KorolLev

I didn't see anything gorgeous in that Spacey clip, darlin'. Just his ugly mug. Which I can't imagine could even hold a candle to your butthole (Please forgive me if that was to crude). I've had a few. lol

**LMFAO!!! Good one, Sam.

Board: Empty

Range 1: TT-77
Range 2: AKs-AJs,KQs-KJs,QJs,AKo-AJo,KQo-KJo,QJo

Equity 1: 54.407% Win 1: 54.208% Tie 1: 0.398%
Equity 2: 45.593% Win 2: 45.394% Tie 2: 0.398%

Just noticed your comment, Scot, this equity comparison is from HoldEq. I'll admit that i'd be more comfortable with a 65% to 35% match up, but this one's a bit better than a coin flip. Sometimes you gotta just let it ride, pocket pairs being a made hand from the jump is our edge here two pair hands and sets will come easier for them than most over card combos I believe. I don't like racing any more than the next guy, hell, I don't even like racing with AA, LOL. In this case we're the shovie not the shover, and as you well know it's always better to be the latter, but we don't get to chose where we fight our battles every time. What say you, Buckwild? You started this thread, which is an excellent one I might add because it sparked a healthy and edifying debate, but you haven't joined in as of yet. Where are ya man? I still want to know whether you won the hand or not, damn it. LOL

You an excellent point Scot, and I agree, but being on or near the bubble should make our decision to call here (against this particular player) even more clear as to whether it is correct or not. I believe it is correct to call because it's quite obvious that villain is taking advantage of the fear the other players at the table have of "going out on the bubble" and steal any and every hand he choses by elevating that fear with frequent all in shoves it makes any hand involved with him "risky" gamble. As it most certainly is, but I know no play in poker that has no risk attached to it. Besides, the reward is as great as the risk here and even more so, because should we win the hand and double up or better it could result in us placing higher than we otherwise would have if we cowed to a maniacal thief like this villain here.

I wouldn't call 88 marginal here, 88 is in the top 10% of hands whether your calling or pushing. Plus the fact that villain appears to be shove happy here and you can reasonably assume that he has any two. I think you did the right thing by calling. I would've played it the same way. I'm curious as to whether you won the hand or not though, that detail was left out in your hand review.

Don't ignore "EVERYTHING" I said, LOL, but don't let my opinion shape your either. As I said previously, there many very good players there as well, but maybe dodgybob skipped over that part.

LMAO, Your right. I might've put to much sugar on that assessment. Nearly half the players seated at the table can be any number of different donk varieties. Which at a 6-Max table, 3 would be half, but it is more likely that you might be the only one capable of multi level thinking and be versed in many of the key concepts one has to be familiar with to be a winning poker player and not just a maniacal bingo button pusher. LOL

Yup. There are a lot of good players there too don't get me wrong. Hell, there's plenty of REALLY GOOD players there as well, it's just that there are so many players logged on at any one time that your bound to run into one, two, or even three bad players at every table. Players from all over the world play on PokerStars. There are regularly 100K+ players logged on getting their donk on, players ass kickin' those donks and hand ringing stations felting chips at the tables. It dose seem to be sort of a cancer to the site ( tens of thousands of donkeyfish). It can turn a good player bad in hurry. Many a good poker player begins to downslide eventually due to they begin to mirror the play of the donks they dispise. A common rational is "that fucker called my preflop raise with THAT!!! Ok, I'm gonna bet any two for a while, see how the bitches like that!" I my self have sucumb to it more than once. On a side note; that tact works quite well for a few hands. Until the retards start using the bains and realize what your doing to them. Then they become even MORE obstinate. LOL If your a regular player there the best advice I can give you is not to fall into donk pile. Play sound aggressive poker, brush off the bad beats the donks get lucky enough to inflict upon you and you'll come out on top in the long run. GL to you.

4-bet shoving on his flop 3-bet of 100 is the way to go in this hand and any other hand like it. Just my opinion, but I think a lot people would agree. Calling all in shoves with hands such as two pair and sets is always a precarious endeavor if you ask me. A shove on boards like the one here is usually indicative of a bigger hand, so beat your opponent to the punch and make the move before he dose. I'm sure he would disagree, but he was giving you the green light to shove woth his flop 3-bet.

It's PokerStars, bro, home to the infamous frackerfish, and PS waters are teeming with'em bluffers beware. LOL The best way to extract a fish'es stack is to play tight/loose at about 60/40. Playing your strong hands hard, nickel & dime them with min-bets, and 3 & 4-bet with rags and speculative hands alike. They'll be spinning on your line in no time. It's not always a bad thing to let'em catch you bluffing either long as it doesn't cost you a significant portion of your stack. The next time you use the same betting line with the nuts the poor bastards will call with even the nastiest of trash hands in stubborn disbelief and then their stack is yours.

Definitely 4-betting here at 30BB's+. However if the 4-betting would cost a 1/3 of my stack or more shoving would be the best option.

Ya gotta love a stubborn fishing station, right? NOT!!!
If I were villain here I would've bet 2x the pot on the K turn. In my experience you can't take a gradual betting line against a calling station, especially a bull headed one. If you have air and a decent scare card comes on the turn you have to take an aggressive at the steal and show some balls. It's not full proof though. LOL

I am darlin'!!! lol Seriously though I'd kill for the privilege of having a wife as gorgeous as you sweety. I can be quite a bit stubborn and bull headed at times, but you would have little trouble in having me do your bidding with that hypnotic gaze of yours. Simply stunning, darlin'!

