Mental Hand History

Mental Hand History (from Page 61 of The Mental Game of Poker):

1.       Describe the problem:

My mental game problem is a lack of focus.

Throughout the session I am constantly surfing the net (I play on a laptop). When surfing on the net, I often find I’m opening the same pages over and over again (Facebook, Pokernews, Gmail, NRL, DreamTeam).

When I am in this state, my ‘red line’ goes down at a slope that is larger than it tends to when I am playing well. And my green line tends to follow suit.

2.       Why does it make logical sense that you would react, think, or feel that way?

              A - There is downtime between hands; I should use it as multitasking is efficient.

              B – Most decisions are automated (unconscious competence) and with 15 act there’s no rush.

3.       Why is that logic flawed?

A – Multitasking is not always efficient, poker is something that has a positive correlation between attention and performance.

B – This game has incomplete info, the more information we can gain via observation of opponents, stats and self-awareness the better our performance.

4.       What is the correct way to handle the situation?

           A – There is always hands being played at your table, this is a good chance to pick up on ways to                  gain a greater edge on villains. (The in internet will still be there after my session is finished).

            B – A good game is a fast game (I play more hands therefore more profit, villains are less likely to leave table due to my slow play), I also get impatient when people are slow so I should not be the slow one.

5.       Why is that correction correct?

A – The greater my edge on my villains, the larger my win rate, the less variance I will see in my results. This will lead to a better chance of growing a decent bank roll in long run.

B – A good game is more enjoyable, the more fun at the table the more inclined I am to think deeper in situations.

In order to maximise my chance of achieving the situation of never considering opening my browser while playing I will…….

1 – Aim to make notes constantly.

2 – Regularly record myself playing with screencast-o-matic. And post them to be accountable.

3 – Review this post regularly, going over step 5 before each session.

AA** against shortstack

$10.00 USD PL Omaha - Friday, June 01, 12:54:19 ET 2012

Table Deal PLO 18  10 Max (Real Money)

Seat 3 is the button

Seat 1: Doggies ( $10.15 USD )

Seat 2: gizmo003 ( $3.62 USD )

Seat 3: ReverseEST ( $6.47 USD )

Seat 5: Chiinaboy ( $21.33 USD )

Seat 6: robom ( $3.82 USD )

Chiinaboy posts small blind [$0.05 USD].

robom posts big blind [$0.10 USD].

Dealt to Doggies [  Tc Ah Ad 9c ]

Doggies raises [$0.35 USD]

gizmo003 folds

ReverseEST folds

Chiinaboy folds

robom calls [$0.25 USD]

Pre flop standard, villain is 66/0 after 6 hands, so likely bad. We can only eliminate really trashy hands from his range.

** Dealing Flop ** [ Kc, 4c, 7d ]

SPR = Slightly over 4.

Somewhat connected board, one we are definitely going to c-bet for value and protection with our overpair  + T - high FD + Backdoor straight draw.

Given the SPR I should have potted here, pretty much all the stacks go in on turn and letting him draw cheap is bad, is we face a check raise we can get it in as we do not know that much about villain.

When villain calls, we can put him on straight draws pair + gutter/kickers/flush draws  and some flush draws.

robom checks

Doggies bets [$0.50 USD]

robom calls [$0.50 USD]

** Dealing Turn ** [ 5d ]

robom checks

Pot 1.75$, 2.97$ left behind.

The 5d adds a bunch of two pairs and draws. However given the SPR we have to make our decision if we are going with it here. When he checks we can rule out 86** a reasonable amount I think, 63** also probably leads. Sets are minimal as they check raise flop (or lead), so we have good equity against his range in general, and against a strong all in range we are roughly 26% at worst.

So we should bet pot here, if we can get him to fold his equity that’s awesome, and we are never getting it in drawing dead here often what so ever.

We can check and look to get to showdown but against what is likely a player who calls way to wide we need to get max value which is again a reason why we should be potting the river.

Doggies bets [$1.20 USD]

robom raises [$2.97 USD]

Gotta call 1.77$ to win 5.92$, so we have the odds to call against the range we give him.

Doggies calls [$1.77 USD]

Doggies shows [Tc, Ah Ad 9c ]

robom shows [Kh, 5h 5c Kd ]

** Dealing River ** [ Qh ]

robom wins $7.31 USD from main pot

So he turned up with a hand we did not think was in his range, and against that hand we are 20%. That’s okay, we just need to take a note down and we can use that in the future. Our mistake was not potting on either street. When I first played the hand I was thinking the turn call may be bad, but the stack sizes make it a he mistake if we fold.

How did he play it? He didn’t play it horribly but I think he should lead out on the flop or at least CR as his hand is vulnerable. 

Rambling on 3/4 Betting

In general, against unknowns, we are best of to assume that a villain 3- betting PF is likely to have AA** a vast majority of the time, therefore our 4betting range assuming 100bb is very polarized heavily to premium AA**. This is because 4betting premium KK** is not going to end well as we are only like 35% or so against him, and villain is not folding pre so it’s not good, we would be better off to set mine/look to hit flops with good equity. When they do 3bet PF with primarily AA** we will not be folding too often pre flop as we will have rather easy decisions to make post flop based on SPR and our perceived equity.

