[Closed] Matusko NLSH blog

Hand converted with online PokerStrategy.com hand converter:

Play hand

$0.1/$0.25 No-Limit Hold'em (6 handed)

Known players:
[tg]MP3$10.05:///////;CO$25.00:///////;BU$24.63:///////;SB (Hero)$31.35:///////;BB$30.34:///////;MP2$44.95:///////;[/tg]

Preflop: Hero is SB with Q:c, Q:h.
MP2 raises to $0.75, 3 folds, Hero raises to $2.75, BB folds, MP2 calls $2.00.

Flop: ($5.75) Q:d, A:h, 5:c (2 players)
Hero checks, MP2 bets $3.75, Hero calls $3.75.

Turn: ($13.25) 3:c (2 players)
Hero bets $6.30, MP2 raises to $22.90, Hero raises to $24.85, MP2 calls $1.95.

River: ($62.95) J:d (2 players)

Final Pot: $62.95.
Results follow:

MP2 shows a pair of aces(A:d K:c).
Hero shows three of a kind, queens(Q:c Q:h).

Hero wins with three of a kind, queens(Q:c Q:h).

Pretty interesting hand. I 3bet, he calls. He is a reg with reasonable stats and a pretty solid game from what i have seen so far. I put him on a range of TT+, AQ, AK since he called my 3 bet from the blinds. Flop comes pretty awsome for me-i decide co check it since if he has TT or JJ he is not calling a bet anyway, he will bet AA,AK,AQ himself probably. I decide to c/c since c/r would look way too strong(basicly a set of Q or A) imo. On the turn i donk 1/2 pot , at this point if he has any A i dont think he is going to fold to 1/2 pot and I also dont want to give a free card since he might check AK or basicly any paired A(maybe AJs,ATs).

Hand converted with online PokerStrategy.com hand converter:

Play hand

$0.1/$0.25 No-Limit Hold'em (6 handed)

Known players:
[tg]SB (Hero)$25.00:///////;BB$30.29:///////;MP2$25.35:///////;MP3$31.22:///////;CO$25.00:///////;BU$26.07:///////;[/tg]

Preflop: Hero is SB with 3:s, 3:h.
MP2 raises to $0.75, 3 folds, Hero calls $0.65, BB calls $0.50.

Flop: ($2.25) A:h, 3:d, 6:c (3 players)
Hero checks, BB checks, MP2 bets $1.50, Hero calls $1.50, BB raises to $5.75, MP2 folds, Hero calls $4.25.

Turn: ($15.25) 7:h (2 players)
Hero bets $7.75, BB folds, Hero gets uncalled bet back.

Final Pot: $15.25.

Both of the players seem TAGish to me(pretty tight stats, but only through 30 hands). The board is dry so i decide to c/c basicly no need to protect and I want both of them to come along. The actions goes c/c/b I call and BB RAISES! this is just a signal of insane strength imo, since he has a bet and a call infront of him... But I am just not folding my set on this flop without a supergreat read(which I dont have here)>basicly I call since if I raise or shove here I cant have anything else then a set and I am isolating myself against AA/66. Again I decide to donk the turn 1/2 pot since I have absolutely no idea what he could have and the board is getting ugly. I am going to post this hand for Veriz and Kaitz to evaluate since I am pretty much lost here

this guy iz my hero ♦

So I played some more poker today, here is my graph from 25NL so far

I havent played much hands yet, but I took a peek at my stats in pokertracker:

VPIP:20
PFR:16
WTSD:26
AF:2.37
3BET: 4%
Fold to 3BET: 75%
ATS: 32%
CBET:69%
Fold to CBET: 55%

I know its a small sample, but still the gap between VPIP/PFR is pretty big and my 3bet is very low.

In my next session I will look for good spots to 3bet light(squeeze spots, or CO opens when I am on the button) and hopefully post some of those hands.
I should generaly be 3beting with a pretty polarized range-hands like suited connectors, suited one gappers rather than KJo, ATo type hands, i dont like 3beting those since I am often going to get called by hands that dominate me.

played almost 4k hands in the last two days, I have been looking for good spots to 3bet light, esp versus CO opens when I am on the button.

