October 2010 Monthly Digest

October 2010 Monthy Digest
The October newsletter has been sent out - but here is a text version to view at Cardschat.

Thread Contribution of the Month

Egon Towst (http://www.cardschat.com/members/egon-towst/)
The TowstMaster"

Of England
Member since June 2006

Egon Towst has made some great contributions over the years for tournament players and this is another one from him!


Check out the threads here:

September Thread Contribution of the Month Thread (Thread) (http://www.cardschat.com/f6/september-thread-contribution-month-thread-thread-184663/)

Tournament Tactics - Float Play (Long)

Honorable Mentions Go To:

c9h13no3 (http://www.cardschat.com/members/c9h13no3/), WVHillbilly (http://www.cardschat.com/members/wvhillbilly/):

$4 NLHE 6-max: Lets play a small pot against a smack-tard. (http://www.cardschat.com/f50/4-nlhe-6-max-lets-play-183447/)


Suited Frenzy (http://www.cardschat.com/members/suited-frenzy/), WVHillbilly (http://www.cardschat.com/members/wvhillbilly/), baudib1 (http://www.cardschat.com/members/baudib1/), vanquish (http://www.cardschat.com/members/vanquish/), S93 (http://www.cardschat.com/members/s93/), LuckyChippy (http://www.cardschat.com/members/luckychippy/), BelgoSuisse (http://www.cardschat.com/members/belgosuisse/):
$50 NLHEFull Ring: Pkt Q's in SB - UTG 4x the BB raise from 452BB stack & a flat in M (http://www.cardschat.com/f50/50-nlhefull-ring-pkt-qs-sb-183934/)

cjatud2012 (http://www.cardschat.com/members/cjatud2012/), zerosum79 (http://www.cardschat.com/members/zerosum79/) and others:

$2.25 NLHE STT Turbo: bvb on bubble (http://www.cardschat.com/f51/2-25-nlhe-stt-turbo-bvb-183960/)

Other threads worth checking out that you may have missed:

***September SNG Thread***
*** September Cash Thread ***

There are also some great video sticky threads here:

Instructional Videos subforum (http://www.cardschat.com/f53/) including this one:

GiantBuddha's Hand of the Week - Free Poker Videos (http://www.cardschat.com/f53/giantbuddhas-hand-week-free-poker-videos-182809/)

Cardschat News and Updates:

Upcoming Events:

Calendar (http://www.cardschat.com/calendar.php)

The CCCoHE returns in October! Cardschat Championship of Holdem 2010 (http://www.cardschat.com/f43/cardschat-championship-holdem-2010-a-184404/)

Also the Fall League has just begun. To find out more about the Cardschat League check here:

Cardschat League Structure and Rules - Fall Session (http://www.cardschat.com/f39/cardschat-league-structure-rules-fall-session-184581/)


Last Month's Big Winners:

Outplayed so many of the best! (http://www.cardschat.com/f46/outplayed-so-many-best-182601/) (bonflizubi)
Took down the Pokerstars (http://www.cardschat.com/f46/took-down-pokerstars-55-nightly-70k-182923/) $55 Nightly 70k Gtd for over $14k! (jmasterrich) KC WINS 35K gtd (http://www.cardschat.com/f46/kc-wins-35k-gtd-182964/) (KingCurtis)
KC MINI FTOP #33 (http://www.cardschat.com/f42/kc-mini-ftop-33-a-183637/) (KingCurtis)

Site Updates:

Strategy Articles - updated!

