Improvement, trying to be the best.

Sorry i havent posted for a few days, i will be trying to update the blog a few times every week.

Ok so lets talk poker!
Iv been working on my game a lot recently, i have been reading poker books, poker magazines, poker articles, poker forums, poker blogs, im already an accomplished player but thats not enough.. i want to be the best.

I think a big weakness in many good players, is blind vs blind situations.. these can be incredibly tricky at times especially from the small blind. I see a lot of players get it completly wrong, as i have done many times, its so easy to misjudge a situation in the blinds and blow a big proportion of your stack. Now, you could look at it to try and stay away from these b v b confrontations.. and if your not comfortable playing them, then that is probably the best strategy to just avoid them. But, for a skilled player, i think this is a time you can exploit your opponent and turn your short stack into average... or average into big stack.

In these situations, its really important to take into account how the players immediatly to your left and right are playing, are they giving up their blind easily, are they defending by calling, are they defending by re-raising. The most important players on the table are those within two places of both your left and right, because these are the players you are most likely to be playing pots with, so information on them is much more valuable than the other players at the table.

Whatever style your blind opponents have, there will be a way to take advantage and exploit them. The easiest to tangle with are the tight ones, where you will have many opportunities to win the pot, without having to have a hand, as they will not want to get involved unless they like their hand a lot, and they will let you know when they do.

Now.. if you are facing a tricky opponent.. you can be faced with tough decisions.. but these decisions can make or break your tournament. Theres a lot of ways you can approach these hyper-aggressive decent-ish players (there seems to be more and more of them these days)..
You could play extra tight and play hand against them where you are a big favourite.. or you can do battle with them and play back at them.. personally i prefer this as you cannot depend on getting a hand against them. So, limp-reraising is an option with any sort of playable hand... 8-9 suited, KJoff etc.. now you may put yourself in very marginal situations here.. but if you think you can outplay your opponent, then he/she will be making more mistakes than you, and they will be the ones losing more in the long run. In the small blind against these players, theres no point playing any trash against them.. but with anything playable i would either raise.. if i like my hand enough to 4-bet as they will be 3-betting you a large proportion of the time.. or limp, call.. then let them do the betting if you hit. As, they are decent/ok players and not great ones, they will not know when to slow down.. and you will get all of their chips.

There are many varieties of the styles i have mentioned.. with semi-aggressive blind players, and super tight players. The worst type to face is a hyper-aggressive..great player.. as they will read you much better than the decent-ish hyper aggressive players, and will know when to slow down and when to attack your weakness, if you feel like this is the case.. theres really not much you can do except try to outplay them, and if they are better, then it will be you who ends up losing in the long run.

I used to hate these situations, but now i look forward to the challenge!

Iv been playing some headsup sng's recently, as it not my strongest point.. but even playing them for a few days i can feel myself getting better.. its amazing how awful some of these players are, i also think practising heads up can hugely improve your blind vs blind play.. as you will be put into similar situations you would in an mtt.

Iv been plugging away with MTT's., but no significant scores since the second in the 15k.. i did manage a final table in the 20rebuy 12k a few days ago for $900ish.. and a double cash last night in the Big Doubles, but thats about it.. Only going to put pics up of scores 1k or bigger.

When i get knocked out after getting deep.. it always plays on my mind for a while.. even if i got really unlucky, i try to look at if i could have played a hand differently, or if theres something else i could have done..

Two months ago i made the Sunday Brawl final table and the Sunday mulligan final table in one night.. out in 9th in both... and they still play on my mind to this day... got about a combined 8k.. but first in both was over 50k...and top 6 in both was over 10k... urhg what could have been :( anyway im sure ill get another chance.. and it was good experience, im sure next time things will go better. Yuck hate thinking about it lol.

Im going to get a chinese now with sarah :)
Hope that was an interesting read
gl at the tables!

neverbluff67