i recently started reading ur blog from beginning and have some questions on ur plays.



from ur first post:

"5) http://beta.weaktight.com/h/54ee26b0a52511a7198b6408
I overbet river because I block 2pair and straights, and I want him to fold Jx and Kx. Not 100% sure this is a great line without a club blocker, but I discounted him having a flush based on his line. I polarised my hand in a spot where it is hard for me to have bluffs, I block big hands that may call a bet this size, and he looks weak?"

why do u stab with a gutter and no overs. i would like the stab if u had a backdoor fd, so u can barrel all the diamond (fd) turns. CO open hits K J board pretty heavily and ppl arent gonna fold to ur bet if they check. need to be ready to shoot at least 2 streets and probably 3.


"6) http://beta.weaktight.com/h/54ee27f5a5251167168b6428
Not happy to face c/r on flop (partic when I have the Ad), but I don't want to fold just yet. I play cautious on the turn, as i'm unsure on either V's ranges. When BTN chkbk turn and SB checks river I am happy to vbet. I felt sick when I faced the jam because I'm used to just always seeing the nuts vs these tricky lines. This hand is evidence of increased spazz factor/overvalue hand/don't fold good hands."

i understand that in game u were unsure about the ranges and took the line of caution. but what do u think people c/r and dont barrel the turn. the flop is drawy so if villain had a value hand like 2 pair or a set he would probably keep barreling the turn after flop c/r. he should be barreling his draws too with this line but when he checks the turn its more likely that he has a draw there than a value hand. the biggest concern is CO but i dont see him having a better hand than hero does (unless co flats Q7s or 74s). i feel that he would play his sets of 77 more aggressively. try to get them in vs SB. i see him calling his set of 44 but also questionable if he is going to play them passive. so i think bet turn for protection and value


"8) http://beta.weaktight.com/h/54ee2ba1a52511a7198b64a5
I bet this sizing on the turn because I blocked hands that would call larger bets (but not raise). Hands like AJ, JT, J9. I didn't block 2pair, which could raise vs this sizing so I don't think I cost myself value here. It is a spot where I don't think I have a lot of bluffs, and I block a lot of hands he can have, so I thought this play in a vacuum was good?"

dont like the turn bet size too much. what are u repping. get value from villains 2 pairs, draws etc. turn FDs are gonna be around 20-30% of villains calling range so get value from it and dont give him the odds. i dont think ur gonna induce villain too much to raise his 2 pairs. or maybe u will. but my feel is that by 3 barreling 3 big bets ur value is going to be similar of that villain raises ur turn bet and u might. and ur giving his FDs correct odds



i see ur using CREV but i think it might be too advanced for nl25. unless ur superpro with it and can construct ranges really fast etc. its good for accuracy but u dont get to cover a lot of spots.

im personally using flopzilla to go through more spots and understand where villains have more draws or more valuehands. u get a good feel for villains different holding frequencies. i think the fastest way to beat is to learn to hand read. u can do the same in crev but ye, it just takes more time for spots where u dont need to be accurate to the chip. when u move up the stakes crev starts to get more important and relevant for balancing n ****.


i like ur math oriented approach. i think there are tons of feel players that are waiting to get exploited by the mathematical brute force.

saw that u were re-learning the poker maths basics. maybe u can tell some more about whats ur ground knowledge and what sort of EV formulas u use n stuff. is it like the applications of nl holdem by mathew janda?

First off, thanks for taking the time to read my blog and come up with some suggestions/questions for me - much appreciated.

FWIW, I think a lot of my earlier posts were done out of panic, and not really understanding where I wanted to go with this blog. I’m not sure how well I played them, but I guess now is a good time to go over them – see how my opinion may have changed after doing a fair amount of theory work.

Totally agree with this. I don't have a great hand for barrelling (no bdfds etc), and if I checkbk I can get a ton of information on the turn. Free information seems too good to waste by betting here.


I'm still not 100% on this one. I don't feel too hot about cbetting, particularly when I have the nfd blocker. It would depend on how fishy V's were (likely pretty fish given the stakes). I think the line was so weird that I wanted to just be cautious and get more information. This V is a reg, and a little on the tight side so I don't have proceeding with caution, especially with my relatively position (if I check, one dude jams the other calls I probably can make a fold, if there is a jam and a fold I can call if I want to, etc).


