Hey,

As the title may suggest, 2015 wasn't the best year for me when evaluating how online poker went. Long story short; I ended up a pretty far below EV, crossbarred some big MTT scores, ran bad in staking, and overall had a pretty frustrating time of it every time I played high. Whiny, elongated details in spoiler form, for anyone who cares.



Regardless, I'm back for some more punishment this year.

It wasn't all bad, anyway. There were some definitive high points both in poker and life. In poker, I won 2 big field midstakes MTTs and 3h chopped another in the same day. That was pretty cool. I also made £20k in Sky Poker 6-max games in a week at the beginning of the year. In life I bought my first house outright, and moved in with my girlfriend. Also was fortunate in that I had lots of opportunities to travel to some cool new places, meeting some interesting people along the way.

Some arbitrary goals for this year include:

• Diversify - As the thread title states. Game select better. Pool select zoom. Only play 500 zoom if there's a good ratio. Check lobbies more often and work hard to get in good games.
• Read more - Popular one at the moment. But I used to be hugely into literature, and I haven't always made the time for it recently.
• Write more - As above. A big part of me creating this blog, is that it'll hopefully encourage me to write more things down. If nothing else, writing is really cathartic for me and a great opportunity to slow things down and reflect.
• Play more - Poker, I guess. Live poker. I want to play more of that. It's great fun and I can play in £2knl games that are softer than some $25nl games.
• Study more - I've basically taken December/January off of poker entirely. So I've some general catch-up to do on things like population tendencies before I get rolling. Also, do more solver/lab work. You can really never do too much of that.
• Save more - $3k per month into the savings account.

I'm sure that I'm not alone in the ever burgeoning feeling that the poker train is slowly grinding to a halt, and it's all just going to shut up shop and go away/turn into a giant slots machine any day now. So on that note, stop ****ing about and let's get 'em.

Because...

"There'll never be enough time to do all the nothing you want."

Good luck at the tables.

Got up at 8am today, showered and got the morning routine out of the way. I put in an hour or so at the tables, but the dog was sitting with her head on my knee, giving me this face:


I don't care how motivated you are to start the year well, it's damn hard to say no to this dog. So I loaded her in the car and we went to the beach. Did about 5 miles up and down sand dunes and through streams and all sorts of nonsense. So she's now snoring her head off on the floor behind me.

Some hands of note:

https://www.weaktight.com/h/56a6317bd390431c208b4714

https://www.weaktight.com/h/56a63211...b457b?simple=1

https://www.weaktight.com/h/56a632da...b45ce?simple=1

Back to it!

Flicked in some MTTs today as I wasn't feeling the cash game grind and I quite enjoy the TCOOP structures in general. First hand in the PLO event I 3bet AKJ9hhdd from the BB facing a button open. He calls and
I fire two on A489ddss, (I had nut diamonds ott) and check called Jx river. Villain had K235cccc and wrote in chat "WTF I have a straight, what is this $hit?! How did you win?".

Pretty good example of the value available in these things haha. I explained to the guy how the rules of PLO work and he was pretty annoyed about the whole thing. We've all done it!

Ended up losing a $1.5mil chip pot in that to bust in mid 10xth. Sort of frustrating, as winning that pot would have been a good opportunity to go deep. I heard today that a guy won his second NLH event of the series, which just seems unreal.

Cash results are +1700 in 11.5 hours this week. Majority of volume has been at 200nl reg speed games.

Currently Reading:
The Savage Detectives, by Roberto Bolano
Life and Death in the Andes, by Kim McQuarrie

Really enjoying both, will give a detailed review once I've finished.

Just finished watching Making a Murderer on Netflix. Unsure what to think really. The show is incredibly well researched and produced. It's difficult not to empathise with Steven Avery, but I'm also very aware that the showcase of evidence is intentionally framed that way. Definitely a recommended watch for anyone who still hasn't seen it, but try your best to maintain objectivity is my advice. Some opinions/spoilers below:



Hopefully somebody is reading, will try and provide something a bit more interesting going forward!

good old zoom where regs bluff so little that they can't even win 30bbs with AA vs QQ on a fairly safe board

Yeah... Was pretty taken aback at showdown in that hand. V isn't a reg though, just a scared money rec I guess. Appreciate the sub!

