Your problem is pretty typical at low/microstakes: you're a nit.

Yes entirely. I actually did a bunch of work on my mental game at the beginning of November to fold more rivers. I just found vs big aggression OTR, they almost always have it at this stake and I was lighting money on fire bluffcatching, so I solved to do that less vs regs. So now, I do bluffcatch some, but I try to be selective. I just find it doesn't happen enough at this stakes. Though, I think maybe I took it to far? Or simply I need aggression to balance it out. Even now I find people don't bluff enough.

I do agree I am too weaktight, it is the biggest problem in my game is I am a tightpassive nitreg. I'm going to work on pushing myself out of my comfort zone and being more aggro. I know I'll make some punts as I do this, but that is okay. If I get can comfortable have aggression in my game naturally and not forcing it, then I can refine the spots with study and pool experience so I'm not punty aggressive.

Obv there might be variance in your stats, but:

The fact that you have a river call efficiency of 2 and winning 60% of hands that went to showdown, means that you are very tight when calling and usually only with a really good hand that probably beats some value too. This means you are only taking the +++EV calls and folding too many +EV calls that would add to your winrate but not your river call efficiency. Winning players usually have something around 1.5 RCE, some a bit more some a bit less or closer to 1. A river call efficieny of 2 means that you on average get back 2 dollars for every 1 dollar called OTR, and 1 means you are getting your money back on every river call on average. Obviously RCE isn't everything, and it could be a product of calling wrong hands etc, but a really big number means you are passing up on too many profitable calls.

Instead of thinking about "okok I will call more", think about pot odds. Most of your villains will never find an overbet OTR, so they are offering you 33% or better potodds almost always, so you only have to be right that often to break even. So if there are natural bluffs villain can have when betting, you call your best bluffcatchers, even if they beat 0 valuehands. People bluff at any stake, and in some spots even overbluffing at the micros!

Nothing is as simple as this but just my 2c.

I really disagree with Shipnickle, being super tight with river calls is the way to go at the micros, no one is bluffing here. Every session if I could change something it would be folding even more on the river.

What you should up is your own agression, i couldnt even see the turn cbet stat in your pictuture but everyone else is talking about it, it should be around 50%, in position you dont even need any EQ to continue the turn as long as you have some kind of future blocker. In generel everyone is overfolding so you can throw random cbets out there.

Also no ide how your river bet stat is? But im gussing <30%, im at 50% and you should probably aim to hit arpund 40%. Again ppl are overfolding huge in small pots, go after every spot you get, you can randomly bluff with a small size as well if you dont have any good blockers, just throw a 1/3 river bet out there as it doesnt have to work very often.

PLEASE dont start bluffcathing the river you will be miserable!

EDIT: He might be on to something, I have river call efficiency 1,32 but I am calling too much so I still dont think this should be your priority. But it might be you should call more in the small pots, just stay tight in the bigger whens both when it comes to calling and bluffing.

Don't get me wrong though. I'm still overfolding rivers according to MDF, especially when I face a strong line or there are no natural bluffs. But that doesn't mean you should fold all your pure bluffcatchers. Just call the absolute best ones and fold the other GTO-calls vs shoves. My RCE is also around your number.

I was a little quick to judge you as I never look at RCE, you are correct and I as well to some pretty big bluff catches succesfully becouse I know what spots they have thos natural bluffs your talking about, just think it can be a bit dangerous to ask someone to start calling more when they don't know how to identify the correct spots. But starting with the smaller spots and see if you get something right I guess is a good way.

Shipnickle is right and Trippy_P is wrong. OP stop being a nit and start bluffcatching. This whole idea of people not bluffing is a complete lie.

Yeah. But he works in a solver so he can figure it out. I doubt he's doing something blindly.

I'm gonna give you an exercise, hope this is okay with you

Below is a hand I played a long time ago and like to use as an example. I'm guessing you never take lines like this turn or river.

Now try to answer this:

1. Why are we playing only overbets on the turn?
2. What rivers are good to jam with our hand and why?

Hey guys! I appreciate the feedback and multiple persepctives. I would say that in my experience people don't bluff enough on rivers at the micros, however I'd definitely say that leans more toward big pots. I think I may be getting pushed off to many small pots (0-60bb) and that is really hurting me.

