Mindblowing Poker

Pokerstudy

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And I don't want to further the de-rail but take a look at what you've just written here ^
... how is 'built for action' not insinuating the sites are rigged??? WOW!
Facts? The fact you tried to punk me on real facts has nothing to do with this mans book...what the hell you going on about old dude?

I can understand those that are a lil bit slow to the punch, but I am going to say it, the sites that are u regulated are built for action. You can take an old man approach or be in denial, but you will eventually be real with the facts. It’s all built for action, no GTO, no theory, no skill will win in any unregulated site. Deal with it, or move.

Life is too short to deal with this slow to the punch bs.
 
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albosaltenio

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I never read a poker book, I only saw some movies but obviously it's not what the same are about, right?.
Anyway, I don't like to read but when I found myself inspired to read I'm going to take this title as a good option.
 
Pokerstudy

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I never read a poker book, I only saw some movies but obviously it's not what the same are about, right?.
Anyway, I don't like to read but when I found myself inspired to read I'm going to take this title as a good option.
Perhaps you should read, I highly advocate it :) Arrogance in this game is laughable. For some, it takes years upon years to get the ‘idea’ they should read a book or two.
 
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All about Poker

I read a lot of books and I am old, I take the best insight from each and every book and add it to my skill set. I do take more then I should a lot of chances when playing poker but why not because just like in life if you do not take chances you will never know. I believe no one here is going to become rich over night playing on this site or any site affiliated with poker. Lets just have fun playing and not be critical of one another. Peace Capo1014
 
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Thank you very much for this response Professor. I really agree with the example in the youtube and that’s a very interesting hand. There is always the possibility he is doing this for other reasons, but I wanted the examples of elite players actually deviating from a normal strategy so this certainly is it. I like that you chose a super crazy hand here, I now feel easier with the adaptations I want to make because these are not this crazy like Sam Greenwood. If you do post others that would be interesting.

That's great. Yes, it's always been my intention to introduce some new ideas and strategies to help players thrive in all different types of games and be adaptable. It's rarely going to be the right thing to do to go super crazy like the Sam Greenwood play. I'll post more when I see them.
 
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professor_poker

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I got my answer by Chapter 1.4 of your book. I agree with your take on the state of poker today. I will be ordering a copy soon. Cheers.


Just wondered if you had started reading and/or if you had any questions?
 
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Hi Professor,

I ordered a copy of the book tonight after being rather enticed by the opening chapter available to read on Amazon. I'm actually more interested in it for its perspective on the state of poker today--I am trying to find more material about the history of poker and players' changing approaches to the game during the last 25 years or so--but I am also interested in your book as someone who is trying to learn to play the microstakes again after being introduced to online poker in 2012 after Black Friday and spirits were low in the US poker scene. Would you say that your book is useful to someone who plays NL25 or less online, especially without a HUD?

I am currently using resources from Alton Hardin and some of blackrain79's advice to establish a foundation for online play, but I have a sneaking suspicion that 1. their techniques rely too much on using a HUD, which is more or less impossible for me to do on linux where I'm limited to "instant" play in the browser (and is technically disallowed on ignition), and 2. if every non-recreational player taking the microstakes seriously is more or less using a TAG approach, at what point are we mostly pushing money around for marginal profits among ourselves in between junk plays by whatever fish are left? 2020 may have encouraged a little more fishy play online due to limited or unavailable casino access, but it seems every year people are saying that each stake is "one level" harder than it was a few years ago--5NL today is as hard as 10NL was in previous years, 10NL today is as hard as 25NL used to be, etc. At what point will the microstakes be as hard to beat as the mid-stakes are now? Everything in the poker economy just seems headed towards diminishing returns as everyone tries similar strategies to win the same limited amount of profits to be made.

Anyways, I got off on a tangent. My main question is: would your book help someone trying to be profitable at the microstakes, and if not what resources (if any) would you recommend towards that end? Also, I'll try to keep you up-to-date on my impressions of the book as I read it once it arrives. Regardless, thanks for adding a fresh perspective for metapoker junkies like me to explore!
 
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Hi Professor,

I ordered a copy of the book tonight after being rather enticed by the opening chapter available to read on Amazon. I'm actually more interested in it for its perspective on the state of poker today--I am trying to find more material about the history of poker and players' changing approaches to the game during the last 25 years or so--but I am also interested in your book as someone who is trying to learn to play the microstakes again after being introduced to online poker in 2012 after Black Friday and spirits were low in the US poker scene. Would you say that your book is useful to someone who plays NL25 or less online, especially without a HUD?

