For various reasons it's been a while since I've played any poker. Last night I went back on my favourite poker site, PKR, and played a single table tourney. It seems Lady Luck is miffed that I've been ignoring her...

Since I knew I was out of practice I went into careful, tight play mode, waiting for the right moment. Unfortunately I was dealt nothing but rubbish. Not a starting pair in sight, not even a decent Ace. Finally I picked up A-Q suited in good position and shoved - only to run smack into pocket rockets! And to add insult to injury the final Ace turned up in the flop. Grr...

To paraphrase Brad Majors (a hero):

"Hospitality! All I wanted was to win a hand, a reasonable request which you have chosen to ignore."

Photo Credit: Photo-Mojo (Creative Commons)

Labels: general

2008 is now well and truly upon us, so Happy New Year to everyone. I hope you've recovered from the Hogmanay celebrations!

I don't do New Year Resolutions - they're just excuses to fail. (Everyone knows we all break our resolutions). What I do like to do is planning - and this is a good time for some.

So, what's the plan for 2008? How can I improve my poker?

The first step in looking forwards is to look back. From a skill level of "useless" I've become "poor with occasional good moments". I consider that a success. When I'm on a roll I can play quite well, but when out of practice I fall back into old bad habits very quickly.

I've learned that I'm a better tournament player than a cash one. The need to change strategy as the game progresses and the blinds rise appeals to me and I seem quite good at that aspect.

So those two observations provide two actions for 2008. The first is, of course, to play more poker. That probably applies to everyone.

More importantly I need to play more tourneys. Even though I prefer them I've played very few. This is because - if you do well - they take up several hours or more. You can't just say "I'll play poker for an hour". Unfortunately that's what I've tended to do - with the result that I've been playing more cash games than I should.

Of course, playing more tourneys means planning ahead and allocating the time for them. Which means I now need to go away and start planning the rest of my life...



Photo Credit: photojenni (Creative Commons)

Labels: general, improving my game

In poker as with many other games of skill the strategy that works against one opponent may not work against another. More generally the strategy that works against one style of play may not work against another. This leads to an interesting effect whereby we can sometimes see "waves" of strategy.

When I started playing poker fairly seriously I read lots of books. Most were at least a few years old and almost universally recommended tight aggressive play. It's still a good way to play. However increasingly we're seeing a new generation of players who are doing well with looser aggressive play. It seems that when everyone at the table is playing tight aggressive there's an advantage in being looser.

So what happens when everyone at the table is playing loosish aggressive? Where will the spin of the strategy wheel take us next time? Two years from now will we all be playing loose passive?

I hope not.



Photo Credit: kk+ (Creative Commons)

Labels: general, strategy