Used multiple forums before, and I'm ok enough at poker to be giving people simple tadbits of info they should include to help themselves improve as I've spent a lot of time doing it myself.

Need to do some work myself on my game though as I've been getting lazy/had more important stuff to do recently. So will probably transition more to uNL/sNL as I don't really get a huge amount out of posting here.

Fair enough. Wasn't having a go, just wondered

Transition to 5nl on the way. Overall a very good day. Crazy heater at 2nl to close it up, +15BI in 2k hands. In addition I got the $10 stellar reward and +1 BI first session at 5nl, for a total of +$45 today. Not bad compared to the slow progress at 2nl.

BR now at a healthy $125 (with more coming in when we ship BHUNLA in a couple of weeks) and I can safely play 5nl with 9BI to lose before I need to move down. This time I have a BR goal and a hand amount goal before moving up. Last time I think I was moving up too fast with MTT earnings added to my roll, and I got to 25nl with way too little experience. I'll be moving to 10nl when I have at least 25BI and have played at least 35k hands at 5nl. If I reach $250 prior to that, I will just keep grinding a bigger roll before moving up.

A bit of a BR update for interest's sake and a hand I'd like to discuss as well. After a couple of days of my 25NL shot I found myself down $140 (which I know isn't a huge deal, but still!) but in the last couple thousand hands I've recovered completely and a little more. Definitely brought a smile to my face when the graph peeked onto the other side of the zero line.

It was a mix of a horrendous downswing and some bad play brought on by the downswing. It's incredible how even after you think you have a handle on issues such as this they sneak up on you and get you. On the other side, in sessions both today and yesterday I found myself down 1-1.5BI fairly quickly, and after review I couldn't find any significant errors. More bad luck than anything (people hitting runner-runner or two-outers on the river and the like). I was able to keep my cool and realize I got my money in good and the results were out of my control. In both sessions I managed to fight my way back and turn a small profit.

Anyway, on to the hand:

PokerStars - $0.25 NL - Holdem - 7 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

UTG: $48.35 (VPIP: 13.29, PFR: 9.82, 3Bet Preflop: 3.59, Hands: 493)
UTG+1: $10.40 (VPIP: 10.96, PFR: 10.96, 3Bet Preflop: 5.56, Hands: 75)
MP: $11.92 (VPIP: 0.00, PFR: 0.00, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 5)
CO: $35.82 (VPIP: 18.48, PFR: 14.46, 3Bet Preflop: 3.29, Hands: 428)
BTN: $25.60 (VPIP: 30.77, PFR: 19.23, 3Bet Preflop: 9.76, Hands: 136)
SB: $27.87 (VPIP: 15.79, PFR: 10.53, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 58)
Hero (BB): $25.00

SB posts SB $0.10, Hero posts BB $0.25

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

fold, fold, fold, CO raises to $0.70, BTN calls $0.70, fold, Hero raises to $2.30, CO calls $1.60, fold

Flop: ($5.40, 2 players) K 7 6
Hero checks, CO checks

Turn: ($5.40, 2 players) 6
Hero bets $3.00, CO calls $3.00

River: ($11.40, 2 players) 9
Hero bets $9.00, fold

I know it's more difficult to get value out of a hand like this when you are OOP but I have a couple of questions here:

1. What do you guys think of my line in general? I checked the flop because I figured it would make me appear weak after the 3bet, however, I know people at microstakes really like to slowplay so perhaps it was FPS on my part.

2. Was the river bet size too big? Would a check have been OK here for similar reasons to my check on the flop?

Awesome work, congrats. Love when things go that way and luck is surely on your side but for what it's worth you seem like a solid player, at least from the stuff I've seen from you, so you deserve some credit as well.

Hope that 5NL goes as well for you as 2NL did.

I'm folding my entire flatting range here (never flatting AA, KK in this spot).

Thanks outatime!

