Operation Micro-Stakes: $2NL to $25NL

Ok, I was unsure about starting a blog here at first so bare with me guys. I was going to start one on 2p2 but after lurking their forums for so long I just can't bring myself to get heavily involved in that 100k hand breakeven style of play they seem to advocate over there. So it looks like y'all are going to have to put up with me here. Anyway, here's what I've come up with. I'll try to keep things as organized as possible.


THE TRUTH HURTS

I've come to the realization that I'm just not that good at poker. To make a long story short, I play a very inconsistent and undisciplined game. Furthermore, I never fully understood or came close to obtaining the skills required to be a successful NL cash game player. I need to retrain my poker mindset while starting over at 2NL. The long term goal here is to simply become a better player. Focus on the little things to make that happen and everything else will hopefully take care of itself.


THE 5 COMMANDMENTS OF THIS OPERATION

1) Always put opponents on a range and never auto-pilot; practice patience and discipline.
2) Think about the why and the consequences of each possible action before making a decision.
3) Focus on short term goals rather than short term results; poker is a marathon, not a sprint.
4) Put in the volume required for continuous progress; hands aren't going to play themselves.
5) Realize that mistakes will be made; learn from it and move on but hold myself accountable.


BANKROLL MANAGEMENT RULES

The following BRM rules must be followed. No excuses. Rakeback and donkaments will be included in total bankroll but I must win the required amount of buyins at each level before moving up. The chart only goes to 25NL. Once I am settled in that level I will make a new chart for small stakes.

--- Starting Bankroll $200 ---

2NL - 25 buyins ($50)
5NL - 30 buyins ($150)
10NL - 35 buyins ($350)
25NL - 40 buyins ($1000)


RULES FOR GAME SELECTION

I've always been a full ring player but now is a perfect time as any to start learning how to play shorthanded and heads-up cash games. But until I can adapt to the wider ranges, increased aggression and bigger swings, the rules for playing shorthanded are simple. First, I must play at least one level lower than my normal stake. Second, I cannot mix game types or stakes during the same session. Both of these rules can be adjustable down the road but for the foreseeable future they cannot be broken. This means I cannot start playing shorthanded games until I beat 2NL. Once I've played enough hands though, I'll decide what I'm best at and mostly stick to one game type.


RULES FOR UPDATING ITT

This thread will be used to track my progress through micro-stakes NL cash games. To help stay on track, I need to make sure I'm updating this thread with some of the following items. Again, it's all about holding myself accountable here.

1) Bankroll is not as important as EV. Cash graphs and stat updates will only be posted in blocks of at least 5k hands with bankroll updates at the end of each month.
2) Short term goals must be set at the beginning of each month and reviewed at the end of the month. If I failed to achieve a goal, explain why and decide whether or not to roll it over in to the next month.
3) Hand histories. Spew and brags can be posted but not bad beats and coolers because it doesn't matter and no one gives a shit. Questionable hands will be posted and discussed in the proper forum.
4) Beating each level is a big deal as is moving up. Thoughts on what it took to beat each level will be posted as well as adjustments I feel I need to be aware of for the next one. Document the journey.
5) Random updates must be made with a positive tone. Identify leaks and come up with solutions. Be honest with myself, respect better player's opinions, stay the course and know that I'm in this for the long haul.


Note to self: come back and re-read this OP anytime I'm feeling tilted or when progress seems slow. It's going to take a lot of hard work so buckle up and be a man about it. FFS this is poker, not field hockey.

JULY '13

Only 10 days left in the month so I'm just going to set 3 simple goals.

1) Play ~10k hands of disciplined, tight, A-game poker. Fold. A lot.
2) Settle on an efficient note taking system and stick to it.
3) Start reading "Harrington on Online Cash Games" to start preparations for 6max.

That's it. If I can't achieve these 3 goals by the end of the month, I either suck at life or an immediate family member kicked the bucket.

Huge leak identified and it ain't rocket science. I can sit and watch these hands play out and narrow a range down to the exact fucking hand by the river. But I can't even come close to that when I'm actually involved in the hand. I've gotta be leveling myself.

There's only two things I should be thinking at this level. What does hero have and what does villain have. Thinking about representing a certain range and acting on it is spew at this point. Playing fairly straightforward against 98% of 2NL villains has got to be pretty damn optimal.

