The last post was my (bad) emotions talk, and I already regret making it as it isn´t how I really think about the game and things in general (even though it might look so ).

Yeah, full ring also tilts me from time to time, and have the same effect (and the same posts lol). Agree with you entirely here. Though I won´t be playing today (and tomorrow due to irl stuff), I´m working on my game doing HH reviews and it´s going quite well.

Btw, today I was 2-tabling and the tilt came with only 3 minutes in the session

Cheers

Might I suggest playing a good amount of hands at nl2z to get more used to 6max zoom? Build up your confidence in the 6max zoom game at the lowest stakes where it's a lot easier, and move back to nl5z once you have a large enough sample of crushing nl2z. Sounds like that might be helpful for your mental game. If you don't think so, then keep plugging away at nl5z, and hopefully you'll get a good run that will help you to advance at the 6max zoom game lol.

@PokerPhilosopher Yeah, I think I’ll have to movedown to 2nlz anyway. Like, it’s the same game but I still need to get used to the action, the aggression etc. Thinking about either doing a wr thing over 100k hands til I’m satisfied with my performance, or a quick br building stuff

My only concern about going back to 2nl is getting bad habits again

GL

Again

PokerStars Zoom, Hold'em No Limit - $0.02/$0.05 - 6 players
Hand delivered by Upswing Poker

UTG (Hero): $5.46 (109 bb)
MP: $8.03 (161 bb)
CO: $5.03 (101 bb)
BU: $5.00 (100 bb)
SB: $5.18 (104 bb)
BB: $5.00 (100 bb)

Pre-Flop: ($0.07) Hero is UTG with A♣ A♠
Hero raises to $0.12, 4 players fold, BB 3-bets to $0.45, Hero 4-bets to $1.25, BB calls $0.80

Flop: ($2.52) Q♣ 9♦ 4♠ (2 players)
BB checks, Hero checks

Turn: ($2.52) 7♠ (2 players)
BB bets $1.21, Hero calls $1.21

River: ($4.94) 6♥ (2 players)
BB bets $2.54 (all-in), Hero calls $2.54

Total pot: $10.02 (Rake: $0.42)

Showdown:
BB shows Q♦ Q♠ (three of a kind, Queens)
(Equity - Pre-Flop: 18%, Flop: 91%, Turn: 95%, River: 100%)

UTG (Hero) shows A♣ A♠ (a pair of Aces)
(Equity - Pre-Flop: 82%, Flop: 9%, Turn: 5%, River: 0%)

BB wins $9.60

Ok, still on lifetilt due to all these things stars have been doing lately (the all in cashout thing, then the ridiculously low table cap which will obv eventually kill fullring, etc). Since I still really like this game (if I quit now, I know I´ll be back again in a few months, obv worse since I´ll forget most of what I learned), I just decided to cashout most of my roll, keep only 100 usd and figure out a plan.

Thought about moving to another site, but let´s be realistic, I´ll be exchanging these greedy a$$***** to actual scammers who will probably keep anything I might win or even worse. Can´t really think of any reputable site, but I´m open to suggestions. Btw, I trust RIO, and don´t mind anonymous tables, but unless HM2 launches an update fully functional for RIO HHs, I can´t really play there. Same reason I won´t be playing at party, even though I think they´re the better option right now (ok, there are bots there).

So, here´s the plan (if it seems like a post I made a few months ago, it´s not coincidence):

100$ - Start at NL2
150$ - Move up NL5

125$ - Move down NL2
300$ - Move up NL10

250$ - Move down NL5
480$ - Move up NL16

400$ - Move down NL10
750$ - Move up NL25

625$ - Move down NL16
1500$ - Move up NL50

1250$ - Move down NL25
3000$ - Mission accomplished. Get wasted one night then figure out what to do next.

Won´t play zoom, still have this mental block who says stars will try to ruin me by putting me into all these setups if I ever try again. So, will grind 4 6-max normal tables. Should get close to the same volume I was getting with 6 fullring tables, so nothing changes drastically. Who knows, maybe I´ll improve faster in the end.

