depends on for who.

Just a comment, your questions all seem to be excessively wordy, if you were able to chunk these down and make your questions more succinct you would probably receive better answers.

Hmmm, how to answer this....

For most players I'd suspect that the best way to improve would to play no more than 4-6 tables and to focus on every single decision they make. Additionally, hiring a coach would be essential, and marking every hand that you are unsure of your decisions in HEM in order to review them later or to review them with a coach.

Obviously if you are the gifted type who is able to intake a higher amount of information in a smaller period of time then it would be better to increase your tables in order to see more situations. For most people, seeing more situations causes them to formulate some kind of cookie cutter style that generally doesn't succeed in allowing them to become a stronger player, therefore they end up mass multi tabling 50nl or 100nl in order to earn a reasonable hourly. IMO, for me specifically, it has always been way more +ev to play fewer tables and focus more on individual decisions as it has allowed me to have a more concentrated (in the sense of being able to focus on fewer decisions yet analyzing them more in depth) learning experience.

I just can't answer this one for you, it's a matter of knowing yourself and how you learn. If you are stuck multi tabling 50nl for a mediocre winrate for an extended period, I would suggest trying a different method. It's so much more worth it in most circumstances to forego immediate EV by playing fewer tables in order to gain future EV by playing higher stakes.

For example, I've played like 200k hands this year (I'm actually not sure on that number so give or take 50k of that 200k) and am up I'm not sure somewhere around 100k, however 5k of those hands were played at 10/20 in which I profited 40k. Just finding a few spots where you can make massive profit at higher stakes seems so much more worth it to me.

Your welcome. As a matter of fact, the more I end up contributing to it the better I feel about doing it for some reason I can't understand.

I've been following this story very intensely as I find it very interesting. One new piece of information has been brought to light that the 2nd hand in the video was actually a doctored HH that was nearly identical to a hand played by Isaac Haxton which he posted roughly 2 years ago.

Suppose that's why I thought the hand played was very interesting and quite good. Ike is considered probably top 10-20 NLHE HU and possibly even higher than that.

Even against a complete unknown, there are a few cursory assumptions I'm able to make about the player based on the stakes we are playing, the amount he buys in for, whether he posts OOP, whether he limps into the pot or raises as his first action) or if he 3bets, and his screen name. (Yes I can generally tell if it's a screen name made by a good player meant to look like a fish within the first hand or two I play against them in a lot of instances.)

These assumptions I couple with what is called a default game. Default game is a super important concept to understand and to implement. If you have some general questions about what that is I can answer those, but seriously this is the type of stuff that I could write an entire book about so I don't want to attempt to just address it myself, it will be easier if you ask specific questions and I just answer. If others would like to chime in with a response please do so.

Also, I don't want to limit this thread to just people asking me questions and me answering at this point. If other people actually believe they know what they are talking about and have answers to some of these questions, please go ahead and respond. It may create some interesting discussion if I happen to disagree (or a little less work for me if I agree I can just quote your post and type "this").


And I never make smiley faces. Larry David hates the smiley face.

Also mods, maybe you want to change the title of the thread to something like Marshall28 Well. I definitely didn't intend for it to turn into a well thread with this many posts and views, but somehow it seems to have happened.

For 6max:

I could beat 50nl for maybe 15bb/100 ? 100nl maybe 12/bb100?

Not sure but I'm definitely beating 2/4-5/10 for 8bb/100 so those numbers may seem reasonable for me.

For an average player? What I'd do is go on PTR and search the top winners across multiple different sites and search just for stakes 50nl or 100nl and I think you can get a pretty good feel for the ceiling on winrates. (Obviously the numbers I think I can beat it will be higher than any numbers anyone posts there though because anybody good enough to beat it for a lot will almost always move up)

For HU:

It depends on how well you game select. Clearly the rake is a killer in these games, but potentially some players could be winning at 20bb/100 or even higher long term and sustainable.

Edit: Also as a side note, I wouldn't consider myself a HU expert in the way I consider myself a 6max expert. I have too much of an ego and it tends to get in the way of my HU success. I also find no joy in beating up on fish who don't know how to play even if it may be profitable (unless I'm properly rolled and playing high stakes).

Please mods, if this post is against the rules in anyway delete it immediately but please don't give me any infraction points. I don't believe this is against the rules, but a lot of other stuff I've said I had literally no idea it was against the rules so please go easy on me if it is.

