HUSnG vs HU cash

[Nostalgica]

I played 115s a lot, but haven't played much lately due to university. Occasionally played fish at the 200s and twice at 500s (sharkscope/previous history) but have not played those games with consistency.

I don't plan on moving up too soon what with work and such, so I'll be around the hundreds for the most part. I play 3 tables at the same time mostly. I can do 4-5, but I really don't think it's good, especially when playing higher stakes, unless it's against the same player.

I also play a lot of cash, so I don't really have the opportunity to focus as much, as I'm grinding up money for WSOP this year, so I don't want to be focusing too much, so that's partially it. As much as I like HU, 24 tabling cash games just generate much more money.

I think 57.5s is def the easiest stake to be playing but still making a lot of money, and I find myself playing it even now when I don't want stress. 115s you genuinely have to avoid some players now and then, if you're running bad etc, which sucks, because I prefer to just sit everyone.

[podbelski]

@Nostalgica:

You may want to get sharkscope in the future and take good notes. That way if a good player sits you will see his note in the lobby.

you writing notes in your vids, is it for sharkscope? another thing, at least on FT, once I registered to tourney and someone dropped to my table I can't unregister, so what's the point of showing notes in the lobby? I don't sit at other guys tourneys now. As for in-game notes, I'm happy with in-built noting engine... I mean, right now I don't clearly understand the purpose of sharkscope

I tried Popopop replayer but it refuses to parse FTP histories, I thought maybe you might have a quick clue why is that. (Not a language problem, using english)

[Nostalgica]

This is generally for sitting second. At mid-high stakes you will not want to only sit first, and you will want to sit against weak regs or bad players who play often. You will actually run into losing fish sometimes who sit first especially during off-peak hours, so the first thing you do is snap sit them when you see an orange or red, or whatever label in the lobby.

The notes I am typing on in the videos is the stars notes file, and the notes will show in-game when I play, and any changes will be reflected there.

Also, sharkscope stats will definitely affect my in-game decisions, the key is to not overly rely on them, but make tacit and careful assumptions based on the many reads you will slowly develop. In my videos, I do address changes in opinion with relation to sharkscope stats throughout the match. Overall, first hand notes >>> sharkscope stats, but more information is generally a good thing.

FTP histories should work. Did you select the correct site to read the hand history in?

If not, you can always do it through HEM.

[podbelski]

omg screwed it twice, seems was in a hurry so didn't noticed HEM can replay the tourney, and popopop has a combobox to choose HH format. No prob now.

Well, the pre-touney dynamics on these stakes are so high on Fulltilt I never have time to look the notes on the guy who's opened a tourney. In a few seconds at most someone sits second, maybe on higher stakes this is not a problem.

Ok, now I think there are so much fish (and player pool is huge) at $6 I can just open tourneys myself and do not bother about anything else. FWIW, I've played around 100 of them already and always with an unknown opp every time (unless we rematch obv)

[podbelski]

Hmm... Right after I moved to turbos I stuck!

I mean, I'm breakeven for 2 days, mostly due to suckouts (even 2-outered several times). But that does not frustrate me much. The problem is the speed is so high really you must bust the villain VERY quickly or will be forsed to play 10-15bb stacks, what negates the edge and skyrockets the variance. Running about 6bi under "Luck adjusted winnings"

Just moved back to normal speed, now I see the difference

[Nostalgica]

Against very bad players, your edge at the higher stacks will be significant, but against mediocre sane players, your edge is not that high at the lower blinds anyway, and most of your edge is at the 15-30bb stack sizes, making turbos a good idea, for PokerStars especially. That said, reg speeds definitely allow for more edge, especially at FTP. Hourly, however, is far superior for turbos at the higher stakes for most players. I personally prefer regulars but have almost completely transitioned to turbos for the sake of putting in volume. Part of becoming a good turbo player is developing useful reads with relatively little history and making accurate and useful estimations and assumptions on your villain's tendencies.

[podbelski]

Bigger stack really helps me beat weak opps (on reg speed I can afford to bite their stack to 1/5 of mine, than lose a flip and bite them again, like 2-3 times before stacks become 10-15bbs and forced to push-fold).

Another thing, seems I'm losing a level of thinking when playing two tables instead of one... Like my adjustment speed and accuracy degrades... There was the same problem when playing 4+ tables 6max, sad that I can't play even 2 HU right now

Do you chop at all? If I see I'm playing a guy who I do not have very clear edge and it seems we are coming to push-folding I like chopping, saves time and 0 variance

[Nostalgica]

There's is a new meta between regs these days is that chopping may be a good idea, but you still don't chop because a reg may take advantage of your seeming weakness and bully you around so you stay off the tables until they've got a table going even if he has no edge (happens at the higher stakes). If I missat someone, I'd just say hi and strike up a conversation and mention I didn't sit on purpose. If they don't say anything, then I don't say anything afterwards. Most regs aren't going to have a strong edge aginst me anyway.

As for multi tabling, you just have to get used to it, and get used to your standard lines and what to do in other situations. That's the best I can think of because I'd always been used to playing many tables, though I could barely play 3 a few months ago and can now comfortable play 4.

[podbelski]

Have you tried playing 1 table now? Don't you feel the difference?

Cause when I play 2 at once it really seems for me I'm comfortable, but surprizingly the result is worse... And when I switch to 1 I really see many small things I miss when multitabling, and they give me an edge

[Nostalgica]

Well I've done hand history reviews similar to the videos. Notice that all those games were played while playing 3-4 tables, and overall I do not notice myself making plays that I would not make while 1 tabling too much, and when I do it's due more due to it being a while back than the effects of 4 tabling. Do I play better with fewer tables? Certainly, but the effect is too small for it to matter, definitely not enough to make it better for my hourly.

Does it mean it's the same for you? No. I have extensive experience with multi tabling and 20-24 tabled for a large part of my "career" before I went to play HU, which puts me in a category that is apart from even most 2+2 or poker forum regs, not in poker skill but in the ability to multi table. One super high stakes players who are known to multi table HU very well is skates/psimalive, or rypac. Spamz0r and Cog Dissonance, for instance, however, play only 1 table most of the time, and no one can really argue again Spamz's results.

The problem of becoming robotic, however, is something that I do recognize myself doing. There was a session where I used table ninja and it completely messed with my head and made me stop thinking about bet sizing. I am especially susceptible to that because I am used to making fast decisions and as a result can "comfortably" get into the groove of doing such.

The only real solution aside from having a strong "robotic" game ("C" game), which is possible but not optimal, is a lot of coffee or at least concentrate, and think through your decision. Sometimes I talk to myself while playing, or at least think in my head. It helps keep myself concentrated.

The key is to keep your intensity high, and be alert all the time. It may strain a bit, but the more you get used to it, the better.

I have tried playing only one table, and I doubt very highly there is any difference of me playing 1 or 2 tables. The amount of precision in my decisions is mostly determined by how hard I think, and not how much time bank I have since I rarely need to touch the timebank, so unless I force myself to use more time, 1 table will be the same as 2, and if I can force myself to think more 1 tabling, there is no reason why I can't do that with 2 also, if you get my reasoning.

Until the timebank become and issue and is straining my "attention" resource, multi tabling is not going to have an effect on my ability, and currently I do not get near this threshold until I play 4 tables, where I do feel it somewhat, but mostly it affects my ability to take complete notes, and even then I've been improving at it.