It's been a busy week. I played poker on Friday. On Saturday, I played poker and went to a holiday party. I saw I am Legend on Sunday, then played poker. Monday, I played poker and ate Christmas Eve dinner with family. Tuesday, I ate Christmas day lunch with other side of the family, then ate Christmas day dinner with friends of family, then played poker.
Hands played: Estimated 2,000-4,000
Net Winnings: -$250, estimated within $10, spread across games with buyins from $10, $25, and $50.
Quality of play: Varied, sometimes stellar, sometimes poor. Overall, I played well.
I got a little bit unlucky, and didn't follow some basically rules about risk management when playing poker. This combination magnified my mistake several fold. I decided I'll make a seperate post on bankroll management and why it's so important.
To be fair these hands are good examples of how my sessions where.
Ultimate Bet No-Limit Hold'em, $.10 BB (6 handed)
Hand History converter Courtesy of PokerZion.com
Hero ($11.42)
MP ($9.67)
CO ($9.85)
Button ($6.01)
SB ($12.37)
BB ($5.65)
Preflop: Hero is UTG with Ah, Ad.
Hero raises to $0.35, 2 folds, Button raises to $3.5, 1 fold, BB calls $3.40, Hero raises to $6.65, Button raises to $6.01 (All-In), BB raises to $5.65 (All-In).
Flop: ($18.36) Ts, 2h, 9h (3 players, 2 all-in)
Turn: ($18.36) 6c (3 players, 2 all-in)
River: ($18.36) 3c (3 players, 2 all-in)
Final Pot: $18.36
Button has 9c 9s (three of a kind, nines).
BB has Kd Qd (high card, king).
Hero has Ah Ad (one pair, aces).
Outcome: Button wins $17.71. Hero wins $0.64.
Ultimate Bet No-Limit Hold'em, $.50 BB (5 handed)
Hand History converter Courtesy of PokerZion.com
BB ($44.25)
UTG ($36.20)
Hero ($50)
Button ($34.10)
SB ($51)
Preflop: Hero is MP with As, 8s.
1 fold, Hero raises to $1.75, 2 folds, BB calls $1.25.
Flop: ($3.75) 5d, 8h, 2c (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $4, BB raises to $8, Hero calls $4.
Turn: ($19.75) 6c (2 players)
BB bets $19.75, Hero calls $19.75.
River: ($59.25) 5c (2 players)
BB bets $14.75 (All-In), Hero calls $14.75.
Final Pot: $88.75
BB has Kc Ac (flush, ace high).
Hero has As 8s (two pair, eights and fives).
Outcome: BB wins $88.75.
Ultimate Bet No-Limit Hold'em, $.50 BB (9 handed)
Hand History converter Courtesy of PokerZion.com
UTG ($32.75)
UTG+1 ($71.80)
MP1 ($76.35)
Hero ($57.40)
MP3 ($33.70)
CO ($34.15)
Button ($99.15)
SB ($82.60)
BB ($62.80)
Preflop: Hero is MP2 with 6c, 7c.
1 fold, UTG+1 calls $0.50, 1 fold, Hero calls $0.50, MP3 calls $0.50, CO calls $0.50, 2 folds, BB checks.
Flop: ($2.75) 3c, 4d, 8c (5 players)
BB checks, UTG+1 checks, Hero bets $2.75, MP3 folds, CO folds, BB folds, UTG+1 raises to $11, Hero raises to $56.9 (All-In), UTG+1 calls $45.90.
Turn: ($116.55) 8s (2 players, 1 all-in)
River: ($116.55) Tc (2 players, 1 all-in)
Final Pot: $116.55
UTG+1 has 3s 3d (full house, threes full of eights).
Hero has 6c 7c (flush, ten high).
Outcome: UTG+1 wins $116.55.
I may have overplayed my hand here, but I don't really think it's a big mistake. I fold out a lot of better hands (AT, KT, maybe 34, and higher flush draws) and have a lot of outs even if he shows me a set, which he did.
