Being 1 level ahead of your opponent is fantastic, being 2-3 levels ahead can be a recipe for disaster

whats the difference between being 1 level ahead of your opponent over 2-3 levels?

It means you are thinking about optimum strategy, but the drooler is wondering what snack to eat next.

Levels

I know whats leveling I was wondering what was the difference between being 1 level ahead vs being 2-3 levels ahead.

Being 1 level ahead gives you the greatest edge, being 2-3 levels ahead will cause you to overthink and overanalyze certain spots causing you to bleed money simply because your opponent is not thinking that deeply.

Thanks for the well wishes guys.

Just a quick update to say I hadnt played any poker until today and hadnt really thought much about Poker. Worked on a few off table things and looking at ways to break these old habits and a lot of it is simply going to be down to me taking time before making decisions at the table and planning ahead.

I played a few hands today but Im not going to just dive right back in its going to be a gradule thing as I continue to work on these other areas. The session itself went well and I did take my time and I feel I played pretty well making good decisions. I 4bet in the session about 3 times and all of them I thought were in good spots. I semi-bluff raised post flop a couple of times and shut down after bad cards came on the turn in one of them instead of just betting willy nilly.

Apart from knowing I ended up for the session I dont know how much as I didnt check my results. Hopefully this can be an ongoing thing and something Im going to try and work on to try and keep me less results oriented.

gl with not looking on results! i am sure it will help you.
and please, do not start from bottom, it is waste of time for you imho.
gl and wish you some good run!

I saw this and I thought of you Mart...

BTW, in the above I am not suggesting you are mediocre, just thought it contained some good calming wisdom.

This also made me laugh

Thanks for the links. It actually describes me pretty accurately to be honest.

Played another session last night and lost a bit of money early on. Again didnt check results but know that I probably finished up as I won a big pot later on in the session. Not really happy how I played though and got involved in some marginal spots that I probably shouldnt have.

I remember a couple of pages back I was whinging about how some of the 2+2 regs seem to run pretty well and play a variance free game. Well Ive had a look at a couple of the players games and played some hands with one of them last night. My suspicions seem to be right so far in that the reason they dont get stacked that often is they are simply not putting their money in unless they have the nuts. Like last night one of the regs raised in EP and got 3bet from the blinds and flat called. The flop came Jack high and pretty dry and the 3bettet check/raised. The hand got just about checked down from there, the turn checked through and the river the 3better made a really small bet that got called. Turned out the reg had flopped a set and it really should have been a case of getting the money in on the flop as it was pretty obvious the guy was weighted towards overpairs. It is obviously a winning strategy and keeps the variance low but I can also see why they will/have struggled to move up. On the face of it I have the total exact opposite in that I stack off way too light but arnt afraid to get in uncomfortable spots. If I can hit somewhere in between then I will give myself the best chance of moving up.

Yeah, think you have nailed it. The balance between low variance, low win rate, clicking buttons and high variance, higher win rate, developing skill, particularly hand reading and villain leaks, is what the game is all about.

e.g. I don't use hand charts, I got called a fish/****** when posting a hand where I opened K9 from early pos. I was targetting two loose passive players (and hit btw) and won a nice pot, prolly should have won more. It was a way ahead, way behind situation, but once I knew I was ahead...all good. As I learn and develop more, the more I should win, and the more enjoyable the game is.

Keep up the good work Mart.

Games are good. Villain in this hand is a tag reg.




Zoom is just full of people waiting to flop the nuts it seems.

I guess Im happy with the above hand and how it played out. It did make me check my results though because tilt breaker kicked in and I felt a bit of injustice tilt. I still dont know my results for yesterday though as they are on the other computer. I did start this post as a bit of a rant about running bad but changed it as theres nothing much to say and I played the hand well and thats all I can do.

I am lol bad at this game when I am not running well. The few days off havnt changed anything and I am playing the same style as I were before those days off. Far too curious believing people are getting out of line when they never are and simply not reading the game well at all. Its ok doing it off the tables but I cant do it at the tables.

I cant even say that I missed playing as I just filled my time with other stuff. If I didnt play another hand of Poker it really wouldnt be any big deal as a lot of the time Im not really enjoying playing as Im just moaning about bad beats it seems like most of the time. The excitment is still there but thats probably one trait I shouldnt really have by now and it also seems im in a better mood on the whole when not playing poker.

