Learning to Transcend the Crawl

I tried to get back my max play money in Triplejack Poker, but I was just a few hundred dollars away. Still, I made a careful and calculated comeback. I noticed that aside from Filipino's, the players are mostly Aussies. It's probably because of the time-zone.

I think that tight play is good for crawling, but that's just it, it's a crawl. I know there's a lot to improve in my win rate, so I decided to loosen up and try to see things in a better perspective. I watched a semi-finals match between Gus Hansen and Antonio Esfandiari (The Magician). It was only between the two of them, so they only have to outread each other. I was amazed at how well they could tell what cards each other had! The viewer can see both hands, but whenever they fold, you'll be amazed at how accurately they can tell who had the better deal (only one fold was wrong in this particular episode).

I noticed that Hansen wore a Full Tilt Poker .net shirt, which to me is further proof that the .net version of the software and site is affiliated with the .com version (although they never mention it in either sites, strange). Well, I said I wanted to play loose and learn, and based on my previous post about Full Tilt Poker .net, I don't feel as bad losing money there. So, I loaded-up Full Tilt Poker .net and got on with my experiment.

Although my objective was to get loose, it was quite frustrating. I've been on a losing streak in Full Tilt Poker .net the past few days too, but this time I lost everything. I had to rebuy the base play money and basically start over again. I did notice that people there bet more, most probably due to the larger sums they have. In my typical games at Full Tilt Poker .net, a player had around 5k to call and raise, so they are probably willing to risk more given an average hand. In Triplejack Poker, I run into few with more than 1.5k, people tend to bank when they get around that much (perhaps since the typical buy in is lower and the blinds are higher).

When I restarted, I resigned myself to losing and just use this opportunity to experiment with risk (hey, I did hit rock bottom already). I tried to be careful as usual, but I also tried to call relatively high raises in hands that I felt just had an fighting chance. It turns out that those risks were very profitable for me. Yes, I did fold a lot eventually at times, but I also gained back quite a few where my hand ended up being better upon the river. I didn't really close notice how I chose my battles, I wish I did. I do hope that it was ingrained in me somehow, and that I notice it next time.

Well, I not only regained what I lost in Full Tilt Poker .net, I also reached my record high! I hope I continue to learn the nuances.

I was so nervous in my "big win" (others will scoff at the pathetic amount) that I wasn't able to take a screen shot. Below, however, is a screen shot of a small win shortly after my "big win". It may not be much, but yey, I'm AM still a newb.