A Guide to Low Stakes

phantom_lord

This is just some stuff I threw together, obviously I'm excluding a ton of material, but I can add to it in time.

I took some quotes/inspiriation from gholi's/fuzz/pok3rplayas threads along with a few others. I'm gonna put each section as a different post, so can no one post for a couple of min plz cause my connection isn't too good and I've to wait 30secs between posts

Boards has helped me a ton, so hopefully this help some other people, even if it's just some basic stuff.

phantom_lord

This is probably one of the most important things in poker.

Here's a semi-interesting thread started on 2+2 by jman, but it’s his post at the bottom that’s the best part of the thread in my opinion.

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showflat.php?Cat=0&Number=9119090&an=0&page=0#Post9119090

when I find myself in a 10/20 game, and notice a top super-aggressive player running over the table, I won’t be discouraged anymore by knowing that he’s a better poker player than me. Hey, I still might be the best professional poker player at that table.

Bankroll management is one key aspect of being the best professional at the table. Much like successful business’ fold due to cash flow issues, great players can go busto if they’re not careful.

Variance and large swings are part and parcel of the game, one thing pok3rplaya said to me, and something I hear ringing in my head constantly is “You have no idea of how bad you can run” 10buyin swings are pretty standard, I’ve had plenty of swings and I’m playing a fairly soft generally low variance level, I can only imagine what happens at hyper aggressive high stakes games.

So, first of all, the fundamental rule of gambling is only wager money you can afford to lose.

I think 20buyins is ample for anything lower than 1/ 2. I think from that level up I’d stick to a 30 buy-in rule. You should move up when you reach the bankroll required for the next level.

A buy-in is 100big blinds at the level your at.

• Blind Level........Big Blind..............Buy-in............20 buy-ins..........30 buy-ins
• .02/.04...............0.04...................4.....................80.....................120
• .05/.10...............0.1....................10....................200....................300
• .10/.20...............0.2 ....................20...................400.....................600
• .25/.50...............0.5....................50...................1000...................1500
• .50/1....................1...................100...................2000...................3000
• 1/2.......................2...................200...................4000...................6000
• 2/4.......................4...................400...................8000..................12000
• 3/6.......................6...................600..................12000.................18000
• 5/10....................10..................1000.................20000.................30000
• 10/20..................20...................2000................40000..................60000
• 20/40..................40...................4000................80000.................120000

When you sit down at the table, you want to maximise your edge by being as deep as possible and covering the other players where possible in order to maximise your winnings.
Poker is a long term game, and the long term is very long….hundreds of thousands of hands, possibly million+.

As such, one losing session/day/week even month, possible a year depending on how much you play is possible and inevitable.

A large part of being a winning player is having the resilience to work and play through these periods not tilting, and trying to maintain you’re a game, no one said poker is easy.

As you play more and more you’re going to some sick situations. Getting stacked by Muppets, having aces crack 5/6 times in a row in big pot by ridiculous hands or outdraws, getting 4/3/2 even one outers, and your gonna have to brush it off, reload and play another few hundred/thousand hands unaffected.
Playing 4+ tables, and getting through huge amounts of hands will do serious good to your tilt control.

Rakeback, and bonuswhoring allow you to build up quicker too, there’s a boards guide here.

phantom_lord

“What does this mean? Opening a pot means that you are the first one in, so if you are the first one to enter the pot, always raise. Often you will win the blinds, and that’s a good result. This serves a few purposes, it gives you a chance to win the blinds, it gives you a chance to buy the button and play in a raised pot in position, and it gives you the best opportunity to win the pot on the flop.”

I find that utg raises seem to get a lot of respect, and do lots of stealing from this position.

By open raising it gives you two chances to win the pot, by having the best hand and by taking it down with a c-bet.

It adds to the % of hands you raise, which makes it more difficult to put you on a hand and creates more action on your big hands.

I’ll open raise stuff like suited connectors, suited aces, and gapped connectors in later position, a good number of times I’ve stacked villains with said hands, and they’ve typed in the chatbox, “I never put you on that hand”, when a villain can’t put you on a hand it’s very difficult for him to play against you effectively, especially when you are continuation betting and semi-bluffing a lot.


