Ask me Tien anything thread

[Tien]

Go ahead. This is the last time I make a thread on uNL. I think there is a huge amount of tools available for you starting players out there to learn and develop yourselves so anything more I write will most likely be redundant.

Well... Go ahead and ask. Preflop, postflop, image, stats, etc etc.

[Wolfram]

Who are you?

What's your poker history?

[netstorm]

So basically you're in the well right now? /images/graemlins/smile.gif

What has helped you the most in improving your game?

[Tien]

I am Tien, crackyoface on nearly all poker sites.

Started playing 1.5 years ago at the penny tables. Worked my way up to 200 and 400 NL 6 max games (alternated a lot between them).

[Tien]

[ QUOTE ]
So basically you're in the well right now? /images/graemlins/smile.gif

What has helped you the most in improving your game?

[/ QUOTE ]

My mentality. Once I drilled it down into my head that I was going to become the aggressive I dont care type of player I needed to become, changes became much much easier.

But, I have also benefitted a lot from a circle of poker friends on msn constantly supporting me, giving me advice, and having poker discussions with.

Those 2 things helped improved my game the most.

[kolotoure]

Why are you stopping playing?

[limit refugee]

The thing i need to work on most before i am succesfull at higher limits is taking control from the blinds.

Folded to you in the small blind...what range of hands do you raise with against a TAG who is in the BB, how about a loose passive?

Same with being in the SB and BB and facing a raise from CO/ button...should I ever call, or is it mainly a raise or fold move. Again, if you don't mind, a range of hands for reraising.

I know this is a vague general question, but I'm pretty sure this is the biggest hole in my game, so any thing is appreciated. I'm trying to figure out the balance of the fact that I'll be playing out of position and leaving myself open to floats etc. with being the aggresor...to my own detriment I think.

(If you can, gimme a "Raise that {censored} up" in the answer, it does me good)

[Tien]

[ QUOTE ]
Why are you stopping playing?

[/ QUOTE ]

A few reasons. The biggest ones being:

1) I want to concentrate on other things such as real estate investing.

2) Poker consumed too much of my energy / time / focus and I could not concentrate on the other things I want.

3) No longer felt happy playing poker.

[netstorm]

What stats did you look at when facing a difficult decision vs. various opponents? What HUD stats did you put on the table?

[Tien]

[ QUOTE ]
The thing i need to work on most before i am succesfull at higher limits is taking control from the blinds.

Folded to you in the small blind...what range of hands do you raise with against a TAG who is in the BB, how about a loose passive?

Same with being in the SB and BB and facing a raise from CO/ button...should I ever call, or is it mainly a raise or fold move. Again, if you don't mind, a range of hands for reraising.

I know this is a vague general question, but I'm pretty sure this is the biggest hole in my game, so any thing is appreciated. I'm trying to figure out the balance of the fact that I'll be playing out of position and leaving myself open to floats etc. with being the aggresor...to my own detriment I think.

(If you can, gimme a "Raise that {censored} up" in the answer, it does me good)

[/ QUOTE ]

Blind vs blind play is something many many players at the higher limits (mid stakes) dont possess.

If I am in the SB, I will raise the BB nearly every single playable hand that I would raise from the CU / Button. Good enough to call means it is good enough to raise. Range of hands is = to range of hands in CU / Button.

I will do this against everyone, I don't care how LAG or TAG.

I will only reraise hands from the blinds against CO / Button raises if I know the player raises hands liberally. It's quite foolhardy to reraise a player who only raises premium hands. Some hands though I will reraise no matter what, AK, AQ, JJ, maybe even 1010 sometimes.

I will only call a raise if I feel I can outplay him postflop oop.

The poker fire is dying out, those RAISE THAT [censored] UP phrases are almost instinct.

[Wolfram]

[ QUOTE ]
3) No longer felt happy playing poker.

[/ QUOTE ]
Any specific reason for this? (downswing, moral, social...)

[Tien]

[ QUOTE ]
What stats did you look at when facing a difficult decision vs. various opponents? What HUD stats did you put on the table?

[/ QUOTE ]

I never use HUD stats. I went purely on feel as well as reads. I copy paste ANY hand history into the notes (played on stars and fulltilt) that will tell me exactly how the player plays. I am an avid note taker because the more raw information you have on a player, the better the decisions.

I guess I should have used poker HUD, but was always too lazy to get it.

[Tien]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
3) No longer felt happy playing poker.

[/ QUOTE ]
Any specific reason for this? (downswing, moral, social...)

[/ QUOTE ]

Poker became work, it became a grind. The money I won from poker made no difference whatsoever to me. I never really needed to spend a lot anyways.

I also didn't like who I was becoming. I was starting to hate normal human beings that I have no reason to really hate, but because of the nature of the game, I turned myself into a person who doesn't care about his fellow man. Didn't like that.

I realized I felt happier giving someone a smile with a helpful article than giving them a frown while taking 200 bucks from them.

[netstorm]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
What stats did you look at when facing a difficult decision vs. various opponents? What HUD stats did you put on the table?

[/ QUOTE ]

I never use HUD stats. I went purely on feel as well as reads. I copy paste ANY hand history into the notes (played on stars and fulltilt) that will tell me exactly how the player plays. I am an avid note taker because the more raw information you have on a player, the better the decisions.

I guess I should have used poker HUD, but was always too lazy to get it.

[/ QUOTE ]

Well, for the last 20k hands, I have been playing without a HUD aswell, and it has improved my game alot. I could use some help with note taking though. What do you think would be the most "noteworthy" plays in uNL / SSNL ?

[Tien]

The best notes are copy pasting hand histories because you get to "feel" the way he plays with each bet he makes.

Write down ANYTHING you feel could help you with a decision later on.

