Damn, that's unlucky.

I haven't been diagnosed with anything but in the past I've experience pain in my fingers from clicking too many hotkeys on ZOOM lol. The best way to not experience this is to simply not use your fingers for typing so much. Or even if you have a gaming console.

I gave my fingers a rest and now I don't feel pain unless I am 24/7 on the computer one minute and on the PS4 the next. So I try not to do that anymore lol.


Have you tried using two mice? I have one that clicks with the thumb and have another that clicks with the index. Basically I vary the way I input actions.

I've tried a bunch of different mice, currently I'm using the Microsoft surface flat mouse. I generally use voice dictation for anything over a sentence or two. Because of the tendinitis of how to make a whole bunch of changes. These changes should help me in combating the carpal tunnel, but also should have, in theory prevented carpal tunnel from ever developing which makes everything more frustrating. I do have pre-existing conditions that make me more susceptible to repetitive strain injuries and things like carpal tunnel, which is probably why this is occurring.

I've just ordered a trackpad for PC, like once you find on a MacBook. In the past on my MacBook Air I found that helpful because you can generally move your fingers on that by moving your whole arm and limit wrist movement, so I'm hoping that will help me a bit. But for now using hotkeys and the mouse seems to help for poker. I'm on my computer for work, and if this gets worse I will have to take a break from poker first. It's obviously more important that I'm able to do my job than play poker.

Frustrating session yesterday. It's clear that I still have one main mental leak that is preventing me from beating the stake. At heart I'm too much of a calling station and am unable to fold strong hands when I know I'm beat, the forehands I posted the other day are really good example of this.

I'm convinced that I have the skills and knowledge to be a solid winner at the stake, but that this mental leak is incredibly damaging in big pots. Very often my reads and intuition about what the other player has are accurate, but in big pots I often talk myself into bluffcatching when I should be making folds. I have no problem making solid decisions in folds and smaller pots, but with strong hands I tend to be a bit of a station. I don't however think this is a tilt issue, as I'm often not emotionally tilted in these spots, but rather, I just tend to be a bit of a station.

I do however still think that I kind of got the rough end of variance lately, but I don't think that variance is the reason I'm losing, but mainly due to my mental leaks noted above.

Here's an example of two hands from yesterday. Both of these hands should be turn folds, in my opinion, but both times it was too much of a station to fold them.

H1:


PokerStars - $0.10 Ante $0.01 NL FAST (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

Hero (BTN): 100 BB
SB: 201.9 BB
BB: 112.3 BB
UTG: 128.8 BB
MP: 102.9 BB
CO: 100 BB

6 players post ante of 0.1 BB, SB posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 2.1 BB) Hero has A A

UTG raises to 2.5 BB, fold, fold, Hero raises to 10 BB, fold, fold, UTG calls 7.5 BB

Flop: (22.1 BB, 2 players) T 5 6
UTG checks, Hero checks

Turn: (22.1 BB, 2 players) Q
UTG checks, Hero bets 15.8 BB, UTG raises to 50 BB, Hero calls 34.2 BB

River: (122.1 BB, 2 players) 8
UTG bets 68.7 BB and is all-in, Hero calls 39.9 BB and is all-in

UTG shows J K (High Card, King)
(Pre 17%, Flop 7%, Turn 14%)
Hero shows A A (One Pair, Aces)
(Pre 83%, Flop 93%, Turn 86%)
Hero wins 192.8 BB

H2

PokerStars - $0.10 Ante $0.01 NL FAST (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BTN: 107.5 BB
SB: 103.1 BB
BB: 271.5 BB
Hero (UTG): 100 BB
MP: 50.1 BB
CO: 177.4 BB

6 players post ante of 0.1 BB, SB posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 2.1 BB) Hero has J J

Hero raises to 2.8 BB, fold, fold, fold, fold, BB raises to 10 BB, Hero calls 7.2 BB

Flop: (21.1 BB, 2 players) 7 K J
BB bets 10 BB, Hero calls 10 BB

Turn: (41.1 BB, 2 players) A
BB bets 251.4 BB and is all-in, Hero calls 79.9 BB and is all-in

River: (200.9 BB, 2 players) 5

BB shows A A (Three of a Kind, Aces)
(Pre 81%, Flop 12%, Turn 98%)
Hero shows J J (Three of a Kind, Jacks)
(Pre 19%, Flop 88%, Turn 2%)
BB wins 191.9 BB

random but philly needs to break everything up man. Embiid > Simmons. Raptors meh, I think they're a star away. (I'm a fan of both of the LA teams haha)

GL man! Seems like the self awareness you have wrt your mental game leaks should end up helping a lot.

