So I've been playing on and off for about 10 years, definitely a loosing player lifetime-wise. I was checking my sharkscope the other day and it doesn't look great. I play on Stars and mostly play micro MTT's, many times satting in to the midstakes tourneys. Recently giving NL2 and 5 a go with decent results, but I end up getting impatient and end up forcing action and getting into stupid spots.

Over the years I've managed to FT some 1.10, 3.30, and 7.50 tourneys (the "Bigs" and "Hots"), and end up min-cashing a decent amount of the time, but I'm slowly coming to think I can't keep blaming variance and need to find and fix my leaks. I am noticing that the majority of the time I get knocked out of the tourneys I get sucked out on or encountered an impossible-to-dodge cooler, so I have some hope that I'm not the biggest whale in the ocean, provided that I play my A-game.

I have no delusions of becoming a pro but my life-situation (I guess anybody's) could improve tremendously by just a few hundred extra bucks a month. I also really like the game and mostly I want to stop having to deposit more money to be able to play and instead withdraw from time to time.

I feel like I have a solid understanding of the basics needed to thrive on the poker scene, I'm just having trouble implementing them consistently. I don't really have money to spend on courses or even Pokertracker atm, but the few weeks I've been reading old posts in this forum has certainly helped me in understanding how little I know compared to the big leagues. I also get that you guys who play professionally don't in real time do elaborate calculations and so on, but that after a time the separate things you've studied kind of become second nature while playing.

In a certain sense I'm looking for my own method to internalize all of the important concepts of the game to be able to - in my own way - play a winning game. I tremendously enjoy the fact that when you strip away all the "boring" math, poker is a game of storytelling, complete with heroes and villains. And whoever tells the story of their cards most convincingly wins, except for when you get to showdown and the sometimes untruths of the story get revealed for all to see.

So in the spirit of trying to get my bearings and also making an introductory post here on this forum, here are my generalized questions which hopefully (if answered) can help other aspiring players who have - as me - come to the realization that there's infinitely more to this game than clicking buttons.

1. What is a good resource (except this forum) for MTT-related strategy? Preferably free.

2. I have trouble taking the game seriously enough, and thus playing my A-game, when I'm grinding NL2 because the pots are so inconsequentially small. If I reg or sat into a 7-11 dollar tourney, I find I play much better because the money, even min-cash, feels substantial enough. Even a "big" pot in NL2 is only 3-4 dollars and those pots only come along every so often.. Is this how everybody feels starting out at low-stakes and I should just suck it up and focus on beating NL2?

3. Care to share some "tricks" or perhaps a quote that stuck with you that helped to drive home an essential concept? I feel like I need a note that says "Just fold pre" stuck to my screen...

4. In 2023, am I better off hoping for a score in an MTT, or putting in mind-numbing hours grinding up a bankroll playing NL2?

5. I've read that 90% of the poker population gives money to the other 10%. What % of that 90% are like me, trying to actively improve, putting in at least some studying hours, and what percentage is strictly for-fun players? Approximately.

6. Is it possible to ask someone with the paid version of Pokertracker to pull my stats and point out my biggest leaks, or is this a no-no?

7. How does a typical NL2 or 5 session look for you guys? How many buy-ins are you able to win in 2 hours?

8. Is "ABC-poker" all that's needed to crack NL2 if you're willing to put in the hours?

That's all I can think of for now. I will be posting more strategy related questions when they arise unless I can't find the answers from older posts. Thanks for reading.

1. You'd probably get a lot of feed back hiring an MTT coach and putting you into the correct mindset. It's very likely you're making substantially more fundamental mistakes than you might think (you don't know what you don't know).

1. Your options are getting a coach, or subscribing to some type of monthly service (runitonce/upswing/???/ etc.). Alternatively, you could try to get software and start improving on your own, but it doesn't sound like that is viable for you.

2. With regards to, "take the game seriously enough", this is just a huge mental leak. Good players don't think about any of it in terms of $$$, it's only ever in terms of big blinds. Your goal is to beat the game and improve, so this mentality needs fixed immediately.

3. Learning something and then intentionally implementing it with some type of feedback loop is how you essentially learn. You want to learn a concept, implement it, and then get feedback on whether it was correct/wrong. This could be done any number of ways: stats, results, coach, etc.

4. Whichever one you enjoy more. You should predominantly be playing for entertainment. Both are viable.

5. Your idea of "actively trying to improve" is probably not significant enough to warrant that statement.

6. Yes, coaches often do this service. There is an MTT coach on the listings that advertises this

7. This type of question immediately raises concern about your ability and thought process. 1000 hands at a cash game is nothing. You can be +/- up to 10 buy ins over that sample.

8. Essentially yes

The structure of the game(blind speed, ante size, steepness of payouts) cause different players to react in some huge number of different ways. How opponents react to the game structure will determine where your strategy earns ev(the sum of non showdown winnings and showdown winnings).

At some tables(or certain positions at a particular table with mixed suspects), non showdown winnings are near negligible when considering preflop selection and thus only strong hands that earn much showdown winnings should be played(this effect is more pronounced in tourneys because winning chips is not directly proportional to increasing your share of the prize pool). This is micro poker 101.

At other tighter tables, youll earn ev in significant proportion from both non showdown winnings and showdown winnings, and hopefully the sum is higher that the total number of chips you put into pots.

Strong hands are the backbone of any good strategy. Draws of every kind have a place in strong betting strategies exactly because of the strong hands protecting the draws. Without strong hands in the betting range, your semibluffs will get wrecked by anyone half decent.

The game texture and structure determine where you may seize ev(every action besides folding and river bluffing out of position is intended to be profitable). The details of how different actions seize ev from the pot are long and arduous. The point is that if you try to seize ev that this particular game isnt offering you, you are nearly certain to lose in the long run.

1. There is so much information on this forum it would take literal years to go through. Start with the sticky’s and go from there. Even the outdated stuff may get you to improve from where you are now.

2. If you can’t beat the lowest stake, why move up? Are you able to change the visual of the chips at the table to show blind instead of dollars? Maybe that would help you get over the value of the table.

3. One I’ve made up that’s helped me. DNFA. Do not force action. There are times during a long uneventful session where I’m running card dead I have to remind myself that it happens and not to play trash to make up for it.

4. Do what you enjoy most. If it’s not fun then it’s not worth playing. Working a job would be more lucrative.

5. Anecdotal evidence, but just about every poker player I personally know has never even read a poker book, and the ones that have consider themselves as self proclaimed experts.

6. I don’t believe it would be an issue, but don’t quote me.

7. My 2nl bb/100 dwarfs my 4nl bb/100. Refer back to answer #2.

8. A solid yes

Make a deposit and play $5.50 mtts and bink. Profit. This is advice for yourself since cash is not for you,