Got dealt the cooler and lost $20 with KK vs AA
Then this morning I just got my money in on a cashgame with a pair and a gutshot draw with a flushdraw on the flop. Turns out I was up against a set and I couldn't hit any of my outs. I normally play it more passively and try to hit and then get my money in. But I've been trying to satellite my way into the fulltilt Main event, and my AK got cracked vs AJ twice, and then AK vs QJ. Was just hoping to catch a break, but instead it broke my bankroll down quite a bit. Still hovering above $500.
Everytime I play cashgames I seem to lose pretty big to either bad beats, or just big pots like KK vs AA and straightflushdraw vs set.
Blah, it happens. Chris Ferguson said it isn't as uncommon as most people think for KK to get cracked 15 times in a row. I think I've had them cracked about 5 times in a row, I'm hoping I don't get to 15. But that's why you must manage your bankroll. I still feel you must take some shots at the higher stakes to stay sane. If you fail it's back down to grinding it out.
really, what I should be doing is sticking with the $3.3 KO tournaments and MTTs those are definately my best game. There's going to be a lot of varience there, but I feel I have the ability to final table fairly consistantly.
Find your game and stick with it. You can learn other games by studying and doing the research in the meantime, and try out some other games at the lower stakes. But if your game is MTT, it makes no sense to take shots at the higher cashgames. Not sure what I was thinking...
Lesson learned.
Saturday, August 16, 2008
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
According to some I'm now a "losing player" on FT
Trying the superturbo SNGs lost me a lot of money, I'm not going back to those things. I took my chance trying them out for 15 games or so, did not do well cashed a couple didn't win. But I'm still up on FT alone 250 from the $50 I started with(affiliate cash). Yet I'm playing in a daily double and from the small blind I shove in on a short stack for the third time in a row after it folds to me. He starts talking trash about my tournament record and my game. I didn't say a word to him it wasn't worth it. Ended up getting my kings busted much later in the tourney near the bubble, but it was interesting to realize that the 90 person SNGs on fulltilt for whatever reason doesn't register on the poker DB. Got some more final tables, I have several on my computer but I don't know which ones I've uploaded and which ones I haven't, I'll get around to updating them all eventually
speaking of which, I'm at a $3.3 SNG final table
One of these days I'm going to take a few shots at the $10, so we'll see if I can get on a run.
I have recently found that minraising at low Ms with high antes but relatively low blinds still works, especially as you near the bubble. I saw a player switch gears into aggressive but he would stay away from reraises. I've emulated his gear switch period only with smaller raises. It's been successful as of it's first test run. I've experimented with limping with big pairs, it allowed me to get away from an A high flop, and it allowed me to get money in with QQ vs JJ, but I probably could have accomplished that anyways. I limped and got a lot of money in the pot with AAas I was raised from the big blind, and I just called as I knew the other person in the pot would have to either push fold with his stack. He pushed, and it was a big triple up.
I do feel that limping strong has it's place, but not very much at passive tables, and only if the blind structure is deep, (and you can fold aces), or short (and you need to try to get as many chips as possible to have the leverage you need to make steals and have a chance at the thing. You have to really figure out your table if you're going to limp, and most of the time if you raise, you're going to get more money in the pot anyways. What you're looking for is wreckless play after the flop. Sure you're giving people the odds to hit with anyhand if you don't put 10% of your stack in preflop and play it right after the flop or 20% in preflop and play it how you want afterwards. However, because there's so many bad players that will go broke with JT on a jack high flop, there's more equity in trying to get players in that can hit top pair and maybe get some extra people calling. You're also looking for lots of preflop raises after limpers, or really small pot and passive play, particularly loose passive play so you can do all the betting.
I would say, don't attempt this move very often at all, even if conditions are right. It is only when you feel you NEED to make a move. Limping with aces, is about the same risk factor as a raise and go with AK, and playing aces aggressively is probably worth more anyways. However, I do feel that it is okay to raise 1/4th of your chips on a steal attempt, and if reraised, fold even though you have pot odds. The reason is, because if you do that, you can still attempt a move all in next hand, and poentially still steal the blinds, or get in a profitable situation with the blinds and antes. And if that doesn't work, you can look for a raise and a big isolation reraise move on your big blind so you have dead money in the pot and you can triple up. Or else you can try a move in, or perhaps a limp and go from the small blind. If you pull off one of these moves, you can again attempt the minraise, and repeat if you're raised. You will buy yourself a lot more hands, and give yourself a lot more potential to come away with a steal. If you get away with it, now you can look to attempt it again next rotation.
I still like shoving all in on the blinds
Update: went out in 3rd place after losing multiple all ins as a 35% dog in each. Blinds and antes put the pot at 20k and even the big stack was never really more than 100k. Guy called from BB with KQ the first time against like 85o. The 2nd time he had AK and I had T4off. Although it seems like I'm going to get knocked out the majority of the time, I had him covered the first time, and stole my way back to about even with him. Given that I lose 65% of the time, I still need to lose another 65% of the time. So out of 100, I'm going to lose the 1st hand 65 times, and of those 65 hands, lose 65%. The chance that I lose both is actually 42.25% Also, if they don't pick up a hand, which is very likely considering it's 3 handed, or if I pick up a better hand, They're going to blind to death. I made the decision to try to keep the 3rd place guy in the game by not calling when I had over 3 to 1 and J2. I did this because first of all, I'm not a crushing favorite, and losing that hand would have put me in jepordy of getting stolen from a couple times and then I would be playing for 2nd, and secondly, letting that player stay alive, would allow me to continue to steal BOTH of their blinds, every hand, until they're down to nothing, as they both battle for 2nd. That would only take about 4 steals against the 2nd place player, if he didn't move in and pick up the blinds. Even if he calls with any pair, any broadway, and any ace which would be pretty loose, even against me, because he can fold to 2nd. Winning a hand certainly doesn't guarantee him anything, however losing gaurentees that he gets nothing.
So I move in, and move in and I've got about 120k. I move in again, and from the SB I move in and I'm called with KQs. My opponent then goes up to 110k and me down to 100k. Then Mr short stack moves all in and is called and wins. Then I pick up a steal, now I've got 110k and my opponent has 100k. but then he moves in picks up the blinds. Then I'm in the small blind, and I move in, and my opponent gets AK and he again calls. I lose, and I'm out.
Now one question that is good to know is, if I had folded, and let the chipleader take control, and manage my way to 2nd, do I still have a good sht at winning? I think my best shot at winning was moving in every hand. The blinds were just rediculously high, and they were getting higher. I didn't pick up a hand, but I did move in and pick up a lot of chips, lose a big hand, then pick up a lot of chips, and then I lost the big hand again. I say I win either of those (58% of the time I will), and I win the tournament. What's better 100% of 2nd $43, or 58% of 72 and 42% of 31?)
58 times you win 71
42 times you win 31
total 5420/100=$54.2 expected
Now of the 100% of the time that I make sure I get 2nd (which is no guarentee) whatre my chances of winning? I'd say I would have to win as an underdog twice or more. We'll say 40% and 40% which is 16% overall
so
84% you win 43
16 you win 72
4764/100=47.64
so still we can see that it's better to go for the win.
speaking of which, I'm at a $3.3 SNG final table
One of these days I'm going to take a few shots at the $10, so we'll see if I can get on a run.
I have recently found that minraising at low Ms with high antes but relatively low blinds still works, especially as you near the bubble. I saw a player switch gears into aggressive but he would stay away from reraises. I've emulated his gear switch period only with smaller raises. It's been successful as of it's first test run. I've experimented with limping with big pairs, it allowed me to get away from an A high flop, and it allowed me to get money in with QQ vs JJ, but I probably could have accomplished that anyways. I limped and got a lot of money in the pot with AAas I was raised from the big blind, and I just called as I knew the other person in the pot would have to either push fold with his stack. He pushed, and it was a big triple up.
