When I started out playing hu cash, I had never heard of the term game selection and consequently I didn‘t use any. I never tried to avoid anyone at my stakes, I even enjoyed the challenge of playing known winners. Because of this, I got very good at playing against regulars. Now-a-days, everyone is a game selector, but unlike cash, regulars can’t avoid playing you by sitting out. If you can learn how to beat regs, you’re going to get a lot more games (which is extremely important for an SNE grinder) and you’re going to become a better player, which in turn will increase your profit substantially. Sounds exciting? Here are some tips on how to become a reg crushing machine.

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I played Isildur against across 6 tables and this time it went badly. I went 11-21 over 32 games, for a grand 2 day total of 56-62. It’s not as bad as it sounds, as I had most of my action taken. But I think its the last time I’m going to play him.

Today, I got less lucky than yesterday, but I also did not play as well and he played a lot better. There was one big mistake he was making yesterday that he shored up today that closed up my edge against him a lot. I felt like I played spectacularly yesterday, but today I just played pretty good. Prittay, prittay, prittay good. And what can you do when your opponent wins 60% @SD.

He did one thing very badly the entire time I’ve played him, a mistake that is well documented and I suppose speaks of a degenerate gambler within him: He rarely 3bets and folds. I was 4betting a tight range the entire time I played him and he would repeatedly get it in with Q8s or K6s or random hands like that.

There were other things he did that were kind of bad. But are his big mistakes and small mistakes enough to justify an edge against him, even when he does so many other things so well? Possibly, but not enough I think to make me want to continue to play him, and nor enough to justify anyone buying my action.

Anyways, it was good while it lasted. There were a lot of positives to take away from all this. One, a lot of VPPs (Cha ching!). Two, I learned a lot from playing him as opposed to watching him. Specifically, he did a lot of things as far as value betting goes that were a lot different than how I normally played but made a lot of sense. Lastly, I’m still having a good week. I’m up a good chunk and have earned a lot of rakeback on top of that.

I’m not going to lie, it was depressing to lose to him today. But I’m hoping this is only a small blip to a good year.

So I finished in 6th place at the WSOPE ME. First final table ever of a live tournament and it was a lot of fun. I’m not going to share every detail of the tournament, but I will share the most interesting bits.

I felt like I played great throughout the tournament, but there were certain hands that really stood out to me as fantastic.

1. The first was against Ludovic Lacay, a great tournament player who was crazy aggressive. He 3bets insane amounts preflop. We each had about 100,000 chips and the blinds were 600-1200. I raise to 3000 preflop with KT0. Lacay who takes less than 10 seconds on every decision 3bets to 7200. I fail to pick up anything from his mannerisms. I decide to flat call. Flop comes K74 rainbow. I check and he bets 10,000, which is a standard size for him but a more optimal bet size here would be something like 6-7k. I c/r to 27,000 trying to induce a spazz. He takes 10 seconds and shoves all in. I think just to make sure I don’t change my logic. I call and he shows Q4, I hold up.

2. and 3. The Blom hands. After sitting at the same table with Viktor Blom on Day 4 I came away incredibly impressed by his game. However, two hands likely to be shown on ESPN I will be seen having the best of him. The first hand comes right after I 3bet him and he folds and I show 64o. The very next hand he opens again, and I 3bet with A2o in the SB. I expect that his thought process would be to fold a lot because it would be an incredibly odd thought process for me to decide to 3bet him light after 3betting and showing such a bad hand. Unfortunately, he calls. The flop comes AK9 rainbow. This is a tough decision. If my preflop assesment is correct, check folding could be good. This is a terrible board for him to triple barrel, if I were to check, as a bluff, so I wouldn’t expect him to do so. At the same time, I felt like he would not think my bet flop, check turn range was weak so he wouldn’t try to bluff me there either,  not to mention there are so little draws he could call a flop cbet with. I expect I would get value from one pair hands as well that were worse than mine. I decide to cbet and he calls. Turn is a 6. I check, he bets, and I fold after little deliberation. Later he told me he had top two pair.

