I was extremely gung-ho in the last session, probably too much so and with not enough thought. I was 3betting almost everything, but leaving my cold call ranges weak, and basically looking to go into full blooded war with whoever fought back. I think my image definitely needs to worsen somewhat, I've had more than a few comments calling me a nit and it almost certainly helps explain why I just haven't won my 'fair share' of big pots of late.
So I'm going to keep on with the same game-plan and attitude, that of constantly looking to attack weakness, but also slow down in some of my decision making and think through the spot a bit more.
Tuesday, 11 March 2014
200nl Session Review
I just played a session of 200 where I really opened everything up, putting on as much pressure PF as possible then looking to go a bit mental postflop. If there's one way you'd characterise the average reg at 200 it would be 'incredibly risk averse' and it felt good to be taking control of every hand and making things happen rather than sit there and wait for fish to donate.
The key thing with playing this high intensity a style is keep it under control. It's a very fine line between playing totally on the edge, and being a spewing clown. Knowing when to quit is even more important, and remembering to handread and profile regs and their tendencies also.
I had 3 big non-showdown pots that session where I lost $100 in each, but my red line was still up half a buyin and this bodes well.
The key thing with playing this high intensity a style is keep it under control. It's a very fine line between playing totally on the edge, and being a spewing clown. Knowing when to quit is even more important, and remembering to handread and profile regs and their tendencies also.
I had 3 big non-showdown pots that session where I lost $100 in each, but my red line was still up half a buyin and this bodes well.
Stupid Game
Well, the 500 shot went wrong as you can see. A couple of thoughts about it:
- I think I ran pretty badly. Not just in terms of EV, but also situations. I've been making really decent folds, and not stacking light at all, but I've had cooler after cooler whilst not having my 'fair share' (lol) of situations going the other way. I've always prided myself on never mentioning running bad, but honestly I just think I've never run this bad before and maybe I was never properly tested.
- Having said that, there are doubtless things to improve. I should NOT be losing at non-showdown at 11.72bb, and I think even over a small sample this is symptomatic of some leaks. Probably not enough raw preflop aggression, not enough turning hands into bluffs, too much calling a street with a big betsize without a decent plan of winning the hand (call the bet on the next street which is 90% coming, or bluffing).
- Related to the above, is that I haven't been doing enough creative bluffing. My WWSF started to fall off a cliff after being initially over 50, and my reluctance to put in flop bets without following through probably means I missed decent spots to just apply pure pressure/ or having checked the flop I didn't follow through with my plan which is to float turns/ bluff rivers etc.
- My blind 3betting has been wayyyyyy too low it turns out, only 5% overall and only 6% VS late position steals. My SB fold to LP steal has gotten as high as 82%, with my BB at 62%. I need to double my 3bet numbers there and stop being so exploitable and burning money.
- Back to creative bluffing, I just had a re-read of my blog where I listed some potential creative stuff, and I haven't been implementing any of it at 500. I think a really cool way to manipulate ranges is with betsizing, and I've probably handicapped myself by being too wedded to not cbetting in certain spots. I should be 'not cbetting' in a spot where it's hard to see a way to win the pot when called or raised, but otherwise there's gonna be times where cbetting gets the range and turn PSR exactly where I want it. An example is 4bet pots where we bet small to then threaten the whole stack on the turn with a PSR leverage bet.
- Raise flop and XR flop were both way too low at 10%... this is maybe fine, but again just shows I had no creative weapons in my locker with which to properly attack 2-5. Seems to me like I was probably scared money, and I think I was aware of this at times in 3bet pots where I wanted to make some huge bluffs but excused myself with thoughts like 'nah, keep it simple'.
Other stuff: I have loads of poker energy right now so I'm going to put that to good use. More blogs, more analysis, more creative ways of doing things. I'll also make a video series on Ivey, I'm thinking something along the lines of videos where I, for example, cbet 0%, or 3bet 0% whilst talking about the importance of playing 'differently' from your opponent. If this seems like giving too much away, I needn't worry as no-one watches them anyway :-)
I also want to start watching more videos, just to feed into my instinct and have a better feel for how the poker population at large is thinking.
