<< Blog Home



Archive for the ‘HUSNG’ Category

Gotta Get My Grind On

Tuesday, March 9th, 2010

oop, not posted for more than a week! I was away for a long weekend so haven’t actually played much poker, and what I did play was fairly so-so (On checking it I’ve made $56 – actually quite pleasing considering it seemed like I wasn’t playing at all).

Sooo, what can I post about? Not much I guess. Full Tilt is still proving to be the best site to play husngs – plenty of players and not much waiting for a game. Tonight I’ve been playing on Cake (under the alias ‘Rolf Lmao’ – geddit? :-) ), but it takes too long to sit and wait for someone to join you, so I’ve been joining anyone waiting on a game $25 or less (not many $25s, although the one I played I won – whoohoo!). So far been doing ok, but not getting many games over $10.

Here’s a great hand though – I love bluffing, but when someone showed me that they folded top pair it makes it well worth the many, many times that I get called down;

No Limit Holdem Tournament
2 Players

Stacks:
Hero (1,560)
BB (1,440)

Blinds: 10/20

Pre-Flop: (30, 2 players) Hero is SB 9spades poker card 2spades poker card
Hero raises to 40, BB calls 20

Flop: Qspades poker card 8clubs poker card 2diamonds poker card (80, 2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets 80, BB calls 80

Turn: 3diamonds poker card (240, 2 players)
BB checks, Hero checks

River: Jspades poker card (240, 2 players)
BB bets 240, Hero raises to 480, BB folds

Final Pot: 960
BB shows Qclubs poker card 9diamonds poker card

Hero wins 960 (net +360)

BB lost 360

There is some history on that hand – I’d played the same line of cbet, check turn, fold river about 3 times, with him making a PSB on the river each time. So I was actually waiting for a hand to have some value to take this line anyway, but I figured he’d also give the click-it-back action some credit on the river anyway, and a bluff would work just fine too (which it did lol!). However I had been putting that PSB of his as a stone cold bluff to simply buy the pot, and to see him fold away a hand with decent value really surprised me. I guess those other PSBs weren’t bluffs at all (maybe).

Oh, and here’s another one (different opponent);

No Limit Holdem Tournament
2 Players

$20 + $1 Heads Up Sit & Go

Stacks:
SB (1,140)
Hero (1,860)

Blinds: 10/20

Pre-Flop: (30, 2 players) Hero is BB 6hearts poker card Adiamonds poker card
SB raises to 40, Hero calls 20

Flop: 7spades poker card 4clubs poker card 5clubs poker card (80, 2 players)
Hero checks, SB bets 40, Hero raises to 100, SB calls 60

Turn: 5hearts poker card (280, 2 players)
Hero checks, SB bets 160, Hero calls 160

River: 7hearts poker card (600, 2 players)
Hero bets 200,
SB: what a joke
SB has 15 seconds left to act
SB: i got 36
SB folds

Final Pot: 800

Hero wins 800 (net +300)

SB lost 300

Possibly a bet for value more than a bluff, but very thin really…

February

Sunday, February 28th, 2010

February husngs was looking pretty good until I decided that I needed to take some higher shots. I tried a $30 game, followed by some $20s and they all went bad. So today I covered some of those losses with $10 4man shootouts and did pretty well, getting back almost $100’s worth. That’s still short of where I had been but it’s no big deal – it’s important to take these shots. I’ve seen a bunch of people on the forums who’ve played thousands of games at the $10s and less who just fail to move up (they ask questions like ‘is 100 buy-ins nitty?’). Those $20 games didn’t seem much harder, but lose 5 in a row and the BR hit is still hard to take. Hopefully next month a shot will stay solid and I’ll be in the $20 zone properly (I’m already rolled for it, but to blow it all so I *have* to play $10s would ruin my day too much).

Less said about the cash games the better. As I said before, not going back there ever again (well, apart from the inevitable HU cash games I guess);

Feel free to shoot the ducks…

Feeling Bad About Losing

Friday, February 26th, 2010

I took a shot at a $30 husng the other night and lost it. I then tried a few $20s and lost them. After that had a go at some $10 4man shootouts and lost those too.

