Marshall28's blog

This is the most retarded graph I've ever had over a one month period .... Jesus.....

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Today, I will be writing a blog post about the day that epicness and determination met, and became one. LOL, sorta.

*****Just to warn you right now. THIS IS LONG. It'll probably take 15+ minutes to read, so stop now if you don't wanna get involved. You've been warned.****

I've never quite played a session like this one I just finished less than an hour ago, but I have to say I think it definitely says something about me, my drive, and my talent. This makes me feel optimistic about the future. I also think that others may gain some inspiration from it, so for those reasons, plus the reason that I would like to be able to come back and re-read this in a couple months or a year or a couple years, I want to have it written down for personal access.

So this particular session began about 34 hours before my writing this post, on 12AM, Sunday, November 15th. It was the day immediately after I had my huge breakthrough at 3/6 where I won 14k over the course of two days, and it spanned 33 hours straight... No breaks except for quick runs to the bathroom and kitchen, I never logged off, and never sat ot for more than 4-5 minutes at a time. I played a total of 24,469 hands and played somewhere between 8-14 tables the entire time--I've never even come close to doing anything like this before.

The session started going out well, I was up early a quick and easy 2200 was already lining my pockets. That is, until the first stumbling block on this journey arrived. I lost what may have been the biggest pot of my life.

My opponent had been VERY aggressive, and his 3bet stat said he was 3betting 40% of the time. Almost, if not all o fthem were to my opens. I decided to defend w/ the 45s in position 250bb deep. I flopped an OESD on a dry ten high flop: T32r. My only thought at this point was, an Ace on the turn would be the most beautiful card I've ever seen. And oh it was. I wasn't sure if I should raise my opponent's turn bet right then while holding the nuts, or try to string him along. The main thing though tthat went through my mind was that his turn sizing appeared to be relatively small, which would leave him with just about exactly a pot sized shove on the river. This generally would indicate to me that my opponent is attempting to do his best to give himself the most folding equity he possibly could have garrnered. The river was another duece pairing the board. Another thing I though here was that since he was 3betting 40% he probably values AK and AA VERY VERY similarly here. Anyways, I made the river call pretty quickly and was shown the bad news.

Seat 1: zimp721 ($630)
Seat 2: MF28 ($1,501)
Seat 3: 2BOO2BOO ($1,839.90)
Seat 4: FoldTOcash ($1,821)
Seat 5: tinhcong ($554.60)
Seat 6: FishyFish12 ($570)
tinhcong antes $1
zimp721 antes $1
FoldTOcash antes $1
FishyFish12 antes $1
2BOO2BOO antes $1
MF28 antes $1
2BOO2BOO has 5 seconds left to act
2BOO2BOO posts the small blind of $3
FoldTOcash posts the big blind of $6
The button is in seat #2
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to MF28 [4h 5h]
tinhcong has 15 seconds left to act
tinhcong calls $6
FishyFish12 folds
zimp721 folds
MF28 raises to $24
2BOO2BOO has 15 seconds left to act
2BOO2BOO raises to $96
FoldTOcash folds
tinhcong folds
MF28 has 15 seconds left to act
MF28 calls $72
*** FLOP *** [3d Tc 2s]
2BOO2BOO has 15 seconds left to act
2BOO2BOO bets $124
MF28 has 15 seconds left to act
MF28 calls $124
*** TURN *** [3d Tc 2s]
2BOO2BOO has 15 seconds left to act
2BOO2BOO has requested TIME
2BOO2BOO bets $270
MF28 has 15 seconds left to act
MF28 has requested TIME
MF28 calls $270
*** RIVER *** [3d Tc 2s Ac]
2BOO2BOO has 15 seconds left to act
2BOO2BOO has requested TIME
2BOO2BOO bets $1,348.90, and is all in
MF28 calls $1,010, and is all in
Uncalled bet of $338.90 returned to 2BOO2BOO
*** SHOW DOWN ***
2BOO2BOO shows [Ad As] a full house, Aces full of Twos
MF28 mucks
2BOO2BOO wins the pot ($3,015) with a full house, Aces full of Twos
MF28 adds $1,200
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $3,018 | Rake $3
Board: [3d Tc 2s Ac 2h]
Seat 1: zimp721 folded before the Flop
Seat 2: MF28 (button) mucked [4h 5h] - a straight, Five high
Seat 3: 2BOO2BOO (small blind) showed [Ad As] and won ($3,015) with a full house, Aces full of Twos
Seat 4: FoldTOcash (big blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 5: tinhcong folded before the Flop
Seat 6: FishyFish12 folded before the Flop


Of course I was a little rattled, but I'm a professional, I've got to accept and KNOW that those types of thigns are going to happen and I must get over them as quickly as possible if I want to be the best I can be. After losing a coinflip and a couple other pots, I was down about 1k or so, but this is clearly no big deal at all for 600nl. I felt like I was keeping my compusure decently enough to continue and that things would continue to be fine.

