Operation: 'A' game

Hey guys,

Well Genitruc's new blog has motivated me to start up a new blog, as I need some more structure in my game.

This past year has been the lowest volume year of the last 3.5 yrs, and this is pretty much entirely due to my full time job which I started 7 months ago.

It's hard to accept that 20k hands a month is a good volume month for me, and even harder to accept given the job pays like ass. But given the state of the games lately, I'm happy trying to do both and hopefully move to a higher paying job soon.

The operation name is pretty clear, and it has been my biggest obstacle throughout my poker career: play my 'A' game.. ALWAYS! (or most of the time). My 'A' game is very good, and my 'non A' game, is bad enough to offset any good.

My 'non A' game isn't as wild and crazy as some other people's. I'm not tilt open shoving preflop, or tilt shoving flops with air. Its repeating mid-sized mistakes over and over, which may even be worse. It's flatting 4bets IP with low SC's, because I've been 3betting 14% and they "must be playing back". It's floating flop c/r too light, or calling three barrels with mid-pair. I say this could be worse than just tilt open shoving a stack pre, because doing that is clearly bad and is a clear sign to quit. Whereas mid-sized mistakes can be perceived as "ok plays", or "read-based decisions", but compounded over and over, playing through them, can add up quick.

I have been using table ninja more lately, and it has allowed me to play across multiple stakes. I'm playing 200nl without any real game selection, 400nl with some and 3/6 and 5/10 with better game selection.

My only problem with table ninja is pre-flop raise sizing by position. Is this possible? (ie: 3.5x UTG and 2.5x on the button)

I've also been talking to some people who say that starting tables is +EV. I've NEVER been the type to start tables, and I think I'm missing out on fish by not doing so. So I'll aim to start more tables as well.

My goals are pretty modest from what they have been in the past. Play poker part-time and make a decent supplemental income to my job (ie: make more from poker than my job!)

Goals per month:
-at least 20k hands
-at least $5k-10k per month
-play A game most of the time
-start more tables, and continue on them if fish sit
-update blog semi-regularly

Here we go, time to close out 2010 the right way!

first! gl

Originally Posted by griffey24

My only problem with table ninja is pre-flop raise sizing by position. Is this possible? (ie: 3.5x UTG and 2.5x on the button)

You can't set them by position but under 'FIXED BETS tab > Limper Bets' you can assign up to four different bet sizes using keys of your liking. My setup includes:

Z = 2.5x bb + 1bb per limper
X = 3x "
C = 3.5x "
V = 4x "

Additionally under 'Big Blind Bets' I've set it up for 3bet pots as follows:

A = 10bb
S = 12bb
D = 28bb

And since I've practically described my entire setup why stop there...

Under 'Pot Betting' tab I setup the 'Percent of pot' section so that each row (including Preflop, Flop, Turn, River) has the same percentage which is then assigned to a key

Q = 50% of pot (on any street)
W = 66%
E = 75%
R = 200%

My default %Pot on every street is 70.5% and I use the scroll wheel to tweak the bet size from there.

So as you can see I can access just about any bet I need to make using my free hand on the keyboard. Just some ideas.

Thanks al yell!

See my problem is, I was trying to use hot keys that I wouldn't otherwise ever use (arrow keys, pageup/down, home/end, delete/insert)

Don't you find that if you use those keys, when you type notes or something, or type in msn things go out of whack? (ie: start betting and raising everywhere?)

I've never experienced these type of problems, but it requires proper setup. For instance TABLE CONTROL tab > 'Table Control Modes' I have it set to [x] Table Under Mouse + [x] Bring to foreground? This ensures that only the table over which your cursor is placed will be affected by key commands. (note that if you use a HUD and the cursor is placed over any of them the key commands will not work). The program is set up to recognize that you are typing in the chat box or another application, so, in my experience, it's never been a issue. Again this depends on cursor placement. Be sure that if you want to take a note the cursor stays inside the window where you are typing.

You may also want to make sure that none of the '[ ] Automatically click bet button' options are enabled.

1 - choose good tables/seats/games
2 - play a-game
3 - ???
4 - profit

re varying bet sizing by position, can you just have pot as default and set mouse wheel or arrow to move bet size up/down in 0.5bb intervals? Not sure if this works on your site? i play ftp and don't use tableninja, mostly cos we have a pot button and i have this bet-size moving thing setup through the client.

Originally Posted by griffey24

See my problem is, I was trying to use hot keys that I wouldn't otherwise ever use (arrow keys, pageup/down, home/end, delete/insert)

Don't you find that if you use those keys, when you type notes or something, or type in msn things go out of whack? (ie: start betting and raising everywhere?)

i think you can use one hot key to toggle disable/enable the rest? so, disable when you start to type, enable when you want to play or something. Make it some combo that you won't otherwise use, like arrow-x
as for msn and consistent a-game, i've just finished reading a bunch of TA's stuff, and i'm not convinced these two things line up.

Thanks al yell! This past session I was going to change my hotkeys but then decided to try just using the mouse wheel, and that works pretty well. You tried that?

