Back To The Trap House

How to 3bet the right way in PLO

I don't remember if I posted this or not. I took these notes from the PLO Quickpro program KasinoKrime made. It really has a lot of good information. Don't believe me?

I was playing on Carbon at 10/25 and ran into this player and we kind of got into a cock measuring contest and challenged each other to HU. Well, we ended up skyping and apparently he took 4th in the 10K horse WCOOP a few years back but didn't manage his money too well and is now back to square one. Even Trap Stars have to grind back up from the micros! Think about it, this guy made almost a mill playing cards and now he has to play micro PLO, which he said is extremely profitable. 

We've decided to join forces and break down the play at those stakes. Stay tuned for a video series......Not really but I'm sure it would make a good on. Anyways, he said that he uses the PLO Quickpro program for his PLO information and his backer does too! It won't be long before it's the #1 PLO resource on the net.

Even the regs make huge mistakes playing PLO. It's not like NL when you run into a good player you get frustrated because he or she never gives anything away. In PLO the equities run so close together and everyone is just learning it that everyone has a really good chance of being good. Johnny (KasinoKrime) told me 3 years ago that PLO is the place to be and some NL players are just now realizing that. There are some general rules that will help you with pre flop hand selection. As always position is everything and even more so in PLO. You can really get out of hand in the HJ and Button but in the SB and BB play like a super nit.

You can even run like god! I have a few examples of this. I forgot the guys name but he was the talk of that website where they track peoples earnings. I guess the story goes that this guy would deposit $500 at a time playing 50-100PLO and would bust it. About the 6th time he does this he keeps stake jumping and runs it up to a cool mill!

On a smaller scale by buddy Tyson who doesn't play much poker but hangs out with us degens deposited $50 on Bovada. Tyson is a sharp guy and does a lot of work. He is KasinoKrimes best friend so I'm sure some of that PLO wisdom has rubber off but he's never really put any type of volume in.

Anyways, he wasn't on there to grind, just have fun so he kept jumping stakes and ran $50 into $1400 playing $50, $100 and $200 PLO! If you can grind up to 100 and 200PLO and be decent you can make a nice side income. It's just so soft. Tyson also entered the weekly 100k and took 4th for $4900! Not a bad week for him.

On Carbon theres NL Omaha. Players go crazy and look for any type of draw to run it. When I grind up to about 5k I think I will make 50PLO my main level and just bum hunt 100PLO and 200PLO. I can't wait! Hopefully I will work out all my major leaks by the WSOP

Heres the link to the article I put onto my blogger account. I may have posted it before but I don't remember. It got mad props on 2+2! The notes don't do it justice. I would jump on to Quickpro. It's worth every penny and then some

How to Three Bet in PLO

It doesn't seem like the space bar is working on this website.

Anyways, I'm wondering if a pre and post session review is too much. My blog will be there all the time and may annoy people. I'll try it and see what happens but I think it will be an interesting thing to watch unfold whether I grind through the stakes or go bust again. You can see what went right or what went wrong. I think for now I will do as planned and if people complain will adjust from that point on.

I played FR tonight. I got really bored mid session. I also feel like I got coolered a few times but I don't like blaming it on that when I lose a big pot. One hand I opened KQs UTG FR which is not profitable. Eff stacks are $25. I opened to $1. MP flatted me and flop came out K96r. I C/C. I just didn't feel comfortable firing three streets OOP with KQ. Turn brought a Q and I decided to lead out and I think if I remember correctly MP shoved on me I called and he flipped over KK. Well Played.

Theres a few things I didn't like. The first was that when I got dealt the hand I overrode basic poker knowledge and intuition. You know that voice that says stop being a pussy sometimes? Or convinces you to raise or call because you can always "Outplay" them post flop? Yeah that voice started chirping and I listened. 

That hand just isn't likely to hold up against 8 other players. I will be OOP a lot and it's easy for someone to bluff me and blow my equity share out of the pot. I'm glad I played it though because I can post it here and get laughed at by you guys so maybe I won't do it again for a while. Playing KQs UTG in FR is kind of like cocaine. You do it every once in a while and when you do sometimes it's fun but most of the time it's just not worth it. The next day you're going to feel like shit about it. Sometimes cool stuff happens but most of the time you aren't going have as much fun playing it (Or doing it) as you tell yourself you are. When you do win with it against lets say, a hand like AK, you feel dirty. Like that girl you wouldn't have slept with unless you were under the influence but did anyways. That sounded a lot funnier in my head.

Anyways, the other hand I ran a J high flush into a K high flush with the Q on the board against rando. Thats fine. I did a pretty good job not looking at my cashier cage until this session. I think I will continue avoiding the cashier cage. I just kind of wanted to see how quickly my bonus released or my rakeback paid into my acct. I think I will be fine not looking at it from here on out.

Besides that KQs hand I didn't spew really. I was playing a guy HU and stacked off w/ 99 AIPF and gave him the momentum back which kind of bothered me. There was an Aggro dynamic and I was surprised he flipped up QQ. I started a table, which is what you should do at the micros if you want to make money. Starting tables attracts the biggest fish and they don't know how to play HU. They know they have to play aggressively but that comes out in the form of spewing. What more could you want than a micro or small stakes fish HU?

I was running him over and he only had 40bb's left and I feel like he was getting flustered and would've stacked off with lots of hands other than premiums like 22-88, random Ax hands like A5-AT and some of the KX.. I guess it's not terrible but I could've just grinded him down slowly instead. I would've gotten his entire stack but instead he took about 65bb's from me and dipped out. 

