Hey guys, well it has come that time of year again, the big decision whether to take the poker player's journey to Vegas for the WSOP or stay at home and grind. I certainly have a love hate relationship with tournaments and the WSOP in general. In 2006, I just graduated college and was playing tournaments and SNG's for a living, really not having a clue about poker but thankfully neither did practically anyone else and the poker boom was just about at an all time high. I lost in 4 tournaments inside 200 people for the chip lead pair over pair and in two situations my opponent went on to win the tourney. Not saying I would have won any of these, but assuming I win these 4 80/20 spots, I think I make a min of one final table and at that point it probably would have changed the arc of my poker career for better or worse. For better it made me finally switch over a year later to cash games and it also allowed me to stay at home with my now wife instead of traveling to play live. For worse, I was playing 5-10 successfully live (again without a clue, amazing how little clue I had), and I might not have looked back if I had a few big cashes under my belt.

In total I have played in 4 WSOP main events and have not cashed once. In fact, the last three times I have been out to Vegas for the WSOP I have lost money on the trip that hurt my bankroll (although admittedly a lot of that is owed to having some amazing times with my buddies that I will remember for the rest of my life).

Despite my lack of success in live poker since I turned into a cash game online player, it is really tough to simply ignore the World Series. I am the only Internet cash game guy that I know who never misses any televised poker tourney because I still love the game, and there is really no better feeling than winning a tourney or catching a big score. First of all, there is really no better opportunity to win life changing amounts of money. Secondly, I will admit to the ego pull it has over me. It is sort of difficult to say you play poker for a living, but are not playing the main event, especially when my wife's uncle plays it every year as a prototypical recreational player. Finally, although I am far from a great tournament player, the main event in particular offers a skill advantage like no other tourney and the incredible structure plays so much more like a cash game than just about any tournament I have played in except possibly the Borgata deepstack series.

Of course there are plenty of negatives that come along with playing in the Series. The most obvious problem is the expense that comes from playing in so few tournies. As I am sure you all know, I am an extreme bankroll nit, and it makes very little sense for me to invest quite a bit of money in games that are not my specialty (even if I am selling off a significant chunk of myself). What also of course comes from the expense is the exceptional amount of variance, something that I normally would not put up with if there were not these possible gigantic payoffs. Finally going out there definitely upsets my normal life, I am married so I plenty of responsibilities that come along with that, as well as missing out on at least two weeks of grinding online.

I think my overall lack of planning probably in itself has made the decision for me, but we shall see. I was planning on killing it this month and then riding that rush, but am stuck 6k in ev this month so it has been quite a struggle. The weird thing is, normally when poker is going that frustratingly bad, my overall mood is quite poor away from the tables but things seem to be going well for me. I think I am playing really well, am working hard on my game, recently moved into a sweet apartment, have been exercising a lot more, and just feel good in general and think that poker will turn around in a big way soon. I had my biggest winning day at 1-2 today so hopefully that is the start of the turn around. I will keep everyone updated on my progress and decisions.

For now, be on the look out for my videos on CR: I just released a 2 part leakfinder and coming out next week will actually be my first live play video where you can see what I am thinking about throughout a session.

Also I have been totally obsessed with how great Charles Ramsay is and love these series of videos.

http://youtu.be/axCn04iXkBg

http://youtu.be/Xjkce4b6l40

http://youtu.be/nZcRU0Op5P4

http://youtu.be/03pAFdIJgpg

Salud!

Hey guys, long time no blog huh? Been sort of a crazy time in my life because my wife and I are considering moving for her job, not far away but we are definitely creatures of habit and that has been a big debate. Additionally, I have been moving up and working extremely hard on my game and enough people started to use hands that I posted here to add to their reads about me and my game that I ended up still working hard on reviews but not posting them in my blog.

The big reason for blogging tonight was to hopefully direct you guys to some of the videos that I have put out this month.

3/11- I took some of the more interesting hands from my recent play both poorly and well played and analyzed some unique lines and perspectives that I think are often overlooked

3/20- I reviewed my first leakfinder in awhile where the CR member said that his results really improved a lot after that session so I think its worth taking a look at

4/04- this was one of my favorite videos because I talked a lot about my approach to poker away from the table and then applied it when analyzing a few interesting hands

Please let me know what you think of my previous content and what new things that I can try to help the community. Good luck at the tables guys

Salud!

