TwistedLogic

4/7/15

Well, the numbers are getting greener on 888:

I had a great thing happen to me pokerwise lately. A guy I used to play with on Absolute Poker back in 2010-2011 was mentioned on a ChicagoJoey pokercast and I happened to see his name pop up on an email thread for AP black friday victims. I reached out as I heard he lived close by and we got lunch and caught up. He has remained a pro and his dramatically improved his game. He primarily plays PLO but his NHLE game is very strong as well. He's crushing the NJ sites and is arguably the best PLO player on there, if not one of the best. We went over a lot of my hands and some stats in my HEM database and a lot of exploitable tendencies I have were uncovered.

Also, it looks like the 3bet/4bet/5bet game has evolved and gotten a lot smarter over the past few years so I have to reconstruct unexploitable ranges for each position, as well as up my 3bet a lot on the button. My blind play also has some leaks in it so I think I can improve my winrate that way as well.

I look forward to applying a lot of this information and hopefully significantly improving my game in a very short period of time. It's also incredibly valuable that I now have an amazing PLO resource for hands I am unsure about. I am very grateful that I now have someone in the poker world that I can talk to about hands and strategy, as I've been trying to do it all alone and it's very tough and isolating.

Hopefully I can post some much better results over the next few months!

Also, the point of a forum post is to generate discussion, not "ask for tips."

lol i do work on my game..and sometimes it IS as simple as, these people do a,b,c consistently wrong...thanks for the helpful post though!

4/2/14

Here are my results on 888 Poker and WSOP the past month or two. The first 50K hands of .25/.50 was completely breakeven. Like I said I think i was just running bad. The past 10K hands it has felt like i've run normally or slightly better than average, and I think i've been beating it at 10-12bb/100.

Most or all of the .25/50 is 10-12 tabling, for what it's worth. Also, I'm trying to reach the diamond status tier which is 35% rakeback. If I play 3-4k hands a day on average I should get about $120/day in rakeback, so that will at least pay the bills. The notion of being a rakeback pro is depressing as hell, however. I'd like to play 4-8 tables of 1/2+ rather than as many tables as possible.

At the higher stakes, 1/2+, I just can't get any momentum. Seems like I'm running bad and just running into a lot of ugly hands. The games are pretty soft..1-2 fish per game table. The regs are good but few are great/outplaying me big time, so I think it's pretty beatable for at least 4bb/100 at my skill level.

888 Results

WSOP results

4/1/14

Been on a huge breakeven stretch basically. I can tell I am running bad. Really don't know what to do to improve my game any further. Getting frustrated but I'm just going to keep playing through it.

3/21/15

still running bad. Been basically breakeven for the past week or two. I'm down even more in the home game. I got a better rakeback deal so hopefully that will helps. I think I am now down money since I've started playing poker seriously again. Fun stuff!

I think I am still making improvements to my game and playing well. Just going to keep playing through it and continue to improve.

I watched a couple Peter Jennings videos and enjoyed them thoroughly. I was sorry to hear he also is going through a huge downswing, and realize that if it can happen to him, with his winrate probably 3x as high as me, than I shouldn't be complaining.

I'm going to watch all of his videos as i think he is a VERY good match for my skill level. A lot of the elite pros I've found usually instruct very theoretically from a GTO standpoint. I like that Peter is more to the point and somewhat more feel based. He's still aware of GTO considerations but outlines things quickly, clearly, and simply. He also has a lot of practical solutions for a lot of things that I struggle with most, so hopefully his videos will make my game a lot better!

Update: I have just turned an "EV" profit at .25/.50. Feels good to get one of those HEM numbers green!

3/14/15

DOWNSWING

I am incredibly frustrated, angry, and annoyed with the past month of poker. From my peak about a month ago, here are my results:

• Was up 9K in 1/2 - 5/10 home game on Pokerstars. Now down 2K.
• Bankroll for NJ sites was 12K, now it is down to $5300.

