Is it worth it to pursue HUNL cash if you're in the US? I'm on Bovada and BCP and I find it hard to get action between the two sites on $25 NL one tabling.

To me, it seems like the games are pretty dead and when I do get action half the time it's either a reg or a short stack.

Would moving up to $50 NL solve this?

There is HU action at any level if you're not just sitting and waiting for fish like 99.276554% of HU players. I started at 25NL and worked my way up on American sites and never one time had problems getting action. Just sit the bum hunters, they aren't very good.

(Unless you're an end boss at the higher stakes, then you may be sitting, waiting, wishing)

I know the answer is it depends but looking for general ideas on frequency of check raising flop? Sb raise 3x I call flop A 7 9 rainbow right now I pretty much only have a calling range and I think that sucks.. Thanks for the help

Don't think in terms of raw frequencies but ratios. Think in terms of value hands and blulffing hands to balance them with. Yes, not checkraising A79r ever is bad.

what? this is a pretty decent board for x/r, as you have all A7, A9, 79 and possibly 77 and 99 vs 3x. There are spots where you can/should play without x/r range, but this is not an example, try smth like KJT vs 2-2,5x open.

Also, if you're looking for a VERY general idea on frequencies, most solid strategies play somewhere between 6 and 12 total x/r.

thank you that helps a bunch to design my flop ranges on different boards

Is 50NL even beatable with the rake? (stars)

yeah for sure, game select more tho

This

Also, make sure you have good rakeback if the site you play has it. You definitely don't want to be battling the best regs, the rake will eat you guys up. Things get much better once you get to 100NL so I'd be aggressive about getting there.

Bump.
I'm interested in the average blue line you can have in HU. As you can see from the graph, I'm not a "high red line guy". Based on this graph, how much run bad do you think I have had?
I bluff rivers with missed draws, but overall my strategy is to not make people fold big hands. Those 3 barrels have been getting called very often with bottom pairs lately...
So if you are the breakeven red line guy, what kind of blue line can we expect? If you can put out a number on it, that's great. When I played tighter style in 6-max, my blue line was at ~17bb/100. I think my blue line should be positive in HU too, especially given my non-station style. So I'm just wondering how much bad luck has there been?
FWIW my GTO-game is pretty good, so it's not like I'm constantly paying off people with worse hands. Game selection has been mainly recreationals (regfish type players), not that many open limping fish in the sample.

lol what? Play style will determine what your red/blue lines look like; ability will determine your overall winrate.

Your graph suggests you've either run bad, or just play bad. Statements like 'my GTO-game is pretty good, so it's not like I'm constantly paying off people with worse hands' makes me assume its the latter.

Sorry if "GTO-game" was exaggerating. I meant that I'm good at evaluating hand combos and understanding equity. I would say that I make less mistakes with big hands than my opponents. I suck at other GTO-stuff like floating K-high Q-high and so on.

I did some reviewing and there seem to be 3 problems:

#1 Stacking off "too light". Aggressive semi-bluffs, stacking off top pairs semi-deep in 3-bet pots and so on. I typically always try to gii good top pairs in 3bp, which seems to be working well.
#2 Bluffing rivers a lot. I typically do this at the start of the match to build up an image and to get some information on the guy. I also think people don't bluff enough OTR, so I would try to use that to my advantage. I suppose matches don't last long enough for me to use that image. In the past I was way too tight, and it was hard to get paid off with nuts. I also try to vbet thinly, and sometimes I end up making too loose bets.
#3 Coolers, but no idea what the "distribution" of coolers is, between me and my opponents. By good "GTO-game" you can get away from some coolers, or at least minimize the damage.

These were some of the loosest stack offs I made.

I think stacking off vs flop 3-bet is loose and close to gambling on this board

iPoker - €2 NL (2 max) - Holdem - 2 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

SB: 100.5 BB (VPIP: 70.83, PFR: 58.33, 3Bet Preflop: 16.67, Hands: 24)
Hero (BB): 100 BB

SB posts SB 0.5 BB, Hero posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has A A

SB raises to 2.5 BB, Hero raises to 8 BB, SB calls 5.5 BB

Flop: (16 BB, 2 players) 4 5 6
Hero checks, SB bets 8 BB, Hero raises to 22 BB, SB raises to 57.4 BB, Hero raises to 92 BB, SB calls 34.6 BB

Turn: (200 BB, 2 players) 4

River: (200 BB, 2 players) 6



I had taken similar line vs him earlier with a draw in 3bp, so I thought he might do the same. It might be too loose though with KJ

iPoker - £1 NL (2 max) - Holdem - 2 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

SB: 213.1 BB (VPIP: 85.00, PFR: 57.50, 3Bet Preflop: 15.00, Hands: 40)
Hero (BB): 131.1 BB