Friday, 7 March 2014
Games are (not) dead
Since being back at 500 I've been absolutely astounded at some of the bad play from regs. It just makes me realise how much $ there is to be made without 'trying' too hard. Thought I'd make a blog showing some of the worst examples from the past few days.......
http://weaktight.com/6543155 - ranges, ranges! Man I was so sad to CR get this in on the flop, but felt it was the best of a bad bunch of options. When he shoved, puke, it's like AA or combo draws. Except, no! Having 3bet an early position tight open, get flatted OOP by someone who doesn't really flat a ton, cbet into a strong range and then get CR'd by someone who's check raising into an even stronger range, villain is just like fuck it I'll make the worst shove ever with JJ, a hand that when called has like 12% equity.
http://weaktight.com/6543159 - this one just for the sizing tell on the turn. Obviously reps a strong range preflop and on the flop, but on the turn with a PSR of 1.5 on a board so wet, there's just no way he doesn't bomb his value hands. Meanwhile, in a vacuum, his drawing hands don't want to bet call or bet fold so have to choose a smaller amount. I was sat there on the turn all like 'man, he CANT be so obvious to actually just have like QT/ clubs/ AQ here' but indeed, he just did.
http://weaktight.com/6543259 - same vein as hand 1, just puts in all the world's dead money.
http://weaktight.com/6543155 - ranges, ranges! Man I was so sad to CR get this in on the flop, but felt it was the best of a bad bunch of options. When he shoved, puke, it's like AA or combo draws. Except, no! Having 3bet an early position tight open, get flatted OOP by someone who doesn't really flat a ton, cbet into a strong range and then get CR'd by someone who's check raising into an even stronger range, villain is just like fuck it I'll make the worst shove ever with JJ, a hand that when called has like 12% equity.
http://weaktight.com/6543159 - this one just for the sizing tell on the turn. Obviously reps a strong range preflop and on the flop, but on the turn with a PSR of 1.5 on a board so wet, there's just no way he doesn't bomb his value hands. Meanwhile, in a vacuum, his drawing hands don't want to bet call or bet fold so have to choose a smaller amount. I was sat there on the turn all like 'man, he CANT be so obvious to actually just have like QT/ clubs/ AQ here' but indeed, he just did.
http://weaktight.com/6543259 - same vein as hand 1, just puts in all the world's dead money.
Thursday, 6 March 2014
500nl Session Review
Decent return to 500 earlier, felt much more comfortable than before I left, and was able to trust my instinct in a few decent spots.
This hand http://weaktight.com/6540608 was a major mental battle. On the one hand my instinct was screaming at me to call, and on the other was something saying 'don't be stupid, keep it simple at 500, don't have to play infinite 200 to get back to this point'. In the end I was able to step back, ask myself what my instinct was saying about the hand, and in the end clicked the right button. Hopefully, I wouldn't be going mad at myself had I been wrong. In terms of why, he was insanely wide PF, the flop stab seemed like an auto one, we block QTs and then I didn't think he'd value shove any Ax in his range.
http://weaktight.com/6540614 - just an example of being slightly unorthodox and it leading to good things. Fwiw, I thought there was zero chance he had a bluff when he CR'd the turn underbet.
http://weaktight.com/6540619 - same dude as above, and so likely just the kind of dude you have to call top x% of range VS when he's capable of being so wide and unorthodox.
This hand http://weaktight.com/6540608 was a major mental battle. On the one hand my instinct was screaming at me to call, and on the other was something saying 'don't be stupid, keep it simple at 500, don't have to play infinite 200 to get back to this point'. In the end I was able to step back, ask myself what my instinct was saying about the hand, and in the end clicked the right button. Hopefully, I wouldn't be going mad at myself had I been wrong. In terms of why, he was insanely wide PF, the flop stab seemed like an auto one, we block QTs and then I didn't think he'd value shove any Ax in his range.
http://weaktight.com/6540614 - just an example of being slightly unorthodox and it leading to good things. Fwiw, I thought there was zero chance he had a bluff when he CR'd the turn underbet.
http://weaktight.com/6540619 - same dude as above, and so likely just the kind of dude you have to call top x% of range VS when he's capable of being so wide and unorthodox.