I am currently using resources from Alton Hardin and some of blackrain79's advice to establish a foundation for online play, but I have a sneaking suspicion that 1. their techniques rely too much on using a HUD, which is more or less impossible for me to do on Linux where I'm limited to "instant" play in the browser (and is technically disallowed on Ignition), and 2. if every non-recreational player taking the microstakes seriously is more or less using a TAG approach, at what point are we mostly pushing money around for marginal profits among ourselves in between junk plays by whatever fish are left? 2020 may have encouraged a little more fishy play online due to limited or unavailable casino access, but it seems every year people are saying that each stake is "one level" harder than it was a few years ago--5NL today is as hard as 10NL was in previous years, 10NL today is as hard as 25NL used to be, etc. At what point will the microstakes be as hard to beat as the mid-stakes are now? Everything in the poker economy just seems headed towards diminishing returns as everyone tries similar strategies to win the same limited amount of profits to be made.

Anyways, I got off on a tangent. My main question is: would your book help someone trying to be profitable at the microstakes, and if not what resources (if any) would you recommend towards that end? Also, I'll try to keep you up-to-date on my impressions of the book as I read it once it arrives. Regardless, thanks for adding a fresh perspective for metapoker junkies like me to explore!


Great - I really hope you enjoy the book. Your comment on heading towards diminishing returns is probably the key motivation for me writing this book - I want to steer poker away from that.

I think to answer your points that you are right - microstakes is getting a tougher place to beat. As part of this book I put in thousands of hands at all kinds of different stakes and game formats to see how the games were playing. My impression of microstakes (and particularly Fast/Zoom) is that there are not many very very poor players in the pool - its a lot of average players winning or loosing a few bb/100 hands, and the poker sites winning. The weak players also get protected in 'Zoom' because they're encouraged to fold more, which pushes them closer to a better strategy for their skill level. I'd always advise focussing on who are the really bad players and targetting them specifically, and then trying to hold your own vs everyone else at the lower stakes.

My opinion of Blackrain's material is that it is great as a 'horse for course' type learning. In other words, its some of the best for maximising your profits vs the weakest players, so is definitely a good place to start. But I think a point you make is relevant here - each passing year the highest stake that these styles will be effective at will be decreasing, so I am not sure of the longevity of such an approach.

To asnwer your question: I actually have a few sections in the book that you may find interesting on these types of topics. It has some intro pages on various topical things in poker, then goes into my new tools to break the best players and make their lives tough. However, if your main aim is to beat 25NL and below online, the second half of the book will be much more relevant to you, and it has some good sections with tips and pointers for online games of different stakes, and a section on who actually makes money from poker. It's also got some 'online tells' pointers - which are a thing at the micros (!). It's not designed to be a complete tool, but certainly to supplement other resources in an effective way.

As a side note - HUDs are, in my opinion, key to achieving the highest profits at lower stakes if that is your pure aim. For example, to make a decent hourly rate, most players will be playing exceptionally high volume at lower stakes, and it's the HUD that dictates a lot of strategy post flop - because you'll find players who overfolds to check-raises/overbets, or who will cbet flop & give up turn all the time as obvious leaks.



Let me know how you find the book and if you have any questions

Professor Poker
 
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professor_poker

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Hi Professor,

I ordered a copy of the book tonight after being rather enticed by the opening chapter available to read on Amazon. I'm actually more interested in it for its perspective on the state of poker today--I am trying to find more material about the history of poker and players' changing approaches to the game during the last 25 years or so--but I am also interested in your book as someone who is trying to learn to play the microstakes again after being introduced to online poker in 2012 after Black Friday and spirits were low in the US poker scene. Would you say that your book is useful to someone who plays NL25 or less online, especially without a HUD?

I am currently using resources from Alton Hardin and some of blackrain79's advice to establish a foundation for online play, but I have a sneaking suspicion that 1. their techniques rely too much on using a HUD, which is more or less impossible for me to do on Linux where I'm limited to "instant" play in the browser (and is technically disallowed on Ignition), and 2. if every non-recreational player taking the microstakes seriously is more or less using a TAG approach, at what point are we mostly pushing money around for marginal profits among ourselves in between junk plays by whatever fish are left? 2020 may have encouraged a little more fishy play online due to limited or unavailable casino access, but it seems every year people are saying that each stake is "one level" harder than it was a few years ago--5NL today is as hard as 10NL was in previous years, 10NL today is as hard as 25NL used to be, etc. At what point will the microstakes be as hard to beat as the mid-stakes are now? Everything in the poker economy just seems headed towards diminishing returns as everyone tries similar strategies to win the same limited amount of profits to be made.

