Thanks for the response and advice, you are right in that I am taking more risks and bluffing more which means I might lose a lot while still learning this style of play. However I have noticed I get payed off on my big hands a lot more. I was running at 13/10. Now I am closer to 15/12 which is quite a big difference in FR. Once I hone my skills in bluffing the right spots I feel I can crush NL50 rather than just nitting it up and winning at 1BB. As yet it is a small sample but I think my game is going in the right direction.

Good luck to you in your future shot taking, and tilt control

Definetly have hit a heater this week.


Full Tilt Poker $0.25/$0.50 No Limit Hold'em - 8 players
The Official 2+2 Hand Converter Powered By DeucesCracked.com

BTN: $70.05
SB: $54.20
BB: $59.55
UTG: $53.70
Hero (UTG+1): $50.00
MP1: $54.30
MP2: $20.05
CO: $71.25

Pre Flop: ($0.75) Hero is UTG+1 with A A
1 fold, Hero raises to $1.50, 1 fold, MP2 calls $1.50, 2 folds, SB calls $1.25, 1 fold

Flop: ($5.00) 7 6 J (3 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $3.50, MP2 calls $3.50, SB folds

Turn: ($12.00) 6 (2 players)
Hero bets $15.05, MP2 calls $15.05 all in

River: ($42.10) A (2 players - 1 is all in)

Final Pot: $42.10
Hero shows A A (a full house, Aces full of Sixes)
MP2 shows 9 K (a flush, Ace high)
Hero wins $40.00
(Rake: $2.10)


Won almost 5BI's today in under 1k hands, according to PTR my 'best day'

Total BR @ $3,765 and I'm running $1 over EV for the whole summer

Biggest hands:

Full Tilt Poker $0.25/$0.50 No Limit Hold'em - 9 players
The Official 2+2 Hand Converter Powered By DeucesCracked.com

UTG+1: $58.50
UTG+2: $51.50
MP1: $25.70
MP2: $27.55
CO: $50.75
BTN: $43.20
SB: $50.00
Hero (BB): $52.40
UTG: $51.80

Pre Flop: ($0.75) Hero is BB with A A
1 fold, UTG+1 raises to $2, 3 folds, CO raises to $6.75, 2 folds, Hero raises to $12.50, 1 fold, CO calls $5.75

Flop: ($27.25) 9 4 8 (2 players)
Hero bets $12.50, CO calls $12.50

Turn: ($52.25) J (2 players)
Hero bets $27.40 all in, CO calls $25.75 all in

River: ($103.75) A (2 players - 2 are all in)

Final Pot: $103.75
CO shows Q Q (a pair of Queens)
Hero shows A A (three of a kind, Aces)
Hero wins $100.75
(Rake: $3.00)


Full Tilt Poker $0.25/$0.50 No Limit Hold'em - 9 players
The Official 2+2 Hand Converter Powered By DeucesCracked.com

SB: $50.80
BB: $30.00
UTG: $20.25
UTG+1: $59.80
UTG+2: $50.00
MP1: $50.15
MP2: $118.80
Hero (CO): $50.00
BTN: $50.00

Pre Flop: ($0.75) Hero is CO with 7 7
4 folds, MP2 raises to $1.20, Hero calls $1.20, 3 folds

Flop: ($3.15) A A 7 (2 players)
MP2 bets $3, Hero raises to $7.50, MP2 raises to $117.60 all in, Hero calls $41.30 all in

Turn: ($100.75) K (2 players - 2 are all in)

River: ($100.75) J (2 players - 2 are all in)

Final Pot: $100.75
MP2 shows A Q (three of a kind, Aces)
Hero shows 7 7 (a full house, Sevens full of Aces)
Hero wins $97.75
(Rake: $3.00)


Full Tilt Poker $0.25/$0.50 No Limit Hold'em - 8 players
The Official 2+2 Hand Converter Powered By DeucesCracked.com

MP1: $54.65
MP2: $40.45
CO: $60.55
BTN: $14.50
Hero (SB): $53.50
BB: $50.75
UTG: $48.25
UTG+1: $50.70

MP2 posts a big blind ($0.50)

