From nl100 to ZOOM25 and back -Ganimator's blog

Hey guys ! So a little update, zoom has been going very poorly. I had to check my results and in one session I went down 25BI in 8k hands. This comes from a combination of life stress and tilt really had affected my game negatively.

So here's why(I will leave it in a spoiler in case people reading only want the poker related stuff ♦ ) :

Interesting hands, unfortunately I g2g really soon but I will add my thoughts later

Vs aggro reg, who bets way too much when checked too 80% flop and turn:

PokerStars - $0.50 NL FAST (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BTN: $29.45
Hero (SB): $51.50
BB: $116.49
UTG: $26.39
MP: $69.21
CO: $75.65

Hero posts SB $0.25, BB posts BB $0.50

Pre Flop: (pot: $0.75) Hero has A♣ 6♠

fold, fold, fold, fold, Hero raises to $1.50, BB calls $1.00

Flop: ($3.00, 2 players) 6♣ 4♥ 7♦
Hero checks, BB bets $1.75, Hero calls $1.75

Turn: ($6.50, 2 players) K♦
Hero checks, BB bets $4.75, Hero calls $4.75

River: ($16.00, 2 players) 9♣
Hero checks, BB bets $20.75, fold

Analysis :

1) So flop is standard, his bet size doesn't say much. But in general, from what I've observed Nl50 regs would bet 2-2.25 with a set or a straight.

2) Turn is not standard, I decide to widening my calling range based on the fact that he is barreling too much and that he is probably on the level where he knows K is a good barrel card but he probably doesn't know that I know that he knows that. If that makes sense :P, so I'm assuming he would bet this card too frequently with air type hands. I feel like 88-JJ would tend to check the K,most of the time even if in reality I have no Kx in my range. He acted pretty quickly during the hand, so my assumption was that he wold have to think a bit before value betting 88-JJ on the turn.

Are you calling river? I think it's a lot closer then it seems. Considering he should not ever play Kx this way. The other thing is that almost all his draws hit a pair on the 9 and it really changes nothing. Because he shouldn't double barrel second pair +gutshot, IP. If he has 89, why would he overbet river?

2) This river will hit my perceived X/C range pretty hard But I'm probably just leveling myself

Hand 2) vs bad Nl100 reg who thinks I'm a fish. He is actaully really passive but vs me just 3 barrels all the time. What rivers are you folding ? Which ones are you calling?

PokerStars - $0.50 NL FAST (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BTN: $86.59
SB: $60.99
BB: $25.00
UTG: $105.62
MP: $77.67
Hero (CO): $50.00

SB posts SB $0.25, BB posts BB $0.50

Pre Flop: (pot: $0.75) Hero has Q♦ K♦

fold, fold, Hero raises to $1.20, fold, SB raises to $4.25, fold, Hero calls $3.05

Flop: ($9.00, 2 players) Q♥ 7♣ J♠
SB bets $6.00, Hero calls $6.00

Turn: ($21.00, 2 players) 4♠
SB bets $13.00, Hero calls $13.00

River: ($47.00, 2 players) K♠
SB bets $37.74 and is all-in, Hero calls $26.75 and is all-in

[double post] fail

Hi Ganimator,

Kudos to you ... is very important to figure out how poker fits into your life, not the other way around.

Originally posted by nvaz
Hi Ganimator,

Kudos to you ... is very important to figure out how poker fits into your life, not the other way around.

Thx man! Means a lot ! That sentence is just absolutely 100% spot on. Just took me awhile to realize how it would fit in my life.

Great decision Man ! it is very important to decide that from the early time of your career cause it will be so hard to quit in the future !

GL !

Sry to hear about the RL shit, but I'm sure you'll start to enjoy poker again in the future as a hobby and maybe even a useful second income (who knows?!) once the pressure is off. When you reason for playing is enjoyment as opposed to the need to for cash

Played poker for a few hours today without feeling forced to play. It felt really good, my mind was super clear and I was able to think through every decision. If I did lose a big pot , it really didn't affect me whatsoever.

Hand 1) Is anyone jamming river, villain is a fish.

On the flop I feel like my hand is slightly too weak to call 3 way. As well as I have to fold pretty much any turn or river.

I think it's a pretty good hand to turn into a bluff right away on the flop and triple most spade run outs. I'm not too happy when he calls, I think the majority of his range is strong Kx and draws. Fish tend to fast play their monsters when there is a flush draw on the flop.

Turn I decide to check, the card is super blank. I Don't expect to fold out any better hands.

On the river: I'm obviously not folding to his bet, but I'm looking for opinions if anyone thinks the fish is calling us off often enough with Kx for a shove??

