We Stand As The Giants Make Way

Clever title imo. Champions League today. The capitalist pigs in Norway are playing the worst fucking match of all of them on nationwide television; Barcelona – Dinamo Kiev. Whoop de fucking doo, but hey. It’s a chance to watch Zlatan, Messi, Xavi and Iniesta in action, so I guess it’s okay. I’m a little bit disappointed they didn’t show one of the matches from yesterday, because I’d rather watch Man Utd – Wolfsburg or FC Bayern – Juventus.

I tried playing some NL200 today, and it went fairly well. Ended up winning about $300 over 900 hands. I didn’t get it in AIPF once. In fact, I was being quite a bit of a nit, which was weird. I tried some new tricks and moves etc, and they seemed to work quite well. A couple of cool hands I played today. I might be pulling out from this downswing bs.

Villain in this hand is pretty loose in general. 46/26, and seems to be pretty bad and somewhat spastic. A couple of notes on how I’ve seen him play previous hands make him look even worse. He check/raises the flop about 13 %, which in itself isn’t all too much, but I have seen him slowplay big hands previously and I haven’t seem him check/raise top pair for value before so his range is pretty skewed towards air in this spot. It would suck if I got owned by a value shove by AQ or something on the river, but I think he has enough air to make it a profitable calldown.

$1/$2 No Limit Holdem
6 Players
Hand Conversion Powered by http://weaktight.com/

Stacks:
Hero $200
UTG+1 $283.45
CO $211.85
BTN $100
SB $275.30
BB $201.98

Pre-Flop: ($3, 6 players) Hero is UTG Jd Js
Hero raises to $8, 4 folds, BB calls $6

Flop: 9h Qc 9d ($17, 2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $13, BB raises to $26, Hero calls $13

Turn: Ad ($69, 2 players)
BB bets $36, Hero calls $36

River: Kc ($141, 2 players)
BB bets $131.98, Hero calls $130

This next hand is also pretty cool. CO is a 20/16 kind of guy, seems to play very straight forwardly, and folds a lot to 3bets, so I don’t want to 3bet AQ for value here. I think it’s a pretty standard call preflop. The BB is a pretty big nit, like a 14/11 or so at the time, so I figure he has a ton of pocket pairs in his calling range. When he leads the flop, it definitely feels like some sort of a feeler bet testing the waters with a hand like 88 or so. I was close to folding, but then I realized that he’s such a nit that I can probably take this pot away from him at a later point. Also, the dryness of the flop makes it so that he can’t be leading that flop with anything for value imo. He would probably be better of checking and letting me or the CO take a stab at it. He could have air too. So I figure, I’m going to win this pot almost always. His turn bet is quite menacing and I’m not sure what to make of it now. I think, given his betsizing, he has an increased frequency of bluffs or some hands that are getting value from worse pairs, so I guess he can have 99+ for value or something like that. However, I’m pretty sure he’s 3betting QQ+, maybe JJ+, so he only has 99 and TT in his value range imo. I decide to float again, and I’m thinking I’ll take it down when he checks the river, which I do.

$1/$2 No Limit Holdem
5 Players
Hand Conversion Powered by http://weaktight.com/

Stacks:
UTG $423.95
CO $200
Hero $223
SB $201
BB $222.50

Pre-Flop: ($3, 5 players) Hero is BTN Qc Ah
1 fold, CO raises to $7, Hero calls $7, 1 fold, BB calls $5

Flop: 3h Kd 2s ($22, 3 players)
BB bets $12, CO folds, Hero calls $12

Turn: Ks ($46, 2 players)
BB bets $36, Hero calls $36

River: 4c ($118, 2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $72, BB folds

This next hand is probably my spazz of the day, but I think it’s a cool spot to make a play like this. UTG is a pretty aggressive player playing somewhere around 25/20 and 30/25 or something like that, and she opens pretty wide UTG so her range is pretty wide. It’s only a 2k sample, so I’m not sure. She cbets 75 % of the time, so she’ll have air quite often in this spot. SB is a player who I’ve played a lot with, and you guys who play NL200 on iPoker have probably played vs. him, although I’m not going to say who he is. Anyways, this player is a pretty solid winner at MSNL, but has been playing NL200 lately. He calls pretty loose preflop, something like 15 % of hands in the SB over a very good sample. He also check/raises flops some 20 % of the time, so he’s very aggressive as a preflop caller. I’m pretty sure his check/raising range on the flop consists mostly of air, and a couple of flushdraws (given how many more combos of air he has compared to flushdraws). He could have a Q too, but I still think he has a ton of air here.

