Enty reviews losing hands at 25nl

And I go over my stats for the last ~2 months.
Less interesting hands than I anticipated but that's probably because I didn't go over them earlier to see where the interesting ones were .

Let me know what you think as always and sorry for cutting it short, I didn't have too much time yesterday.

[broken link~tb]

hi
downloading

d/ling...

For the record: 100MB only took me 9 minutes to D/L on a 6MB DSL connection. Nice!

enty, do u think thru some of ur hands? cause a lot of these hands look like lapses in concentration

pantin007 said:

enty, do u think thru some of ur hands? cause a lot of these hands look like lapses in concentration

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Yeah I don't really know how to explain. I go crazy sometimes, barreling like i'm grasping at straws.

I don't know what to do..

eNTy said:

Yeah I don't really know how to explain. I go crazy sometimes, barreling like i'm grasping at straws.

I don't know what to do..

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well a few times when ur in a sess, ur talking on msn and browsing cardschat and doing whatever. cut that out. focus on the table and only the table. u could also probably try playing less tables?

pantin007 said:

well a few times when ur in a sess, ur talking on msn and browsing cardschat and doing whatever. cut that out. focus on the table and only the table. u could also probably try playing less tables?

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True, but not always. And it probably helps playing less, but I still make retarded moves 6-8 tabling so there must be something else .

I don't know if this actually true, but I feel like I play more crazy when playing less -> bored ?

Excellent video, Enty. Going over your thought processes and looking at your stats is very beneficial to viewers, imo. It certainly made me want to open up HEM and analyze my big losses -- see if I could have played it better or if I was destined to lose. I wish some other players would do similar videos.

DLing now.

the AQ v AK hand where you open early and get 3b from the blind. I dont mind flatting here as long as you know who youre playing against. In this situation I'm going to be c-betting most flops to push out the mid - high pairs. If he does play back at you on a board where youve hit an A or a Q then you should be probably just be looking to use your position to control the pot size.

"always leave yourself enough to buy a cheeseburger" hahahaha yes.

the QQ v TT hand in the blinds - I would be cbetting a little bit more than 1 (half pot) on the flop just because i know hands like 89s - JQs are going to be part of his range here. IMO id be betting about 1.5 (3/4 pot) but it wouldnt matter in this cooler. I probably would have 3 bet that turn as well w/ flush and straight draws out there.

i dont like shipping the Ts from the blinds against the bigstack limper. there are just too many hands he could have that have you crushed. IMO youre raising that hand pre to at least get the SB out of the picture and maybe just take it down there.

anyways just some thoughts, surprised i havent run across you on FT, hoped some of my feedback helped.

Thx cjay, I'm gonna go back and look at those hands so I can respond to what you're saying, can't right now cause I'm playing.

I just moved to full tilt this week so that's probably why you haven't seen me..

ok so decided to watch some of this, seeing as i think it will be interesting to get inside the head of enty and see the rationale for some of the plays.

AJ hand - hahahahaha, vintage enty. Just c/f this flop. Very coordinated board and hits cold calling range pretty hard. I loved the $6 bluff shove into a $50 pot at the end.
KK hand - obv don't flat pre, and when you do you should only flat flop. If he is bluffing (hard to on this flop) you are better off c/cing and you simply cannot get it in good here. Looks like a case of "OMG HOW COULD AN A COME ON THE FLOP WHEN I HAVE KK OH WELL I HAVE THE NUTFLUSH DRAW" Raising does absolutely nothing and is almost exactly the same as getting 23s in on a AKQss board (seems alot worse now, doesn't it)
AQ-Depends on villain's 3B%, but at 6max 25nl when villain 3Bs an early open from sb you should be able to fold AQ to the typical player. And if you DO call AQ, you should proceed with caution on an A high flop. A line like check behind flop, c/c turn, c/c river (or vbet if villain checks) is probably better, when much of villain's range is tptk or an under pair (which wouldn't play this way).
Ended on the AK hand (10mins, might watch rest later): I actually like the way you played this. Flatting the flop isn't terrible as it allows him to keep bluffing, raising turn is good, and given the type of player that villain seems to be (and how the board turned out) calling the river donk is fine.

May watch in a few days, but just a note: use blip.tv for videos please!!! It's streaming so you'll get a million more views and replies.

Btw enty, the most important thing i noted just from the few minutes i watched was that you could not justify your play/line in many (or maybe all) cases. This should indicate to you that your mindset/emotional state is vastly different when you play poker and when you are outside of a session and analysing your hands. When you are analysing hands you are thinking rationally; however, when you are playing poker it is likely that your emotions are getting the best of you and what i like to call "subtle tilt" is creeping in and causing you to make poor, frustration-based decisions. Hence the reason that you cannot justify your plays, as you are no longer thinking on the same wavelength.

