Buzzinowt

Question 1: What is your motivation for playing poker?

The main thing I want from poker is a sense of achievement. Not only winning but winning in the long term and knowing that I'm a winning player. Secondly I (along with everyone else in the world) would love to make money doing something I enjoy. I don't plan to ever play poker full time however I would love to be able to play as a side job instead of working extra days.

Question 2: What are your weaknesses when playing poker?

Standard weaknesses at the micro stakes.
-I often call when I know I'm behind (eg I put them on a flush draw and the flush comes and they bet).
-Making decisions too fast. eg I have a straight I re-raise all in only to realise that the board is 4 to a straight and I have the low end.
-I find it difficult to play sessions of more than an hour unless I'm chasing loses (although I rarely do that now).
-Playing draws. I'm not terrible in that I fold when I don't have the right odds and generally don't call 2 streets unless I have a monster draw but I still don't play them as well as I should.
-Bet sizing. I really need to sweat some people and see what the norm is. I feel like I'm too aggressive sometimes and too passive others although overall I feel I'm doing okay.

Question 3: What does it mean to play tight aggressive?

Tight for me = VPIP of below 18 (tight). A standard tag I'd classify as anywhere from 10-20% VPIP with a PFR of above 75%. Tight aggressive to me is playing decent cards with a plan rather than hoping to hit big.

Aggression works well (in the right spot) because it puts the pressure on other people and gives you the initiative. When you don't hit you can take down the pot with a cbet when you know your opponent is unlikely to have a hand and likewise when you do hit villain will be more likely to pay you off, not be surprised (eg the passive fish who starts hitting the pot button).

Welcome to the Course and Best of Luck. Good job! Homework #1 Done!

It seems that you are already familiar with poker but that's only good for you. Although it doesn't mean that you can't learn something new from the course while it's towards beginners. I am pretty sure we can still fix few leaks.

Most of the weakness you wrote can easily be fixed by posting hands (analyzing your session). We will start writing feedback to your play. Usually negative feedback will put you into thinking phase and trying to fix all those leaks. It's almost the same as you lose money, you will remember it more than winning part. By this situation it's gonna be that negative feedback you gonna remember and try to avoid them next time.

Acting too fast, which we could also Call auto-piloting. Playing Auto-Pilot will not teach you much, for the beginners I would really advice to rather learn the game and try to understand what you doing preflop/postflop. Rather than play autopilot and not understanding anything you doing. You will just continue doing mistakes and wont even fix them. You will not understand what's the opponent range or either if you are beat or not. Rather play less tables and concentrate on the learning part than ignore everything during the game. On higher limits it becomes very important that you don't have such a bad habit as Auto-Piloting since it will affect your overall game. You wont earn enough of profit from it while you just ignore opponents play.

Bet sizing, as I have told above. Just post some hands and I can assure we will fix the leaks with it.

Tight style is usually called playing selected hands. Like following the Starting Hand Chart. Aggressive should be also pretty clear that already the word says how you should be playing. But the problem playing aggressively is that you have to watch that you don't play too aggressive. Find good spots, find good targets. About The tight-aggressive strategy you can read in this article: "What is the Big Stack Strategy?"

Hopefully you will enjoy the Course. Some points earned.

Okay, got I decide to actually get through some of this course rather than wait for the coaching. I think watching the recorded coaching sessions is okay atleast for the first few because I'm not a total beginner.

After watching the first coaching video I made a few adjustments the main one being betting 4x + 1x per limper and then more on the flop and turn aswell as increasing my 3 bet sizes in some instances. Also I cut out a lot of hands (mainly SC and weaker cards in late position). I don't think I was losing money with these hands (I'd really have to check HM) but it makes play much more straight forward and gives me more room for error. So far the results are pretty good (albeit small sample since change). People seem to be paying me off more with my TP type hands.

Homework lesson 2

Question 1: What do you think you could play differently than suggested in the BSS Starting Hands Chart and why? (Are there any hands you would play differently? Do you have a problem or question about how a specific hand or hands should be played?)

