Operation: Getting a grip on things.

How many h/week do you play?

Not understanding when to stack off properly is a ranges issue. Post two similar hands and we can maybe work through what's correct in different spots, etc.

Ill:

Lately I average about 900 - 1000 hands/week. I want to get back to 4 tables to up the amount. I wont get more hours to play so I have to open more tables.

I will look tonight for some hands to show you...

This is a sample for Illfavor to look at. I have posted these before...

Hand 1) my reads on him are at the end of the hand.

H1- Alright. He's loose/passive, so he could conceivably be limping his stonger hands as well. But generally, even the most LP raise QQ+/AK. I think your analysis is fine and we're likely against 2p/sets since no draws completed. There are so many worse two pair hands in his range (namely, all of them), that I think we're fist-pump stacking off here. We only have to be good here like 1/3 of the time, and we have 70% equity vs. 2p/sets. No worries when he has the set.

H2- A major difference in H2 is our relative hand strength. The best possible two pair (H1) vs. a range of 2p and sets is awesome. Top Pair vs. 2pr, sets and bluffs is much less good. We have one pair, and should generally be less willing to stack off on the turn facing a raise (Baluga Theorem). Versus an unknown, I probably fold here.

In both cases, the villain may have some bluffs in his range, but imo, in H1 bluffs are good for us, and in H2 there aren't enough bluffs in his range for us to call profitably. In H1 we just have so much of his range crushed. In H2, it's ambiguous as to what he's doing this with (it's rarely one pair) and while he may be bluffing, his range is usually not a bluff.

Now, people may be looser at 5nl that at 100nl, so that's a metagame problem that you have to identify and adjust to. If you feel the common opponent is bluffing a lot in H2, then stick it in and reevaluate your assumptions based on what results most often.

So think about relative hands strength. It's relative to the gameflow, the board texture, and most importantly, HIS RANGE.

Hope this helps.

Illfavor:
H1) I have looked at that hand a few times and I still think I am accurate as far as my reads on him are. He had 66 for the set and he stacked me but I am happy with my call I think...He would have done it with far worse I am pretty sure.

H2) I think I'm crazy for calling.....we checked the river and he had K high....it was a total bluff.....I won a nice pot.
In hindsight, these are the type of calls that have cost me money lately but here I was good. I'm starting to think that basically it came down to dumb tilty luck that he was bluffing b/c I had no reads that he was capable of it. I think many would come to the same conclusion that you did...I'm behind, so fold.

Thanks for the help/assurance...

On another note....I am back! my BR is back to where it was before the hit I took at the end of June. It took a bit but this month has been very good to me. Only one losing session this month. The sessions were great....nothing huge, no multi BI winning sessions, just good steady progress with a lot of money made on cbets, value bets w/ TPTK type hands and very few all ins actually.
I am happy with my progress, no playing tired, no playing passive.

I have done a fine job the last few sessions with stealing blinds and playing aggressive in limped pots where I raise to steal blinds or take flops with cbets with hands like A7o or KJ in the CO or BTN. Once I am comfortable at the table, I up the aggression a little and try to get blinds with these hands.

For me its important to first note who the loose passives are. If they limp from mp and I am on the BTN with A7o I have no problem raising with the expectation to win the blinds. Should they call and then check the flop, you are almost a shoe-in to win with a cbet...These players play so transparently you can almost see their cards.

I think I will post my August graph in the BC soon, I'm just so pleased with my results...

About time! I had 2 things going well for me yesterday:
1) Got some good hands
2) Had a drooler maniac that decided to come along.
I've sat for a bunch of session lately and had a maniac at the table only to go card dead. The next 2 hands happened in a short time frame early in the session.
He was running 78/25/x with a 25% 3bet...

