Steve McNair's blog

It's been exactly 2 weeks since my last posting, and things have been going a lot better. I feel like I'm playing pretty decent, but I can always single out a hand in a given session that I misplayed, making a bad call, missing a bet, etc. There's ALWAYS room for improvement, even when you're running ok.

I've been running pretty well overall, but I've had a TON of sessions where I "only" make 1-2 buyins because I got stacked on a bad beat or a total setup. I can't complain though because a majority of my big hands are also holding up, so I guess it's pretty much evening out. I'm just looking for that elusive session where everything goes right and I make 5-6 buyins in an hour or whatever. I have ~50K hands of 200NL under my belt and sadly the best session I ever had was +4 buyins. I suppose part of that comes from my tight style, and not getting involved in pots as often, but I've definitely had a few sessions where if I didn't get shit on by a bad beat or two, I would have been there. Anyways, like I said, I'm not complaining.

Here's my numbers over the last 2 weeks:



I was reading on 2+2 the other day about the state of online poker with the UIGEA, and it is kind of depressing. By no means am I a dominant 200NL player, but I'm beating the game for a good amount, and supposedly 200NL is WAY tougher than it was say 2 years ago. I saw one guy say that 200NL now is equivalent to what 600NL was 2 years ago. I don't know enough about it to say whether or not I agree, but that's a kick in the nuts if it's true. It's hard not to think about what it would be like if I had started playing poker a few years earlier. Most of the American players I play with are at least somewhat competent regulars, and most of the US fish are now gone. Still, I do occasionally run into players like this:

http://www.liquidpoker.net/h/180165

and this

http://www.liquidpoker.net/h/180164

That "pot odds" comment is awesome.


I'm fired up for the NFL Draft this weekend. Big day for my Titans - we have lots of holes to fill, so let's hope our new GM can handle himself. Thanks to the PacMan Jones debacle, the Titans have taken a HUGE step back this offseason. He singlehandedly won 2 games for us last year, and he played a big role in a lot of other wins. He is basically irreplacable. With the schedule the Titans have this year, I'd be shocked if they could match last year's 8-8 record. We need to shore up the D-line on saturday, and get some weapons for Vince.

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It's only fitting that my first blog entry comes in the midst of a terrible run of cards for me. A little background - I just started playing 200NL full ring in late January 2007. Before that, I was a micro stakes grinder, but I was a complete nit and I really didn't know how to play.

After plugging some initial leaks in my preflop game, I reached a comfort level with in mid-February. I'm still a very tight player but I'm much more aggressive preflop, especially in position. I proceeded to run fairly good for about a month and a half, making $5300 from mid february to late March. That's pennies to most of you but I have a full time job so my poker time is very limited. I was pretty proud to have made that much money playing a few evenings a week.

Fast forward to April, and I'm running like horseshit. Here's how I have run over the last 2 weeks:



Obviously there has been some bad play in there, but for the most part I'm just getting raped in the big pots by either coolers or horrible beats. Last night, I played a 1500 hand session, and the biggest net $ I won in a hand was $30! I could not flop even middle pair, and I had about 80% of my continuation bets thereafter called or raised, and the only time I had a hand, everyone either folded immediately or woke up with the nuts.

Certainly this latest run is not the end of the world, since it could be a 10-15 buyin downswing that I've heard stories about. And 13K hands is basically nothing over the course of an entire year or whatever. I think the key is to just keep plodding along and try to make the best decisions at all times. At some point, it's gotta turn around.

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