Folds because of stack sizes.

If we're 150bb+ deep I'm not folding anything to a minraise because theres actually playability post-flop. At 100BB effective I still think KJss is a fold vs this guy. Worrying about this guy exploiting me by minraising me later as a bluff is so lol, so this hand is played in a vaccuum.

This guy has 250 effective (50bb) and a range of KK+.

KJss is such a bad hand to call with because your not happy unless you flop a nutted hand or 2pair, and we're also OOP. Being OOP really doesnt matter all that much because we either hit the flop or we don't, stacks are too shallow and this guy isn't folding, so position makes no difference really.'

We're too shallow and KJ doesn't flop big often enough for this call (a minraise) to be profitable. If I had flopped a board like j 4 5 I would of c/f

Since I decided to call, calling off 200 into 100 is profitable. But preflop is a mistake, I got lucky and flopped big enough to profitably continue.

I swear my 5/10 sessions last like 3 hours max. -3k and back to 2/5.

Got rivered pretty bad in ~5k pot.

Already ate, took a break and now going to head downstairs tilt free (hopefully).

Also saw the guy who rivered me in the elevator at MGM which is the complete other end of the casino lol.

He's going to ball out with my money

Ugh. 5/10

It's this kind of discipline I admire about your game. The ability to take a hit and immediately step back. Sooner or later the 5/10 variance will even out and you'll be crushing it just like the 2/5 games. Run good mate!

Any interesting hands from that 5/10 sesh?

Will post some later tonight.

Won a chunk playing 2/5 so moved back up, because im rolled and the game looks good, not to chase losses

Won 1k in my second 5/10 session after winning 609 at 2/5. Good rebound after a tough first 5/10 .

Made a hero fold early on in first session.

I post to join the game in the CO and get K9 3 limpers and we see a flop.

QJ6

Checks to me I bet 35 and the UTG limper calls, middle aged guy

QJ6 10
He leads 100 I make it 375 he calls


QJ6 10Q

He leads 675 I fold. Later I heard him talking about some craps system or something.




The big hand where I lost a bunch was

Young black guy clicking buttons raises to 50 in the CO after a limp, call, call I 3bet aj to 250 he calls, other guy calls

QJJ I cbet 475 original raiser shoves all in, guy in between calls, I cannot raise so I call.

Turn is a blank I shove 800 and the guy between tank calls...

River is a spade and I lose to 8 5

Guy in between who calls my side pot mucks and I win about 800 back but lose ~3.5k in the middle. Gross

Couple hands later I r/4b AK UTG and bet flop shove turn get called by jacks (put me on AK he said) and lose.

I kept getting cold 3bet OTF and just getting raised in terrible spots in that session. I played bad also.

Second session I played much betterand got paid off on a big river bet.

5/10 is much more aggressive. More 3betting, floating etc.

Undecided on what I'll play tommorow but I think I did well today despite ending in the red.

Coaching Baseball Poker

Probably going to take a break from playing this week because I'm getting a little burnt out.

Since I'm super addicted to twoplustwo and poker theory in general I can almost never take a full break from poker because I spend all my free time perusing this forum, even if I don't feel like posting myself.

I often see the same faces of these regulars in either of the casino's I play at (Foxwoods or Borgata) looking incredibly bored/worn out.

I had a conversation with a bartender who started talking to me about my Pokerstars jacket I wore out last night. I just got power back and haven't done laundry so I literally have had no decent tshirts to wear out and opted for the Pokerstars jacket to let everyone know I ball (joke).

After a few bad beat stories from this guy and his philosophy on why it's better to play against good players because "donks will suck out on you with anything" he told me he tried to play for a living a few years ago and found it too boring. He said he was at Mohegan sun 5 days a week trying to grind it out. Of course my two drunk ass friends are dying laughing at this and tell him that I basically do the same thing. He was a decent guy but even my friend (non-poker friend) said to me "I don't think he's lying but I feel like this dude is terrible at poker", so this guy was basically a typical ego fish. Free drinks though

If a guy like this who probably celebrates like a maniac when he wins 300$ in a hand finds poker boring, then how can you keep the game stimulating?

I would be lying through my teeth if I said that poker was fun all the time. Like any other job there are days where I'm at my "office"(casino) and my "coworkers"(degens) annoy the **** out of me.

There are other days I am "working real hard"(playing good) and "my boss doesn't notice"(poker gods making me run-bad).