2-5 Again........
I've ran well enough at 1-2 that it's time for a 2-5 shot again. I feel like playing at 1-2 with less pressure has made my game come on a decent amount, and I feel in a decent technical and mental place to do well again.
I'm not really going to change anything at all really, ie I'm not going to be 'it's 2-5, gotta do xyz', just more of the same. Looking at their range, looking at our range in opponent's eyes, deriving their strategy from this....... and then being much more careful with dead money, checking more oop, and trying to basically be creative wherever possible.
HH review to follow........
I'm not really going to change anything at all really, ie I'm not going to be 'it's 2-5, gotta do xyz', just more of the same. Looking at their range, looking at our range in opponent's eyes, deriving their strategy from this....... and then being much more careful with dead money, checking more oop, and trying to basically be creative wherever possible.
HH review to follow........
Tuesday, 4 March 2014
Strategy Update
Had a good couple of days results wise until today, but I think it's fairly clear from my plummeting red line, WWSF and general poor results today (where I won a lot more big pots than I lost, and yet lost money) that I've allowed the leak of 'bleeding money' to creep in.
What I mean by bleeding money is the habit of having bets go in, without a very decent plan of winning the hand. An example might be that we 3bet QJ, check AJ5r, have an opponent stab bet the 9 turn decently strong, we call turn and fold river. It takes a decent amount of concentration for me to make the biggish early folds, as they're so often very non-standard and exploitable. Nevertheless, I think those big early folds or non-bets are a huge part of my edge and when they go out the window I struggle to win at a good clip.
Another example today http://weaktight.com/6534512, not my hand but I think today I would've played it the same, whereas it's pretty clear to me now (knowing the nitty and bad nature of the player) that it's a slam dunk flop fold.
Also out the window needs to go random flop and turn stabs that I don't then follow through on very hard..... rare is the actual legitimate '+EV one and done here' where a better solution wouldn't be to wait for a street and get more info. Auto flop stabs have crept back in, and so I need to go back to delaying. Other than that, I've probably not been going through the process of 'their range, my range in their eyes, their strategy' that enables me to make a decent amount of creative bluffs.
So yeah 2-3 things to work on, and I'll be aware of those going into the next session. Other than that I have a renewed focus on mental game...... basically trying to get back into the habit of zoning in during important spots, and analysing losing hands through a mental prism.
Back to it.........
What I mean by bleeding money is the habit of having bets go in, without a very decent plan of winning the hand. An example might be that we 3bet QJ, check AJ5r, have an opponent stab bet the 9 turn decently strong, we call turn and fold river. It takes a decent amount of concentration for me to make the biggish early folds, as they're so often very non-standard and exploitable. Nevertheless, I think those big early folds or non-bets are a huge part of my edge and when they go out the window I struggle to win at a good clip.
Another example today http://weaktight.com/6534512, not my hand but I think today I would've played it the same, whereas it's pretty clear to me now (knowing the nitty and bad nature of the player) that it's a slam dunk flop fold.
Also out the window needs to go random flop and turn stabs that I don't then follow through on very hard..... rare is the actual legitimate '+EV one and done here' where a better solution wouldn't be to wait for a street and get more info. Auto flop stabs have crept back in, and so I need to go back to delaying. Other than that, I've probably not been going through the process of 'their range, my range in their eyes, their strategy' that enables me to make a decent amount of creative bluffs.
So yeah 2-3 things to work on, and I'll be aware of those going into the next session. Other than that I have a renewed focus on mental game...... basically trying to get back into the habit of zoning in during important spots, and analysing losing hands through a mental prism.
Back to it.........
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