Harrington On Hold 'Em

Cash games haven't been too good to me lately. I've actually gone through about a two month period of playing like absolute dog shit in cash games. I haven't been properly executing small ball, in essence doing what Daniel Negreanu says most players end up doing when adopting small ball--over-extending my hand range.

However, I don't think it's any coincidence that I've been playing better in tournaments. Know why? It's because I limit my hand range to much stricter requirements, a strategy I should start implementing more in my cash games. I'm playing on Ultimatebet.com right now, and I've been doing nothing but playing large 300 + tourneys. Finished seventh in one (where I really should have won as the chip leader for almost half the tournament but...) and I've cashed in two others. 42% success rate in big tournaments isn't bad at all.

Still, in those tournaments, everytime I got knocked out it wasn't because I got unlucky. I made some legitimate bone-headed ass plays to kick me to the rail. For example, 29 BB left near the bubble, and I come over the top of two raisers with pocket tens (guy who called had JJ Redick). Or, how about this one: 50 times the BB after grinding to get that many chips, only to come over the top of a guy who had me covered with only A-Q off. Big mistake on my part, taking a coin flip knowing that he was an aggressive player who hadn't shown that he was capable of laying down a hand (he had 6-6).

Mistakes aside, I think working out of Dan Harrington's Harrington on Hold 'Em: Volume III has helped my tournament game a lot. It gives you good insight for playing after the flop and playing the bubble, two things I have improved but still need work on.

I bring up the Harrington book because it has a scoring system to help evaluate your play. I felt like I made a ton of mistakes in the book, but out of 591 possible points, I scored 457, much better than I thought I would have. In the description in the back of the book, Harrington interprets the score as, "A very good player who should show solid profit in big tournaments."

So, theoretically I should be dominating the field. I should have had a six figure cash by now, a Porsche to compensate for inadequate manhood, and a butler who tells me how good I am. But, the truth is I'm not.

The financial results say that I'm just another fish (literally) in the sea. I eat other fish sometimes, but for the most part I'm the main course. Per the results, I'm certainly no shark.

But, what I learned from this book was that my lack of success doesn't have to do with lack of knowledge. I'm not going to say I know poker inside and out, because I don't, but I know enough to do much better than I have been. No, my lack of success comes with my over-reliance on my heart instead of my head in the heat of the moment.

When I'm talking poker, I'm quick to say, "Oh yeah, what is he doing pushing with A-Q off?"

"Pocket tens in the face of two raisers? Save your chips."

"You flopped a small flush, but what did you think when he raised you? I would have laid it down."

Throughout my career, in the face of anxiety, I have been a losing player. I can bet a set on the flop for value and check the turn, check-raise on river with nothing successfully, or steal the blinds under the gun with 5-2 off (true story), but I can't fold aces at any point in the hand, drop the second nut flush, or fold a boat.

It's mental. It's all mental. And, until I figure out how to get out of my own way, 457 score or not, I will be a losing player.