Continuation betting

Do it lots and lots. You raise preflop with ak, get two callers, they both check, you’ve missed the flop but bet anyway, they fold, easy.

You pick up lots of pots where you missed and generate more action for when you hit. Just think of how easy it is to play someone who bets when they hit and check folds when they miss.

Sometimes you’ll get min-raised by a “cunning” player on a 426r flop where he thinks your ak has missed, it has, but big deal, reraise that sucka and watch him fold like a little girl. Be careful about this though, for some players min-raise=sets, you’ll pick up when this is the case over time though

Harrington says to bet 1/2pot, I don't think this is appliciable to cash games however, as I'm guessing that he's advising 1/2pot for a shallow stacked donkfest where any more is likely to commit you to the hand, I bet pretty much 2/3pot in the vast majority of cases regardless of how hard I hit.

Holdem No Limit - $1 BB

CO ($31.25)
Button ($350.84) [phantom_lord]
SB ($118.42)
BB ($46.62)
UTG ($46.75)
MP ($52.75)

phantom_lord is Button with As, Ks
Preflop: (6 players, $1.5)
UTG calls $1, 2 folds, phantom_lord calls $1 and raises $4, SB folds, BB calls $4, UTG calls $4

Flop: Qh, 7c, 2s (3 players, $15.5)
BB checks, UTG checks, phantom_lord bets $10, 2 folds

Results: phantom_lord has As, Ks
phantom_lord wins $14.75 as the last player standing

The Power of Ace High

In six max you’ll be surprised how often A high is good on the river. This is just something to bear in mind, although it’s read dependent.

Here’s an example of where you’re likely to be good.

Holdem No Limit - $1 BB

UTG ($96.75)
MP ($185.27)
CO ($6.50)
Button ($151.50)
SB ($117) [Shane]
BB ($19.50)

Shane is SB with Ah, Kh
Preflop: (6 players, $1.5)
UTG calls $1 and raises $1, MP calls $2, CO calls $2, Button folds, Shane calls $1.50 and raises $4, BB folds, UTG calls $4, MP calls $4, CO folds

Flop: 8c, Th, 6c (3 players, $21)
Shane checks, UTG checks, MP checks

Turn: 3c (3 players, $21)
Shane checks, UTG checks, MP checks

River: 5h (3 players, $21)
Shane checks, UTG checks, MP bets $15, Shane calls $15, UTG folds

Results: MP has Ad, Jh
Shane has Ah, Kh
Shane wins $48.5 with High Card : Ace

phantom_lord

Tourney players are often too concerned with giving free cards and pricing players out of draws, over betting the pot trying to protect against draws is bad.
In cash games your profit comes from people making mistakes.

Put simply, when hit tptk on the flop, you want them calling with their flush draw every time.

I feel a lot more comfortable when an op calls my bet with ak on a a xsxs board then on a axx rainbow, for a number of reasons, the number of hands he’s calling with that I’m ahead of is substantially higher, and I’m likely to make money from him drawing.

You don’t want to chase them away, you want to work on offering them the incorrect odds to draw and practice on not paying them off if the draw hits, thereby reducing their implied odds and as long as you bet the correct amount it often puts you in win/win situation.

People following draws over time will earn you lots of $$$, don’t fear or hate the guy who outdraws you, embrace it and exploit it.

Similarly when you’re drawing make sure you have the odds and/or the implied odds other wise you’re really on the other side of that win/win situation.

Semi-bluff

Develop a good sense of when to semi-bluff. Semi-bluffing allows you to steal pots on the flop/turn, and adds to your aggressive image, allowing you to get paid off when you hit your big hands (like sets).

Play big hands and semi-bluffs the same way. Don’t check/call a draw, and lead a set. Rather, lead with both, and if raised, reraise, don’t do this with all draws however- but select the big ones (12 outs or more).
This will have a dual effect of allowing you to steal lots of pots, and also allowing you to get action on your big hands.

