Keeping Warm in Winter

[AAroddersAA]

Not impressed with my play at the moment. I don"t know why I am playing at the moment. I don"t actually want too or feel like it but am basically just playing for the sake of it. I should take a break until I actually want to play again so I will play the final event of the Feb Blonde league tomorrow then I am going to take a break for the whole of March.

I might actually stop with Sky Poker as well. Not being able to use Poker tracker is annoying.

See you all in April (unless I change my mind, which is pretty much a certainty).

[AAroddersAA]

I gave up playing Magic after losing in the first round of the Welsh Nations. I think that was in 2002. Only a couple of months before this I had been travelling with a tournament with Darren and we had been discussing poker for the first time and how we would like to give it a go. We had both started to watch the Poker Million on Sky Sports.

I played a bit online for play money and Darren was playing as well, Paradise Poker was the online site of choice in those days. I soon progressed to real money playing 1c/2c cash games. I was pretty useless. Myself and Darren and a few other friends of ours arranged a few live games, early on we were clearly the top two players and were pretty evenly matched with neither of us able to gain an edge on the other.

One day I was working hard at machine playing with Brian and another mate our mine (Mark) and mentioned the poker. They already knew all about it as there were games running in a few of the local snooker clubs. We setup a few games and actually started a league, I was easily able to convince Darren to join is as well.

Early on we were all pretty terrible but slowly we started to learn. Darren was leading our snooker club league in our first effort at it whilst i was beating him in our friendly Sunday night game so we were still going along quite even. I think I was a small amount up both live and online although the amounts we played for were small (basically £5 and £10 sit n go"s)

We soon found a game a Casino in Cardiff (Now the G on Cardiff Bay) which ran poker tournaments. Darren and I headed down there to try the game out one Wednesday night and Darren actually managed to finish second in his first attempt. I did OK as well but went out just before the money. At this point I was quite happy I was OK at the game.

I then (not really that long after starting playing) hit the coldest run I have ever hit. In the games down the clubs I could not hit a card. I was terrible at the casino going out really early time after time. During this time Darren and one of the other guy"s who we played with regularly did really well which confused me as I could not see how they were so much better than me. I came close to giving up on it a few times as I was quite convinced I was doing something wrong and could not work our what it was, nobody else seemed to know either. I can"t really remember how I came out of it but I did.

I spent a lot of time checking poker forums and reading poker books (Super System, Hellmuths book and the Harringtons). I remember the first time I won an MTT. It was a silly little tournament in a snooker club in Newport and I think I won about £150 but at the time that was amazing. I got a funny little bracelet for it (which is till have, I can see it next to my APAT medals *lol*).

I still played online but my poker still did not have much direction. I did not know if I was a cash player or a sit n go player. I did not have a proper bankroll and basically just treated poker as a bit of a gamble. I managed to do quite well at cash games but really did not understand the correct way to play but between 2002 and 2006 I grew into what seemed to be an OK player.

At this point I had heard of Blonde Poker but had never really bother to do much but read a few of the threads and there was a brand new organisation called APAT which I read about. Tournaments with proper structure for an affordable buyin. I thought maybe I would try and play one some day, they looked really good and I guessed that they would have some very good players in them.

It was almost the end of 2006 and something was starting to click. I now knew I was more than just another player and started to show a steady if small profit from online play. I started to play cash games and started to multi-table and my results started to become more consistent. At this point I decided to turn my whole life upside down and move 200 mile north of South Wales, to the lovely town of Crewe in fact. It was a great decision for several reasons. I will stick to talking about poker though.

Now it was time to start getting serious, coming next my poker in 2007 and 2008 as I try to fine tune my game and become more than just another poker player.

[AAroddersAA]

Have not really updated this for a while as I have not had a lot to say. I have been extermely busy in work and talking about the workings of ISP networks is really not very interesting. Poker wise I am taking a break until April, or until I feel like I am properly recharged.

