Thanks Hokie for chiming in, completely agree.I would strongly encourage you to focus on turbos for now though, but work on improving your <25bb game in the process. And all of FastTrack is here for you in that. If you haven't been participating in the skypechat, start making use of that as a resource as well.I just sent you your HH review (sorry to others who are jealous that I got yours back within a couple hours :p) which has some good stuff in it, I think.
Thanks.I'd really love to play some more Turbos, but it looks like it's really hard to get any decent action these days. For instance, this afternoon, I opensat for about half an hour and didn't get any action, neither at $60 nor at 60 EUR - then I played a few $30 ST's.I've also read this article again and started to use that for my button decisions.However, looking at my ST graph from these last 24 games - my non-showdown winnings go straight down, to -20BB after 356 hands - SD-winnings are +10BB equity adjusted.Not really a samplesize, but it still looks like I'm losing a ton of chips.I'll try to play a few more Turbos tonight, then call it an early night.
Hypothetical question: folding the nuts against all odds
This is a really hypothetical question - I'd never ever even think a second about this, this is just so extremely crazy.However, I'm drunk and one of my real life friends mentioned this in a bar - so I'm wondering how bad it is. I simply want to translate this into husng term and and find out how bad it is. My guy feeling is this "strategy" makes you < -15% ROI in a normal Turbo or < -5 BB/100 in a cash game.My guess is:No matter how good you are post-flop - even if this was 150 bb deep - you cannot compensate this huge mistake anymore and will lose against the biggest fish.10-player cash game, blinds $2/$4 - Hero has $2000. Hero opens to $500, someone raises to $1500, next guy re-reaises, everyone else at the table calls.Hero has to call $1500 into a pot of $8000 - and Hero folds AA for $1500 into a pot of $8000. I said "no matter how good Hero is post-flop, no matter how deep you are or how bad your opponents are, you can not compensate this mistake".True or false ?I have absolutely no idea about 10-max play, but my gut feeling tells me AA is always at least >25% against 9 callers - which would already make it a >$500 fold, thus more than a full buy-in.Of course, I'd never ever consider this myself - told the guy he's an idiot and that he shouldn't play in a casino way about his bankroll - simply wanna know the mathematical implications of this, ie. whether I'm right that this is a big enough mistake to turn a winner into a loser.And yeah - of course, I'm also a bit pissed - I'd just love so much to go All-In pre-flop with AA and have the entire table call me ...
Jack,I hope you're able to wake up and laugh at yourself in the morning :)Yes, folding AA preflop is definitely a bad play :pDrink lots of water before you go to sleep.Love,mers
Forgot to turn off my alarm clock and my head hurts badly ...Yeah, we had a good laugh in that bar last night. My other friends looked at me, I shook my head and told them his story doesn't make any sense while he was at the bathroom.Going into a casino with 100 EUR and coming out with 2000 EUR, yeah that sounds really cool. Playing 2/4 cashgame, that sounds like oh I'm so good I play with the big guys. But once he started talking about the game, it all didn't make any sense at all anymore. He made it sound it it - and my other friends didn't immediately pick up on that until I explained it to them - but it just didn't make sense to someone who actually knows the game "a little bit", like me.For instance, opening to 125 bb utg and 3 people pushing All-In - that's basically a contradiction to having a huge edge post-flop in super deep stack play. If he gets away with opening so big, then others will do the same. And going into the casino because of the huge post-flop edge - then buying in for 25bb, wtf !And we all started to laugh when he told us that you have to fold Aces pre-flop because it's not the best hand anymore against so many people ! He actually used this example, if you have AA, and your opponents have AK, AQ, 99 and two random hands, then 99 is a favorite because you can't hit a set anymore with your Aces - the random hands are 2nd best since the can make two pair or flushes - and your Aces are the worst hand, even worse than AQ since AQ can make a straight. My other friends looked at me asking "what the hell is this guy talking about ? He's making fun of us, isn't he ?".Well, he even challenged me to play HU against him to "see who's better" ... we just couldn't quite agree on the buy-in level. My maximum offer was "loser pays all drinks", he wanted to play 200 EUR at a minimum.Funniest thing was when he said it's impossible to beat fish since they're so unpredictable and that he'd prefer playing better players. He's so good that he can beat anyone - and he wins every time he goes into that casino.After we were done laughing, we started to get a annoyed about him being the "king", so I told him to deposit $5k on Stars and play Isildur for full bankroll :-)Was a lot of fun ....Back to bed, need some more sleep.
Actually discovered a small improvement in my mental game last night:It doesn't bother me anymore when I meet some fish in real life and they brag about how high they're playing and how much they're winning. I don't do any stupid Heads-Up Challenges like playing for twice my normal stake while being drunk anymore.And when fish tells me it's not worth his time to play a $100 Turbo on Stars since the maximum you can win is "just a bit less than $100" - then I just have a good laugh.And I don't consider it an insult anymore when someone tells me in a bar that he just sat someone in a $200 Turbos, won 3 times in a row against him and that I must be so bad if I don't play $1k's, it's such easy money.In the past, I quickly got embarrassed about that idiot thinking that just a few games would say anything about skill and all that stuff. Nowadays I just have a good laugh.Or I ask for the name of that "fish" that he played against - and have an even bigger laugh when he answers "some guy with some weird latin name" - I ask back "TaediumVitae, maybe?" - "oh yeah, that's him! really big fish" :-)I finally learned that it's all just variance and I'm also confident enough about my own skills to know for sure who's the bigger fish.I actually remembered what Jared Tendler wrote about what makes fish fish - that they play in games they have absolutely no edge in, without ever realizing it.Ok, off to my parent's place - and I think I'll take a break from Hypers over the weekend and grind some Turbos instead.
Yeah sure, I'll post some hands tomorrow, just way too tired now after a long (and successful) grinding session.I'm still playing ST's since my results now look much, much better than they ever did before :-)Played 284 games at the $60's last week, only single-tabling, and I'm exactly break-even (as played, and without rakeback). However, I'm 5 buy-ins below equity, so that's an equity adjusted ROI of ~1.8% - and both my EV-adjusted showdown winnings and my non-showdown winnings are positive.Sure, it's a super small sample size and it could easily be just variance, but I also changed a few very important things about my game:a) I spent a lot of time re-reading and studying all the information that's available in Fast Track, also re-watched all the relevant videos from the essential viewing list.b) I'm only single-tabling now.c) I'm playing much shorter sessions now, taking breaks every 1-2 hours. No much crazy two-tabling for 5+ hours straight. That worked great for me while playing Turbos against fish - but since I'm still learning Hypers, I really need to fully focus.d) I'm only rematching someone when I'm feeling good about his game, ie. I actually have some pretty decent idea what he's doing and how to exploit it. And I'm very careful not to label someone "fish" or even "super fish" too quickly.
