Opinions/advice please!!!!!

[madali]

do you read any books gayle?

I used to not poker related though. I have quite a few poker books but I have only really read the Joe Navaro ones and The theory of poker I have not read them. The theory of poker was when I first started playing and to be honest at the time made no sense. I still have the following on my bookshelf waiting to be read.

Super systems
Kill Phil
Phil Gordons little book series
Harrington on hold em series
Full tilt poker strategy guide.
(Have to be honest started the Kill Phill book but in my opinion it was not very good)

My problems with the books I just do not know where to start

Thought you were about to ask if Gayle played rugby.

[bennymacca]

to be honest gayle, it just seems like you aren't confident in your own game at all - on the internet, if you make a mistake, you can hide behind the anonymity that the internet gives you, wheras if you make a big time mistake live, you might be scared that you will get berated or people will think less of you as a player or whatever. so your method of dealing with this is to just go back in your shell and not play a hand, for fear of playing wrong.

maybe that is a wrong assessment, please tell me if thats the case.


so my advice to you would be just to "own it" - yes, you might not be the perfect player, none of us are, but have the confidence to tell people that you thought it was the right move at the time and that you are still learning the game - noone can fault you for that.

[madali]

to be honest gayle, it just seems like you aren't confident in your own game at all - on the internet, if you make a mistake, you can hide behind the anonymity that the internet gives you, wheras if you make a big time mistake live, you might be scared that you will get berated or people will think less of you as a player or whatever. so your method of dealing with this is to just go back in your shell and not play a hand, for fear of playing wrong.

maybe that is a wrong assessment, please tell me if thats the case.


so my advice to you would be just to "own it" - yes, you might not be the perfect player, none of us are, but have the confidence to tell people that you thought it was the right move at the time and that you are still learning the game - noone can fault you for that.

Ok this is very close ,because I know I am not confident in my playing, but thinking hard about it is not that I make a fool of myself but more that if I screw up that is it. Tournament over no second chance and then usually I sit around and wait for my husband to finish. Online if I screw up then there is always another tournament coming soon.

[bennymacca]

ok, so it's kinda just a fear of busting out of the tournament (and that you cant automatically load up another one)

first thing i would say is that there is ALWAYS another tournament soon, even if it is live. soon might well be 6 months in the case of bigger tourneys, but you will still be able to redeem yourself then.

i agree that it would be hard to get over that though - maybe you could get a laptop and when you bust out of the tourney, jump online straight away lol.

[rcon]

Ok this is very close ,because I know I am not confident in my playing, but thinking hard about it is not that I make a fool of myself but more that if I screw up that is it. Tournament over no second chance and then usually I sit around and wait for my husband to finish. Online if I screw up then there is always another tournament coming soon.

What is your personal payoff for playing?
The thrill of of outdoing someone on a particular hand?
Do you want to "run deep" and cash big on that final table?
Do you want to make cash over the long run and be able to demonstrate you're a superior player?
Do you eventually want to be the one with all the chips in a *big* MTT?

Important to focus on why you're playing.

If you want to make cash over the long run, but not particularly concerned if you ever win so long as you're EV+, you need to focus on making the correct move every single time.
If you're more interested in final tables and being the champ at a big MTT, occasionally you need to lay it all on the line for what some might term a hero call. You will get this wrong sometimes. This is me. I care not for the $$ (so I only spend what I can lose), I just love the thrill of a FT. I have come to realise tho, that chasing said FTs might be more successful if I focused on being EV+ more often
If you're just after matching wits with others as often as possible, should you be playing cash tables instead?

If you can focus on what you're after from your live poker, it might help you bring the right attitude and commitment to each decision. Particularly it will allow you to live with the consequences of your decisions without second guessing yourself post game.


Knowing what you want from something is important when deciding how best to approach it.

[Jav1000]

When I first started playing tournaments, busting was always my biggest fear.

Initially, if I thought I had the best hand, I got it in but after a while, it seemed everytime I got it in good, I lost.

The fear of busting kicked in and I started to avoid races and bluffing which led me to being short stacked more often with less chance of winning even though at the time I thought I was doing better cause I was finishing closer to the end more often.

This caused me to play in auto-pilot with the mentality of survival at all costs instead of playing at setting myself up to winning the tourny [and I still sometimes kick into that mode when I'm not focused especially online].

I recently played in the Shane Warne Super Stack and I was really happy with the way I played in review even though I took some hits early on Day 1 and was extremely disappointed to be knocked out 3rd hand on Day 2. I made a post here and spoke to a few players who I respect their tourny play as part of my review and that just added to the confidence of certain plays I made and not to make the same mistakes on other plays I made.

It's funny cause when I play cash, I'm never results orientated and just focus on making the correct decisions. I've realised until recently that in tournies, I was very results oriented which affects your game and head. I realise now that because I haven't played many tournies, it's natural to feel this way as it's a very different game to playing cash which I've played for a few years now.

[madali]

Thank you RCON you have helped me greatly define what I want ( I actually wrote down answers to each of the questions you asked which helped in this process) . I do ok at cash games ( have only played about 10 times at crown and have won all but 1) but I can say I do not really enjoy them. I love tournaments and the challenges they present me. So that is the first part of the puzzle put together. Second part do not want to be the nit who min cashes everything. I want that final table and all that it brings All of the responses I have received have given me food for thought I what I need to do to progress most of them bite the bullet , make the move and own it

I love playing poker. I love the interactions with the variety of people ( I have met some wonderful people in this game) and the way it challenges my mind each and every time I sit down. It challenges me to be continually learning more and to try and see things from another prospective. I love a challenge and for me to think that where I am is as good as it gets for me is actually horrifying. I also love helping other succeed which is why you will quite often see me giving my opinion to anyone who asks.

Jav thank you so much for your response also because it helped me see I am not alone and there is hope. Everything you said rings true with where I stand now.

I wish all of you the best with your endeavors on the felt. I said some time ago that I could see that many of our forum people would start to run deep in big tournaments and I am glad I was not wrong.

P.s benny the cunt I did take my laptop to the first grand final and did play on the drive over and after the game in the car when I busted on day one. Oh and on a different matter which book is the best for me to start with? If I am going to be proactive I better start reading

[Jav1000]

Oh and on a different matter which book is the best for me to start with? If I am going to be proactive I better start reading

I highly recommend reading [or listening] ACE ON THE RIVER - Barry Greenstein

I have a copy of the audio book [If you don't want to read it].

[maccatak11]

A good read is Kill Everyone (by Lee Nelson) and is was (almost) exclusively about NLHE MTT tournaments. Some others i have seen/read try to talk about a mixture of MTT's/Cash/SNG etc.

[bennymacca]

i am reading "the raisers edge" which is the latest book by lee nelson (elky gets main billing on this book because he is a sicko but im pretty sure lee nelson is still the driving force behind most of it)

i have read the first few chapters and it looks awesome, but it is pretty advanced - most of it is how to deal with hyper lag play which you won't see at pub level or micro stakes online games, but i have found it really useful so far.