Hey guys, wow I can't believe the ride the Ravens went on this year and I was so happy that I was able to find a

way to make it down to New Orleans and experience the game and also everything that led up to it. As I am sure

you could have guessed, I am far from a picture guy, but once we got home I was actually really happy that my

wife stopped and took a bunch of pictures to help remember that awesome weekend, so here with the help of my

incredibly limited computer skills is a brief trip report from my New Orleans Super Bowl trip.

¯»¿

Hey guys, can't believe its real but tomorrow afternoon my wife and I as well as my my buddy are going to be getting on a flight to New Orleans, SUPER BOWL BABY! I felt like I was grinding the phone lines and internet and contacts looking for options just about as hard as I was grinding poker this month. I ended up finding goal line seats 25 rows up for only twice face value. Considering my price range for awhile was looking like I would be up in the corner nose bleeds (and if you can see the view the players look like they are not much bigger than dots), being 25 rows from the field is really exciting and since my season tickets are only 3 rows up I really love being close to the field. I also last minute switched from a hotel 45 minutes away to 8 minutes drive from the stadium and bourbon street so that was a great upgrade and will make traveling and finding a cab down there much more doable. It's surreal that this is actually happening and that this team is actually in the Super Bowl but I can't wait, I'm so pumped. It definitely made that crazy grind of 175k hands all worth it this month.

I will post a blog later on about poker this month and some important things that I learned. Also Mdoran and I put out a video Monday and I think the 11th of February I have another individual video scheduled. As always, I would love some leakfinder submissions, as well as maybe a few hand histories with detailed history and info so I can put together a video helping out the CR submissions. Also, I am looking for a few more students so please contact me for information.

Man I am so amped up for this game, this season has just been so crazy considering I gave us no chance to beat Denver, very little chance to beat New England, and now San Fran is probably the best team we have played all year. I think they have a better offense with a completely dominating offensive line and a great gameplanner in Jim Harbaugh and a unique and poised QB, have the best defense in the league, and probably have the best or second best coach in the league. From a logical perspective I think they should be at least the 3.5 pt favorite they are if not more, but for some reason the Ravens seem to defy the numbers and the matchups. Hopefully this can happen one more time, just so awesome I was there for Ray's first game and now his last. WOW, can't wait! Going to be great and scary and emotional either way. GO RAVENS

Salud!

Hey guys, wow I cant believe it, THE RAVENS ARE IN THE SUPER BOWL. I said this about the team that got to the AFC championship game 5 years ago, but there is nothing better than having an unexpected playoff run; for this diehard fan it was truly shocking. I mean no other team has ever gone through Tom Brady and Peyton Manning. Plus I don't think this is our best team in the last 5 years of playoff runs by far, especially given all of the injuries the team has faced. The only drawback to not expecting a deep playoff run is just how expensive going to the Super Bowl is. The hungover day following the AFC championship game, I was frantically trying to find ways to get there and I was totally shocked what I found. Almost all of the plane tickets were sold out from all of the DC/Baltimore and New Orleans/Baton Rouge/Biloxi airports and those that I have found are over $1200 a person! Hotels hurt too, anywhere within a cab to the stadium are going to cost ~2k for 3 nights. And then the fucking tickets. Good Lord. Right now the cheapest ticket online was 2100 bucks for one ticket, and those views are so poor that I would be better off in front of my 83 inch tv. I was really hoping I would win the PSL lottery but lost that for the second time. I am starting to panic that I might not be able to attend Ray Lewis' last game, but I really need to find a way. Please if anyone has any suggestions/hints/contacts, please let me know!

Outside of this amazing football run, I probably have been just about the most boring person you can imagine. I have put in over 145k hands so far this month, and am up quite a bit so it has been successful not only in the volume (I think my previous high number of hands in a month was 120k and I have a week to go) but am really happy in general with my game, spending at least an hour very early in the morning to have a smoke and review hands. I definitely have the bankroll and the confidence to move up in levels next month (of course getting the money off websites is another problem entirely).

I also have been sticking to a strict 1800 calorie diet (outside of Ravens playoff days) and have already lost 10-12 lbs. Next month I am definitely going to start incorporating a more vigorous work out routine to go along with the diet.

