Had fun playing man, it's nice to just chillax and have a little fun in the room every now and then. Keep it up, you're an inspiration to all of us.

Cool thread.. keep up the poker talk here, some interesting stuff. Wish I could get out to the shoe' more often but life keeps getting in the way!

Good luck!

Opening to 15 at 1/2?

You can't expect to open less than that and not get 5-6 callers in my games. $15 is pretty standard live, sometimes more. There's a few that swear to never open for less.

I even think $15 to start is low sometimes but adding $2 for any limpers. Ex: 1 limp, raise to $17, 3 limps raise to $21 etc.

Live is much unlike online where a standard open is 2x-4x

^ table dynamic is extremely important at a loose passive table yes 17$ w one limpet etc

Tight passive table no way !

I can assure you fogo knows this.
His game theory is the tits..

ya, fourdeuce hit on one of the reasons a larger raise size is better.

and for the most part, even if the table standard is like 8-10, i'm usually capable of manipulating the dynamics so that 15+ becomes the standard, and this is good for the game for a few reasons.

for one, i get a lot of passive players to open up their l/c calling range against me since i'm very active ip, and if they are just c/f flops they miss, why wouldn't you want more money in the pot.

another reason its good to increase the size of your open is that you create an SPR for your premium hands that you are comfortable getting stacks in with. this mainly applies against loose opponents. if you open to 8 and you are 125-150bb deep, there is just no way you can get your opponent to stack off with something like KQ on a K high flop when you have AA. but if you open to 18 or whatever, it is much easier to get stacks in.

and as deuce said, you want to avoid the pot going multiway, especially oop.

also gives me a pretty aggro image that always pays off. about 95% of the opponents cant differentiate btwn me isoing with a crap hand ip that gets to show down, and when i raise large in ep and start betting pot for value, so it definitely helps for meta-game purposes.

ya its always a blast. i think i'll up my alk intake the next time when i don't have a game in the morning.

question about the only hand we got to play together.

When i bet flop and barreled turn for 2/3 pot on the Q73 or something, and the turn was the A, I know you are pretty much calling with any Qx hand that you called the flop with bc this is just the nut turn card to barrel, so am i pretty much forced to ship all rivers? this was my initial plan but...

the river was an interesting card bc it was a J, which could easily hit your calling range otf which was KQ, QJ, and fds (discounted bc I had a fd and just not many combos) and also gave me some showdown value with my JT in case you did happen to have a fd, so i just checked back since the only hand i might get you to fold is KQ, and even then i think you only had something like ~120 behind? the drank makes me forget details

watya think?

thanks man, drop a line if you ever make it out and wanna say hi.

and i will try to keep this thread very content rich, with as little bs fluff as possible. so on that note... check out my cool new Oakley grinding backpack!

[IMG][/IMG]

and **** photo bucket for taking down the cancun pic of the wet tshirt contest. god damn prudes.

Hand 4 I would Overbet. I Overbet a lot and one of my favorite spots to do it is when I backdoor. Something wonky like $80.

Only you can speak the the passivity / hero cally nature of villain though. But yea my overbets get looked up hella light. Like lighter than my thin value bets. It has the added bonus of making you look super aggro. If they fold to your first Overbet of the night they most certainly won't fold to a second one.

You and I are quite similar in both style of play and poker career. I moved to 2/5 about 2 months ago, about to clip 100 hours. 2/5 is such a relief from 1/2, you'll do well I'm sure.

Living vicariously through this thread, as it's what I did just a few months back (and basically the same now as 2/5 isnt all that different, just more gambly players and more $$.) And no joke it's kind of creepy how similar our games are.

Agree 100% that bigger is always better for pf opening at 1/2.

I used to do the $6 or $8 +$2 for every limper and would get so many calls and be all like "lol livepoker." My games are a little on the tighter side, but now if there is at least 1 limper I will never open for less than $12, and never open raise for less than $10. After a few limpers, in my games at least, $15 normally gets it HU/3 way.

IMO whenever I see someone that looks like an "internet kid" or someone who might be good at poker, I just pay attention to their preflop sizing and can pretty quickly tell if they have any clue how to play live 1/2 or not.

I definitely don't utilize the overbet enough and i really should.

I tried it for the first time the other night.

I isoed a younger (thinking?) kid with KJ to 15, and flop was 865. definitely not optimal (and a little too FPS) but i checked it back bc he was sort of a thinking player and he would never think i would check back a fd.

Turn was the 4, and he c/c 30. river was a brick and I bet 150 and he tank folded. If he had a straight or 2pr, i don't think he folds.

