Wow! Already mid May... ok month so far... I'm certainly not on a heater but I'm not doing badly either. Lately I was lacking motivation to play poker. Funny enough, the times that I want to play most is when I'm on a downswing or playing poorly! During those periods I become really motivated to improve and elevate my game as opposed to when I'm doing ok! Anyhow, I'm not on a downswing or anything right now but I'm quite motivated in bring good changes my game. I've listen to Samoleus/Punketty's interview on Cash Plays from Pokerroad.com and his insight really enlightended me on various aspect of my game.

One of my main focus lately was trying to improve in playing post-flop in 3 bet pots. I think two very important aspect is to hand range you're opponent accordingly then you can act accordingly on flop and turn according to stack size. The second aspect is to use leverage in you're favor regardless of position. Basically we want to be the one to force our opponent in a spot where he's in a push/fold situation or that by any further action by us he will be commited while avoiding this ourself.

Anyhow, Samo's interview got me really thinking about plays that may not be optimal that I was doing before. Mainly 3 betting hands that may have too much post-flop value. Now this is a somewhat interesting new aspect for myself because I'll have to improve my post-flop play in raised pot when I'm not the pf raiser. There was one hand today that I called while I would of normally 3 betted.

Free hand converter brought to you by CardRunners

Seat 1: glamourMax ($53.05) -
Seat 2: qqch13 ($75.05) -
Seat 3: twinpsych ($50.75)
Seat 5: mdstory2000 ($46.65)
Seat 6: Redwood9 ($150.35) -


PRE-FLOP:

glamourMax posts small blind $0.25
qqch13 posts BIG blind $0.50
Dealt To: qqch13


FOLD twinpsych
FOLD mdstory2000
RAISE Redwood9 ($2)
FOLD glamourMax
CALL qqch13 ($1.50)


FLOP:

Pot: $4.25
   

CHECK qqch13
BET Redwood9 ($3)
RAISE qqch13 ($11)
CALL Redwood9 ($8)


TURN:

Pot: $26.25
     

BET qqch13 ($14.50)
CALL Redwood9 ($14.50)


RIVER:

Pot: $55.25
      

BET qqch13 ($34)
CALL Redwood9 ($34)


SHOWDOWN:
qqch13:

MUCK Redwood9

qqch13 collected $121.25 from main pot

SUMMARY:
Total pot: $123 Rake: $2

Final Board:
     

Seat 1: glamourMax small blind folded before Flop - Net Gain/Loss: ($-0.25)
Seat 2: qqch13 big blind showed [Js Ts] and won 121.25 with a straight, Ten to Ace - Net Gain/Loss: ($64.25)
Seat 3: twinpsych folded before Flop didnt bet - Net Gain/Loss: ($0)
Seat 5: mdstory2000 folded before Flop didnt bet - Net Gain/Loss: ($0)
Seat 6: Redwood9 button mucked [Qd Kd] - Net Gain/Loss: ($-46.5)
  


Free hand converter brought to you by CardRunners

I think the flop check-raise is OK as this player will c bet nearly his entire btn range on this flop and it will be very hard to continue without a K or a good draw even IP. Anyhow if I would of been 3 betted it would of really sucked because I would of had to fold. I think the cr is best in this spot because otherwise a J or T turn is gonna be very hard to play. Anyhow, on the turn I hit the nuts... std! I go for a very small bet in hope that he hit aces up and is gonna raise me but he does not. Anyhow on the river I just bet 4 value.

Anyhow right now I'm rethinking my 3 bet range and I guess I'll come up with some better ideas in the near future. I understand it has to be player dependent and it already was... But now I've got some new ideas to think about and I'm thrilled.

I guess here is a graph just 4 fun!