Pre Flop: ($1.25) Hero is SB with Q Q
3 folds, MP2 raises to $1.75, 2 folds, Hero raises to $5.50, 1 fold, MP2 calls $3.75

Flop: ($11.50) J Q 8 (2 players)
Hero bets $7, MP2 calls $7

Turn: ($25.50) J (2 players)
Hero checks, MP2 bets $10, Hero raises to $30, MP2 calls $17.95 all in

River: ($81.40) K (2 players - 1 is all in)

Final Pot: $81.40
MP2 shows J A (three of a kind, Jacks)
Hero shows Q Q (a full house, Queens full of Jacks)
Hero wins $78.40
(Rake: $3.00)

Your preflop play is good but the hand where you shoved the 3s4s with the gutshot+flushdraw is some weird agressive donkeyline imo that's perhaps costing you a lot.
In the best case scenario you're still a 2-1 dog, worst case you're drawing dead.
I might be wrong in this but i prefer to have villains hand all day long vs your hand.

Either way i still admire you for having come this far and having sticked to your brm

Keep on dude!!!

heh your probably right, but I had a double gutshot

Seriously though, I thought I had a decent amount of fold equity, he could be floating the flop with air especially as there is an ace on the flop, and I can get him to fold weak aces, maybe even AQ, I'm probably overthinking it though.

Busy day today and have to be up extremely early tomorrow so not much volume, still booked a $55 win so not too bad. BR now over $3.8k

Biggest hands:


Full Tilt Poker $0.25/$0.50 No Limit Hold'em - 8 players
The Official 2+2 Hand Converter Powered By DeucesCracked.com

UTG+1: $30.50
MP1: $66.05
MP2: $50.75
CO: $79.80
BTN: $50.00
Hero (SB): $58.70
BB: $33.35
UTG: $50.00

Pre Flop: ($0.75) Hero is SB with 6 6
UTG raises to $1.75, UTG+1 calls $1.75, 4 folds, Hero calls $1.50, 1 fold

Flop: ($5.75) J Q 6 (3 players)
Hero checks, UTG bets $4, UTG+1 folds, Hero raises to $10, UTG requests TIME, UTG calls $6

Turn: ($25.75) 2 (2 players)
Hero bets $12.50, UTG calls $12.50

River: ($50.75) 5 (2 players)
Hero bets $34.45 all in, UTG requests TIME, UTG calls $25.75 all in

Final Pot: $102.25
Hero shows 6 6 (three of a kind, Sixes)
UTG mucks K K
Hero wins $99.25
(Rake: $3.00)


Full Tilt Poker $0.25/$0.50 No Limit Hold'em - 8 players
The Official 2+2 Hand Converter Powered By DeucesCracked.com

BTN: $35.45
Hero (SB): $61.65
BB: $49.50
UTG: $111.40
UTG+1: $17.50
MP1: $29.10
MP2: $96.75
CO: $50.00

Pre Flop: ($0.75) Hero is SB with J J
5 folds, BTN raises to $1.50, Hero raises to $5, 1 fold, BTN calls $3.50

Flop: ($10.50) 7 4 T (2 players)
Hero bets $7, BTN raises to $17, Hero raises to $36.50, BTN folds

Final Pot: $44.50
Hero wins $42.30
(Rake: $2.20)

Biggest losing hand,

Full Tilt Poker $0.25/$0.50 No Limit Hold'em - 8 players
The Official 2+2 Hand Converter Powered By DeucesCracked.com

MP1: $27.65
MP2: $67.75
CO: $50.00
BTN: $85.00
SB: $50.25
Hero (BB): $107.20
UTG: $48.75
UTG+1: $50.75

Pre Flop: ($0.75) Hero is BB with 2 2
2 folds, MP1 calls $0.50, 2 folds, BTN calls $0.50, SB requests TIME, 1 fold, Hero checks

Flop: ($1.75) 2 4 5 (3 players)
Hero bets $1.50, MP1 calls $1.50, BTN folds

Turn: ($4.75) Q (2 players)
Hero bets $3.50, MP1 calls $3.50

River: ($11.75) T (2 players)
Hero bets $5.50, MP1 raises to $12, Hero folds

Final Pot: $22.75
MP1 wins $21.65
(Rake: $1.10)

I think bet/folding the river is the best play here.

