Question/Answer

Someone emailed me a question. If you have any questions that you think are suitable for everyone to view, please post it in the "comments" area, and I will respond in the same way. I will dedicate a post to answering the question though:

The person wrote:
Thanks for the "inside" information! You wrote that your goal is to spend 2 hours/week and that you did practically no studying last year. May I ask if you became weaker without training or are many things so "hardwired" in your brain that you do not need much studying to keep playing at a given level?

I definitely became a little bit weaker, but not by much. The main thing that happens when I am not studying is I might forget a few opening variations, but this shouldn't weaken a player significantly. In my opinion, once you learn something in chess it becomes somewhat hardwired (generally speaking) into your brain. Chess masters rely on intuition and experience for most of their playing strength, and it's hard to lose that. I think the main reason I got weaker is my lack of playing in tournaments. When I made my journey from 1100 to Master, I was playing in one or two challenging tournaments a month. Now I am lucky to play one tournament a year. To avoid getting weaker it is important to "stay in shape" by competing in tournaments regularly. It is also important to stay in tactical shape. For less experienced players it is best to do this by solving puzzles. For stronger players I think solving puzzles and playing internet chess (even blitz) is a good way to stay in tactical shape.

Again feel free to post appropriate questions in the "Comments" area and I will gladly respond in the same way.

Morons

I am sicking of losing to these morons. Hehez.
2 2nds

-56.00

Playing 6..

Yesterday I learned that I made a really bad fold after raising to the cutoff with AKo folding to re-raise. Now I will push all in there. He is probably on a steal since he's from the SB.

I am about to play 6 more at once... then I will try to 10 table 10+1s for fun.

Testing email postin

Test!

Ok about to play 6 sit and goes. I'm going to play like my life depends on each one!

---
Wow brutal set

1 1st place

I had a sick bubble where I was cold decked with trip kings on the turn... ran into weak fullhouse. (I had KT he had K3). I was in the sb. Also had a lot of bad luck on other hands. But whatever. It's good to know that people still play this game horribly. I still have some problems timing out and stuff... I need to shake this rust off.

-32.00

Set 1 for January 19 2006

1st
3rd

+8.00

That's all I want to play for today. I am still getting back into sit and go mode.

Ok, about to play a set of 5 after a long time off. I'm going to "Temptation Block" all of my chat programs etc and not have any distractions while playing. My new years resolution in poker is to exert myself fully while playing. This is all business!

Stats Update

6+.50
Played
102
Won
550.5
ROI:
0.8642072
ITM:
0.5294118
1st
22
2nd
17
3rd
15


15+1
Played
404
Won
974.5
ROI:
0.178885
ITM:
0.413366
1st
61
2nd
50
3rd
56

10+1:
Total: 492
Net: 701.00
ROI: 12.89%
ITM: 38.21
60
58
70

20+2:
Total: 272
Net: 1246.00
ROI: 21%
ITM: 40.07
33
42
34


Total profit (sit and goes plus cash games + bonuses): ~3400.00 (from 300 a couple months ago).

I guess I'm doing well in poker finally. I ommitted my 30+3s and 25+2 results because they are depressing and I'm not objective (also they're not statistically significant yet).

Update 11-26-05

Ok, been doing well at Pokerstars 15+1. I am feeling very confident about my poker skills. I went to Windsor and I think I played well consistently for about 16 hours. Also, I took some bad beats. Losing a one outter KK vs 99 on K429 board.... then hitting 9 on river. Then I lost a huge pot to Alex Lehman where I had 77766 vs his 777KK. Also a top set, to slowplayed AA hitting A on the river. But despite these bad beats, and not winning any huge pots, I came out about $320 ahead. I think sit and goes have made me a much better player. Here are my overall Pokerstars results.

15+1
Played	279
Won	830.5
ROI:	0.174632
ITM:	0.412186
1st	49
2nd	32
3rd	34

6+.50
Played	102
Won	550.5
ROI:	0.8642072
ITM:	0.5294118
1st	22
2nd	17
3rd	15

Huge heater on Pokerstars

Been playing on Stars this month. Trying to work off a bonus. Other than that I'm not sure why I switched to Stars. I guess I just wanted a change of pace. I've been doing very well though, but obviously on a huge heater.

6+.50
Total: 47
Net: +330
ROI: 96%
ITM: 70%

15+1 (A lot of these are from months ago)
Total: 183 (11 in November)
Net: 587 ( 121 in November)
ROI: 20%