I didn't note take very well this session. Some guy started rambling about how fucked up our government is and political stuff. I always enjoy making fun of these types of people because they never do anything. They blame the government for everything but they never do anything about it.

I agree, there are lots of fucked up things about our government and others around the world but if you know so much than go make a difference. The complainers just complain and now that theres FB they just complain on FB. That's never done a thing in this world.

I tend to not get involved in any type of political convos but I started needling him. Basically I lost my focus a bit this session. Thats ok tho. I need to go get more snacks. I don't have enough food in the house. I was playing a bit hungry. 

This girl I kind of was dating stopped by briefly. We hooked up and I've hung out with her a bit but nothing serious. Here's something I noticed about girls that most guys, the ones that have a hard time getting girls, have a hard time coming to terms with.

When you meet a girl. Well, when you meet every girl who is worth pursuing. There are several guys in pursuit of her. Thats obvious. 

But where some of you get lost and upset is that there will always be other guys around until you make a choice and step up. Basically, what a girl does is get the attention of several guys at once. Lets say in a month's time 10 guys approach this girl and she gives all 10 her number. Of the 10 maybe she will respond to all of them at least once. That number begins to go down and after maybe another month shes only responded to 5. Of those 5 she's only consistently talking to 2-3.

And those 2-3 she's going to pick one. Which one will she pick? The one who steps it up. Have you ever been that guy who gets sporadic text messages back or sometimes she answers the phone or calls back? Well, shes on the fence about you and she probably has another guy or she's using you for attention. If she's on the fence then you have to be a little more aggressive or do something to stick out.

Girls are so indecisive, even with guys, so you have to make the choice for her. Most guys get upset when they find out theres another guy but wake the fuck up. Theres always another guy. And if you piss her off then another guy will suddenly appear out of no where. Where'd that guy come from? Well it's not like when you two are together she stops getting hit on. She gets hit on it's just that she respects you enough to turn them down but that all changes when things start going south.

So, remember, whenever you're in putsuit there's always multiple guys in pursuit and the hotter and cooler she is the more dudes there are jockying for position.

So this chick. I know she's got other guys floating around. How? Her betting patterns. She's got a few tells also that give it away.

But that's ok. I won't lose my composure and spew my stack to her which would be the equivalent of getting mad and calling her out. The jealous guy card works on fat chicks but not on hot girls. They'll just go to there friends and talk about how crazy you are. This girl is hot and young with a nice set of tits and a fat ass and she likes to get high so I can't go all Bad aggro fish on her but I also can't be one of those loose passive nitty old guys who only play AK+ and blame there problems on the government not giving them social security.

So I'll just let her think she's some European super LAG until she get's a little too fancy and stacks off with middle pair when I flop top set. She'll get impatient and call my 3bet oop with T8s or something along those lines....

The reason I want to play as many different games as possible is that I heard a long time ago that playing one form of poker helps you with other games. It helps you see the other games in a new light but there is something to the fact that the best players in the world play all the games. Of course there has to be consistent themes that apply to all forms of poker. I know what I want to be, a poker player. Not just an online 6 max player or mid stakes FR Pro or live player. I want to be a poker player.
Tonight I hopped on the waiting list for FR and PLO. Which ever one came first I would jump into. I sat down at a FR table. A lot of players find it boring but there's still a lot to learn. I have done a bunch of work learning FR and played a lot of live FR. It's probably my strongest game at the moment between how many hands I have put online playing FR and live.
I should be able to crush online low stakes FR but only time will tell. I'll let you know how it goes. Here is what I will focus on tonight.
-Note taking. I can always improve this aspect of my game and if you're honest with yourself so can you too. By taking good notes it forces you to go through your progressions. In football a Quarterbacks progressions or read are the different levels of the defense. A good QB is patient enough to let the play develop and looks for deep ball first, which is the lowest percentage play but does so many different things to a defense. The second level is between 10-20 yards but I'm not a 100% sure. Then there are the check downs or short passes.
So when you play cards your first read is position, then your hand, stack sizes and then how many opponents in the pot. These reads change around depending on the situation but they are surely your first reads. 
Thats the tough thing people have a hard time grasping. The values and the numbers are always shifting. So when you try to learn or teach poker people take everything as an absolute when it actually always depends. You can tell where a player's at mentally when you say "It depends." They get really frustrated and can't really grasp what you're talking about.
By taking good notes you force yourself to go through those reads over and over and over again until you begin to shave off milliseconds off of your thinking process. The faster you can think the more decisions you can make and the more decisions you can make the more information you can take in at once. The more information you take in the more stuff you begin to notice that other peoples dont't or that you never picked up before.
Think about it. It happens on a small scale all the time when you play a new video game or watch a new movie. When you play again or watch again you begin to notice things you never did before. You notice more and more all the time.
So by learning you're changing your brain chemistry to take in more and more information. I know this because I do a lot of reading on this stuff and I kind of have to. I'm a psychology major and understanding how the brain works and takes in information is definitely a must in that field.
Kind of got side tracked there but back to what I should be working on this session.
This post is already long so I'll just list them.
-Value Betting -Board Texture
Thats all low stakes live poker and micro and small stakes online is. Learning to Value bet better and bankroll management.

