eightfold

Play to learn
- Forget about earning money, grinding. Learn, consume everything you can, get knowledge and apply it. Question everything, think.

Table Selection
- Table selection is the most important factor seperating winning and losing players.
- Anyone playing 35% or more hands is bad, unless a regular
- Few tables, generally bad
- Not a full stack, usually bad
- Tendencies, often smart to watch a game a few minutes, see if any of the regulars are on tilt etc
- Have the fish on your right, if a reg is being a bitch on your left, just chop off the lowest end of your range, close your eyes and check call him down. Sit yourself top left on the table, fish likes to sit underneath most of the time
- As long as there is 1 fish at the table, it's worth playing
- When a player has a name of an alcoholic beverage or a car, usually recreational over the age of 30. If they have a screen name of a famous player followed by a number, usually bad. If they got a sport team with the team's logo, usually bad.
If they got words like "lunatic", "bluff", "crazy" etc, usually a nit. If words like "monies", "lol" usually a young player, probably aggressive and has read forums etc. If a player has picture of a dog, a baby or something, usually older and always bad.

Bankroll Management
- Implement 30 buy-in rule for whatever stake
- Play 4 tables, so you can focus more on both your own and your opponent's play
- Take notes religiously and try to move up as fast as possible.
- Another reason why is, as you grow older, your willingness to gamble and take risks decrease tremendously. (You worked hard to get where you are, the risk of losing it all is disheartening and at times, scary.)
- Remember, your earnings improve exponentially relatively to your skill level, you should try to be as aggressive as possible with your bankroll
- "If you're too careful, your life can be a fucking grind."
- Taking shots is one of the most important things you can do to improve as a player. You get a reality check, you realize they aren't that good higher up, and you might never look back
- You shouldn't cash out frequently, cut down your expenses and work hard to improve your craft, spend as much money as you can to improve your game, use it for coaching and taking shots. That's your expense.

Math is Easy

Hand Combinations
- Some facts:
1. There are 1,326 combinations in No-Limit Holdem
2. A set has 3 combos
3. Two pairs have 9 combos
4. Pocket pairs have 6 combos
5. A pair + kicker has 12 combos
6. Under paired cards have 16 combos
7. Any two specific suited cards have 4 combos
8. Any two specific cards have 1 combo

Hand Ranges
- You estimate a player's hand range based on his image, tendencies, history and position
- A good generalization to keep in mind is that if you think your opponent's range is stronger than your hand, you want to fold more often. And if you think his range is weaker than your hand, you want to call or raise more

Probability and Odds (the proportion of the time that something is likely to occur or has already occurred.)
- Usually expressed as a percantage (e.g., 35%) or a ratio indicating odds (e.g., 4:1). They are one and the same

Pot Odds
- Knowing about odds allows us to determine if a call, bet, fold or raise is the most optimal play
- Two main types of odds for poker: Immediate odds and implied odds

Immediate odds
- Normally referred to as simply "odds", how much you stand to win immediately in relation to what you have to risk, and is usually expressed as a ratio.
- Five steps we need to take to determine our pot odds:
1. Determine the original pot size
2. Determine the amount we have to call
3. Add up original size of pot and amount we have to call to get the Total Pot Size
4. Express it as a ratio (Total Pot Size: Amount we have to call)
5. Convert it to a percentage

Implied odds
- Reflect how much we expect to win in later streets if we hit our hand

Fold Equity
- Based on how often we expect our opponents to fold to a bet or raise. Since poker is all about being aggressive at the right time, it's a good idea to know a little something about fold equity

Estimating Your Equity on the Flop and Turn
- Multiples of 2 are generally more accurate than Multiple of 4, but both give good estimates
* Multiples of 4: To approximate the equity you have on the flop, multiply your number of outs by 4 (You have an open-ended draw straight on the flop. That's 8 outs, so 8x4 = 32 percent to win by the river. The actual number is 31.5 percent (This is if you get to see both the turn and river cards.)
* Multiples of 2: To approximate your equity on the turn, multiply your number of outs by 2. (You have an open-ended draw straight on the turn. That's 8 outs, so 8x2 = 16% to win by the river. The actual number is 17%.)

Expected Value
- (EV) is the average amount that we stand to win or lose if we see a certain situation many times.
- To calculate your EV, use this formula:

EV = (% you win)(amount you win) – (% you lose)(amount you lose)

If the sum is over 0, it's + EV

Pre flop: The Fundamentals

The Blinds
- When the decision to fold or call pre-flop is close, folding is better because a small mistake can lead to a bigger one post-flop. In the occasion that you do play and find yourself being out of position, try to keep the pots small so you won't find yourself in many sticky situations.

Raising from the blinds
- Be very conservative with your raises from the blinds. With limpers in the pot, don't raise unless you've got a good hand like 99+, ATs+. Most people will put you on a premium hand also when you do it, and it's hard to extract value from weaker hands. Good spot to fold if you get re raised with top pair

3-betting From The Blinds
- Against a utg raise, the majority of your 3-bets should be for value. Unless you know the UTG is a fish. Your perceived range get so strong.
- Since we are rarely 3-betting a UTG open from the blinds, we should call with the majority, if not all our holdings.
- Against middle position, you should 3-bet more often with JJ+/AK against looser opponents. If your opponent folds to 3-bets a lot, I wouldn't 3-bet with JJ and AK, call to keep them in the pot
- You shouldn't 3-bet non-broadway suited connectors either when they are in MP, since they don't play well in 3-bet pots, and you won't flop enough hands to continue after c-betting. No point c-betting Axs either
- Against CO/BTN you should 3-bet with a wider range, because his stealing range is wider. From this position it's smart to 3-bet with a polarized range. Premium hands JJ+ /AQs + and speculative holdigns such as 74s 56s that can't play profitably post-flop without the initative. And call with marginal hands QJ, AJ. KQ etc.

Squeezing
- Something that will look extremly strong unless you have a history of 3-betting a ton
- At 50nl a squeeze is usually very strong hand, at 600nl ranges are wider, and people can show up with speculative hands
- A good spot to squeeze is when a loose player opens in mp/co and the people behind calls, the reason is, it's a great spot for btn to 3b, so if he only calls, he's usually not that strong
- Smart to keep squeezing until someone gives you a reason to stop
- On Ace high flops, with TT-KK oop, you should bet-fold more often than check-call. (Unless that particular oponent let's you go to showdown easy.)
- Don't Squeeze against nits if they raise from early position, their range is too tight and strong
- Against loose-bad players, don't squeeze loose, better to call their raise preflop and stackw hen you do hit
- Against shortstacks, don't squeeze if you don't want to call his all-in raise. He's not going to fold often, and will jam with any A or any pair. AT+ or 77+ are good hands to use vs them
- Against light 4-better, don't squeeze them
- After a villain calls your squeeze, never bet unless you think he will fold a lot or you are willing to get it in on the turn
Caution: Squeezing a lot will build up adrenaline and you may find yourself playing too aggressively to the point of spazzing out. You will find yourself fighting for pots because they are bigger. Start by 3b bad people, get comfortable and continue from there

Under The Gun (UTG)
- Standard general hand range: 13.1% (To play standard tag 23/18 or so, good to raise 12-14%)
1. All pairs 44 and higher
2. All suited Broadways JTs +
3. AJo and KQo, if players behind are aggressive, fold AJo and KQo as well
4. Medium Suited cards such as 87+ (Stay away from single-gap suited cards like T8s).
Important Note: Avoid playing ATo UTG, because of reverse implied odds
- How tight or loose you want to raise depends on how good/aggressive players are behind you and how good the blinds are

Middle Position (MP)
- Treat it almost the same as UTG, 14,6% (13% - 16%)

Cutoff (CO)
- 24.3% 22+, boardway cards, suited and offsuit AT,KJ,KQ,JT etc, A9o +, a2s+, K9s+, Q9s+, medium suited connectors (j8s+, 97s, 76s, 65s).

