Title says it all really.

I started out doing alright for a while but over the past week or so I've blown up massively and spunked away my meagre roll.

I have been trying to study, to play a reasonable VP/PF, to think in terms of ranges and not just fall in love with my cards, but I still am breaking even at NL2 roughly and losing pretty quickly at NL5 (I should never have played NL5 because I'm not properly rolled for it, but the players by HUD stats seemed even worse and I was doing OK at first so I stupidly continued).

Anyway, yeah. If anyone can give me some advice, whether general or specific, about why I suck so much and how to improve, it would be much appreciated. I really, really, really want to be able to attain at least a small winrate at the micros; I like playing poker and am willing to put in the effort to improve, but at the moment it seems like most of the information I can find was written pre Black Friday when games were filled with mega-fish, and just recommends playing ultra TAG which doesn't seem to work now that there are fewer huge station-y fish.

I only started using PT4 when I restarted playing recently so I'm not sure how to post stats properly; please let me know if I haven't given enough info or what else I should post.

Thanks very much for any advice you can provide.

http://imgur.com/a/UJwgA

10k hands just isn't enough volume. If you're really putting time in to studying and playing the game then just accept that variance is going to happen. It's okay to take shots at 5NL but if you start losing drop back down asap.

By studying and putting time in you're doing more than most at 2NL. You'll squeeze out that small win rate eventually. Just have to keep making good decisions and playing a solid game.

Looking at your PT stats it looks like you're playing 22/19 at 2nl. Those are LAG numbers. If you're just starting out then you're playing way too many hands pre-flop. You could literally play half the number of hands that you're currently playing and still make money.

The LAG style requires fold equity to work in your favour since by opening wider you'll be missing more flops. 2nl is probably the worst level for fold equity. Tighten up your starting hand requirements. This will make your postflop decisions easier and should improve your win-rate

Your playing too loose. Tighten up your VPIP/PFR. Work hard on an opening strategy.

Concentrate on that before moving onto other game aspects and I think you'll see a big improvement.

But as said 10k hands isn't enough to pick yourself apart like that.


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So you guys think I should aim for more like 16/14 or something like that? What should I be cutting out? I feel like small pairs, SCs, and weak suited As are where I'm winning big pots, so I'm always trying to play them in position and multiway, which drives up my VP. Should I be cutting out unsuited medium As and Ks instead, or playing fewer of those speculative hands? I could definitely be wrong about this, but I can't help but feel that if you go too nitty it's noticed even at 2NL and you never get paid off.

Honestly I'd be playing more like 16/9 because I'd be over-limping and flatting with a lot of speculative holdings (Ax suited, suited connectors and small-medium pocket pairs) in situations where I was likely to be out of position Post-flop and the pot was likely to go multi-way. Yes I'd lose the Ax and Kx unsuited hands - too easy to end up being out-kicked.

You say TAG doesn't work but I guarantee you it still does. Learn how to play solid TAG, then start bluffing when you see that your opponent has a weak or mediocre range and HAS A FOLD BUTTON (i.e., tight pre or tight post by stats or reads, or just super capped on a scary board). Your number 1 focus at the table is to figure out as much as you can about your villains and almost always have them on a range, if you do that you will understand which pots you can take away and which you have to give up and your win rate will skyrocket.