Patience and Focus
Thursday, July 14, 2005
Two losses last night drop me from $60.50 to $49.50. In addition, GSux25 made strides via some fine play and a whole lot of luck, earning him the new nickname G-Lucks25, or G-Lux25 for short. The man has a 55, raises the entire way. Faces a re-raise and calls with all over-cards on the flop, and hits a 5 on the turn. He had aces twice within 20 minutes at another table. But all this doesn't add up to a hill of beans if he doesn't play his cards well, and that he did. Kudos to him. The oddest part of the SNG challenge has been simultaneously rooting for some guys to win and lose. In the end, I can't begrudge anyone thier wins, and its more envy (not jealousy) than anything. Besides, I already called him as my pick to win this.
So, in the first tournament, I got sucked out (why does that always sound gay?) to lose most of my stack. The rest of the game was a blur, but I think I went out 6th. The tournament was taking forever, and there were still 6 of us when the blinds were huge. Oh well Oh well.
The 2nd tournament (they were actually most simultaneous) was another GLux/HighOnPokr match-up, with both of us making it to the bubble. I lost there, though, and GLux probably swept it up. I didn't know, because post-losing, I'm like a ninja. I through some smoke bombs and disappear before they dissipate.
While playing with G, I came to a very obvious conclusion. Its not enough to understand pot-odds and such. You also need (1) patience and (2) focus, two things that I sadly lack.
The Patience I am trying to cultivate will help me avoid sticky situations where I can go bust earlier in an SNG. With patience, I could very potentially cost to the money.
The Focus will help me make better decisions when its time for decisions to be made. There are times when I play poker with the TV on, while cooking dinner, and reading the Internet. When my cards pop up, I bet or fold based on my position, chips, and the players left. QQ? Raise. T4o? Fold. Easy enough. But do I expect to make money this way (above all I want to be a profitable player)? The truth is, I can't expect to make money. The advantage I need is knowing that the last time player A re-raise all-in, he had the nuts. Or that player B limps with any two cards, so that seemingly harmless board is anything but.
Patience and Focus. How do I get them? Last night, I made a CD so that my laptop (where I usually play poker) will have some choice songs from my desktop. Mostly, its trance and hip hop with a beat. I'm hoping it'll help me tune into the poker rather than outside noises. I'm also only one-tabling for right now, so that I'm not jumping around. Finally, I am going to try my best not to play unless I know that I can play the entire tournament undisturbed. This will be easier said than done, but that's how I know its worth it.
Patience and Focus. Why do I feel that I blogged about them already? Enough with the blogging! It's time to take action. Patience and Focus are my new best friends.
Poker at ya!
posted by Jordan @ 8:31 AM,
4 Comments:
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At 1:18 PM,
D said...
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I am down to get a SnG with us 6 only...thats a cool idea.
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At 1:37 PM,
GaryC said...
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It might be easier to get a 6 tabler together with just us at a different site. We could make that the one exception to UB, if everybody else has a common site.
I know Noble's do not fill up very fast, we could surely all get ready and fill up a table there. Not sure where everyone else has accounts, tho.
G -
At 2:22 PM,
Jordan said...
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Yeah. No private tables at UB. I'd prefer Noble, since I already have $$ there, and I'm generally a one-poker-room type of guy. I'm cool with having one exception.
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At 11:55 AM,
STeelerJosh said...
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Party, Paradise, UB, and RoyalVegas are options for me. I have the Noble software installed, but no real money on there (used it sweat DNasty in a WPBT event held on there). I can load some. Looks like it will be my only chance to beat any of you!!
