Very interesting hand and way above my skill level atm. V got lucky on that flop - I would fold it PF to a raise given my stack size. Would you fold A7s PF if you had V's ~$700 stack vs a light RR?

Thanks.

F

Subbed! Awesome thread!!

Keep it up

Gotta love the live grind. Keep crushing!

DGI, you are my favorite person living or dead and I was wondering if we could be myspace friends? Also,

C=======This guy has a new favorite game show.

The thing about that hand is the cards have very little bearing. V wasn't calling my preflop raise with A7s for value. He was calling specifically to bluff me off my hand. He incorrectly assumed he'd have decent fold equity vs me when in reality I'm expecting him to jam me and I'm basically never folding in that spot and he just got lucky against me .

If the flop had come J 4 2r, I would have c-bet the same $200 and he would have tank jammed me and I would have snap called him. From a Level 1 and Level 2 perspective this would have made no sense. How could A7s jam and how could ATs snap call?

in order for it to make sense, you have to see this hand from a Level 3 perspective.

i developed a habit of reading dgiharris posts (and this thread especially) before going out to play. they get me ready to roll! definitely an all-time hero of mine... keep crushing, sir!

So you both were playing a high-stakes game of chicken - "I believe my rubbish can be better than your rubbish and even if you are marginally better I can get you fold" kind of thing? Wow the things I need to learn.

Thanks for taking the time to post your thoughts!

F

Glad to hear you're winning more than just G bucks!

Nice job on the shot-taking, but some of those hands from your second 10/25 NL session were horrendous. Folding bottom set was by far the worst, but the JsTs hand was totally butchered as well.

Don't let the fact that you won the second session delude you into thinking that you are ready for 10/25 NL. You actually ran hotter than God in the second session, and you should have won much more if you were playing well than you actually won by playing badly.

Fair enough.

You are right in the fact that I can't continue to make those mistakes and expect to do well at 10/25nl.

Hopefully, I won't make those mistakes again and that I will get acclimated to this level of play before I run out of run good.

I do feel that I belong, but I'm sure every donk feels that way about whatever game they are playing. Time and data will tell and hopefully, I will reach a 5th, 10th, 20th, and 100th session in this thread

But I will take comfort and pride in the fact that I played bad, reset/regrouped and bounced back on a very tough table. So that will go a long ways towards helping me get acclimated and increasing my comfort and confidence level...

Congrats on the session! Obviously it's nice to sit at an easy table and crush, but I'm sure some part of you likes the competitive aspect of sitting with opponents better than you. Should only motivate you more.

When you checked your gutshot after opening pre in ep, was that in order to manage the pot and not get raised off your hand? Worked out well bc turns out you had great implied odds. But if your opening that hand from UTG I'd think you would have to take advantage of any fe you have when you should have a fairly strong range?

Good job on being honest enough with yourself regarding the poor play in your second session.

BTW, you definitely played well in your 1st 10/25 NL session, and you deserve kudos for that.

I just wanted to give the truth about the 2nd session because far too many of your "followers" in this thread completely disregarded your obvious mistakes in the 2nd session because they were in awe of your win-rate and your general awesome as dgiharris.

You are truly a hero to many of the LLSNL guys, and I just wanted to give you a wakeup call before you let the ego go to your head.

The fact that you are able to take the criticism of your second session so well indicates that you have a good head on your shoulders and probably won't let your ego get in the way of your quest to the nosebleeds.

Subscribed, count me as another dgiharris fanboy!

GL, your posts in LLSNL are a must-read and extremely helpful to all.

And excellent TSs!

Dgi. I selfishly dont want u to move up in stakes so u can continue giving input and analysis at the 2-5nl level that i currently play. With that being said, i genuinely feel that u will b succesful with the huge jump from 2-5 to 10-25. Its such a different game from 2-5 that if u become a reg at those stakes, ur posts going forward will b somewhat useless at the 2-5 level but i will still continue to read. U have been the best 2-5 poster ive come across in my few years of reading on 2+2 and wish u the best. If im ever in the bay area ill b sure to look u up. Gl sir. Keep up the prison rapings.

These situations are villain dependent. In general, vs 2 callers we can c-bet but we shouldn't be surprised when we get called since Q T x is going to be in the middle of alot of villains preflop calling range. KJ, QJ, JT, QT type hands are never folding to a c-bet. But our JJ definitely has showdown value. So c-betting isn't terrible but don't be surprised when called. If we are in position this isn't too bad because we can often let the turn check through. It becomes a problem moreso when we are out of position since a c-bet and turn check turns our hand face up.

I hate to say, "It depends" but it does. What does our villain put us on? If our villains are the type of player to see ANY preflop raise as AK then V's can be calling us down as light as 2x as long as no A or K hits. Also, there are some villains that will call with QJ, QT type hands but fold if you bet decent on turn and thus you have fold equity vs them (granted these types of villains are rare at LLSNL).

