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As has been said, there may have been an issue here where shoving ATC the previous hand would have been better, I don't know the circumstances. Taking this hand in isolation, I like the way you've played it. You have (or definately should have) zero fold equity pre-flop, so shoving isn't really an option. When a great board like that comes down, I really, really like your play, wd sir. I don't think he calls without 2 spades (or a K or Q on board obv) which makes you pretty unlucky to get a call here. When thinks like this happen (you outdraw) I like to think that fortune is smiling on the player who played the hand best. I'm not 100% sure that's how it works though . . . :-)
Good question that. People say that an early double up is a guaranteed cash, but as I said in the blog it doesn't always pan out like that. Anyway, doubling up early has a (sort of) hidden advantage when it comes to stealing later. It allows you to create a super-tight image as opposed to a tight one. From your post, it seems you folded every hand after doubling up. That's certainly fine for a while, in the absence of premiums. But, you should be careful not to let your stack dwindle too much. If my stack starts to approach 3,000 or less and the blinds are 75/150 or 100/200, I don't mind going for a sb or button steal. If you think about your image in this game, it is clear that a steal will have a very high success rate in these spots. An indicator that your image is super-tight and that you are getting dragged into trouble, is when the whole table seems to be taking it in turns to steal your blinds. A steal or resteal here would be a good counter.
In terms of sizing, it's really upto you. My raise size at the 100/200 level is to 500 but 450 or even less would possibly be better.
I'm now off to play a few. Haven't played for well over a week now which is by far the longest I've gone since starting poker over 2 years ago...
Played just 4 games as have to go out:
2 x £0.30 W1 L1
2 X £0.60 W1 L1
BR - £13.67. Can't get anything going and pretty frustrated at the moment. Can't play tonight either :-( so hope to put in my first really decent session tomorrow and get the ball rolling abit.
Only one hand really sticks out:
Also, connection probs that forced me to quit playing full-time showed signs of returning and I was only 2-4 tabling :-(. Very frustrating and if they contionue I guess I'd be forced to abandon this challenge. I sincerely hope it doesn't come to that, though:
My current bankroll is approx £250 atm but i am currently grinding league points (27th for STTs with people catching up) so i am playing lots of the £1.15s (which are the best for league points by far imo) and the Turbo DYMs. Will be grinding properly again at the start of October.
PS very unlucky with the connection problems, I have a similar situation with my computer crashing which has lost me a total of about £160 (although only 10 of that has been since I started this challenge) which is a large ammount for the stakes I have played. This is the reason why I hesitate to move up the stakes
when will they learn ??
Decent session yesterday which would have been a good one but for running pretty poorly (also connection problems accounted for 3 buy-ins). In the last game, though, I came back from 30 chips (1/10th of a big blind) to cash, which is a personal best for me.
Played 45 £0.60s:
W 26 L19
BR - £13.87
Can't wait to move up from the £0.60s (hopefully!). Will try and have a decent session again today.
Games were notably softer this evening which feels like a weird thing to say about games that are only £0.60 anyway. Made two adjustments which I think have helped at this level. I've tried to play smaller pots with AK (at least pre-flop while it's unmade). I've still been raising with it and sometimes 3 betting, just 3 betting a bit less, eg if the pot already looks to be heads up and large enough. People don't respect 3 bets, if they raise, they want to play the hand usually. Also, I've been shoving on the sb when they've made up less and have checked back instead. Again, once they've invested money they've seemed to want to play so shoving wasn't working as well as it does at higher levels.
Played 66 £0.60s
W 47 L 19
BR - £21.67
BR required for £1.15s is £23. As I am getting £5 C4P I may move up in the morning but I will see. I may play £0.60s again during the day and try and move up at night.
Played 13 £0.60s W 5 L 8
Played 2 £1.15s W1 L1
BR - £18.57
Going to play a few now while the live show is on...
Played 30 £0.60s W 22 L 8
BR - £22.97
Since I'm 3p off £23 and have a £5 C4P payment pending, I will be moving upto £1.15s in the morning. Hopefully I'll hit the ground running in those and never have to return to the £0.60s.
It's quite difficult to answer that as it would never really happen in practice. I know what you're saying, though. The old saying of playing the opposite to the table would kick in in that situation I would think. Given how tight I like to play early I would think that more stealing earlier would be a profitable play. There is one very good DYM reg who is really tight throughout (so, similar to my style). Against this player I like to steal with any cards as they will only ever play back with such a narrow range.