I do feel that limping strong has it's place, but not very much at passive tables, and only if the blind structure is deep, (and you can fold aces), or short (and you need to try to get as many chips as possible to have the leverage you need to make steals and have a chance at the thing. You have to really figure out your table if you're going to limp, and most of the time if you raise, you're going to get more money in the pot anyways. What you're looking for is wreckless play after the flop. Sure you're giving people the odds to hit with anyhand if you don't put 10% of your stack in preflop and play it right after the flop or 20% in preflop and play it how you want afterwards. However, because there's so many bad players that will go broke with JT on a jack high flop, there's more equity in trying to get players in that can hit top pair and maybe get some extra people calling. You're also looking for lots of preflop raises after limpers, or really small pot and passive play, particularly loose passive play so you can do all the betting.
I would say, don't attempt this move very often at all, even if conditions are right. It is only when you feel you NEED to make a move. Limping with aces, is about the same risk factor as a raise and go with AK, and playing aces aggressively is probably worth more anyways. However, I do feel that it is okay to raise 1/4th of your chips on a steal attempt, and if reraised, fold even though you have pot odds. The reason is, because if you do that, you can still attempt a move all in next hand, and poentially still steal the blinds, or get in a profitable situation with the blinds and antes. And if that doesn't work, you can look for a raise and a big isolation reraise move on your big blind so you have dead money in the pot and you can triple up. Or else you can try a move in, or perhaps a limp and go from the small blind. If you pull off one of these moves, you can again attempt the minraise, and repeat if you're raised. You will buy yourself a lot more hands, and give yourself a lot more potential to come away with a steal. If you get away with it, now you can look to attempt it again next rotation.
I still like shoving all in on the blinds
Update: went out in 3rd place after losing multiple all ins as a 35% dog in each. Blinds and antes put the pot at 20k and even the big stack was never really more than 100k. Guy called from BB with KQ the first time against like 85o. The 2nd time he had AK and I had T4off. Although it seems like I'm going to get knocked out the majority of the time, I had him covered the first time, and stole my way back to about even with him. Given that I lose 65% of the time, I still need to lose another 65% of the time. So out of 100, I'm going to lose the 1st hand 65 times, and of those 65 hands, lose 65%. The chance that I lose both is actually 42.25% Also, if they don't pick up a hand, which is very likely considering it's 3 handed, or if I pick up a better hand, They're going to blind to death. I made the decision to try to keep the 3rd place guy in the game by not calling when I had over 3 to 1 and J2. I did this because first of all, I'm not a crushing favorite, and losing that hand would have put me in jepordy of getting stolen from a couple times and then I would be playing for 2nd, and secondly, letting that player stay alive, would allow me to continue to steal BOTH of their blinds, every hand, until they're down to nothing, as they both battle for 2nd. That would only take about 4 steals against the 2nd place player, if he didn't move in and pick up the blinds. Even if he calls with any pair, any broadway, and any ace which would be pretty loose, even against me, because he can fold to 2nd. Winning a hand certainly doesn't guarantee him anything, however losing gaurentees that he gets nothing.
So I move in, and move in and I've got about 120k. I move in again, and from the SB I move in and I'm called with KQs. My opponent then goes up to 110k and me down to 100k. Then Mr short stack moves all in and is called and wins. Then I pick up a steal, now I've got 110k and my opponent has 100k. but then he moves in picks up the blinds. Then I'm in the small blind, and I move in, and my opponent gets AK and he again calls. I lose, and I'm out.
Now one question that is good to know is, if I had folded, and let the chipleader take control, and manage my way to 2nd, do I still have a good sht at winning? I think my best shot at winning was moving in every hand. The blinds were just rediculously high, and they were getting higher. I didn't pick up a hand, but I did move in and pick up a lot of chips, lose a big hand, then pick up a lot of chips, and then I lost the big hand again. I say I win either of those (58% of the time I will), and I win the tournament. What's better 100% of 2nd $43, or 58% of 72 and 42% of 31?)
58 times you win 71
42 times you win 31
total 5420/100=$54.2 expected
Now of the 100% of the time that I make sure I get 2nd (which is no guarentee) whatre my chances of winning? I'd say I would have to win as an underdog twice or more. We'll say 40% and 40% which is 16% overall
so
84% you win 43
16 you win 72
4764/100=47.64
so still we can see that it's better to go for the win.
Playing your A game
There's plenty of winning players, who play until they are off their a game, and they become losing players. (mysellf included sometimes). They may make enough when they are on their game to make up for the times they are off, but if they overstay their welcome, and play too long, they will likely become losing players and lose everything they won and then some.
It can be frustrating. The main concept to avoid this, is to learn how long your game generally is "on" before it starts to slide. It should be at A game early, then it will slide to B, then it crashes and you go tilt mode. Then you might recover breifly and start winning, but then like someone who's nodding off to sleep and jolting his head awake real quickly before falling back asleep, your game will likely fall as well.
It doesn't matter what you do, but to avoid this, you must stop playing. go read a poker book, or go to a local card room, or go play live somewhere, or better yet, do something to completely take your mind off poker. Sure, this might be 20 minutes away from your playing time, but it will provide an hour of very solid playing time that is much more profitable...
Not only will you manage your bankroll better this way, but you will generally earn a lot more as well.
If possible, take a week vacation from poker every month or two.
In the long run, some might say, it's better that you deal with playing while not on your A game, and it's better to just switch down in limits. You will elarn to understand when your game is off, and you can just tighten up. By playing through your subpar game, you will learn to be a good player, even when you can't focus. This will allow you to develop a mental edge to the game.
While this may be true, there is no evidence to support it, and it is not worth the potential costs based on some theory. If you do want to improve your mental edge, simply gradually expand your time. So maybe you play an hour optimally. Go an hour and 10 minutes to really stretch yourself As you start to get comfortable go for an hour and 20 minutes, and then 125.
When sitting in front of a computer screen, it's hard not to get kind of zoned out, and to start playing mechancical, and exploitable, meanwhile being unaware of how long you've been playing or what time it is. So to avoid this, set a timer to make sure you do not overplay.
I have noticed I tend to do pretty well in cashgames, but an hour into it, I am pretty much done for, and I donk off a lot of cash to the point where I'm probably not even a profitable cash game player. With multitable tournaments I can last more like 2 hours, and my game doesn't usually get too rough, becausee I error on the side of loose aggression, which sometimes can be a good thing, but if I'm playing in the same tournament for 2 hours straight, my natural tendency is to not want to get knocked out, so in some sense, more loose aggression and making big moves can be good. It can also knock me out, but it will put me in position to make a big move a lot of times, which will result in a big cash. And even when making moves, it's not like cash games where I don't stop to think that my opponent showed a lot of strength, I just see 99 and a lot in the potand I decide to move in preflop.
In tournaments, I still know to make the moves that are profitable,l but have huge risks to them. A resteal all in, or a stop and go, or even a raise and go... I'm going to have to make a move at some point, so it usually won't hurt to make it a little bit earlier, against an opponent who isn't quite perfect for it as much. Plus with tournaments, you're going to see a lot of varience, and losing your buy in trying to make a move to get in the top money is never really a bad thing.
However, there is sometimes a big lost edge when I have a lot in chips and I continue to be aggressive late in a tournament when I already have tons of chips and there's mayb 2 tables left and I get involved in a big hand that I should just fold. Or at the final table, I'm 2nd in chips and I make a bad call when I could fold my way to 2nd, and instead I'm fighting for 8th.
So if possible, take a nap get sleep, get something to eat, go out, and make sure when you come back, you're on your A-game.
Always schedule breaks. Little things like these will allow you to save money when other players would lose it, and allow you to come back and make money when others would keep playing through their poor mental state, and continue to lose it.
It can be frustrating. The main concept to avoid this, is to learn how long your game generally is "on" before it starts to slide. It should be at A game early, then it will slide to B, then it crashes and you go tilt mode. Then you might recover breifly and start winning, but then like someone who's nodding off to sleep and jolting his head awake real quickly before falling back asleep, your game will likely fall as well.
