Less poker more Lindsey Duke imo

Randal,

More Chipotle girl(s).

Plan is to just win a boatload and when I get back home walk into Chipotle with a $100 hanging out of my zipper. Hopefully that works.

Win streak dead at 8 straight sessions. Played very AIDS tonight with a sprinkle of cold deck.

GL OP

However have to agree with this, seems pretty woeful to me,seems like a good spot to just flat and prey for that 9, this is live pokers, most of the time making big hands is optimal, Cant imagine many good scenarios other than the unlikely nature hes shoving worse pairs. Hardly expect him to have kings, but i would expect live fish to rock up with 1010-QQ alot and AK.

id have to think hes the biggest spew fish in the entire universe to play it that way.

FWIW I don't really like the call off here. I'd need a pretty good read on villain to call off. Chipper doesn't really articulate the reasoning very well but the real reason is that we just don't fare particularly well against most 2/5 player ranges there.

That said we all have done this from time to time...it happens its not the end of the world.

I'd like to know what happened in that last hand last night if you want to share privately. I have some guesses about what you had and some thoughts about how I would have played it.

Feel free to PM me about it. I'll be the first to tell you I didn't play it correctly but I was clouded by some frustration on that one.

As for the 99 hand, I've talked it over with my coach and come to the conclusion that the play was fine. I don't want to get into a back and forth over it and I appreciate everyone's input.

Mini update:

Down a little bit this week $ wise. Monday started off good for me. Made two really awful plays on Tuesday that led to me losing a bunch. Took Wednesday off to lick my wounds and then had a good Thursday.

Hit the gym every day so far and am making good progress with the weight.

Scale on 1/1/14:


Scale this morning, 1/31/14:


Super Bowl this weekend will definitely derail the weight a little bit.

Heading to NJ Saturday night and will be at Borgata Sun and Mon night. Won't get much poker in Sunday due to the game but hopefully I can put a bunch of hours in Monday. Will be going home on Tues and coming back to MD either Tues or Wed.

Update with proper formatting coming Sunday.

Great job with this and good luck! Subscribed

nice thread and GL with the poker and weight loss goals!

"Winning session streak is now up to 7. I feel like I am improving exponentially with each session that I play in regards to making more and more optimal plays. "

Could you give us some examples on how you used to play before and how you are playing now?

btw GL and subbed!

I would say the biggest thing is just slowing down and taking all relevant information from the hand into account. My biggest problem is making quick decisions without giving enough thought to what villains actions mean in the hand. I also act without understanding why I am doing what I'm doing. This is something that I still struggle with. Too often (on Tuesdays big losing session for example) my brain will just seemingly shut off and I will end up dumping chips when if I just took a couple more seconds to let the information sink in and think about why I'm checking/betting/raising etc. I would make much better decisions that will ultimately make me a lot more money in the long run.

I get very angry with myself even after winning a pot if when I go over the HH I can't come up with answers for why I did what I did in the hand. I've definitely gotten better in this regard but I've still got miles to go. Once I find my groove in terms of my thought process during each hand I feel like the sky is the limit for me.

Good job on the weight loss. How tall are you?

6'5" and a deceptive 250+.

For reference I'm probably somewhere between the second and third silhouette from the right in this pic:

Introspection

"I got every ingredient all I need is the courage." - Eminem

This post will most likely be pretty light on poker and heavy on me rambling about my current state of mind so feel free to skip this entire post.

Since my last update I played a couple of sessions with Friday being the roughest one I've had in a while. I played well enough but I was getting constantly beaten by fish who were catching every card they needed on the turn and river. One thing I need to work on is recognizing when I'm getting frustrated and irritated at the table because my level of play from that point on takes a huge nose dive. This week I definitely want to reread Tendler's Mental Game book from the beginning and get a refresher course on how to deal with nights where fish won't miss versus me and how to better deal with becoming frustrated at the table. I read an old Ivey interview where he talks about quitting an hour or two into a session sometimes because he can recognize himself becoming irritated and knows he's just going to lose more often than he's going to win playing like that. I can recognize that in myself nowadays when I get sucked out on or nitrolled and I start laughing to myself or letting frustration out by slamming my chips down etc. This is definitely something I need to work on.

