I'll review the first hand here (AJo). This is all asuming Villain is roughly a standard NL5 player, in my limited experience. I didn't peak at the showdown when I wrote this. But maybe consider not posting the showdown if unbiased advice is what you are seeking. I think I'm gonna stop posting showdown in my hands.

I consider AJo a marginal open from EP. I would normally fold this pre unless there was a whale I'm targeting. I'd also fold to the 3bet pre. Villain's 3betting range here might be QQ+, AK or a bit wider at TT+ AQ. Either one you are way behind.

I'd check the flop for pot control. You are behind maybe half villain's range here, unless he's 3-betting light here. But it's best to assume he's an honest 3-bettor. Betting here looks like a classic case of "only getting called by hands that have you beat".

All the hands in his range that are ahead of you will call or raise you here (AK, AQ, AA).

The hands you beat (QQ-KK, maybe TT-JJ) aren't likely to give you 3 streets of value with an ace on the board. So let's ask which 1 or 2 streets are the best to get value from these hands? Not the flop, because that ace on the board makes it hard for these hands to call you. Checking the flop under represents your hand, and allows Villain to think maybe you don't have an ace when you bet the turn.

Also note that this is a 3bet pot. So a bit of pot control is in order to avoid getting stacked with only top pair weak kicker.

The turn, as played, I would check. Again, pot control with a crappy kicker. It looks like he has a better ace than you. Also, you shouldn't be to worried about the flush draw, as the only flush card he has that beats you here is a possible king if he has ace king or KK that didn't fold the flop.

Facing his turn raise, I would fold. It looks like AK, AQ, AA or QQ, all of which would be scared of the flush draw (except the AK with a diamond) and would stop slow playing. Or possibly a strangely played KK with a diamond.

-

A rough start at NL5, but only a 2.5 buy in loss isn't that bad. From your notes above, it looks like you learning from these beats and continuing to become a better poker player.

Awesome thoughts boys!
Will take this in when I begin my next session. Need to give my opponent a little more credit for their agression than I did this session.

You nailed it there. That's one of the biggest things a micro grinder must learn. Because all the guys down at these stakes are so passive, (usually), when they start getting aggressive, you should be pretty worried unless you effectively have the nuts or close to it!

Can´t argue with this chief!

Day 35 (yesterday)

Stakes: $0,02/$0,05
407 hands - 94 minutes - -$7,65
Stakes: $0,02/$0,05
551 hands - 138 minutes - +$0,59





This was yesterday, had to go to bed directly after the session ended.

I went too far with top pair decent kicker and second pair top kicker kind of hands.
Did 3 bluffs that I regret badly.

Still better when the first day. Didn´t go all in anytime this session.

I will do my best to stay at this level and to not drop back to NL2.

Will get in the hours today!

Next post will include some hands!

*JANUARY GOALS*

30 000 hands *REACHED 11/1*

85 hours of playing *REACHED 15/1*

15 days of playing *REACHED 16/1*

850 VPPs
Currently: 335

Total profit/loss: +$124,34
Hands: 58 988
Time: 171,5 hrs
Bankroll: $210,34

Day 36 (friday)

Stakes: $0,02/$0,05
215 hands - 56 minutes - -$4,59
Stakes: $0,02/$0,05
486 hands - 118 minutes - +$1,24
Stakes: $0,02/$0,05
388 hands - 97 minutes - +$4,62





Had a sweat session yesterday and that helped me A LOT!
He identified my leaks pretty easy and I got some really good things to work on.
This is what I´m going to focus on for the next couple of sessions:
-Play less marginal hands
-Tight up the range when CBetting multiway
-Think about WHY you are betting
-Don´t donk into raisers
-3-bet bigger with strong hands
-Don´t bluff!

Last session felt good and I´m a little more hopeful now.

Today will get in some poker, not much since I´m going to work but at least one I hope!

