In the Well!! Q + A with Robin Lacey

pok3rplaya

real quick, how do I find the "best of" threads in the 2+2 archives?

LuckyLloyd

This post has been deleted.

phantom_lord

that's just the high stakes one, there's another best of in the ssnl with all the wells and pooh-bah posts.

LuckyLloyd

This post has been deleted.

phantom_lord

just trying to be helpful, don't take it personally Lloyd!

The Tourist

robinlacey wrote:

he's been having trouble adapting to online play,and his stats were something like 40/30.this is all well and good for live play (i probably play something like 75/65 when i'm playing live and have been at the table for a few hours) but online its just way too loose,and i was trying to explain why this is so.

Hi Robin,
Great posts. Could you expand on this point? Ie what would be your advice for someone who plays 0.5/1 and 1/2 cash online and who wants to try playing live cash around dublin more often?
Cheers.

Lafortezza

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showflat.php?Cat=0&Number=3239210&an=0&page=0#Post3239210

Marq

Daithio wrote:

I find four tet very good for playing poker but I'd rarely listen to it otherwise. Any music with lyrics is a bit of a distraction for me. Rounds is a much better album than Pause.

One astonishing track on Everything Ecstatic called Smile Around the Face but the rest isn't as good as Rounds. sorry off topic.

I would agree with Daithi that you should make the effort to learn omaha to a high standard. Apart from anything else you could play a little more live poker in dublin that you would find interesting.

robinlacey

hi all,

apologies for the fact that i've been slacking on keeping up with this thread,some interesting questions since i last posted.

its turning into something of a hectic weekend so it'll probably be tomorrow or monday before i have a chance to get up to date.

30something

Robin, a fundamentally simple "action" poker question....

You are average chips in a reasonable buy-in MTT (on-line or live - assume no reads). 500 entries, top 50 paid.

2 tables left. You have A3 off mid position, all fold to you. Full table. The stacks behind you are also average. Average stack is 15 BBs. Call, raise or Fold?

30something

bump

LuckyLloyd

This post has been deleted.

robinlacey

sorry for the delay all,saturday night lasted until monday evening,i've a few things to do and then i'll try and get back to the questions later on today.

robinlacey

Daithio wrote:

I find four tet very good for playing poker but I'd rarely listen to it otherwise. Any music with lyrics is a bit of a distraction for me. Rounds is a much better album than Pause.

I don't really have a huge amount to ask which is poker related, most things have been covered pretty comprehensively, but I'd be interested to know where you've travelled to over the past few years and your thoughts on the different places.

i've only really travelled in europe and a little bit in california/nevada,so nothing too exotic.

in europe my favourite cities are amsterdam,venice and paris,the three most beautiful cities i've been to,and i've really enjoyed my time in madrid,berlin,prague and barcelona.

i really liked san francisco too,l.a i was intrigued by,i was only there for a few days but it was a really strange place,i'd like to go back there for a while to see what the story is with it,i get the impression it would take a while to get to know the place.

Also I really think you should learn how to play omaha properly. IMO there is a huge amount more value in the omaha cash games than hold em, and if you find you're getting a little bored of poker it will give you a bit more motivation to play I'd imagine.

yeah i really should,i haven't really been focused enough on putting in the hours at all this year so i need to prioritise my holdem cash game and also play some tournaments before the world series,but i was thinking of trying to play it one day a week for a while when i get back from america.

robinlacey

Hawk Eye wrote:

Good thread robin,
I remember watching you on party 2 months or so ago and you were 10-tabling a mixture of 5/10 ad 10/20.
Were you prone to making mistakes playing so many tables, timing out etc?

With so many tables open did you ever grow frustated and have any problems with tilt? I consider myself a good multi tasker but that would be one of my worries with 8+ tabling, you can really take huge chunks off your bankroll if your playing bad.

Did you use scripts and PAhud?

i think when i am playing well i can play on 10 tables without losing too much focus,especially on party where there are a lot of mediocre regulars playing those games.

however the time you are referring to on party a few months ago was the start of my bad run,and i remember i was playing quite badly at the time.
it wasn't exactly tilt,but there were a few tilty hands and in general i was playing too loose and not concentrating enough.

i went back over some of the biggest losing hands from that time just after,and while there were a lot of bad beats,i was definitely not playing as well as i should have been,and i was very annoyed at myself.

i was using PAHUD,but i never got around to sorting out those script things,since i'm rubbish at computers.

