Book, Heads Up, Spring Break

The evolution of a poker player was something that I used to read about back in the day. Reading about it was one thing, but experiencing certain parts of it has been another. I have very erratic reading habits. I'll start a book and read a good portion of it. Sooner rather than later, I am often drawn in by another book. Sometimes related and sometimes entirely unrelated to the subject of the last book. My latest engagement with new reading material has been with "Hold'em Poker for Advanced Players" by David Sklansky. I read this book in Novemeber of last year. Much to my dismay, the majority of the book's contents flew right over my head. As a mere five month novice to the game, I still had much to learn before being able to assimilate material from an "advanced" text. Now, fifteen months later, I am reading the same text. The content in the book is outstanding. Sklansky's preface to the actual strategic content of the book sent shivers up and down my spine. The keys to becoming a successful player were right in front of my eyes fifteen months ago, but I was not good enough to recognize the importance of Sklansky's words. He insisted that while the contents of the book would make you a better, the book was not a means to an end. He claims that to become an expert one must study often, think constantly about the game, and spend countless hours at the hold'em tables. As he reiterates time and time again, "There is no substitute for experience."

I used to be very intimitated by the idea of the math behind poker. Lets face facts, poker is a game of math. The math isnt all that scary, though. When seeing poker math in action, I often got lost in the extensive equations. The more I read Sklansky, the more I understand how math works in poker. Math can work in a multitude of ways. In Sklansky's texts I have found that it is not the ability to carry out complex equations which makes one an expert player. It is the ability to consider all of the variables of a particular situation. Any given situation may require the consideration of several variables. Each variable is a piece of impartial information. A skilled player is one who is aware of the variables for any given situation. An expert player is one who can accurately estimate the probability of each variable to come to a conclusive decision on whether to fold, call, or raise. Easy game, right?

That was a rant, but I hope it made some sense because Ive been thinking about that for awhile. I started implementing some heads up into my game. I suck, lol. Ive been playing 1-2 HU. Im learning so much, though. I played against a good player the other day. I have a feeling he was being coached by someone when he was playing me. He was a reg from the 1-2 games when I played there. The reason I think he was being coached was bc he was waitlisted to play me and he was only playing on two tables. Regardless of whether he was being coached or not, I learned alot from the match.

There was one hand that extremely frustrated me. He had been upping his three betting range. I had four bet him recently. He three bet me again, I had T6o - the nuts, obv. I decided to four bet. My logic was that he wouldnt assume Im four betting him light twice in a row. We were about 300bb deep. He calls my four bet out of position on the big blind. K55 flop. He checks, I cbet and he calls. Im thinking that while he could very well have AK, KQ, or AA, the majority of his range is sort of medium to high pocket pair. The turn brings another K. I make a "standard" value bet. He thinks for a bit and calls. DAMNIT! Just fold your TT-QQ. Im desperately trying to rep AK. River brings a Q. Pretty bad card. He checks and I shove. He thinks, and thinks some more. He calls with AQ. At first I thought, "What a horrible call down! He must be tilted from me taking a few buy ins from him earlier." I thought about the hand for a bit, and it didnt take me long to realize that in reality I got owned.

When I make the four bet preflop, my range becomes polarized. Its safe for him to assume that Ill show up with AK, JJ+, or air. While AK and JJ+ constitute a portion of my range, so does air. For instance, I might show up with a big hand 50% of the time and air the other 50%. An expert player is able to deduce a rough estimate of the probabilities of each type of hand within his opponent's "hand range." When I bet on a K55 flop, he made the assumption that the only suitable hands for me to bet on that board would be KK+, AK, or air. He could make the assumption that QQ-JJ would check the flop back. When the turn pairs the K and I bet it strong, it polarizes my range even more. Now my range is confined to KK, AK or air. With AA, I should check back the turn to try to induce calls from smaller underpairs on the river. With two K's on the board, it is mathematically less likely that I hold a K in my hand. The river brought a Q and he check called me with AQ. Im not sure how much this affected his river call. I have a hard time believing he would call down on three streets in a four bet pot for 300 bb's with A high. However, he was not playing the hand based on its strength. He played it based on his hand's value versus my range, to which he clearly gave alot of merit to air.

Even though it cost me some money, the educational value of the hand was worth it to me. What I failed to do was correctly assess the range I was representing. I was trying to rep a narrow range of strong, made hands. I never gave much credit to air - a big mistake. I remember from Phil Galfond's video that it is more effective to represent a wider range of hands while bluffing. If I were to check the flop, I could have repped my entire range. A check there would also indicate that I had some showdown value because he would expect air to bet such a dry flop. Granted, a check could have opened myself up to a bluff on his end, but he should assume that Im at least calling one street after the flop check. Im going to get a HU coach, because the investment should be well worth it. I really like HU poker. And as a former wrestler, I enjoy one on one sports.

On the other side of the fence, some interesting prospects have surfaced in the real world. As advertised earlier, my roomate and I are officially going on spring break to South Padre Island, Texas. Its me, him, and fifteen sororirty sisters from Central Missouri State. Hes from Missouri and one of his friends from home cordially invited us. We gladly accepted and probably would have walked to Texas if we had to. The plan is as follows: drive back to my home in Jersey and stay in AC for two nights. The NJ State Wrestling Championships are the first weekend of spring break in AC. My brother should be wrestling there so Im looking forward to it. We fly out of Philly to Texas on Monday morning and fly back Saturday. Classes resume for us on Tuesday, so well probably head back on Monday. Should be fun, but I first need to get through midterms week at school!