The Best In The Business

[pleno1]

Nah, I never remember the hands I win unfortunately. They always come back to me days later, hands like this agonise me. He has KK and made a bad jam imo

[pleno1]

Sunday, bloody Sunday

I was pumped for Sunday, its been a long time since I haven't played for a week online. I feel like playing live helps online immensely. You just see things a little clearer. You have a lot of time for contemplation inbetween hands and can think a little deeper in some spots. I started at around 1pm and finished at 6am. Had the following runs

6th Bigger 44
20th Bigger 55
12th 109t reentry
15th .fr 6max

Deep runs in the million and warm up. Cashed b109 and a few others.

Lots of super close runs, but thats fine. 5 deep runs is probably as satisfying as 1 very deep run, not financially of course because thats what tournaments are about, but at least mentally it felt great to keep building stacks on stacks.

I saved a lot of hands to BOOM, will post them here, hopefully its not too annoying for you to read.


Hand 1, let em hang themselves   http://www.boomplayer.com/poker-hands/Boom/13598841_95454072B1

This isn't a bad beat honestly! I feel like in these spots people are like, well lets just b/c the flop vs Tx/pairs. It just so unlikley he doesnt rip pairs and very likely he stabs often when checked to. Also if he checks flop thats a fine thing too, he is going to turn a draw on so many turns. I think our hand just super strong here, I'd 100% check AA here, but KK I guess is a tiny but closer, but still I think max ev line is to c/c down.

Hand 2, don't listen to the charts!   http://www.boomplayer.com/poker-hands/Boom/13589998_854BF126B1

Alot of people will see pre flop and be like wow thats such a bad peel. Look at some of the big winners like Gosuposum, rounder etc, they play so wild pre flop because their edge is so big post flop. Don't think about the odds of just flopping your set, of course I'd prefer to call T9s pre flop, but beggars can't always be choosers.

On flop/turn I'm gg with the hand. When we get to the river lets think about his range looks like? AQ/QQ/TT occcccasional set? I very much doubt he double checks a set, I think he often has a weak one pair hand or perhaps a rivered ace. He's in the money, he's got one pair, a guy who called from the bb just jammed 3x pot on a card that seems like it hits the UTG players perceived range. He just calls so infrequently imo. Maybe I could use a different sizing? IDK, I don't think so. What do you think?

Hand 3, oh you gonna cap that range sir?   http://www.boomplayer.com/poker-hands/Boom/13589959_9DC6659A49

Very similar to hand 1. I basically have so few hands that get to the river as a bluff, like QJ? I think nobody expects you to turn t9 kind of hands into a bluff here, but I think its actually super profitable. He just isn't calling this size on the last 2 table of a major RED tournament on a Sunday.

Hand 4, interesting river bluff from opponent, this one is pretty interesting. Maybe it's really good? Thoughts? http://www.boomplayer.com/poker-hands/Boom/13587889_153F8BA805

Hand 5, don't settle for showdown!!!  http://www.boomplayer.com/poker-hands/Boom/13587064_E02439D35C

Right, I promise I'm not fliting with Vanessa here with all of these hands But seriously, OTR, when are they checking aq+, pre when do they ever play AK like this? Basically never, on the river, its just such a tough spot for them with any Ax hand that they may have peeled and obviously Qx. The first guy is the most likely to have A/Q, the second guy usually has a pocket pair. It means the first guy even has to be more tighter.

