S
sn0112
Rock Star
Silver Level
Belatedly came across this answer. Thank you, that's a massive help.
S
sn0112
Rock Star
Silver Level
Perfect. Thank you. Raiseyouredge's course is on my poker bucket list. BencB is offering a free webinar and I'm hoping I get chosen!
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S
sn0112
Rock Star
Silver Level
Hi again Evan,
Please forgive me if this question seems a little out of place or unconventional.
I hope it is relevant in terms of learning about the mental side of poker, or at least learning from mistakes!
I would like to ask how you cope with the ‘if only’/’what if’/hindsight part of poker?
To give an example, last night I was in a PKO approaching the money bubble. I folded KTo pre-flop (see below). Later I deeply regretted it as I only min cashed. It was my last real chance to get a larger stack and target the small stacks for bounties. When this sort of thing happens, it can leave me deflated for several sessions because of the opportunity cost.
I have read The Mental Game of Poker book series but can’t seem to shake this. Admittedly, I’ve only been playing poker for a few months.
I imagine that after a decade in Poker you have personally experienced or heard about many similar moments. I cannot fathom what goes through the minds of pros who final table at the WSOP for instance.
Would love to know your tips on this because, even early on in my poker journey, I can see it developing into a long-term obstacle.
Please forgive me if this question seems a little out of place or unconventional.
I hope it is relevant in terms of learning about the mental side of poker, or at least learning from mistakes!
I would like to ask how you cope with the ‘if only’/’what if’/hindsight part of poker?
To give an example, last night I was in a PKO approaching the money bubble. I folded KTo pre-flop (see below). Later I deeply regretted it as I only min cashed. It was my last real chance to get a larger stack and target the small stacks for bounties. When this sort of thing happens, it can leave me deflated for several sessions because of the opportunity cost.
I have read The Mental Game of Poker book series but can’t seem to shake this. Admittedly, I’ve only been playing poker for a few months.
I imagine that after a decade in Poker you have personally experienced or heard about many similar moments. I cannot fathom what goes through the minds of pros who final table at the WSOP for instance.
Would love to know your tips on this because, even early on in my poker journey, I can see it developing into a long-term obstacle.
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jybhoy
Rising Star
Bronze Level
Best way to start learning?
Hi Evan,
Firstly keep up the good work at Gripsed.com. Soon as I saw your face i knew who you were...
Make this short Evan , I am taking Poker more serious and now feel its time to get the fundamentals down and put some sort of training matrix in place. I am a relative beginner but have been reading and watching content for a while so presently I play NL2 and NL5 Snap and Fast Forward 6 max. I hold my own for quite a while then a stupid lapse in concentration and my $9 at NL5 is scoffed up!!!!! There's just too many leaks needing plugged in my game...
Just bought "Crushing the micros" book (not started) hence the reason I'm asking the best way forward. I was looking at the 30 day course ? or starting at the Beginner section as this seems to be quite thorough on all aspects when starting to play Poker....
I appreciate you must be busy but any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Keep up the good work and if you have a minute to advise in any capacity it would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance,
jybhoy
Hi Evan,
Firstly keep up the good work at Gripsed.com. Soon as I saw your face i knew who you were...
Make this short Evan , I am taking Poker more serious and now feel its time to get the fundamentals down and put some sort of training matrix in place. I am a relative beginner but have been reading and watching content for a while so presently I play NL2 and NL5 Snap and Fast Forward 6 max. I hold my own for quite a while then a stupid lapse in concentration and my $9 at NL5 is scoffed up!!!!! There's just too many leaks needing plugged in my game...
Just bought "Crushing the micros" book (not started) hence the reason I'm asking the best way forward. I was looking at the 30 day course ? or starting at the Beginner section as this seems to be quite thorough on all aspects when starting to play Poker....
I appreciate you must be busy but any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Keep up the good work and if you have a minute to advise in any capacity it would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance,
jybhoy
akmost
Rising Star
Loyaler
Table Image - RFI Range
Hi Evan ,
I have two questions but I think they are essentially the same:
1. Let's say we are the massive chip leader in our table and we want to become more aggressive in order to take the ''control'' of the table. I play with a reasonable pre-flop range which I try to follow/adjust based on the line up of the players , stack size etc.
