Operation: 'A' game

Originally Posted by Ravageur

so tempting to go collect my griffback but i don't want to crush your good run.

lol

Played a pretty decent session today at 400nl. 1800 hands and up like $3.6k. Played well overall but also made some spewy call downs vs one mega lagg.

Hand 1

This is one hand vs the laggy. He was the type that was seemingly on some mission to just run over the table 3betting every hand, barrel madness. The last time he tripled me he won, and now this is his first river overbet. I was on the level that he'd expect me to fold in this scenario. So good for him for his bet, and it was at this point that I realized that he thought I was a station so had to adjust.

$2/$4 No Limit Holdem
5 Players
Hand Conversion Powered by weaktight.com

Stacks:
UTG ($211.90)
CO ($416)
BTN ($1,655.90)
Hero (SB) ($396)
BB ($490.50)

Pre-Flop: ($6, 5 players) Hero is SB
2 folds, BTN raises to $10, Hero calls $8, 1 fold

Flop: ($24, 2 players)
Hero checks, BTN bets $16, Hero calls $16

Turn: ($56, 2 players)
Hero checks, BTN bets $46, Hero calls $46

River: ($148, 2 players)
Hero checks, BTN bets $205, Hero calls $205

Final Pot: $558
BTN shows


BTN wins $555 (net +$278)

Hero lost $277


Hand 2
-this hand is vs the same villain above. He wasn't folding to any 3bets. This hand was quite a bit later than the above hand, and I had been winning some hands back. Based on dynamic, he wasn't betting Tx anymore, so I felt this was mostly Kx that floated. Other hands possible were AQ, floated QJ, and a bunch of floated hearts hands. 89hh, QJhh, Axhh, 56s, 68hh etc.

$2/$4 No Limit Holdem
4 Players
Hand Conversion Powered by weaktight.com

Stacks:
CO ($565)
BTN ($394)
SB ($468.20)
Hero (BB) ($979)

Pre-Flop: ($6, 4 players) Hero is BB
1 fold, BTN raises to $10, 1 fold, Hero raises to $30, BTN calls $20

Flop: ($62, 2 players)
Hero bets $46, BTN calls $46

Turn: ($154, 2 players)
Hero bets $80, BTN calls $80

River: ($314, 2 players)
Hero checks, BTN bets $238, Hero calls $238

Final Pot: $790
Hero shows

BTN shows


Hero wins $788 (net +$394)

BTN lost $394

No more annoying canadians @ongame please...

Nice graph griffey.

haha wingster, I feel like you must be trolling these sites a lot and not ever posting with only 9 posts!

Whats your SN on ongame? How's ongame treating you?

Originally Posted by griffey24

haha wingster, I feel like you must be trolling these sites a lot and not ever posting with only 9 posts!

Whats your SN on ongame? How's ongame treating you?

Ongame has been very good to me Screenname I'd rather keep to myself, but I'm only playing PLO now, so I guess we wont be battling anyway...

Nice to see all the old crypto guys started blogging again...Instead of spamming all the threads, I'll just say GL to all of you here

Haha awesome, keep owning the PLO wingster!

Long sessions and Losing:

I always play long sessions when I'm losing. Though, there should be a disclaimer that there are two types of losing sessions. The first is the type where you go on this crazy run of EV run bad where you lose 4 flips in 100 hands. Then you get all-in AK vs AA and KK vs AA and you're down 6 buyins. That type of session I try to quit pretty fast in general, even though I've played well overall. Those sessions tilt me more than most, and end up with more spewing.

The second type of losing session is like the one I played last night. I was bluffing like madness. Triple barreling people and getting called with air. Triple barreling people by overbetting turns or overbetting rivers and getting called by the nuts or getting jammed on and folding. One of those "how to ruin your image in 20mins" types of sessions. These are the sessions I end up playing for a while.

I seem to think that the money I have lost is an investment. I invested X buyins to ruin my image and it would be a waste of an investment to leave the table now. So I usually stick around for as long as I can to win it back. Now every value bet after this point is an overbet until they call and lose at showdown.

I'm mostly just rambling, but the point is that I think its reasonable to keep playing in a losing session when you've lost money by ruining your image. This is assuming that you're still thinking sensibly and not tilting. This is assuming that you can be putting people on the appropriate levels in the right spots. I think its reasonable to view the lost money as an investment, and keep playing to take advantage of that fact. Maybe people disagree though?

wow you're crushing every single time i leave on vacation dont you. lol

impressive but you got one day left yo!

Also I kinda like the A3 call, but you post their sns (modified a bit) when u post ongame hands plz!

edit: alexos on andys acct

haha, I don't think I even know your SN on ongame. What stakes you playing now

Villain in the above hands is Cer le Mires. No spaces.

How's the trip going?

edit: oh ok its alex haha

Played a pretty crappy session last night. Was on a bluffing spree to start the session. Mostly in single raised pots, barrel madness, and quickly started the session down $2k.

Grinded it down to about -1.2k and then lost several really big hands in a row and went down $3k. Ended up session grinding back to around -1.8k and then all tables broke.

Here are some of the bigger hands I played.

