ASB - Session 7

This session: 173 hands, ASB 43 (12/28)
Total: 1913 hands, ASB 54 (196/364)

Light CO steals: 3
Light Bu steals: 1

I've only put in about 2000 hands, so it's a little early to check my light steal statistics, but I'm going to do it anyway.

I've got 10 total light button steals for a loss of $12.50 and 22 light cutoff steals for a profit of $5.50. So I'm currently losing money with these extra steals. But again, it's really too early to say a whole lot.

ASB - Session 6

This session: 200 hands, ASB 72 (31/43)
Total: 1740 hands, ASB 55 (184/336)

Light CO steals: 2
Light Bu steals: 4

I was a stealing machine this session. My light steals from the button went well, winning 3 of 4, and the last one I lost to a short-stacked player who hit his flush when I hit my straight. The cutoff steals weren't interesting, though I did lose them both.

I finished ahead, but only by a small margin. I wasn't paying as much attention as I should have been, which was part of the problem. I was also against slightly more aggressive players this time, as I was 3-bet more often than I usually am.

ASB - Session 5

This session: 295 hands, ASB 48 (30/62)
Total: 1540 hands, ASB 52 (153/293)

Light CO steals: 3
Light Bu steals: 1

I accidentally misread the chart and raised 96s from the CO. I ended up getting 3-bet by QQ, flopping top pair 633 (which I raised), and rivering a boat to win.

Nothing else interesting happened with respect to raising light. I folded all three of the remaining hands on the flop. I was 3-bet twice and the third was I was donked into on a flop that completely missed me.

ASB - Session 4

This session: 196 hands, ASB 44 (11/25)
Total: 1245 hands, ASB 53 (123/231)

Light CO steals: 3
Light Bu steals: 1

I suppose I was due for a losing session after being on such a hot run the first three times out. The cards were dead, and I was tired, and that's not a good combination ever.

Nothing much to say here except that I called in a couple spots that I knew I should have folded.

ASB - Session 3

This session: 299 hands, ASB 43 (20/47)
Total: 1049 hands, ASB 54 (162/361)

Light CO steals: 4
Light Bu steals: 0

Nothing much to say today. These hands played themselves. Bet-fold a total whiff flop, get 3-bet, and fold 3-handed on a whiff flop, flop a pair and turn trips, and one more flop whiff bet-fold.

ASB - Session 2

This session: 344 hands, ASB 61 (45/74)
Total: 406 hands, ASB 57 (92/159)

Light CO steals: 8
Light Bu steals: 3

With the light CO steals, I won two with no flop. Here is a hand which I think was interesting:

PokerStars 1/2 Hold'em (5 handed) Poker Stars Converter Tool from http://www.flopturnriver.comFlopTurnRiver.com (Format: Plain Text)

Preflop: Hero is MP with 7s, Kc.
1 fold, Hero raises, Button calls, 1 fold, BB calls.

Flop: (6.50 SB) 6c, 8s, 9h (3 players)
BB checks, Hero bets, Button raises, BB folds, Hero calls.

Turn: (5.25 BB) Kd (2 players)
Hero checks, Button checks.

River: (5.25 BB) 5c (2 players)
Hero bets, Button folds.

Final Pot: 5.25 BB

When he checked the turn, I figured him for 9x or 8x, and that he would call a river bet. But his fold there would be incredibly weak, as this was a good bluffing card (even though I really had it). My best guess is that he went for the free card with QJ or maybe JT and chose not to bet the turn (he would have been check-raised).

Here's one where I think paying off the river was a terrible mistake.

PokerStars 1/2 Hold'em (5 handed) Poker Stars Converter Tool from http://www.flopturnriver.comFlopTurnRiver.com (Format: Plain Text)

Preflop: Hero is MP with Qs, 6s.
1 fold, Hero raises, 2 folds, BB calls.

Flop: (4.50 SB) Jc, 5d, Ad (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets, BB calls.

Turn: (3.25 BB) Th (2 players)
BB checks, Hero checks.

River: (3.25 BB) 6c (2 players)
BB bets, Hero calls.

Final Pot: 5.25 BB

Flush draws generally check-raise the flop, so I should have stuck with my gut that I was behind on the turn and just walk away even though I paired up.

ASB - Session 1

This session: 406 hands, ASB 55 (47/85)
Total: 406 hands, ASB 55 (47/85)

Light CO steals: 3
Light Bu steals: 1

I wish I had something useful to say about those four hands, but there's nothing to say. Most of my raising hands were ones I would have raised anyway.

ASB 45

This is my latest poker project (well, besides grinding 10/20 live so that I can move up to 15/30 and 20/40).

In the meantime, one of the areas of my game that is lacking is a very high aggression game. I made a couple twoplustwo posts about it (Micros and Small Stakes Short-Handed) which will provide some background thoughts.

After spending some time reflecting on how I might extend my play to include a high-aggression game, I have decided to start the ASB-45 project. My current ASB is at 35, which is a little too low given that I'm only playing 1/2 6-max. I *should* have an edge on these players which would allow me to play more hands. My goal is to get it up to 45, which is an increase of 30%.

My current steal range looks a lot like that in Stox's book:

CO: 22+, A2s+, A5o+, K7s+, K9o+, Q9s+, QTo+, J8s+, T8s+, 97s+, 87s, 76s = 28.5%
Button: 22+, A2s+, A3o+, K2s+, K9o+, Q5s+, Q9o+, J7s+, J9o+, T7s+, T8o+, 97s+, 98o, 86s+, 75s+, 65s = 40.0%

I must be looser than this as one expects to have more CO steal opportunities than Button stealing opportunities, implying that your ASB should be closer to the CO value than the Button value. Here's how the numbers break down (out of 34242 total hands):

CO steals: 1022/3435 = 29.8%
Button steals: 998/2287 = 43.6%
Overall: 2020/5722 = 35.3%

How can I push my ASB up to 45%? We will start with the assumption that the CO steal to Button steal ratio remains at 3:2. This will help me to balance the two types of steals. I would like my button steal range to be about 50%, which implies that my CO steal range needs to be about 41.7%.

Using the Stox ranges at a platform, I have decided to go with the following ranges:

CO: 22+, A2s+, A2o+, K2s+, K7o+, Q5s+, Q9o+, J7s+, J9o+, T7s+, T8o+, 97s+, 98o, 86s+, 76s = 37.6%
Button: 22+, A2s+, A2o+, K2s+, K5o+, Q5s+, Q7o+, J7s+, J8o+, T7s+, T8o+, 96s+, 97o+, 86s+, 87o, 75s+, 76o, 65s = 50.2%

I am not intentionally going to make any other changes to my game. I'm not going to change how I think about blind defense, overlimping, or iso-raising. Those things will come later.