So if we want to become more aggressive that means that we need to open raise more marginal hands.What hands should we include in our RFI? Type of hands like Ax,Kx or more speculative hands like connectors , suited connectors and suited gappers? I mean which part of the range should we include?
Most of the times if I don't play hyper aggressively, my stats are something like 22/18 in average in a full ring table.
2.In turbo tournaments where we are forced to play less hands per level , many times my stats are super nitty because someone else has open raised before me etc. I flat in position in order to see a flop but again.If I can RFI , with an adjusted range, what hands should I play?
Thanks
Hi Evan ,
I have two questions but I think they are essentially the same:
1. Let's say we are the massive chip leader in our table and we want to become more aggressive in order to take the ''control'' of the table. I play with a reasonable pre-flop range which I try to follow/adjust based on the line up of the players , stack size etc.
So if we want to become more aggressive that means that we need to open raise more marginal hands.What hands should we include in our RFI? Type of hands like Ax,Kx or more speculative hands like connectors , suited connectors and suited gappers? I mean which part of the range should we include?
Most of the times if I don't play hyper aggressively, my stats are something like 22/18 in average in a full ring table.
2.In turbo tournaments where we are forced to play less hands per level , many times my stats are super nitty because someone else has open raised before me etc. I flat in position in order to see a flop but again.If I can RFI , with an adjusted range, what hands should I play?
Thanks
Pufik
Rock Star
Silver Level
How I can learn to find out when i had good combinations in hard situation and when i had weak againts enemy. For example, I openraise from MP with TQs and CO 3bet me, how i can learn what i should call and what fold? or if someone with 10-15BB reshove my openraise and i have some average combinations and don`t know what i should do with it.
Evan Jarvis
Legend
Platinum Level
Super happy to keep the games as open and accessible to new and experienced players alike.
I learned something many years ago about business from one of the youtube channel's I enjoyed watching and it was: give the people what they want
It's important to put your students, fans, friends, customers first when thinking about what's best to offer because they are the one's who the games are for.
We had a couple of guys who wanted a bigger game (and I would've been happy to play a bigger game) but, the majority of people like the smaller game and for giving new players a chance to play, practice, and get some time on a feature table, the small buyin was the clear way to go.
Thanks for helping me make the right decision Amanda,
See you at the final table!
Evan Jarvis
Legend
Platinum Level
Use http://sharkscope.com to look up your table mates
sharkscope will tell you if your opponents are winning players, losing players, how experienced they are (number of games) and what their average buyin is.
It's a ton of information that allows you to clearly paint a picture of who are the sharks and who are the fun players.
If you want to get really detailed you can even click on the user and see how they've been doing lately (last 10, 20, 50 games) and get an idea of what their confidence level is likely sitting at.
It costs a small amount to get a membership, but it pays for itself very quickly.
I think if you use the code GRIPSED you get 15% or 20% off
Either way, a nice bit of extra EV for an investment that will be extremely +EV.
In tournaments if I had to choose between pokretracker or sharkscope... I would probably take sharkscope to be honest, it's just that powerful!
Evan Jarvis
Legend
Platinum Level
Great question. And you are correct, the more you play poker the less you will experience this sort of false regret that comes from being results oriented.
The key to overcoming this is doing a mental re-frame that is based in fact rather than fantasy
Fantasy "If only I had played this hand I would have made the nut flush"
Fact "You cannot predict the future, it was impossible to know you would've made the best hand"
Fantasy "If only I had played that hand I would've got lucky and sucked out"
Fact "If I consistently get my money in behind or with hands that are unprofitable I will lose money in the long run. Losing players look to get lucky, winning players look for edges"
The reality is, you make poker decisions with all the information you have available AT THE TIME. You cannot make decisions with information about a future you haven't experienced. If you could read the future you'd be a rich man and likely wouldn't even be playing these limits, so there's no need to live in fantasy land.
