Yeah I've got the essential package and I'm delighted with it

How can I ever be good here? Ohh fml

PokerStars - $0.02 NL FAST (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BTN: 100 BB (VPIP: 8.47, PFR: 6.78, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 61)
Hero (SB): 142.5 BB
BB: 168 BB
UTG: 58.5 BB (VPIP: 12.12, PFR: 9.09, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 34)
MP: 77.5 BB (VPIP: 22.22, PFR: 22.22, 3Bet Preflop: 33.33, Hands: 9)
CO: 100 BB (VPIP: 20.30, PFR: 12.03, 3Bet Preflop: 5.56, Hands: 135)

Hero posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has K 9

fold, fold, CO raises to 3 BB, fold, Hero raises to 9 BB, BB calls 8 BB, CO calls 6 BB

Flop: (27 BB, 3 players) 9 6 7
Hero checks, BB bets 4 BB, CO calls 4 BB, Hero calls 4 BB

Turn: (39 BB, 3 players) J
Hero checks, BB bets 4 BB, CO calls 4 BB, Hero calls 4 BB

River: (51 BB, 3 players) 3
Hero checks, BB bets 7 BB, CO calls 7 BB, fold



I should probably just bet the turn, no reason to get complicated when people call too wide. River is just meh too. Lots of weakness let's try and get him to hero call, be better off just firing a small bet off. Not to mention the fact that it isn't unheard of for someone to turn up with really badly played FH/straight.

PokerStars - $0.02 NL FAST (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

Hero (BTN): 109 BB
SB: 254.5 BB (VPIP: 20.96, PFR: 16.77, 3Bet Preflop: 4.62, Hands: 169)
BB: 258 BB (VPIP: 32.18, PFR: 28.74, 3Bet Preflop: 10.00, Hands: 91)
UTG: 169 BB (VPIP: 14.06, PFR: 7.81, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 64)
MP: 105 BB (VPIP: 40.00, PFR: 20.00, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 5)
CO: 136 BB (VPIP: 40.00, PFR: 20.00, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 5)

SB posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

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

fold, fold, fold, Hero raises to 3 BB, SB raises to 10 BB, fold, Hero calls 7 BB

Flop: (21 BB, 2 players) 7 6 Q
SB bets 16 BB, Hero calls 16 BB

Turn: (53 BB, 2 players) 5
SB checks, Hero checks

River: (53 BB, 2 players) Q
SB checks, Hero bets 76.5 BB, fold

I was going to play some more hands today but I've been waiting on an email all day that hasn't (and at this time isn't) coming which is about as tilting as can be. Just going to call it a day I think.

Watched and made notes on a couple of videos on RIO so far. I really struggle to sit down and watch through videos without getting distracted which I don't understand so I'll work on that.

Month is off to a pretty good start.

2nlz


5nlz


Getting to the point where I should be shot taking 5nlz but I'm not sure how I want to transition, I'm always tempted to mix stakes but in practise it doesn't work so well. A few more BI at 2nlz then I'll just take a shot I suppose.

totally get the distractions on vids I struggle to get the time so have watch them in stages which is meh

I've tried the mixing stakes when taking shots but never quite fully focus for some reason... even when I change table colour ... I end up mot focusing on the lower stake

Take a shot at 5nl...

PokerStars - $0.05 NL FAST (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BTN: 109 BB (VPIP: 38.24, PFR: 32.35, 3Bet Preflop: 16.67, Hands: 35)
SB: 52.8 BB (VPIP: 33.33, PFR: 0.00, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 3)
BB: 50 BB (VPIP: 0.00, PFR: 0.00, 3Bet Preflop: -, Hands: 2)
Hero (UTG): 100.4 BB
MP: 96 BB (VPIP: 0.00, PFR: 0.00, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 3)
CO: 147.6 BB (VPIP: 12.50, PFR: 12.50, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 8)

SB posts SB 0.4 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

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

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

Flop: (10.4 BB, 3 players) 8 9 8
Hero bets 7 BB, CO calls 7 BB, fold

Turn: (24.4 BB, 2 players) K
Hero checks, CO bets 7.6 BB, Hero calls 7.6 BB

River: (39.6 BB, 2 players) Q
Hero bets 12 BB, CO raises to 130 BB and is all-in, Hero calls 70.8 BB and is all-in



The sad thing was that after I snap called another table popped up and slightly covered this table and I thought to myself lulz if he has 88 and then the chips didn't move in my direction.

I think this hand is pretty poorly played but I'm never sure of the best types of line to take with hands like this is just flatting the flop raise going to be better? If not how are we playing the turn? Shoving the turn probably doesn't achieve all that much not a lot that calls that is worse at that point and little fold equity.

