My Month in Poker (Long)

Amaru

Here it is, the review of the December prop bet, as promised by myself some time ago.

Week One
It started all wrong. Firstly, the bet, which was supposed to run for the whole month of December, wasn't finalized until the 3rd(mostly my fault for stalling on drawing up the terms). This means i'd lost 2 days out of an already busy month. I also hadn't played much in several days, meaning i'd need to get my rhythm back quickly.

It didn't happen. I started with a modest 50 euro deposit to PPP account LuckOfThe, thinking about 10 buyins should be more than enough for a winning player like me. Within 10 days, i'd have deposited the same again. I can't really put my finger on why i was playing so badly, but 2 things come to mind. 1)Bad variance. It was my first true spell of bad variance, but i now know what it feels like. You can't catch any cards. When you do, you get no action on them. When you turn trash to gold, some clown out draws you. It's a horrible feeling, but there's sometimes nothing you can do. 2) Pressure. This is something i hadn't accounted for. There was a tightness in my chest when i played, knowing that i now HAD to win, instead of trying to win. Every desicion becomes second guessed, every raise seems dangerous, you start trying to force plays, you bet too much looking for more value, but instead your opponent folds meaning you get less. To get an idea of how hard it is, try imagine a 41 player winner-takes-all-tournament, where only first gets paid the princely sum of 4000(or whatever amount seems like a lot of money to you).

For the whole first week, i hovered somewhere between 6 and 10 buyins at the 5+0.50 level(I blew the rest towards the end of the week in frustration playing 0.25/0.50, hence the second deposit). I was running bad AND playing bad. This didn't bode well for my chances.

Week Two
One of the reasons for my success the previous month was because i had found a "foolproof" method of winning low buy in SNG's on 2+2. The strategy was to wait for premium hands for the first 3 levels, and then switch gears when it got close to the bubble. It had worked well for me in the past, but playing now i could see how it wouldn't help me in this challenge. The blind structure is such on Tribeca, that if 8/9 players still remain by level 3, your chance of success decrease greatly. Realising this, i (stupidly) decided to change my style of play. I decided to play as many hands as possible, my rationale being that i could out play most players at the lower level using aggression and position. I was generally playing about 4/9 hands in ever orbit. All in all, it wasn't as disastrous as you would probably guess, and i had moderate success with this style. Moderate success of course wasn't going to win me this challenge, although i did manage to put together a 2 stt win streak. At least i was (slightly)winning again....

Week 3
On week 3, something unforseen happened. I got headhunted for a job, something which i never saw coming, mostly because i wasn't looking for a job. Most of this week was spent in interviews and quitting my existing job. Several Christmas parties were also attended, making me question whether December really was a sensible month to take this bet. Besides all this, i was getting sick of poker. Many stt players will tell you that its the monotony that'll get you, and they're right. Frustrated with my play, frustrated with my results, and just frustrated with Poker in general, i was about ready to throw in the towel. Ironically, this is where things all started to go my way.

Week 4
I'd had enough. I had pretty much resigned myself to the fact that i wasn't going to win the bet, and stopped trying to win it. It was when i forgot all the external factors that i started to win again. I stopped playing the $5 tourneys, unable to get motivated for the normal insignificant amount of money at stake. I stopped playing so many hands. I stopped forcing plays. I started trusting my reads again. I stopped doing other things while i was playing(like posting on Boards), and concentrated completely on the game. In short, I was back to playing winning Poker. I stopped playing LPA, and went all out LAG. I proceeded to put together an impressive set of stt's, swelling my bankroll. And then it happened, almost. Towards the end of the month(around the 28th i think), I got headsup in 6 straight $10 or $15 9 seater tournaments, only winning 2 however. On the 3rd, i can safely say i threw it away. All the other tournaments I'm pretty sure i could have won, as the chip lead going into headsup was never significant one way or the other. What this highlighted to me was just how lucky the previous month to win so many tournaments, because honestly, my heads up play sucks(which i why i made the resolution to improve it). After the 3rd in a row didn't come through, this effectively ended my chances of winning, but i was happy that i'd redeemed myself, if only in my mind.

• All in all, it was fun. I liked all the hype and interest that the bet created on the forum, and i'd probably do it again, although probably not for a little while.
• The risk/reward part of the bet which i'd referred to several times in the original thread came true, in that i made enough money in the month of December, due to MTT and STT wins to make the amount of money I wagered seem insignificant.
• The bet really made me look at my own play, and i can safely say i'm a better player because of it. The experience of playing under pressure for large amounts of money is something that i also feel can only help me in the future.
• In short, I feel this was a win-win situation for me. I'll be happy to pay up my side of the bet to Roundtower(€150) at the end of the month, and I'm sure he'll be happy to get it. Hopefully I didn't suck out on any Boardsters while trying to win this, but if I did, then "That's Poker"!

So there you have it!

RuggieBear

nice account

Lafortezza

This forum definitely needs more proposition betting!

Culchie

For what's it worth, it is probably the best €150 you will spend on poker.

Well done for accepting the challenge anyway.

JuliusFranco

hard luck man but gallant effort!

Coming in the top 2 for six consecutive stts is an excellent achievment (don't PPP pay out a bonus for that?)

and fair play to ya for giving it a lash!

Amaru

Yeah they pay out for that, but unfortunately it was 3 days before the promo started. I don't know if I'll be trying for the promotion this month, as I want to focus on cash games. I'm burnt out on STT's.

TacT

Nice one, hard luck with the result but fair play for taking it on. It's no easy feat to achieve just by playing your regular game, nevermind having the additional pressure applied that can so easily affect your game when you have targets like that hanging overhead.

Hectorjelly

This was a very bad bet, allthough that said I did lose €20 betting that I could beat the world record for eating 3 mince pies over christmas

califano

Hectorjelly wrote:

This was a very bad bet, allthough that said I did lose €20 betting that I could beat the world record for eating 3 mince pies over christmas

I take it that record was 'Who eats the least mince pies over Christmas.'?

Welcome back Hectorjelly

Hectorjelly

rounders123 wrote:

I take it that record was 'Who eats the least mince pies over Christmas.'?

Welcome back Hectorjelly

Thanks rounders, its nice to be back! No I was trying to eat 3 of them in under 1:30. I nearly made it as well.

accensi0n

what size mince pies?

Hectorjelly

accensi0n wrote:

what size mince pies?

standard ones! theres a video of it somewhere Ill see if I can find it

accensi0n

Can't find a video but the record is 1min 52.67secs

Hectorjelly

accensi0n wrote:

Can't find a video but the record is 1min 52.67secs

My friends told me it was 1:36. I think I might of been able to beat 1:52 but I gave up once the clock said 1:40.

http://www.maths.tcd.ie/~z/MINCEPIEWORLDRECORD.MOV

accensi0n

http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/content_pages/record.asp?recordid=57161

that dates back to 2001 though. I have the new records book so i'll check it later.

smurph

accensi0n wrote:

what size mince pies?

Do you have to have Baseball Cap, Sunglasses, Hoddy all tied up on while trying to eat these mince pies???

Lafortezza

Get back on topic please, go request a Mince Pie forum or something.

MadsL

Mustard?

Norwich Fan Rob

what exactly were the terms of this bet?

Amaru

The whole thing takes place in a thread entitled "moving up in the world" started by me. It should be bumped here somewhere on the second or third page.

accensi0n

MadsL wrote:

Mustard?

that'd be aisle 2 second shelf rich

accensi0n

Norwich Fan Rob wrote:

what exactly were the terms of this bet?

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2054855820