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Update from tonight
Didn't play a whole lot tonight, think I ended up about £25 down here and £35 up on another site so a small profit of about £10. Had an enjoyable day though, got out in the sun and fitted a round of golf in for the first time in a year.
Was getting into the £22 BH then the hand below happened. Then ran AQs into the same player from that hand with AK...
Looking forward to a chilled OH8 night tomorrow night for a change and will play the Thursday OH8 league games and some OH8 DYM's.
Thanks for reading and GL @ the tables!
The hand from £22 BH mentioned above...
Sorry Marky, this is an excellent thread with many interesting posts. It doesn't need lowbrow contributions from me
On the first one, I don't remember my exact hand in that game but I remember typing that in chat and something about the hand just didn't add up. You are of course correct, it is the remit of your opponents to confuse you
The 2nd one I was thinking of making a post to clarify as it may have crossed other people's minds too. I realised some people may think, 'what an idiot advertising all his plays'. This is far from an oversight and something I came to a clear position on and gave lots of thought towards many years ago.
I will happily discuss any hand for several reasons, sorry if this gets long winded but as I said it is something I was very aware of.
The very first point is that I learned so much by discussing hands on the site I started out on (Pokerroom which is closed now) via their forum. I feel it is a 2 way exchange and others discussing hands in the thread are also giving me their insight and their take etc.
When I used to discuss hands on forums previously I never noticed a dip in ROI over the course of many years. I have also seen extremely good players on PokerXfactor for instance post entire MTT's of their hands with deep thought on everything and loads and loads of people watched them and I am sure their opponents did too but they continued/continue to crush at the tables.
The reason for this I think was summed up in a discussion I seen Daniel Negreanu have with a pro he was playing. He said something (I think after he gave information away when he did not have to) he said, "It doesn't matter that you know what I had and what I done, because I know that you know what I had and what I done so I can change it up" He said poker is a game of levelling and I think that is an important factor, I like to think my game is reactionary and fluid and hope I have the ability that if people know what I will do in certain spots that I can change and mix it up. For example I am prone to make some big plays now and again extremely light (as many other players will be too) if I found I was being called and caught with my hand in the cookie jar too often then I can tighten my range and hopefully get more value. It is true that I don't know every individual who has read this but I am sure only a small percentage of those I play will have trawled through all of this.
Also I tend to base my play at every table based on what others are doing at the time so if they are looking me up light I try to adapt and vice versa so it is mostly real time and not reliant on hands and thought processes that went before.
I also enjoy poker, including discussing hands, so to not do so would take a small part of the fun out of it.
Lastly but not leastly, discussing hands with people on the site I started out on almost 10 years ago I got to know so many great, interesting and knowledgeable people. I think I still have about 40+ of them on my Facebook, have been on many poker trips with them, both on packages to play events and meeting up for a game for the hell of it. I still talk to loads of them to this day and if I was more reserved I wouldn't have got to know many of these people. Hard to put a price on that and even if it resulted in a dip of a couple of percent in ROI (which it hasn't), I think it would be worth it.
There are many other reasons but those are the main ones.
I fully respect everyone else who doesn't post a lot of their hand histories etc. It is afterall everyones personal choice and each to their own but for the reasons mentioned I will always happily discuss my hands. If I seen my returns run into a brick wall then I might reconsider
Thanks for asking that question as it was something I kind of wanted to clarify anyway.
Well after deciding to play full time again (at least during the summer), I didn't want it to go like it did the last time I done that when I added about 5 stone to my weight... I want to stay active this time so I had a very enjoyable day out walking in the hills with my 2 crazy dogs before starting any session at the tables.
Great scenery too, picture for anyone who cares...
I also don't want to fall into a trap I have before when playing full time and get into a grind just worrying about profit so tonight wasn't about chasing big MTT wins in the £55 BH or whatever and more about enjoying the PLO8 league games and having a bit of banter at the tables. Thoroughly enjoyed the FT with Hendrik, botneck & noviceplayer, some good chat and an excellent game!
I started the night with some DYM's maybe 6 or 7 and felt I played well but got looked up when bluffing in a key pot which was very large and lost most of my equity and then bust and lost a few key all ins in other games too and also ran bad in 1 £16.50 game which skewed the overall results. I was happy with the play I made where I got called as I think it was a very +ev shove in the long run I just don't think the player knew it wasn't a great spot to call, he made some strange plays afterwards which others commented on in the chatbox. I guess my mistake for making the play versus the wrong player. Anyways was maybe £3 down after these which was no big deal (will maybe look that hand out for a future post).
