Hello everybody,

this is my first post on this forum .

I recently started playing online poker (again...) and for the first time it's not like that I load my account with $50 and start playing $5 tournaments, $5 SnG and NL25. I studied a lot of materials before returning and I want to have a good strategy for my efforts.

I loaded my PokerStars account with $100 and started playing only NL2 (full ring). I'm at 3000 hands now and I'm breaking even. (+1bb/100). However, there is a big variance in my opinion, especially because of a few hands that I lost $1+ with.

I would like to discuss those few hands here, so the more experienced players would point me in the right direction If you could comment on the mistakes that I did in each hand, that would be awesome. They are the 5 hands that I lost the most money with so far.

Thanks!!
Tomas

HAND 1:



HAND 2:



HAND 3:
(the guy had VPIP 41 %, PFR 24 %, 3BET 23,5 %, WTSD 50 % --- 38 hands)



HAND 4:
(it's practically the same as Hand 2, I really lost some money with QQ)



HAND 5:
(my god....)

Hand 1:

I think you played this ok. Maybe would of raised more pre flop. Usually it's 3xbb + 1bb per limper but at these stakes you can usually go a bit higher as a lot will call regardless. The other player got lucky. Maybe would of re-raised the turn to extract value if the situation was to repeat.

Hand 2:

Even without looking at hud, a re-raise in the BB signifies a lot of strength as they are out of position going in heads up so their range is usually abit polarised (presuming the opponent understands position value) so probably AA, AK, KK, maybe jacks and tens too although you don't see players massively keen to get the stacks in preflop due to being behind to overpairs (unless their playing like fish/maniacs/very loose aggressive)

All in all you just kind of got a bit unlucky IMO. I would of lost my stacks also.


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Oh, and hand 3. That's a good example of why it's good to raise pre-flop. Maybe if you raised pre flop the opponent wouldn't of called with his garbage hand, plus raising gets more money in the pot. I probably wouldn't raise in EP with QJ as you are behind to a lot of cards in a tight range and out of position.

Just a little tip, solid pre flop play makes it a lot easier post flop.


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You've got some work to do on (1) evaluating the strength of your hand - you are most often overvaluing and (2) your raise sizes generally. Also be more aware of position.

H1: raise larger on the flop, making it only 3x vs a limper you'll likely get several callers. Raise to 0.10-0.14 instead. Flop is OK. The turn: your opponent (who looks like a really bad player) faced a raise preflop, led out on a Axx flop, then led out on the turn with another Ace. Conclusion: he isn't scared of the Ace. He could have TT, 22, AT or A2 which beat you; most players wouldn't limp-call AK preflop but this guy might have, and that beats you too. You beat AJ, A9, etc, but you're not necessarily ahead here. A call might be prudent, but if you're going to raise, make it larger. The hand then gets even weirder with his min-3bet, your call is fine. On the river, having been pretty passive, he suddenly jams. Your trip Aces here might be good or they might not. Are you good 36% of the time? (How did I get that number?) There are no straights or flushes on board, and he almost certainly doesn't have 99, so you just have to ask yourself how often you think he has a worse Ace, or some random hand, vs a better Ace (AK, AT, A9, A2) or a full house (TT or 22). Probably pretty close, vs a better player that would be a fold.

H2: See what I mean about raise sizes: you raise larger without a limper than you did vs a limper. You then get 3bet pretty large out of the blinds. You then have a decision: raise again, or just call? The stack sizes are awkward with little room for manoevre, If you 4bet then you would have to call any all-in move from him, so if you want to raise again then just get the money in. You decide to call and face a small bet on a low board. Now you have to ask yourself the question you need to ask every single hand: why do I bet? At the simplest level you are either betting for value, or a bluff - you either want worse hands to call, or better hands to fold. Let's say he has a hand like AK. If you shove the flop, he will fold. But if you call, he MAY bluff again on the turn. On the other hand, if you shove, will be call with 77? Not neccessarily. You also have to bear in mind he would have a hand that currently beats you. I just think by shoving the flop you are making most hands worse than yours fold (not a good thing) and not getting any hands which beat you to fold (which you aren't able to do). So probably call, see what happens on the turn, and keep the pot a manageable size.

H3: can't see too much wrong with that. Set over set generally will lose you a lot of money (sometimes you'll be the one with top set). His small bets might well be blocker bets trying to discourage you from raising, he could have a draw on the turn (8x, Jx, spades). River looks fine, you'd be gutted to check back and see him with AJ of spades or T9.

H4: 3bet much larger - you are out of position with a hand that doesn't like an A- or K-high flop. 0.25-0.30 is in order. I might consider jamming to his 4bet but call is OK. Postflop: he is the preflop aggressor, so let him take the lead in the betting. Your big bet means it is easy for him to fold AK (say) which otherwise would probably c-bet (see H2) so you can check-call and keep in his worse hands. When he shoves over the top of your aggression, what sort of hand do you think he is doing this with? Bear in mind this is a hand he felt strong enough to 4bet with, and saw you put in a big bet and jammed over the top. That screams a huge hand

H5: get into the habit of raising or folding. If you're not confident enough to raise, then you can fold QJs, it looks pretty but you don't have great position. as it is you get the perfect action, you are in position postflop without getting raised, that won't happen often from that spot. Remember that when it's limped around the SB could have a lot of hands and the BB has literally any two cards. SB bets pot, you raise (I don't hate this necessarily) but when both players call you have to wonder if one of them could have a 2. On the turn, you're definitely overvaluing your hand, you had top pair with a decent kicker and have upgraded to two pair which isn't actually that much of an upgrade. You have two players who were happy enough to call, you face another bet and call. By raising you are shouting "I have a 2"...in other words you are bluffing, which isn't what you meant to do, is it?

Your heart is in the right place: being aggressive. You just need to be a bit more aware of your situation, realising that your hands aren't sometimes as strong as you think they are, and you're pushing far too hard in situations where you're only likely to be looked up by stronger hands.

Hand 5: I think it'll help if you stop and think about the villain's river action. He checked, then only called your bet with Q2. Meaning he was afraid of K2/A2, JJ/QQ; that's how much you overrepped and overplayed your hand by raising flop and turn.

Did you at any point consider that villain could have a deuce considering he's in the bb in a limped pot. Then you did not read any strength in him betting flop, calling a raise, then led turn, and called a second raise again OOP.

post 1 hand at a time and include stats and notes if you want decent feedback

h1
bigger pre, fold flop
h2
call flop
h3
ship river
h4
bigger pre, c/c flop
h5
raise pre, never limp, raise or fold
call flop

do not overplay your top pairs
when facing aggression, they are bluffcatchers, you are either ahead or way behind

HAND 1
PREFLOP
Open bigger 4BB (3BB + 1/limper)
 You want to iso UTG+2 (he’s probably a fish when he’s limping)
 You want to play the hand heads-up. AQo is a hand with good pair potential, and in a heads-up pot, high pairs are worth a lot more than in a multiway pot.
FLOP
IMO a good call.
 There aren’t any real scare cards for us, so we don’t need to protect our hand.
 TPGK has very good showdown value, but is maybe too weak to reraise with in a MW pot.
TURN
Raise bigger OR call to control the pot (depends on your read on Villain). Your small raise isn’t really doing anything now. It invites V to bloat the pot even more and it doesn’t generate any fold equity.
 The only really scary hands in Villains range are AT and TT. We don’t expect him to have AK because he limp/called preflop.
 Reraising bigger will make him fold AK (IF it’s even in his range) and (semi)bluffs (air and draws). If he’s a fish he will call with worse A’s.

The river card is a pity. Most of the times, you would’ve won this hand on showdown.