Keep it simple stupid - Grind – How Far Can I Get Until December? start at nl2

I’ll be keeping things very simple.

I’m starting out with a basic approach, mainly following the beginner strategy from PokerStrategy. I speak German and still read the German forum from time to time, but there’s unfortunately not much activity anymore. So I’m hoping to reach more people here in the English-speaking community.

I’m curious to see how far I can get.

Over the years, I’ve picked up a decent amount of knowledge, but my actual playstyle is still very straightforward. I don’t use any RNG tools, I’m not trying to copy GTO play — I just rely on logical thinking and solid fundamentals.

Maybe over time I’ll start sharing some of my own adjustments to the beginner strategy as I go.

I’m also a big fan of paxis, fallout, and coldsmile from raise your edge and his approach to poker. I think the beginner strategy is a great foundation to build on, especially for a simple and structured grind on the microstakes.

Let’s see where this goes.

With your current user status, you are not allowed to post external links.

Well, I guess this blog is going to be a bit empty.

I can’t seem to get past the beginner status, but with that status I’m also unable to post links—and therefore no images either.

That’s pretty disappointing.

Maybe a moderator will see this and be able to help?

"We are sorry - right now we do not have a payment method available for your jurisdiction. Please check back soon! "

I also cannot buy Silver status from abroad, I really hope too they will fix this.

10k hands on NL2 rnc
→ 9.11 bb/100 (small sample)

Playstyle:

Solid preflop approach (24/21/8)
Adjusting vs different player types
Overfolding vs aggression
Assuming almost no 4-bet bluffs from opponents

Postflop analysis will follow later.

cbet range anyone?
SRP as IP PFR
→ C-bet: 30% sizing
→ Success rate: 42%

24/21 I think is too tight and too aggressive at NL2 but it probably depends which site you play at. If you have good postflop skills, vs very bad players you can push very many spots to "being about your postflop edge". ~Last year filtered to 4 to 6 players cashgame at NL2 I was playing 33/24 VPIP PFR for 12,000 hands with the winrate of +24bb/100; however filtered to 6 players I had 30/21 VPIP PFR with the winrate of +7bb/100 for 6,000 hands. So I was mostly playing more shorthanded postflop.

I think +9bb/100 at 6max for 10,000 hands is really good result! ♠_drink:

Maybe customer support can help you with it.
Normal you get bronze status to join a poker room with our bonus offers.

Cheers,
SDK1987

I originally wanted to gradually go deeper into how I’m adjusting away from the beginner strategy by Paxis. But honestly, even the English forums feel so inactive these days that it barely seems worth the effort anymore, which is a bit sad.

It really feels like poker forums are slowly dying out. Pure poker blogs are almost impossible to find nowadays. Most people seem to blog more about life or their general hobbies, with a little bit of poker added on the side. And even then, it’s usually low volume, not much theory discussion, and very few hand reviews being posted.

Sometimes it feels a little lonely trying to seriously study and discuss the game.

I honestly wonder where all the players are nowadays, or if the way people communicate has simply shifted away from forums over the years. But shifted where exactly?

When I look at GGPoker, there’s endless traffic and countless players grinding small stakes every day. So all these players must be somewhere online discussing the game… right? Or is everyone just doing their own thing now?

Maybe it has always been like this to some extent, but I definitely have the impression that poker forums used to be way more active and alive years ago.

anyway

here a short update

I’m now playing NL5 RNC.

Current stats:

21,175 hands
All-in adjusted winrate: 6.96
VPIP: 24.32
PFR: 20.62
3-bet: 8.05
4-bet: 5.05
Fold vs 3-bet preflop: 67
WSD: 55
WWSF: 52
WTSD: 23
Agg%: 42
AF: 3.51
XR flop: 13.88
Bet flop/turn/river: 49 / 39 / 48
Fold to flop/turn/river bet: 51 / 53 / 65

I’m still not happy with these stats, as mentioned in the topic above.

W$SD seems too high
WWSF also seems too high
WTSD feels too low
AF is very high
Fold to bets is high as well
Preflop stats also look a bit strange

But maybe this is actually the correct approach for the Rush & Cash fast-fold format.

A lot of players in the pool have an extremely low VPIP, and some only 3-bet around 5%, so there often isn’t much worth defending against. Many players seem to just grind the RNC pool for the leaderboard: they bet 75% pot postflop when they have it, otherwise they just check/fold.

From my perspective, it’s difficult not to overfold while simultaneously overbluffing against that kind of environment.

In the long run, though, I would still like to have more “standard” winning reg stats, similar to the ones you see on datamining sites.

Originally posted by simpleminded
I originally wanted to gradually go deeper into how I’m adjusting away from the beginner strategy by Paxis. But honestly, even the English forums feel so inactive these days that it barely seems worth the effort anymore, which is a bit sad.

It really feels like poker forums are slowly dying out. Pure poker blogs are almost impossible to find nowadays. Most people seem to blog more about life or their general hobbies, with a little bit of poker added on the side. And even then, it’s usually low volume, not much theory discussion, and very few hand reviews being posted.

Sometimes it feels a little lonely trying to seriously study and discuss the game.

I honestly wonder where all the players are nowadays, or if the way people communicate has simply shifted away from forums over the years. But shifted where exactly?

When I look at GGPoker, there’s endless traffic and countless players grinding small stakes every day. So all these players must be somewhere online discussing the game… right? Or is everyone just doing their own thing now?

Maybe it has always been like this to some extent, but I definitely have the impression that poker forums used to be way more active and alive years ago.

anyway

here a short update

I’m now playing NL5 RNC.

Current stats:

21,175 hands
All-in adjusted winrate: 6.96
VPIP: 24.32
PFR: 20.62
3-bet: 8.05
4-bet: 5.05
Fold vs 3-bet preflop: 67
WSD: 55
WWSF: 52
WTSD: 23
Agg%: 42
AF: 3.51
XR flop: 13.88
Bet flop/turn/river: 49 / 39 / 48
Fold to flop/turn/river bet: 51 / 53 / 65

I’m still not happy with these stats, as mentioned in the topic above.

W$SD seems too high
WWSF also seems too high
WTSD feels too low
AF is very high
Fold to bets is high as well
Preflop stats also look a bit strange

But maybe this is actually the correct approach for the Rush & Cash fast-fold format.

A lot of players in the pool have an extremely low VPIP, and some only 3-bet around 5%, so there often isn’t much worth defending against. Many players seem to just grind the RNC pool for the leaderboard: they bet 75% pot postflop when they have it, otherwise they just check/fold.

From my perspective, it’s difficult not to overfold while simultaneously overbluffing against that kind of environment.

In the long run, though, I would still like to have more “standard” winning reg stats, similar to the ones you see on datamining sites.

Yes they shifted to discord servers

Very short update:

I've been playing NL100 for the past few days/weeks and have now reached the 30k hand mark. Currently sitting at around 2.5 EV bb/100 on GGPoker R&C with a healthy bankroll.

The blog is pretty much dead. There simply isn't enough activity in forums anymore to make extensive blogging or sharing progress feel worthwhile. It was definitely different 2–3 years ago when the communities were much more active.

Thanks for the update though, I was wondering if you were still playing. 30K hands nl2->nl100 fast tables? wow!