Will start as soon as I´m calm enough to not want to break the entire house.

Cheers!

Hey, its the sets that crack the higher pocket pairs I like. I had AA cracked today by someone calling with K7d. Made straight on turn, shoulda folded, but did not. Was down, then came back with profit.

Try Bodog, same as Ignition, and hud works there, just session stats.

Also, a skin of WPN might work for you. Not sure what's available down south, they should have rakeback.

@FutureInsights Thanks dude, Bodog on my list. Will take a look at WPN tho, and might consider it if it´s also available here.

So, dropped the plan from the post #555 and decided to just withdraw about 100 USD and keep grinding 5nl. I´m very reluctant in going to 2nl as it´s a very surreal stake, and I remember having a lot of difficulty moving up to 5nl. Really afraid of getting bad habits which, while effective at 2nl, are pretty bad at 5nl and above.

Also won´t be playing zoom. Just found that 4 tabling 6-max normal gives almost the same H/Hr as 6 tabling full ring., so I won´t play less hands than I was playing before. Ok, 6-max is tougher, but I´ll keep working and hopefully will adapt well.

Anyway, losing hands from first session of today. As Always, any feedback will be hugely appreciated

H1: This line seemed fine. Also, while I don´t have any sample facing this line oop in 3bp, as a pfr tptk shows a profit after x, x/c, x/c.

PokerStars, Hold'em No Limit - $0.02/$0.05 - 6 players
Hand delivered by Upswing Poker

UTG: $5.58 (112 bb)
MP: $5.00 (100 bb)
CO: $6.34 (127 bb)
BU: $2.08 (42 bb)
SB (Hero): $5.52 (110 bb)
BB: $14.17 (283 bb)

Pre-Flop: ($0.07) Hero is SB with K♦ A♠
UTG raises to $0.10, 3 players fold, Hero 3-bets to $0.40, 1 fold, UTG calls $0.30

Flop: ($0.85) Q♣ 6♥ 3♣ (2 players)
Hero checks, UTG checks

Turn: ($0.85) A♦ (2 players)
Hero checks, UTG bets $0.40, Hero calls $0.40

River: ($1.65) T♠ (2 players)
Hero checks, UTG bets $1, Hero calls $1

Total pot: $3.65 (Rake: $0.15)

Showdown:
UTG shows A♥ 3♥ (two pair, Aces and Threes)
(Equity - Pre-Flop: 31%, Flop: 85%, Turn: 80%, River: 100%)

SB (Hero) mucks K♦ A♠ (a pair of Aces)
(Equity - Pre-Flop: 69%, Flop: 15%, Turn: 20%, River: 0%)

UTG wins $3.50

H2: MW 4 players otf, b, xc, xc line is losing with anything other than the nuts or a very strong hand. But xc turn with one pair is still fine (if river
goes xx obv).

PokerStars, Hold'em No Limit - $0.02/$0.05 - 6 players
Hand delivered by Upswing Poker

UTG (Hero): $5.00 (100 bb)
MP: $6.51 (130 bb)
CO: $4.12 (82 bb)
BU: $16.07 (321 bb)
SB: $5.00 (100 bb)
BB: $5.32 (106 bb)

Pre-Flop: ($0.07) Hero is UTG with J♦ A♣
Hero raises to $0.12, MP calls $0.12, CO calls $0.12, 2 players fold, BB calls $0.07

Flop: ($0.50) 6♠ A♠ 6♣ (4 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $0.25, MP calls $0.25, 2 players fold

Turn: ($1) 3♠ (2 players)
Hero checks, MP bets $0.25, Hero calls $0.25

River: ($1.50) 4♦ (2 players)
Hero checks, MP bets $0.72, Hero calls $0.72

Total pot: $2.94 (Rake: $0.12)

Showdown:
MP shows 8♠ K♠ (a flush, Ace high)
(Equity - Pre-Flop: 39%, Flop: 33%, Turn: 91%, River: 100%)

