After seeing guys post goals like "25K in 60 days" and "Go from 100NL to 2000NL this year", I feel a little silly with my measly microstakes goals Nonetheless....

I've lurked around 2p2 for quite a while, with only a couple of posts, all the while realizing my unwillingness to post was probably preventing me from meeting some cool people and improving my game. Therefore, I'm going to post some goals for myself over the next month and hopefully make some connections with new people/create some public accountability for myself regarding my play.

I'm returning to regular play now after a six month plus break due to internet difficulties that have finally been resolved. I have roughly 200k hands experience throughout 10NL, 25NL, and 50NL on Full Tilt and Bodog ( I was a winner at 10 NL on FT and 25 and 50 on Bodog, but a small loser over about 100k hands of 25NL on FT ( equally spread between Rush FR and standard FR)).

Right now my entire bankroll exists on FT, and I am properly staked for 25NL.

Quantitative Goals for March :

30K hands between 10nl and 25nl ( I'm starting 4 tabling at 10 and will add tables/move up as my comfort increases )

Iron Man Gold

4ptBB/100 winrate at 10nl tables

Positive winrate at 25NL tables

Post a minimum of three hands I play that I have a difficult time with in the 2p2 forums for every day that I play

Qualitative Goals for March :

Be consistent in my routine and playing habits

Focus on using improvement rather than results as motivation

Leave poker behind after completing play and reviews

Seek interaction with other players at or near my stakes to learn
faster and be part of the poker community

Hah after rereading this, I bet there have been 10 million posts almost exactly like it from guys like me in the past. Oh well, I guess we really are not beautiful and unique snowflakes. I'll post updates as progress is made.

Also, I'm drunk on Panda Mystery.

Looking forward to follow this challenge !

Basically did something similar. Wanted to reach Iron Gold in 15 days and be able to buy a ticket for MiniFtops Main Event with FTPoints. Just finished my challenge an hour ago playing 5NL/10NL rush (150.000 hands).

Unfortunatly my winrate goal got demolished (10 buy in downswing 10NL). Took some coaching lessons and just want to say doing HH reviews after each session is worth gold!

Hope to see some of them here. Cheeers & good luck !

Thanks for your interest ! Are you continuing to play in 5/10nl after your challenge, or was this just a one time shot?

I played a small session last night to tinker with my HUD and only had one hand that was of note :

Full Tilt - $0.10 NL - Holdem - 8 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 3

MP: $20.30
MP+1: $6.95
CO: $15.51
BTN: $10.94
SB: $24.19
Hero (BB): $19.90
UTG: $5.58
UTG+1: $14.57

SB posts SB $0.05, Hero posts BB $0.10

Pre Flop: ($0.15) Hero has 2 2

fold, fold, MP raises to $0.40, fold, fold, fold, SB calls $0.35, Hero calls $0.30

Flop: ($1.20, 3 players) 7 9 2
SB checks, Hero checks, MP bets $1.00, fold, Hero calls $1.00

Turn: ($3.20, 2 players) J
Hero checks, MP checks

River: ($3.20, 2 players) T
Hero bets $1.50, MP calls $1.50

Hero shows 2 2 (Three of a Kind, Twos) (PreFlop 18%, Flop 86%, Turn 86%)
MP shows 8 8 (Straight, Jack High) (PreFlop 82%, Flop 14%, Turn 14%)
MP wins $5.79

The villain in question was 33/11 over 9 hands, so I didn't want to start putting him on a tight range or anything preflop, but in retrospect I think I should be checkraising the flop here to get value out of overpairs and flush draws and possibly have him call with hands like what he showed down ( 88, 66 ) . Being 200 bb deep I want to be a little cautious because I could be facing a better set, but I think when I call out of the bb with 22 and hit the set I'm going to stack off vs his range of hands that will give me action ( better sets, overpairs, flush draws). As the hand played after the flop, my plan was to check raise the turn on a non heart turn, and to check call if a heart falls to draw to a full house and get value out his nonflush hands. When he checks the turn behind I'm almost certain he doesn't have the flush, and is probably thinking that I might. I bet the river for value because I don't believe he's playing many 8x hands to a preflop raise except 88, and doesn't have a flush, and there are quite a few hands he might call a valuebet that a set beats. Of course this plan backfires heh. Sorry for the rambling explanation of my thought process and I'll try to be more concise in future posts

I got off to kind of a rough start yesterday, which I sort of expected. I've been playing live 1/2 a couple of times a month during my hiatus from full tilt, and it's safe to say even at 10nl the game plays far differently.

I played 991 hands at 10nl standard FR over two sessions, losing 19.17 for a stellar winrate of -9.67 BB/100. Way to go 10nl crusher LOL. I spewed all over the place and have a good idea of some obvious adjustments to make. I also played 672 hands of 10nl rush for -28.62 and an even more impressive -21.47 BB/100. Fortunately, the same is true as above....I actually cut the session short ( my target was 1k hands for the rush session ) and did a hand review on the spot. I spewed even worse in Rush, and I wasn't focusing well at all. I was playing 3 tables and this was too much for me ATM , so I'll cut back to two tonight.

I did have some spots aside from the spew fest where I am a little unsure of, so I'll post these below.