Finally, Mdoran and I are releasing another video on Monday. In this video we reviewed some hands that were giving Matt some difficulty while he was attempting to move up, and I think there are a lot of topics that most low-mid level players struggle with that were analyzed in great depth. In addition to this video, you should be expecting an even higher video output from me in the future. We are looking at assigning my videos a regular time that you should be expecting them so if you have any requests for video topics/styles please let me know. I also would really appreciate a few leakfinder submissions. I think this is a great opportunity for players to get some individual instruction and help with their game from me so please contact me if you are interested.

Wish me luck this week trying to find a way to get to New Orleans, GO RAVENS!

Salud!

WOW, just unreal. I really cannot believe that just happened! As my friends can attest to I do enjoy using some reverse jinxes from time to time but I can definitely say I am completely shocked that the Ravens won that game. I thought prior to the game that in order to win we would need a defensive or special teams td, but if you would have told me that we gave up one punt return and one kickoff return for tds and still won the game I would never believe you. I mean I was thoroughly convinced we lost that game 5 or 6 times, and outside of winning the Super Bowl, or potentially the second round game at Tennessee in 2000, I have never been this excited about a Ravens win. In my best sports writer impersonation, here are some of my thoughts on the game in no particular order:

Finally putting in Bryant McKinnie in at LT, switching Oher to RT and Osemele to LG made all the difference in the world the last two games, Flacco was only hit once all game and those great pass rushers we heard about all week were not heard from

At the beginning of the year, I thought cornerback was our deepest position, and although both first round draft pick Jimmy Smith and Cary Williams have been disappointments this year, that depth has really paid off with Corey Graham and Chykie Brown making game changing plays

I was listening to Sportsguy's podcast before week 15 and he had on Aaron Schatz who is a stat genius who said that through 14 weeks, not only were the Ravens special teams the best in the NFL, it was the best they had ever charted in about 20 years. Makes sense considering we hired a special teams coach to be our head coach which is just about unheard of in the NFL. Well immediately after that podcast the Ravens allowed a punt return in overtime against the Skins that decided the game and now we see this huge pile of crap with two returns for tds. Harbaugh should be exceptionally thankful we won this game because mistakes like this if I were the owner would be firable offenses due to his expertise.

It took a half to realize, but finally I think our defensive coordinator Dean Pees recognized that the front four is simply not talented enough or healthy enough to win 1 on 1 matchups and the only way to rattle Peyton was by blitzing 5 or more people. I was shocked it took this long, because all year we were so much more successful blitzing than dropping back in zone, but it really changed the defensive outlook. (I am always more of a fan of challenging great qbs than being worried and sitting back and allowing them to pick you apart with shorter passes)

I have never been a huge fan of his in the pros (in college he was an absolute monster at Georgia), but the injury to Knowshon Moreno was a game changer. The Broncos were forced to rotate between a 180 lb rookie, or a converted fb Jacob Hester. They lost the big play ability in Moreno, and at the same time lost a competent pass blocker and allowed the Ravens to focus more on the dangerous wideouts.

It would be amazing if Flacco was able to more consistently hit Torrey Smith on deep balls. Now I totally understand he had an amazing throw on the second possession for a td, and threw another td to Smith at the end of the half, but he missed two passes badly that would have also resulted in touchdowns. On top of that, his second td pass was such a crazy bad read with Champ Bailey staring directly at the QB with amazing position, it took a phenomenal effort by Smith to catch the second one. There have been times in previous seasons that missing a wide open deep ball has cost us a win in the playoffs and I am worried we might see that again.

WITH THAT SAID, every article I have read or highlight show I have watched has blamed the Broncos safety Moore for his horrible coverage at the end of regulation. While it is certainly a rule of all safeties in prevent situations to get deeper than the deepest, I have to give full credit to Joe Flacco for an amazing throw. Before the playoffs started, Ron Jaworski ranked Flacco the 7th best qb in the league. I couldn't believe it when I read the article, but Jaws constantly praises Flacco for his toughness which no one can deny, as well as having the biggest arm in the league. Well he certainly displayed it where he lofted a ball under a pass rush over 60 yards in the air. While Moore committed a terrible mistake, I am not sure I can blame him too much for simply not thinking Joe could throw it over him from that spot, and incredibly a prayer was answered.

