Crushing the micros: Now playing Spin & Goes

Originally posted by Volrath89
I play the 235 FPP sats to the Sunday Storm and then trade the T$ for $ in this forum.

I've done it already twice for the months I've been playing... so far I've traded 12.000 FPPs for T$176 and those for $175, which gives me an avg value of USD 0.0145 x FPP

The maximum value you can get is 0.016 if you are Supernova, but since I'm not and won't be, the value for platinum is 0.1299; and with the tournaments the rate is higher. (And I'm not even Platinum either)

I'm still not so sure if I'll play the satellites for the FPPs I gather untill the end of the year (about 7k) or just wait for next year conversion at USD 0.0120 that stars said...

Can you explain to me this? I'm trying to figure out the best way to use my FPP's. What is T$?

Nice hands sir. BTW, do you always open QTo and the like from the cut off? I have been tighter then that, but how has it been for you, have you been able to play them profitably you think?
Let us be happy they are calling JTs BB vs CO

I've been noticing people are squeezing and restealing a lot more than when I used to play, back in 2009/10... is it just me, or is it really happening? How have you been adjusting to that?

BTW, just out of curiosity, why have you chosen such a conservative BRM at the micros?

And congrats on your shot back at NL25 Hopefully I'll be doing the same soon

Cheers!

**EDIT: oh yeah, one more thing, how do you use this hand replayer? I'm not using a HUD, but wanted to be able to review my hands

Originally posted by vuciitis
yea SS sats are the best value, but id like to point out, that there are also 70-80FPP sats somtimes available with same value and structure, BUT u can decrease variance by playing these. and imo thats a big thing knowing how huge variance is in that shallow format.
cheers
oh wow, really? That would be cool! Because yeah, variance is huge in the 235 sats!

Do you know the name of the 70FPP sats to search them in the client??

Originally posted by ReaZoN999
I did that while I was playing MTT/SNG last month, got very good results out of it. Im wondering though at NL25 and platinumstar for example if its worth the risk (variance wize) instead of cashing in the 75$.

Cool blog man, definetly following, we have about the same results thus far

You can add me on skype if you want! jo.jalbert

I added you

If you have a lot of FPPs it might be worth the risk; platinum star is only 0.1299 $ per FPP; the sats have a 0.16 EV (if im not wrong).

Originally posted by caltabiano
Can you explain to me this? I'm trying to figure out the best way to use my FPP's. What is T$?

You play satellites to win an entry to the Sunday Storm (a weekly tournament). The fee is 235 FPPs, 6 players in a table, Top 2 win a Sunday Storm ticket. That ticket is worth USD 11. When you win multiple entries for the exact same tournament, Pokerstars gives you T$ which is a currency you can use only to play SnG and MTTs. So if you are a SnG or MTT reg they are as good as money. But if you play cash, you can use the client to sell those T$ for normal USD; and you can find a pretty active marketplace here: https://forums.pokerstrategy.com/forum/thread.php?postid=2137805#post2137805

Originally posted by caltabiano
Nice hands sir. BTW, do you always open QTo and the like from the cut off? I have been tighter then that, but how has it been for you, have you been able to play them profitably you think?
Let us be happy they are calling JTs BB vs CO
It was from the hijack, I think. And well, it depends on the regs that are behind me, I have a pretty detailed HUD so I know without popups how much the reg from BU is 3 betting in that position, and how much the blinds are defending on their exact position. And ofc that + VPIP/PFR gives me a pretty good estimation of the nitness/looseness of the players left behind and I decide what to open or not. So, sometimes I open QTo from CO or HJ, but also sometimes I fold AJs or even AQs from UTG1 (if the table is full of regs for example).

Originally posted by caltabiano
I've been noticing people are squeezing and restealing a lot more than when I used to play, back in 2009/10... is it just me, or is it really happening? How have you been adjusting to that?

Yes, they do. I 4bet more as a bluff, people are still not shoving that light (at least in FR). Except for the guy that shoved with the A3s, but I'm thinking that is an exception and not the rule; if it is normal the NL25 FR is very though!

Originally posted by caltabiano
BTW, just out of curiosity, why have you chosen such a conservative BRM at the micros?

