As always, here's a song I think you should check out! Puts me in the mood to do some live grinding haha.
I've been spending a lot of time lately reading blogs from players about their thoughts post Black-Friday, so I figured now was the perfect time to play catch up on some posting. I think the part about BF that annoys me the most is the poor timing it had on the release of my new coaching program PLO QuickPro. I essentially gave up grinding for more than eight months so I could devote my time and energy to creating the product, and then 48 hours following the release, I was smacked upside the head with the bad news. As a nice added bonus, the same day we went live, my laptop got destroyed because I spilled a cup of coffee on the keyboard.
Perfect timing! It's all good though. I was planning on getting another one soon, but transferring my files onto the new machine has been kind of a pain in the ass. If anyone out there can recommend a site that's good for backing up files (I currently use Mozy but have found their file recovery process to be pretty inefficient), then let me know!
Even though the airwaves have been dominated by the bad news of Black Friday, the students who have decided to enroll in PLO QuickPro have already improved dramatically, which I'm super stoked to hear.
PLO QuickPro is the only multi-media training product of its kind. I personally walk you through my complete curriculum of premium theory. You also get to take advantage of the aha moments of my more than 90 students with hand history reviews. To make sure you get results, I give you personal attention throughout and answer all of your questions. Anyways, you can get all the details at www.ploquickpro.com, but quite simply, this program is everything you need to take your game to the next level, so check it out!
My gut tells me that I won't be forgetting about what happened during the last month any time soon. Black Friday has had a significant impact on me and many of my close friends. One of my biggest concerns is how it'll impact the WSOP this year, and perhaps even next year if everything isn't sorted out yet. I'm not sure on the percentage of the ME field that comes from online qualifiers, but I'm assuming it's significant. Not only will the tournament fields be smaller, but it will also lessen the amount that players are willing to put up for cash games.
I think I can provide an interesting perspective on everything that's happened because I live in Las Vegas. At first, you'd think that I'd be somewhat insulated from what's going on with poker because I have the ability to play live at the casinos whenever I want. But truthfully, I think it's made me notice just how much I've taken online poker for granted in the past, and how much I miss degenning on my computer whenever I want. Here's a few observations I've made since Black Friday:
Grinding live poker SUCKS. Before I began playing online, there's nothing in the world I wanted more than to spend a few hours at a B+M game facing off against real live people sitting in front of me. Putting in a considerable amount of volume online has definitely changed my perspective about the prospect of grinding out a living playing live poker. Frankly, if I had no other choice than to grind live poker, I would find another profession. There's no question that the players in a casino are significantly weaker than online, but in my opinion, that doesn't make up for the fact that you have to spend so many hours in a dirty casino. The action is excruciatingly slow, the environment is unquestionably unhealthy in a number of ways (food, people in casinos, germs etc.), which all combine to make me feel extremely "degenny" the more time I spend there.
I wasn't too upset about being forced to put in more volume at the casinos because that's what I was planning on doing to prepare for the WSOP anyway. The combination of BF and the upcoming WSOP has made the poker rooms fairly packed, and I'm starting to really get a feel for playing FRPLO. In the past, I think I focused too much on playing tighter than I need to. I figured that playing tighter was the way to go, because since everyone plays so loose and stacks off with terrible hands, why not just nut peddle and get paid on my big hands? I think this strategy will be profitable in the long run, but I don't think it's optimal. Because they're weaker players, they have a lot of leaks not just preflop.. Which means that playing more hands and messing around with them postflop can yield not only more profit, but also be good for your image so that you can win more money when you finally have a hand. Besides, since you only see like 15 hands an hour in live PLO, playing excessively tight is really boring.
Although Black Friday has had negative effects on basically everyone, I think it's equally important to think about the positives. Unfortunately I haven't played a single hand of online in the past month, but I know a few people that have deposited money on Lock, and apparently the games are insanely juicy.. Which means that instead of pouting around and feeling sorry for yourself for not being able to play online, the better approach is to use the extra time to focus on improving and keeping your skills sharp. I know from personal experience that it's easy to lose motivation to do things like watch videos, post on forums, and work on your theory away from the table, but I think that given how soft the games will continue to be until the online environment gains some stability, the guys that are really going to kill it during this time are the players who somehow turn this negative experience into a positive one. In fact, yesterday I was chatting with a guy at the Venetian who's good friends with a very well known midstakes reg that I've played against a bunch, and he said that since his friend lives in South America, he's been able to continue to grind on FTP despite everything that's happened.. And apparently he's destroying the games more than he ever has before!Â
I've been glancing at the Lock lobby over the last few days, and it looks like there's plenty of midstakes action, but almost no action above 10/20 6max. Put more simply, the good news is that if you're willing to load some dough onto a smaller site, you'll be able to take advantage of the softer player pool until the other players have time to set their feet again. I'll probably end up loading a roll on there in the near future, but I want to wait until I either get my FTP money returned, or until after the series is over and I don't need readily available cash. During the series, it's important to have access to as much cash as possible; not only for the tourney buy ins, but also for bigger cash games, and for buying other players action.Â
Anyhow, I wanted to include a bunch of live hands I've played lately, but this one has already ran on longer than I expected! The next one I do will definitely review some live hands. Hopefully everyone is doing well! Hit me up if you're coming out to the WSOP this summer so we can meet up!
Not going to write too lengthy of an entry here, but I just wanted to send out a reminder to all of the PLO zealots out there that tonight (or I guess technically tomorrow morning), there will a $100k buy in PLO edition of Poker After Dark. The lineup is unsurprisingly pretty tough:
Tom Dwan
Brian Hastings
Patrik Antonius
Brandon Adams
Phil Galfond
Phil Ivey
I gotta admit.. It's been awhile since I've been THIS excited to watch TV poker.. Check out the link for the show here if you want more information. Hopefully everyone is playing and running well!
In an earlier blog, I mentioned that I was going to make an effort to write an entry every week... Ya, not so much apparently! It's ok thought.. I just finished an early morning session and can't seem to fall asleep, so what better time to do a quick recap on everything poker related in the last couple of months? But first, here's my favorite song right now that I think y'all should check out. Weezy baby!
Anyhow, onto the poker stuff. Been playing mostly 2/4-5/10 with some late night rush degenning mixed in between. Here's all of my rush hands so far. If you look at the graph, you'll see how I broke even for the first ~13k hands trying to get a feel for how everyone was playing. But then in the following ~18k hands, I went on a nice 40 buy in heater once I figured out what everyone was up to. I actually think that rush is insanely profitable, and in fact, if I was an up-and-coming SSPLO player I'd probably use rush as my primary method for building the roll from the ground up.. The fish are... Well... Fishy, and the regs play extremely straightforward. Plus everyone gets very deep, and I haven't really encountered anyone that knows what's going on past 150bb's.
Here's my overall graph since Dec. 1 in Currency
And here's the same time period in BB's
So on the poker front, things have been going pretty well. I've also been grinding several of the FTOPS. I got 12th in the PLO Rush FTOPS, but other than that I've either min cashed or bricked everything else. Thursday is the HUPLO 300+22 which is my favorite event, so I'm really looking forward to it. ONE TIME!!
Last weekend I went to LV for the super bowl and had a chance to play a bunch of live. The 5/10NL action was great basically everywhere, but I mostly played at the Wynn because that's where we were staying. I also go to play some live PLO at the Venetian as well. I played six sessions, and somehow escaped the desert without booking a single loser. I decided to follow the advice of my roommate and put $1200 on the Packers, which obviously worked out really well... It was only my second sports bet ever, so I was sweating it big time!
I just moved to Breckenridge last week with the same dudes I was living with in Denver. It's been pretty awesome so far, although I haven't had a chance to go snowboarding because I jacked up my ankle playing basketball a couple of weeks ago and it still hasn't healed. To give y'all some motivation to come visit, I'm going to take some pictures tomorrow to post on the blog so you can see for yourself how beautiful it is here! Although the first night we were here, the temperature was -35 degrees.. FML!
