Recent Play and Responses

Well I have stepped back from my game and gone over hand histories to see where I can change things for the better. One thing I noticed was that I was gambling too early towards too many players. Let me explain. For example I have AQs one off the button and there has been a min raise from early poistion. The blinds are 75-150. I was raising all in looking for a double up to early. I was risking my stack of say 2000, to win 575. A good idea yes, but risky. The button, SB BB or the early raiser could have a big hand or any pocket pair to which I am behind. I think it would be +ev to push A9+ 66+ KT+ QJ on the button when blinds are 200-400 four handed rather than early. I think I am a better player than atleast 90% of the players I play and I was giving them a 50-50 chance to beat me.

I have also tried to improve the way I play AQ and pocket pairs like 88, 99, TT. Instead of going all in preflop with AQ, I am trying to raise enough preflop that players are almost pot committed but not quite. Then if the flop looks harmless ie no K or J, push all in. I want to give him a reason to fold. This way I can win three ways. 1) he folds 2) he calls but I hit an ace or queen on the turn or river 3) he calls with AJ or AT. It is true that I am giving him a reason to fold, but he may well have hit his card on the turn or river if we were all in preflop. It is also true I am giving him a chance to draw out on me but I still have outs if he calls, and he may also put me on an overpair and fold.

As for pairs, I have done a lot of thinking and came up with something interesting. A pair is ahead of two overcards atleast 52-48% of the time. That is if the money goes all in preflop. However, take away the turn and river and the odds are much better. Lets say I have 99 and I raise enough not to make him pot committed but enough to make a push on the flop make sense. If the flop is a good one ie no AKQ, I push all in. I give him a reason to fold. I take away his turn and river outs. I know this is not perfect and I am still toying with it, but last night I played a set of four and had one wion and two thirds. Nothing outrageous but better than past results.

I dont have the numbers for yesterday in front of me, (I am at work during an off period) but I will post those tonight. I am hoping to play some tonight, so I may just add them together and post just before I go to bed.

Now for some overdue responses. Sorry for taking so long.

Thanks to cell1919 for reading my blog and dropping a comment. It is nice to know my poker ramblings are read by others.

Yorkshire Pudding, the reslolution is 1280 x 800 resolution and can easily, very easily, hold 4 tables of stars. However, I do not believe a Mac supports Poker Tracker or Poker Ace Hud as of yet, although with all the articles I have read recently about Macs and poker, I can see them being Mac-friendly in the future.

Dale, thanks for the links about ICM and flopturnriver.com. I know my swing will change. just cant wait till it does.