I'm not surprised you said that bc i noticed the same thing based on strat talk and everything. except you get to play in the juicy Florida games while i'm stuck in nit central .

even tho we have a very similar playing style, i wonder if our different images effects our results.

i remember you described yourself as granola. i really don't know how i'm viewed, it may change on the day and how i behave. sometimes i must be viewed as a punk when i don't talk much and am very aggressive. and sometimes i'm very goofy and messing around w/ everyone trying to generate a good atmosphere.

when i started out i also made that mistake. took me some time to realize why it was bad, and also noticed the better players would never open less than 12. I probably now have one of the largest, or the largest, sized opening standards of the 1/2 player pool in my room.

i also look for that. there have definitely been better players than me that came from online who just have no idea how to beat 1/2. its a different animal, but part of being a good player is having the ability to adjust to anything.

I don't know honestly, I just remember thinking we haven't played together and I don't know a whole lot about your game (how wide you're opening, if you're pot controlling ever, how much you're cbetting/double barreling). I for sure fold to any river bet because you shouldn't have any total air on that river and if you were to show up with air it would be a mistake I think. Default play was to check/call, check/call, check/fold. I thought you played the hand well, do you remember what position you opened from? I was bb right?

i was either co or btn and you were either BB or straddle.

ya, i was planning on shoving pretty much any non J,Q, or K river.

only history we had was from last winter. I think hand was something like i opened in a straddled pot to 17 with KJs and you called ip.

don't remember exactly, but flop was pretty draw heavy, but i remember it was J high, so something like J98 two-tone. and i checked and c/r your 23 bet to 75 and you folded.

games were pretty bad during the graveyard shift last night, so decided to short stack 2/5, and man was it sweet. I only sat for about half an hour before the game got broken, but the game was unbelievable.

One opponent was about 2k deep who had a vpip of 100%, and would come in for a raise of 5x-7x about 65-70% of the time, and called the only 2 3b during this time.

One hand he 3b and open shoved when 800 eff on an A high flop with QQs, and got snapped by AQ.

the other three were just loose passive, (and i'm talking significantly more loose than the loose opponents at 1/2) who were making all the standard wrong adjustments when a bad aggro opponent is at the table.

we played five handed during this time, and i sat down with 250 and finished with about 700. I played two significant hands during this time.

Hand 1

bad lag opens to 25 utg, one call, and I call otb with with KQ, and we see the flop 5 ways.

Turn(125): Q86

SB leads 65, folds to me I shove for 200, and SB folds JJs face up.

Hand 2. 380 eff

bad lag limps, MP limps, I limp 85 OTB, SB calls, and BB checks.

Flop(25): AQ8

SB leads 20 and I call.

Turn(65): 2

SB leads 65, and I raise to 190, and he calls.

River(445): 4

SB c/c my last 145 and MHIG.

Played some 1/2 after this for a few more hrs but no real interesting spots. Will definitely continue to look for opportunities to short stack 2/5 with 50bb the rest of the week. don't have the greatest confidence in my short stack play, but it really doesn't even matter if the games are how they were last night.

June

$/HR: $41/hr 51hrs: +$2,147

Start of Thread

$/HR: $29/hr 97hrs: +$2,850

Current BR: $8,090

Nice work!

interesting thing i've noticed happen multiple times in recent sessions is that the pre flop aggressor is c/c rather than cbetting on ragged flops, and i think their range is always weighted to just naked broadways/over cards. if they had any sort of significant equity in the pot, it is much more likely they would cbet than c/c.

so if the pre flop aggressor checks to you and you attempt to steal ip, and he surprisingly calls, don't be hesitant to fire a second barrel ott expecting him to release a large percentage of the time.

I have had a few poker dreams the past few weeks, not surprisingly, since i tend to have dreams about things I'm really invested in. I wish it was an awesome hand where i c/r bluffed the river for 20k vs durrrr, but it was actually a pretty boring hand.

I raise AJ to 20 and realize the opponent before me made it 40, so i reluctantly call, and flop is J high monotone with three hearts, and i have the Ah, and my opponent c/f. you know your runnin good when your running good in your dreams

also, never saw this one before.

I was playing tight at the time. I iso this weak/tight opponent otb with ATC and only the sb calls, and he c/f an Axx flop with AJ

+1 for confidence

Yes...
Loooooooottttts more floating in 2/5

Remember everyone understands c-bets better players are going to always call (what they think is a standard) c-bet on a dry board and look for weakness on the turn. ie checking hesitating betting fast or too little!!
Against a lot of players ill cc any two sometimes flop and turn to steal on the river when they give up!!

It is true that there is a lot more floating in 2/5, but virtually no one knows what it means. Like, if they "float" it is to hit their card ott. Not steal ott. Lol.

