So far this month I've played full ring on Stars, Full Tilt, and Party and have made a whopping $38 over 14,000 hands. I've been pretty much card dead for most of it and missing most flops and draws. People are not folding to c-bets at all either, which would be awesome if I was catching hands!
According to PokerEV I'm making the correct play 61% of the time that hands go to showdown, which is quite high, but it's just not paying off and I'm getting hit pretty hard with the bad beats lately, ie. flop a flush or a straight and get the money in and villain rivers their full house or what have you a lot more than usual; flop a set that doesn't hold up after the money's in, etc. Apparently I'm down $40 overall due to all-in luck.
I'm also flopping sets only about 8% of the time that I hold a pocket pair so that doesn't help either as that is my main source of income. Hopefully this will swing itself around again.
But when negative variance is done with me it will move on to the next person, so I just have to get through it. I'll probably continue to study a bit more of my game from November since my graph looked a lot better than it does now, lol. I find that trying out other games and formats helps me see situations that I hadn't seen before at the FR NL tables.
I think I go through a couple weeks at a time where my hand reading skills are excellent followed by a couple weeks where it's way off and then some time where I'm pretty much not confident in my game at all and see monsters everywhere. So I need to snap out of that.
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Friday, 21 December 2007
Thursday, 20 December 2007
Trying to play superLAG
I watched a couple other people's videos today where one of them were playing extremely LAGgy in 6 max. I normally play 6 max the way I'd play full ring with the first 3 hands folded. So in the video the guy says, "T8s UTG, I'll raise that... Q8o UTG+1, I'll raise that" and I'm thinking Wai... Wha...? It just blew me away. The preflop play and his incredibly wide range wasn't what was so mind blowing, it was the overall postflop play and the image he was creating even at extremely low stakes. He said you still have an image at the micros, it just takes really exagerated plays to adjust it.
So I tried this out today in 6 max at the 2NL tables on Stars - my experiment level - and finished exactly breakeven over 500 hands running at 40/30, something that is completely foreign to me. I actually played 1/2 of my hands on the button and cut off - weird. I think this is going to work with some practice. What is happening and what I hadn't really thought of before is that by making slightly -EV plays preflop and in small pots, you increase the value of your +EV plays by so much more in large pots, especially against the TAGs and the HUDbots who will either misinterpret your stats or get tired of you raising and playing so many hands. I think this most resembles Daniel Negreanu's style of play, lots of pots and lots of small ball play. When they come back at you you know they have a hand for the most part unless they've figured you out (at which point you can switch gears) and they commit a lot of chips to find out if you have a nut hand or not.
I would have finished up quite a bit in terms of BB if it weren't for this hand and a couple others. It's a bad beat obviously, but it demonstrates just how light you can expect to be called down and this is the situation I want to put myself in every time. This guy had been calling me down with 2nd pair a lot and since he bet 1/5 of his stack, I figured a min raise would pot commit him with anything he's opening with, with a smaller chance of pushing him out. He'd be c/r with a set here I think, so I put him on a draw or 2 overs or a bare 7. Notice how he overplays a hand that beats nothing but a bluff - which he obviously thought I was. Great hand history converter by the way:
Poker Stars, $0.01/$0.02 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 6 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter
MP: $1.32
CO: $1.09
Hero (BTN): $5.78
SB: $1.19
BB: $1.89
UTG: $2.47
Pre-Flop: K
7 dealt to Hero (BTN)
UTG folds, MP calls $0.02, CO folds, Hero raises to $0.08, SB folds, BB calls $0.06, MP calls $0.06
Flop: ($0.25) 2 7
3 (3 Players)
BB checks, MP bets $0.50, Hero raises to $1, BB folds, MP calls $0.50
Turn: ($2.25) Q (2 Players)
MP checks, Hero bets $0.25, MP calls $0.24 and is All-In
River: ($2.73) 6
(2 Players - 1 is All-In)
Results: $2.73 Pot ($0.10 Rake)
MP showed 6 7 (two pair, Sevens and Sixes) and WON $2.63 (+$1.31 NET)
Hero mucked K 7 and LOST (-$1.32 NET)
So I tried this out today in 6 max at the 2NL tables on Stars - my experiment level - and finished exactly breakeven over 500 hands running at 40/30, something that is completely foreign to me. I actually played 1/2 of my hands on the button and cut off - weird. I think this is going to work with some practice. What is happening and what I hadn't really thought of before is that by making slightly -EV plays preflop and in small pots, you increase the value of your +EV plays by so much more in large pots, especially against the TAGs and the HUDbots who will either misinterpret your stats or get tired of you raising and playing so many hands. I think this most resembles Daniel Negreanu's style of play, lots of pots and lots of small ball play. When they come back at you you know they have a hand for the most part unless they've figured you out (at which point you can switch gears) and they commit a lot of chips to find out if you have a nut hand or not.
I would have finished up quite a bit in terms of BB if it weren't for this hand and a couple others. It's a bad beat obviously, but it demonstrates just how light you can expect to be called down and this is the situation I want to put myself in every time. This guy had been calling me down with 2nd pair a lot and since he bet 1/5 of his stack, I figured a min raise would pot commit him with anything he's opening with, with a smaller chance of pushing him out. He'd be c/r with a set here I think, so I put him on a draw or 2 overs or a bare 7. Notice how he overplays a hand that beats nothing but a bluff - which he obviously thought I was. Great hand history converter by the way:
Poker Stars, $0.01/$0.02 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 6 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter
MP: $1.32
CO: $1.09
Hero (BTN): $5.78
SB: $1.19
BB: $1.89
UTG: $2.47
Pre-Flop: K
7 dealt to Hero (BTN)UTG folds, MP calls $0.02, CO folds, Hero raises to $0.08, SB folds, BB calls $0.06, MP calls $0.06
Flop: ($0.25) 2
7 3 (3 Players)BB checks, MP bets $0.50, Hero raises to $1, BB folds, MP calls $0.50
Turn: ($2.25) Q
(2 Players)MP checks, Hero bets $0.25, MP calls $0.24 and is All-In
River: ($2.73) 6
(2 Players - 1 is All-In)Results: $2.73 Pot ($0.10 Rake)
MP showed 6
7 (two pair, Sevens and Sixes) and WON $2.63 (+$1.31 NET)Hero mucked K
7 and LOST (-$1.32 NET)
Monday, 17 December 2007
Changing Gears for December - SnGs
I haven't posted in a little while. It's been a busy week again so not much poker going on. I think I burned myself out a little bit in the cash games last month and I haven't really felt motivated to play them for the past 2 weeks, considering my breakeven stretch and all.
I thought I'd recharge a bit by switching it up. I'm currently playing a lot more SnGs than I normally do and the odd MTT with mixed results. I really like the way my opponents play the SnGs on Full Tilt and I've pulled in a ROI of 75% in the 15 or so SnGs that I've played there so far. 1st place: 5x 2nd place: 4x 3rd place: 2x ITM: 62%
Example of why I like playing here, this is from the second level of a 1 table SnG:
Hero is dealt KK
UTG limps, UTG+1 limps, MP2 limps, Hero raises to 6BB, UTG calls, UTG+1 calls
Flop: 3s 4d 5d <--- not a particularly nice flop for me, but wait...
UTG open shoves a 6x pot sized bet all-in, UTG+1 folds, Hero thinks a set/76/A2 would slowplay or value bet smaller so this is obviously 66-AA and Hero thinks he's way ahead most of the time so Hero calls
UTG shows 66, not a particularly bad play on his part with the OESD but a smaller bet or a check raise scares me a lot more than this.