As a whole, when we have a decent pocket and there is only one over, we shouldn't wave a white flag. Depending on villain and position we may have fold equity or even still have the best hand. But at the same time, we aren't itching to build the pot and stack off and go crazy... So basically, our hand has showdown value in these situations so we can fire a c-bet, check turn, and then go for thin value on the river, or we can turn our hand into a bluff.

Give you an example. Last night, I'm playing in the 2/5nl deep stack. Eff stacks $1k.

I'm in LP with 99cs and raise $30, two callers, SB and MP.

Flop(90) T 4 2:heart
chks to me, I bet $50, SB calls, MP folds. When SB calls, I think he may have a FD or a Tx, not quite sure yet.

Turn($190) 6
he chks, I bet $150, he calls. Based on his body language I can tell he has a hand with showdown value and he has his sheriff hat on. So I put him on Tx, JJ/QQ no FD. So my 99 is no good and I need a scare card to hit on river.

River(490) A
He chks, I bet $400, he tank folds.

Had the river had been a blank, I would have just surrendered.

I'm the only person on the planet without a myspace or facebook page

When I raised pre and the player to my left called, I was fairly confident he had a hand that had value and so I knew my c-bet would have zero fold equity against him unless I was willing to put in a strong double barrel.

However, when the flop hit, I know have two choices: A) c-bet and double barrel or B) draw to the nuts. I choose to draw to the nuts and thus I wanted to keep my IO as high as possible and knew if I checked, I'd have the odds to call for one street. I also knew based on my image that if I bink that card, I 100% stack him. So, that was the route I choose and my thinking...

SESSION #3 +$10K

Well, boys and girls. Since it was Memorial Day Monday I figured the 10/25nl game should be just as juicy today as it is on Fridays and I was right.

My table last week was



However today my table was



To be clear, I'm not saying the players were all cream puffs. There were 3 players at the table who I felt were either equivalent in skill to me or slightly better. However, the table as a whole was super ideal.

There was rarely any 3-betting, raises were typically in the $75 - $100 range, and all the post flop play was transparent. Plus, there were 2 noticeable marks at the table to include a whale fish . The rest of the players were very readable ABC TAG types.

So, my very first hand I was dealt AA in my post, I raised to $150 everyone folded Then my next hand I get dealt AQ in the CO, 2 limpers to me, I raise to $125, SB calls, MP calls, 3-way action. Eff stacks $3k, villain covers.

Flop(375) A 3 9
chks to me, I bet $175, SB c/r to $375, MP folds, I call.

Turn(750) 2
V grabs 2 purples and a stack of white and just drops them in the pot for $3k+ putting me all in. He then gives me the poker stare and I guess that is supposed to rub my ego the wrong way and make me call??? I tank just so I don't give off any timing tells later and I fold. Super easy fold... Which was confirmed since this villain didn't push or bet big for the next 2 hours...

My first big hand was vs a semi-nit who was kinda short stacked at $1.2K. Hero is in the BB with AK.

Semi-nit raises $75 from MP, 3 callers when action gets to me so I 3-bet to 375, V calls, everyone else folds, heads up.

Flop(975) 5 5 3
yuck, horrid flop for me since I have his range as TT-QQ, AK. But, AK is in his range and there is possible fold equity against him because he thinks of me as a decent player. So, I c-bet $650 and he tanks then goes all-in So, its only another $400 ish to me so I make the crying call.

Turn/River(3K-ish) 2 4 BINK

He sigh mucks JJ. Yeah, always dirty to suck out on someone but meh, it is what it is.

My next big hand of the day, I was UTG w 99 and raised to $100, 2-callers.

Flop($300) A 9 7
SB chks, I lead out $150, MP folds, SB calls.

Turn($600) K
SB chks, I bet $400, SB calls

River(1400) 7
SB chks, I bet $1000, SB tank calls

SB shows AK, I win with the boat. SB says, "yeah, I almost shoved you on turn and river..." FML But I thought V's range had a lot of Ax combos that would think the AK paired board would be a chop and I thought $1k was a decent sized bet since I don't want to blow AJ type hands off the river... Of course if I knew he had AK I would have shoved.

My most interesting hand of the day was probably when I decided to take advantage of my image a bit. I had been showing down monsters and I sensed the table was starting to respect my raises So with that...

I got QT in MP and raised to $100, MP calls, BTN calls, BB calls, eff stacks $4k I cover

Flop($400) J 4 7
chks to me, I lead out $200, MP folds, BTN raises to $600, BB folds, I call.

Turn(1600) A
BTN makes an obvious grab for chips like he is just itching to bet (such an obvious tell trying to freeze the betting action) and I lead into him for $1,000. He grabs his chips, does the poker stare and then says, "Nice turn" and mucks

Lastly, I have to talk about my gin hand, I think I may have lost some value (hindsight being 20/20 and all).

