DonkeySquad

I just finished weighting in. I weigh 168.8lbs and I am planning on losing at least 30lbs. I would like to get down to 130-135lbs by Jan 2nd which is when the contest ends. I think the Biggest Loser will win $300 or so. We all put in $40 each so hopefully I will win it. I think I have a very good chance of winning, but I think I am the lightest person in the competition.

One thing to pad my weight was to drink 48oz of Gatorade and eat a sandwich and and ice sandwich before I weighted in. I think that added an extra 4lbs to my weight. Only time will tell if I can stick to my plan and lose the weight. I will probably put the winning into my poker bankroll or buy something for my camera. If I don’t win, well at least I would have gotten into shape and lost some weight.

This weekend is Labor Day and because of it, I get a day off on Monday, Sept 1st.  I am going to try again to have a “Pro Day”.  I am going to get up early, and act as if this was my profession.  I am planning on logging 4-8hr of poker with some breaks, watching training videos, taking notes, and evaluating my play scattered through out the day. 

I am going to play 2-6 tables at a time and probably play at the NL10 or NL25 tables.  I am hoping this time goes better than last time.  I am going to open up a word document with my notes from the two videos I watched as well as taking notes on how I am feeling, my play, my energy levels, and any other thoughts that pop into my brain.

I will post these notes as well as a summary of my day on Monday. 

After watching the last video, I was itching to play and I started to watch Phil Ivey play some 2000/4000 Limit OH H/L.  He seemed to be getting killed by David Bengemine, but after a few minutes he came back and looked about break even.  While I was watching, I opened up a .05/.10 NL Holdem game and watched some really bad players play.  It got down to two players and I decided that I wanted to play for a few minutes.

I sat down and got bluffed into me a few times when I had the goods.  I also over bet the pot on the river with my made flush.  So in about 15mins I made $25 on the NL10 tables.  It felt good to win and feel like you are in control of the table.

One of the things I am trying to do is not get “married” to a hand.  That is really hard for me to do.  Even with my winning section, I found myself getting married to a hand when my opponent showed strength.  Lucky for me, they were bluffing every time, but I need to learn to lay the hand down more and allow myself to get bluffed off a hand.

I did not go over my notes from the two video during this short section because it was not planned.  I was planning on just watching, but these players were so bad that I felt like I needed to sit down for a few minutes and play.  My next section, I will have the notes ready and try to implement more of the strategies from it.

This is notes from the NL100 Holdem 6-max video from Stoxpoker.  Nick is playing 4-table on party poker.  Lets see what I can learn.

Pressure.  Betting at pot after pot.  So when he plays a big pot, he might be a little under dog, but he would have probably made it up with the small pots.

bb vs sb open limp.  Raise when you have position in a heads up pot.

Overbet the river with a solid made hand sometime

Squeeze play.  It has two positive effects.  If you show down then it will make it more likely to get called with your big hands.  The second benefits is when you have some random hand, you could flop something big and it is hard for your opponents to put you on a hand.

Opponents that are short stack, Ace high hands go up in value.

When three bet, Half pot size bluff c-bet three way when miss and if called, then be done with the hand in position.

I will try to focus on these situations in my upcoming session.  What I will do to try to focus on these tips is open up a word document with these tips and the one from video #005 and play only two tables at once.  I will see how that goes.

Well, I am going to take notes while I watch this video from Stoxpoker.  This video is the first NL Holdem 6-max video that was ever put on Stoxpoker site.  Nick “stoxpoker” Grudzien made this video.  I think he made all of the first twenty or so video on the site.

He is playing 4-tables of 6-max 200NL.  I am looking for situational advice.  This video does not have any stats showing so most of the plays are without reads.

On an A high flop, he c-bets with a little more than half pot in position.

Middle Position with AA does standard raise and gets called by CO.  Flop comes 856 rainbow.  C-bet 2/3 pot and gets min-raise.  The flop is scary, so he has a decision between re-raising or calling.  He decided to call because he has no read.  Turn comes 10 with no flush possibility.  He check because it is not a great card for him and wound call pot-size bet.  Villian checks and river comes A.  Stox bets 1/2 pot and Villian folds.  Villian probably on a 4-card straight and that flop min-raise was to see two cards for free.  Stox would have played it aggressively if he though he was on a draw. It is okay if he is someone who will bluff when he does not hit.

C-Bet dry board with position.  Fold to raise.  This should be a standard play for me.

Small pair in SB.  Get raised by the button.  Hopes to get multi-way for set value so calls with two other left to act (BB and UTG limper). Check/fold when missing the set.  Bluff goes way down multi-way and betting for value goes way up.

You can steal with any two in both blinds are tight (blind defense stat).

Okay, these are the notes that I took while watching the video.  I think these are things that I have heard before, but not really “taken note” of them.  I need to take every advantage to win at this game and if I miss value or play incorrectly, it will make it difficult for me to be a winner in the long run.