Watch me fight some AI baddies in VR Boxing in my latest post

Right now my redline is disastrous but Cole South's "Let There Be Range" says, 'Don't fix what ain't broken'. I always thought I was decent at thin value betting, and I do apply a lot of pressure at times, to the point where I am spazzy. Not sure what else I need to do besides picking better spots.

Anyway some guys at Pokerstars NL200 are giving me quite some problems. I'm hoping any FR reg at Stars can share some thoughts on them.

El Greco XIX

17/13/8.3/10/16 VPIP/PFR/3bet/Sqz/Resteal

This guy is one of the most annoying !#$% I have ever met. I remember one of the first hands I got owned. I 4bet AQ and called it off against his A6o. From then onwards, I started hating him. Anyway PTR says my greatest loss is against him. Added to the fact that I see him EVERY SINGLE DAY at Stars and he is sitting behind me 70% of the time (no idea why) makes me feel extremely miserable.

Anyway the history between us is such that he probably stopped light 5-bet shoving over me (haven't seen it in a long time) cause I made crazy call downs last time like 77 vs his AQ on QQXXK. Though there was one hand he 4betshoved UTG vs MP1 with 66 and I called with AK last week. I used to think he was crazy postflop as well (doesn't seem to be the case). He seemed to have taken more induce-lines against me and I am always wary/cautious these days.

1) Hand converted with online PokerStrategy.com hand converter:

Play hand

$2/$4 No-Limit Hold'em (7 handed)

Known players:
[tg]MP1$414.00:///////;MP2$494.00:///////;MP3$525.90:///////;CO (Hero)$663.60:///////;BU$235.50:///////;SB$246.00:///////;BB$591.00:///////;[/tg]

Preflop: Hero is CO with Q:d, K:c.
3 folds, Hero raises to $12.00, 3 folds.

Flop: ($18) J:d, 7:c, 6:s (1 players)
Hero bets $20.00, Hero gets uncalled bet back.

Turn: ($38) 9:c (1 players)
Hero bets $52.00, Hero gets uncalled bet back.

River: ($90) 2:d (1 players)
Hero bets $144.00, Hero gets uncalled bet back.

Final Pot: $90.

Well I picked up a gutshot on the turn and after realising that we should barrel any turn with any added equity, regardless of how small to put the coldcaller in a tough spot with his bluffcatching hands (2nd or 3rd pair), I chose to barrel. With his flat call, I put him specifically on QJ-AJ. With such a draw heavy turn card, any set would have raised for sure so I barrelled the river. Maybe I should have lowered it to 100 or 120?

2) Hand converted with online PokerStrategy.com hand converter:

Play hand

$2/$4 No-Limit Hold'em (7 handed)

Known players:
[tg]MP2$426.00:///////;MP3$507.00:///////;CO (Hero)$451.60:///////;BU$209.50:///////;SB$402.00:///////;BB$227.00:///////;MP1$579.00:///////;[/tg]

Preflop: Hero is CO with Q:d, K:d.
3 folds, Hero raises to $12.00, BU calls $12.00, 2 folds, Hero calls $36.00, BU folds.

Flop: ($66) 5:c, 4:d, 8:h (1 players)
Hero checks, Hero raises to $185.00, Hero calls $218.60, Hero gets uncalled bet back.

Turn: ($469.6) J:c (1 players)
gets uncalled bet back.

River: ($469.6) K:c (1 players)
gets uncalled bet back.

Final Pot: $251.

He is so full of shit, and he squeezes me like 30-50% of the time here in this spot with some random garbage so I took a stand. Rarely use this line except with JTs and maybe KQs cause they are pretty hands (can flop straight/flush/overs). Felt a little sad after that cause my profit for that session went from +500 to -50. I really think I played this fine but anyone has any comments? I mean I could have 4bet bluffed (with my K and Q blockers he probably has 30% less hands he could 5bet me with but not too sure if he would still light 5bet me)

Sometimes articles on tilt management go on and talk about how we should try not to hate on someone, it's just a game and I can always leave the table and look for a new one. I have the bad habit of standing up at the table and purposely sitting behind an aggro maniac, after that giving him a taste of his own medicine by 3-betting the shit out of him.

I think that's not the case here. This guy is here to stay and cause me problems. So I think it's better to start the hating so that I get added motivation to improve and crush him next time!!!

Anyway I'm trying to formulate a new strategy to counter him. At the moment I'm playing nitty against him, just folding and letting him have his way, maybe tighten up a little, sometimes doing the occasional 4bet bluff. Wondering if I should change to the 99+/AK mode and start shoving these stuff vs him.

Edit: The handconverter doesn't work with 2/4 hands for some reason, anyway he had AJ in first hand and AA in the 2nd.

Hand converted with online PokerStrategy.com hand converter:

Play hand

$1/$2 No-Limit Hold'em (7 handed)

Known players:
[tg]MP2$303.10:///////;MP3$426.00:///////;CO$203.00:///////;BU$410.00:///////;SB$100.00:///////;BB (Hero)$200.00:///////;MP1$200.00:///////;[/tg]

Preflop: Hero is BB with Q:c, K:s.
3 folds, CO raises to $6.00, 2 folds, Hero raises to $20.00, CO calls $14.00.

Flop: ($41) Q:h, 2:c, 5:h (2 players)
Hero bets $20.00, CO raises to $65.00, Hero raises to $180.00, CO calls $115.00.