I split my sessions into 2 different ones today. I had to watch my nephews so it was hard to concentrate during one and then when I finally got some alone time with my imac I started to grow tired. I did do some good things though that proves to myself that I am moving forward.
-I wasn't thinking of past wins or losses. I wasn't chasing losses and I didn't feel entitled or overconfident during the session.
- I did a good job focusing on the fundamentals of poker instead of trying to double up or taking anything personally and going after a specific player. I didn't just use blanket statements in my head when labeling players as in "He's a fish, my middle pair must be good" and then stack off and lose then tilt.
- I thought about specific ranges and how each part is different from the others. I thought about frequencies. I didn't get gun shy. I went with my reads and didn't get frustrated if they didn't work. 
- I held my Fancy Play Syndrome in check.The micros and Low Stakes are all about mastering value betting and bankroll management as well as getting better at board texture and bet sizing. Not spewing is a big one too or even just not losing. The rake is so high at micro and small stakes that a big part of your profits is not losing or spewing. People don't realize that with all of the pitfalls in poker not losing is actually winning in a big way. I learned that from a good friend of mine who made it all the way up to high stakes. People called him a nit but he has a great point. You can't just give stacks away which I used to do and still do sometimes but not as often as I used to.
- Everything was well thought out and deliberate. I didn't make any erratic plays. I made a few mistakes in PLO but thats to be expected since I have yet to apply the knowledge I've learned from Quickpro consistently.
- My focus didn't drift towards money or riches. All I was focused on was making profitable plays and grinding. I understand how poker looks when drawn out. Of course I will clearly understand this until I go on a wicked downswing. Until then I feel like I have a solid understanding of how the game is supposed to flow if you're a solid winning player.
- I like the feel of Carbon Poker as well as the RB and VIP program. I look forward to grinding regularly between school and my nephews and of course girls. It feels great to be able to jump back into the game with ease and put in lots of mini sessions. I also will be smoking a lot more weed again. I always do when I play internet poker. If you haven't I would suggest a strong sativa. If you read about Sativa's they spur creativity and help with focus which of course goes hand in hand with poker. I am so calm when I have my pipe and an endless amount of weed next to me with head phones blaring and a bunch of tables fired up. It's soooooo theraputic. Nothing else matters in the world at that point in time. It puts a smile on my face thinking of it : )
- I quit well. I started to feel tired and although there was a fishy/spewy player at my table I didn't try to hero my way through the session and go out of my way to get into pots with him. I waited patiently for my spots and made some solid plays against him. In the past my degen excuse would always be "I'm better than him. I need to tough it out. Thats what poker players do." Only to spew a few stacks to the fish and go to sleep angry and upset. That cycle with trigger other negative cycles such as eating bad or getting down on myself
What I didn't do so well:
- A few PLO spots I spewed into some very strong plays such as Check Raises on wet board textures W/ weak Two Pairs and no BD equity. Getting a hang of the ranges will take time but I am not too upset with myself about this one.
- I could have taken better notes and paid much better attention overall. There were a few instances where I caught myself browsing the internet. It wasn't ruining my game but more so preventing it from picking up some more dead money lying around.
- I didn't pay as much attention as I should have. There weren't enough players with notes when I left the tables. 
- I think with my state of mind I probably should've been playing FR instead of 6max and PLO. My brain wasn't firing on all cylinders and FR is my most comfortable game. I could have spent more time in my B game practicing grinding and not losing if I played more FR. 6 Max requires my full mental capacity and I wasn't crisp today.

All in all I liked how everything felt. I didn't tilt after making pour plays in PLO and I quit well. Think about it. How many times have you played a 5-8 hour session only to begin to feel tired during the 8th hour. Your stack hasn't fluctuated up or down too much but lets just say you're barely up 1 buy in, which is good, but unsatisfying to most people only to spew that profit and more by making some strange erratic play at the end of the night. Think about that. You spent 8 hours slowly making solid moves and building your bankroll only to spew in the last 10 minutes. That was the story of my poker career amongst other things but Mr. Hyde would only show up for 10 minutes a session! Dr. Jekyll would hold it down the rest but he isn't about to talk shit to Mr. Hyde now is he? Or is it the other way around?
Who the fuck knows. Good Night!

As far as mindset stuff goes I've read or heard many times you have to go through some sort of pre session routine. I think this applies to all types of competition. I guess it triggers something that leads to peak performance or the zone.

I'm in a positive psychology class this semester and my teacher specializes in sports psychology. I will try and ask him for some good books or tricks and post them here. In the mean time I will do my best with my own variation. I think thats one of my biggest leaks. When poker is an addiction it becomes impulsive and you're more likely to spew just jumping in there. I have done it many many times now only to turn my computer off or pace around a casino at the end of a session down 3-4 buy ins in little to no time.

With each session I will write out a few things to focus on before jumping in. There are a few rules that I would like to master and build as my base mental foundation before every session. Whether these work or not were about to find out. These are what I have been thinking of the past few days.

-Every pre session review will be posted on here. I'm getting better at writing things down but those notes are much more likely to get mixed up and hardly ever looked at. At least here there will be a story that can be tracked. It doesn't have to be a long paragraph some of my pre session notes will simply be goals or what to focus on. Others will be much more in depth.

-Post session review will be the same thing but it has to be done every session no exceptions. If you want to do a better job with studying away from the tables what has worked for me is thinking of it as part of the game. They aren't two separate parts which is how I thought of it in the past. I would sprint through studying just to get to playing only to spew and berate myself. If you have anything to add please do so. I need all the help I can get.

-After writing the pre session review comes the hardest part, being honest with myself about playing. Just because I write one doesn't mean that I will play. If something doesn't feel write I won't play or I may try a few hands and if I feel an emotional spew coming on I will stop immediately. I'll write about why I didn't feel up to playing. This is much harder to do live because I could get a ride somewhere and then something may throw me on tilt on the way. It doesn't happen that often but it has and when I have followed through on playing then I have spewed.

