What baffles me is all the "am i balanced here with x value combos vs x bluff combos with blockers etc etc.:"

Sounds like there is a huge gap between the actual strategy and executing it properly. All that accurate math stuff is way above beating the micros

Focusing on playing consistent is my biggest goal since march and will be for a long time, this goal is just a more specific one. I want to play optimally vs all kinds of players, it doesnt mean outplaying people only by bluffing, when I said "unorthodox lines", I meant making more exploitative folds vs nits, dont valuebet thin vs people who won't call with worse, induce bluffs...

even if it isn't I won't stop trying

that's the attitude you need if you gonna make it in poker imo, unless you v. lucky

even though i think it's a beautiful approach...a man's gotta know his limitations

you talk like in order to be able to beat the micros it's needed some sort of natural talent...
galfond said that with only hard work it's possible to beat midstakes.

Limitations lead to failure imo

Ok . Keep striving for the infinite

Hope to meet u soon at the tables


Edit : "And yes to beat the micros or to be profitable at anything engaged with gambling u need some sort of natural talent."

If you think you dont you're either delusional or ..... Otherwise it wouldn't be a minority of the population doing it.

Hope u manage to succeed eventually


Funny quote: "only hard work". You're talking like putting hard work effort on something is easy... U clearly do not do it so I dont know why you even quote that.

went full time on poker for 3 months, when I wasn't playing I was studying, played 300k hands this year(100k+ 2-tabling)
that's hard work for me =p

Lets put this into perspective. The guy has been playing poker for 5 years, studied the game hard, played almost 700k hands and is still a losing 10nl player. There comes a time when you got to say "look, I've given it my best shot, but I'm clearly not good enough. Time to move onto more productive endeavors. Poker is not my thing."

It is frankly delusion and stupidity if he sticks with poker. The evidence is plain to see that he isn't good enough. Be a man, swallow the pride, admit poker is not for you and move on with your life. A bit of self reflection like this would do him a world of good.

Don't give up on your dreams buddy! Ignore all the salty comments, you can achieve anything you put your mind to!

change the way you approach the game. 700k hands and still losing doesn't mean you are incapable of beating the game, however your strategy will be

This is not a good advice, this guy should be stick to something what's his passion, is really dificult to find something that you want to do for the rest of your life and if you find it you need to take it as hard as you can and dont let it go.
I was kind of guy who thinks that effort doesnt accomplish anything, i was so wrong. Stop ****ing playing and sit in front of your pc and ask yourself "what the **** i need to be sucessful on this"

You don't need raw talent to beat 10nl. Lets face it you don't need any sort of talent to beat 10nl.

Also OP is 100% not "working hard or studying the game hard". No one in the world can study hard at poker and not beat 10nl. It's a very very soft game.

It is realistic and pragmatic advice, mate. Stick to something for a while, if it's obviously not working out for you, move onto something else.

I don't live in an idealistic fantasy world, I live in the real world. And in the real world, passion doesn't pay the bills.

He has put in the effort over many years and it hasn't worked out for him. He isn't suited to poker. That's no big deal, some people are not suited to certain things.

You just proved my point. Did you mean to do that?

You said OP studied the game hard and couldn't beat 10nl. Which is pretty impossible.

finally some1 not delusional

and ye I agree ofc he's not studying the game hard or he would be able to beat nl10 properly. That's the reason why I laughed when he brings the Galfond argument of "u just need to study hard" when he clearly does not...

I'm a 3bb/100 winner at nl10 over 200k hands, my graph is positive in bb, most of my losses were when I tried to move up

right now I beat nl25, but I decimated my bankroll, donated more than 40BI in a week only tilting

also I played the game for 2 years, not 5, came back in january

if u donated your bank roll tilting that counts aswell as losses.. lul

im glad you already beat nl25 then

coldeu, maybe you're stuck in the micros because of the way you see the world. you let people say you're no good and accept that, maybe it's even you saying it to yourself. if you can't believe in yourself, then you have already lost.

I would rather be delusional than than listening to those salty people, at least delusional people have a chance to succeed. Sad that I won't be able to play more than 15k hands/month, but eventually my results will come and you will see that you were wrong.

hopefully brother

I'm not stuck at micros, I make a living of micros which is kinda different

anyways i never said I was any good nor i made any topic such as " Shots at nl500 next month etc"

Bankroll is at $360

here is the graph of this month



Was doing fine, then in the last session lost like 5 BI in 200 hands D:

Didn't play for more than a week, came back and think I wasn't folding enough, this last session was so tough that it looked like every player was a superuser and knew all my holdings. People were always folding when I had it, and calling off my bluffs, while stacking me off when I had a good hand

Here are some hands I think I made mistakes

H1: thought about polarizing, should I raise the flop or overbet the turn? Or should I just check behind and try to draw and then valuebet? I decided to represent TP because this board hits villain way more than it does to me, I can't have 2 sets OTF.


