Wednesday, March 5, 2008
What are you reading?
I am jamming my other blog up with multiple posts a day and you keep looking here. Hurry click here ------> http://www.65bb.blogspot.com/
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
Theory
Awhile back on here I was all gung ho about writing a book about poker. I started off with preflop and was going to write baout the game street by street. I obviouskly didnt get too far and for good reason. There is no set way to play poker. Any style can win. The CR style which I utilize is optimal for me and many others yet many variations exist. A common theme or rather question I see on forums is what should i be thinking about. Honestly I have struggled with this myself until lately. Of course I no where near have all the answers and on occasion catch myself reverting back to some less then optimal thinking while playing. That being said I feel like giving it a go.
To be honest it is very simple. We all run HUD or should be and from there we can loosely determine some form of preflop range for any villain whom we have data on. So before we take a flop we want to decide villains range based on his position and action taken. Ex: 20/17 TAG raises from UTG and calls BTN 3bet. We can assume a tight UTG opening range and based on villains aggression and stack sizes his most likely range for flatting a 3bet preflop is 99-JJ as well as AQs+. Of course again this is villain and read dependant but I think you can get an idea of what I mean. More common is fish limp called from MP, range=alot.
Next we take the flop if called and our percieved range for villain is typically large at this point. Now when the flop peels our 1st thought shouldnt be "yeah I hit" or "Fuck I bricked". We want to see how villain reacts to said flop. Does he donk, check? Now we take our range against his range and decide what our optimal line is. This is pretty 1st level shit imo but then again something I feel many overlook. The real meat and potatoes is after our flop decision. It is actually nearly impossible to go over all the different possible scenarios which can play out. Therefore I will try and simplify the thoguht porcess.
Villains preflop range will become more defined based on there flop action. From this action we can reassign a narrower range and from there decide how to best proceed. At all times our 1st thought shouldnt be our two cards but rather our villains range. From there we can then decide what is the best line for our hand. each street we have only 2-3 possible choices. If we can think of our opponents range deciding which action is best should be a no brainer.
EX: Villain is 22/20/4
Warning: Please dont play this bad!
Full Tilt Poker, $1/$2 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 5 Players
LeggoPoker.com Hand History Converter
Hero (BB): $265.55
UTG: $565.80
CO: $199
BTN: $214.60
SB: $98.90
Pre-Flop: Jc 7d dealt to Hero (BB)
2 folds, BTN raises to $7, SB folds, Hero raises to $24, BTN calls $17
I had no real history with villain and he had stats of a blind thief. I have been toying with 3betting light here with complete trash and I dont advise it. Villain calls. Now we assign a range. So TAG calls 3bet IP either a monster like QQ+ sometimes AQs+ or small PP and med SCs like 89+
Flop: ($49) 3h 2h Jd (2 Players)
Hero bets $28, BTN calls $28
Villains range either has us crushed or it doesnt and betting out should get us some good info as to where we are. He flats our cbet. Assign a range. QQ+ is out of question as those hands call pre to jam safe flops. AA is still slightly possible but not too likely. Therefore its either a weak made hand like 99 or TT looking to get to a cheap showdown or a float. A float being more likely imo due to our bet sizing.
Turn: ($105) 2s (2 Players)
Hero checks, BTN bets $65, Hero raises to $213.55 and is All-In, BTN folds
Not sure if my turn line is optimal but lets assign a range. What hand that villain has played to this point does he bet? It appears to me his whole range at this point is air. Small PPs check behind as well as draws so not to get CRAI. The only thing left are hands which have no real show down value unimporved. Calling and c/c the river could best maximize our EV but I think our shove could possibly fetch a hero call from TT.
Results: $235 Pot ($3 Rake)
Hero mucked Jc 7d and WON $232 (+$115 NET)
OK so not the best played hand but still one where we can see how ranges develop. This is an excercise we should be practicing in and out of hands. The next step after getting ranges handled is determining wether we should be pot controlling, tuning our hand into a bluff, or trying to get it in. Optimally we will always choose the line which is most EV.
To be honest it is very simple. We all run HUD or should be and from there we can loosely determine some form of preflop range for any villain whom we have data on. So before we take a flop we want to decide villains range based on his position and action taken. Ex: 20/17 TAG raises from UTG and calls BTN 3bet. We can assume a tight UTG opening range and based on villains aggression and stack sizes his most likely range for flatting a 3bet preflop is 99-JJ as well as AQs+. Of course again this is villain and read dependant but I think you can get an idea of what I mean. More common is fish limp called from MP, range=alot.
Next we take the flop if called and our percieved range for villain is typically large at this point. Now when the flop peels our 1st thought shouldnt be "yeah I hit" or "Fuck I bricked". We want to see how villain reacts to said flop. Does he donk, check? Now we take our range against his range and decide what our optimal line is. This is pretty 1st level shit imo but then again something I feel many overlook. The real meat and potatoes is after our flop decision. It is actually nearly impossible to go over all the different possible scenarios which can play out. Therefore I will try and simplify the thoguht porcess.