Anyhow, I'll try to write more later in the week. For now I want to show you guys some hands you may find interesting that I've played in the last couple of weeks. Enjoy! I hope everyone is doing well!
GL,
John
Ouch :(, makes it even worse with all of the dead money out there.
Pre Flop: ($1.50) Hero is SB with T 9 A 6 UTG calls $1, 2 folds, BTN raises to $4.50, Hero calls $4, 1 fold, UTG raises to $8, BTN calls $3.50, Hero calls $3.50
Flop: ($25.00) J K Q(3 players) Hero checks, UTG bets $25, BTN folds, Hero raises to $70, UTG calls $45
Turn: ($165.00) 2(2 players) Hero bets $89.95 all in, UTG calls $89.95
River: ($344.90) K(2 players - 1 is all in)
Final Pot: $344.90 UTG shows 7 K 3 4 (three of a kind, Kings) Hero shows T 9 A 6 (a straight, Ace high) Hero wins $341.90 (Rake: $3.00)
Turn: ($58.00) K(3 players) Hero checks, MP bets $58, CO folds, Hero requests TIME, Hero raises to $232, MP raises to $251.40 all in, Hero calls $19.40
River: ($560.80) Q(2 players - 1 is all in)
Final Pot: $560.80 Hero shows K K 6 8 (three of a kind, Kings) MP shows Q J 4 6 (a pair of Queens) Hero wins $557.80 (Rake: $3.00)
Pre Flop: ($6.00) Hero is MP with K K 7 T UTG calls $4, Hero raises to $18, CO calls $18, 1 fold, SB calls $16, BB raises to $94, UTG calls $90, Hero raises to $412, 1 fold, SB calls $394 all in, BB calls $161.10 all in, 1 fold
Flop: ($1191.10) 9 7 Q(3 players - 2 are all in)
Turn: ($1191.10) K(3 players - 2 are all in)
River: ($1191.10) 2(3 players - 2 are all in)
Final Pot: $1191.10 BB shows A 9 4 A (a pair of Aces) Hero shows K K 7 T (three of a kind, Kings) SB shows 5 7 8 4 (a pair of Sevens) Hero wins $313.80 Hero wins $874.30 (Rake: $3.00)
Pre Flop: ($6.00) Hero is BB with K 9 8 K 1 fold, MP calls $4, CO calls $4, 1 fold, SB calls $2, Hero raises to $20, MP calls $16, CO calls $16, 1 fold
Flop: ($64.00) 6 5 K(3 players) Hero bets $44, MP raises to $196, CO folds, Hero raises to $380 all in, MP calls $184
Turn: ($824.00) J(2 players - 1 is all in)
River: ($824.00) J(2 players - 1 is all in)
Final Pot: $824.00 Hero shows K 9 8 K (a full house, Kings full of Jacks) MP shows A A 6 8 (two pair, Aces and Jacks) Hero wins $821.00 (Rake: $3.00)
Got lucky here again, but this is def top of his range.
Pre Flop: ($9.00) Hero is SB with J 7 A A 2 folds, CO raises to $21, 1 fold, Hero raises to $69, 1 fold, CO calls $48
Flop: ($144.00) K 2 Q(2 players) Hero bets $100, CO raises to $204, Hero raises to $282.25 all in, CO folds
Final Pot: $552.00 Hero wins $549.00 (Rake: $3.00)
I think most players don't take lines like these often enough. When he donks pot, his range is more heavily weighted towards made hands than draws (mostly because of combinatorics. The # of combos of made hands far exceeds the # of combos of draws that are strong enough to donk pot on this board). So, I can peel and rep spades.. But on the turn when he bets half pot, he's screaming weakness... But many players will just peel again with the intention of repping spades or diamonds, but the problem with peeling instead of raising is that you lose your ability to rep the straight.... Besides, many times they'll just call and fold the river like my opponent did here.
Final Pot: $272.00 Hero wins $271.50 (Rake: $0.50)
This is against Peter Jetten. He 3b's way too much... Seems pretty standard overall because I found it hard to believe that he would ever not c-bet this flop with a straight since his image is so bad. Plus I have equity son!
River: ($819.00) 7(2 players) UTG bets $343.90 all in, Hero calls $343.90
Final Pot: $1506.80 UTG shows 8 6 7 T (two pair, Jacks and Eights) Hero shows T 8 7 J (a full house, Jacks full of Eights) Hero wins $1503.80 (Rake: $3.00)
Lately I've been working a bit on my NL tourney game, and I think it's coming along nicely. Even though this is mostly a PLO blog, that doesn't necessarily mean I can't post NL hands amirite? On Sunday, I placed 12th in the Sunday Brawl, which is my deepest run in a Sunday major so far. It's addicting getting so close a big score, so I'm definitely going to be playing more Sunday tourneys in the future. Here's a couple of hands that I thought were interesting from it. To all of the MTT pros out there: How're my lines?
Limper and BB are both pretty big fish. I think isolating and gay-betting flops is hugely profitable in tournaments. You have so much leverage with c-bets, and picking up the dead money is crucial to going deep. 3b'ing and gay betting works pretty well too, especially against fish. Fortunately I'd seen this player use similar sizing in a previous hand when he was blocker betting the river, and since I did't have any SDV I think the turn is an easy raise. I considered floating turn and raising river, but it's harder for me to rep anything and he might just say fuck it and ship his stack in, which would suck for obvious reasons..
River: (t259780) J(2 players) BB checks, Hero bets t184124 all in, BB folds
Final Pot: t259780 Hero wins t259780
I thought this was a really interesting hand. SB is the fish from the previous hand, and BB is a wearing an FTOPS jersey and seems solid. Normally I'd c-bet this flop but I have poor relative position, and it seems like a way ahead/behind type of board for me, which means that I get some value from air on the turn and can get away from my hand or confidently value bet depending on what the turn is. My thinking on the turn was that the SB basically can't have shit, and since BB is solid he should know this, which means that I can't give his raise much credit. Given all of this, how's my turn line? Am I crazy or should I just muck this?
Same fish from the previous two hands here. I think I'm supposed to bet the turn, but I thought I may have some SDV since I bet so small on the flop. Given the sizing tell I have on him, I felt like he was betting for value on the river, and I don't think I can beat many hands in his vb'ing range. The other times he had trash or weak hands, he bet like 1/4 or less but here he bet close to half pot, which looks very "valuey". I'm not sure though, I think I'm supposed to call.. I'm also not too sure about my turn check. What do y'all think?
I'd just moved to this table, and since we're 8 handed I figured I'd get some respect for opening UTG. Stacks seems ok for stealing as well. This is a spot where my experience playing some shallow/cap PLO comes in handy. In shallow/cap, you need to find creative ways to turn 40bb's into a 3-street game, and in NL tourneys, most hands are 1 or 2 street games, so if you're bluffing (especially barreling in position), it's all about picking correct bet sizes that give you the opportunity to fire 3 barrels and put your opponents to a tough decision as many times as you can. I was fortunate to have equity on all streets here, but it's a concept I've found to work really well in tourneys, particularly coming down the stretch where many players aren't willing to make big river call downs for their tournament life. Build up big pots for them to give up on imo.
This one is a little older but definitely a classic. Gangstarr is timeless imo.
I haven't been able to put in very much volume the last few months because I've been tying up some loose ends with PLO QuickPro, so December was my first chance to finally put in some hours at the table. Here's a graph of the carnage.
Throw in ~$2k in tourney cash and that's my December. Would've been a better month had I not lost some buy-ins at 2/4 to a couple of very aggro fish, but whatcha gonna do. No complaints about finishing in the green, but looking back on the month, I made tons of mistakes and am very excited about plugging more leaks and continuing to improve.
