the well: KRANTZ

[PerDoom]

Although I have no interest in becoming a coach, I was wondering what exactly the qualifications are for you to list someone under 3-bet.net.

[KRANTZ]

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Where would you say your creativity stems from?

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just always been creative in general, and that translated to poker. when i first got started taking online poker seriously i'd just analyze everything, even if it were a huge winning hand. how could i have played it differently? if i were bluffing instead of trying to stack him, would it have worked? if not, what would have worked? like i said earlier, i really have no fear of getting all-in, so if something smells like a bluff or i have what i think is a really good bluff opportunity, i'll try it and then go from there.

something many, many SSNL players need help with or arent aware of is value-betting thinly. a lot of people will bet TPGK on the flop, check the turn and make a small bet on the river, or bet the flop, and bet the turn, and be afraid to bet the river because they don't have the nuts. when i started realizing that TPNK could be treated the same as the nuts there, i became a lot tougher to play against and it opened up some nice new opportunities. bet that river - if he calls you with worse/better, make a note, adjust. don't 3 barrel bluff him. if he folds, well, that means you likely have a chance at triple barreling successfully some point down the line.

that probably strayed a little off the creativity question. when i was in 9th grade, one of my friends racked up a nice little debt to me playing heads up chinese poker. instead of having him pay me whatever he owed me little by little, i had him do a slew of ridiculous tasks during AP biology each week. once, in the middle of lecture, i made him get out of his seat, calmly walk up to the blackboard where our teacher was writing, grab a spare piece of chalk and draw a giant heart around the word "lemon." another time he had to bring a pillow and blanket to class and go to sleep during lecture in the middle of a row of desks.

i also contributed to some of the most creative aspects of my fraternity's pledge programs ever, i think

[KRANTZ]

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man that trip report was so sick
submit to cardplayer?


on a more serious note. In the midstakes games, it seems like the vast majority of players are just on auto-pilot when it comes to bet sizing. (2/3 pot, 2/3 pot, 2/3 pot or raise 3x the original bet). Do you think this is a leak, or at least sub-optimal?

Basically, how important do you varying your bet sizing is (overbetting, betting like 1/2 pot), things like that are, especially as stacks get deeper?

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i don't think bet size variation is that important until you get deeper, in which case you can do some nice things (cts is expert at this) by varying bets in different cases to tease out information.

only overbetting in one situation or only betting 1/2 pot in another is only exploitable if you're playing with someone who can exploit it. balancing is overrated, in that regard.

[KRANTZ]

[ QUOTE ]
Although I have no interest in becoming a coach, I was wondering what exactly the qualifications are for you to list someone under 3-bet.net.

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there are no textbook qualifications, but as a blanket statement, the best coaches for what they coach. that can include any variation of amazing teacher, experienced coach, big winner.

[Isura]

What was the sickest hand you've ever played? I mean like a big laydown or call, or huge bluff like samo posted about.

Also, what made the toughest players you've played with so tough? Was it their relentless aggression, hand reading, control?

[cbboy]

Is there any theory posts that you have made yourself (or others have made) that you think are very insightful and would be very useful to read?

Any posts that you read semi-regularly that you think are good for theory or any other reason?

[KRANTZ]

[ QUOTE ]
What was the sickest hand you've ever played? I mean like a big laydown or call, or huge bluff like samo posted about.

Also, what made the toughest players you've played with so tough? Was it their relentless aggression, hand reading, control?

[/ QUOTE ]

i'm pretty bad at remembering exact hands way after the fact, but one i remember was at 5/10 at foxwoods sometime this year. stacks were like 3kish?

anyway, donkey who had been opening every single hand raises. thinking player who looked like Henry Winkler reraised. I had seen him iso-reraise with things like 77 and AJ earlier. My friend from college is sweating me and I look down and see K7o, and partly because he was watching, I 4-bet pretty big. Donkey folds, Winkler thinks for not long and calls.

