The King of Micros: Lemon's 3 Week BR Challenge

Okay finally I can start, old people in the family having emergency (successful) brain surgeries and stuff
Oh well, I wish I will be as agile as my 91year old great aunt at her age who had it who keeps playing Bridge in clubs and even goes on retreats across the country with Bridge people multiple times per year.

Anyway here comes first few hours, 4table zooming and one meh session on regular tables.

I have issue that many people I guess have, but when playing higher stakes and moving down to stakes I haven't played in a couple years it's even more prevalent - just not respecting the money, not paying as much attention to the tables as when I play highest I can and just snap deciding in large BB wise spots where I should timebank at least for several seconds.

E.g. I guess this super annoying hand vs a fish can be a fold albeit a close one

People not doing what I expect them to do

Next hand besides 3bet being better than call, which is no big deal as I should play reasonably well at NL10 vs average villain when I flat,
Snowie actually wants to be really tight 3way, folding on the flop right away
And I guess it makes sense as everything he should cbet has loads of equity against me and weaker Kx should really be checking here on the flop from the PFR (and he can only have KTccdd that I beat when he opens UTG). So a possible fold 3way on flop interestingly, and definitely easy fold on turn even though the absolute hand strenght and how pretty the hand looks definitely screams otherwise at first glance.

In terms of mindset I've listened to Paul McKenna and there's one great suggestion - instead of negative thoughts like "why don't I pay attention" "How am I losing to these dumbdumbs" he suggests to think in solution oriented questions like "In what ways can I improve" "What are the best ways that can help me focus more"
So I've started writing these on my whiteboard and will take time to sit down and think and focus on solutions and improvements while writing all those on a piece of paper, as the brain can be so easily negative when left to it's own devices.

And besides that I'm working towards a daily schedule of wake up+gym, turn off PC some time before sleep to write down journal/think on paper and I intend to stick to these for the remainder of the challenge

Wasaaap men!
Just managed to put in a couple quick zoom sessions and dropped a couple BI so today I grind NL5, as I went over to the hospital to see my 91 old auntie before they let her go home in a week or so, and I'll be the one that has to help her out as I'm her closest relative that lives in the same city.

It was actually pretty cool seeing people at neurosurgery and that life never really isn't so bad e.g. this young woman that is on the bed next to her with half her head shaved and a huge scar across her skull with loads of fresh stitches that was smiling joking around and being really friendly and amused by our conversation, and she wasn't the only one there like this.

Kinda puts complaining and being all pissed at a couple bad beats or stupid calls people make against you into perspective...

Anyway let's get back to poker, life is just so unfair just look at what this guy called against my awesome bluff, fml!

$0.02/$0.05 No Limit Holdem
PokerStars2 Players
Hand Conversion Powered by WeakTight Poker Hand History Converter
Stacks:
SB Hero ($5.21) 104bb
BB ($4.78) 96bb
Pre-Flop: (0.07, 2 players) Hero is SB J♠ 9♥

Hero raises to $0.12, BB calls $0.07

Flop: 7♠ 9♠ 10:heart: ($0.24, 2 players)
BB bets $0.11, Hero calls $0.11
Turn: 5♦ ($0.46, 2)
BB bets $0.36, Hero calls $0.36
River: Q♠ ($1.18, 2)
BB checks, Hero bets $1.90, BB calls $1.90
Final Pot: $4.98
BB shows a pair of Tens
8♣ 10:club:
Hero shows a pair of Nines
J♠ 9♥
BB wins $4.77 (net +$2.28)
Hero lost $2.49

Okay here come since tuesday afternoon

I'm actually doing a lot better at Zoom, and regular tables have been slightly frustrating with the lower convenience, swapping, looking around the screen etc. Basically last couple months I've been very busy with enjoying the summer, translation project of awsesome KTU "How to play hands" holidays, drinking etc. So my actual poker has been resembling that of a part-time player, just putting in an hour here and there for which just firing up Zoom is way better. So my brain actually adapted to it, my winrate dropped to about 4-5bb/100 but 4 masstabling zoom barely focused at NL25,NL16, and when I play regular tables I take those habits in with me. Habits that make me play unfocused as there's less hands and I'm more prone to opening facebook etc. Basically brain got used to not having reads which you usually don't get below NL100 zoom much and it takes a lot of focus to actually start pwning reg tables again. Focus I'm willing to give and I'll try to put in more reg table volume - exploitative thought out play and recognising patterns suits my personal skills way more, and even though I've put hundreds of hours into working on solid ranges and Snowie/Pio/Top player side of my game it's more of a necessity and going with the time as opposed to the area where I expect to have long term competitive edge over other players that 4-8 table Zoom without really using reads much.