Turn: ($401) 3:d (2 players)

River: ($401) J:c (2 players)

Final Pot: $401.
Results follow:

Hero shows a pair of queens(Q:c K:s).
CO shows a pair of queens(Q:s A:d).

CO wins with a pair of queens(Q:s A:d).

15/12/37 VPIP/PFR/ATS
48/2.6 foldto3bet/AF

Ok here's a typical spot where the King gets stacked by the Ace kicker. If I flopped the King pair instead of the Queen pair, I would be way happier cause I would have TPTK instead of TP2K, with the assumption that AK will 4bet me (haven't seen any NL200 regs flat AK too often)

What's a typical defending range from villian? I think he has AJ+ very often, 77-TT, KQ, sometimes KJ (mostly KJs), QJs, some suited connectors. He rarely has AXs.

On this board, I only beat flushdraws and QJ is more likely to flat, trying to get two streets and fold river. So maybe stacking off is standard.

What if the board is rainbow? If the raise was some lame minraise I'm definitely shipping over. But this was a standard 3X raise size and assuming villian doesn't bluff raise in this spot, I'm rarely good here. Of course villian is almost never having 22/55/QQ but he might have slow played AA/KK or more often than not he has AQ.

Nice start to the blog. Cool that you're from Singapore, not been there in a while although i used to as my mum is originally from there and i have loads of family there.

I don't play full ring but my advice would be don't take things too personally. Sure it gets frustrating when the same guy always raises you and calls you down when you have nothing and then folds when you have it but try to analyse things objectively. It's definately something i need to work on i get so frustrated that i can play a nitty style and still get absolutely no credit when i decide to bluff once every gazzilion hands.

I think the KQ in the 3bet pot is pretty standard considering that you 3 bet it for what i assume is value. Although i would say AQ makes up a decent part of a standard reg's range. In a SH game i would only 3bet KQ if the guy doesn't fold to 3 bets.

The triple barrel with KQ, i agree with your reasoning that the best hand he has is AJ but the question is even though you know what he has will he fold it? I think only you can answer that if your play is balanced there and given your past history. You said he takes more induce lines against you so i guess with AJ he is never folding the river on a blank. I would probably start to tighten up against him and showing up with the goods more often as it seems he views you as over aggro.

I had a hand yesterday where i triple barreled a fairly drawy A10xxx board and the guy couldn't fold his AJ even though i knew that was the best ace he could have (due to his high 3bet%) and i thought i could get credit for AQ, AK or better since i play 18/15 SH. It should have worked against most regs imo but i failed to notice he is a bit of a station.

yea now that i think abt it i shouldnt be 3betting if im not willing to stack off

where are u from anyway and what limits/site do you play at?

Hey mbml,

I'm a FR player and hoping to get to the level your at over the next months/years

GL at the tables and keep the hands coming

peche

Some more hands after a 2 hour session

1) Hand converted with online PokerStrategy.com hand converter:

Play hand

$1/$2 No-Limit Hold'em (2 handed)

Known players:
[tg]SB$201.80:///////;BB (Hero)$201.00:///////;[/tg]

Preflop: Hero is BB with T:c, 2:c.
Hero raises to $6.00, SB calls $4.00.

Flop: ($12) J:c, 2:s, Q:c (2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $8.00, SB calls $8.00.

Turn: ($28) A:s (2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $20.00, SB calls $20.00.

River: ($68) 6:c (2 players)
SB bets $32.00, Hero raises to $155.00, SB raises to $167.80, Hero calls $12.00.

Final Pot: $402.8.

Results follow:

Hero shows a flush, queen high(Tc 2c).
SB shows a flush, ace high(3c Ac).

SB wins with a flush, ace high(3c Ac).

This isn't headsup but on a Fullring Table. I think everyone left the table and suddenly this donk joined. He always limps a lot and has 71/29 stats, probably defends 50% of his range.

Without any reads (10 hands only but I knew he was a donk from the limps), I definitely have to raise for value. But when I lost the hand, I was wondering how thin my value is. He probably has a flush here 75% of the time? typical donk river when hit - line. Not sure how often he is defending random suited low cards, and he more often has the King or Ace flush.

2) Hand converted with online PokerStrategy.com hand converter:

Play hand

$1/$2 No-Limit Hold'em (8 handed)

Known players:
[tg]MP3$188.85:///////;CO$244.00:///////;BU$255.10:///////;SB (Hero)$228.25:///////;BB$201.90:///////;UTG2$200.00:///////;MP1$269.20:///////;MP2$230.25:///////;[/tg]

Preflop: Hero is SB with J:s, J:c.
3 folds, MP3 calls $2.00, CO folds, BU raises to $10.00, Hero raises to $26.00, 2 folds, BU calls $16.00.

Flop: ($56) 2:s, T:h, 4:d (2 players)
Hero bets $26.00, BU calls $26.00.

Turn: ($108) K:h (2 players)
Hero bets $60.00, BU calls $60.00.

River: ($228) 4:c (2 players)
Hero checks, BU bets $143.10(All-In), Hero calls $116.25.

Final Pot: $487.35.
Results follow:

Hero shows two pairs, jacks and fours(J:s J:c).
BU shows two pairs, kings and fours(A:s K:s).

BU wins with two pairs, kings and fours(A:s K:s).

Here's a hand that I would have easily folded if I had more time to think. The constant beeping of the multiple tables usually tend to make me make hasty decisions. There are no busted draws and all worse hands like TX and smaller pocketpairs are most likely not going to turn their hand into a bluff. If he really had air he would have folded on the turn because I could easily have AK.

