Another profitable day, with mediocre success in HU SNG's and some cash HU success. The cash HU was the most entertaining, with a short stacker 3 betting every hand, and stacking off the 3 times I 4 bet. Hands included A7o, J3s, 42o, and he finally left, so the easiest money I've come across in quite a while. The 2nd player was better, but still overly aggro, so it's was the easiest play to make $30 off him, 3 betting AQo PF, cbetting but checking the turn on a Qxx board (AKA my blog yesterday about showing weakness to aggro players), then shoving over his pot sized bet on the turn. He continued to show aggression, but it was safe to fold a lot, knowing his bet sizing (always full pot) meant that any time you made a hand you could easily make back your losses from any folding you did. So a nice short sweetener to the evening.
I guess it's been maybe 4 weeks of playing HU all up, and I can say I'm now starting to get into a groove. I love what it's done for my poker game, I really feel like I can get a lot more out of post flop situations now, and it really teaches you to pay close attention to how players play. For example, seeing a guy check the flop, then bet the turn, then bet big on the river, can mean different things depending on the player. Sometimes it's huge strength, trying to get value, other times it's a bluffer trying to get a pot without having a hand. I think back to lots of different 6 max situations where I was lost, where I really think I would crush now given the information I've gained the last few weeks.
But for now I'll continue to play HU, and probably mostly SNG's, although I'm tempted to move to cash at some point. My FTP points are going well, I just have to play the last 3 days of the month to qualify for bronze, which isn't too bad since I only deposited mid July. Given a full month I should easily get to silver, probably gold, and with a disciplined mindset could reach iron man if I wanted to, but it doesn't seem that important to push things too hard.
Monday, July 28, 2008
Sunday, July 27, 2008
Faking weakness against aggro players
Played just a little over the weekend. I managed to get in a few games on Friday to tick over the Iron Man thing after some party organising. Was up, then even, had a bit of rotten luck there to be even, but was a bit tilted so probably quit at a good time. Saturday is usually non poker night, but the Mrs fell asleep after a huge day, so I played a $10 MTT. I played a very loose style, and never really got the luck to capitilise on the style (AK beaten AIPF by AQ and QQ hitting a set and getting no action for the first time) and bubbled the money. I then played hyper horrible cash games a bit drunk. Only NL10 and NL25 PLO, came out a few dollars down but had fun tilting some kids.
Last night I finally got something going in HU SNG's. Had a decent run and ended up over $300. When you are running well, people shove turn scare cards, and that's your card :) I rarely sucked out, more that I got action on my big hands. Running well comes in many different flavours I guess. I had one SNG where I got sucked out on 3 times, so I said to myself, that's all the bad luck for the session, and it was true. I have a lot of sessions that start off similar to this and then I hit some bad luck or some good players, but this time I quit while ahead and hit some NL10 tables again. Playing hyper horrible again finished up $48 on one NL10 table, and busted the other after being $21 at one point :)
A little strategy time. First of all, it's always important to know who you are playing. Some people hit any pair and can't fold. You value bet these guys for 3 streets always, never try anything different. Others re-raise bluff at odd times. Just wait for a hand against these guys, as they'll commit themselves with a weak draw or 2nd pair and have to call your shove with top pair. The trickiest I've found so far are the guys who take it away from you after sensing weakness. You cbet when you hit top pair they fold, you cbet again and get re-raised, so now you are a bit afraid to cbet with air. So when you don't cbet the 3rd flop, they bet half pot, or pot on any turn card, and you have to fold with air. This will keep going, and you feel like he sees your hole cards, as he's almost always putting pressure on your pre flop raise hands, and you are reduced to only raising quality hands, and basically you get run over.
So it came to my attention, that these guys love looking for weakness, and in HU you are almost always reasonably weak. But so is he remember. But eventually you will have a hand, and don't want him just folding to it. So two simple ways to show weakness. You hold AJ and the flop comes down J64r. You cbet, he calls. Now two things. It's very unlikely he hit this flop, and he's probably calling because he thinks it's unlikely you hit. Being OOP though, it's going to be hard for him to properly find out, so he'll almost always check the turn again and let you make your move. If you bet, you are saying you hit, and it's up to him whether he believes you or not. If you check behind on the turn, this is his signal that you didn't hit. He can bet a wide range (including a lot of pure bluffs) on the river, because so far you've cbet a dry board, and checked the turn, you must be weak. He fires a river bet, it's up to you whether to call or shove. The positive here, is you cbet a lot, so you hand strength is fairly well hidden, but the downside is he may like bluffing smaller pots, rather than tangling up with cbets, so you will fold him out quite a lot here.
