I've been playing online poker (2NL, 5NL) for about two and a half years recreationally. About a year ago I started taking it more seriously by picking up some books and putting in more volume. I think I learned a lot and am much more knowledgeable about poker theory. HOWEVER: It doesn't show in my bankroll. I deposited about $60 when I started a couple of years ago and my BR is currently $50. Never went below $40, never above $75.

Areas that did improve over the years:
- Bankroll Management
- Tilt Issues (pretty much no longer go on tilt)

Goals:
- Making a consistent (small) profit at 5NL. Target $200, then moving to 10NL.
- No longer donking away profits.
- Reviewing Hands
- Actually applying gained knowledge in the field.

Question in general: How do you guys and gals apply gained poker wisdom in the field? I have a feeling I'm not actually improving because I'm having difficulty changing the way I play. Is this done primarily by reviewing hands? I haven't really done this to be honest.

What I have:
- Poker Tracker 3
- FTP account with rakeback
- Phil Gordon's Little Green Book
- David Sklansky Theory Of Poker
- Easy Game Volume vol. I and II
- The Poker Blueprint

Caveats: Currently don't have too much time to play poker and my hands total is about 40k I think.

Full Tilt Poker $0.02/$0.05 No Limit Hold'em - 9 players
The Official 2+2 Hand Converter Powered By DeucesCracked.com

BB: $4.84
UTG: $3.07
UTG+1: $5.24
UTG+2: $4.23
MP1: $3.96
MP2: $2.11
CO: $5.35
Hero (BTN): $4.52
SB: $1.92

Pre Flop: ($0.07) Hero is BTN with 3 3
UTG calls $0.05, 5 folds, Hero raises to $0.10, 1 fold, BB calls $0.05, UTG calls $0.05

Flop: ($0.32) 9 T T (3 players)
BB checks, UTG checks, Hero bets $0.15, BB calls $0.15, UTG calls $0.15

Turn: ($0.77) K (3 players)
BB checks, UTG checks, Hero bets $0.20, BB calls $0.20, UTG calls $0.20

River: ($1.37) 3 (3 players)
BB bets $0.50, UTG folds, Hero raises to $4, BB raises to $4.39 all in, Hero calls $0.07 all in

Final Pot: $9.51
BB shows 9 T (a full house, Tens full of Nines)
Hero mucks 3 3
BB wins $8.88
(Rake: $0.63)


Did I completely butcher this hand? My reasoning was, since he was just calling my very small bets and didn't try to extract more money, he maybe had a pair. I was hoping for him to have a set.

Full Tilt Poker $0.02/$0.05 No Limit Hold'em - 9 players
The Official 2+2 Hand Converter Powered By DeucesCracked.com

UTG+2: $5.00
MP1: $1.39
MP2: $5.06
CO: $5.32
BTN: $7.45
SB: $8.60
BB: $6.88
UTG: $4.79
Hero (UTG+1): $5.48

Pre Flop: ($0.07) Hero is UTG+1 with K K
1 fold, Hero raises to $0.17, 4 folds, BTN calls $0.17, 2 folds

Flop: ($0.41) T J 3 (2 players)
Hero bets $0.41, BTN calls $0.41

Turn: ($1.23) 5 (2 players)
Hero bets $1.23, BTN calls $1.23

River: ($3.69) J (2 players)
Hero bets $1, BTN raises to $3.25, Hero folds

Final Pot: $5.69
BTN wins $5.32
(Rake: $0.37)

Did I play this right? I think he would've 3-bet with AA. I'm putting him on AJ, KJ, QJ, TJ?

I'm no expert so I don't want to give you info on the hands,
but I just want to say goodluck and I really hope you show improvement I'm probably in the same boat as you there, just trying to improve haha

Thanks man! Goodluck to you too!

Yes you find out where you went wrong and work out why.

40k is a lot of hands from a learning perspective.
When I reviewed my hands I found doing it straight after the session was most effective by a lot. If you can't put a lot of hands in try and make them 'quality hands' where you actively reason through your actions and consider alternatives and you might find enough things in a session to think about for days (and mungle around your subconscious every waking hour) and your ability will grow faster than zombieing a lot of tables at once.

