So things are good, took er ez yesterday, got a lot of reading done in Professional Nlhe Volume 1. Started figuring out the Spr strategy in the book.
Not sure if I have gotten it down yet, but for the most part it bases most of your play on commitment threshold, and building pots to push all in. making many pushing and calling all in's a lot simpler and straight forward. Basing your preflop bets to create a postflop pot that has a certain level of spr stack to pot ratio that will maximize the value that the hand will have within a few different situations on the flop.
Aka having a spr of 4 makes getting all in with tptk pretty straightforward. Not a hundred percent sure i have it right yet. Haven't used it in the field yet so I will let you know how my limited understanding goes at the tables.
Enjoy your weekends, oh yeah going to Four winds tonight and playing some 1/2 $500 max in New buffalo. It's all electronic which is supposed to make the game go a lot faster along with no tips and players might be looser on there draws because there's no real money in front of them.
We shall see, rent needs to be paid along with student loans, credit cards and need to fill up my drug and hooker fund.
Friday, May 30, 2008
Thursday, May 29, 2008
What can I do to make myself an online winner
let's go over some strengths and then the long list of weaknesses or leaks in my game.
What am i good at:
Aggression- usually am able to fire the 3rd bullet against a low pair missed flush draw oppnent with my busted flopped open ender. And blind stealing along with blind defense is pretty good and i am becoming more comfortable with 3 betting steal attempts.
Table reads- last night I was able to put player on pretty good range of hands even though it was a small buy in sng. There playing pretty abc, weak tight and i was able to pickup on there betting patterns and show downs and pick up some pots because of scare cards and the position I was in.
Texture understanding- putting different players on different hands based on there checks and bets from position has helped me get out of the way with top pair and make my steal with 3 high based on a number of things.
Understanding table dynamics- following the flow of the game and understanding what effects recent events will have on future play. Aka the short crazy stack that was pushing every time now just tripled up with a gut shot straight draw. Is he going to tighten up now that he has a hand, how will the other players perceive him. Will the continue to call his raises and pushes light or will they back off and let him steal. Was he on a rush before, and is he going to do it again. By looking at what happens in the next few hands I will be able to tell what his play is going to be like with a big stack and how everyone else views him. And ill do what I can to take any free or hard earned money from understanding that situation.
Tilt- Live i rarely ever tilt, for me tilting live involves call raises out of position with a10, or kj. There bad plays and sometimes it will get me into a little trouble, but overall I have pretty go head on my shoulders and can keep the dark thoughts down to a whisper. Online it's a little easier for me to tilt, in the plo session where i lost 100 in a matter of 20 minutes, it was playing a little higher level then i'm used to, not hitting any draws, hitting hands and no action. So i forced a little more action and chased a little more. And that cost me, overall thinking about it in my mind I think that I did run poorly, but that is no excuse, I chased and was playing over my head, and that cost me and there is a lesson learned.
Play withing br, play within skill level, and be patient, you don't have to win the world in one hand.
Minuses:
Patience: always trying to force a little action, or make it exciting to some extent.
Ego: sometimes i go way to far with a mid pp because i put the guys on overs with no pair and I lose a decent amount.
Concentration: When I play live I win, no ands ifs or buts. My win rate is pretty strong live, even when i am card dead now I'm still able to maximize with what I have and make the proper steals or value bets. Online I play a min of 2 tables but most of the time it's 4 or more. This in it's own is a reason why I believe i'm not winning online as I should. Yes I have Pokertracker and Pokerace hud so I have real time stats and have a pretty good idea of the ranges of the hands people will play and there betting patterns and tendencies. But in that I usually don't have a good understanding of the table flow and or dynamics as I do when I play one table live.
I think what needs to happen is to play one table at a time and bitch slap that need to always have action and always be entertained. I know it's going to be more of a grind if I play one table of low-micro stakes. But i'm fairly sure that I will turn my hourly rate up overall and build my online br. We shall see in the long run if this will allow me to become an online winner. Playing in mtt's single table sounds like pulling teeth, but I have to make sacrifices and do what I can to beat these games and turn them into something I can profit from.
As a good pro friend of mine said: When you play professionally for a living it's boring. A lot of checking and folding and waiting for the other guy to make the mistake and pay you off with tptk.
What am i good at:
Aggression- usually am able to fire the 3rd bullet against a low pair missed flush draw oppnent with my busted flopped open ender. And blind stealing along with blind defense is pretty good and i am becoming more comfortable with 3 betting steal attempts.
Table reads- last night I was able to put player on pretty good range of hands even though it was a small buy in sng. There playing pretty abc, weak tight and i was able to pickup on there betting patterns and show downs and pick up some pots because of scare cards and the position I was in.
Texture understanding- putting different players on different hands based on there checks and bets from position has helped me get out of the way with top pair and make my steal with 3 high based on a number of things.
Understanding table dynamics- following the flow of the game and understanding what effects recent events will have on future play. Aka the short crazy stack that was pushing every time now just tripled up with a gut shot straight draw. Is he going to tighten up now that he has a hand, how will the other players perceive him. Will the continue to call his raises and pushes light or will they back off and let him steal. Was he on a rush before, and is he going to do it again. By looking at what happens in the next few hands I will be able to tell what his play is going to be like with a big stack and how everyone else views him. And ill do what I can to take any free or hard earned money from understanding that situation.
Tilt- Live i rarely ever tilt, for me tilting live involves call raises out of position with a10, or kj. There bad plays and sometimes it will get me into a little trouble, but overall I have pretty go head on my shoulders and can keep the dark thoughts down to a whisper. Online it's a little easier for me to tilt, in the plo session where i lost 100 in a matter of 20 minutes, it was playing a little higher level then i'm used to, not hitting any draws, hitting hands and no action. So i forced a little more action and chased a little more. And that cost me, overall thinking about it in my mind I think that I did run poorly, but that is no excuse, I chased and was playing over my head, and that cost me and there is a lesson learned.
Play withing br, play within skill level, and be patient, you don't have to win the world in one hand.
Minuses:
Patience: always trying to force a little action, or make it exciting to some extent.
Ego: sometimes i go way to far with a mid pp because i put the guys on overs with no pair and I lose a decent amount.
Concentration: When I play live I win, no ands ifs or buts. My win rate is pretty strong live, even when i am card dead now I'm still able to maximize with what I have and make the proper steals or value bets. Online I play a min of 2 tables but most of the time it's 4 or more. This in it's own is a reason why I believe i'm not winning online as I should. Yes I have Pokertracker and Pokerace hud so I have real time stats and have a pretty good idea of the ranges of the hands people will play and there betting patterns and tendencies. But in that I usually don't have a good understanding of the table flow and or dynamics as I do when I play one table live.