Which is more important to you, playing a load of tables with a TAG image and earning a lot of $'s over the short term or really concentrating on playing 3-4 tables and improving/analysing your play but taking a hit in terms of money but by taking the latter option will probably be more benefical in the long term in terms of moving up?

i kind of go through different phases of this,sometimes i love the idea of being a CTS style grinder and playing loads of hands of solid poker and raking it in,other times i prefer just to focus on a few tables.

when i am running and playing well i will often take shots at higher stakes and play 1-3 tables and really focus on everything,and this is probably when i enjoy poker most (other than playing live).if i'm not running or playing as well i will often just try and play as many hands as possible instead,with mixed results.

robinlacey

rounders123 wrote:

Hello Robin

1.) Generally against one random player or player that’s not terrible anyway. On the river with a weak hand in a smallish size pot do you avoid betting especially oop to take it down being fairly sure your opponent has a similarly weak but much stronger hand than yours because there is a flush draw on the board(2 to a suit on the flop) for fear he thinks the missed flush will give him more reason to call?. Basically are you weary of taking someone off a weakfish to middling hand because of the missed draw on the board?.

i don't really think its possible to generalize about those sort of situations,i place a lot of importance on the rhythm of the table and the hands i have
played against my opponents in the last while,as well as their general tendancies.

however,against an unknown,i would be less inclined to bet the river in a smallish pot as a bluff because people love to call when its cheap,so its probably not a great spot.

2.) Conversely on the same board above lets say you have top set or any hand you know your ahead on the river, you have him on a half decent hand but not a draw. How often do over bet to make it look like you missed your draw or do you mostly prefer to extract an amount you feel he will surely call?. How much does the draw come into your thinking of you bet size?.

i will rarely overbet with a made hand on the river,since most people at this
stage have realise that an overbet is almost the nuts.i might well bet the full
pot though,something i don't do that often on the river,if i think it wil look
like a missed draw.obviously there are times when the way the table has been
going leads me to overbet,weak lead,or whatever,but it wouldn't be my default play by a long shot.

3.) On the same board with top set and your sure he has a missed his draw but maybe he had a pair with his draw do you prefer to try to extract a small bet he may call or how often do you check to let him bluff?. Do you worry when he checks behind and when all the players see the showdown your trappiness is exposed and you might not get bluffed by someone in subsequent hands?.

i generally don't worry too much about players noticing stuff like this,i don't think many of them are paying attention or even care. (live is different however,this sort of thing would be far more of a concern.)

there are a lot of times when the way the hand went i feel like my best chance of getting value on the river is to let him bluff,however unless i have a specific reason to think this,and know that he is capable of bluffing rivers,i will just bet.against regulars who would know me its more like live play,i really
have to bet to protect my three barrell bluffs,but i try to avoid playing against people who will notice that sort of stuff.the lower the stakes the less i worry about balancing my play,since obviously the players are worse and will
be less likely to know what to do with any information i let slip,even if they do notice.

4.) Do you find you get yourself into trouble in pots by overthinking or presuming your opponent is thinking what your trying to make him think by the way your betting or checking etc?.

yeah,it does happen,usually when i am running badly.

one of the most important things in poker is confidence,so when i am running badly i tend to overthink things and second guess myself,wheras when i am playing well its less of an effort to think things out and i am more likely to be correct,even without thinking about it as much.

5.) Whats one of the sickest good calls you’ve made in a cash game that comes to mind and explain how the hand went?.

here's one,in a fit of arrogance i posted it to another message board,so i'll post my explanation at the time after it.