First hand of the match, maybe bet a little smaller otr or check/call to bluff-catch ?No Limit Holdem Tournament • 2 Players$58.74+$1.26 Hand converted by the official HUSNG.com hand converter SBmr. riesling500 BBHero500 Effective Stacks: 25bb Blinds 10/20 Pre-Flop (30, 2 players)Hero is BB mr. riesling calls 10, Hero checks Flop (40, 2 players) Hero checks, mr. riesling bets 20, Hero raises to 60, mr. riesling calls 40 Turn (160, 2 players) Hero bets 120, mr. riesling calls 120 River (400, 2 players) Hero goes all-in 300, mr. riesling foldsFinal Pot: 700
$60 Hyper: KQo facing 4x for 9bb from tight-passive
Only 28 hands, but 47% VP$IP, 18% PFR - and reads so far:
H60: TPflats 88 for 21bb3x/folds for 13bb3bet-jams KQo for 13bb
He has not used this 4x size before, he either limped or minraised.Good laydown or too tight ? No Limit Holdem Tournament • 2 Players$58.74+$1.26 Hand converted by the official HUSNG.com hand converter SBGuinness1275 BBHero725 Effective Stacks: 9bb Blinds 15/30 Pre-Flop (45, 2 players)Hero is BBGuinness1 raises to 120, Hero foldsFinal Pot: 150
H60: only 200 games so far[overall: 3% / 25k: +$17k; hu: 0% / 9k: -$7k]limps a tonthen 3x/calls KQs for 23bbc/c 3 streets with weak Kx TPlimps KK for 4bbchks down nsv in lp on TT93x/folds for 20bb and for 22bb3bet-jams T9s for 19bb3x/calls QJo for 24bb #100: 96 sb, 50 cc, 48 rfi, 27 3b, 44 f3b - 100 cb, 50 fcb--------Old reads from $100 / $200: makes huge 3bets and huge c/r-overjam with ??calls my opens very widemixes limping with openingchks back flop in limped pot with air and weak tp3x'es ATo @ 30/60limps a lot at high blinds4x'es at 50/100 with AJs, already did it 2nd timelimps KKlimp/folds a lot < 15 bb eff, even ~10 bb eff3bets 40->220 and folds to jamdoes not c/r T6 on T42-rb, chks turn 4 and chk/callsriver 6
3x/folding, then 3x/calling QJo for 24bb and 3bet-jamming T9s for 19bb - sound pretty terrible.I should have an edge over this guy and not be scared of him sitting me, even if he's a SuperNova ?
@ K9 hand: People don't stack off wide in limped pots, they are very nitty so we want to be active and stab a lot. If we are correctly stabbing a lot, we also want to be stabbing our good hands. It's just so unlikely that if you c/r a limped pot this deep with a marginal top pair on a dry board that you are really going to get all that much value. Just get in the habit of leading, leading, and leading even more. Put pressure on your opponents, until they give you reason to do otherwise. Take advantage of the average players willingness to give up limped pots super-easily.The more invested a player is in a pot, the wider he will stack off typically. Limped pots are where the $$$ is at!
KQ hand:Way too tight. Don't make such huge assumptions. Getting it in 20 bb deep is typically +ev with KQs oop. Maybe it's not vs this guy, but we don't know that yet (plus we are only 9.5bb deep!!!!). Best case scenario when you fold this hand you made a marginally +ev decision (KQs can never be doing that bad), worst case scenario your assumption is wrong and you make a hugely -ev decision (probably the case here imo). Don't play paranoid. Adapt gradually as you acquire more and more information. A lot of times, his frequencies and ranges at 15/20/25bb stacks are going to be ENTIRELY different than his range at 9bb stacks. Making big assumptions about your opponents, and forgoing a typically very +ev decision, is incredibly dangerous.
KJ hand:Pot on river is 380, remaining eff stx are 300. Stack/pot is set up perfectly for a river jam. Let him be a hero. Honestly, I think most thinking players (pretty sure fredco has been around a while) will view a non-all in bet of 200 stronger than just jamming. It just doesn't look like a bluff, and totally looks like thin value.
JJ hand:I like your line here. Bet/calling the turn is totally standard given that there isn't much behind and your size can be inducing a check/shove from a lot of combos/worse hands.Fwiw, I think changing your cbet sizing based on board texture/hand strength is a great way to maximally exploit your opponents. Just make sure you are away of what you are doing, and are aware of how to revert to a more unexploitable/transparent style/sizings if you need to. Are you really cbetting your air on this board 60 into 80? I doubt it...and maybe it doesn't matter vs most, which is fine. Just something to think about.
On my way to finally watch Harry Potter, sitting in my car at rest area, but still have about 45 minutes or however long my cell phone's batteries will last ...One thing that really bothered me today were people who were constantly mindonking into me - especially when they did this with really trashy hands in the beginning and then started to "trap" me after I adjusted by raising these more often.Need to specifically look for some hands and post them.First adjustment I made against calling stations was limping a lot more and only raising hands that are both strong and play well. But what happened was that these fish called all these opens - even after making them 2.5 or even 3x - and then donked into me otf.I could either flat with overcards / weak sd-value type hands, but then they hit on later streets. Or raise and face a min-3bet, not knowing what to do.Really need to look for specific hands.
Mental Game: Fish friends IRL bragging about their results
One big mental game problem I have is with fish friends that I know in real life bragging about how good they are at poker and stuff like that.For instance, there's this one guy how just has no idea about math or equity whatsoever (that's what my question in the for-mers thread was about). He just started playing heads-up a few weeks ago and apparently think's he's already the king in it. But then we talked a bit about a few hands and he started to argue with me that 3x/calling K4o for ~20bb is a standard play in a $60 turbo. So next day, I did some equity calculations against various 3bet-jamming ranges, I printed the poker stove results and when I showed them to him he went like wtf. is this. And the other guy had QJs, so it was the correct play.And then he apparently jumped into Hypers - and I know that he doesn't have the bankroll for them - and started bragging about how easy they are and you don't need all that math stuff. And "I'm also already around for quite a while, so I know how to play and am not that stupid". Started talking about some hands again and how well he played them - for instance, flatted 3x open with A2o, hit his Ace on some ragged low-card board and the other guy snapped off his check/jam with JJ. So he played it perfectly, trapped the guy by just flatting his monster pre-flop, not scaring him out of the pot and then that "fish" was so stupid of going broke with midpair. Later on, I found out that apparently he was also 3betting quite a bit.So yeah, absolutely standard situation for that other guy - if I minraise JJ against a frequent 3bettor, get flatted pre-flop and then check/jammed on an Ace-high board, I also snap this off since that Ace simply isn't in this opponent's flatting range that often.Some of my other friends were listening to that conversation and quickly started to agree with him - "oh yeah, you can't ever fold an Ace pre-flop, you can hit top pair, a straight, everything" and "but he won the match, so he played it perfectly" - all that fish talk.Well, normally I just simply ignore all that - knowing they're wrong and also not interested in learning the correct play anyways.But this time, all of a sudden, I was the bad guy - I even got called arrogant for knowing everything better and not giving him credit for his play. According to their logic, someone who's already been playing poker for some time and now made almost $1k in a week by playing Hypers - that guy just must be good. And it's an insult for me to call him a fish.I actually still kept arguing for a bit, like saying that making $1k in Hypers is absolutely nothing and says nothing whatsoevers about your skills if you play $300+ for full bankroll. Like, the biggest fish can win 5 games in a row, that's just variance. My friends even agreed that it's a bad idea to play that high without having a bankroll, but then immediately argued that it was great that he did it because he won, so he's cool.After that, I walked out and was pretty much pissed - and I must admit that this actually tilted me a lot.And I think what tilted me most was that I got called arrogant for calling him a fish and got asked to apologize for insulting him.So hmm - I think in future, I'll just completely ignore all poker talk, like do whatever you want just don't bother me with it. Already tried that a couple of months ago, but then got called arrogant for not agreeing on how good they are. Yeah, whatever.But it's definitely something that I need to watch out for and how it affects my mental game.In theory, I should just know that they're fish - even if they are my friends and I really like them a lot - and they'll just never be able to learn the game unless they significantly change their attitude.Just trying to think about what Jared would tell me to do .... that I have enough experience to know that they're wrong, just random fish who don't know anything about the game ... maybe something like that ? Or that I cannot change the way how my friends see poker, but only the way how I react to it ... yeah, I think that one is even better !Or maybe it just bothers me so much because I wish for them not to be such big fish, but to either not play poker at all or at least be somewhat competent in it.Well, it's getting time for Harry Potter .....