By betting your draws rather than check/calling it disguises your hand somewhat making it more likely for your to be paid off, and more difficult for others to put you on a hand.

phantom_lord

I find this to be really profitable part of my game, most of the time it’s only going to be 1.5bbs, but you’ll find yourself doing it 100 times a night.

This is where it’s folded around to you on the button or lesser so on the co, and raise with any two cards in an attempt to take down the blinds.

If a player plays back at me, assuming I’ve trash, a number of factors determine my course of action, if he’s a good solid player he probably understands what I’m doing and is restealing, I’ll usually fold the first time and give him the benefit of the doubt, if he does this a couple more times first of all, I make a player note, and in future I’ll 3-bet here a lot and usually take it down, or will on the flop a lot of the time.

When you do this a lot it’s great when you actually get a hand, I’ve a good bit of history with this player, we steal/resteal a good deal.

Holdem No Limit - $1 BB

SB ($232.43)
BB ($82.50)
CO ($159.75)
Button ($89.50) [Shane]

Shane is Button with Qh, Qs
Preflop: (3 players, $1.5)
CO folds, Shane calls $1 and raises $3, BB calls $3

Flop: 8d, 9c, 9h (2 players, $8.5)
BB checks, Shane bets $6, BB calls $6 and raises $24, Shane calls $24 and raises $55.50 and is All-In, BB calls $48.50 and is All-In

Turn: Kd ($172.5)

River: 4d ($172.5)

Results: BB has 5d, 5s
Shane has Qh, Qs
Shane wins $163.5 with Two Pair: Queens and 9s




If it’s a standard run of the mill fish I’ll drop it fairly quickly, unless he only min-raises or close to it and I’ve a hand with potential.


I pretty much steal against anyone, it might appear not to make sense to do it against a 35+vip player in that they’re liable to call my steal, but I find that a 35%+ player is well used to c/f a lot of flops, especially against a tag raiser, so instead of just picking up the blinds I pick up another 3/4bbs when he calls and c/f.

18% and lower are good cause they’ll just fold a ton.

Blind stealing is good for the meta game, I am seen to raise a lot and it should give me more action when I actually hand, nothing sweeter than constantly stealing against someone and then waking up with a hand when they play back.

I really like raising with hands like suited gapped connectors as you’re liable to stack someone as your hand is so well disguised.

Holdem No Limit - $1 BB

SB ($23.75)
BB ($126.50)
UTG ($100)
CO ($20.75)
Button ($99.50) [Shane]

Shane is Button with 7, 5
Preflop: (5 players, $1.5)
2 folds, Shane calls $1 and raises $3, SB folds, BB calls $3

Flop: Q, 6:club:, 9:club: (2 players, $8.5)
BB checks, Shane bets $6, BB calls $6

Turn: 4:diamond: (2 players, $20.5)
BB checks, Shane checks

River: 8:diamond: (2 players, $20.5)
BB bets $16, Shane calls $16 and raises $35, BB calls $35

Results: Shane has 7, 5
Shane wins $119.5 with Straight 98765

His comment the hand was “lol, I can tell you win alot” obviously levelled…think of my image now, I look like a huge donkey rather a multi tabling tag.



Try to avoid stealing off the shortstacks, I wasn’t paying attention to stack sizes in this hand and ended up looking like an idiot, and deservedly so.

Holdem No Limit - $1 BB

CO ($85)
Button ($103.25) [Shane]
SB ($10.50)
BB ($86.50)
UTG ($160.98)

Shane is Button with 2h, Td
Preflop: (4 players, $1.5)
CO folds, Shane calls $1 and raises $3, SB calls $3.50, UTG folds

Flop: 4h, Js, 6s (2 players, $9)
SB checks, Shane bets $6, SB calls $6 and raises $0.50 and is All-In, Shane calls $0.50

Turn: 3d ($22)

River: Kd ($22)

Results: Shane has 2h, Td
SB has Kh, 9s
SB wins $21 with Pair: Kings


One thing to be aware of is your image, although it’s less of a factor at lower levels, but if you’ve been caught out tone down the stealing a bit with thrash hands, if you look uber tight then obviously time to steal a bit.