Full Tilt - $0.10 NL - Holdem - 9 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 3

BB: $7.46
Hero (UTG): $10.93
UTG+1: $9.95
MP: $12.12
MP+1: $10.25
LP: $7.16
CO: $30.40
BTN: $12.61
SB: $16.52

SB posts SB $0.05, BB posts BB $0.10

Pre Flop: ($0.15) Hero has K A

Hero raises to $0.40, fold, MP calls $0.40, fold, LP calls $0.40, fold, fold, fold, BB calls $0.30

Flop: ($1.65, 4 players) 6 K J
BB checks, Hero bets $1.50, fold, fold, BB raises to $5.50, Hero raises to $9.50, BB calls $1.56 and is all-in


Turn: ($15.77, 2 players) K

River: ($15.77, 2 players) 7

Hero shows K A (Three of a Kind, Kings) (PreFlop 74%, Flop 15%, Turn 9%)
BB shows K J (Full House, Kings full of Jacks) (PreFlop 26%, Flop 85%, Turn 91%)
BB wins $14.72

The villain here was playing quite loose aggressively , running 33/27 over 15h and had made some prior overbets postflop in hands I had witnessed. Given that I was check raised in a 4 way pot, I probably need to find a fold here, although I suspect he does the same with KQ, KT, K9 and possibly some worse Kx, and also with 66 ( and severely discounted K6/J6).

Full Tilt - $0.10 NL - Holdem - 9 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 3

BB: $10.00
UTG: $9.37
UTG+1: $10.00
MP: $18.09
MP+1: $3.50
Hero (LP): $13.76
CO: $2.37
BTN: $5.03
SB: $1.93

SB posts SB $0.05, BB posts BB $0.10, MP+1 posts DB $0.10

Pre Flop: ($0.25) Hero has A T

fold, fold, fold, MP+1 checks, Hero raises to $0.50, CO raises to $2.37 and is all-in, fold, fold, fold, fold, Hero calls $1.87


Flop: ($4.99, 2 players) 6 7 8

Turn: ($4.99, 2 players) 9

River: ($4.99, 2 players) 4

CO shows K J (High Card, King) (PreFlop 40%, Flop 22%, Turn 7%)
Hero shows A T (Straight, Ten High) (PreFlop 60%, Flop 78%, Turn 93%)
Hero wins $4.66

Here the villain is running 26/9 over 90 hands, all while nursing a stack of less than 50 bb, with one 3bet over 19 opportunities. I'm wondering if I'm ever folding here, I don't guess I am because he is probably 3bet shoving much wider with 23bb.

To keep this one post from being monstrous, I'll post the other two hands I was wondering about below.

Hope you go well man, gl with the goal!

I'll be watching closely

Full Tilt - $0.10 NL - Holdem - 9 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 3

MP: $7.50
MP+1: $10.00
LP: $10.25
CO: $9.25
Hero (BTN): $19.23
SB: $9.80
BB: $11.12
UTG: $10.00
UTG+1: $6.14

SB posts SB $0.05, BB posts BB $0.10, MP posts DB $0.10

Pre Flop: ($0.25) Hero has K A

fold, fold, MP checks, fold, fold, CO raises to $0.30, Hero raises to $1.10, fold, fold, fold, CO raises to $9.25 and is all-in, Hero calls $8.15


Flop: ($18.75, 2 players) 6 3 T

Turn: ($18.75, 2 players) A

River: ($18.75, 2 players) 8

CO shows A K (One Pair, Aces) (PreFlop 48%, Flop 68%, Turn 60%)
Hero shows K A (One Pair, Aces) (PreFlop 52%, Flop 32%, Turn 40%)
CO wins $8.75
Hero wins $8.75

Villain is 31/6 after 36h, with no prior 3bet + aggression. I think maybe a better plan for me is to call with AKs as this player probably has a tight raising range preflop (even in late position, as he has zero steal attempts and has done nothing to illustrate he's positionally aware), and his 4bet shove range is obv super tight. In pokerstove, AhKh vs a range of AQs+, QQ+ is only a small favorite, and if I change it to AK+ only which I'm guessing is more likely with this player type then it becomes 59/41 in his favor. I guess I should fold to the 4bet as played.

Full Tilt - $0.10 NL - Holdem - 8 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 3

UTG: $10.61
UTG+1: $3.05
MP: $10.74
MP+1: $9.70
Hero (CO): $10.27
BTN: $11.39
SB: $4.76
BB: $10.00

SB posts SB $0.05, BB posts BB $0.10

Pre Flop: ($0.15) Hero has J J

fold, UTG+1 raises to $0.40, fold, fold, Hero raises to $1.20, fold, fold, fold, UTG+1 raises to $3.05 and is all-in, Hero calls $1.85


Flop: ($6.25, 2 players) 9 2 3

Turn: ($6.25, 2 players) 7

River: ($6.25, 2 players) 9

UTG+1 shows Q Q (Two Pair, Queens and Nines) (PreFlop 82%, Flop 92%, Turn 95%)
Hero shows J J (Two Pair, Jacks and Nines) (PreFlop 18%, Flop 8%, Turn 5%)
UTG+1 wins $5.84

This hand is vs a non calling station short stack, running 7/7 over 61h. His EP open tells me his range might be tighter than typical and I don't think he's stealing from EP, but he's also a few bb short of his starting stack which makes me think he might reshove a little bit wider than usual off a raise. What I'm wondering is a JJ 3bet/reshove call here profitable in the long run. JJ is a favorite vs a 7 or 8 % raise range typically displayed by these hit and run short stackers but I'm not sure how to evaluate his shove range properly.

I don't think you can go wrong with betting the flop there either. You've got two other players in the pot, one of them very well could have a tp or a draw and at least one has shown station tendencies over a small sample size so make them pay for the draw. If he has an overpair he's probably sticking around anyway. I don't think you want to risk giving two villains a shot at seeing free cards with a set unless you were fairly sure MP was going to cbet.

I'll continue playing 5NL/10NL, but will turn down the volume (150k hands in 14 days was a little much).

I'll try to write a few things my coach told me since I showed him similar HHs from 10NL.

22 vs 88:
Basically, you want to get in the money asap with a flopped set. So lead out on the flop or check/raise. The hand would've probably been over on the flop. Turn and River are real action killers unfortunatly.

AK vs KJ:
Fold the flop ... once you get check/raised. Especially at 10NL its fairly rare to see someone raise that big without 2 pair/set. You're really not beating that many hands with AK in that situation.

