Above is my latest graph for total 2nl play.

Since my last update played a couple of short sessions:

Hands: 1372
P/L: + $9.00

Starting bankroll: $60.20
Current bankroll: $95.64

So I’m inching closer to the $100 mark, at which point I’ll step up to 5nl. It’s really frustrating how slowly the FPPs accumulate when you’re a Bronze star playing 2nl. I’m up to about 700 now, so hopefully I’ll be able to get to Silver before the end of the month. I’m also close to the first Stellar bonus – I might save this for when I’m playing 5nl, to give my bankroll a boost as I’ll only be starting with 20 BI for that level.

I’m generally really pleased with how I’m playing at the moment. Feel like I’m making a lot of good folds in particular, and finding some good spots to value bet thinly. I’m still a little frustrated that I’m finding it hard to get action with my big hands. Bizarrely, after approx. 50 times dealt it, AA is in my top five biggest losing hands. This is not a bad beat whine - overall I’m above EV at 2nl, I’ve won a lot of flips so I’m not complaining about my luck, but AA is the one hand that keeps getting sucked out. What I’m pleased with though is that I’ve lost a lot of small/medium pots with it where I’ve made when I think was a good fold – these are spots where, in the past, I would have got stubborn and lost my stack, but now I’m folding and losing 20bb. I think every time I’ve got it all in, I’ve had the best hand. An example:

2nl

Villain is 35/20 over a small sample.

Dealt to Hero (SB) AA

2 folds
CO ($1.80) raises to $0.06
1 fold
Hero ($2.50) raises to $0.24
1 fold
CO calls $0.18

Flop ($0.50)

1087

Hero bets $0.35
CO calls $0.35

Turn ($1.20)

9

Hero checks
CO bets $0.65
Hero folds

I don’t see any other way to play this – I can’t bet/fold the turn because of his stack size, and I don’t want to shove because everything he calls with beats me. He can have lots of sets/2p/Jx hands here, so I think I have no option but to b/f. The only hands I really beat would be KK/QQ/A10, but some of those get it in pre, and mostly they’d probably check back this turn.

Here are a few other interesting hands:

Hero calling with A high:

Dealt to hero (Btn) A9

2 folds
CO ($0.70) calls $0.02
Hero ($2.50) raises to $0.10
2 folds
CO calls $0.08

Flop ($0.23)

10106

CO bets $0.60 all in
Hero calls $0.60

CO shows 85

I’m very happy calling here as I don’t think he ever does this for value – it’s a draw or a straight up spaz bluff most of the time. At worst (for me) it’s probably 6x, and I still have 2 live overs against that.

Here’s a hand I like, but I’d be interested to hear other’s thoughts on my line.

2nl

Villain is 75/10, Agg factor 0.7 over 50 hands or so.

Dealt to Hero (BB) 104

UTG ($2) calls $0.02
4 folds
Hero ($2.50) checks

Flop ($0.05)

A104

Hero bets $0.04
UTG raises to $0.08
Hero calls $0.04

I bet the flop for value, he can have any number of draws, Ax, random pp, whatever. When he raises I think he’s either really strong or fos – I don’t think such a passive player would do this with a flush draw – so I don’t really like raising/getting it in here because I’ll often be crushed. But I’m not folding 2p just yet.

Turn ($0.21)

7

Hero checks
UTG bets $0.11
Hero raises to $0.40
UTG calls $0.29

I’m planning to call a good sized bet on the turn and fold if he bets hard on the river. But his bet sizing on the turn suddenly looks really weak – if he had a strong hand I feel he’d bet bigger to maximise value from my flush draw or whatever – fish like to slam in a big bet with a big hand. So now I’m putting him more on a one pair hand – probably Ax. Therefore I’m c/raising for value.

River ($1.01)

Q

Hero bets $0.55

I don’t particularly like the river, as AQ is one of his more likely hands. There’s definitely a chance I’m behind, but I’ll have the best hand a lot. I think he’ll check back all his weaker hands – he’s passive, so unlikely to bet Ax/middle pair or a busted draw – so I want to get value from this part of his range. If I check and he bets, I’ll feel obliged to call, and he gets to set the price. So I’d rather bet myself and make it smallish – encouraging a call from his weaker hands. I might even block him from raising A7/A4 as he’s afraid I have a set or AQ. If he does raise over my bet, I’m snap folding – and the nice thing about the sizing is it allows me to get away without feeling priced in by the pot odds.

Whoop whoop. Bankroll now over $100 after my last 2nl session, time to move up to 5nl. Plan is to give 5nl a shot until i get up to $300, or down to $40.

Total 2nl stats:



2nl graph:



Really pleased with how it's gone so far. What i need to do now is keep it simple - it's worked so far because i haven't got spewy and i've just folded and waited for a better spot. I could feel myself in my last session just wanting to get a little more creative, and i need to make sure i don't start getting to full of FPS - that's when i start to spew and then start to tilt.

Having said that, here was one bluff i did go for, as i felt it was a good spot.

