Situational

I had another losing day.

I spoke with Zac for a bit yesterday. I guess the entire crew is out playing at the Borgata this week and then possibly off to Europe after that. As always I wish everyone the best of luck and safe travel.

Does anyone care to comment on this hand?

Villain’s stats are 39/18 VPIP/PFR and stealing 20% over a 29 hand sample.

http://www.pokerhandreplays.com/view.php/id/828612

My play should be standard but I would like some opinions.

Some of the hands I post on P5’s might seem standard. Believe me, before I attended the training, I had my idea of what I considered “standard,” but all of that has changed now. I am now relying on stats, math, and position more than ever. Hole cards are the LAST thing I look at now when I am making a decision at the poker table. To be quite honest, that is why many people bash The Maven for some of the hands he gets called down with. Does he have AA or J2o when he open shoves on the button? Depending on your stats, position, and how you have been playing, it does not matter. He has a “read” on the situation and is playing based solely on that read.

This part of the training has been the most difficult to grasp. When I play live poker, reads are easy to pick up on. Body language, the way a person bets, whether they’re drinking alcohol, the clothes they wear, their age and so on. Online you do not have the luxury of that physical information so you have to research every player at your table right when it starts so you can get an idea of how they will play. At the lower buy-ins, this is easier due to the fact that we all suck and have negative ROIs. At mid to higher stakes I really try and do my homework. This has resulted in me playing fewer tables and really paying close attention to the action instead of going on auto-pilot.

I started reading Alexander Fitzgerald’s blog on a regular basis now. He always has a story and he is a great writer. My ADD usually prevents me from following anything more than a few paragraphs but this guy is pretty interesting. Once I start winning and traveling more, hopefully my blogs will be more interesting too.

Good luck at the tables!