The Best In The Business

[Eso Kral]

I always watch every hand you post and read your analysis, really great feature. Not well placed to comment so I never do, I guess many others feel the same.

^ Absolutely this

[Marky147]

I always watch every hand you post and read your analysis, really great feature. Not well placed to comment so I never do, I guess many others feel the same.

^ Absolutely this

[mulhuzz]

I always watch every hand you post and read your analysis, really great feature. Not well placed to comment so I never do, I guess many others feel the same.

^ Absolutely this

Was talking to a mate today about how when we talk to people in Czech we often understand the words, but the connections are missing eg we understand 'he dog red ball give/gave red' but are never quite sure whether the dog or ball is red, and who gave who what.

I have similar feelings reading some of pads analysis. So far away from being able to comment that I don't, although I find it fascinating.

[SuuPRlim]

can you get red dogs?

[mulhuzz]

can you get red dogs?

Apparently they are a proper noun in Czech. I expected 'červený pes'...I got....

Click to see full-size image.

So yes, you can definitely have red dogs. Even poor Czech imitations.

[SuuPRlim]

Hand 1  http://www.boomplayer.com/poker-hands/Boom/15251085_890D81510D

Open pre I assumed was standard, but some good PLO players have questioned if its profitable with a good player with big stack on my left, I think its close, but probably fine, thoughts?

Flop I go for a c/c, because we're deeper he isn't going to just have high run downs/AAxx and even with T7 I think I should play my entire range as a c/c. I think I have too many weak hands on the turn to start developing a leading range here, but on the river I think I have quite a lot of bluffs that could bet and I think population tendency is to bet big when you want your opponent to fold in PLO (generally) so I went for a large sizing. He decided to jam and I called pretty quickly. I think his river jam is definitely -ev, I simply hand t8/87 too much imo and its ambitious to expect me to call with worse.

I'd say that if the guy behind is good/aggressive then this is almost certainly a -EV open, also, the BTN? Any good? If he's strong too then this has to hit the middle as pretty as it is. Playing this hand OOP with 180 BB in a 3bet pot is going to be a real headache, you're hand flops good but is real lacking in intensity, you're going to have BTM end of the 3 card wrap, iffy dbll gutters, P+6high FD etc and really struggle to put any aggressive chips into this pot.

Post-flop line seems fine/good/fairly faultless, I think you bet the river a little too big in all honesty but not by much. Alternative line would be to raise the flop, but the metagame between the two of you makes all the difference in analysing that so it's not really possible to discuss without you telling some details about your history with him.

Agree his river shove is not so great, you bet so big you are not repping a flush, you're repping a FH he has the worst FH, its a bluff catcher now. He will just do so much better with his hand at these stacks betting turn and bombing river, the chk back turn/call river line is (imo) bad enough, jamming just compounds the error hugely imo

Hand 2  http://www.boomplayer.com/poker-hands/Boom/15251334_940345928D

Pretty interesting hand. I open pre which I'm ok with. Flop I think is a cbet with my hand, vs the c/r after the cold call I think its a difficult spot. I'm obviously not folding, but is it better to 1) Raise and get button out or 2) Call and call turns

I think in this spot, I want to have some hands that call flop/decide turn. Like if I have some kind of wrap, I can potentially call flop/fold a board pairing turn. I think if i am going to play hands like that then calling/calling this exact hand will likely be best. Unsure though. Any thoughts?

Pre-flop, absolutely zero question this open doesn't make you money (I'll Xbook any hand you wanna kick off UTG with 200+BB covered IP with J978r) but actually this doesn't necessarily mean that it's a strategic mistake to open it. Big problem we have UTG in PLO is that unless you're on a very weak table playing any hands that aren't magnum you really really struggle not to lose money, you're at such a huge disadvantage vs even just decent players that really just having a sick hand is the only thing that can really save you.

Ideally we'd open 10-12% UTG and throw anything even slightly marginal in the bin and have a nice easy life, the biggest problem this causes us is board coverage, now anything dry and 9high or lower we just get murdered on by anyone semi-competent (and most likely by people who aren't too) we really wanna have to have something on 872r that isn't just AA88 or KK87 or maybe 9TJQds and as ropey as your hand looks actually I think it's a pretty reasonable one to throw in. Be careful not to go too far and start opening 20%+ UTG as you're going to get into trouble from the other side

I defo think this is more justifiable to open than the previous hand.