So all in all a $90 knock back. Pretty shitty, but nothing my bankroll can’t handle – if I don’t take these shots I’ll only progress very slowly, and that’s not good for my game or bankroll.

I mentioned the hit to S1ndr0me, and how when you lose it’s a much bigger hurt than the joy you get from winning – the two things don’t really balance. It’s not just my opinion it feels like this, I’ve seen plenty of other players (at all stakes) express a similar thing.

S1ndr0me then mentioned something that lit a lightbulb up over why it’s like this – he said that when he looks at his bankroll he’s very aware of the hours and thousands of hands it’s taken to build that roll.

I realised then that the reason why hurts > joy is that with our BR we’re continually climbing a mountain. We know it’s easier to slide down than climb up, and when we do slide down we have to reclimb the bit we just lost.

So effectively the $$$ we lose are twice the ‘value’ of $$$ we win, because we have to re-win that amount just to get back to where we were. When we see the number $90 lost, we compare it to where we should have been if we’d won that $90, and so relatively speaking we have lost $180 worth of value. Although we’re disciplined enough not to see it as cash, it’s still $180 worth of hard effort and risk. It’s $180 of blood, sweat and tears.

So what mental games can we play to get over this, and how do we reduce our ’scared money’ tentativeness when taking shots (now that we realise it’s not scared money, but scared ‘effort potentially wasted’)?

Well, I’ve no idea. I’ll think about it, and perhaps Google around a bit. I’ve seen United113’s approach which is to give a set value to a match regardless of win or lose (based on your ROI), but I don’t think this works for me – firstly I don’t really grind enough games to get a valid ROI to see where I’m going, but also I think it would diminish my desire to win. I’m actually very aware that losing a match is putting my BR 2 steps back (just hadn’t articulated it before I guess), and I need that tension to make sure I fight for every game. If I take a bad hit and I’m down to $200 chips to my opponent’s $2800 I’m usually still very confident that I can swing it back (I’ve done it enough times to know I can, even though I probably lose from this point more often than I win). If I gave a value to each game win or lose then I would probably let those games go and my ROI would slip downwards. I have no intentions of becoming the Tim Henman of poker…

6max? Game Over I Think…

Tuesday, February 23rd, 2010

Full Tilt is giving away another little bonus (without telling anyone it seems?), and S1ndr0me said he was off to do a bit of rush to clear it. Sounded a good idea so I opened up a couple of tables.

After 600 hands I was down $27 (NL10). I stopped playing and thought how familiar this was. Every 6max session lately has been a losing one. Not suckouts or bad beats either, just me being spewy.

So I went back to husngs ($10 ones – Monday’s always a bad day, so wanted to play for fun rather than pushing myself into $20s). Six games later I was still unbeaten. $57 from an hour’s play.

What’s the point in playing 6max? Obviously none at all. I’m down $180 this year playing that stupid game, while I’m up $460 playing husngs.

So, time to give up playing anything else other than heads up (well, apart from some MTTs just for the big event of it).

New Account – Cake Poker

Saturday, February 20th, 2010

I decided to open yet another poker account, this time on the Cake network. Choice was between Cake Poker and doylesroom, and after a bit of forum browsing I went with Cake Poker. Doyle’s Room has had a few customer support issues lately which might be minor problems, while there’s nothing but praise for Cake (confusing that it has the same name as the network, but I’m sure you’re following this…).

Previously I’ve mentioned that I was holding off on new accounts until I was at NL50 or NL100 so I could clear sign-up bonuses effectively, but now I can’t be bothered. I’m not rising up the ranks quickly enough in cash games to get to that point any time soon, while at the same time husng’s are mostly pulling in more cash than these bonuses offer anyway (well mostly, that $150 crash in my last post was pretty painful).

So far this morning I’m $100 up playing $10 games. The lobby’s not packed, but I rarely have to wait more than a minute for a game. Level of play has been pretty bad too, although not any more than Full Tilt or Pokerstars.

Interface is really clean and easy – I haven’t had a single misclick yet which is a good sign. Deposit and creating the account was all straightforward too.