Hand 4:
-villain in this hand had 3bet of around 11. Thought that would severely limit num of AQ hands he has.

$2/$4 No Limit Holdem
5 Players
Hand Conversion Powered by weaktight.com

Stacks:
UTG ($400)
CO ($469.30)
Hero (BTN) ($934.40)
SB ($176.50)
BB ($437)

Pre-Flop: ($6, 5 players) Hero is BTN
2 folds, Hero raises to $12, 1 fold, BB calls $8

Flop: ($26, 2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $16, BB raises to $54, Hero calls $38

Turn: ($134, 2 players)
BB bets $80, Hero calls $80

River: ($294, 2 players)
BB bets $291, Hero ??


Hand 5
-villain in this hand was pretty laggy to this point. Probably running 30/26ish and had a high 3bet. no big reads on his postflop play
-turn he tanked a long while before calling. What I perceived as would be much longer than KKs or QQs or something would tank, but I have no clue if those hands are a standard tank there or standard fake tank there

$2/$4 No Limit Holdem
5 Players
Hand Conversion Powered by weaktight.com

Stacks:
UTG ($395)
CO ($394)
BTN ($1,108.10)
SB ($409)
Hero (BB) ($471.15)

Pre-Flop: ($6, 5 players) Hero is BB
2 folds, BTN raises to $10, 1 fold, Hero calls $6

Flop: ($22, 2 players)
Hero checks, BTN bets $16, Hero raises to $45, BTN calls $29

Turn: ($112, 2 players)
Hero bets $100, BTN calls $100

River: ($312, 2 players)
Hero checks, BTN bets $225, Hero ??


Hand 6
-I'd assume this is prob a pretty easy c/f? Villain is on the passive side
-b/f river?

$2/$4 No Limit Holdem
5 Players
Hand Conversion Powered by weaktight.com

Stacks:
Hero (UTG) ($412)
CO ($1,180.20)
BTN ($1,221.20)
SB ($605)
BB ($406)

Pre-Flop: ($6, 5 players) Hero is UTG
Hero raises to $12, 1 fold, BTN calls $12, SB calls $10, BB calls $8

Flop: ($48, 4 players)
SB checks, BB checks, Hero bets $35, BTN calls $35, SB folds, BB folds

Turn: ($118, 2 players)
Hero bets $90, BTN calls $90

River: ($298, 2 players)
Hero checks, BTN bets $150, Hero?

1. yea i agree he usually 3bets AQ and probably c/c's flop with Qx around half the time. plus your hand looks like Ax that hates this river. i'd call

2. c/f is standard

3. this spot is hard because you set it up for a roughly PSB shove on the river but then the flush draw completed. I can see the merits to c/f based on the runout and the passiveness of villain. even if we gaybet the riv for $65 he probably isn't calling Qx and there isn't a lot of Kx in his range, plus $65 is so transparent as fearful of the completed flush after the c/r + turn barrel.

1-Seems like the perfect hand to call with here other than the nuts. If his flop c/r is over 20 he might do it with Qx but wtv.

3-Pretty likely he has the NFD or KsXs. I'd definitely fold especially with that sizing.

Yaah thanks for the replies.

hand 1) yah figured I couldn't realy ever fold here. He had AQ lame

hand 2) I'm such a station. really didn't think he'd tank turn with any strong spades. Ended uphaving QQs

hand 3) Ok yah I folded. Figured nut flush, or Kxss and no real air he could have that would need to bluff at all.

love that post. if only I can remember to quickly quit after I go on a -6BI on 25mins stretch!

the AJ hand (#2 i think?) seems like a super snap call

1 doesn t matter all that much and 3 seems like a snap fold to me

Originally Posted by Genitruc

the AJ hand (#2 i think?) seems like a super snap call

1 doesn t matter all that much and 3 seems like a snap fold to me

There's only 2 hands in the AJ hand post? :P

I should number them better. I'll re-number them.

Feeling somewhat tilted right now. Played a session this morning and was up huge 2.7k, and now just played another session and down like 3.1k in the session.

Think the tally on it is AK < KK, QQ < KK, AQ < TT in3bet pot, KK < 44 in 3bet pot, JJ < KK, QQ < KJ in 3bet pot, AQ < AJ in 3bet pot.

But besides those, this hand was prob the biggest hand I've played in a while in terms of bb's.

Had been overbetting a few people on turns lately, seems to work pretty well, especially deep stacks.

