God. Damn.
Sigh...
Expenses -15
Win/Loss -49
Total = -64
That's just gross. I'm really at a point that I just don't know the right way to explain it. Am I really running THAT bad? Am I really playing THAT bad? There's no way I'm making greater and more frequent mistakes than the rest of the players, yet lately live I see to be one of the bottom two people at the table. I might have lost the most tonight...
I won a total of three pots all night. Two were very small; definitely in the top five smallest pots of the evening. The other was a medium sized pot. I lost every big pot. I think I bet/raised and then had to fold what was the best hand on the previous street four times tonight, being correct every time. I did make a somewhat thin call on a fifth hand and lost.
In one hand I had top two which I gave up on the worst river card in the deck and was shown two flushes. I flopped the nut straight and easily folded without putting any more money in to what was obvious a boat. I folded Aces up on the River to a guy who lead out on the flush card and was called. Finally, one guy goes all in for just 4bbs, gets 3 callers, I pick up AQs and decided to squeeze and run it heads up for the dead money. I raise to 20bbs. Now, compared to everyone else who plays 80% of hands, I am by far the tightest player at the table, and I hear that plenty. And yet in some universe 2 gappers and A-rag are good enough to call against a hand I would re-raise with in that game. Don't get me wrong. I love the terrible calls. Love them. What I despise is how often they get rewarded for it. Guy calls me with Q9. Awful call for him. I have AQ, that's great for me. But of course he gets rewarded for it. We both turn a Q, he bets, I call. He was not only dominated, now he's dead to three outs. Of course the nine rolls off on the River and I make a call for about a third the pot which was very big now from the 4-way preflop action.
It's not that it happened; it's that this sort of thing has been happening CONSTANTLY lately. It was only a drop in the bucket, but that buckets starting to get full. I don't remember the last time I won in a situation where I dominated the other player. Guys are calling me with A9 or A4 when I have AK, and lately have always had two pair if I paired the Ace. If not for being behind to dominated hands, I'd just miss completely. Why is it so hard to punish someone for calling big bets with crushed hands? It's like they defy the laws of poker physics. I forget why calling a preflop raise is bad with A7o after watching these guys rake in chips.
If you can't tell, I'm pretty frustrated with it. I'm really tired of seeing these things and guys raking in chips after playing hands so horrendously, making bonehead mistakes and calls that can never be good, drawing to three outs, and getting rewarded for their play while my stack is withering away.
I don't know. I don't know if I am running bad or playing that bad. I miss so many flops, miss every draw, and lose every hand I raise. I can't think of any major mistakes I'm making. I'm not calling with bad TPs, gutshots, FD's on paired boards, dominated or just super junky preflop hands. Mistakes I'm making have to be post-flop and can't be that huge.
Poker really fucks with your mind sometimes. I just wish I could live in their universe.
Daily Schedule
My new schedule is pretty simple and that's on purpose. It's easier to stick to. So loosely:
11-2 Study/Review
Time for reviewing previous sessions, look at hands, post up hands, answer forum threads, watch DC vids, type/review notes and questions, and anything else that needs to be done.
2-6 Session
6-7 Exercise
7-10 Free Time/Misc.
Open hours to do anything else that needs to be done during the day or just relax
10-2 Session
Everything is loose and just a basic framework for how the typical work day should go.
11-2 Study/Review
Time for reviewing previous sessions, look at hands, post up hands, answer forum threads, watch DC vids, type/review notes and questions, and anything else that needs to be done.
2-6 Session
6-7 Exercise
7-10 Free Time/Misc.
Open hours to do anything else that needs to be done during the day or just relax
10-2 Session
Everything is loose and just a basic framework for how the typical work day should go.
Fresh Start
Today's officially the new start. I ended the last run with the trip to Vegas and thought after the vacation it was a good time to renew my dedication to improving. I'm starting out much better than I was this time last year, even though my bankroll is much smaller. I'm going to get my sleep schedule back on track, start back exercising and eating healthy, and set up some new goals to work towards over the next several months.
I wrote down a simple schedule to go by. I've learned that trying to build a strict schedule is just going to fail, so I've left several extra hours in the day in case things come up or I'm running behind. One thing I must do is to stop wasting time. While I'm doing those things, my opponents are getting better. I need to always ask myself "What are you doing now that will matter tomorrow?"
I also looking into some things about getting into the "zone." One thing I'm going to try is conditioning myself and priming my concentration with music. I have never listened to much music, but it may be able to help me out. If I create a comfort zone with music, it may be perfect for situations that come up such as the WSOP next year where I'm a bit uncomfortable around so many strangers so far from home, playing against some very good opponents. The music may have a calming effect and allow me to focus. I dunno, we'll see.
I also heard something that was really interesting and possibly helpful. One of my biggest problems is that I get nervous in clutch situations. I have a fear of failure or success or something, because whenever I'm about to do something exceptional, I can't help be think about failing. And of course, often I do. Then I feel the pressure immediately leave as I feel I have nothing to lose anymore, and I get back to normal. This happens in all kinds of situations, including poker. A lot of times when I'm in Jasper, I feel I'm so much better than the players at the table, I should win. But that sets much up to constantly think about "what if I lose?" I'm so focused on the results in the end, that it takes focus away from more important things in the "now." But once I get stacked, even by a cooler, I feel the pressure taken away.
What I heard was something that (I'm almost ashamed to say) I heard Phil Helmuth say. He said that when he's in high pressure situations where something really good can happen, he's not thinking about missing that chance or being nervous that he is in that situation; he's thinking that here he is, in a position to do something great. That's where he wants to be as often as possible. To have a chance to do something great...That almost makes it sound like a freeroll to me now. Before it was more like a situation where it was mine to lose. I should achieve it. To miss is to fail. But looking at it in that light makes it sound more like the success has already been achieved: to reach that postion. Now, it's just a shot at something awesome. I haven't had a situation to use it in yet, but I'll be sure to try this new way of thinking out and hopefully I can get over that fear of failure.
Well, the grind starts tomorrow. I'll be eating and breathing poker. I've learned a lot of the fundamentals over the last year. This next year I need to focus on execution. Getting in hands, developing reads, and executing the things I've spend the last year learning. I just hope NL doesn't completely dry up; everyone is so good these days. Maybe Florida will open up and my live game will be better as well as my overall game, and I can leverage that against all the incredibly weak players that live there.
Finally, I need to make some money and make a move this next year. There are no players here really. To be the best player I can be, I need to be in the scene with other good players. I need to be talking with them and playing against them. I have to be that seasoned veteran. Living here will just leave me too green when it comes time to jump into shark infested waters in Vegas. I can't get that experince here, so I know the move is something I'm going to have to do.
