MikeySong's Poker Grind

bye blogspot

2008-04-27T02:52:00.001-07:00

if you read this

I plan on blogging at cardrunners for now. More people seem to read blogs over there and so I figure I'll try it out.

http://www.cardrunners.com/members/index.php?option=com_mamblog&Itemid=29&task=show&action=user&id=5072

or search for mongmong : )

bye blogspot! Maybe I'll come back some day!

Blog Time!

2008-04-25T15:42:00.000-07:00

I'm also going to start blogging @ cardrunners as I am quite fond of the site. So if you'd prefer that, here's the link: http://www.cardrunners.com/members/index.php?option=com_mamblog&Itemid=29&task=show&action=user&id=5072

lol...my screenname on that site is mongmong.

That graph is from Monday to Wednesday and I think I'm quite proud of it : ) Poker has been going pretty nicely for me! 5/10 started out really great. My first one thousand hands this month I made 8 buy ins! But then after that I lost some, made some, was up 10k, lost 10k, grind grind, big heater!

My roommate asked me the other day what I thought of 5/10 and if it's that tough and without too much thought I said nope, not that tough. But now that I think about it, it really is a tough limit. I actually feel a lot of pressure when I put in a session, at least beforehand anyways.

-random tangent. Roommate and I were at South Coast Plaza yesterday (big mall) and while walking and talking I said anyways, to which he replies anyway. Naturally I responded, "well I'm going to say anyways" :D which he then proceeded to explain that some people look down on you for saying anyways. I thought it was kind of interesting. I can see why that happens. Kind of like when you use "who" instead of "whom". it's really not that hard to use it correctly.

So, yes there is a lot of pressure when I play. There are some regs who play 10/20 and will drop down at 5/10. Some of those regs are very very good. They're solid players, they read hands well, they know when to apply pressure, and the biggest attribute that I associate with being tough is that, it's hard to get money from them. At 2/4 and 3/6 players will get it in light incorrectly, thus 2pair becomes teh immortal nuts at that limit. But on 5/10, depending on board texture, twopair really becomes more of a bluff catcher than anything.

Example:

Villain below is a tightish but very good reg. In fact, I try to stay out of his way because he just doesn't make very many mistakes.

Poker Stars
No Limit Holdem Ring game
Blinds: $5/$10
5 players
Converter

Stack sizes:
Hero: $1000
CO: $960
Button: $2502
SB: $975
BB: $1867

Pre-flop: (5 players) Hero is UTG with :2s :as
Hero raises to $30, 2 folds, SB calls, BB folds.

Flop: :jd :td :7h ($70, 2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $50, SB calls.

Turn: :ah ($170, 2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $122, SB calls.

River: :qs ($414, 2 players)
SB checks, Hero checks.

Results:
Final pot: $414
SB showed Jc Ac
Hero mucks 2s As

While top 2pair seems to be pretty strong here (and it can be depending on who is at the table), the problem here is that we're both competent players. The ace is a seemingly good card for him but really his hand becomes a bluffcatcher. The flop was very drawy and the ace just completed KQ. If he check-raises this turn, rarely am I getting it in with AT, A7, JT (very rare for JT). So pretty much, when he puts the money in the middle, he's really only getting called by hands that crush him - straights and sets.

This is the kind of thinking that happens at 5/10. By all means it's not a super high level hand but it just shows the difference between this limit and 2/4 where people may do lots of silly things.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I'm pretty happy with my progress as a player : ) It was 7 months ago that I jumped straight into 2/4 no limit. I had come from a limit hold'em background and after watching my roommate play 2/4nl, I decided I could probably beat the limit -- and I did : ) I want to say that I work very very hard on my game but the truth is my work ethic isn't the best and could always be better. However, I have put a lot of thought into the game and I really like to think about how a hand played out and the many possibilities that can occur when the turn brings X and the river brings X. It's a really interesting game and I'm very happy with my progress so far. I hope to keep pushing further and at the end of the year, maybe I will become a 10/20 reg, but until then I'd like to make 5/10 my home : )

Cheers!

quick update

2008-04-05T02:53:00.000-07:00

i'm at foxwoods right now, dunno if I mentioned that I was coming here but to be very brief it's a pretty horrible casino imo.

I just had the weirdest tilt session where I didn't really tilt off money imo but I got so frustrated/upset that I can't remember my session. I remember very small snippets but for the most part I can't remember the hand that caused this big mindbomb lol. I'm pretty happy though. Although I should be up like 6g's today, I finished up 2200 finishing off the night by 3betting 48s and making a guy laydown kings postflop :p More on that later.

This is so weird though, I really want to remember wth happened while I was playing. Session started out great and then in 2 hours it just crumbled. At one point someone said, dude did you see what happened to him? How can you expect him to raise his boat there? (I had k5 on a 3355j board and just check/called lol)

April

2008-03-26T22:22:00.000-07:00

so my month results are actually quite embarrassing. Even if it may be a small sample, the fact that I'm wrecking 5/10 when i'm playing 3-6 tables vs 3/6 where I'm 9tabling means that obviously I am leaking too much money 9tabling. Not sure how or why but I am and that needs to be fixed starting...APRIL :D

I'm very very close to being a supernova. I'm going to continue 6? tabling 3/6 tomorrow and graduate to nova status. I really wish I could've 9tabled at a higher winrate and to be honest I really did feel like a winner but having a very low winrate over 60k hands, short sample size or not I know there were many spots where I either tilted or played bad, and thus I cannot ignore results, small sample size or not. And by the way, about 9k hands at 5/10nl, 31vpip, 7bb/100. Hmmmmm...I'm gonna poker ev my 5/10 results and see if I ran "bad" or not. I think the program is stupid fwiw although it still is fun to use :p It's just that, does it give u cooler points if u ran KK into AA? AK into KK? Stuff like that. Oh! The results are in.......Posting screen below........

My plan for april is to 6table 5/10 and focus on putting in 3k hands a day. I'll actually be gone for the first week as I'll be over in Boston from fri-sun and Foxwoods Casino from Mon to Sun. I think I'll be playing some 10/25 and hopefully I'll pull a nice session (crosses fingers for 10k+ week).

3k hands over 20 days = 60k hands...I'd like to shoot for my first 40k month. Screw the 20 or 30k, let's just jump to 40, but I'll never be happy until I hit 50k.

I'm a little bit discouraged to be honest becuase I really thought I was going to show a 3bb if not 4 or even 5bb/100 winrate at 3/6. I mean come on, I 6-9 tabled 2/4nl for the very first time. I jumped right into it on oct and nov. and according to pEV, yes the evil program, I ran bad! But I still won at 3.89bb/100 or something like that yet at 3/6...I cannot? wtf? I'm a much better player now than before, bleh. My biggest leak atm is I like to play too many hands in re-raised pots and I don't have the skill level yet to deal with every situation thrown at me. If 6tabling 5/10 goes well next month, it's off to 9tabling in May :p

But until then, I'm going to focus on every hand possible, think about the conceptual aspects of the game, work on adjusting properly and finding that thin line between spewing and betting/bluffing.

Mike

p.s.

Air is the nuts

Below is a sick music vid imo

Bad.

2008-03-24T01:49:00.000-07:00

So somewhere along the way today I messed up and played really bad. Imo I think I ran pretty badly but there's no excuse for losing lots of money like I did. Only thing I can do is just try to make more tmw lol

Sleep is so -EV

2008-03-17T16:43:00.000-07:00

Not a bad week!

