My advice would be just book 1 lesson and see how you find it, but at the same time carry on with other stuff that doesn,t cost money such as youtube clips, books etc (sometimes you have to look through a lot of **** too find good stuff but you,ll get there in the end)
You can often get free trials as well with training sites. (keep an eye out for offers)
I'm not sure what this nonsense about me not being skillfull enough to gain any benefit from solvers is about. I am extremely good at poker now. I know the hand rankings off by heart and everything.
Seriously though, based on your feedback I think I will dip my toe into a few hours of coaching next month and re-assess from that point. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.
Going in hard with the tournaments this week during mUKOPS, mainly because I know I won't be playing much next week. No major cashes so far.
Q1 2020: Online: Buy-Ins: £566.74 / loss of £58.92 from 83 MTT's / 7 FT's / 4 Wins Live: Buy-Ins: £380.00 / loss of £280.00 from 7 MTT's / 0 FT's / 0 Wins
Q2 2020: Online: Buy-Ins: £1304.03 / profit of £222.26 from 188 MTT's / 19 FT's / 4 Wins
Q3 2020: Online: Buy-Ins: £1153.74 / profit of £281.79 from 167 MTT's / 15 FT's / 2 Wins
Holding the Q you block a lot that he might find a triple bluff with, he's not going to have any value you're ahead of on the river when he shoves imo. 15bb prob better saved for another spot.
Is this shove from the late stages of yesterday's mUKOPS 20 event resonable from my side, or stupid? I was one of the tournament short stacks at the time.
Player
Action
Cards
Amount
Pot
Balance
peter27
Small blind
6000.00
6000.00
187893.48
snaps
Big blind
12000.00
18000.00
394645.76
Your hole cards
A
4
UTRBABY
Fold
Toffeeandy
Fold
Duesenberg
Fold
BRADERS11
Fold
peter27
All-in
187893.48
205893.48
0.00
snaps
Call
181893.48
387786.96
212752.28
peter27
Show
A
4
snaps
Show
A
K
Flop
3
2
A
Turn
10
River
K
snaps
Win
Two Pairs, Aces and Kings
387786.96
600539.24
Was it the right time to push for a double up with that hand, or do I need to be more patient?
Quick review of mUKOPS - a series of tournaments that I took more seriously than ever before. I played in >75% of the tournaments and on the whole it was pretty good. I think overall I did lose money but I had a good number of cashes (around 6/7), it's just a shame that they were all smaller cashes. Most of the time that was due to losing flips, but I have also highlighted a major issue in the mid-late stages where I struggle to maintain my stack. However, I haven't yet pinpointed how to combat that. It's a work in progress.
My best tournament seemed to be the deepstacks which really surprises me as I always thought I was better playing shallower stacks. My two best finishes came in those deepstack events (11th & 13th).
Playing from 18:30 - 00:00 (and beyond) most days was quite challenging and on some days I did struggle to maintain concentration for that long. Another thing to work on, although this is something which should naturally improve as I (hopefully) go deeper more regularly.
Generally pretty happy and encouraged with how it all went though, had lots of fun. Don't intend to be playing much poker next week as the new Football Manager comes out and covid lockdown travel restrictions have presented me with a rare opportunity to do a long save. For those who know this game, yes I know the beta is already out, but I have always preferred to wait for the full game release.
Have been playing a few poker tournaments recently after my Football Manager binge, but not anywhere close to the amount I was playing in previous months.
Q1 2020: Online: Buy-Ins: £566.74 / loss of £58.92 from 83 MTT's / 7 FT's / 4 Wins Live: Buy-Ins: £380.00 / loss of £280.00 from 7 MTT's / 0 FT's / 0 Wins
Q2 2020: Online: Buy-Ins: £1304.03 / profit of £222.26 from 188 MTT's / 19 FT's / 4 Wins
Q3 2020: Online: Buy-Ins: £1153.74 / profit of £281.79 from 167 MTT's / 15 FT's / 2 Wins
This was an interesting hand from tonight's mini. Had no reads as it was only my second hand at the table. When calling I knew I was likely behind to the FH or ace with a better kicker, but equally I felt like my hand was just too good to fold in that spot. Any thoughts? Maybe I am just supposed to go broke there? I'm really not sure on this one.
