Well, it's almost time for me to end this 9 month, 2 semester 'vacation' abroad ;p; but I guess the good news is I get to start my real vacation in Vegas, which I am unbelievably pumped for, I mentally build it up more and more for myself every day so hopefully it's that awesome. Bussto'd FTOPS $500 + 35 HU event in the second round when I made a pretty ridiculous shove on the river with 0 chance of winning the pot and also busted the stars $215 HU matches first round but I played pretty well there and the kid just ran insane. Making a decent recovery still on the month, today was pretty meh and I ended down $500-ish, but it could have been worse and I feel really great when playing for the most part lately. The exception being today when I played when I should have been studying for my final.
So that said I passed all of my classes this semester, already got the grade back from my final, so thats good news. Like I said before I started the month -1.7k and am now at -970 on SS, but my scope is off by 2686, so im actually +1716 this month, which is fine for now as we're just approaching halfway through. I mean it's obviously not great for playing $100s, but coming from a bad start, putting in less volume than im used to, etc. i'd say im OK with it. I still plan on hitting 5k from playing though, not counting FPP or the $405 I got from E-check rebates, or the $1500 bonus I cleared this month ;p. So anyways that's the update for now, 5k is the goal, 7k next month and also to move 4k over to FTP to start learning HU NL (plan to 3-4 table $100 NL). Good luck to everyone, my next post will be from the states so I hope you guys are all enjoying what your doing and having good luck at the tables,
-Primo
(oh also, pretty cool cause I didnt even notice, I have only played 143 100 regs this month and I have an 11% ROI which im happy with now that i've seen it, and that's after I dumped $500 in them today. So that is a definite confidence booster and I know a ROI like that is maintained by a ton of people in regs so hopefully I can keep it up as long as I dont push the volume too much)
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Saturday, May 10, 2008
Cool night, Marginal day
Picture Blog Timeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee,
So my day felt pretty awful, but I guess it wasn't so bad, ended up even with a bad stretch of 0-3 in some 4mans (200/220s) that wrecked my progress I had made at 100s, but I had a good +3 BI 4 man session with DiBasio a little later to make it a bit better. So today my SS graph plummeted back downward, about -1k, but its just from losing two flips in 220 finals so my graph is really off this month, $2246 off to be exact. So anyways I started the month into May 2nd on a -1.7k downswing, i've pulled out of it and since the 3rd of May i've about $3,000 from HU SNG, cleared a $1500 bonus, and satt'd for the FTOPS #8 ($500 + 35) HU Eeent (tomorrow), so it's looking like I should be able to make my goal of at least $5,000 (playing profit preferrably), even with all the downtime im gonna have when I get back to the states and am spending time with my family and what-not.
Tonight me, my girlfriend, roomate, and some friends all went out to this pretty cool medieval restaurant. We had heard really good things and im leaving in 5 days now (Thursday) so we figured we'd go check it out. There were girls dancing to arabic music and randomly dancing on tables, women doing some pretty intense dances while swinging flaming (something) on the end of chains, a few sword fighting performances, a strong man bench pressing women over his head, and a jester who did a bunch of crazy stuff, but probably the most impressive was he balanced a glass on the THIN edge of a long knife, flipped it up in the air so the cup flipped from bottom to rim, caught it on the thin edge, and then flipped it back and caught it on the edge again, there was just a ton going on, your were constantly kept occupied.
We ordered this GIANT plate, which really as pictured here doesnt look that big... but just trust me on this, it was HUGE, there were 7 of us and it was made for 6 and we didnt even completely finish it.
