Zugwat - In The Cage 6/19/09

[maliante]

What's the best advice you can give to a person who is a bit too risk-averse? And which stake you had the most trouble adjusting yourself to the players?

[nikolaspares]

Originally Posted by maliante

if i not mistaken myself, leading is good against guys who polarize their cbet range (bet air/tp+; ck back middlepairs/medium handstrength hands) cuz this means that often the flop will get checked through. We can lead turns then but we miss value like this. Let's say villain always checks backs most of his medium hands on drawy boards, like is 'std', then if we lead, villain will call a bet on the flop while if we had checked, he'd check back his hand and most likely delay cbet. We got the initiative to rep a lot from that part, so villain w medium hands could be putting us on draws more then tp/2p value type hands and call down lighter.

I dont know if you just didnt explain well your thoughts or if you dont dominate the polariation concept.

There is more to be done to really polarize your range than to just bet top pair / check medium hands. That is far beyond a trully polarized range.

And the flop getting checked can be a good thing for you. The checking is not the problem. The problem is about the frequencies of all the actions. U cant analyse JUST the check.

If the opponent plays with a perfect polarized range on the flop he is simply not making mistakes when you check to him. That doesnt mean that if you lead on the flop u will be EV+. But at least u try a line when it is possible to obtain an EV+. Because just checking against those guys u will be just EV 0 even if u play perfectlly after that ON THE FLOP.

[Zugwat]

Originally Posted by matsvenjes

1. Good boards to float on in 3bet pots (hu game), examples? Good turns to double float, ex?
2. How many hands you play a month ?
3. You ever had a (poker)coach?

1. basically if you choose to float you dont want to do it on boards where you're calling range is weak. This is because there is a high risk of getting barreled.

For example you call a 3 bet hu and it comes 522 and you decide to float with 910. The problem with this is your hand looks like Ace high or a small pair and your oponent can very easily two barrel or 3 barrel you off your range which makes your float very inneffective. The nut float board would be something like A22r but a lot of players will be very suspicious and might adjust by check / calling Ax or their pocket pairs on the turn to induce from your floats. You never want to get too crazy floating and double floating but if you are going to attempt a double float you want to do it in a spot where you are flatting all of your big hands. Such as AA2, if you think your oponent is going to barrel a lot, most of the time on a board like that they will bet the first 2 streets and give up on the river because they fear you have an ace after you call the turn. You have to keep in mind how often your oponent is 3 betting to determine how much air he has in his range, and if you want to play back by floating. If your attempting a double float, one of the biggest considerations should be weather or not your opponent will 3 barrel. Thus boards where it looks like you have a made hand on the turn are the ones you want to float (although again your oponent has to be getting out of line barreling). I honestly dont float or double float very often at all and I think its an overused trick that causes people to spew a lot.


2. I have no idea how many hands I play a month. I honestly dont have tracker or HEM installed on my computer although I really plan on doing that soon, just difficult with a mac. Also the games and action are very sporadic for me as I mainly play hu and its difficult to get action at high stakes.

3. I've never had an official coach but I am close friends with a lot of great poker players that have mentored me as I moved up the ranks.

[Zugwat]

Originally Posted by Gorgi24

Best live player?
Worst live player?

Biggest aha moment?
What was the toughest level to beat?

What do you think is a good win rate in the long run?

Is there anyone you would not play HU?

I think the best live player is probabaly Phil Ivey.

The worst live player is all of the other guys. Just kidding, kind of, but yea I'm cant think of someone to single out as the worst live player.

Biggest aha moment I think I mentioned this before but it's when I realized to think about everything from all perspectives, and when facing a bet say on the river to think about the hands he can have for value, the hands he can be bluffing with, and then make a decisions, rather then being like "i think this guy has this hand and hes bluffing!"

For the toughest level to beat I'd say the regs that will multitable 50 - 100 and 100 - 200 are probably the toughest.

I dont know anything about win rates so I'm not sure how to answer that question.

I would play anyone HU at 25 - 50 but the guys that I will avoid at higherstakes are sauce, durrr, jman, ivey.

[Zugwat]

Originally Posted by robday

If you was not a poker player, what would you be???

I think I would probabaly want to be a teacher, maybe teaching highschool math. But i honestly don't know, getting up early would suck.

For the brief time that I was in college I was very misguided and I really had no idea what I wanted to be.

[Zugwat]

Originally Posted by d2themfi

What are your favorite and least favorite things about playing live donkaments(including the traveling aspect and other non poker related things)

My favorite things would probabaly be seeing all the guys that I haven't seen in a while and hanging out with them, going to nice dinners and what not. My least favorite thing would definitely be the traveling and then sometimes the actual act of playing the live tournament which can be very frustrating at times when running bad, although a lot of times playing a live tournamnet can be fun. It's really a love hate relationship with live poker.

[Zugwat]

Originally Posted by Zenzor

Crumple or Fold? (toilet paper)

fold, although occasionally I go with a combination of both, however I proceed with extreme care and caution

Originally Posted by cadmuspeverell

Do you think anonymous HU tables would be good for online poker?

