[The Bryce]

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Thank you for your reply to my queries. I must confess in my haste to post at having the good fortune of having your attention, I butchered the first question, rather than "virtually unexploitable", I should have written are you approaching "perfect poker". Although asking the question probably unnecessary, really I am convinced that you are, that it is in fact possible if one masters the math and excels at making correct assumptions to play 'perfect poker'.

I would like to ask just one more question, and will not abuse this 'well' privilege again, no worries [img]/images/graemlins/smirk.gif[/img]. Grasping the math consumes me, to the point that it is what I think about when I wake up and keeps me awake at night. Unfortunately I am poorly educated, and although your insights on Stoxpoker have improved my game immeasurably and given me the wherewithal to conceptualize what needs to be done, I am at a loss as to how to proceed.

For example, your 'Open Source Notebook' thread on Stoxpoker was eye opening, yet I am at a loss as to how to make the necessary calculations given the assumptions you make(let's say your not checkraising a 569 flop when having defended the big blind, per your AIM conversation with Stox). I understand your thought processes, but am clueless as to how to derive the numbers. Being uneducated, would you recommend hiring a mathematician to crunch numbers/give me the proper equations to use/become adept with Excel/ etc? Or can we at Stoxpoker expect you to further expand on your applying math in some common situations given accurate assumptions? Thank you for your time Bryce, this subject is all consuming and quite frustrating for me, I feel as though I am on the cusp of great things yet clueless as to how to take that first step.

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Again, with the math it's just something you need to start working with and eventually it becomes much easier to handle. One thing that I would note is that if you're unsure on how to solve a question you have mathematically that might be something you'd really want to get on a message board and ask other players about, and I've been saying for a while now that this sort of discussion would be much more valuable than the ones based in the typical "what do you think my opponent has here?" angle.

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firstly (to settle an argument i had with another ap midstakes guy), what is your vpip on the button and in the big blind? clearly it varies, so let's say against an opponent who plays well preflop and mediocre postflop. just a rough figure will do.

second, have you ever negotiated a handicap for heads up matches? i have seen a few people do this; usually both sides are competent players. if you have, how do you gauge the competence of the other person or negotiate what the handicap should be set at ie: 5 bet payment for a 50 bet freezeout.

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Firstly, assuming that you mean for HU, I typically run around 90-100% of my hands in the SB, and typically defend about 90% of my hands in the BB, though occasionally more.

I've never done a handicapped match, though it has come to mind. Right now there's enough indiscriminate action running around the high stakes that I don't need to offer this sort of thing to get action.

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I find that playing AA in EP (UTG or UTG+1) can be pretty tricky.

Let say in 100nl Full ring play that you have AA UTG and raise it 3xbb. It is possible to get 4 or more callers to see a flop. (No one 3 bet) Lets say that 2 of them called with lower pairs like 44 and 77 and the other two called with hands like KQo and JTs.

There is a decent chance that your AA is not the best hand after the flop, whatever it is. What do you think about this situation? Based on the texture of the flop, do you just go ahead and fire 3/4 pot? And if you get 3 bet by a late position player, do you shut down? (Depending upon your previous reads of the player)

I know you can raise 4x, 5x+ w/AA UTG, but that starts to telegraph your hand. Most observant players will definetly put you on QQ+ or AK.

At 100nl, a lot of players will call $3 to see a flop and hope to hit 2 pair +. You see LAG's doing this w/76s (basically any suited connector over 56), one gappers, two gappers, Ax, Ax(s), Kx(s))

I've laid down AA post flop before, and it's tough to do. You would think that having AA in EP is easy, but I'm sure it's a hand that a lot of people have been stacked quite a few times with it.


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I do play a bit of HU NL, but ring NL is certainly not my specialty. Whether or not it's correct to lay a hand down postflop will always depend on context, but if you find that a lot of people in these games are cold-calling EP raises I think you may want to consider bumping up your EP raise size.