Bankroll management is extremely important. Properly managing your bankroll reduces your risk of ruin, which is your percentage chance of going bust. If I had stuck to proper bankroll management, I would've lost far less money. I'll write a post about proper bankroll mangement later.
I decided I'm going to start a series of posts strictly designed for beginner strategy. I'll keep them archived and slowly increase the level of strategy as time goes on. This will allow anyone to jump in and begin reading. I have played poker for a few years now, and have read a lot of strategy. While I don't play at nosebleed stakes (super high stakes), I do think I am qualified to teach people how to beat the low limit games. Look forward to more material to come out.
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
Thursday, December 20, 2007
Progress Post #3 Tight is right! And how to fight back vs loose aggresive players.
I won this time. It's a good feeling. In my previous post, I decided I would try playing Tight Aggresive (TAG) and see how I did. For the most part I stuck to my guidelines. I ran good as well. I'll try it again next session.
Hands Played - 560
Bonus Cleared - $2.35
Net Winnings - $127.46
Quality of Play - Good, although I didn't quite stick to the rules I set.
I have to admit. I ran really good. I flopped 4 sets, got AA 6 times and I started the session with a killer hand seen below. In 560 hands, thats pretty lucky. I won about 5 buyins in 560 hands which is a winrate of 91bb/100 hands. That's an ungodly winrate and is definitely not sustainable.
Ultimate Bet No-Limit Hold'em, $.25 BB (5 handed)
Hand History converter Courtesy of PokerZion.com
Button ($25.09)
SB ($9.02)
Hero ($25)
UTG ($34.48)
MP ($50.40)
Preflop: Hero is BB with Qc, Qh.
2 folds, Button raises to $0.85, 1 fold, Hero raises to $2.65, Button raises to $7.85, Hero calls $5.20.
Flop: ($15.80) 6s, Qs, 7h (2 players)
Hero checks, Button bets $17, Hero raises to $17.15 (All-In), Button calls $0.15.
Turn: ($50.10) Jd (2 players, 1 all-in)
River: ($50.10) 2d (2 players, 1 all-in)
Final Pot: $50.10
Button has Ad Ah (one pair, aces).
Hero has Qc Qh (three of a kind, queens).
Outcome: Hero wins $50.10.
Without a good read, I'm pretty much willing to stack off for 100bb or less with QQ on any flop with 3 undercards after I reraise with it. While I realize I will run into AA and KK alot, I also feel that folding QQ can be very exploitable. QQ is one of the top 3 or 4 hands (depending on where you rank AKs) in the game. I tend to rank it about as strongly as AKs, and will rarely fold either preflop, and will get it AI preflop quite frequently. Folding hands that strong can be taken advantage by relentless reraising you. Eventually you learn that playing hands like QQ and AKs against reraises can be player dependant.
For this session, I focused primarily on tightening my starting hand range. It worked out well, although there weren't many hands that I would've played otherwise. I kept my postflop aggresion for the most part, and gave other people's reraises more respect. I did lose a medium sized pot by getting aggresive with 54h on an Ace high flop, when the preflop raiser checked to me. He checked/called the flop and check/raised the turn. I tried to big my spots carefully and I think it paid off well for me. I don't think I could've won much more than I did.
Only one interesting hand this time.
Tell me what you think I have?
Ultimate Bet No-Limit Hold'em, $.25 BB (6 handed)
Hand History converter Courtesy of PokerZion.com
CO ($25.75)
Button ($29.83)
SB ($22.71)
BB ($31.28)
Hero ($27.73)
MP ($11.06)
Preflop:
Hero raises to $0.85, 2 folds, Button calls $0.85, 2 folds.
Flop: ($2.05) 4h, 5s, 5c (2 players)
Hero bets $2, Button raises to $4, Hero raises to $10
Most people put me on an overpair here. There is also a chance I have A5s, 44, or even a more outside change like 45s, or 56s. In fact, my play here is so strong, that at low limits most people can't imagine me having anything else.
