So I haven't played much in January -- busy with work -- but I'm enjoying what I have played a lot more than I did in December. As badly as I ran then, I'm running well now. I don't really feel that I'm winning that many more races, or sucking out much, but my general play feels a bit sounder. I'm a bit less nitty fivehanded, and a bit more nitty on the bubble, and that's working well. The only tourneys I'm unhappy with are ones in which I make risky plays against the big stack. But these things are a matter of judgement anyway. ICM might say fold, but there's a point at which you have to push, which depends on the game flow. If the other players are doing ridonkulous things, you are stuck with it.
The kind of thing I mean is this. You're at t300 and the stacks are something like 3700, 2100, 7500, 1700. Say you have the 2100. You have to fold a lot because when you're the small blind, the bigstack is the big blind, and the next biggest stack is pushing into you a lot. So the smallstack is in the big blind and it's folded to bigstack. He pushes, right? Nope. He walks it. Round after round. So after this round, the stacks are 3700 (BB), 2100, 7350, 1850 (SB). You're dealt trash and fold. The SB completes and the middlestack, to your horror, checks. The flop is whatever and the SB checks. The middlestack makes a minimum bet and the SB calls. The turn is meh and the SB leads out. Middlestack folds. He was clearly stabbing at the flop and has the sense to give up. So the stacks are now 3100 (SB), 2100 (BB), 7350, 2450. The middle stack pushes into you and you fold. (Sometimes it's worse and shorty pushes.) So you're at 3400, 1800 (SB), 7350 (BB), 2450. Very quickly the situation has changed, and now you're desperate. Give it another couple of rounds and you're really up against the wall, so you need to take a stand.
The problem always is, do you make it at the first opportunity or let that pass and hope you get another decent one? Say you pick up JT. Do you push into the big blind? He's played tight and probably folds a lot, and if he calls, it's not desperate because you'll probably be live. If you fold, what are you going to make your stand with? Are you going to try to ride it out?
Now, this situation is resolved for you if the bigstack plays aggressively. Instead of folding everything, he pushes tons of hands, as he should. Now everyone is suffering and he's growing at all of your expense. In the first scenario, you lose because you daren't be aggro without cards while the middle stack is having it folded to him often and can push just about anything into you. In the second, you lose in proportion, so the smaller stack is not gaining while you lose.
More often, the bigstack doesn't shove much, but raises with all sorts of shit. This helps the middle stack, who can call sometimes and outplay the bigstack often. It's not much help to smaller stacks because you're at push/fold anyway, and don't want to invest chips that would give you fold equity in trying to get lucky. Of course, other shorties don't think like that, call raises when it makes no sense and do sometimes get lucky. So the bigstack has found another way to fuck you up.
I probably lose more money because of bigstacks who play clownishly badly than I do any other way. Obviously, if I pick up cards, I'll double up through them just like anyone else, and sometimes it works out for me because the middlestack will stupidly bust himself out when he could have made the money easily with a modicum of smart play. But overall the bigstacks give up EV to the shortstacks far too much, and less so to me because I don't play loosely enough. Whether I should play more loosely, or more aggressively is an interesting question. The latter doesn't make much appeal, because what you tend to get is a player who is risk averse when it comes to getting into pots, but once in, feels he has to call a lot. So they will limp big blinds with their big stack, and then when you push over, call you fairly wide. Looser also makes little appeal because you are constantly gambling when you play with bad hands against a raiser, or even when you complete from the small blind. Your hand often can't stand heat, and as I said, you surrender your fold equity by playing too many flops and calling too many bets on them.
Saturday, 26 January 2008
Thursday, 3 January 2008
yes I do
So this is a $5 tourney. I've played the fish before, and I know he's basically clueless. But this is horrible:
TEXAS_HOLDEM, NO_LIMIT, T4-57441207-37
ANTES/BLINDS
Fishtard posts blind ($75), Dr Zen posts blind ($150).
PRE-FLOP
4 folds Fishtard calls $75, Dr Zen checks.
I have A5s and could play it harder, but this fish is likely to call anything and I'll never know where I am in the hand, so I play it safe.
FLOP [board cards:TSJD7C ]
Fishtard checks, Dr Zen checks.
TURN [board cards:TSJD7CQC ]
Fishtard checks, Dr Zen checks.
A king would be nice.
RIVER [board cards:TSJD7CQCKS ]
That's nice. I have the nuts, of course.
Fishtard bets $300
Hello? You have the nuts too.
Then it strikes me. The nuts is not the only hand this fish will bet.
Dr Zen bets $1,855 and is all-in
It's a longshot but fuck it, I have the nuts and cannot lose, whatever happens.