Anyway off to some hands
HAND1

Poker Stars $10.00 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players -

PREFLOP
First of all Snowie wants to fold for 3bb and raise 2.5Xand smaller
But here we have tight CO and Button so I can open as wide as around 20-22% I'd say and include all pocket pairs

FLOP
Okay so first of all you can see how I work on hands mostly these days in a vacuum almost exclusively
If I don't have time I'd use Snowie to see what it suggests as it's instant, if it's a more advanced spot where I want to map out my ranges I ask one of my friends to run the spot in PioSolver for me. But since it's 3way Snowie is the best thing there really is for this if you don't want to spend loads of time on comprehensive manual analysis.

And what then follows is seeing what ranges they suggest and try to find out why it makes sense in terms of actually applying it in practice, why it shows up with the EV it does show up with and why actual play that differs from the one suggested play makes sense as an exploit in practice vs actual opponents or pools and I'm lucky that I have much better players helping me out here.

Here on the flop it shows this

In fact, it NEVER CBETS WITH ANYTHING unless you choose 25% PSB Here in which case it bets Tx without a club actually but checks those most of the time anyways. The reason is that we are 3way on a board that should really hit both players, it'll really be difficult to get many folds and we have tons of hands that have incredible trouble playing against raises and on the turn when we do actually bet (all overpairs, all Tx, other hands)

Now, I actually agree here if we are playing two very good players. But this is where exploits come in - I think people won't recognise that our cbetting range is super strong here with only bluffs being perhaps Ac with tons of equity and should continue with their Tx even hands like 9xCx even worse sometimes which makes me want to bet. We have the tight CO here that can have hands like QQ JJ as well and looser SB that I can assume has even with the tiny sample increaqsed likelihood of being too loose since it's NL10. So I bet large, and I'd bet only very strong range here expecting to make blatant mistakes against me

Now the raise comes.....Snowie shows up with 5.6BB +ev call here, but I think on turns 3way with size it'd not use itself it really becomes unreliable. And I actually think I should have folded here, and the fold is pretty straightforward too. A guy over tiny sample 3way should never bluff here, PLUS I have the SB guy behind me in the small blind, where TT and 88 should be completely in his range along with a decent amount of AcXc. So basically I'm dead in the water best case scenario he doesn't have TT 88 but a flush and I'm hoping to fill up, out of position, with possibility of SB coming over the top so continuing was a clear mistake I can chalk down to my autopilot at Zoom, and even though it's NL10, spazz factor is large, in this scenario vs a tight CO and SB caller it's time to let our set go. As when we bet exploitively large with a wide value range we do it because people call too much and won't go ahead and start bluffing and putting us into hard spots.

TURN
Now when the Turn comes, I just remember knowing in game that leading small would be super cool as he can have those flushes he can check back
But I've decided that when he looks this strong he'll probably go all the way, and it's hard to imagine a NL10 player being so disciplined as to fold the river against a shove when it's pretty much just a PSB with a flush there - this is certainly reasonable , I did however look at the new Snowie's .25PCT option and he loves the donk very much

Again, very unreliable as Snowie's samples are pretty much crap in these unusual spots
But it does seem great to lead as we will get the money in against a set regardless no matter what, and against a flush we get value when we lead small, and then on the river our opponent is faced with a tough spot with small SPR where a competent villain might find it easier if we go ahead and simply shove PSB after he checks his flush OTT.

HAND2
Well....This is a spot I'm still unsure of against random NL10 villains, and what I should recommend to you guys that grind these stakes. in terms of my range is a slam dunk shove on the river, but frankly I'v seen people snap here with hands as weak as AK, so really not convinced if just exploitively not shoving and just ship 22+, possibly even KQ isn't the better approach ( I raised BU and got called by BB)

hello nice post, i don´t understand very much how pokersnowie works. is it looking for like GTO range ?

The man, the myth, the legend is back Always great streams mate.

Good luck with your challenge, I will be following

in before broke

Originally posted by sapef
hello nice post, i don´t understand very much how pokersnowie works. is it looking for like GTO range ?

