2016 Poker Discussion Thread

[proximity]

Originally Posted by ReplayRandall

I always knew we were getting Dilan's "leftovers", here at PA.....

hey, belated birthday wishes rr!!

[dilanesp]

Originally Posted by proximity

so far i've lost $397 in six games there so the time rake is beating me.

i've been studying your posts on "that other site" and a six-max internet book called winning short-handed strategies by borer, mak, and tanenbaum to try to make some adjustments without getting too far away from my normal system.

you seem to be even more aggressive in ring than they are at 6 max but i'm making it all work.

i'm thinking of getting this poker-genius bot program to practice some situations. does anyone have any experience with this??

I think a much better idea is to make a small deposit into one of the US-facing online sites that has limit. (I play on Carbon, but I hear there are better games on Ignition.)

You will find that online low-stakes 6-max is about 5 times more difficult than 10/20 at Borgata, and it's a great way to learn.

Use a HUD, and start using Equilab or PokerStove to experiment with opponents' ranges, and you will get better still....

[proximity]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9ykAHWM9s8

ok poker fans we are back in grantville and with $30 of penn national chips i'm waiting in line at the casino cage. but when a process that should take only seconds drags on for what seems like eternity i have to go "nicholas cage" on an old man in a luxury scooter who is holding up the line with a series of ridiculous requests to the cashier.

"who made that smartass comment?"

"i did, you're holding up the line...."

"i'm a player here too, sir," he cries.

"oh, you're an experienced player? THEN YOU SHOULD HAVE A BETTER GRASP OF CASINO ETIQUETTE!! THERE'S NO EXCUSE!!"

sigh....

upstairs in the clubhouse (finally) there's actually a good card at penn national with several twelve horse races. unfortunately i can't pick a winner though and (pre-rebate) end up falling behind for the year on horses.

the no-limit win in at borgata brought my nl record to 61-47 -$154 over the three year history of our poker tour here and down in the poker room i looked to get back in the no-limit black with a win in pen's 1-2 game.

i grab an early win with JJ to move to a short lead but i'm ice cold the rest of the way and end up losing $100 to fall behind on no-limit for the year.

i may be a hero to the eighteen people waiting behind me in line at the penn national cage but after losses in both horses and poker it's too bad my "outburst" didn't land me in racino jail.

thank you for reading!

game -100 (1/2 nl)
year -1083 (48-38)
kk 0-0 (39-35)
promo 0 (1092)
bonus 0 (90)

[Track Collector]

Originally Posted by proximity

game -100 (1/2 nl)
year -1083 (48-38)
kk 0-0 (39-35)
promo 0 (1092)
bonus 0 (90)

Here are the results of my journey so far this year:

year -1317 (1/2 or 1/3 NL) --> -5.23/hr
promo/comps +1000.39 (Still have a few promo chips which might turn in to a few real dollars).
Net to me --> ~ -317

Far from favorable results (if one is looking to "make" money, and consider the time spent doing so), but I am still studying and having a good time!

[Track Collector]

Originally Posted by thaskalos

Amazon.com offers a subscription service to their kindle users, which they call Kindle Unlimited. For $9.99 a month, the subscribers get to borrow from a list of hundreds(thousands?) of books that Amazon has pre-selected for this promotion. And...why am I telling you this here in Proximity's poker thread? Because a new poker book has surfaced which -- even though it carries a hefty price-tag -- can be borrowed and read for free as part of the Kindle Unlimited subscription program. It is, IMO, the best poker book for the non-professional player that's ever been published.

https://www.amazon.com/Grinders-Manu...der%27s+manual

Just purchased this book a few days ago and REALLY like it!!

Of course it is going to take a great deal of time and study to master and absorb the material. One significant challenge is learning how to apply to live full-ring (like 9-10 players), and subject material relies on software tracking statistics, and strategies are based on 6-max ring.

[DeltaLover]

Originally Posted by proximity

ok poker fans we are back in atlantic city for our second day at the exciting borgata.

i start out with a nice breakfast in the marketplace cafeteria (casa taco?) before heading to the poker room for a long day of 10/20 limit holdem.

i get aces cracked early, but also crack aces..... and win with kings!!

as the hours pass i get three "action players" on my right and i'm generally doing well. i build up a $419 lead before moving from this must move table to the main game.

the main game starts well enough as i get another win with KK and a small rally pushes me ahead almost $600.

but the game suddenly turns.