Thread explaining it in more depth

Raising junk from lp

Restealing

People stealing blinds at the lower levels is not something you're going to encounter that often but it is something to watch out for. Normally it goes something like, they steal 2/3 times, then I play back with trash once or twice, and then they usually stop. Ideally you don't want to see a flop, but if you do at least you have irish position and stand a good chance of taking it down with a bet.

This guy has raised my blind a few times, and I'm after getting a few beats on another table and I'm not in mood for it

Holdem No Limit - $1 BB

CO ($68.75)
Button ($190.25)
SB ($235.11)
BB ($113.75) [Shane]
UTG ($43)
MP ($99.50)

Shane is BB with 4d, Tc
Preflop: (6 players, $1.5)
3 folds, Button calls $1 and raises $4, SB folds, Shane calls $4 and raises $9, Button calls $9

Flop: Kh, Qd, 9s (2 players, $28.5)
Shane bets $20, Button folds

Results: Shane has 4d, Tc
Shane wins $27.25 as the last player standing



This one didn't exactly go to plan but it turned out ok...

Holdem No Limit - $1 BB

CO ($92.40)
Button ($122.50)
SB ($74.75)
BB ($105) [Shane]

Shane is BB with Qc, 6h
Preflop: (4 players, $1.5)
CO folds, Button calls $1 and raises $3, SB folds, Shane calls $3 and raises $7, Button calls $7

Flop: Jd, 4s, 5d (2 players, $22.5)
Shane bets $16, Button calls $16

Turn: Kc (2 players, $54.5)
Shane checks, Button checks

River: 9c (2 players, $54.5)
Shane bets $30, Button folds

Results: Shane has Qc, 6h
Shane wins $52.5 as the last player standing

phantom_lord

Pretty essential stuff, I don’t think I really need to go into it as there’s plenty of good guides to pokertracker out there. Like this one

The stats I overlay on the table with pahud, is just the standard vip/aggression factor/# of hands/% of hands raised preflop.

I changed recently to put on the top of the screen the fold to flop/turn/river/c-bet stats, but I never use them, I also added in the aggression factor on each street, mainly for when facing river bets as I read a couple of posts where cardshark used it for making decisions.

There’s much better examples, since this isn’t a great board for my hand but it’s just a hand I found from last night.

Holdem No Limit - $1 BB

BB ($96)
UTG ($92.25)
MP ($172.44) [Shane]
CO ($98.75)
Button ($96)
SB ($60.50)

Shane is MP with Ah, Qc
Preflop: (6 players, $1.5)
UTG folds, Shane calls $1 and raises $3, CO folds, Button calls $4, 2 folds

Flop: Tc, As, 9s (2 players, $9.5)
Shane bets $7, Button calls $7

Turn: 2d (2 players, $23.5)
Shane checks, Button bets $17, Shane calls $17

River: 4h (2 players, $57.5)
Shane checks, Button checks

Results: Shane has Ah, Qc
Button has Ac, Kd
Button wins $54.75 with Pair: Aces (King kicker)

This guy is 16/6/1, I really should have folded that turn, and came pretty close to it simply cause this guy is a rock!

If he was 30+/12/1 I’d snap call that turn simply because he’s likely to have all sorts of crap here.


If a guy has a pf% of 20+ I’ll reraise him lots in position as he’s a very wide raisng range and I’m gonna pick up the pot easily enough a lot.

Over time you’ll pick up what type of opponent you’re facing by his stats. Try to avoid people like 18/11/2 or 20/12/2, really you want lots of 25+vip players, 40+ are golden, and 80+ are just atms.

It’s important to adjust to the different types of players, slow down without a big hand to the solid players, value bet stations, ace high might be good for calling a river bet against some people. It’s all down to experience really.


There's other software out there like game selection tools and ahk scripts, but none of that works in tribeca so I don't really know much about it.

Data mining tools are worth getting in order to build stats on other players.

phantom_lord

I try to play as tight as possible here it’s a tough spot to play from as your out of position and very difficult to extract value, or exercise any form of pot control.

So far I’ve played over 24k hands at .5/1, that’s about 4500 hands in the sb, I’ve been required to post $2338.

Simply put, completing your sb is gonna cost you a lot of money in the long run, over two grand for me assuming no raises!

