Live Grind: How to Fall Asleep at the Table (Without Getting Caught)

[Matt Vaughan]

Atlanta, not sure if you play live 1/2, but I assure you it's not like online 1/2. This is a FR game though. 9 players, def should have iso'd if I was going to stay in the pot pre.

As for him calling one street and folding the next, it was a combination of him being someone who could hand-read (ie put me on some air + some value OTT but mostly value OTR), and a bit of live read bullshit. Like I try not to go on too much about it here because it's very difficult to put into words, and I'm usually more interested in the validity of particular lines - before adding other factors.

 

[Matt Vaughan]

Lost 400bb effectively with a misclick. I misread the CO's stack size. Hurray for ****ing poker:

PokerStars - P2 PL Hi (6 max) - Omaha Hi - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

UTG: 482 BB (VPIP: 38.02, PFR: 22.62, 3Bet Preflop: 10.05, hands: 529)
MP: 195.5 BB (VPIP: 39.47, PFR: 5.26, 3Bet Preflop: 5.00, Hands: 38)
CO: 527 BB (VPIP: 57.58, PFR: 21.45, 3Bet Preflop: 10.77, Hands: 431)
BTN: 143 BB (VPIP: 62.50, PFR: 34.17, 3Bet Preflop: 22.45, Hands: 120)
Hero (SB): 392 BB
BB: 206.5 BB (VPIP: 76.70, PFR: 9.71, 3Bet Preflop: 1.85, Hands: 105)

Hero posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has J:heart: J:spade: K:heart: K:diamond:

fold, fold, CO raises to 3.5 BB, BTN raises to 7 BB, Hero raises to 25.5 BB, fold, CO raises to 84.5 BB, BTN calls 77.5 BB, Hero raises to 339 BB, CO raises to 527 BB and is all-in, BTN calls 58.5 BB and is all-in, Hero calls 53 BB and is all-in

Flop: (928 BB, 3 players) 4:heart: 3:diamond: T:spade:

Turn: (928 BB, 3 players) 3:heart:

River: (928 BB, 3 players) 6:club:

Hero shows J:heart: J:spade: K:heart: K:diamond: (Two Pair, Kings and Threes)

Main Pot [430 BB]: (Pre 26%, Flop 16%, Turn 22%)
Side Pot#1 [498 BB]: (Pre 33%, Flop 19%, Turn 28%)

CO shows J:diamond: A:spade: A:club: 5:diamond: (Two Pair, Aces and Threes)

Main Pot [430 BB]: (Pre 42%, Flop 47%, Turn 67%)
Side Pot#1 [498 BB]: (Pre 67%, Flop 81%, Turn 73%)

BTN shows T:heart: 8:heart: 7:heart: 6:diamond: (Two Pair, Tens and Sixes)

Main Pot [430 BB]: (Pre 33%, Flop 37%, Turn 11%)

CO wins 913 BB

 

[Matt Vaughan]

I've been so bad about posting hands lately, but it's 6:30am and I got back from a 13-hour grind about an hour ago after driving 1.5 hours through really bad snow and ice conditions.... So no hand right now.

Just a quick update. I FINALLY binked a seat to a qualifier for the Mid States Poker Tour (MSPT) Main Event. I entered 3x$65 super satties, and managed to bink today by scoring the final knockout myself. Blinds were 4k/8k/500a, and the BTN open jammed for 11.3k.

I was in the BB, but I believe I actually saw his hand as he checked it - pocket deuces. The SB folded, and with a 40k stack, I made the 3.3k call with J4o. We tabled the hands, and I immediately flopped a pair in the window... which became two pair when the other cards revealed themselves. I turned a flush draw, leaving the BTN with one out, and the river bricked it all. It was a good feeling.

One annoying part of the satellite was that they only start hand-for-hand on the "true bubble." Since it's a satellite and 20% got tickets, AND we didn't have a multiple of 5 entries, there was leftover money that got paid to the bubble.

28 would get tickets, and the 29th finisher would receive $150 back, because we had 143 entrants. But they didn't start hand-for-hand at 30 players... It was really stupid, and caused a whole fuss.

After the satellite I immediately sat at 1/2 NL. Lost 2 large pots right away with missed combo draws, and suddenly was down for the day. But I put my head down and grinded my way to a $280 winner, despite multiple bad beats.

All in all, feeling good about my upcoming Vegas trip, and trying to decide on what my game plan should be. I was thinking of grinding exclusively 1/3 NL, but I feel like my live game is in good shape, and I could at the very least shot some 2/5, even if it was just for a day or two. Let me know if you guys have any thoughts.

