HUSNG Discussion

Since HUSNGs seem to be my main game at the moment I thought I would introduce some concepts for discussion. So as not to make this one massively long post I am going to try to split it into several posts.... however, I am busy this week and away this weekend in Edinburgh watching the rugby so don't hold your breath.... tho I do promise to do my best to post more often.

According to sharkscope I have played 287 HUSNGs to date any my graph looks like this:
According to Holdem Manager I am open raising 57% of buttons, 3 betting 9.9% from the BB and calling around 8% of the time in the BB, though I am pretty sure that these stats are inaccurate as Holdem Manager is a little lacking in tourney support and I can't seperate out the $10 HUSNGs from all the other tournaments I have played...... Not really sure what 'good' stats are so let me know what you think.

The first think I would like to discuss is open shoving/3-bet shoving the first hand of a HUSNG.
Paul (147_star) and I discussed this concept and tried to come up with a sensible range to open shove or 3-bet shove the first hand of a HUSNG on the basis that at these low limits the average player is very bad and is likely to freak out and call with a wide range usually consisting of any pair or A. I think that the range we came up with was 99+ and AJ+ (ATs?) and so far I have had a lot of success with this play. I would be interested to know what people think of this play and what your opening range should be.

Full Tilt Poker Game #8882578617: $10 + $0.50 Heads Up Sit & Go (67968481), Table 1 - 10/20 - No Limit Hold'em - 4:47:36 ET - 2008/11/09
Seat 1: GALZUUD (1,500)
Seat 2: Cafe Creme (1,500)
Cafe Creme posts the small blind of 10
GALZUUD posts the big blind of 20
The button is in seat #2
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Cafe Creme [Jc As]
Cafe Creme raises to 1,500, and is all in
GALZUUD has 15 seconds left to act
GALZUUD calls 1,480, and is all in
Cafe Creme shows [Jc As]
GALZUUD shows [Ah 9c]
*** FLOP *** [Jd Qd 7h]
*** TURN *** [Jd Qd 7h] [5c]
*** RIVER *** [Jd Qd 7h 5c] [5h]
Cafe Creme shows two pair, Jacks and Fives
GALZUUD shows a pair of Fives
Cafe Creme wins the pot (3,000) with two pair, Jacks and Fives
GALZUUD stands up
Cafe Creme stands up
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 3,000 | Rake 0
Board: [Jd Qd 7h 5c 5h]
Seat 1: GALZUUD (big blind) showed [Ah 9c] and lost with a pair of Fives
Seat 2: Cafe Creme (small blind) showed [Jc As] and won (3,000) with two pair, Jacks and Fives

Full Tilt Poker Game #6543781496: $10 + $0.50 Heads Up Sit & Go (49743015), Table 1 - 10/20 - No Limit Hold'em - 9:21:12 ET - 2008/05/24
Seat 1: Cafe Creme (1,500)
Seat 2: phatBwoi (1,500)
phatBwoi posts the small blind of 10
Cafe Creme posts the big blind of 20
The button is in seat #2
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Cafe Creme [Ah Th]
phatBwoi raises to 60
Cafe Creme raises to 1,500, and is all in
phatBwoi calls 1,440, and is all in
Cafe Creme shows [Ah Th]
phatBwoi shows [5d Ad]
*** FLOP *** [Qs 8d Kc]
*** TURN *** [Qs 8d Kc] [4s]
*** RIVER *** [Qs 8d Kc 4s] [2c]
Cafe Creme shows Ace King high
phatBwoi shows Ace King high
Cafe Creme wins the pot (3,000) with Ace King high
phatBwoi is sitting out
phatBwoi stands up
Cafe Creme stands up
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 3,000 | Rake 0
Board: [Qs 8d Kc 4s 2c]
Seat 1: Cafe Creme (big blind) showed [Ah Th] and won (3,000) with Ace King high
Seat 2: phatBwoi (small blind) showed [5d Ad] and lost with Ace King high

