DeathDonkey is in "The Well"

[Allday Everyday]

Hi DeathDonkey. Thanks for doing this.

How are you going today?

How often do you play poker?

What was the longest single session you have played?

What is the largest pot you have ever won?

What are the biggest BB downswings you have had at a couple limits? How did you feel about them?

What winrate do you believe is possible for online and live games today?

What do you think are optimal default stats in HUHU games in today's climate?

WITHEG recommends default open-raising from the button with a certain 41% of hands (22+, A2s+, A3o+, K2s+, K9o+, Q5s+, Q9o+, J7s+, J9o+, T8s+, T8o+, 97s+, 98o+, 86s+, 75s+, 65s+) in full to 3 handed games. What do you think of this?

What to you think is the greatest piece of music of all time?

Who is your favourite intellectual figure of all time?

What is your favourite pizza topping?

If you could be any other person in the world, who would it be?

You are hosting a limit hold 'em home game. You may pick the number of seats and the stakes. You can choose to invite absolutely any person ever living or deceased and they will accept. Who do you invite and what stakes will you play?

[DeathDonkey]

Tough questions this time...

-I'm fine, just got back to my computer after a few days away and all caught up on forums / email / poker happenings.

-I play in spurts, I'll play 6 days in a row for a few hours a day when I'm enjoying it and in poker mode and sometimes I have other stuff going on, working on other projects or just being lazy and only play for an hour a day 3 days of the week.

-Online probably 10 hours or so, live maybe 13 or 14 hours, never anything totally crazy.

-Hmm, I've won several around the 10k range at 400/800, none stand out as much bigger than that, though I did lose one that was over 25k when I had the underset in a 3 way pot, ouchie.

-200-300 BB I'd guess, nothing to rival some of the graphs I've seen on 2+2 over time but not quite as happy as the "rarely over 100 bb" as I used to be able to claim. They obviously don't feel good but if they happen fast they are almost laughable, there is just so little you can control and downswings in poker remind you of that. I usually just want to get back to playing right away. Contrast that with break even stretches of which I've had some last 50k hands and then I just want to die, never play again, every session is a struggle.

-Online anywhere positive is good, but I guess the best players can win 2 bb/100 or so. HU I feel I can win more than that with good game selection. NL I wouldn't be able to say. Live 1.5 bb/hr to possibly 2 bb/hr given how soft the games are.

-Mine, which are 80/55 I feel are pretty optimal. If I didn't think this I'd hope I'd change them.

-I think given their methodology for determining that hand range, it can't be far from correct. That said I think it doesn't properly adjust for the way your opponents play differently in a full ring vs 3 handed game. For instance, many small blinds will 3 bet you with a damn wide range in a 3 handed game, feeling that you are stealing too often and they need to fight for pots, but they are more willing to let it slide when the game is more full and you steal from the button (though whether they are correct to do so obviously depends). Given this the big blind often overadjusts 3 handed as well, and you'll find decent players who play reasonably full ring have a vpip of 100% in the BB in a 3 handed game. If these things are occurring you need to adjust your range.

-I suck with these type of questions because I am young and unrefined. The Star Spangled Banner is pretty good.

-Ummm, Darwin.

-Black olives not close.

-Everyone says no one here so I'll say Bobby Flay.

-I'm sure I should invite some famous historical figures and learn about their lives and all that, but if I'm playing poker I want to play with poker people. So now I guess I'd invite a couple tournament donkeys like Phil Hellmuth and John Juanda to feel good about myself for being better than them, then I'd invite a couple awesome players so I can inflate my ego by holding my own against them and playing way too LAGgy vs them, so how about Schneids and CMO, then I'd invite Tommy Angelo because he's awesome to watch play live poker. I'd invite mike l. and Joe Tall because I run hot against those two bitches in homegames. That's 8 handed already? Ok get rid of the good players and we'll play 6 max with the two tourney fish say 75/150 or so.

-DeathDonkey

[KitCloudkicker]

DD,

If you had to pick one adjustment to your game that you've made over the years that you feel has most dramatically increased your winrate, what would it be? Thanks!

Kit

[DeathDonkey]

[ QUOTE ]
DD,

If you had to pick one adjustment to your game that you've made over the years that you feel has most dramatically increased your winrate, what would it be? Thanks!

