Mind Games

Managed to catch up last night between turns of Heroes with mrsbob and peskydaughter.

Having read Mgp late last year I have enjoyed reading your blog. I am also a fan and you make some interesting observations.

I will be following.

Mrs Vorpal and I went to see "Skyfall" last night.

We had been complaining about movies in general lately.

♣  All special effects and no story
♣  The scope is always too big ie villain is trying to take over the world/galaxy etc
♣  Timing sucks -- action gets too intense too fast, stays intense too long.
♣  The science -- especially astronomy -- is too often so totally wrong that I get thrown out of the fantasy and beck into reality.

♦  Skyfall has story -- it can even be followed.
♦  The story is on a personal level.
♦  The action is paced well, and more-or-less easy to follow.

Besides all that.
I like Daniel Craig as Bond, James Bond. *
You get to see the Aston Martin

I had quibbles with the science they trotted out, but the movie as a whole managed to keep the "willing" in "willing suspension of disbelief"

* I actually do like his Bond character. Mind you, there was only one I really didn't like, but I can't remember his name.

I saw a strange glow over the eastern horizon.
As time passed, it grew brighter, and I wondered whatever could it be?
Then it dawned on me...

I've been working with spreadsheets for well over 25 years, starting with Visicalc on an Apple ][+

One thing that you do a lot is have a "Balance" column in which you have a formula like "=H2+F3-G3" where F3 is debits, and G3 is the credits column.

But what to do at row 1?
I've always added a bogus line, "Balance Forward", and the balance in column H would be 0. Otherwise, the formula in H2 fails, since H1 has a column label.

Today, after all this time, I had an idea.
Put 0 in H1, and create a custom format with the word, "Balance"

It takes me a while, but I eventually get there.

Why didn't I think of this before? Who knows?

It is amazing how some ideas just suddenly leap into one's mind fully formed, whereas others lurk there quietly, then rise up and smack you in the face.

Somewhere recently, I made the remark, "I would be a winning player if it weren't for all the losses". I was intending to be a smart-ass.

Well, yeah, except for the smart part.

So why not?
Rule #1 of poker is that you won't get the good hands any more often than anyone else.

So to increase your winrate, cut your losses.
It was hard, but I played today with the focus on NOT calling with drawing hands -- Bet, Raise or Fold only.

In 5-Card Draw, I made precisely Zero calls if villain CBet or Donked. I 3Bet when I thought I had the nutz (I did).

In NL25, I made (I think) only 1 post-flop call but I had the odds (w/o implieds) for my draw to the nut str8.

I had two great sessions, without any truly primo hands.

SO small a sample though. But I will be watching this very closely.
My play was a bit artificial. Some resteals I maybe should have called, but I wasn't willing to 4Bet, so under session rules it was a fold.

Peace,
--VS

Originally posted by VorpalF2F
In 5-Card Draw, I made precisely Zero calls if villain CBet or Donked.

You have to be careful with this approach in FL games. I've just read The Intelligent Poker Player, which I would recommend to you. One key idea is that playing exploitatively is an aggressive strategy, whilst playing in a balanced GTO manner (or trying to) is a defensive strategy. So, when you keep folding to cbets and donkbets, you are actually being aggressive. You are saying 'I know you don't bluff enough, and I am going to exploit that by always folding. This leaves me open to being exploited, but I don't care, because you won't notice and adjust, because you are an arse.'. Sounds aggressive right? However,as you move up, you will meet people who bluff, and do so in a more sensible way (and I think even at the microstakes, 5CD players like a bluff). For example, if you are HU and have both discarded 3 and you check, the other guy will have improved to two pair or better, and probably bets 1BB into a pot of about 2BB, about 30% of the time. To be balanced, he needs to bluff about one third as often again, so he should be betting about 40% of the time in that spot, bluffing with the bottom part of his unimproved hand range. To avoid being exploited (a defensive strategy), you have to bluffcatch roughly once for every three times you can raise or call with what you expect to be the best hand. If you improve 30% of the time too, this means you need to call with about 10/70 = 14% of your unimproved hands. You do this by calling with the top 14% of your unimproved range. This is a rough and ready estimate of the GTO strategy. Now, if your Villain really does cbet a less than 40%, your 'always fold' strategy will exploit him, but if he cbets a lot more, you really do need to bluffcatch, or you will get run over. Ofc, all of this depends on the ranges you are each playing, but you get the idea. You can develop a similar GTOish strategy when one of you discards 3 and the other just 1.

I've rambled a bit, but I hope this helps. I have to turn my laptop over to my daughter for Barbie game duties now.

JB

I get that.
I was just playing about with the Zero Call thing.

I only play two 5-Card Draw tables at once, and take fairly comprehensive notes. So I have a feel in a short time who is bluffing and who isn't.