So the 2nd method is far more sinister. These guys love weakness, we know that, so give it to them on a plate. Check behind on the flop. This is like putting a sign over the pot saying "free money" to aggressive players. Think about it, if they realise they won't hit a flop very often, they are burning money by calling too much pre flop. So they plan to take as many pots as you'll allow, and bet when they think you are weak and can't call. They will crucify you if you don't cbet when you don't have a hand, so use that against them and don't cbet here. They bet pot on the turn, call it. Again, you might start seeing scare cards etc, but if those scare cards hit him, then a raise won't do any good and folding would be wrong given your plans for the hand. The special aggro players will bet the river again, and again it's an easy call usually. I mean if 4 clubs are now out there, and you don't have one, it's probably time to let go, but otherwise if you have your player type down his range will include a lot of bluffs and 2nd pairs etc, so it's an easy call really.
A couple of disclaimers. Don't overdo any one action, keep villain wondering about what you have. Maybe as a simple rule to begin with, check the flop with top pair good kicker, bet the flop with top pair weak kicker. Don't use this against the wrong villains. Solid players will take a stab occasionally, but may shut down if they think you are making a move, and calling stations will call 3 streets, so just keep betting. Also unfortunately, you will get sucked out on sometimes. It's unavoidable in this play, you didn't cbet a flush board, he bets turn, you call, then the river brings the flush and he has the flush. You might have gotten him off it on the turn quite often, if you'd cbet and bet turn, but remember that these plays are +ev in the long run, which is why we do them, in the short term, shit happens. And as a great player said about playing this "smallball" style, is you don't have to pay him off when he hits. Maybe sometimes folding the river is a good idea even though we way underplayed our hand, although I'd be calling a lot of rivers.
Finally, got my rakeback, and cleared quite a few points recently. So I'm going close to clearning another CR membership by the end of the month, and will end up getting Bronze status unless I don't play at all one night. I'll hang onto my FTP points until later next month, and see if they don't offer a 6 month membership at some point in the FTP store, and probably save up my points if they do. I'm obviously fairly happy right now to be playing HU SNG's, so I'll keep it going for another week or two at least, and at this point plan to play HU SNG's all next month.
Last night I finally got something going in HU SNG's. Had a decent run and ended up over $300. When you are running well, people shove turn scare cards, and that's your card :) I rarely sucked out, more that I got action on my big hands. Running well comes in many different flavours I guess. I had one SNG where I got sucked out on 3 times, so I said to myself, that's all the bad luck for the session, and it was true. I have a lot of sessions that start off similar to this and then I hit some bad luck or some good players, but this time I quit while ahead and hit some NL10 tables again. Playing hyper horrible again finished up $48 on one NL10 table, and busted the other after being $21 at one point :)
A little strategy time. First of all, it's always important to know who you are playing. Some people hit any pair and can't fold. You value bet these guys for 3 streets always, never try anything different. Others re-raise bluff at odd times. Just wait for a hand against these guys, as they'll commit themselves with a weak draw or 2nd pair and have to call your shove with top pair. The trickiest I've found so far are the guys who take it away from you after sensing weakness. You cbet when you hit top pair they fold, you cbet again and get re-raised, so now you are a bit afraid to cbet with air. So when you don't cbet the 3rd flop, they bet half pot, or pot on any turn card, and you have to fold with air. This will keep going, and you feel like he sees your hole cards, as he's almost always putting pressure on your pre flop raise hands, and you are reduced to only raising quality hands, and basically you get run over.
So it came to my attention, that these guys love looking for weakness, and in HU you are almost always reasonably weak. But so is he remember. But eventually you will have a hand, and don't want him just folding to it. So two simple ways to show weakness. You hold AJ and the flop comes down J64r. You cbet, he calls. Now two things. It's very unlikely he hit this flop, and he's probably calling because he thinks it's unlikely you hit. Being OOP though, it's going to be hard for him to properly find out, so he'll almost always check the turn again and let you make your move. If you bet, you are saying you hit, and it's up to him whether he believes you or not. If you check behind on the turn, this is his signal that you didn't hit. He can bet a wide range (including a lot of pure bluffs) on the river, because so far you've cbet a dry board, and checked the turn, you must be weak. He fires a river bet, it's up to you whether to call or shove. The positive here, is you cbet a lot, so you hand strength is fairly well hidden, but the downside is he may like bluffing smaller pots, rather than tangling up with cbets, so you will fold him out quite a lot here.