Preflop I would limp or raise but a minraise isn't terrible
Flop is not terrible but not great against two players
Check behind turn imo
Unlucky river but you know that 3 didn't help him. Does he play this way with a bare T? You have the lowest boat out there. Does QJ play like this? I don't know that either.

How often does he need to have a hand you beat to make your river raise profitable?
Well I'm going to assume calling is profitable, you have to call 50 into a pot of 1.87 getting >3-1 so raising you are committing $4.07 to win $5.94 so ignoring folds for now (we beat any bet-folding hands by simply calling) you need to be good 40% of the time.
He's not folding better full houses but if he can find a fold with a bare T or a straight even some of the time your raise is worse than calling. If he calls a bunch of hands you beat the raise looks better. It's not how often you have him beat, it's how often you have him beat WHEN HE CALLS that is the important thing.

that's the kind of thing you review, 39999 to go

gl

Thanks, I'm definitely going to try this. Have started reviewing a couple of hands already.

I've been playing around with my preflop betting. My standard bet is 3BB. Would like to be able to adapt my betting to specific situations. My min raise probably gave my hand away to a certain degree though.


This is actually great advice. Probably very rudimentary poker wisdom, but I've got something to chew on! Thanks for the input!

so come on where's this improvement?

Maybe I need to read up on how to play AK?

Full Tilt Poker $0.02/$0.05 No Limit Hold'em - 8 players
The Official 2+2 Hand Converter Powered By DeucesCracked.com

BB: $3.01
UTG: $5.28
Hero (UTG+1): $4.76
MP1: $2.53
MP2: $10.06
CO: $5.00
BTN: $5.00
SB: $5.00

Pre Flop: ($0.07) Hero is UTG+1 with A K
1 fold, Hero raises to $0.17, 1 fold, MP2 raises to $0.58, 4 folds, Hero calls $0.41

Flop: ($1.23) 7 3 T (2 players)
Hero checks, MP2 bets $1.23, Hero folds

Final Pot: $1.23
MP2 wins $1.15
(Rake: $0.08)

Managed to get some volume in last week. Things are going alright. Managed to actually think about the game while playing, which is always good.

Yesterday's session upped my bankroll with $12, which was a welcome change.

My BR was up 40% (ran hot), but then I ran bad and played bad. I'm now down 20% ($40), so I'm moving back to 2NL. I promised myself I would only deposit once, so I have to adhere to strict BRM or I risk losing it all and no more online poker for me. That would suck.

New Rule: Move up to 5NL with a BR > $80.

Will probably have to work hard for this. With an expected winrate of 5BB/100 it'll take about 40k hands. *sigh* I better run hot.

EDIT: My goal is to improve my game substantially, not move up to 5NL or getting to the $80.

I think I have this hand figured out, but I'd like you guys to chime in to see if I got this right or not.

Poker Stars $0.02/$0.05 No Limit Hold'em - 9 players
The Official 2+2 Hand Converter By DeucesCracked Poker Videos

Hero (BTN): $8.41
SB: $4.16
BB: $5.00
UTG: $4.00
UTG+1: $5.34
UTG+2: $3.25
MP1: $2.36
MP2: $5.00
CO: $5.00

Pre Flop: ($0.07) Hero is BTN with Q A
4 folds, MP2 raises to $0.20, 1 fold, Hero raises to $0.35, 2 folds, MP2 calls $0.15

Flop: ($0.77) A 3 9 (2 players)
MP2 bets $0.75, Hero calls $0.75

Turn: ($2.27) 4 (2 players)
MP2 bets $1.10, Hero calls $1.10

River: ($4.47) 2 (2 players)
MP2 bets $2.80 all in, Hero calls $2.80

Final Pot: $10.07
Hero mucks Q A
MP2 shows K A (a pair of Aces)
MP2 wins $9.58
(Rake: $0.49)

In retrospect I probably shouldn't have called his river bet because there were too many hands that could beat me. (A5, AK, A2, A3, A4, A9, 22, 33, 44, 99, AA, 56 and more)

With his betting pattern, only the AK was a likely holding? Maybe AA or 99?

congrats

I'd take strat to the strat forums the more people that see it the better.

Good luck