Looking at that its not really much of a decision.

Out of your depth imo.

Why is that then?

QQ Hand is a killer. Can't see how he calls pre, as it doesn't even go multi-way, apart from you being slighty deep, but even then.

Yeah I shouldnt complain really but thats how it goes.

Ive dropped about 4 buyins today and nothing has changed. I just tried to get a guy to fold 2 pair knowing exactly what his hand were when I were bluffing. Im not sure who I am kidding thinking joe average is capable of folding 2 pair.

Ive basically grown tired of myself pulling this **** so think Im going to try and end my stake and finish up, maybe take some proper time away from the game as my play is frustrating me far more than I am enjoying playing.

At the moment at least, you seem to be fighting against things that are mostly out of your control. (and avoiding things which are)

The games have certainly got tougher at 25NL/50NL and above, so I think you're bound to come across a lot more downswings, and general crap. (As well as the normal crap from bad players getting lucky.)

Do you feel like your game has evolved over the last 12 months?

You can obviously beat the games, and have good results in the past. But has your game evolved enough to a point where you can expect to win at the same rate as you always have? (i.e Are your expectations of your winrate still correct?)

From your posting, it also seems like you have a very solid A game, but your D and C game need improving a ton. I think you said you've read the Tendler book, so thats something that stands out to me. Work on soldering those leaks, and those times where you call just because you HAVE to know if you're being bluffed.

Confidence in poker comes from making correct folds imo. Not great value bets. Any doofus can value bet the sh*t out of a hand, and get paid off. The true art, and skill comes from laying down hands when you know you're cooked. Its empowering, so embrace that side of the game. (Value is also a skill, but generally there's less of a problem with missing a few cents off a bet than calling a bet when you know youre beat.)

I had a year off (kid ftw), and I think that helped me notice the shift and difference in the games over that period. My game had to change a lot to win at the same rate. Its still got plenty of holes, but thats cool, and it will always be a learning process. The learning curve might as well be a circle, as it never really ends.

And when I say "out of your depth", I think you have the skill to compete at 50NL. You just need to take your game and mindset to the next level and start thinking/playing/working like a 100NL player. Because thats the kind of mindset it takes to beat each level. You need to be playing as if you were at 100NL, and that everyone at 50NL is beatable and exploitable to some degree.

And just accept that its going to be tough along the way too.

And stop complaining.

GL. Ive tried to avoid this thread for a while, but I keep coming back. Just my 2c, so don't take it personally.

I think you make a lot of fair points.

Honestly though I dont see the games getting that much tougher over the last couple of years but maybe thats because my game has improved but who knows. Im currently beating NL50 for slightly more than I were before Black Friday despite my whinging and moaning and again over doubled my NL25 WR last year compared to the years before.

My attitude isnt that great though and its basically an ego thing and I think Im better than anyone else which just isnt true and its not a good mentality to have. I have tried everything to try and alter things around a bit and I thought getting rid of my rage tilt which I have managed to do on the whole with Elliot would see a shift in my mentality but as of yet that dosnt seem to have happened.

I am probably expecting too much too quick and just expect results to fall in to my lap but it dosnt work like that and that is causing me problems.

For the minute though I have contacted my staker about getting out of my contract and I am just trying to earn another 100 FPP to get the next bonus and then calling it a do. If I have no money on the sites I cant play although I have a **** load of FTP`s if I do get the urge to play a little but I think a clean break will be good for the time been.

Couple of decent parting shots by Stars.







Then when you just get that feeling?







Still got 20 points to get for the bonus so I wonder what it will throw at me next.

My mistake.

You're playing and winning better than ever before, so you're quitting...

I've no idea what you're after. GL whatever man.

Got the points and these were the worst hands:-



What a surprise the board pairing on the turn:-








Maybe if I had run good early on when coming back then things may have been different but not to be.

Just to finish with a quick tilt hand against a loose short stacker who just happens to flop 2 pair:-




Good luck to everyone and wishing you all some run good.

Thats just how I roll, when Im winning I want to win by more and when Im losing its a disaster. Im certainly not playing better than before, I think some of my play are awful as shown in this thread at times. I really dont have the attitude to play these levels I dont think.

YTD graph?
edit: that 98ss hand is baaad man

Pretty good post here that sort of explains why just winning is never enough for me and I always want more:-
http://shakeoffthegrind.com/spiritua...to-do-about-it