You had a set . i think check calling would of been better and you get some find out what he actually had. He would of probably bet as much as you betted.

Fold equiwhat? 50NL is already a bit better but you're basically still playing vs microstake donks who don't have fold buttons on their clients.

I've learned to stop bluffshoving. It might be -EV in some spots but overall i'm sure it's +ev because i don't have as much 100bb downward spikes in my graphs anymore.
Stacking off/shoving less light also decreases the variance i'm having. (which is nice since i play a lot looser then you and i get in more of those spots)

Exercise: Check your db for hands lost/won with big pots (with pot>80bb i'd say to account for shortstacks) and see how many of those were like this one where you shoved. Then also check your equity and think if the other guy will fold enough with whatever range you think he might play in that spot.
Bonus points if you can find spots where you got called and sucked out.
This will also help you think realistically about equity during hands

True imo, think beforehand what you would bet and then checkcall/checkfold depending on what villain bets.
I'd also look at his wtsd/w$sd and river agression to see how much you'd checkcall or if perhaps a bet/call is good (some donks will show up with tpgk or two pair when doing this).

For really big samples on villain look into the 'won sd when bet/raised river' stat

Been following this challange, keep it going! Still possible to hit the 5K.

Yeah your probably right, tbh I dont do it very often, and when I have it has worked fairly rarely so I might take your advice, at least for NL50

Guy was playing 30/7 for about 90 hands so I'm expecting him to be a station and not get out of line without the nuts. I expect him to check back a lot of hands that would call a bet, so I'm losing value by checking. Aswell by bet/folding I lose less than check calling as he probably makes a big bet.

Thanks, the $5k is back on. I am not back in college until the 13th of september so I still have a good 2 and a half weeks left

gogogo lyger, 2.5 weeks left; grind on the mind

30/7/xx ?
Always watch the agression factor (or how they've played other hands).
As you already know there are people who spaz out with garbage or relative weak hands and then there's people who spaz out with only the nuts.

If i don't have notes on someone or can't remember how he plays then i base my decision on his AF combined with WTSD/W$SD which so far seems to be accurate enough.

Anyways, well played as usual. Keep up the good work man!

Yeah I have just added WTSD/W$SD to my HUD in the last month or so but still not really sure how to use them best. Looking back at the hand his agg was actually pretty high at 2.8 and his WTSD was low at 17, W$SD was 50 for 4 hands. Based on this info would you prefer the check call?


Bit of a downswing the last 2 days, didn't play much yesterday and played a little this morning, lost about $80 or so. Will update fully later but basically running bad.

Lol samplesize
Anyway i'm usually the one saying small samples can count as well (less thrustworthy tho) but this really is a bit small

From the hands he did play he seemingly folds a majority before showdown. so when the flushcard hits i'd prefer a check/call. Mostly because that's what i'd guess he'd be drawing to and i wouldn't want to make the pot much bigger.

For the guys aggression factor, look at it street by street for a decision on a certain street. and use it in conjunction with his other stats. If he's some nit with a high AF but it's mainly from raising the turn with the nuts then you better stay away from him in most cases.
Just remember that the bigger the sample, the better the HUD read. so don't go folding because he has 100% river raise but over only 2 hands.

