Hi everyone

I'm a 27 y/o finn returning to poker after a few years break. Currently I'm on my last year master's studies in accounting and I work full time. My minimal free time goes towards programming and poker. In may I'm hopefully done with the most time consuming school related stuff, and can dedicate more time to my hobbies, poker being one of them.

I've played poker in 2 different periods before, 2008-2009 and 2014-2015. Both times I grinded my way up the micros. From 2nl-50nl the first period. The second period I got from 10nl to taking shots at 200nl. I got crushed at 200nl and 100nl, after that had to move down to 50nl. Was really hard to find motivation again, and to be honest I wasn't happy with my game. Now when I look back I was at best a weak reg that just happened to run quite good.

I just finished re-reading Janda's Applications, also read other GTO litterature, used GTO trainer and been posting in the strategy forums quite actively lately (under another username, I have the same username elsewhere and want this PG&C to be anonymous for some reason). I've had plenty of "aha" moments since picking up poker studying again and feel quite confident that hard work still pays off in poker.

My only BRM rule is no shots with <20 BI's. I move up when I'm confident. Year starts at 10nl and hopefully end of year we are playing 100nl regularly.

Volume wont be that great until may but I will try to put in 10k/month minimum. I'll update the thread when I have time to do so. Once a week or so.

Let's go

2020 so far:

Following, good luck

Thank you!

I will probably talk some theory here and apply it to hands that come up. If my following is minimal to none, it will be more like a diary. If I get some following it's great and less of a monologue.

Won't start any volume or poker study goals just because they are not priority right now. I have some basic goals that keep me happy and sane in times when there are lots of things going on.

Mental/social:
- Be honest to yourself and others every single day, even when it means going out of your comfort zone
- Continue meditating every or every other day, long-term goal is daily.
- Hang out with people that genuinely make you happy

Other:
- Wake up 5:00AM every day -> go for a run and take a cold shower (this actually makes my days so much better)
- Go to the gym 2 times a week minimum
- Keep things around you in order (e.g. not having loose paper lying around everywhere)
- Prioritize school-work, when that **** is done you don't have to think about it anymore

Ok I sound like a weirdo, and I probably am. But these things are important to me.

Good luck out there

My poker study kit is a poor man's kit, but it does the job most of the time:
- HEM2
- Equilab
- Excel
- Free version of PIO
- Postflop+ (mobile app, not free though)

Other (free, of course) resources:
- Youtube/twitch content -> AomIsHot22, Steffen Sontheimer, bencb, mynameiskarl, shortee_mike (KakiTee), finding equilibrium, Peter Clarke
- 2+2 -> NL section, DooDooPoker and plenty of others that help out in the forums

Good luck! Looks like we're starting from the similar point Just my 2 cents about YT content - BluffTheSpot and Alvin Teaches Poker is also worth to recommend I think.

Thank you! Do you have specific goals for the year?

I actually forgot to mention Alvin Teaches Poker and BTS, great content!

EDIT: nevermind, I found your PG&C, subbed

Ran good today and received a couple gifts.

Since thread started (lol volume):


2+2 Hand converter doesn't work right now and HM2 also fails, so this will do.


HAND 1:
Villain is unknown. I think the turn call is at best breakeven, probably losing. These pot bets are rarely bluffs if we assume hes a rec, and it's unlikely we get to showdown and win often. I donk potted river (and considered just shoving), which is a mistake if we expect him to bet sets AQ and some 2p OTR. Think I made 2 mistakes here.

