Poker life is good. I finished last night's session at $3k bankroll plus loose change. I feel like I've settled in at 100nl and that I'm understanding the game a ton better. There are some reasons for that:

1. I probably do understand the game better, since I worked hard at learning to play "precision TAGG" poker, so I'm learning to exploit "non-optimal" ranges/lines/tendencies.

2. I have always read stuff from the guys way above where I was playing (ISF, etc), and tons of stuff I read has suddenly explained itself to me (i.e. I'm playing in games where it matters).

3. I'm better at putting people on ranges.

Now ranges brings up an interesting point I'm jonesing about. How much of what we learn do we post in the forums? Doesn't it just make the games harder? I used to wonder this, but I just posted a GREAT freakin' "how to practice ranges" thread with several ideas the micro-grinders around here could use effectively to learn to do this better. Post got no love, except from Daven, who noted its value and put some thoughts about the way he groups/organizes hands.

So I'm thinking: wft?? Do these micro-grinders not see value in the thread? And the answer, I guess, is that they know they should do it but are (a) too lazy or (b) don't feel capable. But whatever the root cause, you can post your whole "game" here on FTR and no one's ever gonna exploit you at the tables 'cuz the guys who could actually exploit you can do it just fine without "stalking" your posts and the guys who can't don't bother reading/applying high quality posts from me or from anyone else. LoL.

The funniest thing about the "Range Practice" thread was IOPQ jumping in trying to pwn it. That's funny on several levels, since it was intended for noobies, since he took my learning-theory inspired "chunking" idea and shattered a 2 chunk range into 182,712 pieces, and since his preflop range didn't include the fairly obvious hand(s) that showed down.

I think a lot of regs around here put villains on their own range too often. You have to put villains on the VILLAIN's range. IOPQ seems to often skew his estimates of villain ranges toward a "thinking players' range," but I'm not finding tons of strong, well-thought-out ranges in these players at 100nl. They're better at playing whatever hands they play, but sometimes not very thoughtful about what they open, what they flat and what they 3bet.

Some things I'm currently working on:

1. Preflop 3bet/4bet pots, especially squeeze scenarios. I've been reading a lot of Spoon's old threads and some classic 3bet threads from the short-handed forum. There a good few regs with WIDE squeeze ranges, and I'm trying to think about the best EV ways to attack them. Seems like half the raise-calls get squeezed from the blinds some nights. Everyone's doing it, and almost no one who squeezes and gets 4-bet continues (including me).

2. Preflop 3bet ranges. There's a lot more 3betting light, so I'm trying to determine when I have enough HH's to estimate the 3bet% accurately by position and where the break points are that show various portions of "lightness."

3. TAGG-reg wars. I know this is coming. I've seen it during other moves up / site switches. You pwn a level for a while until the regs get reads on you. Then your win rate tails off (or even goes negative) and you adjust to their adjustments. So I'm waiting for it. I'm viewed as nitty, and my raises get plenty of respect. But I'm winning. If I stop getting much action preflop (and that trend has begun somewhat), then I'll need to change some things and open up a bit. I'm ready for it, just hoping to get to 3.5k in roll before I'm forced to adjust much away from my 16/12/3 style.

4. Adjustments are different than I suspected they would be - I just reread Sauce's 6max guide (though it's a bit dated since we have 3bet/4bet stats), and the FTR icons in that thread have some interesting ideas about how to exploit different TAGG-regs. I can "open up" still playing a 17/14 style by 3betting more, 4betting more and by raising more on the flop. If I have a strong perceived range, I should be able to get more value out of later streets with bluffs. So you can either adjust to try to pick up blinds more (the typical 25/18 TAGG-reg approach at 100nl, it seems), or you can adjust to get into bigger pots with a strong, playable range and aggress a bit more postflop where the potential pots are huge. It's interesting to think about where to look for value against TAGG-regs - on all streets, obv, but where can I get most value for effort?

I hope to get another session this afternoon, maybe some more poker tonight. We'll have to see.