An interesting month April was... I'd say overall it was OK. I didn't achieve all that I wanted but May is just around the corner and a new start is in order. Anyhow, I'm now a Platinum Star on Stars after playing near 60k hands of NL50... I was finally rolled for NL100 with 30+ BI around the 3rd week but I didn't take a shot for two reasons. Firstly I needed to cashout a considerable amount of money @ the end of the month to cover some bills and did not want to risk loosing multiple BIs. Secondly, to be honest I didn't think my game was ready.

I find it is often so easy to be drawn into false beliefs about you're game when you're simply getting a hot streak of cards. Poker then becomes cruel when variance finally evens out and you find out you may not be as good as you truly are. During the last week of April I suffered a pretty bad downswing that made me realize poker is not always that easy.  It is during those period that you get to rework you're game and implement good changes.

Lately I've questioned myself about where my edge comes from during my play.  I'm sure we all get the feeling @ some point while playing that we have an edge on most players @ the table.  I still don't exaclty know how too define this sort of feeling/realization but I'm definitely feeling it more often lately.  Even during my downswing I had good confidence in my decisions while simply being frustrated @ how brutal this game can be @ times.

Here comes one dilemma...  I was kindly offered to be staked into a NL100 game by one of my friend.  He feels that my game should be ready and so forth which is great for my confidence and stuff...  But it's none the less a pretty odd feeling to have someone lend you 1k+...  I understand it's an investement on there part even if that friend of mine doesn't seem too interested in myself honorating my part.  Basically he's ready to stake me into a game without seaking much profit to himself.  I have not come to a decision yet but will probably decline since I'm nearly rolled for the stakes myself and feel somewhat uncomfortable about it all atm.

The poker community is definitely an interesting one...  I don't know too many people that are ready too lend money to a friend as "nonchalantELY" as a poker player.  I guess money can be so easily made...  and lost...  during a poker session that it sort of looses is value to a person's eyes.  I don't exactly know if it's a good or bad thing but it's definitely an unusual thing to most that are not involved in the poker community.

...

Woo... Just finished a crazy day... up 15 BI @ NL50!

Here's the graph

So that's about a little less then 6 hours of play...  Ran hot (obv), playing 9 tables on PS...  I'm starting to get a better feel for NL50...  I'm looking to move up really soon but I had to cash out quite a bit (1.3k) for personal expense...  Not having a job right now is hurting!  Anyhow, another 15 BI day this weekend would really be sweet, I'll pray to the poker gods.  Then I would look to move up to NL100, probably 25BI with a 5-8 BI shot or something on these lines.

About getting out of a downswing...

Just prior to this I was having a hard time truly crushing the limit.  Over my first 19k hands I went up 16 BI quickly to loose it gradualy.  Now through my last 18k hands it has been a much more gradual climb...  I'm running around 8ptBB which is fine in my std since I'm 9+ tabling most of the time.  I highly doubt that it will be sustainable winrate over a long strech but hopefully by then I'll have moved up.   A little more on the subject, during my downswing I was definitely not playing an A game...  probably closer too a C type game.  I'd say that there are two aspects that must be fixed when on a downswing...

1- Realize that you're not playing to you're std + Admit that you have leaks in you're game...

I used one of my friend to help me out with a little post flop game theory.  I'd say that one aspect of my game that really improved is playing in 3 bet pots...  I'll add some thaughts about that @ the end of this blog.  Anyhow, working to find multiple little leaks is really important and truly affect you're winrate.  For example, stealing blinds just a little more often can truly change you winrate by .5 to 1 ptBB, every details does matter.  Anyhow, it's also truly important to keep you're game sharp.  i.e.  You don't want to make calls that don't warrant correct odds, assign irrealistic ranges to talk yourself into calling etc...  Basically don't let yourself go on tilt.  I may also add that when tilting, making hero calls will probably lead to tilting you even more...  Nothing's worse than making a hero call and being wrong when you are already tilting.  Keep you're A game and don't tilt!

2- Rebuild you're confidence.