3) Hand converted with online PokerStrategy.com hand converter:

Play hand

$2/$4 No-Limit Hold'em (8 handed)

Known players:
[tg]MP2$400.00:///////;MP3$422.40:///////;CO$453.00:///////;BU (Hero)$439.10:///////;SB$402.00:///////;BB$400.00:///////;UTG2$481.70:///////;MP1$180.00:///////;[/tg]

Preflop: Hero is BU with K:c, K:d.
UTG2 raises to $12.00, 4 folds, Hero calls $12.00, SB folds, BB calls $8.00.

Flop: ($38) 8:h, 7:c, 4:d (3 players)
BB checks, UTG2 checks, Hero bets $28.00, BB calls $28.00, UTG2 calls $28.00.

Turn: ($122) Q:d (3 players)
BB checks, UTG2 checks, Hero bets $88.00, BB folds, UTG2 calls $88.00.

River: ($298) J:d (2 players)
UTG2 checks, Hero bets $148.00, UTG2 raises to $353.70(All-In), Hero folds, UTG2 gets uncalled bet back.

Final Pot: $446.

Hate my value bet here as it's too thin. QQ and JJ both make the set and I get value from nothing else. TT would probably have folded on the turn. Don't really have too much info on villian but probably a regular.

4) Hand converted with online PokerStrategy.com hand converter:

Play hand

$2/$4 No-Limit Hold'em (9 handed)

Known players:
[tg]MP2$569.00:///////;MP3$645.20:///////;CO$403.10:///////;BU$196.45:///////;SB$185.50:///////;BB (Hero)$493.00:///////;UTG1$400.00:///////;UTG2$400.00:///////;MP1$400.00:///////;[/tg]

Preflop: Hero is BB with A:c, T:c.
2 folds, MP1 raises to $12.00, MP2 folds, MP3 calls $12.00, 2 folds, SB calls $10.00, Hero calls $8.00.

Flop: ($48) 2:s, K:h, Q:h (4 players)
SB checks, Hero checks, MP1 checks, MP3 bets $32.00, SB folds, Hero raises to $92.00, MP1 folds, MP3 calls $60.00.

Turn: ($232) 3:s (2 players)
Hero checks, MP3 checks.

River: ($232) J:d (2 players)
Hero bets $389.00(All-In), MP3 folds, Hero gets uncalled bet back.

Final Pot: $232.

Here's a funny hand. Opponent was petteytheft, one of my friends from warcraft, used to play Worldcup of Warcraft/Enfos with him a little. He also was the one who stressed the cheesiness and unprofitability of SSS so I think he played a big part in me learning BSS. Don't mind not making another 150-200$ off him haha.

I thought he might be stealing in position, though he is kind of a nit 13/10, plays up to NL1000 24 tabling FR. So I went for a checkraise. I usually donk everything and seldom checkraise since checkraising in multiway looks damn strong to me (and I think others view it that way too). He calls and I was thinking "OMG i just burnt 100$". So I lucked out on the river and did a snap overbet jam, trying to act spazzy. But he thought for a while and folded. Quite sure he had some top pair hand that could call a halfpot bet.

hey peche, good luck at the tables

I recommend trying to play laggier at NL50 and 100 (not too loose at NL5 and 10) cause everyone is a foolish nit and you can just run them over.

I have this friend who plays like VPIP 8 and I have a hard time convincing him to loosen up and cbet more (he stopped cbetting after he got bluff raised a few times)

Vs Chumper99
This guy was a 60/15 donk and made me want to laugh. Right after I owned him in the first hand, he called me a bullphag. Then I bluffed him in the second hand and then he called me a phony after I said in chat that I bluffed both times.

1) Hand converted with online PokerStrategy.com hand converter:

Play hand

$1/$2 No-Limit Hold'em (9 handed)

Known players:
[tg]UTG1$200.00:///////;UTG2$212.55:///////;MP1$200.00:///////;MP2$200.00:///////;MP3$224.35:///////;CO$448.55:///////;BU (Hero)$200.00:///////;SB$201.25:///////;BB$641.90:///////;[/tg]

Preflop: Hero is BU with 3:c, K:c.
6 folds, Hero raises to $4.00, SB calls $3.00, BB folds.

Flop: ($10) 2:s, 2:h, T:s (2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $6.00, SB calls $6.00.

Turn: ($22) 4:h (2 players)
SB bets $6.00, Hero raises to $26.00, SB calls $20.00.

River: ($74) K:s (2 players)
SB bets $8.00, Hero raises to $75.00, SB folds, Hero gets uncalled bet back.

Final Pot: $82.

Let's treat this as a bluff cause I really didn't notice I had the King, if not I would have bet smaller. I was thinking about the DearFoxwoodsFiend video that I was watching earlier (Ep 3). He said that he guarantees that raising such small bets from donks (firing 3 streets huge if he continues) will force them to fold 95% of the time so I was eager to try that out, and completely forget about my rivered top pair.

2) Hand converted with online PokerStrategy.com hand converter:

Play hand

$1/$2 No-Limit Hold'em (9 handed)

Known players:
[tg]BB$200.00:///////;UTG1$212.55:///////;UTG2$200.00:///////;MP1$200.00:///////;MP2$224.35:///////;MP3$448.55:///////;CO (Hero)$243.00:///////;BU$157.25:///////;SB$639.90:///////;[/tg]

Preflop: Hero is CO with K:d, A:s.
5 folds, Hero raises to $6.00, BU calls $6.00, 2 folds.