Yeah, this is FOS imo. I don't have much FE, and I don't have a good barrel hand. Similar to the first spot we discussed, it's one of those where we get a lot of information from a check, we don't fold to a lead, and have some decent strategic options when the hand gets to the river. Barreling here w no bdfd seems unncessary and a little spewy.

To be fair, I’m not using crev as a tool to beat microstakes (not directly anyway). I’m trying to get a better understanding of theoretical knowledge, and using crev is helping me with this massively, as well as getting a more rounded understanding of what is going on in certain spots. These have allowed me to come up with gameplans and strategies in-game.

I don’t have flopzilla, although I have seen it and can see its uses. I think ideally they should be used together, flopzilla for more ‘quick checks’ etc, and crev for more in-depth analysis. Right now, I’m working relatively extensively (given time constraints) with my coach, and that has resulted in a lot of crev work. This is likely best for me, because I think my problems have come with never really having a deep understanding of what is going on in a hand, and why, and how we can manipulate that to our benefit. In the past, I think I had these isolated snippets of info/theory, but there wasn’t a solid enough foundation to either remember it properly, or integrate it effectively into a strategy.


I must admit, the work I am doing with crev late is pretty time-constraining, and as a result I am not playing much poker, but I think it’s the right decision for me right now. I’m trying not to focus on how much (or little) I’m playing for the time being. This is not a period to win money (I’m not playing high enough to do that anyway) – it’s more a time to get everything down solid so that as I develop, my winrate increases and I move up the limits quicker overall. It seems a better structured and much more organic process this way. I definitely do think flopzilla has its benefits though, and there is likely going to come a time when it will be a very useful tool for me.

I have read a lot of books, from basic (Harrington on Holdem) to technical (Mathematics of Poker) to mental game (Elements of Poker), etc, and with my coach we have covered virtually all of the necessary content for me beating small-to-mid stakes. My problem has come though, that I didn’t do enough work to drill it into my brain. It’s one thing reading about a concept in a book that make sense to when you read it – or even being shown something in-depth in a coaching session and understanding it, and actually having that information solidified in your mind so that you don’t forget it, can call upon it when necessary, can implement it into your gameplans, and do all that when under the stress/intensity of playing multiple tables online.

Question For You

Let’s say that, somehow, you found out that the entirety of your life that you’ve experienced up until now is NOT real.

Instead, you’re actually dreaming, in a coma, in a simulation, or whatever.

You know nothing about your “real” life, where you live, what you look like, etc. You know that you are the exact same age, and as you age in the fake world you're ageing equally in the "real" world.

Do you wake up?

I’d like to see reasons if possible. Good Luck.

Definition of real?

In a good simulation you have no means to proof that that is not real. If you somehow found out that that is the case, that means that there is something, that gives to your sensors a clue that what they are experiencing is not reality. That means again that a change to the reality will result in some difference in the perception. Basically that you were able to find out, that you are not in reality, means that the reality and the state, you are in, are differentiable for you. Thus I would change, if I could to the reality.

Pretty cool answer, and yeah, I agree with you to an extent.

This idea came to me a few days ago, and I've been thinking it through. I don't think I've done a good job of explaining here what I'm trying to get out. I'm going to have a think and write something better soon.

Reality

In probably the past year or so, I've found myself thinking over the idea of reality, creation, infinity and such like. As you can imagine, it's hard to come up with answers over concepts that are so abstract and based on our belief system and instinctive assumptions about what the hell we are experiencing.

However, I think it is a good idea to mentally "explore" these ideas. I think you can find yourself coming up with interesting theories of your own; ones that you wouldn't have come up with otherwise. From my experience, I believe that by practicing the opening of your mind in this way, you start to have a much more open mind in general; you think about things slightly differently, perhaps more creative - thinking more outside the box, etc.

The big problem with this (and the reason why I think I had a hard time in my last post) is that the concept of "reality" is infinitely complex and is dependent on my assumptions etc. I left the question intentionally ambiguous and vague in the hope that it would allow some open thinking, not bound by my constraints but allowing you to create your own, and what that would mean. Maybe you'd change your assumption and detail how that would change your answer, and why, etc.

But I think I took it too far. So I'm going to detail some of my thought processes on the question, and hopefully from this post and the previous one, you guys can give your own input with more confidence. Please bear with me, I will try to write my ideas in a way that allows you to understand what I'm referencing when. If not, please let me know.

