Snakes will smoke

That feel when there's only one card in the entire deck that can help you out...

PokerStars - $1.32+$0.18|150/300 Ante 25 NL - Holdem - 2 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

Hero (SB): 7,189
BB: 6,311

2 players post ante of 25, Hero posts SB 150, BB posts BB 300

Pre Flop: (pot: 500) Hero has 8♣ 8♥

Hero raises to 600, BB raises to 6,286 and is all-in, Hero calls 5,686

BB shows 8♠ A♦
Hero shows 8♣ 8♥

Flop: (12,622, 2 players) 4♣ 2♣ A♥

Turn: (12,622, 2 players) Q♥

River: (12,622, 2 players) 8♦

...and you spike it.

Lol nh

Calling two all-ins in front of you with T9os? What could possibly go wrong...

Not that I'm anyone to talk. Check out my brilliant trap in the heads-up phase of another tournament:

Take a look at this hand:

PokerStars - $1.32+$0.18|75/150 NL - Holdem - 7 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

MP: 1,093
CO: 2,483
BTN: 3,110
SB: 2,066
BB: 1,448
Hero (UTG): 1,450
UTG+1: 1,850

SB posts SB 75, BB posts BB 150

Pre Flop: (pot: 225) Hero has Q♦ Q♣

Hero raises to 1,450 and is all-in, fold, MP calls 1,093 and is all-in, fold, BTN raises to 3,110 and is all-in, fold, fold

Hero shows Q♦ Q♣

BTN shows K♥ A♦

MP shows A♥ J♥

Flop: (4,218, 3 players) K♦ Q♥ A♣

Turn: (4,218, 3 players) Q♠

River: (4,218, 3 players) 8♠

Hero wins 4,218

If the river had been a ten, we all would have hit a monster. Still pretty cool.

I suppose it's time for another update about my progress, even though I only played a very small volume of games lately.

Out of 96 tournaments, I managed to finish 1st eight times, 2nd fourteen times and 3rd eleven times. 26 of my losses ended on the bubble.

This amounts to a loss of $21.94, with a ROI of -15.08%. Quite bad indeed, but let's take a look at the graph:

As you can see, it starts out with the usual swings, but eventually results in a very nasty downward trend. I'm also running pretty bad recently.

Very disappointing results, but the sample size is still extremely small, and if I wasn't able to take these swings, I'd have no business playing SNGs anyway.

I have little faith in my cash games right now, so I'll stick around and hope that we'll be able to see a turn for the better soon.

I played a short MTSNG session consisting of four 45-manners, a 90-manner and a 180-manner last night for a little change of pace. I managed to cash in two 45-manners, so I guess it roughly ended up as a break-even session.

It was nice to play something different once again, but I don't think I'll be grinding these games any time soon.

While I do think that I should be able to beat the $1.50 STTs and probably the $3.50 ones as well with my current knowledge, I increasingly found myself yearning for my old Zoom grind recently. I already spent some time today brushing up on the basics for a much needed confidence boost and will continue to do so, which should hopefully enable me to do some more serious studying in the future that will push my game to the next level. Depending on how it goes and how busy I will be (there's quite a bit of IRL stuff going on recently), I should be back at the tables in the next 1-3 days.

I haven't played any Five Card Draw in the last few weeks at all, this game is currently taking a back seat. I may or may not pick it up again in the near future.

Don't write off them 45 manners. The regular speed ones can be a grind (had one last 3 and a half hours), but the turbos you can turnover in about 60-90 minutes and can be more profitable than STTs on a ROI basis.

Also remember the good MTSnG players quickly move on to the 180s so the fields are fairly soft

Originally posted by Lazza61
Don't write off them 45 manners. The regular speed ones can be a grind (had one last 3 and a half hours), but the turbos you can turnover in about 60-90 minutes and can be more profitable than STTs on a ROI basis.

Even the turbos take a little too long for my liking. But I might get back to these games when I get tired of cash games once again.

The bigger field MTSNGs, however, are not really my kind of game, I believe. If anything, I'd be more interested in scheduled MTTs, which is actually something I have considered a few times lately. I would have to do quite a bit of reading on them, though. My current strategy (luckboxing) may have been quite effective up until now, but it won't get me very far in the long run.

