April Results, May Goals, PokerNews Strategy Interview

April Results

[85 ] Play 85 hours of poker
[1/4] Read Applications of Holdem

Managed to hit my hours goals thanks to a final push at the end of the month. Games have been good, results have been ok. Lost the two biggest pots of my life and still booked a Mcprofit for the month, so can't be upset.

Applications of Hold 'em has proven to be quite dense, and I've only made it through 1/4 of the book or so. Nevertheless, I'll be taking another crack this month, and I'm hoping that reading sections alongside Matt Janda's CR vids will help. The goal isn't to become some GTO expert but rather to increase my awareness of ranges--both my own and my opponents'--to get an intuitive sense of what optimal play looks like (in order to craft exploitative adjustments), and to better structure my thoughts at the table. Speaking of which, I had a great time interviewing Hunter Cichy about an approach that he calls The Template, a mental checklist that helps him to avoid autopilot while at the tables.

I have some thoughts about balance, priorities, and working on my game in order to become a "good" player--harder now than ever, perhaps, given poker's development--but I can't quite articulate them at the moment, and will try again soon.

May Goals

[ ] Play 100-125 hours of poker
[ ] read Applications of Hold 'em and Ed Miller's Poker's 1%

This will be a poker-heavy month. The WSOP Circuit's in town, so I plan to schedule most of my volume around that tournament series. While volume is important, I'll also be focusing on logging good hours and playing focused, attentive poker. I'll be in Vegas for much of the WSOP but won't be playing much, if at all, so now's the time to make a strong pre-summer push.

Glad you enjoyed it, Dr.! There are so many diverse perspectives in the poker world, and I like being able to seek them out and learn from them, even if I can't fully understand or identify with them. After following his thread for a while, I felt sure that Sol would be a great person to interview, and I appreciate his willingness to speak openly about such a wide range of topics.

I've been reading Applications of Hold 'em as well; it may be the worst writing I've ever seen, but the concepts it attempts to teach are obviously important to understanding the game from a theoretical perspective. I imagine there are better avenues to learning GTO but the book seems standard for now. This is the case with most books that teach mathematical concepts, and is a constant gripe of mine. I took many years of calculus in high school and college and never understood it fully until I read David Foster Wallace's "Everything and More." I'm currently reading "The Mathematical Experience" which is a philosophers foray into the foundations of mathematics, and it is incredible so far. I can't believe how badly math is normally presented to students.

I'm looking to play at least one WSOPC New Orleans event, probably the "monster stack" event for no other reason than it seems like a decent event for a rec player. Maybe that is wrong though...

'Applications' is the best poker theory book I've ever read (it's a tough read, though, I agree). It radically affected the way I think about and play poker (optimal poker is about ranges not individual hands) and helped me rebuild by game completely.

But, to paraphrase RedBaron, the book is often wrong about what "GTO" looks like, and not by a little bit, but a lot. As Janda admits, he wrote the book long before solvers existed and he was making "best guesses". Some of them turned out to be very good guesses, but some are quite wrong. The same applies to Miller's book (which is a much easier - even an enjoyable - read). The concepts are interesting and useful, but you shouldn't take the ranges/hand histories (and some of the maths) literally. The frequency-based approach is somewhat arbitrary/flawed, and true GTO poker is a lot more complicated.

Will Tipton's books seem to be the primary alternative. Haven't read them. Of course, better alternatives may exist by tinkering with Snowie, watching videos, etc--or a combination of these methods.
I suck at math. Years ago, in highschool, I spent my time in AP Calculus playing Tetris on our then-hightech calculators. Now I'm paying the price.

Why would it be a decent event for a rec player? Deeper stacks? Honestly, I'd just pick whatever events have a guarantee and that also fit your schedule. I played in the turbo last year and it was lolsoft, as I'm guessing most events this year will be. I plan to donk off a few stacks myself, not sure which events yet.

Thanks for the insight, Arty. Glad to hear that the book was a rewarding read despite its limitations. Where can one find examples of "true" GTO?

You can get an arguably "decent" approximation for 100bb deep if you play with Snowie (Janda recommends it and uses it in videos), but solver software like GTOrangebuilder or PioSolver apparently gets a lot closer to finding the mathematical solution for specific spots, as long as you input accurate ranges. Subscribers to those apps can apparently get access to tons of scenarios with near-perfect solutions.

WSOP Circuit

The Nola Circuit event is in town for the next two weeks. I'll be playing a handful of donkaments and lots of cash. I busted Event #1 yesterday; it was fun. Coming off one of those rare cash session in which I won literally zero hands in three hours, I played through six levels and, once again, didn't win a single hand. But then I shoved 76s and won the blinds. Armed with newfound confidence, I went on a pretty absurd heater for 2-3 levels and chipped up to 34K at 600/1200, when a quick succession of hands led to my demise.

UTG (35K+) limps. He'd just sat down and 3bet the UTG raiser the previous hand (UTG folded). His demeanor and sizing made me think he was competent, but I dunno. Not sure what to make of his range in this spot.