Another hand later on I had stopped 3betting him but we were both 100bbs deep. I get AJ in the BB and he opens the CO. I figure Blom’s 3bet calling range is wide enough where AJ is an easy 3bet. He calls again, but very quickly. Flop comes K64 two diamonds. I cbet and Blom visably looks frustrated. Not sure what I thought about that, on one hand I knew he wasn’t acting, but at the same time it seemed kind of strong. A decision with KJ is more frustrating than one with A6. Turn was a 7 of diamonds. It’s a great card for me because I expect Blom to raise the flop with flush draws but my line is still congruent with a flush. Also, very little 7′s in his range besides 77, K7s or 76, which would hit the turn. I bet out 2/3rds pot, about half my stack. He thinks for awhile and folds. I tell him later I had AJ no diamond, he says he’s embarassed to say what he folded. I’m excited to see this one on ESPN if it makes it there.

4. This hand was at the final table. 6 or 7 people left, I have about 2.3 million and Ronald Lee has me covered. 20k/40k blinds. I raise T6o to 100k  in what is essentially the CO because James Bord looks at his hand before the action comes to him and it’s clear he’s folding. Lee OTB, who had been very loose preflop all day, flat calls. Everyone else folds. Flop comes QsTs6x. I cbet to 125k. Lee looks straight at me, which I was inclined to think this is weak. When Lee had a nut hand he tended to stay within himself. He calls. Turn was a 9x. Terrible card. I look at Lee and something has changed: He seems no longer interested in what I am going to do. I’m not sure of it but I was inclined to think he hit the turn. I considered c/fing, but I figured I didn’t want to give too much weight to the live tell. I bet 250k into a 500k. Lee doesn’t think for long and raises…. to 420k.

I laugh because he raised less than 2 times my bet, which is not allowed, and I thought it would be ruled a call and I’d have a chance at boating up. Instead, they make him change the raise to 500k. It doesn’t take me that long before saying “This sucks but it’s an easy fold” and I muck T6o face up. Lee puts his hand on his head, almost saying with his mannerisms “Why can’t I get the best of this guy?” Later I found out not surprisingly he had KJo, turned straight.

…………………………………

Lee got his revenge though. I had about 1.3 million at this point and Lee had me covered. Lee opened preflop in MP, and I had a tell on him that helped me realize he was weak here. Given he was opening 50-60% of hands when folded to, my decision to 3bet AJs from the BB when it was folded to me was an easy one. He had raises my 50kbb to 110k, and I 3bet to 285k. Lee shoves it all in after a short time of deliberation. It was a pretty trivial call at this point but I took my time just to make sure I didn’t pick up anything. I finally decided to call. Lee showed 44. It held up on all streets.

After I lost, the experience was a little surreal. I felt like I had played really well so whether I won or lost the all in became totally irrelevant to me. Everyday I use the logic that I can’t control the results so I should just be happy when I play well, but it rarely manifests itself completely. It didn’t in the KK hand. But when I got it all in with AJs, it did, and I think everyone saw that in me. I was happy because I played exceptionally, the result truly didn’t matter. Nicolas Levi, a very good french pro to my right, told me the nicest thing I think anyone has ever said to me. “I told Roland that I knew it would be the best for us if you lost the all in, but I didn’t want you to.” I turned to James Bord, the coolest guy I’ve ever met at a poker table, and shook his hand. I don’t think I’ve ever seen that expression he had on his face on anyone ever before. His smile and head nod seemed to say he was honored that he got to play with me at the poker table. After I exited the table the ESPN reporter, who was about to interview me, started tearing. I asked her with a big smile “Why are you crying? Don’t be sad there is no reason to be sad .” She replied. “I don’t know… I mean some people come over here all upset but you seem genuinely happy.” I know this whole paragraph may come off as incredibly self centered but I don’t mean it to be, it’s just honestly what happened.

Anyways, I had a great time and felt like I learned a ton from my experience. I have the EPT London ME left to play, and then I go back home. And you never know. Luck is independent, maybe the result can be even better there.

Not talking about the song.

This year I have had a higher fish to regular ratio at HU SNG’s, but I have not had nearly the kind of success. And I feel like the reason why is because I am getting killed by loose stationy fish. I wouldn’t be surprised if I wasn’t a winner against them. But why is this the case?

My instincts and adjustment tool set seem to bode much better vs a fish who can fold well or a tight, aggressive or passive regular. For people who have played me, this is fairly obvious. I’m a bluffing machine. I wouldn’t be surprised if I bluff fish more than any other non fish in the world. But this isn’t an honor I’m proud of having.