I'd say talking, watching a friend play is great to rebuild you're confidence but the bottom line is when you'll start winning again that's when you'll truly have rebuilt you're confidence.  So basically go and Play Play Play.  And have fun winning...  you should after all these little things you fixed in you're game.  I had the luxury of having one of my friend sweat me during some sessions, since he's a NL400 winner, that really improved my confidence. :P

So to come out of a downswing, rework you're game and go out there and try out you're new knowledge...

About 3 bet pots and lite 3 betting... As for NL50...

I feel that playing in 3 bet pots can be very very profitable @ NL50 if you developp correct reads on you're opponents, so here it goes for a little theory...  nothing really mathematical but none the less accurate imo.

So profit from 3 bet pots come from two parts, basically when he folds preflop and you win or when you take it down post flop.  This is key since we will exploit leaks from players that either fold or call too much preflop.  I'll first discuss ourself 3 betting, then ourself calling 3 bets.

1- We are the 3 bettor

So the key aspect of preflop lite 3 betting is finding opponents that will fold @ some point.  Now it is key that we note when and where they actually fold.  By that I'm talking about position and street.  Basically an opponent that will fold almost all of his range to you're 3 bet pf while him being IP is a good candidate to 3 bet.  An opponent that calls LITE OOP is ok to 3 bet since it will be hard for him to take down the pot without a hand (you'll make him fold on a later street).  Now there are some that will fold when OOP but call when IP.  These opponents are terrible to 3 bet especially if they tend to float the flop.  Basically opponent that call 3 bet IP and float flops are denying us all advantage of 3 betting (note for calling 3 bet).  So I'll here is a little recap of what I'm trying to get @.

1- Villain you do want to 3 bet lite are... (Folding a wide range pre, even IP) (Not floating in 3 bet pots) (If they call OOP it's ok)

2- Villains you don't want to 3 bet lite are...  (Calling a wide range IP) (Floating)

So basically while in the blinds, you only want to 3bet lite villains that won't call a wide range, OR if they do call but are playing VERY weak in 3 bet pots (you may have to feel comfortable playing large pots with weak hands OOP).  On the button you can 3 bet lite almost anyone that dosen't raise only 9.9% of there range since you'll have position and you can force them to make a hand.  I find you can very easily exploit the ones that call lite OOP when you 3 bet otb.  Therefor lately I've been 3 betting a very wide range otb with good success...

Calling 3 bets...  fighting vs the lite 3 bettors

Here the key is to make sure that the villain is indeed 3 betting lite and has a decent size stack.  Now CR style makes us open a very wide range in LP, it is then profitable for the blinds too 3 bet a wider range.  Now like above we can deny the 3 betting advantage by calling IP.  So basically we can call a wider range IP and float alot of flops when the villain is 3 betting lite and cbetting a high % (usually the case).  It becomes very frustrating for him since so often he won't have a made hand or he'll have a hand that can't stand pressure.  It also becomes very costly for him to appy pressure OOP

So to cap it all, when I take notes on players for 3 bet pots, I look to see if they fold to my 3 bet IP (if they do that means they probably fold a wide range most of the time), if they call lite OOP, then I see if they float when they call IP.  To see if they 3 bet lite, I like to note if they cold call my raises in the blinds or if they 3 bet.

Well good thing march finished...  After a great start, the end of march was desastrous!  Anyhow, I won't go into too much but basically I took a shot @ NL100 and played horribly!  Afterwards, NL50 was near breakeven for 10k+ hands and that really got to me.  Needless to say I played horribly ran probably below expectation and needed to rework my game.  So!  I moved back down @ NL25 for a little while and rebuilt by confidence and made quite a few adjustment in my game.  I won't go too much into it right now, I'll actually just be very result oriented which is bad but meh!  I feel it's good for my confidence so... so be it!

Before I continue on anything else I'll outline my april objectives.

- Minimize tilting, make +EV decision and all that good stuff...  basically try an keep an AB game most of the time or else stop

- Improve on playing longer session, 3k+ hands per session...

