I'm trying to understand the game and improve. I'm not playing a lot of volume as I want to consider what decisions I'm making at the moment. I was 474bb up after 1500 hands, now I'm 300bb down after 3400 hands, which is only a tiny sample I know. Is this expected variance, or was I running hot and now I'm losing like I should have been from the start ?

These are my 5 biggest losing hands today. Should I have played them different ?

Apologies if I've posted too many hands here ..?


All hands at the same table
Full Tilt Poker $0.02/$0.05 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players
The Official 2+2 Hand Converter Powered By DeucesCracked.com

Hand #1 villain is 43/21 over 86 hands

BB: $5.56
UTG: $5.00
Hero (MP): $5.00
CO: $10.26
BTN: $5.64
SB: $6.06

Pre Flop: ($0.07) Hero is MP with K A
1 fold, Hero raises to $0.17, CO calls $0.17, BTN calls $0.17, 2 folds

Flop: ($0.58) A 7 A (3 players)
Hero checks, CO checks, BTN checks

Turn: ($0.58) 3 (3 players)
Hero bets $0.25, CO folds, BTN calls $0.25

River: ($1.08) 2 (2 players)
Hero bets $0.70, BTN raises to $5.22 all in, Hero calls $3.88 all in

Final Pot: $10.24
Hero mucks K A
BTN shows 7 7 (a full house, Sevens full of Aces)
BTN wins $9.56
(Rake: $0.68)

Hand #2 didn't have read on villain at the time

Hero (CO): $5.07
BTN: $7.18
SB: $10.03
BB: $14.78
UTG: $5.75
MP: $1.33

Pre Flop: ($0.07) Hero is CO with T A
2 folds, Hero raises to $0.17, BTN calls $0.17, 2 folds

Flop: ($0.41) K 8 A (2 players)
Hero bets $0.30, BTN raises to $0.85, Hero calls $0.55

Turn: ($2.11) 4 (2 players)
Hero checks, BTN bets $1.25, Hero calls $1.25

River: ($4.61) 8 (2 players)
Hero checks, BTN bets $1.60, Hero calls $1.60

Final Pot: $7.81
Hero mucks T A
BTN shows K 8 (a full house, Eights full of Kings)
BTN wins $7.29
(Rake: $0.52)

Hand #3 same villain as last hand

Hero (BTN): $5.00
SB: $10.73
BB: $7.48
UTG: $3.18
MP: $5.83
CO: $3.94

Pre Flop: ($0.07) Hero is BTN with A 4
UTG raises to $0.10, 2 folds, Hero calls $0.10, SB calls $0.08, 1 fold

Flop: ($0.35) A 4 Q (3 players)
SB bets $0.20, UTG calls $0.20, Hero calls $0.20

Turn: ($0.95) 7 (3 players)
SB bets $0.84, UTG folds, Hero calls $0.84

River: ($2.63) 9 (2 players)
SB bets $1.96, Hero calls $1.96

Final Pot: $6.55
Hero mucks A 4
SB shows Q A (two pair, Aces and Queens)
SB wins $6.12
(Rake: $0.43)

Hand #4 villain 17/10 over about 50 hands

Hero (SB): $5.02
BB: $7.74
UTG: $8.34
MP: $6.02
CO: $5.22
BTN: $5.16

Pre Flop: ($0.07) Hero is SB with J A
UTG raises to $0.15, 3 folds, Hero calls $0.13, 1 fold

Flop: ($0.35) A 2 9 (2 players)
Hero bets $0.25, UTG raises to $0.75, Hero calls $0.50

Turn: ($1.85) T (2 players)
Hero checks, UTG bets $1.30, Hero calls $1.30

River: ($4.45) Q (2 players)
Hero checks, UTG checks

Final Pot: $4.45
Hero mucks J A
UTG shows A K (a pair of Aces)
UTG wins $4.16
(Rake: $0.29)

