I feel your pain when it comes to balancing university and poker. I'm in my second year and am currently employing the strategy of playing tons of poker before banging out a 3000 word essay the night before its due. (would not recommend this!) Sadly I have 2 huge essays coming up and 2 exams so am gonna be playing very little poker for the next 2 weeks. Not much of a hi-lo player myself but find the game intriguing and super fun. Enjoying the diary keep it up
Thanks for the kind words onejohnb & Stuarty, appreciated!
@FeelGroggy Thanks and yes it is a tough juggling act! I don't usually employ the strategy you mentioned but as I have been back playing poker for the last 6 weeks or so I have been gravitating towards that approach
I think I was on a table with you tonight? Might have been the £55 B/H I got a bit distracted during that one though and wasn't paying as much attention as I should have been.
Good luck to you with the exams over the next couple of weeks!
Well I got my last exam out of the way today and it seemed to go well so I am pretty happy to now be off uni for the summer.
Roll on the summer & Vegas etc!
It is a bit of a watershed day for me, I started playing regularly on Sky about 6 weeks ago (as mentioned since 2-3 years ago I had taken a break from playing full time to try and get something solid behind me via education before hopefully returning to poker after uni). The 'problem' is when I started playing here simply to have a pop at snagging a Vegas package I enjoyed the site, the OH8 community, the forum and the warm welcome so much that I decided I would try and play a lot more poker again and still balance it with uni. The last 6 weeks have however been a juggling act though as due to uni winding up for the summer there was a lot of work due which was distracting me from my poker endeavours As of today I am free to focus on the poker! (well till September at least lol)
Onto tonights session...
Well due to the factors above I decided to play mostly MTT's rather than DYM's as I could commit more time tonight.
I did play 1 £11 OH8 DYM and managed to cash in that but then moved to the MTT's
Played the following... £5.50 £100 guaranteed PLO8 £5.50 £2.5k guaranteed Mini Bounty Hunter £11 £1k guaranteed Bounty Hunter £33 £8k guaranteed Bounty Hunter £55 £2.5k guaranteed Bounty Hunter
The £5.50 PLO8 didn't go well but I bumped into Arez_One (a good friend via poker of almost 10 years who I hadn't played with for years) so that was good!
The £55 B/H didn't go great either. I was quite distracted at times in it, didn't run great and just didn't get into it.
It was a similar story with the £11 B/H
The £5.50 mini B/H and the £33 B/H went a bit better though and I managed to make both final tables and collect a reasonable amount of bounties.
I didn't run too good on the final tables though and finished 4/478 in the Mini B/H and 6/298 in the £33 B/H.
Still about £370 up for the night which I am very happy with!
Also made a whole £1 playing spin ups this morning and about £37 for placing in the weekly Mayhem Freerolls leaderboard.
I will post my bust out hand from the £33 at the end of this post and if anyone has any thoughts on it then all comments are very welcome. To be honest I haven't thought much about it yet as it has been a long day with exams etc but I will consider if I could/should have done anything different tomorrow.
As ever thanks for reading, it is appreciated and GL @ the tables!
Other than shoving all in pre flop I don't think there is anything you could have done player 5 has too many outs after the flop and is never folding I think you were just unlucky also congrats on the jackpot extra 100 quid
I agree its just one of those hands that no-one really did wrong. It happens.
What i have to ask is why 3x? Its generally regarded as the best play at these blind to stack ratios to min raise. Are you doing this with your entire range? Your obviously a good player but by 3x your entire range your not only bloating pots with weaker holdings and losing more when you have to fold to 3bets/shoves but only enticing stronger ranges to call and folding out more hands you dominate.
