Potential leaks I've found in my heads up game

I've been trying to learn HU starting from the ground up (NL50/NL100). I think I am running somewhat bad but also have some definite leaks in my game. A few things I've noticed:

There is a good line that I take vs. the wrong type of player often. Take this example. Villain is running 45/40 and has losing stats, and we are 100bb effective. We raise A8o from the button. Villain flats. The flop comes

864hh

We cbet, and villain raises. Against the most aggressive of opponents, a good line is often to flat the flop, fold to a turn bet on any 5, 7, or heart, and ship over his bet on any other card. However, against any opponent who is not hyper aggressive, this line is awful and the best play is to fold. I tend to give opponents at these stakes too much credit for being hyper aggro and too little credit for having a hand.

Another common spot I have trouble with is checkraising the flop for thin value vs. a player who is not very aggressive and getting 3bet, as shown below.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $0.50 BB (2 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com



SB ($39.80)

Hero (BB) ($58)



Preflop: Hero is BB with A, 10

SB bets $1.50, Hero calls $1



Flop: ($3) 4, 9, 10 (2 players)

Hero checks, SB bets $1.50, Hero raises to $5, SB raises to $13

I generally stack here, as I hate c/r fold for value, but I think against non-aggressive players it is correct to find a fold. I think there are quite a few other leaks I have playing ssnl/unl hu, and as I find them I will write about them here.

Back to Bloggin': It's a new year!

After a great month of November, comes a shitty negative month for December. Bye 2009. Hello 2010, this will be my year for poker greatness (or mediocrity).

I finally made my move and started playing at pokerstars! So far my broll ain't there yet but will start playing 50nl at the meantime because its hella soft, I'm pretty sure my hourly there is way better than at 100nl which is gay. I will be putting in more hours this year than last year obviously because last year was my first year playing cash transitioning from SNGs (best decision ever)

Here is my 6 month plan for poker.

- play 100-120 hrs of poker/month
- have sweat sessions with other players, review and study more about the game.
- get a coach.
- save up enough money to play WSOP and go on a US trip. (and not go home broke lol)


GL at the tables.

I spew off a buy-in through fps

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $1.00 BB (6 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

MP ($105.60)
CO ($10)
Button ($36.25)
SB ($112.05)
Hero (BB) ($106)
UTG ($127)

Preflop: Hero is BB with 9, J
4 folds, SB bets $3, Hero calls $2

Flop: ($6) 9, 4, 3 (2 players)
SB bets $4, Hero calls $4

Turn: ($14) 2 (2 players)
SB bets $10, Hero calls $10

River: ($34) Q (2 players)
SB bets $24, Hero raises to $89 (All-In), SB calls $65

Total pot: $212 | Rake: $3

Villain here is 22/18/1.5 over 120 hands. It's an interesting hand because given certain conditions this might actually be a correct play, but we HAVE to know that those conditions are present, which we really don't here.

On the flop, we have a clear call. If the turn blanked out it could be a call or a fold depending on whether we think he likes to double barrel, and particularly if we know he likes to double barrel his flush draws, but the turn gives any A a gutshot, so I like another call.

The river is an interesting card; it puts out a backdoor flush draw and an overcard. For this player, his likely range for betting the river is probably AQdd, KQdd, possibly any AQ, KK+, Q9, A5, 56, sets, and possibly backdoor flushes, an extremely strong range vs. which raising is suicidal.

However, if this where a player who we knew liked to vbet thin and bluff aggressively AND who was a good hand reader, his value range could widen to include A9+, and his bluff range could widen from nothing to include any A and any missed flush draw. Against such a player by raising the river as a bluff we could legitimately rep Q9, 56hh or 56ss, A5 suited or offsuit, and a backdoor flush. This is actually a wide range of combos so if his value range always beats us but he can fold A9, TT, JJ, QJdd, KQdd, and any AQ, this might be correct. We don't know that he has a thin value range though, or that he bluffs a lot, so anything other than a fold is terrible.

Shoving vs. calling river 3bets with little money behind

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $1.00 BB (5 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

SB ($87)
Hero (BB) ($115.20)
UTG ($119.55)
MP ($107.70)
Button ($105.25)

Preflop: Hero is BB with 2, 8
3 folds, SB calls $0.50, Hero bets $3, SB calls $2

Flop: ($6) 10, Q, A (2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $4, SB calls $4

Turn: ($14) 8 (2 players)
SB checks, Hero checks

River: ($14) 8 (2 players)
SB bets $7, Hero raises to $31, SB raises to $56, Hero raises to $108.20 (All-In), SB calls $24 (All-In)

Total pot: $174 | Rake: $2

This is a hand played recently that taught me an important lesson. Villain was a loose passive player that liked to open limp. Here I make a huge error on the river, and my thought process went "the pot is already big and there is not much money behind, so if I am going to call I should just shove." For a shove to be correct, we have to be ahead of his range, and expect to win more than 50% of the time, or to fold better hands (never happening), whereas for a call to be correct, we only need to expect to win (56-31)/(56+31+14+(56-31))=.198 over about 20% of the time.

The lesson is even with very little money behind, you should not shove unless you think you are ahead of his range whereas for a call to be correct you can be behind his range as long as you're good a certain % of the time.

2010 Goals/how I will accomplish

This year I didn't focus on poker as much as I should have. I played a mediocre number of hands and didn't put in that many hours, although money-wise I didn't do terribly. My main goal for next year is to be beating mid-stakes for a solid clip by the middle of the year. So how will I accomplish that?

-Average 6 hours of play per day, seven days a week

-Study poker about 1 hr/day

-Slowly move away from fr towards 6max and HU play, and possibly PLO as my need for low variance income decreases

-Play fewer tables often!

I also plan on playing live more as my bankroll grows, so we'll see how that goes.

Puerto Galera: Background

Hello

hello world!

I've been playing poker for some time now but I never really took it to the next level which is going PRO. This is the time I will go and live the dream. This is my life.