Went for a beer last weekend in Swansea on what was meant to be an all dayer. I don"t get where my stamina has gone. I"m sure it was not too ago I used to have no problem going out for a beer at around 1pm and not getting back until the early hours. These days if I am out before six I always want to go home and go to sleep by 9pm, it"s not even a acse of being drunk, I just can"t keep up the pace any more. It is most annoying as I miss some really good night because of it.

Will try and keep posting updates during March. One thing I am going to stop though is posting updates on profit and loss. I never want to post a loss and have therefore been extending sessions to try and turn small losses into small wins, only for them to turn into bigger losses. I will keep an occasional update of how I am doing though.

OK, time to watch Barcalona knock Ar5enal out of the champions league.

[AAroddersAA]

OK, have been neglecting this a bit, due to being really busy in work and not playing much poker, but still going to be keeping it up to date.

Played a bit of PLO on Friday night on Sky as I was watching the game and it looked like a good chance to win some money, only the one table but that game really can be brutal, three buyins (at £50) dissappeared fairly quickly. Annoyingly I didn"t really do anything wrong and got my money in good each time but that"s the nature of PLO.

I have been reviewing my play this year. I am down by about £300 overall this year at poker which is a big dissapointment. I have made a few mistakes but looking back I think I have made a lot more good plays and to be honest I don"t think there is too mcuh wrong with my actual game, and I have just run a bit poorly. I can"t really complain as I ran well for the last 6 months of last year.

Now this is where my main current problem lies. I currently have unrealistic expectations. I expect to be winning three figure amounts whenever I play and it just does not happen (nor is it supposed to). For example this weekend I wanted to try and regain some confidence so I started playing 6 tables on £10nl. To make a long story short I won £50 across the weekend. Most people would consider this a good result but I am not happy with it (I should be but I just am not).

Now this time last year I was doing well by playing 10 tables of $10nl on Pokerstars and was always very pleased with making $50 in two days and was usually able to average a profit of £100 per month. At the time this seemed good, now it just does not seem good enough to me, I want to win £500 in a month (and if I did that I would still want to push for more). I end up playing sessions that are too long and not sticking to playing the tables for a sensible amount of time. If I am winning I don"t feel like I am winning enough and if I am losing I feel like I have to try and get at least level. It is this which is causing a lot of my mistakes.

Even though I know I am basically burned out for this weekend and it would be -EV to play now, I am still tempted to fire up the tables and try the £50 PLO again to try and boost the winnings.

I don"t really know what the answer to this is. Part of me says take an extended break from poker for a six month period or so. I can"t say I am enjoying playing it at the moment. The silly thing is I know what I would advise somebody else to do here.

1) Play games you know you can do well at only stick to £10 and £20 buy in games for a while and just play these.

2) Set fixed times that you are going to play and keep session to a max of 60-90 minutes

3) If you are losing then take a break for a few days this will ensure you are not playing tilted.

4) Play a tight aggressive game making all the moves that you know are +EV

5) Just play tournaments that you enjoy such as league games and APAT's.

If I did the above I would be winning again pretty quickly.

The above is what I should do but is unlikely to be what I will do at the moment. Luckily I expect work to be manic this week so I am not going to have time to be thinking about or playing poker.

[AAroddersAA]

Played the APAT online events over the weekend. Enjoyed them very much as usual, I do like the 888 structure.

I went out of the main event when I made a bit of a mistake by flat calling an aggressive player preflop and then overplaying second pair (which turned into two pair on the river). When he checked to me on the river I should have checked as I still would have had 8000 chips left, instead I shoved and he called me a better two pair. Put that one down as a mistake I think.

Cash is going better for me now at least. I was up £70 over the weekend after moving down to micro stakes (£10nl) to try and get back to winning and regain my confidence. I think it is working, although I am £15 down today.

I am working Saturday morning so I am unable to get to Coventry but I will be watching on APAT TV and following online (which I will enjoy but I hope I will not be doing for the rest of the season).