What I would like to focus on for this upcoming session is overconfidence, bet sizing and value betting. They are both very broad and are different for just about everyone. For me overconfidence is talking myself up in my head before a session and then following that up with really thin value betting, hero calls and bad bluffs. When I am overconfident my focus goes from the details in the game to how great I am or how much better I am then the other players at the table. You can get it very easily and don't even have to be that great to demonstrate this type of behavior. In live players you'll know they have it when they say "I've been playing for years". Well that doesn't mean a thing right? A lot of us have been playing the wrong way for many years.

A good way to get your focus up is paying attention to bet sizing on different board textures. If you're always asking yourself a question about bet sizing and board texture then you won't have time to browse the internet or think about how cool you are. Eventually I think this becomes habit from my observations of watching players better than I am.

Right now it's not important to make a ton of money. It's really important for me to get used to the software on Carbon. I will also need to get better at note taking and practice fundamentals. Overtime I will add tables. For now I think 2 tables for all games will be fine until I note most of the reg's. That will take as long as I want it to depending on how many sessions I'm able to put in.

So I guess thats it for now. Also important for me to say that I don't have to jump right into a session. If something comes up I will do that first or if I want to think about it first thats even better than just impulsively jumping into a game. Right now I have to watch my nephews so as soon as I have a moment to sneak away for 30-60 minutes I will

I decided to get back onto the wild world of the internet. I deposited some money onto Carbon Poker. I am really really excited. I will continue to play live because it is so soft but to keep getting better I have to pay online and improving my mindset.

I decided since I want to be an all around good poker player that I will play 3 different games. Each game will depend on my mental state at the time. At my sharpest mental state I will play PLO. That is what I will start sessions with. I need to be at my best since I haven't put in a ton of volume yet. There is a lot to keep track of and still a lot for me to learn. I can finally apply what I learned from the PLO Quickpro program. I think after you see what I can do you'll want to jump in there too. PLO is still soft and I think getting back onto the internet before all the regulation happens is extremely important. There will be a second boom and I should have a clear advantage by playing now instead of waiting. I am 2 tabling it right now. My goal is to 6 table in 3 months. So every 2 months add a table once I become more comfortable.

When I feel like I am slipping into my B game I will switch to 6 max NL. I have put in a good amount of time studying 6 max theory but I could still use more work. I think I am profitable enough to win all the way up to 200 6 max but thats not where I will start. I am going to grind all the way up from 25NL

When I begin to get tired but feel I can still play well I will play FR. That is where I got my start and have the most experience. I have also done the most theory work there as well as put in the most volume. Most of the concepts are second nature to me and it will keep my live poker skills sharp.

This will all happen in a span of 5-8 hours. I would like to put in 30 hours a week at the tables and now I am able to do so with ease! Ah I am so excited to be playing online again! I can get home, eat dinner, load a few bowls and just zone out for a while. It's very therapeutic for me and a great way to relax and unwind.

The reason I will do it this way is because I want to become a great POKER player, not just a GREAT NL player. By playing several different games ever session I should notice things I never did before in these other games. If you are familiar with how the brain adapts to it's environment you will understand. I will explain briefly. In a BIO class many moons ago we watched a video on London Cab drivers. The streets of London are the most unorganized in the world so the cabbies would have to commit everything to memory. An area of their brain grew because of this because the cabbies would have to draw on it much more often than the average person.

This is you when you consciously apply concepts learned in poker to the tables. Instead of saying, I want to win money, say, I want to value bet a lot better or I want to get more value from my bluffs or I want to learn how to three bet regs in FR better.

So there you have it. I am back. Look for me on Carbon under the name ISTACKDEADPEOPLE as in, I've got a 6th sense, I stack dead people. Its a mad lib from a rap song but I plan on putting it to good use. I will give frequent updates and analysis of my play after every session. I think I will use this blog as my post and pre session wrap ups. Routine is important and so are positive cycles. 

I always welcome critique on my blog. If anything seems off please let me know.

I spewed the last two sessions and I couldn't figure out why exactly. When you start to lose its a great excuse to sit back and do work away from the table to prevent further leaks. You have to create a positive cycle out of poker. Kind of like Lather. wash. rinse. repeat but with chips and money. In the past I would sit there and I couldn't wait to get back to playing. I'd get back to playing and nothing would change. I'd just play angry. 

It wasn't until my biggest spew where I finally took a look in the mirror and began to hold myself accountable for what I had done. I was so angry at other people because they hadn't made me into a great player I finally realized that this game isn't complicated. You just have to put in the time away from the table, especially in this day in age. If I was going to dig myself out of that hole and get back on track I would have to fix a lot in my game. 

That is where I discovered these cycles. When shit hits the fan you don't throw more shit at it. You turn the fan off and clean yourself off and take a shower. You open the fan and clean the blades. You clean the people up around you. Put the fan back together and get back to work!

So in a losing cycle, until I have realistically explored every area there is to this game to the point where I just have to do volume, it's best to take a step back, breathe and work on away the table stuff. That is when I realized there are triggers that lead you to playing less than your A and B game and when this happens you should have a back up plan or a default game to revert to.

Before you do that you have to be clear as to what you do specifically in those parts of your game so you recognize when you begin to slip into your B game. Once you start slipping into your C game is when you should shutting things down and calling it a night. The stamina you have for each level is up to you consciously practicing and adding things to those parts.

