Lennonac's Cash fish 2nd blog

    • lennonac
      lennonac
      Global
      Joined: 02.05.2009 Posts: 1,421
      Far a long time ~6 months I have wanted to learn cash games, mostly as I think my talent and temperament will only take me so far in MTT SNG's.
      So now my sng game is as robotic as it could get while producing a nice return I think now is the time to start to learn cash games.

      I will not be giving up SNG's as these pay me my wages :D
      My plan is to dedicate 3 hours a day to 6 max cash games.
      My day will be broken down like this...

      6 hours MTT SNG's playing time
      1/2 hour MTT SNG's hand reviews

      2 hours 6 max cash game playing
      1 hour Learning and reviews

      With a 1/2 hour -1 hour break inbetween my MTT SNG sets this will be some long days. But considering I play almost every day I have decided that time off will be key to this.

      So I will take 1 day off in week 1
      2 days off in week 2
      1 day off in week 3
      2 days off in week 4 and so on.

      This will give me plenty of time off, around 6-7 days a month.


      I will be starting this on Fulltilt (Yes the site I hate) mostly because I get rakeback which will be important to a fish like me.
      I had $40 in my FT account so that will be my roll to start this.

      I am starting on NL5 6 max and before you all scream BRM! BMR! I know it is a risk. If my roll makes it through the beginning I will be using a 25 buyin bank roll until NL50 where I will move to a 50 buyin bankroll and NL200 if I make it that far of 100 buyins.

      I will only be playing two tables for a week or so as cash is a whole new game so I want to see all the action.

      The first thing I will be working on is player identification using a colour label system.
      The second is taking notes on how people play their hands.
      Also table selection will be important to me even at NL5.

      I know this is all very basic stuff but if you don't get that right then you are setup for failure :f_biggrin:

      I have played my two hours today



      Obviously I ran well, mostly thanks to this hand..


      Hand converted with online PokerStrategy.com hand converter:

      Play hand

      $0.02/$0.05 No-Limit Hold'em (5 handed)

      Known players:
      BU:
      $5.05
      SB:
      $2.75
      BB:
      $8.67
      MP3:
      $5.02
      CO (Hero):
      $9.43


      Preflop: Hero is CO with A, A.
      MP3 raises to $0.20, Hero raises to $0.55, 2 folds, BB raises to $0.90, MP3 raises to $3.00, Hero raises to $9.43, BB calls $7.77, MP3 calls $2.02.

      Flop: ($23.14) 2, 4, Q (3 players)


      Turn: ($23.14) Q (3 players)


      River: ($23.14) 2 (3 players)


      Final Pot: $23.14.
      Results follow:

      Hero shows two pairs, aces and queens(A A).
      MP3 shows two pairs, kings and queens(K K).
      BB shows two pairs, queens and tens(T T).

      Hero wins with two pairs, aces and queens(A A).

      This hand was just perfect as the BB was 3 and 4 betting all the time as well as squeezing. As soon as the UTG player opened I know if I 3 bet just under 3x then the BB would spazout.
      I got a nice surprise when UTG woke up with a monster. :D


      This hand I kind of lost my way and didn't know what to do on the turn or river


      Hand converted with online PokerStrategy.com hand converter:

      Play hand

      $0.02/$0.05 No-Limit Hold'em (6 handed)

      Known players:
      CO:
      $5.92
      BU:
      $1.75
      SB:
      $4.23
      BB (Hero):
      $9.96
      MP2:
      $5.00
      MP3:
      $5.63


      Preflop: Hero is BB with 6, 7.
      4 folds, SB raises to $0.15, Hero calls $0.10.

      Flop: ($0.3) 9, T, 5 (2 players)
      SB bets $0.20, Hero raises to $0.65, SB calls $0.45.

      Turn: ($1.6) 4 (2 players)
      SB checks, Hero bets $1.15, SB calls $1.15.

      River: ($3.9) 9 (2 players)
      SB checks, Hero bets $2.30, SB calls $2.28.

      Final Pot: $8.48.
      Results follow:

      Hero shows a pair of nines(6 7).
      SB shows two pairs, aces and nines(A A).

      SB wins with two pairs, aces and nines(A A).

      The guy afterwards told me in chat he thought I had T9!!!! WTF
      I guess when he calls my flop raise I should just check the turn as it commits me. These are the spots I need help with, think I will post this one for review.
  • 27 replies
    • EmanuelC16
      EmanuelC16
      Bronze
      Joined: 02.01.2010 Posts: 13,908
      He thought you had T9, yet still called. This teaches us to not try and represent too many hands, just play straight forward unless great bluff spots appear. :f_cool:

      Haven't read your SNG blog but I will follow this one.