I have always found myself very profitable with all pocket pairs over all positions (provided I have the correct odds). Other than that depending on villains I'll expand my stealing range and isolation raise to 30-40% (dependent on villain).

Question 2: Do you have questions about your preflop play? Post your hand for evaluation. ( Post your hand in the Hand evaluation forums and provide a link to your hand in your private thread in the Locker Room.)

I don't want to say this but not particularly.
I would post a hand however HM2 isn't showing up my marked hands. I'll post some tomorrow.

Question 3: What is the equity of AKo against the top 5% range? 5% means 88+, AJs+, KQs, AKo. ( You can either calculate this yourself or use an equity calculator such as the PokerStrategy.com Equilab.)

46.5%

Question 2: Do you have questions about your preflop play? Post your hand for evaluation. ( Post your hand in the Hand evaluation forums and provide a link to your hand in your private thread in the Locker Room.)

Okay I have a question about post flop. When someone donk bets small into me when I raise PF I know this is generally weak (weak made hand or draw) or less likely a monster.

Lets say pot is $3 and villain donks for $1 (heads up), what size should I raise?

Second scenario is pot is $10 and villain donks $2 (heads up).

What sort of size should I be raising? I don't really have a standard size although I normally make it around the pot size (prior to him betting).

Wow, just watched the 3rd coaching to finish the third lesson (I've got no work at the moment so can spend a lot of time). It really expanded my mind on ranges and implied odds. I would say I'm much better than a beginner in terms of reading hands however doing the exercises really helped me.

Also I'd love to get my hands on the equity and implied odds calculator and throw in a bunch of my hands to see whether I'm not calling enough or too much. (Have made another topic requesting help.
_______________________

Anyway homework 3:

Question 1: You are holding K Q . What is your preflop equity against an opponent who has 3 3 ? How does the equity change on the following flop: J 5 3 ? (Tip: you can use the Equilab to help you with this task)

KsQs vs 3d3c -> 50.78% for KQ.

Post flop KsQs has only 26.46% equity.

Question 2: What would you do in the following hand? (Remember that it is important to explain your reasons, simply posting "Fold" or "Call" is not sufficient)
No-Limit hold'em $2 (9 handed)
Players and stacks:
UTG: $2.00
UTG+1: $2.08
MP1: $1.92
MP2: $1.00
MP3: $3.06
CO: (Hero) $2.08
BU: $2.00
SB: $2.00
BB: $1.24
Preflop: Hero is CO with A J .
5 folds, Hero raises to $0.08, BU calls $0.08, SB folds, BB calls $0.06.
Flop: ($0.25) 2 6 3 (3 players)
BB checks, Hero checks, BU checks.
Turn: ($0.25) 5 (3 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $0.22, BU raises to $0.44, BB folds, Hero...?

Okay $0.91 in the pot and $0.22 to call = 4.14:1 odds to call.

In terms of our odds, worst case scenario we are facing a set of 6s or 3s with the villain not holding 6c or 3c. In this case we have 7 outs clean for the flush (All remaining clubs except 3 or 6) however the non club 4s will give us the straight (4c give us flush) for a total of 10 clean outs 3.7:1. This means we will show an immediate profit without needing implied odds. We are in even better shape against weaker hands such as over pairs or sets of 2s or 5s.

I don't think villain would take the check raise line with 77 (imo the only hand which would remove our 4s as outs). Although I'm not really sure.

Question 3: Do you have questions about your postflop play? Post your hand for evaluation. (Post your hand in the hand evaluation forum and provide a link to your hand in your private thread in the Locker Room.)

I will posts many hands tomorrow.

Good job! Homework #2 Done!

Playing PPs can be in long run be very profitable, we could even say that you earn the most money with them. You can always try out either you play them profitable or not by check the programs either you are doing great on early position with PPs or not and base according to that.

About Question #3:

       Equity     Win     Tie
UTG    46.32%  37.92%   8.41% { AKo }
UTG+1  53.68%  45.27%   8.41% { 88+, AJs+, KQs, AKo }

Hopefully you enjoy the School so far. Some more points earned.