I wrote down a simple schedule to go by. I've learned that trying to build a strict schedule is just going to fail, so I've left several extra hours in the day in case things come up or I'm running behind. One thing I must do is to stop wasting time. While I'm doing those things, my opponents are getting better. I need to always ask myself "What are you doing now that will matter tomorrow?"
I also looking into some things about getting into the "zone." One thing I'm going to try is conditioning myself and priming my concentration with music. I have never listened to much music, but it may be able to help me out. If I create a comfort zone with music, it may be perfect for situations that come up such as the WSOP next year where I'm a bit uncomfortable around so many strangers so far from home, playing against some very good opponents. The music may have a calming effect and allow me to focus. I dunno, we'll see.
I also heard something that was really interesting and possibly helpful. One of my biggest problems is that I get nervous in clutch situations. I have a fear of failure or success or something, because whenever I'm about to do something exceptional, I can't help be think about failing. And of course, often I do. Then I feel the pressure immediately leave as I feel I have nothing to lose anymore, and I get back to normal. This happens in all kinds of situations, including poker. A lot of times when I'm in Jasper, I feel I'm so much better than the players at the table, I should win. But that sets much up to constantly think about "what if I lose?" I'm so focused on the results in the end, that it takes focus away from more important things in the "now." But once I get stacked, even by a cooler, I feel the pressure taken away.
What I heard was something that (I'm almost ashamed to say) I heard Phil Helmuth say. He said that when he's in high pressure situations where something really good can happen, he's not thinking about missing that chance or being nervous that he is in that situation; he's thinking that here he is, in a position to do something great. That's where he wants to be as often as possible. To have a chance to do something great...That almost makes it sound like a freeroll to me now. Before it was more like a situation where it was mine to lose. I should achieve it. To miss is to fail. But looking at it in that light makes it sound more like the success has already been achieved: to reach that postion. Now, it's just a shot at something awesome. I haven't had a situation to use it in yet, but I'll be sure to try this new way of thinking out and hopefully I can get over that fear of failure.
Well, the grind starts tomorrow. I'll be eating and breathing poker. I've learned a lot of the fundamentals over the last year. This next year I need to focus on execution. Getting in hands, developing reads, and executing the things I've spend the last year learning. I just hope NL doesn't completely dry up; everyone is so good these days. Maybe Florida will open up and my live game will be better as well as my overall game, and I can leverage that against all the incredibly weak players that live there.
Finally, I need to make some money and make a move this next year. There are no players here really. To be the best player I can be, I need to be in the scene with other good players. I need to be talking with them and playing against them. I have to be that seasoned veteran. Living here will just leave me too green when it comes time to jump into shark infested waters in Vegas. I can't get that experince here, so I know the move is something I'm going to have to do.
Home Game Tournament Structure
I spent some time today working on a better tournament structure for Alan's game. I looked at the Stars turbo format first:
Turbo Structure
1st 50%
2nd 30%
3rd 20%
1500 Starting Chips
1 10/20
2 15/30
3 25/50
4 50/100
5 75/150
6 100/200
7 100/200 Ante 25
8 200/400 Ante 25
9 300/600 Ante 50
10 400/800 Ante 50
11 600/1200 Ante 75
12 800/1600 Ante 75
13 1000/2000 Ante 100
14 1500/3000 Ante 150
15 2000/4000 Ante 200
Then I found this tournament software at www.thetournamentdirector.net that was pretty sweet. It lets you customize everything and displays a very professional looking screen once the tournament starts with the timer, blinds, next blinds, and anything else you want it to. You can even track things like season points and rankings. Pretty neat.
I'm looking forward to the game tomarrow night. I really need to find someone regular to ride with though, both to cut down on gas and to have someone to talk poker with on the trip. Damn, why don't I know more players around here that want to be good! There must be some somewhere!
Turbo Structure
1st 50%
2nd 30%
3rd 20%
1500 Starting Chips
1 10/20
2 15/30
3 25/50
4 50/100
5 75/150
6 100/200
7 100/200 Ante 25
8 200/400 Ante 25
9 300/600 Ante 50
10 400/800 Ante 50
11 600/1200 Ante 75
12 800/1600 Ante 75
13 1000/2000 Ante 100
14 1500/3000 Ante 150
15 2000/4000 Ante 200
Then I found this tournament software at www.thetournamentdirector.net that was pretty sweet. It lets you customize everything and displays a very professional looking screen once the tournament starts with the timer, blinds, next blinds, and anything else you want it to. You can even track things like season points and rankings. Pretty neat.
I'm looking forward to the game tomarrow night. I really need to find someone regular to ride with though, both to cut down on gas and to have someone to talk poker with on the trip. Damn, why don't I know more players around here that want to be good! There must be some somewhere!
A-Game Live 2: The Other Games
Pineapple
This is just like NLHE, except people will start with better hands on average and almost everyone will want to see the flop, even for a raise. People will probably keep more high cards than low, so more people will hit high flops than low flops. I think I can use the same plan I have for NLHE, and it may be even more effective for this game because I will have "nut-makers" more often and seeing more flops can only be a very good thing, especially if there is an A on the flop. So if I start with Ah2hJc, I should probably keep the A2hh rather than the AJo because the A2s plays so much better multi-way and dominated TP hands should be even more RIO in this game. I'm sure almost everyone else in the game would keep the AJo, so I should have a solid edge here preflop. This game should be very favorable for me if these things are true. Anything that lets me see a flop more often should be very, very good.
Plan: Stick with many connectors over TP hands. Try to make a set, straight, flush, or better and get huge value from all the TP-type hands people will keep. Low flops should be safer than high flops.
Crazy Pineapple
Now people will have better hands post-flop on average than NL. I should be even choosier PF because I will absolutely have to make a monster to win a big pot. TP will probably never be good by the River. Bottom 2 pair will often not. I need to focus on making sets or better, and choose my preflop hands accordingly. Higher PP's should have way more set value than low PP's because sets should be more common and I want to be the one coolering the other player. Hands like JJThh are perfect. My edge will come from better PF hand selection, folding anything marginal, and staying and betting BIG (because they will call more often since they will more often have TP/2 Pairs) with my big hands. This game should be very favorable for me.
Plan: Only start with hands that can make monsters because people will make more hands than usual on the flop. Especially go for cooler-type hands rather than hands that can get coolered in order to stack people who make smaller sets, straights, and flushes and will never fold them. Be careful without the nuts.