"calls garbage hands oop"

"floats with QK on 4510 board"

"Likely to fold to 2 barrel bluffs"

etc etc. Put down whatever you think will help.

[netstorm]

Sorry for all these questions, but Im taking advantage while I still can /images/graemlins/smile.gif

Eventhough I think uNL and most of SSNL is not the place to be slowplaying any hands, are there situations where you do slowplay?

[Tien]

Thats really really player and board dependent and what hand I put him on.

But as a general rule of thumb, if I ever slowplay the flop, I will almsot never slowplay the turn. Gotta get money in there sometime.

[Acein8ter]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Why are you stopping playing?

[/ QUOTE ]

A few reasons. The biggest ones being:

1) I want to concentrate on other things such as real estate investing.


[/ QUOTE ]

I also have some RE investments. What type of REI are you interested in? What area of the country? In your hometown or out of state?

As far as poker, it's just a little hobbie for me. Since I don't play for high stakes, its not that stressfull and 'work'. It is a grind, but still fun as I see it as a game.
I'm up 80 buy in's in 1.5 months playing 10nl so it's fun at the time....

[kerplunkNL]

Hi Tien. Thanks for doing this. When the SB completes my BB, I always think to raise that [censored] up. /images/graemlins/smile.gif

My question:

First orbit at a 6-max table of unknowns.

UTG, UTG+1 folds, limper in MP and it's folded to you in the BB with K/images/graemlins/heart.gif K/images/graemlins/spade.gif.
You raise to 5BB.
Limper calls.
Flop comes A/images/graemlins/diamond.gif 7/images/graemlins/club.gif 3/images/graemlins/spade.gif.

1) Check or bet, and why?

Suppose you're on the button,
3) MP checks the flop, do you bet or check, and why?
4) MP donkbets 1/4 of the pot, do you raise, and why?


5) If you would know villain better, which reads would you incline to check and which to bet (or to call/fold in Q4)?

Thanks again.

[Tien]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Why are you stopping playing?

[/ QUOTE ]

A few reasons. The biggest ones being:

1) I want to concentrate on other things such as real estate investing.


[/ QUOTE ]

I also have some RE investments. What type of REI are you interested in? What area of the country? In your hometown or out of state?

As far as poker, it's just a little hobbie for me. Since I don't play for high stakes, its not that stressfull and 'work'. It is a grind, but still fun as I see it as a game.
I'm up 80 buy in's in 1.5 months playing 10nl so it's fun at the time....

[/ QUOTE ]

I don't want to get too much into real estate investing because that would hijack the thread.

But I am looking into all sorts of estates, right now in the residential area in my city but I will most likely branch out into commercial estates.

Im still educating myself though.

[Tien]

[ QUOTE ]
Hi Tien. Thanks for doing this. When the SB completes my BB, I always think to raise that [censored] up. /images/graemlins/smile.gif

My question:

First orbit at a 6-max table of unknowns.

UTG, UTG+1 folds, limper in MP and it's folded to you in the BB with K/images/graemlins/heart.gif K/images/graemlins/spade.gif.
You raise to 5BB.
Limper calls.
Flop comes A/images/graemlins/diamond.gif 7/images/graemlins/club.gif 3/images/graemlins/spade.gif.

1) Check or bet, and why?

Suppose you're on the button,
3) MP checks the flop, do you bet or check, and why?
4) MP donkbets 1/4 of the pot, do you raise, and why?


5) If you would know villain better, which reads would you incline to check and which to bet (or to call/fold in Q4)?

Thanks again.

[/ QUOTE ]

I bet 100% of the time and raise 100% of the time if he donk bets into me. Nobody [censored] with my pot without a real hand.

Question 5) I dont really care who it is that called me. If he limp calls my raise, I know he's a weak tight player that doesn't know how to play 6 max. I'm raising and betting.

[AndreasQ]

Could you post lifetime PT stats?

[GtrHtr]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Why are you stopping playing?

[/ QUOTE ]

A few reasons. The biggest ones being:

1) I want to concentrate on other things such as real estate investing.


[/ QUOTE ]

I also have some RE investments. What type of REI are you interested in? What area of the country? In your hometown or out of state?

As far as poker, it's just a little hobbie for me. Since I don't play for high stakes, its not that stressfull and 'work'. It is a grind, but still fun as I see it as a game.
I'm up 80 buy in's in 1.5 months playing 10nl so it's fun at the time....

[/ QUOTE ]

I don't want to get too much into real estate investing because that would hijack the thread.

But I am looking into all sorts of estates, right now in the residential area in my city but I will most likely branch out into commercial estates.

Im still educating myself though.

[/ QUOTE ]

How can you hijack a thread that is titled "ask you anything"?

[Tien]

[ QUOTE ]
Could you post lifetime PT stats?

[/ QUOTE ]

I gave away my database a few days ago to a friend and deleted every poker program I had...

[Tien]

It's a poker thread!

[the_muppeteer]

How do you play TPTK against calling stations that will play a house the same way the play bottom pair on the flop and turn? Value bet each street because your best most of the times?

How often do you 3bet, and with what hands?

When do you change gears? Do you want the table tilted calling you down, or do you want to be feared and respected?


Thats all I can think of atm /images/graemlins/wink.gif

[Tien]

That is a very situational description of a hand.

But depending on reads, I will most likely bet real hard on the flop turn and river. Calling stations dont have mosnter hands enough.

How often do I 3bet? Quite often with a variety of hands. 3bet combo draws really strongly, 3bet AA KK when being check raised on the flop very often. 3bet TPTK.

I don't want to tilt an entire table. I will try and tilt certain players I have position on and am better. I will sometimes 3bet preflop a certain player I have position on more often so he gets emotional against me.

