Thought I'd make my own entry here to post some stuff. After some 6max, did a few tournaments today playing together with a friend. 2/800 in a $10 rebuy on stars for $3k and then a first place in a $22 freeze, plowing through 3500 people for $12.6k! On the way to victory this hand happened, undoubtebly the most beautiful hand I ever played, because it was intentional bullying.
PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, 22 Tournament, 50,000/100,000 Blinds 12,500 Ante (4 handed) - PokerStars Converter Tool from http://www.flopturnriver.com
Thanks, credit goes to my friend's help, he's a tourney and HU guy. He knows so well how to adapt to the changes in table situation, pretty crazy. Bullying a table where they're afraid to risk their exit against me, as such assurring your victory. Great feeling
Thx, I'm still eyeing you for tricking me so hard last WW btw!
Here's a few hands from tourney for fun:
1. Going into the final table, the big stack was the former fish I had been at the table with for quite a while. He played a very loose style and got his big stack with quite some luck. However his style lent itself well to bullying the table with his stack, he was a bit of a problem but not too much, I could do plenty of bullying of my own. He exited fifth or something. Here's the first exit on the FT.
PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, 22 Tournament, 20,000/40,000 Blinds 5,000 Ante (9 handed) - PokerStars Converter Tool from http://www.flopturnriver.com
Honestly the most interesting thing I get from looking at tourney HH's from really good players is hands they DON'T end up playing, that I feel like I would play. Mid pairs from EP that they fold and stuff like that.
You have any words of wisdom on that?
Originally Posted by Jay-Z
I'm a couple hands down and I'm tryin' to get back
I gave the other grip, I lost a flip for five stacks
Always open. The real question is, what to do if someone opens in front of you if you have a middle pair. I often 3bet it, depending on stacks. With 20 bigs or so you can shove.
Noticed you're posting hands in SHNL. You playing more cash or tourneys these days? Seems like you're owning tourneys, so is it not best to focus on those?
Juggling both tourneys and cash has never worked great for me haha.
Originally Posted by Jay-Z
I'm a couple hands down and I'm tryin' to get back
I gave the other grip, I lost a flip for five stacks
Cash, definitely. I personally like the grind better than the higher variance tournament structure. I only really play tournaments when I'm over at my friend's house, to learn how to improve from him. In cash everything is always the same in terms of ranges and strategies, you adapt to the other players and there can be a change when you get deeper stacked but the rest is the same. In tournaments there is also the change with situation, like being the smallstack and trying to survive, being the bigstack capable of bullying the table, exploiting the fact that people are more scared of the bubble, and you have to naturally adapt to your ever dimishing relative stack size. There is also an inherent pressure to play which there is less of in cash, so it's its own kind of complex.
Also I hadn't won with tournaments in a while, so even though I don't play em often it's still draining. This was a nice money injection again. My last win was in october or november for €15k, the big tourney on unibet . But I spent a lot of that, I went on two vacations with it, one of which was the unibet open in the carribean, which also my best vacation ever.
Nice. I think betting the turn is somewhat marginal - especially this particular turn when you almost have to call a raise. Unless the bet is purely for inducing purposes, in which case I like the sizing.
River is an easy call given pot odds and his nonsense double c/r line.. nobody does this! Turn is the key street in this hand, nice.
Originally Posted by Jay-Z
I'm a couple hands down and I'm tryin' to get back
I gave the other grip, I lost a flip for five stacks
I was actually cursing at him while this happened for his small turn bet begging for a raise. Then his river call shut me up lol.
Just hit 4th place (shared 50/50 with my friend) in an $11R. I was in second place with 4 remaining, lost a preflop allin against the shortie with AT vs QT, dominating hand. Then lost a flip TTvAJs and exit. So frustrating, the shortie had been the big stack bully a large part of the game, he just got small and I shoulda exited him. Costs me atleast $500 . 4th place $1,367k 3rd $1870..
8-9 hours. Yeah this also discourages me greatly because I have a tendency to sometimes phaze out or get bored, which can kill your tournament. Probably the main reason I play them at my friend's house, the constant looming threat of getting mocked for my horrible play keeps me sharp
I would probably have called too but he has a hyper aggressive playstyle. Wouldn't have gotten allin had he called though, I always find it hard to argue if it works..
edit: i think at the time he said something like, too often you slowplay monsters and go hard on bluffs, you have to go hard on your monsters too at times.