I'm starting to dabble some more in 5/10 but as of now I'm still not as comfortable with NL as I'd like to be. I know I have some areas that I'd really like to improve on, but for the most part my postflop play is getting really/pretty good imo.

Looking at the screenshot, if you did the math in your head, I really should've had 21,000 hands minimum if not 28,000 but I did get burned out at some point and sleeping in really does cost me money. I've been having some trouble sleeping at night...some days I find myself just staying up til 4am for no reason! I really like my days when I get up at 6, hit the gym and come back and work. Just feels like you're really doing something :D

Sleeping in probably costs me at least $600-$1000 a day.

Normally I should be waking up at 5:45am, hitting the gym by 6, doing my cardio for an hour and coming back around 7:05ish. Hit the shower, heat something up, eat. Should be done by 7:30-7:45. Boom work.

If I sleep in until 10am, this is a bestcase scenario for sleeping in btw, sometimes I hit 12pm, but anyhow, 10am, well now I still have to shower and eat breakfast. I refuse to play under shitty circumstances. I think it's really bad to play without being fully awake/prepared for the day. So doing all that, I won't be playing til 10:45-11am and now I have to get in waiting lists as other people are also waking up/playing by now.

I hope to improve more this week! I just realized that I don't need a 5bb/100 winrate at 3/6 to make $.5 a hand so that's always nice. I'd like to pull in 20 more grand or so at a 4+ bb/100 winrate and hit up 5/10 permanently : )

Must work harder!!!!! The goal for every month should really be 100,000 hands. Fuck I'm lazy.

Work it Harder; Make it Better!

2008-03-10T13:39:00.000-07:00

Taking a break from a session right now so it's a good time to blog :D

I've decided this month to work really hard. In fact, from here on I'm going to really treat this more seriously than before. My schedule is roughly this:

wake up 5:30am - go to gym for 1.5-2hours
7-7:30am - eat breakfast
7:30am-5pm - poker!
6pm-8pm - tennis!
8pm-10pm - study? prolly not, more like video game time

10pm - 5:30am - sleep : )

My life has been a joke for the past year. I'd like to say I worked hard but I know I could've pushed myself more than I have. That's why starting March I'm going to be putting in about 4k hands a day. It's not only the volume that's going to increase. I am spending more money on coaching to improve my game even more. I can only do so much by myself and can only spot so many leaks. So with some help, I should be at 5/10 in no time, AMIRITE? :D

I do want to make some serious money and reach 10/20nl by June. If I don't become a regular at 5/10nl by summer, I'm a joke. 10/20nl is my goal for online poker and I really want to play 25/50nl at this summer's wsop :D

Do you know how sick that would be? I could buy into any event I want except the 50k. But pretty much everytime I bust out without cashing, all i have to do is go to my cash game, win like 1/5 a pot or a whole pot and boom, entry fee paid! :D Not to mention it's def. a brag to play that high and prove, albeit a small sample size, whether you're a winner or not.

There's a lot of prestige in my opinion in being able to say to my friends that "I can play with the best and am in the top 1% poker players in the world"

unfortunately I can't make that statement as of yet

Good Start!

2008-03-05T22:20:00.000-08:00

Quickpost this image to Myspace, Digg, Facebook, and others!

:D

I actually lost 600 in a short session so that puts me up $3600 today. I'm really going to take this month seriously and I will go into the details but I actually have to sleep soon. It's time to be professional!

Struggling a Little

2008-02-28T07:38:00.000-08:00

I have a lot more work to do on my game. I do think I'm a low 2-3bb/100 winner @ 3/6nl but there's so much more to improve upon and I don't have the best perspective on No Limit. My coach pointed out that I ask too many "what" questions and not enough why. I also realized, I don't really know what the correct question is...what I should be asking and why I should be questioning certain actions etc.

I end this month at a pretty miserable rate imo but it's also what I get for not putting in more than 35k hands when I definitely definitely had the ability and opportunity to put in 2-3x that. Resolution for March? Put in 100k hands :p 9tabling 4hours a day gets really close to that and that's like barely any work. I don't know how those monsters put in more than 100,000 hands but imo I really should be, especially with the wsop coming up.

Have you guys been watching America's Best Dance Crew? This show is sick! Kaba Modern and Jabbawockeez are amazing. I really like both of them. Kaba has a really great style that seems to really fit with each song they do and they excel at performing imo but Jabbawockeez seems to really be in their own world. I'd call them the more creative of the two but really I think they're both pretty close.

oh man, i love the way they start their dance. THe first 10-20 seconds is awesome.

Back to poker...let's see. yesterday wasn't fun either but I was happy to end down 2k rather than 5k. It was pretty interesting actually. I thought I played fairly well although I do know that I was trying to win too many pots, however when I saw I was down 5k, I wasn't really tilted. Moreso confused. It's starting to get hard to improve now. This is where the great players really start to separate from the good players imo and so far I'm stuck in sub-par category. I do know that a leak of mine is that I want to win every pot and in my second session today where I make 5 buy ins back, a lot of it came from better poker...going with the flow, not trying to win every pot, not forcing the action or trying to muscle my way through every hand. I should try to play more like that : )

this was my fav. hand

http://www.pokerhand.org/?2175071

we have a good amount of history and villain hates my guts, or at least it seems like it. He just never has an ace here. If he does, it's because he's outleveling me with the whole "I know that he knows" but honestly, I didn't give it much thought. Which is funny too cuz if I was 4tabling I'd be like, oh man, such a big raise, it's just not worth it which is true but while 12tabling, without looking at the betsize, it was an easier call lol.

It's just not a very good flop to raise unless your raise induces a shove from worse. Very rare/hard to happen.

I'm going to boston for a week. Irvine is getting so nice n warm too! Oh well, it's been awhile since I've seen snow and I'm looking forward to seeing my friends and cousin. Have a good leap year :D

-Mike

Rollercoaster!

2008-02-14T23:48:00.000-08:00

Well this started out to be quite a depressing day. I tried out 12 tabling 2/4 and 3/6 and it really just pissed me off. I can do 9 tables fine and have done well doing 12 before but for some reason I was really really bothered today. So I blew 4,000. If I had won 3 pots where I had gotten it in good, I would've been pretty pleased but nopeeeeeee.

It's frustrating getting Jacks in good pf only to watch it get owned by AQ/AK : ( I've been really good about getting that in as a favorite. Dunno how but it's been going great so far :D I'm really not a fan of getting JJ all in pre-flop btw.

This hand super tilted me and I had to quit soon after:

Poker Stars
No Limit Holdem Ring game
Blinds: $2/$4
5 players

Stack sizes:
UTG: $133
CO: $616.45
Button: $242.75
SB: $636.10
Hero: $730.75

Pre-flop: (5 players) Hero is BB with kd qd
UTG folds, CO raises to $14, Button calls, SB folds, Hero calls.

Flop: qc 7s 6s ($44, 3 players)
Hero checks, CO bets $30, Button folds, Hero raises to $92, CO raises to $300, Hero raises all-in $716.75, CO calls all-in $302.45.
Uncalled bets: $114.3 returned to Hero.