Post flop you played it spot on imo, no other way to play. Raising the flop is absolutely out of the question as if the button continues after you raise then you are now in absolute handcuffs for a lot of blinds with a hand you can't fold vs a range that has you in bits. Btn range is uncapped too, no reason at all he can't have 888. Obv most likely he just doesn't have much and is playing vs your UTG range on 872r but given how we sacrifice 0 FE vs the BB so have nothing to protect vs call/call just miles and above the best play. I can't see a single turn you can fold on though.

You're thinking that you need to balance the times you have some hands to call flop/fold turn is a bit unnecessary i think, as VS the BB he is going to jam the turn 100% and he doesn't care what you have now he;s already decided to go with it, obviously it's nice vs the BTN to have strong hands when you flat but considering the BB is going AI OTT 100% he has to have a hand that plays vs him to consider calling and therefore the construction/balance of your range OTF plays a way less important role in his decision.

Hand 3 http://www.boomplayer.com/poker-hands/Boom/15251743_8AF0810D21

I think this hand is played perfectly to the river and then its misplayed. I think vs this exact opponent (Max Greenwood) I should probably try to play as balanced as possible and I guess calling 25/qq/q2 on the river will probably be best, I have qq/q2 so infrequently when he's bluffing (he always has qx when he's bluffing) so 52 will be a relatively important bluff catcher. It just felt so much like QQ though

Perfect analysis imo. You should prolly call but I agree he likely just has QQ. He knows you have 2x minimum and has decided to take off and try make you fold it? Likely not, just QQ innit.

Hand 4  http://www.boomplayer.com/poker-hands/Boom/15229899_A54EB90F2E

Pretty interesting turn spot. I obviously have a tonne of showdown value here and better never folds, but I think its important with my range to bet this turn with a lot/most/all? of my range that gets here with this SPR. Especially with TT I'm almost always winning, but I can also get value from like AAss with some kind of equity or J897 or something like that. If he does call I can still potentially bluff on certain rivers too, although not too sure about that.

Betting defo best, value/protection you have  close to the perfect hand that isn't 9T and as for rivers yeah it's a real tough spot because not many blanks but the biggest worry would be checking a losing to QJ. Would be a fun hand to throw like 5 different rivers at and analyse properly...
offsuit 4
offsuit K
offsuit A
7 spades
9 diamonds
as a few examples...

TBH i'd just be fucking delighted when he folds the turn and its all over.

Fun hands.

Out of interest what is you raise first in stats like EP/MP/CO/BTN?

[pleno1]

3rd in the Thrill for 40k. Should be unhappy, was chip leader from basically level 2 all the way to 3 handed. Put on an absolute clinic and really happy with myself.

Earlier on in the day I let myself down, I lost a hand in the 109r for infinite chips, like 6x average, 3x chip lead or something and just left the rest of my stack and went and played fifa. Some German kids scored a Jewish goal against me (don't worry far from Anti Semitic, its just the phrase) in the last minute. Took a deep breath and loaded laptop up, came back and registered the Thrill and a few other tournaments.

I'm so so so proud of how I played in the Thrill, easily the best I've ever played but obviously so so unhappy at leaving my stack in the 109r.

Saved literally 30+ hands from the thrill, will post them sometime soon.

ggggggg

[GreekStein]

Why do you hate Jake Cody so much?

[neeko]

Are you off to see the F1 there this weekend?

Does he city change with the F1 circus being in town?

[pleno1]

Sent this to my stable the night before battle.

Hey guys, I have had to think a lot about what i really want out of this game this week. I wrote something tonight and thought i'd send it to you before I go to sleep, be warned its pretty long! So feel free to read it tomorrow or whenever..

 How bad do you want it? Anything you want in your life, anything you want... money, success, happiness, sex!, anything you want badly and is important to you in your life will be not an easy accomplishment, anything you want badly isn't easy to get, anything worth having doesn't happen overnight and isn't handed on a plate, anything you want badly is worth the fight and worth the struggle.

