Ran pretty poor today again, I just couldn't really win hands at showdown. Most of the times I was able to valuebet river I valueowned myself, but that's gonna happen sometimes. At the end I started to lose focus and started making questionable calls again, one was a raise on the river when I had the nutflush and the board paired, people don't make these kind of crafty bluffs at this stake which makes sense if fish like me are clicking call just because they had a great hand on an earlier street... really frustrated with myself like at some point I should learn from my punts right? Oh well, sooner or later I'll get it..
No hands today, just quickly making this post after the session before heading out for the night.
I think I might not play for a day or two and just study instead, kind of been slacking lately when it comes to studying beyond quickly glossing over hands I played. I feel like I just have a bit more clarity and confidence when I studied the day before my session, in general I wasn't really headstrong today, just felt like I was clicking buttons really.

Today's results

Studied this morning, reviewed a couple of hands where I wasn't sure what to do a little bit more in depth, gonna share some of that work later in this post.
Since my afternoon plans fell through I decided to play after all, played very well so I really should start studying or some kind of "warm up theory" routine at the very least before playing a session. At the beginning I was on a decently hot run, lots of flopping sets in 3bet Pots and hitting the nuts on my semibluffs so that's obviously going to help a lot. At the end I got coolered set over set twice, one of those was against a shortstack so there's some silver lining (am I using that right? :P)
Happy I was able to make big laydowns when raised on the river or turn today without much hesitation, guess the self deprecation from yesterday proved useful. Might even have been a little too nitty but I really doubt it given how little bluffs I've seen in the big spots, I think most of the villain's capable of such plays I have found out by now.

Today's results

Hero (BTN): 150.6 BB
SB: 52.2 BB
BB: 344 BB
UTG: 158 BB
MP: 104.6 BB
CO: 151.4 BB

SB posts SB 0.4 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

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

fold, fold, fold, Hero raises to 2.4 BB, fold, BB calls 1.4 BB

Flop: (5.2 BB, 2 players) 7 T 2
BB checks, Hero bets 2 BB, BB calls 2 BB

Turn: (9.2 BB, 2 players) 3
BB checks, Hero bets 6 BB, BB calls 6 BB

River: (21.2 BB, 2 players) 4
BB checks, Hero bets 12 BB, BB raises to 33.6 BB, fold

I'm not really sure what villain is representing on the river except trapped sets and two pairs. Maybe some 56s with a flopped BDFD but seems thin. Only bluff I could think of was 89s, I haven't seen people turn their Tx into a bluff here, 55 or 66 could maybe make some sense but it also seems like an advanced play that's unlikely from the population. Was very close to leveling myself into a call à la "I block A5" but I don't see how A5 gets to the river tbh.


BTN: 72.2 BB
SB: 100 BB
BB: 115.8 BB
UTG: 148.2 BB
MP: 158 BB
Hero (CO): 108 BB

SB posts SB 0.4 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

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

fold, fold, Hero raises to 2.4 BB, fold, fold, BB calls 1.4 BB

Flop: (5.2 BB, 2 players) 6 T J
BB checks, Hero bets 3 BB, BB calls 3 BB

Turn: (11.2 BB, 2 players) A
BB checks, Hero bets 6 BB, BB raises to 20 BB, fold

I don't think I should be betting turn if I'm gonna fold to a check raise, but who knows. I could get value from AhXh if I didn't block the Ah, everything else is two pair by now pretty much so probably on the thin side, especially considering that I have all sets, all KQ. I should probably bet way more polarized on this turn and choose a much larger sizing. Another problem with this hand is there are so many possible turn bluffs and I'm not sure if villain will play two pair this way ever so I wasn't really sure what to do. I don't think I can fold all my AK, AQ here but having the Ah doesn't play great I think, but blocking KQ is obviously nice. Not sure, gonna ponder over this spot but I'm leaning towards thinking that betting, in particular with this sizing, was my main mistake here.


BTN: 99.6 BB
SB: 194.8 BB
BB: 100 BB
UTG: 46.2 BB
MP: 104.2 BB
Hero (CO): 110.6 BB

SB posts SB 0.4 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

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

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

Flop: (21 BB, 2 players) J 2 K
SB bets 6.6 BB, Hero calls 6.6 BB

Turn: (34.2 BB, 2 players) T
SB bets 21.6 BB, Hero calls 21.6 BB

River: (77.4 BB, 2 players) 5
SB bets 156.6 BB and is all-in, fold

Lots of value hands that beat me, again I block AQ but I don't think that's super relevant. I think this is the broadway or a set the vast majority of the time, I don't block any missed flushdraws but it's really like A5dd, A5cc I'm catching exclusively here. Crafty villains might bluff off their QQ so I would definitely prefer calling AK over KQ given that AK blocks the additional KK for value and same amount of AQ but doesn't block QQ that might play like this once in a blue moon. I think I'm just overanalyzing an easy fold though, better question is probably whether turn call is winning if I fold the brickest of bricks. Seems tough to lay down top paird with OESD though, I think I kind of have to see the river or I'm way overfolding turn.


Reviewed the A4dd as well as 89hh hands, came to some interesting conclusions.

A4dd I think my preflop play is fine if I don't 4bet this hand every time, not too much to say here. On the flop I'm giving villain a pretty wide but still somewhat strong checking range, like I don't think he will start donking his sets or top pair ever. I'm interested in denying equity facing the check with my more nutted hands, any TT and QQ that made it here I will cbet small, but my KK, AA, JJ are mixed heavily between checking and betting to protect my check back range (JJ mostly checking because it's not getting value from much but some Tx with BDFD).
As far as turns go, I think K, J, A are great for my check back range, only cards I really don't love seeing are 9 and Q I think given that I assume villains call 4bet range to have more Jx, Qx in there than the part of my 4bet range that checks back. 6s doesn't really improve either player much imo.
Facing turn check I think I can narrow villain's range down to weak pairs (ATs, JTs) and some OESDs/double gutshots like 99, AJs, KJs that don't want to bet. I think some top pairs like KQ and AQ make sense if villain is aware that I don't always cbet KK+.
For value my turn betting range is all remaining KK, AA. I can go either way with JJ but in practice I don't think I'm betting it much, there is some merit to denying equity and it's not like I'm worried too too much about Qx facing a second check, so maybe I should actually start betting hands like that a little more often and not be so scared of the top card on the board if the action allows me to narrow villain's range like it does here. I can bluff with AK mostly, also I potentially have some KJo combos still, I use it as a 4bet bluff every once in a while, same goes for AJs. I don't think it's a mistake by any means to bluff here with A4dd, but if I do it everytime with such hands I am definitely overbluffing and too weak going into the river.
Don't think I'm getting many immediate folds on the turn, but it will be hard to defend a lot of the weaker hands to sustained aggression for villain given that by now I should have a pretty decent range advantage given the turn check.
On the river given my turn line I think bluffing off with A4s is mandatory, this is because I don't want to bet my AK, KJ anymore, since I don't think I'm getting called by worse too often. My valuehands are mainly AA, KK still. So if I ever want to bluff, I actually need to use all the more junky hands that I can or can not bluff the turn with. On this specific river I think I am getting a fold the vast majority of the time, AT, AQ hate calling even though they probably should here and there in order not to overfold. Only snapcalls left in villains range are AJ, KQ and any AK that get here, which really isn't many hands.

