De ce jucati poker?

[DebbieDowner]

De ce? Pt ca speranta moare ultima. Nowonda stie de ce.

[yariknight]

acu 6 luni am postat 60% placere 40% bani
acum e bani 80%
placere 10%
plictiseala 10%

[Bogdan6ro]

Placere

Placere! Are rost sa joci ceva daca nu iti placE? doar pt bani?

[sever]

"My Thoughts on Goals and Poker Leads to a Lot of Rambling:
P.Galfond

I've said this before, although I don't think here. Maybe I just said it to some friends: I think it is very important to identify your goals as a poker player so that you can act in a way to achieve them.

Do you just want to have fun playing? What’s fun for you? What would keep you from having fun? Do you want to make money? How much? When? In the next two weeks? For the next 10 years of your life? Can the big money wait? Do you want to keep getting better? At what game? Why?

People have all different kinds of motivations for playing, and nobody’s reason is more or less important than anyone else’s. What’s important is that you identify your motivation, and act in a way that puts you on the path to achieving your goals.

I’m mostly gonna be talking about myself here, but you can apply the thought process I use to whatever your personal goals are.

I have a few reasons for playing. I started playing because I enjoy it. Do I enjoy multi-tabling for many hours a week? No. So there are other reasons for why I do that. Firstly I want to make money. I would really like to be financially secure for the rest of my life. I don’t know how long poker will be as profitable as it is now, so I would like to make as much money in the near future as I can. That way I can save up and hopefully provide myself with a cushion for a long time. All the while, I’d like to be improving so that I can make money in the future. I’ve often bypassed some hourly rate in order to improve faster, and unless you have pressing financial needs, I suggest doing the same. This means playing less tables. Hiring coaches. Spending more time studying the game. Etc.

The main goal I have, which is just a personality trait I’ve always had, is to be the best at everything I try. I don’t mean the best I can possibly be. I mean better than everyone else. Unrealistic? Sure. But I will never be content or satisfied being anything less.

I have recently started playing primarily cash games. I haven’t given up on tournaments. I’m just focusing my energy in one place right now. I’ve played everything from 3/6nl to 50/100nl, all 6max, with the majority (95%) of my play at 5/10 and 10/20. I have learned enough at this point to be a winner at 5/10 and 10/20 consistently, but I think that I may be more profitable at 5/10 than 10/20 at this time.

The style of play, or one of the styles of play, that I was taught, is much more tight-passive than the strategy used by the majority of top NL players. I’m good with table selection, and I don’t tilt much. With all that, my numbers at 5/10 are very good. About as good as the top players at that level on Party Poker. In addition, I think that I play as many tables, or more tables, than most of the top players there. With that, I have a very solid hourly rate. So, as far as my money goals are concerned, I’m doing well there.

However, when I go to play 10/20, I notice a problem. I can still beat the game. But when I play against the top players at 10/20, it is very apparent that they are better than me. I know that I’ve been playing cash games for a few months, and that many of the top players have been at it for years, but that doesn’t help me much. I can’t stand knowing with certainty that I am outclassed by another player. I’m honest with myself, so I can admit that they’re better. I just don’t like it.

When looking at the styles of all of the top winners, I notice that all of them are significantly more aggressive than me. They play a style that puts a lot of their chips at risk all the time, and it scares their opponents into making mistakes. This is true for most of the top players at 5/10 and almost all of the top players at 10/20 and above. So, if I want to beat the bigger games consistently, I probably will have to adopt this playing style, or some variation of it. In order to be the best poker player, I have to be able to beat the top players in these games, right?

Well, yes and no. Mostly yes, but sorta no.

As you may know, I have hired multiple coaches in my poker career, because I care more about becoming a better player than I do about the money it costs to hire them. The last coach I hired, Tommy Angelo (tommyangelo.com), taught me a lot of things that I never thought had anything to do with being a good poker player. Since then, I’ve been rethinking some things.

Up to this point, I had been aiming to become the best, without ever considering what that meant. I guess if I had to quantify what it means to be the best poker player in the world, I would have said one who is a favorite over anyone else Heads Up. I’m not sure if there is anyone that actually is a favorite over everyone else because many players play best against a particular style of play. (To clarify, I’ve been talking about NLHE, because that’s the game I play. Obviously the best NLHE player doesn’t necessarily = the best poker player) So it could be like a rock, paper, scissors kinda thing, where Bob beats Joe, Joe beats Nancy, and Nancy beats Bob. Who’s the best then? I dunno. But let’s pretend that it was somehow quantifiable, like take the top 20 players and match them all HU against each other, and whoever has the highest total EV.

