blitzenfish
Rock Star
Silver Level
A neighbor and I are looking at vrbo for a house rental for a week. Last April we rushed down 1st weekend, played 2 events, non-cashed, came home. It was too fast paced. I also played in a "rushed" Movado event last December at Cherokee. Just waiting for the official schedule of events so plans can be made.
I'd like to try the SH NLHE that is usually a mid-week event, so I'm planning around that. Hope to meet some CC folks, that would make it nice.
Anyway's again, good job everyone in Vegas .... was fun reading and railing!
roud:
hackmeplz
Sleep Faster
Silver Level
I've played in a decent amount of tourneys before, and my goal was and always is to simply to play the best poker I could. Everyone has to know going in that even the best tournament players in the world aren't cashing more than 20% so you have to go in thinking that most likely you're going to not cash but that you need to make sure to make the best decisions possible to maximize your chances of making the most money when you end up on the high side of the variance curve. So sure I obviously hoped to go deep, final table, win and all that. But I went in knowing that the most likely result would be I would bust, and simply strived to make the best decisions I could. I think I did that so I was satisfied with my play.
Debi
Forum Admin
Administrator
Yep - this is how I enter 95% of my tournaments. I think on this one the whole promotion was too much of a distraction for me and affected my state of mind. We threw in some last minute Twitter contests and then I had to plan our dinner on the day of the tournament - trying to get everyone together for the meeting, people running late etc was not a good way to start my day.
This was our first time to do this and it was a great result. But for me personally it was a trial run and next year I will be able to plan more efficiently and take care of some things well in advance.
I was so proud to be so organized - had everyone's money in envelopes with their names on it, had meeting notes to remember everything I needed to go over etc. I handled the last minute things the best I could - but I think it set me up with a state of mind not ideal for tournament play.
I wasn't frazzled or anything like that - my mind was just quite busy lol.
Tammy
Can I help you?
Administrator
I like the way this guys thinks.
Debi
Forum Admin
Administrator
I like the way this guys thinks.
I came close to it this time - but was afraid the forum would explode lololol.
S3mper
Poker Not Checkers
Loyaler
Just make WVHillbilly do something while the 3 of you are taking a break/doing Vegas stuff, then when you get back he can go back to hating on MTT players and well everyone =) lol
Tammy
Can I help you?
Administrator
BearPlay
Cardschat Elite
Silver Level
Debi
Forum Admin
Administrator
Thanks Shauna!
Lheticus
Legend
Silver Level
Yep - this is how I enter 95% of my tournaments. I think on this one the whole promotion was too much of a distraction for me and affected my state of mind. We threw in some last minute Twitter contests and then I had to plan our dinner on the day of the tournament - trying to get everyone together for the meeting, people running late etc was not a good way to start my day.
This was our first time to do this and it was a great result. But for me personally it was a trial run and next year I will be able to plan more efficiently and take care of some things well in advance.
I was so proud to be so organized - had everyone's money in envelopes with their names on it, had meeting notes to remember everything I needed to go over etc. I handled the last minute things the best I could - but I think it set me up with a state of mind not ideal for tournament play.
I wasn't frazzled or anything like that - my mind was just quite busy lol.
Hmm...no offense, but this kind of reminds me of the Besaid Aurochs from Final Fantasy 10. Maybe the best players in the world aren't cashing in more than 20% of their tournaments, but I try not to go into any tournament with the attitude that I'm not going to win. My philosophy on achievement is that no matter what you do, the top of it is the only spot worth aiming for, even if you never get there--ESPECIALLY if you never get there. If I enter the wsop Main Event next year and Doyle Freaking Brunson is sitting two seats to my left the first time I sit down, I'm still going to go into it as though my victory in the tournament is possible, that I can make it happen if I play well enough. Call me naive if you want, but my having this attitude is one of the things that makes my life worth living to me. If I ever got content with my life, if I ever felt I've done enough, paid my dues, and can just sit on my ass till I die...that in itself would be a fate worse than death to me.
BearPlay
Cardschat Elite
Silver Level
No offense, and I say this in the spirit of brotherhood and great care for you, as you know, but in the spirit of self-reflection, I can count at least 4 times I have seen you share words along the lines of "I just knew that this wasn't my game" after being knocked out of a tournament. Maybe you're not aware?
Agree with you that attitude is 90% of it, but oftentimes we're not aware of attitude changes before the game, and even as the game proceeds, but most importantly, I think, is to have a healthy attitude about the game in general... to appreciate the victories as they come.. .and those come in many, many forms beyond medals
Enjoying the experience is a victory for me.
Learning something is a victory for me.
Having an opportunity to rub elbows with poker players across all skill levels and to come together in the spirit of friendly competition is a victory for me.
Bear hugs
Last edited:
Lheticus
Legend
Silver Level
No offense, and I say this in the spirit of brotherhood and great care for you, as you know, but in the spirit of self-reflection, I can count at least 4 times I have seen you share words along the lines of "I just knew that this wasn't my game" after being knocked out of a tournament. Maybe you're not aware?