Button (BTN)
- 34.5%
- The most profitable position in NLHE, and you should find any excuse to play in this position
- A good hand player can profitably play 50% of his hands from the button
- 3-betting from the button, if people fold a lot to 3b, do it nonstop, if people call, then fold to c-bets a lot, keep doing it.
Important Note: Sometimes you want to deliberatly force yourself to fold pre-flop sometimes, the reason for this is, you don't want an opponent who's folding way too much to recognize he's folding too much. Want to give him the illusion that he's not constantly getting exploited, even though he is
- If people fold to you, and the blinds are tight, keep stealing

Postflop
Why we bet
- When we have the best hand, value and to extract money
- When we rarely have the best hand and need to bluff
- Dead money

Continuation Bet
General guidelines on whether you should bet on certain boards:
1. On your HEM, if it's greater than 70%, you can bet your entire range and still profit
2. You want to have some sort of rquity in the hand
3. Dry flop with one high card (Your percieved range include tons of A and K, and theirs include small pairs and suited connectors.)
4. Wet boards, don't bet, board like 89Ts hits a lot of the Villain's medium-hand range, and will call often, also you have some equity you want to realize.
5. Paired Flops: Avoid betting 552 rainbow with weak hands like 86s or 67s because you have very little equity if he calls, rather check and do delayed C bet if he checks on turn.
6. Way Behind/Way Ahead: Example KK on A82, you're way behind a pair of aces or a set, and you'r way ahead of bottom-and middle pair and random gutshots. You can check behind here some times if it's checked to you
7. Multi-way Pots: You generally want to bet more in a three-way pot on a dry flop because people are less likely to mess around in these spots. But check behind if there's a short stack
8. In position/Out of Position: You should C-bet a lot more often OOP. In position, you can check behind and get a free card. It's a lot harder to get a free card when you're OOP, and you generally want to be aggressive and take down the dead money
9. Against Loose players: You generally want to check behind or check-fold some of the tiem on low-medium boards (876s, 647s, 542r, etc.) Loose players like to call flop bets with all sorts of hands, making c-betting on the flop with random hands less profitable.
10. Against Tags: C-bet all the dry boards versus TAGs, and check behind wet boards if you miss. And adjust if they're attacking you light (etc, check raising you on J52, you got 75s.)
11. Inducing bluffs: Some players will almost always bet if checked to, because they percieve it as weakness. You can check call with AT+ on A83 boards etc, and if flush draw, check raise
12. Polarizing your range: You'll want to polarize your range when you check behind. This means you bet the flop with strong hands and air, but check behind with marginal hands

Paired Flops
- When a player check calls your c-bet on paired flops, he's almost ALWAYS got a pocket pair. Sometimes with A high, so be ready to fire a lot of turns, if he raises the turn bet, it's almost never a bluff, so fold unless you beat trips

3-bet pots
- Villain's calling range is similar to that of single-raised pots. Mostly middle pocket pairs and occasionally AK/AQ that he didn't 4-bet with. Knowing this, we should double-barrel bluff the turn if we pick up some type of dr aw. Most hands will not withstand a second strong barrel.

Monotone Boards
- Be very conservative, people seldom re-raise without a set or better, and if you do want to C-bet A LOT of hands might call you. Be careful with what you shove your stack in with

Villain's perception of your range
- You should generally bluff more and value-bet less if Villain's perception of your range is strong, and bluff less and value-bet more if it's weak

- Polarize You Leading Range: You generally want to lead with strong made hands that can easily call a raise, or with draws (pair + flush draw, flush draw, open-ended, overcards + open-ended, gutshot +open-ended, gutshot).
- Want to avoid leading with JQ on KJ3r, getting raised, not knowing what to do. So don't put yourself in these without a plan

Single-Raised Multi-way Pots
- consider leading with middle or bottom pair in single-raised multi-way pot. It'll be too hard to profitably check-call with medium pairs. Leading also puts the player behind you in a difficult situation. Example: 65s on a Q64r flop

Who to lead Against
- Straightforward players who are passive:
1. Players who fold too often to leads. A good example is aregular who is playing more than 9 tables. You can also check a pre-flop raiser's stat on your HUD to see if he's folding a lot (75%) to donk bets
2. Players with a high stealing frequency from the CO or BTN. Their ranges will often be wide and weak
3. Weak-tight players. They play straightforward game and will just fold to your flop leads without a strong hand
4. Players who like to check behind for pot control. When you have a strong hand, consider leading into them to extract value since they are going to cehck behind a lot

Who to NOT lead Against
- Aggressive players, they like to re-raise donk bets, but consider leading into them with a strong hand
- Do not lead into calling stations. You want to take down the pot on the flop without having to fire numerous barrels

Playing the Turn
- Bluff the turn on scare card, or lead if a flush or straight completes

Raising
- There are two reasons why we want to raise-for value or for bluffs. We never raise to "see where we're at" it's too expensive.

Raising for Value
- On boards where we flop a Straight, all connected boards, or all 2 tone flush boards we want to re raise for value, too many cards can come to kill our action.
- Flopping a top pair with JTo on a T56 2 tone board vs someone bad, we always want to raise if donked into, so many marginal hands, or draws they may have

Types of Boards to Bluff-Raise On
- The best boards to bluff-raise are ones where opponents c-bet a lot, such as AK3, KQ8.
- Monotone and low connected boards 456 two tone etc. Monotone boards will slow them down unless they have a set or a flush.
- Stay away from paired boards, may want to throw in a bluff here and there, but it's generally not a good idea to attack those flops. May be good vs some ppl to float on paired boards though.

Floating
- A good tool vs people who c-bet too much (75% or more on the flop). And vs people who play straighforward on the turn.
Factors to consider before floating:
1. If your opponent 2-barrels too often, you shouldn't float the flop because you will have to fold the tun too often.
2. If your opponent plays straightforwardly on the turn and telegraphs the strength of his range either by checking or betting. Some players check whenever they don't have a hand on the turn and bet whenever they do. These are your primary targets.
3. It is credible for you to represent a hand on the turn or river. Example, you've got 78s, flop A46, you've only got a gutshot, but another flushdraw on the flop, if the other flush completes on the turn, your opponent checks, you can easily represent that flush
4. Make sure that when you float, you have some equity in the pot and have soem backdoor draws so you can continue on the turn.

Double-Barreling
- Most low stakes players have problems playing the turn, because they don't plan the streets. No backup plan if they miss the turn and got nothing
- You generally want to fire the turn if either of these conditions exists:
1. Your equity improves
2. A scare card hits
- On boards where a turn puts more draws out there, bet the river as well. The turn creates a lot of draws, Villain is likely to have a made weak hand or a draw. If he had a strong hand, he would've raised the turn to protect it. Therefor a river bluff is profitable.

Scare Card
- Best scare cards are high cards, or completed flushes on the turn
- Bad scare cards are low cards and turn pairing the board

The Problem of Scare Cards
- In today's game, many people know what the obvious scare cards are. For this reason your bet is less credible on that particular card, and you need to fire another bullet to take down the pot, Fortunately though, people call on the scare card and fold to a river bet all the time.
- To balance this by betting your medium-strength hands on the turn too
- Also an alternative to check the A turn, and go for river bet or bluff

Implied Threat of the river bet
- The threat of losing a stack causes players to err on the side of caution, casuing them to fold their marginal holdings on the turn. This puts their turn range face-up.
- Also a reason why you should incorporate bluffing on the river into your game.