Real Money Ring Game
Table Name Hand ID Game Stakes
V for Vendetta 10474609-85282 Holdem No Limit $10/$20
[Oct 5 21:25:59] : Hand Start.
[Oct 5 21:25:59] : Seat 1 : svindle has $3,691.50
[Oct 5 21:25:59] : Seat 3 : ray noble has $1,482
[Oct 5 21:25:59] : Seat 6 : thea03 has $1,669
[Oct 5 21:25:59] : thea03 is the dealer.
[Oct 5 21:26:00] : svindle posted small blind.
[Oct 5 21:26:00] : ray noble posted big blind.
[Oct 5 21:26:00] : Game [85282] started with 3 players.
[Oct 5 21:26:00] : Dealing Hole Cards.
[Oct 5 21:26:00] : Seat 3 : ray noble has 3d Kd
[Oct 5 21:26:02] : thea03 folded.
[Oct 5 21:26:14] : svindle called $10 and raised $40
[Oct 5 21:26:20] : ray noble called $40
[Oct 5 21:26:20] : Dealing flop.
[Oct 5 21:26:20] : Board cards [3h 9d Qc]
[Oct 5 21:26:25] : svindle bet $80
[Oct 5 21:26:26] : ray noble called $80
[Oct 5 21:26:27] : Dealing turn.
[Oct 5 21:26:27] : Board cards [3h 9d Qc 2c]
[Oct 5 21:26:29] : svindle checked.
[Oct 5 21:26:32] : ray noble bet $200
[Oct 5 21:26:46] : svindle called $200 and raised $1,300
[Oct 5 21:27:01] : It's your turn.
[Oct 5 21:27:01] : ray noble has 10 seconds to respond.
[Oct 5 21:27:06] : ray noble called $1,142 and is All-in
[Oct 5 21:27:06] : Showdown!
[Oct 5 21:27:06] : Seat 3 : ray noble has 3d Kd
[Oct 5 21:27:08] : Seat 1 : svindle has Jc Ts
[Oct 5 21:27:08] : Seat 3 : ray noble has 3d Kd
[Oct 5 21:27:12] : Board cards [3h 9d Qc 2c 4h]
[Oct 5 21:27:12] : Seat 1 : svindle has Jc Ts
[Oct 5 21:27:12] : svindle has High Card : Queen
[Oct 5 21:27:12] : Seat 3 : ray noble has 3d Kd
[Oct 5 21:27:12] : ray noble has Pair: 3s
[Oct 5 21:27:12] : ray noble wins $2,963 with Pair: 3s
[Oct 5 21:27:22] : Hand is over.

"as for the reasoning,i haven't really played any big hands against svindle in about 6 months,but i used to play him at 2/4 and i remember thinking he was a huge fish,really overagressive

then he dropped off my radar,and started reaappearing at 5/10 and 10/20
i presumed he'd won a tournament or something,but then there was a thread on erdnase's message board where several winning players at tribeca high stakes,clubber and sleester among them i think,said he was the toughest heads up/short handed opponent,which really surprised me...

since then i haven't played him much,he is always around but i've been at his table for a surpisingly small amount of time and never played any big pots with him...he wouldn't know much about me(my username has changed),but probably knows that i'm one of the more agressive players,and that i'm capable of floating flops in position...

so in this hand i called the flop because he c-bets most flops (i presume)and i have a pair which could imroved to two pair or a flush draw on the turn
when he checks the turn i bet hoping to take it down,he thinks for a while and pushes...

i couldn't really put him on a made hand that does this-if it was a very strong made hand,ie a set,its a bad way to get value,since he has no history of pushing me around,and if its a weakish hand whats the point,i'll only call if he's beat...

so basically i decided that a semi bluff with a draw was the most likely hand,since his bet looks like it wants a fold,and a flush draw hit on the turn,along with the flop straight draw...

it would actually be a very good semi bluffing situation against most players,since a turn check raise looks like a bet thats very hard to call without a strong hand

one thing that was interesting was that my equity against a draw was actually a bit better than i thought-i was a 70% favourite when the money went in,and i needed only 35% to call

i thought he'd have slightly better equity since he could hit an overcard or his straight,just goes to show how weak a draw on the turn is."

i also had a hand the other day where i raised with AK,got one caller in positon.

flop was J77,i bet,he raised,i reraised,he pushed and i called,my AK high won against his flush draw.

he went mental at me in the chat for about half an hour afterwards.

6.) Why do you think its so that peoples best months or hottest streaks are immediately followed by their worst month or coldest deck or vice versa?.

lol,i wish i knew!

i suppose sometimes when you've been running well and start to run badly,you can be playing badly for a while before you notice,if you've been playing and running well for ages you get overconfident and play arrogantly,then when things aren't going so well it takes you a while to adjust.in general i think in poker when you have to start adjusting to things and second guessing yourself its very bad news,its easy to overcompensate for things and once that starts happening its a slippery slope.also,varience is incredible,especially in the tougher games these days.

