Learning from the Pros- Hand History Edition

What up?!??!

There are times in poker when you just feel as if your opponent has your number. He has been outplaying you all day and you just can't seem to beat him in any pot. Then along comes a hand where he owns you so damn hard you just have to insta quit your session. In a fit of rage you toss a monitor off your balcony and laugh in satanic fashion as it narrowly misses a pedestrian. It hurts to know that you are just not up to par and your opponents have crushed your soul with their skillful manipulation of all your weaknesses. In honor of my last few frustrating months, I have put together a few of the hands that sent me into instant depression, with the knowledge that I had just been owned. There is also a lesson here. Learn to play as well as these guys, and you will probably someday be an online megastar.

*** HOLE CARDS ***

Dealt to DRluck3 [As Ac]

Jonah SJ: raises $20 to $40

DRluck3: raises $120 to $160

Sharknebulah: folds

Tim0thee: folds

jasond781: folds

zartrüssel: folds

$hark2u: folds

C-Webb93: folds

mustanggino: folds

Jonah SJ: calls $120

*** FLOP *** [7h 6d 5d]

Jonah SJ: bets $1301.45 and is all-in

DRluck3: calls $1301.45

*** TURN *** [7h 6d 5d] [9c]

*** RIVER *** [7h 6d 5d 9c] [Ad]

*** SHOW DOWN ***

Jonah SJ: shows [8c 8s] (a straight, Five to Nine)

DRluck3: shows [As Ac] (three of a kind, Aces)

Jonah SJ collected $2949.90 from pot

*** SUMMARY ***

Total pot $2952.90 | Rake $3

Ok, at the time I'll admit I was a little frustrated by my opponents play. Looking back on it, I can see why he made the move he did, and really, its pure genius. Now there's no arguing with preflop. He has a pair and he is only facing a small raise, so its obvious he has to see the flop. I think everyone can see that. Now on the flop, it gets a bit more complex. There's a little less than 400 bucks in the pot. I think my opponent sense that I will fold out all the hands hes ahead of if he shoves, so its important that he does that. In my last log I talked about how strong ALL IN is, and this is a perfect example. He wouldn't want the turn to come an Ace or King. So he shoves to find out where he's at. Unluckily for him, he gets the bad news that he's been reduced to a straight draw, but this is one of those times where you just have to be able to rely on your feeling. I can only assume that he knew the turn would deliver him from evil, and he went with it. A nice hand to get inside the minds of a good player, and I think I learned from it.

*** HOLE CARDS ***

Dealt to DRluck3 [5d Ah]

justDgmt: folds

AndrewBoccia: folds

zarifula: folds

ValentjNN: folds

palluss: calls $3

DRluck3: raises $24 to $30

palluss: calls $24

*** FLOP *** [6d Ks 8h]

palluss: bets $42

DRluck3: raises $97.25 to $139.25

palluss: calls $21.70 and is all-in

Uncalled bet ($75.55) returned to DRluck3

*** TURN *** [6d Ks 8h] [4h]

*** RIVER *** [6d Ks 8h 4h] [Kh]

*** SHOW DOWN ***

palluss: shows [7s 5s] (a straight, Four to Eight)

DRluck3: shows [5d Ah] (a pair of Kings)

palluss collected $184.40 from pot

*** SUMMARY ***

Total pot $187.40 | Rake $3

Here's a hand where preflop play is the key to success. My opponent limps in, disguising the strength of his hand well. When I raise to 1/3 of his stack, he can obviously call, since its likely he will double up if he flops well. And wouldn't ya know it! He has flopped very nice indeed with the open ended straight draw. Now it just comes down to whether he feels it or not. Evidentially he did, since the turn delivered him his four, and the STONE COLD NUTS. I really liked the way this guy didn't let me get a read on his hand, until it was too late, and he was all in with the 7 high straight draw. Nice hand sir.

