Poker

[Garja]

I posted some comment on youtube here and there, you might catch them if you check related videos.
Anyway, I always was on the cheating side, even if far from sure.
It just seems more likely than just doing a random spite call. You just don't spite call with J high when 90% of opponent bluffs have your hand crushed. Just knowning the rules is enough to understand that, even for an amateur.
And since she wasn't ape level tilted I don't see how she could act irrationally there. The risk of looking a dumbass usually holds back even fishes from making such emotional calls. More so if there are 130k at stake (which I don't buy it's peanuts for her or his partner).
I also don't think she's good enough to figure out that Garrett could most likely be on one of the two low combo draws. Or if she was, I'd expect her to stress that more in her post hand thinking process. Instead she is basically unable to come up with one simple but strong argument to justify the call.

Garrett's paper is a collection of not conclusive proofs with regard to the specific hand. However those facts do point out that the two were basically colluding.

The HCL employ story tho, if true (that he moved the filing-cabinet to cover the security cam) seems quite probative that something fishy was going on with players' hole cards.

[Goodspeed]

You just don't spite call with J high when 90% of opponent bluffs have your hand crushed. Just knowning the rules is enough to understand that, even for an amateur.

Agree with the rest of your post but this is debatable I think. Sure, it's unlikely for someone with her level of experience and coaching to make that call but not unthinkable imo. People who, from the beginning, treated the game like a math problem (most pros, me, presumably you) are unable to relate to a player who often makes plays based purely on a gut instinct like "he doesn't have it" and never calculates any odds at all in those hands, when a lot of people actually play that way.

I have a colleague who played poker online during the boom (2000s) and won some money. I know he played a lot because he said he's had multiple royal flushes when I've had none in like 100k hands. That might be him embellishing stuff but still, he played.

When I showed him this hand, at first he didn't understand what the big deal was. I had to explain to him the odds stuff and why that was an insane call. That contributed to me leaning not cheating because maybe someone with experience could make that play after all, if their approach to the game was wrong (in his case, old-fashioned). Currently leaning the other way though. A real roller coaster this is.

It also made me doubt my colleague ever won money playing poker but he's not known for making shit up so idk.

[Garja]

Debatable for sure as I'm sure there are whales out there who will make similar calls (I've encountered pretty spastic/nonsense play even online). However, given the situation and the character it just seems unlikely to me.
Either that or I am missing out how tilted she actually was (and she was hiding it pretty damn well I have to say).

[Goodspeed]

I'm like 60-40 towards cheating at this point but the current leading theory doesn't feel plausible at all. Bryan, while controlling the camera, sent out signals to RIP who then signaled to Robbi? Why the middleman? Sure, RIP and Robbi were colluding but the whole middleman signaling theory feels like a stretch. Also, Bryan chose this hand to cheat in? And Robbi somehow thought it was a good idea too? And after cheating that whole session, that's when Bryan chooses to steal 15k off her stack? Of course there's all the evidence and just the insane play itself, but it still doesn't sit right.

[Goodspeed]

@Garja Any study material to recommend that isn't too dry?
What would you say were the lessons that helped you improve the most while around my level? (my level seems to be 10-15 BB/100 at 2NL, unsure but probably slightly losing at 5NL)

[Garja]

I'm like 60-40 towards cheating at this point but the current leading theory doesn't feel plausible at all. Bryan, while controlling the camera, sent out signals to RIP who then signaled to Robbi? Why the middleman? Sure, RIP and Robbi were colluding but the whole middleman signaling theory feels like a stretch. Also, Bryan chose this hand to cheat in? And Robbi somehow thought it was a good idea too? And after cheating that whole session, that's when Bryan chooses to steal 15k off her stack? Of course there's all the evidence and just the insane play itself, but it still doesn't sit right.

Ye the whole story is not crystal clear and surely Bryan dude seems a bit of a scape goat.
Technically speaking I think Robbi was the one who received the signal and she was reporting the informations to Rip to justify the decisions (hence the instances where they whisper each other at the table). Maybe there was no signaling and Rip was just giving her constant advice with gestures and stuff, and it just happened that in the Garrett's hand she went for the call even with a terrible holding (under Rip's advice of standing up against Garrett's bluff). Who knows. Definetely something fishy was going on tho.