...Bur then it happened. I'm not sure I can describe it in words. I've actually read it in a number of poker books: "Some day you will run worse than you ever could have imagined, as bad as things may or may not be now, someday they will be 50-500x worse." That's obviously not verbatim, but it's what I remember reading. Well, I've played nearly 1.5million hands and I'd have to say that that time came for me this session.

It wasn't like I was getting cold decked or no cards, that wasn't the case at all. I was making plenty of hands. The problem was, whenever I made a hand and tried to bet it, all that would happen is I would get zero action. I must have flopped 6 or 7 sets and had my opponent (who was the pfr) check/fold the flop every time. So since for some reason I was unable to get anybody to put money in the pot by calling me down or raising me when I had a hand, I started barreling all my bluffs and taking trappy lines with all of my bigger hands. Here is a SHORT sample of how those went. --The funny thing is here, there literally was not one time that I attempted one of these traps that my opponent did not suck out on me to something obscure on the river.....


PokerStars Game #35350343604: Hold'em No Limit ($3/$6 USD) - 2009/11/14 10:55:37 PT [2009/11/14 13:55:37 ET]
Table 'Mauritia' 6-max Seat #3 is the button
Seat 2: Pokerblom ($723.50 in chips)
Seat 3: Jenn415 ($743.50 in chips)
Seat 4: curtains ($111 in chips)
Seat 5: Marshall28 ($951.60 in chips)
Seat 6: Chisness ($108 in chips)
curtains: posts small blind $3
Marshall28: posts big blind $6
M0n3y0nf1r3: sits out
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Marshall28 [Qs As]
Chisness: folds
Pokerblom: folds
Jenn415: raises $12 to $18
curtains: folds
Marshall28: raises $42 to $60
Jenn415: calls $42
*** FLOP *** [Ks 8h Ah]
Marshall28: checks
Jenn415: checks
*** TURN *** [Ks 8h Ah]
Marshall28: bets $72
Jenn415: calls $72
*** RIVER *** [Ks 8h Ah 6d]
Marshall28: bets $148
Jenn415: raises $463.50 to $611.50 and is all-in
Marshall28: calls $463.50
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Jenn415: shows [7d 9d] (a straight, Five to Nine)
Marshall28: shows [Qs As] (a pair of Aces)
Jenn415 collected $1488 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $1490 | Rake $2
Board [Ks 8h Ah 6d 5s]
Seat 2: Pokerblom folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 3: Jenn415 (button) showed [7d 9d] and won ($1488) with a straight, Five to Nine
Seat 4: curtains (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 5: Marshall28 (big blind) showed [Qs As] and lost with a pair of Aces
Seat 6: Chisness folded before Flop (didn't bet)

Really? 7 9 ???


Oh yeah I remember, I loved this one. my opponent didn't suck out, he turned the nut straight, and I "sucked out" to the second nut straight on the river.....


PokerStars Game #35334342105: Hold'em No Limit ($3/$6 USD) - 2009/11/14 2:20:24 PT [2009/11/14 5:20:24 ET]
Table 'Nephele II' 6-max Seat #6 is the button
Seat 1: Shiko19 ($1735.50 in chips)
Seat 2: SmokedYou ($751.50 in chips)
Seat 3: innerpsy ($600 in chips)
Seat 4: x_Slowrollin ($495 in chips)
Seat 5: Marshall28 ($702 in chips)
Seat 6: wasabi71 ($2374 in chips)
Shiko19: posts small blind $3
SmokedYou: posts big blind $6
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Marshall28 [7c 6c]
innerpsy: folds
x_Slowrollin: folds
Marshall28: raises $12 to $18
wasabi71: folds
Shiko19: raises $42 to $60
SmokedYou: folds
Marshall28: calls $42
*** FLOP *** [8c Kd 9s]
Shiko19: bets $72
Marshall28: calls $72
*** TURN *** [8c Kd 9s]
Shiko19: checks
Marshall28: checks
*** RIVER *** [8c Kd 9s Qs]
Shiko19: bets $156
Marshall28: raises $414 to $570 and is all-in
Shiko19: calls $414
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Marshall28: shows [7c 6c] (a straight, Five to Nine)
Shiko19: shows [Js Ts] (a straight, Nine to King)
Shiko19 collected $1407 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $1410 | Rake $3
Board [8c Kd 9s Qs 5h]
Seat 1: Shiko19 (small blind) showed [Js Ts] and won ($1407) with a straight, Nine to King
Seat 2: SmokedYou (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 3: innerpsy folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 4: x_Slowrollin folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 5: Marshall28 showed [7c 6c] and lost with a straight, Five to Nine
Seat 6: wasabi71 (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)


Oh yeah, this one was lovely....