PokerStars - $0.16 NL FAST (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

Hero (BTN): 105.06 BB
SB: 129.5 BB (VPIP: 19.09, PFR: 14.55, 3Bet Preflop: 8.33, Hands: 226)
BB: 215.13 BB (VPIP: 30.75, PFR: 18.94, 3Bet Preflop: 5.69, Hands: 329)
UTG: 94.81 BB (VPIP: 55.56, PFR: 22.22, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 9)
MP: 256.5 BB (VPIP: 29.09, PFR: 23.64, 3Bet Preflop: 10.87, Hands: 112)
CO: 141.38 BB (VPIP: 0.00, PFR: 0.00, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 2)

SB posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

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

fold, MP raises to 2.56 BB, CO calls 2.56 BB, Hero calls 2.56 BB, fold, fold

Flop: (9.19 BB, 3 players) K Q 7
MP bets 6.06 BB, fold, Hero calls 6.06 BB

Turn: (21.31 BB, 2 players) 3
MP checks, Hero bets 10.56 BB, MP calls 10.56 BB

River: (42.44 BB, 2 players) 4
MP checks, Hero bets 21 BB, MP calls 21 BB



H2: is expo folding the river OK? Usually people don't bluff with that sizing, but it's BvsB...

PokerStars - $0.16 NL FAST (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BTN: 165.44 BB (VPIP: 60.00, PFR: 40.00, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 5)
SB: 175.25 BB (VPIP: 33.33, PFR: 33.33, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 6)
Hero (BB): 100 BB
UTG: 143.75 BB (VPIP: 14.29, PFR: 7.14, 3Bet Preflop: 12.50, Hands: 14)
MP: 123.19 BB (VPIP: 41.67, PFR: 33.33, 3Bet Preflop: 40.00, Hands: 12)
CO: 156.5 BB (VPIP: 38.46, PFR: 23.08, 3Bet Preflop: 7.69, Hands: 26)

SB posts SB 0.5 BB, Hero posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has A 2

fold, fold, fold, fold, SB raises to 3 BB, Hero raises to 9 BB, SB calls 6 BB

Flop: (18 BB, 2 players) 9 A 8
SB checks, Hero bets 8.94 BB, SB calls 8.94 BB

Turn: (35.88 BB, 2 players) 5
SB checks, Hero checks

River: (35.88 BB, 2 players) T
SB bets 25.5 BB, Hero calls 25.5 BB



H3: is it possible to find a fold here?

PokerStars - $0.16 NL FAST (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BTN: 100 BB (VPIP: 13.68, PFR: 7.37, 3Bet Preflop: 4.35, Hands: 97)
SB: 343.38 BB (VPIP: 27.27, PFR: 20.45, 3Bet Preflop: 6.45, Hands: 90)
BB: 100 BB (VPIP: 26.20, PFR: 20.96, 3Bet Preflop: 9.62, Hands: 404)
UTG: 95.38 BB (VPIP: 35.23, PFR: 6.82, 3Bet Preflop: 7.89, Hands: 88)
MP: 101.31 BB (VPIP: 15.00, PFR: 10.00, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 20)
Hero (CO): 115.63 BB

SB posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has 2 2

UTG calls 1 BB, fold, Hero calls 1 BB, fold, SB calls 0.5 BB, BB checks

Flop: (4 BB, 4 players) T 2 J
SB checks, BB checks, UTG checks, Hero bets 2.88 BB, fold, fold, UTG calls 2.88 BB

Turn: (9.75 BB, 2 players) Q
UTG checks, Hero bets 7 BB, UTG calls 7 BB

River: (23.75 BB, 2 players) Q
UTG bets 84.5 BB and is all-in, Hero calls 84.5 BB




H4: river is just spew, right? Should I just raise the turn and give up OTR?

PokerStars - $0.16 NL FAST (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BTN: 56.13 BB (VPIP: 28.00, PFR: 4.00, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 27)
SB: 157.88 BB (VPIP: 26.36, PFR: 23.85, 3Bet Preflop: 15.56, Hands: 110)
Hero (BB): 100 BB
UTG: 245.63 BB (VPIP: 44.44, PFR: 0.00, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 9)
MP: 77.06 BB (VPIP: 0.00, PFR: 0.00, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 5)
CO: 188.63 BB (VPIP: 11.11, PFR: 11.11, 3Bet Preflop: 20.00, Hands: 9)

SB posts SB 0.5 BB, Hero posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has A T

UTG raises to 2 BB, fold, CO calls 2 BB, fold, fold, Hero calls 1 BB

Flop: (6.5 BB, 3 players) T 4 J
Hero checks, UTG checks, CO bets 3 BB, Hero calls 3 BB, UTG calls 3 BB

Turn: (15.5 BB, 3 players) K
Hero checks, UTG checks, CO bets 7 BB, Hero raises to 25 BB, fold, CO calls 18 BB