NL Omaha
I should probably watch a couple videos on PLO to pick up a few things. Very much like Crazy Pineapple, I should start with hands that have lots of connecting potential (wraps?), and often only stay vs bets/raises with draws to the nuts. People should be getting coolered left and right with flushes/straights/sets because they will never fold a flush, so I certainly can take advantage of that by nut peddling.
Plan: Watch PLO vids. Keep same type of hands as Crazy Pineapple. Nut-peddle post-flop.
NL Stud with wild cards
This game is just ridiculous. I don't understand it, nor care to. I'm just going to ante and fold anything but the nuts.
Plan: Ante and fold.
This is just like NLHE, except people will start with better hands on average and almost everyone will want to see the flop, even for a raise. People will probably keep more high cards than low, so more people will hit high flops than low flops. I think I can use the same plan I have for NLHE, and it may be even more effective for this game because I will have "nut-makers" more often and seeing more flops can only be a very good thing, especially if there is an A on the flop. So if I start with Ah2hJc, I should probably keep the A2hh rather than the AJo because the A2s plays so much better multi-way and dominated TP hands should be even more RIO in this game. I'm sure almost everyone else in the game would keep the AJo, so I should have a solid edge here preflop. This game should be very favorable for me if these things are true. Anything that lets me see a flop more often should be very, very good.
Plan: Stick with many connectors over TP hands. Try to make a set, straight, flush, or better and get huge value from all the TP-type hands people will keep. Low flops should be safer than high flops.
Crazy Pineapple
Now people will have better hands post-flop on average than NL. I should be even choosier PF because I will absolutely have to make a monster to win a big pot. TP will probably never be good by the River. Bottom 2 pair will often not. I need to focus on making sets or better, and choose my preflop hands accordingly. Higher PP's should have way more set value than low PP's because sets should be more common and I want to be the one coolering the other player. Hands like JJThh are perfect. My edge will come from better PF hand selection, folding anything marginal, and staying and betting BIG (because they will call more often since they will more often have TP/2 Pairs) with my big hands. This game should be very favorable for me.
Plan: Only start with hands that can make monsters because people will make more hands than usual on the flop. Especially go for cooler-type hands rather than hands that can get coolered in order to stack people who make smaller sets, straights, and flushes and will never fold them. Be careful without the nuts.
NL Omaha
I should probably watch a couple videos on PLO to pick up a few things. Very much like Crazy Pineapple, I should start with hands that have lots of connecting potential (wraps?), and often only stay vs bets/raises with draws to the nuts. People should be getting coolered left and right with flushes/straights/sets because they will never fold a flush, so I certainly can take advantage of that by nut peddling.
Plan: Watch PLO vids. Keep same type of hands as Crazy Pineapple. Nut-peddle post-flop.
NL Stud with wild cards
This game is just ridiculous. I don't understand it, nor care to. I'm just going to ante and fold anything but the nuts.
Plan: Ante and fold.
Alan's Game 2: Pregame Plans
I really need to focus on reads and getting back to a very solid, simple ABC game for these live games and build from there. My two goals next time are just to:
I also need to see more flops cheaply. I should limp more hands that can make any sort of monster. Definitely more connecting-type hands (34o, Q5s) than weak TP-type (A9o) hands because the pots are so multi-way and get so big from bets being called. I definitely want to have a straight rather than TP in those big, multi-way pots. Also, people underbet pots constantly, so I will often get the right price to draw. On the other hand, if I have a TP-type hand, I will have to bet very large to protect my hand, which can get me in a lot of trouble since everyone's range is almost any 2 cards and they play 2 pairs and better TP's so passively. I just will have no idea if I'm ahead or not. However, if I have the nut straight, I KNOW I'm ahead, and if I have a weaker flush, they'll certainly raise and I'll know that I am beat.
Because so many pots can get so big and people will call so lightly, it should certainly be profitable to play these connecting hands. SC's should look like the nuts. As we get deeper stacked, I should open that range up a little, but not much. I'll already be playing many suited hands and connectors, but at some point I can go for trips/2 pair value vs a raise from another monster stack.
Against raises, I need to look at how many callers are already in the pot and how many are likely to call. Then I need to look at position and stack size. I should tighten up some, but certainly play hands that can make the nuts if there are many people in the pot. They really don't like to fold in big pots, so making the nuts can result in a serious gain in chips.
So to recap:
See lots of cheap flops with hands that can make the nuts like suited cards and connectors (even unsuited, especially when stacks are deep). Develop reads and play a very solid ABC game. No bluffs, just make hands and valuebet big.
Hopefully, I can get this down and get back to some of the more risky experiments. I'm basically starting back at a solid foundation building a new game just for low limit live play.
Note: From now on Alan's Game and this project to be a better live player will be known as just "A-Game Live" in the post titles.
- Develop reads
- Play a basic ABC game. Next to no bluffs, just make hands and valuebet them to death.
- Seeing more flops cheaply to hit monster
- (If 6max, thin valuebetting, too)
I also need to see more flops cheaply. I should limp more hands that can make any sort of monster. Definitely more connecting-type hands (34o, Q5s) than weak TP-type (A9o) hands because the pots are so multi-way and get so big from bets being called. I definitely want to have a straight rather than TP in those big, multi-way pots. Also, people underbet pots constantly, so I will often get the right price to draw. On the other hand, if I have a TP-type hand, I will have to bet very large to protect my hand, which can get me in a lot of trouble since everyone's range is almost any 2 cards and they play 2 pairs and better TP's so passively. I just will have no idea if I'm ahead or not. However, if I have the nut straight, I KNOW I'm ahead, and if I have a weaker flush, they'll certainly raise and I'll know that I am beat.
Because so many pots can get so big and people will call so lightly, it should certainly be profitable to play these connecting hands. SC's should look like the nuts. As we get deeper stacked, I should open that range up a little, but not much. I'll already be playing many suited hands and connectors, but at some point I can go for trips/2 pair value vs a raise from another monster stack.
Against raises, I need to look at how many callers are already in the pot and how many are likely to call. Then I need to look at position and stack size. I should tighten up some, but certainly play hands that can make the nuts if there are many people in the pot. They really don't like to fold in big pots, so making the nuts can result in a serious gain in chips.
So to recap:
See lots of cheap flops with hands that can make the nuts like suited cards and connectors (even unsuited, especially when stacks are deep). Develop reads and play a very solid ABC game. No bluffs, just make hands and valuebet big.
Hopefully, I can get this down and get back to some of the more risky experiments. I'm basically starting back at a solid foundation building a new game just for low limit live play.
Note: From now on Alan's Game and this project to be a better live player will be known as just "A-Game Live" in the post titles.