Full Tilt Poker Game #6247641712: $5 + $0.25 Heads Up Sit & Go (47553104), Table 1 - 10/20 - No Limit Hold'em - 14:05:02 ET - 2008/05/01
Seat 1: Cafe Creme (1,500)
Seat 2: labo2480 (1,500)
labo2480 posts the small blind of 10
Cafe Creme posts the big blind of 20
The button is in seat #2
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Cafe Creme [Tc Td]
labo2480 has 15 seconds left to act
labo2480 calls 10
Cafe Creme raises to 1,500, and is all in
labo2480 calls 1,480, and is all in
Cafe Creme shows [Tc Td]
labo2480 shows [9s Kc]
*** FLOP *** [Js 4c 2d]
*** TURN *** [Js 4c 2d] [9d]
*** RIVER *** [Js 4c 2d 9d] [5h]
Cafe Creme shows a pair of Tens
labo2480 shows a pair of Nines
Cafe Creme wins the pot (3,000) with a pair of Tens
labo2480 stands up
Cafe Creme stands up
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 3,000 | Rake 0
Board: [Js 4c 2d 9d 5h]
Seat 1: Cafe Creme (big blind) showed [Tc Td] and won (3,000) with a pair of Tens
Seat 2: labo2480 (small blind) showed [9s Kc] and lost with a pair of Nines

Full Tilt Poker Game #8807235931: $5 + $0.25 Heads Up Sit & Go (67342490), Table 1 - 10/20 - No Limit Hold'em - 11:19:42 ET - 2008/11/04
Seat 1: Cafe Creme (1,500)
Seat 2: lewismark (1,500)
lewismark posts the small blind of 10
Cafe Creme posts the big blind of 20
The button is in seat #2
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Cafe Creme [9d 9c]
lewismark raises to 60
Cafe Creme raises to 1,500, and is all in
lewismark calls 1,440, and is all in
Cafe Creme shows [9d 9c]
lewismark shows [6h 6d]
*** FLOP *** [9s 7d 2c]
*** TURN *** [9s 7d 2c] [4d]
*** RIVER *** [9s 7d 2c 4d] [6s]
Cafe Creme shows three of a kind, Nines
lewismark shows three of a kind, Sixes
Cafe Creme wins the pot (3,000) with three of a kind, Nines
lewismark stands up
Cafe Creme stands up
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 3,000 | Rake 0
Board: [9s 7d 2c 4d 6s]
Seat 1: Cafe Creme (big blind) showed [9d 9c] and won (3,000) with three of a kind, Nines
Seat 2: lewismark (small blind) showed [6h 6d] and lost with three of a kind, Sixes



Going to grab some dinner now but am preparing a slightly more interesting post on playing short stacked in the late stages of a HUSNG.... something which has caused a lot of head scratching on the Durham Uni Poker forums....

Watch this space

Pinch and a punch, first of the month

So.... Looks like its been a while since I last posted. This is almost entirely due to me being lazy but also partly due to me having lots of work to do. Am once again going to make an attempt to keep my blog up to date although I expect my posts will be of the shorter variety (do I hear cheers?).

Having struggled with the HUSNGs on PokerStars I moved back to playing them on Full Tilt with much more success, I think that the longer structure is much more suited to my style of play and I suck at playing short stacked (something which I am working to improve). My current stats for the $10 HUSNGs on full tilt are:

Played: 265
Avg $ per game: $1.6
ROI: 15%
Total $$: $418

I moved briefly up to the $20s when I was running well but quickly dropped $150 and so went back to grinding the $10s.

I have started playing 2 tables now and so am averaging 12 games per hour.... meaning that I should be able to significantly boost my volume..... hopefully will be able to put in the hours. Am planning to make it to about 400-500 games at the $10s before I move up to the $20s but might take a couple of shots before then.

Will try to add some more interesting stuff soon.... but its good to be back blogging.

Ty

Durham Durham

Sorry about the lack of posts recently, only got back to uni yesterday and so have not had much time to play yet, but am now getting back into the swing of things and there should be some more regular updates.

Firstly, big congrats to James for cashing in the WSOPE main event (2 years running)... looks like it was a pretty tough tourney so really well done!

While James has been celebrating his cash of about £20K or so..... I just lost $80 playing HUSNGs loosing 13 out of 16 games. So, going to take a walk now to cool off ;)

Chow

Morocco!!!!!

So... i'm off to Morocco tomorrow for 16 days, flying out to Marrakesh and spending a couple of weeks travelling around. Will try to update my blog with a couple of pics if I find some free wifi, but otherwise it might be quiet for a couple of weeks.....

Going to be grinding full time when I get back tho, so it should pick up again....

