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Hey Guys

Well after a few misfires (and about 10 re-encodes) I've finally got the first video ready. I intend to do a few vids at the lower stakes as I rebuild for a few reasons.

1) I'm rusty as hell and will need at least some guidance
2) It's good to monitor my own thought process in a live environment
3) I think it'll be fun (See stupid intro)

As to why I'm down here. Bleh see blog but cliff notes are, 2009 = awesome, 2010 = Real life blarg.

So I'm starting with about $1400 and since I can't reload I'm being a bit of a nit about the whole thing BR-wise but hopefully I should be at 2/4 soon or at least taking first shots. (I'm setting a BR minimum requirement of 400BB for shot taking so it's a decent sized shot)

I'll post updates on my blog and hopefully on the vids.

For now all vids will be live commentary meaning you get to watch me screw up in Real Time . Was planning a Rush vid but I've abandoned that idea for reasons you'll find out if you watch.

I think there are a few spots in this vid which merit discussion and I'll outline below and I'd love to hear feedback from any of the DC community. I'm definitely out of practice and need all the help I can get

Enjoy Guys.

Vid Points:

I can't tell the difference between right and left so here's my HUD layout.

VPIP/PFR/3-bet/ATS
AF/AQ/FBB/TCB
WSD/W$SD

My thoughts on iffy spots are posted on my blog here

So yeah, have fun guys and really look forward to your feedback.

Edit: Just been informed my intro's buggered, will upload a new version shortly and post the link

New Shiny Link

this may be a stupid question but I was trying to play this video and couldn't get it to work. computer was telling me to install apple application support. i tried reinstalling quicktime but it didn't help and when i tried to play it in realplayer that didn't work either.

anyways boomer 1/2 6m is one of my main games now and i'm modestly profitable and i'd be glad to take a look if i can get the vid to work!

this may be a stupid question but I was trying to play this video and couldn't get it to work. computer was telling me to install apple application support. i tried reinstalling quicktime but it didn't help and when i tried to play it in realplayer that didn't work either.

anyways boomer 1/2 6m is one of my main games now and i'm modestly profitable and i'd be glad to take a look if i can get the vid to work!

Hmmm, that's a little wierd, I've spoken with a few buddies on Skype and they can all get it to work without much fuss.

Have you got VLC Media Player? it should work fine in that.

The other option I can think of is you don't have the correct codec pack installed. The Video Codec is avc1 and the Audio Codec is mp4a

OK got the vid to work. I got through a few hands here tonight, will try to do more later. BTW this is a grunch I didn't look at the other comments so hopefully not too repetitive.

KQo (L table ~2:00) I agree raising the flop is probably best.

QsJs (L table 4:30) I would think about checking the turn here but that may be incorrect. You can get value from flush draws and maybe some straight draws like T9 J9, and some of his hands with equity will give up here, so it's probably fine. It might be interesting to run some stoves on his x/c ranges for flop and turn. In a vid by TPirahna he said he thought most players incorrectly cbet the turn too often, but this may not be one of the situations he was thinking of. By the way, if I checked, I would consider calling many rivers UI. Also I don't mind your river call when he donks- I think it is probably a missed draw often enough.

Q8o (R table 6:40)
I have started raising wider from the small blind against an open limper with pretty good results (an idea I also picked up from a TPirahna vid) and Q8o would be close for me. I think I would always be raising QTo. I would think about leading this turn with my gut shot, not sure if that is correct. On the river, I guess we can 3bet/call if we think he is raise/calling worse 66% of the time that we are not chopping and I actually think that's probably the case here since there are only a few combos of AQ which we can discount since he open limped so I think I prefer a 3bet but it's obviously close.

55 (R table 7:50)
Not sure if this is a standard button 3bet against a CO open but I might muck here and my instict is that it's at least close and would depend how wide CO is opening and how showdown bound he is. As played I think folding flop to flop donk is correct.

