Joined: Sep '10
Location: Finland
Age: 59 (M)
Posts: 29
I decided to start to do some blogging, maybe it gives my brains some new activities, besides I don't believe that it is healthy to focus your brains too much on a single subject, whatever that may be. So there must be life outside poker tables, fresh autumn air in the wonderful finnish nature, good relationships etc. My games have not been profitable thus far, it can be that I start playing as a TAG but get carried away by the table action at some point. So obviously I need to practise more my self-discipline. Every time I enter the poker table I try to be as sobre-headed and present as possible. I hope some day these virtues pay out. Currently I have a deposited cash account on one poker room, and I'm joining some freerolls on other sites (with 0 real money accounts).
------------ In some poker rooms I have the paranoid feeling that the game software adn the random number generator are biased so that if I have a rubbish hand that I fold, like J3o, very often this folded hand hits perfectly to the flop, such as JJ3. It is as the software tries to lure me into betting on those rubbish hands - of course if I would do that then the flop would be something totally different. Has someone similar experiences? This phenomena could be explored by some statistical programs - what is the propability of hitting the flop with a folded hand and does it occur too often. Or am I just paranoid?
Joined: May '10
Location: Romania
Age: 34 (M)
Posts: 148
I've seen this stuff a lot also. My folded hand gets nuts on the flop, then you get a second rubbish hand...and you fold that too...then again and again...and then you limp...and u hit total air lol I don;t even pay attention to this anymore, it's not worth it. If the blinds are small, and u see u keep hitting with K4o but folded already, try a limp but not OOP. If u hit play it strong, if not...give it up right there, it's not worth a bluff. Implied odds are huge, but you will very very rarely hit the flop with this type of hands. GL at the tables and keep that TAG game going
Joined: Dec '09
Location: United States
Age: 41 (M)
Posts: 22
Playing a hand just because you've won with it previously is a HUGE leak. It is the ultimate representation of selective thinking....choosing to remember the time you folded 9-3 and the flop came 9-9-3 instead of all the other times you folded and didn't connect with the flop at all.
The thing about most poker rooms is the deck is constantly shuffling, at all times. This means that in the split second it takes for you to move your mouse pointer from 'call' to 'fold,' the flop will be totally different, because the deck never stops shuffling. This is why you shouldn't worry about folding a flopped boat, because if you would have called, you would have seen a different flop than the one making you consider playing Q4 next time you look at it.
Also, most online poker rooms don't use burn cards. This means that at all showdowns, there are three extra cards in the deck, which translates into more 'suckouts'...more gut shots and flush draws filling in, more people calling down with middle pair and hitting three of a kind on the river, more ace-rag hands hitting two pair by the river, more runner-runner flushes, etc.
The weapons you can use to win, however, all remain the same. Position, aggression, good bet sizing and timing, these things never change. Work on your discipline, and keep some of these things in mind next time you want to call a three bet with K3 suited from the small blind.
Joined: Jan '09
Location: Italy
Age: 53 (M)
Posts: 3871
Posted by FlopMeARoyal: The weapons you can use to win, however, all remain the same. Position, aggression, good bet sizing and timing, these things never change.
nice post Flopme, but can you please explain me the concept of timing you mentioned?
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Posted by Mobbari: I start playing as a TAG but get carried away by the table action at some point. So obviously I need to practise more my self-discipline.
as you said work on your selfdiscipline - in the meanwhile you can reduce the time you are sitting at the table to the time you can stay focused on your TAG style.
Joined: Sep '10
Location: Finland
Age: 59 (M)
Posts: 29
Thanks for the comments, your wisdom is greatly appreciated. Yeah, I'm not going to be the fool playing the hand just because it won once before.. a kind of lottery-player's mindstate, you see somebody else to win the pot against huge odds and think this can/will happen to you as well..
Tonight I'm going to try my luck in Pokerstars scandinavian freeroll, I hope to be at least at the top 1000.
fresh autumn air in the wonderful finnish nature, good relationships etc ....... and lots of beautiful finnish girls waiting for you to stop playing poker and look after them
Joined: Dec '09
Location: United States
Age: 41 (M)
Posts: 22
Posted by magatt966:
Posted by FlopMeARoyal: The weapons you can use to win, however, all remain the same. Position, aggression, good bet sizing and timing, these things never change.
nice post Flopme, but can you please explain me the concept of timing you mentioned
Sure. The concept of timing in online poker is twofold. There's timing in regards to using the clock to your advantage, and timing in regards to finding good spots to build and take pots.
The first concept is simple...always try to vary the amount of time it takes you to make a decision at every point in every hand you play. Let's say you have JTo on the button, cutoff makes a small raise, and you call. Flop comes 894 rainbow. You're obviously not folding on the flop to the inevitable continuation bet, but you want to conceal the hit-or-miss nature of your hand. So you should use up a good amount of time before acting. In most cases at lower stakes, a quick call means a draw(think about it...how many times have you seen someone quickly call a turn bet with a flush draw on the board, only to slowly fold when they miss the river), and a slow call means some sort of made hand. These are only guidelines, but they're pretty accurate guidelines....use different amounts of time in different situations to keep your opponent guessing.
