I am trying to Poker, I Suck!

Originally posted by TakingAShot

Originally posted by Chowchow12
Perfecting Pre-flop
As of today I am going to work in pre-flop for the rest of the year. I was just using weasels ranges, but I could never ask myself the question "What kind of hands would I call with here?" because I was just reading it off an excel sheet. So this should help a lot with hand reading. I have said it over and over again that I think hand reading is the true fundamental skill of poker. My mistake is not seeing the importance of the preflop.

I think this is a good lesson. In learning poker we can eventually see how we grossly underestimated certain concepts and it isn't until we get smarter we see the light. Pre-flop is kind of boring and so I think it isn't given enough attention.

At this point I still think it is good to get a general game plan in the beginning and then go through each section adding a layer of depth and specificity each time. But I think it is especially important to have your pre-flop down in order to think in ranges properly post flop.

I think the difference is playing against fish because of large calling ranges, but a VPIP/PRF/3bet of 40/10/2 doesn't have much variance in their pre-flop range. I think the general overview helps you defeat them, and just a simple game plan. Knowing their tendencies allows you to exploit them. (Auto profit spots etc.) This is why most beginner courses are structured the way they are. I think it isn't a bad approach, but I think some of the concepts do not have enough weight on them.

I really think one of them is planning your hand. I think a lot of videos on this say: "You must plan your hand! It's important! Here is an example!" - Fin. But really we need to look at all the types of hands we can have and then come up with rough plans for them for certain turns and rivers. An example is backdoor draws: We want to use the best ones that can make a 5 card hand by the river, to bet the flop with. Ac3c on Kc7h2d is an example. An example of a backdoor draw I think is okay to put in our check/fold range is a backdoor gutshot, and if we turn the cards that give us a gutshot we have a bluffing hand with backdoor equity, same thing with weaker backdoor flushes, we only want to play a small pot if they hit anyway, and by checking back the flop we have reduced the number of streets and effectivly the size of the pot. (Overbetting with our hands we plan to c/r on the flop is probably the execption here).

Weasel does a great job at explaining this. We keep ourselves to have options in our range here. But coming up with these kinds of plans requires studying lots of boards and knowing how hard our range hits a given board. Which comes back to knowing our preflop ranges. Knowing we don't have a lot of pairs means we need to check/call more of our backdoor draws and ace highs (unless we want to make an exploitative fold/over fold). So for studying this we need to run a lot of board analysis to know what kind of hands we need to have plans for given boards. I really didn't get this connection until now. It is kind of funny. I feel really silly about it.

NL10
It's funny I use a program that converts $$ to bb and I forgot I was playing on NL10. The player pool felt the same. I could swear the pool was more aggressive than this.

Don't make judgments about the player pool - or really anything - based off of one session. However, yes...a lot of the 10NL players are absolutely no better than the 5NL players. At all because we're talking about $5 or $10 which is absolutely nothing to a lot of people. The thing is that @ 10NL, there are also better players scattered throughout the player pool, more collusion and the like, and overall there's no denying that the games are much harder. Still, as said, sure ...just like there are whales @ 100NL who just have disposable money and are drunk, you'll find the same thing in a $5 or $10 game. Don't just paint everyone with that brush until proven otherwise though or else you'll burn a lot of buyins. Especially if you're playing anonymous games.

I just meant, form my other shots and NL10 the player pool felt left the impression of being extremely aggressive. While the last bit they have just felt like NL5.

Originally posted by Chowchow12

Originally posted by TakingAShot

Originally posted by Chowchow12
Perfecting Pre-flop
As of today I am going to work in pre-flop for the rest of the year. I was just using weasels ranges, but I could never ask myself the question "What kind of hands would I call with here?" because I was just reading it off an excel sheet. So this should help a lot with hand reading. I have said it over and over again that I think hand reading is the true fundamental skill of poker. My mistake is not seeing the importance of the preflop.