Turn: blank
River: blank
Stars is just the opposite and seems to be so nitty in the SnGs and I'm running a -20% ROI there so I think I'll stick to Full Tilt for a while and see what kind of stakes I can take down. I've played a bunch of 45 man tourneys as well on Stars, but unfortunately I'm finishing around 10th most of the time. I think my tourney game is starting to improve though, so I think I'll continue to play these.
I've been keeping track of my preflop all-in hands in tourneys to see what kind of equity I have when we're getting closer to the endgame. One thing I noticed is that I have slightly more equity with the hands that I am calling an all-in with than the hands that I am open shoving. This becomes quite clear when I look at my and my opponent's range for each situation and it pretty much demonstrates the gap concept.
I'm also spending more time on studying my game and reading some books to help me improve both cash and SnG games and I hope to be back at the ring games around Christmas. And also, I just became an uncle last week, which is awesome!
I thought I'd recharge a bit by switching it up. I'm currently playing a lot more SnGs than I normally do and the odd MTT with mixed results. I really like the way my opponents play the SnGs on Full Tilt and I've pulled in a ROI of 75% in the 15 or so SnGs that I've played there so far. 1st place: 5x 2nd place: 4x 3rd place: 2x ITM: 62%
Example of why I like playing here, this is from the second level of a 1 table SnG:
Hero is dealt KK
UTG limps, UTG+1 limps, MP2 limps, Hero raises to 6BB, UTG calls, UTG+1 calls
Flop: 3s 4d 5d <--- not a particularly nice flop for me, but wait...
UTG open shoves a 6x pot sized bet all-in, UTG+1 folds, Hero thinks a set/76/A2 would slowplay or value bet smaller so this is obviously 66-AA and Hero thinks he's way ahead most of the time so Hero calls
UTG shows 66, not a particularly bad play on his part with the OESD but a smaller bet or a check raise scares me a lot more than this.
Turn: blank
River: blank
Stars is just the opposite and seems to be so nitty in the SnGs and I'm running a -20% ROI there so I think I'll stick to Full Tilt for a while and see what kind of stakes I can take down. I've played a bunch of 45 man tourneys as well on Stars, but unfortunately I'm finishing around 10th most of the time. I think my tourney game is starting to improve though, so I think I'll continue to play these.
I've been keeping track of my preflop all-in hands in tourneys to see what kind of equity I have when we're getting closer to the endgame. One thing I noticed is that I have slightly more equity with the hands that I am calling an all-in with than the hands that I am open shoving. This becomes quite clear when I look at my and my opponent's range for each situation and it pretty much demonstrates the gap concept.
I'm also spending more time on studying my game and reading some books to help me improve both cash and SnG games and I hope to be back at the ring games around Christmas. And also, I just became an uncle last week, which is awesome!
Wednesday, 5 December 2007
Not much going on this week
I haven't posted much this week as my time has basically been spent shovelling snow, lol. The snowfall amounts are crazy here right now due to it being so warm for November/December - ie 2 feet of snow on my driveway x2 this week. I'm going to try to get some time in probably tonight and the rest of the week. I've been trying out some SnGs with some pretty drastic changes to the way I play them, and this has been, for the most part successful. Even taking down a few turbos which I normally suck at because I was always such a nit.
Saturday, 1 December 2007
November Graphs and Stats
It's December now so I'll post my stats and graphs for November. Overall it was a pretty good month except for the last couple of days where I've been on a 9 buyin downswing. 46k hands played and running at 10.5BB/100 on average. My winrate sure has taken a hit at 10NL because the downswing was almost exclusively at that level. I played about 30 SnGs and MTTs as well but finsihed about breakeven for those.
I found this program kind of interesting, too. Not sure what to make of it but it's kind of inetersting to see what happens in these situations. Apparently I'm pretty good at flopping sets :)
I hope I can start turning this downswing around soon.
I found this program kind of interesting, too. Not sure what to make of it but it's kind of inetersting to see what happens in these situations. Apparently I'm pretty good at flopping sets :)I hope I can start turning this downswing around soon.
Friday, 30 November 2007
Plan for today
It's 6 in the AM and I'm off work in an hour, so I was thinking my plan for today would be to take a break from cash games considering my current downswing and play some SnGs and maybe an MTT. I did fairly well yesterday although I just missed the money in the 2+0.25 180 and I took down a 2+0.25 18 seat SnG quite easily. I was sitting with about 10k chips at the final table with 9 left and 2nd had ~4k, so I started bullying like crazy against the middle stacks who were just trying to survive stealing something like 80% of the time. HU I had 20k to the other guys 7k and he started shoving after he was down to 5k. I managed to pick the right hand and K9s>J9o.
It's really weird that I find cash games easier at Stars than at Full Tilt, but the SnGs are easier at Full Tilt than Stars.Publish Post
Edit: it is now 7:45 and I am going to see what kind of MTTs are starting up. In other news: mmmmm sausage and egg mcgriddles.
It's really weird that I find cash games easier at Stars than at Full Tilt, but the SnGs are easier at Full Tilt than Stars.Publish Post
Edit: it is now 7:45 and I am going to see what kind of MTTs are starting up. In other news: mmmmm sausage and egg mcgriddles.
Thursday, 29 November 2007
Downswing
Well, today didn't go so well. I dropped 6 buyins at 10NL. I honestly feel like I was playing the best poker I've played all month by far and should have been running at +20BB/100 according to my equity but ran at -34BB/100 instead, obviously the cards didn't agree.
Flopped nut straight x4, top set x3, AA in a 4 bet pot x3, KK in a 4 bet pot hits top set: all no good, and I was getting my money in 70-80% ahead most of the time, too. PokerEV says I was making positive value bets 58% of the time over the 1200 hands I played today so that's all I can really ask for right? Not sure what's going on the last 2 days but the variance is just gross.
Oh well, I will probably take a break for a day or two. I actually literally feel kind of sick thinking about the way the cards were going today. Just bought a treadmill so I can work off some tilt -
it's currently -30 C outside so that's nice. You'll have to excuse me for sounding grumpy, I'm on the night shift at work this week.
I'll try to post a 10NL video maybe at the end of the weekend.
Flopped nut straight x4, top set x3, AA in a 4 bet pot x3, KK in a 4 bet pot hits top set: all no good, and I was getting my money in 70-80% ahead most of the time, too. PokerEV says I was making positive value bets 58% of the time over the 1200 hands I played today so that's all I can really ask for right? Not sure what's going on the last 2 days but the variance is just gross.
Oh well, I will probably take a break for a day or two. I actually literally feel kind of sick thinking about the way the cards were going today. Just bought a treadmill so I can work off some tilt -
it's currently -30 C outside so that's nice. You'll have to excuse me for sounding grumpy, I'm on the night shift at work this week.
I'll try to post a 10NL video maybe at the end of the weekend.
Tuesday, 27 November 2007
Venturing into 6 max
I decided to keep up the high variance play that I've been experiencing today, albeit I am back at Stars, by trying out some 2NL 6 max and ran pretty well! I was 12 tabling for the most part and made about 15 2NL buyins which is the equivalent of what I lost earlier at 10NL full ring on FTP, so I'm happy. People sure stack off a lot lighter than even at 2NL full ring. I felt like I was playing so many hands since this was deepstacked again - stuff like 64s, 96s that I would normally fold preflop. Despite that I was still only running 23/10/1.5 according to Poker Tracker.