So the 2nd method is far more sinister. These guys love weakness, we know that, so give it to them on a plate. Check behind on the flop. This is like putting a sign over the pot saying "free money" to aggressive players. Think about it, if they realise they won't hit a flop very often, they are burning money by calling too much pre flop. So they plan to take as many pots as you'll allow, and bet when they think you are weak and can't call. They will crucify you if you don't cbet when you don't have a hand, so use that against them and don't cbet here. They bet pot on the turn, call it. Again, you might start seeing scare cards etc, but if those scare cards hit him, then a raise won't do any good and folding would be wrong given your plans for the hand. The special aggro players will bet the river again, and again it's an easy call usually. I mean if 4 clubs are now out there, and you don't have one, it's probably time to let go, but otherwise if you have your player type down his range will include a lot of bluffs and 2nd pairs etc, so it's an easy call really.
A couple of disclaimers. Don't overdo any one action, keep villain wondering about what you have. Maybe as a simple rule to begin with, check the flop with top pair good kicker, bet the flop with top pair weak kicker. Don't use this against the wrong villains. Solid players will take a stab occasionally, but may shut down if they think you are making a move, and calling stations will call 3 streets, so just keep betting. Also unfortunately, you will get sucked out on sometimes. It's unavoidable in this play, you didn't cbet a flush board, he bets turn, you call, then the river brings the flush and he has the flush. You might have gotten him off it on the turn quite often, if you'd cbet and bet turn, but remember that these plays are +ev in the long run, which is why we do them, in the short term, shit happens. And as a great player said about playing this "smallball" style, is you don't have to pay him off when he hits. Maybe sometimes folding the river is a good idea even though we way underplayed our hand, although I'd be calling a lot of rivers.
Finally, got my rakeback, and cleared quite a few points recently. So I'm going close to clearning another CR membership by the end of the month, and will end up getting Bronze status unless I don't play at all one night. I'll hang onto my FTP points until later next month, and see if they don't offer a 6 month membership at some point in the FTP store, and probably save up my points if they do. I'm obviously fairly happy right now to be playing HU SNG's, so I'll keep it going for another week or two at least, and at this point plan to play HU SNG's all next month.
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Free CardRunners month
I had a pretty clean run at it last night. No internet problems, only one horrible bad beat, and quite a few games I felt pretty solid in. It surprises me how often a new player sits at these things. I mean I'm on there almost every night around the same time, and I keep playing new player after new player. I guess that's the beauty of such a deep network of players like FTP or PS. I managed a small profit, which came about from -$50 in HU cash and +$100 in SNG's. The HU cash was disappointing, I'd played very solid only to put in a huge bluff with ace high thinking there was nothing he could easily call with. He'd been raising my cbets quite frequently, so I looked him up on a K55 board and 3 bet shoved him. He went into his think tank for ages, and made the call with KQo. Not sure if he was slowrolling or he thought I had a 5, but he was a good folder, so I wouldn't be surprised if he thought he might be beat and was thinking whether he could fold. Anyway that cost $50, but I'm happy with the play, as he'd have folded almost any other hand, I'm sure of it. I guess that's why I hate cash games at the moment, as it's a real grind against some players, and you are making tiny amounts of money over quite a few hands rather than knowing it will all be over within a few minutes one way or the other. It's really quite a rush knowing you could be $50 richer in less than 5 minutes, which I think is partially the reason a lot of unknowns find their way here, rather than it being full of regs.
Cardrunners sent me an email to say I'm now paid up for next month, sweet. It worked like this. I bought the 1 month membership booster, got a confirmation email from FTP, then got an email from cardrunners (TrevRob, keep up the good work) saying it's done. What's missing here? I didn't tell FTP my CardRunners member name. They obviously work it out through your email address, but it's a nice touch to have to not do anything after buying the item in the FTP store. Nice.
I also watched 2 MasterLJ videos on CardRunners yesterday, the guy has some good info, well worth a watch. And I'm definitely going to go through some of Brian and Taylors HU videos now to really get some solid background information in my head. I've realised I have tonnes of HU info to be gained. I especially need to learn good places to fold, as I all too often find myself calling river bets where I only beat a bluff, or calling flops or turns OOP where I have no intention of trying to steal the pot and no equity in the pot. My bluffing skills are OK, but probalby pretty see through to a decent player.
