"It is said that what is called the Spirit of an Age is something to which one cannot return. That this spirit gradually dissipates is due to the world's coming to an end. In the same way, a single year does not have just spring or summer. A single day, too, is the same. For this reason, although one would like to change today's world back to the spirit of one hundred years or more ago, it cannot be done. Thus it is important to make the best out of every generation." --Hagakure
Preface
They say that the game has changed. The competition is stronger. Those old guys don't know what the tables are like now. If we only had a time machine. Yeah. We could go back eight or nine years and be millionaires just from knowing how to continuation bet and 3-bet bluff. Any idiot could rack up six figures back then, and it's so hard on us now.
Nobody wants to help us anymore. They all realized that they were taking food off of their own tables and putting it in our mouths. We took fish instead of learning how to fish for ourselves, and the ponds aren't stocked like they used to be. The water used to be packed full -- it was like shooting fish in a barrel. Not anymore. We are going to have to get our hands dirty if we want to eat.
It's coming...
Last edited by spoonitnow; 05-08-2014 at 11:13 AM.
"Peace has cost you your strength; victory has defeated you." --Bane
The New Generation
Our ADHD is acting up. Our mettle has never been tested. We have never been forced to go hard. We weren't made to study our craft for hours on end. We have never had to wait. Our gratification is simple, and our needs are shallow. We don't know that we have never been whole. We have never earned it.
If you want to beat someone, then you have to know their weaknesses. If you want to avoid being beaten, then you have acknowledge your own and make every effort to eliminate them. But it's too late to do it alone -- if you could have done it alone, you would have already. Be quiet and listen. Do you hear that?
It's coming...
Last edited by spoonitnow; 05-08-2014 at 11:49 AM.
All I hear is the train coming down the track and can see the light at the end of the tunnel and here I am tied to the tracks. That's how I feel when I'm at a table with the "New Generation of Players". Y'all take care.
"Look past the flesh... and see your enemy." --Smith
Do You Deserve to Win?
Your ego is calling.
It's telling you that you don't need to do this stupid exercise. The answer is so obvious that you have nothing to gain. There aren't enough details given. You don't have any notes on your opponent. You don't have HUDstats. You don't know the bet sizes. You should read what other people post first. You don't know how to do math. You aren't any good at poker. You can't play poker in your country anyway. This is a waste of time.
Your ego is protecting you because it doesn't think you deserve to win. And it's right. You don't.But you will soon.
For betting:
- villain might call with AQ or AJs, but might be reluctant to bet such medium-strength hands himself;
- we typically bet here if we have air so for balance we also need to bet some strong hands.
For checking:
- the flop hit our strong early-positionrange so the tightvillain won't call with many weaker hands. But since he's also aggressive he may decide to turn something like KQ into a bluff here;
- the chance that he'll call with a weaker hand will be somewhat greater on future streets if he has picked something up and/or if he gives us less credit.
"The strength of an isolani lies is its lust to expand." --Nimzowitsch
The Lust to Expand
From all directions at all times, you are told that the drive for more power and influence is immoral. It makes you a bad person to want more. You are greedy for expanding. You are insecure for wanting more. Be content with what you have. And it's all a trick to keep you from taking power from those who have it.
A lack of influence over the events in your life makes you miserable. If you think you deserve better than that, then it's time to rediscover your own lust to expand. It's time to rediscover your ambition. It's time to rediscover your autonomy as a human being.
To hell with what they think. This is war, and they are psychological terrorists trying to destroy the morale of your mind's army. If they aren't with you, then they are against you. Your enemy is on the horizon. It's time to rally your allies.
"Warrior, says the wind. Chieftain, says the rain. But why seek you me? Met you your match? Met you your match with the eaters of the dead." --Witch
Humiliation
Your enemies want to take every dime you have and send you to work some dead-end job for a week so that they can take your check too. When you're too old to work your $8.50/hour job to fill their bankrolls, they'll cut your throat, bury you in a shallow hole, and piss on your grave.
They want to slaughter you and leave you laying on the side of the road with your insides hanging out. Do you deserve better? It's time to earn it.
It's coming...
Last edited by spoonitnow; 05-09-2014 at 12:49 PM.
I swear if I had just a bit more time I would be posting a ton. I just started getting some time to play some hands again this week with the new job settling down. Agree I am a vagina as far as my poker is concerned right now.
A. What is the best hand he's folding if you bet? PP- 66-22, excl- 55 B. What is the worst hand he's calling if you bet?A2s-A8s C. What is the best hand you fold if you're raised?AJs D. What is the worst hand you call if you're raised?AQs
A. What is the best hand he's folding if you bet?: TT B. What is the worst hand he's calling if you bet?: AJ C. What is the best hand you fold if you're raised?: 55 D. What is the worst hand you call if you're raised?: 99
Last edited by oskar; 05-12-2014 at 07:57 AM.
The strengh of a hero is defined by the weakness of his villains.
Time to break free: Make an argument for both betting and checking.