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $0.05 BB (9 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Villain (Button) ($5.08)
SB ($4.78)
BB ($4.20)
UTG ($2.74)
UTG+1 ($5.43)
MP1 ($7.21)
Hero (MP2) ($5.88)
MP3 ($1.87)
CO ($9.93)

Preflop: Hero is MP2 with 4

, 4

3 folds, Hero bets $0.20, 2 folds, Villain calls $0.20, 2 folds

Flop: ($0.47) 2

, 4

, 10

(2 players)
Hero bets $0.25, Villain calls $0.25

Turn: ($0.97) A

(2 players)
Hero bets $0.80, Villain calls $0.80

River: ($2.57) 5

(2 players)
Hero bets $1, Villain calls $1

Total pot: $4.57 | Rake: $0.20

Results:
Villain mucked J

, A

(one pair, Aces).
Hero had 4

, 4

(three of a kind, fours).
Outcome: Hero won $4.37

I bet small on flop but I wanted to invite his range in, or if he had anything he would reraise me and I could get more of his $$. Not something I usually do (1/2 sized pot bets) but this player warrented this I believe.

The turn I put in a better sized bet and the river I bet small and not sure why. I think by that point I figured he had very little b/c he was pretty aggro when he did have something so I bet small to invite a call. I probably could've bet 2/3 or even 3/4 pot.

Next hand:

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $0.05 BB (9 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Villain (UTG+1) ($5.34)
MP1 ($4.66)
MP2 ($4.58)
MP3 ($2.89)
CO ($5.36)
Button ($6.96)
Hero (SB) ($7.95)
BB ($6)
UTG ($9.03)

Preflop: Hero is SB with Q

, Q

1 fold, Villain calls $0.05, 2 folds, MP3 calls $0.05, 2 folds, Hero bets $0.30, 1 fold, Villain calls $0.25, 1 fold

Flop: ($0.70) 8

, J

(2 players)
Hero bets $0.55, Villain raises to $1.10, Hero calls $0.55

Turn: ($2.90) J

(2 players)
Hero bets $1.45, Villain raises to $3.94 (All-In), Hero calls $2.49

River: ($10.78) 4

(2 players, 1 all-in)

Total pot: $10.78 | Rake: $0.50

Results:
Hero had Q

, Q

(full house, Jacks over Queens).
Villain had A

, 8

(full house, Jacks over eights).
Outcome: Hero won $10.28

I didnt reraise the flop b/c I was sure he would just hang himself by the end of the hand. Yeah it was possible he had a J but his range here is huge.....I was going for it regardless.
He left the table right away and the $/pot went south pretty quick.

Hand 3 was at a different table and Villain was 50/2/x...
I only show this hand b/c I 2x barrelled, not something I do often.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $0.05 BB (8 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Villain (UTG+1) ($12.43)
MP1 ($2.03)
MP2 ($4.46)
CO ($3.09)
Button ($4.06)
SB ($5.74)
Hero (BB) ($13.05)
UTG ($11.51)

Preflop: Hero is BB with A

, 8

1 fold, Villain calls $0.05, 2 folds, CO calls $0.05, 2 folds, Hero bets $0.25, Villain calls $0.20, 1 fold

Flop: ($0.57) 9

, 2

, Q

(2 players)
Hero bets $0.40, Villain calls $0.40

Turn: ($1.37) 4

(2 players)
Hero bets $0.80, 1 fold

Total pot: $1.37 | Rake: $0.05

Results:
Hero didn't show A

, 8

(nothing).
Outcome: Hero won $1.32

I raise w/ A8o, good enough vs some weak limp folders and the villain who plays too many hands post flop.

I cbet the flop b/c his range is huge and he folds to cbets pretty quick. When he calls I thought about it quick and just didn't see this player having anything that this board helps that he calls another bet with.
So I tried again and he folded....
Yeah nothing huge but I dont barrel often....I usually check against loose players like this but I felt I had the correct read on him.

Muuhahahaha!