I think this is a good lesson. In learning poker we can eventually see how we grossly underestimated certain concepts and it isn't until we get smarter we see the light. Pre-flop is kind of boring and so I think it isn't given enough attention.

At this point I still think it is good to get a general game plan in the beginning and then go through each section adding a layer of depth and specificity each time. But I think it is especially important to have your pre-flop down in order to think in ranges properly post flop.

I think the difference is playing against fish because of large calling ranges, but a VPIP/PRF/3bet of 40/10/2 doesn't have much variance in their pre-flop range. I think the general overview helps you defeat them, and just a simple game plan. Knowing their tendencies allows you to exploit them. (Auto profit spots etc.) This is why most beginner courses are structured the way they are. I think it isn't a bad approach, but I think some of the concepts do not have enough weight on them.

I really think one of them is planning your hand. I think a lot of videos on this say: "You must plan your hand! It's important! Here is an example!" - Fin. But really we need to look at all the types of hands we can have and then come up with rough plans for them for certain turns and rivers. An example is backdoor draws: We want to use the best ones that can make a 5 card hand by the river, to bet the flop with. Ac3c on Kc7h2d is an example. An example of a backdoor draw I think is okay to put in our check/fold range is a backdoor gutshot, and if we turn the cards that give us a gutshot we have a bluffing hand with backdoor equity, same thing with weaker backdoor flushes, we only want to play a small pot if they hit anyway, and by checking back the flop we have reduced the number of streets and effectivly the size of the pot. (Overbetting with our hands we plan to c/r on the flop is probably the execption here).

Weasel does a great job at explaining this. We keep ourselves to have options in our range here. But coming up with these kinds of plans requires studying lots of boards and knowing how hard our range hits a given board. Which comes back to knowing our preflop ranges. Knowing we don't have a lot of pairs means we need to check/call more of our backdoor draws and ace highs (unless we want to make an exploitative fold/over fold). So for studying this we need to run a lot of board analysis to know what kind of hands we need to have plans for given boards. I really didn't get this connection until now. It is kind of funny. I feel really silly about it.

NL10
It's funny I use a program that converts $$ to bb and I forgot I was playing on NL10. The player pool felt the same. I could swear the pool was more aggressive than this.

Don't make judgments about the player pool - or really anything - based off of one session. However, yes...a lot of the 10NL players are absolutely no better than the 5NL players. At all because we're talking about $5 or $10 which is absolutely nothing to a lot of people. The thing is that @ 10NL, there are also better players scattered throughout the player pool, more collusion and the like, and overall there's no denying that the games are much harder. Still, as said, sure ...just like there are whales @ 100NL who just have disposable money and are drunk, you'll find the same thing in a $5 or $10 game. Don't just paint everyone with that brush until proven otherwise though or else you'll burn a lot of buyins. Especially if you're playing anonymous games.

I just meant, form my other shots and NL10 the player pool felt left the impression of being extremely aggressive. While the last bit they have just felt like NL5.

I'm also noticing that time of day has a lot to do with what kind of cash games you'll come across. Like right now, there are a ton of fish getting ready to come on in an hour or so. Once 1am+ comes...until about 8am, is usually the best players and the toughest games.

Games have gotten more aggressive across the board, however. That's definitely for sure.

Frustrated
I played a lot today, and NL10 seemed to like to beat me up. Starting to get frustrated again. It really just feels like I can't do anything right. Probably running bad, but not thinking well again.

I am not sleeping well again. This sucks. I can feel the impatience that is coming from this. Slow down, take a breath. Just need time.

I can feel this fear of being stuck at NL5 forever. I feel like I have just been going backwards in the last two months and then I get frustrated.

Time to get some sleep and try again tomorrow.

