Adam's Poker Adventure

Hey adamrothwell

Welcome to our blogging section and the wonderful world of poker. Good luck with your adventure. Are you enjoying Harrington's books, I've heard they're quite good.
HEM2 is awesome by the way definitely worth the money. Anyway good luck!!

Regards,
Luke

Hey thanks for the welcome . I am enjoying them definitely, there are lots of examples in them and some useful ideas and you can also test yourself which is good.

I've played a wider range tonight and found it more difficult, losing a few suckouts again which is driving me mad and also losing on hands where i thought i was ahead only to be beat by a drawing hand on the river. Surely i must be making too many mistakes, i've only finish itm - top 7 out of 44 once in nearly 30 games although i've been unlucky several times surely i'll get there eventually. haha

That's the spirit.

Poker is a game where the learning curve is endless. The best players in the world are still learning.

Everything in this game comes with experience. You need to play lots of hands to be able to recognise difficult spots and get away from them, to learn to lay down big hands when you think you're beaten and to recognise +Ev plays when they arise.

Those three points are what keeps fish being fish.

Well I enjoying learning although it takes me a while to remeber things sometimes could do with getting my old memory techniques book out :).

Yeh Your right, sometimes I'm in a spot where I'm completely unsure where I stand and sometimes that'll loose my a lot of chips or i'll miss out on putting money in when i was +ev.

I managed to get my first ever win last night / early hours of this morning. I felt i played fairly well and also got lucky a few times ( but i suppose you have to get lucky / win from being an underdog in most tournaments ? ) It was nice to see that when i shoved with +ev they actually payed off for once and didn't get sucked out or rivered. I was on roughly 10k chips in the headsup, maybe less and he was on over 50k and I justkept picking the right spots, managed to get him all in most of the times I had good hands and won the headsup fairly easily. I was playing another tournament at the same time and finished 4th, all four of us had a pretty similar stack size so I really felt confident I could win again but it didn't quite happen. Oh well, Back to learning and figuring out my mistakes aswell

Well done ♦

See, It didn't take that long.

May it be the first of many

Originally posted by Lazza61
Well done ♦

See, It didn't take that long.

May it be the first of many

+1

thanks my last few finishes since winning are 10,7,10,10 I'm getting close to getting some good results but it's frustrating to finish just outside it.

A nice 4th place there. had same stack size as 2 others but pushed k-10 against chip leader who played a pretty wide range at that time. his 88 beat me. Still i suppose 4th isn't too bad

I feel pretty bad tonight, I've played 6 games today and got a 4th and a 3rd making me +$1.49 for the day. I'm not sure why i feel bad i think it's because of the 4th place i just got. I was against two aggressive players with big stacks at the end and played pretty weak against them. Going to spend a bit of time tonight reading and figuring out how to look at my pre-flop play on pt4 I suppose I shouldn't complain im +ev for the past few days thanks to Lazza61's advice

Don't feel bad. In fact revel in it. A few days ago you would have been ecstatic to have a session with 100% ROI. This is a sign of your increasing confidence and self belief that not only can you play against these guys, you can outplay them and feel disappointed that you maybe missed some opportunities by not playing more aggressively.

Generally as the short stack you are push/fold (Unless you have more than 10BBs). Any hand you play you play for your stack. I would generally shove any A or K into an unopened pot. I would also shove T9+. I also try to stay away from already opened or raised pots unless I have a traditional raising hand (Remember Sklansky's GAP effect. You need a better hand to call a shove then to open shove).

True. For the last 14 games i'm over +ev $5, so definite improvement and i haven't felt like i've run particularly well in every game either.

I definitely struggle pushing and folding when i'm the short stack and on the bubble. I like to be careful and try to pick the best spot that I can to push it which is usually when i'm down to 4/5 bb's or less.

Yeh I remember the gap effect from harrington's book, i'll have anotyher read over it aswell.

I've been looking at my stats on PT4 and i've noticed that i'm +ev in most positions preflop apart from the blinds. I suppose it's going to be the case, but it seems to be especially facing a raiser that I struggle. I feel quite comfortable attempting to steal, especially once I have a larger stack or if players are passive but i never really stand up to a steal attempt from someone else when i'm in the blinds unless i have very good cards or they keep on stealing.

