tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-43199547304437737862024-02-19T06:04:04.945+01:00Roland's RoomTalking about live and online pokerRoland GTXhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11386867212701170662noreply@blogger.comBlogger241125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4319954730443773786.post-55881374435577735112014-05-22T18:18:00.001+02:002014-05-22T18:18:52.127+02:00Milestone HandI have been playing regular tables this week hoping to get dealt a Milestone hand. That happened rather unexpectedly today. I made dinner for my family most days of the week. However, today my daughter had a school assignment to make a 3 course dinner. This allowed me to sneak in a half hour at the tables while waiting for dinner to be served.<br />
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I was 4 tabling 25NL 6-Max when this message appeared on my table:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7GrANOm1o1ikL5UchWwlxbjoDBgLJyIVLq1rKDFUNW6KSM9Y8t0YbFWkOuERN9UCKUiyDmXLL5Is181aRU1jv-5cOf7b4ldkETGQ9Nqw3g3aPFMNUyXCl4dq3D9QTFzKw0dTS7uEcf9tY/s1600/milestone.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7GrANOm1o1ikL5UchWwlxbjoDBgLJyIVLq1rKDFUNW6KSM9Y8t0YbFWkOuERN9UCKUiyDmXLL5Is181aRU1jv-5cOf7b4ldkETGQ9Nqw3g3aPFMNUyXCl4dq3D9QTFzKw0dTS7uEcf9tY/s1600/milestone.JPG" height="283" width="400" /></a></div>
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There was a few minutes of waiting before the hand got dealt. This built up the excitement especially since I already knew my holecards. Thanks to some luck and some good PSO karma from a few members who were railing, I won the hand and a nice bonus from Pokerstars!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoFdOC7Y_1iH3a9m153RBI8NXLgrKxqopeVoimSsv5Nv3TjMxxL60M977b5x2tIL2W-420XaFWrASs8Ff5FSUqhbXPs33sqOauIfcZadd2kg1vHeflqu-xWAbFnfxcQnibqrXfupHvSRXX/s1600/Milestone+message.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoFdOC7Y_1iH3a9m153RBI8NXLgrKxqopeVoimSsv5Nv3TjMxxL60M977b5x2tIL2W-420XaFWrASs8Ff5FSUqhbXPs33sqOauIfcZadd2kg1vHeflqu-xWAbFnfxcQnibqrXfupHvSRXX/s1600/Milestone+message.JPG" height="367" width="400" /></a></div>
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I have always these Milestone hand promos, but this was the first time I have ever been dealt one. This made for a profitable 30 minute session. Thanks Pokerstars! Although two of the players were sitting out at the time and didn't win anything. That must be frustrating.<br />
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The guy in the UTG position actually limp-folded?! If you ever get dealt a Milestone hand, don't fold! Jam your chips in the middle no matter what. You earn more money no matter what happens and may just win the hand.<br />
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GL at the tables!<br />
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Roland GTX<br />
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<br />Roland GTXhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11386867212701170662noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4319954730443773786.post-85891260437976174952014-04-01T08:38:00.001+02:002014-04-01T08:38:19.307+02:00March Update: Learning to 4-Bet<a href="http://sd.keepcalm-o-matic.co.uk/i/keep-calm-and-pull-the-trigger-17.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://sd.keepcalm-o-matic.co.uk/i/keep-calm-and-pull-the-trigger-17.png" height="200" width="171" /></a>My <a href="http://www.pokerschoolonline.com/blogs/Roland+GTX/roland-s-room-march-update" target="_blank">March Update</a> is now out over at PSO. I talk about expanding my 4-bet range, adding 50NL 6-Max to my sessions and continuing to get coached. There have been loads of changes to my game the last two months. I am quite happy with how things are progressing.<br />
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GL and have fun at the tables!<br />
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Roland GTXRoland GTXhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11386867212701170662noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4319954730443773786.post-41750526682930537932014-03-05T10:35:00.002+01:002014-03-05T10:37:10.327+01:00February Update: Getting Coached<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiW_306Tvim8K8o4nCDShip_MnUp-lBKpjH18WIxS116D2NT7G7stBMHvlCvzzjWldRFWGk_LdpETAImdLLXBYvspfa6T1zgM5dqk2z7Bcvuwfn0-1W-BAcB3wDNCfHi4aAWjGuuvekkwM1/s1600/coach-yelling-9646262.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiW_306Tvim8K8o4nCDShip_MnUp-lBKpjH18WIxS116D2NT7G7stBMHvlCvzzjWldRFWGk_LdpETAImdLLXBYvspfa6T1zgM5dqk2z7Bcvuwfn0-1W-BAcB3wDNCfHi4aAWjGuuvekkwM1/s1600/coach-yelling-9646262.jpg" height="195" width="200" /></a>My <a href="http://www.pokerschoolonline.com/blogs/Roland+GTX/roland-s-room-february-update" target="_blank">February update</a> is now posted over at PokerSchoolOnline.<br />
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I've finally taken an important step forward and have gotten a coach. Rather than double posting, just follow the link above. If you are not a member of <a href="http://www.pokerschoolonline.com/" target="_blank">PSO</a> already, sign up while you are there. It is Pokerstars own school. It is the best. And, it is free.<br />
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GL and have fun at the tables!<br />
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Roland GTXRoland GTXhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11386867212701170662noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4319954730443773786.post-37605822127774843142014-02-14T13:26:00.000+01:002014-02-14T13:32:20.220+01:0025NL 6-max Zoom RecordingHere is a short 25NL session recording. I wanted to learn how to create and embed videos. This is a first attempt and no sound, but thought it still may be of interest.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="270" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/4wj3Educzso?feature=player_embedded" width="480"></iframe>Roland GTXhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11386867212701170662noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4319954730443773786.post-48760834685266758102014-01-21T11:48:00.000+01:002014-01-21T11:48:17.689+01:00Rungood Results in MTT Win!I had some rungood over the weekend taking down an MTT for a $395 cash! Since MTT wins are few and far between for me, I couldn’t resist the urge to talk about it. It was a $1.10 rebuy turbo MTT with 2000 chip starting stacks. There were 689 players and a prize pool of $2150. The tourney only lasted 208 hands, and even with the one hour rebuy period, it played out quite similar to the 180 man turbos I’m used to. I started the tourney with a double buyin and never looked back except for taking the addon. This made for a great return on a three buck investment!<br />
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Rather than double posting, you can read the rest of the story over at my blog on PSO.<br />
<a href="http://www.pokerschoolonline.com/blogs/Roland+GTX/roland-s-room-microstakes-mtt-win" target="_blank">Roland's Room: Microstakes MTT Win!</a><br />
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GL and have fun at the tables!<br />
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Roland GTXRoland GTXhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11386867212701170662noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4319954730443773786.post-84477380092696887972013-10-11T17:17:00.000+02:002013-10-11T17:17:07.266+02:00Book Review: The Mental Game of Poker<b id="docs-internal-guid-4fa79199-a694-3954-e0aa-f6aa107a7707"></b><br />
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<b id="docs-internal-guid-4fa79199-a694-3954-e0aa-f6aa107a7707"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Sklansky taught us the math, Harrington and Miller taught us the strategies, and Jared Tendler now teaches us </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Mental Game of Poker</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">! </span></b></h2>
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<span id="docs-internal-guid-4fa79199-a694-3954-e0aa-f6aa107a7707"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In the introduction to <b>TMGP 1</b> Jared writes:</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: red;">Tilting and playing your best happen for predictable reasons and occur in predictable patterns<b>.</b></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: red; font-weight: bold;"> </span>He proceeds to teach us how to recognize these reasons and patterns. He then teaches us how to control them.</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b> TMGP 1</b></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> focuses on the negative aspects of your game - </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">tilting</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. Whereas <b>TMGP 2</b> focuses on the the positive aspects - </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">playing your best</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. These are ground-breaking books that offer an extremely useful toolset for improving your game. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">I have only just finished my first read through of </span>TMGP<span style="font-weight: normal;"> 1 and 2. However, there have already been several immediate improvements in my game. His description of the learning process has allowed me to quickly isolate two important distinctions between my A-game and my B-game. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">I knew that I often lost big pots by overplaying top pair hands. </span>TMGP 1<span style="font-weight: normal;"> helped me notice that this usually occurred at the start of a session. I was making mistakes before I got into “the zone”. By simply implementing a warm-up routine (just as you would in any other sport), I have eliminated a very costly leak in my game. A pretty obvious and effective solution!</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The other change has been to reduce my number of Zoom tables. Most of my cash game skills lie in what Jared terms <i>conscious competence</i>, which means I have to think in order to use these skills. Running four Zoom tables just doesn’t allow me enough time to do this consistently well. Therefore, I am practicing these skills at a reduced volume. With continued practice, more and more of these will transform into skills that I don’t need to think about to do well. They will move into my<i> unconscious competence</i>. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I am also working on several other areas of my mental game that are not as quick and easy to fix, such as my bad habit of moving up stakes when tilting. Although I do better understand the type of tilt that leads to this habit. Addressing the root of this problem will take a sustained effort.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">TMGP<span style="font-weight: normal;"> 1 and 2 are written in an easy-to-read, nearly oral style. It feels as though the author is talking directly to you. The content is well organized and structured. You are presented with a methodology founded on three theories of learning which in turn are supported by practical examples and client stories (from high stakes pros). Each chapter culminates in a clear route toward self improvement. There are no answers in the books though. You are taught how to create your own mental map, but you will have to put in the work in order to reach the goals.