For example, depending on my day, what I've eaten and if I've worked out or not I can probably do 4-5 hours in my A game and another 4-5 in my B game.  Thats a solid 10 hours but only if I have eaten well and am in a good mental state. There may be some days where you can only spend 1-2 hours in each. You have to be honest with yourself, especially live. Since I don't have a car I have to make an honest decision before every session. I have to hitch rides, take the light rail, take the bus and sometimes take a cab is things get shady. Until the internet comes back thats what I will have to do and even when it does I will still do it because I'm not sure if I am fully profitable on the internet yet. I feel like I will be but theres no way to test it.

So for anyone interested in reading here is my A game and B game,, what makes up each part and when I should quit. It's important to know that this is personalized to me. If you want one you have to do one for yourself. You may learn a couple things but poker isn't meant to be learned through a manual. You have to apply a lot of the knowledge. Learning about yourself is an ongoing journey so even when you get comfortable you have to continually add to it.

A Game: When I'm playing my A game my confidence is at its highest point. This can also be dangerous because there is such thing as overconfidence.

What is overconfidence? When you teeter on the brink of overconfidence you begin to lose sight of what makes you money which is not focusing on the money. Instead of saying I'm going to win X amount of dollars every session you should have a mini goal in mind such as value betting better or understanding board texture. When you're overconfident you slowly begin to widen your range and making fundamental errors. Since you're better than everyone then you don't have to focus on position or domination theory, you can outplay them postflop, right?

The math still applies the same for you as it does for everyone else. Calling KTos in the SB to a MP raise against a player you're better than is still a losing play in the long run no matter how good you are. Of course there are situations where you should widen your range but it has to be player specific.

For example, there are players in this 2/5 game I am going to start widening my three-betting range against because they call three-bets super wide in certain spots. What spots are those that I can do this? Good question. I don't know yet. Before I start three-betting them with a wider range I should be constructing that range at home. I think I can throw AJ, AQ and maybe ATs but I haven't decided. I can also throw in 77-99 because getting heads up against those types is hugely profitable because they bloat pots only to give up on them later. So three-betting them with a wider pre flop range for isolation and value purposes will create excellent situations for me post flop since I can hand read better than them.

But when you start calling with too many hands just because you think you're better is a great way to light money on fire.

What else is there to add to my A game? I'm also thinking clearly. I can remember hands from previous sessions with ease. I'm in a good mood and very optimistic about life in general. I can bluff with confidence and am going through my mental check list as the hand develops.

My mental check list is basically what you should be aware of throughout the hand. What are they? How many players to the flop, what position is the raise coming from and who raised as well as stack sizes and then my hand.

When it goes to the flop the first thing I look at is the person who raised pre flop and how his eyes interact with the board texture. I then look at the board texture and while also paying attention to the action. I then think about how it interacts with my hand. If Im at my peak A game my own hand matters less especially if I pick up a tell or am reading board texture well.

As the hand goes on your decisions should become easier and easier because players start bailing out and people will tell you what they have by betting and checking depending on the board.

It could be different for you depending on how advanced you are. At this point this is where I'm at in my game. If you're further along you may go through more but I think you have to master the ones I listed before moving on

Being optimistic about life is extremely important. Why? Well most players who play live poker sit there and complain about how bad their lives are. They blame the dealer for their bad play, are angry and don't hold themselves accountable. In their world, they are either running bad and it's the dealers fault or they're playing good.

It doesn't matter if they constantly break fundamental rules and limp/call with K9os. It's everyone else's fault and the world sucks.

Poker can be broken down into one basic thing: What ever your opponents do, you do the opposite and that's how the money will flow. This applies to a lot of things in the poker world. Good players are generally a little more optimistic about life. If they aren't then they can somehow drown out the negativity while playing.

I think it is much easier for me to work to be happy and optimistic about life and have it spill over in poker then it is to shut out emotional issues. It won't just help you in poker it will help you day to day.

Listen, I've come from a really well off family but they are no longer supporting me. Because of this I have to take the bus and I've noticed some things while riding the bus. The people on the bus are extremely negative about life in general. They always find something to complain about. It's the bus drivers fault for being late but hey, it's not the bus drivers fault that you're riding the bus, is it?

If you had a car you could be more efficient because you could get to places easier. It's a harsh thing to say but thats the reality. If you broke down the lifestyles of some of those people you would discover why didn't have cars which in turn means that it isn't the bus drivers fault you're late. You have a choice and so to the bus people. They can choose to be bitter and angry about life or they can realize that the choices you make will have a direct effect on how the world responds to you. The first and easiest thing you can choose is to be optimistic. When you're optimistic you see the world in a different light but it takes practice. If you've been raised in a negative environment it will be much easier for you to be negative and blame other people. It's taken me years to get to this point and it doesn't get any easier day to day.

There are things you can control and can't control. Being optimistic is the first step you take. It's crazy but it creates this energy around you and the world forms to you. If you take care of all the things you can control and life is still fucking you over then you truly do have bad luck. I challenge you to try this. When you think positive you create outs for yourself. There are plenty of self improvement people can do before it's someone else's fault. When the glass is always half full you don't have to wait for luck. Luck comes to you.Trust me. I've been through this. And it jumps out at me during everyday interactions with people. 

Heres a good example for you guys. I have some buddies who complain about not getting girls. They will blame the girls and call her a bitch or a buddy who allegedly cock blocked them but if you hung out with them on any given night the answer would surely jump out at you as to why they really aren't getting girls. What is it?

