Polished Poker Vol. I Study Group

[John A]

Interested. Is this for full ring guys or is the focus gonna be on 6 max

Thanks so much for doing this John. I'm really looking forward to this!

Yes, welcome. We do both, even occasional HU's, and tournaments as well.

 

[John A]

Mistake Number 1 - Playing a Pot with a Poker GURU
#2 - What's he repping on Turn Set or nothing and if he had set isnt the raise too big

Won't comment on #1 lol, but yes, exactly, he's not repping much at all. That's why I bet 10.99, to try and confuse him with my sizing and that I'd all of a sudden be betting that turn. And yeah, the raise needs to be just slightly smaller for a good river shove.

 

[John A]

1st mistake. Calling a 3bet oop with A9s, this hand doesn't flop well, is easily dominated and well behind John's value range and would be better served as a 4bet bluffing hand here. So fold or 4bet, calling here with a mediocre hand and no initiative is rubbish actually.

2nd mistake. Check raising with no draws whatsoever.

3rd mistake, trying to rep this board in a 3bet pot.
His only legit hands are 77 AQ, QQ (1 combo) as we have a Q blocker. He hardly ever has 55, 86 or 54 or slow played KK AA here, other two pairs are very unlikely here imo.
Why would 77 AQ or QQ check raise anyway?

4th mistake betting trying to rep a straight on the end when a hand with an 8 or a 3 which would never have check raised on this board.

Bravo... well done. I bow to you sir. You're thinking like a pro player man.

 

[rhombus]

Bravo... well done. I bow to you sir. You're thinking like a pro player man.

Nobody like a smart arse. School Swot lol.

Maybe the way forward, post hands where villain makes mistakes and we have to say what they are???

Sounds familiar maybe I should post mine

 

[Figaroo2]

Nobody like a smart arse. School Swot lol.
Maybe the way forward, post hands where villain makes mistakes and we have to say what they are???
Sounds familiar maybe I should post mine

Shame I can't think as clearly in real time at the table. I think its partly mass tabling which doesn't give you the thinking time. If this was one tabling or live I'd probably work it out.
Mind you I hate getting check raised on the flop no matter what the board.

I hope you all ate up your haggis, like you are supposed to today. (Burns Day)

 

[John A]

Nobody like a smart arse. School Swot lol.

Maybe the way forward, post hands where villain makes mistakes and we have to say what they are???

Sounds familiar maybe I should post mine

Well Fig has shown great growth in his game, and he nailed that hand. I see improvement in all of your guys play, but fig got that one spot on.

But yeah, I'm down to post mistake hands, but even just our own hands are fine. I've been working on getting a new video / mic setup. It's taken longer than I thought. But I plan on doing regular video reviews on here for spots I think would help to have deeper explanation. I think those will help a lot because I'm going to try and pick spots that will come up a lot that I see a lot of players (not just in the is thread, but on CC) misplay.

I'm going to be doing a few videos for CC that I'm going to title - Easy ways to improve your winrate. They are going to be short 1 min vids.

 

[rhombus]

Well Fig has shown great growth in his game, and he nailed that hand. I see improvement in all of your guys play, but fig got that one spot on.

But yeah, I'm down to post mistake hands, but even just our own hands are fine. I've been working on getting a new video / mic setup. It's taken longer than I thought. But I plan on doing regular video reviews on here for spots I think would help to have deeper explanation. I think those will help a lot because I'm going to try and pick spots that will come up a lot that I see a lot of players (not just in the is thread, but on CC) misplay.

I'm going to be doing a few videos for CC that I'm going to title - Easy ways to improve your winrate. They are going to be short 1 min vids.

Sounds great. alot of the videos on Youtube are just too long and waffle on

 

[Ian the Fish]

Here's a hand from a tourney I played recently. Stats are not applicable, as I only had played about 7 hands with him.

My Master told me I should have bet a lot more on the turn (pot sized) and B/F river instead of X/F.

I had put him on AT / AJ, but that would most likely be WAAY too tight of a range. Either way, I felt that he has 2pair+ too often, and just too many combos that beat me than those, that don't.

