tbh, i'm pretty much done with the hand if he calls my raise ott, but there really is nothing he can call me with the way the hand played out, other than an unlikely fd he picked up ott, and even then K high may be good otr. I'll punish weakness if its obvious, but i won't go overboard with it.

let the aggro monster out! but make sure its a trained monster

I'm a nit at heart, but i really worked on recognizing opportunities to apply pressure in situations where your opponents are weak and very unlikely to continue. and even though its out of my comfort zone, i force myself to capitalize on these situations. if anything, i learn and improve, and hopefully over time i become a pretty dangerous opponent to have at the table.

a good way to think about it is to find situations where you yourself feel uncomfortable and under a lot of pressure, and try to mimic those situations to others. I for one would hate an opponent who would call my pre flop raises ip with a wide range, and float and raise my cbets at a balanced frequency and really put the pressure on me. that would just be awful to play against. so if i recognize someone who's probably read 2+2 or a few books, and plays an abc/tag style, i'll work on making their life a living hell. i've only had one opportunity to do this in like the last 200 hrs, but it was pretty fun.

ex from session tonight where i pounced on obvious weakness.

I open QQ after a limper to 15 and get 2 callers.

Flop (45): KJ8

my opponent leads into me for 15

I could raise here and really apply pressure to his one pair hands which might be the best option, but i'm not yet ready to turn my hand into a bluff without more info.

Turn (75): 7

Now he leads for 10.

i've played with this guy before, and he doesn't hand read, he doesn't raise small to induce, he is just honestly freakin petrified of that third spade, and his small bet is exactly what it looks like.

I raise to 50 and he folds.

sometimes it backfires and the opponent does the ago ol' "screw it, i know i'm beat and call", but i just don't let the times that happens keep me from trusting my read

NH with the QQ, but your raise size might actually induce a "screw it, i know i'm beat and call". Obv you want to keep your bluffs as cheap as possible, but I am wondering if you are pushing the limits there.

You actually may have the best hand enough of the time just to call down here, but I still prefer raising because you end up folding his tp hands.

definitely could be. i spew at times

ya, thats pretty much what i was going over before deciding to raise. i don't think i can fold out 2pr+, but this opponent wouldn't donk with anything better than tpmk after l/c. + obvious bet sizing tell ott

Fwiw I LOVE the "screw it, I cawl" line from villains

Thank you very much.

7 session winning streak ended with a 100 loss yesterday. can definitely live with that. one of those sessions where i repeatedly iso fit-or-fold opponents who end up hitting tp every time. they can't always miss, ammiright?

7/8 = 87.5%

Sounds like a good win percentage, but that's not really what we're after. Those just come with making the right decisions.

Anyway, good streak. Looking forward to more.

subbing - GL fogo

Thanks Bip!

no pokerz today. always take Weds off for some reason, but will try to get about 20 hrs in btwn Thurs-Sat, and hopefully get some more time of 2/5 in with some hopefully interesting hh's i can include from the sessions.

there is a wsop drawing at 830 am sat that i'm gonna try and make, which is gonna take some sleep schedule reconstruction since i've been going to sleep past 6am for the last few weeks. gonna do at least a week where i get my sessions in before training at night and actually have a normal sleeping schedule. sounds boring to be on everyone else's schedule, but i like to change it up.

random poker talk for the day:

came up by Bart Hanson in a CLP clip.

If your opponent peels lightly otf, you have to be willing to fire a second barrel, even if it looks like they could have called with nothing other than tp, bc there are gut shots and weaker pairs that will fold.

So this hand i played sort of applies to this concept, but i was not the pre flop aggressor, so its somewhat different.

Pre flop: I have 97 OTB

two limps, V limps in the CO, I limp, and we see the flop 6 ways.

Flop (12): A86

checks to me and i bet 10, and V calls.