I agree its just one of those hands that no-one really did wrong. It happens. What i have to ask is why 3x? Its generally regarded as the best play at these blind to stack ratios to min raise. Are you doing this with your entire range? Your obviously a good player but by 3x your entire range your not only bloating pots with weaker holdings and losing more when you have to fold to 3bets/shoves but only enticing stronger ranges to call and folding out more hands you dominate. Posted by CraigSG1
Good question Craig
This was only hand 1 or 2 at the FT and I think I had bust the 7th place finisher so half the players hadn't seen how I had been standard opening. The 3x open wasn't 'really' to do with hand strength but more position and stack sizes. Rightly or wrongly (always happy to consider points the discussion helps everyone consider new angles) I thought that it being folded to me in 1 before the cut off a 3x might look like I really did not want action here and was 'stealing'. I thought this might encourage a lot of ranges I dominate to just shove on my 19BB stack, especially given that the SB & BB were the big stacks and there were bounties involved. I felt that by them looking at 22.5k chips in the middle preflop, considering they have plenty chips behind they may decide to jam on me quite wide with stuff like JQ /> & Ax which given the payout structure and 19 BBs I was happy to get involved with. I thought if I open for 2x - 2.3x they may be more inclined to just flat call, possibly play a tricky pot post flop and maybe not get maximum value from the hand.
So it was really for me about attempting to induce a shove from the big stacks in the blinds to get maximum value out of the hand.
P.S. I always try to not alter my preflop bet sizing based solely on hand strength but am more than happy to alter it due to position, stack sizes and other table dynamics.
Nice score last night, even better if you weren't aware of the FT bonus and the dynamics that may have been in play if others had spotted that!
Enjoying the diary so far, always nice to read the thoughts of more advanced players on how hands play out and the reasoning behind taking what on the face of it are non-standard lines. Although I won't pretend to understand much (any?) of the PLO8 discussion. Think I've missed the boat on that one now with the growing player pool of quite decent regs that Sky has built up. Steep learning curve to swim from nothing to competent in those shark infested waters.
GL with your completing your Uni work and all the best at the tables.
In Response to Re: Yet another diary by Markycash : Good question Craig This was only hand 1 or 2 at the FT and I think I had bust the 7th place finisher so half the players hadn't seen how I had been standard opening. The 3x open wasn't 'really' to do with hand strength but more position and stack sizes. Rightly or wrongly (always happy to consider points the discussion helps everyone consider new angles) I thought that it being folded to me in 1 before the cut off a 3x might look like I really did not want action here and was 'stealing'. I thought this might encourage a lot of ranges I dominate to just shove on my 19BB stack, especially given that the SB & BB were the big stacks and there were bounties involved. I felt that by them looking at 22.5k chips in the middle preflop, considering they have plenty chips behind they may decide to jam on me quite wide with stuff like JQ /> & Ax which given the payout structure and 19 BBs I was happy to get involved with. I thought if I open for 2x - 2.3x they may be more inclined to just flat call, possibly play a tricky pot post flop and maybe not get maximum value from the hand. So it was really for me about attempting to induce a shove from the big stacks in the blinds to get maximum value out of the hand. P.S. I always try to not alter my preflop bet sizing based solely on hand strength but am more than happy to alter it due to position, stack sizes and other table dynamics. Posted by markycash
Always good to hear the reasoning behind a play.
Regarding this hand, how would you have proceeded here had the flop missed you completely, lets say for the purpose a dry rainbow flop ( eg.5,2,10), which likely wouldn't hit the buttons perceived flatting range?
Another good question which really depends on who is on the BTN.
If it was a tight player who wasn't getting out of line and unlikely to reraise with a wide range then I would generally standard cbet and hope to take the pot. If I am flatted again then it would be time to re-evaluate what I thought they were holding and if they were likely to fold to continued pressure.
Against other players who were spewy I might check/shove to get more value out of the hand if I really thought they had bricked the flop/were trying to pounce on any weakness shown or had a weak holding I could shake them off. There would be the option to float here too and try and get more information but any floats would have to consider the stack sizes carefully obviously.
Against a more skilled player who is aware that I probably bricked the flop and might just shove widely on me if I cbet due to the stack sizes then I might check with the intention of floating when/if they bet the flop and see what they do on the turn and try and take the pot then by putting them to a decision or if they continue with their line I would try and re-evaluate where I was at. (Almost the same situation with A9o versus someone known on here so I won't include names happened recently and the float worked).