- Obtain Platinum star status on PS, basically play enough hands too reach 10k VPPs

- Move up too NL100 !!! (probably start taking stabs @ 25-26 BIs)

So here is my recent graph...  On Holdem Manage actually...  if anyone would like a review/impression pm me!

Needless to say I'm running like an absolute GOD 9 tabling over this tiny sample!

And here are my stats, I don't think they quite represent what I want to achieve but meh!  Basically more positionnally aware of what I'm doing

So I guess that's it for now...  I'll talk a bit more about the adjustment I take one can make to improve there game when in a tough time in my next entry.

Playing NL50

So I've just moved up to NL50... I didnt waste time adjusting, I went right into it and started 6 tabling! So I'll recap and see what it took me to get there... I'll consider my poker debut on the month of January 2008. I don't have much to say about that month, it was basically a roller coaster ride where I started gaining a feel for the game, I tried out different strategy and plays... It's a month I'll say I broke even moneywise but gained quite a bit of experience. February was a great month... I'd say that near the end of January something clicked... I suddently became a more consitent player, definitely a consitent winner for now on! So the first two weeks I average around 7ptbb/100 while the last little while my winrate was probably closer to 12ptbb/100 while 6 tabling. So in february I won about 42 Buy-ins @NL25, I actually cashed out quite a bit before starting the next month. Now march... something clicked once again. My playing style has definitely improved from the one in late february. I find myself spewing considerably less than in mid february due to improve post flop play and decent hand planning. Just before moving up I started to "mass" multitable very profitably @ the NL25 lvl. That's something that really helped my confidence... "damn if I can play 14-15 tables and still beat these guys, heck I can beat NL50" Anyhow so here I am!

First thought about NL50... Nothing changes much except!

- I find there are a little bit more regulars... They are still quite exploitable imo.

- Player seem to be a little more aggressive... nothing to major however. It may still be early to evalute but my game adjustment makes my play higher variance I think.

How I've been running... well my pt stats show that I have a small winrate. I don't think it is truly representative of my play. I think lately I've been playing very well... I'd say I may have spewed 4 BI in bad play when I moved up but then again I think I've ran into KK vs AA 4 times lately.

Free hand converter brought to you by CardRunners

Seat 1: gkramerica ($49.25) -
Seat 3: Tissin ($140.40)
Seat 5: Krizjh ($82.90) -
Seat 6: qqch13 ($87.65) -


PRE-FLOP:

qqch13 posts small blind $0.25
gkramerica posts BIG blind $0.50
Dealt To: qqch13


RAISE Tissin ($2)
FOLD Krizjh
RAISE qqch13 ($6.50)
FOLD gkramerica
RAISE Tissin ($16.50)
RAISE qqch13 ($87.65)
CALL Tissin ($71.15)


FLOP:

Pot: $184.55
   



TURN:

Pot: $184.55
     



RIVER:

Pot: $184.55
      



SHOWDOWN:
qqch13:

Tissin:


Tissin collected $173.8 from main pot

>

Here are my PT stats... nothing to great sadly

My take on them... Well... my cb stats are definitely on the low side but I'll keep them like this for now. Actually I wish to maintain these stats for the moment as I think my strategy should beat NL50 at a decent winrate. Later on when I feel a little bit more confortable I'll look to open up my game a little more in LP and bring up that att. to steal blinds.

I'll add my graph too... It's been a pretty rock n roll first couple of hands @ NL50

Its not the clearest of image but it's the best I could do for now. Anyhow, the green is money won. The blue is money won at showdown. The red is money won without showdown.

That's it for now, I'll probably update next closer to the end of the month or when I decide to "mass" multitable NL50 bankroll allowing

A March Start

I don't exaclty know how blogs usually start but I'll simply start by setting up goals that are acheivable and possibly none result oriented for the most part. I'll try to use these goals as topics in later post of my blog.

