A better day

So I don't plan on updating daily, but they will be sporadic and hopefully not just once a month or something. anyways, today I had a great day, I was 13-5 at the 110s, and 1-0 at the 220s, and 5-1 in 200(reg speed) 4-mans with a partner. But beside that, I started playing and just felt fantastic, I really felt like I had a mental breakthrough. After reading MLJ's Well and him talking about how he did small household things like making his bed EVERY morning to build discipline which in turn helped him with game and focus, I then was reading through a discussion sparked in the LC thread on 'warm-up' routines people do before they play. So today, when I got home I didn't jump right on the laptop, I put all my stuff down, relaxed, started up the comp, ate my lunch, got something to drink and put on some music and really got settled. I then went into my bedroom and did a few real quick stretches / breathing exercises just to give it a shot, even if it felt embarrassing, and I feel like it really helped out, I sat down 100% focused, relaxed and ready to play. Anyways, here is my graph for the day (the massive upswing up had half of the profit going to rokdafunk ($800), and the downswing had $1200 coming to me (600 profit + my buy ins back), so I ended the day about +1500 which is more or less what the graph shows, but it's easy to get off when your playing 4-mans.





So another thing that really made something click in my mind was discussing a hand played at foxwoods by a friend who is a really good full ring player:


Friend (9:10:19 PM): this guy
Friend (9:10:21 PM): to my direct right
Friend (9:10:26 PM): this is in the foxwoods 5/10 game
Friend (9:10:31 PM): its 11am
Friend (9:10:34 PM): and ive been playing for about an hour

Friend (9:10:36 PM): and have had like two beers.
Friend (9:10:41 PM): which seems to petrify the old dudes playing
Friend (9:10:43 PM): table is mega soft.
Friend (9:10:53 PM): one young live grinder kid (slick rick if you ever play the games, watch out for him hes actually good)
Friend (9:11:00 PM): anotehr guy who plays the SNG's but was sitting for some reaso
Friend (9:11:02 PM): but is probably OK
Friend (9:11:07 PM): and then like 7 random old shitty dudes
Friend (9:11:13 PM): the guy on my right
Friend (9:11:18 PM): was playing something like 95/1
Friend (9:11:21 PM): vpip/pfr
Friend (9:11:23 PM): if you know what im saying.
Primo (9:11:26 PM): yea
Friend (9:11:29 PM): he actualyl commented on me
Friend (9:11:32 PM): about why dont i try and see more flops
Friend (9:11:38 PM): cause i was like playing nitty
Friend (9:11:42 PM): i probably play like 12/8 in that game
Friend (9:11:43 PM): fwiw.
Friend (9:11:44 PM): so anwyays.
Friend (9:11:49 PM): folds around to the old 95/1 guy
Friend (9:11:52 PM): who limps (obv)
Friend (9:11:57 PM): i make it 40 with Q9 suited (hearts)
Friend (9:12:00 PM): and it folds back to him and he calls
Friend (9:12:05 PM): the flop is J84 rainbow
Friend (9:12:14 PM): he checks, i bet like 55 i htink and he snapcalls.
Friend (9:12:18 PM): turn is 3 putting up two spades.
Friend (9:12:21 PM): he checks and i check it back.
Friend (9:12:24 PM): the river is the Ts
Friend (9:12:36 PM): and he bets 1500 into the $200 pot
Friend (9:12:41 PM): we're both around 4k deep.
Friend (9:12:42 PM): thoughts?

So I debated over it for a minute and then asked a few questions

Friend (9:12:56 PM): (i stacked someone AA vs KK, and hit a set with TT vs AA prior, so basically i look like a luckbox probably)
Friend (9:13:04 PM): i dont know how he got his stack but running like god is presumably why,.
Primo (9:13:19 PM): hrmm, anything on what you've seen him do previously
Friend (9:13:22 PM): yeah
Friend (9:13:23 PM): limp
Friend (9:13:25 PM): call a lot of flop bets
Primo (9:13:25 PM): seen him ck/raise often (i.e. setting you up on the turn)
Friend (9:13:26 PM): and fold
Friend (9:13:27 PM): but he has overbet
Primo (9:13:30 PM): seen him overbet
Friend (9:13:30 PM): like 2-3 times
Friend (9:13:32 PM): w/o showdown.
Primo (9:14:27 PM): God, hrmm, lol, I dunno personally I prolly double barrell the turn but im a HU Aggro-donk, and luckily enough im actually just a big enough station to call there


so I was weighing a call or fold and finally said I would prolly hate it but call, but im not sure I dont play much cash and a fold seems like it can't be too bad there

and he said yea, maybe a call is OK

but..

Friend (9:14:41 PM): i shoved though.


and then it just clicked, while I was weighing the options in this hand I hadn't even taken into consideration a shove at all, just the mere fact on whether or not I was ahead of his range and could justify a call, but he brought up the point to me afterwards that when he fires out $1500 there he is NEVER folding basically, so your losing a TON of value from being ahead of his range by having his sets and 2pair hands and maybe even like AA/KK played horribly paying you off there, but just the fact that I hadn't even taken that into consideration was really shocking to me, and I could feel some previously barred doors suddenly *CLICK* being unlocked.

I mean this situation applies to alot of things though, not even the specifics of this hand and whether a call, fold or raise is best, as this hand could be mis-analyzed by both of us, but looking at the WAY we think about things, and if you guys ever take the time to read through JMan's the Well thread, verrrryyy good read and well worth it (http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showthread.php?t=88525&highlight=jman28&page=1)
he speaks about a similar moment when he was listening to HO@ENGGOL and someone else discuss a hand, almost the exact same situation, but it just comes down to the fact that for us to really be able to take our game to the next step, we need to be looking at ALL possible lines, I mean sure, I consider myself to be farr above average in analytical skills when it comes to analyzing spots HU, however just because it's so easy for us to break it down into the two obvious decisions and decide which is preferred over the other isn't always correct, we really need to look at ALL possible options from ALL possible lines to be able to maximize our EV in any given spot, and therefore our edge against any given opponent, I will try to elaborate on this further in some later posts as I feel like i'm rambling now, but it was a great day, both at the tables, and off of them, as taking the time to think and read about the game, as well as discuss it with competent players who are really trying to take topics into deep discussions can help your game a TON and it's something you can easily do when your feeling burnt out from playing, not focused for some reason, or any time really, I think about hands and concepts constantly on my tram ride to school, between classes, every free second I have alone, so be sure to open up your minds and your thought processes in your future(s) and you'll be sure to grow much faster and see better results for sure, good luck all,

and don't miss the 2p2 HU Forum ($50) Tournament coming up, you can find the thread to sign up here (http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showthread.php?t=186330) , just send $50 to cwar20 (Las Vegas) on Pokerstars and send me (PrimordialAA) a PM on 2p2 letting me know you've done so,

-Primo