Bet:
Our opponent is likely to assume we bet this flop with a very wide range and thus is likely to float with a lot of hands, 9x, probably most of his PPs, whatever Ax he has, not to mention total air and backdoor draws that he'll try to pick the pot up with OTT
Check:
We could check here assuming that our opponent will bet with close to his entire range (worse Ax, 9s, air, and some hands that are ahead of ours) and either raise for value or call and lead or c/c the turn
A. What is the best hand he's folding if you bet? 88
B. What is the worst hand he's calling if you bet? T9s
C. What is the best hand you fold if you're raised? AJs
D. What is the worst hand you call if you're raised? AQo
Goddam I figure I'll just answer these questions quickly and move on to another thread, but the more I type, the more I find AK to be a really difficult spot. You clever cunt.
A. What is the best hand he's folding if you bet?
B. What is the worst hand he's calling if you bet?
C. What is the best hand you fold if you're raised?
D. What is the worst hand you call if you're raised?
C, this is where I started to twist my head. I feel like I should fold AK, seeing as it's hard to imagine him trying to push us off this hand. However, he's likely to be calling button with 22+, meaning he has a great many potential bluffs. And seeing as our range will definitely be at least TT+ AQ+, he's in a good spot to bluff. We have 12 combos of AK, 12 of AQ, 24 combos of TT-KK, and either 6 or 9 combos of sets, depending on if he puts 55 in our range. He probably thinks AQ hates a raise, which tbh it should. Further, this flop is so dry that I don't understand why he'd run the risk of us folding out our AK/AQ by raising his sets, so if he raises, then it stands a good chance he's putting pressure on the 36 combos of TT-KK AQ we have, vs the 21 we have of 55 99 AA AK. So the more I think about this, the weaker I think his raising range is. So I don't want to fold anything when he raises, because he's probably checking backturn and folding river.
D, whatever the worst hand in my range is. Probably JTs. Reasons outlined above.
"Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not: nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education alone will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent." -- Calvin Coolidge
Go Deeper
There are multiple types of infinity. Start counting from zero and you'll get a type of infinity, "One, two, three, four..." This type of infinity is like listing out all of the different skills that you need to play poker. Try to list all of the skills you need to be good at poker. The list isn't that long, so why aren't you good at poker?
Now consider a different kind of infinity. Consider all of the numbers between 0 and 1. There's 0.1, 0.2, 0.3... oh shit, we have to goback and fill in the blanks. So there's 0.11, 0.12, 0.13.... oh shit, there are more blanks. Let's try it again: 0.111, 0.112, 0.113... shit. You can always go deeper. Depth is the reason why you aren't good at poker.
You raise AK from early position. You get called once. You floptoppair on a dry board. This sounds like the most boring and most common situation in the world, so what could you possibly have to learn from it? Go deeper.
Five people started looking at it on a deeper level, and five people saw five different things. Doing 100 hand reviews on a shallow level is worth less than doing one hand review on a deeplevel. When you go shallow, you satisfy your ego by making it look like you're doing something, but you aren't really learning.
The fish are still there. Poker is still your personal ATM.
People from all over the world joined together to fight against this army, but they were all defeated.
Eventually, this army became bored with the death and destruction that lay in their path, and so they dispersed to their separate homelands to live out lives as mere mortals.
The grass grew. Homes were rebuilt. Fields were plowed. Civilization was restored. Over time, the legend of this army persisted, and rumors of its return were uttered.
But the gods are angry, and they have sent their most bloodthirsty angel to build their army again.
Spoon, I take back everything bad (usually in jest, anyway) I ever said about you. If I still played poker I'd be so up in this bitch. I believe in what you're doing though. Godspeed.
"That's right. I've killed women and children. I've killed just about everything that walks or crawled at one time or another. And I'm here to kill you." --Unforgiven
Vicious Intent
When they hear that the New Army is alive again, some of them will want to find us to face us and test their mettle. We won't be hard to find. All they will have to do is follow the road of corpses that we leave behind us. It will lead them straight to us.
They can't win because they will stop before we do. They haven't taken the pain that we have. They haven't suffered like we have suffered. They are no match for our unstoppable and absolute will. We will not stop until there is no one left to destroy no matter how much punishment we have to take.
"Nothing is of greater importance in time of war than in knowing how to make the best use of a fair opportunity when it is offered." --Niccolo Machiavelli
Are You With Us or Against Us?
You must pass a critical test if you want to join the ranks of The New Army. This is a test of communications.
Your objective is to install NetTalk which will allow you to communicate securely with the agents of The New Army.
"For me life is continuously being hungry. The meaning of life is not simply to exist, to survive, but to move ahead, to go up, to achieve, to conquer." --Arnold Schwarzenegger
Only the Necessities, No Distractions
The New Army doesn't give a shit about what you have on your HUD. These soldiers don't need fancy equipment, the fastest computers, complicated helper programs, or $2,500 eBooks. All of this crap is just a pile of distractions because it doesn't help you to train yourself to play better poker.
There's one tool that you need to study poker, and it's free. I wrote a column about how to use it that's the first of a series on getting the most that you can out of this tool. All it will cost is your time and effort, so you have no excuse not to get started.