Agree with you that attitude is 90% of it, but oftentimes we're not aware of attitude changes before the game, and even as the game proceeds, but most importantly, I think, is to have a healthy attitude about the game in general... to appreciate the victories as they come.. .and those come in many, many forms beyond medals
Enjoying the experience is a victory for me.
Learning something is a victory for me.
Having an opportunity to rub elbows with poker players across all skill levels and to come together in the spirit of friendly competition is a victory for me.
Bear hugs
Okay, point 1: I definitely know the value of deriving victories from defeats, so no worries there. Point 2: Concerning those four times...there are times when I'm not really that good at following my own advice. XD
Debi
Forum Admin
Administrator
I think you are totally misunderstanding the whole point he was making. I am well aware that I can win any tournament that I play in - and equally aware that the odds are not in my favor - I am sure Zach means the same.
It is just silly to expect to win every tournament you ever play in - you can want to and you can try to - but to expect to is just playing with your head in the sand.
This doesn't mean we don't play with a positive attitude and pour our hearts into it and play the best we can and try our best to win We have positive attitudes when we play - just like you do No difference at all except that we accept the odds and it sounds like you don't unless I misunderstood you as badly as you misunderstood us
Not sure why you made your last comment - unless you were just speaking for yourself at that point and no longer making a comparison. There is nothing in what either of us said that should lead anyone to believe that we are content to just sit on our ass and not get more out of life.
Lheticus
Legend
Silver Level
I think you are totally misunderstanding the whole point he was making. I am well aware that I can win any tournament that I play in - and equally aware that the odds are not in my favor - I am sure Zach means the same.
It is just silly to expect to win every tournament you ever play in - you can want to and you can try to - but to expect to is just playing with your head in the sand.
This doesn't mean we don't play with a positive attitude and pour our hearts into it and play the best we can and try our best to win We have positive attitudes when we play - just like you do No difference at all except that we accept the odds and it sounds like you don't unless I misunderstood you as badly as you misunderstood us
I accept that the odds are stacked against virtually everyone in a poker tournament--but defying such long odds in achievement is something I live for. My point was more against "settling for less". I can ACCEPT that I lose or say, min cash in a tournament, but in no way can I allow myself to be SATISFIED.
Debi
Forum Admin
Administrator
rifflemao
Pugs Not Drugs
Silver Level
Aw, that's a bummer.
Would you mind posting or sending one of the dark ones anyway? I may be able to tweak it enough to make it usable, and wanted to include it in a vid for youtube.
Jacki Burkhart
long winded rambler...
Silver Level
There is a difference between having a positive attitude and having unrealistic expectations. I've been grinding tourneys about 6 years now and I've finally learned you can't set yourself up for the emotional highs and lows that come along with expecting specific results from 1 particular tourney.
Yes, you should believe you can win and try to win. But it would be a very brutal, disappointing and depressing poker existence if you truly expected to win each tourney you entered.
I am a huge fan of realistic goals. Baby steps, learning and enjoying myself at each tourney. When poker stops being fun and starts becoming a "deliverable" is when I will move on to another hobby.
Yes, you should believe you can win and try to win. But it would be a very brutal, disappointing and depressing poker existence if you truly expected to win each tourney you entered.
I am a huge fan of realistic goals. Baby steps, learning and enjoying myself at each tourney. When poker stops being fun and starts becoming a "deliverable" is when I will move on to another hobby.
hackmeplz
Sleep Faster
Silver Level
My point was I'm not aiming for any one thing, I'm aiming for making the best decisions possible and other than certain icm situations am aiming for making the most +chipEV decisions possible. I am fully aware victory is possible and I am obviously always aiming for it.
Honestly though, a lot of this is the reason I play cash games. In cash games the hard work you put in is a lot more correlated with success. In cash games if I get lucky in 10 hands and unlucky in 10 hands, they even out. In tournaments getting lucky one than unlucky one 10 different times is just as bad as getting unlucky 10 times in a row, while getting lucky 10 times in a row is what it means to go deep in a tournament.
But I do play some tournaments. I just think it's important to realize what good decisions get you in tournaments. There is a probability distribution related to each player in the tournament. Making better decisions increases the expected value related to that probability distribution for you. You still are going to lose a lot, and that doesn't mean you should be satisfied with failure, but you should realize that if you've for example not cashed in 10 tournaments in a row (which in live tournaments for some people can be like an entire year's worth) you could still be doing everything right and just running bad.
So yeah when I play poker, whether it's live or online, cash or tournaments, I'm trying to make the best decisions possible to increase my ev. In tournaments that means giving me a better roi, in cash it means giving me a better winrate. If I continue to make good decisions throughout, I will have done all I can do. In the long run that will lead to more cashes, more final tables, and more wins. I just think "aiming" for something in particular that you will most likely not achieve is just sort of counter to the psychological state you want to be in, when instead you should be focusing on making good decisions rather than being results oriented. Hopefully that made sense.