My first ever post and just sharing my thoughts on a few things poker related.....

1/ I have only won about 15-20% of all ins on Pokerstars in about 3 years and I always get my chips in good, even losing with 85% on the flop against runner runner quite often. I have gone bust now multiple times and no longer trust Pokerstars random dealing. It seems like a glitch but I know the random dealing probability tests have been completed and and the likelihood is this is just a massive relentless crippling downswing. Either way, I'm done with Pokerstars. I was wondering (a) does anyone else have this problem? And (b) if anyone else could recommend any good online sites in Australia. I already have PartyPoker and my 888poker has now vanished due to the upcoming legislation bill about to go through parliament.

2/ The upcoming legislation bill about to go through Australian parliament is a complete joke. Can't Australian politicians see that poker is more strategy than gambling? In my humble opinion poker is 1/3 luck and 2/3 strategy. In the UK they recently passed a bill that allows online poker to continue as long as its regulated. I would hate to see Australia be so naive as to go ahead and ban online poker, but that is a high possibility as from next week. Surely they know this would only create a black market for online poker. What needs regulating is online pokies not online poker. Most problem gamblers in Australia are down the RSL playing poker machines not playing poker online. Have a word with yourself Australia.

3/ i just played Aussie Millions main event and went busto on day 2 in a hand Vs Dan Chevalier, I would like some sensible feedback on my bust out hand. Blinds were 800/1600/100, both started the hand with about 20,000 (short stack). Under the gun raises to 4000 (I put him on pockets), I look down at poker 3s on the button and call hoping to mine a set. Flop is heads up. Flop is 246 rainbow. He tank bets 2600, getting a good price I call (I still put him on pockets but definitally not a set, he could have 55, 77, 88, 99, 1010, JJ). Turn is a 3, which gave me a set, he now bets 4200 leaving about 10k behind, I put him on 55 exactly and jammed regardless, knowing i had about 30% minimum and was getting a reasonable price putting my last 13k in for a 45k pot, hoping he had an overpair or the board would pair if he did have 55. He snap calls and shows 55 and the river bricked. Is it a flop fold? Was it a turn call? Should i have got away from it? Is there any way i could have played the hand differently? Should I have waited for a more profitable spot? What is the optimal route here?

4/ I have met some good and some bad people in the poker world and I know its a bit of a dark world. Ive travelled to Macau for the APT main and played the Aussie Millions main a couple of times. What are your favourite/least favourite poker stops and who are your favourite/least favourite poker players and why?

5/ I am always looking to improve my game. I've now have read many books and watched quite a few videos. In your opinion, what are the best strategy books and training videos out there?

Australian Poker League shared a Page.
February 22 at 3:35pm ·
As you may be aware Online Poker in Australia is under attack.
The 'Interactive Gambling Amendment Bill' will be debated in the Federal Senate at the end of March. If we do not act now and amend this Bill to save online poker it will be gone for ever.
It is important that the Australian poker community rallies together as one and fights to save online poker. Many of our members enjoy playing poker online and it is important that we all defend their rights to do so.
We believe that a strong vibrant online poker scene in Australia ensures a healthy future for grass roots and 'pub poker'.
Our friends at the Australian Online Poker Alliance are leading this fight and we are offering them our support. As an APL or 888PL player and supporter we would appreciate you assisting them by doing the following. It shouldn't take more than a couple of minutes and could make all the difference.
1) Like their Facebook Page to keep up to date with their campaign Facebook.com/AustralianOnlinePokerAlliance
2) Go to their webpage australianonlinepokeralliance.com.au and enter your contact details. This will automatically send a message to your local MP and the Senators in your state asking them to keep online poker in Australia
3) Follow them on Twitter (@AustOnlinePoker) and use the hashtag #AusFight4Poker
4) Forward this email to five friends who believe that people have the right to play poker online if they choose
Thank you on behalf of the entire FHG Team. Your support of this cause and your industry is appreciated

The reason you bust every single time has nothing to do with the dealing. It is because you are a fish and you lose stacks faster than I could playing drunk sniffing coke. The hand you posted proves my point, it was terrible all the way.

I don't believe you get it in good "every time", the one single hand you posted actually shows the opposite, but that is called selective memory. You forget the times you should obviously win and then complain when you don't. On top of that, even if what you say is true you are likely to lose money because you lose so much by folding if you get it all in good every time. It's normal to rely a lot on fold equity and have a slight loss when called.

I never said I wasn't a fish mate, I'm only recreational and have a few good tournament scores, I'm certainly no pro. I can take good players on when I'm playing my 'A game', but lately that's only about 10% of the time.

What would you have done in the hand? Pre flop ship? Flop ship? I'm interested to know what you would have done.

I agree, I didn't get it in good that hand but it's not anywhere near as bad as some of the runner runner bad beats I've seen on PokerStars in recent years.

Thanks for the tip, I agree, should rely on fold equity a little bit more.