Flop: ($15) J:c, 3:c, Q:s (2 players)
Hero bets $10.00, BU calls $10.00.

Turn: ($35) 8:c (2 players)
Hero checks, BU bets $10.00, Hero calls $10.00.

River: ($55) Q:c (2 players)
Hero bets $35.00, BU folds, Hero gets uncalled bet back.

Final Pot: $55.

Betting with my 2overs+gutshot is standard. On the turn, I decided to call with my 10 outs, I think he very easily has a Queen or Jack pair. On the river, it's a typical nice spot to bluff and without history, villian is almost guaranteed to fold without a flush. This works damn well even against fish. Best thing is that you only need to bet half pot to rep a flush trying to extract value from something worse (this halfpot bet can rep Tc-Ac in my opinion)

Villian tanked a while (obviously he had trips) and folded. He went on with his insults, then 1 or 2 more orbits later and the donk busted, not before cursing the guy who stacked him.

hey there fellow singaporean, nice to see you do so well. keep it up! if you dont mind we can meet up have coffee and talk about poker hahaha cheers!

definitly reading this blog. Which organization/team where you part off during your WC3 ??

I always say MeetYourrrrrMakers fishes during my sessions

cheers

@supeyrio

we could find some live games at pokerkaki and play ♦

@Gerv

I wasn't playing at the international level so I didn't have a clan, only played some WCG/ESWC once as the Singapore rep and got owned

Was writing for MYM last year though. Stopped after I lost interest in Warcraft, waiting for SC2 ♠

Anyway I played some rush poker again after reading about how easy it was. There's the 50$ bonus that I have until 24 Mar to clear, I think it's peanut money compared to my Stars games but still, nice way to play stress-free. I could probably play this a lot at night, when everyone is at home making a lot of noise and I can play while watching TV. Another good thing is that I don't need like 20 buyins to 16-table FR. And every table has so many fishes.

First Impressions
Everytime I see a limper, I just mark him as Green and assume all the loose/passive tendencies. So many people just limp/fold the Small blind and I just abuse them. And also I now light 3bet for a different reason. Usually people light3bet more so that they get paid off with their strong hands. Now I'm just doing it cause people from LP have such wide ranges and have to fold almost always, they have to make some blanket assumption that people only 3bet the nuts. And I 3bet any two against someone who seems like a TAG (fullstack or more) in BvB.

Another thing I learnt the hard way is to not 3-bet AQ. Some idiot flat from the BU with AK and I lost 7$. Of course others could very easily have AJ/AT but I wish to play it safe.

So I ran hot at NL10 SH and doubled my roll from 35$ to 80$ (cleared $5 bonus in the process) in 1.5 hours. Laughed at my mother for earning her entire bankroll in 1.5 hours while she spends hundreds of hours trying to rise from the ashes (went bust two or three times, gave her about 100+ I think ♦, she managed to resurrect herself from 5->50). If I'm free I'll rush it up for her account and unlock all the bonus as well once I'm done with mine.

Still trying to coach her, hope she can become NL100 SH crusher by end of this year and make 1000$ a month. She is improving but things don't look too optimistic as it is very hard to come down on her fishy tendencies like limping all the J5s hands. And sometimes when I do a complicated explanation on what to do, she just gives me a blank stare. She likes to ask me questions like "should i call his 3bet with AQ" and I can't really give a definite answer. PT3 lags hard on the lousy laptop, with some numbers I'm sure I can give a better answer but no HUD is available so my answer is fold everything, 4bet JJ+/AK

great to see u are blogging now as well!

i will def. follow this blog and comment on some hands. however, not next week cuz im on boarding/party week with some crazy players

gl @ the tables

@TwiceT

yeah pls help me review hands, I think I'll rather post them here then email u

Today I played 4 tables of NL400 SH. The table conditions were good in the morning (8PM US Time) but everyone became a reg after a while. Initially I wanted to play FR but saw the same old guys and thought SH would be more profitable during the weekend so I'm going to play SH exclusively on SAT/SUN from now on.

But anyway sadly I spewed off about 500$, maybe even more with my questionable shove. Ended the session down 1500$, 500 below EV, could have actually made a profit if I quit earlier and didn't spew in the beginning

1) Spew hand - Villian is a fish who raised, should have known he is never folding TPGK. Anyway, standard way is to play for implied odds and try to hit flush/twopair/trips and stack him. I guess I was in a gambling mood, need to stop this nonsense. "aha! he's weak let me move him off"

Hand converted with online PokerStrategy.com hand converter:

Play hand

$2/$4 No-Limit Hold'em (8 handed)

Known players:
[tg]BU (Hero)$431.55:///////;SB$192.00:///////;BB$400.00:///////;UTG2$321.95:///////;MP1$722.40:///////;MP2$404.00:///////;MP3$483.00:///////;CO$400.00:///////;[/tg]

Preflop: Hero is BU with 2:d, A:d.
UTG2 raises to $12.00, 4 folds, Hero calls $12.00, 2 folds.

Flop: ($30) Q:d, J:d, 2:h (2 players)
UTG2 bets $14.00, Hero calls $14.00.

Turn: ($58) 8:h (2 players)
UTG2 bets $34.00, Hero calls $34.00.

River: ($126) 6:s (2 players)
UTG2 checks, Hero bets $371.55(All-In), UTG2 calls $261.95(All-In).

