2023 Poker Discussion Thread

[how cliche]

someone should coach me on how to have favored hands hold up all in pre for the tournament life. kk vs their ak, qq vs their aq, jj vs their aj and tt vs their at. you're supposed to be a 70-30 fav. feels opposite. they always seem to hit their ace. another intermediate cash. sigh.

feels like the w is comin. you just gotta have the stars align. i mean the day one table was legit tough. ultimately it was survivable and somewhat thrivable. five of us kept taking turns putting each other in the worst spots imaginable. the other four seats were a rotating cast of fish brought in for the sharks to feast on. when you go 8 of the first 9 hours versus those players you exit the day better than you were when it started. it was simultaneously difficult as hell and incredibly fun to stand firm trading blows vs those villains. it was a proving ground. day two at my stack depth was just a nash chart push/fold variance festival. day one is what i will look back on fondly.

[davew]

Originally Posted by how cliche

was overdue for some run bad after posting the best month, september, of live poker lifetime. 75 an hour x 80 hours is laughed at by pros, but for this hobbyist it's a milestone.

first 6 hours of october are in. -165 an hour. took a shot playing 2/5 no limit and got v unlucky. of course it was minutes before i told myself it was time to go. if it's not a tournament there's a six hour cap. treaded water around even for a long while til this happened to my big blind.

1020 effective. there was a limper utg1, mp raised to 25, button called, i defended w j9 hearts, utg1 called to finish the action pre.

four ways and it's 100 to the dream flop. 10-8-7 w one heart/rainbow. nut straight w back door hearts. figured that someone would bet the flop four ways. thought it therefore best to play it as a check raise, hoping to get stacks in right then. me as well as utg1 checked. opener bet 45. button raised to 150. i 3 bet to 450. utg1 folded. opener called, which made him all in. button 4 bet shoved and had me covered. opener had 88. button had 77. turn was clean. river paired the 10 and i lost 1k.

questioned whether it should've been a 3 bet shove for 995 on that flop, but really it's a standard spot played in the most ordinary of ways. writing and kvetching cuz i still haven't learned to deal w losing well enough.

I ran equities and on flop you had 70.87%
after turn you had 80.95%

even though the result was bad, wouldn't you want to make bets like that everyday?

[davew]

I forgot to mention your bankroll needs to be deep enough to be able to absorb those runs of 'bad losses'.

[thaskalos]

Originally Posted by how cliche

road trip run good...

bagged 84k for day 2. we're itm, so the worst case scenario is the 400 bi gets doubled. of course i wanna make a run, so here's hoping. blinds are 4k/8k when we return tomorrow at 11. need to double fast.

How big of a bankroll do you feel that you need in order to continually play the "400 bi" tournaments?

[Track Collector]

Originally Posted by how cliche

was overdue for some run bad after posting the best month, september, of live poker lifetime. 75 an hour x 80 hours is laughed at by pros, but for this hobbyist it's a milestone.

first 6 hours of october are in. -165 an hour. took a shot playing 2/5 no limit and got v unlucky. of course it was minutes before i told myself it was time to go. if it's not a tournament there's a six hour cap. treaded water around even for a long while til this happened to my big blind.

1020 effective. there was a limper utg1, mp raised to 25, button called, i defended w j9 hearts, utg1 called to finish the action pre.

four ways and it's 100 to the dream flop. 10-8-7 w one heart/rainbow. nut straight w back door hearts. figured that someone would bet the flop four ways. thought it therefore best to play it as a check raise, hoping to get stacks in right then. me as well as utg1 checked. opener bet 45. button raised to 150. i 3 bet to 450. utg1 folded. opener called, which made him all in. button 4 bet shoved and had me covered. opener had 88. button had 77. turn was clean. river paired the 10 and i lost 1k.

questioned whether it should've been a 3 bet shove for 995 on that flop, but really it's a standard spot played in the most ordinary of ways. writing and kvetching cuz i still haven't learned to deal w losing well enough.

That $75 x 80 hr result was a nice run!