I isoed to 4500 with KQhh from UTG+1. UTG+2, a straightforward OMC, shoved for 15K and I sigh-called it off after UTG claimed to fold TT. The whole spot is meh, I can imagine open folding or raising bigger or even limping behind. Can also see folding to UTG+2's shove, and after looking at the numbers the spot seems to be very close/a marginal fold, but calling is more fun so I called.

Next, I minraise/called a short stack with Q4o from the button. I believed that he was the type to fold 70-75% of hands to a minraise; he happened to have AQ and held.

Finally I shipped K6o and cracked aces and (2) ran QQ into AA, GG. Overall a good first run, will play Event #3 today and focus on cash for the rest of the weekend.

over/under on when a computer beats top pros?
over/under on when bots overrun the online landscape and human grinders flee for the hills aka brick-and-mortar casinos?

GL today and with the cash. Was thinking of playing one of the nightly tourns, had a good time last year with them.

TY. Any luck in the nightlys?

I cashed in Event #3 and haven't played any tourneys since; I've just been focusing on cash. The action has been notably better during the series, and the poker room has been full every night. I'll certainly break my record for Most Time Spent Inside a Casino this month, although much of that time has been spent railing friends at final tables.

Still torn about whether or not I want to play the Main, I may fire two bullets in today's satellite. But I also might not: my enthusiasm for playing 2+ long days of live tournament poker isn't all that high, and I much prefer the flexibility of cash games. Either way, should be an eventful weekend!

I won one of the small satellites, and the field did a strange "buck-up" thing so that the bubble entrant would also receive enough $ for an entry. So, I agreed just to take the cash instead of the event ticket. Haven't played anything other than that. Saw someone throw a chair in a $65 satellite though so that was fun...

Curious about the cash games, will have to check out a few hopefully this weekend. Good luck with the Main if you end up playing!

Hi Bob, long time.

Looking forward for your projects to be ready, it seems like yesterday when we talked in NO and how a year and a few months fly.

I have requested for my thread to be opened up again to update and I can say my situation took quite a few exciting turns. Get ready for the troll festival of 2016 .

Run well!

May Results



[99] Play 100-125 hours of poker

Finished a very poker-intensive month. I hit my target volume (give or take an hour), spent lots of time railing the Circuit Event action, and played in three tournaments as well, cashing in two.

The cash games were excellent all month; hope they treated you well. I played a few 2/5 sessions and they were ridiculous. Saw a very weird hand that required a floor ruling:

1K effective.
UTG straddle
UTG+1 opens for 40
SB (young asian #1) calls
BB (young asian #2) calls
straddler 180, the other three call.

Flop AT8 rainbow, ch, ch, straddler ships 900 into 720. "I don't believe you," says UTG+1, and he calls.

YA#1 pauses from the SB, shows YA#2 his cards, and moves all-in. Armed with his new knowledge, YA#2 folds, but not before someone from the table cried foul.

The floor came, banter ensued, YA#1 angrily flipped his cards over--he had pocket eights for bottom set--and ultimately the decision was made that YA#1 and YA#2's hands were both dead.

Straddler's JJ < UTG+1's A7. YA#1 stormed away from the table in disgust.

[.5] read Applications of Hold 'em and Ed Miller's Poker's 1%

Didn't finish either book but spent some time on both, watched a few of Janda's CR vids, interviewed a gifted poker pro about hand reading, and am reviewing another book on tournament poker. All of these resources, I think, can be seen as an extended argument for structuring your thinking about poker in a certain way: in terms of frequencies and ranges. I think that, in order to execute many of these concepts in practice, to play "in flow," I'd need to spend a considerable amount of time and effort with this material, way more than I currently have. Not sure that'll happen anytime soon. I've often grappled with just how much time to devote to studying and playing poker. While part of me would like to immerse myself in this material for a few months, the reality is that, when one priority takes hold, others go out the door. I've barely had time to read or write at all this month, aside from "assigned" work. I'll be playing little, if any, poker in the next month or so--more on that soon--and plan to focus more on my writing projects for the rest of the summer.

Good to hear from you Rehab! Hope things are going well and your end, and looking forward to following your progress.

Nice updates Bob!

May Goals, WSOP Baybee

[] Cover WSOP Donkaments
[] Play 20 hours of poker
[] spew off excessive buyins at the LLSNL 1/1 game/meetup
[] Frolic across N Cali/Oregon
[] Buy JRR a beer

I'm currently in the Nola airport, waiting for my plane to Vegas, where I'll be watching Golden State close out the Thunder tonight and doing live tourney reporting for the WSOP. Will be a great chance to gain some experience, meet cool folks, and banter with miscreants via Twitter (I added my handle to my location).

