Bro, I literally feel your pain. It's a common cliche expression but in this case I'm literally going thru the same things.

I recently moved up from $2/$5 to $5/$10 and it's been hell. Ran bad, getting rivered being 80%+ favorite OTR multiple times for $1000-$1500 sucks, especially when you just moved up and your BR is in that red zone when you're quite close to that red line where you have to move back down. BTW, props for moving back down when you have to. That's a big line between being a degen and a responsible pro. Degens won't move down when their BR tells them to.

Also $5/$10 players are much better and it's a different, much more aggressive and skilled dynamics and there's a steep learning curve. So there were situations that I was unfamiliar with because I didn't encounter them at $2/$5 and played horribad and that cost me a few buy-ins. So the dark hole of "run-bad-play-bad" sounds very familiar to me.

And then there's the ego thing. The $2/$5 regs who I played with all the time see me at $5/$10 tables and look at me with a mix of envy and respect. Room staff who never called me "Sir" before all of a sudden started calling me "Sir". I'm a ****ing "high-stakes player" now. They don't know that I'm only a few K from having to move back down. They don't know what I'm going thru. They don't know that after a brutal session I may question everything, myself, my self-worth, whether this whole thing is a bull**** fantasy that I tricked myself into believing and I was never meant to be this superstar bad ass "professional high-stakes poker player".

... but then my heart quietly but firmly speaks up and tells me it's meant to be and I know it's true.

C u at $100/$200+++ my friend! Be that in 2 months or 2 years. It doesn't matter when. The path is the dream. Not the goal.

Thanks for the support and nice words guys, it means a lot

I thought about this, however I think that having this journey be part of the thread will make the thread better as you will see my build up starting from a Day 1.

I gets so stubborn sometimes

but you are right, Kydd Dynamite also mentioned this to me as well a while back (as have a few others). I will implement your guy's suggestion next time I do a big tourney end of year...

thanks, hope I'm back on the right path, time will tell...

Very true, in fact, this is part of the reason I'm doing this mini-challenge and documenting it...

very true

thanks for the suggestion, I went to youtube and bookmarked some of their clips, I'll definitely give them a look...

best wishes to you and hope you succeed at the Nosebleeds as well...

So, I arrived at Matrix ready to grind some 2/5nl when I noticed two spewy aggros sitting in the deep stack game. Similarly, most of the DS grinders are not there so I decide to sit in the game with the $800 I brought to grind 2/5nl.

As always, first thing I do is profile my villains: S1 is ABC-TAG, Hero is in S2, S3 is Solid Grinder TAG, S4 is weak TAG, S5 is leaky aggro LAG, S6 is weak TAG, S7 OMC semi-scared money, S8 weak TAG, S9 TAG.

So, I’m new to the table, I make the standard folds for the first 25 minutes noticing that S7 raises fairly big preflop but doesn’t c-bet and just folds when he misses, even on good c-betting boards. Seat 5 and 6 have picked up on it. Then finally I get my first playable hand.

I’m on the BTN with JJ, UTG and UTG+1 limp, S7 raises to $45, folds to me, I call, S5 and S6 call. Eff stacks $800, villain cover with $1.2k+

Flop($180) Qd 4h 3s
S5 is staring hard at me, giving me the super stink eye then chks very deliberately, S6 and S7 auto-check, I bet $75, S6 and S7 fold

Turn($320) 2c
S5 again gives me the super stare then chks, I bet $125, S5 c/r to $300, I ship all-in, S5 tank folds

Tells mean different things at different levels. At this level, the stink eye and Poker After Dark deliberate checks that tells me he has it in his mind he’s going to outplay me and “make a move” on a later street. That is also merged a little bit with him having a weaker Q in his range or possibly a straight draw. Given that I’m new to the table (he hasn’t played with me) I know he is going to see me a little bit as a fish. This makes it perfect for me to turn my hand into a bluff to fold out weaker Qx hands that should comprise a fair amount of his range. The only slight concern is the 2c makes the OESD which is in his range, however, another thing at this level is that villains are less likely to c/r monsters as they are in the 1/2nl, 1/3nl, and 2/5nl games. In those games, c/r’s tend to be more on the nuttier side whereas when you go higher in limit c/r’s have more semibluffs and bluffs in them. So him c/r’ing (when combined with all that Poker After Dark poker awesomeness) is going to be weaker hands and semibluffs more often than monsters.

