[5NL] A Fish in the Sea!

Whats something I must visit / shouldn't miss while I'm down there? I'm flying out to HK first and will be in South Korea from 12th March to 23 March.

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As in poker, there are also regular 'pokies' players. And, as in poker, over time they develop methods that supposedly make them winning players in their chosen game.

I don't know how many of you have been to the Casino or local club, and watched the regulars at the slot machines, but in case you haven't, I will impart part of their secret tactics to supposed win at the game.

Heres a list:

(1) First, and foremost, I call it 'Wiping the screen'. When you have time, go sit down beside a bunch of baby boomers at the pokies, and notice that when they hit a feature, they will excessively wipe the screen before each spin.

(2) Second, I call it the 'double tap'. Its pretty simple really, rather than push the spin button once, use two quick swift tap motions.

(3) Third, I call it 'tap it ti tap'. Basically, its just excessive unnecessary tapping when they hit a feature. For those of you who don't know, a feature is when you win multipe free spins, and this does not require you to tap.

(4) Fourth, I call it 'rub it'. This is less common, but is still out there. Basically its when the gambler or their companion reach to the side of the machine and give it a couple of rubs.

And theres many more, which you will discover if you keep your eyes peeled. But yeah, if you are not using any of these secret tactics, you obviously doing something wrong at it .

I'm so lame.

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I find it very very rude for people to purposely leave the moment they double up...

Seriously, these people need a good beating.

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Well just yesterday morning, I was barely bankrolled for 5NL. However, I am now comfortably banked rolled for 10NL. My 'Money Won' graph can be seen below:



Is it normal for non show down hands to be that costly? Anyway, as mentioned in my very first blog I had a few very costly leaks in my game.

*I was not protecting my high cards well enough pre-flop and on the flop; and also
*I was discouraging multi-way pots with awesome draw cards.

Well after reading a bit more into the problem, and learning what hole cards were good multi-way and what were only good vs one or two players, I found that my poker at 5NL significantly improved (as can be seen from the chart above) and also it allowed me to comfortably open more hands depending on the situation.

I've also started to experiment with KXs, which I have found profitable after referring back to my stats in PT - especially in those passive games where a lot of people tend to limp pre-flop and bet minimal amounts post flop. I have also opened up my 3bet range for pre-flop play, however from some comments in my hand history, I can see that I still need to slightly widen it.

However, I know that I am definitely still making huge costly errors in my game. So many instances where I have flopped the best hand in a multi-way pot yet I fold them on the turn/river to mediocre bets. And example might include:

I hold TcJc & the flop comes out 7h8h9h. And it could be a four way pot. Everyone bet 10 cents. The flop then comes out say As and everyone bets 10 cents again. And suddenly the river comes out as a 2d. And suddenly some one is betting just under half pot for the river and then I'd fold, and the aggressor shows Ac9d [two pairs]. Should I be re-raising the flop? Similar, situations like these occur especially on scary boards.

I think my main goal over next few days, weeks, or however long it takes will be to work on valuing my hands more correctly given the situation. Its just frustrating when you know that you were tricked into folding the best hand.

And also, I have started to read a little into how to deal with one of my pet peeves - SHORT STACKERS. Because I know they are all in 10NL. Yes, I agree that there are short stackers in every blind, but relatively, 10NL is the worst [a substantial amount of them sit with 20BB]. And from what I have been reading from various articles, it is basically shove them, before they shove you, and not to be afraid to call with mediocre holdings.

Well that's enough ranting from me, and enough poker for me for the next day or two as I have a finance exam to study for - how bothersome.

GL to fellow grinders.

PS When a fellow LP player reraises your reraise, give him some respect as he probably is holding AA in 5NL preflop. Dam you

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Good News my bankroll peaked at $198.85; bad news is I never went over $200.

You see, I discovered the fun in playing sit n go, and started playing $3.40 Turbo & $6.50 turbo. For one session I kept getting sucked out on or coolered, so I got frustrated and tilted. What does this mean in my terms? Move up a stake to 10NL, and lose money there!

Nonetheless, it was a good experience and now I'm pretty sure that I can do well in those limits, but to be able to play comfortably and normally, I need to build up my bank roll first and I guess that shouldn't be too hard, as long as I don't play those Sit n go's and go on tilt again.

Back to business, played my normal game over 1K hands this morning on 5NL FR and made 6BI's. So basically by the end of this week I should be bankrolled for 10NL easily.


One thing I found REALLY REALLY funny [but at the same time frustrating] were the short stackers in 10NL 6-max. Talk about POT COMMITTMENT & SHORT STACKERS. I don't know if this has ever happened to any of you guys, but I remember all too often that the moment I tried to steal their 10c blinds out of their $2 stack they'd almost always shove me. Talk about being POT COMMITTED! - boy I wouldn't even consider stealing a short stacker's blind in 2NL!

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Unlike the other controlled and bright chaps here, it took me a fair bit longer to beat 2NL [over half a year]. How did that come to be?

Well long story made short - every time I played bad or got sucked out, I made the decision to move up a stake, so eventually I found myself on 25NL spewing all my hard earned BR until I found myself refilling again. Ain't I awesome!

But all that is behind me now. And here I am at 5NL. Initially, I was running like "GOD" so my friends told me, as over 3 days I managed to get my BR from $60 -> $138 in 5NL, but since then I have hit a brick wall and fallen down towards $110.

Now its, 'Henry you are aggro'. And I am glad that both my friends LiLZhiMing and Dryath were able to make me realise that there was a serious flaw in my game [Thanks guys for the continued help].

They were:
iscouraging villain's to enter the pot when I held 'hole cards' good for multi-way pot, e.g 88.
*Making it relatively cheap for multiple people to enter the pot when I held cards like AK,AQ etc.

I don't know if people have made these errors when they first started, but I surely have. So at the moment I am in the process of reevaluating when I should bet/limp/3bet in pre-flop play. And as a result my BR hasn't gone anywhere and is still sitting at the $110 mark.

I am ambitious, and seek to be bankrolled for 50NL by the end of January. And, then I officially start work as an Auditor in February [I know what you are thinking! But works, work!]

Good luck to all the other grinders out there!


Cheers,

Henry

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