Quick NL10 shot analysis

Oh, I will post the biggest hands that happened;

PokerStars Zoom No-Limit Hold'em, $0.10 BB (9 handed) - PokerStars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Button ($7.25)
SB ($11.32)
BB ($11.83)
UTG ($27.98)
UTG+1 ($25.34)
MP1 ($7.30)
Hero (MP2) ($21.39)
MP3 ($10)
CO ($9.85)

Preflop: Hero is MP2 with A, A
3 folds, Hero bets $0.30, 4 folds, BB raises to $0.90, Hero raises to $3, BB calls $2.10

Flop: ($6.05) J, 3, 2 (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $4, BB calls $4

Turn: ($14.05) 6 (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $5.10, BB calls $4.83 (All-In)

River: ($23.71) Q (2 players, 1 all-in)

Total pot: $23.71 | Rake: $1.07

Overly large flop bet but its fine.

PokerStars Zoom No-Limit Hold'em, $0.10 BB (9 handed) - PokerStars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Button ($7.25)
SB ($11.32)
BB ($11.83)
UTG ($27.98)
UTG+1 ($25.34)
MP1 ($7.30)
Hero (MP2) ($21.39)
MP3 ($10)
CO ($9.85)

Preflop: Hero is MP2 with A, A
3 folds, Hero bets $0.30, 4 folds, BB raises to $0.90, Hero raises to $3, BB calls $2.10

Flop: ($6.05) J, 3, 2 (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $4, BB calls $4

Turn: ($14.05) 6 (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $5.10, BB calls $4.83 (All-In)

River: ($23.71) Q (2 players, 1 all-in)

Total pot: $23.71 | Rake: $1.07

(If villain fires turn with AK this becomes a call. If he doesn't then its a fold I guess)

PokerStars Zoom No-Limit Hold'em, $0.10 BB (9 handed) - PokerStars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Button ($5)
SB ($21.39)
BB ($10.41)
UTG ($21.62)
UTG+1 ($10.47)
MP1 ($10.65)
MP2 ($6.98)
MP3 ($19.30)
Hero (CO) ($10.03)

Preflop: Hero is CO with J, J
UTG bets $0.30, 2 folds, MP2 calls $0.30, 1 fold, Hero calls $0.30, 3 folds

Flop: ($1.05) 2, 4, 5 (3 players)
UTG bets $0.75, MP2 calls $0.75, Hero calls $0.75

Turn: ($3.30) J (3 players)
UTG bets $2.20, 1 fold, Hero raises to $8.98 (All-In), UTG calls $6.78

River: ($21.26) 7 (2 players, 1 all-in)

Total pot: $21.26 | Rake: $0.96

PokerStars Zoom No-Limit Hold'em, $0.10 BB (9 handed) - PokerStars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Button ($3.40)
SB ($10)
BB ($10)
UTG ($14.19)
Hero (UTG+1) ($21.90)
MP1 ($14.51)
MP2 ($4.35)
MP3 ($5.30)
CO ($13.16)

Preflop: Hero is UTG+1 with A, A
1 fold, Hero bets $0.40, 6 folds, BB raises to $1, Hero raises to $3.50, BB calls $2.50

Flop: ($7.05) 6, 3, 3 (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $6.73, BB calls $6.50 (All-In)

Turn: ($20.05) 9 (2 players, 1 all-in)

River: ($20.05) 10 (2 players, 1 all-in)

Total pot: $20.05 | Rake: $0.90

Those are all boring, heres another boring one;

PokerStars Zoom No-Limit Hold'em, $0.10 BB (9 handed) - PokerStars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Button ($24.10)
SB ($15.89)
BB ($37.04)
UTG ($10.15)
UTG+1 ($13.43)
MP1 ($13.21)
MP2 ($8.01)
MP3 ($12.39)
Hero (CO) ($19.92)

Preflop: Hero is CO with A, Q
3 folds, MP2 bets $0.30, 1 fold, Hero calls $0.30, Button calls $0.30, 2 folds

Flop: ($1.05) 5, Q, 10 (3 players)
MP2 bets $0.90, Hero calls $0.90, 1 fold

Turn: ($2.85) 2 (2 players)
MP2 bets $2, Hero calls $2

River: ($6.85) 4 (2 players)
MP2 bets $3, Hero calls $3

Total pot: $12.85 | Rake: $0.58

No idea what to think about this one;

PokerStars Zoom No-Limit Hold'em, $0.10 BB (9 handed) - PokerStars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Hero (Button) ($10)
SB ($10.20)
BB ($10.30)
UTG ($5.91)
UTG+1 ($13.35)
MP1 ($13.25)
MP2 ($11.06)
MP3 ($23.35)
CO ($26.21)