About that hand, I think oop it would be best to always bet there. X/C looks a bit suspicious and if you then X/R or lead turn it looks super strong. He doesn't have many strong hands to call with, but he will be floating nines or jacks a lot of the time. And the thing is with those flops, if he can possibly improve his hand to stack of on turn or river, he will usually call a cbet on the flop. If he snapfolds to your flop cbet, he would probably fold on most turncards also, so it doesn't really matter when you bet. Sometimes you might get a small bet, like in this hand, but then you might also be losing a lot of value when he has a hand if you check the flop and he also choses to slowplay.

As played I would go a bit smaller otr. He doesn't have a K, so we are looking to get value from pretty much only TT and JJ, maybe even QQ. Sometimes he might have 77 or 99 there, but then he would mostly raise, so you will get value from those in any case. Other than those he shouldn't have very many hands that will call anything at all.

Are you folding JJ, assuming you aren't 3betting that in position vs a 9/5?

Anyone playing on stars should make the most of the WCOOP reload bonus. I just deposited 460 euro and am going to be taking out 575 probably by the end of next week

Yeah I saw that. Was trying to work out how much I should deposit that I could actually work off

Blargh with these sessions...
h1: good DB spot? i expect him to peel light in this spot

iPoker - $0.10 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

Hero (BB): $10.87
UTG: $12.67 (VPIP: 15.10, PFR: 13.02, 3Bet Preflop: 5.41, Hands: 197)
MP: $10.15 (VPIP: 38.89, PFR: 22.22, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 19)
CO: $17.18 (VPIP: 12.50, PFR: 12.50, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 25)
BTN: $10.18 (VPIP: 16.61, PFR: 12.81, 3Bet Preflop: 5.53, Hands: 1,668)
SB: $10.64 (VPIP: 16.00, PFR: 8.00, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 25)

SB posts SB $0.05, Hero posts BB $0.10

Pre Flop: (pot: $0.15) Hero has A K

fold, MP raises to $0.30, CO calls $0.30, fold, fold, Hero raises to $1.20, MP calls $0.90, fold

Flop: ($2.75, 2 players) Q 5 5
Hero bets $1.30, MP calls $1.30

Turn: ($5.35, 2 players) 9
Hero checks, MP checks

River: ($5.35, 2 players) J
Hero checks, MP checks



h2: Of course i picked up wrong spot afterwards Sucks so much, if i had good psyche i could c/f here, when not these keep happening.

iPoker - $0.10 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 5 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BTN: $11.97 (VPIP: 61.54, PFR: 26.92, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 29)
Hero (SB): $10.00
BB: $16.30 (VPIP: 29.03, PFR: 16.13, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 32)
UTG: $10.81 (VPIP: 23.73, PFR: 20.51, 3Bet Preflop: 11.05, Hands: 566)
CO: $10.00 (VPIP: 24.80, PFR: 21.24, 3Bet Preflop: 8.26, Hands: 899)

Hero posts SB $0.05, BB posts BB $0.10

Pre Flop: (pot: $0.15) Hero has A Q

fold, CO raises to $0.30, fold, Hero raises to $1.00, fold, CO calls $0.70

Flop: ($2.10, 2 players) 7 J 6
Hero bets $1.20, CO calls $1.20

Turn: ($4.50, 2 players) 2
Hero bets $2.50, CO calls $2.50

River: ($9.50, 2 players) T
Hero checks, CO bets $5.30, fold

CO wins $8.87


h3: River sizing?

iPoker - $0.10 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

Hero (BB): $10.15
UTG: $11.28 (VPIP: 24.57, PFR: 21.09, 3Bet Preflop: 8.05, Hands: 948)
MP: $11.26 (VPIP: 22.39, PFR: 20.90, 3Bet Preflop: 11.11, Hands: 70)
CO: $11.02 (VPIP: 78.69, PFR: 4.92, 3Bet Preflop: 3.23, Hands: 65)
BTN: $10.00 (VPIP: 17.82, PFR: 10.89, 3Bet Preflop: 5.88, Hands: 102)
SB: $18.17 (VPIP: 21.67, PFR: 18.23, 3Bet Preflop: 4.35, Hands: 210)