Strong hands


3 - Betting
- One of the most powerful plays you can have in your arsenal, extremely profitable to 3-bet in position, especially from the button.
Creating an aggressive Image
- 3-betting lightly is an excellent way to create an aggressive image. Players will put you on a wide range of hands and pay you off lighter.
- Will let you control the flow of the game unless they fight back. Allows you to isolate the fish more often, playing pots in pos vs regulars.
- You generally want your first 3-bet to be a semi-bluff (j8s, 86s, 75s etc).
After that, keep 3-betting until people give you a reason to stop- by 4-betting you, calling you down lighter, and/or check-raising the flop more.
- You will end up tilting him and he will be ecstatic to get all-in pre-flop with AQ or 88 etc.
3-bet stats
- Although 3-bet stats are helpful, don't put too much emphasis on them, more reliable if it's heads up.
Polarized range
- Polarize your range when you 3-bet, if it's vs a passiv bad fish, you can throw in 88-jj

3 - betting as the Aggressor
- Do most of your 3-betting from the CO or BTN.
3-betting against UTG/MP
- Increase your 3-betting range versus UTG, if he starts playing back with calling or 4-betting, slow down. For the most part, he will be playing back with JJ+ and AK. If he starts to call down multi barrels, narrow your range to include more broadway cards and fewer suited connectors.
3-betting against the cutoff
- Most regulars widen their opening range from the cutoff, so you want to 3-bet the cutoff relentlessly from the button.
You'll have tons of fold equity because: 1) his range is weak, and 2) he doesn't want to play against you from out of position.
- The general strat, 3b till he starts 4b light, check raising, or calling down with marginal holdings.
3-betting from the blinds
- Don't 3bet too much from the blinds, it's too tough. Also remember do it with a polarized range, can sometimes if the dynamic and your image is right, do it half the time with 99-JJ and AQ.
3-betting with Deep Stacks
- With stacks 1500B or more, you can 3-bet with many more hands in position. Players play much more straightforward when stacks are deep. Some will call a lot pre-flop, hoping to flop a strong hand, and will check fold once they miss, some fold preflop all the time.
- If you're in the blinds, tighten up your 3-betting range a lot, not profitable vs regs when they have position.
3-betting with AQ
- Most of the time, it's not profitable to 4b or call with AQ, but when the situation is right. You and another guy who's been 3-betting a lot, and you raise, he 3bets again, you can now call. If any A hit, you can call his bets, if any K hits, you fold, if not, check raise him big, this will get them to fold their pairs.

Playing the Flop
your perceived Range
- People will usually put you on AK, high cards, small suited connectors that can't profitably call a pre-flop raise, or high pokcet pairs when you 3-bet before the flop.
- On a flop like AT3, if we bet, they will fold a large percentage of the time because the board texture hits our perceived range.
Had the flop come 789 it probably wouldn't hit our range much, so it's best to check-fold with a hand like AK.
Paired boards
When a villain calls a c-bet on a paired board, he will have a pocket pair most of the time, sometimes it might be a float with A-high. Knowing this you want to apply serious pressure.
A player calls your c-bet on 772
If and A,K, or Q hits, bet hard again (and fold to a shove). and if you have 89s, turn is T, you can still bet strong and commit yourself.
Only do this vs peopel who are generally tight, who can make folds, not passive bad fishes and stuff.
Monotone boards
- Players generally play two pairs, sets or small flushes very fast on these boards. If you c-bet, he calls, you can safely rule out those hands. Knowing that, you want to be shoving your stack on the turn if you have the nut-flush draw.
A93-type boards
- You want to c-bet almost 100% of your 3-betting range here, even if you have TT-KK.
Counter
Ace-high flops are great spots to float in position in 3-bet pots. The reason is explained above-villain will c-bet almost 100 percent of his 3-betting range on this flop.
If he checks, check with him, if he bets the flop, then call.
If he bets the turn, he probably has an ace, so just fold. When villain checks the turn, check behind to represent something like a5s going for pot control. When he checks again on the river, he rarely has an ace, go for 2/3 - 3/4 of the pot.

Countering 3-bets
From a defensive point of view. You raise from MP and the BTN 3-bets you for the 3rd time. How to deal with that?
Tight strategy
- You generally want to be calling 3-bets in position. If at all possible, avoid doing it OOP.
If you're OOP against a good, aggressive player, the best strategy is to simply fold his 3-bets and tighten up your opening range. Fight back when you have JJ+
Playing Fit-Or-Fold
- If you decide to call with a hand like 77, you can't just fold to his c-bet everytime you don't hit a set, need to play back. Otherwise it's not profitable.
Calling 3-bets with Pocket Pairs
- Even with position, you should fold pocket pairs worse than 99 when stacks are less than 150BB.
CO vs BTN
- You can actually call with a wider range of hands here versus a button 3-bet because he will have hands like ATs, KTs, and QTs. For this reason, you can call with AQ, AJ, KQ, KJs, hands that play post flop.
Late position vs. 3-bet from blinds
- If Villain has a very narrow 3-betting range, then I want to 4-bet to give him a chance to stack off with a range of JJ+/AK, which AA/KK dominates. (By calling, he may slow down, and we won't stack him).
- If an opponent is 3-betting with a wide range, I will call with premium hands, because I want to balance the time I have marginal holdings. Against someone who is really aggressive, I will slow-play and then call down all three streets, even if the board gets scarier, because aggressive players bluffing frequencies increase as the board gets scarier.
- I would shove over villain's bet on wet flops like T83s because that's what I would do with my semi-bluffs on this board. If villain 3-bets a lot and c-bets at a high percentage, then semi-bluffing the flop is insanely profitable since he will bet-fold very often.
Don't jam the flop
Don't always just get it in on the flop agsinst 3-better's c-bet. Almost always call more with sets and two pairs.
Bluffing the flop
- Players who 3bets too much, also c-bets too much. Good boards to bluff-raise on are connected boards, and sometimes Kxx or Qxx. A high is usually best to call and represent.
Inducing a Bluff
- Some players never belive you when you raise a fairly dry flop, by raising you represent such a narrow range of hands for value taht a thinking villain will not give you credit for it.
- As you move up in stakes, you will realize that there's more value to fast-playing your hands than slow-playing. As players get better, it's more difficult to trap them. However, a lot of players want to make hero calls so if you're playing your strong hands aggressively, you will get called more often than you think.
4-betting
- You generally want to 4-bet a hand that either cannot profitable call a 3-bet (a3o KJo) or that you want to go all-in with pre-flop (QQ+ / AK).
Having an ace or king in your hand is great because of hand elimination. There is less chance that Villain holds AA,KK, or AK.
- Don't 4bet with T7o, you want to least have decent equity in the pot if he does call, choose T7s instead.
- Also important that you don't 4-bet with hands such as 55-88 or T9s. (Assuming the stacks are 150BB), it's better to just call his 3-bet with these hands because of the implied.
- You can also widen your 4-betting range when stacks are deep (150BB +), tough to counter it because stacks are so deep, people rarely ever 5b bluff, so it gets taken down a lot.

4 - BETTING
- A player who has been 3-betting a lot, or folding to 4-bets a lot are prime targets. The standard of today's game is 4-bet to 2.1 - 2.5 times the 3-bet size.
- You never want to put in more than 30BB of your stack pre-flop because you do not want to commit to the pot with a weak hand. If you 4-bet to 40BB and he shoves, you would need to call 60BB to win 140BB, roughly 2.3 odds. This means you will have to call a shove with a hand as weak as A2s, or 56s against a shoving range of QQ + / AK
Playing TT and JJ
- you lose a lot of value by 4-betting these hands small, rather shove or 4-bet big so he knows you're commited, or call his 3-bet, might get to showdown then.
- Against passive opponenets who don't barrel enough, calling is optimal because you have more chances of showdowns, if a nits 3-bets you, should fold to his re-raises when you open from UTG or UTG+1.
- People will save a lot of money if they treat TT and JJ like 99.
Playing AK
- It's a mistake to push this hand too hard. AK falls into the same category as TT and JJ because it's a marginal hand to 4-bet and get all-in with.
- The idea behind calling the pre-flop 3-bet instead of 4-betting is to call all of his flop c-bets and bet then turn when he checks to you. A half pot bet will be sufficient.
- You also likely to stack any Ax from villain, lastly, Villain will be barreling with a high frequency on any turn A or K to represent AK.
Playing AQ and 99
- We rarely want to 4-bet with these hands and get it in preflop without history.
The majority of the time, however, the best play is to call a 3-bet with them when stacks are deeper than 125BB.