@Garja Any study material to recommend that isn't too dry?
What would you say were the lessons that helped you improve the most while around my level? (my level seems to be 10-15 BB/100 at 2NL, unsure but probably slightly losing at 5NL)

Coaching is the way in poker. It just massively speeds up the process of learning. You can learn on your own but will take more time, even just to find proper sources of info.
I've been coached for the micro stakes, then did 1 year CFP with another coach for more mid-stake oriented informations.
You can find free stuff on youtube nowadays or on some sites such as Upswing poker.
This is a good youtube channel by a poker coach (from RIO) suitable for low and mid stakes.
Also https://www.runitonce.com/ if you're willing to pay, but I'd rather get a coach.

[Goodspeed]

CFP is an interesting concept, seems like the play if I was taking it seriously, but definitely too much of a commitment for me. Will check out that YT channel tho, thanks

[don_artie]

@Goodspeed wdym? reddit is retarded, it's clear she cheated from the start unless she is so incredibly stupid that she doesnt know her first name or how to read her hand or whatever else because thats the only other explanation to make that call. but she has been on stream other times and at least knows where she is etc so she cheated

[Goodspeed]

Noticing a pattern. The better people are at poker the more likely they are to think she cheated. Just really hard for an experienced player to believe she could ever make that call apparently.

Explains why /r/poker was so pro-Robbi at first lol

[Goodspeed]

Been trying to mix more bluffs in because I think I don't bluff enough, but it's hard to find the right spots. Is the following out of line?

My reasoning was that his range is full of hands that would fold to a double barrell on this kind of board, I'm blocking KJ and I have decent equity with my flushdraw. So it felt like a good spot? But is it better than simply taking a cheap river?
The big size on the turn raise is bad probably, I wasn't thinking about sizing there tbh.

[chris1089]

I decided to take a look at some of my statistics. Seems like I'm in a similar position to you @Goodspeed . Winrate of 15BB/100 at 2NL. Though this is over all my hands - if you take out the first few thousand it's about 30BB/100.

[Goodspeed]

Nice, you should try 5NL maybe you'll fare better than I did. My win rate at 2NL is indeed similar. Keep in mind that graph is pre-rake though. Rake is about 10 BB/100.
I'm almost back up to 5NL bankroll after randomly getting $27 from a daily flipout

Who are you on GGpoker?

[chris1089]

WilyJackdaw @Goodspeed

[chris1089]

2NL is very simple really. Bet when you've got it, know the spots to bluff in, and fold any kind of weak holding/ bluff catcher.

[Goodspeed]

I quit playing soon after my last post but started up again a few weeks ago. @Garja Your carrot corner tip was absolute gold. Pete Clarke, though he rambles and his jokes often miss the mark, is an excellent teacher. I think he understands very well what players around my level need to hear. I've been watching his content while playing and already feel like it has improved my game a lot.

I'm probably nearing 250k total hands played and it feels like I've finally come a long way plugging my biggest leak, which is overcalling in general but in particular big bets on the river. The strategy I implemented to plug it is to force myself to go back to 2NL and win back the money I punted by calling in a spot where, upon further review, I should've obviously folded. I think also, slowly but surely, I've come to learn that people just have it when they jam the river. 5NL players clearly criminally underbluff, so I'm bluffcatching very selectively now (only against regs and with nut blockers) and in the rare cases where I do I'm usually right.

My next focus is in trying to bluff more myself. I've tightened up my autopilot cbetting (my turn cbet % used to be like 90%) but I'm definitely not bluffing enough, especially as the defender, and I think it can be highly profitable against this pool. But I don't yet know the spots, it's not something that's really been on my radar when I've had so many other things to improve on.

My win rate in 5NL since I started again is about 10 BB/100 over a sample of 15000 hands, but I'm pretty sure I haven't been running particularly well. With rakeback it's probably over 20 BB/100, if we're counting the daily flipouts as rakeback (I've ran well in them).

