Operation Winning is a Habit

Good day. Heck, I guess it's a good year so far, too!



Ended the day with an 11 wins in 12 matches streak.

All right, so I've been contemplating life, poker and why I suck at poker.

I think that I just have a large degree of gamble in me naturally, and even 6m is nittier than my natural instincts. In HU, I get to play every hand, be agro as I want, jam, shovel, min-bet. I'm not horrible at hand reading and range guessing. I do pick up on patterns. But at ring games I just ignore my reads. Too much gamble in me to fold enough, I suppose.

HU seems about right for me. I do want to fold every now and then. And I know that most HU turbo SnG's hinge on a couple big hands. It's not just about reading them, it's about being unreadable. Finding the patterns, then tweaking the patterns when the big hand arrives so he doesn't know where he's at.

Another big key is the adjustments. If you can guess where the match is headed, and get to the adjustment before the other guy realizes it, he changes his game right as you adjust. He's always a step behind.

Here are some of the obvious ones.

A pfr std of 3x is unusual. Most of the pfr's at HU5 are 2x. See a 3x pfr on the first hand and there's about a 90% chance you're up against a TAGG-reg who's opening 45-50% of his hands, most for 3x raises. Oddly, the TAGG-regs don't 4b much, but they flat a lot a of 3b's and donk. Laggy Tagg them with 3b/cbet used judiciously, and c/r's on the dry flops. Other than that, small ball and look for value to jam on or trap with.

See a limp, and it'll be a few hands before you know exactly what you're facing. About half the limpers are the loose passive, weak-tighties, and the small ball game works fine if you open it up a bit.

Other the other hand, some of them are Lagg-tards, and depending how aggressive they are, you can either tighten up and bit and counterpunch (if they're hyper agro) or you can play Laggy Tagg small ball with them but cross them up with the occasional 3b and c/r tossed in.

The stations emerge after about 8-10 hands. Anyone can catch 2nd pair a couple of times and make some call downs when you're playing small ball as a default. The only problem stations are the tight ones who play fewer than 40% of their hands. Their range is reasonably strong, so if they catch some hands early you get short stacked value betting the 2nd best hand. But any station who opens at least 50% of his hands, you just small ball him, play fit or fold post flop, and try to string together some nice betting lines for him to go broke on.

The odd thing about stations is that they hate being jammed preflop. Of all the styles, stations crack the worst during jam/fold time. I guess by nature the stations want to see the whole hand of poker play out, street after street. Jamming the flop seems like heresy to them. Mostly they play super weak-tight during jam/fold until they decide you're bluffing (which you are) and try to catch you at it with K8o. So...get one TPTK hand with 3 streets of value, and it's game nearly over. Jam/fold bluffy. He's still limping preflop with a 6.5xbb stack, so look to jam 2nd pair or better on the flop. They seem to hate that line, too.

The TAGG-regs are an interesting bunch. The biggest thing with them is that they're too cards face up. I've played that style so long it's ingrained in me, pretty much. "Oh, I'm getting out-aggressed, why don't I ... 3b light. And c/r a flop. And then try a donk lead on a paired board." The interesting thing about HU is that there are so many more draws.

Example, you're playing J9s and the flop is T83 with a BDFD live. Normally, we'd call that 8 straight outs + 1 for the back door flush, but here against a TAGG who's willing to bet and raise the flop, often the 3 J's are outs. He's probably in with a broadway Tx and is betting the shizzle out of TPGK, which is usually the nuts. And he's not often on JT. So you donk into him small after flatting his 3x pfr, and he raises bigger but he's not quite pot committed, and you jam all-in. He snap-insta calls, and you draw out on him. He's pissed off, but in fact you had it read right and had 12-ish outs and were pretty much a coin flip. Since you had an 1800 to 1200 chip lead, a 50-50 coin flip won't kill off the match if you lose it, and you do have fold equity. Sure, they insta-call a lot, but many of them will tank, too, and get away from it.

Also, I just have to say it's appalling how few folks know that there's a correct way to play the jam/fold with less than 15bb effective stacks. There's a chart and everything, but they don't seem to know it. Do they not read Colin Moshman or Kill Everyone or Mathematics of Poker? Or a web site? I almost feel bad for them. Oh, yeah, right.

6max.

So I played 73 hands of start-table 6max last night, and I ended up 3 stacks to the good. You get about a dozen hands on a guy and you can place his most likely style. Then, a big hand comes up, and you take the line that your HU SnG experience tells you is mostly likely to extract chips from him. And if you're rolled well enough to mind losing a few coin flips, you can play a crazy Lagg HU style with min-raises and 4b's and shovels, which I love doing. It's unorthodox. They're used to 6max and think they're agro, but it's aggression at a very different level HU. And you can add the pressure to them until you can almost see them steaming. If they're smart, they leave, or sit out until the table fills. If not, they try to adjust, and like a I said above watching the clockwork adjustments of a TAGG is just waiting for the moment to profit. Sure, it's bit higher variance, but it's the kind of variance I'm used to and they're not.

