Swimming with the fishes - LahtiPelican's SH journey

Originally posted by LahtiPelican
I followed your blog from the start. You play poker with a very different approach (I am a nit in your terms ). It would be interesting to hear your thoughts from a differenc perspective.

Yes, 22/17 are nits in my book

Can you explain anything I should know? What is your color coding? This is mine for instance:

Regarding the J9s: I don't understand why you want to keep the pot small with 63.64% equity

I'll check the video later and review it

About color tags:
Green is weeker player/fish
Purple: If someone does somthing stupid (limp, min 3B, mindonk etc) he gets purple tag. If he does it again, gets green tag. It's like a waiting room for the week player title ♠_biggrin:
Red: regular
Orange: week reg
Blue: nit
Yellow means I have a note about him. Or at least, I had... They are keep disappearing on PartyPoker. You can see in the session, some I make some notes 3 or 4 times...

the range you give for 3-betting flop is very optimistic.
what kind of weaker player is the opponent, aggressive, overcaller, overplayer? many players have only AJ here.

just for fun, i did some really quick and dirty solving for this spot at this stack depth.
in short, we don't really raise this flop (4%). when we do, we almost never do it with J9 (1% of our J9).

all our strong hands are mixed, being mostly calls - even most of our AJ is just called to protect our calling range, presumably.
we raise a few AJo (20%, doing it more often with A:d), AJs (46%, less often with A:d J:d), TT (6%), KQs/KQo (15%), QT (10%, prioritizing spades), A9s backdoor flush (25%), J9s (1%).
villain defends by 3-betting 1% of the time, protecting their own calling range as well - what's 3-bet is mostly AJs (20%), a few sets (3%), and AA (3%) (turning it into a bluff with blockers, presumably).

facing that 3-bet with J9, we call flop but fold turn (except with the J9 of spades). the solver prefers calling turn with AJ, TT and QT spades (we can't have KQ spades, because the K:s is on the board).
the problem with "idiot straights" is that we are dead against villain's nuts, which is very costly at deep stack depths.

fine, this villain isn't playing anywhere nearly GTO, of course. but i can't help but feel that we have torched some money
the main question is what we estimate villain's flop 3-bet range to be. i believe that the vast majority of players are playing pair+draw passively here, especially in position - maybe he has some sets, if you're lucky.

Here are some comments regarding the video, will do it in several chunks.

00:50 I find that 3betting with J7s is a bit loose here
00:54 Not folding K7o, SB vs BB we could have had a steal situation, especially with the steal size you decide to use
00:57 Not folding JTo vs a fish open.You folded even before knowing what was the 2nd fish going to do. Surely I’d play a 3w pot with 2 fish with JTo if I close the action. Are you sure you want to swim with the fishes?
01:05 Don’t get why J9s is snap fold for you SB vs CO here when J7s was a 3bet earlier. Not saying it’s a 3bet, just that I find it inconsistent.
01:13 I 3bet 88 SB vs BT. Don’t want to get squeezed or pay rake, play a 3w OOP etc.
02:06 K9s in MP with 3 fish left to act (and 2 in SB/BB), I open 100%
02:25 I’m never bet bluffing 4bb in 7.5bb on A33 vs a fish, why do you do that?
02:40 Why do you SQ into 2 players to 15bb? Seems a bit much to me
02:48 Why do you ⅔ cbet with a SPR of 3 on a board that hits your range really hard? You can bet 10bb or so here
03:03 You write a note “P no 3B Q IP”. How about “cc QQ BT”? Seems more clear & concise to me but it’s a personal preference
03:20 Why do you 2.5x QTo here and 3x JTo earlier? In general, I didn't get the logic for your PF opening sizings
03:49 I prefer to 3x BVB, but it’s a personal preference I guess
03:50 Why cbet QT on the KQJ board? You will never want to cbet 44/76s etc. if you bet QTo here, you likely x/f close to 100%
08:37 Not Auto folding T9o BB vs the open from fish EP. You don’t even check your notes, maybe you know he opens really loose. Then there are at least 3 other fish in the hand, try to see if you can play a MW with people who make huge mistakes.
09:04 I don’t get why you cbet 3 in 5.5 on J32r with Ax
10:23 Why do you cbet Q8 on AQ9?
11:12 Why do you shove here? Do you think he calls worse? If the answer is no, you’re just giving rake to PP for no reason. You have 178bb when the hand ends and you started it with 186.5bb, the shove river is a spew imo. I've never seen anyone, fish or reg, call pf, call flop, call turn, raise river/call 3bet all-in with worse than a straight on a 4 straight board.
11:39 Not folding KJo MP with a fish in BB
14:00 Why do you fold 44 in SB when a fish opens and there’s a cold call?
14:30 Why do you cc K9s vs a PSB open?
15:48 Why do you fold A5s EP vs 2 fish in the blinds?