I really have no idea, It certainly would increase the amount of action and help the bumhunting problem. It might make it worse though and everyone would be quitting people instantly as soon as you raise 3 buttons in a row or something. I think its a good idea in theory but probabaly just not practical. Also history from previous matches or information from other sessions with an opponent are a huge part of hu play.

Lowest limits you currently play while waiting for action at high stakes?

25 - 50 although I'm gonna make an effort to maybe grind some smaller games.

[Zugwat]

Originally Posted by nikolaspares

Hi there man

Do you use flopped midlle pairs for polarization ( u just dont bet them ) with which frquency? It seem to me u do that a lot on you HU game.

Do you prefeer midlle pairs or things like Ax low kicker for polarization effects?

What is you WTSD on HU? If you dont wanna talk that please point me which percentages you consider to be good on HU.

And the medium AF on a HU game?

Ok, HU u need to play the individual, but suppose you are like multitabling with 4 unknows.

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Do you have a girlfriend?

I can arrange a date with my sister if you coach me for free lolloollololololollol

I usually do not bet flopped middle pairs unless my opponent doesnt check / raise much at all and check / calls a ton of draws. When I say my c-bet range is polarized I'm saying is most likeley either a strong hand or draw, or air. And a lot of marginal hands or draws (gutshots, exc). I check back. The less showdown value I have the more likeley I am to bet, for example 56 on 89 K I just have a bare gutshot. however Q9 on 8103 i have an over to the board, 2 overs to the middle card and a gutshot, that is a lot more showdown value so I am way more likely to check it back on the flop.

middle pairs and Ax low kicker are very similiar and usually fall under the category of marginal hands that I will check behind.

I have no idea about WTSD numbers because I've never used tracking software.

I'm not sure what medium AF is in hu game.

Hu it is very important to be playing your opponent, learning his tendencies and adjusting accordingly. Thus multitabeling 4 different people would be very difficult and is something to avoid, unless they are just very poor players.

Also, I do not have a girlfriend but I certainly am in the market of looking for one.

[Zugwat]

Originally Posted by nikolaspares

Hi Zug,

It is me again. I noticed I just forgot something important. Ok, suppose it is true, you polarize your betting range by checking you middle pairs. But you thing is to check a 8 10o on a 6 10 Q board. Other thing is to check a A5 on a 2 5 8 board. So what would be the "inflection point" here?

Another one: 3 bet freq on unknows?

And another: Suppose the unknown calls your 3 bet. You miss completelly ( random boards ). Which freq you c bet when u miss?

Sorry for all those questions... I dont know if iam beggning to get inconvenient here. Nevertheless I can arrange a date with my mom too.

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Cool questions: Do u do a college? ( xit, dont know right how to ask that now in english ) Do you believe in god / follow some religion? Favorite movies?

It's hard to talk about a true inflection point but strong top pairs are usually the worst ones I bet for value. On Q106 for example I would bet QJ but maybe check something as strong as Q9. You have to determine weather you think you can get 3 streets of value, and if you can't then it might be better to check the flop and go for the last 2 streets. If your opponent is passive though remeber and check / calls a lot of draws and does that on the turn also, then going for the first 2 and checking the river can also be best.

on a board like 258 I might bet the flop with 89 but it might be unrealistic to get 3 streets of value with that hand. A hand like Q8+ i certainly would bet the flop and try to get 3 streets depening on how the board ran out.

Again i dont have a 3 bet frequency %, but it all depends on how they react to a 3 bet. If they are spewing out of control, I certinaly would not look to 3 bet them lite. If they are playing tight and straightforward, and not making plays postflop, then I would look to 3 bet them with a very wide range of hands.

I c-bet a high % of the time in 3 bet pots, I just try to stay away from really coridnated boards when i have air, as in 23s when it comes 910J thats an extreeme exambple but you get the idea.

Other questions: I went to the University of Maryland for about a year but am no longer currently in college. I am born and raised Jewish although I am not that religious. Some of my favorite movies are Pulp Fiction, memento, forgetting sarah marshall, superbad.

[Zugwat]

Originally Posted by bfox121

one more question by the fox if i may....
people seem to be turning into total nits when it comes to playing high stakes games,nobody seems to want to plays 25/50 because so and so,did a video for CR's ect.

do you think this is going to continue and get worse (to the point that 10/20 only has 1 table going between FT and stars)?

do you think this is breeding better players or are players seeming to over-estimate their villians abilities (and their own)never playing for larger stakes and getting worse/turning into nits?

i just remeber about a year/2 years ago the games would run more often and people were more fearless...

it may just be that semi-bad players aren't making it to those stakes anymore but i'll ask anywaay

I think the games are most likely going to stay the way they are for a while, but I'm not basing this off anything except my own inclinations. Its different for me though and I'm never truly aware of the state of the games because most of the games for me depend on a set few people and whose around and wants to play.

I'm sure the games are getting tougher with training sites and coaching and everything, but the players that are truly motivated and want to get better are the ones that will and will be able to beat the games and move up. There are still plenty of players that maybe will belong to training sites but dont take the time to really absorb the information, think about their own game and improve upon it.

I feel like there will always be an influx of fish that take shots that feed the games, but if you truly want to beat the game and be a winner at your stakes, and move up, you have to learn how to beat the regulars, which means staying one or several steps ahead of them.