Turn (32): J

V checks, I bet 20, and he folds

Even though it may look like the only real hand he could call me with otf is tp, there are many more combos of 76, 87, 65, and guts shots and random 8x and 6x type hands that are just not going to call another bet. It is dependent on the opponent, but this guy in particular was very stationy otf when the betting was cheap, and would fold unimproved ott. It is definitely a mistake to bet this flop just to give up ott and release any fe you might have, since your io are very likely not all that great

I think I listened to that Bart Hanson podcast as well. He was going on about how not firing the second barrel is a massive live leak. I have been doing it a lot more since and it does work, people give up unless they have TP. Guessing you would give up unless you bink a straight otr in this hand? Also do you subscribe to the Bart Hanson podcasts? Is it good value?

ya, firing a third barrel here would be pretty bad if i dont improve otr. it is pretty rare for me to find a situation where I am planning to fire three barrels as a bluff, especially in this case where it was a limped pot. for the most part, i don't like trying to move an opponent off a hand if they call both flop and turn, and i usually just give up. if they showdown a weak hand otr, just take note and value own that opponent in the future.

I recently subscribed to both the podcasts and crush live poker videos on his new site. its something like 26 a month for the two, and I find the videos to be some of the best coverage of live games if your able to apply the different concepts of the games he covers to the specific games you play. I haven't listened to any of the podcasts yet, but i'm sure they are as good or better than deuces plays (his last series), since he mentioned its going to be more strategy based with less fluff and filler.

Thanks for the advice. I might just subscribe to the podcasts as I can listen to them in the car. Might look into the videos later. Will let you know what I think. GL btw, you seem to be doing v well and reading your posts you are clearly have a v good view on the game and will easily be winning consistently.

Ty Ty. let me know what you think about the podcasts.

played a five hr session before training tonight. finished +127

This was probably one of the worst sessions i've played since the beginning of summer. I think i know why though. had something to do with me having a set time to leave, which i didn't have when i was playing the grave shifts, and i think i began to feel forced and pressured towards the end of my session to get something going.

played a little too laggy in situations where i probably couldn't justify why I made the decisions i did. raising 98s in lp for no other reason than that you are in lp is not a good reason to raise, and i did that a few times.

just noticed that i can send my notes via email from my iphone, so thought i would include an ex of how i take notes at the table from todays session. if anyone has any advice to improve the efficiency or quality of my notes, i'm all ears. probably some hands won't make much sense since i'm trying to type as fast as possible so i can get back to paying attention at the table and use some short cuts that make sense to me.

HHs

6/13

First hand: 4 limps I check option in bb w KQ. Q85ss. Lead 10 2 calls. Jo lead 25 both fold

2 limps 15 AQo 2 calls. 80 and 150 eff. 9TJhh. 30 both call. Stack sizes could make this bet a mistake. 2o. Ccc. 7h. Ep leads 20, I fold other calls shows KQ

15 KKs UTG 1 call ip. A85cc. cc. Q 20 call. Q c/f 30

ep limp, iso 88 otb call. Q62cc. He c/c 20. 2c. Cc. Brick he leads 30 I fold.

3 limps limp 75hh otb 6 ttf. QJ4hh. checks thru. 4h. Lead 7, 25 fold.

l/c 7 w 88s utg1, 3 ttf. T85cc. c/r 15 45 call. Qo. All in 60 more mhig vs QT

Short limp, limp JTdd otb bb 8 4 ttf. K85d bb 8 fold

Open KQdd utg1 SB calls and c/f 776 for 16

Open QJ 13 over a limp SB calls. 200 eff. AKTss. Bink. SB c/r 20 to 50 I flat. 2 bdf. he c/f to 75

350 eff

Btn 12 call SB 87ss. HU 245ss. c/c 17. 4o. cc. Jo lead 35 and he calls mhing vs A high. position and passivity!

