New HOTW-Turning a Made Hand Into a Bluff

Just wanted to do another quick post to upload my latest Hand of the Week to the blog if you missed it on my other social media outlets. As I mentioned in my brief intro in the video, the plan going forward for 2014 will be to release 2 HOTW vids and one special "Team Online Strategy Video," featuring a guest each month! I'll aim the get the TOSV posted around mid-month and flank those with the two HOTW videos on either side :)

Monthly review, including results will be coming up shortly at the end of September. Till then,

gl at the tables!

Team Online Strategy ft. DaWarsaw

Hey everyone, I just wanted to do a really quick post to share a recording that I made with DaWarsaw yesterday, in case you missed it on my other social media outlets. I want to keep these Team Online videos as a separate series from my "Hand of the Week" videos and plan on doing more of them over the rest of the year if you like them, so please let me know (all feedback appreciated).

In this particular strategy clip, Greg and I talk in great detail about 2 recent 100nl 6-max hands that I played recently. As per the description:

"Frosty and fellow PokerStars Team Online member Grzegorz "DaWarsaw" Mikielewicz engage in a lenghty discussion about 2 100nl 6-max cash game hands that were played by frosty earlier in the month.

Hand 1: Topics include how to play against aggressive opponents 3-betting from the BTN vs. the CO, what hands to 4-bet and call with, the merits of fast-playing vs. bluff-catching, what HUD stats should be considered when making our decisions...among others.

Hand 2 (34:48): Topics include the merits of 4-betting QQ from MP vs a specific villain on the BTN, flop/turn/river play OOP on the given run-out and also include relevant HUD stats to keep in mind."



Let me know how you feel about the duration and speed of everything, as I can shorten the videos in the future if people are losing focus, add more hands in the same length or even talk longer if that's what you'd all like to see. Here's a link to the first T.O. strat video ft. xflixx:


Cheers,

gl at the tables!

WCOOP 2014+A Coulpe of Hand Histories

So September's well underway and things have been a little frustrating at the tables so far. As per usual, I could always benefit from a bit more volume but aside from that I've been running pretty cold across the board. I'm out almost 7 buy-ins in EV but the coolers have been more of an annoyance...when it's all said and done though, I'm still up a few buy-ins, feel like I'm playing pretty well and a heater could be right around the corner because the games have been good!

I won't bore y'all with the bad beats or paste out all of what I consider to be "coolers" but here are a couple examples of what I'm talkin' about for the sake of showing some hands:

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $1.00 BB (6 handed)

MP ($122.24)
CO ($38.84)
Hero (Button) ($118.94)
SB ($105.62)
BB ($100)
UTG ($184.28)

Preflop: Hero is Button with K, K
3 folds, Hero raises to $2.50, SB raises to $8.50, 1 fold, Hero raises to $19, SB calls $10.50

Flop: ($39) 7, 6, 8 (2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $21, SB raises to $86.62 (All-In), Hero calls $65.62

Turn: ($212.24) 7 (2 players, 1 all-in)

River: ($212.24) 9 (2 players, 1 all-in)

Total pot: $212.24 | Rake: $2.80

Results below:
Hero had K, K (two pair, Kings and sevens).
SB had A, A (two pair, Aces and sevens).
Outcome: SB won $209.44

This flop spot is kinda weird/annoying because without specific reads or history involving this exact pre-flop action it's very tough to know what kind of 4bet/calling range we're up against. I think as a general population read though, we're looking at something like AJ+/KQ+/JT+/99+/67s+...you know, stuff that doesn't want to shove and get called but has enough playability and strength to not fold. I'm not confident in that range being an accurate representation of the average 4bet/call range because I think it varies a ton from player to player...some might call all pocket pairs for example, while others will be super tight and even mix in some slow played KK/AA, as we see here. I do assume that most players are probably tighter rather than looser and the 4b/c range is going to be heavily weighted towards hands that do well against the button's 4bet bluffing range and will be less likely to include super value (so hands like AQ, or hands that have decent playability against Axs bluffs like KQs or JTs). With that in mind, I still think we can be pretty happy about bet-calling this flop since most opponents can probably show up with 99-QQ, pair + draw type hands or quite possibly be even weaker. Even now that I've seen this villain show up with slowplayed aces, it's hard to know if I'm always just beat by this flop c/r or if villain would play 99-QQ the same way...sample size seems to be too small to know.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $1.00 BB (8 handed)