Adjusting Against Different Players
- In this example you have ATo, flop is 862. In a vacuum, you should bet try and take it down, you have initative and 6 outs.
Against a loose-passive player: Check behind, he's going to call with any piece, and he probably won't lead the turn, you have showdown value as well
Against a Nit: 17/12 or tighter, you shuold bet, nits often play fir-or-fold game. You may also have to barrel the turn, because their range include a lot of pairs, if the turn is a high card, fire again.
Against a Decent TAG: You want to bet as well, for the most they will stay in the pot if they have something and get out of the way if they don't, an occational check-raise. Be ready to fire second barrel on all overcards, if he calls, you can still fire the river, they know you will probably fire on the scare cards. Fire on a scare card higher than 8 or 9.
Against a Good, Aggressive Player: It's okay to mix it up, it's okay to check since he's good at balancing his range. Pick your spot to bluff the river if you decide to.

Balancing your range
- No need to balance vs. bad players. They either don't know what you are representing or don't care. But against good hand readers, having a well balanced range will earn you more money and make you difficult to play against.

- Example, A good aggressive player raises to 3$ from the Button and you call from the SB with ATs, the flop is A62, you check- call his pot bet. The turn is a 7 and you check. He checks behind. the river is a Q, you bet 2/3-pot for value, and he folds.
In this scenario you rarely have a bluff, so you should check the river the majority of the time.
This has three purposes:
1) It induces him to bluff with air so that you can call him down.
2) It induces him to make a thin value bet with worse hands.
3) It balances your range so that he will be less likely to valu-bet light or bluff you in the future, thus allowing you to see a cheap sowndown with your medium/small pairs.

A guideline to Balance your range
* Any time you find yourself in a situation where your perceived range is strong (good top pair or better), then value-bet less and bluff more.
* Any time you find yourself in a situation where your perceived range is weak (mid-pair or worse), then value-bet more and bluff less.

Strong Perceived Range
- You should value-bet less because your perceived range is too strong. When your betting range on the river is almost exclusively for value and never a bluff, Villain will fold worse hands and call or raise with better hands. If you check instead, it may insude a good thinking player to value bet light or bluff.
- With a strong perceived range, you also want to bluff more if you have a hand that can't win at showdown.
- If you have air, c-bet and it goes check call, check check on turn and he checks the river, and you can't win any other way, often smart to bluff if the board allows it.

Weak Perceived Range
- If youre perceived range is weak, then you need to value-bet more often because Villain is less likely to belive you. You also want to bluff less because you can't credibly represent a strong hand most of the time.

Multi-Way Pots
- Proceed With Caution!
- Can be good to raise with gutshot + backdoor f draw type hands, if Co bets, mp calls. But use with caution when the timing is right
- if Co calls, check the turn, if you hit tons of equity, pot if MP calls
- do not make the move on a flush board

- There are good spots fo bluff raise in multi way pots as well. You have A2s, mp and btn calls, flop is J7r with one of your suit. Mp bets, btn folds, you check raise, insanely strong line, usually folds out hands as strong as qj, if you hit ur f-draw on turn, pot and commit.
- The general concept is, always have something, some backdoor, gutshot, some rope in case they call.
WARNING: Don't pull these stunts if you don't have a general idea of how villain plays, and at lower limits people really can't think that well. Some ppl at 100nl won't fold QJ. This is for motivation to think outside the norm.

Scare Cards
- Your hand QTs, flop 983, one of your suit. Villain checks, and you check, turn is an A.
Great spot to raise, because villains usually fire scare cards, and if they call, a big bet on the river usually takes it down. But once again, know your villain.

- When scare cards come, it dramaticly increases a villains bluffing frequency, on the turn and on the river.

Timing Tells

Quick Call:
Usually an attempt to appear strong and to slow down the aggressor on the next street. With a strong hand, a player would take more time thinking about his option.
Sometimes we have no option besides check-calling, so we often act way too fast.
Example: QT, Btn raises, we call from the SB, flop is T57r, we check to villain, he bets, we insta-call.
- Another reliable tell is when fish check-calls really afst on boards where flush draws are possible. (Vs them, if you don't have anything, if all draws miss, a half pot on the river is enough to make them fold a high card that might beat you).

Slow Call:
They almost always have a strong hand.
(To find out which players genuinely like to tank long, you can just try bluffing some rivers to find out.)
Example: You raise K9s from the BTN, sb calls and the flop is QT3 with another F-draw, one of your suit. He checks, you bet, the turn is a 7 of your suit, he checks, you bet 22$. The tanks for a while, and finally calls. The river is a nonsuit 6.
- On such a draw-heavy board, once he cehck- calls the turn, the strongest hand that he can show up with is QJ. Any better hand probably check,shoves the turn to avoid playing the river. So when he tanks the turn, usually figuring out whether he is getting odds to call a turn bet. Usually a pair with flush draw, or flush + straight, something similar.
Correct play is to shove river. (If you are the type of player who will bet this turn put don't follow up on the river, you should check.

Final Words
Remeber that everyting is hard before it becomes easy. Keep working at it and there's no stopping you.

The Milky Way is on a collision course with Andromeda, and since the bigger of galaxies crashing eats and consume the smaller, Milky Way will lose. Which is doomsday of our own Galaxy, but according to Astronomers it'll be amazingly beautiful.

In 5 billion years

A: Not obligated, show up to the ones you feel showing up to. Depends if it really is "their time of need" and the history you've had. If closest family, siblings mom and dad, sure help them, if further out, don't do it if you don't feel like it. It's relevant for people it's relevant to.

A: Make the homeostasis pattern as healthy as possible, any stray is either an experiment or adventure, and you go back on the path and fuel yourself with what makes you run the best.

A: It doesn't feel imporant, religion, the word of God, saying it, thinking about it has lost all it's power a few thousand years ago. It holds the same value as a toothpaste commerical to me.

A: It's a travesty that a lot of the brightest minds on the planet spend their time filling their heads with greed, corruption and manipulation. Saw a chart once that 1% in the us had more money than the rest 99%.
The concept of money, compared to sentences, meters, anything else "man made" is flawed in design and not working anymore. (People won't go in a depression if there's not enough meters). No matter if a guy is a genius, he shouldn't be making more than half a country. There should be some regulations, some laws, or something more profoud, even a new system for money. I like the idea where people work to become what they want to be, the money would be the same if you were a guy working on wallstreet, or if you were a fireman, a teacher or an engineer. Or ranges in close proximity.

A: I'm not sure.... I might write something on how it feels, then travel or do something extravagant, that seem to be what people usually do.
If I was going to live forever I hope I would just start aquiring as much knowledge as possible, and kept at it and have that as a passion. It's wonderful and awesome to learn, why not do that forever.

A: Depends on the situation, if my sister's daughter would die unless I sacrificed myself, I would, but i'd attempt it in a way so she wouldn't find out, and/or if she lives a path filled with agony, despair and depression, have someone contact her and read a letter to her that I have written the last day of my life, from me to her. (That way I could double save her <3)

A: If it's a rare occation, it's well spent, unless the movie was terrible, then again if the company was awesome it might go back to well spent. If someone who watches tv 3-8 hours a day spends an evening watching movies it's wasted.

A: The ability to love eachother endlessly and stay faithful but not depend on eachother. So there can be no attachement, thus no love turning into hate when or if the relationship ends.

A: It feels like there's 3 types of love, and all 3 types can turn into something real, something fake or break.
Infatuation is the most common, something that dies out when the "love" comes on a plateau, genuine interest and "love" where it keeps growing adding to what's allready there when it reaches the "plateau" and the feeling of love coming not from an emotion but from within, like peace or joy, which has the best chance of making it, and not turning into anything vicious after a breakup

A: Only your mind can be sure, but that's just the identification of yourself being sure so doesn't hold any real meaning. Atleast I think it don't. Not sure if we can be 100% sure as an absolete, but I think the more knowledge and more in depth we come to whatever it is we're percieving, we can be more sure.

A: I don't know, I do know roughly when I'll die, give or take a few decades.

A: It matters more for some than others.

A: It's dysfunctional to have a delusion, I would have neither. I try to dwell or spend as little time as possible in the past, and when I do it's only for a brief moment, and then I return to the present.

