This thread will mirror my DeucesCracked blog.

Like I mentioned in the description, I am starting this blog because of The Mental Game of Poker by Jared Tendler. I want to be able to catalog all of my emotions post-session so that I can go back and check out my progress. So, what I'll be doing each day is writing about my session from a strategic and emotional point of view. Then I'll give myself, on a scale of 1-10 (10 is best...), a play and a tilt score based on how I played and how my emotions were during and after the session. I'll also post my bb graph daily, and a graph including all results from today forward. I'll also post at least one hand.

My poker story so far... Like many people, I was introduced to poker by watching the WSOP ME on ESPN. Fast forward to December of 2011 and I deposited $50 on to Lock (I know I'm a little late to the party). Anyway, I started off playing NLHE, but didn't have much success. I didn't know anything about poker, so I decided to join DC. Afterwards my game got significantly better. However, once I was more knowledgeable about the poker community itself I realized that most of the best HS pros don't play NLHE. I first discovered the wonders of PLO in June. I became obsessed with trying to learn and beat this game, so I took a month off (May 2012) and began watching, reading, and learning all about PLO. I started playing in June and variance slapped me right in the face from the start. In June I ran 1,900bb below EV. It was definitely hard to deal with, but I had a decently sized roll from playing NLHE and pushed through it. The first half of July didn't go so well, but I persevered and finally started running better. I say better because I still ran below EV, but pretty damn close to it for PLO. I won 4,600bb from July 22, to August 31. I was feeling great about my game... and then September hit. This month has gone horribly. I feel like I've been playing my best, but nothing seems to work out. This month is what lead me to TMGOP and to this blog. So after taking a few days off and reading TMGOP cover to cover, I feel like I'm ready to get back to the grind with an entirely new perspective. The book is still fresh, but one of the main things that Jared said that stuck with me was "If you look at the forecast and it says it's going to rain, do you get mad when you go outside and it's raining?". I know the forecast in PLO calls for variance , and I also know that when it rains, it pours.

Goal: Move from Micros to Midstakes by September 2013

This month:



All Dates Filtered Where Hero Contributed 1.01bb+:



I like to use this graph to see how well I'm playing in hands where I VPIP.

Yesterday went horribly. I thought I was playing well, but my graph says otherwise. I still think that I played 90%+ hands the right way, so I'll just have to deal with the results and be happy I made the right play. Just to make sure, I'm going to post some of these type of hands and my reasoning behind them.

Merge - $0.04 PL Hi (6 max) - Omaha Hi - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

MP: $5.00
CO: $9.06
BTN: $2.22
SB: $5.44
BB: $2.92
Hero (UTG): $5.00

SB posts SB $0.02, BB posts BB $0.04, MP posts DB $0.04

Pre Flop: (pot: $0.10) Hero has 9 8 T 6

Note: Standard open with a pretty good rundown.


Hero raises to $0.18, MP calls $0.14, fold, fold, SB calls $0.16, fold

Flop: ($0.58, 3 players) 7 2 5

Note: Get a pretty good flop, so I go ahead and CBet. Villain X/R pot with an AF of 1.67 over 398 hands. I also have 8 auto notes that say he raises flop with two pair, sets and straights with SPR >=4, but 0 "Rasie flop with just a draw and SPR >= 4". Taking all that into account I shove because I am very likely up against a set/2 Pair and not a FD and I'll have enough to continue on most turns anyway with SPR <1. What do you think?


SB checks, Hero bets $0.41, MP raises to $1.81, fold, Hero raises to $4.82 and is all-in, MP calls $3.01 and is all-in

Turn: ($10.22, 2 players) J

River: ($10.22, 2 players) Q


__________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ ____________________________

Merge - $0.04 PL Hi (6 max) - Omaha Hi - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BB: $1.16
Hero (UTG): $11.13
MP: $9.66
CO: $3.85
BTN: $11.57
SB: $6.22

SB posts SB $0.02, BB posts BB $0.04

Pre Flop: (pot: $0.06) Hero has Q A Q 9

Hero raises to $0.14, fold, CO calls $0.14, fold, fold, BB calls $0.10

Flop: ($0.44, 3 players) 8 3 2

Note: CBet the NFD, standard. When he calls I put him on an 8+overs, pair+FD, generally some "made hand" value because his fold to F CBet is 74% over 35 occurences.