Here are some interesting hands from the session:

Hand 1:
-villain here is pretty cally, so think we might as well just overbet jam on this board

$2/$4 No Limit Holdem
6 Players
Hand Conversion Powered by weaktight.com

Stacks:
UTG ($406)
UTG+1 ($807)
CO ($400)
BTN ($852.10)
SB ($938.70)
Hero (BB) ($451.60)

Pre-Flop: ($6, 6 players) Hero is BB
3 folds, BTN raises to $12, 1 fold, Hero raises to $42, BTN calls $30

Flop: ($86, 2 players)
Hero bets $60, BTN calls $60

Turn: ($206, 2 players)
Hero bets $349.60, BTN calls $349.60

River: ($905.20, 2 players)

Final Pot: $905.20
BTN shows

Hero shows


Hero wins $902.20 (net +$450.60)

BTN lost $451.60


Hand 2
-villain was getting out of line vs me. Calling most 3bets and being pretty aggro vs me
-when he bets the turn small he's either protecting or setting up a river bluff. When he shoves river, he's very narrow, especially since I'd expect this type of player to raise most of his FD's on the flop

$1/$2 No Limit Holdem
6 Players
Hand Conversion Powered by weaktight.com

Stacks:
UTG ($241.50)
UTG+1 ($306.25)
CO ($272.65)
BTN ($114)
Hero (SB) ($200.50)
BB ($203)

Pre-Flop: ($3, 6 players) Hero is SB
1 fold, UTG+1 raises to $6, 2 folds, Hero raises to $21, 1 fold, UTG+1 calls $15

Flop: ($44, 2 players)
Hero bets $31, UTG+1 calls $31

Turn: ($106, 2 players)
Hero checks, UTG+1 bets $30, Hero calls $30

River: ($166, 2 players)
Hero checks, UTG+1 bets $118.50, Hero calls $118.50

Final Pot: $403
UTG+1 shows

Hero shows


Hero wins $400 (net +$199.50)

UTG+1 lost $200.50


Hand 3
-Never really sure what to do here. Villain is new to the table and this is my first btn raise and his first 3bet
-never know if people will hero call here with any pair and AK and stuff

$5/$10 No Limit Holdem
6 Players
Hand Conversion Powered by weaktight.com

Stacks:
UTG ($1,116)
UTG+1 ($1,015)
CO ($2,143.45)
Hero (BTN) ($1,000)
SB ($1,035)
BB ($1,082)

Pre-Flop: ($15, 6 players) Hero is BTN
3 folds, Hero raises to $25, SB raises to $95, 1 fold, Hero calls $70

Flop: ($200, 2 players)
SB bets $130, Hero calls $130

Turn: ($460, 2 players)
SB checks, Hero checks

River: ($460, 2 players)
SB checks, [color=#cc0000][b]Hero bets ??...

Originally Posted by griffey24

....using the mouse wheel.... You tried that?

yeah, that works great too.

Originally Posted by daven

1 - choose good tables/seats/games
2 - play a-game
3 - ???
4 - profit

re varying bet sizing by position, can you just have pot as default and set mouse wheel or arrow to move bet size up/down in 0.5bb intervals? Not sure if this works on your site? i play ftp and don't use tableninja, mostly cos we have a pot button and i have this bet-size moving thing setup through the client.


i think you can use one hot key to toggle disable/enable the rest? so, disable when you start to type, enable when you want to play or something. Make it some combo that you won't otherwise use, like arrow-x
as for msn and consistent a-game, i've just finished reading a bunch of TA's stuff, and i'm not convinced these two things line up.

Thanks Daven, think I posted my "mouse wheel" post right as you were posting this!

Yah definitely table select +A game + whatever else = profit

I hope all goes well for you at both your job and your poker career griffey. To help me play optimal i use the leakbuster program under holdem manager it's been working really well i had about 60 k hh stored before i tired it, i still review nightly HH, and then use it again at 5-10 k hh reviews.
I found alot of places where i was dumping dead money into pots when i should of been folding or re raising to protect my hand. Also they even got videos that you can watch on how to play better in your worst areas.

Yay a griffey blog. glgl!

fun hands, i like all of them and i d bet 220 on riv in hand 3 with just about my entire range (even something as weak as 77 or AK)

Originally Posted by Genitruc

fun hands, i like all of them and i d bet 220 on riv in hand 3 with just about my entire range (even something as weak as 77 or AK)

Cool, I was putting in a bet of $235.. and while I was doing this, I was like oh man he's so gonna c/c AK/AQ even here.

He tanked and called Q9.. not sure whats up with that!

edit: would you rather bet the turn with this particular hand, or still check back turn and bet river?

well the logic i see a lot of regs employing seems to be "when he bets the turn he s polarized since he should fear a CRAI so he must be FOS" whereas the call-check-bet line seems to mesh with a hand like TT or JJ a lot more...

Originally Posted by Genitruc

well the logic i see a lot of regs employing seems to be "when he bets the turn he s polarized since he should fear a CRAI so he must be FOS" whereas the call-check-bet line seems to mesh with a hand like TT or JJ a lot more...

Yah I agree, and given that I'm noticing a LOT more regs taking this ck, bet river line as a bluff quite a bit more frequently.

This will be SO sick...IF you continue to update! GOOOOOOOOOOO ISSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

EDITAMENTS:

H3- I like your line and agree with the half pot on river like you guys said.

Excited that some of the old timers are doing blugs! Thanks

Maybe I'm a sports betting donk, but made a sad realization about odds being booked today.

Was looking at the november nine lines, and I calculated the percentages that would correspond to the odds being given.

Jonathan Duhamel +180 (35.7%)
Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi +250 (28.57%)
John Dolan +250 (28.57%)
Joseph "subiime" Cheong +350 (22.22%)
Matthew Jarvis +700 (12.5%)
John Racener +700 (12.5%)
Soi Nguyen +1200 (7.69%)
Filippo Candio +1200 (7.69%)
Jason Senti +2000 (4.76%)


I know that a lot of the odds have come down since the november 9 was first finalized, and I assumed (stupidly?) that if one line comes down another would come up. (ie: the total percentage would remain close to 100% at all times, or at least costant)

But the freaking total adds up to 155%! you kidding me? Never realized it was SUCH ridiculous juicing by bookers. This is pretty ridiculous if you ask me, and I'm probably just a donk for realizing this now.

The good news is that I've never been a sports bettor anyhow.

gl sir

Not playing too many hands so far this month, things have been pretty busy. Gonna try grinding some tomorrow.

Been playing mostly alright though. In general I've avoided 20-50bb tables, but they are pretty soft overall. I might start playing more of the 20-50bb tables at higher up games like 3/6, 5/10 and maybe even 10/20 if they are pretty soft.