A: Natural thing which we don't embaress over, but then again, something important and dear which we don't flaunt.

A: Probably do what you know is right.

A: At the moment I'm considered insane in a functional society, but feels like most of society is dysfunctional i'm the sane one. This question confuses me, I don't have a propper answer.

A: I wouldn't have to be persuaded to kill, and it wouldn't take any money. But i'd only commit the act in severe circumstances weighing a life up against another or certain circumstances. (Like I know a murderer would murder again, and only I could end it type of scenario's).

A: I'd sacrifice myself and everyone I love.

A: Man is God, we do exist.

A: No story ever told is true, something is added or substracted. The worth is what we make it.

A: Enlightment

A: Like someone swimming upstream, quite bizarre.

A: How can you strive for perfection if you've have low expectations for yourself?

A: Depends on my surroundings, if I had kids, family, obligations I would live 30, if It was just me I'd be selfish and take the 10 years.

A: Truly destructive ideas aren't spread by open-mindedness.

A: I guess seeing myself die getting hit by a car would be worst.

A: Continue on the path of justice was one of the best compliments I've ever gotten. So i'll go with hero.

A: Not as much as i'd like, as most people on the planet I still suffer a great deal since i'm still a bit of a slave to my mind, because I subconciously identify myself with it. But i'm entering more and more into the present for everyday that goes. So i'm gaining more and more control.

A: I think white lies are great. It can be for kindness, to save face, for fun and various other reasons. Ugh, wouldn't be all that fun without them

A: I am a being

- The plateau can be a form of purgatory. It triggers disowned emotions. It flushes out hidden motivations.

- We sometimes choose a course of action that brings the illusion of accomplishment, the shadow of satisfaction. And sometimes knowing little or nothing about the process that leads to mastery.


Varieties of intelligence

* Linguistics
* Musical
* Logical / Mathematical
* Spatial
* Bodily / Kinesthetic
* 2 types of Personal, Intra/Inter

- We are born geniuses of thougt and feeling, + geniuses in potentia of the body.


The Mastery Curve

(Ok, this I drew, so not 100% sure how I can draw it here. I'll just do my best explaining what it looks like.)
Starts out flat, then it starts going in an upward hill, to a beak, then it declines and goes down a little, then it stays flat for a bit (the plateu), and the process repeats.

- Practice diligently
- Strive to hone your skills
- Attain new levels of competence

- Be willing to spend most of your time on a plateau, to keep practicing when you seem to be getting nowhere.

- Habitual behaviour system operates at a level deeper than concious thought.
* Involved the reflex circuit in the spinal cord as well as in various parts of the brain to which it is connected

Cognitive system: When learning a new skill, you need to make an effort to replace old patterns of sensing, movements and cognition with the new

The cognitive and the effort system become subsets of the habitual system long enough to modify it. To teach it a new behaviour. When the job is done, they withdraw. Then you don't have to stop and think.


How do you move toward mastery?
= You practice diligently (without getting frustrated on the plateau)


The 3 types of persona: Dabbler, Obsessive, Hacker

- Commericals just show endless climaxes, no plateau.
- Why people lean toward drugs
(I don't care how you win, just win, about effortless learning, instant celebrities, instant millionaires)

Same in medicine/pharmacy "fast relif"



Research studies show that most illnesses are caused by environmental factors or way of life

- 10 min at the Dr. isn't enough to get to know the patient, or write a prescription.

The nr.1 cause of death can be reversed by a long-term regime of diet, moderate exercise, yoga, meditation and group support.(Most Dr. in the us claim this is to drastic, and suggest $30k open chest surgery instead).



The joy of regular practice

- We as humans often go against what's best for us, and waste an evening distracting ourselves.

- People who love the plateau have very vivid and satisfying lifes.

People who go into something for the money, the fame or the medal, can't be effective.

Mastery's true face is relaxed and serene, somtiems faintly smiling.


Goals and contingencies = important, BUT exists in the future and the past, beyond the pale of the sensory realm

Practice, the path of mastery, exists only in the present. You can see it, smell it, feel it.

To love the plateau is to love the eternal now, to enjoy the inevitable spurts of progress and the fruits of accomplishment.

Man is a learning animal.




Key One

Instruction


- The self thought person is on a chancey path (can work, like Edison, but most have kept on re-inventing the wheel.)

For mastering most skills, there's nothing better than being in the hands of a master teacher.

Either one to one, or in a small group. Also good options: Books, films, computer learning programs, group instructions, classroom, knowledgable friends, counselors, associates, "the street".

- When you learn to easy, you're tempted not to work hard, not to prenetrate to the marrow of practice.

The worst can be the best, for it perseveres, it will have learned whatever it is practicing all the way to the marrow of it's bones

- Make sure your teacher is paying attention to the slowest student on the math


When irreconciabable differences do occur, remember that the better part of wisdom is knowing when to say goodbye.

"Do not think that
This is all there is.
More and more
wonderful teachings exist -
The Sword is unfathomable"


Key 2

Practice


Practice is the path upon which you travel. Not in order to gain something else, but for it's own sake.

An old saying: The master is the one who stays on the math five minuts longer every day than anybody else.

- The master of any game is generally the master of practice

- Practice is the path to mastery. Mastery is staying on the path.



Key 3

Surrender


- The courage of a master is meassured by his or her willingness to surrender.

- The beginner who stands on his or her dignity becomes rigid, armored, the learning can't get through.

- The essence of boredom is to be found in the obsessive search for novelty. Satisfaction lies in mindful repetition, the discovery of endless richness in subtle variations of familiar themes.

For the master, surrender means there are no experts. There are only learners.


Key 4

Intentionality


Nicklaus quote: A successful shot was 50% visualization, 40% setup and 10% swing

*Relaxation
*Confidence
*Mental rehearsal
*Imagining
*Relaxation exercises

Intentionality fuels the master's journey. Every master is a master of vision.


Key 5

The Edge


(I like this phrasing)
Masters are Zealots of practice, connoisseurs of the small, incremental step.

(looked up that word, connoisseur, someone who has a great deal of knowledge about the fine arts.)


Julie Moss

Share her stupid desire, heroism, to use yourself to the limit, to finish at all cost, to attain the unattainable.
But before playing this edge, there must be years of instruction, practice, surrender, and intentionality.

Being on the never ending path.

(Was a wonderful story about her, I found a youtub clip of it).




Tools for Mastery

Intro: How can you avoid backsliding? Where will you find the energy for your journey? What pitfalls will you encounter on the path? How can you apply mastery to the commonplace things of life? What should you back for the journey?


Why resolutions fail - and what to do about it.

- Every one of us resists significant change, no matter whether it's for the worse or for the better.

Our body, brain and behaviour have a built-in tendency to stay with the same within rather narrow limits, and to snap back when changed

- Equilibrium, called homeostasis

- Homeostasis doesn't distinguish between what you would call change for the better and change for the worse. It resists all change

- The resistance here is proportionate to the size and speed of the change

When you begind to pursue mastery, homeostasis will happen. Might come in any of these forms:

* Alarms in form of physical or psychological symptons
* Might unknowingly sabotage your own best efforts
* Might get resistance from family, friends and co-workers


Here are 5 guidelines to help you on your way if you do decide to go on the path.

1. Be aware of the way homeostasis works
(When the alarmbell rings, it doesn't mean you're sick or crazy or lazy or that you've made a bad decision.)

Instead take these signals as if you're life is about to change

- Don't panic and give up at the first sign of trouble

- Don't be surprised if some of the people you love start coverty and overtly undermining your self-improvement.
(It's not that they wish you harm, it's just homeostasis at work.)


2. Be willing to negotiate with your resistance to change

The willingness to take 2 steps forward and one step backwards

- To keep pushing, but not without awareness

Stay alert prepare for serious negotiations.


3. Develop a support system

* You can do it alone, but it helps a great deal to have other people with you.


4. Follow a regular practice.

Practice is a habit, and any regular practice provides a sort of underlying homeostasis, a stable base during the instability of change.


5. Dedicate yourself to lifelong learning.

* To learn is to change. Education, whether it involves books, body, or behaviour, is a process that changes the learner.

