Ye more or less my thoughts. Think in general we can fold 22-77 maybe.

One of my pet peeves is the string bet rule. My guess is it's original intent is to prevent angles from the person doing the betting, but in the end it's ended up causing *far* many more angles from people yelling "string bet!" and taking advantage of a nit rule / honest mistake to a clear action in order to see a cheap street.

Had a noob in my room do this the other day. He moved a calling stack slightly outward from his main stack, then a raising stack. He thought about things, then very quicky and consecutively put in the calling stack followed almost instantly by the raising stack. Of course all the callers in the pot who wanted a cheap street yelled "string bet", the dealer upheld it, and the noob took it in good stride (apologizing for his mistake and not arguing the decision at all). It was pretty clear who was doing the angling here, and it wasn't the noob.

GcluelessstringbetnoobG

Yeah it's absolute bs and bad for the game. If dealers had half a brain and some common sense, could actually see intentions, wouldn't be an issue.

Daily Update - Wed 06/09/17

Hours Played: 8.1
Profit: -$638
Notes: Won one hand all day! Gameplan was originally to stay at casino for 6 hours and leave if game was no good - it was actually half decent so I was able to stay for a bit longer. Let's look at some hands.

Hand 1

Limped pot, hero checks KTo in BB, 5 to flop.
Flop $25: J23r
Checks through
Turn $25: Qcc
SB leads $15, hero raises to $50, call.
River $125: 8o
Check, hero bets $100.

Note: Here's why I don't like the way I played the hand. On the turn, I have two options: call or raise. One is low variance and the other is high variance and maybe they're similar EV prima facie. I simply should have gone for the lower variance approach here, even if it's a slightly losing call. Also the SB leading the turn could be quite strong actually as they will have some spooky two pairs etc. River, draws brick and if v had 9T, that now got there -
I don't think I have a lot of fold equity on the river anymore but feel at the time I have to bluff. This hand was a mistake because it's basically FPS, it's unnecessary, increases variance, and isn't a high EV spot.

Hand 2

Loose player opens $20 in MP, hero calls AT in HJ, BTN calls.
Flop $60: AJ6r
Villain cbets $30, hero calls, call.
Turn $150: J
Check, hero checks, BTN jams for $116, fold, hero ???

Notes: Think this is a pretty trivial call here - we basically have the second best ace and SPR is fairly lol.

Hand 3

500 effective.
Limp, MP opens to $30, hero 3b w/ AQo to $85 in LJ, villain calls.
Flop $175: Q84cc
Check, hero checks behind
Turn $175: 6o
Villain bets $135, hero calls.
River $445: Jo
Villain jams $297, hero calls.

Notes: As soon as I call, villain says "pay the man his money" and mucks, I ask to see the cards, huge big debacle about whether the called player has to show their cards or not, floor rules in my favour and we see KTss. I guess the flop check back worked quite nicely in this instance. The reason I check the flop back is because A) I basically flop the nuts, not worried about any overcards (except K obv) and not overly fussed about clubs, B) We will struggle to go bet bet jam and get called by worse, C) We give villain the option to spack out with king high.

================================================

We've already played 36.1 hours this week and today's session will be the last one of our week (resets Friday). So we'll easily get to the 40 hour mark, would be cool if we can pump out 45 hours. All signs pointing to a pretty bad losing week for me this week. +$10, -$1700, -$638 for the three sessions of the week. All I can do today is prepare well, play my best game, focus focus focus, and let the results fall as they may. I want to finish the week strong with a good session in which I can say I played really good poker, my best poker. If I get that and still lose $3k at the end of the week, then that's perfectly fine.

This week I've also been tracking my expenses and after tonight's session I'll look to do a fairly comprehensive update of how that's travelling. Woke up fairly early again today so I might actually try to cut tonight's session short and play for only 6 or so hours. This will allow me to get home and get a weekly review done up without just wanting to pass tf out. So 6 hours of my best effort to finish the week strong! Update again later on.