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">I found the greatest strength of the books to lie in how the truth of each element presented hit me like an epiphany. I would learn something new, yet its implications were immediately obvious. The hard work of incorporating the element into my mental game will take time, but the learning process necessary to move forward is clear. Reading </span>TMGP<span style="font-weight: normal;"> has fundamentally changed the way I think about poker and about learning in general.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">If you are serious about poker, then </span>TMGP<span style="font-weight: normal;"> 1 and 2 are must reads. My recommendation may not carry much weight, but check out the </span><a href="http://www.mentalgameofpoker.com/node/14" style="font-weight: normal;" target="_blank">reviews by pro players on his site</a><span style="font-weight: normal;">! You can also find out more in this </span><a href="http://www.pokerschoolonline.com/forum/showthread.php?53167-Ask-Jared-Tendler-The-Mental-Game-of-Poker" style="font-weight: normal;" target="_blank">forum thread</a><span style="font-weight: normal;"> where Jared Tendler along with co-author Barry Carter have been active helping members at the Pokerstars </span><a href="http://www.pokerschoolonline.com/" style="font-weight: normal;" target="_blank">PokerSchoolOnline</a><span style="font-weight: normal;">. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">I purchased </span>The Mental Game of Poker 1<span style="font-weight: normal;"> as a Kindle e-book and won a copy of </span>The Mental Game of Poker 2<span style="font-weight: normal;"> in the thread above. Thanks for being a great guy with the way you handled my ineligibility in that contest, Jared. And, thank you both for writing these game changing books. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Who would have thought an inchworm could be so profound!</span></span></div>
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GL and have fun at the tables!<br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Roland GTX</span></div>
<br class="Apple-interchange-newline" />Roland GTXhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11386867212701170662noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4319954730443773786.post-41174365824081079322013-09-20T09:35:00.002+02:002013-09-20T09:35:59.859+02:00What am I Hoping to Flop with this Hand?Here is a link to a blog I recently posted over at <a href="http://www.pokerschoolonline.com/" target="_blank">PokerSchoolOnline</a>. If you are struggling at the microstakes this little trick might help you stay out of trouble.<br />
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<a href="http://www.pokerschoolonline.com/blogs/Roland+GTX/assessing-your-potential-what-am-i-hoping-to-flop-with-this-hand" target="_blank">What am I Hoping to Flop with this Hand?: Assessing your Flop Potential</a><br />
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GL and have fun at the tables!<br />
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Roland GTXRoland GTXhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11386867212701170662noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4319954730443773786.post-43227863064040043062013-08-21T10:21:00.002+02:002013-08-21T10:21:35.936+02:00How Was Your Summer?All is good on my end. After nearly six weeks away from the tables, I am finally getting back into the groove. I am taking poker more seriously than ever and my results indicate that I have gotten a decent handle on Zoom cash tables at 25NL and lower. I have been mixing it up with 6-Max and Full Ring. Most of my online play is at Pokerstars, but I drop by Full Tilt now an then. I would play more tourneys there. However, I find it hard to run games on both sites simoutaniously. I tend to time out too often.<br />
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I have been pretty activite talking and writing about poker, but all of that is happening at PokerSchoolOnline.<br />
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Here is a link to my <a href="http://www.pokerschoolonline.com/blogs/Roland+GTX/roland-s-goals-june-july-update" target="_blank">June/July Update</a>. Aslo, if you want to follow a real pro, I suggest checking out <a href="https://www.facebook.com/xflixx.coaching" target="_blank">xflixx</a>. He is a PSO trainer and now a member of Pokerstars Team Online! He has an excellent video blog that on Facebook that he updates daily. He is scary good!<br />
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GL and have fun at the tables!<br />
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Roland GTXRoland GTXhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11386867212701170662noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4319954730443773786.post-71163544333441249962013-05-21T10:05:00.004+02:002013-05-21T10:05:50.476+02:00I have recently taken a short break from Full Ring in order to learn a bit about 6-Max. You can follow my running account of this on the PSO forum: <a href="http://www.pokerschoolonline.com/forum/showthread.php?50640-Roland-s-6-Max-May-Challenge">Roland's 6-Max Challenge</a><br />
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I've also had some fun as a tournament commentator for PSO! Pokestars offers a <a href="http://www.pokerschoolonline.com/articles/The-Big-Bang">5K guaranteed tourney</a> for a select few of its pokerschool members, and a few of us hand analyzers have been commentating the final table. If you are curious take a look for yourself. The video is at the end of this <a href="http://www.pokerschoolonline.com/blogs/post/?id=46648">blog post by ArtySmokesPS</a>.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKkaFPZ1WcILI1r-n-8pgjCJoDgmYAWnGyz483FJcHwNjLDRxZrSEASST90XTdW-M31Q_KMRzxmd7EAyrvqTv4O34oUs-6dIZYy3KnUH-emu6cbn1BHp44UmgdqKLdNkoOrLEOAYHxffZv/s1600/the_big_bang_600x200.png" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKkaFPZ1WcILI1r-n-8pgjCJoDgmYAWnGyz483FJcHwNjLDRxZrSEASST90XTdW-M31Q_KMRzxmd7EAyrvqTv4O34oUs-6dIZYy3KnUH-emu6cbn1BHp44UmgdqKLdNkoOrLEOAYHxffZv/s320/the_big_bang_600x200.png" /></a><br />
<br />
Things are going pretty well. My game is steadily improving. I'm making better decisions. And I have been profitable.<br />
<br />
GL and have fun at the tables!<br />
<br />
Roland GTX
Roland GTXhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11386867212701170662noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4319954730443773786.post-80472121425306962132013-04-07T15:29:00.001+02:002013-04-07T15:29:29.664+02:00March Review and Zoom Strategy<b id="internal-source-marker_0.35788382147438824"></b><br />
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<b id="internal-source-marker_0.35788382147438824"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I am happy, and more than a little relieved, to have done well in March. If you recall, I tilted in <a href="http://www.pokerschoolonline.com/blogs/post/?id=42075" target="_blank">February</a>. Since then, I have been focusing on the basics and getting back on track. The only negative issue with March was that I didn’t get to play as much Zoom as I had hoped. There were several promotions running early in the month stealing my cash tabling time, then Easter break. Sun and fun in the mountains snowboarding with the family was fantastic. Although it did result in an all-expenses paid five day vacation in the hospital. Lying there with a morphine infused brain infused allowed for some deep, meditative reflection. Among other things, I learned that I missed poker more than smoking! I haven’t had a cig in over a week:) Not to mention, my son was quite happy to inherit my snowboard gear. Enough about that, let’s get back to poker and the details from March.</span></b></div>
<b id="internal-source-marker_0.35788382147438824"><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><div dir="ltr" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Tourneys</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">WBCOOP and MicroMillions were fun, but I didn’t get rich in any of those. Congratulations once again to EvokeNZ from PSO! Read my previous posts if you want the WBCOOP details.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Omaha tourneys. If you haven’t taken the <a href="http://www.pokerschoolonline.com/course/Omaha-Basics-Course" target="_blank">PSO Omaha Quiz</a>, I strongly suggest you do so. The free tickets are great. The game is fun. And most importantly, the competition is soft, especially in the new variants such as Courchevel! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I took 2nd in the very first Courchevel tourney I played. It was 48 man turbo. I also played a handful of Rush tourneys on FullTilt. I cashed in several and took 2nd in one. No big scores, but ok for the ROI.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Cash Tables</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I tried to win a Milestone hand while that promo was running at the start of the month, but no love. I did play one session of 20 tables at 10NL and 16NL! That was fun and I actually ended up about two bucks. However, this level of multitabling is not something that I would like to do every day. I didn’t play any hands at higher stakes this month.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Zoom</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I played 13K hands of 25NL Full Ring Zoom. I made some good plays and bad plays, but the month went great. Once again, I didn’t quite reach my $500 monthly profit goal, but I was way ahead of my daily average for the days I played. Here are my results.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Improvement</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Most of my improvement this month has been small tweaks and incremental adjustments. The better I become at postflop play, the wider an opening range I am using preflop. When I first started Zooming I was a Rock. I slowly opened my range becoming ABC. Now, I am slowly gravitating from being an ABC player and a TAG. Regardless, I still stick to my same basic principles though. I look for spots that offer a clear line rather than simply a theoretical +ev spot.</span></div>
<br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><div dir="ltr" style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">For example, let’s say I’m in the big blind. It folds around to a reg who raises from the btn and a weaker player calls from the sb. I will fold a hand such as A9o. I may well have the best hand preflop, but I find A9o very difficult to play post flop with such a weak kicker. Rather than getting involved in an unclear situation, I just fold. </span></div>
