Back when Party Poker reigned supreme in the US market, I played 2-4 and 3-6 full-ring limit semi-professionally during the slow summer months.

Later, once PokerStars was the main remaining player, I played a ton of tournaments. Mostly for fun but I was a solid +EV player.

I never could crack the NL cash game though. So, now I'm older, have a family, etc and don't have the time to grind out MTTs. (I played one the other night with 133 runners that took 7 hours to get to the final table, which was 4am in the morning. Completely not worth it.)

I still enjoy poker, so I'm going to try (again) to get some traction in cash NL games. I'm hoping that eventually either SWC or Betcoin gains enough traction to generate a lot of tables, but in the meantime, I'm going to play primarily on Bovada and pay the rake on withdrawals.

I deposited $300 and would like to run it up to $10000 at whatever stakes I can beat.

Currently playing 0.01/0.02 zone poker so far, and current graph follows.



(I see this format of graph here fairly often. Can anyone explain why I care about the red line?)

Bovada's hand histories are delayed 24 hours, so I've just downloaded everything from August 11th. I got in about 2300 hands of 0.1/0.2 zone poker for +$43.59 (38 BB/100, clearly sustainable!)

I wrote down some hands during the session that I wanted to look at later.

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

CO: 442.4 BB
Hero (BTN): 118.6 BB
SB: 100.4 BB
BB: 50 BB
UTG: 115.4 BB
MP: 74.8 BB
SB posts SB 0.4 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.4 BB) Hero has 9 8

fold, fold, CO raises to 2 BB, Hero calls 2 BB, fold, BB calls 1 BB

Flop: (6.4 BB, 3 players) 7 6 K
BB checks, CO bets 1 BB, Hero calls 1 BB, fold

Turn: (8.4 BB, 2 players) 5
CO bets 8.4 BB, Hero raises to 23 BB, CO calls 14.6 BB

River: (54.4 BB, 2 players) J
CO bets 92.6 BB, Hero ???

How often is villain bluffing in this spot?


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

MP: 84.8 BB
CO: 68.2 BB
BTN: 236 BB
SB: 119.4 BB
Hero (BB): 313.6 BB
UTG: 104.8 BB

SB posts SB 0.4 BB, Hero posts BB 1 BB

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

fold, MP raises to 3.4 BB, fold, fold, SB calls 3 BB, Hero calls 2.4 BB

Flop: (10.2 BB, 3 players) Q K A
SB checks, Hero checks, MP bets 7 BB, SB calls 7 BB, Hero calls 7 BB

Turn: (31.2 BB, 3 players) 3
SB checks, Hero checks, MP bets 31.2 BB, fold, Hero calls 31.2 BB

River: (93.6 BB, 2 players) 7
Hero checks, MP bets 43.2 BB and is all-in, Hero calls 43.2 BB

Looking at it, I don't like calling the raise preflop. Bloated pot out of position is just gross.



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

BTN: 99 BB
SB: 19 BB
Hero (BB): 181.4 BB
UTG: 45.6 BB
MP: 48 BB
CO: 108.8 BB

SB posts SB 0.4 BB, Hero posts BB 1 BB

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

fold, fold, fold, BTN raises to 3 BB, SB calls 2.6 BB, Hero calls 2 BB

Flop: (9 BB, 3 players) 9 T 6
SB checks, Hero checks, BTN bets 96 BB and is all-in, fold, Hero ???

I see this pattern fairly often. What does villain play this way and do I beat it?

Just crossed the 10k hands mark since I returned to playing.

Most of my play has been at 0.02/0.05 Zone poker at Bovada (9k hands or so) with the rest sprinkled between 0.02 and 0.04 on the WPN network. I try to play on Betcoin whenever I see ring games running - just because long term I'd prefer to play in bitcoin. Given bitcoin's volatility though, I'd prefer if poker sites would just convert incoming bitcoin to USD immediately and then convert USD to bitcoin only upon withdrawal.

Anyway, currently running 17.06 BB/100 (real) and 14.10 BB/100 (all-in adjusted). Small sample size and all that, but still a nice start.



Bankroll around $475 or so. Probably need to start thinking about moving up to 0.5/0.10 on Zone, but I'm being a bankroll nit.

Put in another two or three thousand hands and continue to run good at Bovada. Found $6.60 at ACR, so going to try to run that up into a bankroll. Got it up to 8.84. Risk of ruin even on 2NL is still very high, so we'll see. Would be kind of amusing to turn it into a playable bankroll.

