Khemen

Lesson 1 - Homework questions

Question 1: What is your motivation for playing poker?
I have been playing poker off and on for about 2 years just for fun 2NL-10NL. I have always enjoyed playing the game but I didn’t really get serious about it until this summer. I am in college right now and when I graduate I want to have saved enough money to take a long break and travel the world. With the minimum wage I am making this will never happen so I figure poker is my best bet, so I need to put in the work, because right now I really suck at it.

Question 2: What are your weaknesses when playing poker?
- Tilting. This is my #1 weakness. Even when I know in my head that tight playing is what will build up your bankroll in the long run, I really have issues controlling my emotions when I get back to back suck outs. And then I get irritated and just start playing stupid hands.
- Not knowing when to give up a hand. I really have problems knowing/calculating when to give up a hand (draws) or when to keep betting in case I make it. I don’t understand pot odds/implied odds/math and all of that so I hope to improve this.
- Not knowing how to make the most out of my HUD/hand reading. I have HM2 now but I don’t really know how to use these stats to my advantage.
- Too passive. I really need to work on my aggression. I am too frequently just betting along/ not raising/3-betting enough. And when I make my hand I don’t get the optimum value.
- Not knowing how and when to bluff.

These are the weaknesses I can think of right now. I’ll add more if I remember more.

Question 3: What does it mean to play tight aggressive?
- Only playing hands according to the starting hands chart. Don’t play weak hand just for the sake of playing
- Playing aggressive when you have a good hand, so you force your opponent to make mistakes and get optimum value
- If you have position on your opponent try to make the most of it

Hey Khemen

Welcome to the beginner's course and great start to the homework. Our beginner's course coach Bogdan, will see to your homework in the coming days. It is honestly a great start to anyone's poker career and if it's not the start brushing up on basics is always a good idea. Anyway good luck with the course.

Regards,
Luke

Thanks for the welcome Luke! I look forward to learning and interacting with you guys.

Lesson 2 - homework

Question 1: What do you think you could play differently than suggested in the BSS Starting Hands Chart and why?
- Suited face cards. After seeing the starting hand chart I realize that I play way too many hands. Especially the suited face cards. According to the chart I should always fold these when players have raised before me (which I never do) and only call and not raised when playes before me have called (which I never do). Can someone maybe explain why these hands should be folded so much? I always thought they were a great starting point to hit a straight/flush draw on the flop.
- Offsuited face cards. I already kinda figured out that I had been playing these way too much, since I generally lose these types of hands. I will stick to the BSS chart for these hands from now on.
- Ace small suited. These types of hands I generally play a lot as well, whatever position I’m in. Like my first point I always thought these were a great starting point to hit a flush(draw) on the flop or river. Can someone explain why I should fold these so much?


Question 2: Do you have questions about your preflop play? Post your hand for evaluation.
NL2 AA all-in after suited flop


Question 3: What is the equity of AKo against the top 5% range? 5% means 88+, AJs+, KQs, AKo.
- Not sure if I used Equilab correctly but it said 46,32% for AKo, is that correct?
- How can you calculate equity when you’re at the tables? Especially when you are multitabling? Is there a way to do it? Or do you just have to start memorizing the different equities for all the cards? Because this is exactly where I lose money. I don’t know how profitable it is for me to bet, so then I just make wrong decisions and end up losing money.

Originally posted by Khemen
Lesson 1 - Homework questions

Question 1: What is your motivation for playing poker?
I have been playing poker off and on for about 2 years just for fun 2NL-10NL. I have always enjoyed playing the game but I didn’t really get serious about it until this summer. I am in college right now and when I graduate I want to have saved enough money to take a long break and travel the world. With the minimum wage I am making this will never happen so I figure poker is my best bet, so I need to put in the work, because right now I really suck at it.