Few hands later I get dealt two black TT in the SB, UTG+1 raises to $45, 2 callers, I call to set mine, board lands K 4 5 two diamonds, I chk, raiser c-bets to $100, I go ahead and c/f letting it go. Preflop, I mentally resided myself to setmining so since I missed, I just let it go. If I were in position and I had a T I’d easily float one street to reevaluate on turn. But since I have no diamond and OOP, I just let this go.

S6 leaves and a super fish comes to the table, S5 (leaky aggro (LA)moves to seat 6, fish sits down in S5

Fish went on a little bit of a heater early doubling up with KK (he bought in for the minimum $500) during his run I noticed that he throws out token $10 bets into huge pots when he is really weak and folds to any aggression afterwards, he’s done this twice in 20 minutes. Then the following hand takes place.

Fish is the BB, I’m on the BTN with A6, leaky aggro (LA) limps, OMC raises to $35, LP calls, and CO call, I call, Fish calls, LA calls, 5-way action:

Flop(175) Q 4 3
Chks around

Turn($175) 2
Chks around

River($175) 8
Fish bets $10, table laughs and folds, action gets to me, I make it $110, fish shows the 8 and says, “You probably have a bigger kicker?” and then he folds.

This was a fairly standard bluff. I'm have a minority viewpoint on bluffing in LLSNL. There is a school of thought that says you want to bluff the minimum you need to bluff to win the hand. While this is great in a GTO theoretical sense, it's been my experience that it doesn't pan out so well in real life. It results in a value bet bluff and imo value bet bluffs just aren't as successful as bluffs with teeth in them. I probably could have raised to $60 however too often fish get curious and will make curiousity calls. So I acknowledge I'm in the minority when it comes to LLSNL bluffs. I'm not saying you need to jam double pot when bluffing, that is not my point. Rather than trying to bluff “the minimum” I’m a big fan of betting an amount I 100% know will fold out weaksauce hands. Also, bluffs are in the eye of the beholder. If villain was a thinking player then a value bet bluff can sometimes have more impact than a bigger bet. But in this case, V was a typical fish and fish believe that big bets are big hands. So I make it $110 to make sure he folds his garbage. The other aspect of this was me noticing the other hands he was in when he did the same $10 token bet on semi-scary rivers then folded to raises. Had I not have seen him do those token bets, I probably wouldn’t have tried this bluff attempt.

So I’m cruising right along, up about $1k when I leveled myself and made a horrible call.

I’m on the BTN with AA, I raise to $45, get two callers, the fish and leaky aggro (LA), perfect!!!

Flop(135) A T 9
Chks to me, I bet $100, they both call

Turn($335) 6
Chks to me, I bet $300, fish folds, LA calls

River(935) Q
LA bets $400, yuck, I tank call

V shows T 5, I muck

Amateur F***ing hour. This was just a horrendous call and I leveled myself saying, “Well, he could have QJ straight draw and is bluffing or maybe he has two pair…” but I knew that this was a fold. FD are a lot of his range and 87 straight got there, not to mention my hand is face up as a big Ace and it is doubtful he is value betting 2p here on a spade river… Oh, I almost forgot the speech he gave, he gave me the freaking speech . I almost folded until I leveled myself thinking that it’s a reverse tell…

So, I take that hit, then I chip up a little bit with standard preflop raises and c-bets that take the pots down. Up about $400-ish when our table finally breaks an hour later when the fish busts out and LA gets unstuck (he went on a heater and stacked someone).

Overall, other than that one mistake I made, it was a good session.

