denks, at what limits do you think it becomes necesary to start balancing your range?

Limits are irrelevant, start balancing when your opponents start paying attention to what you are doing. If your opponents do not pay attention you can exploit them all day long and don't have to worry one bit about balance.

Denks, can you please clarify what you mean here about balancing and limits, etc. I am relatively new to the game (been playing 2 years or so). Only play live, not online.

Balancing your hands in simple terms means you do the same action with more than one type of hand so that your opponents can't read your hands. As an example if you only c/r'ed the river with the nuts your opponent could always fold to your c/r even with the second nuts and could value bet in position thinner as they can safely bet / fold with all their hands. So you throw some weaker hands in so now your opponent can't just fold whenever you c/r the river. So you have balanced your river c/r range - you c/r with some strong hands and some weak hands / bluffs so your opponet cannot play perfectly against you.

Ok, thanks. When I have the bankroll to start playing again....I'll definitely try that.

Well, be sure you completely understand how important this bit is:

before trying anything. If you're playing live against unknowns, you'll see so few hands that you probably won't need to think about balancing ranges at all, since no one will see you play enough to work out what you do. And at a lot of tables I play at online, the players aren't observant enough to notice patterns in my play, so I'm not going to start balancing ranges if it serves no purpose (and cuts into my profit besides). But if you play a lot of hands with the same players, and they're good, then you'd want to think about it.

Thanks. There are 2 main casino's in my area....at one of them, I know many of the players and my image is that of tight/aggressive. I know, because a couple have told me...hehe. I don't like playing vs. players who are so familiar with you, so I started going to the 2nd casino. The 2nd casino is a LOT wilder, players tend to be younger/college kids, and they chase a lot more. Unfortunately, that means a lot of variance and I'm suffered some really bad beats there.

I most likely will have to give up the game for awhile until I build my bankroll back up (via my job). I have had a problem leaving when I am up and so, I threw away most of my winning sessions. In about 60% of my sessions, I was up at least $200-$300, but stayed too long and got into the inevitable all-in situations and lost it all. In a particularly maddening session last week, I was up $600....suffered a really bad beat...never recovered...and got into a tilt/p*ssing match with a maniac who would constantly go all in before the flop with garbage. He went all in with A7....I had pocket K's....and he hit an A on the river to clean me out.

Why dont you just set yourself a goal when you start playing - if i make 200 bucks, ill stop for the night. book a win. feel good. much better than carryingon and tilting it off.

I agre 100% with this. You balance your ranges to reduce your exploitability. If your opponents aren't even paying attention to what you have, let alone trying to exploit you, then balancing serves no purpose whatsoever. However I am finding that by learning what a *sort of* optimal range looks like in a certain situation then it becomes easier to find leaks in my opponents (still in early stages of this, got a long way to go).

Having said that, a balanced range provides a good default to revert to against unknowns, a defensive strategy if you will, until you find leaks in their game.

Agreed.

I don't agree with setting a financial target for the day at all. The trouble is then you start chasing losses because you feel you have to make that target for the day or alternatively you leave a really juicy game because you want to book your win. Instead set a time limit and leave regardless of what your results are.

I have tried both ways and gotten screwed. I would slowly build up a nice stack over 5-6 hours and then lose it all in the next 2 hours (or quicker). So, I told myself I would leave after 4-5 hours. Then, I ran into some great cards the next session and was up $600 after just one hour. I decided to stay longer and lost it all in the next 2 hours.

The usual bottom line (as least for me)....the longer the play, the more you lose. There seems to be some sort of unwritten rule that you only do really well for a short period of time....then you get crud cards, start missing all flops, etc (running bad). The thing that drives me crazy is that these cold periods can last for hours and hours and hours and it stinks to drive 20 miles home and just forget the night. You want SOME benefit from the evening....you don't want it wasted. That's why you see people play on tilt at the very end...they want to go home with something to show for it.

Going home empty-handed is a terrible feeling.

I'm at work and just got a minute it's a Grunch so this may have been pointed out already but in villains mind he is not bluffing, he has turned 2 pair and thats all that matters to him.

he is overvaluing his hand not bluffing. (he is not considering tour holding or of he is he thinks you almost always have an ace and he beats an ace) Also in his mind he is protecting his two pair against str8 draws that is why he is shoving we know this cus you posted results which is a bit of a shame.

This for me is not an insta call I have to try to evaluate his range and what hands he may overvalue and how his range compares to our holding. JJ+ is almost always popping it pre right ?? A turned str8 is hardly ever played this fast that pretty much leaves him with combo draws str8 draw with a pair type hands or worse two pair maybe weak aces cus you bet so small on the turn your hand is under repped which further compounds this thinking IMO

It's probably been said elsewhere, I only skimmed as at work.

You look like you are playing scared money. If you don't feel able to commit here, you should have booked your win and walked away.

You've put the villian on a hand, not a range.

setting a stop win is just about the worst thing you can do. it's like resigning to the fact that you don't feel like you can beat the game long term. you might not realise it, but you play much better when you're up. and you may think it's a disciplinary measure, but it's far from it because it's in fact really easy to quit while you're ahead. everyone does it. it's setting a stop loss and quitting when you're behind that's hard and takes discipline.

a lot of people even disagree with setting a stop loss (I don't) because if you're perfectly discipled you should know how good you're playing regardless of how much you're up or down, but very few people can do that so setting a stop loss can prevent long sessions of play bad for most players