my thoughts on everything

Reciprocality

“Before anything flows, there must be a difference. Between different elevations, water flows. Between different pressures, air flows. Between different poker players, money flows."  

-Tommy Angelo in Elements of Poker

Any difference between you and your opponents that affects your bottom line.

Get better at poker by making better decisions. Make money in poker by making better decisions than your opponents.

Optimal or not?

Optimal in this case will mean the highest expected maximally exploitive strategy. In this case Optimal does not mean playing GTO.

A perfectly balanced strategy is not possible, the game is too complex, we can approach a close to balanced strategy though.

The idea of having a 'balanced game' is stressed far too heavily for the vast majority of poker players. In fact many players today are wasting their own time trying to work out a perfectly balanced game. This is not to say that GTO is unimportant, but when you are playing against tens of thousands of terrible players, you can simply play a maximally exploitative game, with no fear whatsoever of counter exploitation.

If you find yourself in the situation where you are worried about being counter exploited so much, you have to worry about being perfectly balanced, then there is a much simpler solution; get up and find a different table. When the player pool is large, table selection will beat balanced poker every day of the week.

As you reach higher limits, where the player pool is small, and your opponents are very tough, working on GTO can become much more important.

Spend time thinking about all the variables about steal and showdown equity, and which situations they apply.

How Much is Enough?

It depends... LDO

How much do I have to play a stake before I can move up?

When you can exploit the player pool at your stake, you are able to beat the stake, so you should play it. You can move up to the next level if you are bankrolled and can also exploit the player pool. In short: Play any stake where you are sufficiently bankrolled and can exploit the majority of players you play against.

How much money is enough for a bankroll?

Are you withdrawing money? How severe are the consequences of losing? Are you opposed to moving down?

The less you are withdrawing money, the smaller your consequences of losing are and the less you care about moving down - then the smaller your bankroll needs to be and the more aggressive you can be with your bankroll. The opposite applies the more you need to withdraw, the bigger the consequences of failure are and the more unwilling you are to move down. So answer these questions honestly and then choose an amount in which you feel comfortable for your bankroll.

For me personally right now, I don't have to withdraw money, I have a job, and I don't care about moving down so 50 buyins for sngs and 25 buyins for cash games seems like a fair number to me.

How much study time is enough?

If you are starting out study more! The better you get, the more you should play. Even if you are crushing, still spend some time studying every week to keep sharp. So, the less you are winning, the more you should study, and the more you are winning the more you should play.

Wet Boards

A coordinated suited board is typically considered to be a wet board.

Note that a board texture only means something when we think about our opponents range and how he thinks about our range.

So, instead of thinking about 'wet boards' think 'does this board help or hurt villains range?'

Small percentages

They add up! Think about how to add a few bb's to your valuebets and a subtract a few bbs from your bluffs, over time this will add a lot to your bottom line.

2013
Play poker, 50hours/mo, HUSNG, Zoom, 6maxSNG - I'm going to focus on mainly 6max SNGS this year and play HUSNG and Zoom Cash when I'm short on time.
Read 11 poker books - 10 pages a day
Learn more Korean, especially vocab - 5 pages a day
Do more private lessons teaching English - currently have 4 hours a week, ideally want 15 a week
Get fit by swimming, basketball, lifting and playing squash. - While I am on this new year lemon detox, just going to lift weights at home
Concentrate on one thing at a time - Make a list and cross it off one my one - yep
Poker hypnosis regularly - twice a week

Merry Christmas everyone!

It's now a good time to have a look back at 2012.

On reflection, this year, for me, was quite a hard one. Poker wise, I played a bit in Jan and Feb but then nothing until November. Played slightly more than 100,000 hands all year and that is because of the pace of zoom tables on stars. 

Looking back at my job in the first 3/4 of the year I really had grown to dislike working there and couldn't wait to leave, I had too many hours and not enough breaks. 

My new job I am happy with, the boss is great and the students are good. I got a new Visa and a new apartment, however this time the problem is now almost the opposite to the previous job. I have too little hours and too much time off; so I'm not making enough money. 

To try to supplement this I have started doing privates and also made my own tutor business @ LevelUpEng.com - any tips you have as to how I can improve the website let me know!

I read a couple of poker books and enjoyed generally not taking poker very seriously.

2013 will be a different story.

I plan on playing 3 types of games. Zoom 6max, 6max SNGs and HUSNGs. I plan on playing 50 hours a month. No profit goals, just plan on playing well and learning as much as I can about the SNG formats. I have only just recently ventured into SNGs with the encouragement of my former room-mate and good friend from back in Thailand. He completely crushes SNGs and MTTs and has done so consistently for the last 7 years and is helping me out with the transition.

I also plan on listening to Elliot Roe's poker hypnosis MP3 twice a week, I have listened to it quite a lot and it really does help. I don't think I need to listen to it before EVERY session, but I think at least 5 times a month will be good to get the thoughts embedded into my subconscious. I find this helps other things outside of poker too, so if I have a good month of poker thanks to a clearer mindset I will book a one to one with Elliot.

