I think I'm going to end my CR membership, I started Deuces Cracked week long trial and its so obvious they have better poker minds teaching there. Don't get me wrong, CR has had some good videos in the past and will still in the future, but there is no point to have SSNL winners teaching videos just because they play the games. I think "knowing how the games play" is extremely overrated and in reality the players who have made it to the top can offer the best insight to become a better player etc.

To add to it, SBRugby and Taylor just don't play enough anymore to be reputable sources on the game, I really doubt they've been thinking about the game and how to improve so it seems pretty obvious in their recent videos that their content has dropped and they really aren't teaching anymore. As I see it raptor and CTS are the only people I really feel I can learn from anymore and I don't see enough videos from them. A

s I progress 30 bucks will become chump change but if I really feel like I'm not getting value I won't continue. I think if I didn't have the ability to blog I would quit 100%.. we'll see though.

So I played a pretty long session for me today, I'm not overly proud about how I played in general, mostly because I was at five tables that were pretty bad with few fish. Fortunately I was at another table that was the best I had arguably ever played, with two super-fish. I actually struggled there for awhile, trying to splash around too much to hit a hand against two other players w/ 200BB stacks, eventually I got it in in the spot below , which might be (sadly) the biggest pot I've ever won.

Villain in this hand limped like 90% and never folded preflop, thus I made a bigger than normal iso raise here. He would also peel the flop roughly 90% of the time, so I'm super happy when the hand went down as follows. I wonder what the worst hand I would take this line with would've been.. when you see what he had, it seems like it obv shoulda been Q2o.

FullTiltPoker Game #6839809557: Table CATZEL36 (6 max) - $0.50/$1 - No Limit Hold'em - 18:58:48 ET - 2008/06/15
Seat 1: KATOK_RUS ($198.50)
Seat 2: twopairharry ($110.40)
Seat 4: BeerMe ($200)
Seat 5: LTHHHI ($606.90)
Seat 6: Hero ($243)
twopairharry posts the small blind of $0.50
BeerMe posts the big blind of $1
The button is in seat #1

Holecards:
Dealt to Hero [ ]
LTHHHI calls $1
Hero has 15 seconds left to act
Hero raises to $6
KATOK_RUS folds
twopairharry has 15 seconds left to act
twopairharry folds
BeerMe adds $1
BeerMe folds
LTHHHI calls $5

Flop :
[ ]
LTHHHI checks
Hero has 15 seconds left to act
Hero bets $9
LTHHHI calls $9

Turn :
[ ] [ ]
LTHHHI bets $21
Hero has 15 seconds left to act
Hero has requested TIME
Hero raises to $80
LTHHHI has 15 seconds left to act
LTHHHI calls $59

River :
[ ] [ ]
LTHHHI checks
Hero has 15 seconds left to act
Hero has requested TIME
Hero bets $148 and is all in
LTHHHI has 15 seconds left to act
LTHHHI calls $148

Showdown :
Hero shows [ ] three of a kind Queens
LTHHHI mucks
Hero wins the pot ($484 .50) with three of a kind Queens

SUMMARY:
Total pot $487 .50 | Rake $3
Board:
[ ]
Seat 1: KATOK_RUS (button) didn't bet (folded)
Seat 2: twopairharry (small blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 4: BeerMe (big blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 5: LTHHHI mucked [ ] - a pair of Nines
Seat 6: Hero showed [ ] and won ($484.50) with three of a kind, Queens

I have yet to make a cold 4bet bluff that's worked, ever since I saw tufat do it (unsuccessfully) in a CR video I've been trying it, it seemed like a good situation too. Button raise, TAG SB 3bet, me playing tight in the BB cold-4betting. Obv he snap shoves, zz.. Otherwise it was pretty uneventful and I need to maintain my tables more because I never do well on those tables with five regs.

Here are my two favorite hands from the past couple weeks.

I would define the villain in this hand as a bad TAG, he 3-bet me two or three times in succession and then FC here in the SB. I knew given he had 3bet in the past three times he'd 3bet 100% here for value, thus like 0% of his range hits this flop. I float w/ this hand just in case for whatever reason my read is off given limited expeirnece I have added equity. I also do so to maximize value so he can bluff the turn. I RAI so he can't value-bluff shove the river w like 34 suited or QJ or something.