Fishtard calls $1,555.
SHOWDOWN
Dr Zen shows [AH5H ]
Yes, I have the nuts, fishy.
Fishtard shows [3HKH ]
OMG.
Dr Zen wins $4,010.
Double me up, biatch. The mind boggles at how bad a player can be. Even if you think I might be bluffing there, you still fold. Calling is insane because I can so easily have an ace. Maybe Fishtard always bets ace high on that flop, and doesn't understand why I would play it so weakly, I don't know. Maybe he just sees his pair and nothing else.
Sadly, I still bubbled in this tourney. The other players traded chips for a few orbits as I ran completely card dead. Then I pick up QQ raise and one of the tards pushes his AT. I snapcall and he rivers the ace. Sigh. The worst of it is that the other players conspired to play so badly that they got Fishtard into the money. Double sigh.
TEXAS_HOLDEM, NO_LIMIT, T4-57441207-37
ANTES/BLINDS
Fishtard posts blind ($75), Dr Zen posts blind ($150).
PRE-FLOP
4 folds Fishtard calls $75, Dr Zen checks.
I have A5s and could play it harder, but this fish is likely to call anything and I'll never know where I am in the hand, so I play it safe.
FLOP [board cards:TSJD7C ]
Fishtard checks, Dr Zen checks.
TURN [board cards:TSJD7CQC ]
Fishtard checks, Dr Zen checks.
A king would be nice.
RIVER [board cards:TSJD7CQCKS ]
That's nice. I have the nuts, of course.
Fishtard bets $300
Hello? You have the nuts too.
Then it strikes me. The nuts is not the only hand this fish will bet.
Dr Zen bets $1,855 and is all-in
It's a longshot but fuck it, I have the nuts and cannot lose, whatever happens.
Fishtard calls $1,555.
SHOWDOWN
Dr Zen shows [AH5H ]
Yes, I have the nuts, fishy.
Fishtard shows [3HKH ]
OMG.
Dr Zen wins $4,010.
Double me up, biatch. The mind boggles at how bad a player can be. Even if you think I might be bluffing there, you still fold. Calling is insane because I can so easily have an ace. Maybe Fishtard always bets ace high on that flop, and doesn't understand why I would play it so weakly, I don't know. Maybe he just sees his pair and nothing else.
Sadly, I still bubbled in this tourney. The other players traded chips for a few orbits as I ran completely card dead. Then I pick up QQ raise and one of the tards pushes his AT. I snapcall and he rivers the ace. Sigh. The worst of it is that the other players conspired to play so badly that they got Fishtard into the money. Double sigh.
Saturday, 29 December 2007
circles
This is what I fear. That what I know works somewhat, but it isn't right. If it isn't right, it will not serve into the long run.
I have lots of poker knowledge in my head. But it's quite jumbled. Some is definitely sound: I know pot odds; I understand reasons for betting and raising; I know what are good hands and what bad, and I understand why (and I don't just mean I know what are good hands for tight players; I know what hands are good against which type of players); I am not so bad at analysing hands in terms of their maths. I know the outlines of a lot of other parts of knowledge.
I know some of what I lack: I am not good at reading other players (too much playing and reading at the same time--which I can fix); I am not sure which hands to play in which situations, so that I'm not certain whether I'm playing too tight for a situation or too loose; I sometimes misfire with aggression--bluffing calling stations too much and tight players not enough; I sometimes play too weakly.
I chose sitngos because they fit my skillset best and because I started winning at them. I still do but I think anyone with my level of knowledge would. I want to do better. I don't want to play a million $5 sitngos and win at 20-30%. I want to crush them and move up, and win at higher levels.
So what should I do? I can't afford a coach to set me straight. I am afraid to keep piling good knowledge onto bad knowledge. I don't know how to analyse what I do, let alone what I know. I am afraid above all that I will start to win again, and not know whether I'm playing better, learning more, or just running better.
And the worst is, it spills over into life. I have started hating the people I play against. It's desperately unfair that they play so badly and win and I play well and lose and I can't get past it. And the frustration of not progressing makes me tilt in my life. It just makes everything seem so desperate. And it all feeds back, in a vicious circle.
Sometimes I feel I should take a break for a couple of months, let my head clear and then start from scratch. Imagine I know nothing and start from that.
But what good would it do? The old knowledge would crowd back into my head and I'd be back here a couple of weeks later.
I have lots of poker knowledge in my head. But it's quite jumbled. Some is definitely sound: I know pot odds; I understand reasons for betting and raising; I know what are good hands and what bad, and I understand why (and I don't just mean I know what are good hands for tight players; I know what hands are good against which type of players); I am not so bad at analysing hands in terms of their maths. I know the outlines of a lot of other parts of knowledge.