*** HOLE CARDS ***

Dealt to DRluck3 [Js Th]

emotionale: folds

Miss MaiTai: folds

AndrewBoccia: folds

1Spotz: raises $9 to $15

DRluck3: calls $9

*** FLOP *** [9d Ks 8s]

1Spotz: bets $21.90

DRluck3: calls $21.90

*** TURN *** [9d Ks 8s] [3h]

1Spotz: bets $55.25

DRluck3: raises $130.75 to $186

1Spotz: raises $77.30 to $263.30 and is all-in

DRluck3: calls $77.30

*** RIVER *** [9d Ks 8s 3h] [6d]

*** SHOW DOWN ***

1Spotz: shows [7s 7d] (a pair of Sevens)

DRluck3: shows [Js Th] (high card King)

1Spotz collected $598.40 from pot

*** SUMMARY ***

Total pot $600.40 | Rake $2

Here's one where my opponent relies on his "soul reading" capabilities. You can see that although there are three overcards on the board, and he is facing a committing raise, my opponent looked down the barrel of the shotgun and said, "Fuck it, if 77 isn't good here, I don't know when it is good." Gotta say, I'm legitimately impressed with the balls required to go with your read here. Honestly, I couldn't do it, and that's why this guys a top notch professional, and I'm just his little poker bitch.

Finally, its time for THE REAL GEM OF THEM ALL! My opponent here shows commitment, balls of steal, and total aggression, using a few techniques I discussed in my previous post. Let's take a gander...

*** HOLE CARDS ***

Dealt to DRluck3 [Kc Jc]

klupko69: raises $20 to $30

dougiedan678: calls $30

DRluck3: raises $96 to $126

AndrewBoccia: folds

p.stefano68: folds

C-Webb93: folds

klupko69: calls $96

dougiedan678: calls $96

*** FLOP *** [4h 2h Js]

klupko69: bets $976.70 and is all-in

dougiedan678: folds

DRluck3: calls $976.70

*** TURN *** [4h 2h Js] [4d]

*** RIVER *** [4h 2h Js 4d] [6h]

*** SHOW DOWN ***

klupko69: shows [Jh Th] (a flush, Jack high)

DRluck3: shows [Kc Jc] (two pair, Jacks and Fours)

klupko69 collected $2343.40 from pot

First, its essential that he does not fold preflop. If he did, the hand would be over and then he couldn't win it. So he does a good job by calling this 3-bet out of position. While I can't really give him the credit for being out of position, I can no doubt know that he's aware of the power of out of position. He gets to bet first! And bet he will...

Ok, so he's flopped pretty well here. He has a weak top pair and a nice flush draw to go with it. Great! Now the key is to shove. We don't want to let either of the other two players in the pot put a dime in with a worse hand! Get those aces, kings, and queens outta here! The 3x pot shove is intimidating enough to fold out tons of hands, and a better player could probably fold my hand, but I just clicked call anyways, and to my dismay my opponent had the flush draw. As we know, you hit your draw more often than not, and he gets it on the river. I think I should learn from this mistake and be folding in this spot from now on, but for the moment, I'm just going to go kickbox a chimpanzee and think about how all these guys kicked my ass.

Peace guys.

DRluck The Third

Keys to being a Successful Online Poker Fishcake

Ok! By clicking this link you have taken your first step. Today could be the day you break out and become an online poker superstar. Below I will break down in just a few easy steps how you can become like some of the greats today. And don't worry. You won't have to put a seconds worth of thought into it because its just that easy. Trust me.

The first thing you'll want to do is establish a percentage of hands you feel comfortable playing. I prefer to go with about 75% because it is enough that your opponents know you are not scared and not so much that they think you're a lunatic. I recommend limping in with about half these hands, and raising the rest. Remember to go with your gut. 310 offsuit might not necessarily be in the top 75% of hands, but I can't tell you the amount of times I've folded a hand only to see the perfect flop. If you feel it, it just might be coming.

If someone raises you before the flop you might be tempted to fold. This is not the time to wimp out! NEVER fold before the flop once you put a chip in! Preflop is only 1/4 of the game. You will still have the flop, turn, and river to outplay or outluck your opponents.

A lot of people you come across will suggest playing hands in position. You should dismiss these donks and their advice. After all when you are out of position YOU CAN BET FIRST! This is important because you can take the initiative in pots. If you called a raise with 74 and the flop is AK9 you can just bet right into the raiser and try to make him fold. If you are in position and the raiser bets, you are basically screwed. So clearly, playing out of position is better. NEVER give up on a pot. As long as you have outs stay in there until the end. Remember, draws hit more often than they miss, so don't worry about your opponents large bets. In fact, he will probably check the river anyway, so even if you miss (which is unlikely) you can just shove all in and make him fold. Don't worry about the size of the pot, ALL IN is the best way to intimidate your opponent into folding his cards.

