So post black friday I initially tried to be a live pro. After my 3rd session went pretty poorly I decided I needed online. Just cant deal with the commute, the waitlists, the slowness and everything else that comes with playing live poker.
So this week I started playing on hero poker. I talked a bunch with the ceo david through pm/email/skype and deposited 250 bucks on monday because thats the max I could put on with just a visa card. Began by playing mostly 25nl and mixing in some 50nl to try to aggressively build a bankroll while also limiting my risk of ruin. After 2 days I managed to build my roll up to about 550 between my winnings, rakeback and bonuses unlocked but it was going pretty slowly.
Realizing I needed more money, I took the steps necessary to western union 1k over there. On wednesday the only thing i knew about western union was that scammers always try to get noobs to send money using it. But it was actually really easy and painless. Took me 10 minutes at western union, 20 minute drive back, entered the MTCN into the site and within 5 minutes the money was in my account. really awesome stuff.
with a bankroll of 1550 i could then aggressively take shots at bigger games and PLO. ran a little bad at 1/2 PLO, but still doing well.
results after 4 days:
Adding in 35% rakeback and the 80 dollars in bonuses ive unlocked and my roll is at about 1800. making 550 in 19 hours of play over 4 days is pretty retarded under normal circumstances, but its kinda fun trying to take shots in games and move up through the limits quickly.
My goal is to play 45k hands this month and have my roll at 5k by the time i head to vegas for WSOP. I never plan on having more than 10-15k on there just to be cautious, but enough so i can play in the midstakes nl/plo games.
Once I hit 5k ill probably cash out 1500 just so i can immediately book a profit on the venture and at least make it not a losing proposition in the very small chance that the worst case scenario happens. But I expect to be able to make about 5-10k a month online longterm supplemented by what I can make on days when live games are soft like during wsop or if I decided to go to the commerce on weekends.
Its not nearly as well as I was doing before playing full time or even if I were to play full time live, but its much more convenient to play from home and be able to play whenever i have a free 2 hour block and i wont have to put in the super long hours of playing in a casino either.
on an end note, i strongly urge everyone to sign up at hero poker. David is the most hands on CEO i have ever seen and does an amazing job with the site. Not to mention between the bonuses, freerolls, rakeback and things like tournament tickets you will probably earn about 50-60% in rakeback over your first 5k in rake paid.
Of course there is uncertainty these days about playing online poker in the united states, but depositing a small amount of money that is not life changing to you and trying to run it up is a good idea.
started off really good, was up almost 25 000$ at midmonth and decided to take a retaded 10/20 HU shot against an aggro spewreg who ran like god, twice
crushed for ~15bb/100 on ~2/4 and 3/6 over 35k hands and started off good on 5/10, it ended bad and 10/20 shot failed hardcore so ye, go at it again next month i guess
+ 3000$ on EU sites, so still made about 1500$ or something overall so no biggie, just tired of failing them shots always in a brutal way, and im so retarded like that, next time im gonna grind more lower so that i cant lose half my roll in 30 minutes like u will see midmonth on my graph..
6SEK=1$, so the 120k drop is about 20k$, playing 2 tables 10/20 200bb deep, lost alot of 500bb coolers, brutal stuff really
just sad winning 1500$ total while if i stayed away from 10/20 i woulda won about 40k$
I've been trying this April to avoid having losing sessions! (good plan right) So far it has gone pretty well as you can see from the screenshot below, but when I do decide to have a losing session, I need to make sure it isn't all my monthly profits
Played about 4k hands each of 2/4 and 1/2 PLO so far this month winning at both. I'm really going to start trying to climb out of my 100plo and 200plo hole on PTR that I am currently in. Have been doing well at 100plo so far this month so hopefully I can accomplish that by the end of this month. I'm down about 100 buyins at 200plo though so that one will be more challenging. I really want to start a new diet this month that I will post in the next few days and try to get some feedback from all you diet/workout pros on liquid for ways to make it best. I'm aiming for 200k hands or 20k profits from the table this month so hopefully can combine that with a new diet for a good all around month.
Heres my biggest losing hand so far this month at 1/2. I think I like leading the flop with pair+gutter+bfd, I don't really think I can ever fold on this flop
Submitted by : Joeingram1
***** Hand History for Game 60297761739 ***** Poker Stars
$200.00 USD PL Omaha - Sunday, April 03, 10:27:51 ET 2011
Table Gudula XII Real Money
Seat 1 is the button
Seat 1: bogmonsta $267.85 USD
Seat 2: JoeIngram1 $513.70 USD
Seat 3: Beauweevil $498.80 USD
Seat 4: atticus281 $212.40 USD
Seat 5: WestSideChic $545.70 USD
Seat 6: VeryK1nd $845.75 USD
JoeIngram1 posts small blind [$1.00 USD].
Beauweevil posts big blind [$2.00 USD].
bogmonsta posts ante of [$0.40 USD].
JoeIngram1 posts ante of [$0.40 USD].
Beauweevil posts ante of [$0.40 USD].
atticus281 posts ante of [$0.40 USD].
WestSideChic posts ante of [$0.40 USD].
VeryK1nd posts ante of [$0.40 USD].
So, I applied for work with Greenpeace and today I had a group interview with them.
I walked in and waiting in reception was a smokin hot Vietnamese chick also waiting for the interview. So my mind drifted off about how we would go fund raising together and have wild sex in mother natures green grasses, then get married.
I just heard back and Ive got the job and am going in tomorrow for training.
I will be fund raising for Greenpeace. Its out and about, which means ill get decent exercise and wont become an all-out fat ass like when i worked in an office, and should have options to move around the country and move into other sectors.
Will get to meet lots of people, the pay is really good, hours are alright and its for a good cause. There are many many asian chicks out there who are willing to donate. Im sure they love a guy whos in touch with environmental issues.
Maybe in a year youll see me swinging off the side of a Japanese whaling boat.
since alot of people seemed to like my last blogpost about how i improved my game and what i think about improveing ur game in general i thought i would bump it for the ones who missed it that might find it interesting
also got alot of long comments in if some of u who read it when i just posted it is interested in some random addons to the post that can be found in the comment section!
as for march, i ended up turning a 10k$ downswing at start of month online into a 5k$ winning month wich felt very good after losing 30k$ live + 10k$ online as fast as i came home
april so far has been very kind to me, up about 9k$ so far and starting to feel very confident in my ability as a pokerplayer, im playing very good poker atm
I just went through my whole database and came up with a couple of realizations
it probably will be tl;dr but if u are a struggeling nl50, nl100 or nl200 player i think it can be a good read
during most of 2009 and until the summer of 2010 (july 2nd to be more exact) i was a masstabling rakebacksmallstakesgrinder, i did a database check looking through all the sites i 12 table++ ed on, 80% of hands are probably from stars 24 tabling
July 2nd was the day that i cashed out my roll from stars and started 4 tabling
i thought i was good at poker, i had watched all the videos out there, read most of the books etc, though i was a decent thinker, making all that rakeback $, running under EV and whining about it thinking i should make so much more etc made me paralized and i kinda got stuck in my improvement
during these hands i made about 17k$ in rakeback and lost ~4k$ at the tables pretty much breaking even as u see in the graph under
(i sorted out all my hands on all my aliases before 3rd july 2010 and after july 3rd 2010, alot of hands before that from the 10nl 25nl days etc are lost, i have no hands from 2008 left in my database
where i basically posted a cry me a river graph about running under EV, and that i was doomswitched etc and i was close to giving up on poker.
After this blogpost i took a break, and then grinded out the last hands to achive my next 100k VPP milestone + FPP bonuses
after that i cashed out my roll from stars, i finally started 4 tabling on bossmedia and ipoker and found myself beating nl100 and nl200 at a pretty good rate and it felt good to feel like a winner again, and not a rakebackwinner. then i started to grind alot of my volume at a swedish site where i play alot today. (if u seen some of my hands lately/blogposts with graphs they are mostly posted with the swedish currency SEK, as the tables run with SEK on the swedish site svenskaspel as i speak of)
I started taking more notes, play more pots with fish, pound on weak regs and had more time to look through stats, even though im not really a stats guy. The biggest thing i done so far probably is started thinking on my own, reading hands and ranges from simple logic breaking it down from start to finish what my and villains ranges were instead of just looking on 2barrel and riverbet CBet numbers and trash like that
i pretty much removed my hud except for the basic vpip/pfr/3bet/fold3bet from haveing a shitton of numbers befor as i felt a need to have that while i masstabled to get an idea on the villain even though it only made it worse pretty much.
all i look at nowadays is what ranges people open from different positions (the raise 1st in stat) it tells alot about peoples ranges, some 23/19 regs open different ranges, notable positions is EP BU and SB especially, i guess the steal stat pretty much is the same as this, but pound on these guys who open alot in the SB, dont give up position
the biggest thing i came to realise for REALS is how important position is, position is everything, especially the deeper u get.
pounding on people who open wide in the CO and SB from BU/BB is something u really shouldnt skip just cuz he seems tight, look through his stats, u will find that even the ones with nitty stats opens wide enough in the SB for example for you to call and 3bet more from the bigblind
and ofc be prepared to adjust to his adjustments, if he starts calling more 3bets oop or if he starts 4bet more etc and adjust ur 3bet range accordingly
for my results after the 3rd of july i was really not expecting these kinds of concistent results, as u play fewer hands/session it feels like u have more swings then u actually have longterm, its sick really :D
i havent done a complete database check for a very long time and im happy to present it soooo
here it is: (after leaving the rakeback grind on july the 3rd)
winning at almost 10bb/100 with close to 0 swings. it has taken me many hours to rake in 340k hands obv 4-6 tabling, sometimes 1-3 tabling even, but in just 8-9 months ive moved from a retarded breakeven 100NL player to a big winner on 2/4 3/6 and probably 5/10 aswell (dont have as big sample there yet, but so far so good)
it has made me sooo much better, i cant really push enough on how much playing less tables have improved my game and as u see the results speak for themself.
ive moved up from 0.5/1$ to 5/10$ in less then a year by 4 tabling.
As a tip to all of u out there who struggle at lower stakes, cut down on tables, play more heads up, take a shit ton of more notes, always try to rake in as much quality volume as possible
and seriously, playing heads up and 3 handed with good regs will not hurt u if ur a 100nl 200nl or 400nl player that want to improve
obviously it all comes down to what kind of goals u have as a player, but if u wanna get good, playing good players will get u there and not bumhunting.
but if u are happy bumhunting the lower stakes without much stress, without any ambitions on getting better at the game, go ahead
cuz exactly what gave me the opportunity to move up stakes this year is playing more deep tables, playing more heads up, and not to instasitout as fast as its 3 handed with 2 good regs
play, and improve, and u will be rewarded. there are no shortcuts in this game : ) except for MTT luckboxes obv ;D
to results, the graph with 300buy ins in 330k hands after july 3rd 2010 is played on 6 different sites, € $ and SEK, but i made some fast calculations and it ended up being about 85 000$
if any of you made it this far in the post, seriously, if u wanna get better u need to challange urself, dont be a bumhunter, crush the souls of every reg, they all suck, no one is good under 5/10 (no offence), some decent 200NL grinders, and alot of solid 400NL grinders out there for sure, but if they really were good they would have played higher already, and the good ones, that plays lower probably 16+ table to maximise their hourly so they are all just solid nits whom are not much to fear
but just get out of the mindset of getting xx$/hour on low/midstakes, as i did i calculated and only cared about the rakeback i could make. strive towards improvement and constantly try to move up and play thougher opponents, and if ur smart u will do just that
but obv u can make good money playing under 5/10, but imo alot of u guys should strive just as me to be the best possible player u can be, and for that u need to work really fuckin hard
cliffs:
-dont masstable if u wanna improve
-put down more quality volume try thinking about ur and villains
ranges in all spots instead of looking at stats clicking random
buttons
-u need to realise that u need to work hard to improve in this game,
be the best player u can be
-dont be a bumhunter unless ur happy playing the stake ur playing, then go ahead and maximise ur winnings on this stake or w/e even though bumhunting is kinda anoying
So after some very smart bankroll decisions the past few months I realized that I am near busto online. Smart bankroll decisions=losing 20BI in a session randomly, shot taking at a higher then my "regular" stakes and playing like a fucking idiot and losing more then I said I would, etc... Basic problems that have plagued me for most of my online poker career but never really had a near busto effect on me because I could always machine it up and grind it back up. This month it actually got to a point where I was a little worried if I still had it in me to be able to go through the moving down process and grinding it out there.
