No one can predict the future. No one predicted Covid19 this year and the lockdowns that happened as a result. I never predicted that I wouldn't be allowed to play live poker this year (which sucks), but I also never predicted that I would make so much money on the apps this year and that the 100nl games would be so incredibly soft (which was great).

So I'm not even going to attempt to predict what the world will look like when I'm 30 years old. I'm currently 26 and my plan is to go back to uni next year and figure things out from there. I think it's important to be flexible and be willing to adapt to the everchanging environment around you. You don't want to tie yourself down to a rigid plan and be unwilling to make adjustments when things change.

So anyway, my plan right now is to focus on poker improvement, so I thought I'd share a couple of HH's with you guys. None of these hands are necessarily going to be super exciting, creative stuff. They're more just basic line checks where I want to make sure that my fundamentals are on point. Also, I'm going to leave the results out this time, to prevent biased responses:

Hand 1: Standard bluff in 4bet pot?

5nl, $6.33 effective
BTN raises $0.13
Hero 3bets $0.55 SB with As Qh
BTN 4bets $1.25
Hero calls $1.25

Flop ($2.55) Kc Jh 4s

Hero checks
BTN bets $0.85
Hero calls $0.85

Turn ($4.25) Kc Jh 4s 7h

Both check

River ($4.25) Kc Jh 4s 7h 2s

Hero jams $4.23

What do you think about hero's line here? More specifically: is it correct to flat the 4bet preflop, is it correct to x/c flop and is it correct to bluff jam river?

Hand 2: Too thin? Timing tells?

5nl, $4.41 effective
Hero raises $0.10 UTG with Kh Ks
BB 3bets $0.50
Hero 4bets $1.10
BB calls $1.10

Flop ($2.22) Ac Ah 6h

BB checks
Hero bets $0.50
BB calls $0.50

Turn ($3.22) Ac Ah 6h Js

Both check

River ($3.22) Ac Ah 6h Js As

BB quickly checks
Hero jams $2.81

Any thoughts on this? Was the river jam too thin? And is there any timing tell here when villain instantly checks on the river? Does this mean anything regarding the strength of villain's hand?

That has to be bollox, that's £550 a week

"Live every day like it's your last, YOLO!" said the man living with his wife in his mom's apartment, eating his mom's food, driving his mom's car, sending all of his disposable income to his in laws, laying in bed all day playing free to play video games that he still manages to spend hundreds of dollars on, posting 5nl hands for critique.

ouch!

this would be a wake up call for many, but 6b is gonna find a way to make it look like he's moving forward somehow (prob something about Uni next year). He's a master of fooling himself, I'll give him that.

5nl session + general thoughts

So I played 5nl for a few hours today and so far on this site, I'm slightly below breakeven (down about 5 buyins). I do think I've run a little bit bad, but at the same time, I'm willing to admit that I don't see myself as a big winner at these games just yet. The games are much tougher than I expected.

There are some fish though in the pool, and I think I'm gradually beginning to understand who the regs are and what their play style is. So I think it's only a matter of time. I just need to continuously work on my game, play a small number of tables at a time (so I can actually put some thought into each and every decision, rather than getting into a bad habit of autopiloting), and analyse the hands as they come.

Speaking of working on my game: I've been looking up solved preflop ranges and trying to memorise them, but the biggest issue I'm having right now is with mixed strategies. For example, this is the optimal strategy for how BB should react against a 2.5x BTN raise:



Some of this seems intuitive to me - like we're supposed to 3bet {TT+, AQ+} at 100% frequency, which makes sense - but other parts of it just seem totally random. I guess it's all about trying to get board coverage? But there's still no easy way to understand the specific combos.

So learning stuff like this has been a big setback for me. I'm trying to look for alternative ranges that are both solid/unexploitable, but also relatively simple to memorise and understand.

Also, I played a couple more interesting hands today which I'll share with you guys:

Hand 3: Genius or spewy?

$5.37 effective
CO raises $0.15
Hero 3bets $0.60 SB with 65dd
CO calls $0.60

Flop ($1.25) 7c 6c 4h

Hero bets $0.42
CO calls $0.42

Turn ($2.09) 7c 6c 4h 4c

Hero checks
CO bets $1.57
Hero calls $1.57

River ($5.23) 7c 6c 4h 4c 5s

Hero checks
CO quickly bets $2.62 (leaving himself $0.16 behind - it's obvious he just smashed the half pot button here)
Hero tank calls $2.62



Hand 4: Good bluff spot?

$4.95 effective
MP raises to $0.16
Hero 3bets $0.50 CO with Ac Jh
MP calls $0.50

Flop ($1.07) 7s 7d 3c

MP checks
Hero bets $0.36
MP calls $0.36

Turn ($1.79) 7s 7d 3c Kc

MP checks
Hero bets $0.60
MP calls $0.60

River ($2.99) 7s 7d 3c Kc 4s

MP checks
Hero jams $3.49



In fairness, my city is stuck in lockdown. I would absolutely be going to the gym 3-4 times a week and grinding poker at the casino full-time if those facilities were open. In fact, the last time I voluntarily stopped going to the gym was more than a year ago. So my habits are getting better.

Plus I'm not an ego reg. I am totally fine to play at the bottom (5nl) and discuss hands here. I've already proven myself as a crusher at 100nl on the apps, and a crusher at $2/$5 NL live at the casino, having insane winrates at both games over decent samples.

If anything, the fact that I'm willing to move down to 5nl is a strength, not a weakness. Very few poker players are willing to move down like this. It hurts their ego too much. But I'm all about improving my skills and becoming the best player I can possibly be.

