I am trying to Poker, I Suck!

Originally posted by Chowchow12

Originally posted by hardlife66
Sorry to pick your brains, I agree about hand reading and I am getting better at it but some people like to bluff raise pre-flop this is hard to spot if they c-bet as well, can I get your opinion on this.

I would check out some of Weasel's content that talks about developing a strategy for calling postflop. You can't really tell if someone bluffing for that particular hand. Know what hands to call with will allow you to float/get value against villan's entire strategy.

That's interesting thanks.

Originally posted by Chowchow12

Originally posted by Talisker74
Hi, I had the same problems some months ago.
Actually nl10 (zoom) seems to be very soft.
Maybe you are skilled too much for this level or you have mindset problems.

If possible for you get silver status and wat weasels "Walkthrough" series
I guess it will give you a boost
And biggest exploit you can do on NL10 is to overfold.
Slainte
Talisker

Hey thanks for the help. I get coached by Weasel! So I have been shown all the content in walkthrough. I think I big part of it is mindset issues. I have got interested and started calling in spots I shouldn't have. They always seem to have it, so I think you're right it is party mindset, and I think partly running bad.

Weasel has looked at my stats and believes I should be a winner at NL10. I am going to stick to my current game that had me crushing NL5. I feared I was folding too much and was trying to over adjust, but from talking to people who beat the limit, and are beating the limit it seems like I am doing things in a correct manner. So, I won't make too many changes to my default strategy until I expand my horizons a little bit.

The Grinder's Manual
I didn't know this book existed until today. It is actually a perfect source of information for me. With my academic background I really like things that are written like textbooks. So I am going to go through this book slowly and do all the exercises and try to use it to help my thought process. I have found out that I could be studying a lot better, and I think this book is exactly what I need to help build that fundamental structure.

So plans have changed. We are going with this now. It still starts at pre-flop, but I will work through all the exercises and homework in the book. Generally textbook learning works well for me. Even in my classes I would need to slowly work through the book on my own time and mess around with exercises etc.

This is sort of what I was looking for at the beginning of this blog. I have coach weasel as well for questions and help with further learning. Theory always gives a good basis for out decisions. Rather than default to standard lines because that is what we are told to do.

I think I will post my homework in here as well. Good to keep accountable. I will think about the best structure to do this. I think this blog has gotten derailed and I would like to get it back to a good structure.

Here is to the next 4-5 months.

Where can I get a copy of this book?

Interesting, what kind of background do you have in Maths and Game Theory? I'll be back tomorrow!

Originally posted by Tim128
Interesting, what kind of background do you have in Maths and Game Theory? I'll be back tomorrow!

I have a background in Physics and computer science. I took a game theory class as an elective. In general I have gone pretty far into algorithm analysis which has a lot of proofs. So given a set of premises you can general come to more conclusions without that much information. I don't know very much about approximating a GTO strategy, but I found out some things about certain truths given its existence and about poker.

Board Analysis
I have been running my BTN open range against 4 different BB calling ranges on 14 different boards and trying to draw some general conclusions.

The differant ranges are:
Tag - 28.2% calling range
Tight 19% calling range
Lag - 53% calling range
Fish 63% calling range

The 16 different boards are
A72r As8s2d AhJs9h AhQhTh
KK3r Qs8d2c QsTs7d QcJc9h
J26r T73r Tc7c4h JhTh9s
833r 842r 6s3s2h . 7c6c5c

So in total I looked at 64 range vs ranges equitys and equity distributions. Some suprising conclusions. The LAG range is what I took from upswing and its calling range is kind of weak. They 3 bet so many broadways it doesn't do that great on a board like AQTss. The fish range was similar to the LAG range but with a small 3betting range, so the calling range is a lot stronger.

The Tag and Tight ranges really smashed a lot of boards. It was often I still had more nut combos on higher boards, so at the top of the equity distribution I am ahead, but the middle would cause the overall equity to be behind.

The big thing that surprised me was the relative difference in range really seemed to make a big difference in terms of good turn cards for the entire range. (Not really that important because in practice we want to break our RFI ranges into betting and calling and look at turns based on that.)

I will probably do the same thing for MP vs Button or something, and then move onto preflop analysis a bit more. I am just doing this while I get my pre-flop ranges down more.

I am still having a tough time with changing my thought process when playing. Asking myself these questions it feels like my brain just turns off. This is going to take some time to get.

I will write what I learned in regards to GTO in the coming days. It's really not that surprising other than the father Villian is from GTO the more profit you make from departing from GTO.