Goal 1- Improve my game through poker talk, read and active forum posting. Extend my poker friend list may it be online or live.

Just through march break right now which is great because one of my friend came down from Montreal to see us, old friends in Gatineau (just beside Ottawa). Anyhow, his poker wisdom is far wider than mine right now and I had the chance to see him grind the NL200 6max on PS and discuss interesting spots that came up. He also sweat one of my session and we discussed c-betting on the flop and turn. Our discussion made me realize that I may be c-betting a little too much, I do see that some spots I may just be spewing money. Anyhow, I had a 81% cbet flop and I'm now down too aroud 70% over my last 5k hands. I guess I'll have to see how this affects my game, right now I'm finding my self in spots I didn't usually face on the turn OOP when I c-bet the flop. Humm, want I'm trying to say is that by not cbetting OOP I sometimes find I can get easily outplayed on the turn. Consequently, I may want to take the more aggresive line when OOP. As for while I'm IP, I think cbetting less will be profitable on particular board. Sadly I don't think I can quite articulate what kind of board is not good to cbet right now, I find its just a feel thing for me, a kind of knowledge acquired through experience. I hope eventually I may be able to articulate this taught a little better. I'll leave this subject pending but I will have to revisit very soon.

I just very recently read Townsend's article on playing hands based on you're equity vs hand ranges. I never before really tried to mentaly assess my equity on the turn vs my opponent but in the next little while, I hope I will do just that. I know in one of CTS's video, he actively checks his equity vs villains hand using handhistory tool, I'll try and do that too.

Goal 2- Play more hands, avoid tilting and keep a good BR management.

It may be obvious to have a goal of not tilting and keeping a good BR management but I wish to outline it to make it clear mainly to myself that it is VERY important. Usually when I play, coolers won't affect me too too much, it is usually afterwards when looking at the general results, sometime I get that impatient feeling that I'm not moving up the ranks fast enough. I then have some stupid ideas that may seem quite smart at the time too move up limit or take stab when underolled. Thankfully lately I have been well disciplined and I'm very happy about that.

Playing more hands... Humm, for a very long time I think setting up session didn't appeal to me as I feared to NOT be able to do as good as my last session where I ran hot at some 25ptbb/100. Lately I'm trying to be less result oriented. I had a good discussion on this subject with my friend that in order to play you're best poker (A game) you must be focused on making good and sound decision on all the information available. Basically the last cooler the villain put on you just gave you a PILE of, may it be expensive information, but now you have it and you need to act on it, not TILT. Anyhow, I think lately, being none result oriented lead to me being able to play longer sessions (2k hands @ 6 tables) while keeping a very good play

Goal 3- Improving my game by actually fixing leaks, improving weaknesses.

Finding a leak is not enough, I need to actively act on it in order for it to have a meaning. I often find myself doing plays, making calls @ NL25 that I know are not profitable.  Eventually they will probably really affect my winrate when I move up limits. What I'm trying to say, it is great to find leaks in you're game, it is however useless if you don't try fixing them. Lately I found that my hand reading has really improve making my hand planning consequently better aswell. The problem is I'll often think on the flop "well, I'll bet the turn, if he raise, he's only doing it with a range that crush mine therefor I'll fold" then the turn comes, I bet and he minraise and then I'll make a incorrect assumption based on I don't know what, and I'll 3 bet shove when I clearly know it's wrong. Anyhow, this is what I want to improve right now...  Act on my reads when playing my A-Game.

Goal 4- Improving my game by trying out different styles, moves and so forth.

This is something I don't plan on doing quite right now but I'll want to revisit this area later on in my poker evolution. Basically, in order to improve you're game, it is often important to try out different things, may be they'll work may be they won't but I think it will be important to try and think outside the box. Later on, basically, I'll want to try out different none ABC lines to see how well some work... I have a general idea of what I want to do but I'll get back to this once I've moved up one or two levels.