Preflop: Hero is Button with K, K
UTG bets $0.30, 1 fold, MP1 raises to $0.90, 3 folds, Hero calls $0.90, 2 folds, UTG raises to $1.84, 1 fold, Hero calls $0.94

Flop: ($4.73) 3, 5, 5 (2 players)
UTG bets $1.49, Hero calls $1.49

Turn: ($7.71) 7 (2 players)
UTG bets $2.58 (All-In), Hero calls $2.58

River: ($12.87) A (2 players, 1 all-in)

Total pot: $12.87 | Rake: $0.58

vs a 3bet and a call UTG 4bets.... He is a halfstack... Guess I can just ship it preflop to get value from AK if he's doing that, I don't know what his range is. I have to think about this one. It could be KK+ AKs in which case I should just muck it.

Hi DaPhunk,

I'm gonna make 2 posts to be more organized, one for stats and general stuff and another for all the hands you posted.

First of all, I would request you search for a stat called RFI when you search for it in the Add Stats section, then added as Unopened PFR and put it next to PFR in that leakbuster report. No idea why they change it's name when you add it but that's the one I'm looking for to get an idea of your opoening ranges and how positionally aware you are.

The next thing that instantly jumps out is how tight you are. Generally, it's not a problem to be tight. You are missing lots of steal spots as you've mentioned but more importantly, you are too passive even though you have a nut preflop range.

I recommend being more aggressive IP with the hands you play. You don't have to widden your range too much, just 3bet preflop more. The toughest spot to make money when 100bb deep imo is OOP vs a 3bet. That means you want to be the guy IP who is doing a whole lot of 3betting. Aim for the fish and 3bet them with a wide DEPOLARIZED range (KJo might be a snap 3bet vs many!!). By doing this you also isolate the weak player since nobody will play back at you behind, they'll just play their hand.

What I just said applies especially for fish that call light OOP, but can definitely be used against most NL10 regulars that do not know how to play back vs such a strategy.

You might be also getting a bit unlucky, since 25% WTSD will usually be followed by a >51% W$SD when you have such low VPIP/PFR.

Continuing the passive trend you probably call too much on rivers where you could easily value raise. It's not very obvious after so many hands but your river call efficiency is so high it suggests you might miss value by not raising. This might mean you just play value hands too passive until river, not necessarily raise rivers. It's definitely a sign of passive play though.

That's about all I can say atm. If you start slowly changing some of your game we can redo this analisys to see where you can still improve.

Going to write about hands in a couple of minutes.

Regards,
Manu.

Hand 1 AJs:

You should have a look at his 3bet vs SB since that's what matters, not his overall 3bet. Overall he seems loose and you should be able to call it profitably.

Postflop he makes some really small bets so I don't mind your play. There are some things to discuss though.

What do you think is his 3betting range? Polarized or depolarized? When he 3bets so much it's hard to not have hands like AJ, AQ, KJ, KQ, QJ, etc in his range imo. That means you can consider c/r flop with the intention to get it all in. You can represent a good amount of draws in his eyes so you shouldn't be worried about isolating yourself, especially given the fact that he will have worse top pairs here.

Vs his turn bet I would instantly raise since it looks way too weak for me to just call, I feel like I'm missing value vs midpairs and worse Jx. That said, anything but folding should be +EV.

River is hard to raise so I prefer the call as well the way you played it although many draws completed like you have noticed.. the odds are very good and he still has some weaker Jx in his range imo but it's very very close.

Hand 2 55:

I think your 3bet with 55 is bad here. Yes, he does open wide and you have to play back. The only reason to 3bet 55 is for value that will come when he 4bet/folds a lot. You do not have such a dynamic established yet and probably never will at NL10.

Personally, I would call and play postflop. This doesn't mean I only play if I hit a set but it means attacking his weak range when I can and calling most of the times I am ahead.

If you want to play back vs BU, depolarize your range and pick many high cards that make strong pairs and suited cards that flop great equity. A hand like QJs plays a lot better vs this type of opponent than 55.

As played preflop, you flop play is OK, though it's always going to be a bad spot since no pair folds to one bet and you have 2 outs at most if you want to barrel + you don't block any of his strong hands.

Hand 3 TT:

Agree with preflop.

Flop you can go either way but since he doesn't fold that often to cbets I prefer betting for value and continuing from there. You can bluffcatch turns that way, you can turn your hand into a bluff since you can always represent the nuts, although that's going to happen less since you expect him to not fold too often.