I know some of what I lack: I am not good at reading other players (too much playing and reading at the same time--which I can fix); I am not sure which hands to play in which situations, so that I'm not certain whether I'm playing too tight for a situation or too loose; I sometimes misfire with aggression--bluffing calling stations too much and tight players not enough; I sometimes play too weakly.
I chose sitngos because they fit my skillset best and because I started winning at them. I still do but I think anyone with my level of knowledge would. I want to do better. I don't want to play a million $5 sitngos and win at 20-30%. I want to crush them and move up, and win at higher levels.
So what should I do? I can't afford a coach to set me straight. I am afraid to keep piling good knowledge onto bad knowledge. I don't know how to analyse what I do, let alone what I know. I am afraid above all that I will start to win again, and not know whether I'm playing better, learning more, or just running better.
And the worst is, it spills over into life. I have started hating the people I play against. It's desperately unfair that they play so badly and win and I play well and lose and I can't get past it. And the frustration of not progressing makes me tilt in my life. It just makes everything seem so desperate. And it all feeds back, in a vicious circle.
Sometimes I feel I should take a break for a couple of months, let my head clear and then start from scratch. Imagine I know nothing and start from that.
But what good would it do? The old knowledge would crowd back into my head and I'd be back here a couple of weeks later.
still really bad
So I get a third place in an sng where I'm far the best player but get all my cards in the big blind and have it walked.
Then I pick up QQ in the sb at t50, one limper, I raise to 200, he calls.
Flop is AAJ. He checks. With a huge sigh, I bet out 300. He raises and of course I fold. Every time I have a big pair and some idiot calls a raise, an ace comes on the flop. I'm pretty sure he had one. Yeah, maybe he had JT or a midpair but why go bust finding out? Most players in fivers are not tricky enough to play the odds like that.
Anyway, I'm tilting a bit, so I pick up JTs in the cutoff and raise it to 200. You're not calling that with a pair of eights, right? No, me either. But some guy does on the button. Flop comes ATx and I push. I'm delighted to see his hand obviously.
River 8. I am hating this so much. My ROI has plummeted. I just lose all the time. It doesn't matter what shithouse draw my opponents have. Even two outs is good enough.
You can argue that raising the JTs is a bad play, and I should fold, but even so, only one of us really made any mistakes. Not just calling preflop, which is horrible, but calling on the flop, which is worse. My most likely hands are ace-something and a pair bigger than tens. These retards just think fuck it, I have a pair, and I'm calling any bet. They don't even look at the board in my view.
Then I pick up QQ in the sb at t50, one limper, I raise to 200, he calls.
Flop is AAJ. He checks. With a huge sigh, I bet out 300. He raises and of course I fold. Every time I have a big pair and some idiot calls a raise, an ace comes on the flop. I'm pretty sure he had one. Yeah, maybe he had JT or a midpair but why go bust finding out? Most players in fivers are not tricky enough to play the odds like that.
Anyway, I'm tilting a bit, so I pick up JTs in the cutoff and raise it to 200. You're not calling that with a pair of eights, right? No, me either. But some guy does on the button. Flop comes ATx and I push. I'm delighted to see his hand obviously.
River 8. I am hating this so much. My ROI has plummeted. I just lose all the time. It doesn't matter what shithouse draw my opponents have. Even two outs is good enough.
You can argue that raising the JTs is a bad play, and I should fold, but even so, only one of us really made any mistakes. Not just calling preflop, which is horrible, but calling on the flop, which is worse. My most likely hands are ace-something and a pair bigger than tens. These retards just think fuck it, I have a pair, and I'm calling any bet. They don't even look at the board in my view.
Thursday, 20 December 2007
and worse
ITM in an sng. I have K3.
TEXAS_HOLDEM, NO_LIMIT, T4-56395985-72
played at "New Haven" for USDTC from 2007-12-19 23:05 until 2007-12-19 23:05
Seat 1: Dr Zen ($4,915 in chips)
Seat 3: RoyzeNoBoyz ($6,795 in chips)
Seat 5: Lec12345 ($3,290 in chips)
ANTES/BLINDS
Dr Zen posts blind ($100), RoyzeNoBoyz posts blind ($200).
PRE-FLOP
Lec12345 folds, Dr Zen bets $500
Standard with a king.
RoyzeNoBoyz calls $400.
FLOP [board cards:4HTDKC ]
Dr Zen bets $900, RoyzeNoBoyz calls $900.
I have to assume I have the best hand. Three possible cases after he calls:
1/ He has a king.