I think what needs to happen is to play one table at a time and bitch slap that need to always have action and always be entertained. I know it's going to be more of a grind if I play one table of low-micro stakes. But i'm fairly sure that I will turn my hourly rate up overall and build my online br. We shall see in the long run if this will allow me to become an online winner. Playing in mtt's single table sounds like pulling teeth, but I have to make sacrifices and do what I can to beat these games and turn them into something I can profit from.
As a good pro friend of mine said: When you play professionally for a living it's boring. A lot of checking and folding and waiting for the other guy to make the mistake and pay you off with tptk.
To vegas or to not
Right now i'm considering flying to vegas tomorrow for a nice $300 package that includes round trip flight and stay and new york ny.
Money is tight as usual, it's even more tight as I don't have the access money I usual do when i'm playing to pay rent and have a little extra. In the last 2 months I have been able to coast and use my shitty paycheck from work to pay the rest of my bills along with rent.
Things are tight again, so i'm trying to figure out what my best roi would be to put my money in. Online I still haven't gotten to the point where I am patient enough to be a winning player in cash games that I believe are worth my time aka $25-100 buy ins. Also after my sick run in plo online I have reconsidered my natural ability in the game. I will take a lot of responsibility for my play and the 100 bucks I lost in a short time. I did run card dead, and every time I hit my hand people ran away instantly.
Recently I just purchased, Read em' and reap from joe navarro, Every hand revealed from gus hansen, Best blackjack from Frank Scoblete, and also Kill Everyone, also Pot-limit omaha from Jeff Hwang. I should have some reviews of these in the next week or so.
But back to the point of vegas or not, doesn't look like it's going to happen. We need 4 people and we have 2 to get the discount package. I still feel I need another 3-4 books digested for me to become very comfortable at a 2/5 table. Funds are limited but I now need to find out what my best roi is and where to invest my money.
There are so many games available, I think by far the plo micro-low stake games are going to be the easiest to beat, the maniac friend i have plays 11-12 table of $10 max plo games and makes around 20-30 bucks an hour. Also mtt's are great as I cash in a fair amount of them, but just can't get deep into the money very often and this leak needs to be filled to play in a high varience game with a very limited bankroll.
There are the sng's ranging from .6-$1000 dollars all the time. I find that the 6.50's turbo are pretty soft and I should have a decent roi from them. But running bad doesn't help the confidence. Also the 60-180 player turbo sng's look to be pretty soft ,and I've heard you can do pretty well in those.
And there is always nlhe cash games.
Money is tight as usual, it's even more tight as I don't have the access money I usual do when i'm playing to pay rent and have a little extra. In the last 2 months I have been able to coast and use my shitty paycheck from work to pay the rest of my bills along with rent.
Things are tight again, so i'm trying to figure out what my best roi would be to put my money in. Online I still haven't gotten to the point where I am patient enough to be a winning player in cash games that I believe are worth my time aka $25-100 buy ins. Also after my sick run in plo online I have reconsidered my natural ability in the game. I will take a lot of responsibility for my play and the 100 bucks I lost in a short time. I did run card dead, and every time I hit my hand people ran away instantly.
Recently I just purchased, Read em' and reap from joe navarro, Every hand revealed from gus hansen, Best blackjack from Frank Scoblete, and also Kill Everyone, also Pot-limit omaha from Jeff Hwang. I should have some reviews of these in the next week or so.
But back to the point of vegas or not, doesn't look like it's going to happen. We need 4 people and we have 2 to get the discount package. I still feel I need another 3-4 books digested for me to become very comfortable at a 2/5 table. Funds are limited but I now need to find out what my best roi is and where to invest my money.
There are so many games available, I think by far the plo micro-low stake games are going to be the easiest to beat, the maniac friend i have plays 11-12 table of $10 max plo games and makes around 20-30 bucks an hour. Also mtt's are great as I cash in a fair amount of them, but just can't get deep into the money very often and this leak needs to be filled to play in a high varience game with a very limited bankroll.
There are the sng's ranging from .6-$1000 dollars all the time. I find that the 6.50's turbo are pretty soft and I should have a decent roi from them. But running bad doesn't help the confidence. Also the 60-180 player turbo sng's look to be pretty soft ,and I've heard you can do pretty well in those.
And there is always nlhe cash games.
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Commitment, the Lady of Poker wants the ring
I'm at a weird cross roads in my life at the moment. As I have a 9x5 sales job that I don't particularly enjoy or satisfies my financial needs. I have looked at poker as a hobby and something that I would enjoy doing for a living in the last few years.
It's something that I have invested a lot of time and money into learning and becoming proficient at. Something I have enjoyed since I was a teenager, playing with a group of us little degens for 12 hours.
Getting to the point, Overall in my life I have done many things to this extent, getting to the top 80-90% of a certain things, for example automotive racing, multiple online video games, a proficient aquarist and probably a couple other things that I became engulfed with. This is one thing that I am very interested in, besides the money and the life style that goes along with it. n I enjoy the competition and the people around the game. I might be a degen, but it doesn't own me, I own it. Prop bets, betting on sports or last longer with buddies I have always made money. Even bowling something that I'm not that great at (maybe bowl 130 average) but lifetime probably up over a grand in split pickups and big odds on turkeys and wins.
But moving on besides me tooting my own horn or working on my self delusion.
The main issue that i need to work through at the moment is giving something that I enjoy and am also very good at my full attention. Allowing myself to open myself to push and give something my all. I'm not sure if it's a fear of failure, maybe it's a fear of commitment to something or it could be that i'm just lazy.
These are all some of the things that I have been wrestling with.
Dedication and understanding what i'm getting myself into is what i need to understand. There is a long road coming up. Lot's of books to read and digest, Lot's of hours at the tables online and live. There are going to be great swings good and miserable. This is a life style that is not for the weak hearted. Just in the time where I have been playing to pay rent it has been stressful to some extent.
It's something that I have invested a lot of time and money into learning and becoming proficient at. Something I have enjoyed since I was a teenager, playing with a group of us little degens for 12 hours.
Getting to the point, Overall in my life I have done many things to this extent, getting to the top 80-90% of a certain things, for example automotive racing, multiple online video games, a proficient aquarist and probably a couple other things that I became engulfed with. This is one thing that I am very interested in, besides the money and the life style that goes along with it. n I enjoy the competition and the people around the game. I might be a degen, but it doesn't own me, I own it. Prop bets, betting on sports or last longer with buddies I have always made money. Even bowling something that I'm not that great at (maybe bowl 130 average) but lifetime probably up over a grand in split pickups and big odds on turkeys and wins.
But moving on besides me tooting my own horn or working on my self delusion.
The main issue that i need to work through at the moment is giving something that I enjoy and am also very good at my full attention. Allowing myself to open myself to push and give something my all. I'm not sure if it's a fear of failure, maybe it's a fear of commitment to something or it could be that i'm just lazy.
These are all some of the things that I have been wrestling with.