BB checks, Hero bets $0.30, CO calls $0.30, fold

Turn: ($1.04, 2 players) 9

Note: I go ahead and barrel my draw again and get a call. At this point I think he is weighted toward a draw (OESD+Pair, FD+pair), but he could also slow play top two because his AF is only 0.77.


Hero bets $0.70, CO calls $0.70

River: ($2.44, 2 players) A

Note: OTR, I try to go for a thin value bet hoping he hero calls thinking I have a busted FD. When he shoves I have to call, but is X/C the river better than B/C? With his actual hand he is obviously betting the river, but do I get more value when he ends up having a busted FD? In game, I thought I block some of his FD hands and he would most likely X back his two pair hands given his low AF. What do you think is best?


Hero bets $1.60, CO raises to $2.71 and is all-in, Hero calls $1.11



As for my emotions, I thought I handled everything pretty well. I had my "injecting logic" statement in front of me the whole time. I used it a couple of times, notably when AIPF with AA**ds and being a 78% favorite OTF, but losing to a runner-runner straight. I did think it helped because part of the reason I tilt is because I know I am better than a player, but I still lose to him/her. Because of that I added "I can't control the cards, I can only control my actions and my emotions", which I need to hear to help me remain calm and focused. After playing though I did get a little frustrated because during the session I purposely hadn't looked at my results, so when I first saw them I was kind of bummed because I thought I had been playing pretty well.

Play Score: 7

Tilt Score: 7

It looks like you are getting your money in on very marginal spots. In the first hand all you have is a naked up and down straight draw, with a flush draw on the board. You're drawing to the second best hand and have nothing to go along with it (set, two pair, etc). Also, from playing Micro stakes PLO on Cake, a pot raise pre-flop screams over pair or broadway cards, so now your villian knows he's way ahead with his set and needs to protect his hand.

Second hand looks alright to me, not sure if I would have called the river, but maybe because I'm not that aggressive

I hope this helps, I'm pretty new too, but have really tightened up my game and am now finally logging more winning sessions in the PLO micros. Just make sure when you are drawing, draw to the nuts and have a back up plan.....good luck!!!

In the first hand I have a wrap. Check out this equity sim (62% is his VPIP):

ProPokerTools Omaha Hi Simulation

600,000 trials (Randomized)

board: 7 2 5

Hand	Pot equity	Wins	Ties
9d 8c Th 6d	37.82%	224,767	4,340
77:62%@100, 55:62%@80, 22:62%@70, Ahh:62%@20, 75:62%@50	62.18%	370,893	4,340

Given that is his likely range, I have enough equity to continue, but if I just call he probably folds >50% of the time I hit, plus I don't know if my heart outs are clean.

So, if I call and hit OTT, and he folds 50% of the time (.6971 is my avg turn equity when I hit), my EV for that is:
($4.20*.5)+($10.22*.5*.6971)=$7.21*.3782= +$2.14

The EV of shoving (win every time we hit OTT) is: $10.22*.3782*.6971= +$2.69.

Let me know if my calculations are wrong please!

I'm also going to have an avg turn equity of greater than the required 29.45% to get it in OTT. I also may make some incorrect folds on hearts.

After all that, that is why I shoved the flop on hand 1.

After yesterday's horrible session I bounced back today with a great one. I could tell right from the start that I was playing my A-Game. Unfortunately, I couldn't play that many hands because of other obligations, but I'll carry on the momentum into tomorrow. There weren't a lot of trouble hands today, but I figured I'd post my two biggest losing hands for the hell of it. My AIEV doesn't look very good at the beginning because of a hand where I 3Bet AA**ds, CBet the NFD, got raised AI by a set of eights on J8xddc.

Merge - $0.10 PL Hi (6 max) - Omaha Hi - 4 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BB: $12.76
Hero (UTG): $13.40
BTN: $9.90
SB: $10.10

SB posts SB $0.05, BB posts BB $0.10

Pre Flop: (pot: $0.15) Hero has J A 8 J

Hero raises to $0.25, BTN calls $0.25, fold, fold

Flop: ($0.65, 2 players) A 9 J
Hero bets $0.50, BTN calls $0.50

Turn: ($1.65, 2 players) 5
Hero bets $1.65, BTN calls $1.65

River: ($4.95, 2 players) 3

Note: What do you guys do in this spot? I checked to induce bluffs since I'm probably not getting value from worse. He's repping a very narrow value range and not much else. IMO it's a snap call.