The second concept of timing involves picking good spots to take down pots. If a player is raising alot from random positions, and folding to resistance or showing down alot of junk hands, you're naturally gonna want to raise this player more often. The danger in raising a loose player is you can never be sure when he actually has a hand or not. The solution is to take time and study this player's actions, and form hand ranges for specific situations. Let's take the above situation and elaborate a little on the factors of the hand. The pre-flop raiser has raised alot of hands in your session, and has shown a willingness to bet all three streets to win a pot. So you call with TJo, and the board is 894 rainbow. We already know your chances of winning the hand, now let's take a look at your opponent's by applying a hand range to the situation. There are always obvious hands to look out for at any time...top pair, two pair, or a flopped set are always on the table. Let's assume your opponent is going to c-bet 75%-80% of the time. Because you are drawing to the nuts, you don't need to worry about a flopped set or two pair on the flop, and any paint card on the turn will likely slow your opponent down if he has anything less than 2 pair or a set. Because of the recklessness of your opponent and the quality of your draw, now might be a good time to put in a good raise. This forces your opponent to define his hand NOW, instead of later, when the turn and river might brick and you have no choice to fold to a bet. Even if you're reraised, you can safely call, knowing that any card that doesn't pair the board will likely be a good card for you. This is what I mean by timing. The best way to improve this reading skill is experience, there's no substitute for it. Start looking for spots to steal pots, open up your game a little.
Joined: Apr '10
Location: Finland
Age: 50 (M)
Posts: 323
Posted by FlopMeARoyal:
Posted by magatt966:
Posted by FlopMeARoyal: The weapons you can use to win, however, all remain the same. Position, aggression, good bet sizing and timing, these things never change.
nice post Flopme, but can you please explain me the concept of timing you mentioned
Sure. The concept of timing in online poker is twofold. There's timing in regards to using the clock to your advantage, and timing in regards to finding good spots to build and take pots.
The first concept is simple...always try to vary the amount of time it takes you to make a decision at every point in every hand you play. Let's say you have JTo on the button, cutoff makes a small raise, and you call. Flop comes 894 rainbow. You're obviously not folding on the flop to the inevitable continuation bet, but you want to conceal the hit-or-miss nature of your hand. So you should use up a good amount of time before acting. In most cases at lower stakes, a quick call means a draw(think about it...how many times have you seen someone quickly call a turn bet with a flush draw on the board, only to slowly fold when they miss the river), and a slow call means some sort of made hand. These are only guidelines, but they're pretty accurate guidelines....use different amounts of time in different situations to keep your opponent guessing.
The second concept of timing involves picking good spots to take down pots. If a player is raising alot from random positions, and folding to resistance or showing down alot of junk hands, you're naturally gonna want to raise this player more often. The danger in raising a loose player is you can never be sure when he actually has a hand or not. The solution is to take time and study this player's actions, and form hand ranges for specific situations. Let's take the above situation and elaborate a little on the factors of the hand. The pre-flop raiser has raised alot of hands in your session, and has shown a willingness to bet all three streets to win a pot. So you call with TJo, and the board is 894 rainbow. We already know your chances of winning the hand, now let's take a look at your opponent's by applying a hand range to the situation. There are always obvious hands to look out for at any time...top pair, two pair, or a flopped set are always on the table. Let's assume your opponent is going to c-bet 75%-80% of the time. Because you are drawing to the nuts, you don't need to worry about a flopped set or two pair on the flop, and any paint card on the turn will likely slow your opponent down if he has anything less than 2 pair or a set. Because of the recklessness of your opponent and the quality of your draw, now might be a good time to put in a good raise. This forces your opponent to define his hand NOW, instead of later, when the turn and river might brick and you have no choice to fold to a bet. Even if you're reraised, you can safely call, knowing that any card that doesn't pair the board will likely be a good card for you. This is what I mean by timing. The best way to improve this reading skill is experience, there's no substitute for it. Start looking for spots to steal pots, open up your game a little.
+1 Really pleasant to read your text mate! I´m amazed that you haven´t posted here more than 19posts... Keep on posting cause you seem to know lots of poker & I wanna learn more
Joined: Oct '10
Location: Switzerland
Age: 38 (M)
Posts: 23
I have also seen this full hous flops a lot, but i think its possible, that is only pure chance. Maybe we remember it mutch better if we would have hitted a monster than all the other times when we would have hitted nothing.
Joined: Sep '10
Location: Finland
Age: 59 (M)
Posts: 29
Thanks for the brilliant timing article FlopMeARoyal. I had many times a hunch that I should not react immeditealy, but instead slow down a bit here and there to make things more confusing (for the oppenents at least..) but these thougths never grew up to a conscious planned strategy. But ok, now when I know this I have to start thinking new ways to interpret the timing differences and ways to out-smart the other table smartees. For every strategy there is a counter-strategy. I must begin to make more notes of the players that I encounter because after few hands I don't remember a thing what happened.