So...I think my full table 6max career is on hold for a while. I still will probably grind some start-table 6max, and stay on for some of the juicier ones just to keep my 6m game from rusting out completely. But playing 2 or 3 tables trying to find someone I can get 20 hands of HU cash game poker against is where I'll be for now.

Like this hand, too: Full Tilt HU SnG $5
Hero ($1,530)
($1,470)

Dealt to Hero 2 3

Oneouter1 raises to $60, Hero calls $30

FLOP ($120) 8 K 8

Hero checks, Oneouter1 bets $60, Hero raises to $345, Oneouter1 calls $285

TURN ($810) 8 K 8 A

Hero bets $1,125 (AI), Oneouter1 folds

Hero wins $810

Note of the month (made myself laugh): "Mega-station - very passive - if he bets or raises, fold twice."

I don´t get your sizing at all. I´d rather c/r(200) - 350 - shove than to offer the villian such an easy decision on turn.

Also it's near impossible to play 23s profitable there against pretty much anyone.

In the AQ hand your betting seems confused. He will call you down with worse sometimes, but not enough for you not to need fold equity against some better hands in his range. You can lead or c/c. C/r doesn't make a lot of sense. - Use flopzilla if you can and run his opening range and your calling range on unconnected paired boards vs some raggy semi-wet boards and you'll see what I mean. AQ on TTx is similar to AJ on QJ8. Would you c/r that?
Nevermind that you can just 3b to 450/fistpump ship with 30bb.


If you ever ended up with 70/20 stats without getting 83o 10 times in a row otb you were probably not opening nearly enough and calling way too much from oop. - see the 23s - that really shouldn't be in your calling range. The only way 70/20 could be close to correct is if he religiously folds to your open raises but raises your limps and/or generally plays really bad post flop and you want to play him IP rather than just win the blinds.

Anyway. gl with the new operation! HU sng's are aaaaaaaaaaaawesome. But just raise all your buttons and fold a lot more oop.

I get what you're sayin' about the 3s2s hand. I will take a look and see if I can improve my lines.

Here's some background on the hand. There was some metagame going on. As I recall, he was PFR 3x std, and had just switched (adjusted?) to some 2x PFR's, which I read postflop as weak. I had been 3b'ing him hard, and he appeared to me to keep his big combos in the 3x range and medium hands he could ditch to a 3b he started 2x'ing. So I was thinking he has Ax or Kx pretty much never. I had also donked into 4 or 5 paired boards, and the first few he ditched. The last time he jammed all-in, then he attacked two of my cbets on paired boards with c/r's.

OK, now this hand. I wanna c/r him, and honestly I thought he'd fold. I didn't have a plan for the hand except to bluff it somewhere all-in, since I knew he didn't like calling all-ins. Well, semi-bluff.

Any more advice? Thanks.

I'm down-swinging, and tilting a bit. These two hands (3 hands apart) ended a tournament I feel like I won on points, but he got the knockout. They kinda sum up my life at HU right now:

Editing... 3077610

No Limit Holdem Tournament
2 Players
Hand Conversion Powered by weaktight.com
$6 + $0.25 Heads Up Sit & Go

Stacks:
Hero (1,670)
BB (1,330)

Blinds: 25/50

Pre-Flop: (75, 2 players) Hero is SB
Hero raises to 125, BB raises to 375, Hero calls 250

Flop: (750, 2 players)
BB goes all-in 955, Hero calls 955

Turn: (2,660, 2 players, 1 all-in)

River: (2,660, 2 players, 1 all-in)

Final Pot: 2,660
BB shows three of a kind, Tens

Hero shows a pair of Kings


BB wins 2,660 (net +1,330)

Hero lost 1,330




No Limit Holdem Tournament
2 Players
Hand Conversion Powered by weaktight.com
$6 + $0.25 Heads Up Sit & Go

Stacks:
Hero (490)
BB (2,510)

Blinds: 25/50

Pre-Flop: (75, 2 players) Hero is SB
Hero goes all-in 490, BB calls 440

Flop: (980, 2 players, 1 all-in)

Turn: (980, 2 players, 1 all-in)

River: (980, 2 players, 1 all-in)

Final Pot: 980
BB shows a straight, Ace high

Hero shows a pair of Aces


BB wins 980 (net +490)

Hero lost 490

In New Orleans, in the Doubletree across from Harrah's. Need some food. Then a conference registration which is two blocks north. Waiting for the iPhone to charge a bit so I can follow it around the city looking at the 2.5" screen rather than the sights and people. I will not play in the casino tonight. I will not play in the casino tonight. But I will take a looksee....