Some hands from today:

hand 1)
-his postflop timing made no sense, knew this was bs, but mostly thought he'd be raise/folding as opposed to calling off some draw

$2/$4 No Limit Holdem
3 Players
Hand Conversion Powered by weaktight.com

Stacks:
BTN ($1,125.35)
Hero (SB) ($455.35)
BB ($503.20)

Pre-Flop: ($6, 3 players) Hero is SB
BTN raises to $12, Hero raises to $38, BB folds, BTN calls $26

Flop: ($80, 2 players)
Hero bets $36, BTN calls $36

Turn: ($152, 2 players)
Hero bets $82, BTN raises to $196, Hero goes all-in $381.35, BTN calls $185.35

River: ($914.70, 2 players, 1 all-in)

Final Pot: $914.70
BTN shows

Hero shows


Hero wins $913.70 (net +$458.35)

BTN lost $455.35


hand 2)
-feel like this is a spot where I'd often fold the turn or river if I had a hand like AA/QQ or something.
-really wouldn't expect that many ppl to be bluffing the turn and river here

$2/$4 No Limit Holdem
6 Players
Hand Conversion Powered by weaktight.com

Stacks:
Hero (UTG) ($945.10)
UTG+1 ($420.20)
CO ($201.60)
BTN ($572.20)
SB ($534.05)
BB ($386.55)

Pre-Flop: ($6, 6 players) Hero is UTG
Hero raises to $10, 2 folds, BTN calls $10, 2 folds

Flop: ($26, 2 players)
Hero bets $12, BTN raises to $36, Hero calls $24

Turn: ($98, 2 players)
Hero checks, BTN bets $62, Hero calls $62

River: ($222, 2 players)
Hero checks, BTN bets $144, Hero calls $144

Final Pot: $510
Hero shows

BTN shows


Hero wins $507 (net +$255)

BTN lost $252

following this, gl! that 44 hand is kind of sick i guess the thought process is there's so few hands he's going to raise the turn with that he doesn't raise the flop that are ahead of you so shippity ship with some f/e and ur ok vs combo draws. nh.

omg superuser in da house

Been playing decently lately, but getting EV smoked. Still don't feel like I'm playing optimally though. Every session I can point to at least $1k of "avoidable" losses.

I'm calling too many river bets, especially in spots where a street gets checked back.

here are some examples of spots I'm calling rivers, that I feel are bad.

Hand 1
-villain isn't that aggressive, which makes me think its even more polarized to Kx or nothing. Someone more aggro could show up with more pairs here <Kx $5/$10 No Limit Holdem
5 Players
Hand Conversion Powered by weaktight.com

Stacks:
UTG ($721)
CO ($270)
Hero (BTN) ($539)
SB ($272)
BB ($194.75)

Pre-Flop: ($15, 5 players) Hero is BTN
2 folds, Hero raises to $25, 1 fold, BB calls $15

Flop: ($55, 2 players)
BB checks, Hero checks

Turn: ($55, 2 players)
BB bets $30, Hero calls $30

River: ($115, 2 players)
BB bets $50, Hero calls $50




Hand 2
-villain is the mark at the table, mega laggy and pretty aggro
-not sure about this river call, its potentially close either way, his sizing maybe makes it a fold

$5/$10 No Limit Holdem
6 Players
Hand Conversion Powered by weaktight.com

Stacks:
UTG ($971)
UTG+1 ($500)
CO ($200)
Hero (BTN) ($737)
SB ($500)
BB ($2,066.50)

Pre-Flop: ($15, 6 players) Hero is BTN
3 folds, Hero raises to $25, 1 fold, BB calls $15

Flop: ($55, 2 players)
BB checks, Hero checks

Turn: ($55, 2 players)
BB checks, Hero checks

River: ($55, 2 players)
BB bets $50, Hero calls $50


Hand 3
-villain is somewhat taggy, and my line here looks like a missed draw
-I wasn't even sure if AK/KQ would bet here, if he had those hands, or not. Anything stronger than AK would be 3betting the flop
-QJ,AJ stuff could play like this. But looking at it now, J9 could as well, and Ilose to that

$2/$4 No Limit Holdem
6 Players
Hand Conversion Powered by weaktight.com

Stacks:
Hero (UTG) ($439.70)
UTG+1 ($908.55)
CO ($774)
BTN ($872)
SB ($419.40)
BB ($406)

Pre-Flop: ($6, 6 players) Hero is UTG
Hero raises to $10, 3 folds, SB calls $8, 1 fold

Flop: ($24, 2 players)
SB bets $16, Hero raises to $44, SB calls $28

Turn: ($112, 2 players)
SB checks, Hero checks

River: ($112, 2 players)
SB bets $34, Hero calls $34



Need to bring my wtsd down for sure. That's a perma problem though, I call tons in these smallish sized pots. WTSD of almost 31% this month, which is a little ridiculous. won at SD 49.2% which I suppose isn't too bad.

Alright, time to start legitimately winning. Like, properly!

To accomplish this, I'm going to start a bi-weekly post, which I will call "Bad bi-weekly bluffs". I'll try to embarrass myself into not doing the dumb things I do, by posting all the bad/spewy/unnecessary bluffs/hands I play over every two week or so interval.

I feel as though posting this, and legitimately seeing how much the losses are adding up to will prevent me from doing this stuff.

I was looking up hands this morning, and I found a bunch of hands for this month so far, which added up to around $4k in avoidable losses. The losses were in about 10 or so hands, so that was about 1000bb's worth of losses in 17k hands so far.

1000bb's.. in 17k hands. That's a winrate of 5.88bb/100 all on its own! I'm flushing that winrate away out of nothing more than quasi tilt. This is nothing overly new. It causes me to have long streaks of breakeven play, followed by short bursts of big winning (when I actually play solid solid for a month or so).