$2/$4 No Limit Holdem
5 Players
Hand Conversion Powered by weaktight.com

Stacks:
UTG ($406)
CO ($1,242.10)
Hero (BTN) ($1,009.80)
SB ($396.60)
BB ($1,559.10)

Pre-Flop: ($6, 5 players) Hero is BTN
1 fold, CO raises to $12, Hero calls $12, 2 folds

Flop: ($30, 2 players)
CO checks, Hero bets $20, CO calls $20

Turn: ($70, 2 players)
CO checks, Hero bets $175, CO calls $175

River: ($420, 2 players)
CO checks, Hero bets $265.50, CO goes all-in $1,035.10, Hero calls $537.30

Final Pot: $2,257.90
CO shows


CO wins $2,254.90 (net +$1,012.80)

Hero lost $1,009.80


Hand 2
-this was a hand I played earlier vs a donk

$2/$4 No Limit Holdem
5 Players
Hand Conversion Powered by weaktight.com

Stacks:
UTG ($433)
CO ($759.20)
BTN ($327.20)
SB ($484.20)
Hero (BB) ($541.60)

Pre-Flop: ($6, 5 players) Hero is BB
2 folds, BTN raises to $10, 1 fold, Hero raises to $35, BTN calls $25

Flop: ($72, 2 players)
Hero bets $50, BTN calls $50

Turn: ($172, 2 players)
Hero checks, BTN bets $90, Hero calls $90

River: ($352, 2 players)
Hero checks, BTN bets $152.20, Hero calls $152.20

Final Pot: $656.40
Hero shows

BTN shows


Hero wins $653.40 (net +$326.20)

BTN lost $327.20


Kinda tilting to be up so much and then lose it all and then some, but I played mostly alright. Probably some calls I wouldn't have made if I wasn't down so much.

Pretty tilted at the moment.

I'm the type of person that rarely checks bank statements /credit card statements etc. I probably wouldn't even notice if I missed a pay cheque one week. Anyhow, IF I do check my credit card statement I generally only look for the real big numbers. The painful ones.

Turns out I've been paying for bluefire poker subscription for.. godd. who knows how long.. at least 15ish months I'd imagine at $30 a month. Just logged in and went on a download spree of Galfond's vids so might as well get my money's worth now before I kill it this week.

So that's like $450 down the drain. I also 3bet shoved for $500 from MP vs utg open today with KT.. I typed in $36.. but it was in front of the numbers already there so it made it like $3612 or something and shoved me allin. Get snapped by AA behind me and lose.

Played a very swingy session today. Started down 1800 and got it down to 300 and then down 1500 and then got it down to 300 again and then down 2.2k and you guessed it.. finished the session down $300. So I'm at least pretty happy about that!

Overall though the month is going well, and I'm running hot in flips but running bad in large pot suckouts postflop.

Yikes @ your misclick with KT I'd be tilted too!

I totally wasted my Cardrunners membership this past year. I think I watched like 5 videos. 2 of them were PLO vids and the others were just this past week :P

Yay for winning flips! Although while you're running hot with them, maybe you should play some donkaments

Don't worry dude, I'll get ya you're $450 that you wasted

courtiee - yah I've been done with vids for a while!

kmind - sweet, yah I need to make that amount back!

Kind of annoyed at myself right now.

In theory I should be happy. I was down 1.8k in my first sesh of feb, and ended up like $120. But man... I shoulda beeen up just all sorts of massively huge.

I was back to my old ways, bluffing and river c/bombing madness. Turning hands into bluffs etc. Let's hope I was getting it out of my system for the month!

Right now I'm counting around $1.1k of stupidity for sure, and prob some others. Let's hope it was an investment in image killing!

Alright A game for the rest of the month!

Sample type of hand that annoys me:

$2/$4 No Limit Holdem
5 Players
Hand Conversion Powered by weaktight.com

Stacks:
UTG ($489)
CO ($801)
BTN ($1,230.10)
Hero (SB) ($402)
BB ($1,106)

Pre-Flop: ($6, 5 players) Hero is SB
2 folds, BTN raises to $10, Hero calls $8, 1 fold

Flop: ($24, 2 players)
Hero checks, BTN bets $16, Hero calls $16

Turn: ($56, 2 players)
Hero checks, BTN bets $35, Hero calls $35

River: ($126, 2 players)
Hero checks, BTN bets $70, Hero goes all-in $341, BTN calls $271

Final Pot: $808
Hero shows

BTN shows


BTN wins $805 (net +$403)

Hero lost $402

nh

Trouble is coming!

Second day/session in a row with just massively huge bluffs. Two things are becoming clear.. I need to stop bluffing.. and related to that is.. I need to stop playing deep at tables with other deep players. I get far too paranoid about mega polarized ranges, and end up peeling out 4bet pots and 5bet pots with balanced hands like QJ/KQ etc.

Probably start switching up tables once I get deep with a few regs, and only stay if I'm deep with a fish.

The good news is that despite spewing $1.2k, I'm still up $700 on the day so thats good. No more deep poker from now on!

My blog is boring.

Someone start an interesting discussion!

I'll throw out the obvious:

Talk about your redline and why you think it's more positive than other players, what you look for and, also, how your redline isn't as high as it used to be.

he doesn't fold ever, he bluffs alot, he merges by turning Ace-hi's into bluffs when draws miss instead of c/c.

Nowadays it's lower because he does less of all of those. AmIrite?

Yah I think Alex hit a lot of things.

I used to be a mega river station in triple barreled pots. The difference between folding triples and calling triples would make a very big difference to red line.

Reasons why my red line is lower now than it used to be are mostly: I'm not rampant 5bet jamming over every 4bet. In fact, I'm hardly 5bet bluffing these days.

I'm folding to more rivers facing triple barrels than I used to be. And yah, like Alex said I'm double barreling Ax type hands and now c/c rivers more often whereas I used to triple barrel those hands.