However, while bluffing vs fish is a problem, I don’t think it’s my biggest problem vs maniac fish. My biggest problem is not postflop, it is preflop. It seems if I do not stop and think for a few seconds, I can’t help but raise every hand on the button and call all those pretty cards out of position. The problem with playing loose out of and in position is it gives me more air and weak hands postflop. And versus someone who doesn’t fold and plays very aggressively, this is the worst possible strategy.

So my second goal for this month: Play a more optimal strategy against loose, aggressive, stationy fish.

In other news, the play a lot of tables experiment is going decently. Sometimes its difficult to focus that hard. I want to just go into robot mode and relax. But I’m trying to catch myself dozing off as much as possible and reaffirm my goal.

Every time you sit down to play poker you have a goal. You may not realize this or you may just vehemently deny it, but you do. Some people say it’s good to have a goal, but when you aren’t clear about the goal it becomes a problem. When that goal is one of the usual, default poker playing goals, it becomes the source of anger, tilt, and leads to terrible play. But if you can set a clear goal that is beneficial to your poker game, and become aware of when you stray from that goal, you’ll find yourself a calm, focused, poker playing, chip-taking, money-making machine.

One of the most common goals that poker players subconsciously set is “I want to win.” There are many ways to satisfy this goal. You can 1) Win a pot by making a good play 2) Win a pot by sucking out 3) Win by making a fortunately successful, terrible play. There are also ways that you will fail at this goal. You can 1) Lose a pot by getting sucked out on 2) Lose a pot but making a bad play 3) Lose a pot by making a good play but running into the top of your opponents range. Since in a 3 hours long session a good player will probably only win 55-60% of the time and in any moment a you can lose 100% of the time, this goal of wanting to win will leave you angry and upset about every other time you play.

But we don’t have to use this default goal, we can create our own. We can create goals that aren’t at the hands of something we can’t control. When I sit down to begin a poker session, I open up a word document and write down my goal for the day. Yesterday it was “Go to time bank as much as you can.” So throughout my session, I would look back at that word document and check in with myself. Am I taking my time enough to go to time bank consistently? No? Ok let’s try to take a little more time. By taking myself back to this goal, especially in times that I’m getting unlucky, I begin to focus on what is going to make me play my best instead of what I can’t control.

Here’s how you can come to your own goals. Think about how you are and what you do when you are playing your best. Here’s 3 of mine:

1) I’m consistently going to time bank on post flop decisions.
2) I’m thinking of alternate ways to play my hand instead of my initial reaction.
3) I feel calm

All these are clear, pointed ways for me to play my best. And most importantly, when I accomplish them it I’m able to recognize it. This means during a session, when things aren’t going well monetarily, I can feel a sense of calm knowing I’m accomplishing what an objective Max wanted to accomplish. Really, the goal doesn’t even have to have anything to do with making money, “I want to have fun.” It could not have to do with the way you play but what you play, “I want to play my most profitable stakes.” Or it could be statistical, “I want to play 3bet over 15% of hands.” Regardless of what it is, your poker session is only going to be as good as your goal. So set a great one.

I suppose that catching bluffs is the sexiest move in poker. It can also be the stupidest when you are wrong, which I am a lot. The problem is that being good at catching bluffs isn’t about making the biggest calls, it is about folding when you have the worst hand and calling when you have the best hand. If your a total station your bound to catch a bluff, but your not going to make a lot of money.

When deciding to make a hero call or not, I use three factors: Possibilities, Logic, and Emotions.

1. Possibilities: Is there actually a hand he could have gotten to this point, where he is betting or raising, that is not a nut hand? For example, you are OOP in a 3bet pot (heads up) and cbet a K72 rainbow board. Your opponent calls. Turn comes a 3. You check and he bets. In this situation, the only way your opponent is bluffing is if he decided to call the flop with a total air hand with the intention to take the pot down on the turn or river,  or if he decided to turn his hand into a bluff. Both are unlikely scenarios. On the other hand, change the board to T95 two spades and you have a much different story. Now there are many hands he could call the flop with, KQ KJ QJ 87 to name a few, that would call on the flop.