* The best learning of all involves learning to learn



Getting Energy for Mastery

* A human being is the kind of machine that wears out from lack of use. (There are limits)

* Often the best remedy for physical weariness is 30 min exercise.

* mental and spiritual lassitude is oftne cured by decisive action or the clear intention to act.


Here's how you get started:

1. Maintain physical fitness.

* Physical fitness contributes enormously to energy in every aspect of our lives.

* People who feel good about themselves, who are in touch with nature and their own bodies, are more likely to use their energy for good.


2. Acknowledge the negative and accentuate the positive

* Value a positive attitude and the effectiveness of praise and other forms of positive feedback.

* It seems you can hardly overdo it

- Acknowledging the negative doesn't mean sniveling; it means facing the truth and then moving on.

- Avoid teachers and supervisors who are highly critical in a negative sense.
(Telling people what they're doing wrong while ignoring what they are doing right reduces their energy).

"Here's what I like about what you're doing, and here's how you might improve it".


3. Try telling the truth

* Lies and secrets are poison

* Truth-telling works best when it involves revealing your own feelings, not when used to insult others and to get on your way.

* It has a lot going for it, risk, challenge, excitement and the release of all that energy


4. Honor but don't indulge your dark side.

- Stop putting so much of ourselves into that invisible bag.

- Use the blazing energy that flows from that which has been called dark.


5. Set your priorities.

- Before you can use your potential energy, you have to decide what you're going to do with it.

And in making any choice you face a monstrous fact: To move in one direction, you must forgo all others.

To choose one goal is to forsake a very large number of other possible goals.

(Television makes it even more complicated. By offering endless possibilities, it temps you to choose none, to sit staring in endless wonder, to become comatose. Indecision leads to inaction, which leads to low energy, depression and despair).

Liberation comes through the acceptance of your limits. You can't do everything, but you can do one thing, then another, and then another.

- In terms of energy, it's better to make a wrong choice than none at all.

- Start modestly, list your priorities, for the day, tomorrow. Try to do the same thing long term, use A,B,C. Priorities shift, and you can change them any time.

- Simply getting them down in black and white (if you use that color and paper) adds clarity to your life, and clarity creates energy.


6. Make commitments. Take action.

- Set your own deadlines

- Can give surge of clarity and energy

- You have to take it seriously
(One way is to make it public.)

- The firmer the deadline, the harder it is to break, and the more energy it confers.

- Above all else, move and keep moving.

- Take time for wise planning, but don't take forever


7. Get on path of mastery and stay on it.

- Adequate rest is cool, but unaccompanied by positive action, rest may only depress you

- People whose energy is flowing don't need to take a drug, commit a crime or "go to war" in order to feel alive.



Pitfalls along the way

It's easy to get on the path. The real challenge lies in staying on it.

1. Conflicting way of life


2. Obsessive goal orientation.

- The desire for quick, sure, and highly visible results is perhaps the deadliest enemy of mastery.

- When climbing, don't keep looking at the peak, keep your eyes on the path.


3. Poor instruction

* Surrender
* Don't bounce around from one teacher to another.
* But don't stick to a situation that's not working.


4. Lack of competitiveness.

* Competition provides spice
* Can provide motivation
* Winning graciously and losing with equal grace are the mark of a master


5. Overcompetetiveness.


6. Laziness

"Disinclined to action or extertion; averse to labor, indolent, idle, slothful."

The bad nres is that laziness will knock you off the path. The good news is that the path is the best possible cure for laziness. Courage!!! (Not suppose to be !'s there, but I added them for dramatic effect).


7. Injuries.

- The best way of achieving a goal is to be fully present.


8. Drugs.

Can give the illusion of getting the immediate success this culture is always promosing you.


9. Prizes and Medals.

Exessive use of external motivation can slow and even stop your journey to mastery.


10. Vanity.

To learn something new of any significance, you have to be willing to look foolish.

- If you're always thinking about apperances, you can never attain the state of concentration that's necessary for effective learning and top preformance.


11. Dead seriousness.

Without laughter, the rough and rocky places on the path might be too painful to bear. Humor not only lightens your load, it also broadens perspective. To be deadly serious is to suffer tunnelvision. To be able to laugh at yourself clears the vision. When choosing fellow voyagers, beware of grimness, self-importance, and the solemn eye.


12. Inconsistency.

- Consistency of practice is the mark of the master

- Value in repeating favourite rituals before, during and after practice.

- Inconsistency not only loses you practice time, but makes everything more difficult when you do get around to practicing.


13. Perfectionism.

We fail to realize mastery is not about perfection. It's about a process, a journey. The master is the one who stays on the path day after day, year after year. The master is the one who is willing to try, and fail, and try again, for as long as he or she lives.


Mastering the Commonplace

- Most of life is "in between"

- Building a stone wall or washing dishes is essentially no different from formal meditation


Household Rhythm:
- Whatever you do, do it awesomely (I made that word up)
- Stay wholly focused on the moment
- Above all, don't hurry

- Life is filled with opportunities for practicing the inexorable, unhurried rhythm of mastery.

Focus on the process rather than the product

This takes practice....


The challenge of Relationships

- If you have to work at a sport to achieve mastery, you also have to work, and generally work even more diligently, to achieve mastery in relationships.

- The most important learning and development takes place during your time on the plateau

* Instruction
* Practice
* Surrender
(The stronger you are the more you can give of yourself. The more you give of yourself, the stronger you can be.)
* Intentionality
(Cultivate a positive attitude)
* The Edge

The path to mastery is built on unrelenting practice, but it's also a place of adventure.

Couples with a willingness to play new games, dances, intimacy, willingness to strip layers, to live entierly in the moment, revealing everything and epecting nothing in return.

Ultimately, nothing in this life is "commonplace," nothing is "in between". The threads that join your every act, your every thought, are infinite. All paths of mastery eventually merge.


Packing for the Journey

Maybe an old skill or obsession you've been dabbling in, or hacking at for months or years. Maybe vowed to treat your entire life to the best of your ability, as a process to mastery.

Start with the checklist.

The Five Master Keys

* Key 1: Instruction
* Key 2: Practice
* Key 3: Surrender
* Key 4: Intengionality
* Key 5: The Edge

Dealing with change and Homeostasis

* Be aware of how homeostasis work
* Be willing to negotiate with your resistance to change
* Develop a support system
* Follow a regular practice
* Dedicate yourself to lifelong learning

Getting Energy for Mastery

* Maintain physical fitness
* Acknowledge the negative and accentuate the positive
* Try telling the truth
* Honor but don't indulge in your dark side
* Set priorities
* Make commitments. Take action
* Get on the path of mastery and stay on it


Pitfalls along the Path

* Conflicting way of life
* Obsessive goal orientation
* Poor instruction
* Lack of competitiveness
* Overcompetetiveness
* Laziness
* Injuries
* Drugs
* Prizes and medals
* Vanity
* Inconsistency
* Perfectionism


Parting Gifts

Balancing and centering
(oh crap)

Returning to the center

- Basicly, learn about meditaiton, breathing exercises. When you get knocked off, find your center.


Getting Energy from unexpected blows

- When things go shit, losing a friend, loved one. Don't struggle blindly, don't deny youself the pain.

- Have a partner grab your wrist, and spill your guts.

- When done, feel your center, focus on the clarity and use all that energy. Consider the possibility that any misfortune that befalls you during your journey can be converted to positive energy.


Introduction to ki

ki in japanese
ch'i in Chinese
Pneuma in Greek
Prana in Sanskrit
"the force" in Star Wars lol

In the ancient tradition, the word comes from the notion of breath

* Considered the fundemantel energy of the Universe that connects all things and undergirds all creative action.

- The idea of ki can offer the untrained person an effective way of gaining a sensation of increased power along with relaxation, especially during times of fatigute and stress, and thus is a useful item to pack for your journey.

Relaxing for power:
Power; to be able

Visualize with exagerrated images, make your muscles relaxed (not rigid and tense) to increase their power.


