I'll definitely work out a flexible action plan of some sort or other and see how it goes.

So I've begun playing a decent amount of poker again, mostly 2/4NL at FTP. All I can say is '08.

GL Roy. Oh - and I'll take the $100 on Sunday just like everyone else.

So I've decided I really want to crush online poker. Like, really, really. I'm going to start taking the game more seriously than I have and begin reviewing each of my sessions (winning or losing) to see where/how I can improve. Also as I stated before I'm going to write out more specific goals and make a good BR management plan and stick to it.

I think so so so many poker players get stuck in a rut where they find themselves comfortable playing certain stakes and don't work hard enough at getting out of their comfort zone. They think "I'm happy winning $25/$100/$300/$xxx per hour, I'll just stay here for a while". This isn't the worst thing in the world but for there are quite a lot of people who fall in this category who, with a bit of ambition, motivation, discipline and effort could be crushing some of the biggest games around. I feel that I'm one of these people and have been for far too long.

This is a really incredible (and very applicable to poker) 2 minute clip from an interview with Gary Kasparov that someone posted on 2p2:

GL with the plans sir, I hope the next time I see you you're so blinded with richness that you don't recognise me.

So I had a pretty bad session to end off the day today. For the day I played 2,655 hands and ended up down $1,823.50.

I played two sessions. The first session was where I played the majority of my hands, about 2,000 of them, and was down about $400. I felt my play was mediocre at best and very ABCish. I decided to sign up to Leggo Poker after the session and watch a couple of videos as I'd heard some pretty great things about them. I downloaded both of aejones's vids and must say that they are very, very good. Whilst I didn't feel I learnt any 'new' stuff, watching the video and hearing him talk helped refine my thought process in regards to certain situations and I had a few moments of clarity that has brought my game back to where it was a few months ago.

I came back to my second session feeling on top of my game and felt I played really well. There were a lot of regulars at the tables and one guy in particular who was on 7 of my tables. I felt ike I was running rings around them and always being a step ahead rather than kind of 'holding my own' like I felt in my earlier session.

Here are a couple of hands where I wasn't completely sure of the right thing to do at the time.

Hand #1

The villian in this hand was the guy who was on 7 of my tables. About 5 minutes ago I got the best of him in a few preflop battles in quick succession (me 3bet squeezing and him folding, him cold 4-betting me and folding to my 5-bet, him folding to a couple of my 3bets, etc). We haven't had too much history other than that yet as this hand came up relatively early in the session. I think his stats were something like 27/20 over a hundred or so hands. His name is NoTalentTool fwiw.

Full Tilt Poker, $2/$4 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 5 Players

Hero (CO): $423.80
BTN: $457.60
SB: $416.10
BB: $84.30
UTG: $272.90

Pre-Flop: dealt to Hero (CO)
UTG folds, Hero raises to $14, BTN folds, SB calls $12, BB folds

Preflop is totally standard.

Flop: ($32) (2 Players)
SB bets $24, Hero calls $24

He leads into me for the first time. I think his range is pretty heavily weighted towards draws or air here so I call deciding to take it away on a later street. I don't like raising as he can then 3bet his draws. Plus I have a gutshot.

Turn: ($80) (2 Players)
SB bets $115, Hero calls $115

This turn was pretty weird. He thought for maybe 2 seconds at the most before making his bet. I now have a pair and the best hand if he has any draw or air. I decide to call again intending to call most river bets. I think shoving is a possibility here as well and am undecided as to whether or not it's better than calling. Thoughts?

River: ($310) (2 Players)
SB bets $263.10 and is All-In, Hero____

He insta-shoved. This is obviously a bad river. Call or fold?

Hand #2

The villian in this hand seemed alright but nothing special. He was on a couple of my tables. IIRC he was running at 29/22 or something and I remember thinking that it was a bit too loose. We don't have any history, he probably percieves me as good/aggro but not over-the-top LAG.

Full Tilt Poker, $2/$4 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 6 Players

Hero (BTN): $409.60
SB: $87.50
BB: $615.70
UTG: $400
MP: $378
CO: $507

Pre-Flop: dealt to Hero (BTN)
UTG raises to $14, 2 folds, Hero raises to $48, 2 folds, UTG calls $34

Preflop isn't standard but I think it's okay.

Flop: ($102) (2 Players)
UTG checks, Hero bets $76, UTG calls $76

Not the best flop. I'm not sure what his range is -- it could be as tight as 55+ with a few SCs but I felt he might be loose enough to have called with hands such as JTs, 33, AJ, etc.

I think I need to work a bit more on checking behind on the flop in 3-bet pots more often.

Turn: ($254) (2 Players)
UTG checks, Hero

An excellent turn for my hand. It gives me a whole lot of outs plus lets me rep the Q. Who takes a free card and who bets here, and why?

I'll post the results and my final thoughts on the hands in a day or so.

1. Fold PF. Bb has $84 so this isn't going to be a profitable play but on to the hand. Depending on your dynamic with this player the flop should be a fold unless you have the read that he will give up alot on the turn. If on the other hand you are on the basis of him getting sick of your shit he will fold to your turn bet/raise a verrrry slim % of the time and he will/should be check fucking you with a big range on the turn.

Since you could have turned the best hand and his overbet is mad peculiar his range here is like JT, J9, QJ, (not sure of his 3 betting range and I feel he wouldn't overbet the turn with these yet i feel they should be included) A9s?, 78s, T8, air
The fact that you have the makes pair and flush draws with suited connectors real slim.

The turn itself is a stupid spot cause like there are a million cards on the river that make you wanna punch yourself in the dick and 6 that make us happy. Shoving is an option but we will be a 60% favorite at best with a pot of $580 to him and he has to call off $263 and alot of the time we are drawing with 5 (mayyyyyybe 7 outs) but I'm pretty certain we won't be fist pumping hitting our 9. I would fold here.

River is even stupider cause you beat air. I mean he could be turning 78 into a bluff but how often? He could be value shoving As xs. I think the only reasonable hands he can show up with that you beat is 78 or like T9s.


2. 100% FPS, ya he is loose, but 3 high to his UTG range? Glad the FTP RNG saves your ass and gives you a gutshot then since you didn't drill it they helped you out even more and gave you a backdoor flush draw. If you think he perceives you as good and are 3 betting his UTG range his range SHOULD be narrow especially since you are at 100bb effective that should eliminate any wacky suited connectors. But as you stated he is loose so I guess his range should be wider. I think you are a bit off base if you think he is calling with AJ PF here.

That said take the freebie a very large % of the time because its basically a pot sized bet and what are you hoping he folds? TT?