Pacific, $20 Buy-in (15/30 blinds) No Limit Hold'em Tournament, 9 Players

SB: 3,999 (133.3 bb)
Hero (BB): 4,970 (165.7 bb)
UTG+1: 2,547 (84.9 bb)
UTG+2: 4,610 (153.7 bb)
MP1: 5,055 (168.5 bb)
MP2: 2,048 (68.3 bb)
MP3: 5,272 (175.7 bb)
CO: 7,989 (266.3 bb)
BTN: 7,896 (263.2 bb)

Preflop: Hero is BB with 5

6

UTG+1 raises to 86, 3 folds, MP3 calls 86, 3 folds, Hero calls 56

Flop: (273) T

5

6

(3 players)
Hero bets 204, UTG+1 calls 204, MP3 folds

Turn: (681) J

(2 players)
Hero bets 340, UTG+1 calls 340

River: (1,361) A

(2 players)
Hero checks, UTG+1 bets 1,917 and is all-in, Hero folds

Results: 1,361 pot
Final Board: T

5

6

J

A

Hero mucked 5

6

and lost (-630 net)
UTG+1 mucked and won 1,361 (731 net)


SOOOO I am turning to my Master's Master. John, what do you think? What mistakes did I make & what should have I done instead?

 

[Aces2w1n]

fold pre we dont play well mw.... often we will win small pots but lose big because of reverse implied odds


also 65 will often get counterfiet

we arent in position with a mediocre hand and going against 2 players and one is UTG

We arent ever happy unless we see another 5 or 6 and will often get blown off our hand.

fold on the river is bad.
i could find a call here his overshove says to me he doesnt want a caller or hes not as strong.. he prolly has a strong Ace and we can hero call

If hes a bad player its a call since he overvalues AK here and we wont be busted if we are wrong .. this is a simple call and most times we build our stack up

 

[John A]

Here's a hand from a tourney I played recently. Stats are not applicable, as I only had played about 7 hands with him.

My Master told me I should have bet a lot more on the turn (pot sized) and B/F river instead of X/F.

I had put him on AT / AJ, but that would most likely be WAAY too tight of a range. Either way, I felt that he has 2pair+ too often, and just too many combos that beat me than those, that don't.

Pacific, $20 Buy-in (15/30 blinds) No Limit Hold'em Tournament, 9 Players

SB: 3,999 (133.3 bb)
Hero (BB): 4,970 (165.7 bb)
UTG+1: 2,547 (84.9 bb)
UTG+2: 4,610 (153.7 bb)
MP1: 5,055 (168.5 bb)
MP2: 2,048 (68.3 bb)
MP3: 5,272 (175.7 bb)
CO: 7,989 (266.3 bb)
BTN: 7,896 (263.2 bb)

Preflop: Hero is BB with 5

6

UTG+1 raises to 86, 3 folds, MP3 calls 86, 3 folds, Hero calls 56

Flop: (273) T

5

6

(3 players)
Hero bets 204, UTG+1 calls 204, MP3 folds

Turn: (681) J

(2 players)
Hero bets 340, UTG+1 calls 340

River: (1,361) A

(2 players)
Hero checks, UTG+1 bets 1,917 and is all-in, Hero folds

Results: 1,361 pot
Final Board: T

5

6

J

A

Hero mucked 5

6

and lost (-630 net)
UTG+1 mucked and won 1,361 (731 net)


SOOOO I am turning to my Master's Master. John, what do you think? What mistakes did I make & what should have I done instead?

Pre-flop w/no reads is questionable. I don't hate it this deep.

Flop is fine, turn you can bet a little more 400~ but I wouldn't go much more than that in. River is a c/f'd. I don't think there's enough value hands calling at this point and QQ-KK isn't calling often enough vs the hands that beat you. If this was a cash game, I'd maybe fire a small bet and fold. But in a tournament where you can't reload, people play more conservative on the river.

 

[Figaroo2]

Pre-flop w/no reads is questionable. I don't hate it this deep.

Flop is fine, turn you can bet a little more 400~ but I wouldn't go much more than that in. River is a c/f'd. I don't think there's enough value hands calling at this point and QQ-KK isn't calling often enough vs the hands that beat you. If this was a cash game, I'd maybe fire a small bet and fold. But in a tournament where you can't reload, people play more conservative on the river.

I would have thought AQ AK would call both flop and turn here in position to the smallish bets and picking up a gutshot on the turn. Is there not enough combo's of those to fire out thin value on the end, folding to a raise?

 

[John A]

I would have thought AQ AK would call both flop and turn here in position to the smallish bets and picking up a gutshot on the turn. Is there not enough combo's of those to fire out thin value on the end, folding to a raise?

It's more about the ratio of how many times you'd get a call, versus folding to a raise versus check through. People play much more conservative on the river in tournaments than cash games.

 

[John A]

I've been ubber bust lately, but I plan to be in the skype group channel tomorrow if some people want to be in there. Let me know.

 

[Ian the Fish]

I've been ubber bust lately, but I plan to be in the skype group channel tomorrow if some people want to be in there. Let me know.