I haven't been doing well volume wise and it's something that I plan on improving on greatly in the upcoming weeks. I'm currently in AC and had some flashbacks of when I would work 40 hours during the week at my job and after I got out of work Friday shooting down the Parkway and grinding 20 hours during the weekend, sleeping in my truck when I needed to. Less than a year ago I was grinding 1/2 and beating it but was struggling with pit game addictions. I remember one night last March when I blew every dollar I had to my name in one night of drunken craps playing. I've come a long way since then and I think in order to see how far I've come I need to look back from time to time and reflect. I watched a craps game the other day and honestly forgot how to even play the game and didn't have one ounce of temptation to play.

Something I've secretly been struggling with lately has been the death of one of my best friends this summer. It's easy to not let it get to me since I moved two states away but there will still be times where a song comes on shuffle on my iTunes and it just reminds me of him and I get super down and think about him for days. Philip Seymour Hoffman dying after struggling with his addiction demons just reminded me yet again how powerful drugs can be. I've never been a drug user and before my friend died I was one of the people who thought people who used hard drugs were just "stupid." The truth of the matter is addiction is one of the hardest things to deal with for anyone and I implore anyone reading this that knows someone struggling with drug addiction to try to get them help ASAP. The last time I saw my friend he was explaining to me how having a daughter really helped him turn his life around and he wasn't using anymore and I remember being really happy for him and in the blink of an eye he was gone. Don't turn the other cheek on anyone you know with an addiction problem because they can be gone before you know it.

Taking these couple of days off were pretty necessary for me. When I get back to Maryland I'm going to be ready to put quality hours in. I have an idea of how to help clarify my thought process at the table and I'm eager to put it into effect. I'm going to go home to Central Jersey tomorrow to catch my little brothers basketball game, meet up with a friend for dinner and either head back to MD on Tue night or early Wed.

Still crushing it gym wise, went 5 days last week. Might start P90X next week because I hear amazing things about it. Diet took a hit during the Super Bowl but I'm ready to get back on the horse.

Don't have many interesting HH's from this week so here's one hand I was involved in with bwslim (might be slightly inaccurate):

Effective stacks: ~$550
Preflop ($7): Hero is OTB with JJ. Two limps to HJ who raises to 25, Hero calls, SB and two limpers call.

HJ is 2p2'er bwslim. We know each other and talk at the table a bunch. Good idea of how he plays.

Flop ($130): A Q J
3 checks to HJ who bets 80, Hero raises to 220, folded to HJ who goes AI for Hero's stack, Hero calls.

Turn ($1175): 3

River ($1175): 9

HJ shows KT

I probably should have called flop to try and get one of the other limpers into the pot but I'm fine with getting it in as well. Next time I'll just boat up and make it a lot easier.

Goals for week of 2/3-2/9
[ ] Play 30 hours (shortened due to being home)
[ ] Go over all recorded HH's with Kydd
[ ] Gym 5 of 7 days
[ ] Follow daily meal plan when back in MD
[ ] Read "Mental Game of Poker" by Tendler
[ ] No soda

Also Kydd will be getting interviewed for the AboveEV podcast (can find it on itunes) on Saturday night so keep an eye out for that. I will be present during the interview probably hurling insults at BigSkip.

Cool post. I'm reading MGOP now. Seems solid.

I used to struggle with this as well. I think you'll agree that it is somewhat easier to handle now that you play several times a week and not just on your weekend trips where you have limited time to make money. Nothing wrong with stopping an hour into a session though if you know your not playing your A game.

Awesome. Pit games suck. Going from having a crappy problem to writing this sentence in a years time is impressive and shows that you've improved as a poker player imo. Good stuff.


I know you've mentioned this itt before but have never talked about it in person. Don't feel like you can't. I'll stop what I'm doing at any time of the day to talk or just listen if that's what you need and I know everybody else here (maybe with the exception of the giant asian that lives in the basement) will do the same.

I may start going to the gym so theres extra motivation not to let me get biger than you. Watch out.


Good post btw. Have fun at home.

From my perspective I don't really like your flop raise. I don't think it is a huge deal since we are only 110 BB effective but I do think you make more $$$ flatting the flop at least against me or a thinking opponent. As you state, calling allows you to draw another player in potentially.