Hand #5 villain 23/19 20 hands

Hero (BB): $10.11
UTG: $1.68
MP: $1.85
CO: $5.60
BTN: $11.24
SB: $5.87

Pre Flop: ($0.07) Hero is BB with J K
UTG raises to $0.15, 4 folds, Hero calls $0.10

Flop: ($0.32) 9 T K (2 players)
Hero bets $0.20, UTG raises to $0.50, Hero calls $0.30

Turn: ($1.32) J (2 players)
Hero bets $0.75, UTG raises to $1.03 all in, Hero calls $0.28

River: ($3.38) 8 (2 players - 1 is all in)

Final Pot: $3.38
Hero shows J K (two pair, Kings and Jacks)
UTG shows Q K (a straight, King high)
UTG wins $3.16
(Rake: $0.22)

some of those are standard but you are useless.

too many hands. but lets go

1) awful play, but cooler. bet on flop, bet on turn etc.
2) TPMK raised on flop. i fold turn, yu do not beat much vs unknown
3) coller, but this is why i don't call with A4 wait for others opinion (for me it's eaither fold or 3bet, especially with the minraise UTG). As played, raise the flop. what are you waiting for?
4)fold pre AJ oop vs UTG nit raise is hard to play. also he raised your donk bet,,,, he is ahead of you
5) fold pre. stop donk betting. start believing TAG and Nits raises

+1
and way shorter than my reply

also i think you need to move to NL10, preferably at PS

Hand 1 meh pretty sick, micro overbets tend to be nuts I find though
Hand 2 fold flop, as played bet/fold the turn imo, river well you split with AQ now but really all you can do is check/call a reasonable bet
Hand 3 raise flop, you can't slow play here, nullification and spade draw is out, raise to about $0.8 or a bit more. As played should raise turn to about $2, folding to a shove. Fold river, you are beat too often with the third spade
Hand 4 pre is fine, but post flop you shouldn't get too attached to a weak TP. Villain is 10% raise, he is utg so too often he will have AK or at least AQo if not AQs here.
Hand 5 pre do not call, either fold or 3 bet folding to a 4 bet normally, but since he is short just fold.. as played flop is ok, turn is check fold

thought so

@OMGClayDol, thanks.

You're welcome, basically drop weak aces except maybe suited ones if you're confident you can play them well postflop (not calling multiple barrels with Top Pair bad kicker etc). Especially at 2NL or 5NL don't be overplaying hands like JK TK etc. You'll be fine don't worry all the best

I find it interesting that all of those hands (except the last one) involve you having aces. Do you normally bleed a lot of money with Ax type hands?

Also stop slowplaying your big hands every time. Stop refusing to fold top pair - okay kicker when villain is raising on the flop and then betting into you on multiple streets.

[x] useless

Hand 1 is an awful cooler but bet the flop. Nobody is going to believe you have trip aces right away.

Hand 2 against unknown I may be calling this down or even 3 betting the flop to get paid off by draws. He could be holding a worse ace as well but I suppose it's possible he has AJ or AQ.

Hand 3 please just fold this preflop. As played though, you have to raise the flop. Slow playing 2 pair in a 3-way pot on a drawy board is suicide. I'm raising flop with the intention of getting all my money in the middle.

Hand 4 - this villain is not raising UTG with bull****. Just fold AJs. It's not a great hand and it's really hard to play in this situation even if you hit the ace. You're so often dominated by his range so just let it go. I think as played I'm mucking when he raises the donk bet on the flop.

Hand 5 - look at the situation. Villain is raising UTG and you're calling it with a very marginal, usually dominated hand oop. This is never going to make you money in the long run. Also, villain is not deep at all so even if you do hit the nuts, you're not going to get any value from his big hand. This whole hand is a big no no and you should just fold pre. As played, I'm just putting him all in on the turn and kicking myself for playing the hand at all.

My advice would be for you to realize the strength of an UTG raise, especially from a tighter opponent. You need to think about how your hand looks in terms of opponent's range and your position. Start practicing putting your opponents on ranges from each position on the table.

Why are we folding this flop? You don't need to have the nuts to call a raised cbet.