Cardrunners sent me an email to say I'm now paid up for next month, sweet. It worked like this. I bought the 1 month membership booster, got a confirmation email from FTP, then got an email from cardrunners (TrevRob, keep up the good work) saying it's done. What's missing here? I didn't tell FTP my CardRunners member name. They obviously work it out through your email address, but it's a nice touch to have to not do anything after buying the item in the FTP store. Nice.
I also watched 2 MasterLJ videos on CardRunners yesterday, the guy has some good info, well worth a watch. And I'm definitely going to go through some of Brian and Taylors HU videos now to really get some solid background information in my head. I've realised I have tonnes of HU info to be gained. I especially need to learn good places to fold, as I all too often find myself calling river bets where I only beat a bluff, or calling flops or turns OOP where I have no intention of trying to steal the pot and no equity in the pot. My bluffing skills are OK, but probalby pretty see through to a decent player.
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Sickly, and pokerstars reload bonus
Well I tilted at SNG's the other day. I was home sick, and spent the first few hours in bad shape, but after a while got the energy and desire up for some poker. I'd run shocking the last couple of days, so was determined to run good, and got my account up again after the last couple of days disappointments. I certainly ran much better, losing allins about the expected rate, like winning half the coin flips, winning more than half when I'm well ahead. I then had a mixture of bad internet and running bad. 3 times I lost an internet connection, costing me 3 * $57.5, basically ruining my day, and tilting me bad. Twice I regained connection within a minute and both times my opponent had forced my stack down to next to nothing, fuckers!!! I felt sick again anyway, so tried to rest some, but it didn't work too well, as the sickness made it difficult to just relax. I basically spent the afternoon out of it, and slept about 14 hours last night.
On the good side of things, I cleared my full tilt points needed for a CR free month, even though I haven't received my confirmation email yet, and am running on par for just scraping in for Bronze membership of the Iron Man for this month (assuming I get to play enough days). Given a full month I think I'll easily make Gold, if not Iron Man. Pokerstars is also offering a reload bonus, but it's a very low clearance rate. At 20 points per dollar, it's basically 25% rakeback for HU SNG's, which isn't itself terrible, but I'd think the FT 27% + free CR membership and other reload bonuses from Iron Man gives more back for me grinding a month of these SNG's in August (which is about how long it would take to clear the $240). I might put a very small bonus on there and use it for giving me something to clear for muck around times, but to be honest, $240 would be difficult for me to clear without spending quite a bit of time playing that site.
On the good side of things, I cleared my full tilt points needed for a CR free month, even though I haven't received my confirmation email yet, and am running on par for just scraping in for Bronze membership of the Iron Man for this month (assuming I get to play enough days). Given a full month I think I'll easily make Gold, if not Iron Man. Pokerstars is also offering a reload bonus, but it's a very low clearance rate. At 20 points per dollar, it's basically 25% rakeback for HU SNG's, which isn't itself terrible, but I'd think the FT 27% + free CR membership and other reload bonuses from Iron Man gives more back for me grinding a month of these SNG's in August (which is about how long it would take to clear the $240). I might put a very small bonus on there and use it for giving me something to clear for muck around times, but to be honest, $240 would be difficult for me to clear without spending quite a bit of time playing that site.
Monday, July 21, 2008
Played well, results stink
I honestly felt like I played very strong, but got massacred by luck. All in's were shocking but even worse were value bets. Like 3 betting AJs, value betting a A73r board, getting called, then having only a 2/3rd pot size bet to get him all in, and he hits a king on the turn, to make it K3 two pair. He called a 3 bet with K3, then called a cbet for almost 1/2 his chips with bottom pair? And people hit their draws all day long too.
So enough whinging. I felt like I learned a bit last night. I watched part 2 of Jackals SNG HU tourney video at CR. Very solid, it's amazing how tight weak he is. But definitely has different gears and gets more aggressive as it's needed. I'm aiming at playing like this, because the tight weak approach will beat a fair percentage of players out there, and once you identify the player you are playing needs a different style, change it up. In fact playing my usual aggro style is bad play against some passive players, so I need to be able to play a few different styles and mix it up according to who I'm playing.
I want to know how to play a decent limper. Most limpers have no idea what they are doing, but I was playing one that seemed to know exactly when I was making moves and when I had a hand against him last night. It was probably one of two opponents I felt outclassed against last night, as he had an answer for everything I tried.
