I have been playing micro stakes for a couple months now. Started at 10, played about 10k hands figured i was a winning player so I moved up to 25 where i played about 50k hands and have been winning at 4 big blinds/100, though in that time though I ran really hot and am about 10BI above expected. I also took a couple shots at 25 where I got crushed so I decided to stick with 25 for a while.

I will usually play about 10-16 tables at a time. I know this is hurting my winrate but I don't know if I could double my winrate if I cut my tables in half.

My question is that I know I am losing money somewhere as I find tables with fish regularely and I wanted to know how I can find these leaks. Are there certain things I should look at in Pokertracker to find out where I am losing money? I know I will get told to post hands on here and I have started posting most of the hands I am having trouble in. What I am looking for is certain stats I can look at that will help me identify my mistakes.

over 50k hands in 25 on Pstars and Fulltilt some of my main stats are as follows:

14.9/10.8 VPIP/PFR
2.2/43.67 AF/AFq
3.98/70.95 3bet/ fold to 3 bet.

Those are just an example of some of my stats. What other things should I be looking at?

Your biggest leak is playing too many tables, how do you ever expect to get better playing 10 tables. We really don't give a flying **** about our hourly rate at the micros, simply because we're not playing for the money there, we're hoping to get out, in which we a max (imo) of 4 tables, and learn how to get out of certain spots.

You're a nit, 15/11, and you're missing a WHOLE ton of value. Trust me, I used to play this style, slowly went to 17/14 and now 21/18, and I'm sure I still miss a ton of value, but still, I get a lot more than what a nit does, so try to loosen up a little in the CO and on the BTN.

My advice, and take it with a punch of salt if you wish, is; cut down the tables to 4, get a subscription to deucescracked, and work on acquiring a basic range for yourself which will allow you to get more value from weak players, instead of being the one who's being exploited for not playing hands. One thing micro players don't do is punish limpers, this is hugely profitable and if you're not doing this, then you have a leak right there. If they limp, raise them up and put them under pressure..

So hands like K10o A9o in late position raise those up? so far my UTG range is
AJo+ KQs and 99+. Is that not enough or is it my late position that I need to work on?

EDIT: My BTN is 20/16 and CO is 16/13. I take it those are two areas I need to work on?

My UTG is generally pretty similar, ATs+, AJo+, KQo+, 22+, JTs+, and yeah, if it's folded to you in the CO, hands like KTo, K9s, J8s are easily openable imo, so is pretty much any hand on the BTN when the blinds are nits.

Watch some videos to gather some CO and BTN ranges and see the type of hands others open, because I don't really have a set BTN or CO range to tell you about, if the table dynamics allow me to open any two cards then I'm doing it, or if I've for a constant 3bettor to my left, I'm tightening up my open range.

Is raising ATC from the button a good idea when you have SSers on the blinds? Since they are usually mass multitablers who will only push on you with roughly 10% of their hands and never call?

Edit : And question about your UTG range. What level do you play? Do you really want to play JTs UTG OOP? What about 22? Playing 22 OOP is basically hit set play and dont hit set fold. How can that be profitable?

If they're playing 10% of their hands, then yes. Just because they're a SS, doesn't mean they're playing only 10%, but yeah, if they're short and play 10%, then I will open ATC on the BTN.

I'm taking shots at 50NL as we speak. And you have to remember, our opponents don't know what we're opening, so when we open UTG and cbet a flop, our range is extremely strong because we're UTG, they assume we're not opening crap here, 22 and JT don't have large reverse implied odds, we're either winning a monster pot or folding when we miss, so of course they're profitable, especially when our range is generally weaker than what some give us credit for.

If you're playing 2NL/5NL, generally you can play this nitty style and do well, infact I did the same. You don't need to worry about your stats at this level, and you don't need to open 22-66 UTG if you don't want to, but if you're going to play I'd probably rather open than limp if I'm honest, and as far as JTs goes, there is nothing wrong with folding UTG also.

I think when you're beating 10NL is when you can start opening up and experimenting a little bit with ranges, just play straight forward at 2NL and 5NL, and that probably includes sticking to your current style, but pushing little edges like nits in the blinds is always going to be profitable.

