Today has gone:

Drop two buyins quickly. Claw my way back to even. Immediately drop another two buyins. Claw my way back to even. Immediately drop another two buyins.

Jesus, give a guy a break at some point. Can't get any action with AA/KK, but try and steal anything and they raise instantly. Can't get anyone to call postflop after I hit my set, but no issues calling down my triple-barrel bluff when scare cards hit the turn and river with fourth pair.

And clawed it back a third time! Overall a slight winner for the day, but very swingy. Hopefully soon I'll have a session where I don't drop a buyin or two into the hole immediately after starting.

Current position:

Starting bankroll: $63.00
2NL profit: $35.06 (11,589 hands)
5NL profit: $117.33 (19,692 hands)
10NL profit: $249.41 (11,029 hands)
16NL profit: $112.26 (2,565 hands)
25NL profit: $199.89 (7,622 hands)
Tournaments: ($7.60)
Other gains: $19.03
FPP Tournaments: $48.40
Other bonuses: $50.00
Current bankroll: $886.78

Running better today. Should probably stop staying up so late playing poker on weeknights though. Still, short week this week, so only need to power through until Thursday.

Current position:

Starting bankroll: $63.00
2NL profit: $35.06 (11,589 hands)
5NL profit: $117.33 (19,692 hands)
10NL profit: $249.41 (11,029 hands)
16NL profit: $112.26 (2,565 hands)
25NL profit: $232.99 (8,328 hands)
Tournaments: ($7.60)
Other gains: $19.03
FPP Tournaments: $48.40
Other bonuses: $50.00
Current bankroll: $919.88

Aaargh been very spewy tonight. Need to tighten my game up. Was up $30, now down $46 (a few coolers, but mainly spew). Seems to have been a recurring issue at 25NL that I didn't have at lower limits, I think because there ARE actually some people who do play back at you then you can start to think 'oh they don't have it again', which most people still normally do.

I need to stop thinking 'oh I'll call this with a weak hand and outplay him after the flop' unless I really know villain c-bets too much and folds to raises. Definitely a massive leak of mine.

Ended up booking a $2.50 win. Should have been easily $50-75 considering the spots I was in, just donked it up. A few horrorshow calls when I knew I was beat, and at least one incident of spewing off chips after missing the flop in a 3bet pot. Tbh I got off lightly today considering how bad I played, this was far far from my A game.

Current position:

Starting bankroll: $63.00
2NL profit: $35.06 (11,589 hands)
5NL profit: $117.33 (19,692 hands)
10NL profit: $249.41 (11,029 hands)
16NL profit: $112.26 (2,565 hands)
25NL profit: $235.57 (9,077 hands)
Tournaments: ($7.60)
Other gains: $19.03
FPP Tournaments: $48.40
Other bonuses: $50.00
Current bankroll: $922.36

Went to York with the wife for the Easter weekend, which was pretty nice! Came back to a slight losing session, but a lot of that was dropping 100BB on a coinflip with AK vs QQ BVB, so I'm not too bothered. Unlocked another milestone, which was nice, and sees me up in overall bankroll for the day.

Current position:

Starting bankroll: $63.00
2NL profit: $35.06 (11,589 hands)
5NL profit: $117.33 (19,692 hands)
10NL profit: $249.41 (11,029 hands)
16NL profit: $112.26 (2,565 hands)
25NL profit: $230.64 (9,764 hands)
Tournaments: ($7.60)
Other gains: $19.03
FPP Tournaments: $48.40
Other bonuses: $60.00
Current bankroll: $927.43

Hate this spot. Is it just a fold OTF? Villain is 18/14 off 70 hands, not seen him face a c-bet before. By the turn it was just screaming full house to me, but can't bring myself to fold KK to a single raise on the flop there.

Being murdered with my premiums today. KK < AA AIPF, the KK hand above, lost with QQ to a fish with a J9 2pair and just lost another 30bb after QQ saw a K-high flop in a 3bet pot.

Why do I ever try and get trappy?

