[Closed] doctorkgb

Welcome doctorkgb,

Congratulations on passing the school and welcome to the course!

I'm sure you'll be able to build on your progress and master the basics before stepping up to more advanced material!

Glglglglgl,

Marc

Thak you Marc PS. Very kind of you.

Homework week 1

Question 1: What is your motivation for playing poker?

At first, I started to play poker with my friends in local pub. Didn't know anything about strategy. After few weeks, I googled and have found some strategy articles. After reading those I became solid winner at our local micro stakes/friendly game. Just after some basic stuff that I implemented! I found pokerstrategy.com and started to play on-line occasionally. Games at partypoker were soft and fishy.So was I....

Some time after all that I started reading articles and studying strategy. Mostly because of our local games. I started loosing more frequently. It took me some time to realize that you can't play fishy players with advanced strategy, similar as you can't play advanced players with basic strategy. You need to adapt...

I figured out that luck and gamble are part of poker, but there are so many things that makes difference between players. Over long run best player has as many lucky/unlucky spots as worst one. Other things does matter!

"Other things" are true reason why I want to became a good, solid poker player.

The world we live in is tough. We need to fight for ourselves. Nobody can do that for us. Nobody is going do that for us. Our effort, commitment and hard work are essentials for our happiness. It is not easy, but reward is great. To see that you done something with hard work. To be better than most. To be better than you were before. To find your edge and use it...

People tend to feel miserable when they see that their dreams and desires are not likely to happen. Years are passing by, we are giving up...

Skills that you need to be successful poker player, particularly bankroll and time management, dedication, profiling people, learning that upswings and downswings are part of the game are gonna help in every aspect of our life. Live poker also teaches you to remain calm under stress and in tough spots. Life has many spots like that...

Money. We need it. More or less. It is never bad to have alternative source of incomes.

Question 2: What are your weaknesses when playing poker?

I tend to shoot higher when not ready to. I choose bad spots to bluff people that can't see what I wont to represent. I don’t feel comfortable to play OOP and thus loosing lot of money from the blinds. Not using hud properly . Sometimes play poker just for fun-spewy/drunk. I need a mentor. I need a school.

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

To pick up spots where our range is better than opponents and to make them feel uncomfortable to play with us. To use combination of good spots, good cards and good table image to gain maximum value. Not to let ourselves be one who guess, but to make our competitor to feel unsure and under pressure. To be leader at our table, who knows when to strike, who and how to strike. To know when is time to back up. To have a plan.

Hello doctorkgb,

I tend to shoot higher when not ready to.

That's the biggest leaks any could have. You are usually loosing a lot money with that rather than winning. I would really recommend trying to stick to the BRM no MATTER WHAT! Always force yourself to stick to it or you will have hard time on higher limits. Don't we all want to become good poker players? The BRM is the ABC for everyone.

Most of the other weakness you wrote can easily be fixed with you posting hands. We will start writing feedback to your play. And usually negative feedback will put you into thinking phase and trying to fix all those leaks. It's almost the same as you loose money, you will remember it more than winning part.

Playing drunk is just horrible. It's usually the case that you are either way too aggressive, some even are too nitty. I wouldn't recommend playing poker when drunk. Unless you have a BR and you can play very small-stakes.

Welcome to the Course and Best of luck! First points earned.

Hello veriz,
thank you for the answer and directions. I am aware of stupidity of playing above BR and playing drunk/for fun. However, main reason for that is I don't have roll at the moment to play properly, and I don't have plan at all at the moment for poker, which I am going to change during next few months.

I want to invest certain sum of money to it, and to play with BRM. Untill then, I play mostly for fun. I know that is stupid, but I can't put lot of volume because of my 15inch screen and because I don't have time to grind 5+ hours per day.

I wait for FT to come back, and to add some money to that to make BR for NL25 and to deposit sum to new site with first dep. bonus. Then I coul move up/down in stakes. Probably more down.

Even with 15inch monitor you can play very well. I used to grind on that also. Didn't stop me.

About the BRM try stick no matter what to it, you will just get the stupid habit for future poker if you continue gambling like that.

So true, so true. It is crucial to get rid of bad habbits. I will try to be as strict, as possible when it comes to BRM. It is so much gambling more involved without it.

I am jealous of your 15", mine is just 13" ♦

Originally posted by Maniatrix
I am jealous of your 15", mine is just 13" ♦

Obv that I don't use it properly, so I call it breakeven ♦

General tendencies:

High VPIP/Low PFR = fish.
High VPIP/High PFR = LAG.
Average VPIP/Average PFR = TAG
High WTSD = calling station.

However post-flop tendencies must be observed as well.

At lower limits, there is no need to worry about specific reads(high pool of players, minimum or no regs at all).
We need to know what type of player is against us.

1. Plays lot of hands, or not?
2. Plays them aggressiveliy or passively?

How he plays pre-flop, how post-flop?