Hand 6, dont just jam becuase its +ev, think of max ev http://www.boomplayer.com/poker-hands/Boom/13585123_DCD25188A8

I think this is one big mistake people make. They just jam hands like QJs which has such amazing playability and domination. position + qjs + edge = <333

Hand 7, this is not showdown value!  http://www.boomplayer.com/poker-hands/Boom/13584984_41DEF0D994

I think this hand is pretty wp. I actually am at the bottom of my range on the river. I think he has so many hands like j8,, q8, k8, a9, this ten looks like it smashes him, but I think that actually gives me fold equity vs the majority of his range. I also see people raising flops bob way too often and not protecting their future street range. So we gotta punish em

Hand 8, they can only be stubborn for so long  http://www.boomplayer.com/poker-hands/Boom/13583291_0193EF5E61

This one again is pretty crazy but maybe good? I felt like I couldn't c/c so just added it to my imaginary donking range People are pretty stubborn vs donks though, they will fold a lot on the flop, but on the turn they like ima call you again. On the river I think he will have calling hands for sure, but will also have a lot of vunerable hands (I imagine he raises sets/2 pairs on the flop) and a lot of draws completed, I doubt he expects me to bluff kj for example!


Anyway some pretty fun hands there. I really did miss playing online so perhaps I went abit batshit crazy this week, but hopefully you enjoy the hands.

Going to go reg EPT now and play like a nit.

Hopefully..

[George2Loose]

Hand 1 where U 3bkngs of 23 bigs. I always think this looks super strong. Do u balance this by 3bf sometimes (obv probably doesn't matter in million) just talking in general

[mulhuzz]

Hand 4 if they bet this hand three times, surely they also bet all the pairs which beat you, too? Seems pretty thin to c/c river, seems like were just guessing? I mean, you're prolly not, but I was

[RED-DOG]

Fascinating reading.

Super use of the word super is agonising though! Please stop!

FYP

[Pinchop73]

I am disappoint that the epic AA>KK sub 15bb buttonVbb battle didn't make the cut :p

[pleno1]

Finished day 1b of the main event with 102k coming back to 400/800
Tomorrow.

Really too tired to write enthusiastically so will save the report for snorter time soon.

[tikay]

Finished day 1b of the main event with 102k coming back to 400/800
Tomorrow.

Really too tired to write enthusiastically so will save the report for snorter time soon.

Is that really wise, Patrick?

[FUN4FRASER]

Finished day 1b of the main event with 102k coming back to 400/800
Tomorrow.

Really too tired to write enthusiastically so will save the report for snorter time soon.

Good Luck Day 2 mate

[tikay]

Ooh yes, forgot that - good luck today. I'd give the snorting a miss though.

[pleno1]

Day 1, EPT Main

Went to bed at around 7 because of the late Sunday grind. I woke up at 11.45 and hadn't ate, I went to get there at 12.30. I got there, like literally in the casino, picking my ticket up but then told myself this wasn't how a champion athlete would relatively prepare. I thought about this a lot recently, I played with so many footballers growing up. One of them was Jordan Henderson who's now going to be captain at Liverpool when Gerrard retires. In the North East he was always at Sunderland but he was by no means the best player in the region, there were so many more with way more talent. He was just always professional in what he did and this carries true today too.

The hypnotherapy I've been doing is basically guided meditation that helps you see back to somewhere in your life that you struggled with and then you relate it to poker, or you just simply view weak parts of your poker career and try never to repeat them. I remember in previous EPT's getting there for the first card dealt and being super hungry later and not being able to last mentally for the whole day. I went to lie in the sun on my balcony and had a big lunch and went back at around 2.

The table was pretty good, had only one good reg on the table who was Firaldo. I think he's probably underrated in poker, he plays really well, thinks really good about the game and can change gears very well. Maybe I'm wrong and everybody thinks this already though, but yeah he's definitely somebody you want on your table for all the right reasons (he is a super nice guy) but want him to be elsewhere for all the wrong reasons (plays great)

Ludovic joined the table later, he is obviously hyper aggressive and puts people in very tough spots.

Hand 1

Since Ludo moved to the table I've been super tight. He's 4bet 3 times pre flop, 3bet 2 flops, lead some stuff, triple barrelled T2 on j84a9 and just been super aggressive.

I open UTG at 100/200/25 to 600. He makes it 1500 from MP and it folds back to me. I have btw.