SB posts SB 0.5 BB, Hero posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has K J

SB raises to 2 BB, Hero raises to 8 BB, SB calls 6 BB

Flop: (16 BB, 2 players) K 7 6
Hero bets 12 BB, SB raises to 31 BB, Hero raises to 123.1 BB and is all-in, SB calls 92.1 BB

Turn: (262.2 BB, 2 players) 6

River: (262.2 BB, 2 players) Q



Unknown fish who just joined 6m table. Could just call down but I think gii is fine.

iPoker - €1 NL (2 max) - Holdem - 2 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BB: 100 BB (VPIP: 50.00, PFR: 26.67, 3Bet Preflop: 16.67, Hands: 31)
Hero (SB): 100 BB

Hero posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has K T

Hero raises to 3 BB, BB raises to 8 BB, Hero calls 5 BB

Flop: (16 BB, 2 players) 7 4 T
BB bets 17 BB, Hero raises to 36 BB, BB raises to 92 BB and is all-in, Hero calls 56 BB

Turn: (200 BB, 2 players) A

River: (200 BB, 2 players) K



This was close to spew. Had seen him bet PSB with a draw in the past, so wasn't sure whether he would bet big for fold equity on a card like this.
If he has a gut-shot or even a FD, he is then forced to fold.

iPoker - £2 NL (2 max) - Holdem - 2 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BB: 107.65 BB (VPIP: 77.05, PFR: 54.10, 3Bet Preflop: 21.76, Hands: 1,355)
Hero (SB): 198.25 BB

Hero posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has 7 9

Hero raises to 2 BB, BB raises to 7 BB, Hero calls 5 BB

Flop: (14 BB, 2 players) T 2 3
BB bets 7 BB, Hero calls 7 BB

Turn: (28 BB, 2 players) A
BB bets 24 BB, Hero raises to 184.25 BB and is all-in, BB calls 69.65 BB

River: (215.3 BB, 2 players) K



One of the worst hands vs fish. Don't know how often they would bluff raise the river. this is top of our range though.

iPoker - €2 NL (2 max) - Holdem - 2 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

Hero (BB): 162.93 BB
SB: 106.6 BB (VPIP: 67.82, PFR: 42.53, 3Bet Preflop: 18.42, Hands: 101)

SB posts SB 0.5 BB, Hero posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has 2 2

SB raises to 3 BB, Hero calls 2 BB

Flop: (6 BB, 2 players) 5 2 6
Hero bets 4.8 BB, SB calls 4.8 BB

Turn: (15.6 BB, 2 players) K
Hero bets 12 BB, SB calls 12 BB

River: (39.6 BB, 2 players) T
Hero bets 29 BB, SB raises to 86.8 BB and is all-in, Hero calls 57.8 BB

hint: you are waaaay worse player than you think you are

Well just saying those are the absolute worst hands I picked. I could post more standard hands, but there is nothing to learn from those.
I may bluff too much, and not bluff catch enough, but I'm still in a learning phase. I'm confident at my skills as a player otherwise.

From a quick glance 97ss and KJcc both suck but others are fine. Call flop with kj and call turn with 97

I'm sure that's true for you also if you make such an emphatic statement based on those 5 hands

yeah, sorry for being a bit douchy, heavy downswings are not good for niceness on the internet

still, I'm pretty sure Fishtanks doesn't know what "GTO" means

also, KT hand is pretty bad without reads/aggro dynamics

I think this is fine (I'd x/r to ~32 bb though), but thinking that the stack-off is light and x/r-ing in the first place is an inconsistency, since the SB is probably 3b-ing a ton of his continuing range.

Hey guys,

Let me begin by apologising for this garbled post. It's my first and I'm all excited. My name is Jamie and I played poker for the first time in May this year. I fell in love with it and of course, lost. Here's a continuation of my **** story so far.

Since that first time I've played online sit n go's and cash games at a micro level and in both types of game I usually played 6 max. At first, I won a lot of sit n go's and found them rather simple. I also found 2nl simple too! This allowed me to build a reasonable bankroll for the micros pretty quickly. I was playing pretty tight on 888 specifically and trying to learn as I played. However, I struggle with Tilt (in Poker and in life!) and this quickly decimated any form of bankroll management and of course my winnings too. Shooting up the stakes chasing losses, losing my tempter and making ridiculous deposits meant that eventually, I naturally fell into the minus. Perhaps I should walk away but unfortunately, I really like this game.

So I still play, win, tilt, lose and have switched to focusing on heads up play within the last two months. I also started playing on Full Tilt (seems a bit empty?) and Poker Stars as opposed to 888. I much prefer heads up and feel that this is the direction I want to go in long term. Just to give you an idea of my current level of idiocy in this area, I stupidly ignored bankroll management and decided to look at Cap Cash games yesterday on Poker Stars. I observed a few people who always seem to be sitting at 50nl waiting and I took notes on the ones I felt were vulnerable even to a beginner like me.