PokerStars - $0.05 NL FAST (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BTN: 101.6 BB (VPIP: 100.00, PFR: 33.33, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 3)
SB: 100 BB (VPIP: 23.53, PFR: 20.59, 3Bet Preflop: 14.29, Hands: 34)
BB: 128 BB (VPIP: 28.57, PFR: 14.29, 3Bet Preflop: 10.00, Hands: 14)
UTG: 23.2 BB (VPIP: 100.00, PFR: 50.00, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 2)
Hero (MP): 134.2 BB
CO: 103.2 BB (VPIP: 0.00, PFR: 0.00, 3Bet Preflop: -, Hands: 2)

SB posts SB 0.4 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

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

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

Flop: (7.4 BB, 2 players) T K 8
Hero bets 3 BB, BTN raises to 8 BB, Hero raises to 30 BB, BTN calls 22 BB

Turn: (67.4 BB, 2 players) 5
Hero bets 97 BB, BTN calls 68.6 BB and is all-in

River: (204.6 BB, 2 players) T



Arty told me my RCE was too high, this is how you make it lower right?

PokerStars - $0.05 NL FAST (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BTN: 366.6 BB (VPIP: 16.67, PFR: 16.67, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 6)
SB: 107.8 BB (VPIP: 66.67, PFR: 66.67, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 6)
Hero (BB): 100.6 BB
UTG: 102 BB
MP: 165.2 BB (VPIP: 0.00, PFR: 0.00, 3Bet Preflop: -, Hands: 2)
CO: 147.6 BB (VPIP: 35.00, PFR: 30.00, 3Bet Preflop: 28.57, Hands: 20)

SB posts SB 0.4 BB, Hero posts BB 1 BB

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

fold, fold, fold, BTN raises to 3 BB, fold, Hero raises to 8 BB, BTN calls 5 BB

Flop: (16.4 BB, 2 players) 5 6 8
Hero checks, BTN bets 9 BB, Hero calls 9 BB

Turn: (34.4 BB, 2 players) 2
Hero checks, BTN checks

River: (34.4 BB, 2 players) 8
Hero checks, BTN bets 33 BB, Hero calls 33 BB

Shot at 5nl is over, back to 2nl I go. I think I'm just going to do win 10BI take a 4BI shot and repeat until the shot goes well.



The hand that made the difference

PokerStars - $0.05 NL FAST (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

Hero (BTN): 222.4 BB
SB: 123.2 BB (VPIP: 14.58, PFR: 10.42, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 48)
BB: 59 BB
UTG: 139.2 BB (VPIP: 24.00, PFR: 24.00, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 25)
MP: 365.6 BB (VPIP: 12.07, PFR: 3.45, 3Bet Preflop: 4.17, Hands: 58)
CO: 117.8 BB (VPIP: 13.89, PFR: 8.33, 3Bet Preflop: 7.14, Hands: 38)

SB posts SB 0.4 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

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

UTG raises to 3.4 BB, fold, CO calls 3.4 BB, Hero raises to 15 BB, fold, fold, UTG calls 11.6 BB, fold

Flop: (34.8 BB, 2 players) K 8 9
UTG checks, Hero checks

Turn: (34.8 BB, 2 players) 7
UTG bets 25 BB, Hero raises to 156 BB, UTG calls 99.2 BB and is all-in

River: (283.2 BB, 2 players) 6

Getting a little fed up. Lose a couple of BI when I move down through some coolers and some bad plays (mostly calling off raises with overpairs when they always have sets) and then just more run bad.

Flop K high flush GII against fish who has flopped the A high flush.
Lost with best full house to quads three times in < 5k hands
KK into AA in blind v btn spots so many times

13BI under EV at 2nlz in <30k hands and 4 BI under EV taking a shot at the next level when you're trying to move up is just meh.

And people do this for a living lol, so pointless unless you have a godlike win rate or are willing to play like 2 million hands a year.



/moan - variance sucks you all know

I suppose that shows the poor mindset and too much attachment to results. The money doesn't matter, I'm $30 down and should be $10 up since this thread.

The issue I have is moving up. When you get to the point where you move up to the next stake it feels somewhat like you have progressed through the previous stake then losing, moving down and losing more feels like I'm back to a worse place than I started.

Ultimately though this isn't true at all. The whole point has to just be one of improvement, if I run lol bad all my life and never progress to anything above the micros that doesn't matter as long as I'm improving as a player and measuring that across silly measure like stake you play or money won is just silly unless it's over huge amounts of hands.

I am aware of that but at the same time in practice I need somewhat of a better way of dealing with that because if the same thing happens in two weeks it'll still tilt me to some degree and make me lose heart. The only solutions I can think of are take longer shots when moving up so that very short term variance doesn't make it a crap shoot. Any other suggestions would be appreciated if anyone is reading this.