If you aren't in the New Army, then you're going to need a podiatrist.
Anyone who's even mildly interested in getting better at poker should get their ass into the IRC. I've only spent a couple hours talking to spoon and I already feel like I've learned a ton. Seriously. It's like free money.
"Look past the flesh... and see your enemy." --Smith
Do You Deserve to Win?
Your ego is calling.
It's telling you that you don't need to do this stupid exercise. The answer is so obvious that you have nothing to gain. There aren't enough details given. You don't have any notes on your opponent. You don't have HUDstats. You don't know the bet sizes. You should read what other people post first. You don't know how to do math. You aren't any good at poker. You can't play poker in your country anyway. This is a waste of time.
Your ego is protecting you because it doesn't think you deserve to win. And it's right. You don't.But you will soon.
Time to break free: Make an argument for both betting and checking.
It's coming...
So we would bet if we could a)make villainfold better hands or b)call with weaker hands. I don't know about making him folding better hands, but I def. think we can get him to call w. worse.
For betting:
- I would put him on 22-TT,AJs,AQo, and the occasional AA,KK to spice things. I think he would call w. AJs(8combos,AQ(8combos),TT(6combos),KK(3combos),AA (1combo),99(3combos),55(3combos), 25 we beat,7 we loose to.
For checking:
-He might decide to bluff.
Cant really come up with more arguments for checking.
So we would bet if we could a)make villainfold better hands or b)call with weaker hands. I don't know about making him folding better hands, but I def. think we can get him to call w. worse.
For betting:
- I would put him on 22-TT,AJs,AQo, and the occasional AA,KK to spice things. I think he would call w. AJs(8combos,AQ(8combos),TT(6combos),KK(3combos),AA (1combo),99(3combos),55(3combos), 25 we beat,7 we loose to.
For checking:
-He might decide to bluff.
Cant really come up with more arguments for checking.
You'll probably get some good replies and good reading if you check it out. It was meant to be a group exercise in seeing how you can learn about how you play poker and what's different from how other people play poker by looking at some key pieces of information inside of a very basic scenario.
Also, another good argument for checking would be that you don't want to build a big pot out of position without being sure that you can get three streets of value.
"What makes a man a man? A friend of mine once wondered. Is it his origins? The way he comes to life? I don't think so. It's the choices he makes. Not how he starts things, but how he decides to end them."
--John Myers
Why Are There So Few Women in Poker?
Do you know what Brownie did? He started a thread with in-depth analysis trying hard to figure out what to do in a situation that he had trouble with.
He ran towards his fears and the unknown because he wants to conquer it. This is masculine. This is what a man does.
Christopher Columbus was a murdering, conniving father of genocide. Do you know why the United States has a holiday for him? Because he conquered.
This is what a man does. He goes into the world and he shapes it to be how he wants it.
"That is strength, boy! That is power! What is steel compared to the hand that wields it? Look at the strength in your body, the desire in your heart, I gave you this! Such a waste. Contemplate this on the tree of woe. Crucify him!"
--Thulsa Doom
Train Harder
They gunning for me,
Wanna see me fall,
You know my story,
I've been through it all,
Nights I felt like dying,
But I ain't crying,
What didn't kill me,
Made me strong as iron.
All I hear is the train coming down the track and can see the light at the end of the tunnel and here I am tied to the tracks. That's how I feel when I'm at a table with the "New Generation of Players". Y'all take care.
"There is no I in 'team,' but there's a 'me.'" --Various
Support Structures
You need a strong support structure to get good enough at poker to make an assload of money and ball out of control. The New Army is that support structure that you need.
"Hey, whaddya gonna do, nice college boy, eh? Didn't want to get mixed up in the Family business, huh? Now you wanna gun down a police captain. Why? Because he slapped ya in the face a little bit? Hah? What do you think this is the Army, where you shoot 'em a mile away? You've gotta get up close like this and - bada-BING! - you blow their brains all over your nice Ivy League suit." --Sonny
The Spirit of the Times
One of the biggest problems that players are running into is dealing with the new generation of opponents. These players have been told from the time that they hit puberty that the way to win at poker was to be aggressive. This is a big departure from the more cautious nature of older players and of people who have come up playing live, and naturally older players and live players tend to have trouble with it. It seems like they are just spewing chips in all directions, but it's not clear when you should zig and when you should zag to try to take advantage.
The new BC Exclusive series is designed to help you with that. No matter if you're a new player or a seasoned veteran, this series will help you cut to the bottom of these hyper-aggressive plays without having to earn a master's degree in game theory in the process. The first of this series is on continuation betting, why it's effective and how to counter it effectively. I include some basic numbers for you, but I don't drown you in math. It's the basic, stripped-down of what you need to know and why if you want to take on the new generation.
If you want more of this creamy goodness, then you need to post and let me know. If you don't post, then I don't know there's a demand, and I won't waste my time making posts that people aren't going to read.
You need this part to do the next part which gets into the EV of checking and complications that are too complicated to get into too complicated of a discussion here.