Turn: 8c ($1248.9, 0 player + 2 all-in - Main pot: $1248.9)

River: js ($1248.9, 0 player + 2 all-in - Main pot: $1248.9)

Results:
Final pot: $1248.9
Hero showed Kd Qd
CO showed 4c 5c

So anyhow, I was in super angry mode after dropping 4,000 so I logged onto ftp and openshoved for 5 minutes at .01/.02 CAP lol. So if you happened to be playing micro-limits, there's a chance u made like 20 or 30 bucks off me.

Oh man, so open shoving was supposed to release some stress right? It just tilted me even more! 5s against 8s. KJ against KQ. Q9 into A9. I was still going ballistic haha. Eventually I had to settle for a nap. I woke up around 2:40 and went back to work.

5 hours later, I ended with a profit : )

Biggest Hand of the Day:

Heh, my roommate walked in right before this happened. Good luck charm?

Poker Stars
No Limit Holdem Ring game
Blinds: $3/$6
5 players

Stack sizes:
CO: $1794.2
UTG: $728
CO: $1709.90
Hero: $1938.60
SB: $600
BB: $48.80

Pre-flop: (5 players) Hero is Button with 8h 8s
UTG folds, CO calls, Hero raises to $30, SB folds, BB calls, CO calls.

Flop: kh 2s 8c ($93, 3 players)
BB checks, CO checks, Hero bets $66, BB folds, CO raises to $150, Hero calls.

Turn: 3d ($393, 2 players)
CO bets $60, Hero raises to $408, CO calls.

River: kc ($1209, 2 players)
CO checks, Hero is all-in $1350.6, CO calls all-in $1121.9.
Uncalled bets: $228.7 returned to Hero.

Results:
Final pot: $3452.8
CO mucks Ks Jd

I liked this hand a lot. I was pretty sure he was going to fold. he's a really good reg. and I knew he'd put me on set or flush. So knowing that he has an ace, shovel timeeeeeee!

Poker Stars
No Limit Holdem Ring game
Blinds: $3/$6
6 players

Stack sizes:
UTG: $2004.45
UTG+1: $66.15
CO: $1794.20
Button: $1008.20
SB: $294
Hero: $616.45

Pre-flop: (6 players) Hero is BB with 4c 8c
2 folds, CO raises to $21, Button calls, SB folds, Hero calls.

Flop: 2s 6c ac ($66, 3 players)
Hero bets $42, CO folds, Button calls.

Turn: ah ($150, 2 players)
Hero bets $102, Button calls.

River: jd ($354, 2 players)
Hero is all-in $451.45, Button folds.
Uncalled bets: $451.45 returned to Hero.

Results:
Final pot: $354

I had just value raised this guy w/a boat on the river and given the way he plaeyd his hand, I was pretty sure he knew that I knew he had a pp. So the fact that I was betting turn anyways, I felt it was likely he'd fold as it was obv he didn't have QQ+

Poker Stars
No Limit Holdem Ring game
Blinds: $3/$6
6 players

Stack sizes:
UTG: $757.50
UTG+1: $873.05
Hero: $1793.50
Button: $345
SB: $594
BB: $120

Pre-flop: (6 players) Hero is CO with ks ah
UTG raises to $21, UTG+1 folds, Hero raises to $66, 3 folds, UTG calls.

Flop: 7d 9s 2s ($141, 2 players)
UTG checks, Hero bets $84, UTG calls.

Turn: 5h ($309, 2 players)
UTG checks, Hero bets $200, UTG folds.
Uncalled bets: $200 returned to Hero.

Results:
Final pot: $309

imo one of the cooler hands. I just couldn't put him on a hand that beat me. I dunno why, I Just had a really strange vibe that folding would not be right.

Poker Stars
No Limit Holdem Ring game
Blinds: $3/$6
4 players

Stack sizes:
UTG: $757.5
UTG+1: $873.05
UTG: $542.75
Button: $1963.20
SB: $697
Hero: $627

Pre-flop: (4 players) Hero is BB with ks ah
UTG calls, Button raises to $27, SB folds, Hero raises to $90, UTG folds, Button calls.

Flop: 3c 7s 4d ($189, 2 players)
Hero bets $120, Button raises to $1476, Hero calls all-in $417.
Uncalled bets: $939 returned to Button.

Turn: 5s ($1263, 1 player + 1 all-in - Main pot: $1263)

River: 4h ($1263, 1 player + 1 all-in - Main pot: $1263)

Results:
Final pot: $1263
Hero showed Ks Ah
Villain showed Ac Jc

As for the hand from last post. I don't know if whoever posted was joking or not but are u serious about the $4 difference? I actually think 84 looks fishier than 80 to be honest.

Poker Stars
No Limit Holdem Ring game
Blinds: $3/$6
5 players

Stack sizes:
Hero: $640
CO: $600
Button: $1190
SB: $2504.05
BB: $306

Pre-flop: (5 players) Hero is UTG with 5h 6h
Hero raises to $21, CO folds, Button raises to $72, 2 folds, Hero calls.

Flop: 4c 2h 4h ($153, 2 players)
Hero checks, Button checks.

Turn: 7h ($153, 2 players)
Hero checks, Button checks.

River: kh ($153, 2 players)
Hero bets $84

I was going to check-raise the flop but that didn't happen. Turned nuts! whoop! Well if he has AhXx I woudl think he'd fire here so I went for a cr as I don't think he's callin ga turn bet lol.

River hits and given teh way he played his hand, it's either a bluff or AK. I really put him on AK so I fired a value bet as I don't think he's ever firing tptk on a 4flush board.

he showed kd6d :D

AWESOME hand

Poker Stars
No Limit Holdem Ring game
Blinds: $3/$6
6 players

Stack sizes:
UTG: $608.25
UTG+1: $933
CO: $582
Button: $612.15
Hero: $642
BB: $453.50

Pre-flop: (6 players) Hero is SB with ad kh
UTG calls, UTG+1 raises to $24, 2 folds, Hero raises to $84, 2 folds, UTG+1 raises to $222, Hero raises all-in $642, UTG+1 calls.

Flop: 9c 8h 8s ($1296, 1 player + 1 all-in - Main pot: $1296)

Turn: 8c ($1296, 1 player + 1 all-in - Main pot: $1296)

River: 8d ($1296, 1 player + 1 all-in - Main pot: $1296)

Results:
Final pot: $1296
Hero showed Ad Kh
UTG+1 mucks Qs Qc

gnight!

Poker is Good for Me

2008-02-13T15:51:00.000-08:00

Today was pretty good :D Only ran slightly above expectation. I love days like these because yes the money is nice but also I felt like I wasn't playing amazing or on a heater. I just sat there playign my game and doing my best to make smart decisions. However, my concentration started slipping towards the end but for the most part I felt I played a pretty good game : )

I really haven't been playing much and it's because my sleeping schedule is just absolutely horrible right now. I keep sleeping in til like 11am or 12pm and pretty much miss all the good games in the morning.

Last night I crashed at 11pm, surprisngly woke up at 5am, made breakfast, and then...took a nap because I was too early...and woke up at 11:30. lol....sleeping in is so -EV

do u guys save negative or minus ev? I always say minus.

So I came back from lunch to put in more hands, although I'll be honest and say that after winning 3k+, i don't like to put in more hands. If I ended up with 1k less, I'd be pretty depressed. Anyhow, ALL THE 3/6 TABLES ON STARS HAVE A 3 MAN WAITING LIST. WHAT IS THIS. I hate waiting for tables. I was considering playing some limit but instead, I'm gonna be productive! Going to go get a table and a lamp for my room as I do need a little light stand for reading as well as some other stuff that needs to get done.

really funny movie trailer that roommate just showed me:

don't really have any hands to share except for this one. I really liked it.