2 interesting hands from my session today:

Hand converted with online PokerStrategy.com hand converter:

Play hand

$0.1/$0.25 No-Limit Hold'em (6 handed)

Known players:
[tg]CO$19.65:///////;BU$16.53:///////;SB$9.90:///////;BB (Hero)$41.14:///////;MP2$32.99:///////;MP3$30.36:///////;[/tg]

Preflop: Hero is BB with Q:d, Q:h.
MP2 raises to $1.00, MP3 raises to $4.25, 5 folds, 4 folds, 3 folds, 2 folds, MP2 folds, MP3 gets uncalled bet back.

Final Pot: $1.35.

Here I fold my queens, since UTG is playing 10/7 and MP is 13/11 with 0% 3bet over 120 hands and he makes it more than 4x so his range is QQ+ at least here.

Hand converted with online PokerStrategy.com hand converter:

Play hand

$0.1/$0.25 No-Limit Hold'em (6 handed)

Known players:
[tg]SB (Hero)$30.39:///////;BB$21.25:///////;MP2$10.80:///////;MP3$48.42:///////;CO$13.42:///////;BU$25.25:///////;[/tg]

Preflop: Hero is SB with Q:h, K:s.
4 folds, Hero raises to $1.00, BB calls $0.75.

Flop: ($2) K:d, 6:c, 3:d (2 players)
Hero bets $1.25, BB calls $1.25.

Turn: ($4.5) Q:s (2 players)
Hero bets $3.00, BB calls $3.00.

River: ($10.5) 2:d (2 players)
Hero bets $4.75, BB raises to $13.00, Hero folds, BB gets uncalled bet back.

Final Pot: $15.25.

Here BB seems to have some kind of hand since he calls flop and turn, now the question is what to do on the river? I think FD are a decent part of his range, but i dont want to c/f top2 either... I decided just to bet/fold, maybe check/call?

Originally posted by matusko
$0.1/$0.25 No-Limit Hold'em (6 handed)

Known players:
[tg]SB (Hero)$30.39:///////;BB$21.25:///////;MP2$10.80:///////;MP3$48.42:///////;CO$13.42:///////;BU$25.25:///////;[/tg]

Preflop: Hero is SB with Q:h, K:s.
4 folds, Hero raises to $1.00, BB calls $0.75.

Flop: ($2) K:d, 6:c, 3:d (2 players)
Hero bets $1.25, BB calls $1.25.

Turn: ($4.5) Q:s (2 players)
Hero bets $3.00, BB calls $3.00.

River: ($10.5) 2:d (2 players)
Hero bets $4.75, BB raises to $13.00, Hero folds, BB gets uncalled bet back.

Final Pot: $15.25.

Here BB seems to have some kind of hand since he calls flop and turn, now the question is what to do on the river? I think FD are a decent part of his range, but i dont want to c/f top2 either... I decided just to bet/fold, maybe check/call?

Post it to hand evaluation forum and leave here link to that thread co we can read more opinions...

yeah thx good idea, here is the link Kq Nl25 Sh

Anohter KQ hand from today, its against what seemed to be a pretty solid straight forward reg:

Hand converted with online PokerStrategy.com hand converter:

Play hand

$0.1/$0.25 No-Limit Hold'em (5 handed)

Known players:
[tg]CO$35.62:///////;BU (Hero)$25.87:///////;SB$20.43:///////;BB$25.00:///////;MP3$24.56:///////;[/tg]

Preflop: Hero is BU with Q:s, K:h.
MP3 folds, CO raises to $0.62, Hero calls $0.62, SB folds, BB calls $0.37.

Flop: ($1.96) K:c, 2:s, 4:d (3 players)
BB checks, CO bets $1.21, Hero calls $1.21, BB folds.

Turn: ($4.38) T:h (2 players)
CO bets $3.12, Hero calls $3.12.

