Interesting thread.

I'll be following!

Very keen to see how quickly you can grind a bankroll up if you keep it up unlike Negreanu who seems to have gone very quite on his Ferguson-esque challenge.

Very cool of you to do this. I'll be following for sure!

Nice thread, Jack.

Thanks for doing this.

GL man, even though i don't think its a good idea, the game between nl10 and your regular game is very different, you will confuse yourselves some times

Good Luck!
Don't forget something important...


... have fun

Just wanted to thank you for this thread, Jack. It is great to hear the way you think about the hands and the way you play them. This is a great thread and awfully nice of you to give back in this way. Some idiots just don't get it.

Thanks for the insights, Jack -- really appreciate your explanations. Looking forward to ur vid.
Pardon this dumb-assed question, but what software do you use for these calcs to determine the villian's hand range (or do you plug in an assumed hand range, and then it calculates the equities)?

Very interesting thread,

I especially like your hand analysis.

www.pokerstove.com

i obviously just use best judgement to guess his hand range. its not that diffiicult to do in these sort of spots when u think about the likely hands he can stack off with

had a few more interesting hands at NL10 that i would like to share with u guys. NL10 is actually turning into a bit of a grind as illustrated by my 1st hand example....

Poker Stars $0.05/$0.10 No Limit Hold'em - 5 players
The Official 2+2 Hand Converter Powered By DeucesCracked.com

CO: $10.45
BTN: $15.20
SB: $14.70
Hero (BB): $17.10
UTG: $11.15

Pre Flop: ($0.15) Hero is BB with A K
UTG raises to $0.30, 1 fold, BTN raises to $1.10, 1 fold, Hero raises to $2.50, 1 fold, BTN raises to $15.20 all in, Hero calls $12.70

Flop: ($30.75) T 8 5 (2 players - 1 is all in)

Turn: ($30.75) K (2 players - 1 is all in)

River: ($30.75) 3 (2 players - 1 is all in)

Final Pot: $30.75
BTN shows T T (three of a kind, Tens)
Hero shows A K (a pair of Kings)
BTN wins $29.25
(Rake: $1.50)

obviously nothing i can do, but his 5bet shove is terrible. i am never cold 4betting air in that situation, i am 4bet calling JJ+ and AK. against that range TT has 33% equity, so for him to be shoving he is essentially bluffing. meh, this hand tilted me a little tbh - a couple hands like this can really kill a good session



i think this hand is pretty interesting:

Poker Stars $0.05/$0.10 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players
The Official 2+2 Hand Converter Powered By DeucesCracked.com

SB: $7.30
BB: $22.90
Hero (UTG): $26.20
MP: $12.05
CO: $9.55
BTN: $14.85

Pre Flop: ($0.15) Hero is UTG with T J
Hero raises to $0.30, 3 folds, SB calls $0.25, 1 fold

Flop: ($0.70) 3 4 T (2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $0.60, SB raises to $1.20, Hero calls $0.60

Turn: ($3.10) 8 (2 players)
SB bets $2.10, Hero raises to $11.80, SB calls $3.70 all in

River: ($14.70) K (2 players - 1 is all in)



his min raise on the flop is really confusing. i cant think of many hands except 33, 44, and maybe Tx that he is doing this for value. i guess from his point of view the flops looks like it might have missed me. theres a lot of draws he could be doing this with such as 56, a random flush draw etc. i could have got it in on the flop but i figured it is probably best to see a safe turn card and then commit.
the 8 is pretty good for my hand. 1 more Tx hand now beats me, but im not too worried about that as i think its more likely he is running some kind of semi-bluff. i ship it in and get called by overs+gutshot.

i think from his point of view his check raise should have been a bit bigger. once he got called i would have given up since i have basically said to him that im not going anywhere. i dont like his sizing on the turn because it leaves him pretty pot stuck when i shove it in and he has a little bit of equity.




this 3rd hand is quite interesting too. mainly because i take advantage of a bet sizing issue by villain. its not the hardest bluff to make in the world but i think it has a good success rate, and its the sort of thing most players would miss when mass tabling, but if u can add just 1 bb/100 by making this play then it is well worth it...

