And some online hands....(!). As you can see, I've been experimenting with some unorthodox bet sizes in various spots. I think the theory behind them is correct, but really needs a good going over in flopzilla. Intuitively though I think though against unsophisticated players they are massively +EV

PokerStars - $0.16 NL FAST (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BTN: 209.69 BB (VPIP: 0.00, PFR: 0.00, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 8)
SB: 82.5 BB (VPIP: 33.33, PFR: 0.00, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 3)
BB: 120 BB (VPIP: 10.00, PFR: 10.00, 3Bet Preflop: 5.88, Hands: 44)
UTG: 151.69 BB (VPIP: 0.00, PFR: 0.00, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 8)
MP: 37.5 BB (VPIP: 0.00, PFR: 0.00, 3Bet Preflop: -, Hands: 2)
Hero (CO): 140 BB

SB posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has T Q

fold, MP calls 1 BB, Hero raises to 3 BB, fold, SB calls 2.5 BB, fold, fold

Flop: (8 BB, 2 players) 6 3 2
SB bets 3.81 BB, Hero raises to 13 BB, SB calls 9.19 BB

Turn: (34 BB, 2 players) 8
SB checks, Hero checks

River: (34 BB, 2 players) 7
SB checks, Hero bets 7 BB, fold

Hero wins 32.5 BB

PokerStars - $0.16 NL FAST (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BTN: 173.25 BB (VPIP: 21.43, PFR: 21.43, 3Bet Preflop: 14.29, Hands: 14)
Hero (SB): 100 BB
BB: 98.56 BB (VPIP: 20.00, PFR: 20.00, 3Bet Preflop: 33.33, Hands: 6)
UTG: 179.88 BB (VPIP: 5.26, PFR: 5.26, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 21)
MP: 46.88 BB (VPIP: 30.77, PFR: 7.69, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 13)
CO: 117.75 BB (VPIP: 13.16, PFR: 13.16, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 39)

Hero posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has 6 7

fold, fold, fold, BTN raises to 2 BB, Hero raises to 7 BB, fold, BTN calls 5 BB

Flop: (15 BB, 2 players) T K J
Hero bets 4.69 BB, fold

Hero wins 14.31 BB

PokerStars - $0.16 NL FAST (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

Hero (BTN): 132.56 BB
SB: 149 BB (VPIP: 100.00, PFR: 100.00, 3Bet Preflop: -, Hands: 1)
BB: 100 BB
UTG: 100 BB (VPIP: 25.00, PFR: 25.00, 3Bet Preflop: 50.00, Hands: 16)
MP: 28.56 BB (VPIP: 100.00, PFR: 100.00, 3Bet Preflop: -, Hands: 1)
CO: 98.5 BB

SB posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has Q J

fold, fold, fold, Hero raises to 2 BB, fold, BB calls 1 BB

Flop: (4.5 BB, 2 players) 9 K 8
BB checks, Hero bets 3 BB, BB calls 3 BB

Turn: (10.5 BB, 2 players) 5
BB checks, Hero bets 12.38 BB, fold

Hero wins 10 BB

subbed good luck

Some hands I found in my Evernote log. Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue…

Hand 1

When you hit your robust equity OTT

£1/£2 Effective Stack £300.

SB opens £7, I call BB 65

Flop J32 Pot £14 SB bets £8, I raise to £25, SB calls.

Turn 4 Pot £64. I bet £55, SB jams, I call.

River A SB announces top set, NO GOOD.

Hand 2

I literally hate getting it in with anything less than AA preflop in these games, but you get shown the most ridiculous hands enough of the time to never fold KK preflop for <£500 vs unknowns.

£1/£2 Effective Stack £350.

HJ limps, CO raises to £16, I raise to £50 with kK, HJ thinks for a while (sigh) and crams the rest. He shows AA and I muck after it runs out.

