Cash Game Beyond NL2

BR Challenge Update

Week: 33 (29 Dec 2021 - 2 Jan 2022)
Hands played: 45
Limits: NL16
Profit: -$2.42
BR: $290.47
Progress: 20.62%

Some Updates...

December was the best month ever in terms of $/100 (actually $1.67/100). I know that this winrate is not sustainable (on the stakes I play), but hey, I do not feel bad about it at all. ♦

I am planning to record another session soon (have to get my setup ready, because I changed computers recently).

Additionally, I am planning to change my BRM and be even more aggressive. I decided to do this already before my upswing, so rest assured that it is not based on the mental distortion triggered by the upswing. I will take shots with 10 buy ins and move down when I drop below 8.

My New Year's resolution is to increase the amount and quality of my sleep. Let's see how that goes. ♦

Let me know if you have any poker related resolutions! And keep crushing!

BR Challenge Update

Week: 34/35 (3 Jan 2022 - 16 Jan 2022)
Hands played: 2373
Limits: NL5-NL16
Profit: -$60.15
BR: $230.32
Progress: 13.90%

So the past two weeks didn't go so well, mainly because I was running bad at NL16. I am moving down to NL10 now until I feel I have the confidence to play NL16 again. I don't think that I played particularly bad, but there were some sessions where I was a little tired and I didn't play my A game. Additionally I was also running bad, getting some coolers and lost one or the other flip.

Overall confidence in my game is still high. And NL5 and NL10 graphs look nice.

NL5

NL10

NL16

There was this hand I played a few days ago. Villain was trash talking to me how I played this hand poorly, how I needed to study this spot and stuff. I didn't really respond to that, and I don't mind trash talk either, I think it is funny.
Anyway, I checked the hand in the solver, and it is actually them who punted (maybe) ♦
Yeah, sometimes I like to be right ♦

However, honestly, I can't say I know this spot (or how I play my hole range here optimally) well. Villain thought I should have bet the river. But I think x/c x/c bet is a gross line. I hardly ever take it. Anyway, solver thinks it is a mix of bet and check OTR. After I checked, Villain actually made a mistake by checking, at least according to GTO. They should value bet with TT and fold to a large raise. Then again, Villain checking behind might be an exploitative line that is better than betting because population might be overfolding vs 2 barrels and arrive at the river with a range that is too value-heavy and consists of too many flushes.

Maybe Villain's play wasn't a punt after all. Anyway, it is not really about being right or wrong. Sometimes being wrong is good, because then you learn something and it was interesting looking into this spot briefly.

Edit: Just checked again with slightly different bet sizes. First time I used 75% OTT for Villain's bet (100% was not an option). I tried 150% and then my river pay is 100% check. This makes sense because Villain's range is more polarized. They will fold all their bluffs when I bet, and they should bet most of their value hands again. So with a turn overbet by Villain, it makes it more likely that they bet again OTR (with their value and some of their bluffs), therefore check becomes the better option.

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

MP: 119.2 BB
CO: 100 BB
BTN: 103.1 BB
SB: 118.4 BB
Hero (BB): 118.3 BB
UTG: 113 BB

SB posts SB 0.5 BB, Hero posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has A♥ 4♥

fold, MP raises to 2.6 BB, fold, fold, fold, Hero calls 1.6 BB

Flop: (5.7 BB, 2 players) T♥ J♥ 4♠
Hero checks, MP bets 4.1 BB, Hero calls 4.1 BB

Turn: (13.9 BB, 2 players) 7♦
Hero checks, MP bets 14 BB, Hero calls 14 BB

River: (41.9 BB, 2 players) 6♥
Hero checks, MP checks

Hero shows A♥ 4♥ (Flush, Ace High)
(Pre 33%, Flop 29%, Turn 18%)
MP mucks T♠ T♦ (Three of a Kind, Tens)
(Pre 67%, Flop 71%, Turn 82%)
Hero wins 39.5 BB

If the turn is overbet and makes it more likely to bet for villain, he will still be suspecting flushdraws. But high betsizes are a tell for good hands on lowstakes, so you can still get many crying calls out of a river bet!

you usually need thousands of hands to take a guess at someone's strategy in this spot, so gotta love it when they give out their strategy for free...

