November 9 is set with Phil Ivey and Jeff Shulman being the bigest names at the final table. Should be interesting to see if there is more media hype this year than last year.
I am in the process of clearing a bonus that will get me free Omaha Manager. The problem is that I've been trying to install the trial version and it won't let me set up the postgresSQL. I have no idea how to make it work and it's frustrating me. hopefully i can resolve it.
The site im playing on for this bonus is LuckyAcesPoker The site is ok and the lay out is fine for what im doing. The game selection is non-existent as there have never been more than 4 tables running of my game at one time. Often the 3rd or 4th game get started because i sit alone and wait for some action. I'm doing decently on the site other than blasting away 20 bets at 3/6 Stud Hi last night. I was in a really good spot but didn't quit when the fist left and proceeded to get crushed by someone who appeared to play pretty well.
My Full Tilt has also been acting up lately, which is causing me some grief. I have partially resolved the problem, and am hoping that it goes away on its own or that FTP support will email me back with some more solutions.
The actual game of Pot Limit Omaha is going well for me I think. I like it.
LQ
Currently Reading: David Sklansky - The Theory of Poker
Currently Listening: Julian Plenti - Is... Skyscraper
2009-07-19
2009-07-15
A Box Full of Sharp Objects
Lack of Updates due to spending 5 days on a farm in Manitoba.
I haven't played poker in a week, and I didnt get to follow any of the WSOP until about an hour ago - where there are 14 players left and Ivey is still alive and well. He's so sick.
Anyways, the Farm was really cool, we were there to visit Melissa's family as one of her cousins was recently married and they did a reception for family and friends there.
I won't go into a lot of details, but although I haven't played poker in a week, I've played more cards in a one week span that I think I ever have. Therefore, I had a good time. I also ate too much food, and I felt really sick a lot of the time.
On the poker front - I'm interested in investing into some coaching time. I'm considering a couple different coaches. I'm hoping to see a couple more videos and play a few more thousand hands before I do so though, so that I have more questions and more ideas.
I'm also looking into getting Omaha Manager. I don't like Poker Tracker Omaha very much - I'm struggling with the HUD, and thats annoying. I'm looking into signing up for a site to get OM for free. I think this is going to work nicely.
Anyways, thats all for now.
LQ
Currently Reading: David Sklansky - The Theory of Poker
Currently Listening: The Used - The Used
I haven't played poker in a week, and I didnt get to follow any of the WSOP until about an hour ago - where there are 14 players left and Ivey is still alive and well. He's so sick.
Anyways, the Farm was really cool, we were there to visit Melissa's family as one of her cousins was recently married and they did a reception for family and friends there.
I won't go into a lot of details, but although I haven't played poker in a week, I've played more cards in a one week span that I think I ever have. Therefore, I had a good time. I also ate too much food, and I felt really sick a lot of the time.
On the poker front - I'm interested in investing into some coaching time. I'm considering a couple different coaches. I'm hoping to see a couple more videos and play a few more thousand hands before I do so though, so that I have more questions and more ideas.
I'm also looking into getting Omaha Manager. I don't like Poker Tracker Omaha very much - I'm struggling with the HUD, and thats annoying. I'm looking into signing up for a site to get OM for free. I think this is going to work nicely.
Anyways, thats all for now.
LQ
Currently Reading: David Sklansky - The Theory of Poker
Currently Listening: The Used - The Used
2009-07-02
Spitting Venom
Whoa. total 360 on my plans for poker this month. This could change again in an instant, but I decided to pick up PLO and give the 6max version a try.
I've played about 1200 hands so far to pretty satisfying results. I'm obviously running hot, but at PLO50, which is the limit I'm playing, the players are very straight forward for the most part and its pretty easy to be profitable.
I'm not ready yet to make any real observations about the game or some of the things I think about it... but for the most part being aggressive preflop by open raising a lot... especially from the steal positions, is really profitable.
It's a lot of winning small pots and then waiting for someone willing to over play their overpair. Having a decent rundown hand is so awesome in this spots. For example, If i raise T976 with a suit on the button and the BB 3bets, his most likely hand is AAxx, which is pretty much what most people 3bet with... its interesting to watch what people 3bet with... but anyways, the flop comes anything that connects with my hand J96, T85, or any combo of these middling type flops, some players will just stick their money in the middle as a pretty significant dog.
Main event starts tomorrow - let the mayhem begin.
LQ
Currently Listening - Modest Mouse - We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank
I've played about 1200 hands so far to pretty satisfying results. I'm obviously running hot, but at PLO50, which is the limit I'm playing, the players are very straight forward for the most part and its pretty easy to be profitable.
I'm not ready yet to make any real observations about the game or some of the things I think about it... but for the most part being aggressive preflop by open raising a lot... especially from the steal positions, is really profitable.
It's a lot of winning small pots and then waiting for someone willing to over play their overpair. Having a decent rundown hand is so awesome in this spots. For example, If i raise T976 with a suit on the button and the BB 3bets, his most likely hand is AAxx, which is pretty much what most people 3bet with... its interesting to watch what people 3bet with... but anyways, the flop comes anything that connects with my hand J96, T85, or any combo of these middling type flops, some players will just stick their money in the middle as a pretty significant dog.
Main event starts tomorrow - let the mayhem begin.
LQ
Currently Listening - Modest Mouse - We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank
2009-06-30
June Results and July Goals
June was a month in poker that I will be happy to leave behind me. I had 3 of the biggest losing days of my life and my 3 largest winning days as well.
It was a very frustrating experience, as I ran like god at 3/6 and won 10BB/100 hands and got crushed at 5/10 at -4BB/100 hands.
All this amounted to me having a win rate of 1BB/100 hands over 9500 hands and only winning 60 dollars (plus 450 in rakeback, 25 in ironman bonus, and a free $30 subscription to Stoxpoker). To put this into perspective for those not familiar with BB/100, if i had won at 1BB/100 at 5/10 for 9500 hands I would have won $950 this month. But instead I won like 2k at 3/6 and lost 2k at all the other games i played.
awesome.
I stopped playing 5/10 for the end of the month and this lead me to some small winning days where I didn't swing large sums, which was a lot easier to handle. This made poker more enjoyable for me.
at 5/10, I lost because I made 3 bad choices in terms of game selection that I estimate cost me $2000. Had I taken a breath an seen that these 3 villains were decent aggro I would have quit them right away and gotten away down 3-400 instead of 2300. It didn't help that they won 65% of the showdowns, but I still didn't help my cause any by calling down light etc.
Anyways. Our computer crashed and died the other day, so I just bought a new one. It is really quiet compared to our old one which sounded like a banshee always.
My goals for July are:
to put in 8k hands (going to miss some days b/c of a vacation)
Move up to 5/10 when bankroll will support it
be nitty and QUIT decent players when they sit with me, regardless of whether I'm down 50-100 or not.
take a coaching session with SweetJazz to prepare for 5/10 better.
In life things are going really well. My job is good and I'm enjoying what I'm doing. It's not exciting, but I don't feel overwhelmed, and I can handle any challenges that come up.
I haven't been playing tennis or disc golf, but I would like to play both of them a couple times at least in July.
I took a golf lesson last week, and it paid huge dividends, seeing as I shot an 83 at Cottonwood, which is a great round for me. That score included a blow up on the 10th hole, which is a 288yd par 4, where, with the wind strongly blowing with us, I drove a monster drive pin high 4 yards off the green. My ball landed in a divot and i proceeded to hin my chip thin, through the green and into the sand trap, which for whatever reason took me 3 shots to get out of and 2 more puts to hit a triple! good times. Other than that I played absolutely stellar and I was thoroughly pleased with how i was hitting the ball.
Anyways, that's all for now. I'm going to play volley ball.
Happy Birthday Canada.
LQ
Currently Reading: F. Scott Fitzgerald - The Beautiful and Damned
Currently Listening: Goo Goo Dolls - Name (acoustic)
It was a very frustrating experience, as I ran like god at 3/6 and won 10BB/100 hands and got crushed at 5/10 at -4BB/100 hands.
All this amounted to me having a win rate of 1BB/100 hands over 9500 hands and only winning 60 dollars (plus 450 in rakeback, 25 in ironman bonus, and a free $30 subscription to Stoxpoker). To put this into perspective for those not familiar with BB/100, if i had won at 1BB/100 at 5/10 for 9500 hands I would have won $950 this month. But instead I won like 2k at 3/6 and lost 2k at all the other games i played.
awesome.
I stopped playing 5/10 for the end of the month and this lead me to some small winning days where I didn't swing large sums, which was a lot easier to handle. This made poker more enjoyable for me.
at 5/10, I lost because I made 3 bad choices in terms of game selection that I estimate cost me $2000. Had I taken a breath an seen that these 3 villains were decent aggro I would have quit them right away and gotten away down 3-400 instead of 2300. It didn't help that they won 65% of the showdowns, but I still didn't help my cause any by calling down light etc.
Anyways. Our computer crashed and died the other day, so I just bought a new one. It is really quiet compared to our old one which sounded like a banshee always.
My goals for July are:
to put in 8k hands (going to miss some days b/c of a vacation)
Move up to 5/10 when bankroll will support it
be nitty and QUIT decent players when they sit with me, regardless of whether I'm down 50-100 or not.
take a coaching session with SweetJazz to prepare for 5/10 better.
In life things are going really well. My job is good and I'm enjoying what I'm doing. It's not exciting, but I don't feel overwhelmed, and I can handle any challenges that come up.
I haven't been playing tennis or disc golf, but I would like to play both of them a couple times at least in July.
I took a golf lesson last week, and it paid huge dividends, seeing as I shot an 83 at Cottonwood, which is a great round for me. That score included a blow up on the 10th hole, which is a 288yd par 4, where, with the wind strongly blowing with us, I drove a monster drive pin high 4 yards off the green. My ball landed in a divot and i proceeded to hin my chip thin, through the green and into the sand trap, which for whatever reason took me 3 shots to get out of and 2 more puts to hit a triple! good times. Other than that I played absolutely stellar and I was thoroughly pleased with how i was hitting the ball.
Anyways, that's all for now. I'm going to play volley ball.
Happy Birthday Canada.
LQ
Currently Reading: F. Scott Fitzgerald - The Beautiful and Damned
Currently Listening: Goo Goo Dolls - Name (acoustic)
2009-06-22
Midnight Regulations
Lack of updates = downswing, ducy?