Time to get down to business

My pre-flop sucks! I have said this before but my preflop is terrible. I said I was revisiting it, but I did not realize how bad it was. I couldn't even put weasel's default RFI ranges into flopzilla from memory. How am I suppose to adjust them to other tables when I can't even do this simple thing. This is going against my primary vision of how I wanted to learn poker: I wanted to learn the solid fundamental principles to move up and get really good at poker!

My vision was the start with GTO/Theoretically correct and then adjust for limits and population tendencies, and I ended up being lazy and copying lines from weasel. I wasn't studying my own spots in equilab just posting hands and really leaning on population tendencies.

So step one is Pre-flop. I can still just use auto-profit lines and what weasel recommends post flop. They work well, but if I want to develop my hand reading I need to first use my own ranges as a model. I will probably need to spend a month on pre-flop to get it to a level I am happy with. Ideally I want NL25-NL50 level preflop, then move on to cbetting, and upgrade that. Then flop defence etc. I was kind of doing this, but my preflop kind of sucked, so I wasn't doing it right. Should be on the correct path now. Fuck short term results. Lets stick to our path: use GTO/Theory as the baseline and adjust from there. Keep getting coaching from weasel, and just take each topic like a cement roller.

People to look up to
Through Twitch and discord I met some absolute monster poker players. One of then was a math teacher who really loved poker and plays all the highstakes tournaments and is shooting 5/10 cash. What an absolute crusher! I saw him at the final table of the big 44 and 8 tabling 1/2 and 2/4 on the side. That's where I want to go, just be an absolute monster.

Become a complete poker player
This is my goal. Lets go.

Schedule for the next few days
-Default RFI ranges down cold ~Today-Tommorow (Shouldn't take that long)
-Exploitative adjustments for RFI - 2-4 days

-Default 3betting strategy (Polarized) 1-2 days
-Exploitative adjustments (Switch to Linear) 2-4 days

-Default Cold calling 2-3 days
-Exploitative adjustments 2-4 days

-Defending 3bets (I am awful at this) 4 days
-Exploitative adjustments ??

That's a rough idea of my next few weeks.

Once I get through all of this my pre-flop should be rock solid and I can move on to post flop play!

Learning Mission is accomplished.
RFI ranges are down pat. It was probably the easiest part of this, but I just would open up flopzilla and put them in. Then clear it and do it again. I did it enough times where it is pretty burned into my brain at this point. Will do this again tomorrow just to make sure.

NL10 Curse
I feel endlessly frustrated by NL10. Like it just can't be this tough. I broke even today and I just felt like all I was doing was folding. I got a few good hands in, but I have had days like this at NL5, but NL10 just seems like an impossible wall. I don't really get it. I am down about 2BI since I started again, so if I drop to five I am just going to go back to NL5 and rebuild. I don't really want to donate this off. Idc if my bankroll is too big for NL5. I have a lot of things on my checklist to fix, so I will need to go slowly. When I play two tables I don't think I am thinking as much. So I will probably just play one for a while while I am improving.

Keep improving
I see the crushers out there and they didn't quit. I'll get there.

Hi, I had the same problems some months ago.
Actually nl10 (zoom) seems to be very soft.
Maybe you are skilled too much for this level or you have mindset problems.

If possible for you get silver status and wat weasels "Walkthrough" series
I guess it will give you a boost
And biggest exploit you can do on NL10 is to overfold.
Slainte
Talisker

Originally posted by Talisker74
Hi, I had the same problems some months ago.
Actually nl10 (zoom) seems to be very soft.
Maybe you are skilled too much for this level or you have mindset problems.

If possible for you get silver status and wat weasels "Walkthrough" series
I guess it will give you a boost
And biggest exploit you can do on NL10 is to overfold.
Slainte
Talisker

Hey thanks for the help. I get coached by Weasel! So I have been shown all the content in walkthrough. I think I big part of it is mindset issues. I have got interested and started calling in spots I shouldn't have. They always seem to have it, so I think you're right it is party mindset, and I think partly running bad.