Concerning WTSD/W$SD, you can use those to see if someone is worth bluffing or if your top pair is crap when he bets or raises the river.
Just take a bit of time to think about how those stats would look like for different types of players and you'll start to appreciate them when you have a couple of orbits on people

My own results are normalizing a bit as well. i went on a +7BI heater in a small session the day before yesterday and i've already lost 4 BI's back. All in pots were i was ahead. (While typing this my AA ran into a turned 666, even after raising 9bb's pf and potting the flop, i hate 2NL on pstars)

moar bad beats: JTo vs 48s, lost 1/4BI allin pf
and while typing that i flopped QQ9 with my Q9s in a limped 4way pot. everyone went crazy and i did +5BI's

Anyway, this should be in bbv i guess but the hands got played while typing and i'm easily distracted in cases like that

Thanks for all the input

Your playing 2NL? Sounds like you know what your talking about and should be playing higher, I figured you for a NL25 player at least.

Made 1/2 a BI in a session just now so down $15 for the day. Some hands;


Full Tilt Poker $0.25/$0.50 No Limit Hold'em - 9 players
The Official 2+2 Hand Converter Powered By DeucesCracked.com

MP2: $19.25
Hero (CO): $55.70
BTN: $50.85
SB: $60.65
BB: $38.25
UTG: $40.50
UTG+1: $59.65
UTG+2: $51.95
MP1: $57.45

Pre Flop: ($0.75) Hero is CO with T K
5 folds, Hero raises to $1.50, 2 folds, BB calls $1

Flop: ($3.25) 9 3 A (2 players)
BB bets $3.25, Hero raises to $7.50, BB calls $4.25

Turn: ($18.25) 7 (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $11, BB calls $11

River: ($40.25) Q (2 players)
BB bets $18.25 all in, Hero calls $18.25

Final Pot: $76.75
Hero mucks T K
BB shows J A (a flush, Ace high)
BB wins $73.75
(Rake: $3.00)


Full Tilt Poker $0.25/$0.50 No Limit Hold'em - 9 players
The Official 2+2 Hand Converter Powered By DeucesCracked.com

BTN: $21.55
Hero (SB): $50.00
BB: $50.85
UTG: $61.15
UTG+1: $73.00
UTG+2: $50.00
MP1: $58.90
MP2: $50.00
CO: $58.95

Pre Flop: ($0.75) Hero is SB with A A
5 folds, CO raises to $1.25, BTN calls $1.25, Hero raises to $5.50, 2 folds, BTN calls $4.25

Flop: ($12.75) 3 J J (2 players)
Hero checks, BTN bets $10, Hero raises to $20, BTN requests TIME, BTN calls $6.05 all in

Turn: ($44.85) 8 (2 players - 1 is all in)

River: ($44.85) 3 (2 players - 1 is all in)

Final Pot: $44.85
BTN shows 8 8 (a full house, Eights full of Jacks)
Hero shows A A (two pair, Aces and Jacks)
BTN wins $42.65
(Rake: $2.20)


Here is my graph for the week. Best week in terms of $ so far though ironically the worst in terms of volume. I had cut back to 6 tabling though to try focus on quality rather than quantity.


By lygerwon at 2010-08-26

I've played quite some 25NL on FTP but went broke while taking shots at 50NL. Just the usual aggressive BRM combined with not moving down (and staying down) when needed and starting to spaz out like the donkey i am deep inside thinking "if i shove here i have enough fold equity"

Anyway since i've been playing 2NL on pokerstars for the last 15 days now. I had a couple of dollars left there from freerolls and decided i would grind it up after work.
So each night i try to play 1-2h of 2NL and now i'm almost ready to move up to 5NL there.


The raise from 3.25 to 7.5 seems a bit weird. Why not raise more? If you're just trying to move him off of his hand then $9-$10 is what i'd bet.
But when assuming he's a loose passive fish who goes broke with TPGK i'd personally flat the flop and fold the turn if missed.
Him donking into you usually means he hit something and he's telling you he likes his hand a lot with his PSB.

If he's a aggressive reg who likes to donk flops then i'd still make the flop raise a bit bigger. If he's not donking much then i'd seriously consider folding the flop since he's never paying you off imo when the flush hits.
That being said, i doubt a reg would be sitting with 3/4 of a stack.

Swingy day today, won $55 even though I lost another AA v KK AIPF, cant remember the last time AA held. Had KK v 22 on K52 flop soon after though so that helped.