6 ways 33 co. 39Jdd. Mp 5, 17 call. J. 40 call. 8. All in 115 he calls mhig vs KJ

New player 12, 40 KKs otb fold

Limp 14 KKs 3 calls. K93hh. 20 all fold.

limp, 15 98s co, btn sb call. Q97dd. 30 both call. To. sb leads 40 fold

3 limps 15 co AJ 2 calls. T97ccc. checks thru. Qc. I bet 10 1 call. Brick. I bet 40 fold

12 KJ mp 2 calls. J74hh 20 one call. Qh c/f 40

Open 12 AJ otb bb calls. A43ss 15 call. 4. 30 call. 3. 50 fold.

I miss some hands sometimes, I think i can remember at least one other instance where i isoed a limper in lp with a weak hand and V c/c flop, turn went check check, and i fold to a lead otr. this really eats up at your win rate if it happens frequently. I don't know if it is bad play on my part, bc i am 100% certain my opponents are not peeling very light otf, or reverse floating and stealing when i check back turn, so may just be variance. I have definitely cut my cbet % way down since summer started. definitely used to be a huge leak of mine.

oh, biggest spew of the day. I decided to experiment with barreling limped pots, except i forgot one very important aspect to this, i need some sort of equity.

few limps, I limp KJ in mp, and we see the flop five ways.

flop (10): 742

checks to me, i bet 10, and i get a call in the blinds and in ep.

Turn (40) Q

checks to me, i bet 30, and sb c/r to 65.

I decided to experiment with barreling a limped pot where it is going to be very difficult for my opponent to call ott unimproved, and the off suit Q was a great card, imo. obviously this looks like extreme spew bc i have very little equity (which technically makes it spew), and i got c/r on a good barreling card, but i still think that this is a play i can develop into my game. will keep thinking about it and looking for BETTER opportunities to incorporate it

also got looked up by A high and was no good for the first time ever tonight. it was such an obvious bluff on my part, but most opponents aren't capable of piecing the hand together well enough to do this. He was tanking, and i tried to table talk him (which is usually a sign of strength), and said "its just 35, you got a big stack" but he eventually called. definitely need to work on my table talk to manipulate my opponents.

so one of the reasons fish keep coming back to the tables is bc their bad play sometimes delivers positive reinforcement ie calling off 20% of their stack with scs, chasing draws without the correct price, the list goes on.

but i've been thinking about why it is they continue to slow play their big hands in bad spots bc this is one area of the game where generally their play should promote negative reinforcement.

when most rec players slow play, which probably 90+% of the time is incorrect, they either win an absurdly small amount and miss out on a ton of value, or they get sucked out on and then complain about how poorly they are running.

There are opponents who do the opposite and blow their opponents off of any hand they could get value from, which actually makes more sense to me since after years of slow playing and getting sucked out on/getting no value, they would branch off to the other extreme and over play their hand, but the majority just continue to slow play.

but for the most part, most rec players continue to slow play their big hands regardless of the negative results. I guess the positive reinforcement they receive is the satisfaction of disguising their hand and squeezing out a small amount of value from their opponent, and then stunning the whole table at showdown with their MONSTER of a hand that no one expected.

have a good feeling there will be some 2/5 play real soon

I hope that within two weeks (~60hrs) I should be pretty much fully transitioned into 2/5, as long as i avoid some run bad while shot taking.

My BR in PJ is not far from evolving from a Charmander to a Charmeleon. then only 30k until it evolves into a Charizard!

I can relate to these thoughts also. I've been thinking that a lot recently while dealing. Some players are so proud that they slowplayed their hand, but they lost so much value.