I was 4-6 tabling for a week or two and super game selecting at nl100 and made about 35BI in 6k hands which is pretty amazing results but wasn't being disciplined enough to stick with it and would throw some random PLO sessions in there and win a few BIs most sessions and then go off the deep end for a -25BI session. I have not been running to well but at the same time I certainly wasn't playing well either. A few days ago I was looking at the fact that I basically NEEDED to make a certain amount of money for the rest of the month or I would either need to re-evaluate my current living situation or get a stake.
I have compiled a pretty sick ptr buddy list of small stakes nl100 fish and plo25-400 fish and decided to hunt then when they are playing and not play PLO like a fucking idiot and fold more hands OOP (which was my BIGGEST leak by far x10000).
There is also a WSOP circuit event in town at Harrahs Rincon and another SNE grinder Hodge05 was in town so we decided to go up there and meet some other guys he is talking to about getting a place together out here. There was a few cash tables running and I decided to play some 1/3 for a little while. Was talking to an asian girl at my table for awhile about SNE that turned out to be Kristy Arnett who does all the poker news reporting stuff. Only took me a few hours to figure this out lol. There is one seat open to my right and new player walks into the room, only 4 tables running right now, and gets the seat
Obviously its the CHAMP himself Jerry Yang coming to get light 3bet by me lol. Played for a few hours with him and following my rule of "if i'm ever playing with a wsop main event champ I must make him laugh" I proceeded to talk to him a bunch and threaten his stack by telling him I can't wait to stack the champ! He was a really really nice guy though, super friendly. Played pretty well too and did really well. Iso'd him a few hands and obv lost all of them but only played one pretty big hand towards end of night.
2/5 1k effective I raise 89dd UTG and Sharon (60s woman I had been flirting with the whole night who got hot and bothered when I took off my hoody and told me if I wanted her I could have her lol) flats on BTN and Champ flats BB. Flop 10 6 2 with a backdoor flush draw for me so I cbet 40 into 60 and Champ c/c. Turn 7 (bink) and I talk a little to the champ who is in fatdan mode and bet 100 and he calls pretty quick. River is Q and he checks and I laugh hysterically because I am very excited and bet 300. Champ tanks forever and I keep talking to him and he keeps laughing. I say the champ doesn't want anyone to bluff him ever, and if he calls I will be able to afford to marry his daughter (he told me earlier in the night that if I wanted to ever marry his daughter, in his culture I would have to pay him lol wtf). Eventually he called and I was
Fun live session, I saw the older woman a little closer when I was about to leave and if she was about fiddy pounds less things might have gotten serious. Ended up 1200usd on the session, rounding out a good past few days. I'm not really sure what my poker plan is going forward but going to just keep putting in the hours/hands and hopefully keep winning.
NAPT LA BOUNTY SHOOTOUT
I posted in a previous blog about how I was playing the formerly NAPT bounty shootout in LA. ESPN recoreded it, 10,3k Buy-in 2k for each bounty and 40k for winning the table. 81 people played it total and I sold about 85 percent of my action for it. I got to the casino pretty early and chatted with some of the company that produces/records it and got my picture taken for the bounty chip that you give out to people. SNE grinder George Lind was to my right, John Hennigan was to my left and Dennis Phillips was a few to my right, I ended up chatting with him for most time I was alive and he was a pretty awesome and super nice guy. I was actually playing really well to start but in typical Joe Ingram fucking idiot fashion I donked off a bunch of chips to Hennigan with 22 preflop vs his QQ.
I flatted the opening raise hoping someone would sqz and i could jam. Once the guy who was super short went all in and then the sb foreign doctor thought for few seconds and went all in I figured there was a good chance he wanted to go for the bounty and could have had a hand like 99-jj ajss-ak and then george thought for awhile and finally sighed and called with aqo. At this point I guess I could fold QQ and still have 30-40bbs left but I was kinda on tilt from losing half my stack/wanted the bounty/had a pair.
I will get my 10-30 seconds on ESPN and At least I took this pic with Dennis before I busted out lol
REST OF 2011
The rest of 2011 has gone pretty up and down for me so far. After went on 70k downer in December, I just laid in bed for the start of the year pretty angry at myself for losing that much fucking money. Eventually I got out of bed and started to play some poker but was playing to high of stakes for how I was feeling at that time and didn't pretty meh. I've been in a pretty psychotic relationship for most of this year which I finally ended a few weeks ago and was keeping me super stressed out for most of the year. My poker results at the table have been about breakeven so far because I have just not been playing my A game very often or putting in enough volume. I'm hoping now that I am getting refreshed mentally from all of that, my poker results will continue to be good.
To leave you my blog readers, here is my graph from December when I finally achieved SNE
They added me to the featured blog lists on here too so hopefully this will encourage me to actually blog more. I should probably write up some Trip Reports of recent dates I have been on as well. Has been interesting to say the least lol
pretty nice youtube channel to browse through while bored
basically theyve done anternative endings to big movies in a comedysortaway
poker is shit atm, lost all my january/february profits (~30k$) in march only, 80% lost in live 20/20$ cashgames with straddle/restraddle
got pretty crazy, and ran supercrap so not much to do
probably shouldnt have played those games in the first place, even though it was suuuuuperduper +ev,(for example i got it in pre for a 12k$ pot with KK vs Q9o preflop and it didnt hold, he 4bet/called it off and "felt that i was light", thats how splashy the games were)
not really rolled to play w 20/20/40/80$ blinds/straddles, kinda transforms to 80/80$ wich was way to high for my 5/10$ roll, and especially when i get this depressed about loseing 30k$ wich was what most people sat with at those tables it was way out of my roll and personal comfortlevel, but its the biggest DS of my life i think so guess i can cry alittle. but it will only make me stronger hopefully!
hurt my roll alot, and played shit for a while online, but its all better now, back and kinda crushing again after a short break for a couple of days
but will take some months to regrind at 1/2 and 2/4 to get up to 5/10 again t_t
its just so retarded cuz i just established myself on the stakes and started winning and getting a decent sample on 5/10, and then i go donk away 30k$ live wich was totally unnessasary, and now i need to restart at 1/2
but knowing myself, i woulda taken that shot infinit times over again if i got the same chanse again to play in those games, so, ye, most of the pots where lost AK in a big pot where i 3bet and kinda barreled of and had to bet fold riv in a superbigpot, and then i lost JJ vs Ax (he only showed one card after board game A high) for ~ 7k$ pot and then the KK hand for 12k$ pot
but gogo lets do it, im gonna make it a good year anyways!
still up alittle bit for the year, and alot of months to go!
A few things that have crossed my mind over the last few days:
1: The Spade.
The Spade is the highest ranked suit in cards and as a result poker sites like to use this for their logos. The 2 main perpetrators are UB and Stars.
In a sort of "cannot be unseen" moment, I would like to bring it to the marketing moguls in both companies that when presented individually and not on a playing card, the spade does infact look a lot like a butt plug.
Exhibit A:
One of these is a butt plug and one is the PokerStars stress toy. One you squeeze in your hand and the other you squeeze somewhere else.
Exhibit B:
This is the trophy you get if youre awarded one PokerStars coveted Scandinavian Poker Awards.
Here is Peter Eastgate with 2 of them. Winning them must have made his whole week + Show Spoiler +
whole week... hole weak... ba-dum tiss
Ultimate Bet went a different route, their logo looks like a buttplug that has been inserted into someones ass.
Perhaps a better slogan would be "Lube. Relax. Insert."
2: The BFG.
The Big Friendly Giant is a famous childrens book by Roald Dahl, and there's also a movie of it. When i was a kid this movie was awesome. I watched it last night and it has become frighteningly clear that the BFG is a pedophile.
He exhibits numerous traits associated with the profile of a pedophile:
1: prefers the company of children.
2: preys upon children with a troubled background (Sophie is an orphan)
3: he uses the "magic" of dreams etc to keep Sophie quiet and establish a relationship
When she gets dirty in the movie, she takes a bath and the BFG is visabliy excited. Rather than wash and dry her existing dressing gown he sews her a new dress (classic pedophile trait, using presents to lure the child) this dress is significantly shorter than her pajamas she had and later on in the film you actually get an up-skirt shot as a result.
He makes her drink a strange home-brew, that makes it "feel good deep down in your tummy" and sings a song with lyrics that only draw attention to the anus and genitals.
He also looks like a pedo
I wouldnt be surprised is BFG was a registered sex offender and thats why all the other giants had alienated him from giant-society.
3: Going Pro!
Its hard to make a living in poker just by playing the games. One of the best ways a player can make money is through sponsorship. I am probably going to move back to PokerStars, so i have decided to join their "Team Online"
I made my own avatar:
Ill email them later with a brief bio about myself and get them to add 100% rakeback to my account.
If you would like to join me and Baal on Team Online, you can use this template and cut and paste yourself in and become a POKERSTAR!
I'm going to write up something a little longer and more in-depth about this at a later time, but for now I just want to quote something from a book that has helped me a lot over the past year.
The Poker Mindset by Ian Taylor and Matthew Hilger
Seven attitudes that every poker player should try to master regardless of their game, limits, or technical skills. They are realities you need to be aware of and attitudes you need to adopt in order to succeed in poker over the long run:
1. Understand and Accept the Realities of Poker
2. Play for the Long Term
3. Emphasize Correct Decisions over Making Money
4. Desensitize Yourself to Money (although I personally think a lot of people do this all too well) 5. Leave Your Ego at the Door
6. Remove All Emotion from Decisions
7. Dedicate Yourself to a Continuous Cycle of Analysis and Improvement
With that said, I would like to link you all to NoahSD's blog so you can become familiar with poker by the numbers: http://www.nsdpoker.com/
I'm going to write up something a little longer and more in-depth about this at a later time, but for now I just want to quote something from a book that has helped me a lot over the past year.
The Poker Mindset by Ian Taylor and Matthew Hilger
Seven attitudes that every poker player should try to master regardless of their game, limits, or technical skills. They are realities you need to be aware of and attitudes you need to adopt in order to succeed in poker over the long run:
1. Understand and Accept the Realities of Poker
2. Play for the Long Term
3. Emphasize Correct Decisions over Making Money
4. Desensitize Yourself to Money (although I personally think a lot of people do this all too well) 5. Leave Your Ego at the Door
6. Remove All Emotion from Decisions
7. Dedicate Yourself to a Continuous Cycle of Analysis and Improvement
With that said, I would like to link you all to NoahSD's blog so you can become familiar with poker by the numbers: http://www.nsdpoker.com/
Just got my table draw for the bounty shootout today and went and got picutres taken for the bounty chip that you give to who busts you. Buyin for it is 10k and get 2k for each bounty, 40k for winning first table and final table is 10k for each bounty and 171k for first place
Hopefully I can get at least 1 bounty and not 0 it out.