I tend to play extremely tight from this position,

I play about 26% of my hands from the sb, and have lost 0.14/bb per hands from this position, losing from here is normal, but by playing conservatively from the sb I’ve clawed back more than half the money I’ve been required to post.

Basically I don’t complete with any two, assuming a couple of limpers, I will with big suited cards, but this might be a leak, any pair, suited connectors, that sort of thing.

I’m undecided as to the merits of raising kq/aj type hands from this position, it may or not be a leak, I’ll get to you on that one.

Obviously I’m raising any decent pairs and aces.

If only the button limps I’ll complete here a lot more with the view of taking it down bluffing on the flop.

If it’s folded to me in the sb I’ll raise the bb most of the time in order to steal.

Similarly if the sb is the only limper on my bb I’ll usually raise, although try not to become too predictable as that soon becomes very exploitable.

phantom_lord

These are extremely valuable in a deepstacked game. You should be aiming to set mine as much as possible.

I don’t really bother with lower that 44s, that’s just my personal preference, Mike Caro says they’re a leak, but I dunno how much weighting you want to give to that guys advice….

So I’m talking 44-77 here. 88+ I’m raising and am more likely to play them as a made hand than the smaller pairs which are in a sense drawing hands.

Obviously open raising when given the opportunity, limping behind limpers, I’d probably raise 77 on the button after limpers. The benefit of raising these hands is they’re more disguised and you have good fold equity on the flop.

For instance, if a tag limps and calls a raise, the flop is something x6x, and I have aa, I’m gonna be weary of him having a set if he’s giving a lot of action.

Also you raise pf, you stand a good chance of taking it down with a c-bet.

Hitting a set in a multi-way pot is all nice and dandy, and you might pick up a decent pot, but usually you wont, the real value is in raised pots.

I’ll call a raise with a pair if I have the correct implied odds, basically I want his stack to be 10-15 times the raise, and you’re hoping to get his stack if you hit.

The best hands you can be up against is AA or KK as these are the hands that the villain is most likely to stack himself with.

Position is less important with small pairs this may sound counter-intuitive to all poker advice, but in this case you aren't trying to "outplay" your opponents, but more so trying to land a made hand, which is easy to play from any position.

Here he’s more likely to think I’ve an op rather than a set.

Holdem No Limit - $1 BB

CO ($23.29)
Button ($57.48)
SB ($108.50)
BB ($68.07)
UTG ($100) [Shane]
MP ($281)

Shane is UTG with 5d, 5h
Preflop: (6 players, $1.5)
Shane calls $1 and raises $3, MP calls $4 and raises $8, 2 folds, SB calls $11.50, BB folds, Shane calls $8

Flop: 4c, 6h, 5s (3 players, $37)
SB bets $10, Shane calls $10 and raises $20, MP folds, SB calls $20 and raises $66.50 and is All-In, Shane calls $58 and is All-In

Turn: 8h ($221.5)

River: Qs ($221.5)

Results: SB has As, Ac
Shane has 5d, 5h
Shane wins $210 with 3 of a Kind: 5s

phantom_lord

“Learn how to use position, position allows you to control the pot size. If you have raised preflop, and have 1/2 players still in the pot with you, this is your chance to steal if you have nothing, or check to control the pot, or take a free card.”

Being in position allows you to steal a lot of pots/control pot size and generally take charge of the hand, it’s a lot easier to get paid on a hand in position than in early position.



Here’s a chart of my vpip from each position, notice the upward trend towards the button, this is skewed somewhat because I steal a bit from utg. Really the graph should have a greater incline than this and there should be a much more noticeable difference between early and late.

Try to open up on the button more, and have a large raising range, this is by far the most profitable position by poker, use it.

phantom_lord

This can be pretty profitable for example, you think the other guy has a missed draw; you check the river and give him a chance to bluff it, which he’ll do a lot. He’s not calling a bet anyway so it maximises your profit, and minimizes your losses when you’re beat.

People bluff missed draws alot, this was a tough call, but I'd played with the guy enough to think it was a bluff.

