"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
2009-05-26
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!
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