Yeah, I don't know what the deal is in Philly. I do think it is a too many cooks in the kitchen situation.

I agree that the raps are a star away. Literally a Kawhi away hahahahahah.

I'm not sure Siakam is the guy. I don't think he is going to get to Giannis' level.

How do you cheer for both LA teams? Is there an intense rivalry there? You worried about Harden and Russ?

Mental game awareness is good but I still cant plug said leaks.

I'm happy to chat sports here anytime.

I’m not sure it’s that since they only have two stars, but their chemistry seems to be really bad. Bad coaching/management never helps. Toronto is A+ in those areas otoh imo.

Yeah, Kawhi was perfect for them!

Grew up in Southern California and now back here. So liked the lakers because of Kobe and Lob City because of CP3 and Blake.

Rivalry isn’t intense given that the Clippers have never been to a conference finals.

you got this man! Also happy to chat sports.

I agree. No amount of star players can outplay poor coaching and management. In that regard Toronto is so lucky we have Masai.

Have you caught any of the Heat/Bucks series? What is happening to Milwaukee?

That makes sense though, given that the clippers have always been on the backburner there (atleast that's my understanding).

Another rough day on the tables yesterday. Turned the nut flush numerous times, but never got paid. Outside of that mostly checkfolding to a big redline loss. Capped it off to end the session with this awful river call. Everything in me knew I was beat and should fold.....

PokerStars - $0.10 Ante $0.01 NL FAST (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BTN: 101.8 BB
SB: 193.3 BB
Hero (BB): 100 BB
UTG: 70.2 BB
MP: 183.1 BB
CO: 635.3 BB

6 players post ante of 0.1 BB, SB posts SB 0.5 BB, Hero posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 2.1 BB) Hero has A J

fold, MP raises to 3 BB, fold, fold, SB calls 2.5 BB, Hero raises to 15 BB, fold, SB calls 12 BB

Flop: (33.6 BB, 2 players) 4 A 3
SB checks, Hero bets 21.2 BB, SB calls 21.2 BB

Turn: (76 BB, 2 players) 4
SB checks, Hero checks

River: (76 BB, 2 players) 7
SB bets 157 BB and is all-in, Hero calls 63.7 BB and is all-in

SB shows Q A (Flush, Ace High)
(Pre 74%, Flop 85%, Turn 86%)
Hero shows A J (Flush, Ace High)
(Pre 26%, Flop 15%, Turn 14%)
SB wins 194.2 BB

I am going to move down and check out the 5z pool tonight. I suspect it is likely harder, as the ante attracts many shortstacking fish. If so, I will move back up. If not, I'll stay down there until I can get this calling station glitch ironed out. I'm down 5BI in 3k hands this month, with no end in sight to my hemorrhaging money. I still have 55BI for 10z.

Solid start at 5nlz. Felt like I played well, but honestly no different than I usually play. Felt like the real difference was that I made more hands and they got paid off. My DB still indicates that I am too passive though.

I will probably play 25k hands here, then decide if I want to go back to 10z.

One sick hand of note:

Villain looks regish over 22 hands.

In hindsight maybe this is a bad idea. During the hand it seemed solid, as I think, in theory, he won't have 55 and 33, and I have a bunch of low straight draws. When he jams, I'm thinking it is a better Ax like AKh or AQh. I just think I have too much equity to fold to his jam. Punt?

Sick runout, I probably get stacked anyway.


PokerStars - $0.05 NL FAST (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BTN: 177.4 BB
SB: 101.4 BB
Hero (BB): 100 BB
UTG: 120.6 BB
MP: 261 BB
CO: 100.4 BB

SB posts SB 0.4 BB, Hero posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.4 BB) Hero has T A

fold, MP raises to 2 BB, fold, fold, fold, Hero calls 1 BB

Flop: (4.4 BB, 2 players) 5 3 A
Hero checks, MP bets 4 BB, Hero raises to 13.2 BB, MP raises to 259 BB and is all-in, Hero calls 84.8 BB and is all-in

Hey OP,

dont wanna derail this thread but since its a Zoom-Thread I thought I might just ask a Zoom-question that is bothering me a little. If you dont wanna discuss it in your PGC or it was discussed somewhere else just let me know/delete my post.

