I made a really nice comeback yesterday and had a really strong day playing Full Tilt 25NL. I ran hot, but took a few beats too. The crazy thing is twice I got it all in with AA against another AA, once preflop and once on the flop, and both times I hit runner runner flushes to take the pot that should likely have split. If that goes the other way and I lose both of those I come on here complaining about having the worst luck in the world, etc etc. It's all variance...you just always have to keep that in mind!
Anyways, I posted yesterday about PAHUD helping my game. I think because I've played in games so far in my "poker career" that are so passive (Bodog 25NL) that playing big pot, reraised pots preflop is really hard for me. STacks are always at stake with any wrong decision. And I think PAHUD can help me with a few big decisions. Take this spot, for instance:
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1318725 Imagine that the player doesn't reraise to $9.95. Against that three bet what is my play? Just call and hit a set? What is his range? I hate marginal spots OOP and TT is so hard to play OOP unless you hit that set. Is his range tight enough that I know I'll get paid off if I hit? Is it loose enough that I should stick in a reraise herE? What should my line be? Without PAHUD I don't really know, so I just fold. Now with PAHUD I might still fold, but it's just the idea of having a reason behind some decisions that could lead to big pots. Hope that makes sense.
Pete
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Monday, July 30, 2007
Quick update as we end July...
Didn't get to play this weekend as I was busy with some family stuff. I went fishing on Saturday, and it was nice to get away for a bit somewhere and not think about poker for a bit. I played this morning and didn't do well, I think I am still spewing too much by raising too loosely when I'm going to end up OOP in the hand. I think that I need to get PAHUD ASAP to help me with decisions and I think that it will improve my game by leaps and bounds. Right now I am just trying to get things in place so I can rock and roll come August 20th or so when I will start to be able to play quite a bit. I received most of my money from Bodog that I cashed out there so I am loading it onto Epassporte now and I will soon have a normal bankroll again. I am going to try and plug some leaks and then hopefully play 50NL by mid/late September. I am going to work I really tightening up my spewage, esp from all positions except the button, and work on really making laydowns with overpairs when I face a lot of pressure. The big hands will come and hopefully spewing less with increase my winrate quite a bit.
I won't be online/playing as much in the next few weeks because my wife and I are starting to move into a new place an hour away on Wednesday, so I probably won't update this a whole lot until we get settled, which will take a week or two. I will have internet at work, but not at home until about a week and a half into August. So good luck at the tables, and I'll catch up with you guys in a few weeks...I'm excited to play a lot and hopefully have some great results. And I wish you guys nothing but the best.
Pete
I won't be online/playing as much in the next few weeks because my wife and I are starting to move into a new place an hour away on Wednesday, so I probably won't update this a whole lot until we get settled, which will take a week or two. I will have internet at work, but not at home until about a week and a half into August. So good luck at the tables, and I'll catch up with you guys in a few weeks...I'm excited to play a lot and hopefully have some great results. And I wish you guys nothing but the best.
Pete
Friday, July 27, 2007
Motivated to kick some ass... :)
The past few days have been a lot better. I've caught some cards and my hands have held, on Bodog at least. Yesterday I stacked guys twice when they flopped/turned a set and I turned a straight, so it's easy to win when the cards fall for you like that. But I'm up like 4-5 BI in the last two days so I'm happy to rebound. People have really been playing back at me a lot the last two days, yesterday I had aggressive players to my left on two tables who would float me on any c-bet and then fire near-pot whenever I checked the turn. Sometimes you have to slow down a bit.
TY for all the comments on my last post, some great stuff in there that I will keep in mind. I am motivated to start taking a shot at 50NL and kicking ass. The support and motivation from everyone is awesome and it makes me want to play really, really well. :)
I loved it when Ken said that we win at these levels by extracting value with our made hands, and not by bluffing, playing fancy, doing anything crazy, etc. I am going to try and keep it simple and aggressive and keep the pressure on people over and over and hopefully watch the money pile up. :P
Pete
TY for all the comments on my last post, some great stuff in there that I will keep in mind. I am motivated to start taking a shot at 50NL and kicking ass. The support and motivation from everyone is awesome and it makes me want to play really, really well. :)
I loved it when Ken said that we win at these levels by extracting value with our made hands, and not by bluffing, playing fancy, doing anything crazy, etc. I am going to try and keep it simple and aggressive and keep the pressure on people over and over and hopefully watch the money pile up. :P
Pete
Thursday, July 26, 2007
Mistakes, mindlessness, and "that one bad hand" (LONG!)