Part 2;

General comments: you look like you make 0 adjustments preflop (you should attempt to play more pots vs fishs, by calling or opening wider), you seem too paranoid (cf. hands at 22:22 and 27:28), and given what I've seen we disagree on why you won a lot (you think it's because you 2-tabled, I think it's because you ran very good, at least so far).

16:46 T2: I don’t fold ATo vs a 3x from a fish
17:22 T2: I don’t fold 66 IP 120 deep vs a 3bet from a fish (or anyone actually). Honestly I went to double check what your tags mean because from what I see there’s little to no adjustment PF vs recs.
18:19 T2: T9o CO, I open 95 deep vs a fish in BB
21:25 T1: No need to put him in the waiting room
22:22 T2: I can’t find a reason to just call QQ on the KT4hKhQ board. The guy is a fish, he could have so many Kxs, K9o, KJo, J9o etc. You lose to KT/K4/KQ and that’s it. If this is a standard call for you, that’s a big problem. I think it’s more likely you ran horrible recently and did not want to face a 3bet from villain
23:18 T2: Cbet, you can get AJ+ to fold, can barrel spades and Q/K to get 88 type of hands to fold etc. then you have 29% of pot odds, and you fold IP with 2 over cards and the NFD? Means you fold this turn 100% of the time and also I think it’s not a fold with such high equity. The guy could be betting KQ/77-99/44/T9s, basically against worse than a set you have such good equity that it’s never a fold imo.
23:50 T1: Would call the A9s pre vs a fish with a fish that has 158bb in the SB
25:00 T2: Would call the QJo in SB vs a min raise from a fish. There’s a fish in the BB as well, they’re clueless and won’t think that you called with QJ type of hands that are just not good enough to 3bet, so they will never think that a board with cards between the Q and 8 are great for your range etc. BB won’t abuse the spot and squeeze (although he should, but he likely has no idea)
26:45 T2: Interesting that you defend Q9o here, I don't know what should be done, but I am just surprised that you do it. The fact that a guy checks back 442r and folds turn to small probe is worth a note
27:28 T1: Never folding Q9 no clubs when it goes check/check on the flop on a K5QccK7 board. Clubs missed, AJ/AT/JT/T9/J9 missed, and he could be randomly betting whatever because you checked. You only need to have the best hand 30% of the time. I’ve seen recs so many times do disgusting bluffs (like stab Ax on a KT4cc6 board although clubs and SDs should be bluffs, I think that betting Ax when your range has so many perceived bluffs is dumb), you can’t fold this readless, they could bet 5x or 87cc, again because they have to clue. They don't think it terms of "what worse hands calls here if I bet 7x?"
29:58 T1: Why do you fold AJs SB vs MP? You even looked like you were going to fold before knowing what the rec in BT was going to do.
30:15 T2: Very interesting that you think that the key to winning might be to play less tables, because, and I quote you: “Maybe my biggest leak is playing on too many tables?” You won set vs straight AI turn, and KK vs KK AI PF (at this time-stamp). This makes me think that it’s possible that you don’t realize the impact of positive variance.
32:19 T1: How is 22 a fold in EP when there are 2 recs in the blinds?
32:19 T2: No need to cbet so much on a 833r board as PFR IP, you can cbet range 1/3. Not sure what to do vs a x/r. It feels like we fold 100% of the turns when we don’t hit, and he reps air, like 1 combo of A3s, 3 combos of 43s, 88, 33 but he could also protect with 8x so it’s inconvenient. Readless it might be one of these spots where if we know we fold turn without improving, might as well fold flop, especially with a large sizing that induced nothing.
32:39 T1: 87s could be a 3bet SB vs CO

Originally posted by Tomaloc
fine, this villain isn't playing anywhere nearly GTO

Actually I am not sure, that an average NL2 player even knows what a solver is I have never used one myself, so thanks for the analysis! I can't wait to play on limits where I have to do this kind of work. Game theory was one of my favorite subjects on university. However as Swish's post show, I have a lot to learn before moving up.

