Cold-calling wizards

Among the pros who make coaching videos and play shorthanded 5/10 NL on Full Tilt, you don't see a whole lot of preflop reraising.

They frequently cold call in position rather than 3-bet. Then they gain their edge postflop.

According to my Holdem Manager database:

Leatherass9: 4.8% 3bet, $5,056, 12692 hands
Silentassassin3: 5.2% 3bet, -$3,150, 5,654 hands
Eric Liu, 5% 3bet, $9021, 1554 hands

There are plenty of other players who make a tidy profit by 3-betting more often. In fact, the winningest player in my database 3-bets 8.2% of the time.

Varying styles of preflop raising can be effective. I don't see a trend linking 3-bet percentage to profits.

However, the style practiced by these coaches is consistent.

Holdem Manager

I like the new PokerTracker, but it has a long way to go before it's completely debugged and has all the features I'd like to see. The bugs haven't caused me significant problems, but I know they've been more severe for many players.

So I finally gave in and bought Holdem Manager after hearing so many good things about it. It isn't quite as slick as PT should/will be, but it has lots of features that are just fantastic.

_ You can double click on a player's name in the HUD to flip between their total stats and their current-session stats.

_ You can take notes on players in HM rather than in the poker client.

_ Stats are displayed in a tighter box that takes up less screen space.

_ There are countless popup stats at your fingertips -- far more than PT's default.

_ Easy-to-read hand histories are viewable in a popout window, and they can be exported in several formats (including 2+2 and text).

The heads-up display has always been the most important part of poker database software. Holdem Manager has a clear HUD advantage.

PokerTracker looks like it will be better for away-from-the-table analysis, but it'll take a while for it to catch up with in-game features.

UB and Absolute Cheating, and more PokerTracker

Superusers and Silence: How UltimateBet let players get cheated for millions. Check it out.

---

One cool feature of PokerTracker3 is its ability to generate custom reports based on a variety of statistics.

So far there are five custom reports posted in the PokerTrack repository: Flopped Sets, Big Cards Hit Flop, Pocket Pair Hit Flop, Player Performance Summary and Hands Report-Game Notes Replacement.

The Hands Report is the most practical tool because it allows you to easily review your best and worst hands -- something I had immediately noticed was missing from the new PT3.

The other stats are less useful but more fun, especially Hit Flop With Pair because you can see whether you're connecting with the flop as much as you should on average.

Over 142,527 hands in this database, here's what my Hit Flop With Pair stats look like.

Hand One In
AA 8.7
KK 7.3
QQ 9.0
JJ 6.3
TT 6.4
99 7.8
88 9.8
77 7.5
66 8.2
55 8.2
44 7.5
33 7.9
22 6.6

You flop at least a set one in 8.5 times on average, so you can see that 10 out of 13 pocket pairs are hitting more often than they should for me. I run so good.

PokerTracker3 Impressions

I've been a fan of PokerTracker for a long time because it gives me an edge I wouldn't have otherwise. The ability to analyze my opponents' tendencies as I play has won me countless pots and increased my understanding of the game.

This update to PokerTracker, called PokerTracker3, has been a long time coming. The previous interface had become outdated, while the heads-up display's layout took way too much effort to modify.

The new version of PokerTracker accomplishes its main goals:

1. Hand histories are instantly and easily uploaded, and their data are quickly reflected in the new, integrated heads-up display. PT and PokerAce Hud are now part of the same program.

2. There are countless new statistics to play with, especially details about 3-betting and 4-betting that were unavailable in the previous version. There are also options to compile custom reports based on a wide variety of players, filters and statistics.

3. Graphs showing BB/hands, money/hands, money won with showdown/hands and money won without showdown/hands are available with only one or two clicks.

The Hud and customizable realtime stat display are the most important features, and these work well. I love the interface and all the options.

That said, this new version of PokerTracker needs some improvements. It's still a work in progress, and don't expect this initial commercial release to be without flaws.

I've encountered frequent errors when attempting to display stats for table averages, something that should be fairly simple. I know this will be corrected in an update very soon, based on responses on the PT forums.