<br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><div dir="ltr" style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">If I had a hand such as A5s, I would call in this spot and treat it as a speculative hand. The straight and flush possibilities make this much hand much easier for me to play than the A9o hand, even though the A9 hand is actually “stronger”. If I get a good draw great, I’ll play aggressively. If I flop a pair I might bet, but I won’t risk too much of my stack with “just a pair”, whether it be the A or the 5 that has hit. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">If I have a hand such as A10s or AJs+, I am now more apt to 3-bet preflop. (Note 3-betting or flatting is a bit villain dependant.) This usually wins the hand, but again, I get very careful postflop if I get called. The advantage of 3-betting is that it usually gets at least one opponent to fold. Playing post flop in a read based situation is much easier against one opponent than against multiple.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I take the same approach in hands that I open. Let’s say I’m in the CO and it folds around to me. I fold hands such as A9o because I find them difficult to play post flop. Whereas, I would open with a hand such as 67s. This is a good example of where my opening range is widening. A few months ago I would have wanted 10Js to open from the CO. As I improve my postflop play, primarily through my ranging abilities, I can confidently play a wider range of hands from this position.</span></div>
<br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><div dir="ltr" style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In other words, I try to play hands that have the potential for more than just top pair, or high card. I want to play spots where I can hit a set, a straight or a flush because these are the spots where I can confidently play for stacks. Hitting a pair, but no draws, as would always be the case with A9o, still gives me a plan B to fall back on, but it is not my main line. I focus on pot control when this happens.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This is a general description of my overall approach to cash tables (and all Omaha games..) However, I found I needed to add in two extra elements before it became successful: opponent stack sizes and stats. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I try to avoid playing against short stacks. They tend to get all in too quickly. This leads to too many all in spots than I am comfortable. Again, I sacrifice, potentially +ev spots by doing this. Yet, I don’t care for all the variance inherent in these 60/40 spots. I prefer to take a safer route. On the other hand, I will gladly call a preflop UTG raise from a deep stacked Rock if I’m holding a speculative hand, because the implied odds are so good if I hit.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Secondly, opponent stats can have a big impact on the hands I play AND how I choose to play them. For example, I will fold my 67s mentioned above if one of the blinds has a highl 3-bet%. On the other hand, I will steal from the sb with ATC against an tight bb.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">All in all this approach seems to be working for me. Yet, if I get overly aggressive, I can lose a stack or two quite fast still. I need to constantly work on improving my game (allowing me to play more hands) while staying on the sweet spot I seem to have found. This has not been very easy, but it has been very fun!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Goals for April</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I want to get in at least 20K hands of 25NL Zoom. Hopefully I can have a big month both volume-wize and profit-wize...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Keep watching videos and posting hands for analysis at PSO. Hand analysis is my favorite. I continue to learn so much from feedback on my own thoughts, as well as, reading how others (esp. Dave and Gareth) approach Zoom hands.</span></div>
<br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><div dir="ltr" style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Keep improving my Zoom game! Rather than getting complacent, the more I learn, the more I see the complexity of the game, and how much I don’t know. This entices me to work even harder at improving. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Good luck in April!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Roland GTX</span></div>
</b>Roland GTXhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11386867212701170662noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4319954730443773786.post-24972279299309432142013-03-12T11:47:00.001+01:002013-03-13T09:08:07.767+01:002013 WBCOOP Wrap Up<br />
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<span lang="EN-US">All the
cards have been dealt in the <a href="http://www.pokerstars.com/blog_tournament/" target="_blank">2013 WBCOOP</a>. All that remains is to see who comes out
on top of the leaderboard, and who wins the coveted ”Best Blogger” award. I’m
not a contender on the leaderboad, but I still have hopes of being considered
for the best blogger. Trying to type with my fingers crossed is not easy!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">The <b>WBCOOP
Main Event</b> took place yesterday. I min-cashed, but wasn’t able to bring my
A-game. I had to sit out several long stretches in order to make dinner, pick
up the kids, etc. I love poker, but I still need to keep my priorities straight!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">Congratulations
to <a href="http://www.fundoopoker.com/eng/poker-school/article/Just-Another-Cindrella-Story" target="_blank">TIGER CENTE</a> (India) on taking it down! Although, I still can't find his blog... (Edit: Thanks for the link <a href="http://www.pokerschoolonline.com/blogs/?idblog=23352" target="_blank">EvokeNZ</a>) And congratulations to <a href="http://www.pokerschoolonline.com/blogs/?idblog=14693" target="_blank">chillipops</a>
(UK) on his 27th place finish making him the deepest running PSO member!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">Leading up
to the Main Event, I played in five more WBCOOP tourneys since my last post. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><b>Event 20
PLHE Turbo</b>: </span>Out 120th.
Just call me bubble boy!</div>
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<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><b>Event 23
NLHE Big Antes</b>: </span>Out 264th. Don't ask...</div>
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<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><b>Event 24 No
limit Omaha hi/lo</b>: </span>Out 101st.
Min-cash for a $5 SCOOP ticket</div>
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<br /></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-US">Event 26
PLO8 6-Max: </span>Out 92nd</b>.
Min-cash for a $5 SCOOP ticket</div>
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<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><b>Event 28
Horse</b>: </span>I lost
track of time and didn’t play the event. Wasted ticket...</div>
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<span lang="EN-US">All were
rather uneventful card-wise. However, the chatter at the tables and in the <a href="http://www.pokerschoolonline.com/forum" target="_blank">PSOforums</a> was fantastic throughout the entire competition. The social buzz is
really what the WBCOOP is all about, and with that in mind I consider this year
the best WBCOOP thus far. PSO showed its strength with members making the final
table on very many events. A few times there were several members at the same
final table! Railing them was great.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">I ended the
blogger competition with 1 final table, 5 SCOOP tickets, a min-cash in the Main
Event and a ton of fun. The <a href="http://www.pokerstars.com/scoop/" target="_blank">SCOOP</a> schedule is not yet released; therefore, I’m
unsure if I will be using my tickets on <a href="http://www.pokerstars.com/poker/tournaments/micro-millions/" target="_blank">MicroMillions</a> events or waiting for the
SCOOP. I do hope to play in the MicroMillions $5.5 Zoom tourney though. Zoom is
great!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><b>The Big Bang</b></span></div>
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A few other
events occurred during the WBCOOP that are worth mentioning. Firstly, a <a href="http://www.pokerschoolonline.com/blogs/post/?id=42075" target="_blank">blogpost</a> of mine at PSO won a ticket to the <a href="http://www.pokerschoolonline.com/articles/The-Big-Bang" target="_blank">Big Bang</a> Freeroll. This is a competition only for members of the various Pokerstars poker schools, including PSO. There were 257
entries. I ended up 23rd for a nice cash, but peanuts compared to <a href="http://www.pokerschoolonline.com/blogs/?idblog=23541" target="_blank">Mr mendes</a> and
<a href="http://www.pokerschoolonline.com/blogs/?idblog=2313" target="_blank">marvinsytan</a> from PSO who both made the final table. Both were also in the WBCOOP. Nice running gentlemen!</div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><b>Full Tilt vs Pokerstars </b></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">I also play
on Full Tilt. Rush tourneys are a blast, not to mention pretty soft! Well,
Full Tilt had a promo last week
called ”<a href="http://www.fulltiltpoker.com/promotions/professionals-vs-team-pokerstars" target="_blank">The Professionals vs TeamPokerstars</a>” which promoted a series of heads up battles between the biggest
names on both sites.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">Isildur1 vs
Bertrand ”ElkY” Grospellier<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">Durrrr vs
Isaac ”luvthewnba” Haxton<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">Gun Hanson
vs Daniel ”Kid Poker” Negreanu<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">We needed
to pick the winner of each match. Get one right and win a 10K freeroll ticket.
Well, I hedged my bet by putting it all on Pokerstars. This was fortuitous
since Pokerstars swept the series. I won three freeroll tickets and a $20 bonus
for getting all three correct! </span>Winning the
tickets was good, winning the cash was better, but watching the big guns go
head to head was a real treat. Great promo FullTilt!</div>
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<span lang="EN-US">That is it
for now. I’ll let you know how my quest ot parley all these tickets into real
cash turns out. Plus, I will probably be taking a closer look at 25NL Full Ring
Zoom in my next post.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">Roland GTX<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Roland GTXhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11386867212701170662noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4319954730443773786.post-14122718866939188202013-03-07T10:35:00.003+01:002013-03-07T10:55:57.140+01:00WBCOOP Midway Update<br />
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The blogger competition at Pokerstars has been quite fun
thus far. It has generated a ton of freindly socializing at the tables and in
the forums/blogs, especially amongst all the <a href="http://www.pokerschoolonline.com/" target="_blank">PokerSchoolOnline</a> members. It has
also generated a bit of confusion. Let’s look at that first.</div>
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Last year, we voted on the best blog via PokerNews. A winner
was then chosen by Pokerstars from among the top ten. This was fun, but being
popular does not necessarily corralate with being the best – or does it? This
year, we haven’t seen anything at PokerNews. Being curious, I mailed Pokerstars
support. 15 minutes later I had an answer from Ginou on the Support Team.</div>
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<i>”This year, players are not required to vote on the blogs.
