50NL or 100NL?

Date: Tue, Apr 8, 2008 Professional Internet

I'm going to do a video series similar to the my video # 6. I would like to know if there is going to be more interest in seeing this at 50NL or 100NL. I included a poll below. Right now I'm going to play a bunch on FTP and Stars and then use that data. The range of topics will include:

• Playing suited connectors and one gappers.
• Suited Aces
• Medium Pocket Pairs
• Small Pocket Pairs
• TPTK
• Floating
• Pocket Jacks
• Dealing with aggro player on your left
• Dealing with aggro player on your right
• Isolating limpers
• Good spots to 4-bet

... and whatever else come around. Right now I'm leaning to making this at 50NL, but there might be more merit to 100NL. Let me know what you think.

http://www.cardrunners.com/members/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=304101&page=1#Post304101

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Turn Decision

Date: Mon, Apr 7, 2008 Professional Internet

In my last video I was faced with this situation: I raise on the button:

... get called by both the SB and BB and see this flop:

Now - the SB leads out for $1.25 into $2.25, the BB min-raises and I 3-bet to $6.75 protect the hand since I'm sure at least one of them is drawing. The SB folds and the BB calls. We go to the turn:

... and I decide to check back the turn as the obvious draw got there and if I get check/raised here I'm defintely committed and I'm going to hate life, whereas if I check here I can fill up on the river (and still get $$ out of a flush in position) or get value out of a weak hand which will check to me on the river again. I do risk another club coming, but the reward of checking outweighs the risk of letting another club come.

A 100NL Hand:

I played this hand the other day at 100NL on Stars which I then discussed with Hookem:

Me, UTG with:

I raise it and get called in the SB by a pretty loose player.

The flop comes:

There is $7 in the pot, I bet $5 and get called. Now there is $17 in the pot and we go to the turn:

I ask Hookem what he would do here and he says check. I argued that with 3 to a straight, I want to protect my hand against a possible queen or ten. I started thinking more deeply about the villain's range on the flop:

Small Pocket Pairs: 22 - 88 are all certainly reasonable hands for him to peel one street since he puts me on high cards and is really loose. If I bet again on the turn, I'm certainly not getting value out of those hands.

Straight Draw: He could have QT, KT, Q8, KQ. If he's got QT then I'm in trouble as he just hit and I'm probably going to get check-raised. If he's got KQ or KT then he's certainly calling a bet on the turn.

A Nine: He could have 9T, K9, A9, Q9. I think K9 is certainly calling a bet. So is Q9 and 9T as they just picked up a draw.

A Worse Jack: He could have the case jack with a worse kicker. Namely J7, J8, JT, and QJ. All those are going to call a turn bet. He could also have AJ himself ...

Full House: 99, J9, KJ all have a full house and are probably going to check/raise me here.

So ... to sum it up, betting accompilshes the following:

Folds Out: 22 - 88, Q8

Gets A Call From: KT, KQ, K9, 9T, Q9, AJ, TJ, J7, J8, JT, QJ

Gets Check-Raised By: KJ, J9, 99, QT

Now ... it seems like there is a much wider range of hands that call a bet on the turn than the ones which check-raise me on the turn. But ... how many streets of value am I going to get from the hands that call me on the turn? Namely - if I bet the turn and the river is a blank, any hand with a jack is probably going to pay me off, but any hand which has pair + draw is probably not going to.

On the other hand, if I check the turn, KQ, KT as well as all the jack hands are still going to pay off a river bet but all the hands which would check/raise me on the turn are going to now play a smaller pot as I'm seldom raising if I'm led into because I believe the range of hands I am ahead of which lead/call is very small (QJ, JT).

Basically, I feel like if I'm c/r on the turn I'm in huge trouble. What do I do? Call and hope for an ace? and I'm probably not getting two streets of value anyhow. On the off-chance that a hand like KT ends up hitting their gutter on the river, I now feel like there is much more value in pot control on the turn than in protecting in my hand.

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100PLO Update

Date: Tue, Apr 1, 2008 Professional Internet

I am running pretty well at the 100PLO game on FTP, but I really feel lost in so many spots post-flop. My saving grace is that most people are just horrible at PLO (too loose, call down too light, play big pots with marginal hands, etc).