I would probably have called too but he has a hyper aggressive playstyle. Wouldn't have gotten allin had he called though, I always find it hard to argue if it works..
edit: i think at the time he said something like, too often you slowplay monsters and go hard on bluffs, you have to go hard on your monsters too at times.
They key is you have to balance. On that As turn I don't think we should have ANY shoving range at all (value or bluff). It's a horrible card to shove as a bluff, so no point shoving value hands there.
Originally Posted by Jay-Z
I'm a couple hands down and I'm tryin' to get back
I gave the other grip, I lost a flip for five stacks
This is the point I made before that you didn't take. That's being massively result orientated.
You are probably right but here I was talking about my friend. We always jump at the chance to give eachother flak about badly played hands but in this case there is not much I could say as he got the allin out of it whereas calling wouldn't have.
I think you better look at villain's allin calling range on the turn. On the one hand he can have a spade draw like he did, on the other hand he can think you're shoving a high spade, combined with a pair or some other draw. Another spade might also kill your action if he doesn't have one, or he might be on a spade draw, or like here on a double gutter also. If noone expects you to shove a flush here, that's a good thing. Would villain call with say an ace? Probably not, and I'm fairly sure my friend can bluff air here too.
Pointing to his b/c range on the turn is not the entire story. If he b/c AK on the turn does that mean shoving was the best play? He would have shoved the river anyhow. I mean someone bet/calling QxTs is going to be pretty rare I'd imagine in the first place.
What about JT/QJ/KJ/KQ/QT - that don't have spades? That's 45 combos of hands that will not b/c the turn but that may very well jam the river if we flat the turn.
The only situation where jamming the turn works out better than calling is when a spade runs out and slows down a legit value hand that would have otherwise jammed. But another spade is only coming 20% of the time. Even still this probably is somewhat evened out by the times he decides to bluff that final spade into your hand.
Originally Posted by Jay-Z
I'm a couple hands down and I'm tryin' to get back
I gave the other grip, I lost a flip for five stacks
I asked my friend, he can see your point but he says he really had the feeling this guy could make a loose call, it was the only way to get an allin out of it, and he shoves instead of just raising because raising looks too strong and he wanted to appear bluffy.
Also my problem with jamming here is balance with our turn calling range. Our turn calling range is made VERY weak if we're jamming flushes on this turn. It's a really crappy turn card for our range if we aren't flatting AK pre, since we might want to peel 77-QQ with a spade for sure on this turn, some JJ-QQ without a spade even, or peel JT.
So like 28-30 combos on the turn that will call and fold river jams.
If we have 75% of all AK in our range, that is 12 combos. So 70% of our entire range is folding to a river shove.
Meanwhile if we flat 66,88,99,JTss, QJss, KQss, KJss on the turn that is an additional 13 combos. So now only 53% of our river range is folding, which means his river shove is almost no longer exploiting us.
Anyways, just pointing out the bigger picture here. You guys can agree to disagree though
Originally Posted by Jay-Z
I'm a couple hands down and I'm tryin' to get back
I gave the other grip, I lost a flip for five stacks
Sadly it is just making up for a $2600 loss from yesterday. Playing too long while too tired and chasing losses did me in. I'm working on it. It was the entire online bankroll I had left after what I cashed out. The $22 buyin was the one that emptied my account so the saving grace to bring my online roll back on track.
Ok, at +$550 now for a total online BR of $3300, recovered from the $2750 loss and a moderate profit compared to 2 days ago. Yesterday the account ended at $800 after some losses in cash after the $1.4k tourney win. Today started off with some minor cashes, $650, $150, $65 etc but compensated again by losses in cash. And in the last tournament I was playing I take 2nd place for $2200.
I wonder if there's a reason for that.. normally I play 4-5 tables, but staying focussed on one tourney at the end seems to have a noticeable positive effect. Looking back over the years it's often the last tournament I play I do best in (and not just the one that lasts 9+ hours, the one I took 2nd was less than 3 hours). It probably has to do with table information. But I can't really just play 1-2 tables that is too little action since tournaments really have a bigger variance than ring.
The HU for first place was for +$1k, the other guy started with a 3:1 chip advantage. I got some hope to beat him after I was considering a river bluff, and ended up doing a winning Q-high call! But then I couldn't win a hand anymore and lost without a chance.
