Boywonder - In The Cage 2/11/10

[run4urlife]

hey, thanks for doing this..
what are some of the main leaks that midstakes players have these days in your opinion? i know it's a very general question, but any input would be great.

[Gorgi24]

Thanks for doing this!!

A few questions....

What site do you mostly play at?
Would you deny HU action to anyone at 25-50?
Who's the player yo respect the most?
Do you ever play live poker? If so, What's the biggest difference you find between online and live pros?
who do you consider had the biggest influece in your game?

Thanks!!

[Swire]

If you was to live your life again, would you do the same thing and play poker? Do you think you isolated yourself by playing poker?

What BRM do you use?
At which limit did you start to think, that you had the ability to make Poker as your living?

[grogheadflow]

You talked once I think about studying one reg per week, or per day, or whatever.

Can you give specific examples of what you are looking for when you do this? Maybe rank in order of importance? How does this translate into you being able to exploit them (away from reads easily garnered while playing, such as always folds to 3bets etc)

thanks

[cap_of_water]

While studying the game of other regs, can you explain some things you might look for specifically? For example, if i had 50k hands on player X, one of the things i might do is look for all the hands where he 3bet from the sb or bb and that got to showdown. This would give me a good idea of the type of hands he is 3betting oop.

It is somewhat more difficult to study post flop tendencies in a similar way. Maybe not difficult, i guess just more time consuming. . . ?

Basically asking for any tips/suggestions for studying an opponents databass/large sample of hands.

thanks,
Lior

[DennisGPunkt]

Hey Ben, glad to have you here
Couple of questions:

1. You played without a hud for a pretty long time. How did you assign ranges preflop/postflop?
2. Did you take alot of notes when you were playing without a hud?
3. how many tables did you play without a hud and did that change after you started to play with a hud?
4. how much timebank do you have on your mainsite?

thank you!

[boywonder]

Originally Posted by LuckyDevil

Do you table select? If so, could you give us a brief summary of what you look for in the tables you sit at. Also what, if any, software you use.

If you do not table select could you please explain why. Possible benefits to not table selecting?

Thanks.

I do tableselect, of course looking for either poor players if I know them from before or, more commonly as that type of player is rare, weak regs where I kinda feel I have a decent grasp of their game, or where our history gives me all the momentum and all the confidence.

I have tried various forms softwared in the past, but don´t use it anymore, these days I´m just looking around in the lobby.

[boywonder]

Originally Posted by Faramir

1) Do you listen to music during a poker session? If so, what kind of music?
2) Are you more math or more feel/instinct orientated?
3) You don't play with HUD, how many tables can you play without playing focussed and make best decisions on all tables?
4) I have some troubles when making big river decisions when my hand is pretty face up as 1 (top) pair, and I check oop, and villain bets. How do you decide wether villain is trying to push you off or just valuebetting a better hand? (LEVELING WARS, how do you decide which level villain is on?)
5) What do you think of players that have a wide flop raising range IP (draws/ TPGK/ overpairs/ sets/ 2 pairs /2 overs/ gutters) And how would you battle them? It's usually very tough to continue in the hand without showdownvalue, and 3betting usually isn't appropriate.

1 - No, not anymore, although sometimes I would love to. I take conscious steps to be as immersed in the game as I can. Even if it at times feels like a grind and I have the urge browse or listen to music whilst playing, I resist that urge as no good can come out of it for me, personally.
2 - Not sure. Strategy orientated, whichever that is.
3 - When not playing with a HUD I generally play six tables, sometimes less, never more.
4 - This can only come with experience, paying attention to the current gameflow and villains tendencies. There is no other way to get around levelling wars.
5 - It is usually a very tough spot and one of the many perks of position, and it's an even tougher question to answer in a thread post as it´s a very broad question. In general, opening tighter preflop, and c-betting less are my standard adjustments, but not necessarily against all types of opponents. But no read, in a vacuum, those would be it.

[boywonder]

Originally Posted by ninjapoker

Hi Boy,

more questions:

I know that you have multiple projects going on, such as Playing, Coaching, University and Leggo.

Dont you feel that the more things you do, the worse you are at doing them? This is something that I think affects a lot my game and my general life: having multiple projects that requires a lot of effort.

Yes, but I think that for now, I have a fair grasp on all of them. If I felt I didn´t, I would need to cut something out. But of course, life is about balance, and balance in life is just so much more valuable than balance in poker, although some people spend a lot of time trying to balance ranges and less time balancing their life, which is weird.

[boywonder]

Originally Posted by MattUK

What specific type of studying/training would be most useful for the typical MSNL reg these days?....Training videos, reviewing hand histories daily, reviewing opponents, etc.

This is probably very individual, but for me off the table it was definitely practicing mindfulness and emotional control, followed by handhistories, followed by reviewing opponents. Those were the basics of my off-the-table routines.