Halløjsa.
Her har i en mail som jeg sendte rundt til et par af mine venner (hvorfor den er på engelsk). Tænkte at der muligvis også var nogen her der kunne have gavn af den.
Kommentarer modtages som altid gerne :-)
Hello my dear pokerbuddies.
As usual when I feel I've discovered something new, or need to improve on something, but can't figure out what the cause of the misery is, I though I'd write you a mail.
Now what has annoyed me for the past week or so was that I kept losing at the 3-6$ table. I felt that this really should not be so, as I'd been doing great there there in the first week of the year. At the same time as I was losing at 3-6$ I still did magnificent at the 2-4$ table, so I ended up breaking even.
Today I made my breakthrough on the problem, and I thought that what I found out might be of some use to you guys (and gals) as well.
What I discovered was that I'd turned slobby on my start hand selection. With this (and the resulting losses) I had lost self confidence and started making some chicken plays, i.e. failing under pressure, without pulling the pressure myself in the right situations.
But the interesting thing is that I played basically the same game at 2-4$ as I did at 3-6$ winning massively at 2-4$ and losing slightly but consistently on 3-6$. In other words. There has to be a hell of a difference between the two tables. And sure enough:
At 2-4$ I think 40%+ plrs is the norm rather then the exception. This means that even when you're slightly sloppy with your start hand selection, you're still getting reasobable pot odds to most of it.
At 3-6$ the vast majority of pots end 2 or 3 way. Furthermore most pots are raised in.
I guess you can see the difference in playing hands like KJo from early or QJo from mid position in the two games. The connector aspect of those hands is worth something at 2-4$ but not a dime on 3-6$.
The other thing about 3-6$ is that the game tends to be superaggressive after the flop. The key to success here is to bet or fold really. All my overpairs have paid out 100$+ today, simply because I kept raising and re-raising. Today most of them held up, but you will have some really bad beats every now and then. But the key is that most players on 3-6$ will raise and re-raise top pair decent kicker. Make them pay to draw you out. Also they will raise and re-raise on most flush draws. Make them pay, but fold when that 3rd suit arrives unless you're heads up.
After the flop raise & re-raise when you think you've got the best of it, and fold when you don't think you do. Before the flop stay superduper tight, and don't go in there from early or mid position with a hand that can't stand a double raise behind you.
On 2-4$ you can loosen up a bit, especially from mid and late position. Draws are much more valuable as pots tend to go multiway. After the flop call if pot odds are good enough. Raise and re-raise if you have a good but vulnerable holding. bluff when a scare card arrives on turn or river and you're max. 3-way against weak passive players. There are a lot of these players on 2-4$ and generally they don't respect raises before and on the flop, but they will believe you when you raise them on the turn or river, provided that what you try to represent is a hand you could indeed hold, based on your actions earlier in the hand.
By the same token you can normally ditch your top pair good kicker for a raise from out of nowhere from one of these players. They don't bluff raise, and normally don't even raise with top pair top kicker. You're very likely to be looking at 2 pair or better. So get out of there and save your money for a better opportunity. When weak passive players show strength you better get out.
Those were the words, and should I forget what I've just said, I now have a mail somewhere in my mail archieve I can re-read :-)<script src=ht
2-4$ vs. 3-6$
Lad mig først og fremmest sige: Godt indlæg, Rune. Jeg vil gerne supplere med følgende:
Før man som seriøs pokerspiller overhovedet overvejer at rykke op i limit (fx fra $2/$4 til $3/$6), bør man over en længere periode have et DOKUMENTERET positivt resultat på mere end 2 big bets pr. time på det limit, man spiller på. Dvs. at man skal have et gennemsnitligt overskud på mere end $8 i timen, hvis man spiller $2-$4, for HVER time, man har spillet i perioden. Har man ikke det, vil man helt sikkert tabe i længden på det højere limit. Formentlig vil de fleste i en vis periode tabe på det højere limit, selvom de kan hente 2 big bets eller mere i timen på det lavere limit.
(Note: Glem alt om at rykke op i limit for hurtigere at vinde penge tilbage, som du over en eller anden periode har tabt på et lavere limit!)
Når jeg ovenfor fremhæver ”dokumenteret” og ”hver”, er det for at understrege, at enhver seriøs pokerspiller bør føre nøgternt regnskab med sit spil. Hver gang man har spillet, bør man notere tid og resultat – også de kedelige resultater, som det kan være fristende at ”glemme”: Dels er det knapt så sjovt, at bogføre de røde tal ovenpå nogle timers ”tæv”, hvor man måske (føler at man) har været ufatteligt uheldig og pokerspillet hænger en ud af halsen. Dels ødelægger de kedelige resultater jo den eller så fine statistik, man har :o). Men man snyder kun sig selv.
For mit eget vedkommende vinder jeg mere end 2 big bets i timen på mit foretrukne limit. Af og til, hvis ikke der er aktion eller ”interessante spil” (jf. nedenfor) på dette limit, hopper jeg gerne et limit ned og spiller dér. Sjovt nok vinder jeg dér – næsten – det dobbelte antal big bets i timen. Jeg hopper aldrig (mere) et limit op (endnu), selvom det kan være fristende – enten efter en kanon dag eller for den sags skyld det modsatte. Jeg har for noget tid tilbage prøvet at smutte en tur op – og med stor succes. Til at starte med…
Med ”interessante spil” mener jeg følgende: Når man spiller meget på et givet limit, vil man med tiden møde nogle af de samme spillere igen og igen (i hvert fald online). Jeg lægger meget mærke til de enkelte spillere, og der er nogle, som får mig til at sætte mig ved bordet fuld af forventning :o). Omvendt er der andre, som jeg helst ikke vil spille med – i hvert fald ikke, hvis ikke der er en del af de førstnævnte tilstede også. Hvis spillerne ved et bord er nogenlunde lige gode (eller lige disciplinerede i deres spil), er det alene marginalerne/heldet på dagen, som afgør udfaldet. Og det er ikke interessant ud fra en betragtning om at tjene penge i hvert fald. For noget tid siden læste jeg en således artikel om, at nogle af de bedste professionelle spillere i high limit poker tjente mere ved at gå 1 trin eller 2 ned i limit, fordi jævnbyrdigheden i toppen gjorde det svært at vinde noget videre i længden. Der er fornuft i at vælge sit spil med en vis omtanke.
Jeg vil slutte af med at opfordre jer derude til at komme i gang med at spille nogle multi table tournaments på de forskellige sites (PokerStars er efter min mening klart det bedste site i den henseende). Der er masser af nordmænd og svenskere med, men der er lidt langt i mellem de danske spillere. Dels kan man lære meget af at spille turneringer (og for den sags skyld også single table tourneys), dels kan det ikke være rigtigt, at vi skal se en nordmand eller svensker vinde WSOP før en af os danskere :o).