*JANUARY GOALS*
30 000 hands *REACHED 11/1*

85 hours of playing *REACHED 15/1*

15 days of playing *REACHED 16/1*

850 VPPs
Currently: 352

Total profit/loss: +$125,61
Hands: 60 077
Time: 176,0 hrs
Bankroll: $211,61

All fantastic advice. To elaborate on it a bit, here's my thoughts:

-Play less marginal hands: At the micros, I advise playing a lot less Axo, where x is below 7, and Kxo, where x is below 7. Oftentimes playing small unsuited aces you'll be out kicked and can get into trouble if you flop top pair weak kicker. However, do play lots of suited connectors and small pocket pairs, because when you hit your hand, you will often get paid off, by getting max value out of the calling stations. Suited connectors and small pairs should be some of your most profitable hands at the micros.

-Tight up c-betting range when multiway: Definitely good advice there. I generally advise a c-betting percentage of roughly 60-65%. Anything less is too low, anything more is a bit high. Generally, I like to cbet either when it's a totally blank flop which the villains will have missed a lot, (J72 rainbow) or when I have some outs, either 2 over cards, a draw of some sort, maybe even just a gutshot as long as it's to the nuts.

-Think about why you are betting: The best advice you can get. This is so unbelievably important because it will help you to improve your own game. Try to avoid auto piloting, it's very easy to do online and I'm guilty of it sometimes myself. But yeah, always take a few seconds to think about why you're betting. Also, think about other actions, why do you check here, why do you raise, then, why are you betting this much, why are you raising to this amount?

-Don't donk into raisers: Never say never in poker. This is generally good advice, although there are some occasions where donk-betting is a good play. Example, whenever I flop trips (Not sure if you know this or not, trips is just when you make 3 of a kind without a pocket pair, so AK on a flop of KK6, as opposed to a set which is with a pocket pair, like KK on a flop of K87). There's not much that can call you when you flop trips, and I find you miss value by slow playing, so donking gives the impression that you're quite weak, and the raiser will often psychologically want to get back at you for stealing his betting initiative! So often he'll raise you with air thinking that you can't have anything. Donking with draws is ok sometimes as well, or with a weak top pair that can easily be devalued such as having 97 on a flop of 962.

3-bet bigger with stronger hands: Definitely, at the micros the players are very inelastic, they don't care how much you raise by, they'll still call unless it's a silly amount. You can easily get away with raising them by 4x, 4.5x a lot of the time. Also, if you're out of position you want to be 3-betting bigger as well. Even if you have a hand like AK or AQ/KQ, you'll miss the flop most of the time, and playing out of position with what is now essentially air is very difficult, so you want to be betting bigger there to just try and take down the pot pre flop if possible.

Don't bluff: The best micro-specific advise there is. It's very tempting, but definitely tone down the bluffs. If you see a really good spot take it, and c-betting, which is a form of bluffing is fine to use. Semibluffing is a good tool at the micros, so betting on draws and that sort of thing. Also, if you c-bet the flop and he calls and an over card comes, as long as you don't think it hits your opponent too much, double barrelling on it is a good idea a lot of the time. Also, double-barreling when you pick up a draw on the turn is fine. You can also bluff a bit more against the regular players, because they'll be more capable of making lay downs.

Hope I helped!

Chris

Awesome thoughts man! Really helpful.

Regarding "don´t donk bet into raisers" this was to not CBet against raisers when they most likely will raise back and you don´t have anything good really.

But raising hard vs raisers is an awesome tactic when hitting something good.

No worries! Glad to help. And yeah, see what you mean. Totally agree in that scenario yeah!

Day 37

Stakes: $0,02/$0,05
290 hands - 84 minutes - +$6,25
Stakes: $0,02/$0,05
228 hands - 59 minutes - +$5,80




Good day!
Those things I pointed out yesterday works really well when I commit to follow them.
Not much volume when 4-tabling but the right way to do it in my situation. When I make some progress then I´ll add a few tables.

Got some hands that I would like to get your opinions on.

4-bet or call 3-bet pre flop?













*JANUARY GOALS*

30 000 hands *REACHED 11/1*

85 hours of playing *REACHED 15/1*

15 days of playing *REACHED 16/1*

850 VPPs
Currently: 368

Total profit/loss: +$137,66
Hands: 60 595
Time: 178,4 hrs
Bankroll: $223,66

Good Progress man!

Keep on going!

Thanks man!

[QUOTE=mrgbg94;45864614]
I went too far with top pair decent kicker and second pair top kicker kind of hands.

Did 3 bluffs that I regret badly.
These are the kind of self-observations that are why I'm 100% positive you will be improving a lot in your game in the near future.

