It seems like when I blog regularly, I play well and when I don't, I don't. I think the causation goes both ways and that leads to some very poor results. I'm down about 13 buyins in August, despite winning 2 yesterday, so I'm hoping for a really solid next two weeks. My job is done so I have time to put in hands and am ready to keep improving.

Here's a hand I was wondering about from yesterday:
http://weaktight.com/2571109

Here villain is a 20/17, reasonably straight forward player. On the flop, I think cbetting doesn't really make sense since it will probably fold out all of his pairs, which we beat, and keep in his aces, which beat us. I decide to check back and check back turn as well since their are not any draws that make sense for him to have and I want to induce a bet, or suspicious call, on the river from his mid pairs. Does that make sense? or is cbetting still the better play.

Booked another 3 buyin win yesterday which felt great. It could easily have been 5+ buyins but I lost all my flips. Here are the 3 hands I had issues with:

http://weaktight.com/2494277
Villain here is a player I've been playing with a lot recently. They don't really ever give me credit for having a hand. When he min 4bets me pre, I think his range is still decently wide since he thinks I'll be squeezing in this spot a lot. Getting 4 to 1 I think a call is correct with T9s. I flop a flush draw and he cbets. I think my options here are shoving or calling. In hind sight I think I like shoving. I think if I shove I can represent AK and all of villains weaker holdings have to fold. Even though he in general doesn't give me credit, when I check/shove in a 4bet pot I can't imagine him calling me with 99. With that said I don't mind calling either. I'll turn a flush 1/6 and sometimes villain will check back the turn and I'll get to see a free river when I miss. On the turn, my plan was to c/f a blank but I turn a gut shot. At this point the call is exactly neutral EV. Since I beat villain for a couple buyins yesterday I thought he might tilt if T9s cracked his AK or AA or whatever so I decided to call.

http://weaktight.com/2494280
Villain here was the mark at the table. He got his stack from 60 to 120 by getting in 77 pre and winning a flip against my AK so I figured 3betting preflop would just lead to a lot of flips. I decided to try to flop a pair and win a big pot against a weaker hand he was willing to pay off with. The flop and turn are totally standard value bets since I think he has a lot of draws. When he leads the river, he could be bluffing the scare card but I think it's way more likely he has it. When a passive fish leads the river like this I think 1 pair is rarely good and if he bluffed me, more credit to him. He said he had JThh in chat for whatever that's worth. I'm glad I had the discipline to make this fold despite having TPTK against a fish.

http://weaktight.com/2494281
Villain here is another player I've played with before. He's a thinking reg who is decently aggressive. There's an argument for 3betting pre but I decided to just flat. I had been 3betting a ton at the table and I can win a big pot since he assumes I'll probably 3bet AJ. The flop is perfect and I c/r. I think my hand looks a lot like 89,KQ or TJ. I could also have a set but I have a feeling no one ever puts you on a set. Given that range, that is mostly draws, I think his over pairs often just get it in. I'm never folding KQ in this spot and I'd be way behind KK. When he flats, I think he either has a monster or some kind of draw, and possible some total airball planning to bluff turn. When I lead the turn and he raises small it is kind of confusing. I decided to go with my plan and just get it in since he rarely thinks I am as strong as AJ. I think he floated me on the flop trying to take it away on the turn and given what he had, that read was spot on.

I hope everyone's crushing.

Just finished up a $320 session. It feels good to book a win. My schedule is pretty hectic from now until Aug 13 but I'm going to do my best to get in hands. Here are a couple hands from todays session i've been thinking about:


http://weaktight.com/2489616
Villain here is a pretty TAGish player. I think the 3bet preflop is good since he'll call with worse. I'm really not sure whether or not to cbet the flop. I decided to do so mostly to define villain's range. I think he'll fold most of his medium pairs since this board smashes my range. When he calls I think he has some Qs and Ks and some draws (but not that many draws since he's a TAG and called a 3bet OOP). With that said I think I basically have to shut down and fold to any bet. When all the draws miss and he leads the river, I think it would be easy to put him on a missed draw and call getting 3 to 1 but I don't think it's way more likely that he realizes our hand is 99-JJ and is trying to squeeze out value, espesially with his bet size. Thoughts?

http://weaktight.com/2489625
Here Villain is 13/10 over a big sample. I 3bet but in hindsight I think flatting would be better. Against this players 4betting range I think I need to fold so it would have been better to flat and try to induce a squeeze from the blinds and then evaluate based on UTGs play.

http://weaktight.com/2489629
Villain is a TAG regular who seems totally solid. I think this is an awesome flop to c/r since it smashes my range, I have equity if called and it's 3 way so my raise looks even stronger. When he calls I'm really undecided about whether or not to barrel the turn, and if so how big. At the time I thought he would have believed I had a set on the flop and folded his non monsters but now I'm thining his medium pairs might have peeled a card. I think I'm in favor of betting something like 22 that villain would feel committed him if called and then folding to further actions.

