I'm glad there is a little interest in the thread, I figured it would die out after yesterday tbh.

That's a tough one. I'd say its 50:50 tbh. If you don't study, you're gonna be weak in understanding the technical parameters of the game such as stack size implications, how to approach certain stages of tournaments and why, how to size your bets, etc, etc. Not only this, but you'll often not reflect on certain key hands from time to time that really have a ton to teach you about what you're doing consistently wrong. Study is no real substitute for play though because really only through playing do you develop your profiling and range reading ability, line construction skills, as well as how to adjust to players around you, etc.

I don't remember exactly, but it was pretty close to 1.5K. Only had two 4- figure scores, but considering my volume/playing schedule up to now I'm pretty happy w/ that tbh. I don't play live. I've played 1 turbo rebuy tournament at Turning Stone in Syracuse once like 5 years ago when I had no clue wtf I was doing. Some cadgey-codger sucked out on my AQ and it scarred me for life

I play 6-8 at this point. I'll probably be trying out 10-12 in the near future, but I might feel like I'm losing too much edge doing that, so 6-8 will probably remain as my sweet spot for a little while. I've used Pokertracker since day one, and just recently started using HEM w/ my new laptop, but beyond that I don't use any other software, etc.

My favorite posters: dereds (seems to always give the right answer), areaman (like his non-chalants about getting AIPF), willyoman (super thoughtful, approaches posting like myself I think), jiggymike (one of the better players I know that doesn't run a HUD...that's scary to me), starscream (great $ game player that helped hone my 3bet logic, etc). I could extend this list to include alot of guys in the forum, but I think most of them get enough props as is from other ppl here. Honestly though, if you've ever taken time to give me some advice or taken the time to engage in a constructive argument w/ me in the forums, I consider you a poker bud for sure.

I'm kind of a fan of the $3 and $4 1000-Cap small guarantees on stars and are hugely +EV in my experience, so I'll probably keep them on for a bit until my roll can sustain withdrawals and not force me to drop down. That might be 2K, but it might not be, I'm not totally sure yet.

Thanks for the positive feedback Jeff. You have an awfully big head for someone as leaky as yourself. I'm far from great, but your game is even more flawed fundamentally and you're in complete denial about it. We've had lengthy discussions about this in the past, however I've never quite been this up front with you and you should know my honest opinion. Your logic, lines, and bet sizing consistently get chewed up and spit out on these forums on pretty much a daily basis. Please don't throw stones, for your own sake atleast.

That's all I have to say to you. Please don't post anymore in this thread because I certainly won't bother responding to you now or ever, and I rather not have u waste anymore forum space.

Hey Foks,

I was going to propose this in MTTc but since it'd probably just get a load of flaming, I thought I'd start off by asking your opinion since you're definitely one of the better posters here. Do you think there'd be any point in starting a 180man subforum? It seems that 80% of hands posted here are push/fold situations from 180mans, which are kind of like sngs in the endgame if I've understood correctly (I don't play them). While there's nothing wrong with that, I think it leaves the MTTers interested in deeper stacked play in a crappy spot since a lot of interesting 30BB+ deep hands go unnoticed because of the huge amount of 180man threads. I love most of the HSMTT threads and I'd love to see more post-flop threads and that kind of discussion, but there's just nowhere to post if you don't play that high since this is basically a 180man forum and you can't post $22 FO hands at HSMTT. Thoughts?

Also, how much are you making in 180mans in terms of hourly rate? I don't mean to mock you or anyone who plays them, but to me they seem kind of dull and uncreative, and I'd go nuts if I had to grind them for longer than like two days. Therefore I'd need to make really good money to get myself to play them. It feels there are a truckload of 180man grinders who make good money, but are they really *that* profitable?

Also, what's the biggest risk you've taken in your life?


Best of luck in the future,

Chuck Bass (like the bass guitar)

any crazy stories involving the kids you teach?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bn1-M5Ze0p8

^^Hey thanks for the compliment...unfortunately I am now 30 days into my trial of PT3 (and struggling mightily with poker in that time) so you can knock me off that list!!!