PokerStars Game #35358960425: Hold'em No Limit ($2/$4 USD) - 2009/11/14 14:17:00 PT [2009/11/14 17:17:00 ET]
Table 'Janina III' 6-max Seat #6 is the button
Seat 1: King0288 ($210 in chips)
Seat 2: duffer122 ($148 in chips)
Seat 3: nanonoko ($428 in chips)
Seat 4: Marshall28 ($542.30 in chips)
Seat 5: pvjack ($290.45 in chips)
Seat 6: LosSababa ($560 in chips)
King0288: posts small blind $2
duffer122: posts big blind $4
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Marshall28 [9d 9s]
nanonoko: folds
Marshall28: raises $8 to $12
pvjack: calls $12
LosSababa: folds
King0288: folds
duffer122: folds
*** FLOP *** [4d 6s 7c]
Marshall28: checks
pvjack: bets $20
Marshall28: calls $20
*** TURN *** [4d 6s 7c]
Marshall28: checks
pvjack: bets $40
Marshall28: calls $40
*** RIVER *** [4d 6s 7c 2h]
Marshall28: checks
pvjack: bets $96
Marshall28: calls $96
*** SHOW DOWN ***
pvjack: shows [7s As] (three of a kind, Sevens)
Marshall28: mucks hand
pvjack collected $339 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $342 | Rake $3
Board [4d 6s 7c 2h 7h]
Seat 1: King0288 (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 2: duffer122 (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 3: nanonoko folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 4: Marshall28 mucked [9d 9s]
Seat 5: pvjack showed [7s As] and won ($339) with three of a kind, Sevens
Seat 6: LosSababa (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)


I'd have to say I think this next one is my favorite ... It was maybe the 6th or 7th trap I was attempting and was just sitting there looking at this board thinking ... there's just NO WAY this guy has any kind of chance of outdrawing me here, but lo and behold.....

PokerStars Game #35359914630: Hold'em No Limit ($3/$6 USD) - 2009/11/14 14:39:07 PT [2009/11/14 17:39:07 ET]
Table 'Tavastia III' 6-max Seat #5 is the button
Seat 1: Marshall28 ($1148.40 in chips)
Seat 2: JABOOOOO ($651 in chips)
Seat 3: Shiko19 ($930.15 in chips)
Seat 4: justeville ($455.70 in chips)
Seat 5: YourDoom ($639.90 in chips)
Seat 6: dhousesonfir ($300.20 in chips)
dhousesonfir: posts small blind $3
Marshall28: posts big blind $6
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Marshall28 [7c 7h]
JABOOOOO: folds
Shiko19: folds
justeville: folds
YourDoom: raises $12 to $18
dhousesonfir: calls $15
Marshall28: calls $12
*** FLOP *** [2h 7s 2s]
dhousesonfir: checks
Marshall28: checks
YourDoom: bets $36
dhousesonfir: folds
Marshall28: calls $36
*** TURN *** [2h 7s 2s]
Marshall28: checks
YourDoom: bets $78
Marshall28: calls $78
*** RIVER *** [2h 7s 2s 6c]
Marshall28: checks
YourDoom: bets $130
Marshall28: raises $886.40 to $1016.40 and is all-in
YourDoom: calls $377.90 and is all-in
Uncalled bet ($508.50) returned to Marshall28
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Marshall28: shows [7c 7h] (a full house, Sevens full of Deuces)
YourDoom: shows [Jc Js] (a full house, Jacks full of Deuces)
YourDoom collected $1294.80 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $1297.80 | Rake $3
Board [2h 7s 2s 6c Jh]
Seat 1: Marshall28 (big blind) showed [7c 7h] and lost with a full house, Sevens full of Deuces
Seat 2: JABOOOOO folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 3: Shiko19 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 4: justeville folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 5: YourDoom (button) showed [Jc Js] and won ($1294.80) with a full house, Jacks full of Deuces
Seat 6: dhousesonfir (small blind) folded on the Flop


Here's one more, I'm not going to make this a whole list of every bad beat, I just want to get the point across.....