I try to get information early on, and to do that you sometimes need to check behind hands you might call with, or call with hands you might otherwise fold.

I DO though know that I call far too often AD, judging by the # of times I lose.

Also, Pokerhands doesn't have a stat for "Leads out AD in unraised pot". It does not register as a CBet or a donk, as far as I can tell.

I'll have a look for that book.

Thanks,

I've started to play shorter sessions.
Rather than 2 500-hand sessions each of 5-Card Draw and NL 25, I've been playing 200 hand sessions.

If I have time, after a break of at least an hour I'll play another 2 sessions.

If the tables break up on their own after >=125 hands, I just end their.

I don't know if it has had an effect on my winrate, since it has been fairly good lately. That is a bit of a problem with changing several things at once.

I DO know that it has helped my mental state a lot. After playing for a while, it would begin to feel tedious. Is there such a thing as Adult Onset ADD? Hmmm...

Another thing bubbled into my brain.

David Sklansky said, "It's all one session".
This may be true when it comes to win / lose considerations, but it certainly isn't true of many other factors. I'm thinking especially of table image.

I was playing 2 tables of NL 25.
On one table, I got a string of rather nice hands right off the start, and after 5 hands at that table, my stats were 80/80.

The other table was dry as dust, and after 5 hands I was 0/0

The opening image created seemed to affect the rest of the session.
On the first table, they thought I was a typical Canucklehead maniac, and almost every time I raised, I got 3Bet or called.

On the other table, I was treated as a nit -- If I raised, they just folded.
If I 3Bet they folded.

Mind you sample size is extremely small and it may have just been the OTHER players at the table and how they played anyone.

Some I don't think so, though.

In other news, I signed up for an online course in Game Theory.
It says it will require 5 to 7 hours a week. Good luck fitting that in, Vorpal.

Have a great week everyone!

[x] Had more than a few tough hands tonight.
[ ] Tilted
[x] Enjoyed the session immensely

I don't know why but I really enjoyed this 5-Card Draw session.

I was up overall v slightly, but more importantly, I made a lot of good decisions in tough spots.

My Fold-to-CBet stat is still ferociously too low.

I keep looking people up playing check/call when I should be playing check/fold.
I think I need a logic statement !
They fix EVERYTHING!

I don't think that it is tilt, actually, but curiosity is definitely a mental game leak.

<sigh>

There's always tomorrow!

I decided to see if it was really as bad as I think, or if perhaps it was a perception problem.

I called or check/called 340 times that I lost the hand.
I called or check/called 172 times that I won the hand.

If I had folded instead of called only ONE THIRD of the hands I called, my winrate would be 50% greater.

I will be paying very careful attention to my after-draw play.

The times that I bet then called a 3Bet are much fewer, and although I have lost quite a bit more than I've won, a lot of those hands are coolers, such as the huge full-house vs full-house disparity I mentioned earlier

If you're going to play check/call, make sure that it's with the top of the range that you can't value bet, and you'll be fine. Keep in mind that when you play check/fold, you're not giving up, you just don't think you will get called by worse and often expect to win at showdown. I used to keep thinking, maybe subconsciously, 'Oooo! He checked behind and I had the best hand! I should have bet!'. If enough of the unimproved hands in his range won't call a bet, then checking is best. The hard bit is being more precise about 'enough'.

If enough of the unimproved hands in his range won't call a bet, then checking is best. The hard bit is being more precise about 'enough'.

That will do for my logic statement for the moment. Thanks.

I have also decided that prior to betting or raising pre-draw, I will have a concrete plan for post-draw.

I will try to recognize curiosity for what it is -- an emotional response.
I will then use reason instead to make my decision.

I thought a bit more about my habit of calling post-draw with, well, crap.

I thought that perhaps I was being a bit harsh on myself.
So I took the time to apply my hard-won knowledge of the pokerhands database, and see just what hands I was calling with.

I won't bore you with numbers.

Wait a minute, yes I will.

I called or check/called 541 times post-draw unimproved with tens up or worse.
I'm sure SOME of them were good calls.

However, in the category, "Call or Check/Call after Draw holding Tens up or worse", that 541 times translates into 10 bucks -- which is just under 20% of my entire winnings at 5-Card Draw.

So, these two hands made me feel that I was finally getting the hang of it.

Hand #1
Although the villains in this hand had been raising each other wildly, I have a much more solid image, and if they are re-raising me, it is very likely I'm beat.

