Keeping Warm in Winter

[Swinebag]

First 3 hands are all shoves for me given how short stacked you are. You have a bit of fold equity but not for long. You will get looked up by smaller pairs, most aces including ones you crush and most broadway overpairs. With your stack you need to win a race. (disclaimer - though I think I do make a lot of mistakes generally with small pairs)

AQ hand is fine-just win the race next time

35 hand is vul - you"d be surprised at weaker hands that stack off there.

QQ hand should be 4 bet all in. Flatting the 3 bet achieves nothing as you are pot committed going to the flop. AK may fold flop now , meaning you miss value. If flop is A hi, you miss value from underpairs.( lol - auto correct put underpants there). With shallow stacks you shouldn"t be playing any flops and looking to get it in. Getting 3 bet holding QQ is fistpump shove time.

Will read the others and post

[Swinebag]

Q4 from SB is a shove-well done!

KT hand is fold or shove. I tend to a fold due to villains stack size where he should be playing the hand to the bitter end. With a read though, shoving will get through a lot there.

As played, he must be a weak player because he has put in a thirdish of his stack and is now folding. I think your, "he can only call with a J" thinking is flawed. A decent player will call off with most hands that they raise with and c bet ( all pairs, AQ, AK, KQ and maybe worse).

[Swinebag]

Q9 hand is fine - deffo call on the river. There may be more profitable lines, but when I try and steal the blinds and hit the flop, I just want to get to showdown and catch a river bluff if I"m lucky enough to get one.

AK hand - I assume you posted to demonstrate what you are up against at this level. Tag villain as weak/spewy with chips. His 3 bet fold is just awful. His thinking is so basic it hurts, I only ever 3 bet for value against your stack size so would snap the shove. You played it correct obviously.

[Swinebag]

QQ facing 3 bet all in. Villain has shoved less than 10 bigs. I snap call pretty much all my raising range here, and only fold the weakest of steals. I will fold more weak hands if I am running over the table and they are letting me steal at will.

JQ hand. You have 20ish bigs so it fold or 3 bet shove here. Calling OOP is terrible. I probably go with fold pre here over a shove as villain is UTG. Would need a read to justify shoving there. As played you hit your Q and for similar reasons to the KT hand would be getting them in here. You become predictable when you c/r air and c/c hands that hit. Stacks are a little deeper than KT hand (though not by much) so villain will stack off with most underpairs and maybe AK.

Final hand. Stacks are now pretty deep but I think it"s ok to get them in with a pair. You are most likely racing given the betting but I just think I have the nuts when I get a pair HU. Just win it next time. There may be better lines but I pretty much do what you did (but hold obv )

There you go steve. Thanks for posting some MTT hands. I let Brendan deal with the cash ones (though no doubt he will be here later to shred my MTT thoughts). I"ve just posted these whilst rocking my little boy back to sleep. One handed iPhone skillz FTW?!

[Swinebag]

Just reread my bit on the QJ hand and think that c/c is an ok line. I think you also c/r enough stronger hands in other spots, so you are not predictable that you can take the c/c line. This is probably read dependent. I still fold pre though, as stacks are shallow and post flop play is very difficult and I don"t want to be making tough decisions here.

[noble1]

i haven"t had time to catch up with all that"s in your blog Rodders, but after a quick scan of that hh   i"ll give you 2 pointers that may help you...

ONE.
@25nl there are many opponents who will call the flop rather light, my spewy brother has the mindset atm that they are stations so he basically dismisses the idea of ever bluffing them on any street... WRONG TOTALLY WRONG imho... Rodders look for spots/textures where a turn or river bluff will be profitable, look through your database for opponents who call flops light, when they do this they will have a significantly weaker range for the rest of the hand !! [true? do you agree?] with a read like this on these types you have much more fold equity than what most realise [after all there turn and river range will be mostly weak]....
Get into the habit of noting these types [yes even when multi tabling], just make sure to discern between the types who will call you down no matter how weak there hand is.. [note what size bets they call as well for obv reasons, that HH is rife with spewy types]  note the fit/fold types also @25nl, obv your FE for bluffing them will be far less.. [there are plenty of them also ]

TWO.
understand how to exploit others, to help yourself do this look through your database and go through the regs and learn there common tendencies... eg - the lines they take and how they react to differing textures, in that HH a river re-raise is mostly always for value for instance.. the HH also brings up a few spots where the reg/s 3bet and then check flop textures like 89Tssh, there range is mostly weak, look to exploit the buggers ....
whilst going through others tendencies, look at your own also, by understanding how you play certain situations where you know that you can be exploited it will/should help you understand how to exploit others... [plus it may help you start to understand how they [the regs] think/view various spots]
i just felt you was missing a few spots in that HH.....