PokerStars Game #35329661804: Hold'em No Limit ($3/$6 USD) - 2009/11/13 21:50:23 PT [2009/11/14 0:50:23 ET]
Table 'Nephele II' 6-max Seat #6 is the button
Seat 1: Marshall28 ($1066 in chips)
Seat 2: gregy20723 ($600 in chips)
Seat 3: RIPP hasso ($571.20 in chips)
Seat 4: FrAnWaN ($1392 in chips)
Seat 5: TableATM ($1052.05 in chips)
Seat 6: Gkastone ($600 in chips)
Marshall28: posts small blind $3
gregy20723: posts big blind $6
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Marshall28 [Ah Jh]
RIPP hasso: folds
FrAnWaN: folds
TableATM: folds
Gkastone: raises $12 to $18
Marshall28: calls $15
gregy20723: folds
*** FLOP *** [2d 3h 2h]
Marshall28: checks
Gkastone: bets $30
Marshall28: calls $30
*** TURN *** [2d 3h 2h]
Marshall28: checks
Gkastone: bets $84
Marshall28: calls $84
*** RIVER *** [2d 3h 2h 6h]
Marshall28: checks
Gkastone: bets $132
Marshall28: raises $802 to $934 and is all-in
Gkastone: calls $336 and is all-in
Uncalled bet ($466) returned to Marshall28
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Marshall28: shows [Ah Jh] (a flush, Ace high)
Gkastone: shows [Kc Ks] (a full house, Kings full of Deuces)
Gkastone collected $1203 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $1206 | Rake $3
Board [2d 3h 2h 6h Kd]
Seat 1: Marshall28 (small blind) showed [Ah Jh] and lost with a flush, Ace high
Seat 2: gregy20723 (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 3: RIPP hasso folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 4: FrAnWaN folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 5: TableATM folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 6: Gkastone (button) showed [Kc Ks] and won ($1203) with a full house, Kings full of Deuces


Okay so this next part of the story is where it gets a little ... strange to say the least. I'm not sure I've ever seen anything like this at any online poker table before. I've heard stories of a player named Scout who logs onto mid-high stakes PLO tables and just starts open potting and jamming at every opportunity because he's rich and likes to gamble--I've never actually seen that with my own eyes, but I saw something very similar this past night. A player named CHCHEALY somehow arrived at one of the--I don't know maybe 14 tables I was sitting at--and it didn't take long for me to notice... This player was playing 48/42 and happened to be open shoving roughly 35-38% of his hands. Here's the other thing... He somehow had 6 buy ins ($2400) in front of him when I joined the table. I had direct position on him, so needless to say, I was salivating at the chance to win back a good amount of the 6 or 7k I was already down on the day by this point.

Things started off at this table almost identically to how they had been going for the earlier part of the session. Just about the only times CHCHEALY decided to fold rather than open shove happen to be the times I had AK/AQ/88/AJ. This theme continued over and over, it was maddening. Meanwhile, as I'm folding and watching, he's very quickly built his 2500 into over 5k!

I personally ended up getting all in with him 12 times. I won't list the entire hand histories to avoid the hassle, although they went IN ORDER as follows:

My 55 vs his QJo on QJ8-Q-J
My 88 vs his A4o on J32-5-4
My AQo vs his Q8o on Q42-6-8 ... brutal river.. I'm down 1200 to him already, but next one...
My AJo vs his AKo on 926-T-A ... I guess he's gotta pick up a hand at some point.

This next one is ultra devastating
So I had AA against his A9hh and the flop comes JT4hhh. Need I say more? I'm down 2k to him now in 5 hands. But there's more....
Next is my A8dd vs his K9o on QJ4-3-T. Down 2400.

Finally, we reach a point of salvation.
I pick up the KTss vs his 44 and the board runs out 863-K!!!-Q
So I'm back on the map at this point and actually have a shot at winning a decent chunk of change back.

That is of course until I pick up AJo and SNAP his open shove for 210bb to stare at his A4o and watch the board run out 753-8-6. Dirty.

This is all happening meanwhile I'm basically watching him donate my money over to the rest of the table. He did beat me one more time, then I got him twice to end with a net result of -2k.

I have to say though, it was rather impressive watching this guy sit there and continue gambling for more and more money as he kept winning. He just kept open shoving no matter how deep the stacks were. He ran it up to well over 5k, and was back down to zero maybe 20-30 minutes later.


So, at this point it's a little after midnight, 6 hours into the session, and I'm stuck 9100$.
However, this is where I got my second wind. A few things went my way, I got it in bad and sucked out, and momentum started to turn in my direction--I'm the type of player who thrives big time on momentum, if I can get momentum running in my direction, there's no one I'm afraid to take on and no one I wont put to the test. Over the next 6,000 hands I had gotten all of it back but 3100$.

