experience/pokerstove obv.

Hi Phil, I have a couple of questions for you. I can relate to your quote above, as I have struggled at times to be aggressive enough in 6max games. Can you elaborate on what you did to improve your game in this area, and what players or study material influenced you whilst doing so?

Re: your workouts, do you find it helps your game generally, or do you workout at a specific time (ie. before or after playing a session) to get the most benefit poker-wise?

LadyMuck, i've studied this thing for some time, here is a hint - work outs are very essential if you want to maintain your best mind conditions - you need to keep your blood pumping throughout your entire body and also get it out of your brain after long sessions to relax. Obviously, having a work out before a poker session is a bad idea - muscles still require more blood, and you generally need more oxygen, as you start breathing faster, so you get less blood for your brain and won't be able to focus. The key here is to have regular work outs, to keep yourself sharp and allow your brain to relax a little bit. On top of that, working out with friends is great fun as well, another motivator oh, and being in great shape is very good for surviving long sessions - as your heart gets, let's put it this way, trained, and blood vessels get cleaner, your brain will get more "supply", providing for better focus, more efficient decisions, etc. But the most important thing, when you are physically fit, you can go though most stress-related situations in a much easier fashion, it is a pretty long story, but that's the way it is.

Hi

Any chance you could say something about what factors you consider when you decide whether to flat call or 3-bet with a playable hand preflop? Also, I noticed that you said that you felt some people ended up 3-betting too much, because they usually took down the pot either pre-flop or with a c-bet, but when they didn't do this it cost them too much. I never seem to know what to do when an opponent 3-bets - often it is reasonably obvious whether to continue or not, but I'm not sure whether calling or 4-betting is better.Any pointers on what factors to consider here would be appreciated.

At lower levels, I've generally only been getting involved in reraised pots with premium hands, but as I move up, I'm getting 3-bet more often, and I'm not sure which hands are best to add to my range, and how best to play them.

Finally, if you have time, you were talking about how c-betting a very high proportion of the time after you raise preflop is unbalanced and can be exploited, especially in tougher games. Do you have any tips on how to balance better - should I be looking to c/r or check back some strong hands, rather than c-betting pretty much everything except when I want to give up on a pot, which works relatively well at low stakes.

Thanks in advance.

Simon

I second this question, especially the first part..

Thanks for doing this Phil, it’s been a fantastic read so far.

On to my question: Do you think poker is ethically justifiable? Sometimes what I do in poker seems no different to me from what a drug dealer does to make his money.

I’ve posed this question to a few of my friends and none have really given me a conclusive answer.

WHAT ARE BANANA THIEVES AND CAN I BECOME ONE SOMEDAY?

http://www.truveo.com/Smash-Bros-Bra.../id/1729546837

hey phil,

do you generally just jump right into a game or do you spend anytime watching first to get a feel for the game flow and specific player dynamics?

i'm sure thatthere is less need for scouting at the higher levels as the player pool is shrinking, but ppl still play differently when they are winning/losing so just wondering if you do this and if so for how long approx.

thanks.


ps: feel free to answer this in less then 250 words.

what differentiates PA from other top players that you have also given props to but wont avoid playing HU with, like genius and whitelime?

HU and SH(3-4 handed) experience especially

Phil,

First off, I've mentioned this to Apathy way back, but it was cool meeting you and all the other guys at the WSOP a couple of years ago.

I remember when you made the transition from sng's to cash and you had a lot of great posts at the time. A lot of old sttfers are making the transition to cash or have made the transition over the past two years. As one who has had an ongoing transition lasting about a year now, could you provide any insight now of what significant things you learned early in the transition that helped you out? For example, it took me a long time to get out of the habit of wanting to get to showdown.

Thanks for the thread, vvvvv awesome and continued good luck in the games.

Gtr

This has to be standard psychology for all players. I know it's true for me and someone remarked in the full ring chat thread that it was true for them as well.

Are you going to the PCA?
I claimed I could drink more water in a day than you and Max said I couldn't. Thoughts?
Also really good well you are a poker god etc.

I agree with Travis about everything which begs the question why are you thinking about leaving us this year T?

