Jan 03 pt01

I was playing at $0.50 for the most majority of December, broke even in the end discounting bonuses and rakeback. I logged not that many hands, wasn't playing great either. So after a few days of intense poker book/video drills, I started my new year with serious determination from $0.25. This really is my limit to start for my BR.

Anyway, to hands. I've played tonnes of hands today. But in PT, it's only 48H in ET time.

Failed move on a TAG

I made a move on a 18/10 TAG. I min raised villain's flop C bet, he min ReRaise (RR) on top of me. Normally, I would just fold. But I felt like making a bit of play, so I called. Turn is Q, I knew I should fold. This is not a result oriented saying, but his range has AJ+, KJ+, JJ+ so often that I'm beat if he's continuing with his hand. I think I'm 80% beat here. But I felt like paying my learning fees, so I bet, got called. River is blank, villain went ALL IN almost instantly, damn I'm 99% beat, and to make the story complete, I made the 1BI down call to see flopped set of Jacks. As you can see, I timed twice in the hand. LESSON: TAG min RR me, FOLD, he has a BIG HAND!

Marginal call with 88

It's straight foward. I must say I was slightly off my A game, felt like calling more often than I should. This is not a big leak, but it's definitely a -EV call. Villain has a pair better 88 over 50% times. In retrospect, I should have fired the flop when the raiser checks. This is a +EV play. It's 3 way, the original raiser's check shows weakness, I have position on the BB. BB folds if he doesn't have A, and he calls with pocket pairs far more often than big Aces (AJ, AQ, most likely). I think I can take down the pot more than 2/3 of times by firing at the flop.

Similar 3 way but a drawy board

I decided to check. Though I really should fire maybe %50 time since I have overs (Os) + Gut Shot Straight Draw (GSSD). But I think it's small leak not to fire at the turn. I don't really know honestly. But for the purpose of maintaining aggression, it's a good play.

There a few small pots I lost, mainly C-bets got raised or times I didn't C-bet. In the former case, villain either had a real hand or was making a play on me. I notice the TAG regulars are definitely more likely to raise my CB. The fishes would just call with a hand. I suppressed my curiosity and let it go. In the latter case, now I think I should just keep on firing. So far, my C-bets (CBs) have taken pots nearly 10 out of 10. I don't see why I should tune it down. I should just keep doing what works.

Another point, I found playing solid Tight Aggressive (TAG) game is sufficient for $0.25. There were occasions I made fancy plays. I got burnt most times. The players are just playing their cards. Their reads on opponents are minimal. So concepts like changing gears, table image, multi-level thinking, bluffing frequency... are totally unnecessary luxuries that actually decrease your win rate.