Yeah Im playing way tighter than I usually do and Im passing up quite a few spots which is probably leading to this. Its like I have say Q8s in the CO or Btn I would open this hand most of the time if its folded to me on the normal tables but in Zoom I may as well just fold. Yes it would be +EV for me to open it but in the time it takes to see if it is folded to me I could have fast folded another couple of hands to get to a better one.

Im also 3betting a lot less as well for a lot of the same reasons above and also simply because people are opening tighter I may as well slightly widen my value range rather than add more bluffs because people arnt folding that often to 3bets.

Post flop Im basically playing ABC poker and betting if I have it and folding if I dont. My flop cbet is just over 50% and if I miss Im giving most of the time if the flop isnt HU and deciding on the flop when it is.

Ive been opening all Ax from every position as well which is working well and guarentees when I do hit the flush unless Im against a straight flush I will have the nut flush.

Not sure how much of it will work at NL25 but Im not going to change it up until I see how it goes.

i agree with ur approach for the most part except i take the approach of being aggressive when people show weakness generally because like yourself there just folding and waiting for a better spot (its still pretty effective at 25 + 50nl fwiw).

Glad its going well. I'm playing a bit of 5nl zoom atm so I might try your strategy. I presume you meant Axs not Ax

Interesting point about insta-folding Qxs etc in CO instead of waiting and wasting time.

I have had a horrendous month breaking even over 50,000 hands 16nl,10nl,5nl.
I looked last night and for the last 75 times I have been dealt AA I have won a grand total of 40bb.

It stopped being fun and it was making me moody so I dropped my BR to $100 and started playing a bit of 2nl 6m and 5nl FR.


I have switched to 5nl ZOOM since Sunday because I needed 500VPP to get Goldstar this month.

Aggression is obviously good but a lot of people at the tables that you see been overly aggressive are usually losing or BE players because they arnt good enough to play those slight +EV spots and end up letting ego get in the way of their decisions.

Its like my loose style obviously works at the micros up to NL25 but at NL50 its the first level where imo people starting playing back somewhat and although the style still works, I reckon my WR could be about 8-10bb/100 without the spew, I start to play back in bad spots and it exposes my weakness and I do stupid stuff like shove pre with Q3s when the villain can only ever have Aces. If I could curtail that then that style would work but my ego dosnt allow that hence the 3bb/100 WR.

The levels I have played so far I should find easy given my past and in all honesty Im not sure my WR would change that much if I play tight or loose because no disrespect to players playing there but they make so many mistakes its just so easy to get payed off that it probably makes sense to quick fold to better hands.

Yeah Axs sorry.

At some point you will have to learn to play those spots where I say quick fold but the reg tables are probably a better place for that. You dont have to go overboard tightening up though.

Best advice I can give is keep it simple. Dont db bad boards where your hand or equity dont increase, dont get in to pissing wars, theres really no need. Mainly 3bet for value and dont get tricky post flop and just bet bet bet with your made hands, even overbet in spots where you think people are not folding, they will pay you off.

If you want any help with hands or any advice then dont hesitate to ask, Im sure by keeping it pretty simple you will see a rise in your wr.

Im up 10 buy ins in my first 3.5k hands ... but im on a 400 hand break even spell ...

Im classing that as my downswing ..

In before the crap hits the fan.

Solid advice IMO

Nice work. Just keep doing what your doing.

Not a fan of quick folding good stealing hands, sorry.

If you're winning at say 5bb/100 for example, then you're expectation on seeing another hand or two instead of stealing is 0.1BB extra.

Whereas, if you can see that it will be a genuinelly good spot to steal. (Good position, right players etc.) Then I have to think it will be more profitable than 0.1BB to play the steal.

It has multiple other benefits too. It expands your range, and makes you tougher to play against. You'll pick up money post-flop vs tight players, and you might even hit a big hand occasionally too.

If you're continually folding spots, it'll make it much easier for the blinds to play against you, and will just narrow your ranges in general. You'll also get to play in position less.

Not such a big deal at 10NL, but i'd notice it as a reg. And its just a bad habit in general for moving up imo.

For others who might want to do this, ask yourself if it is a genuinly good opportunity to steal. If you're not confident in your BvB game, or your post-flop game then by all means fold them a good%, but I think you need a solid stealing/BvB game to win at a higher rate at these limits.

Its probably only a good strategy for you in this scenario since you want to decrease variance (at the slight cost of WR), and you know you'll be moving up soon, so any image issues won't be a problem.

