12x2euro HUSNGs; won 7, lost 5. About 3 hours' play. Profit so huge that I can't bring myself to mention it.
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Originally posted by VorpalF2F
Nice,
Now you can mock the cards for a bit...--VS
I wouldn't do that if I were you... but then again, I do love reading your posts after the cards have had their way with you... go on tempt fate... 
Took stack down to about $200, then back up to $222.34. Had an equal share of the insane coolers for a change.
I suspect my raises are getting 3-bet light increasingly - I think I can smell a fashion. Given that I am raising with rags anyway, it's not clear to me what I can do about it......
Originally posted by Glopslart
Took stack down to about $200, then back up to $222.34. Had an equal share of the insane coolers for a change.I suspect my raises are getting 3-bet light increasingly - I think I can smell a fashion. Given that I am raising with rags anyway, it's not clear to me what I can do about it......
Hi, Glopslart...
I can think of two approaches for when you think you are being 3Bet too much.
♦ Tighten up. This way, when they 3Bet they face better hands -- hand that you can comfortably call with.
♦ 4Bet more.
Which of those you choose depends on how they react.
You could do both -- if you tighten up, then you'll be 4Betting for value, but you will also likely want to have a 4Bet Bluff range.
Have you checked your Fold-to-3Bet stat? Maybe you are folding so often that they are autoprofiting.
Cheers,
--VS
Stack: $231.72, after taking it down to the 190's. I have given up trying to work out why, just too tired and frustrated.
This is where I was weeks ago, when I thought I had the 2-euro level cracked. Life is what happens while you are making other plans.
Originally posted by VorpalF2F
Originally posted by Glopslart
Took stack down to about $200, then back up to $222.34. Had an equal share of the insane coolers for a change.I suspect my raises are getting 3-bet light increasingly - I think I can smell a fashion. Given that I am raising with rags anyway, it's not clear to me what I can do about it......
Hi, Glopslart...
I can think of two approaches for when you think you are being 3Bet too much.
♦ Tighten up. This way, when they 3Bet they face better hands -- hand that you can comfortably call with.
♦ 4Bet more.Which of those you choose depends on how they react.
You could do both -- if you tighten up, then you'll be 4Betting for value, but you will also likely want to have a 4Bet Bluff range.Have you checked your Fold-to-3Bet stat? Maybe you are folding so often that they are autoprofiting.
Cheers,
--VS
I have actually been tightening up, and 4-betting hard. As for checking stats, that would mean investing in one of these 'HUDs' the young people keep talking about.
However, I detect in this poster's comments a lack of awareness that, at the 2-euro HUSNG level, there are many, many, players from asylums for the criminally insane. They have been referred to i-poker as a form of therapy by their wardens, by agreement with the sites' proprietors. These players think nothing of going all-in at the 75BB starting level with 82s, or worse.
To encourage them, each of these players has had their IDs tagged, so that the software recognises them and invariably delivers a winning card on the river. In that light, the rationale for study is not distinctly visible.
Maybe yes, maybe no.... Today, 15:57 Forum: General Poker Discussion
There is indeed something 'not quite right' about i-poker. First, you have to consider who runs it. Do your own reading on Teddy Sagi.
Second, I have seen some strange things happen even at my stakes and even in my time. I just don't believe that, in general, the cards are dealt randomly. There have been too many instances of successive hands where the same - or very similar cards - have been dealt, and too many instances where, when playing more than one table simultaneously, you see the same - or very similar - cards popping up at each table. I don't think that happens out of any malice - it's just a glitch in the software.
Third, there are two tiers on I-poker - i.e. there are two groups of sites. One group of sites does not see the same games on the home screen display that the other group sees. That opens the door to finding ways of 'playing off' one player pool against another, for the profit of one site over another, or for the profit of Playtech. I confess I don't see how this might be done. However I have to work on the hypothesis that we are in the hands of people who are much cleverer than we are, who can readily find angles in this kind of situation.
Fourth, I have a couple of people on my level - 2euroHUSNGs - who always, always, suck out on me. I have my eye on them, and notes on them. Variance, BBs, coolers and the tilt insanity that follows are part of the game. In the last two days alone, I have both inflicted and suffered enough freakishness to last a lifetime - you name it, I've seen it.