Have position on my fellow sne grinder george lind, should be exciting. Starts in about an hour, can follow along at www.pokernews.com
lol i was only joking when i made this post
Table 2
1 George Lind III
2 Joe Ingram
3 John Hennigan
4 Ali Eslami
5 Allen Kessler
6 Joe Serock
7 Dr. Sameer Al Janedi
8 Dennis Phillips
9 Alex Wice
Looked through them, some I felt are lol, and some I didn't quite get. Here's a few bits about the laws that I felt were interesting.
Law 1 NEVER OUTSHINE THE MASTER
Always make those above you feel comfortably superior. In your desire to please and impress them, do not go too far in displaying your talents or you might accomplish the opposite - insire fear and insecurity. Make your masters appear more brilliant than they are and you will attain the heights of power.
Law 2 NEVER PUT TOO MUCH TRUST IN FRIENDS, LEARN TO USE ENEMIES
Be wary of friends - they will betray you more quickly, for they are easily aroused to envy. They also become spoilted and tyrannical. But hire a former enemy and he will be more loyal than a friend, because he has more to prove. In fact, you have more to fear from friends than enemies.
Law 4 ALWAYS SAY LESS THAN NECESSARY
When we are trying to impress people with words, the more you say, the more common you appear, and the less in control. Even if you are saying something banal, it will seem original if you make it vague, open-ended, and sphinxlike. Powerful people impress and intimidate by saying less. The more you say, the more likely you are to say something foolish.
Law 5 SO MUCH DEPENDS ON REPUTATION - GUARD IT WITH YOUR LIFE
Reputation is the cornerstone of power. Through reputation alone you can intimidate and win; once it slips, however, you are vulnerable, and will be attacked on all sides.
Law 9 WIN THROUGH YOUR ACTIONS, NEVER THROUGH ARGUMENT
Any momentary triumph you think you have gained through argument is really a Pyrrhic victory: The resentment and ill will you stir up is stronger and lasts longer than any momentary change of opinion. It is much more powerful to get others to agree with you through your actions, without saying a word. Demonstrate, do not explicate.
Law 10 INFECTION: AVOID THE UNHAPPY AND UNLUCKY
You can die from someone else's misery - emotional states are as infectious as diseases. You may feel you are helping the drowning man but you are only precipitating your own disaster. The unfortunate sometimes draw misfortune on themselves; they will also draw it on you. Associate with the happy and fortunate instead.
Law 13 WHEN ASKING FOR HELP, APPEAL TO PEOPLE'S SELF-INTEREST, NEVER TO THEIR MERCY OR GRATITUDE
If you need to turn to an ally for help, do not bother to remind him of your past assistance and good deeds. He will find a way to ignore you. Instead, uncover something in your request, or in your alliance with him, that will benefit him, and emphasize it out of all proportion. He will respond enthusiastically when he sees something to be gained for himself.
Law 16 USE ABSENCE TO INCREASE RESPECT AND HONOR
Too much circulation makes the price go down: The more you are seen and heard from, the more common you appear. If you are already established in a group, temporary withdrawl from it will make you more talked about, evne more admired. You must learn when to leave. Create value through scarcity.
Law 20 DO NOT COMMIT TO ANYONE
It is the fool who always rushes to take sides. Do not commit to any side or cause but yourself. By maintaining your independence, you become the master of others - playing people against one another, making them pursue you.
Law 29 PLAN ALL THE WAY TO THE END
The ending is everything. Plan all the way to it, taking into account all the possible consequences, obstacles, and twists of fortune that might reverse your hard work and give the glory to others. By planning to the end you will not be overwhelmed by circumstances and you will know when to stop. Gently guide fortune and help determine the future by thinking far ahead.
Law 30 MAKE YOUR ACCOMPLISHMENTS SEEM EFFORTLESS
Your actions must seem natural and executed with ease. All the toil and practice that go into them, and also all the clever tricks, must be concealed. When you act, act effortlessly, as if you could do much more. Avoid the temptation of revealing how hard you work - it only raises questions. Teach no one your tricks or they will be used against you.
Law 35 MASTER THE ART OF TIMING
Never seem to be in a hurry - hurrying betrays a lack of control over yourself, and over time. Always seem patient, as if you know that everything will come to you eventually. Become a detective of the right moment; sniff out the spirit of the times, the trends that will carry you to power. Learn to stand back when the time is not yet ripe, and strike fiercly when it has reached fruition.
Law 46 NEVER APPEAR TOO PERFECT
Appearing better than others is always dangerous, but most dangerous of all is to appear to have no faults or weaknesses. Envy creates silent enemies. It is smart to occasionally display defects, and admit to harmless vices, in order to deflect envy and appear more human and approachable. Only gods and the dead can seem perfect with impunity.
A few weeks ago I made some posts about "in my mind" where I was removing the clutter around my PC. I then threw them since I don't need them anymore. I was going to do the same with my "yellow note pads poker notes" but never got around to, forgot about it etc.
So here are some poker tips, concepts, notes, not sure what to call it. Enjoy =]
Ah, not sure where to put this either, found this document. The Poker Blueprint, i'll put it in spoilers. My summary of the book
Play to learn
- Forget about earning money, grinding. Learn, consume everything you can, get knowledge and apply it. Question everything, think.
Table Selection
- Table selection is the most important factor seperating winning and losing players.
- Anyone playing 35% or more hands is bad, unless a regular
- Few tables, generally bad
- Not a full stack, usually bad
- Tendencies, often smart to watch a game a few minutes, see if any of the regulars are on tilt etc
- Have the fish on your right, if a reg is being a bitch on your left, just chop off the lowest end of your range, close your eyes and check call him down. Sit yourself top left on the table, fish likes to sit underneath most of the time
- As long as there is 1 fish at the table, it's worth playing
- When a player has a name of an alcoholic beverage or a car, usually recreational over the age of 30. If they have a screen name of a famous player followed by a number, usually bad. If they got a sport team with the team's logo, usually bad.
If they got words like "lunatic", "bluff", "crazy" etc, usually a nit. If words like "monies", "lol" usually a young player, probably aggressive and has read forums etc. If a player has picture of a dog, a baby or something, usually older and always bad.
Bankroll Management
- Implement 30 buy-in rule for whatever stake
- Play 4 tables, so you can focus more on both your own and your opponent's play
- Take notes religiously and try to move up as fast as possible.
- Another reason why is, as you grow older, your willingness to gamble and take risks decrease tremendously. (You worked hard to get where you are, the risk of losing it all is disheartening and at times, scary.)
- Remember, your earnings improve exponentially relatively to your skill level, you should try to be as aggressive as possible with your bankroll
- "If you're too careful, your life can be a fucking grind."
- Taking shots is one of the most important things you can do to improve as a player. You get a reality check, you realize they aren't that good higher up, and you might never look back
- You shouldn't cash out frequently, cut down your expenses and work hard to improve your craft, spend as much money as you can to improve your game, use it for coaching and taking shots. That's your expense.
Math is Easy
Hand Combinations
- Some facts:
1. There are 1,326 combinations in No-Limit Holdem
2. A set has 3 combos
3. Two pairs have 9 combos
4. Pocket pairs have 6 combos
5. A pair + kicker has 12 combos
6. Under paired cards have 16 combos
7. Any two specific suited cards have 4 combos
8. Any two specific cards have 1 combo
Hand Ranges
- You estimate a player's hand range based on his image, tendencies, history and position
- A good generalization to keep in mind is that if you think your opponent's range is stronger than your hand, you want to fold more often. And if you think his range is weaker than your hand, you want to call or raise more
Probability and Odds (the proportion of the time that something is likely to occur or has already occurred.)
- Usually expressed as a percantage (e.g., 35%) or a ratio indicating odds (e.g., 4:1). They are one and the same
Pot Odds
- Knowing about odds allows us to determine if a call, bet, fold or raise is the most optimal play
- Two main types of odds for poker: Immediate odds and implied odds
Immediate odds
- Normally referred to as simply "odds", how much you stand to win immediately in relation to what you have to risk, and is usually expressed as a ratio.
- Five steps we need to take to determine our pot odds:
1. Determine the original pot size
2. Determine the amount we have to call
3. Add up original size of pot and amount we have to call to get the Total Pot Size
4. Express it as a ratio (Total Pot Size: Amount we have to call)
5. Convert it to a percentage
Implied odds
- Reflect how much we expect to win in later streets if we hit our hand
Fold Equity
- Based on how often we expect our opponents to fold to a bet or raise. Since poker is all about being aggressive at the right time, it's a good idea to know a little something about fold equity
Estimating Your Equity on the Flop and Turn
- Multiples of 2 are generally more accurate than Multiple of 4, but both give good estimates
* Multiples of 4: To approximate the equity you have on the flop, multiply your number of outs by 4 (You have an open-ended draw straight on the flop. That's 8 outs, so 8x4 = 32 percent to win by the river. The actual number is 31.5 percent (This is if you get to see both the turn and river cards.)
* Multiples of 2: To approximate your equity on the turn, multiply your number of outs by 2. (You have an open-ended draw straight on the turn. That's 8 outs, so 8x2 = 16% to win by the river. The actual number is 17%.)
Expected Value
- (EV) is the average amount that we stand to win or lose if we see a certain situation many times.
- To calculate your EV, use this formula:
EV = (% you win)(amount you win) – (% you lose)(amount you lose)
If the sum is over 0, it's + EV
Pre flop: The Fundamentals
The Blinds
- When the decision to fold or call pre-flop is close, folding is better because a small mistake can lead to a bigger one post-flop. In the occasion that you do play and find yourself being out of position, try to keep the pots small so you won't find yourself in many sticky situations.
Raising from the blinds
- Be very conservative with your raises from the blinds. With limpers in the pot, don't raise unless you've got a good hand like 99+, ATs+. Most people will put you on a premium hand also when you do it, and it's hard to extract value from weaker hands. Good spot to fold if you get re raised with top pair
3-betting From The Blinds
- Against a utg raise, the majority of your 3-bets should be for value. Unless you know the UTG is a fish. Your perceived range get so strong.
- Since we are rarely 3-betting a UTG open from the blinds, we should call with the majority, if not all our holdings.
- Against middle position, you should 3-bet more often with JJ+/AK against looser opponents. If your opponent folds to 3-bets a lot, I wouldn't 3-bet with JJ and AK, call to keep them in the pot
- You shouldn't 3-bet non-broadway suited connectors either when they are in MP, since they don't play well in 3-bet pots, and you won't flop enough hands to continue after c-betting. No point c-betting Axs either
- Against CO/BTN you should 3-bet with a wider range, because his stealing range is wider. From this position it's smart to 3-bet with a polarized range. Premium hands JJ+ /AQs + and speculative holdigns such as 74s 56s that can't play profitably post-flop without the initative. And call with marginal hands QJ, AJ. KQ etc.
Squeezing
- Something that will look extremly strong unless you have a history of 3-betting a ton
- At 50nl a squeeze is usually very strong hand, at 600nl ranges are wider, and people can show up with speculative hands
- A good spot to squeeze is when a loose player opens in mp/co and the people behind calls, the reason is, it's a great spot for btn to 3b, so if he only calls, he's usually not that strong
- Smart to keep squeezing until someone gives you a reason to stop
- On Ace high flops, with TT-KK oop, you should bet-fold more often than check-call. (Unless that particular oponent let's you go to showdown easy.)