I then played the league games and tried to defend my win from last weeks league. I managed a 1st and a 3rd out of the 4 MTT's which is down on my two 1sts from last week but I can't expect to win 50% of MTT's so I am very happy with that and think I have managed to win the league this week again. Entries were free as I had won them from the previous week so wound up just over £20 up giving an overall profit of £20 for the night (plus entries to next week's games if I havn't made a mistake with my maths).
Really enjoyed playing tonight and played some very interesting hands, a load of them with Hendrik.
As ever thanks for reading and GL @ the tables!
^^^^
I saw that play in that £16.50 DYM.
The chap who you mention created carnage - he busted hotwheals too. Safe to say Mr Carnage is someone you want on every table, he has an eye-watering Sharkscope.
I managed to sit quietly (there's a surprise....) & avoid him.
Boxluck.
That is all.
Found the hand in question...
I definitely didn't have to be in the hand, well I guess I did I was in the BB and it was unraised lol...
I wouldn't make the calls on the flop and turn purely to try and draw to a hand, obviously that would be very -ev in a DYM. However factoring in that you could hit and if not can try to take the pot anyway, treating it as a semi float, it becomes questionable for sure but not as -ev at least. If I had any idea his calling range would be this wide I would have been off on the turn...
If he was soul reading me then great stuff but his play afterwards suggests he just didn't want to fold (which I have duely noted lol). In a MTT if he had called me after some thought then hats off to him but in a DYM I think this really is a fold preflop and on the river from his perspective.
If this was versus someone who was very solid and that had weighed all the factors up and came to the decision they could profitably call here then I would think it was an utterly excellent call. I mean I am in the BB so could have anything preflop and he has less info to act upon as he didn't define my starting range due to the limp preflop. They also have to be correct so often here as it is a DYM with a completely flat payout structure and rake to beat, if they are correct 2 in 5 times in spots like this then they will be losing money hand over fist in DYM's (in a MTT fine I guess but not a DYM). So I would think a call that had weighed those factors up would be astonishingly good (certainly above any level I would be capable of thinking on).
The limp with AK89 suggests this is not what is happening here though as this starting range (for a limp) would be very leaky in a DYM (again at least from my understanding, I at least would have a very hard time limping A8xx preflop at 150/300 in a DYM and turning it into a long term profitable play). His play after the hand backed up that this wasn't other level thinking but more likely a generally spewy long term calling range and it was alluded to that his stats also back this up.
I would disagree with the hand ranges, I know you mentioned due to my flop and turn calls but I don't think me calling on the flop and turn puts me necessarily on a low draw here. If I was weighing this up in reverse then I would be factoring in that my opponent hadn't voluntarily put any chips in the pot preflop so I would have his range at XXXX, the flop and turn calls could be pot control with a set (I would often flat call a set on the flop for a load of reasons in this spot with so much equity to lose, especially when a load of the low cards that fall could make wheels and straights). Also with a completely undefined range preflop I could easily turn up with JQ here. Also KT is perfectly possibly, a low draw with a king that then hit the T on the river.
I would say from an opponents perspective... It would seem plausible that I also shoved one of these hands on the river. I could be thinking I feel I have faded enough of the draws or landed the river and don't want him to check behind on the river and lose value and I feel he will call as he has shown a lot of interest in the pot and is invested. In PLO I would assess this completely differently as it would be more likely I would have reraised a set on the flop as I wouldn't have to worry about wheel/low draws and split pots. In this spot though I feel I could easily have hands that he has been in horrible shape against all along, even hands like 55JQ 44JQ 99JQ 95JQ 94JQ 45JQ 44xx 55xx 99xx or any LLJQ hand.
The range of cards I could have here that he is losing too is very wide and removing the cards he is holding from the equation only makes sets and JQ hands more likely due to card removal. If he was weighing all that up and coming to the conclusion he was ahead and calling for his stack then I would say his playing is on a stratospherically different level, this call would be excellent and I would be paying very close attention to him to learn tips to help develop my game. However his stats and gameplay in other hands make this extremely unlikely.