The 89hh hand was a lot more difficult to analyze in this fashion because ranges were pretty wide as far as 3bet Pots go. So gonna keep it short, also spent way too much time writing up the above gibberish lol.
I think a raise on the flop is totally fine, but call isn't bad either. If I call however, I think I need to jam this turn over a bet. OTT I have a little less 40% against a range of sets and overpairs, and I stand to gain so much if I manage to fold out flushdraws and Tx. Since nutflushes still get the odds to call in position, I need to get a little creative with my bluffs, KQhh, KJhh, A8hh with the extra OESD are great candidates, but that's only like 3 combos to my 12-15 value combos (top two+). So I actually need to put 89s in there and potentially 78s too, which both block a good amount of villain's calling range and have decent equity still. 89hh in particular will have to fold a lot of rivers and lose vs villain's bluffs, when I can easily pile it in and potentially overrealize, while still doing more than fine vs villains calling range.

Had the most annoying session I played in a while today, only lost small but it was like I was being cheated... Got dealt aces 18 times today, won the blinds 14 times, lost 3 times postflop at showdown after potcontrolling ugly boards and won one one super small pot postflop on monotone flop where turn brought 4flush so I couldn't get value from villain's top pair anymore. -350bb/100 on aces today lol.
Been playing 5NL for about 2 weeks now, in this time I'm exactly break even after 32k hands. I feel like I'm running pretty bad on average but I also feel like that's totally irrelevant to the process, it's clear I have big leaks and am doing some stuff seriously wrong and I'm not quite sure how to go about it anymore, seems like I'm even aware of what I do wrong a lot of the time but do it anyways like some sort of vigilant idiot.
Whatever, enough sobbing. Gonna keep trying for another two weeks and then reevaluate, if I don't start seeing improvements soon I don't know how much longer I can justify spending 2-4 hours/day on this game if I'm being totally honest. Don't get me wrong it's fun and all, but that's a lot of time to sink into essentially paying rake.

Today's results


BTN: 159.8 BB
SB: 50 BB
BB: 111 BB
UTG: 100 BB
MP: 136.2 BB
Hero (CO): 125.8 BB

SB posts SB 0.4 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.4 BB) Hero has K 6

fold, fold, Hero raises to 2.4 BB, BTN calls 2.4 BB, fold, BB calls 1.4 BB

Flop: (7.6 BB, 3 players) 8 K 6
BB checks, Hero bets 4 BB, BTN calls 4 BB, fold

Turn: (15.6 BB, 2 players) 5
Hero bets 9 BB, BTN raises to 18 BB, Hero calls 9 BB

River: (51.6 BB, 2 players) A
Hero checks, BTN bets 135.4 BB and is all-in, fold



Over 200 hands villain was 34/15/3, so I definitely gave him all sets but KK as well as 97s. The general consensus seems to be to respect aggression from players such as this, but it just feels like I'm folding too freaking much lately. I don't have a lot of respect for the guys who always only show up with the nuts in spots like this, but that's the direction my play is going, really, and I'm not seeing results for my nitfits yet.


BTN: 158.6 BB
SB: 738.2 BB
BB: 112.4 BB
Hero (UTG): 119.6 BB
MP: 112 BB
CO: 103.2 BB

SB posts SB 0.4 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

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

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

Flop: (6.2 BB, 2 players) 5 J 2
Hero bets 2 BB, MP raises to 4 BB, Hero calls 2 BB

Turn: (14.2 BB, 2 players) 4
Hero checks, MP bets 4 BB, Hero calls 4 BB

River: (22.2 BB, 2 players) 3
Hero bets 7 BB, fold



I've been getting minraised a ton today, I really hate folding to those. I don't know, can I play this hand differently up to the river? I think raising turn is an overplay, so is raising flop. Folding flop seems pretty bad with good backdoor possibilities... My logic on the river is that I have a lot of AK, AQ, AT with backdoors in this line, also some A5s, A2s, as well as any AJ that I don't play more aggressively for whatever reason so I can definitely try to represent the A here and try to fold out Jx, babypairs that chose an awful line, and weaker two pairs.



BTN: 211.8 BB
Hero (SB): 228.6 BB
BB: 85.6 BB
UTG: 137.8 BB
MP: 207.4 BB
CO: 51.6 BB

Hero posts SB 0.4 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

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

fold, MP raises to 2.6 BB, fold, fold, Hero calls 2.2 BB, fold

Flop: (6.2 BB, 2 players) A 7 4
Hero checks, MP bets 3 BB, Hero calls 3 BB

Turn: (12.2 BB, 2 players) 6
Hero checks, MP bets 8.4 BB, Hero calls 8.4 BB

River: (29 BB, 2 players) 2
Hero checks, MP bets 14.2 BB, Hero calls 14.2 BB



Decided against a 3b because facing a 4b OoP would really blow considering how deep both of us are. River call was very thin and I knew it, I find it hard to believe he triple barrels AJ or AT here. But again, if I fold here what hands am I calling down with? Pretty much none, really... He can also still have all of his missed clubs and some other bluffs like KQ, 89s, I don't know, doesn't seem like I can ever fold right?


BTN: 197.8 BB
SB: 192.4 BB
BB: 111.4 BB
UTG: 153.4 BB
Hero (MP): 179.6 BB
CO: 106 BB

SB posts SB 0.4 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

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

fold, Hero raises to 2.4 BB, fold, fold, fold, BB calls 1.4 BB

Flop: (5.2 BB, 2 players) K T 2
BB bets 2.6 BB, Hero calls 2.6 BB

Turn: (10.4 BB, 2 players) 7
BB checks, Hero bets 6 BB, BB calls 6 BB

River: (22.4 BB, 2 players) 3
BB checks, Hero bets 16 BB, BB calls 16 BB



Such a weird hand, don't even know what to say about it. I expected villain to have a lot of AXcc and some weakish kings, this AK was so surprising for me to see. I justified my bluffs partly because I block his strongest Kings, but guess that isn't the case. Took note of this guy's general passivity, seems like he just let's me get there too often for my own price really.


BTN: 104 BB
SB: 204.4 BB
BB: 111.2 BB
UTG: 119.4 BB
MP: 128 BB
Hero (CO): 103.4 BB

SB posts SB 0.4 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

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

UTG raises to 3 BB, fold, Hero calls 3 BB, BTN raises to 11 BB, fold, fold, fold, Hero calls 8 BB

Flop: (26.4 BB, 2 players) 6 Q Q
Hero checks, BTN bets 15.2 BB, Hero calls 15.2 BB

Turn: (56.8 BB, 2 players) 2
Hero checks, BTN bets 22 BB, fold



Kind of alarming flop sizing, guess it would really improve my non showdown winnings if I started folding flop here if I'm gonna fold to barrels on the dryest of turns. But then am I just continuing with 66 and Qx as well as maybe some clubs? Seems too nitty and of course there is the possibility that villain shuts down turn... Thought about calling turn but if I ever want to continue with TT there it should be at least without a club, if not without both a club and a heart.


BTN: 101.4 BB
SB: 146.8 BB
BB: 120.6 BB
Hero (UTG): 120.4 BB
MP: 281.2 BB
CO: 187.4 BB

SB posts SB 0.4 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

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

Hero raises to 2.4 BB, fold, fold, fold, fold, BB calls 1.4 BB

Flop: (5.2 BB, 2 players) Q T K
BB bets 2.6 BB, Hero calls 2.6 BB

Turn: (10.4 BB, 2 players) K
BB checks, Hero checks

River: (10.4 BB, 2 players) 2
BB bets 10 BB, Hero calls 10 BB



I have all the nutted hands on this board, this fact alone made me really unsure how to proceed vs this donk. I thought it would be a pretty strong hand at least, maybe some Jx every once in a while. I don't know, villain already seems pretty polarized so I decided against raising, would just allow him to play perfectly in my opinion and I have enough other really strong hands to raise with anyway. On the turn I though about betting to maybe get value from like QJ, TJ, but it seemed really thin and I wasn't sure whether these hands can even be in his flop donking range considering they play pretty okay as check/calls... On the river I just called without any real reasoning, my hand is close to the strongest hand that I check back turn with so it seemed easy enough. If he goes 2x pot maybe I start considering a fold. Idk, in these spots when some weakness was shown people actually bluff a fair amount in my experience, more than in most other spots anyways.