- Don't Squeeze against nits if they raise from early position, their range is too tight and strong
- Against loose-bad players, don't squeeze loose, better to call their raise preflop and stackw hen you do hit
- Against shortstacks, don't squeeze if you don't want to call his all-in raise. He's not going to fold often, and will jam with any A or any pair. AT+ or 77+ are good hands to use vs them
- Against light 4-better, don't squeeze them
- After a villain calls your squeeze, never bet unless you think he will fold a lot or you are willing to get it in on the turn
Caution: Squeezing a lot will build up adrenaline and you may find yourself playing too aggressively to the point of spazzing out. You will find yourself fighting for pots because they are bigger. Start by 3b bad people, get comfortable and continue from there
Under The Gun (UTG)
- Standard general hand range: 13.1% (To play standard tag 23/18 or so, good to raise 12-14%)
1. All pairs 44 and higher
2. All suited Broadways JTs +
3. AJo and KQo, if players behind are aggressive, fold AJo and KQo as well
4. Medium Suited cards such as 87+ (Stay away from single-gap suited cards like T8s).
Important Note: Avoid playing ATo UTG, because of reverse implied odds
- How tight or loose you want to raise depends on how good/aggressive players are behind you and how good the blinds are
Middle Position (MP)
- Treat it almost the same as UTG, 14,6% (13% - 16%)
Button (BTN)
- 34.5%
- The most profitable position in NLHE, and you should find any excuse to play in this position
- A good hand player can profitably play 50% of his hands from the button
- 3-betting from the button, if people fold a lot to 3b, do it nonstop, if people call, then fold to c-bets a lot, keep doing it.
Important Note: Sometimes you want to deliberatly force yourself to fold pre-flop sometimes, the reason for this is, you don't want an opponent who's folding way too much to recognize he's folding too much. Want to give him the illusion that he's not constantly getting exploited, even though he is
- If people fold to you, and the blinds are tight, keep stealing
Postflop
Why we bet
- When we have the best hand, value and to extract money
- When we rarely have the best hand and need to bluff
- Dead money
Continuation Bet
General guidelines on whether you should bet on certain boards:
1. On your HEM, if it's greater than 70%, you can bet your entire range and still profit
2. You want to have some sort of rquity in the hand
3. Dry flop with one high card (Your percieved range include tons of A and K, and theirs include small pairs and suited connectors.)
4. Wet boards, don't bet, board like 89Ts hits a lot of the Villain's medium-hand range, and will call often, also you have some equity you want to realize.
5. Paired Flops: Avoid betting 552 rainbow with weak hands like 86s or 67s because you have very little equity if he calls, rather check and do delayed C bet if he checks on turn.
6. Way Behind/Way Ahead: Example KK on A82, you're way behind a pair of aces or a set, and you'r way ahead of bottom-and middle pair and random gutshots. You can check behind here some times if it's checked to you
7. Multi-way Pots: You generally want to bet more in a three-way pot on a dry flop because people are less likely to mess around in these spots. But check behind if there's a short stack
8. In position/Out of Position: You should C-bet a lot more often OOP. In position, you can check behind and get a free card. It's a lot harder to get a free card when you're OOP, and you generally want to be aggressive and take down the dead money
9. Against Loose players: You generally want to check behind or check-fold some of the tiem on low-medium boards (876s, 647s, 542r, etc.) Loose players like to call flop bets with all sorts of hands, making c-betting on the flop with random hands less profitable.
10. Against Tags: C-bet all the dry boards versus TAGs, and check behind wet boards if you miss. And adjust if they're attacking you light (etc, check raising you on J52, you got 75s.)
11. Inducing bluffs: Some players will almost always bet if checked to, because they percieve it as weakness. You can check call with AT+ on A83 boards etc, and if flush draw, check raise
12. Polarizing your range: You'll want to polarize your range when you check behind. This means you bet the flop with strong hands and air, but check behind with marginal hands
Paired Flops
- When a player check calls your c-bet on paired flops, he's almost ALWAYS got a pocket pair. Sometimes with A high, so be ready to fire a lot of turns, if he raises the turn bet, it's almost never a bluff, so fold unless you beat trips
3-bet pots
- Villain's calling range is similar to that of single-raised pots. Mostly middle pocket pairs and occasionally AK/AQ that he didn't 4-bet with. Knowing this, we should double-barrel bluff the turn if we pick up some type of dr aw. Most hands will not withstand a second strong barrel.
Monotone Boards
- Be very conservative, people seldom re-raise without a set or better, and if you do want to C-bet A LOT of hands might call you. Be careful with what you shove your stack in with
Villain's perception of your range
- You should generally bluff more and value-bet less if Villain's perception of your range is strong, and bluff less and value-bet more if it's weak
- Polarize You Leading Range: You generally want to lead with strong made hands that can easily call a raise, or with draws (pair + flush draw, flush draw, open-ended, overcards + open-ended, gutshot +open-ended, gutshot).
- Want to avoid leading with JQ on KJ3r, getting raised, not knowing what to do. So don't put yourself in these without a plan
Single-Raised Multi-way Pots
- consider leading with middle or bottom pair in single-raised multi-way pot. It'll be too hard to profitably check-call with medium pairs. Leading also puts the player behind you in a difficult situation. Example: 65s on a Q64r flop
Who to lead Against
- Straightforward players who are passive:
1. Players who fold too often to leads. A good example is aregular who is playing more than 9 tables. You can also check a pre-flop raiser's stat on your HUD to see if he's folding a lot (75%) to donk bets
2. Players with a high stealing frequency from the CO or BTN. Their ranges will often be wide and weak
3. Weak-tight players. They play straightforward game and will just fold to your flop leads without a strong hand
4. Players who like to check behind for pot control. When you have a strong hand, consider leading into them to extract value since they are going to cehck behind a lot
Who to NOT lead Against
- Aggressive players, they like to re-raise donk bets, but consider leading into them with a strong hand
- Do not lead into calling stations. You want to take down the pot on the flop without having to fire numerous barrels
Playing the Turn
- Bluff the turn on scare card, or lead if a flush or straight completes
Raising
- There are two reasons why we want to raise-for value or for bluffs. We never raise to "see where we're at" it's too expensive.
Raising for Value
- On boards where we flop a Straight, all connected boards, or all 2 tone flush boards we want to re raise for value, too many cards can come to kill our action.
- Flopping a top pair with JTo on a T56 2 tone board vs someone bad, we always want to raise if donked into, so many marginal hands, or draws they may have
Types of Boards to Bluff-Raise On
- The best boards to bluff-raise are ones where opponents c-bet a lot, such as AK3, KQ8.
- Monotone and low connected boards 456 two tone etc. Monotone boards will slow them down unless they have a set or a flush.
- Stay away from paired boards, may want to throw in a bluff here and there, but it's generally not a good idea to attack those flops. May be good vs some ppl to float on paired boards though.
Floating
- A good tool vs people who c-bet too much (75% or more on the flop). And vs people who play straighforward on the turn.
Factors to consider before floating:
1. If your opponent 2-barrels too often, you shouldn't float the flop because you will have to fold the tun too often.
2. If your opponent plays straightforwardly on the turn and telegraphs the strength of his range either by checking or betting. Some players check whenever they don't have a hand on the turn and bet whenever they do. These are your primary targets.
3. It is credible for you to represent a hand on the turn or river. Example, you've got 78s, flop A46, you've only got a gutshot, but another flushdraw on the flop, if the other flush completes on the turn, your opponent checks, you can easily represent that flush
4. Make sure that when you float, you have some equity in the pot and have soem backdoor draws so you can continue on the turn.
Double-Barreling
- Most low stakes players have problems playing the turn, because they don't plan the streets. No backup plan if they miss the turn and got nothing
- You generally want to fire the turn if either of these conditions exists:
1. Your equity improves
2. A scare card hits
- On boards where a turn puts more draws out there, bet the river as well. The turn creates a lot of draws, Villain is likely to have a made weak hand or a draw. If he had a strong hand, he would've raised the turn to protect it. Therefor a river bluff is profitable.
Scare Card
- Best scare cards are high cards, or completed flushes on the turn
- Bad scare cards are low cards and turn pairing the board
The Problem of Scare Cards
- In today's game, many people know what the obvious scare cards are. For this reason your bet is less credible on that particular card, and you need to fire another bullet to take down the pot, Fortunately though, people call on the scare card and fold to a river bet all the time.
- To balance this by betting your medium-strength hands on the turn too
- Also an alternative to check the A turn, and go for river bet or bluff
Implied Threat of the river bet
- The threat of losing a stack causes players to err on the side of caution, casuing them to fold their marginal holdings on the turn. This puts their turn range face-up.
- Also a reason why you should incorporate bluffing on the river into your game.
Strong hands
3 - Betting
- One of the most powerful plays you can have in your arsenal, extremely profitable to 3-bet in position, especially from the button.
Creating an aggressive Image
- 3-betting lightly is an excellent way to create an aggressive image. Players will put you on a wide range of hands and pay you off lighter.
- Will let you control the flow of the game unless they fight back. Allows you to isolate the fish more often, playing pots in pos vs regulars.
- You generally want your first 3-bet to be a semi-bluff (j8s, 86s, 75s etc).
After that, keep 3-betting until people give you a reason to stop- by 4-betting you, calling you down lighter, and/or check-raising the flop more.
- You will end up tilting him and he will be ecstatic to get all-in pre-flop with AQ or 88 etc.
3-bet stats
- Although 3-bet stats are helpful, don't put too much emphasis on them, more reliable if it's heads up.
Polarized range
- Polarize your range when you 3-bet, if it's vs a passiv bad fish, you can throw in 88-jj
3 - betting as the Aggressor
- Do most of your 3-betting from the CO or BTN.
3-betting against UTG/MP
- Increase your 3-betting range versus UTG, if he starts playing back with calling or 4-betting, slow down. For the most part, he will be playing back with JJ+ and AK. If he starts to call down multi barrels, narrow your range to include more broadway cards and fewer suited connectors.
3-betting against the cutoff
- Most regulars widen their opening range from the cutoff, so you want to 3-bet the cutoff relentlessly from the button.
You'll have tons of fold equity because: 1) his range is weak, and 2) he doesn't want to play against you from out of position.
- The general strat, 3b till he starts 4b light, check raising, or calling down with marginal holdings.
3-betting from the blinds
- Don't 3bet too much from the blinds, it's too tough. Also remember do it with a polarized range, can sometimes if the dynamic and your image is right, do it half the time with 99-JJ and AQ.
3-betting with Deep Stacks
- With stacks 1500B or more, you can 3-bet with many more hands in position. Players play much more straightforward when stacks are deep. Some will call a lot pre-flop, hoping to flop a strong hand, and will check fold once they miss, some fold preflop all the time.
- If you're in the blinds, tighten up your 3-betting range a lot, not profitable vs regs when they have position.
3-betting with AQ
- Most of the time, it's not profitable to 4b or call with AQ, but when the situation is right. You and another guy who's been 3-betting a lot, and you raise, he 3bets again, you can now call. If any A hit, you can call his bets, if any K hits, you fold, if not, check raise him big, this will get them to fold their pairs.
Playing the Flop
your perceived Range
- People will usually put you on AK, high cards, small suited connectors that can't profitably call a pre-flop raise, or high pokcet pairs when you 3-bet before the flop.
- On a flop like AT3, if we bet, they will fold a large percentage of the time because the board texture hits our perceived range.
Had the flop come 789 it probably wouldn't hit our range much, so it's best to check-fold with a hand like AK.
Paired boards
When a villain calls a c-bet on a paired board, he will have a pocket pair most of the time, sometimes it might be a float with A-high. Knowing this you want to apply serious pressure.
A player calls your c-bet on 772
If and A,K, or Q hits, bet hard again (and fold to a shove). and if you have 89s, turn is T, you can still bet strong and commit yourself.
