Jesus christ I could care less if you took all month to make 40$.... Thats ONE dinner... Jeez glgl

Lol, the money may be little, but it's just a start. I have bigger plans for this month. The plan was to start playing again yesterday, but I wasn't quite happy where I was on my off-the-table work. I needed to finish a couple more things first. Now that I got that done, I played a short session just now (heading to work soon).

Hands: 952
Profit: +$6.99
Bankroll: $138.06
Currently Playing: NL5 (move up to nl10 at $160, drop to nl2 at $100)

So I revamped my postflop lines now for the most common situations. I took out the min-betting, and for the most part, won't be using big overbets anymore (for now). But I think my game is much more solid now.

I also decided not to deposit anymore yet (in an effort to move up to nl10 right away). I'll stay at nl5 for now, while I learn my lines/ranges. I plan on just spending my time playing for the rest of the month (no more theory work). Looking forward to making a lot more money this month!


-----------

The flop 3bet was a misclick, I meant to make it $1.20.



-----------------------

Biggest losing hand.

I'm revising my BRM requirements. My main long-term goal is to make as much money from poker as I can. My main short-term goal is to reach a level where I can make enough to support myself financially, and to be comfortably rolled at that level. So I need to be fairly agro with my BRM until I reach that point. Once I'm at the level where I can comfortably support myself through poker, then I will be more conservative with my BRM. I'm not saying I'm going to quit my jobs once I reach that point. I just want to get to that point so that the option is there.

The stakes I need to reach for that are probably either nl25 or nl50. Depends what my winrate is, and how many tables I'm able to comfortably play at once. So I want to reach those stakes as quickly as possible, and then grow my bankroll at those stakes until I have a decent cushion. Maybe 100BI. Then I can start shot-taking higher. But first things first.. Here is my revised BRM:

=====Bankroll Management: [revised 06/07/2016]=====

NL2: $0-80
NL5: $80-$120 (move down at $60)
NL10: $120-$300 (move down at $80)
NL25: $300-??? (move down at $200)

========================================

Since I'm taking shots more aggressively, I won't have the bankroll to play a lot of tables when starting at the new level. So will need to win a bit at the higher stakes before being able to increase tables.

So currently, I have about 40BI in my roll (6 at nl10, 4 at nl5, and 30 at nl2). That should be fairly sufficient. I'm fairly confident in my game right now, and I believe I can manage this. If for some reason my game sucks and I blow through the entire BR, then I can reload and try again. But I need to know sooner rather than later how good my game is. And what better way than to start playing higher now.

My goal is to be at nl25 by around Jun 20 (roughly). I'm not against adding a bit of money to my bankroll to give myself a bigger shot at nl10 or nl25 should the need arise, as long as I feel good about my game. My main goal is to make money, not to see how I can grow my bankroll from $100 (or whatever). I will take the steps necessary to try to maximize my poker profits.

So I'm about to start my first session (since the start of this challenge) at nl10 now for a few hours, then head to work. Will update again after work.

Hands: 885
Profit: +$17.35
Bankroll: $154.91
Currently Playing: NL10 (move to nl25 at $300)

Good start to nl10; looking forward to playing more. I was close to finishing the daily pyramid challenge on Stars.. was one trips/set away from completing it. But was called to work an hour early, so had to leave without finishing it. For those that don't know, completing the pyramid gets you a random reward from $1-5000. Still have a few days left to finish more pyramids.

-------------------------------------------------
Weekly Summary:
-------------------------------------------------

NL5:
Hands: 952
Profit: +$6.99 [+14.68 bb/100]

NL10:
Hands: 885
Profit: +$17.35 [+19.60 bb/100]

Weekly Totals:
Total Hands: 1,837
Total Profit: +$24.34

NL5:


NL10:


-----Hands:--------

Biggest winning hand (nl10):



--------------------

They're stacking off preflop with that?



------------

Not sure if it was a good fold, or too tight.

You should focus on posting hands that you are unsure about villains range or what to do like the KQ hand. With that hand, I would probably flat the 3-bet. I would only 4b if its for value. As played, I'm calling. No way I'm giving villain this much credit especially given the action. Either you are WA/WB and you probably only need like 27-28% equity if I had to take an educated guess.

Thanks for the comments. I'll try posting more "difficult" hands, which means I'll have to get more in the habit of marking hands during sessions lol. As for the KQ hand, I think it might be a bit weak for calling the 3bet. Probably close, but I don't think there's anything wrong with 4betting it. My main thought was whether calling or folding on the river was better.