I understand your just playing devils advocate and giving an angle on it. This is great and prompts good discussion and you raise some probing points!
I just disagree with the ranges you mention, I get what you mean and it is one take on the hand for sure. I feel that we can easily have JQ here though, there is no history with the opponent so for all he knows we could be calling with some kind of pair with a backdoor draw on the flop. This would make sense for the turn call too and then it snugly lands on the river (thats what I was hoping he would conclude at least lol).
If he had raised preflop then my range could be narrowed and a lot of the hands I mentioned which could be in my range can be discounted and the river call would make much more sense. As played I think I could have almost anything on the river here though.
Regarding the polarisation of my range... Against this opponent it didn't matter as there was no history with him although I would say I definitely mix it up here. I would value shove here without the JQ against people I play against with a lot with sets, bluffs and the JQ to balance my range and also if I check JQ is shoving anyway and I 'may' be calling with a set as I would have them on a low orientated hand due to their interest in the pot preflop so I may as well shove and get value out of sets versus anything that I may beat that they would check behind with.
Frustrating night in general!
Was early chipleader in the £55 £2.5K BH then I just couldn't get into it. A couple of hours of distractions (the dogs being hyper etc), JJ running into KK, K8 running into K9 on a favourable board etc ensured I couldn't get momentum until I eventually shoved KJ on the BTN with 11 BBs 4 handed and run into the BB's AQ and totally missed. Took 2 bounties so any loses were minimised.
The £33 10k GTD BH was similar, took several bounties and worked a nice stack then against a very aggro player I call his 3 bet shove (I am holding 99), I knew he was shoving very wide there and he had KJ and hit his king. Think that was for a 65k stack and the chiplead too but put me back to just over 20k and I never got going again. I did minicash and with the bounties it put me into profit for the night but it could have went a lot better.
The £5.50 went much the same lol, couple of bounties then it all went wrong. Eventually lost with 88 v KJ on a KJ8 flop with the K on the turn.
A night of 'could have beens', still about £30 profit and am still in games elsewhere so it could improve further and of course there is always tomorrow
Thanks for reading and GL @ the tables!
Quick update...
Has been a bumpy ride!
Some run bad in MTT's especially in the £55 speed tonight. Sitting with a nice stack 3 handed on the FT bubble I had 3 all ins. First one I ran AJ from the BTN into the BB's KK AIPF and got no help. Second one I flopped trips and got it in with an open ender who hit on the river and then lastly lost 99 v KJ AIPF. If I win any of those I make the FT and turn a profit for the tourney at the very least. Think I am around a 9/1 shot to lose every pot. Still managed to collected £51 in bounties and there is always next time
Also had an insane PLO cash games table at pub chucking out time on Friday night/ Saturday morning and ran awful, and didn't play great either, was around £140 down.
About £340 profit in £1 NLHE cash games have saved the day and resulted in an overall £90 profit since the last update though so I won't grumble. NLHE cash games here and elsewhere have been quite consistent lately, I may have to think about playing these more often. Might consider doing a large sample size over a week or so and see how I get on. One to ponder at least...
Thanks for reading and GL at the tables!
I feel that things have went so smoothly recently that I have got a little stale. Therefore I have decided to set myself a challenge to freshen things up and get some focus back which may make the diary a bit more interesting for the next few weeks (hopefully).
I decided to cash a chunk of money out as I can then set aside most of my money for the Vegas trip from recent profits and leave myself with £100 and see what I can do with the £100 in the next 6 weeks. That will take me to the end of June just before the Vegas trip so hopefully I can work the £100 up into something decent to add to any Vegas bankroll.
I have done something similar before, on another site 9 of us were given $100 and 1 month to see what we could do at the poker tables. The other 8 bust so the competition was not fierce but I managed to turn the $100 into just over $3.5k, so I will have to go some to beat that!
The rules are simple, there are no rules apart from I have the £100 and if I bust it the challenge is over. Only play on Sky poker counts. Obviously if I bust I will deposit and play as normal but I will consider the challenge a failure.
Hopefully if it goes well it may prove useful for anyone trying to work a bankroll up from a limited amount.
If anyone wants to join in and have a side bet of sorts then feel free
As to targets, I will aim to beat the profit ratio of the last time I done this, so just over £3,500. Obviously I ran good that time so this may be a dismal failure in comparison but I do have an extra 2 weeks to do it so will give it a shot.