I've said this to you several times, but the most important thing you can do is to work on your emotional state/tilt control while playing so as to make rational decisions and to see situations for what they are, rather than AHHHHHHHHHHHHH **** THIS I'M GOING TO BLUFF YOU OFF OF A SET

ChuckTs said:

May watch in a few days, but just a note: use blip.tv for videos please!!! It's streaming so you'll get a million more views and replies.

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I'll do that but I'm not a huge fan of streaming myself. I like to download and being able to rewatch most videos.

feitr said:

When you are analysing hands you are thinking rationally; however, when you are playing poker it is likely that your emotions are getting the best of you and what i like to call "subtle tilt" is creeping in and causing you to make poor, frustration-based decisions.

I've said this to you several times, but the most important thing you can do is to work on your emotional state/tilt control while playing so as to make rational decisions and to see situations for what they are, rather than AHHHHHHHHHHHHH **** THIS I'M GOING TO BLUFF YOU OFF OF A SET

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This is basically spot on. I feel subtle tilt quite a bit during sessions imo.
Not an easy thing to work on though .

eNTy said:

I feel subtle tilt quite a bit during sessions imo.
Not an easy thing to work on though .

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Ya, ofc. It was without a doubt the hardest thing i ever had to work on and it took me several months to "beat it"; however, it was without a doubt the most significant catalyst to my game and IMO has had the greatest impact on my winrate.

It is THAT important, that it should be your primary goal in improving your poker game. It all comes down to discipline - do you want to give in to your frustration and make stupid/tilty plays or do you want to start winning serious money at poker? I, for one, would rather show some discipline, suck up my ego/emotions, and win money by making correct decisions.

Any tips/stuff you did while fixing it ?
I think chuck has done some work in that regard as well.

Or is just all about coming up with the will power to not let yourself go?
(BTW: the hulk sucks at tilt control )

eNTy said:

Any tips/stuff you did while fixing it ?
I think chuck has done some work in that regard as well.

Or is just all about coming up with the will power to not let yourself go?
(BTW: the hulk sucks at tilt control )

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Force yourself to wait before making a decision. Like not clicking any action buttons until the time bank prompt shows up.

Just watched it. Sorry for the delay.
******

KK v AA, Flush board flop: Flat call his flop bet since you are drawing and since AT+ is well within his UTG PF raising range.

AQ EP vs 3-bet: I think it is OK to fold the AQ to the 3-bet if the 3-bettor is a solid player. Not only does this save you a little money since AQo doesn't play well in 3-bet pots mostly, but it makes you appear to be a folder to 3-betting and can either make you money when your big hands get 3bet or it can set you up for good 4-bet bluffs.

AKs vs 46, TPTK: Reraise his donk bet in pos., imo. Don't think of it as "scaring him off". Think of it as building a pot and charging KQ and straight chasers more to see the next card. Donk bets at you don't always mean you are behind.

AJo MP v 3bet SB: See "AQ EP..." above. Plus take raises from the blinds more seriously. Raises from EP or the blinds = Be careful.

QQ SB v TT BB: I also have a problem with stacking off to sets with my overpairs. The only thing different is that a flush hit the river and may have helped you/me get away from it a bit more. (I usually stack off on the flop. )

66 BTN, Flopped set vs JJ: Bigger flop 3-bet, imo. I might actually shove bottom set since loose "buddy list" players with TP usually pay you off here at 25NL. Turn bigger set is just a cooler.

A2s BB v 4 PF limpers: I'd raise to steal the PF limps, not to "isolate". Then on the turn "Is this a good call?" Well, your replayer said your pot odds were 2.25-1. You had a FD and GSD, giving you 12 solid outs AFAYK. That's about 3-1 odds to hit something. Plus, you didn't know if your overcard was good if paired and you had another bettor behind you who could improve the pot. So, "yes". Good call. Too bad the one bad Spade hit to make your flush. I don't think your river call was bad. QJ and QT are very likely PF SB limps in this case. The shove made it look more like trips or a lower flush. UL

TT v J8s, 3-way pot: (Someone can correct me if they don't agree, but...) When drawing in a multi-way pot OOP, I like to check/call. Only HU do I bet or raise. You're in the middle with a shaky draw since a 10, 7s, or Qs might not help you. I wouldn't bet the flop. Let the PF raiser act and see what UTG does. Bad spot for a donk bet, imo.

Stats: IMO, C-betting% should be used to gauge nittyness, but not aggression. The 49.7% Success is what I'd focus on. That's less than half the time. I think that has to be higher to be profitable.