Despite all of those things, my red line STILL seems to be higher than most. I still run bluffs, and for the most part if I'm running a bluff I'll stick to it to the end. The difference between that, and pussying out and giving up on the end is also a big red line difference. Especially the times that my river shove works compared to giving up and losing.

Also I'm still more of a station than most :P

WTSD lately around 30-31%, but won at sd around 50% so that's not too bad.

Also I bet a ton on rivers in spots where it makes very little sense I'd be behind... but also feel like I'm not getting call all that often, but when ppl raise its pure BS.

So all of those smallish pots that would otherwise be showdown pots for most ppl, end pu being non-SD for me.

Lots of tilt lately!

Started the day up 1.3k. Played another session and was up to $3k on day before disaster occured. Starting getting t urn rivered in every pot, to the tune of being down 1.9k on day now. That's a solid 12-13 buyin downswing!

It ended appropriately, a power failure occuring while I was in several mid-sized pots.

Played meh ok overall. Being a bit too much of a station, but getting some reasonable reads on some regs so that's good.

Made a good recovery yesterday. Won around $2.7k in my morning session and followed that up with another $2k later on in the day.

Played pretty well mostly. Its interesting how the dynamics change day to day when ppl get more and more reads on you, and you get more reads on them.

I'm starting to get rampant 3bet, cause I fold a lot, and I'm trying to figure out ways to get around this.

Running pretty hot during my entire stay at Ongame so far. Well above EV right now. Although I'll admit that I'm getting eff-ed by variance in other spots, but EV run hot won't continue so I'll have to brace for that. I might snap quit when I'm starting in one of those sessions where every all-in seems to lose.

Originally Posted by griffey24

Lots of tilt lately!

Started the day up 1.3k. Played another session and was up to $3k on day before disaster occured. Starting getting t urn rivered in every pot, to the tune of being down 1.9k on day now. That's a solid 12-13 buyin downswing!

It ended appropriately, a power failure occuring while I was in several mid-sized pots.

i laughed

btw I think it's pretty sick that you have a good job + ball hard on the pokerz

Griffin will do something sick, and I think Derozen will make it to the finals. Seems like it's preordained for Griffin though.

But you need to get on the Milos Roanic bandwagon, tennis is awesome again.

Originally Posted by Ravageur

Griffin will do something sick, and I think Derozen will make it to the finals. Seems like it's preordained for Griffin though.

But you need to get on the Milos Roanic bandwagon, tennis is awesome again.

haha man that kid is awesome, he's from where I live! (Thornhill)

The goal is to get in 8k hands this weekend (where weekend means before the rakerace expires tomorrow at 7pm here).

So far have 4.7k hands this weekend, and up $1400 so thats decent.

Playing pretty well lately. My red line is taking a beating, mostly cause I'm running bluffs and ppl are either re-bluffing me or shoving over me. But meh red line.

Gotta grind 3.3k more tomorrow!

Had my worst weekend in a while. I don't think its any coincidence that I ran pretty bad in terms of EV. But its not the EV that really killed me in, I think it just caused me to tilt a lot more than I have in a while.

Need to get back to basics to what got me on a roll in the last few months. At some point in an upswing I always seem to forget whats been working.

Down around 10-11 buyins this weekend. Variance kicked my butt, but I'll blame the bad play. Here comes the A-game this week for a strong Feb finish.

bah, shitty about the weekend. down 27 bi myself over the past 5k hands fwiw

lol PLO

how long does it usually take for redeemed points to be shipped to your account?

Originally Posted by Genitruc

bah, shitty about the weekend. down 27 bi myself over the past 5k hands fwiw

lol PLO

how long does it usually take for redeemed points to be shipped to your account?

Less than 24hrs, 8ish maybe?

don't go busto yet! I am arriving soon and I need my roll replenished asap

Originally Posted by Ravageur

don't go busto yet! I am arriving soon and I need my roll replenished asap

oh geeez.... reunion!

thx alex

also i imagine that it s pretty standard for the software to crash or to constantly encounter "technical difficulties" at the end of promos obv?

can t lie, i kind of like it

Originally Posted by Genitruc

thx alex

also i imagine that it s pretty standard for the software to crash or to constantly encounter "technical difficulties" at the end of promos obv?

can t lie, i kind of like it

I learned the hardway, but I guess you have to quit your session BEFORE midnight UK time for your current sessions hands to count towards the current promo.

It's pretty dumb!

Originally Posted by Genitruc

thx alex

also i imagine that it s pretty standard for the software to crash or to constantly encounter "technical difficulties" at the end of promos obv?

can t lie, i kind of like it

software or the leaderboards/online site?

the latter yes, v standard.. they can't handle it lol

bah just going on hr 36 waiting for my precious points to be redeemed

anyways back to griffey's thread...

haha sweet back to my thread. Its ok.. I like the added traffic!

Played a crazy session today. Was one of those sessions where everyone was a huge spewtard 3betting the world. Stacked off so many times, but managed to salvage it back to $175 to end the sesh

Some fun hands from the aggro session. All of these hands are vs the same crazy aggro villain who kept 3betting me. In general he's not that aggro, but we were on several 3-handed tables and he was on me hard.

