Jr1ctx

Date – 17-05-2012
I have completed my Lesson 1,

I have read the Big Stack Strategy article again, first time I read it was for the $50 quiz.

I really like the stop-loss limit article, I have set my self a stop loss limit of 2 Buy-in's and re-evaluating it to half of any winnings. I am comfortable now with basic implied odds concept, which I never understood it before.

I have attended my first live coaching session with Veriz on (14/05/2012), was very pleased and got answers to few questions relating to the HUD, Anonymous tables and regarding win rate. It was nice to watch him play and guide us along... Thank you Veriz.

I will post some good and bad relevant hands where I feel I can do improve with feedback.

1) Question 1: What is your motivation for playing poker?

5 Years ago, I saw some friends of mine playing Poker at the tables in college cafeteria, I always was wondering, what is this game, what is it about. One day I sat down at the table and ask them to teach me and I learned very quickly and started doing good with fake chips.. Now, I would like to be a very very good poker player, I see that involves great deal of psychology, self development and to be good at it, one has to be super DISCIPLINED. Discipline is something I am not good at. Secondly, I like cash games and if I can make money by getting good at Poker, I would like nothing more because engineering degree pays shit these days. I would be very happy if I can enjoy poker and earn a little bit on sideline every now and then after developing a stable bankroll.

Question 2: What are your weaknesses when playing poker?

Sometimes, Lack of concentration, Making stupid calls, raises and going all-in when I know I am beat. I swear I do this without realising and I cringe when the showdwn ends. I think and say to myself

"You Idiot, What the hell was that?, That was Bizzarre, utterly Moronic play, I have the charts, I know about tilt, So what is this, ?"

I somehow need to focus A LOT on concentrating on my game and KNOWING when to "NOT RUSH click" ALL IN or CALL or Raise.. because there is something really fundamentally wrong... When I will have better hands I will make huge bets and scare my opponents instead of getting value. This kind of play happens sometimes, especially when I sat down at 3 tables and I lost 1 BuyIN... my focus is to recover that Buyin... stupid, stupid and utterly stupid!

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

My understanding of tight is that I should select few hands, limited hand range and play with position over my opponent unless I have big overpairs like AA's or KK's
in early position. By AGGRESSIVE, I understand that once I have these hands I should not slow play, I should RAISE, make CBET. I understand all poker pro's are where they are today by playing AGGRESSIVE poker style. So tight and agressive means limited ranges with position and raising pots and cbetting if the flop is favourable.

Originally posted by jr1ctx
"You Idiot, What the hell was that?, That was Bizzarre, utterly Moronic play, I have the charts, I know about tilt, So what is this, ?"

reeeeaaaally sounds a lot like me in my session reviews sometimes

good luck with the course

Thanks mate,

I have been having bad beat after bad beat.... I lost 3buy ins today.. Once got my AA's cracked, the other two guys drew out on me...

ahh man...

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

Great to hear that you enjoyed the coaching, hopefully we going to see you again there.

Lack of concentration is a common leak for beginners. They just play with music, watch TV, read forums but those kind of distractions really 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. Also of course with time you will get better in that, everything needs adjustment not just life or any sports but also poker.

Using paper as remind yourself what to do, for example try writing on a paper stay focused on the game! And put it near your PC, try if it's working, for some it works.

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.

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?"

Oh and a small add-on I am also an engineer, hopefully finishing this year my master. Working on my thesis.

Hopefully you will enjoy the Course.

Date 19-May-2012

I have compeleted my Lesson - 2
Thanks for your advice Veriz, I will also put that piece of paper to remind myself to stay focused, Glad to hear you are doing Engineering also, Good luck with your thesis mate =D

I have read the NL50 and already familiar with pre-flop basics and odds. I have watched the week 2 video of yours about pre-flop basics.

Question 1: What do you think you could play differently than suggested in the BSS Starting Hands Chart and why?

I have learnt in the "HasenBraten NL50" is that the SHC is a guidance and it helps so that player can have maximum +EV by playing hands mentioned but for some example if I am on BB £0.2 with 78s and the MP2 raises it to £0.4 Min, In this stop for me it is good to call another £0.2 and see the flop because I have better +EV then folding.... On the other hand If I have 89s on BU and I know the MP3 is playing TAG and just limps in, I will put a raise and make a CBET on the flop, which will let me know if he has air or he has me beat.

Question 2: Do you have questions about your preflop play? Post your hand for evaluation.

I have QQ's preflop and I am on the BU... MP1 raises to 10 BB NS and CO raises to 5 times MP1 raise..

"Now here I know that CU is very tight player and I am guessing he must have aces or KK's to make such a large raise.. Shall I go all or is it wise to fold consider all the stacks are full to lets say 90BB's

This link below is of a hand I played like a stupid stupid moron....

Stupid stupid play... TT's vs 44's

Question 3: What is the equity of AKo against the top 5% range? 5% means 88+, AJs+, KQs, AKo.

AKo has 70% against KsQs

AKo has approximately 45% equity against 88+

AKo has 70% equity against AJs

and AKo is 50% against another AKo

I just put in the cards to find this equity value in Equilab... is there a special way of calculating it for just 5%...?

Thanks for your help =D

Good job! Homework #2 Done!

Isolating can be very profitable actually since people on lower stakes take the fast and easy line by just Fit/Folding too much. With that you will earn in long run a lot profit. Which means you can isolate with even wider range, sometimes even with the all range which you planned to limp.

About your QQ hand vs raise+3bet we might even want to fold our hand cause at the best you are just against QQ and without information we can't really go broke profitable.

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 }

I just put in the cards to find this equity value in Equilab... is there a special way of calculating it for just 5%...?

Put into equilab villain box 5% and that's it.

Hopefully you enjoy the Course so far.