So, I basically looked at it as:
* 2 dimensions
Could be more, but these are the only 2 that matter, could be asleep/dream & awake for example.
* We have a "base" dimension
This would be what is real. The 'awake' state, let's say.
* The other dimension is, I hope for simplicity, created to and bound by our 'mind'.
This could be a dream state, a coma, a world created out of insanity/boredom/etc.
* We somehow (I have no idea how) get a realisation that our existence up until this point (in our current form) has not been spent in the base dimension.
This could be someone/thing telling us, our brain just having a eureka moment, idk. I don't really think it matters.

The question is then:
"If, somehow you KNEW that your entire life (or what you thought was your life) was in fact not real (but instead something else), would you "wake up" or stay?"

Now, I wanted to reduce the number of strategic advantages to choosing one over the other, which is why I tried to keep everything about the self identical. That is, if you were in fact 10 years younger in 'real' life, you may choose that because you're maybe gaining 10 years, idk. So the assumption is that if we wake up, we don't really gain anything, we aren't younger/smarter/taller/fitter/more good looking, etc.

The problem with this, though, is that if we know that our form is unchanged in the real world, we can make relatively accurate assumptions about the conditions of that world. For example, for me, a big worry about choosing to wake up is ending up in a worse situation than you were in. You could wake up and you're actually in extreme poverty in India or Africa or w/e.

In terms of the population of the planet, just the fact we have internet and computers etc means that we are wayyyyyy above average in terms of quality of life. As a result, you could argue that we are taking a huge risk by waking up (if that's how you want to think about it). However, by knowing you are (for example): white, moderately built, proficient at reading/writing/math, you can rule out some really bad suckouts by choosing to wake up. Suddenly, the range of possible outcomes shrinks considerably, and boundary of the worst case scenario improves extremely.

You could maybe take it in a new direction and hypothesise that, if this entire world was created by my mind, and I am a subject of this one mind, then the real mind must be much stronger than my "current" one, and thus I should wake up because my prospects must be much higher in that dimension.

However, the idea is that we can infer and extrapolate all we want, but we really have no true idea what awaits us when we awake. An idea I had was that we could wake up to complete nothingness. We are basically "God" and we created this "life" to occupy us from the torture of infinite loneliness (similar idea to Alan Watts, see here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-xCFoJ0aywc), in which case waking up could be a huge mistake.

Or, you could look at it super simply: can you deal with living a life that you are pretty happy/content with if you knew it wasn't real? Can you remain blissful in your fabricated existence or would you need to live a "real" life whatever that would be?

So, yeah, those are things I came up with. I would be interested to hear ideas you guys have. I'm not looking for an answer, because I don't think there is one. But I think it's a cool topic.

P.S. I am not high

Good Luck

Interesting speculation, but what I believe to be important to realize is that the non-aware subject sees the equation through the spectrum of a duality : dream/awake, self/non-self, delusion/lucid world etc. and that if he steps on the other side, it might not only change his perspective on this said duality, but the whole equation all together... Let me answer to your allegory with another one.

Your problem can be seen as someone - a subject, to be precise - that is standing in front of a mirror (this metaphor is old like the world). On one hand, you have the subject and the world he inhabits - or mainly his perspective on this said phenomenal world -, on the other hand, you have the reflection of the latter. These appear to be similar, yet a dichotomy creates itself, as you cannot experience for yourself the reflective world of the mirror. To simplify our equation, we will call the reality of the subject, World A, and the reflective reality, World B ; still a very simply equation, thus far...

Lets also keep in mind that the subject is a product of World A : his entire understanding of his reality is based upon sensory stimulus provided by his dimension : he is a product of his own reality.

OK, lets go on a tangent here and place another mirror in front of the first mirror : a multiplicity of equation emerge here So if we were to add another variable to the equation, it blurs all the data (another mirror would add a World C, A + B + C combined, or the reflections reflected, would create World D, A + B + C + D would create World E etc.). But we are digressing here and getting away from our equation at hand...