Well, it's fish Friday so off to go grind.

Bay 101 is having their monthly $550 tourney tomorrow, first place is around $30k. If I can grind $1.5k today then I will play the tournament tomorrow. We'll see. Good luck to everyone today...

dgi...

I'm very glad to see your write-ups back again! By far my favorite HHs in PG&C!!!

I don't think your call there is nearly as you think.

wouldn't include Qx in hand one when he c/r ott vs most opponents. calling to allow a bad lag to bluff river may be better.

gl with the comeback!

Just read through a bazillion messages to get all caught up on this thread. GL, bro. I'm a big fan.

I put in three sessions since last posting, you can see the results in my header graph. Time for some interesting hands: My format will basically focus on interesting hands and mistakes I made.

First interesting hand was against a Incompent TAG (IT) and an ABC rec fish. For the most part, Incompetent TAGs (IT) are players that just don’t have much sophistication in their games post flop, have obvious sizing tells, and will easily surrender when they whiff. This guy had a fairly wide preflop raising range but didn’t c-bet when he whiffed even when in position.

I’m in the BB with 86, IT raises from CO to $35 which is a sizing tell for 99-QQ, his AK/AQ raises tend to be $25, ABC RF calls from BTN, I call from BB.

Flop($105) Q 6 2
I chk, IT chks, BTN chks

Turn($105) T
I bet $65, WT folds, BTN folds

This was a trivial bet/fold spot. When IT checks flop I’m pretty sure he hates the queen. The turn sucks because I have TT in his range as well but despite that, I can still bet/fold. ABC RF on the BTN isn’t much of a concern once he checks flop.

Next interesting hand happened OOP as well, I’m in the BB with 75, MP villain is a ABC – weak TAG hybrid, basically an ABC player experimenting with TAG. One limper to him, he raises to $20 which is a borderline weak/let’s build a pot sorta raise for him, 3 callers, I call, 5-way pot.

Flop($100) K 5 2
I chk, UTG chks, MP bets $35, folds around to me, I call, UTG folds, Heads up

Turn($170) K
I chk, MP chks

River($170) J
I lead out $100, MP tank folds

When he bets $35 on the flop I’m fairly sure he doesn’t have a King, I’m hoping everyone else folds so I can play for this pot, otherwise, if anyone in position calls I’m done with the hand. Everyone folds, I call, UTG folds (wasn’t worried about him) and we are heads up. When the K hits on the turn, I decided not to bet it partly just to confirm he had no King and partly because slowplaying a King is how this guy would have played it. In retrospect, I probably should have just repped the King on the turn because I’m fairly sure he has 77-TT type of hand and if he binks his 2 outer on the river then I can’t win by repping the King. Also, when I bet out on turn he will still put me on the King. So slight mistake/misstep in this hand by hero .

Next hand was a misstep by me, I tabled changed and only been at the table 30 minutes but have been profiling everyone but not enough to make the move that I did.
I’m in LP with 96cc, 2 limpers to me, I raise to $25, CO, BTN, BB, and MP call. At the time I thought MP was a weak TAG player but it turned out he was a weird type of Rec-Fish which I will describe later.

Flop($100) J 8 2
BB chks, MP bets $30, I raise to $130, CO, BTN, BB fold, MP 3-bets to $300, Hero folds

Yuck yuck yuckity yuck yuck. Normally donk bets into the preflop raiser are a “bet to see where I’m at” sorta bet. However, between this hand and another hand this villain played I figured out that he is not a weak TAG but rather a weird sorta nit. He plays his strong hands very passively, always limps preflop never raises, then come flop or turn if he is super strong he bets really weak to induce, once he induces a raise he blasts the pot. The mistake I made in this hand was making a move without having a good understanding of his tendencies and going off of typical LLSNL defaults. So that was a $130 mistake.

Another interesting hand happened against a Young Wannabe Durrr, an 23-ish Asian kid complete with sunglasses and beats-by-dre headphones. He had been raising really light, easily raising 2-3 times per orbit from MP and LP. I’m sitting directly on his left, eff stacks $450, I cover.