Everything starts up front though. I need to do an analysis of my own range as I'm sure I have tons of preflop leaks. Not exactly sure yet how to run HEM reports to pinpoint some not-so-obvious stuff but I'm sure Google can give me the rundown on that.

Nice opening post and I like the way you are starting outI'm sure with hard work and discipline, your BR will be up to 4 figures soon enough.

Thanks Bean! A larger bankroll sounds great but right now my focus is on improving the way I think about poker. Do more thinking, experimenting and analyzing of the game as opposed to following preflop hand charts, auto-piloting and hoping to cooler people.

From the BC Digest - Don't Be a Poker Pansy

Originally Posted by DaNutsInYoEye

New players need a strong foundation to build their game upon. For the sake of a player's development, it's not so important that they simply be told what to do. The crucial aspect is that they understand the reasoning behind their actions. This is the harder route to take. It requires more time and patience. Because of that, short term profit may be less. If you're taking a long term approach to the game though, you'll often find that after a slow initial start, the progression to higher stakes can be quite rapid.

This IMO is great advice. I can take the easy way out and luckbox my way to small stakes, get crushed and frustrated, then cash out and quit. Or, I can take the long term approach, work my ass off and eventually get to mid stakes where I can pwn souls. Nothing worthwhile is ever easy or everyone would be doing it.

PLUGGING LEAKS - AVOIDABLE PREFLOP LOSSES

In Griffey's blog, he talks about avoidable losses. Now he's strictly talking about his own postflop leaks because I imagine he's pretty good at preflop play. I'm not and that's where it all starts. I don't have the largest sample of hands yet but it's more than enough to start identifying some leaks, so lets get started.

This will be the first part in a 3-part series of determining my own range, followed by late position, which will include blind stealing and isolation ranges, and last but not least, playing from the blinds (and defending them against steals).

---

IDENTIFYING HERO'S RANGE Part 1 - EARLY & MIDDLE POSITION

I know that tight is right from the first few seats at the table. But sometimes I wander off the path like a beagle in the woods who just picked up a scent. Absolutely no plan at all but to follow my nose.

--- Early Position ---
1,123 hands played
10.2% VPIP / 9.6% PFR
+10bb profit (lol)

Hand Range Played (15.23%)
{44+, A9s+, A4s, A2s, KTs+, Q9s+, JTs, ATo+, KQo, K3o, Q6o}

Hero's New Range (5.73%)
{99+, AJs+, KQs, AQo+}

Net difference by removing these EP hands is 237bb in avoidable losses (335bb lost - 98bb won).

--- Middle Position ---
1,094 hands played
13.7% VPIP / 13.3% PFR
+160bb profit

Hand Range Played (25.79%)
{22+, A6s+, KTs+, K7s, K4s, QTs+, JTs, T9s, T6s, ATo+, A4o, K9o+, Q8o+, JTo, T9o, 76o}

Hero's New Range (16.14%)
{66+, ATs+, KTs+, QTs+, JTs, ATo+, KTo+, QTo+, JTo}

Net difference by removing these MP hands is 37bb in avoidable losses (61bb lost - 24bb won).

So the total avoidable preflop losses in EP & MP comes to -274bb over 2,217 hands.

---

Ick. This is the kind of stupid shit that can add up real quick by not being disciplined. I realize that some hands are open for discussion such as opening AJs in EP or eliminating a hand like T9s from the HJ. But I have to start somewhere so the solution to plugging these leaks is simple. Don't play these fucking hands. Problem solved.

IDENTIFYING HERO'S RANGE Part 2 - LATE POSITION

There's a few things I'd like to accomplish with part 2. Late position is where I can open up my range and play a lot more non-premium hands. But of course, everything in poker is situational so this is where things can get kinda murky since I'll be playing a lot of marginal hands.

First, I'll see what hands I shouldn't be playing and immediately discard those hands from my range, like in part 1. But I also realize that if everyone left to act are all weak tight nits, then I can pretty much open ATC. The goal here is to come up with a standard range of hands to open/steal with in late position and then adjust by either narrowing or widening that range depending on who's left to act.

