The cards mock me.

Stack: $181.42

I have been playing lots, but have not been blogging. Part of that is because my 'real life' and my 'other game' have been pressing their demands on me. Most of it is because I just don't know how to report my experiences.

Because, even at my level, I see lots and lots of hands, I have been getting dealt AA lots of times since my last blog entry. I have come to dread seeing these foul cards in my hand. This is because they are routinely cracked. Routinely, as in 'almost all of the time'.

I am still playing the 2euro regular speed HUSNGs. When you get supposedly decent cards, you are meant to play them hard. Upon applying this doctrine to AA, I have repeatedly been called/reraised/whatever/you name it, all the way to the river by random starting hands. That is to say, my opponents have run with hands in the bottom 10% of the range which, by the river, have mysteriously transformed themselves into straights, trips, flushes, cheese sandwiches, accordions and wardrobes.

I now dread seeing AA, and feel relieved when the SB immediately folds or, when I am in the SB, the BB immediately folds to my openraise. I know, yes I positively know, that if the hand goes any further, the AA will be massacred, yet I also know that you are 'meant' to play them hard.

As may be imagined, this situation has poisoned my judgment and mindset, hence the pissy stack, despite the serious volume [for my level and available time] since the last post.

Netbet's recent disconnection and crash issues have also poisoned the well, as the situation has led to the feeling that it doesn't matter how competent you are, the site will just crash and fold you out/sit you out every time you get anywhere.

Hello mate i think dont forget AA its only one pair , best option if dont wana get them see turn or river rise so much then they just gone fold and you gone take some smaller pot but not so big . I see to many friends ,or players which saying i cant win with AA and after they thinks is something wrong with internet poker , at internet poker its going to many hands(and its a lot chances to see bad beats and you loosing with AA) then in live poker you see only few hands . Anyway i thinking its just coming bad days and if you gone count from 50 hands with AA you not gone lose more then 30% with one oponent or i you gone play against 2 or 3 players afcorse they gone get some stronger hands ,because like i said you have only one pair , but with AA you geting good chances to hit highest flushes, or best sets . So just play and forget that loses, its for everyone.

I can't recall if you use tracking software. I think it would be an interesting exercise to query your database for the last x number of times you've been dealt AA and check the following:

1) What are the actual ratios of win-loss with that hand
2) With opponent cards hidden, on review do you still think you played them well and to extract maximum value?

Looking at the above will either:

1) confirm that you are indeed playing that hand well and just running into bad luck - nothing wrong with that - this should build your confidence in your game.
2) reveal that you are not playing them optimally and need to fix a part of your game - nothing wrong with that - continuous improvement.
3) reveal that you really aren't having your AA's cracked as often as you feel that you are - nothing wrong with that - indicates you need to work on improving mindset.

Also bear in mind, that if an opponent is making the hands you indicate (straights, flushes and even trips) that it would seem his calls on each street might not be so bad (depending on how each street plays out of course).

Originally posted by Glopslart
I now dread seeing AA, and feel relieved when the SB immediately folds or, when I am in the SB, the BB immediately folds to my openraise. I know, yes I positively know, that if the hand goes any further, the AA will be massacred, yet I also know that you are 'meant' to play them hard.

Hi, Glopslart,
This is a form of tilt, and is thus not a poker problem, but a mindset problem.

I recommend that you work on your mindset.

Try "The Mental Game of Poker" by Jared Tendler.
You might also want to check these threads in the forums:
https://forums.pokerstrategy.com/forum/thread.php?postid=742961#post742961
https://forums.pokerstrategy.com/forum/thread.php?postid=1908634#post1908634

One of the principles is to "inject logic" when you feel yourself beginning to expererience the negative emotion. When I get my AA (or KK) cracked is to tell myself "If I take AA up against 87s 1000 times I'll win 77% of the time -- this was just one of the 23%" (use whatever hand beat you).

If seems that your AA losses are coming in a group -- that is OK too.

Best of luck,
VS

Stack: $193.54.
Lots to tell. I actually wrote a long blog entry, pressed 'submit' and it simply disappeared. Back soon.

Originally posted by Glopslart
Stack: $193.54.
Lots to tell. I actually wrote a long blog entry, pressed 'submit' and it simply disappeared. Back soon.

Hi, Glopslart,
Sorry to hear about the missing post.
I've been getting a lot of time out errors -- when that happens, I just click "reply" again and re-submit.

But your case sounds like something different...
VS

Stack: $201.82

This is a sort of achievement for, since the last time I reported, I had taken the stack down to about $160.

Meanwhile the cards continue to mock me. On Netbet, the VIP freeroll prizes have been changed from tickets to satellites for live tournaments to Twister tokens. I would never put real money into a Twister, but tokens are different, plus I get some sort of MTT experience in the freerolls.
I have therefore started playing the freerolls again. In one of these, I found myself with AA in the Big Blind, facing a raise. I flatted. A 10-high rainbow flop came, and I checked. The original raiser bet out hard, and I shoved. He turned over Q, 10. I wouldn't have minded, except that two more queens then fell on the board. Since the previous post about the horror of being dealt AA, I have won at showdown with AA just once and, in my HUSNGs, have been hammered several more times. I continue to dread seeing these cards.