Hero checks, BTN bets $4.95, Hero calls $4.95


__________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ _________________

Merge - $0.04 PL Hi (6 max) - Omaha Hi - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BTN: $3.61
SB: $2.88
BB: $4.25
Hero (UTG): $8.63
MP: $5.57
CO: $2.00

SB posts SB $0.02, BB posts BB $0.04

Pre Flop: (pot: $0.06) Hero has K K 5 Q

Hero raises to $0.14, MP calls $0.14, CO calls $0.14, fold, fold, BB calls $0.10

Flop: ($0.58, 4 players) 9 T J
BB checks, Hero bets $0.58, fold, fold, BB calls $0.58

Turn: ($1.74, 2 players) 6
BB checks, Hero bets $1.74, BB calls $1.74

River: ($5.22, 2 players) K

Note: Should I call river? Great odds, but I feel like he's playing perfectly against me, so he's not bluffing often.


BB bets $1.79 and is all-in, fold



Play Score: 9

Tilt Score: 9

Yesterday went pretty well. I played fine IMO, but got very card dead in the second half of the session. Emotionally I was fine, but I got tilted most when I disconnected in a fairly big pot. I live in the country so I'm forced to use satellite internet, which unfortunately means I disconnect fairly often. However, I was able to recover quickly and not let it affect my future play.

Merge - $0.04 PL Hi (6 max) - Omaha Hi - 5 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BB: $4.00
UTG: $3.69
CO: $6.07
BTN: $6.64
Hero (SB): $5.00

Hero posts SB $0.02, BB posts BB $0.04

Pre Flop: (pot: $0.06) Hero has T 2 A Q

fold, fold, BTN raises to $0.12, Hero calls $0.10, BB calls $0.08

Flop: ($0.36, 3 players) 5 Q 3
Hero checks, BB checks, BTN bets $0.24, Hero raises to $0.80, fold, BTN calls $0.56

Turn: ($1.96, 2 players) 7
Hero checks, BTN bets $1.20, Hero calls $1.20

River: ($4.36, 2 players) A

Note: What do you guys do here? OTT, I checked to induce bluffs, but he shoves river. He has a very narrow value range and I figured he would check back weaker flushes, but only call a river bet with better. That being said, I put him on the nuts or nothing, especially because the Ad is on board. However, his river AF is only 1.18 and I have a note that says he is "straightforward and not bluffy".


Hero checks, BTN bets $3.60, fold



Merge - $0.10 PL Hi (6 max) - Omaha Hi - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

CO: $14.07
Hero (BTN): $17.45
SB: $12.53
BB: $1.99
UTG: $4.15
MP: $21.10

SB posts SB $0.05, BB posts BB $0.10

Pre Flop: (pot: $0.15) Hero has Q 8 A J

fold, MP raises to $0.35, fold, Hero calls $0.35, fold, BB calls $0.25

Flop: ($1.10, 3 players) 4 A 7
BB checks, MP checks, Hero bets $0.75, fold, MP calls $0.75

Turn: ($2.60, 2 players) J
MP checks, Hero bets $2.00, MP calls $2.00

River: ($6.60, 2 players) 9

Note: Love when this happens.


MP checks, Hero checks



Play Score: 8.5

Tilt Score: 6.5

GL with your challenge/Journey! I have a few notes on your hands

Hand 1:
Preflop: I prefer to 3bet hands like this in the SB against the BTN, our hand is nutty and has great floppability against a wide range (BTN), and we prevent the BB from "stealing" some of our EQ.

Flop: C/r is fine. We have toppair + a FD. Cool. When he just calls. We can lead his range more towards draws such as 42, 46 and flushdraws + One pairs, looking to improve.

Turn: I like the check on the turn against an aggressive opponent, if he is more stationery, I prefer a bet, but it is very player dependent. By checking we keep the BTN's range wider, and give him an chance to spazz out, and bet his twopair, one pairs, straightdraws and smaller flushes + We underrep our hand, makes it look like we have twopair/a set.