I recently thought about getting back into Zoom myself. I started playing online again 5 months ago. I play fullring on Stars, Chico and WPN (NL25 and NL50) but in order to make the best use of my time and also be able to play short sessions (30-40 minutes) I am thinking about playing some 6max Zoom. Back when I was playing before my break there still was Fullring Zoom. Now not only there is no Fullring Zoom they also made NL10-NL25 Ante-Zoom.

So my question to you OP and some of the readers that might play in these games...with rake and everything...are those Ante-Zoom-Games even beatable? I did play one session of about 550 hands NL10 Zoom last week just to see how it feels. I was playing good, have not lost any major pot and thought that I was up for sure. Checked results and boom...down 24bb. Obvioulsy I am not concerned about the $2.4 that I have lost....its more like that it sees like having to pay Ante turned my slightly winnings session into a losing session. Obviously its not that easy cause first of all its only a very small sample and second I cant just say that due to the Ante I lost 55bb and therefore should be up 31bb cause I won pots where players posted Antes as well. Still feels like those fast foldem games where u post 1 buy in every thousand hands seem like somehow -EV.

So how are those Ante Games in general?

Thanks for the question. I'm always happy to talk about things beyond just my results. I don't want this thread to have just a narrow focus, and discussing more topics is beneficial for everyone.

Personally I think the ante games are definitely beatable, perhaps even more so than they were before. First, looking at what the Antes have done to the player pool, in my opinion it's clear that they've attracted a lot of fish that wouldn't normally be in the Zoom pools, and in that regard they've made these games noticeably softer, which makes them more beatable in that regard. A lot of these fish that wouldn't otherwise be in these pools are short stackers who are making a ton of mistakes and calling or jamming junk pre-flop. I can only speak to the 10 Zoom pool in this regard, but from what I've heard from people at 25 Zoom it's a having a similar effect. In my one session of 5z without the ante, it feels a lot tighter and less spewy than 10z with the ante. It is more in line with what I expected Zoom would be before the Antes were added.

Secondly, aside from what Antes have done to the softness of the games, I don't think they are actually that much of a rake increase. Basically, at 10z with a one cent ante, you need to steal the blinds once every six hands to pay for six folds. And that's just excluding the blinds, if you want to consider how blinds factor into this, you need one steel every 21 hands (10c bb + 5c sb + 6c antes) to breakeven on folds. Personally I think this is relatively reasonable. There may be a slight rake increase in that the ante resulted in bigger pots post flop, and therefore more gets raked in that regard. But if I recall correctly when I compared my database of 10nl without and with Antes, the raked amount of big blinds per hundred was almost identical.

I think overall their definitely beatable and if you think they aren't you're probably overthinking it. Don't look at my results as a standard, as I've struggled with mental game leaks and poor decision-making which is the reason I haven't beaten 10z thus far. There are several other ongoing PG&C threads where the posters have crushed 10z and 25z with antes.

Let me know if you have any more questions or want more clarification. Though I note that these are just my thoughts and you may get different opinions from other Zoom players.

A couple interesting hands from my 5z session yesterday.

H1:

This hand is weird. Villain is 28/21 over 30 hands with 3.0 AF.

Pre-flop I think is pretty standard, I think three betting at some frequency here is fine but I think flatting is also fine and is probably the play I choose at higher frequency.

Flop I think it's a pretty standard call especially against that small size with one over and two backdoor draws. Turn I think is fine and I would expect him to check back a lot of Ax over cards after I call the flop that connects with me pretty well.

River is very polarizing, and I don't usually see regs using a check turn over bet River line. To me this screams of Ax with a strong kicker or something like A4 or A6. I strongly considered calling but ultimately decided against it.

PokerStars - $0.05 NL FAST (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BTN: 105 BB
SB: 100.4 BB
Hero (BB): 141.2 BB
UTG: 110.4 BB
MP: 112 BB
CO: 114.8 BB

SB posts SB 0.4 BB, Hero posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.4 BB) Hero has A 7

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

Flop: (6.4 BB, 2 players) 4 9 6
Hero checks, BTN bets 2 BB, Hero calls 2 BB

Turn: (10.4 BB, 2 players) T
Hero checks, BTN checks

River: (10.4 BB, 2 players) A
Hero checks, BTN bets 15 BB, fold

BTN wins 10 BB

H2:

This is a an odd hand on the river. I have no reads on villain.