Originally Posted by Robb

I will not play in the casino tonight. I will not play in the casino tonight. But I will take a looksee....

Played poker last night, but I have an excuse. I ate dinner there at the casino, grabbed a panini at McAllisters and walked over to the bar next to the poker room to catch a bit of the feel of the place. So I order a beer, and the barkeep says, "If you put at least $5 in the video poker machine there, the beer's free." So I ask how much the beer is if I don't gamble. "It's five dollars." So I break a twenty, and feed my fiver into the machine and play about 30 hands. After the panini and Heineken were gone, I was up $1.25. So I tipped the barman another dollar and figured it was a big win.

My hotel room overlooks the Canal Street entrance to the casino. I'm literally less than 100 meters from gambling central, and about 200 meters from the poker room. It's 5 PM here, a bit early to hit the casino. My flight tomorrow is 10 AM, so I'm thinking of grabbing a free meal at a reception funded by a Texas billionaire named Harry Lucas whose foundation supports mathematics education research. I have one of their grants, and I'm part of Project NExT, the top professional development organization for the MAA (Mathematics Association of America), which Lucas partially funds. He was at a talk my colleague gave, and he personally invited me.

I have this rule: if a billionaire invites me personally to an event, I go.

I haven't had this rule for long, because it happened for the first time about three hours ago. But the guy attends math conferences and actually shows up at the presentations by the faculty who are doing projects funded by his foundation.

I got a nap earlier in the day. I also have a line on a mini-grant through Arizona State University. They have $16 million worth of NSF grants for a "calculus readiness" project. I am trying to arrange for my university to be a pilot site for their grant-funded research project.

I guess I'm sayin' all this to say, it's never just about WHAT you know. Even in mathematics, the most theoretical and logical of the academic disciplines, it's still about networking and WHO you know. I'm a mediocre researcher who has a personality, and I get more grants and big assignments than many of my more talented and accomplished colleagues. Fortunately, I'm at a small college where my research is actually above average, and the grant work and national committee work that I do is exceptional.

If any of you 20-somethings are reading this, please get this life lesson. Poker is life. Understanding and reading people is a life skill, not just a poker skill. Being able to understand them and negotiate with them is a talent very few folks possess. I almost blew up a chance to be part of the ASU grant, but I read the woman's demeanor and shut the hell up and let her talk. She wanted to make an offer. Lots of mathematicians would have walked past her and not said anything. I watched it happen. I just stopped for 30 seconds to politely thank her for her presentation to our committee, you know, being a human being. But of the 20 other people in the meeting, all but one other person walked out without doing it. That person and myself got the offer, which will bring top drawer research and instructional materials to our university years ahead of it being published and offered elsewhere.

Poker is life. And sometimes, like in about 3 hours when I hit the casino for real, life is poker. You can learn a lot from this game.

Speaking of downswings, I'm downswinging hard in pokerz and irl. Lost ~100 at casino, picked a cab that broke down on the way to the airport Friday, ran out of gas a mile from the gas station near my house (which isn't bad luck, admittedly, just me being a dumbass). I'm on a 15 BI downswing with HU SnG's over about 30 total.

I quit the casino after somewhat more than an hour of paying $12/hr seat tax to watch 84o and such, plus I was seated with three LAGGs to my left and three TAGGs to my right. Only hand worth mentioning, I picked up AK in MP, played it std, Kxx monotone flop and my cbet gets called and raised. Ditch, hand goes to showdown, and the raiser has indeed flopped a flush with 65s.

I did learn a lot about myself and gambling however. I used to be able to go to a casino with "money to burn," just sit down at a table and plan to lose money "for fun." Now, I can't. I started this thread several years ago because I wanted a change of mindset from "poker/gambling is entertainment" to "poker is about winning, even if it's only a hobby, it's going to be a winning one." New Orleans proved to me that I have changed my mentality a ton.

With internet poker, I'm back to 2HUT's for a few days. I'm still well-rolled for the 5/6 games, but someone's gotta unflip the doomswitch before I'm playing the bigger games.

gl finding your luckbox again! gogogo

Read this in Griffey's op. For those who don't know, Griff's noted for his ridiculously positive "red line." I was thinking about his post, since HEM Leak Buster has made it quite clear that I'm in need of help postflop, especially my W$SD stat which is an embarrassing 46%. Most of my game seems reasonable, except a horrible turn/river EV, which of course is all the big pots. Here's what Griff says about barreling (and a link to his thread)

Originally Posted by griffey24

Was just talking to Jimmy about bluffing/barreling so thought I'd share some of those thoughts:

I think an important thing is distinguishing which boards are good to ONLY fire 1. Which are good to ONLY fire two and which are good to fire 3.