Played another 1k hands, gonna share the graph just 'cause I'm somewhat of a completionist. Went from 3 tables to 2 and concentrated on not passing up good 3bet opportunities, I realized I coldcalled or folded a lot of profitable 3bet spots with SCs or suited wheel aces away when I reviewed this noon's session.

Second session


BTN: 100 BB
SB: 55.8 BB
BB: 100 BB
Hero (UTG): 256.4 BB
MP: 35.4 BB
CO: 100 BB

SB posts SB 0.4 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

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

Hero raises to 2.4 BB, MP calls 2.4 BB, CO calls 2.4 BB, fold, fold, fold

Flop: (8.6 BB, 3 players) 8 7 Q
Hero bets 5 BB, MP calls 5 BB, CO raises to 17.2 BB, Hero calls 12.2 BB, fold

Turn: (48 BB, 2 players) J
Hero checks, CO checks

River: (48 BB, 2 players) 6
Hero checks, CO checks



Flop raise felt really nutted, almost wanted to fold on the flop but there are just so many natural bluffs villain might have. Checking down turn and river because I don't think a naked Queen will be likely to raise flop, and that's really the only thing I can get value from imo. Maybe QxAh every now and then is one group of hands I can target but that would squeeze at least some of the time in my experience, not the most common coldcall 3way.


BTN: 197.6 BB
SB: 100 BB
BB: 120 BB
Hero (UTG): 103.2 BB
MP: 223.4 BB
CO: 132.6 BB

SB posts SB 0.4 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

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

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

Flop: (10.4 BB, 3 players) 8 T A
Hero bets 6 BB, MP calls 6 BB, BTN calls 6 BB

Turn: (28.4 BB, 3 players) 9
Hero checks, MP bets 17 BB, BTN calls 17 BB, Hero calls 17 BB

River: (79.4 BB, 3 players) Q
Hero checks, MP bets 47 BB, fold, fold



A lot of the lighter preflop calls in villains' ranges improve on this turn card, but I'm not sure I like my check there. Against the combined range I'm sure I'm not doing too great with just TPTK but I find these spots really hard to analyze and understand. On the river whichever bluffs still were in villains range improve so it's a clear fold as played I think, but maybe I should have kept the betting lead on the turn. Hate multiway hands lol.


Hero (BTN): 127 BB
SB: 166.4 BB
BB: 136.8 BB
UTG: 126.8 BB
MP: 188.4 BB
CO: 58.6 BB

SB posts SB 0.4 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

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

fold, fold, fold, Hero raises to 2.4 BB, fold, BB calls 1.4 BB

Flop: (5.2 BB, 2 players) 4 K 3
BB checks, Hero bets 3 BB, BB calls 3 BB

Turn: (11.2 BB, 2 players) K
BB checks, Hero bets 4 BB, BB raises to 13 BB, Hero calls 9 BB

River: (37.2 BB, 2 players) J
BB bets 23 BB, fold



Not sure I can fold river, I just did it exploitatively because I think most players don't have enough heart to pull through with their bluffs here. Didn't have any hands on villain unfortunately. I can have flushes, I can have KJ, potentially JhJx, as well as some 44, 33 some % of the time but not often so folding is probably alright here I would assume.


BTN: 235.2 BB
Hero (SB): 100 BB
BB: 131 BB
UTG: 228.8 BB
MP: 50 BB
CO: 109.8 BB

Hero posts SB 0.4 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

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

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

Flop: (6 BB, 2 players) T 7 K
Hero bets 3.8 BB, BB raises to 13.8 BB, Hero raises to 36 BB, BB raises to 128 BB and is all-in, Hero calls 61 BB and is all-in

Turn: (200 BB, 2 players) A

River: (200 BB, 2 players) 3
Players agreed to run it twice.

Turn #2: (200 BB, 2 players) 7

River #2: (200 BB, 2 players) 4



This flop 3b with this category of hands is not something I'm doing a lot of, because flop raises are a little more nutted than they perhaps should be in general. My thinking was I'm doing very well vs any hand basically, and I can dominate some of villains bluffs if he ever has them here, his QJ, 89, J8hh, J9hh. I'm not sure this is better than just peeling the raise though, because I don't think I will have much fold equity on my 3b, then again I'll never face a huge bad on like the Ts or 7d turn and have to fold my equity so there are some merits.

Ran extremely pure today, almost embarrassed to run this good after my whining yesterday. Played well too, decided to stick with two tables for the time being even though I'd like to return to 3 tables soon to help with volume. I played with a lot of confidence today after studying a bunch this morning, it's amazing how much it helps to not be second guessing yourself every other hand, especially with the bigger folds in likely underbluffed spots.
Paid close attention to spots where I call flop only to check/fold turn/river the vast majority of the time and just folded flop instead, that's not to say I stopped floating flop but there's really no need to peel with 77 on K52 vs tight and passive players for example.
I often talk about how underbluffed turn raises are at this limit, well today I found out they might be underbluffed, but certain players go extremely thin for value. Got raised on two different K high boards on the turn after barreling flop and turn, both times they showed up with a K and no kicker and actually called my turn 3b when I had the goods. That kind of stuff really helps my winrate, please keep it up 5NL pool!
Also was able to keep up my more aggressive 3betting, it's a great tool to stop bleeding money at non showdown, noticed I was flatting and then check/folding too many boards with hands that are super profitable 3bets, glad I found another leak.
Still have to work on my 3bet response in EP, like if I open 77 UTG and SB 3bets I'm always very in between calling and folding, my plan right now is to continue vs tight 3betters due to better implied odds on a set and to fold vs more aggressive players, but I'm not sure how good this is and how to play it vs unknowns.

Today's results


BTN: 68 BB
SB: 425.2 BB
BB: 100 BB
Hero (UTG): 250.8 BB
MP: 129.4 BB
CO: 98.2 BB

SB posts SB 0.4 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

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

Hero raises to 2.4 BB, fold, fold, BTN calls 2.4 BB, SB raises to 3.8 BB, fold, Hero calls 1.4 BB, BTN calls 1.4 BB

Flop: (12.4 BB, 3 players) J 7 3
SB bets 3 BB, Hero calls 3 BB, BTN calls 3 BB

Turn: (21.4 BB, 3 players) Q
SB checks, Hero checks, BTN checks

River: (21.4 BB, 3 players) 3
SB bets 55 BB, Hero raises to 244 BB and is all-in, fold, SB calls 189 BB



Nice to be the one with the rivered boat for a change. I thought about betting turn, I would certainly do it heads up but I'm unsure whether it's good multiway, a large part of both players flop calling range will be flushdraws after all, then again I have a club and need to build a pot/get some protection from another club vs hands like AcJx, but there's really not that many hand of this kind that call flop. Preflop I should 4bet the clickback, I didn't because SB had a 1% 3b over 230 hands and we were uncomfortably deep, but I don't think calling here is good, just gives up too much value even vs insanely tight 3bettors. Lucky it worked out but definitely big mistake to just flat.



