Beyond the Basics - Phase III

[reprisal]

Well, I usually only play 4 tables or so on average, so its easier for me to be picky. But this is definitely something you should be thinking about anyways. Especially if you start opening up your game a bit at times, you need to know when to tighten back up. Most of the time its probably still worth keeping the table open, if there arent many to chose from. Maybe jump on a few waiting lists if it seems marginal.

[grnydrowave2]

578 hands, -$34.25

It's official. 50nl is crazy.

I know that I'm basing this off of a small sample size, but I really am quite sure of it. I haven't seen anything like this at 25nl in the last 10k hands. Everyone seems to be afflicted with "I don't believe you" syndrome. They love to float, then steal the pot from you at the first sign of weakness. They 3-bet button raises from the blinds with alarming frequency. They checkraise like crazy. They call down soooooooo light.

kmind has had similar experiences, and seems to think that this dynamic is something that has changed in the last few months. I have no idea why this would be, but I'm quite sure it wasn't like this in October. It doesn't really matter why, though. This is a good thing. The reckless aggression and loose play here is more similar to 10nl than it is to 25nl. The best way to deal with this is to tighten up, make hands, and drag their cynical asses through value town.

If I'm to go into supernit camp mode, this means I can easily add tables. Actually, I'm already quite comfortable 6-tabling. The only obstacle is screen resolution. I use a 20-inch monitor and a laptop, with 4 tables on the monitor and 2 on the lappy. I could make 6 of the tables very small on the monitor with 4 regular sized on the laptop screen, but I'm not accustomed to such small tables. My main peeve with it is the font PS uses. Apparently other people have gotten used to it, so why can't I? I'm going to practice 10-tabling tomorrow at 10nl, then switch to 50nl once I've gotten the hang of it.

I'm still far behind schedule on April Accountability. Fortunately, my schedule is completely open from here through the weekend. With spare time and lots of tables, I expect to log a shitload of hands in the near future.

Bankroll: $1,271.85

[grnydrowave2]

1,990 hands, -$127.73

Meh.

Bankroll: $1,144.12

[grnydrowave2]

ePassporte cashout, -$400.34
FTR500 registration, -$5.50

In the midst of bad results, ePassporte comes along and goes busto; a culmination of events that has destroyed my motivation to play poker lately.

I'm too far behind now. The month is only halfway through, but it's already apparent that I have miserably failed April Accountability. The only foreseeable way I can think of to actually accomplish the goal would be to super multitable 10nl, which would sort of be cheating (not to mention an inefficient use of my time).

Oh yeah, and my bankroll is decimated. It's very unfortunate the way things turned out. Just a few days before the ePass fiasco, I had cashed everything out of FullTilt (aside from the $5.50 needed for FTR500). I wanted to deposit $600 of my personal money to take advantage of the Stars reload bonus, but it looked like I wasn't going to get the money in time for the deadline, so I cashed out of FT just in case. Then I had to withdraw everything for fear of having my funds seized.

My deflated bankroll is only temporary, as I intend to redeposit into Stars directly (the nice folks at PS have even agreed to give me an extension on the reload deadline), but the fact remains that I am now technically underrolled for 50nl. I suppose I'll play some 25nl in the meantime, but I don't expect to log a ton of hands. Considering how badly I've been doing at 50nl, I think my time might be better spent examining my game and studying.

Bankroll: $738.28

[grnydrowave2]

629 hands, +$162.85
Stars Deposit, +$25.00

For some reason I had to deposit $25 to Stars via my checking account before they would let me make a larger deposit. That's going to take some time.

I was chatting with kmind this afternoon, and mentioned that I hadn't played much poker in the last 6 days and that I was bummed about my latest results. He offered to sweat me for a while and discuss some hands. I learned alot over the next hour, and the time spent talking with him that followed. My bet sizing was high at times, as I relied to heavily on the Bet Pot AHK script. I was rarely completing the SB.

But more importantly, I realized that I need to work on putting people on ranges, and to experiment with some light 3-betting (particularly against chronic blind stealers). Hell, I don't even 3-bet my strong hands often enough. There's alot of important variables that I'm not even thinking about at the table, and that fact stuck out like a sore thumb today.

It was a humbling experience, but I feel like I have a much better sense of direction. There were a few times today that I felt more comfortable playing post-flop against certain opponents because I had been studying them more closely. I have a long way to go and alot of things to work on, but I'm ready to take that next step. I just might be on the verge of abiding by my mission statement and truly getting beyond the basics.

Or maybe I'm just experiencing some optimistic euphoria because I ran well today. Whatever. I'm still going to study diligently in the aforementioned areas.

Bankroll: $926.13

[kmind]

Hey man, really proud you had a nice day at the tables. Glad we got to talk a lot, it not only helps you but helps me as well. You seem to definitely know what you were lacking as of now and how to handle it in the future. I'm sure you'll be fine. That said, are you going to continue to play out of your bankroll though?

[grnydrowave2]

After yesterday's score, I'm not too badly underrolled for 50nl. Besides, I'll be redepositing into Stars as soon as the first check clears.

[kmind]

Yeah if you have an "unlimited roll" then you're def. good. I just didn't want bad variance make you go busto.

[grnydrowave2]

851 hands, -$0.15

I made a costly error with TPGK against a semi-shortstacked nit, but aside from that I think I played very well.

I earnestly tried to think about people's ranges during hands, but to be honest, I'm finding it difficult. It's a new skill that is very underdeveloped for me, and it's alot of information for me to process when multitabling. I think the best way to get accustomed to it is to just practice away from the table, read alot of hand histories, and try to apply the thought process to every hand. Hopefully, in time, it will become second nature to me.

