The Irish Thug

The quick fox jumps over the lazy brown dog.

Side Note: Up until now, I’ve been calling it Theories and Practices. Never really took the time to actually read the title.

I started reading the book at the beginning of the month. I’m making an effort to pay very close attention to everything as I read. I’m taking notes that fall into a couple of categories (will be talked about below).

2+2 started a book club that is running this month. (Link to Week 2. Link to Week 1 can be found in the Week 2 thread.) I’m working of their sections, however I’m not staying up to their section/week pace. The section is a nice approach because it allows me to be focused on certain aspects of what is being discussed. I’m also re-reading the section when I finish before I move on to the next. Again, this is just a better way to focus and maybe catch something that was not seen the first time around. These posts, which I will be making after each section, are just another way to force myself to think critically on what I am reading.

The first section is the first 60 pages and includes chapters on (Note: The table of contents has a really poorly laid out hierarchy, so I’m just making my own section groupings.):

• The Skills of Success – A general explanation of 5 important skills.
• Thinking in Terms of Expectation – Discussion of expected value and an example of how it can be used on the river with the nuts.
• Pot [Magnitude] Philosophy – Concepts on how to control the pot. Looking for situations where you want to build it and ones where you’d like to keep it smaller.
• The Importance of Implied Odds – Looking at what future bets will be from both your perspective and that of your opponent.
• Bet [Magnitude Assessment] – The many things to think about as one chooses the amount to bet.

Before I go into the categories into which my thoughts feel, I just have one lead in comment. This section will most likely have the fewest comments because it’s still the beginning. This isn’t to say that there are not very important topics covered in the initial part of the book. More just that fact that the introduction was included in this section and that some concepts (ie. the EV section are slightly repetitive for anyone who’s read a good poker book before.)

Things that I do that are bad:

• Betting Standard Amounts. This came from the bet [magnitude assessment] section. Pre-flop I always raise 4 times the big blind plus an additional big blind per limper. Though this doesn’t hold true for when I play live. The established standard raise is smaller, however I do still raise different amounts. I don’t know why I lean towards doing this live, but stay standard online. The book is more talking about post-flop play in this section, but I think the same should apply for pre-flop. They probably have a section on it that I haven’t gotten to. The point does also hold true for my post-flop play. Very frequently I will just bet 3/4 of the pot or 1/2 of the pot with out specifically thinking why am I betting this amount and what am I trying to accomplish. Recently I’m looking more at what the flop texture is and how that affects me, but not enough.
• Big Pots with Small Hands. In correlation with my last sentence, I often find myself bloating pots where my hand is good but not necessarily extremely strong.
• Making Big Calls on the River, or All-in. This is one of my other big leaks. I tend to make bigger calls when it closes the action of the hand. I talk myself into believing that I am ahead or I have a read even if that means ignoring some of the pot odds.

Concept Point:

• The wider the range of hands the opponent holds, the wider their implied odds are.
• The more implied odds a person has, the larger your bet should be over what the pot odds would dictate.

New Ideas:

• Start with the final bet, then plan the bets you will make working backwards from there.
• When out of position and your opponent often continues on the flop, let them do so when you flop a strong hand.

Other Random Thoughts:

• Maybe I wasn’t paying enough attention in past books, but I think this is the first time that a book regularly refers to the opponent as a female.