My point is that the advice me an Kockar gave OP has to do with fixing something that likely are fundamental mistakes that cost money on every stake, that often are obvious from stats (even if you don't get the whole story from stats). For example OP's 3bet% and fold flop %.

Don't know how OP uses GTO software, but it can be a good tool to find exploits vs weak player tendencies. Not saying this is too important right now.

Solid fundamentals > exploitative poker > being worried about getting exploited

I do get where you are coming from, and with vpip/pfr this may be true somewhat, but, you still should come at it from the other angle. Why is 3betting more like 12% overall better? Well most players at 10nl are overfolding to three bets preflop because they are either playing too wide or are nits. Then postflop they make bigger mistakes as they fold to much again. Why should you fold less to cbets? Because a lot of players at 10nl who have learnt cbetting 30-60% is a magic play that auto profits don't think about spots they should actually check and therefore raising or floating is going to be very profitable.

I used to be very much of your viewpoint: there is a kinda range of numbers that you should be in for most stats, get those first and then you exploit from there. The problem with this is you then begin for example calling a tonne on the flop but don't understand how to play turn because the flop call was just to improve that number.

If you go "ok villain is cbetting too much OTF giving him a wider weaker range. therefore to exploit we should raise more hands we would before be folding, as they will over fold and call more hands that have no real equity but can bluff turn when they check because the board texture isn't good for villains actual range." Then the stats will naturally improve and hero will understand more of why he is doing it. Also this will lead to understanding more spots that can be exploited.

I would say that at 10nlz you can exploit players by tells almost as if you were playing live as well :'D but that's a whole different level

Hey OP, sure we've probably played a few hands together as I'm also in the same pool. good luck!

Yeah I like this and it's valuable information, and glad someone gives more insight. It's a good habit to ask follow-up questions though. Since everything cant be squeezed in one or two posts.

Thank you very much for your valuable time, that you put into my miserable stats review and tips that you provided guys! I see that I suck on so many levels I am really glad for your constructive posts here. Now I have a lot of things to think about and a lot of work to do. I am really glad that you made me turn this thread from coolers posting into something useful!

It starts with one "aha"-moment and then they start piling up We root for you.

I was clueless a couple months ago, even if I've played a lot back in the day with a small winrate. Finally things start to click and I notice how much there is to learn.

funny hand

PokerStars - $0.10 NL FAST (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BTN: 165.8 BB
SB: 100 BB
Hero (BB): 270.9 BB
UTG: 142.6 BB
MP: 100 BB
CO: 205.2 BB

SB posts SB 0.5 BB, Hero posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has A A

fold, fold, CO raises to 3 BB, fold, fold, Hero raises to 12 BB, CO raises to 31 BB, Hero raises to 73 BB, CO calls 42 BB

Flop: (146.5 BB, 2 players) 6 4 4
Hero bets 42 BB, CO calls 42 BB

Turn: (230.5 BB, 2 players) 6
Hero bets 114.5 BB, CO calls 90.2 BB and is all-in

River: (410.9 BB, 2 players) K
Players agreed to run it twice.

River #2: (410.9 BB, 2 players) Q

Hero shows A A (Two Pair, Aces and Sixes)
Board #1 (Pre 79%, Flop 90%, Turn 5%)
(Two Pair, Aces and Sixes)
Board #2 (Pre 80%, Flop 89%, Turn 5%)

CO shows 6 8 (Full House, Sixes full of Fours)
Board #1 (Pre 21%, Flop 10%, Turn 95%)
(Full House, Sixes full of Fours)
Board #2 (Pre 20%, Flop 11%, Turn 95%)

CO wins 198 BB
CO wins 197.9 BB

You could actually go even smaller OTF. Btw, you're still posting coolers instead of actual hands that you can learn something from

must bet otr oop? sizing otf and ott bigger?

PokerStars - $0.10 NL FAST (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BTN: 120.6 BB
SB: 103.6 BB
BB: 129.2 BB
Hero (UTG): 168.4 BB
MP: 161.1 BB
CO: 13.7 BB

SB posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has A Q

Hero raises to 3 BB, fold, CO calls 3 BB, BTN calls 3 BB, fold, fold

Flop: (10.5 BB, 3 players) A 3 8
Hero bets 5.2 BB, fold, BTN calls 5.2 BB

Turn: (20.9 BB, 2 players) 6
Hero bets 13 BB, BTN calls 13 BB

River: (46.9 BB, 2 players) 8
Hero checks, BTN checks

Hero shows A Q (Two Pair, Aces and Eights)
(Pre 58%, Flop 62%, Turn 80%)
BTN mucks K T (One Pair, Eights)
(Pre 42%, Flop 38%, Turn 20%)
Hero wins 44.8 BB

I'm probably going to bet/fold the river vs an unknown at 10nl. If you think he is a player who knows he needs to bluff to win and is likely to pull the trigger when he needs to then you can check to him.

seems like bet fold river here right? x/c x/c x/r is supermassive strong line. actually cant see nothing more than QQ 99 here.

