Tutor

Hi RIO crew,

Thought I'd bring up the topic of state management after tonight's session at the local casino (Crown, Melbourne).

Experienced players are familiar with this concept. Throughout everyone's poker life, you go through times where you are the top of your game and times where you're a clouded with a victim mentality ready drown in their own self fulfilling prophecy. Now obviously variance is part of this but not the point of discussion here.

Let's use the phrase 'on form', When someone is on form, it virtually doesnt matter for that session whether he is up, down, even, faced with a bad beat, coolered, etc. When that someone is at top of his game, only one thing really matters to him and thats making the correct decision. The mental state that you are in at this point is so golden that its almost like a holy aura radiating from you.
I am golden. I am King - I'm sure many of you can relate.

Now this state is obviously very profitable. It means that you're making the most optimal plays (as per your knowledge of the game).

Question: What do you use for state management? Ways to ensure that you start every session in that golden state.

Now keep in mind that I am primarily a live player at this moment.

There is a concept coined by a few psychologists in their respective fields (I forgot the name of the concept... completely slipped my mind)
It refers to when professionals (usually referred to athletes) use some sort of ritual (can be as simple as clapping your hands, a particular smell, anything really) when they find themselves 'in state'. What these individuals later do is repeat said ritual before their performance (in our case, the poker session) and the brain invokes the state back to when that ritual was used last...

Is anyone familiar with this or currently using it for their game? If so, I'd love to hear your thoughts!

I'm currently just playing $1/3 cash (300NL) at the casino. Planning to take my game to the next level and trying to battle some of the obstacles in the way. That post can be found here - http://www.runitonce.com/chatter/taking-my-game-to-the-next-level-the-p/

Keen to hear for you guys!

Tutor

Hey guys,

It has been too long since I've posted anything. Long story short, I've been pretty busy with travel, growing my businesses and playing a bunch of poker at crown casino, Melbourne.

$1/3 has been coming along well. Roll is higher than it ever was before (should be reaching $20,000 by the end of July). Without sounding arrogant, I can confidently say that I was probably one of the best players at $1/3.

I saw 'was' because recently crown changed their stakes and buy in caps. $1/3 now has a $300 buy in and $2/4 has been replaced with $2/5 with a $500 buy in cap. Because of this, some regs have dropped down stakes for pure profitability reasons and I think some poker players have started playing at crown after hearing about the stake change (this is my hunch as I am seeing a lot of new faces around and their play is generally better than the typical $1/3 fish).

Anyways the point of this post is to point out a clear issue or problem that I am struggling with - and that is becoming a better poker player.

The $1/3 game is easy. I've figured out what people's tendencies are and I play quite optimally netting me approximately $20-25 per hour.

The problem - When I learn new poker theory (strategies that I should use to become a profitable player at higher stakes), I tend to (not always) deviate from my system that I've built for $1/3 when I am at the table. I notice certain spots that look perfect to bluff and 3 bet when this goes against whats required to beat the game. So all of a sudden I get stuck where I can continue to learn and grow as a poker player but would need to stop playing $1/3 LIVE in the meantime.... OR I can stop the learning and continue to grind the live game for my decent hourly.

Previously, I have always chosen the latter.

How can I get past this? Any suggestions?

Some options I have considered:
A) Grind roll till 30-40k (I think I can reach this goal by the end of 2016) and then stop playing $1/3 completely and focus purely on the growth before stepping up to play $2/5
B) Grind roll till 25k and hire a coach to bring me up to speed with $2/5 live meta game.
C) Find a way to balance between growth and play (something I have tried but failed at multiple times)

Note: After playing in a MTT series, I have always struggled to go back to play $1/3 because of the same reason. I am struggling to adjust my mindset depending on what game I am playing. I don't know if there is anyone else on RIO struggling from the same issue but this is extremely frustrating.

Anyways, I am super keen to hear what you all have to say!