There's no option to instantly toggle between overall and per-session stats directly from the poker client screen, a feature that I understand is available in Holdem Manager. I read somewhere that this functionality would also be added later. Even PT's developers acknowledge that HM currently has more features (PT3 costs $90; HM costs $80).

I was also a bit disappointed that there's no "Game Notes" tab in PT3, which I previously used after each session to review how I played my winningest and losingest hands of the day. It's more cumbersome to review individual hands in the new version, although again PT's programmers say they'll correct this shortfall soon.

The TableTracker feature promises to use your database to show stats on players at all tables that you currently have open for an additional monthly fee. This feature doesn't work yet, and I don't think I'll pay for it. I already have SpadeEye for that.

Overall, PokerTracker3 shows a distinct improvement over the old version, with easier hand importation, quicker statistical displays and countless options for analysis. However, it still has some flaws that need to be improved over the next few weeks in order to bring it up to speed.

Fortunately, I have confidence in PT's designers, who have always provided exceptional customer support over the years. They work with the poker community to constantly upgrade their product, and they pay attention to individual difficulties in using the software when problems arise.

New PokerTracker and 3bet stats

PokerTracker3 made its commercial release Thursday after many months of development.

I played a lot of hands today to test it out, and I'll write a more complete review soon. The most obvious improvements are an integrated heads-up display (formerly PokerAce HUD), faster hand history uploading and a wide variety of statistics.

Two of the most important stats are 3-bet percentage and fold to 3-bet percentage, which were not available in the previous version of PT. The availability of this information may gradually change the online poker landscape.

Here's why:

If an opponent raises to $35 from the button in a 5/10 NL game, you can now tell how often a resteal from the blinds needs to be successful to show a profit. A reraise to $120 from the BB shows an immediate profit if your opponent folds to your 3-bet more than 70 percent of the time (.70*$50>.3*$110).

Now we can make these resteal raises liberally with a wide range of cards if an opponent's stats show that he folds to 3-bets too often. Against one player tonight, I even made this kind of move with 73s because I was so sure he would fold:

Free hand converter brought to you by CardRunners

Seat 1: smizmiatch ($1,000) -
Seat 2: migs2 ($1,142) -
Seat 3: utreg ($1,127)
Seat 4: PekingTokyo ($1,015)
Seat 5: HMM_SURE ($340)
Seat 6: XJUSTRUNX ($1,189) -


PRE-FLOP:

smizmiatch posts small blind $5
migs2 posts BIG blind $10
Dealt To: smizmiatch


FOLD utreg
FOLD PekingTokyo
FOLD HMM_SURE
RAISE XJUSTRUNX ($35)
RAISE smizmiatch ($120)
FOLD migs2
FOLD XJUSTRUNX
UNCALLED smizmiatch ($85)
MUCK smizmiatch

smizmiatch collected $80 from main pot

SUMMARY:
Total pot: $80 Rake: $0

I know these 3-betting statistics have been available for a while via Holdem Manager, but I have no experience with that software. I'll have to give it a try soon.

An observant opponent will catch on to what you're doing and eventually play back at you, so you have to be on top of the action and not get too far out of line. But some players, especially major multitablers, are on autopilot. They might fold 20 times before they realize they're being robbed blind.

By stealing more often and getting more aggressive, the new PT enabled me to move closer to the ever-elusive loose-aggressive style. I ran 20/17 in one session and 25/23 in another, compared to my 2008 average at 6-max games of 16/13.

Because more people will start to take advantage of these tactics, the games will continue to get tougher. Strong players will have to be ready to adjust. The defense against a player who 3-bets frequently is to call and 4-bet more often.

Here's a screenshot of my new PT layout on Full Tilt:


I list my stats on three lines:
VP$IP/PFR/WSD
AF/3bet %/Attempt to steal %
Fold to continuation bet %/Fold to 3bet %/Fold BB to steal %

Blind defense

I feel like I fold my blinds too much to steal-happy players on the button, and I'm not going to take it anymore.

In an effort to stop these over-aggressive players always try to rob my blinds, I'm going to attempt to construct a blind defense range. I'll want 55 percent equity against my opponent's range in order to neutralize his positional advantage.