Played 1800 hands and ran at an awesome 40BB/100. I might try this 6 max thing out for the next couple of days, that winrate is double what I ran at for 2NL full ring, so hopefully I can keep close to sustaining it. If I run good tomorrow for the first 1000 hands I'll go to 5NL and play deepstacked there. The only thing I don't like is having to open up so many tables because tables break up so fast. Should probably get a script to do that for me.
Played 1800 hands and ran at an awesome 40BB/100. I might try this 6 max thing out for the next couple of days, that winrate is double what I ran at for 2NL full ring, so hopefully I can keep close to sustaining it. If I run good tomorrow for the first 1000 hands I'll go to 5NL and play deepstacked there. The only thing I don't like is having to open up so many tables because tables break up so fast. Should probably get a script to do that for me.
Update - Done with FTP for now
Wow I think FTP was a bad idea for me. The variance was absolutely rediculous and I ran absolutely horrible. Lost all 3 buyins that I made there yesterday within the first 15 minutes, 3 hands in particular where they hit a 3 outer, a 2 outer and set over set. Of course this is a good thing that they are calling when so far behind, but I can't stand that kind of variance where it seems like stacks are going in almost every other hand on very marginal holdings. I think I prefer the nitty Stars play style instead where I can gradually grind, so I'm heading back there right now.
Monday, 26 November 2007
Update - Still playing 10NL
This is just a quick update. I decided since I am playing at 10NL right now which usually has pots that reach just under the $8 mark ($0.40 rake) at the most to give me an FPP on Stars, I will be playing at Full Tilt Poker to get some rakeback instead. That will hopefully help me get to 25NL a little bit faster. I am currently at about a $400 bankroll so another 10 buyins at 10NL and I might start taking some shots at 25NL.
Ideally I would like 25-30 buyins just to be on the safe side, so my goal is to start taking shots at the beginning of next week. Don't know how much I'll be able to play this week as work is going to have me pretty tired for this week. Probably cut down on tables too so I can concentrate.
This morning went really well at FTP, up 3 buyins over 900 hands and running at 16.5BB/100. The rake is actually 10% at FTP for 10NL- double Stars 5% - but with rakeback and the softer/crazier games I think it makes up for it by far. Might play some more this afternoon if I'm feeling up to it.
That 10NL video will be on the way shortly, too.
Ideally I would like 25-30 buyins just to be on the safe side, so my goal is to start taking shots at the beginning of next week. Don't know how much I'll be able to play this week as work is going to have me pretty tired for this week. Probably cut down on tables too so I can concentrate.
This morning went really well at FTP, up 3 buyins over 900 hands and running at 16.5BB/100. The rake is actually 10% at FTP for 10NL- double Stars 5% - but with rakeback and the softer/crazier games I think it makes up for it by far. Might play some more this afternoon if I'm feeling up to it.
That 10NL video will be on the way shortly, too.
Sunday, 25 November 2007
5NL Video
I made a video playing 5NL deepstacked for 200BB. I found myself in a lot of standard situations but feel free to leave comments on any of the hands in the video. I thought it would be a good way for beginners out there to get an idea of some of the things that work at this level and maybe I could get some suggestions for improvement as well. After rewatching part of the video I found a couple of hands that I just butchered such as the AQ hand at 21:50 so those are some things that will help me improve (not sure what I was thinking there, lol). I'll be posting a 10NL video as well hopefully in the next couple of days.
I decided that I don't really want to give out my screenname right now since I am also posting my stats, so that's the reason for covering my screenname on the tables and in Poker Tracker.
You can download the video here (173 MB): 5NL Video
It's in AVI format so if you can't see it you'll need to download the Techsmith codecs here: http://www.techsmith.com/download/codecs.asp
The audio is a little scratchy because I compressed it a little bit too much trying to keep the file size down. Feel free to leave a comment on anything: video, play style, specific hands, etc.
I use PAHUD on all of my tables so here's a quick reference for it:
VPIP %/ PF Raise % / Total Aggression Postflop / Total Hands Played
Att. to Steal % / C-bet % / Went to Showdown % / Won Showdown %
Calls PF Raise % / Fold to C-bet % / Calls C-bet % / Raises C-bet %
I decided that I don't really want to give out my screenname right now since I am also posting my stats, so that's the reason for covering my screenname on the tables and in Poker Tracker.
You can download the video here (173 MB): 5NL Video
It's in AVI format so if you can't see it you'll need to download the Techsmith codecs here: http://www.techsmith.com/download/codecs.asp
The audio is a little scratchy because I compressed it a little bit too much trying to keep the file size down. Feel free to leave a comment on anything: video, play style, specific hands, etc.
I use PAHUD on all of my tables so here's a quick reference for it:
VPIP %/ PF Raise % / Total Aggression Postflop / Total Hands Played
Att. to Steal % / C-bet % / Went to Showdown % / Won Showdown %
Calls PF Raise % / Fold to C-bet % / Calls C-bet % / Raises C-bet %
Thursday, 22 November 2007
10k hands of 10NL complete
It's been just over a week since I last posted. It's been pretty slow for me in terms of playing poker as I've had a lot of other stuff going on this week. Ran fairly well at 10NL - just over 7BB/100. I've really got to work on my aggression factor, I only felt like I was playing my best for maybe 5k of the 10k hands and so I played a little bit of 5NL in between.
I just cashed out like I said I would at the beginning of the month, so my bankroll is officially at ~$350 (I cashed out a little more than I thought, which is nice) which means I anticipate playing around another 10k hands of 10NL at my current winrate before moving up to 25NL.
Here's my current stats and graph for this month:
I just realized a couple of days ago when I was looking for a mic that my PS2 headset had a USB plug so I plugged it into my PC and sure enough it works! So I plan on having at least one video up by the end of the weekend, probably a 5NL and then a 10NL. I'll most likely be uploading it to MegaUpload so you guys can download it instead of having it streaming and waiting for it to buffer.
I just cashed out like I said I would at the beginning of the month, so my bankroll is officially at ~$350 (I cashed out a little more than I thought, which is nice) which means I anticipate playing around another 10k hands of 10NL at my current winrate before moving up to 25NL.
Here's my current stats and graph for this month:
I just realized a couple of days ago when I was looking for a mic that my PS2 headset had a USB plug so I plugged it into my PC and sure enough it works! So I plan on having at least one video up by the end of the weekend, probably a 5NL and then a 10NL. I'll most likely be uploading it to MegaUpload so you guys can download it instead of having it streaming and waiting for it to buffer.
Wednesday, 14 November 2007
Burninating 10NL - Overaggressive players
Put in 2400 hands at 10NL today. My Aggression factor was quite low ~1.5 and I was running at just over 10BB/100 - was actually running at 15BB/100 until I had 2 hands virtually one after another where Villain hit a 3 and a 4 outer, both times I had a set. That put me on tilt so I thought that was good enough for today. Finished up 5 buyins.
I felt almost like a calling station today. People were way overaggressive compared to what I'd played at the lower limits last week, so I thought I would just let them go ahead and bet. When they weren't doing that they were trying to be tricky with their own monsters and let me catch up for free.