BTN: 248 BB
SB: 130.4 BB
Hero (BB): 146 BB
UTG: 125 BB
MP: 98.6 BB
CO: 188.6 BB

SB posts SB 0.4 BB, Hero posts BB 1 BB

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

UTG raises to 2.6 BB, fold, fold, BTN calls 2.6 BB, fold, Hero raises to 12.4 BB, UTG calls 9.8 BB, BTN calls 9.8 BB

Flop: (37.6 BB, 3 players) 8 A 3
Hero checks, UTG checks, BTN checks

Turn: (37.6 BB, 3 players) 4
Hero checks, UTG checks, BTN bets 17.2 BB, Hero calls 17.2 BB, fold

River: (72 BB, 2 players) K
Hero checks, BTN checks



Don't think I can fold to a single bet after capping my range on the flop, have some Aces that check flop but really not that many. Plan was for sure to fold river vs continued aggression. Winning turn call? Pretty sure it is vs regs that aren't too passive postflop.


BTN: 104 BB
Hero (SB): 258.6 BB
BB: 99.6 BB
UTG: 225.2 BB
MP: 157.2 BB
CO: 69 BB

Hero posts SB 0.4 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

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

fold, MP raises to 3 BB, fold, BTN raises to 10.4 BB, Hero raises to 27 BB, fold, fold, BTN calls 16.6 BB

Flop: (58 BB, 2 players) 8 A 7
Hero bets 15 BB, BTN calls 15 BB

Turn: (88 BB, 2 players) 5
Hero checks, BTN checks

River: (88 BB, 2 players) 2
Hero checks, BTN checks



I cbet my full range in this spot, just because my cold 4bet range is full of AQ and AK as well as AA obviously. It's a little uncomfortable out of position but my AQ and some of my AA start checking turn also so I'm pretty protected and can fold JJ easily if I face a bet after checking. Insane what BU showed up with, this guy I will make sure to 4b/cold 4b light in the future.


BTN: 81 BB
SB: 152.8 BB
Hero (BB): 107.4 BB
UTG: 85.2 BB
MP: 64 BB
CO: 101 BB

SB posts SB 0.4 BB, Hero posts BB 1 BB

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

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

Flop: (6.4 BB, 2 players) 2 J Q
Hero checks, CO bets 4 BB, Hero calls 4 BB

Turn: (14.4 BB, 2 players) 3
Hero checks, CO checks

River: (14.4 BB, 2 players) 6
Hero bets 5.6 BB, fold



Only posting this hand because I was unsure whether I could profitably float this hand OoP vs this betsize, villain had like a 73% flop cbet stat so I thought I could definitely get away with it vs this guy. Considered check/raise but wasn't sure I would be able to play a fair number of turns, like 6s or some such, in case I get called. Also not too sure about river betsize, I chose this sizing to mainly target AT, AK as well as some underpairs that might sometimes cbet flop. Don't think Jx is folding, maybe I should size up to fold out more of those? Questionable they fold for anything less than potsized tbh.


BTN: 98.6 BB
SB: 100 BB
Hero (BB): 167.4 BB
UTG: 140.8 BB
MP: 105.6 BB
CO: 105.6 BB

SB posts SB 0.4 BB, Hero posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.4 BB) Hero has 2 3

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

Flop: (6 BB, 2 players) 4 5 J
SB checks, Hero bets 3 BB, SB calls 3 BB

Turn: (12 BB, 2 players) T
SB checks, Hero checks

River: (12 BB, 2 players) A
SB bets 3.8 BB, Hero raises to 16 BB, SB raises to 37.8 BB, fold



Was river raise too thin? Just calling seemed so nitty after turn check/check. Once I get raised it's a pretty easy fold imo, definitely my worst river value raise for this sizing (sometimes basically clicking back two pairs with the Ac).

Only small session today, watching Formula 1 and then later hanging out with a buddy so not much time to play. Basically broke even, pretty rotten runouts in the first part of the session but I got bailed out by some nice donations and I can't complain anyway after yesterday's heater.

Today's results


BTN: 95.2 BB
SB: 146.8 BB
BB: 70.4 BB
UTG: 107.8 BB
MP: 130 BB
Hero (CO): 112.8 BB

SB posts SB 0.4 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

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

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

Flop: (6.2 BB, 2 players) 6 9 K
Hero bets 3 BB, BTN calls 3 BB

Turn: (12.2 BB, 2 players) J
Hero checks, BTN bets 6 BB, Hero calls 6 BB

River: (24.2 BB, 2 players) 4
Hero checks, BTN bets 16 BB, Hero calls 16 BB



Checked turn because the J improves a decent amount of villain's flop calls, sometimes I would certainly cbet here though. On the river I think I should be able to lay this one down vs this betsize, don't see worse value being a possibility. Decided to call after tanking pretty long because my hand is a little under represented but I don't think this betsize is likely to be a bluff and I could find the exploitative fold here. Then again I check turn to call river so idk.


Hero (BTN): 113 BB
SB: 144.4 BB
BB: 174.8 BB
UTG: 106.6 BB
MP: 99.8 BB
CO: 102 BB

SB posts SB 0.4 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

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

fold, fold, fold, Hero raises to 2.4 BB, SB raises to 8 BB, fold, Hero calls 5.6 BB

Flop: (17 BB, 2 players) 7 J 4
SB bets 8.2 BB, Hero calls 8.2 BB

Turn: (33.4 BB, 2 players) 4
SB bets 24 BB, Hero calls 24 BB

River: (81.4 BB, 2 players) 5
SB bets 104.2 BB and is all-in, Hero calls 72.8 BB and is all-in



I can have some QQ, some JJ, 77 but other than that I'm at the top of my range really, also villain snap bet all three streets which usually makes me weigh their ranges towards bluffs. Again, exploitatively speaking I think river is underbluffed so there's definitely a case to be made for folding, most people don't have the stones simply put.


BTN: 302 BB
Hero (SB): 126 BB
BB: 149.4 BB
UTG: 100 BB
MP: 145 BB
CO: 243.6 BB

Hero posts SB 0.4 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.4 BB) Hero has 8 T

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

Flop: (6 BB, 2 players) 5 9 K
Hero bets 3.4 BB, BB calls 3.4 BB

Turn: (12.8 BB, 2 players) J
Hero bets 8 BB, BB calls 8 BB

River: (28.8 BB, 2 players) 9
Hero checks, BB checks



I hate it when I'm bluffing and the board pairs on the river, it's just so hard to fold out Kx on these types of runouts. I think I can barrel every once in a while but again, don't expect too many folds really. I think I could definitely make my turn bet larger, maybe even go for slight overbet, I should start working on more creative betsizes in spots like this where the board is very drawheavy and I have the stronger valuehands.

Didn't play monday, head wasn't in the right place really, in general since the weather has gotten better I'm not quite so eager to sit in front of my computer all day, got back into skating so it cuts a little into my grind time.
Same thing today, only played fairly small session, again just 2-tabling. Played pretty good I think, pool also felt softer than usual, every table had 2 fish at the least so that's pretty good, but interestingly most of the fish are pretty tight preflop, luckily they still spew around postflop. Ran pretty good in general, most of my bigger bluffs got through which is always really helpful, only real big pot I lost where I potentially could have avoided it was JJ<QQ where I flatted a cold 4bet and then stacked off with the overpair. Should probably start folding to the cold4b in that spot, most people don't bluff enough on their cold 4bets and my 3betting range is usually tight enough that it shouldn't be super easy to exploit my potential overfolding all things considered.

