Sunday, December 12, 2010

What I don't like about Poker!

Some more behind the scenes pshychology and human nature..
When money and egos are added to the mix, sparks can fly and people can turn ugly.. or show their true colors.  I saw this top 10 Poker Blowups and was disgusted by Hellmuth or "Hell Mouth".

I have seen my share of this in my very short poker career, in friendly no-money tables and in the one face-to-face money tournament I've done at a local eatery.  Anything seems fair game when the person loses and turns sour.  If you run across this, just ignore it, it is not personal and the problem is on the "loser"'s side not yours.

I find human nature interesting to observe and analyze, and weigh people heavily on how they act/react in certain, especially negative, situations.  Stay on the positive side in general if you want to continue down your path of learning stocks and/or poker.

Trading is a solitary game if you do it for yourself.  Your opponent is the market or the big institutions.  In either case you can't take out your frustrations on them, and you are your own opponent if you start looking for someone to blame.  Keep your losses small, Stay positive, learn from your mistakes, and move on.

Oh before I go play another hand, here's another reason that urkes me about poker.  Please review the picture below.  I seem to have at least one of these bad beats a week. A slight urgh, then move on..




stocknuts

Monday, November 22, 2010

Lessons 2&3 and a Down Grade.

I've had two more lessons after the stock traders' tournament, that's the second and third total with Master Bug.  We have been working on using online software as a teaching tool.  We covered pokerTracker in the second lesson, and the HUD tool of Pokertracker in the third lesson with a 1-Table SitNGo cash game as well.

Poker tracker should help in identifying the "leaks" in my poker game through reviewing my played hands (A leak is a source of losing money that can be patched, eg not hitting your set on the flop when set mining then going on to calling or raising and staying too long in the hand).  The HUD reading should help with reading players and developing that level2 sense of the game.  All very useful for improving through reviewing of hands, self-evaluation and evaluation of the opponents based on their history.  Master bug also recommends playing as many hands as possible to get a feel for the board texture; meaning learning to think outside of my hand to what other possibilities are out there and possibly who has them.  I've found the software tools very helpful and empowering for self improvement.

No different from trading, the ability to review your trades is critical to improving your trading!  It is imperative to learn from your own trades and to turn a single trade into several lessons on how to improve on it, what could have been a better entry, where was the best place to add/lighten up and why, what would have been a better stop loss or a better exit etc, all can only be learned once you revisit your actions and can only be improved once the data is analyzed.  Poker is apparently no different and pokerTracker is just the tool for that.

The other thing that many traders lose sight of is the actual vehicle they are trading, I've written a post last year on this in my stockaddict blog about, keeping your trading vehicle in mind and again about a similar topic of getting familiar with the stock "personality" for a more recent blog on Stop Loss Selection.  This seems to be nothing more than figuring out your opponents personality through his history data and how they behave in certain positions and with certain hand ranges.  The HUD data on your opponent is the chart history on that stock you're trading.

Update on my game: I've come out with an "analyst downgrade" of my poker game as my bankroll is definitely in a downtrend with the occasional mean reversion hands.  There's no bottoming in sight so far but with every scar left behind a lesson is learned (I'm consistently making money in the small tables, but lose it and then some in Rush poker)  Is there a way to short my game to make money out of this persistent downtrend like there is in the stock market?  I guess there's no equivalent to shorting in poker other than capitalizing on the mean reversion plays.  I hope I'm smart enough to learn from my mistakes and more importantly wise enough to learn from others' mistakes as well.  TBC..

StockNuts

Saturday, November 13, 2010

Stock Traders Charity Tournament Review

The NL Texas Hold’em Tournament was a blast! Very enjoyable to play in a tournament, my first after starting to learn how to play few weeks ago. I made it to the final table! And went out with another all-in player 7&8 position on the bubble. First 6 were paid. Since I had less chips than the other all-in player I placed 8th even though we busted out the same time. All the same. The person I busted out wrote a nice blog after the tournament that's a fun read.  and here's a picture of the final table with 8 players.  I'm the gecko in check.  Thank you downtowntrader for leading the efforts to put this together for a great cause.  And thanks to stocktwits for providing a great community for traders.









The table I was seated at was filled with good players. It was nice to sit back and play a TAG game while learning about the other players and their general style.
Looking back at my game, there were two key hands that cost me the game. We learn from our mistakes so I will go over the two hands and the happenings at the time. I will also cover a nice winner that added to my stack in the middle of the game. I'm sure there is much to improve on in these hands. I will need to confer with Master Bug to see how these hands should have been played from an expert's point of view. Till then, this is my own review of the hands.