As played, I believe you have a river value bet. It's thin but his range after checking back flop and calling turn has showdown value very often. This means he will either have a made hand better than yours or worse than yours but a made hand nonetheless. If you check and he bets, he will not make a mistake since he can have quite a few made hands while you never represented a strong hand. If you bet however, he might call too light for the same reason that you look weak, you set your own price and you have an easy fold vs a raise. Main reason though is that you get value if you bet.

Hand 4 "clicky AA":

If you call turn, I hope it's with the intention of snap calling any blank. You have the second nuts on the turn, if you think your opponent is never bluffing there it's an instant value 3bet vs KT, AK, T5, K5 (seems fishy, might well have those hands), lower sets, etc.

When you call it should be because you think he is very polarized and has many bluffs which you want to keep in.

Hand 5 AA:

I think your preflop 4bet is too big IF you ever want to have a 4bet/folding range. Else you played it perfectly imo.

Hand 6 JJ:

Nothing to say, wp imo. Just be carefull not to call down too light. Think how many overpairs in his range you beat and don't think your "middle" overpair is the nuts.

Hand 7 AA:

WP!

Hand 8 KK:

Nah, UTG is wider than what you gave him so I'm never folding KK here for 60bbs with so much money already in the pot. I like how you played it postflop and let him bet all his air spazzes and weak hands. Don't feel bad if he had AA here, it's definitely not a bad play by you!

Thanks for the quick reply Manu. What you say makes perfect sense. For here is why;

As I mentioned I played really weird in this sample and folded so many overpairs vs nits playing check/call, check/raise at the start and so many blinds playing Check/call, check, bet river I completely messed up my game and started checking back turn with all sort of hands I would normally just valuebet 3 streets with.

That is not all, due to seeing a very large number of super slowplays C/C C/C C/R, or check/call, check, check with the nuts I started checking back some rivers with hands like KQ on a Q high board.

Whats more; I also felt forced by the number of draws calling to only call rivers when a draw completed and a villain goes from C/C mode to "block-betting" or as I came to see "betting to induce a raise". (Several times Overpair or TPGK minibet or min/called two streets vs me and checked river too)

Long story short, my early entry into NL10 actually got me sufficiently paranoid to play a weird tight-passive game all in the name of "reducing variance by staying out of big pots"

Thank you for your input. I can see that this shotting play-style is a rather flawed way of going about things. I will try and play a more normal game and keep in mind the steal situation hands I posted.

Edit; Almost forgot about posting RFI. I actually have position RFI on my HUD but couldn't work out how to get it to show me the NL10 only sample for myself. Fear not though, I found out how to add those stats to the overall results table

RFI%
EP = 7.7%
MP = 17.3%
CO = 27.1%
BU = 26.7%
SB = 27.6%

This is in contrast to the NL2 and NL5 sample I built up which combined looked like this;
EP = 8.9%
MP = 19.4%
CO = 32.2%
BTN = 42.1%
SB = 38%

Oh, one question, if you Isolate fish In position by 3betting (with lets say KJo) what size do you 3bet to? 2.5x their open, 3x ? Potsize?

Build bigger roll, watch some people play NL10 and realize it's not that different and don't take a shot, just be prepared to play your best there and beat it!

There has to be 1-2 NL10 FR players you can have a sweat with so you can see how the game there is like.

@RFI: MP can be a bit tighter (>15% if loose for me but not saying it can't work) and BU can definitely be wider on both. From personal experience, 50% is the minimum you should raise first in on the button. If you raise 2.5 you can easily raise 60% and if you develop a BU minraise strategy you can raise whatever you want, up to 100% if you don't spew postflop.

AJs hand; My thinking was that he was polarised between very strong hands and Ax, maybe just junk even. Thought he would be calling most broadway style combos like QJ or KJ, T9s. Not sure why I thought that really, he has to be bettering those quite a bit of the time I'm sure.

I think in future If I don't check/raise this sort of flop I definitely need to check/raise the turn, bet is very weak.

Wasn't exactly sure how he would respond to those check/raises at the time. Couldn't easily visualise a 3betting range.

Going to play some NL5 sessions to have a slightly bigger cushion when I play again

Hi,

My advice on fixing your redline is 3fold

Play fewer tables.
Dont CBET and give up on the turn that often- find good spots for a double barrel and use it, pretty much everyone is aware if cbetting nowadays you cant really except for it to work that well.
Play Draws more aggressively.

I dont know if the others will agree with me?
Best of luck

Regards,

Chris

Some things I find have recently helped me out:

1) 3bet more in position. It generates lots of income instantly as if you pick your spots vs guys who fold 60%+ to 3bet you can basically 3bet any two. Also, the situations that arise afterwards are where your edge really shines. You know when to stack off and often the others don't. Take advantage of these spots.