Online Rakeback
I finally got signed up for rakeback. People seem to think it's a big deal. I get the impression I was insane for not playing with it before. I remember one week I had paid in about $800 in rake. Paying Stars $800 a week to play means I have to grind out some serious winnings to profit. I'm switching to Full Tilt to get the rakeback. I heard there were a lot of regulars grinding it out, even at the low stakes (for rakeback obv), and I really don't like that you can't filter as well as Stars for better table selection, but we'll see what happens.
I got a pretty good figure on the rakeback calculators, but I think those are probably very exaggerated. We'll see how much in about a week or two. I know that I'm a winner at 100NL and below on Stars, and feel that I would be a winner at 200NL as well, even though my bankroll was not big enough to try it. Unless FT is far harder, the winnings + rakeback should give me a healthy boost. I really can't wait to get started and see.
I'll be getting 27% rakeback plus a $600 deposit bonus. I plan on playing about 8 hours a day, 5-6 days a week. I'll probably be playing 4-6 tables, but between open, closing, and switching tables, I'll probably only average about 3.5-5. The goal is about 15,000 hands/week. At 2000/day average over the entire month at 25NL 6max, thisisthenuts.com rakeback calculator says I'll recieve about 986 in rakeback. I think this is far too high, but I hope not too much. I may actually start with more full right just to clear the deposit bonus since Full Tilt uses the dealt method for rake and I read you could clear the bonus faster at FR due to that.
I got a pretty good figure on the rakeback calculators, but I think those are probably very exaggerated. We'll see how much in about a week or two. I know that I'm a winner at 100NL and below on Stars, and feel that I would be a winner at 200NL as well, even though my bankroll was not big enough to try it. Unless FT is far harder, the winnings + rakeback should give me a healthy boost. I really can't wait to get started and see.
I'll be getting 27% rakeback plus a $600 deposit bonus. I plan on playing about 8 hours a day, 5-6 days a week. I'll probably be playing 4-6 tables, but between open, closing, and switching tables, I'll probably only average about 3.5-5. The goal is about 15,000 hands/week. At 2000/day average over the entire month at 25NL 6max, thisisthenuts.com rakeback calculator says I'll recieve about 986 in rakeback. I think this is far too high, but I hope not too much. I may actually start with more full right just to clear the deposit bonus since Full Tilt uses the dealt method for rake and I read you could clear the bonus faster at FR due to that.
Loose/Passive Live Full Ring: Review of Last Adjustments/Experiments
My simple goals were:
Experiments:
- Don't look at hand until action is to me - Success
- Pay attention to live read - Marginal to bad
- Keep track of the pot size - Marginal
- Count out bet sizes better - Marginal to ok
Experiments:
- Isolating - This didn't turn out well this time. It's very hard to isolate a single player in these games because people are SO loose preflop. I had to raise extra big to even try to isolate and the times I did, I either got no calls or I got several.
- 3betting a wider value range - I did this 0 times. People raise so seldom in these games that when they do AND you have a good hand, it's luck. There was one guy somewhat aggressive, as well as Dave the dealer who would right light, so I could look to just value 3bet them more often next time. I may be able to isolate very well this way. But overall, it's live, we play few hands, and the game was hold'em only about half or less of the time, so I didn't get any opportunities over such a small sample. I should try again in future sessions.
- Fight for orphaned pots/2nd, 3rd barrel bluff - This was not good in the game I was in because of the short-stacked drooler. I tried a few times, picked up the pot maybe once, got called 3way or more the rest of the time. Player's just aren't folding often and this will probably require some 2nd/3rd barreling to be profitable. It's not something I'm comfortable with until I get better at live reads.
Alan's Game 1: Recap and Review
The GameLast night was apparently dealer's choice. I don't know if that is the regular game now or not, but I'm ok with it even though Hold'em is my regular and only game. I probably know a little more about Omaha than them, but not enough to be good. But they played some gambler games, all of which I'd never played before:
- low in the hole: Stud played where the lowest card in the hole is your wild card. Everyone has at least 1 wild card. If they pair it, they have two. Stud with wild cards and you don't know what everyone's wild card is. Oh, the best part is, they play all games NL. NL Stud with hidden wild cards, played 8 handed.
- follow the queen: Stud where queens are wild and the next up card after a queen is wild. If another queen is dealt, the wild card changes to whatever the next up card is. Still a gambling game, but a little easier to figure out where you are than low.
- Pineapple/Crazy Pineapple: These were a lot better. Pineapple seemed pretty much just like Hold'em, except everyone starts with a stronger starting hand on average since you get to pick 2 of 3 hold cards to keep pre-flop. Crazy Pineapple seems like a good mixture between Hold'em and Omaha. People will have better hands on average post-flop, and much like in Omaha, starting hands that are connecting like JhQhQs seem like the premium hands.
- NL Omaha: I felt pretty comfortable in this game even though I don't know much about it. I do know more than them, have an idea of what starting hands I want to keep and want to fold, and what NOT to get into trouble with. Others, however, had no problem sticking a lot of money into the pot with TP, 2 Pair, Trips, Straights on flush boards. I think I correctly folded the nut straight once on my gin card and the nut flush once. It seems like a really good game to make money in. People bet too small, 1/3 pot, 1/4 pot, etc, so drawing is pretty easy.
- Tournament: $10BI. We start with 45bbs. Not sure why such and odd number. Stacks are 45,000 with starting blinds at 500/1000. Not sure why such big numbers. Blinds go up every 20 mins. No antes. Payouts to 1st, 2nd, 3rd, although most of the time it goes so long that they split before then.
We had about 12 players so the tables were split up with 6 each. I'm great with that since I play so much 6max online. The ones I played with were the younger ones in the game:
- Dave, a dealer: He's a really weak player. Too loose preflop, will make wierd raises UTG to 3xbb with hands like J9s (consider how loose the game is), calls too lightly post-flop, his bet sizes are really awful, and sometimes he bets with little reason to. These are actually common among just about every player there.
- Snoop: I can't remember what his name is right now. He's a pretty weak player as well, but at least he is aggressive. Bad aggressive, but that is better than being passive at least. He ultra loose preflop and postflop. Will call 8xbb opening raise with offsuit junk. Will call on the flop with 2nd or bottom pair, any TP. He likes to bet a lot. His bet sizes are usually pretty weak, and also indicative of the type of hands he has. It's hard to tell how often he was bluffing because he was hitting a lot of hands last night, winning some pots uncontested, and often showing up with at least a weak TP when called down.