The main reason I wanted a cake account was for their hand tracking policy – no HUD allowed, plus you’re allowed to change your screen name once a week. HEM imports the hand histories fine though (almost – it made a mistake on the prize for a 4man shootout, although it made the same mistake for a Full Tilt shootout as well once) – the strange thing though is that it doesn’t record your opponent’s names. Everyone is called CakeSeat8 etc. Makes it hard to go back and analyse a particular tournament when you can’t remember which one it was, which I guess is the point. Notes you make on players in the Cake interface do stay with that player even if they change their name, so that’s useful – essential even.

I’m happy so far (certainly while the new signup boomswitch is on!). Apart from I think I’ve put the tv remote into the washing machine with the bedding…

Update: The remote comes out of the washing machine looking incredibly clean. And it still works! (once it had dried out). I’d recommend it to anyone with grubby remotes…

Normality Resumed

Thursday, February 18th, 2010

So cash was way too swingy and husngs looked like a fantastic low variance easy climb up the ranks. Nothing could stop me.

Yeah right. I’ve managed to incorporate swings into husngs. It wasn’t easy, but I did it;

I’ve just lost 10 games in a row. The first 4 were $20s, and after seeing it fall away I switched back to $10s. It just kept on going. I’ve finally broken the streak with a single hand game where I sucked out to get 2pair on the river (yep, would have had a fairly crippled stack if that hadn’t happened).

One thing I’ve noticed though is that Full Tilt is easier than Pokerstars – even though PS has twice as many players there seem to be more newbs on FT husngs, plus the blind structure seems slower (well, seems slower, haven’t actually compared properly).

I think I’ll just piss around on rush poker for a bit just to have some low pressure donking – watch me throw a load more away :-)

FML – down $30 in 50 hands! Ran into Kings and Aces left right and center. Why do I even bother…

Nash Equilibrium & Heads Up SNGs

Tuesday, February 16th, 2010

I decided that I need to be a bit less ‘gut feel’ about the last stages of my husngs – the bit where you have your opponent on the ropes and he’s got 4bb left and is shoving every hand (um, or where you’re in that unfortunate position). I get a bit tight in this situation and tend to only call when I have an ace, and that’s really bad since theoretically I can call (or push) a much wider range of hands and be just fine. My problem is that I hate flipping, and when you’ve spent a lot of effort getting the bozo into this position only for him to bounce back on a flip pisses me off. However you just can’t play poker at that point really – he can’t raise pre to see a flop, so there’s no choice. Truth is you just gotta see those flips through, and if you’re good enough then even if he pulls off a couple of flips in a row then each time you’ll be able to bash him back down and eventually one of those flips will do the right thing.

So, getting rid of the ‘gut feeling’ stuff means getting to grips with Nash equilibrium theory, and all the charts and guff that comes with it. Not that it’s complicated really – two charts in all;

1) if you’re the one going to push (or not):

A K Q J T 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2
A 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20
K 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 19.9 19.3
Q 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 16.3 13.5 12.7
J 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 18.6 14.7 13.5 10.6 8.5
T 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 11.9 10.5 7.7 6.5
9 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 14.4 6.9 4.9 3.7
8 20 18 13 13.3 17.5 20 20 20 20 18.8 10.1 2.7 2.5
7 20 16.1 10.3 8.5 9 10.8 14.7 20 20 20 13.9 2.5 2.1
6 20 15.1 9.6 6.5 5.7 5.2 7 10.7 20 20 16.3 * 2
5 20 14.2 8.9 6 4.1 3.5 3 2.6 2.4 20 20 ** 2
4 20 13.1 7.9 5.4 3.8 2.7 2.3 2.1 2 2.1 20 *** 1.8
3 20 12.2 7.5 5 3.4 2.5 1.9 1.8 1.7 1.8 1.6 20 1.7
2 20 11.6 7 4.6 2.9 2.2 1.8 1.6 1.5 1.5 1.4 1.4 20

2) They’ve pushed – do you call?

