thx.
thanks for the PF advice.
As we are oop I don't think we can profitably rep nut flush from there if we flat flop though.

Yea, repping the flush will be tricky, and it's def just plan B if we feel we confident villain doesn't have one.

3bet vs loose range, fold vs tight range. Here your default play is fold. Never ever flat-call in this spot!

What would be the optimal way to play a monster draw like this? It essentially went as I planned, but was thinking maybe there would be a better way.

Didn't want to 3bet PF as I'm OOP and wouldn't want to build a huge pot or get 4bet.

Figured the PF raisor would not C-bet 5-way without a monster, but he could call and someone could raise my weak lead and I'd get to put a large bet against a hand that I have great equity against. But then got thinking that are we ever a big favorite against a hand that will raise/call our bet (and I don't think anyone ever raise/folds here).

PFR is 20/21/0.7 and flop 3bettor is 27/7/20 but only about 40 hands on each. Its rush so I haven't been able to watch them play.









Tattista Been working on raising my 3bet range, definitely a hand I will add.

this is a spot where you need to tread carefully. Given this action on a multiway flop, your FD is rarely good. You gotto think of this as a naked wrap for all intents and purposes.

c/c is the way to go, def don't lead. You played it fine given you got it HU vs the set, but I doubt anyone is folding NFD in this spot if it's out there. And it's def possible the jammer has AA+NFD or K+FD.

Sounds good. Was thinking a flush would get very awkward multiway. My plan to get the stacks in on the flop didn't seem that great either, as we are flipping with a set and the pot is so small it won't even cover the rake - so we are essentially flipping over nothing and if villain has a better FD then we'd be a huge dog. I'll play it slower next time

Initial PF raiser is a 74/23/8.7 and obv seems very weak. 3bettor is a reg, 31/20/3.8 with a 3bet of 7. BB is also a reg.

Is it OK to flat here OTB? The weak player hasn't 4bet in the few hands I've played with him. I don't think we can 4bet either since I think there is a fairly good change the weak player would still call.

OTF I figured I'd just flat since this would give the weak player a chance to put his stack in for a minraise in which case the reg might ship thinking I'm on a draw - also my hand would look super strong if I raise the flop and its not incredibly drawy so I figured its not the end of the world if villain gets a free card.

OTT I'm scared that I got over-setted, but still figure he can have something else like AKK so I call.

Does this seem fine? Also, if you were in the villains shoes do you think the turn jam is +EV? I figure my range looks a lot like draws so turning the hand into a bluff there might not be that bad.

Small pairs are bad in PLO, I'd just fold preflop, especially with 3 hearts. Given the fish is in the hand, you can start calling 9887s etc, before calling this hand. If you're calling 9866hhh, you're calling too often with an equity disadvantage in a SPR 4 Pot.

Postflop seems fine, he's just GII as you said because he thinks you have a draw....

yea, pre is spew, the bottom of my range here is prob 9876ss, and would prefer slightly deeper stacks for that.

Flop is a clear jam, he's committed with any overpair and might c/f some str8ning turns which would be terrible

no choice OTT

Hey guys.

Need some advice if you don't bother too much :P

what do you usually do during/after downswing or couple of terrible sessions? I mean how you handle it, take time off, drop down the limit?

I have experienced really bad swings and "got used to the dark side of the game mindset", now my BR is 100 + BI but after such sessions:

[IMG][/IMG]



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on the second day I can't clear my mind, I mean it seems to be repeating and continuously remembering all those numerous missed wraps + FD, aces lost vs aces, coolers and etc. and even though I know that is normal in PLO and one, two or even ten sessions happen really really bad, somehow I am still very disappointed and feel like every time I will play, the worst side of the variance "is searching for me".

every opinion is important, thanks in advance.

All mindset problems/tilt derive from insecurity, as I've written in the past. Here I see three options:

1) You may be insecure about the money. Being worried about your bankroll and not wanting to re-deposit is pretty common.

2) You may be insecure about your game. While your EV is decent, you know it doesn't tell the whole story and keep wondering if you're doing something wrong. Reviewing your sessions extensively is a good remedy, alomg with discussing your hands with others.

3) You might be scared of the variance. 2k hands is a tiny sample over which anything is possible, regardless of your skill level. You clearly haven't gotten used to such swings yet, and the only way to overcome the fear is to put in more and more volume.

The solution may well be dropping down is stakes until you feel comfortable again

Hey man, thanks for replying.


1) There were times I was. Now I run 150 BI at plo50 only and can get 50 more if needed, how do you think is there still a reason for worrying?

2) That's something I have been always advised and doing my best, even right now am analysing some hands of course there are a lot of mistakes which I'll try not to repeat in the future.