Lets say pot is $3 and villain donks for $1 (heads up), what size should I raise?

Well, you could raise ~$4 but it of course depends what kind of board we have, what kind of hand and different factors.

Second scenario is pot is $10 and villain donks $2 (heads up).

Well, depends what kind of hand, what kind of stacks and etc.

What sort of size should I be raising? I don't really have a standard size although I normally make it around the pot size (prior to him betting).

If you are looking for pot size raise then it's 3x opponent bet + pot.

Good job! Homework #3 Done!

About Question #1:
Preflop Equity:

Equity Win Tie
UTG 50.78% 50.40% 0.38% { KsQs }
UTG+1 49.22% 48.84% 0.38% { 3d3c }

Postflop Equity:

Board: J♠5♦3♠
Equity Win Tie
UTG 26.46% 26.46% 0.00% { KsQs }
UTG+1 73.54% 73.54% 0.00% { 3d3c }

About Question #2:
There are several occasions on turn:
a) If we take just odds for the FD and we take into account that all our odds are clean. Which means:
Total Pot = $0,91 ; We have to Call = $0,22 -> According to that it means we are getting ~4,16:1 odds. For flushdraw we would need 4:1. Which tells us that we are getting perfect odds.
b) If we consider the opponent having sets here:
Which means we have to discount outs, for example 6:c and also 3:c. Which means we have 7 clean outs so that means we need 6:1 odds. That tells us that we need ~$0,41 on river to make it profitable. If we expect the opponent being loose enough and being able to pay us no-matter what then we can do the Call here properly.
c) We might even have overcards as outs or even 4 as a out:
Although this kind of situation ain't that likely. I'd rather discount that one and either pick a) or b). Most likely towards Call.

Also please could you post the hands into Hand Evaluation forums. Thanks!

You are doing great progress, keep going!

Originally posted by veriz
c) We might even have overcards as outs or even 4 as a out:
Although this kind of situation ain't that likely. I'd rather discount that one and either pick a) or b). Most likely towards Call.

Hmm. I suppose villain could have 78 or 57 Or even less likely 77 (most wouldn't check this flop). I didn't account for that.

Originally posted by veriz

Lets say pot is $3 and villain donks for $1 (heads up), what size should I raise?

Well, you could raise ~$4 but it of course depends what kind of board we have, what kind of hand and different factors.

Second scenario is pot is $10 and villain donks $2 (heads up).

Well, depends what kind of hand, what kind of stacks and etc.

What sort of size should I be raising? I don't really have a standard size although I normally make it around the pot size (prior to him betting).

If you are looking for pot size raise then it's 3x opponent bet + pot.

Sorry I really didn't think of this. I will try to post an example.

Just watched lesson 4. Nothing really I didn't know although made me think about # of tables I play. Currently watching "who is your opponent" and I had a small revelation (albeit sound totally obvious). Play les versus people who are equal or better than me. Today I lost almost a full buy in at 10nl, the only buy in I lost (I had very successful day apart from that +1.5) and it was to one player, trying to out play him. All today I was thinking about was "how can I beat him?".

Now I realise why should I beat him when I can face other opponents where my skill edge is much greater.

Well, from the experience I have had is that don't try to overplay the opponents when you don't have good reads/stats on them. You will end up loosing money more often. The most money lost is usually to regulars.

Okay, I am doing really well. I feel like I am beating 10nl pretty well on party. I have only played 2k hands but I feel much better about most decisions and how I play. Small hands is due to 4/3 tabling which seems slow even though I played for 10 hours/3 days. (Although I'm not worried because I am doing so well). I have many leaks however I feel like my basic game is much better.

I think that I have improved very much from this course already. I am trying to play more hands in comparison to study now because for the last while I have studied more than I have played. Although I will try to post 5 hands per day and review all my sessions everyday and not just every blue moon.

My red line is much lower and my blue line is much higher than it was and I think this is much better because I always felt my red line was too high (too aggressive I think).

