The Well: BobboFitos

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B,
your PM box is full. Kindly check your email.

anyhoo,

your favorite live poker hand, ever? (and what happened).

[ajmargarine]

Tx for doing this.

1. MTT's? Play them much? Biggest Cash?
2. How do you do at the non-NLHE games?
3. What's the online poker landscape look like in one year?

[goofyballer]

Tiburon? Nice, I grew up in Mill Valley. Living there is a huge brag.

What does your title mean?

[Mossberg]

is your coaching affordable for a 200NL player?

[Isura]

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is your coaching affordable for a 200NL player?

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Yes. He will teach u to play goot.

[BobboFitos]

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hey, i like your posts.

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thank you =)
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can you give a poker history, breakdown of #hands/lvl and a little bit of you take on the current environment post legislation.

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Poker history -

I started playing the summer before my senior year. So, roughly 4 years ago. I played with my friends from high school - a few post here, including Green Kool Aid (highest on my FLB) and Sk00lb0y.
We played NL25 with .5 and 1 dollar blinds. Yes, incredibly short stacked. We also believed in tells - my first poker book was Caro's Book of Tells. lol, no joke.
Dave (Green Kool Aid) showed me poker room and poker stars play money, where he would just shove all in every hand and laugh. I was immensely intrigued.
I realized the only 2 ways for me to get money online (since I didnt have neteller, or any real money aside from what I had saved from my summer job, which was a special cares counselor - not even 1k) was to win a free tournament (I tried very very hard, and final tabled a few of the 3k pools and stuff.. although, if you final tabled, you only got into the sunday 150$ tournament, which you then had to final table. sadly, the tournament route just wasnt going to cut it!) or sell play money chips. So...
I began playing play money on pokerstars and amassed several million play chips - obviously I was terrible, but I took it seriously, and no one else did. Somehow, and this was the breaking point, someone bought my chips for 10 bucks. Later someone told me I could've gotten like 50$ or so, which is truly mind boggling.
I bought a ton of poker books throughout this, including super system, theory of poker, advanced holdem, etc. I have read each of those books atleast twice, and super system probably ~5 to 10 times. (The no limit section)
So, I lost half the 10 bucks instantly playing 1c/2c. Since it was still the summer, GKA was with me, and we opted to use the last 5bucks and change on a sit and go. He remembers that vividly, saying I made a big semibluff on the bubble or something, (I dont really recall) and obviously I got lucky and hit it and won the tournament.
From there, together (we shared my account) we played 1c/2c until we had a bankroll around ~50. Sometime my senior year (still playing in home games, too, where the big buyin was 20 bucks) Dave and i played a 3$ tournament where we won-1st was ~900. We decided to split it, and finally play separate accounts.
I then for the rest of my senior year played 4 tables of .5-1 and 1-2 LIMIT holdem. (full ring of course, they didnt have shorthanded that long ago!) I didnt have PT, and was a marginal winner. I also played alot of stud; .25-.5 through 1-2.
During our spring break (March sometime) I went to turningstone. This was very exciting for us; (Went with sk00lb0y and GKA) I even made an ultra gay itinerary. My sister went to Syracuse, and I had some friends there, so we were able (for the ~4day long trip) stay in my friend's Rollie's girlfiend's dorm room, (he stayed with his GF) which was awesome for us bc it was an all girls floor. Turningstone, then, did not run any no limit games!!! So, Wes and GKA played 1-3 spread, and I was the "Baller" playing 2-4 limit.
Anyway, including live play with friends, I finished that year with a bankroll around 1,000. During the summer I played every night after camp (I was a counselor) and logged insane work days (I have no energy nowadays so I wonder hwo i did it; id get up at 8, work in the hot sun until 430, workout w/ Rollie until 6, sometimes go out and party, and play poker from whenever i got home until 2 or 3, then sleep 4 hours or so). I played mainly MTTs and limit holdem-I liked no limit but just (crazily) felt you needed to "see someone to get a read on them." At this time I discovered 2p2 thanks to a friend, Evan Naismith. (Luckycharms on 2p2). I started posting ridiculous advice, pretty much quoting good old doyle about not going broke in limped pots and such to small stakes. Back then 2p2 didnt have high/mid/small, and i remember i was v v v intimidated to post anything in higher stakes. good thing i didnt, i was awful.
When I went to RPI, I strangely believed tournaments were the way to go. I didnt make too much money over the summer, maybe 1k tops from poker? So my roll was less then 2k. I played all the micros, 5$, 10$, rebuy etc. i could. (I won a few small ones) Quick funny anecdote: I skipped a math lecture and won a 1$ daily tournament or something for 250$. Dave (GKA) laughed and broke it down how much the lecture I skipped likely cost me; it was more then the 250 i won. I skipped actually alot of classes, and became technically a part time student. mainly because i was failing so much because it was so so hard and i played poker so so much.
the cool thing about RPI is its close to turningstone; i would go often there w/ several friends, including "Mehndamassah" and luckycharms (who went to union).