Flop and turn I think are pretty standard. I think I would strongly expect most regulars at the stake to continue betting the turn with the ace of diamonds.

River is super weird and I was unsure as to what that sizing I wanted to go with. I didn't want to go so big that his weaker flushes all fold, but I didn't want to go to small so to lose value against hands that will call. Ultimately I thought half pot seemed reasonable.

I hated facing this raise, and I was almost dead set on folding. I was convinced that, and to an extent still am, almost no regular player is going to be bluff raising in spots like this, and that this had to be the ace of diamonds. I was convinced completely of this. Ultimately I decided to call on flimsy logic. I basically thought, well this is the second nuts and it's too strong to fold. I thought I was making a losing call, but it's the top of the range so I have to call.

Ultimately, I still question whether this is a good call, and I think most players of the stake are only doing this for value.

PokerStars - $0.05 NL FAST (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BTN: 100 BB
SB: 100 BB
Hero (BB): 104.6 BB
UTG: 109 BB
MP: 100 BB
CO: 94.6 BB

SB posts SB 0.4 BB, Hero posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.4 BB) Hero has Q J

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

Flop: (6.4 BB, 2 players) 7 2 T
Hero checks, MP bets 4 BB, Hero calls 4 BB

Turn: (14.4 BB, 2 players) 8
Hero checks, MP checks

River: (14.4 BB, 2 players) K
Hero bets 7 BB, MP raises to 28 BB, Hero calls 21 BB

MP shows Q Q (One Pair, Queens)
(Pre 89%, Flop 91%, Turn 73%)
Hero shows Q J (Flush, King High)
(Pre 11%, Flop 9%, Turn 27%)
Hero wins 67.4 BB

Been a few days since I posted. Only out of laziness. Things going alright at 5z. Mostly just had breakeven sessions lately. Got some thoughts on my game from some 50-200 players. Most said I just was too passive, and this has generally been my thoughts.

My stats are like 19/17/7 with 1.5ish AF. I'm too much of a weak-tight reg. Since I moved down to 5z, I'm going to try playing more aggressively and see if i can get comfortable doing that. I have over 100BI for this stake, so can play around with different styles. Going to try to start barreling in some spots I ordinarily wouldn't but I think will work against 5z regs.

Hand from yesterday:

Q9o is a loose open from CO, but everyone behind looked tight so I wanted to steal. Villain is 11/6 over 30 hands, was not expecting him to cc.

My default is to check OOP vs IP caller, and saw no reason to bet flop here. Turn I decide to barrel to get his 2 broadway overs to fold. In hindsight I don't like the OB and prefer 75%. River, I'm not sure if I like this valuebet sizing. I think maybe a block bet under pot is better.

When he jams this is weird. My Qc and Jc block a lot of his broadway club combos. Assuming he 3bets AcKc pre, he is only left with AcXc hands and maybe low SCs. Despite this, I don't think he jams a non-flush, so I tank fold.

PokerStars - $0.05 NL FAST (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BTN: 103.4 BB
SB: 115 BB
BB: 158.8 BB
UTG: 127 BB
MP: 254.6 BB
Hero (CO): 101 BB

SB posts SB 0.4 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.4 BB) Hero has 9 Q

fold, fold, Hero raises to 2.4 BB, BTN calls 2.4 BB, fold, fold

Flop: (6.2 BB, 2 players) T 5 8
Hero checks, BTN checks

Turn: (6.2 BB, 2 players) 6
Hero bets 7.6 BB, BTN calls 7.6 BB

River: (21.4 BB, 2 players) J
Hero bets 13.6 BB, BTN raises to 93.4 BB and is all-in, fold

BTN wins 46.6 BB

I took a couple days off over the weekend as real-life things were distracting me and I wasn't in a mentally focused spot to play.

I played yesterday and things went well, other than a couple of rough spots that may have been coolers that led to a couple by in loss. I've put them below.

H1:

I'm not sure if I should be getting away from this because the board pairs on the turn. I also wasn't sure if I should cbet the flop, but I do a lot of checking on mono flops so I decided to here. River I'm thinking he can have a flopped flush. I'm not sure to many naked tens would do this, so perhaps I should have gotten away here.