Dedication and understanding what i'm getting myself into is what i need to understand. There is a long road coming up. Lot's of books to read and digest, Lot's of hours at the tables online and live. There are going to be great swings good and miserable. This is a life style that is not for the weak hearted. Just in the time where I have been playing to pay rent it has been stressful to some extent.
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Popped my Sunday Bloody Sunday Cherry
I like U2, so don't judge me or the title, and get your head out of the gutter. So Sunday and Monday were poker days for me, big tourneys, big fields, big prize pools, and a bigger the usual bankroll.
I have been trying to get into the Sunday million for the last two months, as I would never buy in to the $210 event as it would eat up most of my br. After probably $150 in satellites that I bought into and probably re bought a few times, and bubbled more times then I have fingers on one hand. I made it after this close spot.
I'm in a $36 turbo tourney there's about 400 players in there with 68 seats available to the sunday million. I play pretty well, tag is my usual tourney style. Get down close the the end, and we hit the break, i'm doing fairly well in chips 45 out of 80, but the blinds are about to go up to 600/1200 with 10nte and my stack is around 4800. after an orbit and no hands I am left with 2000 on the big blind, it's a10 and i'm committed with 6 people to go to the bubble. It's suited and the sb goes for a steal, I call and my ace high holds up. Getting down to the nit and gritty I have 2000 chips again with 2 places until we get our seats i'm in cut-off +2 with qq, I have to decided if I should risk bubbling with a pretty strong hand that will be called most times and maybe be 3 way action, there were 4 people below me in chips and I didn't know if they were in the blinds or not. After hitting time and thinking about should I go for it now or try to wait out two hands and hopefully these0 a guys get knocked out. I decided to go for the fold and prey that the bubble boy was ready to pop. I was right and when that hand was over I had made the Sunday Million for the first time and a chance to win over 200k for first place.
Besides that I played in a lot of $5-$16 mtt's. I've started cashing in a fair amount of them maybe 1/3, but the problem is I'm usually short stacked or with about 4-10 bb when i hit the bubble. I can usually outlast all the money maniacs who push with any ace or any pp once they get into the money. But I have had a problem in getting my way to the good money, I have been placing enough to make double or triple my money, but I need to start getting into more final tables and maybe win one in a while.
Besides that I'm happy with my play overall. I have learned a lot this weekend about some of my strengths and weaknesses, Ran pretty bad in PLO playing $50 max and $100 max. Couldn't get any action when I made a hand and missed every draw that was ever possible.
Got a couple books on the way, i'll be doing some reviews soon.
I have been trying to get into the Sunday million for the last two months, as I would never buy in to the $210 event as it would eat up most of my br. After probably $150 in satellites that I bought into and probably re bought a few times, and bubbled more times then I have fingers on one hand. I made it after this close spot.
I'm in a $36 turbo tourney there's about 400 players in there with 68 seats available to the sunday million. I play pretty well, tag is my usual tourney style. Get down close the the end, and we hit the break, i'm doing fairly well in chips 45 out of 80, but the blinds are about to go up to 600/1200 with 10nte and my stack is around 4800. after an orbit and no hands I am left with 2000 on the big blind, it's a10 and i'm committed with 6 people to go to the bubble. It's suited and the sb goes for a steal, I call and my ace high holds up. Getting down to the nit and gritty I have 2000 chips again with 2 places until we get our seats i'm in cut-off +2 with qq, I have to decided if I should risk bubbling with a pretty strong hand that will be called most times and maybe be 3 way action, there were 4 people below me in chips and I didn't know if they were in the blinds or not. After hitting time and thinking about should I go for it now or try to wait out two hands and hopefully these0 a guys get knocked out. I decided to go for the fold and prey that the bubble boy was ready to pop. I was right and when that hand was over I had made the Sunday Million for the first time and a chance to win over 200k for first place.
Besides that I played in a lot of $5-$16 mtt's. I've started cashing in a fair amount of them maybe 1/3, but the problem is I'm usually short stacked or with about 4-10 bb when i hit the bubble. I can usually outlast all the money maniacs who push with any ace or any pp once they get into the money. But I have had a problem in getting my way to the good money, I have been placing enough to make double or triple my money, but I need to start getting into more final tables and maybe win one in a while.
Besides that I'm happy with my play overall. I have learned a lot this weekend about some of my strengths and weaknesses, Ran pretty bad in PLO playing $50 max and $100 max. Couldn't get any action when I made a hand and missed every draw that was ever possible.
Got a couple books on the way, i'll be doing some reviews soon.
Poker Places to go to at work (can't filter perfection)
I apologize from all of your employers for making you come back to work on this Tuesday. And for all of you that are at home reading this, I shake my clenched fist as I wish I was at home reading hoh2, on the treadmill, or watching my 28th hour of deadliest catch in the last week. But anyways I'm at work once again, working looking busy along with catching up on poker blogs and articles around the game.
Quick Couple Favorite poker sites I go to while at work (damn you websense)
http://taopoker.blogspot.com/
Pauly's Hijinx are nothing to compare to even a drunken epileptic frat boy on a path of destruction with nothing to lose but another piece of his liver and a few brain cells.
http://www.cardclubs.net/phpbb/index.php?sid=ffcbfcda2d2b66d6b27391a723d38168
A local poker site from my home town of Chidizzle, good info and great people on there to help your live, online game, and quick access to the ante up guys.
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/poker/index
A great resource for all poker news, and even brandon lee's and phil gordon's articles (probably 100 between the two) are fantastic and I have learned a lot about the game and a lot about tourney play reading through everything they have to say.
Just wanted to give you guys and gals some of the sites that I frequent everyday and share my favorites with you all. Please leave a comment if you have any other good sites/blogs to go to that has good poker info, even if it's your own.
Quick Couple Favorite poker sites I go to while at work (damn you websense)
http://taopoker.blogspot.com/
Pauly's Hijinx are nothing to compare to even a drunken epileptic frat boy on a path of destruction with nothing to lose but another piece of his liver and a few brain cells.
http://www.cardclubs.net/phpbb/index.php?sid=ffcbfcda2d2b66d6b27391a723d38168
A local poker site from my home town of Chidizzle, good info and great people on there to help your live, online game, and quick access to the ante up guys.
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/poker/index
A great resource for all poker news, and even brandon lee's and phil gordon's articles (probably 100 between the two) are fantastic and I have learned a lot about the game and a lot about tourney play reading through everything they have to say.
Just wanted to give you guys and gals some of the sites that I frequent everyday and share my favorites with you all. Please leave a comment if you have any other good sites/blogs to go to that has good poker info, even if it's your own.
Friday, May 23, 2008
Donkey Marries two Kings
Yesterday was a good day that helped show some of the progress I have made and also brought to the forefront some of the leaks that need to be addressed.
Got home a little after five after cutting from work early: tired from the previous nights escapades.