Second, I'd like to break down isolating limpers since opening ranges and isolation ranges are not mutually exclusive. Again, everything is situational and it's up to me to learn the reasoning of whether I should isolate, limp behind or fold.

Third, and this wasn't mentioned at all in part 1, is calling a PFR. There's certainly occasions where calling a PFR in early/middle position is correct, but those situations don't need to be discussed here. For the most part, the only position I want to be calling a PFR is preferably the BTN with the CO being a not-so-close second.


Opening Ranges

My open raise amount in LP depends on what I want villains to do. Sometimes I'll min-raise the button, others I'll raise to as much as 8x. But lets just say I'm stealing with trash in which case I would probably raise between 2-3bb and hope to take it down. I'm trying to win 1.5bb with every ATS. If my math is correct, we show an immediate profit when the blinds fold a combined 57% of the time vs 2x, 63% of the time vs 2.5x and 67% of the time vs 3x, regardless of any postflop EV. Blind Stealing 101 breaks it down a bit further.

Take stealing with ATC out of the equation and here's my standard opening ranges from LP. If the BTN is a nit, I can open my BTN range from the CO.

--- Cutoff ---
Hero's Range (22.78%)
{22+, A8s+, A5s-A2s, KTs+, QTs+, J9s+, T9s, 98s, 87s, A8o+, KTo+, QTo+, JTo}

--- Button ---
Hero's Range (38.76%)
{22+, A2s+, K8s+, Q8s+, J8s+, T8s+, 98s, 87s, 76s, 65s, 54s, A2o+, K8o+, Q8o+, J9o+, T9o, 98o, 87o}


Isolating Limpers

The goal is to pound on weaker players in position and bleed them dry. More specifically, I want to target players who limp/fold preflop and/or play passively postflop, be it fit-or-fold or players who will call 3 streets with TPWK, A-high, bottom pair, etc.

There's a few things I'd like to quote from the article Raising Behind Limpers.

Isolating a single limper vs multiple limpers...

Originally Posted by spoonitnow

Often it can be +EV to raise after two or three limpers as well, as long as you have some sort of reads or stats that indicate it's profitable. However, you would prefer to be isolating against one limper who is weak, and two at the most. After three limpers, you should probably just muck hands like K8o and limp hands like T9o.

And when to just limp behind or fold...

Originally Posted by spoonitnow

Suppose there are two aggressive middle position limpers, and we have 76s on the button. Here it's probably best to limp behind, since we've got a hand that plays great multi-way, and we're going to see a flop in position with a lot of money behind with at least four players. Note that this is often the case when there are 3 or more limpers whenever you have suited connectors, suited one-gappers, ace-small suited, small pairs, and other hands that get a lot of value from implied odds.

Suppose that at a 9-handed table, an UTG player that you know nothing about limps, and it's folded to you on the cutoff with A8s. Quite often you would like to make a raise with this hand in late position against a limper, but you should beware. Be very, very cautious about raising early position limpers if you don't know anything about them. At micro and low stakes, players absolutely love to limp/raise and limp/call preflop with big pairs and big premium unpaired hands, and this can cost you big. Now, since we don't know anything about this guy, we can still limp behind and own him with our implied odds. Also note that it would be preferable to fold hands like K9o that have no real implied odds only 100bb deep.

Calling a Preflop Raise

As said before, I don't have a big sample of hands yet but the results are pretty revealing nonetheless. While I think I've done a decent job of only calling raises in high implied odds situations (mostly pairs), what my stats really tell me is that I'm not defending my blinds optimally, which is fine since that will be the theme for part 3.

Eliminating blind play from the discussion, calling a preflop raise in position depends on a number of things. First and foremost is the range of the person raising. I should have at least a general idea of what hands villain opens with in each position at the table. Second, I should have a feel for how villain plays postflop, albeit passive or aggressive, and how often he goes to showdown (ie - if he can't fold big pairs or TPTK vs aggression then it's a perfect opportunity to call with low risk/high reward types of hands). Third, I need to look at the effective stack size. To keep it simple, if the effective stack size is low, my calling range narrows. If we're deep, my calling range widens. I also need to be aware of squeeze-happy dicks in the blinds, but those are few and far between at 2NL.

