Hoop

Stages of a TAG

1. Hrmm, this K5s looks kinda good

2. I will never play anything but these 18 hands under any circumstances

3. I need to fold postflop if I don’t hit a hand. And I need to fold to pressure if I don’t have a great hand.

4. Maybe I can loosen up a little bit in position. I can play more hands because I know how to fold them postflop.

5. I need to bet my good hands hard so I can get value for them.

This is basically the evolved stage of a “nit”. Tight preflop, slightly looser in position, and mainly putting in serious money postflop only with strong hands. Nits can make money, but they need to really multitable hard to get any kind of real traction.

6. I can semibluff decent draws postflop with essentially no added risk.

7. C-betting is much more powerful if you follow it up sometimes with turn barrelling.

8. I should 3-bet more hands preflop for value.

9. I can now play a few more hands from all position because bluffing makes bad hands profitable sometimes.

10. I need to adjust my preflop game to my opponents. That means not folding as much to frequent 3-bettors, calling more on the button against light openers.

11. I should look for small pots that nobody in particular seems to want and attack them.

This is where a lot of the TAG regulars in microstakes fit in.

12. I need to adjust my postflop play somewhat to my opponents. That means getting it in with stuff like top pair against bad or loose players.

13. I can make money by stealing more preflop. I can steal more loosely from the button, and I can 3-bet light from the button and blinds.

14. I can also get carried away and start opening too many hands from all positions.

15. I can combat light 3-bettors with light 4-bets and light 4-bettors with light 5-bet shoves.

16. Double barrelling can be quite effective, and sometimes I should resort to firing three barrels.

17. I can take aggrodonks who bet every flop off their hands with well-timed raises and floats.

18. I should seek out bad players and try to isolate them to play as many pots as possible with them.

19. Preflop hand values usually depend far more on the situation than on the intrinsic value of the cards.

20. The size of the pot determines how aggressive I need to play and how committed I am to the pot.

21. I should look for large pots that people seem to have given up on and shove my money in.

22. I can value bet on the river much lighter against bad players and expect to get called by worse hands.

This is about where you need to be if you want to play online poker for a living at the $1-$2 level or so. At this stage players usually vary from loose TAGs to LAGs.

23. I need to focus on line balancing. Reading hands lets me find unbalanced lines in my own play and in my opponents’ play.

24. Through obvservation I can determine roughly what level my opponent plays at and out-level them by one level

25. I can make seemingly drastic adjustments to my game to exploit opponents playing an unbalanced strategy.

Labels: poker

Biop$y

It's fun to pay $15 in a copay, $115 to that same dermatologist, $68 to the "MASS GEN PHYSICIANS ORG" and then finally another $198 to MGH. $396, all just to see what the bump on my hand was. Makes one wonder where my health insurance money goes.

Labels: biopsy, healthcare, MGH

Yahoo! Briefcase is closing on March 30.

So, I was downloading the files I had in my Yahoo! Briefcase, and noticed that certain files were not downloading. I also noticed that my folder name and one of my file names had an exclamation point in them. I edited these to remove the exclamation points, and, lo and behold, the downloads worked. Kind of ironic considering the site uses an exclamation point as part of their branding. You would think they would have tested that case.

Labels: exclamation point, idiots, yahoo

2008 AL MVP Award Voting
Player, Club	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th	9th	10th	Points
Dustin Pedroia, BOS	16	6	4	1							317
Justin Morneau, MIN	7	7	6	3	3	1	1				257
Kevin Youkilis, BOS	2	4	4	9	2	4	1	2			201
Joe Mauer, MIN	2	8	1	3	4	3	3	2	1		188
Carlos Quentin, CWS		1	4	8	4	4	4		1	1	160
Francisco Rodriguez, LAA	1	2	6	1	6		3	2		2	143
Josh Hamilton, TEX			2	2	3	7	3	2	4	3	112
Alex Rodriguez, NYY					1	1	4	1	4	7	45
Carlos Pena, TB			1		2		2	3	2	3	44
Grady Sizemore, CLE						2	1	5	6	1	42
Evan Longoria, TB						2	2	5	2	1	38
Cliff Lee, CLE				1	1	1	1		1		24
Miguel Cabrera, DET						1		1	4	1	17
Vladimir Guerrero, LAA							2	2	1		16
Jermaine Dye, CWS					1			2		2	14
Aubrey Huff, BAL						1			2	3	12
Milton Bradley, TEX						1	1				9
Jason Bartlett, TB					1						6
Mike Mussina, NYY								1			3
Raul Ibanez, SEA										1	1
Ian Kinsler, TEX										1	1
Ichiro Suzuki, SEA										1	1
Mark Teixeira, LAA										1	1

Labels: F yeah, mlb, Pedroia, red sox

On RCN cable, FOX is only transmitting background sounds. WTF?