Weasel has looked at my stats and believes I should be a winner at NL10. I am going to stick to my current game that had me crushing NL5. I feared I was folding too much and was trying to over adjust, but from talking to people who beat the limit, and are beating the limit it seems like I am doing things in a correct manner. So, I won't make too many changes to my default strategy until I expand my horizons a little bit.

The Grinder's Manual
I didn't know this book existed until today. It is actually a perfect source of information for me. With my academic background I really like things that are written like textbooks. So I am going to go through this book slowly and do all the exercises and try to use it to help my thought process. I have found out that I could be studying a lot better, and I think this book is exactly what I need to help build that fundamental structure.

So plans have changed. We are going with this now. It still starts at pre-flop, but I will work through all the exercises and homework in the book. Generally textbook learning works well for me. Even in my classes I would need to slowly work through the book on my own time and mess around with exercises etc.

This is sort of what I was looking for at the beginning of this blog. I have coach weasel as well for questions and help with further learning. Theory always gives a good basis for out decisions. Rather than default to standard lines because that is what we are told to do.

I think I will post my homework in here as well. Good to keep accountable. I will think about the best structure to do this. I think this blog has gotten derailed and I would like to get it back to a good structure.

Here is to the next 4-5 months.

Dynamic Open Ranges practice
One of the things I don't do it adjust my opening ranges to other players I would just play the default over and over again. I made some rough adjustments I think would be good in flopzilla for certain positions. Then I one tabled for a while. I was pretty happy with how I played. Slowed down my decision process and really made sure I had all the information on players before I made a choice. Starting to re-wire my decision process slowly. First you get good and then you get fast. Been really good about checking effective stacks and that is helping me out with short stackers. Been breaking even at NL10, so I am not really complaining. Hoping the ship starts to turn here.

All the advice I have gotten about NL10 is to overfold. I was really worried I was folding way too much, but it may have been hurting me too much.

Going to be going back home for Christmas, so I should have lots of time to play. Will probably do some more one table sessions until I get use to thinking about everything more. There is a depth in adjusting you ranges based on a lot of factors, and it is something I think that I really overlooked.

I was going to post homework but this has ranges that are strong based on ranges other charge coaching for. So I am not going to give away something that isn't mine.

Once I get this down I will have taken a much farther step into a world of being a better player. I find focusing on this really helps with my mindset. It gives a goal for each session that is with in my control. Instead of just grind. Going back to what I was talking about in the beginning the focus is now on improvement, and not on winning in a game where it's out of your control in the short term.

Really feel like I am on the right path for studying now. Lets just put in the work!

Weasel's Review
I watched Weasel Reviewing my hands for a 2nd training video from where I was playing and it was pretty awful. The biggest leak is not value betting big enough and really just auto piloting: not calculating pot odds, missing auto profit lines etc. Was pretty awful for me to watch, I can't imagine him reviewing it for his website. I use to have streams playing in the background and I think this might have played a part in it.

There is so much to remember in poker and I have such a scatter brain that I find it very challenging. I find it much easier to review a hand than to do it at the table. Maybe it is like this for everyone.

The feedback points to how crappy you play with a bad mindset. Stick to your strategy and don't let the variance fool you. The advice I have been giving but not taking.

Aside from this I feel a lot better about NL10 now. The problem was me, not the limit or my strategy. My mind was my worst enemy and it slowly made everything decay into shitty NL5 break even. Funny how that works. My unconscious competence is not good. Need to be working on it more. I really like having the mental checklist of things I do before I make a decision.

Going to take a break on my improvement plan and just work on what I have already. It is not good enough to move on yet.

There is so much to remember in poker and I have such a scatter brain that I find it very challenging. I find it much easier to review a hand than to do it at the table. Maybe it is like this for everyone.

Quite normal if you haven't been (seriously) playing/studying the game for a long time. It is always easier to think about this stuff off the tables. Eventually it will get easier to do quickly while playing, but it takes some experience. Repetition is the key.

