Only real interesting losing hand was this:
http://weaktight.com/6523835 - guy had 90% btn range and high cbet and I'm basically just looking to exploit his likely lack of fightback-ability on the flop. He's slightlllllly on the play-happy side though and capable of floating, hence the turn cc. River, I just felt I looked exactly like Jx that wasn't folding, so even though I kinda hated folding to a 90% range, not all of which will value bet the river, his likely respect for my turn cc meant I chose a close fold.
And a winning one........
http://weaktight.com/6523846 - pretty interesting one this, and river is imo close between fold call and shove. Fold is of course completely standard, but he just doesn't really have any Kxs in his range other than KJss and KTss....... these were my thoughts in real time, but looking back at the hand now he has 22% open from that position and so in fact does have KsJx as well, so like 6 combos that can call the river. AxKs and QxKs, KsKx would all cc the turn, and it's probably this secret bit of info that he doesn't realise about his own range that enables me to make a credible shove. Call is attractive too, but felt like he might vbet random Jxs and also bet Ax rather than check and have me win the pot like 90% of the time. Flop is standard float, turn may seem light but he cbets way too much with too wide of a range, and this turn card just increased his bluffs at least as much as it improved him, and I still had the option to bluff certain rivers.
Friday 28 February 2014
Thursday 27 February 2014
Session #3 Review
Happy again with how it turned out, and I'm finding poker interesting again which always helps.
http://weaktight.com/6519801 - a non standard turn shove, but I think it's a million times better than cc for a few reasons. We're going broke to AT etc anyway on a blank, he isn't bluffing blanks (which might make river on a blank theory fold but still we're going to call expecting to see AQ sometimes) and cc just alows him to bink his draws, check back his weaker ace x that felt obliged to bet because of the need to be balanced or whatever.
http://weaktight.com/6519808 - again just remembering to handread here rather than be slave to a random 'rule'. Checked back flop as my default at the moment as I discussed in an earlier blog. Turn, not thrilled but he's not betting Tx and he picked up several draws. River is really close, as people don't *usually* bluff into a perceived range of top pairs and trips. Most just aren't capable- they want a really really high success % on their bluffs. This guy is capable though, and doesn't rep anything at all on the river because even though he might bluff he'd also just check Ax to my perceived Tx and bluffcatch it.
http://weaktight.com/6519822 - same villain, couldn't find a fold given the absolute strength of my hand relative to my range. Preflop, I'm currently flatting premiums when the first card is black, and 3betting the red ones. Might seem retarded to some but I'm happy with the randomisation it gives me.
http://weaktight.com/6519801 - a non standard turn shove, but I think it's a million times better than cc for a few reasons. We're going broke to AT etc anyway on a blank, he isn't bluffing blanks (which might make river on a blank theory fold but still we're going to call expecting to see AQ sometimes) and cc just alows him to bink his draws, check back his weaker ace x that felt obliged to bet because of the need to be balanced or whatever.
http://weaktight.com/6519808 - again just remembering to handread here rather than be slave to a random 'rule'. Checked back flop as my default at the moment as I discussed in an earlier blog. Turn, not thrilled but he's not betting Tx and he picked up several draws. River is really close, as people don't *usually* bluff into a perceived range of top pairs and trips. Most just aren't capable- they want a really really high success % on their bluffs. This guy is capable though, and doesn't rep anything at all on the river because even though he might bluff he'd also just check Ax to my perceived Tx and bluffcatch it.
http://weaktight.com/6519822 - same villain, couldn't find a fold given the absolute strength of my hand relative to my range. Preflop, I'm currently flatting premiums when the first card is black, and 3betting the red ones. Might seem retarded to some but I'm happy with the randomisation it gives me.
Wednesday 26 February 2014
Session #2 Review
I was playing well and enjoying that session, then a couple of tilting hands meant that I should probably take a break and come write this blog. Probably a decent habit to get into. I wish I'd kept my tables up though as I was deep on all and I can do so much more stuff.
http://weaktight.com/6518663 - first tilting hand, I think because my instinct was saying call the river but that just goes against all the evidence and everything I know about random fishes. If I had AKhh then it would've meant half the combos of A5s and so maybe I'd have called. Flop might seem like a 'wtf dude it's a fish just bet', but his range is wide and I feel I do better having him bluff or improve. Back in the day fish were different and it was like just go bet bet bet and they might cr bluff and spaz anyway, but yeh feel it's an ok played hand, with the caveat that if I were truly trusting my instinct I would've called river... but then it's probably a good fold anyway.
http://weaktight.com/6518673 - happy with this, if only because I didn't a) just autocbet the flop (dude it's standard wtf) and that I also didn't just rando jam or check the river, both of which allow him to play pretty well.
http://weaktight.com/6518679 - this was the 2nd tilting hand. Man it's probably just a fold but he was a total rando fish with wide stats. 43cc one time!