FullTiltPoker Game #6614347180: Table Stormson (6 max) - $0.50/$1 - No Limit Hold'em - 17:29:24 ET - 2008/05/29
Seat 1: ggblnt ($100.50)
Seat 2: UCbananaboy ($114.60)
Seat 3: fastech ($114.30)
Seat 4: portland ($216.45)
Seat 5: Hero ($123.75)
Seat 6: JohnnyScotch ($100)
ggblnt posts the small blind of $0.50
UCbananaboy posts the big blind of $1
The button is in seat #6

Holecards:
Dealt to Hero [ ]
fastech folds
portland folds
Hero raises to $3.50
JohnnyScotch folds
ggblnt calls $3
UCbananaboy folds

Flop:
[ ]
ggblnt checks
Hero has 15 seconds left to act
Hero bets $5
ggblnt raises to $14
Hero has 15 seconds left to act
Hero calls $9

Turn :
[ ] [ ]
ggblnt bets $21
Hero has 15 seconds left to act
Hero raises to $83
ggblnt has 15 seconds left to act
ggblnt adds $38
ggblnt folds
Uncalled bet of $62 returned to Hero
Hero shows [ ] Ace King high
Hero wins the pot ($75)

SUMMARY :
Total pot $78 | Rake $3
Board:
[ ]
Seat 1: ggblnt (small blind) folded on the Turn
Seat 2: UCbananaboy (big blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 3: fastech didn't bet (folded)
Seat 4: portland didn't bet (folded)
Seat 5: Hero collected ($75)
Seat 6: JohnnyScotch (button) didn't bet (folded)

Hand two:

Seat 2: Ach1ll3z ($198.50)
Seat 3: SignorSquishy ($58.25)
Seat 4: Hero ($112.40)
Seat 5: Monster95 ($67.65)
Seat 6: cwdub420 ($70.95)
Monster95 posts the small blind of $0.50
cwdub420 posts the big blind of $1
The button is in seat #4

Holecards:
Dealt to Hero [ ]
Ach1ll3z folds
SignorSquishy has 15 seconds left to act
SignorSquishy raises to $3.50
Hero calls $3.50
Monster95 calls $3
cwdub420 calls $2.50

Flop :
[ ]
Monster95 checks
cwdub420 checks
SignorSquishy checks
Hero has 15 seconds left to act
Hero checks

Turn :
[ ] [ ]
Monster95 checks
cwdub420 checks
SignorSquishy bets $8
Hero has 15 seconds left to act
Hero calls $8
Monster95 calls $8
cwdub420 folds

River :
[ ] [ ]
Monster95 checks
SignorSquishy bets $46.75, and is all in
Hero has 15 seconds left to act
Hero has requested TIME
Hero calls $46.75
Monster95 folds

Showdown :
SignorSquishy shows [ ] two pair Tens and Fives
Hero shows [ ] two pair Tens and Nines
Hero wins the pot ($128 .50) with two pair Tens and Nines
SignorSquishy is sitting out

SUMMARY:
Total pot $131 .50 | Rake $3
Board:
[ ]
Seat 2: Ach1ll3z didn't bet (folded)
Seat 3: SignorSquishy showed [ ] and lost with two pair Tens and Fives
Seat 4: Hero (button) showed [ ] and won ($128 .50) with two pair Tens and Nines
Seat 5: Monster95 (small blind) folded on the River
Seat 6: cwdub420 (big blind) folded on the Turn

Here villain was again a bad TAG, but this time because he was aggro in the wrong spots. He was running at like 30/28/4 ATM, when he didn't bet the flop I thought he had air 80% on the turn and maybe a 10 10%, as I thought he might bet the 10 on the flop but for sure he'd bet any other decent hand. The river comes pretty bad but when he overbet shoves I figure there's no way he has a 10, and he is pretty bad at handreading cause one of us could easily have one given the action. I don't love this play as much as much as the previous as I can be wrong here a larger %, but it just felt like he was FOS at the time.