However, with two specific people on my level, the variance only ever seems to run #one way#. Your answer might be, hey, that's just the way variance can go: play enough hands with these guys, and it will start swinging the other way. Well, maybe. There are darker interpretations: one of these is that some players might be more valuable to Playtech/I-poker than others. To encourage them to keep up the volume, it would be no trouble to nudge the software just a little, to deliver the important river card to the favourite sons and keep them enthusiastic.
So, why do I keep playing? Well, it's #NOT MY MONEY#. I joined in the old days, when you got a full fat $50USD. Despite having tried very hard to bust myself, I am ahead, although not by any significant amount. [By the way, even in my limited time, and even at microstakes, I have generated astonishing amounts of rake -
# without# ever#playing#anything#that#a#real#grinder#would#acknowledge#as#volume. Don't tell me that it's not worth the bother for the sites to shoot angles at microstakes.]
If I ever learn the game to the point where the money does start getting significant, then I will probably want to move away from I-poker. I don't know what the answer might be to the doubts about I-poker expressed in this thread and in others like it, but it's bad enough that there is a question.
I have just played my first real money session on netbet, [the successor to 770, for those of you who do not know]. I have already had my aces cracked by 66, after which I could only comment to my Chinese opponent: 'Chou mei dong.'
I have discovered, however, a certain new advantageous facility on the new site, a legitimate angle which I plan to keep to myself for the present..... ♦
Netbet has still not credited my Poker770 points to the new account, by the way. Dudes, this is something you will have to watch.
Stack: $213.49, after absurd toil.
An opponent had been raising too much IMHO and was now short. Therefore, in reply to his next raise, I contemplated my AJs and went AI.
He turned over A7o and of course found his 7 by the river. The next hand, I had JJ. All the chips went in again, and he showed me 66. This time (see my preceding post) TWO sixes, rather than just one, appeared on the board. End of SNG.
Normality has re-asserted itself.
The cards, the cards, they mock me, they mock me.
Those don't fuss me much.
Raising A7o short-stacked in an SnG is quite possibly a good ICM play.
Similarly JJ vs 66.
The ones that REALLY piss me off are when they call your JJ+ shove w/ 84o and flop their two pair, trips, straight, boat -- you name it. If they get none of those they get their FD on the turn and complete it on the river.
<sigh>
--VS
Stack: $225.89.
66 continues to be a crushing hand for some reason, whenever an enemy has it. Either it holds up on its own, or at least one more six drops by the river.
On the other hand, I finished my session today with a straight flush to the jack.
But am I actually #learning# anything? Only time, and the direction of the stack, will tell. 
Stack: $230.69.
This was after numerous games since my preceding post, in which I took the stack down to around $200. This kind of hourly rate is illicit except perhaps in a Bengali sweatshop.
Lessons?
#I am trying to avoid calls where I strongly suspect I am beaten, because usually those suspicions are right. A hypothesis: maybe it's better to let yourself be bluffed off a few marginal pots and concentrate on flogging the pots where you feel yourself ahead.
#I am still flogging AQ and AK too hard at low blinds, and must try to avoid that.
#I am also trying to avoid long sessions. Let's see where that leads.
Comments.
In the I-poker HUSNGs, there is a remarkable reg. He plays the 2 and 5 euro regular speed HUSNGs. He multitables. I have seen him playing at least 4 tables at once, and I suspect more. This is a game-type where attention to detail is essential. I just don't know how he does it. I have tried two tables at once, but that really stretches me.
Stack: $244.62
I have had a torrid few days. I have put in what, for me, is an insane amount of volume. This is still on the 2-euro regular-speed HUSNGs on I-poker.
I took the stack up to about $250, then immediately took it back down to $229, then built up again from there.
I took it into my head to confront the mega-reg about whom I posted last time. I lost the first few games, but kept on playing him to get an idea of what he does and how he does it. After a while, I got into equilibrium. He is good but exploitable, once you understand him.
One leak of his I am keeping to myself - sorry guys. ♦. However, it is a leak inherent in multitabling. If an ageing 'recreational' dweeb like me can work it out then all you sparky, committed youngsters can darn well sort it out for yourselves.
An obvious leak is that he plays veeery long sessions. I assume he is getting some mega-rakeback deal that justifies it. However, everybody eventually gets tired. When you get tired, you make bad decisions: even him.