Hopefully I'll get to some hands when I wake up, but I can't make any promises.

 

[duggs]

weeeeee nice!

so the main is only 250 entrance?

 

[duggs]

never mind just saw the word qualifier

 

[Matt Vaughan]

$65 super satty

$250 qualifier

$1,100 main


Edit: And nice thing is that tickets are transferrable, and you can put any of them towards entry of the main. So I could win two of the $250 entries, and instead of trying to satty in, I could just put them toward the $1,100 entry and only pay $600 instead.

 

[duggs]

i dunno if i would bother with super satties, getting raked at 30% is pretty absurd.

 

[Matt Vaughan]

True. But they're soooooo soft it's hard to resist. But you're almost certainly right.

I'd have to get in the top 20% of the field at least $65/$250=26% of the time, which seems easily attainable to me. Since it's a satty and not a tourney, we don't need to worry about ROI except as ITM.

But I guess you'd want significantly more than 26% so that you get reasonable value beyond just buying the $250 to begin with. But the next question is this:

Is it better to try to satty into the main (top 20% again I believe) with my one $250 ticket, or just put the $250 toward entry, and pay $850?

 

[Mr Sandbag]

I didn't do any math on it yet, but what about playing the supers a bunch without playing the qualifier and just using the $250 tickets towards the main? I guess this depends highly on the size of the field and the structure in the qualifiers.

 

[Matt Vaughan]

That would be the proper strat I think, if the supers ran more than once a week, and if I could play all of them. The qualifier structure ($250 satty) is below. The $65 one is the same blind structure but has 20-minute blind levels.

(http://msptpoker.com/Pages/Structure.aspx)

 

[xdeucesx]

at least play 2/5 in vegas if you're planning on going imo. If not, why play the same limits that you play at home but spending all the travel costs and fare. Is this for summer or are you going to vegas in the very near future as well? And it's not like 2/5 live in vegas is anything you can't handle I'm sure.

 

[Matt Vaughan]

Thanks deuces. Yeah I mean 2/5 was my plan but my grinding has stalled so much and I've had some really bad recent online sessions so my BR hasn't grown either. I'm really not rolled for it yet, but also not abysmally under-rolled.

Knowing me, I'm probably going to play a warm-up session the first night at 1/3 NL and then try to log most of my hours at 2/5.

Oh and FYI, I'm going to Vegas this weekend lol.

 

[xdeucesx]

oh awesome, that's cool. Pics plz. Sending rungood

 

[Matt Vaughan]

Also found out a coworker friend of mine is going to Vegas soon too. At first we thought we were going a week apart, but it turns out it's the same weekend. He's going with his family, and I'll be with my gf part of the time, but we may try to meet up for dinner or something, which would be a nice temporary getaway from da pokerz I think.

Overall looking forward to it a lot, but got a huge work week ahead of me, so tough to be too excited yet.

Oh and thanks for rungoodz.

 

[Matt Vaughan]

Starting to get a little annoyed by losing every single hand I play that gets to be over 5bb.

BTN: 100 BB (VPIP: 41.48, PFR: 26.10, 3Bet Preflop: 10.88, Hands: 1,786)
SB: 265.5 BB (VPIP: 30.11, PFR: 20.22, 3Bet Preflop: 9.32, Hands: 448)
BB: 70.5 BB (VPIP: 43.33, PFR: 11.67, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 60)
UTG: 47 BB (VPIP: 45.17, PFR: 5.40, 3Bet Preflop: 0.52, Hands: 355)
UTG+1: 83 BB (VPIP: 40.29, PFR: 12.14, 3Bet Preflop: 1.28, Hands: 207)
Hero (MP): 126 BB
MP+1: 86.5 BB (VPIP: 30.57, PFR: 5.24, 3Bet Preflop: 4.41, Hands: 599)
MP+2: 123.5 BB (VPIP: 27.77, PFR: 10.23, 3Bet Preflop: 5.19, Hands: 709)
CO: 122.5 BB (VPIP: 32.89, PFR: 21.76, 3Bet Preflop: 6.22, Hands: 616)

SB posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB, MP+1 posts penalty blind 1.5 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 3 BB) Hero has 9:club: 9:diamond:

fold, fold, Hero raises to 5 BB, MP+1 calls 4 BB, fold, fold, BTN calls 5 BB, fold, fold

Flop: (17 BB, 3 players) 9:heart: A:club: 8:heart:
Hero checks, MP+1 checks, BTN checks

Turn: (17 BB, 3 players) 6:heart:
Hero bets 13 BB, MP+1 calls 13 BB, fold

River: (43 BB, 2 players) 7:diamond:
Hero bets 29 BB, MP+1 calls 29 BB

 

