the comeback (the LAGish play continues also!)

Ever since last last shitty session, i've been on a little comeback.

After that -$500 session, I actually started the next session down another $300 and was wondering if this was going to be another of my typical meltdowns.

Somehow though, i managed to pull through it and end that (very long) session up a little bit which was a huge boost for my confidence.



Today i got back on and was hoping the trend continued. After a short session i made another $200 something back



If you're attentive, you'll see my PFR and VPIP numbers are way up compared to where they used to be. For the last 100k hands or so, i've been pretty much always slightly lower than 19/16, which are pretty default "TAG" type stats. Lately though i've been really trying to open up my game and add to my agression. I've been stealing a lot more when i think i can get it through, and I think it's really helping me. I'm getting involved in MANY more postflop situations which adds too the fun (and difficulty). I really hope i can keep up a pretty good winrate playing this style bc it's tons of fun.

Will go back through these sessions and post some interesting hands.. there are a lot of them in there...

Plummeting?

I really didn't need that, but oh well it happened. I won't bore anyone with tales of beats and coolers, but I did get stacked 3x by quads in 800 hands and that sucked.

Calling down light

This has it's good and it's evil - sometimes you maximize value on a hand you would otherwise have made nothing with, and other times you pay off the nuts and feel stupid afterwards. Here are two hands - one where i win, one where i lose

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We'll start with the one i lost.

I called the flop chk-minraise bc often that's a "feeler" type bet. Also, minraises are dumb cuz they give you crazy pot odds. I have an overpair, and I can see him with anything from a 2, less likely a 3, a FD, a SD, any pair, etc etc etc.

I almost folded the turn. The J could have hit an AJ KJ QJ JT type hand, but with such a small bet i'm calling that getting almost 4:1.

Another overcard to my pair on the river sucks, but after some thought i decided to call anyways. I was almost positive he didn't have a 3, and actually expected to see air quite often there. getting more than 3:1 i decided it was a bluff or worse often enough to call. i may have been wrong on my reads who knows.

SB: $111.20
BB: $100.00
UTG: $116.20
MP: $53.00
Hero (CO): $100.00
BTN: $114.50

Preflop: Hero is dealt 9 9 (6 Players)
2 folds, Hero raises to $3.50, BTN folds, SB calls $3.00, BB folds

Flop: ($8) 2 3 3 (2 Players)
SB checks, Hero bets $6.00, SB raises to $12.00, Hero calls $6.00

Turn: ($32) J (2 Players)
SB bets $13.00, Hero calls $13.00

River: ($58) T (2 Players)
SB bets $25.00, Hero calls $25.00

Pot Size: $108.00 ($3 Rake)

SB had A T (two pair, Tens and Threes) and WON (+$51.50)
Hero had 9 9 and LOST (-$53.50)

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Here's one i won.

The villain's line makes no sense at all, which is why i called on the river. On that flop, why would a 3 lead unless they have some read that i'm crazy and will always raise and bloat the pot and get it in w/ worse easily (ok mebbe that happens a lot when i'm tilting but i'm playing pretty solid atm). i raised bc that type of donkbet usually folds to the raise - he def surprised me w the call

On the turn he donks again! now wtf does that mean?... i really don't know... but if he has a real hand he usually goes for the chkraise on the turn. there aren't any realistic draws, and any made hand on the flop is still good here. i call.

River i have a difficult decision. the bet is sizable, but not that sizable in relation to the pot. The 5 means i now beat any strangly played AK AQ AJ type hands, i still beat any bluffing 6's, and i'm still behind any 3's (though like i said earlier i think those are unlikely)

I call.

This should probably be a lesson to people who want to bluff. If you're going to run a multi-street bluff, at least make it look believable, bc if the line just doesn't make any sense to someone, they are more likely to call.