It doesn't matter what you do, but to avoid this, you must stop playing. go read a poker book, or go to a local card room, or go play live somewhere, or better yet, do something to completely take your mind off poker. Sure, this might be 20 minutes away from your playing time, but it will provide an hour of very solid playing time that is much more profitable...
Not only will you manage your bankroll better this way, but you will generally earn a lot more as well.
If possible, take a week vacation from poker every month or two.
In the long run, some might say, it's better that you deal with playing while not on your A game, and it's better to just switch down in limits. You will elarn to understand when your game is off, and you can just tighten up. By playing through your subpar game, you will learn to be a good player, even when you can't focus. This will allow you to develop a mental edge to the game.
While this may be true, there is no evidence to support it, and it is not worth the potential costs based on some theory. If you do want to improve your mental edge, simply gradually expand your time. So maybe you play an hour optimally. Go an hour and 10 minutes to really stretch yourself As you start to get comfortable go for an hour and 20 minutes, and then 125.
When sitting in front of a computer screen, it's hard not to get kind of zoned out, and to start playing mechancical, and exploitable, meanwhile being unaware of how long you've been playing or what time it is. So to avoid this, set a timer to make sure you do not overplay.
I have noticed I tend to do pretty well in cashgames, but an hour into it, I am pretty much done for, and I donk off a lot of cash to the point where I'm probably not even a profitable cash game player. With multitable tournaments I can last more like 2 hours, and my game doesn't usually get too rough, becausee I error on the side of loose aggression, which sometimes can be a good thing, but if I'm playing in the same tournament for 2 hours straight, my natural tendency is to not want to get knocked out, so in some sense, more loose aggression and making big moves can be good. It can also knock me out, but it will put me in position to make a big move a lot of times, which will result in a big cash. And even when making moves, it's not like cash games where I don't stop to think that my opponent showed a lot of strength, I just see 99 and a lot in the potand I decide to move in preflop.
In tournaments, I still know to make the moves that are profitable,l but have huge risks to them. A resteal all in, or a stop and go, or even a raise and go... I'm going to have to make a move at some point, so it usually won't hurt to make it a little bit earlier, against an opponent who isn't quite perfect for it as much. Plus with tournaments, you're going to see a lot of varience, and losing your buy in trying to make a move to get in the top money is never really a bad thing.
However, there is sometimes a big lost edge when I have a lot in chips and I continue to be aggressive late in a tournament when I already have tons of chips and there's mayb 2 tables left and I get involved in a big hand that I should just fold. Or at the final table, I'm 2nd in chips and I make a bad call when I could fold my way to 2nd, and instead I'm fighting for 8th.
So if possible, take a nap get sleep, get something to eat, go out, and make sure when you come back, you're on your A-game.
Always schedule breaks. Little things like these will allow you to save money when other players would lose it, and allow you to come back and make money when others would keep playing through their poor mental state, and continue to lose it.
Donking down on SNGs
So I tried to run through some full tilt super turbo sit n gos. I figured I would do pretty well and I knew when to move in. But I couldn't win a race, and couldn't manage to win these thing. I played several, and ended up knocking down my bankroll considerably. I think I'm going to play regular turbos at the $2 level for awhile until I start to show results, before I move up.
Better yet, maybe I'll just stay away from the one table SNGs, and stick to 90 person SitNGos and multitable tournements.
Better yet, maybe I'll just stay away from the one table SNGs, and stick to 90 person SitNGos and multitable tournements.
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Daniel Negreanu small ball pt 1
The video obviously is scripted, but great for someone who's new to smallball
Monday, August 11, 2008
The ReREsteal, a rediculous play for donkeys or a legitimate play?
Scott Fischman at some final table raised from early position with 95 offsuit. Then "Devilfish" went for the resteal by reraising him. Fischman then decided to move all in. Devil Fish folded and showed 95offsuit, Scott Fischman flip over his 59 offsuit... they both had the same hand!
An amazing play!
Or did he just get lucky?
Is this move a legitimate move to make online?
Lets say you have a suited connector If you're wrong, you have to consider that maybe you're probably 35% to win on average, even though you could be 40% to win if you're against AK.
So if you start with 280,000 with blinds 5000/10000 pot with 1000 antes 10 handed, there's already 25000 in the pot. So you raise 3X the big blind to 30000, your opponent reraises to maybe 90000.
At this point there's 145000 in the pot. So now Maybe you move all in for 250,000. You're opponent has to call 241000 to win 395000. If he thinks he's 38.5% to win he should call. But will he consider those odds, or just the fact that he doesn't want to risk a significant portion of his stack when he might be able to go on and win anyways? Lets say you know your opponent well enough that you know he'll call 50% of the time. From your perspective, you win
145000 50 times out of 100
the other 50 times that you're called, you add 145,000 in the pot plus 241,000 that your opponent calls about 33% of the time so you win 386000 16.5 times
the times you're called and lose, you lose 250,000. You lose 67% or 33.5 out of 50
out of 100 times, you win 50*145000=7250000 total when they fold
16.5$386000=6369000 total when they call and you win
and you lose 33.5*250000=8375000 total when they call and they win.
7250000+639000=13619000-8375000=5244000
524400/100
=52,440 expected value per hand or 5 big blinds per hand!
A very profitable move if your opponent is going to fold half the time
lets say your opponent calls 66% of the time,
33*145000=4785000
22*386000=8492000
45*250000=11250000
wow 13277000-1125000=2,027,000
/100
=20270
2BB
amazingly if you get called 66% of the time, and you're a 33% dog, you still make a good move.
The ReResteal is now in!
Qualifications
You should have a Tight image, or at least appear to be the type of player that isn't going to put all their money in on a bluff.
You should have about 30 times the big blind with antes in if you plan to make a standard raise, and get reraised the standard amount.
You should have a hand that is going to win an average of about 35% or more
You should have an opponent who likes to reraise to pressure their opponents with a wider range of hands, but doesn't like to get all their money in preflop and is capable of folding.
Be in a stage in the tournement where you either don't feel your chances are very good, or in a field where it's winner take all, or a tournement that pays out very very top heavy, or if you just need to make a move because you have to go do something for an hour and need to have chips when you come back.
Now consider...
It's one of the riskiest plays you can make, since you're not only making a raise, you're coming over the top of a reraise, and moving all in, and you're risking a move at 30 times the big blind, where you easily have plenty of play left. Antes must be relatively high, your opponent must be a fairly aggressive restealer. You must have a tight image, you should come from under the gun with a raise with a suited connector to perform it.
Your opponent should be good enough to fold. Look at the situation. Your opponent might have TT, but if you move in on him, he could easily be up against AA KK QQ JJ AK because you represented a lot of strength. If that's the hand range, and he's good enough to consider it, he cannot call. But if he does, you are probably in trouble. If your opponent moves with AJ he could probably fold. AQ he's got to be very concerned that he's dominated and at worst he might think you have JJ or TT./
You certainly could try to call in that situation for the stop and go, but you might have too many chips for the stop and go, and if your opponent would fold TT there, he would certainly be willing to call an all in if you just called and it came low cards. If your opponent is loose after the flop, the stop and go isn't as effective.
If you had less than 280,000 remaining (28 times the big blind), your opponent would have pretty good odds to call on a move all in, so a fold or a stop and go would be the only play after a failed blind steal attempt if you had less. With maybe 200k, you would call for 60k more and the pot would then be 205k and you would have 140k to push. I would reccomend a fold at this point rather than a stop and go. If you have 220k(22X BB) remaining, the stop and go might work there as you would have 160k remaining to push. Or if a few players were gone and it was shorter handed, it might work.
So with maybe 26-32 times the big blind against the right opponent in the right situation the reresteal is worth trying out.
25-28 a preflop raise to the stop and go could work, but you could also consider making a smaller preflop raise.