I want the to be fear and respected by the whole table. But feared meaning them not knowing what I have, not being a weak tight nit who only plays the nuts.

[the_muppeteer]

Thought of another one.

When you moved from penny tables and up, did you do it with the standard bankroll of 15-20 BI all the way, or did you move faster on the lower limits?

Not that relevant, but I have played 100NL on occasions, and have won when trying. But not having the proper bankroll, or enough hands to determine if I'm a winning playing at this level keeps me down at 50NL.


Btw, thanks for doing this! /images/graemlins/smile.gif

[redCashion]

How did you find the games changing as you moved up levels? I recently took a shot at NL100 and found the play considerably more aggressive (IE getting raised and reraised alot more than at NL50). Does that trend of increased aggression continue at NL200? What other differences do you notice?

[Tien]

Depends on how many tables you play. If you play a small amount of tables, 20 buyins is perfect.

If you play a lot of tables, add a lot more buyins. Before I left the game, I was going on 50 buyin bankrolls.

Move up only when you are truely crushing the games below. Amount of buyins you have for hte next limit is not an indication of how good you are.

[CaptVimes]

Have you ever gone bust, and what lead you there? If you haven't gone bust, what do think was the most important reason you didn't?

Thanks and good luck on whatever your future holds.

[Tien]

[ QUOTE ]
How did you find the games changing as you moved up levels? I recently took a shot at NL100 and found the play considerably more aggressive (IE getting raised and reraised alot more than at NL50). Does that trend of increased aggression continue at NL200? What other differences do you notice?

[/ QUOTE ]

One thing I notice when I moved up limits was the regulars were getting better and better. Weak tight regular nits become TAGS. 200 NL is still a fish pool, but 400 NL is when the games start to be infested with regulars.

The fish are still the same no matter where you go. Which limits you play. Maybe more aggressive fish but fish still swim the same and are still stupid.

[netstorm]

I am currently beating the $50nl over 20k hands at 9ptbb/100. I am 8-tabling. But every time I take a shot at $100 nl, I lose. I've gone through most of my hand histories, and a lot of my money lost was when I put most of my money in while being ahead. It seems as if everytime I catch a hand, someone beats it. How do I deal with this? I have lost over 11 buyins at $100nl, so I am now back to grinding my roll back up at $50nl.

What would be the best approach if I were to try taking a shot at $100nl again ?

[Tien]

[ QUOTE ]
Have you ever gone bust, and what lead you there? If you haven't gone bust, what do think was the most important reason you didn't?

Thanks and good luck on whatever your future holds.

[/ QUOTE ]

I've gotten close to bust but never truly busto.

I was constantly trying to move up to 50 NL like 1 year ago and kept failing and failing because I was a weak tight nit. Didn't read my 2 articles so I didn't really know how to play.

I then broke out into the most unimaginable tilt I ever experienced and bad run of cards. Within a span of 2 days reduced my 700$ bankroll to 100 bucks. That's the closest I have ever gone to busto.

Reason I never went busto? I told myself I was not going to fail, no matter what.

[Tien]

[ QUOTE ]
I am currently beating the $50nl over 20k hands at 9ptbb/100. I am 8-tabling. But every time I take a shot at $100 nl, I lose. I've gone through most of my hand histories, and a lot of my money lost was when I put most of my money in while being ahead. It seems as if everytime I catch a hand, someone beats it. How do I deal with this? I have lost over 11 buyins at $100nl, so I am now back to grinding my roll back up at $50nl.

What would be the best approach if I were to try taking a shot at $100nl again ?

[/ QUOTE ]

run good next time? nothign u can do about bad beats.

20K hands at 50 NL doesnt mean anything. I have had my KK in the red for 20K hands. Play more 50 NL. Maybe 50 000 hands until you move up.

I would play less 100 NL tables. Maybe start with 2-3 and work my way from there.

[redCashion]

How much did you earn playing poker in the last year?

[Tien]

Total cashouts within the past 6 months have been 20K.

I didn't really earn anything in the first year of playing.

[HitNRunPoster]

Here, I'll start your thread for you.

"Some day some guy falls down a well in some village. 'Help!' he cries. Eventually people hear him and decide to help him out of the well, but since he's particularly awesome at poker, before they let him out, they make him answer some questions. 'Don't worry', they say, 'We'll let you out on Tuesday.' 'Why Tuesday?' he asks. 'Because on Tuesday, we're throwing Jigsaws into the well.'"

[GtrHtr]

[ QUOTE ]
It's a poker thread!

[/ QUOTE ]

rigged. too bad, I wanted to hear about the other stuff actually. /images/graemlins/tongue.gif

[Tien]

[ QUOTE ]
Here, I'll start your thread for you.

"Some day some guy falls down a well in some village. 'Help!' he cries. Eventually people hear him and decide to help him out of the well, but since he's particularly awesome at poker, before they let him out, they make him answer some questions. 'Don't worry', they say, 'We'll let you out on Tuesday.' 'Why Tuesday?' he asks. 'Because on Tuesday, we're throwing Jigsaws into the well.'"

[/ QUOTE ]

Is this supposed to be a constructive or destructive post?

Sorry I can't figure it out.

[whodatdare]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Here, I'll start your thread for you.

"Some day some guy falls down a well in some village. 'Help!' he cries. Eventually people hear him and decide to help him out of the well, but since he's particularly awesome at poker, before they let him out, they make him answer some questions. 'Don't worry', they say, 'We'll let you out on Tuesday.' 'Why Tuesday?' he asks. 'Because on Tuesday, we're throwing Jigsaws into the well.'"

[/ QUOTE ]

Is this supposed to be a constructive or destructive post?

Sorry I can't figure it out.

[/ QUOTE ]


Its meant as a compliment, and not a left handed one.