*AA falls to K4 when a third king hits the river.

*i raise JJ and my neighbor calls with 42. flop: Q42

*after a loss with AK i flop a big draw (743ss) with A5s against 99.
blanks come on the turn and river.

*i raise AA and my neighbor calls with AT off suit. ten high flop. ten on the turn.

* i raise AK against JJ. flop: kjx.

* i raise AK and my neighbor calls with 54 and hits a four.

* i raise KK, a solid player three bets, and an action player calls $30. on the river any six will make a straight and i almost have to be good when the action player calls my bet.

i flip over the kings. he looks at my hand. he looks at the board. he looks at his hand. he looks across the room..... he flips over 76 off suit.

game +69 (10/20 lim)
year -983 (48-37)
kk 2-1 (39-35)
promo 0 (1092)
bonus 0 (90)

Based on the fact that all of the hands you are describing are prime holdings, you give the impression that you are following a very tight strategy. If this is true, you need to rethink your game and understand that "reading" your opponent's hand and also making it difficult for him to “read” yours is the most important than simply trying to start with prime holdings.

Bluffing is also extremely important in your strategy and based in your postings you do not seem to bluff enough thus you need to understand better its dynamics and how it can be used to improve your approach.

You should be able to play a wide range, mixing up your starting requirements so it will not be easy for your opponents to put you in a very narrow range of hands based on your position and betting patterns.

What makes the difference in poker are close decisions when you are either a little ahead or behind rather than having the nuts or clear air. Playing poker 101 by waiting for good hands and bet with the nuts and muck when you have nothing is simply not a winning strategy; instead it is a recipe for disaster, unless you play against completely clueless opponents.

To improve your game you need to start thinking in a non “result oriented” way. What happens in a session or even a week's of play is dictated by variance and must not affect you as you must be thinking in terms of EV and become capable of ignoring the short term variance concentrating in always making the best decision and trying to think exactly one level ahead of your opponent.

[ReplayRandall]

Originally Posted by proximity

hey, belated birthday wishes rr!!

Thanks Proxy for noticing....Had a good one, +2K....

[thaskalos]

Originally Posted by ReplayRandall

Thanks Proxy for noticing....Had a good one, +2K....

Your wife gave you MONEY this year?

[ReplayRandall]

Originally Posted by thaskalos

Your wife gave you MONEY this year?

Yessss.....Among other gifts..

[thaskalos]

Originally Posted by Track Collector

Just purchased this book a few days ago and REALLY like it!!

Of course it is going to take a great deal of time and study to master and absorb the material. One significant challenge is learning how to apply to live full-ring (like 9-10 players), and subject material relies on software tracking statistics, and strategies are based on 6-max ring.

The best NL book out there...IMO.

[proximity]

Originally Posted by DeltaLover

Based on the fact that all of the hands you are describing are prime holdings, you give the impression that you are following a very tight strategy. If this is true, you need to rethink your game and understand that "reading" your opponent's hand and also making it difficult for him to “read” yours is the most important than simply trying to start with prime holdings.

Bluffing is also extremely important in your strategy and based in your postings you do not seem to bluff enough thus you need to understand better its dynamics and how it can be used to improve your approach.

You should be able to play a wide range, mixing up your starting requirements so it will not be easy for your opponents to put you in a very narrow range of hands based on your position and betting patterns.

What makes the difference in poker are close decisions when you are either a little ahead or behind rather than having the nuts or clear air. Playing poker 101 by waiting for good hands and bet with the nuts and muck when you have nothing is simply not a winning strategy; instead it is a recipe for disaster, unless you play against completely clueless opponents.

To improve your game you need to start thinking in a non “result oriented” way. What happens in a session or even a week's of play is dictated by variance and must not affect you as you must be thinking in terms of EV and become capable of ignoring the short term variance concentrating in always making the best decision and trying to think exactly one level ahead of your opponent.

without getting into specifics i'm looser and more aggressive than ciaffone and brier and tighter and more passive than dilane. i'm going to assume ciaffone and brier could (still) beat ten at the borgata and dilane is simply a bigger and better player than me with far more experience at the stakes.

one big area where i'm going to naturally be too tight at borgata is blind defense as there are more raised pots and steal attempts. also in my own limit statistics i have a winning record in low (relative to the big bet) blind games 3/6, 2-4-6, and 2-6 spread while i'm losing in 2/4, 4/8 and now 10/20.