Originally posted by Swish29
Here are some comments regarding the video, will do it in several chunks.

Oh my Lord, you did a lot of work to write all of these comment. I can't say thank you enough for your help! I went to bed yesterday, when I saw your post. I got up again, started my computer and started to read

First of all about preflop sizing: I open 3x from EP and MP, 2,5x from CO, BU and SB as standard. I only open 3x from BU, if there is at least one fish at blinds. I do the same from CO, except if there is a fish on the BU too, than I still open 2,5x.

You wrote a lot about cbets. While I played on PartyPoker NL5 in September, my cbet percentage was around 51-54, so I decided to increase this stat. With more than 70%, I am on the other side of the horse (maybe we only say this phrase in Hungary ) and I cbet in a lot of spots where I shouldn't.

Preflop adjustments I simply didn't learn to adapt my ranges for villains, while I played 4-6 fast or 6-12 regular tables. That's why I think cutting back on tables number will help me a lot.

Originally posted by Swish29
This makes me think that it’s possible that you don’t realize the impact of positive variance.

That's an interesting note. I have to think about it a lot more. I mean I always tried not to blame the RNG while I am running bad, instead of focusing on my leaks instead. However I have never thought about positive variance and its effects on my game and mindset.

About the hand at 22:22: I have no idea why I missed the raise here. Seriosly I have no excuse for this one. River is the best card we can expect.

Originally posted by Swish29
21:25 T1: No need to put him in the waiting room

So far I tagged purple or green everyone, who did a min3B preflop. In what situations do you consider it as a good move?

Protecting my small blind My ranges are such a mess here. I only defend against CO and BU. I only call with pocket pair on SB, which is not the best. Also I need to build my 3B ranges, not only raise with suited broadways as I did before.

These are my first reacts, I have to read your comments again (and a lot more times). You must worked a lot for help an unknown poker player. I am so grateful for your time and support! Thank you again!

About the cbets:

I actually don't have a problem with your cbet frequencies, more your sizings. If you bet range (betting range = bet 100% of your hands) on boards that are in your favor, it makes sense to do so with a small sizing.

OK for the preflop sizings. My approach is to always use the same sizing but change my ranges depending on you is left to act, I can't prove that this is better

When I said "No need to put in the waiting room" I meant that he can directly be tagged as a fish. Min 3betting is a fish move, and only a reg that missclicks does that.

About the SB play: it's convenient to 3bet or fold to simplify your gameplan, pay no rake, have the initiative and the uncapped range, prevent BB from squeezing or giving BB too good pot odds etc. but when there are recs in BT/BB you can consider that you will be squeezed only by good hands, they won't exploit what you do etc. You can have a linear 3bet range vs regs/as a default, and play differently vs the recs that have no idea about SB play.

3rd part:

