Respect for this.

Sucks to hear that your fourth shot didn't work. Are you doing anything different than in the other pools? Do you maybe show up with slightly more fear because of the pressure of only having an x amount of bi's to lose? Those are just questions which come to mind, I'm not insinuating anything of course .

If this is the case I would advise to maybe show up with a slightly bigger shot next time. Other than that I think it's just variance. The 50 pool is not much harder than the 25 pool in my opinion (I actually like the 50 pool more but I think this is more personal preference). Hopefully next shot you run hot!

Keep it up man and don't give up, imo it's probably 95-99% because of variance and you'll get there eventually

Hello. Don't worry about it, man. It's a good question!

Well, I honestly think I'm playing the exactly same strategy. I don't feel fear or anxiety playing nl50z. Also, I always mark hands that I have doubts and check how many mistakes I'm making overall. So, during my shots on nl50z, the amount of mistakes I made was proportionately less than the amount I usually make. Therefore I think it's all good.

However, that doesn't mean I can necessarily beat nl50z. Considering my overall sampling is small, it could be that I've just ran well in the previous limits and that I can't even beat them on the long run, for example. It's hard to know. I have to play a lot of hands in order to understand if I can beat these limits or not. Playing 200k hands since nl10 zoom doesn't mean too much.

Thank you!

Ofcourse this could be the case if we look at a variance calculator. But I think this is just talking yourself down. I don't want to respond overly nice or like some sort of mental game guru (I have major leaks myself, I'm making a bit of progress though) but if you ask me there is no need to think this way. I've never seen you play ofcourse but I can almost say with certain that if you beat this high rake pools all by 5bb/100h winrates you are good skillwise. And there is no need to drop your confidence or even consider "you just ran hot" before. I think there is a big difference with "being honest to yourself" and "talking yourself down". Losing 16 bi is absolutely normal and if you ask me there is no need to break your confidence because of it. Because this will eventually affect your play.

I have one last question about your playstyle: Reading this blog it's obvious you are trying to play close to GTO. I can understand if you play this way it's challenging to play without a hud because this way you are (maybe even unconsciously) playing less different against types of V's(so basically less exploitative). But are you making decisions based on pool tendencies? For example in a spot where pool just always has it, but in theory we have a reasonable amount of combo's to call and we are close to the bottom of your calling range, do you deviate from GTO here? (this is an extreme example but I hope you get my question haha)

Would be interesting to hear.

GL OP

Thank you for your support, man. I agree that losing 20 bi's is completely normal. Some good players don't even consider this loss as a downswing. But even if my "true" winrate is positive after rake, I don't think it would be around 5bb/100 as you said. It's probably something around 2.5bb/100 - which is already a victory for me, because the rake is very high on these limits and I'm not a professional player.

I don't use a HUD, I don't mark players and I don't deviate my game based on players and/or pool. I just do my best to play what I think is the correct theoretical line against everyone. I know I'm leaving money on the table by doing this on smallstakes, but that's how I enjoy poker the most. So, yeah, I really like this path.

GL to you too, mate! What do you play?

Ok man! In that case just keep doing what you are doing Looking forward to updates.

Thanks! I currently play 50zoom on stars.

Thank you, dude! GL!

-

I played 100,000 hands on nl25 zoom

It's the first time I completed 100k hands before I'm able to successfully move up to the next limit. I'm trying my best to be discipline with my BRM and to be mature about variance, but obviously poker is very hard to deal. So, yeah, let's focus on the right decisions and hope for the best on the long run, right?

My results so far:

What’s your SN?

About your theory:

A. The pool doesn't play GTO at 2nl, so I disagree with having folks rely on solvers for that level.

B. Our winrate is suffering. I play on ignition. Fast Fold (Zone). Huds don't work there, so I play without a hud. See c.

C. I have a coach (or had), but I still pay for some pointers. I have good pre flop charts, simmed from simple pre flop, and then confirmed multiway with their multi way tool. I don't own Simple pre flop, I bought the ranges for much less.

D. I took notes from the coaching, and pay attention in the nl strategy forums here. I take notes for pseudo GTO study (rules from coach, MDF - google), and notice how the population plays.

E. I take hands either from the nl strategy forum, or from my tracker. I enter my stored pre flop ranges, and add any deviations villain is likely showing. I enter these in GTO+.