this trip was a nice getaway where i left wednesday night to arrive at caesars and played thursday at bally's and basically all afternoon and evening on friday and saturday at borgata. it's a lot of poker and i try to remember key hands as well as i can. in this game though the last aa, ak, and ak were back to back to back with only another half dozen hands before the kk debacle..... so this quick downturn was pretty easy to remember. raising and losing to cold calls (some of them were three bet after my raise) with hands like k4, 42, 54, and 76 at the higher level was a theme of the report. i guess it happens but a lot of that is even folded at horseshoe, lol.

[proximity]

Originally Posted by Track Collector

Here are the results of my journey so far this year:

year -1317 (1/2 or 1/3 NL) --> -5.23/hr
promo/comps +1000.39 (Still have a few promo chips which might turn in to a few real dollars).
Net to me --> ~ -317

Far from favorable results (if one is looking to "make" money, and consider the time spent doing so), but I am still studying and having a good time!

it is a lot of fun and we shouldn't take that for granted. hopefully the traffic or whatever helps some games to keep going at charles town but i do worry about the room and dealers. a lot of good people there.

[dilanesp]

Originally Posted by DeltaLover

Based on the fact that all of the hands you are describing are prime holdings, you give the impression that you are following a very tight strategy. If this is true, you need to rethink your game and understand that "reading" your opponent's hand and also making it difficult for him to “read” yours is the most important than simply trying to start with prime holdings.

Bluffing is also extremely important in your strategy and based in your postings you do not seem to bluff enough thus you need to understand better its dynamics and how it can be used to improve your approach.

You should be able to play a wide range, mixing up your starting requirements so it will not be easy for your opponents to put you in a very narrow range of hands based on your position and betting patterns.

What makes the difference in poker are close decisions when you are either a little ahead or behind rather than having the nuts or clear air. Playing poker 101 by waiting for good hands and bet with the nuts and muck when you have nothing is simply not a winning strategy; instead it is a recipe for disaster, unless you play against completely clueless opponents.

To improve your game you need to start thinking in a non “result oriented” way. What happens in a session or even a week's of play is dictated by variance and must not affect you as you must be thinking in terms of EV and become capable of ignoring the short term variance concentrating in always making the best decision and trying to think exactly one level ahead of your opponent.

At 10/20 limit, other than the advice of not being "results oriented", this is extremely bad advice.

In fact, in every single small and midstakes live limit game in the US that I have ever seen, other than raketraps, it is possible to profit without bluffing at all and playing an extremely tight range, and an optimal exploitative strategy will have very few bluffs other than continuation bets and semi-bluffs on big draws, and will feature an only somewhat looser range.

This is because such games are dominated by players who play way too many hands and see way too many showdowns.

[proximity]

ok poker fans, we are back with yet another exciting game report; this time coming from horseshoe baltimore where it's shell gas card giveaway day!!

newcomer mgm national harbor promises luxury on a grand scale but they will be hard pressed to match the generous giveaways, promo chips, and flexible comps that horseshoe has consistently awarded the players over its brief history.

thank you horseshoe!!

we are in 3/6 company for today's contest although while waiting for the game to start my eyebrows were raised a couple times watching a 2/5 game. i will not give a public scouting report but i'm not surprised at all that the great cuserounder cleans up so much there.

it's a slow start over at 3/6 as i'm shut out for the game's first eighty minutes. eventually though i get on the board with our old friend KK.... our 40th win of the year with cowboys against 35 losses!!

the next two hours are a back and forth affair.

finally though i strike on back to back sets to move ahead nearly $100!!

down the stretch any hand with a king in it is pretty much good and eventually i call it a night with $130 profit and two shell gas cards in my wallet!

thank you for reading!!

game +130 (3/6 lim)
year -953 (49-38)
kk 1-0 (40-35)
promo 0 (1092)
bonus 0 (90)

[dilanesp]

Originally Posted by proximity

it's a slow start over at 3/6 as i'm shut out for the game's first eighty minutes. eventually though i get on the board with our old friend KK.... our 40th win of the year with cowboys against 35 losses!!

Based on my online databases you are running somewhat bad with your kings. A 60 percent winrate (which would be 45 wins against 30 losses in 75 hands) is about average in a full ring game.