2/ He hit something else.
3/ He has a draw.
In case 1, I am probably doomed to loose more chips because I'm very unlikely to fold top pair.
In case 2, if I check, he might think I was cbetting and then I can win his bet. If I just lead out again, he probably folds.
In case 3, he might semibluff. I am taking a risk if I check, but this guy has played quite aggressively.
TURN [board cards:4HTDKC5H ]
Dr Zen checks, RoyzeNoBoyz bets $5,295 and is all-in, Dr Zen calls $3,415 and is all-in.
He shows JT.
Well, that's great right? I'm miles ahead and he only has five outs.
Surely this time it will...
RIVER [board cards:4HTDKC5HJC ]
Oh no. Silly me.
TEXAS_HOLDEM, NO_LIMIT, T4-56395985-72
played at "New Haven" for USDTC from 2007-12-19 23:05 until 2007-12-19 23:05
Seat 1: Dr Zen ($4,915 in chips)
Seat 3: RoyzeNoBoyz ($6,795 in chips)
Seat 5: Lec12345 ($3,290 in chips)
ANTES/BLINDS
Dr Zen posts blind ($100), RoyzeNoBoyz posts blind ($200).
PRE-FLOP
Lec12345 folds, Dr Zen bets $500
Standard with a king.
RoyzeNoBoyz calls $400.
FLOP [board cards:4HTDKC ]
Dr Zen bets $900, RoyzeNoBoyz calls $900.
I have to assume I have the best hand. Three possible cases after he calls:
1/ He has a king.
2/ He hit something else.
3/ He has a draw.
In case 1, I am probably doomed to loose more chips because I'm very unlikely to fold top pair.
In case 2, if I check, he might think I was cbetting and then I can win his bet. If I just lead out again, he probably folds.
In case 3, he might semibluff. I am taking a risk if I check, but this guy has played quite aggressively.
TURN [board cards:4HTDKC5H ]
Dr Zen checks, RoyzeNoBoyz bets $5,295 and is all-in, Dr Zen calls $3,415 and is all-in.
He shows JT.
Well, that's great right? I'm miles ahead and he only has five outs.
Surely this time it will...
RIVER [board cards:4HTDKC5HJC ]
Oh no. Silly me.
It gets worse
I don't expect to win every time I play, but this is getting ridiculous. This happens EVERY FUCKING TIME I PLAY. A $5 sng this time:
TEXAS_HOLDEM, NO_LIMIT, T4-56394060-14
played at "Uppsala" for USDTC from 2007-12-19 21:14 until 2007-12-19 21:15
Seat 1: Olum0609 ($3,770 in chips)
Seat 4: 1egdums7 ($1,010 in chips)
Seat 6: MorphNosnese ($1,555 in chips)
Seat 7: Donvon1 ($925 in chips)
Seat 8: Fat-Lula ($4,115 in chips)
Seat 9: Gatti11 ($2,240 in chips)
Seat 10: Dr Zen ($1,385 in chips)
Have not played a hand.
ANTES/BLINDS
1egdums7 posts blind ($25), MorphNosnese posts blind ($50).
PRE-FLOP
Donvon1 folds, Fat-Lula folds, Gatti11 calls $50, Dr Zen bets $300,
Big bet but this table has been retarded, so get the money in.
Olum0609 folds, 1egdums7 folds, MorphNosnese calls $250, Gatti11 calls $250.
FLOP [board cards:AS3H9S ]
Bang! TPTK, we're good to go.
MorphNosnese bets $400
Don't think so, dude.
Gatti11 calls $400, Dr Zen bets $1,085 and is all-in
Come on!
MorphNosnese folds,
Didn't think so.
Gatti11 calls $685.
Here's a WTF moment.
The guy shows Ks5s.
Okay, you're an idiot who limps that preflop.
But you call a raise to 6BB with it? And then call a t400 bet on the flop? Half the pot, so not good enough odds, and I'm still to play, with my most likely hand a big ace.
Of course, he has to call the push. He's played so badly up to this point that he's actually priced in for it.
Still, I should be happy, right? Money in really good again. He's about 2 to 1 to...
TURN [board cards:AS3H9S7S ]
win.
Whenever I get allin with less than the nuts now, I expect to lose. It doesn't matter what shit they have against me, they will win every time. EVERY FUCKING TIME. I'm not kidding. I occasionally have a hand that's ahead preflop and holds up, but if someone calls me with some bullshit draw, count on their drawing out on me.