Because our subject is a product of his own dimension - and views his own reality through a non-reflective stance -, if he is to step through the mirror, it completely changes the equation at hand, and thus becomes impossible to resolve. HE SEES A REFLECTIVE REALITY THROUGH NON-REFLECTIVE EYES. It simply does not equate. Or picture this : he walks through the reflective glass, without ever being reflected himself, yet still understands World B through World A eyes

So in order for this problem to work, the equation would have to change : Subject A could become Subject B (a new product of the reflective world), and hence come to a new realization, or remain Subject A and never understand World B.

Or in more simpler worlds : Life is an illusion, we are but an imagine of ourselves. If we change the way we perceive the world (through meditation), then the world will necessarily change.

Mind = blown, thank you so much.

So, like the world, our perception and what we classify as important to us is really all that matters. Even here, with an infinitely complex problem with infinite unknowns, I feel we can still simplify the problem by only dealing with the significant factors:

* Are you happy with how things are now?
* Do you want to change your reality, even if that reality is completely unknown?
* Where is the threshold?
* Do you have a desire for more?
* Do you really need to be in a “true” reality, or are you content with one that may be false given that you are happy and enjoying it?

Forcing myself to answer yes or no (to ‘would you change?’) I think I’d have to say no. I am happy with my life. Even though I have not found the success I wanted, I have purpose and am still in pursuit of a dream. I have a great family and people who care about me. I could have all of this in the other reality, but that is unknown. Ultimately, I think it boils down to whether you are happy with who you are right now, and for me, I am.

Another factor I failed to consider was:

If this life isn't "accidental" (dream etc) and I consciously put myself here, then why did i do it? I'd say if I consciously created this world, then the reason would likely be to not return, as it wouldn't make sense to create a world for myself that is worse than the one my true self is living.

Relighting the Fire

So it’s safe to say that the novelty period of this job has worn off – in a big way. The realisation occurred when I came back into work on Tuesday. Shortly into my shift I just got super depressed, agonising over how far away it was until I was not in work again. I actually booked a day’s holiday for Saturday because I have a family occasion, so I’m actually working only 4 days in my job this week, not 5. Despite this, I was still dreading the rest of the week.

To be honest though, this is a really good thing, because it has really motivated me to get myself out of this situation as soon as possible. I don’t think I can cope with this type of working environment; I require something different. Whether that would be different in a more challenging role or in a capacity I was passionate about remains to be seen, I just know that I couldn’t do a job like this or similar for a long time – id drive myself insane.

Don’t get wrong, I’m definitely grateful for the job I have, it is convenient and has allowed me to stay somewhat stable financially. My morale, self-esteem and overall happiness has improved immensely as a result, and my focus has allowed to be realigned on poker. It is just time now to turn it up a couple of notches.

When I started my job, I didn’t take a break, but my productivity definitely went down. I expected that and was ok with it, I probably needed a little break, and I also needed time to get to grips with my new schedules and how best to fit in my life around it. I feel I have done that now, and I am really excited to get crushing. I have been working a lot lately away from the tables, I haven’t actually played much, but now is the time I can start putting some hands in and exercising some of the concepts I have covered much more in detail.

So yeah, this job has been a great experience for me. It has taken some financial worry away from me. It has provided me with more happiness. It has allowed me to learn an awful lot about myself; who I am, how I work/think, what I want/don’t want. I don’t think I would have progressed this much from a personal perspective had I not taken a step back from poker and gotten this job. I am thankful for it in that respect also, for sure.

I think more than anything, it’s shown me just how much I want this, and just how much I have to work to progress. I am doing that kind of work now, and I am seeing the results of that significantly, so the work and analysis is not a chore like I used to sort of think of it as. It’s an investment in my time, and equates to money. For me, I see it as playing all the time isn’t how you make your money, it’s the work you do away from the tables that makes you your money, and playing is how you get paid for that.

Hey dude that's great I had a similar experience a few years ago and it also reignited that fire that dwindled in poker for me. Having that type of experience makes it easier to cherish the liberty that poker provides. Nothing compares to it. You take your job where you want, play when you want, how you want, and also develop/sharpen other real world business skills if you ever plan on making investments outside of the game.

I'm going through a rough patch too (Nano) and i'm thinking of returning to my career for a bit also because I'm investing in something where I live and my $ just isn't going to be enough and since poker isn't recognized as a legitimate job almost anywhere, I can't request a loan. So, these next 2 months I'm throwing my studying into high gear and ultimately making a decision because I'm getting older and the game just isn't as profitable as it once used to be.