Turns out SB played this the worst cause he claimed to have a J afterwards.

Well my revelations have gone well so far, I've been playing some sick good poker at least in cash. I've been hand reading really well lately, I made a nice calldown of an overbet shove in a four-way pot w 3rd pair on a paired board and was correct. Luckily I also got someone to fold TP that was also in the pot by calling the overbet shove, but he played it bad, not betting the turn in the SB on a J108xss board. I also VB A-high on a 24443 board which felt pretty good, getting called by Q high. Now I'm just wondering if I could've bet more..

I also have upped my ATS to 40-50 on pretty much all tables, I'm sure people are getting more fed up with me and the most important thing is I don't have people CC me in position and floating me all over the place and making life hell.

Well I'm at work right now so I'll update more soon, life is good.

So I've had a few more "a ha" poker moments in the last few days, one insanely obvious and one not so obvious that I think will both improve my game.

I was reading aejones Well on 2+2 and he talked about position and for some reason it clicked with me to start shutting down more in EP and become crazier in LP. I raise a wider range IP for sure but my range isn't nearly as skewed as it should be, my attempt to steal should be 40-50 and I should be raising much narrower UTG and UTG+1. I think I'll maintain the same success though with raising big hands up front because people will perceive my range as wider because I am crazier elsewhere.

My second realization has to do with SnGs. I think my only leak is my pushing range during certain periods. To help solve this problem, I am going to think before my hand is dealt about what the bottom of my pushing range is given table conditions, and then make a decision based on my hand instead of going on "feel" after seeing my hand which is a pretty bad thing to do.

I am really close to 200NL, I have to decide what I think my buyin requirement should be before I move though. Many people would already be there with my current roll, but I am going to hold off until I know I am comfortable with the stakes.

So I've finally figured out how to play SNGs. Turns out you can suck and then learn how to play poker.

There are a few reasons why I've become better. Firstly, I don't play turbos anymore, so there's less variance. I always felt like I missed pushes in the turbos and that cost me pretty dearly. Secondly, I learned how to resteal without the goods. I've always been a pretty big nit but resteals are supppper profitable. Third, I don't multi-table more than 2 so I can concentrate on game flow and my image.

I built up the bankroll for $60s through cash, which probably made me better at SnGs in the process.

Good day today, although it could have been better. Studied bigtime for my final tomorrow and had a game going at the same time all day, so I got in plenty of hands, mostly in SnGs but also booked 2 buyins when I four-tabled some cash. I shattered the 5k barrier and feel real good about my game right now, which is always a huge part of future successes.

Lets hope I'm real confident about International Marketing as well tomorrow.

I'm pretty proud of myself, I felt real good today almost hitting 5k and then I decided to take my adderrolness to the tables at home, starting off five tabling and I quickly lost control, had no feel for the tables and basically spewed money, starting with a runner runner straight hit by someone w/ 15BB left in a RR pot that I called, which tilted me. I proceeded to make OOP calls with 97s and get stacked by J10 and also some other stuff I can't remember, but as of now I've recovered, basically by taking one risk at the end of the sesh I ALMOST played perfectly (according to me). I played it pretty ballsy considering I could easily have gotten sucked out on but whatevs, I think I (almost) maximized earn.

I also played one other pot I'm pretty proud of:

I RR KK against someone who appears to be a reg, he FC on the button. I'm in the BB. I bet a 910J two spades flop, turn is a Q. I WILL NEVER EVER GET PAID HERE BY WORSE. So I check. He snap checks, I snap check the river and he VBs a set of 9s, I shove he calls ship $70 bucks I earned.

Sometimes you just have to check hoping they VB worse cause they will never call worse

I was also the victim of this later when I vb trips on a three flush and he called me down with trips A kicker. They were 8s so I thought for sure I was ahead..

bed

Life is extremely good right now. I'm hardly playing poker but I'm winning and almost to 5k in my bankroll. Also I am about to move into a house that is nicer than 90% of the population will ever live in with 5 of my closest friends for my senior year, so I am super super excited.