Are you still playing Garja? Last you said you were on a downswing at 100NL iirc? How about @chris1089 and @don_artie?

[Garja]

Hey, glad you liked his content, he's indeed a very good coach for anything below 200nl (and quite sound even for higher stakes).
Yes I'm still playing, it's my job atm. Lately I've been playing mostly 200nl and even some 500nl shots (on very selected tables), even tho I'm in vacation mode kinda so I'm doing limited volume.

It's funny that you bumped this thread exactly today, cause it just happen that gtowizard launched a major update that in its current state it is basically a very accessible RTA tool. I hope they fix it soon adding some real anticheat measure or it is going to be a serious problem for those who used to make a living with online poker.

[Goodspeed]

Yeah I guess with RTA becoming more and more accessible, the death of online poker is a matter of time. You moving to Vegas then?

[don_artie]

I quit playing soon after my last post but started up again a few weeks ago. @Garja Your carrot corner tip was absolute gold. Pete Clarke, though he rambles and his jokes often miss the mark, is an excellent teacher. I think he understands very well what players around my level need to hear. I've been watching his content while playing and already feel like it has improved my game a lot.

I'm probably nearing 250k total hands played and it feels like I've finally come a long way plugging my biggest leak, which is overcalling in general but in particular big bets on the river. The strategy I implemented to plug it is to force myself to go back to 2NL and win back the money I punted by calling in a spot where, upon further review, I should've obviously folded. I think also, slowly but surely, I've come to learn that people just have it when they jam the river. 5NL players clearly criminally underbluff, so I'm bluffcatching very selectively now (only against regs and with nut blockers) and in the rare cases where I do I'm usually right.

My next focus is in trying to bluff more myself. I've tightened up my autopilot cbetting (my turn cbet % used to be like 90%) but I'm definitely not bluffing enough, especially as the defender, and I think it can be highly profitable against this pool. But I don't yet know the spots, it's not something that's really been on my radar when I've had so many other things to improve on.

My win rate in 5NL since I started again is about 10 BB/100 over a sample of 15000 hands, but I'm pretty sure I haven't been running particularly well. With rakeback it's probably over 20 BB/100, if we're counting the daily flipouts as rakeback (I've ran well in them).

Are you still playing Garja? Last you said you were on a downswing at 100NL iirc? How about @chris1089 and @don_artie?

I don't play much, but occassionally a series. this is the next up;

https://paste.pics/df39b0d19228374089283ba696551ae9

[Garja]

Yeah I guess with RTA becoming more and more accessible, the death of online poker is a matter of time. You moving to Vegas then?

I've been considering Malta for a while. Still undecided.

[Goodspeed]

I don't play much, but occassionally a series. this is the next up;

https://paste.pics/df39b0d19228374089283ba696551ae9

Is that a series of tournaments? How large is the field generally?

[don_artie]

A series of tournaments yes. Idk lets say 300-400 entrys for the side events and 800-1000 for the main? Dont know

[Goodspeed]

Not bad

[Dolan]

Yeah I guess with RTA becoming more and more accessible, the death of online poker is a matter of time. You moving to Vegas then?

I've been considering Malta for a while. Still undecided.

I had an AOE3 team games mate from Game Ranger who was a professional poker player. He was from France but moved to Malta to avoid paying taxes. He was making a lot of money back then, enough to buy a house and for everyday expenses. I think he also invested in real estate.
But that was like 9-10 years ago, I don't even remember. He said something about online casino laws in France making it difficult to make money from poker. But a lot of stuff changed since then, so I'm not aware how different things were back then compared to now.
So Malta used to be a destination for poker players even years ago.

[Garja]

Malta is probably top destination in Europe for Poker. Poker is recognized as a profession and there is a favorable taxing system (even tho online poker is "tax free" on most Euro countries). Also it has a number of casinos and hosts international tourneys regularly. It's also a vacation place with nice weather but I guess that doesn't change a thing for me personally

[Goodspeed]

Built up enough of a roll, gonna take a shot at 10NL wish me luck boys