Only do this vs peopel who are generally tight, who can make folds, not passive bad fishes and stuff.
Monotone boards
- Players generally play two pairs, sets or small flushes very fast on these boards. If you c-bet, he calls, you can safely rule out those hands. Knowing that, you want to be shoving your stack on the turn if you have the nut-flush draw.
A93-type boards
- You want to c-bet almost 100% of your 3-betting range here, even if you have TT-KK.
Counter
Ace-high flops are great spots to float in position in 3-bet pots. The reason is explained above-villain will c-bet almost 100 percent of his 3-betting range on this flop.
If he checks, check with him, if he bets the flop, then call.
If he bets the turn, he probably has an ace, so just fold. When villain checks the turn, check behind to represent something like a5s going for pot control. When he checks again on the river, he rarely has an ace, go for 2/3 - 3/4 of the pot.
Countering 3-bets
From a defensive point of view. You raise from MP and the BTN 3-bets you for the 3rd time. How to deal with that?
Tight strategy
- You generally want to be calling 3-bets in position. If at all possible, avoid doing it OOP.
If you're OOP against a good, aggressive player, the best strategy is to simply fold his 3-bets and tighten up your opening range. Fight back when you have JJ+
Playing Fit-Or-Fold
- If you decide to call with a hand like 77, you can't just fold to his c-bet everytime you don't hit a set, need to play back. Otherwise it's not profitable.
Calling 3-bets with Pocket Pairs
- Even with position, you should fold pocket pairs worse than 99 when stacks are less than 150BB.
CO vs BTN
- You can actually call with a wider range of hands here versus a button 3-bet because he will have hands like ATs, KTs, and QTs. For this reason, you can call with AQ, AJ, KQ, KJs, hands that play post flop.
Late position vs. 3-bet from blinds
- If Villain has a very narrow 3-betting range, then I want to 4-bet to give him a chance to stack off with a range of JJ+/AK, which AA/KK dominates. (By calling, he may slow down, and we won't stack him).
- If an opponent is 3-betting with a wide range, I will call with premium hands, because I want to balance the time I have marginal holdings. Against someone who is really aggressive, I will slow-play and then call down all three streets, even if the board gets scarier, because aggressive players bluffing frequencies increase as the board gets scarier.
- I would shove over villain's bet on wet flops like T83s because that's what I would do with my semi-bluffs on this board. If villain 3-bets a lot and c-bets at a high percentage, then semi-bluffing the flop is insanely profitable since he will bet-fold very often.
Don't jam the flop
Don't always just get it in on the flop agsinst 3-better's c-bet. Almost always call more with sets and two pairs.
Bluffing the flop
- Players who 3bets too much, also c-bets too much. Good boards to bluff-raise on are connected boards, and sometimes Kxx or Qxx. A high is usually best to call and represent.
Inducing a Bluff
- Some players never belive you when you raise a fairly dry flop, by raising you represent such a narrow range of hands for value taht a thinking villain will not give you credit for it.
- As you move up in stakes, you will realize that there's more value to fast-playing your hands than slow-playing. As players get better, it's more difficult to trap them. However, a lot of players want to make hero calls so if you're playing your strong hands aggressively, you will get called more often than you think.
4-betting
- You generally want to 4-bet a hand that either cannot profitable call a 3-bet (a3o KJo) or that you want to go all-in with pre-flop (QQ+ / AK).
Having an ace or king in your hand is great because of hand elimination. There is less chance that Villain holds AA,KK, or AK.
- Don't 4bet with T7o, you want to least have decent equity in the pot if he does call, choose T7s instead.
- Also important that you don't 4-bet with hands such as 55-88 or T9s. (Assuming the stacks are 150BB), it's better to just call his 3-bet with these hands because of the implied.
- You can also widen your 4-betting range when stacks are deep (150BB +), tough to counter it because stacks are so deep, people rarely ever 5b bluff, so it gets taken down a lot.
4 - BETTING
- A player who has been 3-betting a lot, or folding to 4-bets a lot are prime targets. The standard of today's game is 4-bet to 2.1 - 2.5 times the 3-bet size.
- You never want to put in more than 30BB of your stack pre-flop because you do not want to commit to the pot with a weak hand. If you 4-bet to 40BB and he shoves, you would need to call 60BB to win 140BB, roughly 2.3 odds. This means you will have to call a shove with a hand as weak as A2s, or 56s against a shoving range of QQ + / AK
Playing TT and JJ
- you lose a lot of value by 4-betting these hands small, rather shove or 4-bet big so he knows you're commited, or call his 3-bet, might get to showdown then.
- Against passive opponenets who don't barrel enough, calling is optimal because you have more chances of showdowns, if a nits 3-bets you, should fold to his re-raises when you open from UTG or UTG+1.
- People will save a lot of money if they treat TT and JJ like 99.
Playing AK
- It's a mistake to push this hand too hard. AK falls into the same category as TT and JJ because it's a marginal hand to 4-bet and get all-in with.
- The idea behind calling the pre-flop 3-bet instead of 4-betting is to call all of his flop c-bets and bet then turn when he checks to you. A half pot bet will be sufficient.
- You also likely to stack any Ax from villain, lastly, Villain will be barreling with a high frequency on any turn A or K to represent AK.
Playing AQ and 99
- We rarely want to 4-bet with these hands and get it in preflop without history.
The majority of the time, however, the best play is to call a 3-bet with them when stacks are deeper than 125BB.
Adjusting Against Different Players
- In this example you have ATo, flop is 862. In a vacuum, you should bet try and take it down, you have initative and 6 outs.
Against a loose-passive player: Check behind, he's going to call with any piece, and he probably won't lead the turn, you have showdown value as well
Against a Nit: 17/12 or tighter, you shuold bet, nits often play fir-or-fold game. You may also have to barrel the turn, because their range include a lot of pairs, if the turn is a high card, fire again.
Against a Decent TAG: You want to bet as well, for the most they will stay in the pot if they have something and get out of the way if they don't, an occational check-raise. Be ready to fire second barrel on all overcards, if he calls, you can still fire the river, they know you will probably fire on the scare cards. Fire on a scare card higher than 8 or 9.
Against a Good, Aggressive Player: It's okay to mix it up, it's okay to check since he's good at balancing his range. Pick your spot to bluff the river if you decide to.
Balancing your range
- No need to balance vs. bad players. They either don't know what you are representing or don't care. But against good hand readers, having a well balanced range will earn you more money and make you difficult to play against.
- Example, A good aggressive player raises to 3$ from the Button and you call from the SB with ATs, the flop is A62, you check- call his pot bet. The turn is a 7 and you check. He checks behind. the river is a Q, you bet 2/3-pot for value, and he folds.
In this scenario you rarely have a bluff, so you should check the river the majority of the time.
This has three purposes:
1) It induces him to bluff with air so that you can call him down.
2) It induces him to make a thin value bet with worse hands.
3) It balances your range so that he will be less likely to valu-bet light or bluff you in the future, thus allowing you to see a cheap sowndown with your medium/small pairs.
A guideline to Balance your range
* Any time you find yourself in a situation where your perceived range is strong (good top pair or better), then value-bet less and bluff more.
* Any time you find yourself in a situation where your perceived range is weak (mid-pair or worse), then value-bet more and bluff less.
Strong Perceived Range
- You should value-bet less because your perceived range is too strong. When your betting range on the river is almost exclusively for value and never a bluff, Villain will fold worse hands and call or raise with better hands. If you check instead, it may insude a good thinking player to value bet light or bluff.
- With a strong perceived range, you also want to bluff more if you have a hand that can't win at showdown.
- If you have air, c-bet and it goes check call, check check on turn and he checks the river, and you can't win any other way, often smart to bluff if the board allows it.
Weak Perceived Range
- If youre perceived range is weak, then you need to value-bet more often because Villain is less likely to belive you. You also want to bluff less because you can't credibly represent a strong hand most of the time.
Multi-Way Pots
- Proceed With Caution!
- Can be good to raise with gutshot + backdoor f draw type hands, if Co bets, mp calls. But use with caution when the timing is right
- if Co calls, check the turn, if you hit tons of equity, pot if MP calls
- do not make the move on a flush board
- There are good spots fo bluff raise in multi way pots as well. You have A2s, mp and btn calls, flop is J7r with one of your suit. Mp bets, btn folds, you check raise, insanely strong line, usually folds out hands as strong as qj, if you hit ur f-draw on turn, pot and commit.
- The general concept is, always have something, some backdoor, gutshot, some rope in case they call.
WARNING: Don't pull these stunts if you don't have a general idea of how villain plays, and at lower limits people really can't think that well. Some ppl at 100nl won't fold QJ. This is for motivation to think outside the norm.
Scare Cards
- Your hand QTs, flop 983, one of your suit. Villain checks, and you check, turn is an A.
Great spot to raise, because villains usually fire scare cards, and if they call, a big bet on the river usually takes it down. But once again, know your villain.
- When scare cards come, it dramaticly increases a villains bluffing frequency, on the turn and on the river.
Timing Tells
Quick Call:
Usually an attempt to appear strong and to slow down the aggressor on the next street. With a strong hand, a player would take more time thinking about his option.
Sometimes we have no option besides check-calling, so we often act way too fast.
Example: QT, Btn raises, we call from the SB, flop is T57r, we check to villain, he bets, we insta-call.
- Another reliable tell is when fish check-calls really afst on boards where flush draws are possible. (Vs them, if you don't have anything, if all draws miss, a half pot on the river is enough to make them fold a high card that might beat you).
Slow Call:
They almost always have a strong hand.
(To find out which players genuinely like to tank long, you can just try bluffing some rivers to find out.)
Example: You raise K9s from the BTN, sb calls and the flop is QT3 with another F-draw, one of your suit. He checks, you bet, the turn is a 7 of your suit, he checks, you bet 22$. The tanks for a while, and finally calls. The river is a nonsuit 6.
- On such a draw-heavy board, once he cehck- calls the turn, the strongest hand that he can show up with is QJ. Any better hand probably check,shoves the turn to avoid playing the river. So when he tanks the turn, usually figuring out whether he is getting odds to call a turn bet. Usually a pair with flush draw, or flush + straight, something similar.
Correct play is to shove river. (If you are the type of player who will bet this turn put don't follow up on the river, you should check.
Final Words
Remeber that everyting is hard before it becomes easy. Keep working at it and there's no stopping you.
Scribblings
Note 1
The Process
* Can I Value bet
* Can I bluff
* Can I Capatalize on dead money?
Note 2
- When you think you're ahead. Bet/raise more.
- When you think you're behind (no equity). Fold more.
- Focus on plugging leaks.
- Why are you doing that? (A phrase not worth using much outside of poker).
(Try find vods on note-taking).
Note 3
"What category is my hand in?"
- Categorize your hand, every hand, on every street, on every action, and you'll find that Poker can be quite simple.
Note 4
Process when facing a bet or a raise
1) Passive or aggressive?
2) Value betting or bluffing?
3) Value hands worse vs value hands better. Count up the bluff hands.
Note 5
- 2 / 6 tables
- Process
- Breathe
- Anticipate
- 5-6 second decision
- Target Fish
- Table Select
- Assume passive until proven otherwise
- Think several steps/streets ahead
Note 6
- How to concentrate, find out more about it, learn about it
- Record sessions. (Find out how, what benefits for improving it involves etc).
- What is this rrs and how does it work lol
- How to prepare
- Make myself a network and try to surround myself with good poker players.
Note 7
Phil Galfond Quote.
- 3 skills to put an opponent on a hand
1. Psychology
2. Deductive
3. Math / Logic
Note 8
- Mantra
- Rarely bluff
- Value, Value, Value, make them bigger than you think
- Read the board
- Position
Note 9
Complacency threatens.