*****
And yeah, I agree with Feitr. But it's hard to make these decisions under pressure and the only way to get better is practice. So your emotions can cloud this and prevent your real thinking from coming out. So emotion control leads to getting more satisfaction out of practicing, imo.

On the tilt:

It's a really hard thing to overcome, but I've come from exactly where are (way worse actually) and have conquered it to some degree.

If you haven't got a subscription to stox, get one and watch Jared Tendler's videos. He can explain what I'm trying to WAY better and actually knows what he's saying

Some of this is really tedious, but I guarantee it helps and is worth taking the time to do. Some stuff I do:

-Pay close attention to my breathing, making sure I keep a level head and focus while I play. Take a deep breath before big decisions, taking my hand off the mouse.

-Drop the number of tables you play so you actually have time to think about situations.

-Actually think about situations Think about what your opponent's range looks like, how he perceives you, if at all, how you can play your hand best against his range, evaluate how much fold equity with those ridiculous donk bluffs you actually have (often none btw), etc etc etc. Think about your decisions as if a coach was telling you what to do.

-Post a note under your monitor in big letters: "STOP AND THINK" or "BREATHE" or something. I had a note pinned for a good two years.

-Try to measure yourself on a tilt scale every ten minutes, 0-100. 50 is thee point of no return, and if you start to approach even 40, QUIT. Quit before you're so tilted that you can't quit.

-Breaks always do wonders. I've written about this before, but if you tilt lots one day and get right back to grinding the next day, most likely you're not starting from a neutral point on the tilt scale. You most likely are much more easily pushed past that 50 mark of no return. Break for a week and get back to it when you've completely forgotten about poker.

Just some stuff. I realize tilt comes in lots of forms, but this is the stuff that's helped me and both my subtle, creeping tilt, and my raging monkey tilt.

eNTy said:

Any tips/stuff you did while fixing it ?
I think chuck has done some work in that regard as well.

Or is just all about coming up with the will power to not let yourself go?
(BTW: the hulk sucks at tilt control )

Click to expand...

For me it was amazingly simple. I had a day, which had been shortly after i had started HU play, where i lost about $1k (most HU, some 6max) and at that stage (nl100, and hadn't been playing it all that long) this was a pretty sick day for me and absolutely unlike anything i had lost beforehand. It tore me up worse than anything since (and my worst is now a -$2.4k day).

Afterwards i was looking at some of the hands (which i very rarely do), and it was almost exactly like what you were doing when going through yours. I just couldn't figure out how the **** i was making some of these call downs, and realised (although i probably already knew) that it was because i simply could not think rationally and did not care, while i was tilting. I would get into a mode where i was like **** this he is probably bluffing and make some really braindead plays, because my brain was not functioning correctly in my mental/emotional state.

So i just made a decision, it was as simple as that. I would either fix it or i would quit, because if i didn't fix it i knew i wouldn't be able to sucessfully play and the swings would kill me and it wouldn't be worth it overall. Fwiw, i had struggled with it alot over the 2-3 months or so preceeding that day, but it was that day where it was clear to me that either something changed or i wasn't going to continue.

And from there it was just thinking logically about it. What is the point of tilting? It is a ****ing stupid, selfish behaviour where you are basically saying "i do not have the mental fortitude to keep my emotions in check, when i know well and good that by doing so it is costing me alot of money". It came down to 2 things - 1. convincing myself that in no way shape or form could giving in to tilt ever be profitable or result in any good at all 2. it was probably the biggest edge one could have in HU play and 3. getting over individual beats as trigger points and realising that it will all equal out in the end, and if i don't believe that it will all equal out and that somehow i am inherently unlucky that i shouldn't be playing the game in the first place. I basically decided that the latter part wasn't the option i wanted (ie. i decided to play poker), and i was owed nothing from the poker gods and would take it as it came.

I think the latter is really important. I barely even respond now when i get sucked out on and my heart rate doesn't even tend to rise anymore, whereas back when i started i would absolutely ****ing flip out when i lost a pot. I was thinking of this a while ago and realise i am better at losing an $800 pot now, than i was at losing an $8 pot when i started.

I don't think there is anything wrong with venting after a session (in chat thread, or whatever) but the key is that you keep total composure while in a session and don't complain or whatnot until all the tables are shut down and to get over it by the next time you sit down to play.

Videos might help, but i never used them. I watched one or two of Jared's videos and they seemed so common sense and a little boring that i never bothered to watch anymore. But i've never been an angry person/somebody who could snap easily, so i don't think tilt was ever as much of a problem for me (like i've never monkey tilted in my life, but i knew that even subtle tilt was taking a severe toll).

Anyways, long post, but tilt control will probably be the biggest edge you could ever have in your poker game, as it will enable you to see the context/metagame for what it actually is.