Dare to bet the river for value - a micro LHE adventure

gl gl mate.

Originally posted by Avataren
gl gl mate.

thanks

as for the update, only managed to 2900 hands, I blame a terrible football game! And I ended up at -$6 on a day that went up and down every five minutes sorta. Which makes perfect sense considering the turmoil the non smoking has caused me. A horrible day, just horrible! Good night!

230BB dip today, yay! Thinking it might be the full moon, or this blog, I've jinxed it. I have several theories, none that involves poker any more than that gambling usually is condemned in pretty much every religion. So I'm not being very costructive. I wish it would snow, people tend to hate that.

Oh well, tomorrow can't get much worse right? Oh no you did'nt! Gonna strap on an antenna on my head now, go up to the roof with a bag full of black cats and broken mirrors, abusing the name of any known deity I can think of. I might even smoke!

So, I forgot to update here, which I think was alright, been in such a bad mood these last days. Todays the first time that I actually didn't mind waking up this morning. The poker has gone really bad aswell, ofcourse, life does like to make it extra painful when its painful. Done half the volume though, ~15k hands, so 15k more before wednesday next week, so thats less than 4k hands a day, looks doable so far I'm down 200BB, yay! but I'm hoping that'll change!

You're so cute when you get your hopes up!

That said, I've managed to stay away from smoking! and atm that feels like the bigger achievement

Back to poker. I wanted to have some interesting hands to show here, but I think there are to many hands going, and the only ones I remember are my bad ones, and that would end up a bit tedious. I did however manage to lose two hands in a row against the same apponant, the first lower full house against his higher, and the second one higher full house against his lower four of a kind, was awesome! think it was QJo against QQ the first and QQ against 44 or the second. Thats it for the bad luck ones, but I actually found that one pretty amusing in a disgusting way.

Ok, this is gonna be a wall again, sorry.

Here's a song for you to help you endure. It's all dramatic and stuff, but good!

Anyway, I've noticed that you can add colormarkings by your own choice on stars client, something I didn't know. I know very little about most things I've come to learn, so I know that atleast, helps alot. But, since playing 8-12 tables can be abit hectic at times, taking notes is often skipped, leving me to rely on my hud for playstyle evaluations, which sometimes missfires. So I've started to add a bunch of new color markings for types of players, which works really nice, and will work even better when I learn them all. It does put players in categorys, which I guess isnt as good as player specific notes, but its better than nothing. So I'm gonna work with that. I wish there were like little marks/icons you could add to the border or something aswell, for more specifics, or just a big sign saying "THIS GUY WONT EVEN FOLD T HIGH DO NOT ATTEMPT TO BLUFF THE RIVER!"

I've noticed a weird tendency among the "better" players at the micros, they do semi-bluff and play draws fairly aggressively, but for some reason they give up at the river checking behind a hand like 87s. This behavior should have a special mark, cause you can fold alot more when you know the players bet range is way value heavy. And I want one for the call down monkey. I got called down by 77 on a AKJxx board where I 3b his HJ opr pf, by a player that seems to have some knowledge of the game, so you could valuebet really thin against someone like that. So I want a mark for that to. And I want one for poor value betting, kinda the same as the not betting his bluffs with no sdv, when he doesnt valuebet thin you can pretty much skip calling down your weaker range. Have a player with both these dendencies and you can fold alot if he bets the river. And one for the ones 3b ip on the flop with his weaker hands/draws and going the ol b/c c/r with his stronger. Alot of people even 3b A-high in this spot when the board is drawy, so you can cap mid pair+, or a draw in this spot, often theyll even fold to the turn bet ui. I guess there are alot of more of these things I'de like in there. Fishes come in all the strangest forms aswell, and the micros are like the deep deep sea, all them weird and facsinating ones are down there

if your trying to stop smoking i would definitely have adviced you not to go near poker until you were "100% clean" I myself am a smoker and the 2 times i tried stopping, i went so aggressive that wife had to lock me up in our bedroom for 2 days straight. ♦ ( stopped trying to stop smoke for now )

Originally posted by Avataren
if your trying to stop smoking i would definitely have adviced you not to go near poker until you were "100% clean" I myself am a smoker and the 2 times i tried stopping, i went so aggressive that wife had to lock me up in our bedroom for 2 days straight. ♦ ( stopped trying to stop smoke for now )

hehe, sounds intense I remeber once when my brother was quitting smoking. We were going somewhere, 15mins drive, he was driving and he pretty much yelled at me for the entire trip about stuff I'de done several years ago, only stopping to yell at the other drivers for their poor driving. I laughed the whole way, guess that didn't help

But I've been in the worst of moods this week to actually, kinda isolated myself in my apartment, not speaking to anyone, barely picking up the phone. So I kinda needed something to keep my mind occupied, from not going crazy and sure, I get really mad every time I get a bad beat, or only a beat actually, sometimes I even get angry when I win but its still poker, so its under a controlled form or something, I dont know, doesnt feel like its for real anyway, so its ok to lash out at it or something... I'm probably not playing my best of games, but Im fairly certain I'm still playing atleast +-0, probably better, and thats ok.

