Deathofthepartay

evidently you dont have to deposit first cause i just withdrew via bitcoin lol

do i have to make a deposit to get bitcoin or can i persay just cashout $ from bovada to get my initial bitcoin wallet startup? i made the coinbase account.

was considering the bitcoin option for withdrawl/deposits. dont know much about it at all. iv heard its very effective though, how do you turn bitcoins into cash then to put into your bank account? and how difficult/shady is this whole process?

that is a relief then, and yeah ACR a year ago when i last played there regularly was very nitty and reg infested. even at the micros which is lawlz. i recall this dude IronLionZion that would just be sitting every table possible 10nl and below just grinding it out all day everyday

Bovada poker got sold to a casino. What are your thoughts on this? Time to cash out bovada rolls and head to acr or give this new place a chance.. Following thread on 2+2

I bought a t shirt AND hoodie the last time he had the press machine going :D
need to invest in I <3 fun players shirt though

hell yeah! go dog, GO! congrats on getting back to grind and being able to work construction again!

flips coin comes up as upswing :)
SIDENOTE
I played at a local charity poker event today it was at the max in MCook IL (suburb Chicago).
I splashed around in the 1/1 cash games (LOL ballin) and snuck away with 120$ profit at the end of my session. play there was extremely soft. lots of revolving fun players that are buying in for 25 or 50 bucks and just getting it in with nothing. will be returning there when it comes around again (rockford charitable games hosts it) the venue where these cash games/sitngos/tournaments are held change every weekend. however the rake is pretty sick but at least it goes to charity (supposedly) haha.

online update coming nxt weekend stay tuned.

sick swings incoming :)
I HAVE RETURNED!

Yo RIO!
been way to long since I played any poker or updated this blog thingy..
alots been going on with life, essentially outside of poker and thankfully its all been very good.
I finally moved out of my dads dinky cramped apartment where all i had was my pc and a matress on the floor to living in the neighborhood where i grew up with my good friend, im renting a room from him he has a pretty decent condo with a spare bedroom. so im back to living like a human being instead of a caged animal (very +EV) and work has been going pretty swell. grinding my way through my first year as an apprentice flooring installer seeing my checks increase a bit is always nice. also got into a long term chess match so to speak so see where that goes ;P. anyways all that aside iv missed playing online, and have settled into my new place now (moved a week and a half ago) and looking to get back into the groove of playing everyday and getting some semblance of a grind schedule and short/long term goals to put down on paper/forums and work towards. this challange is a bust id say, tho I could very well continue it im no longer sure if id be able to reach it in time. my bankroll is at 425$ right now still sittin on bovada collectin digital dust. I did enjoy playing HUSNGS and I see alot of growth and work still in those games but part of me really wants to get into six max, its more "real poker" I guess (at least in my dumb mind). I never did great when I played six max and not sure what is even achievable this day and age in the online streets coming up from the micros. If I started a new challange I would probably start at 10NL (42 BIs) and learn from there. I dont have much interest in learning HU cash too much.. its either stick with the HUSNGs or learn 6 max. havnt fully decided yet. I also plan on getting into live poker again in the next couple months (havnt played since a short vegas trip last year), theres plenty of games around chicagoland area, or the shoe in hammond IN which isnt too far at all. I guess this update is just to tell the people im alive and well, moving up in the life streets and hope to be back in the poker streets very soon. im most likely going to start a new journal/blog considering this one will be a bit null and void with a new goal/challange but not sure what that will be just yet. If i start with 6 max not sure how easy/achiebable it will be to get to say 50/100nl and have a decent winrate there (or what that even would be at this point?). would be def be an interesting challange though. anyways, stay tuned. hope everyone else is crushing life hard and running like jesus at the tables :P

been absent from the party lately, good luck on your venture to run it up again dog!

welp bovada nerfed the 20+1s husngs.. mid stakes now starts with 25 + 1.25. going to stick around at low stakes for a while longer.

