Stats geek!

I'm running so bad at the moment in the cash game or at least it feels like I am... It actually highlights the importance of tracking your game if you want to take poker seriously. Nobody likes having a mirror held-up in front of them but in poker, you need to know if you are a winning player and if you aren't, you need to know where your holes are so you can fill them.

I track every game I play in and I mean every game. When I get home, no matter how late it is, I record my buy-in, what I have won or lost and I often take notes if I have made a bad play or picked up something on a player I play against regularly.

In live games, we don't have the benefit of Shark Scope or Poker Tracker so we don't have the luxury of knowing how we are doing and what hands are +EV or -EV. Imagine if you could access every hand you played in live games and then click a few buttons to find out how often Ace, 10 suited paid off for you?

It ain't gonna happen and of course in the live game, we have so many other inputs other than betting patterns, pot odds or the basic maths of our own hands. But it is important to decide what you want from poker... is it pure entertainment for you, does it boost your monthly income, or is it a business? It helps to be honest, but I am often amazed at how poker players simply refuse to even answer that question and they certainly don't or can't tell you if they are winning players.

I won't get into the cash value of the figures but this is how I have been doing the last few years:

2008

In the cash games, mostly the pomme and The Vic in London, I ended the year making 20% from the cash I put on the table. Even then, I didn't see many bank accounts offering that kind of return. I won (ended up with more money than I sat down with) 46% of the time. Biggest win was £1600 and biggest loss was £890.

In tournaments, I was down 27% but final tabled 57% of the time and cashed 24% of the time.

2009

In the cash games (and I broadened my playing everywhere from Vegas to the Caribbean) I made 37% on the money I put onto the tables. Owning a share in my own poker club meant I was playing up to 3 times a week so I am happy that my return increased year on year. I won 55% of the time, another trend I want to increase. My biggest win was £1405 and my biggest lost was easily over £2000 (in Bulgaria against the local mafia!)

In tournaments, I made 28%, which is almost the exact opposite of the previous year (where I lost 27% of my buy-in bankroll). That made me happy, as whilst tournaments are never going to earn as much as cash games unless you win a big one, I wanted to improve without effecting my cash game too much. I final tabled 72% of the time, cashed 38% of the time and won 11% of the tournaments I played in.

2010

So far this year, I have won 60% of the time in cash games, but I am down 12% due to a couple of big losses. Not a great start, but if I maintain my winning percentage, I know I can get back into the black.

In tournaments, I have final tabled 56% of the time and cashed 44% of the time. I've won 22% of the time, so that's not bad.

So am I really running bad at the moment? Not really... I am down and lost more than I would have liked in one sitting but the hands where I lost, I either had the best hand when the money went in, or gave a player a tough decision to make for all their chips with a semi-bluff or slightly worse hand at the time.

The cash game seems to be crazy wherever you go at the moment, with players in the hand purely because the pots are big.

Example.

I make it £17 to go with pocket Queens and get three callers before a fourth player raises it up to £50 (which is all his chips at the time.)

The pot is £107 when it gets back to me.

I make it an additional £150 on top of the £33 to call the re-raiser.

This puts £290 in the pot. Villain 1 tanks for 5 minutes and eventually throws his £60 or so into a side pot, boosting the pot to £350 or so.

Villain 2 announces that he now has to call as he is getting value... what? He has to call £183 to win £350, which ain't even 2 - 1 !!!

I show my Queens and this is what I am up against:

Villain 1 - K, 5 suited... yes, King, 5 suited!

Villain 2 who was calling for value - Ace, Jack offsuit

Re-Raiser shows pocket 10s.

I say out loud that I know my hand is doomed.

Flop:

10, 7, Ace

Turn

3

River

Jack

Brilliant, I have the third best hand and win a side pot of £4.

About three hands later I hit two pair with Jack, 10 against two King rags who flopped a King, with one card to come. Another King comes on the river and they share my chips.

The important thing is to look at the stats, note where mistakes were made and keep playing if financially feasible! I am lucky in that I can take a bit of a hit thanks to the bankroll I have built up over the last few years. Tilting... YES! Running bad... NO!!!

See you at the tables...

jT

FRIDAY FREEZEOUT

Congrats to Gazza for taking down the £50 Freezeout on Friday. We had 21 players contesting the £2K pot.