I just got moved to a brand new table in the tournament, so I didn't have any feel for the players. With pocket kings I was aggressive on this play as the flop was lame and likely UTG wasn't hit from his action. It was hard to figure out BB's
hand as he could be defending the blind and I haven't seen him play before to try to figure out his style. two reasons that should have been enough to make me fold his all in bet. I'm not sure what a true TAG would have done. Anyways, chip lead no more and I was moved to the final table with not many chips. There I had the chance to shove and doubled my stack to over 6K chips, but still had to play short-stack style.

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em Tournament, 150/300 Blinds 25 Ante (8 handed) - Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com







MP1 (t4490)
Hero (MP2) (t12125)
CO (t1965)
Button (t10985)
SB (t3300)
BB (t8705)
UTG (t5055)
UTG+1 (t5384)

Hero's M: 18.65

Preflop: Hero is MP2 with K, K

UTG calls t300, 2 folds, Hero bets t750, 3 folds, BB calls t450, UTG calls t450

Flop: (t2600) 7, 3, J (3 players)

BB checks, UTG checks, Hero bets t900, BB raises to t7930 (All-In), 1 fold, Hero calls t7030

Turn: (t18460) 6 (2 players, 1 all-in)

River: (t18460) 10 (2 players, 1 all-in)

Total pot: t18460

Main pot: t18460 between Hero and BB, won by BB



Results:

BB had A, A (one pair, Aces).

Hero had K, K (one pair, Kings).

Outcome: BB won t18460



The bust out scene could have been avoided all together. I really didn't have to do anything here, but so I did when I got one of the few best hands I've gotten all tournament. This whole thing was a rookie mistake in my opinion, as I shouldn't shove when another person has done that already no matter what hand I have. My M was getting pretty low, one more round around the table and I'm out and I thought
this is it. 1) I should have folded to let the others play their hand head to head. 2) I should have went for a better placement in the tournament as I had the chance to live another round of hands and didn't have to play this hand against another all in player. Anyhow, AQ suited wasn't a bad hand to go all in on being short stacked.. just not in this situation. This is painful to watch and I'm still
kicking myself for going on.

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em Tournament, 400/800 Blinds 100 Ante (8 handed) - Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com







Button (t35498)
Hero (SB) (t3235)
BB (t14389)
UTG (t6215)
UTG+1 (t43211)
MP1 (t6398)
MP2 (t11714)
CO (t23340)

Hero's M: 1.62

Preflop: Hero is SB with Q, A

UTG bets t6115 (All-In), UTG+1 calls t6115, 4 folds, Hero calls t2735 (All-In), 1 fold

Flop: (t16965) J, 6, K (3 players, 2 all-in)

Turn: (t16965) 8 (3 players, 2 all-in)

River: (t16965) 9 (3 players, 2 all-in)

Total pot: t16965

Main pot: t11005 between Hero, UTG and UTG+1, won by UTG+1

Side pot 1: t5960 between UTG and UTG+1, won by UTG+1

Results:

Hero had Q, A (high card, Ace).

UTG had 2, 2 (one pair, twos).

UTG+1 had 8, 8 (three of a kind, eights).

Outcome: UTG+1 won t16965



This is a good hand where I had JK (known as the rookie hand as it looks strong, but is easily dominated) and the opponents didn't give me a reason to fold the betting (timing and amount) so I stuck around for an open ended straight draw, which I got on the river, A high.  Once I had the nuts I wasn't concerned with any action and the goal then was to make the most out of the hand.  It worked when the opponent went all in. The worst at this point would have been sharing the pot.

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em Tournament, 40/80 Blinds (8 handed) - Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com





Hero (SB) (t2955)
BB (t2170)
UTG (t3820)
UTG+1 (t5230)
MP1 (t6140)
MP2 (t4020)
CO (t4835)

Button (t2060)

Hero's M: 24.62

Preflop: Hero is SB with K, J

1 fold, UTG+1 calls t80, 1 fold, MP2 calls t80, 2 folds, Hero calls t40, BB checks

Flop: (t320) 10, 7, Q (4 players)

Hero checks, BB checks, UTG+1 checks, MP2 bets t80, Hero calls t80, 1 fold, UTG+1 calls t80

Turn: (t560) 2 (3 players)

Hero checks, UTG+1 checks, MP2 bets t80, Hero calls t80, UTG+1 raises to t160, MP2 calls t80, Hero calls t80

River: (t1040) A (3 players)

Hero checks, UTG+1 bets t1040, 1 fold, Hero raises to t2080, UTG+1 raises to t4910 (All-In), Hero calls t555 (All-In)

Total pot: t6310

Main pot: t6310 between Hero and UTG+1, won by Hero

Results:

Hero had K, J (straight, Ace high).

UTG+1 had Q, 6 (one pair, Queens).

