Stars steps up and some discussion

PokerStars has always been my favorite site--it was my first site I played on seriously and their software, tourney structure, and volume of players make them the leaders in my opinion. Well, they've upheld this reputation by adding resizeable tables and customizeable themes. Download the beta from their website. I like the "hyper-simple" theme with 4 color deck (like what GP uses on Party). I am 4 tabling cash games on Stars right now just because I love the new look.

While I play I usually think of things to write in my blog about but usually never get around to it. Well, today I'm going to just make a few quick notes on various issues. Hopefully this is somewhat coherent.

Session Length
Even though I am playing poker "professionally" I still have a hard time sitting at the computer for more than a few hours at a time. I've been known to play for 15+ hours at the casino but boredom gets the best of me at home. I find myself on pocketfives.com or talking on AIM and eventually I just close out the tables and go do something else. I am trying to work on this because I feel like I'm cheating myself by not playing more hours/week. The only time I can run long sessions is with MTT's when I'm deep in the $$ and looking at the excitement of a final table.

Weekends
Believe it or not, drunk people are not good card players. This means the best times to make money is on Friday and Saturday night. KB wrote recently that he thought a Fri/Sat night was worth $200+ and I tend to agree. If you could only play 2 nights a week, you'd be a fool not to make them on the weekend. That being said, I don't play that many weekends because of other, more exciting activities, but I am commiting myself to play tonight and make a big score hopefully.

LAG
If you are unfamiliar with that acronym it means "Loose-aggressive" in terms of a poker player. I think I've changed my style to play more pots with a wider range of hands. GP mentions "putting your nose in a lot of pots" so when you have a monster it isn't odd that you are raising or reraising. I think this is a really good point. If you are good enough to know when to lay down a losing hand I think it is OK to play 20%+ of hands to the flop. I am not advocating playing 30%+, but I think 25% of flops seen is a comfortable number. I think I was too tight before and that resulted in my raises being rare-occurances that sent up red-flags.

Thinking ahead
This is probably the topic that I think has helped me the most recently. When I act on a hand I do so knowing what I plan on doing given my opponent's action. I might check and say, "I'll call a pot sized bet" or I might bet thinking, "I'll call an all-in". By doing this I think you have the best shot at maximizing equity. Rarely does something happen where I am confused or in a tough spot. I basically set out my course of action before the hand progresses and I get lost. This also allows you to be 100% focused on a hand. Having a set game plan for every individual pot is really key to playing winning poker.

Finally I want to post a few interesting hands from recent play...

Finally giving out a cooler.
My favorite hand pays off.