Worked out pretty well. I had people betting into me and wouldn't fold to my 3bets either so I waited for some monster hands and stacked quite a few people. I found I could often 3bet the flop when Villain appeared to have top pair, just had to make the bet a little smaller - ie. if they bet $0.40 into a $0.60 pot, they will almost always call a 3bet when I raise to make it $1 but will fold a lot more if I bet around the $1.20 mark. I don't know why but maybe the 3x bet looks a lot stronger and they figure for another $0.60 they can see the next card.
I've got 3000 hands at 10NL so far. I've cut down on the number of tables from the 16-20 that I played at 2NL and 5NL, so I'm currently playing 8-12. I just got some software for making videos, so I'll hopefully get some of those up for you guys as soon as I get a mic for my PC. I could post some already, but it won't be much benefit if you don't know what I'm thinking while I play.
I felt almost like a calling station today. People were way overaggressive compared to what I'd played at the lower limits last week, so I thought I would just let them go ahead and bet. When they weren't doing that they were trying to be tricky with their own monsters and let me catch up for free.
Worked out pretty well. I had people betting into me and wouldn't fold to my 3bets either so I waited for some monster hands and stacked quite a few people. I found I could often 3bet the flop when Villain appeared to have top pair, just had to make the bet a little smaller - ie. if they bet $0.40 into a $0.60 pot, they will almost always call a 3bet when I raise to make it $1 but will fold a lot more if I bet around the $1.20 mark. I don't know why but maybe the 3x bet looks a lot stronger and they figure for another $0.60 they can see the next card.
I've got 3000 hands at 10NL so far. I've cut down on the number of tables from the 16-20 that I played at 2NL and 5NL, so I'm currently playing 8-12. I just got some software for making videos, so I'll hopefully get some of those up for you guys as soon as I get a mic for my PC. I could post some already, but it won't be much benefit if you don't know what I'm thinking while I play.
Moving Up Again - On to 10NL
After finishing the 10k hands at 5NL, I played about 400 hands of 10NL just to get going this evening. I'm pretty tired now, just getting home from work, so I will have to officially start 10NL tomorrow. Despite that, I was running fairly well at 16BB/100. It would have been even higher if not for this hand:
PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $0.10 BB (9 handed) Poker Stars Converter Tool from http://www.flopturnriver.comFlopTurnRiver.com (Format: Plain Text)
BB ($6.40)
UTG ($6.35)
Hero ($10.15)
Preflop: Hero is UTG+1 with Kc, Ks.
UTG calls $0.10, Hero raises to $0.4, 6 folds, BB calls $0.30, UTG calls $0.30.
Flop: ($1.25) 8d, 3c, Tc (3 players)
BB checks, UTG bets $0.5, Hero raises to $1.5, BB folds, UTG calls $1.
Turn: ($4.25) Kh (2 players)
UTG bets $0.5, Hero raises to $3, UTG calls $2.50.
River: ($10.25) Ac (2 players)
UTG bets $1.45 (All-In), Hero calls $1.45.
Final Pot: $13.15
Results below:
UTG has Qc Jc (flush, ace high).
Hero has Kc Ks (three of a kind, kings).
Outcome: UTG wins $13.15.
I see a lot of people get furious and call these people fish or donks or whatever. DON'T DO THIS. This guy was calling off way more than pot odds allowed, and on the turn he called more than implied odds would give him. Do not berate the fish, it only encourages them to play better and you make money off of them making mistakes, especially huge ones like this. Worst of all, they will most likely leave the table if you make fun of them or try to 'coach' them.
Instead of wasting your time in the chat box, take that time to write a note on him and add him to your buddy list. If you find yourself feeling the urge to type something nasty into the chat box, I recommend just turning the chat right off. This is what I did a while back and it helped me get over my tilt problems, so that I can now turn my chat on without it affecting my play.
PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $0.10 BB (9 handed) Poker Stars Converter Tool from http://www.flopturnriver.comFlopTurnRiver.com (Format: Plain Text)
BB ($6.40)
UTG ($6.35)
Hero ($10.15)
Preflop: Hero is UTG+1 with Kc, Ks.
UTG calls $0.10, Hero raises to $0.4, 6 folds, BB calls $0.30, UTG calls $0.30.
Flop: ($1.25) 8d, 3c, Tc (3 players)
BB checks, UTG bets $0.5, Hero raises to $1.5, BB folds, UTG calls $1.
Turn: ($4.25) Kh (2 players)
UTG bets $0.5, Hero raises to $3, UTG calls $2.50.
River: ($10.25) Ac (2 players)
UTG bets $1.45 (All-In), Hero calls $1.45.
Final Pot: $13.15
Results below:
UTG has Qc Jc (flush, ace high).
Hero has Kc Ks (three of a kind, kings).
Outcome: UTG wins $13.15.
I see a lot of people get furious and call these people fish or donks or whatever. DON'T DO THIS. This guy was calling off way more than pot odds allowed, and on the turn he called more than implied odds would give him. Do not berate the fish, it only encourages them to play better and you make money off of them making mistakes, especially huge ones like this. Worst of all, they will most likely leave the table if you make fun of them or try to 'coach' them.
Instead of wasting your time in the chat box, take that time to write a note on him and add him to your buddy list. If you find yourself feeling the urge to type something nasty into the chat box, I recommend just turning the chat right off. This is what I did a while back and it helped me get over my tilt problems, so that I can now turn my chat on without it affecting my play.
Tuesday, 13 November 2007
10k hands of 5NL completed
I squeezed in 10k hands of 5NL playing deepstacked since the weekend. It went pretty well I think, my hourly winnings were a little bit higher than at 2NL. My BB/100 dropped to about 1/2 as much which is to be expected, but the blinds were 2.5 times bigger so that made up for more than the difference:
You can see where I made the switch at 10k hands, and at 11k I was trying to adjust a little bit, so that accounts for a bit of a downsing. So here's some tips for making the move from 2NL to 5NL.
MOVING FROM 2NL TO 5NL
1. There isn't a lot of difference between these levels. Just make sure your bankroll is big enough for it. If you're not comfortable playing deepstacked, there's nothing wrong with buying in for 100BB or $5. I suggest playing 100BB buyin if you have ~$100 and deepstacked if you have ~$200.
2. One of the major differences that I noticed is that there are not nearly as many people limping into the pot as at 2NL. At 2NL it is not uncommon to get 6 or 7 limpers. At 5NL you'll be looking at 3-4 limpers most of the time and not quite as many people calling preflop raises.
3. 3 bets at this level are still pretty much JJ+ and the occasional AK. If you have a fairly tight image at the table, try a squeeze play where you reraise in LP or in the blinds to steal with hands like 89s or 66 which can still flop a monster. This also will get you a free turn card almost always as your opponents will check to you and if you want to try to take it away on the flop, your fold equity increases drastically. When your opponents call a 3 bet they are pretty much in fit or fold mode - watch out for check-calls though, these are often overpairs.
4. My aggression factor decreased a bit as I had a better feeling for what my opponents held and I was allowing them to make a lot of bluffs on whiffed draws. For example, I hold AKo, raise preflop, and the flop is Kh7h2s and I bet out of position and villain calls. Turn is Tc and I bet again, villain calls again. River is 5s. All of the draws have missed and 2pair is unlikely, so now I go into check call mode. The reason for this is that if I bet, I am only going to fold out hands that I beat and hands that beat me are going to either call or raise such as a set. If I allow my opponent the chance to bluff a missed flush draw, I get the maximum value out of the hand. I only call villain's bet, I do not raise, for the same reason that I do not lead out in the first place. This is how to get maximum value out of an opponent that you think is drawing.