http://tworags.com/index.php?ACTION=charts&todo=view&ID=82 - this might help if your relying on HUD stats etc, use them by all means [along with good old fashion notes/reads ]  if you"re going to be tangling with the same mostly mediocre group of regs, the above points should help push your learning curve on Rodders...

basically abuse position and know your victims Rodders, they are making plenty of mistakes.. i"m not saying to suddenly start play LAG etc, just work on adding a few more tricks to your repertoire and observe like a serial killer





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[AAroddersAA]

i haven"t had time to catch up with all that"s in your blog Rodders, but after a quick scan of that hh   i"ll give you 2 pointers that may help you...

ONE.
@25nl there are many opponents who will call the flop rather light, my spewy brother has the mindset atm that they are stations so he basically dismisses the idea of ever bluffing them on any street... WRONG TOTALLY WRONG imho... Rodders look for spots/textures where a turn or river bluff will be profitable, look through your database for opponents who call flops light, when they do this they will have a significantly weaker range for the rest of the hand !! [true? do you agree?] with a read like this on these types you have much more fold equity than what most realise [after all there turn and river range will be mostly weak]....
Get into the habit of noting these types [yes even when multi tabling], just make sure to discern between the types who will call you down no matter how weak there hand is.. [note what size bets they call as well for obv reasons, that HH is rife with spewy types]  note the fit/fold types also @25nl, obv your FE for bluffing them will be far less.. [there are plenty of them also ]

TWO.
understand how to exploit others, to help yourself do this look through your database and go through the regs and learn there common tendencies... eg - the lines they take and how they react to differing textures, in that HH a river re-raise is mostly always for value for instance.. the HH also brings up a few spots where the reg/s 3bet and then check flop textures like 89Tssh, there range is mostly weak, look to exploit the buggers ....
whilst going through others tendencies, look at your own also, by understanding how you play certain situations where you know that you can be exploited it will/should help you understand how to exploit others... [plus it may help you start to understand how they [the regs] think/view various spots]
i just felt you was missing a few spots in that HH.....

http://tworags.com/index.php?ACTION=charts&todo=view&ID=82 - this might help if your relying on HUD stats etc, use them by all means [along with good old fashion notes/reads ]  if you"re going to be tangling with the same mostly mediocre group of regs, the above points should help push your learning curve on Rodders...

basically abuse position and know your victims Rodders, they are making plenty of mistakes.. i"m not saying to suddenly start play LAG etc, just work on adding a few more tricks to your repertoire and observe like a serial killer

Welcome back, hope you had a great time in Canada. Nice link there as to what percentages are likely to mean what with hand ranges. What would you say is a good hand range to be playing at $25 FR (VP$IP/PFR/3-Bet) and would you always open for a raise or can you limp with some hands?

I would agree with your point that people DO bluff, however I would say they are not USUALLY well thought out with a consistent story being told throughout the hand. Right or wrong? Really simple example of where regs will sometime bluff, if you bet the flop and check the turn in position with a marginal hand then you can often bluff catch a bet on the river from an opponent with nothing (yes it"s exploitable in some ways but trying to demonstrate a point). My player notes are very simple usually just like:-

"can bluff river if checked too"
"will float flop"
"can call down light on dangerous board"
"overplayed top pair"

Your advice on looking through hand histories for opponent who will try to exploit these spots (like the ones you mention that will call light on the flop) is well taken, I am spending more time looking through my tracker this year.. I probably rely on winning money from bad players to much and don"t exploit regs enough, I am working on this so keep the comments coming please (that also goes for Brendan (snapper) and anybody else who wants to chip in).

The only thing I would say that in a vacuum unless you have a reason to think otherwise assuming players always have what it looks like they have at $25nl is not going to be that bigger leak, and as long as you do the basics well you will be a winning player. I understand it"s not optimal though.

If you have spare time one day are you able to comment on the AK hand I commented where I shove into the Kings.

Also if we can get the cash game at DTD set up will you play? We could get a really good table going.

@Rob (Swinebag22)

Thanks for the advice there, always interested in the opinions of better MTT players on my play in these things as I also want to make an effort to improve my understanding of MTT play. I will post some more soon.