Slow but steady

Not able to play as much as I want to. I am almost through the Core content for part I and II. It really helped me look at how to study. The concepts aren't very new. Maybe the odd thing here or there. At this point my main focus is getting my preflop ranges down.

I made a mistake before where I would use the charts at the table, but they just became a crutch. Now I just don't play with it at all, and it forces me to recall the information more. It's slow going but it's the right path. I find that I am not memorizing them but coming up with short cuts for ball parking ranges.

Currently have the RFI ranges down (Easiest)
Then have the BB 3betting ranges down
Currently working on SB.

I think my poker computer can't handle the database that is installed with PT4 after it gets significant amount of hands. This kind of sucks, oh well.

I feel like I have much more confidence as I realize now what I am being taught, and how to move forward with improving. I doubt I will be putting in huge volume until summer time. I am really enjoying learning poker right now.

Finished the core part 2.

I just chewed through it faster then I meant to. Ah well. Going to come up with my own learning path to follow and study that I will take more of my time with. Probably Weasel's undergraduate series, or the grinders manual.

Over all was really good I will be back for part 3.

Study study
My poker time is all over the place right now. I am currently just getting the default 3betting ranges down. There are a lot so I am not really memorizing, but looking at how the trend of the bluff range and value range changes with position and bet size.

I am also adding in my own depolarized ranges but maybe I should ask Weasel about them.

I am also a very theoretical person. I generally need a clear understanding of what is going on or I just can't do it, and that is why poker has been so tough for me. I bought Matthew Janda's Book, application of NLHE, to help get a higher level view of what is going on.

On top of all this I am grinding out a lot of math and school stuff. Lot's of Math and statistics right now. I will be in summer classes too, but it will be significantly less busy, so I think I should be able to put in a lot more volume.

On the poker front I feel like I am spinning my tires a little bit here, but I still trying to figure out what I don't know. I will get an action plan together here soon. Just so busy. I want to go slow, intake information slowly and make sure I can ingrain it while playing. Keeping the goal on improving rather than having a good day at the tables.

Greetings from a fellow jiujiteiro... I'm glad to see that jiu-jitsu helped you through your life... and I'm glad to see your progress!!!

Cheers, mate!

Learning Path
I figured out my learning path for the next bit. I am going to stick to preflop, working in flopzilla. But instead of trying to cultivate all of hand reading all the time I am just going to focus doing it on preflop for right now. This way we can just focus on one thing at a time. I am working in flopzilla, to get my 3betting ranges down from BB that weasel has for different bet sizes. Once I get the types of hands down it actually isn't that bad.

Questions to ask ourselves

I got this from the core, but preflop action I want to give myself of a rough idea of the top and bottom of their preflop range.
Who is Villian?
Linear/Polarized/condensed range?
Best/Work Pocket pair, Best/worst broadways, Best/worst SC

These questions should be answers regardless of their action. RFI, will always we linear, but answer who villian is will help us with the rest, and we will have some idea of what we are against on the flop. I like this because it keeps it simple. Some of the other checklists I had where 7 or 8 questions it was too much. When I open raise I want to look at the BB and BU mostly, and I want to look at how tight/loose the blind its and how tight/aggressive BU is. So I want to gauge BB and BU for my "Who is Villian" question.

I read most of Matthew Janda's book: No-Limit Hold em for advanced players (2017). I read it really fast and it changes a lot with how I think about betting. There are only two reasons:
1) Build the pot incase you win
2) Deny Villain his/her equity share.

A lot of the ranges and concepts assume villian is good, and so I can't use a lot of it, but it changed how I think about a lot of things. I am still waiting for Applications of NL Hold em hard cover to come from Amazon, but since the (2017) was suppose to have less math, and updates to stuff from applications I decided to read it as a primer. I know it is a book for advanced people, but I just do so much better when I have a theory basis for things. From my schooling and problem solving I always started at theory as a means for problem solving so I think this will help a lot with confidence.

I want to be my own coach in the long run, and I think this will pay off later.

All this studying is probably a leak, and I should probably just be trying to break out of NL10, but yeah. Lets build a strong foundation.

Default 3betting ranges
These are pretty close to being down. I am not trying to memorize them perfectly, it isn't really the point, just need to be close, and know the types of hands.

Depolarized 3betting
These are next when I have someone who calls too many three bets. The advantage of this is I don't really have to worry about getting 4bet, and they will call with dominated hands too much. Again I need to just get a feel for it, and then after this we move on to cold calling.

Lots of work getting things down and really understanding them, but it is good.