You can see where I made the switch at 10k hands, and at 11k I was trying to adjust a little bit, so that accounts for a bit of a downsing. So here's some tips for making the move from 2NL to 5NL.
MOVING FROM 2NL TO 5NL
1. There isn't a lot of difference between these levels. Just make sure your bankroll is big enough for it. If you're not comfortable playing deepstacked, there's nothing wrong with buying in for 100BB or $5. I suggest playing 100BB buyin if you have ~$100 and deepstacked if you have ~$200.
2. One of the major differences that I noticed is that there are not nearly as many people limping into the pot as at 2NL. At 2NL it is not uncommon to get 6 or 7 limpers. At 5NL you'll be looking at 3-4 limpers most of the time and not quite as many people calling preflop raises.
3. 3 bets at this level are still pretty much JJ+ and the occasional AK. If you have a fairly tight image at the table, try a squeeze play where you reraise in LP or in the blinds to steal with hands like 89s or 66 which can still flop a monster. This also will get you a free turn card almost always as your opponents will check to you and if you want to try to take it away on the flop, your fold equity increases drastically. When your opponents call a 3 bet they are pretty much in fit or fold mode - watch out for check-calls though, these are often overpairs.
4. My aggression factor decreased a bit as I had a better feeling for what my opponents held and I was allowing them to make a lot of bluffs on whiffed draws. For example, I hold AKo, raise preflop, and the flop is Kh7h2s and I bet out of position and villain calls. Turn is Tc and I bet again, villain calls again. River is 5s. All of the draws have missed and 2pair is unlikely, so now I go into check call mode. The reason for this is that if I bet, I am only going to fold out hands that I beat and hands that beat me are going to either call or raise such as a set. If I allow my opponent the chance to bluff a missed flush draw, I get the maximum value out of the hand. I only call villain's bet, I do not raise, for the same reason that I do not lead out in the first place. This is how to get maximum value out of an opponent that you think is drawing.
Thursday, 8 November 2007
Finished 10k hands of 2NL
This will be another tl/dr. They'll be shorter in the future. I finished the last 3000 hands of 2NL today to bring me up to a total of 10k. Ran according to the average for the past couple of days: 20BB/100. Here's my stats over the whole period which started last weekend and a graph.
I ran pretty good to start with and also had a really good stretch yesterday when I was hitting set after set (hit a set around 18% of the time when I had a pocket pair, which is quite a bit over average). The areas where it plateaus, I pretty much just ran card dead and didn't get paid off at all when my draws hit or when I hit a set.
If you look at the stats, you'll see that I ran at about 16/8/2, which is a little more nitty than I would have like to have played, but it worked out allright.
So some final tips for playing 2NL before I move one to the next level:
MORE 2NL TIPS
1. Deepstacks. I found that being deepstacked was a huge advantage to me, so I looked for tables that had a lot of full stacks. People buying in for $2 is good enough as well, but your options open up so much more when there's a few deepstacked players and your drawing hands increase in value due to bigger implied odds. Try a couple tables deepstacked when you're comfortable. Don't be afraid to raise those suited connectors and small pocket pairs!
2. Aggression is good. Now I said in my other post not to bluff at these levels. I will add that in a lot of situations it is major +EV to semi-bluff when you're on a draw to help build a pot for when you hit your hand. A lot of people say that players at this level don't think a whole lot about what they are seeing you do, but the one thing that I think they do notice is when you appear to be bluffing a lot. I only had an aggression factor of 2, meaning I was betting and raising twice as much as I was calling. This helps to build a LAGgy image even though I'm still playing my TAG game, and people will be calling down your bets a lot lighter to try to catch you bluffing.
3. Value bet. When you hit your hand, do not slow play it, especially if it is hidden. You can win quite a bit at this level when you hit a monster by playing it fast. What is your natural instinct when you hit a huge hand? Slowplay, right? And that's exactly what everyone expects you to do, so do the opposite. Hit trips on the flop and you're in the SB? Anyone who had trips wouldn't open the betting would they? BET IT. Hit a set on an A high board and your opponent raised UTG? RERAISE. River a fullhouse with 4 to a flush on the board? Do not check-raise. GO ALL IN. Your opponent will be thinking that you must be bluffing again and will decide to play sheriff often enough for this to be hugely profitable, especially being deepstacked. If they fold, you weren't getting their money anyways.
4. Common Patterns. There are a few common things that micro stakes players will do when they have a monster. If you can recognize these, you can get away very cheaply and save yourself a ton of money. While patterns mean different things to different people here are some general ones that can be applied to probably more than 50% of the players at this limit.
*A player who limp/calls preflop, check/calls the flop, then check/raises the turn has genuine strength almost always. This is a set so many times its not even funny.
Lets say you have JJ, and raise on the button with 3 limpers, 2 of them call. Flop is 942r. Player 1 and 2 both check, and you make a standard continuation bet. Player 2 calls. Player 2 checks again, you make another 3/4 pot size bet on the turn J.
This is where you need to take notes on how players play their sets: a lot of them will min-raise you, some of them will raise a pot sized bet, and a few will go all in. But once you have them figured out, it's quite easy to put them on 99 44 or 22 and they let you get away for as cheap as possible.
Going back to value betting and aggression, if I raise preflop and bet out on this flop, are you ever going to put me on 44? Probably not. You'll probably put me on A9 T9 and TT-QQ which you are ahead of and I'll stack your JJ a lot more often because almost no one plays a set that way.
*Taking a long time to bet when there are 3 flush cards on the board. Most of the time they will have the flush, they are just trying to figure out how much they can get you to call. Take notice that this does not apply to multi-tablers who may be acting on another table. If you find a multi-tabler, put it in his notes right away so that you don't misread a delay.
*A quick call. This is often a draw and they are thinking ahead of time that they are going to call x amount. When you bet that amount or less it's almost as good as if they had the call button pressed ahead of time. Once in a while you'll find someone who either uses this to scare you (they'll do this a lot if that's their intention) and some people do it when they have a monster and are impatient to see the next card. Again, take notes.
So I'm off to 5NL tomorrow. I'll play 10k hands of that as well, all deepstacked at 200BB ($10). I will try my best to keep up the winrate, although I do suspect it will drop slightly due to stacks being not quite as deep and a little less limping and less than half the table calling preflop raises. I probably won't be adding quite as many tables so it'll take a little longer to get in the 10k.
I ran pretty good to start with and also had a really good stretch yesterday when I was hitting set after set (hit a set around 18% of the time when I had a pocket pair, which is quite a bit over average). The areas where it plateaus, I pretty much just ran card dead and didn't get paid off at all when my draws hit or when I hit a set.
If you look at the stats, you'll see that I ran at about 16/8/2, which is a little more nitty than I would have like to have played, but it worked out allright.
So some final tips for playing 2NL before I move one to the next level:
MORE 2NL TIPS
1. Deepstacks. I found that being deepstacked was a huge advantage to me, so I looked for tables that had a lot of full stacks. People buying in for $2 is good enough as well, but your options open up so much more when there's a few deepstacked players and your drawing hands increase in value due to bigger implied odds. Try a couple tables deepstacked when you're comfortable. Don't be afraid to raise those suited connectors and small pocket pairs!