AT vs KJ:
When you raised here were you just trying to steal and win the hand preflop? What I experienced ... its tough to steal in spots where you have Shortstackers acting behind you since they tend to 3 bet you fairly light and it just sucks to call of a 3bet with AT vs. a fairly unknown.

AK vs AK:
I used to 3bet AK in these spots as well, but learned from coaching that a flat call pf can be a more profitable play.

QQ vs JJ:
Basically a cooler situation. In this situation (tight SS, utg+1 open) I like to flat call hands (AA, KK, QQ, JJ & AK) when I think I'm ahead of his range since the SS will likey stack off on the flop, but probably will fold when I 3bet with these hands pf. This will give you a lot more value. Especially when holding AA ... someone behind might decide to do a squeeze play which he wouldn't with a 3 bet in front of him. I've seen SSers stack off with KJ, KQ, AK ... etc. on Kxx boards when I flat called with AA preflop. If I 3 bet them pf they would probably be out of the hand and I'm losing value.


Well I hope I'm making sense in some situations. I'm no expert by any means, just trying to work on the things I learned from coaching. Basically finding a lot more value in spots, steal more and injecting edge.

Thanks! Are you currently playing the micros, if so what stakes/ how often ?
Have any poker goals yourself?

I agree, especially in a multiway pot. For some reason I was sure the original raiser would cbet, but I made this conclusion incorrectly as I only had one sample of him raising at all, and obviously that isn't enough convergence to establish a trend. Either way, given the board and limited knowledge of the raiser, leading the flop is surely the best option.

You absolutely made sense!! Neither of us are experts lol, or we wouldn't be playing in the super micros I'm actually very appreciative of your insight, and I hope I didn't come off rude in my responses. Hopefully whatever interaction we have here will help both of us ( and maybe others) to improve.

One side note about coaching since Fish has mentioned he receives it : I hired a coach last year, and worked with him for 6 hours. The experience was very poor for me, as after promising a "curriculum" for improvement, we simply reviewed HH in the PT3 database, and he was not familiar with PT3 at all ( He said he was much better with HEM). He was obviously very knowledgeable about poker, but after the first session, I found out he was primarily a 6max coach, and I was exclusively playing full ring. He tried to sway me to switch, which I was not comfortable doing ( although I'd never rule it out in the future, it seems only sensible to me that there is more money in 6max and heads up). Some of this was on me as a newb not being super thorough in researching my coaching options ( I relied on testimonials and his results "graph" as evidence of his coaching prowess). I am also quite shy and even though I wasn't very pleased with the way the first session went, I did not want to back out when I probably should have. Considering the very high rate he charged, and my limited bankroll as a micro player, I wish I had just kept the money as he didn't offer anything I haven't seen in other free resources. After I quit using him as a coach, he came under some scrutiny on 2p2 for refusing to validate the results he claimed having as a player. This further undermined my confidence in "coaching" on the whole. It seems like you (Fish) have a good relationship with your coach, but I would advise anyone looking into it to be super duper thorough, and maybe hold off on it until they progress beyond the micros as it's going to eat a substantial amount of your roll for limited assistance.

Progress update : Last night I played 1134 hands of 10NL standard FR, for -28.12 cents. I do think I made better decisions for the most part and quit spewing as much, but I still made some pretty silly errors that I have to weed out. I also played 827 hands of rush for a profit of 25.02, which was a welcome win to book after starting off so rough. I played a ton better in rush than I did in my prior session, but still have plenty of leaks to plug.

The totals so far are : 3624 total hands for -51.13, for an epic -7.05 BB/100.

The worst hand I played last night IMO :

Full Tilt - $0.10 NL - Holdem - 9 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 3

UTG+1: $17.93
MP: $29.07
MP+1: $13.59
LP: $15.01
CO: $45.01
BTN: $9.40
SB: $10.00
Hero (BB): $25.94
UTG: $19.01

SB posts SB $0.05, Hero posts BB $0.10

Pre Flop: ($0.15) Hero has 9 Q

fold, fold, fold, MP+1 raises to $0.30, fold, fold, fold, fold, Hero calls $0.20

Flop: ($0.65, 2 players) T 4 K
Hero checks, MP+1 bets $0.30, Hero raises to $0.90, MP+1 calls $0.60

Turn: ($2.45, 2 players) J
Hero bets $2.00, MP+1 raises to $6.00, Hero raises to $24.74 and is all-in, MP+1 calls $6.39 and is all-in


River: ($27.23, 2 players) 2

Hero shows 9 Q (Straight, King High) (PreFlop 30%, Flop 16%, Turn 3%)
MP+1 shows Q A (Straight, Ace High) (PreFlop 70%, Flop 84%, Turn 97%)
MP+1 wins $25.42

The villain in question is 14/5 over 382h, and is a regular at the 10 deep tables. I defend my bb here, thinking Q9s flops decently, and can connect to his range often enough for me to play it profitably. I should probably be folding preflop though as my opponents plays very tight postflop, and probably isn't stacking off with medium strength hands often enough for me to do anything but create reverse implied odds for myself in big pots. Additionally, my check raise on the flop is kind of silly.....the flop hits his range and only presents me 4 outs to the 2nd nuts. When I'm raised on the turn, I should probably find a fold given the player I'm up against but I don't, and the result is predictable. Is there any part of this hand where I can justify my action?