33:33 T2: I think the delayed cbet is a bit too large with QQ on the 2A48ddd board. I don’t get the bluff river either, you think a rec folds Ax? Imo you had the best hand and he will call any vs this size
33:40 T1: Wait to see what the rec does before folding your 22
34:07 T1: Same with 43s in BB. You fold to a 2.5x from MP, whereas I could see it being a call regardless, and you fold before the rec on the button acts.
35:04 T1: You have a lot of perceived bluffs, you could bet more turn and river. I would fold river, I put villain on K8/88. Writing this before seeing SD. You should take a note. When was the last time you saw someone bluff when taking this line? I think your hand is far worse vs the range of villain compared to when you folded the Q9 at 27:28
36:00 T2: Could cbet A8 here vs 2 fish and wide ranges. Not sure if I am folding river, seems close
37:19 T1: I would have risen the QQ on the flop and shoved river for value. I think he has a lot of 1 pair hands that won’t like turns so I’d rather raise now for value. But I guess calling with the Qs is fine too. Now that I write this, I think raising without a spade and calling with spades is OK.
39:32 T2: No need to cbet so much
40:17 T1: Would raise 44 EP with 1 rec / 1 maybe rec in BB / SB
41:02 T2: Take a note of the SD and give him the rec tag maybe?
41:11 T1: Very large cbet again
42:34 T1: Why don’t you 3bet JJ vs a rec? No need to bet so much turn, you just lose more vs the TPNK/QQ/KK
43:53 T2: No need for the waiting room anymore. Could cbet to get A5 /55 etc to fold
44:24 T2: Not sure if a rec folds better here. Maybe AJ/77/66? Writing this before seeing SD
45:30 Notes: I think it’s important to write the board as well
45:54 T2: Super large cbet, Induces 0 bluffs, gets TT/9x/KJ/KT etc. to fold, you could milk the rec and bet smaller, like ½ pot at most and still shove turn.
45:55 T1: Could 3bet here, at least call vs a rec because reasons written at 25:00

Happy that you are happy ♦ it gives you a lot to think about, so good luck with that

4th part will come soon

Today I followed your advices and played a bit looser.

Also my 3bet frequency wa higher, cause I started to deffend more in SB. I tried to choose cbet spots and sizes more carefully, in result my cbet stat lowered a lot. Still need to work on it.

Altogether, since I stepped back to NL5 my graph looks like this:

The sample is still small and I ran above EV. (I would be OK if my EV line would be my green line, too )

Feels nice to play again on Stars, with a proper HUD.

P.S.: I will write the summary of October soon, at the moment processing Swishs comments is far more important.

And the last part:

45:59 T2: Could open T9o here
47:10 T1: I would 2-barrel here, you could get stuff like K5s/Ax/QTo/Q6s to fold, some rivers are good to bluff as well
48:00 T1: See how you folded your AJ to small cbets?
48:44 T1: Could bet smaller turn to get FDs to call again. Regardless of what you do, you lose your stack to 6x, and always get a call from Qx river. The goal is to maximize value vs hands worse than Qx (77/KJss etc.). Would be a significant mistake without the As, but now we block the NFD at least
49:06 T1: Could open T9o here
49:08 T2: I am calling the 33 to play a pot IP vs the recs in the blinds
49:16 Notes: Would write “ l/c AQo, c FTR on Q666x”
53:35 T1: Would call PF to play IP vs the blinds. Good cbet sizing
54:59 T1: Would call PF to play IP vs the blinds.
55:23 T1: I’m opening any Axs with 2 recs in the blinds
55:46 T2: Why don’t you stab here?
55:52 T1: I am very surprised to see you defend K3o OOP vs BT
56:44 T2: Would call the 87s, again to play pots vs the recs etc
56:50 T1: Would call to play vs the blinds or 3bet to 7/7.5, but 6bb 3bet is too small, isn’t it?
57:40 T1: I would have just called the 64s, don’ t really want to build the pot ~190bb deep, you have huge reverse implied odds when you hit a flush. I would not cbet
59:29 T1: Would call the 33, again to play pots vs the recs, it’s a rec that opens, there’s one more in SB, you’re quite deep
1:00:56: Why do you bet river the J7s? Do you want to get calls from TT-77? Jx to fold? Seems too thin/weird
1:01:25 Just 2 barrel AA on TTT2, you block Ax so his range is a lot of pocket pairs that won’t fold. With AA/Tx I go for a big size (say ⅔+), with 77+ a modest size (~50%). Best bluffs would be 98s type of hands that block some Tx and his best pocket pairs that could continue, unblock Ax that could fold, shit bluff would be a hand like AK

Update after a long silence

I didn't write an update for two weeks, that's because I haven't played a big volume (regular table things...).

The other reason behind my silence is that I was in quarantine two times in the past month. I had fever for a day (actually my whole body was shaking for hours, I have never felt something like this before.) The next day I was perfectly fine, however I stayed home for days. I did not visit my family since August, so I decided to travel home for the first weekend of November. Guess what happened the next day! I had fever again, and this time I did't get better the next day. My whole family went to qarantine, however this time I got tested for COVID. First one was negative, and after 48 hours the second one was negative as well, so the second qurantine was only 4 days long. Maybe I shoul buy a warmer coat, not to get cold every time when I came home before daybreak. (To be honest, I can't do that now, since there is curfew between 8 pm and 5 am in Hungary)

However my grandma tested positive and my granda got sick yesterday, too. They will be 80 in January, so I hope they will get better soon.

