About myself: Ive known how to play and the rules for about 10 months, I wanted to start taking poker seriously a few months ago, ive had many unsuccessful deposits, but my game has come on a lot since then. Only recently have I actually started to post HH's and comment on others and to study the game.

I don't want to go pro or make it to the nosebleeds, if i was a winning player at 25nl in a year, that would be great, just a side income is all im looking for.

Lifetime graph. Note: This is not all my hands as I use two computers :/



As the graph shows, im a losing player at 2nl, however, after being disgusted by my graph, i took a coupe of weeks off and came back at around hand 24.7k, where you can see a decent improvement.

In those 2 weeks I read a lot of strategy, posted some hands, commented on a lot of others, spoke with friends about poker, my game and theirs.

I made this thread as a step of progression, where i can post hands, talk more with other poker players and hopefully stay motivated at 2nl...

Atm im running fairly bad, and as a result tilting, definitely not as bad as i used to though which is a good thing. By running bad, its the standard KK vs AA, AA vs JTo/KJo etc...

Starting bankroll: $25:44 With 27% rakeback.
Current bankroll: $26:66
Target: $100

As my PT3 is a trial version, I keep track of my sessions the old fashioned way.

So far: 4505 hands, $1.22 Profit, WR: 1.35/100.

Hey OP. Probably the best advice I could give you at nl2 would be stick to ABC poker. The players at that level don't bluff and never will be pushed out of a pot if they have at least a pair. So value bet value bet and value bet again and you'll see a major improvement in your graphs. Don't try to get fancy. Just build the roll up and fix your tactics when you start playing better players at higher levels.

Full Tilt Poker $0.01/$0.02 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players
The Official 2+2 Hand Converter Powered By DeucesCracked.com

MP: $1.92
Hero (CO): $2.02
BTN: $2.31
SB: $2.03
BB: $1.95
UTG: $1.07

Pre Flop: ($0.03) Hero is CO with J J
UTG calls $0.02, MP calls $0.02, Hero raises to $0.14, 4 folds, MP calls $0.12

Flop: ($0.33) 2 7 3 (2 players)
MP checks, Hero bets $0.22, MP calls $0.22

Turn: ($0.77) 5 (2 players)
MP checks, Hero bets $1.66 all in, MP calls $1.56 all in

River: ($3.89) A (2 players - 2 are all in)

So first hand to post, not sure about the shove, board is super wet, villain is loose/passive, typical 2 no limiter.

kinda tilt shove as i cant really bet, knowing hell flat a super monster draw, and a shove he cant really call, at least i thougt not...

Whats everyone doing here?

from hand 24.7k onwards i implemented putting people on a range of hands, learning player tendancies and value betting

Full Tilt Poker $0.01/$0.02 No Limit Hold'em - 5 players
The Official 2+2 Hand Converter Powered By DeucesCracked.com

BTN: $2.02
Hero (SB): $2.87
BB: $2.00
UTG: $1.69
CO: $1.36

Pre Flop: ($0.03) Hero is SB with K J
1 fold, CO calls $0.02, 1 fold, Hero raises to $0.12, 1 fold, CO calls $0.10

Flop: ($0.26) 7 K 9 (2 players)
Hero bets $0.16, CO calls $0.16

Turn: ($0.58) 6 (2 players)
Hero bets $0.30, CO calls $0.30

River: ($1.18) 5 (2 players)
Hero bets $0.42, CO calls $0.42


This is why i hate 2nl with a passion, i see no other way of playing this, really how the hell does the hand play like this bull****? 150 hands into this session and im tilted already....

ok just had AK vs a set, i dont think poker is for me, 2nl isnt beatable unless your chip star1 and run like god.

ok scrap my earlier best advice. new advice.. stop tilting.

Great hand dude, gl

best advice for 2nl form someone who beated for 2nl 12ptbb/100 in 60k hands and now is playing 25nl (winning lol):

BE WEAK TIGHT

scrap my post, ill still play 2nl, but its emotional torture

WEAK TIGHT? yea......................

i know exactly how u feel... everyone is saying 2nl is super easy to beat and then u look at your graph and it makes u sick...i went through this too.

i started to play profitable at 2NL (about 2-4bb/100) after >80k hands!

i tried out alot of different strategies and playstyles and here's a short summary of my adjustments:

1. cut out dominated hands out of your range, especially in early positions.
(KJ hand..)

personally i dont think there's alot of value on 2NL to steal/raise the blinds unless u have a good read on your opponents (preflop nit's, high %fold to preflop raise etc...)

