Hi Everyone,

Background - I have been playing poker online for about a year now and it was only a few months ago that I started to take the game more seriously. Since this time I have played through all the stakes of zoom poker on Pokerstars up to 25NL. I am now winning at this limit at just under 4bb/100 over the last ~50k hands I have played.

Goal - My goal here is to create a thread which will provide a space for me to help out microstakes players playing 25NL or below and hopefully receive some help from some of the more experienced players out there when it comes to certain leaks in my game. If I had to set a fixed goal to reach then it would be to reach 50NL and win there over a relatively solid hand sample of about 50k hands by the end of September this year.

In order to help the microstakes players I have decided to create a video series on youtube which will involve me playing 2 25NL zoom tables with live commentary. I have not yet decided on the length of time for these videos but I imagine they will range from 10-15 minutes in length.

TLDR; Winning 25NL player over ~50k sample creating video series involving live zoom commentary with intentions of helping out players weaker than himself and improving his game with help from better players.

The first video will be up in this thread within the next day or two so if you are interested in this I would advise subbing to this thread in order to receive updates as to when I post a video or hands for review.

Cheers!

Here is the first episode of my video series. It involves me playing two tables of 25NL zoom and involves some basic strategy and thought processes. Obviously there are some mistakes in there - expect some leaks - and I think I do my best to explain why I made certain plays and then explain further as to why they were either + or - EV.

Enjoy!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMclSJ0-3QE

Thought I'd post today's graph. had a brief look over HH and didn't see anything worth looking over for now.

http://s1371.photobucket.com/user/Va...abaf2.png.html

I just started playing similar stakes at Zoom and also want to start taking it a little more seriously so will be following your thread. Good luck!

Good to hear man thanks!

Like I mentioned already feel free to post any hands you are struggling to understand here or ask any questions and I'll do my best to help you out.

GL at the tables!

Good video. 13 minutes in, you say you're making a small 4bet, but 23bb over a 8bb 3bet looks really big. Is this your standard size for both bluffs and value, and why?

@mutton Yeah this was a mistake.

I didn't realize he only made it 2 dollars which is ~8BB. I think a 4bet to ~20BB or even as low as 18BB just because this player folds to 4bets 86% of the time works well here.

Due to villains what I presume to be 5betting range of QQ/AK+ we can make it smaller since I doubt he is calling any 4bets OOP. This doesn't happen much at 25NL and you'll just have to take my word for it.

Hey enjoyed your first video, subbed to your youtube - keep it up

subbed! GL!

Cheers guys will hopefully have another video up within the next day or two.

GL at the tables!

Subbed GL

So I clearly **** up a few times in this video. Accidentally folded KTo vs a BTN open. x/r with TT with specific reads on a recreational player for thin value then proceeded to put myself in an awkward spot and ended up butchering the hand (advice on this hand appreciated). Also think I should have called the JTo on the BTN vs that 19 dollar short stacker since he was recreational but it's not a disaster.

Enjoy!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LofS...ature=youtu.be

nice vid bro. Keep em coming

you 3b KQo BB v BT 'because he's folding too much' - IMO that's a reason to flat in order to keep in his dominated Kx and Qx. As a general rule, if you can flat it profitably then do so and instead choose to 3b the top of your folding range. IE. 42s, 92s, j5o etc (esp if they overfold)

xr TT on 997r is FPS, even vs rec.. standard xc/xc/xf on this run-out

4b 99 BTN v BB SQZ. really bad unless you plan to 4b/c. no blockers to his value range and it's too strong to bluff. Pretty easy flat OTB vs this sizing. Also you opened 0.6, he 3b to 2.5, 4bing to 6 is far too big IP. make it 5.15 or something, 5.5 max IMO.

3b SQZ 22 BB v BT + SB isn't ideal. 22 plays fine MW w/ a fish. SQZ some broadways or suited gappers instead.

4b AKo CO v BTN is fine obviously although your sizing is too big. 4.5-5 is certainly sufficient.

You should construct default opening and 3b/4b/5b ranges for each position and not play purely exploitative poker. For example, opening j4o in the CO while folding A3s UTG seems unreasonable irrespective of who's behind. Also work on your preflop sizings. You should consider opening 2x OTB due to the fact that people underdefend combined w/ relatively inelastic calling ranges. You should size your 4bs smaller, both IP and OOP. You don't mind if they call with a dominated range w/o the initiative etc, and it makes your bluffs much cheaper.

GL!

you 3b KQo BB v BT 'because he's folding too much' - IMO that's a reason to flat in order to keep in his dominated Kx and Qx. As a general rule, if you can flat it profitably then do so and instead choose to 3b the top of your folding range. IE. 42s, 92s, j5o etc (esp if they overfold)

Agree with this for sure and it makes complete sense - I like to mix it up by calling and 3 betting this hand from the blinds - however we are also x/folding tonnes of flops with this hand. Also he called with worse suited Kx and we have initiative with a solid hand post flop. Certainly merits to 3b or flatting.

xr TT on 997r is FPS, even vs rec.. standard xc/xc/xf on this run-out

Yeah this one got sketchy and on further analysis I think I should have hero called the river vs 66. I did **** up here and agree with your line and it's what I would take as a standard - trying to get fancy in the video most likely.