Hands: 1356
Profit: +$6.58
Pyramid Challenge Bonus: +$1.00
Bankroll: $162.09
Currently Playing: NL10 (move to nl25 at $300)

-----------

Good fold? Bad fold?

Any stats on villain or notes?

On mobile so hard to quote just the response to me but that's fine then. I was just making sure you didn't turn it into a bluff lol.

Only have 100 hands on him. 20/14, with 0/2 raise flop cbet.

Sorry, I missed the part where you said you would 4bet KQo for value. Don't you think that's a bit loose for value?

I didn't 4bet there with KQo as a bluff or a value raise though. I 4bet with KQo because it's a hand that I chose to form a cohesive 4betting range with in that situation, along with several other combos of hands that work together to form a solid postflop betting strategy (which is what I do for all my preflop ranges).

With the KQo, I think it's a standard call in position, although this should be the worst offsuit hand you flat with.
You don't really need to 4-bet very often in that spot, but you'd be better off choosing some of the trashy Ax for bluffs, because they won't be profitable flats, but have the blocker vs villain's monsters, and some equity if villain has a pair.
When you 4-bet and get called, I think you should be checking back on that flop. You're way ahead or way behind, but you have the flush blocker/backdoor, so aren't too worried about seeing the turn card. If you want to get value from hands like 99/TT, or want to induce bluffs that you can always call, make it a 2 street hand by checking back. (You could even check back AK to keep villain's range wide, as you know you've never folding TPTK in a 4-bet pot, and might as well give villain the chance to bluff Axs or "value-bet" with worse). As played, I think you have to call, although I guess AK and TT are big parts of villain's range.

It all depends on villain. You didn't post villain stats etc but generally speaking for micros stakes yes. That's why I'm normally flatting pre because it plays v well against an average 3-bet range and we are in position. The point I'm making is that if you do not know enough about villain to know if the 4bet is for value or not, it's likely to be turning your hand into a bluff. At these stakes, there is zero balance and either villain will shove or fold which is terrible for our holdings. We want villain to flat with his mid PP's and broadways. Anyways, just a few thoughts and interested in what villain stats were.

Thanks for the advice Arty; a lot of good info there. And EV, I looked back at that hand, and no stats on the villain.

Hands: 1325
Profit: -$24.99
Bankroll: $138.10
Currently Playing: NL10 (move to nl25 at $300)

Lost a couple of buy-ins. My 3 biggest losing hands, I lost with a set, trips (top kicker), and a straight. Just one of those days. Maybe I could have played them better, but I think just coolers. Anyway, just a short update today.

Hands: 1167
Profit: -$50.02
Bankroll: $98.73
Currently Playing: NL10 (move to nl25 at $300)

Been real busy last couple days with work/other stuff. Played one session since the last update, didn't go too well. I will have more time next couple days, but I might spend a bit more time off the tables and tweak my ranges/lines. I had come up with something that I thought would be solid for the microstakes at least, but I see some holes in it. So I'm going to fix those spots and then come back at nl5 probably. I will eventually make it though!

The "microstakes" as defined on 2+2 are a thing of the past. If you look back to a post I made early in your thread I warned you that practically anything can be made to work at 2nl...thereafter, you need a solid game.

Reading a couple of your hands you are in danger of leveling yourself. Your justification for 4 betting KQo is very woolly and in the 99 hand there is an absence of any maths.

eg an unknown reg is calling here with typically sc and pp. So for sure you could be facing sets, but also a ton of draws/semi-bluffs. I think if you x back the flop you avoid the problem of potentially folding the best hand, maximise your positional advantage and control the pot. But it's a meh kinda hand, so I'm not saying my line is right - I'm saying let us in to a bit more of your thought process, so we can analyse with you.

My advice...

Post loads of hands...you have thread followers - that's a good thing. Don't post coolers...except for the occasional fun. Post difficult hands, lots of them. Don't post results...in fact edit the hands so they stop at key decision points.

Think through the comments you get back and eliminate your own cognitive bias.

GL

Lol yeah, I tried to come up some postflop lines that were more "solid" than that min-betting/overbetting stuff I was doing earlier, but I think they weren't as solid as I thought they were. Well, I knew they would need more work, but I wanted something simple to use at the start.

It was based on math, but maybe applied incorrectly. Basically, I was trying to come up with a simplified pseudo-GTO solution. I was using a raise-or-fold solution, and raising at frequencies I believed to be as unexploitable as possible. In the back of my mind, I was thinking that eventually I would need to add calling ranges. But I thought what I had would be good for the micros.

