Lynius

    • lynius
      lynius
      Bronze
      Joined: 15.01.2011 Posts: 382
      Hey! Do I start with names or discussion of my poker career? Questions that go unanswered seems like a good way to begin. Unanswered until now...

      I started my poker career the day after my 18th birthday, depositing on FTP and attaining the starting capital from Pokerstrategy. Since then I've hurtled around BSS, not particularly paying the due care to the SHC as I should have, exploring FL-hold'em and playing a MSS style on the 30BB cap tables. In the midst of this I also managed to win and lose around 12 stacks at NL5 rush in one weekend.

      With FTP bust, I went to Pokerstars and everest poker playing the MSS. I've recently been wanting to learn the game of poker in more depth, and whilst PokerStrategy is great, I feel the MSS is a bit of a let down for silver members.

      Away from the fundamentals of what I've been playing, I have spent the time over the past few months having hit the highs and lows of the game. I've now accepted that patience is a virtue of poker playing (not that I have a problem playing tight, more fundamentally my self management).

      With this acceptance that no bankroll can be rushed (by someone of my skill level at least), I have adopted an approach that I should focus more on the game and study. With this in mind and the beginning of the course, I intend to:

      • Focus more on study
      • Focus more on the game
      • Manage myself to acheive these two tasks


      I'm currently a break-even player, but intend to be moving down to NL2 to play the BSS. With more study and focus, I hope to stop having sessions of half-heartedness and confusion, and more with dedication and commitment.

      I also intend to keep a greater track of my hands played and profit to determine my true win rate and sample (not having any tracking software atm).
  • 9 replies
    • UPAY4DINNER
      UPAY4DINNER
      Silver
      Joined: 27.09.2009 Posts: 22,026
      Hello Lynius,

      Welcome to the NL Beginners Course :)

      I hope you find the learning material very wholesome and that the switch from MSS to BSS goes smoothly for you.

      This course should help you realize you're potential and help you make the right decisions as much as possible.

      I wish you every success throughout the course.


      Kind regards,

      Gary
    • lynius
      lynius
      Bronze
      Joined: 15.01.2011 Posts: 382
      Question 1: What is your motivation for playing poker?

      My goal over the next year is to have built up the bankroll, skill set and mind set to beat NL50 (Playing NL2 atm).

      Having spent around nine months playing a variety of strategies and sites, alongside a lax approach to self management; I have confidence that I can beat NL2, though I must manage myself better. My motivation for this course is so that I may begin my self management and approach poker with the seriousness that I would like to.

      Question 2: What are your weaknesses when playing poker?

      I need to:
      • Stop playing whilst fatigued
      • Have more focus and concentration
      • More patience (I feel a small downswing at the moment)
      • Study more

      Question 3: What does it mean to play tight-aggressive?

      Tight:

      Playing a selection of starting hands (according to value, position at the table and the actions of other players). A tight selection of starting hands is usually one that will give a positive expected return.

      Aggressive:

      The selective (not bluffing a calling station) use of aggression usually returns a positive expected value (cbetting the flop can often have a positive expected value).
    • veriz
      veriz
      Black
      Joined: 20.07.2008 Posts: 65,504
      Hello lynius,

      Playing tired can cause a lot problems. Usually you are more moody when tired and get more easily angry. Which means you get easily tilty which is towards you playing less your A-game. You have to find a way to adjust to that. For example against tilt:
      Easiest wait to fight against tilt is to set up stop-loss technique. Which means if you for example have lost more than 3BIs for a session then you just stop the session for some time. The BI amount is set up from your own wanting. Some may put it higher, some lower. And after the stop you can easily just spend some time with evaluating your play.

      Also experience and playing more situations, analyzing your own situations will definitely help you coming a lot of most of the leaks you wrote.

      Welcome to the Course and Best of luck! First points earned.
    • lynius
      lynius
      Bronze
      Joined: 15.01.2011 Posts: 382
      Cheers. Self evaluation of my play is defiantly something that I need to work on. Will make sure to dedicate more time to hand evaluations in future. Just need to keep on schedule with things :)
    • veriz
      veriz
      Black
      Joined: 20.07.2008 Posts: 65,504
      Originally posted by lynius
      Cheers. Self evaluation of my play is defiantly something that I need to work on. Will make sure to dedicate more time to hand evaluations in future. Just need to keep on schedule with things :)
      Good to know. :) Good luck with it!
    • lynius
      lynius
      Bronze
      Joined: 15.01.2011 Posts: 382
      Question 1: What do you think you could play differently than how it is in the BSS Starting Hands Chart, and why?

      AQs - I'm used to playing this off suit UTG in the MSS. Does the equity change that much with a bigger stack, or could a more experienced tackle AQs UTG?

      Low suited Aces - If one player calls and you're on the Button, you call. I would prefer with A9s to raise over limpers. You're the couch, so I want to know what you think.

      KQs on the Button, similar to A9s, I would rather force a player out pre-flop.

      Finally, is it still correct to play a strong pre-flop game, even if it could not be fully supported post flop? For example - raising T9o against rocks on the SB and BB?

