The Well: Pudge714

[Green Kool Aid]

An actual SNG/MTT theory type question....

I've never understood why people like to raise hands like 22-66 in the ~15 BB range from LP, if it isn't a spot where they would be raising any 2 to steal the blinds, and they can't call a shove.

I'd rather raise a suited connector, or even something like Q8o than one of these hands in this blind range (not that I necessarily would).

This is an incredibly vague question, but I was wondering if you had any thoughts on it.

As an example, lets just say you have 33 on the button with 1400 in an MTT, blinds cover, and it's at 50/100. what is your action??

[Pudge714]

[ QUOTE ]
If you were to coach a person who wants to start playing poker, how would you go about teaching them the game? Would you start off w/sngs then go to nlcash, then online mtts, then live mtts? Or some combination of limit HE, all the other games first/middle/etcetc? Would you start them off being super tight or would you allow them to play super LAG to get in weird spots? (more of a postflop cash thing) How long do you think it would take for them to be a winning player? Do you think there are even advantages to mastering all the different types of games listed above? What are the major benefits of learning say SNGs (and all the others) that could apply to other forms of HE? Also... would you start teaching them PLO/Stud/etcetcetc or just stick to HE?

[/ QUOTE ]
Obvioulsy a complex question. It depends what your goal is in poker. Is your goal to make money? Is your goal to get as good as possible at poker?
If someone had never played poker before I bet they could become a winner at the $6.50 SNGs with a good coach quicker than they could be a winner at 10-25NL. I have never really played limit so I don't know enough about it. I can't think of a good number of hands/sngs because some people get poker others don't. Some people are better learners, some are more logical, some are more whatever. It really depends on tons of stuff.

As for playing lag/tag
Obviously in SNGs there is somewhat of a categorically right way to play, where cash has more variables and there aren't as many categorically good or bad plays. There are certain lines in cash which are directly -EV, but what you learn from that individual hand can make it +EV. Again if your goal is to make money immediately playing a straight up tag style is probably best, if you want to grow and improve you can play a little more non-standard.

Of course I'm painting this way too simply. You can prioritize your goals, saying making money is imperative or growing as a player is imperative, but once you choose a priority you can still work on the other.

I would never start off with MTT's of any kind. Unless you really understand variance, MTT's will either over inflate your ego because you have one or two big cashes, or will underwhelm you because you are always losing money.
Live MTT's also require a fairly big bankroll and I wouldn't coach someone at them as I am not good enough at them.

There are definitely advantages to learning all types of poker. As a general rule I think cash helps you with hand reading which is really important in MTTs and SNGs. I think online MTTs are really helpful for SNG midgame, because you often are in spots with awkward stacksizes. SNGs are really helpful for pushbotting in MTTs and early level play in MTTs, but they don't really help people at playing cash.

I think PLO/Stud are all good games to learn, but I don't think they directly help that much to Hold'Em games. Obviously you should always try to get better or even just find games that are different to make poker seem like less of a grind. So PLO and stud are fun games to play and learn for those reasons.

As I said at the beginning here it all depends on why you are playing poker. It is difficult to respond without first knowing that.

[Josem]

I have just over 1,700 FPPs with PokerStars.

What should I use them for?

[Pudge714]

[ QUOTE ]
You've played with me just a little, but you've responded to a lot of my posts. How would you analyse my play based just on this information? How confident are you in making an analysis based on this information?

[/ QUOTE ]
I'm not that confident, but I think you are a good thinker. I think you are probably a good regular at the levels you play. You, like everyone have leaks, that prevent you from moving up. I don't know what they are as I don't watch you play enough.
[ QUOTE ]

TheUsher's question about online mtts to live mtts: what about strategy changes from online to live generically (i.e. not mtt specific).

[/ QUOTE ]
I never play live, but from what I hear the play is a lot softer. I think most of the MTT specific thing can apply to what I said about playing live. Another thing to keep in mind is consider what you are percieved as.
At the PCA TheUsher,Eagles,BigT, Bonafone, Inyaface, Me,ofishstix, and two randoms played a SNG. All of us were hammered and yelling and acting like idiots, however we were playing pretty non-terribly. On the very first hand TheUsher doubled up against a random with JT on a 9TQ board. There is no doubt in my mind that he doesn't stack off if we were acting normally.
[ QUOTE ]

There is a HUGE difference between an avg 5 year old and an avg 10 year old. Any 'normal' adult male over 150 lbs should be able to destroy a group of 12 5 year olds.

[/ QUOTE ]

I know. I just can't picture a 5 year old. If you were to post pictures of kids, I'm sure my guesses on age would be awful.

[Pudge714]

[ QUOTE ]
In terms of poker, where were you(buy ins, skill level) a year ago, where do you see yourself a year from now.

[/ QUOTE ]
I think I was playing the $33 or $55s.
A year from now assuming now doomsday scenarios. I see myself playing cash. Probably 3/6-5/10.

[Pudge714]

[ QUOTE ]
How do you manage all f things that Party has banned . poker phrophecy , poker edge , publish HH , etc

[/ QUOTE ]
Not sure I get the question. I have never used any of that stuff though.

[Pudge714]

[ QUOTE ]

When if ever do you plan on moving to cash?

[/ QUOTE ]
After I have a big MTT cash or after I win $50k this summer grinding.
[ QUOTE ]

Who's your final four? What sleeper are you taking deep?

[/ QUOTE ]
My two sleepers aren't that big, but I have Creighton in the Sweet Sixteen and Winthrop in the Elite Eight. Although my bracket isn't complete.
I really want to make my Final Four Ohio State, UNC, Florida, Kansas. Eventhough I hate Florida. But picking 4 #1's is probably +EV.

[Pudge714]

[ QUOTE ]
I saw a post where you were talking about the possibitly of moving down if you didn't cash in the sunday mil. Can you give us the story behind that? Do you think you will be forced to move down?

[/ QUOTE ]
I just had a [censored] downswing on Party sunday morning. Lost like $3k at teh $109s and $215s. Right now I haven't been playing great and been running [censored], I'm just going to move down play my A game, play less stressful poker.Just for a couple sessions. I still have $10k online.

[Pudge714]

[ QUOTE ]
How long did it take for you to become an expert SNG player?

[/ QUOTE ]
I don't know if I would consider myself expert right now.

[ QUOTE ]

How much of your progress do you attribute to the people around you (inyaface, etc)?

[/ QUOTE ]
A lot. Eagles and I kind of learned together and still are. It's nice that I can ask people about hands and they will think about and be patient as opposed to just saying call, fold, etc.


[ QUOTE ]
Where do you see yourself five years from now?

[/ QUOTE ]

With a degree probably. Maybe in graduate school. I have no idea what poker will be like in 5 years so I can't really comment.

[Pudge714]

[ QUOTE ]
Will poker ever be legalized in the US?

[/ QUOTE ]
The nit in me has to mention that poker is already legalized in the US.

As for depositing into online sites with credit cards. Eventually a loophole will be created, people will figure stuff out. Which will cause to the government regulating online poker.