John Fox should definitely be criticized for conservative decisions in this game. Most notably the decision to run a fb dive with 35 seconds and 3 timeouts at the end of the half and kneeling down and taking it to overtime with 31 seconds and 2 timeouts at the end of regulation. Outside of maybe Von Miller, Manning is your best player and definitely your most trusted played when the game is on the line, as a Ravens fan I could not have been happier when he gave up in these two spots and that in itself probably shows what a mistake it was. FWIW, Christian Ponder earlier this year converted a field goal with 14 seconds left from the 31 and one timeout.

Ray Lewis had 17 tackles and was all over the field. The last two years I have heard a ton about how he has lost a step and is not the same player. NO SHIT! But this just speaks to his greatness. He is still a top 10 middle linebacker in the league and on special days like this can help to influence a game throughout.

Finally I have to say the Ravens resiliency is really amazing. I can't tell you how many times as a diehard fan and a diehard realist that I thought the game was over, only for them to bounce back. Hell can you start a game or a second half any worse than they did?

I look forward to talking to my dad tomorrow and comparing how this stacks up to the great Baltimore Colts battles, but without any research I would definitely think this the third best game in Baltimore history behind "THE DRIVE" and winning the Super Bowl for the first time as the Ravens. Still just such an amazing game and seeing all of the guys reactions after the game, WOW what an emotional game!

Looking forward to visiting either my in laws in Boston or going to Houston for the first time next week. 2 down, to more to go!

Salud!

Hey guys, been a really crazy month so far for me. And by crazy I mean I have been ridiculously boring because really all I have been doing is grinding and looking forward to the next playoff football games. I think I have grinded till 4 or 5am in the morning most days and even was grinding while just listening to last saturday's football games. I think I have put in 80k hands so far this month. Really just an insane number for me, and I will certainly tell you that I have not played my best because of this crazy grind, but I am going to try to move up and not look back to the next level in February so I am going to use this month to just grind a ton of hands and pad my bankroll in anticipation of that. It has been a really crazy stretch, the first five days resulted in a really big upswing and everything could not have gone smoother. This was followed by a horrible day where I was down 12bi and made all of that back. Then I went through two absolutely terrible days where I felt really lost in my game and clueless what my opponents were doing. It is really crazy how fast things can change in poker, but I finally came back with a big day yesterday and won 10 of the 20 buy ins back. I'm sure with the rakeback all of these hands will result in a nice month, but I want to crush the games, not only the grind. The other cool part about my grind is that I have still been able to put in at least an hour of study each day after I grind so I think my game is improving and more importantly my adjustments to other regs in the games are getting better. Wish me luck so far my goal of getting in 150k hands is going well.

I just got finished watching my traditional 2000 Ravens second round game against Tennessee, and really it has just made me nervous for tomorrow. Normally I cannot sleep before Ravens playoff games but this is really one that I'd rather put off for as long as possible. Just on the pure eye test, this team does not have what it takes to beat a good team in the playoffs. The defense is the worst it has been in 13 years, Joe Flacco is still the most lifeless, terrible leader, and braindead qb in the league, and we haven't beaten Peyton Manning since 2001. Really just not a lot of reasons to like the Ravens to win here. I think in order to pull the massive upset, the Ravens need a big play on special teams, Flacco needs to play a huge game, they need to control the tempo of the game by making it slower, and Manning has to either be effected by the weather or the pass rush. I don't see the Ravens winning at all, and have said this for many weeks now that they would be two and done in the playoffs, but with Ray Lewis' impending retirement, I know for a fact they will play as hard as humanly possible, and maybe maybe maybe something good can happen.

BTW, please check out this article, I think it very well encapsulates my feelings on the Ray Lewis charges, and also retorts an article that drove me so insane that was shown on baltimoresun.com that I called two different editors to voice my displeasure about this incredibly irresponsible journalism.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1473116-ray-lewis-critics-who-bring-up-controversial-past-need-to-get-facts-straight

Also check out the video embedded in the article, definitely a remarkable story and I love that Ray Lewis has made it one of his life goals to encourage the family unit and the importance of having both parents in a child's life. Just a remarkable player and person. Wish the Ravens luck tomorrow guys, and pray for my health either way because I will probably have about 10 heart attacks during the game, GO RAVENS. Also a Duke loss 4 of the last 5 years has corresponded that weekend with a Ravens playoff loss so this game at a very talented NC State team will have all sorts of nonsensical and illogical implications for me so GO DUKE

Salud!

