ty for dropping in.

how has the regrind been?

ty for the feedback!

ty for sharing your thoughts!

yeah, BTN folded. he’s nitty for the game but won’t be folding any pears to my c-bet.

He’s also the type to raise off sets vs a c-bet multi-way so not worried about him really in a spot like this. I should be noting that in the hh. easy to forget these nuances.

I do think the whale will be more value heavy in general though given btn’s involvement.

V is continuing virtually 100% pre which lends itself to us wanting click the bet button significantly more often this high up post. He won’t be folding any pears, gutters, A high, backdoors etc post to reasonable sizings.

Also It varies quite drastically with this guy, but V will be squeezing 10s-77s region often pre. They’re premiums relative to his VPIP.

Anyways, we have far more equity and thus larger pot share as well with AA than in a typical configuration given how wide straddle is pre.

Visibility is a concern here OTT facing the healthy x/r + large bet line but unlike the typical spot where we’d rather click call with J 10 or the equivalent I’m inclined to think our raw equity OTT is more prevalent.

Otr we go back to wanting that hand class though obv if we see v pile in the 400bb (technically 200 with straddle)

V can be doing this with all kinds of stuff and we have lots of outs vs 2p region. Obviously some reverse implied odds but that will work both ways.

I did end up clicking fold here OTT although probably would go call/call in hindsight.

Not a fist pump spot by any means but imo a lot of the EV is manufactured in these spots where things get complex vs this player type.

This next part isn’t everyone’s cup of tea as heavily subjective but it’s pretty essential wrt to my overall strat.

From an overall meta game standpoint I think this dynamic where we bet way too often and way too large everywhere and V proceeds to raise us in the same capacity is very profitable for us. We’re IP on a huge donator. We want to battle him. I’ve noticed him just checking down hands he’d pile in 500bb w vs another whale i when facing the nitty rec in the hand instead.

Catching punts is great, but getting to showdown is especially tough for a variety of reasons and even the most unsophisticated players pick on to us pot controlling heavily if you play with them often.

We’re IP, V stuck 5k+, is super capable (for better or worse), and could have complete air. Sucks the times something gross happens otr, or they just have it but just a part of this grind ime. Should probably be taking this spot with the aces vs this V.

Another option is to 3b flop to freeze the action (xb turn/fold to flop 4b).

I’m just talking out loud though, I appreciate any feedback.

Anyways, thanks for reading

Ahhh, I actually missed that main V was the big whale as well. Just saw now that you put that at the top of that post.
I personally would still play that as a pure check, and would rather bet from a different (and thin) portion of range other than AA there, but I get what you’re meaning dynamics wise.
Oh whales, the spice of poker. What would we do without the massively unbalanced players who throw a huge wrench into anything being “standard”.

V is a very solid high stakes live pro.

V views me as the tight pro in the game.

OTTH

$1745E

OTTH

Pre-flop: Reg open $12 MP. Hero $50 BTN with K K. V cold 4b $125 SB. Hero peels. OR folds.

Flop ($266): 9 6 5. V c-bets $175. Hero calls.

Turn ($616): 9 6 5 9. V checks.

Hero? $1445E behind

i know you want to be the best but i've found it's best to avoid leveling wars vs other pros at the table, especially ones with bonified track records

cold 4 is strong, very few rivers concern us, if we're beat then we're probably already beat here

vs rando i'm putting in some 1/3 psb, vs another pro whom i respect i'm checking for pot control and going to call any river for <50% psb and probably call larger river bets of anything but an ace

if it's checked to me on river i'll put in a small value bet - probably scared bad reg logic but i'm never happy to play a big pot vs a non rec without pure nuts

PF is standard. You should be flatting your entire continuing range in this spot. I think you can 5bet AA like 20% and maybe like 1 combo of AKo and AKs like 5% flatting the other 95%.
But yeah KK definitely a pure flat here.

Flop is pure call with continue range, folding your worst pairs and air.

Turn is definitely a better card for you as I think you have an overwhelming majority of 99 and 9x and 87s and the other sets. Given the range you show up to the turn with I think when you bet you want to be polar so big bet or check with a medium frequency of both.

With KK I think it definitely wants to be in the bucket for check as it definitely wants to get to showdown and doesn't need much protection. It's one of the way ahead way behind spots and a good holding to protect the checking range.

Thanks for poasting about magnus-nepo game 6! Must be fun for you and others with a deep understanding of chess to sweat that match.

Less poker more chess talk pls

Magnus was SUPER confident today and drew the game (w/ Black) with ease.

It's quite possible Nepo was just tired af (Previous round lasted 7h 47m !!!) and wanted an easy draw to come and regroup for the next round.

ty for sharing your thoughts, sir

given that we’re playing with V very regularly, we’re best served battling him/playing our own game (lots of aggression).

I think most would be blown away by how often the stack goes in without nutted hands and the overall level of aggression in optimal.

Unlike Vegas public games, for example, where very few 5/10 regs are sticking 2k in as a bluff imo- we will certainly be exploited quite hard if we shy away from V.

This reduces our EV vs everyone else at the table we want to play pots with quite drastically too given the other pros will 3b, 4b, squeeze us relentlessly preflop and apply max aggression postflop.

I do think it’s important to avoid leveling wars with high stakes pros. There is rarely any ego involved to begin with though- even in the leveling wars vs whales.

