[This article originally appeared in BLUFF Magazine.] Man. Talk about giving away the story in the title. I didn’t know what to call this one. I could have called it “A Really Neat Hand, Seriously, I Mean It.†Or I could have called it “Now I’ve Seen Everything†which is how I felt ... Read More
You heard it here first: table selection is not important at 6-max limit hold’em. Mere table selection will not make you a winner if you’re just breaking even. Don’t get me wrong, you absolutely need to pay attention to game selection at lower limits to maximize your win-rate and combat ... Read More
It’s been a while since I updated this blog. I’ve been busy with writing my thesis and looking for work in the real world. I’m going to try and get back into posting poker ideas and analysis. I have some mixed games ideas that I’ve fleshed out and want to write about. Coming soon… Also, as an amuse-bouche, here is a hand played by DC coach Vingtcent, which I thought was mildly hilarious: Poker Stars $1000 ... <a href="http://www.deucescracked.com/blogs/jjd323/81191-Good-Morning">(continued)</a>
To all of my loyal blog fans… Hello? Is this thing on? 1…2…3…. testing… Here is my last installment of my poker history for the year 2009. I have been writing blog entries on the some other topics at another site, so I apologize for the long delay. After a bout with shingles, being a new parent of twin boys and being utterly exhausted, I decided to take the rest of July off. In fact, ... <a href="http://www.deucescracked.com/blogs/figaro3000/79951-My-poker-history-2009-Part-3">(continued)</a>
I haven’t given an update on much of my poker playing for a good reason. My poker challenge of zero to hero was going well up until the month of September when I focused primarily on NLHE. The easiest way to describe it would be…falling off a cliff followed by an uptick to breakeven over the course of another 3,000 hands followed by another cliff. Much like the offensive line of ... <a href="http://www.deucescracked.com/blogs/figaro3000/78451-So-how-is-the-poker-playing-going-">(continued)</a>
I just got back from a long weekend in Las Vegas on Sunday and was preparing to write a “Trip Report”, but decided against it so that I can get my thoughts together and come up with a theme to my weekend. Instead I want to talk about something that has been going through my poker mind lately and that is my waining interest in playing poker. Without going into too much detail, I only played about 3 hour ... <a href="http://www.deucescracked.com/blogs/figaro3000/77531-Glory-Days-">(continued)</a>
If I was playing like a lion in March, then I was definitely being showered in April as my rungood continued. I started off the month playing .50-1 and dabbled a little bit in NL10. How hard could NLHE be? After a few days of breakeven no-limit, I pushed the idea to the side and finally started to add some 1-2 FR LHE tables in to the mix with some nice success. My plan was to play my r ... <a href="http://www.deucescracked.com/blogs/figaro3000/76031-My-poker-history-2009-Part-2">(continued)</a>
2009 was the first year that I felt more confident in my poker game, especially when it came to LHE. I had been playing .50-1 online and knew that I was a winning player over a long enough sample size. I had built my online bankroll up to the point where I had a good amount of cushion for the next level up at 1-2 if I felt confident in the jump. Normally you want between 250-500 BBs at ... <a href="http://www.deucescracked.com/blogs/figaro3000/75701-My-poker-history-2009-Part-1">(continued)</a>
So I decided to learn how to play Backgammon a few days ago. I saw a Hoyle’s rules book in the beach house where I am staying and took a break from kid duty to read the rules. There was a backgammon set, but I didn’t have anyone to play with, so I downloaded a droid application and went on to play over 200 games at different skill levels. This may be the next thing I become h ... <a href="http://www.deucescracked.com/blogs/figaro3000/75351-Coming-to-you-live-in-God-s-Country-">(continued)</a>