SB posts SB $0.05, Hero posts BB $0.10

Pre Flop: (pot: $0.15) Hero has Q 9

fold, fold, CO calls $0.10, fold, fold, Hero checks

Flop: ($0.25, 2 players) 9 Q 5
Hero bets $0.17, CO calls $0.17

Turn: ($0.59, 2 players) A
Hero checks, CO bets $0.29, Hero raises to $1.00, CO calls $0.71

River: ($2.59, 2 players) 5
Hero bets $2.00, CO calls $2.00



h4: was this value bet a little overkill? Kinda tempted to call, but as they say river raises are always nuts.

iPoker - $0.10 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BTN: $5.89 (VPIP: 25.00, PFR: 12.50, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 8)
SB: $10.47 (VPIP: 28.57, PFR: 28.57, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 7)
Hero (BB): $11.00
UTG: $2.00 (VPIP: 41.67, PFR: 8.33, 3Bet Preflop: 14.29, Hands: 12)
MP: $14.56 (VPIP: 26.23, PFR: 9.84, 3Bet Preflop: 7.69, Hands: 62)
CO: $24.88 (VPIP: 24.28, PFR: 17.92, 3Bet Preflop: 4.55, Hands: 181)

SB posts SB $0.05, Hero posts BB $0.10

Pre Flop: (pot: $0.15) Hero has A 5

fold, fold, fold, fold, SB calls $0.05, Hero raises to $0.40, SB calls $0.30

Flop: ($0.80, 2 players) 6 4 5
SB checks, Hero bets $0.50, SB calls $0.50

Turn: ($1.80, 2 players) 5
SB checks, Hero bets $1.00, SB calls $1.00

River: ($3.80, 2 players) 9
SB checks, Hero bets $2.80, SB raises to $8.54, fold

SB wins $8.78

h5: just cant trust these nits to trip barrel. if i raise turn he's folding as always

iPoker - $0.10 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 5 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BB: $13.83 (VPIP: 21.48, PFR: 16.11, 3Bet Preflop: 2.63, Hands: 152)
UTG: $20.54 (VPIP: 24.21, PFR: 20.94, 3Bet Preflop: 7.97, Hands: 1,007)
CO: $10.00 (VPIP: 16.02, PFR: 11.16, 3Bet Preflop: 3.52, Hands: 718)
BTN: $12.44 (VPIP: 48.75, PFR: 20.00, 3Bet Preflop: 4.76, Hands: 88)
Hero (SB): $12.52

Hero posts SB $0.05, BB posts BB $0.10

Pre Flop: (pot: $0.15) Hero has 9 9

fold, fold, BTN raises to $0.40, Hero calls $0.35, fold

Flop: ($0.90, 2 players) 9 6 A
Hero checks, BTN bets $0.50, Hero calls $0.50

Turn: ($1.90, 2 players) 8
Hero checks, BTN bets $1.20, Hero calls $1.20

River: ($4.30, 2 players) 8
Hero checks, BTN checks

460 euro deposit is around ~3000VPP for 115 euro bonus. Well worth a go.

Meh, just worked it out for around 750 vpps per month. Gotta deposit $150 to get $37.5 back.

Is it worth it I wonder? Back playing 10nl which doesn't help, although just released a $50 bonus which is definitely welcome atm.

Fishtankz:
H1 - You've only got 19 hands on him so dunno why you think he'll peel light in a 3bet pot. The 9 changes nothing so not a good DB spot imo. Raise more pre as you're OOP.

H2 - awful flop to cbet

H3 - villain is typical whale, just bet/bet/bet, no need to get fancy with a check-raise as you just don't know he'll bet this and board is getting worse for your hand

H4 - Think it's fine, bigger OTT imo

H5 - Get a check raise in ott or lead river imo (prefer turn action as you can balance out your semi-bluffs with value hands too)

Definitely. I just deposited euro which is just going to sit in my account until I take it out. Your basically getting free money. Even if you don't get through it all you can just withdraw it after.