- Get notes on everyone at the table
- Don't just win your money, earn it
- Phil Galfond spent around 70 hours every week when trying to get good
Note 10
- Call light when things doesn't make sense from bad players.
- We want to do whatever we can to keep the fish in the pot.
- Structure your bets, think ahead, so you'll get stacks in on the river.
Note 11
3b pots
- Being in pos means we can call.
- Essentially we can call with high cards and pairs.
- In general, ranges for 3b in ssgames are usually very tight. (Tighter than we want to belive).
Note 12
When should I check behind?
1) You're unlikely to get called by a worse hand. (Or make a better hanf fold).
2) You're unlikely to be outdrawn.
Note 13
- Poker is a game of seeing how much you can get away with. Then doing it over and over again.
- Good balanced ranges to 3b with: Suited connectors, top hands, and low/medium pairs.
- Check raise more vs people who c bet too much
- Don't play too many hands too quick at the start of a session to build up image.
- Develop history slowly.
Note 14
- If someone calls a lot of 3b, more linear; AJ, KQ, KTs etc.
- If he calls tight, a range that does well against that; TT+ AK + SCs and Axs (Polarized).
(Also SCs when villain can often check fold on flop).
Note 15
Aggression is KEY!
Pot Equity + Fold equity = Aggression
Value betting is the way to beat poker
Note 16
Riddle: How many 9's are there between 1 - 100?
SSNL DISEASE
- Ignore your own table image
- Not picking and writing down dynamics/significant events
- Playing too many tables
- Lack of note taking and ability to explain villain's likely thought process. Summarizing observed down trends.
Note 17
* Fcous on learning
* Getting better
* Learn from mistakes
* Not winning money
Note 18
- People don't like to bet/fold
- When losing a big pot
* What does the hand teach me of my oponents play
* Could I have played the hand better?
Note 19
Process when deciding whether or not to bet or raise.
1) Am I value betting or bluffing?
2) If value betting, which worse hands call or raise?
3) If bluffing, do I have pot equity / Fold equity? (Is the player passive or aggro?)
Always cool to study Astronomy a little, I did this evening, thought I'd share =]
Galaxies
- 200 billion known Galaxies in the known universe.
- Our Galaxiy, The Milky Way, 12 billion years old.(Huge disc with giant spiral arms, and a bulge in the middle)
Born in nebulas, born in clouds of dust and gass.
* Pillars of creation.
* Around many of them are planets and moons.
(We humans thought for a very long time the milky way was the only one until 1924, until Hubble found out otherwise).
He found fuzzy blobs of lights, far far away, whole cities of stars, galaxies, way beyond The Milky Way.
Random Facts
- M87, a giant elyptical galaxy, one of the oldest in the Universe, and the stars all glow gold!
- Sombrero Galaxy, has a huge glowing core, with a ring of gass and dust all around it.(Baal Galaxy?)
- Galaxies are big, really really big.
Some distances and perspective
On earth we meassure distance in kilometers, in space astronomers use lightyears. The distance light travels in a year, which is just under 9,5 trillion kilometers.
- Our Galaxy is 100.000 lightyears across, which is just a small spec in the universe.
- Our nearest neighboer, Andromeda is nearly 200.000 lightyears across, twice the size.
- M87 is much much bigger than Adromeda, nearly 5 times as big.
- But all of these are tiny compared to IC 1011, biggest galaxy ever found. 60 times larger than our Milky way.
- The first stars formed 200 million years after the Big Bang ( 13,8 billion years ago).
- Then gravity pulled them together, building the first Galaxies.
Mankind's incredible tenacity and creativity
Whatever we see in telescopes today are things that has happened millions or more years ago, because it has taken the light as long to get to us. The feint smudges, formed 1 billion years after the big bang is the furthest back Hubble can see.
Until recently, humankind made Act, a 500 meter tall telescope, and the largest in the world. Act doesn't detect visible light, it detects cosmic microwaves, from the time the Universe was a few hundred thousands year old.
It doesn't just detect early Galaxies, it can see how they grew. The footprints of all the growth, from a few hundred thousand years till now.
Letting Astronomers see how they form and evolve: Stars form cluster, forms to galaxies, which builds into clusters of galaxies which builds into super clusters of Galaxies.
- In the beginning Galaxies looked like poo, random and bulgy, now they look awesome and perfect. Gravity, gravity shapes and molds Galaxies
Unimaginable Power
- There's an unimaginable powerful and incredible destructive source of gravity at the heart of most Galaxies. And there's one at the deep center of our own milky way.
- For years scientists wondered what could be powerful enough to change how a Galaxy behave, and then they found out.... A black hole, not just any kind, a super massive black hole.
* It eats gass and stars, but sometimes black holes consumes too quickly, and what they are consuming are dispatched back into space in beams of pure energy.
* This is called Quasar, when they find one, they know the center has a Super massive black hole.
- The black hole in the center out of Galaxy is gigantic, 24 million kilometers across.
* Even though, Earth is in absolute no danger, since Earth is 25.000 lightyears away (trillions of kilometers). So the earth is safe... For now....
Dark Matter
Super massive black holes may be the source of huge amounts of gravity, but they don't have enough power to hold a galaxy together, according to the laws of physic, a galaxy should fly apart. Why don't they?
Because there's something out even more powerful than a super massive black hole. It can't be seen, and virtually impossible to detect, but it's there. And it's called dark matter, and it's everywhere.
- Scientist are discovering that dark matter doesn't just hold em together, might have sparked them into life as well.
- They think dark matter was created into the Big Bang, and that dark matter became the seed of the Galaxy, even though they have no idea what it really is and no idea what it's made of.
- They think that dark matter weight for weight make up for x6 as much as all other matter in the Universe.
Recently it's been detected in deep space, it bends it, in a process called gravitational lensing. Allows us to detect the pressence of dark matter. As a beam of light is travelling towards us, if it passes by dark matter, it gets deflected around it by the gravitational pull.
Triggers the birth of galaxies, and keeps them together, scientists call it, the master of the Universe.
Unfathomable vastness
Scientist have come so far, they've built almost the whole Universe in a super Computer. Here you can't see individual Galaxies, can't even see clusters. But what you can see is Super Clusters, linked together in filaments, in a vast cosmic web. One finds a cosmic web which lights up all of the Universe, making the Universe looks like a gigantic spunge.
Each of the filaments is home to millions of Galaxy clusters, all bound together by dark matter. In the simulation, the dark matter glows along the filaments.
Dark matter effects where in the Universe Galaxies will form, holds together the whole superstructure of the Universe, binds them in clusters, and clusters in super clusters. All are locked in a web of filaments, and without it, the whole structure of the Universe will fall apart. This is the big picture of our Universe.
It's a giant cosmic web, and hidden deep within one of these filaments are our Milky way.
Dark Energy
In recent times, the last decade scientists found something new, kinda scary. Dark Energy, far more mysterious than dark matter, since we don't have the slightest idea what it is or what it's doing. Like space has little springs in it, make things repell eachother and pushes things apart.
If Dark Energy wins vs Dark matter, it make Galaxies spread apart and push things away from eachother. But that's not going to happen for a very very long time (trillions of lightyears).
Fantastic time to live in
We're extremely fortunate, life has only evolved on earth because our tiny solar system was born in the right part of the Galaxy, any closer to the center, we wouldn't be here. Since life there is extremely lively, radioactive.
To far away from the center would be just as bad, ain't as many stars, we might not exist at all. We're not to far, not too close, perfect distance.
Endless questions to ask, and mysteries to solve. More and more scentists are focusing on Galaxies, it's amazing time to live in, where we're making the most extraordinary discoveries imaginable
The Milky Way is on a collision course with Andromeda, and since the bigger of galaxies crashing eats and consume the smaller, Milky Way will lose. Which is doomsday of our own Galaxy, but according to Astronomers it'll be amazingly beautiful.
Mostly for myself, I've been having troubles with it for quite some time. I figured if I studied it some, took some notes, got it in my blog It'd help me a lot.
1 - Get a schedule
your body thrives on running on a routine; erratic sleeping sessions will interfere with your internal "biological clock". For some people, and depending on work and routine, a very short rest in the afternoon (the Spanish call it the siesta) could help alleviate drowsiness some people experience during the day. But make sure not to oversleep.
2 - Be mindful of what you have eaten or drunk before bed
* Stomach should not be too full, but not too empty.
* Digestion doesn't work well while asleep.
* Do not eat heavy foods a few hours before sleep (But not go to bed on empty stomach either).
* Caffeine sits in the body for 8 hours, so no tea or coffe in the evening.
* Drink 2l or more of water a day. Hydrated body is awesome.
* Alcohol may make you feel sleepy, but will greatly reduce sleep quality.
* Great foods in the evening, before bed: milk, turkey, yogurt, ice cream, peanuts. Since Tryptophan helps the body produce serotonin in order to relax.
3 - Keep the room dark
* Avoid any kind of light, pull curtains across the blinds, LED clocks, computer lights so forth. Also really hard to go back to sleep if exposed to bright light.
4 - Change your sleeping position
* When on your back, have a pillow under ur feets.
* When on your side, have a pillow in between your legs.
* Avoid sleeping on your stomach, it's shit.
5 - Exercise
Your body wants to recover, if you've not exerted yourself there isn't much to recover from, and it might distrupt your sleep.
* regular exercise can make your sleep deeper and more restful.
* Don't exercise right before sleep.
6 - Weird circumstances
* If outer circumstances, problems in life etc. are on your mind. Start meditating.
Random tips
* Keep the computer off 1 hour before bed
* Chamomile tea supposedly doesn't count when it comes to tea in the evening
* Don't sleep too long, shoot for around 8 hours. Too little or too long will make you grouchy and tired the next day
* Avoid having on music or TV
Some thought provoking questions, or questions designed to make you really think. They are not made up by me, some are classics, some are new. Taken from bloggers here and there. I thought it might be funny to answer them as truthfully as I could.
I'll put my answers in spoilers not to disrupt in case you don't care for my answers =]
1. If you dislike your family, are you obligated to spend time with them? Show up at family functions? Help them out in their time of need? Is a family even relevant anymore – especially when you have a close circle of friends? + Show Spoiler +
A: Not obligated, show up to the ones you feel showing up to. Depends if it really is "their time of need" and the history you've had. If closest family, siblings mom and dad, sure help them, if further out, don't do it if you don't feel like it. It's relevant for people it's relevant to.
2. Is it better to eat healthily all the time, or should we allow ourselves to indulge once in a while? Similarly, does this argument apply to drug use – even illegal drug use? + Show Spoiler +
A: Make the homeostasis pattern as healthy as possible, any stray is either an experiment or adventure, and you go back on the path and fuel yourself with what makes you run the best.
3. Why do we call some religions “mythologies” (ancient Greek, Norse, Egyptian, etc.) and others religions? Is this fair? What does this show about how relevant certain ideas are as society progresses? + Show Spoiler +
A: It doesn't feel imporant, religion, the word of God, saying it, thinking about it has lost all it's power a few thousand years ago. It holds the same value as a toothpaste commerical to me.
4. People often talk about the growing gap between the rich and poor. However, today’s poor (in the United States, at least) are much better off than most people (not just the poor) were a century ago. Does it matter that there’s an increasing gap between the rich and the poor if the standard of living for the poor keeps going up? + Show Spoiler +
A: It's a travesty that a lot of the brightest minds on the planet spend their time filling their heads with greed, corruption and manipulation. Saw a chart once that 1% in the us had more money than the rest 99%.