River: I call the river. Our hand is super underrepped. Even though he is straight forward and not bluffy, he could be shipping the river with worse flushes, sets, straights and some bluffs. Because it looks as if we have given up 33xx, 55xx, QQxx and Q5xxx.

Hand 2:
Preflop: Again you could consider putting this in your 3betting-range on button

Flop: Fine spot to bet. We get value from 56, gutters etc. and get floated by random hands like his.

Turn: Fine, perhaps bet a little bigger. So we can bomb the river, if it blanks.

River: Fine checkback.

Yesterday went well again. I played and ran well. Even though my AIEV is way below I still think I played almost all the hands the right way. I'll post some to confirm. Most of them though were where SPR was low OTF and we got it in. Emotionally nothing significant came up. Honestly, I'd say 85% of my tilt problems have disappeared.

Merge - $0.04 PL Hi (6 max) - Omaha Hi - 4 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

Hero (BB): $11.35
UTG: $8.58
BTN: $7.82
SB: $6.21

SB posts SB $0.02, Hero posts BB $0.04

Pre Flop: (pot: $0.06) Hero has 8 A 4 5

fold, BTN calls $0.04, fold, Hero checks

Flop: ($0.10, 2 players) 7 6 3
Hero checks, BTN bets $0.10, Hero raises to $0.40, BTN raises to $1.30, Hero calls $0.90

Turn: ($2.70, 2 players) J
Hero bets $2.70, BTN calls $2.70

River: ($8.10, 2 players) 3

Note: Not much else I can do here.


Hero bets $7.31 and is all-in, BTN calls $3.78 and is all-in


__________________________________________________ _________________

Merge - $0.04 PL Hi (6 max) - Omaha Hi - 5 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

UTG: $12.54
CO: $2.37
Hero (BTN): $5.41
SB: $3.68
BB: $1.20

SB posts SB $0.02, BB posts BB $0.04

Pre Flop: (pot: $0.06) Hero has T A A 7

UTG calls $0.04, CO calls $0.04, Hero calls $0.04, SB raises to $0.24, fold, fold, fold, Hero raises to $0.84, SB calls $0.60

Flop: ($1.80, 2 players) 2 9 8

Note: Close spot. What do you guys do?


SB bets $1.80, Hero raises to $4.44, SB calls $1.04 and is all-in

Turn: ($7.48, 2 players) T

River: ($7.48, 2 players) 3


__________________________________________________ _________________
Merge - $0.10 PL Hi (6 max) - Omaha Hi - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

CO: $8.38
BTN: $3.50
SB: $8.18
BB: $5.44
UTG: $4.00
Hero (MP): $20.03

SB posts SB $0.05, BB posts BB $0.10, UTG posts DB $0.10

Pre Flop: (pot: $0.25) Hero has Q A 2 A

UTG raises to $0.35, Hero raises to $1.20, fold, BTN raises to $3.50 and is all-in, fold, fold, UTG raises to $4.00 and is all-in, Hero calls $2.80

Flop: ($11.65, 3 players) 2 Q A

Turn: ($11.65, 3 players) 5

River: ($11.65, 3 players) J

Note: Run bad LOL



__________________________________________________ _________________
Merge - $0.10 PL Hi (6 max) - Omaha Hi - 5 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

SB: $3.43
BB: $19.25
Hero (UTG): $11.65
CO: $7.91
BTN: $10.91

SB posts SB $0.05, BB posts BB $0.10

Pre Flop: (pot: $0.15) Hero has 7 A 9 A

Hero raises to $0.35, fold, BTN calls $0.35, SB raises to $1.50, fold, Hero raises to $4.95, fold, SB calls $1.93 and is all-in

Flop: ($7.31, 2 players) 2 4 J

Turn: ($7.31, 2 players) 8

Note: More run bad.


River: ($7.31, 2 players) 3



Play Score: 8.5

Tilt Score: 9

Hand 1: I definitely should have 3Bet and thought I should have called the river post-session.

Hand 2: The reason I didn't 3Bet this hand is because villain was PF maniac. He 4Bet a ton. Agree I should have bet bigger OTT too.