- Country guy: Not a bad player. Still too loose preflop, but played better when it counted. He was very much on the passive side, but he wasn't a calling station and had a decent idea what was going on. He wasn't involved in many big pots without the best hand. He did check or call with monster hands on the River when he certainly should have been betting or raising.
- Lee: He's too loose, but seems like he has some real potential to be a good player. He's capable of making some good folds, and will definitely fold to raises preflop with bad hands. He is too passive. He will often check or call when he should be betting or raising. When he does bet, it's usually not as horrendous of a size as everyone else, but it is always a very big hand. For some reason, he tends to sometimes play well, and other times just call off his chips in a spot that an hour ago he would never call in. Maybe impatience, maybe he gets tired, not sure. It seems like he has an A-Game and an F-Game and he moves up and down the whole spectrum during the night. Good guy though and definitely could be a strong player with some structure and fundamentals in his game.
- Some drooler: Super calling station, rarely won a hand unless he got lucky. When he bet, it was always 2 or 3bbs on any street. Really, really bad player, and I could never bluff because he was in every hand.
- Alan: The host. Great guy, great cardroom, not a great player. He plays for fun and the money doesn't matter. Calls very loose and doesn't like to fold preflop. One thing interesting is that whenever he has a monster, he always starts talking. He loves to talk people into calls, it's very consistent, and always means the same thing. Weak means strong.
"I don't think you have anything, I raise" = Monster
Flush hits "I don't think you have the flush, I raise" = Nut flush or better
"You don't have the balls to call that" = Monster"
Bets "Hope you don't raise" Player doesn't raise. "Phew" = Monster
I don't see how literally everyone doesn't insta-fold when they hear this, especially after playing with him for a bit, but they keep on calling anyways. What's really scary is when you have a monster too that's not the nuts and he does this. Now it's just a guessing game as to who has the better end of the cooler.
- Ron/Marshall: I grouped these two together because they play so much alike. Too loose by good standards, but definitely the tightest players in the game by comparison. They would still qualify as "loose" though. They are capable of folding before the flop and not calling with longshot draws. If they bet, they have a good hand. At least TP. If they raise, they have a huge hand. Overall, pretty standard loose/passive players, just not nearly as loose as everyone else.
- Ralph: Calling station, plays any two, calls with air drawing to a pair... It's pretty amazing when he folds. If he makes a big hand according to the chart (pair, 2 pair, set, straight, etc), he'll stick ALOT of money in the pot, regardless of what you might have. He'll do it with 2 pair on a board where there's a straight and a flush
To start the night, most were short or had 100bbs. By the end of the night, most of the table was at least 200bbs deep. 3 people were 3-400bbs deep (including me since I added on to cover - this got some crazy looks by people who just didn't understand why, including the dealer who said he'd never seen that done before. I don't doubt that at all). I just explained it using what I'd heard several people say during the night, "He's big stack, he can bully the table." We know how wrong that is at table stakes, but they seem to believe it so I just said "I don't want to get bullied by the big stacks."
Overall, it was super loose pre-flop. A raise built huge pots since it got several calls. Often 2-4 people may continue on the flop. People didn't raise as a bluff, always big hands. Bet sizes were terrible and always too small to accomplish anything as best as it could be.
The Results
-10 Tourney
+13 Cash
= $3 (doesn't include expenses - $5 food, gas)
Alan's Game 1...again.
I'm going to reread through what I wrote last week for the game tomarrow and spend sometime visualizing it. A few other simple things that I need to work on in live games:
...rereading my notes on players and thinking about how to exploit them
...having more fun in the game
...maybe setting some sort of reward for myself
Hmm, I really need to work on things I can do to make this easier.
Pretty simple habits I need to start working on.
- paying attention to live reads
...rereading my notes on players and thinking about how to exploit them
...having more fun in the game
...maybe setting some sort of reward for myself
Hmm, I really need to work on things I can do to make this easier.
- keeping track of the size of the pot with chips
- not looking at my hand until the action is around to me
- counting out bet sizes more quickly and steadily
Pretty simple habits I need to start working on.
Simplicity
Whenever you watch a master do something that you have been working your ass off trying to do well, they always make it look so simple. And every time I watch this, I always feel like I leave with a new perspective that I can't quite put my finger on.
From experiences and sources, without proof, only speculation, I feel like the path to mastering something begins by making it very complicated. You start off learning and applying the most basic concepts. As you better grasp, understand, and apply those, you add more to it. As you add things into the mix to improve and grow, things begin to get more and more complicated. You know that you are at this point when you cannot explain anything well and completely within one sentence. Often you are familiar with even the smallest, most technical details and frequently refer to some of your thoughts, writings, or conversations. You sound quite knowledgeable about your work, and you are.
But I don't think this is mastery, I believe it is only halfway. The path to master begins by going from simple to complex; starting with nothing and acquiring a collection of information and skills. But eventually things begin to clutter up. There is so much that there is less focus on the most important things. It's divided amongst everything. Not evenly...the most important things get more attention than the smaller details, but that is divided focus nonetheless. This is when we must begin to simplify things. To get rid of the details. We will never forget them, but we somehow find ways to no longer pay any attention to them. I these are things a master has internalized, almost like breathing or reacting when someone calls their name. They become natural, leaving the focus more on the things that matter the most. And once the clutter is cleared, real insight or enlightenment occurs. We can see what matters and fixate on the things that can lead to epiphanies. We can see things clearly and for what they are, why they work, and how to use them in ways others have not yet been able to see. If this process were graphed, it would look like a bell-shaped curve. We all start by focusing on just the basics, build up to a peak, but people who master something begin to simplify what they know and the curve falls back to the basics.
This may explain why things seem so simple when someone who has mastered a skill does it or explains it. I've often found more insight from a single, short phrase than an entire book. They have reduced their focus back to what matters, gotten rid of the clutter, and it's allowed them to see it in it's purest form.
One person that I admire greatly is a man that was beyond his time, Bruce Lee. He's known for martial arts and movies, but most people don't realize what he really was: a philosopher. This is what he really excelled at and what made him special. Martial arts for Bruce Lee was not a way to kick someone's ass. He admits that it was just an outlet to express himself. He became so innovative and great at what he did because of who he was. The truth is, he'd have become great at just about anything he did. There are a lot of old black and white videos on youtube of him. Things he says are incredibly insightful. His quotes are pretty amazing. And while he's known for martial arts, all the things he says can be applied to anything. Martial arts is just one of the things he applied it to and mastered. Simplicity is a very big theme in what he says. Breaking the complex down into the simple, most practical forms. This is how he created Jeet kun do. The took what worked from other styles, understood why they worked, and created this no-nonsence, brutally effective style from it. And from Jeet kun do grew what we know today as Mixed Martial Arts, and Bruce Lee is known as it's father.