Finally, we get to the most important part of becoming an amazing poker player. You need to mix it up. If your opponents start figuring out your tendencies, its trouble time. The only way to effectively do this is to be completely random. Hell, if you don't know what you're doing, how on earth are they going to figure it out. Flush draw? Randomly select between a 2x pot overbet and a minbet. If you start timing out and haven't made up your mind stick with old faithful. ALL IN! As long as you keep on mashing with total disregard for logic, you will do fine. Just make sure you don't start thinking. That's when things go south.

Later Nimrods,

DRL III

The Running of My Mouth

Arrrrrrrrg! Another chat ban! Here is the conversation I had with Stars.

Hello DRluck3,


We are writing to inform you that we have suspended your chat privilege for 1 month as a result of your chat on 2011/12/04.


The use of vulgarity when addressing another player is not allowed.

When asterisks are seen during chatting, it is a warning that what is being put into the chatbox is not allowed. Using spaces or other characters, or otherwise defeating the censor is a violation of the Card Room Rules.

Your chat privilege will be reinstated automatically once the suspension period is over. There is no need to write to support.

Our goal at PokerStars is to be a fun place to play, where everyone can feel comfortable. Abuse and other disruptions to the games takes away from everyone's enjoyment, and therefore will not be tolerated.

We thank you for your cooperation.


Regards,

PokerStars Chat Moderation Team



The following chat was observed

any of u dbags wanna play HU?

fkin gap toothed clown

First of all. The way they have this quotes is out of context. I called the guy a gap toothed clown b/c his response to my HU challenge to the table (see the chat post) was something regarding my mother and he was from the UK. As I also noted in my chat post, it is important to make rash generalizations, and the first thing I thought of when I saw United Kingdom was bad teeth. Anyway, I didn't think I deserved a ban, so I wrote to them that I thought this ban was nonsense and got this response:

Bypassing of the censor on vulgar words ("fkin") will be sanctioned if found. We informed you regarding this on seven occasions by informing you that: "Using spaces or other characters, or otherwise defeating the censor is a violation of the Card Room Rules."


We are happy to assist you. If there is anything else we can do for you please do not hesitate to let us know.


We wish you a good run at the tables and thank you for playing on PokerStars.


Regards,

Guido

PokerStars Chat Supervisor

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! So my seven previous one month violations really got me boned here. Ok Guido, well played. Keep on fist pumping.

Drluck III

Beware the Bloodbath

What up you bitches and hos?

I just finished November for good. For the first time ever I have secured back to back losing months! I'm down 15k in my last 200k hands. It's an interesting feeling, but its not so bad. Everybody has to lose sometimes right? I've definitely been playing well for about 99% of the time with an occasional mistake/tilt punt tossed in there, but unfortunately Stars has decided to drag a rusty rake across my face and piss in the wounds. But, shit happens. I've been lucky enough to have a great year up to this point, so dragging my dick through a bunch of thorn bushes for 2 months, while not enjoyable, has not really hurt like it might most people. Iron cock ftw!

I have a very positive outlook for December, and of course, the new year. I am at 947k VPP and am planning to finish SNE in about 10-15 days. I looked back at my year and despite my last few months, I feel like my hard work has paid off. I had my first two 6 figure months this year. I am going to make SNE for the first time, and I did this during a time where online poker games are at an all time worst. I feel that my game has improved a lot, and my ability to grind has also improved. I am happy that I have been able to do both because I feel that often people sacrifice the quality of their game in order to put in higher volume.

I'm looking forward to getting back to putting the hurt back on to anyone who braves Pokerstars games in December. I will probably play about 85k hands and I will definitely settle for a nice 30k month at mostly 5/10 and below to finish the year. When I finish SNE I plan to make a post summarizing the year and hopefully have a more entertaining take on things. Just wanted to let all 11 of my followers know that I am still alive and kicking.

Bonus Chat from the first day I got my chat back. Have no clue how I am not suspended again.

DRluck3: The next one of you cok wrenches to do that shit is going to get a personal visit from me.

DRluck3: Going to drill a hole in your eye socket and fill it up with dog sht.

DRluck3: Will be favor to you morons, won't have to see how atrociously you play anymore.

Good luck in your life's conquests.