You could raise 2.5 times the big blind, get raised to 7.5 times the big bllind, and move in for remaining 18x so starting with 20.5 or so you could still pull the move off. Such a move, might be a little better in terms of risk, and since once you go below 20 you can't do much seeing of flops it's a good time to make the move. If part 1 happens successfully (everyone folding), you win a blind and a half, plus any antes. If you're reraised, and you pull off the part 2 of the move, (your opponent folding to the reresteal), you will win the blinds and antes, plus the 7.5 times raise and you'll have about 30 times the big blind. If part 2 fails and you get called, but get lucky and part 3 you win the hand, you get 20.5 from your opponent plus the blinds, plus antes. So you'll end up with about 43x. Regardless, if you show your hand after the rerresteal, no one will want to go over the top of you unless they have a hand they can call an all in with, which will make it easier to steal pots, and easier to predict your opponents. And if you need to make a big move so you can play small pot poker, you might want to consider doing so. If you folded to the reraise, the only move remaining to really get you back would be a resteal or stop and go, but a rotation or two later after a successful move, and you'd be in the same spot anyways.
I have experimented with moving in on a reresteal, and resteals to see what I get called with. In many cases, I actually would still have the best hand, and my opponent would call anyways. I have done the raise and go with K9suited and someone called with K8 offsuit after missing the flop. It's crazy what can hapen, as you isolate yourself with very loose very bad players, that feel "pot committed" even though they aren't.
With the resteal, it is another big move, that you'll see some of the same crazy stuff if you do it against the right opponents.
As with any move, be sure you're doing this with strength as well. If you reresteal, the next time, raise, and then move all in when you have AA. You also want it to be much more likely that you have a dominant hand than nothing.
After getting away with the raise and go, I repeated the raise and go with AK, and they folded again... I then got aces, and I did it again, and it worked as I got caalled. It's funny when people know about certain moves or think you play a certain way, they're willing to call you with complete garbage.
The best part about showing a reresteal, is what can happen afterwards. People won't dare try to come over the top of you without a hand, unless they're crazier than everyone thinks you are after that play. And the next time you raise and they reraise, you can move in, and you are much more likely to get action when you have aces.
You have all these moves in your arsenal, and you might use 2 or 3 of them one time each in a game with nothing, but pulling a move like that off, might be exactly what you need to allow you to get that big win, when everyone else is trying to make the money.
The reresteal is not a play for the faint of heart. It is not a play that will be a low risk way to accumulate chips. It is a "do or die" method required for winner take all style tournements or situations when you need to go big or go home. If you really want to get into a position where you can win, and you like to live on the edge, the resteal can be a profitable move.
It also works if YOU are the chipleader, and other people think you are bullying the table, and you think someone is trying to take a stand against you, and THEY started the hand with 20-30 times the big blind, depending on how much you raised and how much they raised. It is much more favorable then, as it does not risk illimination. This move requires you to have a lot of confidence in your ability to determine how frequently someone will fold in this spot to an all in.
If you do not wish to be called a "donkey", or do not wish to look foolish, don't even think about this move.
Try to pull it off if you feeel you are constantly finding it difficult late in a tournement, and people are constantly bullying you the deeper it gets.
I was playing in a tournement, and after raising a lot, some guy waited until the blinds went up, didn't make a move, and then BAM he reraises me and takes down a huge pot and let me do all the work stealing for him. But then a few hands later, I raised with 44 and he reraised again. I wasn't going to let him do that so I moved in and BAM, I took back his resteal on me, and all the blinds I stole back, and THEN some. Then he reraised me again, this time I had AQ. I should have stop and goed but I decided to moving again, and this time he called with a low pocket pair, like 66 or something. It was pretty crazy play as we went after each other again and again and adapted and readapted to each others play. in the end, it came down to a coinflip, and I lost. After being short stacked, I was forced to wait for a hand, and I ran AK in QQ and lost that one too. Perhaps I got too greedy as I had plenty of chips, but then again, if that player was gone the whole table was mine to minraise and small ball to peices. On the other hand, had I folded or pulled off a successful stop and go instead, I still could have let him find a different way to get chips, and fold to a resteal attempt or two by him, and then waited for a hand, and got all the chips he got from me back eventually anyways. But as a table bully, there are going to be people who come back and hit you straight in the nose, like people are "told" to do when facing a bully. Sometimes, you have to respect the fact that they might have been waiting for the right opportunity, but if you know the player enough, and you let him take a few shots at you until you figure him out, you need to take charge again and go all out like a maniac if you want the ability to continue to bully the table. It might just take one move with nothing, and then you can switch your game back to tight, wait for a hand, and then hit him back for the KO punch once you have your rockets on your side and can go in for the kill.
Perhaps it's an incredibly bold play, but sometimes it can be the play that's going to make you the most money in the long run, provided the situation is right, the opponent is right, the chips is right, and the cards are right. The learned ability is knowing how to figure out what you need in order for that move to be profitable. The natural ability is figuring out if the opportunity meets the qualification, and if that move is your best chance at finishing in the big money.
An amazing play!
Or did he just get lucky?
Is this move a legitimate move to make online?
Lets say you have a suited connector If you're wrong, you have to consider that maybe you're probably 35% to win on average, even though you could be 40% to win if you're against AK.
So if you start with 280,000 with blinds 5000/10000 pot with 1000 antes 10 handed, there's already 25000 in the pot. So you raise 3X the big blind to 30000, your opponent reraises to maybe 90000.
At this point there's 145000 in the pot. So now Maybe you move all in for 250,000. You're opponent has to call 241000 to win 395000. If he thinks he's 38.5% to win he should call. But will he consider those odds, or just the fact that he doesn't want to risk a significant portion of his stack when he might be able to go on and win anyways? Lets say you know your opponent well enough that you know he'll call 50% of the time. From your perspective, you win
145000 50 times out of 100
the other 50 times that you're called, you add 145,000 in the pot plus 241,000 that your opponent calls about 33% of the time so you win 386000 16.5 times
the times you're called and lose, you lose 250,000. You lose 67% or 33.5 out of 50
out of 100 times, you win 50*145000=7250000 total when they fold
16.5$386000=6369000 total when they call and you win
and you lose 33.5*250000=8375000 total when they call and they win.
7250000+639000=13619000-8375000=5244000
524400/100
=52,440 expected value per hand or 5 big blinds per hand!
A very profitable move if your opponent is going to fold half the time
lets say your opponent calls 66% of the time,
33*145000=4785000
22*386000=8492000
45*250000=11250000
wow 13277000-1125000=2,027,000
/100
=20270
2BB
amazingly if you get called 66% of the time, and you're a 33% dog, you still make a good move.
The ReResteal is now in!
Qualifications
You should have a Tight image, or at least appear to be the type of player that isn't going to put all their money in on a bluff.
You should have about 30 times the big blind with antes in if you plan to make a standard raise, and get reraised the standard amount.
You should have a hand that is going to win an average of about 35% or more
You should have an opponent who likes to reraise to pressure their opponents with a wider range of hands, but doesn't like to get all their money in preflop and is capable of folding.
Be in a stage in the tournement where you either don't feel your chances are very good, or in a field where it's winner take all, or a tournement that pays out very very top heavy, or if you just need to make a move because you have to go do something for an hour and need to have chips when you come back.
Now consider...
It's one of the riskiest plays you can make, since you're not only making a raise, you're coming over the top of a reraise, and moving all in, and you're risking a move at 30 times the big blind, where you easily have plenty of play left. Antes must be relatively high, your opponent must be a fairly aggressive restealer. You must have a tight image, you should come from under the gun with a raise with a suited connector to perform it.
Your opponent should be good enough to fold. Look at the situation. Your opponent might have TT, but if you move in on him, he could easily be up against AA KK QQ JJ AK because you represented a lot of strength. If that's the hand range, and he's good enough to consider it, he cannot call. But if he does, you are probably in trouble. If your opponent moves with AJ he could probably fold. AQ he's got to be very concerned that he's dominated and at worst he might think you have JJ or TT./
You certainly could try to call in that situation for the stop and go, but you might have too many chips for the stop and go, and if your opponent would fold TT there, he would certainly be willing to call an all in if you just called and it came low cards. If your opponent is loose after the flop, the stop and go isn't as effective.