F. I then lock all nodes (I have a spreadsheet to calculate EQR, and have already calculated MDF) for what I think villain will do, and what I will do, on the flop, for wider ranges, this will take some work. I then compare equity (which will stay the same for all outputs) and ev, record in spreadsheet. We want EQR over 100%, and hopefully, get EV greater than villains.

F. I save the GTO solution, and run the basic Nash equilibrium. I compare which ev is better. I then save this as a temp file name, if the EV of Nash is better. I load the previous solution, unlock villain, but keep my node locks, and compare ev again.

F. Villain will have an optimized solution against my solution. Now, I lock that solution without edits for all nodes villain. I unlock my strategy, run, and compare EV again. If this is less than the Nash ev, I load the Nash and lock villains strategy, so I get an optimized strategy, and compare the 2 evs, take the highest one, and save that solution.

G. With the highest ev, I unlock all nodes, and only lock the first node for my action (unless someone has donked into the raiser, I always have the caller not donk). If the ev goes below 10% loss, I unlock my strat, and lock villains first node of action. I then re run until I have satisfactory ev for my play.

H. I then simplify. I have the tree set up that I have only one bet size for first action (me and villain, based on the play for that hand and population). I take either bet or fold, with some lower equity bluffs recommended, and some higher equity checks, you will see this in the solve. We just bet certain hands a certain way, trying to match the percentage (It doesn't need to be an exact science) of the solver for that hand.

F. So on our end, its either raise or call, cbet or check, or x/x. I run that simple strat, and compare evs. They should be close to previous optimal with locked villain strat. Otherwise, lock villains strat (first node only), and unlock my strat, run again.

We should have either the best balanced approach, or the best exploitative approach by now. Occasionally, they will have villain cbet entire range, which they don't do, So, with villains first node optimized for him, I need to lock, and check some hands that people check with (you will see this in play for that hand, make educated guesses).

NOW, we have something to practice with. I have my folders SRP by position (one SRP, one call SRP by position). I have the 3bets set up the same way. If in multi way, you can either set up two different scenarios by position, or combine the ranges into one seat.

Here, we learn our mistakes. We learn as we keep doing this. you will have a variety of ranges and flops to work with. BUT, definitely purchase some ranges - where it is by position 9not a flat range chart), and what to do multi way (though I don't have those memorized). You can simplify the pre flop ranges in CREV (free with GTO+), to compare the equity of calling spots.

My opinion. Better study, and since I started doing this, MY game has improved significantly. I try to do one solve a day (since this can get intensive). Once you are used to it, two solves is fairly easy in 4 hours of work.

Hello. For some reasons I already said here on this journal, I prefer to remain anonymous. I'm sorry.

Thank you for your thoughts about studying, man. There're a lot of ways to study for sure, and the one you mentioned seems pretty solid!

I have a dilemma

For the first time, pokerstars is giving me the "opportunity" to have some rakeback:



I made the calculations based on the rake I'm paying on these limits. If I want to win this $200 rakeback challenge, I have two options:

- Playing 22,000 hands on nl25z before Aug 3;
- Playing 11,000 hands on nl50z before Aug 3.

The problem is that I don't have enough time to play 22,000 hands before this deadline. So, I'm thinking about trying win this challenge by playing nl50z, because I'd have to play only 11,000 hands - which is possible to me. The problem is that my BRM doesn't allow playing on nl50z in the moment, so I'd have to deposit more money, which is something I didn't want to do. Also, as I lost 20 BI's on nl50z, it's totally possible for me to lose more 4 BI's, which is the prize for this challenge anyway.

So, yeah, I have a dilemma here.

Can’t you play 22k hands in 2.5 weeks?
It seems worth it to me to add the third table for sure now if you don’t want to deposit or play above your BRM. With 3 tables it’s possible to play about 800 hands/hr.
I’ve went from 3 to 4 to get my volume in and I’m pretty used to it by now. You can always just sit out a table if you have a tough decision to focus on.

Take some addarel & bash it out in a w/end

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Pokerstars are going to be doing a lot more RB deals going forward (see their news release), so unless your strategy involves a volume target for RB profitability, I'd just keep on playing your game for now.

Chasing volume you're not used to putting in very seldom ends well

Good luck to you!

Hello! I tried more tables before, but I really didn't like the experience. As I'm learning the game and as I'm a slow thinker, I really have to think a lot about spots. Also, I don't get 800 hands/hour when I play 3 tables. I get that only when I play 4 tables, which is impossible to me.

