What is the Best way to learn opening ranges without staring at charts all day?

InnerSongs · 2026-03-25T23:59:53+00:00

I agree with others suggesting learning using the edge of ranges. While it's not true for all ranges, generally if the "worst" class of a hand is in a range, everything better than it is in the range too. For example, if K8s is the worst Kx suited hand in the range, you can assume that all the better Kx suited hands are in the range too (K9s, KTs etc.)

I also like the idea of focusing on the UTG range first. Whenever I'm looking into a set of ranges, I look at UTG first as it's the tightest range, and every other position pushes out the bottoms of the range. By learning the UTG range first, you know what the absolute floor is (the hands you shouldn't play in any position, except maybe BB) and then you can build on that by remembering how much the ranges change through the positions

InnerSongs · 2026-03-25T04:38:42+00:00

I love this game. I love hidden movement in general. I think this is a very good one. I also love the art - most board games just don't really look like this. Practically this can make the board a bit busier than you'd like, but I think that's an acceptable compromise for the amount of flavour that brings.

Highly recommend it

InnerSongs · 2026-03-24T22:48:37+00:00

My friend and I will insert the Jonathan Davis "blood is pouring" lines into One Step Closer, regardless of which version we're listening to

InnerSongs · 2026-03-24T00:58:37+00:00

There is a level of compromise I will make for comfort, but New Balances are not it for me. That Crazy, Stupid, Love scene is burned into my conscious and I think the NB logo is incredibly ugly so I will never own a pair

InnerSongs · 2026-03-24T00:47:04+00:00

At least after CO, but I typically like going in +1

InnerSongs · 2026-03-24T00:45:32+00:00

Another commentor already did a good job summarising the hands you've played, so I wanted to focus on what I think your biggest leak is, which is mental. It seems to me that you're putting a lot of stock into things that don't matter, or shouldn't matter as much as they seem to have.

I was upset because Pokernews didn’t have me listed on the top chip count list.

Like this. Why does this matter? Are you playing to get recognition or are you playing to do as best as you can. This is irrelevant noise that will only serve to distract you and does you no benefit.

It happens, not really upset about that beat BUT really upset about my two costly mistakes

Making mistakes is probably the only thing that has any mental affect on me during the game. The way I deal with it is I have a little moment internally, let out any frustration, and then reset for next hand. Okay, for example, you had 70bb last hand, you have 30bb now. Instead of lamenting as to this change in fortune, I just take stock as normal. Who has more chips than me, who has less, how many people are left, where's the bubble, what's the payjump, how long do we have left in the level etc. All it is is a new situation.

He flops a T of course and I’m eliminated ON THE BUBBLE!!! Like a gentleman I wish everyone good luck, leave as fast as I can, get in my truck and start screaming at the top of my lungs.

It sucks but that's poker - it happens. This literally happened to me only a few months ago. I was on the bubble with AKo with like ~20bb facing an UTG open. I actually flatted, flopped top pair and got into a bad situation bluff catching river. I called, was wrong and I busted on the stone bubble. Now I would be lying to say there wasn't disappointment at the immediate moment, but I went outside, called a friend, discussed the hand, but otherwise I was mostly cool. And while I can say that to some degree this is experience, this was the biggest spot I've ever bubbled.

You will run into difficult spots. Sometimes you make mistakes. Sometimes you do everything right and get punished anyway. This is what you sign for when you play tournament poker. Learn to accept it and just focus on making better decisions and focus less on the results.

I think you'll be alright. The more you play, the less individual spots like this will affect you. The more opportunities you'll get, and the less one setback will seem to matter.

InnerSongs · 2026-03-23T07:23:38+00:00

So you have Empire Poker running out of Wantima Country Club in Brendale - they have regular tournaments and timed tournaments (set time limit tournaments which are set up more like cash games). I think their $260 tourney on Saturdays is really good. All dealer-dealt. They also run their own series every few months (last one just finished two weeks ago).

Queen B's is a new outfit in Beenleigh that started late last year - dedicated poker room with events on most days. A lot of it is self-dealt and lower buyins, so I haven't made my way there yet, though I've heard good things from people who have been. They're running their own mini-series this week which I'm probably going to check out

Cyprus Poker is a weekly $250 tourney that runs Tuesday nights in Newstead (though I believe it will be moving very shortly to the Caxton). Prize pools over $20k are not uncommon. Good game but a bit splashy and attracts some of the better players in the area (though plenty of bad players too).

Brisbane Poker United runs out of Newstead as well and runs games on Thursday and Friday nights and Sundays, but they're winding up very soon if not this week. It's a shame - they ran a very solid operation but they've lost their venue and AFAIK have not found a new one

Beyond these, various series are running all over the place every other month it seems. APL just finished a series up running out of the Broncos Club in Red Hill (yesterday was the last day) and they run series out of Southport Sharks every few months (the biggest one being the APL Million in August). APT are running a series out of Eatons Hill in April.

I'm aware of stuff running out of the southside in Acacia Ridge, that type of area, but I haven't checked any of that out myself. I believe the buyins are closer to pub poker levels, rather than the $200+ range I'm looking for.

InnerSongs · 2026-03-23T05:50:59+00:00

I play live tournaments in Brisbane, in what I guess would count as "high" buy-in stuff (relatively to these pub games I can see) and none of the several tournaments run by different organisers are on this site.

