Fish N Chips

damn...

I know i promised to write some articles quite soon, but in the beginning of the week I managed to break the neck of my right femur, so it will probably take a little bit of time before I manage to write anything longer than this...

Im back...

I haven't been writing any posts for a long time now. The last few months I have basically just taken some time off, not using too much time on poker. At the moment I feel very inspired about starting to play, and writing some articles again. I think Im going to start off quite softly, playing lower than I usually do until I get into my "mojo" again. This will be a good opportunity to write some articles I have wanted to write for a long time now, as I don't have too be too concerned about fluctuations and stuff happening in my own game. These articles will mostly be about how to handle weaker players and lower stakes regs until I move up to my normal stakes again. I will try to be quite systematic in my approach and the first article will probably be out tomorrow.

rules of thumb (update)

The last few days I've added a few points to my list, that i would like to briefly discuss. It's not too long until I will be back with some thoughts on my experiments with unorthodox plays now, and these points are related to that topic, even though they stands firmly on their own too.

- Passing on super-marginal spots.

Lately I have found myself in some unfamiliar spots, thanks to the way I have been mixing up my game. Overall, I think if you faces a bet and think a call or raise may be very marginally profitable or unprofitable, the best decision is in general to just pass. The few cents you may earn in the long run is not worth the swings. There are some good meta-game reasons to not follow this rule though. If for instance you can win a big pot and tilt of a player big time, go head. The more fishy your plays look the better (as long as it in reality was quite sound...).

- Playing exploitive rather than unexploitable.

This is especially true when I use a lot of different bet-sizes and lines. First of all it's close to impossible to balance your game in an unexploitable manner, so careful analysis of your opponents, their tendencies and the meta-game and then tailor your lines is the only way to go (and it's far more profitable...). Don't worry to much that your line could be exploited, and don't throw in plays just to balance your ranges (without other good reasons to do it).

- Always be aware of what the top of your range is, and how you normally would play it.

This closely relate to the previous point. It may seem an obvious point, but when you play a lot of hands every day, you (or at least me :) tend to turn on the auto-pilot after a while, just throwing out "standard" bets. Always pinning yourself and your opponent(s) to specific ranges and consider witch lines they are likely to take and what they expect from you, is crucial to play good focused poker.

alcohol, cocain and sports

The man with the Russian indoor record in high jumps (2.39m), Ivan Ukhov, had some problems with his third jump in Athletissima 2008. He probably had a few drinks too much, rumours says a few too many vodka and Red Bull. When he's not drunk, he's regarded as one of the biggest talents in the world...

Well, to do man some justice, here is a more impressive clip of him:

The last few days we have had our own little drug episode here in Norway. The greatest (in my mind) Norwegian soccer player ever, Erik "Myggen" (the mosquito) Mykland, is being prosecuted for buying and using cocain. It's quite laughable that the media have made such a mess out of it, as he's not actively playing at the moment (he's planning a comeback though, for the Norwegian team Start). To do him some justice too, here's his only, but quite beautiful goal for FCK:

well, love does furnish a life

My mood gets a lot better in the morning if I watch some music videos, so I thought it would be nice to share one with you. Here is Larrikin Love with "Well, Love Does Furnish A Life". Enjoy your morning coffee and cigarettes :):

the "lap bluffer"

I remembered an article I wrote a long time back, as I was thinking about a few ways to optimise my lines against LAPs while drinking my morning coffee. At the time of writing this article I played some 50NL, and I stumbled a lot upon a strange kind of LAPs. In short they where normal LAPs until the river and then turned into maniacs. The great thing is that you don't only find these kind of fish in the low-stakes games, but from time to time they seem to take shots at the 400-1000NL games too (at least). I will write more in depth on how to exploit TAPs later, but I thougth this short article might be of interest, so I'll post it first:

combating aggressive 3-bettors in nl hold'em

Found this fantastic post (articles) by Dusty Schmidt and Bryce Paradis at the Stoxpoker forum today about combating aggressive 3-betters. I certainly got a few things to think about and work with. I have a few more concepts in mind too, that is not mentioned in the articles, that I will elobrate more on later (it still need alot of work). I especeally found the second article intresting, as floating 3-bets (in and out of position) can be such a headache of a topic. I'm really impressed by the work the stoxpoker team has put into then non-video recurses when you compare the site to other poker coaching sites.

disco shakedown

I have been ill for a while now, so I haven't played much poker lately, or done any theoretical work. I will soon be back with some poker-related posts, but for now I'm going to give you a music video. It's "Disco Shakedown" by the band Gerilja, their first music video. I've known the members of the band for quite a few years now, and it seems like they finally have made kind of a well deserved break-through.

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time travel and virtual reality

As a poker player I have a lot of spare time, and one thing I think I do more than most is watching documentaries. So I thought posting some comments and links would be a good idea. The latest one I watched was Time Trip, a BBC documentary from 2003, that plays with the ideas of time travel, and surprisingly ends up with toying with the idea of the chances of us actually living in, and being a part of, a computer simulation. This made me think about an article I read awhile back. It seems there are big chunks of nothing out there, about 6-10 billion light-years away from Earth, and that scientists can't explain it. Isn't the answer obvious? It's just a part of the Universe not rendered yet.

rules of thumb

Before I sit down at the poker table I have a few "rules of thumb" that I try to remember, these have changed from time to time, and kind of reflect my leaks (that I am aware of) and the games I play in. They are reminders of tempting things to do, that often will not work out very well, and alternative ways to make plays that can to some degree substitute for these plays. I often find that if I forget to take a glance at these points before I start playing, I will often make some unnecessary errors throughout the session. I have made this list with myself in mind, and it probably doesn't fit your leaks as well, but I think it's worth taking a look at for most players, as an illustration of how such a "pre-session" list could look. I strongly advice you to make a similar list for yourself, if you haven't already, as it makes you more aware of your leaks, and makes you work more effectively towards plugging them. Well here's my list:

1. Don't make light call-downs if you can't beat any value-bets, unless you have a solid read (an example would be if villain have a heavily polarized range with a lot of pure bluffs in it). Often a better alternative will be to turn your made hand into a bluff at some point.

2. Don't try to force though lay downs without a good read, rather bet very thinly for value to provoke "hero-calls".

3. Mix up small 4-bets, pushes and floats (in position) versus 3-bets. Don't be afraid of being run over. Patience is key. Rather tighten a bit up pre-flop.

4. Balance your flop aggression, check back and in front quite a bit versus aggressive opponents.

5. Try to mix up your lines when you are not the pre-flop aggressor. Usually don't telegraph that I you got a one-pair hand, especially out of position, if you can avoid it.

6. Tailor your lines with medium to small pocket pairs against different opponents.

A last, but important point, is that you often will create new leaks when you try to plug old ones. This is just the way it is, and you have to adjust back and forth, trying to balance your game as well as you can. Best of luck! :)