Full Tilt - $0.10 NL - Holdem - 9 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 3

CO: $8.42
BTN: $12.52
SB: $23.13
BB: $30.40
UTG: $13.64
UTG+1: $10.00
Hero (MP): $31.49
MP+1: $17.75
LP: $21.98

SB posts SB $0.05, BB posts BB $0.10

Pre Flop: ($0.15) Hero has K K

fold, fold, Hero raises to $0.40, fold, fold, fold, BTN calls $0.40, SB calls $0.35, fold

Flop: ($1.30, 3 players) 8 5 6
SB checks, Hero bets $1.20, BTN calls $1.20, fold

Turn: ($3.70, 2 players) 5
Hero bets $2.00, BTN raises to $5.00, fold

BTN wins $7.19

This hand is versus the same villain a short time later. The live player in me badly wants to reshove the turn here, but I think the fold is appropriate. I'm very unsure of my betsizing both on the flop and turn here, and I'm also a little bothered with the unbalance in the villains street by street aggression frequency. (flop : 28 turn: 68 river: 28). I'm not sure that ~400h is enough hands for this data to converge to reveal any trends, or if I should even be looking there for a read. I've probably just witnessed him hit some big hands, and his standard play is to raise the turn for value.

Full Tilt - $0.10 NL RUSH - Holdem - 9 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 3

BB: $10.14
UTG: $8.95
UTG+1: $10.31
Hero (MP): $17.34
MP+1: $3.46
LP: $14.70
CO: $32.20
BTN: $15.31
SB: $16.61

SB posts SB $0.05, BB posts BB $0.10

Pre Flop: ($0.15) Hero has A A

fold, UTG+1 raises to $0.35, Hero calls $0.35, fold, fold, CO raises to $0.60, fold, fold, fold, UTG+1 calls $0.25, Hero raises to $2.40, CO calls $1.80, fold

Flop: ($5.55, 2 players) 7 3 J
Hero bets $14.94 and is all-in, CO calls $14.94


Turn: ($35.43, 2 players) A

River: ($35.43, 2 players) 9

Hero shows A A (Three of a Kind, Aces) (PreFlop 80%, Flop 34%, Turn 98%)
CO shows J J (Three of a Kind, Jacks) (PreFlop 20%, Flop 66%, Turn 2%)
Hero wins $33.43

This hand was from Rush. I flat call the initial raiser because I had a player to my left who had 3bet 3/4 raises he had faced, hoping he would squeeze. That player folded but instead a different player makes a small 3bet. I had no prior history with this player, but after he calls my 4bet I think that his calling range is probably pretty tight. Unfortunately, I got super excited when the flop fell and stuck it all in, which is almost certainly not the way to play the hand. Is my 4bet sizing preflop good, and what should I be leading on the flop? I assume all the money will end up in on the flop as the hand played out, and I don't think I'm ever folding.

Time to grab some dinner, then head back to the tables !

Progress update : Results wise, yesterday was excellent. I played 1127 hands of standard FR 10 NL ( Two 2 hour sessions - I spent the first 3 hours 4 tabling, and the last hour 8 tabling), posting 45.32 in profit for 20.11 BB/100. I also played 741 hands of Rush, posting 21.27 in profit for 14.35 BB/100. Obviously, I had a lot of rungood, but I feel I continued to make progress in reducing spew while playing back at the regs occasionally with success. I still have a ways to go in improving my game all around, so I'll post a few of the more interesting spots below. I did get back in the black overall after a nasty start :

5,493 Total hands for 15.56 in profit for a mind blowing winrate of 1.42BB/100.

The Rush vs Standard breakdown :

Rush : 2241 hands, 17.53 profit
Standard : 3252 hands, -1.97 loss

Full Tilt - $0.10 NL - Holdem - 7 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 3

UTG: $20.64
UTG+1: $21.29
Hero (MP): $31.41
CO: $20.00
BTN: $10.00
SB: $21.04
BB: $24.99

SB posts SB $0.05, BB posts BB $0.10

Pre Flop: ($0.15) Hero has 2 2

fold, UTG+1 raises to $0.35, Hero calls $0.35, fold, fold, fold, fold

Flop: ($0.85, 2 players) 2 9 Q
UTG+1 bets $0.60, Hero calls $0.60

Turn: ($2.05, 2 players) A
UTG+1 checks, Hero bets $1.10, UTG+1 calls $1.10

River: ($4.25, 2 players) J
UTG+1 bets $4.00, Hero raises to $9.00, UTG+1 calls $5.00

Hero shows 2 2 (Three of a Kind, Twos) (PreFlop 18%, Flop 88%, Turn 95%)
UTG+1 shows J J (Three of a Kind, Jacks) (PreFlop 82%, Flop 12%, Turn 5%)
UTG+1 wins $20.77

The villain here is 14/11 over 91 hand sample, and I have yet to see him make an aggressive move on the turn or river while cbetting 3/3 opportunities. Because I know he is probably cbetting nearly all of his opens here, my plan when I flop a set is to flat his flop cbet and not turn my hand face up as very strong by raising him, especially considering this is a fairly dry board. In retrospect, I think this would be a better plan if I had some evidence of him continuing with air on the turn or river. When the Ace comes on the turn, I think the board is now hitting him fairly hard ( His EP open range is probably very tight as a TAG style preflop player), so I am a little surprised when he checks to me. When I bet and he calls, I think he has an AK/AQ/AJ type of hand most of the time ( did not think he would continue with JJ here). The Jack comes on the river, and I feel almost certain he has hit two pair when he leads into me ( I'm not really worried at all about KT making a straight, as I doubt this player opens EP with KT type hands), so I feel safe in making a value raise on the river. I'm hesitant to go " ZOMG Cooler " here, should I be reading something into his river bet, or am I supposed to just raise every set on the flop ( he may have called given his turn action )? This hand confuses me a little.