Poker Stars $0.05/$0.10 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players
The Official 2+2 Hand Converter Powered By DeucesCracked.com

UTG: $5.75
MP: $33.60
Hero (CO): $10.00
BTN: $10.00
SB: $13.65
BB: $4.45

Pre Flop: ($0.15) Hero is CO with K A
UTG calls $0.10, 1 fold, Hero raises to $0.50, 2 folds, BB calls $0.40, UTG calls $0.40

Flop: ($1.55) 7 9 6 (3 players)
BB checks, UTG bets $0.20, Hero calls $0.20, BB calls $0.20

Turn: ($2.15) 5 (3 players)
BB checks, UTG bets $0.10, Hero raises to $1, BB folds, UTG folds



i think flop is a mandatory peel. i have backdoor flush draw possibilities and with no real strength shown, i think my 2 over cards are live outs as well. if this flop had been checked to me i wouldnt have cbet. its a flop that hits a lot of hands for villains and therefore means there are unlikely to let go of a lot of their holdings. obv when villain min bets the turn its pretty obv he is making some kind of weak blocker/ 'see where im at' type bet and raising is pretty standard.

one final hand that i think is quite cool from both sides. its maybe a bit thin by me to value bet this river. but i think because of the draws missing i may get looked up quite light. im not sure i ever bluff this spot though purely for that reason.

Poker Stars $0.05/$0.10 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players
The Official 2+2 Hand Converter Powered By DeucesCracked.com

Hero (MP): $24.35
CO: $10.15
BTN: $23.65
SB: $10.25
BB: $11.10
UTG: $12.35

Pre Flop: ($0.15) Hero is MP with K T
1 fold, Hero raises to $0.30, 1 fold, BTN calls $0.30, 2 folds

Flop: ($0.75) 2 9 7 (2 players)
Hero checks, BTN checks

Turn: ($0.75) K (2 players)
Hero bets $0.50, BTN calls $0.50

River: ($1.75) J (2 players)
Hero bets $1.40, BTN calls $1.40



im not sure i am in love with villains pre flop call. KTo doesnt play very well post flop. if i was him i would either 3bet hoping to take the pot down or just fold. probably erring on the side of 3betting because i am an aggro monkey on the button.
also, i am not sure i like his river call a whole lot. i think i am rarely if ever value betting worse than KTo here, and as i already said, i think i am never going to bluff here purely because the flush draw missed so i expect to be getting looked up light.
note that i didnt cbet the flop either. its impossible for me to rep anything on that flop so i expected to get bluff raised/ floated a lot. its also a flop that hits his button calling range quite hard. lots of pocket pairs will think they are good, theres a few gutshots, and hands like 89 etc arent going anywhere fast

hopefully i will be able to get a bit of momentum going at NL10, i seem to be losing a ton of flips where i get it in like big pocket pair v AK or the other way round. all standard of course, but its not nice when you are losing a lot of them

Hey, on the bright side, it's just 10NL =P

I'd wanted to record my progress grinding up from .10/.20 Razz to 3/6 or something on FTP after I cashed out and had $10 left, but sadly someone from the forums sent me $50 and ruined my plans. =(

well this is true. without turning this is into a bitter beat story, i lost two $1300+ pots last night at 2/4 where i was 2 outed and 3 outed respectively, both on the river. bah!

lol I wonder if people who play with u at NL10 ever look for you in a game and see your playing NL200 all of a sudden and are like oo I better join this game I might have a chance at this NL10 newbie. Are if the people from NL10 look for you a few days later and are like wtf this guy musta been on a fukn heater hes in NL200 now :O

Are if people at NL200 search you and see you playing NL10, and if they sucked out on you are like ha I busted that guys Bankroll im the man....

that would be at least slightly amusing, but even more amusing if some NL10 player follows you up to NL200 and lost his bankroll!

well i am platinum level on stars and like soon to be supernova... i kinda get asked why im playing NL10 lol. to which i usually just say "coz i want to".

the guy with TT in the 1st hand berated me etc actually and was like "wow if u play NL400 then i cant wait to move up"... i was like ooooooooook when u 5bet TT for value vs a cold 4bet 150bb deep then im sure u will do very well..

You need to stop talking to fish =P, Also what's your name on stars? I'll rail/join you when you play.