Villain is a 14/7 nit.

2nl

Dealt to Hero (BTN) 10K

3 folds
Hero ($2.50) raises to $0.06
1 fold
BB ($2) calls $0.04

Flop ($0.13)

94K

BB bets $0.10
Hero calls $0.10

Turn ($0.33)

A

BB bets $0.20
Hero raises to $0.5
BB calls $0.30

River ($1.33)

7

BB checks
Hero bets $1.33

When he donks he's most likely got a good Kx, so i don't like raising there. He'd probably check if he had a set, as i should cbet that board always.

On the turn, his bet looks scared. He's a nit and both A and K are out so i don't think he has many flushes, but i can definitely have one, so i raise to rep it.

When he checks the blank river i think he's going to hate facing a big bet so i pot it, basically putting him all in.

Thoughts on this?


I need to try not to do too much of this though.

Thoroughly pleased with progress so far, hope i can continue it at 5nl. I'll hit the tables tomorrow morning, update to follow.

Played my first sessions at 5nl.

Hands: 563
P/L: +$8.96

VPIP: 16
PFR: 15

Starting bankroll: $60.20
Current bankroll: $110.54

Graph:



I don’t know whether it was the time of day, but there seemed to be far fewer tables than at 2nl. At 2nl there were always a ton of tables with 50%+ players to flop, but at 5nl I was having to table select a lot more to find them, and they were filling up the moment a space opened. So I’ll have to make sure I don’t get lazy with my table selection. I’ll see what the traffic is like when I play on the way home tonight.

There seemed to be more 3bet monkeys as well. For the above session I didn’t play back, I just let them have it. I want to get a feel for how 3 and 4 bet pots play at this level before I start calling 3bets wide or 4betting light, so for the moment I’ll wait for value spots.

Here was one of the bigger hands I played this morning. I like the fact I thought about my river betsizing instead of just auto ¾ potting it, and went for the betsize I thought was most likely to get called. Way too often I’m guilty of missing value because I bet big when they can’t possibly call. Villain is unknown, 20/15 over a tiny sample.

5nl

Dealt to Hero (UTG) QQ

Hero raises to $0.15
4 folds
BB raises to $0.50
Hero calls $0.35

I decided to flat and use position because almost every time I’ve got it in in these spots with QQ, they’ve had AA/KK, so I’d rather call and look to play postflop.

Flop ($1.02)

A103

BB checks
Hero checks

When he checks I think he’s either got KK/JJ, or he’s flopped a set of aces/tens. I think he’d value bet all his Ax hands here. I also think he’s bet a flush draw.

Turn ($1.02)

Q

BB checks
Hero bets $0.75
BB calls $0.75

I think if he had slowplayed a set he’d probably bet out now, so I’m putting his range squarely on KK or JJ. So I think he’ll call a good sized bet here.

River ($2.52)

5

BB checks
Hero bets $0.75

When he checks the river I’m certain I’m ahead, but KK/JJ will probably not pay me off very much here so I bet small just to milk a bit of value. Thoughts? Any other line you would prefer?


I’m now only about 20 VPP away from Silver, so getting there will be a nice boost. Hopefully do that in the next couple of days, will try to get some good volume in over the weekend. Also not far off the first Stellar.

I was also reading the other day about open raise sizes, and they advocated 4*BB UTG, 3*BB everywhere else, except for 2.5*BB on the button (as you’ll get 3bet more, so it means u risk less when stealing). I used to do this myself, raising as little as 2*BB on the BTN sometimes. But now I’ve gone back to raising 3*BB from every position, including the BTN. My reasoning is that when I’m on the BTN, I’ve got the biggest advantage I can possibly have for the whole orbit, and the other guy will have to play oop against me. Therefore I should want to make the pot bigger, to maximise the gains that will come from the advantage of position, and to make villain play bigger pots oop. Why keep the pot smaller when we have the biggest advantage?

I’d be interested to hear other 2+2ers thoughts on this, and what your standard button raising is and why.

open more UTG cause your range is stronger and less OTB cause your range is at its weakest. Incidentally, I will min raise SB vs BB 100% if they are multi tabling and fold to steal > 70%, why pay more?

I definitely agree with opening wider UTG and having a balanced range, but only as you move up to slightly higher levels. If I opened 20% UTG at 5nl I’d be opening A8s, KJo, and various other weakish hands, and would get called very often by HJK/CO/Btn and have to play the pot oop with a weak hand. For the same reason I’m folding 22-66 UTG at the moment. Villains probably won’t notice if you open only a tight range UTG, and they’ll still pay u off when you have an overpair and they flop top pair.
On the BTN, I find it’s profitable to open as much as 50%, as long as u don’t have an agro 3bettor in the blinds, and as long as you don’t spaz when u do get 3bet. It’s just such an advantage having position. Villains will know your range is wider, but therefor they will also have a weaker range when they call because they’re calling more, and you can then punish them for playing oop.