This means I starrted with a 2k upswing, then went into a 11k downswing, and now I was on the upside of a 6k upswing. And as you will be able to see in the graph (because I will post it), this is where the major disparity begins between my all in EV line and my Winnings line. They separate at one point up to 5k. Between hands 12,000-20,000 I should have been winning, however my green line dropped like a rainstorm back down to -10,000$ for the session.

I had been playing for over 20 hours straight, I was down 5k in EV adjusted and 10k overall. How would you feel about your time spent? How would you feel about yourself? Would you want to give up? Or would you want to prove to yourself that you could do it? Personally, I hate giving up. And I hate hate hate admitting defeat. This time, I refused to quit, and I turned a -10k day into a positive 2.5k. I have to say, it feels damn good to have kept my cool, rode out the rough patches, stuck to my guns, and behaved like a true professional.

--Disclaimer--I'm sure some of you are going to say "don't be a moron, use a stop loss." I agree and I do often use a stop loss, but there are other things at work here. I, along with quite a few other players and friends do believe that there are times when, even though the odds appear against you, your power of will and desire to succeed are so strong that they are much more important than any inconsequential short term variance or your temporary maleable mental state. Obviously I will always admit that in this frame of mind after losing 10k I will never be playnig my A+ best game, But with a little momentum, a lot of times, I definitely believe I have pushed through it in the past and will continue to be able to do so in the future.

Anyways, as I stare at my graph (see bottom) documenting the 33 hours of play, I'm looking at the line between 20,555 hands and 24,447 hands. That line, goes straight up. Finally I was the one who caught a couple of lucky breaks. I got it in JJ vs QQ and spiked a J. I won a couple coin flips, my confidence started rising and I further worked through my game plan in my mind and focused on what needed to be changed or fixed. I knew I needed to stop using trapping as my main strategy and only to use it as an adjustment to certain players. I needed to play much more aggressively and start pushing other people around. I needed to drop from the 14 tables I was playing to at most 7 or 8. After doing those things, I actually started to feel like I was playing as similarly to my old style back in 2007 when I won at 8BB/100 as I have at any time since that point. I was making laser thin value bets and running huge bluffs with zero equity just knowing people would fold. I've gone ahead and compiled a list of my favorite ones from the session in the "my hands" feature on Liquidpoker.net. If you go on the right side of the home page at liquidpoker.net and type in the search box "Marshall28" a list of hands will popup, the most recent 9 hands are ones that I selected to post, I think each one of them is quite interesting to take a look at if you haven't already.

Because I've been recording videos for GrinderSchool.com, and I hadn't been in the zone like I was towards the end of this session in a long time, I decided to record a portion of it, so I have about 37 minutes of recorded video I'm going to do voice over narration for and it will be posted at grinderschool.com. I'm very sure this style/type of play has likely not ever been seen and should be VERY interesting to any poker player playing 200/400nl or lower.

So if you've stuck through, read it all and made it this far, congratulations, it's been a long read, but thanks for sticking with it. I always appreciate any comments, positive or negative (as long as it's constructive).

See ya and good luck.

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BAMM!

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For about the last 5-16 months I had been trying to come to grips with the fact that I just will never be as good as I thought I was capable of. I had thought for a long time that I would one day be good enough to sit in the 25/50 games and be feared by most at the table. After suffering from losing a number of very long losing streaks and struggling to maintain a bankroll big enough to play 1/2 I was finally starting to accept the fact that I wasn't good enough to ever beat any higher than 1/2 or 2/4 and I'd be resigned there for the rest of my poker career. This was very depressing for me to have to accept, it almost made the whole point of continuing to play fruitless. It also destroyed my confidence in my own abilities in other aspects of life. I mean, if I couldn't do well in this one thing I had been working so hard at for 3 years--I must just not be very smart and not able to succeed in other fields either.

I've been getting coaching from Tommy Angelo, 2 hours a day twice a month, what I thought might be my last chance to restore my hope and my belief in myself. He has definitely done a lot for me, and has helped me to understand a lot of things about life and about poker. The biggest one would be, I suppose, that it doesn't really matter how far I can go or what I've done in the past. I began meditating and doing yoga at his behest, and in general I felt better about myself and felt more at ease with my situation and the world. I was at the point where I was spending an hour every day when I woke up doing nothing but focusing on my breathing while meditating and doing yoga. I'm not at that point anymore, but the things he taught me are lessons I'll definitely keep with me the rest of my life. For that I'm thankful.