Villains preflop range will become more defined based on there flop action. From this action we can reassign a narrower range and from there decide how to best proceed. At all times our 1st thought shouldnt be our two cards but rather our villains range. From there we can then decide what is the best line for our hand. each street we have only 2-3 possible choices. If we can think of our opponents range deciding which action is best should be a no brainer.
EX: Villain is 22/20/4
Warning: Please dont play this bad!
Full Tilt Poker, $1/$2 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 5 Players
LeggoPoker.com Hand History Converter
Hero (BB): $265.55
UTG: $565.80
CO: $199
BTN: $214.60
SB: $98.90
Pre-Flop: Jc 7d dealt to Hero (BB)
2 folds, BTN raises to $7, SB folds, Hero raises to $24, BTN calls $17
I had no real history with villain and he had stats of a blind thief. I have been toying with 3betting light here with complete trash and I dont advise it. Villain calls. Now we assign a range. So TAG calls 3bet IP either a monster like QQ+ sometimes AQs+ or small PP and med SCs like 89+
Flop: ($49) 3h 2h Jd (2 Players)
Hero bets $28, BTN calls $28
Villains range either has us crushed or it doesnt and betting out should get us some good info as to where we are. He flats our cbet. Assign a range. QQ+ is out of question as those hands call pre to jam safe flops. AA is still slightly possible but not too likely. Therefore its either a weak made hand like 99 or TT looking to get to a cheap showdown or a float. A float being more likely imo due to our bet sizing.
Turn: ($105) 2s (2 Players)
Hero checks, BTN bets $65, Hero raises to $213.55 and is All-In, BTN folds
Not sure if my turn line is optimal but lets assign a range. What hand that villain has played to this point does he bet? It appears to me his whole range at this point is air. Small PPs check behind as well as draws so not to get CRAI. The only thing left are hands which have no real show down value unimporved. Calling and c/c the river could best maximize our EV but I think our shove could possibly fetch a hero call from TT.
Results: $235 Pot ($3 Rake)
Hero mucked Jc 7d and WON $232 (+$115 NET)
OK so not the best played hand but still one where we can see how ranges develop. This is an excercise we should be practicing in and out of hands. The next step after getting ranges handled is determining wether we should be pot controlling, tuning our hand into a bluff, or trying to get it in. Optimally we will always choose the line which is most EV.
Thursday, January 31, 2008
So it has been way long since I last posted here, and last time I was ranting about 6-8 tabling. I changed my tune. The optimal number for me is 3 with 4 happening if the games are just too good to pass up. As you can see from my graph at the 25K hand mark is when I made this choice, not to shabby. As for my last two posts I feel very strongly about the passages and feel they can be applied to the game of poker without a doubt. I will rant more later when my thoughts are in place.Tuesday, January 8, 2008
Follow up post
This is a passage that goes hand in hand with the last post I made.
Decisiveness
In life you must make decisions. Be decisive. It is very important. Hopefully you will make more good decisions than bad decisions, but ultimately it is better to have made a bad or poor decision than to have not made a decision at all. When you have made a decision, do not second-guess yourself. If you do there could be no end to it. Just make the best decision you can and then stick with it. If it was a bad decision, then you can learn from it.
In ancient Japan they believed you should have great spirit and determination, and when you need to, you should be able to decide in an instant.
Sound similar to 6 tabling to you? Lately I have been playing 6-8 tables which allows me less time to think so I have to decisive. Once I decide the outcome is irrelevant. I simply do the best i can with the information I have at the time. This has helped immensley with tilt. I have little to no time to feel emotion from a bad beat. My goal is to eliminate all emotions from poker. This is a graph of my session yesterday. Ay not time during the session did I check my results or have an idea wether I was ahead or behind. i know if I am playing poker I am making money and that is all that matters.
Monday, January 7, 2008
Mental edge.
I have decided sporatically i will try and post some theory posts on here. So look for them every now and again. Along those line I have a passage for you to think about. I think this relate to poker extremely well.
Grace Under Fire
In extreme situations, when you are forced to make decisions under pressure, the key is to stay calm and settled down. By doing so you can think clearer and make better decisions. of course, to stay calm and settled under extreme conditions is a difficult thing to do. The way to do it is to not concern yourself with what the consequences will be, and that must weigh into your decision, but you have to look at it as if you are deciding it for someone else. It is liike a lawyer deciding what statements or arguments to make. It could be the difference of wether someone lives or dies, yet he can thing clearly becuase it is not his life that hangs in the balance. Even when things seem overwhelming, stay calm and focused. Eventually you will have things under control.
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