I completely agree with min raising SB if BB is one of those nits who just auto fold pre when they don't like their cards (which will be most of the time). They don't adjust much to you stealing frequently.

My god. Did everyone on 5nl Stars get a free Cardrunners lesson on 3betting, then take a healthy dose of crack, and then hit the tables?! i was 3bet more in the last 500 hands than i was in the last 20k hands i played at 50nl!

Ridiculous session:

Hands: 540
P/L: +$5.49

Current bankroll: $116.03

Here's the graph of 5nl so far.



As u can see it just went mental - never seen so many coolers in so few hands. I had about 1/2 in my favour, 1/2 against, but made profit cos they were stacking off light with silly tpnk type hands.

I won: straight flush over Ahigh flush
set over AA
fh over trips
KK over JJ

I lost: AQ v QQ on AQx flop
AK v K4 all in Khigh flop
Set v rivered flush

Was getting c/raised all over the place as well, made a couple of what i thought were good folds in big pots, only to be shown a ludicrous bluff. Red line went thru the floor as a result. No tilt though, so that was good.

No hands that i'll repeat here, they were all totally standard, just a lottery as to who had the better hand each time!

If 5nl carries on like this, i might have to deposit more and move up to 100nl just to take a breather.

Latest update following a couple of shortish sessions today. I'm still 6 tabling at the moment, it's good because playing on my netbook i can't easily play more than 6 tables, and i find that it keeps tilt at bay to a certain extent if i play fewer tables. So latest hands at 5nl:

Hands: 1059
P/L: +$18.68

Current bankroll: $148.02 (this includes the first $10 Stellar bonus that i just reached).

Really noticed the difference in how quickly the VPPs add up at 5nl as opposed to 2nl. Plus i've reached Silver VIP so the FPPs should start flowing a little quicker.

Here's my current 5nl graph:



Good winrate but wasn't entirely happy with how i played - i made a couple of horrible calls when i knew i should have been folding. For some reason all my horrible hands today were with JJ - got it in lighter than i should have a couple of times, only to be shown the nuts. Felt like i was generally stacking off a little too easily, which is why the graph is a bit more swingy than i'd like.

Here's an interesting hand - what's your decision on the river?

Villain is 75/15 whale over a very small sample, no postflop reads yet.

5nl

Dealt to Hero (CO) AK

2 folds
Hero ($5) raises to $0.15
2 folds
BB ($5) calls $0.10

Flop ($0.35)

23J

BB checks
Hero checks

Turn ($0.35)

8

BB checks
Hero bets $0.20
BB calls $0.20

River ($0.75)

K

BB checks
Hero bets $0.50
BB raises to $1.75

Hero ???

I checked back the flop as i don't think he folds much, and i don't want to get c/raised when i may have the best hand.
On the turn i'm hoping to take the pot now but build a bigger pot for when i hit, and it works as a reverse blocker as i've got the option of checking back the river if he tries to go for the river c/raise.
On the river i hit tp so i'm definitely value betting here, then he raises. To me this looked a bit like KJ, but would he do this given the flush on the board? Could he have a flush here, c/c the turn, c/raise the river?

I didn't think he'd be bluffing here enough to make a call profitable. He showed me his hand after i folded so i do now know what he had.

How would you play each street here?

Since my last update I’ve had a really frustrating time of it. Played a long session on Sunday, and my normal session this morning on the way to work. Total stats (5nl):

Hands: 2739
P/L: +$8.83

Starting bankroll: $60.20
Current bankroll: $151.19

Here’s my total 5nl graph so far:



It’s still going in the right direction and over my total play at 5nl so far I’m still running at about 17bb/100, so shouldn’t really complain. It just feels like I’m in one of those periods where I can’t get paid off with my strong hands, but they keep calling when I have air. I’m losing with QQ so far at 5nl, as I can’t get it in good pre – when the money goes in, they always have AA/KK. Finished this morning’s session by running QQ into KK 125bb deep, right at the end of the session – which is probably why I’m feeling particularly frustrated at the mo. So I think I’m going to reassess my QQ strategy and try to play it a little smaller preflop, unless the villain is a total drooler obviously. I’ve been 2 and 3 outered quite a few times in the last 2k hands as well, mostly before the money has gone in so it doesn’t even show up in the EV calculation – just shows up as me getting it in dead.

My overall strategy at 5nl is to just play very conservatively – I’m not barrelling much or running big bluffs – there are certainly spots I’m passing up where a bluff would probably be +EV, but it just makes for a higher variance game and I see no need to play like that at 5nl. I’m just not confident enough that villains will fold, and when they do make a ridiculous calldown and beat my bluff, it’s more likely to tilt me. Here’s an example from this morning:

Villain actually wasn’t that bad stats-wise – he was running 23/15 over a small sample, which is why I thought this was a spot the bluff would work.

