Poker Journal
  • Home
  • Poker News
  • How to play Poker
  • Poker Strategy
  • Poker Tips
No Result
View All Result
SUBSCRIBE
Poker Journal
  • Home
  • Poker News
  • How to play Poker
  • Poker Strategy
  • Poker Tips
No Result
View All Result
Poker Journal
No Result
View All Result
ignition poker
Home Poker News

Palm Beach Kennel Club | WSOP Main Event | Part 1

August 17, 2022
in Poker News
0
wsop poker
74
SHARES
1.2k
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Charlotte Douglas International Airport. Sitting in empty area at gate. One year prior to writing this chapter, I had been crushing low-stakes cash games for years, cashing often in poker room tournaments, and I was off to a good start in WSOP Circuit events.

This probably sounds good to the average home-gamer, local poker room player, and most online poker players (excluding professionals), but my competitive nature catapulted my poker desires from small to high in a very short period of time, and despite those profitable performances, I had many more DNCs (Did Not Cash) than cashes. This is normal, but you need to be PROFITABLE!

As I’m writing this in a notebook (while seated), a college-aged Mexican girl is standing next to me with one bag on each shoulder, furry boots (75 degrees outside), and swinging back and forth to a tune that doesn’t exist—she’s not wearing headphones.

I usually wouldn’t care much about personal space invasions (when necessary due to a crowd), but I’m purposely sitting at a gate where a plane just boarded in order to avoid people. Ah … she just walked away. Maybe she sensed I was writing about her.

Getting back to poker, after failing so many times, and after just one good cash for the year, I decided to go back to studying. Three, four, and five years ago, I was obsessed with watching poker videos. At that time, I applied what I learned to cash games, which paid off.
This time (beginning a few weeks prior), I watched hundreds of hours of WSOP Main Event tournaments, but I didn’t watch them straight through. I used rewind, pause, fast-forward, etc. to look for recurring patterns. This is in regards to physical tendencies and betting patterns.

Given the time put into this effort, the importance of my findings, and the relatively decent popularity of my books, I can’t reveal any specific details, but since you’re a reader and you took a chance on me, I will reveal two interesting stats.

After evaluating more than 100 hours of play, I learned that 46% of river bluffs were successful. That might sound high, but without going into detail, keep in mind that river bluffs are often very large. Otherwise, they wouldn’t work. This doesn’t mean you should call large river bets because you think your opponent is bluffing.
If you’re wrong, it could cost you a large portion of your stack or your whole stack. Unless you’re certain it’s a bluff, wait for a better spot. Over the long haul, this approach will pay off.

An even more interesting find was that based on the same hands analyzed, the person betting on the river had a made hand (not a bluff) 71% of the time. That might not sound very high either, but that’s more than two-thirds of the time. I don’t know how you will use this information. For me, it means to chill out with the hero calls.

Three, four, and five years ago, I played tight and focused on defense, picking only the right spots to move into aggressive mode. Over the past two years, I have been much more focused on aggression. Contrary to popular belief, ultra-aggressive poker play DOES NOT lead to sustainable profits on the felt. It leads to excess volatility, tilt, and a lack of money management due to chasing when things go sour.

I’m sure I’ll receive a lot of “hate mail” based on my theory, but why do you think Daniel Negreanu said that the constant 3-bet and 4-bet guys from 2010 and 2011 are no longer around? Why do you think Phil Hellmuth told Tom Dwan that he wouldn’t be around in five years? Why do you think Negreanu and Hellmuth are still in the game?
Why do you think Erik Seidel (tight but savvy) has a net worth of $41.9 million (at the time of this writing)? This is a guy that limps into pots all day long (he wants to know the information prior to investing).

You can dispute this all you want, but if you crunch the numbers, you will find that while aggressive players steal the spotlight for a little while, defense wins championships—just like in anything else. This doesn’t mean passive. The best approach is to use defense to set up your offense.

I guess this is my long version of telling you that I looked forward to playing the next day based on my new (yet old) and improved approach to the game. I strongly believed that after my studies, I now had a better grasp of the game than ever before. Unfortunately, I lost my once-strong radar, but I knew it would eventually return. It tends to travel with confidence.