It's a bot that keeps playing against itself over and over again
To make it simple it uses various fixed sizings on all streets
But keeps adding new ones
And keeps being closer and closer to GTO with increased sample size, in theory it should play perfectly GTO given the limited sizings when it reaches infinite sample sizes.

Right now especially on turn and river spots it's pretty far off to GTO ranges if you compare it to Pio Solver's ranges right now, but it's just way faster to use in practice for me thanks to the hand import feature. Basically the closest you can get to GTO evaluation if you're a lazy person

Also I've gone to a workshop on Heroic Value of time on procrastination with my girlfriend.
It was through meetup.com and the guy ended up presenting for just the two of us as other people didn't show up, so we basically got private coaching for free

The biggest takeaways are
When forming long term habits, start small, and go small when alternative is nothing at all
It's doing the thing that matters, np matter how small. e.g. a guy that decides he'll run a marathon and that he will run every day and never did it before can start by simply putting on training clothes, and run literally once around his house and then go back. And then keep increasing it, but do it no matter what no matter how tiny it is - habit forms.

I've done that with FOCUSD that completely zaps your internet for as long as you want. I used to always set 1hour and eventually stopped using it, as thinking I can't even check the news for an hour especially when tired no matter how bad I run was kinda daunting thought. So when I didn't feel like it I literally scheduled a 10 minute 4 tabling session with FOCUSD on, finished it and what do you know, I kept playing focused for the whole hour.

Also that PROCRASTINATION OCCURS WHEN YOU DEPLETE YOUR WILLPOWER
Basically when you start uncontrollably browsing facebook during a session, watching movies or listen to music... you have two options
1) Consciously force focus to practice
-This way you actually expand your willpower and ability to focus in the long run. But you should do it consciously and with just that goal in mind, and be okay with losing some EV at the tables
2) Replenish your willpower
- when you procrastinate and just can't stop, you should stop everything you're doing and just replenish your willpower again by taking a break, getting a snack, going for the gym, walk...whatever works for you.

Instead of just blaming yourself for not focusing, gritting your teeth and pushing through it unless you are actually consciously focusing on expanding your willpower positively.

Today
Anyways today I ran hot of course, but put in 8 hours mostly 4 tabling Zoom while managing to go to the gym, taking a nap even watching a movie and doing some work on my HUD

Still, probably biggest day hour and volume-wise since mid-August when I played 46hours one week.

Simplifying your strategy
One thing that I have actually changed is simplify my strategy and game tree.
Basically the lower you move in online poker, the wider spectrum of players you are actually going to get
And when I tried to play the way I played against higher stakes regulars with multiple sizings etc. it got overwhelming as so many people react so weirdly against e.g. 1/3 PSB cbets etc. as opposed to your NL25/50 TAGs that all play somewhat similarly and especially when mass - tabling it got really taxing on my brain.

So basically I've done what most players that work with Pio solver in practice do anyways, just to a further degree where they see ideal scenario with different possible sizings and use either node locks or their own simplification and e.g. use just one size on a street so their off-table work is actually applicable in-game without your brain exploding (and future bots will be probably super strong - it's really hard to apply perfect poker at the tables in practice). And I've largely simplified my game to 2/3 PSB Sizings in most scenarios and 50% on dry boards and 3bet pots and 1/3 only rarely when the situation just screams for it and I do it automatically in that spot and so far putting in volume has been way easier with this dumbed down version of poker that is still more than good enough to beat these stakes for a good profit.

Originally posted by LemOn36
Zoom is way better. So my brain actually adapted to it, my winrate dropped to about 4-5bb/100 but 4 masstabling zoom barely focused at NL25,NL16, and when I play regular tables I take those habits in with me. Habits that make me play unfocused as there's less hands and I'm more prone to opening facebook etc. Basically brain got used to not having reads which you usually don't get below NL100 zoom much and it takes a lot of focus to actually start pwning reg tables again. Focus I'm willing to give and I'll try to put in more reg table volume - exploitative thought out play and recognising patterns suits my personal skills way more, and even though I've put hundreds of hours into working on solid ranges and Snowie/Pio/Top player side of my game it's more of a necessity and going with the time as opposed to the area where I expect to have long term competitive edge over other players that 4-8 table Zoom without really using reads much.