I would advise just dealing with it when it comes up every so often (friends talking like they know something that they really do not), and if it becomes a pattern then maybe think about who you choose to spend your time with.A lot of these things can simply be avoided by not being around people that do something that bothers you so much.I can think of several friends growing up that would act this way about a lot of things, and it's no coincidence that I do not spend much time with them these days. I think that translates well into other subjects as well... if you spend a lot of time around people that do things like this, you're going to go crazy pulling your hair out or arguing with them.Otherwise, just put up with it if it doesn't happen that often. The worst thing you can do is argue and tell them they are idiots and you are right and why, most of the time you'll just look arrogant to them like you did here or hurt their feelings enough to where their emotions are skewed (your emotions too!) and the results can quickly get worse.Unfortunately, you do have to put up with these types at times, but just grind through it and look on the bright side of those situations (any bit of fun you can find highlight that and focus on it). I see a family member quite often that is this way, I've grown accustom to ignoring it most of the time. I also joke with my gf about it afterwards, it's so absurd it's funny at times, depending on the topic at hand.
Back from Harry Potter - really great movie, and thanks for your kind words, Ryan !I've also been thinking a bit more about this before the movie, and I think one of the biggest problems with fish friends is their mentality of thinking "I won the hand, therefor my play was right" and them hugely underestimating variance, so they think "I won <random amount of money> last month, therefor I can't be that bad", combined with thinking it's just bad luck when they lose.That makes any kind of argument about different lines so extremely difficult.Well, maybe I can solve this by not arguing about any specific plays anymore, but also ask them not to expect me telling them they're good or something like that. That, and making it very clear if they ever insist on me truely answering some question about their play - then they may not like the answer they get.
I've also been thinking a bit about why mindonks bother me so much.Is it possible that this is happening because I feel very uncomfortable playing back against these and often have problem figuring out whether they're weak or inducing ?I think I'm very comfortable these days cbetting a lot of boards and firing a 2nd and/or 3rd barrel - knowing quite well in which situations, on which boards against which opponents I can do that. And I also feel somewhat comfortable when faced with a normal sized donk-bet - in a Super Turbo, I basically have to decide on the flop whether I want to stack off with my hand or not - and if they donk very frequently, then I can stack off wider.But mindonks really take me out of my comfort zone:I really don't like flatting that much since it basically takes away my cbet - so instead of me cbetting and them deciding what to do with all their air, they now see a turn card very cheaply.And when I raise them, I'm often faced with min-3bets and stuff like that having no idea what they're doing that with.Maybe I'm just too scared to contest these pots - contrary to the situation where fish check/raises me. When that happens, they usually shut down with all their bluffs when I flat their check/raise, so their hand becomes pretty much face up on the turn.
hey jack, i came across this comment of yours in mrbambocha's thread just now. wanted to make sure you saw my critique of it.you said: 75 hand - I usally don't go that crazy in a limped pot and I especially don't like triple barrel bluffing complete air in limped pots.i think i can make this short. your reasoning here is the EXACT reason why i recommend you to be very active in limped pots. the average player thinks the exact same way as you about limped pots. they give up very easily. they don't fight over small pots. this is exactly why there is so much value to be had.
@ mindonks question:ya, specific hands would help. it's hard to generalize. typically i just wait out a few mindonks and play fit or fold -- see what their frequency is like and what kind of board textures they do it on. adjust accordingly.if someone is doing it a lot, i would just tighten pfr a bit so you hit boards more frequently and increase preflop raise size with that range. i wouldnt bother limping pre, bc that range really wont play that well limped (Q5o, J4o, 95o, K2o type stuff).
It's hard to say about the mindonks man. I would just pay attention to board textures, frequencies. I would call a lot obv with equity. A lot of times these type players will define their hand a lot on future streets. They expect to get bluff-raised on the flop a lot, but don't expect to get bluff raise don turn/rivers as much - you will have more info at that point to get an idea of their range anyways. Just remember, when they donk 20 into 120 on the flop you only need 20/160 equity to continue (12.5%).
I don't really have posting access but figured I'd reply to the friends in poker thing, delete if you want... I used to have "online poker nights" with a few friends at my house. We were all terrible of course. After a while I got better. It's hard to give them advice because the results orientation sits so damn hard and if you say he should get it in with AA on Ts9s5 and he shows up with T9 you'll never hear the end of it. As for bluff spots I just don't advise that, whenever it sometimes doesn't work I get berated forever even if I know it was good. And convincing them a play they made is bad is impossible, I've def had situations like the one you describe. After a downswing my friend saved my graph from SS, came over to my house and laughed at it to me..."lol what a cliff ahahha" wtf?Sometimes I put them into like 10$ or 20$ HU shootouts as a backing deal, no big deal. Never really cashed much. But one day my friend explains to me that "obviously if I binked a huge score I wouldn't pay you half, that would be ridiculous, I am the one playing, those who pay then are stupid". LOL good friends. Didn't back him after that :pSry for cluttering your thread.