Many (a large percentage) of these hands come from sessions where I'm getting EV killed and unlucky. I handle losses fairly well when I'm losing coolers, playing well etc. But when things are out of control, and I lose flips, and get sucked out on 80/20's, these situations seem to tilt me into stupid play much more.

So things to change: 1) stop playing when I'm legitimately running bad, EV-wise. 2) stop spewing, and try to work this "bad bluffs" win rate (loss-rate) progressively towards <1bb/100. This will be hard, but let's see if its possible!

Will post the hands when I get home later!

Alright, here's my sad assortment of "wow.. stop bluffing".. and "wow.. where did your fold button go?" hands.

Hand 1
-villains flat pre of the 4bet felt pretty weak, but this is just all sorts of spew and should not happen, flop is easy c/f


$5/$10 No Limit Holdem
4 Players
Hand Conversion Powered by weaktight.com

Stacks:
Hero (CO) ($668.20)
BTN ($1,141.40)
SB ($235.50)
BB ($200)

Pre-Flop: ($15, 4 players) Hero is CO
Hero raises to $30, BTN raises to $80, 2 folds, Hero raises to $230, BTN calls $150

Flop: ($475, 2 players)
Hero bets $438.20, BTN calls $438.20

Turn: ($1,351.40, 2 players)

River: ($1,351.40, 2 players)

Final Pot: $1,351.40
Hero shows

BTN shows


BTN wins $1,349.40 (net +$681.20)

Hero lost $668.20


Hand 2
-Villain is huge whale, his timing on flop was very weak to me, and felt like a spot where he'd call down weak and fold the river


$5/$10 No Limit Holdem
6 Players
Hand Conversion Powered by weaktight.com

Stacks:
Hero (UTG) ($1,235.50)
UTG+1 ($623)
CO ($165)
BTN ($643.15)
SB ($480.10)
BB ($332)

Pre-Flop: ($15, 6 players) Hero is UTG
Hero raises to $30, 3 folds, SB calls $25, 1 fold

Flop: ($70, 2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $45, SB calls $45

Turn: ($160, 2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $90, SB calls $90

River: ($340, 2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $1,030, SB calls $315.10

Final Pot: $1,685.10
Hero shows

SB shows


SB wins $967.20 (net +$487.10)

Hero collects $714.90 (net -$480.10)



Hand 3
-I shouldn't play HU, I spew too hard

$2/$4 No Limit Holdem
2 Players
Hand Conversion Powered by weaktight.com

Stacks:
Hero (SB) ($455)
BB ($1,268.50)

Pre-Flop: ($6, 2 players) Hero is SB
Hero raises to $14, BB raises to $44, Hero calls $30

Flop: ($88, 2 players)
BB bets $48, Hero calls $48

Turn: ($184, 2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $44, BB calls $44

River: ($272, 2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $319, BB calls $319

Final Pot: $910
Hero shows

BB shows


BB wins $909.50 (net +$454.50)

Hero lost $455

Hand 4
-dynamic was that he 4bet me and I knew he was FoS and I flatted his 4bet IP with TT. He had 57, and c/bombs over my flop bet when he checked with a flopped nut straight
-ever since then, I've been running him over, knowing that he wouldn't 4bet bluff me again. By the same token, if he had a very strong hand, I'd expect him to 4bet given that dynamic


$2/$4 No Limit Holdem
5 Players
Hand Conversion Powered by weaktight.com

Stacks:
UTG ($909)
CO ($400)
BTN ($472.10)
Hero (SB) ($400)
BB ($891.05)

Pre-Flop: ($6, 5 players) Hero is SB
1 fold, CO raises to $10, 1 fold, Hero raises to $36, 1 fold, CO calls $26

Flop: ($76, 2 players)
Hero bets $54, CO calls $54

Turn: ($184, 2 players)
Hero bets $85, CO calls $85

River: ($354, 2 players)
Hero bets $225, CO calls $225

Final Pot: $804
CO shows

Hero shows


CO wins $802 (net +$402)

Hero lost $400



Hand 5
-this is just v bad, and he's never donking this flop and folding


$5/$10 No Limit Holdem
5 Players
Hand Conversion Powered by weaktight.com

Stacks:
UTG ($185)
CO ($148.75)
BTN ($1,084)
SB ($815.40)
Hero (BB) ($500)

Pre-Flop: ($15, 5 players) Hero is BB
2 folds, BTN raises to $20, SB calls $15, Hero raises to $80, BTN folds, SB calls $60

Flop: ($180, 2 players)
SB bets $40, Hero raises to $140, SB raises to $240, Hero folds

Final Pot: $560

SB wins $558 (net +$238)

Hero lost $220
BTN lost $20


Hand 6
-this is bad, his potential value betting range is too wide

$3/$6 No Limit Holdem
6 Players
Hand Conversion Powered by weaktight.com

Stacks:
UTG ($834.25)
UTG+1 ($463)
CO ($1,055)
Hero (BTN) ($600)
SB ($579)
BB ($1,390.50)

Pre-Flop: ($9, 6 players) Hero is BTN
UTG raises to $18, 2 folds, Hero raises to $54, 2 folds, UTG calls $36

Flop: ($117, 2 players)
UTG checks, Hero bets $45, UTG calls $45

Turn: ($207, 2 players)
UTG checks, Hero checks

River: ($207, 2 players)
UTG bets $115, Hero calls $115

Final Pot: $437
Hero shows

UTG shows


UTG wins $434 (net +$220)

Hero lost $214


Hand 7
-villain is abig whale, I don't mind this. He was running 45/40 type and calling ALL 3bets OOP. He has a ton of combos of air that get to the river here


$3/$6 No Limit Holdem
6 Players
Hand Conversion Powered by weaktight.com

Stacks:
UTG ($343)
UTG+1 ($119.15)
CO ($111)
Hero (BTN) ($597)
SB ($164.75)
BB ($455)