The following ranges are vs random, unknown villains. When I have reads, stats and notes is when I can start thinking about postflop playability of certain hands and which action is the most profitable (ie - calling vs 3-betting vs folding).

--- Calling vs EP PFR ---
Hero's Range (8.6%)
{22+, AQs+, KQs, AQo+}

--- Calling vs MP PFR ---
Hero's Range (10.71%)
{22+, ATs+, KJs+, QJs, AQo+, KQo}

--- Calling vs CO PFR ---
Hero's Range (14.3%)
22+, ATs+, KTs+, QTs+, JTs, ATo+, KJo+

Also, I feel I should also at least mention 3bet pots, as I'm sure to be truly awful in them. I'll touch on in it a bit in part 3 with defending my blinds, and then more in depth later on.

GL TN, Your blog is coming along nice. Phil Gordon's Little Gold Book is also a good start out read.(has an excellent section on 3b ing also.)

what site are you playing on and whereabouts are you from .

Originally Posted by WeldPhaser

GL TN, Your blog is coming along nice. Phil Gordon's Little Gold Book is also a good start out read.(has an excellent section on 3b ing also.)

Thanks WeldPhaser. I've read Gordon's Little Green Book but not the Gold Book. The reviews on Amazon are pretty good at least. I'll check it out.

Originally Posted by Keith

what site are you playing on and whereabouts are you from .

WPN/USA.

This is part 3 of identifying what the hell my range is. This has been a fun exercise because I'm not only plugging some obvious leaks, but I'm starting to think about hands in terms of my range vs villain's range and the equity balance of each, rather than my two cards vs... whatever the hell villain might have. Here's another quote from Don't Be a Poker Pansy that really hits the nail on the head.

Originally Posted by DaNutsInYoEye

If you make an active effort to really learn the game, you'll also find it more enjoyable. When you first begin playing it's often all about making money. Ok, that really doesn't change as you become better and move up in stakes. What does happen though is that you'll find the game to be more intellectually stimulating. Following charts and playing ABC poker becomes boring rather quickly. As you start to add additional levels of thinking, the game takes on an entirely different dynamic. It becomes a mental exercise. It becomes poker.

---

IDENTIFYING HERO'S RANGE Part 3 - THE BLINDS

I don't understand why it's referred to as "defending our blinds". Once the blind is posted it's part of the pot and no longer ours. There's nothing to "defend" since it's not our money. The person attempting the "steal" is generally opening with a very wide range and we have the option to exploit it. That's it. We're not defending anything. That being said, we're still OOP and that sucks, especially for someone like me who doesn't know what to do half the time so I just fold preflop and save myself the frustration of not knowing what to do postflop. Yep, that's a leak. And I certainly won't get any better if I don't at least try to adjust by thinking about the exploitation of villain's range in these spots.

Even still, being OOP means it's harder to extract value with my strong hands because my range is face up. It's also harder to pot control with marginal hands that have showdown value. Therefore, if I'm deciding whether to call or fold, folding is probably better to save myself from making an expensive postflop mistake.


Isolating from the Blinds

Villains will limp/call with much more frequency when they have position so isolating them from the blinds should be done with a conservative value range, something like {JJ+, AJs+, KQs, AQo+}. There are certainly some passive fish that I can open up that range to include hands like A8, KT, QJ, etc. as long as we'll be headsup on the flop. But for the most part, tight is right.

When facing an open limp from the SB though, I like to raise almost 100% of the time with ATC. They fold more than enough to make it profitable, and the times they do call I get to see a flop in position where literally any board combination hits my range. When they limp in this spot they want to see a cheap flop with a very weak hand. Don't let them do it. Ever. In time, the SB will stop limping and just hand over the money. They rarely adjust by raising with garbage hands, so when they do limp-3bet or attempt a steal, give them credit.


Facing a Raise from Early or Middle Position

This is not a spot where I want to call a lot because I will bleed money. The number one rule is to know thy villain. I would much rather 3bet than cold call and go headsup, OOP, without the initiative. If I don't feel comfortable 3betting, then I should probably just fold. This also isn't a place to set mine because it's much harder to get paid off. Over-calling in multiway pots is fine with medium pocket pairs and big drawing hands like KJs as long as I don't forget why I'm playing them. Stacking off with KJ in the BB on K97r in a 4-way raised pot is spew. Tread carefully with marginal hands.