Pulling it together
Been playing NL10 some more and things are starting to come together a bit more. Seeing my mistakes is really making me stop and pay more attention. I really have a lot more trust in my strategy now, which makes everything really easy on the mindset. The issues with my play were so much less complicated than I thought. I really ask myself on the flop: "Okay what is my plan for this hand? Does my normal plan make sense here." And that really makes me miss much less than before where it was: "Back door flush draw = call/cbet".

I am also naturally putting more hands into my check/call, check raise, check back ranges because I am thinking about the whole plan ahead of time. With a vulnerable top pair I tend to say: "Well, I know NL10 players don't bluff the river much here, so I am going to bet/bet/check-fold the board. I kind of just need to trust that. Having a backdoor FD really cuts out a large about of bad overcards (25%) we can have so we can really be a little better about it.

The other thing I noticed with using weasels strategy it to put a lot more draws into your checking range. Since he advises betting your vulnerable holdings, but when I THINK about my hand BEFORE I make the action I can tend to classify them much better. Before I went for a muscle memory approach and with missing them a lot. I think it will eventually lead to that, but slowing down really helps fix some mistakes.

Using my thought process for figuring out ranges and thinking about my plan for the hand before I do it is really helping at this point. I still am screwing up, but that is just part of the game. I burned about 20bb on a river call with trips, but it was a weird hand.

PokerStars - $0.10 NL FAST (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BTN: 173.1 BB (VPIP: 44.44, PFR: 44.44, 3Bet Preflop: 100.00, Hands: 9)
SB: 138.1 BB (VPIP: 24.14, PFR: 19.54, 3Bet Preflop: 5.71, Hands: 89)
Hero (BB): 111.8 BB
UTG: 37.8 BB (VPIP: 60.00, PFR: 40.00, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 5)
MP: 100 BB (VPIP: 30.40, PFR: 23.20, 3Bet Preflop: 18.18, Hands: 130)
CO: 31.2 BB (VPIP: 0.00, PFR: 0.00, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 2)

SB posts SB 0.5 BB, Hero posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has 9♦ J♥

fold, fold, fold, fold, SB raises to 3 BB, Hero calls 2 BB

Flop: (6 BB, 2 players) 9♠ 9♥ 8♦
SB checks, Hero bets 3.5 BB, SB raises to 9.9 BB, Hero calls 6.4 BB

Turn: (25.8 BB, 2 players) K♥
SB checks, Hero checks

River: (25.8 BB, 2 players) T♣
SB bets 22.6 BB, Hero calls 22.6 BB

SB shows Q♣ J♣ (Straight, King High)
(Pre 75%, Flop 14%, Turn 9%)
Hero mucks 9♦ J♥ (Three of a Kind, Nines)
(Pre 25%, Flop 86%, Turn 91%)
SB wins 67.8 BB

Wasn't sure if he was going for a double check raise OTT so I decided to check back, but the bet size on the river didn't change much for his story, but it also felt weak to fold. I think this would be less terrible to a smaller sizing.

Another hand I probably nitted it up a bit:
PokerStars - $0.10 NL FAST (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BTN: 100 BB (VPIP: 20.83, PFR: 16.67, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 27)
SB: 414.9 BB (VPIP: 19.83, PFR: 11.21, 3Bet Preflop: 2.27, Hands: 119)
BB: 168.8 BB (VPIP: 0.00, PFR: 0.00, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 1)
Hero (UTG): 110.3 BB
MP: 125.1 BB
CO: 73.4 BB (VPIP: 0.00, PFR: 0.00, 3Bet Preflop: -, Hands: 1)

SB posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has Q♥ Q♣

Hero raises to 3 BB, fold, fold, BTN calls 3 BB, SB raises to 14 BB, fold, Hero calls 11 BB, BTN calls 11 BB

Flop: (43 BB, 3 players) 6♣ J♠ 4♠
SB bets 28.8 BB, Hero calls 28.8 BB, fold

Turn: (100.6 BB, 2 players) 9♦
SB bets 85.5 BB, fold

SB wins 96.1 BB

This felt to weak to fold to a squeeze, and folding the overpair OTF seemed to weak. OTT it's probably a call in theory, but I think he has Overpairs and maybe AJs, which I don't think there is enough to be honest. So I exploitative folded.