[pokerchap]

What site do you find to be toughest? What site do find to be softest? At 10NL, do you find pretty much all sites to be the same?

[whodatdare]

ONe of my problems is I'm just starting to play 6 max. I try to be aggressive, but cannot discern when my opponents are checking along with the better hand. Say I have TPTK and c bet around 3/4 pot and get called. I fire the 2nd barrel 2/3 to PSB) and get called again, with or without improvement to my hand. I see all kinds of players taking htis same line t the micro levels. How do you weed out the passives from the trappers?

And thank you for taking the time to do this, Tien.

[King Spew]

[ QUOTE ]
I am Tien, crackyoface on nearly all poker sites.


[/ QUOTE ]

lol, I really liked your first two "articles" and now "this".... crackyoface.

My Party Note on you reads "Show this guy weaksauce /images/graemlins/smile.gif "

PT says I took you for $12.00 over 400 hands at $25NL. WAHHOOOOOOoooooo, I'm RICH! Glad you learned how to play better /images/graemlins/laugh.gif I still suck.

At what level does 2nd level (then 3rd level) thinking become the norm?

[Tien]

[ QUOTE ]
What site do you find to be toughest? What site do find to be softest? At 10NL, do you find pretty much all sites to be the same?

[/ QUOTE ]

At 100 NL and below, there is no difference. Although I think party poker had the easiest SSNL games but I never played there for much.

I know for a fact pokerstars has the toughest mid stakes games on the internet. For example, at 400 NL 6 max, players / flop on stars was 20-30% which is real tight. On full tilt it was 30-40%. On Battlefield poker it was 40-50%.

I would go with full tilt. Bonus + rakeback.... It would do wonders for a SSNL player.

[Tien]

[ QUOTE ]
ONe of my problems is I'm just starting to play 6 max. I try to be aggressive, but cannot discern when my opponents are checking along with the better hand. Say I have TPTK and c bet around 3/4 pot and get called. I fire the 2nd barrel 2/3 to PSB) and get called again, with or without improvement to my hand. I see all kinds of players taking htis same line t the micro levels. How do you weed out the passives from the trappers?

And thank you for taking the time to do this, Tien.

[/ QUOTE ]

Opponent reading comes with time. I can quickly come to a conclusion who is a weak passive caller and who is a TAG. I don't fire too many barrels against players who don't want to fold.

Coming to a conclusion on who is trapping you will come with experience. Work on improving your reads by concentrating on each player / taking a lot of notes and than trust the reads.

[Tien]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I am Tien, crackyoface on nearly all poker sites.


[/ QUOTE ]

lol, I really liked your first two "articles" and now "this".... crackyoface.

My Party Note on you reads "Show this guy weaksauce /images/graemlins/smile.gif "

PT says I took you for $12.00 over 400 hands at $25NL. WAHHOOOOOOoooooo, I'm RICH! Glad you learned how to play better /images/graemlins/laugh.gif I still suck.

At what level does 2nd level (then 3rd level) thinking become the norm?

[/ QUOTE ]

Party note? LAst time I played party poker was over a year ago.

I still suck as well. Although I could have gone much much further up the poker ladder but my drive for poker kinda died.

Isn't 2nd level thinking what you think your opponent has? And 3rd level what he think you have?

I only use 3rd level thinking against regulars. Fish are erratic. Some days they will call and some days they will fold. It's all a matter of emotion to them.

You need to play a lot of hands against a certain player to develop any kind of 3rd level thinking.

[redCashion]

Sorry for all the financial questions, but how much were you making in rakeback a month at your peak? And from what site primarily?

[the_muppeteer]

Sorry if this is answered allready, but how many tables did you play at the same time.
Must be hard only relying on notes when playing more than 3-4 tables?

[Jigsaws]

How did you change your mentality, as described in your other article?

[Tien]

[ QUOTE ]
Sorry for all the financial questions, but how much were you making in rakeback a month at your peak? And from what site primarily?

[/ QUOTE ]

Only played on full tilt. Total rakeback I received was about 3K over 3 months about. Max a month was about 1.5K I think.

[Tien]

[ QUOTE ]
How did you change your mentality, as described in your other article?

[/ QUOTE ]

I thought about nothing else. I sat down every session determined to change. I kept imagining myself as an aggressive player who didn't care about the results of the hands, only the decisions. Eventually, my thoughts became my realities.

[Tien]

[ QUOTE ]
Sorry if this is answered allready, but how many tables did you play at the same time.
Must be hard only relying on notes when playing more than 3-4 tables?

[/ QUOTE ]

I played about 8 tables.

I have a really good memory about how a player plays a specific hand and I am pretty quick with the mouse too.

Used to be one of those old school starcraft playres with 200 actions / minute.

But for a lot of players out there, too many tables is really really detrimental to their game. They are not thinking hard enough about the small pots and end up giving away a lot of EV in small pots.

[Wilco23]

Sorry to hear you're getting out of playing Tien.

Care to share any thoughts on typical betting patterns?

Also, this may be presumptuous, but if you're not going to be playing, would you mind making some hand histories available for those of us who don't play online? (Yes, you read that right...unfortunately.)

Thanks in advance for any insight.

[Tien]

Online betting patterns are way different than live betting patterns.

I know online betting patterns. If a fish check insta calls a bet and insta checks, he is most likely on a draw. Means he is not thinking about what you have, he just wants to hit.

If an ok player check calls without thinking too long on a dry board when you raised preflop, say 247. He probably has a 4 or a pocket pair hoping you have high cards. Sometimes you can make him fold with 2nd barrel bluffs.

I rely more on player dependent situations to fully come to a conclusion on what a player's bet means. I focus a lot on developping that 6th sense.

How do I make hand histories available?

