Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Epiphany

Well it seems like it is all starting to come together, finally.

I played the MiniFtops #24 on Sunday, busting 946th of 19196 entries. I played a solid TAG style early on, then eventually transitioned into the “Maven Method” in the later stages. “Maven Method” is the phrase I use when referring to his teachings, so no one is allowed to use that phrase without my express written consent (obv joke). I would have played more, but I felt really great about my deep run and decided to spend the rest of the day sleeping and hanging out with my dogs.

I didn’t play anything on Monday due to the fact that my sleep schedule has been really off lately. Most of the time I am playing is during the later parts of the evening, so I tend to stay up late and sleep during the day which isn’t something I am used to. I decided to start going to bed a little earlier and waking up around 4:45 am to start playing. Full Tilt has a $5k Guarantee for a $10 buy-in that starts at 5:00am, along with various $2-$5 buy-in tourneys running simultaneously. Starting at 6am, the $12K KO starts and an hour later the $14K starts. I have noticed the fields are not as large as they normally are in the evening, which is very appealing. I also feel the play is a little better due to the fact that east coast grinders are waking up to play, coupled with a mix of the euro-donks.

When I first sit down to play, I approach every table the same way. When I get to a table, I make notes on everyone’s stats followed by where they are from. This helps me out tremendously if I end up in a tough spot against them later. I learned this by watching The Maven and Ari. These guys type books on players, and not just in the hands they are in, they type books on every hand. In learning to do this, I play fewer tables so that I can pay closer attention to everything. If you aren’t doing this now, I highly recommend it for the serious player.

Yesterday morning I started my new playing schedule and right away started getting great results. I final- tabled one tourney and went out 18th in a 1000 person tournament. I endured my usual bad beats in both the $12k and the $14K, bubbling the cash in both of them, but overall I felt good about the session. Afterward I watched two more Ryan “Gutshtallin” Welch videos on Poker X Factor. I enjoy watching these because sometimes as an online player you can become “results oriented.” And when you are making the right plays and still losing, it can start leading to doubt instead of logic. This might in turn cause you to call instead of raising or folding.

I also watched the AJKHoosier1 video from the Super Tuesday win last week, the one where Maven went out 5th or 6th. In this video, AJK described the Maven as a LAG (Loose-Aggressive) player. After reading some more forum posts about the Maven, the good, solid regulars think that all he does is shove with garbage, and those guys could not be further from the truth. I will admit, I do not know all of the Maven’s students. The ones I do know (Bob2Bob, Drexxel7, Daisyxoxo, Subiime, Micon and Dyzalot) are all putting up solid numbers right now. Were they putting up solid numbers before? I have no idea, but they aren’t idiots, and they aren’t just “shoving with garbage.”

Well, I need to cut off and get some stuff done. Good luck at the tables everyone!






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