Poker Grinder

Grinder

word type: poker slang

1. Poker player who plays in games they're significantly over-bankrolled for while also playing a style of poker that leads to consistent and steady win rates.

* definition of 'grinder', taken from "Grinderschool" training site

grinder (n) a professional poker player who earns a living through small but consistent winnings (See also: rounder)

I think of a grinder as a player who--
1) puts in great volume,
2) has a positive win rate,
3) thinks systematically about the game and tries to improve as they play,
4) plays within their bankroll.

Grinders rarely "take shots" and money does not come pouring on them, but nor do they lose it easily. They accumulate capital slowly, but steadily and securely.

Grinders rarely take shots because grinders don't take alot of risks. Grinders look for maximum gain for the least amount of risk...

a grinder is a player who understands that solid play + volume > short term variance.

He just keeps putting in hour after hour, day after day, month after month until he looks up at the end of the year and sees a significant profit.

Understanding the math and playing solid poker according to the math will always win in the long run regardless of the short term results. I like these two mostly.

Where You Can Find Grinders

Actually, you can find grinders in almost all types of poker in the lower and middle limits. You typically don't find a "grinder" per se at the nosebleed stakes. Most grinders will multi-table to the tune of eight or more simultaneous tables, oftentimes of identical game types and limits. For instance, a Sit and Go grinder might play eight tables at a time of $25 turbo 9-person Sit and Goes. Considering that 10% (after rake) is a great ROI for a Sit and Go player, that means that the player is only making $2.50 per sit and go. But if they can squeeze in 20 sit and goes in an hour, then they're "grinding" a $50 per hour win rate. By contrast, if that same player decided to go play a $200 Sit and Go, then they're now "off their grind" and taking a "shot" at a higher game.

You Should Also Know...

While some grinders do play almost exclusively large, multi-table tournaments, these people are a very rare breed. The goal in a large tournament is to make a big score, to win a sum of money that can sustain you until the next sizeable take. Some people are able to win small to medium prizes on a fairly consistent basis, but in general, grinders don't specialize in multi-table tournaments because luck can swing one's results too quickly in them and they take too long to make smaller wins worth the time.
Additionally, online players can earn rakeback to increase their hourly rate, and some online poker rooms only offer rakeback for cash games.

In Film - Rounders

The terms "grind" and "grinder" are featured in the opening monologue of the popular poker film, Rounders.

Guys around here'll tell ya... you play for a living.
It's like any other job. You don't gamble. You grind it out.
Your goal is to win one big bet an hour, that's it.
Get your money in when you have the best of it, and protect it when you don't.
Don't give anything away.
That's how I've paid my way through half of law school.
A true grinder.
See, I learned how to win a little at a time. But finally, I've learned this...
If you're too careful, your whole life can become a fuckin' grind.


The Gambler - Kenny Rogers

You've got to know when to hold 'em
Know when to fold 'em
Know when to walk away
'Cause every hand's a winner And every hand's a loser





http://www.cardschat.com/f13/what-makes-grinder-grinder-194738/
http://www.sitandgoplanet.com/sitandgo/sng_strategy/5Tips_Effective_SitNGo_Grinder.html

http://www.grinderschool.com/

http://www.michaelmizrachi.co/poker-tips/
http://www.pokerjunkie.com/win-in-poker-the-grinder-manifesto

http://www.lyricsfreak.com/k/kenny+rogers/the+gambler_20077886.html

Perfect Heads-Up Limit Hold' Em Strategy part 1

STUDYING THE STRATEGIES OF THE FOUR ALL-TIME BEST HULHE PLAYERS, MAN OR MACHINE, TO CREATE YOUR OWN

The best way to find the Perfect Heads-Up Fixed Limit Hold' Em Strategy is to study the strategies used by the great ones.  For me the greats in HULHE are two humans plus two machines.  My two human players are Phil Ivey and Andy Beal.  My two poker bots are Polaris and Texas Hold ‘Em Heads Up Poker.  I will try to enter the brain of those four world-class experts to find and analyze their winning strategies.