------------ My pokerstars $4000 scandinavian freeroll was a disaster today, lost my stack in a coinflip situation where I thought to have some equity, but no luck to day. Better strategy: right after the start double the stack a few times with suitable pushes, then sit out, go to a pub, have few pints, return home few hours later, enter the bubble phase and win.
Joined: Nov '09
Location: Canada
Age: 55 (M)
Posts: 2387
Poker is a game skill, luck, and timing, and not always in that order! We all see garbage hands hit crazily on the flop (2-3o for me recently woulda hit full house), but you cannot regularly play these. If you are on fire you might want to try a few more than usual, but if you are cold don't touch these. If you are in position try a raise, if you get the blinds great, if not, somebody calls and you hit well then you are laughing. Choose your spots! GL
Joined: Sep '10
Location: Finland
Age: 59 (M)
Posts: 29
Tonight I'm not going to the money tables, felt bad after another poor tournament and at this point I'm conscious enough not to join the game if I'm not able to give my best shot. No tired, not drunk but somehow demoralized. It can relate to the issue that I received a letter from the local police telling that I have to do an eyesight check if I don't want my driving licence to be cancelled. It is the law here that you have to do this at the age of 45. Or I could just return my driver's licence, which I don't want to. I don't own a car, but would like to still have the licence just in case I want to have a camper van some day. So the next morning I'll go to the local optician and hope to pass the test.
Joined: May '09
Location: India
Age: 37 (M)
Posts: 4873
Posted by FlopMeARoyal: Also, most online poker rooms don't use burn cards. This means that at all showdowns, there are three extra cards in the deck, which translates into more 'suckouts'...more gut shots and flush draws filling in, more people calling down with middle pair and hitting three of a kind on the river, more ace-rag hands hitting two pair by the river, more runner-runner flushes, etc.
i dont think odds will be changed if u burn/ dont burn cards, unless u see the cards which r burnt.
Joined: Jan '09
Location: Italy
Age: 53 (M)
Posts: 3871
Posted by Mobbari: Tonight I'm not going to the money tables, felt bad after another poor tournament and at this point I'm conscious enough not to join the game if I'm not able to give my best shot. No tired, not drunk but somehow demoralized. It can relate to the issue that I received a letter from the local police telling that I have to do an eyesight check if I don't want my driving licence to be cancelled. It is the law here that you have to do this at the age of 45. Or I could just return my driver's licence, which I don't want to. I don't own a car, but would like to still have the licence just in case I want to have a camper van some day. So the next morning I'll go to the local optician and hope to pass the test.
come on mobbari don't be so worried....I don't know your laws but I can guess if you eyesight is not at the maximum you should be compelled to drive with glasses ... at least this is what happen here.
about poker....it is always a wise choice not to play if you are not at your best; so do something different and when you are up come back at the tables and crush every donk/fish you will face.....hope you will win enough to buy a van and I suggest you to have a tour in italy with it, you will surely enjoy
Joined: Sep '10
Location: Finland
Age: 59 (M)
Posts: 29
Yes, now I'm much happier after passing the eyesight test. Besides guessing the small letters on the test panel my field of vision was measured and nothing worrying was found. So I got clear papers. Maybe tonight I try my luck again on the scandinavian freeroll. Visiting Italy is always a good idea, I was there few times already, in Rome, Bologna, Venezia, Bellaria. When I was a kid my parents took me to Lago di Garda, a beautiful place. I was very impressed by the fast hydrofoils there.
Joined: Sep '10
Location: Finland
Age: 59 (M)
Posts: 29
I just received the free bankroll for 24hpoker, thank U BRM, keep up the good work. Recently I also realized that there is a live hold'em table in the nearby hotel. I'm propably too shy to play there myself but one of these days I'm going to have a beer there and take a look of the real live action and see if I can get any reads from the players.
Joined: Sep '10
Location: Finland
Age: 59 (M)
Posts: 29
Here in Finland we have some snow on the ground but the sea is still unfrozen. I'm going to try couple of freerolls at partyPoker, the nordic freerolls at pokerStars seem to have ended. Last night I was able to win some $3 at money tables, being a poker novice I want to start small, and if at some point I seem to have a winning strategy to proceed to higher stakes, but for now $0,01/0,02 is quite enought for me.
Joined: Sep '10
Location: Finland
Age: 59 (M)
Posts: 29
Today seemed to be the first real wintery day for me. Went cross-country skiing and fell down once. Now my knee hurts and I have the perfect mindset to contribute my aggression to the nearest poker table.. luckily one site whose bankroll I already user gave me extra $5. I still have the feeling that the poker game software is heavily rigged and half of other players are playbots. Maybe this is something I should talk with a shrink, if I had one. Then they would give me a pile of mind control pills, that I could then trade to the street folks and get richer, have more problems and more pills... Maybe it could even be possible to medicalize the whole EU debt/credit crisis...