With bonuses, bankroll now stands at $490 + 0.067BTC, so about $525 overall. BB/100 is 19.49 (15.71 adjusted).

I moved up last night to the 0.05/.010 zone tables on Bovada. Got several hundred to a thousand hands in (they aren't in hand history yet - yay 24 hour delay), but the play seemed noticeably more aggressive than 0.02/0.05. I'm down somewhere around a half buy in. I haven't markedly adjusted my game yet - I want to get more hands in to see whether the play I saw last night was normal or I just ran into some agro maniacs.

Given the way that zone limits fill up out of order (0.02/0.05 -> 0.10/0.25 -> 0.5/$1 -> 0.05/0.10) its possible that the 0.05/0.10 game might be tougher than one would think strictly from where it sits on hierarchy. I dunno.



I've got a couple of weeks with a light life schedule, so I may be able to get more hands in. I may also drive down to the nearest casino (2 hours) and play live for a day or two.

Yesterday was not a fabulous poker day. I saw enough at the NL10 zone poker to think I should be able to beat it, but I've been struggling nonetheless.

I watched Snowpiercer last night while two tabling zone, which probably wasn't the best idea. I can play NL5 on autopilot, but NL10 is going to require (I think) some adjustments and better to work on that when I'm not trying to watch a movie at the same time.

Chart is pretty much flat, but once yesterday's Bovada hands are imported tomorrow, I'll be showing a few buyins of downswing.

In more exciting news, I've nearly doubled my ACR bankroll from $6.50 or so to $12.

One of the last hands of the morning session:

NL5, 6 max, Bovada zone

UTG: 370BB
Hero (Button): 550BB

Hero has A K

UTG raises to 3BB. Fold, Fold, Hero raises to 10.5BB, Fold, Fold, UTG raises to 22BB, Hero calls.

Flop (49BB or so): 4 4 6
Villain bets 25.5BB. Hero ?

This is zone poker, and if I don't think I've had any meaningful hands with villain (I'd remember recent hands given the rarity of his stack size). Even at NL5, I don't see preflop range being worse than AQs, JJ+.

Curious as to thoughts on what hero action should be in this spot. (Or, do you not like preflop?)

Very challenging day today. I'm noticing that even at the very low limits, a lot of players are playing basically the same TAG/LAG game and have been adapting my postflop play to compensate.

It is definitely still a work in progress. Today will mostly be spent studying, though I'll try to get some hands in at the very low levels to further work on strategy.



Graph does not show a soul-crushing 7 buy in loss on NL10 at Bovada zone yet.

Hand 1

You need to raise more on the turn. You're giving him way too good of a price to call and hit a flush. I think a lot of micro stakes players have a mindset that prefers to keep players in the pot, which is going to end up lowering your overall winrate. As played I am sigh-folding river, calling might not be bad based on the limit your playing, but in a vacuum calling this off is going to cost you.

Hand 2

IMO your call pre here is fine, I think folding may even be a leak. If MP is loose I'd consider squeezing. On the flop I think calling isn't awful, but when MP c-bets and SB calls, I think you can find a fold.
As played, you turn Jin but the betting makes a very ****ty situation for you. MP double barrels, and SB folds. If SB calls, I would snap-jam all day with your odds to hit your hand and all the money out there. Since SB does fold, I think all three options suck, but I'd lean towards calling hoping there's some implied odds when you hit a flush/straight on river, folding unimproved.

Hand 3
Call pre again is fine here. On flop easy fold. Even if they do this all the time it doesn't change your decision here. Wait for yourself to flop something that completely dominates his range then call it off. You invested 3 BB, you don't need to put 97 BB in the middle with top pair here, ever.

Hand 4
Raising to get it in on the flop wouldn't be a bad option. He probably folds same hand and a few better ones here.
However, considering you have position and stack sizes, I'd prefer to just call flop and play straightforward on turns and rivers, calling a barrel on the turn even if you miss unless Villain bets huge enough to give you terrible odds on a call(remember you have huge implied odds here).


Good luck, keep posting hands!

I don't think we can look at it that way. The amount of money I've put in the point is irrelevant, isn't it? Only what our equity against hands he might play this way? I don't see him playing big made hands this way - mostly draws. I dunno, I had to think it for a bit before I made a decision.