If any of you who read care to take a shot at the hand/debate about the line I took, feel free to comment : )

Poker Stars
No Limit Holdem Ring game
Blinds: $3/$6
5 players

Stack sizes:
Hero: $640
CO: $600
Button: $1190
SB: $2504.05
BB: $306

Pre-flop: (5 players) Hero is UTG with 5h 6h
Hero raises to $21, CO folds, Button raises to $72, 2 folds, Hero calls.

Flop: 4c 2h 4h ($153, 2 players)
Hero checks, Button checks.

Turn: 7h ($153, 2 players)
Hero checks, Button checks.

River: kh ($153, 2 players)
Hero bets $84

I won the Bodog 100k Tournament!

2008-02-05T02:54:00.000-08:00

:D

title says it all. My friend cobaltblue was playing for 1.5 hours and then he called me to take over him since he had to go to a superbowl party. To be honest, I didn't pay attention for like the first 4 hours. I was 4tabling AP, watching a cardrunners' vid, and then when I realized I was deep, I started to focus :D

Fun times. I used to grind out sngs a long while back but I really hate online tourneys, I feel like a kid in detention because i'm forced to sit there the whole damn time! grrrr. I played a pretty TAG game imo. Stealing the button when I could, 3betting only premiums, pretty textbook stuff.

I sucked out twice, a5 > AT and 8s > 9s, I flopped a set :D

The last hand of the tourney I had KK, blinds 15/30k, he has 600k and I cover. He makes it 78k, I call w/the intention to cr any drawy flop.

Flop:

k 2 2 - LOL. I check/call

Turn:

7 - check/call

river:

Ace - Gin! Check/raise all in! He calls w/A7. Ship the 25k first place prize :D

Because I played for about 75% of the total tourney time, I pretty much got that much. 19,250 is my cut : )

cobalt: you realize that for the last 3 years this is the tourney I've been trying to win?

This was my first bodog tourney ever :D Winning it was so funny. I had cobalt on the phone and we just started laughing hysterically when I won. It wasn't til hours later I was like "holy shit, I really just won Bodog's 100k tourney...and i'm 20k richer! what the hell?!" To celebrate, I had pizza, watched lost in translation...and that's it :p

The last 2 days have been pretty great. I played only 1,000 hands today...just look at this! Look how sexy these stats/graphs are! And according to EV, i ran slightly bad :D

later

I hate money

2008-02-01T23:55:00.000-08:00

I blew 8,000 in one session.

mmmf. I eventually won 2k back so now i'm at a 6k loss for the day! I'm actually pretty happy about this. I was definitely miserable this morning when I played >:| It was very weird. i sat down, played, got too bluffy trying to win every pot, made 2 bad all in moves, and before I knew it, I was down 8 grand. I'm not too bothered by it though. It's annoying that I"ll have to put in more hands and make it back but honestly I think this'll help motivate me to work harder for the month. Come on 60,000 hands minimum!

My goal is to break 30k. I've never had one of those months and I really want to. With hard work, I can do it! I also think I'm improving at a nice steady pace and would like to see a > 3bb/100 winrate...although maybe I'll ignore Feb 1st's session when calculating that :p

As for coaching and making videos, I won't be able to do that anymore. The video software isn't working right and it's a big hassle to get that stuff uploaded. At least for me it is, Vista and Camtasia won't get along.

Will I play 5/10NL this month? I doubt it. The money is pretty good at 3/6nl so I'm just going to focus on it for this month. MAYBE if I end up doing well I'll take a shot at 5/10 on Prima.

bye : )

They Call Me the $600 Mountain Climber!

2008-01-27T05:47:00.000-08:00

o man this week hit me hard. It was going fine, a little struggle here and there but had a nice 2k profit then BAM. Enter Thursday: OH HI, -7 buy ins. Friday: OH HI, -10 buy ins. I got ownnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnned bad in 2 days.

I def. tilted a bit while swinging down. I could've saved at least 2-3 buy ins imo. at least.

I felt so shitty after my morning session on Friday. I had never lost 10k before and it really hurt my confidence. I had just lost 6k in one morning session and so I decided it was time to pull out my anti-tilt secret, nap time! :D Woke up a few hours later, played some video games for an hour or two, popped up some more tables, ran bad, and quit.

I've hit 2 or 3 4 of a kinds, 1 royal flush, 1 straight flush, and I'm still losing money, wtf?! You can imagine the kind of hit this would take to your confidence. I really felt awful, that I had all these leaks that I wasn't spotting and that I had gotten too cocky and it's all my fault that I lost all this money, wah wah wah.

Well. Saturday started out really nicely. I woke up at 8am for a few mins, then went back to sleep and woke up 2hours later lol. Got some milk n cereal, woke up the roommate, and proceeded to work. Morning hours imo are some of the fishiest. Session goes by in a blur, I seal the deal w/a 3 buy in profit. I'm still feeling really bad though. All i can think about is how i'm down 9.2k and how many hours of work it's going to take to get that back.

Break time! I msg my friend who is an insanely good pianist/turned poker pro and we go get lunch. If you live in Irvine, CA, you have to go to Koba Tofu on Culver. It's so damn good. My fav. Soon Doo Boo place ever (korean food). We talked about minbetting and man do I feel confident about my LHE game. I've never really tested myself at high stakes but I'm very very confident in my HU to 6handed game at midstakes. Now that I think about it, the lunch really helped my confidence. It reminded me of how much faith I have in my lhe game and before I knew it, I was itching to go back home and log in some hands!

4pm - I'm home! Alright...let's play some DoTA! I suddenly lost the urge to play so I killed 2 or so hours with my roommate. I have a love/hate relationship with DoTA. I love the phantom lancer and clinkz but I hate how long it takes for the game to progress. It just seems like half the game, if not all of it, is just moving your hero up and down, up and down, up a little further, and down again. ZZZzzz

8pm roommate leaves...I somehow doddle.

Then randomly at 10:06pm I decided to play some poker! I slowly open more and more tables and soon enough i have 9 going. I couldn't believe it! These tables were so juicy! I was like the only regular. There were at least 2 if not 3 fish on every table! And then the pots just came in. Pot after pot after pot. It was great. My favorite form of poker! I rarely got 3bet and rarely did I bother to even 3bet someone with trash. I got to play the way I wanted to. As much as I love pushing people around, I love seeing flops and playing the board. That minbet side of me still exists : ) For once I was in total control. There were only a few times someone gave me resistance but for the most part, I just ran the tables over. But the best thing is, the fish. They were so bad. Thank you so much for playing! You should see some of the hands I won.

http://www.fullcontactpoker.com/poker-forum/index.php?showtopic=88531&st=14520

KK vs KQ top pair on a flush draw flop for like 150-200bbs? lol! Boat vs trips in which villain just coulnd't lay it down :D And how many times did I stack KK on an ace high flop? That was the best part, I did it at least twice. That never happens because the players I go against aren't bad like that!

You know the whole time I was playing, I was too afraid to look at my cashier. I just didn't want to look at the money. I was raking in pots and playing well, there was no reason to look. I did look at the clock though and before I knew it, I had put in 4 straight hours! The action was that good and that crazy. There was no time to eat or play. haha, it got to the point where I tried to take a really fast piss break in between hands. Surely you guys have done that right? As soon as you notice u have no action, u click the "fold" buttons and run like hell and hope u don't miss AA.

