Imo one of the biggest differences between the v 2/5 and bel 5/10 is that in typical games flop cbets win the pot far less frequently in the latter.

So on a relative basis you should be cbetting less often, double barreling more, and delayed cbetting more imo. Also sizing should be bigger in the 5/10 since your range is more heavily weighted towards value hands.

Yea I completely agree with this analysis. Even the "fish" at 5/10 call down so much lighter than at 2/5. I think about cbet spots more than any other player I know so this has definitely been a point of emphasis for me at 5/10 as I have had many sessions where it seems like no cbets are working.

how do you feel about 2/5 after playing 5/10 somewhat consistently, compared to before you played 5/10?

Sounds like a productive week even if it wasn't super profitable. Should be a good game this Saturday. I plan on going as well. Be advised that parking is going to be an absolute nightmare downtown this weekend.

An analogy I got from RobFarha: You know how you swing a baseball bat with a donut on it, and then you take the donut off and the bat is super easy to swing? Thats how I feel when I play 2/5 after a bunch of 5/10 sessions.

Yea I'm looking forward to it. Thanks for the heads up, but I'm pretty sure my dad got a parking pass this year so we should be good to go.

not to harp on the cbet thing but i remember when i first got to vegas i used to cbet way too much. i realised i was used to playing online where most pots were heads up and cbetting a lot was okay. live games have too many mutliway pots and people arent making tough folds enough of the time.

Since we're 7 hours til kickoff, let me just say .... GO NORTHWESTERN!!!

Hope you have a good time at the game regardless of outcome.

Had a great time, don't think I need to say much else

Bah

Back in Vegas after a great trip to Wisconsin. Aside from the football game I got to see lots of friends and family, keeping me busy pretty much the whole week, which was good.

I'm excited to get back to the grind as I have a lot of things I want to accomplish by the end of the year, both in poker and otherwise.

Going to start off here by posting the blog aside I referred to last week.

Poker Table Conversations

Although I get annoyed with people more than most, I derive a great deal of enjoyment out of talking to interesting people at the table. Poker tables bring together a variety of people. Granted, the nature of casinos is that many of these people are not worth talking to, but the ones that are present poker players with a unique opportunity. I like to take advantage of this opportunity whenever it presents itself. In the past I have talked with lots of different people from the business world, which interests me particularly because of what I studied in college.

Recently I had a brief discussion with a Chicago restaurant owner who shared with me his knowledge regarding the workings of the Chicago Board of Trade during the late 80’s and early 90’s. The day before I had an off and on conversation with an older man and his cousin about a variety of topics while the man played and his cousin, who was in Vegas for the first time, watched. During an exchange about politics, the cousin told me that I had restored his faith in America’s youth and the future of the country. When they left, both shook my hand and said it was a pleasure playing and talking with me.

On the surface I could be doing that just to be nice to recreational players. However, for me it goes beyond that. As evidenced by the examples I gave, engaging these people has benefits that go way beyond "entertaining the fish".

I also take a lot of pride in coming across as a respectful, reasonable adult both on and off the felt, so when something like the above happens it definitely brightens my day. I feel it is one of the highest praises that can be offered to have successful people who have seen and done way more than me say that they have enjoyed talking with me and can hardly believe me when I tell them my age.

I was having a multi-way conversation at the table over the summer with an older reg and a rec player, and later Rob joined the table. After I had left Rob told me that the rec player was going on about me, saying that he thought I was very intelligent, well-spoken and just a really nice guy. In addition to the benefits of the actual conversation, hearing this type of stuff makes me happy because that’s exactly how I want people to see me no matter what setting I’m in.

There are lots of interesting people that pop up at the poker table. While most of them are poker fish, many are life crushers with valuable knowledge and experience that they will share if given the opportunity. For this reason I try my best to take advantage whenever someone like this reveals themself as worth talking to. I urge all poker players to engage in conversations like this regularly and not be an anti-social stiff at the table. Obviously we need to focus on the game, but you will be pleasantly surprised at the non-poker things you will learn just by listening to people if you can strike the right balance between playing poker and participating in engaging conversation.

Beyond that, I feel like too often I pass up on opportunities to talk to similarly interesting people outside of the poker room. I would like to make an effort in the future to engage more of these people because if these people can be found in poker rooms, there are surely more outside them.

Very well put! It would be great if more players had this
mentality. You sound like a throwback to the gentleman gamblers of yesteryear (I mean this as a compliment). It is a lost art that needs to be looked into by many young players.

confirmed cushlash's #1 fan. Dude was talking my ear off about how great you were.

I second the comments made by the others. I got to introduce myself and to speak with you briefly during my annual trip to LV during the WSOP and you took the time to spend a few minutes chatting despite the fact that you were on your way to "work". As an "old", somewhat successful professional I have to say I was impressed with your effort to find a moment or two during your busy day.

LOL - Only a friend could get away with that!!

I have played with you once or twice. I think it was a plo game and 1/3 at Aria and I concur with others view of your "brand". I could tell you were playing technically solid at the time as well as just being good people. I think the social aspect of the game can be great depending on the table and game. It can be mind numbing at times grinding and without talking to anyone I could see things not being any fun.

How many people do a job where they dont talk to people or socialize with their clients or coworkers. I work from home and talk to only a few coworkers a day but tons of customers. My brand is responsible for my quarterly performance which is adds up to an 18% bonus and over the course of the year. This also determines whether or not I get a raise. The largest component of this quarterly rating comes from customer surveys. I despise these and dont care for the way my company does it but I have to live with it until my tax business grows.