If you had less than 280,000 remaining (28 times the big blind), your opponent would have pretty good odds to call on a move all in, so a fold or a stop and go would be the only play after a failed blind steal attempt if you had less. With maybe 200k, you would call for 60k more and the pot would then be 205k and you would have 140k to push. I would reccomend a fold at this point rather than a stop and go. If you have 220k(22X BB) remaining, the stop and go might work there as you would have 160k remaining to push. Or if a few players were gone and it was shorter handed, it might work.
So with maybe 26-32 times the big blind against the right opponent in the right situation the reresteal is worth trying out.
25-28 a preflop raise to the stop and go could work, but you could also consider making a smaller preflop raise.
You could raise 2.5 times the big blind, get raised to 7.5 times the big bllind, and move in for remaining 18x so starting with 20.5 or so you could still pull the move off. Such a move, might be a little better in terms of risk, and since once you go below 20 you can't do much seeing of flops it's a good time to make the move. If part 1 happens successfully (everyone folding), you win a blind and a half, plus any antes. If you're reraised, and you pull off the part 2 of the move, (your opponent folding to the reresteal), you will win the blinds and antes, plus the 7.5 times raise and you'll have about 30 times the big blind. If part 2 fails and you get called, but get lucky and part 3 you win the hand, you get 20.5 from your opponent plus the blinds, plus antes. So you'll end up with about 43x. Regardless, if you show your hand after the rerresteal, no one will want to go over the top of you unless they have a hand they can call an all in with, which will make it easier to steal pots, and easier to predict your opponents. And if you need to make a big move so you can play small pot poker, you might want to consider doing so. If you folded to the reraise, the only move remaining to really get you back would be a resteal or stop and go, but a rotation or two later after a successful move, and you'd be in the same spot anyways.
I have experimented with moving in on a reresteal, and resteals to see what I get called with. In many cases, I actually would still have the best hand, and my opponent would call anyways. I have done the raise and go with K9suited and someone called with K8 offsuit after missing the flop. It's crazy what can hapen, as you isolate yourself with very loose very bad players, that feel "pot committed" even though they aren't.
With the resteal, it is another big move, that you'll see some of the same crazy stuff if you do it against the right opponents.
As with any move, be sure you're doing this with strength as well. If you reresteal, the next time, raise, and then move all in when you have AA. You also want it to be much more likely that you have a dominant hand than nothing.
After getting away with the raise and go, I repeated the raise and go with AK, and they folded again... I then got aces, and I did it again, and it worked as I got caalled. It's funny when people know about certain moves or think you play a certain way, they're willing to call you with complete garbage.
The best part about showing a reresteal, is what can happen afterwards. People won't dare try to come over the top of you without a hand, unless they're crazier than everyone thinks you are after that play. And the next time you raise and they reraise, you can move in, and you are much more likely to get action when you have aces.
You have all these moves in your arsenal, and you might use 2 or 3 of them one time each in a game with nothing, but pulling a move like that off, might be exactly what you need to allow you to get that big win, when everyone else is trying to make the money.
The reresteal is not a play for the faint of heart. It is not a play that will be a low risk way to accumulate chips. It is a "do or die" method required for winner take all style tournements or situations when you need to go big or go home. If you really want to get into a position where you can win, and you like to live on the edge, the resteal can be a profitable move.
It also works if YOU are the chipleader, and other people think you are bullying the table, and you think someone is trying to take a stand against you, and THEY started the hand with 20-30 times the big blind, depending on how much you raised and how much they raised. It is much more favorable then, as it does not risk illimination. This move requires you to have a lot of confidence in your ability to determine how frequently someone will fold in this spot to an all in.
If you do not wish to be called a "donkey", or do not wish to look foolish, don't even think about this move.
Try to pull it off if you feeel you are constantly finding it difficult late in a tournement, and people are constantly bullying you the deeper it gets.
I was playing in a tournement, and after raising a lot, some guy waited until the blinds went up, didn't make a move, and then BAM he reraises me and takes down a huge pot and let me do all the work stealing for him. But then a few hands later, I raised with 44 and he reraised again. I wasn't going to let him do that so I moved in and BAM, I took back his resteal on me, and all the blinds I stole back, and THEN some. Then he reraised me again, this time I had AQ. I should have stop and goed but I decided to moving again, and this time he called with a low pocket pair, like 66 or something. It was pretty crazy play as we went after each other again and again and adapted and readapted to each others play. in the end, it came down to a coinflip, and I lost. After being short stacked, I was forced to wait for a hand, and I ran AK in QQ and lost that one too. Perhaps I got too greedy as I had plenty of chips, but then again, if that player was gone the whole table was mine to minraise and small ball to peices. On the other hand, had I folded or pulled off a successful stop and go instead, I still could have let him find a different way to get chips, and fold to a resteal attempt or two by him, and then waited for a hand, and got all the chips he got from me back eventually anyways. But as a table bully, there are going to be people who come back and hit you straight in the nose, like people are "told" to do when facing a bully. Sometimes, you have to respect the fact that they might have been waiting for the right opportunity, but if you know the player enough, and you let him take a few shots at you until you figure him out, you need to take charge again and go all out like a maniac if you want the ability to continue to bully the table. It might just take one move with nothing, and then you can switch your game back to tight, wait for a hand, and then hit him back for the KO punch once you have your rockets on your side and can go in for the kill.
Perhaps it's an incredibly bold play, but sometimes it can be the play that's going to make you the most money in the long run, provided the situation is right, the opponent is right, the chips is right, and the cards are right. The learned ability is knowing how to figure out what you need in order for that move to be profitable. The natural ability is figuring out if the opportunity meets the qualification, and if that move is your best chance at finishing in the big money.
Classify your players
It's important to develop a classification system for your players. Some people use animals, others use symbols, others use words. I think it's important to use a system that works for you, however, if you can associate a person with a word and a color and a shape, or an animal, you're probably going to remember easier. All you have to do when you look at someone's avatar, or face, or screenname, or whatever you have to look at, is visuallize that animal or symbol. Once you are comfortable with a classification system, it will be much easier to know how they play.
I like to use colors and shapes. The colors, will classify preflop play, and the shapes will classify post flop play. And if my opponents are barely fitting that classification, I'm using "dark color, or "light"l color, or big shape, or small shape. if they're somewhere between, you can have redish blue, or a square like circle.
Here are the colors and shapes I use
Green - tight passive
blue-loose passive
red- tight aggressive
yellow- loose aggressive
In general for tournament play I want to avoid the yellow and red players. Yellow to me means caution and red means stop.
for postflop play here are the shapes
circle-tight passive
square- loose passive
octogon(like a stopsign)- loose aggressive
triangle-(think caution sign)-tight aggressive
-
The loose aggressive before the flop is usually less dangerous. You can certainly call a raise with a loose aggressive preflop player if you can outplay him after the flop as long as you use caution and aren't going to make a significant risk without understanding it. if you're facing a raise from a tight aggressive player, it's pretty likely that he's going to be difficult to play as he'll have a strong hand. He might give it up, and be passive after the flop, but he's a lot more likely to have something after the flop. When you're looking at the styles after the flop, you're going to want to avoid bluffing a loose aggressive player. You can call them down with a big hand, but you cannot make a move without a hand if they are loose aggressive post flop.
However, if they are tight aggressive, you can attempt to raise them, or call to represent a flush draw, and bluff if a scare card hits, as long as you are cautious and willing to get out if you're wrong, and as long as you consider their preflop tendancies. Someone who is loose preflop and tight post flop is perfect to try to bet the flop to steal.
The more you are comfortable with this type of classification, the easier your decisions will be. Soon you'll say, there's a lot of green players at the table, I need to go red to pick apart their blinds. Or "players are acting blue, I should try to see a lot of flops, so I can bet and get paid off by the squares, or let an octogon do the betting for me when I hit."
TYour mind qwill be able to think in very simplistic terms that will allow it to be very logical, and you can spend your time worrying about the blind structure, the tournement payout, and what type of moves you can make now, and willneed to make later.
