt to Hero (BTN)
Hero raises to 160, BB raises to 400, Hero calls 240

Flop: (800) 4 4 7 (2 Players)
BB bets 500, Hero raises to 1,280, BB raises to 3,390 and is All-In, Hero calls 2,110

Turn: (7,580) K (2 Players - 1 is All-In)
River: (7,580) 9 (2 Players - 1 is All-In)
Results: 7,580 Pot

Hero showed 9 9 and WON 7,580 (+3,830 NET)
BB showed A Q and LOST (-3,710 NET)

Final hand of the first game. Standard raise pre, I get 3 bet which is a little concerning. I decide to flat, which could be a mistake in this spot. I think a 4 bet shove would put us up against over pairs & AJ+ & KQ. The flop is pretty safe & when I raise I expect to get folds pretty often. His jam is pretty scary, but I still have his range as broadways & over pairs which gives me too mush equity to fold. I guess it is a marginal play in this spot & should have just got it in pre.

I'm going look to review the major hands from the second match & post them up for criticism. Any thoughts feel free to let me know.

Poker, travelling & books

It's been a long time since I've updated my blog & I've had good reason to do so which I'm certain has been affecting my ability to play better poker. I've finally realised how results oriented I've become, but better than that I've realised why & I think that has really been the key to improving.

For a long time I've used several types of media, such as twitter, forums etc. to show people my great results. However, after hitting inevitable bad patches & my sexy graphs going limp I go off the radar & don't publish the details. I don't discuss where I am in my progress or why I'm doing what I'm doing, I literally go underground. I'm pretty confident this is holding me back in my development and I've finally decided to change my thought process when it comes to using social media as a tool to communicate.

So, there is my confessional. On to more pressing matters, such as New York!

There is only 3 weeks until we go & I'm still planning on hitting a ton of NYC bars while I'm out there. Got my eye on a couple, such as McSorely's Old Ale House which boasts being the oldest ale house in NYC. Should be pretty cool to drink in the same bar as Abe Lincoln frequented. Also looking at visiting PDT just for the sheer novelty value of the entry method of getting into the bar via a wooden phone booth in a hot dog restaurant. Pretty sure I'm going to have to hit a sports bar in NYC too, not sure where to go tbh, but I'm sure I'll find somewhere. Had a few suggestions such as Bar XII, Mickey Mantle's & The Mean Fiddler. No matter which place I check out, there is almost certainly going to be an awesome trip report after!.


Not sure how it's going to be possible to top this trip. Oh wait, yes I do, with a honeymoon to VEGASBABY!

Our plan is to hit Vegas at beginning of August to celebrate both my 30th & our honeymoon. Not booked the trip yet, but already have a reservation at N9ne Steakhouse! Plan is to stop at the Aria, goes without saying I plan on getting some poker action going. Hoping to have some fun, I know I'm a live donk whether it's tourneys or cash, so as long as I lose as much as it costs to buy the alcohol, I'll treat it as break-even!

Last thing high on my agenda is a new book out that I've been waiting for what seems a lifetime to get my hands on. The Mental Game of Poker has just been released, written by Jared Tendler & Barry Carter it promises to be a ground breaking book on the mental aspects of the game of poker. Given this has been a weak area of mine (and most other players no doubt) it could well be as valuable as Sklansky's Theory of Poker. Both Jared & Barry held a joint video blog to confirm the book is now shipping so I expect to have my copy in the next week. Once I have a copy in my greasy palms I'll be sure to post my thoughts on the book, until then I encourage anyone to get a copy from MentalGameofPoker.com