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Heat Check-a little dated

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  1. beanie beanie is offline

    Saint Paul, MN
    United States

    Posts: 6,272
    Joined: Jan 05

    Mar 6th, 2006 (3/6/2006 10:49am)

    When I used to play in home games in Minneapolis in years past there was a guy famous for “Heat Checks”. Most of you likely know what I mean but if you don’t a heat check is when you are checking to see if you are on fire from everywhere. As you may or may not recognize after that first sentence this is also the article I promised everyone on losing. Some people think I get carried away on losing, that it is negative, quite the opposite actually. Knowing how to lose is more important than knowing how to win in poker. Rarely do you make the mistakes winning that you do losing. People who know how to lose are the best gamblers. <READMORE>OK, so back to my heat check. I hadn’t been on UB for a while so I didn’t know if I had any money on there or not. I had been doing quite well on the other sites that I have been playing so when I saw that I had close to 3k in my account I decided to sit at the 50-100 HU table. If you recall I typically don’t play people who sit at the HU tables figuring that is their specialty and inherently I am better off staying away. Though when you are on fire you should be able to shoot from anywhere on the floor. I sat with $2500 (I would normally sit with $5000 at that limit) and I lost. No bad beats, I don’t think the guy was better than me but he certainly could have been. At the levels I play its kind of like no mans land, either you play much higher or much lower. The 30-60 to 50-100 limit is a dieing breed online. Which is great if you play short handed. The big boys are too embarrassed to come down and the little guys take shots.

    That was on the 26<SUP>th</SUP>. For the next 2 days I struggled. One of the best feelings is when you play your best game but break even without going off big when it seems like the deck hates you. Its easy to have a good mindset when you are winning. I am most proud of myself when I am struggling through adversity and actually still moving forward. I am still looking for a break in the action, the first sign that my streak is over I will likely take about a month off. I am not sure what I am looking for but I should know it when I see it, I have struggled with headaches recently and I can use a little break. I am heading for Amsterdam in April maybe I will take that month off of poker.

    On a side note, I am really having a fun time being back playing quite a bit and I appreciate everyone stopping by and saying hello. I know it must be baffling watching people 4 bet with bottom pair and it being good but that is the nature of HU. Anyway, I think losing is one of the most important things to know how to do well. Anyone can tell you how to play AK, not everyone can help you stay even when your AK doesn’t hit 10 times straight. I hope that is what some of these articles can accomplish.
    </READMORE>
  2. Cyclone15 Cyclone15 is offline

    Washington, DC
    United States

    Posts: 1,082
    Joined: Jan 05

    Mar 6th, 2006 (3/6/2006 11:09am) in reply to beanie

    Yeah I think articles like this can be very helpful and I would like to see more of them. High variance games like Limit Hold'em HU and huge field MTTs can certainly create quite a bit of frustration. Every second you log onto p5s there's a post about someone at a final table making a boatload of money. Then you get deep into an MTT, ready to "join the club", and get sucked out on. We don't hear about the people losing $$$.

    I've played 200 sngos of breakeven poker and have held two simultaneous top 10 chip stacks in 2000+ person fields only to bust out of both and make less than $20. This after cashing in WPT Bahamas for the by far biggest win of my life.

    I need help learning how to take these swings. I nearly jumped into 10/20 NL after losing $80 in MTTs. I broke my mouse after losing KK to AK after an AK4 flop for top 5 chips with 70 left in a 2277 person MTT. This is obviously not good for me.
  3. beanie beanie is offline

    Saint Paul, MN
    United States

    Posts: 6,272
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    Mar 6th, 2006 (3/6/2006 11:59am) in reply to Cyclone15

    notice the key difference. I went up in limits when I was winning, not losing. Also, the key is finidng a niche, or a go to place on the floor where you shoot a great percentage. While HU is high variance I have the bankroll to withstand and I don't let myself sail for big losses.

    One of the things I hope to do in my articles is show the value of game selection online. I know this sites main focus is tournaments but in a lot of ways cash games are better for the spirit.
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  4. dave118 dave118 is offline

    Darien, CT
    United States

    Posts: 110
    Joined: Mar 05

    Mar 6th, 2006 (3/6/2006 12:22pm) in reply to beanie

    Beanie, I go back and forth on the issue of tourneys vs cash games. In several ways, I find playing cash games a lonely existence. By definition, you usually want to avoid people you know and like to converse with. Do I really want to sign on and look for a hi limit game with you and a few of our old strong UB buddies in it? No. I want to find a table with people I either know to be fish or don't know at all where there is a medium/high chance that at least a couple are weaker players.

    But some of the best times I've had online were the old UB Tuesday Owns tourneys. That field may not have been high EV, but it was a blast to play. Now if UB could only............... No, I'm not gonna do that.
  5. thorladen thorladen is offline

    NY
    United States

    Posts: 1,215
    Joined: Aug 05

    Mar 6th, 2006 (3/6/2006 12:38pm) in reply to beanie

    Thanx beanie, very good read.

    Oh
    and
    fbeanie
     
  6. beanie beanie is offline

    Saint Paul, MN
    United States

    Posts: 6,272
    Joined: Jan 05

    Mar 6th, 2006 (3/6/2006 4:16pm) in reply to dave118

    yeah man I hear ya. I do feel isolated at times. Even in the case of the big tourney guys everyone knows everyone because of this place. I am usually playing 20-40 to 30-60- I literally don't know anyone. People stop buy and say hi but the action is so fast it is often hard to reply.

    Towards the end "The Owns" just became another tournament and the fact that every week it had to be set up became taxing.

    There is no question in my mind though that if you want to approach the highest dollars per dollars cash games are the way to go. I don't have the mental endurance that some younger kids have but I also play it as one long session. Too many guys get caught up in the fact that they are down $20 for the day or something and play until they get even only to lose $2500. That stuff is nonsense to me (though I do think it too).
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  7. mahgnislaw mahgnislaw is offline

    Posts: 1,815
    Joined: May 05

    Mar 6th, 2006 (3/6/2006 4:49pm) in reply to thorladen

    WELL STATED BEAN
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