I cash out a lot. More than 1k since I came back, so my *real* bankroll right now is around 500, but I'm cashing out some of that tomorrow hehe; USD gained a lot of traction against colombian peso last week.
I have a spreadsheet with the sum of the cashouts and since it would take so much space to explain and make the sums, etc in the bankroll challenge I just treat it all like if it was bankroll.

Originally posted by caltabiano
**EDIT: oh yeah, one more thing, how do you use this hand replayer? I'm not using a HUD, but wanted to be able to review my hands

It is built in Pokerstars client, just click at a little red star on the chat and it will open a window on the browser where you can see the hands like I've showed here.

Originally posted by Volrath89

Originally posted by vuciitis
yea SS sats are the best value, but id like to point out, that there are also 70-80FPP sats somtimes available with same value and structure, BUT u can decrease variance by playing these. and imo thats a big thing knowing how huge variance is in that shallow format.
cheers
oh wow, really? That would be cool! Because yeah, variance is huge in the 235 sats!

Do you know the name of the 70FPP sats to search them in the client??

they are for 3.3 and 4.4 mtts, but for some reason i havent seen available any for couple weeks...

Ok, so this weekend I decided to grind it up and play only NL5-10, a lot of tables and hands. Just to make some easy money hehe. I think I'm gonna play NL25 on the weeks and NL10 on the weekends; seems like a reasonable plan to make money for sure and have almost the whole time free.

I almost complete 100k hands on NL5 Let's see if I can mantain a 10bb/100 winrate on those

An interesting hand:

I tend to do this a lot vs people who just never fold to cbets (and that's a lot of people nowadays)
http://www.boomplayer.com/en/poker-hands/Boom/16712685_46A5DAF169

In NL25 they tend to call down a lot (or fold the flop)

Wow I ran hot this week:

Week 10 - NL5, 10, 16, 25 FR

Hands: 12784
Profit: +$189.82
Starting BR: $400
Last Week's BR: $1610.05
Current BR: $1799.87
GOAL: $4,000.00

Can you see the exact spot where I went down from NL25 to the good old NL5 and 10?

So, yeah, that's why I still play those limits... I make "good" money, stress free money playing that low. I don't dream of becoming a poker pro (even less now that Supernova and SNE are dead) at least at the cash games. I think poker is going downward from black friday, hasn't recovered and prob never will. Games are tougher, everybody is a bumhunter (even at NL10) so I just take the money I can, while I can. If dollar would not be worth 3000 colombian pesos I wouldn't even be playing poker hehe...

But I don't discard maybe exploring the Spin&Go's... a lot of marketing money going there, if only I had more time to play a bit and study that as well... oh well I guess one always has time, I could just sleep 1 hr less and play way less Hearthstone ... We will see, we will see...

BONUS: A funny hand hehe...
http://www.boomplayer.com/en/poker-hands/Boom/16731772_36528C8357
Regs should learn to stop playing vs me with weak hands...

Good luck man and more fish on your tables. I hope my winrate will be the same or higher ))

Woot!!

Now, the same with NL10 ->NL25 ->NL50->...

Originally posted by Volrath89
Wow I ran hot this week:

Week 10 - NL5, 10, 16, 25 FR

Hands: 12784
Profit: +$189.82
Starting BR: $400
Last Week's BR: $1610.05
Current BR: $1799.87
GOAL: $4,000.00

Can you see the exact spot where I went down from NL25 to the good old NL5 and 10?

So, yeah, that's why I still play those limits... I make "good" money, stress free money playing that low. I don't dream of becoming a poker pro (even less now that Supernova and SNE are dead) at least at the cash games. I think poker is going downward from black friday, hasn't recovered and prob never will. Games are tougher, everybody is a bumhunter (even at NL10) so I just take the money I can, while I can. If dollar would not be worth 3000 colombian pesos I wouldn't even be playing poker hehe...

But I don't discard maybe exploring the Spin&Go's... a lot of marketing money going there, if only I had more time to play a bit and study that as well... oh well I guess one always has time, I could just sleep 1 hr less and play way less Hearthstone ... We will see, we will see...

BONUS: A funny hand hehe...
http://www.boomplayer.com/en/poker-hands/Boom/16731772_36528C8357
Regs should learn to stop playing vs me with weak hands...

Interesting hand. Do you use this strategy alot? Does it really work?

Originally posted by Pistoleroo
Interesting hand. Do you use this strategy alot? Does it really work?

