Been Down So Long It Looks Like Up to Me......

Was listening to the Doors and heard this song. How perfect is this for these damn long ass poker downswings? 

"I've been down so very long that looks like up to me! Why don't one of you people come on and set me free? Won't you break the lock and key?"

How many of us can say we've felt this way on more than one occasion? I know I can. I'm on one of those now and it seems like it will never end. I end most nights wondering why I even bothered to play. Yet I wake up the next morning and can't wait to start the abuse again. I'm starting to truly believe I may indeed be totally and completely bat shit crazy. You know what they say the meaning of insane is? Doing the same thing over and over but expecting a different result. If that's true then I am without a single doubt BAT SHIT CRAZY! 

There are so many factors though; poker is truly tougher than ever but for US players the re-entries have turned the game of poker into more of a gamble than a game of skill. Hands one would never 4 bet jam now go flying into the middle 'cause, what the hell they can just re-enter. Bluffing doesn't work nearly as often as it should because again, so what if my 2nd pair is no good I can just re-enter. It comes down to who can afford to re-enter the most more than who's better at the game. 

There is a big argument that re-entries increase variance for weaker players but not for skilled players, that it gives skilled players a greater advantage. This is true, it does and well rolled skilled players have an even bigger advantage since they can re-enter as often as necessary, even though it kills their ROI. Overall though, skilled or not skilled, re-entries definitely increase variance. 

I truly believe this is why Bovada is growing so much and why it's so soft. Fish go broke much faster with re-entries, especially on Merge where the payout structure is so top heavy. It's a bit better on Winning: the late registration/re-entry period isn't as long and the payout structure is flatter allowing fish to cash more often and take longer to go broke. Also regs get tired of dealing with this too and many of them are moving a large portion of their play over to Bovada. 

Anyway just heard this song and got inspired to write about this. Time for up to feel like up but I've forgotten what up feels like. 

Onward and upward you crazy online poker players! Good luck with your Sunday grind. 

The MudShark - shhhhh shhhh SHARK...

We all know there are various names for different types of poker players (which of course I'll go over) but I think I've found a new name for one type, Mud shhhhh shhhhh sharrrrk.... 

Fish: New player who is generally clueless and doesn't think about anything except the two cards in his hand. He has no concept of how to hand read or really figure out much about reading the board. He loves to see flops. Most of your better players don't really mean it in a derogatory way when they refer to someone as a fish. They just mean this is a clueless player who knows little about the game. 

Donk (or Donkey): A donk doesn't really know a lot more than a fish but they generally think they are better players than they are. They've likely learned a little about the game and occasionally think about what cards you might be holding. Of course they never think what you're holding is better than what they're holding because they always "put" you on that hand that is worst than theirs. If they could manage to think you had a better hand that would mean they would have to fold after putting money in the pot and they just aren't quite capable of this yet. One thing to note, only donks use the word donk. I almost never hear a good player call anyone a donk. If you are calling people donks or donkeys guess what, you probably are one. 

Droolers: (also gimp or moron) Although these terms aren't specific to poker they are very frequently uses to refer to certain types of poker players. Whereas everyone starts out as fish, these types will always be fish. They lack the mental capacity to ever get better. They're not necessarily brain challenged, they are just either too ignorant or too lazy to bother with getting better. In defense of some of them, they are just playing to have a good time and gamble it up. 

Regs:  Regs (meaning regulars of course) get broken down into a few categories:

The bad reg: They play a lot have some concept of the game and maybe occasionally think past level two but they rarely play well and many of them never get much better at the game. The good thing about them verses the donk and fish is they will occasionally think on a deep enough level to fold once in in while. 

The meh reg: He's a little better than the bad reg and he wins more but no one would go so far as to call him decent or good. He'll probably never make it to the decent level because he just doesn't care enough. He's learned what he knows by osmosis and through playing a decent amount but he never puts in the effort to work on his game. 

The decent reg: Most decent regs will eventually become good regs. They work on their game and they try hard to improve. They often make the correct play and have a decent understanding of the game and strategy. Often they are only a few steps away from becoming a good reg, many of them even play a pretty respectable game. They're just usually still playing too tight late game or not 3 betting or raising in enough spots and they're still putting too much emphasis on the cards and their post flop game isn't as good as it needs to be. Decent regs are generally fairly profitable players for the most part but are often hurt more by downswings than good regs. 

The good reg: These are the higher level players who understand the game in depth and work hard to continue to improve. They are generally someone you want to avoid at the table. They are creative and tricky and generally very aggressive. 

The Shark: Pretty much the good reg or the sicko (see below) 

The sicko: These are usually the loose aggressive players. They are everything the good reg is with the addition of well calculated aggression and nerve to play just about any hand from any position. They have unreal post flop skills and because they play so many hands you never know what they have. These guys can make your life totally miserable at the table. If they 3 bet you and you 4 bet them don't be surprised when they five bet jam on you with 79s or some other way less than premium hand. You will find there is a thin line between a sicko and fish and sometimes if you don't have a lot of history with them it's hard to tell the difference. 