Poker is a math game, not a fortune telling game. Learn the odds of how often you'll hit, how much equity your hand has against the ranges in play, and play accordingly. Playing to get lucky (and playing with regret of not getting lucky) is just gambling, and it's something you have no control over.
The easy fixes are
a) don't look at the board after you fold
b) evaluate your fold vs their entire range, not their specific hand
c) focus on what you can control, not on what you can't
If you incorporate the thoughts about into your game, you will be playing like a poker player, not like a gambler. Getting in the habit of thinking how you were thinking is a recipe for disaster as it will build the habit of trying to get lucky and magically time outcomes. You will benefit from training yourself to judge the quality of your play by the decisions you make given the current information and detaching yourself emotionally from the cards that run out.
Yes, have a strategy for how you will play on different run outs, but don't go out of your way to make a play because you 'feel lucky right now' or because 'last time it came with lots of clubs so clubs are coming'.
Hope that helps and that this was the kind of response you were looking for
Evan Jarvis
Legend
Platinum Level
Hey Jybhoy,
If I were in your shoes I would start with this playlist http://gripsed.com/win
It has a link to project get me stackin my 30 day training program which you can get for free. I would invest some time into that as well. It complements the CC course very well and will reinforce the core concepts while teaching you some new ones as well.
If you want to try tourneys look up the free poker Training Package on my website. It's been a huge hit in the Gripsed community and has helped many microstakes players get their first big score and a big boost of confidence.
I'm assuming you want to stick with free stuff for now so I would start in those 2 places. That should give you lots of content to keep you busy for a few months.
If you need more content check out Project Get Me Stackin seasons 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 on my http://youtube.com/gripsed channel page, just scroll down a bit and you'll see them all.
Here's a sample of the kind of videos in that series
Hope you enjoy the content, see great improvements to your game and steady incremental increases to your bankroll. Take what you learn, go out there, and get stackin!
Evan Jarvis
Legend
Platinum Level
The best way to go about this is to study the hand range charts provided at training sites. They will tell you the optimal amount of hands to open and what % of those hands you should defend with.
Pokercoaching has an insane amount of charts and you can unlock all of them as well as thousands of hours of training videos here http://pokercoachingoffer.com
Generally speaking you want to defend around half of the hands you open when facing a normal sized 3-bet. So look into your equilab and see what 8% of 16% or 25% of 50% are to pick the best hands (the big cards and suited hands are the better ones to use).
When someone makes a very small 3-bet you want to continue with more of the hands you opened because your odds are better. And when someone makes a big bet you want to defend fewer of the hands you opened.
As for the EXACT hand to defend, that will vary from situation to situation. But the more you review the charts and study the more natural it will become to know when T9s is a call vs when T9s is a fold.
Evan Jarvis
Legend
Platinum Level
Hi Evan ,
I have two questions but I think they are essentially the same:
1. Let's say we are the massive chip leader in our table and we want to become more aggressive in order to take the ''control'' of the table. I play with a reasonable pre-flop range which I try to follow/adjust based on the line up of the players , stack size etc.
So if we want to become more aggressive that means that we need to open raise more marginal hands.What hands should we include in our RFI? Type of hands like Ax,Kx or more speculative hands like connectors , suited connectors and suited gappers? I mean which part of the range should we include?
Most of the times if I don't play hyper aggressively, my stats are something like 22/18 in average in a full ring table.
2.In turbo tournaments where we are forced to play less hands per level , many times my stats are super nitty because someone else has open raised before me etc. I flat in position in order to see a flop but again.If I can RFI , with an adjusted range, what hands should I play?
Thanks
Great Question.
For #2 Look for spots where you have enough fold equity to reshove over the opener. If they are opening a very wide range you can move all in with pairs, broadway cards and suited aces. If they are opening super wide you can add suited kings and queens to the mix.
The idea is that you want to have blockers which makes it less likely they have a calling hand. But you also want to have at least 30% equity when called which is what having a high card that's suited can do for you.
