Opponent was a bit funny, didn't really fold postflop if he had anything. And sometimes called without anything (at least in my opinion). Very sticky postflop, and very passive. Versus him it was not a problem to get value for hands, as he liked to cbet flops if he had any piece of the board. Seen him cbet and call pot sized raise with really weak hits. So even in single raised pots there were good implied odds. I also thought his preflop range would have been stronger, that hand wouldn't fit that read. And I was playing with really small bankroll at GG, mainly for promotion that gives 50% extra rakeback for a week. Trying to keep variance as low as possible.
Those are some reasonings, although I think that 3betting should still be a no-brainer. I was watching CS:GO at the moment, and I think I didn't even see that my hand was double suited. Watching stream and clicking buttons at the same time, combined with the low-variance style vs. good customer led to just call preflop. Got lucky this time, as with 3bet I would have lost a lot more.
I often talk about suicide bluffs in my streams. This is one of those, a bad bluff without a strategy. Just a mental game flaw for not being able to just give up.
I open pre, he calls. On the flop I cbet, he calls. Turn goes check-check, and on the river I bet small. He raises, and I was like "wtf?". VPIP0, so he could have AA in his range. 77 of course, but that's about it. Would he raise 99/97/J7 on the river? Kind of spot where it makes zero sense to bluff, and zero sense to raise worse hand. But on the other hand, can't fold my hand versus relatively unknown. But I hated his raise. Until I saw that hand.
I have no idea of his thinking on the flop, but that is not the hand to make a pure float on that board! And on the river he tries to make a bluff that has no strategy behind it. Or if there is, it's a bad one.
Got one of those CRASH, BOOM, BANG! sessions. Lost 10 buyins, mostly with 4betting Aces. Twice I faced quads on paired flops, And then I lost 5 buyins versus a guy who 3betted everything, 100%. First 150bb went when I 4bet AKKJss, flop was T32r, he had 8733r. Right after that I get AAQJds and we are 350bb deep. He opens, I 3bet, he 4bets and I 5bet. He has a medium rundown, and spikes a straight on the flop.
2 days left to make predictions. People always amaze me, this time in negative way. Free money (in EV) for very little effort, and we have just 8 eligible predictions. In my mind not all of them have equal chance to win, so I would say that with good prediction there is decent chance to spike that $50.
When I look outside, it seems that summer might be coming after all. And as in previous summers, I am once again without a job. My contract ends at the start of June, and new one starts at August. So for 2-3 months, my income comes from poker. Looking forward to it, and I have 2 months to re-learn the rules and strategies.
I haven't played that much during 2023. Spare time has always been very limited, and I started to play CSGO in a team which means that now there are two things consuming that little spare time I have. I am really bad at CSGO, but I joined Pappaliiga (finnish for League of grandfathers, lol). I focus more on streaming the games than actually play in competitive league games.
I thought about starting a bankroll challenge now, but decided to start it when I actually start playing daily.
Have been playing a bit more in past days. And I have wondered quite many times what the hell are opponents doing. Late night, weekend, those might be some answers. But still. It seems like way back to 2010, as people shove QQxx preflop or decide to get it in with high SPR and only weak flush draw etc. I can't complain, as there are multiple times when I have the nuts and I wonder why opponent shoves. Or I have the nut straight and I am sure we are splitting. And opponent has some complete trash in spot where he has 0 FE for his shove.
Today is the first "real" summer day. Although it's not yet summer, but temperature is a bit high and sun is shining. Definitely brings summer vibes. Summer means barbequing, and I realized my old electric bbq grill is a bit old. Why electric? I live in an apartment building, and any open fire is not allowed at balconies. Also, storaging gas tanks is not allowed either. That makes electric bbq grill the only option, if one wishes to barbeque.
Lol. It was horrible. Session started with two quick losses with nut boat vs quads. Then I got at least 10 times stacks in with AA in multiway pot, with the lowest equity. And one aggro short stacker just kept hitting his trashy hands all the time. Cherry on the top was quite many set vs set in 3bet pots or recreationals cold calling 4bets with complete trash, leaving few bb behind and hitting it.
Was down about 15 buyins, which is quite a lot considering I am using cashout in all-ins. Don't know for exact, but without it I would have lost a lot more. I remember thinking all the time how annoyed I would have been to lose again an all-in. Story of the day, don't withdraw your money kids!!!
In the end, if I count the rakeback as winnings, this 2h session ended in -6 buyins. Seems like a win after that run.
Games were good, almost all pots that I entered were 4-5way on the flop. With half of the pool being aggros and other half call-happy players. Too bad I couldn't really hit a lot, and when I did often someone gave me a cooler or made some runner runner shit. But when the variance evens and hands start to connect and hold, PLO seems very easy and fun.
After withdrawal I have played on three days. Lost multiple buyins in each of those days.
Opponent cold calls my 4bet with 9953, flop JJ9 and I have AAAJ.
150bb deep I open AKKTss and flop is AK7ss. Opponent had AA which he didn't 3bet.
Too many times opponent has stabbed turn with crap, I call with bluff catcher and I know he is going to fire all blankish rivers. Which he did, but made 1 or 2 outer on the river.
And my usual run with AKK versus aggros 3bet continues, they just have those Aces constantly in those spots.
Rough ride, but at least I know it should turn. Opponents are definitely not outplaying me.
Some downs, some ups. Then some downs, ups, downs and so on. The bottom line: I am almost at the same situation I was after that jinx-withdrawal. About 6 buyins below it still. Was a lot worse, was a bit better. Just ended a session, that ended in losing few buyins in really nasty situations.
Good news is, nothing has changed. Player pool is not outplaying me, but outdrawing. That should turn out in the long run. Just gotta keep grinding. And real grind starts in a 1,5 months. 5th of July to be precise.
I thought about opening a bankroll challenge already, but as I am playing quite rarely overall at the moment, it might be non-updated until July. So I will start it then.
Funny thing is that in every session I think "wow, this would be a fun hand to post to my blog!" but I don't take the screenshot. Might be a good thing, as most of those hands are where opponent makes something REALLY -EV. So this blog would just a roast to player pool. That's something I have to think for the summer, what to post here. It might be fun for few days, but as some weird shit happens all the time, it would just be a repeating thing. "Look, opponent calls pot shove with a gutshot!", "look, opponent shoves river with pure bluff, no blockers, and it's clear that I have the flush!" And so on.
On strategy department, I think the gameplay has been a bit different than in streams, where I play GG Rush&Cash. In R&C, people fold a lot preflop and a bit too much postflop. Basic fast poker. But in Party fast poker, there are a lot of players who are not folding. I mean, they call flop cbets with almost anything. There are recs AND regs who do it. Although I am not sure what is the difference, as over 90% of regular names have some other color code than "solid reg". So the gameplan is to focus mostly on value. Mostly doesn't mean totally, but my big pots and big bets/raises are more weighted towards value than in R&C games.
I have also tightened my 3bet range a little. Not sure how +EV it is, but it has been +lifeEV for sure. As 3bet pots are the variance creators, and variance is my only real opponent. And the FE postflop is quite low in 3bet pots, so 3betting marginal hands (that gain value from FE on the flop) isn't even as +EV they would be in tighter pool. As we add the fact that getting value postflop is not an issue there, I have found that it suits me quite well.
Although there have been couple of misclicks that have probably led to some interesting notes on my opponents.
