LA, coding, poker etc

Poker is def not dead yet, actually insanely soft still, especially outside of stars for any1 putting in the studytime

sick sharkpic lol

ps nice arms

Always been a fan man. You and your gf look great together, happy to see you crushing poker as always. Also glad that you are enjoying the new life with coding. Keep it up and be happy! Don't stop blogging even if you get out of the poker game. It's always good to see how well other LPers are doing!
Fujikura

not gonna lie, i got a semi from like 7 different things in this blog.

I love how cars look in black matte, ill do that one day

so sick
Giyom
boobies
boner graph
parties
sick car
sports

This is what capitalism is all about

On November 09 2015 09:02 AndrewSong wrote: If you guys have questions on poker feel free to ask here. I would love to contribute in making the games tougher.

fuck! how has noone snap called this yet
uhmm... I guess you could tell us your general pf strat on the sb kind sir

is this all 1/2 6max zoom on 888 ? does it run a lot ? did you play any other games ?

harassing turtles is not cool, other than keep going : )

Definitely want to see more pics of the car. How hard is it to find a shop that you trust to do a good job like that? What do you look for?

Nice car!

Anyway since you said we could ask about poker...
Would you recommend any book other than mathematics of poker and applications of nlhe?
What are the videos/coaches you would recommend watching that teach you how to practically win at poker? It seems there is a lot of misleading content from mediocre players even on runitonce.

Sweet blog. Thanks for the updates.

Also, I agree with Dozer regarding the turtle.

Can you tell me your general thoughts on over-betting? How're you personally incorporating it into your game, if at all?

Also, nice read. GL with future endeavours

living the dream man, GL!

thanks guys!

On November 09 2015 11:39 lebowski wrote: fuck! how has noone snap called this yet uhmm... I guess you could tell us your general pf strat on the sb kind sir

At 1/2 or any stakes with large player pool, it's important to play multiple strats for PF depending on your opponent. Below is a pf strat I'm using as a baseline.

vs CO I'm using 12% range. 56s+, QTs+, A9s+, AJo+, 77+
vs BU 22% 55+, 56s+, 75s+, A5s+, ATo+
SB vs BB - I started with a standard 48% steal. Now I'm comfortable stealing 60% as players aren't defending blinds as hard as they should. I would avoid limping strats with high rake.

I wouldn't recommend using the same PF strat and you may want to go little tighter especially vs BU. So far from my experience in 1/2, it seems like the biggest mistake regs are making is sizing bets in 3b pots geometrically on flops that shouldn't be bet this way. My range will not do well postflop if you are betting geometrically.

On November 09 2015 12:29 d0zer1 wrote: is this all 1/2 6max zoom on 888 ? does it run a lot ? did you play any other games ? harassing turtles is not cool, other than keep going : )

yup 888 zoom and it runs pretty frequently. Lot of times player pool is small and we have 3handed zoom going and I like this a lot.

On November 09 2015 14:42 NewbSaibot wrote: Definitely want to see more pics of the car. How hard is it to find a shop that you trust to do a good job like that? What do you look for?

I called around 8 places that does wrap jobs in the area and just went with the place offering the lowest price after seeing their gallery. I got a deal on the work as the owner of the shop was into gun scene and had a lot in common with me. He did the complete wrap job + sports red break pads/rotors for $1300 in return for me bringing my car to his shows if I'm free.








So I drove back thinking I'm hot shit with my new wrap job and my reserve parking neighbor had to one up me and get a lambo the same day.

On November 09 2015 23:38 AndrewSong wrote: So far from my experience in 1/2, it seems like the biggest mistake regs are making is sizing bets geometrically on flops that shouldn't be bet this way.

examples of said boards?

On November 09 2015 14:59 ClouD87 wrote: Nice car! Anyway since you said we could ask about poker... Would you recommend any book other than mathematics of poker and applications of nlhe? What are the videos/coaches you would recommend watching that teach you how to practically win at poker? It seems there is a lot of misleading content from mediocre players even on runitonce.