2. Logic: Is there logic present that he could use that would make him decide to bluff? And is that logic more compelling or evident than the logic not to bluff? Another example, say you have called a open OOP, again heads up. The flop comes J86. You check, he cbets, and you call. The turn comes a King. You check and he bets. Because there are very few hands in your range that improve with the turn king, and some hands in his that a king improves, this card makes logical sense for him to bluff on (among many, many other reasons). On the other hand, in the same situation if the flop comes AT8 rainbow and the turn comes a T, the only logic I could see for him to use to make him decide to bluff is that he has a good draw, something that isn’t plentiful in his wide range, or that he feels I would lead the turn if I spiked trip tens, or maybe that I would fold an Ace, weak draw, or an 8 to a turn bet. Even though the logic is present, I would tend to not make a hero call in this spot because this logic is not as compelling as the logic that the turn card is good for my range and nearly irrelevant to his.

3. Emotions: Would his likely emotions sway him to bluff? This may seem hard to figure out, but it is something that can be grasped. Winning, for example, could make someone feel confident, disregard money more, and cause them to decide to bluff. Emotions can often be outweighed by strong logic. I may feel like total shit after I lose 4 buy ins in 5 minutes but that probably won’t cause me to bet that Ten turn on the AT8 board if I’m in position. It may however cause me to bluff when my logic is foggy. Fourbetting preflop is a great example. Most people do not have set rules on what hands they will 4bet as a bluff. You could 4bet bluff with J4s and it could very well be a good bluff. The logic is unclear. 4betting as a bluff at any given time vs most players could be good. So if you are feeling like someone is 3betting you constantly, you have lost a lot of money, and you haven’t fourbet in awhile, 93s looks as good of a candidate as any.

Sometimes, using these factors I can be absolutely sure with what seems like near 100% certainty that my opponent is bluffing. The funny thing in poker that much of the time you only have to be 30% sure to make a call correctly. And we are faced with this problem constantly in poker, because 99% of the time we don’t have the type of hand we are willing to get all in. Hopefully, this post will help turn this problem into a good situation.

5 ways situations where you mess up good pot odds:

1) You’re playing in a hu sng, the blinds are 25/50 with 1200 effective stacks and your opponent, who’s opening about 2/3 of buttons, minraises to 100. You have KT. You know shoving KT shows a small EV. This does not mean you should shove! Calling here, especially given the great pot odds, has a much better expectation, almost regardless of how your opponent plays post. If he’s a weak player post, it’s an even better call.

2) Same situation, you call KT and take it post flop. You do not, I repeat, do not try to win every pot. You had 3:1 pot odds post flop, the adjustment to these odds is to take them. Play a wide range and be patient and wait for good spots. You don’t need to win that much.

3) You’re facing a player who loves the small bet. He like min cbetting, small thin river bets, and triple barreling small. I see so many players here trying to make plays at these bets, trying to c/r bluff a lot. I think the reason for this is players feel that if they call, his opponent will know he’s weak and beat him. But what his opponent is really doing is a) Giving you really good pot odds in every pot and b) Giving you an opportunity to build a pot every hand c) Giving you an opportunity to get big bets in on the river by c/ring him. The correct counter to this strategy is take your pot odds with draws and bad hands, c/r good hands for value, occasionally slowplay for balance, and very very occasionally c/r bluff.

4) You’re facing a loose and aggressive player who 3bets tons. However, he plays extremely tricky and 3bets to only twice your raise most of the time. Again, the correct strategy is here is to take your pot odds. 4bet your good hands, call preflop with a wide range, and don’t try to win every pot. But instead, many players try to 4bet bluff here and just end up building really big pots with a terrible hand.

5) Someone minbets and you’re oop with a weak hand. Unless you’re pretty certain that you can get this player to fold, you’d have to give a pretty good argument to pass up 6:1 or 8:1 pot odds. Even an over card or a runner runner fd may be enough to call here.

I absolutely despise players when I see them blatantly mishandling situations with good pot odds. Don’t make me have to despise you.

I want to preface this post by saying that, in poker, nothing is absolute. I should probably say the word “probably” more throughout this post but since that’s pesky and is technically bad writing I’m going to assume you know that when I imply that you should “always” do something, that I don’t mean it.

If you have talked to any great poker player, or read a poker forum, you have probably heard the phrase, “Plan your hand.” It’s sound advice that seems simple and easy to apply, but many players don’t apply it correctly. They plan out how they’re going to play if so-and-so bets, or if he checks, or raises, or whatever, but they don’t take into consideration how likely it is that someone is going to do any of those and how that changes what you should do right now. In this post I’m going to outline situations where the potential for future betting should change your approach to the hand, the math behind it, and a few tips on what typical, thinking poker players are likely to do.

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