So I'm fairly comfortable with the 26/15 style. I'm playing pretty tight OOP as people keep on preaching and mostly playing cards which can make the nuts. I feel like I'm also getting a good feel for the type of boards to c-bet although I think I am not c-betting enough boards when I'm HU. This is something I also need to work on.

Since I've only been playing/thinking about this serious for 2 weeks, it's hard for me to come up with any type of general strategy/info posts. All I know is that there are some horrendous players playing right now - a much higher percentage than ones playing NLHE.

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Berate My Nittiness ...

Date: Sat, Mar 29, 2008 Professional Internet

I swear ... playing 100 PLO is like looking for monsters in your closet. One thing I quickly realized is that sets and Aces are definitely overated. I don't think I should even be popping up AA unless it has some major other connected stuff to go along with it. As people have already said - two pair is generally a really weak hand unless it has some nice re-draws to go along with it. Same with non-nut flushes.

Here is an example of a situation where I just ended up calling on the river with the second nuts because I didn't feel like there was much value in raising:

$0.5/$1 Pot Limit Omaha Hi
6 players
Converted at weaktight.com

Stacks:

UTG		($156.55)
UTG+1		($73.45)
CO		($100.00)
Hero		($161.05)
SB		($100.00)
BB		($101.50)

Pre-flop: ($1.5, 6 players) Hero is BTN

1 fold, UTG+1 calls $1, CO calls $1, Hero calls $1, SB calls $0.5, BB checks

Flop: ($5, 5 players)
SB checks, BB checks, UTG+1 checks, CO checks, Hero bets $3, SB folds, BB folds, UTG+1 calls $3, CO calls $3

Turn: ($14, 3 players)
UTG+1 checks, CO checks, Hero bets $9, UTG+1 calls $9, CO calls $9

River: ($41, 3 players)
UTG+1 checks, CO bets $16, Hero calls $16, UTG+1 calls $16

Final Pot: $89
UTG+1 shows:
CO shows:
Hero shows:

CO wins $86 ( won +$57 )
UTG+1 lost -$29.00
Hero lost -$29.00
SB lost -$1.00
BB lost -$1.00

I still feel really lost pre-flop but much better post-flop. I still have really no idea when to 3-bet and how to act in 3-bet pots. I am planning on watching all the Stinger and BT PLO videos to get a better understanding on hand values, etc.

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Minimum Calling Range

Date: Wed, Mar 26, 2008 Professional Internet

I 8-tabled some 100NL for the past few days and have been thinking about two hands in terms of what my minimum calling range should be. Basically, my minimum calling range is a situation where I know that they have a hand they really like and simply have to decide how light I want to call.

So ... two examples:

Example 1

I raise in the CO and get a caller out of the small blind. He's sitting on $76. We go to the flop:



I bet $5 into $6 and get called. We go to the turn:

He checks, I bet again - $12 into $16 and now the villain raises it to $27.

So ... what types of hands should I call/shove here? At this point I didn't have any stats on the villain. Of course the fact that he's a short-stack will make me call down lighter here. But ... what should I do with the following hands?

1. Ac Ad

2. 9c 7c

3. Ac Jd

4. Ac 3d

5. Kc Qc

6. Qc Qd

7. Kc Ks

I think I should bet the turn with all these hands, but once I face action, which ones do I shove with, which ones should I fold, and which ones do I just call with?

Example 2

In the second situation I am sitting on $108 open up from CO again and get called by the button (19/16/1.5 - $102) and the SB (38/3/2 - $212). We go to the flop:

The SB checks, I bet $8 into the $11, the Button raises that to $22 and the SB shoves all-in. So ... what should be the lowest hand that I call with here?

Basically, the looser you play, the more tough decisions and marginal situations you have to navigate. In addition to this, your image is pretty bad and you have to start calling down lighter and lighter. So, I've been thinking about just how light/tight I would feel comfortable stacking off in both situations above.