2. bet for value but dont overvalue TopPair. if opponent shows strength try to get cheap to the showdown. its tight-weak-play here but lot of the times he's calling / raising u with a dominated hand (if u do 1.) and u'll take it down.
knowing WHY u bet is SUPER important imo. @2nl u should only bet if you're favorite. again: if u have good reads u can adjust

3. play ABC TAG/TW-style... its boring i know but this worked for me @2nl. the problem with LAG and similar is that u will find yourself in a lot of marginal situations. unless you're a really good player its not recommendable to be there.

4. there are 2NL reg's too! find them and mark them! they're massive multitabling and NITplaying... avoid theirs 3bet and setmining!

the funny thing is, u will have stats like 16%vpip / 10%preflopraise / 5% 3bet
but u will still have enough action. i think ppl at 2nl only care about they're own holecards.

hope this helps so that u dont have to play 100k++ hands @2nl like me...

sorry for my bad english (:
achievement unlocked : first post on 2p2 after hanging around at 2p2 for months ...

great 1st post tbh,

1) i do this very well i think, i understand that KJ/QJ is a fold to a raise, its too marginal. Hmm, some say steal like mad, others say dont, i will steal against weak blinds and with hands of moderate strength (Q7+ roughly).

2) I do this also well i think, i understand reasoning for betting v well, fold equity, the range villain has, double barrelling and the board texture with it mixed in with villains tendencies.

3) I think i play pretty LAG imo, like 28/24, i should probably tighten up but im scared of becoming a nit and i wanted to improve my post-flop play.

4) I recognise the regs pretty well and abuse them, i will 3bet there BTN raises/SB raises, i use the HH to check if there BTN/SB raising a lot.

My lifetime stats are 17/11, 3bet 6.5%.

@10bb/100 i could move upto 5nl in 36k hands, not including rakeback.

Your english is great, thanks for the post, helped me to think about my play in more depth and realise the majority of my losses are at showdown/tilting and this is something that needs to change asap.

@2p2tib, do you fancy checking the HH's i posted, just a quick view on what you think would be great, if/when you have time.

you don't belive me?

you play full ring or short handed?

first of all, u sound very experienced 10bb/100 is nice winrate imo!

my thoughts on:

JJ hand :

your read on villain is loose/passive. so he can easily have hands like weak suited ace , any speculative hand like qj, 89 , 56s or low pp like 22-55. eitherway i would proceed cautiously after the flop call. imo u have a good self-perspective and u said it by yourself it was kinda tilt shove...

KJ hand :

.. problem here is: if u slow down and check the turn, most ppl on 2nl read weekness and put pressure with ATC on u... regardless, i would have c/c turn (weak tight again and to potcontrol a bit :P)here. on the other hand he would not limp with hands like AK, KQ, KK etc and u could be ahead with KJ. after calling the turn with the 6d (kinda scary), i'd shutdown and safe the last 42c

that's my opinion. feel free to discuss (disagree) so we can improve

Hi YouFaiil. Like someone has mentioned do you play 6max or Full Ring? I take it that its mainly 6max? Have you tried Full Ring? You never know it may be suited more to your style and there should be a bit less varience.
Someone mentioned playing weak tight, and i agree it can defnatley work at these stakes without a doubt, obviously as you move up its not going to and you will have to ramp up the agression.
Theres a couple of threads below that i dont know if you have read before, they are from the Full Ring Forum and are two of the best threads that i have read when i was struggling to beat 25nl, people should have to pay to read things like this. Read these two threads and take a lot of it in and you will be winning in no time.
http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/78...micros-430637/
http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/78...clinic-564111/

Hope they are of some help to you.

As for the hands you have posted, i play full ring so not sure of the dynamics of 6max but the JJ hand, Flop is fine, turn you have no need to shove. By shoving you are forcing villains to call with a hand that usually crushes you. I think you can bet about 3/4 pot here if you are raised then we can fold. If called we still have position and will usually have the option of checking behind when the ace falls. If the villain donks the river for a big amount, again the option is there to fold. Again i dont think theres much point in shoving the turn we will usually be crushed or facing a big combo draw if called.

The KJ hand is fine the way you have played it up to and including the turn. We are fine betting that turn and folding if we are raised. On the river unfortunatley its a check fold situation barring some big read on the villain. The flush draw already got there on the turn and now 4 cards to the straight are on the board, we are hardly ever in front here, check/fold and find a better spot. Hand well played up to the river for me.

As a sufferer of quite bad tilt myself its defnatley one thing you could do with trying to get in check very early as it will cost you a lot WHEN you move up. The Poker Mindset is a really good book for it and worth a read if you get chance, also a program called Tilt Buster in the Software forum is quite cheap and may be of some use.

Its hard but just trying to remember that people are bluffing a lot less than you want to give them credit for and also learning to fold in the right spots are little things that will help you move up a bit quicker.

Anyway hope some of that babble is of use to you and good luck.

