NL25, SH, DrDunne (╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻)

FIRST

EDIT: and subbed obviously!

First time I hear you have a degree in psychology!

Use that knowledge in poker imo. Poker is a lot more about psychology than cards since it's game where people constantly interact. I know some have trouble realizing this when they play online, however that will help you a lot imo.

You will be a NL20/NL25 winner by end of November if you keep up the good work you've been doing.

third?

gogo poker goals definitely doable, may even be too easy to you but i also like setting light goals

Will be watching Lewis, you'll crush 25 soon NP! Nice graphs by the way. Gym and guitar also on my pre-masters list, surreal. You decided on any short list of places yet for masters btw? I'm in love with LSE but costs like £10k.

subscribed

@ manu
it seems that the most psychology i can use is on myself.. and that's easier said than done! most of my studying was on stuff like nerve impulses, brain disorders, a bit of stress & health, violence and criminology so not too much to relate to poker. although i did write my dissertation on judgement and decision making but the moral of that story is that human beings are irrational

@ tomaloc
i hope they are too easy maybe i should change it to nl100.. i guess a lot could happen in that time!

@ ains
i was looking at LSE a while back actually.. and yea. 10k but it does seem like a cool place..

@ swanny36
hello and ty!

Originally posted by DrDunne
the moral of that story is that human beings are irrational

That's the best thing you can use in poker really... you constantly try and make rational decisions and you think your opponents will do the same but as a default they will not!

Originally posted by EmanuelC16

Originally posted by DrDunne
the moral of that story is that human beings are irrational

That's the best thing you can use in poker really... you constantly try and make rational decisions and you think your opponents will do the same but as a default they will not!

aaand by assuming that in the first place it makes us irrational or something like that lol. i can see how it applies but it seems that it isn't much help to me atm. maybe im being ignorant and will never really understand it until i understand it

It's irrational to believe others think like you. That's where a problem starts in poker as well.

You'll get there once you see tables full of 'regs' instead of 60/0 whales.

Oh, and you are already using that thinking at fishy tables anyway.. But it's way more obvious here that people don't play like you that you don't even second guess your thinking. Once you see how players that look about the same as you act in a lot of situations you'll understand better what I mean.

what a day! i think i'm falling for the trap of overadjusting to the new limit without even knowing it.... i think nl20 is really helping me at nl10 tho. it makes nl10 look like a playground

also just seen i have a fair few tourneys to play at partypoker in november:

$2,000 Card Rush Tournament - 13:30 ET 02/11/12

$3,000 Card Rush Tournament – 14:30 ET 02/11/12

$7,500 Card Rush Tournament – 14:30 ET 04/11/12

$10,000 Card Rush Tournament – 14:00 ET 05/11/12


i've yet to ship a tourney, but maybe i'll read a bit of tourney strategy. that + return of FTP = good start to month imo!

so nl20 has been going worse than i expected.. which is to be expected i have obviously been over-thinking everything and making terrible "adjustments". regs seem to like 4betting with hands like AQ and calling 4bets with KTs along with other crap.. shame for me but i'm now on the verge of moving back to nl10 to rebuild. despite that i was feeling sensible today and decided to play a session at nl20 while i am still rolled for it... i am thankful that it was break even

here are some hands.

1.


2.


3.


aaaand finally... it's nice to hold up, but its a shame that i feel like i need to cooler people to win a pot!

4.
$0.10/$0.20 No Limit Holdem
Prima
6 Players
Hand Conversion Powered by weaktight.com

Stacks:
UTG ($20.90) 105bb
UTG+1 ($24.18) 121bb
CO ($20) 100bb
BTN ($33.10) 166bb
SB ($25.63) 128bb
DrDunne (BB) ($25.86) 129bb

Pre-Flop: ($0.30, 6 players) DrDunne is BB A A
3 folds, BTN raises to $0.60, SB raises to $2.20, DrDunne raises to $6, BTN folds, SB goes all-in $23.43, DrDunne calls $19.63

Flop: 3 3 J ($45.86, 2 players, 1 all-in)

Turn: 5 ($45.86, 2 players, 1 all-in)

River: J ($45.86, 2 players, 1 all-in)

Final Pot: $45.86
SB shows
K K
DrDunne shows
A A

DrDunne wins $49.27 (net +$29.64)

BTN lost $0.60
SB lost $25.63
should have made my 4bet to like €5 but who cares.