To be honest, I haven't watched any video since cts days that had influence on my play. I kept up with watching videos but it was more so for entertainment or habit of going to sleep with Galfond's soothing voice. I heard Zaza is making videos again and I would definitely recommend watching him. He approaches poker completely differently than me but the way he's able to solve hands on the go and map a strategy is really cool. Definitely the best NL player producing videos right now

On November 09 2015 17:29 Trav94 wrote: Can you tell me your general thoughts on over-betting? How're you personally incorporating it into your game, if at all? Also, nice read. GL with future endeavours

I have two different strategy when it comes to over betting. First is a theoretical approach when I have a range advantage on the river. Betting as much as you can when you have a range advantage is the way to go as you can fit more bluffs into your range. That way you steal more of the opponent's equity from the pot and treat the problem as opponent always folds. Keeping blockers in mind is very important when you are building a bluffing range as many theory oriented players use blockers to build a calling range.

Second approach is an exploitable approach where you have a player that has a history of hero calling with a hand that is out of 1-alpha. Over betting strong hands or betting pot can work well to these players because they don't put importance in pot odds and see the problem as nuts or nothing and call with hands they would've otherwise fold to a standard bet. I still can't get around why 2-1 pot odds is more attractive than 3-1 but a lot of these guys are regs.

On November 10 2015 00:24 PoorUser wrote: Show nested quote + On November 09 2015 23:38 AndrewSong wrote: So far from my experience in 1/2, it seems like the biggest mistake regs are making is sizing bets geometrically on flops that shouldn't be bet this way. examples of said boards?

8d 8h 9h is a good example and should be bet 1/3 ~ 1/4 on 3bet pots*

On November 09 2015 09:02 AndrewSong wrote: However, sense has hit me as my PT4 is running out of trial and I will be uninstalling poker again in coming hours.

Good, no more distractions

On November 10 2015 01:29 AndrewSong wrote: Show nested quote + On November 09 2015 17:29 Trav94 wrote: Can you tell me your general thoughts on over-betting? How're you personally incorporating it into your game, if at all? Also, nice read. GL with future endeavours I have two different strategy when it comes to over betting. First is a theoretical approach when I have a range advantage on the river. Betting as much as you can when you have a range advantage is the way to go as you can fit more bluffs into your range. That way you steal more of the opponent's equity from the pot and treat the problem as opponent always folds. Keeping blockers in mind is very important when you are building a bluffing range as many theory oriented players use blockers to build a calling range. Second approach is an exploitable approach where you have a player that has a history of hero calling with a hand that is out of 1-alpha. Over betting strong hands or betting pot can work well to these players because they don't put importance in pot odds and see the problem as nuts or nothing and call with hands they would've otherwise fold to a standard bet. I still can't get around why 2-1 pot odds is more attractive than 3-1 but a lot of these guys are regs.

pretty funny. before i make a terrible hero call vs overbets, i say "nuts or air" def sounds like typical 200nl thought process.

On November 10 2015 01:41 AndrewSong wrote: Show nested quote + On November 10 2015 00:24 PoorUser wrote:   On November 09 2015 23:38 AndrewSong wrote: So far from my experience in 1/2, it seems like the biggest mistake regs are making is sizing bets geometrically on flops that shouldn't be bet this way. examples of said boards? 8d 8h 9h is a good example and should be bet 1/3 ~ 1/4

this is only true for wide ranges playing each other, its completely false for narrower ranges like ep vs btn etc, from pfr perspective obv

in fact i see no point in making such a meaningless statements like these without providing any context

whats up with your hostility? obviously i'm not gonna provide any context when you talk in that tone

also, the 889 example was for 3bet pots and would've been obvious if you followed the dialogue.

sick pics Song, i love the matte on your car. I have a black bmw as well (not as nice as yours though ) and think i might have to get around to doing that eventually

good to hear you're doing well. best of luck with the coding crushing

I'd ask, talk about Big Blind defense ranges and range splitting vs various open raise sizes. How do you determine defense frequency of range vs range (disregarding villain leaks like folding to 3 bets too often).

And follow up would be, how are you determining your IP defense strategy vs 3bets. How do you split your calling of 3bets and 4betting in relation to the 3bet pot odds they lay you. Example, them raising 3bb->9bb vs 3bb->12bb

As much as I dislike javascript, it really is a language all developers need to be familiar with. If you want to do anything on the web you will need js to make the pages come alive. It is much better now than a few years ago where you had to have special logic all over the place depending on which browser someone was using. Luckily I haven't had to do too much web dev in the last few years. If you are trying to work in the field I think it's still the vast majority of jobs that will want you to at least be able to do some AJAX (or similar method) like second nature. I am now doing a lot of unity 3d development which lets you use js as a scripting language. Fortunately, C#, which is by far the best language, is way more popular among unity devs so I'm basically in heaven now.