Hey guys, phew I am a little tired. Been a nice grind so far this month, have played about 40k hands already! My wife just started a new job and has been working insane hours and that has really motivated me to work as hard as possible with poker.

Tomorrow is going to be really special because more likely than not, it will be Ray Lewis' last game in Baltimore. He has been with the Ravens since the start of the franchise, and it will really be surreal for him not to be playing for us anymore. The Ravens were really lucky that in their first draft ever, in the first round they drafted in my opinion the best left tackle ever in Jon Ogden and the best defensive player ever in Ray Lewis. This week listening to all of the media coverage about Ray Lewis' career has mostly annoyed me. First of all, I have heard multiple media types insinuate or outright say that he was part of a murder in Atlanta. While it is true that he was in the vicinity of that tragedy, in no way was he part of the murder of anyone. As a young kid, he made a stupid mistake and covered for friends of his by at first not talking to police; but not talking to police and being a part of a murder are such far chasms that I find it amazing that some journalists have insinuated as such. With that said, that situation really changed his life and now there are countless stories from nfl players, or normal people in the Baltimore and Florida areas that have been impacted by him. Trent Dilfer said on Wednesday that not only was Ray the best player he ever played with, but also the best person. The other thing that annoyed me this week were hearing debates about whether he was the best middle linebacker or not. How is this even close!?!?!? He changed the position of linebacker. Ray is unquestionably the best pure tackler of all time. Yet he had the pure speed that Butkus or Singletary lacked. Also he evolved with the game, he was on the field every down as it became more of a passing league, and was a great pass rusher and could cover tight ends and rbs. The real question is not whether he is the best linebacker, but is he the best defensive player of all time. Obviously I am incredibly biased but I really think only LT has a legitimate argument, and Ray's longevity I think is the deciding factor in that debate. When he comes out of the tunnel I expect it to probably be the loudest it has ever been in that stadium.

I don't have a ton of expectations for this playoff run, but I would really be shocked if this is even a close game tomorrow. I think the Ravens are a really good home team, rookies typically do not play their best in their first post season game as quarterbacks, and the Ravens should be able to run all over the Colts. As per tradition, I am rewatching the 2000 divisional game vs the Broncos. Just so much fun seeing just how good that team was, by far the most dominating defense of all time. It also brings up some amazing memories being the last game that I went to with my grandfather, hopefully all of the old Baltimore Colts (the only real Colts) fans will finally see a win in the playoffs against Indy. Really can't wait for tomorrow, it should be a blast, and hopefully it will not be too stressful!

Salud!

Edit: It is amazing watching the way football used to be played. Trent Dilfer suffered a nasty sack where the blitzer dove head first helmet to helmet and the announcers were commentating what an amazing hit it was, I definitely miss that era of football.

Hey guys, been a long time in coming for a blog post for me. I had about a week and a half of hand histories that I needed to post, and then I had two very frustrating days of poker where I played 23k hands and nothing really went my way before Christmas. I then decided to make those two days of hand histories into a video that was released earlier this week so please check those out because I learned a lot from my own video and hopefully it can help you too. I used a lot of those ideas and some run good to go on a great heater the last 5 days, I think I am up about 45 bi. When I am on a good heater, I tend to play a ton and not do much work away from the tables so at the end I included a few interesting hands and some thoughts on what I need to work on in the future, as always these are my biggest losing hands:

http://weaktight.com/5302070

Not thrilled with my play here, I think its pretty marginal at best and I definitely need to fold here

http://weaktight.com/5302072

JJ < AK

http://weaktight.com/5302073

QQ < AK

http://weaktight.com/5302076

Ughhhh AA < AK

http://weaktight.com/5302074

I think checking back the turn here might be the superior play, especially considering this guy is much looser than most regs. With that said, I was having a hard time finding a range that beat me here, I thought any Ax with spade draw would raise flop and his most obvious Ax that would call me is AQ and I have a lot of card removal. My buddies pretty much said that despite the small amount of combos, he so rarely is not best here that I should fold

http://weaktight.com/5302077

same guy, same weird spot, probably similar analysis that he is never really bluffing here and I am not at the top of my range so I should have folded

http://weaktight.com/5302078

God maybe this is a fold too

http://weaktight.com/5302080

Another tough spot, another fold spot

http://weaktight.com/5302081

Poor board runout

http://weaktight.com/5302082

Unlucky, finally made a good fold though

http://weaktight.com/5307282

AQ < JJ, really sick spot because he 3bets something insane like 38% in this spot

http://weaktight.com/5307283

I didn't think he had many bluffs in his range, but I think this is just such a strong hand here in 3bet pot, especially considering he is calling with hands like 85ss and he is a very aggro player.