Holdem No Limit - $1 BB

MP ($79.38)
CO ($122) [Shane]
Button ($196.50)
SB ($87.25)
BB ($99)
UTG ($111.25)

Shane is CO with Jc, Jd
Preflop: (6 players, $1.5)
UTG folds, MP calls $1, Shane calls $1 and raises $3, Button calls $4, 2 folds, MP calls $3

Flop: 5h, As, 6d (3 players, $13.5)
MP checks, Shane bets $8, Button folds, MP calls $8

Turn: Kc (2 players, $29.5)
MP checks, Shane checks

River: 7s (2 players, $29.5)
MP bets $20, Shane calls $20

Results: MP has 4s, 2s
Shane has Jc, Jd
Shane wins $66.5 with Pair: Jacks


Checking the Turn

Also, for example, you have ak, raise pf and get one caller, if the board is axx or xxxa, I’ll play it the same most of the time, bet flop, check turn.

This is for a number of reasons, pot control, lesser hands fold/better ones call type of situations. If we check through the turn, we can flat call bluffs, and smaller bets from hands that beat us on the river. It’s also to get value from a worse hand and to get to a cheaper showdown against a better hand.

There’s better examples, but I like this cause I won it with ace high

Holdem No Limit - $2 BB

BB ($91)
UTG ($102.50)
MP ($214.43)
CO ($17.50)
Button ($215) [Shane]
SB ($204.39)

Shane is Button with As, Qs
Preflop: (6 players, $3)
UTG calls $2, 2 folds, Shane calls $2 and raises $6, 2 folds, UTG calls $6

Flop: 4c, 8d, Td (2 players, $19)
UTG checks, Shane bets $15, UTG calls $15

Turn: 3s (2 players, $49)
UTG checks, Shane checks

River: 6h (2 players, $49)
UTG bets $16, Shane calls $16

Results: UTG has 9d, Jc
Shane has As, Qs
Shane wins $78 with High Card : Ace


Basically you don’t want to play a big pot, especially oop, with a vulnerable hand like tptk, checking the turn achieves this, while helping to extract value on the river from worse hands.

phantom_lord

This is a pretty effective way of boosting your earnings, say you make $10 an hour at 1/2, play four tables and you should at least triple that, I don’t think you will quadruple it as you’re inevitably gonna lose some of your edge with less focus.

And what better time to learn this skill than at low stakes while it’s gonna cost you very little and the skill edge lost is less important.

At the moment I play 4 tables as that’s all tribeca will let me play, but I’m pretty sure I can comfortable handle a couple more when the software change removes that rule.

If you’re not used to multi-tabling, start off slow, add one table, get comfortable add another and so on.
Pay attention, if you find yourself timing out, drop a table, try to minimize overlap.

Hardware

Mouse- a good, dependable ergonomic mouse helps a lot
Monitor- A 20.1 LCD with 1600 x 1200 resolution is your best bet. Prefereably more than one.
Internet- Make sure that your modem is in no danger of a disconnection.

“Multi-tabling gets a lot easier when you have your game together. If you keep playing then you see similar situations enough times over and over that you automatically have a very good idea what to do. If you play enough eventually all the simple decisions become almost robotic and you only have to concentrate on the odd stickler of a hand. Because of this you can play >4 tables at once and only ever really have one stickler hand occurring at one time. The rest of the hands on the other tables get played robotically leaving you time to think about the one difficult hand. It's really just a matter of practice and confidence in your game. Concentrate on the action. And take note of betting patterns.”

Just for example, I was playing 3 handed with a deepstacked fish and a solid player on one table and had 3 6max tables open at the same time. Now all my concentration went on the shorthanded game for two reasons, I’m not used to playing that short so I had to put more thought into it, and second of all I thought it was worth putting more effort into busting the fish.

I played the other tables purely on auto-pilot, I mean seriously I couldn’t tell you about any hands that happened; I was playing my standard game, raising, c-beting with air, button stealing all without thinking. There was no real note worthy hands so that was also a factor.

Now, it’s not good to play like this, like a bot, it’s very exploitable, but the point I’m trying to make is that you can get your standard game to a level where it’s fully automatic across 4+ tables, which allows the utilization of al your thought process’ for making plays and moves against certain players. This thread touches on what I mean, where he talks about the subconscious mind.


