Friedric

zoom players itt

rush to improve and get to nl25! i feel that one can maintain an acceptable "travel income" there, also enough to buy nice presents and such things sometimes

Welcome to the Course and Best of Luck. Good job! Homework #1 Done!

Wow, 6 months and already 400k hands? That's impressive. Keep going such volume! It always helps you get fast the hands. Although the problem with ZOOM is that it doesn't teach you much which you should be doing in the beginning.

Don't worry about your English, so I don't see any problems and I'd say even pretty good.

Lack of concentration is a common leak for beginners. Listening music, watching TV, reading forums, although people don't understand that those kind of distractions will just make you lose more money. Ain't ya there for win money? So act like that and force yourself always close all kind of distractions and try to stay concentrated on the tables. Everyone will find their own way how they are able to concentrate more. Try remind yourself often what you are doing on the tables and keep it this way. With time you will get used to it.

Most of the weakness you wrote can easily be fixed by posting hands (analyzing your session). We will start writing feedback to your play. Usually negative feedback will put you into thinking phase and trying to fix all those leaks. It's almost the same as you lose money, you will remember it more than winning part. By this situation it's gonna be that negative feedback you gonna remember and try to avoid them next time.

What about tilt? Do you adjust something against it? For example:
Easiest way 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 results. Some may put it higher, some lower. Also after the stop you can spend some time with evaluation part to become better.

Well, why you are playing tight? Cause you are playing ZOOM, it's super easy to just fold the hand and get new one. But if it's going to be the best style is the question. For beginners definitely but when you getting better & better most likely not.

Tight style is usually called playing selected hands. Like following the Starting Hand Chart. Aggressive should be also pretty clear that already the word says how you should be playing. But the problem playing aggressively is that you have to watch that you don't play too aggressive. Find good spots, find good targets. About The tight-aggressive strategy you can read in this article: "What is the Big Stack Strategy?"

Hopefully you will enjoy the Course.

That's my graph. The moments when line is going down (60k hands, 100k hands, 280 and now), it's all nl5 Game doesn't change too much, but still I can't find myself there. Maybe next time

I've problem with 2nd homework, I can't convert my hand history into pokerstrategy format. HM2 also doesn't want to do that for me, it looks like this (doesn't show my hand history on the left side): http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/860/beztytuupvl.jpg/.

Any ideas how to fix it?


@Tomaloc Yea, that's my goal Hope to meet you there soon

Nvm, I done it somehow

Lesson #2



Question 1: What do you think you could play differently than suggested in the BSS Starting Hands Chart and why? (Are there any hands you would play differently? Do you have a problem or question about how a specific hand or hands should be played?)

- First of all, I wouldn't limp pocket pairs. Whenever I see someone limping, I marks him as a weak player. Only raise or fold for me. No value in limping, cause we will call most of the time if someone raise us anyway.

- I have watched Crushing nl50 - part 1, and heard there wise words "utg+1 is not utg+3, small blind is not a big blind and cut off is not a button". That's it!

- Everything in poker DEPENDS. We can't just say "hey, AA, KK stack off preflop, everything you should play post". It's not like that, we can find profitable spots when we can shove with TT+, AQ. Depends on opponents, table, our image and so on.


Question 2: Do you have questions about your preflop play? Post your hand for evaluation. ( Post your hand in the Hand evaluation forums and provide a link to your hand in your private thread in the Locker Room.)

- TT nl2 zoom


Question 3: What is the equity of AKo against the top 5% range? 5% means 88+, AJs+, KQs, AKo. ( You can either calculate this yourself or use an equity calculator such as the PokerStrategy.com Equilab.)


equity win tie pots won pots tied
Hand 0: 46.324% 37.92% 08.41% 420706872 93287754.00 { AKo }
Hand 1: 53.676% 45.27% 08.41% 502290612 93287754.00 { 88+, AJs+, KQs, AKo }

Originally posted by Friedric


That's my graph. The moments when line is going down (60k hands, 100k hands, 280 and now), it's all nl5 Game doesn't change too much, but still I can't find myself there. Maybe next time

I've problem with 2nd homework, I can't convert my hand history into pokerstrategy format. HM2 also doesn't want to do that for me, it looks like this (doesn't show my hand history on the left side): http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/860/beztytuupvl.jpg/.

Any ideas how to fix it?


@Tomaloc Yea, that's my goal Hope to meet you there soon

Graph is really nice mate! GoGoGo! I have seen you being pretty active on the Hand Evaluation forums, that's really good. But try also to analyze your own game as soon you get fixed your HM2.