Hand Information
, 0.1 BB (6 handed).
Hand History converter courtesy of pokerhandreplays.com

Table Information
Seat: 1 Player 1 ($11.45) Dealer
Seat: 2 Player 2 ($10.77) Small Blind
Seat: 3 Player 3 ($11.06) Big Blind
Seat: 4 Player 4 ($23.86)
Seat: 5 Hero ($20.49)
Seat: 6 Player 6 ($15.6)
Dealt to Hero
**

Preflop (Pot:0.15)
Player 4****FOLD
Hero****RAISE $0.25
Player 6****CALL $0.25
Player 1****FOLD
Player 2****FOLD
Player 3****FOLD

Flop(Pot: $0.65)
***

Hero****CHECK
Player 6****BET $0.62
Hero****CALL $0.62

Turn(Pot: $1.89)
****

Hero****CHECK
Player 6****BET $1.8
Hero****CALL $1.8

River(Pot: $5.49)
*****

Hero****BET $5.5
Player 6****FOLD
Showdown:
Hero MUCKS

Hero**wins the pot: $10.99



HAND 2:
Not sure about my sizing OTT. On a 9c I think it makes more sense to bet smaller with non-flush value hands than on a 7c, since 9c polarizes us more than the 7c when we bet bigger. I don't know how much Q and T blockers affects our betting frequency/size OTT, he should be more draw heavy. Pre call is a somewhat loose call but should be ok.

Hand Information
PokerStars No Limit, 0.1 BB (6 handed).
Hand History converter courtesy of pokerhandreplays.com

Table Information
Seat: 1 Player 1 ($10) Dealer
Seat: 2 Player 2 ($15.23) Small Blind
Seat: 3 Hero ($15.03) Big Blind
Seat: 4 Player 4 ($6.65)
Seat: 5 Player 5 ($10.45)
Seat: 6 Player 6 ($10)
Dealt to Hero
**

Preflop (Pot:0.15)
Player 4****FOLD
Player 5****FOLD
Player 6****RAISE $0.3
Player 1****FOLD
Player 2****FOLD
Hero****CALL $0.2

Flop(Pot: $0.65)
***

Hero****CHECK
Player 6****BET $0.2
Hero****RAISE $0.8
Player 6****CALL $0.6

Turn(Pot: $2.25)
****

Hero****BET $0.9
Player 6****CALL $0.9

River(Pot: $4.05)
*****

Hero****BET $1.7
Player 6****FOLD
Hero****RETURN $1.7
Showdown:
Hero MUCKS

Hero**wins the pot: $5.75

Bonus hand:
Maybe a pure small bet OTF but mixing in checks should be fine with the Ad. We risk not getting value if he has 99-JJ and a A/Q/K turn falls.

Hand Information
, 0.1 BB (6 handed).
Hand History converter courtesy of pokerhandreplays.com

Table Information
Seat: 1 Player 1 ($12.22) Dealer
Seat: 2 Player 2 ($17.09) Small Blind
Seat: 3 Player 3 ($13.41) Big Blind
Seat: 4 Hero ($11.25)
Seat: 5 Player 5 ($12.62)
Seat: 6 Player 6 ($9.49)
Dealt to Hero
**

Preflop (Pot:0.15)
Hero****RAISE $0.25
Player 5****FOLD
Player 6****FOLD
Player 1****CALL $0.25
Player 2****RAISE $1.3
Player 3****FOLD
Hero****RAISE $3.1
Player 1****FOLD
Player 2****CALL $1.8

Flop(Pot: $6.85)
***

Player 2****CHECK
Hero****CHECK

Turn(Pot: $6.85)
****

Player 2****BET $2.07
Hero****CALL $2.07

River(Pot: $10.99)
*****

Player 2****BET $6.1
Hero****ALL-IN
Player 2****RETURN $0.02
Showdown:
Player 2 SHOWS
**
Hero SHOWS
**
Hero**wins the pot: $10.99

Bonus hand 2:
Vs rec I could even bet bigger flop & turn, usually use smaller sizing on monotone flops. River I think we should size down to get calls also by non-spade hands sometimes, if he has the As he ships anyway.

