Finally an almost perfect session:



There was only one more or less interesting hand. Villain was 28/17 (over 104 hands), steal from CO 20%. He was quite aggro postflop.



I think my first bigger improvement should be to 3bet more both for value and as a bluff. I have found some solid threads in this topic. I'll collect and reread them so that I can better incorporate this into my game.

My second session today didn't start well (run into AA w/ KK) but I managed to climb back and ended almost break even.



As I steal a lot I get 3bet a lot too and most of the time I end up folding. I think it's basically fine but I'm not really happy with it. My main problem is I don't usally have too many hands on my opponents (see why here) but it has a huge impact on my red line so this should be handled somehow better.

I hope you realize now why I started this thread. Below the graph of my afternoon session:



Out of 56 possibilities I got 3bet 10 times and I had to fold every single time. I think nobody can accuse me of calling too many 3bets

My quite short evening session was better than the one today afternoon:



The following hand shows why I hate to find a weak two pair on the BB. Villain was 46/8 and passive.



The river should have been an (easy?) b/f even against him.

Thin value bet OTR? Villain was 100/33 (over 15 hands), postflop normal. I seriously thought I was ahead OTR...

The two pair hand, I'm folding the river pretty much every time. When you're raised on the turn or river, just fold. I'm not saying every time, but a very large percent of the time you need to fold unless you have the nuts or a good read. The A high hand, OOP I check/call a small bet there, but I'd prefer to take a showdown. I'd say for 10nl, you're looking pretty good with the low volume that you put in - but that's not really saying much since I'm at 10nl myself and still have a lot to learn as well

You're completely right and I knew this when I saw him raising but I couldn't resist calling I normally fold a lot but during this challenge I will make close calls in order to check if I don't fold way too much. But again it was a clear b/f situation.

I bet here for value. I was sure he won't fold any PP but at this point he doesn't have too many in his range. I thought he can make a hero call w/ K-high. Actually he did w/ Q-high

Volume I put in is very low, I know, but I have a family (incl. two children) and a good regular job so I don't have too much more time. And - esp. during this challenge - I'm focusing on playing better so I only play three tables.

Good luck with your challenge. I'll be honest...having played and beat every level of the micros I think that the optimal play style will have a slightly downward red line. The reason for this is that there is not much value in fold equity and there is a ton of value in showdown equity. People are too passive and don't fold enough, so, a TAG style should exploit that.

Once you hit nl25 people will start to 3bet you much more and double barrel their air, ect. A lot of new players tend to try and out muscle that aggression, but this is not the right approach. Once you hit nl25 and nl50 you can't cold call nearly as much with prospective hands, even in position, because people will raise you much more often, forcing you to fold and take red line hits. Only cold call if you have a really good reason to, and start to think about 3betting in spots more.

Verneer says that a good negative red line slope is -.6 to .8 BI per 1k hands at FR at least. Personally I think 1.5BI/1k hands for showdown winnings is easily achievable at nl25 and below...maybe even at nl50 if you get really good at hand reading.

As a fellow unler who's had a tanking red line in the past...don't worry about it going down so much. If it's going down to fast focus on calling less, and raising more. Being the aggressor preflop is always better because your perceived range is much stronger, and you can effectively maneuver better post flop. Also, don't get into the habit of calling flops/turns with out a plan or reason, or you'll end up folding too much in too big pots.

Anyway, just thought I'd share. GL.

I completely agree w/ this. The problem is though my red line slope is around -11bb/100 which makes -1.1 BI/1k so it's falling twice as quickly as it would be acceptable (for me). On the other hand I have a 2 BI/1k SD win-rate.

I think these numbers indicate I have some leaks I should fix before I move up in stakes. This is my main goal. As a side(!) result I expect my red line to fall less dramatically (around -.6 BI/1k would be a very good result for me).

Being more aggressive is the key I think too. I'm collecting the spots where I should be more aggro and I'm going to make appropriate adjustments.

Thank you very much for this!

Didn't play my A-game today afternoon but was lucky enough to finish in the green. Red line sucked as ususal.

We played a "Leffe" session yesterday evening but it didn't go well at all. We played 32/27, 10% 3bet, 56% steal. Postflop was awful however as we run into the top of everybody's range or we got sucked out on later streets...



In the following hand villain was an unknown fishy player (very few hands on him at this point). How do you play OTF? Do you c-bet or not? We discussed it a lot but couldn't agree.

It could've been a good day but it wasn't that great. Or am I just too influenced by the last couple of hands I lost?



I think it's time to (re)read the threads I have found on 3-betting. I'll collect and post the most useful ones.

The only line that is important at the micros is the green line. People don't fold much at NL10 and when your trying too hard to improve the redline and not your overall winrate you may find yourself spewing.

Just a thought.

Yes, obviously. Thread titel may be (intentionally ) misleading: my main problem is my win-rate isn't high enough as I'm too weak. I'm certain I should find the right spots where I could make more money being more aggressive. My (mainly postflop) leaks should be fixed and this thread is about this process.