If someone calls on a AK5 rainbow, I'd say this is reasonable to just fire one. Lots of their range are Ax or Kx hands which will always call two. So if you're going to fire more than 1 barrel it better be 3. Cause their whole range is always calling two, except for fewer combos of QJ/JT.

If someone calls on J85 rainbow. I'd say this is a good board to fire two. A ton of flop calling range makes up gutters/OESD's. Hands like 9T, 67, 79, QT, 46 etc etc. All these hands will call one barrel but fold to the turn. If they call turn again, I'd shutdown cause they prob aren't folding river.

If someone calls on a T47 board, and turn comes 5. You have to decide if you're gonna go three with it or give up. A lot of hands on this board are gonna be pairs+draws which will call two but fold to river often. So similar to AK5 example, its fire once or three I'd say.

I'd say these are all factors which usually contribute to my higher than average red line. Some people only barrel with a strong semi bluff hand and give up all other hands. I tend to barrel regardless of my hand, if I strongly believe that their hand fits into one of these categories and can get a fold.

Gonna think about this and work on some more Leak Buster stuff.

So....HEM Leak Buster has been the focus of my away from the table poker attention lately. I attached the notes I made as I went through (PDF).

Basically, losing too much with small pp's and sc's, losing too much from the BTN, SB and BB, losing too much in 3bet pots, especially when I flat (which I do too often).

I'll be posting some more thoughts later, especially how the pointers in LeakBuster align with the points Griffey makes about postflop.

I think my biggest leak is over-aggression. I don't have a change-of-pace I can throw at folks, so anyone who's aware can outplay me postflop. I hope to take Griffey's thoughts and get to work on my postflop lines, barreling only in profitable spots, and otherwise just ditching the hand.

OK, see I epic failed the attachment post - FTR has like a 30K (yes, K) maximum for attachments, so I'll post my notes old style:

Code:

Leak Buster (25nl 6max)

Big Leaks (2)
Grade F :  W$SD = 47.1 (need ~51%, want 55% or more)
Grade F : Preflop Positional Awareness is too high (more than 4 to 1, looking for ~3 to 1)
Grade B : vs 3bet Call too high (currently 35%, need < 30%)

Potential Leaks
W$WSF too low (want more like 48 - 50 vs 46 currently)
Turn Agg% too high (currently at 37 want more like 30 or 31%)
AFF & AG% both a bit too high

SB UO PFR too high (currently at 41 want more like 33-35%)
BB resteal too low

Position
W$SD is too low from BTN/SB/BB (more selective all 3, fold earlier SB/BB)
Not playing enough hands from EP/MP

Preflop - open raises
EP - losing too much w/ small pp’s and sc’s
MP - losing too much w/ small pp’s
CO - losing too much in general, specifically small pp’s and sc’s
BTN - losing too much in general
SB - losing too much with sc’s and connectors (T9s and lower)

Preflop - cold calls
Trouble is with AT to AK in all positions - remember these hands have high reverse implied odds, and not very high implied odds.

Preflop - limps
Don’t do much of this, but doing it too much on the button, especially w/ sc’s.
Losing too much on limps from the SB.

Preflop - squeezes
Trouble spot is BTN and SB with AT - AK , squeezing is fine from CO and BB.

You don't have to read much past that first line to sum up my biggest leak. Playing postflop. So I've been thinking about this. Here are my focus areas for the next little bit.

1. Work on laying down bad hands on the flop.
2. Decide on the flop how many barrels it would be WISE to fire (including ZERO in the decision matrix), then FIRE THAT MANY OR FEWER!!!!
3. Look for good implied odds spots to barrel to help mix up the TPTK cbetting flop/turn range.
4. Shut down oop, don't aggress myself into trouble by firing two barrels at hopeless boards, just making villain's c/c then c/c then bet line too easy.
5. Preflop hand selection - work on position, and playing a fewer number of sc's and small pp's agro in EP.

Basically, everything Griffey appears to do right I do wrong, so I'm going to be working through some postflop stuff in the evenings this week, see if I get anywhere.

My Dad's going to have surgery Feb 2, so I'm trying to get him some scripts working by then. He's got about 4-5 days of recovery time where he'll be laying around, so he's planning on a pokerfest. I got my scripting done today, and ran awful, and I'm just headed to bed.

Need to post some HH's tonight from last night's session. After working through Leak Buster, started planning hands based on showing up on the turn with a hand with potential. I should either have...

A. Value, or
B. Fold Equity.

If there was no strong likelihood of either being the case, why did I see a turn? Now, a great hand/flop like AK w/ Kxx can go sideways with a flush/straight card hitting on the turn, bringing in pretty much all the draws at once. But that's fine if I got there knowing there were a small handful of cards that could ruin the plan. But I shouldn't show up on the turn without some way of taking down the hand that I could see before committing chips on the flop.

