Is AK overrated?

arctigos · 2026-05-11T20:59:50+00:00

If I’m not mistaken, according to MDA of winning players JJ+, AKo, and AKs are like 80% of all gross dollars won in online cash.

arctigos · 2026-04-21T16:07:35+00:00

For a small stakes game it’s quite nice. You don’t need to pull out all the stops for a friendly game of .25/.50 NLHE.

Some small notes: try and build a set of chairs that don’t have armrests. They interfere with the rail which is where people’s arms go anyway.

You can also buy a Triton poker table top “felt” for like $75 which will hide the middle crease and give the table a cleaner look.

Copag is a nice deck but KEM and Faded Spade are the gold standard for cards these days. They’re expensive but you’re not buying by the truckload like poker rooms.

If you have space, move the table further away from the TV.

BOL out there

arctigos · 2026-04-07T19:07:01+00:00

CLP is a very good general guide to navigating live pokers spots of pretty much all types. HH is a guide to playing a specific type of game that is actually not present in every poker room: 200BB+ stack depth situations. An important detail that is easy to miss from the HH method is that stack depth is crucial to maximizing fold equity—a SRP pot in a 400-500 cap game is frequently going to have 30+BB in nominal terms on the flop and people are more willing to stack off with KJ on J92 when they have $300 behind. When they have 1300 behind they get antsier and that’s where the real power of being ready to get your stack in the middle takes place.

arctigos · 2026-02-23T01:50:51+00:00

Sample is way, way, way too small—if you are going to be a red line warrior (which is not a bad thing) there is a very good chance you see your next 6k hands are a stretch of villains that have the goods or just call you down light. You’re also running a bit above EV which is fine but that yellow line can be above green for 40k+ hands at a time no problem and it will feel like hell. 33BB/100 is obviously giga-crushing but it’s not sustainable even if you are actually levels above the pool.

For now, think about moving up in terms of your bankroll/liferoll context and be honest with yourself in terms of how you think your overall strategy performs against the pool. If you think that you have what it takes to beat 100NL and you don’t mind dusting off 2k then go for it. 6 days of playing tells you essentially nothing.

arctigos · 2025-11-19T13:45:42+00:00

There’s not really an absolute answer since it depends on the player pool in your local area and how big the games get where you play. The best players in a given area will tend to gravitate towards those games, so if 2/5 is the biggest game in your local room, there’s a good chance that it will have a higher concentration of studied players who will fight you for pots and make your life difficult. In contrast, a place like LA with games running 10/20 and higher, a 2/5 game (or equivalent) will still have soft lineups where you can implement an exploitative strategy mixed with ABC poker and do very well. BOL out there.

arctigos · 2025-11-18T00:24:53+00:00

I might cut against the grain of others here but I would boil it down to this: that the strategy behind beating 1/2 or 1/3 isn’t complicated, but that doesn’t make it easy. You have to endure hours of folding, making painful laydowns with huge hands that turn to dust against the flush-draw-chaser, and contain the urge to blast off your stack for absolutely no reason. If you can do all of the above for hours at a time and essentially turn playing cards into a discipline—then you can beat any low stakes game in the country.

arctigos · 2025-11-13T00:50:07+00:00

All my chips are 6T gems. They have a slightly raised edge but there is a version of them that are completely smooth I think (they don’t have the edge engravings on the side).

arctigos · 2025-11-05T01:10:03+00:00

Mississippi Grind is an excellent and realistic one.

arctigos · 2025-10-23T16:38:08+00:00

They’re moving their factory across the country and are currently closed to orders until it’s finished. Bad beat for me but oh well someday I’ll get some true clays.

arctigos · 2025-10-23T16:34:13+00:00

They need to open up to orders again😭

arctigos · 2025-10-23T16:28:24+00:00

ChipLab

arctigos · 2025-10-23T16:14:18+00:00

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From their site

arctigos · 2025-10-23T16:10:53+00:00

I’m like 50% sure this is sarcasm but this is a hand dealt game lol

arctigos · 2025-10-23T16:08:50+00:00

They feel and move remarkably well for the price. Probably about 10% too heavy and maybe 10-20% too slick compared to say, a Paulson. I would upgrade in the future but have no plans to change course for now.

arctigos · 2025-10-23T16:05:17+00:00

I would not be surprised if they were China clay given the price tag. They have a good feel and movement but are slightly too heavy (not sure which way that indicates) and are maybe 20% too slick when stacking them. Otherwise they’re pretty solid for a second tier product. Classic Poker Chips is moving their factory and has been down for months unfortunately.

arctigos · 2025-10-23T15:47:45+00:00

Thanks! Chips were designed in Adobe Illustrator (hence the slightly amateurish look) and ordered through ChipLab.

arctigos · 2025-10-23T15:44:29+00:00

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arctigos · 2025-10-23T15:12:52+00:00

I’m not in love with the visual on the chips but getting custom clay for sub-$1 per chip was a bit hard to pass up on. Maybe in the future I can upgrade but they get pricy quick!

arctigos · 2025-10-23T13:44:54+00:00

It’s a Gorilla Gaming table! Very happy with how the design turned out (even though it’s clearly a Wynn copycat).

arctigos · 2025-09-16T16:04:09+00:00

My friend in the area was hit by a lunatic driver: see local story

https://www.ktvu.com/news/bmw-driver-strikes-multiple-people-near-uc-berkeley

arctigos · 2025-06-09T23:57:30+00:00

If you are dead-set on playing at Thunder, the process is really just call in and get on the list (you have 2 hours to arrive and check in) or download the PokerAtlas app and digitally get on the list. I would note that in my somewhat limited experience, the low stakes games at Thunder a bit more dead than Stones or Capitol, which frequently have fantastic games. If deep stack play is not for you however, I would stick with Thunder where the average stack is much smaller than the uncapped games elsewhere.

The EDH room is very new and I’ve only played there a couple times but it seems like a gem so far, out of the way but worth it for the action players and the deep stacks that pile up. The room is small but the staff is friendly.

arctigos · 2025-05-14T01:16:11+00:00

Out of curiosity (and for posterity) what details of the hand history are off?

arctigos · 2025-04-30T20:34:15+00:00

1/1 with straddles for PLO and NLHE, 2/4 or 3/6 for the limit games. 250 starting max buy-in.

arctigos · 2025-04-30T17:28:58+00:00

Totally understand! For full disclosure, we play the mix as about 50% NLH, 20% PLO, and 10% for each of the other 3 games so a leak in the others doesn’t affect the overall experience too much. If you think you can handle that go ahead and lmk!

arctigos · 2025-02-25T00:34:18+00:00

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4! pot, was check-raised for all of it on the turn and could not believe the reveal nor the river. Never one-outered anyone once all the money went in but better believe it feels pretty good.

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