Which is why I 3bet the flop with A8o. Ironically, although I had him on absolute air, he called me anyways with AJ and caught a Jack on the turn. We checked both the turn and river. I have no idea what he was thinking, maybe he thought I had less than Ace high. Interesting hand none the less. I watched a CardRunners video once, and the guy mentioned that quick minraises are often a player making a move at the pot. I found this true for the most part, so I decided a reraise would let me regain control of the hand and prevent him from bluffing me with a worse hand. I raised $8 on top which was nearly exactly the size of the pot. With 1:1 odds, I need this bluff to work about 50% of the time to be immediately profitable. These kind of plays are nessicary at higher limits to protect your continuation bets from getting constantly picked off. There are many other plays to make it harder to fight back against your continuation bets, blind steals and other plays. I'll go over others eventually.
As a side note, I'm currently working on a very short poker book. It's meant to be entirely humor with 0% strategy. I think it will be fun for people to read, and if I get good enough reviews from people who I know, I may offer it as a e-book to give back to the poker community in a unique manner.
I won't be playing much if at all tomorrow, so this will probably be the last post until the weekend.
Hands Played - 560
Bonus Cleared - $2.35
Net Winnings - $127.46
Quality of Play - Good, although I didn't quite stick to the rules I set.
I have to admit. I ran really good. I flopped 4 sets, got AA 6 times and I started the session with a killer hand seen below. In 560 hands, thats pretty lucky. I won about 5 buyins in 560 hands which is a winrate of 91bb/100 hands. That's an ungodly winrate and is definitely not sustainable.
Ultimate Bet No-Limit Hold'em, $.25 BB (5 handed)
Hand History converter Courtesy of PokerZion.com
Button ($25.09)
SB ($9.02)
Hero ($25)
UTG ($34.48)
MP ($50.40)
Preflop: Hero is BB with Qc, Qh.
2 folds, Button raises to $0.85, 1 fold, Hero raises to $2.65, Button raises to $7.85, Hero calls $5.20.
Flop: ($15.80) 6s, Qs, 7h (2 players)
Hero checks, Button bets $17, Hero raises to $17.15 (All-In), Button calls $0.15.
Turn: ($50.10) Jd (2 players, 1 all-in)
River: ($50.10) 2d (2 players, 1 all-in)
Final Pot: $50.10
Button has Ad Ah (one pair, aces).
Hero has Qc Qh (three of a kind, queens).
Outcome: Hero wins $50.10.
Without a good read, I'm pretty much willing to stack off for 100bb or less with QQ on any flop with 3 undercards after I reraise with it. While I realize I will run into AA and KK alot, I also feel that folding QQ can be very exploitable. QQ is one of the top 3 or 4 hands (depending on where you rank AKs) in the game. I tend to rank it about as strongly as AKs, and will rarely fold either preflop, and will get it AI preflop quite frequently. Folding hands that strong can be taken advantage by relentless reraising you. Eventually you learn that playing hands like QQ and AKs against reraises can be player dependant.
For this session, I focused primarily on tightening my starting hand range. It worked out well, although there weren't many hands that I would've played otherwise. I kept my postflop aggresion for the most part, and gave other people's reraises more respect. I did lose a medium sized pot by getting aggresive with 54h on an Ace high flop, when the preflop raiser checked to me. He checked/called the flop and check/raised the turn. I tried to big my spots carefully and I think it paid off well for me. I don't think I could've won much more than I did.
Only one interesting hand this time.
Tell me what you think I have?
Ultimate Bet No-Limit Hold'em, $.25 BB (6 handed)
Hand History converter Courtesy of PokerZion.com
CO ($25.75)
Button ($29.83)
SB ($22.71)
BB ($31.28)
Hero ($27.73)
MP ($11.06)
Preflop:
Hero raises to $0.85, 2 folds, Button calls $0.85, 2 folds.
Flop: ($2.05) 4h, 5s, 5c (2 players)
Hero bets $2, Button raises to $4, Hero raises to $10
Most people put me on an overpair here. There is also a chance I have A5s, 44, or even a more outside change like 45s, or 56s. In fact, my play here is so strong, that at low limits most people can't imagine me having anything else.