The winner will be decided internally by a judging panel.”</i></div>
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Great service as usual – thanks Ginou!</div>
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There was another
issue as well. Participants were supposed to get 10 tickets to be used in any
of the 30 WBCOOP events. Many got 20 or 30 tickets. I got 20, but they were
adjusted to 10 the following day. Yesterday, However, I noticed that all my
remaining tickets had been removed!? I fired off another mail to Support. Once
agian, it didn’t take long for them to reply with an explanation of what had
happened. Apparently, my blog was accidentally submitted twice. I don’t know if
this was something I did, or a technical glitch. Either way, while correcting
the number of enties and tickets issued, they removed more than they should
have. They reinstated my remaining six tickets immediately. So, no harm, no
foul. This turned out to be lucky for me. Had it taken longer to fix my tickets,
I wouldn’t have been able to play in last night’s Event 18.</div>
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Thus far I have played in five events netting me 50
leaderboard points, 3 SCOOP tickets and a WBCOOP Main Event ticket.</div>
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Event 2 PLO 6-Max (102nd for a $5 ticket)</div>
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Event 7 NLHE 6-Max</div>
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Event 8 NLHE</div>
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Event 12 Stud H/L (74th for a $5 ticket)</div>
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Event 18 PLO Turbo (8th for a $33 ticket)</div>
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<br /></div>
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Playing scheduled tourneys makes me appreciate how great
Zoom and SnGs are. They always fit my schedule no matter when when I want to
play. With the WBCOOP, I have had to make my schedule fit the game times which
is not always easy. The four o’clock games are while I’m preparing dinner for
the family. I’m usually picking up one of the kids from practice when the eight o’clock games are starting, and the
midnight games make for a very late night. Playing is well worth the effort
though. </div>
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<br /></div>
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Due to the times and the fact that the tickets were free, I
have played in several events where I really don’t know what I’m doing. This
has been fun and a great way to gain some experience playing something other
than No-limit Holdem.</div>
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<br /></div>
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In Event 2 PLO 6-Max, I won a few big pots early then time
banked my into the money. This ensured my spot in the Main Event. By the time
we neared the bubble, my stack was so
short that I had no fold equity and time banking was my best option.</div>
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Events 7 and 8 were supposed to be my strong runs, but
neither went too well. KK<qq .="" p="">
</qq><br />
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<br /></div>
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Event 12 was Stud H/L. This was my first time to play any
form of stud poker online. I didn’t have high expectations. My approach was
similar to PLO8 though. I only played hands that had potential for scooping the
pot. This worked surprizingly well. The few hands I played got great flops and
big pots giving me a nice stack after the first hour. This tourney was going to
be an all nighter and I doubted I had much of a chance at winning it. So, at
one in the morning, I sat out confident that my stack would carry me into the
money.</div>
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Event 18 PLO Turbo. I love anything turbo, but haven’t
played much PLO. I like hi/lo better. This turned out to be a very fun tourney.
I landed on a table with several PSOers. <a href="http://www.pokerschoolonline.com/blogs/post/?id=42650" target="_blank">ggervacio</a> was there (congrats on
cashing in the Sunday Million!!!!) <a href="http://www.pokerschoolonline.com/blogs/?idblog=1433" target="_blank">TrustySam</a> was there (and cashed too!!!). As usual, she made sure everyone was happy with
her positive, friendly comments. A bit later one of PSOs big guns, <a href="http://www.pokerschoolonline.com/blogs/post/?id=41903" target="_blank">ahar010</a>, got
seated with us. He caught a bad case of ”right move, wrong result”, but it was
fun playing against him while it lasted. We had a PSO party going on for a
while, but finally I got moved to a new table.</div>
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Similar to event 12, I played a pretty tight range of
starting hands. I know enough to judge my own hands, but didn’t even try to put
others on a range. It was fit or fold post flop for me all night. Thankfully, I
either flopped well or got lucky in most of the hands I played. I was
chipleader early on and remained among the top spots all tourney. I went to the
final table with the 3rd largest stack. With eight players remaining I was UTG
and the chipleader was in the big blind.
I look down at AA66.</div>
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There were several short stacks on the verge of getting
blinded out and I would have preferred not to tangle with the chipleader, but
AA66 seemed too good to pass up. I made a 3x raise for about 20% of my stack. I
was afraid that a smaller raise would get a string of callers. By making a
solid raise, I hoped that I would isolate the chipleader since nobody would
want to tangle with a utg raise looking strong and a deep stacked chipleader.
This worked. It folded around to the big blind who 3-bet me for most of my
stack. He hadn’t been getting out of line, so I gave him credit for having a
real hand.</div>
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This was where my lack of knowledge became an issue. AA66
looks strong, but I had four different colors AND no connectedness. I had no
idea of hand equities in PLO. How does my hand compare to something like
KQsJ10s? Nevertheless, I got the situation I wanted and 4-bet all in. The
chipleader had AsQdQhJh and made a straight on the river knocking me out in
8th. I still don’t know if I made a good play or bad play. I’ll have to get the
hand analyzed by someone who knows PLO.</div>
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This was a great evening. Running deep in a game that I’m
not that familiar with makes for a fun, low-stress tourney. All the socializing
at the tables, especially with the PSOers, made for a huge added value!</div>
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That’s more than enough from me already LOL! Good luck to
all bloggers with the remaining tourneys. <a href="http://www.pokerschoolonline.com/blogs/?idblog=730" target="_blank">Sandtrap777</a>, we are all rooting for you! He is currently high up on the leaderboard. And good luck to all bloggers in the ”Best Blogger” competition as well. I
think <a href="http://theroyalraiser.blogspot.ie/2013/02/my-greatest-pokerstars-moment-plus-many.html" target="_blank">Raiser</a> has a real shot at a repeat with all his good deeds.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Roland GTX</div>
</div>
Roland GTXhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11386867212701170662noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4319954730443773786.post-3013130993248402322013-02-22T10:08:00.002+01:002013-02-22T11:11:46.258+01:00 Roland GTX: Best Moment on Pokerstars<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDQBJVUsyls70mPVVZHdCJPSQhp3hREiBmQrmlUD1FiLjFigZcofN0t91tVX6HWLkVWZZlcqC9AT1CXRjVesSGJftyaKr_L9ca9JC462B_8x-DEDUeTVrfnNlJ-EcDl-Ti_9v1NSgHp1lj/s1600/WBCOOP.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="112" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDQBJVUsyls70mPVVZHdCJPSQhp3hREiBmQrmlUD1FiLjFigZcofN0t91tVX6HWLkVWZZlcqC9AT1CXRjVesSGJftyaKr_L9ca9JC462B_8x-DEDUeTVrfnNlJ-EcDl-Ti_9v1NSgHp1lj/s400/WBCOOP.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfdPXxgSVsTFcXwTopO0SUR_PgMHljtZtJBnt2e-dNuxcuZTnVhxJQvu4OJWRpF5en6ErE0Jrz0kyj-DU62wVhhoevCW4Oj-aIfamiaRJoGz6-6GQoyWNSbyHyXvXSc1sDBXJTO-RkLjPv/s1600/My+stars+avatar.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfdPXxgSVsTFcXwTopO0SUR_PgMHljtZtJBnt2e-dNuxcuZTnVhxJQvu4OJWRpF5en6ErE0Jrz0kyj-DU62wVhhoevCW4Oj-aIfamiaRJoGz6-6GQoyWNSbyHyXvXSc1sDBXJTO-RkLjPv/s320/My+stars+avatar.jpg" width="205" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Roland GTX<br />
I've been a regular at Pokerstars since 2008 and<br />
this is my third year taking part in the WBCOOP.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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I have
always gotten a kick out of landing at a table with big name players whether it be spacegravy, Boku87 or a Pokerstars Pro like Johnny Lodden. I vividly
remember being struck by fear and awe back in 2009 when Shaun Deeb got seated next to me in
a tourney . I was thrilled to death having that guy at my table, but scared to death to even consider playing a hand postflop against him. To be quite honest, I did my best to stay out of any hand that he decided to play - LOL!</div>
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<span lang="EN-US">No, I can’t
boast that I stacked one of these players. They are all scary good and I was just another bug to be crushed. But, watching players of this caliber grind, seeing the hard work they
put into their game and the skill they bring to the table has always been a
great source of inspiration. Moreover, I do have something in common with them.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">We all play
poker for the love of the game...for the thrill of running deep. We all play
with a desire of making a final table... with the dream of winning.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">Playing
with the pros has given me some great memories, but my best moment playing on
Pokerstars was when I experienced the dream for myself.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">Last August
I registered for a $5.40 turbo Knockout tourney. There were 2960 entrants and a
12K prize pool.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">I had an
average stack size throughout the early stages of the tourney. With about 300
players remaining I finally won a big hand becoming chip leader at my table -
nice! I was ready to put my big stack to good use and I got dealt some big
hands. Unfortunately, I lost the chips pretty quickly when my AKs bricked
against pocket pairs twice in a matter of minutes. This was looking to be
another ”almost” deep run. I was disappointed, but managed to keep my
focus.<br />
<br />
I stayed alive by apparently picking good stealing spots. Not getting called
kept me in the game, but it kept my stack short as well. With 50 players
remaining I was in 46th place, short stacked, and very desperate. I got dealt AK
again and moved all in from early position. The table chip leader 3-bet trying
to isolate me but the big blind joined the action making an all in call. Both
opponents had pocket pairs. I bricked the flop and could feel the sweat brewing
on my forehead. I bricked the turn and felt a tear of frustration welling up.
