Mind Games

I recognize the guy in the pink shirt from somewhere.

Is that you in the glasses?

--VS

So that would be Elton photo-bombing JB then; cheeky bastad.

I want/need glasses for long session to come, let me know if those are worth the money VS. Cheers bud.

Can it really have been so long since my last post?[1]

I've played a bit, and finished the merry month of May on the plus side. $1.24 is plus.

Our BBQ was wonderful, food and drink in sufficient quantities to satisfy all. My brother from Edmonton was in town, newly retreaded -- sry, retired -- so we had a surprise congratulatory feast in his honour.

My 3 adult children installed him into the order of "The Pirates who don't do Anything", by singing him the required song. (see below, I hope)
I was kind enough to point out that at their age, they themselves should not be in said order.

On to today.

Today I, the Lord of Vorpal Manor instructed myself, the groundskeeper, to mow the lawn, which in due course, I did.

Then in a fit of pride, I overestimated my ability to wield the Vorpal Sword, and did so wield for a whole friggin' hour.

I've always wondered what the Jabberwock was.

I think I now know. Blackberry bushes. Loads and loads of freakin' blackberry bushes invading the domain of Vorpal Manor from the north and east.

So ...
He took his vorpal sword in hand:
Long time the manxome foe he sought—
So rested he by the Tumtum tree,
And stood awhile in thought.

And as in uffish thought he stood,
The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,
Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,
And burbled as it came!

One, two! One, two! and through and through
The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!
He left it dead, and with its head
He went galumphing back.

Well, kinda...

Along the way, the vorpal blade didst rent asunder the prized Bleeding Heart belonging to Milady. Snicker Snack. Bleeding flowers. Why plant flowers right where the tulgey blackberry bushes are going to invade...
<sigh>

She was right sorely pissed off, however it is tough to chew out your knight errant when he has so gallantly slain such a manxome foe.

But I fear I'll be called upon to do penance anyway.

The very best of Junes to all of you...
--VS

[1]Yes

Now he's going. He's definitely going this time!

Originally posted by gadget51
Now he's going. He's definitely going this time!

Long gone, I fear...

There is a wee problem in NL 5-Card Draw.
You can hit almost anything from anywhere.

Take this hand. Please.

I had hoped to ride that into the money, but got waylaid by people drawing to straights and flushes when they didn't have the odds to do so. I keep forgetting that in NL you have massive implied odds, which so far I have failed to properly take advantage of.

I once whined about how many times I had hit a full house only to run into a better one.
At the time, IIRC, I had lost 15 out of 17 boat vs boat match ups.

It is 11:1 against to hit a full house holding 2 pair.
So it is 121:1 against for two people to do it in the same hand.

sometimes I'm glad I'm not the other guy...

Had he read "The Education of a Modern Poker Player" he would have known to call rather than re-raise post draw.

Even with that nice pot I still had a tough day.
Up by 3 BB over 30 hands at $0.25/$0.50, but down a whole BB over 500 hands at $0.10/$0.20.

Some days are like that...

--VS

I continue to be baffled by NLHE

Take this hand:

I was stunned at the short stack's fold. Pretty much no matter WHAT they had it was worth a call.

Following my bet, CO only has 0.43 cents left. He is looking at a pot of 1.48 that he can win. He is getting almost 3:1, and even better if BB comes along, which I fully expected

BB is looking at looking at pretty much the same scenario once CO folds.

I actually thought I had better equity than I did, but there is no way I can lose more here.

Board: Q♦T♣3♦
       Equity     Win     Tie
CO     37.82%  35.05%   2.77% { 77+, ATs+, KJs+, QJs, ATo+, KJo+, QJo }
BU     26.54%  23.58%   2.96% { KcJs }
BB     35.65%  33.09%   2.55% { 77+, A8s+, K9s+, QTs+, JTs, ATo+, KJo+, QJo }

I'm getting seriously chewed up.
My W$SD was below 35% yesterday, and only 40% today.

I'm not hitting flops -- and when I do, I lose, my big hands are merely picking up blinds, and I'm getting the feeling that I'm Folding 2 Fast (the F2F in my name).

But with only 2nd pair, and no draw, I'm sorry, but I'm folding.

So I'm down 8 BI over two days, but this is €, not $ so the 4 NL 10 I'm down is like $60.
Today I dropped to NL 5€ to drop another 4.

That's nearly $100 in two days.

I guess I won't be turning pro this fall...
--VS

I know, I haz hit my set, I'll just check it down...

Other than folding pre, or checking back the flop, I'm guessing I got off lucky here...

But I can see why villain would play that way.
On William Hill they just fold way to much [1]

Peace,
--VS

[1] Except when you're bluffing your arse off.

NLHE
I finally had a winning day today.
Over the last 845 hands, I have dropped 8 BI -- 4 at NL 10€ and 4 at NL 5€

I have made a few mistakes, but over and over I get rivered or trapped.

I've been card dead too, which doesn't help.
I staved off total ruin with some decent stealing numbers.

In 845 hands, I've had AA 4 times, and KK once.
I didn't check QQ.
3 of the AA and one KK were in the BB and I got walks on 3 of them.

The total looks like this:
3 walks: $0.21
1 blind defence: $0.15
1 split pot: - $0.49
Net - $0.13 from the "best hands in poker"

The split pot looked like this:

Rigged?
Of course not.

--VS

Lol @ 845 hands.

Originally posted by jbpatzer
Lol @ 845 hands.

Be nice!

Originally posted by UPAY4DINNER

Originally posted by jbpatzer
Lol @ 845 hands.

Be nice!