Scheduled MTTs are the nuts but obviously they can take a long time as well, even the turbos can take 3+ hours if you get to the end.

But if you can find some time for them I'd strongly recommend them, lots of fish in most of them and they're just a blast to play as well

Originally posted by Harrier88
I haven't played any Five Card Draw in the last few weeks at all, this game is currently taking a back seat. I may or may not pick it up again in the near future.

I learned from Star Trek that there are zones in space where certain phenomena happen.

A few weeks ago the earth passed through such a zone where PokerStrategy.com mods did very poorly at 5-Card Draw. Judging from my recent results, we may have left that zone

I've been very selective about which tables I play at. I want loose players on my right, tight ones on my left. If they're unknowns, I play two orbits, then decide on two more or quit.

If it is a good table, I'll stay, otherwise I go 2-by-2 and get as many notes as I can.

I am squeaky tight at 5cd though -- 20/17/5 (v/p/3) you might want to play vs a different breed of cat, since your style appeared somewhat less restrictive when I played you.

Best of luck,
--VS

Originally posted by VorpalF2F

Originally posted by Harrier88
I haven't played any Five Card Draw in the last few weeks at all, this game is currently taking a back seat. I may or may not pick it up again in the near future.

I learned from Star Trek that there are zones in space where certain phenomena happen.

A few weeks ago the earth passed through such a zone where PokerStrategy.com mods did very poorly at 5-Card Draw. Judging from my recent results, we may have left that zone

Wow. Canada must have good drugs.

Originally posted by Lazza61
Wow. Canada must have good drugs.

The very best, apparently.
I'm told it is British Columbia's #1 cash crop.

Not that I would know personally, of course.

--VS

My (former) Rugby team had a big derby match today, so I decided to head to the field as well and watch. What a game...
When I arrived at half time, we were trailing 10-21. During a very competitive second half, we managed to score two free kicks to bring the score to 16-21, and with the very last move of the game, we actually managed to tie it up by scoring a try right next to the touch-line. You literally could have heard a pin drop when our fly-half prepared to take the kick. It was a good one, but it sailed just wide of the goal posts and the game remained tied.

After watching just one match, I kind of feel like making a comeback already... Let's give it some time, though. Sitting on your fat arse drinking beer and eating bratwurst while other people throw their bruised bodies into the mud also has it advantages...

Back to poker.

Originally posted by TinoLaan
Scheduled MTTs are the nuts but obviously they can take a long time as well, even the turbos can take 3+ hours if you get to the end.

But if you can find some time for them I'd strongly recommend them, lots of fish in most of them and they're just a blast to play as well

MTTs used to be my favorite games when I was starting out with poker, and I believe that they are the only format where I could still show a profit over the course of my entire career, even if we include that one >$100 tourney where I accidentally registered through a misclick. I definitely agree that they are extremely exciting to play if you manage to run deep, and I rediscovered that feeling when I was playing in this month's freelancer freeroll, which made me briefly consider to pick this format up again. I don't think the time is right, though. I'd have to improve my theoretical knowledge first.

Speaking of which, I noticed that I'm still really struggling with the application of the concept of equity in cash games. One possible problem could be that I, quite frankly, just suck at math. Any helpful advice or study tips would be welcome.

Despite all this, I tried playing a quick NL5 session tonight to get my feet wet once again. It resulted in a 1.5-2 BI loss in 300-400 hands, but individual results don't tell us anything. The really worrying thing was that in about 90% of postflop situations (as well as a number of preflop situations), I genuinely had no clue what to do and ended up just doing... something. I have no idea what happened, but it seems like I just completely forgot how to play cash games some time during summer this year. It might be a good idea to watch some of our coaches play for a while to get a feel for the correct decisions once again.

Originally posted by Harrier88
MTTs used to be my favorite games when I was starting out with poker, and I believe that they are the only format where I could still show a profit over the course of my entire career, even if we include that one >$100 tourney where I accidentally registered through a misclick. I definitely agree that they are extremely exciting to play if you manage to run deep, and I rediscovered that feeling when I was playing in this month's freelancer freeroll, which made me briefly consider to pick this format up again. I don't think the time is right, though.

Hang on, the MicroMillions start in a week or so, don't they?
Disregard what I said then, the time might be right after all.