Hand 1)


$2/$4 No Limit Holdem
3 Players
Hand Conversion Powered by weaktight.com

Stacks:
Hero (BTN) ($604.20)
SB ($1,236.80)
BB ($400)

Pre-Flop: ($6, 3 players) Hero is BTN
Hero raises to $10, SB raises to $40, BB folds, Hero calls $30

Flop: ($84, 2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $50, SB calls $50

Turn: ($184, 2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $175, SB goes all-in $1,146.80, Hero calls $339.20

River: ($1,845, 2 players, 1 all-in)

Final Pot: $1,845
SB shows

Hero shows


SB wins $1,843 (net +$606.20)

Hero lost $604.20


Hand 2)
-same villain from the first hand. I feel like when we bet pot here, ppl level themselves into thinking we wouldn't bet two pair+ like that, so they stack with AK/AA. Though I suppose its possible they stack either way.

$2/$4 No Limit Holdem
3 Players
Hand Conversion Powered by weaktight.com

Stacks:
Hero (BTN) ($767.90)
SB ($396)
BB ($658)

Pre-Flop: ($6, 3 players) Hero is BTN
Hero raises to $10, SB raises to $40, BB folds, Hero calls $30

Flop: ($84, 2 players)
SB bets $45, Hero calls $45

Turn: ($174, 2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $175, SB goes all-in $311, Hero calls $136

River: ($796, 2 players, 1 all-in)

Final Pot: $796
SB shows

Hero shows


SB wins $794 (net +$398)

Hero lost $396

Hand 3)

$2/$4 No Limit Holdem
2 Players
Hand Conversion Powered by weaktight.com

Stacks:
SB ($667.20)
Hero (BB) ($430.90)

Pre-Flop: ($6, 2 players) Hero is BB
SB raises to $8, Hero calls $4

Flop: ($16, 2 players)
Hero checks, SB bets $12, Hero raises to $30, SB calls $18

Turn: ($76, 2 players)
Hero bets $58, SB goes all-in $629.20, Hero calls $334.90

River: ($1,098.10, 2 players, 1 all-in)

Final Pot: $1,098.10
Hero shows

SB shows


SB wins $1,097.10 (net +$429.90)

Hero lost $430.90

Can you go into your thought process for the QT hand? Seems like c/r'ing gets us into tough spots on later streets.

Originally Posted by HoopyDude

Can you go into your thought process for the QT hand? Seems like c/r'ing gets us into tough spots on later streets.

Well I think its pretty important to note that its a HU pot. The table broke like 20mins prior to 3-handed. We were 3-betting each other a ton. I was literally 3-betting him on EVERY one of his min-raise opens on button, and he folded to most/all.

The third player left like 1 hand prior, so this is practically the first HU hand. This is also one of the first time I called him. I don't know about him, but usually if someone has been 3betting me a ton and then they flat me and raise the flop I view that as pretty bs'ish, and just them trying to win every pot every way possible.

Overall I think he will definitely call worse hands to a c/r. Its also possible that he would play a draw like this. But I think its close once he shoves turn, esp since up to that point he had a low c-bet. I think its pretty standard triple after I c/r flop if he just keeps calling.

Quasi tilted right now.

Last couple weekends have been pretty crappy (ie: last weekend and today).

Down 4.5k last weekend and now 4k today. Played overall pretty bad today. I should just start folding a million % to 3bets, because as exploitable as I feel that is, its way more exploitable the way I'm playing postflop when I do call.

I'll let them level themselves when I finally 4bet after 5 3bets.. into wondering if I'm finally fighting back or actually have KK.

You're playing exclusively 2/4 right now? Asking because I want to know if i should be looking out for you at my tables or not...

And lame about the run bad/tilt. Maybe this time things will even themselves out between us...but i hope not :P

No 1/2 right now, unless I'm starting a session and 2/4 is fulll. So don't think we'll be playing each other quite yet!

Also...I can't believe you haven't noticed my screen name yet.

Originally Posted by Ravageur

Also...I can't believe you haven't noticed my screen name yet.

lol.. oh I have.. I have haha.. it's pretty sweet!

I was hoping to avoid the levelling of you knowing that I know your name.. but I guess thats unavoidable with the name you chose haha.

A Game vs C Game vs Tilt

The last two weekends variance has been catching up to me hard. This isn't surprising, as I had been running very well the last several months. I had been mentally preparing for it. But I did notice one big change that happened in my mentality. I went from my 'Winning Session' mentality to my 'Losing Session' mentality.

Winning Session Mentality = "He wouldn't bluff here, he's repping so thin"
Losing Session Mentality = "How can they always have it? he's repping nothing"

This change in mentality doesn't seem too harsh or drastic. After my last 10k hands the last few weeks, though, I'm pretty convinced that this is the chance in mentality going from A Game to C Game. I'm also convinced that this change in mentality is far worse for your game, and far more costly than the transition from C Game to Tilt (pending how bad you tilt).