UTG (Hero) mucks J♦ A♣ (two pair, Aces and Sixes)
(Equity - Pre-Flop: 61%, Flop: 67%, Turn: 9%, River: 0%)

MP wins $2.82

H3: Thought really hard if posting a nitty fold vs a maniac would be a good idea, as it might be a trivial spot for everyone here besides me. Villain was playing 60/19, 15.8 3b, 18.2 4b range, af 14 (over only 43 hands). Even though he seems a fish/maniac, sample is small and it might be that he´s getting good cards. Also, I operate under the assumption that small bets like that from fish are stronger. But the main reason to fold was that I wasn´t sure how I would play postflop.

I considered three ideas: 1) Moving AI preflop. 2) play very aggressive and try to be ai on the flop or, worst case, turn, on any board texture without the big cards (A, K, maybe Q). 3) x/c all the way until the river unless a A or a K (or a Q maybe) shows up. Anyway, just folded.

Also not sure if 77 is still fine as a 3bet vs UTG or too loose.

PokerStars, Hold'em No Limit - $0.02/$0.05 - 6 players
Hand delivered by Upswing Poker

UTG: $10.71 (214 bb)
MP: $5.96 (119 bb)
CO: $5.59 (112 bb)
BU: $11.54 (231 bb)
SB (Hero): $5.00 (100 bb)
BB: $3.64 (73 bb)

Pre-Flop: ($0.07) Hero is SB with 7♣ 7♠
UTG raises to $0.12, 3 players fold, Hero 3-bets to $0.50, BB 4-bets to $0.88, 1 fold, SB (Hero) folds

Total pot: $1.12 (Rake: $0)
BB wins $1.12



Cheers

Edit: About the 77 hand, forgot another possible action: having an aggressive player on my left, just fold the more marginal hands.

Hand 1 is played fine

Hand 2 - strange hand, can maybe fold river if we give him AQ as well as flushes. He called the cbet MW so his range should be a bit stronger combined with a MP flatting range and his value heavy river sizing. Annoying fold, not sure I would make it in real time.

Hand 3 - I would actually flat this pre given that if we hit a set we are more likely to stack a maniac and if we 3bet he will fold pretty often. we kinda want him in the pot


Highly recommend hopping in the zoom pool today, people are literally giving away money =)

Thanks @291. Same thing in the normal tables, laughing a lot here esp during this 2nd session

One funny thing is that a lot of fr regs are now playing 6-max as stars ruined their bread and butter . Looking forward to see how these guys will adapt to the action game, since most of them are nits playing 11/9 or lower at 9-max lol.

I have different thoughts than @291.

H1: I thought I mentioned not 3 betting AK, especially off suit. However, I would call the 10 cents, and then you are kinda stuck. But the pot would have been smaller, and the subsequent bets. Do not know if a x/r on the turn would have slowed villian down. With AK, prefer to hit K on flop vs A, since there are those Ax's out there.

H2: on flop, what is MP calling with? Vs x/r, which is also another move? When spade hits turn, or the paired on flop, and the 4 on river, you have so many combos that beat. its okay to lay down hand every once in awhile.

H3: not sure if I would have called 3 or 4 bet with that hand either. That is not in my 3 bet calling range for SB, in fact, its a fold (remember those ranges I mentioned, you want something strong enough to stand those maniac raises.)

@FutureInsights Thanks for the feedback

H1: Yeah, I remember you saying that. I´m still following standard lines, and I really think AKo works better as a 3bet than a call oop. Don´t you think a x/r ott would fold all worse hands in his range? By x/c he can valuebet with worse, try to bluff etc. That was my reasoning.
Yeah, a K is less vulnerable than the A obv, but I don´t think he would x all the way to showdown if he has a worse Ax. So I still get some value by allowing him to bet.