PS - Watching soccer AM, think I am becoming a Leyton Orient fan *lol*

[noble1]

I would agree with your point that people DO bluff

re-read it again Rodders, you"ve mis-understood what i wrote..

Your advice on looking through hand histories for opponent who will try to exploit these spots

no you have to look through your database and understand where and how the regs have exploitable tendencies @25nl..
BUT also look at your own, it will give [hopefully] you a feel/understanding of how your opponents think and view situations/board textures etc...

What would you say is a good hand range to be playing at $25 FR (VP$IP/PFR/3-Bet) and would you always open for a raise or can you limp with some hands?

1. What would you say is a good hand range to be playing at $25 FR (VP$IP/PFR/3-Bet) - adjust to how the players to your left and right are playing imho... look to target the players that u will have position on if you think you can profit from them, rather than just solely playing your cards..
2. would you always open for a raise or can you limp with some hands? - opponent dependent, never say never, if you think the play is profitable then do it... mostly a raise is better than limping [obvious], there are spots i can think limping say 44 utg would be ok [can you think of a reason or two as of why?]

"can bluff river if checked too"
"will float flop"
"can call down light on dangerous board"
"overplayed top pair"

don"t take one example to literally though, if its a reg, ask yourself why did he make the play that he did, was he in a pot with a fishy type? did he make a adjustment? would he do that against you? etc etc
put a question mark against your note, update as u learn more about there tendencies [will they bluff often enough, what sizing, on what sort of board texture etc]

I probably rely on winning money from bad players to much and don"t exploit regs enough

thats ok, i"d rather be in a pot with a bad player than a better one
but if you are looking to improve your win rate, build up your bankroll etc and then hoping to play higher stakes, you cannot just rely on table selection etc and bum hunt, you have to learn now at 25nl how to adjust and beat the regs because at 50nl 100nl the player pool will only get stronger..

[AAroddersAA]

Quick session on cash tables today, did not go that well got KK into AA below.

http://www.pokerhandreplays.com/view.php/id/3950846

Next one, Never folding this even though I was not at all surprised to see AA here. I do wonder if I can save the bet on the turn here? Can I really fold the turn?

http://www.pokerhandreplays.com/view.php/id/3950850

These both happened within about 10 minutes of starting so was down nearly a buyin quickly.

I then lose $6 with AQ when I raise to 7sc and get a call, flop comes queen high, I bet out $1.25, short stack shoves and I have to call, he has a set. The I get TT and reraise a MP opener to $2.25 only to have a full stacked player shove behind me. I havwe to fold (he had AA).

Add to this some pot"s where I raise, get called in multiple spots (don"t think I even found a good spot to cbet) and miss a couple of sets with pairs.

I win back a bit with AA wheer a 3-bet pre, bet the flop and take it down on the turn.

I then manage to make a terrible bluff after I raise in LP with 44 and call a 3-bet with good odds  to set mine (well about 12/1). The flop misses my set and comes Ace hi, he checks to me so I take a shot at the pot, this is fine, he calls. The turn is a blank and he checks again so I put in a PSB, he then shoves. I don"t like my play here at all. So overall worst session of the year:-

Hands = 501
VP$IP = 11.98%
PFR = 9.78%
3Bet = 2.27%
Total loss = $48.83
BB/100 = -19.49

Bit annoyed to have lost around $60 over the last two days at cash which has dropped monthly profit to just $37. But this is still running above what I said the expectation was (3BB/100 - although I am starting to think that this needs to be nearer 5BB/100). These swings are completely normal I suppose and to be a winning player you have to accept it. I think orgetting about the money side of it is the key and accepting that it will take care of itself if you keep playing well.

Going to play some tournaments later today then maybe a small amount of hands tomorrow before having a break from poker until next weekend.

#swingsandrounderbouts

[AAroddersAA]

Found £20 in my Sky account I had forgotten about quite felt like a little punt so popped off to the PLO tables to try and do an "unofficial" spin up with it. Spun it up to £110 which was nice. Will pay for entry into next weeks online APAT events. Now off to play some Stars tournaments. Will just edit this post later with results:-

Big $11 (or 700 FPP) 50K Gtd (gone AA < KK for a 9K pot 20 minutes in)
100 FPP 30K Gtd (AQ < 99)
$4.50 sit n go #1 (gone A9 < AK)
$4.50 sit n go #2 (88 < KK)

OK and now time to take a break from poker until next weekend :-)

Not a bad first week of the new year bottom line currently looks like this

NLHE Cash = +$37.39 (6504 Hands)
PLO Cash =+$15.22 (1002 hands)
Tournaments = +$94.79 (12 x 180 man and 1xBig $11)

Total Profit = $147.40

I would have taken that after one week. Good volume and good profit.