PokerStars - $0.10 NL FAST (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BTN: 132.1 BB
SB: 100 BB
BB: 83.2 BB
UTG: 121.6 BB
MP: 163 BB
Hero (CO): 101.9 BB

SB posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has J A

UTG raises to 2.5 BB, fold, Hero calls 2.5 BB, fold, fold, fold

Flop: (6.5 BB, 2 players) Q 9 9
UTG checks, Hero bets 3.1 BB, UTG calls 3.1 BB

Turn: (12.7 BB, 2 players) 5
UTG checks, Hero bets 6.3 BB, UTG calls 6.3 BB

River: (25.3 BB, 2 players) 6
UTG checks, Hero bets 13.5 BB, UTG raises to 45 BB, Hero calls 31.5 BB

UTG shows Q Q (Full House, Queens full of Nines)
(Pre 68%, Flop 99%, Turn 100%)
Hero mucks J A (Flush, Ace High)
(Pre 32%, Flop 1%, Turn 0%)
UTG wins 110.1 BB

Month so far. Worst month of poker in my life.


5BI more and I am moving down.

Had a nice stat and strategy session with StewieStag. Thank you!

Coolers of today

The coolers really suck men, hard to keep have faith things will turn around. Maybe playing lower isn't that bad for a period of time. Or playing less ZOOM tables or even regular tables could be a solution? Hold on!

Just a quick question; Have you ever thought about playing on an other site with the volume your playing?

I can play only PS or PP in Czech Republic. I hate PP software so much that I am not able to play there. Played only few 10k hands there and was not able to adapt..

I started to play less zoom tables, and started to apply some strategy hints I got from StewieStag. Hope I am on good way now as the session with him was huuuuuge eye opener. Feeling shame that I got stucked for half a year without progressing and just mindlessly grinding.. (actually regressing)

Are you folding here?

PokerStars - $0.10 NL FAST (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BTN: 47.9 BB
SB: 154.7 BB
BB: 114.5 BB
UTG: 339.9 BB
MP: 91.2 BB
Hero (CO): 230.2 BB

SB posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has T T

fold, fold, Hero raises to 3 BB, fold, SB calls 2.5 BB, fold

Flop: (7 BB, 2 players) T 8 2
SB checks, Hero bets 6 BB, SB calls 6 BB

Turn: (19 BB, 2 players) 9
SB checks, Hero bets 14 BB, SB calls 14 BB

River: (47 BB, 2 players) K
SB bets 131.7 BB and is all-in, fold

SB wins 44.9 BB

I'm calling that down all day, probably a busted flush draw turned into a bluff IMO. I think your more likely ahead 80%+ of the time here only losing to the straight combos. Also if he was holding QJ here he probably would have check-raised the turn or value bet the river instead of shoving.

This is unbelievably gross, I actually really like the fold here. I think any player notes/reads and really important to make the hero call here.

From my experience, this is always the nuts and people rarely turn a busted draw into a bluff (which is smart because that is suicidal lol). 100BB deep this could be two pair or a set that is overplaying and it is a snap call, this deep it's a straight or air.

Opening from the CO we have all combos of QJs, QJo and 67s so not too worried about being exploited.

If the line Villain check raised all in we would probably find a fold with TT so I don't like paying him off just because he took a fishy line.

Additionally, although I think this is never a bluff, if you believe Villain does turn some missed draws into bluffs then KQ without a diamond actually acts as a better bluff catcher.

Thank you for comment. I agree with all that you have said. At nl10 this is close to 0% that he is bluffing here imho. btw I see you often at the tables, GL!

Worst month in poker in my 4mio hands experience. Never lost more than 20Bi in month before.

What to say.. I feel like I cant win a single hand. I make a lot of mistakes..


This month I made 4bb with QQ.

Next month I am moving to NL2. Actually considering give up. I am brainless if I cant beat NL10 after 8 months and it is not being so much fun last few months..


NL10 lifetime.



Distribution NL10 lifetime



and then hands like this were my daily bread this month..

PokerStars - $0.10 NL FAST (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BTN: 99.5 BB
SB: 115.8 BB
BB: 107.7 BB
Hero (UTG): 142.3 BB
MP: 100 BB
CO: 137.8 BB

SB posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has A A

Hero raises to 3 BB, fold, fold, fold, SB raises to 8 BB, fold, Hero raises to 21 BB, SB calls 13 BB

Flop: (43 BB, 2 players) J 5 8
SB checks, Hero bets 11 BB, SB raises to 52.6 BB, Hero raises to 121.3 BB and is all-in, SB calls 42.2 BB and is all-in

Turn: (232.6 BB, 2 players) T

River: (232.6 BB, 2 players) 7

SB shows 7 7 (Three of a Kind, Sevens)
(Pre 20%, Flop 13%, Turn 14%)
Hero shows A A (One Pair, Aces)
(Pre 80%, Flop 87%, Turn 86%)
SB wins 222.1 BB

Hey man - no shame in taking some time at lower stakes to rebuild confidence. We all have leaks in our games that need plugging and it's definitely easier doing that at lower stakes.