My first lesson about BR management: Mehndamassah (who does not post on 2p2, and is not a good player, but was a big tournament guy on pokerstars for a while) picked me up and we planned on going to TS for a week. We planned on playing the 1-2 NL game, 100$ buyin. How much did each of us bring? 250 dollars.
So, we booked the room for a week, and went brkoe the first day. I'll never forget playing MDM heads up for red bull since we had no money for food. We had to call a friend to put money in MDM's bank accuont so we could "win back our money." (and called a friend to come pick us up...)
During december break, i contemplated not going back to school, but my mother urged me to try for another semester. I went to visit Williston (my boarding school) along w/ a friend named Jay and Dave (GKA). Somehow I had some party poker money (maybe 50 bucks or so? I dont really recall) and one night while up there dave and i could've gone to a party, but chose to play a 30$ MTT. We got lucky throughout; we both remember having 99 on T x x flop, pushing all in, called by QT, and spiking a 9. that was lovely. We wont that for a 6k score.
We split that down the middle, and now with party money, I decided to reenergize myself with cash games. I played a mixture of limit (up to 30/60, which i beat for a good margin) and NL. I think by this time they had shorthanded tables, but I'm not positive.
ANYWAY - I went back to school, and promptly withdrew by march. That is when I chose to go to boston and become a "professional" by multitabling NL100+ games on pokerstars/party, where I lived at Tufts w/ Gary Stevenson. (we became v good friends, he was my friend from HS, nathan's roommate). gary and i played largely the same games then - it was v funny, 2am through 8am or whatnot, us back to back with multiple tables. i loved chatting about hands (and posting on 2p2...) and he did not like talking. i woudl SHOUT (and wake nathan) about good/bad beats, he would just make the "shhh" motion and tell me to STFU.
That was also when Gary (real name, Alex) and I would take the T to braintree/around boston for underground games. That was fun. We would discuss hands/situations together, and that was probably when I improved by leaps and bounds. At that time I also was getting coached by a 2p2er who never posts anymore named BK (brian Kennedy) who, at that point, was a top poster/player (although more in limit then no limit) and I benefitted immensely.
As "fun" as that sounded, though, alot of elements lacked, and after a month I returned home. My mother made me promise not to play poker, since she blamed that as the cause of me failing out. So, I picked up my 2p2ing and that was when I decided to coach. She was pretty pumped about that, as it was a small business. I charged 40$/hr at first, LOL.
Anycase, the allure of poker was too strong, and I started playing on several sites, including FTP, jetset poker, true poker, and good old party/stars.
That summer my bankroll was very veddy nice, and I remember how much of a "baller" I was then; i bought a new car (special edition civic which was really cool) as well as went to TS for the tuorney week and played the "big game" (WHICH WAS 5-5 NL LOLOL) and the big tourney (1.5k buyin?) that was somewhat of a highpoint, as my car tore up the BR (20k of 30k or w/e)
At Fairfield U I coached more then I played (Several clients would always ask me why i didnt play more..) but i did play live quite a bit. (it was fun going into NYC; Gary, who took a break from Tufts, went with me from time to time) that was when I met TWP, Mikech, voltron, etc.
At that time, I asked Cero Z (my favorite person on 2p2) if I coudl get coached by him. I thought there wasnt much i coudl gain anymore from reading 2p2 since people (then) withheld so much information. (The very good players) He agreed, and that was great. (I'd consider him a friend at this point) He improved my live game and shorthanded game without a doubt, since he knew how to REALLY think.
I got into an arrangement w/ Chaostreezie (~Staking) on a really soft site (Empire, which was at that point not a skin; it had become separate) on a 50/50 deal. He said the games were too good for me not to play (the highest was 10/20) and he was right. people sucked. I obviously for that time (maybe a month?) never went to class and played every table I could. (which wasnt many) Without a doubt I was the best player on that site.
Until... one day, v groggy, waking up at 5pm, i played and lost an insane amount of money (most of the winnings) I (then) was a huge tilt monkey.. some of my plays included 3handed cold calling/ then calling reraises with 83s, A4o, etc... it was really dirty. i do remember alot of bad luck too, but thats apart of poker.
Josh freaked after that, which I dont blame him, and we cancelled the deal. I was kinda shaken at the large sum of money i made/lost, and decided to take a long break from poker. unfortunately, world of warcraft hooked me in at that time. so, i didnt play (nor write my book) for a solid ~7 months or even 2p2 (that was when i took my break, iirc).
then i moved out to california, slowly weaned myself off wow (finally completely quit mid jan of this year) and slowly started playing again.
What do I make of the post legislation environment: I miss Party alot. I really am unhappy I never put in a ton of hands, aside from the 1 month in boston where I played an insane amount. My friends and I regret not focusing, since then we thought we would always be able to do it. I still believe the games are very soft, but thats bc i have an inflated self opinion of my game. (although results do back up that opinion)

Hands/level: My PT database has been lost so many times. I used to play (finally bought a new sick laptop a month ago) on a thinkpad. I loved my T42, but I lost all my PT data (each time of like 50k to 100k hands)

if i had to guess, id say ive probably played 80k hands of micro stakes(penny stakes to NL25), 300k of small stakes (NL100 especially and NL200) 300k of mid stakes (2-4 and 3-6, what im playing now) and 20k of high stakes.(10-20) including live.