Which is why I 3bet the flop with A8o. Ironically, although I had him on absolute air, he called me anyways with AJ and caught a Jack on the turn. We checked both the turn and river. I have no idea what he was thinking, maybe he thought I had less than Ace high. Interesting hand none the less. I watched a CardRunners video once, and the guy mentioned that quick minraises are often a player making a move at the pot. I found this true for the most part, so I decided a reraise would let me regain control of the hand and prevent him from bluffing me with a worse hand. I raised $8 on top which was nearly exactly the size of the pot. With 1:1 odds, I need this bluff to work about 50% of the time to be immediately profitable. These kind of plays are nessicary at higher limits to protect your continuation bets from getting constantly picked off. There are many other plays to make it harder to fight back against your continuation bets, blind steals and other plays. I'll go over others eventually.
As a side note, I'm currently working on a very short poker book. It's meant to be entirely humor with 0% strategy. I think it will be fun for people to read, and if I get good enough reviews from people who I know, I may offer it as a e-book to give back to the poker community in a unique manner.
I won't be playing much if at all tomorrow, so this will probably be the last post until the weekend.
Progress Post #2 :( Losing on the first session!
Just got home from work! Working for my dad is definitely more interesting that other employers, I spent over an hour arguing about black holes, star collapse and the boundaries of the universe. Most of it was during my lunch hour though.
So, I played my first session yesterday. I plan to play another session after this post is finished.
End Results
Cash Games
Hands Played - 952, playing 4 tables of $25nl ($25 max buy).
Net Winnings - -$75.02
Quality of Play - Poor, I definitely was too aggressive in some spots and didn't fold enough.
Tournament
$25 + $2.50, $6000 guarantee = Busted out of the money, felt like I played ok. I should go with my reads though.
Net on the day = -$102.52
I definitely felt I played below average. I got stubborn and didn't want to let go of my hands sometimes. I bet all 3 streets with air, and think I went on a tilt a bit. I also ran into bigger hands a few times, and didn't fold when I thought I was beat. I think another goal for myself in this year is to learn to trust my instincts. They always seem spot on.
This is a good example of everything I mentioned.
I was like 90% sure he had at least a better 3 of a kind, and yet I called his raise anyways. Try to figure out his hand range by the river before looking at results.
Ultimate Bet No-Limit Hold'em, $.25 BB
(5 handed) Hand History converter Courtesy of PokerZion.com
Button ($20.24)
SB ($39.80)
Hero ($38.54)
UTG ($17.50)
MP ($8.90)
Preflop: Hero is BB with 3s, Kh.
UTG calls $0.25, 2 folds, SB completes, Hero checks.
Flop: ($0.75) Kc, Ks, 5s (3 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $0.75, UTG calls $0.75, SB folds.
Turn: ($2.25) 9h (2 players)
Hero bets $1, UTG calls $1.
River: ($4.25) 6c (2 players)
Hero bets $2, UTG raises to $8, Hero calls $6.
Final Pot: $20.25
Results in white below:
Hero has 3s Kh (three of a kind, kings).
UTG has Kd 9c (full house, kings full of nines).
Outcome: UTG wins $20.25.
I think it's pretty obvious I'm beat here. UTG limped, which probably includes a lot of hands like K2s+, K8o+ and 22-99. I don't think he will call twice and then raise the river as a bluff with many hands. He MIGHT do it with a flush draw, but I think I see a better hand nearly every time. I practically turned my hand face up by betting all 3 streets. I lose to K5, K6, K9-AK, 55, 66, 99. I lose to 87s which could very well be here and he could show up with AK here more often then I would think, I've seen a lot of people open limp AK, despite how poor a play that is. I chop the pot with K2-K4, K7, K8, which is really my best hope when I call. At higher limits you may see someone turn up a busted flush draw more often, but I think at $25nl it's not that likely. So I'm basically calling $6 to win half of $14.25. I have a little less than 1:1.2 odds, which is definitely not a good spot to be in. This was definitely a fold, I just didn't want to let go of my hand.