PokerStars - $0.05 NL FAST (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BTN: 256.8 BB
Hero (SB): 101.4 BB
BB: 340.8 BB
UTG: 100 BB
MP: 100.4 BB
CO: 118.2 BB

Hero posts SB 0.4 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.4 BB) Hero has Q A

UTG raises to 2.4 BB, fold, fold, fold, Hero raises to 10 BB, fold, UTG calls 7.6 BB

Flop: (21 BB, 2 players) 6 T 5
Hero checks, UTG bets 6.4 BB, Hero calls 6.4 BB

Turn: (33.8 BB, 2 players) T
Hero checks, UTG bets 24.4 BB, Hero calls 24.4 BB

River: (82.6 BB, 2 players) 3
Hero checks, UTG bets 59.2 BB and is all-in, Hero calls 59.2 BB

UTG shows 6 6 (Full House, Sixes full of Tens)
(Pre 55%, Flop 72%, Turn 100%)
Hero shows Q A (Flush, Ace High)
(Pre 45%, Flop 28%, Turn 0%)
UTG wins 192.6 BB

H2:

In hindsight this should probably be a fold pre, but getting the odds multiway I decided to call with his suited ace. Though I do acknowledge I'm probably dominated by better aces often. Honestly post flop I just don't think I can get away from. I'm not expecting him to have A4s often, and honestly I was convinced I was against two over pairs.

PokerStars - $0.05 NL FAST (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BTN: 240.4 BB
SB: 165.2 BB
BB: 109.2 BB
UTG: 175.6 BB
MP: 164.6 BB
Hero (CO): 102.4 BB

SB posts SB 0.4 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.4 BB) Hero has 5 A

fold, fold, Hero raises to 2.4 BB, fold, SB raises to 10 BB, BB calls 9 BB, Hero calls 7.6 BB

Flop: (30 BB, 3 players) 2 5 3
SB bets 20 BB, BB calls 20 BB, Hero calls 20 BB

Turn: (90 BB, 3 players) 5
SB bets 30.8 BB, BB raises to 79.2 BB and is all-in, Hero calls 72.4 BB and is all-in, SB calls 48.4 BB

River: (320.8 BB, 3 players) J

SB shows 4 A (Straight, Five High)

Main Pot [307.2 BB]: (Pre 17%, Flop 84%, Turn 70%)
Side Pot#1 [13.6 BB]: (Pre 27%, Flop 96%, Turn 93%)

BB shows Q Q (Two Pair, Queens and Fives)

Main Pot [307.2 BB]: (Pre 63%, Flop 3%, Turn 5%)
Side Pot#1 [13.6 BB]: (Pre 73%, Flop 4%, Turn 7%)

Hero shows 5 A (Three of a Kind, Fives)

Main Pot [307.2 BB]: (Pre 20%, Flop 13%, Turn 25%)

SB wins 307.4 BB

Things are going well for me at 5z. Feeling quite confident in my reads and understanding of the player pool. I'm still struggling with figuring out lines, and many times I end up on the turn or river absolutely regretting the line I've taken to get to this point. I'm still struggling with my leak of calling too much when I know I should be folding, but I'm working on that and feel like I'm trusting my intuition more.

I'm trying to be more aggressive is naturally I tend to play very passively, and in some spots I make raises that are dumb, but overall I'm right with making some mistakes as I try to push myself out of my comfort zone.

Here is my graph so far at 5z. I'm struggling with lack of volume, and I'm trying to put in consistently two hours of play on two tables of Zoom daily, which gets between 750 – 1000 hands per day. My plan is to keep working on things here after 25k hands go back up to 10z.



I played a solid session yesterday, and felt that things were solid overall. Although I did run quite well and won several big pots with AA. However, this big 130bb pot that I lost was the biggest of the night. I usually reset after 125 BB but I hadn't blinded out yet.

My read was that the guy is your average limp/call happy fish. I should've realized on the river this is probably a boat given his line and not another flush, but I just got " nut flush against a fish" stuck in my head and couldn't help jamming.