I already have the following but I haven't got around to reading them, so in 2013 I am going to read and review the following books: Playing the Player by Miller, Easy Game 3 by Baluga, Tournament Secrets by Little, Expert Heads Up by Tipton, Poker Hero by Rossen, Dynamic FR Poker by Splitsuit, HUNLHE by Moshman, Math of Holdem by Moshman, Quantum Poker by SixPeppers, Philosophy of poker by HaseebQ (free book from his website) and Reading Poker Tells by Elwood.

That's 11 books in 12 months, a fairly easy task. I am not sure of the order I will go in but I think the ones which look the most promising are Quantum Poker, Expert Heads-up, Tournament Secrets, The Poker Hero and Playing the Player. So I will start with those in some kind of order TBD!

That reminds me, I need to focus on ONE TASK at a time. I have a habit of multi-tasking and that is actually very very bad for learning and productivity. I'm the type of guy that opens youtube then right click open in new tab every video I want to watch and then let them load all at once. Problem is, once they have loaded, then I begin watching one, I see related videos and open a bunch of those in a new tab. Move on to next video and do the same, 5 hours later I'm still watching various random youtube videos.... a majority of which I had no intention of watching in the first place. Sound familiar...?

A list is better. You attack each single item on the list with 100% concentration and then cross it off and move on to the next item with 100% concentration. This is something I am working on.

Heath wise, my health has been poor in 2012. My Diet has been immense, food wise. On the other hand, which is far worse and hence why my health has been poor, I drank way way way too much. I think this is getting to be a problem around my gut again (the dreaded beer belly) so my Girlfriend and I are planning on a 100 days diet (...100 days, it's a Korean thing, trust me..) no alcohol, no eating after 8pm and lots of exercise. We can stick to our same diet as we eat very well, lots of fresh fruit, veg, meat and herbs and spices in our daily diet. We do eat some carbs, like brown rice, kimbap and bananas, but that is fine in the bigger picture since we're cutting out alcohol and starting to exercise. Since she can't swim or play basketball to save her life, we're going to take up squash - a game I have never played before, and that she is quite proficient in - so we can get fit together. We have some dumbbells at home so we're going to use them more too.

On the plus side for health, in early November I quit smoking cold turkey and haven't touched one since. I am starting to feel my lungs really open up, and I no longer have that smokers cough that used to accompany me to the bathroom every morning. In 2013 I plan on helping my cardio out with swimming and basketball on a regular basis, it's also a fairly good excuse to spend some time away from my gf who is ever present these days. I Love her to bits but 24/7 of woman company becomes quite tedious. Nod if you know exactly what I'm talking about here..

Other non poker goals will be to learn more Korean. I have had tutoring in 2012 and now a live in Korean GF so my Korean is much better. I have the 3 books in the Korean Made Easy Series and am now 1 and a half books through. I plan on getting through all three books and then expanding on my vocabulary with some vocab books. I'm at the point now where I can read everything, but have no idea what I am reading. By that I mean I can see a word, and sound it out phonetically, but have to frame of reference as to what most words are or mean. Take this english sounding word 'newpockom'. You call all read this and sound it out, new-pock-om, but you have no idea what it means, because I made it up. For me, this is what Korean feels like at the moment, aside from basic conversation. I am reading words correctly, so now I need to understand what exactly it is I am referring to with my words.

Anyway PEACE

And don't forget this Christmas cracker I prepared for Santa yesterday

So Cliffs

2012:
Meh overall
Had a bad job for 80% of the year
Quit smoking
Read a few books
Drank too much
Ate healthily
Learned a bit of korean
Got a new good job
Started a tutor business

2013
Play poker, 50hours/mo, HUSNG, Zoom, 6maxSNG
Read 11 poker books
Learn more Korean, especially vocab
Do more private lessons teaching English
Get fit by swimming, basketball, lifting and playing squash.
Concentrate on one thing at a time - Make a list and cross it off one my one
Poker hypnosis regularly

for those trying times of life.//

more later.. 

played zoom again today, up 11 buyins this session, ship ship

Run good. 

Here is a hand I played today

MP is 13/13/7 over 314 hands - obv nittier side of TAG and more on the aggressive side NAG? Nitty AGgro? lol whatever)
BB is unknown 2 hands 100/0/100 (he 3bet twice of the two occasions, essentially meaningless for me though)

BTN: $25.00
Hero (SB): $53.64
BB: $20.00
UTG: $26.08
MP: $38.09
CO: $15.52

Pre Flop: ($0.35) Hero is SB with 9 8
1 fold, MP raises to $0.75, 2 folds, Hero calls $0.65

Here my thinking is that he is going to be FoF on flop I can check raise a lot of boards (with semi bluffs as well as pure bluffs) and also make disguised hands like straights and flushes, I do not like that I am OOP, but since we are 150bb effective I do not mind seeing a flop here...

BB raises to $2.50, MP calls $1.75, Hero calls $1.75

I think this is a call for the fact it is $1 to call into a $5.75 pot, I still think MP is strong, I have no idea about BB as a player I assume he is weak as shorter stacked and raising too small given the action, though I'm sure he has what he thinks is a good hand. A big change in my thoughts is to play more fit or fold on the flop myself... I put BB on any broadways and larger pairs  TT+ and MP now with the exact opening range he had before given stack sizes and his position...