The concept of money, compared to sentences, meters, anything else "man made" is flawed in design and not working anymore. (People won't go in a depression if there's not enough meters). No matter if a guy is a genius, he shouldn't be making more than half a country. There should be some regulations, some laws, or something more profoud, even a new system for money. I like the idea where people work to become what they want to be, the money would be the same if you were a guy working on wallstreet, or if you were a fireman, a teacher or an engineer. Or ranges in close proximity.
5. How would you live your life if you had a week to live? How would you live your life if you had 5 years left to live? How would you live your life if you were going to live forever? + Show Spoiler +
A: I'm not sure.... I might write something on how it feels, then travel or do something extravagant, that seem to be what people usually do.
If I was going to live forever I hope I would just start aquiring as much knowledge as possible, and kept at it and have that as a passion. It's wonderful and awesome to learn, why not do that forever.
6. Is it truly worth it to die for a family member or friend? Yes, you’d be a hero, but that person would feel guilty for your death for the rest of their lives. Is that “brave” act actually cowardly because you’re transferring the guilt that you’d have felt if you did nothing and watched them die to your friend, who has to deal with the guilt of causing your death? + Show Spoiler +
A: Depends on the situation, if my sister's daughter would die unless I sacrificed myself, I would, but i'd attempt it in a way so she wouldn't find out, and/or if she lives a path filled with agony, despair and depression, have someone contact her and read a letter to her that I have written the last day of my life, from me to her. (That way I could double save her <3)
7. Is a day spent watching movies when you could’ve been working a day wasted or well spent? + Show Spoiler +
A: If it's a rare occation, it's well spent, unless the movie was terrible, then again if the company was awesome it might go back to well spent. If someone who watches tv 3-8 hours a day spends an evening watching movies it's wasted.
8. What’s more important to a relationship: common values or other commonalities (like tastes in music, interests, etc.)? + Show Spoiler +
A: The ability to love eachother endlessly and stay faithful but not depend on eachother. So there can be no attachement, thus no love turning into hate when or if the relationship ends.
9. What’s your opinion on love? Are there different types? Can we separate love from infatuation? Are there any qualifiers to make love “true” (rather than “fake”)? + Show Spoiler +
A: It feels like there's 3 types of love, and all 3 types can turn into something real, something fake or break.
Infatuation is the most common, something that dies out when the "love" comes on a plateau, genuine interest and "love" where it keeps growing adding to what's allready there when it reaches the "plateau" and the feeling of love coming not from an emotion but from within, like peace or joy, which has the best chance of making it, and not turning into anything vicious after a breakup
10. Can we ever be sure that our perception of things is right – without consulting other people? If we do consult others, how are we to know whether theirs is true or if we’re both deluded? + Show Spoiler +
A: Only your mind can be sure, but that's just the identification of yourself being sure so doesn't hold any real meaning. Atleast I think it don't. Not sure if we can be 100% sure as an absolete, but I think the more knowledge and more in depth we come to whatever it is we're percieving, we can be more sure.
11. Would your life be better or worse if you knew the day, time, and place that you were going to die? + Show Spoiler +
A: I don't know, I do know roughly when I'll die, give or take a few decades.
13. Is it reasonable to have a sense of delusional confidence in your abilities, or would you rather build confidence by performing well in the past? If you choose the latter, doesn’t that mean that a single bad performance can shatter your confidence in yourself? + Show Spoiler +
A: It's dysfunctional to have a delusion, I would have neither. I try to dwell or spend as little time as possible in the past, and when I do it's only for a brief moment, and then I return to the present.
14. What should be the role of sex in society? Is it a big deal? A small deal? Somewhere in-between? + Show Spoiler +
A: Natural thing which we don't embaress over, but then again, something important and dear which we don't flaunt.
15. Would you be a martyr and give up your reputation amongst your peers to do what you know is right? Or is it better to be pragmatic and sit and do nothing? + Show Spoiler +
A: Probably do what you know is right.
16. Would you rather be insane in a functional society, or one of the people running a profoundly dysfunctional society? + Show Spoiler +
A: At the moment I'm considered insane in a functional society, but feels like most of society is dysfunctional i'm the sane one. This question confuses me, I don't have a propper answer.
17. Could you be persuaded to kill? If your answer is no, then how much money would it take to get you to change your mind? + Show Spoiler +
A: I wouldn't have to be persuaded to kill, and it wouldn't take any money. But i'd only commit the act in severe circumstances weighing a life up against another or certain circumstances. (Like I know a murderer would murder again, and only I could end it type of scenario's).
18. If saving the human race required the sacrifice of yourself and everyone you love, who would you choose to save – you and your loved ones or humanity at large? + Show Spoiler +
20. Are the stories we tell ourselves about our past true, or do we bend the truth so we can create our stories? If the latter is true, than what worth is there in the stories if they aren’t true? + Show Spoiler +
A: No story ever told is true, something is added or substracted. The worth is what we make it.
22. What would happen if you never wasted another minute of your life? What would that look like? + Show Spoiler +
A: Like someone swimming upstream, quite bizarre.
23. Some say that striving for perfection is unhealthy. What if striving for perfection made you improve faster than you would have if you had lower expectations for yourself? Which way would be better? + Show Spoiler +
A: How can you strive for perfection if you've have low expectations for yourself?
24. Would you rather live for 10 years in excellent health, or 30 in “average” health, assuming that period started on your 18th birthday? + Show Spoiler +
A: Depends on my surroundings, if I had kids, family, obligations I would live 30, if It was just me I'd be selfish and take the 10 years.
25. Is open-mindedness really a virtue if truly destructive ideas are spreading in society? + Show Spoiler +
A: Truly destructive ideas aren't spread by open-mindedness.
26. What would crush you more: seeing the love of your life die by getting hit by a car, or getting the call from your doctor that told you that you had cancer and had 6 weeks to live? + Show Spoiler +
A: I guess seeing myself die getting hit by a car would be worst.
27. How do you think of yourself – hero or villain? Is the worst identity to have not the villain, but the person who is powerless? + Show Spoiler +
A: Continue on the path of justice was one of the best compliments I've ever gotten. So i'll go with hero.
28. How much control do you really have over yourself? + Show Spoiler +
A: Not as much as i'd like, as most people on the planet I still suffer a great deal since i'm still a bit of a slave to my mind, because I subconciously identify myself with it. But i'm entering more and more into the present for everyday that goes. So i'm gaining more and more control.
29. What do you think of white lies? Why do we tell others them? What if we went without them? + Show Spoiler +
A: I think white lies are great. It can be for kindness, to save face, for fun and various other reasons. Ugh, wouldn't be all that fun without them
30. Who are you? Names, nationalities, and virtually any other socially-defined attributes do not count. Deep down, who are you? + Show Spoiler +
Just read a really awesome book, thought i'd share some.
Might be a bit awkward to follow the red line, atleast at the start. But I think it gets better as you go along.
- The plateau can be a form of purgatory. It triggers disowned emotions. It flushes out hidden motivations.
- We sometimes choose a course of action that brings the illusion of accomplishment, the shadow of satisfaction. And sometimes knowing little or nothing about the process that leads to mastery.
- We are born geniuses of thougt and feeling, + geniuses in potentia of the body.
The Mastery Curve
(Ok, this I drew, so not 100% sure how I can draw it here. I'll just do my best explaining what it looks like.)
Starts out flat, then it starts going in an upward hill, to a beak, then it declines and goes down a little, then it stays flat for a bit (the plateu), and the process repeats.
- Practice diligently
- Strive to hone your skills
- Attain new levels of competence
- Be willing to spend most of your time on a plateau, to keep practicing when you seem to be getting nowhere.
- Habitual behaviour system operates at a level deeper than concious thought.
* Involved the reflex circuit in the spinal cord as well as in various parts of the brain to which it is connected
Cognitive system: When learning a new skill, you need to make an effort to replace old patterns of sensing, movements and cognition with the new
The cognitive and the effort system become subsets of the habitual system long enough to modify it. To teach it a new behaviour. When the job is done, they withdraw. Then you don't have to stop and think.
How do you move toward mastery?
= You practice diligently (without getting frustrated on the plateau)
The 3 types of persona: Dabbler, Obsessive, Hacker
- Commericals just show endless climaxes, no plateau.
- Why people lean toward drugs
(I don't care how you win, just win, about effortless learning, instant celebrities, instant millionaires)
Same in medicine/pharmacy "fast relif"
Research studies show that most illnesses are caused by environmental factors or way of life
- 10 min at the Dr. isn't enough to get to know the patient, or write a prescription.
The nr.1 cause of death can be reversed by a long-term regime of diet, moderate exercise, yoga, meditation and group support.(Most Dr. in the us claim this is to drastic, and suggest $30k open chest surgery instead).
The joy of regular practice
- We as humans often go against what's best for us, and waste an evening distracting ourselves.
- People who love the plateau have very vivid and satisfying lifes.
People who go into something for the money, the fame or the medal, can't be effective.
Mastery's true face is relaxed and serene, somtiems faintly smiling.
Goals and contingencies = important, BUT exists in the future and the past, beyond the pale of the sensory realm
Practice, the path of mastery, exists only in the present. You can see it, smell it, feel it.
To love the plateau is to love the eternal now, to enjoy the inevitable spurts of progress and the fruits of accomplishment.
Man is a learning animal.
Key One
Instruction
- The self thought person is on a chancey path (can work, like Edison, but most have kept on re-inventing the wheel.)
For mastering most skills, there's nothing better than being in the hands of a master teacher.
Either one to one, or in a small group. Also good options: Books, films, computer learning programs, group instructions, classroom, knowledgable friends, counselors, associates, "the street".
- When you learn to easy, you're tempted not to work hard, not to prenetrate to the marrow of practice.
The worst can be the best, for it perseveres, it will have learned whatever it is practicing all the way to the marrow of it's bones
- Make sure your teacher is paying attention to the slowest student on the math
When irreconciabable differences do occur, remember that the better part of wisdom is knowing when to say goodbye.
"Do not think that
This is all there is.
More and more
wonderful teachings exist -
The Sword is unfathomable"
Key 2
Practice
Practice is the path upon which you travel. Not in order to gain something else, but for it's own sake.
An old saying: The master is the one who stays on the math five minuts longer every day than anybody else.
- The master of any game is generally the master of practice
- Practice is the path to mastery. Mastery is staying on the path.
Key 3
Surrender
- The courage of a master is meassured by his or her willingness to surrender.
- The beginner who stands on his or her dignity becomes rigid, armored, the learning can't get through.
- The essence of boredom is to be found in the obsessive search for novelty. Satisfaction lies in mindful repetition, the discovery of endless richness in subtle variations of familiar themes.
For the master, surrender means there are no experts. There are only learners.
Key 4
Intentionality
Nicklaus quote: A successful shot was 50% visualization, 40% setup and 10% swing
Intentionality fuels the master's journey. Every master is a master of vision.
Key 5
The Edge
(I like this phrasing)
Masters are Zealots of practice, connoisseurs of the small, incremental step.
(looked up that word, connoisseur, someone who has a great deal of knowledge about the fine arts.)
Julie Moss
Share her stupid desire, heroism, to use yourself to the limit, to finish at all cost, to attain the unattainable.
But before playing this edge, there must be years of instruction, practice, surrender, and intentionality.
Being on the never ending path.
(Was a wonderful story about her, I found a youtub clip of it).
Tools for Mastery
Intro: How can you avoid backsliding? Where will you find the energy for your journey? What pitfalls will you encounter on the path? How can you apply mastery to the commonplace things of life? What should you back for the journey?
Why resolutions fail - and what to do about it.
- Every one of us resists significant change, no matter whether it's for the worse or for the better.