 I promise every player in this group is able to be in the top 10 players in the world in the next 12 months. You all have the potential. Theres a whole lotta grinders out there, theres a whole tonne of grinders waiting to be successful and want to be in the top 10 players in the world. I don't want you to join them and join the waiting list to success because thats just an endless wish list of people who say "I want it" Its no longer enough to simply say I want it. Previously it was easy to be a successful poker player and make $100k in a year but its no longer easy. Today you have to stand up and fight for it, today you have to stand up and go and get whats yours.
Whilst everybody else is waiting, whilst everybody else is relaxing, wishing for it, hoping for it whilst everybody else is saying "I want it" you have to be out there making it happen every single day. If you want to separate yourself from the rest of the lazy self entitled grinders, the rest of the mediocrity, the rest of the average non studying grinders, if you wanna get into success, doing great, winning tournaments, crushing on a regular basis you have to step up. Step away from average, step away from the 99.9% of grinders. You have to understand that to be successful you have to find success, be around success, spend as much time around success as possible, you have to learn from success, you have to be constantly learning from it and thats the only way you will get to the top.

The formula to success is really, really easy, however the journey, the studying, the learning, the sacrificing, the grinding, the reacting to variance is by no means easy. If you really do "want it" and you actually are going to make it happen we have to make sure we stop speaking and start doing. Not just for today, but for every day moving forward. You want something big to happen its going to take a while, you want something thats worth something to you thats going to take effort thats going to take hard work and thats going to take dedication. Stop looking for the overnight success, stop googling, stop skyping, stop facebooking, stop all of that shit that is meaningless when were at work. Focus on what is important in order for you to achieve your goal. The easiest thing in the world is to be distracted, there are so many distractions out there. Being successful is all about staying focused on your goal and keep going no matter how hard it gets and avoiding those distractions. You are the only one who is able to get yourself to the top of this game, I can help, Sam can help, Dimi can help, Tomi can help, but only you can decide that you're going to be one of the best players on the planet. Nobody else is responsible for your success and that puts the power firmly in your hands.

If you want to be successful in life then start taking some responsibility. The moment you make the conscious decision to take the responsibility is the moment that everything shifts. In order to succeed, we must first believe we can.

One year ago I was number one on pocket fives. I played every single day of the week, I studied before sessions, I studied after sessions, I was the epitome of success. I didn't go out and get drunk all the time, I didn't eat shitty, I treated the game as my main priority and nobody in the world was going to stop me from being the most successful online tournament player last year. Since Vegas this year I lose all of that, I lost the desire to be successful, I lost the desire to be the best player in the world, I lost the desire to grind on a Wednesday, I gave in to temptations, I gave in to distractions, I went on Facebook during sessions, I favourited every tweet calling Brian Hastings a ***** on Twitter whilst 15 tabling. I no longer had the drive to be successful. I let variance control my emotions and believed that I would just continue to run poorly, half way through my session this week I closed my laptop with my tables open, I just threw away hundreds of dollars, in a click of the button I had turned into the kind of poker player I despised. I took an hour to think about things and I had to be really honest with myself. I opened my laptop and pressed register to the Thursday Thrill and of course I ran well at times, but in that tournament nobody played better than me. After the tournament I didn't care that I came 3rd instead of 1st. I had found my inner drive again and I promise you I don't just say I want to be the most successful poker player in the world, but I'm going to make sure that I will be. 

If any of you guys had acted like I had last week then I would have instantly dropped any of you. I need to lead by example, I won't be on Facebook during sessions, I won't be on Skype during sessions. I'm going to do everything that I did one year ago and I'm going to make sure that I'll be the best player in the world. If you want to join me then I will do everything in my power to help you be the best possible player you can be, at the end of the day though its ultimately down to you. If you have no passion, no drive, no desire to fulfil your potential then send us a message tomorrow and we can finish our deals on very good terms. This team will be a team of successful poker players, we will do everything in our power to be better than anybody and everybody else. 

[pleno1]

Why do you hate Jake Cody so much?

where does this come from? i definitely don't at all!

Are you off to see the F1 there this weekend?

Does he city change with the F1 circus being in town?

hey, nah i didn't. Was a huge storm today, was crazy. The city doesn't change because every weekend its always full with people here for the weekend. Its the third most visited city in europe by tourists apparently!

[GreekStein]

Why do you hate Jake Cody so much?

where does this come from? i definitely don't at all!

He was reading the thread and I wanted to troll.

[SuuPRlim]

Jeez pads poor jake give him a break

[pleno1]

Why do you hate Jake Cody so much?

where does this come from? i definitely don't at all!

He was reading the thread and I wanted to troll.

actually have a funny story about jake.. will post after session

[celtic]

Why do you hate red dog?