H2: I can´t think of a xr range in all board textures that I remember, when multiway. Do you have one on this board, 4-way? Yeah, should have folded otr, I don´t have a mass database to see villain´s tendencies, but approximating it with my own ranges and winnings after facing this line seems to indicate that spots like this are massively underbluffed, and are actually the nuts or close to the nuts.

H3: Agree, either flatting as 291 suggested, or folding, should be better than my line lol.

GL!

Hope gives something to think about. Thebosspoker seems to be losing streams after 14 days, so initial strat, which was good, but needed improvement, is gone. Again, revisit those ranges, need to tighten up a bit for 6 max, and define those 3 bet and 4 bet ranges by position (my 4 bet or call 4 bet range matches all positions at this time). A3o is an example of not being in any range 6 max 5nl nor 25nl, unless are you feeling lucky today?

About H2, when I said massively underbluffed, I meant after he bet river. Lots of times he´d check river and my tpgk is good (according to my database).

Thanks for the feedback @FutureInsightys, really appreciated.

Cheers

H1: Is perfectly fine imo. 3bet is completely standard with the top of our range, if we don't even 3bet AK here, we just can turn our cards face up, shove all in and ask our opponent politely to call our aces.
Flop cbet is good, x/c, x/c is ok with TPTK, but I can see myself making the fold on the river, since the T drastically decreases the combos villain could bet for value, that we beat. But I'm also kind of a showdown nit, because of the 2NL tendency to value on the river.

H2: Seems ok. As 291 says, his range should have connected well with the board, for hom calling a cbet 4-way. Without knowing anything about Villain, and not knowing if he ever 3bets etc. he probably has alot of Broadways, Pockets, suited connectors and Ax. As I can see him overplaying some of his SDV hands like worse Ax and good pockets, I'd probably call the small bets on the turn and the river as well.

H3: If we want to play 77 from the SB, we want to 3bet it. But I wouldn't do so against active and aggresive opponents, only against opponents which are very timid against vs 3bets. But flatting from the SB is throwing away money imo.

@wakenrake Thanks for your feedback, relly appreciated.



So, played my first full day of 6-max normal yesterday. This time with no option to go back to fr (unless I want to reduce volume even more lol).

With the big # of tables running, no excuse to ignore table selection. Like, we bleed so fast from the blinds that sitting on the right tables is key to keep some smoothness to our results and redline.

Not saying it’s impossible to beat aggressive tables. Just too much variance involved, and unlike fr, we don’t need it when there are so many tables running even during off-peak times.

Cheers

That is so off the mark. 3 betting polarizes our range, says we are strong, including the 4 bet. If everyone is 3 betting AK here, then if we don't, and AK on flop, they do not expect us to have it. With AA - QQ, we want to narrow the drawing hands, AK can either hit the flop, or give us a good draw. IP, it gives us a good bluff, because again, no one is expecting us to just call with AK. Varying play is more balanced than do it by the book.

I did not read everything but in march you were at 5nl and you still are, you seem to have played alot of hands too why are you not going up the stakes?

@GodforsakenDwan Tried a lot moving up to 10nl, failed everytime. Probably a mix of still not having what it takes to win at 10nl and mental game issues. Not giving up since, knowing myself, if I quit now I will return in a few months and my abilities will be back to 0.
Since I still do like this game, I´ll insist until I get there, all poker sites close shop, major nuclear war or whatever catastrophe happens.



Playing a session of FR (can´t really stay away from this marvelous game, the true poker game in my opinion). While it´s slow, I have to say 4-tabling FR is almost a form of meditation. While even 6 tables put a strain after a few hours, 4 tabling is extremely relaxing. If not for the need to get some sleep, irl stuff, going out etc, could play non-stop at this pace. Redline also saying thank you lol. Maybe bc it´s sunday, maybe not, but regs are not adjusting well to the extra time they have

Cheers!