Tommy doesn't do much strategy coaching, so I also hired a new betting strategy coach, D_zoo. He is a really excellent coach and I would recommend him to anyone. He has the experience of playing against the best players, and he has the experience of playing for very high stakes. There are few people I've ever received coaching from that have explained certain things to me about the game that I hadn't actually thought of before. I pride myself on being able to think about every conclusion one might be able to come to, or any possible way one might be able to think about the game. And some of the stuff he has shown me are things I just had never really considered, it's been very interesting and very insightful.

Anyways, the point is, I really feel re-generized--like those previous dreams are no longer pipe dreams--that it still can happen. Lately I've been watching a lot of youtube interviews with top poker players. One I recall very well was an interview with Phil Ivey. He said that when he was learning the game, he played 14 hours a day every day for something like 6 years (maybe it was more, I don't remember the exact amount of years). But if I matched the time that I've put into the game compared to him, I've really only put in like 1500 hours total if that (and that's just when he was coming up, not counting all the time he's played since he's been owning). I wasn't lucky enough to play poker in the pre-UIGEA days like many of the top, super rich LP pros. I'm not using it as an excuse for why I'm not better, I'm just using it to justify the fact that I haven't been around long enough and haven't put in enough time to have that kind of success. This only means one thing, I have to keep working, and I have to keep working hard.

If I hadn't purchased that 911 I would be so much further ahead now than I am. I've basically been in financial trouble almost since the day I bought it, constantly needing to cash out and not able to build my roll above 1/2. I definitely won't be making the same mistake this time...This time being the first time since then that I have a decent sample of hands where I'm beating 2/4 for a solid winrate. I definitely won't be cashing out much and am going to be doing everything I can to get myself integrated into the 3/6 games then make that jump to 5/10. My goal is to have taken at least one shot at 5/10 w/ 50k BR by February 2010.

Couple things on the side, I made a series of guest videos for Cardrunners in attempts to get some kind of attention from the site and hopefully get a deal to do coaching, but that's seeming less and less likely since the last time Taylor responded to me was about a month and a half ago. Because I wanted to continue doing coaching and did want to make more videos, I connected with a small training website called grinderschool.com. It's a site that focuses on micro stakes mostly--but that's fine with me because I doubt I could coach any higher than 1/2nl at this point in my career. I've made a couple videos for them, a 50nl and 100nl, then a bunch of leakfinders and a coaching series. If you are interested in receiving coaching I have room for a few more guys, you can find my info on this site:

http://www.grinderschool.com/grinders...poker-strategy-private-coaching.shtml

I like the idea of helping other people and definitely want coaching to continue to be a part of my poker career. There isn't a whole ton of redeeming value to playing poker, but in coaching, at least you get the satisfaction of helping someone else improve their game, which is nice.

So here's the results that inspired this post and the reason I think I need to continue to push on:

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So I've decided to start writing again after about a year and a half hiatus. I plan to continue to contribute monthly articles to the 2p2 magazine.

Check out my first one here:

http://www.twoplustwo.com/magazine/issue57/three-bet-pot-situations.php

Please post any criticisms or comments on this article, as well as any suggestions for future ones. I think my next one will be on understanding the psychology behind 4bets and how to use that information to combat them.

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Comments (10)

I'll be coaching any limit up to 200nl 6max and heads up, I would say I have a better fundamental grasp of 6max than HU, but a better "feel" for HU than 6max. I've found video review to be the best learning method but also am happy to do live sweats or discuss theory.

I've currently set the pricing as follows:
100$ for an individual hour
5 hours for 450$
10 hours for 750$
Included in the packages:
1. You can contact me and question me over AIM or MSN at any time to go over any hands you've played and aren't sure about.
2. You can save a series of HH's in a wordpad file that I'm happy to spend a half an hour going over with you at no additional cost until we've completed the 5 or 10 hours designated.
3. You will have access to sweat me through teamviewer any time I am playing.

Anyways, here's a graph of my play since I started back up in March:

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Comments (5)

So I'll be spending the rest of the day tomorrow moving into my new pad w/ a bunch of friends from high school which I'm really stoked about especially since I get the master which is like 30x25ft or something similarly ridiculous. After that spending the day w/ my parents then driving out to Vegas to play some side games chill w/ some friends and play the main event. Thinking about playing either the 1500$ or the 5k$ 6max tourney also, not sure, have to see how it goes. Anyways, if anybody who's cool is gonna be in Vegas also drop me a PM or whatever. I'm definitely gonna go to the Leggo party and probably be grabbing drinks with a few other friends while I'm there. Gonna be there the 26th until, well, I guess however long I last in the ME, at least a week, maybe two or three. Let me know.

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Comments (1)

lol @ may......




oh and also, btw.......