Hand 3

I'd been hanging around with a certain acquaintance too much when I played this hand. This being said it is the Vic which generally plays on the nittier side, and connected hands like T9o have good barrelling equity. OTT you're often going to pick up a gutshot, a pair, or an overcard to barrel with on flops like 8xxr or 9xxr

£1/£2 Effective Stack £200

LJ limps, I make it £10 with T9 in the CO, SB calls, BB calls, LJ calls. (NOTE TO SELF PEOPLE DONT LIKE TO FOLD IN LIVE POKER)

Flop 552 Pot £40. checks around.
Turn A Pot £40 checks to me, I bet £20, CO folds, SB folds, BB calls.
River 2 Pot £80, I jam for £70 effective, BB angrily folds.

Hand 4

I like my bet on the turn, but it was a bit on the larger side. I think if I make it a bit smaller I get 99 or 88 to peel a street too

Open LJ with AT (premium hand in Live Poker), HJ calls, BTN calls, BB calls.

Flop T62:diamond Pot £40, I bet £25, HJ calls.

Turn J Pot £90, I bet £75, HJ tank calls.

River 2 check check, HJ shows JTo and I muck.

Hand 5

Again, had been hanging around with certain characters a bit too much that day...in my defense I had seen him do the same thing before with weak top pairs for the same sizing. Unfortunately it wasn't until after the hand that I found out this was his first ever poker game that wasn't on Zynga

I think check calling the flop is reasonable, but if I bet two small streets for half pot he's going to fold his underpairs. Also fish like to make these mergey type bets with these hands on these textures which is obviopusly bad for us.

£1/£2 £180 Effective.

Raise AK UTG to £10, UTG+1 calls, everyone else folds.

Flop JTT Pot £10, I bet £12, he minraises to £24, I reraise to £110, he screams "AWW IN" (lol). I call the £70. Board runs out blanks and J4 wins the pot.

Hand 6

Against a button-clicking fish. Against these people you have to just go with the absolute strength of your hand; I wouldn't be surprised if he took this line with second pair top kicker. Against these folks you are going to either double or halve your stack.

£1/£2 Effective Stack £400.

I open KJ:club over limper, only he calls HU./

Flop J76 Pot £23 Limper donks £25, I call.
Turn 2 Pot £73, limper donks £80, I call.
River 3 Pot £250 limper bets £150, I call. He shows J6dd

Was Hand 5 above against my friend?

Sorry, meant J4 big difference there...

In, good read so far. Considering moving to London and playing live for a living for a couple of years rather than the dull as **** 100NL online grind - what would your thoughts on that be?

Thanks! Glad you're enjoying the content. I'm not a professional poker player, however I've collated my general thoughts into the below list:

+I have no doubts that a 100NL zoom player has what it takes to beat live poker for a tidy paycheck. However there are many adjustments you must make to maximise your hourly. This often means employing extremely ugly lines vs fish, that against a good player you would never take. Also...

+Just because you can beat 100NL doesnt mean you will crush live poker off the bat. I know many live poker players who would be considered a fish/spoy online who despite their lack of technical understandoing of poker are able to make a very tidy sum from live poker through ruthless exploitative play.

+As a zoom player, you will find live poker interminably slow. On average you will see about 30 hands/hour in a full ring game. Consequently live poker can be extremely dull. This is somewhat mitigated if you have a fun/interesting table with cool people or friendly regs on.

+Game selection is extremely important in live poker. A good £2/£5 or deepstack is sometimes worth a whole month of normal £1/£2.

+Having a good memory is a very important attribute in live poker, as obviously you cant use a HUD. Being able to mentally file away whether someone flatted kings pre, or slowplayed a set on the drawiest flop, or even having the ability to raise a gutshot (!) is a very useful thing to do which will massively help your win rate.

+Online you are somewhat shielded from the rest of the world. In casinos, drinks are available 24/7, table games less than a 10s walk. This may or may not be a problem for you, but I think is worth a mention. Over the course of your live poker career you will forever encounter and form friendships with people for whom all this is the norm.

+If you truly love poker and aspire to be one of the best players in the world, live poker is not for you. If you have more modest intentions this doesnt apply.