I was really torn between call and raise. I still am. A raise probably pushes out AQ+ and freezes 88-QQ giving me a chance to take a free card on the turn if I want it.

The call line seems solid as well.

I think that I may prefer the raise line though because I pick up the pot some percentage of the time and have a much larger pot if I hit my draw.

Rough weekend overall. I'd like to say it is just regression to the mean, but I think there is definitely a fair amount of poor play in there as well.

I continue to do fine at NL5 zone poker, but am struggling everywhere else. Continuing to plug away.

I play 5nl Zone also, and I can say this is an overpair a good amount of the time. Their mindset is, "look at all those draws out there. Well, they're not going to draw for cheap!" So they pick up the tiny pot most of the time, but when they get action they're usually crushed.

Sure, they'll have a draw some percentage of the time, but many of those draws will have a lot of equity against you. A flush draw with overcards, pair+fd, pair +gsd, etc (you're blocking some of the straight + overcards and you have KJ and QJ reverse-dominated, but I don't think it makes much of a difference when overpairs are such a big part of his range). There's also the small chance you're in even worse shape because he has a hand like AT.

Anyway, good luck running it up! Nice results so far.

Yesterday was more solid. Was up a bit, but more importantly felt like I had a better handle on the game.

Still making some blunders on hands that I want to keep in too long, but my preflop is improving and I feel like I've made a quantum leap in understanding postflop play, even if I cannot yet implement it in all situations.

Hey good Luck moving up. We have a lot in common. Mtt's rec to cash game reg + family guy + Bovada

I played on party poker back in the day too but I was one tabling sng's like a true fish!

Winning Poker Network - $0.02 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 2 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

SB: 70 BB
Hero (BB): 100 BB

SB posts SB 0.5 BB, Hero posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has 6 A

SB raises to 6 BB, Hero raises to 16 BB, SB calls 10 BB

Flop: (32 BB, 2 players) 8 A J
Hero bets 15 BB, SB raises to 54 BB and is all-in, Hero calls 39 BB

Not sure I love betting the flop. Call the shove standard though, yeah?

Yesterday was fairly flat with about 700 hands played and a fair amount of studying done.

Generally happy with my plan, but occasionally something like this still happens:

Winning Poker Network - $0.02 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

SB: 106 BB
BB: 94 BB
UTG: 165.5 BB
Hero (MP): 100 BB
CO: 153 BB
BTN: 203 BB

SB posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

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

fold, Hero raises to 2.5 BB, CO calls 2.5 BB, BTN raises to 7 BB, fold, fold, Hero calls 4.5 BB, CO calls 4.5 BB

Flop: (22.5 BB, 3 players) 8 T 2
Hero checks, CO checks, BTN bets 12.5 BB, Hero calls 12.5 BB, fold

Turn: (47.5 BB, 2 players) 5
Hero checks, BTN bets 30 BB, fold

BTN wins 45.5 BB

If CO had folded to my PFR, then I like the call of the 3bet. With button coming along for the ride though, I think I should have folded pre.

As played, I also don't like my call on the flop. Again, without CO in the picture, I think a call would be ok (or a raise even?).

Bankroll is sitting at around $570, of which I've put in $400, so +170 since I started. I have a much higher winrate at NL5 zone on Bovada than I do on the NL2 on WPN, but its easier for me to review hands on WPN and the play is tougher.

Until I can beat the NL2 game, there doesn't seem to be much point in trying to move up. (Grinding to 10k at NL5 zone sounds.... awful.)

In the AQo hand his squeeze is definitely on the small side. Not sure if this would indicate strength or weakness by him but i would lean toward him being weak. I would rather 4b or fold since we are oop there. Probably like 16.5 bb and I would expect him to fold a decent amount of the time there. On flop I would cb 1/2 pot with the backdoor flush and straight draws + overs but if he calls flop and we don't improve our hand by hitting a pair or one of the draws getting stronger I probably shut down there. We would have effectively put in about the same amount of bb's in the pot but at least we would be the aggressor and would have had the fold equity in that situation.

Obv if he 5b jams we are just folding preflop.

I think a 4B with AQo into two players is pretty aggressive. I think I favor a fold here. (But, 4B almost certainly better than the call I made.)

I'm not sure about cbetting this flop into two players - feels spewy. If it were heads up, maybe. I'm just trying to think what CO and BTN are going to think of a leadout. What hand would I have raise/called preflop that makes me want to donk the flop?