[Matt Vaughan]

This is awesome lol

MP: 100 BB (VPIP: 41.50, PFR: 26.09, 3Bet Preflop: 10.85, Hands: 1,790)
MP+1: 265 BB (VPIP: 29.84, PFR: 20.04, 3Bet Preflop: 9.15, Hands: 452)
MP+2: 65 BB (VPIP: 43.75, PFR: 10.94, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 64)
CO: 51 BB (VPIP: 45.22, PFR: 5.34, 3Bet Preflop: 0.52, Hands: 359)
BTN: 92 BB (VPIP: 40.48, PFR: 12.86, 3Bet Preflop: 2.53, Hands: 211)
Hero (SB): 78 BB
BB: 131 BB (VPIP: 30.87, PFR: 5.20, 3Bet Preflop: 4.38, Hands: 603)
UTG: 123.5 BB (VPIP: 27.61, PFR: 10.17, 3Bet Preflop: 5.15, Hands: 713)
UTG+1: 122.5 BB (VPIP: 32.67, PFR: 21.62, 3Bet Preflop: 6.17, Hands: 620)

Hero posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has 5:diamond: A:diamond:

fold, fold, MP raises to 3 BB, fold, fold, CO calls 3 BB, BTN calls 3 BB, Hero calls 2.5 BB, fold

Flop: (13 BB, 4 players) Q:heart: 2:diamond: 3:diamond:
Hero bets 7 BB, fold, CO raises to 48 BB and is all-in, fold, Hero calls 41 BB

Turn: (109 BB, 2 players) Q:diamond:

River: (109 BB, 2 players) T:diamond:

Hero shows 5:diamond: A:diamond: (Flush, Ace High)
(Pre 59%, Flop 54%, Turn 77%)
CO shows T:heart: Q:spade: (Full House, Queens full of Tens)
(Pre 41%, Flop 46%, Turn 23%)
CO wins 104 BB

 

[xdeucesx]

Starting to get a little annoyed by losing every single hand I play that gets to be over 5bb.

BTN: 100 BB (VPIP: 41.48, PFR: 26.10, 3Bet Preflop: 10.88, Hands: 1,786)
SB: 265.5 BB (VPIP: 30.11, PFR: 20.22, 3Bet Preflop: 9.32, Hands: 448)
BB: 70.5 BB (VPIP: 43.33, PFR: 11.67, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 60)
UTG: 47 BB (VPIP: 45.17, PFR: 5.40, 3Bet Preflop: 0.52, Hands: 355)
UTG+1: 83 BB (VPIP: 40.29, PFR: 12.14, 3Bet Preflop: 1.28, Hands: 207)
Hero (MP): 126 BB
MP+1: 86.5 BB (VPIP: 30.57, PFR: 5.24, 3Bet Preflop: 4.41, Hands: 599)
MP+2: 123.5 BB (VPIP: 27.77, PFR: 10.23, 3Bet Preflop: 5.19, Hands: 709)
CO: 122.5 BB (VPIP: 32.89, PFR: 21.76, 3Bet Preflop: 6.22, Hands: 616)

SB posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB, MP+1 posts penalty blind 1.5 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 3 BB) Hero has 9<font color='black'>♣</font> 9<font color='red'>♦</font>

fold, fold, Hero raises to 5 BB, MP+1 calls 4 BB, fold, fold, BTN calls 5 BB, fold, fold

Flop: (17 BB, 3 players) 9<font color='red'>♥</font> A<font color='black'>♣</font> 8<font color='red'>♥</font>
Hero checks, MP+1 checks, BTN checks

Turn: (17 BB, 3 players) 6<font color='red'>♥</font>
Hero bets 13 BB, MP+1 calls 13 BB, fold

River: (43 BB, 2 players) 7<font color='red'>♦</font>
Hero bets 29 BB, MP+1 calls 29 BB

Was plan to x/r flop? If not, feel like we have to bet 3 way on this wet of a board every time.