That's it for now just trying to chug away and not screw up haha.

I wish I was a bit more brainy sometimes maybe I should change my name to the tin man!, enough about my problems,

Originally posted by Chowchow12
How do we use theory?
I have spent far too long in school. I have a BSc in Geophysics and a MSc in Integrated Petroleum Geoscience, and I am not back in school for Computer Science. In my MSc I did a lot of in applied science, where we would put theory into practice. I did a lot of computer modelling where we would optimize physical equations to image the subsurface. The practice involved a lot of theory and making assumptions about the subsurface to get an image that could be used for a variety of purposes. It was often hard for people to understand that we would make broad assumptions that are generally incorrect. However it wasn't wrong enough to make accurate predictions. We just had to look at it from a large scale perspective. In general this is how many theories are constructed. We make an assumption that isn't 100% true, but it isn't wrong enough for us to matter. We could always use theory and then adjust out model on more a priori knowledge later. The topics in Poker are the same we use these theoretical approaches all the time. Many of these approaches, like Nash equilibrium, make assumptions that might not be true, but we can use it as a good starting point. We generally approach the game with assumptions that are over simplified from what is really going on. When we use over-simplified predictions this is generally referred to as underfitting. We like to under fit because it allows up to make predictions with less information with a trade off of having less precision and losing some accuracy. But It is rarely the case that we are so far away from the true solution. Often if we need to be more precision we can make another approximation after the fact. So we use theory and approximations to get us efficiently close to the right direction. It is important here that just because we make some assumptions that aren't right to 100% precision that doesn't mean they are no good. I think a good analogy to this is a signpost, it points us in the right direction, but it may not point directly to the place we want to go. I may revisit this topic in greater detail later on, because I am feeling a little tired from playing, studying, and Jiu jitsu.

Today's homework
Today I am going to post some of the range studying I did. I looked at my RFI against an estimate of an MP calling range, and picked out my range for some boards and found it still a little challenging. The first board I looked at was a low connected board. Both of us had a lot of over pairs here.

Some of the classifcation may not be 100% correct since some might be for Flush draws, or something only.

We have 174 combos in this range, and Villian's calling range will have a lot of overpairs as well, so I picked these value hands.

Value: 77,66,76,AA,KK,QQ,JJ (32 Combos)
Check/Call (for 2/3 bet need about 45 combos for 60% of remaining range): TT,99,88, 87, A4s, AKs, AKo, AQ
Bluff (Need ~64 combos for bluffs): Flushdraw, OESD, Guthot, 2 Card backdoor FD (no AK), JTs, QJs, Qts, KQo ~64
Fold: The rest.

My value range might be a little heavy here, but I think it is good. In practice idk if I would bluff JTs, here, but this shows me that my intuition is to over fold here, this is again from rules of thumb, but I would probably not be bluffing enough either. Against someone who calls too much I would not be bluffing this much, and would probably put TT into the value range.

Second board

Value: QQ, 99, 77, AA, KK, AQ (33 combos)
Check Call (Against 2/3 bet Need ~40 combos): KQ, QJs, QTs,JJ, J9s,TT, T9s, 98s
Bluffs: FD (No pair), OESD, Gutshots, 2card BDFD, AK, AJo, AJhh, AJdd, 87s, 76s
Fold: the rest

I found the bluffs to be especally tricky. I use AK, for the 6 outs to Top Pair, 87s, 76s, for the 5 outs to trips 2p, and AJ was the only ones left. As I think about it now It might be better to Bet more AsX hands than AJo. Going forward that is more likely what I will do. I just ran out of combos near the end and didn't think about AsX hands.