7.) You say you like an argument. Then do you watch HBO’s ‘Curb your Enthusiasm’ and what do you think of it?. If not I think you might like it…sample 1 sample2

yeah i absolutely love curb your enthusiasm.

robinlacey

rounders123 wrote:

Hello Robin

1.) Generally against one random player or player that’s not terrible anyway. On the river with a weak hand in a smallish size pot do you avoid betting especially oop to take it down being fairly sure your opponent has a similarly weak but much stronger hand than yours because there is a flush draw on the board(2 to a suit on the flop) for fear he thinks the missed flush will give him more reason to call?. Basically are you weary of taking someone off a weakfish to middling hand because of the missed draw on the board?.

i don't really think its possible to generalize about those sort of situations,i place a lot of importance on the rhythm of the table and the hands i have
played against my opponents in the last while,as well as their general tendancies.

however,against an unknown,i would be less inclined to bet the river in a smallish pot as a bluff because people love to call when its cheap,so its probably not a great spot.

2.) Conversely on the same board above lets say you have top set or any hand you know your ahead on the river, you have him on a half decent hand but not a draw. How often do over bet to make it look like you missed your draw or do you mostly prefer to extract an amount you feel he will surely call?. How much does the draw come into your thinking of you bet size?.

i will rarely overbet with a made hand on the river,since most people at this
stage have realise that an overbet is almost the nuts.i might well bet the full
pot though,something i don't do that often on the river,if i think it wil look
like a missed draw.obviously there are times when the way the table has been
going leads me to overbet,weak lead,or whatever,but it wouldn't be my default play by a long shot.

3.) On the same board with top set and your sure he has a missed his draw but maybe he had a pair with his draw do you prefer to try to extract a small bet he may call or how often do you check to let him bluff?. Do you worry when he checks behind and when all the players see the showdown your trappiness is exposed and you might not get bluffed by someone in subsequent hands?.

i generally don't worry too much about players noticing stuff like this,i don't think many of them are paying attention or even care. (live is different however,this sort of thing would be far more of a concern.)

there are a lot of times when the way the hand went i feel like my best chance of getting value on the river is to let him bluff,however unless i have a specific reason to think this,and know that he is capable of bluffing rivers,i will just bet.against regulars who would know me its more like live play,i really
have to bet to protect my three barrell bluffs,but i try to avoid playing against people who will notice that sort of stuff.the lower the stakes the less i worry about balancing my play,since obviously the players are worse and will
be less likely to know what to do with any information i let slip,even if they do notice.

4.) Do you find you get yourself into trouble in pots by overthinking or presuming your opponent is thinking what your trying to make him think by the way your betting or checking etc?.

yeah,it does happen,usually when i am running badly.

one of the most important things in poker is confidence,so when i am running badly i tend to overthink things and second guess myself,wheras when i am playing well its less of an effort to think things out and i am more likely to be correct,even without thinking about it as much.

5.) Whats one of the sickest good calls you’ve made in a cash game that comes to mind and explain how the hand went?.

here's one,in a fit of arrogance i posted it to another message board,so i'll post my explanation at the time after it.

Real Money Ring Game
Table Name Hand ID Game Stakes
V for Vendetta 10474609-85282 Holdem No Limit $10/$20
[Oct 5 21:25:59] : Hand Start.
[Oct 5 21:25:59] : Seat 1 : svindle has $3,691.50
[Oct 5 21:25:59] : Seat 3 : ray noble has $1,482
[Oct 5 21:25:59] : Seat 6 : thea03 has $1,669
[Oct 5 21:25:59] : thea03 is the dealer.
[Oct 5 21:26:00] : svindle posted small blind.
[Oct 5 21:26:00] : ray noble posted big blind.
[Oct 5 21:26:00] : Game [85282] started with 3 players.
[Oct 5 21:26:00] : Dealing Hole Cards.
[Oct 5 21:26:00] : Seat 3 : ray noble has 3d Kd
[Oct 5 21:26:02] : thea03 folded.
[Oct 5 21:26:14] : svindle called $10 and raised $40
[Oct 5 21:26:20] : ray noble called $40
[Oct 5 21:26:20] : Dealing flop.
[Oct 5 21:26:20] : Board cards [3h 9d Qc]
[Oct 5 21:26:25] : svindle bet $80
[Oct 5 21:26:26] : ray noble called $80
[Oct 5 21:26:27] : Dealing turn.
[Oct 5 21:26:27] : Board cards [3h 9d Qc 2c]
[Oct 5 21:26:29] : svindle checked.
[Oct 5 21:26:32] : ray noble bet $200
[Oct 5 21:26:46] : svindle called $200 and raised $1,300
[Oct 5 21:27:01] : It's your turn.
[Oct 5 21:27:01] : ray noble has 10 seconds to respond.
[Oct 5 21:27:06] : ray noble called $1,142 and is All-in
[Oct 5 21:27:06] : Showdown!
[Oct 5 21:27:06] : Seat 3 : ray noble has 3d Kd
[Oct 5 21:27:08] : Seat 1 : svindle has Jc Ts
[Oct 5 21:27:08] : Seat 3 : ray noble has 3d Kd
[Oct 5 21:27:12] : Board cards [3h 9d Qc 2c 4h]
[Oct 5 21:27:12] : Seat 1 : svindle has Jc Ts
[Oct 5 21:27:12] : svindle has High Card : Queen
[Oct 5 21:27:12] : Seat 3 : ray noble has 3d Kd
[Oct 5 21:27:12] : ray noble has Pair: 3s
[Oct 5 21:27:12] : ray noble wins $2,963 with Pair: 3s
[Oct 5 21:27:22] : Hand is over.