Full Tilt - $0.10 NL - Holdem - 9 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 3

SB: $5.05
BB: $9.85
UTG: $14.62
UTG+1: $17.57
MP: $4.28
MP+1: $10.00
LP: $8.36
Hero (CO): $18.55
BTN: $8.34

SB posts SB $0.05, BB posts BB $0.10

Pre Flop: ($0.15) Hero has 9 9

UTG calls $0.10, fold, fold, fold, fold, Hero raises to $0.40, fold, fold, fold, UTG calls $0.30

Flop: ($0.95, 2 players) J J 3
UTG bets $0.30, Hero raises to $0.80, UTG calls $0.50

Turn: ($2.55, 2 players) 5
UTG checks, Hero bets $1.20, UTG calls $1.20

River: ($4.95, 2 players) T
UTG checks, Hero checks

Hero shows 9 9 (Two Pair, Jacks and Nines) (PreFlop 66%, Flop 58%, Turn 68%)
UTG mucks 4 A (One Pair, Jacks) (PreFlop 34%, Flop 42%, Turn 32%)
Hero wins $4.62

The villain in this hand is running 47/14 after 50 hands, and I have noticed him open limping suited connectors/drawing hands a few times. After my opponent leads out and flat calls my flop raise, I feel he usually has a flush draw here, some silly 3x hand, or a pocket pair that my 99 will beat ( and I seriously doubt he is calling here to bluff). Bearing that in mind, what type of odds should I be giving him with my turn bet ( and if I suspect FD type hands, how should I be sizing my flop bet?) Also, when a T comes off on the river, should I be checking behind or trying to get value out of 3x and lower pp? I think I'm missing a ton of value in these spots even when I make the correct read.

Full Tilt - $0.10 NL - Holdem - 9 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 3

SB: $4.78
BB: $6.01
UTG: $20.07
UTG+1: $9.97
MP: $8.12
MP+1: $6.00
Hero (LP): $10.00
CO: $8.85
BTN: $10.00

SB posts SB $0.05, BB posts BB $0.10, MP+1 posts DB $0.10

Pre Flop: ($0.25) Hero has T Q

fold, fold, MP calls $0.10, MP+1 checks, Hero calls $0.10, fold, fold, SB calls $0.05, BB checks

Flop: ($0.50, 5 players) 9 6 8
SB checks, BB bets $0.10, MP calls $0.10, MP+1 calls $0.10, Hero calls $0.10, fold

Turn: ($0.90, 4 players) J
BB bets $0.10, MP raises to $0.75, fold, Hero raises to $2.00, fold, MP calls $1.25

River: ($5.00, 2 players) J
MP checks, Hero bets $2.50, MP raises to $5.92 and is all-in, Hero calls $3.42

MP shows 8 J (Full House, Jacks full of Eights) (PreFlop 33%, Flop 52%, Turn 9%)
Hero mucks T Q (Straight, Queen High) (PreFlop 67%, Flop 48%, Turn 91%)
MP wins $15.72

The villain here is 60/0 after ten hands, fitting the weak passive calling station profile. I elect to overcall with QTs here vs raising because I have a smaller stack in the small blind who is min raising/3betting almost every hand, and I think I can play this hand profitably from behind him and another calling station even if he raises ( but I would prefer to avoid having him bloat the pot with a 3bet). He actually ends up calling so the preflop action leaves me in very favorable position - playing QTs behind several weaker player in position. I call the flop based on implied odds ( although I was getting like 9 : 1 on the pot anyway, almost enough to call for a 4 outer to the nuts with some backdoor equity) and the turn card is the best card in the deck for me : Js. I'm facing two bets in front of me, so I raise for value ( my bet sizing is probably off here, but I don't want to scare out JT, QJ type hands ). The J on the river is a pretty bad card, I didn't want the board to pair! Should I be stacking off here to a 60/0 river check raise? Does he do the same with Jx hands that don't fill up? I feel like I could have checked behind or folded to his raise, but I wouldn't feel comfortable with either decision.

Tough because you don't have much info there. I think the only thing in his range he could be shoving with that you could beat is JT...unless he's playing something like AA or KK ridiculously. I think the check behind is okay. Once you bet and he raises I'd have to stove his range to figure out the correct decision, which would be tough with what we know. I think it's like a combo of JT-J8, QT, and maybe some pp.

I think we can include some of the better and worse Jacks in his range as well ( AFAIK he is limping in the neighborhood of half of all hands which would include all suited Jacks and most unsuited), and also T7 for worse straights, as well as the full house combinations you mention. Stoving the range yields the following results :

His range : JJ+,99-88,66,AJs,KJs,QJs,J2s+,T7s,AJo,KJo,QJo,J7o+,T7o (including overpairs and all the suited jacks

QsTs is a 3:1 favorite against this range, and even if we discounted AA, KK, QQ ( assuming he would raise these, and/or not check raise the river with them) and removing all the suited jacks under J7 ( to account for him having some degree of hand selection) we still have about 70 % equity vs his range. The question is, does he take a more passive line than the check raise with 2p/trips instead of a full house? It's a tough situation no matter what given the player we're up against.

Progress update : Last night I played 1181 hands of standard full ring 10nl, winning 13.63 for 5.77 BB/100. I also played 811 hands of 10NL Rush for a profit of 29.37 for 18BB/100. Due to some personal issues, I only played enough hands tonight to get my Iron Man Gold Day in, 462 hands of Rush 10 NL for a loss of 5.84 at -6.32 BB/100. This brings the overall totals to :

7,947 hands total for 52.72 in profit, at 3.32BB/100 winrate.

4,433 hands of standard FR 10nl for 11.66 in profit at 1.32 BB/100
3,519 hands of Rush 10nl for 41.06 in profit at 5.83 BB/100

Right now, I'm on pace to meet some of my quantitative goals :

30k Hands [x]

Iron Man Gold [x]

4PTBB/100 10nl winrate [ ] (a little short right now)

Positive 25nl winrate [N/A] ( I haven't played any hands at 25 yet, and
probably won't until I improve my discipline with running big bluffs in bad spots and stacking off a little too light when I get impatient)

Post three hands from every session I have a difficult time with [x] (I'll be posting hands from last night and today's session tomorrow)

I think I'm meeting all the qualitative goals I set for myself also....so I'm pleased with the progress made so far. I am running a few buy ins over expectation but as I improve in managing my FPS I think my winrate will improve to the targeted goal. If it doesn't, it's not the end of the world....as long as I am improving and gearing up for 25.