One difficulty is that it's difficult to determine what an opponent who steals X percent of the time is like based on PokerTracker statistics. PT calculates Attempt to Steal percentage using raises from the cutoff or from the button when everyone else in the hand has folded before them. The problem with this calculation is that it results in a lower number than you might expect. I think that's because it takes your steal percentage out of all hands played, not just those where everyone in early positions has folded to you. I still think this exercise might be worthwhile; it's just that these steal figures won't correspond with PT's.

1. Against someone who steals with any two cards:

If I want 55 percent equity against that range, I can defend with my top 65 percent of hands:
22+,A2s+,K2s+,Q2s+,J2s+,T2s+,94s+,84s+,74s+,64s+,54s,A2o+,K2o+,Q4o+,J6o+,T7o+,97o+,86o+,76o

Damn, that's a lot of hands. Any Kx and most Qxo hands, as well as 54s and up.

2. Against someone who steals 50 percent of the time:
22+,A2s+,K2s+,Q2s+,J4s+,T6s+,96s+,86s+,76s,65s,A2o+,K5o+,Q7o+,J7o+,T8o+,98o

I can defend with the top 30 percent of hands:
55+,A2s+,K5s+,Q7s+,J8s+,T8s+,98s,A7o+,A5o,K9o+,Q9o+,J9o+,T9o

3. Against someone who steals 33 percent of the time:
22+,A2s+,K5s+,Q7s+,J8s+,T8s+,98s,A5o+,K8o+,Q9o+,J9o+,T9o

I can defend with the top 20 percent of hands:
66+,A4s+,K8s+,Q9s+,J9s+,T9s,A9o+,KTo+,QTo+,JTo

4. Against someone who steals 20 percent of the time:
66+,A4s+,K8s+,Q9s+,J9s+,T9s,A9o+,KTo+,QTo+,JTo

I can defend with the top 12 percent of hands:
77+,A9s+,KTs+,QTs+,JTs,ATo+,KJo+

All data from PokerStove

New Layout

I had been using the layout below for a while. It had a plain dark background and yellow card backs. On the card fronts, this layout displayed solid four-colored cards, borrowed from the PokerStars Hyper-Simple Theme.

This table background and cards are taken from a very long Full Tilt mods thread on 2+2. The part of the thread linked here contains zip files for avatars, buttons, tables and elements -- more mods than most people will ever need.

But there were a few aesthetic changes that I needed to make.

I found that I preferred a lighter background, like the Stainless Steel used by Kaja. I wanted bigger cards (also included in the 2+2 link above) so I would be able to tell more easily who was in the hand. I decided I felt more comfortable with the traditional white-backed 4-color deck.

I ended up with this. The cards are huge.

Here's a look at the PokerAce layout I'm working with these days:

The left-hand column with white numbers is aggression frequency by street: flop, turn and river.

The green number is VP$IP, and the purple number is Folds to Continuation Bet percentage.

The red figure on the right-hand column is Preflop Raise, the yellow is Went to Showdown and the blue is number of hands.

$1 Rebuy Donkament!

I had a great time at the $1 Rebuy Blogger Donkament on Friday, finishing in second place to IslandBum1 after rebuying about 15 times and sucking out repeatedly. I don't think any tourney has ever made me look like more of a donk, but I guess that's what it's supposed to do.

I want to review some of the more questionable plays I made that may have looked particularly fishy. I'll pick up with hands after the rebuy period ended because that's when actual "poker" was played:

Hand 1:

200/400 Ante 50
Seat 3: dino_burger (25,797)
Seat 5: smizmiatch (10,835)
Dealt to smizmiatch [Ac As]
smizmiatch raises to 1,200
Astin calls 1,200
BuddyDank calls 1,000
dino_burger calls 800
*** FLOP *** [9s 8h 7s]
BuddyDank checks
dino_burger bets 5,150
smizmiatch raises to 9,585, and is all in
Astin folds
BuddyDank folds
dino_burger calls 4,435
smizmiatch shows [Ac As]
dino_burger shows [9c Td]
*** TURN *** [9s 8h 7s] [4s]
*** RIVER *** [9s 8h 7s 4s] [Qc]
smizmiatch shows a pair of Aces
dino_burger shows a pair of Nines
smizmiatch wins the pot (24,320) with a pair of Aces

This is pretty standard, I think. I'm not going to fold what is likely to be the best hand when someone decides to bet out at the pot like that. It felt like exactly what it was -- a strong draw. I was fulling willing to take a coinflip in this situation.