Peace,

Tutor

Hi Everyone,

Thought I'd share my thoughts on my long term poker goals. I think a lot of us could be in the same boat and hopefully we can form some form of a discussion here about different forms of the poker lifestyle.

Background: Living in Melbourne, Australia, I am fortunate enough to have access to an very soft and easy $1/3 ($200 buy in) game at Crown Casino. I started grinding the $1/3 game late July 2015 and from playing about 20-25 hours a week, I've gathered about $10k profit. On top of that, I came second in a weekly tournament for $3.5k as well. After using some of the money for life and a bit of travel, my roll is now approximately $10k AUD. NOTE: Poker is not my primary income. I own 2 businesses that pay for food and rent.

My Goal

Whilst I am enjoying crushing the $1/3 game at the local casino, I feel like in the long term, I would much rather be playing MTT and travelling around to different locations for the tours. The goal is to eventually be able to step up so I can tour Australia and NZ for the ANZPT (majority of tournament buy ins are around $350-500 and some APPT series (around $500-1k buyin). If successful, I'd like to move forward to tournaments in Macau and hopefully Europe. I am currently undecided about the states because I read that tournament winnings are taxed and if so, I feel that the rake for these tournaments become too high. I'd like to hear your thoughts on this as well.

Questions about moving forward:

1) Is travelling Australia and NZ for the tours feasible? What I mean by that is, given flight, accomodation and buy in costs, do these tournaments now become incredibly hard to beat? I had a friend mention that apart from Melbourne and Sydney, the other series are significantly smaller and because of this, travelling there might not be a feasible plan (unless I plan to challenge for player of the year etc...)

2) What can I do to make significant improvements in my MTT games?
I am currently playing a lot of MTTs and $2.5 180 player SNGs on PokerStars. The MTTs I am playing tournaments varying from about $5-$16 buy in. Are there any specific books or videos that I could learn from?
I am also playing 25 NL as I still feel that the core of even becoming a good MTT player could come from playing online cash.

3) Is there anything else that I havent covered or that I should look at when moving forward towards my goal?

Keen to hear everyone's thoughts. I am sure we can all bring in really good points about this very topic.

TutorV

*Hand 1
*
Folds around to button who limps for $3
I raise to $13 with AQo
bb folds and button defends
Pot $29

Flop - QT8r

Villan bets out of turn $15.
I call.
Pot is $59

Turn - J

I bet $30, villan calls. Pot is $119

River - 5 (no flushes)
I check, villan bets $45
What do you do?

Hand 2
I open in MP to $13 with JJ
CO calls ($100 stack)
SB (reg) raises to $55.

I call and CO suprisingly calls as well. Pot is $169.

Flop - 973r

Villan shoves for another $128
What do you do?

Hand 3

Its 7 handed and I get KJo UTG. I open to $13 (could be a mistake here, I dont normally open KJ early position)
1 caller from MP
Pot is $30.

Flop - K94r

I bet $20
Villan raises to $50. I call.
Pot is $130

Turn - 6

I check
Villan shoves all in for $91
What do you do?
Note: Villan is known to be quite of a weak player

Hand 4
Villan raises MP to $20 (stack $400)
I call SB with AJs (stack $900
Pot is $43

Flop - 9s, 7s, 2d

I bet $25.
Villan raises to $125
I re-raise all in
Villan calls.

What would you have done? What do you think Villan has.

Those were some interesting hands I just played at Crown. Couple of the decisions I already know I miscalculated but I would like to hear your thoughts and discuss the hand.

Keen to hear from you all,

Regards,

Tutor

Hi RIO Crew,

Had a very interesting hand yesterday. Wanted to get your thoughts. Villan hasnt shown any bluffs and looks like a rock player. Although he is weak, he doesnt donate his chips away like a lot of other players on these tables.

