Tuesday, August 5, 2008

That’s Why They Call it Fishing

Well, at least I didn’t get skunked fishing yesterday. I caught a couple Cutthroats and hooked into one really nice Steelie before my line broke. My buddy caught a big Cutthroat and two 10# Steelies, which he let go. He is a catch-and-release guy. I am as well, after I have my first fish for the grill. Can’t keep Cutthroats, so I came home empty-handed. Well, not quite. My fishing buddy also is a chef/owner of a great restaurant, so we stopped off to pick up some tuna steaks wrapped in bacon to bring home. I’ll grill those babies up tonight.

Tonight is pub tourney night. I guess I won’t be going, opting for dinner with my dear wife. If she were cognizant of my schedule, she would insist I go, suggesting that the tuna can wait another day (no, it can’t) and that it’s too hot to barbecue (never too hot or too cold). Perhaps I will be missing an opportunity for a blog-worthy moment, something that will keep me on-topic, that being poker, yet I think I will want to stay home anyway and play online.

My Stars game isn’t going too well. I’ve been almost card dead every time I’ve played. And when I haven’t been card dead, I’ve either been pushed off by a re-raise, made little on the hand, or drawn out on. I’m playing about 15%, mostly at .10/.25. So far, I’m down $20 from the initial $100 I deposited, so I’m not real worried. I’m going to deposit another $200 soon, and this might help get me off of worrying about the smallish amount I have to work with at the moment.

I want to thank those readers from Poker Academy who have given me advice on how to proceed. (http://forums.poker-academy.com/viewtopic.php?t=9622). Gump has also offered this:
A couple of general tips that might help:
- in the lobby, I sort by pot size then scroll down looking at full tables which are pretty loose. ~40% played is my minimum. I have a 50-50 rule of 50% played and $5 average pots is usually pretty sweet.
- if i don't find a good seat at a good table, i just don't play. You've got it good as there's typically 120,000 players during the U.S peak hour. When I play after work, its early AM and I'm lucky if there's 60,000 online, so the picking are sometimes slim. Table selection #1 over everything..
-play UBER tight and UBER position. Muck the AQ's etc from EP. When you do play a hand, I find 5BB ($1.25) is a good figure to drive people out so you know where you're at post flop.
- I don't play long sessions at a table, esp. when they starting noticing how tight I play and respecting my raises. Maybe 3 or 4 orbits is plenty. Unless the table is particularly juicy I'm always on the hop.
- any pair is gold at this level. When you hit a set you're a good shot to double up. I limp with any pair and call most raises depending on who and how many are in the pot.
- C-betting is a waste of time unless all the moons are aligned i.e. you're in position, your heads up, you think the person is capable of folding etc
with AA/KK typically limp from early. It's just impossible to know where you're at post flop. If you're lucky, someone will raise so then just come over the top for a big chunk of your stack. You'd be surprised how often you get called cos they think you're stealing with a low pair. The TAG's will see what you're doing and insta-fold but that isn't such a bad thing. You' want to avoid ugly situations where you're out of position trying to figure if your overpair is good.

He’s had success with this method. Yet, as I’ve written elsewhere, this is going to get me down to playing a percentage of hands that is going to be boring as shit, maybe 10% or less. If I stick around for 3 or 4 orbits, I may only play 4 hands, if that. And then I have to go looking for another table?

I can see value in this. For one, if I’m table-hopping, perhaps I won’t get bored. Looking for the next table will be akin to reading while playing, necessitating playing the ABC poker Gump recommends. Plus, I’m thinking that such a playing style allows one not to worry too much about getting a read on the players. It will, nevertheless, take some getting used to. Now, if I can just start getting some cards...

2 comments:

PAPro_SandMan said...

Most people are multi-tabling if they're playing that tight... Makes it a lot more tolerable to fold almost everything.

I know, it's not in my nature to multi-table, either, but I've done it on occassion and found that it actually forces me to play ultra-tight and tends to work well in the crap online games.

Luck, my friend!

Forrest Gump said...

Yep, +1.

Multi-tabling actually helped my game ALOT. Playing sub 20% IS boring as BS and there's the tendency after a while to want to mix it up. But when there's another table or two to keep your attention, its not so bad.


FG