[Bowlboy]

Just out of curiosity. You mentioned being an oldschool starcraft player. I sort of remember somebody on SC several years ago with the name 'Tien'. Were you by chance the same guy that used to hang around in stratforumregs, which later became Clan SFR? Eriador used to hang there and some other talented players. I was pretty much completely unkown back then but my akas were bluesoup and GiTM-Soup. I 'bet' that was you.

[Tien]

hahahahaha! yeah that was me.

MasterTien or something. Of course of course I hung around clan SFR. That was long long long time ago.

Good old days huh?

[Tien]

Ill be back in about 3 hours. Keep posting your questions.

[SimonAllan]

How often do you fire a second (or third) barrel? What are you looking for when you decide to continue after your c-bet is called and you have no more than overcards?

[bk1]

Thanks for all the help.

Is looseness or tightness really important?

You see in the live game, some people play almost every hand but make money?

Also, you have small pocket pair on the button.

Middle position raise you, then what do you do?

If you re-raise him and then he re-re-raise you, then what do you do?

Do you fold or push it and hoping to be a coin flip?

[SimonAllan]

One line I always have difficulty with is when I raise in late position preflop, and get called by one player out of position. He check/calls my c-bet and then leads out the turn. This confuses me as you would expect a big hand to raise the flop, but his bet seems to suggest that he doesn't want you to check behind. Any thoughts?

[bk1]

Does the turn give possible flush or straight?

or just a blank?

he may semi-bluff to take the pot away from you or if there are possible flush or straight then he probably made it.

[EricW]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]

I will only call a raise if I feel I can outplay him postflop oop.



[/ QUOTE ]

When people say "outplay him post flop oop" or even in position for that matter, what exactly do they mean?

[checkmate36]

[ QUOTE ]
I am Tien, crackyoface on nearly all poker sites.

Started playing 1.5 years ago at the penny tables. Worked my way up to 200 and 400 NL 6 max games (alternated a lot between them).

[/ QUOTE ]

LOL I think I have been jacked up by you. Im checkmate36 on nearly all poker sites except when I changed my name on party.

Any chance you could transfer me my loot back?? /images/graemlins/grin.gif

Thanks for taking the time with all your posts as of late.

[the_muppeteer]

When do you c-bet against several opponents without hitting the flop?

[Tien]

[ QUOTE ]
How often do you fire a second (or third) barrel? What are you looking for when you decide to continue after your c-bet is called and you have no more than overcards?

[/ QUOTE ]

I fire a 2nd barrel quite a lot. Once he calls my flop bet I will try and put him on a hand. If I feel it's a hand I can knock him out of I will bet again. But if I feel he has AJ or KJ on a J46 board I won't bet again because they don't fold those hands.

I don't like to check behind turn for pot control because players oop like to fire into me on the river with any 2 cards and make my decisions difficult.

If I have a hand that I will most likely call a river bluff with, I will bet the turn. Say I have 108s on a J105 board, turn is another J, I will fire another barrel. If I check on the turn, its going to be hard to call a river bet. And its easier to check behind river if he checks to me again after calling my turn bet.

[Tien]

[ QUOTE ]
Thanks for all the help.

Is looseness or tightness really important?

You see in the live game, some people play almost every hand but make money?

Also, you have small pocket pair on the button.

Middle position raise you, then what do you do?

If you re-raise him and then he re-re-raise you, then what do you do?

Do you fold or push it and hoping to be a coin flip?

[/ QUOTE ]

You must give me reads before making me decide on any course of action.

Tightness and looseness is very important reads. Some people play almost every hand but they have extremely good reads and can put you on a hand very accurately. If they can put you on a hand accurately, you will lose.

I will call a lot of raises with pocket pairs. Many times I will reraise if I know he raises loosely. If he comes over the top with another reraise, that puts me in a tough spot. Most of the time its a fold.

[Tien]

[ QUOTE ]
One line I always have difficulty with is when I raise in late position preflop, and get called by one player out of position. He check/calls my c-bet and then leads out the turn. This confuses me as you would expect a big hand to raise the flop, but his bet seems to suggest that he doesn't want you to check behind. Any thoughts?

[/ QUOTE ]

Well depends what hand you have as well as the board texture. You can go ahead and raise that turn bet if you feel you can make him fold. Put him on a hand and decide what is the best course of action. What kind of hand would limp call a raise preflop, check call a cont bet on XYZ board, and lead out into turn on XYZW board? Put people on hands!!!! If you think you can knock him out with a raise do so!

[Tien]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]

I will only call a raise if I feel I can outplay him postflop oop.



[/ QUOTE ]

When people say "outplay him post flop oop" or even in position for that matter, what exactly do they mean?

[/ QUOTE ]

I call a lot of raises OOP against people on tilt, against fish, who I know are emotional and will try and make a certain play based on their state of mind. I know they are more likely to bluff me with air and are raising with this type of trash and will take their hands to the end.

[Tien]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I am Tien, crackyoface on nearly all poker sites.

Started playing 1.5 years ago at the penny tables. Worked my way up to 200 and 400 NL 6 max games (alternated a lot between them).

[/ QUOTE ]

LOL I think I have been jacked up by you. Im checkmate36 on nearly all poker sites except when I changed my name on party.

Any chance you could transfer me my loot back?? /images/graemlins/grin.gif

Thanks for taking the time with all your posts as of late.

[/ QUOTE ]

Do you have any hands on me? Pokertracker? I dont have a database anymore...

I have about 1.4$ right now in my stars account which is all that is left. Sorry bud, no donations /images/graemlins/tongue.gif

[Tien]

[ QUOTE ]
When do you c-bet against several opponents without hitting the flop?

