Im not saying its higher EV. Im just saying its not lower EV like most people think. I bought in for $300 for over 1400 hours in 2016. In 2017 Ive been buying in mostly for $400 and sometimes $500. My win rates are close enough that I dont think there any real difference overall.

I bought for $300 today but I would say I had a stack of $400+ for at least 1/2 the session. There are times when a whale sits down with a full stack and I top up to $500 (or I may already be at $500 by then). There are also times when the table is pretty crazy and $30+ raises are getting called 3-4 times and I can just shove my $300 in with quite a few different premiums but shoving $500+ would be awkward.

I had a hand today where there was a button straddle. A donk in EP shoved with $30. He got 2 calls. I had $315 and shoved all in with JJ. That's a much different hand if I have $500. (I got HU with the short stack who had 43 offsuit and I lost..UGH!)

Playing a short(er) stack under these game conditions can be insanely profitable if you adjust correctly to your stack size, because like MikeStarr alluded to, a lot of people aren't going to adjust to your different strategy/stack size.

You actually don't raise that river. There are more set combos than 2 pair combos in this hand. Only time you actually can shove is if our V has J7o in his range and will stack off close to 100% of the time. Then it's a slightly profitable shove.

Otherwise calling is correct assuming he shoves KT. 90% of the time he doesnt have KT there with that bet and money behind in that sized pot.

It's generally a mistake to talk in absolutisms but fwiw I think villain's river sizing indicates he's generally not as strong as hero in this spot.

I would have to agree with this

I made the trek up to the fish filled room today. I think I will start playing there on Tue/Thur at least until the snowbirds fly south for the winter. I bought in for $300 and within 20 minutes I was at $550 but I can only remember one of the hands.

1) EP limps. I raise to $25 with Tc8c. 3 calls
Flop ($100) 8d8s3h. BB leads $25. I call.
Turn ($150). Ks. BB leads $50 with $50 behind. I shove. He folds. LOL.

Im card dead for a little while and then I limp 66 in EP. 7 to the flop.

2) Flop ($35) AsTh6s. Checked to MP who bets $15. He gets 3 calls and then I check raise to $115. LP calls with $110 behind.

Turn ($310) 5c. I shove and he calls with 9s8s and rivers the Js.

3) EP limps. I raise to $25 KK. EP shoves all in for $65 with JJ and hits a J

I get several premium pairs and won some small pots

4) I limp JsTs in EP. 5 to the flop

Flop ($25) 9s8s5h. The high hand is worth $400. Checked to MP who bets $25. The guy who busted my set of 6s calls and I call.
Turn ($100) As. I check. MP checks. The set buster guy bets $40. I call thinking its going to be hard to get outdrawn here and he only has $125 left anyway. We go HU
River ($180) Ac. Not my favorite card. I check. He shoves and I call. This is the same guy from hand #1 who bet/folded with only $50 behind. Im never folding to him. He has 55.

He busted my set with a flush and now busts my flush with a set that rivers a boat. I guess I should've crai on the turn.

I think I had AA twice
KK 3 times (lost one and an ace flopped on one and it checked down)
QQ once
JJ twice
TT once....that reminds me

5) I limp TT. 5 to the flop.
Flop ($25) Ac2s7c. Checked to MP who bets $10. MP is a bad LAG. He nevers bets this small. SB calls and I cr to $40 because I know MP had a FD. MP calls and SB folds
Turn ($115) MP yells "4 of hearts!". The turn is the 4d. I know that didnt help him especially after he yelled for a 4 so I bet $75. He tank/folded.

I had a lot of premiums that kept me afloat after losing the 2 big-ish hands. and I ended the session with a $300 profit.

Even if we add extra hands we beat. He has to call a shove with those hands. And if he is calling a shove with less hands we beat than hands we don't beat then shoving is incorrect.

Realistically we only lose to 3 combos. So much worse will call. Have to go for thin value ainec imo.

Mathematically that may be right, but there are other meta game considerations to consider when its a regular and here are plenty of other regulars watching.

Back to the nit fest room today. They have a good high hand promotion on Weds so its normally not quite as bad.

I was pretty card dead for the most part. Only 3 hands worth mentioning

1) EP limps. I raise to $25 AdQs. EP calls.
Flop ($55) Kd6h2h. X/X
Turn ($55) As. He checks. I bet $35. He calls
River ($125) 9h. He bets $130. I fold and he shows Kh5h

I moved to a new table that opened up and looked more promising in the way of players.

2) Pretty aggro player who Im friendly with opens to $20 in MP. A whale calls. I call in the BB with TT. I start with $335 and they cover.