I was wondering about the stars reload bonus (and I've been told by regs who play seriously to boycott it because their redeposit bonuses suck dick), I was going to put $100 on stars and get a months DC membership but I may just put $150 on, grind 10nl for a bit and then pay for DC through deposit bonus.

The other plan was $100 on stars and a month DC membership. w/ no bonus

Any +/-'s to the two plans / better ideas in total (realising that I have realistically roughly £100 to put into poker)

Folding QQ in that spot.

Another losing session. Hands:

1) I was considering a river vbet! Lol'd when I saw his hand.

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

BTN: $27.46 (VPIP: 26.98, PFR: 22.75, 3Bet Preflop: 10.67, Hands: 193)
SB: $94.35 (VPIP: 44.74, PFR: 23.68, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 38)
BB: $42.75
UTG: $51.39 (VPIP: 0.00, PFR: 0.00, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 4)
Hero (MP): $47.87
CO: $25.00 (VPIP: 24.51, PFR: 19.47, 3Bet Preflop: 8.95, Hands: 466)

SB posts SB $0.10, BB posts BB $0.25

Pre Flop: (pot: $0.35) Hero has 9 9

UTG raises to $0.75, Hero calls $0.75, CO calls $0.75, fold, fold, BB calls $0.50

Flop: ($3.10, 4 players) Q 7 K
BB checks, UTG checks, Hero checks, CO checks

Turn: ($3.10, 4 players) 8
BB checks, UTG checks, Hero checks, CO checks

River: ($3.10, 4 players) 2
BB checks, UTG checks, Hero checks, CO checks



2) This one was very tough and I need a line check.

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

BTN: $37.34 (VPIP: 50.00, PFR: 50.00, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 3)
Hero (SB): $60.47
BB: $25.37 (VPIP: 32.67, PFR: 26.70, 3Bet Preflop: 12.88, Hands: 365)
UTG: $51.07 (VPIP: 20.00, PFR: 11.11, 3Bet Preflop: 5.26, Hands: 46)
MP: $61.92 (VPIP: 20.90, PFR: 15.82, 3Bet Preflop: 8.57, Hands: 179)
CO: $25.00 (VPIP: 27.12, PFR: 22.03, 3Bet Preflop: 8.33, Hands: 59)

Hero posts SB $0.10, BB posts BB $0.25

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

fold, MP raises to $0.75, fold, BTN raises to $1.70, Hero raises to $4.20, fold, MP calls $3.45, BTN calls $2.50

Flop: ($12.85, 3 players) 8 6 J
Hero bets $5.10, fold, BTN calls $5.10

Turn: ($23.05, 2 players) 3
Hero bets $7.20, BTN calls $7.20

River: ($37.45, 2 players) Q
Hero checks, BTN bets $20.84 and is all-in, fold



3) Anyone folding the river here? It's def tough for him to have bluffs in his range but it's also tough for him to have 8x here.

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

BTN: $28.23 (VPIP: 21.31, PFR: 19.01, 3Bet Preflop: 8.16, Hands: 125)
SB: $32.89 (VPIP: 40.00, PFR: 30.00, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 20)
BB: $25.25 (VPIP: 27.87, PFR: 21.31, 3Bet Preflop: 10.81, Hands: 187)
UTG: $31.57 (VPIP: 26.13, PFR: 18.02, 3Bet Preflop: 5.88, Hands: 113)
MP: $27.71 (VPIP: 20.00, PFR: 0.00, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 5)
Hero (CO): $26.34

SB posts SB $0.10, BB posts BB $0.25

Pre Flop: (pot: $0.35) Hero has 7 7

fold, fold, Hero raises to $0.75, fold, SB calls $0.65, fold

Flop: ($1.75, 2 players) 3 J 7
SB checks, Hero bets $1.10, SB calls $1.10

Turn: ($3.95, 2 players) T
SB bets $2.20, Hero raises to $6.69, SB calls $4.49

River: ($17.33, 2 players) 9
SB bets $12.00, Hero calls $12.00



4) Never folding the turn bvb on this board vs a slightly spewy reg right?