Loaded up a plethora of tourney's: All Nlhe's
$6 9man turbo sng
$5 sat to the 50+5 50k guarantee
$22 rebuy mtt
$10 turbo mtt
$10 mtt
$3 rebuy mtt 25k guarantee
$5 mtt
Started off winning the 9man turbo, took it easy and played abc, it's amazing how play is pretty straightforward.
Went deep in the $5 sat to the fifty fifty, I actually joined this tourney thinking it was a cash tourney. Go pretty deep, top 28 get seats. Interesting enough We were on the bubble to get the seats and I was dealt pocket 10's on the button the utg went all in and the co off called. The co had me covered and i knew i was probably ahead, but folded it out because there was no need to fight. utg is gone, and made it into the fifty fifty.
Couple of the big hands later in the fifty fifty, Playing pretty tight and trying to get a feel for the players, surprising enough the play wasn't much greater then your average $10 buy in mtt. Yeah there were fewer players seeing flops and limping but overall i didn't see any more educated plays besides a check raise or two.
Had a couple big hands, fired double barrel a few times with overpairs and missed big aces and build up a good stack. I raised from utg a couple times with kk, rarely got action with them. Had JJ from co -1, raised std 3x bb. That's something that I tried to do in this tourney, keep the bet sizes even from all of the positions to not relenguish the strength of my hand while still getting action.
Big hand after a break 600 left out of 1k players. I had kq from mp, I called a 3x bb raise from utg. Hit the q73, called 1/2 size pot bet. Turn broght a club giving me river flush draw and tpgk. He check's I raise he pops and I call. He has rox, I river the flush and sit on 20k in chips 3x average stack. It was a donk play, can't argue.
The rest of the tourney's were pretty good, cashed in all of them and did alright, didn't get to deep best finish was 60th place for the 10$ 10 minute blinds.
Ending my rain of terror in the fifty fifty, I get kk in utg +2. raise 3x bb, get a caller in lp and sb. flop is 462, bb checks I bet 1/2 pot, lp folds and bb min raises. I call. turn brings another blank, pot is about 10k I have 10k behind and so did he. He puts the rest in and I make a crying call. By no means does this make any sense looking back. The best I can hope for is 8's- qq's, it made perfect sense to be up against a low set with the board and the position of the aggressor or even aa if he was as close to being as bad as I.
Went pretty deep in the 3rebuy, went out in 140th.
Overall I was happy with my play besides the two bad moves in the fifty, I do need to calibrate for the higher buy ins. And not play so poorly. But cashing in most of the tournies and playing pretty tag and felt to be one of the better players on each table.
Live and learn and move on to the next day.
Got home a little after five after cutting from work early: tired from the previous nights escapades.
Loaded up a plethora of tourney's: All Nlhe's
$6 9man turbo sng
$5 sat to the 50+5 50k guarantee
$22 rebuy mtt
$10 turbo mtt
$10 mtt
$3 rebuy mtt 25k guarantee
$5 mtt
Started off winning the 9man turbo, took it easy and played abc, it's amazing how play is pretty straightforward.
Went deep in the $5 sat to the fifty fifty, I actually joined this tourney thinking it was a cash tourney. Go pretty deep, top 28 get seats. Interesting enough We were on the bubble to get the seats and I was dealt pocket 10's on the button the utg went all in and the co off called. The co had me covered and i knew i was probably ahead, but folded it out because there was no need to fight. utg is gone, and made it into the fifty fifty.
Couple of the big hands later in the fifty fifty, Playing pretty tight and trying to get a feel for the players, surprising enough the play wasn't much greater then your average $10 buy in mtt. Yeah there were fewer players seeing flops and limping but overall i didn't see any more educated plays besides a check raise or two.
Had a couple big hands, fired double barrel a few times with overpairs and missed big aces and build up a good stack. I raised from utg a couple times with kk, rarely got action with them. Had JJ from co -1, raised std 3x bb. That's something that I tried to do in this tourney, keep the bet sizes even from all of the positions to not relenguish the strength of my hand while still getting action.
Big hand after a break 600 left out of 1k players. I had kq from mp, I called a 3x bb raise from utg. Hit the q73, called 1/2 size pot bet. Turn broght a club giving me river flush draw and tpgk. He check's I raise he pops and I call. He has rox, I river the flush and sit on 20k in chips 3x average stack. It was a donk play, can't argue.
The rest of the tourney's were pretty good, cashed in all of them and did alright, didn't get to deep best finish was 60th place for the 10$ 10 minute blinds.
Ending my rain of terror in the fifty fifty, I get kk in utg +2. raise 3x bb, get a caller in lp and sb. flop is 462, bb checks I bet 1/2 pot, lp folds and bb min raises. I call. turn brings another blank, pot is about 10k I have 10k behind and so did he. He puts the rest in and I make a crying call. By no means does this make any sense looking back. The best I can hope for is 8's- qq's, it made perfect sense to be up against a low set with the board and the position of the aggressor or even aa if he was as close to being as bad as I.
Went pretty deep in the 3rebuy, went out in 140th.
Overall I was happy with my play besides the two bad moves in the fifty, I do need to calibrate for the higher buy ins. And not play so poorly. But cashing in most of the tournies and playing pretty tag and felt to be one of the better players on each table.
Live and learn and move on to the next day.
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Dancing again with the maniac and his crazy call down colegue
Last night after work went online played in 2 45 man turbo's on stars. A $6 and $11, both seemed reasonable soft, couldn't catch a hand and tried to bluff with ACE high with a qq7 board, busted out 33 & 27th place. Jumped into a .5/1 plo full ring table with 78% vpip, some horrible ass players there. bought in for 60, down to 50 with 2 draws, won a decent pot with 2 pair and got up to 70 and then had dinner and got ready for the game that night.
Drove to the game, sit down the the crazy well versed maniac who always puts me to the test, but pays off my made hands. His buddy comes in who I found out is a doctor and from what i've seen has a lot of gambol and prides himself on reads and sick calls and sick plays, limping utg with aces a lot, check bb with qq things of that nature.
Then we have 2 fish at the game, one works close to me and is a good guy as we become good friends during the game as I broke down the idea of plo starting hands. I'm not sure if i'm one to give advice on plo, but i'm pretty sure it's a better idea then what he knew before hand. Then we have our other player who is pretty tight and very readable especially when we went down to 4 handed. Always doing something that just bothers me as he might be a little slow, but he just does so many things wrong- play wise and poker etiquette wise. Then we have the other pro at the table an online monster who goes through some sick swings. Then we have another recreational player, pretty tight, not many crazy plays, but has a decent line on hand values.
Playing .5/1 h20, 2 rounds of nlhe, 1 round of plo. Both games usually have 1 or two stratelers. few hands in a play a little loose, lose about 10 bucks not hitting any flops. I call a raise preflop on the button with j9, hit my straight and scoop a $25 pot calling down vs a paired turn/river and the 2nd straight.