I just made a post in the 2p2 pokercast suggesting that I would be a good addition to a future 2p2 pokercast. If any of you guys who thought you received good advice and felt compelled to go to that thread and make a recommendation for me, I would appreciate it. The link to that thread is here:

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/97...l#post28059716

Again I'm really really sorry if I broke the rules, I just don't see why this would be against them.

this is fine/whatever but please as i've said in the past if you're ever unsure PM us. when the rules are publicly available and i've personally offered to vet ANY post you want to make i am not going to give you any leniency if you f up. i wouldn't give ANYONE any leniency but it's especially annoying if i've offered to scan your posts to make sure you're in line.

Yes sir. I'll PM you anytime in the future I'm not sure. I don't expect leniency. Sir.

Nothing is more disturbing to me than potentially annoying you, Terp.

Just so you know.

lolol.

I just quit poker (got job) and have nothing to do for a lil bit. Have been reading these forums and posting only v infrequently for 4+yrs now so might as well help some people out.

For those that have CR, I'm the guy that is in Marshall's current leakfinder series at 2/4, Sam.

Hi,
1.When you play oop from the blinds vs late opener with hands like pocket pair or highcards that you don't 3b, usually we will miss or make a weak draw, how often do you C/R flops that are dry such as Kch2d or more drawy such as 6c7c9h (how will it differ from TAG and LAG and fishes??)

2.Almost same scenario as above but this time IP with cards like AT+ 56s+ 22+ that you choose to play IP and not 3b... flops comes dry and we miss how often will you consider floating/raising cbet and what factors will effect your decisions based on TAG/LAG/FISH without much to many reads

This seems somewhat legit. I was pretty cash busto near the end of 2009 so had to play some 50nl and move back up. These are all the hands I have at 50nl and 100nl in my DB, most of it is played on fulltilt mainly 6-8tabling. Obv kinda a small sample but w/e.

http://i.imgur.com/xkGJc.png

Also someone asked about how to best use your time as a poker player. Personally I've always studied a **** load (reading 2p2, watching training vids, HEM and other poker tools etc.), I think until you are comfortably beating 1/2 you should be studying a lot. For me this probably ended up being about a 1:1 studylay ratio, prob more like 3:2 actually. I think this really depends on how much you care about improving and enjoy learning the ins and outs of the game though. Some people just get too caught up in looking at others results and trying to make loads of $ as quickly as poss. If your not already v good, really wanna improve and have 5hrs a day to dedicate to poker then there's no reason why you shouldn't spend at least half that time sucking in all the knowledge you can. I think everyone massively overvalues how much you can learn by just grinding, ESPECIALLY when your current poker knowledge isn't all that expansive. Basically your just not gonna be good enough to come to correct conclusions/inferences in any reasonable timeframe; so why not learn from all the grinders that have already put in the hard work for you. Personally I never really put in a ton of volume so am a bit biased but imo - if you think you can just grind 9 tables 6hrs a day and become a good MSNL reg then your probably wrong, and if your not prepared to study super hard then most likely your lazy and not passionate enough about poker. /rant

pretty sick win rate, was that 6max or fr?

Am gonna go ahead and say some stuff, hopefully I don't detract from what Marshall is doing. I guess he can keep an eye on it at let others know if they're providing unwanted/incorrect advise.

I think here it is important that you know why your calling pf and how your gonna make it profitable. Try and get a feel for how the PFR is playing (history, HUD stats, notes etc.) and then formulate a gameplan to exploit their LP raises and this isn't just limited to their preflop game. It's good to have a rough idea of a few things including their cbetting freq's, how much credit they are gonna give your floats and c/r's and how aggro they are with dbl/triple barrelling.

1. To try and answer your Qs and be a bit more specific. I would be c/r'ing K72r vs a straight fwd villains who I believe to be relatively low level thinkers.
On 6c7c9h I'd never c/r here with 33 or something that has no equity, I want something with at least some chance to improve and also allow me to barrel turn/riv. I'd be a wary c/r'ing this board too light cause people don't cbet too much on it so I expect my c/r to get called a decent %. If I were c/r'ing it light then there's a good chance I'm going to bet turn jam riv also, depending on which hands I can credibly rep.

2. Again just try and look at your villain's overall game and try and create a strategy to exploit it. I think this is one of the most fun aspects of poker and something that you can do while your waiting for hands. I'll give you a simple thing that you could look for, if villain cbets a high % and has a low double brl then you should try floating him to see if his turn checks tend to be c/f's.



The hands I posted are almost all 6max, with maybe 5-10% being HU.

pretty sick graph sweir. I think I get caught up playing a cookie cutter way of playing. ie. I have 55 on bb vs button steal from a 24/20. Flop comes Aj4 I muck 5s when I should be thinking about c/r or even DBing.