http://weaktight.com/5307284

Ughhh this is a puke spot on the turn

http://weaktight.com/5307287

Lol, no idea how he has 99 here, and no idea how I am beat here unless he calls me two streets with AT, but this one stunk

http://weaktight.com/5307288

I like this bluff spot, and I really like this bluff size, just unfortunate he panic called me with 1 second left.

http://weaktight.com/5308868

Love my play here, if I saw his hand face up on the river I would have done the exact same thing, and he called me rather quickly so I am totally fine with using that info and exploiting him later on

http://weaktight.com/5308872

QQ < AA

http://weaktight.com/5308874

AQ < AK, I thought I set this up absolutely perfectly, and he is the type that could even call here with AJ/KQ and all of the small pp

http://weaktight.com/5308877

KK < AK

http://weaktight.com/5308879

77 < AK 3 handed

http://weaktight.com/5308880

Man terrible call on the river, he is bluffy but he is not the type to just totally lose his mind, and I think this rivered backdoor diamond draw gave me a way out of this hand and I did not take it

http://weaktight.com/5308888

Gross, btw I think my blocker bet here is quite poor, I think most people are going to be happy about checking down two pair type hands on the river which are the only hands I can beat

http://weaktight.com/5308891

I like this overbet a lot, but this is a really poor card to do it with because I think this completes two pair for him a lot in this spot

http://weaktight.com/5308894

unlucky

http://weaktight.com/5308898

Happy I slowplayed KK

http://weaktight.com/5308905

Honestly I don't even think this is an auto raise here on the river, but because he called in the sb, there are just so few combos that he can have here I think it is a raise and when he shoves I just about snap folded because I don't think he is good enough to use card removal to bluff shove a hand like AJ with ace of spades

http://weaktight.com/5314163

Unlucky

http://weaktight.com/5314165

Man, this guy just seems to hit so many hands against me, but at the same time, I am just adjusting really poorly. I think this was a big time mistake by me here, I think his betsizing is probably really strong and I just don't have enough equity to make this move.

http://weaktight.com/5314167

ughhhh

http://weaktight.com/5314170

yuck

http://weaktight.com/5314174

I actually think that this should be a fold, he makes such a big raise that he is clearly pot committed and because he is not a total maniac that has a small chance of getting in worse or folding here. With that said, I really thought the only flush draw he could have is Aqss but somehow he had A5ss to calling a 3bet OOP

http://weaktight.com/5314175

AK < QQ

http://weaktight.com/5314176

AK < 99

http://weaktight.com/5314177

So I knew when I called the turn he probably had an overpair or TPTK. On the river it is really tough to take poor players off of big hands, but I really thought that this board is ideal to take him off a hand, but I guess this was wrong, certainly not a bluff I would regularly try to do so I won't sweat it too much

http://weaktight.com/5314179

I thought this guy was much fishier based on 20 hands than he actually was, and thus I would not float here normally against a better player who ended up being a regular

http://weaktight.com/5314182

It took me awhile to catch onto this guy because he checkraises turns and rivers more than absolutely anyone I have ever seen, but now I have a good feel for his ranges and can exploit them, fwiw if I was faced with this spot now I probably would have called too

http://weaktight.com/5314184

Ughhh how is the 3 not a total blank?

