American in America – Page 31

_Anonymous_ · 2012-02-05T12:13:34Z

Black Friday was brutal for most American poker players. I've spent the last four years thinking deeply about my game and trying to stay up-to-date with the evolution of poker. My results from 2010 and 2011 were consistent - something I would attribute to working hard on the emotional part of my game which I still struggle with: Around 300K of this was at 100NL, 260K at 200NL, 125K at 50NL, 100K at 25NL, and 95K at 10NL. As you can see, I played the whole micro-SSNL spectrum and felt comfortable grinding up a bankroll as was necessary. Poker was fun and something I was good at, but there was a question that I couldn't get out of my head ever since I started playing: Why do some players win and other don't in the long run? It was not luck and pretty quickly I realized it was not intelligence. Don't get me wrong - both luck and intelligence are necessary, but they aren't the final answer. This is a question that drove me much more than the money involved. To try to answer this question, I repeatedly moved down to the lowest limits and tried to claw my way back up. I reflected on how differently the limits play and what I felt was necessary to succeed in going from 10NL to 200NL and then being able to play there at a high level. Writing about the ideas I had helped me organize my thoughts, but it led to more questions than answers. There are some ideas which I believe to be critical to understand which are hard to articulate. Once you start exploring them, you realize their complexity. For example: "When should you c-bet?" I also coached a lot of different players in that period - always looking for why they were not reaching their goals. This led me to focus on the mental and emotional parts of learning. A common thread among most of my students was a constant feeling of anxiety and paranoia when they played. It's almost like as soon as they sat down to play there was a metaphorical hurricane of emotion in their mind. I imagined it to be something like this: The ideal of course would be more like this: In some ways, Black Friday was a relief. Before it, I felt constant pressure to play all the time. I felt that when I wasn't playing, I was losing money. Of course there were plenty of times where I played quite a bit AND lost money. I was very stressful. After Black Friday, that stress of always needing to play was gone - I simply was no longer able to do it. It was nice for the first month or two to have a forced break, but then the full reality started sinking in and now it's bad. Not being able to play allowed me to really focus on my writing and start spending more time with coaching. Coaching is another thing I thought about quite a bit. I believe that most micro stakes players need to do lots of individual study before they even begin thinking about getting a coach. That's not to say that a typical 5NL player cannot benefit from hiring an expert coach (of course they can), but most of the time the price of the coach outweights the value of the experience from the session. That's a whole other topic though. It seems like you guys at PokerStrategy have a good system in place that supports beginning players though - with the hands being reviewed by pros and lots of material (articles and videos) for beginners to explore. Having such resources in one place is critical for growth. So why am I writing this blog? I want my writing to serve as a reflection tool and get feedback on the fundamental question I highlighted above: Why do some players win and other don't? What can you do to be in the first camp and not the second? There is no quick and easy answer. The quick and easy answers ("Play tight, aggressive, and don't tilt!") are incomplete although they often have enough truth behind them to sound good. Well - this first blog post went a little long, but hopefully you got a sense of both me as a person and what I'm hoping to do here :)

_Anonymous_

09.03.2013, 01:09 0

Originally posted by verneer
Frequencies with which I get 3-bet from different positions when I open from given positions:

Source: 100NL zoom/regular tables on FTP(15%)/Stars (85%).

So in general, on average, you are getting 3-bet with a pretty nutted range (QQ+, AK) when you open from EP.

So you got 3b around 15% ? wow

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_Anonymous_

09.03.2013, 16:36 0

Originally posted by patszerdonkSo you got 3b around 15% ? wow

I think it's closer to 18-19%.

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w34z3l

Coach

Joined: 03.08.2009

Posts: 13,366

10.03.2013, 12:21 0

OMG WHAT DID YOU DO TO YOUR DOG'S LEGS

w34z3l's Cash Game Coaching!
w34z3l's Death Star HUD

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_Anonymous_

13.03.2013, 18:07 0

Originally posted by w34z3l
OMG WHAT DID YOU DO TO YOUR DOG'S LEGS

Newer version - this time with 100% more legs.

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DemonRax

Joined: 11.05.2009

Posts: 262

13.03.2013, 18:14 0

Hey, what's wrong with her ears now?! :f_eek:

Life is what happens in between

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_Anonymous_

27.03.2013, 15:05 0

I'm back in the U.S. for a bit and doing some database analysis. I'm looking at situations where I raise from early position and get three-bet by a player in the small blind. I noticed a few situations where I folded AK and felt pretty nitty about it.