QTs (R table 9:15)
Standard until the gross riv. If you're betting it's as a bluff and I don't think it's a good one- I think x/c or x/f are the best options and I have a feeling x/f may be correct if we stoved it.

QQ (L table 9:30)
I like the flop raise but I probably fold to the 3bet. I don't think you have pot odds to draw to a Q and I don't think a K or J turn will give you odds to continue either so I prefer folding to the flop 3bet. As far as being potentially exploited for taking a raise/fold line on flop, this isn't really a spot I would be that worried about it compared to say bet/fold or raise/fold lines on turn/riv.

QQ (L table 10:57)
I think I like bet/fold on the turn with the logic you mentioned money goes in better that way. I may prefer x/c on the riv but not sure if that's correct. Hey may bet some missed draws, he may check back Kx and I'm just not sure how many worse hands a normal player is calling. (This player turns out to be somewhat exceptional in this regard.)

T9s (R table 12:00)
I like play on all streets. I think riv is easy raise/call. Also I like checking the turn- I think he is x/c or x/r there mostly.

78o (L table 13:50)
I don't mind the flop donk although x/c wouldn't be too bad either. Rest is standard.

T8o (R table 14:20)
If you're going to continue, I'd have to think x/r is better than x/c. I think x/c would be pretty bad in HU play and I think this is similar. So I think X/R or X/F > X/C. And if I X/R I think I am barrelling most turns. As played I probably give up and x/f on riv. I think his turn check is often showdownable hands trying to induce a riv bet. OK I just heard your post hand comment that x/r flop is better so I guess you realized this as well.

K3o (L table 15:50)
Good flop fold and good reasoning.

The first QQ hand is a little rough, we're getting effective 14-1 when it comes back to us so we bascailly have to make up 4BB when we hit our set. I think it's certainly close and our BDSD gives us some equity to add as well. You may be right it's a straight up fold becasue our IO even if we hit a Q are debatable but I don't think either play is awful.

T8o I think is somewhat stylistic. I don't think peeling's that bad as long as 1) You sometimes get free cards or 2) If your opponent overbarrells (i.e. most TAGs) you can raise both for value and as a bluff on the turn. The only real mistake on this flop I think would be x/f, that's just way too weak vs a buttron range.

In this hand I was planning on raising quite a few turns but he kinda foiled it by checking back, which is fine, I got a free card with 7 outs but my mistake was betting the river, he has A-high there always and I was just burning a bet. Co-incidentally this also mean AK and 22+ are easy value bets.

Yeah the QQ hand is tricky but you're right neither play can be awful it's fractions of a small bet difference in EV maybe something like .05BB one way or other. Yeah I guess maybe the times where the BSDS lets you pick up a gutshot draw on the turn should help, but it's also complicated because in those cases your Q outs become dirtier because they may give someone else a straight.

Interesting so you are contending that X/C > X/F with the T8o hand, and that as played you would X/R a lot of turns. I mean if an undercard to the J comes, it's going to be hard to represent much besides slowplayed trips with a turn X/R, and it still seems like a tough spot to play profitably to me. But I guess arguing about whether flop x/c or x/f is the second best line isn't a big deal.

OK going to try to get through some more of the vid here....

Got through a few more hands

AKo (L table 17:30)
I like calling down his turn donk.

AKo (L table 19:00)
Gross river with the J but I think I still prefer bet/call? Interested to hear if others would bet/fold here.

KQo (R table 21:00)
Standard IMO.

96o (L table 24:00)
I don't mind the preflop fold here. I think your comment of defending 97o or 96s here sounds reasonable.

J8s (R table 25:00)
You plan sounds reasonable here. I like x/c on the flop and I think a river x/f line when the ace comes is fine too.