Hero (UTG) ($100)
UTG+1 ($110.98)
MP1 ($80.04)
MP2 ($100)
CO ($96.34)
Button ($106.17)
SB ($132.58)
BB ($101.50)

Preflop: Hero is UTG with 5, 5
Hero raises to $3, 2 folds, MP2 calls $3, CO calls $3, Button calls $3, 1 fold, BB calls $2

Flop: ($15.50) 6, 5, 10 (5 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $10, 2 folds, Button calls $10, 1 fold

Turn: ($35.50) J (2 players)
Hero bets $25, Button calls $25

River: ($85.50) 3 (2 players)
Hero bets $62 (All-In), Button calls $62

Total pot: $209.50 | Rake: $2.80

Results below:
Button had 10, 10 (three of a kind, tens).
Hero had 5, 5 (three of a kind, fives).
Outcome: Button won $206.70

Here we have a bit of a loose open from EP but the BTN was a 51/33 weaker player so I wanted to get involved in some pots with them. I get an absolute dream run-out and I strongly consider going for a check-call on the river since our villain looks so draw-heavy but ultimatelyy decide against it for 2 reasons. Basically, I given that all draws missed I think that villain is almost always calling with Tx or wider...also, I have no idea what kind of bluffing frequency this player has. I wanted to go ahead and target the villain's calling range rather than risk a check-back from a weaker made hand, which would obviously be a disaster. I think our hand is a decent one to shove too since we don't block any potential pairs that our villain could have...if we had a hand like JT, I might be more interested in bluff-catching since now the villains range would probably be more draw-heavy. Anyways, I decided to shove and to start planning what to do with my new found $100. Bad idea.

Month so far:

I've been eyeing some WCOOP events to play and am tentatively planning on playing the following events:

19- $109 NLHE
20- $320 NLHE
43- $215 NLHE
47- $320 NLHE
48- $215 TKO
64- $215 8Max

Hopefully I can make a decent run in something :)

Other than poker, my days have consisted of family birthdays, ice hockey, crossfit, house renos and football! I won my first week fantasy matches in both of my leagues so that's off to a good start. I'm in some trouble in one of the league's though since I'm short on running backs to begin with and Tate went down with an injury on Sunday. In my other league my team is pretty ridiculous though...I have Moreno and Benjamin just sitting on my bench as well as having Josh Gordon stashed (looks like he's likely to play again this season based on recent reports).

My ice hockey season is off to a good start as well...we won our first game 6-1 and although I felt pretty rusty I think that I played pretty well. Things definitely seemed to start coming together more as the game went on and our line was pretty dominant throughout the entire game, although our team was just stronger overall. We won our second default by forfeit...super lame but after last season, we'll take all the wins we can get! I've got another game tomorrow so hopefully the other team shows up...I'm not sure how some of the other teams are in this division but my guess is that we'll likely get moved up at some point.

Alright, that's all for now...

gl at the tables!  

Bouncin' Back-August Review

August turned out to be a nice bounce back month from July. Since my last update, I managed to catch a heater that ended up lasting for only a single day but it was indeed a great day. The heat came on this past Saturday to the tune of 14 buy-ins at 100nl over almost 8,000 hands that I played straight without stoppage.

Unfortunately, those positive variance days were almost non-existent throughout August and I was battling through some runbad for most of the month. Nevertheless, all things considered I'm happy with my play, effort and overall bottom line when it's all said and done. The numbers keep me behind pace for my $100k goal by the end of the year but with increased volume and milestone bonuses on the horizon, I don't need to be earning equal amounts every month to ultimately make it.

Unintentionally, I ended up playing 100% of my volume at 100nl in August. I wasn't trying to be a 100nl hero but it just sort of worked out that way due to a combination of me wanting to hammer out some consistent winnings and not sit around waiting to get enough mid-stakes tables up and running. Through a mixture of full-ring and 6-max I was able to get 20+ tables up in a hurry and grind with relative confidence.

August

$1,139.15 FPP Value
$250         MTT cash (Quarterly FR) 
$2,648.16 Table Winnings
--------------------------------------------
$4,037.31 USD

After adding in a bit of salary and coaching and a favourable exchange rate, I ended up clearing close to $6.2K CAD in August to add to my annual total...bringing that up to just over $46K.