So, would that person be the best player in the world? Probably, by my definition. However some might argue otherwise. I mean, what’s the point? You aren’t gonna make much money playing against the other top players. Why do you need to be able to beat them?

I made a realization today. Being the best poker player in the world and being the best professional poker player in the world are not the same thing.

Poker (gambling in general) is unique in that it’s a game of skill that absolutely revolves around money. Most games have other focuses. In chess, your ‘weapons’ are the pieces; your pawns, your knights, etc. In Scrabble, you use your letter square thingies. In poker, in addition to your cards, money is your weapon. That fact completely changes the nature of the game, because you are using something that you can also use in the real world. I’ve never been playing Scrabble and been like, “Oh man. I could use this Z on that triple letter score space, but I need it to take my friend to the zoo later.” (That’s the best analogy I could come up with)

So, what does it mean then, to be the best professional poker player in the world? Well, take any other job. What factors make a job desirable to you? What are some of the attributes of a great job? Good pay. Good hours. A job you enjoy. Low levels of stress. There are planty. (That was supposed to be ‘plenty’ but I’m gonna keep it, because I like that typo)

I realize now, that whether he knew it or not, Tommy was teaching me to be a professional poker player more than he was teaching me to be a poker player. So many of the things I learned will help me make more money, enjoy playing, not get stressed out, and most of these were things not really related to the game of poker. But even the style of play I was taught, I realize now, is best for making consistent money while reducing swings and stress.

So let’s go back to the question of where I want to be in regards to cash games. If I were to learn to play 10/20nl with the style of many of the top players there, I would have enormous swings. My hourly rate would be better than my current one, but I wouldn’t be able to put in the same number of hours. I would have too many losing days, and I’d get stressed out and have to quit for a day or two. It might affect my life outside poker. I probably wouldn’t find playing as relaxing and fun. I might not even make as much money per year if the swings cause me to take too much time off, or worse, if they cause me to tilt away money.

Do I still want to be able to do this? Yes. I will learn how to crush the 10/20 game, and how to play a super LAG style. If nothing else, I’ll be able to see whether I like it better or not, and I’ll have the style in my arsenal for when a game situation dictates I play that way. I’ll continue learning new styles and find out how to beat the 25/50 game, and the 50/100 game. That’s just the way I am. I wouldn’t stay content forever with just making a great living at 5/10. It took me about one and a half years to be comfortable playing against any player in the world in a single table tourney. Maybe in a little over a year I’ll be able to say the same thing about cash games. Maybe it’ll be longer. Maybe it won’t happen.

But I don’t mind waiting. In the meantime, while I’m achieving my goals of enjoying the game and making good money, when I find myself in a 10/20 game, and notice a top super-aggressive player running over the table, I won’t be discouraged anymore by knowing that he’s a better poker player than me. Hey, I still might be the best professional poker player at that table."

[kytra]

Super articol. Ty.
Mai pune din-astea interesante/destepte cand dai de ele... ca-s super faine.

[FlopMaster]

nice one, am si dat comanda pt cartea lui tommy angelo, ca in chestionarul pt coaching de pe site te intreaba daca ai citit-o si vreau sa dea bine..

[Iverson[3]]

Din categoria poker story: Phil Galfond.

I started with sitngos. I played them for 1.5 years. I started with $50 at $10 sngs (which is too high). I lost and redeposited $50. I found HPFAP by Sklansky and then found 2+2. I slowly moved up, playing $30 sngs for a loooong time. I actually was way overrolled for them and made the leap from $30 to $100 for some reason. A while later I was doing very well at the $100s and $200s when Party started running $1k-$5k tournaments. I took a couple shots at these and ran very well. Actually, I realize now that I ran pretty well for the first 2 years I played poker. Had I run normal or badly, I might not have redeposited again and again and might've never gotten to the point I'm at now.