Because it's 5NL. VERY rarely is a raise here going to be a bluff or a worse hand..

Some general observations:

- When you have a strong hand, bet it like there's no tomorrow (eg. taK on the A7A board) because they will call with worse
- IF they raise/show sustained aggression, re-evaluate your hand strength. This is impossible to cover in depth now but you'll get the hang of it.

Read as many hand history threads as you can and check out the stickies

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/69...hreads-430489/

I think you're playing great. Is your handle here the same as you use on full tilt?

Thanks for that. I just looked, and I am losing 50bb/100 on Ax, biggest losers AKs, AQs, AJo, A9o. Haven't checked the hands yet, but I'll guess its a mix of getting too attached to TP and getting in the hand OOP when I shouldn't.

Not betting when I hit the flop big is a definite leak. It was one of the things I was trying to stop doing, but them bad habits just come back if I don't keep focussed.

Raising from the CO with ATo and then getting called by unknown villain on the BTN. How can you possibly even think of folding on an AK8ss board when your cbet is raised on the flop? Most of the time, no, you are not beat. Most of the time, a flopped pair of kings will raise you here, or a FD. What are you putting him on that didn't 3bet you preflop that is telling you to snap fold your made hand?

e - OP, try not posting the results or spoilering them for better non-results oriented discussion.

haha, no of course. I may be useless, but I'm not stoopid ...

tl;dr except hand one. Get value and bet those flops turns and rivers. I know he had a better hand this round but honestly u raise ak flop trips and check flop bet .25 on turn? You need to build that pot and make some scrill!

too many hands etc but why not, i'm probably just repeating what others have said though

Hand 1:

cbet flop wtf, there's a flushdraw and you'll get tons of value from weaker aces. Don't slowplay spots like this (or in general really). After cbet barrel turn. As played, BET MORE ON TURN. River is close between calling and folding imo I probably fold, but if you hadn't been slowplaying you would've had a better stack to pot ratio to call and then the decision wouldve been easy.

Hand 2:

Fold to the flop raise. This may not be the most +ev choice, but playing TPmk OOP vs a flop raise is always going to suck especially if you're still learning the game. Make it easy for yourself and avoid trouble for now.

Hand 3:

I'd fold pre because UTG is not fullstack, but I don't hate calling. Raise flop for value and protection. Again; don't slowplay spots where your hand is vulnerable. As played i'm not folding because he can easily have Ax 1pair, this is a bit of a cooler.

Hand 4:

Calling a UTG raise from a 17/10 with AJs is pretty borderline imo, so fold pre. As played, don't donk flop, just check/call. As played, turn is a fold imo. I don't think he's double barreling with worse because anything lower than AT+ is just not in his range.

Hand 5:

Fold pre, your hand is incredibly marginal to a UTG raise. I mean, if your hand was KQ or AQ i'd call because he's short and you can easily stack those off if you hit TP and not get outkickered much. As played, don't donk flop, wait for the cbet and c/r it with the intention of getting it in asap. As played, c/f turn because you're not beating much of anything at this point.

You need to get back to the drawing board and watch some videos and read some more theory. Pokertrikz has some great free videos for someone like you, google "Trikkur 31" or something.

Good luck!

edit: I know my advice here is a bit nitty but I think it's better to learn how to play nitty and solid before you mess around with, say, coldcalling KJo from a UTG raise.

Read more strategy play less?

Thanks fishstix/m0zz3r.

I will check out the vids. I will also go back to the books as well (I guess I've spent more on 2+2 books than I've actually deposited for playing) - I read Sklansky/Harrington etc cover to cover, but I should go back through them now, hopefully I will pick up a lot more 2nd time round.

Imho books tell you more about the basic fundamentals of poker in a more general way, while videos of microstakes sessions give you more insight in the kind of poker that is played in the area you're playing in. Everything is familiar, everything can apply to your own game. As such I think videos are vastly superior learning material.

Don't post so many hands.

Don't post results.

Post reads.

Read the new user's guide.