Moooooooooooraaawwwr.
PokerStars Limit 5 Card Draw $0.10/$0.20 - 6 players

SB: $2.35 30/19/13/1.6 v/p/3/af 106H
BB: $2.92 60/31/5.7/1.17 48H
UTG: $4.32
UTG+1: $2.33 (Hero)
CO: $0.65
Button: $6.01

Dealing Hands: ($0.15) A♠ A♥ K♥ A♣ Q♣ (6 players)
UTG folds, Hero raises to $0.20, CO calls $0.20, Button folds, SB raises to $0.30, BB calls $0.20, Hero calls $0.10, CO calls $0.10

First Draw: ($1.20) (4 players)
SB discards 1, BB discards 1, Hero discards 1, CO discards 1,
A♠ A♥ A♣ Q♣ || 5♥
SB checks, BB bets $0.20, Hero calls $0.20, CO folds, SB raises to $0.40, BB raises to $0.60, Hero folds, SB raises to $0.80, BB calls $0.20

SB showed 4♠ T♦ T♠ T♥ 4♣, a full house, Tens full of Fours
BB mucked A♦ 6♦ J♦ 5♦ 8♦
SB won $2.90
(Rake: $0.10)

Hand #2
You would think that I would be folding this, since after all, I'm supposed to be very careful about what I call, and what I call with.

This is the same 60/31/5.7/1.17 48H player as in the other hand.
In addition to the stats given, he CBets 85%

Your converted hand, now with more cowbell.
PokerStars Limit 5 Card Draw $0.10/$0.20 - 6 players

UTG+1: $4.57
CO: $1.77
Button: $3.92
SB: $1.63 (Hero)
BB: $0.72
UTG: $5.81

Dealing Hands: ($0.15) 2♣ 2♦ J♣ J♦ 7♦ (6 players)
UTG calls $0.10, UTG+1 folds, CO raises to $0.20, Button folds, Hero calls $0.15, BB folds, UTG calls $0.10

First Draw: ($0.70) (3 players)
Hero discards 1, UTG discards 2, CO discards 2, <--No, I don't believe he has trips
2♣ 2♦ J♣ J♦ || 9♥
Hero checks, UTG checks, CO bets $0.20, Hero calls $0.20, UTG folds

CO showed J♠ A♦ 8♦ A♠ K♠, a pair of Aces
Hero showed 2♣ 2♦ J♣ J♦ 9♥, two pair, Jacks and Deuces
Hero won $1.05
(Rake: $0.05)

Good Night All,
--VS

Hand 1: I'd cap predraw. Or are you playing a strategy of never capping and drawing one to avoid giving away information? Apart from quads, you can't have a better hand that's going to discard one. Postdraw, good fold imo. One of SB and BB has at least a flush every time.

Hand 2: You have to 3bet predraw. You're probably way ahead of the other two, and you might even get UTG to fold. Postdraw, check/call seems reasonable.

I have up to this point, capped only with pat hands, and even then only with J-high straights or better.

Even so, I have lost most of the hands I've capped either pre or post.
At the $0.10/$0.20 level, most people ONLY 3Bet with a pat hand, and 4Bet flushes or better.

There is no question, though, that I need to be more aggressive preflop, as I'm missing a whack of money..

I think I'm correct in fixing my spew leaks before getting more aggressive,

I have a much better game against tight players, too.
I need to work on my game vs the loose aggro types.

Just because most people only 3bet with pat hands, which is a terrible strategy, doesn't mean you can't 3bet wider. My preferred strategy is never to call outside the blinds, but to 3bet if I'm far enough ahead of the original raisers range. Why not put more money in when you're favourite? Hand values are really static in 5CD.

Well, JB, today was a good day for such advice.

Session graph:

Overall graph -- the arrow points to the beginning of today's session:

I will give you all of the credit.
It must be noted, however, that I won $6.00 of this at a single table, due to the presence of two players who seemed bent on giving away their money.

Normally, I would just let somebody else take it, but I kept getting good hands, so I figured, "My Turn!"
I was 3Betting Jacks up and better, and being shown low pairs .

My win% over all was less this session, my vpip & pdr were both lower than normal, and my W$WSD was 65% compared to my usual 45%.

I just hope I can keep myself in check when I am playing normal people again. In fact it was very hard not to loosen up at the end. I managed to play my good hands well, and tossed the rest.

The other $4.00 came from 4 other tables, so it was a good session over all.

The bb/100 for that single 500 hand session was 10.05 -- which is phenomenal for me. It is TRIPLE the next highest winrate for sessions over 200 hands.

I think that this hand started the ball rolling,
I was about to call pre-draw, since it is the absolute worst trips, but I thought, "think ranges, not hands", so I 3Bet

Milked from the teat of a feral cow
PokerStars Limit 5 Card Draw $0.10/$0.20 - 5 players

Button: $1.53
SB: $2.14
BB: $5.94 (Hero)
UTG: $3.29
CO: $1.36

Dealing Hands: ($0.15) 2♦ J♥ 2♠ Q♥ 2♣ (5 players)
UTG folds, CO calls $0.10, Button calls $0.10, SB raises to $0.20, Hero raises to $0.30, CO calls $0.20, Button folds, SB calls $0.10

First Draw: ($1.00) (3 players)
SB discards 1, Hero discards 2, CO discards 2,
I chose to discard two here to make it look like I was keeping a pair and a kicker

2♦ 2♠ 2♣ || 3♥ 8♥
SB checks, Hero checks, CO bets $0.20, SB calls $0.20, Hero calls $0.20
I think check/call is fine here, since after all, it does lose to any trips or better.