[Go_Blue88]

this question is kind of dumb, but it popped into my head (i'll ask a better one later):

how can you write a book without a college education? i feel like i've learned so much about writing in the past four years. do you have someone to help you out? or are you depending on your editor? maybe you're just a naturally good writer (even so, there's so much to learn).

i dunno, i've always wanted to write a book...i think you doing that is far cooler than any poker success you've had.

[MasterLJ]

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unfortunately, world of warcraft hooked me in at that time. so, i didnt play (nor write my book) for a solid ~7 months or even 2p2 (that was when i took my break, iirc).

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Bad Beat + WoW Rogue + STV = Relief.

[BobboFitos]

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How did you get started in poker? I guess I am asking for your general poker story?

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Just posted it. Probably forgot some stories/etc. but the meat has been posted.
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PT stats? VPIP/PFR/AF, etc?

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Full ring (9 and 10) I run around 26/16. Shorthanded (filtered for 5 and 6) I run around 31/26. My AF is ~4. (which is pretty effing high)
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What stakes do you play?

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Currently 2-4 and 3-6 NLH on PS.
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Do you play professionally?

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No, I am not considered a professional. (by myself or others)
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Do you plan on playing for the rest of your life or do you use poker as a means to finance other investments/businesses, etc?

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Well, I'm 21, so I use it to finance spending money and buying cool things that other people cant afford.
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Any general tips for SSNL players about what they could be doing to become better?


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Question EVERYTHING.
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Did you have any "aha" moments where everything just started to click for you?


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Very good question. The best "aha" moments I can think of: Playing a few summers ago at turningstone in the "big" game then of 5-5. I had a 1k stack or so, and called a raise from an old man with about the same w/ K9c on the button. It was 3way to the flop and it came 8 5 2 or something w/ 2 hearts. The old man bet a modest amount and I made a pot sized raise. Other dude folded. the old man shrugged, said 'i guess you have a flush draw but you are lucky' and folded kings. The idea of position and stack leveraging finally clicked there. Also, of insanely exploitable tendencies, such as that man would never have a hand he would back his stack with, since he would always see nightmares of a set and would never raise small pairs in MP.
Most people would probably view that as a spew, and if I could go back (knowing he had kings) I would never make that move. I really never, never try to make people fold big pairs (or top pair for that matter). But alot of things just made sense there.
The second one is one of my first lessons with Cero Z. We focused alot on limped pot play, since that "artform" is lost online with so many raised pots. I dont want to go into too many specifics, but hand reading in limped pots just became so easy because of him.
The third one is another live hand in the foxwoods uncapped 5-5. I was there with AZK, Fslexcduck, and Chaostrazie. The game was playing big (I was shortest) and i made (what i thought at the time) of a cero z type move w/ 66. (I actually posted this hand last year when it happened - i hate posting hands, but i was v proud of it because i thought it sorta evolved my game). Basically, it was 6 way to the flop of K 5 2, AZK had raised in MP, i had the button. it was chcked around and the turn was a 3. i forget exact action, and the board may be wrong, but i trusted the reads of the bad players around, got my money in, and got called by 74. (and didnt get outdrawn) there was decent thought on my part, and sorta being able to stick in alot of BBs in that pot made me feel good. (bc i was right)

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Have any interesting hands you care to share? Biggest pot? A sick bluff? A sick call down? etc?

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The biggest pot live ive lost was recently when I was in vegas playing 10-20 bellagio. i posted this in my trip report, but basically i got TT all in preflop vs AKo for a 4k+ pot or so, and a king hit the river. online there were alot of big 10-20 pots when i played there, but they arent as fun, because live with chips makes things seem more real.
The worst beat I've ever taken is i overlimped K9d in 3-6 online. 9 9 6r, checked to me ~4 way and i half potted it. 1 caller. the turn was a queen, villain checked, i potted it, he called. river was another queen, he bet 1/3 pot, he was semishort so i just put him all in, he called with AQo. WTF!
I remember alot more sick call downs then sick bluffs, because I am a calling station. I'll post somel ater in this thread im sure
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PS- sorry for all the questions.

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all good, allows me to give lots of answers!

[BobboFitos]

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bobo, i abs love your posts and will be back to ask some questions. thank you so much for this.

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No problem, it's my pleasure. Hopefully this is a good well/people get alot out of it.