I now have three players I'm staking for 1% in various events in the WSOP. I probably overextended myself, which is interesting, considering that I'm so freaking weird and tight with my BRM. But Staking? Oh, no problem, here's $200.
Dumbass.
I had one of those days, set into set, kings in to aces, etc, where I lost a couple BIs early, and for the first time, didn't dwell on it after shutting it down. Pretty happy about that.
Had a little extra money laying around, so last night, I decided to stake 1% of Collin Moshman in nine WSOP preliminary events. I think it'll be a fun way to experience the WSOP over the next couple of months. I love his books, so I figured why not.
In April, I played literally 131 hands of online poker. After the March I'd had, I was really disappointed by this. But them's the breaks sometime.
Trying to work my way back slowly. Was playing pretty well today. Felt like I was making good reads, good laydowns, taking good lines...and then I had a hand that completely flummoxed me.
Merge - $0.10 NL - Holdem - 8 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 3: http://www.pokertracker.com
MP: $2.65
MP+1: $10.63
CO: $4.63
Hero (BTN): $10.00
SB: $13.13
BB: $10.00
UTG: $11.19
UTG+1: $5.33
SB posts SB $0.05, BB posts BB $0.10
Pre Flop: ($0.15) Hero has Kh Q
UTG calls $0.10, fold, fold, fold, fold, Hero raises to $0.40, fold, fold, UTG raises to $1.00, Hero calls $0.60
What I know here: This villain, over about 200 hands, is a 18/2,
has taken some different lines at times. So, I wasn't shocked that he
did this, but I also had seen him be fit or fold quite a bit. I think
that I've got a shot to take it away at a point in the hand, in
position.
Flop: ($2.15, 2 players) Jc Tc 3h
UTG bets $1.25, Hero calls $1.25
Not
a bad flop. Here is where I made my decision. If he's at the top of
his range, he has an overpair. The middle of his range, he has a set.
Bottom of his range, he has an underpair. AK also factors in, here. I
decide that with an open ender, I'm going to call, and if a straight or
flush comes in, I'll bet it hard.
Turn: ($4.65, 2 players) Qc
UTG checks, Hero bets $2.60, UTG calls $2.60
OK,
so the float works, and I actually hit the flush, as well as top pair.
The drawback is that if he has AK, he's hit a straight, and he might
not back away from it. I decide on a smaller bet size, a little over
half the pot, so I can fold versus a shove without losing a lot, get a
fold from a lot of his pair hands, and then potentially shove the river
on a blank.
River: ($9.85, 2 players) 8h
UTG bets $3.00
And this is
where I was completely clueless. A lead out here? Such a different
line. So I thought about it, and said that there's no way that I'm
ahead here. His range is narrowed to AA, a set, AK, a flush....I can't
beat anything. A shove is only about 2.70 for him to call, so he'll
call. I have to fold. Right?
Feeling pretty comfortable with my game. I'm currently only up a half BI, but hey, it's only through only 1500 hands or so. Had a couple coolers (QQ<AQ on AQx board, 910hh<Q10 on 6h10105h board), but other than that, I find that I'm adjusting well to the increased % of 3bets, and the added aggression. I've been reading Dusty Schmidt and Ed Miller non-stop over the last month, and what I'm taking out of it are a couple of things:
1) A better understanding of ranges. I can certainly say that my understanding of my opponents ranges is vastly ahead of where it was even 6 months ago. I find myself now thinking about it, and narrowing down possible options much more than I had, and I know that it's helping me. As a result, I'm folding more than I think I used to, which is a good thing.
2) SPR. This is one I think I'd had an idea of for a long time, as I do enjoy math, but didn't have a quantitative understanding of it. Putting it in to a framework that helped me was big, and Miller's books do that a lot. As a result, I'm realizing when I want to get it in, and when I don't. Which leads to
3) Being much better about getting all-in, even when I don't have the nuts. It's such a simple thing, but I've found myself getting a better idea of combining fold equity, my perceived range, my opponents range, and then deciding whether things are +- EV. I'm nowhere near where I want to be, but it's making a lot more sense to me now, and my thinking on each hand has become better.
That being said, I'll probably play like ass today, and need to drop back down.
Progress is fun.
I really have no clue what I'm doing when I don't have a pair sometimes. I have a better idea when I'm playing more conservative players, and have a better idea of range, but when I don't hit my hand OOP against these types of players, I really, really struggle. Any help would be appreciated, and here's an example.
