[AndyatSD]

Hi BZ,

As far as high stakes short handed players go, you play significantly different than I do, and I guess that's why you asked me to look at the video too. Most of what I wanted to say has already been covered in this thread by others but I'll chime in my two donkey cents. I think the A9 where you folded river you 100% over-thought it. I'm fairly confident you were thinking 'my turn call on this board already showed him I have a piece and I'm going to go all the way so if he fires the river again he thinks I'm calling and is obviously value betting a real hand so I fold and save a bet'. I don't agree with that reasoning because he could simply be betting because you checked. As simple as that. He could be putting you on a weaker Ax and getting value, he can be betting because his hand has no chance to win if he checks behind (you know some people do 3-bet pre flop suited connectors and what not). Or he could not be thinking at all. Folding there has to be losing EV.

I think you suffer from two main problems (at least, just from the hands contained in this video).

1) Think-Opponents-Are-Too-Rational syndrome. For example, you give them too much credit what they may be donking into you, check calling you with, etc. You think you can make opponents make folds when reality the majority of the competition you were up against isn't going anywhere with a piece (the QJss one, I think the turn donk ace is far superior to the check raise, and on that note, I do not believe you donk aces nearly enough when you represented pre-flop a range that likely contains an ace). As I said with the A9 example - not all opponents are thinking. There were times that you were really surprised at what opponents turned up (28s or whatever). Don't be too surprised, not everyone plays 'mathematically optimal' or 'rational'. Stop giving people credit for straight forward logical plays until you can peg them as weak-tight.

2) Your entire outlook on passive vs aggressive in short handed games. I disagree with your 'when the game gets aggressive it's better to be passive'. First of all, it is possibly/probably correct that when the game gets CRAZY AGGRESSIVE, to be more passive. However, I don't think it's a linear correlation between the two. I think past some certain infliction point the value of mixing in being passive goes up greatly but in general if the opponents are only standard aggressive in the higher limit games then always playing the same passiveness you displayed in the video can not necessarily be correct (we can talk about this on AIM more if you want). Another important fact is the chances that someone hit the board remains constant regardless of their aggression level, correct? However, against more aggressive opponents the pot will always be bigger - thereby giving you MORE pot odds/reason to call down the river. You seem to employ the opposite strategy. You make more/bigger folds/checks against more aggressive opponents, because you often think you don't want to commit to showdown for X bets, where X > 1. Without getting into every little detail - like everyone says you fold too much. There's a fine line to take. I fold too little, you fold too much. I think mathematically optimal should be somewhere in the middle. ; )

I respect your game as I've a lot of hands clocked with you, but I do not think you're displaying your stronger points in this video. You're a better player than this video shows. I don't think I'm being result oriented as I'm basing it on the thinking process displayed in the hands, irrelevant of the results. I do think, however, that you are being result oriented and it's because you know this video is going to be public info and you don't want people to think you're a donkey. In conclusion, either get used to it or it's less videos and more winning for you, my friend.

Oh and I like how you took a jab at me in the video when you talked about all those high stakes players that are over aggressive and can maybe beat lower stakes / enjoy short term success, but will go broke in the long run!!! I think you're just about spelling out my name there, don't tap the tank buddy! [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

~andy