River: ($10.62) 5:h (2 players)
CO bets $7.57, Hero folds, CO gets uncalled bet back.

Final Pot: $10.62.

I dont think he is 3barrel bluffing ever, and he is not taking this line with a 1 pair type hand(at least i dont think so unless he has AK)

I am running pretty good lately, I will update my NL25 graph soon:) so far I have a winrate of almost 10bb/100 over 15k hands which is quite good(but sample is small so this doest really mean anything)

And to mention-I had a funny guy at my table, he was playing a LAGy style opening 90% from the button and 95% from the sb and his fold to 3bet was 90% ♦ very unexploitable ofc... I 3bet him like 10 times in a row with junk folded every hand lol

Hand converted with online PokerStrategy.com hand converter:

Play hand

$0.1/$0.25 No-Limit Hold'em (6 handed)

Known players:
[tg]BB$13.04:///////;MP2 (Hero)$25.35:///////;MP3$32.39:///////;CO$27.95:///////;BU$25.45:///////;SB$5.56:///////;[/tg]

Preflop: Hero is MP2 with A:h, A:s.
Hero raises to $1.00, MP3 calls $1.00, 4 folds, 3 folds, 2 folds, BB folds.

Flop: ($2.35) 7:c, 4:d, 7:h (2 players)
Hero bets $1.50, MP3 raises to $4.90, Hero calls $3.40.

Turn: ($12.15) 2:s (2 players)
Hero checks, MP3 bets $7.60, Hero raises to $19.45, MP3 calls $11.85.

River: ($51.05) 6:s (2 players)

Final Pot: $51.05.
Results follow:

Hero shows two pairs, aces and sevens(A:h A:s).
MP3 shows two pairs, kings and sevens(K:d K:c).

Hero wins with two pairs, aces and sevens(A:h A:s).

Here I am against an unknown, He raises flop pretty big, at this point i put him on a range of 44,77 88+ and maybe some random bluffs. Now 3beting this flop is not so good imo since i might be isolating myself against the top of his range and if he is bluffing I want to give him a chance to bluff the turn, so my plan was to c/R all-in on the turn and I kinda coolered him.

I might have jinxed myself by saying that i run good ♦ todays session was pretty crazy i got stacked by fish 4 times with the most unprobable 2pairs etc ♦ I also made some donkish plays overall i think I played pretty bad, managed to make it just a -2BI session overall though.

I should realize that squeezing american 45/9 players with T8s is not the best idea.... /Slap

Im not going to post hands where fish owned me, I might make a second blog where I can cry about badbeats, for now lets just consider it a waste of time.

I made some experiments during the session, I tried to be overall a bit more agressive(not monkey mode) and also to choose good spots to bluff fish since I was always afraid of making any moves on fish because "omg hes going to call any pair" but the fact is that there can be found very good spots for bluffing even those type of players.

Also a first thing I kinda tried out was cold 4bet bluffing from the BB-I knew BU is opening very loose and a LAG was on the SB 3beting late position opens quite frequently so i decided to 4bet bluff since when I do this I basicly have to look infinitely strong(QQ+). I think this can be a pretty +EV play if I have the right reads on BU and SB.

And I got gold status on stars finally!

Pretty good song I found randomly on youtube ♦(probably pretty old my apologies ♦) Yeah and the girl is not ugly tbh.

just came to say hey and wish gl,

also, ur yearly goal is a bit too low: to move up to NL100 from NL25 in 9months?! u can do that in 9weeks honestly. I would set at the very least NL1k as a goal till the end of the year. Even if u only get to NL400 u surpass ur current goal head and shoulders, but u rly just need to be more pumped up. Poker won't be waiting for u.. u have to seize the opportunity. I don't want to be telling u evil stuff and destroy ur life or anything, but since I like to bring ppl over to discover the beauties of poker and more so if it's a fellow Slovakian: find out if u can do this srsly asap and if yes (judging on ur math background u should) then just go for it fulltime. If u re a freshman at uni there s no better time to interrupt than now

I think it's not that easy when you follow very comfortable BRM. Like at least 50BI. That's like 100BI to be won. In 10 weeks it's 10BI per week on avg. So 1.5 BI daily(7days a wekk). With winrate 5bb/100 its 3000 hands every day. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think you don't make. And you are far from. 4 tabling sucks for volume.