PokerStars - $0.05 NL FAST (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BTN: 111.6 BB
SB: 160.2 BB
BB: 155 BB
UTG: 155.2 BB
MP: 100 BB
Hero (CO): 130.2 BB

SB posts SB 0.4 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.4 BB) Hero has A A

fold, fold, Hero raises to 2.4 BB, fold, SB calls 2 BB, fold

Flop: (5.8 BB, 2 players) 5 Q 4
SB bets 3 BB, Hero calls 3 BB

Turn: (11.8 BB, 2 players) 4
SB bets 7 BB, Hero calls 7 BB

River: (25.8 BB, 2 players) J
SB bets 24.8 BB, Hero raises to 117.8 BB and is all-in, SB calls 93 BB

Hero shows A A (Flush, Ace High)
(Pre 79%, Flop 52%, Turn 5%)
SB shows 4 5 (Full House, Fours full of Fives)
(Pre 21%, Flop 48%, Turn 95%)
SB wins 250.6 BB

I haven't updated this much as not many people reply, and I'm doing it mainly for feedback. Going forward I'll probably update every month or two.

Anyway, I took ~10 days away from poker at the end of Oct thru the election to focus on my mental game. I had been having a big issue where I couldn't fold good hands when I knew I was beat. I have a lot of solid pool reads, but was struggling to make big laydowns.

I came back and things have gone well since. My mental game has been great and things are going super well. My plan was originally 25k hands at 5z in Nov and Dec, then 10z in the New Year. However, I was offered the stars 40% RB promo per $200 in rake I can do 5 times, so I'm moving to 10z in dec to hit that and build at 25z roll.

I just finished my 25k hands in November goal in 25 days. Super happy with my volume.



Happy with the results, I think I am a bigger winner here, but I had a bunch of rough flush over flush and a couple boat over boat spots early in the month. I was almost 7bb/100 for the last 15k hands after the small downswing. I was really happy with my play, my mental game was disciplined and I had a ton of solid pool reads that I was able to exploit with.

I hit my goal of getting my aggression up, finally averaging 2 for a month. Just over 2 though. I'm naturally very passive so this was tough for me. I'm going to try for 2.5 in dec, as I think I need 2.5-3 to not get pushed around at 25z. I got my XR flop up to 7.93.

Interesting my 4bet preflop was higher than my 3b preflop (7.38 vs 6.85). I think I 4bet way more than most there, and I don't think many other regulars 4bet bluff much, if at all.

I've been following this thread for a while and it's good to see you back on the tables!
I also struggle with making big folds vs pool, I think it's one of my biggest leaks. Especially vs river donks which are never bluffs/thin value.
I used to be very passive too - I think the trick to becoming more aggressive is just to try being being a maniac for a while. I think you'll see that it works so well that you quickly become comfortable running people over. And now I don't even care when I get called light, because I'm extremely confident that it works more often that it needs to. Anyway that's what worked for me.
Gl moving forward!

Thanks for the reply man! Glad some people are following.

It can be super tough to make folds, especially as the regs and pool at the micros are severely underbluffing. But getting that straightened out has helped a ton.

I do think I should try to just be a maniac, but it is so hard to force myself to be aggressive.

At 5 zoom stats wise I think you should aim for something like 26/22 but probably higher like 28/23. The reason your redline is sinking is probably in some part due to passiveness post flop, but it's also because you're not stealing enough which is going to be massive towards your overall winrate but it will up your stats also so you'll get more action with your good hands.

The 5 and 10 pooles on stars are nitty as hell compared to say 16nlz for e.g. Your tight style would work better there because the players per flop is generally much higher there and the game is more spewy.

To up your pfr you don't need to adjust your early position opens much, it's all about LP and doing it in a smart way. I don't know what your UTG opening range is but something like 9Ts+ ATo+ 55+ KQo+ would be good. The most important difference is from the CO on wards.

You can open almost all suited hands and any off suit Kx on BTN at 5 profitably, that goes for any Ax too and open 67os+. Open CO like T9o+, most of the suited kings, some of suited Queens and add in hands like A5o and A8o+. SB you want to be adopt a similar strategy of stealing, basically just open a boat tonne of hands from co btn and sb, 5z is passive and you'll be printing instantly and notice a big difference to your red line.

Another thing you can do is 3bet religiously btn vs co, and 3b frequently in BB vs the looser btn opens. You're likely completing too much in BB in general which is adding to the general sinkage of your red line. fold BB even vs btn vs 3x with worse than A7o and K8o, 3B some of the offsuit wheel aces vs wide btn ranges at low frequency. At 5z you don't need to 3b hands like KJo from sb vs mp opens, it's unnecessary. Up your 3b stats by attacking people opening wide ranges on btn by 3betting BB and similarly attacking lose CO opens on btn.