$1/$2 No Limit Holdem
5 Players
Hand Conversion Powered by http://weaktight.com/

Stacks:
UTG $200
CO $200
BTN $280.85
SB $455.50
Hero $216

Pre-Flop: ($3, 5 players) Hero is BB 8c 9c
UTG raises to $6, 2 folds, SB calls $5, Hero calls $4

Flop: Qs 5s Qh ($18, 3 players)
SB checks, Hero checks, UTG bets $12, SB raises to $37, Hero raises to $70

Anyways, I gotta run. The match starts in 35 minutes, and I’m supposed to watch it over at my friend’s place.

I’ve been looking at my game lately, and how I’ve played in the last 2 months. I’ve compared it to how I’ve played previously to how I’ve played lately, and something hit me. I’ve been playing outside of my natural game. What I mean by natural game is that I’ve been doing something at the tables that I can’t identify 100 % with. I’ve been trying to play like someone else, and not like myself. I’ve heard a lot of good players and thinkers talking about playing like yourself, and not like someone else. I’ve finally understood what this means, after playing like someone else for a long time and looking back at how I played when I’ve played like myself. Your style of play should reflect your personality, and you should be feeling comfortable playing the way you’re playing. Lately, I haven’t, and I’m going to fix that.

I am also going to be all cool and post some hands, but I can’t figure out the hand converter so there won’t be any sexy graphics or whatever. I know, it sucks.

Villain is playing a couple of tables with me, and seems to be playing a fairly standard game, but on the passive side. Somewhere around 25/20, with a very high folding frequency, cbet frequency etc. He’s definitely some sort of a tagfish. I saw him check JT on J95r as the preflop raiser in CO vs. BTN, and I have a suspicion that he might bet bigger with value hands and smaller with bluffs on the turn. Calling preflop here is decent, because I can certainly show a profit playing this hand and blinds aren’t very squeeze happy. I’m not sure whether or not to bet the river, but I think the absolute top of his range is like JT here and maybe some Jx combos that he c/c the turn with because “f u”, but I think he has a lot of weaker pairs in his range. I have been playing fairly aggressively vs. him, so I guess this is a pretty clear value bet?

$0.50/$1 No Limit Holdem
6 Players
Hand Conversion Powered by http://weaktight.com/

Stacks:
UTG $143.15
UTG+1 $100.50
CO $117.95
Hero $198.85
SB $176.05
BB $100

Pre-Flop: ($1.50, 6 players) Hero is BTN Th Qs
2 folds, CO raises to $3, Hero calls $3, 2 folds

Flop: Td 2h 8h ($7.50, 2 players)
CO bets $6, Hero calls $6

Turn: 5c ($19.50, 2 players)
CO checks, Hero bets $14, CO calls $14

River: Jd ($47.50, 2 players)
CO checks, Hero bets $35

Another cool hand I played. Villain is 61/22, and sucks massive balls. He’s blasted through a half a buy-in and is working on the rest of it now. He rarely folds to flop cbets etc, so he’s calling pretty wide. I’m betting the flop for value, and I’m expecting him to call with a lot worse hands. The 7 is a good card for me, although 97, J7 and T8 now improved to beat me so when he leads the turn, I’m thinking “wtf”. I don’t think he’ll play a K like this all too often, but it’s probably part of his range. It’s only a small part of his range, and I’m thinking he might spazz with a lot of pair + draw combos, and if he does have 2 pair I can improve to a better 2 pair or a straight on the river. Even though I only have 2nd pair with a decent kicker, I think I’m ahead of his range. JT is probably the weakest hand I’ll ship here, so QJ is probably somewhat thin, but I think it’s okay. It worked out well in this hand anways.

$0.50/$1 No Limit Holdem
6 Players
Hand Conversion Powered by http://weaktight.com/

Stacks:
UTG $108.95
UTG+1 $123.65
CO $149.65
BTN $115.85
SB $52.50
Hero $100

Pre-Flop: ($1.50, 6 players) Hero is BB Js Qh
4 folds, SB calls $0.50, Hero raises to $4, SB calls $3

Flop: 9d Jc Ks ($8, 2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $6, SB calls $6

Turn: 7d ($20, 2 players)
SB bets $20, Hero goes all-in $90, SB calls $22.50

River: 5c ($152.50, 2 players, 1 all-in)

Final Pot: $152.50
SB shows
Jh 8h

Hero wins $149.50 (net +$49.50)

SB lost $52.50

I don’t have anything clever to write as a closer, so kbai for now.

My uncle lives in the same town as Johnny Lodden. I was out with my uncle, and we went to the appliance store because he had to get some shit. On our way out to my uncle’s car, Johnny Lodden suddenly walks by.

HOLY SHIT, JOHNNY LODDEN.