Hand Information
, 0.1 BB (6 handed).
Hand History converter courtesy of pokerhandreplays.com

Table Information
Seat: 1 Player 1 ($14.96) Dealer
Seat: 2 Hero ($19.23) Small Blind
Seat: 3 Player 3 ($10) Big Blind
Seat: 4 Player 4 ($20.76)
Seat: 5 Player 5 ($10.67)
Seat: 6 Player 6 ($8.75)
Dealt to Hero
**

Preflop (Pot:0.15)
Player 4****FOLD
Player 5****FOLD
Player 6****CALL $0.1
Player 1****FOLD
Hero****RAISE $0.4
Player 3****FOLD
Player 6****CALL $0.3

Flop(Pot: $0.95)
***

Hero****BET $0.43
Player 6****CALL $0.43

Turn(Pot: $1.81)
****

Hero****BET $1.4
Player 6****CALL $1.4

River(Pot: $4.61)
*****

Hero****BET $2.8
Player 6****CALL $2.8
Showdown:
Hero SHOWS
**
Player 6 SHOWS
**
Hero**wins the pot: $4.61

Hand 1:

I think vs unknown villain I agree with you and fold turn post of the time, pool rarely will find bluffs there, but when you did call, you are actually only rooting for him to give up river or hit your gutshot so I think your donkbet is fine (two pair or sets won't be able to lay down probably), because people tend to miss their value bets there.

Hand 2:

Pre is ok I think, considering the fact you have an edge, even including the rake. Raise flop seems obvious vs this sizing, I think I'll still bet every value and most of my bluffs on that turn pretty big, because there are still some combos of AK/AJ/AT with clubs that he won't fold for sure. As played, bet/fold river seems the best option, sometimes worse calls, and on NL10 probably worse never bets.

Bonus hand 1:

I think I 4b a bit smaller than you actually did, but since squeezes are pretty strong in general, I think it's ok, flop check or bet 1/4 have to be fine, and don't have a huge difference I guess. The rest is pretty standard.

Bonus hand 2:

I often go like 55c OOP when I isolate here, anyways, bet flop seems good, since we hit so hard, maybe 1/3 won't be that bad even against a rec? They sometimes limp/call AA or some **** and do bad stuff with it. Anyways, well played.

P.S Added you to contacts, can't PM you though, must be blocked or something.

Thank you for feedback! I got my DMs working. New accounts need a set amount of posts to be able to DM. Because of spam reasons. So keep updating your thread and you'll get it too 8-)

I'll end the month here. Won't have time to play before next week. I'll post some hands later.

I think I will be mixing in some 25NLz in february.

Good luck out there

January:

It's so rewarding when studying builds confidence in many spots. You always (well, often) have one or several reasons to do something, and I've gotten into the habit of thinking what I will do with different parts of my range and how villain should respond. We rarely have time to do this in detail in-game but at least we are more aware and make future streets easier to play.

Poker is also more fun when you take a pause and really think about as many spots as possible.

How come every time I observe 500z and want to learn something I always find myself seeing weird lines and fish shoving ATC?

I have had some problems with turn/river probe spots and felt like I'm randomly choosing hands to probe/stab with sometimes. It really bugs me when I have no theory to back up decisions and they just feel... random.

Let's say we are BB vs BTN in a SRP:

Flop:
562

check - check

Turn scenario 1:
K

Turn scenario 2:
7

Turn scenario 3:
T

Here in all scenarios I found myself often lost and sometimes stabbed random hands without thinking it through.

In scenario 1 the turn card favours the BTN, since he has more strong Kx in his range. Here we should be more cautious with our hand selection. We can't just bet close to ATC, we need some equity most of the time, and our sizing should probably be on the smaller side.

In scenario 2 we can bet more hands on the turn and be less cautious with our hand selection. The 7 is better for our range and we will have more nutted hands than BTN. This means our betting frequency goes up, and we can overbet more often. The micro-pool almost never checks back strong hands OTF so we are quite happy to bomb this turn with a wide range.

In scenario 3 we have a more neutral turn-card. I think this is a spot where both hero and villain should be somewhat cautious on hand selection.

I'll dive deeper into this later I think and play with these spots in Equilab.

Does anyone have any good sources on probing strategies or thoughts in general? How do you approach situations where ranges are wide and the equity advantage is less clear?