If you ever want to record yourself playing send it to me in pm and I'll go over it, for free of course. I prob played over a million hands in those pooles so I know what the tendencies are like and what it takes to crush them. good luck

Thank you! This helps a ton! I actually record every session, and upload some and post them in a discord sever blog. If you want I can send you the link to my last session I uploaded, which is a good snapshot of how I play right now. Though, this week I'm going to try and drastically change my play.

The past week seemed to go okay. I grinded a ton early to finish my first of the 40% RB challenges. Got that and blowout done on Thursday, and got $100 cash between them. I took Friday and Saturday off as I wanted a bit of a break and a chance to do some review after spending a ton of time grinding for the RB challenge.

I wasn't planning on checking my results until January, but I saw my balance on stars accidently, and I was shocked it was so low, so I decided to look, and it hasn't been great so far this month/shot at 10z.



Looks like I'm BE/slightly losing at 10z. There hasn't been much variance, if any, maybe some in my favour, so this is mostly my play. I also have worked a lot on my mental game, so there is little to no tilt in here.

Stats so far:





I also looked at my results in pots over 160bb, where I'm up 13BI.

Then I looked at pots 0-60bb and:



Clearly I am getting redlined.

I have been pushing myself to be more aggro, such as spots like this:



but I still struggle to hit 2AF each session. I think this week I am just going to try and push myself to hit 3-4AF. I know I will make some mistakes/punts, but they will be worth it if I get myself out of my comfort zone and start to be more aggro, then I can refine it.

Feedback appreciated.

Turn cbet looks low, which might be an error at 10z. Do you find yourself one and done on flops too often? Not barrelling turned equity in position maybe?

FWIW, I think AF is massively overvalued at the micros. The key has always been:

1. Preflop discipline. This is easy to fix with a couple of hours of study and memorizing preflop charts.
2. Fold more rivers, especially versus treble barrels and river raises.
3. Betfold more often, especially on the river for thin value

For (2), I find the longer a session goes on, the less I can do this. Ditto starting a session off where it feels like I'm getting beaten up by the regs, who just have it all the time and I'm experiencing negative variance. The old "surely they can't have my second nut flush beat again? Call. Yep, they have it again".

Sometimes it's your job to lose as little as possible in a session. A-game involves having a fully functioning fold button, which is difficult. What we all think is a clear fold when commenting on hands, we sometimes find ourselves clicking call on in game.

River raising as a bluff is like the last level of redline stuff you can do and is definetly the hardest one to master, and honestly it's unneccesary.

What you wanna do is go after the small pots, specifically when the pfr checks flop or turn you can pick up a ton of pots by overbetting in these spots where they dont care to much about the pot. Bluffing rivers in bigger pots is different, the player have invested so much already and have a hard time to mentally let hands go.

Also +1 on everything nuxx said. Way to tight on the BTN, SB and BB.

Edit: Also the hand you posted your repping very thin and your line doesn't really make much sense, your value would have raised flop or turn most of the time even boats when there are double flushdraws.

GL!

Thanks. Yeah it is a work in progress. I'm going to try and open up a bit more from late position.

I already do some overbet probing, like if I defend UTGvsBB, and board is like 9 high or lower, and they check flop, I'll overbet tons, even pure air, and it works so much as the lower boards can favour us or come close to equalizing equity.

Based on your stats:
- You are winning way too often at showdown. Not thin valuebetting enough? Only calling when you think you beat valuerange and folding too many pure bluffcatchers?
- You are winning too much when calling a river bet. Again, only calling when you think you beat some valuerange? You need to call more pure bluffcatchers.
- You almost never barrel turn. Should be closer to 50%. Are you only barreling when you have a good draw?
- Won money when saw flop seems low. Looks like you aren't raising or barreling enough. If you're working in a solver, take a look at what combinations get raised/bet in the lower end of equity. If you can have a lot of value on a given flop texture -> you raise a ton of hands including bottom pairs, pure backdoor equity etc. It's usually hard to bluffraise too much OTF on textures that are good for your range. But make sure to barrel enough OTT too after getting called, usually for potsize+ on blanks

You seem to play a pretty weaktight strategy based on the small sample. You are way too valueheavy in spots where you show aggression and you fold way too many of your bluffcatchers.