Also, on Christmas Eve, instead of spending time with my family, being the degen at heart that I am, I was waiting for action at a 1/2 HU table. Eventually some Brazilian sat down to join me, and was playing extremely aggressive and spewing really badly. I asked him if he wanted to play 2 tables, and he says "I'll only play 1, or 6. You pick". Even though it probably wasn't the best idea because I'd been playing all day and felt like I was losing focus, I've always wanted to play an Isildur-style match against someone, so I figured why not. We ended up playing 6 tables of .5/1 for about an hour. I felt like I did a really poor job of adjusting to him, and truthfully I was having a lot of trouble keeping up with the fast-paced action. He was playing hyper-aggressive and I was timing out and mindlessly betting in a ton of spots. I felt that I was adjusting pretty well once I settled in, but once I binked a couple of pots on him, he quit me, and I ended up losing 3-buyins from it all. I definitely gained a shitload of respect for Isildur and the dudes who play 4+ tables of HU. Those guys must have a ton of mental RAM to handle it!
A few things I noticed going through my PokerTracker:
Somehow I'm getting absolutely destroyed at the deep/ante games. Perhaps it's just variance but overall I'm a solid loser on those tables. I think the allure of playing deep stacked with fish causes me to gamboool too much, and as a result I end up getting my money in too light for bigger pots, especially towards the end of my sessions. Ironically I also seem to get it in terrible in the shallow games far too often because it's "only 40bb's, so bet/calling can't be that bad, can it?". Yep, it can, and I've definitely given up a ton of equity by exercising poor bet sizing and not paying close enough attention to the action.
Many of my sessions start off very well, but inevitably I either plateau or lose money towards the end. In other words, I suffer from "winners tilt", or I simply lose focus and don't play my A game after sitting at the tables for 90 minutes or so. Either that, or if I'm doing well on the session, I tend to play more conservatively towards the end because I don't want to lose a big pot and ruin the session (which is obviously a mistake). I begin to give up in spots where I should stay aggressive, and you can tell by looking at my NSDW from start to finish in the session; they typically start to taper off as the # of hands in the session go up. Particularly if I'm playing HU, I rarely quit someone even when I probably should (partly because I'm a cocky/competitive mother fucker and think I have an edge, but also because I'm a degen and enjoy the challenge). Staying focused and making sure I take breaks and practice quitting at the right times is something I'm going to work hard on in 2011.
For new years I'm going to a champagne party at the Marriott near the Tech Center in Denver. I considered going to Steamboat Springs to snowboard on New Years Day, but it seems like a hassle and there'll likely be a huge crowd, so I decided to keep my drunkness in D-town. I just booked four nights at the Wynn during Super Bowl weekend in Vegas, so if anyone else is going out there and wants to meet up let me know. My roommates and a friend of mine from Sweden are all heading out as well, so it should be a fun weekend of degeneracy!Â
Hopefully everyone has a good time on NYE! I'll post a few interesting hands at the bottom for those who're interested. GL!
John
Surprised to get the money in this far ahead in this spot. Expected him to have spades a lot more than Axxx.Â
Turn: ($502.50) 7(3 players) BB checks, UTG bets $400, Hero raises to $1291 all in, BB folds, UTG calls $748 all in
River: ($2798.50) 9(2 players - 2 are all in)
Final Pot: $2798.50 Hero shows 2 K T A (two pair, Aces and Tens) UTG shows 6 K 7 A (two pair, Aces and Sevens) Hero wins $2796.50 (Rake: $2.00)
Isolating the limper is fine, but I think limping behind is fine too, given that I have very polar aces. I also thought there was a strong chance the BB would raise it up because he's pretty aggro bad and his stack size is perfect for raising it up in this spot.
Pre Flop: ($30.00) Hero is BTN with K A 9 A UTG calls $20, 2 folds, Hero calls $20, SB calls $10, BB raises to $100, UTG calls $80, Hero raises to $420, 1 fold, BB calls $300 all in, UTG calls $320
Flop: ($1260.00) 2 8 T(3 players - 1 is all in) UTG checks, Hero bets $397 all in, UTG folds
Turn: ($1260.00) 5(2 players - 2 are all in)
River: ($1260.00) 3(2 players - 2 are all in)
Final Pot: $1260.00 Hero shows K A 9 A (a pair of Aces) BB shows J T 9 A (a pair of Tens) Hero wins $40.00 Hero wins $1217.00 (Rake: $3.00)
Pre Flop: ($3.00) Hero is UTG with A 7 Q A Hero raises to $6, CO raises to $21, 1 fold, SB calls $20, 1 fold, Hero raises to $86, CO calls $65, SB calls $65
Flop: ($260.00) T 6 A(3 players) SB checks, Hero bets $166.20 all in, CO folds, SB calls $166.20
Turn: ($592.40) T(2 players - 1 is all in)
River: ($592.40) Q(2 players - 1 is all in)
Final Pot: $592.40 Hero shows A 7 Q A (a full house, Aces full of Tens) SB shows 7 Q 3 A (two pair, Aces and Queens) Hero wins $589.40 (Rake: $3.00)
Pre Flop: ($3.00) Hero is BTN/SB with Q K A T Hero raises to $6, BB raises to $18, Hero raises to $54, BB calls $36
Flop: ($108.00) T 7 9(2 players) BB checks, Hero checks
Turn: ($108.00) J(2 players) BB bets $49, Hero requests TIME, Hero raises to $183.50 all in, BB calls $134.50
River: ($475.00) Q(2 players - 1 is all in)
Final Pot: $475.00 Hero shows Q K A T (a straight, Ace high) BB shows K 7 Q J (a straight, King high) Hero wins $474.50 (Rake: $0.50)
Ran good here obviously. 3b'ing this preflop is fine but BB was very squeezy, so with good relative position and a pulling hand I think calling pre is the best option.
Pre Flop: ($9.00) Hero is CO with 2 A 9 A 1 fold, MP raises to $18, Hero calls $18, BTN raises to $81, 1 fold, BB calls $75, 1 fold, Hero raises to $345, BTN calls $264, BB raises to $581.30 all in, Hero calls $236.30, BTN calls $236.30
Flop: ($1764.90) 4 J J(3 players - 1 is all in) Hero bets $18.70 all in, BTN calls $18.70
Turn: ($1802.30) K(3 players - 2 are all in)
River: ($1802.30) Q(3 players - 2 are all in)
Final Pot: $1802.30 Hero shows 2 A 9 A (two pair, Aces and Jacks) BTN shows K 3 6 K (a full house, Kings full of Jacks) BB shows 5 T T 5 (two pair, Jacks and Tens) BTN wins $37.40 BTN wins $1761.90 (Rake: $3.00)
Easiest flat call pre ever. SB 3b's tonsssss. Got it in very good as a result.
Pre Flop: ($4.50) Hero is CO with 6 A 9 A UTG raises to $8.50, Hero calls $8.50, 1 fold, SB raises to $37.50, 2 folds, Hero raises to $124.50, SB calls $87
Flop: ($261.00) 2 2 7(2 players) SB bets $261, Hero raises to $322 all in, SB calls $61
Turn: ($905.00) 5(2 players - 1 is all in)
River: ($905.00) Q(2 players - 1 is all in)
Final Pot: $905.00 Hero shows 6 A 9 A (two pair, Aces and Twos) SB shows K T A 4 (a pair of Twos) Hero wins $902.00 (Rake: $3.00)
Pre Flop: ($10.50) Hero is BB with 4 A A 4 1 fold, MP calls $4, CO requests TIME, CO raises to $22.50, 1 fold, SB calls $20.50, Hero raises to $98.50, 1 fold, CO requests TIME, 1 fold, SB calls $76
Flop: ($228.00) 4 6 6(2 players) SB checks, Hero bets $45, SB raises to $363, Hero calls $270.75 all in
Turn: ($859.50) 9(2 players - 1 is all in)
River: ($859.50) 5(2 players - 1 is all in)
Final Pot: $859.50 SB shows Q Q 7 6 (a flush, Queen high) Hero shows 4 A A 4 (a full house, Fours full of Sixes) Hero wins $856.50 (Rake: $3.00)
This hand is pretty funny. On the river, I meant to bet 65 but somehow accidentally fired min, and he still folded getting 10/1 haha. Could probably c-bet flop but given stacks I thought checking back and playing later streets against him was better. Turn I thought peeling was better because I steal it on the river a lot, and there's just no reason to turn it into a bluff when the river will be easy to play regardless. He should be stabbing pretty wide on the turn anyway.