MP Villan calls ($500)
CO calls
Button calls
Hero (JJ) raises to $15 ($400 stack)
Villan, CO and button call (very typical for $1/3 to defend the limp)
Pot - $48

Flop - Th, 9s, 6h

Hero bets $35
MP raises to 70
CO and Button fold
Hero calls
Pot - $188

Turn - 3d

Hero bets $50
Villan calls pretty fast
Pot - $288

River - Td

Hero Checks
Villan bets $120

What to do? What do you think Villan has?

This was a hand I played yesterday. Let me know what you think. Villan is weird recreational player - got impatient and shoved over the top with J5 one hand and cracked AK (thats how he got this stack).

UTG (villan) - $320 limps for $3
MP calls
Hero Button ($600) raises to $13 with A7s

UTG calls and MP calls - pot ($43)
Flop AA4 rainbow

Hero bets 20
UTG Villan calls
MP Folds (Pot - $83)

Turn - 3d (2 diamonds on board)

Villan checks,
Hero bets $45
Villan raises to $100
Hero thinks and calls (pot - $283)

River - Kd

Villan insta shoves all in for $210
What's your move? what do you think villan has?

Hey guys,

Tutor here from Crown Casino Melbourne. I recently (6 weeks back) started grinding my roll playing $1/3 ($200 buy in) and been doing pretty well. I started my roll at $2000 and was up to $5.5k. I just played a tourney which I came 2nd in to add another 3.5k to my roll. With a roll of 9k, I'm thinking of moving upto the $2/4 stakes ($400 buy in).

The current $1/3 game is quite easy to beat. I think I have it pretty much figured out and majority of players are recreational (but a few grinding regs). What i've heard is that 2/4 is full of regulars and a lot of them actually play for a living so it seems like a huge step up.

Just a casual question as to whether a roll of $9k would be sufficient for the $2/4 game.

Keen to hear from you,

Tutor

Hey RIO crew,

I'm playing $1/$3 (200NL) at Crown Casino. Competition can be very soft. I am starting to struggle against a particular type of table that seems to be happening... well more than it should.

Usually theres about 1-2 others on the 9 ring table that are regs. The others are different forms of recreational players (calling station, maniac etc).

There seems to be many tables at Crown Casino where people just love to limp. Everyone just loves to limp and catch a sight of the flop. Now normal poker strategy would dictate that you should raise and punish these limpers but here is the issue...the limpers won't go away. The famous line is "Now i got value, I have to play...."

So here are some typical tough spots that you can run into:
4 limpers before CO and you have A7s, do you raise? do you limp? If i raise here, it is almost guaranteed that 3/4 limpers will most likely call (without even taking into consideration Button and blinds). When they call, it's very hard for you to put them on a range. Many of these players could be playing a better A than you but decided to limp (purely because they haven't figured out a decent opening range).

Is a potential strategy to raise a higher amount when you do open (I usually make it $12... perhaps making it $16-18 will push more of these players out).

This is one area I am having huge issues with and I know and I am playing many hands WRONGLY because of this very reason. More often than not, i find myself limping in to catch a flop and outplay them post flop (because many of them are calling stations).

When the flop doesnt favour me, I usually check/fold because with 3-4 other players in, it is very unlikely you can push everyone out.

Some other table dynamics - A 3Bet on these tables usually indicates Qs and higher. A 4-bet is indicative of Ks and As.
Ranges are quite polarized on these table when it comes to 3 and 4 bets.

So I guess in a nutshell, my question is how to play optimally on a table similar to this. It might be a tricky question and I've tried to list down a lot of the table dynamics I find when playing on these tables. If you have any additional questions, please do ask.

Keen to hear from you all,

Tutor

Hey RIO crew,

I play at Crown Casino in Melbourne. I usually play $1/$3 with a $200 buy in.

Recently they introduced a jackpot system where if you flop a royal flush, you'll get $25,000+

Because of this, they have raised the rake to 10% capped at $15. This to me sounds extremely high. The competition at crown is quite soft but I am not sure if this game is even beatable anymore.