      Question 2: Post a hand for evaluation where you have a question regarding your pre-flop play.

      NL2 - 78o on the button

      I will be posting more in the hand evaluation forums shortly

      Question 3: What is the equity of AKo against the top 5% range? 5% means: 88+, AJs+, KQs, AKo?

      Using ev++ the calculator told me I was calculating a 0.9% range vs 5.3% - 12 combos vs 70 combos.

      I am getting 46.05% equity. I would assume this to make most calls acceptable considering money already invested into the pot if somebody 4-bet you, however, not acceptable to get involved if there was a bet and 3-bet before you. I would otherwise assume from my recollection of the "How to play pre-flop" article, that you should fold AKo if 4-bet after a 3-bet.

      How would I be able to calculate my equity against a 5% range without using a calculator?
    • veriz
      veriz
      Black
      Joined: 20.07.2008 Posts: 65,504
      Good job! Homework #2 Done!

      AQs - I'm used to playing this off suit UTG in the MSS. Does the equity change that much with a bigger stack, or could a more experienced tackle AQs UTG?

      The main idea of not playing such hands is that they are trying to avoid you facing difficult spots while playing OOP. But of course they are still playable.

      Low suited Aces - If one player calls and you're on the Button, you call. I would prefer with A9s to raise over limpers. You're the couch, so I want to know what you think.

      KQs on the Button, similar to A9s, I would rather force a player out pre-flop.

      Isolating can be very profitable actually since people on lower stakes take the fast and easy line by just Fit/Folding too much. With that you will earn in long run a lot profit. Which means you can isolate with even wider range, sometimes even with the all range which you could limp.

      Finally, is it still correct to play a strong pre-flop game, even if it could not be fully supported post flop? For example - raising T9o against rocks on the SB and BB?

      Why not? Read the text above. :) Fit/Fold guys are perfect targets for that kind of play.

      How would I be able to calculate my equity against a 5% range without using a calculator?

      It's a bit more difficult to do the calculation without using a equilab. Also I wouldn't advice to waste the time. :D Rather waste it on something more useful like using equilab and analyzing your own hands. You gonna need to go through all the hands and with different calculations and then add together and a lot of stuff to calculate. :D Also you wouldn't learn much with the calculations.

      Hopefully you enjoy the School so far. Some more points earned.
    • lynius
      lynius
      Bronze
      Joined: 15.01.2011 Posts: 382
      Question 1: You are holding K :spade: Q :spade: . What is your preflop equity against an opponent who has 3 :diamond: 3 :club: ? How does the equity change on this flop: J :spade: 5 :diamond: 3 :spade: ?

      Preflop Equity: 50.78% - It appears that suited, connected overcards have higher equity than low pocket pairs (besides AKs - assuming that's because it can only make one straight).

      Postflop Equity: 33.84%

      Question 2: What would you do in the following hand?

      Pot = 91 cents
      Bet to call = 22 cents

      Pot odds are therefore: 22:91 ~=~ 1:4

      Outs for a flush: 13 - 4 = 9
      Remaining cards: 52 - 2 - 4 = 46
      Remaining cards (not clubs) = 46 - 9 = 37

      Odds for flush 9 : 39 ~=~ 1:4

      Account that pot odds are slightly better than 1:4 and odds are also slightly better than 1:4 - these both sway in favor of a call.

      Assume villains range does not include 77 - by lack of bet on flop - fours will additionally help us for a tie, providing slightly better odds of 13 : 35

      Answer: call

      Question 3: Do you have questions about your postflop play? Post your hand for evaluation.

      NL2 - 33 - set on flop
    • veriz
      veriz
      Black
      Joined: 20.07.2008 Posts: 65,504
      Good job! Homework #3 Done!

      About Question #1:
      Preflop Equity:

             Equity     Win     Tie
      UTG    50.78%  50.40%   0.38% { KsQs }
      UTG+1  49.22%  48.84%   0.38% { 3d3c }


      Postflop Equity:

      Board: J:spade: 5:diamond: 3:spade:
             Equity     Win     Tie
      UTG    26.46%  26.46%   0.00% { KsQs }
      UTG+1  73.54%  73.54%   0.00% { 3d3c }


      Could you explain how you did get 33,84? :)

      About Question #3:
      There are few situations on turn:
      a) If we take just odds for the FD and we take into account that all our odds are clean. There which means:
      Total Pot = $0,91 ; We have to Call = $0,22 -> According to that it means we are getting ~4,16:1 odds. For flushdraw we would need 4:1. Which tells us that we are getting perfect odds.
      b) If we consider the opponent having sets here:
      Which means we have to discount outs, for example 6 and also 3. Which means we have 7 clean outs. Which means that we need 6:1 odds. That tells us that we need ~$0,41 on river to make it profitable. If we expect the opponent being loose enough and being able to pay us no-matter what then we can do the Call here properly.
      c) We might even have overcards as outs or even 4 as a out:
      Although this kind of situation ain't that likely. I'd rather discount that one and either pick a) or b). Most likely towards Call.

      You are doing great progress! Some more points earned.