2. Aggression is good. Now I said in my other post not to bluff at these levels. I will add that in a lot of situations it is major +EV to semi-bluff when you're on a draw to help build a pot for when you hit your hand. A lot of people say that players at this level don't think a whole lot about what they are seeing you do, but the one thing that I think they do notice is when you appear to be bluffing a lot. I only had an aggression factor of 2, meaning I was betting and raising twice as much as I was calling. This helps to build a LAGgy image even though I'm still playing my TAG game, and people will be calling down your bets a lot lighter to try to catch you bluffing.
3. Value bet. When you hit your hand, do not slow play it, especially if it is hidden. You can win quite a bit at this level when you hit a monster by playing it fast. What is your natural instinct when you hit a huge hand? Slowplay, right? And that's exactly what everyone expects you to do, so do the opposite. Hit trips on the flop and you're in the SB? Anyone who had trips wouldn't open the betting would they? BET IT. Hit a set on an A high board and your opponent raised UTG? RERAISE. River a fullhouse with 4 to a flush on the board? Do not check-raise. GO ALL IN. Your opponent will be thinking that you must be bluffing again and will decide to play sheriff often enough for this to be hugely profitable, especially being deepstacked. If they fold, you weren't getting their money anyways.
4. Common Patterns. There are a few common things that micro stakes players will do when they have a monster. If you can recognize these, you can get away very cheaply and save yourself a ton of money. While patterns mean different things to different people here are some general ones that can be applied to probably more than 50% of the players at this limit.
*A player who limp/calls preflop, check/calls the flop, then check/raises the turn has genuine strength almost always. This is a set so many times its not even funny.
Lets say you have JJ, and raise on the button with 3 limpers, 2 of them call. Flop is 942r. Player 1 and 2 both check, and you make a standard continuation bet. Player 2 calls. Player 2 checks again, you make another 3/4 pot size bet on the turn J.
This is where you need to take notes on how players play their sets: a lot of them will min-raise you, some of them will raise a pot sized bet, and a few will go all in. But once you have them figured out, it's quite easy to put them on 99 44 or 22 and they let you get away for as cheap as possible.
Going back to value betting and aggression, if I raise preflop and bet out on this flop, are you ever going to put me on 44? Probably not. You'll probably put me on A9 T9 and TT-QQ which you are ahead of and I'll stack your JJ a lot more often because almost no one plays a set that way.
*Taking a long time to bet when there are 3 flush cards on the board. Most of the time they will have the flush, they are just trying to figure out how much they can get you to call. Take notice that this does not apply to multi-tablers who may be acting on another table. If you find a multi-tabler, put it in his notes right away so that you don't misread a delay.
*A quick call. This is often a draw and they are thinking ahead of time that they are going to call x amount. When you bet that amount or less it's almost as good as if they had the call button pressed ahead of time. Once in a while you'll find someone who either uses this to scare you (they'll do this a lot if that's their intention) and some people do it when they have a monster and are impatient to see the next card. Again, take notes.
So I'm off to 5NL tomorrow. I'll play 10k hands of that as well, all deepstacked at 200BB ($10). I will try my best to keep up the winrate, although I do suspect it will drop slightly due to stacks being not quite as deep and a little less limping and less than half the table calling preflop raises. I probably won't be adding quite as many tables so it'll take a little longer to get in the 10k.
Wednesday, 7 November 2007
Software to help you with your game
I feel like writing today, so I'll add another post about software that I use to help me with my game. I'll list software and links to where you can find it as well:
Poker Tracker $55 USD
This is the must have tool for keeping track of your winnings, your stats, and most importantly the stats of your opponents. You can filter all sorts of stuff to figure out how well you are playing in certain situations. I also play back my hands in the hand replay window to review how I played - this is very important to do if you want to improve. It will pay itself off multiplie times over. The trial version lets you enter up to 1000 hands.
PokerAce HUD (Heads Up Display) $25 USD
Instead of having to open up Poker Tracker to quickly look up stats on your opponents, which you often don't have time to do, PAHUD overlays the stats you want on your opponents right on the table. You can also pop up a window with more detailed stats by clicking on a players name. This is very helpful when multi-tabling. This will also pay itself off many times over.
Pokergrapher Free - requires Poker Tracker
This program will take your Poker Tracker database and graph your winnings over time. You can also filter this by which sites and stakes you play at.
Poker Stove Free
I find this program useful when I review my sessions. You can basically put in your hand and a number of hands that your opponent may have in a situation and it will tell you what your equity is based on that range.
Poker EV Free
This is kind of a neat little tool to figure out what you should have won compared to what you have won (Sklanksy bucks). It's also got a tool to show you how lucky or unlucky you are over time and on what streets you are making the biggest mistakes. It has some filter options as well.
Setometer Free
I picked this one up today. It's kind of interesting to see how often you flop a set with a pocket pair within a standard variation and how often you win in those kinds of situations. It's also got some other stats like whether you win with KK vs AA or vise versa. It basically shows how you do in way ahead/way behind situations. For me it helps put the coolers and suckouts into perspective, because they really don't happen as often as it seems like they do and in the end they do even out to the expected value.
Poker Tracker $55 USD
This is the must have tool for keeping track of your winnings, your stats, and most importantly the stats of your opponents. You can filter all sorts of stuff to figure out how well you are playing in certain situations. I also play back my hands in the hand replay window to review how I played - this is very important to do if you want to improve. It will pay itself off multiplie times over. The trial version lets you enter up to 1000 hands.
PokerAce HUD (Heads Up Display) $25 USD
Instead of having to open up Poker Tracker to quickly look up stats on your opponents, which you often don't have time to do, PAHUD overlays the stats you want on your opponents right on the table. You can also pop up a window with more detailed stats by clicking on a players name. This is very helpful when multi-tabling. This will also pay itself off many times over.
Pokergrapher Free - requires Poker Tracker
This program will take your Poker Tracker database and graph your winnings over time. You can also filter this by which sites and stakes you play at.
Poker Stove Free
I find this program useful when I review my sessions. You can basically put in your hand and a number of hands that your opponent may have in a situation and it will tell you what your equity is based on that range.
Poker EV Free
This is kind of a neat little tool to figure out what you should have won compared to what you have won (Sklanksy bucks). It's also got a tool to show you how lucky or unlucky you are over time and on what streets you are making the biggest mistakes. It has some filter options as well.
Setometer Free
I picked this one up today. It's kind of interesting to see how often you flop a set with a pocket pair within a standard variation and how often you win in those kinds of situations. It's also got some other stats like whether you win with KK vs AA or vise versa. It basically shows how you do in way ahead/way behind situations. For me it helps put the coolers and suckouts into perspective, because they really don't happen as often as it seems like they do and in the end they do even out to the expected value.
Nearly 10k hands of 2NL - Still going strong
I've just about completed my 10,000 hands of 2NL. I found that I was just crushing the games, so I decided to ramp up on tables. I'll be refering to ptBB/100 hands as BB/100 from now on to simplify a little bit (for those that don't know, a ptBB is 2 times the big blind. It was originally developed for limit and it counted in terms of Big Bets). So any time I refer to something like 10BB/100 at 2NL, I am saying (10 x 2) x $0.02 = $0.40/100 hands.
So I dropped to 18BB/100 for November due to a bunch of coolers yesterday costing me quite a few buyins. I think I actually ran at -1BB/100. Set over set, KK vs AA, that sort of thing - nothing I can do about that. Today was much better and I ran at 40BB/100 for 1700 hands to bring my winrate up again over 7100 total hands. I'll post a graph and some stats once I hit the 10k hand mark - most likely tomorrow.