It's a terrible place to be and this thread helped me feel a bit better knowing that you had a similar experience

A Realisation of Working Life

So I’ve been working something like 7 full weeks now. What I thought was a really huge benefit to this job in particular was it’s convenience. With it being so close to my house, I could spend as little time as possible commuting to and from work, which I expected would result in more time for poker outside of work. In reality, it hasn’t really worked like that.

The problem is that, after 8 hours of work, I am just tired/fatigued and need a little bit of a break. I need some time to chill out, maybe eat something, before I can get into place where I am ready to focus my attention on poker. This got me thinking…

· I originally wanted an “easy job”. My reasoning was that I would not be mentally taxed after work and can put in solid hours of poker work. Perhaps the fact this job is so easy/mundane I am bored, and that is causing me to feel fatigue?
· A counter product of working an “easy job” is that it doesn’t pay very well. Perhaps if I had a more “difficult” job, that I would be paid better, which would make me feel better about actually being there 40hrs/week? Although, as salary increases, the amount you receive after tax significantly decreases. You could be earning say 40% more in terms of salary, but after tax you may only be ‘taking home’ an extra £30 per week. Sometimes you can actually be taking home less, especially if you factor in increase in commuting costs (petrol, bus, etc).
· I seem to need time to “switch off” after I finish work before I can work on poker. Maybe I could consider jobs that were slightly further away now (if they paid much better) because my time driving home (say 30-60mins) could be my “switch off” time. I don’t actually lose much time for poker, but I get more money. Again, this would have to be worth it after taking into account the price of commuting.

So yeah, not really sure how I feel about all of this yet – just things I’ve been thinking about lately. I am probably going to at least consider looking for better-paid jobs (somewhat casually), and prioritise location where I can. I will factor in commuting charges and if it appears worth it, I will go for it. If I am fortunate enough to get an interview, this would tell me a lot more about how my daily life would change if I were to take the job.

Tilted Thoughts

Playing today. Lost AIPF w AA vs KK (UTGvBTN). Felt the frustration take over me. As I tend to not spew when I'm tilted, I decided to play and details some of my thoughts:

* I get sucked out on AIPF way too often
* How am I meant to move up/win when I get sucked out on with my big hands
* I don't play many big pots
* I just never ever run good
* Urge to play more tables
* More tables = more chances to get big hands/win pots
* People play TP kind of passively, but cant fold it
* especially Ax

After about 10-15mins most of this frustration had gone (perhaps helped with winning a stack with a set vs 2pair vs a fish), but I stopped playing not long after.

I got a new job

Sorry for the delay in an update, I’ve been a bit preoccupied over the past couple of weeks with a job opportunity, which (as the title suggests) I was fortunate enough to be successful in. The job is for a major international financial name, working as a Management Information (MI) Analyst.

It all started a couple of weeks ago; I randomly get a call from a recruitment agent about a role he had which he thought I would be a good fit for. I told him that I didn’t have some of the essential skills required, but he said that this is not a big issue; the company are more interested in getting the right person/mind for the role, rather than someone who has previous experience of some of the technical aspects. Their philosophy is more to recruit young, bright candidates with enthusiasm and good values/ethics. In terms of salary, the agent said he may consider offering my application with a slightly lower offer on account of me not having all of the skills, thinking I could renegotiate once I got in there and learned these skills.

So, I wasn’t 100% sure on what to do. My current position is pretty easy, it’s convenient and close to home, but it’s pretty boring/mundane and doesn’t really pay well. As I alluded to in an earlier post, I was considering looking for more challenging positions which paid better, but I hadn’t been spending anytime looking, and when this opportunity fell on my lap so to speak, I wasn’t exactly confident on what I wanted to do. I thought “ok, sure, let’s hear them out, I can always say no if it’s not right for me.”

A couple of days go by, and it turns out they want to meet me for an interview (last Friday – 10/7). Obviously, working hours are virtually identical to my current job, but I was fortunate enough to move some hours around so that I could go to the interview and not lose any hours of work (i.e. wages). So I worked late a few consecutive nights and just worked in the afternoon on the day of the interview. They sent over their guide to help people prepare for their interviews, so I spent the coming days reading that and preparing myself for the interview.