PokerStars - $0.50 NL FAST (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BTN: $46.29
SB: $60.48
BB: $41.50
Hero (UTG): $158.70
MP: $52.26
CO: $50.00

SB posts SB $0.25, BB posts BB $0.50

Pre Flop: (pot: $0.75) Hero has 6♠ 7♠

Hero raises to $1.50, fold, fold, fold, SB calls $1.25, BB calls $1.00

Flop: ($4.50, 3 players) 7♥ 9♠ K♥
SB checks, BB bets $2.60, Hero raises to $7.50, fold, BB calls $4.90

Turn: ($19.50, 2 players) 3♣
BB checks, Hero checks

River: ($19.50, 2 players) 6♦
BB bets $9.50, Hero calls $9.50

Hand 2 vs aggro Russian reg

Resons for the 3 bet: He has loads of leaks postflop, he opens 25% utg after 1k hands and folds too much to 3 bets.

He raises flop too much in 3 bet pots, so I figured that if I hit an A he would try to rep it with 100% of his bluffing range which is much wider.

Once he checks turn, I can discount a lot of flushdraws. He barrels the turn super often, so I'm expecting him just to jam turn with his combodraws or flushdraws he raise the flop with.

River we have pretty close to the nuts after his turn play. When he showed 99, I was pretty surprised he called so quick. I mean I'm never value betting worse and the river improves my range a lot.

If the river was a blank. I would of just shoved, I don't expect a reg to ever check back a monster with two flush draws and a pot size bet left on the turn.

PokerStars - $0.50 NL FAST (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BTN: $65.76
Hero (SB): $97.89
BB: $98.43
UTG: $54.47
MP: $59.07
CO: $32.64

Hero posts SB $0.25, BB posts BB $0.50

Pre Flop: (pot: $0.75) Hero has K♣ J♠

UTG raises to $1.40, fold, fold, fold, Hero raises to $4.50, fold, UTG calls $3.10

Flop: ($9.50, 2 players) Q♦ T♠ 8♦
Hero bets $5.00, UTG raises to $13.75, Hero calls $8.75

Turn: ($37.00, 2 players) 5♠
Hero checks, UTG checks

River: ($37.00, 2 players) 9♦
Hero bets $79.64 and is all-in, UTG calls $36.22 and is all-in

Hand 3

PokerStars - $0.50 NL FAST (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BTN: $114.68
SB: $49.69
Hero (BB): $155.56
UTG: $51.84
MP: $59.50
CO: $18.86

SB posts SB $0.25, Hero posts BB $0.50

Pre Flop: (pot: $0.75) Hero has K♥ K♦

fold, fold, CO raises to $1.00, fold, SB calls $0.75, Hero raises to $4.50, fold, SB calls $3.50

Flop: ($10.00, 2 players) 7♦ K♣ 6♦
SB checks, Hero bets $5.50, SB calls $5.50

Turn: ($21.00, 2 players) 6♥
SB bets $39.69 and is all-in, Hero calls $39.69

River: ($100.38, 2 players) J♣

Crusher's back

Hand 1- well played imo. I guess we can shove vs fish too, he could call us off with some kx, but I like calling better.
Hand 2- its standard imo, you cant take any other line OOP with his raise otf.
Hand 3- ♦ that feels nice

Hand 1, I'm not too sure about the river. From his sizing and him being a fish I think he has a 1pr hand going for value and would bet larger with busted draws. The river raise is only 9.5- ca 23 so I think he will probably call often enough to make jamming ok.

I think he will often be like, FU all draws missed, I has 1pr

i'd jam hand 1, I think. If villain is a fish he can have a lot of Kx/TT/JJ/QQ or even AA wouldn't surprise me. With flush + straight draws on flop he might raise K9/97 so not sure how many 2p combos there are when we get to the river; especially with his sizing. The only thing I'd be worried about really is T8 but from my experience they'd bet more like ~$15, or something small like $5 to try induce a call.

Thx for the opinions guys. I'm going to do the math late to see how many Kx he needs to call to make the shove +EV.

Pretty hungover Saturday, went to a fun house party yesterday! Played a small session, worked on my resume. Now I'm going out for sushi

This guy makes me Lol in eveyhand we play. I think I'm up about 5Bi from him tilting vs me ♠_evil: : Hand

I can honestly say I have never been called a nit before ♠_grin:

Hand 2

Got to love when this stuff works!
PokerStars - $0.50 NL FAST (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

Hero (BTN): $100.76
SB: $77.43
BB: $52.38
UTG: $30.72
MP: $50.00
CO: $52.38

SB posts SB $0.25, BB posts BB $0.50

Pre Flop: (pot: $0.75) Hero has A♥ 8♥

fold, fold, fold, Hero raises to $1.00, SB raises to $3.50, fold, Hero calls $2.50

Flop: ($7.50, 2 players) A♦ 5♠ J♥
SB checks, Hero checks

Turn: ($7.50, 2 players) 5♦
SB checks, Hero checks

River: ($7.50, 2 players) 5♣
SB checks, Hero bets $12.00, SB calls $12.00

Ah8h

you can probably get more money in by betting 2/3 pot on Turn and River (~17$) but hey, if you can confuse the shit out of him with such a play, then it might make more sense to use your strategy instead.

6s7s

I think calling Flop may be a little too optimistic but at the same time you have some equity so raising it as a bluff works I guess. Jamming is probably better against a fish, and calling is better against a reg who would have a much stronger River leading range.