My runs three, four, and five years ago included two 12-session winning streaks and one nine-session winning streak, but as mentioned earlier, those were small-stakes cash games. I basically ran over scared money and found the players easy to read. I loved those players, though. You will find a lot of good people at the lower-stakes games. We all had a friendship that I will never forget, and that’s worth more than money.

This time around, I would be playing some of the best players in the world, but I’d never be intimidated because I knew that poker players are human and will sometimes let emotions get the best of them when competing. I also found it likely that I had done more homework than most players who would be in the field, professional or not.

Most importantly, you’re really playing against yourself. How often do you see someone blow up? The people who cash in tournaments are often the ones who benefit from those blow ups. They’re also people who have put themselves in positions to succeed by remaining poised and staying in the game. If I could remain poised and apply what I had learned, I felt I would do well.

I hadn’t run good in Florida in the past, but a big part of that was me not playing well. That weekend, I would play the WSOP Main Event at the Palm Beach Kennel Club. The following weekend, I would play several smaller circuit events at WSOP Harrah’s Cherokee. And the weekend after that, I would play in the WSOP Main Event at Harrah’s Cherokee.

As you might have guessed, my wife wasn’t pleased, but I was trying to squeeze all of this in prior to my son’s basketball season. As much as I love poker, I love my son A WHOLE LOT MORE, and it’s more important to me to be a good dad. Like most dads, I have my faults, but I’m trying my best. If you’re a father, you understand: Heart > Wallet.
♠ pokerjournal.org

Tags: wsop
Share30Tweet19
Previous Post

How to Tell If Someone Is Bluffing In Poker

Next Post

Palm Beach Kennel Club | WSOP Main Event | Part 2

Recommended For You

The Truth About The Atlantic City Poker Scene

September 24, 2022
0
atlantic city poker

If Las Vegas is life, Atlantic City is death! A bit harsh? Okay. Please allow me to rephrase that. If Las Vegas is full of life and energy,...

Read more

How to Make Money In The Right Poker Tournaments

August 28, 2022
0
poker cards

In the week leading up to the WSOP Main Event, here were some of my comments to my wife: "I'm not going to play. I can handle $10k,...

Read more

Better Results From The WSOP Cherokee Poker Tournament Events

August 20, 2022
0
read poker book

6-Max When you turn on the radio during your trip to a casino and hear The Doors, Led Zeppelin, Don Henley, U2 (80s version), Pink Floyd, and Lynyrd...

Read more

The Truth About Harrah’s Vegas Poker Room | Pros & Cons

September 26, 2022
0
Harrahs-poker-room-las-vegas

I don’t know why, but when I think of Harrah’s Poker Room, I think of the real Las Vegas. I’m not saying that Harrah’s Poker Room is The...

Read more

Palm Beach Kennel Club | WSOP Main Event | Part 2

August 17, 2022
0
casino city

It’s 9:07 p.m. and I’m back at my hotel. Yes, that’s a little too early for bagging, even if the hotel is right around the corner. I lasted...

Read more
Next Post
casino city

Palm Beach Kennel Club | WSOP Main Event | Part 2

Discussion about this post

bovada poker bovada poker bovada poker

Related Articles

value bet poker

Best Ways to “Value Bet” for Beginners

January 12, 2023
continuation bet

What is a Continuation Bet?

November 14, 2022
starting hands in poker

Best Starting Hands In Poker

December 19, 2022

Our Mission

PokerJournal.org is an online resource that offers articles about key poker strategies, concepts and important insights and perceptions about the game of poker.
Our mission is to continue producing top quality information on all types of poker.

Contact us: contact@pokerjournal.org

Popular Category

How to play Poker

Poker News

Poker Strategy

Poker Tips

Information

Home

About us

Contact us

Legal Terms of Use

Privacy Policy

Poker Journal Copyright © 2022.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Poker News
  • How to play Poker
  • Poker Strategy
  • Poker Tips
  • Contact Us

Poker Journal Copyright © 2022.