I said before that I normally 6 table full ring, but since I've found these game so incredibly easy, I've actually been running between 12 and 16 tables. When I 6 table, I just tile the tables and they fit nicely on my widescreen with no overlapping, although the tables are as small as I can make them.
Now with 16 tables I obviously can't do this because everything would be a mess. What I've found works for so many more tables is to make them the size of half the width of your monitor and stack them all on the left side in one pile. Make sure that you set your options to make the active table pop to the top when you need to act and you're all set. If there is a hand that I am particularly interested in I pull that table off to the right side so that I can watch the action more closely, write down my notes, and move it back. I've also noticed that this helps a lot in terms of making decisions as each hand that pops up is just one decision. I was trying to watch all 6 tables at once when I tiled them and couldn't keep track of any of them. Having them stacked basically gives you "yes or no" decisions, and then you move on.
I thought I'd share some multi-tabling tips that I've picked up for those that are new to the idea:
MULTI-TABLING TIPS
1. If you feel bored, multi-tabling may be for you. It helps you to let go of marginal hands because better hands and better situations will be coming along much quicker.
2. Start off by adding 1 table at a time until you feel comfortable to add another. If you find yourself panicking when you here the incesant beeping of the timer going off or even timing out, drop a table.
3. Keep an eye on your winrate. If you can pull in 6BB/100, you may drop to 5BB/100 if you add an extra table because your concentration will be divided. This may sound counterproductive, but it will actually increase your hourly winrate. Before, if you could get in 100 hands per hour you would be earning $0.24 per hour at 6BB/100, but at 5BB/100 on 2 tables you earn $0.20 per hour per table for a total of $0.40 per hour. I suggest finding a happy medium and make sure that your earnings per hour are optimal.
The point of multi-tabling is to help you get to the long term faster.
So I dropped to 18BB/100 for November due to a bunch of coolers yesterday costing me quite a few buyins. I think I actually ran at -1BB/100. Set over set, KK vs AA, that sort of thing - nothing I can do about that. Today was much better and I ran at 40BB/100 for 1700 hands to bring my winrate up again over 7100 total hands. I'll post a graph and some stats once I hit the 10k hand mark - most likely tomorrow.
I said before that I normally 6 table full ring, but since I've found these game so incredibly easy, I've actually been running between 12 and 16 tables. When I 6 table, I just tile the tables and they fit nicely on my widescreen with no overlapping, although the tables are as small as I can make them.
Now with 16 tables I obviously can't do this because everything would be a mess. What I've found works for so many more tables is to make them the size of half the width of your monitor and stack them all on the left side in one pile. Make sure that you set your options to make the active table pop to the top when you need to act and you're all set. If there is a hand that I am particularly interested in I pull that table off to the right side so that I can watch the action more closely, write down my notes, and move it back. I've also noticed that this helps a lot in terms of making decisions as each hand that pops up is just one decision. I was trying to watch all 6 tables at once when I tiled them and couldn't keep track of any of them. Having them stacked basically gives you "yes or no" decisions, and then you move on.
I thought I'd share some multi-tabling tips that I've picked up for those that are new to the idea:
MULTI-TABLING TIPS
1. If you feel bored, multi-tabling may be for you. It helps you to let go of marginal hands because better hands and better situations will be coming along much quicker.
2. Start off by adding 1 table at a time until you feel comfortable to add another. If you find yourself panicking when you here the incesant beeping of the timer going off or even timing out, drop a table.
3. Keep an eye on your winrate. If you can pull in 6BB/100, you may drop to 5BB/100 if you add an extra table because your concentration will be divided. This may sound counterproductive, but it will actually increase your hourly winrate. Before, if you could get in 100 hands per hour you would be earning $0.24 per hour at 6BB/100, but at 5BB/100 on 2 tables you earn $0.20 per hour per table for a total of $0.40 per hour. I suggest finding a happy medium and make sure that your earnings per hour are optimal.
The point of multi-tabling is to help you get to the long term faster.
Monday, 5 November 2007
Starting off small - 2NL
I decided that I would make this a bit more interesting by starting off at the lowest stakes possible - namely 2NL at Stars. The lowest I've played before this was 10NL. 2NL - and 5NL as well for that matter - are a bit of an anomaly at Stars as they allow you to buy in for more than 100BB; the standard for any other limit. Instead, they allow you to buyin for 250BB at both of these levels. This is exactly what I intend to do at both of these levels as most players do not understand how to play deepstacked and I am assuming that my implied odds are going to skyrocket.
I didn't get to play quite as much as I would have liked to this weekend, but I managed to get in 1400 hands, so here are the results:
I don't know if 50 ptBB/100 is really sustainable but at least I'm off to a good start!
So here's some thoughts on how to beat 2NL and what has been working for me so far:
TIPS FOR 2NL
1. DO NOT BLUFF. These players are calling me down with any piece of the board, coordinated or not. Also trust them when they are betting or raising, they don't bluff as much as you think they would. If they check the flop and then bet the turn, the turn helped them.
2. Value bet. When I hit 2 pair or better I start betting 3/4 to full pot sized bets or even if I have top pair and a good kicker and I think my opponent is calling me down with a worse kicker or better yet, second pair. Hitting a set is a real moneymaker at this level. I don't slow play these at all, especially on an A or K high board, you can stack a lot of people with a set because they will not lay down top pair.
3. Tighten up, especially from early position. I usually play a lot looser than the 14/7/2.5 that I played over these 1400 hands, but when you have 5 people calling a 5BB raise preflop, you need to be coming in here with a hand that can flop very well or can stand on its own. A lot of people would say that you need to raise more to get less callers, but I feel that even with these players, raising more isn't necessarily +EV because you can not make a standard continuation bet and push them off their hand when you miss like you can at higher levels. That being said, I still like to raise a lot when I have position against a lot of the players at this level because I will get a lot of value out of them when I do hit. You have to remember that pots grow exponentially. An unraised pot is not going to get nearly as big as a raised one.
For those of you that are new to the no limit game, consider this:
If you have 2 players (lets say the button and the BB) that are going to see the flop one will bet the pot all the way to the river and the other will call...
a) an unraised pot will be - 2.5BB on the flop, 7.5BB on the turn, and 22.5BB by showdown
b) a pot with a preflop raise to 3BB will be - 6.5BB on the flop, 19.5BB on the turn, and 58.5BB by showdown
c) a pot with a preflop raise to 4BB will be - 8.5BB on the flop, 25.5BB on the turn, and 76.5BB by showdown
So for hands where you want to build a large pot, slowplaying does not help your cause much. You need to build that pot early on in order to get more value later in the hand. This applies to all levels of play, not just the micros.
Anyways, I plan to consider moving up to 5NL once I have played 10,000 hands of 2NL. 10,000 is still a small sample size, but it will give me an idea of my winrate at that level and a winrate to try to match for the next level. Bankroll management is not really an issue at this level as I said I will be starting with $200.
I didn't get to play quite as much as I would have liked to this weekend, but I managed to get in 1400 hands, so here are the results:
I don't know if 50 ptBB/100 is really sustainable but at least I'm off to a good start!
So here's some thoughts on how to beat 2NL and what has been working for me so far:
TIPS FOR 2NL
1. DO NOT BLUFF. These players are calling me down with any piece of the board, coordinated or not. Also trust them when they are betting or raising, they don't bluff as much as you think they would. If they check the flop and then bet the turn, the turn helped them.