http://weaktight.com/5314187

At the time I really liked this bluff, but like I talked to my friends about, even as believable as my line was, I think trying to get players in this era of poker to fold top pair good kicker is a very tough thing

http://weaktight.com/5314190

I think my bet sizing on the river is a little too big here, because what happens is his calling range becomes really narrowed and then I can't beat a ton of his narrowed calling range

http://weaktight.com/5314192

unlucky

http://weaktight.com/5314193

I think I lose my stack regardless here, but his 3bet calling range is quite wide so I wanted to give him the opportunity to bluff off his stack here

http://weaktight.com/5314202

Yuck

http://weaktight.com/5314203

I definitely think the river is a call against this player

http://weaktight.com/5314205

Wow, never expected this hand to show up

http://weaktight.com/5314211

This might be the grossest fold ever, it is definitely close and I have a close poker buddy that would 100% fold here, if he made it like 50 I would have folded but I think this is probably a close math call

http://weaktight.com/5314215

Same sort of line here, except I think this river is far more of a fold than the above hand

http://weaktight.com/5314217

one worse

http://weaktight.com/5314222

This was a really tough spot, this was a weaker player that doesn't mind getting in his stack super light. He has a 3bet % of 10% on the button, so I really thought that his overall range was pretty weak here like 99-TT and lower pp, and then a number of AJ/KQ/KJ/maybe even a few suited connectors in this spot. I think overall against that range, even if I tighten it up to 99-QQ, AQ/AJ/KQ/KJ then I think it is a call

http://weaktight.com/5314223

Ughhh, not my favorite play here, I definitely am ok with the call on the flop, but I think I should just get the money in on the turn instead of giving them such an amazing price to draw.

http://weaktight.com/5314224

Failed double barrel, his range seems quite weak here but AT high is certainly not strong enough to make a big calldown

http://weaktight.com/5314226

Unlucky

http://weaktight.com/5340927

Ughhh, just a frustration and tired play, he is a regular so there is really no reason to shove here because I am only getting called by better and maybe small chance he calls me with AJ or AQ flush draw. This is a taking the easy way out play against a guy who at the time I knew had a tight range and I really should have just folded turn to this bet size.

http://weaktight.com/5340929

Unlucky

http://weaktight.com/5340931

This is a fucking fold god damnit, that is terrible.

http://weaktight.com/5340932

This is a fold too, just a tough spot considering I don't think I was dealt aces in a few hours but that is no excuse

http://weaktight.com/5340933

KK vs AA

http://weaktight.com/5340957

AK vs AK

http://weaktight.com/5340958

I'm fine taking a stab at this one on the flop, but on the turn and river I make a big mistake because there are just so few combos that I can bluff him off of. I think on the river I am hoping he had QJ, JT and that he would fold AT which are just so few combos.

http://weaktight.com/5340959

At first I was concerned this was a mistake, but I just think the way the hand played out I definitely have to make a small value bet like this is best, and then when he shoves he can certainly have the other chop combos and he was a poor player so there was a small chance he doesn't even have qx. Against a better opponent I can definitely think about bet folding but not against this guy

http://weaktight.com/5340960

Same idea as the other king high boards, there are some 3bet boards that one and done is a much better strategy.

http://weaktight.com/5340962

AK < KK

http://weaktight.com/5340965

gross against a fish

http://weaktight.com/5340966

Ughhh

http://weaktight.com/5340968

Tough spot against a weak player, on the flop I am betting for pure value. I think on the turn against a guy who can definitely call me with a ton of dominated hands like AJ or KQ, I should just be checking to him here and allow him to bluff off because I am perfectly fine with calling for value here, and if he has a hand like 7x, he is not folding that anyway so I might as well take advantage of his bluffing range

http://weaktight.com/5340969

? I went over this hand in my video

http://weaktight.com/5340970

Basic pot control line with a bad ace, this is a really easy fold on the river that I failed to make here

http://weaktight.com/5340971

I don't think I evaluated his range very well in this hand. I think if he has an overpair he is going to bet turn most of the time, so it makes a lot of sense that he has a pair and a draw or if he has an overpair he will have a draw with that.

http://weaktight.com/5340972

Unlucky

http://weaktight.com/5340973

Definitely one of the problems with calling OOP with a hand like this, but this guy is more capable than just about anyone of bluffing in this spot so I don't really mind the call and the bb was a fish who I was happy to play a pot with

http://weaktight.com/5340975

Unlucky board runout but happy with my plan

http://weaktight.com/5340976

I am really not sure about this spot on the river. Till then I am completely fine with my strategy. At the time I called pretty fast so I am going to trust my instincts. He certainly is capable of bluffing a lot in this spot, this issue is how much does my hand look like it is getting to showdown. He bet TT so he obviously doesn't think I can have a big pp which in reality I would have a lot of here. So if he doesn't perceive that in my range then I think this is a good c-c.