Flop ($60) 732. I check. MP bets $55. The whale calls. I really dont think I want to call here especially OOP and with the whale in the hand. Too many overcards and my stack is the perfect size for a crai so that's what I did. MP went into the tank for a good 2 minutes. He finally folded. The whale folded and showed AK. MP told me he folded a pocket pair but didnt say which one. I know he will open any pocket pair in this spot preflop but my best guess is he folded 88-99. I do think there's a small chance he would fold JJ to me. Mostly hes only going to call with hands that beat me, but IMO that's not a reason to just call with this stack size , OOP, and another player in the hand.

3) Ive changed seats now. Same whale limps UTG. I raise to $25 UTG+1 with AK. He calls HU

Flop ($55) KT4. He checks. I check back
Turn ($55) 8. He bets $65. I call
River ($185) Q. He checks. Tough to put him on a hand here. The only hand I think he will call a decent bet with that I beat is KJ. Hes also insane enough to check raise bluff me off my hand so I decided to check it back. He says "Jack high" and mucks when I show.

The rest of the day was pretty boring. I won a measly $50.

I think with your stack size in hand 2 I'm 3betting to like 100 and then shoving that flop.

And in hand 3 what's your reasoning behind checking the flop? You get value from Kx (he prob has all of em if he's a whale), Tx, QJ, hands like Q9, J9, AJ. I think if you think you can only get 2 streets I would rather bet flop, check back turn and then bluff catch or bet river. Especially since the bet flop check turn line will get perceived as a failed cbet a lot.

3 betting the TT hand preflop is fine, but what are you going to do OOP when the flop isnt perfect for TT like this one? I like your line better if I started with like $250 or less.

In hand 3, the whale was attacking at any sign of weakness. I can get 2 streets against Kx or a T by checking the flop or by bet flop/ check turn and bet or call river....but by checking the flop I got him to bet more than pot on the turn with J high. I dont know what his kicker was but he didnt have AJ/KJ/QJ/JT/J9. J8 was his best possible hand. He didnt even have a gutshot and still bet more than pot on the turn. So, my check was read based.

H1 seems like a good board to cbet imo even without diamonds? Vs whale H3 I think it's a must cbet, ik your reasoning but I just think you get more outta him than letting him take the initiative.

Yeah I dont mind a Cbet in HH1, but in general I think most players Cbet too much and the more often you raise preflop, the less you should be Cbetting because youre going to bet getting called more often.

I realize that kind of contradicts my checking the flop in HH3, but this was a special case. The whale doesnt know me so he doesnt know I raise a lot preflop and I was pretty card dead and hadnt been raising hardly at all. I wanted to let him take a shot with air or with whatever garbage he plays and make it look like I had a scared 99 type hand.

I played 2 shortish sessions the other day. Both sessions began with me having TT on the first hand dealt. They ended differently.

1) Very first hand dealt at a new table. Unknown player limps in EP. LP limps. I raise to $30 with TcTs. EP calls HU. We both start with $300.

Flop ($70) 8h5h2d. He check/calls $45
Turn ($160) Ks. He check.calls $100.
River ($360) Qc. He shoves $125. I know he missed his FD but does he have a K or Q? Bad spot but I called. He instamucked. Phew!

2) My very first hand at a different table. I start with $300.

Unknown guy in MP opens to $25. He has $130. LP ($170) calls. I call with TT.

Flop ($80) 7s4c3d. MP checks. LP bets $50. I shove all in. MP folds. LP calls with AsKs and hits runner runner flush...blah

Hand #1 good call. if he had a K or Q he'd check because those hit your range not his. He would look for a cheap SD.

Hand #2 good play and WOW WTF?! He is just NOT getting odds to call there. He needs ~3:1. 30% equity with 2 overs and 2 backdoors. Bet he took zero time to decide.

Do you play much live? I can't believe these things surprise you, happens every single day. :')

I rarely see people snap off for $100 like that with just Ace high. But 1/2 is a zoo.

BTW the strategy you mentioned about NOT shoving and min-3b'ing apply really well to an MTT loaded with completely incompetent players like some home game. I actually used this tactic in an series of friendly home MTTs after the traditional methods were not working even remotely well.

It was really neat get validated by your book.

Wrong thread

^^^^^
We were all looking forward to hearing more about Mike's book

Never realized that playing against snowbirds would be -EV.

There are no snowbirds here right now. The main room I play in is filled during the daytime with OMC nitballs and some decent older regs.

The other room Im talking about seems to be filled with action players at all times. The room is a little more run down and tends to draw....lets call them.....less educated people.

Its not my book. Its a book that he read that he says talks about strategy that is similar to mine. I havent read the book or any other poker book for that matter.

I like the idea of taking unorthodox lines when playing. If someone who raised gets re- raised and then 4 bets, isn't it obvious he has aces? I'm more of a conservative player my self but none the less try not to become to predictable and I find it irritating when people criticize someone when they don't play predictable!