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Testimonials or success stories
Hey APT - I've been a member since Nov and have seen improvement. I have not had the chance to try out my game in the local casino or online (bitcoin/ deposit/ ACR skeptic - that's for another thread). Anyway I'm hitting a mental plateau here at the moment with study materials and my game. Any members care to share their poker success/growth stories from the APT tables.
Thanks everyone
Brian
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I also joined APT in November. I played about 350 hrs of live cash games in 2017 and am looking to increase that to 400+ this year.
After some toying with the system here, I have been able to simulate a fairly realistic version of the live games I play in. If you're preparing for casino play, maybe this will help:
Table selection - I toggle between three the 9 max "medium" tables. They have a mix of 1/2 players you will usually run up against at a reg infested room like mine (Winstar in Thackerville, OK).
I use random hands from all positions to simulate a live session. I will alternate between keeping my stack at 100 bb or not. A lot of live hands are played at 100 bb eff or less. Sometimes much less. Sitting down at a table where everyone has exactly 100 bb's is not realistic and, unfortunately, a flaw in the sim but understandable that it would be hard to program it otherwise.
I place the table at "more aggressive than normal". Leaving it at standard does not produce the preflop action which is normal for a live setting, specifically limping. Setting the table as more aggro produces a realistic amount of limping with a wide range, as well as some speculative raises. It also encourages the sim players to get sticky post flop, another component of live play.
Bet sizing - In live 1/2, my standard open is usually 10-12. With my opening ranges, I will raise over limpers as such - 12 for 1 limp, 15 for 2 limps, 20 for 3 or 4, etc...
However, in the simulation, you need to scale down the sizing considerably or you will be getting an unrealistic number of folds. In the sim, I open to 6. I'll keep it 6 for one limper, and make it 8 for 2+ limpers. This seems to clear out the trash while still getting a realistic number of limp/calls. I'm noticing that the limp/call range in the sim compares fairly realistically to live.
For 3 betting (or more), I find that you can go with your realistic sizings and get accurate play-back.
Post flop you can size normally in relation to the pot. Just don't attempt to the manipulate the sim by overbetting the pot as this is not something that you would not realistically do in live play other than in very rare circumstances.
So... getting to your question... how has this specifically helped me? Hand reading is the answer, along with SPR, range advantage, c-betting. I've studied these topics hard for 2 years or so, but have always had problems with taking that study to live play where pressure, time constraints, and other distractions interfere with the process. I'm finding that this sim is quickly providing a remedy for this through realistic repetition.
Here is how I've used the sim to boost my hand reading.
I open Flopzilla, and side by side I work through my opponents hand ranges as the hand progresses. I can also use HoldEQ for computing equity vs multiple ranges. I use my second Flopzilla window to determine range advantage when the question arises.
Finally, I utilize the "peek at end" feature for confirmation of my work.
This work is painstaking and very time consuming... but, man, has it ever paid off! I'm seeing things soooo much more clearly now at the live table. Success for sure!
I assume you can use the tools that APT provides in place of FZ, I'm just more comfortable with FZ.
Note - I still play some training sessions without the software in order to avoid the "crutch". Also, the sim is good, it's real good, but occasionally I will see folds/calls from hands that will never fold/call in live play. It's ok because the meat of the study still pays off.
Hopefully this answers your question somewhat... good luck with your venture into real money play!
Thanks PK506. I have a similar approach thinking through the hands with the software. I'm working in the MTT training but it may be beneficial to focus on cash play for post flop.
This is great advice and hopefully will address some of the issues I have with the simulations. On standard setting the number of folds is wildly unrealistic, IMO. If the blinds are defending less than 15% of the time, then I'm opening any 2 cards from MP+. I was practicing opening AQ from UTG and probably got folds all around in 50% of the hands. This is not particularly helpful to me.
I'll adjust the settings and see what happens. Thanks for the tip.
@1warlock ... You're absolutely welcome! Hope this helps out. These adjustments have just worked really, really well for me. Let us know how they work for you and if you have any tweaks you find to make it even better.
@bkope ... I'm assuming this may work for tourney play as well. I haven't done any tourney training at this point. I'm considering delving into it a bit though as I plan to head to Vegas in June and possibly hit up some of the Daily Deepstack's at the Rio. Good luck busting through the plateau. It's not uncommon to hit flat spots in your study. There is a lot of material out there on mental game... may be worth a look into
@pk506 I'm heading to Vegas next week to play a little. I'll let you know how the daily deepstacks treat me
I'll see if I can figure out a setting on APT that matches up reasonably.
I just played 550 hands against the more aggressive bots in Big City Lights. I find that they 3-bet and 4-bet a lot, and won't fold to 3-bets much. Light 3-bets don't work well against that crowd.
Would you guys say the same is true in your experiences with low stakes live tables?
I haven't played many hands at these stakes live in a very long time but do go over strategies with players who do. "Proper" strategy on these tables includes much more 3 and 4 betting than you will see at even higher stakes games. This is mostly a result of the exorbitant rake structures at these stakes and the no-flop, no-drop policies.
Because 3 and 4 betting are nearly ubiquitous, you don't get as many folds as you would in more technically advanced and deeper games. You also tend to be dealing with fairly shallow stacks (check out California games for example). At times, folding to a 3-bet may be flushing so much equity down the drain in relation to the pot and your remaining stack that it makes more sense to jam than fold.
You also have certain players who see any raise as a challenge rather than as a warning. There is a joke about this phenomenon: Its said that in tight high stakes games a 3-bet is likely QQ+ and a 4-bet is AA. However, in casino 1/2NL, all a 4-bet means is that someone already 3-bet.
The limping thing is just awful but sadly also happens far too often. Below the set of players who understand the effects of rake, there are the people who just want to see flops. They came to play, not to fold.
To sum it up, live 1/2 games can be very active pre-flop. The same is true for online micro-stakes. The reasons are a combination of the player types involved and the game structure (SPR's and rake).
Sorry I never replied. I'm seeing the more aggressive bots seem to mirror LL play up to "A Poker Party". In the levels above... things do seem to get a little crazy pre flop, which isn't standard
Aggro bots in Poker Party and below provides the necessary amount of pre flop limping and raise calling to mirror live play. We could have another discussion on some of the folds I have seen from the bots that don't so much fall into line.
I am surprised but apparently i was way to aggressive with QK, QJ, JT, AT - I was always raising with such hands from middle position and it looks like that it was a leak.
I cashed in in several Aria daily events after starting folding more.
Also, it would be able to start tournaments at lower stages and finish those up. As far as cash games goes - KGB is not good enough for 5/10 games but for 2/5 plus adding exploitative strategies - it is profitable.