One buddy specifically is a straight up drunk. When he gets drunk he slurs his words and flails his arms around like a T-Rex by keeping his elbows in and his forearms out. He also smokes cigarettes and as the night goes on has terrible breath. It also doesn't help when his white heads begin to burst and can't walk straight. He also tells you the same story 10 times throughout the night with slight changes. The stories always change to paint him in a better light and others in a negative light. When he's sober he tells you the story again and again and it changes ever so slightly each time to his liking until it's the other persons fault.

Does this guy get girls? Yeah he does but not as many as he would if he didn't get so drunk. He's actually lost way more opportunities being wasted than he has ever gotten girls. It's sad and I've tried talking to him but he never wants to face the reality of the situation. He's happy being a drunk and anything that threatens that world he will shoot down and ignore. I've sat back and watched a girls body language and look at him in disgust as he drunkenly stumbles over and tries to talk to them. I've had to step in a few times and apologize for his behavior. He's creeped people out, inadvertently started fights, and gotten kicked out of bars. Sometimes all in the same night but hey, its their fault not his behavior.

But the story the next day is always the same. He got cock blocked by someone or the girl was a dumb bitch for not talking to him. He's not a bad looking guy but there have been plenty of instances where he's had a girl lined up only to have her leave him in disgust and annoyance.

In essence the people I ride with on the bus are drunk. They can't see the other side of things because they are always negative. They wait for luck to come to them by purchasing scratch off tickets and nothing ever goes their way. 

When you approach the world with optimism and hold yourself accountable it's the strangest thing but things start to go your way little by. So next time when you take a beat or have a big spew session instead of sitting their and blaming the bad play or the dealer look at what you could have done to avoid the situations or possibly play better.

95% of forum threads are started by people who either leave out information or haven't mastered the fundamentals. They look for justification in playing bad. A lot of the time it's people playing hands out of position or calling opens they had no business calling or ignoring the board texture and having their big pocket pairs get cracked by some weird two pair. Yeah, sure the villain should have never called an open with j9os but you shouldn't be stacking off with pocket AA in a 4 way pot on a J8T9 board after a raise and a re-raise.

I don't know everything there is to about life or poker. Neither does anyone else. All I do know is that when I have chosen to be in a good mood or mindset and ignored lifes small annoyances life has been much easier to navigate. I'm not talking about dumbing yourself down. Negative things will happen in life and at the poker table but you can choose how to approach it and it's much easier to handle with a positive attitude.

Thats enough for today. This post is long as fuck. It's also kind of gone of course. Next time I will continue to discuss what I think makes up my A game and also what your B game should be made up of

As I was getting dressed in my gym watching part of the steelers broncos game I overheard a guy say "huh, that's a surprise" when the broncos went into 1/2 time up.

But this wasn't a surprise and it happens every year in sports. Why? Well hind site is 20/20 and were being results oriented but here are the points I've been arguing up to the game. I even called a guy from a local game I play and told him I'd take his $1000 bet with the spread at 9. He was so sure as we played poker but sheepishly said he had to do more research. The bet never materialized and I'm not angry I missed an opportunity. Why?

Well I'm more stoked that I broke the matchup down correctly. Well sort of. I broke the matchup down correctly given the results but it wasn't perfect. It wasn't a gut feeling I had just a few things leading up to the game, and what I observed during the season that led me to believe the broncos would pull this one out in a low scoring affair..

Here was my reasoning which turned out right but was it for the wrong reasons? I had betonsports.com open and even had my credit card out of my wallet...

1. Steelers vaunted #1 defense and Dick Lebeau the defensive mastermind- well lets not forget the steelers have been out physicalled a few times a season. They got crushed by the Jekyll and Hyde ravens and pummeled by the one dimensional 49ers with no QB. The steelers defense also had trouble creating turnovers or getting sacks. Tebow does a great job throwing the ball away and not turning the ball over. The bills game you say? That was a diff scenario where Tebow was forced to throw the ball down the field in less then optimal conditions. They were playing from behind and had to basically abandon the spread option and forced the offense into one dimension. It's easy to get turnovers hen the other teams desperate and you know where he's looking to get the ball...

2. Injury- lets start with Ryan Clark an underrated field general. I kept hearing that polamalu will pick up the slack. Not so fast. Polamalu Clark relationship creates this illusion of speed. Clark calls the audibles so polamalu can fly around and take people's heads off. Polamalus fast but when you've got an extra set of eyes then you become freakishly fast.

Pouncy-the o line is one of the more underrated positions because you can't add stats to it. With no stats it takes the casual fantasy football fn out of the mix. The majority of people make their analysis through a fantasy football mindset, not a couches. You've just gone from having a center who has snapped you 1000+ balls to a backup who's snapped you a fraction of that. The feels going to be off just a little and it played out that way...I know I know we saw the game but bear with me. This was my thinking the whole way. This isn't to toot my own horn but will eventually lead into another blog post exploring a phenomenon not talked about enough....

Rashard mendenhall- this didn't prove to be that big of an issue but due to the "madden effect" people underestimate the importance of a feature back. Part of the reason they're dying out is because 1. They're injury prone 2. They have a short shelf life 3. Not every back can stay in there all three downs. You know why? Because most of them have trouble picking up their blocks. Mendemhall, while he didn't satisfy you fantasy fans this year, can probably pick up blocks and read blitzes better than issac red man. Correct me if I'm wrong but I think big Ben got pummeled...