1st hand.....you nit lewis...shove allin
2nd hand.....you nit lewis ...shove allin
3rd hand......nice fold

IMHO

roo! nice of you to drop by! your hand evaluations are always welcome ofc

Originally posted by roopopper
3rd hand......nice fold

maybe i should have 3bet broke

im actually a favourite against a pretty narrow range stacking off range..

Dr. Dunne
I've been finding nl20 players very odd as well. flatting 4bets oop with A3s/88 etc. For me it has been tough adjusting as on NL25 zoom on stars flats of 4bets are usually pretty nutty

1st hand: what about checking back turn and calling non Ax/Qx rivers?

Originally posted by yougotfelted51
Dr. Dunne
I've been finding nl20 players very odd as well. flatting 4bets oop with A3s/88 etc. For me it has been tough adjusting as on NL25 zoom on stars flats of 4bets are usually pretty nutty

yeah it's really strange. i end up running into their monsters because they do stuff like that as well

where do you play nl20??

Originally posted by yougotfelted51
1st hand: what about checking back turn and calling non Ax/Qx rivers?

i thought about that but then he could bet any amount.. i just wanted to bet enough my self on the turn and not get into more trouble on the river. but yeah i checking back the turn to call a blank river would also be a good idea. it could actually save money..

funny and interesting quote by mr balugawhale that really applies to me atm...

people understand preflop aggression. but as soon as you start putting pressure on him postflop, what does he do? he clams up and becomes just the same old passive guy that everyone else is. he's like, "oh my god, she's raising a J66 board. i have outs! i have outs! i'll call - maybe i'll get lucky. oh i missed. she bet again. oh no. ok i fold".

couple of interesting hands today @nl10.

1.
villain seems to bet pot with an air-heavy range. stats are 42/25, 3bets 13% and AF = 4.3 all over 142 hands. i have him marked yellow, which is aggressive and bad so i expect him to bluff a lot.

$0.05/$0.10 No Limit Holdem
Prima
5 Players
Hand Conversion Powered by weaktight.com

Stacks:
UTG ($20.56) 206bb
CO ($18.26) 183bb
DrDunne (BTN) ($11.05) 111bb
SB ($13.92) 139bb
BB ($9.55) 96bb

Pre-Flop: ($0.15, 5 players) DrDunne is BTN 7 A
2 folds, DrDunne raises to $0.20, 1 fold, BB calls $0.10

Flop: 2 J J ($0.35, 2 players)
BB checks, DrDunne checks

Turn: 7 ($0.35, 2 players)
BB bets $0.45, DrDunne calls $0.45

River: 6 ($1.25, 2 players)
BB bets $1.35, DrDunne calls $1.35


i don't cbet the flop since i figure i have little fold equity and i can't be sure that i'm ahead yet. i pick up some SDV ott which imo would be great for bluffcatching - he has very few value hands in his range here, and i know he can play draws aggressively because i have seen it. so once he bets pot i call with the intention of calling a lot of rivers. going over the hand now i'm not too sure my line is very good but the thing is, i don't think im behind much on the turn and if i call the turn i have to call this river especially vs him. thoughts?


2.
this hand was strange. i don't normally get into spots like this because don't normally call 3bets OOP.. maybe it's just a standard 4bet/broke hand i dunno.

villain is a reg. 22/17, 3bets 6.9% although 10% on the BU. AF = 6.2 and he doesn't go to SD much (20% and doesn't do well there either, winning only 42%) - all over 558 hands.