That is it for today. I need to get ready for Jiu jitsu and then I will play tonight once I get back.

I am not brainy like you so I tend to come unstuck when I play someone that can use all this info sometimes I can spot a bluff but mainly I have to go with my gut and previous experiences, the bad ones!, I applaud what your doing as it's something I can't.

I am back
Hey everyone. I ended up taking a break and playing some PLO, NLO8, and Tournaments more for fun. It was pretty obvious I went into some bad mindset issues and I just took some time off. I have decided that I am now back and ready to play some pokers again. I think everything that happened is a good lesson for those who are reading about how mindset can sink you very quickly.

What I learned
-It's really easy to get caught up in results.
-It's really easy to just play.
-It's really easy to not study properly.
-It's really easy to lose you mind.
-It's really easy to suck at poker.
-Still really easy to suck a poker.
-You can't get good if you quit.

What am I going to do?
I think it is really important to make myself accountable. I dreamed up an idea for a study group where the whole group does focus sessions and forces accountability. So I am going to put principles into this blog. I am going to post all my studying findings here, volume here, and results here.

Posting results seems kind of dicey, but I think not caring about results is something you need to practice, so constantly forcing myself to do that is going to slowly over time not make myself care about results.

I decided to follow the core (for those of you to know what that is), from another site and will post the homeworks I give myself for this blog for accountability. I want to really document the growth of a poker player through this blog as raw and real as possible.

I had made some $$ from tournaments and PLO when I was just playing for fun, but I think I want to really experience grinding out a roll with proper BR management from the bottom up. I would call it a BR challange, but normally the people that do those are just good and grinding it up to see how fast it is. I am just trying to get better.

I am currently back in school and it is really hectic, so I can't put any big volume constraints on my play, but I will be back to playing most 6max cash. BR of $200 and I'll start at NL5. I'll take a 5 BI shot at 30BI for the next limit, and then move down if I have less than 25 BI for the lower limit. I might change this later if I see a BRM strategy I like better, but at this point I will worry more about BRM when I am getting closer to NL10.

Rebuilding
I feel like I screwed myself up when I was teaching myself. I was just copying what weasel was saying to do in his videos with the general guidelines he posted, and I wasn't really trying to figure out WHY. In my other work I always am making sure I know why I am doing something, or else I won't really understand it. So my focus is going to be on WHY. I am going to start from the bottom up, empty my cup and re-start.

Blog posts formatting
I need to work out how much poker I can put into my schedule, but I will have two different types of posts: a blog post after every study session, with a write up on the concepts I am learning, and also a volume results post. I still have to work out the best way to do this.

I am glad to be coming back. I really want this blog to be a positive influence on the community.

Studying
I spent the past few days getting through the core and I really like it. I did all of level 1, and I got through it and knew pretty much everything in the first level. There were a lot of gaps in information, and there are a lot of things I want to do really well before I move on to more advanced content. It is quite interesting how there were simple things that I just didn't know. I just copied lines from weasel and put them into play..and I think that just shows you how good weasel's content is. There were simple things that I realized I did not know well at all, so here is a rouge guide for what I am going to make myself good at before moving on. I realized that there are basic things I wasn't very good at. A 20% opening range is tough to estimate, or 20% calling range etc.

Rough Guide
Get Pre-flop ranges down again.
Unconsciously run through Checklist for calling a bet
Unconsciously run through Checklist for betting
Improve estimates for the following opening ranges: 10, 20, 30, 50, 80
Improve estimates for the following calling ranges: 15, 25, 40

These seem quite minor right now, but they are fundamental in my opinion. I can't build ranges for a villain if I am not constantly asking myself the correct questions to mine the correct info. I also will have a hard time estimating these ranges I have caught myself just defaulting to standard lines. Since I read that Heads up book over Christmas I realized the important part is always looking to exploit. Since you can only exploit a single strategy, you need good information. (Especially at lower limits.) . So having the above things in my head in the important part for me right now.