The whole T8o hand to me depends on your strategy. I'm not really rep'ing a slowplayed 3 by x/r'ing the turn becasue one strategy I may employ is to call the flop with 100% of hands I continue with and x/r the turn wide on boards like that vs unknowns since imo the average player 2 barrels that board pretty much always.

vs your average TAG it doesn't really matter if you don't rep anything if he can't call down, we're not going to SD with T-high and we're up vs a button range and a player who'll more than likely play super-straightforward vs a turn raise (i.e. if he has a draw/pair or a strong A-High he'll call and he'll fold everything else and pretty much never 3-bet bluff) so winning the pot vs any hand doesn't matter.

Here I think any 7-T is an easy turn raise for value or as a bluff and occaisionally I may pure bluff a brick as I'd probably call and x/r with pocket pairs, Jacks and obviously 3's for value as well so I'm actually going to stay difficult to read there in most circumstances. I won't float like this with any hand obviously but here with a backdoor flush draw and only 1 overcard on the board and it also being paired I thought it was ok at the time. I wouldn't have raised the Q-turn however as that card hits too much of his opening range, giving him gutshots and pairs so if he fires again I may just let it go, I'm not getting the odds to draw to a gutter which may be tainted anyway and my pair outs are pretty much no good

My thoughts were a bit confused at the time by the fact I made that lousy bluff on the end, either way he's never folding AK-High there but that's pretty much the absolute top of his range.

OK I am becoming more persuaded by your plan and thought process in this T8o hand. I will note that I am often checking back the turn with A/K high hands on this board (particularly against a player prone to take x/c x/r lines or bet the river wide as a bluff) just like villain did and I don't think we are the only ones. But that may actually support your argument that the average villain when he bets here is polarized and you have the right price to bluff x/r him off of his non-showdownable hands. Also, your river bet might not be too bad because I sometimes give up on this board in villain's shoes and so there would be some hands I'm folding to a river bet.

So perhaps against a villain who cbets the turn wide say over 80%? and shows down maybe less than 40% then a x/c x/r line is pretty good. Against a villain cbetting turn say less than 75% then a x/r flop, bet most turns line is better? Against some players, probably showdown monkeys or LAGs it might be best to x/f flop.

hi boomer, nice vid.

no strategy comments, just something that struck me at about 29:30: you spent almost a minute fussing over how to record a strange play you'd just seen. In the meantime, your focus wasn't fully on the action (i.e. you weren't in the moment any more).

have you thought of marking hands like this and taking the note later via the replayer?

hi boomer, nice vid.

no strategy comments, just something that struck me at about 29:30: you spent almost a minute fussing over how to record a strange play you'd just seen. In the meantime, your focus wasn't fully on the action (i.e. you weren't in the moment any more).

have you thought of marking hands like this and taking the note later via the replayer?

Yes I should have done that but I prefer to take notes 100% in the moment other-wise I may have forgotten something regarding game flow.

This did bite me on the ass because I made a lazy lazy peel with 88 on the left hand table where it's actually a blatant raise vs the candidates I'm up against.

Hi Boomer!
So sorry, late to the party, but I did manage to watch this yesterday and made some notes along the way.
Overall I feel you weren't paying much attention to your opponents. I mean you were taking notes and everything, but the best part would really be talking the whole time about your opponents, why you're doing this or that against this guy, discussing their ranges and stuff based on things they did before. I thought you were playing very ABC, which is fine, but you could've exploited them even more like you did with the guy that donk bluffed 79 and the woman that was very SD bound with 99.
Anyway, here are my notes, I don't remember the actual hands now, but perhaps you can figure it out ;-)

03:27: Open A6o in CO, imo

04:48: Kinda weird way of playing Q-high against typical WA/WB line by villain. Reasoning for double barrelling Q-high against SD-bound player with little FE as per KQ hand earlier?

06:38: Kinda pessimistic there aren't we? Debating if we can 3b here... I mean, would AQo really openlimp the button, nah... and maybe he binked 2 pair or something.

09:43: You're never pushing an Ace out there, so which hands are you protecting against?

09:53: Complete SB with poster and overlimp!

