Oh, and a cool thing to mention. I got to meet Chris Moneymaker and have a quick chat with him while we left the casino today. Seems like a real nice, down to earth guy. It was cool to meet the man that was basically responsible for the poker boom back in the day which swept me into the game we all love!

Had the best $1/2 session so far of the year last night. +$986 in a little over 8 hours. Not only was it the results that made it the best session, but the way I played and how few mistakes were made. I did not flop a monster hand (or even set) all night but rather was able to correctly bet-size and extract value from all of my hands. Fortunately, my hands were holding up which helped significantly.

Another thing that I feel good about is that I loosened up my preflop game a little and feel it really made a +EV impact on my overall game. Nothing to the point where I was playing too many hands/raising too often or big/ and spewing chips, but rather often enough where nobody would label me as a tight player. Also, I did something that I never do but may consider again when I am running hot. The three successful bluffs I pulled (only one was for a $30+ pot so I picked and chose my spots), I threw in everyone's face which made me look even more LAG than I really am.

Thought I would add a post describing the bluffs that fostered a loose image and helped get me paid off all night (I am rather TAG in all actuality) These three hands were over the course of 6 hours and were the only real true bluff plays made all night (seen or unseen), Villain in Hand 1 and 2 is the same player:

$1/2nl Hand #1 (first bluff that anyone saw all night)

Hero holds JTo in BB. $600 behind
Villain, tight thinking player that will float but does not seem to adjust to specific players at the table; is in MP with $350 behind

Villain open limps and 3 other limpers to flop of 983 ($10 pot) Hero semi-bluffs out as the aggressor for a pot sized bet of $10; Villain calls, the rest of the field folds. Turn 6 Hero checks. Villain bets $20; Hero calls. River 8 ($70 pot) Hero bets $50 repping the 8; villain folds. Hero shows busted straight..table remarks.

$1/2nl Hand #2

Hero holds T5o on BTN $~900 behind

Several hours later the table has tightened up quite noticeably. Villain opens for $6 UTG with 1 caller. Villain is ABC preflop all night and sizes his pre-flop bets accordingly. Caller is weak-tight and not sticky. Hero opts for a squeeze with the intention of taking it down and showing to loosen up table's play vs. Hero. Raise to $26, take down, show. More colorful table remarks this time.

$1/2nl Hand #3

Hero in SB with 34o. 4 limpers all around. check flop all around and turn all around to a board of AK2 8 6. Here I had the same intention as hand #2 where everyone gave up and no draws were completed by the river. I made a $5 bet with the intention of showing a "unbelievable 4 high" in some people's minds. bluff successful.


What I found amazing is the effect showing these bluffs had on how the table played me (light bulb over head!) I was getting called down very thin and all of my big pocket pairs were getting me $150+ every time I had a safe board to push them. I normally have maybe 2 - 4 pure bluffs like this, where I pick relatively safe spots and usually for small amounts, in a session. They always worked with high frequency because of my tight image. Here I played identically to other nights with 2 small changes of showing my bluffs and limping in late position with more frequency. BOOM, image change.

Nice score. Glad to see that you are off to a great month. Good luck!

I know I don't post HH's in here often (or at all really); but I will try to do better at that. I really feel that my game is moving into a new level where I am now able to do things like identify when players are floating or squeezing when I'm not involved in the hands. Also, I am trying to become better at learning what players to float against and take pots away from. This is already paying off huge dividends and basically makes being "card dead" a non-factor for me.

Another thing I am working on is when/whom to employ level III thinking against. Tonight, I felt like I found an executed a great spot for this type of thinking. What do you "think" about this play?

$1/2 hand
HERO UTG +1 $420 behind
Villain in BB with ~$350 behind

HERO opens to $12 with QQ. Fold around to Villain in BB who completes and we go heads up. This is a rare V in $1/2 in that I have noticed him being active in many hands, floating against certain players, making good aggressive semi-bet moves and overall good at reading other players hands. This is the first time we have played a hand heads up together.

FLOP ($24) K73 rainbow. V checks to HERO. Now in the past I would c-bet this flop 100% of the time..why not right? Chances are V did not improve his hand and we are way ahead. However, my c-bet would do one of three things. V would fold out, V would float me, V would call or check raise with his King. If I check the flop, this would effectively tell V that I do not have a King and have something like AQ or a middle pocket pair based on my preflop bet sizing. HERO checks (to induce V to rep the King).

Turn ($24) 4. V bets out $20. A strong bet to rep the King (or maybe he does have it). But we are playing the odds just like the flop and that he misses it. A little hesitation on our part before calling will give us more info when Villain bets out on the River (see below). HERO calls $20.