After my super-extended break, I am ready to hit the tables again in 2021.
Here were the final 2020 results: Q1: Buy-Ins: £566.74 / loss of £58.92 from 83 MTT's / 7 FT's / 4 Wins Q2: Buy-Ins: £1304.03 / profit of £222.26 from 188 MTT's / 19 FT's / 4 Wins Q3: Buy-Ins: £1153.74 / profit of £281.79 from 167 MTT's / 15 FT's / 2 Wins Q4: Buy-Ins: £259.70 / loss of 69.53 from 37 MTT's / 2 FT's / 1 Win Live: Buy-Ins: £380.00 / loss of £280.00 from 7 MTT's / 0 FT's / 0 Wins
It's a relatively small sample size, but I am encouraged by these results. When I really put in the volume in Q2 & Q3, I did seem to suceed.
I really want to push on in 2021 with the aim of considering myself to be a "good" player by the end of the year. This will be achieved through more focussed study periods, using more streams and YouTube videos. I will also arrange five hours of poker coaching this month, having previously talked about it for a while.
Specific targets: - At least one quarter showing over £500 profit. - Minimum 15 tournament wins for the year. - Be able to work out who has range advantage much quicker.
Meanwhile, my year has started excellently and I already have one tournament win, a £5.50 Turbo Bounty Hunter.
My tournament for winnings for 2021 exceeds that of Daniel Negreanu, probably. Therefore I have undoubtedly become the best player in the World. You may wish to congratulate me in the comments below. Any negativity will be met with personal derision.
So far so good in 2021. Absolutely crushing the 22:45 turbo bounty hunters having won two and reached the cash in most of them. Can't seem to replicate that form in the mini, but I believe I am playing better than ever at the moment.
Interesting day yesterday. I had already arranged some coaching with @chicknMelt, and yesterday's mini was the recorded session that we're going to analyse together. I ended up finishing up in 5th, and was chip leader for a long period of time too. I wonder if that's just co-incidence or if knowing the tournament was being recorded led me to concentrate more.
Either way, it'll be a good session to go through as I had seperate periods of being totally card dead and also running like god. Plus I got deep and that has been a problem for me in the past. I think for the most part I played well, albeit with a few mistakes which I am sure Melty will pick me up on.
I had my first session with @chicknMelt today. Found it extremely useful, and we already identified a few key areas of improvement for the early MTT stages.
I know there's a lot of rookie players who read this diary, or will read this diary in the future, so based on my one-hour experience so far I would reccomend coaching. It has already been extremely insightful. However, that advice comes with a caveat.
Some of the concepts myself and Melty explored today are pretty challenging to comprehend. He did a good job of showing me the maths behind each technique to demonstrate why a certain play is beneficial, however it is still sometimes difficult to properly understand the technique because it seems so illogical (despite the maths checking out).
If you're going to take coaching, you need to go into it with mindset that to be successful in this game you sometimes need to make decisions which feel uncomfortable. Someone mentioned that on here a while back (I think @MattBates?) and it was the best piece of poker advice I ever had.
I am now making plays which seem totally alien to me, however the maths does say it's the right thing to do, so I will keep on plugging away and, in time, normalise the new strategy in my mind.
Disappointed about this hand near the bubble of tonight's mini. At the time I thought a fold was the correct play, but couldn't quite bring myself to give up the jacks. However looking back on it now my shove is probably correct.
What is MrKey shoving with? AA, KK, QQ, AK, maybe AQ.
If we include AQ in the equation, we are ahead of 32 combinations and behind to 18. If we exclude AQ, we are ahead of 16 combinations and behind to 18.
On the basis that they had been aggressive with me a few times prior, my shove is probably the right play, but with a disappointing result.
Any reason you are 3betting non all in here? With your stack size I wouldn't of thought we want to be 3betting and not going all in. Are we often 3b folding?
Do you feel the coaching you had has helped develop your game, Peter?
Absolutely, but in a different way than I expected. As you would anticipate, I am getting taught new concepts, but it is not just the concept that's important, but also the opportunity to discuss and debate each theory - something above and beyond what is possible on a text-based forum like this. No disrespect to this community which is superb. However, the nature of a voice call means that it is much easier for me to challenge the suggestions that Melty provides - which helps to aid my own understanding. I always know he is right, but understanding why he is right has been key to helping me correctly apply these new skills. I think I am making good progress.