I am finding it alot more difficult to read Expert Heads Up NLH vol 2 much more difficult than volume 1 so far. not that iv successfully absorbed 1 even to completion but I feel I have at least a grasp on most of if not all the concepts in theory and can/have applied them to my game. 2 has alot more formulas, which just confuse the shit out of me after a while espicially when tipton refers to ones in the last book that I no longer recall at that time.. but im trudging through none the less, I will def be rereading alot of this over and over again. I just got to the section about bluffing indifference principle and blocking bets. Iv heard the term "blocker bet" about a thousand times and thought I understood it to its fullest extent but im not so sure after reading that section haha. all this making me feel dumb and unskilled/unaware is only making me more excited to keep learning/reading/reviewing :). I suppose this brings me to a moment I had actually when watching the show 2 Months 2 Million (awesome) where Brian "flawless victory" roberts says were not going to learn how to beat them (great players) but we are going to learn how to "out think them". this didnt quite make sense to me at the time, and didnt think much of it, but after revealing the many depths and layers there is to this great game it seems truer now more than ever. information is all there, its how you interpret it and use it to your advantage to stay one step ahead at all times. to crush the souls :). end rant

You have most of the leaks that small stakes regs have and it is
probably an indication of how far your game has progressed than
anything else.

not sure if shots fired or honest encouragement haha.

jokes aside awesome feedback, will def take these points into serious consideration and welcome this type of strat discussion :)

ugh.. fuckin RIO is retarded.. i put correct #s next to answer and on preview they are wrong, fixed twice and they are still showing up wrong.. must be a glitch in the matrix! D: anyways replies are in order.

eight. unfortunately dont have exact stats but its quite obvious to me I need to be playing a Wide range vs constant min bettors. maybe 60-65%, more if they are really bad post flop and I feel like I can soul read them and manipulate their play. and from their 2.5x I NEVER come across, I think people are too lazy to enter 50 into bovada bet box tbh pre :) but id say maybe 55-60% defending. and 3x 45-55%. once again these arnt spot on by any means as I dont use HUD (kicks self again) however im self aware to play wider when villian is min raising or they can auto profit from me folding too often, plus their range constantly min raising is VERY WIDE. I know because I do this with success :P

nine. Define steal from SB?.. if that means raise trash hands from button then all the time XD

@kalupso

1. Honestly this one I dont have a good answer too, as I dont get into 3 bet pots too often without some sort of reasonable holding, so I usually literally go 50/50 hit or miss flop. will lean more to bet if I hit TP on volatile type board, where if I check its likely equities can shift drastically with many turns. like AK10ss, Q109r, 789dd.. etc.. however if I have blocker to nuts or backdoor flush draw with nuts that may change.

2.Often enough, also dont have an exact % to give as I dont use a HUD whilst playing (I do have Holdem Indicator maybe i should start using it XD) to give a bit more in depth answer to start ill usually play pretty straightforward and only use Semi Bluff type Cbets or at least have a overcard of some sort of backdoor equity draws. however some smallish percentage of the time i will bet complete air.. :)

1. also very vague, depends on how flop is and villains tenancies.. haha im going to totally say this in every response :). anyways.. if I flop stone cold nuts and have nothing to worry about ill usually check flop and let villain pick up some perceived equity on their end. this usually works very well with flopped full houses or A high flush type hands. If I say just flop TP then im very inclined to bet for value and intend on getting 3 streets a lot of the time if board is static and not much to worry about. if its a middling type hand usually will go for a BCB line, as it gets value but donest over bload the pot and leaves space for 2 streets of value possibly, sure I can always get check raised rvr or lead rvr for some nasty spots but when this occurs ill take note and readjust my ranges/tendencies in these spots. with say bottom pair ill for the most part check and try and get to showdown unless villian is folding alot to flop cbets then ill fire more often.

2. DEPENDS..

3. DEPENDS...

4. i usually go for half pot to 2/3 on turn and same on river. also very dependent on board texture and villains tendencies. if they dont give two shits on the strength of my hand and are obsessed with their TP or two pair they are one of those types that are just calling it off on 4flush/4straight board then ill just straight up shove and do the happy dance. but versus most intelligent players ill have reasonable sizing to get value and also charge them for draws when they are apparent.

5. I typically turn cbet bluff with hands that have some high card value compared to board, Ax and Kx typically. that is as pure bluffs though so to speak. I typically bet most turns as A semi bluff or for value. unless I have a read that villain is likely to fold to 2/3 barrels often then ill play somewhat straightforward overall.

