Plugging Leaks

I've only read a few chapters of Jared Tendler's book and it's helping my poker game already.I've got a bit lazy when it comes to improving my game and I tend to just jump on and play most weekends without reviewing previous sessions or giving much thought to any leaks I have.

I've written here before that I don't tilt much and that means I don't do the common stuff like stepping up levels to chase losses or just spewing off chips with silly calls and shoves.That's not to say I don't get frustrated.I played 75 six max hyper turbos last night and many of the repeated bad beats seemed almost surreal at times.I was actually quite pleased I only lost $69 after taking a real battering for most of the night.

Anyway this post is about leaks and the first one I have is related to how I stop myself from going on full on monkey spew mode when running badly.My technique in turbo/hyper turbo games is to tighten up and go back to my basic game for a few hands/table orbits until that sick bad beat feeling passes and then I open up my game again.I've now realised that this may seem effective and may save me spewing off my stack, but it is in effect a form of tilt in it's own right. Tightening up too much and getting even marginal push/fold decisions wrong will be costing me money.

The other leak I've identified when playing six tables of 6 max hyper turbos is that the action is so fast that I tend to just go all in or fold.Now although against better players this would mean my ranges are more balanced and it would be harder to put me on a hand,$7 players are only really focussed on their own cards and most wouldn't notice me trying to get more value by min raising stronger hands and shoving weaker ones. ( for example)

I mentioned playing 75 games last night.I only started six tabling towards the end of my play and I went to bed wondering how much I could make over a 7 hour day if I played 24 per hour.From reading the Two Plus Two forum today I think the answer is not as much as I thought! I've currently got a 5% roi over 832 six max hypers but I would need a sample of many thousands for it to be truly meaningful.Apparently most winning players make more from rakeback ( player points on Stars and the VIP bonus system)than they do from the games.

I also now realise that with 150-250 buy-ins recommended to be able to comfortably deal with the crazy hyper turbo swings,I really would be just taking a shot if I put aside $900 to take a 30 buy-in shot at the $30 level.I may do it anyway just for kicks and give myself a 10 buy-in stop loss limit to keep me within my gulp limit over any given session.

Ok,that's more than enough for a quick post on leaks.Back soon...

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All welcome!

Bodog are also running an online poker tournament for poker bloggers on a Tuesday night at 9.05pm Eastern Time.( 2am Wed for us Brits).

Yesterday I watched Rangers beat Hearts 2-1 at Ibrox after their dodgy goalkeeper fumbled one into the net with less than ten minutes left.Everytime the guy touched the ball from then on there was a loud chorus of "Hee Haw" which reminded me of the poker tables...

After picking Nacho up, my cousin popped round just as I was having dinner and ended up staying to watch the Spanish fitba and have a couple of beers.

The moment he left I was on the IM chat thing and after Rosie went off to bed I played three $16 turbos and managed to win two of them.

Feeling good,I fired up a couple of $27 ,18 player turbos and came back to reality when I got my money in with AK v AQ on a K Q 7 rainbow flop, only for another Queen to hit on the river.In the other game I battled hard and made it down to the last seven.One guy had been playing table captain, but to be fair he was a shark and knew what he was doing.I did wish he'd stop educating the fish though!

I'm usually wary when an excellent player raises ( tight range ) but it had folded to this guy ( roberts34) in the small blind and he shoved v my big blind.I had 88,considered that he was likely to be shoving any two, ( we were both shortish stacks) and made the call, only to go out when his 107c hit the board.

There were certainly a few more good players in the two $27's I played in, but there were also still a load of donks and although I crashed out of both,I felt my decision making was ok.( which is all that counts really)

I should probably have gone to bed at that point, however I felt the cash tables calling and unfortunately for me two of my biggest poker leaks came to the fore and cost me big time.Good old "last hand ( or orbit) syndrome", where I always seem to get greedy and want to force things right at the end of a session, combined with " playing a cash table in turbo tourney mode" syndrome.

I had AQ at a $400nl table ( thought I'd take a wee shot for my last 15 mins of the night)and raised it up to $14 when folded to me.I hadn't been at the table long but had been very tight until then.I was reraised to $46 and altouugh I don't like AQ I felt the villain had been three-betting quite frequently and decided to flat call.As I'd been tight I also felt there was even more reason for the villain to 3-bet there and try and take the pot away from me.

On reflection later, I feel a 4-bet raise to $160-$200 may have been the best play as that way I would have truly followed my instinct that the villain wasn't on very big pair and he would probably have folded.

Bottom line was that the flop came Ace high and I ( cringe!) ended up losing a buy-in to AK.( both of us all in with our monster top pair!).

That was probably the biggest cash game pot I've lost in a long time ,but I still slept like a baby last night and I'm not feeling that sick about it today in all honesty.I won about $1k last month and have to be prepared for setbacks if I want to be playing $100nl and above more often.

I usually managed to mix tourney and cash play quite well with no ill effects.From now on I'll look more closely at sticking to one type of poker per night especially if taking a shot.

Ok,just about to take Nacho up the road and give Step A a lift back from her Dads too and then it's fitba and poker for me....