The fact that I'm willing to live with my mum to save money is also another strength, not a weakness. I don't care if people choose to laugh at me for living with my mum (to save rent) and grinding 5nl (to improve my skills), because I know that these decisions are +EV for me and I'm secure enough in myself that I don't care what all the people pleasers think.

I'm the kind of guy that would drive a beat down car instead of a Ferrari because it's +EV to save money on servicing and depreciation. I'm the kind of guy that would walk away from a fight when someone talks sh*t to me at a bar, because it's not worth lowering myself to their level to get into a fight with them. I'm all about making the most +EV decisions, even if those decisions lead to some short-term humiliation.

When someone uses the phrase "wake up call", I picture a scenario like this:
1) You overdosed on heroin and almost died.
2) You committed a crime and ended up getting a jail sentence.
3) You lost your life savings and ended up homeless.

I don't see how a happily married guy with a decent savings, decent health, stable lifestyle, no criminal record and strong poker skills can ever be compared to one of the above scenarios. There's nothing to "wake up to" in my current situation. Things are perfectly fine. I don't see what the issue is.

How the hell did you manage to come back more deluded than you were before?

Looks like you're 3betting too wide. 65 isnt a great 3bet (think it's okay to mix though), and we should never really be 3betting AJo CO vs. MP.

There's no reason to grind a stake that's 1/20th the size of one you can beat to get better. That doesn't make sense. Get a stake for 50nl or 100nl if you're scared to bust your life roll.

No smart winning player would grind 5nl in your spot, so if you have no ego then admidt your decision to not play at a reasonable stake is fear of losing money and accept a stake.

[QUOTE=J.E.C;56649681]How the hell did you manage to come back more deluded than you were before?[/QUOTE

Unreal is what it is. Absolutely unreal.

I looked up the ranges and you're right. Apparently we're supposed to fold AJo pretty much 100% of the time in the CO/BTN/SB against a 3x MP open. I don't know why I was so confident before that it made a good 3bet against any position other than UTG.

You're right about the 65s too: apparently we're supposed to fold the majority of the time, and just mix in some 3bets/calls from time to time, in that SB vs CO scenario.

It's good to finally learn these things properly. You don't even realise what you don't know until you learn it.

Why is it so hard to believe that I genuinely want to learn and improve? I'm not playing poker purely for the money right now.

There's a reason why I spent most of the past 3 months playing and studying chess, and it's not because I'm addicted to money or gambling... I just genuinely want to get good at the games I play.

Once live poker reopens, then I'll start obsessing over money and game selection. But right now, I really want to use this opportunity to improve my skills, whilst I can afford to ignore the money.

Because it doesn't make any sense to train for a stake you want to beat at 5% of it

You pretend to be a serious poker player yet still don't even have a poker tracker to properly study poker. Also what do you think your sample size was for 100nl on the apps? 30k hands? That's not even a start of a decent sample.

I haven't read much but nobody in their right mind would suggest you waste time at 5nl to learn. Get a stake or move up somewhere that's not 5nl.

You're right broski, my bad, you do your thing and keep crushing glgl

Afford to not think about the money? What??

You still live with your mom because you simply cant afford living on your own with the wife in an apartment or a house like any other adult do. No steady income whatsoever,5-6K to your name and you still manage to make statements like you dont have to think about the money?

Get a ****ing grip dude,wake up to reality.

But did you not read:

He's already proven himself as a crusher at higher stakes. Why bother playing higher when he knows he can beat it anyway? Only an ego-driven reg would ever play at such high stakes.

Hang on.....your 70yo father in law used to be a lawyer but now needs his unemployable son in law to pay his medical and food bills.....don't know if he was lawyer but sounds like they are telling you porkies.......but hey keep coughing that money up......

LOL, 3 months later and this guy is still on that beyond pathetic goofy path he idolises in his own ego-driven created delusional world. Keep crushing life crusher!

Plus the country has complete universal healthcare and medicine subsidies, plus an old age pension but apparently non of that is enough for her Daddy. Looks like you have her whole family fine dining on thai lobster.

6 grand is not decent savings. And the only reason you have that is:
Your lifestyle is stable because you live with Mommy.

You’re in an abusive relationship with poker. You leave but you always come back, usually in as bad or worse shape than when you left.

We still have a ways to go before you hit rock bottom.

6k is plenty and you should be content with that.

For myself however I want all I have. If that means working 10 hours a day to earn $300 I am content doing that. If I was working 6 hours a day and earning $1500 I would be equally as content. OP could find some fulfillment in work and probably should go work a entry level job before returning to uni and perhaps even work 10 hours a week during uni as well.

Not working leads to poverty and forced labor in a lot of cases.

Is your long term plan to live with your mother until she passes away? Because if the answer is no, then everything you just wrote is a lie.

Did you crush $100NL on the apps? I thought you ran hot for a week or so (making most of your money from a few tournament binks), donked off the money over a few weeks after and then called your retirement.

If you really believed you were such a crusher at $100NL you wouldn't waste the time playing $5/pop.

You reckon you have 'strong poker skills' but it's a bit of a bizarre claim for someone to make when they're not making any money from poker and asking for guidance on micro hands where you're struggling with the basic fundamentals.

Well...

All the jealous haters are just adding fuel to the fire that is OP's relentless beastlike fiery pokerpro-mindset IMO. He got rid of his ego and grinds stakes, where he can lose 250 stacks no problem...who else ITT can say that?!?

Love the spirit of every post. The man just crushes.