Today's results


BTN: 50 BB
SB: 107.6 BB
BB: 110 BB
UTG: 120.4 BB
Hero (MP): 137 BB
CO: 127.2 BB

SB posts SB 0.4 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

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

fold, Hero raises to 2.4 BB, fold, fold, SB raises to 8.2 BB, fold, Hero calls 5.8 BB

Flop: (17.4 BB, 2 players) T 9 Q
SB checks, Hero bets 9 BB, SB calls 9 BB

Turn: (35.4 BB, 2 players) A
SB checks, Hero checks

River: (35.4 BB, 2 players) 8
SB checks, Hero checks



Think I should probably find a second value bet here either on the turn or the river to target AK, but that's really all I target so maybe not actually. Think it's pretty thin either way, I checked turn to induce some bluffs from Jx on some runouts and I don't think there's too much wrong with that plan, just not a favorable rivercard for my purposes. On the other hand really don't want to give QJ, AJ, XdJx type hands a free river. I like turn bet in hindsight, probably on the smaller side.


BTN: 148.8 BB
Hero (SB): 107.6 BB
BB: 261.2 BB
UTG: 116.4 BB
MP: 124.4 BB
CO: 167.2 BB

Hero posts SB 0.4 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

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

fold, fold, fold, BTN raises to 2 BB, Hero raises to 8.6 BB, fold, BTN calls 6.6 BB

Flop: (18.2 BB, 2 players) Q 3 4
Hero bets 7 BB, BTN calls 7 BB

Turn: (32.2 BB, 2 players) 6
Hero bets 20.6 BB, BTN calls 20.6 BB

River: (73.4 BB, 2 players) J
Hero bets 71.4 BB and is all-in, fold



Think I can fold out one pair hands the vast majority of the time, real only hands that will always look me up are JJ and QJs but that's only 5 combos total, maybe some AA traps but it's also unlikely. I think I'm getting a lot of credit on the river in a 4bet pot, not many people at this stake pull through and it's tought to call with KQ or AQ. On the river blocking neither clubs nor hearts is also pretty good imo, but arguments for a turn check can totally be made. Think I like this line if I don't overdo it.


Hero (BTN): 117 BB
SB: 174.4 BB
BB: 162 BB
UTG: 237.2 BB
MP: 189 BB
CO: 141.2 BB

SB posts SB 0.4 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.4 BB) Hero has 6 5

fold, fold, fold, Hero raises to 2.2 BB, fold, BB calls 1.2 BB

Flop: (4.8 BB, 2 players) K T 7
BB checks, Hero bets 2.6 BB, BB calls 2.6 BB

Turn: (10 BB, 2 players) 2
BB checks, Hero checks

River: (10 BB, 2 players) T
BB bets 6 BB, Hero raises to 17 BB, fold



This is a spot that I really don't bluff often, I think sometimes it's good though. Turn barrel worth consideration for sure but I would like to block some more Kx with my turn bluffs. Don't really have good removal on the river, but I'm fine with that as long as my line makes sense which I think it does here. Again not something I do a ton of, but should be fine every once in a while, no?

I just briefly looked over a few of your hands, and to me it looks like you're trying to bluff too much and calling too much, especially on the river.

It's only a 3bet pot, unless you posted something wrong. Trying to fold out one pair hands, especially in a 3bet pot with no A or K on the board, is lighting money on fire.

You're probably not getting a lot of credit. People will put you on a missed AK just as much as a premium pair, if they put you on anything at all.

It's not tough to call with AQ or KQ; it's very easy. It's top pair in a 3bet pot. Most people are never folding that (not saying if they're right or not, just that it's what they think).

Why do you think not blocking the hearts or clubs is good? You're not trying to fold busted flush draws. Or if you are, you shouldn't. You are beating busted draws, so there is no point trying to get those to fold. So if you're not getting busted draws (or air) to fold, and you can't get most pairs to fold, then what is the purpose of betting?

I didn't thoroughly read all your hand histories; just skimmed through a few of them. Your reasoning on this hand stood out to me though. I think if you played a bit more disciplined, and cut out the big bluffs and big call-downs, you'll start seeing your results improve a lot more.

Well first of all it's not really a representative group of hands, I do tend to post the bluffs and big call downs more frequently than more basic 'cbet flop check/fold turn' kind of stuff. That being said you might be right, sometimes it's hard to know whether I'm playing a little looser than I should.

Yeah sorry, meant to write 3bet pot, can't edit anymore though.
You're probably right that I'm a bit too optimistic in folding out stronger top pairs, but in my experience at this stake people definitely fold to continued aggression in a 3bet pot quite a bit, especially the regs. I had 1k hands on villain, it's not a lot but over that time he had quite the low fold to flop cbet (not the cleanest stat to use in a 3bP but it's something), which made me think his range would be pretty weak on the turn. But yeah, since AQ is chopping with my AQ that are still always being valuebet here you're right in that I can't really assume he folds it.

We shouldn't really win at showdown ever except against some small amount of A high check backs. On a check I'm giving hands like A6hh, 53s, 54s, 56s etc. a free showdown (hands that beat us and fold) and we lose to all or most of his T8cc, K9hh type hands (hands we beat that now get to bluff us). A2, A5, A7-AT, K7-KT with flopped bdfd/fd are likely not being checked on the river because they don't have all that much SDV, so with our exact hand we're gaining EV from those hands by denying them the opportunity to bluff when we bet so seems good to unblock them imho.
You might counter that you don't think it realistic that people turn all their air into bluffs here, and you could be right, but when I take this line with like TJcc and check river in this spot, I don't think I've seen too many checkbacks with K7cc sadly.

I agree that I could use a bit more discipline in general, I'm working on it but I'm constantly at war with this voice in my head that demands action: "You're already playing 5NL ffs, live a little."

Nice read. I also play 10nl zoom on ps. You are doing what i need to do more of, finding fold button. How dose your graph look?

In these levels ppl dont bluff missed draws basically so dont be afraid of checking river when u have some showdown value and are beating the missed draws. (didnt read the hand just conversation). If your unsure just add river bet in your hud, 32% or less = close to 0 bluffs.

Adversitive, thanks for your input! You might be right that I'm giving players to much credit when it comes to putting their air in their betting ranges, it's just that from my experience I don't see check backs without SDV that often, but I'll make sure to look at my db to gain some clarity. I do have river float and river cb in my hud, the problem is in the large zoompools it's really only the regs that I have enough hands on to rely on river stats, and for most of them I have a decent idea on how they play anyway.

TakeItiletyou, glad you enjoyed. My graphs look bad lol. Last time I played 10NL/16NL was actually in March, pissed half my role away in 3 tilting 16NLz sessions, didn't have the good sense to end the shot early so tilt crept over into my 10NL play. Was very frustrated and took some money out of my account, then moved down to 2NL on a $100 roll and am trying to get to $1k profit by October, taking 10BI shots whenever I hit 30BI for the next stake. E: Also worth mentioning that I have only been tracking hands since late 2018, before that I played a lot of regular tables and built my role that way, definitely doing better there than on zoom because I used to bumhunt aggressively, but I decided to try and beat zoom across the different stakes as a challenge when I bought PT4.

16NLz


10NLz


5NLz (currently grinding this stake)


2NLz


I noticed big improvements lately though, especially in my mental game. While still a little impatient at times, I'm doing much better when it comes to letting things happen at their natural pace. I'm not trying to force the action as much as I used to and it's way easier for me to fold when the runout is poor. On a technical level I identified a bunch of leaks I'm actively working on, now it's just about breaking habits and sticking to the new gameplan, as well as finding more leaks obviously.

Swingy day, yet broke exactly even. Ran pretty good in general but when all the money went in with my 80-90% equity my luck didn't stick around, but not unhappy with the session or how I played at all. Going to have days like this and I've been doing pretty well when it comes to how I ran in all ins so really can't complain. Ran QQ into KK and AA in LP a bunch of times, but had some similar setups with me on the other side so definitely not complaining.