Hand 2:

400/800 Ante 100 - No Limit Hold'em - 23:41:09 ET - 2007/11/02
Seat 1: DontKnow (9,970)
Seat 8: smizmiatch (19,732)
Dealt to smizmiatch [Kh Jh]
smizmiatch raises to 2,400
DontKnow raises to 9,870, and is all in

There was 2,100 in the pot preflop, putting DontKnow's M just under 5. After my raise, there was 4,500 in the pot. After his all-in bet, I had to call 7,470 to win 14,370 -- basically a 2:1 proposition.

Should I have folded here? I put DontKnow on any Ax, any pocket pair or any other playable hand. Against Ax, I'm about a 60:40 dog, against AK, AJ or KQ I'm a 70:30 dog, and against a lower pocket pair I'm in a race situation.

I decided there was too much money in the pot to fold, but I think it's close.

DontKnow showed JJ, but I sucked out a straight on the river, giving me a 34,000-chip stack and leaving me in great shape.

But only a few hands later, I got in trouble again.

Hand 3:

500/1000 Ante 125 - No Limit Hold'em - 23:49:19 ET - 2007/11/02
Seat 2: NumbBono (45,471)
Seat 8: smizmiatch (28,502)
Astin posts the small blind of 500
NumbBono posts the big blind of 1,000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to smizmiatch [7h 9c] on Button
smizmiatch raises to 3,000
Astin folds
NumbBono calls 2,000
*** FLOP *** [7s 6h Qh]
NumbBono bets 5,600

I thought he would bet out with a wide range, including straight and flush draws. I didn't think I was worse off than being up against a Queen. In retrospect, it's obvious that this raise was a mistake.

smizmiatch raises to 15,000
NumbBono raises to 42,346, and is all in
smizmiatch has 15 seconds left to act
smizmiatch has requested TIME
Astin: got awful quiet here
smizmiatch: crap,
smizmiatch: crappy way to go out

At this point, there was 47,752 in the pot, and I had to call 10,377 more. That's about 4:1 pot odds, and I believed that all of my five outs were live. According to PokerTracker, I had a 22 percent chance of winning the hand and I had to call 21 percent of the pot, so on its surface a call was correct.

I didn't have these exact numbers in front of me at the time, but I knew it was basically a toss-up between folding and calling. So I called.

I never know when it's a good situation to make this kind of call in a tourney and when I should try to survive. I always fall back on my cash game knowledge that say if the pot odds dictate a call, you'd be wrong to fold.

smizmiatch calls 10,377, and is all in
NumbBono shows [Qs 8c]
smizmiatch shows [7h 9c]
Uncalled bet of 16,969 returned to NumbBono
*** TURN *** [7s 6h Qh] [3c]
*** RIVER *** [7s 6h Qh 3c] [7d]
NumbBono shows two pair, Queens and Sevens
smizmiatch shows three of a kind, Sevens
smizmiatch wins the pot (58,129) with three of a kind, Sevens
Astin: BOOOOOOOOM!

I didn't stop there. I had many more people to suck out on.

Hand 4:

FullTiltPoker Game #4049972626: Friday Nite Blogger Donkament (30642602), Table 3 - 600/1200 Ante 150 - No Limit Hold'em - 23:56:50 ET - 2007/11/02
Seat 8: smizmiatch (44,854) Button
Seat 9: Astin (12,600) SB
Dealt to smizmiatch [Kc 2h]
smizmiatch raises to 3,600
Astin raises to 12,000 (leaving 450 behind)

I had to call 8,400 to win 6,450. This is a time where I should have folded. What was I hoping for?

