More Lessons
As I mentioned, this process is going to be a long one because Ugi and I both agree that we are busy and will work on my game when we can. It’s more of a casual agreement and that’s fine. So when Ugi sees something in my game and I work in it, it could be weeks before Ugi sees the change in one of my videos. For example, he is just now reviewing the first video that shows me raising more with pocket pairs, even though the video he watched that spawned that advice was made in mid July.
While watching my first video, Ugi asks me various poker questions (he posts in his tutor section while he watches a video)…how do I determine how much to raise, is it based on position or is it always the same, etc…so he can see where I’m at and what I think. And he also reminds me to think about how my opponents view me at the table. Am I being labeled as too tight? A calling station? Keep this in mind and take advantage of it when you can.
Of course, you need to watch your opponents as well. When I complain in the video that everybody’s too tight, Ugi tells me to loosen them up. This goes back to being aggressive and raising ATC when I think I can get everybody to fold or get to a flop and continue the bluff with a hopefully successful c-bet. This is when stats and observations come in handy, of course, as you don’t want to bluff someone who’s been calling everything down with one pair, etc. This is also about changing gears and paying attention to the table dynamics. You can successfully bluff at this micro limit (10NL), but you have to pick your spots and your opponent.
Pretty much, his comments for my first video preaches being more aggressive and taking control. Put them to the test. I think this will work especially at the low level I’m at where you don’t generally get played back at unless they have something. So if I’m trying to take control and someone is trying to take it from me, it might be best to lay it down and wait.
The raising of pocket pairs I’m getting used to more and more. Of course…it’s been working, so why wouldn’t I get used to it! But Ugi also advises to raise from the button and CO…a lot. Like almost every time if the situation is right. This will take me a little longer to get used to, due to my tight, nitty ways. I know it can work. I was playing live in AC a few weeks ago and unfortuntely was in the BB facing a guy who was the button and who would almost always raise. I knew what he was doing, but never got cards to play back at him as he was pretty good and I knew he’d beat me post-flop if I missed. I lost a lot of big blinds that day.
This hand, however, I do get to give it a go.
Poker Stars, $0.05/$0.10 NL Hold’em Cash Game, 8 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter
CO: $9.95
Hero (BTN): $9.95
SB: $5.90
BB: $5.90
UTG: $26.60
UTG+1: $11.90
MP1: $12.85
MP2: $3.80
Pre-Flop: T
2
dealt to Hero (BTN)
UTG calls $0.10, 4 folds, Hero raises to $0.40, SB calls $0.35, BB calls $0.30, UTG folds
Flop: ($1.30) 7
5 8 (3 Players)
SB checks, BB checks, Hero bets $1, SB folds, BB calls $1
Turn: ($3.30) 3 (2 Players)
BB checks, Hero bets $2, BB calls $2
River: ($7.30) 7
(2 Players)
BB checks, Hero bets $2.50, BB folds
Results: $7.30 Pot ($0.35 Rake)
Hero mucked T 2 and WON $6.95 (+$3.55 NET)
This hand requires a little explanation. The UTG player got most of his stack by hitting two monsters. I played against him before and expected him to fold. I expected everyone to fold, actually. The BB just recently joined the table and my last bet put him all in. Along with the bluff, I was hoping he didn’t want to call off his stack after just sitting down. And I think it was the classic “the only way he’s gonna win this pot is to bet at it, Vince”.
This hand is a good example of what training or discussing your game can do for you. The Old Snickers99 would have folded preflop. The New More Aggressive Snickers99 went from taking a hand where I would have lost nothing (as I had no money in the pot) to winning 3.55. It’s hands like these I need to do more often to turn losing sessions into winning ones.
September 3rd, 2008 at 5:37 pm
Button aggression is so, so key. A lot of your hand range there should be based on the situation and the table; that is to say, you would pretty much always want to raise the top 20% of hands on the button, and as much as the top 50% (or higher!) of hands depending on the situation. However, I would say that T2o should be an auto-muck preflop in pretty much every imaginable scenario, it really doesn’t fall in that gray area. Then, this flop is really not a good one to c-bet as your opponents’ (all 3! of them) hand ranges will hit this pretty hard, and they will often put you on missed overs and float you with any piece or draw. The turn and river are pretty spewy because you can only hope and pray he has a draw since those cards don’t change the board texture much.
I could be very wrong, but I doubt Ugi was advocating anything quite this reckless, heh. He certainly gave you a lot of good advice though!
September 3rd, 2008 at 5:48 pm
Mirage…love your comments. I wasn’t sure about this hand either, thinking I took it too far. But I ran it by Ugi and he gave me a huge thumbs up. Maybe that should worry me.
September 3rd, 2008 at 6:00 pm
Nice writing style. I look forward to reading more in the future.
September 3rd, 2008 at 6:59 pm
I don’t recall exactly the context for this hand, but from memory there are some read-based and situation-specific bets thrown in there. I remember that some of Snick’s sessions were ridiculously tight, and in that case I think that the preflop raise is definitely +EV. The three callers would generally be enough to shut down any thoughts of a cbet, but again IIRC one just sat down and the other two were tight as hell and folded a lot on the flop. The turn changes nothing and given the stack situation $2 looks good. I think the river is fine, since villain shows no aggression at all in the hand and will have a lone 6 or whiffed heart draw the majority of the time.
So given those environmental factors, I gave it a big thumbs up. Disclaimer: I should check to see if my memory is good on this or not.
September 4th, 2008 at 5:16 pm
Ugi….you are correct. I did give you more information than I provided in this blog post. I didn’t want to get too much into this hand (you guys know how I ramble) and perhaps didn’t provide enough ‘back story’.