I don’t see anything to be scared of though.

As for this particular hand, I ended up doing what you said

xb turn, V x/f to block bet on blank river

I’d probably stab 88-77, 76s ott, looking to rip it in otr.

As played, probably blocking some non A high diamonds as a bluff.


Ty for sharing your thoughts and articulating them so well

the pleasure is mine, thanks for dropping in! hope you’re doing well sir

yeah, it’s quite exciting



sure, thanks for your input

what’s the longest classical game you’ve played AIM?

have had several in the six hour range personally but never seven-eight idt

G 120 SD 60 time control ftw

WCC Game 6:


https://fivethirtyeight.com/features...story-was-won/


WCC Game 7:


https://fivethirtyeight.com/features...agnus-carlsen/


WCC Game 8:


https://fivethirtyeight.com/features...-championship/

I want to get more hands in while I my shift my focus back to online in the meantime.

something like 75k hands a month on top of the bigger stuff grinding exclusively reg tables sounds good to me

From an efficiency pov though I think I’m using up way too much energy/time in game etc at small stakes. I have a tendency to give everything 110%

Thoughts on simplifications like larger sizings pre in every configuration, 4b/f oop vs 3b, one size flop c-bet, no raising range IP SRP, x range oop SRP etc?

Any of you higher stakes regs run into this issue? I’d be interested in suggestions/feedback etc

I think going with a simpler strategy that can be executed with higher accuracy for longer periods of time is the better option.

It's the same reason in blackjack the most common counting method used among the pros is just straight up hi lo with the fab 4.

Sure you could try to implement hi-opt II with side counting aces and a ton of variations or whatever, but the extra effort involved is not worth it and the risk of making a mistake goes up which would just erase any of the extra edge gained by the more complicated system.

I figure the same idea would likely apply to poker.

Around 6h 20m at a CCA (Continental Chess Association) event a number of years back.

I've also had a game nearly 6 hours (let's say 5h 40-45m) in the first game of a day followed by a 6h 15-20m game in the second game of a day. Fun stuff lol.

I've read how one of the main motivations for Fabiano to move to Italy when he was 12 was to play 1 game a day in events in Europe vs. the standard 2 games a day in US events.

weird, tuma also plays chess and mclovin and tuma have never been posting at the same time

weird, Rickroll is an idiot in 5% of his posts.

I’d take the over.

the grind this week was incredibly stressful, probably just a function of every week being that way since september.

Lots of big decisions all the time in super deep games with people who are ready to put the stack in at any point.

will have lots of hands for the thread though and ill make an effort to keep posting even when on edge (always )

i called off my stack for some ridiculous number of bb (and $) today otr vs x/jam with a bluffcatcher and was wrong (V nuts) but happy with the call.


Thanks for sharing your thoughts as always. Makes sense


CCA events are a good time.

Yeah. Scholastic tournaments are also a tough grind with the five games a day (sometimes less or more ofc) lol

400nl line check

Main V (btn) is unknown.

MP is a huge whale

PFR is a good reg

BTN is a reg, unknown.

$795E~ w BTN. $1740E w MP.

OTTH

Pre-flop: EP opens $16. 4 callers, including MP and btn. Hero 3b $155 w J J. BB. MP calls. Btn overcalls.

Flop ($515): Q 8 4. Hero checks. Checks through.

Turn ($515): Q 8 4 5. Hero bets $155. MP folds. Btn calls.

River ($825): Q 8 4 5 3. Hero jams $485E.

Thoughts?

like

Perfecto.

ugh, i feel like a fish disagreeing with 3 top minds above but i can't tell if we're jamming for value or as a bluff and that's i'd check here

i think anything that beats us calls and anything that doesn't folds so i'd rather x/c here

short and sweet

i like it

ty



for value. mostly a function of river spr and V's range being well defined after double flatting the 39bb sqz pre

In the spirit of my upcoming post~

I want to thank my close friend Simon, a gem, for our mental game work so far. I think it’s imperative to work with people who have played high stakes successfully themselves and are still grinding currently.

If you play mid-stakes+ and are genuinely interested in getting help with your mental game, I would pm him or message him on skype(midasmp). It doesn’t matter if you mainly play live or online or if you play recreationally or professionally.

The only request that I have is to please not waste his time.

https://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/1...iness-1750992/

https://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/1...-blog-1515496/


Also appreciate Kanaxis on here, for our technical game work so far. He’s super funny which I’d imagine is a semi-rare quality among 2knl (10/20) online regs in 2021.
https://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/1...40/?highlight=

I thought I would share an edited template of my poker journal here. It’s constantly evolving. I spend a lot of time writing in it and contemplating how to optimize my day to day performance on the felt.





Let me know if anyone found this helpful.

Does anyone want to see a completed version?

Key point: At the end of the session, I usually write something under each of the session objectives evaluating how I did etc.

Thoughts welcome!

Other players are between 3k-7k effective.

Hero chipped down to $1474 in the previous hand and am the effective stack.

OTTH

Pre-flop: Hero straddles $8 utg. Reg $40 MP. Reg flats $40 LP. Massive, splashy whale $200 btn. Can have anything. Huge whale cc SB $200. Pretty wide, although will call premiums too.

Hero wakes up with A A straddle.

What are you doing?