Coached part II: Homework

Stuff I want to check out at the earliest possible convenience:

1. Filter in HEM for big pots on the flop. Basically, Alan has got me 3-betting and squeezing more than I have been before. This in turn has put me in more spots on the flop with a big pot (the relatively rare times that my raises get called) and I've been feeling a bit uncomfortable about how my game there. So, I will try to construct a filter in HEM for these spots and how I'm doing in them. The filter will be something like this:

• All hands except for JJ-AA and AQ/AK.
• Did 3-bet preflop = true
• Saw flop = true
• all hand values worse than two pair.

Now, clearly I will lose a lot of money in these spots. That doesn't make the 3-betting/squeezing unprofitable in itself, because those plays are immediately profitable. No, what I need to make sure is happening is that I'm not losing more than my fair share of money once the flop hits and I don't hit a miracle board. The $24+ that I've put in with my 3-bet/squeeze is dead money at this point and what I want to know is that I'm not losing more than that on average because at that point I'd be essentially better off just giving up immediately unless I flop a monster.

So that's something to investigate.

2. I should be firing a second barrel often (always?) when I whiff the flop, but pick up a strong draw on the turn. The situation didn't come up very often last night during the coaching session so I want to go back a bit in time and see what my standard play for these situations is. I have a feeling I check back the turn often with a strong draw, opting to take the free card. If that's the case, I need to do some pen-and-paper work and figure out what my equity is likely to be and what I perceive his range to be and find out if a semi-bluff makes more sense than trying to hit a 20% draw.

3. At some point, I really do need to spend some serious time with PokeRazor. I've downloaded it, installed it and tried it out but I haven't done the work yet. Shame on me. :(



Will post the results here when I have them.

...

As a sidenote, I'm trying to clear GoldStar on Stars this month for a $100 bonus. A little bit silly, perhaps, with the stakes I'm playing nowadays, but every little bit counts. And why give up free money? But the real reason I put myself up to achieving these goals is because it forces me to put in volume. And I'm a real slacker. Without little mile stones to shoot for, I just don't play as much as I feel I should. This month, I'm hoping for 25k hands. I'm at about 20k right now, which is quite a lot for me. Let's see how I do tonight.