"as for the reasoning,i haven't really played any big hands against svindle in about 6 months,but i used to play him at 2/4 and i remember thinking he was a huge fish,really overagressive

then he dropped off my radar,and started reaappearing at 5/10 and 10/20
i presumed he'd won a tournament or something,but then there was a thread on erdnase's message board where several winning players at tribeca high stakes,clubber and sleester among them i think,said he was the toughest heads up/short handed opponent,which really surprised me...

since then i haven't played him much,he is always around but i've been at his table for a surpisingly small amount of time and never played any big pots with him...he wouldn't know much about me(my username has changed),but probably knows that i'm one of the more agressive players,and that i'm capable of floating flops in position...

so in this hand i called the flop because he c-bets most flops (i presume)and i have a pair which could imroved to two pair or a flush draw on the turn
when he checks the turn i bet hoping to take it down,he thinks for a while and pushes...

i couldn't really put him on a made hand that does this-if it was a very strong made hand,ie a set,its a bad way to get value,since he has no history of pushing me around,and if its a weakish hand whats the point,i'll only call if he's beat...

so basically i decided that a semi bluff with a draw was the most likely hand,since his bet looks like it wants a fold,and a flush draw hit on the turn,along with the flop straight draw...

it would actually be a very good semi bluffing situation against most players,since a turn check raise looks like a bet thats very hard to call without a strong hand

one thing that was interesting was that my equity against a draw was actually a bit better than i thought-i was a 70% favourite when the money went in,and i needed only 35% to call

i thought he'd have slightly better equity since he could hit an overcard or his straight,just goes to show how weak a draw on the turn is."




i also had a hand the other day where i raised with AK,got one caller in positon.

flop was J77,i bet,he raised,i reraised,he pushed and i called,my AK high won against his flush draw.

he went mental at me in the chat for about half an hour afterwards.

6.) Why do you think its so that peoples best months or hottest streaks are immediately followed by their worst month or coldest deck or vice versa?.

lol,i wish i knew!

i suppose sometimes when you've been running well and start to run badly,you can be playing badly for a while before you notice,if you've been playing and running well for ages you get overconfident and play arrogantly,then when things aren't going so well it takes you a while to adjust.in general i think in poker when you have to start adjusting to things and second guessing yourself its very bad news,its easy to overcompensate for things and once that starts happening its a slippery slope.also,varience is incredible,especially in the tougher games these days.

7.) You say you like an argument. Then do you watch HBO’s ‘Curb your Enthusiasm’ and what do you think of it?. If not I think you might like it…sample 1 sample2

yeah i absolutely love curb your enthusiasm.

i love larry david and often think he is right,i don't really act like him most of the time but i do sympathise with him.

i also love jeff,i wish i had a friend like him,i love the way he doesn't hesitate to throw his considerable weight behind whatever nonsense larry is going on about without giving it so much as a moments though.

cheryl is a great character too,the show almost makes you feel like you're married to her,since sometimes you just wish she'd stop wrecking larry's head,and other times you really appreiciate the way she puts up with him.

overall its just such a good show,there's a lot of that sort of akward humour shows around now and most of them are good but curb your entusiasm is probably my favourite,since at root i think its actually a much warmer,more human show than all the others (except the office),some of the others i really like and find funny but they're so unrelentingly cynical and nasty that its gets to be a bit much at times.

i watched the episode with shaq the other day where larry trips him up and for a few wonderful hours everything works out for him,that scene where he's buying them all coffee to celebrate is beautiful,its like the tv equivalent of "it was a good day" by ice cube

robinlacey

opr wrote:

Hey Robin ,

Just a few from me.