Anyway, I don't think it's a good idea to leave school until you make really a LOT, if you have potential to be looked for after you finish school (or during school). Maybe comfortable $5000 per month. Because, e.g. how do you know online poker will be legal in 20 years? Imagine you can live from poker little better than average people. But you aren't somewhat rich. You have 45 and suddenly you won't be able to play poker because of some stuppid international agreement. You can live from what you saved in some funds for 4 years more. But what will you do then? No one will want a 20 years unemployed man. That's why I don't want to be a pro. There are many things I enjoy too. And I think I'll be happier somewhere high in a bank.

Originally posted by TheLastNail
just came to say hey and wish gl,

also, ur yearly goal is a bit too low: to move up to NL100 from NL25 in 9months?! u can do that in 9weeks honestly. I would set at the very least NL1k as a goal till the end of the year. Even if u only get to NL400 u surpass ur current goal head and shoulders, but u rly just need to be more pumped up. Poker won't be waiting for u.. u have to seize the opportunity. I don't want to be telling u evil stuff and destroy ur life or anything, but since I like to bring ppl over to discover the beauties of poker and more so if it's a fellow Slovakian: find out if u can do this srsly asap and if yes (judging on ur math background u should) then just go for it fulltime. If u re a freshman at uni there s no better time to interrupt than now

Hello TheLastNail, thank you for posting in my blog
When I started this blog I was playing NL10, in 2 weeks I think I am beating NL25(at least so far), but I just dont have a clue how hard it is to beat NL50, NL100, I dont directly know anyone who can destroy these stakes and how much it takes. I was(I am) assuming that its going to be a lot tougher than the micros(i might be wrong I just dont know).
I dont have any plans atm like "im going to be a poker pro no matter what" I firstly am going to finish uni(I have tons of free time anyway so I can really play a lot if I want) and I will see how it develops. And I have to agree with Konkey, apart from the "dangers" he mentioned I am just not sure if this is what I want to do in life, I will see. But that ofc doesnt mean Im not taking it seriously, I will be doing my best to get better every day :).

Btw if you have some spare time I would be really glad if you could write down just quickly your poker carreer, like what stakes you played with what BRM, how long it took to move up, did you experience big swings etc. I would be very interested in that since I basicly dont know any higher stakes players.(//edit: ok I found something out on http://www.livepoker.sk/poker-blogs/jozef-cibicek/my-poker-career you have my deepest respect)

Anyway im really looking forward to the czech/slovak comunity launch soon I think it has a lot of potential.

Side bet made 27.3.2011 23:45 with Konkey:

Konkey challenges me to attend at every single class in school this week(ya even the morning ones that start 8 am!!!). To prove my awesomeness I was forced to accept the challenge, I will update how it goes,this is going to be pretty tough for me, but i think I do have some backdoor equity at least ♦

So far I am totally owning The side bet lol

Played a few hands today feel really good about my game atm hope it will stay this way!

I also decided I am not going to check my BR for a weak(I hope this is going to help my plan of being completely non-result oriented).

I already have a pretty healthy roll for NL50 atm(almost 2K) but i have played less than 20k hands on NL25, so I probably wont move up until I can be sure my winrate is real and not just some kind of upswing(sthing like 40k-50k hands).

And also here is 1 hand I found in my database:

Hand converted with online PokerStrategy.com hand converter:

Play hand

$0.1/$0.25 No-Limit Hold'em (5 handed)

Known players:
[tg]SB (Hero)$25.00:///////;BB$25.00:///////;MP3$69.55:///////;CO$30.40:///////;BU$48.78:///////;[/tg]

Preflop: Hero is SB with Q:h, A:h.
3 folds, Hero raises to $1.00, BB calls $0.75.