Pre-Flop: ($9, 6 players) Hero is BTN
UTG raises to $18, 2 folds, Hero raises to $57, 2 folds, UTG calls $39

Flop: ($123, 2 players)
UTG checks, Hero checks

Turn: ($123, 2 players)
UTG bets $65, Hero calls $65

River: ($253, 2 players)
UTG bets $176, Hero calls $176

Final Pot: $605
UTG shows

Hero shows


UTG wins $602 (net +$304)

Hero lost $298


Hand 8
-felt like he had Tx or air here, and that my AK might as well be 89
-this would maybe be better if 79 didn't get there on turn, in which case 67, 79, J9, QJ all brick

$1/$2 No Limit Holdem
6 Players
Hand Conversion Powered by weaktight.com

Stacks:
UTG ($251)
UTG+1 ($239)
CO ($200)
Hero (BTN) ($256.30)
SB ($200)
BB ($200)

Pre-Flop: ($3, 6 players) Hero is BTN
2 folds, CO raises to $6, Hero raises to $18, 2 folds, CO calls $12

Flop: ($39, 2 players)
CO bets $18, Hero calls $18

Turn: ($75, 2 players)
CO bets $42, Hero calls $42

River: ($159, 2 players)
CO bets $122, Hero calls $122

Final Pot: $403
CO shows

Hero shows


CO wins $400 (net +$200)

Hero lost $200


Hand 9
-villain is bad fish, turn bet is value bet, vs his flopped gutters JT/KJ and flush draws. River makes no sense, didn't think he'd lead with anything here

$1/$2 No Limit Holdem
6 Players
Hand Conversion Powered by weaktight.com

Stacks:
UTG ($200)
UTG+1 ($266.75)
Hero (CO) ($203)
BTN ($229.90)
SB ($161.75)
BB ($200)

Pre-Flop: ($3, 6 players) Hero is CO
UTG raises to $6, 1 fold, Hero raises to $19, 3 folds, UTG calls $13

Flop: ($41, 2 players)
UTG checks, Hero bets $27, UTG calls $27

Turn: ($95, 2 players)
UTG checks, Hero bets $22, UTG calls $22

River: ($139, 2 players)
UTG bets $132, Hero calls $132

Final Pot: $403
UTG shows

Hero shows


UTG wins $400 (net +$200)

Hero lost $200

Just played what felt like a pretty crazy/aggro session. Looking back on my stats now, I was only running 22/19 with a 3bet of 11, but it felt like it must have been 15.

Had a v good reg on my right, who runs like 32/27 calls 50% of 3bets type, on several tables. Was 3betting him like madness, and playing lots of weird hands post. Another reg was also on several of those tables and was cold 4betting me a lot.

This is the type of hands that were happening:

$2/$4 No Limit Holdem
6 Players
Hand Conversion Powered by weaktight.com

Stacks:
UTG ($188.70)
UTG+1 ($400)
Hero (CO) ($748.60)
BTN ($420.60)
SB ($156)
BB ($1,861.80)

Pre-Flop: ($6, 6 players) Hero is CO
UTG calls $4, UTG+1 raises to $12, Hero raises to $40, 3 folds, UTG folds, UTG+1 calls $28

Flop: ($90, 2 players)
UTG+1 bets $60, Hero calls $60

Turn: ($210, 2 players)
UTG+1 bets $140, Hero goes all-in $648.60, UTG+1 calls $160

River: ($1,158.60, 2 players, 1 all-in)

Final Pot: $1,158.60
UTG+1 shows

Hero shows


Hero wins $1,155.60 (net +$407.00)

UTG+1 lost $400
UTG lost $4


This hand was vs another reg. 3bets a reasonable amount, would very likely 3bet QQ pre. I was quasi EP, don't expect that many ppl to c/r AQ on the flop and if they do, not sure they triple after. Maybe they do.

$2/$4 No Limit Holdem
5 Players
Hand Conversion Powered by weaktight.com

Stacks:
UTG ($476.45)
Hero (CO) ($462.70)
BTN ($674.10)
SB ($400)
BB ($625)

Pre-Flop: ($6, 5 players) Hero is CO
1 fold, Hero raises to $12, 1 fold, SB calls $10, 1 fold

Flop: ($28, 2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $20, SB raises to $68, Hero calls $48

Turn: ($164, 2 players)
SB bets $124, Hero calls $124

River: ($412, 2 players)
SB bets $196, Hero is this even close or am I nuts?...

is this 'very good reg' perhaps... xxgmcrafterxx?

noo, his name is schme ff (can ppl search their names on this thing? I'll keep the space in his name just in case he can haha)

oic haha

i just saw his line in h1 and instantly reminded me of gm and the shit he does

I think I need to get off of pokerstars, so if anyone has a good recommendation let me know.

The site tilts me! Just played a 2k hand session running 25/21 with a 3bet of 13ish.

Somehow people don't adjust, or I don't adjust properly. I'm not sure which it is. You figure if I'm 3betting so much, I should 5bet shove over 4bets lighter. I'm not sure if this is correct or not, since it seems ppl always have the nuts.

I also get confused when I am 3betting so much and cbet flops with a piece and ppl raise me. No clue what to do generally, since I'm not sure if I'm perceived light or what.

Think I might post a few hands in SHNL now. Will help me de-tilt!

play 25/21 with an 8% 3bet since that will make marginal decisions in 3bet pots much more clear. it's an easy solution for managing swings. I also think cbetting air in 3bet pots doesn't need to be done often at all, though that may be unique to SSNL where fold 3bet% are higher

i looked up that schmeff guy on PTR; in case you didn't know he's up 250k on stars, and up more on tilt. amazing results for a MSNL reg!