Played pretty tight after taht, pretty card dead, even in omaha which i play pretty tight unless i know i can get away with a limp, which in this game isn't to common. Big hand mid through the night, aaq3 suited aq. Pot preflop, get repopped, i repop and he tanks and thinks about his kk' or aa. after i make it $40 more to go pretty sure i'm up against an unsuited aa or kk strong hand. he mucks i ask him to run it down for 5 bucks and scoop the pot vs his kkqj.
There was one sick play by my maniac's buddy to my right, $60 pot, $20 to go on the river he's in position, he calls with q6 vs an ak and flush draw on the board and takes it down with q no kicker vs the tight online player.
The big hand of the night, i call pot bet of $5 all day with 6-10 wrap no flush draws on the button. flop comes 7810 2 clubs. I bet pot call and call turn is an 9, i bet 15, small stack pushed for 20.5, the doctor calls i call. River is a j of clubs. Doc bets out 75 and I fold.
SHow DOwn:
K high flush says the doc, the tight fish slow rolls clubs, for the nut straight and says, "well i had a straight" then shows jack o clubs and 7 clubs for the straight flush.
Last big hand for me. I'm in the bb, maniac is utg and opens to 6, fold fold and I look down at 46offsuit. I call liking my hidden straight draws vs him as they are well concealed, i have a pretty tight image, and I will get paid off if i hit my straight vs most of his top 30% of hands. Flop comes 359, rainbow. I lead out with 12, he insta calls. The turn I get there with the 2, i bet out $20, he insta calls.
So the river pairs, which bothers me to some extent, as a set in his hand was pretty possible but most likey i'm up against top 2 or overpair. I bet out 40 he insta calls and i show and rake it in.
This play is a little funny all the way around. Can I outplay him after the flop, maybe. is his hand range pretty huge, yes. Did I think I was good there, 70% if he popped me all in I might have called as I had about $80 behind.
Overall for the night I made 33 bucks, minus the 3 for the house and 5 to my roommate for lettin me borrow his car(TY JULES CREW). Played from 8pm- 2:30pm.
Not to bad overall, little card dead, no aces or king's, in nlhe, and no nuts really in plo.
Good session, looking forward to playing more and more as I am becoming more intune iwth the game every minute i'm sitting at the table. Live and online.
please post any comments for how horrible or great(if you have been drinking :) my theory or play is. I'm learning just like most of you, but i have put a lot of time in and have become a winning player with a lot of playing under my belt and a lot of theory go through my noodle. I am always down to learn, so please let me have it.
Thanks,
KmOn
Drove to the game, sit down the the crazy well versed maniac who always puts me to the test, but pays off my made hands. His buddy comes in who I found out is a doctor and from what i've seen has a lot of gambol and prides himself on reads and sick calls and sick plays, limping utg with aces a lot, check bb with qq things of that nature.
Then we have 2 fish at the game, one works close to me and is a good guy as we become good friends during the game as I broke down the idea of plo starting hands. I'm not sure if i'm one to give advice on plo, but i'm pretty sure it's a better idea then what he knew before hand. Then we have our other player who is pretty tight and very readable especially when we went down to 4 handed. Always doing something that just bothers me as he might be a little slow, but he just does so many things wrong- play wise and poker etiquette wise. Then we have the other pro at the table an online monster who goes through some sick swings. Then we have another recreational player, pretty tight, not many crazy plays, but has a decent line on hand values.
Playing .5/1 h20, 2 rounds of nlhe, 1 round of plo. Both games usually have 1 or two stratelers. few hands in a play a little loose, lose about 10 bucks not hitting any flops. I call a raise preflop on the button with j9, hit my straight and scoop a $25 pot calling down vs a paired turn/river and the 2nd straight.
Played pretty tight after taht, pretty card dead, even in omaha which i play pretty tight unless i know i can get away with a limp, which in this game isn't to common. Big hand mid through the night, aaq3 suited aq. Pot preflop, get repopped, i repop and he tanks and thinks about his kk' or aa. after i make it $40 more to go pretty sure i'm up against an unsuited aa or kk strong hand. he mucks i ask him to run it down for 5 bucks and scoop the pot vs his kkqj.
There was one sick play by my maniac's buddy to my right, $60 pot, $20 to go on the river he's in position, he calls with q6 vs an ak and flush draw on the board and takes it down with q no kicker vs the tight online player.
The big hand of the night, i call pot bet of $5 all day with 6-10 wrap no flush draws on the button. flop comes 7810 2 clubs. I bet pot call and call turn is an 9, i bet 15, small stack pushed for 20.5, the doctor calls i call. River is a j of clubs. Doc bets out 75 and I fold.
SHow DOwn:
K high flush says the doc, the tight fish slow rolls clubs, for the nut straight and says, "well i had a straight" then shows jack o clubs and 7 clubs for the straight flush.
Last big hand for me. I'm in the bb, maniac is utg and opens to 6, fold fold and I look down at 46offsuit. I call liking my hidden straight draws vs him as they are well concealed, i have a pretty tight image, and I will get paid off if i hit my straight vs most of his top 30% of hands. Flop comes 359, rainbow. I lead out with 12, he insta calls. The turn I get there with the 2, i bet out $20, he insta calls.
So the river pairs, which bothers me to some extent, as a set in his hand was pretty possible but most likey i'm up against top 2 or overpair. I bet out 40 he insta calls and i show and rake it in.
This play is a little funny all the way around. Can I outplay him after the flop, maybe. is his hand range pretty huge, yes. Did I think I was good there, 70% if he popped me all in I might have called as I had about $80 behind.
Overall for the night I made 33 bucks, minus the 3 for the house and 5 to my roommate for lettin me borrow his car(TY JULES CREW). Played from 8pm- 2:30pm.
Not to bad overall, little card dead, no aces or king's, in nlhe, and no nuts really in plo.
Good session, looking forward to playing more and more as I am becoming more intune iwth the game every minute i'm sitting at the table. Live and online.
please post any comments for how horrible or great(if you have been drinking :) my theory or play is. I'm learning just like most of you, but i have put a lot of time in and have become a winning player with a lot of playing under my belt and a lot of theory go through my noodle. I am always down to learn, so please let me have it.
Thanks,
KmOn
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Lucky 7
So this has been an exciting last couple of days. I have really been starting to get into the flow on mtt's, understanding specific levels and when to make appropriate moves against specific players.
I had dinner with the family back in the Chicago suburbs on Saturday and talked to my uncle for a while about work an then on to poker. Talked about how i'm going to be moving to vegas or so-cal to follow my love for poker. The conversation led to the fact that I am 24, no wife or house, pretty much nothing to stop me from taking a shot at poker full time. As I explained my mindset and how I have been playing poker to pay bills in the last couple of months it seems like an easy decision.