Cool to have you in here, Xereles :-)I have a job interview later this afternoon, so I'm talking a day off from playing. Will probably go to a bar right after the interview - either to celebrate my new job or to get extremely drunk.So this situation came up again last night, and I think I actually handled it quite well this time. Fish friend came to be like, "hey I have $2k now, what should I do, play Hypers or Turbos and which limit should I play. I think I'm actually very good at this now, sat a reg in a $500 Hyper last night, played it really slow, then trapped him with my small set against his Aces, these guys are just so incredibly bad". And I replied "why do you ask me for advise when you won't follow it anyways ?" and that ended it, we didn't talk about poker anymore for the rest of the night which was actually pretty cool.About that SS thing, yeah I also made this experience in the past. I have my stats blocked since like forever, but told some of my fish friends it's now going that well in Hypers for me in that I lost some money in them - got berated for that as well. Some of them even watched me play one day - that was while I was still playing $100 Turbos and winning - then after I said I lost some money in Hypers, they told me my strategy is totally wrong and that I'm way too agressive and going All-In pre-flop way too often. For instance jamming 99 over a 3bet from a super aggro guy for 35bb. No, the correct strategy is to limp to trap them, then call down / jam river after hitting a set. And why do you ever 3bet this hand (AKs), if they jam then you're losing your entire buy-in, just flat to trap them when you hit.Watched that great interview with livb yesterday - and he said a really important thing about sample size, that you do not nearly get a sufficient enough sample size by playing live.I think this may actually explain why my fish friends are winning in Hypers: they only play like maybe 5-10 games per day at most - so they do not nearly have a sufficient sample size yet. They could even play an entire year at this rate before their results start to actually reflect their skills.And the same thing happens when we play live at the weekends, we play maybe 100 games a year. That's just nothing.Another thing that fish never understand is what ROI really means. They play a few $30 Hypers and when end their short session with $200 up and go "yah! I'm good, I won $200! Great session, I'm done for today". And a good player would think "ok, I've played 10 of these games, so I just won $5.50. That sucks, I really must increase volume and play at least 90 more".Regarding bluff spots, yeah I always get berated when they don't work - even if I'm absolutely sure the math was right.For instance, we sometimes play this really weird format where everyone gets 1-2 rebuys even 3-handed. Yeah, fish just hate to sit out when they bust early. Interestingly, heads-up gets played only very rarely, most of the time the pot simply gets chopped (often in a way where the small stack gets way more as he'd deserve equity-wide) and we play another game. And then they berate me every single time I buy-back in for just ~15bb and "go completely monkeyshit" - because they simply don't understand what I'm doing and the math behind it. When the situation is right for it, the chipleader on my right and someone with ~25-35bb on my left, then I can just jam super super wide every time the chipleader is not in the pot. I can even call minraises from the chipleader with atc, then see the midstack donk the flop, chipleader folds, I jam and take it down. And when the midstack actually busts, then I often get an even better deal in heads-up because the chipleader is too scared to play against me.Of course, while these bluffs are highly +EV, they don't work all the time - and whenever I'm caught buying back in, then jamming next hand with 62o - people just laugh at me and call me a complete fool ... then prove that my jam was absolutely correct by telling me their calling range.I think Mers would call this the "getting-it-in-good mentality" ;-)
like xereles i am a read only guy but i don´t ask for advice here or sth. like that.."Just trying to think about what Jared would tell me to do ."there is a german poker forum where jared answers your questions within days. for details you can add me on skype, same name as here :) glglgl
Getting myself ready for the interview ...Spending half an hour making a long post about fish actually helped me a bit, was just extremely nervous an hour ago and calmed down a bit.Let's hope this one goes well.
And I also feel somewhat comfortable when faced with a normal sized donk-bet - in a Super Turbo, I basically have to decide on the flop whether I want to stack off with my hand or not - and if they donk very frequently, then I can stack off wider.Half donkbets are as you said easier to play against. Usually they bet what they have from looking at my database. So mindb is bottompair if there are no obviuos draws on the table. If there is I usually go for a raise and 3barell if the draw miss. If I loose I loose and they usually rematch me and then I use my present image for value. If they mindb and 3B flop its usually the nuts and I just fold. easy. U dont even have to raise their mindb big. I usually just minraise it back. If they call that minraise I just bet turn and river big. Might be spewy. Interested to hear what you guys think. If villian makes it half pot its like MP. If I have two overcards to the MP I usually just go ahead and raise here (J9 on K 8 5). If the boards i low and dry I usually raise with one overcard and expect to be able to 3barell him of the hand many times if he continues to show weakness (A2 on 9 6 3). And if they bet bigger then half pot I dont even think about it. But ya, it all depends on how much they call OOP, board texture , freqency and resent plays, like if they have cr or cc before. One idea is to go over your DB, filter out where they bet the different potsizes and have a look for your self.I rearly see villian 3B flop as you said, so you should be pretty calm about they are gonna bluff you with a 3B on flop.Then you know that their mindb is for inducing and that their half pott or pott bets are weaker etc.You can maybe try to move down in stakes and just go nuts in DB pots to get a better feel for them and be able to move out from your comfort zone?? I just love the DB's!
Trying to find back into my normal grind, playing at least 100-150 games per day.Most importantly, I need to figure out how long I can play before I'm getting too tired and/or unconcentrated.
First hand against unknown. Maybe bet a bit bigger ott ?No Limit Holdem Tournament • 2 Players$58.74+$1.26 Hand converted by the official HUSNG.com hand converter SBHero500 BBTammy006500 Effective Stacks: 25bb Blinds 10/20 Pre-Flop (30, 2 players)Hero is SBHero raises to 40, Tammy006 calls 20 Flop (80, 2 players) Tammy006 checks, Hero bets 40, Tammy006 calls 40 Turn (160, 2 players) Tammy006 checks, Hero bets 100, Tammy006 calls 100 River (360, 2 players) Tammy006 checks, Hero checks Final Pot: 360
Oh, ugly spot that one facing the min-raise of death. But since you have 2pair its pretty hard for him to have 2pair aswell I think. My gut says we should fold but I have no idea if its right to fold two pair this short. On the last hand about trippelbarelling. Since you have two hearts its a small change that he is on a flush draw. And he has to be a real station to call flop+turn with 5x, 6x, so I guess a check on the river is ok. He might be sitting on 74, 87, 97, type of hand.
Yeah, I especially hate the min-raise of death when the card they're doing it on completes a draw like it does here. Problem is though, that I do not only have two pair, but also turned a flush draw. In hindsight, I was even thinking about whether it'd be better to just check back ott - but maybe I'm too results oriented here.
Played a bit over 100 matches today, but really had to force it in the end.August so far: 800 games break-even, but 6 buy-ins below equity and $1k in rake as SuperNova (which should be $370 if I see this correctly), so really not that bad.However, towards the end of the session, I started to feel scared of losing somehow - maybe because I was running break-even, but 9 buy-ins below equity this session and I'm right at the 100 buy-in mark - scared of having to go down to $30, which would be a disaster.That job interview didn't go very well - they didn't directly say no, but also don't feel well about it, so it pretty much looks like I have to play poker for a living now until I found another job.
Mers, you asked me last night about spots where I'm feeling completely lost.Here are a few:http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/185/heads-up-sng/30-st-kjs-facing-3x-unknown-1070844/http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/185/heads-up-sng/30-st-tp-super-drawy-board-1070898/http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/185/heads-up-sng/30-st-two-hands-against-tight-passive-guy-1070872/Played 39 games at the $30's tonight - while being fully focused and only single-tabling. Results don't look that great, down 7 buy-ins equity adjusted, but maybe that's really just variance.However, I found 3 games for the HH review.Two of these are against loose-aggressive opponents where I often felt completely lost - the 3rd one is against a loose-passive opponent where I think I played well. Mailing you shortly ....
Thanks Hokie for chiming in, completely agree.I would strongly encourage you to focus on turbos for now though, but work on improving your <25bb game in the process. And all of FastTrack is here for you in that. If you haven't been participating in the skypechat, start making use of that as a resource as well.I just sent you your HH review (sorry to others who are jealous that I got yours back within a couple hours :p) which has some good stuff in it, I think.
Also responded to your 2+2 questions in those threads.