So many options it really depends on the opponent.
What are your general thoughts be on how to proceed with the hand?
Thanks folks That is great news Tikay, lets hope we can get a few of them running! @Hendrik Another good question which really depends on who is on the BTN. If it was a tight player who wasn't getting out of line and unlikely to reraise with a wide range then I would generally standard cbet and hope to take the pot. If I am flatted again then it would be time to re-evaluate what I thought they were holding and if they were likely to fold to continued pressure. Against other players who were spewy I might check/shove to get more value out of the hand if I really thought they had bricked the flop/were trying to pounce on any weakness shown or had a weak holding I could shake them off. There would be the option to float here too and try and get more information but any floats would have to consider the stack sizes carefully obviously. Against a more skilled player who is aware that I probably bricked the flop and might just shove widely on me if I cbet due to the stack sizes then I might check with the intention of floating when/if they bet the flop and see what they do on the turn and try and take the pot then by putting them to a decision or if they continue with their line I would try and re-evaluate where I was at. (Almost the same situation with A9o versus someone known on here so I won't include names happened recently and the float worked). So many options it really depends on the opponent. What are your general thoughts be on how to proceed with the hand? Posted by markycash
I like to think I play the hand in a similar fashion (but the truth is I don't always)
The first highlighted is a default versus many players here and it often gets through.
The second two situations give me more trouble (hence the reason I asked the question) Your explanations certainly make complete sense.
I am very wary of spewy players and definitely struggle when up against them...my fold button is too close (maybe its a DYM thing :-)) and I often justify it by being too result oriented I guess, (you know those times when the maths seems to be in my favour. and I lose) which makes me gun shy. I find it hard to take into account the times I force a fold and pick up the pot or hit an overcard which offset the few times it blows up in my face
I find on the occasions I feel I am playing well my line is solid, and I am capable of firing the second or even third bullet (dependant on the player) but there are many times I miss the spot versus good players.
Comments
Not much of a hi-lo player myself but find the game intriguing and super fun. Enjoying the diary keep it up
@FeelGroggy Thanks and yes it is a tough juggling act! I don't usually employ the strategy you mentioned but as I have been back playing poker for the last 6 weeks or so I have been gravitating towards that approach
I think I was on a table with you tonight? Might have been the £55 B/H I got a bit distracted during that one though and wasn't paying as much attention as I should have been.
Good luck to you with the exams over the next couple of weeks!
Update on today/tonight's session incoming...
Roll on the summer & Vegas etc!
It is a bit of a watershed day for me, I started playing regularly on Sky about 6 weeks ago (as mentioned since 2-3 years ago I had taken a break from playing full time to try and get something solid behind me via education before hopefully returning to poker after uni). The 'problem' is when I started playing here simply to have a pop at snagging a Vegas package I enjoyed the site, the OH8 community, the forum and the warm welcome so much that I decided I would try and play a lot more poker again and still balance it with uni. The last 6 weeks have however been a juggling act though as due to uni winding up for the summer there was a lot of work due which was distracting me from my poker endeavours
Onto tonights session...
Well due to the factors above I decided to play mostly MTT's rather than DYM's as I could commit more time tonight.
I did play 1 £11 OH8 DYM and managed to cash in that but then moved to the MTT's
Played the following...
£5.50 £100 guaranteed PLO8
£5.50 £2.5k guaranteed Mini Bounty Hunter
£11 £1k guaranteed Bounty Hunter
£33 £8k guaranteed Bounty Hunter
£55 £2.5k guaranteed Bounty Hunter
The £5.50 PLO8 didn't go well but I bumped into Arez_One (a good friend via poker of almost 10 years who I hadn't played with for years) so that was good!
The £55 B/H didn't go great either. I was quite distracted at times in it, didn't run great and just didn't get into it.