Pretty interesting spot. He has around 20k. I think this should probably be one of my 4bet bluffs. I don't think he's necessarily coming after me, but possibly. If it was say hijac vs button I think this would be a pretty easy call as he's way more likely to just be 3betting k2dd, but in these exact positions I don't think he's going to be super light to warrant me flatting such a RELATIVELY weak hands out of position.

I tank and make it 4700. I makes it a larger sizing where I'm hoping not to get peeled, he calls relatively quickly.

Things to note here are that he had lost KK v AK and had KK v AQ xxxxa and a couple of spots where he had ran into very cold decks. It seemed at the time to me like he was thinking "wow is this another set up" kind of thing. Obviously I can't say this for certainty, but it felt like it at least.

The flop was a27r. Pretty good flop for me if he has any kind of ambitious peels like suited broadways. If he has 99-KK I don't think he will fold flop, if he has Ax he definitely won't fold flop. It's pretty interesting my sizing here, I can choose to bet flop, jam turn. Or bet smaller on the flop and then barrel turn to leave a river shove. Because of my sizing pre flop things are a little awkward. I decided to go for the tiny flop size, barrel turn. But lets say the flop was j45ddx then I'd bet enough so I could jam the turn as will have more fold equity and will turn more equity, with KQo on A52r early in an EPT, I don't really want my 2 options on the turn to be jam/c.f so think smaller gives me way more maneuverability.  So I bet 2.5k into around 10k. He calls.

The turn is A72J, I decide to barrel 4.8k. I think my line looks super strong, when I spoke previously about jamming the turn, this is essentially the same thing but just cheaper. I'm risking 4.8k instead of 13k like he has. But for him to continue now he has to risk 13k. He isn't going to call and then fold, this is the time he makes his decision. Thats a pretty sweet thing, I can put him under immense pressure betting 5k into 15k and he has to make a huge decision whilst I get a super great price on my bluff. I block AQ/AK and I think that he will only really be continuing here with AK, its the first hand I've played, I've raised 3x UTG, 4bet an MP open and double barreled a sizing that looks like my opponent would fold. He takes a long time and folds AQ, which is pretty interesting spot for him, fold seems probably right though imo.


I play pretty tight, I'm just folding and don't want to battle with Firaldo or Ludo. I find some good spots pre flop for squeezes to just quickly add to my stack. I know I've said it previously, but on tough 9 handed tables, spot-picking is really important. Like raises just don't get through and people don't fold post flop and its really, really fucking hard to make a hand sometimes. So again, open tight 3 bet light!  

Next hand that was noteworthy..

Hand 2

I raise the button to Estonian tight reg SB and fish Italian BB.  to 800 at 150/300/25, bb calls. I have Js7s

Flop T86fd, check, I bet 1025, he calls.

Turn T869, check, I bet 2050, he makes it 5k with 12k behind. Prettttttty interesting spot. I thought about jamming just assuming he won't fold a 7. But thought maybe he's bluffing with something and want to let him put chips in the pot if he is bluffing and if he has a 7, I don't lose too much value, so I called pretty quick.

The river was T8696 and he INSTANTLY went all in for 12.5k into 12k. I think I may have slowrolled him here, I took around 2 minutes to call. I just didn't think he would snap jam 7x here as wtf if he going to get called about. I called eventually and I think he seemed surprised that he didn't get any chips passed back to him, this put me on around 50-60k.

I continues playing pretty tight aggro, finding some decent spots to barrel pre and post flop, I could post 5/6 hands but they wouldn't be super interesting. I get to 100k with 5 hands left before the break.

Hand 3

Unknown Italian moves to our table. I don't know him at all, he seems probably decent. I raise hijac to 1000 and he calls sb, bb calls. I have .

Flop J95hhc, checks to me and I check really quickly. I didn't really want to be c/r and there's not really any bad turn cards. I'd check this flop a lot with give ups/ax/pairs etc.