Interessting facts:

- Human DNA contains more information than all of the libraries in the world.

- In potentia, humans are the most formidable all-around athlete who has ever roamed the planet.

- The unaided human eye can detect a single quantum of light and discern more than ten million colors. (I'm pretty sure i'm stuck at like 9).

- The human brain is the most complex entity in the known universe.

- What you are made of is mostly unused potential.

- It is our evolutionary destiny to use what is unused, to learn and keep learning for as long as we live

To choose this destinty, to walk the path of mastery, isn't always easy, but it's the ultimate human adventure.


Closing words

To be a learner, you've got to be willing to be a fool.

- How many times have you failed to try something new out of fear of being thought silly?

- How often have you censored your spontaneity out of fear of being thougt childish?

Second naivete = childlike quality, often found in people with an unusually high degree of their potential


"Are you willing to wear your white belt?"

1 - Think for yourself. Very confident people know what they are doing is right, usually because they created an original thought rather than attempting to reproduce from an external source.

2 - Make a list of special talents you have, or things you do that are good.

3 - Find your passion.

4 - Chose a role model.

5 - Focus on others. Try not to focus negatively on how you come across or how others may perceive you. Instead, focus more on the outside world rather than just your internal world, and that will build your confidence as other people start enjoying your company.

6 - Accept compliments gratefully. Don't roll your eyes and say, "yeah, right," or shrug it off. Take it to heart and respond positively. (Thank you, and a smile works well).

7 - Know that you have important things to say and do. When you feel strongly about something, speak loudly and clearly and make eye contact with people, be yourself.

8 - Take care of yourself. Eat healthy (CHECK), Don't abuse you body ( I DONT, except for bad sleep patterns), and don't deny any of the things it need. At the same time don't obsess. Confidence comes from within, not from products. Take the time to reflect on your life and do some emotional maintenance. In order to be truly confident, you absolutely must value yourself and understand that your well-being is important.

9 - Work out. This is a real fast change. The gym can transofmr even the last geek. It will help you to be who you are, and not be afraid of it. That's the real confidence. Getting enough exercise can boost your confidence amazingly. Not only will it give you more energy throughout the day, but being in good physical shape will make you feel more "worthy" you could say, to talk to other and be yourself.

10 - Stick up for yourself. If people put you down (and not in a good-natured, joking way), then let them know that their opinion of you is not held by everyone-most of all, yourself. This may at first be hard to do. But once you stick up for yourself a few times, your confidence builds and you get more adept at it.

11 - Celebrate your individuality. f you know you'ev got something special or different, then embrace it, don't hide it. That's diversity. You may wish that you were taller, shorter, skinnier, stronger, whatever it may be, but realize that, if you were like everyone else, then you wouldn't be who you are, and what am I? The answer is easy. You're Unique individual who's capable of growing and learning.

12 - Take action. Tackling a task, something you may have been procrastinating, tidying up, writing a letter, fix something, clean something, etc. Or any classes you might want to take, things you want to learn, so forth.

13 - Improve posture. Don't slouch or slump your shoulders. Make sure your back is straight, your shoulders are square, and your chest is puffed out slightly, but stay loose. Keep your chin up and your eyes forward than looking at the ground.

14 - Make a conscious effort to smile often. A smile makes you appear warm, honest, friendly and confident. You can also relax your facial muscles entirely, which will make you appear calm and relaxed. Observe in the mirror, to make sure you don't have a tense or nervous facial expression, if you do others may think you're sad angry or uncomfortable.

15 - Make eye contact with others, especially when engaging in conversation. Gaze into the other person's eyes as you talk to make yourself seem interested, calm and confident. Avoiding eye contact makes you appear shy and submissive, while staring too long may make you appear angry or scared. So the best advice is gaze into a person's eyes as you converse with them while occasionally shifting your gaze or looking around.

16 - Control your hand motions. When it comes to gesturing with your hands, keeping your hands far apart and your palms open makes you appear open and honest.
Pointing with your fingers and bringing your hands closer together can draw emphasis to what you are saying. Don't overuse hand gestures or you'll look nervous and unstable. Avoid wringing your hands or touching your sleeves, as these things cane make you appear nervous, tense or even dishonest.
Shaking hands, firm grip with a man, and as gentle as the woman if a female!!

17 - Put a little struth into your walk. Move like you have a purpose, and keep your knees slightly bent to avoid appearing stiff or rigid.

18 - Act confident, even if you don't truly feel it. After a while it will come naturally. Also learn not to care what other people think of you. Don't let anyone bring you down. People are just jealous, and intending to put you down, don't let anyone slow your progress.

19 - Smile and talk loudly and clearly, making jokes and being generally happy. Don't moan or be over confident, people hate that so much

20 - Be kind to everyone, even if you don't like them. No matter who they are, just be nice. That way you will seem warm, friendly, caring and kind.

"Frown and you frown alone, but smile and the whole world smiles with you."

1 - Practice good hygiene. Brush teeth, get good breath, polishing at the dentist so forth.
You'll make a better impression, and you'll feel more confident.

2 - Get comfortable with smiling. A lot of people are a little nervous about smiling. People think it makes you vulnerable, it does a little, but that's part of what makes it so powerful, people almost ALWAYS respond better to a smile.

3 - Think happy thoughts. The easiest way to a great smile is to be happy. (Someone you care about, a joke you find hillarious. Remarkably, when you're feeling down, smiling can help cheer you up, even if you have to coa a smile at first.

4 - Smile with your eyes. Your cheekbones lift slightly and your eyebrows dip a little, you know it when you see it, your eyes lighting up, or twinkling. Play around in front of a mirror, cover up your face if you have to. Remember how it feels like when you get it right, and you'll be able to smile with your eyes at will.

5 - Develop your smile, find the picture where you smile the best and most contagious, focus on what your smile is doing, then practice in the mirror till you get it just right. Soon it will become second nature, and you'll look more photogenic in your next batch of pictures.


* Try showing only your upper teeth when you smile
* Being your smile with your eyes, once our eyes are smiling, they tend to pull your whole face into natural, beautiful smile
* Ever laughed hysterically? Now, laugh slightly and now you have a natural pretty smile
* A lot of men feel uncomfortable about smiling at strangers, especially at other males. If that's the case just offer a casual Hi, or Hi man, or sup. It works just as well, and feels less awkward for a lot of guys.
* If you have a tooth that pokes out a bit at the side, as many ppl do, try to get your lip to go above it so your lip doesn't catch on the tooth when you smile

Warnings!!! A fake smile can make you look phony, nervous or even dangerous
Don't have things stuck in your teeth

1 - Listen to the rhythm
You can pick up the beat by counting to four repeatedly (one, two, three, four, one two, three, four...) Do this out loud.
If the music doesn't fit, you may find yourself counting to three

2 - Bob your head to the rhythm.
If the beat is on the slower side, you can bob your head so that your chin is down at every count. If the beat is faster, your chin will be down on two of the counts and up on the other two.
Do this gently, this isn't headbanging.
The idea is to get part of your body physically moving with the rhythm. As your movements gets more complicated, you might "lose" the rhythm, and you should always return to this step if that happens.

3 - Shift your weight between your feet.
You can continue bobbing your head, but don't stop counting yet. Shift all of your weight to one foot (you can lift the other foot slightly of the ground to make sure all your weight is off of it.).
At every other count (preferable 1 and 3) shift your weight completly to the other foot. You can do it every other count, but you get more comfortable starting out slow before you dance fast.
Keep your lets "loose" and bed your knees slightly; there should be a little bit of "bounce" to your weight shift, and a subtle bounce (in place) on the counts when you aren't shifting your weight as well.

4 - Move your feet. Once you're shifting your weight to the rhythm, practice moving your feet.
Right before you shift your weight to a foot, move it slightly, even just an inch or two from where it was before. (start with very small movements)
Keep the music on, keep counting, keep moving a little bit with each time you shift your weight (at every other count).
When you move your foot, keep it close to the ground. You can kick your feet up in the air later, when you're letting loose.