I saw Astin's push as a desperation move, and I incorrectly made the call. I wasn't ahead of anything, but that didn't stop me from getting lucky again!

smizmiatch raises to 20,400
Astin calls 450, and is all in
smizmiatch shows [Kc 2h]
Astin shows [As Kd]
Uncalled bet of 7,950 returned to smizmiatch
*** FLOP *** [Tc Ah Qh]
*** TURN *** [Tc Ah Qh] [5h]
*** RIVER *** [Tc Ah Qh 5h] [9h]
smizmiatch shows a flush, Ace high
Astin shows a pair of Aces
smizmiatch wins the pot (27,150) with a flush, Ace high
Astin: oh wow

By this point, everyone at the table hates me. That's what I get for playing like a donk.

Hand 5:

I finally paid for it when I thought the eventual winner was running a bluff. This looked like a good flop for me to rebluff at, but it didn't turn out that way. And who would fold to me at this point anyway?

My only defense is that my PT stats showed IslandBum1's flop aggression at 80 percent, and I figured he would frequently bet at an uncoordinated flop like this with air.

800/1600 Ante 200 - No Limit Hold'em - 0:10:44 ET - 2007/11/03
Seat 7: IslandBum1 (36,336) BB
Seat 8: smizmiatch (64,954) UTG
Dealt to smizmiatch [Qd Js]
smizmiatch raises to 4,500
IslandBum1 calls 2,900
*** FLOP *** [Kc 6s 3h]
IslandBum1 bets 8,000
smizmiatch raises to 35,000
IslandBum1 calls 23,636, and is all in
smizmiatch shows [Qd Js]
IslandBum1 shows [Jd Kd]
Uncalled bet of 3,364 returned to smizmiatch
*** TURN *** [Kc 6s 3h] [Ad]
*** RIVER *** [Kc 6s 3h Ad] [Qc]
smizmiatch shows a pair of Queens
IslandBum1 shows a pair of Kings
IslandBum1 wins the pot (74,272) with a pair of Kings

Wait, how did I not suck out???

Those are the major hands that got me in a position to finish highly. I also doubled up with KK.

Then with four players left, I got lucky again with KQ on a J-high flop when I misread my hand. I thought I had a Jack, but I hit a Queen on the river to luckbox my way to the final three.

In the end, I went out pushing A7o into K8o. IslandBum1's suited 8 was higher than my suited 7 to make a higher flush and take home the title. Congrats!

Anyway, I'd like to hear criticism of my plays and analysis. In particular, should I have made those calls in Hands 1-3 when I felt like I was being offered correct pot odds? When should players back off from a potentially +EV situation for the sake of survival in a tourney?

HOTD-Outs 'n' rags

This hand of the day played out well.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1625641

FullTiltPoker $3/$6 - 4 handed
Dealt to smizmiatch [6c 5d]
CO folds
smizmiatch raises to $21 from Button
SB folds
Villain calls $15 from BB <-- He's very loose from the blinds.
*** FLOP *** [4c 2d 8d] <-- I flop great with a double belly buster
Villain bets $25
smizmiatch calls $25 <-- I call rather than raise because my hand is well-disguised and I figure my opponent caught a piece of the flop
*** TURN *** [4c 2d 8d] [6s]
Villain bets $60 <-- I don't know what to put him on. Some kind of draw? Some weird BB two pair hand? Why would he bet it out on two streets?
smizmiatch raises to $180 <-- I'm going to try to put an end to this right now with about 5 trillion outs
Villain raises to $300 <-- Wtf is up with the minraise?
smizmiatch has requested TIME

Here is where I go into the tank. I think about going all in, but the villain has shown nothing but strength. I'd hate to call drawing dead to a 7. But really, I think I'm up against some random two pair at this point, in which case I also don't want to go all in.

If I'm not going to push, I guess I have to do the math. I fumbled around on my keyboard for a second before finding the Windows calculator.

My pot odds were better than I thought they'd be at 21 percent (120/575)! With as many as 13 outs, I'm calling here for sure.