Thanks Tim. You won't regret the matte and if you don't like it, you can always take it off

On November 10 2015 10:17 Highcard wrote: I'd ask, talk about Big Blind defense ranges and range splitting vs various open raise sizes. How do you determine defense frequency of range vs range (disregarding villain leaks like folding to 3 bets too often). And follow up would be, how are you determining your IP defense strategy vs 3bets. How do you split your calling of 3bets and 4betting in relation to the 3bet pot odds they lay you. Example, them raising 3bb->9bb vs 3bb->12bb

What you're looking for is minimum defense frequency(MDF %). There's a section in mathematics of poker that covers this in depth. I recommend checking out Lefort's video series on run it once as he does excellent job covering this.


Ronald, good to hear. I haven't gotten around AJAX yet. I'm still solving higher order functions in javascript using maps, reduce, filter etc. It's very confusing to say the least. I'm hoping to learn a lot more once I'm comfortable with js.

On November 09 2015 23:38 AndrewSong wrote: thanks guys! Show nested quote + On November 09 2015 11:39 lebowski wrote: fuck! how has noone snap called this yet uhmm... I guess you could tell us your general pf strat on the sb kind sir At 1/2 or any stakes with large player pool, it's important to play multiple strats for PF depending on your opponent. Below is a pf strat I'm using as a baseline. vs CO I'm using 12% range. 56s+, QTs+, A9s+, AJo+, 77+ vs BU 22% 55+, 56s+, 75s+, A5s+, ATo+ SB vs BB - I started with a standard 48% steal. Now I'm comfortable stealing 60% as players aren't defending blinds as hard as they should. I would avoid limping strats with high rake. I wouldn't recommend using the same PF strat and you may want to go little tighter especially vs BU. So far from my experience in 1/2, it seems like the biggest mistake regs are making is sizing bets in 3b pots geometrically on flops that shouldn't be bet this way. My range will not do well postflop if you are betting geometrically.

thanks a lot!
I'll have to figure out how not to spew uncontrollably with this information because I'm not sure I understand how betsizing affects the strat, I'm in the "regs who have shitty 3bet pot sizings" camp

I've seem to hit a ceiling and been stuck at 2/4 for like the last 5 years

Generally speaking, what do 2/4 regs need to work on the make the jump to like 3/6 and 5/10?

I know you have to be calling down and be putting in the money a lot more than what your comfortable with, but anything else like technical aspects?

On November 10 2015 14:52 JohnnyBologna wrote: I've seem to hit a ceiling and been stuck at 2/4 for like the last 5 years Generally speaking, what do 2/4 regs need to work on the make the jump to like 3/6 and 5/10? I know you have to be calling down and be putting in the money a lot more than what your comfortable with, but anything else like technical aspects?

I know you have asked Andrew but a small consideration came to mind when I read this.
If you have been playing 2/4 for 5 years it means you have improved a ton since you first played at that level. Perhaps all you need is speed up your learning process that's already happening so you get ahead of the curve and can play higher levels?

[QUOTE]On November 10 2015 11:17 AndrewSong wrote:
Thanks Tim. You won't regret the matte and if you don't like it, you can always take it off




Ronald, good to hear. I haven't gotten around AJAX yet. I'm still solving higher order functions in javascript using maps, reduce, filter etc. It's very confusing to say the least. I'm hoping to learn a lot more once I'm comfortable with js.

You are ahead of 80% of web devs if you are doing functional stuff lol. I wouldn't be too worried about figuring out ajax calls ha-ha.

Do love the matte black wrap. I have an E92 M3 and have considered getting a matte black wrap in the past. I saw one in South Korea like 4 or 5 year ago and it was utterly stunning. Congrats on the results

Ronald, good to hear. I haven't gotten around AJAX yet. I'm still solving higher order functions in javascript using maps, reduce, filter etc. It's very confusing to say the least. I'm hoping to learn a lot more once I'm comfortable with js.

Those are some of the more complicated things in computer science. Respect for suffering through them rather than just learning the easy stuff which is usually enough to make money.