That's just one example of many examples that you can find from histories greats. Start with the basics, build it up, and the extract what matters. I'm in the climbing phase, but I hope this bi of insight will push my understanding further than my peers when I reach the peak and know where to go from there.
From experiences and sources, without proof, only speculation, I feel like the path to mastering something begins by making it very complicated. You start off learning and applying the most basic concepts. As you better grasp, understand, and apply those, you add more to it. As you add things into the mix to improve and grow, things begin to get more and more complicated. You know that you are at this point when you cannot explain anything well and completely within one sentence. Often you are familiar with even the smallest, most technical details and frequently refer to some of your thoughts, writings, or conversations. You sound quite knowledgeable about your work, and you are.
But I don't think this is mastery, I believe it is only halfway. The path to master begins by going from simple to complex; starting with nothing and acquiring a collection of information and skills. But eventually things begin to clutter up. There is so much that there is less focus on the most important things. It's divided amongst everything. Not evenly...the most important things get more attention than the smaller details, but that is divided focus nonetheless. This is when we must begin to simplify things. To get rid of the details. We will never forget them, but we somehow find ways to no longer pay any attention to them. I these are things a master has internalized, almost like breathing or reacting when someone calls their name. They become natural, leaving the focus more on the things that matter the most. And once the clutter is cleared, real insight or enlightenment occurs. We can see what matters and fixate on the things that can lead to epiphanies. We can see things clearly and for what they are, why they work, and how to use them in ways others have not yet been able to see. If this process were graphed, it would look like a bell-shaped curve. We all start by focusing on just the basics, build up to a peak, but people who master something begin to simplify what they know and the curve falls back to the basics.
This may explain why things seem so simple when someone who has mastered a skill does it or explains it. I've often found more insight from a single, short phrase than an entire book. They have reduced their focus back to what matters, gotten rid of the clutter, and it's allowed them to see it in it's purest form.
One person that I admire greatly is a man that was beyond his time, Bruce Lee. He's known for martial arts and movies, but most people don't realize what he really was: a philosopher. This is what he really excelled at and what made him special. Martial arts for Bruce Lee was not a way to kick someone's ass. He admits that it was just an outlet to express himself. He became so innovative and great at what he did because of who he was. The truth is, he'd have become great at just about anything he did. There are a lot of old black and white videos on youtube of him. Things he says are incredibly insightful. His quotes are pretty amazing. And while he's known for martial arts, all the things he says can be applied to anything. Martial arts is just one of the things he applied it to and mastered. Simplicity is a very big theme in what he says. Breaking the complex down into the simple, most practical forms. This is how he created Jeet kun do. The took what worked from other styles, understood why they worked, and created this no-nonsence, brutally effective style from it. And from Jeet kun do grew what we know today as Mixed Martial Arts, and Bruce Lee is known as it's father.
That's just one example of many examples that you can find from histories greats. Start with the basics, build it up, and the extract what matters. I'm in the climbing phase, but I hope this bi of insight will push my understanding further than my peers when I reach the peak and know where to go from there.
Value in Fighting For Limped Pots
I somehow came across this website (http://www.parttimepoker.com/) today with a strategy section. The first article I read had some questionable advice for novice players about dealing with LAGs OOP. The authors advice was 1) move tables, or 2) move seats, or 3) play back. I'm totally fine with the first two. The 3rd is pretty treacherous advice for a novice player considering the LAG is playing that style in large part to get this exact reaction to induce an eventual expensive mistake. I would not ever advise an inexperienced player to adjust by making moves OOP against a LAG unless I wanted them to go broke.
In the next article, another player talked a bit about playing in 3bet pots from the BU when 3bet by the blinds. He had some pretty good points early, although his example might not have been the best. He called the 3bet on the BU with 46s, flop was J65, opponent cbet, and he jammed saying that you're often ahead and when behind, you have a draw to 5 outs. I really don't think I like his reasons, and I'm not sure if I like or don't like how the hand was played. However, I do know that for a basic strategy article, his example wasn't a very good one.
Finally, I read the 3rd article and find points that I think are just blatantly wrong. It's a section from Bill Vosti's ebook titled "Playing limped pots in 6max no limit games." I disagreed with several points and think it is more enforcing break-even to marginally winning play than play that maximizes value and crushes levels. I'll break it down point-by-point:
That actually hurts to read, especially the "there's not much value made from winning limped pots" comment. It's my opinion that there is a TON of easy value to get from limped pots. I say it is my opinion because I'm not going to provide the data that proves it wrong, but certainly think I could produce it if I needed to. This is the same thinking that was common several years ago when people were not stealing blinds in cash games. They said "It's not a tournament. What difference does 1.5bbs make? Why get involved with a marginal hand just for that!" I'm guilty of that thinking too when I just started learning NL. But this was not the opinion of the biggest winning players. While others were not stealing and giving up the blinds, they were busy cashing in. The truth is, it doesn't seem like much, but generally a player who is doing very well to crushing a level has a win rate of 5bbs+ per 100 hands. By stealing the blinds successfully once, 1.5bbs, you've essentially accomplished 30% of that win rate in one hand! Since two random hands in the blinds are likely to be weak, stealing often succeeds. People noticed, realized how profitable and important it really was, and now it is common knowledge among most players.
Even this author knows that, which makes it surprising and yet not so, to be saying that. While everyone knows about how picking up the blinds in profitable, it seems like very few apply that to a similar situation: limped pots. It just hasn't caught on as well yet. While you may be OOP in a limped pot, one thing is fairly certain: players mostly have marginal hands or nothing at all. They usually have hands that can not stand up to much pressure. On top of that, now there is even more than 1.5bbs in the pot. There may be 100-150% more. If there are 3bbs in the pot, it may not seem worthwhile to pick up, but as seen with the blinds, it definitely is. Picking up these small pots will increase your win rate as well as substantially add up over the long term.
And the best thing is that the majority of players use the same thinking that the author does: "it's a limped pot, it's just not worth getting involved without a very big hand." That's license to steal. Free money. Don't pass it up, especially in todays games where people are generally playing better. Every profitable situation counts. Sometimes they might have a strong hand and they will definitely let you know when they do. Sometimes the BB picks up AA when you try to steal from the BU. That doesn't make stealing unprofitable. That's because most of the time you're going to be picking up the dead money and that is going to add up.
