7 2 BLUFF...Diary of a poker player

%VPIP (Voluntarily Put Money In Pot)

<10% Nit too tight

<15% Tight hard to exploit

20% – If you are a losing player and this is not your number make it your number

>25% Loose starting to splash – potential losing player

>30% very loose player – If they are not losing they could most likely be winning more

You can win being loose but you have to be a great post flop player and hand reader. If  you are not, stick to 20% for the best of both worlds. If you are above 20% and losing adjust you ranges downwards. Who knows you may be a Mozart but trying to play the piano and guitar at the same time.

Key to betting is this, do it every time.

• Before you call a bet, list the hand that you beat
• Before you make a value bet, list the hands that will call
• Before you make a bluff, list the hands that will fold

Tilt is silent killer after losing a bit pot step out of the action and avoid big pots.

If you do play a hand take your time, go through the script and make sure you’d come to the same decision the next day.

Remember:

• Before you call a bet, list the hand that you beat
• Before you make a value bet, list the hands that will call
• Before you make a bluff, list the hands that will fold

Checking out the new PartyPoker team member Beata “The WildHungarian” Jambrik on twitch. I see Beata listed herself as a new PartyPoker Pro but currently has no Hendon Mob listing…

The initial image of her in a bikini  makes me think I may not learn too much, but after my last performance I’ll take all the advice I can get.

https://www.twitch.tv/wildhungarian

Assume a pot of $100 pot if you bet half pot as a bluff you need your opponent to fold 33% of the time, if you face this bet you need 25% equity against your opponents likely holding.

1/2 = 33% = 50/(100+50) to call this bet you need 50/(150 +50) = 25%

2/3 =40% =66/(100+66) to call this bet you need 66/(166+66) = 28%

Pot = 50% = 100/(100+100)  to call this bet you need 100/(200+100) = 33%

1.5 x = 60% =150/(100+150) to call this bet you need 150/(250+150) = 37.5%

2 x =66% = 200/(100+200) to call this bet you need 200/(300+200) = 40%

A dollar saved is a dollar earned, saving a dollar is just as beneficial as winning one.

Fold when your equity based on your opponent’s equity of their likely hands range is less than the odds the pot is laying you.

Phil Galfond said “One way to exploit your opponent is to fold”

Like all sports you have to be an athlete to compete at the highest level. I know poker is a game played with the mind and that Greg Raymer may seem to evidence to the contrary. To maintain the levels of concentration needed  your body needs to be in fighting fit condition, rested and ready to do battle. This view was also shared by Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier  in his book The Raiser’s Edge .

I’m 13 St 13 Lbs I need to lose 13 lbs. I’m cutting all alcohol and going to the gym daily until I make my fighting weight. Missed days at gym will require double sessions to catch up.

Net money won is what is important, however success as a player is measured in tournament wins.

This is England’s all time money list and this is where the score is kept, I’m currently 2,930th on the list. One day I want to be top of this list and I don’t care how crazy that sounds, you heard it here first.

It’s an old poker mantra that doesn’t get old

Pocket Aces are after all just one pair.

Ace King on an ace high board is just one pair.

HOWEVER the average winning hand in Hold’em is two pair.

Don’t go broke with one pair, if you can find a fold on the turn and still have a playable stack take it and  be happy.

Nottingham saw a very poor poker playing display by me. Today I’ve updated my blog and reviewed the stream from Dusk Till Dawn for several hours. Congratulations to Jonathan “Skalie” Kalmar who won the Grand Prix first prize of £30,000 and an $6,0000 Caribbean Package.

No more poker playing until I have completed my new book, The Myth of Poker Talent by Alexander Fitzgerald. Only then can I get back to the poker tables.

Other areas to work on:

1. Review shove charts especially week aces
2. Review opening ranges based on Doug Polk’s recommendations
3. Review in Holdem Manager my last 1,000 hands
4. Find which hands I’m overplaying and why
5. Study light 3-betting and playing in 3-bet pots as the light 3-bettor