2. Value bet. When I hit 2 pair or better I start betting 3/4 to full pot sized bets or even if I have top pair and a good kicker and I think my opponent is calling me down with a worse kicker or better yet, second pair. Hitting a set is a real moneymaker at this level. I don't slow play these at all, especially on an A or K high board, you can stack a lot of people with a set because they will not lay down top pair.
3. Tighten up, especially from early position. I usually play a lot looser than the 14/7/2.5 that I played over these 1400 hands, but when you have 5 people calling a 5BB raise preflop, you need to be coming in here with a hand that can flop very well or can stand on its own. A lot of people would say that you need to raise more to get less callers, but I feel that even with these players, raising more isn't necessarily +EV because you can not make a standard continuation bet and push them off their hand when you miss like you can at higher levels. That being said, I still like to raise a lot when I have position against a lot of the players at this level because I will get a lot of value out of them when I do hit. You have to remember that pots grow exponentially. An unraised pot is not going to get nearly as big as a raised one.
For those of you that are new to the no limit game, consider this:
If you have 2 players (lets say the button and the BB) that are going to see the flop one will bet the pot all the way to the river and the other will call...
a) an unraised pot will be - 2.5BB on the flop, 7.5BB on the turn, and 22.5BB by showdown
b) a pot with a preflop raise to 3BB will be - 6.5BB on the flop, 19.5BB on the turn, and 58.5BB by showdown
c) a pot with a preflop raise to 4BB will be - 8.5BB on the flop, 25.5BB on the turn, and 76.5BB by showdown
So for hands where you want to build a large pot, slowplaying does not help your cause much. You need to build that pot early on in order to get more value later in the hand. This applies to all levels of play, not just the micros.
Anyways, I plan to consider moving up to 5NL once I have played 10,000 hands of 2NL. 10,000 is still a small sample size, but it will give me an idea of my winrate at that level and a winrate to try to match for the next level. Bankroll management is not really an issue at this level as I said I will be starting with $200.
Friday, 2 November 2007
So what's this all about anyways?
I've been working on building a bankroll for the past while mostly at full ring 10NL moving between sites to chase bonuses. I started out with about $50 a year and a half ago and slowly grinded it up, working my way from 5NL to 10NL and finally 25NL. I've been following the recommended bankroll requirements of 20 buy-ins for each level.
I decided a little while ago that I would be cashing out the majority of my bankroll towards the end of November to cover some expenses, so I will be forced to drop back down to 10NL. After this cash out, I will be devoting my bankroll solely towards improving my game.
So my plan is to give myself a little bit more of a cushion in terms of bankroll management, I will not move up until I have 25-30 buy-ins for the next level. This will probably mean a bit more work, but it will also show me better whether I'm a winning player or not at that particularl level.
I said in my first post that I refuse to play limit hold'em. Quite simply, it puts me on tilt. not just 'villain hit his 4 outer' tilt. Full blown monkey tilt. I do not understand the thought process that goes into playing winning limit hold'em and I doubt I ever will. I absolutely hate it that I have almost no control over pot odds at a full ring table and the variance is excruciating. So those of you that are looking for posts on limit other than this one, you are probably never going to find one on my blog. That being said, I fully encourage all of the limit players out there to switch to no limit!
All of the stats and graphs that I post will be starting as of November and the creation of this blog and I will play with an effective bankroll of $200 which is enough to play at 10NL although I currently have more than that in my accounts.
I'll probably continue to play a lot of full ring, but I will be starting to throw in a lot of 6 max as well as I find it way too appealing in terms of the extra potential winnings. More hands played means more decisions to make, which should lead to more +EV decisions available to me.
For full ring I usually 6 table and for 6-max I usually 4 table unless I feel like I'm playing my A game at which point I'll 6 table that as well. I play with a HUD to help make decisions easier for myself (and for those of you that don't have one to go with your tracker, GET ONE, it will pay itself off in no time).
I usually try to get in 500-1000 hands a day, more during the weekend. Since I'm still in the micros, I still have a day job and can't always play 1000+ hands a day. I'll see what my options are for posting some videos as well.
Sorry this turned into a tl/dr so here's some cliffnotes:
-cashing out majority of my bankroll, going to play 10NL
-use bankroll management to grind up an effective $200 roll
-I don't play limit because of monkey tilt and variance
-going to play full ring and start playing 6-max
-going to play 500-1000 hands a day
-hopefully post some videos
I decided a little while ago that I would be cashing out the majority of my bankroll towards the end of November to cover some expenses, so I will be forced to drop back down to 10NL. After this cash out, I will be devoting my bankroll solely towards improving my game.
So my plan is to give myself a little bit more of a cushion in terms of bankroll management, I will not move up until I have 25-30 buy-ins for the next level. This will probably mean a bit more work, but it will also show me better whether I'm a winning player or not at that particularl level.
I said in my first post that I refuse to play limit hold'em. Quite simply, it puts me on tilt. not just 'villain hit his 4 outer' tilt. Full blown monkey tilt. I do not understand the thought process that goes into playing winning limit hold'em and I doubt I ever will. I absolutely hate it that I have almost no control over pot odds at a full ring table and the variance is excruciating. So those of you that are looking for posts on limit other than this one, you are probably never going to find one on my blog. That being said, I fully encourage all of the limit players out there to switch to no limit!
All of the stats and graphs that I post will be starting as of November and the creation of this blog and I will play with an effective bankroll of $200 which is enough to play at 10NL although I currently have more than that in my accounts.
I'll probably continue to play a lot of full ring, but I will be starting to throw in a lot of 6 max as well as I find it way too appealing in terms of the extra potential winnings. More hands played means more decisions to make, which should lead to more +EV decisions available to me.
For full ring I usually 6 table and for 6-max I usually 4 table unless I feel like I'm playing my A game at which point I'll 6 table that as well. I play with a HUD to help make decisions easier for myself (and for those of you that don't have one to go with your tracker, GET ONE, it will pay itself off in no time).
I usually try to get in 500-1000 hands a day, more during the weekend. Since I'm still in the micros, I still have a day job and can't always play 1000+ hands a day. I'll see what my options are for posting some videos as well.
Sorry this turned into a tl/dr so here's some cliffnotes:
-cashing out majority of my bankroll, going to play 10NL
-use bankroll management to grind up an effective $200 roll
-I don't play limit because of monkey tilt and variance
-going to play full ring and start playing 6-max
-going to play 500-1000 hands a day
-hopefully post some videos
Tuesday, 30 October 2007
First Post
So I'm starting this blog to detail my life as a micro stakes grinder and to help me track my progress. I am hoping that this will serve to encourage me to improve my game and maybe pass on some useful information to other aspiring poker players / micro grinders.
I've played poker online for the past one and a half years off and on. My main game is full ring no limit cash games, but I've been trying to expand into 6-max as well. I like to try out a few other games now and then, particularly 5 card draw, but I refuse to play limit poker for reasons I'm sure I'll explain in another post. I also play MTTs and SnGs a few times a month.
I'll be updating this blog with graphs and stats to keep things interesting as well. So check back often, I'll probably update this at least 2-3 times a week.
I've played poker online for the past one and a half years off and on. My main game is full ring no limit cash games, but I've been trying to expand into 6-max as well. I like to try out a few other games now and then, particularly 5 card draw, but I refuse to play limit poker for reasons I'm sure I'll explain in another post. I also play MTTs and SnGs a few times a month.
I'll be updating this blog with graphs and stats to keep things interesting as well. So check back often, I'll probably update this at least 2-3 times a week.
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