That would be the best thing to do I would think, loosen up. Note that you must do something. If you did have 6 'JohnConnor's (or any style), and no-one adjusted, the game would have zero edge. So every player would just lose the rake every game (over time).
Just to say JC, really enjoying the "diary" & keep posting please.
pad
PS. I am desperate to have a BR again. Loads of things I too for granted in the past like playing SPT sats, playing the main event when I could, I can't do anymore. I keep getting this weird message about insufficient funds, please deposit :-( lol.
Well, last night I hoped I would 'hit the ground running' in the £1.15s and the poker gods obliged with a nice little session there. I also noted down quite a few things during the session which hopefully you won't find too boring (the session stats are right at the end for anyone who wants to skip straight down):
Firstly my very first impressions of the £1.15s as opposed to the £0.60s. The general standard seems noticeably better. The player is generally tighter earlier on and I haven't sen anywhere near the amount of all-in and calls during levels 1 and 2 as I was seeing in the £0.60s. Perhaps it being during the day has something to do with this. Also, there is still some poor play but there has been less kamikaze play at the late stages, e.g. 2 big stacks going at it when there is a micro stack about to bubble.
Secondly I noted the advantages of moving up to the £1.15s:
/> The rake is 15% as opposed to 20%. This means the winrate required to break even drops from 60% to 57.5%.
/> You get 2 poker points per game instead of 1. Doubling the amount of points you earn is one of the most exciting things (actually probably the most) about moving up through the levels of DYMs. The impact on your monthly bonus is fantastic.
/> You get 7 league points per win instead of 3. This is obviously a huge difference and is great if you, like me, dream of a place on TSP. If anyone is interested, my league target for this quarter (ending December) is to finish in the top 4. I'm currently in the 100s I think due to earning only 3 points per win in the £0.60s. I will have some catching up to do...
Thirdly I noticed an improvement in my own game which I have been seeing over the last few days. I have been value betting more thinly, especially in position. Ok, so it's fairly easy at these low levels as a lot of players play so passively and will call with weaker hands on the river. Nevertheless I've seen a definite improvement and it's something I will hopefully carry on in my game in the future. (Who would have thought that dropping down to £0.60 DYMs could actually improve your poker playing abilities? ;-))
Fourthly I noted down a hand id. Previously I noted that I had made a small adjustment in the way I play AK in these low stakes games, so as to avoid huge pots pre-flop with an unmade hand. Here is the hand:
Anyway, played well, ran well:
Played 17 £1.15s W 13 L 4
BR - £29.42 (while I was writing this my £5 C4P was paid so:) BR now - £34.42
Target required to move up to £2.25s - £45. Playing DTD tonight (deposited own money as said) but should still sneak a few DYMs in at some point...
Great blog!!
Could I ask about note-taking. Do you bother with notes? Also, when you have been playing a lot at the same level are there players you avoid?
What do you think of the fold with AK here in a £3.30 dym game.
I hope its a fairly standard fold on the bubble due to the short stack. The guy who jammed on me was not overly agressive, but even if he was would you still fold? I went on to cash.
ET1 had about 1k chips (just over 3 big blinds)
Its only ace high innit
Yeah, I think note-taking is extremely important and I make quite a few. There is a section in the blog titled 'Note Taking' (quite far down, straight after 'Late Stages'). Unfortunately, the formatting didn't transfer perfectly here as there are meant to be bullet points which don't show up. But everything down to the next bold section, 'General points on raise/bet sizing' are my thoughts on note taking. I hope that helps but if you have any more specific questions that aren't covered in that section please get back to me here and I will try my best to help.
Played 18 £1.15s W 9 L 9
BR - £31.72
Poker points - 150
When you play the slightly higher levels, particularly during the day time, there is only a small player base so will you will be consistantly playing the same players. It's not that unusual during the day, if you look in the higher levels, to see 2 or more games running with exactly the same 6 players in each. So table selection is pretty difficult at times anyway. At a very quick guess, I would probably say there are between 5 and 10 very very good players out there. If 4 of them were sat at the same table, I would probably avoid it if I could (e.g. I wasn't desperate for points/action etc). Otherwise, I think it's fine to just play. A couple of weak players in 6 max should be enough to keep the good regs going I would have thought.
I finished either 27th or 28th for STTs last quarter but have had no confirmation of the TSP tourney yet.
Should I have had an email by now?