3 limpers to him, he raises to $30 in position. I have JT and I 3-bet him to $130. One orbit Prior to this 3-bet, I had 3-bet with Queens and stacked a rec-fish who had JJ on a lowball flop and he “put me on AK” and insta called me… Folds around to Asian Durrr and he calls.

Flop($275) A T 9
V leads out$100, I shove putting him all in, he tanks forever and is just disgusted. My shove completely threw him and after 3 minutes of tanking he says, “F*** it I call!!!”

Turn/River(900+) Q / 2
V screams “Yes!!!” and tables KJ

This was a disgusting result. Because V’s raising range was so wide I was fairly sure my T had a lot of equity as well as being able to tell a consistent story repping a big Ace. When he led out $100 I knew he was fairly weak as that is an obvious probe/donk bet. However, what I notice many of the younger wannabe Durrs is that they just can’t bring themselves to ever fold when they make (in their minds) an awesome play and then get shoved on.

Next interesting hand happened against an ABC RF with obvious sizing tells and a big post flop leak. Post flop, he 100% bets the strength of his hand. If he is strong, he will blast you, if he is weak, he bets weak.

He raises UTG to $35 which is a clear sizing tell of JJ/QQ, LP calls, I call from the CO with black TT, eff stacks $700.

Flop($105) 9 8 6
V bets out $40, LP folds, I call

Turn($180) K
V bets $40, I raise to $100, V folds QQ face up and says, “Nice catch”.

On the flop I knew he wasn’t thrilled with the board and I planned to rep a flush if it hit and value bet a straight or a set if I binked turn or river. When the K hit and V did his weaksauce bet I knew I could take it down right then and there. If he had KK he would have blasted the pot to get the FD out, so when he makes it $40, I know I can raise him out.

Next interesting hand happened against a typical RF donk that overvalues his hands and ALWAYS puts me on AK whenever I raise preflop.

I’m in the MP with JJ and raise to $25, BTN calls, V calls, 3-way action, eff stacks $375-ish, I cover.
Flop($75) T 9 8
V chks, I bet $40, BTN folds, V c/r to 90, I tank shove putting him all in for $270-ish, he slams his fist on the table and says “crap…” then laughs, shrugs, and then calls.

Turn/River K K
V shows JTo
Hero wins with JJ

Next interesting hand occurred between a competent ABC RF and myself. I had made a big fold to her earlier when she c/r shoved me when I had top two pair and the turn completed an OESD and also put a flush on the board. I showed the fold trying to get her to show me the straight but she didn’t. Then about 2 orbits later this hand happened.
I had shown down a couple of monsters so have a strong image.

Straddled pot, She limps from UTG+1, 2 limpers, I’m in the BB with AQ and I raise $45, she calls, 1 other call, 3-way action. Eff stacks $500, I cover.

Flop(155) K 4 8
I bet $75, she insta shoves all-in for $450, folds to me, I tank call.

Turn/River ($1k) 2 / 4
V shows AT
I win with AQ

Given my image and preflop action, AK is definitely in my range. I don’t think she open shoves a set but rather raises for value, so her shove (and insta shove at that) tends to be more of a bluff/semibluff. The other question is what hands can she limp call? Pockets obviously but also suited connectors or big suited broadways. Given that AK is in my range and the K is out she isn’t going to shove KQ or KJ like this. So most of her shove range in this spot is going to be a flush draw.

Last hand is probably the biggest mistake I’ve made in a long long time. This happened at the tail end of a session where I was tired and a little bit rattled from the KJ straight suckout that I posted at the beginning. First mistake was I limped from MP with T8o which is just a garbage hand, 5 callers to include a pretty solid nitty winning reg. The reg had just taken two beats and is stuck $1k, he just reloaded another $500 and is a bit tilty. So, 6-way action. Hero is MP with T8 Villain is in the BB. Eff stacks $450, I cover.