Weekly Expenses Recap - 01/09-07/09

Some good and bad from the finances side of things this week. Below are some non-static weekly expenses and what I spent this week out of what I have budgeted for them.

Groceries - $24.10/$75
Cheat meal - $35.90/$25
Coffee - $36.95/$35
Misc - $0/$25
Gifts - $12.94/$5.85
Clothing - $0/$15
Emergency - $0/$20
Social - $0/$50

A couple things to note here... Firstly groceries, I've budgeted $75 a week for this but in all honesty, there's absolutely no way in hell I'll go close to that with my current diet and lifestyle. After next week I'll readjust this budget to fix this and this will allow me to alleviate some pressure in other areas or to save more.

Cheat meal - this was nothing but plain poor discipline this week. Three cheat meals instead of one. This cannot continue and I will be better in the forthcoming week. The only reason coffee was so high this week is because I tried to find a place that would sell coffee to me at 8pm - only one cafe was open around me and they had a $10 eftpos minimum so I had to get a piece of cake just so I could get my coffee - ended up being a $13 coffee lol.

Gifts - Was Fathers Day on Sunday so got him something small - Although $13 is more than the $5.85 budget, it's actually a win because I generally expect to pay more for gifts but it happens very infrequently.

Social - Didn't do anything this week lol. So that $50 I didn't spend on socialising this week rolls over to a $100 amount for next week.

In terms of total expenses, this week was a good one. I spent $425.04 of my allotted $550, which is excellent. I am not tracking poker income on this spreadsheet, only expenses and other income. I netted $150 in side-hussle income this past week as well which is nice, leaving us with a $275 expenditure for the week - just 50% of what I'd budgeted for.

This is really encouraging to see. Previously, I was worried I'd struggle to stay within that $550 range but it hasn't been an issue at all this week. I'm thinking I'll add a "Books" fund to this budget, just a small weekly number but that'll allow me to maybe buy a new book every month or so. Reading is something I definitely want to do more of and I really enjoy book shopping so perhaps since I'm spending so little on groceries, I'll be able to stick this in for future budgets.

Hand 1 - Don't think your line is too bad. Image and villain dependent though, of course.
Hand 2 - Again, villain dependent and I'd probably call too, although it seems closeish to me.

Hand 3 - Eeesh, think you're in the wrong here in about every possible way. I like the flop check back against lots of opponents though.

Rules of poker state I'm allowed to see a hand if I call. The whole table has that right. It's really unethical of him to just muck tbh.

This makes me cringe so much - do not do this. really awful etiquette/bad for the game/makes you look like an ass

Why are you trying to embarrass someone who just gifted you their stack? fast-roll your hand, take your pot, and stop wasting people's time.

It's obvious why, I want to see how wide they're capable of bluffing river. Perfectly within my rights to do that. Was vs a reg I play with a lot too so it's very important information. It's not at all bad etiquette imo.

Hand 1: Don't mind the turn raise. River bet is a bit unnecessary though. The 8 changes almost nothing, and SB's range is almost as uncapped as yours. We won't get a Q to fold and may see some hero's with Jx.

Hand 2: WP. Could be a debate about whether or not to 3bet this hand against a loose player, but neither option can be far from optimal EV.

Hand 3: Again, WP. Just tough to get called by much worse by betting the flop. In the future, the winner at showdown can ask to see the other player's cards. However, it is generally awful etiquette. Imagine if this villain was a rec, or there were lots of recs at the table. The loser could feel embarrassed. The recs could remember that you called the bluffer out, and be less apt to bluff at you in the future. Which then makes this line not optimal. And the tension in general just puts the table in a bad move. Probably don't have to worry about atmosphere if you're a serious rec player, but since you're a pro you want to help create a positive, fun atmosphere for the recs and this does the exact opposite.

Very nice to see the weekly expense total come in lower too! Good luck

perfectly within your rights =/= good for the game

doing stuff like that is what makes fish not want to play with you/quit games
which is going to affect your bottom line much more than the "important information" you gained here, trust me.