I am halfway through the Lesson 4 coaching and will watch it maybe tomorrow and do homework but I just start a new job so have much less time (although I am still taking very seriously).

Homework 4

Question 1: Post a hand for evaluation in which you have the initiative postflop.

JJ vs flush 10nl

Question 2: Evaluate one of the hands submitted by other members.
Will do next time as all hands have been evaluated and I think it will bias my answer.

Question 3: You are on the flop with K :spade:Q :diamond:. The board cards are J :spade:, 9 :club:, 8 :heart:, and your opponent holds 7 :club:7 :heart:. What is your equity in this spot?

KsQd 41.414%
7c7h 58.586%

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Have played pretty badly last two days. I am making a few silly mistakes (such as getting attached to my top 2% of hands) which is causing me to tilt (mainly I hate making mistakes which is a leak). I am reading Jared Tendler's book at the moment although I don't have serious tilt problems. Slowly moving in the right direction though and I think it is going good. Trying to post some hands everyday although I'm getting in way less time because I am working full time again. I will try to get in some decent volume during the weekend and start getting up earlier to see if I can get in another session (so 2 hours per weekday).

I am going to start doing some equity drills and do a session with the implied odds calculator/equity calc tomorrow.

Good job! Homework #4 Done!

This weeks homework was a bit easier. But the idea of that is to help you go through last weeks stuff if you didn't go through everything. Or either way maybe even read some more articles, watch some videos and of course attend in the coaching. What will also help for your game is the evaluation part of other members hands and of course posting your own hands.

If you have interests you could try calculating the equity with a formula which you can use even on tables(either playing online or live poker):
(Amount of outs x 4) – (Amount of outs – 8) = Your Equity

About Question #3:

Board: J♠9♣8♥
       Equity     Win     Tie
UTG    41.41%  41.41%   0.00% { KsQd }
UTG+1  58.59%  58.59%   0.00% { 7h7c }

Oh, one day is good one day is bad, that's poker. Hopefully so far you have been doing well. Yeah, I saw you posting hands and you doing great job. Hopefully you enjoy my evaluations and they help you out.

Hopefully this wasn't too easy homework for you. Some more points earned.

Originally posted by veriz
Good job! Homework #4 Done!

This weeks homework was a bit easier. But the idea of that is to help you go through last weeks stuff if you didn't go through everything. Or either way maybe even read some more articles, watch some videos and of course attend in the coaching. What will also help for your game is the evaluation part of other members hands and of course posting your own hands.

If you have interests you could try calculating the equity with a formula which you can use even on tables(either playing online or live poker):
(Amount of outs x 4) – (Amount of outs – 8) = Your Equity

About Question #3:

Board: J♠9♣8♥
       Equity     Win     Tie
UTG    41.41%  41.41%   0.00% { KsQd }
UTG+1  58.59%  58.59%   0.00% { 7h7c }

Oh, one day is good one day is bad, that's poker. Hopefully so far you have been doing well. Yeah, I saw you posting hands and you doing great job. Hopefully you enjoy my evaluations and they help you out.

Hopefully this wasn't too easy homework for you. Some more points earned.

Yes sorry, I forgot to say, thank you very much for the evaluations! It is helping me a lot and I appreciate everything you do on this site. I just didn't want to bump every thread I post with thank you ♦. I am considering your private coaching once I sort out some of my major leaks and get a decent sample in at 10nl.

I understand variance etc and I don't tilt very much due to losing when being a favorite. Some of it is that I am falling into bad habbits where I am calling where I know I am behind. Perhaps I am just finding myself in these spots more in the last few days. Although I am getting better eg I reraise 2 limpers on btn with KK pf 2 callers flop is an A, short stack in mp shoves. I fold other player calls and he obviously shows an ace. Sometimes I call knowing I'm behind, utg either calls or shoves and I end up losing a full stack from that one call.

After saying all that I just had the best session this month up 4 bi ♦

Wow, that's really nice! I will be around the hand evaluation forums and of course here as well. If you have any question feel free to contact me.