As to the hand in question:
--- I think your 3-Bet post flop as played was the better choiice than going All-In. You make money when your opponents make more mistakes than you do. By not going All-In, you might get someone who has 2-pair (and only about 16% equity) to call you. And while rare, a shorter stack with a gutshot, might decide to gamble and come along. So many players lose a lot of value because they shove for fear of getting outdrawn. (NOTE: I am guilty of this from time to time. )
--- Unless playing against a very aggressive player or maniac, it is almost always better to lead out than hope for the check/raise strategy. Perhaps $60-$70. Betting here allows you to make larger bets on future streets. While flopped straights will sometimes end up losing, you are going to make more money with them in the long-run, so make draws pay, and BET THEM UP EARLY! If anyone folds to your flop bet, they likely were not going to catch a hand good enough to end up paying you off anyway. Besides, checking postflop has the added risk of allowing someone with a J or 9 to catch their gutshot and chop with you when they were likely going to fold to your postflop bet.

Side note: I now have over 1200 playing hours for the year. Going to end up as a record year for time spent at the poker table.

[thaskalos]

Originally Posted by Track Collector

Side note: I now have over 1200 playing hours for the year. Going to end up as a record year for time spent at the poker table.

How is this even possible...there are still 2 months left in the year. Is your wife still with you?

[proximity]

Originally Posted by thaskalos

How is this even possible...there are still 2 months left in the year. Is your wife still with you?

i know when we saw him earlier this season (post #10) he seemed in complete control of all facets!!

(of course such a level of control is a very fragile thing in this world )

as to the hand in question, one thing to add is there are some reverse implied odds here too as there's some level of bet(s) how's obviously still going to call should the villain make his hand on the turn or river. jmo.

[how cliche]

return to see some replies this morning. v nice.

w ya on the cash lead for 2/3 flop. it's inexperience rearing it's ugly head. probably shouldn't play 2/5 anyway. crosses brm lines. you're supposed to have 30 bi as a cushion. took a shot and failed. smh.

mtt. as a rec player it's fine to reg 400-800bi tourneys from a 20k br. why w 1.7k main events sattys are currently the mode of entry.

[how cliche]

sometimes life gets in the way. unable to reg the sattys or main cuz the pm schedule was overtaken by fam today.

oct schedule is greatly reduced from september's 80 hrs. half cuz we worked 4/10 hr shifts per week in sep and now we'll be lucky to get 2 days off a week til jan. half cuz we took the folks out to louisiana for 10 days. will reg the 1pm 25k tomorrow and that'll be it for oct. not easy to get vol as a rec. bi 1.4k and am stuck 270. if we go cashless tomorrow, finish oct stuck 670 from 1.8k at risk, played over just 20-26 hrs. vs sep totals it's a fraction both in time and dough. don't wanna have track collector 100hr/mo vol, but this isn't enough. more power to ya iron man. someplace in between pls.

[Track Collector]

Originally Posted by thaskalos

How is this even possible...there are still 2 months left in the year. Is your wife still with you?

Yes, I have a VERY understanding wife! (She has things she does as well, so our individual schedules match well.).

Another reason for striving for 100 hours per month is that Charles Town has an hours per month promotion. One gets $50 for 50 hours, $125 for 75 hours, and $250 for 100 hours. Getting 100 hours is well worth it IF one does well otherwise. Between strict poker, high hand promotions, and hours played promotions, I am currently above $10/hour (net) for the year. This amount means already subtracting out tips, and would still be true even if I took into consideration gas expenses. (CT is 65 miles Roundtrip, the other 3 poker rooms that I go to once and a while are 154, 154, and 176 miles roundtrip respectively.). It is nice to have some extra income towards expenses from my racing trips.

Some day my results could come crashing down, and/or I may wear myself out putting in so many hours. Heading to CT poker room shortly, so hoping that is not the beginning of a significant downturn.

For how cliche --> Have never once played 2/5 NL. Better for me personally to win consistently at 1/2 NL and 1/3 NL rather than satify my ego, although I may give it a try at some future time. Have never played in a live tournament either, although they have recently returned to my local poker room. May someday give it a try, although it is much different than cash games, where one can simply rebuy as much as one wants when they bust out. Tournaments here are of the BOUNTY type, where one get something like $50 for each person they knock out. So, one can hope to recover some/all of the tournament buy-in costs even if they are not among the cashers.

[Track Collector]

Originally Posted by Track Collector

Some day my results could come crashing down, and/or I may wear myself out putting in so many hours. Heading to CT poker room shortly, so hoping that is not the beginning of a significant downturn.

Finished -$365, althought AKs vs QQ heads up (I am a 46%-54% underdog) allowed me to stay a few hours longer rather than go home -$600 when the flop included a K and ran out safely.