Facing a Raise from Late Position (vs a steal)

The question is are they raising with their standard range in late position or are they truly stealing with a ton of trash hands? If their ATS is something like 25%, they're not really stealing. They're just opening hands their comfortable playing in late position if called. I can compare range equity all day long but it's foolish to think that I'll be able to steal the hand away postflop enough to be profitable. I think folding a lot of speculative hands here is fine. By speculative, I mean hands like A5s, A8o, J9s, Q9o, etc.

If they truly are stealing with trash, it's time to think about opening up my 3bet range. But I need to know these two things: (1) how often does villain fold to a re-steal, and (2) how often does he fold to cbets. If villain never folds, open up my value range but don't 3bet bluff. If villain folds entirely too much, 3bet much wider and instead, think about calling with big hands. I don't want him folding to a 3bet when I hold AA and he has K7 on some random K-high board. We'll miss the bus to value town.


Facing a Raise from the SB When Hero is the BB

Again, this comes back to whether they're stealing with trash or just opening up a solid range. From what I can tell though, villains don't steal nearly as much from the SB. I know that's a generalization but it's true. The only difference here is that I have position and close the action. Therefore I think a standard range of playable hands here would be something like {22+, A8s+, KTs+, QTs+, JTs, T9s, 98s, 87s, ATo+, KTo+, QTo+, JTo}. Just always put villain on a range before deciding to play the hand.


Small Blind Play

If the BB folds a lot to steals and it's folded to me in the SB, I'm opening my standard range from the BTN of {22+, A2s+, K8s+, Q8s+, J8s+, T8s+, 98s, 87s, 76s, 65s, 54s, A2o+, K8o+, Q8o+, J9o+, T9o, 98o, 87o}. If he folds like 90% of the time, I'll open damn near ATC until he starts adjusting. Conceivably I'd like some kind of postflop equity if called but if they're just going to give it up a huge percentage then I could check/fold any flop and still be more than profitable. Finding these types of players and sitting to their immediate right is like printing free money (same goes for playing on the button obviously).

I know a leak of mine is completing the SB in limped pots with drawing hands because I'm getting 4:1 odds or whatever. It can't really be all that profitable. My hand rarely hits and when it does my immediate pot odds are shit when facing a bet, not to mention I'm out of position and it will be extremely difficult to get paid off. Being overly optimistic about implied odds here is retarded. If I'm sitting with a bunch of droolers, then game on but in general, limiting myself from completing the SB can't be bad thing.


Squeezing

I think squeezing is something I should have knowledge of but not go ape-shit with it at the lowest micro-stakes levels. Yes, it looks very strong but villains don't often care. Don't squeeze the nits with super tight ranges, or against short-stacks if I don't plan on stacking off. Same rule applies when squeezing with T8s vs a loose-passive open. It's not profitable. Instead, I think I should be looking for spots to squeeze against villains who over-isolate limpers or when the CO raises and the BTN just calls.

Yeah for some reason people just don't seem to have learned that vs most SB limpers you have a profitable raise and c-bet with ATC on the majority of flops. Looks solid man, good work. Thinking about your own game like this is super profitable.

Originally Posted by Carroters

Yeah for some reason people just don't seem to have learned that vs most SB limpers you have a profitable raise and c-bet with ATC on the majority of flops. Looks solid man, good work. Thinking about your own game like this is super profitable.

Thanks dude. Even though it's not a huge money maker, it's one of the (very) few things I do well at this point. Working hard to get better at other things but it's a process for sure. One thing at a time I suppose.

JULY '13 REVIEW

Cash graph for July. I started this blog around the 2500 hand mark. I don't know what the hell I was doing before that. Basically break-even at 2NL right now, which is pretty embarrassing so I won't even bother posting a bankroll update for this month. I'm about 6 buyins below EV and took some horrendous beats (with 90%+ equity) but I should be able to overcome that. I'm not going to make excuses though, I'm just going to have to work harder.




Adjustments

For the past few days, I've increased my bet sizing both pre and postflop and I've found myself happily barreling more turn cards and some rivers. It's not that I'm bluffing or feeling spewy, I've just felt my middle pair (or whatever) is way ahead of what these idiots are calling down with. It's thin value for sure by the river but a lot of these showdowns never cease to amaze me.