Btw, I played some NL5 again in the last few days and I finally seem to get back on track, at least somewhat. More on that later.

Actually, I don't have that much to say about my latest cash games. I made a decent profit in the last few days and my game seems to be improving slightly. Don't get me wrong, I'm still basically a fish, but I finally see some potential again.

I also played a couple of micro stakes MTTs. Sadly, the only result I can show so far is a small cash in the Hot $0.55 earlier today, where I busted out in a three-way preflop all-in pot with KK vs A5 and some other hand that didn't win and that I can't remember. Apart from that, I'm actually quite happy with my performance and I'll probably stick around. There were quite a few bad beats lately, but it's no secret that the variance is extremely high in this format.

No success in the freelancer freeroll this time, I finished 53rd out of 106, right in the middle of the field.

I also had a few decent runs in a couple of other MTTs, but only managed to finish somewhere between 100th-200th. This also reminded me of how much of a grind this format can be at times... I'll keep playing the Hot $0.55 on a regular basis, since it offers some nice returns, has a pretty fishy player pool, and the buy-in is affordable even for me. Apart from that, I'll probably get back to Zoom cash games and STTs.

My bankroll is pretty much where we started last month, at only about $190, but I didn't play that much poker anyway. Not sure if I'll be able to increase the volume this time, but let's hope that I can at least increase the profit.

I saw you on the table in the lancer, I had a shocking run after being the CL early on (luckboxed). Had loads of great hands and didn't win one if I recall!
As for seeing potential, I saw potential in my game once, but it passed me by very quickly!

Hmmm, MTTs being exciting, I find them mindnumbingly boring most of the time, it only gets interesting towards the business end for me - but then how would I know! I am such a fish. ♦

Run good,

Mal.

Originally posted by gadget51
I saw you on the table in the lancer, I had a shocking run after being the CL early on (luckboxed). Had loads of great hands and didn't win one if I recall!

Yeah, I think we were at the same table from the start of the tournament until you busted out with AK if I remember correctly (which also happened to be my exit hand later on). We even brought one hand to showdown against each other, where you beat my 66 with 77.

Originally posted by gadget51
Hmmm, MTTs being exciting, I find them mindnumbingly boring most of the time, it only gets interesting towards the business end for me - but then how would I know! I am such a fish. ♦

The early phase is okay too, I guess, since it's kind of similar to a normal cash game. Even the ITM phase can be a bit boring if the table situation forces you to basically play push-or-fold the whole time. It's not that exciting to wait for a push-worthy hand for hours, only to leave the table with a mincash in the end. It obviously gets a lot more interesting when you're approaching the final table.

Not much to talk about right now, so how about we discuss this hand from my latest NL5 session:

PokerStars - $0.05 NL FAST (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BTN: $8.03
SB: $6.11
Hero (BB): $5.21
UTG: $24.25
MP: $2.85
CO: $6.14

SB posts SB $0.02, Hero posts BB $0.05

Pre Flop: (pot: $0.07) Hero has Q♠ Q♦

fold, fold, CO calls $0.05, BTN raises to $0.15, fold, Hero raises to $0.45, CO calls $0.40, fold

Flop: ($1.07, 2 players) 5♦ T♥ 9♣
Hero bets $0.67, CO calls $0.67

Turn: ($2.41, 2 players) 3♠
Hero bets $1.18, CO calls $1.18

River: ($4.77, 2 players) 3♦
Hero checks, CO bets $2.30, Hero calls $2.30

I don't remember too much about my thought process, except that I just wanted to get to the showdown on the river. I also thought that it's unlikely that my opponent had KK+ or 3x based on his actions, so I was only really scared of a full house.

I played a long session of NL100K (play money he he) today to get used to the PokerStars7 interface and see how different it was.

I saw a *LOT* of this -- people calling down with a pocket pair, or overcards.

I don't see it some much playing with real money.

It seems that deep stacks have greater fold equity than 100BB stacks, and perhaps CO was counting on that on the river.

To be fair, OTF he had two overs and a gutshot, and in the BB you have a wide range.

The river is a must call -- unless you want to toss in the 60 odd cents you have behind.

What does his river bet represent?
Set? Trip 3s? I can't think of a hand with a 3 in it that would bet like that before the turn.

Nice hand,
VS