Well your assuming c/o is going to be there on the flop and I'm assuming he folded preflop. Yes if c/o calls after a 3b and a 4b I am very very scared and x/f all but the best flops. At this point all c/o did was call a open which doesn't indicate strength at all and a bu squeeze can be somewhat wide too. Folding pre is fine all I'm saying is i would rather 4b it then call the 3b and if I did this is what i would do based on heads up pot and that board texture.

btw you just calling the squeeze is what let c/o call with a much wider range then you might think he has bc he doesn't have to fear putting any more money in the pot pre and can win a huge pot if he hits with something like pp or sc's

Agreed. The call of the 3B is what makes this hand so cringe-worthy.

Carbon Poker was kind enough to put a free fiver in my account, so I obliged the them with some play.

Villain in this hand is on both tables I'm playing, so I'm assuming he's a reg. He had just jammed me all-in on the other table to which I folded when he jammed me again on this table.

So, within just a few hands of sitting down, he's pushed on my twice on two different tables.

Merge - $0.04 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

SB: 43.75 BB (VPIP: 33.33, PFR: 33.33, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 4)
BB: 183.5 BB (VPIP: 24.88, PFR: 21.20, 3Bet Preflop: 3.33, Hands: 224)
UTG: 53.5 BB (VPIP: 35.38, PFR: 16.92, 3Bet Preflop: 5.00, Hands: 66)
Hero (MP): 134.75 BB
CO: 21.25 BB (VPIP: 75.00, PFR: 0.00, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 8)
BTN: 110.75 BB (VPIP: 7.14, PFR: 7.14, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 15)

SB posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

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

fold, Hero raises to 2.25 BB, fold, fold, SB raises to 7.25 BB, fold, Hero calls 5 BB

Flop: (15.5 BB, 2 players) J T 3
SB bets 36.5 BB and is all-in, Hero ???

I think you have to call a fish with Q's there.

Pretty decent day today. Going to be driving out to the closest card room (3 hours) and spending a couple of days there this weekend. It will be nice to get away for a bit.

One hand that took a little over a buyin:

Winning Poker Network - $0.02 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 5 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

CO: 122 BB
BTN: 188.5 BB
SB: 115.5 BB
Hero (BB): 201.5 BB
UTG: 111.5 BB

SB posts SB 0.5 BB, Hero posts BB 1 BB

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

fold, fold, BTN calls 1 BB, fold, Hero raises to 5 BB, BTN raises to 9 BB, Hero raises to 25 BB, BTN calls 16 BB

Flop: (50.5 BB, 2 players) A 5 Q
Hero bets 24 BB, BTN raises to 55 BB, Hero calls 31 BB

Turn: (160.5 BB, 2 players) 8
Hero checks, BTN bets 33 BB, Hero calls 33 BB

River: (226.5 BB, 2 players) Q
Hero checks, BTN bets 27 BB, Hero calls 27 BB

BTN shows 5 5 (Full House, Fives full of Queens) (Pre 55%, Flop 93%, Turn 100%)
Hero shows K A (Two Pair, Aces and Queens) (Pre 45%, Flop 7%, Turn 0%)
BTN wins 266.5 BB

Not sure I see anywhere obvious to get away from this hand though.

The preflop action was weird and I wasn't sure what to make of it.

Against NL5 players, I'm winning at a 17BB/100 clip. Against the regs on WPN NL2, I'm barely at 1BB/100. Clearly my game still needs work (also small sample size, but still...)

I decided against playing live this weekend and am just grinding out a bunch of hands online this weekend. My schedule gets busy again starting on Monday, so I'll probably be down to a few thousand hands a week rather than 15-20k.

The overall graph is pretty meh....



but the graph at 5NL zone still looks good...



Overall I'm running 9.3 BB/100 over 31,500 hands.

At 5NL zone in particular, I'm running 17.7 BB/100 over about 18,000 hands.

I'm still grinding away, though I'm in the middle of a long flat spell. I haven't been playing as much Zone Poker, focusing more on regular ring games. I feel like my game has gotten a bit off track, so will spend the next day or two studying past hands to see if I can identify what it is.

Overall graph at roughly 50k hands.

The last couple of days have seen a strong upswing, though that isn't to say there aren't some horribly played hands. This one included:





Torn between call and shove here...