ask a midstakes player a question

[ski]

I'll answer as many as I can. I'm a solid winning player up to 1,000NL. I am drunk. I will go to bed and then answer youre questions in the morning. I'll ttry and answer as completely and honestly as possible but I won't answer anything simple questions that Other microlimit players can easily answer.

[avfletch]

What's the occasion?
What were you drinking?
Did you play while drunk and if so how much did you donk off/luckbox?

[ChipStorm]

All right! Drunk and in the well!

What is the poker history of your life?

What would you say are the (no more than five) key concepts/fundamentals that a player must absorb to go from basic winning micro-stakes play to competence at the bigger games? Most of us can beat the little ones, but why are the bigger games tougher and what will we have to do to adapt as we move up? And is there some likely order to our learning/discovery?

Thanks ski!

[Chomp]

6 Max, unknown but not retarded players, similar stacks all round. What do you do?

> AQo UTG (would it change w/AQs?)
> 55 UTG+1 (UTG has folded)
> AQs LP, MP has open standard-raised.
> TT CO, 2 limpers, LP has rr 6BB

Thanks!

[Chomp]

Deleted dupe.

[Sir Winalot]

Thanks for doing this. /images/graemlins/laugh.gif

1. What is your opinion about 3-betting light preflop in SSNL. What about higher levels?
2. How often do you think we SSNL'ers should be continuation betting and why?
3. All villains unknown, 50NL 6-max. There are 1-2 limpers, you're on the button. What hands do you call and what hands do you raise?

[whodatdare]

What style of player gives you the most trouble and how do you counteract that style? Thanks for doing this as well.

[Gravy]

vs. your average TAG's openraise, what's your typical 3-betting range from

1) MP/CO/Button
2) SB/BB

[ImprovinNewbie]

how long did it take you to become a winning player? what helped you improve your game the most?

[ski]

[ QUOTE ]
What's the occasion?
What were you drinking?
Did you play while drunk and if so how much did you donk off/luckbox?

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm leaving Canada in 2 days so I went out. I went to this party at a 10Million dollar mansion (I'm middle class, so it was pretty cool).

Mostly beer

I almost never play for stakes that matter if I'm drunk or even drinking. I'll wait an hour or 2 if I've even had one beer before playing 400NL+. It could just be me but theres a noticable decline in my play.

[ski]

[ QUOTE ]
All right! Drunk and in the well!

What is the poker history of your life?

What would you say are the (no more than five) key concepts/fundamentals that a player must absorb to go from basic winning micro-stakes play to competence at the bigger games? Most of us can beat the little ones, but why are the bigger games tougher and what will we have to do to adapt as we move up? And is there some likely order to our learning/discovery?

Thanks ski!

[/ QUOTE ]

I started at 25NL in January 2005, didn;t play much until June 2005 when I read Harrington on Hold'em Vol 1 (then later 2). That was a key turning point and was when I moved up to 50NL then quickly to 200NL and played 3-4 tables.

I stayed at 200NL full ring for a long time (terrible idea) and just moved to 6 max about 5 months ago. I've pretty much been moving up 1 level per month since then and usually play about 50K hand per month (I'm a professional player so thats not much, maybe 20-25 hrs a week).


Basically its just about putting your opponent on a hand range and playing style (or if you're really good some individual opponents standard moves in particular situations).

From there you can do the math.

Preflop is the toughest part of this approach and following that GENERALLY, of course you have to adjust for individual opponents hand ranges and math it out yourself. As you develop a lot more situations become standard and you actually have to do less math IMO.

I would recommend getting a preflop hand chart (Big Jim's is pretty good for smaller stakes, it is in a post that is a few months old and in the MSNL forum.

As you move up you give you opponents credit for higher levels of thinking also. If you look weak you are a lot more likely to get bluffed. This can be a good thing but usually makes things a bit more frustrating since a good opponent will also know your percentages and will make plays that put you in marginal decisions where you really need to know their playing style.

Also looking weak has a varying definition depending on your opponent. If you are continuation betting every flop and don't c-bet one a decent player will probably know you're doing something tricky, a fish might bluff at you though. Against a decent but too aggro player you want to do something like c-bet then check raise turn.

Basically is all goes back to putting them on a hand, playing style, level of thinking, and what they put you on and doing the math.

I thought this was a pretty good/funny evolution. a good TAG style actually works well up to 400-1000NL (to varying degrees). Being able to mix it up becomes key at mid stakes though.

-credit to "fimbulwinter" posted 08/14/05.

totally green: "My play, brilliant IMO..."
50NL sensai: "Fold PF"

Trying two tables: "I discovered a secret about PP's!"
Booze cash from poker: "5/10 rule"

Live Sunglasses: "So I decide to slowplay..."
'lil moneymaker: "Don't"

1K BR: "I'm doing this for a living!"
Al's Pal: "Don't"

mUlt!t@bl3_t@G: "But he could have the nuts..."
Pooh-Bah: "Do the math"

Just Getting It: "Look how pretty I play!"
Short Replier: "Look how much it costs"

Big Cash Bully: "Die Nits Die"
Salty: "Take it slow"

Twoplus Honcho: "It's 15K to me, I?"
Zee: "The deer are rutting early this season..."