Flop($30) T 8 K
Chks to me, I bet $25, LP calls, CO calls, BTN calls, BB c/r to $175

This is just a horrible spot to be in, bottom two on a wet board sucks. To top it off, V is competent. So, I start to level myself a bit with the “he’s on tilt” stuff but then I sober up a bit and think about hand combos, I look back at my hand and I notice I have the T which means I can remove a bunch pair+FD combos in his range. I also see he is in the BB so I know AK and KQ is not in his range, he would have raised pre. A tiny voice in the back of my head says, “Most likely he has two pair” meaning that my two pair is now dogshtt. But before that voice can get louder my inner donk says, “well, he could be on a flush draw, QJ and before I know it, I’m sliding my chips in for a call. Everyone else folds

Turn($475-ish) A
V goes all-in for $250-ish… Yuck. So now the one hand that I put villain on that I beat gets there, QJcc. However, my inner donk refuses to be denied and I think to myself, “Well, he could have Ax of clubs… No. Not ever. This villain would never take that line with Ax of clubs but when we want to win the hand our inner donk can be really persuasive. Next persuasive argument is “well, we already put in half the money, we are getting odds…” and then I think about my mistake on the flop and think “Well, if you were going to fold then you shouldn’t have called the flop c/r merely to fold turn when you know he is shoving all turns…” so all of that worked together to make me call off another $250…

River($1k) 7
V shows K8o
Hero is ******ed and mucks his T8o

That hand is pretty bad and is the poster child for how bad decisions can compound and snowball and lead to just a horrible play. Basically, I butchered every single decision in the hand, preflop, calling the flop c/r and then calling the turn. I had all the info I needed to get off the hand once he c/r me on the flop, but the truth is simple, my inner donk got me this hand. I was tired and slightly tilty. Meh, it is what it is and all I can do is just be on guard for next session. I’m usually pretty good about taking breaks and ending my sessions before I get to this point, but not this time.

Well, that is a quick synopsis of my last few sessions and my graph is in the header. I know it’s ambitious but my goal is to complete this challenge by August 15th . That sounds like providence, $15k by the 15th, about a month, sounds like a good challenge.

In the AQd hand, the possibility of V having a SC/SG that includes 8c (or A8c) also reduces our equity a lot. Even with a 100% perfect read that she never has a set, I have trouble finding enough equity in Stove against a reasonable range of clubs. E.g. we're 35% against:

{AcQc,AcJc,AcTc,Ac9c,Ac8c,QcJc,QcTc,Qc9c,JcTc,Jc9c ,Jc8c,Tc9c,Tc8c,9c8c,9c7c,8c7c,8c6c,7c6c}

and we need ~37%. Maybe this isn't exactly what you'd assign as V's range, but playing around with it, it seems like a breakeven call at best, barring extremely specific reads. Not trying to be too critical, just want to be the nagging voice that warns against being results-oriented.

gl with the mini-challenge, I'm pulling for you! (Unless I end up at your table and we get involved in hands, but life's been getting in the way of my taking trips to your neck of the woods lately )

Nice recent post DGI and GL with the 15k challenge.

I wanted to ask your opinion since you are so good at getting your thoughts down and voicing your thought process. I find myself having trouble thinking clearly when involved in a hand. When observing, I am decent at ranging and hand reading but once I get involved my level of thought significantly decreases. Any tips to improve this part of my game?

I got some good advice in the low-content thread but was hoping you might have some thoughts as well. Fwiw I am a live n00b with only 100 logged hours.

15k in one month will be hard to do at 1-2/1-3 and 2/5 but I hope you do it

As a guy that is fairly inexperienced wrt to live play (only played ~60 hrs seriously so far), I would love to know more about DGI's player categorizing. I generally let a slight superiority complex affect my views of players, where I notice all the horridly bad things they do (limping, same size bet on flop/turn, not value betting) but don't really categorize them or notice unique parts of their game

Do you have a grinding goal in mind to play the Bay 101 Open?

