Negreanu's article about playing Dreamclown HU

[Wynton]

Here is the link, but I'll quote the interesting parts. (Sorry if this is already posted somewhere else.)

"If you've been reading the blog you'd know that I have a wire transfer on the way that would give me an adequate bankroll to play $500-$1000 online. Well, it hasn't arrive yet, but I was able to scrounge together $50,000 which is a decent starter kit.

I played the young fellow who calls himself "Dreamclown" for 4.5 hours, and about 1000 hands. I was winning for the majority of the session, at my peak up about $100,000 and finally quitting $67,000 to the good.

That is a good sized win, 67 bets, but frankly, I felt as though I was rather unlucky and should have won much more.

I am no "online expert" by any means, but I heard so much talk about how tough these kids were today, and how much I'd have to "adjust" to the game.

I've quickly come to realize that these kids that are winning millions aren't playing against Todd Brunson, Jennifer Harman, or other great limit hold'em players that have been around for years. They have developed a new world version of the game that frankly, is easily exploited by the world's top players.

Many of them, are a legion of “Andy Beals” that play by the following rules:

- Never fold pre-flop
-raise every hand on the button
-never re-raise before the flop

This is EXACTLY how the Clown played against me the entire session. Apparently he's done his "math" and has come to the conclusion that calling raises with 7-2 off suit is "mathematically correct."

Well, the Clown is obviously wrong in his approach to the game. Of course, you could never convince him of that, he's 23 for goodness sakes!

When I was 23, I was 172% certain that nobody could possibly play better than I did or know more about poker than me. I was young, fearless, naive, and falsely invincible.

It's a pretty common trait amongst young players honestly, especially those born in the U.S. I've come across several 20 "somthings" from Finland, Sweden, and Denmark, that would rip through the boastful American youth, and do it with an aura of maturity, discipline, and skill that I've never come across before. Those kids totally amaze me.

I would never bother playing the likes of Erik123, or "Erik Sagstrom." There is a lot of talk about who the best online players are today, and the truth is, most of us have no clue who they are and that's the way they'd like to keep it, while they build multi-million dollar bankrolls online.

I’ve had a great deal of fun playing poker online this week at SOMETHING.COM![-edited by surf: URLs to commercial sites are prohibited] I’ve played against various opponents at various limits, and I genuinely feel like I learned something from each and every one of them.

The most eye opening session I played was against a guy named, “X-W-A.” I won’t divulge the reasons why the session was so meaningful for me, but I am more than willing to admit that he absolutely kicked my butt! Sure, he ran lucky to do so, but frankly, during that session, he also outplayed me.

I’ll be totally honest with you all, I’m learning on the job here, having never played high limit hold’em online before. I’m a “fish out of water” to some degree, but I just might be the most competitive person in the world! Probably, not, but I’m right up there J

This whole, “heads up” online world is new to me, but I like it. It’s definitely got my competitive juices flowing, not because of the money, but the simple challenge of taking on the best online players in the world.

So far, I really haven’t faced the best online. Dreamclown is a talented young player, but he is hard headed and is simply destined to go broke. His fundamentals are so flawed that he could never overcome it with his excellent pre-flop play.

Why am I comfortable sharing that? Well, he’s 23 years old and wouldn’t listen to me anyway. He firmly believes that he will crush me, and while I smirk at his ignorance, I truly admire his fight, his courage, and his determination."

[cartman]

[ QUOTE ]

So far, I really haven’t faced the best online. Dreamclown is a talented young player, but he is hard headed and is simply destined to go broke. His fundamentals are so flawed that he could never overcome it with his excellent preflop play.


[/ QUOTE ]

Was this a typo on Negreanu's part. Earlier in the article he seems to be critical of Dreamclown's preflop strategy. Did he mean excellent postflop play instead?

Thanks,
Cartman

[disjunction]

I'm pretty certain this is a typo as well.

I thought he actually meant "preflop" meaning Daniel was taking another shot at him through being sarcastic

[Alobar]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]

So far, I really haven’t faced the best online. Dreamclown is a talented young player, but he is hard headed and is simply destined to go broke. His fundamentals are so flawed that he could never overcome it with his excellent preflop play.


[/ QUOTE ]

Was this a typo on Negreanu's part. Earlier in the article he seems to be critical of Dreamclown's preflop strategy. Did he mean excellent postflop play instead?

Thanks,
Cartman

[/ QUOTE ]

sounds like a jab to me. He alludes to how dreamclown has figured out everything mathmatically PF, then adds the part at the end, cuz as we all know, post flop play is where its at.

The whole article to me feels like daniel has a chip on his shoulder about something.

[baronzeus]

I watched the majority of this match and I felt that DN was bluffing at a much better frequency and basically putting DC to the test a lot more. Essentially, DN had a decent edge IMO.

[cartman]

[ QUOTE ]

sounds like a jab to me. He alludes to how dreamclown has figured out everything mathmatically PF, then adds the part at the end, cuz as we all know, post flop play is where its at.

[/ QUOTE ]

I think you must be right.

[kurosh]

I spent a long time doing math and thinking about HU theory a while ago and came to the conclusion that you should not 3-bet OOP against a good opponent. I don't think you should play every hand, however. I'm pretty sure my calculations were right and I'm pretty sure the reason why Andy Beal played the same way was because he had smart people do the math for him. However, I am open to new ideas and I'll run my numbers again.

how do you do those numbers?

[Erik W]

In the article he says the match can be downloaded from fulltilt. Maybe I'm stupid but I can't find it.

Can someone please provide me with a direct link.
I think many others would be interested in that match too.