When we face a liberal 3bettor, they will be potentially 3betting very wide with JJ+, and lots of suited/double suited rundowns and some garbage. As a result we are able to start to widen our 4betting range to include all AA** and premium KK**, QQ** and A*** (where all our cards are broad way and our AK**double suited hands.

We will not be folding these pre flop as we are not 4bet bluffing in PLO that often, unless of course we have a very specific hand range we can put them on (AA**) and it is clear that we do not fare well/able to play well against this range. If we can ensure there is a non zero percent 5bet range that is not AA** we are good to go.

The reason we 4bet AK** double suited and high card hands is because we will be dominating our opponents hands if they have a double suited hand with one suit matching which is good for us. The AK** also ensure that we defeat the A*** hands that they are getting overly aggro with.

Equation to use to assist in our pre flop calculations to work out the EV of a 4bet: EV (call 4-bet) = (1 - top_x) (-25.5 BB) + top_x {av_equity (201.5 BB) - 88 BB}

Rambling Notes

If we get checked to HU and our villain has more than 33% equity, they are making an error by folding if we make a pot size bet on the turn. Therefore, when we make the bet half pot, they are making a mistake when they have more than 25% equity. *This assumes that all stacks are going in on the current street as implied odds etc. influence the true equity %, especially as villain is out of position as they need to play a guessing game.

This is why check calling is horrible out of position with a marginal hand!

Ramblings on Draws

We can flop an absolute monster such as AhKdQhJd on JhTd2h, in which case we have 9 outs to the nut flush, plus an additional 11 outs to a straight and a good back door flush draw and a pair! Minimum 20 outs! TWICE! HUGE EQUITY!

We can also flop a plane old OESD with Ah7h6c2d on Js9s8c and could be drawing dead if we call and see a turn with no chance of a re draw. Here we have minimal equity and will not be looking to put money in this pot at all unless we get a free card a off suit 5 comes, then hope to take down the pot on the turn or avoid a bazillion river outs.. MINIMAL EQUITY!

In reality we will flop somewhere in between these two extremes. As PLO is a drawing game, it is important for us to be able to calculate our equity quickly and pretty accurately before deciding on the best line with our hand which will also be dependent on SPR.

Ramblings on SPR

With a SPR ratio of one, we only have one move, if we bet fold, it would be a big mistake, therefore:

In position: we can check behind, call and all in, or put the money in ourselves.

If we are facing a bet, we have a simple equation in that as long as we have at least 33% equity against the betting range, we call.

If we have the option to bet or check, the factors that will be involved are our hand strength, board texture, villains image, how various turn cards affect the board, and possibilities of having more EV spots on the turn if we check behind.

If we bet, we can win the pot in two ways, at showdown or by having villain fold. Therefore we do not necessarily need to have minimum 33% equity against a villains calling range as we also have fold equity to add to the plus EV of some hands, which when we get called may only have 20% equity etc.

We should therefore check behind, when we miss the flop and the flop hits villains range for calling 3bets hard and our equity is not going to be good. If the board is missing both players ranges a lot we should bet by default, especially against tight players.

We should also check behind when we have a hand that can pick up lots of equity on man turns.

Hand 13

Full Tilt Poker Game #30491352069: Table Seabourn (6 max, ante, deep) - $0.05/$0.10 Ante $0.02 - Pot Limit Omaha Hi - 14:21:59 ET - 2011/05/14

Seat 2: Jubinator ($25.49)

Seat 4: Cirviids ($21.25)

Seat 5: Contentnutzer ($131.33)

Contentnutzer antes $0.02

Cirviids antes $0.02

Jubinator antes $0.02

Jubinator posts the small blind of $0.05

Cirviids posts the big blind of $0.10

The button is in seat #5

*** HOLE CARDS ***

Dealt to Jubinator [8c 9d 6s Ad]

Contentnutzer folds

Jubinator raises to $0.36

Cirviids raises to $1.14

Jubinator calls $0.78

2 way 200 deep pre flop call of 3bet is okay, despites the Ace in our hand. 4 betting is not great for me yet as I am not skilled enough.

*** FLOP *** [2d 6d Kh]

We flop MP and the NFD. The only hand we are crushed by is KK**, AAK* and K6** so not a huge range, however when we get it all in on this flop we are never crushing him so we should not look to put a tonne of money in. A check call is fine, if we lead I think it needs to be with the intention of lead/3betting, therefore we would need to know that he raises all donk bets before we do this.

Jubinator bets $2.34

Cirviids raises to $9.36

Jubinator raises to $24.33, and is all in

Cirviids calls $10.73, and is all in

Jubinator shows [8c 9d 6s Ad]

Cirviids shows [4h 6h Kc 9c]

Uncalled bet of $4.24 returned to Jubinator

*** TURN *** [2d 6d Kh] [8s]

*** RIVER *** [2d 6d Kh 8s] [Jh]

Jubinator shows two pair, Eights and Sixes

Cirviids shows two pair, Kings and Sixes

Cirviids wins the pot ($41.52) with two pair, Kings and Sixes

*** SUMMARY ***

Total pot $42.52 | Rake $1

Board: [2d 6d Kh 8s Jh]

Seat 2: Jubinator (small blind) showed [8c 9d 6s Ad] and lost with two pair, Eights and Sixes

Seat 4: Cirviids (big blind) showed [4h 6h Kc 9c] and won ($41.52) with two pair, Kings and Sixes

Seat 5: Contentnutzer (button) folded before the Flop