For anyone who's out in Vegas for the Series, don't hesitate to reach out if you wanna grab a coffee/drink or just chat for a few min. My schedule looks like this:

May 31-June 16, Vegas (will be working through the 13th, tacked a few days on the end to chill and play a bit)
June 17-27, North Cali --> Portland --> Seattle. Driving up route 1, prob stopping at Crater Lake, who knows. If anyone has good recs for this part of the country, please do holla!
June 28-July 8th, Tucson. Pit stop to hang with parents, write, and buy JRR a beer.
July 9-18, back for the WSOP main.

Thanks Skippy! Looking forward to meeting up.

We'll have a couple of days to have a beer - getting in on the 14th, probably head over to the Wynn that evening to catch up with some old friends from Houston. Would be good interviews for you

Will text to see what you are up to when I get there.

Poker Faces in the Crowd: Jeff and Morgan Sager

This month I talked with Jeff and Morgan Sager, a married couple from New Orleans and full-time poker players. We discussed transitioning to live games, being a woman in the poker room, the future of the New Orleans Saints, and choosing a fulfilling career.

Sounds good, I'm around and would enjoy grabbing a drink. A CDS meetup might also be an option. Hope things are good in Saguaroland

Well the 2-5 game at CDS is still going pretty good on weekends. Not sure if it will last the summer, but hopefully limp along until UofA comes back in the fall.

And the 1-3 500 max buy game is now running most days, so whenever you are going to be in town let me know.

Jeff and Morgan certainly were very patient with my play when I was in Nola. I probably did spend a little too much time trying to steal their blinds and LP raises, while drinking gallons of green tea; never saw any sign of a feather ruffled.

Hi Bob,
I thought maybe you could be the one to help me. I am searching for a poker novel which is apparently about a player who claims to lose every hand he plays and is done possibly in the style of a travelogue or memoir.

Sound familiar? I am having trouble finding it and want to.

Thanks.

***update

Found it all of a sudden. Sorry to bother you, nice thread, though. - P.

Review of Thinking Tournament Poker by Nate Meyvis


I reviewed Nate's book on tournament poker. It's essentially an annotated hand history from Day Two of his 2014 Main Event, with comments from Andrew Brokos, Leo Wolpert, and Gareth Chantler.

One of my takeaways from reading Nate's book is how loosely he plays in many spots (esp in comparison with volume 1). It's a quick and valuable read imo and would serve well as a kind of practical casebook.

That's great. I'll be there the June 26-July 7th and will want to make a trip or two, so I'll keep you updated. Interested to see how the 1/3 plays now that folks can buy in deeper.

Yes, they're very even-keeled and two of the most likable regs in the room.

Hope things are good in your world, Dr.!

I believe you're looking for But it Was Suited! A Poker Misadventure by Phil Helmuth.
Ah, good news. What's the book?

Tourney reporting is going well so far. I covered my first FT, the Casino Employees Event, along with Day 1E of the Colossus, where I caught up with Greg "Fossilman" Raymer and captured his bustout hand. Was fun to chat with him; the guy won't stop talking!

Also met up with karamazonk for some NBA action (LOL CAVS) and Scansion for an update on the super-nosebleeds in Macau. Covering a $1500 NL today.

Since I've been in Vegas I've been in a certain mood, one that can only be expressed by an artist whom I haven't invoked itt thread just yet. But now it's high time, because his greatness will elevate all of us to new heights!

So true. He called me once to get a report on the rooms at Blackhawk in CO, and we were on the phone for over an hour, talking about things as varied as Libertarian philosophy and teaching techniques. Me trying hard not to be a fan-boy the whole time (yes, this was pre Craigslist arrest)

Wait, is Scansion playing that Ivey/Dwan/Chinese businessman game? And I thought it had now been relocated in Manila?

All the best in Vegas bob, looking forward to the future updates

@bob, it is The Poker World According to Cinch

bob_124 sits down for a few minutes and tells us about his favorite poker book, current writing project, and experience as a live reporter for the WSOP this year.

Would have liked to have seen a HU challenge for rolls between Pure Aggression and Bob_124, in addition to this very informative chat! I mean, how else could we find out who has the best balance?

heheh, sounds exactly like my interaction with him. We were down to the last 400 or so in Colossus flight 1E, Raymer was the biggest name remaining and was nursing a 6bb stack, I was stalking him for like 2 hours so I could report his bustout hand, of course he busts when I run back to my comp for a minute. I was able to catch him at the payout desk, though, and said something like, "well, this isn't what I wanted to see!" and that was all it took: Greg launched into not only a discussion of his bustout but also his run the whole day and his WSOP plans for the whole summer.

That's probably not for me to say, Dubn Thanks for the good wishes! Are you still planning a Nola/Florida leg of your travels?
Thanks for putting this back on my radar, I'd read Andrew Brokos's review a while back. Would be interested to hear your thoughts once you've read it.

Thanks for the opportunity, pure! Always nice to catch up.

heh, we did come from the LOLLSNL meetup at MGM but the game was 11-handed no fold'em hold'em so no HU4ROLZ. Was fun seeing some old and new faces.