+The best games go down at nights/weekends, whereas I imagine online it is a bit more consistent. You dont have as much of the flexibility youre used to as an online player.

+A lot of the time live poker really boils down to the following axioms:

1. You are taking advantage of people playing too many hands and not having enough fold equity.
2. Wait for big hands like sets and straights to cooler whales for their 300bb stack.

+Londons a great place to live!

+Casinos are not a good place to spend too long at. This is obviously unavoidable if you want to be a professional live player.

Hope this helps!

Great read so far mate, keep it up!

How much experience have you got in the non-Holdem live games? Any PLO/DC games that you jump into around London?

Appreciate the response mate - such great depth too!

Yeah, I dislike casinos and I think that's one of the main reasons I haven't taken the plunge yet.

Hi man,

Been checking in from time to time and it's good to see you're updating the thread and doing well.

I'm starting a degree in London in september and plan to hopefully supplement my income by player poker when I have free time. It's an engineering degree so not sure how much time I'll have but worth a shot right.

I'm kind of torn between bum hunting soft sites online (like 10-20NL euro sites) in my free time or building up a live roll and playing at somewhere like aspers.

What kind of BRM would you recommend for the 1/2 games in London. I'd kind of like to start off playing 1/1 but from what I've heard the rake is pretty bad.

Btw great info regarding TDA's question, tysm for that insight. Good to hear someone go into a lot of detail about those kind of things.

Thanks again bud! Definitely feel humbled looking through your achievements and great posts so means a lot.

I have basically no PLO experience let alone anything more exotic than that. I probably couldnt beat NL2 zoom

I once short stacked a PLO game when the NLH was particularly bad though, and did very well off that ie I waited to flop straigjts and the like in multiway pots and river boats like the lucksack I am.

Am definitely aware of how +EV these games are, but for the moment really just want to become one of the best NLH deepstack players in town. I know of many private games that do the usual 4/5/6 fanfare, Im sure youd do very well in those games.


Yeah, neither have I tbh TDA. Its something I havent elaborated on enough in my previous post. Online you're very much detached from the whole experience apart from the occasional chatbox line.

Pulling the trigger in the wrong spot is very different online to live. If they call it off online you might well go "ah spewed a bit" and call it a night, whereas Live you have to live with what may seem an embarassing play. Similarly online when have you ever had to deal with a drunk guy asking for his money back after doing the lot to you? In practice its not a big deal but its something to think about.


Thanks bud!

I think BRM is a very contentious topic in live poker. I cant really be arsed to go into detail but herr are my thoughts.

1. If you have decent job/disposable income like me, just buy in for £200 every now and again and see how it goes. Worst case you wont be able to afford that xbox, and you can always shot it next month. Basically this is a great way to spin up a roll if youre in a position to do this.

2. If youre on an absolute shoestring and want to foolishly play professionally I think £1.6k is the absolute minimum to buyin for £250. Of course all you can do is play extremely conservatively and go south very aggressively, but I think the games are good enough that the risk of ruin is sufficiently low. It has been done with less I can assure you.

I would avoid £1/1 personally and just shortstack 1/2 with a very strict hand selection criteria. People open to £10 in £1/2 so the stakes are really £1.50/3.00 if coverting to a "normal" online game. I think with the 10% uncapped rake Id rather do that than buyin for 100 in a 1/1. Good luck!



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£1/3 at the vic or £1/2 at the hippo ? In terms of profitability in the long run playing 30 h/week.

Hey!

Due to the relatively niche london poker community (and obviously the open nature of this thead) I dont want to any comments relating to game selection.

Hope you understand. Im happy to answer questions on anything else though.


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No worries I understand, but you kind of did with this answer

So I've put in some good volume over the last 3 days or so. To be honest I'm not ecstatic with how I've played, despite running exceptionally well recently. I really feel like I'm missing a lot of value with these hands. This time I've left out spoilers to encourage a bit of feedback....

Hand 1

£1/£2 Effective Stack £400.