Not cbetting seems to be going well, just opens up so many more creative options for me. Back to it!
http://weaktight.com/6518663 - first tilting hand, I think because my instinct was saying call the river but that just goes against all the evidence and everything I know about random fishes. If I had AKhh then it would've meant half the combos of A5s and so maybe I'd have called. Flop might seem like a 'wtf dude it's a fish just bet', but his range is wide and I feel I do better having him bluff or improve. Back in the day fish were different and it was like just go bet bet bet and they might cr bluff and spaz anyway, but yeh feel it's an ok played hand, with the caveat that if I were truly trusting my instinct I would've called river... but then it's probably a good fold anyway.
http://weaktight.com/6518673 - happy with this, if only because I didn't a) just autocbet the flop (dude it's standard wtf) and that I also didn't just rando jam or check the river, both of which allow him to play pretty well.
http://weaktight.com/6518679 - this was the 2nd tilting hand. Man it's probably just a fold but he was a total rando fish with wide stats. 43cc one time!
Not cbetting seems to be going well, just opens up so many more creative options for me. Back to it!
Session #1 Review
Very pleased with that session, I felt like looking for creative options everywhere really opened my mind and got it out of 'grind mode'. I had a few decent coolers totalling 2 BIs, and didn't win a whole BI myself in any pot but still finished 0.5 a BI up.
http://weaktight.com/6517912- I probably would've folded this river this morning to be honest, because it went against some of my 'rules', basically the ones pointing me towards no needless spew. The thing about rules is that they can take you out of thinking, but here I was able to realise how wide his turn stabbing range is, how the 3flush river increases his bluffing frequency way more than it makes him a flush, and the in-congruency of his turn stab and his river overbet. Preflop is one of those things to change up my ranges a bit, and I'd probably have AK close to 100% here had I not decided to stop being so predictable.
http://weaktight.com/6517938- preflop I really like squeezing at the moment, PSR is often difficult for anyone to do anything about it, and picking the right spots can generate a much higher success % frequency. Flop and turn again were just about a little thinking rather than blanket 'zomg reverse equity', guy was a semi fish and had wideish stats in this spot, was 3betting a decent amount so didn't have AK, wouldn't play KJ like this, we block KQ, yada.
http://weaktight.com/6517944- couldn't quite get away from this. I know the guy from a skype group and I hated it when he shoved, but then it is quite an attractive spot to jam a flushdraw given guy in the middle stabbing a ton, I have QQ a lot, etc.
http://weaktight.com/6517950- proud of this one! Passive fish and the timing and sizing just had my instinct screaming AA. Probably can't describe just how certain I was, and resisted the urge to play on anyway and 'see'.
http://weaktight.com/6517958- unsure on this one. The guy is a decent 1-2 reg, and therefore the best bluffs VS such guys are those where the villain has an uncapped range and it's therefore perceived suicidal to be bluffing them. The ace river in his shoes I would've snapped off with Kx, simply because of what it does to my bluffing frequency (up) while keeping my value range steady. Again though, he's thinking that he has AK, 9x, therefore I can't be bluffing.
http://weaktight.com/6517971- creatively played hand where again on the river I get snapped off by Ad sometimes, but I have zero perceived bluffs in my range and it's a good spot. Flop is a raise, just because I think call loses money and it keeps my options open.
So yeah, decently happy with how it turned out. The hard part may be keeping this mindset up, but so long as I keep thinking and looking for creative options I should be able to get into good habits.
http://weaktight.com/6517912- I probably would've folded this river this morning to be honest, because it went against some of my 'rules', basically the ones pointing me towards no needless spew. The thing about rules is that they can take you out of thinking, but here I was able to realise how wide his turn stabbing range is, how the 3flush river increases his bluffing frequency way more than it makes him a flush, and the in-congruency of his turn stab and his river overbet. Preflop is one of those things to change up my ranges a bit, and I'd probably have AK close to 100% here had I not decided to stop being so predictable.