Also played 9 STT's for the S&G madness promo, and profited $6.30 with 1 win and 3 other cashes. Need another win to get into the $50k freeroll so will play more tomorrow

Total BR now @ $3,882

sng madness... i almost forgot about that!
I played some and got my 2 1st places after 7 sng's. losing QQ vs K2s allin pf made me tilt tho
Also +$6 into my ftp account, that's fun

Played another 9 S&G's today and lost a little, only about $5 though, got a win anyway so am in the freeroll which was my main reason for playing.

Favourite hand of the day

Full Tilt Poker $6 + $0.50 Madness No Limit Hold'em Tournament - t200/t400 Blinds - 4 players
The Official 2+2 Hand Converter Powered By DeucesCracked.com

Hero (SB): t3260 8.15 BBs
BB: t4060 10.15 BBs
CO: t3470 8.68 BBs
BTN: t2710 6.78 BBs

Pre Flop: (t400) Hero is SB with K K
2 folds, BTN raises to t2710 all in, Hero calls t2310

Flop: (t5420) J 5 J

Turn: (t5420) 3

River: (t5420) K

Final Pot: t5420
Hero shows K K (a full house, Kings full of Jacks)
BTN shows J K (a full house, Jacks full of Kings)
Hero wins t5420

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

At NL50 I ran pretty good and won $135 bringing my total BR to just over $4k!

This makes up for yesterday

Full Tilt Poker $0.25/$0.50 No Limit Hold'em - 9 players
The Official 2+2 Hand Converter Powered By DeucesCracked.com

BTN: $12.75
SB: $97.75
BB: $68.05
UTG: $20.85
UTG+1: $55.20
UTG+2: $37.80
Hero (MP1): $66.00
MP2: $83.40
CO: $122.50

Pre Flop: ($0.75) Hero is MP1 with K K
1 fold, UTG+1 raises to $2, 1 fold, Hero calls $2, 2 folds, BTN raises to $12.75 all in, 2 folds, UTG+1 calls $10.75, Hero raises to $66 all in, UTG+1 calls $42.45 all in

Flop: ($123.90) 5 4 9

Turn: ($123.90) 7

River: ($123.90) K

Final Pot: $123.90
BTN shows T T (a pair of Tens)
UTG+1 shows A A (a pair of Aces)
Hero shows K K (three of a kind, Kings)
Hero wins $83.85
Hero wins $37.05
(Rake: $3.00)


Full Tilt Poker $0.25/$0.50 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players
The Official 2+2 Hand Converter Powered By DeucesCracked.com

UTG: $53.30
MP: $25.00
CO: $139.70
BTN: $54.25
Hero (SB): $50.95
BB: $50.00

Pre Flop: ($0.75) Hero is SB with T T
2 folds, CO requests TIME, 2 folds, Hero raises to $1.50, BB calls $1

Flop: ($3.00) 3 Q T (2 players)
Hero bets $2, BB raises to $6, Hero raises to $17.50, BB raises to $48.50 all in, Hero calls $31

Turn: ($100.00) 2 (2 players - 1 is all in)

River: ($100.00) T (2 players - 1 is all in)

Final Pot: $100.00
Hero shows T T (four of a kind, Tens)
BB shows 8 A (a flush, Ace high)
Hero wins $97.00
(Rake: $3.00)

So I have reached 40 BI for NL100 and decided to take a quick shot at NL100 to get a feel for the play at that limit again. Noticed more squeeze plays but seems like there are plenty of fish. Of course I am playing at night on a weekend.

Played 167 hands and won $29. An AA v KK held! was only v a shortstack though I think I will play NL100 during the peak hours from now on to try reach the $5k and play NL50 during the day. If I lose a few BI's though I will move down pretty quick. Not gonna risk losing a few k just to reach the 5k on time.

You're doing good you still have over 3 weeks to make $5000 that's less than $50 a day

Well done, i hope you'll do well up there.
Even playing 50NL you'd get to your goal, with mixing in 100NL you'll be sure to get there imo.

Well done and good luck up there.