Woof. After I was done, I checked the clock, 4.5 hours! And then my cashier...*drum roll*.... +10k! : ) Oh boy was I excited. I told my friends and then while I was looking at my cashier I realized oh shit, what if my friend paid me 5k back? I look at the history, FUCK! SO I DIDN'T JUST EARN 10K AND SHIT MY PANTS FOR NOTHING?

Nope cause I forgot to look at the date :D That xfer was the one I made to him. So I did in fact make 10k : ) It was a very good day/night. Oh and Djokovic won the Aussie Open! WhoooO!!

here's what a 16-17 buy in upswing looks like:

what does pEV say?

gnight and good luck : )

-Mikey

First Week of 2008

2008-01-22T17:23:00.000-08:00

Technically it's not as I put in like 1k hands before last week but that doesn't really count :P

the graph does look kind of disappointing no?

Obviously stop at the 10k mark :p

Last week was my official week back to poker. I had taken a pretty big break (3 weeks?) from poker. Wow, my spelling has gotten worse. I pride myself on being able to spell a good amount of words but lately I've been spelling red meat: red meet and just now weak instead of week.

Anyhow, it's my first week and I've been granted a blessing by variance! :D

Not too shabby. Almost $1 a hand :p I used to think it was very silly to think about making money in terms of $ per hand instead of BB's but that was just silly irrational thinking. My goal at 3/6 is to get to 50 cents a hand. I see about 500-800 hands an hour so a $250/hr deal isn't too bad :P The most desirable right now is 5bb/100 at 5/10nl. That = $1 per hand. Even if you 4table that's $360 an hour! Mmmmmmmm!

Anyhow, I'm working on putting in 2.5k hands a day. I'm not going to fulfill that today as I'm going out to eat soon and then play some basketball. But I'd like to get in another 500-1k hands before the day is over. I have 1k hands so far and up 1.2k for the day : )

It's weird. In general I'm just more focused about playing than before. I just want to build a big bankroll and have a good time at the wsop as well as summer w/my friends who are graduating. I also haven't paid off my car completely and I'm very very disappointed in myself for not doing so. I made a stupid purchase that was out of my roll last year and I've been paying the price. This must get paid in 2 months. Not for any real reason except that I owe it to myself to work that hard. 30k months are my goal. If I don't make 10k this month, lol especially after last week, I'm going to be pretty bummed. 10k months should now be easy. 20k months should take a little work but will soon become the standard imo. 30k is where it's at and in due time 50k months. That's my monetary plan for the year :D

I'm continuing to work on my game and tweak out as much as I can. I'm progressing nicely but can and will improve even more with the help of a coach.

Speaking of which, I am thinking of coaching 2 nl and lhe'rs for a month. Haven't set it in stone yet but I am strongly considering this. There will be a flat fee as nothing in this world comes free. I think it'll be a really good experience for me and the students if I go ahead with this.

Best of luck,
mike

Sad Rush

2008-01-18T03:57:00.001-08:00

It's a sad rush because I was almost up 8 buy ins : (

I always forget how to embed full images. oh well.

I'll take the 5 buy in day :D

Most interesting hand of the day imo can be found here:
http://www.fullcontactpoker.com/poker-forum/index.php?showtopic=116050

Remember that spiel about 4tabling and then 9tabling in feb? Well I started 9tabling now lol. I seem to be pretty rusty when i start up but then after 5-10 mins, I get into my groove and can play pretty well. Never as well as I 4table though.

Oh, I did goof up a hand. I'm pretty annoyed with that one.

I think a lagtard 3bets me so I call in position w/4s6s

flop: 5c 3c 10s

he bets and I call - I should be shoving here imo

turn: 7c - i think he bets halfpot - i should really shove here

river: As - he checks, i shove and he folds.

Shoving flop is the best play. I called his 3bet w/46s because I thought he was raising me light. That means u shove flop because a good amt of his range can't call a shove.

Turn def. shove because if he has a hand like KcQx or what not, he may make a desperate call.

wow, this hand now makes me feel like I suck at poker. Great, my 5 buy in session sucks balls.

Oh and notice at the beginning of the graph, the first 700 hands I'm up 2.5 buy ins and then I break even? I haven't been that tilted in awhile. I couldn't sleep for a bit after that : / Here's why. I was getting tired towards the end of my session and noticed I wasn't thinking straight so I started to close my tables. But then I had 4tables w/some fish and one guy who probably thought I was a retard, so perfect! So I decided to stay because I'm pretty confident about my game when I 4table. Well, 2 big hands come up where I folded the river in both hands and lost 2/3s buy in. LIFE TILT.

So now I'm actually really happy that I had a 5 buy in session. Blog mood swings ftw.

i need to sleep. later : )

-mike

Monies Monies!

2008-01-17T00:28:00.000-08:00

Whooo I'm making money!

3/6NL is going well. I am playing a pretty good game for the most part, but am still making mistakes. I will never be satisfied with being a 3bb winner at these stakes. Actually, probably in general I won't. I am competitive and I want to be a 5bb winner at all stakes. It's probably impossible at 10/20+ but damnit, I want that winrate. 5bb/100 means..YOURE A BEAST! And so until I reach that over a good sample size, I won't be content.

Here's a hand I misplayed today imo:

Poker Stars
No Limit Holdem Ring game
Blinds: $3/$6
5 players

Stack sizes:
Mikey: $621.90
CO: $666
Button: $600.25
SB: $394.35
BB: $102

Pre-flop: (5 players) Mikey is UTG with 5h 5s
Mikey raises to $21, CO folds, Button raises to $72, 2 folds, Mikey calls.

Flop: 7s 2c 5c ($153, 2 players)
Mikey checks, Button checks.

Turn: 9d ($153, 2 players)
Mikey bets $102, Button folds.
Uncalled bets: $102 returned to Mikey.

Results:
Final pot: $153

Villain had been 3betting me a lot and when he checks behind flop, I should pin his range more towards air than anything. Flush draw bets, overpairs bet, and air either bets or gives up. Rarely do you see an overpair check behind here, which imo is a pretty bad move.

Therefore, I should've check-raised the turn and if that whiffed, gone for a check-raise on the river seeing as how air isn't calling any bet.

That said, it actually might be close because in some cases, 8s-TT might check behind flop for pot control. However, i didn't really have that kind of read on villain and should've went for his most likely holding, air.

nothign else to say, gl : )

mike

Slowly I Get Back to Work

2008-01-10T07:25:00.001-08:00

I'm here in San Diego until Sunday. That's when all my friends leave town I believe.

I just put in a session this morning and I feel I played pretty well. There was a mistake or two that I'm not happy about but I'm getting back into my groove. I might stick to only 4tables for now until I really get comfortable. I can play my A game for sure on 4tables but anything more than that and I probably start slipping some. I eventually do want to get back to 9tabling but for now I want to review situations and make sure I'm thinking things through correctly.