Who do you consider to be the best players you have played with in the 10/20 games on the old Tribeca network and currently on some of the networks where you have played at the 10/20 game with them ?

on the old tribeca 10/20 games there were only a few players who really gave me problems,though there were other regulars who i'd prefer to avoid if possible.

from what i remember,the best players were sealey,tommyboy,twotimer (both limit players as far as i know but very good at nl) and letsgamble.sleester was also good but quite erratic.clubber was way overrated,but i never played with him much during the time he was absolutely destroying it so maybe he was just running bad when i played him.

Do you think poker brings a sense of isolation when you start playing it as a profession ? I mean this in the sense that online poker can be lonely and often induce a sense of cabin fever when playing intensely for many hours on end.
Do you experience this and if so how do you deal with it ?

that doesn't really bother me to be honest,i am lucky to have a large group of friends, a lot of whom also play poker,so there is always someone to hang around with after i finish playing.

also,in a lot of ways i am quite introverted and i definitely enjoy spending time on my own,so it suits me,i love just playing for hours listening to music and really getting into it.the only time it seems a bit lonely is when you are running bad and your heart isn't really in it,but i'm going through my worst ever run at the minute and i am still hugely grateful every day for what a great job it is,and the freedom it gives me.

Do you think playing poker has warped your value for money ?

definitely yes,i spend way too much money and find it hard to resist things that "only" cost a few big blinds,even though that might be a lot of money in real life.

You seem to put a huge amount of emphasis of concentration , i think this is one of the worst parts of my game. Do you have any ways of improving this ?

i've been having problems with it recently as well,the trouble is its easy enough to know what to do (not play while tired,take regular breaks,eat well,get other stuff over and done with before you start playing,stop playing if it doesn't start off well,etc) but its actually following through with it thats the difficult part.in the past i have occassionally written little notes to put on my desk/wall reminding me of this sort of stuff,with mixed results,it usually helps for a little while at least.

If you could have dinner with anyone in the world alive or living , who would it be ?

i think it would have to be orson welles,he seems to have been ridiculously knowledgeable about a huge variety of things,and i could listen to his voice all day long anyway.check him out here being interviewed by parkinson in the seventies
http://tinyurl.com/2p42ay

As everyone else has said thanks so much for doing this i have taken alot from some of your answers.

Opr

no worries,glad people seem to be enjoying it

robinlacey

Blip wrote:

I’ve heard said by other poker pros that when running badly (as badly as you describe above) that dropping to lower levels is obviously the correct thing to do, but to also continue playing the same amount of tables and the same amount of hours, this way “variance will even out at a quicker pace”

Would you give any merit to this idea?

When choosing tables to play what’s your preferred seat numbers?

And yeah, Fantastic Interview, cheers.

yeah i definitely agree with that,its just that its easier said than done,its hard to play well and grind out loads of hands at lower stakes after a bad run,or at least thats what i've always found.

as for the second question,do you mean do i prefer six or nine max?

if so,i play six max as my standard,but i like playing nine handed a lot more than most six max players,sometimes i almost think i prefer it,since at six max everyone knows they're meant to be playing aggressively,wheras at full ring games i think you can get away with pushing people around a bit more.

robinlacey

smurph wrote:

Great read Robin,

Only a few questions if barely questions

(a) Do you find it difficult adjusting to Live Tournament play from Online play, considering you are playing 8-10 tables at once online and only one table live (although Lloyd and PPPSpecial have been known to play 2 tables live, instead of going to the gym:D ).

that's not really an issue for me (although i find it very hard to play lower stakes live,i just get bored) since i play live games totally differently to online.

i love the chance to play deepstacked,and i love when i'm playing live the feeling that if i focus i could win all the money on the table (obviously not quite,but you know what i mean)

live its so much easier to follow exactly whats going on,and you can build up an idea of how someone plays much quicker,often all it takes is one showdown.you can exploit your image a lot more live,since online you might make a huge play but the guy its against is playing nine tables so he doesn't even notice.live you know that people are paying attention and you can get a much better idea of how the perceive you,so you can do a lot more.this combined with the deeper stacks means that i often play nearly every hand when i play live,at least after i've been at the table a few hours.