Question 2: What are your weaknesses when playing poker?
- Tilting. This is my #1 weakness. Even when I know in my head that tight playing is what will build up your bankroll in the long run, I really have issues controlling my emotions when I get back to back suck outs. And then I get irritated and just start playing stupid hands.
- Not knowing when to give up a hand. I really have problems knowing/calculating when to give up a hand (draws) or when to keep betting in case I make it. I don’t understand pot odds/implied odds/math and all of that so I hope to improve this.
- Not knowing how to make the most out of my HUD/hand reading. I have HM2 now but I don’t really know how to use these stats to my advantage.
- Too passive. I really need to work on my aggression. I am too frequently just betting along/ not raising/3-betting enough. And when I make my hand I don’t get the optimum value.
- Not knowing how and when to bluff.

These are the weaknesses I can think of right now. I’ll add more if I remember more.

Question 3: What does it mean to play tight aggressive?
- Only playing hands according to the starting hands chart. Don’t play weak hand just for the sake of playing
- Playing aggressive when you have a good hand, so you force your opponent to make mistakes and get optimum value
- If you have position on your opponent try to make the most of it

Hi Khemen,

Congrats on finishing the first homework.

I do recommend that you start working your tilt as soon as possible.

Some things that you may want to consider early on:
- setting up a stop loss
- trying to quit when realizing that tilt is about to set in
- playing shorter sessions

Best of luck at the tables,

Bogdan

Originally posted by Khemen


Question 1: What do you think you could play differently than suggested in the BSS Starting Hands Chart and why?
- Suited face cards. After seeing the starting hand chart I realize that I play way too many hands. Especially the suited face cards. According to the chart I should always fold these when players have raised before me (which I never do) and only call and not raised when playes before me have called (which I never do). Can someone maybe explain why these hands should be folded so much? I always thought they were a great starting point to hit a straight/flush draw on the flop.
- Offsuited face cards. I already kinda figured out that I had been playing these way too much, since I generally lose these types of hands. I will stick to the BSS chart for these hands from now on.
- Ace small suited. These types of hands I generally play a lot as well, whatever position I’m in. Like my first point I always thought these were a great starting point to hit a flush(draw) on the flop or river. Can someone explain why I should fold these so much?

This looks good. Remember that the chart is meant to give you a starting point.

As you become better and get more experience you can start adjusting these opening hands (opening more suited face cards for example).

Question 3: What is the equity of AKo against the top 5% range? 5% means 88+, AJs+, KQs, AKo.
- Not sure if I used Equilab correctly but it said 46,32% for AKo, is that correct?
- How can you calculate equity when you’re at the tables? Especially when you are multitabling? Is there a way to do it? Or do you just have to start memorizing the different equities for all the cards? Because this is exactly where I lose money. I don’t know how profitable it is for me to bet, so then I just make wrong decisions and end up losing money.

Yes, that is correct.

You do not have to memorize anything but as you play more and get to see these more often you will start to see patterns and remember.

For example, there are many different equities to look at.

Preflop two overcards versus a pair are usually 50/50 (of course the actual % is not 50/50 but close enough).

Postflop, for example you have 6d5d and you are chasing a flush where all 9 outs are live (on the turn). Then your equity to hit is 9 * 2 = 18% which is very close to what you'd get with equilab.

You will get to learn this better in the coming lessons.

Best of luck,

Bogdan

Thank you very much for the feedback and suggestions Bogdan. Working on my tilt is my #1 thing that I will be working on. Until I have that under control I am not going back to the tables. I already saw some good articles posted on here that I will go through this week. Also I must say I am really enjoying the beginners course, very informative and understandable for a newbie like me.

Originally posted by Khemen
Thank you very much for the feedback and suggestions Bogdan. Working on my tilt is my #1 thing that I will be working on. Until I have that under control I am not going back to the tables. I already saw some good articles posted on here that I will go through this week. Also I must say I am really enjoying the beginners course, very informative and understandable for a newbie like me.

Ideally you want to have some exit strategies in place and actually play while you work on it.

This is not something you can fix overnight but rather over a long period of time (maybe lifetime).