About poker

Thanks to Swishs analysis, my comeback to NL5 started very well, Actually I did't want to post a graph, because I won around 12-15bb/100 in the first 12k hand, and it's not real. 5k hand later, I had some ups and downs, however I think I ran good all in all.

Here is the graph:

The big between my EV line is because one hand I palyed today:
PokerStars - $0.05 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BB: 217.2 BB
UTG: 135.8 BB
MP: 61.2 BB
Hero (CO): 237 BB
BTN: 117.8 BB
SB: 101.6 BB

SB posts SB 0.4 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.4 BB) Hero has Q♣ Q♥

UTG raises to 3 BB, MP calls 3 BB, Hero raises to 12 BB, fold, fold, fold, UTG calls 9 BB, MP calls 9 BB

Flop: (37.4 BB, 3 players) J♦ 2♦ 8♠
UTG checks, MP bets 18 BB, Hero raises to 54 BB, UTG raises to 123.8 BB and is all-in, MP calls 31.2 BB and is all-in, Hero calls 69.8 BB

Turn: (334.2 BB, 3 players) Q♠

River: (334.2 BB, 3 players) 5♣

MP cashed out 47 BB for a fee of 0.4 BB

UTG shows 2♣ 2♠ (Three of a Kind, Twos)

Main Pot [185 BB]: (Pre 17%, Flop 67%, Turn 2%)
Side Pot#1 [149.2 BB]: (Pre 19%, Flop 89%, Turn 2%)

Hero shows Q♣ Q♥ (Three of a Kind, Queens)

Main Pot [185 BB]: (Pre 65%, Flop 6%, Turn 74%)
Side Pot#1 [149.2 BB]: (Pre 81%, Flop 11%, Turn 98%)

MP shows T♦ 6♦ (High Card, Queen)

Main Pot [185 BB]: (Pre 18%, Flop 27%, Turn 24%)

Hero wins 320.4 BB

Not sure about my call OTF, however I had good odds, and the main reason was I was after a -4BI session and I could not say goodbye to the ladies

Future plans

My goal is to play 50k hand on NL5 before I move up.
I also bought a book about microstakes cash games, so I have some nice study material as well.
I am not sure, how I can mention other sites, maybe this will be legal: on an other Pokercoaching (if you know, you know ) site there is a free premium membership this week, so my book has to wait. Thanks Black Friday!

The first week of December

I havent't played a lot this week, only 10k hands.

I ran quite good in AI hands, however I had to fold a lot of overpairs and top pairs because of wet boards and I faced a lot of agression. All in all I won some bucks, so there's nothing to worry about

NL5 "shot"

Long story short: everything going as planend

Stepping to NL10

I wanted to step up after 50k hand on NL5, however if I keep my winrate for the next 10k hands, I will only have 25BIs for NL10. In the past I stepped to NL10 with 25BIs and did 5BI shots. This time I want to do a 10BI shot, so it would be risky with only 25 BIs. As a recreational player I am okay with taking higher risk, so maybe I will do a few sessions on NL10 in the evenings and on weekend and step up fully with a 30BI bankroll.

Goals for the next week:
Play 10k hand on NL5
Finish my book (Crushing the microstakes)
Post more often to my blog (I will post some hands, there are some funny ones I tagged )
Work out at least 3 times at home. (Gyms are closed in Hungary, so this is my best option...)