Flop: ($7.50) 8 9 A(3 players)
Hero checks, BB checks, MP bets $2.00, Hero calls $2, BB calls $2

Flop is very nice for my hand and feels awesome. I check expecting BB to bet almost everytime, with the intention of C/R large and playing for stacks. To my surprise BB checks and MP bets small. This bet is odd. I am confident I am ahead and while I contemplate raising I still think calling and hoping for some spew on the behalf of BB is the best play here. I call and BB surprises me again by neither folding nor raising but calling too. For me I think that BB's range changes hereto weaker Aces, random draws, including gutters and pairs TT+ under and Aces. MPs range is again the same as BB in my eyes - weaker Aces, gutshot draws (all his broadway hands), and pairs TT+. Confident I am ahead here given the strange action and betsizes.

Turn: ($13.50) 2(3 players)
Hero checks, BB checks, MP bets $3.50, Hero calls $3.50, BB calls $3.50

Blank falls and nothing changes from my perspective. I don't think A9 or A8 are in neither MP nor BB's range here very often, maybe less than 1/50th of the time as there are only 2 combos of A9spades and diamonds remaining . AA is still in both of their ranges but there are only 6 combos of those hands, and they have played their hands way way waaaaay too passively for me to think AA exists here. There are only one combo each of 88 and 99, so while I could donk here, but I feel I am over-repping my hand by doing so and any Ace hand will begin to think something is up. Given the pot is multiway players know that stack off ranges become stronger with more players. I am confused by the small bet here because if I had a good or bad hand I would be putting way more money in the pot (for bigger value when going for value and for more fold equity when bluffing). Still seems like a decent Ax hand which is unsure of what to do but would hate to have bet nothing only for a 7 to peel and then be confused when bet into.. anyway, I check, BB checks and MP bets small. We both call

River: ($24.00) 8(3 players)
Hero bets $13.10, BB folds, MP raises to $30.09

near perfect river card falls (the 9 would have been better). I bet enough to cover BB for value, expecting him to never fold any Ax hand he has. He folds to my surprise, and to even more of my surprise MP ships.

Thoughts on his hand? What range do you put him on here? Does he ever ship with worse here?

Since I quit poker full time and taught English I've hardly played a hand of poker in the past 15 months.

I have read a couple of books (Raisers Edge, Analytical No Limit Holdem, Poker Perspectives and Playing the Player to name a few) but I haven't been motivated to play or really had the time.

Recently I started my new teaching job and now I have more free time than my previous teaching job.

I  have been playing for about a month now.
Today I had the best session for a long time (in fact maybe ever in terms of big blinds won)
I managed to ship 10bis in a little over 1000 hands for some great run good

So far this month I've played about 55k hands of zoom (mostly 10nl, now 25nl) and have been winning at just over 5bb/100

however my hourly rate is low due to the small stakes I play, and after seeing the great run of form that Sphinx_1 has been having, and from hearing jamiestaples comment about MTT's having a higher hourly I am curious about trying MTTs.

Anyways, peace 

SOME MORE POKER ADVICE…
I love all of the posts that say disregard everthing I did before I got check raised all in on the river and just tell me what to do now. Its like, “hey Dad its me billy and im in jail. Don’t ask me why I got drunk (standard). Don’t ask me why I drove (yawn). Don’t ask me how my car ended up in a 7-11 (meh). Just tell me how to keep from getting buttfuqqed tonight.

The truth is the beginning of the hand is the MOST important part…BY FAR THE MOST IMPORTANT PART. Just like w/ 9 ball every shot sets up the next shot(s). 

Heres what I do:
1. I look around the room and figure out which table I want to be at
2. I sit down and buy in for the amount of the the loosest player at the table
3. If I don’t know anybody I buy in for 70 BB’s
4. I watch very closely and try to come up w/ an individual plan for how im going to break every player at the table. The plan includes a lot of factors but im really keen on whether the player is a “fit or fold” type, what the players weakest holding they’ll go broke with are, what the player is capable of in regards to running bluffs and how many bets the player needs to see before he considers a bet “significant”
5. Now I might add more money…a lot more money.

Notes: 4c5c is “any two cards”. Trouble hands go up in value once the money gets really deep. If your plan is to raise in position and then pick up the pot on the flop be sure youre in w/ an opponent who will go along with that plan. If your plan is to call out of the BB, flop a hand and then felt your opponent be sure youre in w/ an opponent who will go along with that plan. 

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showpost.php?p=9927892&postcount=1

Thanks for the comments in my last blog, they were really helpful.

I now have a new job in a great school which is operated by British owners and I have all British co-workers, so I am stoked and have decided I am staying in Korea!

Some plans I have for now:

- find new apartment near new school
- contribute to a new website called how2holdem.com and move my blog to there
- get some private lessons in guitar and mathematics (so I can read the Quantum Poker book properly)
- read Johnathan Little tournament book and make notes, read the new book Quantum Poker by sixpeppers and make notes, read the exciting looking Reading Poker Tells by zachery and make notes
- eat more kale and coconut oil