Big Ben- Never mind his rape charges that never materialized. He's a cool player to watch I action. He's bigger then most TE's and is mobile as fuck! His band of street ball is one of my favorite things to watch. Yeah I know he's a big dumb ogre but the guy can play. The biggest part of his game is his mobility and improvisation.  The amount of time he holds on to the ball is criminal. He takes a ton of hits and is tough as nails. He was playing with a high ankle sprain which is one hell of an injury to play on. His mobility was limited and while he made a heroic effort towards the end he ultimately fell short.

You had had 4 key injuries on a 12-4 team and for some reason people still thought the broncos would get crushed. Now how did it play out?

Dick Lebeau, defensive innovator, played in a 0 personal ( correct me if I'm wrong about 0 personal) which means he had a safety play down to take away tebows running lanes and dared the man to beat them through the air. Tebow did just that.

Now I couldnt  have ever envisioned the game play out like it did so I'm not taking any credit for that but wow. How many more times can I doubt this Tebow guy? I'm not religious but there is something we can learn. No. It's not faith in god. It's faith in something. It's faith in yourself. It's faith in your preparation. So far my faith in my preparation away from the poker tables is slowly manifesting itself.

Now the hard part. I'm going to try and break down the broncos patriots game. Let's see if I turn into Mel kiper jr jr or have to go back to the lab. Also stay tuned for this strange phenomenon we all are aware of on poker forums called hero worship. It plays out in all areas of life especially so in sports. This hero worship can mentally block you from being able to make correct decisions if you bet sports or play fantasy football. I want to know how to overcome this hero worship and eventually use it as an edge 

please excuse my typos. I was typing fom my iPad at the gym....

Hey all,

I spewed pretty hard the other night and it really bothered me. Overall I was destroying the games, not from simply running good, but mostly from hand reading very well. I would like to share with you why I think I spewed and what put me into such a mentally fragile state. It's kind of fucked up and I need to stop doing it or I risk complete ruin of not just my poker game but myself. First I would like to tell you about another hand in the session....

This hand didn't trigger the spew but at some point in the hand I probably would've caught myself had I been mentally strong. It just goes to show you how important it is to have a strong mind/body connection and unless you're in good mental states you're costing yourself a lot of money.

There's this player who had just sat down named carter. I saw him call a $200 all in pre flop cold with ATos and win. He also mentioned he won $4k playing a tournament up in our local casinos. He seems very loose passive and will get taken to value town a lot. I hadn't seen him raise too much pre flop which is key in this hand. I was also semi-distracted in the hand playing on my phone and just mentally out of it the whole night. 

I have been doing a great job of only playing when I felt good up until this point. Before I go into the hand I just kind of realized another skill that separates winning poker players from losing ones. Taking the positive out of every situation and finding a way to win. How do I know this? Well, when I sit in these live games after putting a tremendous amount of study online and asking my friend Johnny for advice it jumps out at you. Live players complain about everything. They always blame others and never take responsibility for their own mistakes in the hand. Pre flop hand selection dictates post flop equity and they continuously play bad hands OOP.

Anyways, back to the hand. So this Carter guy pops it to $20 pre flop in EP. Me, on my phone still, look down at A7s, three bets to $60. He had flatted my three-bet earlier with J9os so while his three-bet calling range is wide I think it was probably a good Idea to just fold there. Or maybe it wasn't. I hadn't been winning in that game playing fancy, just taking them all to value town so it just wasn't a very necessary play.

Anyways, flop comes out 654 two tone and carter fires $80 into this pot which looking back on it is somewhat of a strong bet live since there is about $130 in the pot. His three-bet calling range is wide here and I didn't think 88, 99, or TT could stand a raise and a turn barrel. I also didn't think a six could take much heat either. Carter is a weak calling station and I had an overcard and an open ended straight draw. I could also bluff a spade on the turn if he ends up checking to me.

More than anything at this point I was angry at this Carter guy. He had caught me in a bluff earlier and I really wanted to get him back for it. So, I popped it to $180 with that reasoning in my head and he tanks for about 80-90 seconds and calls. The turn brings a J which doesn't complete the flush and I had put my phone down by now and was ready to fire another barrel.

He checks to me and, with my frazzeled mindset, I try to come up with a number to get Carter to fold. Thats all I wanted him to do. I remember feeling, for the first time in a long time, that I was scared and nervous in a hand. I hadn't felt that for a long time and had put a ton of work in to fix that. There was no reason for me to feel this way except for the fact that I wasn't focused on ranging Carter. I was focused on showing him who had the bigger cock. I was completely lost in the hand TBH. I was thinking the way I would 2-3 yrs ago.

Anyways, I decided to fire $250, which is a HUGE bet and if I had fired that against anyone else in the game, anyone who had seen me play, they would have folded. I had done a great job destroying my tight image hours earlier and there was no reason for Carter to believe me but he tanked what seemed like forever and ever and finally called, and I only had $350 behind. Would that $350 be enough to blow him off his hand on the river? I mean whatever he calls on the turn why would he fold it on the river? That turn bet commits him.

So at this point there is almost $900 in the pot and he just called a flop raise and a huge turn barrel so why would he fold now? The river pairs the board and completes the flush. I don't think for very long and put my last $350 in the middle and Carter almost folds but eventually calls with QQ and wins a huge pot and shortly after cashes out and leaves. Thats when the real spewing began. My mind was fried. I was angry. I was irritated. At that point I should've taken a long break or quit but I didn't.............