RIVER [board cards:AS3H9S7SQH ]
TEXAS_HOLDEM, NO_LIMIT, T4-56394060-14
played at "Uppsala" for USDTC from 2007-12-19 21:14 until 2007-12-19 21:15
Seat 1: Olum0609 ($3,770 in chips)
Seat 4: 1egdums7 ($1,010 in chips)
Seat 6: MorphNosnese ($1,555 in chips)
Seat 7: Donvon1 ($925 in chips)
Seat 8: Fat-Lula ($4,115 in chips)
Seat 9: Gatti11 ($2,240 in chips)
Seat 10: Dr Zen ($1,385 in chips)
Have not played a hand.
ANTES/BLINDS
1egdums7 posts blind ($25), MorphNosnese posts blind ($50).
PRE-FLOP
Donvon1 folds, Fat-Lula folds, Gatti11 calls $50, Dr Zen bets $300,
Big bet but this table has been retarded, so get the money in.
Olum0609 folds, 1egdums7 folds, MorphNosnese calls $250, Gatti11 calls $250.
FLOP [board cards:AS3H9S ]
Bang! TPTK, we're good to go.
MorphNosnese bets $400
Don't think so, dude.
Gatti11 calls $400, Dr Zen bets $1,085 and is all-in
Come on!
MorphNosnese folds,
Didn't think so.
Gatti11 calls $685.
Here's a WTF moment.
The guy shows Ks5s.
Okay, you're an idiot who limps that preflop.
But you call a raise to 6BB with it? And then call a t400 bet on the flop? Half the pot, so not good enough odds, and I'm still to play, with my most likely hand a big ace.
Of course, he has to call the push. He's played so badly up to this point that he's actually priced in for it.
Still, I should be happy, right? Money in really good again. He's about 2 to 1 to...
TURN [board cards:AS3H9S7S ]
win.
Whenever I get allin with less than the nuts now, I expect to lose. It doesn't matter what shit they have against me, they will win every time. EVERY FUCKING TIME. I'm not kidding. I occasionally have a hand that's ahead preflop and holds up, but if someone calls me with some bullshit draw, count on their drawing out on me.
RIVER [board cards:AS3H9S7SQH ]
youch
Goddamnit! I need PokerRoom to switch off the doomswitch, because this is just sucking so much.
t150 in a $5 tourney. I have about 6K. I wake up with QQ. I raise to 500 and the only guy who covers me calls.
Note that. The only guy who covers me at the whole table calls.
The flop comes all low hearts. I have the Q of hearts. I bet out. The tard raises, and I push.
Why?
Most of the time the guy has Ahx and has paired x, or has a big ace that he thinks probably is ahead. Sometimes he has a set. Sometimes an overpair of his own. Other times he's bluffing. Only very rarely will he have the flush.
In the first of those cases, you really don't want to fold. In the second, I have the odds to call his raise, but I'm not going to like a push on the turn. In the third, I don't want to fold at all. In the fourth, I still have a redraw against most flushes. On balance, I'm going to be ahead, and I'm going to be called by the Ahx hands and probably AK/AQ too.
The guy shows KhTh. WTF? How often can players flop flushes against me? I mean, for fuck's sake, they do this all the time. He doesn't even have 5h4h or other bullshit that I can at least suck out on.
And please, spare me a discussion of overplaying overpairs. You have to overplay them in $5 tourneys on PR. The blinds go up quickly, and you just don't get enough play to play too nitty. Anyway, I think my play is fine. There are just too many hands he can have that I beat to fold that.
t150 in a $5 tourney. I have about 6K. I wake up with QQ. I raise to 500 and the only guy who covers me calls.
Note that. The only guy who covers me at the whole table calls.
The flop comes all low hearts. I have the Q of hearts. I bet out. The tard raises, and I push.
Why?
Most of the time the guy has Ahx and has paired x, or has a big ace that he thinks probably is ahead. Sometimes he has a set. Sometimes an overpair of his own. Other times he's bluffing. Only very rarely will he have the flush.
In the first of those cases, you really don't want to fold. In the second, I have the odds to call his raise, but I'm not going to like a push on the turn. In the third, I don't want to fold at all. In the fourth, I still have a redraw against most flushes. On balance, I'm going to be ahead, and I'm going to be called by the Ahx hands and probably AK/AQ too.
The guy shows KhTh. WTF? How often can players flop flushes against me? I mean, for fuck's sake, they do this all the time. He doesn't even have 5h4h or other bullshit that I can at least suck out on.
And please, spare me a discussion of overplaying overpairs. You have to overplay them in $5 tourneys on PR. The blinds go up quickly, and you just don't get enough play to play too nitty. Anyway, I think my play is fine. There are just too many hands he can have that I beat to fold that.
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