Phil Ivey's HUHU FL HE strategy:

Step 1. Raise pre-flop in position
Raise pre-flop in the big blind with (1:1)
Ax, Kx, Q3s, Q6, J8, T7s, T9, 98s, 33+
Step 2. Continuation bet on the flop and turn 100% of the time
Step 3. Leaving after losing one buy-in
Keep playing when winning

Why is Phil Ivey so good?

a) hyper aggressive
b) incredible focus and concentration
c) uncanny ability to detect and exploit opponents's weaknesses and betting patterns
d) zero tilt factor
e) intimidating and fearsome reputation

f) unlimited bankroll

Andy Beal High Stakes Heads-Up Limit Hold' Em strategy

Step 1. Play nearly every hands
Raise (most of the time) every pot he enters
Step 2. Check-call all the way down to the river with any A-high hand
8-bets the turn with two pair
Step 3. Obsession with preventing tells

Why is Andy Beal so good?

a) Obsession

b) Specialization
c) Mathematical approach

d) High stakes

e) Ultra-aggressive
f) Impossible to read

Polaris's Strategies: 

Polaris have a total of 5 different strategies.

The Nash Equilibrium plus 4 other to use against different types of opponents. Polaris identifies which common poker strategy a human is using and switches its own strategy to counter.

1- The first approach is to approximate a Nash equilibrium strategy which is robust against any opponent.

2- The second approach is to find an exploitive counter-strategy to an opponent. We will show that these counter-strategies are brittle: they can lose to arbitrary other opponents.

3- The third approach is a compromise of the first two, to find robust counter-strategies.

4- The four approach is to combine several of these agents into a team, and learn during a game which to use.

Why is Polaris so good?

a) Adaptation. Polaris doesn't have a "best way" to play; it has a "best way" to adapt.
b) Specialization
c) No emotion
d) Aggression

Texas Hold ‘Em Heads Up Poker "The Brain" strategy

Pre-flop
Hyper-LAG / maniac
+ Raise almost every time from the Button
+ Raise called button from over 75% of the time from the BB.
... Sometime 3-bet weak hands like T5off (negligible)
... Occasionally fold on the Button or when raised in the BB (negligible)
- Fold more hands from the SB on most streets than from the BB

Flop
Very LAG
+ Routinely raise with middle pair and a weak kicker
+ Call most of the time a check-raise+ Rarely 3-bet the flop with weak overcard, no straight, flush or backdoor possibilities
+ Often fold to a bet if a high card comes on the flop
+ But he will bet the high card on the flop
+ Most likely to fold on the flop

Turn
Tightens up
+ Check-call with middle pair and weak kicker
+ Check the turn most of the time 

River
+ Call with a piece of the board
+ Call down with Ace high unless the board is scary
+ Likely to call with King high
+ Sometimes call down with weaker hands (J high) on a bimodal (monster or miss) board.  Like a pair on the board.

Overall
+ Reasonable adjustment to what the opponent might hold based on the board.
+ Seem to play top pair / top kicker more slowly on board with flushes and straights possible
+ Seem to play high card / no pair more aggressively on paired flops.  Check-raise bluff
+ More likely to check-raise if opponent put the last bet on the previous street.
+ Doesn't fold too often.

Why is "The Brain" so good?

a) Defense. The basic idea behind its play technique is to do everything it can "to prevent itself from being exploited".  "The theory behind it is almost paranoid," 

b) Unpredictable. The pokerbot use knowledge gained from billions of staged rounds of poker fed through neural networks, and the result is an unpredictable poker player that can win almost every time.  Three different banks of knowledge are used depending on the gameplay scenario, but the basic idea behind its play technique is, as I said above,  "to prevent itself from being exploited." "The theory behind it is almost paranoid." So "The Brain" unpredictibility and three different game plays are part of his perfectly defensive game. 
   
Here are his 3 tag-team fighters alternating against an opponent.
    * The first is a neural net with optimal number of bluffs and can do anything in anyone hand.
    *The second play a slightly different style.
    *The third come into play when the opponent has a reduced stack.