Basically, the most intuitive approach would be the one you described more or less. So, on cards that are lower than the board or pretty low, we should think about betting big (between 70-130% of the pot), especially that population has a really weak check backing range. That might actually mean 75% is more than enough most often. On higher cards I would still check a lot and x/r some of my value/strong draws. When there are flushdraws or a straighty boards I would generally go very big.

We have to remember to overbet some TP also when it goes x/x on the flop cause villain will mostly be capped to second pairs and backdoor draws. Also, the lower the stakes the more I would like to build the pot myself instead of depending on my opponents creativity. Would be also nice to mix in overbet with nuts, not only draws and air, obviously

I started the month off my playing my usual 2 tables of zoom, but now I'm playing one 10z and one 25z and will continue doing so as long as I have my >20 BI's for 25z.

First 2 sessions of the month:

Played a couple hours today. Ran well but played really poorly. Probably the worst I've played this year.




Some hands:

HAND 1:

Decided not to 3b because of droolers behind, it should be close though. I guess this is one of the spots you're dreaming of when flatting pre.
Villain tanked until the last second and called QdQs.

PokerStars, Hold'em No Limit - $0.10/$0.25 - 6 players
Hand delivered by CardsChat

UTG: $26.42 (106 bb)
MP: $54.51 (218 bb)
CO (Hero): $25.60 (102 bb)
BU: $25.00 (100 bb)
SB: $23.79 (95 bb)
BB: $51.63 (207 bb)

Pre-Flop: ($0.35) Hero is CO with T♥ T♠
1 fold, MP raises to $0.55, Hero calls $0.55, 1 fold, SB calls $0.45, BB 3-bets to $3.50, MP calls $2.95, Hero calls $2.95, SB calls $2.95

Flop: ($14) 5♠ T♦ 5♦ (4 players)
SB checks, BB bets $7.50, MP calls $7.50, Hero calls $7.50, SB folds

Turn: ($36.50) A♠ (3 players)
BB checks, MP checks, Hero checks

River: ($36.50) 9♠ (3 players)
BB checks, MP checks, Hero bets $14.60 (all-in), BB folds, MP calls $14.60

Total pot: $65.70 (Rake: $2)

Showdown:
CO (Hero) mucks T♥ T♠ (a full house, Tens full of Fives)
MP mucks
CO (Hero) wins $63.70



HAND 2:

Standard backraise/get-in by villain

PokerStars Zoom, Hold'em No Limit - $0.05/$0.10 - 6 players
Hand delivered by CardsChat

UTG: $19.07 (191 bb)
MP: $10.45 (105 bb)
CO: $10.35 (104 bb)
BU: $10.32 (103 bb)
SB: $10.47 (105 bb)
BB (Hero): $10.10 (101 bb)

Pre-Flop: ($0.15) Hero is BB with K♣ A♠
2 players fold, CO raises to $0.25, BTN calls $0.25, SB calls $0.20, Hero 3-bets to $1.50, 1 fold, BTN 4-bets to $2.75, 1 fold, Hero 5-bets to $10.10 (all-in), BTN calls $7.35

Flop: ($20.70) 5♠ 4♠ J♥ (2 players, 1 all-in)

Turn: ($20.70) 7♦ (2 players, 1 all-in)

River: ($20.70) 9♦ (2 players, 1 all-in)

Total pot: $20.70 (Rake: $0.93)

Showdown:
BB (Hero) shows K♣ A♠ (high card, Ace)
(Equity - Pre-Flop: 62%, Flop: 19%, Turn: 11%, River: 0%)

BU shows J♠ Q♠ (a pair of Jacks)
(Equity - Pre-Flop: 38%, Flop: 81%, Turn: 89%, River: 100%)

BU wins $19.77



HAND 3:

I'm not gonna defend myself with this one. This is just horrible on every street. He bodyslammed that snapbutton with KK lol.