My next couple sessions I'm going to really focus on my river decisions with regards to betting/bluffcatching, and try to post some hands.

One reason this may be an issue aside from the pool is i've never actually studied or went through a course on river play. I've done Kanu7 flop and turn (my turn theoretical understand needs work and will be a focus early 2021), but never for rivers. I've always relied on pool exploits in these spots.

I also get stuck on rivers in spots where it feels like I am beat, but I am beating some value so I feel I have to call.
Here is a recent hand. Obviously this is almost always a 3b pre, but I recall having some reason that lead me to flat (think fish in SB who cced 3bets often). That aside, I remember OTT saying into my mic that it felt like AK. But I don't think I can fold river here as I beat some value. But let's say river bricks and is 2d. If he bets that same size, I'm likely folding.

Interesting hand and I appreciate you posting this. Admittedly, my turn overbetting knowledge needs work, but my reasoning would be that they are quite capped pre with regard to hands that connect with AK in some way, and that nut/top end advantage is going to lead us to OB.

River, I would think any brick that doesn't hit their range or complete a draw is a good bluff card for us.

Try bluffcatching as wide as Pio suggests and let me know how that works out for you at these stakes.

Agreed. But no one suggested calling every PIO bluffcatcher.

Lol you are all wrong but ok keep doing what you're doing. OP, Im not gonna post anymore in this thread. If you want proof of what I wrote here, PM me. Best of luck.

Having numerous opinions is always welcome. I'm happy to have your feedback and perspectives, but if you don't want to post that is totally okay. I'm sorry if you felt attacked but I don't think anyone meant it as such.

Lol I dont feel atttacked at all. The point is: its not a matter of opinion, its a matter of facts and data. I've done mass database analysis over the last few months and it totally changed my perspective on this subject. thats where im coming from. ive done the research and Ive seen the data. people do bluff.

Well, as your saying we have a big range advantage on flop and the turn is a complete blank that doesn't help OOP or even out the ranges in any way, therefore overbetting will be the thing to do. We have to be more careful on a card that changes the board drastically (if not in our favor).

On the turn we have a bunch of gutshot hands that OOP wont be able to call our overbet with the same hand, therefore every river here completing a gutshot will be bang on to jam. In this case any 2,3,5,6 or 7 as we are the only one who can have the straight we will pressure that.

But do note that ppl will overfold turn vs the overbet so probably be more careful with the river jams in the micros. They're pretty low EV anyways and you will print on the turn overbet alone.

That makes total sense! Thank you!

I will post some hands of me finding aggression in spots I otherwise wouldn't in the next few days. May post a video of my play.

Looking at that ATs hand Drawcess I wonder if part of the problem might be you're reaching for creativity when there doesn't need to be.

For me that spot is super simple. I NEVER flat anything in SB vs button so it's usually a 3bet/fold. So, as I play it:

- we 3bet, if they are good they will 4bet and we have an easy fold at the micros (we always find lots of folds against 4bets, esp OOP). Cooler saved.

- if they're more fishy and trappy they just call. Ok, we can still go broke here. But we can also sometimes find folds if they, say, raise the flop or overbet turn.

- if I do go broke in this hand it's a cooler, but a lot more has to happen first. The line would be something like cbet, x/c, x/c. But note using this more simplified approach (aggresion pre and on flop) we've given villain plenty of options to define their range (make more mistakes) and will probably lose less when he is trapping AK, while picking up value against Kx and FD type hands that might call flop then check down/bluff river.

Played yesterday and today so far trying to work more aggression in and has gone okay. Today was a decent session. Frustrating couple punts early, but easy fixes.

Here are some hands where I wouldn't normally be this aggro:

This first one is a spot I'd normally probably x/c flop and fold turn. I think I have 66,99, TT(mid freq), 87s and a bunch of Tx and 8x here. I wouldn't normally do this, and if I did I would give up turn, but I think this runout is a great bluffjam for my range. Obviously is a mix 3bet pre, but I didn't in this instance.

