Hey, i know that you say your playing your cards right but i assumed the same , and i am not a fantastic poker player i broke it right down to the basics. This might help if you follow it for a while almost exactly and might help improve your Pre-Flop game. It is helping me.
I got this from another Post on this site, and i dont remember the original poster so i hope this isnt a problem but here you are:
Part I: why you need this guide.
Because you suck at poker. No matter how good you play, the stupid fish keep beating you and you're banging your head against the wall in frustration. You shove TPTK and get called by a set. So the next time you take a pot control line and miss 80bb of value against TPNK. No matter what you do it seems you're being thwarted. You have too many leaks to pick one out and adjust, and need to start from the basics.
This guide is not going to show you the best way to beat 2nl. It is not going to beat 2nl for the most money. What it will do is strip away all your leaks, and give you a foundation to start winning in the games. And if you're at least breakeven you then have time - time to add to your game as you grow organically as a player.
Part II: starting hand selection.
STOP PLAYING SO MANY HANDS!
Playing a lot of hands is what you do when you are an excellent player with a large edge over the competition. You can't beat 2nl, so stop giving yourself more opportunities to lose! We're going to drastically pare back the hands you play in order to attempt to give you such a huge card edge in the pots you enter, that your skill differential doesn't matter.
In addition, the rake is egregious at 2nl on FTP. Reducing your exposure to the rake (by reducing the hands you play) will up you winrate by 1 or 2 bb/100 immediately, even without factoring in improvements in your game. Stop paying the rake for the rest of the table. Let them have fun and push chips all over the place and pay FTP for the right to do it. You're just going to sit back and watch all this going on, entering pots with monsters only, and picking up your share of that money flying around.
First off, bet sizing. Every preflop raise you make should be 4bb, plus 1bb for every limper (or poster). Every. Single. Time. If you are the first person into the pot, $0.08. If there is one limper, $0.10. Two limpers, $0.12. Same size, every time.
Now then, what hands should you play? I'm going to break it down by position: by EP I mean the first two position after the BB, UTG and UTG+1. By MP I mean the next two positions after EP. By LP I mean the two position after MP, the HJ and CO. I will treat the BU as its own thing. And the last category is in the blinds, SB and BB.
An unopened pot is one where no one has raised before its your turn to act. For the purposes of hand selection you will ignore limpers; zero limpers or seven, the only difference that will make is your bet size, that is an unopened pot and you will open it, with a raise with the same selection of cards.
From EP: TT+, AK
Yeah, that's it. Yes, really fold AQ. Learn to fold.
From MP: 77+, AK, AQ, AJs
Don't play pots out of position. If you must play out of position, make sure you range crushes the range of anyone who calls your bet. Make the game easy.
From LP: 44+, AJ+, A9s+, KQ
From BU: any pair, AT+, A8s+, JTs+, QTs+, KTs, KQo, KJo
Play hands in position and they will be easier to play. remember, we're not choosing an optimal way to play, we're choosing a way to play that will make you +EV and make all your decision easy, thus giving you time to find the optimal way to play.
From the blinds: same as from EP
Only raise super-premiums from out of position. Also, do not limp from the SB. If you're not beating 2nl you certainly shouldn't be playing mediocre hands OOP in multi-way pots. Just consider your SB limping privileges revoked. If you're playing, you're raising.
This is not going to be fun, it is going to be boring, and it is going to be profitable.
Now that we've covered what to do in unopened pots, what do you do when you're facing a raise? Fold. Basically. There are two exceptions: your are 3betting, or you are setmining.
What should you 3bet with? QQ+ and AK. If you are in LP or BU and the raise did not come from EP you will also 3bet with JJ, TT, and AQs. How much to 3bet? 4x the raise size. No, this is not optimal. But stop worrying about balancing your range and balancing your betsize for your range. Your opponents at 2nl will call too much, and we want to take advantage of that for value. So raise 4x, plus another 1x for each coldcaller of the raise.
If you 3bet and are facing a 4bet you have an easy choice. If their PFR is under 6, fold everything but aces. If higher (or unknown) fold everything but AA and KK. Yes, that means QQ and AK too. If you're not folding, shove. Now.
If there is a raise and a 3bet before you act, similarly you have a simple choice. If the PFR of the 3better is <6%, or if their 3bet is 3% or less, fold everything but AA and KK, and raise those. If their PFR is 7+% or their 3bet is 4+%, also 4bet with QQ and AK. If you 4bet, you are calling the shove. If called, shove any flop.