A Game -> C Game

A Game: You've won a couple buy-ins and feeling pretty good. Horrible card comes on the river and you check and they shove 40-50bbs. It's a pretty lame spot, you're at the top of your range but you can only beat a bluff, and there just aren't that many bluffs to be had. You fold, it sucks, but it was the best play. This scenario comes up 10 times in total over your 2k hand session, and you make the proper fold each time.

C Game: You just lost KK to AA all-in pre, while on another table you got set over setted. The same same card comes on the river as the above scenario, vs the same player who just set over setted you. He shoves the same 40-50bbs. It's a pretty lame spot, but really, "How can he always have it? There's no way he can keep being such a luckbox, if he's getting so lucky I wanna see it. He must also think since he just showed a set, I'm gonna respect him more so he's probably levelling me. I gotta call."

You just got coolered or sucked out, admittedly. You can even use this logic to justify the bad call, since it was unlucky, but it was a bad call. The worst part is its going to happen 10 times this session, and you're gonna call each and feel bad for yourself about how bad you're running. Each time will probably bring you closer to tilt as well. At the end of the 10 hands you're down an extra 4-5 buyins from your C-game than you woulda been from your A-game.

C Game -> Tilt

Tilt: The 10th hand comes, and you triple KK on a dry T72 rainbow, bet a J turn and 5 riv. He shoves river and you woulda folded in your A-game, but "How can they always have it?", you call and see 555 and wow that's tilting. Next hand you call a 3bet with 7s6x and flop comes 446 dry. He cbets, you shove over for 110bbs and he snaps you with AA. You realize that was a super bad hand, and insta-quit all your tables. You just lost 110bbs. You're down an extra 1 buyin from your Tilt vs your C Game.

Net unnecessary loss during session: 5-6 buyins.

If you're a quick quit while tilting, then the 1500 hands you play during a bad variance C-Game is way worse than the final tilt which causes you to insta quit.

The second the thought of "How can they always have it?" creeps into my mind, is my new stop loss criteria.

/ramble

good ramble imo, and that describes what I go through every 2 or 3 sessions very well. I never seem to go into tilt mode which is probably a bad thing since it means I stay in C-game mode for too long, albeit I usually think my C game is my B- game which is not good either.

After my last post I'm feeling pretty good about my focus.

Feb kinda sucked. At work so no graph, but think its something like +/- $500 overall, and then another $1k or so in bonuses. Marginal overall.

Feb was one of those months where I ran bad, and consequently drifted away from what was working for me. I need to just focus on the basic fundamentals: playing way less EP, way more IP, and folding. Three things. Easy Game.

Those are my three main points of focus this month. I'm really going to focus on blind stealing hard this month. Probably try min-raising the button all month and see how that goes.

No major goals this month other than that.

In terms of life goals,I need to get on the job search hardcore. I'm mega slacking, and need to get on that. I also have some other side projects going right now that will probably need more focus this month.

I just heard back last week that my paper I submitted for publication was again turned down, due to 'lack of sufficiently new/novel information'. This was like submission number who knows what. . to like the third journal.. its a huge pain in the ass. I don't even care anymore, but mostly doing it for my masters supervisor.

So yah, March should be busy!

That's annoying as crap man. Sorry to hear. We should go job hunting together aka when you find one hook me up! Good luck with blind stealing, I'll try to chat with you soon about it!

things will turn around

gl

Was reading M2M's post and saw his comments about gunnar glasses.

Ever since I got laser eye I've been having a lot more eye strain when grinding for a few hours. I'm at the computer like 9 hours a day at work, but the strain is definitely way more from 2 hours grinding.

I just ordered these:
Gunnar Sheadog Eyewear - Sheadog Eyeglasses | Gunnars.com

They should arrive in a few days and hopefully these help!
I wonder if I can somehow claim these under my health care coverage!

Aside from that, been playin pretty decently but running not so hot. I'm still making too many river mistakes and bad river calls when ppl's ranges are very narrow.

I've also been experimenting the last few weeks with opening almost any two on the button (minraise). I think my button VPIP/PFR the last few weeks is like 61/55, compared to CO 26/24 and MP like 17/15 (which on ongame is also utg).

It's working ok, but I think I should tighten up a BIT more. Minraising on the button needs folds 57% of the time for immediate profit, which requires both ppl in the blinds folding about 75%. I don't think something around this is unreasonable, but most people are probably more likely around 65-70% folding.

I'm sure there is some optimal % here based on players in the blinds, their folding frequency and also their c/f frequency postflop. I'll have to think some more about this and how it all relates to the best stealing percentages. Obviously if players are calling more than 25% pre but then folding a ton of flops, we don't care about our immediate fold equity. Things to ponder!

I had no idea glasses like that existed. I should definitely get a pair sometime soon and am eagerly anticipating your upcoming review of them.

I still 3x the button and raise it a lot less than you and Alex...I just feel like when I get 3-bet a LOT (which will happen when i minraise most buttons) i'm more prone to start 4-betting/getting it in light which seems to be bad or at least more high variance for my overall game.

Yah I'll write a review after a few sessions with them!