Another thing is isolation raises. The standard 3bb + 1 per limper is bullshit at 2NL. All it does is bloat the pot and I get to see a flop with 5 other players where I feel uncomfortable with anything less than top two. Check/fold? Yes please. Anyway, I've finally started to bump it up somewhere between 6-8x preflop when isolating limpers. This does a couple things. One, less people call and it usually gets me HU with a fish or I take it down right there. Two, these fish are rarely full stacked. By raising to 16c preflop, it creates a much smaller SPR against a very wide range of hands where I can happily stack off with top pair by the turn and watch as villains call with all sorts of hands.

Last thing is bet sizing postflop. I was betting way too small. There's times where a 1/2 pot cbet works or even a 1/3 pot cbet does the trick. But I've switched gears a bit and now cbet at least 3/4 pot, if not more. I've also experimented with overbetting the past few sessions. Go for FAT value when I'm ahead, keep the pot small when I'm not. If they'll call bigger bets with worse hands, bet bigger!

Playing 2NL isn't exactly poker in its purest form. But villains still have ranges and adjustments need to made. So it's good (cheap) practice. Hopefully next month will bring better results (and better play).

Good luck with the blog man, keep up the posts!

I think you're discussing a lot of good scenarios. You should post hands in different scenarios to get feedback.

^ Thanks for dropping by Griffey. I definitely need to post more hands in the BC. I posted a hand in there a few days ago where it was unanimous that my bet sizing was the shits. I realized this was a pattern and it was taking me nowhere. I had no fold equity postflop and constantly felt like I was getting outdrawn. I know this is a short sample but since I posted that hand, I started betting bigger and increased my aggression on later streets with confidence. Here's the results over my last 1500 hands after making this adjustment.

AUGUST '13

The goal for this month should be to put in enough work to see the light at the end of the 2NL tunnel. But August is always crazy busy for me irl so I'm not going to push it. Ideally I'd like to get in around 15k hands this month. If I can reach that number without playing tired or tilted I'll be happier than Gallagher at a farmer's market. Playing good/running good will help too ldfo. So without further adieu, here's my goals for this month.

1) Get in the habit of a pre-session routine. Analyze at least 3 hands from the previous session immediately BEFORE starting a new one. Post any hands with halfway interesting spots in the BC. Also review any notes and charts. And finally, start an accountability document and list all the dumb shit I do, what I should do instead, and have it up on the other screen during my sessions. It'll be my poker conscience. Last but not least, set a single goal for each session.
2) Create a system for profiling villains. I'm sure there are several methods for doing this that have been discussed in various detail. I don't want to completely reinvent the wheel but for the sake of learning something, I'll create a villain profiling system on my own based on HEM icons, HUD stats, color codes and player notes. The plan will be to come up with something universal for both full ring and 6max.
3) Finish reading Harrington on Online Cash Games. Digest, comprehend, review.

Also, I'm going to remove all monetary/result-based stats from my HEM reports. I don't ever check my bankroll, so that's a start. Time to take the next step with focusing on making the right decisions and completely blocking out the results.

JUST WHEN I THOUGHT I WAS OUT... THEY PULL ME BACK IN



2 hands played simultaneously on 2 separate tables this morning.

SB is 21/14 over 148 hands. Likes to showdown (37%). BTN is 53/11 fish who's a bit aggro postflop. Iso appears at least semi-strong and we have 15 to 1 implied odds to see a flop IP vs the PFR... plus I expect the fish to come along. Is raising the flop bad with fish left to act? When SB just calls I figure him for AA, KK, QQ, AJ, KJ, JJ. Don' think he isos pre with J9 or QT. I don't think he C/R turn with an overpair or AJ so his range is squarely KJ and JJ (although I wouldn't be completely stunned to see if he's getting cute with a QT or being stubborn with AK since um, yeah... it's 2NL). More combos of KJ than JJ so chalking this one up as a cooler.

WPN, $0.01/$0.02 No Limit Hold'em Cash, 6 Players
Poker Tools Powered By Holdem Manager - The Ultimate Poker Software Suite.