River ($64) 5. no backdoor flush on the board but there is a backdoor gutshot straight. Villian bets out $45. We look weak here especially based on the hesitation on the turn; we have effectively told V that we are holding QQ-88 and didn't want to let it go. Maybe also a backdoor flush draw that did not hit.. Remember this is a thinking opponent. While it would suck letting him float his way to a backdoor straight; this river bet does not look too much like a value bet, but more of a trying to push me off the hand knowing I do not have a king. HERO calls, Villain says nice call I have a 7 before seeing HERO's QQ. V then says "I knew it. I should have bet more at the end."

So #1, yes self-brag about the hand, but more importantly I am happy that I am seeing spots like this to increase EV vs. just playing it ABC and taking this hand down on the flop/turn 95%+ of the time for a much smaller profit. #3 I look like a stubborn fish that couldn't let go of his big pocket pair and V is none the wiser that I intentionally let him take control of the hand to bet into.

Not all hands went this great though. Here is one that I am thinking of posting in the forum for opinions. I found myself stuck in the middle of what appeared an obvious squeeze play; but not really knowing what to do I just got out of the way.

$1/2nl Hand

V1: UTG ~$100 behind. New player to the table. Younger, but has not done anything to warrant my interest yet playing ABC and really seeming like a novice.
HERO: MP with $380 behind. TAG image. Has not shown any bluffs and has won few, but large pots.
V2: CO ~$450 behind. Young player that has shown he is stronger than his appearance would say. Has made some Hero calls, won some big hands, and is playing with a lot of confidence. Not overly TAG or LAG. A good balance.

V1: raises to $7 UTG. 1 caller. HERO looks down at TT in MP. I think about 3 betting, but in MP with 3 players and blinds to go, there will likely be 2-3 more callers and will get good action to set mine a good hand in middle position. HERO decides to call. V2: raises to $35 in CO.

This to me looks like an overbet 3-bet and smells like a squeeze play seeing as how the small $7 bet doesn't indicate much strength, there are only 2 callers behind, and he has position. V1 tanks and decides to call $35. first original caller folds out. HERO is stumped....V1 only has about $65 left in his stack so there are no odds to hit a set vs. his stack, V2 whom seems to be squeezing has HERO covered, but if that is the case I do not know his range here, nor how often I could stack him with his range.. I folded out feeling like a missed opportunity as I had a good read on the situation.


All in all, this month has been eye-opening so far to me about how much my style of play has changed and how quickly the results have changed with it.

More to come.

Approaching the mid-way point of the month. I hate to give in this early to my goals, but 1,000 hours this year is just falling further and further out of reach. Regardless, we grind on as time permits.

March To Date: 22.5 hours +$1,219. +$100 in promo cash.

Here is a program in Excel that I created to calculate your live tournament winrate in terms of $/hr so you can compare it to your live cash game winrate to see which tournaments are worth your time.

to date, this does not exist anywhere else

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/61...lator-1354813/

unfortunately, there is an error when trying to pull this up using Google Chrome but if you use Explorer or Firefox you can download it without a problem...

a lot of players make the mistake of thinking that tournaments are worth it when in reality, when viewed in the long term, a lot of tournaments are just not worth your time.

good luck with your challenge

dgi...

Thanks DGI

Another good, short mid-week session. 3HRS +$309. What I find interesting so far this month is that while I know I am on the + side of variance; it's not the obvious type like hitting sets (only hit 2 in the last 22 hours), Aces over Kings, big hands holding up, etc.

It seems that it is more of putting myself in many good "spots" to win; meaning I am more focused on playing positionally, isolating certain opponents, good table/seat selection. The + side of variance I am seeing is that I have not had many tough beats while extracting value this way. Examples include: floating and stealing pots from players without them backdooring into made hands, giving a free card when I am way ahead in unusual spots, etc.

One example hand from today: I have incorporated this into my arsenal and it works magically! The circumstances have only allowed it to happen once or twice though so far.

$1/2NL

V has ~$130 behind. LAG player, somewhat balanced, but more aggressive than passive.
HERO has ~$350 behind.

V limps in UTG + 1 for $2
1 caller for $2
HERO raises to $13 with AA in MP
folds around, V is the only caller for $11 more.

FLOP ($31) 474
V checks
HERO checks.

Turn ($31) J
V checks
HERO bets $20 (quick, splashy motion helps)
V c/r all-in quickly for last $95.
HERO calls.

River (~$250)Q Villain mucks to HERO's aces.

By giving the free card on the flop, we are telling villain that we missed and have overcards as virtually everyone at $1/2 will bet a rainbow flop with a pair. This gives V the opportunity to bluff, hit on the turn, or bet out there medium pocket pair. The few times I have employed this tactic, Villain overplays their hand significantly.

A few criteria: Have position, paired flop and rainbow, and ideally but not required, opponent should have 80bb or less. More than that and we may be leaving extra bets on the table by not pushing the pot size sooner.