Picture issues, sound issues, TBS issues, now FOX issues? What is going on ? Why are they happening during sports events I want to watch? I guess it could be worse, not having to listen to Tim McCarver and Joe Buck.

Labels: RCN FOX sound

More BAHHs from a cash game:


***** Hand history (v1.2) *****
Hand ID 145168780
NL $10 Texas Hold'em (No Limit) - 00:42:00 18/10/2008 ET
Table 'Go All In', 10 seats max, Real money
Seat 1 is the button. Small Blind $0.05, Big Blind $0.10
Seat 1 (playing) : sonnyoo, amount $17.44
Seat 3 (playing) : montyh, amount $4.92
Seat 4 (playing) : D_Rek, amount $8.70
Seat 6 (playing) : massagestud, amount $6.35
Seat 7 (playing) : thelast1, amount $5.20
Seat 8 (playing) : HERO, amount $9.25
Seat 9 (playing) : jarmeat, amount $4.25
Seat 10 (playing) : kidk, amount $15.80
montyh: Small Blind ($0.05)
D_Rek: Big Blind ($0.10)
** Dealing Down Cards **
Dealt to HERO: [9s, 9c]
massagestud: Fold
thelast1: Fold
HERO: Raise ($0.35)
jarmeat: Call ($0.35)
kidk: Fold
sonnyoo: Call ($0.35)
montyh: Fold
D_Rek: Call ($0.25)
** Dealing Flop **
Community cards: [Kd, Ts, 9d]
D_Rek: Check
HERO: Bet ($1)
jarmeat: Fold
sonnyoo: Call ($1)
D_Rek: Fold
** Dealing Turn **
Community cards: [8d]
HERO: Bet ($2)
sonnyoo: Call ($2)
** Dealing River **
Community cards: [9h]
HERO: Bet ($4)
sonnyoo: Call ($4)
** Showdown **
Main pot $14.70, Rake $0.75
Summary sonnyoo: bet $7.35, won $0, net $-7.35, HoleCards [Qc, Ks]
Summary HERO: bet $7.35, won $14.70, net $7.35, HoleCards [9s, 9c], HiHand [four of a kind, nines] [9s, 9h, 9d, 9c, Kd], won $14.70 from main pot



***** Hand history (v1.2) *****
Hand ID 145169797
NL $10 Texas Hold'em (No Limit) - 01:11:00 18/10/2008 ET
Table 'Go All In', 10 seats max, Real money
Seat 8 is the button. Small Blind $0.05, Big Blind $0.10
Seat 1 (playing) : sonnyoo, amount $14.79
Seat 6 (playing) : massagestud, amount $7.15
Seat 7 (playing) : thelast1, amount $20.14
Seat 8 (playing) : HERO, amount $16.20
Seat 9 (playing) : sabes1, amount $0.97
Seat 10 (playing) : kidk, amount $22.65
sabes1: Small Blind ($0.05)
kidk: Big Blind ($0.10)
** Dealing Down Cards **
Dealt to HERO: [7c, Td]
sonnyoo: Fold
massagestud: Fold
thelast1: Call ($0.10)
HERO: Raise ($0.45)
sabes1: Raise ($0.97)
kidk: Call ($0.87)
thelast1: Call ($0.87)
HERO: Call ($0.52)
** Dealing Flop **
Community cards: [Tc, 7s, Qh]
kidk: Check
thelast1: Check
HERO: Bet ($2)
kidk: Raise ($5.25)
thelast1: Fold
HERO: Raise ($15.23)
kidk: Call ($9.98)
** Dealing Turn **
Community cards: [Ts]
** Dealing River **
Community cards: [As]
** Showdown **
Main pot $3.73, Rake $0.15
Side pot #1 $28.91, Rake $1.55
Summary HERO: bet $18.20, won $32.64, net $14.44, HoleCards [7c, Td], HiHand [a full house, tens full of sevens] [Ts, Td, Tc, 7s, 7c], won $3.73 from main pot, won $28.91 from side pot #1
Summary sabes1: bet $1.02, won $0, net $-1.02
Summary kidk: bet $16.20, won $0, net $-16.20, HoleCards [Ks, Kc]

Labels: BAHH, poker, quads

BAHH

Check out these back-to-back hands:

Hand ID 144172993
$5 + $0.50 Texas Hold'em (No Limit SNG) - 16:35:17 27/09/2008 ET
Table 'Table 1394660', 5 seats max, Real money
Seat 5 is the button. Small Blind $10, Big Blind $15
Seat 1 (playing) : Jmoney99, amount $1813.56
Seat 2 (playing) : jpcosmo, amount $1752.68
Seat 3 (playing) : lol23, amount $1355
Seat 4 (playing) : HERO, amount $1505
Seat 5 (playing) : Doogie52, amount $1073.76
Jmoney99: Small Blind ($10)
jpcosmo: Big Blind ($15)
** Dealing Down Cards **
Dealt to HERO: [Js, Jh]
lol23: Call ($15)
HERO: Raise ($65)
Doogie52: Fold
Jmoney99: Fold
jpcosmo: Call ($50)
lol23: Call ($50)
** Dealing Flop **
Community cards: [6s, 7d, 4d]
jpcosmo: Check ($0)
lol23: Check ($0)
HERO: Bet ($175)
jpcosmo: Fold
lol23: Raise ($1290)
HERO: Call ($1115)
** Dealing Turn **
Community cards: [9d]
** Dealing River **
Community cards: [Th]
** Showdown **
Main pot $2785
Summary lol23: bet $1355, won $2785, net $1430, HoleCards [8d, 8h], HiHand [a straight, six to ten] [Th, 9d, 8h, 7d, 6s], won $2785 from main pot
Summary HERO: bet $1355, won $0, net $-1355, HoleCards [Js, Jh]


THEN THIS:


Hand ID 144173019
$5 + $0.50 Texas Hold'em (No Limit SNG) - 16:36:00 27/09/2008 ET
Table 'Table 1394660', 5 seats max, Real money
Seat 1 is the button. Small Blind $10, Big Blind $15
Seat 1 (playing) : Jmoney99, amount $1803.56
Seat 2 (playing) : jpcosmo, amount $1687.68
Seat 3 (playing) : lol23, amount $2785
Seat 4 (playing) : HERO, amount $150
Seat 5 (playing) : Doogie52, amount $1073.76
jpcosmo: Small Blind ($10)
lol23: Big Blind ($15)
** Dealing Down Cards **
Dealt to HERO: [Qh, Qc]
HERO: Raise ($150)
Doogie52: Fold
Jmoney99: Call ($150)
jpcosmo: Fold
lol23: Raise ($2785)
Jmoney99: Fold
** Dealing Flop **
Community cards: [Kd, 5s, Tc]
** Dealing Turn **
Community cards: [9c]
** Dealing River **
Community cards: [4s]
** End Round **
** Evaluate **
** Showdown **
Main pot $460
Side pot #1 $2635
Summary lol23: bet $2800, won $3095, net $295, HoleCards [Ts, Th], HiHand [three of a kind, tens] [Ts, Th, Tc, Kd, 9c], won $460 from main pot, won $2635 from side pot #1
Summary HERO: bet $150, won $0, net $-150

Labels: ouch, poker

BAHH

$10 + $1 Texas Hold'em (No Limit Tournament) - 00:32:15 27/09/2008 ET
Table 'Table 1394344', 10 seats max, Real money
Seat 2 is the button. Small Blind $50, Big Blind $100
Seat 1 (playing) : HERO, amount $2340
Seat 2 (playing) : wardode, amount $2046
Seat 3 (playing) : daddio, amount $1799
Seat 4 (playing) : reefbrake, amount $1013
Seat 6 (playing) : kimph, amount $1923
Seat 7 (playing) : jimymatt, amount $1375
Seat 9 (playing) : rs7214, amount $6096
Seat 10 (playing) : smileywpciller, amount $4368
daddio: Small Blind ($50)
reefbrake: Big Blind ($100)
** Dealing Down Cards **
Dealt to HERO: [Kc, Kd]
kimph: Fold
jimymatt: Fold
rs7214: Call ($100)
smileywpciller: Call ($100)
HERO: Raise ($700)
wardode: Fold
daddio: Fold
reefbrake: Fold
rs7214: Call ($600)
smileywpciller: Call ($600)
** Dealing Flop **
Community cards: [6c, 3c, 7h]
rs7214: Check
smileywpciller: Bet ($1200)
HERO: Raise ($1640)
rs7214: Call ($1640)
smileywpciller: Call ($440)
** Dealing Turn **
Community cards: [9c]
rs7214: Bet ($3756)
smileywpciller: Call ($2028)
** Dealing River **
Community cards: [Ks]
** End Round **
** Evaluate **
** Showdown **
Main pot $7170
Side pot #1 $4056
Side pot #2 $1728
Summary HERO: bet $2340, won $7170, net $4830, HoleCards [Kc, Kd], HiHand [three of a kind, kings] [Ks, Kd, Kc, 9c, 7h], won $7170 from main pot
Summary rs7214: bet $6096, won $1728, net $-4368, HoleCards [9s, 6h], HiHand [two pairs, nines and sixes] [9s, 9c, 6h, 6c, Ks], won $1728 from side pot #2
Summary smileywpciller: bet $4368, won $4056, net $-312, HoleCards [3h, 3d], HiHand [three of a kind, threes] [3h, 3d, 3c, Ks, 9c], won $4056 from side pot #1