In some cases Kxs and Qxs are better than Ax because if you have a big enough stack you can fold your opponent off A9,A8,A5 etc. which they opened. By not having an ace, you increase the chance they are opening with a lone ace which will fold to a reshove.
That's what makes hands like KQ, KJ, QJ extra good for rejamming. They hit both qualifiers!
The important thing to note though is the position of the opener. Generally speaking people' don't open crazy wide from early position anymore, so rejamming over ep raisers is a very high risk play. Stick to late position openers and look to 3-bet all in much more than to just call.
The benefits are, you chip up well when they fold, you get to play for a massive pot when they call. Even if you get it in bad, 30-40% of the time you will win and you will now have a stack that allows you to hammer away on the other players. The extra value of the chips you gain is great especially if you are close to a bubble, and this is why it's worth it to take a chance to separate yourself from the rest of the field who are stuck waiting for hands.
1) As for big stack and what hands to open it's pretty similar advice. Focus on high cards, suited face cards and blockers and stay away from the low hands.
You are correct that in general looking for the big blockers will be the best approach.
We want to be opening hands that will make top pair or strong flush draws fairly often when opened. This means broadway hands, suited aces, suited faces and medium pairs.
If you want to open your range even wider, then you add in more suited connectors, but always try to focus more on playing the high and middle cards over the low cards. It's a lot easier to win at showdown with 2nd or 3rd pair than it is with 4th and 5th pair.
And lots of the times we are playing this way, we open wide, cbet small and check down to get to showdown. This is why you want to focus on hands that have good showdown value and not just hands that can flop ok draws.
If however, you are opening into another player who is deepstacked you can include more of those suited connectors that play will in deep pots.
Always look at who is in the BB and on the button, ask who you are most likely to play the pot against if you get called and if you will be in position or out of position (and the likelihood of you getting 3-bet).
If you follow those questions you will intuitively pick the BEST SPOTS which will sometimes mean just raising any two cards because the spot is so good that the cards don't matter.
Remember that tournament poker is much more dynamic than cash, and that focusing on the stack sizes, play tendencies, and average buyin levels of your opponents will help you proper adjust your opening ranges (tighter or looser) much more effectively than rigidly following charts will.
Hope that helps!
Mycetism
Enthusiast
Silver Level
Is it necessary to bluff?
I have been trying several tactics and it seems like bluffing is the cornerstone of poker. I have actually manage to win freeroll tournament by not bluffing and just playing smart.
I am guessing it's probably luck, but is it necessary to bluff to advance in this game? Smart safe play are not good on the long run?
`Cash game is probably way different! So much to learn here!
Cheer!
I have been trying several tactics and it seems like bluffing is the cornerstone of poker. I have actually manage to win freeroll tournament by not bluffing and just playing smart.
I am guessing it's probably luck, but is it necessary to bluff to advance in this game? Smart safe play are not good on the long run?
`Cash game is probably way different! So much to learn here!
Cheer!
jybhoy
Rising Star
Bronze Level
Best way to start learning?
LOL ! not sure if I'm replying the right way but hopefully the Massive Thanks comes across the way I mean ! Above & Beyond with your reply Evan !
Blown away with the time ,effort and attention to detail in your reply. Wow !
Suffice to say my Training Matrix has just appeared in front of my eyes provided with seamless effort & professionalism !
Seriously though I'm following your advice starting today.
Many, Many thanks Evan. I'm going to be busy !!!!!
jybhoy
LOL ! not sure if I'm replying the right way but hopefully the Massive Thanks comes across the way I mean ! Above & Beyond with your reply Evan !
Blown away with the time ,effort and attention to detail in your reply. Wow !
Suffice to say my Training Matrix has just appeared in front of my eyes provided with seamless effort & professionalism !
Seriously though I'm following your advice starting today.