And then I rivered an A tripling my stack - oh yeah! I was still alive, but
still under the average stack size. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">Half an
hour later were nearing the final table bubble. I really wanted to make my
first final table of a scheduled tournament. Squeaking my way to a final table
didn’t sound like fun though, nor did it seem like a realistic option. It
folded around to me in mid-position. I decided that I wanted to play my 55. I
shoved and got insta-called by the big blind holding AK. Now it was the villain’s
turn to miss every street. My five’s held, I doubled up, and
"presto", I was sitting with an average stack at my very first final
table!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">I wanted to
text my poker buddies so they could rail me, but I was afraid of jinxing myself - LOL! My pulse was racing and I felt great. Now I was playing to win. But, would
I have the guts to pull the trigger when the time came?<br />
<br />
I did a quick check on the other players at the table. None of the others
seemed too scary thankfully, except for one solid MTT grinder. He was the first
to get knocked out of the final table though. He shoved 88 from the small
blind and the big blind woke up with 99 knocking him out. I didn't play many
hands except for re-raising all in against the chip leader who kept minraise-folding
preflop. That felt great! I proved to myself that I could pull the trigger.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><br />
Players kept getting knocked out and eventually we were down to the final four.
There was one big stack while the rest of us were pretty equal. This was a
turbo so the blinds and antes were high. Everyone was in push – fold mode. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">I called a
preflop shove holding AQs and had the villain dominated as he was holding A4.
My hand held. We were down to three and I was now the chip leader for the first
time in the tourney. A few hands later I
called another all in, this time from the short stack. His 99 was no match for
my JJ. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">Finally, I
was where I had dreamed of being, heads up at the final table of a real
tourney. First place was worth $1872 and second paid $1397. This was going to
be my biggest cash no matter what happened, but I wanted to win. I wanted to
know that feeling of pure elation, no second guessing myself and no regrets.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">I had a 4:1
chip lead and the villain was passive. I kept hammering away at the villain’s
stack for ten hands and got him down to shoving range. Then I picked up A6o in
the small blind and decided that was good enough to go with. I shoved and the
villain called with A10. My emotions plummeted when I saw that he had me
dominated. But a 6 on the flop put me ahead and another 6 on the turn ensured
the win! Triple fist pump – oh yeah! Victory was mine!<br />
<br />
The three and a half hours it took to play the tourney were filled with
emotional ups and downs charged with fear, excitement, and adrenaline. Making
my first final table, achieving my first big win and taking home my largest
online cash definitely made for my best moment on Pokerstars!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">Sharing
that moment on both of my blogs resulted in a ton of great feedback and support
which allowed me to savor the moment even longer. Poker is best shared with
friends!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">You can find me at the Pokerstars forum PSO: </span><a href="http://www.pokerschoolonline.com/">www.pokerschoolonline.com</a></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">Here on my blog: </span><a href="http://www.rolandsroom.blogspot.com/">www.rolandsroom.blogspot.com</a></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">And on Twitter: <a href="https://twitter.com/RolandGTX">https://twitter.com/RolandGTX</a> @RolandGTX</span><br />
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="background-color: black;"><br /></span></span>
Remember to
vote for your favorite blog entry at <a href="http://www.pokernews.com/" target="_blank">PokerNews</a> once the voting starts!</div>
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<span lang="EN-US">GL and have
fun at the tables!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">Roland GTX<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Roland GTXhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11386867212701170662noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4319954730443773786.post-89841905059950363492013-01-31T14:38:00.001+01:002013-01-31T14:38:32.697+01:00Private Coaching Sessions RevisitedIf you remember, I won a private <a href="http://rolandsroom.blogspot.no/2012/11/private-coaching-session.html?utm_source=BP_recent" target="_blank">coaching session</a> at PSO back before Christmas. The videos are now available in the PSO library if you are interested in watching...<br />
<br />
I learned a ton. Perhaps you will too.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.pokerschoolonline.com/articles/Coaching-Roland-GTX-Part-1" target="_blank">Coaching Roland GTX Part I</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.pokerschoolonline.com/articles/Coaching-Roland-GTX-Part-2" target="_blank">Coaching Roland GTX Part II</a><br />
<br />
GL and have fun at the tables!<br />
<br />
Roland GTX<br />
<br />Roland GTXhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11386867212701170662noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4319954730443773786.post-74033201797051602602013-01-25T13:59:00.001+01:002013-01-25T13:59:43.376+01:00January UpdateMy $500 monthly profit goal is already met, and we still have a week left to play. I’ve been profitable at tourneys and cash games. Good stuff, but still plenty of room for improvement.<br />
<br />
Here are my January results to date (Jan 24th):<br />
<br />
<b>Improvement</b><br />
* I learned the implications of a polarized board<br />
* My cash gaming experience is finally showing results in my tournament postflop play<br />
* It seems like I’m improving as a hand analyzer at PSO<br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>Tourneys </b><br />
Played 12 tourneys in January to date and have cashed in 7 for a nice 302% ROI<br />
Notable finishes were:<br />
* 2nd place in two $4 Rush tourneys<br />
* Cashed in the $27 6-Max TCOOP Event 1<br />
<br />
I sure can’t complain about my tourney results. Imagine running +300% ROI for a year LOL! Nonetheless, I am very dissatisfied that I ended both of my heads up battles in 2nd place. I don’t like losing and I don’t like wasting opportunities.<br />
<br />
I also wasted another great opportunity in a 12K Guar Rush tourney at Full Tilt. 300 players remaining (top 90 ITM) and I am in the top 20 with a big stack. I get dealt KK on the btn. I Raise and get called by the big blind who has an even larger stack than mine. 88Q on the flop, I c-bet and get called again. K on the turn giving me the nuts, I raise and get reraised – Jackpot!<br />
<br />
I’m going to be the tourney chipleader after this hand. I am 100% focused on sizing my bet properly in order to get all in on the river and don’t notice the FullTilt warning sound (it is not the Stars beep beep beep). Before I manage to write in my raise amount, I get autofolded from the hand for using too much time! Rather than doubling up and becoming chipleader, I spewed a large part of my stack and finished outside the bubble. Not my best moment...<br />
<br />
<b>Cash Games</b><br />
Played 18 000 hands total<br />
* Profitable at all stakes played: 10NL Zoom, 25NL Zoom, 50NL FR and 100FR<br />
* Avg Daily Profit. $13 (below my daily goal)<br />
<br />
All good... but my goal was to average 17 bucks a day running six zoom tables. I have been well under my 17 dollar mark. After a close look at my stats, it is clear that my BB/100 is significantly better when I play fewer tables. So, for February I will cut down to playing only 3 Zoom tables. This gives me time to think rather than running on autopilot.<br />
<br />
Apparently I still don’t let go of AA when I’m running on autopilot either. I had 6 hands that weren’t bad beats, but rather simply really bad play on my part. In all six, it was fairly clear on the flop that my TPTK or AA was in trouble, and it was crystal clear on the turn. Yet, I ignored the obvious and gave away my remaining stack. These few hands ate a third of my profit and kept me from my 17 dollar a day mark. 6 hands out of 18 000 cost me nearly 200 dollars...<br />
<br />
<b>VIP Status</b><br />
* Earned 1100 VPPs in January<br />
* Earned first $ 10 Stellar Reward<br />
* Earned Silverstar Status for February<br />
<br />
<b>Weekly Plans for February </b><br />
<br />
<i>Five sessions multitabling Full Ring Zoom</i><br />
I have cut down from 6 tables to 3 tables, and play only 25NL Zoom now. This seems to give me better quality, more profit and plenty of FPPs.<br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>1 session single tabling Regular Full Ring </i><br />
This is a repeat from January. I’ll be playing either 50NL or 100NL. Also, once I have ensured Silverstar status for March, I will play a bit more here rather than multitabling zoom.<br />
<br />
<i>1 session for Tourneys</i><br />
Hopefully with a 300% ROI again<br />
<br />
My game is steadily improving, but I really need to focus on minimizing my losses with ”just a pair” hands. My main improvement goal for February is to have zero spewed stacks from these spots. Getting beat is fine, getting unlucky is fine, but giving it away when I am clearly beat is unacceptable.<br />
<br />
All in all january has been a fun month and I am happy with my results. Things are going in the right direction and I have identified a few specific leaks to focus on for February.<br />
<br />
I hope you are improving and your bankroll is growing, too!<br />
<br />
GL and have fun at the tables!<br />
<br />
Roland GTXRoland GTXhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11386867212701170662noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4319954730443773786.post-17877721025472687702013-01-10T14:35:00.001+01:002013-01-10T14:39:49.955+01:00Goals for 2013<h2>