Things are going well. I need to post some hands to show but lately I've been ok.
The only problem I find is that I may sit for a while and just dwindle chips due to blinds and the odd small pot I play that I fold on the turn etc....So I will be down a bit, and then BAM! I run into a nice hand or two that gives me my session winnings...
I'll take it, but I wish it was more steady all the time.

A while ago I had a great session where I won a buy in with never better than top pair, and I won a pile of pots on cbets with mssed overs. That was nice.

One great moment lately was a session where I won 2 nice pots with A high. It was just one of thse pots where I checked the flop and called him down on flop and turn and checked the river to win. Both instances they just bet away and i was confident on my ranges that I had a good chance to be ahead.

I havent updated my OP goal b/c it seems everytime I do, I run into a bad session...

Some recent hands:

Villain only played 17 hands so no reads of note yet.
I put 3bets at JJ+, AK until I see otherwise from an unknown.
So I basically call for set odds most likely.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $0.05 BB (9 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

UTG+1 ($5.62)
MP1 ($2.56)
Hero (MP2) ($5)
MP3 ($1.35)
CO ($3.35)
King of Kings (Button) ($4.83)
SB ($1.94)
BB ($11.20)
UTG ($18.13)

Preflop: Hero is MP2 with 9

, 9

3 folds, Hero bets $0.20, 2 folds, King of Kings raises to $0.35, 2 folds, Hero calls $0.15

Flop: ($0.77) A

, 9

, 10

(2 players)
Hero bets $0.45, King of Kings calls $0.45

Turn: ($1.67) 8

(2 players)
Hero bets $1.55, King of Kings calls $1.55

River: ($4.77) 8

(2 players)
Hero bets $2.65 (All-In), King of Kings calls $2.48 (All-In)

Total pot: $9.73 | Rake: $0.45

Results:
King of Kings had K

, K

(two pair, Kings and eights).
Hero had 9

, 9

(full house, nines over eights).
Outcome: Hero won $9.28

Gotta love spew. He fell in love with his kings and he lost his stack. Its amazing he didnt put me on an A by the turn...He just couldnt lay it down.

Hand 2)
Villain 33/4/1.1 over 45
Had a read that he had small value bets (1/4 – 1/3 pot) w/ hands like TPGK. This bet looked like a steal/semibluff. I had TPMK but am only likely beat by sets and QJ,KJ, AJ which he probably would have bet differently.
His timing tell on turn told me the flush was unlikely, I almost reraised him but figured, most 5nl players don’t go nuts with flushes until river to suck out the bets…plus I might be best so no need to raise.
He gives up on river and I feel I’m not getting worse to call so I check behind.
I am happy with how I played it. Its an improvement a little bit (compared to how I used to play these hands) by getting some value out of these types of hands against the right villain.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $0.05 BB (8 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

SB ($10.10)
BB ($4.95)
UTG ($2.25)
UTG+1 ($0.55)
MP1 ($15.21)
Villain (MP2) ($4.49)
CO ($7.02)
Hero (Button) ($4.93)

Preflop: Hero is Button with J

, 10

UTG calls $0.05, 2 folds, Villain calls $0.05, CO calls $0.05, Hero calls $0.05, SB calls $0.03, BB checks

Flop: ($0.30) 9

, J

, 7

(6 players)
SB checks, BB checks, UTG checks, Villain bets $0.20, 1 fold, Hero calls $0.20, 3 folds

Turn: ($0.70) 5

(2 players)
Villain bets $0.15, Hero calls $0.15

River: ($1) 5

(2 players)
Villain checks, Hero checks

Total pot: $1 | Rake: $0.05

Results:
Hero had J

, 10

(two pair, Jacks and fives).
Villain had 10

, Q

(one pair, fives).
Outcome: Hero won $0.95

Long time since I updated...
I started a new job this week and its crazy busy as I try to figure out what I am doing there. Also, I don't have my own office anymore so my screen is in view = no spending 7hrs/day at FTR...