I hope all is well with everyone. Things are going alright with my online challenge. Things were pretty tough for the first 3/4 of July as I got cold decked and dominated rather often, but then saw a some run good the last week which put me in the black. My bankroll is now up to $30 and hopefully I will be able to make it $50 by September 1st. I mentioned before that I had my 2nd straight losing ... <a href="http://www.deucescracked.com/blogs/figaro3000/73741-Some-more-updates">(continued)</a>
I am posting these blog entries concurrently on another site just FYI. http://dhani-thebarberschair.blogspot.com/ Last I left you was basically here ( http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/35/micro-stakes-limit/time-pack-my-bags-nc-233348/ ). My unrealistic expectations and low frustration tolerance were wreaking havoc on my mental stability when it came to poker. Look ... <a href="http://www.deucescracked.com/blogs/figaro3000/70191-My-poker-history-July-December-2008">(continued)</a>
Not much is happening in the way of poker the past 2 weeks. I’ve been posting quite a bit in the LLSNL forums and to no surprise there are the same type of characters including the know-it-all, abusive, sarcastic, jackwagon. Oh well. My online challenge is moving along as I am up to $10.45 playing .02-.04 FRLHE mostly. Some of that is rakeback on Cake, but sin ... <a href="http://www.deucescracked.com/blogs/figaro3000/69941-My-poker-history-Jan-to-June-2008">(continued)</a>
My online challenge is starting to heat up and when I say “heat up”, I mean like the wick on a bottle rocket has just been lit. Rake back helped me quite a bit 3 weeks ago my BR which started at .29ish cents (see earlier blogs for exact amount), has now grown to $7.68 which is 192 BBs for .02-.04 LHE. In a month or so, if I keep seeing good results, then I will start to move up to .10-.20 and go ... <a href="http://www.deucescracked.com/blogs/figaro3000/69391-Keep-on-Truckin">(continued)</a>
Rational Insanity… As I have mentioned in some earlier blogs, the lowest level that I have seriously played online is .25-.50 FR LHE and 6-max. The only times that I have played lower stakes were for some 2+2 tables just to LAG it up and have some fun. So, with the fact that I have taken 99.9% of my funds off online poker sites, I have been forced to “start over”, hence my Challenge (see ... <a href="http://www.deucescracked.com/blogs/figaro3000/68501-More-poker-in-your-content">(continued)</a>
I’m working on a Web page advocating limit structure games and trying to provide rebuttals to points often brought up by proponents of no-limit or pot-limit games. I’d be interested in any feedback on the points already covered, additional points you think I need to address, and any other comments you might have. Feel free to respond even if you disagree with me. TIA , JJ
Heyo. An update of my results the last few days: Monday: +$74 on stars Tuesday: +$32 on stars and +8e on MG Today: BAM -$98 on stars, dang what a slap in the face! Had a very very bad run today. I played really good but the cards just didn’t want to cooperate with me. But I guess these things happen? :) Anyway, got some poker books yesterday and I have started reading ‘Weighing ... <a href="http://www.deucescracked.com/blogs/ethorn/12021-Having-a-bit-of-a-bad-run-">(continued)</a>
I ran like a god for 3 hours today and collected +$142 on Stars 0,5/1. Then I went to play on Microgaming and it was the complete opposite, and after half an hour I was down 70e. However I managed to grind it back and ended on +3e on MG. I know you shouldn’t be results oriented, but this is my biggest profit day so far.. and it feels real good :)
First post! Yay! So an introductory of me: My name is Eric, 21 years old from Sweden. After being absent from poker for almost 2 years I started playing LHE on the 19th of January 2010(started tracking the 25th). My poker experience consists of grinding 25NL and 50NL for 6 months in 2007 and 2008. However I decided to quit poker and didn’t even think about it until about 3 weeks ago when I found o ... <a href="http://www.deucescracked.com/blogs/ethorn/10481-First-blog-post-">(continued)</a>
Didn’t play NLHE today. Short session of LHE at 2/4 in the morning. Had other stuff to do. hopefully get the grind in the mind for the weekend.