Hands of the day:

Pacific Poker - $0.05 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 4 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BTN: 106 BB
SB: 120.2 BB
Hero (BB): 100 BB
CO: 135.4 BB

SB posts SB 0.4 BB, Hero posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.4 BB) Hero has K♦ 9♣

fold, BTN raises to 2 BB, fold, Hero calls 1 BB

Flop: (4.4 BB, 2 players) 9♠ 9♦ 2♣
Hero checks, BTN bets 8 BB, Hero raises to 24 BB, BTN raises to 104 BB and is all-in, Hero calls 74 BB and is all-in

Turn: (200.4 BB, 2 players) A♠

River: (200.4 BB, 2 players) Q♠

Pacific Poker - $0.05 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BTN: 35.4 BB
SB: 159.2 BB
Hero (BB): 100 BB
UTG: 127 BB
MP: 106.8 BB
CO: 104.4 BB

SB posts SB 0.4 BB, Hero posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.4 BB) Hero has K♦ K♠

fold, fold, fold, fold, SB calls 0.6 BB, Hero raises to 4 BB, SB calls 3 BB

Flop: (8 BB, 2 players) A♣ 6♣ K♥
SB checks, Hero bets 4.8 BB, SB calls 4.8 BB

Turn: (17.6 BB, 2 players) K♣
SB bets 2 BB, Hero raises to 13 BB, SB raises to 25 BB, Hero raises to 62.4 BB, SB raises to 150.4 BB and is all-in, Hero calls 28.8 BB and is all-in

River: (200 BB, 2 players) 6♥

The second week of December

Goals for the week:
Play 10k hand on NL5 ✅ (I played 9885 hands and there's one day left)
Finish my book (Crushing the microstakes) ✅
Post more often to my blog ✅ There isn't a two week gap between my tow posts, so I guess I ticked this one Work out at least 3 times at home. 3/0

NL5
I crossed th 50k mark since I play NL5 again. I play USD tables and EUR tables as well on PS. I know it is a small sample, but I lost 5 BIs in 1600 hands on EUR tables. Altogether I have 4,30bb/100 on NL5, while my evbb/100 was only 2,72. I am not really satisfied with my results. If my winrate will drop on NL10, I can expect some huge swings there.
I checked my lifetime stats on NL5: 5,67bb/100 (4,14 evbb/100) on a 120k sample.
I think I will keep on playing on EUR tables and I will decide on a bigger sample.

Stepping to NL10
I played my first few hands on NL10 accidentally. I filtered the NL5 tables on 888 poker, however somehow I joined an NL10 table. I realised before I posted the big blind, but I got the Jesus seat: there was two weaker player on my right and a nit on my left. I had at least 200 hands sample on everyone, so I decided to stay at the table, and reduce my NL5 tables from 5 to 3. I played 448 hands before the table broke up and I won 130bb. My plan was to have a tight table image than losen up a bit later.
Well I haven't done a good job: after 50 hand I had 42/36/25 (VPIP/PFR/3B) stat Always nice to shot a new limit with a hot run.

An interesting thing
I have an excel sheet on my results since I started to play again in March. (Well I have data since June only)

There are 3 section on the graph: huge up, (the huge gap between twe two is a cash out) huge down and huge up again.
Below you can see, where I played in each section:

What do you think the lack of HUD and table selection could be a reason behind this? Or the player pool is tougher on PartyPoker? I am not sure about this, however I am sure I will avoid PartyPoker in the future.

P.S.: Rakeback and daily/monthly leaderboards are included on the graph and I only had these on PartyPoker...

Originally posted by LahtiPelican
I have an excel sheet on my results since I started to play again in March. (Well I have data since June only)

Oooooh I love Graphs! Especially Excel graphs!

Originally posted by LahtiPelican
What do you think the lack of HUD and table selection could be a reason behind this? Or the player pool is tougher on PartyPoker? I am not sure about this, however I am sure I will avoid PartyPoker in the future.

P.S.: Rakeback and daily/monthly leaderboards are included on the graph and I only had these on PartyPoker...

I'm pretty sure that the player pool on party isn't any better than average.
Is there any possibility that chasing rakeback and leaderboard prizes may have caused you to play more hands than you should?
I would seriously consider running Pokertracker 4's leaktracker report on your PartyPoker hands, then separately on your 888/PokerStars hands to see what the difference is.
(if any)
If no difference, it is just variance. You're playing about 10K hands per week, so the sample size isn't all that bad and might give some useful information

Cheers,
VS

Originally posted by VorpalF2F

I'm pretty sure that the player pool on party isn't any better than average.
Is there any possibility that chasing rakeback and leaderboard prizes may have caused you to play more hands than you should?

I didn' think about volume at all, but you are right: I played 3 times more hand on PartyPoker because of leaderboards/bonuses.