Anyways, Apathy told me that I should try cash games (He played sngs with me for a while) so I sat down at 5/10nl to try my luck. I had no idea what I was doing. There's very little postflop play in SNGs. Luckily I was a huuuuuge nit from playing SNGs, so I actually made some money since there were so many stations on Party Poker at the time.

I started to read the cash forums and study more. I also hired coaches. I was coached by whitelime briefly, Tommy Angelo, and a well known tourney player who doesn't like to be talked about.

The coaching helped me a lot. It mostly got me to break outside of the box and realize that rules and formulas weren't the best way to play deepstack nlhe. (SNGs they are)

I started beating 5/10 for about 5.5pt over a good sample size. I had trouble with 10/20 for a while adjusting to aggressive players. Eventually I moved up and could beat 10/20.

Right around before PP closed to US players, I started playing on FTP and UB. I had terrible BR management. One time when I had an 80k roll, I played 25/50 and 50/100 on UB with 15k in my account, ran it up to 105k, and then lost it all over the span of 2 days.

That summer, which was the summer before last, I lived in Vegas with who you might know as the SIHBs. I learned so much that summer. OMG I learned so much. Talking to people about poker who know what they're talking about is amazing. Watching them play and discussing every possible line you can take. It improved my game so much.

Around that time I took the occasional shot here and there at 25/50 on FTP. I found one huge fish who loved to play me. I ended up playing him at 50/100 and ran terribly. I remember one hand where I reraised his minraise to 900 with KQo. He called. I bet like 1400 on the flop of 632r, he called. Turn 3o, I checked. He potted for like 4800 or whatever with 4500 behind. He was floating flops a lot and playing.... basically I was sure he wouldn't play a strong hand that way. I shoved for his last 4500. He tanked forever and called with 1 sec left and KJo. Valuetown!!!!!! J river. That was the same night that good2cu got owned by Wayne Newton at the Bellagio at 25/50. It was actually a funny night.

I lost about half my roll that summer, mostly to that one fish. Overall though, it was a great summer. I improved so much.

I stepped back and grinded 5/10 for a long time. I won a bunch and slowly moved up. The next time that I took a shot at 25/50 and 50/100, it stuck, and I played big ever since. That was a little over a year ago I think. I've had up and downs since, but nothing else super notable in my journey to where I am now.

That summer completely changed my future in poker. I had all the skills naturally, but it took meeting the right people to bring them out IMO. All of the guys in the house helped me a ton.

Meeting Tom (durrrr) was a huge part of my move to high stakes play. He opened my mind to thinking about situations completely differently. I remember one time when he was discussing a hand with h@ll in front of me, where he had something like weak top pair and was facing a big river bet. He was like, 'I think a call is better than a fold' and I thought to myself, 'yeah I agree' and then he said 'but I would shove' and I exploded. I realized that you should think of every possible option you have in nlhe. You usually have a ton of them.

I also met Dan (Unarmed on 2p2) that summer. He lived in the house and coincidentally met a girl the previous year who lived in Madison, WI, where I live. He moved in with her, and we hung out a lot. He would come over, set up his laptop on my 3rd monitor, and we'd play for 8 hours and talk about hands.

I know Dan is fairly unknown in the poker world, and he's 'only' a 10/20 player, but I can say without a doubt, Dan has taught me much more about poker than anyone or anything else.

If you are near someone who plays poker and is smart, spend as much time around them as you can if you want to improve your game.

[Ygrek]

Joc pentru ca imi place la nebunie jocul si pentru ca e un mod foarte bun de a face $.

[touche]

30% Placere
30% Competitie (creste la 60% cand se organizeaza ceva pe holdem.ro)
30% Nu ma pot opri, iar sah, licitatie, rummy sau bridge nu mai joaca nimeni.
10% Bani

[GhostHUB]

de prost pe ipoker
de foame
de pierdut timp

[Coiotu]

70% Adrenalina
25% Competitie
5% Bani

[Tito Ortiz]

This is ten percent luck, twenty percent skill
Fifteen percent concentrated power of will
Five percent pleasure, fifty percent pain
And a hundred percent reason to remember the name!

Misto melodia lui Fort Minor

on-topic: 99% bani, 1% fun

[Apache]

100 % BANI !

Apache

[mihaiad]

80% bani
20% competitie si placerea jocului (se intretes acestea)

[Colosal26]

70% bani
25% placere
5% competitie