6. unfortunately dont have exact stats but its quite obvious to me I need to be playing a Wide range vs constant min bettors. maybe 60-65%, more if they are really bad post flop and I feel like I can soul read them and manipulate their play. and from their 2.5x I NEVER come across, I think people are too lazy to enter 50 into bovada bet box tbh pre :) but id say maybe 55-60% defending. and 3x 45-55%. once again these arnt spot on by any means as I dont use HUD (kicks self again) however im self aware to play wider when villian is min raising or they can auto profit from me folding too often, plus their range constantly min raising is VERY WIDE. I know because I do this with success :P

7. Define steal from SB?.. if that means raise trash hands from button then all the time XD

10.my sessions vary in time. however if I DO take a break every 2 hours and do some pushups and situps to keep the blood flowing (5 min break) and get a small snack granola bar/veggies/water/line of cocaine (jk). id say I usually play for about 2 hours at a time though, I feel thats my sweet spot honestly unless im crushing then I just like to keep the ball rolling, but I dont quit when im behind either as thats just goofy, unless im very tilted (doesnt typically happen).

sorry for some of the vague answers but I feel like these types of questions are so generic Its hard to give cement info unless I factor in my opponent, their ranges, board textures, and tells/tendencies. also while answering these questions I should really start using my HUD.. i mean why not? I still only single table but cant hurt right? honestly im very noob to HUDS and how to apply them. I used to use a very simple HUD with HM2 on ACR that was just PFR/VPIP/FCBET/F2FCBET/3BET/F23BET/AF. so im a HUD fish. do you use a HUD playing HU?

Soon ddog, and I'll trade hearthstone gto solutions for 6max coaching :). Whispers of old gods drops tomorrow BTW!

Lololol ddog sick brag. So much great rakeback @ bovada. And I will get into the six max streets again at some point. I def don't want to play any less than 25nl to start again as rake at micros as wicked. I did pretty well at 5nl/10nl in past on bovada and ACR

Will come back later today with a full answer to these questions, however quite a few of them I'd say is opponent dependent. I def have a standard of play when I start but it changes fairly quickly as my opponents start to reveal tendencies that I can exploit. For example I'll cbet more with weak made hands and pure air if they seem weak tight post or have a high fold to cbet percentage. Also I'm opening close to 90% of hands as a default against all opponents and then adjusting as needed. I min raise as a standard also 100% of the time . I typically check back some variation of weak hands and very strong ones (sets, flopped straight, boat etc) depending on board texture and how action was prior and how aggro opponent is or willing to float/bluff raise etc

Whatsup RIO?
Been a minute since iv updated my progress.
according to the site I started this blog 2 months and 3 weeks ago, and iv definitely improved alot I feel since its inception. However I dont at the time of this writing have much to show for it, perhaps thats a function of time/quality put in or variance. perhaps both. When I first started this blog and made the goal to make 5K in a year It seemed very realistic, at the time of writing it doesnt seem to be so much anymore. however iv never gotten out of low stakes permanently, I do extremely well at the 5s and pretty great at the 10s until I hit enough for a 5 BI shot at the 20s and I just get decimated. iv done this 3 times now. drop back down rinse repeat grind back up the cycle keeps repeating. I really cant imagine the jump being that much, perhaps im wrong and have too much confidence in myself. I calculated I need to make about 417$ a month to end up with 5k by the end of the year, thus far im at 500$ again, which it all started at 25$ so thats not awful but def not on par to hit this goal. im hoping this next shot will stick, hence why im taking a prolonged grind at the 10s till I hit like 750$ BR and take a nice 20 BI shot instead of these measly 5 BI shots. I think this will be better for my overall confidence and see actual growth again even if I do inevitably have to drop back to the 10s. I actually pride myself in following this strict bankroll management and at worst at least I am VERY VERY certain I can always build a roll from micros/low stakes from nothing basically. now if I can get over this next hurdle to mid stakes and grind the 20s/30s I feel like this goal will perhaps look alot more realistic again.. time will tell.

I returned to work this week after a good 6 weeks off paid (thank god for unemployment) and just getting back into the swing of construction work again. I really feel like I could of put in more work into poker in this time off and really worked harder. however I did enjoy my time off, and I did play everyday sometimes all day others for only an hour or two. iv been enjoying the outdoors alot visiting some state parks and hiking, I really like the outdoors I feel like its where my head is most clear and thoughts and ideas just flow and I dont stress over things. looking forward to the beach in a month or two as well :D. well ill leave it at that for now, GAME OF MUHFUCKIN THRONES STARTS TONIGHT!

It was fun, min cashed for like 90$ in the 5K HU event, the bubble was 24th place. I only played 4 tournaments in total and 3 of them were on the house so overall I wasnt too unhappy :). except my first tournament I got in AKs vs A3s for 75bbs pre and villian rivered 3. thats par for the course playing heads up though.

going to be playing the 3/5K guaranteed HU tourneys during the BDPO series. one is tomorrow and theres like 5 players in it including myself right now @_@ fingers crossed I bink it would be a sick boost to the roll. would def be overolled for the 20s :P.