I put my experience of fighting this reg to use against the 'general population' at the 2euro level. Before sharing my thoughts, I want to emphasise a point I made earlier: if you strongly suspect you are beaten on the river, you should FOLD. There are strong psychological urges within us, which push us to make calls or bets on the river, even when we know that the river card has almost certainly burned us. We do that because something in us screams: 'It's NOT FAIR to get rivered!!!', so we call or bet anyway. And loooooze. I have tried to discipline myself to resist these urges. I believe it has improved my results. I can report that I took it to the extent of folding AA when I had every reason to suspect an opponent had rivered a flush.
The situation immediately above is to be distinguished from the art of bluff-catching, when you suspect the opponent of screwing around. That depends on too many variables to list. Some of them are: game-flow, bet-sizing tells and timing tells. The issue with timing tells is that hesitation may simply be due to a lagging internet connection, multitabling, or other outside distractions.
I have never established to myself whether a giant bet on the river is probably a bluff, or whether it is probably an attempt to take your every last chip with a monster. For my own purposes, I almost never bet huge on the river unless I have a monster. I do it to induce a call - and I'm not sure if that is optimal strategy. I salt the ground beforehand, by using the dialogue box throughout to represent myself as somebody who is seriously emotionally disturbed, which I probably am anyway. After all, I play poker, don't I?
I scarcely ever bluff on the river myself, unless I can represent a made straight or a made flush. Even then, you have to think before doing it, for the other guy has to have been paying attention previously for these things to work. At the 2euro level, that often is not the case. As for being bluffed, I repeat my thoughts in an earlier post: I am OK about being bluffed off a marginal hand. I will preserve my stack and use it to put the hammer down with a good hand. Again, I don't know if that's optimal. This is a report, not a coaching session.
Lessons: at the 10/20 75BB starting level, I openraise 3x. There is an argument for 2.5x. However, openlimping and raising 2x are leaks. A cheap, or free, call will let the BB get lucky with a marginal or raggy hand. If I face an openlimp at 10/20 or at 20/40, I will raise hard, irrespective of what is in my own hand. For other game-types [turbo, hyper] the strategic considerations may be different. [EDITED: But see the post immediately below, where I got burned by a perma-limper.]
At the 20/40 level, I have started openraising 3x. Yes, I have read that 3x is wrong at this blind level, and you should stick to 2x. However, the mega-reg raises 3x here - although even he openlimps sometimes! [And yes, even for him, that's a weakness - I always raise him and he always folds.] For me the 3x is an experiment. I will see how it goes. This is a report, I am not coaching you.
Three-bets and four-bets. Wow, such excitement. I will always put the hammer down hard, when facing a three-bet, provided I have value. Er, what's value? I don't know. I suspect the answer is dependent on whom you are facing, and respective chipstacks. I don't know whether my habit of treating AJs as a value hand is optimal. If the situations are flipped, e.g. I have three-bet with AJs and face an all-in, I will seriously consider a fold.
Also, I think, maybe, you should sometimes 3bet with nothing. Yes, really. That's because we raise with rags. That in turn, means that your 3bet size has to be optimized. If you have non-uniform 3bet sizing, that is probably a tell. Your 3-bet size should not be so huge that you are crippled if you have to give up to a 4bet.
Happenings - I have seen so many weird things these last few days, because I have been playing so very many hands. Three of a kind falling on the flop, four of a kind by the river, straight flushes, four of a kind, you name it. In amongst those, there have been some hilarious coolers.
In one hand, my opponent had Ace-rag. Three nines fell on the flop. There was a bet and a call. An Ace came on the turn. That got interest from each of us. There was a rag on the river. All the chips went in. My opponent's problem was that,while he indeed had an Ace in his hand, I had started with two .....
The other cooler involved the mega-reg. After my heavy session against him, I decided to have another run at him the next day, having recalibrated my game. I just had a short session, which finished 3-1 in my favour. In the last match, I openraised with 9/10s. I got a meaty 3-bet. Maybe I am wrong, but I don't see that hand as an auto-4bet hand. Maybe I should have folded, but I felt I should break a rule and just called. Three raggy clubs fell on the flop.
My opponent bet out hard. As my 9/10 also belonged to the club fraternity that had become so exceedingly popular in that particular hand, I put the hammer down, all the way. The opponent's KK did not hold up. Very satisfying.
Stack: $235.33
Yes, the cards have been mocking me again.
After what I have been saying about not open-limping, I ran into a reg who does exactly that. And he does it very well, blast his scurvy hide.