So in that hand, my 99 overpair wasn't good enough to be in my re-raising range, so I folded. But even looking at it now, I'm UTG. So if he's raising with made hands, I'm most likely beat. Many of his draws will have one or two overcards, so he'll have close to 50% equity a lot of the time. So I don't think I'm in the greatest shape. Still not sure what the best play is there, but I don't think folding is terrible given that.

Anyway, I'm redoing my lines again to include calling ranges. Still trying to get them somewhat balanced and unexploitable. Hopefully will be better this time.

Actually, I think your line is better. Checking back the flop might be the best play. Especially being UTG, my hand isn't as strong.

Thanks Fatboy, appreciate the comments. Will try to post more difficult hands going forward. I'm not sure about not posting results though. I mean, I know that's more beneficial to me. But I know I hate looking at hands in other threads and not being able to see the results lol. Well, maybe I can try that out. I guess I can always post the results afterwards.

I'll let you into a little not-so-secret, secret. Much of what people comment on hands is skewed based on:

The result if known.
The stakes being played.
The person who is posting the hand.

You want to eliminate as much cognitive bias as you can, to get through to peoples thought processes when they are in the hand as you were.

There are great guys on here who will join in the strat in just that way. Those are the thread followers you want and also the similar threads you want to subscribe into.

Following someone who never ever posts any strat teaches you nothing. Having people post GLGL in your thread might feel good for a minute, but again if they don't contribute, don't add up to much does it.

So shape your thread & content as it feels right for you and make the effort you put into it worthwhile.

Just My Opinion

GLGL

Indeed. I often avoid commenting on a hand if I think hero made a mistake, but the result shows he got lucky against a weird/terrible villain.
e.g. Without seeing the result, I might say something like "I don't think you can call the river, because villain's range is basically sets and straights and only a couple of missed straight draws"... but then the replayer shows he has 72o or something ridiculous, so my ranging looks horribad and I'm wasting my breath. If the result is known and it's kind of random, then I kind of think "Why bother trying to range this guy?"
Individual results might be total outliers, and I think learning how to play against the player pool as a whole is more important, so snipping out the results (and often hero's final action) can be better for generating debate.

As for the 99, the GTO line is probably to bet smaller (and then call a raise) if you want to bet all your one pair hands and a bunch of air, but if you're going with a PSB you should be more polarized, bet at a lower frequency, and check back that combo (and all overpairs), as that board is not good for your range, and one pair doesn't do particularly well when villain continues in a bigger pot on a dynamic board like that. That said, at 10NL, bet-folding is fine. I'd usually half pot it, as I'm not expecting to get check-raise bluffed all that often in the micros, and I think I'll get to showdown with the best hand most of the time. When you pot it, you win immediately pretty often, but you lose more when villain has you crushed, and you don't really get any value unless villain is a station OOP with a random FD or lower pair.

Thanks Fatboy and Arty for the advice. I will start posting hands without results, unless posted for other reasons. I've created new preflop ranges now, but for postflop, I will use my knowledge/experience with on-the-fly thinking. I have general guidelines I want to use, but just using my brain more for the most part.

I made a couple bad mistakes for stacks last session, so could be up a lot more. But back to the grind now.

Oh, also I've been thinking of playing a couple $0.25 Spin & Gos as kind of a warm-up before each session. I should at worst break even, but probably show a small profit in those. And hope for a big jackpot one day lol. But I find it a nice way to get into playing. Just for a bit of fun before each session. So far, played 4 of them and lost them all. But have been losing flips where I'm ahead. Anyway, those aren't my focus, but rather just a side thing. On to my results.

Hands: 1156
Profit: +$2.21
Bankroll: $99.75
Currently Playing: NL5 (move to nl10 at $120)

------Hands-----------

Only have 70 hands on villain, but he's 47/41 with 3bet% of 23. Thoughts?


--------------------------------

Only have 17 hands on villain, but he's 50/30 over that sample. I just didn't believe his line here.



----------------------------

Interested to hear thoughts on this one. Would anyone play this differently? BTN was a bit fishy. No sample on the other player.

hand 1 fine by me (I might bet flop here depending on other read, but no probs with the way you played it)

hand 2...I hate it. You rep nothing, your risk versus reward is way off, it's just a random spewy bluff that folds out his air/bottom pairs...you may well have been bluffing with the best hand here. Villain can supa easy have a random 8. Also what is the donk bet all about?

hand 3...again, preflop I squeeze here, it's hard to find a better squeezing spot.

post flop I'm just going to be betting for value, nobody's folding an ace at 5nl and on the river nobody's folding a J, so it's all gonna go in. Checking the river is risky in case it gets checked behind, but i kinda like it.