A K Q J T 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2
A 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20
K 20 20 20 20 20 20 17.6 15.2 14.3 13.2 12.1 11.4 10.7
Q 20 20 20 20 20 16.1 13.0 10.5 9.9 8.9 8.4 7.8 7.2
J 20 20 19.5 20 18.0 13.4 10.6 8.8 7.0 6.9 6.1 5.8 5.6
T 20 20 15.3 12.7 20 11.5 9.3 7.4 6.3 5.2 5.2 4.8 4.5
9 20 17.1 11.7 9.5 8.4 20 8.2 7.0 5.8 5.0 4.3 4.1 3.9
8 20 13.8 9.7 7.6 6.6 6.0 20 6.5 5.6 4.8 4.1 3.6 3.5
7 20 12.4 8.0 6.4 5.5 5.0 4.7 20 5.4 4.8 4.1 3.6 3.3
6 20 11.0 7.3 5.4 4.6 4.2 4.1 4.0 20 4.9 4.3 3.8 3.3
5 20 10.2 6.8 5.1 4.0 3.7 3.6 3.6 3.7 20 4.6 4.0 3.6
4 18.3 9.1 6.2 4.7 3.8 3.3 3.2 3.2 3.3 3.5 20 3.8 3.4
3 16.6 8.7 5.9 4.5 3.6 3.1 2.9 2.9 2.9 3.1 3.0 20 3.3
2 15.8 8.1 5.6 4.2 3.5 3.0 2.8 2.6 2.7 2.8 2.7 2.6 15.0

(shaded squares = suited hands)

Divide the smallest stack by the big blind and compare it to the value for your hand. If it’s less then shove (or call a shove). If it’s more then either play postflop poker or fold to their shove. You’re supposed to adjust this depending on whether opponent is a nit or an aggrotard, but for now I’ll just take it as it comes – should make me a bit braver for the kill hopefully.

There’s also an excellent spreadsheet a 2p2er created that does this as well as some other theories. Worth a look at (go to last post for his final version).

Update: I knocked up a javascript version here; http://www.meteoricpoker.com/nash.php – enter the values and press return (or tab – basically anything to let it know you’ve changed the value).



Forum

Re: Forum Upgrade by Meteoric Today at 02:26 PM
Re: Forum Upgrade by yegor_kgb Today at 06:14 AM
Forum Upgrade by Meteoric 22:22, Mar 10 2010
Re: New version by yegor_kgb 20:19, Mar 09 2010
Re: so i cashed out.. by yegor_kgb 22:11, Mar 03 2010
rakeback by yegor_kgb 13:02, Mar 03 2010
MeteoricPoker rakeback