I still owe the community a long post about my HUSNG adventures, but don't have the energy at the moment.

Stack: $215.27

I am still on the 2-euro i-poker regular-speed HUSNGs. You will see the stack has been moving back up. I have no idea why, just like I had no idea why it went down. A long time ago, I had the aim of running the stack up to $250, then moving up to the 5-euro games. That's about 40 buy-ins which, at regular speed, should be enough of a bankroll.

Will I make the target, or will the cards start to mock me again?

One of the by-products of my recent poor run was that it revealed the social side of poker to me. I have never in my life had so very many people asking to be my friend. Also, many conversations were started in the chat-boxes. They became very routine, with most people telling me: 'You are the worst HU player I have ever seen in my life.' I am sure it was just their way of being kind .

Stack: $243.96

This is after a long stretch where I yo-yo'ed between $220 and $230, so it's not quite as much of an achievement as it seems. Also, there are two or three players on my pissy micro-level that I still can't handle.

I still feel that I don't really know what I am doing.

My aces are still getting cracked, plus there is another freak hand that I have spotted: 66, No I am not joking. Either it holds up on its own, or at least one of the other sixes joins them by the river. There seems to be a tendency for sixes to be attracted to the board even when I holding just one of them. Whenever I see these cards I feel a huge surge of confidence.

Stack: $250.18.

Enthroned in glory.

I humbly report to my faithful readers that in my bathroom today, while actually seated on the throne of contemplation, I played and won three 2-euro HUSNGs. Need I say where the sun shines out of?♠_cool:

Later:

I have now won 14 HUSNGs in succession; a personal record. And I still don't understand why ....

I have been taking a break from grinding.

I have been trying some 7-stud-hi with play chips, just to get myself accustomed to it again.

I have also been using my i-poker VIP tokens to play a few freerolls. These are pretty spewy. When I played tight, I won a couple of Twister tokens [the current i-poker freeroll prizes], but when I descended to the looseness and frivolity of the company that I was keeping, I busted out very early.

I have just been looking in on the HUSNGs at my level, and railing a few games. Yikes. ALL THREE of the people I can't cope with at my level have been out tonight, and apparently taking turns to rape the reg. I think I may prefer to watch the carnage tonight, rather than becoming part of it.

Six of the best.

OK, so you will think I am insane, it's JUST VARIANCE.

I have posted before about the uncanny power of the 66 starting hand. I noticed it first ages ago, when people were beating me with it, frequently on its own, but also surprisingly often by virtue of having a third or fourth six joining the starters - for the sake of the company, yes? Then I started winning with sixes, in just the same creepy way.

Well tonight, I was watching the heavies on my level going after the reg. In one match, the reg went all-in and showed 66. The heavy showed a pair of jacks. The first card on the flop was a rag. The second card was another jack, and the third was another 6. The fourth 6 duly came on the turn.

I can't remember the last time I saw sixes get beaten.

Edited, somewhat later.:f_confused:

Stack: $262.61

I have now won 15 consecutive regular speed 2-euro HUSNGs. [One of them was a double-stack tournament, which I registered for by accident.] That is a record, but I am under no illusions about my competence.

I returned to the tables, just for a nibble, after the serious people had gone to bed, and was sat by an unknown. First hand, he open-limped. I had AJo and raised 3x. He shoved. Against an unknown, I am willing to call that. Horror! He turned over 66. I prepared to lose. As it happened, two aces fell on the board to make it 15/15.

Six of the best, revisited.

OK, so it's JUST VARIANCE .... maybe .... and I need my brains tested [for sure]. But anyway, last night on the usual 2-euro HUSNG battleground, I open-raised with 66. I received a reraise. I shoved without hesitation. The opponent called.

The opponent turned over AA, doubtless foolishly believing he was ahead. I watched with quiet confidence as the cards tumbled onto the board. The third 6 took its time, arriving only on the river, but I knew, seriously knew, it was coming.

So you have pocket 6's and another 6 is guaranteed to come?

Maybe you should change your avatar to this:

Yo, Ramble!

If you had seen the same things I have seen, you would be posting the same stuff I have been posting.

No, it isn't right. No, it doesn't make sense.

But # it # keeps # right # on # happening.

Stack: $274.22.

This is not as encouraging as it sounds. The process was that I took the stack up to about $270, then guided it with unerring skill all the way down to about $245, before taking it back up to where it is now.

In the middle of that, there was a major episode of total red-mist-random-button-clicking tilt, after the cards began mocking me for a while.

