May thy head always be up

Couple of days of my HUHU career have again passed, and it’s time for a new post! Yay! In my introduction post I promised to open my learning process some, so here we go! If anyone has any good methods of learning, please do point me to them.

Videos:

Being a Deucescracked member, and this being a Deucescracked blog, I suppose videos are the most obvious method. So far I’ve watched almost all episodes of Pr1nnyraiding. I have mixed feelings about the series so far. Some of the content has been great, like outlining the archtype villains and basic countermeasures, but I think I was expecting something more. Some of the adjustments are very basic and general, and in some episodes I found myself getting a little bored during the hand histories. Though I do realize that it is an entry level video for heads up, so maybe Pr1nnyraiding 2 is more for me!

I have a feeling that videos showing good players playing and opening their thought process would be really useful for me at the moment. I feel that heads up (and why not other forms of poker too) is basically consisting of two things: by observing villains game, we make assumptions about villains game, and based on them we deploy correct countermeasures. Simplified, villains actions change our actions. I feel that I have a decent grasp about taking reads and observing villains, but I lack the correct toolset to exploit them. This is why I need to watch videos!

Ranges:

I’m using HEM to track my game and provide a simple HUD. After decent amount of hands, I gain some idea of villains tendencies, for example, villain is opening 60-80% of all hands on the button. 60-80%? Looking at the numbers, I realize that 60-80% is pretty wide, coming from a 6-max environmet, but I have no idea how low that goes. Does a 60% opening range include T8o, 85s or T4s? What does a 20% polarized 3-betting range consists of? No. Idea. In shorthanded games, I have never had to deal with that wide ranges. I do realize that I can’t rely only on the stats, but they should push me to the correct direction. So, my next assignment is running lots of ranges in PokerStove!

Game review:

I’ve always been very lazy at reviewing my sessions afterwards. That’s a thing that I really should take up more often, as it definitely should help me find the correct plays in the heat of the moment!

All other methods are welcome in the comments!

I also promised to rant a little:

I do realize that game selection and game rejection is an important part of heads up profit, but hey, I’ve had this kind of sessions with some regulars.

1st hand, villains opens, I fold.

2nd hand, I open, villain folds.

3rd hand, villain opens, I fold.

Before the 4th hand, villain sits out and starts waiting for a new player to play against him. And I see literally tens of these regulars waiting on the tables, some of them seem to be doing it every day for hours and hours.

That’s for todays post, more some other day!