Then there is...

The MudShark: (yeah, yeah I love Frank Zappa) I was listening to this song the other night and it dawned on me that this is the perfect name for this other type of player. This guy is far from a good reg or a sicko, most of them probably wouldn't even make it into the decent reg category but by God they think they are the best thing to hit poker since cards got color. They've read all the books, watched all the videos and absorbed more knowledge than even John Nash could process but they've hardly played. Many play occasionally online, the occasional home game and a few live tournaments throughout the year but they truly believe they're better than all the guys with years of experience and more games/hands behind them than you can count. God forbid if one of these guys luckboxes a big win since that only confirms what he already knows, that he's the best and the very best. He could outplay Phil Ivey if given the opportunity. I mean after all it's a known fact Phil Ivey really doesn't know much about ICM, right? 

These guys get on poker forums and post their opinions on a hands and even though 10 or 20 other well accomplished players totally and completely disagree with them they continue to argue their point (usually quoting the well known writings by the top guys like Harrington or Doyle Brunson). They post all these poker software findings and half of what they say makes no sense. The ranges they use for opponents are outrageously off (generally way too tight) but by God the software says they're right and they're sticking by it. They're also very quick to tell you how they are sure they are a much better player than you are. 

You see these guy show up on forums, make asses of themselves, call other and better players bad and disappear pretty fast. Either because they became so obnoxious the mods banned them or they decided not to waste their precious time and vast knowledge on the dumb lowly people on the forum. 

Don't confuse these guys with trolls, these guys are a different breed and I think mudshark is the perfect name for them because with their incessant desire to believe they know everything and the fact that they study a zillion times more than they play, they will never become a real shark and always just stay bogged down in their muddy but superior brain. 

So everyone let's toast to the MUDSHARK since for every one of them that leaves the forums a new one will pop up to take their place. 

REALIZATION: You probably aren't as good as you think...

I think there is one recurring theme among poker players, everyone thinks they are better than they are. They think they are good enough to beat the next stakes and beat all the sick regs out there. They think because a few times they did beat them that makes them good enough to do it consistently. If you saw Rounders you remember how Mike beats Johnny Chan so he takes his entire roll and loses it all to TeddyKGB. Unfortunately this is a very common theme in the game.

Well I have some bad news for you, you are likely not as good as you think you are. That even goes for the best out there I would imagine. Ego and the desire to move up in stakes gets the best of us all. We all want those big scores and the high stakes are where those scores are. 

Motivation to move up is very important and very necessary to make it to the higher levels in any field but being honest with yourself about when you're ready is the most important part of making the upward move successfully. 

A month or so ago I asked a poker friend what he thought of my game and he told me I could crush the low stakes and probably do okay in the mid-stakes. I was pretty devastated by this comment but it was the best thing I could have heard. Despite a prolonged bout of what I blamed on run-bad I still thought I was good enough to beat the better players at the higher stakes. I'm not, tough to admit but I'm just not. Sometimes maybe when I'm playing my A game and running great I can beat them but not on a day to day consistent basis because they are better players than I am. They have more skill and more experience. I can beat mid-stakes tournaments at this point and if I'm playing my best and running decent I can beat them on a consistent basis. I could crush low stakes if I just had more patience.

Right now that's where I am and realizing that and excepting it has been like an epiphany for me. I'm really okay with that too because now that I understand why I'm not ready to consistently beat higher stakes and now I can play so much better at mid-stakes and work on the things I need to work on to get to the higher levels and I will get there! I just have to be patient and work hard and it will happen. 

Poker is a tough game that takes a strong mental attitude and a ridiculous amount of perseverance. I've seen so many people quit because they couldn't handle the swings. I've threatened to quit a few times myself but winners never quit. I truly think a lot of people quit because they move up before they are anywhere near ready and experience the unavoidable failure and instead of realizing that they just need to move back down they just give up. 

Since this "epiphany" this week has been the best in a long time. I've made 6 final tables and had two 2nd and one 3rd place finish for $3452 in winnings (not as good as it sounds, I was ass deep in makeup but close to the black now). I'm feeling so much better about my game and playing so much better. I've gotten back to the play that I need to be playing. I take my time and think about every decision, or at least try to. I still have some mental game issues to work on and I need a good bit of work on my post flop play.

A big thanks to my backer who has been a world of help. He's really helped me see where my mistakes were and how to fix them and how to get my mental issues straightened out. It's great having a backer who's willing to spend time helping me and who plays MTTs himself. I still miss my old backer, he was a great guy who I like a lot but this situation is so much better for me at this point. 

I'm taking my one time for this whole year, it must work cause look how it's going :D  Hopefully that long awaited very elusive five figure score is right around the corner and a circuit ring would be really sweet too. 

Here's to a great 2014 for everyone!!! Happy and prosperous New Year!