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

BTN: $8.55 (VPIP: 14.33, PFR: 13.06, 3Bet Preflop: 4.11, Hands: 320)
Hero (SB): $32.39
BB: $31.54 (VPIP: 32.14, PFR: 26.79, 3Bet Preflop: 12.10, Hands: 348)
UTG: $7.65 (VPIP: 15.91, PFR: 10.61, 3Bet Preflop: 2.00, Hands: 138)
MP: $34.36 (VPIP: 42.67, PFR: 30.67, 3Bet Preflop: 10.34, Hands: 75)
CO: $28.58 (VPIP: 26.57, PFR: 23.62, 3Bet Preflop: 10.42, Hands: 279)

Hero posts SB $0.10, BB posts BB $0.25

Pre Flop: (pot: $0.35) Hero has 7 8

fold, fold, fold, fold, Hero raises to $0.75, BB calls $0.50

Flop: ($1.50, 2 players) 8 4 7
Hero bets $1.00, BB raises to $2.00, Hero raises to $5.50, BB calls $3.50

Turn: ($12.50, 2 players) T
Hero bets $7.21, BB raises to $25.29 and is all-in, Hero calls $18.08

River: ($63.08, 2 players) 5

I think i'll put my iPoker roll on stars. No withdrawal fee, but i have to re-deposit afterwards to keep grinding points on iPoker. Could convert my current points for 23.3% cashback, or grind 4x more points for 30%. Kinda like iPoker because of small field, makes notes a lot more effective. Same fish play often. Pokerstars for me is all about finding fish from the unknowns, which is hard sometimes because of so many players. But there's probably an edge in terms of rake / fishiness?

[x] Poker is a skill game.

Wouldn't be Xring that board. Either cbet or let him barrel off. What do you expect him to call with? You have all the kings but one, and flush draws don't make up a large part of his range.

UL though with the runner runner.

He was an absolute donk. He bets with nearly any holdings, and nearly always overbets the pot when given a chance.

He had previously called many 3bets of a huge size, hence my justification of making it 20x preflop. I check knowing that he's more likely to bet than raise my cbet, and jam knowing he's likely to play any pair such as A3 or something like this.

As I said, I expect him to call with nearly his entire range since he's an ATC aggro-donk.

@ TDA
H2: I know since its a 4bet pot you want to bet small but I think I'd just bet around 7.5 OFT and ship turn since its MW. 90% of people don't realise your bet sizing should change in 3bet/4bet pots so I wouldn't worry about giving anything away. And its not like your ever bluffing here MW in a 4bet pot.
h3: it's tough to find a fold here but fish never seem to lie when the donk the river.
H4: Looks fine to me.

Gamma, re: H2, even with effective stacks with MP?

@fishtanks. Barrel turn in h1, check turn in h2, keep betting turn in h3 and c/f river obv..., go bigger on turn in h4 and river fold is likely good, h5 nh

@TDA make it 2 streets from flop or check. Don't worry about MP depth before you choose size. It's unlikely he calls flop anyway, worry about that scenario when it comes. As played just ship turn for like 1.2x pot or whatever. Betting your size is worst option by a good margin. 77 is meh, folding vs guys at 25nl for the most part calling vs better players. 87 I b/c flop pretty much always

@TDA, I'll take a shot.

H2 - I'd like to think I'd fold in there as well, with 200BB stacks, I'm not sure I'm getting it in post flop with any pocket pair (even AA) unimproved. That said, it's easy for me to say this while I'm not playing ...
H3 - I agree with gamma, really tough to find a fold here as you just don't see any draws taking this line. Yuck.
H4 - Assuming his aggression numbers match the line taken, I'd say WP but UL. Too bad, but sometimes they get there. Even if the numbers are a bit off I can't say I see much wrong here.

Hope something in there was of use.