5nl

Dealt to hero (BB) KQ

3 folds
Btn ($5) calls $0.05
SB ($3.75) raises to $0.15
Hero raises to $0.50
Btn folds
SB calls $0.35

Flop ($1.05)

223

SB bets $0.30
Hero raises to $3.50
SB calls $2.95 all in

SB shows AJ

How the f*** can he call here with that hand? With hindsight I probably shouldn’t have 3bet pre, because of his awkward stack size. But when I 3bet and he calls, I pretty much always discount AA-QQ, so I’m putting his range at 22-JJ, AJ+ most likely. When he donks so small on the flop, imo he always has A high or a medium pp here, and really he should fold all of them to my shove, because my line is entirely consistent with AA-QQ. And he calls with AJ, which is ridiculous – he’s still losing to most of my bluffing range, which is AK/AQ, and obviously he’s crushed by all of my value hands. Funny how they never call when I do have AA in this spot.

What are your thoughts on this hand – is this bluff just a bad idea?

So anyway, the above hand is an example of why I’d generally rather pass up thin value bluffing spots and wait for standard value spots. I’m happy to say I didn’t tilt after the above hand, but it certainly did p*** me off.

On the plus side, yesterday I hit a royal flush and got paid . Shame it wasn’t on one of those jackpot tables! Also on the plus side, Arsenal put Spurs firmly in their place yesterday – seeing Redknapp’s face afterwards was priceless. RVP has to be the best striker in the world at the moment, the guy is unbelievable.

Really looking forward to getting into the gym today and getting rid of some of this frustration – nothing like a good weights session to get rid of your stress (or make u forget about getting your AA cracked again!). For anyone who has never trained, I can honestly say doing weights regularly is the best thing u can do for your all-round fitness and mental wellbeing – it keeps you disciplined and feeling positive, and it’s amazing how your stress disappears after you’ve spent 45 minutes lifting. I had a 3 week break from the gym with a back injury recently – which is the longest I’ve been out of the gym in about 10 years – and after having a light week last week to get back into it sensibly, I’m just gagging to start lifting properly again today.

It would be great to get more feedback on this thread from other 2+2ers, especially on the individual hands, or on my overall strategy/approach to the challenge.

Update to follow after tonight’s session, hopefully with a more positive outlook!

Update from my latest sessions (last night and this morning):

Hands: 1959
P/L: + $3.34

Current bankroll: $154.54

Graph (total 5nl):



Until you’re in one of those ‘doomswitch’ runs, you forget just how bad it is. Bad beat whines are boring, so I’ll get this over quickly, just to get it off my chest – feel free to skip to the next paragraph. In the above 2k hands I lost the following: flopped top set lost to flush (twice – 2nd time 450bb deep), set over set (twice), KK v AA, QQ v AA, QQ v KK, flopped FH rivered by higher FH, about five two/three outers when I had them dominated, hitting their kicker, bet folding AA/KK several times on hideous run outs etc etc.

I’m actually delighted with how I played over that period – I consider it a real triumph to make any profit at all when running like this. And by far the most important thing, I DIDN’T TILT. Not once.

It’s frustrating to be basically break even over the last 3k hands or so, but there’s really very little I could have done about it. It happens, we’ve all been there and experienced these runs, and we all know they do end – the important thing (which I think I’ve managed to do so far) is to lose as little as possible over this period. I haven’t tilted off another 10 BI which I almost certainly would have done a few weeks ago.

On the plus side, my roll is more or less back to the amount I originally deposited on Stars a few weeks ago, before going on insane monkey tilt and spewing off my roll from $160 to $60 (see the early entries in this thread!). So it’s good to have built it back up in a couple of weeks.

Here’s an interesting hand:

What is your opinion on this – I think in a vacuum it looks like real spew, but I just had a gut feeling that a) he was full of it and b) he’d think I was full of it so would call me down light.

Villain is 16/12, agro.

5nl

Dealt to Hero (Btn) A7

3folds
Hero ($5) raises to $0.15
1 fold
BB calls ($5)

Flop ($0.32)

655

BB checks
Hero checks

Turn ($0.32)

7

BB checks
Hero bets $0.25
BB raises to $0.50
Hero raises to $5 all in

Imo he’s repping a very narrow range here – he rarely has 5x, he rarely has a flush (as I have A) and I have a blocker for a set of 7s. So it’s pretty much pocket 6s, pocket 5s, or 89 (which again he may not call pre with). My line looks FOS on this turn as I didn’t bet the flop, so I think he can easily put me on a semi bluff with a draw or x, so he’ll call light. If he does have a made hand, I have equity against everything except quad 5s.

Is this just baaaaad?

I was disciplined today - was very tempted to blow off the gym and play some more at lunch, but i was sensible and went to the gym instead. That's the trouble about playing on the way to work, and having a bad session - you spend the whole day gagging to get back on the tables and put it right.

Here are a few more hands from the last few days. It would be great to get some thoughts on them

Hand 1 - 5nl

Dealt to Hero (CO) 44

2folds
Hero raises to $0.15
1 fold
SB calls $0.15
BB raises to $0.25
Hero calls $0.10
SB calls $0.10

BB is a whale, so I’m happy to set mine is small 3bet. SB is unknown but seems reggish.