On November 10 2015 14:58 ClouD87 wrote: Show nested quote + On November 10 2015 14:52 JohnnyBologna wrote: I've seem to hit a ceiling and been stuck at 2/4 for like the last 5 years Generally speaking, what do 2/4 regs need to work on the make the jump to like 3/6 and 5/10? I know you have to be calling down and be putting in the money a lot more than what your comfortable with, but anything else like technical aspects? I know you have asked Andrew but a small consideration came to mind when I read this. If you have been playing 2/4 for 5 years it means you have improved a ton since you first played at that level. Perhaps all you need is speed up your learning process that's already happening so you get ahead of the curve and can play higher levels?

Gotta agree with this. Skill difference in 2/4 to 5/10 is similar to that of 1/2 and 2/4. Regs are slightly more better in fundamentals, bet sizing, game theory etc.

If you have been winning in 2/4 for last 5 years, you are already a good player yourself and probably more than ready. There's no downside to moving up as there's games available to rebuild if your shot goes bad. For my self, I've improved the most when there's a challenge and there's no bigger challenge in poker than moving up in stakes.

last summer i had to do a trivial front-end with js and boy did that suck. so good luck with it, I've heard some people like developing JS so I guess it's possible to learn to like it.

Javascript is a weird language with many quirks and gotchas but you'll get to like it. It's a good time to start out as a web developer and also bad time, because while there are so many resources for self-learning, it seems like everyone and their mom and dad is a web dev. I honestly think the field is oversaturated ever since these social networks and mobile apps emerged. But, if you combine basic web development with something else like encryption technologies, data analysis, algorithms, etc to make a better skillset, I think you can stand out from most developers.

oh and nice car. I'm jelly

good shit

maysil baysil

On November 09 2015 23:38 AndrewSong wrote: I wouldn't recommend using the same PF strat and you may want to go little tighter especially vs BU. So far from my experience in 1/2, it seems like the biggest mistake regs are making is sizing bets in 3b pots geometrically on flops that shouldn't be bet this way. My range will not do well postflop if you are betting geometrically. .

Any possible tips on where to find more information about this?

On November 11 2015 15:29 Pb wrote: Show nested quote + On November 09 2015 23:38 AndrewSong wrote: I wouldn't recommend using the same PF strat and you may want to go little tighter especially vs BU. So far from my experience in 1/2, it seems like the biggest mistake regs are making is sizing bets in 3b pots geometrically on flops that shouldn't be bet this way. My range will not do well postflop if you are betting geometrically. . Any possible tips on where to find more information about this?

As a starter, check out some of the training videos produced by higher stakes NL players. Zaza would be a great place to start. Another would be getting hold of lengthy database of high stakes NL and going through the 3bet pots on spots the population agrees.

I have a question
Were you working with the concept of R at all preflop, and what did you find?

Also what's your opinion on PokerSnowie's preflop strategy and using snowie in general

oh and if you care to share your database, pm

Why are you coding? What kind of salary do you expect to get? Unless you're a world class coder, your salary is probably ~100k at best. If you can lose 250k at highstakes you must be a millionaire. Invest that money wisely and live off the returns. Also, teach me poker???

On November 13 2015 08:41 LemOn[5thF] wrote: I have a question Were you working with the concept of R at all preflop, and what did you find?

Never heard of the term concept of R. Is that a fancy word of saying realizing your equity?

On November 13 2015 08:41 LemOn[5thF] wrote: Also what's your opinion on PokerSnowie's preflop strategy and using snowie in general

I've tried the trial and I think it's an okay tool to review your hands. I don't like it personally and think it's whatever.

As for snowie's preflop strategy, I dislike everything about it. I think it's too tight, and don't like it's complete disrespect for suited connectors.

On November 13 2015 20:22 Nitewin wrote: Why are you coding? What kind of salary do you expect to get? Unless you're a world class coder, your salary is probably ~100k at best. If you can lose 250k at highstakes you must be a millionaire. Invest that money wisely and live off the returns. Also, teach me poker???

To tell you the truth, I don't know what I'm doing as well Entry coders earn 100k btw. Bro from last co-hort just got an offer for 130. He went from earning 60 as a product manager to crushing the bootcamp and landing a job for 130 all in 4months. Obviously 100k is gonna be a lot less than what I'm used to making but I'm fine with that for now.