Originally posted by mbml
Ah8h

you can probably get more money in by betting 2/3 pot on Turn and River (~17$) but hey, if you can confuse the shit out of him with such a play, then it might make more sense to use your strategy instead.

6s7s

I think calling Flop may be a little too optimistic but at the same time you have some equity so raising it as a bluff works I guess. Jamming is probably better against a fish, and calling is better against a reg who would have a much stronger River leading range.

Thx for visiting my blog mbml! For the Ah8h hand. I have some history with villain and a note saying he bluff catches too much on the river, so I just went for it.

What's up everyone ! This past week I've been working on my resume, trying to find a part-time job for the summer. So far, I've applied at Apple as a computer genius or software engineering intern. Hopefully I get on of the jobs *fingers crosses* and a few other not so glamorous places ♦.

Over the past few weeks, I've discovered more about myself then I have probably in the last five years.

Here are a few:

1. I hate being alone for a long period of time
2. I get bored when I stop learning
3. I cannot sit at home for hours, I always need to be doing something or going to see someone.
4. In the future there is no way I'm living in Canada. It's too fuckin cold ♦
5. As a long term goal , I want to become a successful app developer or work at Google,Apple [pretty ambitious right] . I'm only in first year software engineering so we haven't learned too much yet but I'm going to learn how to make apps this summer as a hobby. There are plenty of good tutorials on youtube.

Clearly some of these translate to poker, so I've made a few adjustments in my poker routines. I play 3 tables of zoom now instead of 4+reg games, this way I can implement things I'm trying to learn much easier. It also prevents me from auto-piloting. The less tables I play, the funner poker becomes.

This week I'm trying to improve my thought process, when I value bet or bluff. In my head I try to define a range which I'm hoping to fold-out/call me. If my opponent calls with something I didn't expect , I review the hand to see if I missed something odd about his stats and take a note so I can adjust properly next time.

A few hands from today:

Against a fish. River is like super meh. I don't think he plays 2pair like this , so I should fold river.

PokerStars - $0.50 NL FAST (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BTN: $50.00
SB: $49.84
Hero (BB): $53.57
UTG: $62.78
MP: $79.93
CO: $66.14

SB posts SB $0.25, Hero posts BB $0.50

Pre Flop: (pot: $0.75) Hero has T♦ A♦

fold, MP raises to $1.50, fold, fold, SB calls $1.25, Hero calls $1.00

Flop: ($4.50, 3 players) T♠ Q♦ 8♣
SB checks, Hero checks, MP checks

Turn: ($4.50, 3 players) 4♣
SB bets $4.50, Hero calls $4.50, fold

River: ($13.50, 2 players) A♥
SB bets $18.00, Hero calls $18.00

Against supper aggro Russian fish

Pre: He doesn't call BB vs SB, just 3 bets everything. He also folds a lot to 4 bets from the BB.

PostFlop: In a vacuum it's a fold, I'm not sure how to explain it but my gut was screaming call down, so I did.

PokerStars - $0.50 NL FAST (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BTN: $51.11
Hero (SB): $102.48
BB: $79.71
UTG: $57.17
MP: $55.31
CO: $101.08

Hero posts SB $0.25, BB posts BB $0.50

Pre Flop: (pot: $0.75) Hero has J♣ 8♥

fold, fold, fold, fold, Hero raises to $1.50, BB raises to $4.50, Hero raises to $9.50, BB calls $5.00

Flop: ($19.00, 2 players) A♣ T♣ 4♣
Hero bets $7.00, BB calls $7.00

Turn: ($33.00, 2 players) 8♣
Hero checks, BB bets $14.50, Hero calls $14.50

River: ($62.00, 2 players) 6♣
Hero checks, BB bets $48.71 and is all-in, Hero calls $48.71

hand 1 maybe even fold OTT? He leads pot into 2ppl, I'd put him on a fairly nutted range, 2pr+, expecting him to lead pr + GS 1/2ps - 2/3ps and even c/c some times. River sucks but without reads, I think fish don't overbet without the nuts.....I often over think it but most fish aren't v agro so just have it

GL with the job applications! Do you get paid for interns in Canada? You don't here in UK but you did in Iceland when I lived there, they thought it was ridiculous you'd work without getting paid

1st is a little bit ambitious call, not much people bluff overbetting the river, especially this board..

2nd niice

Also, I'm glade you made some life and career goals, hopefully there will be some space left for poker

glgl
Fran

Hand 1 definitely ambitious. I would never fold turn vs a fish, he can have soo much gutshot + pair and random shit. I agree river is a fold but I just couldn't fold 2 pair vs a fish haha

You get paid for most internships that I know of including this one but I'm not 100% certain if you always get paid.

Thx guys and there is still some room for poker!

Played some Nl100 today, went pretty well up 1buy-in. I'm going to take a 10Bi shot and move down when I have 50BI for Nl50. Hopefully I can run good, Nl50 is so boring nitty regs everywhere.

gl man, i have seen you few times at the tables on nl50sh zoom

Btw you have one more follower

gl with the shot, I hope it goes well so I won't have to see you at the tables ♦