I sat with the first, began to take his stack and then he sat out. At various points throughout the day I sat in with him again and he instantly sat out every time. Today, he again sat out instantly whenever I joined. Feared already? What a wonderful feeling. If only it was justified.

I then focused on the second person and he initially made a dent in my stack. However, I felt he was going all in with any ace and any pair and realised that with a little patience (and some luck), I'd take it back and bust him. I did exactly that.

The third was more difficult but he was essentially doing exactly the same thing. He was sat with 10 dollars and I took that and his next four reloads too. All smiles! Later on in the day we played again and I'm sad to say that he managed to outdraw me NINE TIMES IN A ROW and he took 90 dollars from me leaving me with but 10 to play with Oh and of course, this tilted me to the max.

All tilty I sat with a fourth person that I'd taken notes on who incidentally, seemed like a real nice guy. The fact that he was and that we chatted as we played seemed to keep the tilt at bay and I took his first ten dollars. He reloaded with $50 and once I'd taken that too he exploded with anger shouting abuse via chat. This must have either impacted me or revealed to him just how useless I am because I immediately lost everything but my original ten to him within 15 mins....I left and went back to find person 3. I finished with 70 dollars and called it a night.

This morning I tilted it all off and I'm down to about 2 dollars. Yes I was unlucky in certain spots but I feel it's more likely down to tilt or a lack of skill.

Ridiculous stories aside though, I realise that it is a complicated game that requires proper study and I am generally a 'why' person anyway who wants a firm and proper understanding of things rather than quick answers. Therefore, I bought the following books in the hope of gaining some insight;

The Mammoth Book of Poker - Mendelson
Sit n Go Strategy - Moshman
Super System - Brunson
The Mathematics of Poker - Chen
Expert Heads Up No Limit Hold'em Vol 1 - Tipton
The Mental Game of Poker -Tendler

Back in early summer I read Mendelson and Moshman and I found them both relatively helpful. The Moshman book was obviously more specific to what I was doing at the time and this introduced me to concepts that I felt I would definitely need a firm understanding of if I was to progress. I am yet to dedicate the proper study time to some of these concepts and that is holding me back. I know this. I bought the others this week.

My question is; If I get my tilt under control, how do I actually be sure that I have any potential? What kind of study plan would you guys recommend? Are these books too advanced for me? What do you recommend generally as a path to improvement?

FYI, I don't use a HUD because I can't afford it right now and I kind of feel that putting a winning run together prior to getting software would make the purchase feel like a worthwhile investment. I can't afford a coach so that's out as an answer to my troubles by the way!

Thanks for reading and any replies will be much appreciated. If you can't be bothered, I don't blame you!

Take care,

Jamie

From my view hand one looks ungodly bad. I don't suppose you want to go into your reasoning, nor do I.

F*** this business.

By a ton do you here mean something like "50% more than normal"?

In 25nl HU, with $22.55 ES, is this a losing call?

H raises BTN with T6s to 0.75 , and V 3 bets to 1.25.

I call.

I figure villain is a noob from what I've played and give him the following range:
AA-77,AKo-ATo,KQo-KJo,AKs-ATs,KQs-KTs,QJs

Flopzilla says I'm a 30 : 70 dog. Assuming I flop or turn well, and getting stacks all in, can I make this call profitably?

I do have btn, i figure stacks can get in, getting about 40:1 implied odds, and this is just a min raise.

How about vs a hand like Ad7d? Here I'm closer to being a 40 : 60 dog vs his range.

40:1 implied odds, as in you always win the pot when full stacks get in? Yeah, no . Anyway, both are easy easy calls, though.

I meant his frequencies could be like ~20% 3-bet, 45% call, 35% fold or whatever.

Is it that high? Guess it could be on really unusual boards my guess was 15% tho.

Rake is 5% with 1€ cap on iPoker. Cap hits at 20€.
If I played match at 400nl where open raise is always 2.5x (10€), is the rake then equal at 400nl and 600nl?
Also stupid question, but what is the difference in rake between 600 & 1000? Rake cap is hit nearly always, except in limped pots at 600.

Hi I am new, a couple of questions;

a) Could someone with a large database tell me how often a bet of 99 is called versus a bet of 100? And what % the caller has the best hand. Or 9.9 vs 10. On the river.
b) Is reraising every pair in the BB bad?
c) What are the typical stats for VPIP etc for good HU players? Does wildly varying styles exist among top players or do they all have almost the same stats?
d) Suppose button minraise every hand, what % should you reraise?
e) I once had 700$ on each of two tables of fifty cent HU zoom, does it mean I am good or could it be luck?
f) How far off are we from seeing a computer program that can beat hu zoom?