Hand 1 KK:

Lol. I guess he was restealing and gave up. Maybe you had been aggro in LP pre and he was sick of it. I probably would have 4bet pre. If he 5bets, I think default stacking off pre with KK is fine. Of course, if Villain has something like a PFR of 5 and 3bet of 0, then I'd slow down, probably even fold.

Hand 2 KK:

Villain's 2bb open looks fishy. Regardless, I'd 3bet pre $0.40 or $0.45 because were are OOP. Make him pay more to set mine and play drawing hands against us IP. He only has to call $0.20 more to see the flop, so it will be harder to put him on a range post flop. He'll be wide. Set mining is still profitable for him here.

You are very likely ahead on the turn. But like I said, since he only had to call $0.20 more pre, he could have a wide range here. What I like about your 1/2 pot bet here is it looks weak, like you missed this dry board, which is very believable. Then you check the turn looks like you are giving up. This would be a great way to play the hand against an aggressive opponent who likes to float. By default, I would probably bet the turn though, but sometimes check to mix it up. As played, I'd think about check-raising when he Vil bets here, maybe $1.90 and just shove any river. It's a nice pot now, and I'd be happy to take it down, as the board is a little wet. Also thinking if he's got air, you might not get any more value from him on the river anyway, unless you check and he chooses to bluff again. If he's got something here, we could be beat, but I'm getting it in anyway. He's not very deep.

River. As played, I like the check. Betting wouldn't be bad, and would get value from a Q. Checking allows missed draws to bluff. Good job. You stacked him.

And yup, label him a fish. He's opening KJs in EP and not folding to a 3bet or on the flop when he had crap equity against a preflop 3bet from the blinds.

I think evthealien has done a great job of reviewing hands 1 and 2, so I'll take over the burden and review the other hands below!

Ok, so hand #3, the QJ hand. First up, I would raise more to punish the limper. You want to isolate him, and get him heads up with what is likely a worse holding, possibly even one you have crushed. Because his limp is in the pot, the pot odds are now better for the players left to act to join in if you stick to the standard 3x raise. So, I would make it 20c here, maybe 22c.

On the flop, heads up, this is a good c-bet, nice size and all, and it charges any draws. It should fold out any hands that haven't hit but still have equity against yours.

Now, the turn is a tricky spot. The issue for me is that the range of the small blind is actually weighted more to made flushes than flush draws in my opinion. I think when he just flats your flop bet, his range is made up of very nutted flush draws, K,A of hearts alone, and made flushes. From the small blind, getting good odds pre flop, and just calling pre flop, I expect to see a lot of suited connectors here, and a a few small suited aces as well, which is what he eventually turns up with. I like the thought process behind your bet which is to charge the draws I imagine, but I just think giving up again is good because if his range is mainly suited connectors and small suited aces, basically suited cards, he's not going to have many draws in there. So once he flats, I just shut up shop!

On river, I like the check back, you didn't fall for his trap. I just would have shut down one street earlier here.

Hand #4

Preflop action is perfect, nothing wrong at all with the size of the raise, or the action of raising. Good stuff.

On the flop, it's a good and bad flop. It gives you TPTK which is great, but it does bring in AQ, which is definitely in his range, along with AJ, AT and maybe some higher pocket pairs. I like the raise, at these stakes you can still get value from worse aces, as well as broadway and diamond draws. Of course, you're totally giving draws the wrong price to call, but that's brilliant, you don't want to give them the right price!

Now the turn is a brick, and he bets out. This is a big danger sign. You should think long and hard about this call. I know it's a difficult situation, but when he makes this move, your hand is usually crushed. The 3 doesn't help any hands in his range, so he's clearly got a made hand on the flop. He certainly isn't drawing, he knows you have a good hand because you've (quite rightly) played the hand very aggressively, so he would't bet and risk being raised with a draw. So, you have to think, what has he made on the flop? He's not value betting or bluffing with AJ or AT, he'd want to get them to showdown, and he should really have folded them by this point. He can't really have pocket aces, because he would have 4-bet pre, and you have a blocker to aces. He wouldn't really call a 3-bet pre with Q7 or 77, so we can rule those out. Now, it seems a bit unlikely he has Queens, but in my opinion, it's one of only two hands he can have, the other being AQ. If you think about it logically, and I know it's much harder to do that in the moment of play than it is for me now, his range can purely be put on those two hands. We can also rule out bluffs, he knows because you've 3-bet him pre flop and reraised him on flop that you aren't folding here 99% of the time.