http://weaktight.com/5340979

So shocked he had this hand and that I was beat here

http://weaktight.com/5340980

Big fish, fine with my line just unlucky I think.

http://weaktight.com/5340981

Either fold or shove preflop, or just call preflop, but this is just a terrible plan and it backfired on me, I think I made a fine fold on river but that is just throwing away money with this plan

http://weaktight.com/5340982

Pretty unlucky

http://weaktight.com/5340983

Unlucky

http://weaktight.com/5340985

Cooler

http://weaktight.com/5340986

AJ < KK, not a bad spot against this particular opponent who 4bet bluffs constantly and I need to throw this into my 3bet/5bet range

http://weaktight.com/5340988

Unlucky

http://weaktight.com/5340989

So tough when a guy 3bets 2%, QQ does not play well against that range, and certainly its tough but I need to fold.

http://weaktight.com/5340990

Value owned myself but as you guys know, that is a totally fine mistake in my book to be making

http://weaktight.com/5340991

Like my play a lot on all streets here

http://weaktight.com/5340992

Pretty standard triple barrel here, I think with this plan I don't need to bet quite this big on the river though, his folding range can make a fold for slightly smaller here

http://weaktight.com/5340994

Poor board runout

http://weaktight.com/5340994

Honestly I don't remember this hand, and even if this line looks fishy, I shouldnt be trying to race or gamble with weak opponents, I think I should have 66+ and AJ+ to make this call, I think KQ is just a bit too loose

http://weaktight.com/5340996

Same idea here, really weak loose opponent, but there are better spots

http://weaktight.com/5340998

Lol, a little FPSy, but I do this rarely and the few times and as long as its not a regular thing I am fine with it

http://weaktight.com/5340999

I am definitely making a few too many calls with these sort of hands and I need to stop it unless I have some very strong reads on my opponents

http://weaktight.com/5341000

Why can't I just miss the flop?

http://weaktight.com/5341001

Pretty unlucky spot here I think on all accounts, fine with my play

http://weaktight.com/5341003

Unlucky

*** Some things to work on***

make sure you are awake and playing your best if you still play past 2am!

Need to think about when I miss AK in 3bet pots when they have 40-80bbs to start the hand

how to play AK in 3bet pots against regs when you have Kxx dry

do not counter super aggro players with more aggression

make less crazy bluffs against fishy players

turn checkraises on paired boards are NOT bluffs

TIGHTEN UP 3bet calling ranges when you have loose image

http://weaktight.com/5370173

This player was definitely a losing player and over a small sample was capable of some strange plays, with that said I think this board just fits far too many weird hands that I expect him to call 3bets with and there were just so few hands that missed here, I think I can only beat TT and JJ realistically so I think this should have been a super hard fold

http://weaktight.com/5370174

Like I said in my notes to work on, the last few days I have really struggled with what to do with AK with short stack depths. I think against a loose player such as this, while he certainly can float here, I think more realistically he caught a piece and knows I am bluffy enough to bluff off here, so even though he tanked, he eventually called with 99 and he probably would have done it with 7x as well if he somehow got here with it, so I think that one and done here is best

http://weaktight.com/5370209

Just had to post this because of how much I hated my play here, I think the bet on the river is good, but the size is just terrible, I need to make this look valuey, especially against a guy that is capable of these type of moves and is far from a nit who will auto fold one pair to a big bet

http://weaktight.com/5370212

I mean cmon Grant! Flush gets there, straight gets there, and he makes a giant bet on turn, really what am I hoping for here, AK or AA does not seem realistic, if he is able to bluff a hand like AJ with ace of spades more power to him but terrible terrible call

http://weaktight.com/5370217

I hate hate hate my play here. Mathematically it was not the worst play in the world, but on ace high boards, these are the worst boards to fast play these pair combo draws because of how much less likely they are to fold Ax, even if he just has Ax, he will call me down two or a lot of times 3 streets. Hate my play

Its a new year, so new diet plan for me lol. So far so good, hopefully a more healthy lifestyle as well as a an even better work ethic will lead to my best year ever.

Salud!

Hey guys I will have a more substantial blog coming soon, but just wanted to give you the heads up that a new video just came out yesterday. It was actually inspired by a blog that I was about to write so please check it out and give me your thoughts. Hope everyone has a great start to the new year!



Salud!