I'm in the BB with AQ New player to the table (his 3rd hand) raises from MP to $100, BTN calls, I call. MP has $4k, BTN has $2.1k. I cover both

Flop($300) K 6 2
I chk, MP bets $150, BTN raises to $550, I call, MP calls. When MP raises I really get the sense he has a flush. I mean, since I have both the A and Q I can't really see the raise as a semi-bluff drawing to a 4-to-a-flush. So, I'm really confident he bets turn.

Turn(1850) 4
I chk, MP chks, BTN almost bets but then chks

River(1850) 7
I lead out $2k, MP tank calls, BTN tanks for five minute and almost puts his money in 3 or 4 times and then finally folds. I show the nuts, MP mucks. Later, MP tells another player he had a set

Thinking about this hand, it just sucks I was out of position. I mean, there is almost nothing I can do that doesn't look strong. My plan/hope was that BTN goes all-in on turn since baby flushes are almost always paranoid about the 4-to-a-flush hitting and that if I chk/call him on turn it drags in MP as well who can still put me on AJ type hand that is drawing to the flush maybe 40%-ish of the time... However, I think I just leveled myself here and should have just played it more or less straightforward??? I mean, MP called the flop c/r so he has a hand that has value. I think I should have led turn for $800-ish and then I could have fired $3k into the river... Again, obviously if I put him on a set I can lead strong on turn or even shove... Hmmm.... this is a spot where being OOP really just sucks. I will have to give this more thought, basically, the problem is there is almost no line you can take that just doesn't turn our hand face up other than just maybe bombing each street as if you have the A and are just trying to semibluff it??? I dunno, again, I'll have to think more on this...

SUMMARY/ANALYSIS

Overall, I played pretty snug and was patient and just let the situations come to me. Didn't really get out of line other than my suck out of the day but I pot committed myself into that one so I don't feel too bad, it is what it is.

I need to still work on getting the 10/25nl table dynamics down and optimized lines as far as extracting max value. I have some working theories and trends I've been noticing but I will discuss that next time.

So, all in all, I ended the session at around $13k after about 5hrs of play.

And I want to talk about my decision to walk away. When I got up to about $13k I kept counting my chip stacks and after I counted 4 times in 5 minutes that was a sign I was starting to let the money affect me. even though I "felt fine" the fact that I was counting my money was a sign that I needed to go. So, I immediately racked up (I was in the CO when this revelation hit) and I racked up and cashed out. I'm a firm believer in leaving the table the INSTANT you recognize you need to leave. No last hand, no last orbit, no waiting till the blinds... NL is a high wire act and you can fall to your death at any time, so when you recognize that you need to stop, then just stop.

***stepping off soap box now***

Anyways, today was a good day. Should be in Vegas Friday and looking forward to getting in trouble with Lotgrinder and a few others.

May the rungood be with us.



Oh, and this threadsaver is from Epic Rap Battles. Not sure if you've heard of them, they are pretty famous on Youtube. I love listening to them, they do a whole series of historical figures battling it out 8-mile style...


thread saver: NSFW (need audio)

Why did you only bet half pot with the set of 9s? Build pot, go for prison rape.

In as a DGIHarris fanboy.

Outstanding thread

When I first read you got it in with AK against the semi nit on the 553 board, I thought you played it poorly.

Upon checking the math, I was wrong.

There are 18 combinations of TT-QQ and 9 combos of AK.
So 2/3rds of the time you are getting it in with only 28.5% equity.

I knew this off the top of my head. So how can getting it as a huge dog so often be correct?

However, bluffing is still the correct play.
.33 x 975= 321.75 = value of bluffing off chop.
.66 x (.285 x 3075 - 1050)= -114.60 = showdown value

The sum of those gives a net + ev of 207.15.
I was shocked at how much of a return this bluff had.
I thought it had to be a losing play or marginal at best. I was completely wrong.

Good play. Good session. Now go take down a tourney.

Since I raised preflop all villains in the hand are going to expect me to c-bet. Starting off with a 1/2 pot c-bet in this spot should look like I have TT-KK that hates the Ace. It should also look like a typical balanced c-bet that can include an Ace. This should enable villains to call and/or induce them to raise me later on future streets ESPECIALLY since the flush draw is out there and I can have a hand like KQ or KJ in my range. Since I raised UTG I think most villains should not put me on 99 for a flopped set so again I get to extract value from Ax which is going to comprise the majority of ranges of villains that call me down. I really can't believe that villain didn't raise me with AK in this spot.

Also, I'm still getting dialed in on extracting value at 10/25nl table and getting a better more intuitive feel for the dynamics. I think its probably going to take me about 2 to 3 more sessions before I really get dialed in and calibrated for prison rapings.

I forgot to thank Dom for being my guardian angel again (I'm going to have to hire him as my official guardian angel because I seem to always run good when he is around.) Also, another 2+2er railbirded me a bit, Dionysus1 and offered me good advice so I appreciate that help as well...

QcTx hand was very well played.

I'm sure 1) it's been said before and 2) you're used to them because you're a reg, but the chip colors for this joint are awful.

If that ace wasn't the ace of spades, but was the ace of hearts for example, would you have still made that $400 bet?