I seem to struggle playing hands like Q-J , k-10, k-j aswell. I would usually limp in early / middle position with hands that are lower in that 20% range, maybe I should rise them a bit more, but i find it difficult to raise hands like Q-Jo or k-10o when i've got action likely to come behind me.

When people raise from traditional stealing positions, you can discount their hand strength to some extent. Villains will widen their range in an unopened pot from late position to the point where some villains will steal with any 2 cards. Any time you get 2 reasonable cards in the BB i.e Ax, K9+, QT+, you should at least flat call and about a quarter of the time 3Bet. Of course if villain plays back at you, fold. Most of the time he will throw his hands up in the air, mutter to himself about how unlucky he is that the BB has woken up with a big hand and snap fold.

This causes either of 2 things to happen. He tightens his stealing range so now when he raises into you, you can give him credit for a stronger hand and/or he starts open limping with his stealing hands and that's the point when you OWN him.

When villains either 1 or 2 seats to your right start taking your stealing opportunities 3Bet. It doesn't really matter what cards you have because you'll be folding if he reraises. If he flat calls, he has doubts over his hand, and to make matters better you have position post flop. This will discourage people stealing your stealing opportunities. Next time he reraises, you can bet he has a hand.

At a full ring I would fold KT,KJ,QJ,QT,JT,T9 hands in early position, In middle position I would look to limp suited QJ, KT etc provided there is at least one limper in the hand already. The reasons for this are twofold. With two limpers already in, it discourages raisers. It encourages more limpers. Remember, those hands have huge value when they hit flushes or straights. They can be dangerous when you hit top pair with an average kicker. From late position I would steal with the off suit versions as well.

Short stacked I would open shove all these hands regardless of position.

Also I wouldn't wait for 4-5BBs to shove. Nobody should fold to that. Example Blinds are 200/400 Antes 50. 6 players left leaves an unopened pot of 900. You have 1800 (4.5BB) you shove, pot is now 2700. It will cost the BB for starters 1400 to call. He will get 2-1 odds and even 72o is 36% against any random hands. On top of that someone else may call before giving the SB terrific odds as well.

It's best to push/fold from 10BB while you have fold equity and also the power to cripple people, should they call and lose.

Cheers again for that advice. I feel i'm getting better at stealing. I actually 3 bet someones steal and took the pot which was pretty nice.

I'm not really sure if i'm improving at the moment, my games yesterday felt tough and today It was a real battle to the end, somehow managing a 7th and a 3rd even though i never had a particularly big stack. I somehow managed $1.09 up for the 4 games today and in profit $0.09 for the 50 games i've played so far, although in the first 20 i didn't know what i was doing and i still feel clueless in a lot of situations, but somehow some of the time i find a way through trying to pick the right spots and the right steals.

Yeh your right i've noticed hands like KT,KJ,QJ,QT,JT,T9 can be really bad on a full table especially when players are aggressive. If they are passive I find I can limp with these cards in early / middle and try and see a cheap flop. Can i ever limp if there are no callers and i'm in middle / late? or do i always have to raise from late position if i'm not expecting a big raise behind me?

Is it wise to play 4 tables?. I find it alright but ocassionally i have 4 decisions to make quickly and it's tricky.

Hey man,

Goodluck on your journey. I found this guys articles mega useful http://en.donkr.com/forum/optimal-3-bet4-bet5-bet-strategies-in-nlhe-6-max---part-1-533561 . I think I read them around the same stage as you and I had noooo clue what he was on about. After I put volume in, everything he was saying just started to click!

I just want to suggest a slightly different strategy to seeing 'cheap flops' early with those broadways. Nit up! Seriously just play like the top of you range JJ+ AQ+ and limp give it up with smaller pocket pairs (or maybe don't even play them at all). Try and find some videos on changing gears, Collin Moshman shows this especially I find. Nit at the start and just push fold towards the end and exploit the others mistakes without you getting exploited pre! Easy game right?

If you make any mistakes at all 4 tabling them move down imo. But I think 4 is fine for a beginner and will get you a bunch of experience.