Where are you from? What do you think of the Australian online poker bill about to go through parliament?




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I'm not from Australia but worldwide the trend is that governments are shutting poker down instead of creating new markets. Regardless of the upcoming bill I am sure there will be plenty opportunities to ban online poker or they will just raise taxes to make it practically impossible to provide the service without extremely high rake.

What I was mainly pointing at is that selective memory is a huge thing and if you apply that line of thinking in decisions your own progress suffers. There are plenty of other good reasons to quit playing on PS, no need to resort to unbalanced deal.

I think you explained the hand yourself but I'll point out where you didn't follow up.

That's not really a way to assign a range. This means you 100% exclude him having AQ or AK? Almost every player will play AK before they play 22. In any case, against a strong range you are behind, just fold.

Setmining in position can sometimes be sort of ok but not great. You need to play the hand as a bluff as well to actually profit because else you forfeit too many pots. In this case, you're not even close to deep enough. With your stack you're looking to shove or fold and 33 is not good enough.

Now everything that happens after the flop is pretty much irrelevant because the situation should never happen again. Anyways
How can you put him on a pair that could be 55/77 but is definitely not a set? So 66 is impossible here? Where did the other pairs go like 22-33 and QQ+? Would he magically check those?

I don't think the UK are looking to get rid anytime soon,m. They reviewed it a while back, brought in legislation to monitor/regulate online poker and left it as is.

I agree, selective memory can be deceptive, especially when it involves losing money/chip stacks.

I also agree, there area few other reasons to leave Stars, one being there are much softer games on other sites.

In regard to the hand, in hindsight I also think it was a pre flop fold. The read I was getting was mainly based on his range, his stack and his bet sizing. I didn't completely rule out AK or a set, I just had a feel.

Your advise is appreciated and you are quite articulate in you tuition. I guess you are a poker coach or have previously given advice. I also guess you have had a few great poker scores. What country are you from?




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You are a compulsive gambler. You need to do something else with your life.

I struggle to imagine a scenario where 2.5x raising UTG with 55 can ever be a profitable play from a 12.5bb stack.

Your opponent made a mistake by raising, and most likely should have just folded pre. Then you negate his mistake by flatting with a dominated hand.

You say you have these 'reads' on him. What type of player was he? Let's assume he'd take the standard route and just jam 77+, AJs+, AQo+ and KQs. How well is 33 doing against that range? What happens when the board comes A96 and it's checked to you? Wouldn't he just go all in with his strong hands and fold weak ones? Did he have a tight table image? Was the table very aggressive? Is he a player that is likely to be thinking about his perceived image and whether or not the table is aggressive?

Lets assume you are correct in your assumption that he has a PP, this equates to around 5% of hands. 33 is doing very poorly vs that range. This should be your first indication that flatting this type of hand is a bad play. If you were both deeper and you had good implied odds, then sure, try and hit your set. But you don't. What is your image? Have you been playing very tightly? Are you likely to get him to fold if you go all in? What happens if you flat and the BB squeezes?

I'm going to assume based on the way the hand played out, that you didn't consider any of the above before clicking call, and it led to your tournament exit. You need to have a plan before you make any actions, and it's clear you didn't.

Have you ever used any software such as flopzilla or ICMizer? These types of software will allow you to create hand ranges, and see how your hand fares against them. It can also show you the hands you should be pushing based on certain stack sizes, and that in turn should give you an indication of the kinds of hands opponents will be playing from various short stack sizes.

Firstly I'd say when deciding to play an event like the Aussie millions, you should do so, with the confidence that you can win the tourny. That being said you should have revised and learned shoving ranges already.
In this hand however, you failed to make any correct judgment at any point. Against his UTG raising range you are doing poorly from your position, and putting him on a pair and then flatting is criminal. If you range your opponents to PP specifically (which is damn near impossible to do) then we should be raising here and giving up if he calls or jams, unless we hit a favourable flop, this flop is actually good for your flatting range, so check calling is optimal here he put 2,600 into a 10k pot. I would expect his sets his over pairs and all his broad way hands to bet about half pot so he is telling us he wants a cheap turn, on the turn again his bet is really small but also he has less than a pot size bet here and all his broad way hands now give up leaving only his value bet hands, you say you put him on 55 exactly here! So why did you shove anyway.? You suffered from "what if" syndrome here and should be folding this turn.

Also I'd recommend reading David skalansky "theory of poker"' this will get you think through the structure of a hand and how and when and why you should bet check call or fold

Pre Flop fold or Jam.


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You runned really bad, that is going to happen sometimes, it doesn´t mean Pokerstars random dealing is bad. Good luck next time!

Australian banned online poker because of people like you, you are going to save a lot of money now so enjoy

kevin
dont listen to these trolls... you seem solid just do what you believe in... stars is a sick beast so take it with a grain of salt and dont take it too seriously...
play more live and you will see the truth... stars is destroying poker it is not just you it has happened to

yea listen to ^^^ this troll instead!