Hey everyone. Haven't played that much poker in the last week but when I have it's been bad. I'm ready to start crushing again though, starting tonight. For now, here's some of the damage from my recent downswing.

http://weaktight.com/2489231
Villain here was playing 48/10 with a really high aggression frequency post flop. He had minraised cbets in a number of spots but hadn't seen a showdown yet. When I flop top pair I definitely want to build a pot against this type of player. I thought 3betting the flop though would fold out all his bluffs and worse hands so I just called. When he pots the turn I still don't think I can possibly fold. Calling would make the river really hard to play against this type of player and I picked up a flush draw so I decided to shove. I think he folds a ton since his range is mostly bluffs but I still like this shove better than calling and guessing on the river.

In hindsight it might have been easier to just 3bet/fold flop since I could fold out his bluffs for way less money but I still think I'm happy with my line.

http://weaktight.com/2489236
I think this might be spew but I'm not exactly sure where I stand. Villain is an aggressive reg so they are 3betting us a ton here. I decided to call planning to trap on K and Q high boards and make a ton of money bluff catching. I flop the second nut flush draw, check to him and he cbets. I debated shoving over him but then realized that with the odds I was giving him, any hand with a club in it probably wouldn't fold. Since pocket pairs are a decent part of his range, I thought that by flatting and shoving the turn I would maximize my fold equity since I think 99c folds turn. He has an A and I don't suckout.

http://weaktight.com/2489239
Villain here is a big fish playing lots of hands and spewing a ton of money. I decided to 3bet him preflop because I think he calls with worse. It also lets me take the initiative and to avoid guessing for 3 streets on A high flops.

On the flop I took a non standard line and checked to him. My thinking was betting would leave me in a really awkward spot if raised. While I think he makes some bluff raises, I have no idea at what frequency. If I check to him, I think he bets all his big hands and his air and checks back his mediocre hands (and his mediocre hands are the ones I'm going to win most of my money against). My plan was to c/c flop, c/c good turns and c/f bad turns. When he checks back I think I'm way ahead, and I also pick up the nut flush draw. I bet for value and get minraised. Based on the flop range I gave him this raise makes little sense. He could have KsXs but that is not very many combinations. My choice here is between calling and shoving and I elected to shove thinking that agro fish are sometimes just messing around and that playing the river is going to be tough OOP. Again I'm not sure I like my play but I don't know what else I should have done.


http://weaktight.com/2489241
In a 3bet pot, I don't really know how else I could play this. Villain is a regular.



http://weaktight.com/2489243
Here I took another non standard line in a 3bet pot. I check back the flop thinking that a lot of his range is pocket pairs and a lot of my range is As and Ks so I would get a ton of folds on the flop. On the turn I pick up a FD and he leads smallish which I think makes perfect sense for him to do with a pocket pair. When he ships the river I think it only is for value if he has at least the Qc. I don't really see what Qs are in his range and the only boat I can imagine is 77. I called thinking that I had been weak the whole hand and he is a thinking reg who could be trying to bluff me of a K. I think I'm happy with my line here even though he happened to have KK.


http://weaktight.com/2489246
I really like my turn bet here since it allows me to get away if Magnificent raises. Lilleman is playing 88/54 so when he bets that river we hate life but getting 4 to 1 I think folding would be a mistake.

I had some time to grind this weekend and did exactly that. While I didn't hit my goal of getting to 18k hands on the month (I'm only at 15,256) I played a lot of good poker. I finished +$989 ($1072 including rakeback) in 4175 hands despite running 3 buyins below ev. I obviously ran well in other areas but overall I think I played the best poker I ever have. I played a little bit less aggressively, a little tighter and was less in a hurry to get draws all in. These were all good adjustments for me and they payed off.