I find my game can be really confidence based and when I start on a downswing I really begin to question my ability and that affects my play. I always hear players saying they believe they can beat any stakes and that they're the best player etc. I have pretty much never felt this lol. Only recently have I begun to believe a bit more in myself and I think it's showing in my results.

Whatever you do - good luck and don't give up! Maybe taking a break might help?

spew?

PokerStars - $0.10 NL FAST (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BTN: 101.5 BB
SB: 91.4 BB
Hero (BB): 138.9 BB
UTG: 129.8 BB
MP: 111.5 BB
CO: 166.2 BB

SB posts SB 0.5 BB, Hero posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has 8 A

fold, fold, fold, fold, SB raises to 3 BB, Hero calls 2 BB

Flop: (6 BB, 2 players) 7 7 2
SB bets 3.4 BB, Hero calls 3.4 BB

Turn: (12.8 BB, 2 players) 6
SB checks, Hero bets 8.9 BB, SB calls 8.9 BB

River: (30.6 BB, 2 players) 5
SB checks, Hero bets 23 BB, SB calls 23 BB

Hero shows 8 A (One Pair, Sevens)
(Pre 28%, Flop 13%, Turn 7%)
SB shows Q Q (Two Pair, Queens and Sevens)
(Pre 72%, Flop 87%, Turn 93%)
SB wins 73.2 BB

What was your thought process?

Villain should check this flop high frequency. Exploitatively you could bet small OTT to get a cheap showdown, but mostly just want to check this down. This is one of your good A-hi's and it's spew to turn into a bluff.

I think you could just check behind OTT. You have enough showdown value here.

Important note: SBxBB is very different than other positions. As the ranges are wide, your value range is wider too. If you solve a lot of SBxBB situations (I suggest you to take a whole month to do that), you'll notice that the BB guy have to call a lot with small value hands against a bet OTF, as A-high. Sometimes even OTT you have to call again.

EDIT: I just read your posts, mate. I'm sorry if you're around BE at nl10z. If you don't mind, I'd suggest you to move down to nl5z and rebuild your confidence and your game strategy. If you're a BE player at nl10z, you'll probably have something around 3 or 4 bb/100 at nl5z (long run). That's already a winrate that you can work on. Nl5z is a good school, in my opinion.

I didn't say anything because players that have more experience than me suggested to you to focus on an exploitive game, and I didn't want to confuse you. But as you're thinking about your game now, and you're even thinking about give up, I'm going to give you my personal opinion now, hehehehe.

Of course that an exploitive game is better for your results than a theoretical one. This isn't true only for microstakes: this is true against any player, even the best player in the world. Theoretically speaking, if you have good reasons to exploite a player (or a playerpool on average), you should do that.

But how do you know how to do that? Well, you have two options: you could learn the game theory and then start to exploite people when you have reasons to do that, or you can learn some exploitive tricks (from coach, videos, personal experience, etc) and go for there.

Nowadays, in my personal opinion, I don't think that learning some exploitive tricks is a good way to go on the long run. I don't believe this is a good way to learn poker anymore. I can be wrong, that's just my opinion, but I think we as players should in fact learn the theory before. Learning the theory will give you a solid mathematical game that no one will never be able to take from you. It doesn't matter the "fashion", the current metagame, you will always have a mathematically correct game to anchor yourself. When you dominate this, you'll see the game in a completely different way. Then, in my opinion, you'll be able to see clearly when you can collect more EV by doing exploitive moves.

I can be wrong. There're people here in your thread that think in other way, and they're better than me. But I think you should rebuild your game by playing and studying only the theory. I wouldn't use HUD, and I wouldn't adjust to my opponents. I'd focus only in studying and playing the theory in order to use all my energy to record in my memory and in my intuition the mathematically "correct" game for a lot of time. If you can do that, you'll not win as much as you would if you play a perfect explotive strategy (of course, and this will be true against any playerpool anyway), but you'll win and will get better and better.

I'm sorry if I'm not helping you by saying this. But, hey, we're in a forum, and I'm giving you my opinion in order to help you. Right?

Best regards, mate. Good luck!

Hi mate, how many tables are you playing at once? Something I always found helped me when i was going through a rough time of it was playing less tables and really focusing on making the best decisions I could rather than just smashing out volume for no reason

I play 2-3 tables nowadays. Stopped to play 4 to think more..