Guh, I'm pretty sluggish right now. An hour and a half ago (6am) I couldn't sleep and could only think about poker. See! Even though I'm not playing, I'm still studying a teeny bit :D So anyways, I couldn't sleeep and thought this would be a great time to put in a session. I feel good about it and my confidence is there. However I had to quit a little less than an hour in as my concentration started to dropppppppppppp. You know that nice little fuzzy feeling u get when you're tired? Yeah, I felt that creeping in and I couldn't put people on hand ranges anymore. You know you really have to quit when PREFLOP becomes a hard decision.

Here's a "mistake" that I think I made. Actually I butchered the whole hand now that I think about it.

Villain is a lagtard. he is 46/38.

I'm not happy about preflop because even though his stats say he's off the wall, I don't know if he's 3betting ME lightly. I actually don't think calling here is bad at all and it's probably the correct call versus his range. However lately I've been thinking about playing a bit smarter and this would be one of those moments where folding is better imo because I have no sense of how villain plays. It's really close between folding and calling and for now I'd like to get myself into the rhythm of making smart moves based on information rather than assumption. you can always 4bet but I'm just not into that whole style.

No Limit Holdem Ring game
Blinds: $3/$6
6 players

Stack sizes:
UTG: $373.50
UTG+1: $634
CO: $486
Mikey: $900
SB: $744
BB: $600

Pre-flop: (6 players) Mikey is Button with 8h 5h
3 folds, Mikey raises to $21, SB raises to $60, BB folds, Mikey calls.

Flop: js ac 5c ($126, 2 players)
SB checks, Mikey checks.

Turn: 3s ($126, 2 players)
SB checks, Mikey checks.

River: 6d ($126, 2 players)
SB checks, Mikey checks.

Results:
Final pot: $126

I'm going to write my thoughts below this but as an exercise I think you should think about how the hand is played and whether I should've bet on flop turn or river and think about WHY I should.

analysis:

I knew I really had to quit my tables after this hand. On the turn, it's just obvious he doesn't have an ace. I checked the flop because I was afraid of getting cr'd off my hand. On the turn, he's not checking an ace or a set or really anything strong as well as flush draws. So given that, he's most likely holding a pocket pair. Betting turn and river would be sexy here.

Alright, I'm really tired. I just can't sleep though. Have a good day everyone : )

Mikey

Vacation!!!!!!! Sort of

2008-01-05T10:29:00.000-08:00

I haven't played a hand of poker yet in 2008. There were several times where I meant to but in the end, I bailed out. I got my ps3 yesterday so I finally got to play some Guitar Hero III :D I was really happy to see that they have Knights of Cydonia by Muse. Problem is, it's really hard! It's the first one that gave me a lot of trouble, that and the 2nd boss...grr..

i do intend to play some poker today. Mainly some NL. I won't touch limit til next week and I don't think I will be in full force til I go back to my apartment in Irvine. For now, friends have priority unless there's an extremely juicy game running...but let's be honest, this is 3/6nl, not 100/200nl. When am I going to find someone so juicy that I just have to sit? Although in LHE, I can think of a few players to do that with, heh.

I got into a little e-fight with someone from fcp. It was pretty silly and I don't know why I decided to call him out but oh well. Mtdesmoines gives bad advice and I really think people should not take his posts seriously in the nl strat forum. There've been some ridiculous folds he recommends post and pre. Moreso about postflop though. Anyhow, I thought it was funny that the hand we argued about, he later said he misplayed until the original poster wrote the results. Alright, well if he hit a 6 outer, obviously my advice was wrong eh? :p

It's funny but NL is complicated in its own way. While people say LHE is a harder game, and it probably is once you get to high stakes, there are also a lot of little things in NL that can determine whether you are a loser or a winner. I think one of the harder rhythms to grasp is value betting. When I picked up the game, that's what I saw first, the rhythm my roommate went at. TP goes bet, check, bet on flop, turn, and river respectively while in lhe it's bet/3bet bet bet bet bet lol. But there are times when tp or overpair can go for 3 bets and I really do think when you can determine that, your edge over people rises considerably. Just think about it, not only are you getting 3 streets of value, but your 2nd bet makes the pot even bigger allowing you for more value on the river! Not necessarily a full stack but perhaps 2/3. Not too bad!

-Mikey

I'm in the Black!

2007-12-31T18:03:00.000-08:00

I'm done w/the poker for the rest of '07. Although to be honest I kind of want to play right now...but I won't. Don't want to ruin my good day. Finished a nice session this morning for +1600. This whole month has been sooooo swingy. I'm glad it's finally over : )

My last few days of playing have been really sick.

See! I told you in my last post that I had it figured out :D I still made some mistakes though but I am feeling very confident in my game again. Just going with the flow, not fighting it anymore...at least most of the time I'm not :p

I'm pretty happy to be in the black. Ever since I made the jump to NL, things have been going pretty smoothly, aside from this month. So basically I had 2 months of happiness :P But it's been so much nicer on the heart than LHE has ever been. I'm really happy about my game and the way it's progressing.

I've come a long way as a player since I went pro in January '07. I am a much more confident player in now two forms of hold'em, limit and no limit : ) My progression as a limit player has been more interesting than my NL game. Whereas before, I would try to get as much value out of a hand while being more on the safe side, I now pride myself in being able to correctly get some thinner value bets on the turn and river. While I may not be as good as some of the top hold'em players out there, I really do feel I can hold my own in any 6max game and do a good amount of damage in heads up limit. Basically, I believe in myself much more than I did back then. There are times where I don't want to play poker because I want to just book a nice win, like today. However, poker as a whole does not feel like gambling anymore. It is a game that I love to compete in and when I am focused, the money doesn't even stand out to me. All I can think about is making the right move...his overbet, is it a real hand or is he making a weird bluff? There's no time to think about $.

It is weird. I can't explain it entirely but my mental approach to the game is pretty solid. I used to have major tilt issues, and I still do tilt, just nowhere near the extreme that the old mikey used to pull. I don't know, I don't fear going broke anymore. Well, it's more like, I don't think I'll ever go busto. I feel broke when I have like 20 buy ins left! I'm not a bankroll nit by any means (I'm perfectly fine w/50buy ins for a pro) but I'm just the type of player who feels uncomfortable if he doesn't have enough room to move around. I like to being able to afford making mistakes. Otherwise if I play, I'll be too scared to make a move or follow my gut. That and having a healthy bankroll always helps w/tilt issues/emotional control. There's just so much less stress you endure when you lose money and have a lot left.

I've also come to realize that I don't like Vegas. I think I can enjoy it for up to 3 days max and then after that I get tired of it. I like suburban areas and I like girls with natural tits. Oh, and girls who like you for who you are, not for how much you've got :P

This coming year, I want to hit 25/50NL by the end. If I don't make at least 300,000 on the year, I'm going to be pretty bummed. The only way it won't happen imo is if I'm too lazy, which is still a problem although I am working on it and am improving : ) I feel like by the end of January, my NL game will be pretty sickly solid. Let's say I'm making mistakes 10% of the time, I should be making mistakes like 1-3% of the time when I'm done w/January '08. I'm very confident in this and will be pretty pissed if my NL game doesn't improve that much.

That's all I have to say for now. Going to enjoy a night of chinese poker and movie/tv watching. Happy New Years!

-Mikey

Some thoughts

2007-12-29T02:26:00.001-08:00

I hope to make this a decently sized entry, one not too long but not too short so that it makes for an entertaining read.

So no limit has been going pretty rough for me. I'm enjoying lhe again although it is pretty tilting from time to time.