Still here
Still playing a little bit and studying. Hard time with school dropping all the work on me right now. Won't be making much progress until mid april, but still studying ranges when I can.

I will start putting them into equilab with the RFI ranges as well. Long way to go with the depolarized 3betting ranges.

Playing has been kind of funny. It funny how much you lose from it.

Been reading Janda's book before I go to bed. Lots of good stuff about figuring out bet sizing.

Playing/Studying
My Last midterm is tomorrow, so playing and studying will ramp up after.

I think I found some mental leaks in my play. I am pretty certain these are the culprits for the beginning of the break down. I think I can fix it by doing some range analysis in flopzilla. I also think dropping a 5 second rule or something. The mental leak issue here is pretty big and I think I know how to fix it.

After this midterm I can do more focused studying. I plan to follow Weasel's undergraduate course. The ranges aren't that bad, but I am trying to jam so much stuff in my head with midterms etc. Then I am going to see how the summer class schedule goes, and will drop a goal down.

I have reading Janda's book on the bus to school a lot. The more I learn about poker theory the more I think Exploitation is the name of the game. I think you can end up in spots where you can exploit someone trying to be balanced. I see hints of it all around...if I know what they are going to do..I should be able to take advantage of it in a specific spot. More on it later.

I will also drop a GTO rant at some point in the future.

Good luck for tomorrow man, totally agree with what you said and keep up working hard. Have you already finished Jandas book? What do you think?
I think if you play enough hands (a lot) against a balanced player you can start exploiting him as well, I mean if you know his ranges and which and bets for bluff you can see if it is profitable to call. What do you think? Theoretically if he plays always the same in same spots you can exploit this

Originally posted by akerul
Good luck for tomorrow man, totally agree with what you said and keep up working hard. Have you already finished Jandas book? What do you think?
I think if you play enough hands (a lot) against a balanced player you can start exploiting him as well, I mean if you know his ranges and which and bets for bluff you can see if it is profitable to call. What do you think? Theoretically if he plays always the same in same spots you can exploit this

Hey thanks for the reply!

I just read the pre-flop section for now, since that is what I am focusing on. I ripped through the Core and Janda's second book way too fast. Going to go through everything else pretty slow. Here.

I am pretty sure I have a mindset leak in big pots.

Mindset issues

They are still here. My issue isn't understanding what to do or poker theory.

I panic in big pots. Experience will help.

The actual uncertainty of poker is what gets me.

When I make a mistake it affects me for a long time.

My lizard brain is very results orientated and it affects me.

I am not patent. I still have the (false) intuition I should be winning (it will be the end of me).

The fear is in the back of my mind that I might not be cut out for this.

Problems don't just go away. I am saying them here because they are real now. I want the pain from them to be real to force me to fix them.

here is to moving forward.

Been listening to a lot of Nick Howard. That guy is one of the best I have seen.

Moving forward
I feel a lot better about my play.

Yesterday I ran like crap, but today I ran pretty good. Not important though.

What is great is I found some leaks I need to take care of. Nick Howard talks about integration periods and I think that is basically what I need to do at the tables.

I can play 3 tables of Zoom pretty comfortably, but I will often miss new things. I think I am missing a lot of the auto profit spots that simplify the strategy.

I have notice Weasel's guidelines could be boiled down to doing a lot of betting, but not as much calling, and this make sense now, given that the microstakes pool on average is passive, and not balanced. They don't defend their checks, well, and so the auto profit lines do a good job of having a simplified strategy.

My default 3betting is getting there. I don't have to check the chart as often, but really I have a much better idea on the types of hands, and getting a feel for those, I am usually not to far off.

I am going to start with the 4betting ranges, mostly will be depolarized in the blinds. I think this was a big leak I had before. I should have been 4betting depolarized, and was just folding too much.

I was hoping to get through the preflop stuff in shorter time (School is still killing me atm.), but I can only go so fast.

I am not sure if I will stick with NLHE cash as my main game, but I think for now it is probably the best for building a bankroll, and building pretty good foundations.

I can see myself venturing off into PLO/O8 land here.

I am still bad, so lets not add a bunch of cards yet.

I am honestly not sure how much I will be doing until mid april I am trying to jam too much into my brain at once and I think it is just falling apart at the seams.

My poker computer broke about a week ago. I need a new computer and can't do anything until next week. I have set some pretty tough goals for myself this summer, but I need the challange or I get nowhere.

I am probably going to start up a completely different blog. I wanted this is be a resource but it got de-railed a while ago. I have a much better idea of what to do how to structure everything.

Here is to starting over. Look out for my next blog in a week or so.