The Monster and The Nute (Part 2)

What is The Monster?

As I mentioned before, when I review some of the hands I've played, I sometimes feel like one person played one set of hands and another person played another set of hands. The reasons for this are that in some hands, I simply cannot offer good enough reasons for why I played the hand the way that I did. It has nothing to do with winning and losing, but everything to do with being able to justify the play. I will give two recent examples (They are FR, but in essence they are SH and the general ideas are the same):

Example 1:

Full Tilt Poker $0.25/$0.50 No Limit Hold'em - 8 players
2+2 Hand Converter Powered By DeucesCracked

CO: $49.50
BTN: $50.00
SB: $61.80
Hero (BB): $53.40
UTG: $52.35
UTG+1: $50.00
MP1: $45.10
MP2: $71.95

Pre Flop: ($0.75) Hero is BB with K K
2 folds, MP1 calls $0.50, 3 folds, SB calls $0.25, Hero raises to $2.50, 1 fold, SB calls $2

Very standard preflop.

Flop: ($5.50) 9 3 2 (2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $5, SB calls $5

Villain is playing 41/20 over a small sample and could have ATC here. I bet big for value.

Turn: ($15.50) 4 (2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $12, SB requests TIME, SB calls $12

I lead again on the turn fairly big for value.

River: ($39.50) A (2 players)
SB bets $10, Hero requests TIME, Hero calls $10

Villain leads into me on the river and I'm getting 5-1 on the call but I don't really beat anything other than busted diamonds. He could have gotten there with some sort of ace, some sort of straight, etc etc. Nevertheless, I don't analyze the situation enough and click "call" - mostly out of frustration and mostly due to "pot odds".

Example 2:

Full Tilt Poker $0.25/$0.50 No Limit Hold'em - 8 players
2+2 Hand Converter Powered By DeucesCracked

CO: $45.55
BTN: $50.00
SB: $53.20
BB: $20.45
UTG: $50.00
UTG+1: $37.70
MP1: $38.20
Hero (MP2): $53.05

Pre Flop: ($0.75) Hero is MP2 with K Q
3 folds, Hero raises to $1.50, 1 fold, BTN raises to $5, 2 folds, Hero raises to $12.50, BTN calls $7.50

Villain is 3-betting a very wide range on the button. I decide that with all the blockers that KQo has, I will 4-bet it since calling is bad and I don't want to fold due to the villain.

Flop: ($25.75) A 4 9 (2 players)
Hero bets $7.50, BTN calls $7.50

Betting small here is ok given how dry the flop is. I plan on DB most turns.

Turn: ($40.75) 4 (2 players)
Hero bets $11, BTN calls $11

Pretty good turn ... I decide to DB with the intention of shoving the river and while I think he'll peel once with TT, JJ, or QQ on the flop, he'll fold them on the turn.

River: ($62.75) A (2 players)
Hero bets $22.05 all in, BTN calls $19 all in

We get to the river and the ace now makes it much less likely that I have one in my hand. Nonetheless, I stick to my plan and just ship the river, without even thinking too much about it. He snap calls because given that river, my line sucks.

As I was thinking about all this, I decided to catch up on HSP Season 6 and saw this hand play out between Gus and Eli:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OGxqBmkC3JY

It's the very first hand in the episode where Gus has 64 and Eli has K8. Gus's flop and turn and fine, but river is awful. He discuss the hand with Kara later on and does the right thing by walking away from the table after it. He was so focused on trying to win the pot that the logical and analytical part of him almost didn't want to process all the information that was available and updated ("The river is an ace! What can I rep? Eli is a calling station ...")

So that's The Monster. The Monster is so focused on trying to win the pot at all cost that it simply pays attention to the elements of the hand which confirm his desire to win the hand - even if those elements are very, very thin. For example - if the ONLY part of a villain's range that you beat is a busted flush draw and villain's range that beats you is much, much wider than that, yet you still call, why did you do it? Did you truly analyze his whole range, or were you so focused on the missed flush draw and the fact that you felt entitled to the pot that you just clicked "call" w/o too much thinking?

The Monster acts compulsively, is blinded by its own immediate desire (I have to win this pot now! I have to increase my bankroll!) and has a strong sense of paranoia and thus levels himself (He's bluffing me! I can't let him walk all over me! He is raising me positionally so he's weak ...").

What is The Nute?

The Nute is the opposite of The Monster. The Nute does not act compulsively, doesn't level himself, and carefully analyzes each hand and comes to the correct conclusion almost always. Sounds easy, right?

I decided to call this character "The Nute" after the CardRunners instructor Nutedawg. There are tons of good videos out there, and plenty of people that give good advice on the forums, but time and time again Nutedawg continues to impress me. The reason is because he continues to reaffirm the basic principle of uNL poker: It's not hard. In it's essence, it's really not. It comes down to having a solid preflop game combined with good value betting and folding.

Yet, we work really, really hard into making it into something much more difficult than it needs to be. The Monster makes it hard where it doesn't need to be. If we only listened more to The Nute, our graphs would be much smoother and our winrate double. We would also be playing much higher by now.

The Nute doesn't try to make soulreads or make amazing bluffs. He does make very good plays, but they are not "amazing" or "sick" in his mind - they are simply the most +EV ones at the time. He'll CRAI on the river if the spot calls for it - not because it's the only way he can think of winning the hand. His thinking is lucid and he's in tune with all the little things going on in each hand. All this makes him untiltable as if he feels the onset of tilt coming, he quits. The Monster is never able to rear it's full self in this scenario.