Played a C- session last night where I was kind of punting stacks, lost about $700 mostly at 200 zoom. I probably shouldn't play late night sessions, as that's when all my mental game leaks seem to appear. I'm a lot more focused this morning, and have been running well at the tables, getting folds while at bottom of my range, etc. Won most of the $700 from last night back. HH converter isn't working for me, so going to have to continue using weaktight for the time being. Kind of an inconvenience!

1) Getting owned by a rec

https://www.weaktight.com/h/56aa1324...b4659?simple=1

2) Bluff

https://www.weaktight.com/h/56aa1449...b4690?simple=1

3) Thin? value

https://www.weaktight.com/h/56aa14c9...b467e?simple=1

4) VS two recs, nice to hold in these spots for a change!

https://www.weaktight.com/h/56aa1521...b46ad?simple=1

Going rock climbing this afternoon. It's my first time in a while, as I damaged the tendons in my right hand before Christmas. Hopefully I still have some grip.

Had a couple of spots come up yesterday that have been troubling me. I don't have access to pio at the moment, so was looking to see what people think intuitively about it.

UTG opens 3x, CO calls, we call in BB with A8dd.
Flop 6d7cTh
Hero?
Hero checks, UTG checks, CO bets 2/3 pot.

I suspect that a good strategy is something like chk/raise some, chk/fold some and lead flop some. I don't have a donking range on a great number of boards, but this seems like a decent one with relative positions and ranges?

It's a super common spot, so id like to hear what people think? Will try and run the numbers on it at some point this weekend.

The other one was;

Hero raises from the HJ 3x with AJdd, BTN calls, BB calls.
Flop AhKd9s
BB checks, Hero bets 1/2 pot, BTN min raises, BB folds, Hero calls.
Turn 2h
Hero checks, BTN bets 1/2 pot, Hero?

This one seems way less cut and dry. BTN is an unknown, so more likely to be on the rec side. I'm not really big on big folds VS recs, and don't like putting people on a hand. But this just seems like 99 and basically nothing else? Do we ever see JT/QT/QJ here?

In for this, gl fella.

In! Where are you based? Best of luck

Cheers guys. I'm based in Scotland, but tend to do quite a bit of travelling.

Got up at 07:00 today when the girlfriend went to work, was grinding away by 07:30. The session went pretty well overall, up a few buy ins at 200z. Flopped a couple of sets in timely spots and played my ranges well for the most part.

Undecided what to do this evening. There's supposed to be a decent cash game running at my local casino. Last Friday of the month, so pay day for most people - meaning that it usually runs pretty deep. Somewhat tempted to just hermit it and grind some cash/MTTs online. I'll see what's shaping up later on. Couple hands for interest, as the HH converter is now working for me.

1) Got 'im. I even did the setoverset dance before jamming river here. Was so sure.



2) Punting a stack vs a guy who isn't capable of bluffing here. Need to stop this sort of thing.



3) Mini got 'im



4) Guess this is what some people would call bzzzzt

In, glgl

sub gl this year

Cool thread, GL!

Savage Detectives is great fun, rare to see someone reading decent fiction on Twoplustwo.

What's the story with the A6s bluff on T54JT? I presume its based on a specific read? Or do you raise some Tx on that flop when you're deep?

in, glgl.

Thanks people, appreciate it

Don't want to go into too much detail wrt the A6cc hand. But I've done a lot of work on BTN vs SB / SB vs BTN 3bet pots, as it's probably the most important dynamic in 6-max games right now. I think it's important that we have a raise range vs this sizing at 200bb eff. - and yeah, it will include some made hands that want protection.

Absolutely loving TSD by the way, so much fun to read.

Got him

what a weird turn sizing

If you mean me, my sizing there is definitely an exploit attempt. As for his sizing, he's definitely a rec. player.