I don't remember a lot of hands that have played out like that in the last months. I don't have "a strategy"; I just try to do what I think its the most EV+ in every hand. There are times where there are big fish on the table (with complete stack) and that I know hitting a set vs them even in a limped pot will mean profit to me; and those same fishes don't fold anything on the flop, so hands like 22,33, etc are not really much more than a set project against them and have few SD value, so I don't raise them (or sometimes I raise them to 2bbs).

In this hand it was a weak reg the one who tried to isolate me, his sizing - just 3bb - was a big sign of weakness to me. He was probably just trying to build a pot with speculative hands like 77,88 or suited connectors (most regs don't like to limp behind); I think a good hand even a broadway type hand would have raised a bit bigger.

When everybody else folded (sadly, the fishes too) I was up with a situation where I thought a bluff could work, and then I went ahead and 3betted + cbetted as a bluff. With his suited connectors and other bad hands I think he folds preflop; but with his pocket pairs, he is going to say "oh this Volrath is trying to trap me with AA, let's call and set mine". When the board came low I was pretty confident he'd fold anything that wasn't a set (remember, he is a weak reg).

River spots:

vs fish - super easy fold on any other card that completess the flush... except for...
http://www.boomplayer.com/en/poker-hands/Boom/16761043_20B06FD3A9

vs a tight regular (his line is actually not bad as a bluff I guess... But donking is something out of my arsenal, never have tried to do anything fancy with it)
http://www.boomplayer.com/en/poker-hands/Boom/16761074_F685C5F004

vs a very loose regular... I think it's a mistake to call the river, especially considering his sizing. The only hand i was beating was 22
http://www.boomplayer.com/en/poker-hands/Boom/16761151_D5B74251EF

The river spots seem fine folds!
At first they seemed ultra tight but they are good.

Hi mate, impressive results!!! I'm from Colombia too and I play on NL5 SH (used to play higher before but I had to do a massive cashout a couple months ago). Do u play only FR?? I would like to share some impressions with you... GL at the tables.

Hi Volrath89,

Hat of to you sir for the tremendous volume of hands and results.
Look forward reading more in the future and it is good to read another FR blog.

My regards.

Matt

Very well done man!

Originally posted by bonecore
The river spots seem fine folds!
At first they seemed ultra tight but they are good.

not all of them were folds, tho. The one I called, I lost

Originally posted by Mandator
Hi mate, impressive results!!! I'm from Colombia too and I play on NL5 SH (used to play higher before but I had to do a massive cashout a couple months ago). Do u play only FR?? I would like to share some impressions with you... GL at the tables.

Only FR. I've been playing FR successfully for years, and when I tried SH it went wrong (although that was some years ago). But I see videos of SH too, they are not that different, it's the same game, just a different metagame.

Originally posted by metalmonkey80
Hi Volrath89,

Hat of to you sir for the tremendous volume of hands and results.
Look forward reading more in the future and it is good to read another FR blog.

My regards.

Matt

Originally posted by stompy91
Very well done man!

Thanks!

Two "don't try this at home" hands

http://www.boomplayer.com/poker-hands/Boom/16775652_B3A8E652D9

http://www.boomplayer.com/en/poker-hands/Boom/16776589_A1B6361A90

(I had reads on those players, and they are the exception in FR; that's why I don't recommend this play against everyone, but its very effective!)

I would really prefer to play check/raise flop in this spots and probably go for a turn small overbet to do the job right.
Anyway the second hand is total spew in my opinion.

Pretty interesting blog you have here. I'll be following you since I am playing FR micros too with similar style.
Good luck!

Originally posted by T3rMiT3
I would really prefer to play check/raise flop in this spots and probably go for a turn small overbet to do the job right.
Anyway the second hand is total spew in my opinion.

Pretty interesting blog you have here. I'll be following you since I am playing FR micros too with similar style.
Good luck!
Yes, I do that play too sometimes! But against villains with an abnormally high bet in position on the flop.
You are probably right in the second hand, any good opponent would have called any SD value; I thought no king would raise the flop and that he had air, but I wasn't actually representing much either!

Does someone understand villain's thoughts on this hand???

http://www.boomplayer.com/en/poker-hands/Boom/16822303_C3614B693E

He is a regular, probably even a winning player.

I'm totally puzzled, don't understand at all his river "bluff" with TPTK; but it almost worked. Heck, even after seeing his cards I doubt of my call lol