Final Pot: $759.5.

Results follow:

Hero shows a pair of twos(2d Ad).
UTG2 shows a pair of queens(Qc Kc).

Hero wins with a pair of twos(2d Ad).
UTG2 wins with a pair of queens(Qc Kc).

2) Villian is 32/16, he's a fish on 3-4 tables. He bluff barrelled me on the turn and river when I checkbehind with A6 on T675T. However, he had a gutshot at that time and I showed weakness. His AF is 1.0, I talked myself into calling this down because he seemed to be floating me a bit (but never got to see his cards). Called my cbets and then bet the turn for a few times previous hands. Foldtocbet = 19%

Hand converted with online PokerStrategy.com hand converter:

Play hand

$2/$4 No-Limit Hold'em (5 handed)

Known players:
[tg]BU$751.10:///////;SB$402.00:///////;BB$404.00:///////;MP3$418.60:///////;CO (Hero)$412.80:///////;[/tg]

Preflop: Hero is CO with 7:h, A:h.
MP3 folds, Hero raises to $12.00, BU calls $12.00, 2 folds.

Flop: ($30) 6:s, 5:c, 6:h (2 players)
Hero bets $20.00, BU calls $20.00.

Turn: ($70) 5:s (2 players)
Hero checks, BU bets $48.00, Hero calls $48.00.

River: ($166) 8:h (2 players)
Hero checks, BU bets $114.00, Hero calls $114.00.

Final Pot: $394.

Results follow:

Hero shows two pairs, sixs and fives(7h Ah).
BU shows two pairs, jacks and sixs(Jc Jh).

BU wins with two pairs, jacks and sixs(Jc Jh).

3) Villian is a nitty kind of guy, small sample size seems to be 11/8 over 151 hands but I really doubt he is that tight, probably VPIP 18 would be my guess since I saw him 5betshove TT in BB vs BU.

Trying to up my aggression overall by betting the turn I guess. After he check/called me I put him on AK/KQ and tried to move him off. I have kind of an aggro image at that particular table, maybe 30 VPIP. If I had a nittier image I could probably pull this off. He should be expecting me to checkback all marginal hands, there are no draws and I am repping AK/set. But quite stupid of me to try move him off since he took his pot control line on purpose, maybe to trap me but more likely so that he could just showdown his AK and get 2 streets.

Hand converted with online PokerStrategy.com hand converter:

Play hand

$2/$4 No-Limit Hold'em (6 handed)

Known players:
[tg]BB$299.20:///////;MP2$474.90:///////;MP3$66.00:///////;CO$414.00:///////;BU (Hero)$400.00:///////;SB$630.50:///////;[/tg]

Preflop: Hero is BU with A:c, 6:c.
2 folds, CO raises to $12.00, Hero calls $12.00, 2 folds.

Flop: ($30) 6:d, K:s, 3:c (2 players)
CO bets $20.00, Hero calls $20.00.

Turn: ($70) 4:c (2 players)
CO checks, Hero bets $44.00, CO calls $44.00.

River: ($158) 9:d (2 players)
CO checks, Hero bets $111.00, CO calls $111.00.

Final Pot: $380.

Results follow:

CO shows a pair of kings(Kh Ah).
Hero shows a pair of sixs(Ac 6c).

CO wins with a pair of kings(Kh Ah).

4) Villian is K_Man2307, a Pokerstars Pro with 23/17/7.2 stats. He is probably a mass grinder with 1BB/100 at NL400. Since we were 150BB deep, I presumed he would be less reluctant to shove hands like QQ-TT. Anyway I had 22/17 image on this table, but he was on my other tables as well and I have high VPIP on some of them, overall my image should be maybe 28/24/8 I'm not too sure about that.

He check/calls, on the turn he tanks for a while and check/call. Now people always say it is a typical tell that they are slowplaying a monster but how would I know what he has in this case? He could easily have TT or A9s in this spot with a hard decision. Anyway I intentionally chose this betsizing with the intention of blowing him off on the river, repping AA/KK since I expect these hands to 4bet all the time. Then again, he might know that I chose this betsize on purpose to have fold equity on the river, who knows? On the river he thinks for a while and checks. I hit the King and just pretend to think a while and blast it but now that I think about it, nothing is ever calling me in this spot. I thought I was trying to level him into thinking I was repping AK and get him to call all his weaker pairs. But given the stacksizes and all his drama slowrolling, I think I should have taken the free showdown.

Hand converted with online PokerStrategy.com hand converter:

Play hand

$2/$4 No-Limit Hold'em (6 handed)

Known players:
[tg]BB$409.10:///////;MP2$400.00:///////;MP3$1219.25:///////;CO (Hero)$573.50:///////;BU$586.40:///////;SB$402.00:///////;[/tg]

Preflop: Hero is CO with A:c, K:h.
MP2 folds, MP3 raises to $14.00, Hero raises to $52.00, 3 folds, MP3 calls $38.00.

Flop: ($110) 3:c, 9:h, 4:d (2 players)
MP3 checks, Hero bets $66.00, MP3 calls $66.00.

Turn: ($242) J:s (2 players)
MP3 checks, Hero bets $88.00, MP3 calls $88.00.

River: ($418) K:d (2 players)
MP3 checks, Hero bets $367.50(All-In), MP3 calls $367.50.

Final Pot: $1153.

Results follow:

Hero shows a pair of kings(Ac Kh).
MP3 shows three of a kind, jacks(Jh Jc).

