Massimo's Blog: Small stakes teaching and improving my game

Originally Posted by benny999

Originally Posted by Massimo

The funny thing about that hand is that i think the third barrel was actually the best bet in the entire hand.

can u explain?

my thinking was that passive ppl sometimes c/c the flop with AQ/AK, and the second ace is good for him either way.

The guy seemed kinda tight, and i raised UTG. I highly doubt he'd cold call this flop with AK or AQ. The first Ace could have given him two pair, and the 2nd a fullhouse but i really doubt that because of his line.

I felt like the 2nd barrel was pretty bad because an overpair is calling anyway, since it's a good two barreling spot for me. And the 2nd Ace was that bad of a card, considering that my river bet makes a lot more sense with trip aces than it does with a bare Ace. It's also hard to showdown with JJ-88 on that board.

I'm not saying that the third barrel was +EV, i think it was marginal, but it was definitely better than the other bets in this hand.

hand 2 i think is horrible

This blog is for discussion, not yes or no or bad or good.

Hand 3 Is not that bad but I probably dont bet the flop. What was this guys fold to cbet %?

I didn't check at the time, i need to get used to looking at those. I probably wouldn't base any of my decision on it though unless it was exceptionally high or low.

Hand 2: What do you think he's betting there? Most people aren't two barrelling overpairs there, and it really doesn't look like he has overcards. I understand it's hard to put him on a hand but most of the time people aren't getting tricky on these boards.
(If the guy is two barrelling an overpair i wouldn't expect such a large bet anyways. If I had an overpair in his position i'd probably check and call any bet pot or under on the river.

Update: Awesome day

up 2k, although i only played for 2.5 hours this morning because i woke up late. I'm starting to feel more like a mid-stakes player, and i think i can credit it to my little bit of 4-tabling. When i'm 4-tabling i feel like i have time to think things through, and so i do, and i usually make the best play. I'm trying to get that 4-table mindset while i'm 8-tabling, and i think i succeeded pretty well in that today.

Here was my favorite hand of the day, which i'll comment on a little later. Opponent is 21/18, pretty aggro. His name on stars is LambofGod.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $4 BB (6 handed) Hand History Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: FlopTurnRiver)

SB ($416)
BB ($477.20)
UTG ($394.50)
MP ($541)
CO ($207.85)
Hero ($1026.45)

Preflop: Hero is Button with 8, 8.
UTG raises to $14, 1 fold, CO calls $14, Hero calls $14, 2 folds.

Flop: ($48) 5, T, 4 (3 players)
UTG bets $34, CO folds, Hero calls $34.

Turn: ($116) 9 (2 players)
UTG checks, Hero checks.

River: ($116) A (2 players)
UTG bets $84, Hero raises to $224, UTG folds.

Final Pot: $284

It's hands like these that make me love poker.

Funny thing from this morning was that i hit quads 3 times. Yes 3-times. twice stacking my opponents (one was a 1/4 stack). On one of them, i gave a gigantic cooler.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $4 BB (3 handed) Hand History Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: FlopTurnRiver)

Hero ($393.60)
BB ($396)
Button ($211.85)

Preflop: Hero is SB with 4, 4.
1 fold, Hero raises to $12, BB calls $8.

Flop: ($24) 3, 3, Q (2 players)
Hero bets $16, BB calls $16.

Turn: ($56) 4 (2 players)
Hero bets $40, BB calls $40.

River: ($136) 4 (2 players)
Hero bets $99, BB raises to $328, Hero calls $226.60 (All-In).

Final Pot: $787.21



PepeLePoquer said, "NO ****ING WAYYYYYYYYYYyy"

I'm glad i'm giving these instead of recieving them.

What'd he have? QQ? 33 would be awesome, lol

Originally Posted by courtiebee

What'd he have? QQ? 33 would be awesome, lol

He had QQ which IMO is equally as funny.

I'd make a more solid raise on the river with 88, funny raise sizes make people look things up more it seems. Otherwise looks great, he may vbet QQ/JJ here (except he probably would've bet the turn), and will probably fold any A.

Yeah sorry courtie, he had QQ.

Bump, I need my massimo fix.

hmmm, i just read through this whole thread again. It reminded me how clear i was thinking when i was playing back in July.

Thought i'd bump for smallstakers who haven't read it.

Maybe continue it...

Originally Posted by Massimo

I will continue it with a lot of content

Sweet, thanks man!

I would be reading for sure.

Originally Posted by kmind

Originally Posted by Massimo

I will continue it with a lot of content

Sweet, thanks man!

lol don't misquote me!

i said maybe

Very interesting, I'll be coming back here a few times to reread. Would be great if you added more stuff .

ok no more stuff yet. I just wanted to say though, if you have some extra FPP's, email pokerstars and ask them to give you an amazon gift card in exchange.

i used 60k fpps for a $967 giftcard (just a code to enter on amazon.com). I bought a new computer, a 80GB Ipod, and new headphones, a nice little spending spree.

w00t

and i'm pretty sure i'm gonna start posting in this again soon when i have the time, which will be very soon.

The importance of playing your opponent:

ISF emphasizes this a shitload, i just wanted to talk about it.

When it comes to donkeys, there are simple ways to beat them, and beat them for a nice clip. With tight solid players, however, it's hard to really beat them with strategy alone. Lets say i know player A cont bets K and Q high flops a good amount, but only calls raises with TP, a draw, or better. So i start raising his cont bets real light and now i've made a winning strategic play. However, although these strategic plays can combine to give a decent edge, it's inevitable that this player will take advantage of you in some ways and this will discount a little bit of that edge.

The reason donkeys are so crushable is because they either make huge mistakes, or they make a lot of small mistakes and exploit yours at all (assuming your good enough to recognize and take advantage of all those mistakes). So then how do you take advantage of player who strategy wise are just not going to make those mistakes?

You mess with them. And it's really not that hard.

Lets take this example: you're facing a relatively unknown tagg who seems like a reg. You raise preflop in the CO and he calls. The flop comes Kxx two tone and you check, he throws out a bet and you c/r. Now we're not really concerned about what our hand is here because the focus is the opponent and what he views.

Now lets say he folds here. Most players are going to be discouraged from bluffing or betting a weak hand here again in fears that he'll have to deal with a c/r again. Most players will adjust the same way and play very predictably (a word isf uses a lot) in this spot, and now you're going to almost want to purposely get into this situation cause it will be so easy for you.

Now instead of pushing small strategic edges against a regular, you are pushing a big edge where you're going to be able to play almost flawlessly everytime. So make sure to watch your actions so you can figure out how your opponent is adjusting to your play. Then you can get into more of these situations and actually dominate him.

I think this is where my game suffers the most, and where my biggest potential improvements will come from. Identifying mistakes and taking advantage of them. Unless something is REALLY blatant, I dont tend to pick up on the mistakes.

Is it mainly a matter of having a really good understanding of what good, solid poker is, and finding where people dont do that? Do you sit down away from the game and identify potential mistakes and plan ways to take advantage, or are you ad-libbing on the fly?

I dunno, even asking the questions it seems like it should be really simple, but for some reason its just not twigging for me.

You forgot to keep updating .