I agree with this.
Started play cash games since September.
Over all - total played ~10k+ hands: ( ~5k - Zoom, ~5k regular)
First 5k was on Zoom, and it really was just button clicking, without thinking. So I read article about Zoom vs Regular cash games. - then switch to regular tables because I want something learn too, not just button clicking. (currently playing NL2)

So, on regular tables hit a downswing, but I start learn and improve my game.

GL on you challenge.♠_biggrin:

Boom

Poker Stars $0.05/$0.10 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players -

CO: $17.74
BTN: $6.65
SB: $10.00
BB: $13.64
Hero (UTG): $12.81
MP: $12.15

Pre Flop: ($0.15) Hero is UTG with K K
Hero raises to $0.30, MP raises to $0.60, 4 folds, Hero raises to $1.90, MP calls $1.30

Flop: ($3.95) 2 4 3 (2 players)
Hero checks, MP bets $1.60, Hero raises to $3.90, MP raises to $6.20, Hero raises to $10.91 all in, MP calls $4.05 all in

Turn: ($24.45) K (2 players - 2 are all in)

River: ($24.45) 2 (2 players - 2 are all in)

He had AQoffsuit

God I missed regular tables (and focusing on them)
This would never happen vs a regular on Zoom tables ever
Poker Stars $0.05/$0.10 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players -

Hero (BB): $17.21
UTG: $10.30
MP: $10.00
CO: $6.91
BTN: $10.05
SB: $12.57

Pre Flop: ($0.15) Hero is BB with 6 Q
4 folds, SB raises to $0.25, Hero calls $0.15

Flop: ($0.50) 2 3 9 (2 players)
SB bets $0.25, Hero calls $0.25

Turn: ($1.00) 4 (2 players)
SB bets $0.32, Hero calls $0.32

River: ($1.64) 5 (2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $1.40, SB raises to $4.90, Hero calls $3.50

Final Pot: $11.44
Hero shows 6 Q (a straight, Deuce to Six)
SB shows J 4 (a pair of Fours)
Hero wins $10.93
(Rake: $0.51)

When forming long term habits, start small, and go small when alternative is nothing at all

I also have learned this from somewhere earlier and can confirm it works for me.

Good example is sport. I really was lazy and not motivated to do sports, cause it costs time and is boring. Somehow I started to do pull ups, and lifting weights - just decided to do 0.5 hours twice a week at least.

My friend says that I do so little that its almost like nothing. But if I would think its not worth, I would proably not start doing 3 times 2 hour sessions per week, because for same reasons - time and boring.

In my opinion it is still now much better than nothing. And the amount of pull ups I am able to do is now 8 while when I started it was like 1 or 2. So it means there is benefit still. Just now to raise the number is harder and harder, but I probably also need to eat more protein, because there is no meat on me which could make force but even if it not raises, at least it keeps the same and sport is good for brain and other things anyway even without increasing results.

Oh. also the fun thing is - I know another guy who buys a protein and says - I will start to do sport seriously. And then does not start

I say - in your shoes I would first start to do sport and if I see I am really doing so that I need a protein, then I would buy it. He says - its wrong thinking, if you start, you start seriously. Yea, ok I think, keep spending money on things which you do not use

I really like that approach, and it pretty much sums up my approach to fitness as well to be honest. And to many things
Basically "Go ham or go home"
With the gym I have periods where I'm relentless, train every day sometimes 2phase eat protein/creatine/bcaas completely clean diet. And then have off periods where I do none of that. Which honestly isn't too bad when you train but in terms of impact on poker it's very inefficient because when you train hard you're obviously spending lots of energy and need sleep, get tired more (combined with no sugar low carb diet besides pre-workout). And when you don't train at all you miss the benefits of exercise , so in terms of working out as means to a higher quality life progressive steady modest approach is probably optimal.

It's the same with poker for me in last couple months where I'd have a 46hour play +10hour study week and then 10hours study+play week. Again not that much wrong with that as you work on your game when really motivated, but in the long run slow and steady approach where I'd split the load 33hr/33hr will be much more sustainable (and is why you just don't see so many amazing players that crushed at one point or another around - they've burned out quickly and went on the all or nothing approach).

Regular Tables
It's actually hard to get back on regular tables once you've been 4table Zooming for several hundred thousand hands, it feels like a completely different game and I've re-coiled to masstabling quickly. So I'm taking the SPeedFANat1c pull up approach, and just have 5x 20 minute focused strictly 4 tabling regular tables sessions scheduled today, and I'll be slowly adding a few minutes to the sessions every day.