As always, here's a sick song that you should definitely check out. Weezy's part is the best imo.
Before I say anything else, I want to show you a quote that I found in a Golf instructional book written by Tiger Woods the other day that has a lot of relevancy for what I'm going to write about today.
"I refuse to let anyone outwork me. That's the reason I log so much time on the practice range. Besides, hard work is the only way to maintain a competitive edge, and I enjoy the process. The key, though, is to practice with a purpose.
My philosophy has always been to identify the weakest part of my game and to focus on turning it into a strength. That approach will work for you, too. Make an honest assessment of your game, and determine where you're losing most of your strokes. Whether it's the driver, irons, wedges or putter, simplify your instruction to get better. Find a professional to help you identify your flaw and provide the correct instruction to fix it. Then tailor your practice sessions so that most of your time is spent on improving that part of your game. That's the fastest way to get results."
I like this quote because I think it provides a solid blueprint for improving your game. As a poker coach, one of the most common questions I get from students is, "How the hell do I improve my game the fastest?". Well, since each players learning style is completely different from one another (some learn the best by watching videos and reading books, others learn more by putting in volume and discussing HH's with other players etc.), there really isn't a concrete one-size-fits-all answer. Instead of focusing on how to improve your overall poker game, I think it's infinitely more +EV to focus on the individual areas of your game that you struggle with the most, or more specifically, the areas that you feel the most discomfort in.
I'm going to tell you a story to reinforce my point. Since he was a child, my best friend Tyson's dream was to become a fluent Spanish speaker. A few years ago when he was a Junior at CU, he decided to study abroad in a city in Southern Spain called Seville for a year. Before he embarked on his life-changing voyage, my brother Jim (who also studied in Seville, and recommended Tyson study there as well), strongly urged him to create as much distance as possible from all of the Americans and English speakers the minute he walked off the plane. Jim explained, "They'll try to party with you, and will most likely resent you for not wanting to associate with them. But if your goal is to become a fluent Spanish speaker, you have to immerse yourself in the culture and detach yourself from the familiar."
Tyson and I used to talk on the phone or see each other every day since we were 10 years old, but when he went to Europe, I didn't talk to him for over six months. Then one night at 2am when I was working at the hospital, I finally got a call from Tyson, and we had some time to catch up. Euro-sex parties, Amsterdam trips, and the many cities he had traveled to outlined the conversation. Eventually the conversation drifted into the topic of how living in Europe impacted his personal development. Somewhere in the middle of it I asked him, "So have you changed a lot? How have you changed? What's different now that you've been in Europe for over six months? Got any life advice for me?".
"Your brother was totally right man. I'm glad I've only befriended Spaniards. Hanging out with Americans and English speakers would've encouraged me to remain in my comfort zone and never branch out. I never would have had the opportunity to expand my horizons and immerse myself in another culture. When I first got to Seville, I was really cocky and felt like I was practically fluent already because I was always the best Spanish speaker in my classes at home. But it was humbling when I first got here, because I was completely out of my element, and since the accent is so thick and they talk so fast, I could barely understand what the barista at the coffee shop was saying to me. To be honest, I felt extremely uncomfortable all of the time, everywhere I went. And then one night, I realized that the only reason I was feeling uncomfortable in all of these different social situations, was because they were using language patterns and vocabulary that I hadn't learned in school. I came to the conclusion that if my dream was to master Spanish, I needed to seek out every uncomfortable spot I could find, until I got to the point where I was never uncomfortable speaking to any person under any circumstances. I figured that once I reached that point, then I have achieved my goal. "
What Tyson said that night about seeking out situations where he experienced discomfort still resonates with me today. He was willing to do whatever it took to achieve his goal of becoming a fluent Spanish speaker, even if that meant sacrificing his pride, ego, and short-term comfort level. What I've figured out after several years of meeting and getting to know thousands of players, in addition to personally coaching almost 100 others, is that many players aren't willing to make the aforementioned sacrifices.
In fact, I’ve found that many players do the exact opposite; they’ll go to great lengths to ensure their comfort level isn’t breached. And truthfully, I think it’s one of the main reasons why many players (myself included) plateau at a stake, and never move up. I mean... Let’s be honest for a second. Moving up in stakes is really fucking hard. Once you elevate past the micros, the amount of time, effort, and emotional output needed to carry your bankroll and skill level to the next stake increases exponentially every time you advance higher.
What I’m saying, is that most players fail to move up because doing so takes them out of their comfort level. If you’re one of the better regs at say, 200 or 400 PLO, and you can make a solid, stress-free living from stacking donks and ripping a bong at your computer all day, then where’s the motivation to put in the countless hours of work away from the table that’s required to move up to the levels where there’s fewer fish, better regs, and bigger swings?
Herein lies the conundrum for today's poker player. One of my favorite sayings is "you have to make sure the juice is worth the squeeze", and I think a lot of players experience anxiety because they're unsure of whether the juice that's yielded from squeezing the poker fruit for a year or two will taste good enough to make it all worth it. I certainly don't pretend to know everything, but one thing I do know is that regardless of whether your goal is to be a 100PLO grinder, scoop a bracelet, or to play HU against Gus in Bobby's Room.. If you're not wiling to do whatever it takes to get there, then the juice almost certainly won't be worth the squeeze in both poker, and anything else you aspire to be in life.
Anyhow, I’m obviously not saying that you have to be in a perpetual state of discomfort in order to be successful in poker or in life. Far from it actually. But just realize that even though your brain likes what’s the same, it learns from what’s different. And if your goal is to achieve any level of success playing cards (which I’m assuming is the case given that you’ve landed here at DC), it’s important to channel the ability to recognize the weaknesses in your game.
Most people outside of poker harbor the belief that poker players are lazy individuals with no realistic aspirations for achieving greatness in their lives. Although I strongly disagree with this perception for obvious reasons, you can find evidence that refutes this belief in almost every player's blog on this site and many others. Blog titles such as "2011 Goals" and "Moving Up In Stakes!", reflect the ambitious attitudes of today's online poker player.
Of course, there are certainly players that embody the "lazy-poker player" persona, but typically I've found that most players (particularly the ones that frequent training sites) are quite ambitious. Most people outside of poker fail to grasp the amount of work it takes to be successful in this game. For example, my PokerTracker says that I have only played 94 hours of poker this month, but for each hour I play you can guarantee that I've done at least an hour of work away from the table to turn that profit.
Reading pdf's, going over hands with friends, watching videos, and posting on forums are just a couple of things I do away from the table to try to improve my game. I don't have any empirical data to back this up, but I'm pretty sure that only a very small percentage of people that play online poker actually end up in the positive. So even if you're only a break even poker player right now, then give yourself a pat on the back and try not to be so hard on yourself.
Identifying weaknesses, mapping out a clear path to improving those weaknesses, and then following through with the plan is what separates those who achieve their goals and dreams, and those who do not. One of the most common causes of depression and anxiety in humans originates from having uncertainty about something. The average layperson likely assumes that the bulk of stress and anxiety for a poker player comes from lengthy periods of bad luck, along with the prospect of financial ruin. But from my experience, most players that take a serious approach to the game have come to terms with the “luck” factor present in poker.
Another proven cause of anxiety in humans is the lack of a purpose, goal, or direction. But in my opinion, this isn’t the cause for most poker players anxiety either, because judging from experience, it seems that the goal of almost every poker player (particularly the ones reading this), is to improve their game, move up in stakes and make more money. So where does the anxiety come from then?