Cake Poker

33% Rakeback

Featured Offer

Network: Cake Poker

Rake: Dealt

Statistics: Daily

110% up to $600

Signup Bonus

Get Rakeback Now!
MeteoricPoker rakeback

Full Tilt Poker

27% Rakeback

Featured Offer

Network: Full Tilt

Rake: Dealt

Statistics: Daily

100% up to $600

Signup Bonus

Get Rakeback Now!
MeteoricPoker rakeback

Doyles Room

33% Rakeback

Featured Offer

Network: Cake Poker

Rake: Dealt

Statistics: Monthly

110% up to $600

Signup Bonus

Get Rakeback Now!
MeteoricPoker rakeback

Minted Poker

40% Rakeback

Featured Offer

Network: Everleaf Gaming

Rake: Contributed

Statistics: Monthly

100% up to $400

Signup Bonus

Get Rakeback Now!
MeteoricPoker rakeback

Cellsino Poker

40% Rakeback

Featured Offer

Network: Everleaf Gaming

Rake: Contributed

Statistics: Monthly

500% up to $500

Signup Bonus

Get Rakeback Now!
MeteoricPoker rakeback

True Poker

27% Rakeback

Featured Offer

Network: Yatahay

Rake: Dealt

Statistics: Monthly

100% up to $200

Signup Bonus

Get Rakeback Now!
MeteoricPoker rakeback

Fat Bet Poker

40% Rakeback

Featured Offer

Network: Melita Gaming

Rake: Dealt

Statistics: Monthly

1000% up to €500

Signup Bonus

Get Rakeback Now!
MeteoricPoker rakeback

Aced

30% Rakeback

Featured Offer

Network: Merge Gaming

Rake: Contributed

Statistics: Monthly

100% up to $500

Signup Bonus

Get Rakeback Now!
MeteoricPoker rakeback

Action Poker

35% Rakeback

Featured Offer

Network: Action Poker

Rake: Contributed

Statistics: Daily

100% up to $2500

Signup Bonus

Get Rakeback Now!
MeteoricPoker rakeback

Power Poker

33% Rakeback

Featured Offer

Network: Cake Poker

Rake: Dealt

Statistics: Daily

110% up to $600

Signup Bonus

Get Rakeback Now!
MeteoricPoker rakeback

Ultimate Bet

30% Rakeback

Featured Offer

Network: Cereus

Rake: Contributed

Statistics: Daily

111% up to $1100

Signup Bonus

Get Rakeback Now!
MeteoricPoker rakeback

Poker Nordica

30% Rakeback

Featured Offer

Network: Merge Gaming

Rake: Contributed

Statistics: Daily

100% up to $200

Signup Bonus

Get Rakeback Now!
MeteoricPoker rakeback

Absolute Poker

30% Rakeback

Featured Offer

Network: Cereus

Rake: Contributed

Statistics: Daily

150% up to $500

Signup Bonus

Get Rakeback Now!
MeteoricPoker rakeback

Fortune Poker

30% Rakeback

Featured Offer

Network: Boss Media

Rake: Contributed

Statistics: Monthly

200% up to €1,000

Signup Bonus

Get Rakeback Now!
MeteoricPoker rakeback

Poker Heaven

30% Rakeback

Featured Offer

Network: Boss Media

Rake: Contributed

Statistics: Daily

200% up to €1000

Signup Bonus

Get Rakeback Now!
MeteoricPoker rakeback

Carbon Poker

30% Rakeback

Featured Offer

Network: Merge Gaming

Rake: Contributed

Statistics: Daily

150% up to $1000

Signup Bonus

Get Rakeback Now!
MeteoricPoker rakeback

Betfair

30% Rakeback

Featured Offer

Network: Betfair

Rake: Contributed

Statistics: Daily

$1500

Signup Bonus

Get Rakeback Now!
MeteoricPoker rakeback

Paradise Poker

30% Rakeback

Featured Offer

Network: Boss Media

Rake: Contributed

Statistics: Daily

200% up to €1,000

Signup Bonus

Get Rakeback Now!
MeteoricPoker rakeback

Virgin Poker

30% Rakeback

Featured Offer

Network: Boss Media

Rake: Contributed

Statistics: Monthly

100% up to £300

Signup Bonus

Get Rakeback Now!
MeteoricPoker rakeback

PKR Poker

30% Rakeback

Featured Offer

Network: PKR Network

Rake: Contributed

Statistics: Monthly

100% up to $800

Signup Bonus

Get Rakeback Now!
MeteoricPoker rakeback

Players Only

33% Rakeback

Featured Offer

Network: Cake Poker

Rake: Dealt

Statistics: Daily

100% up to $650

Signup Bonus

Get Rakeback Now!
MeteoricPoker rakeback

Red Star Poker

33% Rakeback

Featured Offer

Network: Cake Poker

Rake: Dealt

Statistics: Daily

110% up to $600

Signup Bonus

Get Rakeback Now!
MeteoricPoker rakeback

NoiQ Poker

30% Rakeback

Featured Offer

Network: Entraction

Rake: Contributed

Statistics: Daily

100% up to €5000

Signup Bonus

Get Rakeback Now!
MeteoricPoker rakeback

Interpoker

30% Rakeback

Featured Offer

Network: Boss Media

Rake: Contributed

Statistics: Daily

200% up to €1000

Signup Bonus

Get Rakeback Now!
MeteoricPoker rakeback

Gutshot Poker

33% Rakeback

Featured Offer

Network: Cake Poker

Rake: Dealt

Statistics: Daily

110% up to $600

Signup Bonus

Get Rakeback Now!