      Cheers.
    • fusionpk
      fusionpk
      Bronze
      Joined: 21.01.2010 Posts: 1,692
      Good luck with you new venture man, I moved to cash recently too.

      I think second hand would be ok vs a thinking player, but against most NL5 fish you can just giveup river because no matter what you represent you still get called down. At higher or vs good player your play is probably good. I think at NL5, you can just give up hands in spots like these. Just shows you though, if you had T9, hes paying you off :f_biggrin:
    • lennonac
      lennonac
      Global
      Joined: 02.05.2009 Posts: 1,421
      Yeah it was such an odd thing to write! It went in the notes anyway that he is unable to fold a pair even when he thinks he is beat!

      Because of poker sites withdrawal procedures, when I went to withdraw from stars where I play my MTT SNG's I was informed $50 of it had to go to my money brokers account. So I thought I would top up my new cash game roll.

      Roll now at $108.22 so I have a little over 21 buyins.....which is nice
    • wasy8
      wasy8
      Black
      Joined: 29.01.2009 Posts: 1,507
      good luck sir, its definitely a fun adjustment to make coming from being a late stage sng pushbot to all this postflop stuff.

      will definitely be following this blog.
    • lennonac
      lennonac
      Global
      Joined: 02.05.2009 Posts: 1,421
      Thank you wasy. :P

      I am looking forward to learning how to play poker :f_biggrin:
    • jbpatzer
      jbpatzer
      Bronze
      Joined: 22.11.2009 Posts: 6,947
      Will be watching you too. May well go down the same route later in the year.

      Good luck!
    • Tim64
      Tim64
      Black
      Joined: 02.11.2008 Posts: 7,573
      hey, good luck to you in this endeavour!!!

      In your 67s hand, my suspicion is that no one folds anything at microstakes, so your fold equity may be relatively low. also, you have a really nice draw but you probably have to fold if you got 3bet. On that basis I think you're better off just calling with position. Villain is not full stacked, so if you hit on the turn I think you can still get stacks in comfortably
    • lessthanthreee
      lessthanthreee
      Bronze
      Joined: 30.06.2009 Posts: 16,300
      i suspect lennonac will have a blog for every game in the known universe soon. he just cant stick to one :P
    • lennonac
      lennonac
      Global
      Joined: 02.05.2009 Posts: 1,421
      Hey chris thats a good idea :D
    • MrMardyBum
      MrMardyBum
      Bronze
      Joined: 14.03.2009 Posts: 2,235
      • 05.09.2010, 03:40
      • This post has been edited 1 time(s), it was last edited by MrMardyBum: 05.09.2010 03:40.
      Regarding your 67 hand - This isn't a calling hand preflop at the micro's unless there is a raise and a call or two after...

      This is a 3-bet and fold to a 4-bet pre-flop every time from the blinds for me, obviously he had aces this time, but people open very wide SB vs BB and a 4-bet usually indicates it's not a steal, and most at the micro's would not have the sense to just call with QQ+ to trap you on the flop here. Just my opinion obviously but I feel that's a better line that works for me.

      If you get a call - you re-evaluate flop and proceed from there, given opponent, flop and his 3-bet calling range :)

      Nice start I'll follow :)
    • alenstrat
      alenstrat
      Bronze
      Joined: 13.03.2009 Posts: 821
      Good luck. I think this will help you. I think playing more then one game at a time let's you keep things in focus better. At least for me, when I focus on just one thing I try too hard on that one thing and that gets me off course. Plus I think it helps you incorporate additional tools you'll be able to use in your primary game that you wouldn't see playing SNGs only.
    • FWKanobi
      FWKanobi
      Bronze
      Joined: 13.02.2009 Posts: 740
      best of luck !
    • lennonac
      lennonac
      Global
      Joined: 02.05.2009 Posts: 1,421
      • 28.09.2010, 01:54
      • This post has been edited 1 time(s), it was last edited by lennonac: 28.09.2010 01:56.
      I have not updated this blog for a while...nor my other for a matter of fact and that is because I have been having a really tough time on the tables. Noone wants to post when you are losing :f_biggrin: or in my case breakeven.

      I played some 6 max cash on fulltilt, I got completely spanked so I just left it while I grinded my normal sit n gos.

      well today I decided that I am going to make this happen, I had a good plan but maybe my head wasnt in the right place when I started this.
      I came to the conclusion I suck and therefore do not like 6 max :f_eek:
      I feel much more at home coming from a sng background in a fullring enviroment. So that's what I have switched to.

      I also found recently that my HUD has been leveling me in a lot of spots, this includes in my sit n gos. So I have set the number of required hands before it even displays to 500. I may not be able to spot the fish quite as quick and I will probably miss some quite simple stat based decisions, I have found that I don't make dumb bluffs any more I think more about the villains bet sizing and what their range is from the action so far. Rather than just looking at stats and saying well he donks the flop 50% of the time he must have nothing. (even though the sample size is 2!)