It's not rocket surgery. It's just putting them on a range, accurately assessing potential, and folding the crap. Focus on W$SD percentage by not barreling into trouble with air, and by finding legitimate cbet/barrel spots where I can take down the hand with very little risk. Also, focus on not giving away reverse implied odds with hand/position selection preflop.

And I ran a bit more than +3 BI's last night over 800 hands, with a 60% W$SD.

Admittedly, I was on a heater, but I was also playing well for the first time since I started back. I feel like the rust was finally off my ring game pokers, and I was thinking clearly. LeakBuster helped some, but playing HU helped a lot, too. You get a lot of experience reading hands, playing trash hands in tough spots, and reading people. If you can forget about the trash hands, the rest is great for nano-stakes grinding. (Actually, HU experience with trash is helpful in the blind wars, in getting value from mediocre hands but not allowing yourself to go broke with them.)

HH's tonight...

Some HH's.

1. Both villains are fishy. BB is 70/25/2.5 over 35 hands. CO is 60/27/2 over 15 hands. I have no notes, except that I've selected the HEM "whale" icon for both prior to this hand.

Advice on all streets, but note how deep we are. I'm providing tons of reverse implied odds w/ my AK on Kxx board, but the flop is a good texture for me. Then, the turn starts to worry us a bit.

What is our plan on this turn vs. a raise? vs. a call? If he calls, what's the plan on the river?


$0.02/$0.05 Ante $0.01 No Limit Holdem
5 Players
Hand Conversion Powered by weaktight.com

Stacks:
UTG ($12.43)
CO ($15.82)
Hero ($10.69)
SB ($10.50)
BB ($7.80)

Pre-Flop: ($0.12, 5 players) Hero is BTN
UTG raises to $0.22, CO calls $0.22, Hero raises to $1, 1 fold, BB calls $0.95, UTG folds, CO calls $0.78

Flop: ($3.29, 3 players)
BB checks, CO checks, Hero bets $0.20, BB calls $0.20, CO folds

Turn: ($3.69, 2 players)
BB checks, Hero ($9.49)?



2. Villain is TAGG-std for 5nl, 21/15/9 over 450 hands. My only note is to 3bet his steal attempts wide.

$0.02/$0.05 No Limit Holdem
6 Players
Hand Conversion Powered by weaktight.com

Stacks:
UTG ($5.58)
UTG+1 ($6.41)
CO ($7.36)
BTN ($5.45)
Hero ($4.68)
BB ($5.27)

Pre-Flop: ($0.07, 6 players) Hero is SB
1 fold, UTG+1 raises to $0.17, 2 folds, Hero calls $0.15, 1 fold

Flop: ($0.39, 2 players)
Hero checks, UTG+1 bets $0.17, Hero calls $0.17

Turn: ($0.73, 2 players)
Hero ($4.34)?

Also, checked the LeakBuster turn filter, and I was +330 big blinds when seeing the turn. That's good, admitting I was on a heater, though. Looking for trouble spots I didn't mark at the time.

3. Same villain as from HH#2 above (TAGG-std).

$0.02/$0.05 No Limit Holdem
6 Players
Hand Conversion Powered by weaktight.com

Stacks:
UTG ($5.85)
UTG+1 ($8.27)
CO ($2.09)
Hero ($6.46)
SB ($4.54)
BB ($5.90)

Pre-Flop: ($0.07, 6 players) Hero is BTN
1 fold, UTG+1 raises to $0.17, 1 fold, Hero calls $0.17, 2 folds

Flop: ($0.41, 2 players)
UTG+1 bets $0.30, Hero calls $0.30

Turn: ($1.01, 2 players)
UTG+1 checks, Hero bets $0.60, UTG+1 calls $0.60

River: ($2.21, 2 players)
UTG+1 bets $1.15, $1.15 to Hero ($5.39)?

Originally Posted by Robb

Some HH's.

1. Both villains are fishy. BB is 70/25/2.5 over 35 hands. CO is 60/27/2 over 15 hands. I have no notes, except that I've selected the HEM "whale" icon for both prior to this hand.

Advice on all streets, but note how deep we are. I'm providing tons of reverse implied odds w/ my AK on Kxx board, but the flop is a good texture for me. Then, the turn starts to worry us a bit.

What is our plan on this turn vs. a raise? vs. a call? If he calls, what's the plan on the river?


