HOW SCOTT IAN INSPIRED ME TO BECOME A BETTER POKER PLAYER
Sunday, May 3, 2009 - Tiffany M
I play a lot of online tournaments at Ultimate Bet and every now and then I make it deep. I even have a few final tables and a small win here or there in some of the smaller buy-in tournaments but recently my tournament track record has not been consistent especially considering how much I play. Most of the UB Star Player/Pros all play UB’s big Sunday 200k Guarantee tournament and a few weeks ago our very own Scott Ian won THE WHOLE THING for over $40,000. I couldn’t believe it when I heard the news. Of course I’m aware that UB has their pro team for a reason and that each player is skilled at poker. However I also know how hard it is to make it through a large field, to have your hands hold up, to avoid the minefield of bad beats and to skillfully maneuver through a final table and clench the #1 victory. Scott’s win gave me a glimmer of hope. If HE could do it… SO COULD I! Something snapped within me that day and I set out the following Sunday to win the 200k myself!
It sounds so simple but when that Sunday rolled around I simply made the decision to PLAY GOOD POKER! During the tournament I found myself getting away from bad starting hands, no matter how pretty the suited junk looked. I became less enamored by AK and opted to fold it more regularly when I didn’t hit a flop and had someone betting into me. I let go of a lot of small pairs that I’d normally play in early position or to a raise. This might be a controversial suggestion but I watched TV and did other things online to occupy my time so as to avoid getting impatient and becoming an action junkie. I played a Phil Hellmuth type game. Even when I would hit a flop with a good hand, top pair or a tempting draw I made the choice to get out of sticky situations when I didn’t feel that I was strong and look for a position where I could get my money in BETTER. I made a lot of great folds that day and got paid off when I did wait for a strong hand.
Whaddya know, that Sunday out of about 1,000 players I cashed in the tournament and took 64th place. I know it doesn’t sound like the most amazing feat but I was excited to accomplish the very thing I set out to do. I play the 200k on a weekly basis and it’s one of UB’s biggest and toughest events and this was my best finish in the tournament to date. Even though I got my money in with a dominating hand and was eliminated when another player sucked out it felt very rewarding to know that I played a really good game of poker.
I kept that same determination and diligence the following Sunday in the 200k and cashed AGAIN, taking 66th place… yet again losing with a the better hand. With back to back cashes I started feeling like I was on to something so I decided to apply this new “PLAY GOOD POKER” technique to every tournament I played. No matter what stakes I played, even the smallest buy-in tournament all I knew was that I liked the taste of winning. So, I’d make up my mind to win whatever tournament I entered. Within the next week I had another deep cash in large tournament followed by two final tables! I had transitioned from splashing around and letting sloppy habits and the tendency to want to gamble dictate my game to simply playing like I knew I should. I’d tell myself “play as if this is the last few tables in the Main Event”. Better yet, I played as if Annie Duke were sitting there watching me, knowing she’d smack me upside the head and lecture my face off if she saw me playing like a donkey.
It’s easy to get lazy with your game when you spend a lot of hours playing online; hand after hand, pot after pot, game after game. It’s easy to lean more towards gambling to accumulate chips than to play a patient and boring game where your chip stack increases painfully slow. I’ve also found that if the money/buy-in isn’t significant to me it becomes easier for me to donk around and not take it seriously. That concept is ridiculous considering that I’d never take, even ten bucks and flush it down a toilet. When I decided to take EVERY game seriously and focus my $25 buy-in game got just as good as my $200 buy-in game. When you start playing good poker, it’s contagious. When you start winning it’s addictive. Scott Ian is making me rich and hopefully I will do the same for you.
Tiffany Michelle
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Tags: Phil Hellmuth, Scott Ian, ultimatebet
May 3rd, 2009 at 7:48 pm
patience, patience, patience is soooo boring…but is definately the key..GL tiffany
May 3rd, 2009 at 9:10 pm
HELLO TIFFANY,NOT SURE WHY U SAT OUT OF THE 200K TONIGHT BUT ANYWAY I HOPE U ARE WELL AND ENJOYING YOUR POKER,…
I PLAY THE 100K MOST WEEKS WHEN I CAN SATTELITE IN OR AFFORD IT AND HAVE COME CLOSE TO A FINAL TABLE MANY TIMES THIS YEAR I HAVE ALSO CASHED IN 3 TIMES SO FAR FOR LESSER AMOUNTS BUT I ENJOY IT..
I LIKE YOU HAVE A JUNIQUE PLAYING STLYE THAT I ADAPT TO MY GAME AND LIKE YOU WHICH U HAVE WELL DOCUMENTED ABOVE FIND IT EXACTLY HOW I SEE THINGS IE OVERVALUATING HANDS LIKE AK OR PLAYING STICKY SITUATIONS,…ITS VERY HARD BECAUSE YOU DO HAVE TO MAKE MOVES AT THE RIGHT TIME IN THESE TOURNAMENST AND YOU AHVE TO JUST BE AWARE OF CHIPS OF YOUR OPPONANTS AND POSITION AROUND THE TABLE ETC ETC,I HOWEVER FIND IT HIGHLY AMUSING WHEN I FIND MYSELF SHORTSTACKED ,LATE ON IN A TOURNAMENT THEN GET MOVED AROUND OR KEEP BEING MOVED CONSTANT THROUGHOUT THE WHOLE TOURNAMENT,SOMEHOW IM NOT SURE WHY THIS IS THE CASE BUT WHEN U PAY YOUR BLINDS WHAT IN EFFECT U END UP DOING IS PAYING 2 TIMES THE PRICE AND HAVE TO PAY DOUBLE AGAIN WHEN U GET MOVED AROUND LATE ON,…
ANYWAY I FIND IT INCREASINGLY HARD TO MAKE ANY SORT OF HEADWAY ONLINE AS ITS ALL A BIT TRANSPARENT TO ME AND KINDA OF WEIRD AS I LOSE QUITE FREQUENT WITH THE BEST HAND PRE FLOP OR I GET SUCKED OUT ON THE TURN AND RIVER BY MY OPPONANTS WHO HAVE MEDIOCRE CARDS….