Only did 1k hands yesterday, had to do the real life some, so the time didnt allow for more. But I managed to do +120BB this time so all in all my brutal swing is down to 82BB now. I'm 14k hands short in volume for the weeks challange, so I have to do 4.3k hands per day from here!

Originally posted by floaty

Originally posted by Avataren
if your trying to stop smoking i would definitely have adviced you not to go near poker until you were "100% clean" I myself am a smoker and the 2 times i tried stopping, i went so aggressive that wife had to lock me up in our bedroom for 2 days straight. ♦ ( stopped trying to stop smoke for now )

hehe, sounds intense I remeber once when my brother was quitting smoking. We were going somewhere, 15mins drive, he was driving and he pretty much yelled at me for the entire trip about stuff I'de done several years ago, only stopping to yell at the other drivers for their poor driving. I laughed the whole way, guess that didn't help

But I've been in the worst of moods this week to actually, kinda isolated myself in my apartment, not speaking to anyone, barely picking up the phone. So I kinda needed something to keep my mind occupied, from not going crazy and sure, I get really mad every time I get a bad beat, or only a beat actually, sometimes I even get angry when I win but its still poker, so its under a controlled form or something, I dont know, doesnt feel like its for real anyway, so its ok to lash out at it or something... I'm probably not playing my best of games, but Im fairly certain I'm still playing atleast +-0, probably better, and thats ok.

Only did 1k hands yesterday, had to do the real life some, so the time didnt allow for more. But I managed to do +120BB this time so all in all my brutal swing is down to 82BB now. I'm 14k hands short in volume for the weeks challange, so I have to do 4.3k hands per day from here!

the story about your bro reminds me so much of myself and its so hilarious ♦

84BB is not a swing its a normal day ♦ just grind the fuck out of it.

84BB was what was left of the swing, the entire swing was down at almost 350BB. Now I'm at -47BB or something, was over the 0-line for a while yesterday, but then stuff turned to the worse again. Didnt manage that many hands either, so I'm thinking the 30k hands played is a wee bit out of my reach now, but I will give it a try anyway, just more hours these last days. However the lack of sleep has been starting to take its toll I think, and I'm really tired now.

Graf so far, 12.5k hands to go I'm so lazy!

I'm kinda glad I do run the 1kBB BRM atm moment, else I'de been in real trouble, since I do withdraw alot from my roll. And I got $62.5 back this week aswell, so all in all I'm ahead and for this whole month I'm up $570ish so far.

Well, its wednesday now and the challange is incomplete, 6.2k hands left and Im still down $34 so all in all a failure I'de have to say. But I still havnt smoked so I still have that one! I dreamt that I smoked however, knowing that I shouldnt...

Graf for the week

Still the best volume I've had for a single week I think, so thats fair. So I'm gonna continue this thing. Next challange is to 50k hands total by the end of the month. I should be able to manage, haha, I kinda have to now atleast its 12.5k hands to go counting four days, but I have my brother and friend coming to visit this weekend, so unclear how much I'll be able to play actually. Gonna try to get as much as possible in today and tomorrow I recon. Hm, seems alot tougher now than it did when I thought it up, damn you real life ruining my poker challanges!

Graf for the month so far, should say 50k hands by sunday then if everything goes as planned!

Gonna try to post atleast one interesting hand aswell!

Editing editing

Have been listening to the soundtrack of the game Krater, by Christian Gabel, really great soundtrack. Really nice sci-fi electronica, haha, makes me think of some 80s sci-fi movies... anyways, heres one of the songs!

So for the long grind entertainment, dont choose a disturbing movie! Watched an american crime while playing and it really kinda got me of balance. Sticking with series/comedies/adventure from now on!

Originally posted by floaty
So for the long grind entertainment, dont choose a disturbing movie! Watched an american crime while playing and it really kinda got me of balance. Sticking with series/comedies/adventure from now on!

you should find 1 or 2 albums you like and hear them repeataly .. no movies, no tv, no phone no nothing except some soothing music, for me soothing is either japanese anime music like hatsune miku or trance like DJ Tiesto. I put something on that runs for 10 hours straight and then play. if you have a video / movie running. Its bad to have that basically.

Did find an appropriate album to listen to! bitter cynicism that works well for yet another downswing! since I started this damn blog my pokers been suffering the worst of beats, if this continues I'll have to delete it!