Letting The Nute guide you ...

So obviously you want to let The Nute guide you as much as possible and The Monster as little as possible. Whenever you are faced with a tough decision, examine all that is available, but more importantly, click "time" if possible and start deeply thinking through the hand. Think about ranges starting with preflop, villain's tendencies, etc etc. You should be doing this anyhow, but become very conscious of the process again. Try to come up with every possible hand that the villain could have.

What could he do this as a bluff with? For value? Semi-bluff? To illustrate, here is a hand I played earlier today where I feel I made the best play on every street. Villain seems to be playing around 25/5-ish and not very aggressive.

Full Tilt Poker $0.25/$0.50 No Limit Hold'em - 7 players
2+2 Hand Converter Powered By DeucesCracked

UTG: $26.35
UTG+1: $93.25
MP: $100.60
CO: $50.00
BTN: $20.95
Hero (SB): $77.70
BB: $45.30

Pre Flop: ($0.75) Hero is SB with K K
5 folds, Hero raises to $1.50, BB calls $1

Flop: ($3.00) 7 3 T (2 players)
Hero bets $3, BB calls $3

Turn: ($9.00) 6 (2 players)
Hero bets $6, BB calls $6

River: ($21.00) 2 (2 players)
Hero bets $12, BB raises to $34.80 all in, Hero requests TIME, Hero folds

How often does villain bluff this river? Seems like a horrendous spot to shove a missed flush draw. What about JJ or AT? He's probably not shoving the rivers with it, but if he is, I need to have that read before calling. So what's his value range? 2 pair+ and he could have TONS of those.

Should I have bet the river? Absolutely. Should I fold when he shoves? Yes. Does it suck to fold KK after putting in ~half of my stack? Sure. Does the fact that I put in half my stack mean I should call off the rest in a situation where the villains will show up with pretty much the nuts? Sure doesn't. So fold. Easy game.

This turned out to be a pretty long post, but a pretty important one for me as I move forward. I can already feel it's effects in the last 7K hands:

The last was the best post so far. And all of them are really great. Thanks again for this

Awesome as usual. Quick question. Is this FR or 6max? I ask primarily coz your PFR stats have tightened up quite a bit. Curious if there is some other reason.

In that 7K hands, 2932 are SH, 32 are HU (probably at FR or SH tables), and 4036 are FR. Most of the $$ is from SH play though.

Would you like to borrow my monster for a while? I really don't need it. In fact, it has been bugging me for quite some time now. :P

Cheers!

Solid post, I completely understand the "Monster" I got a real problem with him.

would you call this hand in line with the nute? Or would you call...
Player: 18/6/3.1 over 300 hands and Limpcalls 60%

Grabbed by Holdem Manager
NL Holdem $0.25(BB) Replayer
SB ($11.03)
BB ($25)
UTG ($34.89)
UTG+1 ($24.54)
Hero ($25)
BTN ($25.21)

Dealt to Hero 8 8

fold, UTG+1 calls $0.25, Hero raises to $1.25, BTN calls $1.25, fold, fold, UTG+1 calls $1

FLOP ($4.10) 2 5 9

UTG+1 checks, Hero bets $2.73, BTN folds, UTG+1 calls $2.73

TURN ($9.56) 2 5 9 8

UTG+1 checks, Hero bets $6.60, UTG+1 calls $6.60

RIVER ($22.76) 2 5 9 8 7

UTG+1 bets $11.38, Hero folds

oO nice profit teach me pls !

Too tough to tell ... Probably a fold though. You are getting 3-1 here and need to be good 25% of the time (Is that right?), but villain will have 66 or 56 here probably more often than that.

I was going through my HH searching for some leaks (I play 10NL) and one of the things I was studying was the times I called a river bet since I had a feeling I didn´t go very well on this spots. Well, I just didn´t think I sucked so much at it...



I believe that picture says it all...

I think learning to fold these spots is one of the toughest lessons to learn at the lower stakes, at least I am finding that.
You are often playing people with ridiculous ranges, who refuse to fold. When they hit their 3 outer on the river you feel justified in calling because "that" hand is such a small part of their range, and they are spewy retards.
In reality though they usually have it...and you make yourself a spewy retard by calling.

I think we all shouted "Hey, that's me!!!" when the monster was portrayed! Especially the phrase "I am entitled to this pot"! I have even said tht as my finger plunged toward the call button. Great post verneer, as you promised: much better than any hand chart! Many thanks. GL

I love the entilted to the pot. I get that way, I mean i started with AA it should be my pot.

I think your post is very good. But basically its A game vs C game. Just using differnt terms.

Asking yourself what can i represent is a great concept that most micro players don't do enough. If you consistantly do this it will make you a better hand reader and a better bluffer, thus your redline improves. But you have to be careful not to level yourself when doing this, and the creating a play that makes no sense to a micro player that doesn't hand read very well.


And i do think the Monster is mainly responible for the cash out jinx.

omg verneer, this thread is unreal!!
this is the bible of small stakes cash, im gonna be glued to my computer reading it!!

This article is a great read in conjunction with the gold itt. I highly recommend it. I can't post the link as I am on my mobile atm, if anyone else has looked at it & agrees maybe you could post a link?