Originally posted by Tomaloc
you usually need thousands of hands to take a guess at someone's strategy in this spot, so gotta love it when they give out their strategy for free...

Indeed 😂

BR Challenge Update

17 Jan 2022 - 4 Feb 2022
Hands played: 2621
Limits: NL2-NL10
Profit: -$25.51
BR: $204.81
Progress: 11.05%

The Graph from the recent 2621 hands:

I am really not happy with my results. But it's a small sample and I can't do anything about it other than analyze and try to improve my game, control the controllables.

I didn't massively punt. Study-wise, I am focussing on the one thing that IMO has the most effect when it comes to improving. And that is, in every spot, especially turn and river, think about opponent's range. What value combos do they have and what bluffing combos, and what are the reasons to bet or check. It is already difficult off the table, and even more so in game. It was also the theme of my last coaching session with Peter. Even many Regs only pay attention to and play their own hand. And I get it, I am like that, if I do not focus enough. It is hard. It takes energy, and our brain wants to save energy as much as possible. So training it over and over again will bring big improvements, and hopefully an edge over the majority of the player pool that does not do/train this. At least, I hope so.

Here is the gist of it. It's like a small decision tree:

- Does V have many worse hands that would call a bet? If yes, value bet!
- Does V have many better hands that would fold to a bet? If yes, bluff!
- Does V have many worse hands that would not call a bet, but would try to stab? If yes, check/call!
- Otherwise check/fold!

Does that make sense? Let me know!

Even many Regs only pay attention to and play their own hand

I think this make the difference between players who struggle and a really good player.

Here is the gist of it. It's like a small decision tree:

- Does V have many worse hands that would call a bet? If yes, value bet!
- Does V have many better hands that would fold to a bet? If yes, bluff!
- Does V have many worse hands that would not call a bet, but would try to stab? If yes, check/call!
- Otherwise check/fold!

Does that make sense? Let me know!

That's the dream, to think and ask this questions every hand when you play.

Even many Regs only pay attention to and play their own hand

I think this make the difference between players who struggle and a really good player.

Here is the gist of it. It's like a small decision tree:

- Does V have many worse hands that would call a bet? If yes, value bet!
- Does V have many better hands that would fold to a bet? If yes, bluff!
- Does V have many worse hands that would not call a bet, but would try to stab? If yes, check/call!
- Otherwise check/fold!

Does that make sense? Let me know!

That's the dream, to think and ask this questions every hand when you play.

I don't share bad beats. But I do share run goods. Played 2 short sessions this weekend ~1.5 hrs and more than made up for what I had lost in the past 3 weeks. Poker is crazy, check it out:

Originally posted by AgapieGheorghe

Here is the gist of it. It's like a small decision tree:

- Does V have many worse hands that would call a bet? If yes, value bet!
- Does V have many better hands that would fold to a bet? If yes, bluff!
- Does V have many worse hands that would not call a bet, but would try to stab? If yes, check/call!
- Otherwise check/fold!

Does that make sense? Let me know!

That's the dream, to think and ask this questions every hand when you play.

Yes, it's basically playing hand vs range, and it means being quite imbalanced. However, I don't think anyone will ever start exploiting this on these stakes.

Best Session

Played my best session ever a few days ago. Even though it was a losing session, I am very happy with how I played.
Unfortunately, I ran bad on all-ins, got coolered, and I didn't cooler anyone.
But that doesn't matter. What matters is that I was very composed and conscious, playing my A game, experimenting and being creative sometimes, taking lines I would usually not take, in a controlled manner. I marked 22 hands during the session and analyzed them afterwards. They were for the most part all spot on.