Gl to all

G

A note on Success, Failure, and the Downswing Mindset

I cam across this thread on two plus two http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showthread.php?t=280899

I really made me realise that my poker mentality could be fundamentally flawed. I tend to think of my self as having a fairly sturdy poker mindset.... I am not playing for a living so I am not relying on running well in poker to support myself and I am being staked to play so I should have less emotional attachment to the money I am playing with. All this should mean that as long as I am content that I am playing +EV poker, the outcome of the game should not effect me... after all, so long as I am playing good poker, the immediate results should have zero impact on my mentality.... I am not looking to cash out every day.... I am not having to account for the daily swings out of my own pocket.... and I know that variance is a fundamental part of poker (albeit a rather horrible one). So, why is it that when I loose a HU match I am effected in a negative way?

There are 3 possible ways to loose a HU match:

1) I am outmatched and outplayed..... However, at the $10 HUSNGs on Full Tilt it is very rare to come accross even a winning player and so I think that it is unlikely that I am going to come accross many players who simply just dominate me. (I am not claiming to be a great poker player, just that my opponents tend to be worse than me)

2) I play badly and make -EV decisions..... We all make -EV decisions sometimes, (there is no such thing as the perfect poker player) and they are usually the result of not being in the correct mood to play poker. Maybe you are too tired, too tilted, too drunk.... playing in the wrong mood leads to making -EV decisions, which finally result in you loosing a match which you should have won.

3) Getting outdrawn.... It happens to the worst player in the world and it happens to the best player in the world, it is something that we cannot escape.


Reasons 1 and 2 are aspects of poker which can be avoided (in the case of HUSNGs you cannot leave a match once it has started..... but there is still an aspect of game selection at the higher levels), however reason 3 CANNOT be avoided.... we WILL get outdrawn again and again and again. We have NO choice. Since we have no say in the matter, this aspect of poker should not effect us in any way.

So... to improve my poker mentality... I am going to concentrate very hard on making correct decisions and ban myself from checking my sharkscope stats / cashier balance every 2 minutes.... Correctly calling a shove with 77 on a 355 board vs your opponents K8 and them hitting a K on the river (hand from today) should make you ecstatic that you made a great call, not bitter that your opponent always hits his cards.

I am going to finish with a quote from Irieguy from two plus two:

Everybody will eventually run worse than they thought was possible. The difference between a winner and a loser is that the latter thinks they do not deserve it.

So, am going to try to post much better content on my blog from now on, and improve my poker mentality and attitude towards running bad vs playing bad.

Gl to all

Pr1nnyraiding anyone?

So... have been reading through Krantz's blog and came across a couple of hilarious posts.... the first one was him and Ariel (AKA FoxwoodsFiend) doing flips for $20K PLO read it here.

The second one was a transcript between 'G' and 'R'... not sure if one of them is Krantz or not but it makes a great read:

(Taken from http://www.dangerlion.com/?p=249)


Exploit This:

G: Folding is exploitable here!

R: Of course it is.

G: Exactly!

R: Precisely! Well, unless he’s never bluffing.

G: Never bluffing… you’re right! We should fold. Since he’s never bluffing here.

R: Of course we should, he’s never bluffing.

G: Never!

R: Ever.

G: But how do we know that never is never ever unless we call? Folding is exploitable!

R: Exploit me, then.

Made me laugh :)

Tennis tilts worse than poker IMO

Firstly.... I still seem to be getting nutted by the deck.... still loosing flips and also had AA< JJ which didn't help, however, it appears that playing tennis can tilt me worse than playing poker (if my internet doesn't stop crashing as I write this it could top 1st place tho!!!! FK Orange!). I play recreational tennis on a regular (almost daily) basis at the moment, and I have to say.... loosing a tennis match because of bad play on my part seems to tilt me more than anything! I think that it is probably a good thing because I tend to take out any aggression on the tennis court rather than playing poker tilted and it is a good way to unwind (FFS... internet cutting out AGAIN!).

In other news, I have come across this chart . I am going to try to apply it to situations where I have less than a 10BB effective stack (I think using it for stacks greater than 10BB, although +EV is probably suboptimal) and basically, you match your cards to the chart, and if your effective stacks are less than the number indicated then you push/call, otherwise you fold. I think that at the moment I am pushing / calling too tight when the effective stacks are really small and so I am going to use this chart for a few weeks and see what gives. It should be noted that if your opponent is blatently VERY nitty or VERY manic, then you should adapt your pushing/calling range accordingly... but as long as you follow this chart your actions will always be neutral or +ve EV.

(P.S. The internet has cut out about 6 times while writing this post and is now officially the thing which tilts me the most!!!!!)