SB: $36.25
BB: $122.90
UTG: $112.60
CO: $9.15
Hero (BTN): $98.50

Preflop: Hero is dealt A 5 (5 Players)
2 folds, Hero raises to $3.50, SB folds, BB calls $2.50

Flop: ($7.50) 3 3 6 (2 Players)
BB bets $4.00, Hero raises to $14.00, BB calls $10.00

Turn: ($35.50) A (2 Players)
BB bets $15.00, Hero calls $15.00

River: ($65.50) 5 (2 Players)
BB bets $40.00, Hero calls $40.00

Pot Size: $145.50 ($2 Rake)

BB had 4 6 (two pair, Sixes and Threes) and LOST (-$72.50)
Hero had A 5 (two pair, Aces and Fives) and WON (+$71.00)

Glossary

Ok, so some people are telling me they have no idea what I am talking about, so I'm making a glossary. I'll update this post as I think of more things

AI: all-in

AIPF: all in pre flop

BB: big blind

BTN: button - pretty much best absolute position most of the time - you get to act last!

CO: cutoff - position before the btn (button)

Donk: bad player

FD: flush draw

IMO: in my opinion

LAG: loose-aggressive - preflop style where you raise a wider range of hands

MP: middle position - in 6 max this is the position after UTG and before CO (cutoff)

OESD: open-ended straight draw (typically 8 outs)

OESFD: open-ended straight flush draw (typically 15 outs and often time to push the chips in)

PFR: preflop raise, how often a player raises preflop - the higher it is the more aggressive they are

SB: small blind

TAG: tight-aggressive - preflop style where you raise a narrower range of hands

UTG: under the gun, the first positiion AFTER the BB (big blind)

VPIP: voluntarily put in pot, this is a PokerTracker statistic that measures how loose/tight a player is preflop. it's calculated by dividing the number of times a player puts money in the pot by total hands

WTF: what the f*#%

I play LAG!

well, kind of.

one of my goals for a while has been to loosen up a bit, and i've been having problems bc it seems no matter how much i "loosen up" i still stay right at 19/16.

yesterday though i managed to play 23/19 over about 1500 hands which is CRAZY for a nit like me. and i won! i basically opened my CO/BTN opening range way up - was opening stuff like J2s, J8o, Q2s, etc etc etc when i thought btn wasn't a crazy cold caller and thought i could squeeze it through the blinds

will try to keep up this loose play - i think it's good for me anyways. playing robotic doing the same thing over and over and over again can really drive someone nuts

Biggest. Cooler. Ever (ok mebbe not but sucks nonetheless)

I knew that river killed me!!!

hero (SB): $100.00
BB: $86.55
UTG: $21.70
MP: $112.85
CO: $75.55
BTN: $98.10

Preflop: hero is dealt A J (6 Players)
2 folds, CO calls $1.00, BTN folds, hero calls $0.50, BB raises to $5.00, CO calls $4.00, hero calls $4.00

Flop: ($15) 3 4 8 (3 Players)
hero checks, BB bets $14.00, CO raises to $40.00, hero raises all-in to $95.00, BB calls all-in for $67.55, CO calls all-in for $30.55

Uncalled bet of $13.45 returned to hero

Turn: ($248.65) J (3 Players - 3 All-In)
River: ($248.65) 8 (3 Players - 3 All-In)
Pot Size: $248.65 ($3 Rake)

CO had 8 8 (four of a kind, Eights) and WON (+$148.10)
BB had 4 4 (a full house, Fours full of Eights) and LOST (-$64.55)
hero had A J (a flush, Ace high) and LOST (-$86.55)

AKs - i'm all in!

Not that interesting of a hand, but was my biggest pot of the day and i got to suck out on two other players so here it is

BTW, wtf is up w the minraise - what do people expect to do w that move?

Poker Stars - No Limit Hold'em Cash Game - $1/$2 Blinds - 6 Players - (LegoPoker Hand History Converter)

SB: $264.90
hero (BB): $219.20
UTG: $222.00
MP: $277.10
CO: $37.70
BTN: $240.70

Preflop: hero is dealt A K (6 Players)
UTG raises to $8.00, MP calls $8.00, CO calls $8.00, 2 folds, hero raises to $38.00, UTG folds, MP raises to $68.00, CO calls all-in for $29.70, hero raises all-in to $219.20, MP calls $151.20

Flop: ($485.10) J Q 4 (3 Players - 2 All-In)

Turn: ($485.10) 6 (3 Players - 2 All-In)

River: ($485.10) K (3 Players - 2 All-In)

Pot Size: $485.10 ($3 Rake)

CO had A Q and LOST (-$37.70)
MP had A J and LOST (-$219.20)
hero had A K (a pair of Kings) and WON (+$262.90)