I think the brain will automatically not work as hard if the activity is boring. This is what everyone refers to as auto-pilot.

The way I like to try and prevent this stuff from setting in on me is to constantly change things. The biggest leak a live player can have is becoming content. If you make 30$ an hour at poker you have a ton of leaks. If you make 50$ an hour at poker you have a ton of leaks.

Einstein defined doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results the definition of insanity. Downswings don't necessarily mean that your entire outlook and theoretical progress needs to be completely revolutionized, but there always needs to be a desire to get better.

I have had a few people PM on here asking me for live coaching. At first I was kind of reluctant because I have never coached poker before and the way I view the game is pretty different then what your going to read in LLSNL so I'm hoping my students (who are likely reading this) will understand that.

I'm very excited to start coaching and its really cool that people even ask me. Most live players that I see all have pretty similar leaks as well, #1 being playing too many pots without initiative and understanding when it's ok to do so vs certain stack sizes and playertypes, way overvaluing implied odds, etc.

Looking forward to helping students and having their thought processes help my own game as well. Galfond says he feels like he always gets better when he coaches so this should benefit my game as well.

Not to mention I rarely talk poker strategy with people and love to.

Great post Rob. There are lots of people like that bartender out here in Vegas that try, fail, and now think poker is just too boring/hard (many are dealers now).

I agree that its not fun all the time but a lot of that stems from not paying attention. While focusing on the game I really start to see new spots that I would miss if I was just auto piloting, so sometimes the best way to make it less boring is to sort of "make it interesting" by paying close attention.

Good luck with your coaching and if you're interested in having some strat discussions hit me up on Skype.

Added you. Will send you some stuff later this week that always happens to me and I'de like to hear your opinion. It's 100bb specific stuff vs good players that I'm torn on.

I'll also probably be in Vegas in February for DSE.

Maybe you can man up and 3b shove river on me for 1k this time

Considering whenever I talk to my wife about poker her eyes glass over, I hear you about finding people to talk strategy.

I gotta say, you have your **** together more than most people your age.

I appreciate that.

I used to always kind of stray away from talking about poker with non-poker people for the fear of them viewing me as an ego-maniacal prick due to the amount of money I can win and lose that, in all honesty is pretty gigantic relative to the income of most post college-kids in the "real world". Just don't want people to think I have a huge ego when I attribute what success I have had thus far to checking my ego at the door (most days ).

As far as strategy talk, it kind of sucks but the majority of the good players are <25 morons that talk like idiots in person. I must of seen like 20 tweets from foxwoods this tourney series a long the lines of "let me ship this 400 bird".

What? Poker kids are typically huge tools and I will be the first to admit it.

Yea its tough to find people to talk strategy with because the ones that talk voluntarily usually don't know what they're talking about and the ones that you would like to talk to don't want to give anything away.

I feel the same way with regards to the young poker crowd. I feel like such an old guy all the time because I just seem to connect better with the older people and can actually have conversations with them (non-poker related) whereas I don't really feel like part of the younger poker crowd at all.

I've had multiple tourists tell me they thought I was much older just because I don't fit the "punk internet kid" mold.

Sounds good. I've been trying to find some people to bounce ideas off of but for the reasons you stated its tough to find good, young players who aren't tools about it. Looking forward to some good discussions.

No 1k gifts though haha

Will be at Foxwoods for a 2 day stint. First coaching student today too. Very excited.

Probably playing 2/5 only this trip so I can rebuild my confidence and hopefully bankroll for the 5/10nl game.

Also forgot to post this in here before. Got some media swag when I busted the bubble in the 600nl.

#donkaments


http://www.foxwoodspoker.com/2012/10...money.html?m=0

Hey Rob just want to say this is one of my favorite PG&C threads, and really appreciate you talking hands and updating us one your progression. I can imagine sometimes you might think is anyone reading this ect, so thought I would show some love.

Just found this thread and have only read A few of your posts. In a word, this thread is inspirational. Your OP hit home for me in so many ways. As a full time professional in a demanding industry, I don't get nearly as much time as I would like to play and work on my game, but I am always trying to move forward and have aspirations to play for a living some day. Keep the grind going! Your drive and motivation will take you very, very far.

Do your students get free Lazy but Talented shirts? Outstanding.

Wondering how things went with your first student

I thought it went well and he wants to schedule more sessions so I assume he did too .

Kind of funny this guy was a winning 100nl player online which is higher than I played when online was around.

