Showing posts with label Chris Helms. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Chris Helms. Show all posts

Friday, October 8, 2010

Texas Holdem Game Adjustments

I haven't written anything in 2 or 3 weeks.  During that time, I have just broken even in Friday Night Poker, while having probably my 2nd worst game streak in over a year.  My winning prior to that could best be described as total dominance, but I've been rattled by distractions that turned my poker brain upside-down.  Lately, when I've won, it's been ugly and when I've lost, it's been a result of stupid play and an utter disregard for my own personal "rules".  But, I've been lucky to break even.

I've used this down time as an opportunity to grow my game and I've made some mental adjustments that should be very helpful in the long-run.  I have been playing a lot of online cash poker and I spent a few hours in the poker room at the Winstar Casino.  I've also done my normal routine of watching every hand played on TV.  A primary adjustment that I'm making is aggressive betting - raising and re-raising, but not only with predictably good hands like, KK, QQ, AA, or JJ.  I've paid special attention to the game style of Tom Dwan.  Now, I understand that his style alone probably is not going to have long-term benefits, but it does serve as a nice change-up.  I might, for example, play 6-8 suited like it's a pair of Q's, especially in the right position.  Unpredictability is another game adjustment that I need to make.  This style of play should be particularly good for that change-up.

In the past, I've shown too many of my hands after winning hands and I've confirmed when other players called my hands correctly.  That has to stop.  From now on, I'll only show my hands if I feel that doing so has some strategic value.  Otherwise, you have to pay to see.

Finally, I'm going to try to play fewer overall hands.  I read once that Hellmuth said that you should only be in about 20% of flops.  So, I'm going to fold a little more often, but I also read that when betting, roughly 50% of bets should be raises so that you're not playing against so many opponents in a hand.  Both of these things will help me with unpredictability and aggressiveness.

Of course, we'll see how this ultimately plays out at the table.  The distractions are mostly gone now.  I'm acutely aware of my recent stupid game-play.  And, I've run my losing hands thru my head over and over and over again.  So, I think the winning should start back up again.  We'll see.

Stay tuned.

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Poker Momentum

In Poker, momentum can be a killer - to you or to your opponents.  It's hard to explain how you get momentum or how you keep it, but losing it seems so easy.  You win a hand.  Then, you win another and another until you're almost not even playing the cards in your hand as much as you're just playing the other players and reading their bets and other playing styles.  Sure, the cards dealt to you can cause your momentum, but keeping it often is completely independent of cards.  The other players may "sense" that you just keep somehow getting cards, so they fold.  Or, they start measuring the size of their hands compared to yours, and that makes them fold.  But, then you lose it.  You get out of rhythm or you don't notice the "zone" that you're in.  Maybe someone else starts picking up hands and you don't have enough good sense to fold a few and you lose too much to ever get momentum back.  Sometimes when you lose it, you have to get really patient, hang on, and wait for a really good hand, then get it back.  Then, wait for another really good hand.  Next thing you know, you're back on a role.  A huge chip stack can do wonders for momentum.  You have more to risk than other players have in front of them all together.  You might get called a bully, but when you're winning, it's OK.

Last night, I was watching the opening WSOP event of 2010 and it came down to 2 final players:  a Russian named Vladimir Shchemelev, who said in an interview that he never loses in poker and that Russians can win at anything if they just want to take it seriously, and an American named Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi.  It started out really bad for Mizrachi.  He badly lost his momentum, one hand after another.  He just kept betting and raising and calling - with the worst hands, until finally he got a huge hand  (Ace high flush) and the Russian over-played his momentum right into an all-in bet that crippled his chip stack.  It was beautiful!  From there, "The Grinder" chipped away at his opponent until he won over $1 Million for first place.

Momentum was on display in a big way last night.  Mizrachi lost it.  The Russian over-played it.  Mizrachi got it back and finished with it. Momentum can be awesome, but it can be a killer.  Use it or lose it (or until you lose it).