Second point, the banana thieving was one of the highlights for me, maybe you just weren't thieved in the correct manner

Lastly my question for Jman. I know you hate traveling but come to PCA this year,....period...question mark?

Great well. I also wanted to add that I am banned from watching Deal or no Deal also

My question has to deal with check raising innocuous flops. Lets say the flop is k 8 3 or some other flop that doesnt really hit your opponents range very hard often at all. So if you are making a play at a flop like that, what sorts of hands are you doing it with? Against a tricky opponent who picks up on this play, how often are you continuing firing through on the turn...the river, after he calls your check raise? And the same goes for the other way around, how often are you calling the check raise from a player who makes plays on flops like that, what requirements do you have to have, in order to continue or even make a play on the turn. How often do you just call to shove the turn, when you know he is going to bet? Or how often are you three betting over his raise on the flop?

it seems as if this play would work much more often about 6 months ago. players are realizing that their opponents are cring innocuous flops with a huge portion of their range, and as a result decide to continue in the hand with a greater portion of their range. thoughts on this topic would be greatly appreciated. thanks

I've been learning longer than you might think. A lot of concepts cross over but it's a completely different game. I still have a lot to learn, but the nosebleed plo games have been pretty soft lately.

I'm much more comfortable playing PLO at about 40bbs in the big games than 100. If the game is very fishy, I'm comfortable with 100+ too, but when there are strong players like PA and nikki or brian, I don't like to be deep with them.
In plo or nl? In both cases I like open limping some buttons. It annoys aggro players, and if they don't adjust, you own them.

No, not much. I don't like to travel. I'm a homebody.

I wrote an article on river c/r's. It probably just came out. I dunno, it actually wasn't that good of an article.

It's hard to explain in depth, but you should be c/r'ing more turns and rivers, with bluffs and non bluffs, against players who bet them more. So players who bluff more/vb thinner. That's the main tendency to look for.

Board texture isn't as important as what you think his hand strength might be and what he perceives yours to be. Or I should say, that those things are the factors, and baord texture should affect those.

3 pair should beat a full house.

What would you recommend the longtime SSNL players to focus on to improve ?

Does that mean having two lots of trips should beat a straight flush?

My questions: Will you ever write a poker book? Do you ever feel bad after taking a massive amount of money from someone at the nosebleeds and knowing that theyr now feeling horrible? What do you think a good study/play ratio is for an intermediate player?

Thanks. Great thread btw. Keep up the good work.

Dan.

this was a very firm rule in many of my old homegames

That was a good time besides the 2-3k i spent on dinner. I had 3 friends from home who I was paying for in addition to losing the flip.

TBH, I don't think about this much. It's kind've a non issue for me. I could never become a live pro. Basically, I hate Vegas and I hate being around most people.

I think for most people, online is more profitable. You get sososososo many more hands in.

Live winrates will definitely be higher for most, so swings will be lower, which might be nice mentally. But the long run takes longer.

I play tourneys mostly for fun, though they never turn out to be much fun.

I guess the thrill of a big score is exciting, and making a TV final table or two could lead to recognition/sponsorships/book deals or something.

If you don't enjoy playing tourneys, and you don't care too much about those things, definitely don't do it IMO.

Phil,

You may already understand all of what I'm about to say, especially since you studied philosophy yourself, but you didn't mention it, so I will.

Speaking as one of many on this forum no doubt who are in the same situation, and as someone who has studied a lot of philosophy regarding this situation, what you should realize is that your laziness is highly correlated with your natural tendency towards happiness.

Obviously you've already come to terms with your lack of extreme motivation, but it's even easier to appreciate and understand when you realize that if you were highly intelligent and also had the motivation usually required to achieve truly great things, you would very likely be a much less happy person naturally. Of course it's not a choice, you were born the way you were. But if you could choose? easy decision imo.

Most of the truly great art, philosophy, and achievement has come from unhappiness and a feeling of emptiness. Do not regret that your extreme intelligence is not producing any. Feel blessed that your parents gave you the natural gifts to enjoy life easily, and that you will be able to pass those gifts on to your kids.

T