I also started my course again so my nights are busy as well. This leaves little time for poker and FTR.
Last night I played 2 tables which was the first poker in over a week. It went very well. I lost very few hands and got involved in one large pot with the table bluffer. He was talking a lot about how he usually multitables but was only doing one table to f@%k around on. He was constantly reraising and showing bluffs but I noticed that when he had a decent hand he was betting differently and looking for calls.
During the session he was running 69/17/4 and was raising lots of cbets. My only note/read was that if I had a hand, I could let him bet away his stack.
No-Limit Hold'em, $0.05 BB (9 handed) - Hold'em Manager Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

CO ($4.56)
villain (Button) ($7.38)
SB ($8.69)
BB ($9.57)
UTG ($6.17)
UTG+1 ($10)
Hero (MP1) ($8.61)
MP2 ($8.96)
MP3 ($11.58)

Preflop: Hero is MP1 with A

, J

2 folds, Hero bets $0.20, 3 folds, villain calls $0.20, 2 folds

Flop: ($0.47) 5

, J

, Q

(2 players)
Hero bets $0.30, villain raises $0.60, Hero calls $0.30

Turn: ($1.67) 7

(2 players)
Hero checks, villain bets $0.95, Hero calls $0.95

River: ($3.57) 5

(2 players)
Hero checks, villain bets $5.63 (All-In), Hero calls $5.63

Total pot: $14.83

Results:
villain had 6

, 3

(one pair, fives).
Hero had A

, J

(two pair, Jacks and fives).
Outcome: Hero won $14.13

I barely hesitated...I was quite sure enough that I was ahead to make the call.

Havent been around b/c I started a new job and university at night so not much poker.
The job was sick hectic and my old employer made me an offer I couldnt refuse so I went back.
Its more sane and school is lightening up a smidge so hopefully I can play more. The little I have played has gone well...
Now that I'm back to the old job, I can probably come around more and post. I'll be busier with a new position but should have some freedom to come in and post hands etc...

Played a bad session yesterday. I finished up, but did not play well. Made some horrible river calls etc. Its too bad b/c I had at least one maniac at every table.
At one table, it started breaking down and it was 4 handed....I was playing against 3 players who were at least 45/X/X. So I should have stood to win a lot of money. Instead I lost the most. I dont know what it is about shot handed.....I felt like a fucking fish at a table with 3 of them. Just couldn't get anything going.

I hit some nice hands so that I could finish ahead. I had a set where I was the PRF, and I was able to hit my straight and got the guy to pay me off. I felt good about the hand with the straight. I feel that I was justified in my call with the OESD.

I am moving up slowly, and I cant wait to get out of 5nl. I hope that by Christmas I can get there. If I could play more hands, I would get there quick they way things are going, but I only play about 2k hands/month.

Another problem I am starting to have is when there are a number of maniacs at a table. There was a full table where there were 3 players who almost never folded preflop. I would raise, get 3 callers and I just wasnt hitting and I cant really cbet properly. I found myself loosing a lot of money to these players and I was probably bluffed out a lot where on the river an EP villain would bet and I would be caught inbetween him and one or more others so I don't want to call with players behind. I think I could call if it was HU with say A high but not with players behind.

Oh. well, I guess its nice to have something to work on. If I was hitting flops a little better I could have done alright but it was tough going.

Villain at the time was running about 12/9/3 over 55.
My thought at the end of the hand

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $0.05 BB (9 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

BB ($10.26)
UTG ($6.75)
UTG+1 ($18.23)
Hero (MP1) ($6.78)
MP2 ($2.36)
MP3 ($17.88)
CO ($1.95)
Button ($2.93)
SB ($21.05)

Preflop: Hero is MP1 with J

, J

UTG calls $0.05, 1 fold, Hero bets $0.25, 6 folds, UTG calls $0.20

Flop: ($0.57) 10

, 2

(2 players)
UTG checks, Hero bets $0.45, UTG calls $0.45

Turn: ($1.47) 3

(2 players)
UTG checks, Hero bets $1.10, UTG calls $1.10

River: ($3.67) 8

(2 players)
UTG checks, Hero bets $1.60, UTG raises to $4.95 (All-In), Hero ?