He open-limps everything. As in EVERYTHING. So if you autoraise, as I did, you run into all kinds of trouble against his premium hands. You end up checking with most of your range, which leads to protracted pots, like a session of Limit Hold'em.
He gets away from his bad hands very cheaply his way, while those of us running the usual raises put ourselves at risk.
The least worst way forward that I found 'on the hoof' was to try and keep most of my chipstack and put the hammer down at the 30/60 and 50/100 levels.
There ought to be some way of adjusting properly, but I haven't found it yet. 
To add insult to injury, he coolered me at the end . The board showed three 9s, an ace and a rag. All my chips went in, as I had an ace. Obviously he had the 4th 9.
The 2 and 5 euro mega-reg is back on duty. If nothing else is on for me this evening, I think I will let him play for a few hours .... and then sit him. ♦.
I am sitting here in a state of shock. There is surgical wadding packed 8 inches deep up my butthole. Blood is still leaking through and staining the sofa. Yes, I have been torn a new one.
I indeed sought out the mega-reg, as planned. I at once took a game off him. He wasn’t the problem.
Immediately afterwards, I was joined by some Siberian, who raped me all night. I can’t even find the vocabulary. By the time he realised I was starting to understand his methods, and ran, I was about $30 down [in 2-euro games].
I will try to analyse what happened and report on it once I have recovered.
Originally posted by Glopslart
I am sitting here in a state of shock. There is surgical wadding packed 8 inches deep up my butthole. Blood is still leaking through and staining the sofa. Yes, I have been torn a new one.I indeed sought out the mega-reg, as planned. I at once took a game off him. He wasn’t the problem.
Immediately afterwards, I was joined by some Siberian, who raped me all night. I can’t even find the vocabulary. By the time he realised I was starting to understand his methods, and ran, I was about $30 down [in 2-euro games].
I will try to analyse what happened and report on it once I have recovered.
Lol. That was a hilarious post up to the bit about -$30 
Originally posted by Glopslart
If you play enough hands, you will see everything.
Down to a relatively few big blinds in a $1+20c 10-man SNG on i-poker, I found myself in late position with KQo. I stuck it all in.
Someone down the line called. The BB reraised all in. The first raiser called so that he was all-in too.The BB turned over AA. The first raiser turned over AA also. This being i-poker, by the time the board had assembled itself, a J, 10, and 9 had appeared, giving me a straight.
Several more pairs of aces appeared in people's hands before the end of the tournament, a veritable blizzard.
Obviously, there could be no happy ending for me, as I am in another downswing, and I busted out penniless in 4th.
I have flopped that exact straight for a double knockout against aces and kings
KQo all-in pre-flop
AA call
KK call
board JT9-A-x
Improved to an ace-high straight on the turn, but no full house/quads on the river for AA, and no Q to split with KK.
Stack: $189.49
I had intended to try and analyse what happened with the Siberian - see my previous post, but I gave up. This is because a lot more of the same has happened since. That is how we get to the current stack size - and it's been lower.
I don't know whether this figure represents simple variance, or whether it represents my incompetence at dealing with a new style of play that I have encountered out there. I only play regular speed HUSNGs. Although the style is new to me, it may simply have been borrowed from Turbos or Hypers, and be well known there.
It consists of usually open limping just about ATC from the SB. It involves sharp three betting and extensive all-ins with just about ATC from whatever position. It involves calling just about anything all the way down to the river and catching a 3-outer on the river. And I keep losing.
On top of that there has been the usual amount of freakiness.
A couple of examples.
The start of a match, blinds 10/20. The opponent has been limping. This time, he raises 4x. I have AQo and I am not giving it up. I reraise hard and get a call. There comes a rainbow flop, Q and two rags, 10,2. I bet out. I get raised. As the opponent has been very aggro previously, I don't back down, all the chips go in, and of course he turns over 10,2.
Inevitably, another 10 drops to give him a full house, just to drive home the point. The point is that, in my universe, the opponent's 10,2 is a mega starting hand, which he should ALWAYS open 4x with.
In the next match, same opponent, I find myself ahead, and start with QQ. [offsuit ♦] Everybody's money goes in, and he turns over K6o. Now here's the thing. I know, I absolutely KNOW, as soon the cards show and before the FTR cards come down, that he is NOT going to hit a K. What I know is that he will hit a 2,3,4 and 5. Which is what happens .....