You seem to have more self-doubt than you do actual leaks, so keep plugging away.

Thanks Chuck. In terms of a 4/180 sub forum, I don't think its a bad idea, but I don't think its very necessary. 4/180s certainly have their own quirks, but I think they resemble large field MTTs oten enough that they should all be lumped in together. Even the largest field tournies often evolves into push fold at some point, so the skill set you need in both is essentially the same ultimately.

I don't have my 4/180 results filtered ATM or in great supply in my new HEM database, but what I do remember are my overall stats, w/ a majority of them constituting 4/180s (I'd say about 60-70% of my volume if I was to guess off the top of my head): Like ~ 110% ROI, ~ $4-$4.50/hr. over about 110K hands.

Biggest Risk: dropping out of grad school, or breaking up w/ my first serious girlfriend, hard to say. Not too exciting I know. More than likely trying to support myself through poker over the summer.

I've witnessed a couple brawls, but beyond that I hear about more interesting stuff than I actually see. I once student taught a kid who was known to throw his fake ear across the room from time to time to express displeasure at his fellow students. I thought that was ****ing hysterical.

I enjoy reading these and rarely ask questions as others are so much better and creative in their questioning.

As for the unrealzeal jab, that is uncalled for and I also agree with others that one does not need to have a $100k type opr to post a well or be skilled and contribute positively here.

nice read and I wish you continued success prosperity on & off the felt

Do you think that playing 1-2 tables at the time isn't enough to make somehow good score?Which one do you think have more benefit: playing as many tables as you can handle or not as many(1-3 fex) but concentrating on the others players,making reads and trying exploit them?

Where are you better in MTT,pre or post flop?

Do you like reading books(not poker)?Whats your favourite author and book if you do?

Also nice materials on your strategy thread,keep writting more when you have some ideas.

GL

What is the best way to identify leaks in your game? Obviously post lots of hands, but my concern is that there are many hands I play that I think are perfectly standard and not worth discussion where I may have bet sizing issues, bad pf line, etc.

Also how creative / loose do you get? I know this forum endorses a very TAG image, especially for the microstakes. I've been experimenting with random light 3betting with varied success, just to try and widen my range a little bit, not sure any random is actually paying attention though

Good question.

1) In terms of # of tables, you should only be playing what you feel comfortable with and where your edge isn't significantly effected. Say playing 2 tables you have like 100% ROI, and when you expand to 4 tables your ROI drops to 40% or something--that means that more tables means less profit for you, so its all relative to your development as a player up to that point. Last June I was still only running a couple tables and feeling slightly overwhelmed, so you shouldn't try to run alot of tables when there is still alot of fundamental stuff that is not yet systematic in your game. Once you become conscious more and more conscious of the systemic plays and hand reading that you can make in certain situations, it makes things alot smoother.

2) I think I have really good discipline PF, although I don't ALWAYS pull the trigger when I should in 4bet spots, etc at this point, my PFR-Open/3bet/PF-Range Assessment foundation is pretty solid. PF is very very mathematical in most cases, and really if you assess that your relative hand strength isn't in ~ the top 50% of villain's opening range, you can be pretty sure you have less than 50% equity (and therefore a decision on your hands based on pot odds, etc) and pass on the hand and not really feel too bad about it. Especially at low stakes I think people overestimate the power of position w/o some kind of relative hand strength at medium-short stacks at low stakes--I rather just exploit their hand selection and clingy tendencies when I have a good hand I'm comfortable stacking off with, or atleast firing 1 or 2 barrels with on occassion if the board runs out well and a bluff seems +EV.