Thanks.I'd really love to play some more Turbos, but it looks like it's really hard to get any decent action these days. For instance, this afternoon, I opensat for about half an hour and didn't get any action, neither at $60 nor at 60 EUR - then I played a few $30 ST's.I've also read this article again and started to use that for my button decisions.However, looking at my ST graph from these last 24 games - my non-showdown winnings go straight down, to -20BB after 356 hands - SD-winnings are +10BB equity adjusted.Not really a samplesize, but it still looks like I'm losing a ton of chips.I'll try to play a few more Turbos tonight, then call it an early night.
This is a really hypothetical question - I'd never ever even think a second about this, this is just so extremely crazy.However, I'm drunk and one of my real life friends mentioned this in a bar - so I'm wondering how bad it is. I simply want to translate this into husng term and and find out how bad it is. My guy feeling is this "strategy" makes you < -15% ROI in a normal Turbo or < -5 BB/100 in a cash game.My guess is:No matter how good you are post-flop - even if this was 150 bb deep - you cannot compensate this huge mistake anymore and will lose against the biggest fish.10-player cash game, blinds $2/$4 - Hero has $2000. Hero opens to $500, someone raises to $1500, next guy re-reaises, everyone else at the table calls.Hero has to call $1500 into a pot of $8000 - and Hero folds AA for $1500 into a pot of $8000. I said "no matter how good Hero is post-flop, no matter how deep you are or how bad your opponents are, you can not compensate this mistake".True or false ?I have absolutely no idea about 10-max play, but my gut feeling tells me AA is always at least >25% against 9 callers - which would already make it a >$500 fold, thus more than a full buy-in.Of course, I'd never ever consider this myself - told the guy he's an idiot and that he shouldn't play in a casino way about his bankroll - simply wanna know the mathematical implications of this, ie. whether I'm right that this is a big enough mistake to turn a winner into a loser.And yeah - of course, I'm also a bit pissed - I'd just love so much to go All-In pre-flop with AA and have the entire table call me ...
Jack,I hope you're able to wake up and laugh at yourself in the morning :)Yes, folding AA preflop is definitely a bad play :pDrink lots of water before you go to sleep.Love,mers
Forgot to turn off my alarm clock and my head hurts badly ...Yeah, we had a good laugh in that bar last night. My other friends looked at me, I shook my head and told them his story doesn't make any sense while he was at the bathroom.Going into a casino with 100 EUR and coming out with 2000 EUR, yeah that sounds really cool. Playing 2/4 cashgame, that sounds like oh I'm so good I play with the big guys. But once he started talking about the game, it all didn't make any sense at all anymore. He made it sound it it - and my other friends didn't immediately pick up on that until I explained it to them - but it just didn't make sense to someone who actually knows the game "a little bit", like me.For instance, opening to 125 bb utg and 3 people pushing All-In - that's basically a contradiction to having a huge edge post-flop in super deep stack play. If he gets away with opening so big, then others will do the same. And going into the casino because of the huge post-flop edge - then buying in for 25bb, wtf !And we all started to laugh when he told us that you have to fold Aces pre-flop because it's not the best hand anymore against so many people ! He actually used this example, if you have AA, and your opponents have AK, AQ, 99 and two random hands, then 99 is a favorite because you can't hit a set anymore with your Aces - the random hands are 2nd best since the can make two pair or flushes - and your Aces are the worst hand, even worse than AQ since AQ can make a straight. My other friends looked at me asking "what the hell is this guy talking about ? He's making fun of us, isn't he ?".Well, he even challenged me to play HU against him to "see who's better" ... we just couldn't quite agree on the buy-in level. My maximum offer was "loser pays all drinks", he wanted to play 200 EUR at a minimum.Funniest thing was when he said it's impossible to beat fish since they're so unpredictable and that he'd prefer playing better players. He's so good that he can beat anyone - and he wins every time he goes into that casino.After we were done laughing, we started to get a annoyed about him being the "king", so I told him to deposit $5k on Stars and play Isildur for full bankroll :-)Was a lot of fun ....Back to bed, need some more sleep.
Actually discovered a small improvement in my mental game last night:It doesn't bother me anymore when I meet some fish in real life and they brag about how high they're playing and how much they're winning. I don't do any stupid Heads-Up Challenges like playing for twice my normal stake while being drunk anymore.And when fish tells me it's not worth his time to play a $100 Turbo on Stars since the maximum you can win is "just a bit less than $100" - then I just have a good laugh.And I don't consider it an insult anymore when someone tells me in a bar that he just sat someone in a $200 Turbos, won 3 times in a row against him and that I must be so bad if I don't play $1k's, it's such easy money.In the past, I quickly got embarrassed about that idiot thinking that just a few games would say anything about skill and all that stuff. Nowadays I just have a good laugh.Or I ask for the name of that "fish" that he played against - and have an even bigger laugh when he answers "some guy with some weird latin name" - I ask back "TaediumVitae, maybe?" - "oh yeah, that's him! really big fish" :-)I finally learned that it's all just variance and I'm also confident enough about my own skills to know for sure who's the bigger fish.I actually remembered what Jared Tendler wrote about what makes fish fish - that they play in games they have absolutely no edge in, without ever realizing it.Ok, off to my parent's place - and I think I'll take a break from Hypers over the weekend and grind some Turbos instead.
Why are you playing hypers this weekend?Why are you playing hypers at all given your experience with them?
post some hands
Yeah sure, I'll post some hands tomorrow, just way too tired now after a long (and successful) grinding session.I'm still playing ST's since my results now look much, much better than they ever did before :-)Played 284 games at the $60's last week, only single-tabling, and I'm exactly break-even (as played, and without rakeback). However, I'm 5 buy-ins below equity, so that's an equity adjusted ROI of ~1.8% - and both my EV-adjusted showdown winnings and my non-showdown winnings are positive.Sure, it's a super small sample size and it could easily be just variance, but I also changed a few very important things about my game:a) I spent a lot of time re-reading and studying all the information that's available in Fast Track, also re-watched all the relevant videos from the essential viewing list.b) I'm only single-tabling now.c) I'm playing much shorter sessions now, taking breaks every 1-2 hours. No much crazy two-tabling for 5+ hours straight. That worked great for me while playing Turbos against fish - but since I'm still learning Hypers, I really need to fully focus.d) I'm only rematching someone when I'm feeling good about his game, ie. I actually have some pretty decent idea what he's doing and how to exploit it. And I'm very careful not to label someone "fish" or even "super fish" too quickly.