Table selection

This is a very important part of becoming a winning player, until you build up stats on people you won’t do much wrong however, in going for the tables with a highest % of players seeing flops or the highest pot averages with deep stacks.

Once you build up a decent database you’ll find players you’ll want to avoid; multi-tabling tags and other winning players for example, instead you want to find tables with loose passive players and big losing players.

Finding out the screen names of boardies at your level and avoiding them is a good idea too.

phantom_lord

that's it for now... bit longer than I expected.

ditpoker

i'll be reading through this later... good man p_l!

mods, sticky!!?!?

Marq

Thanks Shane. I'm sure this will be of use to a lot of posters here on boards.

Now start studying for your exams.

brianmc

"Poster of the year 2007" bonus points for that one. Good Post.

cooker3

Great post(s) Shane.

Super advice, some stuff there which I haven't implemented in my own game which I will start doing immediately.

Btw Marq, exams are 3 months away, tons of time to study

mewso

Excellent stuff phatom_lord. I will sticky this or merge it with the guide in a day or two once people are finished making comments.

stretchticles

PL,
savage report...

DeadParrot

excellent stuff.
I've just realised I've been killing myself with my br managment, playing .5/1 with maybe 8 buyins max.

Cheers

gocall01

Fantastic read PL.

Just saw this before heading home yesterday, printed it out, had a read and tried to implement some of it last night.
I found the sections on blind stealing amd playing from the SB every helpful.

Just started playing cash .25/.50 in January after spending 18 months on STTs & MTTs.
Was breaking even at cash with any profitit coming from bonus whoring and a small rake back.

Had poker tracker/pahud installed but only really started using pahud last night.
(This is a great tool, anyone really serious about progressing should have it IMO)

Anyways, I made a few quid last night 3-tabling, may have just run well but I really think this info has helped me focus on some key areas.

PL, the cheque will be in the post...

LuckyLloyd

This post has been deleted.

Ste05

Very good posts Phantom.

cardshark202

Credit where credit is due. Excellent stuff. I have found when I start playing sporadically like I have been since I've come to Australia, I seem to have lost my way a bit. Well I'm on a 20-buyin downswing and playing badly but these posts will inspire me to get back to multitabling and focussing properly. Well done again.

Tar.Aldarion

I've yet to use one. I know they seem pretty darn good, rather than me just trying to read random people on the net or going, 'I remember that name, was he good or not?'

You have to pay for poker Tracker, yes?
Free alternative?

phantom_lord

Tar.Aldarion wrote:

I've yet to use one. I know they seem pretty darn good, rather than me just trying to read random people on the net or going, 'I remember that name, was he good or not?'

You have to pay for poker Tracker, yes?
Free alternative?

you can use it on trial for 1k hands. it's well worth the 65 bucks.

El Stuntman

Tar.Aldarion wrote:

I've yet to use one. I know they seem pretty darn good, rather than me just trying to read random people on the net or going, 'I remember that name, was he good or not?'

You have to pay for poker Tracker, yes?
Free alternative?

you can get it for free when you sign up with lots of sites

El Stuntman

cardshark202 wrote:

Credit where credit is due. Excellent stuff. I have found when I start playing sporadically like I have been since I've come to Australia, I seem to have lost my way a bit. Well I'm on a 20-buyin downswing and playing badly but these posts will inspire me to get back to multitabling and focussing properly. Well done again.

I was feeling sorry for you until I reread your post and spotted that

shoutman

Great post(s) shane.

Definately get this sticky.
Great to have people giving back to the community like this...

cardshark202

El Stuntman wrote:

I was feeling sorry for you until I reread your post and spotted that

Starting to play each morning between breakfast and lunch before heading to the beach. Its amazing how easy it is to forget about the amount of money I've blown recently by going to the beach or something.

sikes

loads of good stuff here, nice post.

5starpool

cardshark202 wrote:

Starting to play each morning between breakfast and lunch before heading to the beach. Its amazing how easy it is to forget about the amount of money I've blown recently by going to the beach or something.