My advice about the HM2 question, send the same picture into this forum section: link. They will definitely help you there, there is even one guy who works for HM and will answer your questions and help you to fix the problem.

Good job! Homework #2 Done!

Playing PPs can be in long run be very profitable, we could even say that you earn the most money with them (except of course KK/AA strong hands ). You can always try out either you play them profitable or not by check the programs either you are doing great on early position with PPs or not and base according to that. Although the problem with playing them, especially from EP if you playing FR is the case that you wont always play them profitable and very low ones I would even advice to fold as 22-55 and raise it up like 66-77+.

Crushing NL50 is pretty nice from hasenbraten. Great that you enjoyed it and there are of course a lot more videos around to watch, I hope you will enjoy them as well. In any case you have any questions about any videos feel free to ask here.

About Question #3:

       Equity     Win     Tie
UTG    46.32%  37.92%   8.41% { AKo }
UTG+1  53.68%  45.27%   8.41% { 88+, AJs+, KQs, AKo }

Hopefully you enjoy the Course so far.

Graph could be much better if nl5 hug me, not kick my ass all the time
HM already works, so I can post my hands without any problem. I also consider making my own blog to organize my poker play, but probably after I end this course... we will see.


Lesson #3


Question 1: You are holding K Q . What is your preflop equity against an opponent who has 3 3 ? How does the equity change on this flop: J 5 3 ? (Tip: you can use the Equilab to help you with this task.)

Preflop:

equity win tie pots won pots tied
Hand 0: 50.780% 50.40% 00.38% 863053 6448.00 { KsQs }
Hand 1: 49.220% 48.84% 00.38% 836355 6448.00 { 3c3d }

Postflop:

equity win tie pots won pots tied
Hand 0: 26.465% 26.46% 00.00% 262 0.00 { KsQs }
Hand 1: 73.535% 73.54% 00.00% 728 0.00 { 3c3d }


Question 2: What would you do in the following hand? (Remember that it is important to explain your reasons, simply posting "Fold" or "Call" isn't enough!)

No Limit hold'em $2 (9-handed)

Players and stacks:
UTG: $2.00
UTG+1: $2.08
MP1: $1.92
MP2: $1.00
MP3: $3.06
CO: (Hero) $2.08
BU: $2.00
SB: $2.00
BB: $1.24

Preflop: Hero is CO with A J
5 folds, Hero raises to $0.08, BU calls $0.08, SB folds, BB calls $0.06.

Flop: ($0.25) 2 6 3 (3 players)
BB checks, Hero checks, BU checks.

Turn: ($0.25) 5 (3 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $0.22, BU raises to $0.44, BB folds, Hero...?

Hmmm... "call" isn't not enough, so it's probably something with odds. Let's see. We have to pay 0.22$ to 0.91$, so our pot odds are 4.13:1, for flush drawing we need 4:1 so call is ok here. But... There is always but. If opponent has a set we need to discount 2 our outs, so we need 6:1 pot odds to call, fold would be probably weak here, so implied odds will do their job and still call can be profitable. I have no idea if it's a correct thinking, to be honest


Question 3: Do you have questions about your postflop play? Post your hand for evaluation. (Post your hand in the hand evaluation forum and provide a link to your hand in your private thread in the Locker Room.)

- KQs nl2 zoom

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 5 3
Equity Win Tie
UTG 26.46% 26.46% 0.00% { KsQs }
UTG+1 73.54% 73.54% 0.00% { 3d3c }


About Question #2:
There are several occasions on turn:
a) If we take just odds for the FD and we take into account that all our odds are clean. 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 so that means 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, keep going!

Lesson #4

Question 1: Post a hand for evaluation in which you have the initiative postflop. (Post your hand in the Hand evaluation board, and provide a link to your hand in your private thread.)

ATs nl2 zoom

Question 2: Evaluate one of the hands submitted by other members. (Choose a hand from the Hand evaluation board and post your own evaluation in the thread. Post a link to the hand you have evaluated in your private thread. You can evaluate as many hands as you want, but try to choose hands not yet evaluated by other users.)

Nl2 99

3: You are on the flop with KQ. The board cards are J, 9, 8, and your opponent holds 77. What is your equity in this spot?