You've posted several hands where you have under 40bb's. With your showdown winnings consistently positive have you thought about playing a 100 bb stack and auto topping it up to maximize your profit when you get AI at showdown?

Which ones are they? I play NL10 and I always buy in full (auto top is always on obviously).

End of the day finally... I have played a lot (at least a lot for me) but I couldn't find my A-game. The only good thing is I have finished in the green.



In the next hand villain was a 37/26 (over 109 hands). He was aggro both preflop and postflop but not a complete maniac. It was his first c/r. How do we play?

Not a bad session today but there's still not too much improvement in my red line.



Villain in the next hand was 45/32, aggro OTF, nomal on later streets (over only 55 hands). Before this hand I b/f once OTF and bet and c/f twice OTT so he obviously didn't like to fold. Spew?

No-Limit Hold'em, $0.10 BB (6 handed) - Hold'em Manager Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Button ($3.37)
Hero (SB) ($10)
BB ($10.81)
UTG ($11.20)
MP ($15.09)
CO ($4.31)

Preflop: Hero is SB with A, 6
4 folds, Hero bets $0.25, BB calls $0.20

Flop: ($0.60) K, 3, 9 (2 players)
Hero bets $0.34, BB calls $0.34

Turn: ($1.28) 7 (2 players)
Hero bets $0.73, BB calls $0.73

River: ($2.74) J (2 players)
Hero bets $1.95, BB calls $1.95

Total pot: $6.64


The next hand was my very first one on that table. Both villains were completely unknown. How do you play OTR?

No-Limit Hold'em, $0.10 BB (5 handed) - Hold'em Manager Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

UTG ($10)
MP ($4.11)
Button ($7.89)
SB ($4.80)
Hero (BB) ($10)

Preflop: Hero is BB with 10, J
2 folds, Button calls $0.10, SB calls $0.05, Hero checks

Flop: ($0.30) J, 8, K (3 players)
SB checks, Hero checks, Button bets $0.10, SB calls $0.10, Hero calls $0.10

Turn: ($0.60) 10 (3 players)
SB checks, Hero checks, Button bets $0.30, SB calls $0.30, Hero calls $0.30

River: ($1.50) 7 (3 players)
SB checks, Hero checks, Button bets $0.75, 1 fold, Hero ???

hi, i can see that we all have the same problem. This a part of the game that is not easy to fix. you have to be a lot losser, and probably a lot crazy to be BE at NSDW. I saw players with 30/28 stats up at NSDW but BE or losers in SDW. it's defenetly something that we have to try to fix but i think is not that bad you redline graph. remenber you are playing nl10, the players are a lot calling stations , they don't fold to cbets and 2barrels with mid pair, gutshot, stuff like that.
Is good to discuss some of the aspects but is good you have the ideia that your results are not that bad...

Having just done a tonne of work on my red line, all you need to actually get it BE/near BE is the mpethybridge thread, the 2 main factors are A) Playing hands from the blinds (fold more) and B) stealing enough, work on these and you'll get a flat red line.

One thing i did notice is that every oppurtunity you miss to make an obvious steal from the SB/BTN/CO is bad, you really need to take every single chance to steal if it looks like a good spot too.

Table selection as well is probably the most important thing regarding the red line, ideally, as you know, we want fish to the right and nit's/tag's to our left, it's super important to have a nit in the sb because then we can steal atc, tight blinds = steal near enough atc, a tight btn = a wide CO range.

I would say, there are 2 visions for this hand. Some players will say, of course you should cbet because there some draws that you have to take value from, and some other players that say, you have showdown value and with K7 there, i would love to pot control. I'm not really sure about the +EV way to play it, IMO it depends on the player. If he is a fish as you say, i probably go for value because there are really a lot of draws you take value. If he was some kind of regular, i prefer to check back probably thinking about pot controling because a regular feels better your week hand, and if you bet and he calls, then he check the turn and you check again, he will fire the river and you don't know where you are plus you have a probably 11-13bbs bet to call.

Oh, thx. Again, I'm completely sure a falling red line wouldn't be a big problem at NL10. The problem is I know I'm too weak and that I should be more aggro in some of the spots. That's what I'm about to fix.

My stats (over 74k) hands:
CO steal%: 33.5%
BTN steal%: 44.3%
SB steal%: 41.5%
SB CC%: 6.1%
BB CC%: 10.9%

So I agree with you completely but I don't think I can improve here a lot.

Again agreed. As I only play 3 tables at once it's not a problem.

I think I rather have a lot of postflop leaks which should be fixed.

Thx, you can be really right here. My friends wanted me to c-bet but I checked back to pot control as a I wanted to see a cheap SD. I managed to get to SD cheaply although villain turned a set of 5.

I still think checking back is better but I'm not sure at all...

Terrible, terrible, terrible session. And it was way above EV as I hit my set w/ KK vs AA PFAI.



The following was my very last hand. Villain was an unknown fish.