2) Never call marginal hands OOP in a 3bet pot unless you get the odds for a set mine etc. It's too hard to win money here. Also, when you call the 3 bet your opponent can still rep anything (AA,KK) while you are pretty much capped at QQ- and AK-

3)Make small 1/3-1/2 pot size bets in 3-4 way pots with marginal hands when nobody seems interested. For example, you make a raise with TT and get two very nitty callers and the flop comes K 9 2 rainbow, you can often make them fold if they don't hit their set with a smallish raise. This has helped my red line.

4) Recognize rivers where the opponent is quite simply never strong and bet them out of the pot.

Ever since I have got my red line to about break even, my winnings have skyrocketed. I used to have a massively negative red line playing very nitty.

5) Steal super wide from the CO, BU and SB. Making a 2.5 - 3 BB raise from these positions doesn't even have to work often to be profitable, especially considering many people play quick fold and something like 10 VPIP. Once again, these scienarios are immediately profitable but so long as you can play your hand accordingly post flop, you will make even more.

Thanks guys

@Krisstef; I am actually very nitty about cbetting already. (even though my cbet number is at 65 its normally lower) However I have actually stopped second barelling a lot of spots I used to due to a weird zoom dynamic I thought I aspied when I was starting out;
If people call on flop they do not seem to easily give up to later barrels, if its a draw they will find implieds to call, and if they have second pair they seem to talk themselves into a call on turn. I pretty much Never third barrel hands which is a leak against hte players I categorise as draw chasers.
One exception to me not second barelling is this; on BTN or CO villains call cbets a lot more easily OOP and are forced to give up on turn due to the pressure on their weaker range and my In position show of strength.

@FlashDavin

1)This has been mentioned before, I have been trying to up my 3bet % with limited success. I think you still need to be careful over who you 3bet because many players still do call too much and won't just give up straight away to a cbet even OOP in a 3bet pot. I think I was 3betting blinds too much and ending up against people who just didn't want to give up because they thought I defending my blinds ♦

2)My call 3bet %'s are high towards the 70% range so a pretty good starting point IMO. I pretty much call in spots with good implieds (basically PP's). That said my play when I don't hit the monster is probably lacking (and maybe when I do as well, eg C/R flop because scared of more overcards giving me a hard time)

3)I've been doing this, this is one reason my cbet% is still so high. People seem to give up to very small bets in multiway pots that can be hit. K high and Q high seem a lot better than A high, I guess because there can be way more A high in peoples ranges to hit those boards.

4)I am not good at this at all, same with bluffs. I've been trying to work out bluff spots and am just not good at it. I've decided to study some of Leatherass's videos to see if I can work some bluff spots into my game.

5) I steal dependant on who is in the blinds and 10 or 11% vpip or lower I steal ATC (dependant on BTN if I'm CO). I Was raising 2bb on SB vs the nits but I thought they noticed and changed that back to 3bb. Currently my raise sizing is 4BB EP, 3BB MP2 onwards and 3BB SB, 2BB vs 7/5 nits on SB. I can probably improve this a lot, for some reason my BTN winrate is really low compared to what I think it should be.....

If I work out some of my leaks to sort out my red-line that should be hugely profitable for me. I think I have one more that I didn't mention before;

Sort of situation I feel is a leak;

You have a legitimate hand eg AK on CO vs a blind and flop is AK4. You cbet IP and blind Check/Raises you. You think "He only represents 44, or a Gutshot here since AK (AQ) AA and KK would have 3bet preflop. Thing is, I'm not sure if he Would bluff here AND we're deep, so I'll just call and re-evaluate"
So you call, and he pots turn..... sometimes you look up his stats and see he's aggressive so make the calldown or raise and get it in, but often you either give up here After calling the check/raise flop or Even Worse, you call this turn and then give up when he inevitably shoves river....

The situation I just badly described is a dreamed up, off the top of my head example of the, what I think of as "I think he's bluffing on flop but I'm not sure and don't actually have the guts to call down when things get bigger on later streets as he follows through with his dark tunnel line. Either I should have given up flop or called all the way down....... Or shoved flop

This situation feels like a massive leak and when you play zoom can happen quite a lot in situations I would probably have happily called off in normal FR. It just feels like a no win situation, possibly a mindset trap because I don't remember the times he checked turn and we were good...

Note; The sort of situation I doesn't have to be with a hand as good as the one I just described. It could just be a bluff-call on flop that you didn't follow through with. Generally I will still have a pretty good reason for giving up, normally because the villain is a nit.