Micsquab whacked out blog.

I have noticed alot of the successful cash game players play what is known as an loose aggressive style or LAG for short. We have all seen Phil Ivey, or Tom Dwan to name a few scoop huge pots with less than stellar holdings. So I was thinking how do they get away with playing this style, and making money at it? Inexperienced, stupid, poker me once concluded they just play more hands, and raise with them more, and they bluff with those hands more. Yeah that's it, bingo! Just raise and play more hands and I will be a winning hot shot LAG! ..WRONG! Now that I have been playing poker for approximately 7 years (Loosing a lot of money) and invested $ and time into several poker books, Card Runners, and DC, I am beginning to learn why some players are able to to play a LAG style and win/crush games, and be big ballers and whatnot. Its not that they are randomly selecting more hands to play, or raise and bluff more with those hands, its that they are able to recognize waaay more spots pre flop, and post flop than the average poker Joes. This is because their poker game has developed and evolved to a higher level than the rest. So I would venture to think if a player ever wakes up one morning and declares to himself, "Hey I am going to be a LAG player". YOU ARE GOING TO GET OWNED. HARD AND FAST. I know because I tried it. The game doesn't work like that. The game demands your respect. You have to put in good work. Maybe this blog entry helps someone out maybe not. What do you think.

Identify, Predict, Decide, Excecute.

One of the few things I remeber from high school was the IPDE thought process learned in drivers education training.  I am assuming using this same thought process when playing poker would be an excellent way to model your thought process when playing a session or hand in particular.

I. Identify your opponent type/tendencies and the game flow. (Assign opponent a pre flop rough range).

P. Predict what your opponent has using reads, position, bet sizing, board texture (assign him a range, and narrow it best you can) ect. And predict what your opponent will do with what he has.

D. Decide what you will do against your opponent. +EV.

E. Execute your actions with more confidence.

Of course this is just a bare example but may be a good starting place for some. 

What do you think :) ?

If you have ever played basketball, baseball, or bowling over a period of time you probably experienced what some people call being in the "zone". The zone is when a player is operating at a higher than normal level over a period of time, often short bursts. How about poker? Is their a such thing as being in the zone? I think their is. I think its the same thing as I just defined. Its when you are playing solid poker, reading opponents, playing the right hands, knowing the table dynamic, knowing the stack size dynamic, raising at the right times, calling at the right times, properly assigning hand ranges,  and bluffing at the right times. But one of the most important factors for being in the zone and staying there is....drum roll please......FOLDING at the right times. The zone in poker is a more drawn out slower process, you playing optimal poker might even go unnoticed by your opponents. So I say the next time you have to make the proper fold (is going to be often) just imagine if their is a crowd watching while you do it and then the crowd goes wild. Quitting well is also a part of being in the zone too.  My thoughts nothing else. Good luck and respect your folds. 

When I read Ed Millers book Small Stakes Holdem he explained that mistakes are born pre flop. I find this to be true mistakes are made with hand selections in relation to position, and opponents. I was wondering if the same principle holds true on the turn, and the river. Are turn play mistakes born on the flop? What are the type of mistakes a player can make on the flop, turn, and river? Are river mistakes born on the turn? If they are would it be possible to work backwards to find where mistakes were first made or born? Does every hand between 2 opponents ever get played perfectly by both players without mistakes? I guess both players could be dealt AA and get the money in pre flop would be an example of perfect play. Maybe when thinking of how to play pre flop, flop, turn, and river think about what type of play you could make that would be a mistake and then adjust accordingly. I dont even know what I am talking about anymore sorry for wasting your time. Just thinking about mistakes and how, where, and type during a hand. Maybe how to identify them in the moment when they are occuring.

The only thing I can think that would spark the next poker boom would be if a female poker player was to take down the  main event. I think that would attract a lot of new players to the card rooms. Random.

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One of the comments on you tube was "this is spam". I think Ivey is a master at adjusting to the player and the situation. Would love to see a heads up match between Ungar and Ivey. 

My friend is a hard core live MTT player who got me into playing poker in 2007. I first thought MTT poker was what this game is all about from hearing him talking about tournies he has won and from watching espn, and wpt on t.v.. Not until recently however through my own trial and error that I discovered MTTs is not where the money is at. (My opinion).

 So one day my friend is telling me about a tourney he bubbled in he told me about the blinds going up and he had to make a move and got busted. Happens quite frequently to everybody who plays MTTs right? Then he starts telling me about all the hands he had made up until that point you know flopped a flush, river a gut shot, flopped a set, ran a bluff, stole some blinds, trapped and slow played, ect. I am  sincerely excited when he tells me about the hands and the pots he has won. But then one day I was like wait a minute! "What did you really win in that hand"? "He said 3500"." I said 3500 tournament chips right"? "He said yeah"!" I said what does 3500 tournament chips buy you"? "He said nothing". "I said that's right 3500 tournament chips wont buy you a dam thing"! Then I suggested if he was playing a cash game and was telling me about all those hands he made he would have some bread in his pocket to show from it probably 5 hundred to 1 k if he was playing a live say 2/5 game. He said cash games don't excite him but when he does play he usually makes money. I am thinking dragging huge pots of tournament chips does not excite me. Walking up to the cage with a couple of racks is what I am talking about. I am just saying. What do you think?