This was after we got done with it
And this is a random picture of me making a weird face for some reason
Anyways it was nice to get out from the house for a bit, and on Monday im gonna try to get out the Castle & Parliament (the parliament building here is pretty nuts) and that should about cover it for what I want to do. Until then, FTOPS 8 tomorrow, a 10 page paper starting... now... at 1am ;( , a coding project, and finallllyyyy gonna pass my Math Final. I'm gonna try my hardest to not put in a ton of hours... but anti-volume isn't really my deal ;). If anything exciting happens in the FTOPS tomorrow i'll give an update, good luck at the tables until next time,
-Primo
So my day felt pretty awful, but I guess it wasn't so bad, ended up even with a bad stretch of 0-3 in some 4mans (200/220s) that wrecked my progress I had made at 100s, but I had a good +3 BI 4 man session with DiBasio a little later to make it a bit better. So today my SS graph plummeted back downward, about -1k, but its just from losing two flips in 220 finals so my graph is really off this month, $2246 off to be exact. So anyways I started the month into May 2nd on a -1.7k downswing, i've pulled out of it and since the 3rd of May i've about $3,000 from HU SNG, cleared a $1500 bonus, and satt'd for the FTOPS #8 ($500 + 35) HU Eeent (tomorrow), so it's looking like I should be able to make my goal of at least $5,000 (playing profit preferrably), even with all the downtime im gonna have when I get back to the states and am spending time with my family and what-not.
Tonight me, my girlfriend, roomate, and some friends all went out to this pretty cool medieval restaurant. We had heard really good things and im leaving in 5 days now (Thursday) so we figured we'd go check it out. There were girls dancing to arabic music and randomly dancing on tables, women doing some pretty intense dances while swinging flaming (something) on the end of chains, a few sword fighting performances, a strong man bench pressing women over his head, and a jester who did a bunch of crazy stuff, but probably the most impressive was he balanced a glass on the THIN edge of a long knife, flipped it up in the air so the cup flipped from bottom to rim, caught it on the thin edge, and then flipped it back and caught it on the edge again, there was just a ton going on, your were constantly kept occupied.
We ordered this GIANT plate, which really as pictured here doesnt look that big... but just trust me on this, it was HUGE, there were 7 of us and it was made for 6 and we didnt even completely finish it.
This was after we got done with it
And this is a random picture of me making a weird face for some reason
Anyways it was nice to get out from the house for a bit, and on Monday im gonna try to get out the Castle & Parliament (the parliament building here is pretty nuts) and that should about cover it for what I want to do. Until then, FTOPS 8 tomorrow, a 10 page paper starting... now... at 1am ;( , a coding project, and finallllyyyy gonna pass my Math Final. I'm gonna try my hardest to not put in a ton of hours... but anti-volume isn't really my deal ;). If anything exciting happens in the FTOPS tomorrow i'll give an update, good luck at the tables until next time,
-Primo
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
Trying to balance
Alright, so I have always been a super high-volume player compared to most, but I am realizing that its forcing me to be mentally unfocused, and on my B/C games even when im 100% rested, etc. , it just keeps my in a constant state of mediocrity, so i've been working really hard at putting in less volume, but QUALITY games, and it's been going fairly well. My last 4 days were like +300, +250, -500, and then today was +1400 on stars and -370 or so on FTP.
The first 3 days were me playing all 100 regs mostly, with the -500 day being the exception when I (as I said I wouldnt) took a shot at a fish in a 200 reg when I was +300 and got lucksacked, and then owned in the 110s for like an hour and a half to end me -500, but I was glad I could stop when I felt like I was getting off my game and getitng frusterated. Anyways today I was about even at the 100 regs, and then me and stivolino went 4-0 in 200s/220s 4mans and then chopped one 3 way when a friend accidentally sat for a small $66 profit. I also played some with croix which was my first day doing so, we were 1-2 in the FTP $320 4-mans and like 4-1 in the 220s on stars I think, anyways after watching more of his game I can say that I can see why his stats are as good as they are, I wont get into detail about other's games on here, but I can say I see alot that he is doing super-well and he didnt seem to lose his cool at any point, so my respect grew alot just from getting to watch him a bit more; now hopefully I can take something from it and work it into my own game and get some more mutual respect outta people ;).