Ditto. So far I've been fortunate to play in a game where everyone's game is donkish in a similar way, but I'd like to learn to profile players like a boss, for when I take my shot at my local casino.

Thanks for the analysis. At the time I felt I was slightly +EV, not overwhelmingly so, but +EV is +EV. I also factored in how this would impact my table image should I win the hand. Basically, making a hero call like that throws the table for a loop and they just don't know how to adjust to you. It decreases bluff frequency against you. Now, a lot of players might think, "But I want villains to bluff me...". In actuality you don't. One of the nice things about LLSNL is that players don't bluff near enough meaning that they don't have the proper frequency of bluffs in their game meaning they are EASY TO PLAY AGAINST. Then factor in that most of the time we are not going to have a near nutted hand and bluff catching big bets or scary boards just sucks. However, if our villains aren't correctly bluffing when they should, then it adds to our winrate because there will be more times we have marginal/weakish hands than there will be times we are nutted stacking someone on sick bluffs (if that makes any sense).

Not to make that sound like a retroactive justification, but it was a slight factor, maybe 10% of why I called. But the biggest factor was that I thought I had the equity to make the call.

There was a technique I developed a while ago that was instrumental in my increasing my thought process during a hand. During a hand, I would pretend that the hand I was currently playing was broadcasted on ESPN WSOP. I would pretend that Mike Sexton and Norman Chad were discussing the hand in question and it would go something like this.

Sexton: Well, villain raised from MP that is his 5th raise in 2 orbits
Chad: Yeah, his range is wider than the Grand Canyon
Sexton: Hero has KJ in the CO, I gotta tell you, I like a light 3-bet here
Chad: Yeah, Hero has been super nitty, like Chris Ferguson nitty, while villain looks like the poster child for a poker douche bag with the hoodie, shades, and beats by dre headphones
Sexton: Okay, I like Hero's sizing of 3x, Villain called and now we see a flop

Flop: Q T 4
Sexton: look at that, villain donked into hero for less than 1/2 pot sized bet
Chad: Looks like a probe bet
Sexton: Yeah, Hero has got to raise here to continue telling his story, both villains are at the standard 100bb deep, I like a raise to 3/4th pot
Chad: Look at that, villain doesn't like the raise, he wants to fold but his ego won't let him, yep, he's gonna make the call

Turn: 5
Chad: Wow, look at that poker awesomeness as villain just hollywoods while doing a durr impersonation, mouth wide open, vacate bovine stare... and there's the bet, 1/3rd pot
Sexton: So if you are hero, do you continue to tell the story or do you slow down. I gotta tell you, given stack sizes and SPR of 2 right now, I like a shove. It should have a ton of fold equity and if called, hero has outs. If the King is live, then almost half the deck will win it for Hero. And given how wide villain's range is, the Jack can even be live...


Speaking for myself, I've found that this sort of dissociation allows me to see the hand as if I were not in the hand and divorce myself from the emotion. Eventually, I didn't need the alternative personas and now during a hand I normally can think about it clearly. Only problems I have sometimes is when I'm really tired my donk-autopilot kicks on. that is what I'm currently working on eliminating. I have a C-game autopilot which is okay, but my D-game autopilot is costing me money and that kicks on when I'm really fatigued. I found that a simple walk and 5 - 10 minute break can work wonders.

me too

I probably will play one or two events.

I like to try to focus in on specific actions. It's not enough to think, "Man that guy is a donk". We need to know what type of donk he is. How exactly is he donkish. What is his leak.

I want to bird dog hard for leaks that are exploitable, for instance, if someone raises do they c-bet when they whiff? If they c-bet, do they c-bet the same amount when they are strong as they do when they whiff or do they have a sizing tell. Do they double barrel or shut down.

how about draws. Does this player bluff on whiffed draws? Does he semibluff raise his draws?

How about sizing? Does this player know how to size or does he bet the strength of his hand, big when strong, small when weak.