Our body, brain and behaviour have a built-in tendency to stay with the same within rather narrow limits, and to snap back when changed
- Equilibrium, called homeostasis
- Homeostasis doesn't distinguish between what you would call change for the better and change for the worse. It resists all change
- The resistance here is proportionate to the size and speed of the change
When you begind to pursue mastery, homeostasis will happen. Might come in any of these forms:
* Alarms in form of physical or psychological symptons
* Might unknowingly sabotage your own best efforts
* Might get resistance from family, friends and co-workers
Here are 5 guidelines to help you on your way if you do decide to go on the path.
1. Be aware of the way homeostasis works
(When the alarmbell rings, it doesn't mean you're sick or crazy or lazy or that you've made a bad decision.)
Instead take these signals as if you're life is about to change
- Don't panic and give up at the first sign of trouble
- Don't be surprised if some of the people you love start coverty and overtly undermining your self-improvement.
(It's not that they wish you harm, it's just homeostasis at work.)
2. Be willing to negotiate with your resistance to change
The willingness to take 2 steps forward and one step backwards
- To keep pushing, but not without awareness
Stay alert prepare for serious negotiations.
3. Develop a support system
* You can do it alone, but it helps a great deal to have other people with you.
4. Follow a regular practice.
Practice is a habit, and any regular practice provides a sort of underlying homeostasis, a stable base during the instability of change.
5. Dedicate yourself to lifelong learning.
* To learn is to change. Education, whether it involves books, body, or behaviour, is a process that changes the learner.
* The best learning of all involves learning to learn
Getting Energy for Mastery
* A human being is the kind of machine that wears out from lack of use. (There are limits)
* Often the best remedy for physical weariness is 30 min exercise.
* mental and spiritual lassitude is oftne cured by decisive action or the clear intention to act.
Here's how you get started:
1. Maintain physical fitness.
* Physical fitness contributes enormously to energy in every aspect of our lives.
* People who feel good about themselves, who are in touch with nature and their own bodies, are more likely to use their energy for good.
2. Acknowledge the negative and accentuate the positive
* Value a positive attitude and the effectiveness of praise and other forms of positive feedback.
* It seems you can hardly overdo it
- Acknowledging the negative doesn't mean sniveling; it means facing the truth and then moving on.
- Avoid teachers and supervisors who are highly critical in a negative sense.
(Telling people what they're doing wrong while ignoring what they are doing right reduces their energy).
"Here's what I like about what you're doing, and here's how you might improve it".
3. Try telling the truth
* Lies and secrets are poison
* Truth-telling works best when it involves revealing your own feelings, not when used to insult others and to get on your way.
* It has a lot going for it, risk, challenge, excitement and the release of all that energy
4. Honor but don't indulge your dark side.
- Stop putting so much of ourselves into that invisible bag.
- Use the blazing energy that flows from that which has been called dark.
5. Set your priorities.
- Before you can use your potential energy, you have to decide what you're going to do with it.
And in making any choice you face a monstrous fact: To move in one direction, you must forgo all others.
To choose one goal is to forsake a very large number of other possible goals.
(Television makes it even more complicated. By offering endless possibilities, it temps you to choose none, to sit staring in endless wonder, to become comatose. Indecision leads to inaction, which leads to low energy, depression and despair).
Liberation comes through the acceptance of your limits. You can't do everything, but you can do one thing, then another, and then another.
- In terms of energy, it's better to make a wrong choice than none at all.
- Start modestly, list your priorities, for the day, tomorrow. Try to do the same thing long term, use A,B,C. Priorities shift, and you can change them any time.
- Simply getting them down in black and white (if you use that color and paper) adds clarity to your life, and clarity creates energy.
6. Make commitments. Take action.
- Set your own deadlines
- Can give surge of clarity and energy
- You have to take it seriously
(One way is to make it public.)
- The firmer the deadline, the harder it is to break, and the more energy it confers.
- Above all else, move and keep moving.
- Take time for wise planning, but don't take forever
7. Get on path of mastery and stay on it.
- Adequate rest is cool, but unaccompanied by positive action, rest may only depress you
- People whose energy is flowing don't need to take a drug, commit a crime or "go to war" in order to feel alive.
Pitfalls along the way
It's easy to get on the path. The real challenge lies in staying on it.
1. Conflicting way of life
2. Obsessive goal orientation.
- The desire for quick, sure, and highly visible results is perhaps the deadliest enemy of mastery.
- When climbing, don't keep looking at the peak, keep your eyes on the path.
3. Poor instruction
* Surrender
* Don't bounce around from one teacher to another.
* But don't stick to a situation that's not working.
4. Lack of competitiveness.
* Competition provides spice
* Can provide motivation
* Winning graciously and losing with equal grace are the mark of a master
5. Overcompetetiveness.
6. Laziness
"Disinclined to action or extertion; averse to labor, indolent, idle, slothful."
The bad nres is that laziness will knock you off the path. The good news is that the path is the best possible cure for laziness. Courage!!! (Not suppose to be !'s there, but I added them for dramatic effect).
7. Injuries.
- The best way of achieving a goal is to be fully present.
8. Drugs.
Can give the illusion of getting the immediate success this culture is always promosing you.
9. Prizes and Medals.
Exessive use of external motivation can slow and even stop your journey to mastery.
10. Vanity.
To learn something new of any significance, you have to be willing to look foolish.
- If you're always thinking about apperances, you can never attain the state of concentration that's necessary for effective learning and top preformance.
11. Dead seriousness.
Without laughter, the rough and rocky places on the path might be too painful to bear. Humor not only lightens your load, it also broadens perspective. To be deadly serious is to suffer tunnelvision. To be able to laugh at yourself clears the vision. When choosing fellow voyagers, beware of grimness, self-importance, and the solemn eye.
12. Inconsistency.
- Consistency of practice is the mark of the master
- Value in repeating favourite rituals before, during and after practice.
- Inconsistency not only loses you practice time, but makes everything more difficult when you do get around to practicing.
13. Perfectionism.
We fail to realize mastery is not about perfection. It's about a process, a journey. The master is the one who stays on the path day after day, year after year. The master is the one who is willing to try, and fail, and try again, for as long as he or she lives.
Mastering the Commonplace
- Most of life is "in between"
- Building a stone wall or washing dishes is essentially no different from formal meditation
Household Rhythm:
- Whatever you do, do it awesomely (I made that word up)
- Stay wholly focused on the moment
- Above all, don't hurry
- Life is filled with opportunities for practicing the inexorable, unhurried rhythm of mastery.
Focus on the process rather than the product
This takes practice....
The challenge of Relationships
- If you have to work at a sport to achieve mastery, you also have to work, and generally work even more diligently, to achieve mastery in relationships.
- The most important learning and development takes place during your time on the plateau
* Instruction
* Practice
* Surrender
(The stronger you are the more you can give of yourself. The more you give of yourself, the stronger you can be.)
* Intentionality
(Cultivate a positive attitude)
* The Edge
The path to mastery is built on unrelenting practice, but it's also a place of adventure.
Couples with a willingness to play new games, dances, intimacy, willingness to strip layers, to live entierly in the moment, revealing everything and epecting nothing in return.
Ultimately, nothing in this life is "commonplace," nothing is "in between". The threads that join your every act, your every thought, are infinite. All paths of mastery eventually merge.
Packing for the Journey
Maybe an old skill or obsession you've been dabbling in, or hacking at for months or years. Maybe vowed to treat your entire life to the best of your ability, as a process to mastery.
* Be aware of how homeostasis work
* Be willing to negotiate with your resistance to change
* Develop a support system
* Follow a regular practice
* Dedicate yourself to lifelong learning
Getting Energy for Mastery
* Maintain physical fitness
* Acknowledge the negative and accentuate the positive
* Try telling the truth
* Honor but don't indulge in your dark side
* Set priorities
* Make commitments. Take action
* Get on the path of mastery and stay on it
Pitfalls along the Path
* Conflicting way of life
* Obsessive goal orientation
* Poor instruction
* Lack of competitiveness
* Overcompetetiveness
* Laziness
* Injuries
* Drugs
* Prizes and medals
* Vanity
* Inconsistency
* Perfectionism
Parting Gifts
Balancing and centering
(oh crap)
Returning to the center
- Basicly, learn about meditaiton, breathing exercises. When you get knocked off, find your center.
Getting Energy from unexpected blows
- When things go shit, losing a friend, loved one. Don't struggle blindly, don't deny youself the pain.
- Have a partner grab your wrist, and spill your guts.
- When done, feel your center, focus on the clarity and use all that energy. Consider the possibility that any misfortune that befalls you during your journey can be converted to positive energy.
Introduction to ki
ki in japanese
ch'i in Chinese
Pneuma in Greek
Prana in Sanskrit
"the force" in Star Wars lol
In the ancient tradition, the word comes from the notion of breath
* Considered the fundemantel energy of the Universe that connects all things and undergirds all creative action.
- The idea of ki can offer the untrained person an effective way of gaining a sensation of increased power along with relaxation, especially during times of fatigute and stress, and thus is a useful item to pack for your journey.
Relaxing for power:
Power; to be able
Visualize with exagerrated images, make your muscles relaxed (not rigid and tense) to increase their power.
Interessting facts:
- Human DNA contains more information than all of the libraries in the world.
- In potentia, humans are the most formidable all-around athlete who has ever roamed the planet.
- The unaided human eye can detect a single quantum of light and discern more than ten million colors. (I'm pretty sure i'm stuck at like 9).
- The human brain is the most complex entity in the known universe.
- What you are made of is mostly unused potential.
- It is our evolutionary destiny to use what is unused, to learn and keep learning for as long as we live
To choose this destinty, to walk the path of mastery, isn't always easy, but it's the ultimate human adventure.
Closing words
To be a learner, you've got to be willing to be a fool.
- How many times have you failed to try something new out of fear of being thought silly?
- How often have you censored your spontaneity out of fear of being thougt childish?
Second naivete = childlike quality, often found in people with an unusually high degree of their potential
Hello all, im not sure how many words i have to write for this to be featured - so here goes. Its been a while since ive done anything creative, and ive had this stuff lying around for ages and finally decided to finish it.
BYRNESAMS DEBUT SINGLE JUST DROPPED
TILTY CONSCIENCE
save it to your favourites and subscribe, more great content in the works.
if you didnt know the original, its Guilty Conscience by Eminem and Dr Dre.
heres a copy of the original - id advise you listen to it first before you listen to mine, so you get an idea of what im parodying.
Been awhile since I have wrote a blog on here, still need to write up my SNE year end wrap but never really have. Lost alot of money at the end of it and was pretty unhappy. Been taking it easy so far this year, playing less tables rather then 24 tabling all day.
Got an email from stars saying that they reserved a few spots for SNEs to play in the 10.3k NAPT LA bounty shootout that is televised on ESPN2 with 81 player cap. I talked with some friends and they said PLAY IT and sell a bunch of action, so I figured why not! Have played some live 5/10 cash before and a few live tourneys (including 1st place osheas midnight tourney in vegas lol). Nothing with a real signicant buyin as of yet because somehow I am a massive live nit but a huge maniac when it comes to playing in games online.
Already have sold 51% of my action so far, probably going to sell something like 75%-80%, not really sure yet. If your interested let me know thru comments or pms
I have life run good on my side so probably going to end up winning this! Went to XS in Vegas for the first time ever for PS grinder alexandert's bday on Monday. Deadmau5 happened to be there as well, was alot of fun. Place is loud as fuck music wise, our table was in terrible spot ( as most seem to be) and was insanely crowded. Luckily if you drink enough you don't even notice this.
Contact Users: 759 Active, 0 Logged in - Time: 14:33
]
