Hey guys,I told Mers i'd put in some time in the forums helping out, have been super busy so havent gotten a chance to check out exactly how it all works, but I figured id make a thread for my own questions as they arise, but also if anyone wants to bounce some hands/questions off me and then we'll get Mer's opinion in here as well and hopefully spur some good discussion, -Primo/Bryan
Perfect, thanks Primo. Good timing, too.
Feel free to hop into people's threads and comment on their questions there if you feel like it, too.
Yo Primo! Who is better play poker: Primo or Mers? )and other question: what food u eat? is it healthy? What do u do to improove ur brain? (seriosly, its +EV!)thx
primo hows the bootcamp going? do u have pictures or cool experiences to share? if not will there be (in the future) awesome trip reports with pictures? are u gonna do it again? how do u look upon the future of STs at ftp, now that mers is building an army of ST regs? what do you think about grinding sts, and never quitting when ur down even if its 48 hours in ur sesh or more? and how realistic do u think you, or someone in general, can really judge clearly if or if not he is still playing good that deep in? /well
Yo Primo! Who is better play poker: Primo or Mers? ) and other question: what food u eat? is it healthy? What do u do to improove ur brain? (seriosly, its +EV!)Well obvvvviouussssllyyy me :-p. (J/k, I have no idea, its not like we've played a bunch or anything. Mers is one of the few peoples whos opinions I value VERY highly when it comes to poker, I have a ton of respect for his game / thought process. thx primo hows the bootcamp going? Really awsome, even better than expected, great guys, and they are learning a ton do u have pictures or cool experiences to share? Gonna hold off on releasing anything til after, but there should be some TR/pics/etc. to come for sure if not will there be (in the future) awesome trip reports with pictures? are u gonna do it again? We'll probably do 1 more down the road, just not sure when/where yet :) how do u look upon the future of STs at ftp, now that mers is building an army of ST regs? It's painful for sure, but i'm not too worried yet ;), HUSNG.com created an army of HUSNG regs who played like me, hokei, croix, mers, etc., and we're still doing ok :) what do you think about grinding sts, and never quitting when ur down even if its 48 hours in ur sesh or more? and how realistic do u think you, or someone in general, can really judge clearly if or if not he is still playing good that deep in? I think it's something I do alot, and I think it's a HUGE leak. On epic benders like that, even if your still slightly +EV (which alot of times you may not even be) , your never playing your 100%, which is going to compound things to be way worse. Every time I do a session like this, if I review HHs after I almost always see alot of hands where I say "WHY did I do that???" /well
Why are you dodging the question about food, Primo? Are you really going to pass up on an opportunity to mention your yogurt and fruit in the morning?
Hey Primo,Cool to have you here man.Where would you say you and Mers differ in your approach towards STs? Asking cause I remember seing some pretty unconventional stuff in a couple of matches of yours (maybe it was those long ones vs livb tho, so could just be big opp adaptations going on).
Oops haha, I did dodge the food question... sry!I eat very unhealthy right now, but it's something im trying to improve on alot. In the mornings I basically just have a smoothie and a vitamin, lunches always sandwhich/wraps, and dinner it depends, but I do alot of easy stuff, dont eat like any vegetables, and snack too much... all things im trying to work on :). (unhealthy things I DONT do tho are smoke, drink, or drink soda, so that helps a bit) Hey Primo, Cool to have you here man. Where would you say you and Mers differ in your approach towards STs? Asking cause I remember seing some pretty unconventional stuff in a couple of matches of yours (maybe it was those long ones vs livb tho, so could just be big opp adaptations going on). Thanks alot, and as far as how we differ, i'm ot sure that we necessarily do in our approach, and I dont really know enough about Mer's specific ST game to really say, I think he incorporates more of a limping range than I do, but as far as other things, i'm not 100% sure. Feel free to throw out some unconventional stuff you saw me do, or remember any hands or whatever and i'll see if I can give some decent reasoning behind them, or what adaptions I was making,
hmm yeah approach probably not right word. Unfortunately no specific hands I remember, but I think some of it had to do with the way you played some middle connected stuff, which you both 3bet-shoved at stack sizes where I'd flat and called shoves with at stack sizes where I would fold.
yea, both were definently a biproduct of his opening range, and his reshoving range. without specifics it's hard to speak more to it
They are wide.
Primo,What's something in poker you think a lot of players undervalue or don't pay enough attention to? It can be a strategy thing, a mental thing, whatever.
Primo, say about ur plans after "black friday"! Do u planing move from USA?
@Mers, I think one thing people undervalue the most is simply the ability to be in the rigth mindset to absord knowledge / grow, and its weird, its very hard to be in that mindset, I relate it almost always to playing your A-game, but a HUGE % of time im grinding my mind is pretty numb to the decisions, etc., its all just part of my subconcious, despite a complex way of getting there, logic wise, but no spots seem revolutionary, and I dont learn much from the difficult spots. It's something I think thats really important, and have been trying to work on a ton lately, just simply playing when your in the right frame of mind to learn, and actually looking at 'mundane' spots in alot of different directions. I think people overlook this and start to like 2+ table too early, and it really stunts their growth as far as actually really developing in Poker, and not being able to auto-bot whatever game up to the 200/300s. (would have given TOTALLY diff. answer 1 month ago) **edit: Also for a strat topic I think something people overlook a ton is focusing on PERCEIVED range and not range, just for something less vague :D ** @School47Just got a really good sponsorship deal which helps a ton, and gives me the option to stay in the US if I want to, however as of right now im finishing up my bootcamp, and then headed to Montreal for 3-4 months, and then going to see what the poker landscape in the US looks like then . If its still awful I may travel a bit more and continue to play, if it's improving / legislation moving forward, i'll probably just come back and grind at home for a while til it gets sorted out.