Away from poker I have my bonus from work this month and have decided that it is time to buy a new car. My Corsa has been really good (the amount of miles I have done up and down the M5 and M6 is high but it has never let me down) it is time for a new one though so I will soon be booking time off work to go and find one.

Talking of time off this week I will be booking up the time to play APAT Vegas. Then I can start booking things up once this is confirmed.

[AAroddersAA]

I think it"s summer again. I was out at 7:30am for work today and the sea was blue and the sun was shining. Makes things seem a bit bright overall doesn"t it. Swansea looks very nice in the summer, now all we need is for it the be July and all the students go away. I tend to play better poker in the summer as well, let"s hope that trend keeps up.

I checked all my holidays for Vegas out in work today got to wait for confirmation but shouldn"t be too much of an issue. I can"t wait to book my flight.

The other exciting thing happening soon is the beginning of the F1 season. You can"t really bet against Vettel but you just can"t tell, a team could pop out of nowhere.

Gonna try a quick hours poker this evening as well, I generally don"t do so well in the evenings after work but I am doing an hour each night to see how I go. I am sticking to micro stakes as I am still not feeling as confident as I would like too. Will update afterwards.

[AAroddersAA]

Interesting little session there. It"s weird sometimes I seem to know exactly how to play this game whilst other times I am just useless, I played pretty well today although I was only £4 up at the end of the hour. I was playing 5 £10 tables and for the first 15 minutes or so nothing happened and I just lost some blinds.

Then I got Dealt AK. I raise it up to 50p (I think there had been 1 limper) and get a single caller The flop comes a helpful K-3-4. I like this flop although there is a flush draw so I bet £1 into the pot of about £1.05, the other player raise it to £3. I put him on various weaker kings, maybe a flush draw or a set oe 3"s or 4"s with a vey small chance of an underpair to the King and air. I therefore call and the flop comes a Queen and does not complete any draws.I check intending to CRAI he bets £3 and I feel he is commited with any of the above hands and shove, he calls me with K-Q. I am happy with how I played the hand as I think it is very against that range.

At this point I was about £15 down but when I am playing well this does not bother me and I don"t try to force the action. I shoudl really learn something from this as I all too often don"t do this. A little while later I get dealt KK with a full stack and again raise to 50p with a limper in the pot, two callers and the flop comes down Q-6-9 no flush draw. Another good flop for me and I bet £1.25 into the pot of about £1.60 and get called pot is now over £4 and the turn is a blank - looks like a queen of some kind at this point as there is not much else he can have unles he is floating me. So I bet £3.50 on the turn. He calls, I am now thinking queen or slow played monster - a queen is much more likely, when the river is a blank I make the shove and he calls with Q-J. Again I am very happy with my play and think I make some extra money by making that shove on the river rather than doing the passive thing and check - calling which I had got into the bad habbit of doing earlier in the year.

Apart from that I make on iffy play, I get QQ and somebody raises from early position to 40p, one caller before me and I make it £1.40 the original raiser shoves for £9 and the caller folds. I fold - thoughts? I rarely see shoves with much that QQ beats (calling shoves yes but not actually shoving) - this is where poker tracker would be very useful.

I get it all in with 8-3 Blind vs Blind on a flop of 8-3-2 where my opponent has a slow played AA it holds but he only has a short stack. I win a race with AK and lose a race with AK against small stacks so pretty standard stuff.

So I end the session slightly ahead but am very happy with how I played. Will try and do the same tomorrow night and see how I do again.

Feel free to comment on the QQ fold by the way (or any of the hands for that matter) I don"t think it is terrible but is very marginal.

[TheSnapper]

Then I got Dealt AK. I raise it up to 50p (I think there had been 1 limper) and get a single caller The flop comes a helpful K-3-4. I like this flop although there is a flush draw so I bet £1 into the pot of about £1.05, the other player raise it to £3. I put him on various weaker kings, maybe a flush draw or a set oe 3"s or 4"s with a vey small chance of an underpair to the King and air.