I personally believe it comes from not knowing the path to realize your potential as a player. Almost every player I’ve encountered believes they’re capable of greatness, which is an aspect of poker I’ve always loved. There’s a lot of tangible hope for prosperity readily available for those that are willing to embrace it. Knowing you want to become a sicko and crush donks for a living is easy enough, but how the hell are you going to get there? Amassing a bankroll from scratch and taking on the poker-world is a daunting task.. But as the saying goes, you can’t build a house without laying the first brick either..
I've already rambled on long enough, so I'm going to stop there even though I've written a bunch more here. To save myself from tl;dr, I'll just make it into two entries. Next time, I want to talk about methods that I've found to be effective for spotting leaks. Hopefully everyone had a great Christmas! JC's bday is one of the best nights to hit the tables, so off I go!
GL,
John
PS - If you're looking for something motivational, then I suggest reading this blog entry by copywriter John Carlton.
Before I go any further, everyone should definitely check out this song. It's sick!
A ton of shit has been going on since the last time I threw down a blog entry. I'm not going to pretend like there's enough time to catch up on all of it, and since this is mostly a poker blog anyway, I think I'll try to focus mostly on PLO stuff.
So after the tourney score, I decided to start focusing on playing HU again. Unfortunately my game selection and on-the-felt skills were a bit rusty from taking some time off, and I promptly lost ~$6k playing against dudes that I probably shouldn't be playing against for that kind of price. Even though I got rocked, I learned a lot, and it made me very hungry to get my HU game back up to par. After licking my wounds, I started working on my game very hard for the next couple of weeks. I've been going through Tom's book Advanced PLO Theory practically everyday with my roommate, which works out great because he's been playing mostly HU at 25/50+ so it's been been a huge asset to have the chance to sweat him play, and talk to him about hands each day. Even in just the last month I can already feel that my game has improved immensely, so I'm looking forward to putting in a ton of volume during the next six months.
Speaking of which, here's my living situation for the next year. Me and my three roommates are moving to Breckenridge (if you haven't been there or heard of it, I highly suggest checking it out!) in February for two months to grind, snowboard, and live the good life in the Rockies. Our place is right on the slope and has six bedrooms, so if any of y'all are heading out this way let me know! After Breck it's back to Vegas for six months until ~October of next year, and then I've decided to head to Sweden or somewhere else in Europe for six months following that. One of my goals before I turn 30 is to live in Europe for 6 months, so what better time to do it than now right?
Anyways, back to poker stuff. A few days ago I binked my first PLO MTT win (24+2bi, $1400 for 1st) ever which was pretty fun. I recorded everything from the last two tables down to the win on Camtasia, so maybe I'll make a Ghost video out of it. Ironically I was playing 2 tabling another guy HU while I was playing it and ended up stuck to him $1200, which basically meant that I needed to get 1st place in the tourney to break even for the day. Run gooood! I normally only play NL tourneys but have been incorporating some PLO tourneys into my sunday grind for the last few months and have really enjoyed it. Man, if you think PLO cash games are soft, you definitely need to give PLO tourneys a try! Although the good ones don't run very often, they're absolute gold mines if you can find 'em. I've found a few strategies that work really well in PLO tourneys that I want to write about, but I think I'll save it for a later entry. So be on the lookout!
I'm not big on New Years Resolutions or anything like that, but something I'd like to do more of is post on the DC and Nutblocker forums, while updating my blog more. I think once a week is definitely achievable, so I'm going to shoot for that next year. Maybe I can set up a prop bet with someone to keep me motivated??
I'm going to close it out with some hands I've played during the last week that you might find interesting. Enjoy! Hopefully everyone is running well and enjoying the Holidays!
GL,
John
Remember that 2 pair hands play great in 3b and 4b pots. Here's a pretty example of why. You flop a set ~23% of the time, and in pots where a lot of money is likely to end up in the middle, it's obviously great to flop sets because they have guaranteed equity (I think dxb calls it durable equity?) against the draws that players are likely to get it in with.
Pre Flop: ($6.00) Hero is MP with 5 7 7 5 1 fold, Hero raises to $12, CO raises to $36, 1 fold, SB calls $34, 1 fold, Hero calls $24
Flop: ($112.00) J 7 2(3 players) SB checks, Hero checks, CO bets $76, SB calls $76, Hero raises to $214, CO requests TIME, CO folds, SB calls $138
Turn: ($616.00) 4(2 players) SB bets $601.40 all in, Hero calls $546.10 all in
River: ($1708.20) K(2 players - 2 are all in)
Final Pot: $1708.20 Hero shows 5 7 7 5 (three of a kind, Sevens) SB shows 2 9 J Q (two pair, Jacks and Twos) Hero wins $1705.20 (Rake: $3.00)
I flatted pre because SB was squeezy, and my aces aren't that great anyway. In general I think that's something in my game that's changed a lot over the last six months. I remember when I first started learning PLO that everything I read and watched said to just go nuts with the 3b'ing, and while I think that style works ok under some circumstances, I think peeling in position with a lot of hands works fine too, especially since players are getting a lot better at playing in 3b pots nowadays. Not to say that I've taken Aces out of my 3b'ing range completely obviously, but there's a lot of benefit to be had when you flat aces. Someone behind you can squeeze, and if the hand goes to showdown and they see that you only called aces, it protects your calling range in position preflop in the future. Plus, when you 3b aces, it's very hard to action action on A high boards. But when you flat them (especially IP), people never put you on aces, so they'll either go broke with Aces up or bluff away a stack trying to rep the hand you have. Oh Hi Turn!
Full Tilt Poker $2/$4 Pot Limit Omaha Hi - 6 players - View hand 1083329
Turn: ($116.00) A(3 players) BB checks, CO bets $75, Hero requests TIME, Hero raises to $341, BB folds, CO raises to $585.70 all in, Hero calls $26.20 all in
River: ($850.40) 8(2 players - 2 are all in)
Final Pot: $850.40 CO shows Q J 2 5 (two pair, Jacks and Fives) Hero shows A 5 9 A (three of a kind, Aces) Hero wins $847.40 (Rake: $3.00)
I think my line is fine, but I hate my bet sizing on the turn. From a game theory perspective, you want the SPR=1 on the river, but here I went bigger because I thought only 3x'ing it would look bluffy, and also because I thought he was calling turn and folding river a lot (which means I get more dead money the times I ship the riv as a bluff). I'm pretty sure he has to dump the set if he doesn't bink the river.