I raise CO KQ to £10, BB (random unknown fish) calls

Flop AK4 Pot £20 check, check.
Turn J Pot £20 BB bets £15, I call.
River 5 Pot £50 BB bets £20, hero?

Hand 2

£1/£2 w/ £5 Straddle Effective Stack £400.

HJ (same fish) limps, aggro guy raises CO to £16, I 3bet BB AK to £55, straddle folds, HJ flats.

Flop 762 Pot £130. I bet £55, HJ calls
Turn 6 Pot £240 I check, fish moves all in for £85, hero?

Hand 3

£1/£2 £800 effective. BTN (presumed nitty reg) opens £7, I call BB T8

Flop 964 Pot £15 I check, BTN bets £10, I call.
Turn A Pot £35, I check, BTN bets £26, I raise to £80, BTN calls.
River 7 Pot £205, hero?

So its 1:33am, and I have work tomorrow (7AM wakeup...). I want to make another post on my current poker goals and leaks and how I'm going to address them. However now is not the time...

I don't really like PGC's with nothing but endless HH's, so I think I'll write an article or two to mix things up a bit. I have left the actual topic to be decided by you the public...http://goo.gl/OcyrUZ once I get a vote or two. I am also open to any suggestions!

glgl

H1 looks fine for price
H2 bet flop smaller probably call turn
H3 probably xf a normal bet and xc a smaller size. Bf prob OK too

Thanks z0mg.

H1: Yeah I called and got shown A7o, as you said I dont need to be right very often though so calling fine.
H2: I caled guy showed ATdd. Playing with the combos it seems marginal (do you know how hard it is to design ranges for a guy who limp cold calls a 3b in a straddled pot)
H3: Slight typo, river wasnt a diamond ao I rivered the nuts. Decided to go big to reflect an extremely polarised range, as I think the guy is either going to pay off a 0.5Psb or 0.8psb with AK/AQ. Could be wrong though.




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Hey guys, I just wanted to make a quick update if anyone follows this thread!

Thanks to those who answered the poll. It appears the Janda review just about won it, so thats what Im working on at the moment. Im hoping some of you will find it very useful, and will be able to employ strategies Ive derived from it in your own games (or exploit me with them if you play live poker

Ive had a pretty meh couple of last sessions. Also managed to win a really filthy 2k+ pot in a £1/£2 deepstack against a good friend of mine which I"ll detail at some point (neither of us had anywhere the nuts).

Also been getting into tropical house a ton over the last week. Would recommend this mix by Bunt if thats your thing. Ideal for when the weathers half decent over here. Glgl all


https://soundcloud.com/wearebunt/fol...pe-chapter-two




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Miscellaneous update time! Haven't posted in a while (article still pending), so thought I'd blow the dust off this PGC.

Life/Goals

I've decided to take a short 3 month sabbatical to play poker for a living. I've thought about this a lot, and based this on the following considerations

+I have a very healthy roll for £1/£2 200BB deep, and some £2/£5 shots if the game is good.
+I have an hourly of £18 over the past few years. If I put in 21 sessions/mo at rate of £15/hour for 8hrs a day, that easily accounts for a conservative estimate of expenses. I'm also rolled to play these silly deep-stack games against superstars, so think £15/hour is definitely achievable.
+I'm frustrated with my current job, and would like to put more time and care into finding a role thats right for me.

I don't expect to FT it after that, but think its going to be an interesting experience. Until now I've been somewhat loose monetarily (providing tips, straddling for whales, making slightly spurious calls to show whales I can't be bluffed, drinking during sessions). I've always been a recreational player, but obviously I can't indulge in these things as often as I'm used to if I'm to play for a living.

Off-Table Stuff

I've been working through this old-school gem on the train to work. I'd definitely recommend to anyone who is actively looking to work on their mental game.