I played an interesting reraised pot with AJh OOP. It might have been better to fold preflop, but this same guy had 3bet me earlier and instantly folded to my 4bet.
Ultimate Bet No-Limit Hold'em, $.25 BB (5 handed)
Hand History converter Courtesy of PokerZion.com
BB ($11.52)
UTG ($39.33)
Hero ($25.35)
Button ($25.27)
SB ($18.70)
Preflop: Hero is MP with As, Jh.
1 fold, Hero raises to $0.85, Button raises to $2.35, 2 folds, Hero calls $1.50.
Flop: ($5.05) 3c, 9h, Jd (2 players)
Hero checks, Button bets $2.75, Hero calls $2.75.
Turn: ($10.55) 4s (2 players)
Hero checks, Button checks.
River: ($10.55) Ah (2 players)
Hero checks, Button bets $5, Hero raises to $20.25 (All-In), Button folds.
Final Pot: $35.80
I'm not really sure what he had here. I'm guessing if he's reraising me light he could have a really wide range preflop. I checked the flop to pick off a continuation bet, because I felt there was a good chance I had the best hand right now. I also felt if I bet into him on the flop, I could raised by worse hands, and be forced into a really tough spot.
The turn might as well be a blank, so I simply checked again. I think if he bets again, I'll call, but I won't be happy about it. I could check/raise the turn all in, but on a board that dry, I don't think I'll ever be called by a worse hand.
The river was really interesting. I think he's aggressive enough to bet at the Ace to represent AK with any hand that doesn't contain a pair. I think he will also bet sometimes with pocket pairs below 99 to bluff, and sometime bet pocket pairs above 99 for value. It would be an odd check with QQ-AA on the turn though, so I don't think he has those. He always bets for value with a set, and if he has it, I just have to pay him off. I decide to check, because if I bet into him, I don't think I get called by worse than TT, and may even fold TT. I also think I will not raise me without an ace or better, but I think he will bet any ace, and may even call a check/raise. So, I plan to check/raise all in.
He folded instantly which leads me to believe he probably had a hand that was a pocket pair less than 99, maybe a suited connector or something. Maybe even KQ. I'm definitely curious to see what other people think about this hand.
There were a few other hands that I made some questionable decisions, but after talking to Mike (my friend who plays 50nl full ring), and Flanagan (another friend who plays 200nl 6max), I feel better about it. I definitely got semi coolered, I got AA beaten by a guy who flopped a heart flush when I had the Ah, and I got the nut flush draw AI vs a lower flush draw and he caught a pair.
I've been having some trouble with getting PokerAce Hud to work on Ultimate Bet. If anyone knows how to make it work, I'd greatly appreciate it if you told me.
I read some interesting material online and I think I'll try to deliberately play tighter for this session. I'm going to play with an opening range of
UTG: 22+, ATo+, A2s+, KQo, JTs+
MP: 22+, A9o+, KJo+, QJo+, JTs+, 45s-T9s if diamonds.
CO: A2-A5o, A9o+, JTo+, QTo+, KTo+, 45s+, T8s+
BTN: K9o+, 53s+, K8s+, Q8o+, J7o+, 43s+, 78o+, A2o+
SB: Depends on the BB, gonna play a slightly wider range than the button probably.
I'll also call raises tighter this time, and try to ease up on the aggression. They aren't playing back at me that much.
Wish me luck!
Never give up!
Bryce
For new players, I have some terms you may not understand.
Here is a quick list.
AI - All in.
UTG - Under the Gun or first to act preflop
SB - Small Blind
BB - Big Blind
MP - Middle Position, 2 off the button in 6 handed games.
CO - Cutoff, 1 off the button in 6 handed games.
BTN - The button.
3bet - A reraise. The action goes bet, raise and reraise. The reraise is the 3rd bet.
4bet - A rereraise. So it's bet, raise, reraise, rereraise. Or bet, raise, 3bet, 4bet.