For me, preflop hand selection is mostly what I feel like at the time. I try to make hands easy to play for myself, so my range depends a lot on the players at the table. I raise with a wide range of hands vs passive opponents and tighten up from early position vs aggressive opponents who might make me fold my hand with a 3bet or play me in position. I play 6max however so it's easy for me to justify any preflop decision. I don't think there are many wrong hands to play preflop at 6max, but there may be at full ring.

I am playing 25 right now and mostly rely on table selection to win. How doesnt J10 suited have RIO? Flop comes JJ5 now what? Unless you are getting complete and utter morons to call you you will win this small pot most of the time but the time where someone else has a J it will almost always be better than yours. I can understand stuff like flushes and straights but playing draws OOP really sucks.

u say why play 2-2 hit set or not well yeah thats true but when do u ever play 2-2 and not hit a set or leave it?
in fact pp's are the easyiest hand to play oop beacuse its hit or quit u dont waste money playing oop post flop.
my 2 tips for making profits in micros is any hand u play in x posistion always raise if u are first in . any hand u will play always raise limpers with it ,
u can steal blinds easy and resteal button steals easy here to.
when a tight big stack raises utg always call with pp or suited connects the impiled odds are huge these tight multi tablers just will never fold a-a or k-k no matter when the board brings.
c-bet less value bet more .
u fold to 3-bets loads in my opion look at the hands u are folding im sure some of the pp's and suited connects have huge impied odds for calling some of these 3 bets? just like always posistion is very important tighten up loads in early as alot of yr raises will get callers. mix things up in middle posistion and play wide range and aggression in late lots of raises and 3 bets here , most players are either nits or fish at this level so in posistion its easy money. dont play fancy abc tag is the best anything more costs u money cus of their level.
oh donk bets on the river is usally the nuts down their.

With JTs, we're playing it to make straights and flushes, and when we do, we're going broke. We're not folding on a JJ5 flop, and if he has QJ+, then it's a cooler, generally we're going broke with straights and flushes, and breaking 2pairs and sets. If we raise with JTs UTG, cbet a 843r flop and get raised, we can easily fold, where as with AA, we're pretty much always going broke without a read, and can expect to come up against 88, 44 and 33. With JTs, we're not going broke with a naked J or T (one pair), only two pair or better, so losing small pots and winning monsters (okay, losing the occasional monster too, but every hand is susceptible to this) rings true.

And playing draws OOP is different to playing draws OOP with the lead imo. If we've got the lead in the hand, we can comfortably barrel certain turns and get him off better hands, and if we get called, we've still got a ton of equity at this point, where as if we haven't got the lead, we've got to c/c the flop and generally c/f the turn, unless we want to get it in and c/r.

Ok lets say you get 22 UTG. You raise to 4x. 1 caller. Pot is now 9.5 blinds.

Lets say you are folding flop unless you hit the set and playing it if you hit.

You lose your 4BB 7.5 out of 8.5 times or 88% of the time for an EV of -3.53 BB

You hit your set 1 out of 8.5 times or 12% of the time. Can you really expect to make an average of 20 more BB every time just to break even? At least 30% of the flops that you bet you will take the pot right there. That means those other 70% of the time you have to win 35 more BB to break even. At 5 or 10 maybe youll get that. I dont think you are winning 35 BB more on average at 25.

Or are you planning on cbetting a lot of flops with 22 as well?

Well it depends on who calls obviously, but I'm cbetting most flops yes, unless it's super superb dry like JTxtt, or something coordinated like that. Plus I get the opportunity to rep a monster that most can't handle being barrelled against, so I think I can turn a profit from just cbetting flop, and can build on that profit by barreling certain turn cards also, plus when I do hit, I can win a decent pot also.

When I get home on Thursday I'll open up HEM and look at 22 from UTG and post them in this thread, it's 3am in UK so I can't really be arsed to go into much maths, nor could I even if it was about 2pm, but yeah, I'm pretty sure I profit from opening them. I dont know how big the sample is, I've got about 280k hands in my database, so there should be a decent sample in there.