Bankroll: $925.98

[daven]

2 useful things to know beyond VPIP-PFR to help with ranges

1) do they vary starting hands by position?
2) do they like SCs/Axs/low PPs?

another trick - similar stats to you means similar range to what you would be acting that way with. Looser = wider range, tighter = narrower.

Adjust range by street. Sure, 8Ts may be in their preflop range, but they're unlikely to be re-raising this on a rainbow AK3 board...

To practice handreading you could drop to playing one or two tables for a session and watch every hand closely - start predicting ranges for all players in these hands, whether you're involved or not.
Good luck!

[grnydrowave2]

2 useful things to know beyond VPIP-PFR to help with ranges

1) do they vary starting hands by position?
2) do they like SCs/Axs/low PPs?

another trick - similar stats to you means similar range to what you would be acting that way with. Looser = wider range, tighter = narrower.

Adjust range by street. Sure, 8Ts may be in their preflop range, but they're unlikely to be re-raising this on a rainbow AK3 board...

To practice handreading you could drop to playing one or two tables for a session and watch every hand closely - start predicting ranges for all players in these hands, whether you're involved or not.
Good luck!

It's often tough for me to determine whether or not a player is positionally aware, but kmind suggested the other day that a player's att. to steal blind stat is very indicative of this.

Yeah, I've been trying to adjust ranges each street. Otherwise, it would be a nearly useless practice.

I'm sure dropping to one or two tables and paying closer attention would help alot, but tbh I really can't bring myself to do it. I'm logging too few hours as it is. For now I think I'll just study HHs, and focus my attention one or two of my fishiest tables. Truth be told, I seldom pay close attention when I'm not in a hand. I should stop being lazy and work on this as well.

Thanks for the input.

[grnydrowave2]

188 hands, +$45.85

I'm very drunk right now. I wish I hadn't decided to play tonight, but I'm happy with the result. Any hands played tonight are probably not even worth reviewing. Whatever. I'll try not to do this again in the future and happily accept the fact that I got winner when I was clearly -EV to begin with.

LAWL.

Bankroll: $971.83

[grnydrowave2]

Ohhhh man, I was so hammered last night. I really hope I never play poker in that condition ever again. Still, I've learned a few things about myself:

1. I am capable of getting so intoxicated that I can't walk straight or keep both eyes open, yet I can cook pasta and type with astounding coherence.

2. I get mixed up in alot of weird hands. Behold:

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $0.50 BB (6 handed) Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: FlopTurnRiver)

Button ($44.20)
SB ($51.75)
BB ($56.40)
Hero ($56.60)
MP ($57.50)
CO ($43)

Preflop: Hero is UTG with A, K.
Hero raises to $2, MP raises to $4, 4 folds, Hero calls $2.

Flop: ($8.75) 6, 2, 5 (2 players)
Hero checks, MP bets $5, Hero raises to $15, MP folds.

Final Pot: $18.75

I actually typed this up 7 hours ago, but the HH converter wasn't working. It's still broken, so I guess I'll post the rest of them some other time.

[grnydrowave2]

Stars Deposit: +$600

I'd been corresponding with Stars support for the last few days, and I was quite upset with them. I had requested an extension on the BOP reload bonus in light of ePass shutting down, to which they agreed. However, they advised me to deposit a small amount via eCheck, which was going to take longer than the time they had given me and...

yadda yadda yadda, long story short, I had to find an alternative method, which I did today. I'm happy to report that I have successfully qualified for the $120 bonus, which will take 2,400 FPPs to clear.

Since I had cashed out $400, and redeposited $625, this brings my initial investment (RL money, excluding winnings) up to $425. This may not mean much to you ballers out there, but I always thought it sounded cool that I had turned $200 into ~$1400. Now it's considerably less impressive. Oh well.

I've been lazy recently, and logged very few hands. I hope to get off my ass soon and start clearing that bonus.

Bankroll: $1,571.83

[grnydrowave2]

294 hands, +$49.45

I really want to get my ass into gear, but circumstances haven't allowed it. I've been available the last 4 hours, but there just isn't any action at Stars. I shouldn't make excuses though.

Here's a hand from today that made me pat myself on the back:

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $0.50 BB (6 handed) Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: FlopTurnRiver)

BB ($130.75)
UTG ($18.40)
MP ($65.30)
CO ($24.75)
Hero ($93.30)
SB ($49.60)

Preflop: Hero is Button with 8, 7.
3 folds, Hero raises to $2, 1 fold, BB calls $1.50.

Flop: ($4.25) 2, T, 3 (2 players)
BB bets $3.5, Hero raises to $10, BB folds.

Final Pot: $11.25

Villain was 26/21/4.5 and attempted to steal blinds 42% of the time. I suspected that his call preflop might have been a float, with the intention of stealing on the flop. Even if that wasn't the case, I think that most of his range missed this board.

I usually don't "make moves" like this, but I think that I might be gaining a better feel for reading opponents. 95% of the time I'd probably fold this on the flop without giving my opponent's range or tendencies any consideration. But this time, I smelled a rat. I just hope that I continue to pick my spots well and don't develop FPS.

Bankroll: $1,621.28

[grnydrowave2]

Previously unimported hands, +$8.30
1,119 hands, -$58.75

In my last post, I apparently failed to import some of my hands, hence the discrepancy.

I had intended to play alot more today than I actually did. Stuff came up (as it always does). But considering how badly I played, perhaps that's a blessing in disguise. I'm not sure why I was so off my game. I wasn't feeling emotional or irritable, but for some reason I was getting frisky in pots I had no business contesting. Typical FPS, as I had worried about before, but I don't think there's any connection. Alot of the moves I made were thoughtless, rather than overthinking.

Before I start any sessions tomorrow, I'll make a point of it to focus. Toward the end of today's session I got my act together and stopped spewing, so I'll try to pick up where I left off.

Bankroll: $1,570.83