(b) When you feel you have beaten a level online, do you get the urge to move up in stakes and have you set a ceiling, or will Bankroll dictate that.

i talked a bit about how i view my bankroll upthread,but basically i try and play as high as possible when i am playing well,although always within my ban kroll,since i feel with good game selection i could beat most stakes.the trouble arises when i'm not playing well or when i play a level for a while and stop paying as much attention to game selection.when you've been beating a level for a while its easy to become complacent and think that winning is a formality,wheras the reality is that its far from it,and there are probably even midstakes games that i don't have an edge in,since there are so many tight regulars these days.

(c) What do you think of the series "Rescue Me". I think it's great, not as brillant as "The Wire". HBO do have some seriously good programmes. They had a brillant one a few years ago called "Six Feet Under" which had a theme soundtrack aswell You can check it out on the following Link and click on the bottom left www.hbo.com/sixfeetunder/credits/index.shtml

nice one,i've never heard of rescue me,but i'll have a look,i need my fix of good tv now that the wire is over for the next while!

as for six feet under,i've been meaning to give it a try,but a few people i've talked to have had a problem with it which kind of put me off...i've been mean ing to get the first series and see what the story is with it for a while now,its just a question of getting around to it.

robinlacey

robinlacey wrote:

that's not really an issue for me (although i find it very hard to play lower stakes live,i just get bored) since i play live games totally differently to online.

i love the chance to play deepstacked,and i love when i'm playing live the feeling that if i focus i could win all the money on the table (obviously not quite,but you know what i mean)

live its so much easier to follow exactly whats going on,and you can build up an idea of how someone plays much quicker,often all it takes is one showdown.you can exploit your image a lot more live,since online you might make a huge play but the guy its against is playing nine tables so he doesn't even notice.live you know that people are paying attention and you can get a much better idea of how the perceive you,so you can do a lot more.this combined with the deeper stacks means that i often play nearly every hand when i play live,at least after i've been at the table a few hours.

oops,just noticed that the question was actually about live tournament play,i was just talking about cash.

with live tournaments,i couldn't play them all the time,or at least i couldn't play small ones,but i do enjoy playing $1k+ buyin events fairly regularly,since the chance of a big score is always a laugh,plus there will be good cash games afterwards.i just try and focus on how everyone is playing as much as i can and look for opportunities to make something happen,it can be a bit tedious when you are getting no hands for ages but i don't mind too much.i couldn't grind out loads of live mtts though,it'd drive me crazy.

robinlacey

semibluff wrote:

Robin -
How long a session do you play - ie 3*2hrs??
or would you quit a session early if you were getting terrible beats? feeling yourself on tilt (although you say you rarely do this,
or if you were running extrememly well - would you quit whilst you were ahead?? (ie if you were playing your biggest game - 4 tables on 10-20 and you trippled each buy in after one hour , would you leave or stay because your "running so well", and in turn risk your massive profits?!?

Sticking to a set routine is my own major problem and often i find i have won more than i expect in the whole day in one or two hours and think to myself i should quit for the day. But realistically i cant leave the "weak" tables im on, and recently through either bad variance/playing until im too tired(lack of concentration/ or until the guy who i thought was a "maniac" tightens up i seem to be losing enough money that in my mind im not happy with the few hundred dollar profit anymore considering what i was up.
I know this is mental - and hate thinking any mental error of my own is holding me back. thanks in advance (bit waffly but hope you get what i was trying to say)

i tend to play quite long sessions when i do play,although when i am running badly i often play for a few hours and don't feel like continuing,or feel that i might start second guessing myself or playing too loosely if i continue.

basically you should play for as long as you can if the games is good and you are confident you can continue to play well,regardless of whether you are running good or bad.

i certainly wouldn't stay "because i'm running well",but if i am running well i am often playing well too,which is a reason to stay.

Ste05

Antonius, Aba, Durrr, Ivey?? Who do you think is currently the best on-line NLH player in the world. Your completely subjective opinion is fine.

robinlacey

FungiWalsh wrote:

Great read, Robin. Just going to pipe up and say how brilliant your posts on Coltrane are - I'm a huge fan. It's not often that I see Aphex Twin's Selected Ambient Works Vol. 2 on a Top 10 albums list aswell, but it's one of my all-time favourites, as is MBV's Loveless. Perhaps you should check out "We Made It For You" by The Boats - it's quite similar to Aphex's piano-based stuff, but overlayed with a very sparse, minimalist element of electronica.

nice one,i'll check it out.never heard of it but it sounds like my sort of thing.

