EinsteinFranck

Question 1: What is your motivation for playing poker?
Well I like the game. I simply like poker. Poker is a strategy game for me. I like to plan a strategy, analyze and read the others. Or try at least. I basically just like it.
I see it like developping new skills. I like to think, observe, analyze, find the leak in the opponent's play and then try to take advantage of it. I think it's just fun and I have the impression to still develop usefull skills.
I also like to play live tournaments. I just give great kicks when you play big pots.

Question 2: What are your weaknesses when playing poker?
I tend to call to many minraises with TPTK or overpair on dryboards.
I have difficulties with AKo, AQ, QQ, KQ.
Basically, I've a problem on the turn and river. I've some notion but on the important decisions, I tink I make quite big mistakes.

Question 3: What does it mean to play tight aggressive?

Playing tight is selecting the hand you start to put money into to have a good chance to hit something playable preflop. Tight means playing only hand that give us good odds to statistically dominate the opponent.
Aggressive means we take often the initiative and avoid as much as possible to follow the opponents. Bet, raise and push should be more likely actions for a TAG than check or call.
In general, a TAG use his image to take down pot when he does not hit and maximize value when he does. Being aggressive also means you give few free cards to opponents and try to induce mistakes in their games by making them pay too much for their actual cards.

Welcome to the Course and Best of Luck. Good job! Homework #1 Done!

Why would you worry about your English? Most of the English community members ain't speaking English as their first language, you can learn both here by writing.

Who is the coach who convinced you? Guess not an English community coach? But it's always great to have some buddies to also play poker, it motivates to grind even more and always something to talk about.

Most of the weakness you wrote can easily be fixed by posting hands (analyzing your session). We will start writing feedback to your play. Usually negative feedback will put you into thinking phase and trying to fix all those leaks. It's almost the same as you lose money, you will remember it more than winning part. By this situation it's gonna be that negative feedback you gonna remember and try to avoid them next time.

What about tilt? Do you adjust something against it? For example:
Easiest way to fight against tilt is to set up stop-loss technique. Which means if you for example have lost more than 3BIs for a session then you just stop the session for some time. The BI amount is set up from your own results. Some may put it higher, some lower. Also after the stop you can spend some time with evaluation part to become better.

Another option against tilt is to set yourself shorter sessions which might avoid you from tilting. If you playing longer sessions then it's more likely that during that session you can get upset. So work on your game and try to find out what makes you tilt and try to fight against it.

Tight style is usually called playing selected hands. Like following the Starting Hand Chart. Aggressive should be also pretty clear that already the word says how you should be playing. But the problem playing aggressively is that you have to watch that you don't play too aggressive. Find good spots, find good targets. About The tight-aggressive strategy you can read in this article: "What is the Big Stack Strategy?"

Hopefully you will enjoy the Course.

I don't actually know his nick and I'm not sure wether or not he's willing to have his real name on the forum. His firstname is mike.

About tilt, I don't tilt often. I do both a stop-loss and stop-winnings technique. The only few time when I tilted followed a quite precise pattern. My sessions began by a good income (one or two stacks) before crushing down to 2 stacks or more. So usually, if I have a good session and played more than an hour. I just force myself to quit the tables and start the review before I start to be too aggressive.
And if I can't, I judge that it means I'm in a 'tiltable' mood. So I shut the tables anyway.
And if I still can't..., well there is not much to do. I'm just on tilt already then.

I tried to implement this game schedule for the day when I've a lot of time: a first session of 1h. Then I quit the tables, take 20 min of break asking no concentration. Then I do a slightly shorter session of 40-50 min.

Until now it worked quite well.

i'm gonna read that article again.

Originally posted by EinsteinFranck
I don't actually know his nick and I'm not sure wether or not he's willing to have his real name on the forum. His firstname is mike.

About tilt, I don't tilt often. I do both a stop-loss and stop-winnings technique. The only few time when I tilted followed a quite precise pattern. My sessions began by a good income (one or two stacks) before crushing down to 2 stacks or more. So usually, if I have a good session and played more than an hour. I just force myself to quit the tables and start the review before I start to be too aggressive.
And if I can't, I judge that it means I'm in a 'tiltable' mood. So I shut the tables anyway.
And if I still can't..., well there is not much to do. I'm just on tilt already then.

I tried to implement this game schedule for the day when I've a lot of time: a first session of 1h. Then I quit the tables, take 20 min of break asking no concentration. Then I do a slightly shorter session of 40-50 min.

Until now it worked quite well.

i'm gonna read that article again.

Yeah, makes sense about the tilt. Although I doubt that you are totally anti-tilt, maybe the money isn't that important right now on the stakes you playing. When it becomes more important and bigger sums coming into play it will be different.

I'm totally not "tilt-proof". It just does not happen very often. And indeed, I don't care about a few dollars. It probably helps.

Originally posted by EinsteinFranck
I'm totally not "tilt-proof". It just does not happen very often. And indeed, I don't care about a few dollars. It probably helps.

That's very good if you don't tilt that easily. May give you bigger edge on the tables vs others.