I'm going back and forth on it, but I'm pretty sure it's the right play in some of those spots. Most TAG regulars don't really bluff much out of the small blind versus early position openers, and I think that I need them to play hands like AQ or KQ to make calling with AK profitable.

Still not sure ... gonna do some more math on it and get feedback from a few other players.

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DeLau

Joined: 10.01.2009

Posts: 933

28.03.2013, 09:51 0

What's your fold to 3bet then UTG? Not saing it's bad per se but people have to be really nitty and unbalanced to fold AK to a 3bet.

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_Anonymous_

28.03.2013, 11:56 0

Originally posted by DeLau
What's your fold to 3bet then UTG? Not saing it's bad per se but people have to be really nitty and unbalanced to fold AK to a 3bet.

Overall, it's around 60% I think. I was looking at a HH where a 17/14/3 player 3-bet me from the SB to $12 after I made it $3 UTG and I had AKo. Four-betting seemed gross and calling seemed like it had reverse implied odds written all over it.

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Dublimax

Joined: 22.11.2008

Posts: 2,195

28.03.2013, 12:03 0

17/14/3 This guy is not a tag he is a nit so yeah fold everything but AA I guess. But this is true for any positions vs those guys not just in UTG.
vs a guys that 3B more than AA then AK is a call vs most guys but super aggro ones.

My Blog: For The Craic!

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_Anonymous_

28.03.2013, 15:53 0

Originally posted by Dublimax
17/14/3 This guy is not a tag he is a nit so yeah fold everything but AA I guess. But this is true for any positions vs those guys not just in UTG.
vs a guys that 3B more than AA then AK is a call vs most guys but super aggro ones.

What about against a range ~2.5% range of QQ-AA, AK? Even most 21/18/7 regulars are nitty/unbalanced when three-betting from the SB versus another TAG's EP raise with no dead money in between.

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Dublimax

Joined: 22.11.2008

Posts: 2,195

28.03.2013, 16:23 0

Originally posted by verneer

Originally posted by Dublimax
17/14/3 This guy is not a tag he is a nit so yeah fold everything but AA I guess. But this is true for any positions vs those guys not just in UTG.
vs a guys that 3B more than AA then AK is a call vs most guys but super aggro ones.

What about against a range ~2.5% range of QQ-AA, AK? Even most 21/18/7 regulars are nitty/unbalanced when three-betting from the SB versus another TAG's EP raise with no dead money in between.

vs AK, QQ we have 40% equity and we have 33% pot odds. So yeah I think it is a call. We are also blocking AA and KK and are IP.

But generally speaking if you think they are that nitty folding isn't a big mistake.

My Blog: For The Craic!

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ramadas

Joined: 02.09.2011

Posts: 368

31.03.2013, 06:49 0

Originally posted by verneer

Originally posted by mancikaa
I think its not about the future effect of the junk food on your health, its more about the effect in the present on the body. The body has a hard and strenuous time to work on this food, it has only bad effect on the stomach, the liver, the heart, the veins and so on, this makes you feel bad in general (tired, sleepy, causes reflux and a lot of things). Could write more, but guess we all know this. And you also experienced how it can backfire.

It's hard to know the effect the food has on you if you eat it regularly. Only after quitting and the starting again would you take notice.

Hi, I am just reading your blog from the beginning. Well done!

So I am answering some old topics

No, it is not hard:

In this documentary they used largest study of eating habits in China and its impact on health.

For him who has conquered the mind, the mind is the best of friends; but for one who has failed to do so, his very mind will be the greatest enemy. Bhagavad gita - Chapter 6.6

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_Anonymous_

10.04.2013, 10:23 0

During your 2010 and 2011 challenges, what is your "open call PFR" stat?
I guess it was quite high for a regular player / TAG standard.

I'm reading your BaB book right now, and it definetely the best poker book for me. Two thumbs

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_Anonymous_

21.04.2013, 12:47 0

Originally posted by patszerdonk
During your 2010 and 2011 challenges, what is your "open call PFR" stat?
I guess it was quite high for a regular player / TAG standard.

Not sure. What do you think is the significance of that stat?

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NightShadePMC

Joined: 16.11.2010

Posts: 718

18.08.2014, 12:38 0

Best.micros.book.ever.

I really found your book to be very valuable. I recommend it to ANY player who plays nl100 and below that isn't stomping the stake.

The cash game student's blog

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NightShadePMC

Joined: 16.11.2010

Posts: 718

18.08.2014, 12:42 0

And I would also like to thank you for writing such a great book that directly increased my poker skill. I hope things get better soon in America so you can get back to grinding. And God knows we could use the extra fish! ♦

The cash game student's blog

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