$0.05/$0.10 No Limit Holdem
Prima
5 Players
Hand Conversion Powered by weaktight.com

Stacks:
DrDunne (UTG) ($14.69) 147bb
CO ($10.68) 107bb
BTN ($10.05) 101bb
SB ($10) 100bb
BB ($21.43) 214bb

Pre-Flop: ($0.15, 5 players) DrDunne is UTG Q Q
DrDunne raises to $0.30, 1 fold, BTN raises to $1.25, 2 folds, DrDunne calls $0.95

Flop: 4 9 10 ($2.35, 2 players)
DrDunne checks, BTN bets $1.45, DrDunne calls $1.45

Turn: 3 ($5.25, 2 players)
DrDunne checks, BTN checks

River: 3 ($5.25, 2 players)
DrDunne bets $3, BTN goes all-in $7.35, DrDunne calls $4.35



i decide to call here... honestly, i can't remember why but surely it can't be that bad.. so he cbets a little over half pot, which is to be expected and i can't fold yet since i am ahead of a lot here so i call. once he checks behind on the turn, i don't think he has a flush, KK+, or a set. flushes just continue betting, KK+ bet for value & protection as well as 99/TT. he can easily have JJ/AK/AQ maybe even AJ. i also think he would play a 1 card flush draw aggressively too.. on the river i bet for value against this range and i was extremely surprised to see him shove even though he doesn't have much left. i was about to fold but the way the hand played out, i don't know if i can believe he has a flush or a FH since it doesn't make sense for him to play that way, and i also did show a bit of weakness so maybe he thinks there's fold equity there. thoughts? not sure if it was spew or not.

3.
last hand is fun. i have no dynamic with this guy yet, although i did see he was quite aggro hence the turn check. board isn't amazing but hey ho. if only it were always this easy. the next few hands i hit against him meant he just spewed like crazy

$0.05/$0.10 No Limit Holdem
Prima
6 Players
Hand Conversion Powered by weaktight.com

Stacks:
UTG ($9.55) 96bb
DrDunne (UTG+1) ($10) 100bb
CO ($10.23) 102bb
BTN ($10) 100bb
SB ($34.01) 340bb
BB ($16.65) 167bb

Pre-Flop: ($0.15, 6 players) DrDunne is UTG+1 7 7
1 fold, DrDunne raises to $0.30, 2 folds, SB calls $0.25, 1 fold

Flop: K 7 9 ($0.65, 2 players)
SB checks, DrDunne bets $0.50, SB raises to $2.20, DrDunne calls $1.70

Turn: J ($4.55, 2 players)
SB goes all-in $31.51, DrDunne goes all-in $7.50

River: 3 ($19.55, 2 players, 2 all-in)

Time for my first weekly update...



Nearly finished recording the video series with Emanuel, second to last video will probably be uploaded in the next few days. It will be an in depth review of some hands I played at nl20. Speaking of which, my shot at nl20 is over and I am back down to nl10 now for a while rebuilding. I have >25 stacks for the next limit, but honestly it doesn’t feel like enough for me.


I started playing nl20 with a fairly clear head, everyone was pretty much unknown and I was feeling confident after running well at nl10. I even won about 3BI over the first 2k hands, but obviously as is to be expected, the inevitable happened and I not only ran bad, but I got totally run over, exploited and just generally owned. I freaked out at how aggressive it was and then got owned some more. I told myself I would play one more session and if I lose another stack then it’s back to nl10 – I lost a stack (see deepstacked AK hand in the video which will be released soon). I don’t really believe variance was much to blame with all of this, but more that my mindset let me down this time. If I can explain my thoughts, it was that I was so desperate not to lose money, and so desperate to win a first few stacks to get me comfortable playing there. This meant I had an extremely results-oriented approach and this = disaster when trying to move up.


I played a few sessions at nl10 and feel so confident there now. In fact, before I tried nl20 I was still even a little unsure of nl10, but now after playing higher I feel that I can really stick with my reads and generally experiment a little more. Over the last 25k hands at nl10 I’m running super hot (11bb/100), so obviously I feel like I’ve improved... who wouldn’t . The same thing happened when I first moved to nl4 – I freaked out, got coolered, tilted some BI and moved back to nl2. After 2 days playing nl2 again I was back at nl4 since I felt more confident in my game. Maybe for this reason it could be a really good idea to shoot for the next limit a bit more liberally in future – it might build more confidence my ‘usual’ game.
I have been reading and studying since losing at nl20 and I feel like a couple of postflop concepts have ‘clicked’ and that I understand them a little better. Will try to think about them and look for spots to implement them while playing.


Finally, I’ve added 2 more tables to my usual and so I now play 6 tables (if traffic allows). This way I can actually get in more than just a few hundred hands each time I play since I found myself getting bored before on just 4.



tl;dr = back to nl10, running good (& feeling good, obv is obv).