Board: J 9 8

equity win tie pots won pots tied
Hand 0: 41.414% 41.41% 00.00% 410 0.00 { KsQd }
Hand 1: 58.586% 58.59% 00.00% 580 0.00 { 7c7h }

i enjoyed reading your lessons v.much thank you you have done v.well for such short span in time. I hope your motivation in lesson become your goal but b careful dont push too hard and you lose what u love it slip through your hand like sand. Better to build it slowly and gradually and be cautious when you suddenly lose a lot of your bankroll play v.small stakes then till you reach upward again good luck to you for bright future.

Oh, thank you so much I'm very patient person, I know that everything takes some time and can't be made in a blink of an eye. I won't give up, I have a huge motivation to be a better player and I have to prove something.

I'm still learning a lot, to be honest I watch more videos, read articles, read other people hands, than play poker. It works well and I'm pretty happy how I'm playing right now. This is a graph from yesterday session on zoom nl2:



Uploaded with ImageShack.us

Too bad that I'm not playing like that everyday, but it's mostly caused by lack of concentration. I'm getting distracted easily which leads to bad decision while playing. Gonna work on it.

Thanks for this post again gamingboy


Oh, Veriz, why do you think that zoom won't teach me too much? Where normal tables have advantage over zoom tables?

Good job! Homework #4 Done!

This weeks homework was a bit easier. But the idea of that is to help you go through last weeks stuff if you didn't go through everything. Or either way maybe even read some more articles, watch some videos and of course attend in the coaching. What will also help for your game is the evaluation part of other members hands and of course posting your own hands.

If you have interests you could try calculating the equity with a formula which you can use even on tables(either playing online or live poker):
(Amount of outs x 4) – (Amount of outs – 8) = Your Equity

About Question #3:

Board: J 9 8
       Equity     Win     Tie
UTG    41.41%  41.41%   0.00% { KsQd }
UTG+1  58.59%  58.59%   0.00% { 7h7c }

Hopefully this wasn't too easy homework for you.

Really nice graph! Keep it going! Only motivates to grind you even more when running good but keep in mind not be sad when facing a downswing.

Oh, Veriz, why do you think that zoom won't teach me too much? Where normal tables have advantage over zoom tables?

Not telling that it's not possible to learn from them but usually people get very lazy there. Which by default they just fold, fold, fold and wait for hand and play postflop fit/Fold but which in long run ain't going to be very good. In normal tables at least you think what you doing and also know more against what players you are. In zoom other way around you more often are against unknown.

Also the winrate is most likely going to be smaller in ZOOM tables cause even a fish can wait for a hand there and just fold till he gets AA. But yeah, as said if you enjoy it I wouldn't force you to leave it, at least try still posting hands which improve your game (Usually with ZOOM people get too many hands and forget to analyze their sessions - another problem).

You are right about zoom, that people are getting lazy there and it got me too. My red line was going down so fast, but from the moment when I start the course, watched some videos + coaching, it stops near 0 which is a big success for me. It means that I start thinking about the hand, not only goes for fit/fold. It really affect my winrate (in + of course), and I'm really impressed how I'm playing right now

Lesson #5


Question 1: Post a hand for evaluation where you have based your decisions on the stats of your opponents. (Post your hand in the Hand evaluation board, and provide a link to your hand in your private thread.)

- J9o nl2 zoom

Question 2: Evaluate one of the hands submitted by other members. (Choose a hand from the Hand evaluation board and post your own evaluation in the thread. Post a link to the hand you have evaluated in your private thread. You can evaluate as many hands as you want, but try to choose hands not yet evaluated by other users first.)

- nl2 AA

Question 3: Consider the following situation:

$10 NL Hold'em (7-handed)

Stacks & Stats:
UTG ($10)
MP ($8)
MP2 ($9)
CO ($10)
Hero($10)
SB ($10) (17/13/2.6/24/1212) [VPIP/PFR/AF/WTS/Hands]
BB ($10) (27/9/2.0/29/333) [VPIP/PFR/AF/WTS/Hands]

Preflop: Hero is BU with 6 , 7
4 folds, Hero raises to $0.40, SB calls $0.40, BB calls $0.40

Flop: ($1.20) 3 , 3 , T (3 players)
SB checks, BB checks, Hero checks

Turn: ($1.20) J (3 players)
SB bets $1.00, BB calls $1.00, Hero...

What action would you take, and why?

Fold is probably out of considerations. I would go for call here and think what to do on river. I prefer call, because I feel like raise would isolate me here on full house or higher flush, I wouldn't feel comfortable with this situation. So pot control and other action depends on river card.