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/135...-wsop-main-event-494360/#post10881369

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Comments (4)

So this blog post has been a long long time in the making. I have wondered and wondered why it was I couldn't win post 2007 in poker and what it was I used to do that I no longer had been able to do. Many had told me how I just "ran very lucky" over a small (100k) sample, and I really didn't want to believe it. What I know now is that 100k is a VERY small sample LOL, and a lot can actually happen in that frame of hands.

LOL first of all, what's funny about this is how good I actually thought I was. I seriously thought there were maybe 2 or 3 others that played 3/6 that were even close to my skill level. It's absolutely laughable how good I thought I was compared to how good I actually was. I'm going to post some hands for fun from back then, it should be enjoyable for anyone who has been around to hear me whine/pout/brag/trash talk during my "career".

What sparked this post was my interest in my EV adjusted from those previous hands, so I e-mailed PS and requested they send me all my hands from 2007. It's taken quite a while to input them all into my HEM, but I started realizing the specific reasons I began to lose.

So before HEM was created, no one actually knew anything about 3bet/4bet %. Some players were 3betting something ridiculous OTB and no one was the wiser. Apparently HEM came out, and everyone got it except me. My entire strategy relied on 3betting, calling 3bets and 4betting. I used to 4b to half my stack, I'd make it 16, 3bettor would make it 52, boom, 200. LOL. I think I even ended up 4betting to 200 then folding sometimes!!! So pretty soon everyone began to learn the proper 3betting/4betting frequencies, and I'm sitting there wondering why people don't call my 3bets anymore and 4bet me so much... I tried to adjust by 5b bluff shoving, but even my weaker opponents knew correct 4betting frequencies, I was sitting there in the dark. That's probably a big reason I started getting stomped on.

Also, it was a lot easier to read hands back then, when people didn't know how to balance their ranges, they would be so scared about getting drawn out on that there was so much raising and 3betting all in on the flop, it was much much easier to figure out what someone had. If I 3bet or called a 3bet (LOL calling 3bets, I guess I used to call 50% of them?... this comes into play a bit later), I'd almost just be raising and getting in any pair, any draw... people would stack off with 2nd pair so I guess it seemed good. Oh, and if they ever called an open, I'd just triple barrel my entire range, because without balance, they end up making it so obvious what they had that it was easy to move them off it or merge and value bet them.

Oh here's another reason ... I was so awful fundamentally in the first place. I played so many of these hands SOOOOOOOOOO bad. I can't put into words how silly I feel for thinking I was so good, because now I realize I'm not very good and I make a ton of mistakes, but I am probably 5x the player I was then. I have trouble even believing that I won money, but then again, I suppose most others weren't very good either.

For as bad as I was fundamentally, there were some things I was good at, which were newer concepts at the time, but now to most people they seem very standard. I.E. the difference between a merged and polarized range. Most people didn't really know what that was about and I definitely used it to exploit people a lot. Bet sizing and timing tells were other things I exploited decently well, though people are much better at figuring those things out, just hand reading in general has improved a ton, even some fish seem to have decent hand reading skills nowadays. Since I've begun winning again, I've really only found a few instances where I've been able to exploit timing at all. These few things I believed I did well are so far outweighed by the drastic fundamental mistakes I made that it just wasn't enough to keep me afloat.

I always used to think that the best players were the ones who induced the most mistakes from their opponents, and I still believe that to an extent, but I think of it in a different way now. I think the best ones are the ones who don't need to do anything extremely negative EV to accomplish this. They tilt their opponents by never making a mistake, then eventually their opponent makes a mistake, and it begins to compound on itself. Solid play always trumps the guy trying to induce action in the long run.

People don't really auto tilt anymore after losing a buy in by getting coolered or whatever because they are so much more used to losing buy ins and are much better at dealing with it in general. Very few play scared money anymore either. Those are other things I used to try to prey on that don't really work too well now.

Anyways, to some of these hands, GOD, they are so ugly LOL....

Submitted by : MARSHALL28

Seat 1 is the button
Seat 1: z8eldred $885.25 USD
Seat 2: schoolato $2211.00 USD
Seat 3: Marshall28 $1025.00 USD
Seat 4: johnnykran $615.00 USD
Seat 5: gp333 $1189.50 USD
Seat 6: gusse10 $1891.65 USD
schoolato posts small blind [$3.00 USD].
Marshall28 posts big blind [$6.00 USD].