I was thinking about some stuff after my latest session this morning, and thought I'd try and put my thoughts into words.
I think I'm on the cusp of being a very good poker player, at least at relatively small stakes cash. My goals right now are not super high. Within a year I'd like to be a solid winner at 100NL 6-max. That would really provide my wife and I with some nice additional income and financial stability. I don't have dreams of turning pro or only doing poker for a living. I just want to make some significant money. Right now at 25NL it's nice to make money and sure better than losing it, but it's still not where I want to be even 6 months from now. I know I am better than this level and I have the tools, skills, and ability to win at higher levels.
One thing that's hurting me right now is that one bad hand a session or one bad hand an hour. You can play so well for an hour long session, let's say, but if you royally mess up that one hand it really drags down what your winrate should be. There is already so much variance and your edge can be so slight sometimes that giving away money in stupid hands just kills you. I'd rather lose money aggressively, like getting it in on the flop with a big draw against an overpair and missing, than losing the way I am now...just with a stupid bluff or a stupid call on the river when I can't beat anything.
I find that when I'm playing my worst I am on "autopilot". Phil Galfond, aka Jman aka OMGClayAiken recently wrote the same thing on his CR blog. So I know it's not just me. But I played a hand earlier today so awfully it was amazing, and I don't know if I was on autopilot or when I'm in the moment of a hand I just get caught up with the money in the pot and wanting to always take it that Ido stupid things, but I played it so badly and never even considered my opponent's range of hands.
It's funny how when you really pay attention it's not that hard to narrow down your opponent's range, and you need to do that EVERY TIME you're in a pot or else you'll get blown away by making dumb, mindless plays. Take my earlier hand, for instance:
I'm in the CO and raise AJo to .90 at my 25NL 6-max table on Bodog. The button flat calls, blinds fold. I had played a hand earlier with the button where I raised CO, he smooth called button, I led out with ATo on a raggy flop, he min raised, I folded. This time the flop comes 863 with two hearts (I don't have any hearts) and I check to him. He makes a very small, third-of-the-pot bet. This could mean a lot of things, a draw trying to get there cheap, a monster hand, or just a tester bet with a hand like AQ. But since he took a pot away from me before, I decided I wanted this pot and check raised him 2.5x. He calls. So here I made my first mistakes. Instead of just folding and moving on, or calling for very cheap and keeping the pot small, I raise it with absolutely nothing out of position, putting me in a really tough spot. My raise isn't big enough to drive many hands out of there, either, as even a hand like AK will probably call because of the inviting pot odds.
The turn comes an offsuit 2 and I fire out about 90% of the pot and get called. Okay, so at least I narrowed down his range a bit here. For him to call that bet as well as a flop check raise he has to have a strong made hand or possibly a heart draw, but he wasn't getting good odds on a heart draw so it's probably more likely he has a made hand or maybe even just got there with a hand like 45ss if he plays those types of hands. (I also don't know that, which is another problem)
The river comes an offsuit A giving me top pair solid kicker. Now I'm happy because I have top pair and that I might have just gotten lucky on the river to bail me out after my dumb play. I make another 90% pot bet on the river and he snap calls me with 33 for the flopped set.
The problem here is I didn't even THINK about his possible range of hands on the river. What could possibly pay me off in this spot that calls a flop c/r and a very strong turn bet? The board is 8632A with no suits. If he had a heart draw and missed, he's not paying me off. Checking is the play to induce a bet now that I have a hand with showdown value. He could easily have a hand like A8 and made two pair on the river. He could have 45 or a set. The only reasonable hands that I "get ahead of" on the river are pairs 99-KK, none of which seem all that likely here, and which most likely don't pay off another really strong river bet now with an ace on board. (though on Bodog 25NL I guess it's possible!)
So only the hands I beat fold, and only the hands I lose to call. And this one bad hand turned my session from a small winner to a small loser, and frustrated me because I know for 98% of my sessions I play very well, but I'm letting it slip away in that other 2% of hands.
I mean we're all going to make mistakes, that happens, we can't play perfect all the time, even the best go through that. But if I'm making mistakes I'd rather they be SMALL mistakes like folding a hand that might be the best on the flop or having a guy c-bet me off a pot with nothing when I don't have much either than making BIG mistakes like stacking off weak or making big bets with nothing at a level where I know that' sjust not going to work.