First hand of the match, maybe bet a little smaller otr or check/call to bluff-catch ?No Limit Holdem Tournament • 2 Players$58.74+$1.26 Hand converted by the official HUSNG.com hand converter SBmr. riesling500 BBHero500 Effective Stacks: 25bb Blinds 10/20 Pre-Flop (30, 2 players) Hero is BB mr. riesling calls 10, Hero checks Flop (40, 2 players) Hero checks, mr. riesling bets 20, Hero raises to 60, mr. riesling calls 40 Turn (160, 2 players) Hero bets 120, mr. riesling calls 120 River (400, 2 players) Hero goes all-in 300, mr. riesling folds Final Pot: 700
Only 28 hands, but 47% VP$IP, 18% PFR - and reads so far:
He has not used this 4x size before, he either limped or minraised.Good laydown or too tight ? No Limit Holdem Tournament • 2 Players$58.74+$1.26 Hand converted by the official HUSNG.com hand converter SBGuinness1275 BBHero725 Effective Stacks: 9bb Blinds 15/30 Pre-Flop (45, 2 players) Hero is BB Guinness1 raises to 120, Hero folds Final Pot: 150
Reads:
Bet sizing ok as played ?No Limit Holdem Tournament • 2 Players$58.74+$1.26 Hand converted by the official HUSNG.com hand converter BBfredcvo510 SBHero490 Effective Stacks: 25bb Blinds 10/20 Pre-Flop (30, 2 players) Hero is SB Hero raises to 40, fredcvo calls 20 Flop (80, 2 players) fredcvo checks, Hero bets 50, fredcvo calls 50 Turn (180, 2 players) fredcvo checks, Hero bets 100, fredcvo calls 100 River (380, 2 players) fredcvo checks, Hero bets 200, fredcvo calls 200 Final Pot: 780
2nd hand against unknown. No Limit Holdem Tournament • 2 Players$58.74+$1.26 Hand converted by the official HUSNG.com hand converter BBEspinoros490 SBHero510 Effective Stacks: 25bb Blinds 10/20 Pre-Flop (30, 2 players) Hero is SB Hero raises to 40, Espinoros calls 20 Flop (80, 2 players) Espinoros checks, Hero bets 60, Espinoros calls 60 Turn (200, 2 players) Espinoros checks, Hero bets 140, Espinoros goes all-in 390, Hero calls 250 River (980, 2 players, 1 all-in)
How bad is this:
3x/folding, then 3x/calling QJo for 24bb and 3bet-jamming T9s for 19bb - sound pretty terrible.I should have an edge over this guy and not be scared of him sitting me, even if he's a SuperNova ?
This and the next 7 posts were used as placeholders to assemble and edit my blog post:http://www.husng.com/content/dialing-9th-chevron-fast-track-success-story
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@ K9 hand: People don't stack off wide in limped pots, they are very nitty so we want to be active and stab a lot. If we are correctly stabbing a lot, we also want to be stabbing our good hands. It's just so unlikely that if you c/r a limped pot this deep with a marginal top pair on a dry board that you are really going to get all that much value. Just get in the habit of leading, leading, and leading even more. Put pressure on your opponents, until they give you reason to do otherwise. Take advantage of the average players willingness to give up limped pots super-easily.The more invested a player is in a pot, the wider he will stack off typically. Limped pots are where the $$$ is at!
KQ hand:Way too tight. Don't make such huge assumptions. Getting it in 20 bb deep is typically +ev with KQs oop. Maybe it's not vs this guy, but we don't know that yet (plus we are only 9.5bb deep!!!!). Best case scenario when you fold this hand you made a marginally +ev decision (KQs can never be doing that bad), worst case scenario your assumption is wrong and you make a hugely -ev decision (probably the case here imo). Don't play paranoid. Adapt gradually as you acquire more and more information. A lot of times, his frequencies and ranges at 15/20/25bb stacks are going to be ENTIRELY different than his range at 9bb stacks. Making big assumptions about your opponents, and forgoing a typically very +ev decision, is incredibly dangerous.
KJ hand:Pot on river is 380, remaining eff stx are 300. Stack/pot is set up perfectly for a river jam. Let him be a hero. Honestly, I think most thinking players (pretty sure fredco has been around a while) will view a non-all in bet of 200 stronger than just jamming. It just doesn't look like a bluff, and totally looks like thin value.
JJ hand:I like your line here. Bet/calling the turn is totally standard given that there isn't much behind and your size can be inducing a check/shove from a lot of combos/worse hands.Fwiw, I think changing your cbet sizing based on board texture/hand strength is a great way to maximally exploit your opponents. Just make sure you are away of what you are doing, and are aware of how to revert to a more unexploitable/transparent style/sizings if you need to. Are you really cbetting your air on this board 60 into 80? I doubt it...and maybe it doesn't matter vs most, which is fine. Just something to think about.
On my way to finally watch Harry Potter, sitting in my car at rest area, but still have about 45 minutes or however long my cell phone's batteries will last ...One thing that really bothered me today were people who were constantly mindonking into me - especially when they did this with really trashy hands in the beginning and then started to "trap" me after I adjusted by raising these more often.Need to specifically look for some hands and post them.First adjustment I made against calling stations was limping a lot more and only raising hands that are both strong and play well. But what happened was that these fish called all these opens - even after making them 2.5 or even 3x - and then donked into me otf.I could either flat with overcards / weak sd-value type hands, but then they hit on later streets. Or raise and face a min-3bet, not knowing what to do.Really need to look for specific hands.
One big mental game problem I have is with fish friends that I know in real life bragging about how good they are at poker and stuff like that.For instance, there's this one guy how just has no idea about math or equity whatsoever (that's what my question in the for-mers thread was about). He just started playing heads-up a few weeks ago and apparently think's he's already the king in it. But then we talked a bit about a few hands and he started to argue with me that 3x/calling K4o for ~20bb is a standard play in a $60 turbo. So next day, I did some equity calculations against various 3bet-jamming ranges, I printed the poker stove results and when I showed them to him he went like wtf. is this. And the other guy had QJs, so it was the correct play.And then he apparently jumped into Hypers - and I know that he doesn't have the bankroll for them - and started bragging about how easy they are and you don't need all that math stuff. And "I'm also already around for quite a while, so I know how to play and am not that stupid". Started talking about some hands again and how well he played them - for instance, flatted 3x open with A2o, hit his Ace on some ragged low-card board and the other guy snapped off his check/jam with JJ. So he played it perfectly, trapped the guy by just flatting his monster pre-flop, not scaring him out of the pot and then that "fish" was so stupid of going broke with midpair. Later on, I found out that apparently he was also 3betting quite a bit.So yeah, absolutely standard situation for that other guy - if I minraise JJ against a frequent 3bettor, get flatted pre-flop and then check/jammed on an Ace-high board, I also snap this off since that Ace simply isn't in this opponent's flatting range that often.Some of my other friends were listening to that conversation and quickly started to agree with him - "oh yeah, you can't ever fold an Ace pre-flop, you can hit top pair, a straight, everything" and "but he won the match, so he played it perfectly" - all that fish talk.Well, normally I just simply ignore all that - knowing they're wrong and also not interested in learning the correct play anyways.But this time, all of a sudden, I was the bad guy - I even got called arrogant for knowing everything better and not giving him credit for his play. According to their logic, someone who's already been playing poker for some time and now made almost $1k in a week by playing Hypers - that guy just must be good. And it's an insult for me to call him a fish.I actually still kept arguing for a bit, like saying that making $1k in Hypers is absolutely nothing and says nothing whatsoevers about your skills if you play $300+ for full bankroll. Like, the biggest fish can win 5 games in a row, that's just variance. My friends even agreed that it's a bad idea to play that high without having a bankroll, but then immediately argued that it was great that he did it because he won, so he's cool.After that, I walked out and was pretty much pissed - and I must admit that this actually tilted me a lot.And I think what tilted me most was that I got called arrogant for calling him a fish and got asked to apologize for insulting him.So hmm - I think in future, I'll just completely ignore all poker talk, like do whatever you want just don't bother me with it. Already tried that a couple of months ago, but then got called arrogant for not agreeing on how good they are. Yeah, whatever.But it's definitely something that I need to watch out for and how it affects my mental game.In theory, I should just know that they're fish - even if they are my friends and I really like them a lot - and they'll just never be able to learn the game unless they significantly change their attitude.Just trying to think about what Jared would tell me to do .... that I have enough experience to know that they're wrong, just random fish who don't know anything about the game ... maybe something like that ? Or that I cannot change the way how my friends see poker, but only the way how I react to it ... yeah, I think that one is even better !Or maybe it just bothers me so much because I wish for them not to be such big fish, but to either not play poker at all or at least be somewhat competent in it.Well, it's getting time for Harry Potter .....