I think you should think of your button raises more in terms of immediate odds for immediate profit. View pre-flop in isolation. At 1/2 if you open to 3x, then you are risking 6 to win 3, so it needs to win 66% of the time. That works to about each player folding 81.5% of the time.

If you minraise button it needs to works 57% of the time, or each person folding about 75% of the time. so this difference is like 6.5% per person. Do you really think each person is going to shift part of their range that is currently folding, to increase their 3bet% from like 9 to 15.5%?

Way more likely is that people start flatting you more with hands they would have folded, I'd imagine. Playing IP when both players involved have weaker ranges than normal can't be too bad.

You should try using flux,

F.lux: software to make your life better

Basically it regulates the brightness of your screen according to what time of day it is. Sounds very simple, but my eyes feel so much better, after i started using it.

Here is a 2+2 thread with some reviews of both the gunnars and flux

Eye Strain/General Fatigue - Internet Poker - Online Poker Forum

Originally Posted by wingster

You should try using flux,

F.lux: software to make your life better

Basically it regulates the brightness of your screen according to what time of day it is. Sounds very simple, but my eyes feel so much better, after i started using it.

Here is a 2+2 thread with some reviews of both the gunnars and flux

Eye Strain/General Fatigue - Internet Poker - Online Poker Forum

Sweet, thanks man! I'll check this out. Yah the eye strain thread was the one I saw those 'sunglasses' from.

Rav - $60 shipping? I ordered my through the site and got charged like $6 hmmm. That's sweet that you got them already. haha we're such compulsive buyers.

Wingster - just downloaded it... my screen is solidly pink now (night time)! Guess I'll have to get used to this.

Just bought the last pair of gunnars available on amazon. They're ugly but i don't care...eyes are dying today after 5 hour session. I got the red metallic rocketship ones lol. The shipping on the gunnar site is ridiculous, 60$ to canada! Free shiping on amazon ftw. I will also provide trip report when they arrive next week.

These last few posts are really interesting. Curious to hear the reviews and oh my god my screen is pink/orange now as I typed this (I just installed Flux). Thanks guys!

Laser Eye Surgery

Have had a few people ask me about laser eye surgery, including 'roid who just asked, so maybe I'll talk about it briefly.

I guess an important background is that my prescription wasn't too bad. I was like -1.5 and -2.5. I wasn't blind or anything. I could survive without glasses in general, though definitely not drive or read very much.

The surgery ended up costing around $4.5k total for both eyes, and lifetime guarantee. There are many reasons why it was this expensive. The technology has come to the point where "laser eye" surgery can mean so many things and that's why the price varies so much.

The old way of doing LASIK or laser eye surgery (that some places still do), is using a blade to cut a flap in your eye, and then opening the flap and using a laser for the surgery. This is often the mega cheap "$500 an eye" method you still hear about.

Bladeless LASIK - In this procedure they use a laser to both cut the flap in your eye and to do the procedure itself.

LASIK Intralase - Intralase is just the name of the femtosecond laser that some places can use to cut the flap. Higher frequency laser, more precise cut, faster healing etc. I'm sure these things are all true, but also allow them to up the price.

Wave-guided LASIK Intralase - This is the one I got. The wave-guided is the newest feature of these surgeries. They take a 3D map of your eye, and can perform the surgery to every fine detail that your eye would warrant. The main complain post-laser eye surgery used to be night vision and glare while driving. The wave-guided feature allows them to take measures to minimize the potential for those side effects. This method also includes the bladeless, and Intralase laser as mentioned above.

PRK - there's also a surgery called PRK that involves removal of an entire layer of your cornea instead of a flap. This is for people who's cornea's are generally too thin to do a flap. The recovery is a lot slower with this method, but some ppl might not have a choice.

The surgery was SUPER fast. Probably like 7-10 mins tops. Went under one laser and felt some warmth and could smell a bit of burning as they were cutting the flap. They peel the flap open and your vision goes blurry. They roll you over to another laser and they do the correction and it feels warm again. Then they roll you back and slide the flap back down and it feels pretty cool because as they smooth your flap down your vision restores, and its almost like they are smoothing vision over your eye.

Then they repeat for the next eye, which kinda sucks cause you know eveything that needs to happen and then you're done. Vision almost right away. There's no pain until the drops and stuff wear off and then it hurts a bit (like soap in your eye feeling) for an hour or two. You go home, take a nap, wake up and the pain is gone and you have vision! It's really as quick as that. I'd imagine the pain may last somewhat longer for worse prescriptions.

I'm about 6 months later now. My vision is 20/20 and sometimes even 20/15. Though I do feel a bit more strain in front of the computer, and take drops a few times a day. I don't often feel the need to take them but my optometrist tells me to do so. Overall, very happy and free of the hassle of contacts and glasses! It's also nice for sports too. I'd recommend it for sure.

/laser eye rant

Talking about eyes, I should get mine looked at. My eyes have always been 20/20 or better depending on the test and tester. I always had to have eye tests done to the extreme since I used to work in the colour matching/ink industry so I also had a ton of tests done on the cones and rods too, but I digress. My eyes are getting much worse, to the point of blurring at varying levels for no reason. It also seems to effect my focus because my memory has gone along with the fact that I don't focus on what I see as often. I wonder how much the eyes effect things like memory recall or even focus in general?