Today's results


BTN: 97.2 BB
SB: 100 BB
BB: 110.6 BB
UTG: 208.6 BB
MP: 352 BB
Hero (CO): 130.6 BB

SB posts SB 0.4 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

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

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

Flop: (7.4 BB, 2 players) J 5 T
MP bets 3.8 BB, Hero raises to 14 BB, MP calls 10.2 BB

Turn: (35.4 BB, 2 players) 9
MP checks, Hero bets 18 BB, MP calls 18 BB

River: (71.4 BB, 2 players) Q
MP checks, Hero checks



I was really unsure how to play this turn, I think I have to bet even though KQ will be a large part of villains range, but there still are a lot of overpairs, Jx and flushdraws in there. Next question was how to size my bet, if I get raised I still want to be able to call because I still have what are essentially nutouts and I don't want to allow hands like QJ to bluff me, though I heavily discount those hands 'cause usually people just realize their equity by calling at this stake. Maybe putting some sets in my check back range is not a terrible idea on this turn, I do raise a bunch of KQ on the flop so it's not like I'd be checking my full range.


Hero (BTN): 102.2 BB
SB: 101.4 BB
BB: 131 BB
UTG: 100.4 BB
MP: 269 BB
CO: 53.6 BB

SB posts SB 0.4 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

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

fold, fold, fold, Hero raises to 2.4 BB, fold, BB raises to 8 BB, Hero raises to 21.6 BB, BB raises to 131 BB and is all-in, Hero calls 80.6 BB and is all-in

Flop: (204.8 BB, 2 players) 7 Q 3

Turn: (204.8 BB, 2 players) Q

River: (204.8 BB, 2 players) 6
Players agreed to run it twice.

Flop #2: (204.8 BB, 2 players) 3 5 6

Turn #2: (204.8 BB, 2 players) K

River #2: (204.8 BB, 2 players) 9



Don't think I need to call it off at 5NL but 4bet/folding isn't really great either. Villain had a very wide 3bet range over ~300 hands but I haven't seen him 5bet jam ever, wide 3bet range made a 4bet pretty attractive given how vulnerable my hand is but calling the 5bet is just so close. Even if he jams TT+, AQ+ it's not like I'm printing (never folding if I knew that to be his range though obviously), and that is wider than I think is realistic, so should probably just muck it here.


Hero (BTN): 194.2 BB
SB: 222.2 BB
BB: 40.8 BB
UTG: 87.8 BB
MP: 101.8 BB
CO: 92.2 BB

SB posts SB 0.4 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

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

fold, fold, fold, Hero raises to 2.4 BB, SB raises to 8.2 BB, fold, Hero calls 5.8 BB

Flop: (17.4 BB, 2 players) T J 9
SB checks, Hero checks

Turn: (17.4 BB, 2 players) 8
SB checks, Hero checks

River: (17.4 BB, 2 players) 4
SB bets 9 BB, Hero calls 9 BB



Don't even really remember this hand, must have happened just before a bathroom break because I really hate the flop check, especially with the Ac it's a clear bet imo, in dire need of some protection. As played I'm not sure whether river is a call, I still have some T8, 98, J8 and some 7x myself (though I bet a good portion of them on the turn) so I'm really not sure. Probably overcalling despite turn check/check given that my read on the population is that they underbluff in these more passively played hands on very connected boards.


BTN: 99.6 BB
SB: 99.8 BB
BB: 100 BB
UTG: 100 BB
Hero (MP): 298 BB
CO: 183.2 BB

SB posts SB 0.4 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.4 BB) Hero has 8 A

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

Flop: (5.8 BB, 2 players) 8 5 J
SB bets 6 BB, Hero calls 6 BB

Turn: (17.8 BB, 2 players) 7
SB bets 17 BB, Hero calls 17 BB

River: (51.8 BB, 2 players) 5
SB bets 25 BB, Hero raises to 272.6 BB and is all-in, SB calls 49.4 BB and is all-in



"Poker is dead". A funny one to end things haven't done too much of that.

Session today was really bad... Literally nothing worked out except two setups that went my way, but other than that everything went bad pretty much. At the beginning I played fine, pretty good in fact I'd like to say, but after around 1500 hands of getting hit with the deck hard I couldn't quite keep up and slipped into this loss chasing mindset, with some overplays and some bad calls. Last time I ran this bad was quite a while back, I really should have stopped playing after 1k hands or so. Had more time to play but called it quits because continuing to play would not have been wise, I think I should start with a 5BI stop loss because evidently my mindset can't really handle sustained losing over long periods of time.
Pretty big setback, down 9BIs on the day... There's a couple of spots where I definitely could have avoided more losses, but a lot of the hands were really just brutal setups. In one hnad I cold 4b QQ, someone cold called, I jammed a 865 flop w/ a FD and he had 97s. At the end I definitely made some terrible river calls because I couldn't handle folding anymore after value betting flop and turn, again, I think I would really benefit from a stoploss on days like today. So yeah, in the future as soon as I lose 5BIs I will quit the session, probably lost 2-3 BIs just in tilt calls today.
Think I might take a break from poker for a few days or play some 2NL just to regain confidence, again I don't think I played super bad necessarily but at the end I was clearly tiliting. Gonna have to see where my head is at tomorrow.

Today's results


BTN: 89.6 BB
SB: 104.6 BB
Hero (BB): 135.6 BB
UTG: 8 BB
MP: 141.6 BB
CO: 76.6 BB

SB posts SB 0.4 BB, Hero posts BB 1 BB

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

fold, MP raises to 3 BB, fold, BTN calls 3 BB, fold, Hero raises to 14 BB, MP calls 11 BB, fold

Flop: (31.4 BB, 2 players) A K 3
Hero bets 12 BB, MP calls 12 BB

Turn: (55.4 BB, 2 players) Q
Hero bets 36 BB, MP calls 36 BB

River: (127.4 BB, 2 players) 6
Hero bets 73.6 BB and is all-in, MP calls 73.6 BB



Happened early in the session, had villain labeled as a calling station, I think I can get value from KQ and AT, AJ. He had a pretty low 4bet so sometimes I'm valueowning myself against AK and JTs is certainly possible given my flop size (and the fact that this guy doesn't fold much) but I think he has enough hands that I beat but still call to take this line.



BTN: 57 BB
Hero (SB): 116.8 BB
BB: 64.8 BB
UTG: 46 BB
MP: 123.6 BB
CO: 100 BB

Hero posts SB 0.4 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

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

fold, fold, fold, BTN raises to 4 BB, Hero calls 3.6 BB, fold

Flop: (9 BB, 2 players) A 8 7
Hero checks, BTN bets 3 BB, Hero raises to 12 BB, BTN calls 9 BB

Turn: (33 BB, 2 players) Q
Hero bets 14 BB, BTN calls 14 BB

River: (61 BB, 2 players) T
Hero checks, BTN bets 27 BB and is all-in, Hero calls 27 BB



I think I can find a river fold here, I was thinking he would have enough worse value bets (AJ, AK) to justify calling as the guy seemed very loose. Think I should size up turn also.