Hahahahaha

Yeah, I agree that I shouldn't push volume now. But as the extra $200 would be nice to my bankroll, I'm thinking about depositing more and trying to win this challenge on nl50z. I'm not sure, though...

Thank you, dude!

Update

I don't have too much to say. I'm feeling very comfortable on nl25z. These are my results so far:

Cool thread.

If I'm you and I'm playing as a hobby cause I enjoy the game I'm just continuing to work on my game at 25zoom and building a larger bankroll so I can feel more confident on my next 50zoom shot and am well rolled but the way you're doing it is reasonable too.

The rakeback promo I'm not sure on. On the one hand you're looking to move up to 50nl anyway...on the other it's very, very often a false economy where chasing the promotion costs the player more than they profit from the bonus. I think you should just do the same as you were doing, maybe be slightly more aggressive with shot taking. Sample size isn't huge but very likely you have an ok winrate at 25nl and below so worst comes to worst you can always re-load?

Gl anyway

3bb/100 at 25z isn't great. The fact that you feel comfortable isn't a good indicator.

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I imagine 3bb puts him in something like the top 10% of players at that limit. Definitely room to improve, though.

This thread is extremely interesting. I love the theory and quality over quantity approach. I will definitely be checking in. Also I know your sample is small as you say but you still have impressive winnings, especially since rake is so high.

Have you paid for any softwares? Which ones?
What softwares are you using?

Thank you for your support, man. As I have another career and poker is mostly a hobby for me, I think a lot about having a much more conservative bankroll system. The ideal for me would be to play the entire month without looking to my results. So, yes, this is a point I think a lot about.

But on the other hand, I would love to play a little bit higher. I imagine I would be quite satisfied playing nl100 zoom and probably wouldn't want to go higher than that. If I have a winrate of 2.5bb/100 on nl100z playing 400 hands/hour, I would earn $10/hour on average - which is good money for a hobby, in my opinion. So, I'd love to move up as soon as possible.

About the rakeback promo: I understand what you're saying. It's tricky indeed. I'll talk more about it on my next update, but basically I'm trying to strike the middle point (ha-ha-ha) between these two possibilities.

About depositing again: I have another career, so I don't need the money from poker per se, but I don't want to lose all my bankroll and depositing hundreds of dolars again. So being disciplined with bankroll is important to me.

Hello! I'm sorry, I think I wasn't clear on what I meant. Let me clarify: I don't think 3bb/100 is a great winrate on nl25z. What I meant was I'm geting used to playing on nl25z. In other words, playing on this limit nowadays is not strange to me anymore - even though my winrate isn't great, as I said sometimes here on this journal.

For sure! I imagine that a really good/professional poker player would destroy these limits. I make a lot of mistakes and I'm studying everyday to get better. So, I definitely have a lot to improve for sure. Poker is very hard.

Hey, mate. Thank you for your words. Rake is very high for sure...

The only softwares I use (besides holdem manager, of course) are GTO+ and GTOwizard. I like to use Zenith's sims on GTO+, but I have my sims as well.

I managed to get the rakeback

I decided to try my best in order to win the rakeback - but with a cautiously strategy. So, I deposited a little bit and tried to mix some nl50z tables from time to time. In the end, I managed to get the $200 rakeback.



So, here's my situation now: if I follow my aggressive BRM (20BI mark = 5 bi shot on the next limit), I can try a new shot on nl50z now after the rakeback. But as poker has such a high variance and also because I'm not winning there yet, maybe I should try to make this moving up more slowly. For example: I could try a shot on nl50z when I hit 30BI or something like that.

It's hard to know what is the best approach because there is no objectively correct answer to this. For example:

- On the one hand, I do want to move up to nl50z faster; but on the other hand, variance is huge and my winrate is not so big.
- On the one hand, I don't need the money from poker; but in other hand $1000 is good money in my country now, therefore I don't want to lose it so easily.

Anyway, no one said this game is easy...

If you play multiple tables, why don't you just have one table nl50, and the rest nl25?

If you lose a BI, and the first thought that creeps into your head is, "Guess I have 4 BI's left"

Then it might be better to wait before taking shots.

But if you're never thinking about your BR while playing, then I agree with PJJs strategy above of adding 1 table of 50z at a time.