Drluck III

A sad, sad day

I was going to write a good blog post today, but I changed my mind after today solidified this as my worst stretch in my career as a professional. Back to back months of being right around the break even point (slightly losing actually) in table winnings have me in a tailspin so this short post may as well not exist. The only thing I can really be satisfied with is that at least I've made about 20k in rakeback in that time, so I've probably made enough to cover my exorbitant rent, but I'm certainly not getting any richer. Hopefully I can right this ship before I make elite and head into the new year on an upswing. I'm probably going to just grind 5/10 and under for a while while I try and get out of this bad run. No more shots at all time greats for a while, but I shall return and triump! Peace guys.

DRluck3

Bonus!! Chat Box Manipulation

Yesterday, I received a one month chat ban from PokerStars. It got me to thinking about how incredibly important the chat box is to being a successful poker player. I mean, if you aren't using the chat box to your advantage, what are you really doing with your time? Pretty much any regular on Pokerstars could tell you that I am an avid chatter. Below, I'll outline some important aspects and details of what it takes to become a great chatter.

Berating Regulars

I've put this tactic first because I believe it is the most important aspect of chat dominance. It's important to let regulars know constantly that they are complete and total shit, especially when they have just won a hand off of you. If they win by sucking out, you should start your chat with a nice LOL, then head directly into a rampage of insults. It is important to keep the insults fresh and not use the same insults too often. I would also personally recommend staying away from common stuff like asshole and instead go with two or three part insults such as anal wart seed or cum chugging champion. Threatening the well being of said regulars is also acceptable, but should be kept to one threat per month per player. My favorite personal chat ban so far came as the result of threatening to "burn you all at the stake like a bunch of cracked out gypsies". Whatever you choose, it is essential to let your opponents know that they may have won the hand, but in your eyes they are still worthless trash, and you are at least one hundred times better than them at everything.

Leveling/Confusing/Attention Stealing

These tactics are also very important to your overall success as an online poker player. Many players, just like in a live situation, will only chat when they feel comfortable with their hand. In doing so, they are giving away a huge tell, and reducing their potential for profits. I think that it is important to chat non-stop so that your opponents can not pick anything up.

It is also important to balance what you are chatting about. Don't always be talking about the hand or even to the player who is in the hand with you. Sometimes, before a river bet against player A, I will casually ask Player B if he had a nice night out with his husband last night. This will serve multiple purposes. It has a high potential to tilt Player B who is probably thinking to himself, "WTF, I'm not gay!" but is now starting to question his own sexuality and think about the time he saw the outline of his best friends junk and kinda liked it. Not that there's anything wrong with that. This will no doubt throw off his game. Player A will also be wondering why you don't care about the hand you are in, and will be confused in his decision making.

When you do decide to chat specifically about the hand, make it personal. A good example is right before you shove saying, "Your mom likes when I shove into her". Anything works, but the goal is to keep your opponent from focusing 100% on his decision. Always remember the importance of balance in your chat. Typing "You bout to get bluffed clown" before smashing the pot button can be good, but make sure that you are sometimes actually bluffing. And be sure to show.

HU4Rollz

Whenever a player makes fun of a play you make or tries to use some of the above tactics on you, it is essential to challenge him to a HU4Rollz. This is a win, win situation assuming you don't suck. If the player accepts, you get to play a clown Heads up and make him cry when you take all his money and send him to the streets to beg for change. In the far more likely scenario that he refuses, makes some lame excuse, says he will play after his period ends, etc, you have showed him that he is beneath you and that you cannot be outchatted led alone outplayed. You know all the tactics, and you know when to use them. You have kept your alpha male status by showing that you aren't scared of a damn thing while you are sitting at your monitor clicking buttons. Inside, you know that if said victim ever did play you, you would send him back to his village to eat out of the family trough and clean the town pigs for spare change. Unfortunately, despite being an impish button mashing moron, he will probably be just smart enough not to engage you, but at least you showed him that you are the chat box boss.

Outright Fun

This is the only section where I think it is fair game to get the recreational players involved. You would never want to make fun of their playing style, as they are just there to have a good time, and as long as you arent Maxxmeister or one of the other idiots that can't even win with their massive bumhunting techniques, they are probably helping you pay your bills. Still, sometimes its fun to engage them in some harmless chat, and some will actually enjoy it. I particularly like to see where they are from and make some obviously extremely stereotypical comment about their country to stir up some fun. You can also make fun of their avatars if they have a picture of their child, wife, dog or anything that could be personal. Not only is it somewhat entertaining to have nonsense conversation about nothing; it will also help to distract the recreational player, and they might make a mistake that benefits you.