I've been struggling a lot the last week, and booked my first (small) win in 7 days. I have moved down from 5/10 to concentrate on 2/4 and 3/6 again. I put in some hands at 3/6 6max, but found the overpair vs set game hard to deal with. I don't want to complain, so I won't talk about bad beats. I understand that these hands come up and I will certainly be on the winning side of those hands often. That said, it is hard to put together a winning session when you get overpair vs set 3 times... I tend to lose about 6 bets with an overpair type hand when it is behind, maybe thats a leak =)
Anyways, I felt a tiny bit better about my game today, as I was able to navigate a couple players to take their gold.
A fairly common player type in the lower stakes HUHU games are the "i dont ever check raise the flop" guys. These fellas come in a couple varieties, one is the c/c c/r with my strong hands otherwise i just call down - a lot. or there is the c/c, c/r 50%+. These guys are actually fairly difficult to play against.
Some adjustments I try to make are checking back a lot of turns with marginal showdownable hands that can't deal with a check raise. I'm not sure if this is a good plan or if making marginal bet/folds is better to get value...
Another adjustment is to check back some hands on the flop, but this would only be against villains who are calling on the flop 80%+... and I probably would cbet 100% against these guys unless their fold to cbet is less than 10%. This is because our bet on the flop is breakeven if they fold 25% (a standard pot at 2/4 will be $1sb,$2bb, I, as small blind, will raise to 4, BB calls, so the pot is 8. If i bet on the flop (2), and he folds 25%, my flop bet has a positive expectation... since im betting 2 to win 8), but that we still get an advantage from the balance of betting more hands and from potentially picking up cards that help us on the turn or river (seeing as we can bet the flop for a smallbet and then get to see the turn and river for free and make a choice then)
Something that is villain specific is whether you can put in a 3rd bet on the turn a little bit light or not. This will depend on how likely they are to 4bet and on how often they are c/r on the turn... someone c/r 50%+ will have a lot of marginal hands in their range when they do raise. It also matters if they are peeling the flop most of the time or if they are folding a lot... for example, if they fold 50% on the flop and c/r the turn 50%, that means that they are raising the top 25% of their range on the turn... (they folded 50% of it on the flop and they folding 50% of the last 50% (2/4 on the flop, 1/4 on the turn). If they peel 100% (unlikely, but go with me for the example) and then c/'r the turn 50%, they have a heck of a lot more junk in their range, since they are now raising the top 50% of their hands (and probably not actually the 'top' 50%, as this range will be somewhat polarized to their best hands and some pure bluffs)
So, obviously, this range changes as those stats get closer together.
Deciding to call on the river is another choice that can be difficult and is something that you will have to feel out as you get to know the villain. if they bet mindlessly 100% you can easily call down with a lot of hands that you checked back the turn with, and to try to make the more honest you can check a couple hands with middle pair in them or even top pair and go for a river raise.
Interesting stuff.
I think there is a lot more to say on this topic, but thats all for now about playing c/r the turn villains.
I made a post on DeucesCracked in response to a player asking about hand ranges. It's worth checking out if you are getting started in HUHU
Also, I finally posted my cribbage video It ended up just being a live play video, but I'm happy with how it turned out. I made a powerpoint, which I may post at some point, but I'm not sure yet. I would love people to watch it and tell me what they think about it.
If anyone wants to play crib on yahoo sometime, i'm interested.
I'm going to see The Tragically Hip tomorrow, and I'm REALLY excited. I saw them a couple years ago, and this is going to be awesome.
LQ
Currently Listening: Alexisonfire - Old Crows/Young Cardinals
Currently Reading: F. Scott Fitzgerald - The Beautiful and Damned
I've been struggling a lot the last week, and booked my first (small) win in 7 days. I have moved down from 5/10 to concentrate on 2/4 and 3/6 again. I put in some hands at 3/6 6max, but found the overpair vs set game hard to deal with. I don't want to complain, so I won't talk about bad beats. I understand that these hands come up and I will certainly be on the winning side of those hands often. That said, it is hard to put together a winning session when you get overpair vs set 3 times... I tend to lose about 6 bets with an overpair type hand when it is behind, maybe thats a leak =)
Anyways, I felt a tiny bit better about my game today, as I was able to navigate a couple players to take their gold.
A fairly common player type in the lower stakes HUHU games are the "i dont ever check raise the flop" guys. These fellas come in a couple varieties, one is the c/c c/r with my strong hands otherwise i just call down - a lot. or there is the c/c, c/r 50%+. These guys are actually fairly difficult to play against.
Some adjustments I try to make are checking back a lot of turns with marginal showdownable hands that can't deal with a check raise. I'm not sure if this is a good plan or if making marginal bet/folds is better to get value...
Another adjustment is to check back some hands on the flop, but this would only be against villains who are calling on the flop 80%+... and I probably would cbet 100% against these guys unless their fold to cbet is less than 10%. This is because our bet on the flop is breakeven if they fold 25% (a standard pot at 2/4 will be $1sb,$2bb, I, as small blind, will raise to 4, BB calls, so the pot is 8. If i bet on the flop (2), and he folds 25%, my flop bet has a positive expectation... since im betting 2 to win 8), but that we still get an advantage from the balance of betting more hands and from potentially picking up cards that help us on the turn or river (seeing as we can bet the flop for a smallbet and then get to see the turn and river for free and make a choice then)
Something that is villain specific is whether you can put in a 3rd bet on the turn a little bit light or not. This will depend on how likely they are to 4bet and on how often they are c/r on the turn... someone c/r 50%+ will have a lot of marginal hands in their range when they do raise. It also matters if they are peeling the flop most of the time or if they are folding a lot... for example, if they fold 50% on the flop and c/r the turn 50%, that means that they are raising the top 25% of their range on the turn... (they folded 50% of it on the flop and they folding 50% of the last 50% (2/4 on the flop, 1/4 on the turn). If they peel 100% (unlikely, but go with me for the example) and then c/'r the turn 50%, they have a heck of a lot more junk in their range, since they are now raising the top 50% of their hands (and probably not actually the 'top' 50%, as this range will be somewhat polarized to their best hands and some pure bluffs)
So, obviously, this range changes as those stats get closer together.
Deciding to call on the river is another choice that can be difficult and is something that you will have to feel out as you get to know the villain. if they bet mindlessly 100% you can easily call down with a lot of hands that you checked back the turn with, and to try to make the more honest you can check a couple hands with middle pair in them or even top pair and go for a river raise.
Interesting stuff.
I think there is a lot more to say on this topic, but thats all for now about playing c/r the turn villains.
I made a post on DeucesCracked in response to a player asking about hand ranges. It's worth checking out if you are getting started in HUHU
Also, I finally posted my cribbage video It ended up just being a live play video, but I'm happy with how it turned out. I made a powerpoint, which I may post at some point, but I'm not sure yet. I would love people to watch it and tell me what they think about it.
If anyone wants to play crib on yahoo sometime, i'm interested.
I'm going to see The Tragically Hip tomorrow, and I'm REALLY excited. I saw them a couple years ago, and this is going to be awesome.
LQ
Currently Listening: Alexisonfire - Old Crows/Young Cardinals
Currently Reading: F. Scott Fitzgerald - The Beautiful and Damned
2009-06-14
The Space Between
Poker is such a funny game sometimes.
You hear a lot about the term 'variance' when discussing poker and winning and losing. People talk about winning and losing above or below expectation, which is their variance. When someone like Brock Parker or Phil Ivey win two bracelets in a single WSOP, that is running above expectation. Hell, winning a single poker tournament is always going to be 'above expectation'.
In my own game I have had 3 runs where the variance has been huge and the swings even more so.
Two times I have been on the losing end of winning 30% of the hands I showdown, and then today i was on the winning end of it.
the expectation of showdowns is that you will win approximately 50% of them. If you play pretty tight and dont fight for a lot of pots where you don't have a strong hand, this might be a little higher in the long run, something like 53-55%, and transversely, if you are very aggressive and trying to win a lot of pots when you are pretty sure you're hand is not best, you're won money at showdown might be 45-47%. You can still be profitable in this way because of the money you pick up in the little pots that noone contends with you on.
However, when you play HULHE and the difference between the won at showdown stat is 40% (70-30) this will be astronomical in the way the match turns out.
Lets look at a hypothetical: Lets say that we play 100 hands and we are playing 5/10. Lets say the average pot size is $50 when it goes to showdown (both players put in 25). Now, this is probably about right, we could make it a little smaller, more like 45, or a little bigger, like 55, but 50 is a nice round number. Now if we play 200 hands, an average match will have 40% go to showdown. so 80 of the 200 hands (40%*200=80) is the number of pots we see showdown.
Lets look at what happens when they both win 50%...
its a wash! haha.
now lets look at something more typical, which will have a decided impact on the match: one person wins 55% and the other wins 45%
the difference is 10%, so player A, who won 55%, will win 4 more pots in total in this match, 44-36. if we remember that the average pot was $50, this difference is going to be $400 ($200 of which was Player B's money). So this means that by only winning 45% of showdowns, player B needs to make up $200 somewhere else in the match. This is definitely possible, but certainly not easy.
Now, how about 70-30.
the difference is 40%, so player A will now win 56 pots to Player B's 24. But now instead of player B needing to make up a $200 difference, he is now going to have to make up an $800 difference, which, imo, is impossible to do in the nonshowdown pots unless Player A puts in some action during the hand but only showsdown top pair or better.
That was actually a longer winded intro to what i wanted to mention coupled with that:
When this starts to happen, not only do we have to make up this 800 that we lost due to variance, we also have to battle the weaktight shell we might go into by missing value bets when we assume our opponent always has it, or the opposite, when we spew because we think 'he cant ALWAYS have it' and we bloat pots with marginal hands.
There really isnt a lesson here, just something to think about.
LQ
Currently Reading: Michio Kaku - The Physics of the Impossible
Currently Listening: Dave Matthews Band - Busted Stuff
You hear a lot about the term 'variance' when discussing poker and winning and losing. People talk about winning and losing above or below expectation, which is their variance. When someone like Brock Parker or Phil Ivey win two bracelets in a single WSOP, that is running above expectation. Hell, winning a single poker tournament is always going to be 'above expectation'.
In my own game I have had 3 runs where the variance has been huge and the swings even more so.
