KoningAlbert NL2 / NL5 ZOOM and occasional MTTs

Originally posted by jiffybag
I was telling myself yesterday that players aren't bluffing me as much as I am thinking. When regs bet, they normally have something.
I also told myself to stop calling the river with 1 pair type hands when it is clear that I am beat, if I look at it from a "what would I bet here" there are no bluffs.
I've been 3 and 4 tabling, it can be a bit boring sometimes, but it keeps me from going into auto pilot where I am not thinking at all.

Well said jiffybag
Yes — this is true. They don't bluff as much as they did a few years ago. However, I have noticed that they will bet with 2nd pair or even 1 pair if they pair the river. So I've not stopped bluff-catching, but I've made 2 pair my minimum bluff-catcher. Also, since other player seem to be playing fairly straight-forward I've begun to bluff rivers in position when checked to — bet/fold of course. It seems to be working.

Auto pilot is a death trap if you're not flying an airplane. Especially in fast-fold games where you have only a small number of hands from opponents to go by. I still prefer zoom to regular tables though. Also, it seems that each room has its own style. I don't know if that is for real, or it is just my impression.

However, I have noticed that they will bet with 2nd pair or even 1 pair if they pair the river. So I've not stopped bluff-catching, but I've made 2 pair my minimum bluff-catcher.

This is true, pfr will check flop and then bet turn if picked up a pair or a draw, there aren't that many pure bluffs.

Also, since other player seem to be playing fairly straight-forward I've begun to bluff rivers in position when checked to — bet/fold of course. It seems to be working.

I'm able to do this when I am thinking clearly only. When tilted on the other hand...:facepalm:

Have you tried regular tables, instead of zoom ones?
I follow a lot of your hands in hand discussion and it looks like your main problems are in "marginal/close" spots where difference (call it profit if you want) appears to como from knowing the villain(s) and I can't imagine that happening consistently in zoom tables.

If you have a decent pool to play regular tables give it a try,.

GL @ the tables

On microstakes I prefer regular tables, maybe less action but You can see calmly game another players at table.

Well, it's true that many of the hands I'm having trouble with are probably villain dependant. And that's what makes zoom so irritating sometimes. People sometimes do weird stuff and it's hard to seperate a good player from a fish.

Now the reason I play zoom is exactly because of that. It means I have to worry less about my table image, or other people's table image. I think playing regular tables would be better, but then you have to wait all the time, and the point I'm at in my life, it feels like I don't want to spend time on waiting for another hand to be dealt.
(This doesn't mean I shouldn't try it out once)

Past week it didn't go all too well. It feels like the upswing I've had recently, has become a downswing. Players have hit a lot of their hands on the river, and I also had a few hands for stacks with full house vs full house, set vs set , flush vs flush... all in villain's favour. None of my draws completed, whenever it did, I didn't get any action.

On a positive note though, I've been able to maintain a positive feel and didn't tilt at all.
On a negative note, I did try to outmaneuver players sometimes, but it always blew up in my face, because I wasn't able to accept that they had truly made a hand.

This has resulted in a BR of 90$ at first, and made me drop till 64, but crawled back to 71$

I'm also changing my play a bit, because I feel I was playing too passively. I'm 3-betting a lot more, and I'm a lot more aggressive on flop and turns. Only point that needs some tweaking, is the fact I sometimes have to accept I'm beat. I will post some hands later.

Long time since I have updated.

Long story short: NOT GOOD.

I managed to nearly hit the 100$ BR but typically then it all turned pretty nasty.
BR is now 54$.
--> 10BI running badly
--> 5 BI setups
--> 5 BI bad play ==> I've just realized it's probably a lot more ♦

Some hands to own up to my bad plays

For some reason I wasn't capable of laying down hands. When you're running so badly, you are convinced that people are constantly outplaying you, which simply is not the case... You tell yourself that people can't always hit their hands....

You just pay off, since you really want to be sure that people are hitting their hands all the time.

One of the many.... people can't have aces all the time I 3bet/4bet

I could go on for this for a while.. but I really got sucked into a mind game, which I simply couldn't win. Some time off at the tables would have been a good idea.

Happy new year, have a good one

This is the video I was talking about, just watched it now. Its a quick watch, he also recently wrote a book just about AK.

The Science Of AK

I used to watch split suit's channel, but I've not seen this one before.

Good video

Originally posted by VorpalF2F
I used to watch split suit's channel, but I've not seen this one before.

Good video

I still watch some of his videos, I like how he tackles a topic in a small amount of time. I've been watching some of Lemon's videos, but with those I have to do it over a few days as they are long, and he gets into all kinds of different topics.

Thanks for the video Jiffy, I'll definitely have a look at it, as soon as I find the time.

In the meantime ... I've been enjoying myself with adapting and changing up my play a bit. I'm experimenting with aggressiveness as well. Especially considering some feedback I've gotten in the hand discussion forum. NapoleonBonaparte in particular but also others have made me reflect on my play style and I'm trying to take something from it.

I've come to realise that I'm burning money in 2 ways.
- putting in dead money by calling OOP too much, I might even throw away the best hand because I don't know where I'm at. I have a hard time knowing when to defend the blinds for example, and if I do I think I do it in the wrong way
- I sometimes call down, when I'm obviously beat (although I've come a long way and have improved a bit), it happens a lot when I actually have 200BI+ and I'm versus another big stack. I become greedy and convince myself it can't be true they have hit a set... or something similar to this.

Because of these two actions (and probably a lot more other mistakes) My BR hasn't moved one way nor the other.

What I also picked up in the hand discussion forum is that I have to call down whenever someone's play doesn't make any sense. When villains overbet a pot and I don't have a decent hand, I almost folded instantly, For the past few weeks I've come to understand that this often is a way to take down a decent pot by scaring away the opponent. So I have been winning money in these spots now.

Anyway, I'm curious to see how my play will evolve the forthcoming weeks, because I would love to take a shot at NL5 soon....

Hi Everyone!

I'm back into poker...
I'm not going to repeat my story again, as this can be read throughout my blog if someone is interested.

I'm playing NL2 SH regular this time. starting from a remaining BR of $23.
We'll see when I get tired of the game again. Never managed to actually move up a lot, since it has taken too much time and patience for my liking.

I don't intend to take this overly seriously, because it would be too time consuming. But since keeping a blog is always fun... Vamos!

Some ups and downs, to finally 'boost' my BR a bit, however this can easily change again.
I've mainly tried to get into the game again and it all really feels rusty.
I'm still trying to find a good playing style, luckily it has already improved a lot since I've started playing again.

I can't post any hands yet, since I need to find my HE manager account again...

anyway,

BR: $31