Originally posted by VorpalF2F
I would seriously consider running Pokertracker 4's leaktracker report on your PartyPoker hands, then separately on your 888/PokerStars hands to see what the difference is.

Thanks for the idea, I will try it!

Goals for the week:
Better later than never, right? Play 8k hands
Start to read The mental game of poker (finish it till Christmas)
Send a Christmas postcard to all of my clients. (You can't imagine how much I hate printing letters, write addresses and sign aaall of the postcards. However my clients love it, because it is special. They aren't got a postcard from anyone else in 2020.

NL5

I lost $45 bucks in the last 10k hands. It is not the worst 'everything I do, I lose' kind of downswing, I win 3BIs in one session than lose 4 in the other. I will keep on grinding and learning and hope for the best.

NL10

I played 100 hand only, won 3 bucks. I am not near stepping up, so this section of the blog will be paused for a short time.

Poker "rig"

I finally bought a 22" screen for playing poker, and oh my God, it is way better than my notebooks tiny, 15,6" screen. I am playing with a dual screen setup, one for the lobbis and one for the tables without any overlap. My notebook is sweating while I play. He can't wait to retire, or maybe can't wait for a CPU upgrade?

I have already upgraded all of upgradeable areas: it has an SSD and an HDD as well and 2x4GB RAM inside. It has a socketed CPU, so I am curious what it is capable of. Any suggestions for a CPU with PGA988B socket, 35W TDP and Intel HM65 Express chipset support??

The most I can do is to clean the dust from inside and applying fresh thermal paste.

Some hands

Not the best line from me, but before you open the spoiler, try to guess villains hand! I bet a beer, you did not get it right
PokerStars - €0.05 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

Hero (BTN): 100 BB
SB: 306 BB
BB: 182 BB
UTG: 100 BB
MP: 146.4 BB
CO: 221 BB

SB posts SB 0.4 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.4 BB) Hero has J♣ A♥

UTG raises to 3 BB, fold, CO raises to 5 BB, Hero calls 5 BB, SB calls 4.6 BB, fold, UTG calls 2 BB

Flop: (21 BB, 4 players) A♣ 3♣ 7♣
SB checks, UTG checks, CO bets 10.2 BB, Hero raises to 40.6 BB, fold, fold, CO calls 30.4 BB

Turn: (102.2 BB, 2 players) Q♥
CO checks, Hero bets 54.4 BB and is all-in, CO calls 54.4 BB

River: (211 BB, 2 players) 5♣

Villains first hand at the table

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

CO: 100 BB
BTN: 131.2 BB
SB: 98 BB
BB: 99 BB
Hero (UTG): 103.4 BB
MP: 94.4 BB

SB posts SB 0.4 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.4 BB) Hero has A♦ K♠

Hero raises to 3 BB, MP raises to 94.4 BB and is all-in, fold, fold, fold, fold, Hero calls 91.4 BB

Flop: (190.2 BB, 2 players) T♥ K♦ T♣

Turn: (190.2 BB, 2 players) A♠

River: (190.2 BB, 2 players) J♦

Originally posted by LahtiPelican
Thanks for the idea, I will try it!

Let us know what you find...

Originally posted by LahtiPelican
I finally bought a 22" screen for playing poker, and oh my God, it is way better than my notebooks tiny, 15,6" screen. I am playing with a dual screen setup, one for the lobbis and one for the tables without any overlap. My notebook is sweating while I play. He can't wait to retire, or maybe can't wait for a CPU upgrade?
I remember when I got my first dual-monitor setup. I was overjoyed. In my case it was at work, and I wrote software as part of my job, and I could have the source code open on one monitor, and watch the output and debug window on a second.

For streaming, I have three -- the streaming software and related tools on one, poker tables on the second, and all the lobbies and spreadsheets on the third.
I always jokingly say "I need a 4th monitor" -- If I get serious about streaming, I'll do just that (but I need a new camera first)

Originally posted by LahtiPelican
I have already upgraded all of upgradeable areas: it has an SSD and an HDD as well and 2x4GB RAM inside. It has a socketed CPU, so I am curious what it is capable of. Any suggestions for a CPU with PGA988B socket, 35W TDP and Intel HM65 Express chipset support??