By using a system for player classification, you will noticebly improve your game, as long as you don't get too carried away with your bluffs and continue to play any 2 just because they're a green circle. They may be sophisticated enough green circles to realize that you adapt to players styles, and they might change their game based on their perception of you. Also, just because you CAN make a move, doesn't mean you should all the time. You also ideally want to see some verification that the players continue to play the same way, and that they're not players who mix things up. Sometimes players will be green circles without much of a hand, but when they have a hand they'll be red octogons.
But if you gradually add a classification system without changing the way you play too dramatically, until you become comortable with all ocf this, you should find yourself winning a lot more, or at least accumulating chips more, and getting your money in better.
I like to use colors and shapes. The colors, will classify preflop play, and the shapes will classify post flop play. And if my opponents are barely fitting that classification, I'm using "dark color, or "light"l color, or big shape, or small shape. if they're somewhere between, you can have redish blue, or a square like circle.
Here are the colors and shapes I use
Green - tight passive
blue-loose passive
red- tight aggressive
yellow- loose aggressive
In general for tournament play I want to avoid the yellow and red players. Yellow to me means caution and red means stop.
for postflop play here are the shapes
circle-tight passive
square- loose passive
octogon(like a stopsign)- loose aggressive
triangle-(think caution sign)-tight aggressive
-
The loose aggressive before the flop is usually less dangerous. You can certainly call a raise with a loose aggressive preflop player if you can outplay him after the flop as long as you use caution and aren't going to make a significant risk without understanding it. if you're facing a raise from a tight aggressive player, it's pretty likely that he's going to be difficult to play as he'll have a strong hand. He might give it up, and be passive after the flop, but he's a lot more likely to have something after the flop. When you're looking at the styles after the flop, you're going to want to avoid bluffing a loose aggressive player. You can call them down with a big hand, but you cannot make a move without a hand if they are loose aggressive post flop.
However, if they are tight aggressive, you can attempt to raise them, or call to represent a flush draw, and bluff if a scare card hits, as long as you are cautious and willing to get out if you're wrong, and as long as you consider their preflop tendancies. Someone who is loose preflop and tight post flop is perfect to try to bet the flop to steal.
The more you are comfortable with this type of classification, the easier your decisions will be. Soon you'll say, there's a lot of green players at the table, I need to go red to pick apart their blinds. Or "players are acting blue, I should try to see a lot of flops, so I can bet and get paid off by the squares, or let an octogon do the betting for me when I hit."
TYour mind qwill be able to think in very simplistic terms that will allow it to be very logical, and you can spend your time worrying about the blind structure, the tournement payout, and what type of moves you can make now, and willneed to make later.
By using a system for player classification, you will noticebly improve your game, as long as you don't get too carried away with your bluffs and continue to play any 2 just because they're a green circle. They may be sophisticated enough green circles to realize that you adapt to players styles, and they might change their game based on their perception of you. Also, just because you CAN make a move, doesn't mean you should all the time. You also ideally want to see some verification that the players continue to play the same way, and that they're not players who mix things up. Sometimes players will be green circles without much of a hand, but when they have a hand they'll be red octogons.
But if you gradually add a classification system without changing the way you play too dramatically, until you become comortable with all ocf this, you should find yourself winning a lot more, or at least accumulating chips more, and getting your money in better.
Friday, August 8, 2008
Funny Story, And Big Omaha H/L win!
So I'm playing in an Omaha H/L game and I'm real deep into it. But I have a preseason football game to go to, and I had planned on leaving at a certain time, and can't just ditch out. So I get to the final table, I think maybe I'll put it on autofold, since I'm already gaurenteed $30. But I think no, I'd rather take a few shots and play aggressively. So it's about 10 minutes after I planned on leaving, and I pick up AA23 unsuited and double up to $120k, which is about 4 big blinds away from the chip leader. Then I say, whatever, I'll just play fairly reckless, so I do, and I manage to get lucky and take down the chip leader and go to 330k. I steal a few pots and then get busted and someone doubles up. The table goes to break. At this point I decide, I need to go now. So I tell my mom to play for me. Now other than the last couple hands, I had been playing extremely tight, and with the blinds this high, and about to go higher, I only need one steal and it pretty much is correct to push every hand. She's never played before, so I just show her how to bet the pot. I tell her to just bet the pot every single time with every single hand. At this point it's down to 3 players so I get $180 even if she goes out. If she gets 2nd I get $240, and if she gets first I get $380. I could have just autofolded to 2nd, but I have 250k, the 2nd place has 90k in chips and 3rd has about 20k and the blinds are 5k/10k, so moving in every hand is a much better option. I'm thinking she probably goes out 2nd, Maybe 3 minutes after I leave she calls me. I think, oh no, she must have busted out early, but she tells me she didn't know what hand she had, or what she was doing, but she won!
Sweet!
A big win for 0to1k. Not only did I dominate the tournement, but when I had them all crippled, I let my mom finish them off!
Once it gets short handed and the blinds get so high, it's pretty much a crapshoot. The advantage is on the player that presses forward and forces people to fold.
I had the final table set to record, and I tried to tell my mom on the phone to stop the recording but I think she must have just closed it and exited it instead... Unfortunately no video. If you want some good final table action for PL Omaha H/L register for free at propokerschool.com and watch Brett Gank Jungblutt and his brother Bo, as they play a very good Omaha game. Brett has a bracelet for winning an Omaha tournament.
So now I'm about $200 away from my goal of going from 0 to 1k. Hopefully I can win another tournament or 90 person SNG or 2 and have it done by this weekend, if not by tonight!
Sweet!
A big win for 0to1k. Not only did I dominate the tournement, but when I had them all crippled, I let my mom finish them off!
Once it gets short handed and the blinds get so high, it's pretty much a crapshoot. The advantage is on the player that presses forward and forces people to fold.
I had the final table set to record, and I tried to tell my mom on the phone to stop the recording but I think she must have just closed it and exited it instead... Unfortunately no video. If you want some good final table action for PL Omaha H/L register for free at propokerschool.com and watch Brett Gank Jungblutt and his brother Bo, as they play a very good Omaha game. Brett has a bracelet for winning an Omaha tournament.
So now I'm about $200 away from my goal of going from 0 to 1k. Hopefully I can win another tournament or 90 person SNG or 2 and have it done by this weekend, if not by tonight!
Poker Pros
Poker Pro Styles - Learn how some of the pros play. We will talk about top pros strategies, and why they're effective.
Mike Matusow
Doyle Brunson
Phil Helmuth
Daniel Negreanu
Phil Gordon
Gavin Smith
Hoyt Corkins
Amir Vaheti
Podcasts - Click here to listen to various podcasts that talk about how to survive the massive freeroll fields that will allow you to build your bankroll.
Mike Matusow
Doyle Brunson
Phil Helmuth
Daniel Negreanu
Phil Gordon
Gavin Smith
Hoyt Corkins
Amir Vaheti
Podcasts - Click here to listen to various podcasts that talk about how to survive the massive freeroll fields that will allow you to build your bankroll.
Podcasts
List of all the zerotoathousand podcasts, and other reccomended poker podcasts will go here
Strategy
Strategy - section will go here
Tournament stages
Early
Middle
Middle Late
Bubble
Late
Final 3
Final 2
Final Table
Short stack moves
Medium Stack MOves
Big Stack Moves
Concepts
Concepts - General poker concepts will go here
Small pot poker
pot odds
implied odds
shove odds (preflop)
shove odds (On flop)
Shove odds (river)
phantom outs
representing the flop
representing a draw
adapting to the table
and more!
Small pot poker
pot odds
implied odds
shove odds (preflop)
shove odds (On flop)
Shove odds (river)
phantom outs
representing the flop
representing a draw
adapting to the table
and more!
Book Reviews and Strategy
So here we will talk about useful books, and devise a strategy based on what we learn.
Harrington on Holdem Vol 1
HoH 2
HOH 3
Poker Tournament Formula - Learn what Snyder points out as flaws in Harrington's "M", and why fast tournaments should be played much faster and why your aggression must kick in early in order to have enough chips to allow you to continue to accumulate chips.