PokerStars, Hold'em No Limit - $0.05/$0.10 - 6 players
Hand delivered by CardsChat

UTG: $10.12 (101 bb)
MP: $13.22 (132 bb)
CO: $29.17 (292 bb)
BU: $6.60 (66 bb)
SB: $3.97 (40 bb)
BB (Hero): $11.04 (110 bb)

Pre-Flop: ($0.15) Hero is BB with A♦ Q♣
UTG calls $0.10, 4 players fold, Hero raises to $0.50, UTG calls $0.40

Flop: ($1.05) Q♦ 9♥ 8♦ (2 players)
Hero bets $0.50, UTG raises to $1.40, Hero calls $0.90

Turn: ($3.85) K♦ (2 players)
Hero checks, UTG checks

River: ($3.85) J♣ (2 players)
Hero bets $5.40, UTG calls $5.40

Total pot: $14.65 (Rake: $0.66)

Showdown:
BB (Hero) mucks A♦ Q♣ (a pair of Queens)
UTG mucks
UTG wins $13.99


HAND 4:

Okay not gonna defend myself with this one either. I only have 1/3 of a brain why don't I use it better.

PokerStars Zoom, Hold'em No Limit - $0.10/$0.25 - 6 players
Hand delivered by CardsChat

UTG: $50.37 (201 bb)
MP: $14.17 (57 bb)
CO: $28.17 (113 bb)
BU: $48.44 (194 bb)
SB: $24.05 (96 bb)
BB (Hero): $26.38 (106 bb)

Pre-Flop: ($0.35) Hero is BB with 5♥ 6♥
2 players fold, CO raises to $0.62, 2 players fold, Hero calls $0.37

Flop: ($1.34) Q♦ 8♥ J♦ (2 players)
Hero checks, CO checks

Turn: ($1.34) 6♣ (2 players)
Hero checks, CO bets $0.92, Hero raises to $4, CO calls $3.08

River: ($9.34) K♥ (2 players)
Hero bets $7, CO raises to $23.55 (all-in), BB (Hero) folds

Total pot: $23.34 (Rake: $1.05)
CO wins $22.29

H1: I think vs this raise size, I prefer 3betting even though there are some bad players in the blinds. Worked out to be the best play to do it like you did and cooler the guy with QQ.

H2: Learn some flips boi

H3: Nice iso, flop I'd bet even bigger, because we can assume UTG limper is a fish and even though the board is pretty scary, he should pay us off with any Tx,Jx. That might sound stupid, but vs a fish we can probably get away with folding flop, rarely any bluffs there and we block nfd's, hands with high equity that could raise like A9dd,ATdd,AJdd. But obviously, I would call anyway with the bdfd and top pair. I think river is not really a good card for us to turn our hand (which has some showdown I think anyways) into a bluff. He should bet most of his flop raises on the turn (2 pair, sets if he has some), and maybe he doesn't have that much Tx but I wouldn't rely on him to lay down something like QJ or KJ.

H4: Creative, good opponents are capable of checking a strong range on that flop for sure. I'm really curious what he's shoving there (straights probably only ) but seriously, I think that it would be much better to block a ten, having something like T6 there, because blocking a 6 is pretty irrelevant, but Tx could help. Your bluff has near to no equity and I think we'd much rather x/r 65dd there. You mostly rep something like 4 combos of T9, because AT would just go for x/c probably. And king on the river doesn't really look like a good card for us (his KJ gets 2 pair, delayed AT hit, AK). We're targetting something like weak Q or J but then again, would be much better to bluff smaller sizing maybe.

I'll post graphs before my sunrun ends. I haven't lost a stack at 25z yet:


Since start:

Shoutout to a fellow 2+2:er that said hello at the tables today. Sometimes it gets lonely at the tables :-)

Today:

Always nice to see people whose threads I read
GL! Your results are superimpressive!

Oh it was you Thank you very much . I read your thread too. I will comment on some of your hands at some point.

After work today I fired up 2 tables. I played like 20 hands and got to a couple super common flop situations and had no idea what to do. My mind froze and I felt really uncomfortable, so I sat out, went for a run, took a cold shower, meditated for 20minutes and played in postflop+ a few minutes and fired up 2 tables again and everything was good.

I'm really really happy I sat out and reset everything.