His stats had me convinced he limped a PP and called my bet.
I discounted QQ+, I feel he would have reraised. So I put him on a small list of hands on the flop, 99, TT, AKs, AT.
River = spew?

This is 22-99 so often its gross. I think he shows up with a set or boat here almost always. On the river, it might be gross, but I could totally see checking behind, but betting isn't bad.

Yeah, I posted my thoughts really on the above hand b/c I was posting the hand to link it on IRC for M2M to look at and didnt want to take my sweet time.
After his turn call I was a bit annoyed b/c really the only hands that I worry about here is TT and 33 just got there. There arent a lot of hands that beat me but there are VERY FEW hands that he calls down with that I beat.
I think, given his stats and the way he plays the river was a clear check. As played I should fold the river shove but I was too proud b/c I was doing well up to that point.

He had 22, I was hopelessly crushed

I am so close to 10nl I can just about taste it. It will still take a bit b/c I dont play enough hands but I still is within reach.
I have, for the most part, been playing very well. I have made some nice calls with middle range hands and have had nice sessions.

I am hoping to reach the 10nl BR by December or mid Dec at worst. It just depends on how much I play and if I can keep up the nice sessions I'm having.

Like I did with 2nl, I will post some thoughts in the BC on 5nl and what I observed. It was different than 2nl, but small and I was able to make a few adjustments and tame a few bad leaks.

Lets hope this continues for a while and I can get out of the lowest of the low stakes....
10nl seems so much more respectable.

Hi Vinland,

I've been following your op and it's great you're finding your way to 10NL soon. Just wanted to say I like the reasoning behind your moves, puting other players on a range and playing against that. Most people post hands but seem to forget(?) describing what was the rational behind their decision.
I'll also be waiting for your thoughts on 5NL as I hope to be able to reach that level soon (now this is what I call optimism Very Happy

).

Running like God lately.....more on that later
But here's a hand I'm posting for IRC review:

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $0.05 BB (7 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

SB ($1.90)
Hero (BB) ($5.03)
UTG ($6.05)
MP1 ($6.51)
MP2 ($2.42)
CO ($3.28)
Villain (Button) ($2.90)

Villain runs 83/17/1.5 over 25
Calls lots, plays passive. I raise preflop hoping for HU vs a limper and I get him....Vinland is happy...

Preflop: Hero is BB with 10

, 10

2 folds, MP2 calls $0.05, CO calls $0.05, Villain calls $0.05, SB calls $0.03, Hero bets $0.30, 2 folds, Villain calls $0.25, 1 fold

Flop: ($0.75) 8

, Q

, 6

(2 players)
Hero bets $0.50, Villain calls $0.50

Vs call machine, I am happy to bet for value here and charge for a multitude of draws. Given the board, I have his range pretty big here: FD's, straight draws, Qx, 2nd pair, A high

Turn: ($1.75) 5

(2 players)
Hero?

Does anyone bet here? A flush just got there and there is a better chance for straight draw possibilities as well as he could have a Q. However, he calls so much and plays just about ATC....can we still bet here? I pokerstoved all fd's, all q's some A high, some 8X hands and I was ahead, but I may be off here.
Is this a case where b/f works?

You know how I said I hope to make it to 10nl by xmas? Forget it...aint gonna happen....