Sounds like a horrible existence Reggie. You should give it up and come back and go working here again, I think you would be happier.

You must wear factor 435 at the beach I presume?

Tar.Aldarion

El Stuntman wrote:

you can get it for free when you sign up with lots of sites

I thought I posted this already, nevertheless.
This idea intrigues me.

Rnger

Tar.Aldarion wrote:

I thought I posted this already, nevertheless.
This idea intrigues me.

I think my cousin has it if i remember correctly...

excellent post phantom lord

ionapaul

Fair play to you for posting all of this, very helpful indeed, even as a refresher! Good work

phantom_lord

thanks everyone, I'm sure that warm fuzzy feeling inside will make up for a reduced winrate....

El Stuntman

phantom_lord wrote:

thanks everyone, I'm sure that warm fuzzy feeling inside will make up for a reduced winrate....

lol, you tell everyone your secrets and go on a savage downswing - I like it!!

phantom_lord

El Stuntman wrote:

lol, you tell everyone your secrets and go on a savage downswing - I like it!!

it's not fair, I thought i should have gotten some sort of good karma or something but no...

gilmour

excellent post pl

Hawk Eye

Added to favorites, nice posts phantom.

phantom_lord

anyone have any ideas of any other stuff that should be included?

Brando_ie

Been having a concerted go at STT's (record keeping and the lot) after being burned by the cash games during my introduction to online poker. I am a stable enough live and online tourney player and have been able to post healthy ROI stats for tourney's but am getting a bit bored of STT's at the moment so this post (and the one a short while ago about blind stealing..... I didn't even know you could do that??... ) came at a great time.

I understand that even the small stakes mentioned in the post are a long way from the micro's I'm playing in and as a result there will be a lot more 'fishing' but even adopting the semi bluffing, stealing (its amazing when you are tuned in, how many folks just lose interest in their hands post flop and leave the pot a begging) and location/location/location (although that was pretty solid from STT's) and although undoubtedly on a complete rush have managed to reap a healthy ROI over the last three nights (not sustainable so not even going to bother talking about numbers, it's more about confidence to continue)

Overall this great post has provided me with a lot of confidence that I can adapt my tourney game to suit cash, allowed me to properly multi-table which reduces any boredom.

A Karma contribution to you Phantom (although I may require that back when in the midst of the next savage downswing as I curse your name.... :rolleyes: ) GREAT POST.

breadmonkey

I don't think you mentioned this. Hardly a trade secret or anything but if someone comes to the table, posts straight away and then checks, ALWAYS raise!

peeko

Great post Shane. Have it printed off for those moments of madness when I throw the laptop out the window!

bohsman

Great post Shane but you shouldnt be surprised at a downswing after teaching a load of tribeca players how to beat the games your playing.

phantom_lord

I wonder if writing it was a mistake.


EDIT: actually, I very much doubt it, there's nothing really insightful there, it's just basic strategy, you could pick up more off any decent poker book, not like i'm divulging the secrets of 4 betting pf or something.

I don't really gain anything tho...at least on 2+2 I'd get that "registered user" thing changed to Pooh-Bah. mods????

peeko

It will still take quite a lot of skill to execute the things that you have mentioned!

El Stuntman

phantom_lord wrote:

I wonder if writing it was a mistake.

move up levels

phantom_lord

El Stuntman wrote:

move up levels

lol, I was thinking that. just as well I've moved up to 1/2

mewso

phantom_lord wrote:

at least on 2+2 I'd get that "registered user" thing changed to Pooh-Bah. mods????

It's even better here you can change it to whatever you want if you become a subscriber for a modest fee. Haven't changed mine in a while. How does "Roundtower Crony #3" sound?

phantom_lord

musician wrote:

It's even better here you can change it to whatever you want if you become a subscriber for a modest fee. Haven't changed mine in a while. How does "Roundtower Crony #3" sound?

that's not really for me thanks.

bohsman

phantom_lord wrote:

I don't really gain anything tho...at least on 2+2 I'd get that "registered user" thing changed to Pooh-Bah. mods????

Careful what you wish for.