MP3 wins with three of a kind, jacks(Jh Jc).

Anyway I'm getting very used to losing such large sums of money which is good. But still 15 stacks of NL100 sometimes I'm just flinging my money around. I'm acting richer than I truly am, don't even have 40 stacks for NL400 now after this loss.

haha galvin, dont think we're playing the same limits of livepoker! im still a

hey galvin! great to find out theres some1 doing so well from singapore. where would you be studying? hope to meet up with you soon to learn from you!

@cutegoldfish

just finished NS and I didn't apply for any universities then, so I'm applying to NTU/NUS/SMU in order of preference

Anyway I haven't been playing much, playing Mass Effect 1 after I finished Mass Effect 2. Controls are a bit annoying and the battle system sucks compared to Mass Effect 2. I was also supposed to go on a gambling cruise with my friend (12 hours) but he came late and we were not allowed to buy the tickets. We wanted to go to the Singapore Integrated Resort's Casinos at Sentosa but I wasn't 21 yet and anyway Singapore's casinos suck. The government place a 100$ entry levy fee (or $2000 per year) for locals to curb addicts from burning their money there and prevent any possible social problems. So I'm not going there for sure.

I played a 1 hour session on Monday and lost $1000, was very irritated and disappointed so I stopped pretty fast. Almost all my losses were on NL200 and many of them could not have been avoided.

Something similar happened today but I managed to end my 2 hour session with a 250$ profit due to some fishes' kind donations. I was up 400 in the beginning cause some fish gave me his money, then I lost AA on an ugly board in a 3bet pot. After that my luck turned downhill and I got setted over setted twice and was down by about 500 at one point in time. Then I came back with a flush over set and a flush over a nit's TPTK ($400 yum)

Let's post some hands:

1) Hand converted with online PokerStrategy.com hand converter:

Play hand

$1/$2 No-Limit Hold'em (9 handed)

Known players:
[tg]SB (Hero)$201.00:///////;BB$200.00:///////;UTG1$208.65:///////;UTG2$200.00:///////;MP1$198.00:///////;MP2$270.00:///////;MP3$128.00:///////;CO$200.00:///////;BU$203.00:///////;[/tg]

Preflop: Hero is SB with A:d, A:s.
2 folds, MP1 raises to $6.00, MP2 folds, MP3 calls $6.00, CO folds, BU calls $6.00, Hero raises to $28.00, 2 folds, MP3 calls $22.00, BU folds.

Flop: ($70) Q:c, K:c, J:h (2 players)
Hero bets $40.00, MP3 calls $40.00.

Turn: ($150) 3:s (2 players)
Hero bets $60.00, MP3 calls $60.00(All-In).

River: ($270) 2:s (2 players)

Final Pot: $270.

Results follow:

Hero shows a pair of aces(Ad As).
MP3 shows two pairs, kings and jacks(Jd Kd).

MP3 wins with two pairs, kings and jacks(Jd Kd).

The type of board where I would check/call down 100BB deep to induce bluffs from suited connectors and lower pairs. I expect this fishy player to have broadways very often and this board smashes his range. Not sure how to play with 60BB stacks

2) Hand converted with online PokerStrategy.com hand converter:

Play hand

$1/$2 No-Limit Hold'em (9 handed)

Known players:
[tg]UTG1$217.15:///////;UTG2$200.00:///////;MP1$230.15:///////;MP2$201.40:///////;MP3 (Hero)$440.30:///////;CO$200.00:///////;BU$226.00:///////;SB$231.05:///////;BB$113.65:///////;[/tg]

Preflop: Hero is MP3 with Q:h, A:s.
4 folds, Hero raises to $6.00, CO folds, BU calls $6.00, 2 folds.

Flop: ($15) Q:d, 2:d, 3:h (2 players)
Hero bets $10.00, BU raises to $28.00, Hero calls $18.00.

Turn: ($71) Q:s (2 players)
Hero checks, BU bets $32.00, Hero calls $32.00.

River: ($135) K:s (2 players)
Hero checks, BU bets $52.00, Hero calls $52.00.

Final Pot: $239.

Results follow:

Hero shows three of a kind, queens(Qh As).
BU shows a full-house, queens full of twos(Qc 2h).

BU wins with a full-house, queens full of twos(Qc 2h).

Villian was 14/8, AF=1.9. When he raised me on that flop, I was putting him on a set but couldn't be so sure. He might have raised me with AQ as well. The turn helped my hand, but not against his range. At least I had outs to make a fullhouse now. On the river, I was seriously contemplating a check/shove line as I could well easily rep KQ. His line looked as though he had a weaker fullhouse but anyway I chose not to because NL200 players can't fold their fullhouses, including myself. Though I almost managed to fold once but stupidly opted to call instead.