Cannot win with premiums today. Villain was a 50/0 fish or I'd never have called OTF. Seem to be seeing a lot of tiny bets postflop when I know I'm probably behind but getting a great price atm.

****, forgot to sleep due to pulling back a losing session again. Been basically break-even at 25NL for the last 7k hands now following that initial heater. Hoping I'll get on the move upwards again soon.

25NL graph:



Current position:

Starting bankroll: $63.00
2NL profit: $35.06 (11,589 hands)
5NL profit: $117.33 (19,692 hands)
10NL profit: $249.41 (11,029 hands)
16NL profit: $112.26 (2,565 hands)
25NL profit: $234.82 (10,445 hands)
Tournaments: ($7.60)
Other gains: $19.03
FPP Tournaments: $48.40
Other bonuses: $60.00
Current bankroll: $931.61

LIKE A BAWWWWS

Didn't even start to tilt when the heart hit OTT, and got rewarded for it nicely.

So yeah, over $100 profit in little over 200 hands, and broke the magic $1000 barrier! Amazing night, considering I wasn't even sure if I was going to play given that I was at a pub quiz earlier. Loving that rungood though, hit quads once, flopped a straight with 87s, won a 100+BB flip AK vs JJ and, as you can see above, hit top set and got paid off by two separate villains. Ignoring the fact that I dropped $10 early on by 4betshoving A7o over a shortstacker's 3bet from the BB (he tanked forever and called with A8s, sick call tbh - the shove was based on something I read in MartL's blog, need to think more on whether it's a good move or not, certainly not with weak aces if they're going to call that wide), pretty much a perfect session!

Current position:

Starting bankroll: $63.00
2NL profit: $35.06 (11,589 hands)
5NL profit: $117.33 (19,692 hands)
10NL profit: $249.41 (11,029 hands)
16NL profit: $112.26 (2,565 hands)
25NL profit: $340.67 (10,686 hands)
Tournaments: ($7.60)
Other gains: $19.03
FPP Tournaments: $48.40
Other bonuses: $60.00
Current bankroll: $1,037.36

Oh yeah, a couple of hands I posted in MSFR, anyone here got any thoughts?

Hand 1:


Villain is a solid reg, 17/12. 75% cbet, 2.75 aggro factor, off 180 hands.

A few questions here:

1) Is pre too loose? QTs can flop very well IP, we're both fullstacked, seems like a decent spot.
2) Flop semibluff - good? I figured he's unlikely to have hit, so we're trying to take it away there. When he re-raises I think his range is mainly overpairs, but given the sizing I think I've got the odds to call and see if I can hit my flush, or should this be a fold?
3) Turn - after I pick up the open-ender I'm looking to get this in, bet when he checks to me and call a shove is standard, yeah? If he bets out, do we call or shove? Not sure how much fold equity we have, given the SPR, so I'm thinking it maybe would make more sense to just call and fold if we brick on the river?

Hand 2:


MP2 is 50/25 fish.
MP3 is 25/17 shortstacker.
CO is 13/12 reg, 7% 3bet off 400 hands.
BTN is 33/20 fish.

WAT DO? How would I even size a 4bet here if I were to 4bet? Surely flatting is horrible given that I'm OOP, but if I 4bet I pretty much have to bet an amount where I can't really fold if CO 5bet shoves, yes?

Some might call this a suckout. I call it justice against anyone who 3bets an EP raise with 87.

Right, paying villains off when they get there is clearly a massive leak of mine. Called big bets twice on the river only to be shown the obvious nuts both times. Irritating. Not played that well tonight, dropped three buyins very quickly, pulled it back to a small loss with the help of that hand above, then got trappy with the nut straight OTT only to have the backdoor flush draw get there (and of course I paid off his overbet shove).

Going to see if I can pull it back again before bed. Always satisfying to pull back a losing session, let's see if I can do it one more time.

Nope, couldn't pull it back and I'm back below the 1k figure. Was playing a LOT better after that initial hemorrhaging of money, as it is I'm happy to have only given back $50 of yesterday's winnings.