From one of your vid , CR vid LIVE SESSION HUSNG 07/06/10... can you explain a little better the turn? Because I can't understand why we are betting if you put the villain on that range...Blinds 20/40 Villain SB (960) raises to 80 Hero BB (1980) calls Jh9s Flop (160): Ts 7s 7c Hero checks Villain bets 100 Hero raises to 230 It’s hard for him to reshove too too often, obv he can shove often but we could Villain calls have a 7 in our range, so it’s hard for him to reshove Turn (620) Ah Hero bets 180 Now I’m making 1/3 pot bet here, you can bet pretty big or you can bet pretty small, both can be viewed as strength. I decided to bet small because once he flats Our raise, I think a lot of times he’s gonna have floated us with Ax, or a 7 a decent Amount. He can have some draws that he could jam but I still think it’s fine to make that small barrel. I think he gonna have to give up some percentage of the times
I dont necessarily agree with the logic now, but when im listing that range there, i'm basically saying the hands that flat the flop and can still continue on the turn are Ax and 7x, I also think he can have alot of floats like J8, J9, 89, 68s, and set of 2 overs, etc., not that these are super common, but to a super small check/raise somebody could peel some hands like that. Again, w/o knowing much more about villain I can't say if I like this play at all or not, at a glance, meh, but I didnt mean his range is literally all 7x and Ax.
I dont necessarily agree with the logic now, but when im listing that range there, i'm basically saying the hands that flat the flop and can still continue on the turn are Ax and 7x, I also think he can have alot of floats like J8, J9, 89, 68s, and set of 2 overs, etc., not that these are super common, but to a super small check/raise somebody could peel some hands like that. Again, w/o knowing much more about villain I can't say if I like this play at all or not, at a glance, meh, but I didnt mean his range is literally all 7x and Ax. just to understand that... this can work against thinking player because he could have some floats in his range... but I think against random fishes I don't think it can work often
yea, again, I dont remember the opponent I was playing or anything, but against a thinking player (or anyone) who views my c/r range as pretty polar, and would expect me to shut down on the turn alot, since his flatting range should appear kind of strong (esp. when he could have Ax floats in his range), then my turn bet is consistant with the range i'm trying to rep. Obv this only works if (1) the person is capable of floating, (2) the person is capable of hand reading
Primo will be around in July as well. I have some questions:1. You've played quite a few series of matches against very tough opponents. You don't have to give out names if you want to, but can you give us an example of an opponent who you were having a pretty tough time with, and made some more complicated adjustments, and started really feel like you had the upper hand because of them?2. I'm about to play my first WSOP, and have been getting a lot of coaching about the differences between live and online. What do you wish you knew the first time you played live? What advice would you give me?3. By all accounts, your bootcamp was incredibly successful. I know your students took a lot out of it that's harder to quantify, but did you have any more specfic strategic focus that you really wanted to get across in terms of gameplay?
1. Played alot of different tough opponents in semi - very long series, livb, haxton, luckychewy, isildur, etc. , it's been kinda long tho, and my computer just crashed 2 weeks ago (so dont have my HEM db to look back through some hands), so unfortunantly I don't have that much interesting stuff to talk about, but I think most of my more interesting/complex adjustments come from the construction of 3bet/4bet ranges v diff. good players tendencies, and how that effects my postflop play in those spots. 2. Just relax. The biggest thing I can say for you to do, is TAKE ADVANTAGE of the extra time you have. As online players we're conditioned to come to all of our conclusions in <15 seconds. This does not hold true live, normally I would tell people to trust your gut / be careful of talking yourself out of your decisions, but I know you an analytical person anyways, so just think it through, pay attention, and use the extra time to make your decisions. Also when people are uncomfortable it's unbelievably easy to see their thought process, look for young i-net guys or thinking players who aren't that comfortable, and you'll see stuff register with them all the time (specficially like, this guy is opening a ton and cbetting all the time, wow, K 7 2 , this is a dry board... man... I guess I should c/r, *pulls trigger* ) , you'll be shocked how often you can just see their whole thought process painted on them, don't be afriad to play back at them a ton, typically live I 3bet flops infinitely more than I ever do online, and also same w/4betting pre, you'll undoubtedly be out of your comfort zone a little bit, there are times when I am, and I just FEEL like im giving off all kinds of weak tells cause of all of my manerisms in the hand, typically when a young player 3bets me in those spots, I will 4bet a high %, most aren't disciplined enough / think it through enough to stick to their reads and just punish me for it, most will go 1-2 levels of aggression and then assume your super straightforward to it (exclude VERY good MTTrs/live players from this)So yea, just focus, try some stuff out, and pay attention. GL :). 3. We focused alot on a ton of different areas, hand reading, range construction, barrelling, ,<30bb play, adapting to regs and how to exploit typical regs tendencies. These were all things we ended up going over quite a bit with almost all of them, so we didnt go into the camp saying 'we really want them to get good at X', we just kind of felt out their needs / holes in their games and went from there, but these were the most common things everyone needed to improve on.