Question 4: Consider the following situation:

$10 NL Hold'em (8-handed)

Stacks & Stats
UTG ($8)
MP ($10)
MP2 ($9)
MP3 ($6)
Hero ($10)
BU ($10) (25/21/3.8/26/1250) [VPIP/PFR/AF/WTS/Hands]
SB ($10)
BB ($10)

Preflop: Hero is CO with J , J
4 folds, Hero raises to $0.40, BU 3-bets to $1.30, 2 folds, Hero calls $1.30

Flop: ($2.75) 6 , 9 , T (2 players)
Hero...
What action would you take, and why?

Oh, I hate this situation, cause I have no idea where I'm with my hand. He is an aggressive player, so I'm pretty sure that he will cbet here most of his hands even if he didn't hit the board. That's why I would go for check/raising here, I don't want to see many bad cards on turn and river, so putting pressure on him is the best for me.

Good Job! Homework #5 Done!

Very good! Great to hear that you seeing progress in your game, that's the main motivation for us in the beginning, though I'd say you have a really clear mind and decent thinking level, I am pretty sure you turning into a good player. Just put enough of effort into it.

About Task #3
It's a very close decision: does protection or pot control weigh heavier here? Do you want to protect against hands like 3x or A:dx and K:dx? Or do you want to control the pot size and try to induce a bluff on the river in case there is no T, no J and no additional ?

Raise/fold is out of question - with the given pot size and the good made hand you have, it can't even be considered.

In case you decide to go broke, you can't really be blamed either. It's not a sign of weakness that the rather tight small blind decides to bet into two people here, though. I would say a call is to be slightly favored, while the many outs against you are annoying. The big blind who calls rather loosely speaks in favor of a raise/broke again. Both options are finally considered equal, which shows - all things considered - how close and full of variance these spots really are.

About Task #4
You've called pre-flop and then hit a good board. You basically have two choices now: either you assume that your opponent will go broke loosely or puts you on a bluff often and you thus check/raise - or you play check/call in the spirit of way ahead / way behind. The problem with the latter is that there are a lot of cards you don't want to see in the later course of the hand. All in all, it depends on your balancing as both lines make sense under certain circumstances.

A check/fold would be really pointless, of course. It's hard to say whether you should donk-bet here; donk/fold can be discarded as that would turn your hand into a pure bluff and your opponent would interpret this as weakness and start raising you out of flops with hands like AK/AQ/air. So, if you want to donk-bet, it has to be a donk/3-bet.

Good luck on tables and with the Course.

Thanks for a good word, it means a lot for me, I will show you that you are right!

Gonna have a shot on nl5 soon again, so wish me luck.

Lesson #6


Question 1: Post a hand for evaluation where you have either a) freeplay, b) slowplay, or c) multi-way pot situation. (Post your hand in the Hand evaluation board, and provide a link to your hand in your private thread.)

- T3s zoom nl2

Question 2: Evaluate one of the hands submitted by other members. (Choose a hand from the Hand evaluation board and post your own evaluation in the thread. Post a link to the hand you have evaluated in your private thread. You can evaluate as many hands as you want, but try to choose hands not yet evaluated by other users first.)

- nl2 hero AKo

Question 3: Consider the following situation:

$25 NL Hold'em (10 handed)

Stacks & Stats
UTG ($25)
UTG+1 ($25) rock
UTG+2 ($25)
MP1 ($25)
MP2 ($25) LAG
MP3 ($25) maniac
CO ($25)
Hero BU ($25)
SB ($25)
BB ($25) calling station

Preflop: Hero is BU with Q , J
5 folds, MP3 raises $1.00, CO calls $1.00, Hero calls $1.00, 1 fold, BB calls $1.00

Flop: ($4.10) 3 , J , A (4 players)
BB checks, MP3 checks, CO checks, Hero checks

Turn: ($4.10) Q (4 players)
BB bets $2.05, 2 folds, Hero...?

What action would you take, and why?

Oh, great example where decision depends on type of opponent. Calling station is half pot betting? (ring, ring!! - red alert) he has something I bet that he has at least 2 pairs, so raising here is not the best option cause it will isolate me against hands that are crushing me. I'm going for call and pot control, if he has better hand like KT, AQ, AJ, A3, JJ, 33, then we can still improve on the river. It's not worth to raise, because what we gonna do if he 3bet us? It should be a call then probably, but I don't wanna lose my stack

Good Job! Homework #6 Done!