http://weaktight.com/6517938- preflop I really like squeezing at the moment, PSR is often difficult for anyone to do anything about it, and picking the right spots can generate a much higher success % frequency. Flop and turn again were just about a little thinking rather than blanket 'zomg reverse equity', guy was a semi fish and had wideish stats in this spot, was 3betting a decent amount so didn't have AK, wouldn't play KJ like this, we block KQ, yada.
http://weaktight.com/6517944- couldn't quite get away from this. I know the guy from a skype group and I hated it when he shoved, but then it is quite an attractive spot to jam a flushdraw given guy in the middle stabbing a ton, I have QQ a lot, etc.
http://weaktight.com/6517950- proud of this one! Passive fish and the timing and sizing just had my instinct screaming AA. Probably can't describe just how certain I was, and resisted the urge to play on anyway and 'see'.
http://weaktight.com/6517958- unsure on this one. The guy is a decent 1-2 reg, and therefore the best bluffs VS such guys are those where the villain has an uncapped range and it's therefore perceived suicidal to be bluffing them. The ace river in his shoes I would've snapped off with Kx, simply because of what it does to my bluffing frequency (up) while keeping my value range steady. Again though, he's thinking that he has AK, 9x, therefore I can't be bluffing.
http://weaktight.com/6517971- creatively played hand where again on the river I get snapped off by Ad sometimes, but I have zero perceived bluffs in my range and it's a good spot. Flop is a raise, just because I think call loses money and it keeps my options open.
So yeah, decently happy with how it turned out. The hard part may be keeping this mindset up, but so long as I keep thinking and looking for creative options I should be able to get into good habits.
I'm Back......
Haven't posted in this blog for a while. I made another new blog with no readers just so that I could write without writing 'to' an audience, but I've decided I need the increased accountability and also sometimes just want to feel like I'm not talking to myself the whole time.
After buying a house, getting a business on an even keel, vet bills, massive expenditure, downswing yada yada I'm at a place financially where I'm basically starting again. I still think I have decent skills, certainly enough to do ok at 2-5 (last 400k hands are at 2bb) but I'm going to play and play and play 1-2, stop spending money and hopefully rocket back up.
Down the years, excessive posting in this blog and others has been a tried and tested way of getting me focussed and playing well. I have so many strategic thoughts whizzing around my head all the time that I really need to get them all down and sorted, and I need to start having accountability for my sessions and HHs whereby I post the worst ones here and stop having terribly played hands as sort of 'guilty secret' that stops me achieving my goals. I also miss talking hands with people, so if anyone reading wants to add on skype and send hands then please do so, and/ or comment on the hands I post here.
I have some strategic things I'd like to write about..... I feel I'm playing a little too predictably in a lot of spots and there's some recent reg traits that have come in that I haven't adjusted to well enough.
Firstly, I'm not doing nearly enough checking as the PFR. I'm talking OOP more than IP, although when ranges are very tight IP then checking should be decent there as well. VS wide ranges, cbets often just minimise our EV by getting insta folds from air a lot. This might seem OK when we ourselves have air, but we rep a much wider and better range by checking and end up winning the pot just as often VS air, probably more often in fact, and also more money as we allow villain to stab his air/ fold river etc.
Closely linked to this is the fact that when regs check as the PFR oop at the moment, the number of insta folds we get from stabbing has gone wayyyy down. It used to just be basically printing money to go 1/2 pot, but at the moment we're faced with a CC a lot, or a CR. VS the CC I often have a wide flatting range and can't credibly barrel off or whatever, and the CR just fucks with my range even more. As a default, I'm going to start checking behind more and then looking to raise turns/ float turns/ ob river etc, all that creative stuff.
Playing in a 'standard' manner just doesn't cut it all any more. Anything approaching what 2p2 would call a well played hand is just gobbled up by any half competent reg. I knew this in the second half of last year and raped 2-5 quite hard........ and there's enough incredibly random regs at 2-5 so play seemingly 'bad' who are also raping. In a nutshell, I think the value in having a 'different' strategy is so massively high. This doesn't mean we just stop adjusting to our opponent etc, but having a default game in a lot of spots that is designed to confuse our opponent rather than play into their seasoned hands is something that gets me inspired and excited to start doing.
Throwing some random stuff out there, I'm talking about things like the following;
No 4betting preflop, flat everything and raise.
No 3betting preflop, flat everything and raise.
Very little cbetting oop, cc everything and look to cr turns/ bomb rivers, etc.
No stabbing IP, check back and play turns and rivers.