I think the best play is sometimes the most straightforward, b/b/b lines with monsters mostly just because a ton of players might think "he can't have that, they would have checked"

Also +1 to Pokemon reference. In relation to that, I'm picking up my Charmander

2/5 shot tonight failed. went up 200 at 1/2 after about 4 hrs and decided to finish the session with a 1-1.5hr session at 2/5. lost 350, so -150 on the day.

good news is the 2/5 game was pretty good, and from the looks of it there seemed to be a number of pretty juicy games running.

only real big hand played. 3 limps to me and i limp K7 otb and we see a flop 6 ways.

flop (30): Q75
checks through

turn (30): K

sb leads 25 (~200), mp calls (~150), i bump it up to 100, sb shoves mp folds and i call and mhing vs 77s.

at least he wasn't sitting 500 deep. would have been difficult to get away bc he was a major spot at the table would over value his relative hand strength, and he would definitely get it in with a weaker 2pr hand here.

I don't think i find a fold if he 4b ships 100bb deep when i only lose to 77s (1 combo) and 55s (3 combos), possibly KQ (6 combos, but can discount at least half since he didn't raise pre and he was pretty aggressive, even from oop) with all the weaker 2pr and combo draws that he could over value, so i guess i can consider this apart of my run good

back at it tomorrow in the AM. Brazil plays Japan at 2 so i'm requesting a seat right in front of the TV and nitting it up and playing the most ABC/passive poker imaginable during the match.

On the set time discussion, I am big about having a set time. The only exception I make is if there is a huge spewing whale or tilting fish. (I'm pretty disciplined on this, like I don't just make excuses to stay)

I feel it is the only true way to have an unbiased sample over time, after all, it is all one giant session.

Basically, if I'm playing three 8 hour sessions this week, and at 7:45 hours of my first session I get flush over flush and lose 100bb, I'm rebuying $500, and I'm playing 15 more minutes. I never see it as a session ending or "wow I have to catch up" (or , say I had the higher flush) "wow I'm hugely up time to leave".

I just see it as, well, I have 15 more minutes until I can go home and sleep and start on hour 8 tmrw.

Just my $0.02

this.

thats zen poker for you

i wish i was at that point, but as of now i noticed i play my best when i don't have a specific quitting time. eventually it should really be a specific time, and that is how i originally thought i would go about my sessions, but it never worked out that way.

Failed b/c you got outplayed? Made bad decisions? Didn't think through decisions...etc? Losing in one session hardly equals failed. And less than one buy-in at that.

ya, maybe failed is not the correct word to describe a losing session of under 2 hrs.

played decent, could have been better could have been worse. I mentioned the only the only semi significantly large pot i played where I got it in with a short stack for like 40bbs with 2pr against a flopped set with K7 on a Q76K board.

I also made a few smaller mistakes like cbetting on bad textured boards, and once into two shorter stacked opponents with little equity.

also called with AJs in the sb after a mp open and a few calls. think raising or folding could both be better options there.

one of the funnier and more embarrassing things that have ever happened to me at a poker table happened this weekend.

I was sitting with another 2p2er and he shoots me a text saying that our one seat is Lord Snow from 2p2, but don't say anything about it bc he doesn't like to call attention to himself. I don't know much about him, but i know he's a pretty well known on the forums, at least in our casino.

I quickly scan the text and for some reason think he means that Lord Snow is sitting at the one seat at a different table with a couple of our buddies, so i say out out

"oh really, Lord Snow is over there, why doesn't he like to be called Lord Snow?"

my buddies face is priceless as he just stares straight ahead and starts laughing. I have no idea why he's acting funny, and i again ask him "why doesn't he like to be called Lord Snow, I don't get what the big deal is?"

now he looks at me and gives the stereotypical head nod towards the one seat letting me know that Lord Snow is actually sitting about two feet away from me. as soon as i realize this i just start cracking up and put my head down and take a few min time out. my buddy goes over to tells our other two friends and i just hear a burst of laughter from across the room.

I got needled a few times by him after this during the rest of the session.

another week of grinding coming up. been good about getting 30hrs a week in, hopefully can increase my 2/5 play this week to something like 15-20% of my play time.

Gl, looking forward to reading the 2/5 and how to crush it.

Broke one of my rules of not playing strictly ABC until I gather reads on everyone at the table. Playing stuck from the start of a session is somethig you really wanna avoid.