[/ QUOTE ]

When I know both of them have jack [censored]. Say I raise CO and button calls and sb calls. Board comes XYZ, sb checks, I check, button quickly checks. Know I know button most likely doesn't have anything because he would bet on the flop most likely.

Turn comes rag and sb checks again, now I know sb definately has jack [censored] and the chances of them having no hand is good enough for me to make another bet.

That's one example. Use your head, PUT PEOPLE ON HANDS!!!!!

HAND READING IS THE MOST IMPORTANT POST FLOP WEAPON YOU HAVE.

DEVELOP THIS WEAPON AND [censored] THEM UP THE ASS.

[Tien]

Im not saying you guys are doing this but this is just a general rant.

The most annoying thing I hear from people asking me for help is when I ask them what did they put their opponents on.

They reply "Well I dunno"

My response: "Well I dont [censored] know either, use your head and put people on hands DURING the hand, not AFTER"

[arden street]

Hi Tien

Thank you for doing this

Roughly how much more bluffing do you do at 400NL v 25NL -- twice as much type of thing?

May i ask what are/were most recent PTBB/100 numbers for 400NL?

How much tougher are the games compared to 1 year ago -- is there a type of translation such as 200NL 1 year ago = 50NL today or similar?

Cheers

[Tien]

I bluff a lot more at 400 NL since it is up against more regulars. All player dependent how much I bluff.

I practice really good game selection at 400 NL so I ran at about 8-9ptbb/100. I can't remember exactly how many hands.

I can't say how tougher the games are. I just know that mid stakes games are getting more and more littered with regulars and people moving up. Small stakes games are still soft but its surprising how many nits are at 50 NL.

And with these articles I just wrote, I just made the games even harder /images/graemlins/tongue.gif

[arden street]

how did you choose good games? what criteria did you use?

cheers

[Tien]

I observed the games first.

I didn't sit down with multitablers, I found short stacks that doubled up so knew they weren't regulars.

Observed playing styles, who was limping preflop, who wasn't.

What hands they show down. How they bet them. Hand reading.

[Sean Fraley]

I switched to NL from limit about 3 weeks ago, and I just would like to tell you thank you. Thursday night I read the mentality, image, and changing gears post, logged on to PokerStars, and proceeded to beat the [censored] out of my opponents every night since. This doesn't mean that I became some lose, spewing donk, it just meant that I realized that the winning player is the one who isn't afraid and who is willing to take control of the hand from their opponents. I went from bleeding slowly to winning again because of "raise that [censored] up".

NOTE: I'm quite aware that 3 weeks is not remotely enough hands to determine whether I'm winning or losing in the long run. I'm just saying that in the short time I've been playing NL, I've seen a night and day difference in how my sessions go after that post inspired an attitude adjustment.

[Marshall28]

how do u turn starcraft skills into poker skills


lol..

[Tien]

The secrets to winning NL 6 max are so simple huh? I Wonder why it took me 1 year to learn them.

[Tien]

[ QUOTE ]
how do u turn starcraft skills into poker skills


lol..

[/ QUOTE ]

You pay me monies!!!

[Marshall28]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
how do u turn starcraft skills into poker skills


lol..

[/ QUOTE ]

You pay me monies!!!

[/ QUOTE ]


...but i just went broke : [

[arden street]

Can you shed some more light on reraising preflop? (i know in your fundamentals article you mentioned a range for rr in the blinds)

Like if you're MP and UTG (not maniac or nit) raises 3.5x what do you reraise with? btw would you ever call a raise here or is it always rr/f?

What about 4 betting (if i've got that right) eg you raise otb w/ JJ and SB reraises you. i know it's read dependant but can you give some general advice? does 25nl v 400nl make a big difference (ppl less likely to rr light in lower stakes i guess?)

another question if that's okay.

do you ever slow play really weak players to let them catch up at the risk of them outdrawing/flopping you?

say like you're bb w/ KK and it's folded to sb who limps and you think he's probably gonna just fold to your raise. likewise if you're CO and have AA but it seems ppl are folding the blinds to your bets frequently-- would you consider limping? or maybe postflop like you're HU having raised AA and it's Q82 rainbow -- you still bet 3/4 pot or so? (actually having just typed the question i think i know the answer) but to cut a waffle short -- when if ever do you slowplay?

cheers

[zazu2150]

off-topic
i think i remember seeing crackyoface post a hand on some starcraft site once.
did u have a nick on teamliquid or br.com/forum? i used to lurk there quite often (like i do here).

[Tien]

[ QUOTE ]
Can you shed some more light on reraising preflop? (i know in your fundamentals article you mentioned a range for rr in the blinds)

Like if you're MP and UTG (not maniac or nit) raises 3.5x what do you reraise with? btw would you ever call a raise here or is it always rr/f?

What about 4 betting (if i've got that right) eg you raise otb w/ JJ and SB reraises you. i know it's read dependant but can you give some general advice? does 25nl v 400nl make a big difference (ppl less likely to rr light in lower stakes i guess?)

another question if that's okay.

do you ever slow play really weak players to let them catch up at the risk of them outdrawing/flopping you?

say like you're bb w/ KK and it's folded to sb who limps and you think he's probably gonna just fold to your raise. likewise if you're CO and have AA but it seems ppl are folding the blinds to your bets frequently-- would you consider limping? or maybe postflop like you're HU having raised AA and it's Q82 rainbow -- you still bet 3/4 pot or so? (actually having just typed the question i think i know the answer) but to cut a waffle short -- when if ever do you slowplay?

cheers

[/ QUOTE ]

What do I reraise UTG with? It really depends on my image, table dynamics, as well as who I am considering reraising. Sometimes I will call his raise with pocket pairs, sometimes I will reraise him with suited connectors, pocket pairs, high cards, as well as premium hands. I do call raises, but it is only a small amount of time.