I recommend dropping snowie and all solvers until you reach much higher stakes. Actually I was listening to a poker podcast recently where it was said that nl10 players who spend 6 months with a solver become 5nl players or something, you seem to use snowie to help improve, but you play 5nl.. I'm not familiar with snowie but it must be giving you balanced strategies problem is your population is too unbalanced and you need to learn how to adapt exploit

It was carroters' podcast he wrote ''The Grinder's Manual: A Complete Course in Online No Limit Holdem 6-Max Cash Games'' you should read it if you havent already it was huge for my game. Good luck

I have to say, while I still think stars management are a bunch of a$$*****, this change will most likely improve game quality at the micros. I’m aware that a lot of these 16-24 tablers playing 5-25nl from eastern europe and a few other countries play for a living, and if they win, as I think they can, it’s perfectly doable. Now, they have only 3 options: zoom, moving up, or quit.

So, even though it’s sad those guys are losing their “jobs” after contributing for so long to stars bottom line, my coldblooded side is celebrating right now.

I watched Carroters FTGU RIO course, it’s great. The guy has a nice way of explaining complex subjects in a way almost anyone can understand. Yeah, following snowie to the letter is suicide, and I learned this already. Still think we need to know what is the optimal way of playing poker to understand why unl players for the most part suck.

But yeah, don’t mimic snowie if you want to win at the lower stakes

I’m also learning to use a real solver, not to play gto obv, but to build accurate exploits based on db analysis and population reads.

Btw, thank you very much for the advice!

Ah bro, I think you're overthinking it. Trying to deceive other fish by calling one of our best starting hands pre instead of 3betting sounds really -EV to me.

Think about all the equity we lose from opponents folding to our 3bet. All the times we are not able to realize our equity straight on the flop with a cbet and all those situation where it benefits us to be the preflop aggressor. All lost because of a weird "balancing" argument.

Rather balance your 3betting range with real bluffs such as A2s - A5s, some blocker hands for K and Q and some lower suited connectors you 3bet at a 50% and below frequency.

Next thing you should think about is rake. We want as little postflop action as possible because of no flop no drop. The rake is killing us at the micros. (After 25k hands my winrate atm before rake would be 17bb/100 before rake, but after rake it's only 10.5bb/100).

Last argument for 3betting in this specific spot: we don't want to play OOP. Not even one of our best starting hands like AK. With 3betting there is a chance of our opponent folding, by calling there is not. But if we have to play OOP, then we want to do so as the preflop aggressor.
So a flatting range in SB is deadly for your winrate. Just look at your winnings when flatting OOP.


@FazendeiroBH you really should take a look at the grinder's manual ad GodforsakenDwan said. It really help my understanding of the game immensly. I nearly studied the whole thing now and will soon start a second round with focussing on a specific topic for a while. Should be a good addition to From the Ground up. Also take a look at Modern 3betting Ranges (also by Peter Clarke). It was the base for my 3betting gameplan, which works pretty well, even though it needs some refinement still it works really well (might have to tighten up the early position 3bets considerably if opponents open as tight as they do in 2NL). I can hook you up with both if you want to, just shoot me a message.

The solver-quote was something like: you can give a player who's beating 10NL+ a solver and when he works with it without guidance he'll be a player who can't beat 2NL after a few months.

And finally, sorry for derailing your thread a bit

New to the forum will be following. GL OP!

+1 to @wakenrake, everything you said was spot on. I´ll mix flatting AKo when vs UTG open but besides that it´s always a 3b pre.

I hate to beg but a closed mouth don´t get fed so can you hook me up with that grinders manual as well? I´d appreciate it!

I´ll probably end up also getting the book lol. I thought the video course by him would be a good (and updated) material, but you guys convinced me

The thing about the SB (the spot from that hand), is that I don´t like to have a calling range there unless the BB is really a big passive fish who might fold otherwise. So my 3b is not even polarized up there, just a linear range that I grow (or shrink) based on opponents stats etc.

Vs a big nit playing 8/6 or tighter and opening utg on a fr table, I don´t think AKo would be a good 3bet candidate. Better call or fold depending on who´s behind right?

Cheers