I therefore call and the flop comes a Queen and does not complete any draws.I check intending to CRAI he bets £3 and I feel he is commited with any of the above hands and shove, he calls me with K-Q. I am happy with how I played the hand as I think it is very against that range.

Though I"m hardly ever folding here (villain dependant) I rather not CR turn, it gives villain opportunity to play perfectly and fold out the weak end of his range, pot size already allows for stacks to go in on the river.

Apart from that I make on iffy play, I get QQ and somebody raises from early position to 40p, one caller before me and I make it £1.40 the original raiser shoves for £9 and the caller folds. I fold - thoughts? I rarely see shoves with much that QQ beats (calling shoves yes but not actually shoving) - this is where poker tracker would be very useful.

Feel free to comment on the QQ fold by the way (or any of the hands for that matter) I don"t think it is terrible but is very marginal.

Very much villain dependent, what is his ep raising range. But if you are going to fold to a 4bet best to not 3bet, doing so you are burning equity. If villain is positionally aware flatting is best usually.

[AAroddersAA]

Then I got Dealt AK. I raise it up to 50p (I think there had been 1 limper) and get a single caller The flop comes a helpful K-3-4. I like this flop although there is a flush draw so I bet £1 into the pot of about £1.05, the other player raise it to £3. I put him on various weaker kings, maybe a flush draw or a set oe 3"s or 4"s with a vey small chance of an underpair to the King and air.

I therefore call and the flop comes a Queen and does not complete any draws.I check intending to CRAI he bets £3 and I feel he is commited with any of the above hands and shove, he calls me with K-Q. I am happy with how I played the hand as I think it is very against that range.

Though I"m hardly ever folding here (villain dependant) I rather not CR turn, it gives villain opportunity to play perfectly and fold out the weak end of his range, pot size already allows for stacks to go in on the river.

Apart from that I make on iffy play, I get QQ and somebody raises from early position to 40p, one caller before me and I make it £1.40 the original raiser shoves for £9 and the caller folds. I fold - thoughts? I rarely see shoves with much that QQ beats (calling shoves yes but not actually shoving) - this is where poker tracker would be very useful.

Feel free to comment on the QQ fold by the way (or any of the hands for that matter) I don"t think it is terrible but is very marginal.

Very much villain dependent, what is his ep raising range. But if you are going to fold to a 4bet best to not 3bet, doing so you are burning equity. If villain is positionally aware flatting is best usually.

Good post as usual mate

OK, The first hand you are right, I am either way a head or way behind. I would say there is a small part of his range that might call the turn but fold on the river (flush draws) which was my initial thinking, but now I think about it more you way of playing it is better as it keeps bluffs in his range - good point.

The QQ I am not sure about. You might well be right again, the raise is folding out hands I beat, but I like the three bet as I think plenty worse calls (JJ, 10-10 etc), I just don"t think it raises. For example a hand like 10-10 or 9-9 might call and get married to the hand on a low flop. Also if I flat and the flop comes Jack high, I still have to call or raise a c-bet and end up making things really complicated don"t I? By three betting I have his range more defined and if he flats me he ALMOST never has AA or KK.

I think the 3-bet loses less to AA and KK and wins more from JJ and 10-10. OK I might get pushed off by AK or JJ every now and again but still think this is most profitable against an online random. I can see the advantages in flat calling though.

If you just flat call in position and the flop comes Jack high how do you play the flop? Are you raising or calling the flop bet.

What if it comes King high?

[noble1]

regarding the QQ as played folding is ok in micros, like u say there 4bet range is basically AA KK [AK sometimes depending on villain]...
3betting without reads is ok, with reads if u have seen villain call a lot oop then 3betting is ok imo, just expand your 3bet value range and reduce the trash
if villain/s fold a lot to 3bets increase the trash, if they are fold or 4bet types then your 3bet value range could for instance be only AA KK and air, the air ratio is your choice based on how often they fold, flatting QQ would be arguably more +ev....
if your not sure of how these guys react to 3bets, then 3bet more at the start of the session and note how they react and whether or not they adjust [and how].. then u can adjust your strategy....