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Inspiration

Date: Mon, Mar 24, 2008 Professional Internet

Last week start out with a high/low/in-between. The high was that Venessa (Princessdonk), Martin (Dodgyken), and Luke Butch (AceCR9) came and stayed with me for a few days. It was a lot of fun meeting them, talking poker, and just hanging out. The low was that after going out to eat at Logan's I got really, really sick, and pretty much hand a hard time eating anything solid for a couple of days. I also had to go to work and being sick while trying to teach is a very bad idea. I guess that was the in-between.

I watched Dodgy play some PLO at 2/4 and was just amazed at how bad some of the players were. It seemed so much more soft and donkish than 2/4 NLHE. In addition to seeing Stinger's month, I decided to play try to learn PLO. I started playing 100 PLO to see where I stand. I am learning a lot as I'm messing around with it. I swear I'm still such a huge noob. Right now I'm playing something like 27/18 and pretty aggro. I'm so lost at times. I don't think there is much literature and very limited videos for the game. Anyone know of any good articles on PLO?

I've been so drained recently it's crazy. I'm not sure what's going on, but I'm convinced that I'm burned out in general. Summer just can't get here soon enough.

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More tables, more TAG ...

Date: Thu, Mar 13, 2008 Professional Internet

I've decided to play more TAG and not to worry too much when people are 3-betting me. For the most part, the cards have been complying even though I started out down $500 pretty quickly today. Part of it was a bluff on the river against a donk where I should have known better. I still ended up around $1K at 200NL after I settled down, opened up 8 tables, and just grinded.

I decided that I'm going to play 200NL by myself and 400NL with my coach. One of the things he emphasized is not cold-calling with speculative hands (78s) even in position vs. single opponents. Thus, I've been folding a lot more and actually 3-betting a lot less. I think now that I've cut down on my 3-betting, people are floating me a lot less and playing is a lot less stressful. Of course there is a time and place for 3-betting, but I've been faced with a lot of variance and have enjoyed the last couple of sessions a lot more.

I've also started a new database in my PokerTracker where I've decided to not tilt and to play my A game. So far I've logged in 3,327 hands and have stayed true to form. I still feel like I have some tilt issue but I do think that playing mroe tables helps me focus on just playing solid poker instead of worrying about someone playing back me all the time at one table (if they have position on me I can always just leave) or about a beat that I've taken.

So ... here is to playing solid, tilt-free poker :)

Update - as requested, here are my stats for these hands:

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Working out some kinks ...

Date: Mon, Mar 10, 2008 Professional Internet

So the past little bit the drill has been the same - go up to 2/4, drop some buy-ins, back to 1/2, earn it back. The last time I played 2/4 (yesterday) I lost all three times when I hit my set as well as two coin flips. This of course frustrates me to no evail. I think that in order to have the year I want to have next year I need to be a solid 2/4 player - a limit where I'm still not comfortable.

On the other hand, there is a high number of very aggressive regulars at 200NL these days. It seems like every table has at least two players who I've given the "red" FTP label. This means that they will be re-raising me a lot - both in position and out of position. Having them on my left or two to my left will be no fun. They definitely make the game much higher variance.

I've been working on two things: not being a calling station and thinking of ways to extract value. I still think I'm too much of a calling station because I often think people are trying to bluff me and 3-bet me light. This is still something I need to develop better counter-strategies against. 4-betting and floating are the obvious ones. I need to think of my ranges and flop texture suited for both situations

The other thing is non-standard lines for extracting value. I used to be very frustrated when I flop a monster and not get paid off. I think the really good players know what lines to take in order to get paid off the most.

For example - I raised 77 UTG today and the flop comes 793r. I I used to c-bet this flop, but this time I decided to just check it and hope someone fires. Well - it's checked around and the turn is a Q putting a flush draw on the board.

Now I decide to bet $22 into the $27. The UTG + 1 player raises me and I re-raise. He shoves AQ and I snap-call. Additionally, I've been checking some of my big overpairs in re-raised pots to rep an AK against bluffly players.

Finally, I'm taking much better notes on players and our own history. My goal is to make 10 more BI at 1/2 and then go back to 2/4.