BTN: 231.8 BB
Hero (SB): 100 BB
BB: 196.4 BB
UTG: 198.8 BB
MP: 107.8 BB
CO: 104 BB

Hero posts SB 0.4 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

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

fold, fold, CO raises to 3 BB, fold, Hero raises to 12 BB, fold, CO calls 9 BB

Flop: (25 BB, 2 players) Q K 4
Hero bets 8 BB, CO calls 8 BB

Turn: (41 BB, 2 players) J
Hero checks, CO bets 15 BB, Hero calls 15 BB

River: (71 BB, 2 players) A
Hero checks, CO checks



I check turn to have some strong hands that can call down, I have JJ, KQ, AT, 9Ts, KK, QQ, and some 44 so no shortage of valuehands since I basically cbet range here. Not sure whether it's good, I should probably use different hands to protect my checking range (hands that remove some of villains potential equity, Kx with a spade, KTs, AK seem more appropriate), but it is important to me that I don't just check/fold my range pretty much on this turn.


BTN: 65.8 BB
SB: 160.2 BB
Hero (BB): 131 BB
UTG: 106 BB
MP: 106.6 BB
CO: 100.8 BB

SB posts SB 0.4 BB, Hero posts BB 1 BB

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

fold, fold, CO raises to 2.4 BB, fold, fold, Hero calls 1.4 BB

Flop: (5.2 BB, 2 players) 6 K 6
Hero checks, CO bets 2 BB, Hero calls 2 BB

Turn: (9.2 BB, 2 players) J
Hero checks, CO bets 6.2 BB, Hero calls 6.2 BB

River: (21.6 BB, 2 players) 2
Hero checks, CO bets 14.2 BB, Hero calls 14.2 BB



I wanted to fold river really bad but with the Kc it just didn't feel right. KQdh for example I put into the muck quite often there on the river because triple barrels are so under bluffed but I can't just fold all my strong Kx. Then again I have a decent amount of flushes as well as some trapped 6x as well as KJ so maybe I can actually fold river without thinking too much about it. Idk everything felt so hard to lay down today I'm not quite sure why.

Good luck, I don't know how you have managed to play zoom for so long it's just badbeats galore. Combined with the rake, is zoom on microstakes even beatable?

It's very beatable, 10+bb/100 is doable in all those micro zoom levels I think 50z is the most ****ed up rake wise if i remember correctly but obv still beatable.

update update update update

Yo sorry I didn't play much poker or spend time on the 2+2 the last 3 months, hence no updates...
It got really demotivating, it felt like I could study as much as I want and spend 3-4 hours/day learning the game and gathering experience, but I couldn't start folding when I was beat or not bluffing when I knew I wasn't getting any folds... So I took a break and just started playing again this weekend.

Unfortunately it did not go well, I had the worst single session I ever had. Lost 16 Buy Ins at 5NL over the course of 3.5k hands which was pretty soul crushing. In my last post that I wrote before my hiatus I established a 5BI stop loss, but I couldn't even keep that simple discipline. Bankroll now pretty much at square 1, $107 in my Stars account. Got like $250 on other sites that I don't play on currently and another $160 in Starcoins, so I'm rolled fine for even like 10NL but my confidence is on a new low. I don't really know how to continue, guess it's back to 2NL for now. Gonna aim to play 15k hands/week and build the stars balance back up.

I started this whole thing to prove myself I could beat the zoom pools, and now after latest armageddon sesh I'm like breaking even at 5NL but paid $300 in rake there. Maybe I should reconsider my game selection. The whole process has been one step forward two steps back. Even though I feel like I'm improving as a player when it comes to how I think about the game, at the table it all feels wiped away sometimes and I return to clicking buttons.

Current 5NLz resutls:

I would suggest looking at why you´re losing so much in nsd. Check your wr by position, esp how you´re doing from the blinds. Also check if you´re playing optimally the pool. Like, stealing enough from the overfolding guys, defending the bb properly, having light 3 and 4bet ranges etc. Sizings, what gives me the best results is 2.4 bbs from all positions but the SB (3 bbs there). Putting more money than what´s required to make them fold is also a leak imo.

Also, postflop cbet too little or (most probably) too much, esp oop, will lead to nsd losses bigger than normal. Exploiting every possible edge without sacrifing your blue line (the give ups, the "fire-once-then-shutdown" ones etc) is key.

Do not click buttons without a clear strategy and thinking in game what´s +EV.

Yup, NSD is definitely one of my biggest leaks and something I have been working on for quite a while. I am not entirely sure where my issues are, one thing is definitely a propensity to flat 3bets out of position with less than ideal hands, especially a terrible idea now that I am back down at 2NLz where 3bets from most guys correspond to a range that is quite a bit tighter.
Another issue is bloating up pots where I then have to fold on later streets, so yeah cbetting too much or poor floats in situations where I can't really expect too many checks on later streets.

I should tattoo this on my forehead and hang a mirror next to my monitor.

Played 4k hands of 2NLz today 4tabling, down 2BIs on the day. Ran horrible in big spots, flopped top set with KK and villain turned quads, ran Kings into Aces twice (People love flatting TT-QQ and AK even in LP battles to 3bets, got reminded again that 4bets at 2NL are super nutted). Made some stupid bluffs in 3bet Pots and got snapped, felt really insecure about how to play AKo in 3b Pots out of position, shut down after one cbet and lost vs weak pairs that would have folded to more aggression, but the mantra was "these guys aren't folding".
I'm not going to share session graphs or hands today because I'm pretty tired, I will share my results and interesting hands at the end of the week.

Having the worst run of cards of my life... Playing 2NL since I had that bad tilt session at 5NL and I just can't string together wins... It's gotten to the point where I just don't trust myself in almost any spot, my mind immediately jumps to the worst possible outcome, and lo and behold, it usually happens, if and when it doesn't I just feel like I got absurdly lucky just because it didn't happen... down 6BIs over 16k hands with neutral AI EV, which I realize isn't even that big of a swing, but I still feel entitled to be up more which is a huge red flag obviously. I know no poker player wants to hear me go on about bad beats so I will spare you the details, it's just absolutely absurd how often I hit the two outer when my opponent trapped the flop with something like top set, how often I hit my set which hits villain's gutshot, and how often my overpairs flop the worst flop possible/get sucked out on even though I bet to protect large. I'm so thankful this is happening at 2NL because I don't tilt as much since the money is close to meaningless at that point.

The smart thing would be to stop playing but I feel challenged by this insane burst of bad variance. I want to push through it, but then sentences like "this bad string of luck must surely end soon" pop into my head and I run KK into AA again within 20 hands. I feel like I'm playing slots, and even though I didn't even lose 20 bucks this week I've never felt more degenerate in my life. People have actually been donating stacks to me left and right but the coolers, bad runouts, unfortunate rivers don't allow me to hold on to them, I still feel like I have a good edge over the field but it just seems hopeless at the moment.

Really not in the mood to share graphs or hands or anything, there are some spots where I made very clear mistakes and I begin to understand my horrible red line a bit better, I really need to stop cbet->check/fold oop kind of plays on boards that are good for me, I should keep firing there against people who aren't clear stations.

Anyway hope this turns around, gonna update in a bit, sorry for the sob story lol.

Played 50k hands at 2NL these past weeks, winning at 1bb/100 after a pretty bad session today. 3bb/100 adjusted but still pretty unhappy with the results. I'm playing too passive I think, my redline is still just a line that pretty much goes straight down and I'm losing in the SB at 40bb/100 which is pretty absurd considering that I used to be pretty proud of how I handled play from the SB. Running pretty bad overall in this sample, but I still make a ton of really stupid mistakes.

I can't quite seem to find the balance between being aggressive and fighting for pots and bluffing into people who will just call cause "lol, 2nl".

I have barely reviewed any hands over these last 50k hands and haven't really studied, it's pretty much just been grind, grind, grind. This needs to stop if I actually want to improve, I have glaring holes in my game obviously and need to start plugging them if I want to make any progress.