Click for enlarged view

smizmiatch calls $120
*** RIVER *** [4c 2d 8d 6s] [8h] <-- Actually, a great card because it would counterfeit a hand like 64 or 55. But my read is fuzzy.
Villain bets $256, and is all in <-- Is he doing this just because I took so much time on the turn?
smizmiatch has requested TIME
smizmiatch calls $254, and is all in <-- The pot is offering 3:1 odds. I think I'm good more than a quarter of the time. For some reason, my spider sense is telling me he doesn't have an 8.
Uncalled bet of $2 returned to Villain
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Villain shows [7h 3h] a pair of Eights <-- Missed his gutshot draw
smizmiatch shows [6c 5d] two pair, Eights and Sixes
smizmiatch wins the pot ($1,201) with two pair, Eights and Sixes <-- El doble!
Villain is sitting out

I don't know how to feel about this hand. I sensed weakness somewhere, but my read was wrong.

It must have been the minraise on the turn that seemed weak, even though it was meant to look strong.

We are not fish

Many losing poker players can choose not to be fish. They could decide to win, if they had the motivation to work at it. There's an incredible amount of dead money in the poker world, and I have several friends who could get a piece of it if they would listen and learn.

Poker is a game of skill in the long run, and good players will always win over a significant enough stretch of hands. There are many simple ways to become a winner. The problem most players have is that they're unwilling to take the steps necessary to guarantee victory. Of course, some people just don't "get it," but I believe most people with average or better intelligence have the capability to do what it takes.

I know a few players who simply refuse to do what it takes to win. Here are their biggest failings:

They won't learn how to play a tight-aggressive style, which I've found to be profitable even in shorthanded games. Sure, a loose-aggressive style may be more profitable for strong players, but TAG players make money because they don't put their money in without a quality hand, and they don't call bets unless they think they're going to win.

Perhaps the biggest leak losers have is that they won't play limits appropriate to their bankroll. If they would follow Chris Ferguson's bankroll requirements, they would have a much better chance of minimizing losses while slowly building up their savings.

The third common failing of bad players is that they lack discipline. They won't read books, blogs and magazines. They won't watch videos. They won't read 2+2. They won't learn from their losing hands. They won't use PokerTracker and PokerAce. They won't stop playing when they're tired or take a break during a losing streak. They can't stop chasing losses when behind or be satisfied with a small win when ahead.

This is pretty straightforward stuff, and I'm sure most people reading this know these basics already. But the vast majority of poker players are career losers, and I hope one or two of them will wake up and realize it doesn't have to be this way.

Vista Trip Report

My old computer, MarkNet, served me well for the three years since I bought it after winning the Golden Nugget's Sunday morning tournament during my first trip to Vegas. After three years though, it was time last week for any upgrade.

So I build a nice new system with an Asus motherboard, a dual-core Intel chip, 4 GB of RAM, a 4GB ReadyBoost drive, two GeForce video cards, 280 GB hard drive and a fresh install of Windows Vista Home Premium. This is my new home computer, MarkNetII, and I'll be using it mostly for poker.

The Good:

This machine can handle everything I've thrown at it so far.

I ran a bunch of applications at the same time with no problem at all: 16 tables on Full Tilt, PokerTracker, PokerAce HUD, Firefox, TMPEnc, Nero, Azureus and iTunes. So basically I was able to datamine the maximum number of tables, play at a few of them, surf the net, encode a video, burn a video, download files and listen to music at the same time, with no noticable slowdown.

This is a distinct improvement over my old computer, which could only handle four of five Full Tilt tables with PokerAce running. Encoding and burning videos were out of the question. Other sites didn't use as many resources as Full Tilt, but I still didn't feel comfortable that my system would stay stable with too much other crap running at the same time.

Vista seems stable, and I also like the feel of the Aero theme. Most XP programs work fine on Vista.

The Bad:

Vista is still a bit clunky. Computers should be easier to use, and we still have a ways to go. In the words of the Wall Street Journal's Walter Mossberg, "Why shouldn't a PC work like a refrigerator or a toaster?"

Vista has a new layer of security that requires you to run many programs as an Administrator rather than them just working automatically from the start. I'm all for security, but why is it necessary for me to select "Run as Administrator" before PokerTracker, PokerAce and the poker site will work together? And does this really make my computer any safer? Then, after you get everything set to run as an administrator, applications still give you a warning every time you open them saying, "An unidentified program wants to access your computer" before they will run. It's kind of a pain.