Turn is J959hhcc, checks to bet and I bet 1400 after tanking a little bit. Italian pretttty quickly makes it 5.1k. Very weird spot, I think my range looks really weak here, IDK, don't think I can fold ever, he could be like raising 44 here for protection or something, theres also a fuck tonne of draws.

River is J959hhcc2x. he bets 9100. I mean not too easy for him to have 9x, I assume a lot of his 9x folds pre, he'd been pretty tight pre flop. Could he be betting a worse jack for value? Betting tens for value? IDK, there's just so many draws there and I played the hand so passively, I don't think I should fold. He has a9, anybody find a fold? Feels like I'm top of my range, I would never use that as a sole excuse, but theres a lot of others things here too.

Anyway, went to the break with around 90k, so was feeling great.


Came back after the break and felt pretty good, I wanted to get through with around 100k, but was looking for a spot to play a big pot and chip up more too.

Hand 4

Brazilian guy who was actually pretty tight but wasn't very good. He was around 45, wearing Aria Las Vegas jumper. He was obviously a rec, but wasn't going to put chips in without a very good hand. He folded KQ when I 3bet him a few hours ago for example.

He opens to 1200 from MP1, I'm in the hijac and make it 3400 with . I wanted to isolate and play a pot with him vs a guy who would basically never ever 4bet bluff me here and would play weak vs me post flop.

Flop is A65hhx. He checks and I bet 4100. I usually would bet 3200 or something small here, but I felt he may hand on once with a hand like 88 here but would fold frequently to a larger sizing. IDK, maybe he does peels those once on the flop too, he calls.

Turn is A654. I pick up a gut shot. He checks and has 45k. I have around 70k. There is around 17k in the pot. I bet 10.5k which felt like a big bet at the time. He called.

The river was A6546. He checked and I put him all in for 37.5k. This may look a bit spewy, but I actually really like it. After the hand I know it was a bad bluff because of what he said, but because of what he said makes the idea good He called quickly with AK. He said he would have instantly folded AQ/AJ on the turn though. This is pretty interesting 1) it makes my turn bet unintentionally good but also it means he was really calling tight and folding those non AK ax hands somewhere. I play pretty tight and try and pick good spots, usually I would beat myself up and really be too self critical in a spot like this, but it felt totally fine and I was happy with my play completely, rather than the 44 from the 2k where I just had no idea if it was good or terrible.



So I'm down to 30k from 100k and this is the real test. Again, I was somewhat happy it happened, these stumbling blocks are good for my mental game. It's almost like homework you know? Stacks in poker go up and down every hand, the best players in the world are not the players who can play 100bb, or the players who can play 10bb or the players who can play 30bb, its the players who can play 100bb, 30bb and 10bb just as well. Not many people can and most have a huge leak somewhere, so the fact my stack goes up and down in a beautiful thing and something that is a huge advantage to me against weaker players.

For the last 90 minutes of the day I chip up quite a lot, I win with ATss on KQ97ssxs where my opponent made a pretty bad get in with KQ on the turn when I bet the flop 4 way and potted the turn (was the Italian with a9 previously on J959X GOTTTTTTTTTTTEM BACK)

I win some more from value betting and bluffing in spots I can't really remember and end the day with 102k. Pretty happy with that and really looking forward to today. I woke up early, going to get a breakfast now and then go to the spa again. I love this routine of being up early, having breakfast, being productive and then playing my A game from the start. At home I'm the opposite, I wake up at 4pm, I don't prepare and often I don't bring my A game. This week shows me that I definitely should be doing more of it.

Hopefully a long report tomorrow...

[redsimon]

Great write ups. VBOL for Day 2.

[booder]

Great write ups. VBOL for Day 2.

[Eso Kral]

Thanks for sharing Pads as have really enjoyed the write ups this week.

GL today

[Nakor]

Thanks for sharing Pads as have really enjoyed the write ups this week.

GL today