Luco's beginner to winner

[Icanhastreebet]

I think hand 1 is likely a shove. In my own personal experience big raises with a stack of this size is generally something they don't want to raise/fold like KJo or some shit. You'll almost never see a bigger pair here and we're obviously happy to flip with all the dead money. Although he could be just a fish who 3x's all the time no matter what and we may be crushed but I don't know if we have that read so I'd rather go with my general read here.

On second thought we probably a have a huge edge in one of these things and are never doing better then flipping. There is a lot of dead money though because of the antes etc. Also we can comfortably make the money without gambling here although I don't think ICM tax is as big of a deal in 18 mans as 9ms so it might be a gamble anyway.

So now your probably thinking what the fuck do I do and my short answer is I don't know.

Hand 2 is a fold definitely without a further read. I assume 3.50s are super passive in general so that is the read we have to go with. That on the top of the fact CO could still have a hand himself makes this an easy fold.

[Robb]

So now your probably thinking what the fuck do I do and my short answer is I don't know.

^^^ + 1, and discount my opinion as I'm not MTT/SnG specialist, but I would lean towards shoveling. But, yeah, glad other folks have trouble with this spot, too.

[Icanhastreebet]

^^^ + 1, and discount my opinion as I'm not MTT/SnG specialist, but I would lean towards shoveling. But, yeah, glad other folks have trouble with this spot, too.

I'd base my decision off of how bad the other players are. If there's 2-3 really bad players or we have a nit or two on our direct left. This becomes a fold pretty quickly IMO. If the players on your left won't let you steal(even if they are like just slightly loosish passive fish) and the field is "tough" in general that leans it more towards a shove too. If this were a 15$+ donkament(people sort of have a clue) I think it's for a sure a shove but since it's a 3.50 the value we gain from future hands makes me lean slightly towards fold.

I should have mentioned these things in my previous posts as it's SUPER SUPER important to consider the rest of the field. The easiest example I can think of is when I grind in the day time my results are a lot more 1st place heavy because the competition is generally nittier then me so I pick up a tonne of pots early on then run the table over or w/e on the bubble to cement my chip lead.

When I grind early in the morning or late or night though I get a lot more 2nds because I have to let everyone bust each other since there's so many more loose players/and even some good aggro 100s regs who you can't chip up well versus as opposed to the weaker 30s regs.

So basically even though I'm playing the same stake/game it's really a COMPLETELY different game and you should go into EVERY sng(spot also) with the attitude that you may have to change your normal strategy completely to maximize your ROI.

[Luco]

Thanks tree (can I call you tree?), as always your contributions are welcome.

Hand 1: the two things that made me slow down were the low PFR stat (he preferred limping in then betting flops) and being so close to the money. IIRC this was a standard raise for him, but he didn't make them often and it came out semi fast.

Shovel: The fact that I still have some play left if I lose is a plus, I take it down preflop a fair % and I have decent equity if called.
Fold: I have edge, can make money without showdown, could fold itm from here, it was his first raise in a while.

I was thinking for so long on it that I timed out, hence the mark for review. Perhaps I'll put it to the tourney forum...


Hand 2: only the lagfish 3bet light and it's usually super obvious that they are doing it, but it still takes an orbit or two to figure out. They are a minority at the $3.50s. Unfortunately CO folded too so I never saw what SB had.

P.S. Robb, I welcome all comments itt

I'm also far more likely to fold if I'm stealing / raising profitably, if there's aggressive players to my left I just have to pick a spot and cross my fingers. In the hand in question, the two to my left were giving up the blinds a decent amount (the villain from the hand is BB when I'm OTB). From reading your last post I see we have very similar adaptive play and thoughts, so hopefully that means I'm on the right track

[Luco]

Played 4, 4th, 3rd, 4th, 3rd. My first losing session in a while.

I had AQ < KK on two tables within seconds of each other, which would have been hilarious if I hadn't bubbled on one of them. Even so I definitely played less than optimally and paid for it.

I have non-poker stuff that needs my attention, so I'm taking a break till the weekend and will return with my A game on Friday.

[Robb]

I ... will return with my A game on Friday.

^^^ this + enjoy life

[Luco]

Bit of a meh weekend. BR is about $125 right now, haven't had a 1st in a while. But I feel like I'm getting to know the $3.50s a little more every time I play, improving little by little.

I have over 100 pt3 tracked tournaments in 2012. Ran at 33.5% ROI in the first hundred, hope I can maintain that for the next 100...

[Robb]

Bit of a meh weekend. BR is about $125 right now, haven't had a 1st in a while.

Stay strong, you'll get there. GL!

[Luco]

Thanks Robb, I wish you some much deserved rungood

I recently ran deep and made the FT of a $3 MTT for a cool $50, my biggest single tournament cash to date.