Overall, this is great advice if you want to be a break-even to marginally winning player. This play seems so weak-tight that the mental picture of the author that I have is someone with gray hair and I'd be highly surprised if they were crushing anything online rather than just grinding out a small win rate.
The best players will always make the most money, and one of the ways they do it is by finding profit in situations other players pass on and maximizing the amount of value they get. Sometimes it's thin value that other players are too timid to try for. But that's why there are only a few top players among millions of others. If a situation can be +EV, even small EV, we should work to learn how to best navigate it, rather than writing it off for others to pick up.
In the next article, another player talked a bit about playing in 3bet pots from the BU when 3bet by the blinds. He had some pretty good points early, although his example might not have been the best. He called the 3bet on the BU with 46s, flop was J65, opponent cbet, and he jammed saying that you're often ahead and when behind, you have a draw to 5 outs. I really don't think I like his reasons, and I'm not sure if I like or don't like how the hand was played. However, I do know that for a basic strategy article, his example wasn't a very good one.
Finally, I read the 3rd article and find points that I think are just blatantly wrong. It's a section from Bill Vosti's ebook titled "Playing limped pots in 6max no limit games." I disagreed with several points and think it is more enforcing break-even to marginally winning play than play that maximizes value and crushes levels. I'll break it down point-by-point:
- "We’re just not used to limping and dealing with hands like top pair no kicker in a small pot. I believe the solution is very simple: just don’t worry about them very much. There’s not much value to be made from winning limped pots. You’ll usually be in the SB or BB in these pots and you should only really get involved if you flop a very big hand."
That actually hurts to read, especially the "there's not much value made from winning limped pots" comment. It's my opinion that there is a TON of easy value to get from limped pots. I say it is my opinion because I'm not going to provide the data that proves it wrong, but certainly think I could produce it if I needed to. This is the same thinking that was common several years ago when people were not stealing blinds in cash games. They said "It's not a tournament. What difference does 1.5bbs make? Why get involved with a marginal hand just for that!" I'm guilty of that thinking too when I just started learning NL. But this was not the opinion of the biggest winning players. While others were not stealing and giving up the blinds, they were busy cashing in. The truth is, it doesn't seem like much, but generally a player who is doing very well to crushing a level has a win rate of 5bbs+ per 100 hands. By stealing the blinds successfully once, 1.5bbs, you've essentially accomplished 30% of that win rate in one hand! Since two random hands in the blinds are likely to be weak, stealing often succeeds. People noticed, realized how profitable and important it really was, and now it is common knowledge among most players.
Even this author knows that, which makes it surprising and yet not so, to be saying that. While everyone knows about how picking up the blinds in profitable, it seems like very few apply that to a similar situation: limped pots. It just hasn't caught on as well yet. While you may be OOP in a limped pot, one thing is fairly certain: players mostly have marginal hands or nothing at all. They usually have hands that can not stand up to much pressure. On top of that, now there is even more than 1.5bbs in the pot. There may be 100-150% more. If there are 3bbs in the pot, it may not seem worthwhile to pick up, but as seen with the blinds, it definitely is. Picking up these small pots will increase your win rate as well as substantially add up over the long term.
And the best thing is that the majority of players use the same thinking that the author does: "it's a limped pot, it's just not worth getting involved without a very big hand." That's license to steal. Free money. Don't pass it up, especially in todays games where people are generally playing better. Every profitable situation counts. Sometimes they might have a strong hand and they will definitely let you know when they do. Sometimes the BB picks up AA when you try to steal from the BU. That doesn't make stealing unprofitable. That's because most of the time you're going to be picking up the dead money and that is going to add up.
- "When you flop top pair, no kicker, it’s only worth one bet at most. K3 on a KQ8 flop is a very bad hand. If there are 2 or more players, I often won’t even put a dime in the pot."
- "When the SB open completes and you check the BB and he checks to you on the flop, it’s OK to fire out a small bet to take the pot. Otherwise, never bet into a limped pot with nothing."
Overall, this is great advice if you want to be a break-even to marginally winning player. This play seems so weak-tight that the mental picture of the author that I have is someone with gray hair and I'd be highly surprised if they were crushing anything online rather than just grinding out a small win rate.
The best players will always make the most money, and one of the ways they do it is by finding profit in situations other players pass on and maximizing the amount of value they get. Sometimes it's thin value that other players are too timid to try for. But that's why there are only a few top players among millions of others. If a situation can be +EV, even small EV, we should work to learn how to best navigate it, rather than writing it off for others to pick up.
Hate to be anti-climactic, but the game was canceled, but is 100% on next week and I'll report the results after. Going back home tomorrow and I'll be getting back on a schedule that I'm still working on. It doesn't seem like there are enough hours in the day. I want to be playing 8-10 hours a day, with time to exercise, time to study/review hands, fit a nap in between sessions, do odd and end stuff, and wind down. As far as playing, I'll start by grinding out the rest of those FPP points in the Stars 210FPP SNG satellite while looking for a good rakeback/bonus deal. Then it's back 6max. I'll be focusing a lot more on playing and reviewing my own play over the next few weeks.
Experiments in Loose/Passive Full Ring
I didn't get as much time to think about it as I wanted. I didn't wake up until 1:30 today. Apparently, that's pretty standard for players, but in this instance it's just due to me still being on Vegas time from a few days ago.
In the game tonight, I'm going to experiment with some 3betting. It will primarily be just 3betting a wider value range. I may not get too many opportunities because the game is so passive. When a player raises, he/she usually has something very strong. But there may be a people who open a bit wider and will always call the 3bet to see the flop so hopefully I will get a seat on their left. This is also the reason I can't 3bet light; if they open, they'll almost always call. To do so profitably would mean they will check/fold the flop with a high frequency, which they may, but there will also often be one or several cold callers. I may leave experimenting with light 3bets to another session, but I don't expect it to be too common or profitable of a strategy.
Isolating is major in weak games. The problem in these ultra loose games is that limpers often call. Everyone wants to see the flop before they fold. They absolutely can't stand to fold what might have been a set, 2 pair, eventual straight, or flush. It's a huge area of grief for them and there isn't a table anywhere that I set down at and not hear someone hit the table because they folded too soon, tell me about how they folded 84 pre-flop but would have hit trips on the River, or let the whole table know they'd have hit a straight. They seem especially frustrated when they would have hit the flop hard, even though there was a raise and a re-raise before them and they folded K3o. So trying to isolate a single player and play post-flop with them can have some random results. I might get 4 callers, even when raising big. I might get a cold-caller in front of me and everyone including the intended target folds. It definitely doesn't seem as easy as tighter games where only 1 or 2 people limp and everyone else, but the limpers, fold to a raise. Still, there's TONS of value in isolating in general and it is certainly worth experimenting with to find the best times and ways to do it in this type of multi-way no fold'em hold'em game. Maybe raising very large or 3betting are key....