Why? CUZ I'M ALREADY THERE!
Pretty good heater lately (+6 BI in 300 hands). I was playing 4 tables today and was doing really well on 2 of them. I had already doubled up on one table and then this happened to give me my 10nl BR:
PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $0.05 BB (9 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Button ($6.18)
SB ($2.24)
BB ($5)
UTG ($5.07)
UTG+1 ($6.07)
Poor Bastard (MP1) ($11.91)
Hero (MP2) ($10.83)
MP3 ($6.96)
CO ($8.15)

Preflop: Hero is MP2 with J

, J

2 folds, Poor Bastard bets $0.15, Hero raises to $0.45, 1 fold, CO calls $0.45, 3 folds, Poor Bastard calls $0.30

Flop: ($1.42) J

, 9

, 6

(3 players)
Poor Bastard checks, Hero bets $1.05, 1 fold, Poor Bastard calls $1.05

Turn: ($3.52) A

(2 players)
Poor Bastard checks, Hero bets $2.70, Poor Bastard calls $2.70

River: ($8.92) 10

(2 players)
Poor Bastard checks, Hero bets $6.63 (All-In), Poor Bastard calls $6.63

Total pot: $22.18 | Rake: $1.05

Results:
Poor Bastard had 9

, 9

(three of a kind, nines).
Hero had J

, J

(three of a kind, Jacks).
Outcome: Hero won $21.13

Thats what I call a heater....
Yesterday I doubled up when I was able to check in the BB multiway with a 78. The flop was checked around and I hit my ISSD and my opp hit his set. They money went in, my hand held and there you go!

Thats all there is to it....Heater!!

I made it hthrough 5nl in 14.5K hands, I'm pretty happy with that, it could have been better but for a 5K even stretch where some leaks reared their ugly head.

As always, I hope to quickly adjust to the new level and hope to improve on my level of play. I know it will be tougher at 10nl but I know I have made vast improvements to my game already from 2nl to 5nl. I just hope I can figure out the little differences quickly and adjust to the new level and make some moneez...

Thanks to all those that have helped: Jason, Dranger, Boog, Illfavor, M2M, spoon, the BC mods for HH help and a slew of others.

I will post some other thoughts later including goals. One goal I have is to start watching some 10nl vids from GS. I've heared great things about it and I'll take the help.
I also hope to add a table once I feel I have adjusted to the level.
I need to play more hands. However, as I said, I will try to outline my goals later...gotta sleep...

Great progress, keep it up.

I posted this in the BC, its my observations and thoughts on 5nl. If any low micro players see this, they can have a look, hopefully there is something to take away from this:

-Typical passive player, instead of running 30/3/1.5 now they run 20/3/1.5 (just slightly weaker/nittier but not much more)

-Lots of regs running >10/2/3 Some as low as 5/2/2 just very nitty.

-Ran into players who would limp AA even from UTG just to be trappy

-Learn to play large pots w/ TPTK or even middle pair against the maniacs. Its tough b/c
“I” would never go into a big pot with worse than TPTK but “they” will.

-Learn to size your value bets….I hear a lot of talk about “pot, pot, shove” and sure against some you can, but when the board isn’t too threatening and the villain is weak, you cant always pot the flop. If the flop is $.70, you may need to bet 2/3 to keep a weak villain in there. You have to manipulate them a little to make some money off an extra bet.

-When you put a player on a range, and at showdown he shows up with the top portion of that range and beats you, it doesn’t mean your range was bad, it just simply means that he showed up with the best part of that range in this particular hand. I had a hand that bugged me for a bit. I had 2 pair and a fish stacked me with a set. I was sure that he would do that with a variety of TP hands, 2 pair hands and sets…..Illfavor reassured me that it was a proper call given his tendencies…he just happened to have the best possible hand given his possible range, but our call vs that range was a good call.

-Don’t be too aggressive….what do I mean? I remember in 2nl I would have say AK on a K high flop and villain would bet into me maybe ½ pot. I would immediately reraise b/c “I haz TPTK…I need moneez”, and then they would fold. You sometimes have to call a few streets when it looks like opponent is well behind. Let them hang themselves once in a while. This is villain and read dependant but you cant blow every opponent out of the pot just because “calling seems weak” and raising is cooler than calling. The idea is to make the most money possible against that particular opponent, given what cards you have, villain has and what the board contains.