Biggest pot won: Not much to say, I decided to just shove rather than 4bet small since I thought that at least 1 villain would probably call (both fishy IIRC).

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $1.00 BB (9 handed)

BB ($130.69)
UTG ($143.06)
UTG+1 ($151.10)
MP1 ($43.28)
Hero (MP2) ($135.21)
MP3 ($101)
CO ($108)
Button ($98.50)
SB ($100.50)

Preflop: Hero is MP2 with A, A
3 folds, Hero raises to $3, 2 folds, Button raises to $9, 1 fold, BB raises to $15, Hero raises to $135.21 (All-In), Button calls $89.50 (All-In), BB calls $115.69 (All-In)

Flop: ($360.38) 7, 6, J (3 players, 3 all-in)

Turn: ($360.38) 9 (3 players, 3 all-in)

River: ($360.38) 2 (3 players, 3 all-in)

Total pot: $360.38 | Rake: $2.80

Results below:
Button had Q, Q (one pair, Queens).
BB had 8, K (high card, King).
Hero had A, A (one pair, Aces).
Outcome: Hero won $357.58

Biggest pot lost: This just happens to be a gross bad beat too but meh, it was the biggest pot lost so what can I do? ;) I overshove turn b/c I think that I had a read that the villain was strong and didn't think they'd fold exactly what they had.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $1.00 BB (8 handed)

SB ($145.65)
Hero (BB) ($121.76)
UTG ($83.84)
UTG+1 ($103.21)
MP1 ($100.80)
MP2 ($100)
CO ($100)
Button ($183.66)

Preflop: Hero is BB with 8, 8
4 folds, CO raises to $3, Button calls $3, 1 fold, Hero calls $2

Flop: ($9.50) 8, A, Q (3 players)
Hero checks, CO checks, Button bets $7, Hero raises to $27, 1 fold, Button calls $20

Turn: ($63.50) 3 (2 players)
Hero bets $91.76 (All-In), Button calls $91.76

River: ($247.02) Q (2 players, 1 all-in)

Total pot: $247.02 | Rake: $2.80

Results below:
Button had Q, A (full house, Queens over Aces).
Hero had 8, 8 (full house, eights over Queens).
Outcome: Button won $244.22

Away from the tables, it's been handyman frosty around the apartment all month. The first order of business was installing blinds for all of my windows...I've lived here for over a year now and aside from the bedrooms, there have been no blinds anywhere. I have 11 windows and am surrounded by neighbouring apartment buildings-I can only image the things that they have seen over the past year :o. I originally took down the blinds that came with the place because they were dirty and ugly and I intended on replacing them soon. However, you know how it is, more "important" stuff kept coming up/I got lazy and kinda used to it and the next thing you know you're known as the guy without blinds at the building's summer BBQ. That all changed this month though because my girlfriend could get us a sweet deal from her work on some high quality blinds and in frosty fashion we managed to save a few coin by installing them ourselves. It was a pretty brutal 4-5 hour process of manually screwing in a lot of brackets but in the end it was mission accomplished. Here's the before and after pics:

Not bad eh? You can see we did a bit of painting too. Other than the blinds, the most recent project was replacing my bedroom closet with a brand new one. That turned out to be a slightly smaller cause of frustration and the biggest challenge was sawing the ends off of 2 metal bars to make them fit in the closet space...not a fun activity when you only have a small hack saw lying around and I wouldn't recommend it :/. Here's how the closet looks before and after though!

There was basically not much on the left side (my side) before, just a coat rack and some cramped shelf space above it. On the right side (her side), the space was all organized in a messy and frustrating way. Afterwards, we now have some shelves for towels/hats/belts/shoes/etc. and plenty of room to and all of our shirts/pants in an organized fashion. Yes, this is exciting...

I expect September to be a very busy month for me both on and off the tables. Aside from the continuous apartment renos, I'm also starting up my ice hockey league again this week and my fantasy football season. Combined with the usual crossfit training and weekend commitments, there will be little time to waste if I want to be as productive as I'd like to be at the tables this month. I'll be aiming for 50k-60k VPPs, so we'll see what's in store for me in September! Stay tuned for updates,

gl at the tables!