Best I can say about my results is that it's obvious I'm undergoing a transformation in my style. My ROI right now is -80% this week (yes, that's 'negative eighty percent'), which is worse than before my training. It always gets worse before it gets better, right??? I just spent some time thinking about where the roadblock to progress is (I realize 23 tournies isn't a lot, statistically, but I've been making bonehead moves that I now know better to avoid), and think I have it figured out. The reason? My poker personality is split.
Before I went to train with the maven, my tournament style was SUPER tight early, and super aggro-donkey late, and I either bubbled or min-cashed a lot (there should be no question about why I wasn't a profitable tournament player and always reverted to making money in cash games!).
My brain is very used to being a super donkey, and making fast decisions because I was used to playing sometimes up to 12 tables. Now I'm playing 1 or 2 tables and trying to implement a TOTALLY different playing style, and my brain is confused and play is slow compared to what I'm used to. So when a decision comes up... Fold, Call, Raise? I CLICK, nearly instantly because my brain is jonezin for some action - and while what I have been doing might at a very high level be "Mavenesque" (is that a word?), I'm not going through the same decision making process he taught us. I'm not really thinking, I'm just doing- the way I used to, but now I'm doing different things in different places. And there is the problem. The result is a mixed bag of poker strategy and the results have been... well, undesirable, at best.
I've decided that at a minimum I need a mental reminder to stop and take a second to really think about each play with my maven student hat on, rather than being on autopilot with my old default strategy. Tonight I'm going to start by putting a sticky note on my monitor right under the Fold, Call, Raise boxes to ask myself... "What Would Maven Do?" - because the first thing he would do is think about what he's doing! I'm also going to make a sort of tag-cloud of the top 10 concept he taught us and print it out and stick it on my wall... so that when I do think WWMD, I can glance up at the tag cloud and hopefully make the right move.
Obviously changing the way you play almost completely requires time and many, many hands of experience - but if I don't start thinking the "new way" and keep playing like an autopilot super-donkey, I'll never change! :)
Have you tried to totally change the way you play in a short period of time? Would love to hear your experiences and tips in the comments!
PS> Follow me on twitter @bringtheflop
While I haven't taken his class I do know several people that have. They all say great things about his style of teaching, information learned, and his skill set.
ReplyDeleteWhile they all have shown some improvement they haven't become the Maven over night. They are still who they are. Go figure? The Maven before he was the Maven was just a nube then something happened and the light clicked on.
You know that saying a leopard can't change its spots? Well same for poker players that learned the wrong way, or for any one learning something new. If it is learned properly then forever you will do the same. Trying to change your ways is the most difficult thing to do. You are basically asking yourself to not be you? Takes time and a lot of effort, but trust me it will be the most rewarding experience once you win you over you. Follow the process, stick with it, and make the change.
The sticky you put up is a great idea. Change the color of it from time to time because eventually you will learn to ignore it. Move it around the screen. Put a big sticky in front of your cards to hide them, go through the Mavens list and then see what you got. (wish I knew what those 10 were lol ). And some times don't remove that sticky. Do what he says to do and play the player...
Other tips for you now that you are trying to learn a style stick to a certain game and buy in. Do the moves in a $5 MTT with x amount of players but be consistent. Don't play a $10, $15, $20, or $2 while changing from Super turbo to rebuys to donkathon 10000 player tourneys. Hone your skill set first in 1 table. Then goto 2 tables, then move on. All along while sticking to the same buy in. Once you dominate that go ahead and change the buy but stick to the same tourney. Once you feel you mastered a certain buy in range then change to other types of games.
good luck and keep this updates coming
Angel 'gijoe' Valdez