Flop ($0.75)

9 49

SB bets $0.40
BB folds
Hero calls $0.40

Can’t see the point raising yet, I’m afraid of nothing, so happy to let SB hang himself – don’t want to fold out his bluffs by raising.

Turn ($1.55)

5

SB bets $0.90
Hero raises to $2.20
SB calls $1.30

SB obviously likes his hand so I raise now to make it easy to get stacks in on the river. SB taaaaanked before calling – he was definitely on the verge of folding.

River ($5.95)

J

SB bets $2.15 all in
Hero …

SB insta shoved this river. My immediate thought was, ‘you lucky b***ard, you’ve just hit a set of jacks.’ I strongly considered folding, but just couldn’t for the price I was getting. Plus he might do this with 9x, Jx, AA-QQ. Would you ever consider folding this?


Hand 2 – 5nl

Dealt to Hero (UTG) QQ

Hero raises to $0.15
4 folds
BB calls $0.1

BB is a loose passive.

Flop ($0.32)

949

BB checks
Hero bets $0.2
BB calls $0.2

Turn ($0.72)

5

BB bets $0.30
Hero calls $0.30

River ($1.32)

4

BB checks
Hero bets $0.70

Good spot for a bit of thin value? I felt he’d never check the river with 9x, and he wouldn’t have bet the turn with 4x, therefore his most likely hand was 5x or a random pp, which I could get some value from.


Hand 3 – 5nl

Dealt to Hero AA

Hero (UTG) raises to $0.15
2 folds
Btn calls ($0.15)
2 folds

Flop ($0.37)

K93

Hero bets $0.25
BTN calls $0.25

Turn ($0.87)

5

Hero bets $0.60
BTN calls $0.60

River ($2.07)

Q

Hero bets $1.20
BTN raises to $4 all in
Hero folds

Good fold? Villain was taggish over a small sample. I don’t see him ever bluffing this river with a busted flush draw – this screams KQ to me.

MUCH better last night and this morning.

Hands: 1605
P/L: + $22.52

Starting bankroll: $60.20
Current bankroll: $172.06

Total 5nl graph:



As I’ve written before, my general approach so far has been to keep things very conservative and not to push the bluffs too much, to play a lower variance game. I’ve got so fed up though of getting to showdown and being shown some stupid bottom pair no kicker that beats my A high that would have folded to pressure, that I decided last night to start putting a bit more pressure on in spots where villain shouldn’t have a big hand. This will obviously lead to a few very annoying spots where I barrel and get called very light and feel like an idiot, but so far it’s worked well and I’ve taken down some extra pots I otherwise would have lost.

I’ve also discovered a much easier way of posting hand histories, so rather than typing them out manually from memory I can import them properly.

Here are a few interesting ones from the last couple of sessions:

Hmm ok looks like I didn’t save them where I thought I did, will have to post them later. In the meantime, these are my March goals:

[ ] 30k hands

[ ] roll up to $300 by the end of the month, ready for 10nl

[ ] Gold star VIP (not sure if this is possible at this stake/volume but I’ll see)

[ ] no tilt

[ ] better betsizing

[ ] better handreading

[ ] keep redline flat(ish)

[ ] have a look at these FPP hyper turbo satellites everyone recommends

[ ] getting AI pre with QQ and winning lol

A few hands from the last couple of sessions:

Hand 1 - was this a case of MUBS? i thought his turn bet looked like 2p or a blocker bet with a draw. He was passive so i leant more towards a made hand. On the river i got scared, but i feel i probably should have shoved. Thoughts?

$5.00 USD NL Texas Hold'em -
Seat 6 is the button
Seat 1: Player1 ( $5.79 USD ) -
Seat 2: Player2 ( $3.93 USD ) - VPIP: 40, PFR: 2, 3B: 5, AF: 1.0, Hands: 48
Seat 3: Player3 ( $5.00 USD ) -
Seat 4: Player4 ( $5.42 USD ) -
Seat 5: Hero ( $5.34 USD ) - VPIP: 20, PFR: 16, 3B: 4, AF: 3.1, Hands: 21870
Seat 6: Player6 ( $6.66 USD ) -
Player1 posts small blind [$0.02 USD].
Player2 posts big blind [$0.05 USD].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to Hero [ J A ]
Player3 folds
Player4 folds
Hero raises [$0.15 USD]
Player6 folds
Player1 folds
Player2 calls [$0.10 USD]
** Dealing Flop ** [ A K T ]
Player2 checks
Hero bets [$0.25 USD]
Player2 calls [$0.25 USD]
** Dealing Turn ** [ 7 ]
Player2 bets [$0.30 USD]
Hero calls [$0.30 USD]
** Dealing River ** [ J ]
Player2 bets [$0.30 USD]
Hero calls [$0.30 USD]



Hand 2 - good fold? i wonder if i should have bet/folded the turn, or if that would just have been burning money. The trouble is i let him bluff me off with his draw if that's what he had. I'm just worried about 2p/a set a lot when he raises the flop. I checked the turn cos i think he's more likely to bet a made hand and check behind a draw, so i can safely c/f.