So, basically I'm on a $15K downswing. I truly believe almost all of this is just coolers/variance, but I have definitely made a handful of marginal - bad calls and bluffs. Just running in to hands all the time. The most frustrating situation is when I get 3bet on the button like 2-3x in a row, then I pick up AQ, get 3bet again. 4bet get it in vs AA, KK, AA. The timing has just been horrible.

I've been seeing some overbets start to make their way into the game. It is by no means standard but EVERY time I have called on it is the nuts. I'm pretty sure players are not balancing with bluffs nearly enough so I should just be making exploitative folds. Also getting raised on turn on drawy boards with overpairs etc and it has always been a set.

Results are below. I have to drop down to $1/2 max and hopefully my luck will change. I was hoping to make poker a 2nd job/hobby other than real estate, but my hundreds of hours spent playing and learning have basically been breakeven.

On 888 poker, I've been grinding .25/.50 to build up my roll without depositing because I don't have too much extra cash to deposit. For the first 12K of the last 15K hands i've been running at about -10bb/100. Fortunately I have climbed back a little to almost breakeven over 15K hands.

On WSOP, my 2/4 results are just abysmal. It's hard to not shake my confidence. I just ordered The Mental Game of Poker. Need to make poker more enjoyable otherwise I need to just stop.

That's the end of my rant.

It's the ace of diamonds. When you see that you should definitely fold.

It's been quite a while since I posted, which is a shame. I've been steadily beating the games on WSOP and 888 Poker, building my bankroll to $7,000+ now. I can pretty comfortably play 1/2 and have been taking shots at 2/4. My game continues to improve.

I learned a lot from Lefort's videos about the difference between SB and BB ranges and strategies. I cannot believe I was completely oblivious to all of this when I was playing full time a few years ago. I treated the SB and BB pretty much the same, probably flatting too much out of the SB and not flatting enough from the BB. Also, I didn't 3bet nearly as much from the SB.

Now my SB strategy is closer to a 3bet/fold strategy, which seems to be working quite well so far.

I think what is going to improve my winrate and take my game further is to try to learn as much as I possibly can about each player I play against. the player pool at 1/2+ is pretty small so if I can pick up a few things for each player that will increase my winrate against them, I should be able to beat the games for a good clip.

Unfortunately, I have been running HORRIBLY in the pokerstars home game I've been playing in. I'd guess I'm about 7-8K below EV. Just losing every flip and lots of huge pots when I'm a small favorite. Going to keep grinding it out though and it should come back around. I mean, about 70% of the players have very fishy stats, like 54/8 type players. The players that have more solid stats are often too aggressive, but admittedly tough and frustrating to play against.

I really need to improve my PLO game. I feel like it has stagnated and I need a good video series. Honestly, Phil's videos are probably too advanced for me so a lot of stuff is going over my head. Probably need to just watch a beginner or intermediate series.

I just sold my iMac 5K Retina and purchased an Alienware PC which should be great for poker. I cannot wait to switch to HEM2, and work with Cardrunners EV and Odds Oracle. Once I get it all set up, I'm going to review a 100 hand one table session and just go through ranges and equities for each flop, plus every turn and river card and see how ranges are affected.

I think my biggest improvements will be in better estimating ranges and figuring out places where I should be more comfortable betting thin and perhaps less comfortable betting.

Also, continuing to think about this GTO trend. I suppose I get it but it's a bit overwhelming to figure out how to be GTO. Not really sure how to work on it honestly.

The one solid takeaway I've really internalized so far is that you can increase your bluffing frequency if you bet larger. The larger the bet, the closer to a 50% bluff frequency you can go, so you can add more bluffs to your range and still have your opponent indifferent to calling. I get that on board good for hero's range and bad for villian's range there should be a lot of bluffs in your range. If you bet less than pot on river though and he knows you're bluffing every hand you have then he will make a more +EV call on a

2/9/15

Had a really rough dat at the tables last night...started out like a normal session but then I got a couple of fish heads up. One of them ran better than I have ever seen a person run over the course of 1000 hands heads up. Was completely card dead the entire time and when I did make occasional hands it was always barely second best. I learned a few things from last night that I really need to apply from now on:

• Never play after you've had a few drinks, even if you think they've worn off. I definitely wasn't drunk or anything, but my mind was a fuzzier than normal so I was making autopilot decisions, not hand reading in any detail, and generally playing B poker.