Pre Flop: ($6.00) Hero is SB with J A A Q UTG raises to $14, 2 folds, BTN raises to $48, Hero raises to $162, BB calls $158, UTG calls $148, BTN calls $114
Flop: ($648.00) 9 K 4(4 players) Hero bets $295 all in, BB folds, UTG folds, BTN calls $295
Turn: ($1238.00) 2(2 players - 1 is all in)
River: ($1238.00) 5(2 players - 1 is all in)
Turn: ($1238.00) 4(2 players - 1 is all in)
River: ($1238.00) 4(2 players - 1 is all in)
Final Pot: $1238.00 BTN shows 4 6 9 7 (four of a kind, Fours) Hero shows J A A Q (a full house, Fours full of Aces) BTN wins $617.00 BTN wins $617.00 (Rake: $4.00)
Pre Flop: ($25.00) Hero is UTG with 4 K A Q Hero raises to $40, MP calls $30, 2 folds, SB calls $35, BB calls $30
Flop: ($160.00) 4 K 3(4 players) SB checks, BB checks, Hero bets $126, MP raises to $538, SB raises to $1261 all in, BB folds, Hero calls $361 all in, MP calls $122 all in
Turn: ($1967.00) 7(3 players - 3 are all in)
River: ($1967.00) T(3 players - 3 are all in)
Final Pot: $1967.00 SB shows 8 J 5 6 (a flush, King high) Hero shows 4 K A Q (a flush, Ace high) MP shows 4 T T 3 (three of a kind, Tens) SB wins $346.00 Hero wins $1618.00 (Rake: $3.00)
Pre Flop: ($7.50) Hero is BTN/SB with 4 6 5 4 Hero raises to $13.50, BB raises to $42, Hero calls $28.50
Flop: ($85.50) Q 7 4(2 players) BB bets $85.50, Hero raises to $342, BB raises to $672.25 all in, Hero calls $330.25
Turn: ($1430.00) 9(2 players - 1 is all in)
River: ($1430.00) Q(2 players - 1 is all in)
Final Pot: $1430.00 BB shows 5 K J K (two pair, Kings and Queens) Hero shows 4 6 5 4 (a full house, Fours full of Queens) Hero wins $1429.50 (Rake: $0.50)
The last couple of weeks have been pretty hectic, so let's do a quick review. First, I got a nice tourney score a couple of weeks ago for $90k at the Heartland Poker Tour. Here's the link http://www.heartlandpokertour.com/playerbio.php?pid=4994 in case y'all wanna check it out.Â
I'm super stoked about the score, but am a little disappointed with how it finished. I was 2nd in chips going into the final 6, proceeded to knock out every player at the final table, and then got a little unlucky in the HU match. I started the match with a 2/1 chip lead against a guy that I'd been playing with throughout the entire day. He'd been playing really tight basically the entire time, and during the final six players I was kind of running the table over a bit, because it seemed like everyone else really just wanted to move up the payscale. Here's an example:
-6 handed At 20k/40k, UTG opens to 120k, I had her covered with ~1.1M and 3b to 265k w/A2ss, SB with ~8bb's tanks for a few moments and then folds. After UTG folds he looks at me and says "that's the second time you've made me fold AQ".Â
Anyways, to make a long story short, I thought the guy I was playing was very tight passive, and incapable of taking any non-standard lines. The only hand we had played up to HU was when we were three handed. I had ~4.2M in chips, blinds were 50/100k. I min opened the BTN, he 3b to 400k straight leaving 900k behind, and I shipped it in with KJo. He tanked for a sec and folded.Â
Then HU, I min-opened the first button w/56o, he shipped ~1.6M and I folded. Very next hand he limped the BTN and I had A8o in the BB. I figured that he would always raise a good hand, and that he would fold basically always if I shoved it in, since most passive players limp the button with a super wide range, and against that range I'm probably even shipping A8 for value. Plus playing postflop when I miss is kind of awkward I think, and I don't like checking my option given what I already said. Plus, he had just shipped the hand previous to that (and I expected him to be strong), so the likelihood that he picked up two hands consecutively that are willing to play for stacks is pretty unlikely. Long story short, I ship, he snaps my face w/AJo and holds, and now I'm the one at a 2/1 disadvantage.Â
At first I thought my ship might be bad because I felt like I had a very big skill edge on this particular player, but hindsight always seems to be 20/20 in tourneys. I honestly just figured he would fold basically always, and that the likelihood of him trapping me was very low. Plus he had just shipped on me, and I felt like he picked up some momentum there, and if I shipped it in and took the pot down it would swing right back in my direction. Oh wells.Â
A couple of hands later, I have ~1.8M and min open the btn w/AKo. He calls and the flop is AQTcc. He checks, I bet 3/4, he ships on me and I call. He has A3o... Turn T, River A for the chop. Ouch!
I lost a pot or two and then shipped over his 2.5x open w/K9s, he called w/A9 and I bricked. vul I guess, but 90k is nothing to be down in the dumps about. The only thing I don't like is how steep the pay structure was. It seems like a $1650 buy in should have a smoother pay structure at the top, but I suppose that's how it goes. First got 182k, so I felt like I missed out on a ton of equity by not taking that down. Overall though it was a great experience. I learned a lot about both live play and tourney play, and it definitely gives me a lot of confidence for playing more live tourneys when I move back to Vegas in February. I highly doubt I'll be playing any more live tourneys until then, because the only ones that are worth playing reside in Blackhawk, and the structures there are pretty terrible, so I'm not even sure if the edge is worth the trip.Â
Ironically since the score, I've been getting destroyed in cash games. Lost a ton of bi's playing HU, and then playing and running bad in six max. Can't complain though, just need to focus on the mental stuff and trying to play my A game more consistently.Â
I've also been reading and listening to a ton of audio books lately; namely Think And Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill. I've read bits and pieces of it in the past, but never really sat down and took it all in. All I have to say is WOW! Awesome book. I think it should be required reading for all poker players, and anyone who's interested in being successful and happy with their lives (basically everyone?). Written in the 1930's, Napoleon Hill was a journalist who was hired by Andrew Carnegie to interview over 2500 of the most wealthy people in America at the time, and then devise a formula for acquiring great fortunes.Â
To give you an idea of what the book is like, I decided to type out one of the more powerful excerpts from it for y'all. The reason I included this part specifically is because ALL OF US want to make more money right? But are you really doing everything you can to improve your game? Do you honestly have the desire to do what it takes? We all agree that everyone wants money, so why the hell doesn't everyone have it? I don't have any empirical evidence to back this up, but I think one of the main reasons is that most people simply don't know how to reach their goals, or more simply, they just don't know how to plan for it. Or perhaps they're just unwilling to make the sacrifices necessary to reach their goals.
I heard a quote awhile ago that said "Comfort is the enemy of success". I think that's pretty awesome. Do me a favor and reflect on your life for a moment. What periods of your life did you experience the most personal growth? Humans are beings of necessity, and unfortunately, if the environment you're in makes things a little too easy for you, then your natural inclination from a physiological standpoint will be to just "take it easy", which can make achieving your goals challenging. Â It's one of the reasons why so many poker players that get to the top of high stakes end up going broke, moving down, or just fizzling out of the scene for whatever reason. Their motivation to improve is gone; all of their needs are met. It's similar to what happens with music artists and entertainers. That's why it's such a treasure to find someone like Kobe Bryant, Phil Ivey, or Roger Federer that can continue to perform at such a high level after they've already "made it". I mean... This is just a guess, but I find it hard to believe that someone with a 1M bankroll isn't going to sit down and watch every poker video on all of the training sites, post on the forums, read poker books, review HH's with a group of other learning players, and devote hours to their game with the intention of moving up in stakes as someone who's bankroll is on life support, works a shitty job, and who's dream is to make enough money from poker to quit their shitty job. That's why most of the players at the top started from the very bottom and worked their way up. They were fucking hungry, man. They wanted to be the best. And so do a ton of the players on this site, which is why I love it here! Better watch out durrrr... We're coming for you!
Anyways, check out this excerpt from the book that I typed out, and then go buy this fucking book. PLEASE! Hopefully everyone is doing well.
GL,
John
It is the same difference that distinguishes practically all who succeed from those who fail. Every human being who understands the purpose of money wishes for it. Wishing, will not bring riches. But desiring riches with a state of mind that becomes an obsession, then planning definite ways and means to acquire riches, and backing those plans with persistence which does not recognize failure, will bring riches. The method by which desire for riches can be transmuted into it's financial equivalent consists of six definite practical steps:
1. Fix in your mind the exact amount of money you desire. It is not sufficient merely to say "I want plenty of money". Be definite as to the amount.Â
2. Determine exactly what you intend to give in return for the money you desire. There is no such reality as something for nothing.
3. Establish a definite date when you intend to possess the money you desire.
4. Create a definite plan for carrying out your desire, and begin at once whether you are ready or not, to put this plan into action.Â
5. Write out a clear concise statement of the amount of money you intend to acquire. Name the time limit for its acquisition. State what you intend to give in return for the money, and describe clearly the plan through which you intend to accumulate it.Â
6. Read your written statement aloud twice daily. Once at night, and once in the morning. As you read, see, feel and believe yourself already in possession of the money.