Holecards
Dealt to Marshall28
johnnykran folds
gp333 folds
gusse10 folds
z8eldred calls [$6.00 USD]
schoolato calls [$3.00 USD]
Marshall28 raises [$24.00 USD]
z8eldred folds
schoolato calls [$24.00 USD]

Flop (Pot : $54.00)

   
schoolato checks
Marshall28 checks

Turn (Pot : $54.00)

   
schoolato checks
Marshall28 bets [$42.00 USD]
schoolato raises [$2181.00 USD]
Marshall28 calls [$953.00 USD]

River (Pot : $2,044.00)

   
schoolato shows
schoolato wins $2053.00 USD from main pot
Marshall28 doesn't show
schoolato wins $1186.00 USD from main pot

eat 2: Marshall28 $1222.85 USD
Seat 3: Sweet.kr $792.00 USD
Seat 4: johnnykran $772.00 USD
Seat 5: jacksintheho $126.50 USD
Seat 6: F r ta n k $517.35 USD
johnnykran posts small blind [$3.00 USD].
jacksintheho posts big blind [$6.00 USD].

Holecards
Dealt to Marshall28
F r ta n k folds
Marshall28 raises [$24.00 USD]
Sweet.kr raises [$84.00 USD]
johnnykran folds
jacksintheho folds
Marshall28 calls [$60.00 USD]

Flop (Pot : $177.00)

   
Marshall28 checks
Sweet.kr bets [$144.00 USD]
Marshall28 raises [$1138.85 USD]
Sweet.kr calls [$564.00 USD]

Turn (Pot : $1,593.00)

   

River (Pot : $1,593.00)

   
Marshall28 shows
Sweet.kr shows
Sweet.kr wins $1591.00 USD from main pot
Marshall28 wins $430.85 USD from main pot

Seat 1: Rizen $636.55 USD
Seat 3: klotzinger $725.45 USD
Seat 4: vadgisil $331.65 USD
Seat 5: Marshall28 $820.05 USD
Seat 6: MT UR Wallet $111.00 USD
klotzinger posts small blind [$3.00 USD].
vadgisil posts big blind [$6.00 USD].

Holecards
Dealt to Marshall28
Marshall28 raises [$24.00 USD]
MT UR Wallet folds
Rizen raises [$84.00 USD]
klotzinger folds
vadgisil folds
Marshall28 raises [$242.00 USD]
Rizen calls [$182.00 USD]

Flop (Pot : $517.00)

   
Marshall28 bets [$554.05 USD]
Rizen calls [$370.55 USD]

Turn (Pot : $1,258.10)

   

River (Pot : $1,258.10)

   
Marshall28 shows
Rizen shows
Rizen wins $1280.10 USD from main pot
Marshall28 wins $183.50 USD from main pot

Seat 1: nsd4eva $952.00 USD
Seat 2: Marshall28 $694.25 USD
Seat 3: needfood $2655.65 USD
Seat 4: johnnykran $600.00 USD
Seat 6: F r ta n k $670.35 USD
Marshall28 posts small blind [$3.00 USD].
needfood posts big blind [$6.00 USD].

Holecards
Dealt to Marshall28
johnnykran folds
F r ta n k folds
nsd4eva folds
Marshall28 raises [$15.00 USD]
needfood raises [$82.00 USD]
Marshall28 raises [$234.00 USD]
needfood raises [$2567.65 USD]
Marshall28 calls [$442.25 USD]

Flop (Pot : $1,352.50)

   

Turn (Pot : $1,352.50)

   

River (Pot : $1,352.50)

   
Marshall28 shows
Marshall28 wins $1386.50 USD from main pot
needfood doesn't show
needfood wins $1961.40 USD from main pot

Seat 2 is the button
Seat 2: Marshall28 $1713.00 USD
Seat 3: FastEddie267 $2800.00 USD
Seat 4: Paulus_rus $1226.00 USD
Seat 5: kingsofcards $1396.00 USD
FastEddie267 posts small blind [$5.00 USD].
Paulus_rus posts big blind [$10.00 USD].

Holecards(Odds)
Dealt to Marshall28
kingsofcards folds
Marshall28 raises [$30.00 USD]
FastEddie267 calls [$25.00 USD]
Paulus_rus folds

Flop(Odds) (Pot : $70.00)

   
FastEddie267 checks
Marshall28 bets [$54.00 USD]
FastEddie267 raises [$170.00 USD]
Marshall28 calls [$116.00 USD]

Turn(Odds) (Pot : $410.00)

   
FastEddie267 bets [$320.00 USD]
Marshall28 raises [$695.00 USD]
FastEddie267 raises [$1883.00 USD]
Marshall28 calls [$818.00 USD]

River (Pot : $3,436.00)

   
FastEddie267 shows
Marshall28 shows
Marshall28 wins $3434.00 USD from main pot
FastEddie267 wins $690.00 USD from main pot

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