Phil Gordon's Little Green Book - Learn about how much to bet, how often to bet, how often to limp in, raise, etc on any situation. Learn when to slowplay and how much to bet.
Supersystem 2-Excellent strategy for the stages of a tournament, and then for hyperaggressive cashgame style, and excellent to learn different games.
Power Holdem - This is a must have if you want to advance your game, and give yourself a chance to move through fields of badplay, as well as allow your skill to play an important role, and minimize your luck. Minnimize risk, maximize reward. Negreanu creates a similar format to supersytem where you can learn about other games as well.
If you're looking for book reviews and website reviews and just general posts, you may wish to consider article submits, or perhaps you may wish to submit your own articles and post your own book review.
Harrington on Holdem Vol 1
HoH 2
HOH 3
Poker Tournament Formula - Learn what Snyder points out as flaws in Harrington's "M", and why fast tournaments should be played much faster and why your aggression must kick in early in order to have enough chips to allow you to continue to accumulate chips.
Phil Gordon's Little Green Book - Learn about how much to bet, how often to bet, how often to limp in, raise, etc on any situation. Learn when to slowplay and how much to bet.
Supersystem 2-Excellent strategy for the stages of a tournament, and then for hyperaggressive cashgame style, and excellent to learn different games.
Power Holdem - This is a must have if you want to advance your game, and give yourself a chance to move through fields of badplay, as well as allow your skill to play an important role, and minimize your luck. Minnimize risk, maximize reward. Negreanu creates a similar format to supersytem where you can learn about other games as well.
If you're looking for book reviews and website reviews and just general posts, you may wish to consider article submits, or perhaps you may wish to submit your own articles and post your own book review.
Bankroll Management
Here's information on how to properly manage your bankroll, so you can assure consistant profits, and you can take shots at the right time, while minimizing your chance of going broke.
Thursday, August 7, 2008
Update: $$$$
My internet hasn't been working very well lately so I haven't been able to update. Played in a $3 KO turbo, (not the sitNgo) with about 400 entrants. Made the final table and got 4th. Only had 1 KO the entire tournement I think. I placed 2nd in a supersatellite to an FTOPS satellite event, which was fairly disapointing. It got headsup and the opponent limped and I had AKs and I raised. We had tons of chips in front of us, and the guy says "lets just get this over with, ok?" and shoves in. Now if I had A rag or KQ even, it would be an instant muck. I guy just doesn't all of a sudden out of nowhere say he wants to go and then shove in unless he's got a big hand. But AQ or AJ is really strong headsup, and any pair would be good enough really. So I felt I had to call. However, in hindsight, I think I probably had a better chance of just chopping the guy away and outplaying him, and keeping the pots small and waiting until he makes a mistake on the flop turn and river. But I make the call and he has KK. I still have a 35% chance to win, so it's really not that bad. But I lose. I thought it was a winner take all, but somehow I still got a dollar out of it, which is kind of funny because the buy in was $3.
I also made the money in a $2 180 person buy in but lost JJ vs KK in a hand I actually could have folded because I had plenty of chips and there was a mid position raise and a reraise, I was about 5th in chips with 14 players left or so.
I also made money in the $3 KO SNG placing 6th.
Oh yeah, and I got a bankroll at Absolute poker now too.
More updates later
I also made the money in a $2 180 person buy in but lost JJ vs KK in a hand I actually could have folded because I had plenty of chips and there was a mid position raise and a reraise, I was about 5th in chips with 14 players left or so.
I also made money in the $3 KO SNG placing 6th.
Oh yeah, and I got a bankroll at Absolute poker now too.
More updates later
Sunday, August 3, 2008
Why you always must hang in there
So I took a few shots, apparently I play too loose and recklessly for the .5/1 and $1/$2 stakes
I chose to use a software called poker crusher, which is a game selection tool.
Although it picks the really soft tables, that doesn't mean you can change your play. I felt like with a really loose table that with an EP raise I could call with 99 and then there was 3 callers behind me. Button raises pretty big about 60% of my stack. Rather than sit in with the minimum like I had been doing I decided to sit in with twice the minimum. But After it folds to me I decide to move in, but I'm up against AA. If my opponent had put me all in I was still getting 1.5 to 1 on my money so I needed to be 40% to win, it was questionable but I think my opponent would move in with a strong ace at a loose table like this. My opponent with aces made sure to torture me, and say "AA" and then delay and delay and delay and then finally call. Then he berated me, saying "lol like 99 is always good"
I even thought there was a slight chance he would move in with AJ A pair 88 or higher perhaps. It was at a very crazy game, but I've looked at some potential range of hands, and I seem to be between 39% and 42% to win against various hand ranges.
I noticed myself angrier than usual. Before that I decided to take a shot in a $24 MTT and I just bubbled out. After that, it seemed like everything was either getting cracked, or KK and QQ running into AA, KK getting cracked by AA and even my AA got beat by ATs. In the tables where I took shots, I lost big to bad beats and bad luck (KK vs AA). I tried to play in $3 buy ins and I continued to bubble out, Never all in until the bubble, usually on a coinflip. Very frustrating.
Anyways, long story short I ended up donking all the way to $6 at one point. I decided to take $2 in the low stakes cashgame and just be pacient and I flopped top two from the big blind and doubled up and then the next hand I got QQ and I won a big pot and got my money in on the turn and doubled then left. Then I played in a $3+.3 and won like 1 or 2 bounties, but lost. I decided to do some more work and figure out if I was moving in too much or too little. I got Harrington on Holdem's endgame. And read a lot of it. I think that definately helped me change the way I think about the game. I think when the antes got involved, I played too tight. I think I played a little too loose in what Dan calls the "yellow" zone. So I went back to pokerstove, and calculated a lot of different situations where I'm in the small blind and it's folded to me, when shoving all in is profitable, and when to fold. And then I repeated the work from the button. I still think that just because it's profitable, doesn't mean that there isn't some "opportunity costs" by risking illimination, because there are several sitautions where you could shove all in and have positive EV, and more and more situations as you get shorter stacked... However, if you get too short stacked, you lose your fold equity, and your power to do anything else.
I made just a few minor adjustments. I played in a $3+.3 KO 90 person tournement with only about $8 in my account. And I wasn't picking up ANY hands, and my tables were loose so it never folded to me. I literally never played in a hand other than my big blind until the blinds were 100/200 and I had about 2500 in chips. I picked up AA and 3 people limped I made it 999 and was going to move in regardless of the flop. I think that with a bet of 999 some people might call and then another might move in and I can create a more profitable situation with even more dead money in the pot. It folded around and the last limper before me called. I then moved in on the J high flop and was called by AK since the pot was so big my opponent almost had to call.
less then a rotation later, I got AA again after a few limpers. I bet about 1200 and got called. The pot was 2800 and the flop was Q72. I bet 700 trying to get my opponent to check raise me. He folded. I think a check may have been better here since it's a flop where only AQ or 77 is going to call, and if I check I would induce a bluff and in that sized pot the bluff would probably be all in.
I changed tables after paying the small blind and got moved right on the big blind. And then the next rotation I payed the big blind and then got moved to UTG. It was very frustrating to have to give up so many blinds simply because of a bad table change. I moved in with 97s from SB, and KJ from the button against 2 opponents I had covered both times. Then I moved in with AK and got called by AK and split the pot. Was carefully watching my M and my opponents M and the average stacks "M". Didn't make too many moves on the bubble where I probably could have, although I certainly made a few. Then I made the final table.
It was really interesting final table, because half of the table thought i was pretty reckless since I made quite a few moves leading up to the bubble, and the other half saw me fold every single hand but 2 and both of them I showed aces. Unfortunately they were spread apart and the person It was really interesting 2 people who thought I was pretty reckless sat to my left.