3betting or flatting is a bigger subject than a few sentences, have a sit down and a beer/tea etc take 10 mins and have a good think...
what/why would cause u to make any of the adjustments below -
Add trash
Add broadway hands
Add more pocket pairs
Add suited connectors
Add suited aces
Remove the bluffing range
Remove the middle (JJ, AQ, TT, KQs)
Flat with premium hands (QQ+, AK)

if u dont come up with anything then at least u have a nice break and a cold beer

[TheSnapper]

The QQ I am not sure about. You might well be right again, the raise is folding out hands I beat, but I like the three bet as I think plenty worse calls (JJ, 10-10 etc), I just don"t think it raises. For example a hand like 10-10 or 9-9 might call and get married to the hand on a low flop.

It really depends on villains ranges. If he"s tight in ep......

Versus a range of 99+,AJs+,KQs,AKo, QQ does well with ~58% equity.

But think about how your hand does when you isolate versus only the part of his range that does"nt fold to your 3bet, again though, you need to consider how he will react so you can best decide whether or not 3betting is correct.

That you dont include reads maybe suggests room for improvement in that dept???

Also if I flat and the flop comes Jack high, I still have to call or raise a c-bet and end up making things really complicated don"t I?

If you just flat call in position and the flop comes Jack high how do you play the flop? Are you raising or calling the flop bet.

What if it comes King high?

If you flat you play poker ip and get more info on each street and strive to make better decisions than your opponent. By paying close attention to your opponents tendancies you can best recognise what his actions mean and read him better than he reads you.

I suspect from your post that you dont use PT or HM, when you consider almost all your opponents will use these tools, you are definately taking the worst of it before you even start.

By three betting I have his range more defined and if he flats me he ALMOST never has AA or KK. *****I think the 3-bet loses less to AA and KK and wins more from JJ and 10-10. OK I might get pushed off by AK or JJ every now and again but still think this is most profitable against an online random. I can see the advantages in flat calling though.

Some default assumptions in there tbh Steve, some flat with AA & KK at least some of the time imho. My experience is that AK is the one hand they are least likely to flat with and more likely to 4bet jam.

*****This is seriously flawed thinking Steve

Say he raises a range of 99+,AJs+,KQs,AKo from ep and folds 50% to your 3bet.

QQ versus.........

99+,AJs+,KQs,AKo....      has ~58%

QQ+,AKs,AKo......           has ~40%

[AAroddersAA]

The QQ I am not sure about. You might well be right again, the raise is folding out hands I beat, but I like the three bet as I think plenty worse calls (JJ, 10-10 etc), I just don"t think it raises. For example a hand like 10-10 or 9-9 might call and get married to the hand on a low flop.

It really depends on villains ranges. If he"s tight in ep......

Versus a range of 99+,AJs+,KQs,AKo, QQ does well with ~58% equity.

But think about how your hand does when you isolate versus only the part of his range that does"nt fold to your 3bet, again though, you need to consider how he will react so you can best decide whether or not 3betting is correct.

That you dont include reads maybe suggests room for improvement in that dept???

Also if I flat and the flop comes Jack high, I still have to call or raise a c-bet and end up making things really complicated don"t I?

If you just flat call in position and the flop comes Jack high how do you play the flop? Are you raising or calling the flop bet.

What if it comes King high?

If you flat you play poker ip and get more info on each street and strive to make better decisions than your opponent. By paying close attention to your opponents tendancies you can best recognise what his actions mean and read him better than he reads you.

I suspect from your post that you dont use PT or HM, when you consider almost all your opponents will use these tools, you are definately taking the worst of it before you even start.

