Poker’s such a tough game. When I think back to the days when it could still be profitable to limp with pocket pairs, make up the small blind, and flat call three-bets with aces, I cry a nostalgic, salt tear and pray for a return to the glory days in which poker was, for want of a better word, ‘easy’. Now swamped by a more educated playing field with players whose only mission in life is to grind, It amazes me that I’m still here, plugging away, trying to rekindle that winning flame that once blew so prevalent through the poker boom’s most immediate years. Of course, the game has changed dramatically, and any edge you can find, however minor, is like blood to a vampire and you just have to pounce on it like a greyhound on a three-legged cat. If you don’t, and you start limp-folding the small blind and failing to punish those who limp before you (hey, this could be the Poker God’s prayer), then just those occasional minus EV moves will eventually add up to a losing style of poker that simply can’t survive in today’s climate.
This possibility of having poker to fall back on was always a comforting thought for me in what is undoubtedly a vulnerable vocation, but now it’s seems less of a cushion, and I continue to doubt whether or not I’d be able to survive on playing alone if I did indeed lose my job. When I came into the halfway mark a few hundred dollars down at the $0.25/0.50 tables, I was both depressed and frustrated as it further cemented the idea that poker was no longer a credible part of my back-up plan. Of course, work stops me from studying the game as much as I would like, but if I can’t beat micro stakes, then what hope would there be for me as a full-time player relying on poker for his sole income? Furthermore, had all the hours I put into the game over the last several moths, been a waste of time? Had this ragged, old Beagle (despite his mere 28 years) finally had his day? Poker’s greatest crime is failing to answer that question in black and white and leaving you with a hope that might well be false. It’s just something you have to try and find out for yourself.
Nevertheless, I hadn’t done my bollocks, and I was still only a few buy-ins down, so I was determined to keep playing and see if I could turn things around. As a $1/2 player, playing $0.25/0.50 is a real challenge mentally as it’s hard to get excited about the swings, and any profit or loss is going to be pretty minimal in comparison. But the fact that I wasn’t winning and looking unlikely of turning a profit by the end of the week (at which point I’d be forced to increase the stakes), provided me with the challenge I needed to keep going and was the only thing that stopped me from slitting my wrists.
After a week in which the top of my graph continually teased the break-even line, I decided to play the final day without following my financial progress, and then just quit once I’d completed the desired hours. After a period of time, I decided that I was done, and so had a quick glance at my Poker Tracker. To my astonishment, I was precisely $0.73 down for the month of February. $0.73! Of course, it was nice, in a way, to be virtually even, but… $0.73!!! That’s 315 hours of looking at my computer screen clicking buttons, 28,239 hands of joy and heartache, 176 sessions of pure, unadulterated grinding all for $0.73! A friend once told me that there are times where he’d rather be down than even, as at least if feels like something has happened in his life rather than time just slipped through his fingers like sand in an hourglass. I think I finally knew what he meant.
On the flipside, I had raked $867.71, so in a way was beating the game, but that wasn’t good enough for me, I wanted to truly beat the game. I wouldn’t be able to beat it to a pulp, but I could at least give it a gentle poke and call it a naughty name. So – and I really don’t’ advise this as having targets always ends in disaster – I decided to try and nick one more set of blinds before sitting out in order to finish my $0.25/0.50 venture on a profit. Amusingly, something inside me made me raise to $3 rather than a more standard $1.50 – just to make sure – and, thankfully, the three players behind me folded up like origami champions and I was able to snap sit out… $0.02 to the good. Yes, after all that, I’d done it: I’d turned a profit, albeit two cents, a figure so low that it didn’t even calculate on the following three columns. I just thank the Lord that I didn’t get three-bet, as I would likely have titled off a grand trying to get into profit.
After four weeks, this was the score on the Poker Tracker board:
Hours: 315.13
Hands: 28,239
Sessions: 176
Profit: $0.02 (0 bb/100), (0 bb/hour)
Rake: $867.71
MGR: $1,046.88
Although I was glad to see the back of $0.25/0.50 (a game, ahem, that I beat), I must confess that playing those stakes improved my game beyond belief as it made me aware of the need to adjust to every situation and treat every hand independently to another. I could spend ages discussing each improvement that I made to my game, but the biggest is one that I mentioned in my previous blog, and one that harps back to Nik’s simple, but effective article on ‘Creative Thinking’. Nik likely dusted this off in five minutes, but its message is so vital it’s unbelievable.
My biggest sin is that I go into robot mode. If I’m tired, I keep playing, often without much thought. If I’m looking for a game, I just dip into the first one available, and barely notice if the game is getting tough. If I’m winning, I become overconfident, and stop thinking about my decisions. These are such fundamental mistakes, that I deserve the big losses that seem to accompany my many small wins. As soon as you stop examining all the information available to you, you risk becoming a losing player and being blind to the edges on offer. I was prime suspect number one.
One of the reasons why I started the Poker Tree is because I hate the linearity of poker quizzes. One I read recently in a respectable magazine asked, ‘What do you do if you’re sitting at a $1/2 cash game, are dealt T-9 suited on the button and the cut-off, who has been opening nearly a third of his hands, decides to put in a bet of $7?” Their answer – and one which you are subsequently scored upon if you concur – is ‘raise to $31’. Whilst this is likely the response most people would go for, and indeed might be the most suitable play, I think it’s wrong to be so clinical in your approach and limited to what information you use. Is he on tilt? Does he four-bet push light? Is there any meta-game? Who’s in the blinds? Does he flat call three-bets? If so, does he fold if you bet? What’s his percentage for check-folding flops after raising? There are so many questions that you can ask that might influence your decision, that once you stop trying to ask them, you are, in effect, relieving yourself of one of those edges that have become oh so valuable.
Snoopy isn’t in line for an Irish Open Seat, but is doing the Grading as a personal challenge. To follow the progress of the Graders, check out the Graders' Board for the latest news, blogs and articles.