Originally Posted by Vi-Zer0Skill

play 25/21 with an 8% 3bet since that will make marginal decisions in 3bet pots much more clear. it's an easy solution for managing swings. I also think cbetting air in 3bet pots doesn't need to be done often at all, though that may be unique to SSNL where fold 3bet% are higher

i looked up that schmeff guy on PTR; in case you didn't know he's up 250k on stars, and up more on tilt. amazing results for a MSNL reg!

haha yah I know, impressive results for such a lagg. But really I don't mind a very good player on my right, who's going to play every hand OOP in a 3bet pot. Even an amazing player can't overcome being OOP without initiative!

I agree with your idea about lowering my 3bet. Also cbetting less is probably better at higher games if anything because ppl will play back at you more, and make your life more annoying when they have position!

Have sports the next few nights, then my xmas work party on friday and I'm heading to Chicago on sat morning till next thurs evening. So Won't be grinding for about a week!

Was looking over some filters with JL last night. Found one pretty ridiculous leak.

I'm down $6.5k in the last four months in hands where I 3bet pre, AND get all-in pre with hands that are NOT AQ+ and TT+ (worked out to something like -1900bb/100, or 19bb/hand). My logic would have been, that I was winning sufficient dead money from 4bet maniacs to be worthwhile. So I ran another filter, with allin-true not on, but instead "raised 4bet= true", and in this case I was still down $5k in all those hands. That worked out to like -17bb/hand.

If we assume that my avg 3bet is to around 9-10bb's. Then I'd be better off folding to EVERY 4bet with these hands (-10bb/hand), than shoving some of these for fold equity (-17bb/hand).

I also ran a filter for doing the same thing with AQ/AQs and I'm surprisingly down there too!

Needless to say, either I need to find better spots where I'm much more positive they are light, or ppl have already adjusted to the fact that I'm shoving so light, and are rarely bluffing me now. And instead always 4bet/calling wider.

I also need to make a smallish ($100ish) prob-bet with someone about getting my 3bet down. It's been close to 10 the last few months, and wouldn't mind trying to get it down to 8 or less in Dec. Let me know!

Duh, nevermind, I just realised I was thinking about the wrong thing.

/facepalm

/slinks away

Heading to Chicago today for a work conference. Won't be back till late thursday, and had a work xmas party last night. So I guess no grinding for a full week pretty much.

Gonna come back and smoke December, I feel like its time to play properly for once!

Been away for a week or so and played my first session back today. If this operation was supposed to motivate my A - game, I will have to say its not working so far!

Played really tilted today. Ran bad, and then went on solid tilt after I got bluff caught pretty hard.

I think this is solidly time for a new site switching, and a change of scenery. So I'll probably switch it up for this month and see how that goes.

This is the hand that induced my tilt. Though about raising flop but figured most of my range would call, so decided to float.

$2/$4 No Limit Holdem
5 Players
Hand Conversion Powered by weaktight.com

Stacks:
UTG ($460)
CO ($222.80)
Hero (BTN) ($400)
SB ($400)
BB ($1,080.05)

Pre-Flop: ($6, 5 players) Hero is BTN
2 folds, Hero raises to $10, SB raises to $40, 1 fold, Hero calls $30

Flop: ($84, 2 players)
SB bets $40, Hero calls $40

Turn: ($164, 2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $80, SB calls $80

River: ($324, 2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $240, SB calls $240

Final Pot: $804
Hero shows

SB shows


SB wins $802 (net +$402)

Hero lost $400


Hopefully in the next few days I'll start up on a new site and the change brings back the A-game!

If anyone has thoughts on avoiding tilt, I'd like to hear it!

bleh that is a tilt inducing rapage, i guess ur pretty polarized but whatever he even loses to a lot of your bluffs. Gogogo A game, what site you gonna move to?

Probably gonna move to ongame. Maybe mix in a bit of PKR too haha.

Anything to get me away from stars for a month or so!

Here are a couple more hands which contributed to my tilt yesterday.

This hand was vs a reg who I know 3bets very polarized in spots where you would expect his range to be narrow.

Hand 1:

$2/$4 No Limit Holdem
5 Players
Hand Conversion Powered by weaktight.com

Stacks:
Hero (UTG) ($400)
CO ($644.80)
BTN ($400)
SB ($437)
BB ($552.90)

Pre-Flop: ($6, 5 players) Hero is UTG
Hero raises to $12, 1 fold, BTN raises to $32, 2 folds, Hero calls $20

Flop: ($70, 2 players)
Hero checks, BTN bets $40, Hero calls $40

Turn: ($150, 2 players)
Hero checks, BTN bets $99, Hero calls $99

River: ($348, 2 players)
Hero checks, BTN bets $229, Hero calls $229

Final Pot: $806
Hero shows

BTN shows


BTN wins $804 (net +$404)

Hero lost $400


Hand 2:
-this one is close. I'm not sure on c/c flop instead of betting myself
-I figure c/c may be ok here, because if anything it looks like I have AQ/AK so he may be more likely to bluff me here

$2/$4 No Limit Holdem
6 Players
Hand Conversion Powered by weaktight.com

Stacks:
UTG ($1,282.85)
UTG+1 ($409.30)
CO ($412)
BTN ($483.60)
SB ($400)
Hero (BB) ($514.50)

Pre-Flop: ($6, 6 players) Hero is BB
3 folds, BTN raises to $8, 1 fold, Hero raises to $26, BTN calls $18

Flop: ($54, 2 players)
Hero checks, BTN bets $32, Hero calls $32

Turn: ($118, 2 players)
Hero checks, BTN bets $72, Hero calls $72

River: ($262, 2 players)
Hero checks, BTN bets $136, Hero calls $136

Final Pot: $534
BTN shows

Hero shows


BTN wins $531 (net +$265)

Hero lost $266

gah those are all pretty ugly.

instead of switching sites, just switch provinces; come up and play the tilt-inducing boss software for the new government site and profit vs a bunch of fish.

i haven t started on there yet (it ll have to wait until i stop making 1$/hand at PLO on PKR) but when they merge with BC in the new year it might be worth it. crazy all of the legislative poker stuff going down in north america these days

Originally Posted by Genitruc

gah those are all pretty ugly.

instead of switching sites, just switch provinces; come up and play the tilt-inducing boss software for the new government site and profit vs a bunch of fish.

i haven t started on there yet (it ll have to wait until i stop making 1$/hand at PLO on PKR) but when they merge with BC in the new year it might be worth it. crazy all of the legislative poker stuff going down in north america these days

haha well if its a results oriented switch to the new site, then I hope you keep up the $1/hand and never switch!