$0.02/$0.05 Ante $0.01 No Limit Holdem
5 Players
Hand Conversion Powered by weaktight.com

Stacks:
UTG ($12.43)
CO ($15.82)
Hero ($10.69)
SB ($10.50)
BB ($7.80)

Pre-Flop: ($0.12, 5 players) Hero is BTN
UTG raises to $0.22, CO calls $0.22, Hero raises to $1, 1 fold, BB calls $0.95, UTG folds, CO calls $0.78

Flop: ($3.29, 3 players)
BB checks, CO checks, Hero bets $0.20, BB calls $0.20, CO folds

Turn: ($3.69, 2 players)
BB checks, Hero ($9.49)?

If there was only one villian, I'd probably check behind on the flop, Call T & R or bet T & R if checked to. But, you have 2 villians so...

I have no idea what you're doing on the flop...maybe trying to rep bottom pair or mid-pair? With that tiny bet, they shouldn't fold and you don't get much value. Against whales, I'd try to get 3 streets of value. They won't fold an ace, you just hope they don't flop 2-pr or better.

I would bet just over 1/2 pot - 3/4 pot, about $1.80-$2.40. If villian is in C/C mode, I'd bet the low amount (1/2 pot+) for three streets. If I bet 2.40 and got called, I might Check behind Turn and bet River or switch to Calling mode for Turn and River if he bets. If he raised my flop bet, maybe consider folding. You can't win all the hands against fish, but you have a lot of equity.

As played, I'd probably bet about $2.40 on the Turn and fold to a raise.

hand 1 - AKs pre is cool. Flop c=bet size is pretty damn bad. Turn is bet-fold

hand 2 - 99. I don't like flop. You can bet-fold or check-fold. Check-fold is better. I mean, you haven't got a turn plan when you check-call. Even if 9d turns you're unhappy, all diamonds mess with your head, all cards T+, etc.

hand 3 - KJo pre is ok, so is folding though. Flop call confuses me, same with turn sizing. Call river.

Originally Posted by daven

hand 1 - AKs pre is cool. Flop c=bet size is pretty damn bad. Turn is bet-fold

Sorry, shoulda mentioned the misclick. I was TRYING to bet $2.

Agree with Daven except hand 3 I would just fold pre and would flat flop as played.

Life is the shizzle. Poker - I've played 6 HUT $1's tonight and won 5. My thought: never underestimate the influence of the cards on your winnings. Like to think I'm awesome, but...

Here's a hand I've been thinking over. Villain is TAGG standard but a bit too passive post.

No Limit Holdem Tournament
2 Players
Hand Conversion Powered by weaktight.com
$1 + $0.10 Heads Up Sit & Go

Stacks:
SB (805)
Hero (BB) (2,195)

Blinds: 20/40

Pre-Flop: (60, 2 players) Hero is BB 7 A
SB raises to 200, 160 to Hero (2155)?

This raise is larger than his standard 2x open - he uses 3x sometimes, too. Options: Fold, Call or Raise.

Fold: Pluses - Small pot, don't give away any of commanding chip lead when likely behind. Minuses - I've noted a big bet / small hand trend, but it's only a possible read at this point.

Call: Pluses - good implied odds for flop plus in position post. Minuses - no post flop leverage, likely have get it all in to get a fold, have to fold to any reasonable donk bet on the flop.

Raise: Pluses - chance to win a big pot right away, probably not much worse than 40-60 if called. Minuses - can easily give away the chip lead.

I think (after some calculating) this hand hits the flop about 40% of the time, but when it misses it misses comprehensively. Of the 40% it's about 1/3 Axx, 1/3 7xx and 1/3 FD's.

Easy fold, now that I analyze it. Any thoughts appreciated, tho.

Life update - I finished a great family room in our basement this Fall, and I got promoted early to full professor a couple months back. My Summer Honors program has (so far) survived the budget crisis (SummerHonors.org), and the twins turn 7 next week - two birthday parties in two days.

And I'm up just over $2 in HUT's, after losing 2 of 3 $1 tourneys last night and winning a handful tonight. Hope everyone is good. I'll be trolling around a bit, checking slevin's blog and generally seeing what FTR is up to.

OK, didn't feel great last night, so woke up after some sleep and couldn't get back to sleep, so I loaded up a $1 HU tourney. Played same guy 8 times, and beat him 5 of them. I had played 78 hands with him (and won 3 of 4) before he folded the first time - total maniac, he had two lines: (1) jam first and (2) call-then-jam. He also refused to lay down a hand and called every all-in when I had the nuts and just shoved.

Still, the variance is there, and even though I won my share of all-ins, I picked up AQ < AK for one loss, and got sucked out on for one of the others. Despite having a heavy edge imo, I won a dollar. I'm amazed how effective the total jam-jam-jam style was, and I got bled down waiting for something decent to shove with. Good lessons.

Won two more tonight, up 3 bucks for the day.

the hand is a fold. Don't bleed now when you got him by the balls, especially vs a non-standard open.