3) I read alot now on politics, ideologies, corporatism, foreign policy, domestic class wars, etc. I feel alot more in touch w/ the world and invested in what happens in our day to day lives. Just like in poker, in life I hate being exploitable--arming yourself with information about how the world, and Power, work is incredibly +EV for life. I mean so many people in the country have such a large misconception about why the country is going to hell in a hand basket. I'll give you a clue--our problems as a country have alot more to do with the redistribution of wealth to the top 5% of our population over the last 30 years, and almost nothing to do with 'big government' or 'baby-killing', or 'THE CORRUPTIVE INFLUENCE ONLINE GAMING'. Conservatives (and certain Liberals, but a HUGE majority of these fools are Neo-Cons) have a vested interest in making sure we're all passive and fearful so they can continue to waste our tax dollars and make their elitist country-club banking friends rich in the process (Our treasury department is fool of crooks as far as I'm concerned).
I have a pretty simple way for IDing leaks. While I'm playing, inevitably there will be a situation or 2 that befuddles you. The less you've played, the more of these situations you'll run into. When you don't know what the most optimal play is given stack sizes, reads, and action on prior streets, that means you have a leak. It is your job as a winner to reflect on most of those situations and be truthful with yourself about what you DO and DO NOT understand about the context of the hand. If you are not grasping something (like the relevance of a 20BB stack vs a 30BB stack, etc) then you have a leak that needs to be fixed. If you're the kind of player that is in denial about their leaks, you're destined to be perpetually frustrated as a player, because you think you'll be making the right moves even when you're totally spewing chips. Remember that a poker hand is a compilation of multiple streets of play, you have to focus intently on playing EVERY street well, and understand the nuances of what bets,raises,checks etc. mean and accomplish on each of those streets.

Honestly, if I don't have a read, I hardly ever get more creative than raising, CBing, and giving up. Sometimes I'll fire a 2nd or 3rd barrel on a bluff readless if villain's range seems obvious to me and the board has run well to fit the story line my betting is telling. However these situations are exceptions rather than the rule, and unless I know villain has some hand reading ability (ie if villain is running like 20/16 over 50 hands, given their strong PF #s you can usually assume they've put some thought into the game and can therefore be classified as 'thinking' post flop on most occassions until you have evidence to the contrary) and can lay down a hand to a good bluff line, I play pretty close to the vest.

Edit: Also if how you play does not sync up w/ how other winning players on the forums seem to play, perhaps you should question some of what you believe to be irrefutable fundamentals of your game. Not sayign others are always correct, but when there is a 95% consensus on something in poker, usually its not worth listening to that other 5% crowd (some stuff yes, most stuff no).

ohhhh the arrogance

Huh?

unrealzeal llolo

what do you think of my play?

what do you think of my strategy posts (all 3 of them a month)?

who is the worst "reg" in the 180s?

did you know that fulltilt is rigged?

I'd love to give you good answers to all of those, but I really can't. I know there are a handful of regs I rather not have on my left, but beyond that I can't say for sure who the 'worst' is because I probably don't have more than a few hundred hands on any one particular guy unfortunately. I'm not really too familiar w/ your postings as I've only come back to it kinda recently, but I'll keep an eye out in the future.

I've never played cash before so I was wondering if studying/playing cash has affected your MTT play.

Yea a bit. I've spent about 35K hands at .5/.10 and about 10K at .10/.25 NL 6-max. They are invaluable for honing your hand reading, bet sizing, etc, and because so much of the parameters are constant (ie stacks sizes typically between 50-100BB) you get to see multiple streets of play and see how a hand develops. This is really important, and once you go back to playing small stakes MTTs many villain's betting patters will be so obvious to you its laughable. Basically any moderate amount of volume in cash games should wipe away alot of your post flop anxiety if you're interested in accomplishing that kind of thing.

thanks for this post.

are you superstitious?

fav hand?

fav color?

best mis-click/suckout you ever made?

highest buy-in ever played?

top 3 online MTT players?

ever made royal flush, which suit?

do you enjoy any other flavors of poker?

are you a math teacher?

keep posting Foks, always enjoy reading your strat

This hits the nail on the head for me. Tyty and look forward to seeing you around.