Kit

[/ QUOTE ]

I don't believe there is any one thing that will start someone on the path to limit holdem monster, just lots of experience and learning from that experience (ie not just grinding 8 tables and breaking even or winning slightly, but figuring out what it takes to crush a game and then with the help of some good luck doing it). If I had to say one thing it would be quitting when I tell myself its time to quit THE FIRST TIME. This is more noticeable live but there is a moment when you get tired, or tilted, or just plain ready to quit, and if you blow past that time, nothing good ever comes from it. Online I am the same way now, if I feel for any reason I should stop, I STOP. Even if I go grab a drink and come back to my computer in 10 minutes and start a new session, that break is enough to refocus me and give me a fresh start.

-DeathDonkey

[HollywoodDB]

DD -

When you have your losing sessions and run bad, how do you deal with getting or not getting "tilty"? Have you noticed a difference in the way you handle it as you have moved up in limits?

[DeathDonkey]

[ QUOTE ]
DD -

When you have your losing sessions and run bad, how do you deal with getting or not getting "tilty"? Have you noticed a difference in the way you handle it as you have moved up in limits?

[/ QUOTE ]

It depends, I aspire to have it happen all the time but there are certainly days where I'm just concentrating on making good decisions and the game is good and I want to play and I'm not even paying attention to my stack (or online using tiltblocker) and I'll quit and think "that went ok" and be stuck a bunch and almost surprised.

Other times it definitely is noticeable to me, I mean how could it not be usually, but I just focus on making good decisions and frequently re-evaluate the game conditions and decide whether to stay or not (especially if my image is crap as a result of the running bad, might be time to quit). The biggest thing is just not letting minor things distract you, like if I miss a bet I say to myself "take it easy, breathe, you should have bet there, remember that guy is a calling station, next time you'll get it right" but then go on and not dwell. Or if I get rivered where I obviously played the hand fine, if you aren't able to take a single beat like that and just shrug and say "that's poker" I don't know what to say to you, you will go nuts and you just need to find a way to not feel entitled to anything I guess.

When things are going really badly there really isn't much I or anyone can do except pack it in and never get to what Caro calls the "point of no return" where you are so demoralized and stuck that you lose a whole bunch more all the while thinking "who cares I'm stuck so much already". The difference between stuck 3k and stuck 5k may not seem like a lot at the time but the next day it sure will.

-DeathDonkey

[downrange]

Hi deathdonkey -

1. Great/useful poker posts you've written? Do you have links or some way to find them in search? Any pooh-bah-style dissertations?

2. How important are the bets you save in the overall picture? Do bad folds dent win rate more than bad calls? How do you know?

3. If it's true, can you describe how thin the line is between winning $$ and losing $$ in poker? How do you know? Please describe in a manner someone w/none of your experience/exposure can relate to.

4. For little limits like 3/6 and lower, can you break down percent-wise what impacts win rate most? Like x% is blind defense, y% is turn play, z% is value bets, etc.? Those are just examples to give you an idea what I mean, I'll leave it to you to define the real categories.

5. Besides dc.com, what other poker forums are useful for expanding perspective? Or is man meant to live by 2p2 mantra alone?

[Frond]

Round 2 if you dont mind DD:

1. Name some times(if any for you) that you like to just limp or call with big pairs in LHE(in regards to mid or high limits)

2. So do you have a routine when you are playing live as far as what do you like to do when you are dealt your cards? Where do you look, do you look at your cards right away or wait, etc. what are you looking for when you look at other players preflop when they are checking their cards. Things along those lines.

3. Do you recall any blatant live tells that might be amusing for us to read about here?

4. Do you find that the hands that you remember most that you have played are the ones where you made mistakes and not the big winning hands?

5. Is Celery overrated?

[DeathDonkey]

[ QUOTE ]
Hi deathdonkey -

1. Great/useful poker posts you've written? Do you have links or some way to find them in search? Any pooh-bah-style dissertations?

2. How important are the bets you save in the overall picture? Do bad folds dent win rate more than bad calls? How do you know?

3. If it's true, can you describe how thin the line is between winning $$ and losing $$ in poker? How do you know? Please describe in a manner someone w/none of your experience/exposure can relate to.

4. For little limits like 3/6 and lower, can you break down percent-wise what impacts win rate most? Like x% is blind defense, y% is turn play, z% is value bets, etc.? Those are just examples to give you an idea what I mean, I'll leave it to you to define the real categories.

