I am an electrical engineer who likes math/statistics and has gotten attracted to the game of poker because I have stumbled on an MIT course about poker accidentally. Ever since I have played with my friends and tourneys. For about a year now, I have played at the local casinos for about a year now playing mostly $1/$3 with a $300 buy in and usually topping off when I am 200ish or less to 100bb, 2 buy ins stop loss (or 1 buy in after a bad beat or even earlier if players are just better than me). I have won about $7000 so far with about 200ish hours of play, however, I realize that this is pretty statistically insignificant so I want to do a sanity check if I am doing things right and I should continue. All feedback is welcome.

I study poker for about 10-20 hours per week for the last 3-4 months (where most of my winnings started coming from). I studied from the MIT poker course, splitsuits videos on youtube and Crush Live poker mainly now (I sometimes double check my hands by using flopzilla or couple of my friends that also play at the same stake, I have none that I know that plays larger).

So here is my play style, I am what you would call a nit I guess ( I am still not sure why this is bad since it seems to be printing me money at these low stakes). I am not just waiting for pocket aces/kings ace king but pretty snug, on the button, I would have my widest range at it would usually not be above 15%. (my loosest range is something like this: 22+, AKo, AQo, AJo, ATo, A2s-A5s, KQo, KJo, QJs, JTs (only when deep and in position, sometimes QJo and JTo).

EP I open premiums and 99 (99-AA) for 5-6X ($15-$20) as well as AKo, AQo, AJs (AJo and ATo I fold). I open limp 77, 88. For low pocket pairs like 66 and lower and everything else, I fold. With premiums QQs+ I will 4 bet if 3 bet (queens I will fold to a 3bet shove or if an opponent is super tight). I prefer not to play jacks or tens OOP but I will call a light 3 bet (of $45 say especially if multiple people called, anything larger that is $60 I fold JJ and lower).

MP I increase my range to KQs, KJS and AJ, ATo, but will let go of these to a 3bet. I usually over limp or open limp with KQo, KJo or just fold.

LP I overlimp or call with A2s-5s if I am getting 3-4 callers in front of me. I will over limp QJ and J10, I will, however, open raise KJ and KQs almost 100%. I will 3 bet pretty 100% Ace-10/J/Q/K type of hand, suited or offsuit, and will 3 bet with 99s plus. (KQ/J suited I will sometimes, and ONLY if I have a super tight image, if i was card dead or just showed up with monsters, I will 3 bet bluff with).

I will set mine if pot odds are good or more likely if implied odds are more than 10X (I know some people are saying it should be 15-20x or even 25x so this may be a leak). If hit a set, I play pretty straight up, if I am OOP and there is a draw heavy/wet board I will not slow play, I will bet large and I will raise OOP on a wet board 3-4x. I will check raise oop if I have a good read on my opponents if I find that they will cbet a lot. On dry boards, I will bet small OOP and Call/check in position and then turn up the heat on the turn.

I don’t play suited connectors one gappers lower than JT unless I am on the BB and I check. In limped pots I just try to follow the rule of never going broke in a limped pot and I always try to play mathematically and usually fold second or third pair even if I hit if a bunch of people call in front of me (unless I got a draw and I am getting the pot odds for it).

I play pretty ABC post flop, if I hit, I will bet usually around 66-75% of pot, if I miss and I am in a position with hands like A/K I will call one street usually. If I was the original 3bet/raiser with 10s+ and an Ace or a king comes on the board (high cards good for my range) I will usually fire once or twice. Generally, I will C bet only if I hit the flop or if the turn will bring me the nuts/better equity (for example I have Ace 2 of spades and it is 8s/10/s/Kc). I fold TPTK to a 3X raise 90% when the opponent is likely to have a set or two pair, the 10% of the time I call when I do NOT block any draws (say there is an ace high board with two spades and I do NOT have Ace or King of spades it is more likely for my opponent to have a draw; I only do this with players that are higher thinking players like 2/5 players and really good 1/3 players since I noticed they sometimes do this with their draws). Other times I call a raise is when the opponent usually was very short, to begin with, and the SPR was already around 1.5 or less.

I don’t fold a set unless I have a read that the opponent has a flush draw and it gets there and even then, it is tough for me to fold, lately I started putting a blocker bet in these scenarios in case they don’t have the nut flush, they may call instead of just shoving. idk if this is correct line of thinking. (usually, I don’t care about straight draws, usually, I focus just on flush draws but this may be a leak).

As for bankroll, I am very surprised when people recommend 50 buyins and such, it seems to me that that is waaay to much variance, I cannot see myself losing more than 10buyins or even losing 3-4 buyins with this strat (of course I may be drastically overlooking things) playing 1/3. Now that I have 20buyins plus, would this not be a good enough bankroll to play poker regularly on the weekends and be profitable?