Other than that life's been normal, getting stomped on finals, had one Tuesday, one tomorrow, and one next Tuesday as well as a 10 page paper and a coding project to do, so i'll be busy this weekend but still gonna try to put in some play time. I also have a really creative/new idea for coaching sessions to help students who are having trouble implementing or retaining the information OR failing to make the proper adjustment(s) vs their opponents. I'm gonna try it in my next two face-to-face sessions with my student from Budapest, as soon as he gets back from Italy, so i'll let everyone know how it goes and hopefully can share some of it here. Good luck at the tables,
-Primo
The first 3 days were me playing all 100 regs mostly, with the -500 day being the exception when I (as I said I wouldnt) took a shot at a fish in a 200 reg when I was +300 and got lucksacked, and then owned in the 110s for like an hour and a half to end me -500, but I was glad I could stop when I felt like I was getting off my game and getitng frusterated. Anyways today I was about even at the 100 regs, and then me and stivolino went 4-0 in 200s/220s 4mans and then chopped one 3 way when a friend accidentally sat for a small $66 profit. I also played some with croix which was my first day doing so, we were 1-2 in the FTP $320 4-mans and like 4-1 in the 220s on stars I think, anyways after watching more of his game I can say that I can see why his stats are as good as they are, I wont get into detail about other's games on here, but I can say I see alot that he is doing super-well and he didnt seem to lose his cool at any point, so my respect grew alot just from getting to watch him a bit more; now hopefully I can take something from it and work it into my own game and get some more mutual respect outta people ;).
Other than that life's been normal, getting stomped on finals, had one Tuesday, one tomorrow, and one next Tuesday as well as a 10 page paper and a coding project to do, so i'll be busy this weekend but still gonna try to put in some play time. I also have a really creative/new idea for coaching sessions to help students who are having trouble implementing or retaining the information OR failing to make the proper adjustment(s) vs their opponents. I'm gonna try it in my next two face-to-face sessions with my student from Budapest, as soon as he gets back from Italy, so i'll let everyone know how it goes and hopefully can share some of it here. Good luck at the tables,
-Primo
Friday, May 2, 2008
Moving down & Goals
I have been through this cycle multiple times in the last year to year in a half, where I move up slowly through my limits, make solid $, begin to beat the 110s and get on pace to make solid $ and consider stopping school, which I am really stressed with and dont enjoy much at the moment (one year left), and then hit the $200s / $220s and get RAPED and ... sometimes i've been stupid and gone broke, sometimes i've moved down, sometimes i've cashed out a bunch and moved down, probably happened 2-3 times and i've just gotten done another cash of it. Had a solid 6.5k upswing or so... stayed at 200/220s... and had a solid 8k downswing, and have finally (wayyyyyyyy too late, about 3-4k too late) moved down.
I mean I REALLY feel like I should be beating these games, the players are not that much different than the 110s and I am playing huge fish constantly, but just seem to run bad at the wrong times and try too hard to force winning, i.e. playing wayyy too many games (I played 411 regular speed games last week). So anyways I have dropped to the 110s/100s and am down 1.4k this month, so I am going to try to hit a 5k month from playing, which will be pretty tough to do at the 100s with my current winrate and starting downswing... but I hope it'll put me at about 6.5k or so with rakeback(FPP) included. I still really would love to stop school for a year or two and go live in France with my girlfriend, just because I really enjoy experiencing different and more than anything learning new languages (I studied Spanish for 12 years, even though I don't get to use it much anymore). But to do that I would like to make ~7.5k / month for the next 3 months (May, June, July), to feel financially capable of doing it, so wish me luck and we'll see how it goes.
New Goals:
Try to play a mix of regular/turbos
play NO HIGHER than $110/100 2-mans
only play the $200/220 4-mans if im feeling great and my partner is as well (I will still play these because the people I play 4 mans with right now are at that limit and 4-mans are greatly decreased variance)
Don't play past when your feeling optimal (stuck or winning, either way)
Set a 5 buy-in stop loss
Make $5,000 from HU SNG
Good luck in May everybody,
-Primo
I mean I REALLY feel like I should be beating these games, the players are not that much different than the 110s and I am playing huge fish constantly, but just seem to run bad at the wrong times and try too hard to force winning, i.e. playing wayyy too many games (I played 411 regular speed games last week). So anyways I have dropped to the 110s/100s and am down 1.4k this month, so I am going to try to hit a 5k month from playing, which will be pretty tough to do at the 100s with my current winrate and starting downswing... but I hope it'll put me at about 6.5k or so with rakeback(FPP) included. I still really would love to stop school for a year or two and go live in France with my girlfriend, just because I really enjoy experiencing different and more than anything learning new languages (I studied Spanish for 12 years, even though I don't get to use it much anymore). But to do that I would like to make ~7.5k / month for the next 3 months (May, June, July), to feel financially capable of doing it, so wish me luck and we'll see how it goes.