Also cool to watch Max Steinberg play and the rest of the final table of WSOP event 9. Very nice to see play at such a high level and trying to analyze along.
Yah I was streaming that final table as well. Was definitely WAY tighter than I would have expected it to be. SOOO many spots I was thinking "wow I'd call there for sure".. or "wow I'd jam there". I would have been very tempted to jam my A8o in Max's spot EP vs the almost min 3b by Silverman where he had AK.
I guess that's how these guys get this far. They lean way on the side of tight folds, where I'm way non-believer calling/jamming.
Originally Posted by Jay-Z
I'm a couple hands down and I'm tryin' to get back
I gave the other grip, I lost a flip for five stacks
Yes the play was a lot more standard (tight) than I had expected. Almost no elaborate bluffs. I think it is just hard to pull that off credibly at that level. I also continued watching til the end. In the 3-handed and HU there was surprisingly tight play. Silverstein kept not betting his better hand and getting outdrawn, he lost so many hands against Josephy like that. Seemed like bad play, but ofcourse you know they're not that bad, so atleast I couldn't figure out why he kept not betting what he hit.
Woot shared 1st/2nd for $2860. Withdrew $3k so the remaining bankroll is now $1.7k. Super exciting endgame, entering final table 6max in 5th place and really short, with having to develop very elaborate reads on the other players. And finally going into the HU as the shortstack and clawing back to even against a player who was very good at HU and where we kept adjusting to each-other. Finally he proposed to split because "it can take days like this". I wanna post some hands but playing some more tourneys already. And I dunno, is there any interest in seeing that? I like talking about more advanced strategies.
Thought I'd make my own entry here to post some stuff. After some 6max, did a few tournaments today playing together with a friend. 2/800 in a $10 rebuy on stars for $3k and then a first place in a $22 freeze, plowing through 3500 people for $12.6k! On the way to victory this hand happened, undoubtebly the most beautiful hand I ever played, because it was intentional bullying.
PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, 22 Tournament, 50,000/100,000 Blinds 12,500 Ante (4 handed) - PokerStars Converter Tool from http://www.flopturnriver.com
Preflop: Hero is SB with J, Q
Kriva7395 bets t300,000, 1 fold, Hero raises to t3,000,000,
1 fold
Kriva7395 said, "gondon"
Kriva7395: folds [Q Q]
1 fold
Total pot: t750,000
Results below:
Spoiler:
Hero didn't show J, Q.
Showfold queens!
why to fold with QQ, when the rules are clear, If you had AA, KK, QQ go all-in. If you don't go with QQ all-in on that blinds and you have only 1.850.000 chips, than you are sick, what can I say.
What a rush, I'm feeling delirious atm. After the 1st place I posted about earlier, I cashed in over half the tournaments I played, bunch of FTs, a 3rd, another 1st, all tourneys <$100 with small fields because of the later hour. After the regretful tilty -$2.7k I already shot up $9k again. Griffey I followed your advice to do tournaments exclusively . Feels like I can't stop now, playing some more, fuck sleep.
Thanks guys. Not gonna believe it but I made 2 more cashes. A 4th place due to stupidity and a chopped 3-way where I was in the slight lead, +$4k. I'm definitely running good, but feeling good about my play too. It has been steadily getting better, however my game still has lots of improvements to be made. 6max tourneys seem to be going well for me atm, so I'm gonna stick to mostly that, while trying to improve my 9-handed tourney, cash and HU game on the side. Also been playing some 4-handed tournaments on stars to refine my ranges in a more short-handed game, to improve my final table game.
Some hands.
1.
The FT just started, and because I was watching the other table before, I knew this guy was aggressive and loose. This play was based on that read.
Results below:
Button had A, 8 (high card, Ace).
Hero had 9, 10 (one pair, tens).
Outcome: Hero won t49,540
Another read I got from looking at the other table was that MP and SB were very strong players. This also proved itself at the FT. When it was down to us three I agreed to chop for this reason.
2.
Earlier hand when there were still on 2 tables. They're juicing up the pot, so I jam and pick it up. The fact that I'm the bigstack gives me a big edge, and I'm happy I can jam a hand as strong as AJ here. They need a REALLY good hand to call with because this was 9 paid and a $640 bubble. What range would you shove here?
Preflop: Hero is SB with J, A 1 fold, MP bets t1,299, CO calls t1,299, Button calls t1,299, Hero raises to t70,346 (All-In), 4 folds
Total pot: t6,156
Results below:
Hero didn't show J, A.