Check out the Revised Strategy Articles! (http://www.cardschat.com/f6/check-out-revised-strategy-articles-182998/)

Strategy Articles

We are pleased to announce that DragTheBar is now a sponosr for the Learning Poker forum:

DragTheBar Added as Forum Sponsor for Learning Poker (http://www.cardschat.com/f6/dragthebar-added-forum-sponsor-learning-poker-184996/)

Member News:

Most fun Challenge:

Calling For... Any CC "Big Boy" (http://www.cardschat.com/f46/calling-any-cc-big-boy-182505/)

Adventures:

New York City (http://www.cardschat.com/f4/new-york-city-183421/) - belladonna
Away for summer holiday (http://www.cardschat.com/f4/away-summer-holiday-182648/) - grafkarow

Coming Home:

One of my last posts from Iraq! (http://www.cardschat.com/f4/one-my-last-posts-iraq-183222/) - weregoat

Strategy Article:

"Floating" - DragTheBar

Floating is where you call a bet in position with little to no equity, with the intention of bluffing a later street. It can be a very powerful weapon in your arsenal, especially when you use it against players who are not accustomed to defending against it. That's why it can be a great tool against regulars in the smaller stakes games, opponents who are playing too many tables, or anyone else who is too quick to give up either on their hand, or on their bluff. So how do you identify opponents who are good candidates to float? There are a few different things to look for.

The first thing I pay attention to are opponents who fire lots and lots of continuation bets, but then don't fire the turn very often. This means they are making the mistake of giving an opponent's call too much credit and are not following through on bluffs with a second barrel. So when they bet the flop and check the turn, they are usually just giving up, in which case they are handing you a hugely profitable bluffing opportunity. Guys like this are just setting themselves up to be exploited, because they obviously won't have a hand every time they c-bet, and when they aren't aggressive enough to be double barreling often, they are ripe to be exploited with well-timed floats.

Using stats is another great way to identify good opponents to float. Look at their continuation bet percentage of course, but more important is their 2-barrelling number, called the "Turn C-Bet" in PokerTracker3 and Hold'em Manager. If the c-bet number is high and the turn c-bet number is very low, or if there's just a huge spread between the two, then this opponent is probably someone who you should be looking to float. You can also look at the street by street aggression numbers, a high flop aggression stat and much lower turn aggression stat can be indicative as well. The went-to-showdown is also a great stat that should be used alongside the others. The lower it is, usually the easier it is to bluff that person. Someone with a very high wtsd might have a high flop aggression and low turn aggression, but the high WTSD will mean they just get really passive and won't fold any piece or any draw. However, a low WTSD strongly suggests that they are easy to move off of a hand like second pair, or even top pair, no kicker. These guys who are timid about going to showdown are excellent candidates to float.

Lastly, be sure to take into account the dynamic and your image. Have you been really tight this session, or looser than normal? If you've been playing tight, then even solid opponents will give you more credit than usual, and your bluffs should work a higher percentage of the time. The opposite is true if you've been much looser or are on a run of good cards with not many showdowns. The more active you are, usually the harder it is to pull off a float without needing to fire both the turn and the river. The same goes for your opponents. If someone has been very active, float them more because they just can't have a hand to continue with every time. If they've been tight this session, I'd be less interested in trying to float them or make any moves on them, simply because they figure to have a stronger range than normal.

Hopefully this helps you guys in identifying ways to exploit certain opponents with well-timed floats, check out my video on floating at DragTheBar. There are more videos to come on the subject as well.

Discuss this topic here at Cardschat:


Floating - Hunter Bick of DragTheBar (http://www.cardschat.com/f53/floating-hunter-bick-dragthebar-184922/)

This looks really good, nice job!
It is nice to have something in a "Coming Home" section.

Must have been a great month since my name is everywhere this month.

Still no mention of marginal though. I'm sure he'll be .

Seeing the challenge thread reminds me though, wtf happened to madtom???

He is lurking, I see him on msn and he makes a couple posts here and there, I distinctly remember seeing him make one the other day and lol'ing he is still sporting that avatar.

Who knows...

Ahhh there's my little crying boy. How you doing?

Lol not bad, not bad... Went busto a few weeks back, went on absolute monkey tilt after failing a shot at 100NL, played 50NL HU for about 12 hours straight, lost over 1k, took out the other 1k and went to the casino to play £1/£2 (=$1.5/3 roughly) and spewed all that... My Dad BR'd me again for 50NL though, so I'm back in business, just today actually And how are you?

I'm good. Sorry to hear about your monkey tilt .... after the fact. Next time you want to throw money away PM me!

c9! c9! c9!


WVH! WVH! WVH!