SB showed K♣ 6♥ 4♣ K♠ 6♣, two pair, Kings and Sixes
Hero showed 2♦ 3♥ 2♠ 8♥ 2♣, three of a kind, Deuces
CO showed 9♥ 9♣ T♣ T♠ 3♣, two pair, Tens and Nines
Hero won $1.53
(Rake: $0.07)

And from there I could do no wrong.
I had Quads 3 times, 2 boats, 3 Straights, and trips 14 times, ALL OF WHICH HELD UP, and most of which got paid handsomely.

Mental game?
It sure was.

Well done you!

Lol@ CO discarding two and ending up with tens up. I'd just bet/(probably) call there. You're lucky CO was a moron, because you're losing value against SB by checking imo.

My 5-Card draw run-good continues, though not at 10 bb/100, but a mere 2.5 bb/100

It even spilled over to the zimmers, where I actually won one of the Hold'em tournaments. Did I mention I don't like tournaments much?

Whoever said, "Old age and treachery beats youth and skill" knew his stuff.

We had the chimney sweeps out to Vorpal Manor today.
They flew through our flue without much ado.

So we can haz fire in fireplace now.

I'm off to see how my NL 25 skills are doing.

I haven't played much lately.

Edit: Post NL 25 session
I had to keep telling myself to be patient, that good hands would come.
I got some good folds early on by making big river bluffs.
Thanks! Patrick
But then I entered a few pots where I was the one that got coffined, so was 190 hands in and down about $16.00, when I was dealt the hand I was patiently waiting for.

I'm still inching ahead at NL 25, and inching ever closer to my bonus, which at this rate will clear in 18 days.

inch...inch...inch...

Update
I avoided a losing 5-Card Draw session today by a mere $0.11

I knew it was going to be close.
At one point near the middle, I was up over $3.00, but I took a few stunners to the head mid way and was actually down for a while.

When someone draws 3 and gets a boat, well good for them, but it makes my PD re-raise look rather pathetic, and costs me good money.

But I kept telling myself, "Be patient, you've had your turn in the luckbox, you will have another turn soon".

And I did.

The Mental Game of Poker uses an inchworm analogy.

To describe the progress of improving your game.
His point is that the head cannot move forward if the worm is already at full length.

In order for the head (your best game) to move forward you have to improve your game by removing your worst mistakes first, thus moving the tail closer to the head. Then -- and only then -- can your A Game improve.

I think -- at least in 5-Card Draw, I've done a bit of that over the past couple of weeks.

At the back end, I manage to cut back drastically on the number of times I call post-draw when I should fold.

At the head end, I've begun to 3Bet and even cap with my better hands.
Yes, I've been caught out a few times, but as long as I am betting strong hands -- and the occasional bluff for good measure -- I think that I will continue to improve.

Now that I've applied the self-congratulation jinx to my game, I will now go play tonight's NL 25 session.

Have a good weekend, all!

edit:
I played a shortened NL 25 session. Tables kept breaking up and so I just canned it. Up $5.00 over 100 hands.

I really like the Inchworm concept of improvement - work on what you suck at until you suck at it no more and then work on what you suck at until you suck at it no more and then work on what you suck at ...

I'm playing 25nl too. Post a hand or two - I have nothing to contribute to 5cd
It is of course quite possible I have nothing to contribute at 25nl too, but at least I can have a stab. ♠_o:

By the way, not letting go of hands that are clearly beat has always been the last set of legs on my Inchworm too.

Yucky

Everyone seemed to be hitting their draws except for li'l ol' me.

So it goes.

<sigh>

I kept telling myself that with patience the good hands would come.

And they did.

And everyone folded to my raise.

<sigh>

I had to call a few 3Bets after the draw, and sometimes they showed me the goods, and sometimes they didn't. I'll have to check to see what the balance was, but I'm guessing I over did it a bit.

So it goes.

Mentally I am a long way from tilt, but I'm not exactly in the zone either.

I'll do a bunch of household chores before I tackle NL 25.

Recently, as a result of reading Verre's blog I've been playing some NL 2 CAP games on FT. Pretty soft,. but it is like playing with everybody short-stacked; it plays a lot like play money really

No poker for a couple of days, and maybe more.
I had a corneal laceration on the weekend, and can't see very well.

Having both eyes open at once is painful.

Hopefully clears up soon!