Thats the thing, I will never get enough hands on players to get good enough reads on them to make it worth sitting there on the button with my normal 60% range waiting to see if someone opens.

You have to remember Im still playing about 15/12 which isnt actually that tight. Its just that Im going to be picking my spots better than most at these limits would. It will be a good chance to compare things though when I get to NL25 as I might still have hands on people from last year and also have a big enough sample where I were playing about 21/17 and winning at nearly 11bb/100 to see how the tight(er) style works in comparison.

Right back to the challenge today so just going to try my hand at 2 tables of NL25. Moving up to 4 tables at $200 and moving down at about $110-120.

****** shortstackers.

First session didnt go too bad, down a couple of dollars or so. Theres a ton of pro shortstackers at NL25, I had forgot how many there were. Ran in to a couple of sets as well and lost the minimum so not too bad.

I need to get to NL25 on all tables very quickly because the betting amounts are now confusing me which wasnt a problem before but it something that I am constantly having to check. Need to get my head around those pretty quickly.

Yeah, I have my beta keys set to % of pot and x blinds. Served me well 5nl to 10nl anyways.

Have to agree with this. Coming from someone who has played a lot of rush/zoom, why would you ever want to fold the 2 most profitable spots in poker playing hands IP to get a slightly better hand in EP, playing OOP? Not all of your profit comes from stealing, a lot of the $$ from those spots is gettin to play IP vs other players, cold calling, 3 betting etc.

Q8s/98s in the Hijack/cutoff/btn, is worth more in bb/100 than a hand like 88/99 or QJs in EP, which is what you are quick folding to. It's not like you are quick folding the btn, to play the btn again.

Sorry but quick folding is absolutely -EV and 100% the wrong way to look at things.

Yeah the hands you mention I wouldnt be quick folding. Maybe my statement was too sweeping and like I say I havnt actually tightened up that much, only 2-3% overall really.

Interesting Phil Galfond`s take on it although he is basically saying he is folding the very slightly +EV hands if I am reading it right:-

How about the blinds? Tighter than normal? Its just hands like say K9o that I may open from the SB, do I wait to see if it is opened or just quick fold. I think the spot is profitable but also think I may be better fast folding. Thats where I could see it getting really confusing.

Hows things? You still going for SNE, did you decide against coaching again?

I have to be honest I haven't read the whole discussion. But it seems counter intuitive(spelling) to pass up on +EV spots in general.

But I understand Galfonds point and found this to be true for myself aswell. I used to run pretty large steal percentages from sb/co/btn, basically what this + a loose game did to me was that I averaged way less hands per hour than a lot of players who also played zoom. I remember the difference between me and Daniel Lui was something like 200 hands an hour which is insane.

Rolled for 4 tables of NL25 now and BR at $220. Adding in 2 tables of Nl50 at $350 and dropping 2 of NL25 about the $170-180 mark.

Whats my play on the river? Just shove the rest in or just call?:




If Im honest I were a bit freaked out by the river and lost my stacksize and was really concerned at how strong they both looked.

Dropping 2 tables of NL25 after running KK in to AA for what seems like the umpteenth time lol. Moving back up at $200.

Pity as well as the games are super fishy and once one person calls a raise its like the whole table wants a piece of the action.

Really? I cant imagine any pro playing that low for 100bbs and yet there are pro shortstackers?

Yeah sorry by pro shortstacker Im meaning a non fish and someone who is certainly playing a SS strategy. It wouldnt surprise me if there were some playing FT at this level though.

oh, reg shortstackers ok .
Yea, I think they might be some supernovas grinding it for living actually

Down I go to 4 tables of NL10.



Sucks a bit that both hands that have happened making me move down theres not much I can do about. Like the hand above hes not folding any river but just happens to catch his 2 outer. Roll down to $158 now so moving back up at $200 now.

Got mixed up I dont have to drop down till $100 but probably about $110-120 so will stick it out at NL25 for a bit longer.

$20 2xNl2 2xNl5 drop down at $15
$30 4xNL5 drop 2 tables at $20
$50 2xNL5 2xNL10 drop down at $30
$80 4xNL10 drop down at $60
$140 2xNL10 2xNL25 drop down at $100
$200 4NL25 drop down at $150
$350 2xNL25 2xNL50 drop down at $250
$500 4xNL50 drop down at $400

Good job I realized that I didnt have to drop down because the games are goooood.




I run well in this hand, the river is awesome because some of his flush draws are Ax so other than him catching the flush its the next best thing. Beat: I moved my mouse roller before shoving the river and missed value.





Roll at $232, next target $350.

GJ MartL! You go back fast