This is awesome lol

MP: 100 BB (VPIP: 41.50, PFR: 26.09, 3Bet Preflop: 10.85, Hands: 1,790)
MP+1: 265 BB (VPIP: 29.84, PFR: 20.04, 3Bet Preflop: 9.15, Hands: 452)
MP+2: 65 BB (VPIP: 43.75, PFR: 10.94, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 64)
CO: 51 BB (VPIP: 45.22, PFR: 5.34, 3Bet Preflop: 0.52, Hands: 359)
BTN: 92 BB (VPIP: 40.48, PFR: 12.86, 3Bet Preflop: 2.53, Hands: 211)
Hero (SB): 78 BB
BB: 131 BB (VPIP: 30.87, PFR: 5.20, 3Bet Preflop: 4.38, Hands: 603)
UTG: 123.5 BB (VPIP: 27.61, PFR: 10.17, 3Bet Preflop: 5.15, Hands: 713)
UTG+1: 122.5 BB (VPIP: 32.67, PFR: 21.62, 3Bet Preflop: 6.17, Hands: 620)

Hero posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has 5<font color='red'>♦</font> A<font color='red'>♦</font>

fold, fold, MP raises to 3 BB, fold, fold, CO calls 3 BB, BTN calls 3 BB, Hero calls 2.5 BB, fold

Flop: (13 BB, 4 players) Q<font color='red'>♥</font> 2<font color='red'>♦</font> 3<font color='red'>♦</font>
Hero bets 7 BB, fold, CO raises to 48 BB and is all-in, fold, Hero calls 41 BB

Turn: (109 BB, 2 players) Q<font color='red'>♦</font>

River: (109 BB, 2 players) T<font color='red'>♦</font>

Hero shows 5<font color='red'>♦</font> A<font color='red'>♦</font> (Flush, Ace High)
(Pre 59%, Flop 54%, Turn 77%)
CO shows T<font color='red'>♥</font> Q<font color='black'>♠</font> (Full House, Queens full of Tens)
(Pre 41%, Flop 46%, Turn 23%)
CO wins 104 BB

dat flip

 

[Matt Vaughan]

Obvious plan to x/r is obvious.

 

[Matt Vaughan]

Actually, what do you think of my river bet in that 99 hand? It seemed like a slam-dunk value bet to me at the time.

 

[duggs]

big sizing pre? I'm betting flop 100%, turn looks good, river feels thin

 

[Figaroo2]

99 hand personally im betting out every time for two reasons. Firstly to start building a big pot for my big hand especially with an ace on the flop as anyone with an ace is calling a flop bet so lets make it pretty big. Secondly its a very wet flop that hits the speculative late position calling ranges really hard. Its too dangerous to check and risk giving them a free card here imo. Im always charging the draws to chase me down here .
If you bet full pot cbet here you may still get raised on that board. Im fine with a river bet here lots 2pair may call Fold to a raise obviously.

 

[xdeucesx]

I'm just leading w/99 is all. Don't like x/r because of what happened in HH. It's about the wettest board possible, just don't want to give anyone free looks.

As for river, I vbet but I probably go smaller since I'm not sure Ax is paying us off for 2/3 bet here. Assuming he's a fish due to stack size, he could play something with 10x or 5x really bad here and still just flat river since hearts came in lol + his hand reading is probably not strong enough to realize we like never have hearts or a straight, so I would assume he folds a lot of his range bc the board got scary.

 

[Matt Vaughan]

The same reason you guys want me to bet flop (protecting my hand) is the same reason why villains would bet most Ax here. Thus my x/r. Granted there are still a million draws, but it's not like Ax is a negligible part of their ranges.

Honestly against slightly tighter players I think it's a slam dunk x/r, because they won't have as many draws. Against players this loose and particularly this passive, I guess I agree that leading is better.

@duggs: MP+1 had to post 1.5 bb, so I don't think raise to 5bb is that big.

@Figaroo: Well I was obviously going for a x/r, not "slowplaying" or anything stupid like that lol. If anything on this board our hand isn't all that strong because of bad runouts, so playing it smaller on earlier streets by just betting seems like another valid reason to just cbet.

I'm curious what hands you think are raising us here though? Like sure, JThh is raising us, but we're flipping against that lol. These guys are too passive to just be dumping raises in with TP or something.

@deuces: I hear you, but I also don't know if we can cite the flop checking through as anecdotal evidence to analyze the hand. Not sure if you meant that differently though? Still agree with you though - because their ranges are collectively so wide.

Def made an error here - ironically the hand would have played the same though I think. He had JT with 1 heart.

 

[xdeucesx]

I still don't think it's a x/r very often. Maybe I can be convinced HU, but 3-way, it's far less likely draws are going to ever bet. Granted Ax will at times, but Ax folds to a c/r like all the time, where as leading we can get multiple streets of value, especially if everything happens to brick.

It's not ancedotal, just shows a possible scenario that's essentially worst-case scenario for us. I think you got what I meant though

Confirmed, hand probably plays the same if he's only flatting river lol

 

[duggs]

i don't think i can imagine opponents where i wouldn't want this in my flop betting range to be honest.