It was a similar story with the £11 B/H
The £5.50 mini B/H and the £33 B/H went a bit better though and I managed to make both final tables and collect a reasonable amount of bounties.
I didn't run too good on the final tables though and finished 4/478 in the Mini B/H and 6/298 in the £33 B/H.
Still about £370 up for the night which I am very happy with!
Also made a whole £1 playing spin ups this morning and about £37 for placing in the weekly Mayhem Freerolls leaderboard.
I will post my bust out hand from the £33 at the end of this post and if anyone has any thoughts on it then all comments are very welcome. To be honest I haven't thought much about it yet as it has been a long day with exams etc but I will consider if I could/should have done anything different tomorrow.
As ever thanks for reading, it is appreciated and GL @ the tables!
The bust out hand...
I think when the BTN calls here and I have just under 20 BBs on that flop OOP it is always going to get pretty messy.
This was only hand 1 or 2 at the FT and I think I had bust the 7th place finisher so half the players hadn't seen how I had been standard opening. The 3x open wasn't 'really' to do with hand strength but more position and stack sizes. Rightly or wrongly (always happy to consider points the discussion helps everyone consider new angles) I thought that it being folded to me in 1 before the cut off a 3x might look like I really did not want action here and was 'stealing'. I thought this might encourage a lot of ranges I dominate to just shove on my 19BB stack, especially given that the SB & BB were the big stacks and there were bounties involved. I felt that by them looking at 22.5k chips in the middle preflop, considering they have plenty chips behind they may decide to jam on me quite wide with stuff like JQ /> & Ax which given the payout structure and 19 BBs I was happy to get involved with. I thought if I open for 2x - 2.3x they may be more inclined to just flat call, possibly play a tricky pot post flop and maybe not get maximum value from the hand.
So it was really for me about attempting to induce a shove from the big stacks in the blinds to get maximum value out of the hand.
P.S. I always try to not alter my preflop bet sizing based solely on hand strength but am more than happy to alter it due to position, stack sizes and other table dynamics.
Thanks, can I ask what the Final Table Jackpot win is? Think I have vaguely heard of it but cannot recall *blushes*.
Twitter is @Marky_Crash
Edit: I googled, remember reading this but had forgetten about it.
Thanks again!
Re-arrange this word to describe yourself.
Boxluck
Is it lockbux?
I do feel a bit like one today, £100 up and I haven't played yet
Thanks Kirsty/Sky!
PLO8 DYM-ers might note a new addition to the Lobby this morning - £16.50 games.
oioi
Also, an £11 PLO DYM has been added.
Enjoying the diary so far, always nice to read the thoughts of more advanced players on how hands play out and the reasoning behind taking what on the face of it are non-standard lines. Although I won't pretend to understand much (any?) of the PLO8 discussion. Think I've missed the boat on that one now with the growing player pool of quite decent regs that Sky has built up. Steep learning curve to swim from nothing to competent in those shark infested waters.
GL with your completing your Uni work and all the best at the tables.
That is great news Tikay, lets hope we can get a few of them running!
@Hendrik
Another good question which really depends on who is on the BTN.
If it was a tight player who wasn't getting out of line and unlikely to reraise with a wide range then I would generally standard cbet and hope to take the pot. If I am flatted again then it would be time to re-evaluate what I thought they were holding and if they were likely to fold to continued pressure.
Against other players who were spewy I might check/shove to get more value out of the hand if I really thought they had bricked the flop/were trying to pounce on any weakness shown or had a weak holding I could shake them off. There would be the option to float here too and try and get more information but any floats would have to consider the stack sizes carefully obviously.
Against a more skilled player who is aware that I probably bricked the flop and might just shove widely on me if I cbet due to the stack sizes then I might check with the intention of floating when/if they bet the flop and see what they do on the turn and try and take the pot then by putting them to a decision or if they continue with their line I would try and re-evaluate where I was at. (Almost the same situation with A9o versus someone known on here so I won't include names happened recently and the float worked).
So many options it really depends on the opponent.
What are your general thoughts be on how to proceed with the hand?