Phenominal stand-alone vid! Very easy to comprehend Surfdoc's thought process, and his explanations were very thorough. Where have you guys been hiding Surfdoc all this time?

I may have a new favorite instructor....well done, and keep them coming!

As you asked. I would like to see a 2/4 on poker stars(or another site would be ok too)

I think your read of mrmarvlevy was off. He peeled too much. he called too much. He played some bad starting hands.
But the one thing he did consistantly was bet or raise or donk with a strong hand(his perception).
he only played his hand, but when he liked what he saw , he bet.
on the 99A board 4 ways...Perhaps you play too high to remember that many low limit players will not put a bet in with a 9 until its a raise, and on the big bet streets.
I think your decision to call down was close.
Although I can see/understand why you called down.

I am not sure what you mean. Could you be a little more specific as to what I said or did based on my read of him that you felt was incorrect? Also could you give the exact time when the hand you refer to took place (the number is on the bottom left).

27:45
BB def with A7s
Agro BTN open steal and weak player cold call at SB.
At great flop to our hand: 338, 2 tone and after c-bet SB fold.
Pot is 7sb and we have very good hand with SD value vs probably 40% steal range who c-bet 100% flops.

I feel fold here is very bad esspecialy at quite big pot.

Great video.

36:17 Ah6h in bb - We bet the flop and hope punsen raises to limit the field, which he does. Rush 3 bets on a 326 flop. I never fold here. Rush is not worried about punsen as this flop won't hit a pfr often. At this point, he thinks he's playing against you pretty much. We don't have reads on him yet, but to me his 3bet on the flop doesn't tell us he beats top pair top kicker yet, and especially in a 14sb pot, I wouldn't fold tptk w/ back door flush draw for two sb here.

When I was playing along with you here, watching the video, I thought "call flop, raise most turns to get punsen out of this huge pot".


Am I thinking about this hand incorrectly?

I think this is a pretty interesting spot. The part of your logic I don't like is that the small blind thinks he is playing the hand only against me. The pfr raised this flop when I lead into the field. He can actually have an overpair here a significant portion of the time. The Sb's check 3 bet is therefore a very stong play and although you are right it doesn't mean TPTK is no good with 100% certainty, it is a pretty unlikely parlay that neither has me beat.

Now the real question is if I have a call here getting 14:2 assuming I have a 5 outer. It is also a little tough to know if I have implied odds or reverse implied odds so leaving them off I think it is an okay fold not closing the action.

27:45
BB def with A7s
Agro BTN open steal and weak player cold call at SB.
At great flop to our hand: 338, 2 tone and after c-bet SB fold.
Pot is 7sb and we have very good hand with SD value vs probably 40% steal range who c-bet 100% flops.

I feel fold here is very bad esspecialy at quite big pot.

I just looked back at this. I think continuing here is fine as you said.

What is your plan for the rest if the hand?

I would probably call down unless board would not be so scary.
I mean 2 big brodway cards like 338JK, 338QK but even at so scary board pot will be at river like 7bb:1 and we will have about 25 equity vs his range + he could use scary card to put one more bet to bluff at big pot.

Surfdoc, loved the video. Would you address something for me?

This is the first coach's video where the author ran like shit. You should own this guy, and he lot lucky and you got unlucky. It is something I've very familiar with, but no one ever talks about.

This video is a microcosm of my last month. Take this session and make it 20 out of 25 and this is they way my month has gone. I'm going to have my first losing month, and it's not close. I'm down almost 200BBs. The hands you lost--made good decisions and got sucked out on, folded winners, missed flops, etc--are just what's been happening to me, plus hours of being card dead. I'm running soooooo very bad.

If you had sessions like this over and over, what's your self-talk to keep your head from exploding? lol

(Or anyone?)

CJ

Surfdoc, loved the video. Would you address something for me?

This is the first coach's video where the author ran like shit. You should own this guy, and he lot lucky and you got unlucky. It is something I've very familiar with, but no one ever talks about.

This video is a microcosm of my last month. Take this session and make it 20 out of 25 and this is they way my month has gone. I'm going to have my first losing month, and it's not close. I'm down almost 200BBs. The hands you lost--made good decisions and got sucked out on, folded winners, missed flops, etc--are just what's been happening to me, plus hours of being card dead. I'm running soooooo very bad.

If you had sessions like this over and over, what's your self-talk to keep your head from exploding? lol

(Or anyone?)

CJ

I actually just looked at my stack sizes and although I did run pretty badly, I think I actually posted a small win. When that type of thing happens I sort of log it into my memory and use it later for calming purposes. In other words, I think it is helpful emotionally to feel that you are playing significantly better than your opponents since you can run badly and still win. I won't spend too much time on why the author of the videos usually just mash but I think the answer should be fairly obvious if you give it some thought and recognize that some bias has to exist.

As far as plans for tilt avoidance, it is certainly a very broad subject. I have been told that I play well when stuck and it is pretty well documented that I can play very long sessions and stay focused. Much of this stems from life experience outside of poker I think. Deep psychological stuff starts to sneak in here so the first step is to realize that. Things like your family and childhood come into play as well as how difficult the challenges you have previously faced in life and basic life experiences. My day job as an ER doctor helps a lot since the stakes are so high and mistakes there are quite a bit more costly than mistakes at the poker table. It is also just a very intense and stressful environment so after years where staying calm under pressure is the only alternative, I guess it is just a skill that had to be learned.

There are some other things that I do which may be more applicable to you guys in general. First off, I play ridiculously overrolled for all my games. Now I accept that in the long run that may not be the best advice and that I very well could be losing money. However, it is very helpful for tilt avoidance and allows me to play more frequently. Lowering the stress associated with daily/monthly swings will keep you fresher at the table. The next thing that is very important is game selection. The minute you see the game to be just mediocre you pick up or uncheck your autopost. There are always good games, you just have to find them. The last thing worth mentioning is that constant self evaluation is very important. Keep looking at your game from as many angles as possible. Make a video of yourself, post in the forums, do a lesson with your coach, or review sessions more often in pokertracker. Realizing that the game is very complex and that the learning never stops is a big step in the right direction. One last thing that I do when running bad is look at a very large sample. If you have been able to beat the game you will know that you will fight through it as long as you don't let it affect your play.

I think that mediocre players like me lose a lot of their EV by playing worse when going gets tough. But usually we do not lose value in the "setup" hands, meaning those times where big hands crash into bigger hands. But when we are constantly raised on the turn, say, we tend to call-down more, even though the raise came from a guy who you know never raises anywhere without a hand. Or that we're just glad to be checking behind with a made hand on the river in the fear of being check-raised again where instead we should be valuebetting.

You shouldn't be thinking that "I should have found a fold with my TPTK" but rather "I might have missed some valuebets or folds in other hands." This is emphasized by the fact we tend to review the biggest losing hands and shrug off those spots where we miss value in the less meaningful hands during the cold deck / bad beat periods.

jajvirta - funny that I would watch this video today and read your post about reviewing big pots vs. small ones. I hadn't seen it at the time I made that post in the Beginner forum. It appears that you and I think about certain aspects of the game similarly.

I liked this video a lot. May I make a request for some more videos from Surfdoc at 3/6 - 5/10? Lots of good information here and I like how you adapt to the player types. You need another video!

I'll send him a link and see if I can get him to come post a response.

Rob