I think my image can come into it also, if I show down 22 and JTs, my UTG range isn't going to get as much credit as if I showed down AA/KK/AK every time, so even if I only turn a small profit with these hands, it can certainly get me more value on other hands when they're unsure if I'm on a draw or actually have a big pair.

Yeah, set-mining isn't instant profit, guys.

Alright fair enough.

To get back to the topic, are there other areas of my game that I should be looking at?

Errm, apart from cutting down the tables and opening your range up, it looks pretty standard to me, when you open your range up and learn a little bit about other people's ranges, you'll begin to find profitable spots where you can 3bet, ie. habitual stealer BTN opens, SB calls and you can 3bet with pretty much ATC here also, because the BTN's range is so wide, he's pretty much insta mucking his hand, SB's hand wasn't strong enough to raise pre OOP, so definitely not gonna be strong enough to call a 3bet with OOP.

You can't really tell that much from stats, would be better if you got a video of yourself up playing 25NL and I could review that if you wanted? I'm not saying you should follow all the advice I give, but I'd be happy to offer any advice on certain hands..

You do not need to hit to win.


Poker $400.00 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players
The Official 2+2 Hand Converter Powered By DeucesCracked.com

BTN: $878.06
SB: $980.14
BB: $418.30
Hero (UTG): $500.00
MP: $70.80
CO: $400.00

Pre Flop: ($6.00) Hero is UTG with 3 3
Hero raises to $16, 1 fold, CO calls $16, 2 folds, BB calls $12

Flop: ($50.00) 7 2 A (3 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $36.00, CO folds, BB folds

Final Pot: $50.00
Hero wins $47.50
(Rake: $2.50)

Betfair $200.00 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players
The Official 2+2 Hand Converter Powered By DeucesCracked.com

CO: $87.25
BTN: $375.40
SB: $198.00
BB: $166.17
UTG: $199.00
Hero (MP): $345.90

Pre Flop: ($3.00) Hero is MP with 4 4
1 fold, Hero raises to $7, 3 folds, BB calls $5

Flop: ($15.00) Q 6 9 (2 players)
BB bets $11.25, Hero raises to $33, BB calls $21.75

Turn: ($81.00) A (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $41.00, BB folds

Final Pot: $81.00
Hero wins $78.00
(Rake: $3.00)

Party Poker $400.00 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players
The Official 2+2 Hand Converter Powered By DeucesCracked.com

Hero (UTG): $413.50
MP: $400.00
CO: $1496.29
BTN: $458.50
SB: $1477.89
BB: $462.50

Pre Flop: ($6.00) Hero is UTG with 5 5
Hero raises to $16, 3 folds, SB calls $14, 1 fold

Flop: ($36.00) Q J A (2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $28.00, SB calls $28

Turn: ($92.00) 2 (2 players)
SB checks, Hero checks

River: ($92.00) K (2 players)
SB checks, Hero checks

Final Pot: $92.00
Hero shows 5 5
SB shows 7 9
Hero wins $88.50
(Rake: $3.50)

Party Poker $200.00 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players
The Official 2+2 Hand Converter Powered By DeucesCracked.com

CO: $306.87
BTN: $200.00
SB: $39.00
BB: $276.50
UTG: $493.05
Hero (MP): $477.50

Pre Flop: ($3.00) Hero is MP with 4 4
1 fold, Hero raises to $7, 1 fold, BTN calls $7, 2 folds

Flop: ($17.00) K Q 6 (2 players)
Hero bets $14.00, BTN calls $14

Turn: ($45.00) A (2 players)
Hero bets $34.00, BTN calls $34

River: ($113.00) 6 (2 players)
Hero bets $66.00, BTN folds

Final Pot: $113.00
Hero wins $109.50
(Rake: $3.50)

Party Poker $200.00 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players
The Official 2+2 Hand Converter Powered By DeucesCracked.com

MP: $200.00
CO: $227.61
BTN: $200.00
SB: $200.00
BB: $264.91
Hero (UTG): $200.00

Pre Flop: ($3.00) Hero is UTG with 5 5
Hero raises to $8, 2 folds, BTN calls $8, 2 folds