BTW, Get a clue, Get a panda !

A few interesting spots I had in my prior sessions :

Full Tilt - $0.10 NL RUSH - Holdem - 9 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 3

MP: $2.57
MP+1: $4.46
LP: $14.23
CO: $13.55
BTN: $4.10
SB: $9.47
Hero (BB): $12.71
UTG: $14.54
UTG+1: $12.69

SB posts SB $0.05, Hero posts BB $0.10

Pre Flop: ($0.15) Hero has Q Q

fold, fold, fold, MP+1 raises to $4.46 and is all-in, fold, fold, fold, fold, Hero calls $4.36


Flop: ($8.97, 2 players) 7 2 3

Turn: ($8.97, 2 players) 9

River: ($8.97, 2 players) 2

MP+1 shows 5 A (One Pair, Twos) (PreFlop 33%, Flop 32%, Turn 16%)
Hero shows Q Q (Two Pair, Queens and Twos) (PreFlop 67%, Flop 68%, Turn 84%)
Hero wins $8.38

This hand is from Rush, and the villain is a complete unknown. At this point I had been in the player pool for a while, and when an unknown just shows up and shoves his >50 bb stack, its a very wide range. I'm comfortable calling here with QQ, but what I wonder is what is the bottom of my calling range? I want to remain well ahead of what he would stack with to give myself a good edge, but am I calling this with JJ? TT? How about AQ? AJ?

Full Tilt - $0.10 NL - Holdem - 8 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 3

MP+1: $10.40
CO: $10.12
BTN: $9.60
SB: $15.65
Hero (BB): $13.78
UTG: $11.32
UTG+1: $7.48
MP: $11.20

SB posts SB $0.05, Hero posts BB $0.10

Pre Flop: ($0.15) Hero has A K

fold, fold, fold, fold, CO raises to $0.30, BTN calls $0.30, fold, Hero raises to $1.60, CO calls $1.30, fold

Flop: ($3.55, 2 players) Q 7 9
Hero bets $1.90, CO calls $1.90

Turn: ($7.35, 2 players) 2
Hero bets $7.35, CO calls $6.62 and is all-in


River: ($20.59, 2 players) 8

Hero shows A K (High Card, Ace) (PreFlop 43%, Flop 5%, Turn 0%)
CO shows Q Q (Three of a Kind, Queens) (PreFlop 57%, Flop 95%, Turn 100%)
CO wins $19.22

The villain in question here is most likely a bad loose aggressive player, running 56/11 over 9 hands. I'm posting this hand for a couple of reasons : Obviously I played it terribad and I'm hoping a little public humiliation will prevent me from stupidly bluffing like this in the future, but also to examine my bet sizing in the parts of the hand where I was doing a little bit right. I make my preflop 3bet large for value, assuming the initial raiser/postflop villain will call fairly wide. He does indeed call, then I lead out for a little more than 1/2 the pot cbet. My intent here is to get him to fold underpairs or hands that a strong Q would beat. I doubt I should be continuing at all on this flop, because I have very little equity continuing in the hand vs the top of his range and he isn't folding anything that hits here, the flop connects to a lot of hands he would play and it also bloats the pot to where I feel compelled to try to bluff steal it on the turn. Obviously the turn bet is horrible after he calls the flop. These types of plays ( where I should full well know better ) are holding me back badly, and I need to eliminate them.

Full Tilt - $0.10 NL - Holdem - 9 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 3

BB: $10.00
UTG: $4.27
UTG+1: $17.90
MP: $11.18
MP+1: $10.84
LP: $10.00
Hero (CO): $10.00
BTN: $10.09
SB: $10.92

SB posts SB $0.05, BB posts BB $0.10

Pre Flop: ($0.15) Hero has 9 9

fold, fold, fold, fold, fold, Hero raises to $0.30, fold, SB raises to $1.00, fold, Hero calls $0.70

Flop: ($2.10, 2 players) 3 8 7
SB bets $1.40, Hero raises to $3.30, SB raises to $9.92 and is all-in, Hero calls $5.70 and is all-in


Turn: ($20.10, 2 players) J

River: ($20.10, 2 players) 9

SB shows K 6 (High Card, King) (PreFlop 32%, Flop 45%, Turn 25%)
Hero shows 9 9 (Three of a Kind, Nines) (PreFlop 68%, Flop 55%, Turn 75%)
Hero wins $18.76

The villain in question is 20/20 over 10 hands, with him 3betting my previous button open where I folded a weak Ace. Here, he 3bets my CO open from the small blind, and I elect to call with a good hand IP. As a sidenote, one thing I have noticed in 10nl that is different from when I played it last year is that alot of the reg type players will 3bet you out of your shoes from the blinds. I'm still working through ways to defense this, but I think calling with 99 here vs a player I suspect is 3betting me light is a good play as it forces him to play weaker hands OOP vs me. My guess here is the villain is cbetting nearly 100 % of the time, and when the flop comes out low, I elect to raise to get value out of flush draws and overcard draws and also 8x hands he might 3bet light with like K8, A8 etc. He ends up shoving and I'm not sure calling is the right thing for me to do (even though it worked out for me). Most of the time I'm probably behind here
when he shoves as I'm not sure how often he shoves with air, or 8x, and even Overcard + FD's have a lot of equity vs me. I definitely need more experience in these hands... and maybe a bit more history with a player before I decide to call off a stack in a situation like this.

