Wow, so many true things in this thread, and I'm guilty of many of many of the things you described (exampe, waiting for a better spot in MTTs because I don't want to bust out...)

This was a really nice and enjoyable post. Great post!

Exactly.

You're def right talking about that specific hand. However in general I think the whole "don't call to reevaluate on the turn" thing is way overrated. Especially when you're in position. 1 example: ~100BBs stacks. You open to 3BBs with TT in the CO, BB calls. Flop comes Q74, you bet 4BBs and BB chk/raises to 14BB. Obv this comes all down to reads, but against aggressive opponents calling and reevaluating on the turn is usually the best option by far. Whatever he does on the turn he gives away information. Obv we'd like to see him chk, but even if he bets, his bet-sizing might give you a good idea if he's looking to play for stacks or just firing another barrel on a bluff.

That's just a random example and there's a lot such spots where calling to reevaluate is absolutely correct. Especially when he's oop, villain has to give you some additional information on the turn and ignoring that would just be really bad.

I obv agree that sometimes you just have to make your decision on the flop and then play the hand accordingly. Calling a minr oop with TPTK against an aggressive opponent without any plan is obv not a good thing to do.

And one last thing: I read many times in that whole "don't call to reevaluate" discussion "that turn card didn't change anything, villain was gonna bet anyway 100% of the time, so you should just fold on the flop (or decide to stack off)". While basically correct, it's also an oversimplification. Villains aren't always going to fire another barrel. If we take your example, if you call his flop raise, even an aggro villain will sometimes chk back on the turn cause you'll have a K there really often and he might decide you'd call on the turn to often and he doesn't wanna have to make a big river bluff because sometimes you could also be trapping.

IMO, what it comes down to is just a trade off between the additional information you'll get on the turn and the prize you have to pay for it. What is really bad is to call a flop raise, when you know your beat but you just can't fold your overpair for emotional reasons. But especially when you have a medium strength hand, the information you get by calling and reevaluating on the turn is worth more than the prize you have to pay, cause it might often prevent you from making a big mistake. It would be terrible if in my example you'd have to decide on the flop whether you wanna fold or play for stacks with no middle ground.

PS: End of rant BTW I really liked the rest of your post.

Very good post, thanks for taking the time to write it all up.

I read this bit to my wife. She always says maybe I let things get to me too much when I have a bad session, smack the desk, and storm out the door to smoke a cigarette while I grumble to myself.

She no longer thinks I have a problem. She says I deal with it just fine.

Very good post OP

Great post. I recently endured a spot of 10k breakeven then 10k downswing. It was almost exactly as you said, the variance and the suckouts would eventually tilt me. Now, as you do, I only play when I'm emotionally ready to play. If I don't, 1 bad hand will tilt me, so I too set down ground rules to stop playing after a bad hand. This dramatically decreased my spew and turned my fortunes around for the time being. My experience this year has been very similar to yours, and I thank you for sharing

new sn: brokenmonitoraments?

good read

No real response to the thread (although i liked many parts). I just wanted to say, when I was playing a lot of MTTs you were on the boards there, Hardgeus, and often had some of the most well thought out and sensible responses to hands. I'm glad that I see you hear now that I started playing cash games just about the same time as you.

IMO 90% of tournament Poker is computing preflop equities, adjusting for Fold Equity, and deciding whether to shove or not.

The survivalist mindset is what makes you flat a raise from a 56/38 with KQs when you're at 19bb and check/folding a whiffed flop.

If you think you're ahead of the donk's raising range...

LOL shuvaments.

Edit: lull documents

v.nice, I especially love :-)

Nice post Hardgeus. I remembered seeing you a fair bit at 25NLFR awhile back. Pretty sure you coolered me a couple of times.

I think that the whole 'don't call a flop raise to re-evaluate on the turn' is spot on advice for the micros because most people that do call to re-evaluate are going about it wrong. To me, calling to re-evaluate on the next street means "I'm going to call now, and come up with a plan later". This is imo the root of the problem with the whole call re-evaluate dilemma. There is no need to come up with a plan later. We will usually have enough information on the current street to formulate a plan NOW.

Examples: You flop TPTK and cbet, a nit setminer check raises you this is a clear fold, though I think because you have AK, a lot of you micro ballers still find yourself calling one more bet because...


You flop TPTK and cbet and a thinking reg who is not playing fit-or-fold check raises you. This is a spot that causes a lot of us more trouble. Calling is fine if you know you're ahead of his range but we still need a plan. Is he aggro enough to 2 or 3 barrell bluff with a worse hand? In that case we may plan to call down on certain turn and river cards and raise on others.

I found that my post flop play improved a lot once I started planning hands. Its kinda cool how much easier our decisions on current streets become when we start thinking about what we will do on future streets.

Great post. Thanks.

Excellent post. Good read.

A while back, I posted a hand where you were the villain on a paired board. That hand definitely stuck with me, and I have developed some very strong opinions on paired boards since that encounter. Your response in that thread definitely helped me out a lot in those situations.

+1

I struggle with this, primarily because I really struggle to think about such things away from the table, and then when I'm at the tables even with only 4 tables, that time bank seems to be going down at turbo speed and I often feel rushed at the last moment as I am trying to think ahead.

I really hate not having a plan, its a curse I've always carried and one I'll have to work extra hard on dispelling.

Could you post a link to the thread please?

Thanks.

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/78...s-have-454877/

The thread is relatively short, but the hand and responses really got me thinking about this subject.

I am negative with KK for the MONTH and just over even with AA for the month.

Yeah, that sucks. Out of context that quote looks like I'm saying it doesn't happen. It does happen, and that's the point of the variance section.

Great, thank you.

nice. i enjoyed the alcohol section very much so

Great read!

Good post. Thanks. I tend to spew a bunch myself, so the part about the reg to your left 3 betting your raises is something that relates to me a lot. Most of the time, I should just be getting up and finding a different table rather than getting in a pissing contest, and then going on crazy monkey-tilt when I lose. :P

I especially liked the last section about calling and re-evaluating the turn. There is a time and place for this, but the pot should be small, and you should be in position with either a chance to improve, or a read that villain c/r regularly on the flop.

Remember guys, these are not hard and fast rules. If you follow them as if they're the bible, then you've become a robo player yourself. These are good guidelines that IMO are true 95% of the time at 25 NL FR, but you need to keep your eyes open for situations when they're not.