I got up at 9:30, being tired as fuck. I went through my daily routine (shower, breakfast, brush teeth). I browsed around on the internets and read some blogs. J-Mac’s blog here on DC made me lol irl, which is pretty awesome as it is something I read on the internets. Plan for the day was to go visit my cousins. They’re like 10, 7 and 5 years old respectively, and I’m sort of their hero, I guess. They all love me, and I love them, so it’s a win-win situation. I decided to play a session before I left, and it went fairly well. I made some money, and played some hands. Ran below EV, as usual. AK owned by 87s AIPF, AA owned by AQo AIPF, I like to whine. Then, I pack my bags and leave.

I got on the bus to Stavanger at about 12. I planned to take the boat to my cousins at 13:30, but I got to the pier a bit earlier, and there was a boat there already, so I got on that one. I didn’t have any time to stop by an ATM, so all I had was some spare change. You don’t have to pay cash on the boat, but I prefer to. The price to take the boat was 40, and I had tons of change. I had like a ton of 1s and 0.50s, and paid with those. I’m really happy to finally have gotten rid of all that small change now, but my wallet feels kind of empty. On the boat, I did some EV calculations and goofed around on Pokerazor to check out some frequencies while watching one of BalugaWhale’s videos in the background. I really, really love his videos. He’s really going in-depth, and I think I’m going to get coaching from him some time in the future. I also found out something pretty interesting about full ring poker and common full ring players while sitting on the boat.

It’s pretty obvious that people who fold a lot to 3bets will be positive EV to 3bet against. You can 3bet anyone who folds more than 66 % to 3bets and show an instant profit. However, I was looking at frequencies when facing 3bets. When someone who opens 10 % UTG, and folds 80 % to 3bets, his 3bet calling range is generally AKs, and JJ and better. 10 % of hands UTG is pretty tight, but given the nature of full ring poker and the nature of nits, 3betting “nits” is actually very profitable. In my opinion, the definition of nit is something like a passive 17/14 player or so. No matter how you twist and turn these numbers and ranges, small stakes full ring poker probably should be played by being very positionally aware, and loose aggressive game preflop, and a tight aggressive game preflop. By loose aggressive, I’m not talking about playing 50 % of hands or whatever, but more playing like a 6max game. I’m not a full ring expert by no means, and I have no idea on how the games play on PokerStars or FullTilt, but I certainly think that what I said about full ring applies on the games on iPoker.

Anyways, when I got to my uncle, aunt and cousin’s place, I hung out and played FIFA 10 with the oldest boy. They’re 2 boys and 1 girl. After playing FIFA for a bit, we went out to play football and we played for quite a while. It was good fun, and a bit exhausting for a fat ass like myself. When we got home, I decided to just chill and passively watch the new Never Tell Me The Odds episode while being slightly asleep. After about one hour, I decided to get up and play some poker. I played on PokerStars, and played a couple of hands at NL100 and won something like a buy-in.

During the session, I was talking to Bart (Grindcore), who told me he was going to take shots at 10/20. I railed him, and the games were definitely good. I’m pretty sure I’d be +EV in those games, so that was a pretty big motivator. I’m definitely looking forward to getting out of this bad stretch I’m going through now, because I think I’m capable of getting all the way up to high stakes. I feel pretty good about my game, and I think my HEM graph and stats are lies made to knock on my self-confidence. Grindcore ran like God too, and made pretty good money at the beginning of the session. He was up 7k at most, but the session ended up a loser for him. I don’t know the details on how he lost after I stopped railing, but while I was watching, I would have to say he was definitely very +EV.

At the time of writing this, I am laying in bed with malfunctioning internet, watching an old video by Foucault (who, by the way, probably is underrated) and writing this blog post. I’m going to post it when I get access to the internets, which I hope I’ll have tomorrow morning.

Anyways, I guess that’s it. I’m not looking forward to tomorrow, because the kids are having some other kids over for a christmas workshop. It’s going to be hell, so I’m kind of wondering how it’ll turn out. But there’ll be a lot of noise, but I guess I’ll manage. Maybe I’ll get to spend some quality time with my uncle, which could be cool.

Until next time,
Stian

I figured I needed a blog. I had one before, but I don’t think anyone ever read it, and I never really got anything out of writing because there was very little correspondence there. I hope traffic on this blog will give me some motivation to keep on playing when I’m on a low, and I can brag when I’m on ups.

I guess most of the content in this blog will be poker related, but I’ll definitely write about other stuff that interests me. Topics may vary from music to football (the real kind, where people actually kick a ball with their feet) to anything else that comes to mind. I’ll try to analyze at least one hand per week, so that’ll be fun.

In the last 2 days, I’ve lost 11 BI at NL200 and I now have to find myself playing NL100 again. I’ve been getting brutalized at NL200 since I moved up and I’m like 10 BI under EV, and I think Galfond owes me a couple of thousand as well. Oh, well.

Dearly departed lands, I shall return!