Originally Posted by Robb

Life is the shizzle.

good to hear

Originally Posted by Robb

Life update - I finished a great family room in our basement this Fall, and I got promoted early to full professor a couple months back. My Summer Honors program has (so far) survived the budget crisis (SummerHonors.org), and the twins turn 7 next week - two birthday parties in two days.

nice hands.

Originally Posted by daven

the hand is a fold. Don't bleed now when you got him by the balls, especially vs a non-standard open.

Good to hear from you, Dave.

Yeah, I folded, but I'm rusty and it took me a few seconds to think it all the way through - I nearly timed out (he was a fish, and I played him a couple times afterwards and confirmed it). So I decided to mark it and review, more for practice than any concern I had missed the read. And A7 is NOT a great hand, though it's probably along the lines of what he had, reading backwards from other hands I saw him play later.

Yeah, life's been good, and I'm really getting into poker again, thinking about it at work (like now) and having that "can't wait to play" feeling again every evening. Maybe I can grind a bit in the next few months, and get out of the nanos up to the baby-micros!!

Back. I have a few pennies back online, first time since Black Friday. Will post some about life. Here's a HH. Sorry it's not converted. Playing on Carbon and haven't figured out anything. Just enjoying the 4NL games

Hero Posts SB 0.02
BB Posts 0.04
EP Folds
MP Folds
CO Folds
BTN Raised to 0.08
Hero (SB) Raised to 0.32
BB Folds
BTN Raised to 0.80
Hero All In 5.35
BTN Calls 4.87
BTN Shows AsKh
RobbDaNuts Shows TdTc

So, I just jam all-in w/ TT. Here's my notes on the guy:

"Small ball laggy, can be trapped because he's always betting and raising."

I don't wanna play TT postflop oop, 'cuz I won't know where I'm at with overcards. He will bet into me if I check, and he's decent at reading the game and applying just enough pressure.

AK is the absolute top of his range (I know - of anyone's range, but still). I think he calls the shove w/ A9+, 88+, KQ. I've played him 70 or 80 hands of HU and 3-max, starting a different table. So we have history. Maybe his range is tighter.

How bad is this?

OK, so I deposited a ridiculously tiny amount of $$ on Carbon, to add to the $.42 I found was still on my account there. Really just enjoying being back online and playing some. Didn't ask my wife about it, but it's honestly such a small amount of money, she can't really complain.

I'm single-tabling 4NL.

Yep, that's right. Ballin!!

Sometimes, it's for the love of the game. Right now, even for pennies, that me. Just chillaxin' and playing some pokerz.

Gah-DANG it's good to be back!!

Hope all y'all are doing great and have won a ton of monies at the tables!

Rakeback account says (in huge red bold letters): You have raked $1.

I think they had to round up. That's not rakeback. That's the actual rake from several hundred hands. But I've got 15 cent in rakebizzle already added to my account, and more on the way.

Hey!! Welcome back guy!

Thanks!!

Why did you quit in the first place?? I didnt think you were a US player

Good to see you back. Rereading through your links at the beginning of your OP. Such good stuff in there.

in b4 Robb's grinding 200nl. Gl.

Originally Posted by Vinland

Why did you quit in the first place?? I didnt think you were a US player

I am a U. S. player. I will post a life comment soon, maybe this evening.

Short story, lost a $200 roll on Full Tilt on Black Friday, which was my entire stake. I know others lost thousands - I'm not complaining. I had withdrawn $2,500 in the two years leading up to Black Friday, and wasn't playing much at the time so had very little exposure.

For me, though, my poker role was gone with no easy way to play or get money online. So I gave up poker after Black Friday, and I missed it so much I couldn't even stand to log in to FTR. I have trolled once or twice, but just clicked away. I was so frustrated about not being able to play I couldn't stand to think about poker.

Gotta go work, but that's the short story. Good luck at the tables!!

I'm up 5 BI's at 4NL, and have lost 4 of 5 $2 HU SNG's. Not unhappy with the SNG's, as in each loss I've been all-in with the chip lead and the better odds, a couple of times dominating. That's just how HU works.

4NL is full of fish, including me, obviously. But a good half week reintroduction to pokerz.

Not using software, just 1 or 2 tables, notes, and trying to remember what works and what doesn't.

And having fun.

Originally Posted by WeaselT

Rereading through your links at the beginning of your OP. Such good stuff in there.

This. A lot of good stuff missing from the beginners digest.

Also, gl. Winning players restarting from the microstakes are the nuts, so I'll be following.

Originally Posted by Shizu

This. A lot of good stuff missing from the beginners digest.

Thanks, I've been going through my links section again, too, for two reasons. First, it's good to refresh some basics as I ease back into poker. Second, I like to keep the links fresh and weed out posts that no longer apply to the current state of the game.