Kev took the challenge and made a showing, drawn out of retirement for a 'freezeout'. He got unlucky after limp shoving with AK when Nigel raised in the big blind. Unfortunately for Kev, Nigel was sitting on AA... must be nice!

I went out when my 99 hit Leigh's AA. Bullets flying all over the place!

This Friday we are running the super satellite to Sunday's £150 Deepstack Freezeout! The prizepool will be used to pay for seats to Sunday only and the club is also adding 4 extra seats.

Tuesday is cash game as normal.

See you at the tables...

jT

MIXING THINGS UP ON FRIDAYS AND INTRODUCING THE SUPER SATELLITE!!!

It's going to be a good year for tournament fans and cash game players alike.

We are going to keep running the monthly £150 DEEPSTACK FREEZEOUTS but only run one super satellite on the Friday before. This month's will be on a Sunday (see schedule >>>) but next month we are going to try a Saturday to see how that works.

We will mix things up on the other Fridays, sometimes running re-buys and sometimes £50 freezeouts and we will even put on some of the popular FISH HOOK POKER SERIES.

This Friday, we're running a £50 FREEZEOUT with optional £50 ADD-ON at the break. This means you have to last an hour in order to buy additional chips. 10,000 starting chips and an extra 10,000 at the break.

See you at the tables...

Despite the weather, THERE IS A TOURNAMENT TONIGHT.

See you at the tables...

XMAS £3000 GUARANTEED DEEPSTACK!

Whoop whoop!

The Xmas £150 DEEPSTACK FREEZEOUT is next Sunday (13th) at 3pm.

18 players have already won their seats and with the money added from Uncover Poker, we already have over £3000 in the prizepool... awesome.

Poker has been a mixed bag for me this month. I have just moved house and so money is tighter that usual so I am trying to be disciplined with my bankroll management.

Lord Whipp and I were in Bulgaria earlier in the month and we found a sick game in a casino in Sofia - dealer's choice, either NLH 10/20 or Pot Limit Omaha 5/10. Luckily I won the night before in London at the Vic because I lost about 2 large. Whippet smashed the table up hitting straight flushes and quads... the local mafia were NOT happy!

The night before the Pomme's big one (£300 Freezeout) I got hammered on wine and JD whilst playing in the £50 Deepstack at Planet Pool and somehow I managed to win it.

The next day I was very, very rough but managed to hold on until 11th place before my AK got buggered by the Beast's JJ, which turned into a lovely full house for him.

Oh well, won my seat into the £3000 on Sunday. I held a healthy chip lead for most of the night, especially when Dougie picked a spot to bluff off all his chips when I was sat on Quads... oops!

See you at the tables...

DEEPSTACK

£20 RE-BUY TOURNAMENT tomorrow night (Friday) at 7pm as per normal. It will be a straight pay out to the top 5 players (no league, no seats for deepstack, just pure CASH!)

Satellites for the next Deepstack event will start NEXT Friday. See side panel >>>>

Sunday saw 35 players competing for nearly £6000 in prize money, which is awesome!

Congratulations to Dougie Prentice for taking down first place. Dougie dominated my table from the start and took me out before the dinner break! I remember buying a bottle of wine and then playing a sick form of Chinese Pkr with Lord Whipp for hours where up to 4 cards were wild! I don't remember if I won or lost at Chinese and I don't remember how I got home! Awesome...

Dougie's new favourite hand has to be pocket 7s! He eliminated me and took a slug out of Dean's chipstack when his 77 hit a set on the flop making it hard for me to improve with AK suited and forcing Deano to fold his QQ (great laydown and what looked like a harmless flop).

Later on Dougie eliminates another player when his 77 hits QUADS!

Nice to see Dougie last longer that his better half for a change... he he he, only kidding, Doug.

Anyway, see you at the tables on Friday...

THE DEEPSTACK ON SUNDAY

OPEN TO EVERYONE

£150 BUY-IN

DEEPSTACK FREEZEOUT

20,000 STARTING CHIPS - 20 MINUTE BLINDS

REGISTRATION FROM 3:30PM

CARDS IN THE AIR @ 4PM SHARP

DINNER BREAK @ 6PM - £10 FOR 3 COURSE MEAL AND FREE WINE COURTESY OF LORD WHIPP