More 5bet jamming preflop..... get it in ranges at zoom are so incredibly tight and there's certainly going to be viable strategies that incorporate a lot of 3betting and also jamming pocket pairs a ton. We can usually manipulate the situation by stack depth/ recent history/ position/ our sizing to increase the likelihood of getting 4bet bluffed.
River overbets.
Turning stuff into a bluff A LOT.
Smaller bets and raises in certain spots to cap ranges, then barrel off, etc.
Just pure attacking of wide ranges, and challenge opponent to fight back. CR xx on 922r etc.
So yeah, above is just a flavour of the stuff I'm talking about and the reason I want to start posting again. By being more creative, poker will seem more fun. When it's more fun I'm more interested, when it's more interesting I'm more alert and pay more attention and this helps with my mental game.
I'll make references to mental game occasionally too, but this blog will be mostly about getting into a creative mindset again.
Going to have a shower, eat food, then play for an hour and review the hands here.
After buying a house, getting a business on an even keel, vet bills, massive expenditure, downswing yada yada I'm at a place financially where I'm basically starting again. I still think I have decent skills, certainly enough to do ok at 2-5 (last 400k hands are at 2bb) but I'm going to play and play and play 1-2, stop spending money and hopefully rocket back up.
Down the years, excessive posting in this blog and others has been a tried and tested way of getting me focussed and playing well. I have so many strategic thoughts whizzing around my head all the time that I really need to get them all down and sorted, and I need to start having accountability for my sessions and HHs whereby I post the worst ones here and stop having terribly played hands as sort of 'guilty secret' that stops me achieving my goals. I also miss talking hands with people, so if anyone reading wants to add on skype and send hands then please do so, and/ or comment on the hands I post here.
I have some strategic things I'd like to write about..... I feel I'm playing a little too predictably in a lot of spots and there's some recent reg traits that have come in that I haven't adjusted to well enough.
Firstly, I'm not doing nearly enough checking as the PFR. I'm talking OOP more than IP, although when ranges are very tight IP then checking should be decent there as well. VS wide ranges, cbets often just minimise our EV by getting insta folds from air a lot. This might seem OK when we ourselves have air, but we rep a much wider and better range by checking and end up winning the pot just as often VS air, probably more often in fact, and also more money as we allow villain to stab his air/ fold river etc.
Closely linked to this is the fact that when regs check as the PFR oop at the moment, the number of insta folds we get from stabbing has gone wayyyy down. It used to just be basically printing money to go 1/2 pot, but at the moment we're faced with a CC a lot, or a CR. VS the CC I often have a wide flatting range and can't credibly barrel off or whatever, and the CR just fucks with my range even more. As a default, I'm going to start checking behind more and then looking to raise turns/ float turns/ ob river etc, all that creative stuff.
Playing in a 'standard' manner just doesn't cut it all any more. Anything approaching what 2p2 would call a well played hand is just gobbled up by any half competent reg. I knew this in the second half of last year and raped 2-5 quite hard........ and there's enough incredibly random regs at 2-5 so play seemingly 'bad' who are also raping. In a nutshell, I think the value in having a 'different' strategy is so massively high. This doesn't mean we just stop adjusting to our opponent etc, but having a default game in a lot of spots that is designed to confuse our opponent rather than play into their seasoned hands is something that gets me inspired and excited to start doing.
Throwing some random stuff out there, I'm talking about things like the following;
No 4betting preflop, flat everything and raise.
No 3betting preflop, flat everything and raise.
Very little cbetting oop, cc everything and look to cr turns/ bomb rivers, etc.
No stabbing IP, check back and play turns and rivers.
More 5bet jamming preflop..... get it in ranges at zoom are so incredibly tight and there's certainly going to be viable strategies that incorporate a lot of 3betting and also jamming pocket pairs a ton. We can usually manipulate the situation by stack depth/ recent history/ position/ our sizing to increase the likelihood of getting 4bet bluffed.
River overbets.
Turning stuff into a bluff A LOT.
Smaller bets and raises in certain spots to cap ranges, then barrel off, etc.
Just pure attacking of wide ranges, and challenge opponent to fight back. CR xx on 922r etc.
So yeah, above is just a flavour of the stuff I'm talking about and the reason I want to start posting again. By being more creative, poker will seem more fun. When it's more fun I'm more interested, when it's more interesting I'm more alert and pay more attention and this helps with my mental game.
I'll make references to mental game occasionally too, but this blog will be mostly about getting into a creative mindset again.
Going to have a shower, eat food, then play for an hour and review the hands here.
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