A couple of days before I drove to the office and estimated how long it would take, what the parking situation was etc, and I got to the interview with plenty of time. The interview was split into 2 parts: Values and Technical Aspects. It went well, I felt that my values were completely in line with theirs, and although I didn’t have all of the technical aspects, I just reinforced my willingness to learn, and pushed my other strengths (problem solving, analytical mind, logical approach, etc).

They told me it was only between me and another candidate, so as soon as I got back to work I told my recruitment agent (who negotiates salary on my behalf) to not mention dropping my salary if he hadn’t already. I felt confident enough in how my interview went that I didn’t need to give them such an incentive to consider me – particularly when I knew at present it was only a two horse race.

As fate would have it, my recruitment agent went on holiday that day (for 3 weeks). He said he would still be working a couple of hours per day, but it will be harder to contact him based on his location (poor phone service, internet etc).

He called me the following Monday, and said that he put forward the other candidate, and if it was up to him he thinks I would be the better choice. The other guy had the skills required that I didn’t have, but he felt my mind and overall attributes made me a much stronger candidate. He recruits nationwide for this company and speaking to all of the bosses at all location they all share the same ethos with regard to recruitment. So, he raised my hopes but I tried not to get carried away in case I wasn’t successful. In all honesty, I would not have been too disheartened; my situation right now is fine for the time being, but they seem to be a really great company to work for, and are progressive in their approach – I didn’t think companies like that existed in my local area.

Later that day, he informed me that they had picked me for the role, and were just waiting for their salary package to be approved by HR. The deal was a huge surprise: I was expecting to maybe be knocked down from the standard salary because of my skills, yet they offered me MORE than that PLUS BENEFITS. I was ecstatic. I am still waiting for confirmation on these benefits but irrespective of that I am extremely pleased with the salary offer. I didn’t think I would be offered a deal like this for a good couple of years.

So, right now, I’m still in my current job, I’m waiting on a start date and finalisation on all the other details. Nobody here knows, but they want me to start urgently, so I guess it will be in the next couple of weeks.

So after originally being a little reserved about the idea, I am now really, really happy. The way I see it, nothing has changed in terms of poker; it is still my priority, but I now already have a career opportunity set up as a backup. I am going to be on significantly more money, and being in a role with longevity and real career prospects gives me the freedom to work on poker without the stress of an end goal. And as I said, if it turns out that I am not going to do it anymore, I am already on a career path with strong opportunities for progression within an organisation that (on the surface at least) seems to be exactly what I would be looking for. It’s true that the work will be more difficult, but I don’t think that’s a bad thing. I prefer to see it as more interesting work, and there’s a chance that doing something interesting may not actually feel so tiring.

So yeah, despite not really spending much time on poker lately, I’m happy Moving forward, there’s probably going to be another adjustment period, and time management will always be something I need to keep an eye on, but at least one aspect of my life has really taken a change for the better. I feel much more secure, and I can actually consider moving forward with my life and bringing poker with me, rather than it kind of holding me back or being a scapegoat for why I can’t do the things I want to do with my life

Wow, nice man. Congrats!

Hey this is brilliant stuff buddy! Im an analyst too in you could say in a second /third? world country. Its always great to think about poker in relatively stress free environment, but the only downside to such a job is you will find it really hard to put in some reasonable quality time towards poker, but great news man. Good luck ahead.

Great news friend, things seem to be going good for you! Nice to get some life run good, isn't it!!! Keep us updated.

A Busy Summer

Sorry for the delay everyone, a lot has happened over the past few weeks.

Most recently, I went on holiday with my girlfriend and another couple who we are close friends with. We went for one week to Tenerife and had a great time. It was the first vacation my girlfriend and I have been on in a couple of years, and it was a really good to take in some sunshine, relax and detach from what has actually been a hectic couple of years, not just months. With saving as much as we could for our house, to buying it, then ripping it out down to the brick and starting from scratch to our own design and taste, we haven’t really had break. My recent capitulation of results also didn’t help my sanity or overall happiness, and our holiday was exactly what we needed.

I returned home this past Thursday (27th August) at around 2:30am, and started in my new job that same day – not ideal! I was fighting the urge to fall asleep at my desk by around midday, but I was more getting set up on the system and meeting everybody. It seems like it is going to be an interesting job, and the huge increase in pay is going to really take the pressure off me financially. This, in turn, will allow me to work on poker at my own rate and not worry about how quickly my results turn around, etc.