I think everyone finds mental game stuff a little on the dry side, but Angelo is able to present a simple plan for sorting it out in a entertaining and well-written way. I haven't read it all yet but here's some of the things I've extracted thus far:

1. The importance of not playing when you're playing C-game level poker
2. Ability to quit.
3. Importance of having a poker-face, even when you're not in a hand. (<<<------I think everyone who plays with me is going to roll their eyes at this one).

If anyones into (i.e. can be bothered to) designing their ranges ala Janda style I'd recommend this guy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XGWhx7Mvy9A. Great if you can't afford CR for his videos as a cheap (albeit inferior) replacement.

Sessions

I managed to put in some good volume this week (30 hours total). What started off with a healthy profit was absolutely decimated by an atrocious Fri-Sat grind. Two earlier sessions were a mixed but profitable bag, seeing everything from complete range of A to B- game.

Unfortunately what started off as a good profitable week was decimated by an atrocious Fri-Sat session which was probably my worst session in a while.



On the plus side:


1. I played well for 4/5 of the session, and probably minimized my losses in some pretty dreadful spots.
2. I never really tilted even when losing a big pot.
3. Played the legendary (nice guy).
4. The tables were entertaining to play on.

On the negative side...:

1. Pussied out on a couple of decent river triple barrel spots.
2. Made some slightly weak checks on boards where I could have cbet.
3. Played the legendary




I'll get round to some hands when I can be bothered to go through the whole formatting thing/sigh at my bad bet sizes!

glgl

Maybe one then...

Hand 1

#Blessed against enormous whale £1k deep, who'd raise to £5 and call 3bets with ATC. I'd seen him barrel off with 2nd Pair weak kicker. I had squeezed pre (for value) with ATo vs him, and check-jammed when he was short on an 885r flop. He had K7o.

Live £1/£2 with £5 Straddle.

Whole table limps, I complete SB 74, BB checks.

Flop 865 Pot £18 checks to whale who bets £10, 3 callers, I raise to £75, whale calls, another semi-fish guy calls. #

Turn J Pot £245 I bet £175, whale minraises to £350, fish calls, I jam for £850, whale calls, fish calls all-in.

River: 4 Pot a million, whale shows J7 and we chop it up

Hey buddy, keep up the good work! Looking forward to seeing how the sabbatical from work goes. Something I would have loved to have done myself if I hadn't got a new job.

Thanks bud yeah its gonna be weird for sure, I'm hoping to pencil in September the 1st. This'll give me time to organise myself, finish my CPD reports and finish a couple of projects to a high quality to ensure a good future reference. Come down to hippodrome sometime and say hello : )

I just finished analysing another hand I played on Saturday. I knew I should have bet the river immediately after the hand, but the analysis really shows how bad checking is here.

When we look at my range, I have enough value hands here to overbet 1.5x pot on the river with a balanced range. I don't think BB has enough 8x in his range to make overbetting with AK/QQ an overplay. If anyones interested...

Value = AA(6), KK(3) QQ(6) AK(12) = 27
Air = AQs(6), QJ(4), JT(4), T9(4) = 15

NB I chose QJ/JT/T9 for their 8x/top of range pp blocking effects.

GTO feel guys want to chip in?

Hand 1

BB reggy guy

Live £1/£2. Effective stack £500

Hero raises AQ UTG, CO calls, BB calls.

Flop 883 Pot £31, BB checks, Hero bets £20, CO folds, BB calls

Turn 2 Pot £71 BB checks, Hero bets £40, BB calls.

River K Pot £150 BB checks, Hero checks. BB shows JJ

haha good to play with you mate. next time I'll be less of a pushover glgl

Maybe I can put a word in to the dealer to ensure we actually get some half-interesting flops! Gf on the 999r where I opened UTG and cb 1/3psb, had 95 was trying to isolate the fish on my right in the blinds

Think I'm going to head down to the Vic this evening to either make or do plumz. If anyone's about let me know! They do a great £14 caesar salad too. Some articles I've recently read, liked and would recommend...

http://www.twoplustwo.com/magazine/i...bling-game.php

http://www.cardrunners.com/article/1...larized-range/

gl all.