The way I see it is, I've been playing poker for almost 10 years, and I've been very successful at it. Now I want to do something else and coding happened to be one of the things I wanted to learn.

On November 13 2015 22:31 AndrewSong wrote: Show nested quote + On November 13 2015 08:41 LemOn[5thF] wrote: I have a question Were you working with the concept of R at all preflop, and what did you find? Never heard of the term concept of R. Is that a fancy word of saying realizing your equity?

YES!
Did you use it for preflop ranges and how?

On November 13 2015 23:04 LemOn[5thF] wrote: Show nested quote + On November 13 2015 22:31 AndrewSong wrote:   On November 13 2015 08:41 LemOn[5thF] wrote: I have a question Were you working with the concept of R at all preflop, and what did you find? Never heard of the term concept of R. Is that a fancy word of saying realizing your equity? YES! Did you use it for preflop ranges and how?

Haha, sorry to disappoint you but I didn't independently come up with my preflop range. I use the same ranges most regulars use and tweak it accordingly depending on how player pool moves and who I'm playing against.

Postflop is a lot more important than your preflop range IMO(although it goes hand in hand). A lot of your lab work should be done on your play in SB/BB. The objectivity of the game itself is to win the blinds and how well you protect your blinds is what differentiates the regs.

Any advices on software to use to study and analise hands besides the basic HM and PT?

Wich ones did you use and liked it?

I feel i'm a few years lagging behind in this area.

On November 15 2015 00:41 Minion wrote: Any advices on software to use to study and analise hands besides the basic HM and PT? Wich ones did you use and liked it? I feel i'm a few years lagging behind in this area.

I feel you minion, I was in the same page as well since all my learning came from pattern recognition from playing and solving hand solution with friends that never went into detail.

Combonator would be a good place to start. You can open multiple combonators and run it for range vs range which I don't think any other software allows you to do. End game would be CRev though, and once you get around how to use it, you can solve any hand and get off the computer feeling like you got good work done.

As for the new and coming GTO solvers, I don't have much to say as I don't have much experience with it. Smuft seems to regard it highly which probably means something.

I believe GTO solvers > CRev

Would you please elaborate? What GTO solvers say is basically which sizes perform better with your range (super useful, especially on the flop), how much less % you can defend compared to minimum defense frequency when you are facing a bet from a stronger range (asymmetrical situations) and which hands should be bet or raised at higher frequency for value and protection. Rest seems just unemployable mixed strategies that are not viable in real life situations. Solving with CREV or Flopzilla+HoldEQ or combonator should be complementary to using GTO solvers, not interchangeable.

Okay I have another one
What's your opinion on playing Zoom/masstabling and playing 4-5 tables and focusing on each of them?
Also how was scheduling important for you, and did you have rigid time management?
And what were your study/play rations overall

On November 19 2015 09:55 LemOn[5thF] wrote: Okay I have another one What's your opinion on playing Zoom/masstabling and playing 4-5 tables and focusing on each of them? Zoom/masstabling depends on how well you multi-task. I had a year when I 30-40tabled 2/4-5/10 full ring and it was probably the worst decision I've made. Not only did I not make SNE, my winrate was mediocre and I realized too late that your learning through playing goes out the window when youre splitting so much of your brain power. No one knows yourself better than you do, it's best to take an analyticsl approach to capitalize on your hourly and future hourly. Also how was scheduling important for you, and did you have rigid time management? And what were your study/play rations overall I think Ive said this before but I was a terrible boss to myself. Ive probably played only dozen sessions or so on Friday and Saturday out of my 10 year online career. When I added Sunday to my weekly grind after seeing my buddy shipping Sunday mil, I final tabled two that month and ultimately chopped the last one for 280k. That was my record month of 350k and Black Friday followed 2 weeks after. My study to play ratio was probably close to something like 70-30 study and play. This had more to do with all aspects of poker consuming my daily life(coaching, staking, friends being poker players etc). One thing great I learned from poker is how important it is to prepare yourself and make the decision prior to the action. To give an extreme example that can't be applied to us, if you are a women being groped, most would not react because they are conditioned for passivity. Poker taught me that things like this should be conciously decided in advance so you would not lose precious time to decision making.