$5.00 USD NL Texas Hold'em -
Seat 4 is the button
Seat 1: Hero ( $5.76 USD ) - VPIP: 20, PFR: 16, 3B: 4, AF: 3.1, Hands: 21870
Seat 2: Player2 ( $12.50 USD ) - VPIP: 33, PFR: 12, 3B: 4, AF: 4.0, Hands: 85
Seat 4: Player4 ( $12.56 USD ) -
Seat 5: Player5 ( $2.77 USD ) -
Seat 6: Player6 ( $2.10 USD ) -
Player5 posts small blind [$0.02 USD].
Player6 posts big blind [$0.05 USD].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to Hero [ K A ]
Hero raises [$0.15 USD]
Player2 calls [$0.15 USD]
Player4 folds
Player5 folds
Player6 folds
** Dealing Flop ** [ J A 5 ]
Hero bets [$0.20 USD]
Player2 raises [$0.60 USD]
Hero calls [$0.40 USD]
** Dealing Turn ** [ Q ]
Hero checks
Player2 bets [$1.35 USD]
Hero folds
Player2 wins $1.35 USD


Hand 3 - he reps pretty narrow on the flop, but i don't hink he does this with a draw too often. On the turn we have the nfd, but we can easily already be losing to a fh, in which case we only have 2 outs. Good fold?

$5.00 USD NL Texas Hold'em -
Seat 2 is the button
Seat 1: Player1 ( $5.22 USD ) - VPIP: 23, PFR: 15, 3B: 13, AF: 4.0, Hands: 47
Seat 2: Player2 ( $1.91 USD ) -
Seat 3: Player3 ( $8.73 USD ) -
Seat 4: Player4 ( $5.96 USD ) - VPIP: 49, PFR: 16, 3B: 0, AF: 3.2, Hands: 51
Seat 5: Hero ( $7.15 USD ) - VPIP: 20, PFR: 16, 3B: 4, AF: 3.1, Hands: 21870
Seat 6: Player6 ( $5.00 USD ) -
Player3 posts small blind [$0.02 USD].
Player4 posts big blind [$0.05 USD].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to Hero [ A A ]
Hero raises [$0.15 USD]
Player6 folds
Player1 calls [$0.15 USD]
Player2 folds
Player3 folds
Player4 calls [$0.10 USD]
** Dealing Flop ** [ 6 Q 5 ]
Player4 checks
Hero bets [$0.30 USD]
Player1 raises [$0.80 USD]
Player4 folds
Hero calls [$0.50 USD]
** Dealing Turn ** [ Q ]
Hero checks
Player1 bets [$1.25 USD]
Hero folds
Player1 wins $1.25 USD



Hand 4 - shove the turn? Fold the river?


$5.00 USD NL Texas Hold'em –
Seat 5 is the button
Seat 1: Player1 ( $5.07 USD ) -
Seat 3: Player3 ( $10.08 USD ) -
Seat 4: Player4 ( $4.93 USD ) -
Seat 5: Hero ( $5.00 USD ) - VPIP: 20, PFR: 16, 3B: 4, AF: 3.1, Hands: 21870
Seat 6: Player6 ( $5.00 USD ) - VPIP: 19, PFR: 13, 3B: 6, AF: 1.3, Hands: 206
Player6 posts small blind [$0.02 USD].
Player1 posts big blind [$0.05 USD].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to Hero [ A Q ]
Player3 folds
Player4 folds
Hero raises [$0.15 USD]
Player6 raises [$0.43 USD]
Player1 folds
Hero calls [$0.30 USD]
** Dealing Flop ** [ A 2 3 ]
Player6 bets [$0.45 USD]
Hero calls [$0.45 USD]
** Dealing Turn ** [ Q ]
Player6 bets [$0.95 USD]
Hero calls [$0.95 USD]
** Dealing River ** [ J ]
Player6 bets [$2.69 USD]
Hero calls [$2.69 USD]


Hand 5 - thought this was a good spot for a hero call. Unfortunately he had a better A high!
$5.00 USD NL Texas Hold'em -
Seat 5 is the button
Seat 1: Player1 ( $7.78 USD ) -
Seat 3: Player3 ( $9.54 USD ) - VPIP: 34, PFR: 3, 3B: 0, AF: 4.0, Hands: 67
Seat 4: Player4 ( $6.78 USD ) -
Seat 5: Hero ( $6.86 USD ) - VPIP: 20, PFR: 16, 3B: 4, AF: 3.1, Hands: 21870
Seat 6: Player6 ( $7.58 USD ) -
Player6 posts small blind [$0.02 USD].
Player1 posts big blind [$0.05 USD].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to Hero [ T A ]
Player3 calls [$0.05 USD]
Player4 folds
Hero raises [$0.20 USD]
Player6 folds
Player1 folds
Player3 calls [$0.15 USD]
** Dealing Flop ** [ 3 9 6 ]
Player3 checks
Hero checks
** Dealing Turn ** [ 6 ]
Player3 bets [$0.15 USD]
Hero calls [$0.15 USD]
** Dealing River ** [ 2 ]
Player3 bets [$0.30 USD]
Hero calls [$0.30 USD]
Player3 shows [Q A ]
Player3 wins $1.31 USD from main pot
Hero doesn't show [T A ]


Hand 6 - felt this river should have been a c/f - not much worse calls the 3rd barrel, and his hand looks obviously like a flush. Is c/f too tight?