-Cbet flop almost every time against loose passive players (the ones that run 20-30 vpip and pfr >5), unless the flop contains 2-3 overs, I cbet them with success.

-Play your pocket pairs and raise them pre. Esp if there are a lot of loose passives, you will win a lot of pots with cbets.

-I had to adjust my 3betting a little. Rather than always 3betting with KK, AA with position against a weak opponent, I sometimes just called their raise. Seems strange but I found them to fold a lot b/c they would only continue with the strongest of hands…so I flatted and let them into the pot with a wider range. Some may disagree, b/c yes I have AA so what am I worried about, well they wont call my 3bet without QQ+ which doesn’t happen often enough to 3bet imo. Let them come in w/ AQ and win a decent size pot.

-Punish limpers….I still didn’t do this enough but I worked on it. The tables are full of loose passives who fold a lot preflop to raises after limping, so raise and profit.

-There is a lot of money to be made in multiple small pots. I didn’t go to showdown often and didn’t get into a lot of all-ins…but I had tonnes and tonnes of small HU pots where I won on the flop with a cbet (after I missed). These types of pots were often against…. you guessed it, loose passives.

-Unless it’s a maniac, 3bets usually mean big hands so don’t let the ego get involved.

-Set mining is hugely profitable vs regs running 5/2/3…they don’t fold they’re big pairs.

-Unless it’s a maniac, big overbet/shoves are usually with strong hands. Many players you run into can’t build a pot worth shit, and they shove to look like they are bluffing, don’t fall for it unless you have a strong read.

-When it comes to playing the really, really terrible players, don’t let your “I’m better than him” ego take control. You cant call every river bet they make just b/c they suck. Shitty players still get monsters too, the cards aren’t prejudiced.

-Take notes…..bet sizing, timing tells, stack off w/ draws, if they go for broke w/ TPTK etc…

-I had very little chat with other players. You don’t want to be at 5nl long enough to get to know them.

-Make sure you review hands you played bad in and see where it went wrong. Don’t waste your fucking time looking at coolers, look at hands where you stacked off w/ TPTK vs a pretty straightforward player who reraises the turn and shoves the river…. Why did you call and where did you go wrong?

-I learned to double barrel a few times vs weak players on boards that were non threatening and contained low cards.

Have played only one session of 10nl. It was ok. Ended just slightly down (-$.40). I wasnt hitting alot of flops and had 2 big hands, one I lost with top 2 pair that completed his straight on the river. I felt committed so there was a stack gone...

Another was KK on a J high flop. The villain shoved turn and I had a note on him from a previous hand that he would play large pots with TPMK so if he had TPTK or even TPGK he may shove. I called and sure enough he had KJ for TPGK....
Thats why notes are so damn important. If he was new or I hadnt taken note of his previous plays, it would have been tougher to call.

School is driving me nuts soI dont have lots of time to play. I bought a 1 month membership at Grinderschool and will watch as much as I can. Hopefully I can pick out some for knowledge regarding cbetting, playing more aggro in position and even bet sizing.

So far so good at 10nl. God there are a lot of short stackers....but they dont even play it well....I've seen so many limp/fold from ep its strange....
Best hand so far was when I called 89s on the BTN against a nit who opened UTG. I decided to call and flopped trip 8's. 3 streets of betting by him followed including him calling my reraise on the river, he turned KK.

I would be up quite a bit more but I made a horrible call down on the river against a nit. It should have been obvious on the turn I was in trouble.....but I was doing so well in the session that I feel untouchable....
Thats my tilt problem....when I'm doing well, I assume my cards are always better even when the betting sequences of villain says "you my bitch".

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Operation: Getting a grip on things.

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FTR Blogs and Operations

Operation: Getting a grip on things.