Originally Posted by Shizu

Also, gl. Winning players restarting from the microstakes are the nuts, so I'll be following.

Don't know about this. I have never beaten the game consistently above 25nl, though I did break even at 50nl for 50k hands.

Just before Black Friday, I discovered HU SnG's. Until that point, I was a 6max NLHE cash game player who only rarely tried SnG's, MTT's and other games like Ohama, and then only for fun. So I'll be grinding HU SnG's and 6max 4NL and 10NL in the near term.

I really like the HU's now that they have them at the microstakes. I would caution folks who want to play them to double your br requirements before trying them. If you have 25 BI's as your br requirement for 5nl NLHE, I would suggest 50 BI's for $5 HU SnG's. But if you're rolled for 5nl, you are certainly rolled for $1 and $2 HU.

I think HU really helps you understand the post flop game. Or it did for me. I would say other folks like Daven, M2M, Keith, Stacks, Bikes and BJaust understood post flop far better than me at the micros, say, 10nl and 25nl. HU was where I learned to open up and read the game, adding different styles to my TAGG-std approach. Also, if there's one attribute I have aplenty, it's aggression. And HU rewards aggressive play.

So that's my goal at the moment: grind $2 HU's and 4nl 6max. I'm pretty excited about getting back to grinding, at least as a hobby player. I've missed poker. I have always loved the game, even when experiencing negative variance and losses due to sucking at poker.

And I enjoy the comraderie of FTR, especially watching the blogs and operation threads. You guys inspire me when you do well, so I root for you and wish you the best.

Good luck at the tables!

Welcome back Robb.

Didnt realize Merge updated to include HUSNGS below $5 that werent STs! Was playing these a good bit a couple months ago but I havent logged into my account for a while. Mebbe ill have to.start playing again

Originally Posted by dranger7070

Welcome back Robb.

Didnt realize Merge updated to include HUSNGS below $5 that werent STs! Was playing these a good bit a couple months ago but I havent logged into my account for a while. Mebbe ill have to.start playing again

Thanks dranger!

Gyaw-dang Internets! I was up 3 BI and the Internet broke! Customer service is sending a tech 'cause something is physically wrong with the line. Jeez!

More proof, if any were needed, that online poker is rigged!!!

IPhone + 3G...can you play poker like this?

Feels good to see a US player back, especially Robb. Will continue to read this thread. Great luck!

Originally Posted by Robb

Gah-DANG it's good to be back!!

Hope all y'all are doing great and have won a ton of monies at the tables!

good to see ya back in the ring!

Originally Posted by daven

good to see ya back in the ring!

Hell, ya, Daven!

I appreciate you stoppin' by. I am living the dream. Life is good. Poker is good. Some climbing dates on the calendar for May. This is exam week, so I have some time for special projects and my summer camp soon.

Hope life on the bottom of the globe is grand.

Welcome back sir

Poker is grand.

My rakebizzle at Carbon was still good, been "grinding" there. Pathetically tiny original stake has doubled.

Downloaded PT4 beta. Pretty impressed. Don't know how use it, yet, or why certain tables don't load the HUD, but the stats and auto-notes are really cool.

Finding 4NL interesting, and doing well.

Originally Posted by Robb

... are really cool...

plizz tell me more on these "auto-notes"

Originally Posted by DoubleJ

plizz tell me more on these "auto-notes"

Now, I've used PT4 for all of 10 minutes, so take this with a grain of salt, but it appears to note the implied 3b and 4b range for all hands where villain showed down. So you click on notes (for a player you haven't made any on), and it shows he 4bet with ATo and 3bet with 98s.

I would like to thank Keith, L_Clan_Superman and McStackn for staking me. The details and agreement are in this thread on the staking forum.

I've been embarrassed to say how little money I have online, since I believe in BR management and I was WAY under-rolled for even 4NL. I invested $25, ground it up to $44 in 10 days, and then transferred to it the stakers. I now have over a $100 on Black Chip Poker (Merge network), plus access to bonuses I can grind that, if I can just break even, will have me rolled for 10nl shortly.

It's a good deal. They get a nice return, and I get money transferred to a site that accepts US players but makes it rather hard to get an account funded. Plus the bonuses.

I feel better. Instead of playing with only 6 BI's at 4NL, I will be starting off with 26 BI's and a chance to grind it up with bonuses.

Getting everything worked out today, maybe grind some this evening.

Originally Posted by Robb

...take this with a grain of salt...

OK, thx anyways.

reason for asking is that Hold'Em Manager has a similar (I think) function, and i was wondering what the general opinion on this was - useful or (as we say in the UK) a load of old bollocks?

lemme know how ya get on