Many, Many thanks Evan. I'm going to be busy !!!!!
jybhoy
Amanda A
Legend
Bronze Level
Hey Evan,
Thanks for the fun game last night! Did you decide whether you were going to play any of the online wsop tourneys this year? You definitely should! Don't you cash the main, like every time? Awesome!!! Time for your deep, deep run
I miss playing on the cardschat team in Vegas, (found
a photo https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10158592612881812&set=a.10158592615601812&__cft__[0]=AZUsd5zqBezYpZGwVbGoLavZozB1EwKIRmgLDbDkgbx3s649ZE8bNIsj3L_ArTH-77TMcpYKFgvb615o2nFHuankuf32D8dhQ8uXu_5ExeGU92-dZW5U2wgkgHKnzEPhdTc&__tn__=EH-R), but at least I have the cardschat games and the homegame with Gripsed and the Gripsters! Thanks again for cool vibe and fun and exciting game. Best thing to do on a Sunday evening, everyone! Come and join! I see you are getting more and more people and the prizemoney is building. Congrats!
Thanks for the fun game last night! Did you decide whether you were going to play any of the online wsop tourneys this year? You definitely should! Don't you cash the main, like every time? Awesome!!! Time for your deep, deep run
I miss playing on the cardschat team in Vegas, (found
Evan Jarvis
Legend
Platinum Level
LOL ! not sure if I'm replying the right way but hopefully the Massive Thanks comes across the way I mean ! Above & Beyond with your reply Evan !
Blown away with the time ,effort and attention to detail in your reply. Wow !
Suffice to say my Training Matrix has just appeared in front of my eyes provided with seamless effort & professionalism !
Seriously though I'm following your advice starting today.
Many, Many thanks Evan. I'm going to be busy !!!!!
Glad it was what you were looking for
Happy studying my friend!
Evan Jarvis
Legend
Platinum Level
Hey Evan,
Thanks for the fun game last night! Did you decide whether you were going to play any of the online WSOP tourneys this year? You definitely should! Don't you cash the main, like every time? Awesome!!! Time for your deep, deep run
I miss playing on the cardschat team in Vegas, (founda photo https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10158592612881812&set=a.10158592615601812&__cft__[0]=AZUsd5zqBezYpZGwVbGoLavZozB1EwKIRmgLDbDkgbx3s649ZE8bNIsj3L_ArTH-77TMcpYKFgvb615o2nFHuankuf32D8dhQ8uXu_5ExeGU92-dZW5U2wgkgHKnzEPhdTc&__tn__=EH-R), but at least I have the cardschat games and the homegame with Gripsed and the Gripsters! Thanks again for cool vibe and fun and exciting game. Best thing to do on a Sunday evening, everyone! Come and join! I see you are getting more and more people and the prizemoney is building. Congrats!
Thanks Amanda! I think I will end up playing some of the events.
It's a little different online than live, but suffice to say I think my online game is sharper now than it's ever been before so I like our chances!
Really glad you're enjoying the game every week, and looks like you had a great time with the cardschat team down there!!!
Evan Jarvis
Legend
Platinum Level
Bluffing is definitely a key concept in poker, and in games where people can read hands well or in games where they play too tight bluffing will go a long way.
In games where people play way too loose and hate folding though, sticking to playing strong hands (as you described) can sometimes be enough to get the job done.
Playing a range of mostly value hands is best in environments where people don't fold.
Playing a range with a lot of bluffs is best in environments where people fold too much.
The important thing is to know who and when to bluff, this video will help
It's important to be able to bet without a strong hand, and as long as you're capable of doing so when the time is right you should be just fine in this game
B
beto33ldna
Rising Star
Bronze Level
Hi, I am truly interested about this poker class, but my english is not good enough to understand 100%. I don't know if the cardschat App don't have a translation option to my language (portuguese) or if I didn't find it.
Well, my question is:
is it possible to translate the content posted on the Cardschat app, and or translation by subtitles on YouTube?
B
BatOneHat
Rock Star
Silver Level
Average Stack
In a tournament how important is it to be at least average stack size. When I fall below average I tend to panic and usually shove, even though I know I have more time.
QUOTE=Evan Jarvis;5232327]Hey Cardschatters!