Here is homework 2

Question 1: What do you think you could play differently than suggested in the BSS Starting Hands Chart and why?
The 22--99 pairs. I don't like the limp/call 20 OOP. I think bet/fold is a better line. You don't get so othen 3betted. And you can take down the pot on a cbet if the flop is dry. Moreover,if you hit, the opponents can put us on a TPTK as we're quite tight, Villain could think to AT+ in priority and try a live on low boards.
I've a lot a difficulty with AQ, AK for now. I'm not even yI'm EV+ with those hands. My line for now is to raise/call or 3bet/fold. On the flop, I cbet on dry flop 1/2 and value bet around the samevalue if the board is not too dangerous. I

Question 2: Do you have questions about your preflop play? Post your hand for evaluation. ( Post your hand in the Hand evaluation forums and provide a link to your hand in your private thread in the Locker Room.)
Not really. I think my problems start more on the flop.
Here are the latest links:
NL2 AKo in 3bet pot
Nl2 Aa
Nl2 Kk
NL2 AKo

Question 3: What is the equity of AKo against the top 5% range? 5% means 88+, AJs+, KQs, AKo. ( You can either calculate this yourself or use an equity calculator such as the PokerStrategy.com Equilab.)
46,3% of equity

Good job! Homework #2 Done!

Playing PPs can be in long run be very profitable, we could even say that you earn the most money with them (except of course KK/AA strong hands ♦). You can always try out either you play them profitable or not by check the programs either you are doing great on early position with PPs or not and base according to that. Although the problem with playing them, especially from EP if you playing FR is the case that you wont always play them profitable and very low ones I would even advice to fold as 22-55 and raise it up like 66-77+.

About AQ/AK hands I would advice to try to post them. Those are the hands which actually can also be played by just calling. You don't have to always 3bet/broke or 3bet/Fold cause you might easily even overplay them this way or play too passively. Or for example Call too many 3bets and etc.

About Question #3:

       Equity     Win     Tie
UTG    46.32%  37.92%   8.41% { AKo }
UTG+1  53.68%  45.27%   8.41% { 88+, AJs+, KQs, AKo }

Hopefully you enjoy the Course so far.

My problem is that oop, I don't like to call AKo. So I 3bet. But if the board shows too many faces, I usually ch/fold. And Villains are sooooooo aggro lately on the tables that I don't wanna gamble but it pushes me in a week game.

I've also a problem. I don't manage to crush the NL2. I really have a problem in my game. I just don't know where. I think I overplay AQ+, QQ+ postflop. But I don't call much. I don't bluff or so. The only leak I know is sometimes I don't value bet enough is Villain is passive since I've difficulties to put him on a range.

Originally posted by EinsteinFranck
My problem is that oop, I don't like to call AKo. So I 3bet. But if the board shows too many faces, I usually ch/fold. And Villains are sooooooo aggro lately on the tables that I don't wanna gamble but it pushes me in a week game.

I've also a problem. I don't manage to crush the NL2. I really have a problem in my game. I just don't know where. I think I overplay AQ+, QQ+ postflop. But I don't call much. I don't bluff or so. The only leak I know is sometimes I don't value bet enough is Villain is passive since I've difficulties to put him on a range.

Most likely you also overplay AK/JJ/QQ. Would strongly advice to take a look. If you can't crush those lower limits then you must have some bigger leaks cause those lower limits with very bad players are beatable with specific sample size. From where I'd also ask you, what sample size do you have?

I know that those limits are supposed to be easy to crush. But I don't manage to. I really don't know why. I think I'll go close to the nit. I should go EV+. Slowly maybe but EV+ anyway.

For the sample, I have no idea. I don't have any tracker. I tried recently to use the free version of PT3 but my postgreSQL doesn't work. I'll try to fix it.

I think I played something like +-10k hands and I'm -500BB down. So I've an average of -5BB/100 hands. That's really bad. My goal was achieving at least +5BB/100 hands.

I'm gonna try to call less if Villain starts to donk. Maybe my WTSD value is too high. I'll try to make the tracker works to check it.

Here it is:

9k hands, -5.61 BB/100 hands (sadly I had a good estimation).

I play in

VPIP: 12,9
PFR: 7,8
3bet PF: 2,50
Fold to 3bet PF: 85.10
4bet+ PF: 4.62

WTSD: 26% (too high?)
WSD: 54,80
WWSF: 33,77

Cbet flop: 57%
fold to Cbet flop: 70%

AF: 2,03
AFq: 35,02%

Am I a bit too loose/too passive post flop?

I know that those limits are supposed to be easy to crush. But I don't manage to. I really don't know why. I think I'll go close to the nit. I should go EV+. Slowly maybe but EV+ anyway.

Well, wouldn't say easy to crush. Takes still some time and effort to put in to beat them. You might see people posting only winning graphs but it doesn't mean everyone is winning.

For the sample, I have no idea. I don't have any tracker. I tried recently to use the free version of PT3 but my postgreSQL doesn't work. I'll try to fix it.

Try just to uninstall postgresql and uninstall PT3 and re-install it. Common problem that people are putting some wrong password or something similar that doesn't allow it to work.