Flop: ($19.00) T 6 8 (2 players)
Hero bets $16.00, BTN calls $16

Turn: ($51.00) J (2 players)
Hero bets $39.00, BTN folds

Final Pot: $51.00
Hero wins $47.95
(Rake: $3.05)

Party Poker $200.00 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players
The Official 2+2 Hand Converter Powered By DeucesCracked.com

CO: $216.45
BTN: $307.13
SB: $246.05
BB: $248.00
Hero (UTG): $203.00
MP: $244.35

Pre Flop: ($3.00) Hero is UTG with 5 5
Hero raises to $7, 2 folds, BTN calls $7, 2 folds

Flop: ($17.00) 4 3 A (2 players)
Hero checks, BTN checks

Turn: ($17.00) 9 (2 players)
Hero checks, BTN checks

River: ($17.00) 7 (2 players)
Hero checks, BTN bets $16.14, Hero calls $16.14

Final Pot: $49.28
BTN shows Q J
Hero shows 5 5
Hero wins $46.82
(Rake: $2.46)

Party Poker $200.00 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players
The Official 2+2 Hand Converter Powered By DeucesCracked.com

MP: $200.00
CO: $331.50
BTN: $409.07
SB: $547.90
BB: $209.35
Hero (UTG): $323.50

Pre Flop: ($3.00) Hero is UTG with 5 5
Hero raises to $8, 1 fold, CO calls $8, 3 folds

Flop: ($19.00) 9 3 6 (2 players)
Hero checks, CO bets $15.00, Hero calls $15

Turn: ($49.00) Q (2 players)
Hero checks, CO checks

River: ($49.00) 6 (2 players)
Hero checks, CO checks

Final Pot: $49.00
CO mucks K A
Hero shows 5 5
Hero wins $46.05
(Rake: $2.95)

Party Poker $200.00 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players
The Official 2+2 Hand Converter Powered By DeucesCracked.com

BTN: $278.60
SB: $555.25
BB: $200.00
Hero (UTG): $200.00
MP: $418.15
CO: $142.80

Pre Flop: ($3.00) Hero is UTG with 5 5
Hero raises to $8, 2 folds, BTN calls $8, 2 folds

Flop: ($19.00) 4 Q 7 (2 players)
Hero bets $14.00, BTN calls $14

Turn: ($47.00) 2 (2 players)
Hero bets $34.00, BTN folds

Final Pot: $47.00
Hero wins $44.65
(Rake: $2.35)

Betfair $200.00 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players
The Official 2+2 Hand Converter Powered By DeucesCracked.com

BTN: $93.32
SB: $204.55
BB: $216.05
Hero (UTG): $231.90
MP: $310.95
CO: $200.80

Pre Flop: ($3.00) Hero is UTG with 5 5
Hero raises to $7, MP calls $7, 4 folds

Flop: ($17.00) 6 6 2 (2 players)
Hero checks, MP checks

Turn: ($17.00) 4 (2 players)
Hero bets $15.00, MP calls $15

River: ($47.00) J (2 players)
Hero checks, MP checks

Final Pot: $47.00
Hero shows 5 5
MP mucks A 4
Hero wins $44.65
(Rake: $2.35)

Party Poker $400.00 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players
The Official 2+2 Hand Converter Powered By DeucesCracked.com

SB: $400.00
BB: $589.40
Hero (UTG): $400.00
MP: $400.00
CO: $1250.19
BTN: $273.57

Pre Flop: ($6.00) Hero is UTG with 2 2
Hero raises to $16, 2 folds, BTN calls $16, 2 folds

Flop: ($38.00) 3 6 9 (2 players)
Hero checks, BTN checks

Turn: ($38.00) 5 (2 players)
Hero checks, BTN checks

River: ($38.00) K (2 players)
Hero checks, BTN checks

Final Pot: $38.00
Hero shows 2 2
BTN mucks J A
Hero wins $36.10
(Rake: $1.90)

Party Poker $200.00 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players
The Official 2+2 Hand Converter Powered By DeucesCracked.com