Flop: ($2) 2:h, 9:h, 9:d (2 players)
Hero bets $1.50, BB raises to $4.50, Hero raises to $24.00, BB calls $19.50(All-In).

Turn: ($50) 3:s (2 players)

River: ($50) 7:s (2 players)

Final Pot: $50.
Results follow:

BB shows a full-house, twos full of nines(2:c 2:d).
Hero shows a pair of nines(Q:h A:h).

BB wins with a full-house, twos full of nines(2:c 2:d).

Here I am against a very tight passive on the BB. He raises flop big I decide to shove. I acctually didnt have a good feeling about my play here-I decided to put this into the equilator:

Since he is tight his value range here is basicly 22, 99+ imo and I dont think he is going to do this with a FD.

Equity Win Tie Loss Hand
Player 1: 37,949% 37,944% 0,011% 62,045% AhQh
Player 2: 62,051% 62,045% 0,011% 37,944% 99+, 22

Even if I add some bluffs this is still a -EV spot to push probably and that is because the board is paired and I could be drawing dead already(although I think he might just call with 22 or 99)

now if I run an equity calculation for a very simiular situation only with a nonpaired board(Here i assume he will raise is FD+overpairs and his FD+OESD which even a passive tight player probably will):

Player 1: 43,189% 43,189% 0,000% 56,811% AhQh
Player 2: 56,811% 56,811% 0,000% 43,189% 99+, 77, 22, KhJh, QhTh, Th8h

So this looks a lot better and if I add some random bluffs I think it can be a breakeven/slightly +EV play and we are also showing that we can shove a draw which can help us get value from our strong hands later.

So in the hand I posted I think I should just let go of it since the board is paired and probably shove a nonpaired board without any further reads.

this thing about playing low pocket pairs came to my mind today:

a nit 3x my CO raise when I have 77 we are 100bb deep and he is playing 8/5 over a reasonable sample. I was thinking about flatting here. My reasons are that his range is just so much leaning toward high pocket pairs here and I can stack him when I do hit. Ofc there is the Call20 rule but I think that is just to make decisions easy not taking into consideration peoples ranges and just making it +EV overall. I just think a call against such a nit and setmining might be +EV here since he is just going to have a high PP so often+im in position.

I hit a set 1 in 12.5 cases so if i knew my oponnent is going to stack off every time I hit i would be calling all 3 bets ofc. One has to add situations where he misses(i loose "value" from my set) and situation where he hits a higher sets and coolers me so taking all of this into consideration someone ran the math and "invented" the Call20 rule. But as I pointed out it doesnt take into consideration that someone can be playing e.g. only aces and shoving any flop-I would love to call 3bets against him and setmine.

I am not sure about it, It just came across my mind it might be +EV to call 3bets against super nits(esp IP).

Something I changed in my game is that I am no longer setmining late position opens from the blinds(unless against tight player) just because I wont get paid off often and will get squeezed sometimes so I think its -EV. I either 3bet or if villain is not folding to many 3bets I just fold since I will have a very hard time playing my 66 in a 3bet pot oop.

Well, matusko just lost our side bet

Anyway, yesterday we found a spot where we had very different opinions. It was in SH cash game. Matusko was sitting in BU, SB was 7/5 nit and BB was like 28/26. I don't remember other stats. He opened very lightly and I was like WTF? He told that he does it, because if BB 3bets him twice, he'll start 4betting soon and take a lot from him. And I am much more LAGgy, but I think it's not a good idea to open BU very light in this spot. I rather open tighter range, call more of BB's 3bets and play him IP. Would be interesting to hear more opinions.

Originally posted by konkey
Well, matusko just lost our side bet

FU ♦ nothing was getting me out of bed today. Well my power of will is nothing to be proud of.