<b>2012 in Review</b></h2>
<div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfdPXxgSVsTFcXwTopO0SUR_PgMHljtZtJBnt2e-dNuxcuZTnVhxJQvu4OJWRpF5en6ErE0Jrz0kyj-DU62wVhhoevCW4Oj-aIfamiaRJoGz6-6GQoyWNSbyHyXvXSc1sDBXJTO-RkLjPv/s1600/My+stars+avatar.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfdPXxgSVsTFcXwTopO0SUR_PgMHljtZtJBnt2e-dNuxcuZTnVhxJQvu4OJWRpF5en6ErE0Jrz0kyj-DU62wVhhoevCW4Oj-aIfamiaRJoGz6-6GQoyWNSbyHyXvXSc1sDBXJTO-RkLjPv/s320/My+stars+avatar.jpg" width="205" /></a><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
In previous years I played mainly for fun and wasn't too concerned with good bankroll management. Typically, I would win at microstakes sngs,
then spew my profit taking shots at considerably more
expensive MTTs.</div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
This pattern broke last January when I made two important
changes. Firstly, I bought HoldemManager and started analyzing my
own stats. Secondly, I joined the Pokerstars <a href="http://www.pokerschoolonline.com/" target="_blank">PokerSchoolOnline</a> (PSO) and got
serious about learning. These changes made 2012 a milestone year for me:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<ul>
<li>I learned a ton!</li>
<li>I was profitable!!</li>
<li>I won my first scheduled MTT!!!</li>
<li>I became a cash game player!?</li>
<li>PSO hired me to teach microstakes cash games!??! (That was completely unexpected!)</li>
</ul>
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<h2>
<b>2013 Goals</b></h2>
</div>
<div>
My plan for 2013 is to continue improving the strong parts of my game and to continue reducing the leaks. Spesifically, I want to meet the following goals by the end of the year:</div>
<div>
<ul>
<li><span style="color: orange;">Keep improving</span></li>
<li><span style="color: orange;">$6 000 in profit</span></li>
<li><span style="color: orange;">Goldstar VIP status</span></li>
</ul>
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<span style="color: orange;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
</div>
<div>
Writing up a list of goals is easy, but achieving them requires sticking to a solid gameplan. Here is mine:<br />
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<h4>
<span style="color: orange;">Improving</span></h4>
</div>
<div>
I am improving my game by working on two fronts. Firstly, I am learning by using all the resourses at PSO. There is a huge video archive, live training, hand analyses and a forum. All the trainers (except me LOL) are scary good pro or semi-pro poker players. And, it is all free... Secondly, I am analyzing my stats and reviewing my hands. Doing hand analysis for others at PSO also helps improve on my own game. It forces me to review the fundamentals on a daily basis. I have two spesific learning goals for the year.<br />
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<i><span style="color: red;">Minimizing my losses</span></i><br />
This is actually more a question of discipline rather than learning. I play pretty ABC poker at the moment. I can play ninety nine hands out of a hundred great with a decent profit. Then I can make one very costly mistake by overplaying a big pair like AA and KK, or top pair top kicker with AK. One mistake can get me stacked and leave me with a losing session. Learning not only to recognize when my AA is beat, but to actually fold it, will have the geatest impact on my overall profit. Remember "It is just a pair"...<br />
<br />
<i><span style="color: red;">Moving beyond ABC poker</span></i><br />
I am decent at straight forward ABC poker. This is good enough to be profitable at 25NL and lower. At these levels the opponents make enough mistakes on their own that I don't need to get tricky. At 50NL and 100NL, players are better and make less mistakes though. At these levels I often need to induce mistakes from opponents. Moreover, I need to be aware that they may be doing the same thing to me. My goal is to take my game up a notch so that I can profitably multitable at these stakes.<br />
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<h4>
<span style="color: orange;">Building My Bankroll</span></h4>
<div>
In order to reach my yearly profit goal, I need to make $500 a month, or about $17 a day. Most, if not all, of this should come from cash tables. Based on my results from the past few months this seems achievable. I have averaged 24 bucks a day so far in 2013. The biggest threat to building my bankroll is containing my urge to reg for MTTs like the Sunday Million or to sit down at 200NL cash tables. If I bink a tourney great, but in general I'll be playing cash games to build my bankroll and tourneys for fun.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h4>
<span style="color: orange;">Goldstar VIP</span></h4>
<div>
I have been a Silverstar for the last few months. Now that Pokerstars have reduced the VPPs needed from 750 a month to 500, remaining a Silverstar is easy. Goldstar has been reduced from 3000 to 2500 VPPs. I had 1552 VPPs in December. I won't reach Goldstar until I can multitable 50NL profitably. I don't expect to reach this goal until the fall.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h2>
Weekly Goals</h2>
<div>
Some days I play long sessions, and some days I don't play at all. All in all I average about one hour a day playing poker. Here are my weekly goals:</div>
<div>
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<div>
<i><span style="color: red;">5 sessions multitabling Full Ring Zoom</span></i></div>
<div>
I play for one hour exactly in these sessions and have six tables running. This works out to about 1800 hands an hour. The main purpose of these sessions is to make money and generate VPPs. At the moment I run four tables of 10NL Zoom and two 25NL Zoom. As I improve, I will be slowly replacing the lowest buyin tables with the next level up. I never run these sessions for more than an hour or I lose my focus. 1800 hands an hour is a lot of clicking and fast desicion making. Zoom is fun!</div>
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<div>
*After each session I review the hands where I won and lost the most. Each week I will take a closer look at my stats in general.</div>
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<i><span style="color: red;">1 session single tabling Regular Full Ring at higher buyin level</span></i></div>
<div>
This session is meant to be a learning session. I sit down at a single table one level above my normal buyin. Currently, I am doing this with 50NL and sometimes 100NL. I focus 100% on this table and bring my A-game. In this way, I gain experience at the next level before tossing it into my multitabling sessions. I also get to work on making all the minor adjustments to my game which will be necessary to take it to the next level. Thus far I have been profitable at both 50NL and 100NL, but I am not able to multitable at these levels.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
*After each session I will post problem hands on PSO for review.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<i><span style="color: red;">1 session for tourney play</span></i></div>
<div>
I want to play less sngs and more scheduled tourneys. I will be playing Rush tourneys on Full Tilt, especially the multiple entry, rebuy tourneys with a gaurantee. I will be playing Zoom tourneys on Pokerstars as well as other Turbo tourneys that fit my time slot. I am striving to final table a big tourney. However, getting deep requires a fair amount of luck. So, I have not listed it as a goal for the year. I do want to be profitable at tourneys for 2013 though.</div>
<div>
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<div>
That is my plan. I'm sure there will be adjustments in the months to come. I'll keep you updated on my progress.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
GL in 2013and have fun at the tables!</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Roland GTX</div>
</div>
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Roland GTXhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11386867212701170662noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4319954730443773786.post-65373641318447591932012-11-06T23:38:00.000+01:002012-11-06T23:38:28.542+01:00Private Coaching SessionThursday is my private coaching session at <a href="http://www.pokerschoolonline.com/" target="_blank">PSO</a>. I am quite excited and hope this can help improve my game.<br />
<br />
The coaching will be run as a live training session at PokerSchoolOnline which means you are welcome to participate if you would like. You can read about it and register for it <a href="http://www.pokerschoolonline.com/education/training/session/?id=26889" target="_blank">here</a>. Although, you might want to wait for video to be posted in the library; 2 in the morning makes for very little sleep! I will be talking to the head trainer via Skype while we look at my play.<br />
<br />
We will be looking at a number of sticky postflop situations from my hands at full ring 25NL Zoom. Here is an example of a typical spot where I'm not competely sure of the best line on the flop.<br />
<br />
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<br />
Say hi if you watch the session :)<br />
<br />
Roland GTX<br />
<br />
PS: FullTilt re-opens its doors today for a return to real money poker! Accounts are intact - Oh Yeah!<br />
<br />Roland GTXhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11386867212701170662noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4319954730443773786.post-27883600963890483552012-10-17T09:28:00.000+02:002012-10-17T09:29:12.930+02:00PSO Challenge Results<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJ3jhTXnp-6Uuf3ZFLTL2wvE7Pn3T_qa-U3gSo_ot1SY4u-Wq-OEzPKzRsT04jHWORZ396O35y9zRt9LP5lO05V8iodshpha627dH3pe-t0n-pWurar0c7POzHIegMYaMClBsLdbHUSFky/s1600/tvt2_ip1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="137" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJ3jhTXnp-6Uuf3ZFLTL2wvE7Pn3T_qa-U3gSo_ot1SY4u-Wq-OEzPKzRsT04jHWORZ396O35y9zRt9LP5lO05V8iodshpha627dH3pe-t0n-pWurar0c7POzHIegMYaMClBsLdbHUSFky/s400/tvt2_ip1.png" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