25nl - This is a term for the "limit" or the stakes at which the game is played. I was playing a game with $.10/$.25 blinds and the minimum buyin is $5, and the maximum is $25. Likewise 50nl is a game with a big blind of $0.50, the max buyin 100x the big blind and the minimum 20x the buyin. The small blind is usually half of the big blind.
6max - This means a game where the maximum number of players at any time is six. XXh/XXc/XXd/XXs - This means Hearts, Clubs, Diamonds, and Spades, respectively.
XXs - This can also mean suited. If a specific suit doesn't make sense at the time, it probably means any suited cards. I didn't explain all of them, so feel free to ask about them.
So, I played my first session yesterday. I plan to play another session after this post is finished.
End Results
Cash Games
Hands Played - 952, playing 4 tables of $25nl ($25 max buy).
Net Winnings - -$75.02
Quality of Play - Poor, I definitely was too aggressive in some spots and didn't fold enough.
Tournament
$25 + $2.50, $6000 guarantee = Busted out of the money, felt like I played ok. I should go with my reads though.
Net on the day = -$102.52
I definitely felt I played below average. I got stubborn and didn't want to let go of my hands sometimes. I bet all 3 streets with air, and think I went on a tilt a bit. I also ran into bigger hands a few times, and didn't fold when I thought I was beat. I think another goal for myself in this year is to learn to trust my instincts. They always seem spot on.
This is a good example of everything I mentioned.
I was like 90% sure he had at least a better 3 of a kind, and yet I called his raise anyways. Try to figure out his hand range by the river before looking at results.
Ultimate Bet No-Limit Hold'em, $.25 BB
(5 handed) Hand History converter Courtesy of PokerZion.com
Button ($20.24)
SB ($39.80)
Hero ($38.54)
UTG ($17.50)
MP ($8.90)
Preflop: Hero is BB with 3s, Kh.
UTG calls $0.25, 2 folds, SB completes, Hero checks.
Flop: ($0.75) Kc, Ks, 5s (3 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $0.75, UTG calls $0.75, SB folds.
Turn: ($2.25) 9h (2 players)
Hero bets $1, UTG calls $1.
River: ($4.25) 6c (2 players)
Hero bets $2, UTG raises to $8, Hero calls $6.
Final Pot: $20.25
Results in white below:
Hero has 3s Kh (three of a kind, kings).
UTG has Kd 9c (full house, kings full of nines).
Outcome: UTG wins $20.25.
I think it's pretty obvious I'm beat here. UTG limped, which probably includes a lot of hands like K2s+, K8o+ and 22-99. I don't think he will call twice and then raise the river as a bluff with many hands. He MIGHT do it with a flush draw, but I think I see a better hand nearly every time. I practically turned my hand face up by betting all 3 streets. I lose to K5, K6, K9-AK, 55, 66, 99. I lose to 87s which could very well be here and he could show up with AK here more often then I would think, I've seen a lot of people open limp AK, despite how poor a play that is. I chop the pot with K2-K4, K7, K8, which is really my best hope when I call. At higher limits you may see someone turn up a busted flush draw more often, but I think at $25nl it's not that likely. So I'm basically calling $6 to win half of $14.25. I have a little less than 1:1.2 odds, which is definitely not a good spot to be in. This was definitely a fold, I just didn't want to let go of my hand.
I played an interesting reraised pot with AJh OOP. It might have been better to fold preflop, but this same guy had 3bet me earlier and instantly folded to my 4bet.
Ultimate Bet No-Limit Hold'em, $.25 BB (5 handed)
Hand History converter Courtesy of PokerZion.com
BB ($11.52)
UTG ($39.33)
Hero ($25.35)
Button ($25.27)
SB ($18.70)
Preflop: Hero is MP with As, Jh.
1 fold, Hero raises to $0.85, Button raises to $2.35, 2 folds, Hero calls $1.50.
Flop: ($5.05) 3c, 9h, Jd (2 players)
Hero checks, Button bets $2.75, Hero calls $2.75.
Turn: ($10.55) 4s (2 players)
Hero checks, Button checks.