I think by raising the flop my continuation range shrinks to KT, AA, QQ and probably AQ (perhaps AJ). Basically you give me a cheap out with AK or whatever other random barreling hand I have. Also if I have Axs or whatever I may pick up more equity on the turn if a flush card or 2 pair hand comes thus making it more likely I barrel on.

Like I say I don't think its a huge deal but I think it is certainly more +EV to flat.

Against a non-thinking opponent it probably doesn't matter. Of course perhaps I am non-thinking so then you played it right.

Gracias coasterbro. Update your thread with more 3k stacks ASAP.

Yup good post. When I looked over the hand afterward it's def a flop call. It's so rare that I flop a set that sometimes my mind goes into hyperdrive.

At least I set over set that one fish the other day.

Subbed. Good luck sir.

Also, taking vitamins with diet and excercise will speed up the weight loss goal.

Thank you. I take OptiMen by Optimum Nutrition as well as fish oil every day.

Enjoy the thread. RE: fitness goals - check out the health & fitness forum on this site. Lots of great info there. There is some broscience in this thread and reading the FAQ in the H&F forum will help get you pointed in the right direction.

Subbing... I'm early on in the thread and don't want to read ahead so someone may have said this, but I'm right after the JJ vs 5s6s hand. Just wanted to say bet more on that flop... Boards with a lot of straight draw and flush draw potential I like to bet more. I like that bet more if it's like 257 rainbow or something like that. Plus, the smaller your overpair or top pair on a board, the more scare cards there are. If you have JJ on 233 and the turn is an A or K vs a super fish, he could have A2 or K2 suited. So any spade (9), A (3), K (3), 6 (3) and maybe Q (3) is a scare card. 42% of the time one of those hits.

Anyway, sorry to bring up a sick cold deck but in case that discussion doesn't happen in the posts I'll be reading tonight, wanted to put my .02 in. Looking forward to reading this one!

Year of the Horse

"Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly." - John F. Kennedy



2014 is the year of the horse according to the Chinese zodiac. Hopefully that means big results this year for me. This week has been good so far, booking two solid wins but I'm still slacking on putting in longer sessions. Last night I had solid reads on everyone at the table but towards the end of the session I felt myself getting easily frustrated at peoples play against me and decided to rack up instead of playing pissed off.

I have two hands to share with the first being deemed AIDS by one of my housemates (Kydd said it wasn't total AIDS so I'm not too ashamed of it):

Effective stacks $500
Preflop ($7): Hero is UTG+1 with AJ
UTG limps, Hero raises to 25, folded to BB and UTG who both call.

This is my third hand at the table and I have no reads on anybody yet. BB is an older (mid 50's) white male.

Flop ($77): K Q 9
Checked around.

Elected not to cbet here 3 ways because I think this flop hits a ton of villains ranges.

Turn ($77): 7
Checked around.

Now I have showdown value with my A and I'm not getting a pair to fold at this point IMO.

River ($77): T
BB bets 20, UTG folds, Hero raises to 60, BB raises to 160, Hero takes some time and raises to 260, BB takes a couple seconds and calls.

I elected not to shove because I thought BB could find a fold given his age if I shove. I still probably could've made it 150ish on top and he still would've called. Housemate says he never folds after 3betting the river but it just didn't feel like a slam dunk shove to me.

BB had J9

Hand #2:

Effective stacks $500
Preflop ($7): Hero is in MP1 with JJ
One limp to Hero who raises to 25, folded to BTN who calls as does UTG limper.

BTN was a super face up nitty player. Him calling 25 means I can rule out pretty much all suited connectors and can put him on PP's and some suited broadways. UTG limper can peel flops pretty wide but is fit or fold on the turn.

Flop ($82): J J 8
UTG checks, Hero bets 30, BTN quickly calls, UTG folds.

I pretty much put BTN strictly on a flush draw at this point. The only 8 I can possibly see him having here would be 88.

Turn ($142): Q
Hero bets 85, BTN calls.

Now I'm hoping a blank hits the river and I can bet it pretty big. Probably could've bet this street bigger to set up a bigger river bet. My mistake here.

River ($312): 8
Hero bets 105, BTN calls.

Pretty much the WOAT river card. I honestly didn't even expect him to call the 105.

BTN shows KK



That's it for hands so far this week. Will update again on Sunday most likely.