The <a href="http://www.pokerschoolonline.com/forum/showthread.php?43985-Official-Full-Ring-vs-6-max-Challenge-2" target="_blank">PSO Full Ring vs 6-Max Challenge</a> ended over the weekend. The 6-Maxers got a well deserved win, mainly due to an astonishing run by one player. He turned an <a href="http://www.pokerschoolonline.com/forum/showthread.php?44217-Team-6-Max-results-and-comments-thread/page34" target="_blank">$80 bankroll into $1021</a> during the month! Even the SuperNova pros hadn't heard of anyone running that well before.<br />
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I ran better than I ever have before, as well, especially the final week. My $80 bankroll grew to $369 which was good enough to win the <a href="http://www.pokerschoolonline.com/forum/showthread.php?44216-Team-Full-Ring-results-and-comments-thread/page20" target="_blank">MVP spot</a> on Team Full Ring. The prize for being the MVP is a free one-on-one coaching session from the head coach at PSO! Winning this was my goal from the start of the challenge. Private coaching typically costs at least a hundred bucks an hour. It is something I have wanted to try, but haven't really felt I could justify the investment. Now I get to try it for free!<br />
<br />
I also won a few tourney tickets ($22, $5.50 and freeroll) and amassed about 1000 VPPs from playing. The vpps were enough for me to cash out the first $50 Steller Reward and also mean I will make Silverstar some time this week.<br />
<br />
This was a very profitable challenge for me. More importantly, I learned quite a bit about cash tabling. I have adjusted my opening range. I have quit calling 3-bets. I am much more aware of position. And I am much more comfortable with post flop action.<br />
<br />
I four tabled Zoom the entire challenge.<br />
Week 1 2 NL Zoom 11 000 hands $20 profit<br />
Week 2&3 5 NL Zoom 25 000 hands $100 profit<br />
Week 4 10NL Zoom 16 000 Hands $170 profit<br />
<br />
If you are interested in more details, come join our <a href="http://www.pokerschoolonline.com/education/training/session/?id=26415" target="_blank">final team training session</a> on Thursday :)<br />
<br />
Roland GTX<br />
<br />
PS: The number 2 player on Team Full Ring is a Norwegain Goldstar. Don't be surprized if he makes an appearance at our next live game:)Roland GTXhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11386867212701170662noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4319954730443773786.post-15148877420800889762012-09-12T23:01:00.002+02:002012-09-12T23:01:34.861+02:00BOOM Hand ReplayerNot much to report guys, Im just testing out the Pokerstars hand replayer. It might be easier to use for posting single hands, especially if you need to vent some steam during the action... :)<br />
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<object align="top" classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" codebase="http://fpdownload.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=10,0,0,0" height="300" id="handplayer" width="398"><param name="wmode" value="transparent" /><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always" /><param name="movie" value="http://cdn.boomplayer.com/repository/_swf/v2/hr.swf" /><param name="menu" value="false" /><param name="quality" value="high" /><param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF" /><param name="FlashVars" value="configUrl=http://www.boomplayer.com/repository/config/PS/fb41_398x300.xml&textConfigUrl=http://www.boomplayer.com/repository/messages/actions_en.xml&pCodePath=http://www.boomplayer.com/repository/pCode/0/0/643/643863_E3DC1C45F5.xml&showOddscalc=0&showControls=1&showLog=1&showActiveButtons=0&title_id=2&lang=en&gameEntity=1&playerMode=hrp"/><embed src="http://cdn.boomplayer.com/repository/_swf/v2/hr.swf" FlashVars="configUrl=http://www.boomplayer.com/repository/config/PS/fb41_398x300.xml&pCodePath=http://www.boomplayer.com/repository/pCode/0/0/643/643863_E3DC1C45F5.xml&textConfigUrl=http://www.boomplayer.com/repository/messages/actions_en.xml&showOddscalc=0&showControls=1&showLog=1&showActiveButtons=0&title_id=2&lang=en&gameEntity=1&playerMode=hrp" menu="false" wmode="transparent" quality="high" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" width="398" height="300" name="handplayer" align="top" allowScriptAccess="always" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" /></object><br />
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Roland GTXRoland GTXhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11386867212701170662noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4319954730443773786.post-83052934535028474092012-09-11T09:00:00.002+02:002012-09-11T09:03:43.718+02:00PSO Cash Game ChallengePokerSchoolOnline (PSO) is running another 6-max vs Full Ring Challenge. Once again I'll be playing for Team Full Ring, and this time MrSmith will be playing as well!<br />
<br />
The challenge kicks off on Saturday and will run for a month. Everyone has to start at the 2NL level (0.01/0.02 cents) and you can't move up to the 5 cent level until you have made 20 bucks profit. All the players need to play at least 10 000 hands during the challenge. The team with the most profit is the winner.<br />
<br />
There are some added prizes such as tourney tickets, but the main goal is to improve our cash game and have some fun along the way. For me this means working on my post flop play. The best part is that PSO runs live training sessions for each team based on the actual hands that we played (we have to send in our hand histories). So, we get pretty spesific advice on our own play. Here is the <a href="http://www.pokerschoolonline.com/articles/Live-Training-Video-TheLangolier-Team-FR-vs-6M-Challenge-Team-Full-Ring-Meeting-5th-April-2012" target="_blank">Team Full Ring Video</a> from the previous challenge.<br />
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I intend on playing Zoom simply because of the volume. If I 4 table 2NL Zoom, I'll play about 1200 hands an hour. I would need to play 16 regular tables to amass the same volume. You don't get many reads playing Zoom, but at the microstakes, playing ABC poker usually is more than enough. I hope to move up to the 5NL tables as soon as possible since you earn VPPs considerably faster there...<br />
<br />
I'm not sure what MrSmith's strategy is yet, but I'm sure he will let us know.<br />
<br />
Be sure to say hi if you are railbirding one of our tables! I'll let you know how things progress:)<br />
<br />
Roland GTXRoland GTXhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11386867212701170662noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4319954730443773786.post-24934430607966798782012-08-17T08:01:00.001+02:002012-08-17T08:06:51.301+02:00First FT, First Win and Biggest Cash!Welcome back everyone. We ended a nice long summer with a live game at my place. MrSmith was on a heater knocking me out early in both tourneys. He won one and took second in the other - GG :)<br />
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<br /></div>
<div>
Thankfully, my luck has been better online. The title pretty much says it all for this post. Tuesday evening, I regged about 30 minutes late for a scheduled $5.40 Turbo Knockout with 3 000 players. The cards fell my way when it really mattered.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div>
We are down to the final two tables at hand nr 168. There were big confrontations on both tables with 10 remaining and several players got knocked out simultaneously. So the final table started with only 7 players. The action starts at hand nr 196. If you click on the "show history button" under the replayer you can jump to any hand you would like.</div>
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Enjoy! I know I sure did:)</div>
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<br /></div>
<div>
Roland GTX</div>
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<object height="267" width="400"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param>
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Roland GTXhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11386867212701170662noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4319954730443773786.post-21417643495472231762012-06-18T09:14:00.002+02:002012-06-18T09:14:09.861+02:00Sunday Million AttemptSince I probably won't be playing all July, I treated myself to some higher stakes mtts last night. Pokerstars was running a "half price" special, but note that the payouts were cut in half too. Not that the payouts ended up mattering to me. It wasn't my night!<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I regged for the Sunday Million and was seated to the right of a Norwegian Platinum star. The very first orbit I was dealt AKs and it folded around to me in the sb. I made a standard raise and the platinum star reraised. I felt he was testing the waters to see how I would react. I bricked the flop but cbet since I had two overs and a straight draw. He called. I shot another barrel on the turn and again got called. I was confident that I was ahead, but the river gave a flush possibility. I checked and the platinum star bet so little that I had to call it. Yeah, he had QJs and rivered a flush. That hand cost me 20% of my stack, but I was glad to see that my read was good. Unfortunately, I was card dead for the next hundred hands and didn't get much post flop action on the few situations I did play.</div>
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<br /></div>
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On my final hand, I shoved A7 from the sb into the platinum star (same table all game). He called with AK. Lucky for me I caught a 7 on the turn putting me ahead. Lucky, that is, until a K came on the river LOL! I busted out around nr 10 000 of about 20 000 entries. A long way from the money. Next time perhaps...</div>
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<br /></div>
<div>
The $2.50 180 man turbos have been my regular game all year. I wouldn't say I'm crushing them, but I have been consistantly making money on them with about a 30% ROI after about 600 games this year. I've been dabbling in the 8/180s as well. My itm is high in those, but I haven't gotten deep on a final table yet.</div>
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Have a great sommer!</div>