I would advise just dealing with it when it comes up every so often (friends talking like they know something that they really do not), and if it becomes a pattern then maybe think about who you choose to spend your time with.A lot of these things can simply be avoided by not being around people that do something that bothers you so much.I can think of several friends growing up that would act this way about a lot of things, and it's no coincidence that I do not spend much time with them these days. I think that translates well into other subjects as well... if you spend a lot of time around people that do things like this, you're going to go crazy pulling your hair out or arguing with them.Otherwise, just put up with it if it doesn't happen that often. The worst thing you can do is argue and tell them they are idiots and you are right and why, most of the time you'll just look arrogant to them like you did here or hurt their feelings enough to where their emotions are skewed (your emotions too!) and the results can quickly get worse.Unfortunately, you do have to put up with these types at times, but just grind through it and look on the bright side of those situations (any bit of fun you can find highlight that and focus on it). I see a family member quite often that is this way, I've grown accustom to ignoring it most of the time. I also joke with my gf about it afterwards, it's so absurd it's funny at times, depending on the topic at hand.
Back from Harry Potter - really great movie, and thanks for your kind words, Ryan !I've also been thinking a bit more about this before the movie, and I think one of the biggest problems with fish friends is their mentality of thinking "I won the hand, therefor my play was right" and them hugely underestimating variance, so they think "I won <random amount of money> last month, therefor I can't be that bad", combined with thinking it's just bad luck when they lose.That makes any kind of argument about different lines so extremely difficult.Well, maybe I can solve this by not arguing about any specific plays anymore, but also ask them not to expect me telling them they're good or something like that. That, and making it very clear if they ever insist on me truely answering some question about their play - then they may not like the answer they get.
I've also been thinking a bit about why mindonks bother me so much.Is it possible that this is happening because I feel very uncomfortable playing back against these and often have problem figuring out whether they're weak or inducing ?I think I'm very comfortable these days cbetting a lot of boards and firing a 2nd and/or 3rd barrel - knowing quite well in which situations, on which boards against which opponents I can do that. And I also feel somewhat comfortable when faced with a normal sized donk-bet - in a Super Turbo, I basically have to decide on the flop whether I want to stack off with my hand or not - and if they donk very frequently, then I can stack off wider.But mindonks really take me out of my comfort zone:I really don't like flatting that much since it basically takes away my cbet - so instead of me cbetting and them deciding what to do with all their air, they now see a turn card very cheaply.And when I raise them, I'm often faced with min-3bets and stuff like that having no idea what they're doing that with.Maybe I'm just too scared to contest these pots - contrary to the situation where fish check/raises me. When that happens, they usually shut down with all their bluffs when I flat their check/raise, so their hand becomes pretty much face up on the turn.
hey jack, i came across this comment of yours in mrbambocha's thread just now. wanted to make sure you saw my critique of it.you said: 75 hand - I usally don't go that crazy in a limped pot and I especially don't like triple barrel bluffing complete air in limped pots.i think i can make this short. your reasoning here is the EXACT reason why i recommend you to be very active in limped pots. the average player thinks the exact same way as you about limped pots. they give up very easily. they don't fight over small pots. this is exactly why there is so much value to be had.
@ mindonks question:ya, specific hands would help. it's hard to generalize. typically i just wait out a few mindonks and play fit or fold -- see what their frequency is like and what kind of board textures they do it on. adjust accordingly.if someone is doing it a lot, i would just tighten pfr a bit so you hit boards more frequently and increase preflop raise size with that range. i wouldnt bother limping pre, bc that range really wont play that well limped (Q5o, J4o, 95o, K2o type stuff).
It's hard to say about the mindonks man. I would just pay attention to board textures, frequencies. I would call a lot obv with equity. A lot of times these type players will define their hand a lot on future streets. They expect to get bluff-raised on the flop a lot, but don't expect to get bluff raise don turn/rivers as much - you will have more info at that point to get an idea of their range anyways. Just remember, when they donk 20 into 120 on the flop you only need 20/160 equity to continue (12.5%).
also, i completely agree with ryan. don't really have anything to add :)
I don't really have posting access but figured I'd reply to the friends in poker thing, delete if you want... I used to have "online poker nights" with a few friends at my house. We were all terrible of course. After a while I got better. It's hard to give them advice because the results orientation sits so damn hard and if you say he should get it in with AA on Ts9s5 and he shows up with T9 you'll never hear the end of it. As for bluff spots I just don't advise that, whenever it sometimes doesn't work I get berated forever even if I know it was good. And convincing them a play they made is bad is impossible, I've def had situations like the one you describe. After a downswing my friend saved my graph from SS, came over to my house and laughed at it to me..."lol what a cliff ahahha" wtf?Sometimes I put them into like 10$ or 20$ HU shootouts as a backing deal, no big deal. Never really cashed much. But one day my friend explains to me that "obviously if I binked a huge score I wouldn't pay you half, that would be ridiculous, I am the one playing, those who pay then are stupid". LOL good friends. Didn't back him after that :pSry for cluttering your thread.