Two times I have been on the losing end of winning 30% of the hands I showdown, and then today i was on the winning end of it.
the expectation of showdowns is that you will win approximately 50% of them. If you play pretty tight and dont fight for a lot of pots where you don't have a strong hand, this might be a little higher in the long run, something like 53-55%, and transversely, if you are very aggressive and trying to win a lot of pots when you are pretty sure you're hand is not best, you're won money at showdown might be 45-47%. You can still be profitable in this way because of the money you pick up in the little pots that noone contends with you on.
However, when you play HULHE and the difference between the won at showdown stat is 40% (70-30) this will be astronomical in the way the match turns out.
Lets look at a hypothetical: Lets say that we play 100 hands and we are playing 5/10. Lets say the average pot size is $50 when it goes to showdown (both players put in 25). Now, this is probably about right, we could make it a little smaller, more like 45, or a little bigger, like 55, but 50 is a nice round number. Now if we play 200 hands, an average match will have 40% go to showdown. so 80 of the 200 hands (40%*200=80) is the number of pots we see showdown.
Lets look at what happens when they both win 50%...
its a wash! haha.
now lets look at something more typical, which will have a decided impact on the match: one person wins 55% and the other wins 45%
the difference is 10%, so player A, who won 55%, will win 4 more pots in total in this match, 44-36. if we remember that the average pot was $50, this difference is going to be $400 ($200 of which was Player B's money). So this means that by only winning 45% of showdowns, player B needs to make up $200 somewhere else in the match. This is definitely possible, but certainly not easy.
Now, how about 70-30.
the difference is 40%, so player A will now win 56 pots to Player B's 24. But now instead of player B needing to make up a $200 difference, he is now going to have to make up an $800 difference, which, imo, is impossible to do in the nonshowdown pots unless Player A puts in some action during the hand but only showsdown top pair or better.
That was actually a longer winded intro to what i wanted to mention coupled with that:
When this starts to happen, not only do we have to make up this 800 that we lost due to variance, we also have to battle the weaktight shell we might go into by missing value bets when we assume our opponent always has it, or the opposite, when we spew because we think 'he cant ALWAYS have it' and we bloat pots with marginal hands.
There really isnt a lesson here, just something to think about.
LQ
Currently Reading: Michio Kaku - The Physics of the Impossible
Currently Listening: Dave Matthews Band - Busted Stuff
2009-06-10
Special Death
Have you been following the WSOP?
I have. it's always interesting to see how everyone is doing and what big name pros are going to make deep runs in minefields of amateurs.
I don't follow a lot of specific players, but one that I've followed for a while now is Shannon Shorr. His blog is really interesting and is one of the donkament players that I really take interest in.
Other than that, I just like to see winners and final tablists, which is pretty easy info to come by.
Its hard for me being a HULHE player primarily, since most of the discussion is on the no limit tournaments, which i don't play very well and don't really understand some of the theory behind different plays.
I followed the 10k o8 tournament a little bit more closely because its a game that I have put my time in with and feel like i'm reasonably competent at. I would like to play more o8, but im currlently restricted to FTP, and the games don't really run at my limits. I just havent gotten around to putting a bankroll on Stars, which i will, but probably not for a bit. Once I do, I can take some time and put in some o8 hands. It's a pretty solid game and you can play very tight and make money at it. (I'm talking specifically about full ring). I took up 6-9 tabling when I was playing the game last.
I'm going to have to make some choices about my poker game soon, since I am now basically rolled for 5/10. Now that I'm into this realm of poker, the time between getting action gets larger and larger. I'm still happy to play 3/6. But 2/4 isn't a game that I want to be playing anymore.
One option is to expand my site selection and get money on Stars or some other site that offers HU tables. I'm not comfortable playing on UB or AP because of the scandals, so i will stay away from them.
Another option is to start putting in some hands of 6max or expanding into no limit holdem.
I'm not sure i'm super comfortable with either option at this point. The 6max is a good idea, but the games are not as easy as they used to be, so the edge is probably smaller, especially since its not my primary game and i will almost certainly be making some mistakes.
I don't know, haha, something for me to think about.
LQ
Currently Listening: Mirah - Advisory Committee
Currently Reading: Chuck Palahniuk - Pygmy
I have. it's always interesting to see how everyone is doing and what big name pros are going to make deep runs in minefields of amateurs.
I don't follow a lot of specific players, but one that I've followed for a while now is Shannon Shorr. His blog is really interesting and is one of the donkament players that I really take interest in.
Other than that, I just like to see winners and final tablists, which is pretty easy info to come by.
Its hard for me being a HULHE player primarily, since most of the discussion is on the no limit tournaments, which i don't play very well and don't really understand some of the theory behind different plays.
I followed the 10k o8 tournament a little bit more closely because its a game that I have put my time in with and feel like i'm reasonably competent at. I would like to play more o8, but im currlently restricted to FTP, and the games don't really run at my limits. I just havent gotten around to putting a bankroll on Stars, which i will, but probably not for a bit. Once I do, I can take some time and put in some o8 hands. It's a pretty solid game and you can play very tight and make money at it. (I'm talking specifically about full ring). I took up 6-9 tabling when I was playing the game last.
I'm going to have to make some choices about my poker game soon, since I am now basically rolled for 5/10. Now that I'm into this realm of poker, the time between getting action gets larger and larger. I'm still happy to play 3/6. But 2/4 isn't a game that I want to be playing anymore.
One option is to expand my site selection and get money on Stars or some other site that offers HU tables. I'm not comfortable playing on UB or AP because of the scandals, so i will stay away from them.
Another option is to start putting in some hands of 6max or expanding into no limit holdem.
I'm not sure i'm super comfortable with either option at this point. The 6max is a good idea, but the games are not as easy as they used to be, so the edge is probably smaller, especially since its not my primary game and i will almost certainly be making some mistakes.
I don't know, haha, something for me to think about.
LQ
Currently Listening: Mirah - Advisory Committee
Currently Reading: Chuck Palahniuk - Pygmy
2009-06-06
Happiness By The Kilowatt
Today I have a couple thoughts I want to try and flesh out on downswings and the tilt that can become involved with them.
First, downswings are something that occur only in the past tense. I'm not the first one to say that, David Sklansky mentions it for sure, as to others. The basic idea here is that since the element of luck doesn't carry over in poker (just because you got AA last hand doesn't mean you won't get it next hand... or just because your aces got cracked last time, doesn't mean they won't get cracked this time, etc) It always resets with every situation. Therefore, the idea of 'running' bad or good is non-existent. You can have run bad or well in the past, since we can look at results and show conclusively that over this 5000 hand stretch or that 2 day period we won 500 more dollars or 100bets less than our cards or EV would have indicated we should have.
So that's all fine and dandy. Every hand is fresh, you're never 'running' bad. But, for me, and I'm sure for a lot of people, when we start losing or have suffered a few large losses in a short period of time, which is somewhat common with HULHE, it can change the way we play the game or just change the way we are thinking about the cards that come up.
I had a run a few days ago where I lost 100 bets in 50 hands. I feel like I have an expected earn of 4-5 bets/100 hands, so i was, in this case 195bets/100 hands below my expected earn. This drastically changes the way that I play hands from here on out. I can't think the same way about the hands that I play in the future because of how stuck i recently became. It has nothing to do with how much i win or lose in the next 200 hands, I lost that much and I feel slighted that it happened to me and that because i lost it so quickly that I should win it back just as quickly.
That's simply not the case. I likely stopped playing my best game, and in retrospect I could see a bunch of leaks in my play that were hurting my results against a player that I certainly had an edge against in normal circumstances. I kept making mistakes and this cost me even more money.
This brings me to an 'ah ha' moment. Well, not so much a brand new moment, I think I've had it before, but something that came very clear to me and something that I'm going to actively pursue: I need to quit if i get stuck more than about 35-40 bets in a short amount of time almost irregardless of who I am playing against. If I lose 40 bets it is going to take me 800 hands to win it back according to my expected earn. It takes longer than I am going to play against someone to do this, and it probably makes more sense to quit, take a break and then get back on tables against someone who isn't confident, like my winning villain is, and when I am in a better mindset to win.
I think that makes sense. I haven't read it over and I'm just going to post it like that.
Basically the cliff notes are: when i lose a bunch to someone, i need to quit because i play worse.
LQ
Currently Listening: Alexisonfire - Watch Out!
Currently Reading: Tommy Angelo - Elements of Poker
First, downswings are something that occur only in the past tense. I'm not the first one to say that, David Sklansky mentions it for sure, as to others. The basic idea here is that since the element of luck doesn't carry over in poker (just because you got AA last hand doesn't mean you won't get it next hand... or just because your aces got cracked last time, doesn't mean they won't get cracked this time, etc) It always resets with every situation. Therefore, the idea of 'running' bad or good is non-existent. You can have run bad or well in the past, since we can look at results and show conclusively that over this 5000 hand stretch or that 2 day period we won 500 more dollars or 100bets less than our cards or EV would have indicated we should have.
So that's all fine and dandy. Every hand is fresh, you're never 'running' bad. But, for me, and I'm sure for a lot of people, when we start losing or have suffered a few large losses in a short period of time, which is somewhat common with HULHE, it can change the way we play the game or just change the way we are thinking about the cards that come up.
I had a run a few days ago where I lost 100 bets in 50 hands. I feel like I have an expected earn of 4-5 bets/100 hands, so i was, in this case 195bets/100 hands below my expected earn. This drastically changes the way that I play hands from here on out. I can't think the same way about the hands that I play in the future because of how stuck i recently became. It has nothing to do with how much i win or lose in the next 200 hands, I lost that much and I feel slighted that it happened to me and that because i lost it so quickly that I should win it back just as quickly.
That's simply not the case. I likely stopped playing my best game, and in retrospect I could see a bunch of leaks in my play that were hurting my results against a player that I certainly had an edge against in normal circumstances. I kept making mistakes and this cost me even more money.
This brings me to an 'ah ha' moment. Well, not so much a brand new moment, I think I've had it before, but something that came very clear to me and something that I'm going to actively pursue: I need to quit if i get stuck more than about 35-40 bets in a short amount of time almost irregardless of who I am playing against. If I lose 40 bets it is going to take me 800 hands to win it back according to my expected earn. It takes longer than I am going to play against someone to do this, and it probably makes more sense to quit, take a break and then get back on tables against someone who isn't confident, like my winning villain is, and when I am in a better mindset to win.