So enough whinging. I felt like I learned a bit last night. I watched part 2 of Jackals SNG HU tourney video at CR. Very solid, it's amazing how tight weak he is. But definitely has different gears and gets more aggressive as it's needed. I'm aiming at playing like this, because the tight weak approach will beat a fair percentage of players out there, and once you identify the player you are playing needs a different style, change it up. In fact playing my usual aggro style is bad play against some passive players, so I need to be able to play a few different styles and mix it up according to who I'm playing.
I want to know how to play a decent limper. Most limpers have no idea what they are doing, but I was playing one that seemed to know exactly when I was making moves and when I had a hand against him last night. It was probably one of two opponents I felt outclassed against last night, as he had an answer for everything I tried.
Sunday, July 20, 2008
Rebound session
So not really shaken at all, and looking forward to some good poker, I grinded out some (a little drunk again) HU SNG's. Got off to a good start, and all but quit, but felt I was playing my best HU poker, so kept going. What followed was astonishing, but couldn't get money in better, and couldn't win one. The average game went like this. We trade some chips while I'm working out his style. I pick a few spots to get some free cash off him, and take a decent lead. Then when I feel like I have a good enough spot, I get it in against him as 2:1 chip lead or better or worse than that. Hands are turned over to show I have 60-80% equity, he hits whatever he needs and takes a decent chip lead. I get it in good again and lose again. Looking over my all ins, I got it in good all but once, and that was 99 vs TT.
Snuck in some drunken 6 max again, and again for a big loss. Only big complaint was JJ spiking a Jack on the flop against a re-raise PF, on a QJx board. He check called (even though he led PF), which was weird, but put AK into my head, and of course a T on the turn fucked my life. I couldn't let go (drunk) even though I was certain he had that, and I had only 10 outs to improve, which I didn't. Fuck 6 max 60/35 style (yes I upped my VPIP by 20 last night), it's hard work.
I can't complain too much, as this run still only brings my FTP account back to about even, and I feel like I'm playing these HU SNG's very well. I think the way I'm playing, I'd probably be better suited to cash HU though, as I'm good at taking small pots and gettting reads, whereas most SNG's are left to some all in luck at some point.
I have just about enough points to buy CR membership for next month, and will most likely get Iron man bronze this month if I keep playing the rest of the month. I'm making enough points to easily get Iron Man status next month too, which could be worth reaching for.
Snuck in some drunken 6 max again, and again for a big loss. Only big complaint was JJ spiking a Jack on the flop against a re-raise PF, on a QJx board. He check called (even though he led PF), which was weird, but put AK into my head, and of course a T on the turn fucked my life. I couldn't let go (drunk) even though I was certain he had that, and I had only 10 outs to improve, which I didn't. Fuck 6 max 60/35 style (yes I upped my VPIP by 20 last night), it's hard work.
I can't complain too much, as this run still only brings my FTP account back to about even, and I feel like I'm playing these HU SNG's very well. I think the way I'm playing, I'd probably be better suited to cash HU though, as I'm good at taking small pots and gettting reads, whereas most SNG's are left to some all in luck at some point.
I have just about enough points to buy CR membership for next month, and will most likely get Iron man bronze this month if I keep playing the rest of the month. I'm making enough points to easily get Iron Man status next month too, which could be worth reaching for.
Playing Drunk
I had a moment of clear stupidity. I played drunk and lost around $800 on Friday night. It all started off innocently enough having a couple of drinks with dinner, and playing a couple of SNG's. Up in fact. Then I decided to play some NL50 HU, lost a bit of it back, then decided while still in profit to go to my other site and have some fun playing 30/25 style on 6 max. Only I ended up playing 40/35!!! Still I ended up tilting half the table, and came out a small winner with some big pots. So I moved up to NL100. This is where it got ugly. I was pushing around perfectly, then started getting struck hard by big hands turning into losers. I was probably being a little too liberal with my definition of a strong hand, but had JJ less than QQ, AQ less than AK twice on an ace high board, and had a set go down to a rivered straight, plus a couple of other pots where I was bluffing people off pots and got shoved on (that happens while playing 40/35 I noticed). I wasn't actually that upset with how I played, just my game selection and inability to quit. I then went back to FTP to try to get some back on SNG's and got that account down a bit, and came back to OnGame to donk off another 120 to HU cash. Poor, poor form.
I woke up a little liberated though. I thought I'd be over everything, but I was happy and had a really good (poker free) Saturday. I'm glad dusting off this much money doesn't necessarily hurt me mentally as much as it used to.
I woke up a little liberated though. I thought I'd be over everything, but I was happy and had a really good (poker free) Saturday. I'm glad dusting off this much money doesn't necessarily hurt me mentally as much as it used to.
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