+1

If you really want to see it cant be that bad, hard to imagine the ratio of recs/regs will be affected by stuff like this?

I know it sounds like we are being harsh over something that seems pretty trivial but changing the way you think about things like this is actually really beneficial/essential to your long term poker success imo.

Also in terms of whether it hurts your bottom line or not, i think part of it depends on how well you can read/adjust to game flow. Like some villains here might give you a "**** you 3bet" in next few hands and some will tighten up after theyve been caught bluffing. If you interpret this kind of stuff well, creating an uncomfortable situation isnt as bad

It will change the way players play against you. Most players aren't paying attention to showdowns because they're not memorable. Nothing happens. But when someone asks to see hole cards that a player mucks, that's memorable. Players remember that and view it as a negative. Those players are then more reluctant to bluff against you because they're afraid you'll make them show their cards.

The ratio won't be affected, but fewer recs will view the player in a favorable manner, and that's where the profits and home game invites come from.

yeah tbf getting invites to a juicy home game is pretty huge

I always thought that anybody can muck their hand if they wish, forfeiting the pot in exchange for the right to not show cards.

If I'm wrong about the above I just think not being seen to be a dick is more important than the infinitesimal amount of info you get from seeing villain's hand in this spot.

Even if you don't care about how it makes you look, asking to see somebody's hand can slow down the game by causing a ruckus and/or make it more likely others will ask to see you hand further down the line and is therefore not even necessarily +EV in a vacuum.

Yeah I agree with almost everything you say and do but in this case I'm not a massive fan.

I still remember this one guy who sat at the table and demanded to see every showdown hand and was a real prick about it. This was 5 years ago.

Did I read this incorrectly, or did you opt out of playing a million dollar guaranteed tournament because of variance but chose to play in a loose $5/10 PLO??

This is correct. You'll see in time.

Fastrolling is actually a huge part of being the best player in the room. I'm certain it adds to your wr. Think about why.

Obviously make earbud hoodie wearing no talking regs show every hand tho.

+1 ^

Where I play it's very common for people to just muck without showing which means you win and don't have to show either. Once they muck, it's pretty easy to figure out what kind of hand they had given the board.

Here are Tommy Angelo's thoughts on the subject of wanting to see mucked cards:

https://www.pokernews.com/strategy/t...hand-28658.htm

I was in the middle of a session once upon a time, when a surly old rec asked to see a young rec's mucked hand, after the young rec called otr and mucked at showdown. Young rec protested and I took his side. I knew the rule was that the hand is to be shown if the cards could be located in the muck. I told the old reg that his request was in poor etiquette and that the rule was designed to stop cheaters/colluders, and if he was making the request in the spirit of that rule. Honestly, I wanted to try and embarrass the reg as much as he embarrassed the rec. Not my most mature moment.

A few months down the road, I had a player ask to see my mucked hand after I lost and mucked at showdown. Reg from above happened to be at the table and was obviously in full support of the request. Btw, the request was from a small, younger girl, which probably shouldn't matter but did at the time, increase my embarrassment. At this point in my playing career, I had logged my fair share of live hours, and should be immune to such instances. In any case, I played until my big blind and then racked up. I was embarrassed. I imagine that many less experienced players may have a poor impression of the live game, in/seeing a similar situation.

Apologies for the derail. I just felt compelled to provide my experiences with the scenario be discussed.

I seriously doubt it. I seriously doubt anyone is going to be sooooo upset that I made them show their hand that they don't want to play anymore. The particular villain is more of a reg than a rec - I wasn't a dick about it and he was very understanding. And he'll be back.

Yeah, don't see what people are getting into a fuss about...

I don't get that correlation at all... If anything, it's the opposite. Fastrolling my hand and blatantly missing information about a new reg, information that is very very important for future hands with him, is a leak imo. To say it's essential to my poker success, that I not request to see mucked cards, seems really unfounded.