5. Besides dc.com, what other poker forums are useful for expanding perspective? Or is man meant to live by 2p2 mantra alone?

[/ QUOTE ]

1) Not really I'm afraid, I just don't save this stuff, I tend not to write super long posts too though I have occasionally. My articles would be the only thing I could really point at to answer this.

2) They are obviously important but I tend to err on the side of paying off, not because of the common-but-incorrect mantra that "its just one bet if I'm beat but it's the whole pot if he's bluffing!" which is just a function of his bluffing percent and the pot odds you are receiving, but because I'd be more likely to tilt if I lost the big pot rather than the one bet and I prefer to have an image of "unbluffable" and you have to pay to acquire that image. I think against any sort of tough LAGs you would rather be seen as "unbluffable" because it forces them to play a bit more straightforward against you which dilutes the skill that they have. It's certainly possible to succeed with an image of "foldable" but I just don't have much experience with it and would probably not use that image as effectively.

3) I think you are asking for a reminder that our edge is precariously small in poker and anything that can happen will happen to you at some point? Yes, it's true. Barry Greenstein wrote about it in a way I really related to, where he gives an example of all the little coincidences that add up to a certain result in a poker game. The point he is making is that there are so many things out of our control, you better be prepared for some of them to happen to you but also not freak out trying to control them all (because you'll fail) and focus on what you can control.

4) Tough one...50% preflop decisions. 25% appropriately playing draws (raising for free cards, value raising at the right times) 15% value betting (thin on the turn and river), 10% not tilting. Hmm, maybe 20% each for playing draws and value betting.

5) I haven't really ever used any other forums, more out of laziness than out of lack of quality. 2p2 just seems to have the best quality all in one spot, though it will never have the same feel to it that it did when I was first learning here, but that's ok, things have to change and expand. I would hope the same will happen with our DC forums one day though right now everyone enjoys the low noise we have there.

-DeathDonkey

[DeathDonkey]

[ QUOTE ]
Round 2 if you dont mind DD:

1. Name some times(if any for you) that you like to just limp or call with big pairs in LHE(in regards to mid or high limits)

2. So do you have a routine when you are playing live as far as what do you like to do when you are dealt your cards? Where do you look, do you look at your cards right away or wait, etc. what are you looking for when you look at other players preflop when they are checking their cards. Things along those lines.

3. Do you recall any blatant live tells that might be amusing for us to read about here?

4. Do you find that the hands that you remember most that you have played are the ones where you made mistakes and not the big winning hands?

5. Is Celery overrated?

[/ QUOTE ]

1) UTG or UTG+1 in a full ring tough or squeaky tight limit game. That's about it, though I've seen good players do the smoothcall in the SB vs a late position raiser etc. I just never do it, maybe I'll start someday.

2) Usually I look at them both at the same time after I receive my second one and then hold them in my right hand ready to muck (regardless of if I'm going to play or not) and focus most of my energy on seeing if my neighbor to my immediate left is going to call, raise, or fold. The rest of that crap that tournament players do (staring at each player checking their cards) I've never felt was worth anything.

3) Hmmm, I've seen a lot but trying to think of something that springs to mind. The best ones always come from total fish, because they just hollywood everything to death. Flop comes down 777, BB bets and says "I hope no one has a seven" - you do moron. They also get genuinely excited when they make a big hand on the end. If a fish ever just bets or raises with glee and a big [censored]-eating grin on his face, he is never bluffing, though he might be bad enough to think the second best hand he made is the nuts. The best "tell" I ever saw was just a super excited guy who clearly thought he had the nuts, playing 400/800 triple draw (which you have to understand is a lowball game where 23457 is the nuts and aces are high and bad) and he puts in like 5 bets on the turn vs a good player and both are pat, then the good player decides to bet into him once more and gets insta-raised and everyone at the table was just sure the fish had the wheel (23457) so the good player just called with #2 (23467) and the fish proudly turned up aces full. Yeah you can't count on a fish not knowing the rules.

4) I most remember bad beats in big pots, but I try to forget all of them. I also remember hands I played against good friends and we wind up talking about them weeks later with amazing clarity.

5) I'd say its a bit under-rated if anything.

-DeathDonkey