My new job will definitely be more challenging, but also a lot more interesting. The working hours are also more flexible, so I think in all in all I will be able to work on poker more productively whilst simultaneously improving my overall lifestyle – but time will tell on that.

It feels as if this summer has been a particularly busy one, with seemingly one invitation or commitment after another, but with August coming to an end, I expect my social calendar to quieten down considerably (which I am going to welcome with open arms).

Since returning from Tenerife on Thursday, I have played a couple of sessions and am looking forward to playing more. I have a much clearer understanding of where my edge is and what the regs are doing. They vbet a lot more polarised than I had expected, and it took me a while to adjust to these tendencies I think. But now, I feel I just need to put the hours in and I will start crushing.

I found it rather difficult providing this update, I think because it has been so long. So I am going to make more of an effort to update this blog more frequently.

Until next time guys, peace.

A Couple of Hands

I've realised that for a while my posts and updates have been about my life and personal development/strive for happiness. So I thought I would go back to the poker a little and post a couple of hands from a session I played earlier where I am not sure how I played.

It has been a while since I have done any real coaching/analysis, so I guess there's some uncertainty regarding some of the lines I'm taking, and also around the adjustments/population reads I'm having on my opponents now that I'm playing at much lower stakes.

So here's 2 hands, I'll post them and follow them up with my thoughts. I would appreciate some insight from y'all if you have time:

Hand 1) https://www.weaktight.com/h/5602e26dd390439f648b4730

V is 52/30 over 25 hands, has limped, seemed wide and fishy.
I 3bet, and a little larger than perhaps std just because he's a fish, he's slightly deeper than std, I basically don't think he folds much against this size vs a std size ($0.5-$0.6).

Flop:
995r, not much to really worry about. better than TTx, but w/e. I bet 1/2pot, sizing is smaller on HH because I guess it already took rake out.

Turn:
Qhh doesn't really improve anything in his range vs mine, but gives him some draws, some TPs, etc. I want to set up a decent bet on the river but also want to get value on this street. Wouldn't hate a fold in all honesty because I am not happy on a fair few rivers.

River:
Thhh isn't a great river, but when he checks I feel better. If he lead jams into me I fold pretty quickly as a std. I don't see what he has on the turn that calls that I was beating that now has a flush (TP+fd isn't possible). The fact I have Kh is a somewhat small added bonus.

It is not a great runout, especially vs someone with very little information, but is a check too nitty here? Paired board (where I beat QT) against a fish, is jamming TOO thin?

Hand 2: https://www.weaktight.com/h/5602e2dad39043531c8b47e8

V is 20/14 over 650 hands. 41% BTN open, 40% f3b (not huge sample).

Flop:
4 handed this is the nuts (partic on this board). He 4bets AK. Easy bet, likely happy to go 3 streets provided no really scary runouts.

Turn:
Only improves A5s and 65s (if he has it). Doubt he has 65o, maybe not even A5o. I don't block any fds, he can have a lot of pp's below TP, some gs or pair+gs. I bet a size to set up a somewhat std size river jam.

River:
Relatively nothing river. Doesn't have much 4x that not improves. Still calls all TP (may not jam wct) may even call mid pp's when bdfd misses/its 10nl ppl likely want to call and get to showdown. So I jam.

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I lost 4 buyins today's session. I have actually lost my last couple of sessions. I am not considering the options that I am "running bad" or "in a phase of runbad". I'm just playing, and my results are what they are. I'm just trying to focus on playing well and winning hands should come with that.

But interestingly, and maybe it's a culmination of a few things, but today's session REALLY depressed me. I just completely felt deflated, hopeless, disillusioned, the works. I have been doing some thinking in to why this is, but I dont have anything concrete yet. I'm going to sleep on it and maybe update something tomorrow.

I feel I'm playing well and making good decisions, but people often have better hands than me; it's making me question if I'm being too thin in a lot of spots. Intuitively, that seems odd because I'd expect lower stakes to be full of stations. But I have considered being a lot more polarised when unsure (particularly on the river), knowing that they all seem very passive with vbets (and don't bluff) that I can get say 2 very easy streets of value and let them play face up on the river (even when i'm OOP), yet I fear doing that may cost me too much value. It's something I'm thinking about.

But hey, maybe I'm just running bad :P

How is it going OP? Your work? Poker? Hope all is good...