I think that makes sense. I haven't read it over and I'm just going to post it like that.
Basically the cliff notes are: when i lose a bunch to someone, i need to quit because i play worse.
LQ
Currently Listening: Alexisonfire - Watch Out!
Currently Reading: Tommy Angelo - Elements of Poker
2009-06-01
Bullet To Binary
What it do, What it do.
may is over, which is kinda cool, i guess. I finished my month super strong with my best day ever. I thought a bunch about it and decided not to post results on here any more, since its money and that really shouldnt concern anyone else but me.
suffice to say that I was pleased with the month and how it finished.
I made the jump to 5/10, which has been really good. If I can avoid playing the random decent player that sits down with me, I'll do fine. I'm obviously running well, but I have only had one losing session so far, and it was against a player who was probably exploitable, but the mistakes he was making was in the being agressive side, which isnt ever that bad. I found it hard to deal with his c/r being at 65% and his won money at showdown being 65% as well. thats a deadly combo when you are being agressive as hell and then winning 2/3 pots.
But i survived that experience, and I will learn from it.
Other things that happened since my last blog:
I turned 24. So that was kinda neat. I had to work on my birthday, but i didnt really mind, Melissa brought me dinner, and that was nice. I don't usually make a big deal about my birthday, so when Melissa wanted to go for dinner, on the friday night, that was fine by me. To my surprise, when we got there a bunch of my friends were also there! I had a great night eating German food (schnitzel, ftw) and hanging out with some of the people that I like the most.
I got some good stuff for my birthday, and for the sake of my liking to brag a bit, here it is:
i got some books, notably, Tommy Angelo - Elements of Poker, Nick Grudzien - Winning in Tough Holdem Games, David Skalansky - The Theory of Poker, and then one i picked out from a GC - Charles Mann - 1491
I also got some cloths/golf stuff from my parents, which includes a golf lesson. I'm pretty excited about that. I need to work on my game, since the last time I played for money i got crushed.
I got an electric razor, which i need, since my beard had been getting out of control.
And finally, assuming they ever go on sale, I get a ticket to see Blink 182 in vancouver this summer. For those who don't know, Blink is a band that I have loved and loved for about 5 years, which is after they got super popular and just before they broke up. I was devestated that I would never see them in concert. Now I will.
We also got a new 40 inch tv the other day, which wasnt for my birthday, but was from a GC i got from pokerstars two months ago and we had been waiting for this tv to go on sale, which it did, and we were pretty happy about it.
Umm, so now its June and I need to make some goals, as the turning over of the calender signifies to poker players a sense of rebirth and a chance to start fresh.
I will make my poker goals pretty similar to last month, im sure.
1) 10k plus hands
2) be able to stay at 5/10
3) quit someone who I know I shouldn't be playing when they have only taken 25 bets from me, not when they have taken 60 or 70.
4) get a poker lesson
Life goals
1) finish two books.
2)exercise a couple times.
3) make an effort to eat healthier meals more often and be conscious of my portion size.
4) enjoy the sun and play outside.
That's all I think. I think all of these are attainable.
also: run good for the month, one time!
LQ
Currently Listening: Metric - Fantasies
may is over, which is kinda cool, i guess. I finished my month super strong with my best day ever. I thought a bunch about it and decided not to post results on here any more, since its money and that really shouldnt concern anyone else but me.
suffice to say that I was pleased with the month and how it finished.
I made the jump to 5/10, which has been really good. If I can avoid playing the random decent player that sits down with me, I'll do fine. I'm obviously running well, but I have only had one losing session so far, and it was against a player who was probably exploitable, but the mistakes he was making was in the being agressive side, which isnt ever that bad. I found it hard to deal with his c/r being at 65% and his won money at showdown being 65% as well. thats a deadly combo when you are being agressive as hell and then winning 2/3 pots.
But i survived that experience, and I will learn from it.
Other things that happened since my last blog:
I turned 24. So that was kinda neat. I had to work on my birthday, but i didnt really mind, Melissa brought me dinner, and that was nice. I don't usually make a big deal about my birthday, so when Melissa wanted to go for dinner, on the friday night, that was fine by me. To my surprise, when we got there a bunch of my friends were also there! I had a great night eating German food (schnitzel, ftw) and hanging out with some of the people that I like the most.
I got some good stuff for my birthday, and for the sake of my liking to brag a bit, here it is:
i got some books, notably, Tommy Angelo - Elements of Poker, Nick Grudzien - Winning in Tough Holdem Games, David Skalansky - The Theory of Poker, and then one i picked out from a GC - Charles Mann - 1491
I also got some cloths/golf stuff from my parents, which includes a golf lesson. I'm pretty excited about that. I need to work on my game, since the last time I played for money i got crushed.
I got an electric razor, which i need, since my beard had been getting out of control.
And finally, assuming they ever go on sale, I get a ticket to see Blink 182 in vancouver this summer. For those who don't know, Blink is a band that I have loved and loved for about 5 years, which is after they got super popular and just before they broke up. I was devestated that I would never see them in concert. Now I will.
We also got a new 40 inch tv the other day, which wasnt for my birthday, but was from a GC i got from pokerstars two months ago and we had been waiting for this tv to go on sale, which it did, and we were pretty happy about it.
Umm, so now its June and I need to make some goals, as the turning over of the calender signifies to poker players a sense of rebirth and a chance to start fresh.
I will make my poker goals pretty similar to last month, im sure.
1) 10k plus hands
2) be able to stay at 5/10
3) quit someone who I know I shouldn't be playing when they have only taken 25 bets from me, not when they have taken 60 or 70.
4) get a poker lesson
Life goals
1) finish two books.
2)exercise a couple times.
3) make an effort to eat healthier meals more often and be conscious of my portion size.
4) enjoy the sun and play outside.
That's all I think. I think all of these are attainable.
also: run good for the month, one time!
LQ
Currently Listening: Metric - Fantasies
2009-05-26
Screaming Infidelities
"Heads Up Limit Holdem IS about hand selection, as long as you select everything" - TheBryce
I really liked this quote and can be found in Bryce's latest video on stoxpoker
I had a really up and down last few days. I didn't play super well and played too long against villains who I got soft tilted against.
It was a struggle for me because I really want to work on quitting people when I start to feel that frustration coming on after I lose 20 or 30 bets to them.
I decided, in my infinite wisdom, that because I was down about 600 from my peak 4 days ago, that tonight would be the best time to take a shot at 5/10.
It worked out, and I took the game for like 250 in about 60 hands... pretty sweet. It helped me make a big recovery along with back to back 3/6 hands against a decent aggro player (who I felt I had a decent edge on because of some leaks that I was exploiting) where I 3bet JJ pf, got 4bets in on the flop on a 974 board. Once he capped the flop I put him squarely on a 9, since he had just called my 3bet previously with second pair. another 9 rolled off on the turn and i puked a bit and just ch/called. river was a magic Jack and we capped it up on the river.
The very next hand I picked up AA and he 3bet, and sensing that he might be frustrated, I capped immediately. on a QT4 board we capped the flop and then capped the 4 turn. I felt really good about the 4 turn since its so rarely in his range that i was now only losing to QQ and TT, and beating QT and all other hands that he capped for value with on the turn. the river bricked off and i, for somereason, decided on just calling the river and he rolled over KK and probably felt sick to his stomach when i scooped a big pot. he folded from the BB the next hand and quit me.
Awesome stuff.
I don't think he played the second hand wrong, as he had the same thought as me when the 4 rolled off on the turn. but in the first hand capping the river is a mistake. I just don't have that many hands that can bet/3bet the river with the he beats. I think that i have some stronger nines in my range K9 and A9 specifically, and then JJ, occasionally J9 as well, actually. anyways, its a super small range, but I'm probably not going to lose my mind on the river when he is so clearly repping a 9 in a 3bet pot preflop when i announced i had a big hand as well preflop and on the flop.
I listened/watched the second episode of Tommy Angelo's series today and it was really interesting again. I really like hearing about how to think about poker to create a better mindset for my game. It is definitely a series that I will be listening to again. I am hoping to get his book for my birthday in a couple days.
That's all for now on the poker/life front I guess.
LQ
Currently Reading: Stalin - Edvard Radzinsky
Currently Listening: Sparta - Wiretap Scars
I really liked this quote and can be found in Bryce's latest video on stoxpoker
I had a really up and down last few days. I didn't play super well and played too long against villains who I got soft tilted against.
It was a struggle for me because I really want to work on quitting people when I start to feel that frustration coming on after I lose 20 or 30 bets to them.
I decided, in my infinite wisdom, that because I was down about 600 from my peak 4 days ago, that tonight would be the best time to take a shot at 5/10.
It worked out, and I took the game for like 250 in about 60 hands... pretty sweet. It helped me make a big recovery along with back to back 3/6 hands against a decent aggro player (who I felt I had a decent edge on because of some leaks that I was exploiting) where I 3bet JJ pf, got 4bets in on the flop on a 974 board. Once he capped the flop I put him squarely on a 9, since he had just called my 3bet previously with second pair. another 9 rolled off on the turn and i puked a bit and just ch/called. river was a magic Jack and we capped it up on the river.
The very next hand I picked up AA and he 3bet, and sensing that he might be frustrated, I capped immediately. on a QT4 board we capped the flop and then capped the 4 turn. I felt really good about the 4 turn since its so rarely in his range that i was now only losing to QQ and TT, and beating QT and all other hands that he capped for value with on the turn. the river bricked off and i, for somereason, decided on just calling the river and he rolled over KK and probably felt sick to his stomach when i scooped a big pot. he folded from the BB the next hand and quit me.
Awesome stuff.
I don't think he played the second hand wrong, as he had the same thought as me when the 4 rolled off on the turn. but in the first hand capping the river is a mistake. I just don't have that many hands that can bet/3bet the river with the he beats. I think that i have some stronger nines in my range K9 and A9 specifically, and then JJ, occasionally J9 as well, actually. anyways, its a super small range, but I'm probably not going to lose my mind on the river when he is so clearly repping a 9 in a 3bet pot preflop when i announced i had a big hand as well preflop and on the flop.
I listened/watched the second episode of Tommy Angelo's series today and it was really interesting again. I really like hearing about how to think about poker to create a better mindset for my game. It is definitely a series that I will be listening to again. I am hoping to get his book for my birthday in a couple days.
That's all for now on the poker/life front I guess.