I am nice! I was in a hurry, so I used a shorthand version of 'I know it feels like you run super bad, but given the huge variance involved in NLHE, 845 is an incredibly small sample. Have a look at your results over a 100k sample and you're more likely, but not certain, to see how you're really getting on.' He knows this, so I can use the short version.

We wouldn't be human if we didnt seek these lil tidbits. I know I am the same. We know how variance is at this stage. Just like reassurances that its run bad sometimes.

...and yes it's rigged, obviously.

Not sure if I am actually human yet, maybe I need a status upgrade.

My KKK ran into AAA yesterday v a loonytoons agro monster or 2.4BI which nearly reduced me to tears. At micro zoom it's quite common to drop 8BI in two sessions; at least it is on my tables! ♦

On a day like that, poker seems like this:

You sit down at a table, with 5 other players.
Each person is given a baseball bat (or cricket if you prefer, though I'm only playing a baseball tables).

In each hand everyone gets two cards.
If you are out of position, or have crappy cards, or both, you fold. At this point those remaining in the hand play it out. If you would have won, everyone gets to hit you across the shoulders with their stick -- no head shots allowed.
Ex: 43o UTG flop comes 443. This happens surpisingly frequently. One thing I like about zoom is I never notice when this happens.

If you have a good hand, they all fold and hit you with the stick.
If you are IP and PRETEND to have a good hand -- as in blind stealing -- they shove and hit you with the stick whether you fold or play, cuz by gar if you play you're going to get beat.

It could be worse though, I could be whacking blackberry bushes.
Oh wait, it's Saturday morning -- I'll be doing that for the next 3 hours after I mow the lawn.

I can't decide if I'm too aggro or not aggro enough.
I suppose this means I'm probably about right, but it seems I often check hands down that would have paid off a river bet.

OTOH, I get river bets called by hands that logically should have folded -- eg pocket 5s on an AJx board (where x != 5).

OH well, I can always play 5-Card Draw for comfort.

--VS

Originally posted by jbpatzer

Originally posted by UPAY4DINNER

Originally posted by jbpatzer
Lol @ 845 hands.

Be nice!

I am nice! I was in a hurry, so I used a shorthand version of 'I know it feels like you run super bad, but given the huge variance involved in NLHE, 845 is an incredibly small sample. Have a look at your results over a 100k sample and you're more likely, but not certain, to see how you're really getting on.' He knows this, so I can use the short version.

Why thank you. You could have just said, "Don't be a ninny" and I would have understood.
Although the big picture is how we should look at poker, it takes perspective -- ie time -- and until sufficient time has passed, we are still carrying around the perceptions of the wee bit of that picture we have just painted.

This is the essence of the Mental Game, and even though I am fully aware of how this works, it still pisses me off from time to time.

Incidentally whoever said of AA -- "You win a lot of small pots and lose some big ones" describes my experience fairly accurately.

As it turns out, over all players, all rooms all stakes (cash games only including all FF games) I have played a total of 225,000 hands (is that all?!?)

The results for AA:
            Times      $$    BB/100  
    Won:      868     577     1,672  
   Lost:      115    -220    -5,812  
  Total:      983     357       796  

AA wins the expected frequency (~8:1) but only wins ~2.5:1

I'm sure that I could improve this by not holding on to AA in the face of strong aggression on v drawy boards. Running into sets is tough to avoid in any case.

Peace,
--VS

Fold pre, it lowers the variance and the heart rate at the same time.

Originally posted by gadget51
Fold pre, it lowers the variance and the heart rate at the same time.

Thank you.

I'll give that suggestion all the consideration it is due.

Some days I feel like this...

--VS

Good grief VS, where on earth did you dig that one up from?! ♦ ♦

Originally posted by gadget51
Good grief VS, where on earth did you dig that one up from?! ♦ ♦

Well, since you asked...

Your Tennessee Ernie Ford clip reminded me of it. In 1986 Mrs Vorpal and I belonged to a community singing group in the small town we were living in. Good grief -- they even have their own website. They didn't even have internet in Creston in 1986.

Anyway, our group was chosen to sing at Expo 86 in Vancouver that year. "Sixteen Tons" and "I Talk to the Trees" were two of the songs we did. I sang any of bass, baritone or tenor, but mostly I sang flat. It was great fun, and got us to the fair when we never could have afforded it. We got free run of the place for 7 days, and only had to do 2 45 minute shows a day.

I love nostalgia, but nostalgia was way better back then...

--VS

I came within a hair of folding this.

If the guy had shoved this with a full stack -- or even bet pot size -- he could have had it.
One more reason to play full stacked

IPoker, €0.02/€0.05 No Limit Hold'em Cash, 6 Players

SB: €2.71 (54.2 bb)
BB: €3.99 (79.8 bb)
UTG: €2 (40 bb)
MP: €0.97 (19.4 bb)
Hero (CO): €7.02 (140.4 bb)
BTN: €5 (100 bb)

Preflop: Hero is CO with K:h K:d
UTG raises to €0.17, MP raises to €0.29, Hero raises to €0.60, 4 folds, MP calls €0.31

Flop: (€1.44) 8:c T:s A:c (2 players)
MP bets €0.37 and is all-in, Hero calls €0.37

Turn: (€2.18) 5:s (2 players, 1 is all-in)
River: (€2.18) 2:c (2 players, 1 is all-in)

Results: €2.18 pot (€0.14 rake)
Final Board: 8:c T:s A:c 5:s 2:c
MP showed T:d Q:s and lost (-€0.97 net)
Hero mucked K:h K:d and won €2.04 (€1.07 net)

I was having another one of my pity-party afternoons.
Down, down, down.
Then in three hands -- profit.

The one above,
This one...

And the Hand of the day...

Cheers,
--VS