What should you setmine with? Any pocket pair facing a raise (that you aren't 3betting) you can call and setmine with. Before you do, quick, check the raiser's stack size. Do they have 20x the bet size in thier stack? Yes, go ahead. No, fold. Do not setmine without odds.
Following these preflop guidlines should put you in the neighborhood of 8/7. This will smoosh what you pay in rake, and it will ensure that nearly every time you enter a pot you do it with the best cards, and you will predominately be in position postflop.
Part III: the flop.
Since you were the preflop raiser and have initiative, let’s talk cbetting. Oh, but first, let’s get out of the way the only time you don’t have initiative: you were set mining.
Did you hit your set? If not, then check and fold at the first opportunity. If yes and you are bet into, raise. The only time you shouldn't raise with your set is if the board is dry (no straights, zero or one broadway cards, no flushdraw) and the villain has a high AF, say 3 or more. Then you can call. Otherwise, click that little “pot” button, and get some chips in the pot. If you are not bet into, bet yourself. How much? Pot, obviously.
Speaking of that pot button, it is your new best friend. You are reading this because you aren’t beating 2nl, so you are likely to make serious mistakes in betsizing. So until you know what, why, and how to vary your bet sizes, ever bet and raise you make will be pot sized. Got that? All bets and raises will be pot sized, including cbets. Again, yes this is not optimal. But we are tailoring your game to enter pots with a strong edge in hand strength, and you are playing a game where you opponents major leak is calling too much, so let’s run with it. Pot sized bets, and pot sized raises, every time.
Now then, with set mining out of the way, you should have initiative every time. When should you cbet?
* if you have a set or two pair
* if you have an overpair to the flop
* if you have top pair
* if you have a nut flush draw (NFD) or an open ended nut straight draw (OESD)
* if you have second pair
* if the board is favorable for cbetting
For the purposes of this guide, I will consider a PP with only one overcard on the board to be “second pair” If you miss, you can still cbet if the board contains and A or K and zero or one other broadway cards, or if the board is monotone. Other than that, check and fold. Yes, check and fold your whiffed AK.
If you are called, proceed to part IV: the turn. If you are raised, fold. The only exceptions to the fold rule are as follows:
* if you have a set
* if you have AA, KK, QQ, or JJ as an overpair and villain has less than 50bb in their stack
* if you have AA or KK as an overpair and villain has an AF of 4 or greater.
* if you have a NFD or OESD and villain has [u]either[u] <50bb in their stack or an AF >4
Other than that, fold if your cbet is raised. If those criteria are met, go ahead and 3bet.
Yes, you are going to have a flop AF damned close to infinity. And yes, once again its not ideal, but it will work. Remember, pot size for all bets and raises.
Part IV: the turn.
The turn is hard. We’re going to try and simplify if as much as possible.
If you bet the flop, and on the turn you have TPTK or better, continue firing. Otherwise shut down.
If you are bet into, ask yourself if a FD or SD filled on the turn. If so, fold. If not, call with TPTK or better and fold worse. If you have a set or better when you are bet into, raise. If you have a FD or OESD when bet into, call if you are getting 3:1 or better, otherwise fold.
If you are raised on the turn, fold unless you have a set, or neither a FD or SD filled on the turn, you can continue with AA or KK as an overpair so long as they have <50bb left in their stack.
Part V: the river.
OK, let’s keep you out of trouble. If the flopped FD came in, check and fold. I’m completely serious. If a flopped FD missed and you have TP or second pair, check and call. If the flop was paired and they called 2 streets, check and fold. If there is 4 to a straight on the board, check and fold. If a flopped FD missed and you have TP or second pair, check and call.
Otherwise, put in one bet or one call with TPTK if there are 0 or 1 other broadway cards on the board. Put in one bet or call with any overpair, any 2pair, any set. If you have a straight or flush or boat, then bet or raise only. You can fold pretty much anything less than a set if facing anything more than a minraise to your bet on the river.
Other than that, just try to use your head. The river is the one place where you can “break” the rules. If you want to make a valuebet but if feels kinda thin, go ahead and bet less than pot (but not less than ˝ pot). Even though I said fold if the flush comes in, just call anyway if they shove their last 12bb in an 80bb pot. Fold if they overbet the river even with top two pair. Try to get to SD if you have a decent hand, but try to stay out of trouble too. Basically, I’m too lazy to cover every river situation, so be deliberate and think it through, but play it by ear.