I think I played something like +-10k hands and I'm -500BB down. So I've an average of -5BB/100 hands. That's really bad. My goal was achieving at least +5BB/100 hands.

Very small sample! That's practically no sample at all, some play with one 1day 10k hands. ♦ Take a look at this video: link.

Nah, it's not that loose overall. Seems to be decent. I'd rather look leaks while posting hands and of course reading articles, watching videos, etc.

I've been analyzing the hands and the graphs for some times now. All the broadway, the Axs, the pair and the suited connectors are winning. But not enough. The variance gets me also 200BB on 10k hands but that's neglectible. I guess. I'd be still in the negative without this variance. I'm actually not making enough money of my good hands.

My biggest leak as expected is in AKo, QQ that are hardely break even. And AT/AJ that I overplay. AT/AJ represents actually more than half my total losses. I'm gonna have to go deeper on those hands.

I must say a poker tracker is extremely efficient.

Originally posted by EinsteinFranck
I've been analyzing the hands and the graphs for some times now. All the broadway, the Axs, the pair and the suited connectors are winning. But not enough. The variance gets me also 200BB on 10k hands but that's neglectible. I guess. I'd be still in the negative without this variance. I'm actually not making enough money of my good hands.

My biggest leak as expected is in AKo, QQ that are hardely break even. And AT/AJ that I overplay. AT/AJ represents actually more than half my total losses. I'm gonna have to go deeper on those hands.

I must say a poker tracker is extremely efficient.

With time you will get better, especially you already started doing for that a lot by posting hands and also starting to think of them.

It's kinda common that people overplay those hands as AKo/QQ cause they are super easy to play as some think but it's not actually true. It's not only about 3bet/Broke cause you can very often have very horrible equity with them and wont even play profitable.

But overall to get an idea you will definitely need a bigger sample size.

I once again finished in negative today for the 8th session in a row.

Here are what I thought to change to achieve it

-- I'll reduce the number of table I play to 6 until I start to be in positive again. I noticed today that I didn't know who was the initial raiser on a hand. Maybe I play too many tables

-- I'll call slightly less river. Any hand that is not TPTK is not gonna call a river bet above 1/3. For TPTK and above, I'll let those hand go a little bit more easily if the board is scary.

-- I'll use more often the line bet/fold on the turn instead of ch/calling that I use a bit too often maybe.

-- I'll fold 55- in early position but I'll raise every pp in order to build the pot preflop. Too often, I don't manage to value my three-of-a-kind. So those raised pp will serve 3 goals
- balance my strong hands (some fishes may be observing my patterns, who knows?)
- make my pp less readable (it's almost the only I limp-call)

-- push my QQ preflop in "blind defense" situation. I go people going too often crazy with bricks in such position but play bet/call otherwise.

-- play AT/AJ as KT/KJ: good hands but very carefull not to overplay them. Use pot control as often as possible with those hands.

I think that's it for know. I've spent one hour today reviewing my biggest lost. My conclusion is that I'm not a good player, I do big value bet mistake and I should be a bit more aggressive on the flop. But beside, I'm OK. Most of my big losses are made with overpair QQ+; three of a kind pushed flop and badbeats. There is also some overplay of me but nothing that would make me deserve such a downswing.

There is a few things that make me a loosing player
- I loose too much money before showdown
- my nuts are often overcome by Villain's nuts. Things go often wrong when it starts from a non-raise pot or the blinds.

All those hands made more or less sense the way I played them. We can argue certain part of the line but I had good hands when I lost today. So I don't know what to change actually. If I only call with the actual nuts on the flop, I'll bet beaten by the rake.

So, I wanna crush those damned limits. I decided that if I lost my stack given by pokerstrategy, the poker is probably not made for me. I've 30$ left. Let's see what happens.

Still loosing for the 9th session in a row now. I don't know what to do. Veriz, would you have a miraculous sentence to make me see the poker god's enligthning?

Great idea to reduce the tables, at least you starting to think during the game and which help a lot to improve your game. Although the problem what sometimes happens is that players tend to play too loose. If that happens then try to keep yourself away from it.

You have already started to put a lot effort into the poker with those all thoughts you wrote, I really hope everything goes well with you. I know myself couple of coaches who even lost their first bankroll and started once again and build it up really nicely. Learning from mistakes is our specialty as being human being. So I wish you good luck mate!

Still loosing for the 9th session in a row now. I don't know what to do. Veriz, would you have a miraculous sentence to make me see the poker god's enligthning?

There ain't any miracle sentences against it. You just have to realize that it's poker and always will be like that. Sad but the truth. You have to get used to it and instead of concentrating on the losing session try to get the maximum of it. How? Good question, very easily:
What happens when we losing? We usually do a lot of mistakes and which provides us the chance to explore our game and our leaks. We find a lot leaks during the downswing, so abuse it! Try to fix them so you next time wont lost it.

Instead of concentrating how much you lose try to concentrate fixing your leaks! Easy to say but difficult to follow but once you master it you will enjoy the game. With experience this will definitely happen but the sooner you realize it the better for you.