So with that I would like to tell you guys why I was in a bad mindset. For those of you who have read my blog you probably are well aware of my addiction problems. You're well aware I like to party. Well, for the past 5 months I've been addicted to prescription pain killers and while I was at that game I was withdrawing off of them. Google Percocet withdrawal and then you'll realize how big of an idiot I am for doing that.

At this point its an epidemic. Look up the documentary the oxycontin highway. It's a very dark, secret addiction but more people then you would think are addicted and the scary thing is you're functional on a day to day basis so you'll never know. This was my first attempt to get off of them and I have failed. My next attempt is going to my Grandmas. I'l be away from them for 6 days and maybe by then I'll be able to get off of them.

Anyways, its something I had to get off of my chest. I have told most of my closest friends. I've got a good amount of support. I think I will be able to do it but thats the way things are right now. It's standing in the way of a lot of things and yet again another substance is threatening to de-rail the thing I enjoy doing the most. I was able to do well in school this semester but the way things are going, it's just not sustainable. I'm planning on quitting everything. Booze, drugs and whatever else. It's becoming too much of a standard thing. My body won't always be able to take it. I need to start eating and drinking healthier.

I play in this very loose aggressive 2/5 live underground game. They all know me as a good player and I am the table captain for sure. I dictate the pace of the game and overall people hate getting into pots with me. Despite the fact that I spewed last night overall people react to me in a few ways:

1. They try to run me down. They know they aren't better than me so they will try to catch on me instead.

2. They try to bluff me out of huge pots

3. They avoid me

I haven't been barreling that much but have been looking for decent spots to do so. Just about every hand there is a Mississippi straddle which means the button straddles to $10 and its up to the SB to act first it gets folded to me UTG+2 and this is where I made a mistake. For some reason I was in an off mood that night which is a great indication I shouldn't even be playing but I overrode my gut feeling and went. I have been doing a pretty good job of avoiding these situations but in this case I did not. It's important to create a winning poker players cycle. So, if you spew instead of going off and getting boozed up take the time to do productive thing and keep yourself focused. It took me a long long time to get to this point. A lot of heartache, anger and sadness but when shit hits the fan now I study hard. It's all about confidence really. You gain confidence from studying. I don't believe in a prodigy and you shouldn't either.

The game of poker is not static, it's dynamic. If you want to put a suit on and work and job where you can zone out for 8 hours a day then go for it. I think it's modern day slavery to work a minimum wage job but hey, thats just my opinion

So, UTG+2 I raise to $40 with A5s. I don't like my pre flop raise but it gets folded to MP who calls. MP is somewhat competent but very very weak overall. While she has an ok understanding of the game she spews like crazy. With a little work she would be decent but from my perspective she doesn't want to do the work.

Anyways, the button, who Mississippi straddled calls and we see a flop of K85 rainbow. My thinking here is if they don't have a K they are turbo folding to any type of bet but I am also prepared to fire 3 barrels. I'm out of position and the girl gives me a lot of credit. Actually, Live players in generally always put you on the top of your range.

This is a very static board texture which means the nuts are unlikely to change by the river. I always look at how theirs eyes interact with the flop and neither of them looked very interested. A long stare generally means they're trying to find a way for their hands to connect to the flop.

Anyways, I chose $40 because I feel like it's hard for them to continue with anything. If they have a 3 or a 5 it will be hard for them to take any type of heat on the turn. K8 isn't out of the question but the girl wasn't in super spew mode just yet. That would come later in the night if she was stuck and drunk. The new guy wasn't loose enough to call a $40 pre flop raise with K8 and 35 isn't something I felt like they had very often either. Maybe they float me with A high but I have an A so that makes it unlikely. Any middle pairs can't take 3 streets of pressure. $40 is small and probably confusing to them but I just didn't think I needed to bet that much to get them to fold, even though I'm out of position.

it's good in any form of poker to not take standard lines. What if I bet $80 and they call? I create this huge pot that I may have to give up on by the river and that is one of the worst things you can do in poker, bloating up big pots only to give up on them on later streets.

Anyways, to my surprise they both call but not quickly. They weren't happy with it and I took about 40-60 seconds to bet and they each took about 30 seconds to call.

So the turn brings an A. I'm staring at the button and he doesn't like that card. I feel like I now have the best hand so the question is how much should I bet? For them to both call they have a K here a good percentage of the time. The girl isn't likely to float the flop to take the pot away from me on the turn with someone to act behind her. The guy isn't likely to do that either. Remember the more players in the pot the less "poker" you actually play so its very straightforward what they have and it's this spot where maybe I missed a little value.

Why? Well I ended up betting $80 into a pot of $240. I wanted to bet smallish because the A is a scare card and since I had the feeling I was ahead I wanted to keep one of them in the pot.

But what if I Check raise? Or Check/Call bet the river. It would be a really confusing line in which I think I make more money. First lets complete the action of the hand.

So only the girl calls at this point and the guy folds which is weird because I don't think he has the courage to fold a K so his most likely holding is some sort of hand combo with a 5.

The river is a beauty, a 3 of spades and now I'm thinking how much can I extract out of her? I elected $110 into a pot of $400 and she ends up folding.

She said she had KJ with a turned FD but I find that hard to believe she wouldn't call  $110 on the river with a K since she has a questionable pre-flop hand selection. But If I check, assuming she has a K, and then she bets $80 and I raised small to like $160-$200 then she'd probably have to call me and then I could fire $110-$150 on the river and she'd have to call.

While she would have sensed she was beat I feel like she would call anyways because thats what live players do. They find reasons to stay in hands and talk themselves into calls. 

Anyways, any thoughts on that line as opposed to the one I took?