12:08: Pay attention to stack size and just put him in! BS factor is heightened when they are short.

13:57: Any reason for folding bad A-highs in the CO? The player to you left was 25/6, he's not gonna punish you for your "insolence"

14:52: I'm gonna go on record that c/r flop is not necessarily better there. Yes, against ABC types which are easy to play against when they continue it can be good. But for people that continue there with stuff like QT it's not.

16:23: Why are you folding a SD hand against a guy with 2.5ish BB (1.5ish after raise) left? I mean, yeah, he's taggish, but he might just say "eff it, I'm arrin with T9s". Point is moot because of 3b by SB.

23:28: No for value against ALL those hands with SD value that don't believe you and put you squarely on a 9.

24:08: OMG! No No No. Need to defend 96o getting 6-1. And I was pausing video and lolled at your "just gonna get yelled at"!

28:25: What's narly (sp?)? Is it the same as the surfer "gnarly"?

31:55: Meh, I thought maybe you could also get value from like a K-high or low pp. I would've bet river once she checked to me twice.

32:53: Flatcall is fine preflop if you never 3b early raisers, but for godsakes c/r that dry flop!

34:09: I thik you could still c-bet this for future street "cred".

final hand = difficult!

Good luck for future and don't move up to fast, please! ;-)

Hi Boomer!
So sorry, late to the party, but I did manage to watch this yesterday and made some notes along the way.

Gah a huge post for me to respond to

Overall I feel you weren't paying much attention to your opponents. I mean you were taking notes and everything, but the best part would really be talking the whole time about your opponents, why you're doing this or that against this guy, discussing their ranges and stuff based on things they did before. I thought you were playing very ABC, which is fine, but you could've exploited them even more like you did with the guy that donk bluffed 79 and the woman that was very SD bound with 99.

It probably had something to do with Recording live but I certainly was paying attention at least in my mind . I definitely made a couple of boo boo's (the 88 hand beign the biggest as already mentioned) but overall if I'm up vs LP's I think I really have very little option but to play fairly straightforward ABC for the most part as in just try and value bet well, and try and take advantage of the major mistakes they're making and try not to get too tricky.

Anyway, here are my notes, I don't remember the actual hands now, but perhaps you can figure it out ;-)

Don't you belive it

03:27: Open A6o in CO, imo

Actually in the 3 handed stuff I'd played before the guy on the button had been super aggro 3-betting me. With the rake at 1/2 I think it's probably a neither here nor there raise but yeah i should probably be making it.

04:48: Kinda weird way of playing Q-high against typical WA/WB line by villain. Reasoning for double barrelling Q-high against SD-bound player with little FE as per KQ hand earlier?

Given what little I knew about him I imagined he's peeling that flop with any 2 cards above a 8 or any pair or any club draw bascially so my bet may have some value, his range for peeling certainly isn't "better hands" only. The pot is now 4BB and I can put in one, hopefully, to get to SD. On the river his line just didn't make sense to me, sure it's WA/WB but that's not a line I expect to see from a loose/wierd player, and aside from the gutter on the flop all the draws missed and I'm getting 7-1. I mean to be honest checking back and folding may be slightly better but I wouldn't feel great doing it.

06:38: Kinda pessimistic there aren't we? Debating if we can 3b here... I mean, would AQo really openlimp the button, nah... and maybe he binked 2 pair or something.

Probably yes. I don't put anything past these players but they're usually very timid when raising the river. It was probably a bit lazy and 95% of the time I'd expect to see a Q there. Depends on whether we're going to increase rake etc but yeah a bit pessimstic

09:43: You're never pushing an Ace out there, so which hands are you protecting against?

The fact that if I don't raise pretty much any 2 cards which are remotely connecty has a gutshot on that board and can now peel profitably. I'm not looking to fold out an Ace but just becasue he's donked I don't give him credit for an Ace. If he has a big Ace he'll let me know and tbh I don't put any big Aces in his range anyway given the preflop action. I think calling here invites a lot of trouble and we end up playing the hand blind whereas by raising we can get HU in position and either bet all 3 streets for value or check back the river depeding on how it plays out. In this situation I'm convinced raising is superior to calling if we're going to continue at all.