I have been teaching playing poker for over 15 years and teaching it for 10 on my youtube channel. I absolutely love teaching poker and helping players improve their game.
I know first hand how frustrating it can be to have a question which you can't get the answer to and how much it can drive a mind nuts. So I'm here to offer my experience and services to help put your busy mind at rest and help you build confidence in your self and your poker game.
Over the past 5 years I have made 100 Q+A videos in https://www.youtube.com/user/gripsed/playlists?view=50&sort=dd&shelf_id=18
If you've got a question that hasn't already been made into a video please post it here and I will give you a written response, and if you're lucky I might even make a video on it too!
Looking forward to being of service and helping you reach your goals in poker, be it to be the best player in the room, or simply to have more fun with your friends.
Let's Get Stackin![/QUOTE]
In a tournament how important is it to be at least average stack size. When I fall below average I tend to panic and usually shove, even though I know I have more time.
QUOTE=Evan Jarvis;5232327]Hey Cardschatters!
I have been teaching playing poker for over 15 years and teaching it for 10 on my youtube channel. I absolutely love teaching poker and helping players improve their game.
I know first hand how frustrating it can be to have a question which you can't get the answer to and how much it can drive a mind nuts. So I'm here to offer my experience and services to help put your busy mind at rest and help you build confidence in your self and your poker game.
Over the past 5 years I have made 100 Q+A videos in https://www.youtube.com/user/gripsed/playlists?view=50&sort=dd&shelf_id=18
If you've got a question that hasn't already been made into a video please post it here and I will give you a written response, and if you're lucky I might even make a video on it too!
Looking forward to being of service and helping you reach your goals in poker, be it to be the best player in the room, or simply to have more fun with your friends.
Let's Get Stackin![/QUOTE]
Amanda A
Legend
Bronze Level
Hey Evan,
Any advice on playing the cyclones on ACR? I was playing the steps for the venom, but it looks like they took those away and there are only cyclones now. My thoughts so far on the cyclones- I don't love how it's a new table every time. There's no history, so it seems to me that a big part of playing poker is not there, and makes it more of a luckfest, do you agree? My hud doesn't seem to work on the cyclones tables, maybe cause it takes a hand to get started? Also, I had a bit of a surprise when I got to the level where it goes 3 handed. I'm like, where are the other players? Then I realized they were not coming, lol. So any advice on how to play the different levels on the cyclones would be fantastic! I did like how you can keep playing after you win to try and get another ticket, I got 2 tickets a couple of times and that was cool.
You mentioned a new video you made on the stream recetly, and I wanted to check it out. Can you please post the link here? I was looking for it on youtube, but wasn't sure which one it was. By the way, I've been watching the videos you made reviewing Charlie Carrel and they are so great!!! Thanks!!
Any advice on playing the cyclones on ACR? I was playing the steps for the venom, but it looks like they took those away and there are only cyclones now. My thoughts so far on the cyclones- I don't love how it's a new table every time. There's no history, so it seems to me that a big part of playing poker is not there, and makes it more of a luckfest, do you agree? My hud doesn't seem to work on the cyclones tables, maybe cause it takes a hand to get started? Also, I had a bit of a surprise when I got to the level where it goes 3 handed. I'm like, where are the other players? Then I realized they were not coming, lol. So any advice on how to play the different levels on the cyclones would be fantastic! I did like how you can keep playing after you win to try and get another ticket, I got 2 tickets a couple of times and that was cool.
You mentioned a new video you made on the stream recetly, and I wanted to check it out. Can you please post the link here? I was looking for it on youtube, but wasn't sure which one it was. By the way, I've been watching the videos you made reviewing Charlie Carrel and they are so great!!! Thanks!!
T
TravisGondo
Rising Star
Bronze Level
Beginner
Hello I am pretty new to wanting to play poker at a higher level just want to know where I should start out at if you have any recommendations for that and the route I should take to progress from starting basically from a complete novice
Hello I am pretty new to wanting to play poker at a higher level just want to know where I should start out at if you have any recommendations for that and the route I should take to progress from starting basically from a complete novice