I played a session this morning on the 28th and in this particular session, I happened to be much more focused. I was doing a better job of pinning villains on hands but the biggest factor was that I was not forcing the action. I wasn't trying to two barrel everyone or win every single pot. For some reason, I was just more relaxed and I just went with the flow. Whatever happened happened. That said, I still made one or two mistakes that I'm pretty annoyed about. I'll have to analyze them more carefully. But for the most part, flow is a really important concept. Lately I have been overthinking a lot of situations which leads to a form of helplessness. The game becomes too hard you don't know what's correct anymore.

Writing my thoughts and explaining my style to myself is one way of doing this. Why I like to bet here and here, what I feel they accomplish, etc. It is really important not to force the action. I think that if you outclass everyone at the table, you can go ahead and force it profitably but you have to be really honest with yourself about it. I was not and overlooked a very important concept.

I did book a small winning session today and while it may seem and may be possible that I'm trying to find something to attribute this downswing to, ignoring flow, for the most part, I truly do believe this was a big mistake I made and could have helped reduce a lot of the money that was lost on the tables this week.

I am not good enough to outplay everyone. However I am good enough to play with everyone.

Thus, I am a winner and will continue to play profitably and most importantly, confidently.

mikey

I want to quit NL for a few days

2007-12-26T06:16:00.000-08:00

it's unfortunate that it's Christmas time but right now I really want to stop playing No Limit. This month has been pretty damn swingy for me, especially last week. I'm having just big swings in both directions, including a 9.6 bi upswing in 1 day! At this point, my nl game is deteriorating. I'm not accurately, and possibly not even, thinking about hand ranges. It's more like, uhhhh, he doesn't have this here that often, ok I'll bet it...MOTHERFUCKER.

Stuff like that.

My limit hold'em game is still good though. If it weren't hunting season, I'd seriously just focus on LHE until I felt better, but with all the fish around, I gotta get back out there and take down some pots! I had a nice 2k win at 15/30 lhe yesterday :D It's funny but playing NL did improve my play in some spots in lhe. I'm proud of getting in thinner value 3bets on the turn and usually being correct.

It's definitely fish season but man, I'm getting owned by the dumbest hands : / And don't get me wrong, I love having these people here, I just wish I hit something! literally, something!

Look!

Poker Stars
No Limit Holdem Ring game
Blinds: $3/$6
6 players

Stack sizes:
UTG: $591
UTG+1: $1856.70
Hero: $660
Button: $1253.05
SB: $594
BB: $825

Pre-flop: (6 players) Hero is CO with 8c tc
UTG calls, UTG+1 calls, Hero calls, Button raises to $54, 4 folds, Hero calls.

Flop: 5c 2h 4c ($129, 2 players)
Hero checks, Button bets $108, Hero raises to $318, Button raises to $528, Hero raises all-in $606, Button calls.

Turn: qd ($1341, 1 player + 1 all-in - Main pot: $1341)

River: 5d ($1341, 1 player + 1 all-in - Main pot: $1341)

Results:
Final pot: $1341

Oh Hi he had AcKs for a monster draw on the flop...YEAH OK BUDDY, KEEP THINKING THAT

Poker Stars
No Limit Holdem Ring game
Blinds: $3/$6
6 players

Stack sizes:
UTG: $631
UTG+1: $1821.80
CO: $657
Button: $597
Hero: $632.25
BB: $1099.50

Pre-flop: (6 players) Hero is SB with 8h 6h
3 folds, Button raises to $18, Hero raises to $60, BB folds, Button calls.

Flop: 9h 3c 7s ($126, 2 players)
Hero bets $84, Button calls.

Turn: 4s ($294, 2 players)
Hero bets $222, Button raises all-in $453, Hero calls.

River: 4d ($1200, 1 player + 1 all-in - Main pot: $1200)

Results:
Final pot: $1200
Hero showed 8h 6h
Villain has Kd3d

I don't know, I guess he thought he was making a huge bluff here. like seriously wtf.

It's funny, in both hands, if I had just hit A PAIR, I would've taken down the pot! Come on, how gross is that? That's $2400 I've blown on 10 high and 8 high. I think the only adjustment I'm going to make right now is to bet BIGGER and show that I'm pot committed. I like to bet enough that doesn't pot commit me so I let villains think they have some bluff equity...but that really should only be reserved for thinking players. I honestly think these guys thought they were making great bluffs @_@

Merry Christmas everyone

My graph from last 10k hands : / Oh, and BI = Buy Ins. I play 3/6nl = $600 buy in

Back to blogspot!

2007-12-20T02:26:00.000-08:00

My term at stoxpoker has ended. very long read below.

I'm kind of excited to start blogging here again. My original plan to copy paste all my old blog posts failed but oh well. It would've been cool to track my progression from grinding low stakes to the player I am now. Perhaps I will go and copy paste all my entries back over here but for now, let's just say it's most definitely not definite :P

For those of you who don't know, my name is Michael Song and I currently play 3/6 no limit and 10/20 - 15/30 shorthanded limit hold'em as well as heads up. My goal in the next two months is ot make it to 5/10 no limit and to start regularly earning $1,000 a day.

I feel like I've got a lot to say but for now, we'll stop here. Ty for reading!

-Mikey

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hey everyone,

Now that I am back from Vegas, I think it is time I make my own announcement. It has come to my attention that perhaps this is my last day as part of the stoxpoker family. I have been a part of the site since March/April. My main game was 5/10 short handed limit hold'em and gradually throughout my time here, I moved up to 10/20 and 15/30 lhe and just recently graduated from 2/4 to 3/6 no limit.

I am sad to say that as of now I believe I am no longer part of the site in any way. I understand that when I joined, I joined as mainly a blogger, while making an occasional video as a guest pro in which I showed and explained my winning approach to the game. My status here has never been of great importance but nevertheless, I was welcomed and felt like part of the family. I posted hands as well as gave advice on other players' hands in the limit forums and recently some in the no limit forums.

The stoxpoker community is probably the most productive and positive community geared towards learning the game, even moreso than 2p2. I say this because it is entirely true. You find lots of good advice here from stoxpoker pros as well as other players who play for a living. You will rarely be chastised or humiliated for posting a silly hand. Everyone works together to help each other move up the stakes. There is no environment as positive as this one.

However, within these last few months, I have to say I am pretty disappointed with how I have been dealt with. When stoxpoker admin joined the site, at some point I was contacted by him asking that I post only two entries a month because more pros were about to join and start blogging. He also requested that they be more poker oriented. Heh, I think I definitely did start rambling off in those entries about random stuff like my chaotic neighbor. So alright, I don't mind being flexible. I'll gladly do as told here.
Come November, about a week before Thanksgiving, I make a video for 10/20lhe on stars. I send the link to admin asking that he let me know when it's going to go up as there are some people who do enjoy watching it. In his reply, he states that my videos are no longer needed as there are plenty of videos that have not been posted yet.

To be honest, I was pretty frustrated about that response. I really do enjoy making videos (and I think that comes across pretty clearly) and when I was told that my work was no longer needed, it felt like a shot to the heart.
By the way, it may seem that I am attacking stoxpoker admin but he is the only one I have been in contact with so there is no one else to reference. He has always been cordial in every message sent to me. I'm sure he's not a bad guy : )

In the last two weeks I have not made/been unable to post a blog entry. I asked stoxpoker admin about this problem and he ask that I post under the member blog section seeing as how everytime I create a blog entry, it costs the site a hundred or so dollars in translations. I had to give this one some thought and have decided that if this is how the stoxpoker family is going to treat its guest pro(s)/blogger(s), then I no longer want to be a part of the community. Perhaps I could have asked the other stoxpoker pros about why/what is going on with the situation and why I am being treated so distantly. However, I am sure stoxpoker admin was made an admin to also deal with situations like these and I should/will not beg to be kept as a featured blogger.

