In your face, pokerbots.

In 40 minutes of superturbo play "to pass the time before I shower" I had a 15 game hot streak that tripled my return on the three dollar sit n gos.

They're poker the way MacDonald's is food.

As far as game theory contests go, it beats rock-paper-scissors*. I play these so good I get death threats.

* Free tips: the unexploitable RPS strategy is random. Humans cannot be random- they fail to repeat themselves often enough. If you throw whatever loses to the last hand they threw, you probably win more than your share. Also, few people start with paper. Start with rock.

Tournament Borenament Snorenament.

I played sit n' gos and several large buy in tourneys. My day was slow and a little unsatisfying monetarily. However, I did book a winning day and made a deep run in a 400 person tourney. It exhausts my patience so quickly.

I lose track of the fact that in a tournament, the later decisions are worth, far far more money. I need to have some sort of ritual for ramping up for the end. They way I busted was quite vexing - I decided to make a marginal shove and went headfirst into an overpair.

I'm reading a Schoonmaker's book "Your Best Poker Friend". When I bought it, I thought it sucked. After a few months of thinking about it, this book is right up my alley- it is systematic and thoughtful about the process of self improvement, it relates everyday life things to poker and vice versa, and talks about how to be realistic about plans and data evaluation. Neat.

Check out an awesome example of good poker from a limit hold 'em scenario. I think my opponent played very well and was likely bluffing high hearts the whole way. Also, see my worst misclick of the day on the hand below.

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HAND 1

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$0.25/$0.50 Limit Hold'em Cash Game, 4 Players

Poker Tools by Stoxpoker - Hand Details

Replay This Hand



CO: $6.20 (24.8 bb)

BTN: $26.65 (106.6 bb)

SB: $19.45 (77.8 bb)

Hero (BB): $23.30 (93.2 bb)



Pre-Flop: Hero is BB with A 9

2 folds, SB raises, Hero 3-bets, SB calls



Flop: ($1.50) 5 5 4 (2 players)

SB checks, Hero bets, SB raises, Hero calls



Turn: ($2.50) 8 (2 players)

SB bets, Hero calls



River: ($3.50) 6 (2 players)

SB bets, Hero raises, SB folds



Results: $4.50 pot ($0.20 rake)

Hero mucked A 9 (a pair of Fives) and won $4.30 ($2.05 net)







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HAND 2

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$0.25/$0.50 Limit Hold'em Cash Game, 6 Players

Poker Tools by Stoxpoker - Hand Details

Replay This Hand



BB: $19.25 (77 bb)

Hero (UTG): $21.25 (85 bb)

MP: $5.35 (21.4 bb)

CO: $25.10 (100.4 bb)

BTN: $10.45 (41.8 bb)

SB: $4.25 (17 bb)



Pre-Flop: Hero is UTG with A 9

Hero raises, MP calls, CO folds, BTN calls, 2 folds



Flop: ($1.85) 9 T 9 (3 players)

Hero bets, MP calls, BTN calls



Turn: ($2.60) Q (3 players)

Hero bets, MP calls, BTN calls



River: ($4.10) 8 (3 players)

Hero checks, MP checks, BTN bets, Hero folds, MP calls



Results: $5.10 pot ($0.25 rake)

MP mucked A 3 (a pair of Nines) and lost (-$1.75 net)

BTN showed 7 7 (two pairs, Nines and Sevens) and won $4.85 ($3.10 net)

BLARGH to the hand range haters.

After a nice session last night- I logged nice wins in NLH, limit, and some tourneys. I shut down the computer feeling pretty good about my play. I posted a couple hands from the past few days on the forums and got decent feedback.

This morning, I woke up and started playing 10 NL to practice 8 tabling (my problem is not feeling lost or overly busy now, just not quiiiite fast enough, so practice makes perfect) and a more fundamentally disciplined no limit hold 'em style without detriment to my somewhat light bankroll.

A few observances.

1) I have been running horribly with my overpairs when they get their action from loose players- these are the guys overpairs are made to bet into!

2) I myself am very, very loose in early postions. I need to get back to my original ranges. I have no need to balance or raise in early positions. KTs, QJo. All in- THE MUCK! I need to practice this, perhaps with shorter tables. Time to build and practice a core strategy.

3) I need to talk to the shippo more. I play better with his advice.


QQ in the small blind, short stack (35 BB in the BB). THinking, steal capable button raises, I reraise (automatically) (12 BB, probably), big blind shoves. Button overshoves. Given that BB can be reisolated, I 3-bet light and button knows both..... does this become the snapcall that I made it?

Pot is 82 with 17 to call. Side pot is 60 with 60 to call.

Villains show the two better pairs. BB I put on 99+, AJs, AQ+. Button I put on AK+, JJ+. reasonable?

I am a secret super genius: wackadoo

Yknow, after all the work priming the pump: squuezes, iso-raises, floats, I finally get this LAG spewbot in over his head. And what does the board do?

Also, two best screen names of last night's session: "tooncestdc" and "Forest Crunk".

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HAND 1

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$0.10/$0.25 No Limit Hold'em Cash Game, 6 Players

Poker Tools by Stoxpoker. Replay This Hand



I have been putting the pressure on this LAG pretty hard, hoping to get him to put a move on me. Here it is.



Hero (UTG): $27.25 (109 bb)

MP: $41.30 (165.2 bb)

CO: $29.05 (116.2 bb)

BTN: $38.30 (153.2 bb)

SB: $36.50 (146 bb)

BB: $27 (108 bb)



Pre-Flop: Hero is UTG with K K

Hero raises to $0.75, 2 folds, BTN raises to $2.60, 2 folds, Hero raises to $6.75, BTN calls $4.15



Flop: ($13.85) J 8 2 (2 players)

Hero bets $10, BTN calls $10



Turn: ($33.85) 9 (2 players)

Hero bets $10.50 and is all-in, BTN calls $10.50



River: ($54.85) 9 (2 players, 1 is all-in)



Results:

Spoiler:

$54.85 pot ($2.70 rake)

Hero showed K K (two pairs, Kings and Nines) and lost (-$27.25 net)

BTN showed 4 9 (three of a kind, Nines) and won $52.15 ($24.90 net)

I only played about 1k hands of live play to day- some of the swingiest of my life. In part this was because today marked the first sweat session shippopotamus and I did together. Talking, thinking and playing poker with him is fantastically fun. Tomorrow morning, I will post the sickest beat I've ever seen, as well as some stuff about my play. To boot, I think my game was a little off. I want to go over some decisions in my tournament play a little more carefully.

I watched a couple vids today by Pokey and Code7654321. The basic no limit stuff is a good place for me to start right now-- I have been away from it too long. I also read and posted a ton of hands. Including one I am terribly embarassed by (I overplay AJ- a hand called "parking lot" because of its weakness against narrow raising ranges- against a fishes three bet. yuk). I also listened to a short treatise by "The Bryce" on good poker. Surely "the" belongs in front of no other first name as much as his.

The best part of my "fantasy poker"- I thought the advice I was receiving from other players was bad and Matt Matros -a "famous" pro- said I played it right. Shippopotamus said that when he read it, he imagined Matros' book jacket photo winking and saying "You played it perfectly!"

Ship it.