I would expect your table brand to play some part of your winrate. Being cheerful may make the game itself better. I have had people (tourists) literally call of their stack because they liked me. Would they have done that if I was some hoody wearing grinder immersed in his beats headphones? Maybe not? I have seen it work both ways.

you ever run into that blonde chick again? from that night we first met.

Lol no haven't seen her, you're gonna have to start a "missed connection" thread haha

Completely off topic but thought I should tell you I'm sitting in grainger hall reading your thread haha good luck

lol good ol' grainger hall, spent way too many hours in that place.

Wow just realized I haven't had an update since I've been back from Wisconsin. I've been at the Bellagio since I got back, playing mostly 5/10. I have been trying to game select and will jump off of 5/10 and play 2/5 when the game is bad. The other day I actually played 2 separate sessions at each stake, which was sorta crazy. I don't like jumping around that much but felt like the situation called for it.

The past week and a half I've been doing pretty well and have only had one really bad day in that span. When I've been focused and in tune to the game and just done my thing I've been extremely happy with how I've played. There have been times, however where I've slipped into what Tommy Angelo calls "the fog" and have not played my best. Today was a prime example of that. Early on I made a pretty egregious error where I got fancy play syndrome and lost a ton of value. I also took the passive route in several spots where for some reason I was hesitant to pull the trigger. So even though I won for the day, feeling like I played sub-par certainly left a sour taste in my mouth.

Overall though I have played well and am no doubt running above average. I tend to focus on my mistakes and not realize the things I'm doing well. This is good in that it helps to plug leaks, but its pretty bad for my confidence. Then when my confidence gets low I kinda shell up and make passive, leaky mistakes like I did today. This also sometimes stops me from trusting my instincts, which I have found are incredibly good when I'm not second guessing them. Once I can clear that up I feel like I'd really start crushing.

My sessions have definitely been on the shorter side as I get adjusted to playing a later shift. I'm gonna need to kick it into high gear next week though so I don't fall behind on my volume goals. Despite the low volume, I am very pleased to finally be getting some traction at 5/10. My play has been far from perfect but I'm doing a lot of things well and am learning from the mistakes I make.

Tomorrow I'm gonna be playing in the WSOP.com 100K freeroll, so won't likely be at the casino until Sunday. I've played on the site a bit since its been up and think its good despite busting my first deposit last week. There's just not a big enough pool to be worth devoting much time to it yet.

Cush, next time when you n rob are playing together, if rob leaves before you, just get a reaction from the table and let us know

A very nice write up sire. Niceties at the table go a long way. One time I heard the guy next to me saying, this guy talks nicely and takes all my money. I don't mind loosing to him!
Aawwwww touché!

GolfPro

I am old enuf to be both rob and cush's father. So there should be a huge generation gap. I generally do not like other pros b/c of their dooshbaggery - especially the younger ones. I liked both of them the first time I met them. They are true pros; with what I think is the right outlook on the game. While I would prefer not to play with them I truly enjoy their company and banter at the table

Thanks squid. I met them both last time I visited Vegas.

As you correctly pointed out "I too enjoy the banter between them" and that was the reason for my request.

GolfPro

Just took 7th out of 1294 players in that 100k freeroll for a 2.7k payday. I obviously ran super hot to get that far, and the flip that crippled me was the first one I had lost over about 5 hours in the tournament. I also won 2-3 pots where I was all-in and behind so yea, ran pretty hot.

I am pretty happy with my play, though there were some spots where being a cash game player and usually playing deep I was pretty lost. Early in the final table one such spot came up where I folded a marginal hand from MP 7 handed where I could have gotten into a 3 way flip (my AT v KQ v 88) and busted both the 2 guys who had fewer chips than me. I still don't know whats correct to be honest because the varying chip stacks behind me really muddled things up. Its a small mistake at worst to fold, results just making me kick myself. Oh well, I had a foot out the door several times and got bailed out so can't really be mad.

Tournament poker is a funny thing really. I had a lot of fun playing, mostly because I ran sick hot. And big picture, picking up 2.7k in a freeroll is pretty fantastic. With that being said, when you get that close and come up short its pretty demoralizing at first. If I had busted early I'd just be like "eh, whatever, wasn't my day", but to be so close to the 19k 1st place prize and bust in 7th is tougher to take. After I busted I was just thinking to myself "how the hell do tournament players do this all the time?". I remember when I used to watch the Main Event and people would bust in like 15th for a nice 6-figure sum and no one was happy. I would always say to the TV "wtf man, you just won 250k, be happy". Getting a small taste of what they felt, I can understand. I felt worse after busting a ****ing freeroll than any losing 2/5 or 5/10 cash game pot that I can recall.

It reminds me of an academic competition I used to do in high school called DECA. My Sophomore year I got top 10 at nationals but did not place in the top 3. I was pissed at the time, and was for a while after too. But in reality I had accomplished something pretty great, it just took some time (and a good friend helping me see the big picture) for me to be happy about it. FWIW after a Junior slump I did make the podium my Senior year with a 3rd place finish.

Now this isn't nearly as significant an accomplishment, as the results of one poker tournament are mostly decided by variance, whereas that competition was largely skill, except perhaps the subjective component that was human-judged. So that bad, got-so-close feeling is much shorter. In contrast the DECA thing, which took a couple months iirc, less than an hour after busting I'm already over the got-so-close feeling and am pretty stoked to have made it as far as I did. Even before I started writing this I was fine, I just thought it was interesting so wanted to do a post about it. I didn't think it would be this long but whatever.

So yea, now that those feelings are over, I can just be happy about running sick hot and winning 2.7k in a freeroll. And tomorrow I get to watch college football all day long. Life is good.