I PLAY LIVE HERE IN THE UK AND REALLY ENJOY MY TIME PLAYING POKER BUT CAN ALWAYS LEARN FROM WATCHING THE MANY PLAYERS LIKE YOURSELF ON SUNDAYS AND HAVE TAKEN SEVRAL NOTES ON HOW TO IMPROVE MY ONLINE GAME..
LAST NIGHT OUT OF 1025 PEOPLE I CAME 8TH NOT A BAD RESULT AND I WON $117 ,PLUS THE 3 CASHES IN THE 100K FOR LITTLE UNDER 2K ITS NOT BAD,….
HOWEVER IVE PLAYED SOMEHOW IN THE REGION OF 300 TOURNAMENTS AND MANY MANY HOURS ON CASH TABLES AND AM STILL DOWN OUT OF POCKET ID SAY OVERALL ,….I STILL KEEP TO MY STRATEGY AND PLAY FOR EVERY TOURNAMENT ,SOMETIMES I MIGHT MIX IT UP EARLY GIVEN THE CHANCE BUT OVERALL QUITE TIGHT AND PATIENT AT FIRST DURING THE START OF THE MAIN EVENTS…..
HOWEVER I PLAY IT SEEMS IM FOREVER DILLIGENT IN THE FACT THAT NO MATTER HOW U PLAY URE CARDS SOMEONE KNOWS EXACTLY WHAT URE HOLDING FOR EXAMPLE EVERY TIME I LIMP WITH ACES I GET 6 OR 7 FLAT CALLS NO GOOD TO ME WHATSOEVER! THEN IF I PUSH ALL IN WITH THEM FOR EXAMPLE I GET NO CALLS AT ALL!
IT REALLY IS A WEIRD AND WONDERFUL SITE “AP” AND IM PROUD TO BE PART OF IT AND AM REALLY GLAD THAT SO MANY PROS LIKE YOURSELF HAVE COME TO THE TABLES TO PLAY…..
IVE BEEN ON THE MOST EMBARRASSING DOWNSWING YOU COULD EVER WANT TO IMAGINE,LAST NIGHTS WIN IN THE 5K IS HOPEFULLY THE START OF A NEW WAVE,….I PLAY BETTER LIVE I CAN TELL YOU ,
BUT I ENJOY PLAYING ONLINE AS WELL AS ITS COMFORTABLE AND MORE RELAXING SAT AT HOME ,PLUS YOU CAN TAKE LITTLE BREAKS AND EAT AND DRINK AS MUCH AS YOU LIKE …..SOMETHING WHICH YOU NEED TO FOCUS URE ENERGYS ON,,…
BACK HERE IN THE UK POKER HAS REALLY TAKEN OFF AND ITS NOT UNUSUAL TO FIND A LOCAL GAME NEARBY,..I GOTO TO HOME GAMES EACH WEEK WHEN I CAN AFFORD IT AND ITS VERY NICE AND PLEASANT AND HAVE EVEN BEEN OFFERED TO GO FISHING BY OTHER PLAYERS THAT PLAY WHICH MAKES FOR ALL GOOD FUN ON SPECIAL DAYS,..I ALSO HAVE 2 OTHER BROTHERS THAT IVE BROUGHT INTO THE GAME FOR A BIT OF FUN AND TO GET THEM OUT AND SOCIALISING AND HAVING A BIT OF FUN,THEY REALLY ENJOY IT AND I THINK ITS GOOD FOR THEM EVEN THOUGH SOME LOOK DOWN ON THE FACT THAT ITS GAMBLING AND WASTING URE MONEY WHATEVER BUT ITS REALLY ONLY A GAME OF SKILL AND CHANCE AND I TEND TO THINK ITS GOOD FOR SOCIAL SKILL BUILDING AS WELL …
I DO TEND TO TAKE IT SERIOUSLY WITH ESPECAILLY SINCE I WEAR 2 PAIRS OF GLASSES AND THE GUYS ALL TAKE THE PISS ,BUT IT NEVER AFFECTS MY GAME ,WELL IT DOES BUT I TRY NOT TO LET IT SHOW IF YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN,…ANY SIGN OF WEAKNESS YOU SHOW TO THE OTHER PLAYERS ,THEN THEY GET ONE UP ON YOU AND THATS NOT GOOD ,STILL I TRY AND ENJOY IT AND HAVE A BIT OF OF LAUGH ,THATS THE MAIN THING I THINK, I DONT MIND THEM TAKING THE PISS OUT OF ME PROVIDING THEY CAN TAKE IT BACK VICE VERSA, IF THEY CANT WELL THEN THATS TOUGH LUCK ,
ANYWAY GOTTA GO IVE GOT TO GO AND DO SOME GARDENING AND PLANT SOME MORE FLOWERS AND DO SOME DIGGING…
GL WITH YOUR POKER TIFFANY AND HOPE ITS ALL GOOD FOR YA!
GL IN VEGAS THIS YEAR ,BE VERY DOUBTFUL ILL EVER GET THE CHANCE TO GO ,TOO EXPENSIVE FOR ME I THINK…
ALL THE BEST REGARDS “AA”RON xxxxx