I hope this all makes sense, and maybe you seem something here that applies to your own game. Or maybe it's just me!
GL at the tables,
Pete
I think I'm on the cusp of being a very good poker player, at least at relatively small stakes cash. My goals right now are not super high. Within a year I'd like to be a solid winner at 100NL 6-max. That would really provide my wife and I with some nice additional income and financial stability. I don't have dreams of turning pro or only doing poker for a living. I just want to make some significant money. Right now at 25NL it's nice to make money and sure better than losing it, but it's still not where I want to be even 6 months from now. I know I am better than this level and I have the tools, skills, and ability to win at higher levels.
One thing that's hurting me right now is that one bad hand a session or one bad hand an hour. You can play so well for an hour long session, let's say, but if you royally mess up that one hand it really drags down what your winrate should be. There is already so much variance and your edge can be so slight sometimes that giving away money in stupid hands just kills you. I'd rather lose money aggressively, like getting it in on the flop with a big draw against an overpair and missing, than losing the way I am now...just with a stupid bluff or a stupid call on the river when I can't beat anything.
I find that when I'm playing my worst I am on "autopilot". Phil Galfond, aka Jman aka OMGClayAiken recently wrote the same thing on his CR blog. So I know it's not just me. But I played a hand earlier today so awfully it was amazing, and I don't know if I was on autopilot or when I'm in the moment of a hand I just get caught up with the money in the pot and wanting to always take it that Ido stupid things, but I played it so badly and never even considered my opponent's range of hands.
It's funny how when you really pay attention it's not that hard to narrow down your opponent's range, and you need to do that EVERY TIME you're in a pot or else you'll get blown away by making dumb, mindless plays. Take my earlier hand, for instance:
I'm in the CO and raise AJo to .90 at my 25NL 6-max table on Bodog. The button flat calls, blinds fold. I had played a hand earlier with the button where I raised CO, he smooth called button, I led out with ATo on a raggy flop, he min raised, I folded. This time the flop comes 863 with two hearts (I don't have any hearts) and I check to him. He makes a very small, third-of-the-pot bet. This could mean a lot of things, a draw trying to get there cheap, a monster hand, or just a tester bet with a hand like AQ. But since he took a pot away from me before, I decided I wanted this pot and check raised him 2.5x. He calls. So here I made my first mistakes. Instead of just folding and moving on, or calling for very cheap and keeping the pot small, I raise it with absolutely nothing out of position, putting me in a really tough spot. My raise isn't big enough to drive many hands out of there, either, as even a hand like AK will probably call because of the inviting pot odds.
The turn comes an offsuit 2 and I fire out about 90% of the pot and get called. Okay, so at least I narrowed down his range a bit here. For him to call that bet as well as a flop check raise he has to have a strong made hand or possibly a heart draw, but he wasn't getting good odds on a heart draw so it's probably more likely he has a made hand or maybe even just got there with a hand like 45ss if he plays those types of hands. (I also don't know that, which is another problem)
The river comes an offsuit A giving me top pair solid kicker. Now I'm happy because I have top pair and that I might have just gotten lucky on the river to bail me out after my dumb play. I make another 90% pot bet on the river and he snap calls me with 33 for the flopped set.
The problem here is I didn't even THINK about his possible range of hands on the river. What could possibly pay me off in this spot that calls a flop c/r and a very strong turn bet? The board is 8632A with no suits. If he had a heart draw and missed, he's not paying me off. Checking is the play to induce a bet now that I have a hand with showdown value. He could easily have a hand like A8 and made two pair on the river. He could have 45 or a set. The only reasonable hands that I "get ahead of" on the river are pairs 99-KK, none of which seem all that likely here, and which most likely don't pay off another really strong river bet now with an ace on board. (though on Bodog 25NL I guess it's possible!)
So only the hands I beat fold, and only the hands I lose to call. And this one bad hand turned my session from a small winner to a small loser, and frustrated me because I know for 98% of my sessions I play very well, but I'm letting it slip away in that other 2% of hands.
I mean we're all going to make mistakes, that happens, we can't play perfect all the time, even the best go through that. But if I'm making mistakes I'd rather they be SMALL mistakes like folding a hand that might be the best on the flop or having a guy c-bet me off a pot with nothing when I don't have much either than making BIG mistakes like stacking off weak or making big bets with nothing at a level where I know that' sjust not going to work.
I hope this all makes sense, and maybe you seem something here that applies to your own game. Or maybe it's just me!