Hey cheers

I'll have a read of that article. does it still apply to full 9 player tables, as it mentions 6-max?. When you mention volume, how much volume should i be looking at getting at my stage, I probably can't manage more than 8 per day at the moment.

Ah, cool. So do you mean in early positions nit up and use the top of my range and raise as normal?, as it can't be any benefit to limp with the top of my range in any position?

I find when i play nitty I don't hit enough cards in that range or when I get something like A-Q i'll get hit with in all-in right at the start of the game.

Is it wise to look back over the hands i played in tournaments on my pt4 trial and see which ones caused me to lose the most or win the most chips and try to figure out how i could have played them differently? Is there anything else I should be looking at

Totally agree with ShadDoneWell for large MTTs only. In fact if it is a deepstack and/or slow blind structure, I'm only playing AA, KK and sometimes not even AK in the first 2 or 3 levels (pretty nitty, huh). But in the micro 45 manners there are certain types of players that make up the vast majority of your opponents.

1) Nit Type 1. Playing Style -- Tight Passive. These guys may have read a book, and/or watched poker on TV. They have played very few hands and certainly haven't practised in Freerolls or play money tables. They have no idea of betsizing and will bet 20 into a 500 pot. They will always open limp (even with AA). They will always flat call a raise. In fact, they are a calling station. They are the easiest to exploit.

2) Nit Type 2. Playing Style -- Tight Aggressive. These guys are to be feared. They have read extensively. They are members at strategy sites. They actively participate in forums. They post hands and evaluate others. They have practised in freerolls or play money. They have already played thousands of hands. They are capable of bluff catching and making hero calls. They are also capable of big laydowns and running bluffs and semi bluffs. These guys are always playing with the odds in their favor. They are the hardest to exploit.

Sorry, have run out of time. Will post other types tomorrow,

cheers for the advice. I'm still reading that article, it's pretty interesting but i can't say i completely understand it yet.

Is playing nitty a good idea in the 45 manners for the first few levels?. I've been playing badly the last couple of days, specially today. I seem to be getting involved in ridiculous hands and playing so stupidly. I had a night off last night and read a fair bit of harringtons book today. I i need try to cut out silly costly mistakes and get the basics right.

It seemed tonight that everything went against me and when it didn't I made sure it found a way to haha,

Playing nitty in the early levels is never a bad idea. You get to avoid the allin donks as well as projecting an image of only playing good cards. After 2 or 3 levels you'll need to loosen up or "change gears". Your table image should be of a solid tight player so when you start stealing, observant players will give you credit for a good hand and fold more readily.

It is important to note the blind structure. 25 centers have 10 minute blinds, 50 centers are turbos and have 5 minute blinds. The slower the blind structure, the more time you have to play tight. In fact in deepstack or 12/15 minute blinds MTTs, I would be lucky to play 5 hands in the first hour.

You will have days where you are card dead. Either you won't get good hole cards or you won't hit the board. This has a snowballing effect. If you are not getting paid off with your good hands, then you are also probably losing with your marginal hands. The bad news is, there isn't much you can really do. You can just stop for the day or you can start to mix it up. See cheap flops with random crap. Steal relentlessly. Remember when you are card dead, you are probably more likely to win hands with J6o then AK.

I try to play pretty nitty in the first few levels, playing the lower % of my range only in late positions and just aq+ 1010+ in early.

what are the most important things you take into account in most hands?. I mean I play mostly by watching the betting amounts, positions, and the cards i'm dealt and sometimes I'll look at stats on the hud, although it's not very often i feel i can use them. I don't really consciously calculate pot odds or outs at all at the moment, should i be doing so?. This is especially the case when i'm playing 4 tables. I'm just not sure i'm considering everything i should be, i'm getting some nice results so i must be picking good spots and i think betting first into a flop wins a lot of hands for me but it doesnt all feel like skill, or that i'm taking verything onboard.

I'll try playing different cards when i'm not hitting with my big hands and everything is going wrong ( as long as it's not me playing stupidly). That sounds like a good way to change things up.

I played 4 44man 0.25's tonight and got two second places for a profit of $3.44 so a nice night. I was always a massive underdog when i got to heads up but i gave it a shot.