3) No-Limit Hold'em, $2.00 BB (8 handed) - Hold'em Manager Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

UTG ($200)
UTG+1 ($200)
MP1 ($202.25)
MP2 ($262.95)
Hero (CO) ($200)
Button ($215.35)
SB ($259.15)
BB ($196.10)

Preflop: Hero is CO with K, Q
3 folds, MP2 bets $5.10, Hero calls $5.10, 3 folds

Flop: ($13.20) 8, Q, Q (2 players)
MP2 bets $10, Hero calls $10

Turn: ($33.20) A (2 players)
MP2 bets $26, Hero calls $26

River: ($85.20) K (2 players)
MP2 checks, Hero bets $60, MP2 raises $221.85 (All-In), Hero calls $98.90 (All-In)

Total pot: $403

Results:
MP2 had A, A (full house, Aces over Queens).
Hero had K, Q (full house, Queens over Kings).
Outcome: MP2 won $462.95

When I called flop and turn, villian knows I probably have 88 or QJ/KQ/AQ. When I bet the river, it is very often I have a fullhouse myself and villian's play was perfect with his check/shove. Anyway during the hand I thought to myself omg AQ or AA but I called anyway to see. It was a pretty obvious fold since he is obviously never bluffing (who would in such a spot?) and he is repping the nuts. My hand was rather face up as KQ,

Anyway from now on I'm going to decide on bet/folding before actually clicking so I can find a fold more easily rather then look at his move then decide cause I usually end up convincing myself otherwise.

The next part will be my villian analysis on opponents who tend to give me a lot of problems during my game. Now the villian in question is Thecurv. He is a decent reg, maybe not that strong postflop or maybe it's just that his range is ultra weak. He plays a slightly looser style than me, we are similar in early position but he plays 99% of BU and 97% of SB. That's even looser than headsup and he is really exploiting the weaknesses of the others.

His style is quite effective against the average NL200 nit regular who doesn't even bother to fight back, but obviously I'm the kind of guy who hates being pushed around so I fight back a lot. Lots of 3betting over his minraises from BU/SB and he has been bluff 4betting me quite a bit as well. I have been experimenting a bit with flatting with any two from the BB (since he is giving me such great odds) and then I like to float or bluffraise a lot. Sometimes I bluff check/raise OOP as well and if I'm not wrong he is cutting down on his steals which was my aim in the first place.

Anyway I got the better of him with some nice bluffs. I floated the river instead the turn quite a few times and managed to nicely rep a marginal made hand which is good enough vs his air.

1) Hand converted with online PokerStrategy.com hand converter:

Play hand

$1/$2 No-Limit Hold'em (7 handed)

Known players:
[tg]MP2 (Hero)$240.00:///////;MP3$258.00:///////;CO$94.65:///////;BU$401.00:///////;SB$218.05:///////;BB$210.00:///////;MP1$200.00:///////;[/tg]

Preflop: Hero is MP2 with 8:h, 8:s.
MP1 folds, Hero raises to $6.00, 3 folds, SB calls $5.00, BB folds.

Flop: ($14) 4:c, 6:s, 3:d (2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $9.00, SB raises to $32.00, Hero calls $23.00.

Turn: ($78) 5:c (2 players)
SB bets $56.00, Hero raises to $202.00(All-In), SB folds, Hero gets uncalled bet back.

Final Pot: $134.

In this hand I expected a bluff checkraise rather often. I shoved the turn to prevent putting myself into a tough spot on the river. I think most of his range is air (he will fire the turn to rep straight/set) but I'm not sure if I could ever get him to lay down a set with my shove (I'm probably repping a straight more than him). Anyway vs a set I have 4 gutshot outs and 2 set outs so it's almost 10%, can't be that bad. I doubt he has enough balls to bluffshove the river but many of his overcards have outs against my vulnerable 88.

2) Hand converted with online PokerStrategy.com hand converter:

Play hand

$1/$2 No-Limit Hold'em (5 handed)

Known players:
[tg]SB$231.40:///////;BB$103.00:///////;MP3$438.90:///////;CO$203.00:///////;BU (Hero)$238.00:///////;[/tg]

Preflop: Hero is BU with J:d, Q:h.
MP3 folds, CO calls $5.00, Hero calls $5.00, 2 folds.

Flop: ($13) T:h, 8:s, A:d (2 players)
CO checks, Hero bets $12.00, CO calls $12.00.

Turn: ($37) J:c (2 players)
CO checks, Hero checks.

River: ($37) 9:h (2 players)
CO bets $20.00, Hero calls $20.00.

Final Pot: $77.

Results follow:

Hero shows a straight, queen high(Jd Qh).
CO shows three of a kind, aces(Ah Ac).

Hero wins with a straight, queen high(Jd Qh).

Bad play on my part. If I had more time to think I would probably have considered AA to be in his range and raised the river. I was afraid of KQ, but obvious handreading tells me that KQ would not have checked the flop but would have made a semibluff instead, thus I either own slowplayed AA or tie with a queen. I think there's a slight chance he might call me since I was always getting the better of him this session and he could not see my hands which might frustrate him a little and he might get paranoid that I am getting out of line.

3) Hand converted with online PokerStrategy.com hand converter:

Play hand

$1/$2 No-Limit Hold'em (9 handed)

Known players:
[tg]BU (Hero)$200.00:///////;SB$259.00:///////;BB$97.65:///////;UTG1$206.00:///////;UTG2$423.00:///////;MP1$164.35:///////;MP2$200.00:///////;MP3$210.00:///////;CO$197.00:///////;[/tg]

Preflop: Hero is BU with A:d, 8:d.
3 folds, MP2 raises to $6.00, 2 folds, Hero calls $6.00, 2 folds.

Flop: ($15) 8:h, 6:c, T:h (2 players)
MP2 bets $10.00, Hero calls $10.00.

Turn: ($35) 7:h (2 players)
MP2 checks, Hero bets $24.00, MP2 calls $24.00.

River: ($83) K:h (2 players)
MP2 checks, Hero bets $48.00, MP2 folds, Hero gets uncalled bet back.

Final Pot: $83.