Aggression level might change at random moment

c) Aggression.  "The Brain" is the aggressor. Almost never check-calls or simply matches an opponent's bet without a raise. But give credit to your hand when you raise and reraise.  Far too aggressive and steals far too many pots to get beat on a regular basis.


Now that we have a complete overview of the strategies and strengths of our four Heads-Up Fixed Limit bosses.  We will compare their respective style to each other in the second part of this guide.

• Perfect Heads-Up Limit Hold' Em Strategy part 2

PYGOD


http://www.heads-up-fixed-limit-texas-hold-em-poker.com/2013/10/perfect-heads-up-limit-hold-em-strategy_29.html

DO NOT COPY AND PASTE MY WORK INTO YOUR WEBSITE WITHOUT GIVING ME THE CREDIT

Phil Ivey vs The Brain

In NVGtard fantasy land (12-01-2010) :

"The Brain" heads up poker machine proves to be remarkably resilient, beating the best minds in poker over a large sample. When the limits are raised to 200/400 Hoss tbf flys to vegas and enters the Bellagio and plays it days on end only to break even until he tires and begins to lose. And so the machine sits outside the poker room unplayed and unscathed save a few suckers from time to time. The stakes are raised to any that the tourist wishes to play, from .50/1 to 500000/1000000. A billionaire is reported to have lost 4 million on may 23, 2011 during a break from highstakes craps. One day at the poker table Ivey is asked if he would play heads up nl omaha by a young upcoming susperstar from norway and Ivey responds that he would play anybody. The kid says I bet you wouldn't play the brain smugly. "Who's that?" asks Ivey. The kid points to the machine. Ivey says sure and spends the next 45 minutes inserting a giant wad of hundreds and over the course of the next 28 hours he beats it for 300 million dollars infront of the ever growing massive crowd of spectators. Finally after being down 324 million dollars and 28 hours of poker, The Brain ask Phil Ivey if he would let him play on credit. A fat executive hobbles out of the crowd red faced and screams hell no! and pulls the plug.


That's exactly what could happen if Phil Ivey was met to play Texas Hold' Em Heads Up Poker machine "The Brain".  This funny story was written by spaceman Bryce on the twoplustwo poker forum.
http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/29/news-views-gossip/heads-up-poker-machines-raise-limits-929205/index2.html

It's nice to see that Phil Ivey's dominance made him a mythological figure just like Chuck Norris.
 

Andy Beal in Rounders 2

Billionaire banker Andy Beal in Rounders 2?

Speaking of Matt Damon.  He was excellent in Team America!  Seriously, if they were to make a rounders 2, I think the climactic scene would be Matt building up enough bankroll to sit in the big game with the likes of Doyle, Greenstein, Negreanu, Ivey, etc.  If he were to have a heads up battle for the finale, it would have to be against someone who can look the bad guy.  I mean Negreanu would be intimidating, but he's too likable.  Maybe, Ivey since he's quiet and stone cold.  Ohhh even better (just got so many ideas flying here). 

How about Andy Beal or an Andy beal type to play heads up.   They would have to change some facts though but I can hear Mike McDermont in the background saying something like this.  "Sure, I'm a winning Poker player.  I've won some big tournies and done well at the cash games, but there's one game and one man that I haven't beaten.  His name is Andy Beal, a billionare banker from Texas.  He came to vegas ten years ago to try to beat the pros.  His idea was to set the limits so high that he could intimidate the pros and win.  Unfortunately for Andy the pros or the corporation were not intimidated and took millions from him.  Andy, though stating several times he was done with poker, was relentless.  He read books, studied the game, set up a staff to run numbers, calculate odds, and help his play.  Andy is very analytical and dedicated. He built his fortune from nothing.  He was determined to be the best and after years of refining his skills at High Limit Texas Hold em' he became just that.  He came to Vegas a couple of years ago and cleaned the pros out. It's rumored that he took 50 million from the corporation. Some say a hundred million.  A few pros were completely broke after this.  People say Beal completely dominated anyone they sat in front of him.  His style was untouchable and his skill was overwhelming.  Andy will only play $150k/$300k Limit Holdem.  Needless to say, no pro will play him.  Well, no pro until now.  I'm lucky enough to have backers that believe in me.  I'm about to play in the richest poker game that's ever been played.  Where millions of dollars swing back and forth from one hand to the next.  Six days, sixty hours.  By Friday, I will have lost everything, completely broke or...  I will be the richest pro to ever play the game.  This man is said to be unbeatable, even by the best to ever play the game.  Am I committing financial suicide, or am I what I truly feel I am... the best" or something like that...heh
 