When I first set up the computer, I tried to transfer all my files over a USB cable using the new "Windows Easy Transfer," but it didn't work. I attempted it several different times, and an error came up each time. So instead I fell back on Belkin's PCSync software that came with the USB cable, and that did the job.

Still, I thought I wouldn't lose my PokerTracker hand histories if I just copied them directly over to a new hard drive. Apparently I was wrong because I needed to do a separate backup beforehand because I use Postgres, as instructed to in this thread. I know I should have checked the forums first, but is it too much to ask for things to just work? So I lost all my hand histories, which sucks.

Overall, I'd say Vista is a definite upgrade. It's smooth and can do what I want it to. But I wish there were something better, and my understanding is that Linux isn't there yet either.

Hawaii Weather

---

EasyE left a very useful comment on my post about attempts to make PokerAce HUD work faster when multitabling on Full Tilt (edited to insert updated link):

I have this same problem. With me, running PAHUD with Full Tilt was virtually unusable. But I have found the following helps greatly:

- surprisingly it is much quicker when I set "Flicker Free Drawing" to on. When I have this unchecked, it seems that the screen is forever redrawing, and this takes up a lot of resources. I know it's supposed to work better with this set to off, but on my PC it is SIGNIFICANTLY faster with this set on.
- running a freeware app called "Process Tamer", which you can get at http://tinyurl.com/mdhnp . You mentioned setting priorities for applications in the Windows Task Manager. Well this app let's you set rules and additional settings so that this is automatically taken care of each time FT and PAHUD are run. I've found that my system works well when I set an explicit rule so that Full Tilt is "Forced Realtime" and Poker Tracker is "Forced Below Normal". I actually don't change the settings for PAHUD.

Running it this way makes FT, PT and PAHUD very usable.

Give these a try, you might find it helps.

I tested his suggestions out, and I discovered that I really like Process Tamer. It seems to do the job very well! I didn't open more than four tables at a time tonight, but PokerAce ran much smoother. I also tried adjusting explicit rules for PokerAce, and it seems like "Forced Realtime" worked better than leaving it as the default. Thanks again to easyE.

---

I ran a big bluff a few days ago with AK in a 10/20 game, and I wanted to hear what some of you think.

UTG raises $55
VILLAIN calls $55
MP calls $55
HERO raises $250 from LP with Ah Kd (Standard raise here. I want to get money into the pot and thin the field)
UTG folds
VILLAIN calls $195 (OK, so now I know he cold called twice preflop. I put him on a mid pocket pair)
MP folds.
** Dealing Flop ** [ Js, 7h, 2c ]
VILLAIN checks.
HERO bets $400 (Obvious continuation bet that I will make every time in this spot)
VILLAIN calls $400 (Seems consistent with my suspicion that he might have a pocket pair. Maybe 88-TT. Or even 77 for a set, but I'm willing to accept that if he hit it. I also start to think he may have a Jack, but it seems unlikely given the action)
** Dealing Turn ** [ 8d ]
VILLAIN checks.
HERO is all-In for $1,358. (The pot size had grown over $1,400. I trusted my read that he had a pocket pair or a Jack. He couldn't call with many of the hands I put him on, especially since I'm representing AA or KK. Even if he called, I would still have six outs to make a better pair with an Ace or King on the river.)

Thoughts? I'll post the results in the comments soon.

PokerAce Tip

I like Full Tilt, but their software has always caused some people problems, especially since an upgrade a few of months ago to include resizable tables.

This upgrade seems to have caused some players who use PokerAce HUD to experience lag if they open too many tables. If I open more than two tables at a time and have PT and PokerAce running, Full Tilt will slow to a crawl. Card animation is difficult to see, and sometimes I can't click the check, fold or raise buttons for several seconds while my computer thinks about it.

Maybe my computer is getting old (3 years), but it's still a problem that was created by a Full Tilt upgrade. The PokerAce programmer said it's nothing that he can fix.

So here are a couple of things you can do to moderately reduce lag on Full Tilt if you have this problem:

_ Turn off "Flicker Free Drawing" in PokerAce's preferences.

_ Set PokerAce to low priority in Windows Task Manger. Do this by pressing Control-Alt-Delete once, and then selecting the "Processes" tab in Task Manager. There should be two instances of "PAHud.exe." Right click on each of them, select "Set Priority" and then choose "Low." It helps a little.