Definitely enjoyed coaching and with this guy we we're basically going over stuff that's fairly specific to live poker that an online 6max player would certainly misinterpret... Multi-way pots, boards to cbet/double, how most opponents are thinking, getting involved in too many pots/leveling yourself etc...

We actually played a hand where he pwned me for 200$ in a 3 way pot which was funny.

Rob Stan shaking the hand of another victim.

He's lazy, but talented.

Gotta win those flips!

Tournament poker pretty annoying. But I like the idea of winning 50k in a day

Selling action to Borgata tourney series this weekend-

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/18...elims-1266608/

Above Average but not Better Than Good

Since I'm starting to coach a small handful of people who have asked me I've been pondering a lot about how development happens and how to speed up my own development + that of my students.

Poker is not a sprint, it's a marathon. Super cliche, but also completely on point.

There is no way for someone to be a losing player that doesn't understand why limp/folding with a 6BB stack is bad, to wake up tomorrow morning and be a winning player. It just can't happen. Even a true genius wouldn't be able to.

I love the way Phil Galfond teaches. It's beautiful in a way because his entire teaching focus is on developing your own thought process, as opposed to memorizing what to do in certain spots. Give a man a fish, he eats for a day, teach a man to fish, you'll table change when he sits on your left. Pretty sure that's how that goes.

Both ways are definitely going to improve your game. IMO longevity in poker (lol 22 year old punk) comes from being able to adapt. I have a ton of respect for people who have survived the whole boom and "internet age" where poker changed so much. I was probably still playing kickball in gym class when some of those guys were grinding live.

I've recently been talking a fair amount of poker stuff on skype with a 2p2er I met in Vegas. Funny because we're the same age and both corny enough to keep poker blogs. At least he moved to Vegas.
http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/10...-tldr-1204315/

Having poker "friends" is also something I think that develops players. Up until a few months ago I used to not really care or think so much about that because I really only had one "friend" (so depressing, one poker friend ) and he moved to China on me. Aside from cush on skype, I'm also just generally being nicer to regulars at Foxwoods. Not everyone in a casino is a degenerate that will stab me for 100$ if given the chance. I used to always kind of view casino regs like that (not that extreme) but I'm starting to see its flawed. Give me a break though, I didn't grow up in the suburbs, I've been knocked out about a dozen times in my life.

I had a conversation with a non-poker friend a few months ago and I thought this was interesting. We were watching PAD at his house one night after a football game ended or something.

him - "So if you played these guys (durrr, ivey, antonius, elezra) in poker they would crush you right?"

me - "Yeah, of course. These guys are literally the best players in the world"

him - "What do they know that you don't know?"

I think this is a really interesting question to bring up. The answer that I ended up giving was that it's not so much that they know some secret stuff that the general poker public doesn't, but it's that they will be so many steps ahead of whatever sort of stategy I try and implement. I feel like all my bluffs would be picked off, all my b/f's exploited, all my value bets folded to. Just hopeless.

Their knowledge of drawing odds, pot odds and equity is similar (noticeably better but not wayyyy better) to my own knowledge, because it doesn't change. It's memorization.

Where they shine is in meta-game and understanding what other people are doing - theory.

Run-Good. Please?

Playing 2 tournaments this weekend at Borgata. Leaving tomorrow to go and play some cash, will not be playing 5-10 because I sold 65% of myself so I don't think its fair to investors to risk tilt if I hit some huge bump and can't mentally clear it. Losing 1k in 2-5 isn't going to make me upset at all because my main focus is these tournaments.

Playing the 760 on friday and then the $2700 main event on Sunday. Borgata is doing awesome again judging by bravo so should be good fields down there. Hopefully I take something home.

Also really thinking of going back to Vegas in feb for Venetian DSE.

Thanks

@robbyrobbb

rob - having a couple o' poker buddies is critical to your development as a player. Discussing ideas and thought processes etc is what its all about. No way i would be a fraction of the player i am now with out my pals.

Just left vegas and teh deepstack for a little r&r. They gave it away - and in feb they will do the same, so plan on gettin yer ass out here cuz the games for this deepstack were honestly the best they have been since the series.

Happy to be your poker friend Rob. I've heard Squid and lots of other pros say a big part of their development has been discussions with poker buddies while coming up.

Judging by your twitter you're gonna be shipping that 760 tomorrow, so gl man.

really, a well written script here Robert... a great read for any player, new or old. Look forward to updates.