LQ
Currently Reading: Stalin - Edvard Radzinsky
Currently Listening: Sparta - Wiretap Scars
2009-05-19
Succsexy
Old World Underground, Where Are You Now?
Some observations about playing in the morning and playing in the evening:
1) Way more regulars in the day time are sitting at their own table (this is even more disgusting at no limit, where the 5/10 and 10/20 limits have 40-50 guys sitting alone). This doesnt turn out to be a big problem in my limits, but GrantKropf was complaining about it today, and I agree with him. He still sits at 2/4 and 3/6 just so he can get action, even though he's rolled for 5/10 and wants to be playing there.
2) The players that I meet in the day time tend to be more loose passive than they are loose aggressive. Not always, obviously, but the trend seems to be that the later the night gets the more likely it is i'll play a lunatic. Or maybe its because later at night is when all the Euros are on (haha, I kid. well, not really, the Euros can be pretty crazy sometimes)
While doing a sweat session this morning with GrantKropf, I got bored while waiting for action and I loaded up a .05/.10 limit 6max table and starting playing hyper lag. I ended up playing two tables and Grant sat down at both of them. I played 65/55/2.2 over all... and was a big winner... like 35bb/100 hands. Grant got owned pretty hard and dropped almost $10. A lot of it was to me, when I soul crushed him a bunch of times. He sat directly on my right at one table and I 3bet him relentlessly. It was really really fun to play poker with Grant and talking on Skype. we were NOT colluding, as I was desperately trying to win his dimes and nickels. But it was fun to taunt him in chat and tell him how badly i was going to beat him each hand. We laughed a lot, which is something I don't think I do enough in poker. I think it will be really good tilt relief to play the ultra low limits.
I'm having a good month in May, and I'm really happy with how my game is coming along. GrantKropf made a comment about how I'm really paying attention to match flow now, which is neat that he noticed that, because its something that im working on. Matchflow is when you are trying to read into someones actions based on how the hands in the past have been played. For example, if I just won a big pot and my opponent snap 3bets me the next hand, his range is automatically wider than a normal player at a normal time, so i'm going to be more likely to play back at my opponent in more marginal spots with bottom or middle pair, or even some strong ace highs. The reason i'm trying to play a bigger pot here is to try to make them go totally off kilter and start to make bigger and bigger mistakes.
Anyways, I'm going to play tennis now. I'm having my first lesson today and I'm really excited about it.
LQ
Currently Listening: Cash Plays with Jeremiah Smith
Some observations about playing in the morning and playing in the evening:
1) Way more regulars in the day time are sitting at their own table (this is even more disgusting at no limit, where the 5/10 and 10/20 limits have 40-50 guys sitting alone). This doesnt turn out to be a big problem in my limits, but GrantKropf was complaining about it today, and I agree with him. He still sits at 2/4 and 3/6 just so he can get action, even though he's rolled for 5/10 and wants to be playing there.
2) The players that I meet in the day time tend to be more loose passive than they are loose aggressive. Not always, obviously, but the trend seems to be that the later the night gets the more likely it is i'll play a lunatic. Or maybe its because later at night is when all the Euros are on (haha, I kid. well, not really, the Euros can be pretty crazy sometimes)
While doing a sweat session this morning with GrantKropf, I got bored while waiting for action and I loaded up a .05/.10 limit 6max table and starting playing hyper lag. I ended up playing two tables and Grant sat down at both of them. I played 65/55/2.2 over all... and was a big winner... like 35bb/100 hands. Grant got owned pretty hard and dropped almost $10. A lot of it was to me, when I soul crushed him a bunch of times. He sat directly on my right at one table and I 3bet him relentlessly. It was really really fun to play poker with Grant and talking on Skype. we were NOT colluding, as I was desperately trying to win his dimes and nickels. But it was fun to taunt him in chat and tell him how badly i was going to beat him each hand. We laughed a lot, which is something I don't think I do enough in poker. I think it will be really good tilt relief to play the ultra low limits.
I'm having a good month in May, and I'm really happy with how my game is coming along. GrantKropf made a comment about how I'm really paying attention to match flow now, which is neat that he noticed that, because its something that im working on. Matchflow is when you are trying to read into someones actions based on how the hands in the past have been played. For example, if I just won a big pot and my opponent snap 3bets me the next hand, his range is automatically wider than a normal player at a normal time, so i'm going to be more likely to play back at my opponent in more marginal spots with bottom or middle pair, or even some strong ace highs. The reason i'm trying to play a bigger pot here is to try to make them go totally off kilter and start to make bigger and bigger mistakes.
Anyways, I'm going to play tennis now. I'm having my first lesson today and I'm really excited about it.
LQ
Currently Listening: Cash Plays with Jeremiah Smith
2009-05-15
Bless + Destroy
Boom goes the dynamite.
imo.
I finally cracked the 500 in one day mark today. It was a really great feeling. Its nice to rebound so well after having a devastating day a few days back.
Most of my profit came from one player, who sat down at my 3/6 table with $500. Now, for those who don't know, thats a LARGE buy in. the standard buy in is $60, and most decent regulars sit with 120-180. I sit with 150. We played an epic long session, almost 400 hands, and I managed to have him part with his entire 500. I kept about 380 of it, and Full Tilt Poker kept 120 for allowing us the privilege of sitting at their tables. I really feel like the rake is too high for low stakes Heads Up Limit Holdem (HULHE), but I can't control it, so i have to deal with what i see.
Anyways, I wanted to discuss how this player played and some of the adjustments I made against him to exploit him. First, he was very passive preflop. He raised 5 times on the button, and 3bet me from the BB 10 times in the entire match. Second, he was folding to my flop bets around 10%. Again, thats very very low, and he never raised me on the flop unless he flopped the nuts. So it meant that on the flop he was peeling with all his pairs, and all of his air. He made some of the most random peels I have ever seen, to be honest. So, my counter strategy to that was to value bet my strong A and K high hands and all my pairs, and to give up immediately with some of my non-showdownable hands, like 47 on a QT6 board. he was never folding, and i dont really have anything to continue with. He also made the river quite easy, as he would bet if checked to with almost his entire range (except smaller pairs) and would only raise the river if he had two pair plus. and even some of his two pairs didnt get raised.
The result of his strategy was I was constantly getting max value from all my marginal and strong hands, while i was able to check back and put in minimal action with my weaker hands causing him to get no value. our won at showdown % was almost identical, so noone was getting lucky or running hot, it was all a factor of me putting in action when i had the best hand (or was likely to have the best hand).
On a different note, GrantKropf and I are planning to make a video to put on DeucesCracked that will focus on super shortstacked play and how to counter it in the HULHE games that we play. We are also talking about doing some stuff on 6max and how playing against super short stacks can affect your decision making there as well.
I think it will be a really interesting video and we are going to look closely at PokerStove to find ranges and equities to give us the best approximation of how to play optimally against people with 4BB or less.
Look for an update this weekend that may have more information on this video and when it might be released. I'm pretty excited about it.
LQ
Currently Listening: Swollen Members - Balance
imo.
I finally cracked the 500 in one day mark today. It was a really great feeling. Its nice to rebound so well after having a devastating day a few days back.
Most of my profit came from one player, who sat down at my 3/6 table with $500. Now, for those who don't know, thats a LARGE buy in. the standard buy in is $60, and most decent regulars sit with 120-180. I sit with 150. We played an epic long session, almost 400 hands, and I managed to have him part with his entire 500. I kept about 380 of it, and Full Tilt Poker kept 120 for allowing us the privilege of sitting at their tables. I really feel like the rake is too high for low stakes Heads Up Limit Holdem (HULHE), but I can't control it, so i have to deal with what i see.
Anyways, I wanted to discuss how this player played and some of the adjustments I made against him to exploit him. First, he was very passive preflop. He raised 5 times on the button, and 3bet me from the BB 10 times in the entire match. Second, he was folding to my flop bets around 10%. Again, thats very very low, and he never raised me on the flop unless he flopped the nuts. So it meant that on the flop he was peeling with all his pairs, and all of his air. He made some of the most random peels I have ever seen, to be honest. So, my counter strategy to that was to value bet my strong A and K high hands and all my pairs, and to give up immediately with some of my non-showdownable hands, like 47 on a QT6 board. he was never folding, and i dont really have anything to continue with. He also made the river quite easy, as he would bet if checked to with almost his entire range (except smaller pairs) and would only raise the river if he had two pair plus. and even some of his two pairs didnt get raised.
The result of his strategy was I was constantly getting max value from all my marginal and strong hands, while i was able to check back and put in minimal action with my weaker hands causing him to get no value. our won at showdown % was almost identical, so noone was getting lucky or running hot, it was all a factor of me putting in action when i had the best hand (or was likely to have the best hand).
On a different note, GrantKropf and I are planning to make a video to put on DeucesCracked that will focus on super shortstacked play and how to counter it in the HULHE games that we play. We are also talking about doing some stuff on 6max and how playing against super short stacks can affect your decision making there as well.
I think it will be a really interesting video and we are going to look closely at PokerStove to find ranges and equities to give us the best approximation of how to play optimally against people with 4BB or less.
Look for an update this weekend that may have more information on this video and when it might be released. I'm pretty excited about it.
LQ
Currently Listening: Swollen Members - Balance
2009-05-12
Help, I'm Alive
I convinced myself to play some 6max 2/4 LHE yesterday and today, and it was an interesting change from what I had been playing lately. I was really interested in how game flow changed and how peoples ranges went from 'every single hand you can think of' to top 25% or less in some cases. I was surprised how many people still play sooo many hands and how poorly people play.
I certainly don't that perfect, but i definitely play well enough to beat the game. I just need to make decent choices and not spew off chips. I am usually able to do this at 6max because I don't tilt as much. The reason for this is that by playing 4 tables and not having things 'get personal' with one villain, the beats roll off the back a little easier.
On a real life poker note, I'm trying to organize a limit home game... i have a couple friends who are into it, so im really excited about playing live limit. 99% of the homegames i have played in the last 4 or 5 years have been no limit sngs. this gets really boring, so it is neat to try to change it up with other games. I would love to do a HORSE or Pot Limit Omaha (PLO) tournament or cash game if people were into it. Or even HA, which is a combo of PLO and No Limit Holdem... which would let us try a new game while also playing something that most people know.