Running 2BI over EV though (thanks to that AA hand mainly) so can't grumble too much. And still maintaining that 10bb/100 rate I was aiming for.

Current position:

Starting bankroll: $63.00
2NL profit: $35.06 (11,589 hands)
5NL profit: $117.33 (19,692 hands)
10NL profit: $249.41 (11,029 hands)
16NL profit: $112.26 (2,565 hands)
25NL profit: $290.61 (11,668 hands)
Tournaments: ($8.60)
Other gains: $19.03
FPP Tournaments: $48.40
Other bonuses: $60.00
Current bankroll: $987.22

25NL stats:

VPIP: 22.4%
PFR: 18.2%
PF3: 6.8%
PFF3: 58.5% (this seems a bit on the low side)
Agg: 2.71
Cbet: 67.9%
bb/100: 9.96

This is a great thread! You have done so well to get here so quickly. Very motivating. I am in a similar position. A casual player trying to build a bankroll to play live in London. I'm a few months behind though still clawing my way out of 2NL ha. Slowly improving and nearly at 5NL.

I have two questions:

1. How many table are you playing these days?

2. I have noticed you have an exceptional red line. It was even positive at 2NL I think. Is this because at early levels you found you could 3bet, steal, c-bet and double barrel quite wide without getting played back at much?

I think I need to do more of this if so cos my redline is very different!

Anyway hope you continue to progress quickly! GL

Thanks! I'm pretty sure I've still got some massive fundamental leaks in my game (not folding to obvious river valuebets enough, spewing too much in spots where villains are unlikely to fold, and generally being a BIT too loose pre, especially in calling 3bets). I still occasionally get the ultimate sin of 'I'm pretty sure this is EV- but what the hell, I call'. I do feel that 25NL is the first level at which these leaks have started to really hurt.

1. Playing 3 tables most of the time. I occasionally try 4, but generally find myself a bit overwhelmed, 3 seems to be the perfect amount for me atm. I usually watch TV/browse the internet while playing as well, which isn't exactly best practise, but then this is my hobby, not my job.

2. At 2NL to 10NL, that redline was basically just a result of stealing remorselessly (I think I opened about 65% when folded to on the CO, 80% from the BTN and 75% from the SB). Virtually no-one adjusts, and if they do, switch tables. I also had a c-bet up at about 80% which had some ludicrous success rate. I don't think I 3bet particularly wide, and only double barreled when both the board and the opponent suited it (so generally when an overcard hit OTT against a nit/reg). I feel I definitely play a bit too loose at 25NL now (my redline is above my blueline, so I'm trying to tighten up a bit to improve my blueline again), but at the lower limits you really can just print money and just give up if anyone raises you.

So, I wrote a Concept of the Week article on 'When to play draws aggressively', see here if you're interested in reading.

Uuurgh, off to another horrible start.

AK < 65 AIPF
99 < TT in a 3bet BVB pot on a dry board against a maniac
AA < T9s after he cold called a 3bet and flopped a combo draw
99 < JJ AIPF vs aggro shorty
AA in the BB with two 60/20 fish on the table, everyone folds.

Welp, at least I've got used to trying to pull back bad sessions.

Oh for the love of god, the guy playing 33/33 with a 20% 3bet and constant cbet of course has AA the time I make a stand with top pair.

Dropped 3 buyins so far, this is now a 5BI downswing, and has more than wiped out that great session from a couple of days ago. Bah.

EDIT: TBH, don't think I've been playing badly today, just on the wrong end of variance against villains with wide ranges.

Just keep playing your a-game and you will pull an easy comeback

GL !

Cheers. Paid off another ****ing river overbet with top pair - this time it was quads. REALLY need to stop calling these river bets without the nuts. Fish seem to have been getting there a hell of a lot. Huge leak, it's worse than the occasional spewy bluff.

Just lost with KK against AQ AIPF for over 100bb, now down $90 on this session, $140 over the last two days. Uuuurgh.

OTOH, still up over $200 at 25NL, so can't grumble too much. Need to firm up the 'calling big river raises way too light' leak, I think that's probably cost me at least $75 just over the last couple of days.