I am alive you bunch of degens, workin my way up to another shot at the 20s very soon. keep on the lookout for a real update soon :)

well I def felt the need to mistake tilt terribly just now, almost crushed my 150$ audio technica M50X headphones also. but I didnt so yay me :P. however I just did play the end game of a HUSNG just now like a complete fish. Even whilest I was playing I kept saying to myself I gotta call this mother f*er this time (was shoving 100% of hands) and just kept nitting up. I feel iv gotten much better at end game but for some reason that specific game vs that specific villian I felt I was entitled to win, and im not entitled to shit. just play your best and hope for the best.
rant over.

I was a slight winner today btw, played an extremely short session (5 games) as I did feel the tilt monkey crawling up my back and its hella late to just take a break and start again in 10-15 mins so im going to call it a day.

id say money saved by not breaking headphones and deciding to quit whilst slightly ahead/fuming was gto.

to sum it all up in a nice manner, if you no longer feel +EV or have a clear mindset to play poker DONT. money saved in this game in any way is money EARNED, let it be giving up on some grand bluff that you know is only going to work 5% of the time or tilt spewing off that last buy in you made because villian tripped up his 27o on the river a couple hands prior and you just want your dough back.

dog that seems pretty beastly, we need to battle now :D
lotheb is great in alot of decks, same with emperor thaurissian.
their effects are good enough to just random tech in just about any deck. good choice on using the piloted mech/skyshredder. im huge fan of them myself as they are self sufficent

cool ill check these out, and when your free ill sweat u on twich and build the ultimate deck.. if you got the cards :p

Update time! not exactly where im going to head with this one honestly.
im not the best at keeping this updated or using proper punctuation whatever, however I never claimed to be a blogger/writer whatever, I just kind of let it flow as I go :)

So im pretty comfortable in the 10's again, iv continued to record quite a few matches of mine whilest playing, I dont do them all as sometimes I just dont feel up to the task or I want to listen to some quiet music, which im not sure is the best idea but I think it actually keeps me focused overall. I tend to listen to game soundtracks on youtube (Final Fantasy series, Phantasy star online, Dark Souls, Legend of Zelda, Silent Hill) to name a few of my go to. Aside from that im trying to keep my game tight and think of new creative plays that I either thought were prior terrible or highly exploitable to throw into my game. It took me a long time to figure out the discrepancy between GTO and exploitable play in poker, perhaps too long. but now that its cemented in me I try to look at them as not two seperate entities but more so one is a by product of the other hence where you get "equilibrium" play (also another fancy word for gto). theres nothing wrong with playing "exploitable" as long as you have a solid grasp on your opponents thought processes/hand ranges then go to town! exploit the shit out of the mofos. I recall a couple years back I thought GTO was literally just another way to say poker was solved, like some crazy never lose strategy, but its sort of the opposite. if you and villian are both playing GTO or as close to an approximation of that as possible you will both just be breakeven besides the rake in the long run, while neither player really wants to deviate cause they are at least doing that well. while starting off in GTO mode is great because its safe, you dont get too out of line. you wait till villian starts acting out of line and fire back some check raises on those scary flops they keep cbet/folding to, or every single time the 4th straight/flush card comes they shutdown unless have TP or better and even then depending on board texture they will just be folding SOOOO often. I realize this because I was once this guy, getting constantly exploited and never knew exactly how to adjust or think properly through a hand without getting frustrated or getting into the "Street Poker" mindset and just doing the old clickback raise every time and getting punished for it. I will eat/sleep/breathe in poker theory now, its changed the way I think about the game completely.

Besides poker iv been playing a bit of ps4 as of late, a new game called salt and sanctuary came out not long ago and is alot of fun. Its essentially a indie version of dark souls but 2d sidescroller. also been in the hearthstone streets a bit as well, made a pretty sweet paladin/mech deck and seem to be killing! looking forward to the release of the next set some of the cards they are previewing look bonkers, and with this new format being released it should breathe some new life into the game.

On that note I think ill leave it there for this one.
If you guys have any good recommendation for music/game OST to listen to while playing im always searching for new stuff! I try not to listen to anything with lyrics as that would distract me I feel over some time.
ZOLTAN!

hope you recover quickly dog, excellent progress this month!

going to clean up tonight dog :) glglglgl