Won't the player pool be ridic small on this new site? You could probably play like 1-2 tables of it, and still play PKR as well?

Originally Posted by griffey24

Won't the player pool be ridic small on this new site? You could probably play like 1-2 tables of it, and still play PKR as well?

ya i could def start doing that. content with what i have going for now, also PKR software is horrific for multi-siting (it s one window that contains all the tables at once).

December 8th 2010 - A fresh start!

Started my next phase in poker yesterday, with new beginnings on the Ongame network.

New poker alias. New HUD stats (which are pretty much like my old one!). New poker site. New opponents. New mindset!

It's time to start winning big!

I didn't play much yesterday, but the games already seem better than Stars (mind you, I was just getting used to the HUD and software at 100nl). Ran pretty bad, but played decently overall.

Moneybookers is cramping my style with these deposit limits, so won't be grinding many games >200nl until I get a proper roll on there.

But stay tuned for a solid upswing. I can feel it!

Go Go Go, I played ongame a long time ago. GL

Can't wait to 5bet shove on you with jack high!

Originally Posted by JL

Can't wait to 5bet shove on you with jack high!

Can't wait to 4bet call off QJo and dominate you so bad!

Can't wait till you move up Griffey.

I'm not playing a single hand vs you haha... table selection!

Had a crazy day today playing on this site. Still trying to get used to it. Pretty sure I timed out at least 40 times today at various points, folding QQ to a 3bet by accident and flatted a 4bet by accident. I also 3bet 3 people by accident when I thought I was folding.

It'll take some time to get used to it. Probably gonna stick to 5 tables till I stop timing out altogether.

Was down about 10 buyins today halfway through the day, till Alex gave me some solid words of wisdom.. "don't bluff on ongame.. everyone calls". That was good advice! Went up 10 buyins after that, so even on the day.

We'll see if I can keep up the not bluffing.

Yeah there is no timebank on Ongame. You can't 12 table, talk on msn, and post on FTR very effectively!

I don't know if you have discovered the F1-F3 keys yet, but they are one of the many things I love about Ongame. If you don't know what i am talking about, the F1 key on your keyboard can be used to fold, F2 to call, and F3 to bet/raise. Use the mouse wheel to size your bets as well (mostly preflop). For example, if you are on the BTN and it's folded to u, move mouse wheel up one notch to go to 2.5x, press F3....profit?
Easy game! I love Ongame.

Oh yah I've definitely been using the F1-F3 keys, and mouse scrolling. I wouldn't be able to 3 table without it even haha.

But that's also why I'm also mistakenly folding everywhere. I'm also folding in lots of spots where like, someone limps and its checked to me in the BB and I just keep pressing F1 and it asks "are you sure I wan to to fold" and I press F1 again cause I don't see that someone limps and I just fold it to them anyhow. Stars just assumed that if you pressed fold when you could have checked that it means check.

Hahaha. So I could just limp the btn, hope the sb folds, and steal the blinds if you are in the bb.

Originally Posted by griffey24

Had a crazy day today playing on this site. Still trying to get used to it. Pretty sure I timed out at least 40 times today at various points, folding QQ to a 3bet by accident and flatted a 4bet by accident. I also 3bet 3 people by accident when I thought I was folding.

wow this all sounds like epic tilt

Originally Posted by courtiebee

wow this all sounds like epic tilt

Haha yaaah it is! I need to figure it out asap.. cause 3-5 tabling 100nl until I am able to deposit more through stupid moneybookers/ongame is going to result in mega short term spew!

3-5 tabling any stake for me is usually more spewy than ideal, let alone lower stakes.

I need to make a small propbet with someone to stop being a dumbass.. if anyone has anything in mind let me know.

Played my first really good session in a long long time. Was up like 5 buyins but feel like I probably could have been up around 6-7.

Made a deal with JL that I'd pay him $5 if I ran over 28 vpip and $10 if I ran over 32 vpip (given that I had been running 34/28 since I switched sites.. this was good - 5 tabling 100nl = laggfest ldo)

So played 26.7/24 and that was definitely good. There's something emotional/mental where if I'm folding a lot and pressing the fold key it gets me in the fold habit, and if I'm raising a lot and pressing the bet/raise button it gets me in the betting habit. I do much better in the former scenario!

So my deal with JL is implied until further notice.. I'd rather pay him $5 and play well every sesh. He's free-rolling me hard but oh well haha.

sick life JL!

Originally Posted by griffey24

So my deal with JL is implied until further notice.. I'd rather pay him $5 and play well every sesh. He's free-rolling me hard but oh well haha.

haha it was 100% your idea!

he likes giving away free money like that but i guess it's less expensive than hiring a much needed mental coach for these "issues" LOL!

Played another solid (see: nitty -> see not really that nitty, 25/21/3.5 but folding to 85% of 3bets!) session yesterday. Was home from work, 'working from home', while I had my winter tires put on.

Getting a lot of snow already so far! Not a big fan of that.

Was up around 5 buyins again yesterday, then decided to sit at a 2/4 table while a fish was sitting out on my right. I lost almost a buyin to a reg in the first two hands while the fish was out and then he left, which was tilting. Decided to fire up more 1/2 tables and another 2/4 to make it back!

Ended up down 1.2k in a hurry, but then stacked a laggy spazz twice to end up +$45 on the mini session, and insta quit before things went bad.