Lost this kinda ugly one today. Not sure if we can get away, as neither are regs. Open to criticism though.

Booked a +$1k day, so pleased overall with the volume and effort.

this is kind of a ridiculous hand, must be nice to wake up with 77 as utg with you inbetween with KK lol

Currently playing live pokers, and the guy sitting to my direct left has a generation one iPod nano and a Nokia 3310.

#secretagent? #kickinitoldskool

not really if using GTO frequencies.

not nice :'(

+£445 in £1/3 NL cash, played 5 hours. Absolutely GG'd right now as I've been awake for nearly 24hrs. Took notes on some biggish hands, so I'll post them tomorrow. Forgot how physically draining live poker can be! May book a massage for tomorrow afternoon if I wake up reasonably early.

Some hands from last night:

1) Villain is a young rec player who loves the game - young black guy. Super nice guy who loves top pair and hates folding made hands.

Straddle to 6, ybg makes it 18 on the BTN I call AJo in the straddle. Check call 30 on J89cc. Turn 5x chk/chk. River 5x I lead 225 he calls pretty quick and mucks

2) UTG in this hand is a big punter who plays on and off in the game. He's down around $1k in the game at this point, mostly through hopeless three barrels and hero calls. BTN is new to the game, and seems competent.

No straddle. Punter limps UTG, BTN raises to 12, I call KQcc in BB and limper calls. Flop JT4cxx, and limper leads 25 BTN calls, I call. Turn Ac, limper checks, BTN bets 55 and I call. River 2x BTN bets 95, I raise to 325 he tanks and calls with TT.

3) Villain is UTG from previous hand.

Limped 6 way I check BB with T5o. Flop AT5r. UTG limper leads 20, 4 folds and I call. Turn 2x I check, he continues for 25 into 60~, I raise to 110 and he calls. River Ax and I check, he checks behind with KTs and wins.

4) Villain is again YBG from hand 1)

I open KhKc to 12 from MP. CO calls and ybg raises to 38 on the BTN. Folds to me and I 4bet to 105. He flicks in the call very quickly. Eff. stacks are 600+. Flop AT4ccx, i continue for 55 and he calls. Turn 8x, I check and he tanks for a long time and checks back. River Qx, I check and he bets 155 and I fold quickish.

+£445 in 5hrs.

Off to play a local £10k GTD tonight and have a few drinks with friends, so won't play anything online.

What kind of realistic bb/100 do you think an online midstakes winner like yourself has in a standard Glasgow live game line up? 30bb/100?

Hey, BB/100 is super hard to approximate in a live setting. We play so few hands and the lineups vary hugely. My hourly for the last 18 months was a little over £50, playing pretty much exclusively at peak fish hours across 1/2, 1/3 and 2/5. But I've played more hours in Aberdeen and Edinburgh than I have in Glasgow. Still have a decent sample size there, however

I feel like a good chunk of my winrate comes from battling and regsploiting in spots that a lot of grinders shy away from.

Are you based in Glasgow?

Played live cash again last night after bricking 2 bullets in the tournament. It was an incredibly good 1/2 game with double straddle live in 90% of hands. I mostly just played my ranges well and got value from strong hands.

One interesting hand as follows:

The double straddle is on to £8 and we are 7-handed. UTG limps out of £300, CO folds and I limp along on the BTN with 34ss (lol vacuum). The SB folds and the BB and straddle complete. Double straddle checks his option and we see the A59scs flop. Double straddle leads out for £25 and UTG calls quickly. I call on the BTN and the others fold. Turn is the 9c and it checks to me, I think for a little and check behind. River is the 8d and the double straddle leads for £50 and gets another very quick call from UTG. I think for 5-10 seconds and raise to £225 and get two snap folds.

I was close to falling asleep at the table by 3am, so had to leave. Which was a shame, as there was a confirmed punter with a £1k stack to my direct right. I covered him and he was definitely ready to go off. But I just booked the win and threw in the towel.

+£550 in 4hrs