I will likely do a more detailed review once the coaching is complete.
Any reason you are 3betting non all in here? With your stack size I wouldn't of thought we want to be 3betting and not going all in. Are we often 3b folding?
Good point. At the time of playing the hand, I did think the 3-bet fold was the correct play here, and was so close to doing just that. In my gut, I felt that folding to his shove was correct. However, as played, my calculation above shows that calling was correct.
Since the time of posting that hand, I have learned that there is such a thing as a 20BB shoving range , so I totally understand what you're getting at here. If this spot happens again now, I play it differently
Any reason you are 3betting non all in here? With your stack size I wouldn't of thought we want to be 3betting and not going all in. Are we often 3b folding?
Just to add to this. I think there was also an element of "JJ is a 3-bet" without considering or even realising that I had under 20BB's.
The way my thought process has developed recently due to the coaching has meant that I am now naturally thinking about stack sizes in terms of BB's rather than chips. I wish Sky had the option to switch to "BB view" as a few other sites have to be honest.
Such a broad spot that ultimately the answer will be 'it depends'.
If you're not being results orientated and you genuinely thought in game that there is a ''very high chance'' you're up against AA then the call is baffling based on that logic and thought process.
I digress...
Why would you think it's a very high chance he has aces? Is this how someone in the average player pool on Sky would usually play aces?
Holding AK blocks AA. 3betting all in here with AA isn't generally deemed a standard play (another discussion entirely) Although you can't rule out aces, I think there are other much more likely hands in his range, of which AK will play pretty well/ok against some of that range.
Obligated to call? I don't think so as you're far from pot committed. You've put in the minimum and still have plenty behind if you folded. I'm not saying you should fold; spots like this will often depend on notes/history/game flow etc and getting AK all in pre from under a 40bb will likely never be a terrible decision in a vacuum (esp in a turbo).
But you also don't cover for a bounty and if you think you have a soft table then you might opt to take slightly less high variance spots. Although in this instance you were crushed, I think you'll often find yourself in a flip facing this action, and sometimes you'll crush and sometimes you'll be crushed.
Out of interest and touching on from the start of this post, if the player had JJ and you win with that K on the river, do you still post the hand?
Comments
I echo what everyone says above.
My advice would be just book 1 lesson and see how you find it, but at the same time carry on with other stuff that doesn,t cost money such as youtube clips, books etc (sometimes you have to look through a lot of **** too find good stuff but you,ll get there in the end)
You can often get free trials as well with training sites. (keep an eye out for offers)
GL
P
I'm not sure what this nonsense about me not being skillfull enough to gain any benefit from solvers is about. I am extremely good at poker now. I know the hand rankings off by heart and everything.
Seriously though, based on your feedback I think I will dip my toe into a few hours of coaching next month and re-assess from that point. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.
Going in hard with the tournaments this week during mUKOPS, mainly because I know I won't be playing much next week. No major cashes so far.
Q1 2020:
Online: Buy-Ins: £566.74 / loss of £58.92 from 83 MTT's / 7 FT's / 4 Wins
Live: Buy-Ins: £380.00 / loss of £280.00 from 7 MTT's / 0 FT's / 0 Wins
Q2 2020:
Online: Buy-Ins: £1304.03 / profit of £222.26 from 188 MTT's / 19 FT's / 4 Wins
Q3 2020:
Online: Buy-Ins: £1153.74 / profit of £281.79 from 167 MTT's / 15 FT's / 2 Wins
Q4 2020:
Tournaments: 112
Buy-Ins: £672.70
Cashes: £631.98
FT's: 4
Wins: 3
You know what? I knew it was AK or KJ, just couldn't fold it.