I only recall the variance going against me one time, and it cost me less than $50. The reality is that I played VERY poorly, with the session defined almost exclusively by two initiated All-In situations, both of which necessitated a re-buy. (This assessment is not results oriented, because they would still have been terrible decisions even if I ended up winning both hands.).

I remember a poker book by Ed Miller from years ago (called "The Course"). I recall the main premise was that a poker table should be played like a golf course, taking what is given rather than trying to impose our will on it. While there can be some exceptions, this seems to be good advise in general.

[how cliche]

sorry tc. hurts when our mistakes are what beats us. went over the cash game biggie it took four consecutive my fault stackings for me to finally stop making. i mention it in post 33 of this thread.

another mistake i've become aware of has to do w your book 'the course'. i haven't read it, but believe this might apply. table changes. sometimes i'll sit in cash games where nobody is playing badly enough. i depend on players doing things poorly. if i'm at a tough table i need to ask for a table change in the first 20 min. there's also cash games, tough or not, where i just can't get anything going. nothing i do works. people begin to want to be in hands vs me and my table image suffers. i need to ask for a table change as soon as i become aware. i did these changes 4x in sep and had i stayed at the original table i probably woulda lost, the table changes are what woke me up all four times.

tc you're right about 2/5. i crossed bankroll management lines buying in for 1k from a 21k roll. to be kind to myself, i did realize this and justified it as shot taking. probably did so cuz it was the only 6 hrs of cash i was gonna get all october. i also made the no table change mistake in that session. nobody was doing enough things wrong to gain advantage. it set up for an either one hand makes/loses it all or it's a break even game. shoulda asked for a change after 30 min max.

regarding live tournaments, i highlighted the economic realities of them in post 19 of this thread. there's reasons i've replaced daily club tournaments with cash. i will continue to reg better structured games as they become available. it's what i've studied for. went cashless today. so it goes.

-670 for october

[how cliche]

nov isn't looking v good. it's the 7th and have 0 hands. looks unlikely to get any til at least the 17th. middle aged hobbyist that needs two things to have a chance. time+energy=a chance. short w one or both every day. that=shouldn't play. in theory could grind 4-6 hrs cash on the 10th. will be short on the energy part of the equation. wish there was a magic elixir that could transport me back to september's 80 hours. it's a flip to get even 20 in nov/dec alike. sigh.

best of rungood to all you regs.

[proximity]

Originally Posted by proximity

https://www.amazon.com/Blackjack-Aut.../dp/0929712080

not poker, but imo the best gambling book!

25 years ago tonight barry meadow walked into primm valley resort to kick off a two month tour of every casino in nevada!

he was there to play blackjack.

and he was there to win.

(he didn't....yet)

day -710
trip -710

25 years ago yesterday barry meadow hits a 12 and receives a 9 for a 21 at avi indian casino. he wins $222 at avi and wraps up his blackjack tour of all nevada casinos at +$21,005!

"who among us hasn't had the thought to just up and go, to leave our present life behind, for many reasons or for no good reason at all? to get away, not just for a day or a week but for a long enough time to think about how things are, and how you want them to be?"----barry meadow, blackjack autumn

[how cliche]

Greetings regs. Nov update. Got 16 hours of cash in this moon orbit. Finished that +810, which from what I've researched, is exactly avg for 1-3. I will take it! So overworked this time of year I remember nothing, not anything, from any of the three sessions.

Thanksgiving weekend I went from one day off a week to an entire four day rest fest. I'd planned months earlier w a pal to reg the 1k at thunder valley. Reserved rooms and everything. Night before it I tried to cancel due to accumulated seasonal tiredness, but was semi guilt tripped into going. Bro is a lawyer and doesn't know what it's like in the wine biz. They call it OND for the months we're supposed to be ready to go and for which time off is never granted.

Anyway, tough table draw w vicious killers on all sides. Enjoy those, but they take intense focus. Was going great til level 9. I hit a wall and no matter how I tried I couldn't think to completion. Made some decisions wo considering all options several times. Not to say I'd have chosen those unthought choices necessarily, but when right they're at least at my disposal. Was eliminated level 12, 2 hours after beginning to shut down. Did so picking options that were the worst possible. Woke up the next day wishing I knew then what I know now. If it were cash I woulda just stood up after 6 hours and tapped the table. Sigh. Last session of 2023 was that one. Next!