The most I can do is to clean the dust from inside and applying fresh thermal paste.

Check out Open Hardware Monitor ( https://openhardwaremonitor.org/)
If it supports your rig it can pinpoint the part of your system that is holding you back.
For me, it was the lousy on-board graphics.
Also use Windows' Task Manager to see how much of your precious RAM is in use -- it looks like you have only 8GB, but if the RAM you quote is additional, 16 is plenty fine.

If it was my laptop, I would not try to upgrade the CPU with an existing chipset -- power consumption will likely increase (open hardware monitor would help detect that) and that will cause the cooling system extra work, which might cause the system to overheat.

When an Intel processor overheats, it throttles back its speed, which then defeats the purpose of the upgrade.

Cheers,
VS

As I see, you know more about computers than I will ever will, so thanks for your tips!

I downloaded Open Hardware Monitor and here is the result:

It looks like a CPU bottleneck for me.

Originally posted by VorpalF2F
If it was my laptop, I would not try to upgrade the CPU with an existing chipset -- power consumption will likely increase (open hardware monitor would help detect that) and that will cause the cooling system extra work, which might cause the system to overheat.

When an Intel processor overheats, it throttles back its speed, which then defeats the purpose of the upgrade.

Cheers,
VS

I only think about a CPU upgrade, because there was a bunch of notebooks where Asus used the exact same motherboard and cooling which they used in mine. To be more accurate, I have an Asus K53SD. I guess they used socketed GPUs because of the wide model range. The most powerful CPU they used with my motherboard was an Intel i7 2670QM. However I do not want to go this far, in theory an Intel i5 2430M would nearly double my CPU performance. It is a $25 upgrade, and if it won't work out, I can put back my old one. And an other reason for the CPU swap: I love assembly and disassembly gadgets :f_biggrin::f_biggrin:

About RAM: Manufacturer said that the maximum RAM, which the notebooks handles is 8GB. However as I wrote this post, I found an ad for the same model with 16 gigs of RAM and the Intel 2670QM in it. The €649 price is a bit sketchy, I bought mine for €500 more than 8 years ago

Originally posted by LahtiPelican

NL5
I lost $45 bucks in the last 10k hands. It is not the worst 'everything I do, I lose' kind of downswing, I win 3BIs in one session than lose 4 in the other. I will keep on grinding and learning and hope for the best.

Almost forget to post a screenshot about this weeks ups and downs:

Originally posted by LahtiPelican
And an other reason for the CPU swap: I love assembly and disassembly gadgets :f_biggrin::f_biggrin:

The by all means go for it.
Have you opened your laptop before?

If you can find one, watch a youtube video on the procedure, or see if you can get the disassembly manual from Asus

I really recommend an anti-static wrist strap (a piece of bare wire around your wrist and attached to a nearby water pipe works)
Be sure the laptop is unplugged!

A static discharge is relatively rare, but one blown motherboard can ruin your whole day

Originally posted by VorpalF2F

Originally posted by LahtiPelican
And an other reason for the CPU swap: I love assembly and disassembly gadgets :f_biggrin::f_biggrin:

The by all means go for it.
Have you opened your laptop before?

If you can find one, watch a youtube video on the procedure, or see if you can get the disassembly manual from Asus

My special talent is to find a YouTube tutorial for everything

I opened my laptop several times before for cleaning, reapply thermal paste, upgrading my storage etc., so it should be ok. Thanks for the recommendation, I will search for an anti-static strap!

Today I got a Spin&GO ticket, where I won another ticket for Blowout Ticket Fast Step Track Step 1. It is a 12 seated hyper SNG.

Here is the final result:

In the first hand I dealt JJ, hit top set OTF and tripled up, so it was a start to finish wictory.

Now I have a ticket for the Step 2 tournament, which is worth $11. First and second place got a ticket for step 2, 3rd plave worth $8, but it is 2 seated. I am not into MT SNGs, so I hope there is a way to use this ticket somewhere else.

Best wishes for a very Merry Christmas,
VS

Originally posted by VorpalF2F
Best wishes for a very Merry Christmas,
VS

Thank you Vorpal! I wish Merry Christmas for you and your family!