I'm 99% sure my request to see the mucked cards will have close to zero affect on anything at all. People are acting as though what I did will force every reg in the city to pack up and leave or self-ban themselves from ever playing a hand with me...

Realistically, I don't think this is the case at all. No one's going to fundamentally alter their bluffing frequencies or game strategy simply because I asked to see hole cards. And if they do, I couldn't care less. I also really couldn't care less what recs think of me - this was vs a reg who plays every week.

Yeah oath, this was at the casino. I probably wouldn't ask or pursue the mucked cards thing at a homegame - part of the reason I did it at the casino was because they're such cunce and I was mad at how anal and **** the dealer was.

The rule is simple. If a player who bets river is called, the entire table has the right to see that hand. We pay for this information. If anything, villain was the dick for not showing their hand immediately when I requested it. Also to your point about it slowing the game down, an extra 10 second delay in the slowest game on earth is hardly going to concern me. It also doesn't imply that others will ask to see my hand on the river - most people just don't care.

Yeah I think there's a huge difference between asking nicely to see cards and then being a dick about it or doing it every hand. If it was a trivial pot, I'd ignore it. But this was a spot where the information I could garner is very important imo.

Read it incorrectly. I've never sat a 5/10 PLO in my life. :') Most of the reason I didn't play the tourny was because I was so insanely tired though.

I'm genuinely puzzled as to why, please explain.

Having a general idea is fine but IMO in this spot, there's a difference between someone blasting off with a flush draw and a zero equity king high hand. I now know this guy is capable of not just making a "standard" river bluff with a missed draw but will actually spack out with nothing vs a weak line.

Meh. I'm actually surprised so many people despise what I did lol. I think it's worse etiquette to refuse to show your cards when asked, when the rules clearly state you have to. Anyway, enough about that!

Daily Update - Thur 07/09/17

Hours Played: 7.2
Profit: $1,370

Notes: Really happy with how I played tonight. Said I wanted to put in 6 hours of my best focus and felt as though I did just that. Also got AA in v KK, AA in vs AK on AKX board, so nice to win the coolers. Some hands...

Hand 1

Hero opens $20 w/ QJo from EP 7 handed (LOOOSE), 1 caller.
Flop $45: QJ7dd
Hero cbets $40, call.
Turn $125: To
Hero bets $85, call
River $295: 7o
Hero jams $116, villain calls.

River I'm not really stoked about jamming but we can't check fold so we may as well stick it in ourselves. He might have worse two pair or AQ or something and just station.

Anyway, once again turns out they station flop with gutshots and get there, villain shows AK for the scoop.

Hand 2

Hero opens T9dd $20 from EP, 2 callers
Flop $60: 683r (w bdfd)
Hero cbets $40, call.
Turn $120: Ko
Hero ???

I think we should probably triple barrel here. Villain should have no Kx and we have a ton of Kx. We only have a gutshot though. But my logic was that since we block 99/TT, it's far less likely we just get stationed by a middle pair on the river. I ended up check/folding, but prefer biting the bullet and tripling here.

Weekly Update - Fri 01/09 - Thur 07/09

Volume: 43.3 hours
Profit: -$958

Notes: Losing week. Got good volume though and finished it strong. Fairly happy overall. Spending was good and mental game was good. Goals-wise, how'd we go?

[X] - Track all finances using new spreadsheet
[ ] - Meditate every ***** day
[X] - Gym 5+ times

Meditating is so ****ing hard man. I honestly get bored just sitting there and give up - not sure if it's for me tbh but I will continue to work at it and hopefully make it stick.

For the forthcoming week, no exact goals as such but just to continue playing good ball and tracking expenses.

Full Results & Graph: https://onedrive.live.com/view.aspx?...KkGkUmuByiQ8ow

In the dealers defense, they're just following the rules. My guess is the rule is almost more for dealers so that they don't have to make an executive decision all the time, although this probably would be best (so long as you have a dealer with a clue, which won't always be the case).

GcluelessNLnoobG