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Home Forum Mental Game Advice for getting started

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Advice for getting started

chaos

Midstakes Master

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November 18, 2014

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November 24, 2014 - 7:16 am

Hi,

Let's start by saying I'm a casual player. I love poker and spend a significant amount of my time playing but I'm not a pro, I don't grind on more than 6 tables at a time and I don't plan to be a pro in the future as the amount of money that I'd have to make to make that happen as compared to my day job is, for now at least, too far away.

I play with a small bankroll for fun, meaning while I do bankroll management I'm not strict about it and I'll play out of bankroll sometimes if I feel like it. I've started playing cash and move to 6-max S&G because I perceived the variance of those to be lower than cash and I do play nowadays mostly 7$ 6-max standard speed S&G with some 15$ in between.

I've started playing MTTs recently, because of the money you can make but mostly because I love them. I find them fun to play and I think they're similar to a S&G in some ways but completely different and more enjoyable in other ways. I only play 1 day a week (sundays), basically because that's the only day I can dedicate a full 6 hours to play MTTs.

I've been playing for something like two months and I've only just recently joined TPE and the biggest problem I do face is, I think, a mental one. There're mainly three problems:

– I perceive variance as really, really high, and that is a little bit discouraging. Don't get me wrong, right now I'm break even or even up swinging a little bit, but it's not the same to make a 20$ profit after playing S&G for two hours that making the same amount after playing MTTs for 7 hours.

– While I do love MTTs I've found really frustrating when you play for 5 hours and you end up busting something like 13. It feels like its 5 hours lost, and I don't mind it that much (obviously) when it's because of making a bad play, but when you bust out of a bad beat it feels like crap.

– I feel unconfortable playing the smaller stakes. I can play a 1.5$ S&G and be comfortable, I don't like it but I'm a winning player. However when I play a 2.2$ MTT and I see some of the moves the people make it drives me crazy… not because of variance but because I don't know how to play if I'm going to have 5 callers every time I raise. I know I get tilted and it affects my play on other tournaments so I end up avoiding those… which means going to 11$ kind of tournaments which are, in all honesty, out of my bankroll.

I perceive 6-max S&G to be more of an instant gratification kind of game (you play for 30 minutes, you win or lose). While I'm really into MTTs right now I know myself enough to know those things above maybe the ones driving me away (or worse cripping my game) on the long term so I was wondering if you had any advice for those particular situations in terms of mental preparation.

To further clarify. I don't tilt easily (that I know of) and, intellectually, I know MTTs are as profitable as any other “brand” of poker, but I also know it's much more difficult to interiorize that since the fields and the variance are so great and I'm playing only 6 tables at a time and only 1 day a week. Any advice?

Grinding Micros

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January 16, 2014

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November 24, 2014 - 12:48 pm

I've started playing MTTs recently, because of the money you can make but mostly because I love them.

Good choice. I like MTTs becaue there is so more variety in each stage and different ways to play each stack size. There's a lot of different skills to learn and develope.

– I perceive variance as really, really high…but it's not the same to make a 20$ profit after playing S&G for two hours that making the same amount after playing MTTs for 7 hours.

You probably don't underestimate it. One thing you can do is fire up SNGs as you bust out, since if you have 6 hours to play you probably don't want to fire up a new MTT 2 hours into your session. You probably don't want to do that as you approach the final 2-3 tables however. Also keep in mind how difficult it is to win an individual tournament. If you have a field of 300 if everyone had equal skills your chances or winning are 1 in 300. If you have double to triple the skill of the average player your chances are still 1 in 100-150. Thats not exact, or even real math, but my point is its really hard to win large field MTTs even if you're better than everyone, and to get the most out of it you have to win it. The smaller the field the greater the chance of winning, but those aren't as fun.

– While I do love MTTs I've found really frustrating when you play for 5 hours and you end up busting something like 13. It feels like its 5 hours lost, and I don't mind it that much (obviously) when it's because of making a bad play, but when you bust out of a bad beat it feels like crap.

It's just the nature of the beast. I think the most frustrating part in your situation is you can't play for another week. Even if you played everyday you can have dry spells going from weeks to months. Since you only play 1 day a week multiply that by 7. It's just something you have to accept. There's a lot of things you can read about letting variance get to you or going on tilt (mental game stuff), or you could take Bob Newhart's advice and just Stop It.

– I feel unconfortable playing the smaller stakes… but because I don't know how to play if I'm going to have 5 callers every time I raise. I know I get tilted and it affects my play on other tournaments …

If you don't expect many folds then the adjustment is to make larger raises (with a tighter range OOP), while at the same time see flops as cheaply as possible with speculative hands (small PP and SC), especially in the early stages. If you feel yourself going on tilt, just imagine yourself explaining that to Bob Newhart.

One final thought, the single biggest factor for me on whether or not I let my spazz monkey take over is how much sleep I get, and I notice a difference when I eat crappy food. So basically I suggest eat well (which basically means cut out sugar and flour as much as possible), sleep well, and manage expectations.

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