I just started my second week of full time work and its going pretty well. I would obviously rather be not working, but my life demands a steady source of income, and city work is one of the best ways to do that. It's taking up a lot of my time though, and makes the days seem very short. I have been able to keep up with my podcasts at work, since noone is at the building for the first hour or two of work. I dont want to put my headphones in while other people are in the building because i dont know if i can wear them at all, so i would rather have them forsure 90 minutes then maybe not at all... and even if i could wear them other times, it wouldnt be that often.
I'm also still doing some poker coaching, but im going to start phasing most of it out for the summer. I just took on a new junior today... but its almost a life coaching thing than just squash. we're going to be doing a bunch of different activities, so that should be really exciting for me. one of my good friends Mike is training to be a personal trainer, and I have worked with him quite a bit, so he will be a great resource for this project. I will probably keep working with Christien as well, as he is a really strong player and we are at the point that I can do real training with him. I have two other juniors I am working with, but I am going to try to phase them out for the summer and my one regular adult lesson I will phase out as well. I will probably put up a notice that I am not taking lessons during the summer, which should be fine, since noone wants to take lessons from me anyways.
Its election day today. I voted and Im happy with my choice. I talked at some length with Adam about the referendum on STV, and happily for me and unhappily for him, I dont think it will pass tonight. I also don't think that the government will change after tonight, but we will see in the polls.
done for now.
LQ
Currently Listening: Eminem - Relapse
I certainly don't that perfect, but i definitely play well enough to beat the game. I just need to make decent choices and not spew off chips. I am usually able to do this at 6max because I don't tilt as much. The reason for this is that by playing 4 tables and not having things 'get personal' with one villain, the beats roll off the back a little easier.
On a real life poker note, I'm trying to organize a limit home game... i have a couple friends who are into it, so im really excited about playing live limit. 99% of the homegames i have played in the last 4 or 5 years have been no limit sngs. this gets really boring, so it is neat to try to change it up with other games. I would love to do a HORSE or Pot Limit Omaha (PLO) tournament or cash game if people were into it. Or even HA, which is a combo of PLO and No Limit Holdem... which would let us try a new game while also playing something that most people know.
I just started my second week of full time work and its going pretty well. I would obviously rather be not working, but my life demands a steady source of income, and city work is one of the best ways to do that. It's taking up a lot of my time though, and makes the days seem very short. I have been able to keep up with my podcasts at work, since noone is at the building for the first hour or two of work. I dont want to put my headphones in while other people are in the building because i dont know if i can wear them at all, so i would rather have them forsure 90 minutes then maybe not at all... and even if i could wear them other times, it wouldnt be that often.
I'm also still doing some poker coaching, but im going to start phasing most of it out for the summer. I just took on a new junior today... but its almost a life coaching thing than just squash. we're going to be doing a bunch of different activities, so that should be really exciting for me. one of my good friends Mike is training to be a personal trainer, and I have worked with him quite a bit, so he will be a great resource for this project. I will probably keep working with Christien as well, as he is a really strong player and we are at the point that I can do real training with him. I have two other juniors I am working with, but I am going to try to phase them out for the summer and my one regular adult lesson I will phase out as well. I will probably put up a notice that I am not taking lessons during the summer, which should be fine, since noone wants to take lessons from me anyways.
Its election day today. I voted and Im happy with my choice. I talked at some length with Adam about the referendum on STV, and happily for me and unhappily for him, I dont think it will pass tonight. I also don't think that the government will change after tonight, but we will see in the polls.
done for now.
LQ
Currently Listening: Eminem - Relapse
2009-05-11
We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed
I ran kinda bad yesterday in poker, and I wanted to address it and some things that I want to do to change it.
First, Running bad is a fact of poker, and HULHE is going to be a very swingy game where dropping 100 or more bets in a very short period of time is not uncommon. It's very annoying and can be hard to deal with mentally.
I think some solutions for me to deal with running poorly is to quit players sooner. I often keep playing someone (good and bad players) when they are beating me, and this needs to stop, since often I am making improper adjustments. For example, last night when Grant and I were doing a sweat, I played a regular at 3/6 (he just wants the action, i think) and I thought it would be alright since with both Grant and I talking out hands we would make good choices. Not the case. I still managed to spew a bunch of chips off to him, which was really morally defeating.
I'm going to move back to 2/4 for a while to rebuild my roll, lower the variance, and get my confidence back. Grant is also going to do a sweat with me at 2/4 6max, which will be interesting, since i havent played 6max in a while, so this will be a big change.
Also, Tommy Angelo's DC series started today, so im going to check it out and try to get some stuff out of that to help me with tilt control.
Thats kind of all for now, i think.
LQ
First, Running bad is a fact of poker, and HULHE is going to be a very swingy game where dropping 100 or more bets in a very short period of time is not uncommon. It's very annoying and can be hard to deal with mentally.
I think some solutions for me to deal with running poorly is to quit players sooner. I often keep playing someone (good and bad players) when they are beating me, and this needs to stop, since often I am making improper adjustments. For example, last night when Grant and I were doing a sweat, I played a regular at 3/6 (he just wants the action, i think) and I thought it would be alright since with both Grant and I talking out hands we would make good choices. Not the case. I still managed to spew a bunch of chips off to him, which was really morally defeating.
I'm going to move back to 2/4 for a while to rebuild my roll, lower the variance, and get my confidence back. Grant is also going to do a sweat with me at 2/4 6max, which will be interesting, since i havent played 6max in a while, so this will be a big change.
Also, Tommy Angelo's DC series started today, so im going to check it out and try to get some stuff out of that to help me with tilt control.
Thats kind of all for now, i think.
LQ
2009-05-09
There's No Secrets This Year
It's amazing to me how quickly I stop writing. I've barely started this blog and im already going to be a once a weeker, i can feel it. I'm going to put in the effort.
Anyways, some exciting things on go. I have made the jump to playing 3/6 (and still 2/4, since getting action is +ev) It's been a successful jump. The play is more agressive, but i was expecting that since ive played 3/6 quite a bit before. I'm making the adjustments that are neccessary.
I also 2 tabled a bit today and the other day... I'm not sure if it's a good deal for me. I sort of have to coast and hope for the best and hope that someone quits me or that i run good against one of them. I end up JUST playing my edfault game and not making read dependent adjustments. For example, i ended up being too foldy against a fish who took advantage of me at some point in the match and started donking everything. I think two tabling is probably not ideal. I can see how it works with no limit since there is a lot more folding, but in limit we see sooo many flops that its hard to deal with it. I think it could be better if I was playing the same villain. But, at that point, i would have to question whether playing someone who is willing to play me on two tables is +ev.
I'm hoping to get a sweat session in with GrantKropf soon.. and also jopeymsboy and I have started talking and I'm hoping to have a sweat with him soon as well.
I am happy that I haven't played any other games right now, since i'm really trying to grind and get a bankroll to start taking shots at 5/10. I really enjoy a bunch of other games, but the only one that i think im a favourite in is o8 full ring. I think i'm probably alright in 6max Limit and a couple other games, but HULHE is going to make me the most money.
Non poker stuff... the BC election is happening on tuesday. I'm pretty confident the party im voting for will not win, but that they will kepp the seats they have +-4 of where they are at. We also are having a referendum on how we vote. We currently use First Past The Post (FPTP) and they want to change to Single Transferable Vote (STV). I'm firmly opposed to this change, but at this point, I kind of want it to pass so we can see what a shitshow it will turn into when we use it. There are a bunch of problems with it, and a bunch of ways that the average voter will either fuck it up or opt out of the voting process completely. Oh well. I'm excited to see the results.
A buddy of mine and I are going to take a tennis lesson on monday, which im pretty excited about. I play squash pretty competitively, and traded a tennis lesson from a really strong tennis player for a squash lesson. I didnt want to do it alone because I'm a little bit stronger than my playing partner, and me getting Even better will make the games less fun. But both of us getting better is obviously +ev for life.
LQ
Currently Listening: Silversun Pickups - Swoon
Currently Watching: Game 5 of the Vancouver-Chicago series. go Canucks!
Anyways, some exciting things on go. I have made the jump to playing 3/6 (and still 2/4, since getting action is +ev) It's been a successful jump. The play is more agressive, but i was expecting that since ive played 3/6 quite a bit before. I'm making the adjustments that are neccessary.
I also 2 tabled a bit today and the other day... I'm not sure if it's a good deal for me. I sort of have to coast and hope for the best and hope that someone quits me or that i run good against one of them. I end up JUST playing my edfault game and not making read dependent adjustments. For example, i ended up being too foldy against a fish who took advantage of me at some point in the match and started donking everything. I think two tabling is probably not ideal. I can see how it works with no limit since there is a lot more folding, but in limit we see sooo many flops that its hard to deal with it. I think it could be better if I was playing the same villain. But, at that point, i would have to question whether playing someone who is willing to play me on two tables is +ev.
I'm hoping to get a sweat session in with GrantKropf soon.. and also jopeymsboy and I have started talking and I'm hoping to have a sweat with him soon as well.
I am happy that I haven't played any other games right now, since i'm really trying to grind and get a bankroll to start taking shots at 5/10. I really enjoy a bunch of other games, but the only one that i think im a favourite in is o8 full ring. I think i'm probably alright in 6max Limit and a couple other games, but HULHE is going to make me the most money.
Non poker stuff... the BC election is happening on tuesday. I'm pretty confident the party im voting for will not win, but that they will kepp the seats they have +-4 of where they are at. We also are having a referendum on how we vote. We currently use First Past The Post (FPTP) and they want to change to Single Transferable Vote (STV). I'm firmly opposed to this change, but at this point, I kind of want it to pass so we can see what a shitshow it will turn into when we use it. There are a bunch of problems with it, and a bunch of ways that the average voter will either fuck it up or opt out of the voting process completely. Oh well. I'm excited to see the results.
A buddy of mine and I are going to take a tennis lesson on monday, which im pretty excited about. I play squash pretty competitively, and traded a tennis lesson from a really strong tennis player for a squash lesson. I didnt want to do it alone because I'm a little bit stronger than my playing partner, and me getting Even better will make the games less fun. But both of us getting better is obviously +ev for life.
LQ
Currently Listening: Silversun Pickups - Swoon
Currently Watching: Game 5 of the Vancouver-Chicago series. go Canucks!
2009-04-30
April in Review + May Goals (Plus special bonus: Graphs!)
Wow. I had the best poker month of my life.
I only played half the month, depositing on the 13th of April and playing most days during the month.