I understand that technically I am not in any position to complain as I was never part of the core team. It is not my site nor do I have any say in what goes on. I am just a blogger/guest pro. That said, I cannot help but post my feelings about the situation. I do not have any ill feelings towards anyone in particular, I wouldn't know who to be mad at anyways lol, but I am disappointed that no one ever told me directly what was going on. Instead, every time I tried to be a part of the site, I woke up to find a new limitation on what I was allowed to do. I would have much preferred a direct notice as it is much more respectful than a surprise. This will be my last "blog" post here. I want to say the last 8 months here have been a great experience. I have talked to and learned from some really great players on this site and I hope the community continues to thrive.

Best of luck,

Mikey Song

No Such Thing As Running Bad!

2007-04-23T19:36:00.001-07:00

Some rambles...(this isn't a response to Leatherass' entry, I just wanted to write about this)

I think sbrugby mentions something similar to that but I know Ivey has said it quite frequently that he doesn't believe in running bad, you either play good or you don't.

Do you really believe it? You should.

The logical person says, well I can't run good forever! I'll have down swings as well as heaters.

But really, I don't think it's ok to have only that thought in mind.

Before you play every session, you should ask yourself why you are playing. Is it to have fun or to make money? If it's to make money, then you should believe in yourself otherwise you'll get crushed. Your expectation should be to win. Playing cards with a lack of confidence is dangerous, your mentality is weak and you're prone to making really bad folds (see KK hand from a few blog entries ago) or perhaps you may tilt easier.

If you give in to the thinking and blame your results on a downswing, you may get lazy with your approach to the game. Unfortunately, there really isn't a mechanical way to beat the game. You have to put in the hands, have the experience, and know the people you're playing against to be able to play close to a mechanical style. But even then, we're all human beings. We're not 100% consistent, so you have to adapt to those changes. If you start losing money, you might not adjust, you might push your AA hands harder when you shouldn't, or your two pair vs a passive who you know most likely has a set, etc.
Maybe you see a possible flush hit, and you don't value bet because you're thinking "standard, he got there, take my money punk!" - BAD BAD BAD!

If you have a negative approach to the game, your results will become negative. I really believe this. When you bet, if you don't know why you're betting, or if you're hoping that you're good, you're gambling. What happens to those who gamble in the long run? They lose. If you play with a negative mood, it'll get to you and before you know it, you're just praying for good luck - bad!

Dwayne Wade, the shooting guard for the Miami Heat, and one of the best in the game, was asked what goes on in his mind when he's shooting crucial shots for his team. His response was something along the lines of, "nothing, I just shoot" Nerves of steel man. But not only that, he has total faith in himself. He knows his stuff, he knows he can make those shots, he has no reason not to believe in himself. If he misses he misses, but that doesn't go through his mind, because he won't miss.

If you just read that and thought "but he'll still miss sometimes!" you just don't get it. You don't have total confidence : /

I def. remember sbrugby mentioning that you should take responsibility for your actions. Every decision you make influences the outcome of the hand. These are your choices. In the end, when things go right or wrong, it's because of the choice you made. Accept it and move on.

I completely forgot about taking responsibility for my own actions, and here's a hand that happened where I realized wow, I probably would have won the hand if I hadn't wussed out.

Pre-flop: (6 players) Mikey is CO with as ks
2 folds, Mikey raises, 2 folds, BB 3-bets, Mikey caps, BB calls.

Flop: jc 4c 8c (8.6SB, 2 players)
BB bets, Mikey raises, BB calls.

Turn: ah (6.3BB, 2 players)
BB checks, Mikey bets, BB raises, Mikey calls.

River: 9c (10.3BB, 2 players)
BB bets, Mikey calls.

BB shows 10,10c for the flush.

On paper, this hand is absolutely horrible. Thing is, I've played a lot of hands vs. villain and I know he can lead this with something as weak as A5o with no club draw, he does bet/fold the flop from time to time. The turn is the part I really want to talk about. I just knew he didn't have two pair there, villain would've check-raised the flop or bet/3bet with tptk. I should've went w/my gut and 3bet the turn. As played, I made a very very poor call on the river, but at least it opened my eyes to the fact that there's a chance I could've won the pot had I shown more aggression.

I played this hand horribly. Yuck!

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This month has been brutal to me. It started out with some ridiculous swings, but then my stupid self decided to give 10/20 a shot, which technically wasn't a bad choice because it was within bankroll limits. BUT, I took a shot at 10/20 while I was furious about what was happening at the 5/10 tables. I was just asking for disaster : /

I then started to try and up the amount of tables I was playing to 10, but quickly decided 8 might be better, and haven't been playing my A game. A lot of my decisions have been guesswork and really haven't been working out for me. Really shouldn't leave the game up to just guesswork. So yes, while I do believe I was on a horrible downswing, I also blame a lot of it on my approach to the game. I got impatient, I was dumb, and I didn't play a solid game. I chased my losses rather than reviewing my own game, talking it over with friends, etc. I basically played with a negative mindset.

I feel pretty good today and hopefully I'll be back on track : ) I'm also going to delve into NL some more as I am enjoying it and it is less swingy ;), but for the most part, I still enjoy sh lhe!

If your life had a soundtrack, what would it be?

2007-04-10T05:39:00.000-07:00

Time for something fun! Feel free to respond with your soundtrack!

If your life had a soundtrack, what would it be?

1. Open your library (iTunes, Winamp, Media Player, etc).
2. Put it on shuffle.
3. Press Play.
4. For every question, type the song that's playing.
5. When you go to a new question, press the Next button.
6. Don't lie and try to pretend you're cool.
7. Don't skip songs =)

***Repost w/ numbers and names of songs.***

(1) Opening credits: Head Over Heels by Tears for Fears

(2) Waking Up: Wonderwall by Oasis

(3) First day at school: Marching Bands of Manhattan by Death Cab for Cutie

(4) Fight song: Exit Music (for a film) by Radiohead - LOL, GLOOMIEST FIGHT SONG EVER

(5) Breaking up: Never Take Friendship Personal by Anberlin - rawrrrrrrrrrrr

(6) Happiness: Walk This Way by Aerosmith

(7) Life's okay: Subterranean Homesick Alien by Radiohead

(8) Mental breakdown: Delicate by Damien Rice - wow that matched up well.

(9) Driving: Easier to Run by Linkin Park

(10) Flashback: Debate Exposes Doubt by Death Cab for Cutie

(11) Getting back together: G. Fresh by Drunken Tiger (if anyone can translate the korean lyrics for me, that'd be appreciated :D )

(12) Wedding: High and Dry by Radiohead

(13) Birth of a child: Downfall by Trust Company

(14) Final battle: Let Down by Radiohead

(15) Death scene: Like Spinning Plates (live) by Radiohead

(16) Funeral song: Inner Universe from Ghost in the Shell soundtrack

(17) End credits: Rain from Cowboy Bebop

daaaaaaaaaaaaang, radiohead took this one by storm!