They took the pictures down online but I'll eventually post them, its a two story with five bedrooms. The master is HUGE, it has a bathroom with a huge tub and two walk in closets for him and her, along with a huge shower and a private toilet so people can get ready while someone else is dropping a deuce. Plus it has a balcony with a beautiful view of the OC as we're up on a hill. We're going to share the master 4 months of the year and have our own room 8 months so it won't be a huge deal, plus the master is SO nice it won't really matter.

It also has a three car garage, one of which used to be a gym so we could easily transform that if we want to. It has three living rooms, a huge pantry + fridge, basically its amazing. Its only 3500 too so I think we're definitely getting value for our $. The only negative is its 12 or so minutes from my University, so gas will run up a little over time.

I have no desire to play poker really but I know I need to, cause at this rate I won't be making any real money until I graduate in a year and I feel like I'm easily capable of moving faster than that. I'm starting to look at cars as that seems to be my next monetary goal, but I also know it's -EV to get a depreciable asset. I think I'm going to get a three or four year old Mercedes or BMW that has already passed the biggest depreciation years, we'll see. I'm really really tired of my 2000 Kia Spectra though.

The other part that means life is +EV right now is that school is over after finals next week, can't wait. I just need to finish strong and pull all B's and maybe one A, we'll see. No reason not to.

I feel like every time I make a blog post I have a new revelation about poker, but really I think I'm right this time. NL is where its at, at least for me. I just feel like I'm a loser at Omaha right now, I have no clue why but I'm not sure when to bet when to raise etc and in general I just feel really lost. In reality I probably just ran bad at the end but you never know anymore.

Omaha at the very worst has taught me to take shots at more pots in NL and that will hopefully help my image and help me get paid off elsewhere. Before I think I would c/r gutshots and stuff trying to take down pots without every really just firing. Maybe I'm just feeling great about the games cause they've been loaded with fish the past few days I decided to switch back.

I've ran good too, but I shrug it off cause I feel like its makeup for 400BB pots lost w 67% equity on the flop. I had AQ vs 22 on a AQ2, riv Q obv so that was nice, and AQ v KK AIPF river A obv ship ship. I also got it in w a set w/ a blocker vs a bare flush draw and survived, so that was nice.

I'm also likely Raptor's advice about not using HUD, I think I have a better concept of game flow and when people are getting pissed at me raising etc and when RR is good and when its terrible etc. In general I'm happy about poker again and happieness EV is always great.

In life I need to have a productive weekend, I have projects coming up and finals so I need to pump some stuff out, including a semesters worth of HW for one class. I've also ate like shit the past few days so I'm going to try and cut back this weekend to feel a bit more sevelte. I'm looking forward to seeing Iron Man tomorrow so hopefully that happens and I also get a shit load of work done, but likely its probably going to be one or the other.

I also really need a house, really really. I want something balla but I feel bad only finding houses that will have 600 rents for all of my friends without jobs and that aren't graduating like I am. My goal in life has always been to get better year after year so I have to improve on my current situation, which is pretty nice for a college house in its own right.

Apparently blogging is +EV because I've shot upward since my last post, running my bankroll to 4.5k by winning some $55s and winning twoish buyins playing PLO. I'm having a lot of fun learning PLO. At the levels I play I feel like the plays that will make the most money happen when I RR good non AA hands in pos or out HU and betting when you hit and having someone else shove some crap like bottom two or top two w/ no redraw because they think you have bare Aces and getting it in rrreeeaalll good.

I think some current leaks I've had recently are the following: playing too many top-gap hands, playing a little too loose UTG, calling with a bare A-high FD oop two-way, and calling 3-bets with hands that are dominated by a given players RR range. These are probably pretty big leaks of a lot of new PLO players.

I think I need to start FC IP w the nuts on superdrawy boards, I need to study more of this though cause I'm not sure of the circumstances when this is correct. I think FC raises w top set should probably happen more too because I feel like I'm folding out other hands sooooo often. I also need to find spots to lead big hands and weak ones.

In summary I need to learn PLO.

I'm not sure if I'll up my bankroll requirements to move up to 200 PLO because my original goals had about a 30 buyin buffer but at PLO that might not be sufficient enough of a roll. I'll do some more analysis of that on the PLO boards, I'd like to hear what some CR pros say about that though.