My goal at the final table was to try to fold my way up some spots. I wanted my opponents to do all the work for me, and earn me some money. So I folded KJ in Midddle-late position. But I picked up AT and after a loose player who liked to limp a lot limped UTG+1 and I had AT and the pot was 13500 my instinct took over and 7 players remain. I couldn't help but move in for 28,369, and I took down the pot. Next hand 99 and I moved all in and took down the pot. I pretty much folded down to 4 players and picked up 99 in the SB and a player UTG moved all in for 26580 into a 12000 pot. I had about twice the chips he had, so I moved in over the top and he had J8 but he managed to hit a KJQ flop and no ten or nine to save me. So I was down to 21k and I moved in the next hand and got called by SB. I had AQ, my opponent had 55 2 hands later on my BB an opponent moved in on my BB for 39000. I had 45000. In my hand I had A7s. It was a fairly difficult decision because if I was wrong and lost, I would only have 10k. But if I folded, that opponent would now have ME covered, and I might not be able to fold into a better spot later. I felt like I was a favorite against my opponents calling range, but I certainly could be dominated. I made a call and my opponent turned over 36. I certainly didn't think I'd be that much of a favorite but I won the hand. Next hand my opponent in the big blind had an M of about 4, but it was 3 handed. I was the SB. I only had 24s, but from the work I did early I was pretty certain this was a correct push, although it was very scary to make.
My opponent made the call with A9 and although it looks bad I was actually about 39% to win, and most of the time my opponent won't have a hand that he can call with. but I did run into a hand, however, I managed to get lucky and win.
Heads up I got pretty lucky too, I raised with K2 from the button I got reraised, but the reraise was about 1/5th of my stack. I felt if I hit, I could build a big pot, but I felt that my opponent would check fold if he missed. So I made a loose call. The flop came KJ9 and my opponent lead out. I moved in and he called with AJ and I won and from there my opponent didn't have enough chips to do anything but continue to go all in and hope to get lucky multiple times.
Had I not moved down in stakes and grinded away, I never would have handled the bad runs, periods of mediocre play, and varience of bubbling.
That's why you always must hang in there and manage your bankroll properly
New Final Table Video of $3+.3 coming soon
I chose to use a software called poker crusher, which is a game selection tool.
Although it picks the really soft tables, that doesn't mean you can change your play. I felt like with a really loose table that with an EP raise I could call with 99 and then there was 3 callers behind me. Button raises pretty big about 60% of my stack. Rather than sit in with the minimum like I had been doing I decided to sit in with twice the minimum. But After it folds to me I decide to move in, but I'm up against AA. If my opponent had put me all in I was still getting 1.5 to 1 on my money so I needed to be 40% to win, it was questionable but I think my opponent would move in with a strong ace at a loose table like this. My opponent with aces made sure to torture me, and say "AA" and then delay and delay and delay and then finally call. Then he berated me, saying "lol like 99 is always good"
I even thought there was a slight chance he would move in with AJ A pair 88 or higher perhaps. It was at a very crazy game, but I've looked at some potential range of hands, and I seem to be between 39% and 42% to win against various hand ranges.
I noticed myself angrier than usual. Before that I decided to take a shot in a $24 MTT and I just bubbled out. After that, it seemed like everything was either getting cracked, or KK and QQ running into AA, KK getting cracked by AA and even my AA got beat by ATs. In the tables where I took shots, I lost big to bad beats and bad luck (KK vs AA). I tried to play in $3 buy ins and I continued to bubble out, Never all in until the bubble, usually on a coinflip. Very frustrating.
Anyways, long story short I ended up donking all the way to $6 at one point. I decided to take $2 in the low stakes cashgame and just be pacient and I flopped top two from the big blind and doubled up and then the next hand I got QQ and I won a big pot and got my money in on the turn and doubled then left. Then I played in a $3+.3 and won like 1 or 2 bounties, but lost. I decided to do some more work and figure out if I was moving in too much or too little. I got Harrington on Holdem's endgame. And read a lot of it. I think that definately helped me change the way I think about the game. I think when the antes got involved, I played too tight. I think I played a little too loose in what Dan calls the "yellow" zone. So I went back to pokerstove, and calculated a lot of different situations where I'm in the small blind and it's folded to me, when shoving all in is profitable, and when to fold. And then I repeated the work from the button. I still think that just because it's profitable, doesn't mean that there isn't some "opportunity costs" by risking illimination, because there are several sitautions where you could shove all in and have positive EV, and more and more situations as you get shorter stacked... However, if you get too short stacked, you lose your fold equity, and your power to do anything else.
I made just a few minor adjustments. I played in a $3+.3 KO 90 person tournement with only about $8 in my account. And I wasn't picking up ANY hands, and my tables were loose so it never folded to me. I literally never played in a hand other than my big blind until the blinds were 100/200 and I had about 2500 in chips. I picked up AA and 3 people limped I made it 999 and was going to move in regardless of the flop. I think that with a bet of 999 some people might call and then another might move in and I can create a more profitable situation with even more dead money in the pot. It folded around and the last limper before me called. I then moved in on the J high flop and was called by AK since the pot was so big my opponent almost had to call.
less then a rotation later, I got AA again after a few limpers. I bet about 1200 and got called. The pot was 2800 and the flop was Q72. I bet 700 trying to get my opponent to check raise me. He folded. I think a check may have been better here since it's a flop where only AQ or 77 is going to call, and if I check I would induce a bluff and in that sized pot the bluff would probably be all in.
I changed tables after paying the small blind and got moved right on the big blind. And then the next rotation I payed the big blind and then got moved to UTG. It was very frustrating to have to give up so many blinds simply because of a bad table change. I moved in with 97s from SB, and KJ from the button against 2 opponents I had covered both times. Then I moved in with AK and got called by AK and split the pot. Was carefully watching my M and my opponents M and the average stacks "M". Didn't make too many moves on the bubble where I probably could have, although I certainly made a few. Then I made the final table.
It was really interesting final table, because half of the table thought i was pretty reckless since I made quite a few moves leading up to the bubble, and the other half saw me fold every single hand but 2 and both of them I showed aces. Unfortunately they were spread apart and the person It was really interesting 2 people who thought I was pretty reckless sat to my left.
My goal at the final table was to try to fold my way up some spots. I wanted my opponents to do all the work for me, and earn me some money. So I folded KJ in Midddle-late position. But I picked up AT and after a loose player who liked to limp a lot limped UTG+1 and I had AT and the pot was 13500 my instinct took over and 7 players remain. I couldn't help but move in for 28,369, and I took down the pot. Next hand 99 and I moved all in and took down the pot. I pretty much folded down to 4 players and picked up 99 in the SB and a player UTG moved all in for 26580 into a 12000 pot. I had about twice the chips he had, so I moved in over the top and he had J8 but he managed to hit a KJQ flop and no ten or nine to save me. So I was down to 21k and I moved in the next hand and got called by SB. I had AQ, my opponent had 55 2 hands later on my BB an opponent moved in on my BB for 39000. I had 45000. In my hand I had A7s. It was a fairly difficult decision because if I was wrong and lost, I would only have 10k. But if I folded, that opponent would now have ME covered, and I might not be able to fold into a better spot later. I felt like I was a favorite against my opponents calling range, but I certainly could be dominated. I made a call and my opponent turned over 36. I certainly didn't think I'd be that much of a favorite but I won the hand. Next hand my opponent in the big blind had an M of about 4, but it was 3 handed. I was the SB. I only had 24s, but from the work I did early I was pretty certain this was a correct push, although it was very scary to make.
My opponent made the call with A9 and although it looks bad I was actually about 39% to win, and most of the time my opponent won't have a hand that he can call with. but I did run into a hand, however, I managed to get lucky and win.
Heads up I got pretty lucky too, I raised with K2 from the button I got reraised, but the reraise was about 1/5th of my stack. I felt if I hit, I could build a big pot, but I felt that my opponent would check fold if he missed. So I made a loose call. The flop came KJ9 and my opponent lead out. I moved in and he called with AJ and I won and from there my opponent didn't have enough chips to do anything but continue to go all in and hope to get lucky multiple times.
Had I not moved down in stakes and grinded away, I never would have handled the bad runs, periods of mediocre play, and varience of bubbling.
That's why you always must hang in there and manage your bankroll properly
New Final Table Video of $3+.3 coming soon
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