On the same board texture as here I'd play it the same way (most the time, don't become predictable). Unless you think he's capable of flatting a 3-bet with QQ+ I don't see a problem with it. If he's so fishy that he'd play rag cards this way be careful if he raises your flop bet as this would indicate him having two pair (that BS has happened to me before), but you'll have to be the judge of that.

I think you played the hand damn near perfectly, bro. Villain was most likely holding suited overcards here due to him open raising and flatting you 3-bet. If I'm correct about that then he definitely would've checked back both times hoping to spike one his cards. Never let a fishing station like this guy get his card for free! I'd play this hand the same as you every time. Well done.

VERY NICE!!! I hope the deck cooperates with you in your rise to the next level. At the rate your going players will start moving to another table out of fear of being ANNIHILATED when they see your name pop on screen. LOL
I share your sentiment concerning bankroll management as well brother, "bankroll management is for wimps!". LMAO
I LOVE IT!!!

I agree wholeheartedly with all of the above. Except ibey's advice to quit playing live. If your struggling with this issue playing live you'll be much worse off playing online. LOL I know exactly what your dealing with brother. I suffer the same predicament from time to time. When your winning and running everyone over at the table you eventually start pushing the envelope just a tad to far., and you try to push it even further making "slick/cute" plays (as i would put it) instead of sound ones. What's helped me was to set a cap on my winnings and a floor to my loses. My personal "play regulations" are- CAP: tripling my starting stack, FLOOR: losing half of my starting stack, and SESSION TIME: 2 to 3 hours. Keep your own play reg's like the Commandments and you'll star in fewer and fewer of these episodes. I still find myself starring as the lead role in one every now and again. IDK, I guess ya just can't keep yourself from indulging in a bad habit sometimes I guess. LOL

Applications of No-Limit Hold'em; A Guide to Understanding Theoretical Sound Poker by Mathew Janda is an excellent book. It's a read and then re-read sort of book. One that you will go back to several times before concepts become ingrained in your poker memory, but it's worth it. The Raiser's Edge by Bertrand Grospellier, Lee Nelson, Tysen Streib, and Tony Dunst is great for learning and understanding tournament based equilibrium solutions as well as many other advanced concepts, and Analytical No-Limit Hold'em by Thomas Baker would round out the top of any serious poker players list of mathematical/theoretical poker books to have in their library's.
I've got'em all and they're helping me tremendously. I say "helping" cuz my scull's kinda thick. LOL

6-10BB Stacks.

I agree with ausuk on a 35BB stack being to big, waaaaaaaay to big to be shoving small to middle pairs with. The correct shoving range in late position at this stack size would be more like 99+, AKs, AK. As for the biggest stack I'd be comfortable shoving with the above mentioned range of 22-77, QJs-A9o, 6-10BB's would be my preference. That being said, I don't think shoving after it's been folded to you on the BTN is the best play to steal the blinds. A bet of just a bit bigger than pot size should get the job done every time when those two spots are occupied by weak passive players.

The most basic difference between a polarized range and a merged range is your polarized range will be made up off betting and raising hands, i.e. value & bluffing hands, and your merged range will contain hands that you would most often check and call with.

PokerSnowie might be what your looking for it's an A.I. coaching and hand analysis tool that you can upload your hand history's to or even play against Snowie itself in challenge mode and also get scenario evaluations, range advice, etc. I have it and love it. You can download it at pokersnowie.com and get a free 1 month trail.

What Cichlids said. lol There has to be minimum threshold of consideration, a line you wont cross, +.04 EV isn't even worth thinking about let alone spending chips/money on. Good Lord.

Waaaaay to many hands. LOL If your playing on a heads up table it is feasible. Folding 60% of the time to a 3-bet seems a little high as well don't forget about flatting or 4-bet bluffs. You are in position and if the player 3-betting has a high 3-bet frequency then folding 60% is definitely to high. 40% to 50% with 60% being the max rate (against tight players) would be the way I'd go. As for the BTN opening range, I play a little tighter than 70%-80%, like 30%-35% tighter. LOL A range I most often use is at 47.8% giving me 634 hand combos, more than enough I think. You don't want your range to be to weak because the players in the blinds (if their smart) anticipate open raises from weak ranges. A range of AA-22,AKo-A2o,KQo-K6o,QJo-Q8o,JTo-J8o,T9o-T8o,98o,87o,AKs-A2s,KQs-K2s,QJs-Q7s,JTs-J7s,T9s-T7s,98s-96s,87s-86s,76s-75s,65s-64s,54s-53s,43s-42s,32s (47.8%/634 combos) works quite well for me. I hope this helps. Good Luck at the tables my friend.

Congratulations to the both of you. WOW, I never thought that I would learn of a love story happening through a poker forum, LOL, but I'm glad to have and I'm happy for you two.

???!!!

Is it ok to check/fold on that river? Well let's see... NO! You were correct in thinking that you should've bet on the river, but wrong about the size. I would BET BIG here, at least a third of my stack. Only a third because I'd want to have a substantial amount to reraise with if he reraised me. I'm playing for stacks in this hand, but that's just me. At the very least you should almost always call in a hand like this one against an opponent who plays to many hands. If you lose you still have a decent stack left for when you pick up a monster and the fisherman throws his line into your lake again. I hope I was helpful. GL to you..