Progress update : Yesterday started off horribly results wise : I got stacked for 150 bb+ twice by the same 85/50 player who was opening for 25+bb with half the deck and never folding to a 3bet....I 3bet shoved AK on him and he called with K6 and he hit several 6's lol, and then 3bet shoved him with AJ as he called with A3s and rivered a flush on me! These things happen, no big deal, but shortly after that I misread a hand where I thought I had the nut flush and ended up shoving with the 2nd nuts into a TAG players legit nut hand, and then I stacked out of frustration with AK on an AJx board to a nitty players postflop shove and got shown AJ. Fortunately, I quit the session at this point ( I was 4 tabling and I usually play ~500 hand sessions in two hour increments, I stopped here at 350 hands ) as I have a 4 buy in session stop loss to help control tilt, and I reached that. After relieving some frustration in the weight room, I made a strong comeback and ended up having an excellent day. The numbers were :

Standard FR : 1373 hands 11.98 profit 4.41 BB/100
Rush : 846 hands 30.42 profit 17.98 BB/100
making for 2219 total hands 41.80 profit 9.42 BB/100

I won't be playing much today or tomorrow (treating Mon/Tues as my "weekend" ) other than to mess around with PT3 some and play some stud and omaha, games I'm working on learning on the side. Including a small session I played today to get my Iron Man Gold points, the total numbers are :

10651 hands, 104.91 profit, 4.92 BB/100 winrate

This puts me on pace to accomplish all my quantitative goals ( Save 25NL positive winrate, which I have no data for). Qualitatively, I did really well managing my frustration yesterday and feel like I'm getting closer to playing my A game more and more. My A game is also improving and I'm continuing to gradually add tables and be able to handle them without much trouble. On the other hand, I did make several mistakes in my first session that were tilt related, and these type hands need to be removed from my game entirely. I'm grateful the results were satisfactory this week, but I need to remember that progress towards my qualitative goals should remain my primary motivation.

Progress update : So after not playing any NLHE on Tuesday, I ended up being preoccupied Wednesday with some personal business and only played a small number of hands. With my routine already broken, I decided to warm up with a small 10 NL Rush Session ( 141 Hands, 4.99 profit, 17.70 BB/100, no real interesting spots ) and then play an hour at 25NL Rush. I logged in 500 hands two tabling, and lost just short of a buy in (-23.97, -9.36 BB/100). I'm not sure I can draw a lot of conclusions from such a short sample, but I would have like to have gotten off to a better start, and the competition just "feels" much tougher ( It seems much tighter with less people stacking off in silly situations.) I did have a couple of interesting spots, so I'll post them below.

Full Tilt - $0.25 NL RUSH - Holdem - 9 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 3

LP: $54.08
CO: $34.66
BTN: $65.33
SB: $18.44
Hero (BB): $26.24
UTG: $25.56
UTG+1: $24.22
MP: $25.73
MP+1: $35.04

SB posts SB $0.10, Hero posts BB $0.25

Pre Flop: ($0.35) Hero has K A

fold, fold, fold, fold, LP raises to $0.75, CO calls $0.75, fold, fold, Hero raises to $3.50, LP calls $2.75, CO calls $2.75

Flop: ($10.60, 3 players) A 7 8
Hero bets $10.00, LP calls $10.00, CO raises to $31.16 and is all-in, Hero calls $12.74 and is all-in, fold


Turn: ($66.08, 2 players) 2

River: ($66.08, 2 players) 5

CO shows 8 8 (Three of a Kind, Eights) (PreFlop 55%, Flop 98%, Turn 100%)
Hero shows K A (One Pair, Aces) (PreFlop 45%, Flop 2%, Turn 0%)
CO wins $63.08

First off, I struggled a little with my bet sizing in 25, as making the adjustment to things not being in multiples of 10 caused some of my standard bet sizing decisions to be askew ( for example I would raise more here 3betting AK from the BB with a potential overcall looming from the CO ) I'm not even sure a 3bet is the right move here, given that I only have 6 hands of history with each villain and neither of them have acted at all over those samples ( telling me they are most likely playing typical ( for rush ) super tight tag style poker ). When the flop comes A high rainbow, I lead for the pot, another move I'm not entirely sure is correct. I think my opponents would probably believe I'm cbetting here after 3betting almost always, and I might get value out of AQ/AJ that called me, but I'm also burying myself vs a set of 7s or 8s and probably causing everything else worse than me to fold. When the CO ships it I already have half my money in the pot and I'm getting 3 : 1 to call with another 50bb in implied odds possibly calling me from the HJ, so I stack even though its likely I'm up against a set. Too bad my equity vs set hands is about 2%. My guess is as the hand is played fold to the shove, and seriously reconsider my prior actions.

Full Tilt - $0.25 NL RUSH - Holdem - 9 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 3

CO: $71.27
BTN: $26.05
SB: $48.79
Hero (BB): $25.35
UTG: $60.77
UTG+1: $28.56
MP: $14.06
MP+1: $25.00
LP: $45.86

SB posts SB $0.10, Hero posts BB $0.25

Pre Flop: ($0.35) Hero has Q K

UTG raises to $0.75, fold, fold, MP+1 calls $0.75, LP calls $0.75, fold, fold, fold, Hero calls $0.50

Flop: ($3.10, 4 players) 7 5 7
Hero checks, UTG bets $2.25, fold, LP calls $2.25, Hero raises to $7.25, fold, LP calls $5.00

Turn: ($19.85, 2 players) 3
Hero checks, LP bets $10.00, fold

LP wins $18.86

I play this hand a little too loosely, from the preflop call to trying to steal the money after the flop. I also have no redraws to improve my hand to anything that beats a hand that calls me. The UTG raiser was playing fairly loose and continuing the flop here most of the time ( He was 40/20 over 20h), but with preflop stats like that I probably shouldn't be check raise bluffing him plus a caller who looks like he might be trapping (LP player was 17/11 over 30h ). I decide to give up after the flop which is probably what I should have done both preflop and on the flop under the circumstances. FPS wheeee...