I only got stacked 4 times. 2 were big suckouts and 1 was a flip. This is the other:

http://weaktight.com/2469100
Here the player on the button is a huge fish and the SB is a tag who in general gives me no credit. Heads up against the SB I would raise the flop and call a shove (since he never gives me credit and its such a dry board) but with the button in the hand I wanted to keep it 3 way since he calls with so much trash. On the turn, we're heads up and I think I'm right to call and not raise since if I raise my hand looks so strong and I think the only hand that calls is AK. On the river, I think I should have folded. Had he checked to me I think I could shove and get looked up by weaker aces but I don't think villain would make the same river bet with AJ. I think he has AK or AT basically 100% of the time. While I was good to remember that he gives me no credit, tag players are not firing the third barrel very often as a bluff.

Besides that hand, and a couple other spots where I think I missed some value my play was really sharp. I experimented with playing 5 or 6 tables and it went well. After winning 6 buyins on Saturday my coach reminded me not to get over confident on Sunday and I think that was really helpful advice. Going forward I just need to keep playing my game, stay off tilt and let the winnings come.

Today I started +$50, then ended up -$486 before pulling it back to being +$0.70. I was really confident in my game the second half of the session and am really not sure if I played well in the first. I'm going to post the three big pots from yesterday and all the losing hands from today.

Yesterday
http://weaktight.com/2460658
I really like my overbet on the flop and obviously love the result of the hand. Standard I think.

http://weaktight.com/2460660
This is against the same villain who had the smaller flush. He was insane aggressive and playing 60/40. Because of that, I was never worried about AA and just trying to find a way to get as many of his hands to shove as possible. I cbet the flop thinking I can rep AK and 99+ all call. On the turn, I figured he might percieve a check as weakness and bluff with anything he happened to have. I also thought that if he had a hand like 99 or TT with a club he might semi bluff. I ship over the bet (he timed down before calling) and hold.

http://weaktight.com/2460663
Great flop for me angainst an aggressive 3-better. I decide to raise the flop small, repping as much strength as possible and get a call. The tough decision is on the turn. A check back is deffinitely the lower varience play. At the time I was banking on the fact that most villains are scared money playing deep and might fold a hand like AJ. He needs to fold 20% of the time for this shove to break even but that's really too low since I have equity if I check back. All in all I think a check back is better.

Today:

http://weaktight.com/2460667
Villain was a reasonable TAG and the game had just broked to 3 handed. In the games now no one gives you credit if you 3bet from the blinds and no one gives you credit 3 handed. When villain raised me on that flop I thought there were really 0 hands in his value range and decided to 3-bet bluff. The only problem is villain is getting 3:1 on his call. If he calls with everything then its a fold since even though i have some equity against mid pocket pairs, its not enough. If he folds sometimes though it could be a good play.

http://weaktight.com/2460671
Villain had 2 and 4 bet me a ton in his first 20min on two of my tables. I decided to take a stand. I think its a good spot. Too bad no run good.

http://weaktight.com/2460673
Here MP is 42/38 ans SB is 26/24 and very aggressive. I have a bunch of history over the past week of 3 and 4 betting the SB. I call behind preflop expecting SB to squeeze and then planning to make him fold to a 4bet. When he reships I'm getting to good a price to fold.

I'm happier with those losing hands than I thought I would be. While there are all totally avoidable (none were standard shoves) I don't think any were terribly spewy (except hand 1). Overall I just think I need to not let my mistakes compound. All three of these hands happened close together and I think I could have reduced some varience and not gotten down into such a big hole by passing up on 1 or 2 pretty marginal spots.

Until next time.

Only got in 1k hands because my computer went wack for a couple hours. When I started playing again, my session got so volatile that I didn't think my head was still on straight and decided to stop. In 100 hands I played three 300-400bb pots winning the first, losing the second and winning the third. I decided to call it quits right there and booked a 3 buyin win. I'll post some hands tomorrow. Counting rakeback I'm now over $1k for a month ($800 before rakeback). Time to post a big second half of July.

This entry is going to just be 6 more hands I went over from last night's session. For anyone out there looking to improve, going through hands is an awesome way to practice thinking about the game on a deeper level.

http://weaktight.com/2454008
Villain here is 40/2. The flop and turn are standard since he's calling with so many hands. When he leads the river that big, I wasn't sure whether to call or raise. At the time I figured he can very well have a boat so I just flatted but thinking about it now all of his 2 pair + hands probably would have raised the turn to protect on such a drawy board. If he has less than 2 pair on the turn he can't have a boat now so I think I wouldn't mind shipping trying to get a call out of a Q, a K or J9. At the same time, I don't hate checking back since he is a fish and so doesn't have to raise me on the turn with QT etc.