GL at the tables,
Pete
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Interesting spot from this morning's session...
The last two days have been good, I've won about 3 buyins total on Bodog. I tried to cash out and I couldn't because I cashed in some of my Bodog points for cash and have to earn a certain amount of points before I can cash out. So that's all good, I've made some more money in the meantime. :)
Interesting hand from earlier today...I'm at work so no PT hand history, sorry...I remember it pretty well though. At Bodog 25NL most pots are small preflop as 3 and 4 betting preflop are fairly rare. So I was wondering how to navigate a hand like this:
I have my opponent covered. He has just sat down with $25 and this is his first hand at the table. No history. I get dealth KcKs in the SB and it's folded to me. I raise to .80 and he repops me to $2.10. I know that he has a big hand because people don't do that at this level without a hand, and want to get it all in so I make a big raise to $9 thinking he'll likely shove. Instead he calls. $18 in the pot going to the flop, he has $16 behind.
Flop: Ac8c2x.
What should my line be here? My preflop range for him would be TT-KK, AKs, AKo. If he's crazy he could have AQs or something I suppose. If he has a pair I can get him off the hand (but I'd be ahead so do I want to?), if he has AK he's not going anywhere. But he has less than in the pot in his hand, so an $8 bet and then fold to a shove seems really weak. I hate just shoving blindly. Is checking the best play here? What's the best line?
I check, he checks. Turn comes 9c giving me the nut flush draw. I don't think he'd check behind AK on this flop, he'd probably check AAA behind but that's about it that beats me. Is it time for a value bet of $8ish here? More?
Any thoughts are welcome, thanks.
Interesting hand from earlier today...I'm at work so no PT hand history, sorry...I remember it pretty well though. At Bodog 25NL most pots are small preflop as 3 and 4 betting preflop are fairly rare. So I was wondering how to navigate a hand like this:
I have my opponent covered. He has just sat down with $25 and this is his first hand at the table. No history. I get dealth KcKs in the SB and it's folded to me. I raise to .80 and he repops me to $2.10. I know that he has a big hand because people don't do that at this level without a hand, and want to get it all in so I make a big raise to $9 thinking he'll likely shove. Instead he calls. $18 in the pot going to the flop, he has $16 behind.
Flop: Ac8c2x.
What should my line be here? My preflop range for him would be TT-KK, AKs, AKo. If he's crazy he could have AQs or something I suppose. If he has a pair I can get him off the hand (but I'd be ahead so do I want to?), if he has AK he's not going anywhere. But he has less than in the pot in his hand, so an $8 bet and then fold to a shove seems really weak. I hate just shoving blindly. Is checking the best play here? What's the best line?
I check, he checks. Turn comes 9c giving me the nut flush draw. I don't think he'd check behind AK on this flop, he'd probably check AAA behind but that's about it that beats me. Is it time for a value bet of $8ish here? More?
Any thoughts are welcome, thanks.
Monday, July 23, 2007
Theory discussion: Opening ranges
Today I'd like to get your guys' thoughts on opening ranges in 6-max games.
I was thinking about Noel's post on another blog where he talked about playing super tight in positions 1 and 2, and very loose in the CO and button. I started thinking and came up with a "hand chart" of what to open in each position that I thought is very tight early and very loose late:
UTG: All pairs, AKs-AJs, AKo, AQo
2: all above plus AJo, KQs, ATs
CO: all above plus KQ-KJo, all suited connectors, all suited aces
Button: All above plus any two cards two apart or connecting (i.e 24o, 35o, 56o, etc), and all suited cards. Also any ace.
What do you think of these opening ranges? Is the button range too loose? Is the UTG range too tight/loose? Should all pairs always be raised because of how much you get paid off with sets at this level?
What do you guys think about mixing up an occasional suited connector raise UTG (very rarely) in order to "vary your range"? Is that even worth doing or do opponents at this level not even think about our possible holdings, making it not worth it?
Finally, how would you adjust your CO/Button opening range depending on limpers in front of you in the pot? My range above is assuming it's folded to me in each position.
What would you put your current range at? (Mine is slightly tighter than this as I don't open quite that loosely on the button but close)
Any discussion on the subject would be welcome!
Pete
I was thinking about Noel's post on another blog where he talked about playing super tight in positions 1 and 2, and very loose in the CO and button. I started thinking and came up with a "hand chart" of what to open in each position that I thought is very tight early and very loose late:
UTG: All pairs, AKs-AJs, AKo, AQo
2: all above plus AJo, KQs, ATs
CO: all above plus KQ-KJo, all suited connectors, all suited aces
Button: All above plus any two cards two apart or connecting (i.e 24o, 35o, 56o, etc), and all suited cards. Also any ace.