I did try online too, but man I feel it is waaaay harder, I could not beat 10NL. Heck, even 5NL at pokerstars zoom 4 tabling I feel like I may be a slightly loosing/breakeven player. Might be doe cuz I am bored and I am not using a tracker. Feels like a much different game, wherein casino people are just sooo impatient to play (I am guessing this is because of the 2hour wait times for poker in my city).

I know it is not much info unless you see my hand histories but still, I would like the general feedback to see if I am on the right path and what I need to do to get and keep getting better at the game (how to study more efficiently, books to read)!


Some more info:

I try to never bluff fish and calling stations.

I am also aware of other people being aware that I am tight, so if a good player calls and he has seen me fold hands for 2 hours prior, warning bells go off when he check-raises me if it makes sense that he has hit a set (otherwise they fold to a cbet). I usually play "slippery" here and don't mind folding top pair or over pairs like aces (This is usually against players that are good and that are well aware that I am playing tight and ofcourse if we are both deep, if SPR is low enough ill ship it). To counter this, I do 3bet sometimes with King Jack/Queen suited as i mentioned to steal a pot or two if they are folding too much to my aggression and giving me too much respect.

If new plays join and they have not seen me fold that much, I can usually get them when i do hit my hand, of course, i won't be trying to 3bet bluff them because they won't have a tight image of me yet. To add to this, this is where I make money. There seems to be alot more volume in 1/3 where players come and go in a session alot more often. I find that 3/4 other guys stay at the table while the rest of the seats are rotated. Here is where I make my money, yes the other 3/4 guys know I am tight and will fold when i 3bet with my aces but the newer ones wont be as likely and will pay me off.

Seems pretty good. I’d open 77+ UTG and add KQ/KJs. You should be opening much wider than 15% OTB. I usually don’t 3! AJ or worse, certainly not KQ/J. It would have to be in position against someone opening extremely wide.

You never mentioned how you play combo draws. Hopefully like you play your sets: very aggressively.

The way you play, 20BI is plenty.

Combo draws very much like sets, so say i have an up and down straight draw or two overs and a flush draw, I play it like a set (if i have equity of 50%-60%+).

I see, Ace Jack suited and Ace ten you would not 3 bet in position?

Noted on King Queen/Jack this is very rarely, like once or twice a month if it is a passive table. I usually don't do this.

Not if it’s an EP open. If it’s someone in MP or later who knows to widen their ranges by position (most Vs DO NOT do this at 1/3), yes I’d 3! AT and AJss.

Sounds like you're playing 2-3 times a month and mostly on the weekend in a reasonably big room. As you're already noticed, people who "know" you have already adjusted to your game and aren't profitable for you.

Even at this pace of play, you're going to find your profits eroding over time. If you start playing more frequently, the erosion will be faster as more players become familar with your play and you start playing in less favorable hours.

If your goal is to simply play occasionally at 1/3 for enjoyment and make a little money, you don't need to do anything further. I wouldn't waste any more money on study aids. If you want to start playing more and/or move up in stakes, you need to go back through the training materials you have and start implementing what is being taught. I got coaching from splitsuit 10 years ago and even then, he was teaching more advanced play than you are playing now. You've missed or didn't understand a lot of what was being presented.

Just taking a very quick overview it all seems ~fine to me (sure, there are parts that you could do something different but whatever). The main thing is that it sounds like you're likely doing a lot more work on your game than your opponents and overall have a style that is likely a lot better than theirs, so this'll hopefully outrun the rake at this level for a decent clip (for how much, time will tell I guess).

Responding to a wall-of-text is sometimes a little hard to to, so I'd simply recommend posting individual HHs where you had problems/questions and getting feedback, study, play, and rinse and repeat.

Ggoodluck,havefun!G

Agree with @venice10 regarding people eventually adjusting to your style and making your plays less profitable. Table selection will be important moving forward.

I personally think 200 hours is too small of a sample size to go by. I've gone months (I play 1-2 times/week) without having spots/cards that you're talking about. And when they do appear, it can be difficult (mentally) to make the correct play when you're on a downswing.

But I think overall, what you're doing is going to work out in the long wrong; just expect some obstacles along the way.

@venice10

What part would you say I missed from my post?
From my understanding, Split usually recommends playing more aggressive by 3betting and committing when spr is low enough.

What portion and advanced plays am I missing for 1/3, I'll go and check it back out if you have a link to videos or at least some titles?

Thanks for the feedback!

You can’t always play for the nuts. You also have to play ranges and exploit your opponents.