By three betting I have his range more defined and if he flats me he ALMOST never has AA or KK. *****I think the 3-bet loses less to AA and KK and wins more from JJ and 10-10. OK I might get pushed off by AK or JJ every now and again but still think this is most profitable against an online random. I can see the advantages in flat calling though.

Some default assumptions in there tbh Steve, some flat with AA & KK at least some of the time imho. My experience is that AK is the one hand they are least likely to flat with and more likely to 4bet jam.

*****This is seriously flawed thinking Steve

Say he raises a range of 99+,AJs+,KQs,AKo from ep and folds 50% to your 3bet.

QQ versus.........

99+,AJs+,KQs,AKo....      has ~58%

QQ+,AKs,AKo......           has ~40%

You hand anaysis is great as always Brendan.

I will respond to this tomorrow though, as it"s an interesting one, I can see all of your points but don"t 100% agree with them all. This might be one we need to have a beer at an event and discuss though :-)

As for Poker Tracker, of course I have it. It just doesn"t work on Sky Poker, neither does holdem Manager. You have to do it the old fashioned way with player notes, I only keep them on the regs though and this player was not somebody I had noticed before. So yes, I am having to make this decision without a lot of the information that would normally be available. Does that change it? Do you really include 99 and AJs in his 4-Bet shoving range here.

I will check my hands from "Stars in PT tomorrow actually and try to work out if it is profitable to call with QQ in this spot.

Also QQ has to be a three bet here unless it is very opponent dependant. Doesn"t it?

[AAroddersAA]

Good day today, sorted my holidays for Vegas so time to get the flight booked.

I am again going to do a quick hour long session tonight and see how it goes. Will come back to my QQ hand later.

[AAroddersAA]

OK, played a session and ended up being £1.50 down. A couple of hands worth posting the first one was when I called a min raise with 44. The flop came down 4-5-J and the original raiser bets out 10p into the pot of around 60p. I decide this looks pretty weak and so I call hoping that the player behind will raise but he jus calls. The turn comes a 2. The bets another 10p I decide I may as well pull the trigger now and raise it to £1 not really expecting any action, the OR then shoves, I call and he shows A-3 for the turned straight. I think I played that badly as if he has missed the flop he is unlikely to pay me any more on the turn so the best play would have been to make a proper bet on the lfop.

I then get dealt AK on the button and pop it up to 70p when the whole table limps in. I get three caller and the flop comes down.

-Jc-7c

There is a check then the middle position player bets £1.50 into a pot of around £3. There is now £4.50 in the pot and I have £7.50 back. I raise it up to £7 and one of the players behind calls allin. Everybody else folds and he misses his flush draw.

One more interesting hand to say about. I get dealy JJ and a regular player (who is generally quite passive) raises it up to 40p. In early position, I know his range for doing this to be quite wide. so I flat call with JJ. The flop comes down:-

-4c-6s

He checks over to me, I now reckon my hand is good so bet 65p into the pot of £0.95, he calls. The turn brings a . He checks to me and I check as well my thinking being that now the queen is out I shoudn"t really get called by too much that I beat. The river card was and completes an unlikely flush. He bets £1.13 into the pot to £2.20 and I call. He shows Aces. This hand is interesting compared to the one Brendan and me were discussing last night.  Lets say I played it as I did last night, the way it probably goes is he makes it 40p. I make it £1.40 and he most likely reraises making me fold preflop. So that would have cost me £1.40. In this case the hand costs me £2.08 but I actually get to show down and there is an arguement that my river call is bad. Definately see the point in the just call and play the hand in position but I remain unconvinced long term tbh. Going to try this tactic again though.

Might play the Blonde league tournament tonight as well. Why not join in - it"s the take on Tikay at 8:30pm on Sky Poker.

[technolog]

Might play the Blonde league tournament tonight as well. Why not join in - it"s the take on Tikay at 8:30pm on Sky Poker.

Okay Steve. I bloody well will!