This is an exciting time, getting to a level where I consider myself a favorite in many of the games I play, except for the occasional "real" pro.(real as I mean makes a good living playing cards, not just getting by)
So back to this weekend, wake up early on Sunday morning to get on the train and back home to satellite in the Sunday million (210buyin)and also the Ftops Main event (500+50). Made it deep in the sunday million $8 rebuy satellite, got down to the final 300, 70 people get seats, 44 vs a7 with a stack of about 4m and he hit his ace. played in a 33 dollar sat to the Sunday Million, poor finish there as my internet lagged out for 15 minutes and i got blinded down in the turbo.
Also I could put money on to ftp and a good pro friend of mine I haven't talked to a while was my one source to put money on there, but no harm no foul, I 'm looking forward to depositing the 600 to get the 600 bonus.
Anyways to the fun stuff, played in my 2nd plo tourney, this one was a $15+1 with about 160 people. I played pretty well, the structure was good and the players were average i would say.(coming from my limited experience/knowledge of PLO)
I don't have much notes as I was multitabling at the time along with not having pokertracker-omaha. I was weilding my big stack pretty well and got down to the final table. Finished in 7th for a cool $62.15. Not bad from 1.95 left over from all the satellites that i put into a 1.75 horse 18man tourney sng and won that for 9.85. Then turned that 9.85 into 51 in $25 max, 6max plo. It was pretty cool as I was figureing out during this cash game what is was all about having positon on a fairly bad player and disguising hands and going for a big raise on the river and getting paid off, letting him keep firing and then catching something small on the river to lose against my flopped nuts.
So i'm sitting down Monday night, actually I ran home to get into the 3rebuy on stars I've finished in 60th place in that out of 3000 before for $60 bucks, first place got 12k it was pretty cool but it runs really long and is a crap shoot. Jumped into a bunch of tourney's- 90 man $12 turbo, $3rebuy, $22rebuy, and a $5rebuy with a $25 add-on at the break for 5k in chips. Internet went down so I had to leave my 63" dlp in my room to go play in the family room. Bust out of the 90 man 6 from the money, bust out of the rebuy after 3 buyins lose interest and heart in that tourney getting riverd twice. The $22 rebuy I got blinded down about 1/3 my stack and couldn't recover after the internet issue. But the $5 rebuy was pretty lively, bad players lot's of rebuy's and all in's preflop. The guy next to me pushed preflop a couple times in a row, so I did a rebuy to get to max stack, waited for him, and got busted with qq vs a4, rebought double so i'm in for 20. Take it easy couple of double ups and most of the time I'm about 1/2-2/3 average chip stacks. Then the break came with 300 players left from the starting 600.
204 players bought the $25 addon for 5k in chips. With how I was playing and how poorly the other players were playing I decided against buying the add-on, along with the fact i had no money in my stars account.(great br management**). Tourney started backup, played some more tag style and did pretty well, there were some loose chips after the add-on and I doubled up twice to 20k in chips, just around average with about 200 people left. Got my stack down to around 12k, found pocket jacks 3 times in the next 10 hands, took down to pots preflop with all in bets in mid position that were good size, then the 3rd time I got called.
Got down to the bubble of 90 players with a pretty healthy stack about 2x the average. Got down to 11 players with really tight play and pushing around my big stack pretty well. I got to short stacks all in and dropped them both with kk.
Hit the final table with 8 players after the break, i'm 2nd in chips with 700k with first place at 734,000. Ran into the big stack on the first hand, aj vs his raise of my bb. I called, we checked it down and I won with ajhigh vs his k10, now i have the chip lead. Another short stack get's busted out and were at 7, i'm 1st in chips again and picking up a lot of free pots preflop. The guy next to me a$$a$$in(my right) starts pushing 3 hands in a row. The 4th time it was my bb, he had 300k behind I had 725k behind. I sit there with aq and snap call, run into kk and no ace saves me. Get short, win a couple position all in's vs mid stacks. Make a couple of position raises against some good players with big stacks and fold a sb all in of my bb with k10, I should have snap called but I was waiting for a big hand. Later I raised on the button and the sb put me all in, I had kq with an m of about 5. Shouldve snap called there. Finally I get all in with a9s vs 22 and that is it for me 7th place and 612bucks for a 20 buyin.
I was mad as I slammed my notebook closed, roomated Jules Crew who has been watching most of the final two tables says "hey man, did you like your play?" I respond with yeah. Then you did great, no super mistakes besides tighting up way to much now with big k's with a short stack but that's something I have learned from and now I have some money to work on my game, looking to try some more sng's as that was my bread and butter during my ftp 8x table days.
Overall it's been a good couple of days even though I bubbled the sunday million sats the last 5 weeks. I'll try to write these soon after the tourney's and get more info for you guys.
Thanks,
KmOn
I had dinner with the family back in the Chicago suburbs on Saturday and talked to my uncle for a while about work an then on to poker. Talked about how i'm going to be moving to vegas or so-cal to follow my love for poker. The conversation led to the fact that I am 24, no wife or house, pretty much nothing to stop me from taking a shot at poker full time. As I explained my mindset and how I have been playing poker to pay bills in the last couple of months it seems like an easy decision.
This is an exciting time, getting to a level where I consider myself a favorite in many of the games I play, except for the occasional "real" pro.(real as I mean makes a good living playing cards, not just getting by)
So back to this weekend, wake up early on Sunday morning to get on the train and back home to satellite in the Sunday million (210buyin)and also the Ftops Main event (500+50). Made it deep in the sunday million $8 rebuy satellite, got down to the final 300, 70 people get seats, 44 vs a7 with a stack of about 4m and he hit his ace. played in a 33 dollar sat to the Sunday Million, poor finish there as my internet lagged out for 15 minutes and i got blinded down in the turbo.
Also I could put money on to ftp and a good pro friend of mine I haven't talked to a while was my one source to put money on there, but no harm no foul, I 'm looking forward to depositing the 600 to get the 600 bonus.
Anyways to the fun stuff, played in my 2nd plo tourney, this one was a $15+1 with about 160 people. I played pretty well, the structure was good and the players were average i would say.(coming from my limited experience/knowledge of PLO)
I don't have much notes as I was multitabling at the time along with not having pokertracker-omaha. I was weilding my big stack pretty well and got down to the final table. Finished in 7th for a cool $62.15. Not bad from 1.95 left over from all the satellites that i put into a 1.75 horse 18man tourney sng and won that for 9.85. Then turned that 9.85 into 51 in $25 max, 6max plo. It was pretty cool as I was figureing out during this cash game what is was all about having positon on a fairly bad player and disguising hands and going for a big raise on the river and getting paid off, letting him keep firing and then catching something small on the river to lose against my flopped nuts.