4betting depends on the player. If he is known to 3bet me out of hte blinds to fight against my steal, I will 4bet him many times with less than premium hands. If he rarely ever 3bets me I may call with JJ here and dump a lot of small pocket pairs if I am not given the odds to call. Sometimes I will call loosely in this spot because I have position on him.

I never ever slowplay BB vs SB steals.

I never ever slowplay AA on the CO. I play all the hands the same. I RAISE.

I slowplay when I think there is almost no chance of his hand improving (I am 95% favourite). But I almost never slowplay the turn.

[Tien]

[ QUOTE ]
off-topic
i think i remember seeing crackyoface post a hand on some starcraft site once.
did u have a nick on teamliquid or br.com/forum? i used to lurk there quite often (like i do here).

[/ QUOTE ]

damn lurkers!

Yeah, my nick on teamliquid is Tien

My nick on liquidpoker is Tien.

[arden street]

[ QUOTE ]
What do I reraise UTG with? It really depends on my image, table dynamics, as well as who I am considering reraising. Sometimes I will call his raise with pocket and pairs, sometimes I will reraise him with suited connectors, pocket pairs, high cards, as well as premium hands. I do call raises, but it is only a small amount of time.

[/ QUOTE ]

Thanks Tien glad you're back! Can u give an example of when/why you would call an UTG raiser? could you flesh out a couple of "sometimes" for us?

[ QUOTE ]
4betting depends on the player. If he is known to 3bet me out of hte blinds to fight against my steal, I will 4bet him many times with less than premium hands. If he rarely ever 3bets me I may call with JJ here

[/ QUOTE ]

say you do call with JJ what's your plan of attack postflop? (would you have to fold to any bet villian makes if you miss the flop?)


and, while you're still here and i'm still up at 4am /images/graemlins/crazy.gif , what was the worst (non tilt) downswing you had? and what were normalish downswings (-5BI common)?

you've mentioned you tilted at times -- what set you on tilt? how did you fix it? did you get to pretty much tilt free play after a while?

cheers

[munkey]

Tks for soing this tien

Assume 100bb stacks, ok player.
We in CO PFR KQo BTN calls, all others fold
flop Qxx 2 tone (we have no flush cards)
We bet 3/4pot get called.
Turn is an ace.

What's you line, factors to consider?

I'm trying to get your view on is a drawy board we have a TPGK/TPTK type of hand the turn card is scare card -maybe completes possible sstr8/ higher card than our TP.

What factors do you consider whether to bet/check in posn/OOP and vs weak/good/donk player?

Sorry if it's too general I'll try and find a hand or two in PT if you want?

2nd question


Villan is multitabling TAG 17/12/4.5 and a decent player.
WTSD 18%
reraises AQs/AKs, QQ+ ,probably more incl. JJ,AJs but not known for certain.

No Limit Holdem Ring game
Blinds: $0.50/$1
Converter (http://www.neildewhurst.com/hand-converter)

Stack sizes:
Hero: $133.05
SB: $124.15

Pre-flop: (4 players) Hero is Button with Q/images/graemlins/spade.gif Q/images/graemlins/club.gif
UTG folds, <font color="#cc0000">Hero raises to $3.5</font>, <font color="#cc0000">SB raises to $12</font>, BB folds, Hero calls.

Flop: J/images/graemlins/spade.gif 7/images/graemlins/spade.gif J/images/graemlins/diamond.gif ($24.5, 2 players)
<font color="#cc0000">SB bets $15</font>, <font color="#cc0000">Hero ?</font>

What's Hero's play/plan for the hand? I find QQ in a reraised pot(not as the 3bettor) as an overpair diffcult to play -reraised pots become more common at NL100 and I guess evenmore so further up at the stakes you played. Thoughts?

[arden street]

how long are you around for? (i'm hoping to ask more questions in about 8 hrs time)

and i was wondering about you quiting -- i'm guessing you've thought about taking a break and coming back type of thing? maybe part time or something? are you really done with it?

anyway best wishes for the future

thanks for your answers and pointers

[ama0330]

Tien,

Lifetime graph and stats pls. So we can put it up for all to see and say "this was Tien. He play pokah".

[dd323]

[ QUOTE ]
[1) I want to concentrate on other things such as real estate investing.


[/ QUOTE ]

Great timing :P.

[Tien]

Arden Street

Sometimes I will call his raise with suited connectors if I feel I can outplay him postflop. I will also call raises loosely on the button or reraise. I have position so I have advantage to take away the pot if he checks to me. I will call with pocket pairs a lot of the time. UTG raiser in 6max doesn't really mean anything IMO. People raise all sorts of trash UTG and fish don't really understand position and UTG play anyways.

Depends what I put him on if I fold JJ. If he can make me believe he has QQ KK AA than I will fold. Sometimes he doesn't and I may take the hand to the felt with him.

This hands are so situational. Don't look for a text book example on how to play post flop. I don't have textbook answers.

Worse downswing I ever had was 20 buyins at 200 NL in 3 days. I had a lot of bottled up emotions that I just let loose in the most unimaginable tilt possible.

Tilt free play has only been the few months leading up to me quitting poker. I stopped caring.

[Acein8ter]

[ QUOTE ]


I also didn't like who I was becoming. I was starting to hate normal human beings that I have no reason to really hate, but because of the nature of the game, I turned myself into a person who doesn't care about his fellow man. Didn't like that.

I realized I felt happier giving someone a smile with a helpful article than giving them a frown while taking 200 bucks from them.

[/ QUOTE ]

IMO, and in general, good players seem to be aggressive in nature. (Not all) When I start playing, I need to 'switch' on my aggressive side-(With rock music) When I'm not playing, I'm my 'usual' self. (Not overly aggressive with words, actions, etc...)