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<br /></div>
<div>
Roland GTX</div>Roland GTXhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11386867212701170662noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4319954730443773786.post-40230350561747479952012-03-22T17:31:00.002+01:002012-03-22T17:46:34.979+01:00Zoom session 700 hands 0.02/0,05Here's a few hands that Rolands excellent post addresses. I played approx. 700 hands on two tables(buy-in 5,- each). 1st table was approx +/- even until this happened;<br /><br /> <object width="400" height="267"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="movie" value="http://www.pokerhandreplays.com/flash/replayer.swf?pokerhandid=4167209"></param><param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF"/></param><param name="quality" value="high"/></param><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"/></param><param name="scale" value="Exactfit"></param><embed src="http://www.pokerhandreplays.com/flash/replayer.swf?pokerhandid=4167209" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" allowScriptAccess="always" scale="Exactfit" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="400" allowFullScreen="true" height="267"></embed></object><br /><br />Bummer! I lost 4,10 on that table<br /><br />Anyway, the upper comes on table 2 with this hand among several;<br /><br /> <object width="400" height="267"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="movie" value="http://www.pokerhandreplays.com/flash/replayer.swf?pokerhandid=4167211"></param><param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF"/></param><param name="quality" value="high"/></param><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"/></param><param name="scale" value="Exactfit"></param><embed src="http://www.pokerhandreplays.com/flash/replayer.swf?pokerhandid=4167211" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" allowScriptAccess="always" scale="Exactfit" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="400" allowFullScreen="true" height="267"></embed></object><br /><br />And this one eases the pain at table 1 too;<br /><br /> <object width="400" height="267"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="movie" value="http://www.pokerhandreplays.com/flash/replayer.swf?pokerhandid=4167213"></param><param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF"/></param><param name="quality" value="high"/></param><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"/></param><param name="scale" value="Exactfit"></param><embed src="http://www.pokerhandreplays.com/flash/replayer.swf?pokerhandid=4167213" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" allowScriptAccess="always" scale="Exactfit" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="400" allowFullScreen="true" height="267"></embed></object><br /><br />All in all 8,- profit for a pretty short session (forgot to check time).MrSmith999http://www.blogger.com/profile/04838134176861506120noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4319954730443773786.post-29367049202029780052012-03-21T10:39:00.001+01:002012-03-22T08:21:36.882+01:00ZOOM Poker<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiO1tFRbP7_7vGIeK94gEAVhrvfCvDM-YKXsMoe71CQYIAU9HnIA_H4JsvCiowaC3Mr-BnNVeieWjuWUr-WeqHUw23vx9JQKq-P88uyNCYwdt8KZxw4HUQtKkokJHBCmpQfTfzGJhCj_F_o/s1600/zoom.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiO1tFRbP7_7vGIeK94gEAVhrvfCvDM-YKXsMoe71CQYIAU9HnIA_H4JsvCiowaC3Mr-BnNVeieWjuWUr-WeqHUw23vx9JQKq-P88uyNCYwdt8KZxw4HUQtKkokJHBCmpQfTfzGJhCj_F_o/s200/zoom.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
Pokerstars has finally introduced <i>ZOOM</i> poker (aka Rush poker at FT). Zoom is still in beta. They started with the micro stakes ring games and keep rolling out new buyin levels and formats. I've only played the full ring NLHE.<br />
<br />
If you are not familiar with Zoom/Rush format, here is the concept. You are not seated at one particular table like a normal cash game. Rather you are put in a player pool with a maximum of 2000 other players. Every time you fold, you automatically, and instantly, get seated at a new table with two new cards and 8 other random players from the pool. You can quickfold out of turn which means no waiting what so ever. You can also play up to four tables within each Zoom game.<br />
<b>PROs:</b><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLu_ZE_zPWXzoWiHOrXY9I6NOWAt1W2ZNSINOHszV2DaY13QIi0vZ6iQjueuv7_rEDxelYd_7iGNQaxV-H6P8VJL-zfAh5jlf3TAhI6PjDPV46gQDRBJjyTRSlmJ2gLXunHGhB-CVvT4uB/s1600/Fast-Poker-031612L.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLu_ZE_zPWXzoWiHOrXY9I6NOWAt1W2ZNSINOHszV2DaY13QIi0vZ6iQjueuv7_rEDxelYd_7iGNQaxV-H6P8VJL-zfAh5jlf3TAhI6PjDPV46gQDRBJjyTRSlmJ2gLXunHGhB-CVvT4uB/s320/Fast-Poker-031612L.jpg" width="320" /></a><br />
<ul>
<li>More hands per hour. A normal "Fast" full ring game plays 80-100 hands per hour. Zoom is averaging 300 hands per hour. Playing 3 times as many hands per hour means 3 times as many fpps.</li>
<li>Your style is less exploitable. Since you keep changing tables, no one will know if you are super tight or an agro maniac. Note that both HEM and PT are updating their tracking software. In a few weeks our HUDs will be functional for Zoom.</li>
<li>No waiting. This is a pure clickfest! It is great for those times when you don't have enough time for a tourney. </li>
</ul>
<br />
<b>CONs:</b><br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>You don't have any reads on the other players either.</li>
</ul>
<br />
<b>Strategy: "Small losses, but Big wins"</b><br />
I've played about 5K hands of .02/.05NL this week. I've won a ton of big pots, but I also lost several HUGE pots too. All of my losses were situations where I overplayed AA or KK post flop! Remember: "It is just a pair." Well, I made some adjustments to my game. Here is how I've been playing the past few days. It has been consistently profitable.<br />
<br />
<b>Preflop (set mining)</b><br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Unopened pot any position: I raise 2.5x with any pocket pair. I raise 3x from any position with QQ, KK, AA. You win quite a few of these due to the quickfold in Zoom. Furthermore, you build the pot for the times when you flop your set. In other words, I've learned from all the AA, KK stacks I've lost post flop and am trying to to the same to other people now.</li>
<li>Facing a raise any position: I call a 3x raise or less with any pocket pair. I reraise 3x the original raise size with QQ, KK, AA and AK. If i get 4-bet, I move all in with KK and AA, but may fold or call with QQ and AK depending on the situation. I don't risk a big stack by going all in preflop with QQ and AK. I can also call a raise in a multiway pot if I have Axs type hands. However, I am folding AQo every time in this spot.</li>
<li>Facing limpers: I limp from any position with non-premium pocket pairs. Limp from late postion with Axs and suited connectors IF at least two limpers are already in the pot.</li>
<li>Unopened pot from btn: Raising 2.5x with standard steal range.</li>
<li>Unopened from sb: raising 2.5x any above average hand (Q7o+)</li>
</ul>
<br />
<b>Postflop</b><br />
Vs one opponent: I c-bet 100% of the time if I raised preflop. My standard c-bet is 75% of the pot. If they play back, then I only continue if I have pot odds. If I have an overpair I slow down considerably after my c-bet.<br />
<br />
My golden rule is just like early stages of sngs: <b><span style="color: cyan;">Post flop I will NEVER get all in with "just a pair"!</span></b> This has meant folding AA already. I try to keep the pot small post flop so that I can go to the showdown with an overpair, but I won't call off my stack to a river shove.<br />
<br />
If I flop a set or heavy draw hand, I make a pot sized raise. NEVER SLOWPLAY! Note: sometimes you flop a set on a drawing board. If the straight or flush gets filled and they make a big river bet, I fold. I've made enough hero calls the last few days to see that that they usually have the better hand.<br />
<br />
If my hand misses the flop, I just fold.<br />
<br />
This approach seems looser than my normal game. I play more hands than normal, regardless of postion in hopes of flopping a set. This means I lose a lot of small pots, but I win a stack when I go to the river. However, I'm still only seeing about 10% of the flops. I am winning quite a few steals preflop too.<br />
<br />
I'm having fun with Zoom right now. I hate the name, but I love the game! The turbo MTTs are all about preflop shoving/folding ranges. Zoom is all about post flop play with deep stacks.<br />
<br />
GL!<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #660000;">Roland GTX</span><br />
<br />
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<br /></div>Roland GTXhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11386867212701170662noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4319954730443773786.post-76659950599025619512012-03-09T06:05:00.002+01:002012-03-09T06:08:51.538+01:00Well, what can u sayHi friends,<br /><br />thanks a ton for a great live game yesterday. I haven't been playing much during the last months, and probably I'm getting a bit too rusty for this.<br />Kind of tired of all those bad beats, and heading to play away the rest of the stack that I've been playing with for the last 3 years.<br /><br />PS is doing a great job these days, and I got a nasty Déjà vu.<br /><br /><br /><object width="400" height="267"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="movie" value="http://www.pokerhandreplays.com/flash/replayer.swf?pokerhandid=4135407"><param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF"><param name="quality" value="high"><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"><param name="scale" value="Exactfit"><br /><embed src="http://www.pokerhandreplays.com/flash/replayer.swf?pokerhandid=4135407" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" allowscriptaccess="always" scale="Exactfit" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="400" allowfullscreen="true" height="267"></embed></object><br /><br />Not much you can do about something like that, lol.MrEMC2http://www.blogger.com/profile/14286306722698462617noreply@blogger.com5