• I need to exercise before or after a poker session to get the aggression out. I'm releasing an unhealthy amount of adrenaline and I find that my mind is just racing at night. I need to quiet the mind and body and I think exercise is the best way to do it for me.

• I learned heads up poker really tilts me more than 6max. I think pride/ego comes into play. If you think you're much better than your opponent and they just keep winning money from you, it feels so unjust and personal. After tilting I would make very quick decisions and play worse poker which just exacerbates the problem.

Overall, I am VERY disappointed with myself, both with the way I played and how much I tilted. The good thing is with poker, however, that tomorrow is always a new day, always a fresh start.

My WSOP bankroll dipped from $3,100 to $1,950. I think shot taking at 1/2 was too aggressive. I was eager to keep building my bankroll fast but I think I need to just be patient and realize it will take 3-6 months to get back to midstakes consistently.

Good luck - I'm in the same boat. Learning PLO right now and I'd say i'm a beginner - intermediate player. If you ever want to review some hands together let me know!

2/7/15

Poker is still going well - running pretty good and playing well too. My bankroll on WSOP is now $2,700 so I'm mixing in some .5/1. Once I get to around $4,000 I will mix in some 1/2. It seems like 1/2+ is kind of a reg-fest on WSOP, so I'm going to really have to study everyone's game and exploit each player to the best of my ability to have a decent winrate.

Phil, general PLO question, if you don't mind:

I play in a game where if I 3bet or squeeze, everyone who called the initial preflop raise will call the 3bet. Most of the time there are 3-4 players in the pot. I'm always lost with a hand like AAxx. It seems foolish to be 3betting this hand when I just want to c/f most of the time when the flop is not ideal.

Is it still wise to 3bet AAxx hands when it usually goes 3 or 4 way? Should I adjust my 3betting range to more rundowns and just flat call big pairs to set mine?

Thanks!

Great video series - I love this format as it allows the viewer to digest a lot of different situations in a short period of time.

Call, stacks are deep enough to cal and try and hit a set. If you do flop a set I guess c/r flop big? Esp on a two tone board. If c/f any A high or K high flops, might call once on dry Q high board, prob c/c with overpair on flop once, hope turn checks through.

2/4/15

The grinding is going well..winning at a pretty good clip. Went on a very nice run so far this month but just lost about half of it in 5 minutes...sigh. Two big pots at .5/1 against the same player.

Hand 1:

3bet his button open with A5dd, he flatted quickly. Flop 666. This is a flop where I'm probably going to three barrel nearly all the time since he's 4betting his TT+ and possibly 88-99 the way the game was going. So I fire 3 barrels on a pretty safe board for him...66674 I think? Anyway, he calls with 86 and has quads.

Hand 2:

He 3bets me I call with 45dd, we are about 170BB deep each. Flop 67K all diamonds, he bets I raise flop he calls. Turn he checks, I bet he shoves quickly. Was not excited at all about calling really but pretty much have to I think. He has JQdd.

Until that hand I was beating .5/1 for about 10bb/100, and I'm beating .25/.50 for 9.1bb/100 (EV adjusted) over about 9,000 hands this month. Graph so far:

2/3/14

The downswing is over! Finally running like a normal person again (actually, probably better). I'm ALMOST breakeven over a 32,000 stretch of .25/.50. I realize now that the 1st half of those hands I was probably only playing breakeven/slightly winning poker with the rake of 10bb/100. I've plugged some leaks and i'm playing better poker thanks to watching some videos. My WSOP bankroll is nearing $2,000 so I took some shots at .5/1 and fortunately have done well so far. In fact, .5/1 has been softer so far than .25/.50. I'm hoping that the 1/2 - 5/10 games will be soft as well. I mean, how many excellent players can there be in NJ??

The online home game is also going well. Up another 2K or so this week. Playing well and have a very good handle on every player.