I think that poker can shape the way a person becomes and knowing this, I'm not letting poker change me and my personality.

One pro that does not seem to have a really aggressive personality but is threat on any table is Daniel Negreanu. His disposition is very mild mannered, but is very aggro on the tables.

[Tien]

Munkey

QK hand I will fire another shot as well. I am still the aggressor, he may put me on AJ or something that hit while he is floating with a pocket pair or something. If I feel he has been floating me with AK or Ax that hit the flop, I will check.

If you make non sissy 2/3 - 3/4 sized pot bets even on scary boards, people will fold with [censored] hands or raise with better hands.

I like to keep the aggression. Giving up the aggression means giving up the pot many of the time.

QQ hand. If he is known to reraise me with less than KK AA, I am repopping that preflop and reevaluating his moves. If he cold calls me I may be careful on the flop and go slow for pot control and check, or maybe fire out another strong bet that would allow me enough room to fold if he comes over the top.

As played I will take about 3 seconds to call that bet and reevaluate the turn. If a scare card lands he may slow it down. Reraising to about 40 is pretty good too, but that means you have to play the hand to the end if he calls or reraises you back allin. AKs AQs is a possibility too.

[Tien]

[ QUOTE ]
how long are you around for? (i'm hoping to ask more questions in about 8 hrs time)

and i was wondering about you quiting -- i'm guessing you've thought about taking a break and coming back type of thing? maybe part time or something? are you really done with it?

anyway best wishes for the future

thanks for your answers and pointers

[/ QUOTE ]

Gone from online poker world for good. I don't have any ambitions to return and grind out at mid stakes.

[Tien]

[ QUOTE ]
Tien,

Lifetime graph and stats pls. So we can put it up for all to see and say "this was Tien. He play pokah".

[/ QUOTE ]

I said before I gave away my database and erased everything. I'd have to go to my friend, ask him to load up close to a million hands, and post it with graph etc etc. Im too lazy.

[ettorek]

First of all thanks a lot for the advices.
Wish to ask you about playing multi table: I play NL25 4 tables and I'm stepping up to NL50.
It's correct to mixup tables or it's better to play only a kind of limit?
Thanks!

[Tien]

Mixing up tables is perfectly fine.

[InfectorGadget]

Thank you for doing this Tien!

I were wondering how you would recommend lowlimit players to go about getting better, percentage wise how would you devote the poker time to playing, reading forums, posting hands, analyzing your play, discussing with other players, etc.

How much do you think it helps sweating other players over Ventrilo or something and being sweated, is that very worthwhile?

[HitNRunPoster]

[ QUOTE ]
If he rarely ever 3bets me I may call with JJ here and dump a lot of small pocket pairs if I am not given the odds to call. Sometimes I will call loosely in this spot because I have position on him.

[/ QUOTE ]

How do you play that jj post-flop?

[Tien]

[ QUOTE ]
Thank you for doing this Tien!

I were wondering how you would recommend lowlimit players to go about getting better, percentage wise how would you devote the poker time to playing, reading forums, posting hands, analyzing your play, discussing with other players, etc.

How much do you think it helps sweating other players over Ventrilo or something and being sweated, is that very worthwhile?

[/ QUOTE ]

There is never enough time if you want to improve in this game. Every hour not focusing on poker is an hour you are not improving.

They asked Newton how he came about postulating all of his laws and theories, he replied "by thinking of nothing else".

This applies to whatever you want to be successful in. Do everything you mentioned to most you can.

Being sweated? If you are constantly analyzing hands and thinking about ways to improve, plays to use and copy, styles to observe, than of course it helps to sweat people.

Im not sure if thats exactly what you want to hear, but that's how I feel your question should be answered.

[Tien]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
If he rarely ever 3bets me I may call with JJ here and dump a lot of small pocket pairs if I am not given the odds to call. Sometimes I will call loosely in this spot because I have position on him.

[/ QUOTE ]

How do you play that jj post-flop?

[/ QUOTE ]

These questions are really tough. I have to assume many many variables to be the same which they never are. Board texture, table dynamics, villain's emotional state, what my opponent's reads on me are.

I may call a bet here if I think I have him beat or I may ditch the hand.

[InfectorGadget]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Thank you for doing this Tien!

I were wondering how you would recommend lowlimit players to go about getting better, percentage wise how would you devote the poker time to playing, reading forums, posting hands, analyzing your play, discussing with other players, etc.

How much do you think it helps sweating other players over Ventrilo or something and being sweated, is that very worthwhile?

[/ QUOTE ]

There is never enough time if you want to improve in this game. Every hour not focusing on poker is an hour you are not improving.

They asked Newton how he came about postulating all of his laws and theories, he replied "by thinking of nothing else".

This applies to whatever you want to be successful in. Do everything you mentioned to most you can.

Being sweated? If you are constantly analyzing hands and thinking about ways to improve, plays to use and copy, styles to observe, than of course it helps to sweat people.

Im not sure if thats exactly what you want to hear, but that's how I feel your question should be answered.

[/ QUOTE ]
Hehe, I think I phrased this question a bit weird, sorry about that :P

What I meant was that everyone cant "do" poker all day long, so say I have about 4 hours a day to learn poker, how should I schedule this best. Splitting my time between reading 2+2, reviewing play, playing, discussing, etc. Just wanted to know how much one should study compared to how much one should play.

Gah! guess this question become kinda vague, but meh, just would like your opinion on this as some say one should study waaaaay more than you play when you start out while others say that doing is learning.

[Tien]

Doing IS learning. You can only study so much but you have to play.

Maybe a 2:1 or 3:1 ratio of playing : studying seems good to me. Don't waste studying time either. You get as much as you put in.