Very interesting story posted 26 February 2006 by Fanatikk on the fullcontactpoker forum.  With a scenario like that, Rounders 2 would be even better than the original Rounders.
http://www.fullcontactpoker.com/poker-forum/index.php?showtopic=51657

Heads-Up Fixed Limit Texas Hold' Em Poker

Why Heads-Up Fixed Limit Hold' Em Poker?

Far from being the most popular version of poker, Heads-Up Fixed Limit Hold' Em is, in my view, the ultimate form of poker.  Heads Up Limit Hold' Em is the purest form of poker you can get.  Here are my etymological explanations in three parts.



Heads-Up (HU / HUHU).  Heads-up poker is a pure mano a mano, hand to hand combat sport confrontation between two players eager to win the entire chips stack of their opponent.  As Jason Koon, a successful tournament player, would say: “Heads-Up the Purest Form of Poker”.  He is 110% right!  Since, without a shadow of doubt, heads-up is the most skilled form of poker in existence.

No full ring or 6 max poker game can challenge you as much as an heads-up poker game.  In heads-up poker, you can't hide.  Your profits as your mistakes will be amplified.  And for action junkies or simply those who prefers constant action over endless waiting.  Heads-up poker is THE game for you.  BUT if you expect to have any kind of success at heads-up poker.  YOU MUST do your homework.  You need to study and practise your craft.  Usually, in heads-up poker, the more skilled player got the edge and win most of the time.  If you don't believe me, just try to outplay Phil Ivey in an heads-up poker match.


Fixed Limit (L / FL).  In fixed limit, you can't eliminated by any unskilled all-in tilting maniac.  Less luck, more skill.  That's what any serious mind game is all about!  And that's what poker should be all about!  Fixed limit used to be THE way to play poker.  But since the 2003 "Chris Moneymaker" poker universal poker boom.  No-Limit seems to be the only hold'em game available online.  Due to his dramatic nature, no-limit is a lot more TV friendly than fixed limit will ever be.  To paraphrase German pokerstars high stakes HU FL HE online specialist “rUaBot”, fixed limit is a science and no-limit is an art. 


Texas Hold' Em (HE).  For hold'em my explanations are plain and simple.  Texas Hold' em is the poker to play right now.  Since 2003, thankx to Chris Moneymaker (an amateur player with an highly appropriated given name qualifying online for the world championship) winning 2003 World Series of Poker (WSOP), Texas Hold' Em and online poker popularity litteraly exploded all around the world.   This world wide fascination for poker and Texas Hold' em in particular is called "The Moneymaker Effect".

Anyway, as poker living legend Doyle Brunson once said: "Texas Hold' Em is the Cadillac of Poker."  However, I'm not sure he included fixed limit hold'em in his claim.


Poker.  Simply because when you think of a professional gambler you see a poker player. When I think about a pro gambler I see an old riverboat gambler. Poker is the Ultimate Form of Gambling. However calling poker gambling is a travesty. Poker is a mind game, a game of skills. Poker isn't a stupid game of luck where no matter what you do the odds are stacked against you. Poker is a science, poker is an art, depending of your point of view.



Since there is unfortunately no book and no website fully dedicated to Heads-Up Fixed Limit Hold' Em Poker.  I wish that this blog will fill the void.  And ultimately, I wish that HU L HE will regain some popularity.  I need fish at the table!!!

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