River: ($10.55) Ah (2 players)
Hero checks, Button bets $5, Hero raises to $20.25 (All-In), Button folds.
Final Pot: $35.80
I'm not really sure what he had here. I'm guessing if he's reraising me light he could have a really wide range preflop. I checked the flop to pick off a continuation bet, because I felt there was a good chance I had the best hand right now. I also felt if I bet into him on the flop, I could raised by worse hands, and be forced into a really tough spot.
The turn might as well be a blank, so I simply checked again. I think if he bets again, I'll call, but I won't be happy about it. I could check/raise the turn all in, but on a board that dry, I don't think I'll ever be called by a worse hand.
The river was really interesting. I think he's aggressive enough to bet at the Ace to represent AK with any hand that doesn't contain a pair. I think he will also bet sometimes with pocket pairs below 99 to bluff, and sometime bet pocket pairs above 99 for value. It would be an odd check with QQ-AA on the turn though, so I don't think he has those. He always bets for value with a set, and if he has it, I just have to pay him off. I decide to check, because if I bet into him, I don't think I get called by worse than TT, and may even fold TT. I also think I will not raise me without an ace or better, but I think he will bet any ace, and may even call a check/raise. So, I plan to check/raise all in.
He folded instantly which leads me to believe he probably had a hand that was a pocket pair less than 99, maybe a suited connector or something. Maybe even KQ. I'm definitely curious to see what other people think about this hand.
There were a few other hands that I made some questionable decisions, but after talking to Mike (my friend who plays 50nl full ring), and Flanagan (another friend who plays 200nl 6max), I feel better about it. I definitely got semi coolered, I got AA beaten by a guy who flopped a heart flush when I had the Ah, and I got the nut flush draw AI vs a lower flush draw and he caught a pair.
I've been having some trouble with getting PokerAce Hud to work on Ultimate Bet. If anyone knows how to make it work, I'd greatly appreciate it if you told me.
I read some interesting material online and I think I'll try to deliberately play tighter for this session. I'm going to play with an opening range of
UTG: 22+, ATo+, A2s+, KQo, JTs+
MP: 22+, A9o+, KJo+, QJo+, JTs+, 45s-T9s if diamonds.
CO: A2-A5o, A9o+, JTo+, QTo+, KTo+, 45s+, T8s+
BTN: K9o+, 53s+, K8s+, Q8o+, J7o+, 43s+, 78o+, A2o+
SB: Depends on the BB, gonna play a slightly wider range than the button probably.
I'll also call raises tighter this time, and try to ease up on the aggression. They aren't playing back at me that much.
Wish me luck!
Never give up!
Bryce
For new players, I have some terms you may not understand.
Here is a quick list.
AI - All in.
UTG - Under the Gun or first to act preflop
SB - Small Blind
BB - Big Blind
MP - Middle Position, 2 off the button in 6 handed games.
CO - Cutoff, 1 off the button in 6 handed games.
BTN - The button.
3bet - A reraise. The action goes bet, raise and reraise. The reraise is the 3rd bet.
4bet - A rereraise. So it's bet, raise, reraise, rereraise. Or bet, raise, 3bet, 4bet.
25nl - This is a term for the "limit" or the stakes at which the game is played. I was playing a game with $.10/$.25 blinds and the minimum buyin is $5, and the maximum is $25. Likewise 50nl is a game with a big blind of $0.50, the max buyin 100x the big blind and the minimum 20x the buyin. The small blind is usually half of the big blind.
6max - This means a game where the maximum number of players at any time is six. XXh/XXc/XXd/XXs - This means Hearts, Clubs, Diamonds, and Spades, respectively.
XXs - This can also mean suited. If a specific suit doesn't make sense at the time, it probably means any suited cards. I didn't explain all of them, so feel free to ask about them.
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Progress Post #1: So, it begins and poker goals for the new year.