New Goals:
Try to play a mix of regular/turbos
play NO HIGHER than $110/100 2-mans
only play the $200/220 4-mans if im feeling great and my partner is as well (I will still play these because the people I play 4 mans with right now are at that limit and 4-mans are greatly decreased variance)
Don't play past when your feeling optimal (stuck or winning, either way)
Set a 5 buy-in stop loss
Make $5,000 from HU SNG
Good luck in May everybody,
-Primo
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
meh
Ok, so I had plannet to make like this really niceee big end of the month post with all my stats and #s and whatever but I am super-tired and really feeling horrible right now. Anyways, my awsome upswing was destroyed by me ... well being me and putting in like 50-70 reg speed games / day, letting my game deteriorate and blowing a bunch of $, the last 3 days in a row I have been +1k and ended -1k or more... which is miserable, and have just run like complete garbage for what seems like eternity (from playing too much). Also bought a $1500 bonus and used 9k FPP or so to satt into the sunday million to make myself feel a bit better (took the T$).
Won my first round match of the 2p2 HU tournament, 3-0 so that was pretty solid, I played really non-standard and overly aggressive, 3betting a ton as my opp was a cash game player and really just played a bit too tight when defending his button opens, I also won a flip and hit a FD (it was best 3/5), but I felt like I had the pace of the match in my hands for more or less all of it.
Anyways, took my gf out to dinner the other night which was nice to get out, she works super hard with school and we dont get to do much these days with finals coming up so it was nice to get out even if it was just for a dinner. She also has some special night planned she made reservations for (tomorrow night I think), so that should be cool too since we have tomorrow til sunday off here for some hungarian holdiday.
I ordered this:
which actually doesn't look that good in the picture and I don't remember the name of it (Hungarian), but it's delicious, and the salad at the bottom of the plate is iced salad and somehow goes fantastically with the hot meat, anyways it's the second time i've had it there and it's a great dish :).
and my gf (pictured below) got her standard carbonara cause im a pretty picky eater and she never finishes her meals, so she makes sure she gets something i'll finish for her (LOL).
So the month was still OK, but I made almost nothing in HU, just like 2.5k from FPP and a bit from HU, a bit from buying action, and like 2k live or something, far from the month I thought I might have. I should have dropped back to 100s / 110s like 1-2k in my downswing ago... but im gonna hang on for another 1k as I really feel like I should be able to beat them, it's no longer within my BR to do so... but im gonna go for it as I know I should be able to beat the 100s/110s for a pretty decent clip in may if this doesnt go well. Also if it does go well it will allow me to be farrr better rolled for NL HU this summer, which I kinda need to be to learn it and get into it without messing up my HU BR, so it would be nice if I could put together a good amount of extra $$$ to do that with as I get out to vegas and cwar and whoever else helps me try to transition into playing HU NL and actually being decent at it :).
So hopefully things will turn around, my goal is still 7.5k for May, so it is definently reasonable, even though i'll be putting in a bit less time since I will only be home for 9-10 days before I head off to vegas, and i've been in Europe for almost 9 months, so i'll want to catch up with family and friends. Good luck everyone, and i'll try to make my next post a little bit more up-beat and maybe have something informative in it ;p,
-Primo
Won my first round match of the 2p2 HU tournament, 3-0 so that was pretty solid, I played really non-standard and overly aggressive, 3betting a ton as my opp was a cash game player and really just played a bit too tight when defending his button opens, I also won a flip and hit a FD (it was best 3/5), but I felt like I had the pace of the match in my hands for more or less all of it.
Anyways, took my gf out to dinner the other night which was nice to get out, she works super hard with school and we dont get to do much these days with finals coming up so it was nice to get out even if it was just for a dinner. She also has some special night planned she made reservations for (tomorrow night I think), so that should be cool too since we have tomorrow til sunday off here for some hungarian holdiday.