I'll definitely be looking to fight a bit harder for orphaned pots. There's good value there with all the limpers/limp-callers and people will often just give them up with little or nothing. It may be small, but it adds up significantly as well as providing a safe, cheap way to creap an aggressive or bluffy image. Often people will not discern the difference when you get caught bluffing with smaller bets at a little pot a few times and the one time you are making big bets and they have a little something. They'll still have the thought of "He bluffs a lot, he could be bluffing" in their thoughts, even though you've never bluffed in this way before.
Finally, I'd like to look for big +EV bluffs via 2nd/3rd barrels. Conventional wisdom says this is very bad and there's certainly some truth in that. You definitely want to bring your head gear because it could end messy. It's also not really necessary to do it in order for image and to get paid off later when you bet big on 3 streets with a set+ because they will often pay you off with anything decent. But I still there is some extra value that can be created by essentially creating more dead money that a future bet will reap. There ranges are often wide and marginal when they call the flop and even the turn.
While they are loose, however, they aren't complete droolers [Disclaimer: If there is a drooler in the pot, this should be avoided]. They want to see cards and not fold too early. They want to make sure they aren't getting bluffed or folding the best hand. But they aren't crazy either. They know the value of money and are embarrassed if they call and lose their whole stack with something ridiculous. Given enough pressure, they will fold marginal hands in a growing pot. So if I run into a situation HU or 3way where I can pretty strongly put the other player/s on marginal holdings (draws, 2nd pairs, very weak TPs), and the board texture is good for it, I may look to build the pot by 2nd barreling good Turn cards and then 3rd barreling good River cards. This should be especially valuable if I can accurately put them on a draw and build the pot on the flop/turn and take it down when the draw whiffs on the River with little hand at all. I will certainly be much more hesitant and require a very scary board texture if I think TP might make up a good portion of their range. I have a lot of work to do here, but I thinking getting very good at identifying these situations could heavily increase my winrate on top of the basic ABC strategy that works in these games.
I also need to practice more in situations where you should either bet 1 street or all 3 streets. There are situations where 2nd barreling and shutting down is very good, and then there are situations where 2nd barreling and never 3rd barreling is spew. If you decide to not shut down and instead 2nd barrel, you must often 3rd barrel to make the 2nd barrel good. Just as a simple example, say we have 34s, the flop is 672hh. We cbet and get called by a loose player. The Turn is a T. We decide to barrel the over and he calls. Shutting down on many River cards, especially more overs/non-straight or flush completing cards, is often going to make the 2nd barrel bad and give up a +EV river bluff. That's because of his range. He very often has a hand like 6x, 7x or a straight or flush draw. If he has a hand like 78, then he called the flop with TP, caught a gutshot on the turn, and wants to see the river where he will fold if beaten. He may have a flush draw that he chased to the river and you have no showdown value with 4-high. A whole lot of his range will be weak hands that he will call 2 streets with and fold on the River. So by 2nd barreling and not 3rd barreling, you are wasting money with the 2nd barrel and passing up on a big pot by not pulling the trigger on the River. You should often just bet the flop and give up if you think a 2nd/3rd barrel will not be profitable because he has a good hand, or you should fire all 3 streets.
Incidently, by betting big on the Turn, you are creating a lot of dead money to pick up on the River. This will significantly add to win rate when done right, and detract when done wrong, so it's important that I work on getting better at this. Also, people HATE folding the best hand in big pots, so showing a bluff here should be incredibly good for you when you have a real hand. They will definitely not forget this hand and be much less willing to fold what might be the best hand again in a future pot together.
I think 80% of my play will be basic ABC strategy. Good situations just don't come up often enough in these games. But by showing just a single big bluff, I think that's all it will take to get huge action on good hands. I will also play a little more aggressively to pick up dead money, and that may get me paid off a little lighter as they get more suspicious. This means that as the night goes on, I can probably valuebet thinner and thinner.
The game starts in a few hours. I don't hope to win, just to play well and run into these situations often enough to get some feedback and learn something. As a recap, the goals are:
- Play an ABC+ strategy
- Fight more for orphaned pots
- Experiment with isolating
- Experiment with 3betting for value wider
- Look for +EV 2nd/3rd barrel spots
Alan's Game
Tomorrow I'm going to play in Alan's game who has an amazing game room built specifically for that purpose. I haven't played the game in about a year, but used to have a lot of fun and there was always great food and a fridge fuly stocked with snacks, drinks, and beer.
It's micro-stakes, 25c/25c, but usually plays deep since most players have lots of disposable income and don't mind stacking off. Stacks get built up and they use one denomination, 25, so there's something fun about having a giant, tournament-like, table-warping stack in front of you. The deeper stack is most of the appeal to the game to me because it's so much fun to play deep with a pretty strong skill edge. You get to play TONS of hands and have so much room to do pretty much whatever you want pre and post flop and have fun with it. Not a game to get rich playing, but it makes for great practice and is a nice alternative to the 100BI 50bb max games in Florida. Same players, but the stack sizes make a world of difference.
It's 3:30 a.m. so I won't go into it now, but tomorrow I'll post what things I might attempt/experiment with outside of the typical winning strategy of just seeing flops, making hands, and valuetowning in these loose/passive games. I'll definitely be thinking about the merits of 3betting wider for value/isolation/and image, fighting harder for dead money, creating more dead money, isolating, and how these players may think and adapt to more aggressive play.
It's micro-stakes, 25c/25c, but usually plays deep since most players have lots of disposable income and don't mind stacking off. Stacks get built up and they use one denomination, 25, so there's something fun about having a giant, tournament-like, table-warping stack in front of you. The deeper stack is most of the appeal to the game to me because it's so much fun to play deep with a pretty strong skill edge. You get to play TONS of hands and have so much room to do pretty much whatever you want pre and post flop and have fun with it. Not a game to get rich playing, but it makes for great practice and is a nice alternative to the 100BI 50bb max games in Florida. Same players, but the stack sizes make a world of difference.
It's 3:30 a.m. so I won't go into it now, but tomorrow I'll post what things I might attempt/experiment with outside of the typical winning strategy of just seeing flops, making hands, and valuetowning in these loose/passive games. I'll definitely be thinking about the merits of 3betting wider for value/isolation/and image, fighting harder for dead money, creating more dead money, isolating, and how these players may think and adapt to more aggressive play.
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