I had my two largest winning days ever one day for $482 and today for $486 (i obviously instaquit as soon as i realized where i was at and quit for the month. i'm superstitious that way.)
I feel super good about my game right now (obviously, since i ran super hot today) But more than that, i feel like i'm playing really well and working with Grant doing sweat sessions has been really helpful, as I feel like talking through spots with him has helped me gain some perspective on how to play hands and about some of the theory of the game.
I have made some minor tweaks to the theory of play that I take into a match and am really incorporating note taking to help me with reads. I played almost entirely 2/4 this month with a tiny bit of 3/6 (once chasing a fish and the other because i felt really good and took a shot) I am going to take a more concentrated shot at 3/6 in May. I have almost enough money to take a decent shot without having my bankroll crushed if i drop 100 bets.
For May I have fairly lofty, yet achievable goals. I dont like to make my goals monetary, but the first one requires that I win some money.
1) move up to 3/6 so that it can be my main game
2) continue to do sweat sessions with Grant and talk about the game
3)put in 10k hands, but only if i'm feeling good about playing
4)try to learn to quit aggro players more qujckly - I have no need to swing bets with guys who play decent.
Goals for life this month:
1) finish my book. this is the first month in a long time where i havent finished an entire book.
2) get outside and play tennis at least once a week with my friends (this is a new sport to me)
3) get settled in at my new full time job
4)don't allow poker or any of the first 3 life goals to interfere with spending time with Melissa.
5) turn 24 as unassumingly as i did 23
Here are the bonus graphs:
Today:
April with Red/Blue lines:
(Red line is won without showdown, Blue line is won with showdown)
Cheers to April.
LQ
Currently Listening: Les Savy Fav - Lets Stay Friends
I only played half the month, depositing on the 13th of April and playing most days during the month.
I had my two largest winning days ever one day for $482 and today for $486 (i obviously instaquit as soon as i realized where i was at and quit for the month. i'm superstitious that way.)
I feel super good about my game right now (obviously, since i ran super hot today) But more than that, i feel like i'm playing really well and working with Grant doing sweat sessions has been really helpful, as I feel like talking through spots with him has helped me gain some perspective on how to play hands and about some of the theory of the game.
I have made some minor tweaks to the theory of play that I take into a match and am really incorporating note taking to help me with reads. I played almost entirely 2/4 this month with a tiny bit of 3/6 (once chasing a fish and the other because i felt really good and took a shot) I am going to take a more concentrated shot at 3/6 in May. I have almost enough money to take a decent shot without having my bankroll crushed if i drop 100 bets.
For May I have fairly lofty, yet achievable goals. I dont like to make my goals monetary, but the first one requires that I win some money.
1) move up to 3/6 so that it can be my main game
2) continue to do sweat sessions with Grant and talk about the game
3)put in 10k hands, but only if i'm feeling good about playing
4)try to learn to quit aggro players more qujckly - I have no need to swing bets with guys who play decent.
Goals for life this month:
1) finish my book. this is the first month in a long time where i havent finished an entire book.
2) get outside and play tennis at least once a week with my friends (this is a new sport to me)
3) get settled in at my new full time job
4)don't allow poker or any of the first 3 life goals to interfere with spending time with Melissa.
5) turn 24 as unassumingly as i did 23
Here are the bonus graphs:
Today:
April with Red/Blue lines:
(Red line is won without showdown, Blue line is won with showdown)
Cheers to April.
LQ
Currently Listening: Les Savy Fav - Lets Stay Friends
2009-04-29
What Wolves Would Do
I'm really really tired right now. I was up at 2am today to work for the city. That was awesome.
It didn't affect my poker game, as I played pretty well and ran decent. I took a shot at 3/6 and took one guy for 10 bets. It helped that I made top pair a bunch.
Last day of the month tomorrow. I'm hoping for the run hot one time. Maybe I can get a session in with Grant.
My sister is moving to Vancouver friday, so we're going to visit her before she leaves. It's exciting for her since this will be the first time in 2 years that she and her boyfriend will be in the same town.
I played some tennis tonight. We played doubles and my team lost 4-6 4-6, but we went multiple deuces on both set points... really fun match.
Sorry, this is a really scattered post.
I'm going to watch some Entourage and then to bed.
LQ
Currently Listening: The Rifles - The Great Escape
It didn't affect my poker game, as I played pretty well and ran decent. I took a shot at 3/6 and took one guy for 10 bets. It helped that I made top pair a bunch.
Last day of the month tomorrow. I'm hoping for the run hot one time. Maybe I can get a session in with Grant.
My sister is moving to Vancouver friday, so we're going to visit her before she leaves. It's exciting for her since this will be the first time in 2 years that she and her boyfriend will be in the same town.
I played some tennis tonight. We played doubles and my team lost 4-6 4-6, but we went multiple deuces on both set points... really fun match.
Sorry, this is a really scattered post.
I'm going to watch some Entourage and then to bed.
LQ
Currently Listening: The Rifles - The Great Escape
2009-04-28
The Dryness & The Rain
I started a new job yesterday which is going to but into my poker grind. I'm disappointed about this, but obviously happy for the steady income.
I am working for the City at the Oliver Woods Community Center as a custodian. I had worked there like 3 days a year ago when it first opened, but I hadnt done anything there since. It's certainly not the most exciting job... and there isnt as much freedom of motion as my last City job, but I can hardly complain for the money and stability that it will offer me in the short term.
The guy who is the 'main' custodian is a really funny old fella who keeps a high standard of what the facility should look like, so I'm going to have to work to keep it looking decent. I have also worked for the manager before, and I've never had any troubles with her - she seems really nice and it sounds like she won't be at our complex very often, as she manages two different ones.
Anyway, after having my best poker day ever, I had a pretty bad downswing and lost all that I won in the last two days. oh poker.
I played one more session after work last night and ran into a guy who dropped 30 bets (of which i took 22 and the rake took 8). He played a very straight forward game and I didnt have to worry about him bluffing me very much. He took the absolute value of his hand too far sometimes which caused him to spew on occasion.. and he was tricky by limp reraising QQ once. But mostly he folded when i would bet to him if he missed, check back flops where he had K or A high... and often folded when bet into. The most difficult thing he did was donk with a somewhat wide range of hands...most of them value, but occasionally junk. He would give up with his junk after one street, so it was easy to take one card off kinda light and then bet and get him to fold.
I was happy that it worked out well that way.
I'm getting excited about the next season of DC. Apparently there is a Danzasmack/DeathDonkey series.. HULHE one time! The only series i've followed there this sesaon has been Five's A Crowd. Passing The Torth (the other limit holdem series) was much too basic for me to get anything out of. Adri's quesionts, while pertinent to her own development, are questions I feel have been talked about before, or that I know intuitively (mostly the former... I rarely know something intuitively).
That's all for now, I think. I hope to get a decent session in today, and I know Grant has today off and was looking to grind a bunch, so i'll have to check on him as well.
LQ
Currently Listening: Jimmy Eat World - Stay By My Side Tonight (EP)
I am working for the City at the Oliver Woods Community Center as a custodian. I had worked there like 3 days a year ago when it first opened, but I hadnt done anything there since. It's certainly not the most exciting job... and there isnt as much freedom of motion as my last City job, but I can hardly complain for the money and stability that it will offer me in the short term.
The guy who is the 'main' custodian is a really funny old fella who keeps a high standard of what the facility should look like, so I'm going to have to work to keep it looking decent. I have also worked for the manager before, and I've never had any troubles with her - she seems really nice and it sounds like she won't be at our complex very often, as she manages two different ones.
Anyway, after having my best poker day ever, I had a pretty bad downswing and lost all that I won in the last two days. oh poker.
I played one more session after work last night and ran into a guy who dropped 30 bets (of which i took 22 and the rake took 8). He played a very straight forward game and I didnt have to worry about him bluffing me very much. He took the absolute value of his hand too far sometimes which caused him to spew on occasion.. and he was tricky by limp reraising QQ once. But mostly he folded when i would bet to him if he missed, check back flops where he had K or A high... and often folded when bet into. The most difficult thing he did was donk with a somewhat wide range of hands...most of them value, but occasionally junk. He would give up with his junk after one street, so it was easy to take one card off kinda light and then bet and get him to fold.
I was happy that it worked out well that way.
I'm getting excited about the next season of DC. Apparently there is a Danzasmack/DeathDonkey series.. HULHE one time! The only series i've followed there this sesaon has been Five's A Crowd. Passing The Torth (the other limit holdem series) was much too basic for me to get anything out of. Adri's quesionts, while pertinent to her own development, are questions I feel have been talked about before, or that I know intuitively (mostly the former... I rarely know something intuitively).
That's all for now, I think. I hope to get a decent session in today, and I know Grant has today off and was looking to grind a bunch, so i'll have to check on him as well.
LQ
Currently Listening: Jimmy Eat World - Stay By My Side Tonight (EP)
2009-04-26
The Modern Leper
I'll make this post pretty short, but I had the best day poker day of my life today winning $482 in like 500 hands.
I played a pretty long session against one fish who I had played some hands with before a couple days ago. He played super awful and was VERY exploitable. He never believed me and would call down constantly with Ace and King high. It made the game really easy to play. He also check raised like 6% (compared to a strong player who would be c/r 40%ish) on the flop. So after i took my one bullet on the flop, if i didnt like the turn or didnt have a hand, I could give up. Anytime he 3bet he would call down if i raised him on the flop when i hit a pair. Always.
Anyways. he bought in for $40 six times, and $20 three times and I busted him for 300 total. It made me feel really good.
But thats all. Pretty good stuff, imo.
LQ
I played a pretty long session against one fish who I had played some hands with before a couple days ago. He played super awful and was VERY exploitable. He never believed me and would call down constantly with Ace and King high. It made the game really easy to play. He also check raised like 6% (compared to a strong player who would be c/r 40%ish) on the flop. So after i took my one bullet on the flop, if i didnt like the turn or didnt have a hand, I could give up. Anytime he 3bet he would call down if i raised him on the flop when i hit a pair. Always.
Anyways. he bought in for $40 six times, and $20 three times and I busted him for 300 total. It made me feel really good.
But thats all. Pretty good stuff, imo.
LQ
2009-04-25
Knife Party
Yesterday was pretty cool for me in my poker life. I did a sweat session with GrantKropf from DeucesCracked. Basically we use a program called Teamviewer which lets us look at each others screen, and then use skype to talk.