Yeah I think everyone is guilty of this to some extend. Playing less tables and trying to concentrate as much as you can helps. Make sure your not the type to play 4 tables and then get bored and load 2p2/skype though, play the minimum that keeps you entertained/busy.

As I touched on in my other post, it's super important to formulate exploitative gameplans specific to each villain you play and then implement them trying to be consistent for all streets played. People vvv often end up getting to the flop, facing a cbet and then trying to come up with the best line vs. this player by looking at stats etc. why not do that before the flop? That way you can mould your pf ranges to be consistent with your overall gameplan vs the villain. This will make normally "marginal" pf decisions much easier and when it comes to playing postflop your gonna end up taking better lines.

Here's another simple example, Marshall raises MP and your OTB with marginal hand XY, you know his postflop freqs are all fairly solid and can't find anywhere obvious to exploit, you decide to fold. Next Player2 raises MP, again you have XY OTB, here you know/check and see that the reg has some exploitable tendencies- let's say he folds to flop raises a lot or doesn't 2 brl enough. Now you decide you'll be able to play XY profitably because you've identified spots where you can exploit this player. It's obvious to see that vs. Player2 we can, and should, be playing a much wider hand range. More importantly, if we wait until the flop before profiling players in this manner then we're gonna be making incorrect calls vs. Marshall and incorrect folds vs Player2. Once you start doing this regularly it's gonna get much easier and your gonna get better and finding leaks in peoples games that are less obvious at a glance. Clearly there are many more leaks than just folding cbets to raises too much and not 2brl'ing enough...

Just wanted to add a disclaimer as this is something that Marshall likes to hammer home and something that I'm a little weak on, be aware of gameflow in spots like this! Don't go crazy cause you find 1 number off, people do adjust so try and predict this so you can readjust!

I have to learn how to exploit as well. A good player will pick out weak tendenacies and exploit it until they readjust.

i'm not sure if this is an exploit or something I need to really incorporate into my game plan. I'm pretty passive post flop especially OOP. I need to incorporate something like this and do it more often. I was playing 100 NL 6max against a pretty fishy table. CO raised, BTN called and I was the BB with 55 and I called. flop was AK3r. I checked and the two others checkd as well. Turn was a blank. I led out 5 dollars into a 9.50ish pot. The others folded.

I need to steal more pots such as this to improve my winrate. I need to recognize where/when/how to do it as well.

wtf is your problem? between this and the HSNL thread you started, it's clear you are a lonely, selfish prick who craves attention and wants to bring others down

you deserve to be banned and no one should listen you because you ran hot for a couple of months anyways

GET

THE

****

OUT

It's definitely clear that I have a lot more time on my hands since BF occurred.

The funny thing about this issue with Terp was that he clearly stated he doesn't like me and that this has to do with my first post calling him an "over zealous mod" which I actually assumed was true at the start when he started giving me infractions for things I didn't even know to be against the rules.

In my eyes at the time, I thought what I was doing was a pretty nice gesture to the forum by providing all this information for free, and when I received infractions it **appeared** to me that he was doing it for some selfish or jealous/envious reasons. I now know that not to be the case and now understand most of the rules.

Despite myself trying to convey to him that I don't want to break the rules, and this history we have, anything I type at this point gets to him. While I personally have absolutely nothing against him, clearly I find it a little funny and amusing to poke fun at him. It's just in fun. I was temp-banned and warned several times by a few other mods but you don't see me bringing their names up.

Hopefully Terp understands my original misconception and can take these other things in stride realizing that they are JUST A JOKE.

As for me attention whoring, I suppose you could call it that. I've decided that it's +ev for me to try to expand my brand and get exposure at the moment, I don't see any other way than by posting a lot and showing people I know what I'm talking about. If you have a suggestion for a better way to do this, I'd sure like to get some advice as I've never done it before.

Oh and I've been playing professionally for 5 years. So if you call 72 months a few, and add in the fact that I've had 1 300k breakeven stretch, and multiple 30 buy in downswings as just running good for a few months, then you'd be correct.

I think you seem to be a nice guy though!

Right back at you lol.

Feel free to start a similar thread and do better.

Marshall

Interesting thread many thanks for doing this.

It seems quite a modern poker style to find all those spots and situations where villain isnt willing to play for stacks and 3 barrel relentlessly. This is obviously a winning plan.

I wonder... how willing are you to introduce unorthodox and unusual lines just to get into more of those "weird situations" where you can fire for instance a final river bet or overbet that you know villain won't call.

It seems to me that ABC aggro poker, although good and profitable, is easier to play against than unorthodox overbetting/ underbetting strategies.

Thoughts?