Hello friends,

I am a recreational player from Germany who finally wants to take the whole thing a bit more seriously and that's why I am starting this blog.

My story:

I first came into contact with poker 14 years ago and have since then tried everything possible to play. Cashgame as shortstack (successful winning) and bigstack, fixed limit (successful break even) and of course MTT's. As a shortstack I played my way up from NL10 to NL200. But then came the big changes of the min-buyin. Then I made it in the Fixed Limit from 0,02/0,04 up to 1,00/2,00. Fixed Limit was actually the most fun for me. When Fixed Limit was slowly dying out, I had my first try as a bigstack and failed miserably. This "No Limit" was too complicated for a Minbetter. I then left poker altogether for 2 or 3 years and then felt like it again and tried my hand at MTTs. That was fun too, but the variance can be brutal. But every deep run was very exciting. In the end, however, I failed because of the variance and because I invested too little in my game. I was more interested in grinding out the variance instead of fixing my leaks.

What now?

I finally want to make profits again. I have been playing the BSS for a few months now. I keep forgetting to work on my game, which is why I'm starting this blog to have to report that I've been failing again. I hope this increases my motivation to study more.

I will start with a bankroll of about $45 on NL2 and see what is possible for me. I will play the regular tables.

Study:

I want to start all over again and I'm going to go back to Fundamentals. I think I'm making some mistakes here because it's been a while since I've used the concepts correctly.

Have a nice day and see you next time

Gl! you got this

Hello, rakesklave!

Welcome to the community, and congratulations on starting this blog!
It's great to see that you're taking your poker journey more seriously and are motivated to improve your game.

Going back to fundamentals is a wise decision.
Strengthening your foundation is beneficial, especially if it's been a while since you last used those concepts.
Building a solid understanding of the fundamentals will serve as a strong platform to tackle higher stakes and more complex situations.

Starting with a bankroll of $45 on NL2 is a great approach.
It's essential to manage your bankroll carefully, and this will provide you with ample opportunities to observe, learn, and grow without putting unnecessary pressure on your finances.

Consistent learning and self-improvement are key factors in becoming a successful poker player.
By documenting your progress in this blog, you not only hold yourself accountable but also inspire others to join you on this journey of growth and achievement.

If you ever need advice or want to discuss anything poker-related, feel free to reach out.

Look forward to reading about your progress next time!
Good luck!

Thank you for your kind words slyless. I will be sure to post some hands in the future that contain "silly" beginner questions. I would appreciate any tips you might have.


Result Day 1:

Started the day after breakfast with a workout and then did a big theory block. I started with a very simple postflop plan to make as few mistakes as possible. Then there were pot odds and implied pot odds on the plan.



I marked a few hands in the session, which I will look at later today and most definitely post a few later.

I was very lucky in some situations, but also took some punches. But I'm happy with my play, I stayed calm, didn't tilted and made only a few stupid calls.

For the beginning I will try to do theory and grinding in a 50:50 ratio. Yesterday that already worked out well. Today I will first review the hands from yesterday and then hopefully have time to study some theory.

In my opening post, I forgot to define a goal. I want to beat NL 2 in the first step. When I have won $100 (20 stacks for NL 5) I will move up to NL 5.

Have a nice day and see you next time

Hand 1



Villian plays 19/16 in 246 Hands. He is a bit tighter than me, but when I give him my calling range against 3-bets from the SB, it is very AX heavy (28 of 130 combos). The only thing that helps me here is the backdoor flush draw. K and J outs also tend to hitten his range (AKo, AJs, KQs, KJs, KTs, K9s, JJ...).
I think the flop c-bet is not good on this board.

As played I think that I have to fold the River. He has more better KX Combos than me and alot of Two Pair Combos (AQo, AKo, KQs, A5s) and some three of a kind combos (JJ and a very small amount of 55 (calling 25% vs 3-bet)). He also has some Straigt Combos with JTs. I only have beat his KTs, K9s, QJs and QTs. I think that I can never call here. My hand is too bad for a bluffcatcher.


Hand 2



VPIP/PFR/3-Bet/Hands

BB plays 42/8/1.1/186
BU plays 23/17/6.3/83

The 3-Bet Range of BU is very wide, his stats are need some more hands. The coldcall of BB looks for me very strong, like TT-QQ, AK, AQs.

That's why I thought here that I want to 4-bet in any case, so that BU has to fold all his bluff 3-bet hands and possibly come pre allin.

On the 4-bet BU has to fold a hell of a lot, just because of the coldcall of BB I think, hands we 77-99, he can't call here anymore, because he is behind against the range of BB and absolutely also against mine. Also because he sits in the sandwich, he should probably no longer call too many weak hands, because BB with his fishy stats may still go crazy.

The flop looks perfect to me. All the lowcards don't connect with the ranges.

BB probably thinks similarly and wants to get the money in on the flop.

Are my estimates of the ranges so correct?


Hand 3



SB is Villian from the first hand. 19/16/5.2/286.

I don't want to risk too much here with AKo either because we are both very deep.

I like calling AKo here because we are IP.
The flop doesn't hit my range or his, so I think I have to call here on the flop no matter what. He certainly has hands like A5s and A4s in his 3-betting range, maybe on a couple combos 65s and 54s. But he should be holding significantly more Broadway hands here. The board is also perfect for his pairs 99-AA, of course.
Turn is also a blank for me.
For the Q we both should have almost the same combos in the range, especially because we both went for pot control here. Should I still call here?


Hand 4



Villian plays 57/14 on 32 hands.
AQ he should still 3-bet here though, so I don't assume he has the nuts here. KJs, KTs and JTs he should also 3-bet. With KTo, KJo and JTo he could have called. Then he has some QX combos for straight draws and AX combos for gutshots with and without pair. I only see myself behind against the three two pair hands. He can raise here with possible flushdraws or maybe his gutshots. But since he only minraises, I probably have a call here.

Turn is very bad for me. Many flushes arrive. That's why I don't want to invest anything else in the pot for the time being.

River is then the worst case. The overbet looks like A of clubs to me, but it could also be a bluff. But on NL2 this move is probably 99% the monster. Can probably only fold here. Could I have found a fold here on the flop on the raise? Maybe not even be allowed to make the C-bet?

Result Day 2:

Yesterday I was not quite fit and therefore hardly studied and played only one short session, which I then stopped because of a headache.

But the result is outstanding. I definitely played my A-game in the whole session.

Hand 1

Kx hands are more likely to take a free showdown.
A villain will usually have a polar range here consisting of Ax and hands with no showdown value, such as pocket pairs 88-TT.
But I don't think we'll see nl2 bluffs like this very often with a passive opponent.
I think it's okay to fold on the river too.

Hand 2

The fish's cold-calling range is usually wider and can contain several random hands.
This is how it looks like cold calling a 3bet from a fish out of position in my database:


The flop looks fine.
Dispersive but we still beat a lot of overpairs and other hands that our opponents can overplay.

Hand 3
I think it's a fold on the river.
We have a lot of Pocket Pairs and Qx in our range for calls. And our hand blocks potential Ax bluffs in opponent range.

Hand 4
Cbet/Call on the flop looks fine.

Against a recreational player, I'd rather bet the turn a little to get a cheap showdown.

When you are playing against a weak player, it makes no sense for us to balance our ranges, sizings, etc.
Just play your strong hands with sizings that will keep them value bets.
Use block bets, donk bets, and whatever you don't normally use against regulars.