About Question #3:
Two lines can quickly be discarded here: fold and raise/fold; your hand is simply too strong for those alternatives.

It's hard to assess whether you should put in a raise here. When a rather passive player decides to bet into three players while being out of position, it does look strong. It's more likely an indication of a made hand than that of a draw.

A raise naturally protects, but you run the risk of isolating yourself against very strong range. Which weaker hands could your opponent possibly continue playing here?

The deciding factor finally comes in the size of the pot. This tiny pot simply isn't worth putting yourself into a tough spot where you could potentially end up risking your entire stack. A raise would be overplayed here and pot control takes the precedent over protection.

Best of Luck on the tables and with the Course.

Closer and closer to nl5, too bad that I'm going to work soon and I won't play till october :/

Lesson #7


Question 1: Post a hand for evaluation where you have played on a 6-max table (short-handed). (Post your hand in the No Limit: Hand Evaluations forum, and provide a link to your hand in your private thread.)

- 66 nl2 sh

Question 2: Evaluate one of the hands submitted by other members (Choose a hand from the No Limit: Hand Evaluations board and post your own evaluation in the thread. Post a link to the hand you have evaluated in your private thread. You can evaluate as many hands as you want, but try to choose hands not yet evaluated by other users first.)

- nl2 hero AhKh

Question 3: Consider the following situation:

$10 NL Hold'em (6 handed)

Stacks & Stats:
UTG ($10)
MP ($10)
CO ($10)
BU($10)
SB ($10)
BB (Hero) ($10)

Preflop: Hero is BB with 5 , 4
2 folds, CO raises to $0.40, BU calls $0.40, SB calls $0.40, Hero calls $0.40

Flop: ($1.60) 3 , 2 , Q (4 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $1.20, CO Raises All-in, BU calls All-in, SB folds, Hero...

What action would you take, and why?

CO player shouldn't be a problem, cause he probably has QQ+, but calling BU is kinda scary. I would call it probably, since he can have 22,33 or some Qx cards and we have someone equity even vs higher flush draw.

Question 4: Consider the following situation:
$10 NL Hold'em (6 handed)

Stacks & Stats:
UTG ($10)
MP ($10)
CO (Hero) ($10)
BU($10)
SB ($10)
BB ($10)

Preflop: Hero is CO with A , K
2 folds, Hero raises to $0.40, BU calls $0.40, SB calls $0.40, BB calls $0.40

Flop: ($1.60) A , 4 , 4 (4 players)
SB checks, BB bets $1.20, Hero...

What action would you take, and why?

Hey, this one is easier than 3rd question I'm going for call here, cause of multiway pot. I don't want to raise, because I still have 2 opponents behind me and raise/folding is probably stupid. By passive play I can get a value from worse Ax, maybe some PP.

Good Job! Homework #7 Done!

One tip for you mate before we go to homework, in poker rather try avoid rushing. There is no way you going to move up the stakes much faster moving to NL5 a bit earlier. We still want to secure our game being good whilst playing on lower limits so we wouldn't lose much money with higher limits. So don't worry at all about it!

About Question #3:
In this case, you decided to bet out yourself and two players behind you go all-in. You would have to invest $8.40 in order to participate in a $22 pot, which corresponds to an equity of 27.63%.

Board: Q 3 2
Dead:

Equity Win DrawLoss Hand
Player 1: 38.538% 38.538% 0.000% 61.462% 5h4h
Player 2: 14.540% 14.540% 0.000% 85.460% QQ+
Player 3: 46.921% 46.921% 0.000% 53.079% 22-33

You get the required odds even when you're exclusively up against very strong hands!

About Question #4:
Top pair / top kicker has been and will always be a hand that's tough to play, especially in a multi-way pot. In this case, you've hit a nice flop, but you're up against 3 opponents on a dry board which doesn't allow for any dangerous draws.

A fold on this board is, of course, too weak. You can't really hit much better and there might be worse Ax hands willing to pay you off.

If you think that your opponent(s) is/are often willing to go broke on the flop with worse hands, raising might not be the worst of choices. But one thing is clear: if you raise, you have to go all-in on the flop! Raise/fold with your top pair is absolutely out of question.

Even though this might leave a bitter aftertaste in a 4-way pot, you should play this like a way ahead / way behind spot here - by playing it passive, you will extract the maximum from weaker hands and bluffs while avoiding big losses against stronger hands.

Best of Luck on the Tables.