3.
Hand from the other tourney where I exited because I stupidly jammed 88 instead of 3bet/folding it. Here I block bet the river, opponent shows up with an unexpected hand. Lucky for me the board got so scary, but still weak play by him imo.
My two biggest leaks atm that I am aware of is that I have a tendency to be too loose with my chips, I need a stronger checking and c/c range. And my HU game is needs a lot of improvement against players that are good in adapting to my style. That is in part why I agreed to chop at 3 FTs today, were 2 HUs and one 3-handed with close stack sizes.
The only thing that'd keep me playing a bit more true in that situation is that two really short stacked players have called which I'm pretty sure is obviously awful so seems very strange, but maybe they were just vbad. Either way AJs is definitely a shove. Run some ICM calcs on what an unexploitable shoving range is there and adjust it based on any reads you may have.
Also try and be more specific about your leaks when you're looking at them. Saying "I'm too loose", "I'm too agressive" or statements like that are too general. Break it down into more specific cases. Although I'm sure you're probably doing that anyway.
Thx. Yeah that was just my explanation to be quick, in actuality I'm being a lot more elaborate about it ofcourse. Me and my buddy have even coined our own term called the "strength check" yesterday which is plugging a leak we both have. We discuss it whenever a situation comes up in a game of his or mine, talking about the deeper lying reasons of a check.
(Boost's lastest strategy article gave me a nice framework to talk about it btw, great article for those who haven't read it!)
Thx. Yeah that was just my explanation to be quick, in actuality I'm being a lot more elaborate about it ofcourse. Me and my buddy have even coined our own term called the "strength check" yesterday which is plugging a leak we both have. We discuss it whenever a situation comes up in a game of his or mine, talking about the deeper lying reasons of a check.
(Boost's lastest strategy article gave me a nice framework to talk about it btw, great article for those who haven't read it!)
Nice going jack - certainly does feel great to be on the heater
Originally Posted by bigred
Would you bone your cousins? Salsa would.
Originally Posted by salsa4ever
well courtie, since we're both clear, would you accept an invitation for some unprotected sex?
Yep. A bit more cold decked now but still going okay-ish. And currently ITM in the Guinness Book tourney, already outlived 170k people haha! This doubled my $1 investment and going.
€1.9k first place in a 6handed yesterday. Was so much fun, with 10 left (itm) I started to raise just about every hand, and took 90% of the pots. Continued this at the FT. At one point with 4 ppl, me 400k they 40k, 60k 70k. In the HU the other guy came back to take a small lead, but he was just not aggressive enough and I could grind him away.
I think I'm addicted to HU. Played a HU for a small tourney against a pokerstars pro yesterday, but he took me out in 2 hands :/. We both turned our gutter in a RR pot but he had the overstraight. Been playing some more HUs too, a bunch against my buddy too live, for free practice. Very neck-and-neck, makes it very fun and educational because he's very good at it.
That's funny because this Jack died last week as well, he was eaten by a werewolf.
“Right thoughts produce right actions and right actions produce work which will be a material reflection for others to see of the serenity at the center of it all”
Members who's signature is a humorous quote about his/herself made by someone who is considered a notable member of the FTR community to give themselves a sense of belonging.
Yes that's where my name comes from, his Demon Princes books are the best books I have ever read. A few of his other stories are great aswell. I didn't know he died, a great loss RIP. He was truely a genius.
Thanks Griffey. Soon I'll be challenging you to a HU .
Aside from bettering my play, which I feel has really improved in the last month and a half (but still a LOT of room for improvement), I've been focussing on staying calm when I'm faced with running card dead or getting sucked out on. It's going better. But I notice now that I have another problem that when it's going well in cash, I get very complacent and start to play bad because I get *too* comfortable. Gonna have to work on that.
Been focussing a bit more on cash games lately, and playing live with friends to practice reads and live game comfort. About cash, HEM2 often calls me fish/whale.. I don't think it takes into account when the games are shorthanded while interpreting stats.
Been focussing a bit more on cash games lately, and playing live with friends to practice reads and live game comfort. About cash, HEM2 often calls me fish/whale.. I don't think it takes into account when the games are shorthanded while interpreting stats.
Haha could be true, but as long as I'm winning comfortably I'm not too worried. I just find a loose aggressive style better to force other people into mistakes, but it's a fickle balance.