In fact the past few days I've been quite proactive, I've been playing reasonable volume, I've been seeking out resources to improve, watching videos, taking notes, thinking about hands. I should feel some sense of happiness from this, I don't, maybe doing this longer term will change that maybe the metrics in my head are off.

What's funny about this all is lol 2nlz who cares.

I totally get it mate... I've spent god knows how long just looking at the green and orange line... Then getting more and more frustrated with it.
I've now stopped looking at that graph and just have the statistics page up with a monetary line ... I have PT4 (some how makes it feel easier.

With moving up... I now have a set goal in mind.. hit 'x' amount and take a 4-5 bi shot.
Haven't decided if I'll drop the amount of tables yet... Probs won't as it shouldn't really effect to much in terms of decision-making (I get there will be more to be made) as there can't be a monumental difference between stakes near each other.

I like the idea of a threshold... hit the mark go up drop past the mark drop down.

I try to implement a stop lose figure but as I struggle with consistent playing time I don't actually employ it at all... Would like to think when I'm at a much higher stake I will as the money means more and has much more.use to me

Since my last post I've been 4 tabling zoom which is a mistake because I just get very button clicky. I'm still almost definitely winning doing this but I'm definitely learning less and the drop in win rate probably isn't made up for the extra 250 hands per hour or whatever it is.

I find it easier to play longer periods of time whilst 4 tabling than 3 tabling I assume this is because it's less mentally taxing to just click buttons than it is think about spots?

I've been through the RIO essential coaches and made a note of what authors have series I want to go through. I'll start off with some videos on studying, some 5-10nl coaching vids mixed in with some common spots like blind defence videos and c-betting and at the end of the month I'll watch some db leakfinder vids to give me some inspiration to do some work on that as hopefully I'll have ~80k hands in my database by that point.

Apart from that just got to keep plugging away, 3-5 hours a day playing should put me in a reasonable position by the end of the month.

I don't buy into stop loss figures unless you have tilt issues which if you do only makes it less likely you follow that stop loss anyway.

I can drop 4BI and be playing well and not be bothered, I can win 4BI and be playing poorly. It's better just to learn when you need to take a break than place arbitrary rules imo. If you don't play for a living there are rarely reasons good enough to force you to play when you aren't feeling it.

If that 4BI ever becomes $800 rather than $20 then maybe I am more likely to need to take a break but poker does a good job making you numb to the money and my life and poker roll are very separate things.

Hey MMSS, love your response to 6bets post haha

In gl!

You're making 2 huge sizing errors:
1) You're 3betting too small, especially when OOP. You should be going at least 4x + x per caller when OOP.
2) Your turn bets are too small, particularly on draw heavy boards, where you want to be betting at least 90% pot.

Thanks.

Thanks for the advice however I'm aware of my sizing and why I'm choosing it especially in 3bet situations*. Turn sizing is a spot where I am more unaware of how to play however just because you've seen people 1/3 c-bet and pot the turn as a more standard play at higher stakes doesn't mean you should copy and paste mindlessly.

Your last comment about isoing, where I had gotten lazy and was just doing 4x + 1 I've started going bigger in certain spots which is good exploitatively.

*well common ones like LP and blinds, EP vs MP-BTN and EP vs SB are areas I need to work on.

So why do you choose to 3bet small when OOP then? Are you doing it exploitatively because you feel that your opponents are folding too much to 3bets?

I used to do the same thing as you. I used to size my 3bets similar to you. I was just copying all the other regs at 5NL. They would open to 15c in MP then 3bet to 50c in SB, so I just assumed that that was standard and I never questioned it.

I don't have one sizing for a generic spot, i.e. SB v BTN. Especially in dynamic situations where some people massively overfold and some massively overcall I am varying my sizing quite a lot. I think most of the hands I've posted in this thread highlight the fact that if I think people aren't folding I'm betting a lot and betting big.

I'm not new to poker, I just took a very long break. Once again though thank you for the feedback if I was unaware it'd be very helpful at highlighting something to think about but as I've said BTN v blinds will probably be where I direct quite a lot of my attention to studying as it is so important.

I wanted to play some more tonight but pokerstars won't download for me so I decided to get drunk instead. I played this morning for a bit and it went meh. I'm not moving up a stake until I can just grind it for ****s and giggles.

2nlz


5nlz


Just going to grind 2nlz for the rest of the month I think whilst watching some videos on RIO which I've been awful at since I last posted.

I did spend a bit of time the other day thinking what this thread needs to get more exciting. Unfortunately I don't really do degenerate **** bar drink too much, HH's at such low stakes are boring. I was thinking about getting back into dating next year so any advice on that front is appreciated. I suspect a few boring tinder dates will happen.

I put in some good volume yesterday although going off this I was a fish and played 5nlz. Sadly I got above $ won at 2nlz and ev 5nlz and then lost KK to AA for like 130bb pre (maybe this is my mistake, but shoving I doubt it) and then bottom set vs better on a wetish limped board. That's me being a mental game fish and being aware of my results.