http://weaktight.com/2454010
Same villain here. Again I spike the turn and this time he raises me. I decided to call thinking that no matter what size I reraised it would looks so strong. If I re-raise shove, a weaker player is going to be scared of losing all his money and if I re-raise small it looks like I must have a flush and be trying to bait him into calling. He also can't have a pair + NFD since I have the Ah. Any river bet he makes will commit him so I still like my chances of stacking him. When he checks to me on the river I decided to go with a just under pot sized bet. I didn't want to leave him with no money but I wanted to get a lot of value out of his 2 pair hands. My hand also kind of looks like I have just the Ah. I doubt he's thinking like that but either way I expected to get called a lot. When he folds I have no idea what he had. Thoughts?

http://weaktight.com/2454011
Here villain is 23/18 and quite aggressive. I flat his 3bet in pos and once again spike the turn. When he leads in to me on the turn I think he's just trying to pick up the pot sensing that I showed weakness checking back the flop. His 3betting range is so wide here that I thought he has mid pocket pairs and a bunch of crap that could take this line. Against a tight player I would have shoved this turn trying to rep TJ or equivalent and expect to get called a lot by broadway hands. Against this villain though I wanted to give him another street to bluff if he was bluffing. He checks to me on the river and I bet really small hoping to induce a spazz. He timed for a while and then folded so don't know if he found a really tight fold or just mucked 88. There might also be more value in betting 55 on the river and just trying to get value out of his Kings.

http://weaktight.com/2454012
This is the same villain as last time again. Here I flat a 3bet OOP with AA. It's not a line I take very often but I thought the short stack might 4 bet shove or call the 3bet both of which are good options for me. On the flop I check/shove hoping he will think I only rep a set and am thus probably bluffing and call me light. Is there any merit in calling the flop and check/shoving turn?

http://weaktight.com/2454013
Here's a hand I was pretty proud of. Villain is quite tight and we are fairly deep. In the past, in spots like this I would have c/c flop and then been lost until the river, ensuring I get owned by AA and KK (which are definitely in his range). Instead, however, I decided to c/r the flop. He's never going to try to re bluff me as a tight player when we are this deep and it lets me find out right now where I am in the hand. If he shoves over me I can fold but if he calls I can bet/fold most turns and get calls from stubborn JJ/88/99.

http://weaktight.com/2454014
My thought process is similar here to the last hand. Villain is really aggressive and 3betting me a ton so I flat 88. This is a flop that misses a ton of his range but rather than flatting and getting lost I raise small forcing him to make a decision for his whole stack oop. Since we are a bit deep I can happily fold to a shove.

About to play another session and hopefully own some souls.

Peace

I can't seem to make it easy on my self (today contained a 5 buyin downswing) but I managed to book a 1.5 buyin win when it was all said and done.

I had another lesson with Mike today and it went really well. I deffinitely make too many mistakes right now in big pots and I'm working to fix that. I think I'm really on the verge of breaking through as a poker player and starting to crush this limit. It's time to put in work. I've only played 9k hands this month which kinda sucks. My goal is to get back to 1k hands/day pace my sunday which involves playing another 9k over the next 5 days.

I need to get to sleep soon but here are some hands.

Losers:

http://weaktight.com/2451932
Villain was 40/2 and decently aggressive. When he flats the flop he can't have anything big since I think he'd raise to protect. On the turn I think he has hearts, T8, T9, TJ so I think I'm happy getting it in.

http://weaktight.com/2451935
This turn card is pretty sick and we get raised. While TJ is the first hand to put in his range, I think that might be too results oriented. Are Q9 and Q8 possible, or AJ/AT. If they are my line is good. If not this is a fold. Villain is 20/15 and I've been pretty active at the table. I'm leaning towards fold thinking about it now...

http://weaktight.com/2451938
I think blind on blind this is standard.

http://weaktight.com/2451940
Villain is 28/19 and aggressive. On the river I think the only hands he can do this with for value are straights and I don't think he flats my 3bet with many 4X hands oop. Given his aggression my thinking was that he sensed weakness and decided to make me fold so I called. He never has a Q here. Oops.

http://weaktight.com/2451942
Dream flop. I was hoping to just get it in on the flop but I think we still have to shove the turn. Are there other options?


Cool Hand:
http://weaktight.com/2451945
There's not much in poker more fun than this hand haha.

Bed time. Later everyone.

Wow. I was up 2 buyins early, then down 2.5, then finished up 2.5. I'm glad I stick with it but really have to make sure I keep focus at all times going forward. I definitely lost 1 stack in a really unnecessary way. I'm not going to post hands now but have some interesting spots to go over in the next couple days. Run good everybody.