Video # 5

I'm also happy about my last video at 50NL HU. I rated it a 9 because I'm happy with my play, the format, etc :) The last few sessions at the lower limits HU that I've been coaching we've cleaned up. HU is very profitable - even at the lower limits.

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Short Session of 6max

Date: Thu, Mar 6, 2008 Professional Internet

I played and ran much better. This is about an hour's worth of play - it was much more fun than my recent play :)

I got paid off on some hands but basically had the goods. I also bluffed a lot less and folded a lot more. I just folded and folded OOP in spots where I thought about calling before.

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Running and playing badly at 6-max

Date: Thu, Mar 6, 2008 Professional Internet

I've played 2/4 and 1/2 6-max recently and have just gotten destroyed. I feel like I can't win any big pots - regardless off the odds. Twice yesterday I got it in as a 90% favorite and lost big pots (stacks and then some). I'm in a very negative state of mind right now - like no one is giving me any credit for a hand and when I actually have one someone else has a better one. Ugh.

I really don't feel like posting hands, but basically people are hitting their draws on me when I have sets and I'm missing my draws when people have a top pair. At one point yesterday when I was being sweated by Dice14 and Hookem I just threw up my hands in the air (after getting it AIPF vs. shorty's A7 with my AQ and losing on the river) and just sighed.

I still have tilt issues and they basically manifest themselves in me starting to call down people too light and playing far too optimally. I still have a lot to learn as far as reading hands and people's lines.

My plan right now is to play some more 200NL until I get out of this mind state. On the other hand, I'm continuing to play well HU.

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Some reflections on HU play ...

Date: Sun, Mar 2, 2008 Professional Internet

I'm starting to get more and more comfortable with playing HU. Here are my stats to date:

The MTT ratio there is 1.65 but I'm starting to add more tables. 3 is the most I can concentrate on right now. I've tried playing a mixture of 6-max and HU but have found it hard so far. Today I played some HU (picked up five buy-ins at 100NL), watched a 6-max 400NL video, and then played a 6-max session and picked up 3 buy-ins at 200NL. I think that works better for me.

I am experimenting some with showing bluffs HU. Usually it's in re-raised pots. Position is so key in HU ... it's crazy. I feel very comfortable playing deep stacked HU in position. For example, here is a situation where I would rather cold-call in position given how deep we are and make life tough for him post-flop:

Free hand converter brought to you by CardRunners

Seat 1: Hero ($425.55) - -
Seat 2: Villain 1 ($178.40) -

PRE-FLOP:

Hero posts small blind $0.50
Villain 1 posts BIG blind $1
Dealt To: Hero



RAISE Hero ($3)
RAISE Villain 1 ($9)
CALL Hero ($6)

FLOP:

Pot: $18


BET Villain 1 ($14)
RAISE Hero ($42)
FOLD Villain 1
UNCALLED Hero ($28)

Hero:


Hero collected $45.5 from main pot

SUMMARY:
Total pot: $46 Rake: $0.50

Final Board:


Seat 1: Hero small blind collected 45.50 - Net Gain/Loss: ($22.5)
Seat 2: Villain 1 big blind folded on the Flop - Net Gain/Loss: ($-23)

The other thing I am staring to find out is that I shouldn't really slow-play that much. People will stack off super-light and since I'm going to be bluffing with my garbage hands, I need to be donk-raising really good hands as well and have people bluff-shove their garbage after I show my bluffs. Not raising in the right spots has cost me a bit, but I've learned from it:

Seat 1: Villain 1 ($173) -
Seat 2: Hero ($103.20) - -

PRE-FLOP:

Hero posts small blind $0.50
Villain 1 posts BIG blind $1
Dealt To: Hero


RAISE Hero ($3)
CALL Villain 1 ($2)

FLOP:

Pot: $6


CHECK Villain 1
BET Hero ($5)
RAISE Villain 1 ($20)
RAISE Hero ($35)
RAISE Villain 1 ($252)
CALL Hero ($65.20)
UNCALLED Villain 1 ($151.80)

TURN:

Pot: $206.4


RIVER:

Pot: $206.4


SHOWDOWN:
Villain 1:

Hero:


Hero collected $205.9 from main pot with a straight, Ten high

SUMMARY:
Total pot: $206 Rake: $0.50

Final Board:


Seat 1: Villain 1 big blind showed [9s 9d] and lost with three of a kind, Nines - Net Gain/Loss: ($-103.2)

Seat 2: Hero small blind showed [Ts 8c] and won 205.90 with a straight, Ten high - Net Gain/Loss: ($102.7)

Analysis:

Here, once he check-raised me I wanted to allow him to shove while he still liked the hand. I also didn't want to bet too much to have him fold something marginal (which he might anyhow). Finally, if he does like his hand (like two pair or set), I didn't want a card to come which would kill the action. So ... as long as I like my hand I'm going to continue getting money in the pot. Of course, you can balance this by doing this as a bluff as well. Here, given the history, I just put him on air almost always.

Of course I showed it afterwards. After him seeing a few of these bluffs, he proceeded to shove into me a few times when I had the nuts and left pretty quickly after losing his $282.95 stack + $100 reload.

Free hand converter brought to you by CardRunners

Seat 1: Hero ($113.50) -
Seat 2: Villain 1 ($282.95) - -

PRE-FLOP:

Villain 1 posts small blind $0.50
Hero posts BIG blind $1
Dealt To: Hero


RAISE Villain 1 ($3)
RAISE Hero ($11)
CALL Villain 1 ($8)

FLOP:

Pot: $22


BET Hero ($15)
RAISE Villain 1 ($30)
RAISE Hero ($45)
FOLD Villain 1
UNCALLED Hero ($15)
Hero:


Hero collected $81.5 from main pot

SUMMARY:
Total pot: $82 Rake: $0.50

Final Board:


Seat 1: Hero big blind collected 81.50 - Net Gain/Loss: ($40.5)
Seat 2: Villain 1 small blind folded on the Flop - Net Gain/Loss: ($-41)

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Betting enough to get the job done ...

Date: Tue, Feb 26, 2008 Professional Internet

I don't think you should standardize your bets against bad players. They won't pick up on what you are doing. You should bet what you feel gets the job done. Sometimes it's very small, sometimes it's a lot. Here are two cases:

Small Bet Used In Bluff:

I played this hand today where I was seemingly in a pretty akward spot:

Free hand converter brought to you by CardRunners

Seat 1: Villain 1 ($218.70) -
Seat 2: Villain 2 ($190.35) -
Seat 3: Villain 3 ($111.45) -
Seat 4: Villain 4 ($235.15)
Seat 5: Villain 5 ($251.15)
Seat 6: Hero ($218.05)

PRE-FLOP:

Villain 2 posts small blind $1
Villain 3 posts BIG blind $2
Dealt To: Hero


CALL Villain 4 ($2)
RAISE Villain 5 ($9)
RAISE Hero ($29)
FOLD Villain 1
FOLD Villain 2
CALL Villain 3 ($27)
FOLD Villain 4
FOLD Villain 5

FLOP:

Pot: $70


CHECK Villain 3

What makes this really akward are are the stack sizes. There is $70 in the pot and the villain has $82 left. The flop is as dry as they come. So ... I have some options:

A) Check behind and hope to hit a King or a Queen. By doing this I'm essentially giving up on the pot if I miss.

B) Bluff and try to take it down. Bluffing here should be very mathematical here. The villain here was playing 95/11 so he liked to see flops. I expect him to shove with anything he wants to continue with if I bet, but fold anything if he misses. Thus, I expect him to play pretty straight forward. I'm pretty sure that if I make any bet, he can safely assume we are playing for his stack if he continues.

Thus, if I bet $35, I only need him to fold only 1 out of 3 times to make it profitable. So - even if he shoves on me 66% of the time my $35 bet will be profitable in the long term.

In this case, he indeed folded to my small bet.