Over about 100 hands or so, villain was 50/19/4, with a WTSD of 45%, and a fold to 3bet of 33%
[b]Merge - $0.10 NL - Holdem - 9 players[/b]
[i][url=http://www.pokertracker.com]Hand converted by PokerTracker 3[/url][/i]
UTG+1: $20.32
MP: $9.91
MP+1: $10.18
LP: $3.54
CO: $10.82
[b]BTN: $7.20[/b]
SB: $12.47
[b]Hero (BB): $10.00[/b]
UTG: $6.53
SB posts SB $0.05, [b]Hero[/b] posts BB $0.10
[b]Pre Flop:[/b] [i]($0.15)[/i] [b]Hero[/b] has A:diamond: K:club:
[i]fold[/i], [i]fold[/i], [i]fold[/i], [i]fold[/i], [i]fold[/i], [color=red]CO raises to $0.30[/color], [b]BTN[/b] calls $0.30, [i]fold[/i], [color=red][b]Hero[/b] raises to $1.15[/color], CO calls $0.85, [b]BTN[/b] calls $0.85
[b]Flop:[/b] [i]($3.50, 3 players)[/i] 6:spade: T:spade: 5:diamond:
[color=red][b]Hero[/b] bets $2.10[/color], [i]fold[/i], [b]BTN[/b] calls $2.10
[b]Turn:[/b] [i]($7.70, 2 players)[/i] 2:club:
[b]Hero[/b] checks, [color=red][b]BTN[/b] bets $1.19[/color], [b]Hero[/b] calls $1.19
[b]River:[/b] [i]($10.08, 2 players)[/i] 3:spade:
[b]Hero[/b] checks, [b]BTN[/b] checks
[b]Hero[/b] shows A:diamond: K:club: (High Card, Ace) (Pre 60%, Flop 24%, Turn 14%)
[b]BTN[/b] shows 9:club: T:club: (One Pair, Tens) (Pre 40%, Flop 76%, Turn 86%)
[b]BTN[/b] wins $9.58
My fiance and I had our families (I have divorced parents) meet up for the first time in St. Louis over the weekend. Obviously a lot of stress is involved, but that's to be expected. There was a period of time where we had a little bit of time to ourselves, and the fiance needed a nap. Needless to say, that means, I got some poker time at the Lumiere casino, about 10 blocks away. All told, I got about 90 minutes to play.
During that time, I bought in to the 1/3 game for 180, and won 150. Solid.
I was dealt AA three times. I hit a set.
The first AA hand unfortunately was against more of a nit than I thought, and he basically folded after I cbet the turn.
Then I hit a set and was up over $200.
Then I got dealt QQ on the button. 3 limps, so I raise to 21, get a call, and the guy shows down AA, costing me over $100.
Next hand, I get AA. I decided to do it like I was tilted. One limper, I raise to 20, and get folds. Blech.
Later, I got AA again, and got it to showdown despite a flushdraw on board which made me want to keep the pot down.
All told, I was happy with my play, and it remains important for me to continue getting as much live experience as possible.
Regardless, getting aces three times in 90 minutes is about as ridiculous as it gets.
I've been running rather well, and had gotten my BR up to within just 3 BIs of being able to make the jump up to 10NL.
Then last night, was in late position, had a TAG raise to 3x from EP, and I called from the CO with 55, and the BTN called as well. The flop comes 25Q. GIN! TAG bets about 2/3, I call, hoping for the BTN to call, which he does. Turn is a Q. TAG bets about 2/3 again, I call, BTN does as well.
This is where my brain goes dumdum. Obviously, I'm up against a) a queen in at least one of those two hands, if not both, and b) possibly a set of 2s, and maybe c) an overpair. So I've got this on lockdown.
Then comes the river 2. I was literally sitting there counting the fact that I was going to be up 2BIs at the Table. So I naturally call the AI from the Tag, and squeal with joy when the button calls too. Then, when my chips are divided amongst the other two players, I actually said out loud, "WHAT?" before sitting there in stunned silence, realizing what I'd overlooked.
I know most people have done this once or twice, but it'd been quite a while since I'd just completely misread the board like that. Needless to say, I was embarrassed, and disappointed I'd donked off essentially a BI, when I could have saved 1/2 BI by just folding the river.
And yes, I could have shoved on the turn, but I felt that getting the button to come along too was the best +EV decision. Which it was, had a blank hit on the river.
Oh well.
I lost some money at a home game in January, otherwise, I was pretty much even for the entire month. Down $1 online, down $20 at my one home game, which is under half a BI. I played just under 4K hands, so I was good with that. I played more aggressively, and while I lost a couple of flips, I think it gave me a different look at the tables, which is what I wanted.
Not much is changing with my goals for February. I'm up a BI over my first 250 hands, so that's a solid start. Can't complain so far.
I'm still having trouble getting my books from Dusty Schmidt. If anyone has any ideas, please let me know.
Here's the thread I started about it.
http://www.deucescracked.com/forums/4-General-Discussion/topics/482211-Could-use-some-help-getti?#post_4200571
Quite like losing a 5 outer and 8 outer on consecutive all ins in cash games. Yuck. Great play, great reads, can't be upset with how I played, but good crap that sucks.
AA < KJ
KK<K10