Full Tilt - $0.25 NL RUSH - Holdem - 9 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 3

BB: $10.05
UTG: $39.62
UTG+1: $19.22
MP: $13.66
MP+1: $21.03
Hero (LP): $65.24
CO: $25.25
BTN: $24.57
SB: $47.67

SB posts SB $0.10, BB posts BB $0.25

Pre Flop: ($0.35) Hero has A K

fold, fold, fold, fold, Hero raises to $1.00, fold, fold, SB calls $0.90, fold

Flop: ($2.25, 2 players) J 8 J
SB checks, Hero checks

Turn: ($2.25, 2 players) K
SB bets $1.50, Hero calls $1.50

River: ($5.25, 2 players) 7
SB bets $3.25, Hero calls $3.25

SB shows T J (Three of a Kind, Jacks) (PreFlop 41%, Flop 96%, Turn 77%)
Hero mucks A K (Two Pair, Kings and Jacks) (PreFlop 59%, Flop 4%, Turn 23%)
SB wins $11.17

The villain here is 5/5 over 20 hands, taking down the one hand he played with a flop cbet. I check the flop for pot control as it's not that great for me and could have presented him a big hand, and I think calling the turn is OK so I can get river value out of his rivered worse flushes and worse Kx hands he would bet. Unfortunately, I'm valuetowning myself vs Jx, 88, and already made flushes...and I get shown JT. Am I ever folding to his river bet, and is there any information in his bet sizing that tells me he has the Jack?

I'll be back playing in standard 10 and Rush 10 today, and will post more about those sessions tomorrow.

Progress update : I've actually fallen out of my routine a little bit the past few days ( Wednesday I didn't play much and took a small shot at 25nl rush, Thursday I played according to routine, and yesterday I played about 1300 hands of 10NL rush without posting or really thinking about my game at all ). I've had some external sources of family stress impacting my routine, and I really probably shouldn't play at all if I can't follow my gameplan. I seem to tilt easier and make poorer decisions when I don't get properly prepared to play...I started off playing horribly yesterday, and by the time I got my act together and stopped spewing, I started running bad and was unable to cope with it very well. The result was a half ass day with poor results that I didn't learn much from. My total numbers for everything now are :

10NL
14,419 hands 86.16 profit 2.99 BB/100
7,067 hands of Rush for 55.72 3.94BB/100
7,352 hands of standard FR 2.07BB/100

25NL
512 hands of Rush for -23.97 -9.36BB/100

This puts me on pace to reach my hands goal, but short of my results goals. Playing unprepared and out of sorts a bit sets me behind qualitatively which is obviously what I need to focus on. I'm set up today to get back in my routine, and I'll be posting hands shortly, although I'm unsure if I will post them here. I'd rather put them in a forum where there will be a little more feedback ( Thanks to FishTheShark and daneblazer for their input though !!)

Progress update : Actually, progress has been halted for the time being as a relative passed this weekend ( shortly after I wrote my last post ) and I decided not to play at all while upset. Memorial activities will disrupt my routine a bit for the next two weeks, and although I can probably still complete the number of hands I targeted for the month, I'll have to adjust some of my other goals because I won't be able to focus on things qualitatively as much as I had planned. I'll update again as I play sessions and run into interesting spots.

Progress Update : I haven't been playing according to my schedule ( which allows me daily time to study and review hands), but I have been logging in hands when I get a chance. The sessions in generally haven't gone all that well, but I've been running bad and facing some tough spots in big pots. I think I have played reasonably well, but I haven't been following my practice of reviewing hands/examining my play so I'm not sure how much confidence I have in that assessment. I'm going to post some hands in the micro full ring forum that presented me with some difficult decisions. The numbers right now are :

18,878 hands total of 10NL 82.62 profit 2.19 BB/100
10,256 hands of 10NL Rush for 32.21 profit 1.57 BB/100
8,622 hands of standard 10NL FR for 50.41 profit 2.92 BB/100

Also, I had the one session at 25NL for 512 hands for -23.97. Looking forward to posting the hands I have marked and getting some insight on them...also I plan on executing my routine tomorrow as I should have the entire day free, and I'll allow for some extended hand history review time.

Who did you receive coaching off?

How have results changed since?

I kind of fell off in my posting goals and routine regarding poker about halfway through the month due to family issues, but I did log in 30k+ hands. Thought I'd post the results compared to my goals ( I ended up playing a ton of Rush due to limited time, and I think I'm actually going to stick with Rush exclusively for a while, as I like the ever changing game dynamics and the ability to start and stop sessions quickly).

33,927 total hands 124.73 profit ( not including rakeback) 2.05 BB/100 WR
23,750 hands at 10NL Rush for 118.80 profit 2.50 BB/100
9,566 hands at 10NL FR for 29.90 profit 1.55 BB/100 WR
512 hands at 25NL Rush for -23.97 loss -9.36 BB/100 WR

As far as my quantitative goals went , I fell short in most of them :

30 k hands [x]
Iron Man Gold [ ] (Only qualified for silver)
4ptBB/100 winrate at 10nl [ ] 2.05BB/100 was decent under the circumstances, especially since I plugged quite a few leaks
Positive winrate at 25NL [ ] Lost approx a buy in in a short sample, I'll be working on my game at 10NL for a little while longer
Post three hands a day [ ] I fell off this routine, and it certainly short sided my rate of improvement. I hope to accomplish this for April.

Qualitative Goals :

I met all of these the first week of play, and basically none of them afterwords. I hope to progress more towards this in April also.

That pretty much wraps it up. Thanks to anyone who paid attention and sorry I wasn't more thorough.