This was a really unique and interesting experience for me for a number of reasons. First is that, while I have a number of poker friends that I see in real life on a regular basis, none of them take the game as seriously as I do and none of them play limit hold em, let alone HULHE. So discussions we have tend to be on no limit sng theory, as thats what we play most often when we get together.
With Grant it was quite different, because we are playing the same game and both take quite a bit of time to get better at the game. Grant is currently playing one limit higher than me at 3/6, while i am playing 2/4, but the game is still quite similar... the villains dont change much in these limits. When we make the jump to 5/10 some of the theory needs to be adjusted. So how this worked was we took turns playing villains and going over spots to decide what to do and why we are doing it. I believe i am quite a bit more showdown bound than Grant, so it was interesting to listen to his thought process about why he folds hands. I also like to see more flops than Grant, as I want to fold likie 7% of my hands, and he probably folds closer to 15%. Despite that, we had a super productive session and watching each other play and discussing our thought process was super valuable for my game.
Grant got a little lucky in the sweat session to run into a maniac that dropped a bunch of bets to him really quickly... I ran a little cooler, but still managed to turn a nice profit for the day.
The big thing that changed for me after doing the sweat is really paying attention to hands and making more notes. That's something that I've been really bad at in my game, and seeing Grant be able to make a call or fold because of previous information is definitely going to be beneficial for my winrate.
I played a shorter session so far today, and may play more, but its really nice outside so I'm going to take advantage and read my book out there for a bit.
Also, Shannon Shorr, who is my favourite tournament player to follow TV final tabled the WPT Championship... so thats pretty cool.
And I've been listening to the Justin Shronk tribute, which is really sad.. he was doing a good thing at Poker Road and i'll definitely miss what he added to that show.
LQ
Currently Listening: Deftones - Saturday Night Wrist
Currently Reading: East of Eden - John Steinbeck
This was a really unique and interesting experience for me for a number of reasons. First is that, while I have a number of poker friends that I see in real life on a regular basis, none of them take the game as seriously as I do and none of them play limit hold em, let alone HULHE. So discussions we have tend to be on no limit sng theory, as thats what we play most often when we get together.
With Grant it was quite different, because we are playing the same game and both take quite a bit of time to get better at the game. Grant is currently playing one limit higher than me at 3/6, while i am playing 2/4, but the game is still quite similar... the villains dont change much in these limits. When we make the jump to 5/10 some of the theory needs to be adjusted. So how this worked was we took turns playing villains and going over spots to decide what to do and why we are doing it. I believe i am quite a bit more showdown bound than Grant, so it was interesting to listen to his thought process about why he folds hands. I also like to see more flops than Grant, as I want to fold likie 7% of my hands, and he probably folds closer to 15%. Despite that, we had a super productive session and watching each other play and discussing our thought process was super valuable for my game.
Grant got a little lucky in the sweat session to run into a maniac that dropped a bunch of bets to him really quickly... I ran a little cooler, but still managed to turn a nice profit for the day.
The big thing that changed for me after doing the sweat is really paying attention to hands and making more notes. That's something that I've been really bad at in my game, and seeing Grant be able to make a call or fold because of previous information is definitely going to be beneficial for my winrate.
I played a shorter session so far today, and may play more, but its really nice outside so I'm going to take advantage and read my book out there for a bit.
Also, Shannon Shorr, who is my favourite tournament player to follow TV final tabled the WPT Championship... so thats pretty cool.
And I've been listening to the Justin Shronk tribute, which is really sad.. he was doing a good thing at Poker Road and i'll definitely miss what he added to that show.
LQ
Currently Listening: Deftones - Saturday Night Wrist
Currently Reading: East of Eden - John Steinbeck
2009-04-23
Get Fighted
I had a pretty interesting session today at 2/4 HUHU I got in 450 hands and turned a pretty nice profit.
I played a couple guys who berated me pretty badly for my play. This has been written about before, but i really dont feel like im playing my best unless someone calls me a donkey at some point in the session.
Some players just dont get that when i make a play at them and then they 3bet me, i often have enough equity to continue now that i've bloated the pot. For example I had K3o on a QJ2 board with two of a suit giving me two backdoors. I decided to c/r since i could take down the pot right there. villain immediately 3bet me, giving me 9-1 on a call. I called and say a beautiful T roll off giving me enough equity in my hand to peel and the implied odds of knowing that i dont put more money in the pot untill i hit my hand.
I did hit my hand and he showed me a set of jacks and bemoaned how awful i am.
What he doesnt get is that im raising there for a bunch of reasons. One is so that I'm not always raising with a strong hand and that will force him to call me down with A high more often when i c/r him, which is going to be profitable for me since most of what i c/r with is a value hand.
Anyways, moral of that story is that there is often more than the face value of a play going on. Even though against his exact hand i was -EV to make that call on the flop, his total range, balancing, and implied odds more than make up for that exact situation.
I'm starting to feel better about my HU game, as i took a month off, which left me a little rusty. I'm starting to get in the groove and understand spots and i feel like im hand reading pretty well right now.
Hopefully that continues on.
Life update: We booked a caterer for our wedding today, which we are both really happy about. And im going to give a couple squash lessons right now, which will be alright.
LQ
Currently Reading: East of Eden by John Steinbeck
Currently Listening: Alexisonfire - Watch Out
Currently Watching: Entourage Season 2
I played a couple guys who berated me pretty badly for my play. This has been written about before, but i really dont feel like im playing my best unless someone calls me a donkey at some point in the session.
Some players just dont get that when i make a play at them and then they 3bet me, i often have enough equity to continue now that i've bloated the pot. For example I had K3o on a QJ2 board with two of a suit giving me two backdoors. I decided to c/r since i could take down the pot right there. villain immediately 3bet me, giving me 9-1 on a call. I called and say a beautiful T roll off giving me enough equity in my hand to peel and the implied odds of knowing that i dont put more money in the pot untill i hit my hand.
I did hit my hand and he showed me a set of jacks and bemoaned how awful i am.
What he doesnt get is that im raising there for a bunch of reasons. One is so that I'm not always raising with a strong hand and that will force him to call me down with A high more often when i c/r him, which is going to be profitable for me since most of what i c/r with is a value hand.
Anyways, moral of that story is that there is often more than the face value of a play going on. Even though against his exact hand i was -EV to make that call on the flop, his total range, balancing, and implied odds more than make up for that exact situation.
I'm starting to feel better about my HU game, as i took a month off, which left me a little rusty. I'm starting to get in the groove and understand spots and i feel like im hand reading pretty well right now.
Hopefully that continues on.
Life update: We booked a caterer for our wedding today, which we are both really happy about. And im going to give a couple squash lessons right now, which will be alright.
LQ
Currently Reading: East of Eden by John Steinbeck
Currently Listening: Alexisonfire - Watch Out
Currently Watching: Entourage Season 2
2009-04-22
New Blog
So i did it.
I started blogging again.
I'll quickly give some background on my previous blogging attempts and on me:
I hosted a blog in 2004 that I lovingly called The Blake Olsen Theory. I rocked that blog for many months and quite enjoyed the experience. I had a few other blogging friends and we enjoyed linking each other and all that fun stuff you do when you're new to the online publishing world.
I also hosted a blog on Cardrunners, which im sure is still there under Liquid_Quik if anyone is interested in checking it out.
About me in general and what makes me an authority worth reading in this saturated blogging world:
While this will be primarily a poker blog, I don't want it to be simply that. I actually would be really sad if that was all I wrote about. I am 23 and live in British Columbia Canada. I recently graduated with my History and Education degrees from Vancouver Island University, and am also a certified squash professional.
I also love poker. my game of choice these days is Heads Up Limit Holdem, and that is the game i feel most comfortable with right now. I have also logged a decent sample of sngs, micro fullring and 6max and MTTs. I know Omaha 8 or Better pretty well and i would argue that that is my second best game. I have played all the games in the HORSE rotation as well as a bit of Badugi and Triple Draw. I love learning all the different games.
I have been playing poker for 5-6 years, like everyone else, and I got my start with friends playing a quarter game and we played all the random poker variations before holdem got huge. When the holdem boom hit we played that pretty extensively and I loved the game for a long time.
My purpose with this blog, if I am to set a mandate for it, is to chronicle my life journey through poker and all the things that go along with it. I feel like that is my main focus, but not exclusively so.
wish me luck.
LQ
PS: current poker content - this has been commented on many times in the forums, but it makes me feel like im doing something really well when someone decides that its time to tell me that they hope my family dies in some horrible accident. This happened to me tonight at 2/4 on route to a dude dropping $120 in my lap. holla.
I started blogging again.
I'll quickly give some background on my previous blogging attempts and on me:
I hosted a blog in 2004 that I lovingly called The Blake Olsen Theory. I rocked that blog for many months and quite enjoyed the experience. I had a few other blogging friends and we enjoyed linking each other and all that fun stuff you do when you're new to the online publishing world.
I also hosted a blog on Cardrunners, which im sure is still there under Liquid_Quik if anyone is interested in checking it out.
About me in general and what makes me an authority worth reading in this saturated blogging world:
While this will be primarily a poker blog, I don't want it to be simply that. I actually would be really sad if that was all I wrote about. I am 23 and live in British Columbia Canada. I recently graduated with my History and Education degrees from Vancouver Island University, and am also a certified squash professional.
I also love poker. my game of choice these days is Heads Up Limit Holdem, and that is the game i feel most comfortable with right now. I have also logged a decent sample of sngs, micro fullring and 6max and MTTs. I know Omaha 8 or Better pretty well and i would argue that that is my second best game. I have played all the games in the HORSE rotation as well as a bit of Badugi and Triple Draw. I love learning all the different games.
I have been playing poker for 5-6 years, like everyone else, and I got my start with friends playing a quarter game and we played all the random poker variations before holdem got huge. When the holdem boom hit we played that pretty extensively and I loved the game for a long time.
My purpose with this blog, if I am to set a mandate for it, is to chronicle my life journey through poker and all the things that go along with it. I feel like that is my main focus, but not exclusively so.
wish me luck.
LQ
PS: current poker content - this has been commented on many times in the forums, but it makes me feel like im doing something really well when someone decides that its time to tell me that they hope my family dies in some horrible accident. This happened to me tonight at 2/4 on route to a dude dropping $120 in my lap. holla.
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