I think I just play 2nlz till the end of the month and then evaluate with an idea of shot taking 5nlz for x amount of hands without caring (in theory) about results. Volume and trying are slowly justifying that I'm winning and that's all I can push for.

It probably shows how much of a fish I am but I struggle to not look at results throughout a session to the point where I think the effort of not looking outweighs the benefit of not doing so. I don't think I play that bad if I lose a few BI but not looking seems hard and to affect my play more.

Hit 30k hands so far this month, should easily be on course for 50k which would probably put it up there with the most volume I've put in to cash games in a month. Depending on what my Christmas schedule ends up being I may push for more.

Done a bit of studying and made some changes that I think better help me exploit the 5nlz pool and since then have run good so that's always nice. Will keep cracking on with the studying, adding some more specific hand reviews will probably be needed soon rather than more general strategy.

MTD so far (~11k 5nlz, ~20k 2nlz)




I suppose this is one way to defend your checking range. Saw this player do some really strange things over 20 minutes.

PokerStars - $0.05 NL FAST (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BTN: 118.2 BB (VPIP: 18.92, PFR: 13.51, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 75)
SB: 112.4 BB (VPIP: 0.00, PFR: 0.00, 3Bet Preflop: -, Hands: 3)
BB: 155.4 BB (VPIP: 27.27, PFR: 18.18, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 12)
UTG: 173.6 BB (VPIP: 25.00, PFR: 0.00, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 8)
Hero (MP): 131.4 BB
CO: 100 BB (VPIP: 7.41, PFR: 0.00, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 27)

SB posts SB 0.4 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

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

UTG calls 1 BB, Hero raises to 4 BB, fold, fold, fold, fold, UTG calls 3 BB

Flop: (9.4 BB, 2 players) 9 5 2
UTG checks, Hero bets 5 BB, UTG calls 5 BB

Turn: (19.4 BB, 2 players) J
UTG checks, Hero checks

River: (19.4 BB, 2 players) J
UTG checks, Hero checks

UTG shows J J (Four of a Kind, Jacks)
(Pre 56%, Flop 77%, Turn 91%)
Hero mucks K Q (One Pair, Jacks)
(Pre 44%, Flop 23%, Turn 9%)
UTG wins 18.6 BB
Rake paid 0.8 BB

Only played enough to hit my "free" loot box thing recently. Had things to mess about sorting out so only had 12 hours free rather than the usual 16 and I've basically lost and won the same 2-3 BI in a cycle.

In more exciting news, just bought my first ever car. Just a cheap run around to get a few years no claims (touch wood) and get me to and from. Next life steps are to get 2-3 years sorted working as a teacher and then try to start moving on up the ladder a bit all whilst saving for a deposit.

If anyone in the UK knows much about savings and all that **** in terms of what's best for saving to buy a house and making your money work. I'm being a complete mug currently and have a few grand sat in a basic no thrills bank account I've had since I finished uni. Please pm me or offer advice in here <3

If you're saving for a house deposit, you should be putting your money into a LISA - save up to £4k a year and de gubmint will chuck you an extra 25% for being a responsible little saver. You can only withdraw from the account to make a deposit on a house or once you've reached the age of 50, so it shouldn't be your only savings vehicle, but if you're saving for a deposit specifically, it's basically unbeatable.

edit: more on LISAs here: https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/sa...lifetime-isas/

So say you had 10k in a LISA does that mean the maximum deposit you could put down is 10k or could you use that + extra cash?

I also clearly don't understand something about finance. It says about 4k gives you 5k at the end of the year but then it also say that interest is paid monthly if you have contributed that month

You can combine the funds in your LISA with other money to make up your deposit. The government's 25% is put in monthly based on your deposits in that month, so if you deposited £4k in a single month, you'd get a £1k bonus from the government for that payment and then nothing more for the rest of the financial year. If instead you put in £300 per month, you'd get a bonus payment of 25% (i.e. £83.25) from the government for each month. If you put in £400 per month, you'd get the 25% (£100) bonus for each of the first ten months of the financial year, at which point you'd have hit the yearly cap and your last two monthly deposits wouldn't attract any further bonus.

Thank you for the replies.

I assume all of this is based on the tax year? So there is nothing stopping me putting 4k in Feb and then starting 350 a month into it. That seems like the most sensible thing for me to do by far. I'll have to see what interest rates bank accounts are giving to see if it competes with the 1%.

No doubt in a couple of years it'll change and **** me over lol.

Yeah, the bonus resets at the start of the financial year so your plan should get you the full bonus for this year and the coming one. If you have more personal finance questions, it might be best to ask them on the UK personal finance subreddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/UKPersonalFinance/