What do you think of these opening ranges? Is the button range too loose? Is the UTG range too tight/loose? Should all pairs always be raised because of how much you get paid off with sets at this level?
What do you guys think about mixing up an occasional suited connector raise UTG (very rarely) in order to "vary your range"? Is that even worth doing or do opponents at this level not even think about our possible holdings, making it not worth it?
Finally, how would you adjust your CO/Button opening range depending on limpers in front of you in the pot? My range above is assuming it's folded to me in each position.
What would you put your current range at? (Mine is slightly tighter than this as I don't open quite that loosely on the button but close)
Any discussion on the subject would be welcome!
Pete
Sunday, July 22, 2007
Plugging a leak and recent videos...
Hey guys-
I hope everyone is doing well. Hopefully you guys are running well and winning money. :)
I won on Full Tilt today and lost on Bodog...blah blah, same thing as always, I play hands badly and have a lot of leaks to plug.
I've decided that I need to plug a big leak and prepare myself to be able to make the most money possible come August/September when I am able to play a LOT more. Therefore I have decided to take my money completely off of Bodog. I am going to purchase PAHUD which I have not ever used before (not compatible on Bodog which was my main site since I started playing in December). I am going to concentrate on two PAHUD compatable sites over the course of the next few months...Full Tilt and Absolute. (Yes Noel you convinced me)
It's been too long for me to play without using all the necessary tools and without having them at my disposal. I don't want to completely rely on PAHUD, but hopefully it can help guide me in some big spots and get me to lay down some more hands that I should.
I got my latest check from Bodog on Friday and I will be depositing that to my bank account tomorrow. From there I'll zip it onto Epassporte and then load up my Absolute and Full Tilt accounts once that is ready. The rest of my Bodog money should show up in a month or so and I'll use that to pad my accounts a bit more. I plan on starting off 5-tabling 25NL at both, 3 Tilt and 2 Absolute. We'll see how it goes.
Finally, another weakness in my game has probably come from not having time to watch Cardrunners videos as much. I've been studying and reading a lot of forum and 2+2 stuff but I've really gotten behind on videos as I barely have any time to be online at home so I use that to play instead of watch videos. I'll have a lot more time to watch come mid August, but in the meantime I was hopinh you guys could point me to some really good videos for guys at our stakes from the past month or two. The last video I remember watching all the way through (and loving) was Gaucho's so that gives you a time frame.
Thank you so much for reading and helping me out. Good luck at the tables,
Pete
I hope everyone is doing well. Hopefully you guys are running well and winning money. :)
I won on Full Tilt today and lost on Bodog...blah blah, same thing as always, I play hands badly and have a lot of leaks to plug.
I've decided that I need to plug a big leak and prepare myself to be able to make the most money possible come August/September when I am able to play a LOT more. Therefore I have decided to take my money completely off of Bodog. I am going to purchase PAHUD which I have not ever used before (not compatible on Bodog which was my main site since I started playing in December). I am going to concentrate on two PAHUD compatable sites over the course of the next few months...Full Tilt and Absolute. (Yes Noel you convinced me)
It's been too long for me to play without using all the necessary tools and without having them at my disposal. I don't want to completely rely on PAHUD, but hopefully it can help guide me in some big spots and get me to lay down some more hands that I should.
I got my latest check from Bodog on Friday and I will be depositing that to my bank account tomorrow. From there I'll zip it onto Epassporte and then load up my Absolute and Full Tilt accounts once that is ready. The rest of my Bodog money should show up in a month or so and I'll use that to pad my accounts a bit more. I plan on starting off 5-tabling 25NL at both, 3 Tilt and 2 Absolute. We'll see how it goes.
Finally, another weakness in my game has probably come from not having time to watch Cardrunners videos as much. I've been studying and reading a lot of forum and 2+2 stuff but I've really gotten behind on videos as I barely have any time to be online at home so I use that to play instead of watch videos. I'll have a lot more time to watch come mid August, but in the meantime I was hopinh you guys could point me to some really good videos for guys at our stakes from the past month or two. The last video I remember watching all the way through (and loving) was Gaucho's so that gives you a time frame.
Thank you so much for reading and helping me out. Good luck at the tables,
Pete
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