Against passive-value bet
Against aggressive-value bet+ch/raise+induce bluff

If he is loose, be tight. If he is tight, loosen up.

Rocks

They play ONLY best hands

Strategy:
attack his blinds.
cbet if called.
if he starts raising, give up without great hand.
profitable to setmine, they do have hand when they raise.

DON'T PAY THEIR BIG HANDS!!!

Nits

Lite version of Rocks.
Strategy is simmilar as against Rocks.

Weak Tight

They don't know how to deal with pressure.
They are scared to make good decisions.

Strategy:
Attack their blinds and make cbets on good flops.

TAGs

They are aware of position. They play good hands, and choose good spots to play them aggressively.

They are not ideal opponents.

Maniacs

Loose and extremely aggressive.

Strategy:
play tight.
induce bluffs, but don't bluff yourself.

LAGs

They are loose pf, but they know how to play post-flop.

There are no true LAGs at micros, but maniacs.

Calling stations

They almost only call.

Strategy:
DON'T BLUFF!!!
Don't slowplay, but VALUEBET.
Play draws passively, they will give you free card.
If they start raising, they mostly hold monster.

Donkeys-loose and passive with stupid moves

They often change style of play during session.

They make moves that make no sense.
They love to play draws passively, and bluff river when they miss.

Strategy:
Play ABC game.
observe his tendencies.
They love chaising draws, make them pay.

OUTS-cards that improve our hand
ODDS-how likely is out to come
POT ODDS-odds that pot is "giving" to us. They show risk-reward ratio.

How to calculate POT ODDS?

Divide the pot by the amount it costs you to call.

An example1: pot is 9$. Opponent bets 1$.
PotOdds = 10(9+1):1
PotOdds = 10 : 1

If the pot odds are higher than the odds against you, it is profitable to stay in the hand (if we don't include implied odds).

You can only be a winning player, if the patterns in your brain follow a winning strategy.

Step 1: print the articles

Step 2: look for patterns in the article and highlight them

Step 3: look for relationships between patterns and sketch them on an empty piece of paper

Step 4: Revise your notes the next day

Step 5: You sit down at the tables and use the patterns you have studied

The looser your opponent, the higher your implied pot odds

The opposite is true of players who raise loosely before the flop. The more often a player raises before the flop, the less likely it is for him to be holding a strong hand afterwards.

It's easier to get money from your opponent when you have the advantage of position.

Wow, you are putting a lot of effort in your play. Keep going! I am pretty sure it will be even easier to understand for you those kind of things if you write them down. Works for me @University as well.

Originally posted by veriz
Wow, you are putting a lot of effort in your play. Keep going! I am pretty sure it will be even easier to understand for you those kind of things if you write them down. Works for me @University as well.

I decided not to play much now, but to study more and than to crush it with proper mindset and attitude. My last months play was terrible: I make deposit of 10-20usd, play week or 2, and get stucked between 70-120usd and spew that in a nigt or two on higher limits.

Without right aproach and BRM I can not make any aprovement in my game. Since I know my leaks(mindset ones), and since I know that the only way to succeed for me is to make strict rules for myself and to make one time deposit and to be able to move down when I am suposed to, I will not play and deposit for fun anymore at all. I do have some more usd at PKR and I will play that untill I start my real poker challenge.

I will learn, make deposit, and succeed.

Thank you veriz

The BRM is the ABC for poker. If you even can't keep it for lower stakes then it will be hard for you on higher stakes as well. I'd really advice you to find a proper mindset. Just force yourself! Every time you open higher limits just close the tables, don't allow yourself do that! For some it might take time but I am pretty sure you will be able to stick to the BRM.

Yes, you are shooting right to center of target here.

I want to do that, but I can't make myself to play lower than NL10 properly for prolonged period of time. I know that I shouldn't be money oriented, but lower than that is just as free money tables for me. NL5 with 10 tables opened would be fine I guess, but NL2 I just hate to even see.

My decision is following above statement not to play seriously, untill I make deposit with 50BI for NL10 at least. I will however occationaly open tables with residual money at PKR and play some NL4 with 10ish BIs left. Maybe some tournaments, if I find time for longer sessions.

I guess that I miss FTPs Rush game. I was very pleased with playing that from NL5, NL10 and shots to NL25. I just don't see any point to play NL2 even if that is what I am rolled for at the moment.

Again I know that my mindset is not at the good level, but I will learn and deposit then to play with better one. I am gonna try to be as active as I can and to exploit opportunity that I've been given here.

What do you think of maybe letting someone to stake you for NL10? If you are able to beat it then try finding someone. Wouldn't have the problem with playing lower stakes.

Originally posted by veriz
What do you think of maybe letting someone to stake you for NL10? If you are able to beat it then try finding someone. Wouldn't have the problem with playing lower stakes.

I don't like the idea to be staked. I don't like to borrow money at all, an even more if that is for gambling purposes. However I plan to deposit during next month, or beggining of november. I put some money beside for that.