Anyways, I got off on a tangent. My main question is: would your book help someone trying to be profitable at the microstakes, and if not what resources (if any) would you recommend towards that end? Also, I'll try to keep you up-to-date on my impressions of the book as I read it once it arrives. Regardless, thanks for adding a fresh perspective for metapoker junkies like me to explore!

I wondered if you have any questions on the book and if you were enjoying it?
 
ChickenArise

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Just wondered if you had started reading and/or if you had any questions?

I just ordered it a few days ago and since I live in Panama it may take up to a month to arrive, but I am sure I will be back with some questions once I do. Happy holidays!
 
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Zeke67

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Interesting topic

Was just looking over this thread and I am intrigued about the book. It will definitely go on my Christmas list! Thanks all for the great conversation. Keep it up.

Z

Stay Safe
 
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kiranoff

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I wondered if you have any questions on the book and if you were enjoying it?


Hi, sorry it took me a while to respond. I've actually been dealing with some non-COVID medical issues recently and haven't read much past the first chapter. I should be feeling better by mid-December and will be able to read more of the book and update you on my thoughts at that time. Thanks for checking in though!
 
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professor_poker

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Hi, sorry it took me a while to respond. I've actually been dealing with some non-COVID medical issues recently and haven't read much past the first chapter. I should be feeling better by mid-December and will be able to read more of the book and update you on my thoughts at that time. Thanks for checking in though!

No problem - hope you're feeling better soon
 
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I read your thread on 2+2. It's pretty straight forward what you're saying. You're going to get pushback because of this time in our history as a whole. We've been moving from a more belief/opinion based society about nearly every aspect of our being, to a more rational, data/science based view of our world. It's happening in nearly every segment of society.

This shift is MUCH more obvious to millennials and Gen Z, because they are the first two generations that had massive information at their fingertips (information age). They've seen the folly of the opinion/belief generations and the mistakes they've made. It's this paradigm shift that's lead to an OVER adjustment and lack of balance. Which is ironic because in poker we talk about balance all the time, but there's no balance right now with most younger players, and this extreme view that GTO is the only path forward makes them overlook the vulnerabilities of their new world view / theory (on poker and life).

You'd think it would be obvious what the potential problem / issue is with trying to only play GTO poker, but it's not because extremism blinds people. You'd think people would understand that if it takes massive computing power to compute complex trees of GTO in less common spots, they'd realize they're never going to be able to replicate that in real time at a poker player. But because of this over adjustment, away from the ignorant, belief/opinion based views on poker from the people that came before them, GTO play (the idea of it) presents a sense of comfort. This game is solvable, if I just study and understand the math and theory of enough of it.

Well... you won't. It's just not possible. You can study all of the common spots you want, and that will help you against non-GTO players, without a doubt (assuming you really do understand most of the deeper game trees in common spots).

The push back will be great because this collective shift that's been happening in the poker community, isn't just limited to poker. It's involved in all aspects of life, as the youngest generation rejects the notions of the previous generations, and the youngest generation over adjusts for their mistakes. This is a typical historical pattern that happens all through history (but in different ways).
 
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I read your thread on 2+2. It's pretty straight forward what you're saying. You're going to get pushback because of this time in our history as a whole. We've been moving from a more belief/opinion based society about nearly every aspect of our being, to a more rational, data/science based view of our world. It's happening in nearly every segment of society.

This shift is MUCH more obvious to millennials and Gen Z, because they are the first two generations that had massive information at their fingertips (information age). They've seen the folly of the opinion/belief generations and the mistakes they've made. It's this paradigm shift that's lead to an OVER adjustment and lack of balance. Which is ironic because in poker we talk about balance all the time, but there's no balance right now with most younger players, and this extreme view that GTO is the only path forward makes them overlook the vulnerabilities of their new world view / theory (on poker and life).

You'd think it would be obvious what the potential problem / issue is with trying to only play GTO poker, but it's not because extremism blinds people. You'd think people would understand that if it takes massive computing power to compute complex trees of GTO in less common spots, they'd realize they're never going to be able to replicate that in real time at a poker player. But because of this over adjustment, away from the ignorant, belief/opinion based views on poker from the people that came before them, GTO play (the idea of it) presents a sense of comfort. This game is solvable, if I just study and understand the math and theory of enough of it.