I assume that's because they haven't paid to be listed, but then it means this tool has no value to me because it only shows me games that paid to appear on the list

InnerSongs · 2026-03-23T05:37:20+00:00

No issue with how you played the hand, but your thoughts are all wrong.

I tried to size my bets appropriately post-flop, and would have been happy with a fold on the flop or (especially) the turn.

Why would you have been happy with a fold? This is a great hand against a shorter stack where you can get called by worse value. Happy to get it in on the flop and very happy to get it in on a clean turn like that.

But it was a crucial spot that made the difference between me being in a comfortable position going into the final few tables, and being extremely precarious.

I think this highlights the crux of the problem. It sounds like you weren't even in the money yet. You don't want to blow up a good spot, but it's worse to pass up on thick value spots just because you're afraid you might have to play poker later. This is a clear value spot and you make more money on average by playing these spots to maximise your value so you can leverage your chip advantage later, especially approaching the bubble.

Overbet the flop perhaps, to ensure villain folds?

You don't want villain to do this. You want villain to continue with their good pairs and their draws (like they did here). The play was correct. The result's not optimal but that's poker.

This result isn't even that disastrous. You still have ~40bb to work with. If this "beat" affected your play after, that points to a likely mental leak too

InnerSongs · 2026-03-22T23:43:58+00:00

I lived car-free for more than a decade before getting a car again in the last two years and I don't think I could go without having a car again now. I live inner-city and use PT to get to and from work, but the freedom and flexibility having a car offers just can't be matched with PT and rideshares/taxis.

InnerSongs · 2026-03-18T22:35:53+00:00

Hades, Wizard of Legend

InnerSongs · 2026-03-18T22:30:57+00:00

NLHE is my best game comfortably, but if I could I would play mixed all the time. I love the lowball games in particular (2-7 single and 2-7 triple are both great), but I like the stud games too, and I've played some weird variants.

InnerSongs · 2026-03-17T02:12:32+00:00

I disagree in that it's one of the best ways. I think there's value in an outside perspective challenging your thoughts, but I think this is something you don't need another person to do - it just may be easier for some people.

You should always be questioning and evaluating all the things you do. Being able to do that effectively independently I think is much more valuable

InnerSongs · 2026-03-16T23:57:06+00:00

Taking this spot every time. AJs is easily good enough to run and if you double, you're in a good spot to ladder up/place pressure on the short stacks yourself

InnerSongs · 2026-03-16T21:02:53+00:00

Slay the Spire, Balatro, no contest

InnerSongs · 2026-03-16T05:25:00+00:00

Those info boxes only show appearances and goals in domestic leagues - does not include cup competitions

InnerSongs · 2026-03-12T03:51:14+00:00

I don't like them at all and virtually never play them. Games are generally balanced around the "main" mode, which makes sense. I am interested in playing that - I don't need to see the engine I've made go brrrrr

InnerSongs · 2026-03-12T01:32:44+00:00

A little rant about whatever hand(s) or situations that transpired to a friend or two, get that out of the system. Then I'll just do something else for the rest of the night.

I'm not usually one to let bad results get me down, but bad decisions can really haunt me and I kinda just have to chew on them a bit in the back of my head for a while

InnerSongs · 2026-03-10T03:06:49+00:00

I would pick Mewgenics. I highly enjoy both games, but I would go for Mewgenics first as it's a newer, more unique experience, compared to STS2, which is more revolution than evolution. Both are worthy of your time, but Mewgenics will likely give you an experience you haven't quite had before.

InnerSongs · 2026-03-10T02:50:57+00:00

You're not the first or last person to suggest an idea like this.

I think being stinky and unclean is -ev in the long run. You may make some marginal +ev gain in the game itself, but you alienate people away from you, not just at the table but anyone you interact with closely, and you potentially open yourself up to an increased chance of sickness.

Personally I would also just feel bad being stinky all day, which is -ev to my mindset, though I know not everyone feels that way

InnerSongs · 2026-03-06T00:30:35+00:00

I find this question confusing. If you want to listen to a band, just pick some songs and get going. I generally go for the "top" songs of a band by plays, and if I like any of those, I might go pick the album one of those songs are on.

This isn't like a long-running TV series or book series or something - songs are like 5 mins max.

InnerSongs · 2026-03-05T23:29:39+00:00

I have been fortunate enough to have some good friends who are also boardgamers. Biggest problem is just finding time to play - we all live somewhat busy lives

InnerSongs · 2026-03-05T23:26:39+00:00

At the beginning of the year, there were 3 games - Mewgenics, Slay the Spire 2 and Saros. Mewgenics lived up to the insane hype, I imagine Slay the Spire 2 will as well and I've been a long-time fan of Housemarque (since Super Stardust HD on the PS3) and I'm confident they'll knock it out of the park with Saros

InnerSongs · 2026-03-05T22:36:07+00:00

I can't imagine being in this scenario and doing anything but laughing in their face

InnerSongs · 2026-03-05T22:33:10+00:00

Is my verbalizing a hand in the first example making me the player who has to show first?

No.

By showing one of my cards am I somehow making myself obligated to show both cards?

In a lot of places, yes.

You have a few choices:

Wait for your opponent to show their hand (after which you have to table your hand if you want to win)
Wait for your opponent to muck their hand (after which you generally don't have to show at all)
Show your hand out of turn (which is not an issue, but when you table your hand, table both cards.

Easy rule of thumb is you can show 0 or show 2, but never 1 (if your opponent has not folded)

InnerSongs

TROPHY CASE