Anyways, did manage to find a hand! (Played 11.5k hands since yesterday, so one crazy hand should be in there)

The funny thing about the hand is, that CO and BB seems like decent players at first glance, pretty standard lagtag stats. And UTG is a nitty tag. Love that CO caps T8s flops a straight and loses to BB's 43s

PokerStars - $0.25/$0.50 (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 3

BTN: $19.66
SB: $27.48
BB: $13.61
UTG: $27.18
Hero (MP): $11.97
CO: $15.11

SB posts SB $0.10, BB posts BB $0.25

Pre Flop: ($0.35) Hero has A♦ 9♦

UTG raises to $0.50, Hero raises to $0.75, CO raises to $1.00, fold, fold, BB calls $0.75, UTG calls $0.50, Hero calls $0.25

Flop: ($4.10, 4 players) 7♦ 9♥ 6♠
BB checks, UTG checks, Hero checks, CO bets $0.25, BB calls $0.25, UTG calls $0.25, Hero calls $0.25

Turn: ($5.10, 4 players) 8♥
BB checks, UTG checks, Hero checks, CO bets $0.50, BB calls $0.50, fold, Hero calls $0.50

River: ($6.60, 3 players) A♥
BB checks, Hero checks, CO bets $0.50, BB raises to $1.00, fold, CO calls $0.50

BB shows 3♥ 4♥ (Flush, Ace High) (Pre 40%, Flop 5%, Turn 24%)
CO mucks 8♦ T♦ (Straight, Ten High) (Pre 60%, Flop 95%, Turn 76%)
BB wins $8.44

funny hand. lol

The end of november was kinda depressing poker wise, got the second downswing after coming back from the first one. Took the last two days off, hoping I'll come back swinging in december, seems impossible to win lately

Graf for nov

Hm, so I have to set a goal for december now, and upcoming year perhaps. Will be less time to play this month due to christmas and the new year, will be away for like 10 days or something. Should have 15-17 days to play I recon, so 3k hands/day these days will be enough to hit 50k this month aswell. I'm gonna try to work more on my game aswell, as its been now I've pretty much only been trying to get as much volume in as possible. So I'm gonna try to do some studies atleast one day a week

Played this one today, tag in BU, was abit surprising...

PokerStars - $0.25/$0.50 (6 max) - Holdem - 5 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 3

SB: $3.56
Hero (BB): $6.00
UTG: $12.32
CO: $3.76
BTN: $14.30

SB posts SB $0.10, Hero posts BB $0.25

Pre Flop: ($0.35) Hero has T♦ 8♦

fold, fold, BTN raises to $0.50, fold, Hero calls $0.25

Flop: ($1.10, 2 players) 3♣ 9♣ 6♦
Hero checks, BTN bets $0.25, Hero raises to $0.50, BTN calls $0.25

Turn: ($2.10, 2 players) Q♦
Hero bets $0.50, BTN raises to $1.00, Hero raises to $1.50, BTN calls $0.50

River: ($5.10, 2 players) A♠
Hero bets $0.50, BTN calls $0.50

Hero shows T♦ 8♦ (High Card, Ace) (Pre 62%, Flop 42%, Turn 48%)
BTN shows 5♥ 6♥ (One Pair, Sixes) (Pre 38%, Flop 58%, Turn 52%)
BTN wins $5.94

Originally posted by floaty
Played this one today, tag in BU, was abit surprising...

PokerStars - $0.25/$0.50 (6 max) - Holdem - 5 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 3

SB: $3.56
Hero (BB): $6.00
UTG: $12.32
CO: $3.76
BTN: $14.30

SB posts SB $0.10, Hero posts BB $0.25

Pre Flop: ($0.35) Hero has T♦ 8♦

fold, fold, BTN raises to $0.50, fold, Hero calls $0.25

Flop: ($1.10, 2 players) 3♣ 9♣ 6♦
Hero checks, BTN bets $0.25, Hero raises to $0.50, BTN calls $0.25

Turn: ($2.10, 2 players) Q♦
Hero bets $0.50, BTN raises to $1.00, Hero raises to $1.50, BTN calls $0.50

River: ($5.10, 2 players) A♠
Hero bets $0.50, BTN calls $0.50

Hero shows T♦ 8♦ (High Card, Ace) (Pre 62%, Flop 42%, Turn 48%)
BTN shows 5♥ 6♥ (One Pair, Sixes) (Pre 38%, Flop 58%, Turn 52%)
BTN wins $5.94

im more surprised about your play. please tell me why you suddenly decided to 3bet "semi" bluff and raise flop btw. river you basically have to bet but i would love to know why you went nuts on the turn and flop for that matter.

I wasnt sure about the raise on the flop, but with the bdfd it felt ok to raise it. On the turn i have a double gutter and a fd on a fairly drawy board, thought that if i was gonna b/3b any draws this prolly would do.

x/r on the flop is 100% bog standard

The bet-3-bet on the turn is a little more out of the ordinary but it's not hideous by any means. I'd probably prefer a hand like 45s or 78s rather than T8s but we will have a bet-3-bet range for value here so having 1-2 bluff combos is perfectly fine

His calldown is obviously laughable, as is his line as a whole, so in future you know how to adapt, just 3-bet the turn for value