I still don't understand quite how I have been making progress.
At low blinds, unless the opponent starts three-betting lots, I will include lots of speculative hands in my raising range. On the flop, I tend to bet my good cards - pairs and draws - and tend to fold my bad cards. I will check trips, natch

I have picked up timing tells. I take notes on raising and bluffing habits. I will bluff when I can represent a monster plausibly.

I suspect that I am often bluffed in marginal hands. I will give these up readily to keep my stack , and will put the hammer down with that preserved stack when I get the big cards.

At the 2-euro level, these crude, basic techniques appear to be sufficient.

I am toying with the idea of moving up to the 5-euro games, and have been pondering my many inadequacies. There are still people on my level that I can't cope with. I still fall victim to surges of impatience. I still don't fold enough. Further, I understand that the serious heads-up cash and HUSNG players have evolved techniques of ignoring the flop as a pathetic irrelevance. They bet, call and raise according to some yardstick not known to the rest of us.

Are the people on the 5-euro level just as ready to donate as the people on my level? Of course, there is only one way to find out, but I am still getting my head to the point where I feel confident about moving up.

I agree with everything you have said apart from the winning bit as I haven't played many tournaments, whatever I play in I hardly ever get a pair of any description while others get them in abundance and beat me every time if I get anything it's usually something like this or worse A9 A7 Q8 K7 J5 K2, I have now cashed out all my BR's and I don't know if I want to carry on playing maybe you can pursuade me?

Originally posted by Glopslart
Six of the best.

OK, so you will think I am insane, it's JUST VARIANCE.

I have posted before about the uncanny power of the 66 starting hand. I noticed it first ages ago, when people were beating me with it, frequently on its own, but also surprisingly often by virtue of having a third or fourth six joining the starters - for the sake of the company, yes? Then I started winning with sixes, in just the same creepy way.

Well tonight, I was watching the heavies on my level going after the reg. In one match, the reg went all-in and showed 66. The heavy showed a pair of jacks. The first card on the flop was a rag. The second card was another jack, and the third was another 6. The fourth 6 duly came on the turn.

I can't remember the last time I saw sixes get beaten.

Edited, somewhat later.:f_confused:

Stack: $262.61

I have now won 15 consecutive regular speed 2-euro HUSNGs. [One of them was a double-stack tournament, which I registered for by accident.] That is a record, but I am under no illusions about my competence.

I returned to the tables, just for a nibble, after the serious people had gone to bed, and was sat by an unknown. First hand, he open-limped. I had AJo and raised 3x. He shoved. Against an unknown, I am willing to call that. Horror! He turned over 66. I prepared to lose. As it happened, two aces fell on the board to make it 15/15.

Is this a particular site or any site?

Originally posted by Glopslart
Having been unable to beat [or having been downswung at] the 50c+10c SNGs, I have taken what for me feels like the entirely logical ♦ step of moving UP a level to the $1+20c games.

The reasoning is that I was profitable at the higher level last year, plus I have an adequate bankroll, gifted by a kindly PS for multiple posts in September. Based on a huge sample size of 8 games ♠_grin:, this has been a good decision so far.

So the November goals are
# to see if I can survive at this level and
# maybe, maybe play enough games for gold status, despite the other attractions of life.

2] I have also been thinking about the maniac who called my 4x raise with 7 10 :club:. Maybe he wasn't so crazy. At 10/20, calling a big raise with rags is not such a problem. You normally know where you are on the flop. If you have to abandon the hand, you still have a stack, and if you 'get lucky' you can double up. Whether that logic represents optimal strategy is a question for the clever people among us.

Hmm...that's got me thinking a bit more positive now, I like you am not a young whippersnapper so tournaments that finish in the wee hours have to wait till it's not a work day, maybe I will try a HUSNG see how it goes.

P.S. I can't get that "site" for the 770 to load properly.

hardlife 66: greetings!

You seem to assume that I know what I am doing. Let me promise you that I most assuredly do NOT.
1] You invite me to persuade you to play. I have difficulty enough persuading myself to play.
2] You speak of playing in tournaments. You do not say what sort of tournaments, and what speeds. Each type of tournament - STTs, 6-max, 180s, MTTs etc., etc. - has its own separate strategy. Regular speed involves different considerations from turbo. There appear to be very extensive strategy guides and videos for all these types on PokerStrategy.com, as well as frequent live coachings. One thing I have noticed: even the champion tournament players complain of having very long losing spells where nothing goes right for them. That is the nature of this stupid, pissy game. I suggest that you get a proper PS education for your chosen tournament-type before committing your money. Also, there are books you can read and there are also other poker discussion and information websites out there.
3] All the weird stuff with the 66 starting hand happened to me on Netbet, one of the flagship sites of the i-poker network.

4] If you want to try HUSNGs, beware! First, there are videos here, but there are no formal strategy articles. I think this is presently a weak point within PokerStrategy.com. I have had to learn some of the basics from trial and much error. Second, I play regular-speed matches. Turbo is almost like regular, but the hyper-turbo format is a separate game entirely. If you google on the topic, you will find other information sources for all the HUSNG formats.