$5.00 USD NL Texas Hold'em -
Seat 6 is the button
Seat 1: Hero ( $9.41 USD ) - VPIP: 20, PFR: 16, 3B: 4, AF: 3.1, Hands: 21870
Seat 2: Player2 ( $13.17 USD ) - VPIP: 69, PFR: 28, 3B: 5, AF: 2.3, Hands: 58
Seat 3: Player3 ( $3.56 USD ) -
Seat 4: Player4 ( $6.37 USD ) -
Seat 5: Player5 ( $2.10 USD ) -
Seat 6: Player6 ( $3.65 USD ) -
Hero posts small blind [$0.02 USD].
Player2 posts big blind [$0.05 USD].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to Hero [ Q A ]
Player3 folds
Player4 folds
Player5 folds
Player6 folds
Hero raises [$0.13 USD]
Player2 calls [$0.10 USD]
** Dealing Flop ** [ A J 7 ]
Hero bets [$0.25 USD]
Player2 calls [$0.25 USD]
** Dealing Turn ** [ 5 ]
Hero bets [$0.60 USD]
Player2 calls [$0.60 USD]
** Dealing River ** [ 8 ]
Hero bets [$1.05 USD]
Player2 raises [$2.55 USD]
Hero folds


Hand 7 -would you cold 4bet here? i felt it was more likely to fold out the fish (initial raiser) who i wanted to keep in. But give his stats, should i have just bumped it up more to try to get him to stack off pre?

$5.00 USD NL Texas Hold'em -
Seat 5 is the button
Seat 1: Hero ( $5.57 USD ) - VPIP: 20, PFR: 16, 3B: 4, AF: 3.1, Hands: 21870
Seat 2: Player2 ( $15.65 USD ) - VPIP: 69, PFR: 28, 3B: 5, AF: 2.3, Hands: 58
Seat 3: Player3 ( $3.64 USD ) -
Seat 4: Player4 ( $0.90 USD ) -
Seat 5: Player5 ( $2.05 USD ) - VPIP: 17, PFR: 13, 3B: 4, AF: 2.8, Hands: 98
Seat 6: Player6 ( $5.44 USD ) -
Player6 posts small blind [$0.02 USD].
Hero posts big blind [$0.05 USD].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to Hero [ AA
Player2 raises [$0.25 USD]
Player3 folds
Player4 folds
Player5 raises [$0.75 USD]
Player6 folds
Hero calls [$0.70 USD]
Player2 calls [$0.50 USD]
** Dealing Flop ** [ JA2 ]
Hero checks
Player2 checks
Player5 bets [$1.30 USD]
Hero calls [$1.30 USD]
Player2 folds
** Dealing Turn ** [ K ]
** Dealing River * [ 3 ]
Hero shows [AA
Player5 shows [KA
Hero wins $4.67 USD from main pot

Really annoyed with myself for last night’s session. I was having one of those where I got called stupidly light whenever I was bluffing, and everyone snap folded when I had a decent hand. I was also getting 3bet a lot. So I lost my rag and FU shoved KQ over a 3bet from this guy on my left who had been particularly agro. Of course he called and flipped over KK. What made it worse was that I had already clicked ‘sit out next BB’ on that table so I was about to get away from that seat anyway. (This happened in Feb so I haven’t broken my March goal not to tilt yet!!)

Managed to claw that BI back for the rest of the session.

I should add one more March goal:

[ ] don’t check HEM for P/L during a session.

This morning I put that into effect. Had another frustrating one where I couldn’t find much value. Increased my bluffing frequency, I’ll show a few of them below. Was annoyed to find when I finished the session that I was only $1.50 up, thought I’d done better than that. Totals for last night and this morning (not including a few hands I played on my bigger laptop, in which I was up $2 or so).

Hands: 1284
P/L: + $1.99

Current bankroll: $181.48

Total 5nl graph (redline not too bad but could be a little flatter – I don’t expect it to be flat at these stakes, I’m not bluffing enough):




A few of the more interesting hands:

SB is VPIP: 24, PFR: 16, 3B: 11, AF: 0.6, Hands: 62
Position Name Stack
BTN Hero $6.36 (127.2 bb)
SB $2.35 (47 bb)
BB $11.27 (225.4 bb)
MP $7.71 (154.2 bb)
CO $6.47 (129.4 bb)

Preflop: Hero is BTN with K J
2 folds, Hero raises to $0.15, SB raises to $0.30, BB folds, Hero calls $0.15

Flop: ($0.65) Q 6 7 (2 players)
SB checks, Hero checks

Turn: ($0.65) 7 (2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $0.40, SB calls $0.40

River: ($1.45) 3 (2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $1
I felt like he has air or a hand like 1010/JJ/AK here almost always. So I thought a river bet would fold out his made hands. Thoughts?