I ordered this:
which actually doesn't look that good in the picture and I don't remember the name of it (Hungarian), but it's delicious, and the salad at the bottom of the plate is iced salad and somehow goes fantastically with the hot meat, anyways it's the second time i've had it there and it's a great dish :).
and my gf (pictured below) got her standard carbonara cause im a pretty picky eater and she never finishes her meals, so she makes sure she gets something i'll finish for her (LOL).
So the month was still OK, but I made almost nothing in HU, just like 2.5k from FPP and a bit from HU, a bit from buying action, and like 2k live or something, far from the month I thought I might have. I should have dropped back to 100s / 110s like 1-2k in my downswing ago... but im gonna hang on for another 1k as I really feel like I should be able to beat them, it's no longer within my BR to do so... but im gonna go for it as I know I should be able to beat the 100s/110s for a pretty decent clip in may if this doesnt go well. Also if it does go well it will allow me to be farrr better rolled for NL HU this summer, which I kinda need to be to learn it and get into it without messing up my HU BR, so it would be nice if I could put together a good amount of extra $$$ to do that with as I get out to vegas and cwar and whoever else helps me try to transition into playing HU NL and actually being decent at it :).
So hopefully things will turn around, my goal is still 7.5k for May, so it is definently reasonable, even though i'll be putting in a bit less time since I will only be home for 9-10 days before I head off to vegas, and i've been in Europe for almost 9 months, so i'll want to catch up with family and friends. Good luck everyone, and i'll try to make my next post a little bit more up-beat and maybe have something informative in it ;p,
-Primo
Friday, April 25, 2008
So my past 3 day's have been pretty awsome. I moved to 110 turbos and 200 regulars, and have been crushing, most of my 4man games have been with rokdafunk (with a few with nofear), but I have been playing alot of 2 mans, and was 3-4 tabling today when the games would fill fast enough, anyways, my days went +1500, +1850, +2150 or so, and my stats and graph look like this: 124 $40 $168 22% $4,988
anyways, so that's been really great, and put me on pace for one of my biggest months so far (about 10-12k) with this, my live play, and my FPP.
so for an update of where I stand this month it's something like this:
SNG : +$5k (yea... I had a really terrible start to the month)
Live: +$1300
buying action: +$500ish
FPP: +$1500 (88k FPP ~ $1500 through concierge)
$$ off in 4mans: +$1400
live blackjack: -$600 :(
------------------------------------
+$9,100
so by far my best normal month ever, I had some crazy times in September played a TON of 220s and 550s on FTP and placing top 16 in the WCOOP HU matches and was like +24k that month, and then broke up with my gf who was back in the states, life tilted and blew like 18k in a week on cash and 550s, regardless to say I was a huge degen and should never have been playing when emotionally stressed like that, so I dont like to count September as my best month, but I still count November as my worst, so this will be my best month under normal solid BR management, and im very happy with that, my goal this year is 60k and I seem to definently be on pace, although I won't expect 10k months monthly just yet ;p
anyways I had a pretty good day today, woke up and just hung out took it easy this morning didn't think about or play poker, then I had just started to play (2-1 in the 200 regs, with my one loss to cat5cane who is really solid, but I got it in good so I was fine with it) when my girlfriend called and asked me to go have lunch, so I ended up having a 'picnic' of sorts at the Buda Castle in Budapest, which was actually really nice and relaxing and had a pretty beautiful view so it was a nice break.