After my last blog post, it struck me that blogging about my wins/losses every day was affecting my play – if I was down in a session, I was more focused on how much I was down tnan making correct decisions. So, I decided to make some changes - 1. Use tiltblocker to cover my stack at the table – I always buy in for 50 BB and have it set to reload if I ever get down to 12BB, so there’s no reason to ... <a href="http://www.deucescracked.com/blogs/stickdude/599-Week-2-9-69">(continued)</a>
Chalk one up for the fish. I’m not one to complain about bad results or beats, so we’ll just leave it at that. :) Total won: $26.26 VPPs: 98.77
Note to self – don’t set the “Close table†hotkey right next to the “Sit out next big blind†hotkey when using TableNinja… Poker Stars $0.10/$0.20 Limit Hold’em – 5 players The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter Pre Flop: (1.5 SB) Hero is SB with A K 4 folds Final Pot: 0.75 BB BB wins 0.5 BB (Rake: $0.05) This was my last orbit, so I wanted to be sure I sa ... <a href="http://www.deucescracked.com/blogs/stickdude/552-Day-3-113-16">(continued)</a>
Another good day at the tables. In addition to playing another 445 hands (again, 2 tables), I watched Episode 2 of Real-life Microlimit Grinder since I am, in fact, a real-life microlimit grinder. :) I’ve tried watching the series in the past, but never go very far – I was too eager to get back to the tables. This time, not only did I shut down Stars and turn off the TV, I even took notes! It’ ... <a href="http://www.deucescracked.com/blogs/stickdude/549-Day-2-105-85">(continued)</a>
Ok, that was fun – this was my 3rd hand at the table: Poker Stars $0.10/$0.20 Limit Hold’em – 6 players The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter Pre Flop: (1.5 SB) Hero is BTN with T T UTG calls, MP calls, CO calls, Hero calls, SB calls, BB checks Flop: (6 SB) Q 3 6 (6 players) SB checks, BB bets , UTG folds, MP folds, CO folds, Hero calls, SB calls Turn: ... <a href="http://www.deucescracked.com/blogs/stickdude/546-Day-1-91-42">(continued)</a>
In general, your defense standards should be largely dependent upon several things: Â Â Â 1. The preflop range of hands of the blind stealer. Â Â Â 2. The relative skill difference between you and the preflop raiser. Â Â Â 3. Other smaller factors, like rake considerations. The biggest thing you should be considering when you are debating a defense situation ... <a href="http://www.deucescracked.com/blogs/entity/493-Shorthanded-Limit-Hold-em-Basic-Preflop-Steal-and-Defense">(continued)</a>
The battle in the blinds In hold’em, blind stealing and defense is what separates the great players from small winners and mediocre losers.  As you play increasingly shorthanded games, the amount of time you spend in the blinds increases dramatically.  You will spend one and half more times paying blinds at a six-handed table than you will at a 10-handed ... <a href="http://www.deucescracked.com/blogs/entity/492-Shorthanded-Limit-Hold-em-An-Introduction-to-Preflop-Play">(continued)</a>
Answers to Exercises Exercise 1 (a) The suits of the cards are irrelevant, so the calculation is the same and the answer is 0.274 bets. (b) Whether our opponent has AQ or AK does not affect the calculation since we still have the same number of outs to win, so the EV is again 0.274 bets. © If we miss our straight, we still lose 1 bet, but now if we make a ... <a href="http://www.deucescracked.com/blogs/sweetjazz3/466-How-to-Think-About-Limit-Holdem-Answers-to-Exercises">(continued)</a>
Hand ranges and combinations Having worked through these two examples, you may have noticed something particularly unrealistic in them. In general, we will not know our opponent’s hole cards. Rather, we will assign a hand range to our opponent. To do this, we begin by assuming that any two card combination of hole cards is as likely to be dealt to our opponent. We ... <a href="http://www.deucescracked.com/blogs/sweetjazz3/465-How-to-Think-About-Limit-Holdem-Part-Three">(continued)</a>
Expected Value The first tool used to analyze a betting decision is the concept of expected value (or EV). In order to calculate EV, you make a list of all the possible ways the hand can play out; for each possible scenario, you multiply the number of bets you will win or lose in the given situation by the probability of that situation occurring, and then you add up these ... <a href="http://www.deucescracked.com/blogs/sweetjazz3/464-How-to-Think-About-Limit-Holdem-Part-Two">(continued)</a>
Introduction This is the first in a series of articles that will discuss limit holdem from the ground up. Although the examples will be chosen from limit holdem, much of the discussion applies to all forms of poker. Much of the material covered will be of a theoretical nature. The reason for this is that the alternate approach — giving a concrete set of rules to guide ... <a href="http://www.deucescracked.com/blogs/sweetjazz3/463-How-to-Think-About-Limit-Holdem-Part-One">(continued)</a>
I’m a very casual player. I don’t get a ton of hands in during a month and have been pretty nitty with my bankroll in terms of trying to ascend the ranks in poker. But I’m taking a shot at .50/1 and I haven’t noticed too much of a difference in skill from .25/.50. As long as I eliminate my mistakes I think I’ll do fine here. Two hands from last night from a late session. I think I played o ... <a href="http://www.deucescracked.com/blogs/rootbeer-2000/319-Taking-a-Shot">(continued)</a>
Obviously credit to all of DC that contributes to the limit forums! Other contributors: Isac EPIC posts: Read it. If you don’t understand read it again later. Post #1: Some think we have the nuts. Some think we have are in deep trouble(Apr 09) Preflop: 3betting in position (Oct 08) Q9s in SB plus some bonus discussions (Oct 08) Calling when you raise and it’s capped back ... <a href="http://www.deucescracked.com/blogs/iplaylimit/77-DC-LHE-theads-collection-FTW">(continued)</a>