Overbet Vs. Calling Station

I saw CTS do this a while back ago when he over-bet every street vs. a huge calling station and then shoved the river. This was my plan vs. this guy HU who wouldn't fold anything:

Free hand converter brought to you by CardRunners

Seat 1: Hero ($100) -
Seat 2: Villain 1 ($305.10) - -

PRE-FLOP:

Villain 1 posts small blind $0.50
Hero posts BIG blind $1
Dealt To: Hero


CALL Villain 1 ($0.50)
CHECK Hero

FLOP:

Pot: $2


BET Hero ($5)
CALL Villain 1 ($5)

TURN:

Pot: $12


BET Hero ($17)
CALL Villain 1 ($17)

RIVER:

Pot: $46


BET Hero ($77)
CALL Villain 1 ($77)

Free hand converter brought to you by CardRunners

He called me pretty quickly with A8o. Basically, my plan is to get all the money in by the end and I can only do that by betting inflated amounts. So ... don't be married to standard raises and bet amounts - bet or raise an amount which accomplishes what you want to accomplish based on the reads that you have.

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HU Update

Date: Mon, Feb 25, 2008 Professional Internet

I'm continuing to play well. People continue quitting me at 1/2 on FTP so it's getting harder to get action.

I think I'm playing just aggressive enough to throw people off their game. I'm still not 100% comfortable in some situations and there are still some very aggressive players that have given me fits. So far I've gotten the best of most of them though.

What I love about HU is that it gives you an opportunity to really focus on one opponent and to try to exploit their weaknesses. So much of it goes on feel. If they are raising the button 75% of the time you've gotta open up your 3-betting and calling ranges. If they are 3-betting you a lot, start 4-betting - pretty common sense stuff, but you can really apply it and see where people are weak.

But like I said - I feel like I still have a lot to learn. I read this post on 2 + 2 and found it pretty inspirational:

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showthread.php?t=138172

Right now I'm checking out his 2/4 numbers and see that I'm not raising the button as much as he is, I'm going to showdown more. My aggression is about the same. Nevertheless, I feel like I'm doing SOMETHING right and I want to continue playing until I reach an adequate sample size (whatever that may be).

I think if I ever had to rebuild my roll I would get a stake for $2K and start playing 100NL HU. I have experienced much less variance HU than I have 6-max recently.

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200NL HU

Date: Sun, Feb 24, 2008 Professional Internet

I started playing some 200NL HU today. For the most part I played well. I've been inspired to play HU ever since I got a chance to watch Taylor play in Los Angeles. I still have a long way to go but I feel comfortable playing 100 and 200NL. I focused on 200NL today. I finished off the day with a short 6-max session to make it a grand:

I also found out today that my mother-in-law has been reading my blog. Baller. Hi mom :)

Finally, looks like my video Verneer # 4 is the lowest rated video on CR. Wow ... that sucks. I'm playing a very loose and aggressive style (see above) and that's what I wanted to showcase in the video. I got comments like this:

" I would blow You out of the tables on 30 min."

But aside from those, people have made very good points about the general flow of the video. I should have probably stuck to two tables for the full duration and talked about what adjustments need to be made.

As far as the video is concerned, I agree that the KJ hand was not good. I also feel like I should have be the river with AQ when the K came when I got called by bottom pair in a 3-bet pot vs. short-stack. I also think I should have c/r the river with pocket tens when I had the straight. All that is hindsight though.

Here is the most interesting hand I played HU today. On the river, I felt like his range was very polarized to either a flush or a bluff. I am not sure he insta-shoves a flush like that so I called:

Full Tilt Poker, $1/$2 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 2 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

BB: $427
Hero (SB): $245.50

Pre-Flop: 7 5 dealt to Hero (SB)
Hero raises to $6, BB calls $4

Flop: ($12) 7 K 2 (2 Players)

BB checks, Hero bets $8, BB raises to $28, Hero calls $20

Turn: ($68) 9 (2 Players)
BB bets $50, Hero calls $50

River: ($168) 2 (2 Players)
BB bets $343 and is All-In, Hero calls $161.50 and is All-In

Results: $491 Pot ($0.50 Rake)
BB showed 10 8 (a pair of Twos) and LOST (-$245.50 NET)
Hero showed 7 5 (two pair, Sevens and Twos) and WON $490.50 (+$245 NET)

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