Villain: VPIP: 61, PFR: 45, 3B: 0, AF: 1.2, Hands: 51 He was cbetting a lot, so I thought he’d cbet all his air on this flop. On the turn I think he looks weak so I raise, knowing I have to follow through on the river. His call turn/check river line looks like a marginal made hand, I don’t think he would ever have the flush, so I think I can get him to fold 1 pair here.

UTG $4.28 (85.6 bb)
MP $7.01 (140.2 bb)
CO $5 (100 bb)
BTN Hero $5.34 (106.8 bb)
SB $5.02 (100.4 bb)
BB $6.69 (133.8 bb)

Preflop: Hero is BTN with A T
UTG raises to $0.15, 2 folds, Hero calls $0.15, SB calls $0.13, BB folds

Flop: ($0.50) 3 6 Q (3 players)
SB checks, UTG bets $0.20, Hero calls $0.20, SB folds

Turn: ($0.90) 7 (2 players)
UTG bets $0.30, Hero raises to $0.75, UTG calls $0.45

River: ($2.40) 6 (2 players)
UTG checks, Hero bets $1.90



Villain is VPIP: 63, PFR: 25, 3B: 33, AF: 4.5, Hands: 8

Felt like this was a good spot to triple barrel, as villain looks weak – he would have raised better than one pair by the turn. Risky though as this type of fish might not fold any Q here.

SB $2.88 (57.6 bb)
BB $3.31 (66.2 bb)
UTG $9.02 (180.4 bb)
MP $1.51 (30.2 bb)
CO Hero $5.63 (112.6 bb)
BTN $5 (100 bb)

Preflop: Hero is CO with A J
2 folds, Hero raises to $0.15, BTN folds, SB calls $0.13, BB calls $0.10

Flop: ($0.45) 6 Q 8 (3 players)
SB checks, BB checks, Hero bets $0.25, SB folds, BB calls $0.25

Turn: ($0.95) 2 (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $0.60, BB calls $0.60

River: ($2.15) 3 (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $1.70



Villain: VPIP: 27, PFR: 16, 3B: 7, AF: 3.5, Hands: 63

Decided to slow play pre as I had position and I didn’t want to fold out his bluffs. On the flop his range is a lot wider than Ax. I think he will bet everything here, but won’t barrel the turn without an A so I can float. The turn is then great, I’m just hoping he doesn’t have pocket AA. Again I see no reason to raise the turn and risk him folding AQ/AJ.

Preflop: Hero is BTN with K K
2 folds, Hero raises to $0.15, SB raises to $0.50, BB folds, Hero calls $0.35

Flop: ($1.05) A 5 5 (2 players)
SB bets $0.70, Hero calls $0.70

Turn: ($2.45) K (2 players)
SB bets $1.64, Hero calls $1.64

River: ($5.73) 8 (2 players)
SB bets $2.16 and is all-in, Hero calls $2.16

Villain showed Q3 lol

Played 4 sessions since the last update:

Hands: 2401
P/L: +$ 26.77

Current bankroll: $208.25

Total 5nl Graph:



So, it’s now the 2nd of March and I’ve already failed two of the March goals I set myself. Fantastic.

[ ] Don’t tilt.

Whoops.

[ ] Don’t check HEM P/L during play.

Yep, f***ed that one as well.

3 of the sessions I played were short, and I was pleased with how I played. The other was a longer session last night, in which I decided to 10 table. My gf was out so I had an unexpected chance to play later into the evening. The tables were incredible – 75/25 whales everywhere. Unfortunately those 75/25 whales all had god-mode running and flopped a set every time I had AA/ tptk. I played dreadfully, made a few horrendous calls because I just didn’t want to fold an overpair against a fish, and generally played like a tilting monkey. Managed to rostucko from 3BI down (largely thanks to running 4 BI over EV) and insta quit when I cracked AA with KK and got back to roughly even.

This is why I shouldn’t mass multi-table. Ever. I just tilt. So I’m going to withdraw one of my other March targets:

[ ] 30k hands

And replace it with:

[ ] Quality not quantity.

I’m better off playing fewer hands and playing closer to my A game – after all, if I play fewer tables, play well and run at 15bb/100, I’ll make far more overall than playing double the tables, running at 5bb/100 and making a few dollars extra in rakeback/bonuses.

Still, bankroll is over $200 now so I’m really pleased with that, moving in the right direction.

I’ll post a few interesting hands later.

gl and invest some time in learning something that you don't understand about the game.