Ahh, you missed some nice tournament action by me (well, actually I was the one, who did not read your post in time). Anyhow, I'm gonna play some cash games tomorrow. The problem with the skype group, it seems, is that there are usually just 2-3 people. And mostly it's Bruce and I, who, well, sweat one a other.

Not sure it's a problem, per se, but definitely intriguing, why people would not want this kind of an opportunity. Anyhow, good luck on your stuff!

 

[John A]

Ahh, you missed some nice tournament action by me (well, actually I was the one, who did not read your post in time). Anyhow, I'm gonna play some cash games tomorrow. The problem with the skype group, it seems, is that there are usually just 2-3 people. And mostly it's Bruce and I, who, well, sweat one a other.

Not sure it's a problem, per se, but definitely intriguing, why people would not want this kind of an opportunity. Anyhow, good luck on your stuff!

Yeah, it goes in ebs and flows. I can move it to Wed if that will work better for most people. I've purposely not advertised it anywhere but on here. If I sent out an e-mail to leak buster customers or similar products, we'd have a massive group. But then that dilutes my effectiveness and your access. But yeah, since we've gone down in size lately, it would be good to get a few more people in.

Honestly, the best way to learn is to join a group like this. Even if it's not this group, a similar kind of setup. That's what I did back in the day, and it included some pretty good top pros (eventually), except we did it on IRC. Does that even exist anymore? :O

 

[Ian the Fish]

Yeah, it goes in ebs and flows. I can move it to Wed if that will work better for most people. I've purposely not advertised it anywhere but on here. If I sent out an e-mail to leak buster customers or similar products, we'd have a massive group. But then that dilutes my effectiveness and your access. But yeah, since we've gone down in size lately, it would be good to get a few more people in.

Honestly, the best way to learn is to join a group like this. Even if it's not this group, a similar kind of setup. That's what I did back in the day, and it included some pretty good top pros (eventually), except we did it on IRC. Does that even exist anymore? :O

Oh, yeah - IRC does exist, haha. Not sure about the most popular networks, but freenode and quakenet (lol, reminds me of my Quake days) are still up and running.

Well, I try to get as much as I can, and I have to say the experiencd of being in a group like this has been beyond amazing.

 

[John A]

Oh, yeah - IRC does exist, haha. Not sure about the most popular networks, but freenode and quakenet (lol, reminds me of my Quake days) are still up and running.

Well, I try to get as much as I can, and I have to say the experiencd of being in a group like this has been beyond amazing.

Surprised people still use it. lol

And yes, this is the best way to learn imho. Glad you're enjoying it. But yeah, if you guys want me to expand the group, just let me know. It just takes on e-mail to 50k+ people and we can flood the channel.

 

[Aces2w1n]

lol irc old memories... i met my wife on there haha

 

[Aces2w1n]

The term used is shaping for groups like this

 

[John A]

lol irc old memories... i met my wife on there haha

Cereal? Seriously... ?

 

[rhombus]

Cereal? Seriously... ?

Did you keep the receipt??

 

[Aces2w1n]

Cereal? Seriously... ?

lol yeah... I use to go on an Aussie server... and ofc I had to create a channel and have the biggest on there... And I did that I had the biggest channel there and I was OP and went another step further and made all the non people social... was great times

Clans in games I usually am clan leader and turn them into decent or challenging... Spent countless hours playing Ghost phantoms strategizing the whole map with people during middle of the night. Clan played league


Sorry remminessing.

 

[John A]

lol yeah... I use to go on an Aussie server... and ofc I had to create a channel and have the biggest on there... And I did that I had the biggest channel there and I was OP and went another step further and made all the non people social... was great times

Clans in games I usually am clan leader and turn them into decent or challenging... Spent countless hours playing Ghost phantoms strategizing the whole map with people during middle of the night. Clan played league


Sorry remminessing.

Haha,,, that's cool. That's a first I've heard of that. I guess they can't really make an IRC success commercial like they do for e-harmony or some of those sites. lol

Now... back to poker.

 

[Aces2w1n]

Is there any theory on low to mid cards.. like ideal times to go for straights???

This is something thats gone missing in my game as ive got rid of junk cards.

The only thing i can come up with is if your completing the action preflop for cheapish price?

 

[John A]

Is there any theory on low to mid cards.. like ideal times to go for straights???

This is something thats gone missing in my game as ive got rid of junk cards.

The only thing i can come up with is if your completing the action preflop for cheapish price?

If you mean pre-flop, just in position w/ passive fish in the games. Or occasionally as bluffs at higher stakes. But in general, at the stakes you're playing, just don't play them. And by lower I assume you mean 56 and below.