Online: Buy-Ins: £566.74 / loss of £58.92 from 83 MTT's / 7 FT's / 4 Wins
Live: Buy-Ins: £380.00 / loss of £280.00 from 7 MTT's / 0 FT's / 0 Wins
Q2 2020:
Online: Buy-Ins: £1304.03 / profit of £222.26 from 188 MTT's / 19 FT's / 4 Wins
Q3 2020:
Online: Buy-Ins: £1153.74 / profit of £281.79 from 167 MTT's / 15 FT's / 2 Wins
Q4 2020:
Tournaments: 123
Buy-Ins: £739.50
Cashes: £697.25
FT's: 4
Wins: 3
Quick review of mUKOPS - a series of tournaments that I took more seriously than ever before. I played in >75% of the tournaments and on the whole it was pretty good. I think overall I did lose money but I had a good number of cashes (around 6/7), it's just a shame that they were all smaller cashes. Most of the time that was due to losing flips, but I have also highlighted a major issue in the mid-late stages where I struggle to maintain my stack. However, I haven't yet pinpointed how to combat that. It's a work in progress.
My best tournament seemed to be the deepstacks which really surprises me as I always thought I was better playing shallower stacks. My two best finishes came in those deepstack events (11th & 13th).
Playing from 18:30 - 00:00 (and beyond) most days was quite challenging and on some days I did struggle to maintain concentration for that long. Another thing to work on, although this is something which should naturally improve as I (hopefully) go deeper more regularly.
Generally pretty happy and encouraged with how it all went though, had lots of fun. Don't intend to be playing much poker next week as the new Football Manager comes out and covid lockdown travel restrictions have presented me with a rare opportunity to do a long save. For those who know this game, yes I know the beta is already out, but I have always preferred to wait for the full game release.
Q1 2020:
Online: Buy-Ins: £566.74 / loss of £58.92 from 83 MTT's / 7 FT's / 4 Wins
Live: Buy-Ins: £380.00 / loss of £280.00 from 7 MTT's / 0 FT's / 0 Wins
Q2 2020:
Online: Buy-Ins: £1304.03 / profit of £222.26 from 188 MTT's / 19 FT's / 4 Wins
Q3 2020:
Online: Buy-Ins: £1153.74 / profit of £281.79 from 167 MTT's / 15 FT's / 2 Wins
Q4 2020:
Tournaments: 129
Buy-Ins: £770.20
Cashes: £763.72
FT's: 5
Wins: 3
This was an interesting hand from tonight's mini. Had no reads as it was only my second hand at the table. When calling I knew I was likely behind to the FH or ace with a better kicker, but equally I felt like my hand was just too good to fold in that spot. Any thoughts? Maybe I am just supposed to go broke there? I'm really not sure on this one.
Here were the final 2020 results:
Q1: Buy-Ins: £566.74 / loss of £58.92 from 83 MTT's / 7 FT's / 4 Wins
Q2: Buy-Ins: £1304.03 / profit of £222.26 from 188 MTT's / 19 FT's / 4 Wins
Q3: Buy-Ins: £1153.74 / profit of £281.79 from 167 MTT's / 15 FT's / 2 Wins
Q4: Buy-Ins: £259.70 / loss of 69.53 from 37 MTT's / 2 FT's / 1 Win
Live: Buy-Ins: £380.00 / loss of £280.00 from 7 MTT's / 0 FT's / 0 Wins
It's a relatively small sample size, but I am encouraged by these results. When I really put in the volume in Q2 & Q3, I did seem to suceed.
I really want to push on in 2021 with the aim of considering myself to be a "good" player by the end of the year. This will be achieved through more focussed study periods, using more streams and YouTube videos. I will also arrange five hours of poker coaching this month, having previously talked about it for a while.
Specific targets:
- At least one quarter showing over £500 profit.
- Minimum 15 tournament wins for the year.
- Be able to work out who has range advantage much quicker.
Meanwhile, my year has started excellently and I already have one tournament win, a £5.50 Turbo Bounty Hunter.
Q1 2021:
Tournaments: 2
Buy-Ins: £16.00
Cashes: £128.06
FT's: 1
Wins: 1
My tournament for winnings for 2021 exceeds that of Daniel Negreanu, probably. Therefore I have undoubtedly become the best player in the World. You may wish to congratulate me in the comments below. Any negativity will be met with personal derision.