Anyone got a clue?

Thanks

Hi everyone,

I am regularly grinding 10NL zoom at stars and playing live 1/3 at crown casino, Melbourne. As far as learning and educating myself in poker, I have read Phil Gordon's 'Little Green Book' and registered to RIO and watched videos/active on the forums.

Someone locally was selling a bunch of poker related books at a steal (even if I didnt use them, I could probably re-sell them for thrice the amount I bought them for). I have listed the books below:

The Poker Player's Bible - Lou Kriieger
Why you lose at Poker - Russel Fox and Scott T. Harker
Phil Gordon's Little Blue Book - Phil Gordon
Hold 'em poker for advanced players - David Sklansky and Mason Malmuth
Read 'em and Reap - Phil Hellmuth
Harrington on Hold 'em Vol 1 Strategic Play - Dan Harrington
Harrington on Hold 'em Vol 2 The Endgame - Dan Harrington
Harrington on Hold 'em Vol 3 The workbook - Dan Harrington
Kill Phil - Blair Rodman
In the Money - Antonio Esfandiari
Caro's book of poker tells - Mike Caro
The book of bluffs - Matt Lessinger
Beyond Tells: Power Poker Psychology - James Mckenna
Championship Hold 'em Tournament Hands - Tom McEvoy & T.K Cloutier
Super System: A course in power poker - Doyle Brunson
Super System 2 - Doyle Brunson
No Limit Hold 'em: Theory and Practice - David Sklansky & Ed miller
Making the final table - Eric Lindgren

Two books that arent on this list that I have heard is very useful is the Theory of poker and The mental game.

Now thats a pretty long list. I am guessing that a lot of it are probably books that are not even credible and I should maybe even avoid cause it might have an adverse effect on my game. I guess my question is which books should i open and which should i put away?

Another concern I had was whether there is a such thing as books being outdated. I've read that books like super system can no longer be applied in today's game because of how long ago it was written. Is this the case? Can the fundamental teachings of these books still be used as a framework for poker in game we play today?

Keen to hear your thoughts.

Tutor

Hey guys, just finished a session at 1/3 at Crown casino, Melbourne. I wanted to discuss 2 hands in particular that went down during my session and see what the RIO team has to say about it.

Hand 1

UTG+1 (villan) opens to $15 (stack $250)
Hero (AQspades) calls from MP (stack $200)
Button calls
Pot $49

Flop - Th Jh 7d

Villan bets $15
Hero calls (5-1 odds)
Button folds
Pot - $79

Turn - Ac

Villan checks
Hero bets $50
Villan raises to $150

Hero folds - Line of thinking - At this point, the raise is representing a pretty strong hand and with AQ here I cant beat much going into the river. The only thing I am beating here is Ax (lower than T) and that would be an odd move to make with Ax. Losing to combos of AT, AJ, AK and chopping to AQ. Losing to TTs, JJs and maybe some combos of TJs. What do you guys think? Even though I folded, villan revealed his cards but I'd like to hear your thoughts before revealing villan's hand.

Hand 2

Note: Before the hand was full dealt, a Queen of spades was revealed. (at crown, when there is a mis-deal of one card, that card becomes the first burnt card).

UTG+1 opens to $8
UTG +2 calls
MP (villan) calls - stack - $350
Button (Hero) raises to $35 with JJ - stack - $230
BB (loose aggressive) calls - stack $200
UTG+1 folds
UTG+2 folds
Villan raises all in

Hero calls - Line of thinking - MP calls open of $8 and is now raising all in. The only hands crushing me are AA, KK and QQ. Both As and Ks would and should 3 bet before it gets to me. Qs probably will 3 bet but may not also because a Q was revealed. I was thinking likely combos here are AK, Ts and lower.

BB is very loose aggressive (almost maniac like) so unlikely he is dominating me.

SB calls all in as well.

These are the two hands I wanted to discuss What do you guys think I did wrong?