Playing nitty seems to be working. For some reason I always shy'd away from it, feeling as though it wasn't the "right" way to play or something dumb like that. But really, who cares. If you're in the green, you're in the green!

Playing pretty well lately. As long as I can keep this up, I think 2011 will be a pretty solid year.

But that's the key. Keeping it up. Always playing well. Always doing what I'm doing now!

So that's the goal.

Have the week off from work as of this friday to early January, so next week is gonna be a mega grind! So will be posting more and posting more hands.

After playing a year on Stars, I think I slowly lost the memory of the existence of fish. I forgot how much they contributed to winrate and just felt as though every game had to be reg-infested.

I could be running hot right now after the site switch, but there's no doubt that the amount of fish is not even in the same league. Wish I had made the switch a year ago really.

There's also the part that I'm legitimately playing better as well, so hopefully I keep this up.

Just grinding up 200nl right now, trying to re-build a roll. Up 4.5k for the month so far so it's going well. Was going to have moved up by now, but some of the rakeraces on the site are by stake, so I guess I'll commit to 200nl till the races are over.

This is an extreme, but something that would have never happened on stars I feel:



$1/$2 No Limit Holdem
5 Players
Hand Conversion Powered by weaktight.com

Stacks:
UTG ($200)
CO ($199)
Hero (BTN) ($197.80)
SB ($146.75)
BB ($1,205.85)

Pre-Flop: ($5, 5 players) Hero is BTN
[UTG posts $2]
UTG raises to $8, 1 fold, Hero raises to $25, SB calls $24, 1 fold, UTG calls $17

Flop: ($77, 3 players)
SB checks, UTG bets $77, Hero goes all-in $172.80, SB folds, UTG calls $95.80

Turn: ($422.60, 2 players, 1 all-in)

River: ($422.60, 2 players, 1 all-in)

Final Pot: $422.60
UTG shows

Hero shows


UTG wins $419.60 (net +$221.80)

SB lost $25
Hero lost $197.80


Here is the graph of my month so far. I have the rest of the month off from work, so next week will be mega grind. If I can get to 7k'ish for the month at 200nl, that would be sweet and is the goal!

oh and Merry Christmas everyone!

Sick graph. Most important part of that is your redline. And NOT because it's so positive but because it's LOWER than usual .

Merry Christmas, Is.

Thanks Kmizzle, merry xmas to you too!

merry xmas grif - good luck with the year end grind

Well this year is coming to a close. This year has been the most marginal poker year for me in a while, due to a combination of bad play, transition to stars, and working full time not helping any.

Thankfully the year has been salvaged by a switch to Ongame, grinding 200nl to rebuild my roll on the new site, leading to a good December closeout, and leaving me pretty confident about my game and the upcoming months.

Let's hope 2011 is a big year!

Here's december. Plus another $1k or so in RB+bonuses, for around a $10k closeout to 2010.

Happy new year everyone!

Bump.

My goal for January is to have my graph look similar to your December graph.

woah wait, you said 200nl but that is 400nl right?

sick graph!

Originally Posted by Micro2Macro

woah wait, you said 200nl but that is 400nl right?

sick graph!

No it's 200nl. He is all over my tables!

Originally Posted by JL

Bump.

My goal for January is to have my graph look similar to your December graph.

For me the same, but I will only focus on the Redline

M2M - yah 200nl, but I'll probably play 400nl soon. Though I'm torn cause I figure my winrate at 400nl will probably be cut in half from what I'm running now, with more variance and better players. So I'm tempted to just stick out 200nl for a while if I can keep up the winrate.

Jimmy - yah red line is nice. Though as long as your green line is going up then I'd say thats more important!

On a related red-line note. I used to only raise combo draws or hands like Ah9h on boards like Ks6h2h before, because a raise here doesn't rep very much. But people on ongame seem to be big spazzes in the b/3bet bluff on Kxx boards camp, that I think raise/getting it in with hands like 89hh is probably reasonable even.

I'll have to try it out and see how often I get dominated.

Originally Posted by griffey24

Jimmy - yah red line is nice. Though as long as your green line is going up then I'd say thats more important!

Lately, my red line is going pretty much downhill. I've decided to plug this leak before anything else. I know though that it's one of the most difficult leaks to fix ...

Originally Posted by griffey24

On a related red-line note. I used to only raise combo draws or hands like Ah9h on boards like Ks6h2h before, because a raise here doesn't rep very much. But people on ongame seem to be big spazzes in the b/3bet bluff on Kxx boards camp, that I think raise/getting it in with hands like 89hh is probably reasonable even.

These guys that spazzes on Kxx boards are mostly fish, I mean not standard 22/20 guys, I suppose?

If anything, it's probably the opposite.

Its the aggro regs that are mostly the non believers when you raise some K24hh board, and especially if you raise a rainbow Kxx board. The regs will be the ones that fight back by 3bet bluffing I find.

Fish will probably just call oop with their AT or nonsense.

I guess I was mostly saying that if your red line is sky rocket down, and your blue is sky rocket up and overall green is going up then thats probably most important. But yah, that depends on how sky rocket down it is. I'd say most significantly winning players likely have at least a moderately flat red-line.

One way to fix this red line problem is to fold earlier. If you peel flop raises, but then end up folding often on the turn/river barrels, then just fold on the flop. If you call 3bets, and call several bets and just fold later, just fold preflop. If you often cbet a type of flop, and then just end up c/f turn when you're likely to get called on the flop anyhow, just c/f flop.

Decided that I'd give 400nl a shot on this site since yesterday, after the ownage of 200nl the last month or so. Things are still going well. I'm running pretty well, with a bunch of my 80/20's holding up. Potentially even running well to be getting into 80/20's in the first place, but I'll take it.

People are definitely more aggro though, with both 3betting and postflop. Probably won't be able to get to SD as easily and so the red line might go down a bit but I don't care as long as the green line sticks.

gratz mate! keep it up!