Also I would advise against ss'ing 2/5. If you must play, I would shot take instead. Play a similar ss style game though, where you nit it up pretty hard but go balls to the wall with premiums and made hands.

ya i agree, I thought about short-stacking and decided against it. I sat at 2/5 again last night for about an hour, but got no real opportunities at any point to capitalize. at least i'm getting some hrs in to just get familiar with game dynamics.

and i didn't mean that i was noticing more floating at 2/5, i meant i've been noticing a lot of pre flop aggressors c/c the flop rather than firing a cbet, at both 1/2 and 2/5.

happened again last night. pre flop aggressor c/c a ragged flop then folded to to another bet ott. I guess they feel they can't get value from worse but A high is still good?

finished up $600 last night. $558 from 3.5 hrs at 1/2, and $42 from 1.5hrs at 2/5.

The 2/5 game was definitely not as juicy as my first experience, but still a hell of a lot better than 1/2. got to play a little with a big donator my friend pointed out, and if he tilts or begins to spew, it can become a beautiful thing.

one of the difference of the few I noticed was that the players don't slow play their premium hands nearly as often. In a raised pot, the spot i just mentioned bet three streets with 77s on a 722 board and got max value against K2. at 1/2, there is a good chance this pot ended tiny bc both opponents would be slow playing the entire hand.

another opponent actually opened pre and fired with 98 on a 7TJ board. you would almost never see a pre flop aggressor fire the flop with the nuts at 1/2

alright, some hands...

Hand 1

early into my 1/2 session. V1 opens to 7, I call with KQ ip, and two opponents call in ep.

Flop (30): A42

checks around.

Turn (30): 6

V1 bets 11, I make it 30, everyone folds.

Just an obvious spot where V1 is making a weak stab at the pot since no one has shown any interest, so i expect a raise here to work a large percentage of the time


Hand 2. 350 eff

I make it 15 in the SB with TT after a few limps, and only V1 calls otb.

Flop (35): 874

I lead 35, V1 calls.

Turn (105): 4

I lead 80, V1 calls.

River (265): J

I lead 120, V1 folds and flashes 96

I guess a case can be made for c/c the river to possibly induce a bluff from his missed draws, but this opponent was very stationy and I could easily see him calling me all the way down with a weaker pair. the turn is a great card, and if he did have something like 87, I don't think he is ever folding, but i don't think shoving will ever get called by worse

Hand 3 225 eff

V2 opens to 12, V1 from hand above calls, I make it 55 with AK, and V1 calls.

Flop (125): J75

I bet 110 and V1 does that "i know I gotta catch up" shove for another 60 more, and i bink an A ott to take it down. He flashes a 5 at me before leaving.

2/5

no real interesting hands during the 1.5 hrs i played. I stole a few small pots using my tight image, but thats pretty much all.


Hand 1: 6 handed

Straddle. I make it 45 with AT in mp, and everyone folds

Hand 2: 5 handed

Straddle. I open to 40 otb with 87 and the bb calls.

Flop: (90): T85

I bet 50 and he folds.

He was really contemplating a raise, and even said after he folded that it was either a fold or a raise. I was considering a shove if he did raise since he is not repping all that much and i've seen him slow play a few times already

Hand 3: 7 handed

V1 opens to 20 otb, sb calls, and i make it 90 with Q7 in the bb, and both fold.

V1 just looked weak when he made this bet, and he has made it 25-30 when he had a premium hand. The sb didn't look that interested either, and was probably just calling to get involved with V1

Hand 4: 6 handed

I open QT in mp to 25 and only the sb calls.

Flop (55): K64

I bet 35 and he folds.

just an A+ board to fire a cbet, and this opponent was relatively tight and aware of his opponents and the fact that i have been playing tight.

will continue to look to take some shots the rest of the week.

June

$/HR: $48/HR 56hrs: +$2,747

Start of Thread

$/HR: $33/HR 102hrs: [COLOR="rgb(46, 139, 87)"]+$3,451[/COLOR]

Current BR: $8,680

tobiko with quail egg is delicious



View of Chicago from the casino parking lot

I do for sure. I hate slowing down, especially after gin flops like that.

I like it mostly, worked out even with 3 others. If you get called, what's your plan otr?
WP here, AP on river, I like both check/call and bet/fold.
I don't really think check/fold is ever an option.
Looks pretty standard.
I can get behind that logic I guess.
I hate QT and would fold pre, but HU cbet. Hand seems standard I suppose.
Best of luck!

You're crushing dude.

In hand 1 what do you do on diff rivers if he calls turn? If he leads weak are you popping again? Does a change your plan at all?

Def need to open up my aggro self, I really toned it down when shot taking 2/5 and am doing well, but your hh's highlight that there are clear +EV spots to steal.

I noticed a few hands last session that I pretty much knew exactly where villain was at but I didn't have the cojones to back up my read. (Like villain having JJ on AAQ board. He fired such a weak cbet and every ounce of me wanted to pounce (prob by flatting flop betting/raising turn), I just sigh folded my 5 high (ldo that's my holding ) and he flashes the jacks.