The flop is 4JQ, two diamonds, I have none. I'm really not sure what to do here but I'm somewhat stubborn, so I fire out 1/2 pot anyway. He calls without thinking very long. The turn is an offsuit K. I quickly register that this hand just got somewhat more complicated than a simple c/f, but I check. Now, Winkler becomes animated and looks at me and says "What? Check? What does that mean? I'm all-in." I tank for a long time and mumble to myself this is either going to be a really sick call or make me look like a total fish. Probably a little of both. I was really unsure what to do but I couldn't put him on anything huge. My gut kept pulling at me to call. So I finally did. He tabled AQ and K7 held up, crowd went wild, Winkler grabbed the King off the felt and threw it across the room.

I also chopped a pretty sick 20kish pot at Borgata back in the day when I had black 89 on 567 two hearts flop to black 48. That was really disgusting.

What made the tough players tough? A combination of everything. It's just like... when they're on their game, they're only bluffing when you're folding and only value-betting when you're calling with a worse hand. And this happens time and time again on multiple tables. Rebuy_U_fish really raped me at times; the other guys, not so much, because the tables were also full of fish, but the pots we did get into together could get extremely annoying, especially if we were deep.

[FishSticks]

Do you have any tips for staying focused and off tilt throughout the grind?

This is something I struggle with a bit - I raise pre, I cbet with say 2nd or 3rd (pocket) pair, my OOP opponent calls, turn bricks check/check, river bricks and opponent leads out for pot. Holdings/boards might vary but I'm sure you're familiar with what I'm getting at. Do you find this is mostly opponent leading out for value, or opponent taking the pot away since I look quite weak.

What guidelines to you use when firing a 2nd barrel? I find against my decent opponents when I 2nd barrel often I end up losing money. Obviously this is vague and quite opponent/situation/board specific, but if you could give me some general thoughts on this it would be appreciated.

[KRANTZ]

[ QUOTE ]
Is there any theory posts that you have made yourself (or others have made) that you think are very insightful and would be very useful to read?

Any posts that you read semi-regularly that you think are good for theory or any other reason?

[/ QUOTE ]

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showfl...&PHPSESSID=

it's PLO but it applies to NL and is very very good

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showfl...part=1&vc=1

a best of thread

the one i made recently in MSNL about how the games have changed is more of an amalgalm of posters' thoughts, but is pretty insightful

[KRANTZ]

[ QUOTE ]
Do you have any tips for staying focused and off tilt throughout the grind?

This is something I struggle with a bit - I raise pre, I cbet with say 2nd or 3rd (pocket) pair, my OOP opponent calls, turn bricks check/check, river bricks and opponent leads out for pot. Holdings/boards might vary but I'm sure you're familiar with what I'm getting at. Do you find this is mostly opponent leading out for value, or opponent taking the pot away since I look quite weak.

What guidelines to you use when firing a 2nd barrel? I find against my decent opponents when I 2nd barrel often I end up losing money. Obviously this is vague and quite opponent/situation/board specific, but if you could give me some general thoughts on this it would be appreciated.

[/ QUOTE ]

on staying focused: don't be on AIM, or the phone, or watching TV. treat it like you're at work. get a good playlist of songs going that help you concentrate.

second question - start firing the turn more and see what he does :-) direct response, he usually needs to get to the river with a hand. so think about what he would call with on the flop AND lead the river. were there draws on the flop? is he the kind of player who value bets really thinly (like when you have top pair on that river and look him up, what does he show up with?). Use that information. If there are missed draws, and you think he'll bluff them, call and pick him off. If the board is much dry-er, you're probably beat because his range is compressed. Just put yourself in his shoes: if you were in his spot, what hands would you play that way?

on double barreling: two basic guidelines

1- overcards are usually good
2- if he would always play a strong hand stronger on the flop and you have a tight image

everything else is just so situationally dependent... but i think you're better off firing them more often than not at all.

oh, and don't double barrel people who won't fold (i.e. the fish)