PokerStars Zoom, Hold'em No Limit - $0.05/$0.10 ($0.01 ante) - 6 players
Replay this hand on CardsChat

UTG: $10.02 (100 bb)
MP: $55.58 (556 bb)
CO: $25.75 (258 bb)
BU: $5.94 (59 bb)
SB: $7.64 (76 bb)
BB (Hero): $11.14 (111 bb)

Pre-Flop: ($0.21) Hero is BB with J♥ K♥
UTG raises to $0.30, 4 players fold, Hero calls $0.20

Flop: ($0.71) 6♦ T♠ 9♥ (2 players)
Hero checks, UTG bets $0.35, Hero raises to $1.04, UTG calls $0.69

Turn: ($2.79) T♣ (2 players)
Hero bets $1.60, UTG calls $1.60

River: ($5.99) 7♦ (2 players)
Hero bets $8.19 (all-in), UTG folds

Total pot: $5.99 (Rake: $0.27)
BB (Hero) wins $5.72

Second one here is a bit weird, not sure if I like it. Board is better for him and I ain't repping much, but I have decent equity:

PokerStars Zoom, Hold'em No Limit - $0.05/$0.10 ($0.01 ante) - 6 players
Replay this hand on CardsChat

UTG: $10.00 (100 bb)
MP: $10.14 (101 bb)
CO: $14.16 (142 bb)
BU: $13.60 (136 bb)
SB (Hero): $10.91 (109 bb)
BB: $10.12 (101 bb)

Pre-Flop: ($0.21) Hero is SB with K♠ 5♠
4 players fold, Hero raises to $0.32, BB calls $0.22

Flop: ($0.70) 5♦ 3♥ 2♠ (2 players)
Hero checks, BB bets $0.22, Hero calls $0.22

Turn: ($1.14) 9♠ (2 players)
Hero checks, BB bets $0.60, Hero raises to $1.74, BB folds

Total pot: $2.34 (Rake: $0.11)
SB (Hero) wins $2.23


Here is a give up. Wouldn't normally bet this turn but I think this draw I should, and I think he is onAQ/AK and and is a looser reg who won't fold:

PokerStars Zoom, Hold'em No Limit - $0.05/$0.10 ($0.01 ante) - 6 players
Replay this hand on CardsChat

UTG: $9.14 (91 bb)
MP (Hero): $11.70 (117 bb)
CO: $24.11 (241 bb)
BU: $11.01 (110 bb)
SB: $26.68 (267 bb)
BB: $13.10 (131 bb)

Pre-Flop: ($0.21) Hero is MP with T♣ K♣
1 fold, Hero raises to $0.27, 2 players fold, SB 3-bets to $1, 1 fold, Hero calls $0.73

Flop: ($2.16) A♥ 7♠ J♣ (2 players)
SB bets $1.03, Hero calls $1.03

Turn: ($4.22) 8♣ (2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $2.50, SB calls $2.50

River: ($9.22) 7♦ (2 players)
SB checks, Hero checks

Total pot: $9.22 (Rake: $0.41)

Showdown:
MP (Hero) mucks T♣ K♣ (a pair of Sevens)
(Equity - Pre-Flop: 42%, Flop: 18%, Turn: 32%, River: 0%)

SB shows Q♦ A♠ (two pair, Aces and Sevens)
(Equity - Pre-Flop: 58%, Flop: 82%, Turn: 68%, River: 100%)

SB wins $8.81

Yes, but my point was there are many important aspects to improve on at these stakes, and bluffcatching more is quite low priority IMO. Unless OP is literally never bluffcatching even with the best blocker combos, it's unlikely he's losing much EV or getting exploited. It's also easy to get carried away and start punting by leveling oneself into calling bluffcatchers vs. nitregs who almost never make big bets / raises without the nuts.

Yeah I would tend to agree. Though it is important to distinguish in big and small pots. I think there may be more bluffing in small pots. But I'm not so sure.

WP

Only bit I wasn't with you on:

If we think he has too much Ax there's more reason to check turn, no?

I think general rule is in 3bet pots IP we can check most turns if our hand hates a raise. Or was there some other reason you want to barrel?

Sorry. My writing there (and generally on this site, despite that I write professional documents for a living) is poor.

I meant to say that I wouldn't normally bet that turn given my passive playstyle. But, on the river after betting turn, I checked because after he called my turn bet I thought he was on AK/AQ and he wouldn't fold OTR after bet/bet.

Yes, you're right about that. I'm mainly referring to big pots when we face a large bet or raise. In these spots, I see very few people having even close to the amount of bluffs one would expect to see at equilibrium.