Sometimes, its just fun to see what people will get involved in chat wise. Occasionally, when games are really slow and I'm having a tough time getting a bunch of tables up I will just start heaving off the wall comments out there and see what sticks. I once had a 20 minute chat about how my pet zebra had just been stolen from my manor. I don't know if the other guy really believed my elaborate story, or was just in the mood for some bullshit, but it happened.

It really pains me that PokerStars has banned my chat. Without these chat tactics, I am probably just your average ABC Nit grinder, and I'm sure my winrate will suffer for the remaining 29 days of the ban. I just can't wait to get back to chatting. GL in the chat boxes.

Pat

An Introductory Mind Spew

Yo! I'm DRluck3. I am 23 years old for about a month longer and I play mid and high stakes No Limit primarily on PokerStars. In the last year I've lived in four different cities and three different countries. I'm American, and had settled in Las Vegas, but after Black Friday I was forced out of the county.

Originally, my girlfriend, amy8bug, and I packed up and headed to Vancouver, which was fine, but nothing special in my opinion, and we feared the cold of winter. After the World Series we packed again and flew south to the Dominican Republic, where I currently sit in a chair by the pool writing this post. It is beautiful here, but far from perfect, so in December we plan to move back to Canada. This time we will try Toronto, where hopefully we will brave the cold, and finally have a place to call our temporary home until the US regulates online poker.

I will say now that this first post is going to be kinda spewy and stream of consciousness as I try to spit out a bunch of junk I've been thinking about. I'm writing this primarily because putting my thoughts into words is sort of therapeutic. If one or more of you enjoys it, so be it. However, the coming posts will hopefully be much more organized. I plan to make a post about each of the cities I've lived in, as well as a post summarizing my year once I reach 1 million VPPs and achieve Supernova Elite. This post will definitely include some tips for those of you desiring either to become a professional poker player or make SNE. Now, onto the junk.

At the moment, I am extremely frustrated. I set very high standards for myself and I have been having a very successful year, basically reaching all my goals, and with my final goal of SNE very much in sight, I am on the brink of a great year. Yet, I find myself frustrated with a few things in my poker game of recent. I am currently on an 80k hands BE stretch, which has been extremely rare for me since I became a pro a few years back. I believe that my poor run is causing me to "tilt" and hemorrhage money in spots where I would generally make the correct decision and save money. This obviously exacerbates the problem and lengthens the losing streak. I also think I am beginning to feel a bit burnt out and this is causing me to lose focus and make poorer plays. I think that being burnt out at this stage of the year, when I've pretty much has 9 months to make SNE, is understandable, but I am still frustrated with myself for playing my C and D game far more than my A game. If any of you have any tips for controlling tilt and maintaining focus, I would be very interested to hear them. All in all, I try to keep things in perspective, and I can recognize that I'm having a nice year, but when it comes to my job I am a perfectionist and always striving to do better, crush harder, and make more money.

I think I am struggling a bit too with the fact that I have let my physical fitness slip this year. I was an athlete growing up and through high school. And although I spent a lot of my college time drinking excess amounts of beer, I always managed to keep myself in good physical shape. However, this year, with all the moving around and the complete lack of a workout facility here in Puerto Plata, I have lost probably about 10-15 pounds of muscle, and packed on a nice layer of flab to replace it. This is one of the reasons, along with not having to ride a golf cart to the grocery store, and having more than one restaurant that serves legitimate food, that Amy and I have decided to forgo the beautiful weather here and move to the blistering cold that Canada offers,. I am sure that returning to a less fat and more muscular physique will be one of my goals for 2012.

I've recently been thinking about how we in the poker world tend to judge success, and I'm actually going to write my next post about that, and leave my "city reports" for later. I promise I will be more organized and concise in my next post. I'm also going to be adding pictures at some point in the near future. Take care.

Pat

UPCOMING ENTRIES:

-Success

-Atlanta

-Las Vegas

-Vacouver

-Puerto Plata

-Beer

-Years Summary/Tips for SNE Chasers

-2012 Goals