Well... you won't. It's just not possible. You can study all of the common spots you want, and that will help you against non-GTO players, without a doubt (assuming you really do understand most of the deeper game trees in common spots).

The push back will be great because this collective shift that's been happening in the poker community, isn't just limited to poker. It's involved in all aspects of life, as the youngest generation rejects the notions of the previous generations, and the youngest generation over adjusts for their mistakes. This is a typical historical pattern that happens all through history (but in different ways).


What a wonderfully balanced post, I agree with your view entirely - and I knew I would meet strong resistence on 2+2 (I stated that I would in my book itself). But I think my angle on this is that time will never stand still, and in 5 or 10 years 2020 poker approach will be out-dated. I just want to make players conscious of the fact that heading deeper down one tunnel isn't necessarily going to be the right one. I can easily find examples of players married to GTO who are shooting themselves in the foot (think the GTO player who calls when obviously beaten by a fish/nit because "they can't fold their entire range there"), but what would make the poker community stand up is if profits are significantly higher playing my deviant form of poker. At the moment, they wont always be - because there's still sufficient "low hanging fruit" in poker (sponsored names who are out of date, staked bad players, former greats donating to pool, tournament players who overestimate their skill due to unknown run-good), but this chunk of profit falls away a bit each year.
 
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If anyone is interested, I am running an Xmas give away of this book for one lucky on Twitter. See my twitter for details - @professor_poker
 
ChickenArise

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Ok my copy arrived. Hope to let you know what I think soon. Cheers.
 
ChickenArise

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Hey - did you have any thoughts on the book?

I like the range shanking concept in the book. Im playing mostly tournament so finding it a little difficult to apply on a consistent basis, but I understand this was mostly written with cash in mind.

I havent finished it quite yet, but it has some interesting concepts. If I have questions I will follow up.
 
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Hi everyone - Now the dust has settled on my book - Mindblowing Poker, by Professor Poker, I wanted to re-open the discussion on these forums.

We had quite a good debate before - and I have been on a couple of good podcasts to discuss the strategies. I wondered if anyone had any thoughts or comments on this radical new way to take on strong / GTO type players and to prevent the game from becoming 'solved' or stale. This is really important to me, as I don't want the game of poker to die a slow death.

In short we use a dynamic strategy of changing ranges and generally taking villain out of their comfort zone, in order to encourage them to make mistakes, which we are well placed to exploit. There are 8 new strategies, which put a villain in a new spot. If they haven't seen a spot before, they can't respond optimally, and certainly can't review accurately with a solver.

Would welcome any debate
 
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New book “Mindblowing Poker” is now available – on Amazon.


I am concerned that poker is slowly killing itself – by becoming closer to a ‘solved’ game, with each iteration we make a short-term gain but the long-term bigger picture is the death of poker. The book’s got new ideas to take on the best GTO players.


This is a book every poker player needs to read. I have gone under cover here (“Professor Poker”) in order to truly open up about my strategies, and the state of poker. I’m prepared for the controversy – but these messages need to be heard.

I don’t think poker will ever be, “solved.” Even if there is a perfect solution for every situation there’s no way the human brain can remember them all. Besides, we’re gonna die long before we play millions of hands.
 
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I like what you're saying - and accept that standing on their own or in a live casino that is true - but unfortunately many pros do play millions of hands each year online, and they are using software in the moment that is helping them play a "solved" game. This is the scenario we need to steer the game away from.
 
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Murph1969

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I like what you're saying - and accept that standing on their own or in a live casino that is true - but unfortunately many pros do play millions of hands each year online, and they are using software in the moment that is helping them play a "solved" game. This is the scenario we need to steer the game away from.


What software?
 
fletchdad

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I like what you're saying - and accept that standing on their own or in a live casino that is true - but unfortunately many pros do play millions of hands each year online, and they are using software in the moment that is helping them play a "solved" game. This is the scenario we need to steer the game away from.


Isn't this a situation of AI in a way? If you can play 24 tables and have software that helps you know a player's tendencies, but if a player does not have this, then you have an advantage. If the other player has it, it depends on who uses the info better.... It is exhausting to use the software and this many tables, so it is a give and take. But essentially two different "games" in a way.

I think online, software will never go away. Some sites will cater to this, and some won't. I used it and it was a lot of work, but gave me an edge over people without it. But since I sucked at poker generally, that didn't help me.. but that is another story....
 
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I think practice is the best learning how play in poker
 
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