So i'm sitting down Monday night, actually I ran home to get into the 3rebuy on stars I've finished in 60th place in that out of 3000 before for $60 bucks, first place got 12k it was pretty cool but it runs really long and is a crap shoot. Jumped into a bunch of tourney's- 90 man $12 turbo, $3rebuy, $22rebuy, and a $5rebuy with a $25 add-on at the break for 5k in chips. Internet went down so I had to leave my 63" dlp in my room to go play in the family room. Bust out of the 90 man 6 from the money, bust out of the rebuy after 3 buyins lose interest and heart in that tourney getting riverd twice. The $22 rebuy I got blinded down about 1/3 my stack and couldn't recover after the internet issue. But the $5 rebuy was pretty lively, bad players lot's of rebuy's and all in's preflop. The guy next to me pushed preflop a couple times in a row, so I did a rebuy to get to max stack, waited for him, and got busted with qq vs a4, rebought double so i'm in for 20. Take it easy couple of double ups and most of the time I'm about 1/2-2/3 average chip stacks. Then the break came with 300 players left from the starting 600.
204 players bought the $25 addon for 5k in chips. With how I was playing and how poorly the other players were playing I decided against buying the add-on, along with the fact i had no money in my stars account.(great br management**). Tourney started backup, played some more tag style and did pretty well, there were some loose chips after the add-on and I doubled up twice to 20k in chips, just around average with about 200 people left. Got my stack down to around 12k, found pocket jacks 3 times in the next 10 hands, took down to pots preflop with all in bets in mid position that were good size, then the 3rd time I got called.
Got down to the bubble of 90 players with a pretty healthy stack about 2x the average. Got down to 11 players with really tight play and pushing around my big stack pretty well. I got to short stacks all in and dropped them both with kk.
Hit the final table with 8 players after the break, i'm 2nd in chips with 700k with first place at 734,000. Ran into the big stack on the first hand, aj vs his raise of my bb. I called, we checked it down and I won with ajhigh vs his k10, now i have the chip lead. Another short stack get's busted out and were at 7, i'm 1st in chips again and picking up a lot of free pots preflop. The guy next to me a$$a$$in(my right) starts pushing 3 hands in a row. The 4th time it was my bb, he had 300k behind I had 725k behind. I sit there with aq and snap call, run into kk and no ace saves me. Get short, win a couple position all in's vs mid stacks. Make a couple of position raises against some good players with big stacks and fold a sb all in of my bb with k10, I should have snap called but I was waiting for a big hand. Later I raised on the button and the sb put me all in, I had kq with an m of about 5. Shouldve snap called there. Finally I get all in with a9s vs 22 and that is it for me 7th place and 612bucks for a 20 buyin.
I was mad as I slammed my notebook closed, roomated Jules Crew who has been watching most of the final two tables says "hey man, did you like your play?" I respond with yeah. Then you did great, no super mistakes besides tighting up way to much now with big k's with a short stack but that's something I have learned from and now I have some money to work on my game, looking to try some more sng's as that was my bread and butter during my ftp 8x table days.
Overall it's been a good couple of days even though I bubbled the sunday million sats the last 5 weeks. I'll try to write these soon after the tourney's and get more info for you guys.
Thanks,
KmOn
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Table Image and Dynamics
Something that has helped my game immensely has been becoming aware of what was going on outside of my own hands and plays. Following the table when my hand is in the muck can give you so much information about what other players think and do. This might be basic, but there's a chance i can come across some type of gem that you haven't thought about.
Basically throughout playing poker semi-professionally(recently i have been playing to pay rent that is way above my income from my current job) I have found that education along with dedication is the key to success. Playing with people that I have a fairly good read on to playing with completely new professional players has helped me understand different player types along with the actions that each take. Playing with nits that rarely open without ak/aq or high pp's and limp with very few drawing hands and maybe 22-1010 are an easy player to play against compared to a Maniac who raises often, sees many flops and has no problem pushing with any scare card. Putting players into different categories and understanding there hand ranges has helped my game probably more then anything else so far.
Also a big part of all this is understanding your own table image, thinking about the recent hands you have shown down, along with thinking of the history of the hands you have played with the villain(s).
Let's go for an example:
This is a fullring omaha potlimit Hi 1/2. Game has a few donks, maybe 3 total, 2 good players and the rest in the middle. Just finished a $60 buyin 30 player tourney and chopped for first for $550. Haven't had much experience with the guys in the cash game as it seemed like they got knocked out early and started the cash game asap. The guy in co -2 was talking about this being his 3rd buyin and when someone talked about losing 1k last week at a local card club he said "we'll it's not as bad as mine at so and so's the week before" So my mouth is watering.
Delt ace ace 2s 5s utg
I pot to 7 all day, folds around to the co-2 who also pots pretty quickly. Comes back to me, I pot, he pots, gets back to me I'm thinking about the all in last pot. Wondering where my lonely aces stand vs this could be super donky. I have only played a handfull of omaha hands throughout my life so i was very unsure if I could behind to another aa with a second pair in the hole. After some consideration and having my 2,5, suited I push the rest in. I don't think there is a time where i could fold this, but knowing a little bit about this player just from regular banter made my decisions and the way I played the hand pretty easy.
Sorry to say I can't think of a great example atm. Something will come to me, and I will have plenty of things to talk about once I start rounding again next week. I have 3 house games I play in weekly all of them i'm the best or one of the best players in it. Going to start to play 1/2 at the boats as i've heard it's a donk fest compared to the rockstyle 2/5 game with 5 regulars. Getting a 1k-2k stack is somewhat common from what i've heard, i've only played 2/5 there 3 times and every time I have not been a favorite so we'll see what happens, I know i'll have a story or two of how we had a 6 player preflop with a raise of 4x bb and getting rivered for a ben or two, but we'll also talk about some of the players there and ways of maximizing profit along with protecting my hand and hopefully there not so bad where I can put them on a range of hands.
Basically throughout playing poker semi-professionally(recently i have been playing to pay rent that is way above my income from my current job) I have found that education along with dedication is the key to success. Playing with people that I have a fairly good read on to playing with completely new professional players has helped me understand different player types along with the actions that each take. Playing with nits that rarely open without ak/aq or high pp's and limp with very few drawing hands and maybe 22-1010 are an easy player to play against compared to a Maniac who raises often, sees many flops and has no problem pushing with any scare card. Putting players into different categories and understanding there hand ranges has helped my game probably more then anything else so far.
Also a big part of all this is understanding your own table image, thinking about the recent hands you have shown down, along with thinking of the history of the hands you have played with the villain(s).
Let's go for an example:
This is a fullring omaha potlimit Hi 1/2. Game has a few donks, maybe 3 total, 2 good players and the rest in the middle. Just finished a $60 buyin 30 player tourney and chopped for first for $550. Haven't had much experience with the guys in the cash game as it seemed like they got knocked out early and started the cash game asap. The guy in co -2 was talking about this being his 3rd buyin and when someone talked about losing 1k last week at a local card club he said "we'll it's not as bad as mine at so and so's the week before" So my mouth is watering.