I then try to think in terms of overall competency. Players that go for thin value bets are automatically targeted as competent though I'm still looking for leaks. Players that use scare cards or float merely to bluff later streets I tag as aggro.

So, putting it all together. Let's say I notice a fish did NOT value bet two pair on a relatively safe board as last to act. Then this is a player we can always fold to on river if they bet river (unless we are nutted).

Let's say I notice that villain goes for thin value bets, then this is a villain we can feel good about calling or raising on river.

Let's say we notice a player likes to bluff on later streets. Then this is a player we have to call when a scare card hits on river and he pops it.

The hard thing about the above is not letting your own biases cloud your judgement. It's not about the "proper" way to play or how you think a spot should be played. No. It's all about how our villains play and how THEY think a spot should be played. Once you get a better handle on that sort of donk psychology then you can adjust easier.

So to sum up, try to notice specific actions from a villain that you can exploit, then when you are in a hand with them look for those leaks and then exploit them, or conversely look for the warning signs and fold when you see them...

Do you usually get to see enough showdowns to gauge all this, or is there some other way you deduce what people are holding when they take a given action? I mean, you seem to profile people really quickly.

Cool thing to do is to try to come up with a villain specific game plan. So what this means is: for each villain try to figure out ways in which you will make money playing that specific player. This might mean triple barrel bluffing one player a lot as he folds too many rivers, while never bluffing another player as he's too much of a station. Or folding almost everything vs a player's river bets as he bluffs too infrequently etc. Start by assessing individual leaks/tendencies and then come up with the necessary adjustments to improve your win rate.

I agree with Jay S. It's very thin, even against just clubs. I've just read the recent parts of this thread, but it seems like you make very specific assumptions about the play of your opponents. That's not necessarily bad, but I'd caution about taking these reads as gospel and acting on them, especially in spots that are very thin. We can't know everything about our opponents' game, and even opponents we know very well and have played with for many hours surprise us sometimes.

In this hand, I don't think we can assume so strongly that villain never shows up with sets. In an earlier hand, you said a different ABC RF villain would blast the turn on 986K with a set of kings to protect against flush draws. Yet in this hand the competent ABC RF can't shove a set to protect against flush draws on the flop? Typical players in your spot are not folding AK or AA (or at least calling pretty often), so it's not a stretch for villain to shove for value either.

hey man,

great progress and like the challenge. I am usually a online player but I will make the switch to live this year. I have only played about 40hours so far, and I was wondering how you kept focus in those long sessions? I found myself dazing off in boredness every other hand (litterally), and could hardly ever focus to profile vilains. would appreciate any advice, cheers.

I like this idea. I am a recreational player who is trying to get better. I have just had to move and will be restarting my live play in the next couple of weeks in a new room (from Foxwoods to Maryland Live) and I think this idea will help my game quite a bit.

I have been following this thread from the beginning and have seen many useful ideas, but I think this is one I can implement well.

Good luck, like the thread.

I'm sure we've played a lot together, I've played a bunch at the palace, M8trix, and Bay 101

You'd know if you'd played with DGI before...he looks exactly like his avatar.

With your 75h hand from the BB facing a $20 open over one limp and with two calls after (I'm assuming it was 2 callers in LP and then the EP limper calling after), I like 3-betting to $125 in that spot. It's printing $65 instant profit nearly 100% of the time as opposed to playing a flop OOP 5 ways which, even against weak players, I don't believe will be nearly as profitable in the long run.

That being said, I don't kill 2/5 at the rate you do, dgi, and have a ton of respect for your game, so I'd like to hear your thoughts on this. Thanks, and happy prison raping.

What if you have an OMC who loves to limp-reraise with a premium hand? Or what happens if you have a couple stations who feel they just have to call? Now you've lit 25 BB on fire, or you are playing a bloated pot with 7-high, out of position. I'm not seeing that as the best squeeze spot, as I don't like risking $120 to win $65 when I feel I have other edges over the table.

I disagree. Fold or 3bet. I really like the analysis