5 - Move your hips. When you put your weight on a foot, move your hips (and your body) slightly in the direction of that foot.
( You move shift weight to the right foot, you move your hips to the right)
You can twist your body slightly to add a little more movement: When you move to the right, put your right shoulder forward a little and left shoulder back, and vice versa for when you move to the left.
(Note, that this range of movement, hip movement, twisitn, swiveling is usually exaggerated by women to emphasize the female form).

6 - Throw your hands in the air. This is the part that indicates to people that you're having fun. If you're uncomfortable, the tendency is to hold them close or let them hang limp.
Instead, move your arms around. Keep your hands open or in very loose fists, but never stiff (unless ur doing robot). Throw them up 8-12 counts, then in front of you for 8-12. Then at your side for 8-12 counts, like when ur running, keep switching it up. If you're dancing with someone, you can put your handso n their shoulders, waist or hips.

7 - Lose yourself in the music. Let your body move naturally to the rhythm. You want to look smooth rather than jerky and stiff.
Just go back to step one when you lose it

8 - Practice dancing whenever you have the chance. Kitchen, bedroom, anywhere, will make you feel more comfortable in your body. Watch yourself in a mirror to get an idea what looks good and what doesn't


TIPS: it helps to learn to dance to your favourite music, especially if you memorize and sing along to the lyrics. and you'll have more fun with music you enjoy
* When you go out, remember, ur there to have fun and so is everyone else, no1 is judging you on how you dance. If your esteem is low, ur body language will reflect this, so go out and have FUN
* Study, watch scenes from movies, tv shows, music shows, and pay attention to what is going on. Pay attention and pick up all the standard moves that go again and again
* Take a class
* watch other dancers
* smile and look like you're having fun, add faces and be lively
* its always easier to dance when it's dark, because you feel less self conscious
* bring a friend who is a terrible dancer but just doesn't care

Happiness seems to whittle down to your outlook on life, and the quality of your relationships with the people around you. To be happy you should know what to love and how much.

1 - Be optimistic. Largely boils down to how you think. Everyone has a baseline happiness, so if you win the lottery, when it's past, you'll go down to the level of happiness you usually had.

2 - Follow your gut. When you have a decision to make, and you're down to a few options, just pick the one that feels right and go with it.

3 - Make enough money to meet your basic needs:
Food, shelter and clothing. In the US that magic number is 40.000$ a year. Any money you make beyond that will have negligible effects on your happiness.
Once over that, your happiness is not significantly affected how much you make, but by your level of optimism.
(Comfort may increase with salary, but comfort doesn't make people happy, it makes people bored. That's why it's important to push beyond your comfort zone to fuel your growth as a person).

4 - Stay close to friends and family. Our relationships with our friends and family have a far greater impact on our happiness than our jobs do.

5 - Find happiness in the job you have now. If you have a positive outlook, you will make the best of any job, and if you have good relationships with people, you won't depend on your job to give your life a greater sense of meaning. You'll find it in your interactions with the people you care about.
This doesn't mean you shouldn't aspire towards a job that will make you happier; it makes you understand that the capacity of your job to make you happy is quite small in comparison to your outlook on life and your relationships with people.

6 - Smile. Whether you feel happy or not, your mood will be elevated. So smile all the time. In addition having enough money to pay the bills allows you to focus your energies on more productive aspects of your life, such as the pursuit of happiness as opposed to keeping the "wolves from the door".

7 - Stop worrying. If you spend all your time worrying, you'll miss out on the fun side of life. Take it easy once in a while, and just relax.

8 - Be grateful for what you have. Think about the less fortunate. Volunteer at a food bank or give some itesm to Goodwill. It'll boost your confidence quick.

9 - Have more mirrors. Look in them as much as possible, no matter how unattractive you think you are. And every time you look into it and see yourself, smile at yourself.

10 - Start something. A club, a program. Fan club, whatever, toss a small party. Something light and happy to get your mind off things, and to hang out with other people who can help you relax and feel better.


* When you can't seem to be positive or cheerful, do something silly, something crazy. Turn up the music, start jumping, dancing, screaming, whatever pops into mind. Change something, eat something different, something that can lift of your mood, and be glad you did it.

Try some of the following <3
- Express gratitude
- Tell someoen that you appreciate them
- Reflect on your blessings
- Write a thank you note
- Savor life's joys
- Take pleasure in your senses
- Celebrate small victories
- See beauty in the everyday
- Be optimistic
- Think about past accomplishments
- Visualize your best possible future
- Identify and replace negative thoughts
- Nurture social relationships
- Listen
- Spend more time with friends
- Show more affection
- Increase experiences
- Pursure your passions
- Challenge yourself
- Absorb yourself in an activity
- Practice spirituality
- Voulenteer at a chairty
- Meditate
- Reflect
- Take care of your body
- Eat well
- Unwind
- Take up a new sport
- Develop strategies for coping
- Find value in negative events
- Talk through it
- Write about your experiences

No matter how beautiful you are (I'm really beautiful) or how good a conversationalist you can be, if you look intimidating, preoccupied or scared, people might not be inclined to talk to you. Here's how to use your body language to look more friendly and approachable.

1 - Be aware of what your body is saying. You don't have to actually say anything to communicate a message to others. Unfortunately, your body may not always say what you want it to.
If youre gestures and posture are saying "I'm too busy", "leave me alone," it's not likely people will approach you. Other people watch your body for clues, so it's important to pay attention to what clues you're displaying.

2 - Open up. When people are uncomfortable in a situation they have a tendency to display closed body language. Examples include folding your arms in front of you, hunching over, positioning your body so that you're angled away from others. These signals imply that you'd rather be left alone.
If you're rather not be left alone, make sure you're displaying open body language by angling yourself toward other people, sitting or standing with an upright (but not stiff) posture, and uncrossing your arms.

3 - Use your eyes. Not only your window to the world, they're also other people's window into you. If you bury your head in a book, stare at the floor, or look up at the ceiling, you close that window. If you want to look friendly and approachable, scan your environment with your eyes, and don't be afraid to make eye contact with people.

4 - Smile. A warm, inviting smile can put anyone at ease, and it also makes you look like you're havign a great time, which makes people want to be around you and get in on the fun.
Be sure to smile often during small talk. It lets people know you appreciate talking to them. Smile with your eyes. When you get eye contact, don't stare or glare. Soften your eye expression and make your eyes smile or twinkle.
The eyes are actually more important than the mouth to what most people consider a "genuine" smile.

5 - Beware self-comfort gestures. Nervouesness manifests itself in body language in many ways. Important not to be nervous if you really want to socialize and meet people.
Touching your hand to your face, especially putting it over your mouth, or if you have a drink, holding your glass by the mouth can give the impression you're not interested in talking to them.
Metronomic gestures such as foot tapping, can signal impatience or boredom, so people may think you don't have time to talk or aren't interested in conversation.
Other nervous habits picking at your cutcles or biting your fingernails can also make you appear distant or lost in thought.
Once again, just pay attention to what your body is saying, and you can avoid putting up these barriers.

6 - Approach others. If people aren't approaching you, why not go to them? Nothing makes you look more outgoing and approachable than actively seeking out people and talking to them.
If you're in an environment where you don't know anybody, the longer you wait alone, the more uncomfortable you're bound to feel.

7 - Adress any deeper issues. Your body language usually communicates your deepest emotions at any given time, and it's not easy to fake body language.
The best way to look approachable, then, is to actually enjoy yourself in social interactions. If you feel anxious in social settings, or if you're uncomfortable around the opposite gender, get over your anxiety by seeking out oppertunities to interact with people. If you have espectially strong social anxiety (common), you may find it helpful to seek out counserling or talk to your doctor.

Tips:
* Aside from body language, other elements of your appearance can affect how you approachable you look.
Dressing in clothing in light/bright colors with textures that look soft to the touch will make you stand out more in a crowd and look more approachable.
* In a social situation, such as a party, offer to help out in some way.
Excellent tasks: Cutting vegetables, washing dishes, keeping the music going, picking up used plates
* Position yourself for conversation. If people are sitting, don't stand, position yourself so that you can comfortable talk.