4b 99 BTN v BB SQZ. really bad unless you plan to 4b/c. no blockers to his value range and it's too strong to bluff. Pretty easy flat OTB vs this sizing. Also you opened 0.6, he 3b to 2.5, 4bing to 6 is far too big IP. make it 5.15 or something, 5.5 max IMO.

Okay I don't agree with this. If we flat we are either folding on a tonne of flops or we are multiway with SB as well and only making money by flopping a set. I'd much rather 4bet call it off or 4bet fold depending on my opponents 5bet frequencies.

3b SQZ 22 BB v BT + SB isn't ideal. 22 plays fine MW w/ a fish. SQZ some broadways or suited gappers instead.

Again I don't agree. Call to flop a set? Yes in an ideal world where implied odds are going to work out the majority of the time I'd agree but again I think it's better to take it down preflop and if called turn it into a bluff post flop in a 3b pot. I will SQZ broadways or suited gappers here too.

4b AKo CO v BTN is fine obviously although your sizing is too big. 4.5-5 is certainly sufficient.

You should construct default opening and 3b/4b/5b ranges for each position and not play purely exploitative poker. For example, opening j4o in the CO while folding A3s UTG seems unreasonable irrespective of who's behind. Also work on your preflop sizings. You should consider opening 2x OTB due to the fact that people underdefend combined w/ relatively inelastic calling ranges. You should size your 4bs smaller, both IP and OOP. You don't mind if they call with a dominated range w/o the initiative etc, and it makes your bluffs much cheaper.

Yeah this is a part of my game I do perhaps need to work on and I appreciate that you have pointed it out. Since this is 25NL I don't agree however. We can steal very wide from the CO/BTN and J4o fell into that category in this case since, as explained in the video, all the players ahead of me were folding too much vs CO opens.

I would normally open A2-5s UTG however, if I recall correctly, there were either shortstackers in front of me or fish who I would have been OOP to postflop - not ideal.

GL!

Thanks and the same to you!

gl
also playing zoom, but NL10; trying to get to NL50 also...

Watching for like 5 minutes it seems pretty clear you don't consider playing your range enough, and when you do you get it wrong. While vacuum play's all fine and well at 25 against most opposition, it's likely you're making some pretty significant mistakes in range construction which leave you easily exploitable by anyone who knows what they're doing.

Can you please pick out a scenario in the video and where I play my range incorrectly?

Please see my reply to Ishter. I'm making these plays based off purely exploitative reads from my HUD and I believe it's the correct thing to do.

It's incredibly difficult to play against me based off other peoples HUD stats on me since my overall stats are going to be totally off and thus meaningless since I'm making exploitative plays against different opponents in the same situations. For this reason I'm not worried about being exploited - especially in the 25NL zoom pool which consists of thousands of players.

I know you discussed this with Ishter but in the TT hand you say something along the lines of 'I have some 9s so this is probably balanced' - speaking like this it sounds like you think you're bluffing TT which is obviously silly. It's not a particular spot, just the way it sounds like you think.

Also, I can't read sample sizes but it also seems like you're probably taking too much from small sample sizes on stats based on the size of your overall sample and the size of the pool.

I also think not having default strategies is a pretty big mistake.

I know you discussed this with Ishter but in the TT hand you say something along the lines of 'I have some 9s so this is probably balanced' - speaking like this it sounds like you think you're bluffing TT which is obviously silly. It's not a particular spot, just the way it sounds like you think.

Yeah this hand was just a massive **** up from me and I've said so a few times. Dunno what I was talking about when I said that and obviously it makes no sense.

gl
also playing zoom, but NL10; trying to get to NL50 also...

Cheers you too man

Part 3 up now. Solid 35 minute session with Lewis - Winning 200NL and below coach. Enjoy!



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I5rez_pAcPg

Liking the videos, clean up your hud though lol. Its insanely cluttered and you dont need all the prefixes once you remember what numbers are where and you can always drag your mouse over them.

Yeah sorry about this man. So used to this HUD now although I think I'll be updating it in the future with pop up menus etc but I don't know how long that will be.

Played with you yesterday when you tried to steal from SB and double barreled with jack high and you got there. I haven't got too many hands against you so I didn't think you'd be firing with complete air haha.

See you on the tables ~

Hi Valkyr,

Discovered your zoom series on YouTube and I have to say I think your poker knowledge of the micros is outstanding.

I'm currently playing at 2nl and have been taking shots at 5nl and was wondering the following things:

a) What were/are your opening ranges (%) in the different positions at these stakes?

b) How large were/are your opening bets, 2x, 2.5x, 3x etc?...

Thanks very much and I hope you post another video soon.

GL

b0unce

P.S Involve your mate from video 3 again, his knowledge is ridiculous lol. Does he post here or somewhere else?