River changes nothing. It's very difficult, but once you really analyse his hand range, you can probably see that all he has is AQ and QQ. So, a tight fold on the turn would be the best play here.

So, hand #5. I'm actually happy with myself here, I managed to call his hand before I looked at it!! That moment of accomplishment was very nice! So, I'll explain how I knew he was on 55.

So, very interesting hand. Now, the pre flop raiser can have a lot, it's not really relevant what he has though. You raise, which is good, and the sizing is good, and you get cold-called. Now, this is quite a rare thing. There's a very specific range of hands that are suitable for cold-calling, basically hands that play well multiway. Instantly, when he cold calls, you should be putting him on suited connectors, some suited one gappers and pocket pairs. That is all he is doing this with.

I like the bet when he checks on the flop, it's getting value from hands like 8s, 9s, 10s and spade draws. When he raises, I can't fold quick enough, this is an insta fold when you look at his range. Same as the last hand, let's analyse his range. He never has a King here, never. He's also never bluffing here, he knows you have a strong hand because of the way you've played, and he's not about to make you fold what, from his perspective, probably is AK or KQ, at least that's what I'd be putting you on in his position. You could have aces, or kings as well, but less likely, and it's not certain that you'd bet QQ or JJ here, as you might want to take the line of getting to showdown with a decent hand. He's never doing this with a draw either, again, he knows you have a strong hand, he's not going to try and get you to fold. Sure, he'll play if he has a draw, but he would just call.

So, once again, there are only two hands in his range, in my opinion, 33 and 55. I simply then figured i had a 50/50 chance of getting it right and picked 55 But yeah, it's never nice folding TPTK, but this should be a fold. I say should, you'd be very hard pressed to find anyone at 5NL who would make this fold, so I don't think you played really badly here, I think you probably just made a very common mistake. It's a very difficult fold to make here, but it's one that is necessary to be making as you move up the levels.

Hope this helps!

Hand #6

Love the raise, made it nice and big to account for limpers, perfect sizing. When he donk shoves, I think this is a standard call, and you made it, so nice one. He's not going to be strong there a lot of the time. Nice hand, played it perfectly!

Pokerpedia and evthealien ROCKS!

Huge thanks for your strategic advices!

Have looked throught it and I´ll try to apply it to my game from now on

No worries, good luck!

Day 38

Stakes: $0,02/$0,05
473 hands - 102 minutes - -$6,12




Two giant step downwards in today´s graph.
Explanation:
- All in ($5,40) KK vs A5o pre flop, A hits on board.
-QQ that I called too many streets. A board with K and just crap. Called 1/2 pot on flop and then I just trapped myself and called his bets and he showed AK on river of course. -$4,30 there.

The all in hand is nothing I can do anything about since I will win there most of the times.
But the QQ hand I just want too fold turn or even flop. At least don´t wanna burn away that much.

Except for this sh*t I managed a good session I think.

Worked 07:30-14:15 and 16:30-20:00 today. Exhausted.....
Will get in the hours to play later in the week.

*JANUARY GOALS*

30 000 hands *REACHED 11/1*

85 hours of playing *REACHED 15/1*

15 days of playing *REACHED 16/1*

850 VPPs
Currently: 375

Total profit/loss: +$131,54
Hands: 61 068
Time: 180,1 hrs
Bankroll: $217,54

Unlucky buddy, I have faith you'll be able to turn that downswing around though! On a side note, I'm doing a hand review video for cards chat (another big poker forum), I was wondering whether I could use some of the hands you've posted on here in the video? Don't feel under any pressure to say yes, the reason I ask is because I just thought they were really interesting hands!

Of course you can mate!

Just send a link so I can watch it

Ah thanks man! Will do, not sure when it's going to be uploaded though, I'm not in control of the channel itself! But I'll definitely link you when it goes up.

Hey man,

Cardschat would rather I didn't record me reviewing hands on two plus two (for commercial reasons I suppose). Is it possible you still have the hand replay on boom, or in a file or something? Thanks man