[ski]

[ QUOTE ]
6 Max, unknown but not retarded players, similar stacks all round. What do you do?

> AQo UTG (would it change w/AQs?)
> 55 UTG+1 (UTG has folded)
> AQs LP, MP has open standard-raised.
> TT CO, 2 limpers, LP has rr 6BB

Thanks!

[/ QUOTE ]

1. Raise to 4xBB
2. Raise to 4xBB
3. Player dependant. Against a solid player that is very tight preflop I fold. Against most players I Reraise to 12-14BBs. Against a player that gives me great implied odds with any hand I call.
4. Player dependant. Probably call. Might reraise if I really want to isolate LP if he is fishy and I think he has a mediocre hand.

[ski]

[ QUOTE ]
Thanks for doing this. /images/graemlins/laugh.gif

1. What is your opinion about 3-betting light preflop in SSNL. What about higher levels?
2. How often do you think we SSNL'ers should be continuation betting and why?
3. All villains unknown, 50NL 6-max. There are 1-2 limpers, you're on the button. What hands do you call and what hands do you raise?

[/ QUOTE ]

1. It is often a good idea, if people don't realize you're doing it then it is very profitable. Just don't get your stack in the middle unless you're going to take it down in one way or another.
2. Vs 1 player almost 100%, vs 2 maybe 70ish? Vs 3 its all situational.

Put the players on a range, in SSNL most players are not going to reraise you with air on the flop. Most flops miss most players so c-bet is big +EV.

At mid stakes it is a bit more player dependant as some players tend to reraise with air more than others. If you know the players Reraises very light you can either go allin light/checkraise turn light or just don't c-bet. Depends on players range relative to yours.

3. Depends on players quite a bit, I guess AT+, KJ+, 88+ would be standard. With PT stats/reads I'll potentially raise almost any two.

[ski]

[ QUOTE ]
What style of player gives you the most trouble and how do you counteract that style? Thanks for doing this as well.

[/ QUOTE ]

Any player with a predicatabe is easy to play against. It is the players that change their styles based on how I am changing my style that are tough.

This is a VERY important step when moving up that all good players go through.

Gobboboy posted a good post, let me paraphrase

Do not let PT numbers dictate your play, let your play dictate your PT numbers.

Basically, do the math and get it in w/ good situations.

[ski]

[ QUOTE ]
vs. your average TAG's openraise, what's your typical 3-betting range from

1) MP/CO/Button
2) SB/BB

[/ QUOTE ]

where is the TAG betting from, what is their range,who is left to act, how often do I feel they will fold, how often will they 4bet. I crunch these #s then get a range.

If the TAG loves folding I'll 3bet light. If they are going to give me trouble and have a tight range themselves then probably only AQ/AK, TT+.

[ski]

[ QUOTE ]
how long did it take you to become a winning player? what helped you improve your game the most?

[/ QUOTE ]

I was a winning player almost right off the bat, maybe a week or 2? The stuff I told chip storm in this thread are the most useful concepts I've figured out.

[michaelantoi]

what do you find is the most common mistake uNL players make?

[ski]

EDIT: figured out what uNL is...and I have no idea, I never played below 25NL

I'd stay the biggest mistake is not moving up to 25NL

[checkmate36]

Is EM2 a good player?

They seem to pick on him alot in BBV (he also seems to go out of his way to start it up too) but I see him on the cardrunners site so he must be pretty good.

[ski]

[ QUOTE ]
Is EM2 a good player?

They seem to pick on him alot in BBV (he also seems to go out of his way to start it up too) but I see him on the cardrunners site so he must be pretty good.

[/ QUOTE ]

This is the type of question I'm not going to answer in this thread.

[Waingro]

How much of the time do you play your A game? How do you first notice when you are off your game? Do you have any tips for playing well for longer stretches of time? Do you continue playing even if your game is slightly, just slightly off?

Also, any amusing tilt stories?

[michaelantoi]

Oh, I thought UNL was low limits up to around 50NL.

But you answered my question anyway.

When playing 25NL-50NL did you pay attention to table selection or did you just pick a random table?

If players at a certain table were clashing with your style, would you move or adjust?

[ski]

[ QUOTE ]
How much of the time do you play your A game? How do you first notice when you are off your game? Do you have any tips for playing well for longer stretches of time? Do you continue playing even if your game is slightly, just slightly off?

Also, any amusing tilt stories?

[/ QUOTE ]

I can play my A game for 1-12 hours. 12 hours is my longest session that I thought I played well, usually 3-4hr session are what I do, but I wish I could play for 8 more often.

I usually quit after I do a couple really stupid plays in a short period of time or if I feel tired. I think tilt prevention is something I have gotten a lot better at since I started and is really necessary.

Not any great tilt stories. I used to just go play the $5+1 tourneys and go allin every hand to stop tilt. I actually won one of the first 10 or so I played.

[ski]

I'm done with this thread, moving to thailand tomorrow. Gotta start packing.

Its been fun uNL.

[ChipStorm]

Thanks again ski, just read through all your responses and this is gold. I'm going to look up that fim post from 8/14/05.

Mods, can we link this to stickies as an "in the well" thread?