Today's sessions really drove home some points, there's 2 hands in partiuclar that illustrate some clear issues. Basically when people represent a really thin value range and it is close to impossible to name bluffs, I will just call if I am near the top of my range. It hasn't worked out for me at all, I tend to lose really big pots that way.

Recent 2NLz results:



Positional stats:


Need to fix SB play, crazy how I lose 15-25bb/100 at 5NL-16NL but pretty much 50 at 2NL.
In general I just need to be more aggressive postflop, seems like all I do is call.
I can 3bet way more, especially on the BU. 4bets are insanely nutted at 2NL so I'm not sure what I'm worried about, guess I just don't want to bluff too much which I will be forced to do if I play a weaker range.

Today was pretty dumb tilt session triggered by some stupid super rare spots, probably shouldn't study those when I have tons of other more general leaks but anyway... some quick thoughts on the hand in the spoiler tags, nothing in depth for now.

BTN: 139.5 BB
Hero (SB): 192 BB
BB: 229 BB
UTG: 89.5 BB
MP: 100 BB
CO: 125 BB

Hero posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has K K

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

Flop: (6 BB, 2 players) A 7 2
Hero bets 3 BB, BB raises to 11 BB, Hero calls 8 BB

Turn: (28 BB, 2 players) K
Hero checks, BB bets 18 BB, Hero raises to 56 BB, BB calls 38 BB

River: (140 BB, 2 players) 9
Hero bets 122 BB and is all-in, BB calls 122 BB




Hero (BTN): 184 BB
SB: 186.5 BB
BB: 159.5 BB
UTG: 173 BB
MP: 119 BB
CO: 186 BB

SB posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has A K

UTG raises to 3 BB, fold, fold, Hero raises to 9 BB, fold, fold, UTG calls 6 BB

Flop: (19.5 BB, 2 players) 9 K 3
UTG checks, Hero bets 9 BB, UTG raises to 27 BB, Hero calls 18 BB

Turn: (73.5 BB, 2 players) 9
UTG checks, Hero checks

River: (73.5 BB, 2 players) 8
UTG bets 137 BB and is all-in, Hero calls 137 BB




Hero (BTN): 293.5 BB
SB: 125.5 BB
BB: 50 BB
UTG: 137.5 BB
MP: 165.5 BB
CO: 115.5 BB

SB posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has K A

fold, MP raises to 3 BB, CO calls 3 BB, Hero raises to 14 BB, fold, fold, fold, CO calls 11 BB

Flop: (32.5 BB, 2 players) 9 4 2
CO checks, Hero bets 10 BB, CO calls 10 BB

Turn: (52.5 BB, 2 players) K
CO checks, Hero bets 18 BB, CO calls 18 BB

River: (88.5 BB, 2 players) Q
CO checks, Hero bets 85.5 BB, CO calls 73.5 BB and is all-in




BTN: 248.5 BB
Hero (SB): 100 BB
BB: 148 BB
UTG: 135.5 BB
MP: 117 BB
CO: 142.5 BB

Hero posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has J T

fold, fold, CO raises to 3 BB, fold, Hero raises to 12 BB, fold, CO calls 9 BB

Flop: (25 BB, 2 players) 9 7 4
Hero bets 9 BB, CO calls 9 BB

Turn: (43 BB, 2 players) 5
Hero bets 20 BB, CO calls 20 BB

River: (83 BB, 2 players) 3
Hero bets 59 BB and is all-in, CO calls 59 BB




BTN: 153 BB
SB: 110 BB
BB: 306 BB
Hero (UTG): 100 BB
MP: 99 BB
CO: 100 BB

SB posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has 5 5

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

Flop: (9.5 BB, 3 players) 8 T T
BB checks, Hero checks, BTN checks

Turn: (9.5 BB, 3 players) 9
BB checks, Hero checks, BTN checks

River: (9.5 BB, 3 players) 5
BB bets 303 BB and is all-in, Hero calls 97 BB and is all-in, fold




BTN: 48.5 BB
Hero (SB): 100 BB
BB: 100 BB
UTG: 112.5 BB
MP: 94 BB
CO: 98.5 BB

Hero posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has A K

fold, MP raises to 3 BB, fold, fold, Hero raises to 11 BB, fold, MP calls 8 BB

Flop: (23 BB, 2 players) 5 3 8
Hero bets 8 BB, MP raises to 27 BB, Hero raises to 89 BB and is all-in, MP calls 56 BB and is all-in

Turn: (189 BB, 2 players) T

River: (189 BB, 2 players) 4




BTN: 151.5 BB
SB: 101.5 BB
Hero (BB): 230 BB
UTG: 164 BB
MP: 523.5 BB
CO: 110 BB

SB posts SB 0.5 BB, Hero posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has A A

fold, MP raises to 3 BB, fold, fold, fold, Hero raises to 13 BB, MP calls 10 BB

Flop: (26.5 BB, 2 players) 2 9 5
Hero bets 17 BB, MP raises to 34 BB, Hero raises to 93 BB, MP raises to 251.5 BB, Hero calls 124 BB and is all-in

Turn: (460.5 BB, 2 players) 5

River: (460.5 BB, 2 players) 6



So yeah, probably gonna look at this recent sample and try to identify some leaks. I think my fundamentals are okay but I make way too many big mistakes when things aren't going my way, so my mental game also needs improvement for sure.

Small sample but yeah, -40bb/100 from sb is bad. Can´t say for sure, but raising 15% from this position and cbetting more than 60% of the flops means you cbet a lot oop after missing. So, you´re bluffing a lot oop, which in my opinion is bad considering ppl nowadays are very sticky when ip bvb even at 2nl. I don´t do it higher, and I don´t really think you should be following an strategy like that at 2nl. Focus your cbet efforts more when ip, like btn vs bb spots, dry boards that don´t improve bb range etc.

Tighten up a little bit pre and postflop, use a tight linear 3bet or fold strat, sqz very tight if there are limpers unless you´re sure they´re fish. You should lose less.

Cheers

Played around 20k more hands which puts my stars balance exactly at 30BI for NL5, so I will be taking a 10BI shot there. I feel a little bit like an overfolding nitreg in the way I play for the most part, I think this is a good way to play these lowstakes zoom games especially considering how many people I don't have reads on. I still would like to deny equity more aggressively and there are some spots, multiway pots in particular, where I clearly overfold.
Small blind play improved a little bit, but I am running pretty poorly in this position is what I discovered when I looked at the hands I played there. I was absolutely over-cbetting though so thank you for pointing me in the right direction FazendeiroBH.

2NLz Results



Gonna update in a short while with some 5NL results, hoping to profit 30BI within 3 or 4 weeks while I still have plenty of time to grind.

Shot failed. Ran like **** then tilt called it off in a couple of spots. About 12k hands, -8bb/100 total. Just got an absolutely miserable run of cards, the regs seem really not all that great at this limit, but I just couldn't get my piece of the fishes, they kept backdooring into flushes and stuff.
Super unlucky with QQ, JJ, TT and AK, losing money with all those hands over the sample, just whiffing all flops, getting sets in 3b pots and not holding, stuff like that.



I don't know why 5NL got my number like that, seems I just run atrocious there. Guess I should just fold range on the river considering they always have the top of their value range, or maybe I'm just running bad. Probably a mix of both.

Definitely need to size larger vs the fish, seems like I just let them get there too often. They fold the dominated part of the range anyway but overvalue draws a lot so these half pot bets I keep using don't really accomplish much against them.

Sigh. Back to 2NL. Sucks to stick to my 10BI shot rule when I feel I have a decent edge if I could just make the solid folds and run a bit better vs the weak players of the pool, but I will keep disciplined, grind up 30 2NL BIs and then try my luck again...