It's solid. Good software and it's state regulated (in NJ, at least) so your money should be safe. No security problems thus far. Not sure about customer support.

They have a 200% deposit bonus and a more generous rewards program than WSOP.com which uses the same software. WSOP and 888 have merged player pools up to .25/.50.

AHH my eyes feel better already. A bit darker/more orange but i'm sure i'll get used to it. Might get the glasses as well!

Awesome, will try thanks very much.

This player 3bets WAY too much OOP and makes a lot of suicide bluffs with very little equity. He also has some sizing tells which makes me very comfortably call with lots of bluffcatchers. This is one instance of such a bluff.

1/31/15

.25/.50 has continued to be a roller coaster. I keep making comebacks and then go on these death runs and quickly lose like 6 buyins, rinse repeat. Graph below will show that. The rake number on the right is deff painful. However, with my status on the site and a $600 deposit bonus, I'm effectively generating 27% rakeback. 888 poker, which has identical software and has a merged player pool with WSOP up to .25/.50, has a much more generous rewards program, so once I clear my WSOP deposit bonus I'll be transferring my roll to 888 which will help me bust out of .25/.50 faster.

Also, played very solid in online home game last night, booking a win of $1400. There's a player who's tough but overly aggressive and I'm proud that I've made the correct adjustments to maximally exploit him. All my winnings last night were from this player, and it could have been worse for him. We got it all in in PLO in a $1200 (600BB) pot on the turn. I had top set (no straights or flushes on board) and he had a straight + NFD. I was 67% on turn but he hit.

I'm also excited because I saw two tables of 10/20 running on WSOP at a full ring table. A couple of the screen names I did not recognized and they were not rebuying. The games seem beatable and traffic seems to be improving on the NJ sites, which is great. Pokerstars is also coming in March, which will be amazing!

1/29/15

I'm almost back from the doldrums of this .25/.50 downswing. I've also made a few adjustments to my game that are have a very positive impact I believe. I think they are going to increase my winrate, reduce variance, and reduce the amount of rake paid, which I'm realizing is a hefty 10bb/100. I feel good about my game right now and look forward to putting in some quality volume and hopefully getting out of .25/.50 soon!

Awesome vid. Will definitely be watching the rest of them. You're a funny guy!

*1/27/15 *

The downswing continues...At worst I was about 12BI below EV, and kept getting coolered in big pots. Still playing well but made a couple aggressive/high variance plays after losing some big pots, which were probably slightly -EV, or at worst just adding variance to my game.

Also played online 1/2 home game heads up against someone who gives me a bit of trouble. I lost 3BI to him. I played well and uncovered some leaks in his game, which I am excited to exploit from now on :) He is the only other tough player in the entire home game, in my opinion.

1/28/15:

I recovered most of my losses from yesterday today. Played very solid. Made a few minor adjustments to my game, such as stealing a little less from CO and button because I was isolating limpers, 5Xing, getting 3bet and then folding too much. Tightened up a little and think it's more profitable.

Also, the style of play I was playing was generating a ton of big pots, and rake is a big factor at these stakes. It's like 10bb/100, so tightening up will have a secondary benefit (i think) of paying less rake.

I'm looking forward to busting out of these stakes and moving up to games where rake is less of a factor. I'm excited to find out what the competition is like at midstakes and whether the games will be profitable for me without major improvements.

Not sure how to just make another post after this - maybe the site doesn't have the capability to do a blog-style journal, so I'll just respond to my own post and see how that looks.

1-26-15:

Had a good and bad day at the tables. My .25/.50 downswing continued at WSOP.com, which is frustrating. However, I more than made up for those losses with a big win in an online Pokerstars home game I play here in NYC. I ran a stack up to $7,230 at my peak at a 1/2 rotation game. That's 36 buyins....I've never had a stack of more than maybe 10-15 buyins, so this is somewhat incredible to me.

Did not study any poker, largely because I have a mac and need to install windows 7 in order to buy CardrunnersEV and Flopzilla. Working on that tonight...what a pain.