Yesterday I had my first face-to-face coaching session with one of my students who I found out was from Budapest (Szamvan from 2p2 and pokerstars), anyways we just started working together and it was cool to do a session like this, I spent some time going through games we played together and where I could pick out leaks in his game from an opponents stand-point (i.e. betsizing tells, obvious incorrect-frequencies, if his ranges are super-polarized on river bets, etc.) and we reviewed only from my the standpoint of my HHs for the games (7 matches) but reviewed his actions without knowing his cards. Then I sweated him for 3 matches commenting all the way through, basically walking him through spots I think he was doing things incorrectly in, and then I had him play one where I didnt comment at all but he to walk-through his logic on all major decisions and streets verbally, and then at the end we talked about what holes we found and tried to give him some things to work on. That was basically the end of the session but he watched me play a couple of the 200 regs (he is currently playing $20 + 1 non-turbos). It was a cool experience as it was my first time working like this, and we did a session online today, but I think I will try to get a few more face-to-face sessions in with him before I leave Budapest as I really enjoy being able to watch in real time and hear him explaining or thinking it through as it plays out (as I feel alot of players aren't completely honest with themselves when they review and kind of place 'perfect-reads' on some situations saying oh yea, he did this a ton so thats why it was OK here), but when they were playing it out they didn't really have that absolute concept which made it alot more marginal, I dunno, that's just what i've seen from alot of people
but this has turned into another long post so im gonna cut it short here, and i'll be sure to give an update on how I finished the month at the end of the month, so good luck guys, I hope you enjoy reading my ramblings occasionally (also im going to ask for comments after the blog has been up and running for a little more time on what you would prefer to see, keep it as it is (a mixture of everything, make it more strategy-based, leave out my personal-life stuff, see more hands, etc.). Until later,
-Primo
anyways, so that's been really great, and put me on pace for one of my biggest months so far (about 10-12k) with this, my live play, and my FPP.
so for an update of where I stand this month it's something like this:
SNG : +$5k (yea... I had a really terrible start to the month)
Live: +$1300
buying action: +$500ish
FPP: +$1500 (88k FPP ~ $1500 through concierge)
$$ off in 4mans: +$1400
live blackjack: -$600 :(
------------------------------------
+$9,100
so by far my best normal month ever, I had some crazy times in September played a TON of 220s and 550s on FTP and placing top 16 in the WCOOP HU matches and was like +24k that month, and then broke up with my gf who was back in the states, life tilted and blew like 18k in a week on cash and 550s, regardless to say I was a huge degen and should never have been playing when emotionally stressed like that, so I dont like to count September as my best month, but I still count November as my worst, so this will be my best month under normal solid BR management, and im very happy with that, my goal this year is 60k and I seem to definently be on pace, although I won't expect 10k months monthly just yet ;p
anyways I had a pretty good day today, woke up and just hung out took it easy this morning didn't think about or play poker, then I had just started to play (2-1 in the 200 regs, with my one loss to cat5cane who is really solid, but I got it in good so I was fine with it) when my girlfriend called and asked me to go have lunch, so I ended up having a 'picnic' of sorts at the Buda Castle in Budapest, which was actually really nice and relaxing and had a pretty beautiful view so it was a nice break.
Yesterday I had my first face-to-face coaching session with one of my students who I found out was from Budapest (Szamvan from 2p2 and pokerstars), anyways we just started working together and it was cool to do a session like this, I spent some time going through games we played together and where I could pick out leaks in his game from an opponents stand-point (i.e. betsizing tells, obvious incorrect-frequencies, if his ranges are super-polarized on river bets, etc.) and we reviewed only from my the standpoint of my HHs for the games (7 matches) but reviewed his actions without knowing his cards. Then I sweated him for 3 matches commenting all the way through, basically walking him through spots I think he was doing things incorrectly in, and then I had him play one where I didnt comment at all but he to walk-through his logic on all major decisions and streets verbally, and then at the end we talked about what holes we found and tried to give him some things to work on. That was basically the end of the session but he watched me play a couple of the 200 regs (he is currently playing $20 + 1 non-turbos). It was a cool experience as it was my first time working like this, and we did a session online today, but I think I will try to get a few more face-to-face sessions in with him before I leave Budapest as I really enjoy being able to watch in real time and hear him explaining or thinking it through as it plays out (as I feel alot of players aren't completely honest with themselves when they review and kind of place 'perfect-reads' on some situations saying oh yea, he did this a ton so thats why it was OK here), but when they were playing it out they didn't really have that absolute concept which made it alot more marginal, I dunno, that's just what i've seen from alot of people
but this has turned into another long post so im gonna cut it short here, and i'll be sure to give an update on how I finished the month at the end of the month, so good luck guys, I hope you enjoy reading my ramblings occasionally (also im going to ask for comments after the blog has been up and running for a little more time on what you would prefer to see, keep it as it is (a mixture of everything, make it more strategy-based, leave out my personal-life stuff, see more hands, etc.). Until later,
-Primo
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
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
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
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