Finding Your Way
I had been thinking this weekend, about life, about poker, about a lot of things. The last post was somewhat hard for me to write, since it was an admission of sorts, not of failure, but of "what now?" Of course, sometimes nature has a way of providing you with a bit of insta-perspective, which in my case, never hurts.
I took the weekend off from everything poker, with the exception of changing my PokerAce HUD layouts. No, I didn't come up with something profound to do with the program. I simplified them. Majorly--but more on that later.
Saturday we picked out the baby's furniture and put down our deposits, and did a few other things "baby-related." Then, shortly after we stopped for dinner, we got caught in the mini-blizzard from hell. For any of you East Coast-ers out there, you know what I mean. We left at 3pm, it was 56 degrees, and drizzling. The winds picked up, and by 9:30pm, it was snowing heavily, and 32 degrees! We literally couldn't see more than a few car lengths in front of us coming home. We only got a coating on the roads, an inch or so on the grass, but that wasn't the big thing.
Sunday, we relaxed at home. The missus went to Babies 'R' Us to check out some more stuff to register for, but she complained of a headache before she left. I took her blood pressure and it was a little elevated, nothing to worry about, but just something to take notice of. When she came home, the headache was worse and her blood pressure at her mom's house was climbing. She called the doctor, and we were off to the hospital. To make a long story short, she's fine, the baby's fine, everybody's fine.
Whew.
What it did, however, was put everything in more of a realistic perspective. I didn't give a damn about anything else but my wife and baby. Nothing else mattered, and you know what--it shouldn't. Not poker, not the remodeling, nothing. We got home from the hospital about 10:30, and she says to me, "You need to relax. I'm fine. Baby's fine. Go do something. You're driving me crazy. Go play poker or something."
I know you shouldn't play under any type of stress, but at her urgings, I fired up Full Tilt and played some $25NL. An hour and a half later, I was up to $91 on one table, $65 on another, and $47 on my third. She's been aware of my struggles as of late, and she looked at the laptop from over my shoulder and leaned over me, draping her arms across my shoulders and kissed me. She just said, "Feeling better?"
I was. On many different levels.
Now: Back to your regularly scheduled poker post.
What's the difference? I figured it out. The answer isn't more data--it's less. At least for me. The only stats I have up on the HUD right now are the auto-rate icon, VP$IP, PFR, AF-Total, and # of Hands. Nothing else. If I want pop-up stats, I'll see WtSD, W$SD, Aggression Frequency, and their BB/100.
I was over-thinking poker. Immensely. I over-thought every bet, every raise, every everything, and I got away from using my own instincts on a player and trusting numerical reasoning. It cost me. Last night (and again this morning) I broke it down, and made it simple. The results are there. I'm getting back to reading players hands, rather than analyzing each move based upon numbers on the HUD. It's paying dividends.
Please don't think I'm running down Josh's fantastic program in any way. On the contrary, I think it's a vital tool to use while playing online poker. The best feature--the ability to customize the HUD to whatever you want it to display. Maybe my mind doesn't quite work on the advanced track that I think it does. Maybe it's that it exactly works on that advanced track. I'm not sure. The only thing I know is that it works for me.
That, and that mother-to-be, and baby are fine. That works real well for me.
I took the weekend off from everything poker, with the exception of changing my PokerAce HUD layouts. No, I didn't come up with something profound to do with the program. I simplified them. Majorly--but more on that later.
Saturday we picked out the baby's furniture and put down our deposits, and did a few other things "baby-related." Then, shortly after we stopped for dinner, we got caught in the mini-blizzard from hell. For any of you East Coast-ers out there, you know what I mean. We left at 3pm, it was 56 degrees, and drizzling. The winds picked up, and by 9:30pm, it was snowing heavily, and 32 degrees! We literally couldn't see more than a few car lengths in front of us coming home. We only got a coating on the roads, an inch or so on the grass, but that wasn't the big thing.
Sunday, we relaxed at home. The missus went to Babies 'R' Us to check out some more stuff to register for, but she complained of a headache before she left. I took her blood pressure and it was a little elevated, nothing to worry about, but just something to take notice of. When she came home, the headache was worse and her blood pressure at her mom's house was climbing. She called the doctor, and we were off to the hospital. To make a long story short, she's fine, the baby's fine, everybody's fine.
Whew.
What it did, however, was put everything in more of a realistic perspective. I didn't give a damn about anything else but my wife and baby. Nothing else mattered, and you know what--it shouldn't. Not poker, not the remodeling, nothing. We got home from the hospital about 10:30, and she says to me, "You need to relax. I'm fine. Baby's fine. Go do something. You're driving me crazy. Go play poker or something."
I know you shouldn't play under any type of stress, but at her urgings, I fired up Full Tilt and played some $25NL. An hour and a half later, I was up to $91 on one table, $65 on another, and $47 on my third. She's been aware of my struggles as of late, and she looked at the laptop from over my shoulder and leaned over me, draping her arms across my shoulders and kissed me. She just said, "Feeling better?"
I was. On many different levels.
Now: Back to your regularly scheduled poker post.
What's the difference? I figured it out. The answer isn't more data--it's less. At least for me. The only stats I have up on the HUD right now are the auto-rate icon, VP$IP, PFR, AF-Total, and # of Hands. Nothing else. If I want pop-up stats, I'll see WtSD, W$SD, Aggression Frequency, and their BB/100.
I was over-thinking poker. Immensely. I over-thought every bet, every raise, every everything, and I got away from using my own instincts on a player and trusting numerical reasoning. It cost me. Last night (and again this morning) I broke it down, and made it simple. The results are there. I'm getting back to reading players hands, rather than analyzing each move based upon numbers on the HUD. It's paying dividends.
Please don't think I'm running down Josh's fantastic program in any way. On the contrary, I think it's a vital tool to use while playing online poker. The best feature--the ability to customize the HUD to whatever you want it to display. Maybe my mind doesn't quite work on the advanced track that I think it does. Maybe it's that it exactly works on that advanced track. I'm not sure. The only thing I know is that it works for me.
That, and that mother-to-be, and baby are fine. That works real well for me.
2 Comments:
re: family---happy all is well
re: poker---dont you think you need to "overthink" for awhile, then sort of coast, and let it all sort of fall into place?...I'm working on the same thing, but I have not been thinking enough lately...It's a work in progress, ain't it?
GL
Bobby
I play my best when I let my thought go to the subconscious. When I am playing well, my decisions are calculated, yet automatic. Does that make sense?
At that point, my instincts take over and I am (don't take me as arrogant here) virtually unbeatable. As you analyze my game, all you see are superior reads, and correct decisions, over and over again.
THAT breeds winning. It's from there that you get to the level where the cards you're dealt just don't matter. You can get dealt 72o every hand or play the game blind and you'll still rock the table.
Yes, it is ALWAYS a work in progress.
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