I felt also similar after 1 year poker break. Not motivated to play. Was thinking now I did not play so much, my skill became so low, and poker became tougher. So just cards matter. First of all I should not have taken year break from poker I guess. I had other challenge for myself and wanted to be dedicated a lot. Also friends kept telling - try to stop playing, you maybe find smht else interesting. And so I can now say that there was no more interesting hobby.

So remembered this apraoch - try small. And tried to play a little bit, some days off, the bit again. Now confidence in my game came back, maybe not as much as it was, cause I was trying NL25 zoom, now played only NL5 zoom with small winrate. And maybe its because game requires more skill. But I hope it is getting better and I am really motivated on NL20 reg tables because I can choose them with weak players.

Poker Stars $0.05/$0.10 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players -

UTG: $10.15
MP: $6.23
CO: $10.15
Hero (BTN): $10.00
SB: $10.35
BB: $10.00

Pre Flop: ($0.15) Hero is BTN with Q A
2 folds, CO raises to $0.30, Hero raises to $0.90, 2 folds, CO calls $0.60

Flop: ($1.95) 6 T 2 (2 players)
CO checks, Hero bets $0.63, CO calls $0.63

Turn: ($3.21) J (2 players)
CO checks, Hero bets $2.51, CO calls $2.51

River: ($8.23) 6 (2 players)
CO checks, Hero checks

Final Pot: $8.23
CO shows T J (two pair, Jacks and Tens)
Hero mucks Q A
CO wins $7.86
(Rake: $0.37)

Speaking of folding sets
Real annoying on the backdoor flush hitting
But I think he should play lower sets aggressively on earlier streets here

Definitely should be potting the turn here, Snowie likes a smaller sizes as default with our range but shows higher EV for large bet for this hand. and people can definitely pot control Ax on the flop and have FDs coming here so I shouldn't be afraid to play really transparently at NL10 and just bomb the turn

RIver Snowie shows 0EV but I just doubt anyone bluffs this spot when I should have almost no air as PFR and regs are just very passive on the river here

BR is at $474, I might start dabbling into NL16 at $500+
Aim is to finish strong before my coaching on Tuesday, have loads of hours of pokering scheduled, 8hours/day actually
I moved to reg tables max exploitation so you guys can really see how it is to take advantage of tricks and reads to use at the micro tables.

Hi Confidante
It's about three times I have tried to join your coaching King of the ... . Having clicked on the green button ,a window appears which if I type anything on it directs me to twich which does not work.the twich player shows you coaching ,however, I cant join in the discuss.
Perhaps you can advise me or direct me to whoever deals with this type of problem.
Thanks
tmannie

Hello boss!
The last coaching will be on https://www.twitch.tv/pokerstrategydotcom on tuesday 20:00 CEST

And to join the chat you just have to create a twitch account, it takes a minute and you will be able to chat and follow our channel to get notified when it goes online!

Ok thanks , my good man, I did try that , but I give it another go
tmannie

Originally posted by LemOn36
Poker Stars $0.05/$0.10 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players -

UTG: $10.15
MP: $6.23
CO: $10.15
Hero (BTN): $10.00
SB: $10.35
BB: $10.00

Pre Flop: ($0.15) Hero is BTN with Q A
2 folds, CO raises to $0.30, Hero raises to $0.90, 2 folds, CO calls $0.60

Flop: ($1.95) 6 T 2 (2 players)
CO checks, Hero bets $0.63, CO calls $0.63

Turn: ($3.21) J (2 players)
CO checks, Hero bets $2.51, CO calls $2.51

River: ($8.23) 6 (2 players)
CO checks, Hero checks

Final Pot: $8.23
CO shows T J (two pair, Jacks and Tens)
Hero mucks Q A
CO wins $7.86
(Rake: $0.37)

Speaking of folding sets
Real annoying on the backdoor flush hitting
But I think he should play lower sets aggressively on earlier streets here

Definitely should be potting the turn here, Snowie likes a smaller sizes as default with our range but shows higher EV for large bet for this hand. and people can definitely pot control Ax on the flop and have FDs coming here so I shouldn't be afraid to play really transparently at NL10 and just bomb the turn

Why cbet flop? you have just overcards.

About the snowie higher ev - it means unbalanced - just for this hand pot is higher ev, but no value range pot size?

Did not get what you mean by folding sets. Where you thinking about bluff to make them fold a set?