3) Yes I am scared, too scared of the variance and I'll tell you why. in the past two years I have played in 4 rooms: stars, fultilt and two my local country rooms. In every limit, every game I have played I experienced really bad swings. Still I was making profit in overall but that really messed with my mind. Due to that the fear of variance developed itself in my mind and somehow it does seem to find me everywhere. I cant remember when I last ran good for a week for example. No am not newbie to this game and experienced some long swings, 50K hands at fulltilt, 40 at stars and some at other rooms. I don't want to but am always remembering them. I want to put more volume but am afraid cause last time it got worse and worse, its like a poker nightmare...

P.S. sorry for my bad English ))

There's a lot of material available on the mental game. I recommend Jared Tendler's books as well as "How To Be a Poker Player. You can also find some free material on Jared Tendler's website.

What you are experiencing is normal and every player will struggle with this at some point. You need to learn about this process as much as you can. Sometimes just thinking the same thoughts over and over won't get you anywhere, in fact it will only make things worse.

Try to learn as much as you can about variance and about your psychology. Getting to know you brain and its' faults will be helpful for poker and for life in general. At the same time work on your poker game and that should improve your confidence. Good Luck

Sounds like your BRM is fine and it's good to hear you're reviewing your sessions. As to the variance, you prob just need to catch a break to get a nice confidence boost.

I've been grinding mainly Zoom500 lately going for SNE, running 100BIs below at that game over a fairly significant sample:



PLO is a huge test for your mental game in being able to look beyond the variance. If you believe in your edge and have the bankroll to stay in the games, you'll do just fine.

TY, I think I get involved too easily with weak holdings when I notice a fish is going to get stacked, but I'm sure you guys are correct in that I should just much that garbage pre. Thanks for helping me fix another leak


Is this OK? Villain is 68/30/0.6 over just 29 hands - its rush so no other reads. Given his low aggression I'd assume he has a straight and would flat, but as I have two eights I figured there is a higher chance he has something else (especially given 70% VPIP) and shipped even though I'm really not fist-pumping with bottom set here. Really confused why he would raise/fold though. http://weaktight.com/7131044

Ps, nice posts about BR related stuff GGARJ, and sorry about you running so bad

ouch, that is really sick bro ((((

It has to get better, right?

I reviewed some monthly result graphs here and feel much better after seeing what you guys are/have been going through, compared to that my problem looks childish...

Haha, SNE rakeback will make up for a lot of that bs, no worries. The 20k milestone bonus just before xmas will make me feel warm and fuzzy...

That's nice but I still don't see the way you aren't feeling bad for you somewhere in the deep of you heart, as you have put so much effort, 350K hands is really serious, you should have won so much more...

At the point of only mathematics, does it have to get better or for some poker players is variance a lifetime enemy? )))

Theoretically you can run bad your entire career. OTOH, you could get robbed every time you leave your house.

There's a risk in all entrepeneurship regardless of how awesome your business plan is

GGRJ, that underEVness is quite sick. Going by that ev line what would your winrate be? I guess one year you can run at ev or over and make 60k+ before rb and have a sick $$ profit year.

Also you have red line over blue, is it normally like that for winners at higher stakes? Or it can also be std blue over red?

My redline is def non-std, slightly losing redline and huge blueline are the norm for most big winners

My EV-winrate ain't that big in there, like 3,5bb

Won 100k and 150k pre-RB in 2011 and 2012 respectively when I was playing all midstakes and no zoom

Sicko.

"aint that big" wth...so what would be a higher rate sustainable (pre RB) winrate at your stakes? And I mean a proven one, not just one that you think you should have...

When you won 100k+ did you run over ev that time? and was it 500PLO? Very inspiring

Since 2011-2012 do you feel the games have gotten tougher much?

Last Q ...did you do an podcast with Joey? If not maybe you should do one.

(actually just one more...you said you played "all midstakes and no zoom" so you did well in those game, why did you switch to zoom (assuming you're playing zoom exclusively now)

I'm running considerably above EV lifetime, so no complaints on that department. This year too, actually, as those who have seen my bizarre high stakes graphs lately would know.

Just wanted to post the zoom500 sample to show a relatively standard swing

You'll have to ask Joey about the podcast, I'm certainly not gonna sell myself as a guest, lol

Ok am gonna ask him to get you on XD

And gonna ask him to ask you some of those Qs that you totally just ignored in my post

-_-

I play PLO very rarely, only when I play 8-game. It's probably my worst game.

I watched Poker After Dark and I saw a lot of limping from players like Phil Ivey and Patrick Antonious. I was quite surprised.

My question: is limping in PLO ok if you're the first in the pot? I'm only asking because it's obviously a big no-no in NLHE.