Graph:

Here are 2 key hands:

Hand 1 - river bluff vs a capped range in 3BP

This one is a bit out of line on the river size wise, in theory. And I do not rep very much, but most NL10 players won't pick up on that. I wanted to get hands like JJ, TT to fold.
Villain never checks twice with Kx here.

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

Hero (BTN): 100.5 BB
SB: 125.8 BB
BB: 142.2 BB
UTG: 112.7 BB
MP: 50 BB
CO: 388.4 BB

SB posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

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

fold, fold, fold, Hero raises to 2.5 BB, fold, BB raises to 11 BB, Hero calls 8.5 BB

Flop: (22.5 BB, 2 players) 9♥ K♠ 6♠
BB bets 7.1 BB, Hero calls 7.1 BB

Turn: (36.7 BB, 2 players) 2♣
BB checks, Hero checks

River: (36.7 BB, 2 players) 3♦
BB checks, Hero bets 52 BB, fold

Hero wins 34.6 BB

Hand 2 - taking an exploitative line vs a fish

Intentionally not cbetting vs a fish, here.
Since this gets overstabbed OTT, I try to take it down with a raise.
OTR they are capped and hardly have 8x, so I bet big to target Tx hands or even 2 pairs.

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

BTN: 104.2 BB
SB: 65.4 BB
BB: 25.6 BB
UTG: 117.5 BB
Hero (MP): 117 BB
CO: 121.9 BB

SB posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has J♥ K♠

fold, Hero raises to 2.5 BB, fold, fold, SB calls 2 BB, fold

Flop: (6 BB, 2 players) 7♥ 9♣ T♦
SB checks, Hero checks

Turn: (6 BB, 2 players) 3♥
SB bets 3.9 BB, Hero raises to 12.9 BB, SB calls 9 BB

River: (31.8 BB, 2 players) 6♦
SB checks, Hero bets 50 BB, SB calls 50 BB and is all-in

Never bluff at the micro stakes!

Ok, so this is probably outdated advice in general. But it still applies in many situations.

However, I happened to play some NL2 leader boards this month, mainly to relax (because NL16 shot taking is stressful), and taking a very aggressive (but controlled) approach.

It is kind of surprising to me that this seems to work so well, so far (acknowledging that this is not a huge sample).

Anyway, I think this is due to a mix of me being completely fearless, the player pool being less skilled, and possibly variance, where fearlessness probably ways the most.

I know that this is not max EV, but it's really fun for sure.

Preflop stats are not crazy: VPIP 24, PFR 20, 3bet 10 (~4k hands)
And winrate: 8.28 BB/100

Check out the graph:

Originally posted by monteCarlol
Never bluff at the micro stakes!

Ok, so this is probably outdated advice in general. But it still applies in many situations.

You can bluff at the micros if you know your opponents.
I've found though that at NL 5 if you think you're bluffing and they fold, you likely would have won at showdown anyway.
I discovered this when I started thin value betting — like 1/3 pot or even less on the river and getting called by the most absurd crap imaginable.
Had I bet bigger — essentially turning my A-high or small pair into a bluff — they would have just folded and I'd have won less.
Similarly, if I tried that with a decent pair, decent kicker, and they call, they have a decenter pair, or better kicker — and I lose more.

I'm learning...

Originally posted by VorpalF2F

Originally posted by monteCarlol
Never bluff at the micro stakes!

Ok, so this is probably outdated advice in general. But it still applies in many situations.

You can bluff at the micros if you know your opponents.
I've found though that at NL 5 if you think you're bluffing and they fold, you likely would have won at showdown anyway.
I discovered this when I started thin value betting — like 1/3 pot or even less on the river and getting called by the most absurd crap imaginable.
Had I bet bigger — essentially turning my A-high or small pair into a bluff — they would have just folded and I'd have won less.
Similarly, if I tried that with a decent pair, decent kicker, and they call, they have a decenter pair, or better kicker — and I lose more.

I'm learning...

Spots where you have thin SD value, are usually not the best ones to turn into bluffs. I agree. However, having too large sizings in such spots will not likely result in a positive red line, IMO.