BTN: $200.00
SB: $201.00
BB: $200.00
Hero (UTG): $207.00
MP: $240.79
CO: $49.96

Pre Flop: ($3.00) Hero is UTG with 5 5
Hero raises to $8, 1 fold, CO calls $8, 3 folds

Flop: ($19.00) 8 3 8 (2 players)
Hero checks, CO checks

Turn: ($19.00) Q (2 players)
Hero checks, CO checks

River: ($19.00) 3 (2 players)
Hero bets $11.00, CO calls $11

Final Pot: $41.00
Hero shows 5 5
CO mucks A 9
Hero wins $38.45
(Rake: $2.55)

Keep in mind I am playing 25 though not 200. My bets and raises arent quite as respected as yours.

Edit: Oh and im playing FR david so its not that often that you make it to the river without a player pairing their hand.

So i took your advice run it twice and just played a session at 25/21 with an AF of 5.5. Boy that is pretty fun. Although a got on a bit of a power trip and this happened.

Full Tilt Poker $0.10/$0.25 No Limit Hold'em - 9 players
The Official 2+2 Hand Converter Powered By DeucesCracked.com

UTG: $12.48
UTG+1: $5.50
UTG+2: $27.29
MP1: $25.00
MP2: $5.20
Hero (CO): $28.58
BTN: $25.76
SB: $58.49
BB: $5.00

Pre Flop: ($0.35) Hero is CO with 9 3
5 folds, Hero raises to $0.85, BTN raises to $2.75, 2 folds, Hero raises to $9, BTN calls $6.25

Flop: ($18.35) 4 Q 2 (2 players)
Hero bets $19.58 all in, BTN folds

I was just running all over the table so I figured I could keep doing that with ATC. To be honest I was expecting him to fold since I hadn't 4 bet ever.
I know this breaks all the rules of micro but I thought I could get away with it here.

My ATS was 70 percent and it worked most of the time sadly. Maybe I'll try and find a happy medium between the two styles and see how it works.

Oh and here is one more. I dont ever do this until this session where i started trying to be more aggressive. Would this be considered a leak or is this well played? I was thinking I had FE here. FE with 8 outs gives me about 32% exact odds and I was thinking I would get him to fold here quite a bit. Looking back I think I was wrong.
No valid hand data could be detected
Full Tilt Poker $0.10/$0.25 No Limit Hold'em - 8 players
The Official 2+2 Hand Converter Powered By DeucesCracked.com

CO: $25.81
BTN: $12.10
SB: $5.00
BB: $5.00
UTG: $5.35
UTG+1: $9.75
Hero (MP1): $29.84
MP2: $5.15

Pre Flop: ($0.35) Hero is MP1 with 9 J
2 folds, Hero raises to $0.85, 1 fold, CO raises to $1.45, 3 folds, Hero calls $0.60

Flop: ($3.25) Q T 5 (2 players)
Hero checks, CO bets $3.25, Hero raises to $16.75, CO raises to $24.36 all in, Hero calls $7.61

Turn: ($51.97) 7 (2 players - 1 is all in)

River: ($51.97) T (2 players - 1 is all in)

Why do you leave yourself $7.x behind? Might as well shove since you're never folding for the rest.

i think there is a thread about PokerTracker and how to find leaks.. use the search feature.

not vbetting thin enough

I didn't know you played full ring, all the advice I gave is for 6max, and I'm not sure if it's profitable at full ring, cos I literally know absolutely nothing about it, I've played 43 hands of it lifetime..

Hand #1 - This is a complete bluff. You're mistaking opening up your range for running like a maniac, and if you are, at least do it with a hand which may have more equity, like J5s, or K2s. Your 4bet is too huge aswell, make it about 2.5x/3.5x his raise.

Hand #2 - I'm always calling his minraise because we've got odds, but the fact that he minraised tells me he's probably a fish with a big hand, and you have no fold equity on this flop. I also think you may only have 6 outs to the best hand, 'cos he could easily have KK, blocking two of your K outs, although we do have backdoor flush draw too. I don't really like getting it in here with just an open ender tbh, especially as we could be drawing to 6 outs.