I decided to make a blog to record my poker exploits. I know people who like to hear how I do, and I wanted a place to post random thoughts related to poker. I'll try to update after every session, maybe on a daily basis. More likely it will be from once to three times a week. Going to contain some content about hands I played, strategy and theory, and general venting and self depreciating humor or something like that. My writing isn't very high quality, but I'm going to be pretty lax about it. That said, if you do find errors, feel free to mention them and I will correct them. And of course, any questions, statements and arguments over poker are welcomed as well.
Anyways, onto my goals.
January 1st to December 31st. - multiply my bankroll 50x over. I have a roll of about $500 as of December 19th. I don't know where it will be by the 1st, but I'm hoping to win about $25,000 in the following year. I'm not sure how likely that will be seeing how I will have to put a primary focus on my tough school schedule, but I think it's within reason if I dedicate a lot of free time to poker.
The month of January - I want to put a lot of time in on studying to improve. I think I have a lot more to learn, especially in the self control department. I read an article of Card Player called "The 'Want' of Poker" (that I got from Morongo) and in it, John Vorhaus mentioned that "Seeing other as they truly are is useful in poker, but seeing yourself as you truly are is absolutely critical to sucess." The article is about what a player wants, and your wants will determine how you play. It's easy from having a want of winning money to changing to being I want to be unstuck this session. Tilt is a dangerous monster and is very detrimental to my play and my roll.
I think I need to practice better bankroll management, because frankly I suck at it. 4 tabling a limit I only have 9 buyins for is asking to go busto. I do believe however that completely strict rules are a bit to nitty and I'll go over that later.
Be entirely honest to myself about how I do. - If I decide I'm a loosing player, I'm quitting the game. I can not lie to myself that I am not if the math shows otherwise. I plan to put a serious evaluation in every set number of hands and check how I'm doing. I think every 10,000 hands I will sit down and evaluate previous hands and results. I expect by the end of the year I will have a good idea of whether or not I can really win in the long run.
Learn how to play an additional game. - The gamesI'm most interested in is Pot Limit Omaha and various forms of Pineapple. I think I should also try to learn how to play Limit Hold'Em.
Learn to find physical reads. I know some people don't take a lot of faith in them, but from what I've seen from Winston, I feel they can significantly add to your winrate. I also want to learn how to not give off physical reads.
That's all for now...
Wish me luck in '08!
Never give up!
Bryce
Anyways, onto my goals.
January 1st to December 31st. - multiply my bankroll 50x over. I have a roll of about $500 as of December 19th. I don't know where it will be by the 1st, but I'm hoping to win about $25,000 in the following year. I'm not sure how likely that will be seeing how I will have to put a primary focus on my tough school schedule, but I think it's within reason if I dedicate a lot of free time to poker.
The month of January - I want to put a lot of time in on studying to improve. I think I have a lot more to learn, especially in the self control department. I read an article of Card Player called "The 'Want' of Poker" (that I got from Morongo) and in it, John Vorhaus mentioned that "Seeing other as they truly are is useful in poker, but seeing yourself as you truly are is absolutely critical to sucess." The article is about what a player wants, and your wants will determine how you play. It's easy from having a want of winning money to changing to being I want to be unstuck this session. Tilt is a dangerous monster and is very detrimental to my play and my roll.
I think I need to practice better bankroll management, because frankly I suck at it. 4 tabling a limit I only have 9 buyins for is asking to go busto. I do believe however that completely strict rules are a bit to nitty and I'll go over that later.
Be entirely honest to myself about how I do. - If I decide I'm a loosing player, I'm quitting the game. I can not lie to myself that I am not if the math shows otherwise. I plan to put a serious evaluation in every set number of hands and check how I'm doing. I think every 10,000 hands I will sit down and evaluate previous hands and results. I expect by the end of the year I will have a good idea of whether or not I can really win in the long run.
Learn how to play an additional game. - The gamesI'm most interested in is Pot Limit Omaha and various forms of Pineapple. I think I should also try to learn how to play Limit Hold'Em.
Learn to find physical reads. I know some people don't take a lot of faith in them, but from what I've seen from Winston, I feel they can significantly add to your winrate. I also want to learn how to not give off physical reads.
That's all for now...
Wish me luck in '08!
Never give up!
Bryce
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