On the turn he probably has a weak T and I am behind so I turned my hand into a bluff. The bet sizing was pretty good IMO because I can rep J of hearts and better.

I'm still contemplating a move to Fulltilt poker, not sure whether the inferior software is worth the easier opponents. Pokerstars has a lot of fish, but all of them are stuck at the standard tables instead of the 50bb min tables. I can't play on those thanks to the shortstackers. And if the minbuyin policy change, it would mean that all the fish are forced to buyin for 20BB and buy in larger instead so every table will be filled with more fish except the higher stakes like 5/10. Pls comment if you play on both. I played on NL100 FR fulltilt before the 35bb min policy change and I think it was easier there (but I was on a heater)

hm just realised that in the KQ vs AA hand, I had amazing odds 40bb call for 240bb pot. Still, maybe I should have bet/folded smaller on the river?

Today was a great session and I made $2000 playing 24 tables at NL200/400 FR Pokerstars. I started off strongly, then dipped down after losing AK vs KK ($400) but I sucked out with AK vs KK again, bringing me back into the black. After that the cute fishes (with their baby avatars) came along and donated tonnes of money to me. I think it's St. Patrick's Day which explains the astronomical amount of fishes around. How big is it in Europe/US???

1) Hand converted with online PokerStrategy.com hand converter:

Play hand

$0/$2 No-Limit Hold'em (7 handed)

Known players:
[tg]UTG2$206.20:///////;MP1$137.10:///////;MP2 (Hero)$200.00:///////;MP3$240.00:///////;CO$89.00:///////;BU$263.00:///////;BB$330.40:///////;[/tg]

Preflop: Hero is MP2 with 9:c, 5:c.
UTG2 raises to $6.00, MP1 calls $6.00, Hero raises to $24.00, 5 folds, MP1 calls $18.00.

Flop: ($56) 9:h, 8:h, 7:c (2 players)
MP1 checks, Hero bets $30.00, MP1 raises to $113.10(All-In), Hero calls $83.10.

Turn: ($282.2) 4:d (2 players)

River: ($282.2) 3:s (2 players)

Final Pot: $282.2.

Results follow:

Hero shows a pair of nines(9c 5c).
MP1 shows a pair of tens(Th Ts).

MP1 wins with a pair of tens(Th Ts).

When I first saw my equity in HEM vs his hand, I thought it was an extremely bad play on my part. I am given 29% pot odds, and Pokerstove says I have 29% equity vs TT+. But most fish min4bet their AA and KK quite often as well. So if I give him a range of TT-QQ, I have about 26% equity which is slightly -EV but still a rather close decision, no way I could have calculated this in the heat of the moment.

2) Stacking off AK vs AA from UTG+1 vs CO (17/14/3.5). I think his 3bet% might have been at 4 or 5% which influenced me in stacking off. But when I look at his stats now, his range is probably heavily weighted towards KK+ and he is way more likely to flat hands like JJ/QQ so I think I burnt 200$ needlessly.

3) Hand converted with online PokerStrategy.com hand converter:

Play hand

$2/$4 No-Limit Hold'em (7 handed)

Known players:
[tg]SB$400.00:///////;BB$252.30:///////;MP1$406.00:///////;MP2$538.00:///////;MP3$513.30:///////;CO (Hero)$427.40:///////;BU$457.15:///////;[/tg]

Preflop: Hero is CO with A:c, K:s.
MP1 folds, MP2 raises to $12.00, MP3 raises to $40.00, Hero raises to $84.00, 4 folds, MP3 raises to $513.30, Hero calls $343.40(All-In).

Flop: ($958.7) Q:h, 8:h, 9:c (2 players)

Turn: ($958.7) 4:d (2 players)

River: ($958.7) 4:h (2 players)

Final Pot: $958.7.

Results follow:

Hero shows a pair of fours(Ac Ks).
MP3 shows two pairs, kings and fours(Kh Kc).

MP3 wins with two pairs, kings and fours(Kh Kc).

Another stupid cold4bet. Villian was Bananazoo with 17/13/5.4, his 3bet from LP and MP is about 4%. I was playing very loose and aggressive with my constant squeezing and 3betting and was hoping that I could induce something like a 5 bet spazz shove but I have rarely cold4bet bluff so this line of thinking is very flawed.

4) Hand converted with online PokerStrategy.com hand converter:

Play hand

$2/$4 No-Limit Hold'em (8 handed)

Known players:
[tg]BU$400.00:///////;SB$206.00:///////;BB$503.40:///////;UTG2$260.70:///////;MP1 (Hero)$886.20:///////;MP2$341.95:///////;MP3$406.00:///////;CO$491.05:///////;[/tg]

Preflop: Hero is MP1 with A:d, A:c.
UTG2 raises to $8.00, Hero raises to $28.00, 5 folds, BB calls $24.00, UTG2 calls $20.00.

Flop: ($86) 6:h, Q:s, J:d (3 players)
BB checks, UTG2 checks, Hero checks.

Turn: ($86) J:s (3 players)
BB checks, UTG2 bets $35.00, Hero calls $35.00, BB folds.

River: ($156) 5:d (2 players)
UTG2 checks, Hero bets $55.00, UTG2 calls $55.00.

Final Pot: $266.

Villian showed KK. I was playing really cautiously cause a board with 2 or more broadways smash all of their ranges. Furthermore it was a 3way pot. On the river I should have bet bigger since villian would probably bet out the river with queens fullhouse or trip jack

GOSUUUUUUUUU BAYYY