As for poker, I noticed you say that you started off playing Sit-n-Gos, which is what I'm doing at the moment, just to make a few euros on the side. I used to play .50/1 and 1/2 cash games on Stars, but I stopped a few months ago after getting 2-outered a ridiculous amount of times, and still haven't gone back. I plan on starting a bankroll-building challenge for myself soon, by lodging something around $500 to an account, get a good rakeback deal, and grinding my way up. Not to make a load of money for myself (won't be expecting to, at the stakes I'll have to start at, but just to improve my cash game play, as I've been concentrating far too much on tournaments. What level, bankroll, and site do you recommend I should start at?

well first of all,you're right to have decided to go back to cash,its far more profitable and interesting.

if you've got $500,i suppose you should start playing $.10/20,and move up to .25/50 when you hit $1500,and from then on only move up when you have at least 30 buyins and decent number of hands played at the previous level.get pokertracker and post hands here or to the twoplustwo ssnl forum.

as for what site to play on,the main thing is to avoid full tilt and stars,the games seem much tougher there.this might not matter at the lowest stakes,but once you get up to midstakes you don't want to be stuck on those sites at all.

if you are looking for one site to make your main site for the forseeable future,then i would recommend green joker,simply because its great playing on a site with helpful and competent management who know about poker.all other sites i've played on have had terrible customer service,wheras i have always found mike to be extremely helpful,contactable,and a nice guy,all of which is invaluable when you are used to playing on sites based on an island you've never heard of who take two weeks to answer an email.

robinlacey

The Tourist wrote:

Hi Robin,
Great posts. Could you expand on this point? Ie what would be your advice for someone who plays 0.5/1 and 1/2 cash online and who wants to try playing live cash around dublin more often?
Cheers.

well basically i mentioned a bit about my live play a few posts up,but the thing is that live players are so much worse than online its hard to believe.i've played $10/20 live games that play like .50/1 online games,theres just a different type of live fish to online.this combined with the fact that the games are much deeper stacked means you can play a lot more hands.the live players are just so easy to read (im not talking about physical tells here,i don't really know anything about those so i just usually ignore them) its just that its so easy to figure out how someone is playing.

having said that,i wouldn't recommend just jumping into a game and playing every hand.if you are beating .50/1 and 1/2 online then you will have no trouble hacking up the fitz game,though it might take you a while to get used to the pace,and probably won't be as profitable as online since its 30hands/hour rather than the few hundred you get in while multitabling.

once you have played a bit you will see what i mean about how you can play more hands,this is only really after a few hours when stacks are deep.

that's probably a little vague,if it doesn't make sense to you let me know and i'll try and expand on it.

robinlacey

30something wrote:

Robin, a fundamentally simple "action" poker question....

You are average chips in a reasonable buy-in MTT (on-line or live - assume no reads). 500 entries, top 50 paid.

2 tables left. You have A3 off mid position, all fold to you. Full table. The stacks behind you are also average. Average stack is 15 BBs. Call, raise or Fold?

it really depends so much on the rhythm of the table that i can't really give an answer.the one thing i will say is that i would never,ever call under any circumstances.

i'd probably be folding more often than raising,but as i said it depends on how the table has been playing,and how i have been playing.

robinlacey

Ste05 wrote:

Antonius, Aba, Durrr, Ivey?? Who do you think is currently the best on-line NLH player in the world. Your completely subjective opinion is fine.

to be honest i don't really follow the games enough to say,i skim the NVG threads and watch the odd time but that's about it.

having said that,i am always amazed at the extent to which antonius destroys any game he plays in.for specifically NLHE,i wouldn't say there's much between any of the players you mention.

nicnicnic

Watched the first two episodes of season 1 of the wire, looks extremely good thanks for the heads up

califano

UnLuckyLloyd wrote:

Robin Lacey has kindly agreed to do a well session (via PM).

Robin i think i speak for everyone when i ask if you would post Lloyd's 'pm' request for you to do this in the well?. Its just that he speaks so well and we want to read it.

With the consent of Lloyd of course?.



btw very good reading.