Cool to have you in here, Xereles :-)I have a job interview later this afternoon, so I'm talking a day off from playing. Will probably go to a bar right after the interview - either to celebrate my new job or to get extremely drunk.So this situation came up again last night, and I think I actually handled it quite well this time. Fish friend came to be like, "hey I have $2k now, what should I do, play Hypers or Turbos and which limit should I play. I think I'm actually very good at this now, sat a reg in a $500 Hyper last night, played it really slow, then trapped him with my small set against his Aces, these guys are just so incredibly bad". And I replied "why do you ask me for advise when you won't follow it anyways ?" and that ended it, we didn't talk about poker anymore for the rest of the night which was actually pretty cool.About that SS thing, yeah I also made this experience in the past. I have my stats blocked since like forever, but told some of my fish friends it's now going that well in Hypers for me in that I lost some money in them - got berated for that as well. Some of them even watched me play one day - that was while I was still playing $100 Turbos and winning - then after I said I lost some money in Hypers, they told me my strategy is totally wrong and that I'm way too agressive and going All-In pre-flop way too often. For instance jamming 99 over a 3bet from a super aggro guy for 35bb. No, the correct strategy is to limp to trap them, then call down / jam river after hitting a set. And why do you ever 3bet this hand (AKs), if they jam then you're losing your entire buy-in, just flat to trap them when you hit.Watched that great interview with livb yesterday - and he said a really important thing about sample size, that you do not nearly get a sufficient enough sample size by playing live.I think this may actually explain why my fish friends are winning in Hypers: they only play like maybe 5-10 games per day at most - so they do not nearly have a sufficient sample size yet. They could even play an entire year at this rate before their results start to actually reflect their skills.And the same thing happens when we play live at the weekends, we play maybe 100 games a year. That's just nothing.Another thing that fish never understand is what ROI really means. They play a few $30 Hypers and when end their short session with $200 up and go "yah! I'm good, I won $200! Great session, I'm done for today". And a good player would think "ok, I've played 10 of these games, so I just won $5.50. That sucks, I really must increase volume and play at least 90 more".Regarding bluff spots, yeah I always get berated when they don't work - even if I'm absolutely sure the math was right.For instance, we sometimes play this really weird format where everyone gets 1-2 rebuys even 3-handed. Yeah, fish just hate to sit out when they bust early. Interestingly, heads-up gets played only very rarely, most of the time the pot simply gets chopped (often in a way where the small stack gets way more as he'd deserve equity-wide) and we play another game. And then they berate me every single time I buy-back in for just ~15bb and "go completely monkeyshit" - because they simply don't understand what I'm doing and the math behind it. When the situation is right for it, the chipleader on my right and someone with ~25-35bb on my left, then I can just jam super super wide every time the chipleader is not in the pot. I can even call minraises from the chipleader with atc, then see the midstack donk the flop, chipleader folds, I jam and take it down. And when the midstack actually busts, then I often get an even better deal in heads-up because the chipleader is too scared to play against me.Of course, while these bluffs are highly +EV, they don't work all the time - and whenever I'm caught buying back in, then jamming next hand with 62o - people just laugh at me and call me a complete fool ... then prove that my jam was absolutely correct by telling me their calling range.I think Mers would call this the "getting-it-in-good mentality" ;-)
like xereles i am a read only guy but i don´t ask for advice here or sth. like that.."Just trying to think about what Jared would tell me to do ."there is a german poker forum where jared answers your questions within days. for details you can add me on skype, same name as here :) glglgl
Getting myself ready for the interview ...Spending half an hour making a long post about fish actually helped me a bit, was just extremely nervous an hour ago and calmed down a bit.Let's hope this one goes well.
And I also feel somewhat comfortable when faced with a normal sized donk-bet - in a Super Turbo, I basically have to decide on the flop whether I want to stack off with my hand or not - and if they donk very frequently, then I can stack off wider.Half donkbets are as you said easier to play against. Usually they bet what they have from looking at my database. So mindb is bottompair if there are no obviuos draws on the table. If there is I usually go for a raise and 3barell if the draw miss. If I loose I loose and they usually rematch me and then I use my present image for value. If they mindb and 3B flop its usually the nuts and I just fold. easy. U dont even have to raise their mindb big. I usually just minraise it back. If they call that minraise I just bet turn and river big. Might be spewy. Interested to hear what you guys think. If villian makes it half pot its like MP. If I have two overcards to the MP I usually just go ahead and raise here (J9 on K 8 5). If the boards i low and dry I usually raise with one overcard and expect to be able to 3barell him of the hand many times if he continues to show weakness (A2 on 9 6 3). And if they bet bigger then half pot I dont even think about it. But ya, it all depends on how much they call OOP, board texture , freqency and resent plays, like if they have cr or cc before. One idea is to go over your DB, filter out where they bet the different potsizes and have a look for your self.I rearly see villian 3B flop as you said, so you should be pretty calm about they are gonna bluff you with a 3B on flop.Then you know that their mindb is for inducing and that their half pott or pott bets are weaker etc.You can maybe try to move down in stakes and just go nuts in DB pots to get a better feel for them and be able to move out from your comfort zone?? I just love the DB's!
Trying to find back into my normal grind, playing at least 100-150 games per day.Most importantly, I need to figure out how long I can play before I'm getting too tired and/or unconcentrated.
First hand against unknown. Maybe bet a bit bigger ott ?No Limit Holdem Tournament • 2 Players$58.74+$1.26 Hand converted by the official HUSNG.com hand converter SBHero500 BBTammy006500 Effective Stacks: 25bb Blinds 10/20 Pre-Flop (30, 2 players) Hero is SB Hero raises to 40, Tammy006 calls 20 Flop (80, 2 players) Tammy006 checks, Hero bets 40, Tammy006 calls 40 Turn (160, 2 players) Tammy006 checks, Hero bets 100, Tammy006 calls 100 River (360, 2 players) Tammy006 checks, Hero checks Final Pot: 360
This guy was mostly loose-passive, so getting c/r on this turn really sucked badly. Can we ever fold two pair here ?No Limit Holdem Tournament • 2 Players$58.74+$1.26 Hand converted by the official HUSNG.com hand converter BBroberthinio490 SBHero510 Effective Stacks: 25bb Blinds 10/20 Pre-Flop (30, 2 players) Hero is SB Hero raises to 40, roberthinio calls 20 Flop (80, 2 players) roberthinio checks, Hero bets 40, roberthinio calls 40 Turn (160, 2 players) roberthinio checks, Hero bets 100, roberthinio raises to 200, Hero goes all-in 430, roberthinio goes all-in 210 River (1000, 2 players, 2 all-in) Final Pot: 1000
Good spot to triple barrel bluff or should I just check back ott / otr ?No Limit Holdem Tournament • 2 Players$58.74+$1.26 Hand converted by the official HUSNG.com hand converter SBHero550 BBXercess450 Effective Stacks: 23bb Blinds 10/20 Pre-Flop (30, 2 players) Hero is SB Hero raises to 40, Xercess calls 20 Flop (80, 2 players) Xercess checks, Hero bets 40, Xercess calls 40 Turn (160, 2 players) Xercess checks, Hero bets 100, Xercess calls 100 River (360, 2 players) Xercess checks, Hero goes all-in 370
Oh, ugly spot that one facing the min-raise of death. But since you have 2pair its pretty hard for him to have 2pair aswell I think. My gut says we should fold but I have no idea if its right to fold two pair this short. On the last hand about trippelbarelling. Since you have two hearts its a small change that he is on a flush draw. And he has to be a real station to call flop+turn with 5x, 6x, so I guess a check on the river is ok. He might be sitting on 74, 87, 97, type of hand.
Yeah, I especially hate the min-raise of death when the card they're doing it on completes a draw like it does here. Problem is though, that I do not only have two pair, but also turned a flush draw. In hindsight, I was even thinking about whether it'd be better to just check back ott - but maybe I'm too results oriented here.
Oh ya, I didnt see the flushdraw aswell, then I def think we should get it in.
Played a bit over 100 matches today, but really had to force it in the end.August so far: 800 games break-even, but 6 buy-ins below equity and $1k in rake as SuperNova (which should be $370 if I see this correctly), so really not that bad.However, towards the end of the session, I started to feel scared of losing somehow - maybe because I was running break-even, but 9 buy-ins below equity this session and I'm right at the 100 buy-in mark - scared of having to go down to $30, which would be a disaster.That job interview didn't go very well - they didn't directly say no, but also don't feel well about it, so it pretty much looks like I have to play poker for a living now until I found another job.
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