Bear in mind what regs takes notes on....you give up a mass of information about your preflop 3 betting range on this one hand alone. Good players take a ton of notes especially at Zoom (because of the lack of hud stats). For regs, the information you give at SD in hand 3 is gold.

Thanks again for the comments Fatboy.

Hand 2, I just listened to my gut on that. I don't usually make plays like that, and maybe it's not great in the long run. As for the donking, I have a donking range when OOP. Basically, I treat it like I was the preflop aggressor, as I have a stronger range than the villain in those spots.

Hand 3, would you bet the flop if it was nl25/50 (or higher)? Or only at these lower stakes cause villains might call more?

Spins: +$1.00 (2x $0.25 spins)
Hands: 334
Profit: +$4.96
Bankroll: $105.93
Currently Playing: NL5 (move to nl10 at $120)

I mentioned I was playing a couple spins before sessions as kind of a fun way to start up the session. Figured I might as well start posting those with my updates to be more complete. In total, I've played six $0.25 spins, and come out exactly breakeven on those. Not really caring too much about how much I make on those, as cash is my main focus. But hoping one day I bink one of the high multiplier ones. If for some reason I lose too much on those, I'll drop them.

As for the session, didn't have much time to play. Will put in more volume rest of the month. Made a few bad plays, but not as many as the villains.

----Hands----------

Big river overbet.. Call or fold? Villain is 27/12.



-----------------------------------

Don't have too many hands on villain, but he's 29/26. Would you call the turn bet here? I would have called a 2/3 to 3/4 sized bet, but folded to his pot-sized bet.

h1 I don't like the flop lead, as played river looks like a clear fold.

h2 I 3bet pre but it depends on BB, as played I call turn

GLGL moving up to NL10

As played, no because I don't generally donk bet (only in very, very specific spots and this is not one of them).

But this is one these hands I can't really comment on the post flop spot, because I'm never in it. If I missclicked pre I'd probably play it like you did, only lead bet the river.

new hands

H1 3bet pre.
H2 3bet pre.

Your stats must be something else

Thanks Epiktetos, I did call the river (not saying it was a good call -- that's why I posted it) because he was a fish and his line seemed strange to me.

Thanks as well Fatboy. My stats are probably something else lol. I did say my style was unconventional. Well, I'm not just playing unconventionally for the sake of it. Only in spots where I have some reasoning behind it.

I don't have a 3bet range right now. It's just an approach I'm experimenting with right now, and I do have reasons for doing so. So I'm seeing how it plays out, but that's part of the reason why I can have a donking range. Because my range will be stronger than the open-raiser's range. And some people play terrible against donk bets.

How would you have played those spots having called pre?

Hi Pokerphilosopher,

In my opinion is donking here wrong, because you lose all the value of the hands that are way behind en would cbet that kind of board structure. So with donking you don't get value of his weak end of his range and keep all the stronger hand and hands that beating you.

you end here in a very nasty spot oop. and you lose pot control.

So, i would keep him bluffing.
Flop Check/call - Turn probably check call again. If villain doesn't cbet turn i would bet about half pot on the river on a brick to let him call with a blufcatcher, hands like JT,KJ,QJ, TT,99,

GL grinding

Thanks mikeajax, I don't necessarily agree or disagree with you with respect to the donking. Yeah, I might lose value from his weakest hands that would have cbet, but would fold to my donk. But I will steal the pot a lot with all my donk bluffs when he folds. And he will most likely still call (or raise) with many weaker hands. But it's a trade-off, and I'm not sure which is better. It's something I'm experimenting with now, so I will continue to have a donking range for now at least, and see how it goes.

Am about to play a session, but will first do the weekly summary now, and post the session results tomorrow.

-------------------------------------------------
Weekly Summary:
-------------------------------------------------

NL5:
Hands: 1,511
Profit: +$7.29 [+9.65 bb/100]

NL10:
Hands: 3,848
Profit: -$68.43 [-17.78 bb/100]

Spin & Gos:
Profit: $0.00

Weekly Totals:
Total Hands: 5,359
Total Profit: -$61.14

NL5:


NL10:


So, biggest thing to work on this week is more volume. I've currently dropped to 4 tables while I learn my new ranges. Hope to go back to 6 tables in a couple days, and maybe even up to 8 soon after if I can manage it. I've 20-tabled before, but I'm putting more thought into postflop lines now instead of auto-piloting. Need to also find more hours to play outside of work.