Tune in again next Saturday for more exciting updates including the Online APAT games.

[AAroddersAA]

Back in work today, which I don"t mind, weeks off are nice but you don"t realize how much you miss the day to day stuff until you get back to it.

I have not played any poker since my last post but wanted to make a quick update post. I have started to properly go through my database (which contains lot"s of hands from the last 18 months or so, must see if I can purge the older ones) and look at regular opponents. I kind of did this anyway but was missing a lot of info as I just looked at hands that I was involved in and usually the ones I lost.

Yesterday after a Facebook conversation with Noble1 (who must surely be bored with me by now *lol*) I have started to actively research my opponents and update my notes on Pokerstar"s. It"s going to be a long process as the player pool is so large but I have already developed a colour scheme to help with table selection and have started adding some really useful notes to players who I see regularly at the table. Things like their basic betting patterns and how they play certain types of hand. A lot of players have tendencies that will allow you to narrow down hand ranges and actually improve my ability to make the most valuable play . Obviously I knew this before but if you have never properly gone through this process you will be surprised how much info you can glean from it and how much it provides extra understanding of the general game play.

It"s hard work but very interesting and I am looking forward to doing more of it, I am going to put in about 90 minutes after work on this each day this week. I would recommend this process as it also really shows you how a standard opponent at this level actually plays, I have only just started really getting into it but will be making it a regular thing to do. Even if I never meet any of the players I have made notes about on the table (and I will) it will still be a worthwhile use of time.

Whilst I am here I can say thank you very much to Noble for his help and some of the stuff he has shared with me really is well worth having. Although I don"t always agree with him (that would be really boring), I admit but have to respect his knowledge of the game and the research he has clearly put in. Also the way that he has spent time gathering all of this stuff together and passing on to me and answering questions when he really doesn"t have too at all. I should also mention that Brendan (aka snapper) has done the same in the past but I never really thanked him on the thread.

A few people have recently commented on the way people on this forum are happy to help each other out just because it what they do. This is another example of this, hopefully he, along with people like Noble and Brendan will continue to be contributors to this thread as their views are really helpful to myself and make the thread more interesting.

[AAroddersAA]

Had a pretty poor day yesterday. Over the week I had been working on my HUD and the way that I play against certain types of player. I thought I had worked out a good few improvements to my game and my setup for the HUD. I had also spent quite a bit time going through regular opponents and making notes on them to try and exploit certain types of player better.

It didn"t work.

To begin with the table looked cluttered as the HUD was taking up to much space, this directly lead to me making a poor mistake in one of the first hands I played and losing a buyin. I then ran a straight into a rivered full house which cost me another buyin. I then ended up down $75 after losing some smaller pots.

I did at one point manage to bring it back to being only $10 down then ran QQ into AA preflop, I really felt that it should be a fold pre in this pot but against the stats I was looking at QQ seemed to be ahead of his three bet range so I called and got it in on a low flop.

Then I rivered a full house in a small pot ended up getting more than a buyin in against quads.

Overall not really happy with the new system I have setup. I still need to put some more work in away from the table but I am pretty sure that if I had not done all of the stuff last week and just played my normal game with the same cards and situations I would have ended up up yesterday.

Hands played = 1799
VP$IP = 14.34%
PFR = 9.67%
3Bet = 3%
Total Loss = $79.13
bb/100 = -4.4

Not sure if I should play or not today, I want to but kind of feel like I should not due to thefact I don"t think I was playing very well yesterday but I think it was more that I was trying to do thing differently to normal, maybe I will just try and play a small session and see how that goes.

[TheSnapper]

Do you use HM Rodders?

Have you tried to customise your pop up Huds? much tidier especially when playing on a laptop. Image below is an example of some of the pop up hud stats I use. You can set your permanent hud to show minimal stats and set larger custom pop up hud panels to appear when you hover over a stat on your smaller permanent Hud.


Right click select "view image" for full view of image.

I"d be happy to help out if you are unsure about this HM feature. Feel free to drop a pm and we could do a quick teamviewer session sometime.

[Swinebag]

brendan, you are a star, and sum up what APAT is all about

[noble1]

read page 42 onwards rodders, every1 goes through it, EVERY1.....

http://www.groene-appel.nl/moving_through_uNL_2010_verneer.pdf

tough it out dude........