MP: $0.56 (28 bb)
CO: $2 (100 bb)
BTN: $2.33 (116.5 bb)
SB: $1.88 (94 bb)
Hero (BB): $2.15 (107.5 bb)
UTG: $1.75 (87.5 bb)

Preflop: Hero is BB with 3 3
3 folds, BTN calls $0.02, SB raises to $0.12, Hero calls $0.10, BTN folds

Flop: ($0.26) 9 J 3 (2 players)
SB bets $0.16, Hero raises to $0.40, SB calls $0.24

Turn: ($1.06) K (2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $0.74, SB raises to $1.36, Hero calls $0.62

River: ($3.78) 6 (2 players)

Results: $3.78 pot ($0.18 rake)
Final Board: 9 J 3 K 6
SB showed J J and won $3.60 ($1.72 net)
Hero showed 3 3 and lost (-$1.88 net)

---

This hand was going on at the exact same time as the one above on my other table. Villain is a 41/20 aggro fish who has a fold to cbet IP of 0% and wtsd of 59%. Good god no reason to slowplay here ever. Time to shovel the money in. Thought about over-betting the flop actually but just opted for the pot/pot/shove standard line.

WPN, $0.01/$0.02 No Limit Hold'em Cash, 6 Players
Poker Tools Powered By Holdem Manager - The Ultimate Poker Software Suite.

BTN: $1.99 (99.5 bb)
SB: $2 (100 bb)
BB: $2.62 (131 bb)
UTG: $0.77 (38.5 bb)
Hero (MP): $2 (100 bb)
CO: $3.90 (195 bb)

Preflop: Hero is MP with J K
UTG folds, Hero raises to $0.06, 3 folds, BB calls $0.04

Flop: ($0.13) A Q T (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $0.11, BB calls $0.11

Turn: ($0.35) 9 (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $0.34, BB raises to $0.68, Hero raises to $1.83 and is all-in, BB calls $1.15

River: ($4.01) 4 (2 players, 1 is all-in)

Results: $4.01 pot ($0.20 rake)
Final Board: A Q T 9 4
BB showed Q 9 and lost (-$2 net)
Hero showed J K and won $3.81 ($1.81 net)

---

So yeah, pretty much this:

15 to 1 odds to call? You have to call 10c into a pot of 16c?

In hand one your raising size is really bad, you've not thought about stacks at all and it really should cross your mind. Raise the flop bigger and you can shove most turns without it being silly.

And I also think it's a fold pre unless you have some real read that he will stack off with overpairs and like AK type hands when he hits. I also don't really think most villains do this with AJ if they look decent.

>15:1 implied odds vs SB, not immediate pot odds. I agree though, I fucked up the sizing on the flop.

Have you thought about playing at bovada? Play is meant to be soft and you can use a limited HUD in holdem indicator which you can get free as a signup.It s anonymous tables and stats will reset each time opponents sit with you. 4 tables max so will remove temptation to mass multitable. Mainly a sportsbook so lots of clueless players.Quick payouts.

At WPN once you hit 10nl the beast promo will rake rape you and unlikely you will get to play enough hands to win more than you pay.

Originally Posted by Keith

Have you thought about playing at bovada? Play is meant to be soft and you can use a limited HUD in holdem indicator which you can get free as a signup.It s anonymous tables and stats will reset each time opponents sit with you. 4 tables max so will remove temptation to mass multitable. Mainly a sportsbook so lots of clueless players.Quick payouts.

At WPN once you hit 10nl the beast promo will rake rape you and unlikely you will get to play enough hands to win more than you pay.

Don't have an account at Bovada but the thought has crossed my mind. Not sure how I feel about the anonymous tables tho. I have RB at WPN so at least when I get rake raped I get some of it back. Does Bovada provide RB? If not, do you know what the difference in rake would be with WPN w/ RB vs Bovada w/ no RB?

Ok so I've broken my rule on game selection. Full ring has become so increasingly boring over the last month that I just can't stand it any longer. It's very easy to just pitch a tent, set up camp and wait for the nuts. While I understand this a very profitable way to beat 2NL, it's just not going to do it for me. Auto-piloting my way through 2NL is counter-productive and goes against every rule I've set for myself in the op. I'm not completely giving up on FR but I'll be playing a lot more 6max going forward. I look forward to playing more hands against players worse than me and hopefully getting in to a lot more interesting situations, which will be much more +EV in the long run.