      Maybe the no stats thing will work out, maybe not we will see.

      So I have managed about 1k hands fullring and I got off to a great start, I won a flip my QQ vs AKo at the start and never looked back. I found without stats I was completely pwning the $5NL fishes and in almost every hand I didn't feel lost and I felt like I had a good idea of the type of hand the villain had. Sometimes I was right sometimes I was wrong, but it felt like I was right more often than not. To me this is great as we all know its hard to put a fish that limps 60% of the time on a hand.

      Giiirrraaafffff



      I am considering putting in a full day tomorrow to see what its like to be a cash game grinder but I will see how I feel in the morning.
    • lennonac
      lennonac
      Global
      Joined: 02.05.2009 Posts: 1,421
      I did have one interesting hand...

      The villain is unknown but probably not a world beater and he doesn't have a full stack.

      I would rather not talk about the merits or possible lack of merits to opening KJo in earlyish position but I think its fine.

      So when the douche..I mean villain donks I think I can narrow his range to a Jack, flushdraw, pocket pairs and sometimes air. I don't think he would donk out an 8 so I am discounting that from his range for now.

      I don't see any merit in raising him on the flop, my thinking at the time was if I raise I will just isolate myself against a 8 and AJ or over pairs.

      On the turn I kind of like the Ten as I think it improves his hand quite often, which will be good for me except the times he has JT. He bets really quite small now im thinking this guys has a weak Jack or a flushdraw. So again didn't see raising him to be a good option. (But does this allow him to draw at a price he sets? I just think my hand is way ahead way behind)

      River I check behind and I think that is standard but do you guys think there is any value in putting a small bet out there to get a worse Jack to call? (I would never do this against a good player as they will see right through it)


      Hand converted with online PokerStrategy.com hand converter:

      Play hand

      $0.02/$0.05 No-Limit Hold'em (8 handed)

      Known players:
      BU:
      $3.31
      SB:
      $6.46
      BB:
      $3.95
      UTG2:
      $5.00
      MP1:
      $9.50
      MP2 (Hero):
      $5.37
      MP3:
      $5.44
      CO:
      $5.99


      Preflop: Hero is MP2 with J, K.
      2 folds, Hero raises to $0.15, 4 folds, BB calls $0.10.

      Flop: ($0.32) 8, 8, J (2 players)
      BB bets $0.15, Hero calls $0.15.

      Turn: ($0.62) T (2 players)
      BB bets $0.25, Hero calls $0.25.

      River: ($1.12) T (2 players)
      BB checks, Hero checks.

      Final Pot: $1.12.
    • i5bet72o
      i5bet72o
      Bronze
      Joined: 17.06.2010 Posts: 1,615
      I dont mind like a 25c river bet.
    • nibbana
      nibbana
      Bronze
      Joined: 04.12.2009 Posts: 1,186
      Originally posted by lennonac
      I don't see any merit in raising him on the flop, my thinking at the time was if I raise I will just isolate myself against a 8 and AJ or over pairs.
      Flop: ($0.32) 8, 8, J (2 players)
      Don't you want to get value from his flushdraws and T9/QT ?
    • lennonac
      lennonac
      Global
      Joined: 02.05.2009 Posts: 1,421
      Originally posted by i5bet72o
      I dont mind like a 25c river bet.
      Yeah I think you are right, when he checks the river he almost never has the flush and I think you can pretty much put him on a weak jack.
    • lennonac
      lennonac
      Global
      Joined: 02.05.2009 Posts: 1,421
      • 28.09.2010, 14:04
      • This post has been edited 1 time(s), it was last edited by lennonac: 28.09.2010 14:05.
      Originally posted by nibbana
      Originally posted by lennonac
      I don't see any merit in raising him on the flop, my thinking at the time was if I raise I will just isolate myself against a 8 and AJ or over pairs.
      Flop: ($0.32) 8, 8, J (2 players)
      Don't you want to get value from his flushdraws and T9/QT ?
      I don't think I can get value out of them :D
      I think he 3 bets me and I would have to fold.

      That was my thinking anyway but I am a cash fish :f_p:
    • lennonac
      lennonac
      Global
      Joined: 02.05.2009 Posts: 1,421
      So I was reading Daleroxxu's blog and he is learning plo atm and although I have played plo with some success that was not what I was interested in.
      He had goals to beat each level by 50 buyins before moving up. I thought this was a pretty good idea and I should do the same but in NLFR.

      So when I update later tonight my days progress I will show these goals and what % I am through them. :D
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