All in all it was a good day and I believe my play is continuing to improve. I was very confident at the tables today and made several great laydowns. I think that is the biggest difference between my game today is I am ranging players better and every decision doesn't seem standard. I am finding the fold button way more often and avoiding so many marginal flips. I am way more aware of the equity I have in the hand and trying to take advantage of all my +EV spots. I was in so many flips the first week back online and it felt lie every situation was standard. I think the year away from online was good for me in several ways but I regret the fact that I spent the majority of my time playing and really wasn't ever studying. I also wasn't getting the chance to talk enough poker with other committed players to stay sharp. I definitely think a lack of good study habits after Black Friday contributed to me being a little behind on my game. I was a little rusty at ranging players and avoiding some leaky spots. I caught myself making silly out of practice type mistakes like calling out of position and playing distracted. It also took a little bit of time to adjust to the stacks on Merge, they are shallow in some of the later structures.
Every week that I have been back has gone better than the previous as far as my play is concerned. Don't get me wrong I was playing okay and got 3rd in a MTT my first day back. But I was rusty and have been able to really clean up my game since and I now have so much more confidence that I am making solid decisions and playing well. When playing live it can be harder to work on your game in some of the ways you can when playing online. Online you can play an MT and review the entire HH after. Live you would have to simply remember things the best you could and then talk t over with someone or maybe write out a few hands and post them on a forum. The ability to review a HH and screenshare with another player to work on things is so beneficial. I really think I was starting to take off and get where I wanted to be pre BF and definitely leveled out a bit in my year away. But now that I am back online I am working harder than ever and seeing the results. I have been doing lots of HH reviews of my own play and of my students. All of the nonstop talk about poker has my head in a great place and I am thinking so well. I have also been active in the forums answering hands and really feel confident that I am posting helpful things.
As most of y'all probably know I am trying hard to get my coaching business Variance 101 going. I have been actively talking about it in my blog and trying to let everyone know how its been going. I have been lucky enough to pick up several new students and things have been going really well. I have gained some students but more importantly also some friends. I am trying to offer more than just lessons with my coaching. I have been placing all my students in a poker strategy chat group to keep the daily learning going strong and have also been keeping myself available for hand discussion and chat. I think when a player goes after coaching they are happiest when they feel they are improving. I am hoping that giving them a poker chat to participate in daily with other committed grinders and their coach, along with the lessons will make sure that they will have the tools to be improving.
If you would like more information about Variance101 Training or to book lessons please email me at variance101@gmail.com. You can also like my facebook page here https://www.facebook.com/Variance101?bookmark_t=page
I have another pool story from the time I went to Tulsa, OK from Springdale, AR with no car and little money to try and play pool for a living. I was 17 years old and had a mildly unstable home thanks to a stepdad that I caught cheating on my mom. Once caught he decided to leave her right after they got a house and a new car. The whole ordeal left my mom financially screwed and I am sure pissed off. I for some dumb reason started acting up in school and ended up getting expelled for some dumb shit and getting my GED. So obviously I started playing pool and ended up in Tulsa. This story takes place in 94 or 95 after I had been in Tulsa for a few months and just a month or so before giving up and calling my sister.
It's about 7am in the pool hall and several of my pool playing friends and I have been gambling all night. I had a rough night and ended up going broke. But to be honest I don't remember starting out with much either. Daylight rolls around and my friends were talking about going to this cheap little breakfast place across the street. They had a breakfast special for like $3 and my friends offered to pay. I couldn't have asked for a funnier group of pool players. Every time we huddled up and started talking it was straight up laughter for hours.
We all go eat and it was pretty good. As we are finishing up I go to the restroom to wash up and when I come out I don't see my friends. I look out the window and see them in the car backing up. When they get backed up they stop and open the back door to the car and wave at me to come on. I start heading for the door and out to the car when the little Chinese lady starts yelling at me to pay. I didn't have a dollar to my name. I looked at her, then looked back at the car and all of them were waving me on with a hurry behind it. I shot out the door and dove into a moving car that then sped away. My friends somehow came up with the stiff the breakfast lady idea while I was in the bathroom but didn't bother to tell me. The worst part of their plan was the fact that they paid all the tabs but mine. I was truly the only one stiffing the breakfast lady. The whole thing caught me by surprise and I just took off running and dove into the car like we just robbed a bank. I still get to hear this story almost every time I get to see my old pool buddy Jarrid and we get a laugh every time. I miss the good lo days sometimes, we had a lot of fun.
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