Pre game tips

Yep, time to make some pre game tips. Not so much now, more a mentality change (yet again). So it comes about from a very standard video on Stox from Jared Tendler (sp?) a golf mental coach. He somehow progressed into poker players, and then Stox, and is giving poker players some videos on how to approach the game better. I say standard, because nothing about what he says is very difficult to understand. It's not like when you watch a poker video and he bluff 3 bet shoves ace high, and you just sit there thinking WTF? It is very standard, very basic, very much something I will be using :) Yep, nothing interesting at all, but still points out a poker weakness and in fact I think will help eliminate/curve the self control issues I've talked about. It will do this, because it's all about setting daily goals, actually writing them down. I half got there recently when I said I'd write down how I felt before playing, but this is more concrete, as it lets me know what I want to achieve. Now when I'm drinking, I want to achieve "playing some poker", so that would be a fair first indication that I'm not in the right frame of mind to play serious poker.

Next I will write down random thoughts I have during a session. I lost a hand, how hard did I tilt, write it down. I won/lost a hand where the other player made a really weird move. Write it down. I had a huge river decision, write down what I thought while deciding whether to call/fold/raise.

Finally, set aside 10+ minutes to finish a session properly. Go over my pre game notes, go over my game notes, and review some big hands.

As I said, very standard things, but something worth doing I think. The one really interesting thing I heard was he said the warm down is designed to shut down poker for the day/night/whatever and the warm up is designed to start up the poker mind again. In between, you should be thinking very little poker, and if something does enter your mind either dismiss it, or get into a mode to make some notes about your thoughts. Good stuff.

So I'm going to go ahead and write another post in a second which details what things I should do when warming up, playing, and warming down. It will change most likely, but will be something I will review for every session. By the end of the warm up I will decide the stakes/game I want to play based on how much I think I'm focusing. If I play without reading the next blog, I will be much more upset than if I play drunk or tired. Hopefully this will help me recognise I'm drunk/tired/tilted and choose easier/no games that night.

OK, couple more things. Firstly Full Tilt changed their policy on Cardrunners free months. Previously it's been spend 4500 points, get a free month. Now it will be "earn" 4500 points, keep those points in your account and get a free month anyway. So earn 5000 points, keep the full 5000 but get a free month. Now I did some quick sums, and based on my current level I'm still short of achieving this easily (especially given warm ups and warm downs :)), but it's something to consider soon if my bankroll increases.

Last thing, my bankroll has increased :) I played a little drunk :), but just mucking about on Pokerstars, and had a real run. I'm up $50 when I decide to gamble it up and play a 4 man $30 HU SNG. I win it, and suddenly have $140 profit going. I play a $25 6 max table, and run up 2 buyins playing crazy, only to donk it off (OK, quite drunk by then). Finally I play one more $34 HU 4 man, and get down to getting it in with overpair versus 2nd pair (81% favourite in case you care) and he hits the trips and reduces me to 300 chips. I get it in good again and lose, such is life, but my $80 profit could have been $200 if my 81% held on. I honestly feel like this situation where I get it in good with overpair versus lower pair runs completely crap for me in HU SNG's. Oh well, $90 came out and will be put into my OnGame bankroll, so handy dollars. I don't want to run dollar goals, but I'm now sitting fairly comfortably with my bankroll on there, and without running bad, I'd expect to be moving into very comfortable bankrolls, and even start to make the move towards higher limits on OnGame. It's still a while away without running like god, but feels possible now.

I'll post again with my checklist, which I'm going to bookmark and read before every session.