I expect raises from strong ranges (88+,AT+) and a call from a lot of KJ,QT,9J type of hands. That's why I'm confused by his donk bet, it doesn't make sense and I have seen everything at the $1.50 lvl, the donk bet doens't automatically tell he has hit his hand. So could be draws, bluffs, better hands, I have no clue what to do

QFT.
I'm crushing on iPoker at the mo, but can't wait to get back on the fishy tables on 888 once I've cleared my bonus. It will be a long time before I get the urge to play on Stars again.

@Roszzz, so A5s and all small PPs in his range there then...

A2-A5 definitly in his range, not sure if he calls with those pp's pre but possible. I see I forgot to give Hud stats, will look for those now.

Playing on a different site is caring about the money too much. IF you're playing 25 or 50nl for the money then you're doing it wrong all you should care about is getting better which means showing you can beat better players is a great thing. If you could stop getting better and make a great living beating fish on another site then go for it but the reality is you can't.

Short term laziness or needing some sense of self gratification. If you can't beat 25nl or 50nl on stars (and they are clearly very beatable look at peoples results) that's YOUR fault. If the aim is to make a few pennies on the side whilst not wanting to study or get better then obviously play on a site where your winrate is largest.

isn't like table selecting, but in a bigger way?

It is game selection which is an important skill to work on. Playing against good players will help you get better, of course. But playing in sub-optimal games just to get better isn't necessarily the best way to go about playing poker. In the end for some of us, it's about winning the most money. Sure eventually you will need to move up and onto tougher games but there is absolutely nothing wrong with game selecting on a better site.

If you table select and put the exact same amount of time and effort into getting better then obviously it's better because you're winning more and getting better at a similar rate. The truth is though almost no one does this, if you're winning you probably over rate yourself as a player and don't put the time into improving as you should.

That I beat 25NLz is proven (gtfo if you're going to start about limitations of statistical proof) by my results, and I suspect that I'm a long-term winner at 50NLz as well (I also suspect that the former suggests I'd be a long-term winner at 50 reg). The reason I'd move is that the Zoom grind is getting a little boring and crushing is more fun. I play for fun, not money.

Fish on a heater until you beat 50nl over 500k hands imo.

But seriously if you just want some relatively instant gratification then go for it. Getting the best at poker doesn't have to be the goal. In fact for most people it definitely isn't. It's just the whole making money argument for playing weaker players is very short term and as a result is very flawed.

Personally I'm not really sure I understand why crushing is more fun.

It's not always more fun and that's why I'd still mostly be playing Stars. It's like how sometimes it's fun to hop on a videogame, stick it on easy difficulty and crush the AI.

MMSS on that molly crash. B1tch act

Done with the grind this month. Good results, bankroll improved. Going to stay away from the tables for a while now. Writing notes and analyzing sessions.
20nl beaten for 5.9bb/100 over 25k sample.

Dropped back down to 5nl, not happening for me at 10nl.

Why am I so comfortable/profitable at 5nl, and yet struggling at 10? I'm using the same principles in both, but can't seem to get the curve going above 0bb/100 at the higher stake. Will probably spend May grinding back my roll to take another stab at it.

I feel ya, currently on 35k hands at 5nl @ 7bb/100, played 2k @ 10nl and running like poop!

Really not how I want to start when I take a shot >.<

Ended up going on life tilt for the last 2 weeks of this month so didn't play any poker. Just 16k hands total this month, all in the first 2 weeks.

Next month, I'm going to finish off 10nl and set aside a proper amount for 25nl, not 'make $25 at 10nl then take a 1 buyin shot at 25nl, lose it and need to drop back down to make another $25'.

I think I have some marginal SDV here but is this one of the spots I should be bluffing because it's the bottom of my range?

PokerStars - $0.25 NL FAST (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BTN: $38.23 (VPIP: 20.00, PFR: 20.00, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 5)
SB: $25.00 (VPIP: 12.50, PFR: 12.50, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 9)
BB: $25.00 (VPIP: 27.49, PFR: 20.99, 3Bet Preflop: 6.59, Hands: 1,258)
UTG: $34.82 (VPIP: 27.27, PFR: 9.09, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 11)
Hero (MP): $26.14
CO: $28.51 (VPIP: 28.93, PFR: 21.32, 3Bet Preflop: 7.45, Hands: 199)

SB posts SB $0.10, BB posts BB $0.25

Pre Flop: (pot: $0.35) Hero has A 8

fold, Hero raises to $0.75, CO raises to $2.00, fold, fold, BB calls $1.75, Hero calls $1.25

Flop: ($6.10, 3 players) 6 9 3
BB checks, Hero checks, CO checks

Turn: ($6.10, 3 players) 8
BB bets $1.75, Hero calls $1.75, fold

River: ($9.60, 2 players) 5
BB checks, Hero bets $5.90, fold

Should you be defending a CO 3bet in MP w/A8s?

Getting 4-1 given the cold call, I'm pretty sure I should.

This is definitely too thin balance-wise given how my checking range looks if I barrel this, but is it too thin in a vacuum?

PokerStars - $0.25 NL FAST (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BTN: $29.61 (VPIP: 29.63, PFR: 22.22, 3Bet Preflop: 13.33, Hands: 28)
SB: $14.93 (VPIP: 0.00, PFR: 0.00, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 1)
BB: $117.58 (VPIP: 0.00, PFR: 0.00, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 1)
UTG: $15.81 (VPIP: 0.00, PFR: 0.00, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 1)
Hero (MP): $28.96
CO: $46.79 (VPIP: 15.06, PFR: 13.25, 3Bet Preflop: 12.16, Hands: 169)

SB posts SB $0.10, BB posts BB $0.25

Pre Flop: (pot: $0.35) Hero has J J

fold, Hero raises to $0.75, fold, BTN calls $0.75, fold, fold

Flop: ($1.85, 2 players) 3 5 6
Hero bets $1.30, BTN calls $1.30

Turn: ($4.45, 2 players) 4
Hero bets $2.90, fold

Update
Been a pretty good month for me and still a whole day for it to get better. Started with $50 back on the 15th of this month and over 12 days have made $91.71 at 2NL putting my roll at $151.71

About to move up to 5NL so should turn a profit there as well.

Stacked in my first hand I played..

Had a skim through your PG&C thread the other day. Really well done. Great to see your work having results. Just play the same and you'll be fine. Keep working on your game trying to find your mistakes. Don't try and overhaul anything massively all at once etc.

One thing to say though is keeping track of your results over the very short term can drive you mad though and it's a hard habit to get out of. As I'm currently doing it myself :P

GL though, you'll crush it.

Same for me. I wanted to have a big winning month so got OCD about the results in the end. So i decided to quit the month couple of days earlier.
Here are april results, as stated low winrate pre-RB and big volume. I can be lazy with volume next month so that's good. Just going to focus on improving my gameplay now. No need to worry about the roll. RB in that graph is the % of all bonuses compared to rake paid.

Thanks! I'm just going to play my same 2NL game. The only difference will be the regs will be a bit better but still have massive leaks in their game. The fish will still be fish so its all about value town.

The fish are the same indeed. Maybe at 50nl fish will start worrying a bit more about losing their money. But for some people it's still small % of their salary.
5nl is the starting limit for some players, so shouldn't be a huge difference there. I think regs at low income countries play 10nl for living rather than 5nl. So don't expect anything too crazy.