More on concrete plans for executing this later, but I am liking where I am going with this.

Hi Chowchow12,
I'm not sure I completely understand this bit "I'll start at NL5. I'll take a 5 BI shot at 30BI for the next limit, and then move down if I have less than 25 BI for the lower limit." can you explain please!

Originally posted by hardlife66
Hi Chowchow12,
I'm not sure I completely understand this bit "I'll start at NL5. I'll take a 5 BI shot at 30BI for the next limit, and then move down if I have less than 25 BI for the lower limit." can you explain please!

Oh I miss typed that. I meant move down if I have less than 25BI for my current limit.

I mean if I have 30BI's for NL10, I will take a 5BI shot.
If I drop to $125 I will rebuild back to $150 at nl2 then shoot nl5.

This BRM might be a little conservative. I might make it more aggressive once I get back into the swing of things. Take a 2-3 BI shot at 15-20BI. I just don't want to start taking shots until I get some hands back in again. I like the idea of smaller shots.

Thanks for that.

Sorry to pick your brains, I agree about hand reading and I am getting better at it but some people like to bluff raise pre-flop this is hard to spot if they c-bet as well, can I get your opinion on this.

Originally posted by hardlife66
Sorry to pick your brains, I agree about hand reading and I am getting better at it but some people like to bluff raise pre-flop this is hard to spot if they c-bet as well, can I get your opinion on this.

I would check out some of Weasel's content that talks about developing a strategy for calling postflop. You can't really tell if someone bluffing for that particular hand. Know what hands to call with will allow you to float/get value against villan's entire strategy.

Studying A lot
I got m RFI ranges from Weasel down pretty fast. So I am going to start getting 3bet ranges down from BB next.
I am still struggling the most with changing my thought process. The autobotting i trained myself to do it haunting me right now.

I am trying to constantly be asking myself when betting:
Who is villian?
Are there other players?
How does villians range his this board
How does are hand do against these?
What happens if called?
What happens if raised?
What are good/bad cards for me on the next street

When facing a bet I am trying to answer these questions
Who is our opponent?
What are the pot odds?
Are there Other players?
How does villian's range his this board
How is our hand against Villains range?
What if we raised?
What if we called?
What are good/bad cards for me on the next street?

I am trying to go through these questions in my head slowly to constantly build of a reflex of thinking in ranges and thinking ahead and not just thinking what the line is with my holding.

My ability to answer those questions will go way up once I study more down the road and work more with equilab and flopzilla, but right now I am trying to build a reflex of always asking these questions.

I think having the auto-profit lines is a good default to fall back on while you are learning and getting a better understanding about the game. I also think having a strategy centred around population tendencies is always good too. It is good imo to have something to fall back on when you haven't gotten too deep into the game yet.

But I think it is important to always be trying to internalize something. Have a goal that will make you better. Off table I am getting ranges down right now, and at the table I am trying to build the reflex to answer those questions. I have enough of the population exploits right now where I doubt I am going to burn my bankroll to the ground in the next while.

Getting better.

Busy Day
Unfortunately School took up most of my time today. I did about 30 minutes of studying ranges and playing with them in flopzilla against different range times. Verified some things I figured out. I will do a full homework report tomorrow . Going to look at my RFI range in BU against different calling ranges on different boards to get an understanding of what boards I do well on against different villians.

I have done a lot of Math, in my background and a little bit of Game theroy, so for fun I came to some conclusions that might be useful to others reading. It's not really about finding out GTO strategies for Poker, I am a noob. But interesting properties about a GTO strategy for a zero sum game that might help put it into perspective for others. It sure did for me.

Only played like 15 minutes I am so tired. I don't expect to get a lot of volume until summer.