@2p2tib, I think my main leaks are tilt and not folding in tough spots, i 100% hate building a 50bb pot to then fold my hand, I agree with c/f the river, im not sure why but i strongly believed he had KJ/KT/K9, and that 0.42 into 1.14 was kind of block/value.

@MartL, will read those threads, im open to putting in the time to get results.
Yes I play 6max, I prefer the more hands, more aggression/more skill style thats attached to it.

After reading the responses to the hands, I'll still give poker 100%, I love the game, for now, I think controlling tilt, implementing some WT play and I think I need to re-evaluate my hand and the board at each street.

For the JJ hand, it was kind of tilt, I was really looking for a fold though, as calling a 50bb shove to see 1 card? - maybe overthinking 2nl'ers again.

Onwards and upwards, more HH's will come today I think.

[ ] this thread will last more than a week before youfaiil goes back to bbv and post about how unbeatable 2nl is.

DUM DUM DUMMM

QFT

NOT QFT

here is a question, a legit helpful question. do you actually study the game? do you actually analyze your hand sessions and ask why you can play differently? do you read threads? or do you bitch bitch post in bbv, and then think if I say I'm gonna take poker seriously and make a goals thread, I will be a winner after losing for 30k hands at 2NL. bro, you lost 30k hands at 2NL, the lowest level in poker. if you don't change how you play and how you think, you will NEVER win. making threads change nothing.

and you don't have to convince anyone how hard you work, because if you do work hard, you won't be losing. be honest and stop wishing things change on their own.

watching you lose at 2NL, and tell the 2+2 forum how unbeatable is... its pitiful...

have some pride...

donnyz you need banning lol, i was tilting, a LOT, ive never posted about 2nl in BBV?

Well see how far I go, btw what limits do you play? you must play 50nl right with the awesome advice your giving me, oh wait, TROLL.

I don't play 50nl but I can tell you I started playing 3 months ago and went through 2nl 5nl 10nl and is starting to play 25nl. I don't post about bad beats and I don't think poker is unbeatable.

good luck.

you say I troll when I'm trying to put poker in perspective for you, if you see NOTHING wrong with your posts and how you think, then carry on. looking forward to your next post about being sucked out by 2nl donks.

GL on beating 2NL everybody says play TAG/TW i play a LAG style there and i find it to be succesful my winrate is like 27-33/bb. It could be twice that if I stop making some of my senseless bluffs. You seem to like to play aggro its pretty simple find out who the multitabling nits are sit two or three seats to their right so you can open a REALLY WIDE range of hands on the button and cutoff and if there is a donk in between the both of you take advantage on the cutoff when he's in the blind and take advantage of position but against them you tighten your range slightly. Also (this sounds stupid but its not) call/3bet the mass multitablers pf raises in position with suited connectors and one gappers ( avoid KJo,QJo,ATo,AJo aka dominated hands against them) and stack them with 2pr+ they never see it coming with their overpairs. If there is a very loose table just raise build big pots in position with the loose donks, find out if they are fit fold type players or floaters who'll call down with middle pair and worse and then adjust to their postflop game to own their souls. One last very important thing learn when to fold and when you should check behind or fire your value bet/bullet. It might sound really stupid but it works for me. GL

Cliffs
Take advantage of position
Steal from massmultitabling nits
Get reads(learn who can fold to your double barrels)
Use implied odds (aka when you crack nits overpairs and they give you their 100bb+ stacks)
Learn to fold when beaten(just accept that you have been beaten and that you will get them next time)

As I said its a little bit unorthodox for 2NL but it works for me.

just from looking at your showdown winnings it's obvious you play too much crap

+1
and that he cant fold on the river

True i cant and this, i think along with tilt, is my biggest leak for 2nl.

Full Tilt Poker $0.01/$0.02 No Limit Hold'em - 4 players
The Official 2+2 Hand Converter Powered By DeucesCracked.com

SB: $0.76
BB: $5.96
CO: $2.18
Hero (BTN): $2.01

Pre Flop: ($0.02) Hero is BTN with Q Q
1 fold, CO raises to $0.06, Hero raises to $0.20, 1 fold, CO calls $0.14

Flop: ($0.42) T 5 7 (2 players)
CO checks, Hero bets $0.27, CO calls $0.27

Turn: ($0.96) K (2 players)
CO checks, Hero bets $0.65, CO raises to $1.30, Hero requests TIME, Hero folds

Ok so thought process, hes 25/19 playing a wide range, and a min raise at the micros is normally very strong, im only beating 1 pair and due to his c/c on the flop and a min raise at on the turn. I immediately put him on KT/set

Questions, can i ever call here, i feel like im way behind his 25/19 range? Is my bet sizing ok?

Probably a standard hand, but folding is a new thing to me .