Q1 2021:
Tournaments: 25
Buy-Ins: £152.90
Cashes: £395.40
FT's: 3
Wins: 2
Meanwhile, just posting this hand as a bit of a brag. My notes on this player made me realise quite strongly that he had missed his flush draw
Either way, it'll be a good session to go through as I had seperate periods of being totally card dead and also running like god. Plus I got deep and that has been a problem for me in the past. I think for the most part I played well, albeit with a few mistakes which I am sure Melty will pick me up on.
Q1 2021:
Tournaments: 33
Buy-Ins: £207.40
Cashes: £560.48
FT's: 6
Wins: 2
I know there's a lot of rookie players who read this diary, or will read this diary in the future, so based on my one-hour experience so far I would reccomend coaching. It has already been extremely insightful. However, that advice comes with a caveat.
Some of the concepts myself and Melty explored today are pretty challenging to comprehend. He did a good job of showing me the maths behind each technique to demonstrate why a certain play is beneficial, however it is still sometimes difficult to properly understand the technique because it seems so illogical (despite the maths checking out).
If you're going to take coaching, you need to go into it with mindset that to be successful in this game you sometimes need to make decisions which feel uncomfortable. Someone mentioned that on here a while back (I think @MattBates?) and it was the best piece of poker advice I ever had.
I am now making plays which seem totally alien to me, however the maths does say it's the right thing to do, so I will keep on plugging away and, in time, normalise the new strategy in my mind.
I hope that made sense?
Q1 2021:
Tournaments: 62
Buy-Ins: £435.51
Cashes: £870.93
FT's: 10
Wins: 3
@peter27
Yes, I noticed you won a BH on Thursday & just missed the FT of last night's 7 @ 7.
Keep it going.
What is MrKey shoving with? AA, KK, QQ, AK, maybe AQ.
If we include AQ in the equation, we are ahead of 32 combinations and behind to 18.
If we exclude AQ, we are ahead of 16 combinations and behind to 18.
On the basis that they had been aggressive with me a few times prior, my shove is probably the right play, but with a disappointing result.
Feedback welcome.
Do you feel the coaching you had has helped develop your game, Peter?
Tournaments: 96
Buy-Ins: £659.85
Cashes: £1050.52
FT's: 11
Wins: 3 Absolutely, but in a different way than I expected. As you would anticipate, I am getting taught new concepts, but it is not just the concept that's important, but also the opportunity to discuss and debate each theory - something above and beyond what is possible on a text-based forum like this. No disrespect to this community which is superb. However, the nature of a voice call means that it is much easier for me to challenge the suggestions that Melty provides - which helps to aid my own understanding. I always know he is right, but understanding why he is right has been key to helping me correctly apply these new skills. I think I am making good progress.
I will likely do a more detailed review once the coaching is complete. Good point. At the time of playing the hand, I did think the 3-bet fold was the correct play here, and was so close to doing just that. In my gut, I felt that folding to his shove was correct. However, as played, my calculation above shows that calling was correct.
Since the time of posting that hand, I have learned that there is such a thing as a 20BB shoving range
The way my thought process has developed recently due to the coaching has meant that I am now naturally thinking about stack sizes in terms of BB's rather than chips. I wish Sky had the option to switch to "BB view" as a few other sites have to be honest.
If you're not being results orientated and you genuinely thought in game that there is a ''very high chance'' you're up against AA then the call is baffling based on that logic and thought process.
I digress...
Why would you think it's a very high chance he has aces?
Is this how someone in the average player pool on Sky would usually play aces?
Holding AK blocks AA.
3betting all in here with AA isn't generally deemed a standard play (another discussion entirely)
Although you can't rule out aces, I think there are other much more likely hands in his range, of which AK will play pretty well/ok against some of that range.
Obligated to call? I don't think so as you're far from pot committed.
You've put in the minimum and still have plenty behind if you folded. I'm not saying you should fold; spots like this will often depend on notes/history/game flow etc and getting AK all in pre from under a 40bb will likely never be a terrible decision in a vacuum (esp in a turbo).
But you also don't cover for a bounty and if you think you have a soft table then you might opt to take slightly less high variance spots. Although in this instance you were crushed, I think you'll often find yourself in a flip facing this action, and sometimes you'll crush and sometimes you'll be crushed.
Out of interest and touching on from the start of this post, if the player had JJ and you win with that K on the river, do you still post the hand?