Also, I've finished reading Harrington on Online Cash Games. It was a pretty good book and there's parts I plan to go back and read again. But for now, I've moved on to reading a book called The Poker Mindset. It's a very calming piece of literature and from what I've read so far, I definitely recommend it to anyone with even the smallest of tilt issues.

Originally Posted by TNreg

Facing a Raise from Early or Middle Position

This is not a spot where I want to call a lot because I will bleed money. The number one rule is to know thy villain. I would much rather 3bet than cold call and go headsup, OOP, without the initiative. If I don't feel comfortable 3betting, then I should probably just fold. This also isn't a place to set mine because it's much harder to get paid off. Over-calling in multiway pots is fine with medium pocket pairs and big drawing hands like KJs as long as I don't forget why I'm playing them. Stacking off with KJ in the BB on K97r in a 4-way raised pot is spew. Tread carefully with marginal hands.

I didn't overly agree with part of this section. The first part implies that because we're facing a very strong range that we shouldn't be cold calling and instead 3b or folding (I DO agree with this). BUT the second part, suggesting that set mining is not profitable and it will be hard to get paid off, is somewhat contradictory to the first part.

Either their range is strong and they will have a hard time folding to pressure (such that our set mining IS profitable), or their range is marginal/weak and we won't get paid off with our sets (in which case, we shouldn't be as worried about cold calling IP etc).

Personally I think the former is true. I would rather set mine and EP raiser than an LP raiser.

I agree completely with the above, especially considering people can't fold AK when they hit and they can't fold AA and KK, most can't fold QQ too even when there is a K or A out.

Honestly guys I didn't even think about that, so thanks for bringing it to my attention. Makes sense, especially against such a strong range of hands. And really, how many 2nl villains are laying down an overpair or even TPTK to a raise on J63 type flops. Hell, even "regs" down here can't fold JT on that flop.

In other news, I'm extremely stressed out from work and I can't imagine it's going to get any better until the weekend hits. I only played around 350 hands today and I'm glad I quit when I did because I wasn't playing well at all. Made a couple stupid moves and thankfully I'm only down about a buyin. I'm just going to take the next few days off and come back to it on Saturday.

I really wouldn't worry about rakeback at these stakes. Your focus is to get better and move up as quickly as possible, taking aggressive shots. Your winrate should be high enough to not need to ever rely on rakeback. Having rakeback is like the difference between getting punched in the balls and punched in the face

Pascal you're spot on about the rakeback thing. That's really the last thing I should be concerned about right now. I get 1-2 buyins per week back in my account but JFC maybe I should be worried about learning how to extract that amount from actual players.

I've been thinking about pulling my roll of WPN for a while now anyway. I don't really see the point in playing there once I move up to 10nl where I not only have to beat the player pool, but the rake as well. The added Beast and BBJP drop is fucking insane.

August was a total volume fail, as expected. The bad news is I only got in around 7,000 hands. The good news is that I did a lot of thinking about poker and I'm officially done playing 2NL.

I've only won about half the buyins set in the OP but I'm only setting myself back the longer I stay at 2NL. Plus I'm playing well enough and have the bankroll to move up. The goal for September is to play as many quality hands as possible at 4NL 6-max, which means no more than 4 tables at a time. I really want to move up to 10NL by October so putting in enough volume and the proper study time is super important to me.

Haven't updated this in a while. Just been playing very standard and trying not to spew while thinking about a lot of concepts away from the tables. Moved up to 10nl a few days ago. The next few weeks will be difficult to put in a lot of volume but towards the end of the month I'll be able to really grind out 10nl and make a run for 25nl before the end of the year. Main focus though is learning as much as possible.

It's been forever since I posted but might as well update the thread. It's funny to read some earlier posts and go wtf am I thinking there lol. I still suck at poker but I'm at least a notch above really horrible atm. Gonna grind 10NL some more before taking a healthy shot at 25NL. Good luck at the tables guys.

Note to self - see the earlier post about avoidable losses. I'm running like 35/32 over the past few sessions. I'm scraping up dead money like a crazy man but I can't continue to play this reckless and be expect to be profitable... people have to start playing back eventually right?