Quote:
Originally Posted by ozapo
Hey everyone
This is my NL25 career and it has not been going all that well. Criticize, flame, bash - i'm ready to take it all, i really need to know if there are any blatant leaks here so any comments are appreciated.
Blinds:
It looks to me like you are playing way to many hands out of the blinds. I used to be a terrible terrible player out of the blinds. I did an experiment over about 15,000 hands where I played overly tight from the blinds to see how it effected my winrate. I basically folded everything other then AA-JJ/AK, and I would 3-bet 100% of those and play for value. My winrate sky rocketed.
You are obviously a losing player out of the blinds, so in theory folding 100% of hands in the blinds is going to cause you to make more money. I wouldn't be this radical with it, but I think for a while you should basically fold everything in the blinds except for big premium hands. (this does not include stuff like AQ/KQ/JT/ low pps - just fold them in the blinds for a while).
Over ISO'ing multiple limpers:
If you are at a table full of loose donk/calling stations and more than 1 of them limps PF, do NOT ISO them from the button with total garbage. As soon as the first limper calls your raise, you can be sure the 2nd limper will call and now you're in a raised pot post-flop with a crap hand and two calling stations. For the next little while, concentrate on only ISO'ing when there is 1 limper PF (unless you have a good hand).
Bluffing:
Your non-showdown winnings are pretty bad. I can't tell enough from this information, but if you are bluffing a lot you need to stop. I used to have a huge problem with bluffing the river. Until you are a much better player, try to avoid bluffing on the river as you probably don't really now why you are doing it. If your draw misses or your AK doesn't hit, don't try and bluff it off. To be honest, you can crush 25nl/50nl never bluffing and only value betting.
The only time I think a bluff might be called for at these limits is in a well executed double barrel. Assume you hold AsQs in position and the flop comes down 8s5d4c and villain C/C's your C-bet. Turn is a Ks - this is a great card to double-barrel bluff at the turn. You just picked up some nice equity with the spade hitting and you are probably going to fold out any 5x/8x/99/TT that called on the flop.
Value betting:
Learn to value bet your hands. If you open from the CO or B and get called, it's better to C-bet with air or strong holdings then it is with marginal holdings. The last thing you want to do is turn a marginal holding into a bluff. So when you hit 2nd pair on a dry board and you know your opponent is a calling station, there is no need to C-bet and bloat the pot. Try and keep the pot small and consider value betting it on a safe turn instead. You will also cause loose villains to barrel at the turn with air.
When you make a value bet against a TAG, regardless of your holding being strong or marginal, consider how it fits your range. Is the hand you are betting at the top of your range or at the bottom of your range? Is it well disguised or not?
When someone UTG or in EP raises, you flat or 3bet and see a flop, consider what YOUR range would be for open raising or calling a 3-bet/4-betting from UTG or EP. Chances are if someone is a TAG like you are, your ranges UTG and from EP are similar. You can apply these ranges throughout the hand to figure out how strong they probably are.