I'm going to try that program and maybe lok into the glasses as well if it doesn't seem to help and the reviews are favorable.

Wow griffey, thanks for the awesome write-up on this. I really appreciate it, and I'll definitely be looking into getting it done in the next year or two. Had no idea the surgery was that fast. :O

Originally Posted by jyms

Talking about eyes, I should get mine looked at. My eyes have always been 20/20 or better depending on the test and tester. I always had to have eye tests done to the extreme since I used to work in the colour matching/ink industry so I also had a ton of tests done on the cones and rods too, but I digress. My eyes are getting much worse, to the point of blurring at varying levels for no reason. It also seems to effect my focus because my memory has gone along with the fact that I don't focus on what I see as often. I wonder how much the eyes effect things like memory recall or even focus in general?

I'm going to try that program and maybe lok into the glasses as well if it doesn't seem to help and the reviews are favorable.

I downloaded the program last night. After I test "shut it off" and my screen was so bright comparatively... you don't really notice how bright!

Originally Posted by Roid_Rage

Wow griffey, thanks for the awesome write-up on this. I really appreciate it, and I'll definitely be looking into getting it done in the next year or two. Had no idea the surgery was that fast. :O

No problem. Yah you should definitely do it. I'd imagine prices will come down or technology get better in a year or two anyhow.

I also had LASIK done about 6 years ago. Everything Griffey said, is exactly the experience I had. By the time I got home, took a nap, and woke up, the discomfort in my eyes was completely gone. When I went back the following day for my checkup, they said my vision was 20/15.

I think I paid only $1600 total with taxes and one year of insurance. The technology is probably better now than it was 6 years ago, but the surgery still took only about 30 seconds an eye.

I have had no major problems other than the normal complaint that my night vision isn't that good. I do remember for the first few months after that my eyes felt dry, but now I can grind poker all day and feel no discomfort in my eyes.

I definitely recommend getting LASIK

I had LASIK done as well, but my experience was incredibly painful. That is to say I was semi-freaking out during the actual procedure (I should note that I'm a huge wimp and had problems putting and taking out contact lenses - I have some phobia with stuff touching my eyes). Then I had a lot of trouble falling asleep because I found the pain to be really bad (It felt like my eyeballs were on fire)....but then the next day comes and it really is like magic and my vision has been great ever since. Mine also came out to about 4k with lifetime adjustments/guarantee.

Yeah I would say I was somewhere in between Rav and Griff for pain. It wasn't incredibly painful, but it was really uncomfortable. And yeah it's like magic when you wake up, the pain is completely gone.

I had an eye phobia as well, eye touching phobia that is, until two yrs ago I sucked it up and started wearing contacts. Rarely wore them though cuase they would bother me after like 4-5 hours, so I was bringing my glasses everywhere anyhow.

That's crazy you had a quasi freakout though. During the actual procedure or before or what? I remember the first eye I was fine, but after knowing what was coming, the second eye I noticed my heart rate go up and started getting warmer and hands sweating and stuff.

Man, I was mad tense the entire time. My whole body was flexed and the nurses kept saying 'calm down you're gonna be fine!'. Did you take any valium beforehand? I remember they gave me one valium and since i'm a relatively big guy I immediately thought 'this isn't going to do anything' and it just put me more on edge. When they put the clamps on my eyes I was at an all-time freakout point. It felt too much like the scene from Clockwork Orange when they're forcing him to watch rapes/nazi stuff.

Calling 3bets, calling flops, shoving turns

Was talking to ravageur a bit yesterday about the idea of calling flops in 3bet pots with draws and then jamming turns. Thought I'd do some math to figure this out.


100bb effective
Hero opens to 2.5bbs
Villain 3bets to 8.5bbs
Hero calls


board: (pot ~18bbs)

Villain cbet 11bbs
Hero calls

board: (pot ~ 40bbs)

Villain double barrels 23bbs
Hero jams

Hero's jamming range: JcTc, QcTc, QcJc, AcTc, Ac9c, 9cTc
Villains calling range: AK, KQ, KJ, AA, KK, AcQc, AcJc, 7c9c

I don't have stove here at work, I'm going to assume we have around 20% equity when called. Can someone stove this? It's actually probably a little bit worse than this, though not quite as bad if he might b/c TT or something.

EV when fold to turn double = -19.5bbs
EV when shove turn and villain folds (where X is fold %) = 20.5bbs*X%
EV when shove turn and villain calls (where 1-x is call %) = 100bbs*(1-x)*.2-100bbs*(1-x)*.8
=-60bbs*(1-x)
=-60bbs+60x

Breakeven:

20.5bbs*X - 60bbs + 60x = -19.5bbs
80.5bbs*X = 40.5bbs
X% = 50.3%

Need him to fold 50.3% of the time after he double barrels.

We can compare villain's turn bet/calling range to different overall 3betting ranges, to see if this fold % is reasonable or not or how aggro preflop and doubles they have to be for this.

I'll need stove to do that, but I'll try to do that at home. My initial instinct is that 50.3% is pretty high.