In the long term, I think the solution will be for Full Tilt to either work on a software solution, or for me to buy a nice new computer. Maybe at the end of the year.

New Layout and HOTD

I've felt very comfortable with my revised PokerAce layout. It's similar to my old layout, but I've removed both total Aggression Factor and Aggression Frequency, and I've added Aggression Frequency by street.

Here's what it looks like (although the colors aren't as bright as they actually appear on-screen). Click on it for a larger image:



Key:
Left hand column: Flop aggression frequency, turn aggression frequency, river aggression frequency
Middle column: VP$IP and Folds to Continuation Bet (purple)
Right column: PFR, Went to Showdown (yellow) and Total Hands (Blue)

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And now for a Hand of the Day! This was fun because of my opponent's overbet, which definitely NOT for value.

Hero is dealt [As Ah] in SB
Villain raises to $35
Hero raises to $100
Villain calls $65 (his first mistake)
FLOP [Kc Jd Jh]
Hero bets $150
Villain calls $150 (I guess he could have a Jack, but AK or a draw is more likely)
TURN [Kc Jd Jh][3h]
Hero checks (I decide that it's very probable that I'm ahead, and I want to see what Villain does)
Villain bets $774 and is all-in (Now I know for sure I'm good. I can't see him playing trip Jacks like this unless he's smarter than I give him credit for)
Hero calls $774
RIVER [Kc Jd Jh 3h][9h]
SHOW DOWN
Villain shows [Ac Th] (A Pair of Jacks, Ace high) (Nice hand, genius)
Hero shows [As Ah] (Two Pairs, Aces and Jacks, King high)
Hero collected $2055 from Main pot

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I'm feeling pretty optimistic about the poker world now.

Sure, Barney Frank's UIGEA repeal legislation is a longshot, but it's progress. And now that Yahoo! is entering the real money poker world on the BOSS network, that's a mainstream sign from a big business that isn't as afraid of the recent U.S. actions against gambling. Of course, U.S. players can't play on Yahoo!, but I would have thought Yahoo!'s executives would have feared prosecution.

These are not the LAGs you're looking for

I got a question asking how successful I have been in integrating the Cardrunners offense into my game. Specifically, was I able to transition from tight-aggressive play to loose-aggressive in shorthanded games?

The easy answer is, "not really."

I've tried to loosen up, especially in position, but I find that it's very difficult (read: unprofitable) when I try to play the role of the LAGgy pro. I know it works for Taylor Caby, but I'm not there yet.

That said, adapting the mentality of LAG play has absolutely helped my play, even if it doesn't necessarily work out in reality. I place more importance than ever on playing from position, and I try more steals from late position. While tightening up a lot from the blinds, I feel pretty comfortable raising with a wide range of hands when I have the positional edge.

Let's look at some stats. These are my Full Tilt numbers in shorthanded games only:

October:
VP$IP: 22
PFR: 13
WSD: 17
W$SD: 59

November:
VP$IP: 23
PFR: 15
WSD: 17
W$SD: 55

December:
VP$IP: 23
PFR: 12
WSD: 18
W$SD: 52

I don't know if much insight can be gleaned from those numbers. They're still fairly tight -- by comparison, my full ring VP$IP during those three months was 19.

I can think of a couple of conclusions:

1) I'm still a tight-ass, but it doesn't really matter. These are just numbers, and they don't really describe my postflop play, which is more important anyway. A couple of months ago, I posted about how I was worried that the blinds were killing me. In retrospect, I believe I was wrong. The blinds always and forever will suck money from my stack, but they'll never cause me to go bust. Loose calls out of position are a much more severe evil.

2) I call too much on the river (see November and December W$SD). I'm not sure what the ideal winning percentage at showdown is, but my results seem to reflect that I make more money when I call slightly less. Interestingly, my losses over the last three days seem to be in part caused by shoddy river play: 20 percent WSD and 45 percent W$SD.

You don't have to be this great LAG player in 6-max games who can make ungodly reads and bluff people off their Aces at will. I aim for a looser game, but tight play still works well.

Thanks to easyE for the comment.