It is important that you follow the instructions described in these six steps. It is especially important that you observe and follow the sixth instruction. You may complain that it is impossible for you to see yourself in possession of the money before you actually have it. Here is where a burning desire will come to your aid. If you truly desire money so keenly that your desire is an obsession, you will have no difficulty in convincing yourself that you will acquire it. The object is to want money, and to become so determined to have it that you convince yourself you will have it. Only those who become money conscious ever accumulate great riches. Money consciousness means that the mind has become so thoroughly saturated with the desire for money that one can see one's self already in possession of it.
To those who have not been schooled in the working principles of the human mind, these instructions may appear impractical. It may be helpful to all who fail to recognize the soundness of the six steps to know that the information they convey was received from Andrew Carnegie, who began as an ordinary laborer in the steel mills. Despite his humble beginnings, Carnegie managed to make these principles yield him a fortune of considerably more than 100 millions dollars. It may be a further help to know that the six steps recommended here were carefully scrutinized by Thomas A. Edison. He placed his stamp of approval upon them, as being not only the steps essential for the accumulation of money, but also for the attainment for any definite goal.Â
The steps call for no hard labor. They call for no sacrifice. To apply them calls for no great amount of education. But the successful application of these six steps DOES call for sufficient imagination, to enable one to see and to understand that accumulation of money cannot be left to chance, good fortune, and luck. One must realize that all who have accumulated great fortunes first did a certain amount of dreaming, hoping, wishing, desiring, and planning before they acquired money.Â
You may as well know also, that every great leader from the dawn of civilization down to the present was a dreamer. If you do not see great riches in your imagination, you will NEVER see them in your bank balance. We who desire to accumulate riches should remember that the real leaders of the world have always been people who harnessed and put into practical use the intangible unseen forces of unborn opportunity. They have converted those forces or impulses of thought into skyscrapers, cities, factories, airplanes, cars, better health care, and every form of convenience that makes life more pleasant.Â
Tolerance and an open-mind are practical necessities for the dreamer of today. Those who are afraid of new ideas are doomed before they start. Never has there been a time more favorable to pioneers than the present. There is a vast business, financial and industrial world to be re-molded and redirected along new and better lines. In planning to acquire your share of the riches let no one influence you to scorn the dreamer. To win the big stakes in this ever changing world, you must catch the spirit of the great pioneers of the past, who's dreams have given to civilization all that it has of value, the spirit which serves as the lifeblood of our society, your opportunity and mine, to market and develop our talents. If the thing you wish to do is right, and you believe in it, go ahead and DO IT. Put your dream across, and never mind what they say if you're met with temporary defeat, for they perhaps do not know that every failure brings with it the seed of an equivalent success.Â
Henry Ford, poor and uneducated, dreamed of a horseless carriage. He went to work with what tools he possessed without waiting for opportunity to favor him. And now evidence of his dream belts the entire Earth. Thomas Edison dreamed of a lamp that could be operated by electricity. Despite over 10,000 failures, he stood by that dream until he made it a physical reality. Practical dreamers DO NOT quit. Lincoln dreamed of freedom for the slaves, put his dream into action, and barely missed living to see a united north and south translate his dream into reality. The wright brothers dreamed of a machine that would fly through the air. Now, one may see evidence all over the world that they dreamed soundly.Â
Marconi dreamed of a system for harnessing the intangible forces of the ether. Evidence that he did not dream in vain, may be found in every radio, TV, and cell phone in the world. Moreover, Marconi's dream brought the humblest cabin and the most stately manor house side by side. It made the people of every nation on Earth next door neighbors, by creating a medium where news, information, and entertainment could instantly be disseminated throughout the world. It may interest you to know that Marconi's "friends", had him taken into custody and examined in a psychopathic hospital when he announced he had discovered a principal through which he could send messages through the air without the aid of wires or other direct physical means of communication.Â
The dreamers of today fare better. The world has become accustomed to new discoveries. Indeed, it has shown a willingness to reward the dreamer who gives the world a new idea.Â
This song is dope, check it out! I'm a sucker for Kanye beats though...
The weather here in Denver is truly unbelievable this time of year, so me and the roommates have made sure to get out to a few Rockies games before the weather starts to turn. Fortunately we've been able to score some pretty sweet seats for the games, because my parents have season tickets, but they've been out of town so they gave the four tickets to us. Check out the view from the seats below. It's funny because if a left handed batter is up, people can see you on TV very clearly. So a lot of times I'll be at the game, and then I'll get a text from people telling me to stop picking my nose or get off the phone etc., haha. But one time it worked against me, because my parents gave me the seats, but I ended up wanting to do something else that day, so I ditched out on the game. So I got a call from my mom later on asking me how the game was, and I tried to bluff her saying I went etc... But she turned on the game and saw that the seats were empty, so she knew I was bluffing, but I 3b bluffed my way out of it and told her we went and sat with some chicks in some shitty upper-deck seats instead of the premium ones hahaha. wp!
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I was also in a buddy of mine's wedding in Fort Collins. Weddings are the nuts man. Chicks look their best for 'em, and it's a fantastic excuse to get drunk, meet new people, and overall have a good time. Here's a pic of me and a buddy from the wedding. I'm the one on the left.
Â
I also went to a club in Denver called Jet for the first time a few weeks ago for a buddys birthday. It was pretty sick!Â
Speaking of birthdays, my birthday is this Thursday, so I'm pretty stoked. Obviously I'm kidding about getting an AARP card, but turning 26 seems kinda old in the online poker world. Labor Day Weekend is always my favorite weekend of the whole year not only because it's my birthday, but also because that's when they have the CU vs. CSU rivalry game, the weather is always nice, and it's a holiday weekend so everyone has extra time to come out and celebrate my bday with me! I'm going on some kind of pub crawl they do every year where they take a party bus full of like 45 people to Boulder during the afternoon/evening, and then back to Denver for the night. You basically pay 60 bucks to have unlimited drinks for the whole day/night, and you basically just hit up every single bar that's decent in both Boulder and Denver. Everyone dresses up too (gotta encourage the girls to dress slutty amirite?), and this years theme is Back to the Future. Needless to say it's gonna be a sick time, so I'm looking forward to it!
When I haven't been drinking beer at Rockies games, I've had some time to put in volume. I went on a very nice heater earlier in the month, but eventually got doom-switched again for a few sessions. And what way to squash a downswing than to take a shot right? I couldn't really help myself, since I got the Jesus seat on a very friendly rainbow trout on two different tables. Unfortunately I didn't run as well as I could've but I only ended up losing ~$1500, which all things considered isn't too bad. I'll post some random hands from the last ten days for those who're curious.Â
It kind of sucks that I have to get my money in flipping against the fish, but that's just how the hand played out. Against a lot of players I might choose a c/c flop c/r turn line, but he was a massive call station, so I didn't want to give him a chance to check the flop back. After he raises the flop the rest of the hand plays itself. Kinda weak that the turn bricked both times and he still scooped 'em both imo.
Pre Flop: ($15.00) Hero is BB with 9 9 T 8 BTN raises to $30, 1 fold, Hero calls $20
Flop: ($65.00) 3 J 9(2 players) Hero bets $50, BTN raises to $215, Hero raises to $710, BTN raises to $2195, Hero calls $545.75 all in
Turn: ($2576.50) 6(2 players - 1 is all in)
River: ($2576.50) 4(2 players - 1 is all in)
Turn: ($2576.50) 6(2 players - 1 is all in)
River: ($2576.50) T(2 players - 1 is all in)
Final Pot: $2576.50 Hero shows 9 9 T 8 (three of a kind, Nines) BTN shows K T Q A (a straight, King high) BTN wins $1287.50 BTN wins $1287.50 (Rake: $1.50)
Lifetime I bet I've played maybe 100 hands of cap, which I think hurt me here, because afterwards looking back this is a 3b pretty much always. My reasoning at the time was that I wanted to make sure to keep the fish in, it was only a min raise so I can't get as high of a % of my stack in, my hand is pretty polar/nutty so calling can't be a huge mistake, and if I 3b everyone will call me so it's a pretty high variance play getting it in postflop. But the other side of that is they probably all don't call me, I'll likely get 3 way or HU and be able to get the rest in on most boards etc. But so it goes.