Outcome: Hero won t6310


So that's that. It was a learning experience if anything and the villain that took me out placed second int he tournament. He was a LAG player. The winner, a clear TAG was under the radar the whole tournament and stayed strong till the very end.


stocknuts

Sunday, October 24, 2010

Let it Go...

Some behind the scenes psychology of trading and poker:
A healthy ego is needed for both stock trading and poker playing.  It's when it blinds you from doing the right thing that it becomes a problem.  Certainly an obstacle to overcome if you choose to persist in either game.  My ego introduces stubbornness into my play.  It is good stubbornness that keeps me involved to learn and improve, but it is also stubbornness that made me hold on to trades too long when I first started, and now making me hold on to a losing hand too long in poker!  This is not to be mistaken with arrogance or any other unhealthy ego characteristics, it is simply human nature to not want to take a loss.

When I started trading after reading many books on technical analysis I was ready to conquer the stock market as I knew all about setups, chart patterns, and technical indicators.  I would get into a trade and all of a sudden the pattern would break down.  "No, this pattern should hold here and the stock will come back."  Yeah.  Apparently the stock didn't read the same books as it plummets further and further due to some fundamental change in the company.  Now I'm facing a much bigger loss than the small one I had after the breakdown.    One of many lessons learned the hard way in trading, don't be stubborn, let it go.  After experience and discipline I have rid myself of this "leak" in my trading.

Now this is clearly showing up again in my poker game where I find myself holding a likely losing hand post flop and taking risks betting when I have some indication that I do not have the upper hand or I don't have good odds to stay in the game.  "But I'm right and he's bluffing", I convince myself, or "I'll hit my Ace on the turn.... the River" when there is a possible flush or straight or even a pair on the table and a player is betting aggressively. (Of course this is simplified as there are many other factors to consider before folding, such as what type of player I'm facing, how they played their hand so far, pot odds, etc.. the usual variables in poker.) Just as I once hoped that the stock will bounce, I'm now hoping that I will get hit on the turn or the river even with unfavorable odds.  Hope is not a good strategy when you're trading or playing poker.


Common lesson to learn: Hope is not a strategy.  Take your losses early and let your winners run! 

stocknuts

Friday, October 22, 2010

Your Poker Position is a Setup!

The first poker lesson I learned from master bug is that the cards dealt are not the main deciding factor in playing the hand.  Position is the deciding factor whether to play the hand or not and in how to play it.  If you are sitting on the button (dealer) or in the late position (last 1/3 of table), then you have the edge by being able to see what the other players do before you act, and that's your key to playing the hand.  Other factors such as who went into the pot and by how much, and your cards to a lesser extent, will influence your strategy, but position should be the determining factor in what and how to play.  In general, the more checks you have in your favor, such as late position, good hand, limp-ers or first into the pot, etc the better chances you have of winning the hand (post flop play is a slightly different strategy to play than pre-flop, but position is most important in that too)

So the best place to be, from my beginner's point of view, is the late position with a strong hand.  If I have position on my opponents I can play marginal hands knowing that if the flop doesn't hit I should let it go, or try to steal the pot pre flop if I'm the first one in with a reasonable raise (I'll let you know what's a reasonable raise when I figure it out, I'm currently using pot size.) Remember this is all level 1 poker.

In trading stocks, the technical setup is your edge in the market.  The setup determines your entire strategy from how much capital to commit to the trade all the way through to your exit plan.  Similarly, the more checks you have in your favor in trading, such as the health of the market, the strength of the move, etc the larger the capital you should commit to the trade, just as you would when considering your poker strategy before you partake in the hand.

The common lesson here: There are key factors to consider in either game, trading and poker, with varying degrees of importance that weigh in on your decision to be part of the game.    Interesting..

Stocknuts

Thursday, October 21, 2010

When Stocks and Poker Collide.

Hello World!
This is a new blog about my trials and tribulations in learning to play poker, No Limit Texas Holdem to be specific.  I'm a successful stock market trader and I have always been very curious about the similarities drawn between trading and playing poker.  In this blog, I will talk about the parallels of the two exciting worlds in addition to my poker learning progress and notes.

I'm lucky to have the best teacher I know in town: PokerBug.  PokerBug has a passion for the game and is working on perfecting it in preparation for the big leagues.  He has taught the game to many successful players, and is respected in the community for his craft!   He has taken me under his wings and is showing me the nuts, so to speak.  My driving force behind this is a second annual charity tournament organized by fellow stock traders.  I did okay in the first, playing party poker style, but I want to do better and want to learn it for the love of the game.   My goal for the blog is for stock traders to learn poker and for poker players to learn how to trade stocks through the commonalities between the two.  Let's see where this takes us.

Peace and profits to all, in stocks and in poker!
Stocknuts