River: (65.5 BB, 2 players) 6
Hero bets 70 BB and is all-in, CO calls 70 BB




H5: is this line OK?? I have way more AQ/AA/JJ/QQ than villain

PokerStars - $0.16 NL FAST (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BTN: 252 BB (VPIP: 36.49, PFR: 6.76, 3Bet Preflop: 9.38, Hands: 74)
SB: 100 BB (VPIP: 10.94, PFR: 9.38, 3Bet Preflop: 5.17, Hands: 195)
BB: 307.31 BB (VPIP: 29.31, PFR: 24.14, 3Bet Preflop: 10.42, Hands: 118)
UTG: 116 BB (VPIP: 34.55, PFR: 21.82, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 57)
MP: 92.31 BB (VPIP: 50.00, PFR: 0.00, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 4)
Hero (CO): 100 BB

SB posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has 8 K

fold, fold, Hero raises to 2.31 BB, fold, fold, BB calls 1.31 BB

Flop: (5.13 BB, 2 players) 7 J A
BB checks, Hero bets 2.5 BB, BB calls 2.5 BB

Turn: (10.13 BB, 2 players) Q
BB checks, Hero bets 13 BB, BB calls 13 BB

River: (36.13 BB, 2 players) Q
BB checks, Hero bets 50 BB, BB calls 50 BB

ignore the trolls, we love you rapi <3

H1: - Raise flop is fine if you balance it out with 77, although you will get unbalanced fast if you start raising too many flushdraws as your only value hand is 77.
- Why would you try to overbet turn? You are more capped than him as he can still x/r strong hands like KK (which block your toppair) and KQ. He can also have checked aces.

H2: vs unknown explo fold is fine I guess. Like yea you have the Ad which removes some value combo's.

H3: yes, QT, QJ, TT, JJ beats you. Don't think he will ever jam AQ like this. However in-game I would probally sigh call.

H4: Easiest call of your life on the turn. You destroy position by raising when you have NFD + you have odds/implied odds to call. Also he's unknown and he just bet 2x into 2 man. You aren't going to bluff him off anything that bets 2x into 3 man.

H5: idk

thx for the help

On H1 I thought exactly that, I would overbluff a lot on that flop, even though people are nitty and overfold to a raise there. So what about calling the flop and checking back OTT with our best draws like this one and using weaker draws to bluff? Also checking back and raising/overbetting the river/turn for value is a thing.

H2 the idea of checking back the turn was to induce bluffs, but yeah, it's fine to fold, gotta be nittier on these stakes

hands like H3 are the ones that make this game so tough, we know we're 100% beat but can't click the fold button. Even though we're in the absolute top of our range(I can't have TT/QQ/QT/JQ there), it makes sense in having no calling range vs a shove there.

on H4 even though I had a good price and decent draws, I thought my SDV was close to 0, since villain was probably betting a lot with higher pairs, so decided to turn the hand into a bluff. I don't know which option is better, but after that raise OTT villain isn't folding a lot OTR

on H5 I'm usually unbalanced towards value in spots like that, so I'm fine even though villain called with a hand he was supposed to fold(not AK, but Ax, the fact of him showing there with AK is just bad, villain is a regular though).


I think I'm playing a really fair game overall vs the pool, I'm not exploiting/changing my range as I should vs these players. I think I'm playing way more balanced than I should. Even though people say that focusing on balance is the way to go, I see myself stuck in these stakes because of hands like H5, where villain is never folding, so I should only have value there. By having bluffs in that spot, I'm just burning money.

It seems stupid to say that, but even when I was clicking buttons, I had a better winrate than now, that I'm trying to play thinking poker. Just as an example of how exploitable I was in the first month of the year, my cbet range in Axx and Kxx boards as the pre-flop aggressor had almost 100% bluffs(only sets/2-pair for value), while my checking back range had all my TP. This works on these stakes because people overfold on these boards, so valuebetting Ax no kicker is basically turning it into a bluff.

The way I wanted to approach the game was: "ok, I should do this, but since villain does that, then I should be super unbalanced here". The problem is that almost every spot is like that, it's so easy to go auto-pilot and keep bluffing where I should have no bluffs and betting for thin value where villain is never calling with worse, because I have to be valuebetting TPWK there so villain can't exploit me.

I'm not saying I'm good and I'm overthinking and stuff like that, like I should be playing higher stakes. I should be playing the stakes I'm at right now, because if I wasn't good enough to get out of the micros, I'll just get destroyed out there. The thing is that most of the concepts I learned can't be applied.

I think if I go back to playing as a nit, I would crush NL16/NL25 by a decent WR, it would be even better because I can put more volume by playing as a nit. But I don't want to do that, I've spent a ton of time clicking buttons and only in recent times it came to the point where I was finally playing thinking poker. When I play like a nit, it's like I follow an algorithm, which I make moves without knowing the reasons why, like:

Why am I folding here? Well, people don't bluff here.
Why am I betting 100% of my range on this spot? Because they fold here.

Maybe it's right to play as a nit for a while to grind it out to higher stakes, but I'm pretty sure I'll go back to button clicking if I do that.