I opened a few tables but there werent many fish so I left after a while, but at least I found 2 interesting hands:

Hand converted with online PokerStrategy.com hand converter:

Play hand

$0.1/$0.25 No-Limit Hold'em (6 handed)

Known players:
[tg]SB$20.37:///////;BB$25.00:///////;MP2$13.04:///////;MP3 (Hero)$26.40:///////;CO$29.05:///////;BU$25.00:///////;[/tg]

Preflop: Hero is MP3 with Q:s, Q:h.
MP2 raises to $0.75, Hero raises to $2.25, 3 folds, BB raises to $8.00, 2 folds, Hero folds, BB gets uncalled bet back.

Final Pot: $3.1.
The guy cold 4bets big from BB, I had 6 hands on him playing 0/0. But I just find this so so strong and probably an easy fold.

Hand converted with online PokerStrategy.com hand converter:

Play hand

$0.1/$0.25 No-Limit Hold'em (5 handed)

Known players:
[tg]MP3$25.10:///////;CO$67.14:///////;BU$25.68:///////;SB$25.33:///////;BB (Hero)$26.37:///////;[/tg]

Preflop: Hero is BB with Q:h, A:h.
3 folds, SB raises to $0.85, Hero calls $0.60.

Flop: ($1.7) J:d, T:h, 9:d (2 players)
SB bets $1.25, Hero calls $1.25.

Turn: ($4.2) 6:d (2 players)
SB bets $2.50, Hero raises to $6.50, SB calls $4.00.

River: ($17.2) 7:h (2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $17.77(All-In), SB folds, Hero gets uncalled bet back.

Final Pot: $17.2.

now this one is pretty cool imo. It is against a TAG(I have over 400 hands with him playing 19/16 cbeting a lot and not much on the turn)
So on the flop I dont want to raise since this is not a good board for him to cbet air and I have a lot of equity anyway, so I flat. Now turn is a bad card for me and and he bets again-this basicly means he does have some kind of hand. I decided to bluff-raise this turn(I dont think I can call I just dont have enough equity anymore) and just try to push him off anything he has(since I think he is decent and will be able to fold even strong hands, and I dont expect him to think I am ever bluffing here) he calls my turn raise and river is a blank. Since He called I am almost 100% sure he doesnt have a flush since I think he would shove the turn. So his range consists of 2pair hands and sets, occasionaly some TPTK with nut flush draw. Again I never ever think he has a flush here. So I shove my air.

And to add-I could 3bet preflop but call is fine imo becuase I will have a lot of his hands dominated and he probably wont call my 3bet with AJ, AT, KQ type hands.

Hand converted with online PokerStrategy.com hand converter:

Play hand

$0.1/$0.25 No-Limit Hold'em (6 handed)

Known players:
[tg]SB$43.31:///////;BB$26.36:///////;MP2$25.47:///////;MP3 (Hero)$28.31:///////;CO$20.11:///////;BU$24.23:///////;[/tg]

Preflop: Hero is MP3 with A:d, A:c.
MP2 folds, Hero raises to $1.00, CO folds, BU calls $1.00, SB raises to $3.50, BB folds, Hero calls $2.50, BU calls $2.50.

Flop: ($10.75) 8:d, 4:s, K:h (3 players)
SB bets $5.25, Hero calls $5.25, BU raises to $10.50, SB folds, Hero raises to $24.81, BU calls $10.23(All-In).

Turn: ($61.54) 8:s (2 players)

River: ($61.54) J:d (2 players)

Final Pot: $61.54.
Results follow:

BU shows two pairs, kings and eights(K:s Q:d).
Hero shows two pairs, aces and eights(A:d A:c).

Hero wins with two pairs, aces and eights(A:d A:c).

Sometimes it doesnt take much to win ♦ (i called since SB was squeezing pretty frequently and I wanted to get extra $ from his cbet)

Anyway since my pokerstars acc isnt linked to pokerstrategy I will probably try out another site after I clear my bonus(soon). I was thinking about Titan Poker? I installed the software today, well ok im not going to make comments about the software.... But the site looks superfishy after I watched some games there some of the guys were really..eh...interesting.
Also I was thinking of a really fishy-looking screen name, I decided for "MinesweeperAA"