Pre Flop: ($30.00) Hero is BB with 5 A A 8 1 fold, CO raises to $40, BTN calls $40, SB calls $30, Hero calls $20
Flop: ($160.00) 5 6 K(4 players) SB checks, Hero checks, CO checks, BTN bets $100, SB calls $100, Hero raises to $560, CO folds, BTN raises to $760, SB folds, Hero calls $200
Turn: ($1780.00) Q(2 players)
River: ($1780.00) 7(2 players)
Turn: ($1780.00) J(2 players)
River: ($1780.00) Q(2 players)
Final Pot: $1780.00 BTN shows 4 2 K K (three of a kind, Kings) Hero shows 5 A A 8 (a pair of Aces) BTN wins $888.00 BTN wins $888.00 (Rake: $4.00)
Blah, kinda hate this hand. My first instinct was to fold the riv, but I talked myself into calling because I figured he'd play any boat this way, and he was a really spazzy fish. Only thing that made me want to fold is that he snap shipped the river, and like I've said in videos, snap actions from weaker players are almost always polar, and in this case he would never have air, so therefore it should be the stones right? Good turn for him I suppose...
Full Tilt Poker $1/$2 Pot Limit Omaha Hi - 6 players - View hand 893366
Pre Flop: ($3.00) Hero is BB with J A A 7 UTG raises to $7, CO raises to $24, 2 folds, Hero raises to $80, UTG calls $73, CO calls $56
Flop: ($241.00) 2 9 T(3 players) Hero bets $120 all in, UTG raises to $169.50 all in, CO calls $169.50
Turn: ($700.00) K(3 players - 2 are all in)
River: ($700.00) K(3 players - 2 are all in)
Final Pot: $700.00 Hero shows J A A 7 (two pair, Aces and Kings) UTG shows 7 Q 8 J (a straight, King high) CO shows T Q K J (a full house, Kings full of Tens) CO wins $99.00 CO wins $598.00 (Rake: $3.00)
Run goooot. Bought in short because the two players on my left are very aggressive.
Full Tilt Poker $2/$4 Pot Limit Omaha Hi - 5 players - View hand 893381
Pre Flop: ($6.00) Hero is CO with 8 9 Q T UTG raises to $14, Hero raises to $36, BTN calls $36, 1 fold, BB raises to $160, 1 fold, Hero raises to $244 all in, BTN calls $208, BB calls $84
Flop: ($748.00) 6 5 7(3 players - 1 is all in) BB bets $651.90 all in, BTN calls $156 all in
Turn: ($1060.00) 8(3 players - 3 are all in)
River: ($1060.00) 2(3 players - 3 are all in)
Final Pot: $1060.00 Hero shows 8 9 Q T (a straight, Ten high) BTN shows 8 9 6 7 (a straight, Nine high) BB shows A A Q 3 (a pair of Aces) BTN wins $312.00 Hero wins $745.00 (Rake: $3.00)
This one prob looks donkish so I'll explain. Basically I min raise to re-open the action for the UTG short-stack limper. Plus, the CO is playing 89/72/3b of 55, 4b of 30 (!!!). So it gives him a chance to go off too, and worst case scenario is everyone just calls me, which isn't a big deal since I'm only risking an 1 extra bb, but I could get HU AIPF etc. Plus my hand plays fine in a min raised 5 way pot OOP. Ultimately I think it worked out nicely :)
Pre Flop: ($6.00) Hero is SB with T A T A UTG calls $4, CO calls $4, BTN calls $4, Hero raises to $8, BB calls $4, UTG calls $4, CO raises to $16, BTN calls $12, Hero raises to $80, BB calls $72 all in, 1 fold, CO calls $64, BTN calls $64
Flop: ($328.00) 7 7 A(4 players - 1 is all in) Hero bets $22, CO raises to $253.90 all in, BTN folds, Hero calls $231.90
Turn: ($835.80) 5(3 players - 2 are all in)
River: ($835.80) 3(3 players - 2 are all in)
Final Pot: $835.80 CO shows 4 2 6 7 (a straight, Seven high) Hero shows T A T A (a full house, Aces full of Sevens) BB shows J 8 K Q (a pair of Sevens) Hero wins $507.80 Hero wins $325.00 (Rake: $3.00) Not much to say for this one.
Pre Flop: ($6.00) Hero is BTN with 8 A 9 A UTG raises to $14, 1 fold, Hero raises to $40, 2 folds, UTG raises to $126, Hero raises to $384, UTG raises to $611.90 all in, Hero calls $103.55 all in
Flop: ($981.10) 5 J 9
Turn: ($981.10) T
River: ($981.10) 8
Final Pot: $981.10 UTG shows A 2 2 A (a pair of Aces) Hero shows 8 A 9 A (two pair, Nines and Eights) Hero wins $978.10 (Rake: $3.00)
Pre Flop: ($6.00) Hero is SB with 6 7 Q K 2 folds, BTN raises to $12, Hero raises to $40, BB raises to $132, BTN raises to $160 all in, Hero calls $120 all in, BB calls $28
Flop: ($480.00) 2 3 J
Turn: ($480.00) A
River: ($480.00) 3
Final Pot: $480.00 BB shows 5 7 8 6 (a pair of Threes) BTN shows T 9 Q 8 (a pair of Threes) Hero shows 6 7 Q K (a pair of Threes) Hero wins $477.00 (Rake: $3.00)
Turn: ($72.00) 9(2 players) Hero bets $64, MP raises to $216 all in, Hero calls $152
River: ($504.00) 3(2 players - 1 is all in)
River: ($504.00) Q(2 players - 1 is all in)
Final Pot: $504.00 Hero shows 6 A J T (three of a kind, Sixes) MP shows A 9 4 A (two pair, Aces and Sixes) Hero wins $250.00 Hero wins $250.00 (Rake: $4.00)
Stacks prob need to be deeper for me to fold buddy.
Full Tilt Poker $5/$10 Pot Limit Omaha Hi - 6 players - View hand 893391
Turn: ($268.00) K(2 players) Hero bets $35, BB raises to $269.10 all in, Hero calls $177.10 all in
River: ($692.20) 8(2 players - 2 are all in)
Final Pot: $692.20 BB shows Q 7 K 3 (a flush, Ace high) Hero shows 9 A 4 A (three of a kind, Aces) BB wins $689.20 (Rake: $3.00)
Here I bet small on the turn because he was peeling reaaaaalllly wide, and all sets and most 2pr's wouldve raised the flop, so I figured the only way to get value was to bet small to widen his range or get him to bluff turn or river.
River: ($108.00) 6(2 players) Hero bets $94, BTN/SB raises to $259.20 all in, Hero calls $165.20
Final Pot: $626.40 Hero shows 6 A 4 Q (a flush, Ace high) BTN/SB shows 4 K T 7 (a flush, King high) Hero wins $625.90 (Rake: $0.50)
I thought I took a cool line in this rush hand so I'll include it. No real reads on Villain to start the hand. I raised the flop for a couple of reasons. First, I'm not concerned about the SB hitting this flop very hard, and second I think the BB leads all draws, 2pr's and sets, but I have a 7 blocker so 67 is unlikely, and basically my thought at the time was if I call it's hard to rep 67 later, and i give him a chance to barrel me on the turn and make me fold, but if I raise I can very credibly rep 67 since I look stronger because of the player behind me, plus as long as the turn isn't a 6JQ or board pairing card I think I'll pick it up a very high percentage of the time, and even if it's a 6 i might bet anyway... Depends on the actual card and my reads on the player I suppose. Plus he might fold the flop, and I have some equity (pair+gutter) so it doesn't have to work as often either. Multi-street planning FTW!
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