Delt ace ace 2s 5s utg
I pot to 7 all day, folds around to the co-2 who also pots pretty quickly. Comes back to me, I pot, he pots, gets back to me I'm thinking about the all in last pot. Wondering where my lonely aces stand vs this could be super donky. I have only played a handfull of omaha hands throughout my life so i was very unsure if I could behind to another aa with a second pair in the hole. After some consideration and having my 2,5, suited I push the rest in. I don't think there is a time where i could fold this, but knowing a little bit about this player just from regular banter made my decisions and the way I played the hand pretty easy.
Sorry to say I can't think of a great example atm. Something will come to me, and I will have plenty of things to talk about once I start rounding again next week. I have 3 house games I play in weekly all of them i'm the best or one of the best players in it. Going to start to play 1/2 at the boats as i've heard it's a donk fest compared to the rockstyle 2/5 game with 5 regulars. Getting a 1k-2k stack is somewhat common from what i've heard, i've only played 2/5 there 3 times and every time I have not been a favorite so we'll see what happens, I know i'll have a story or two of how we had a 6 player preflop with a raise of 4x bb and getting rivered for a ben or two, but we'll also talk about some of the players there and ways of maximizing profit along with protecting my hand and hopefully there not so bad where I can put them on a range of hands.
Kmon and Kards
I've been reading so many poker blogs in the the recent weeks I wanted to throw my hat into the ring. I have helped a lot of players grow and become winning players on my own road to success, so I thought that sharing my experience and research into the game could help many others on here. Along with I'm always learning when i empathize with the student, this is where i need to concentrate on my explanations and reasonings for what i do, and this in turn helps me understand what i did beside "i had a read" or "i was pot committed". There's more to a decision the further you go down the poker road, it's amazing when thinking back to how I would explain a hand a year ago to now the level of detail about every player involved in the hand, the table dynamics, my table image, the preflop and tendencies of the villain are a few examples.
I've recently purchased 7 books on amazon(it was 8 when i ordered and the Read book with FBI guy and Phil PokerBrat Hellmuth) So far I have started reading Harrington on cash v1, Professional No-Limit HOldem, and THe fulltilt poker strategy guide(tournament edition).
Takes on different books so far, started with Pro Nlhe- it's fantastic. I believe it takes the progression from NLTAP(no limit and theory by sklansky and ed miller). Opening up a couple more ideas on some of the baseline ideas. I am on page 171, and right now it's talking about spr, where the amount of the shortest stack divided by the pot should be a certain number to be ev. That's my take on it so far, it was alittle confusing as I came into it after started another book Killer Mathmatics of poker- which looks like to be a pretty tough read where they ask you to get a graphing calculator pen and paper and a lot of free time.
To finish up my take on books I really wanta say make sure your reading the right books, a problem that i brought onto myself is reading a wrong book, and that in it's own set me back about 2 years. I am a no limit player that has a played a variety of table games since a young age with a group degens like myself since 4th grade, spreading 8 man bj, acey ducey, getting up to jacks or better, five card draw and anything else we could gamble on. But after reading holdem for advanced players and learning some good ideas i thought at the time my br that was built from a free $10 bucks on prima went to Zero. I'm not sure if i can blame the book for it, but the timing is pretty impressive, where i try to utilize limit strats in a nlhe game.
Since then I have grown as a player, being an average player to i would say a proficient player that is close to having an edge on most tough nlhe full ring 2/5 tables. Playing online for a year with nothing to show for it was a great learning experience after college while looking for a job. The million hands I went through and situations I saw over and over again will forever help me in some situations that many players have only seen once if ever.
Well there's this blog, I just wanted to put a baseline down before getting into theory and strategy, I mostly play live and am a constant winner now even against pros. Sample rate is small maybe out of 50 live games i've played in the last couple of months i was a winner about 80% of the time. As of recent I am a winner in 18/20 of the cash games i have played in ranging from 1/2-2/5 nlhe, omaha. Also I have won the last three live tournies I have played in with no rush of cards besides seeing kk twice and aces maybe once in the three tournies. Just solid play and table reads along with maximizing position and players view of my play has helped me reach 3 final tables as short stack and making it to hu and chopping or taking it down.
So hopefully i have some good advice and learn something myself throughout this blog journey.
Hola,
KmOn
I've recently purchased 7 books on amazon(it was 8 when i ordered and the Read book with FBI guy and Phil PokerBrat Hellmuth) So far I have started reading Harrington on cash v1, Professional No-Limit HOldem, and THe fulltilt poker strategy guide(tournament edition).
Takes on different books so far, started with Pro Nlhe- it's fantastic. I believe it takes the progression from NLTAP(no limit and theory by sklansky and ed miller). Opening up a couple more ideas on some of the baseline ideas. I am on page 171, and right now it's talking about spr, where the amount of the shortest stack divided by the pot should be a certain number to be ev. That's my take on it so far, it was alittle confusing as I came into it after started another book Killer Mathmatics of poker- which looks like to be a pretty tough read where they ask you to get a graphing calculator pen and paper and a lot of free time.
To finish up my take on books I really wanta say make sure your reading the right books, a problem that i brought onto myself is reading a wrong book, and that in it's own set me back about 2 years. I am a no limit player that has a played a variety of table games since a young age with a group degens like myself since 4th grade, spreading 8 man bj, acey ducey, getting up to jacks or better, five card draw and anything else we could gamble on. But after reading holdem for advanced players and learning some good ideas i thought at the time my br that was built from a free $10 bucks on prima went to Zero. I'm not sure if i can blame the book for it, but the timing is pretty impressive, where i try to utilize limit strats in a nlhe game.
Since then I have grown as a player, being an average player to i would say a proficient player that is close to having an edge on most tough nlhe full ring 2/5 tables. Playing online for a year with nothing to show for it was a great learning experience after college while looking for a job. The million hands I went through and situations I saw over and over again will forever help me in some situations that many players have only seen once if ever.
Well there's this blog, I just wanted to put a baseline down before getting into theory and strategy, I mostly play live and am a constant winner now even against pros. Sample rate is small maybe out of 50 live games i've played in the last couple of months i was a winner about 80% of the time. As of recent I am a winner in 18/20 of the cash games i have played in ranging from 1/2-2/5 nlhe, omaha. Also I have won the last three live tournies I have played in with no rush of cards besides seeing kk twice and aces maybe once in the three tournies. Just solid play and table reads along with maximizing position and players view of my play has helped me reach 3 final tables as short stack and making it to hu and chopping or taking it down.
So hopefully i have some good advice and learn something myself throughout this blog journey.
Hola,
KmOn
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