09:53: Complete SB with poster and overlimp!

Bascially my thoughts here are, hand is garbage, rake is high. If this is folding EV it's folding a micron of it.

12:08: Pay attention to stack size and just put him in! BS factor is heightened when they are short.

It factored in but if he's just looking to get all in why didn't he bet the turn? Alright probably looking for a Check-Raise but I don't think this is that blatant because players who are looking to get all-in are usually the "bet like hell" typ enad not the "I'm going to be tricky and x/r" type. If I believe that to be true then this is always a slowplay, and I certianly don't have enough equity against a slowplay range to cap.

13:57: Any reason for folding bad A-highs in the CO? The player to you left was 25/6, he's not gonna punish you for your "insolence"

I was in the HJ

14:52: I'm gonna go on record that c/r flop is not necessarily better there. Yes, against ABC types which are easy to play against when they continue it can be good. But for people that continue there with stuff like QT it's not.

Yeah as you can see by the rather large conversation above you we kinda came to the conclusion that calling was fine as part of an overall strategy. The river bet was a bit yucky though. I do a lot of post-mortem analysis on sessions so my mind can be changed...occasionally.

16:23: Why are you folding a SD hand against a guy with 2.5ish BB (1.5ish after raise) left? I mean, yeah, he's taggish, but he might just say "eff it, I'm arrin with T9s". Point is moot because of 3b by SB.

Yeah maybe a little on the tight side there but again he'd shown no signs of just losing his mind yet. Then again, blinds coming up, move of honour etc.

23:28: No for value against ALL those hands with SD value that don't believe you and put you squarely on a 9.

Doing live vids is hard Getting all my thoughts out is messy.

24:08: OMG! No No No. Need to defend 96o getting 6-1. And I was pausing video and lolled at your "just gonna get yelled at"!

YES GOT YELLED AT FINALLY!!! Knew I could count on you!

The only thing that stopped me was the guy who was all-in thus the actual implied odds of the hand do go down due to the fact I lose pretty much all ability to win the hand without a showdown since if someone's betting now it should be 100% for value. That said this is very close. I wouldn't play 95o, but would play 96s and 97o so either way I doubt it's horrible (*rake* *Cough* Ahem) but yeah getting involved's fine.

28:25: What's narly (sp?)? Is it the same as the surfer "gnarly"?

excatly . tbh I meant to say dodgy but again, live, no rehearsal, need better articulation etc . Put this one down to British eccentricity.

31:55: Meh, I thought maybe you could also get value from like a K-high or low pp. I would've bet river once she checked to me twice.

Agree I checked a bit too hastily here. Maybe the fact the flush completed put me off but it shouldn't becasue there's no way she has a FD.

32:53: Flatcall is fine preflop if you never 3b early raisers, but for godsakes c/r that dry flop!

Yeah I probably should be x/r'ing here but if she's going to fire 3 streets with a wide range including a lot of hopeless hands and given how loosey goosey she appears that's a big part of her range then I feel I'm better off letting her do so, plus the fact that there's not actually a ton to get value from since 1/2 players pretty much never call down with K and Q-High since they fail to connect the fact they're pretty much the same hand when raised on this board.

That said I agree that x/r'ing the flop is also fine here.

34:09: I thik you could still c-bet this for future street "cred".

Possbily true, but the odds of me getting 2 folds here I think are painfully slim. especailly vs this pair.

final hand = difficult!

Yeah but I lacked the ruthless fearless value bet. grrrrr.

Good luck for future and don't move up to fast, please! ;-)

I wouldn't come anywhere near your games anyway You play rough and fold when I have trips etc and that's "not cricket" as we say

And thanks very much for watching, Episode 2 out soon