2NL continues to amaze me.

As some of you may know, I've been trying to build a bank roll from almost nothing. I had $2.25 in my account after coming back to full tilt (okay I'll be honest, $2.25 in rake back after tilting away the $15 I had when I came back). I'm now up to $20.08 after this last pot, but I've been shocked by how bad the play is at 2NL.

Now I will state upfront I'm sure many will find the way I played this to be horrible. In my defense my opponent had been EXTREMELY aggressive, raising big often and stealing blinds constantly. Given my opponents range and the fact that 79s is a hand I'm comfortable 3 betting such a player with pre flop I decided to just send a message that I wasn't going to have my blinds stolen. However after the flop I had a very strong gut feeling I had the best hand and so I bet it for value. When I saw the reraise I again had the strong feeling it was just a steal so I went all in to push her out. I was amazed that this girl actually called me with just over cards and even used extra time to consider it.

2NL at its finest...

Full Tilt Poker Game #21277166577: Table Material - $0.01/$0.02 - No Limit Hold'em - 2:05:55 ET - 2010/06/01
Seat 1: iwncti ($2)
Seat 2: CherI3ear ($2.09)
Seat 3: jewles78 ($2.01)
Seat 4: frame_bluffer ($3.65)
Seat 5: TazzyG ($1.86)
Seat 6: silkspider ($4.34)
Seat 7: 3lpadre ($2)
Seat 8: PR3C0GNITI0N ($1.98)
Seat 9: xcervyx ($1.19)
PR3C0GNITI0N posts the small blind of $0.01
xcervyx posts the big blind of $0.02
The button is in seat #6
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to PR3C0GNITI0N [7h 9h]
iwncti folds
CherI3ear folds
jewles78 folds
frame_bluffer folds
TazzyG folds
silkspider raises to $0.07
PR3C0GNITI0N raises to $0.22
xcervyx folds
silkspider calls $0.15
*** FLOP *** [9s Jh 6s]
PR3C0GNITI0N has 15 seconds left to act
PR3C0GNITI0N bets $0.22
silkspider has 15 seconds left to act
silkspider raises to $0.72
PR3C0GNITI0N raises to $1.76, and is all in
CherI3ear has been disconnected
silkspider has 15 seconds left to act
CherI3ear has reconnected
CherI3ear has been disconnected
silkspider has requested TIME
CherI3ear has reconnected
silkspider calls $1.04
PR3C0GNITI0N shows [7h 9h]
silkspider shows [Ad Qh]
*** TURN *** [9s Jh 6s] 4♥
*** RIVER *** [9s Jh 6s 4h] 6♥
PR3C0GNITI0N shows a flush, Jack high
silkspider shows a pair of Sixes
PR3C0GNITI0N wins the pot ($3.72) with a flush, Jack high
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $3.98 | Rake $0.26
Board: [9s Jh 6s 4h 6h]
Seat 1: iwncti didn't bet (folded)
Seat 2: CherI3ear didn't bet (folded)
Seat 3: jewles78 didn't bet (folded)
Seat 4: frame_bluffer didn't bet (folded)
Seat 5: TazzyG didn't bet (folded)
Seat 6: silkspider (button) showed [Ad Qh] and lost with a pair of Sixes
Seat 7: 3lpadre is sitting out
Seat 8: PR3C0GNITI0N (small blind) showed [7h 9h] and won ($3.72) with a flush, Jack high
Seat 9: xcervyx (big blind) folded before the Flop

I feel like this is the hand that see at 2NL or 2k NL.

Good luck getting your BR started. You seem to have a pretty aggressive style; I hope that works out. I'd imagine it's pretty high variance, and as you said, you realize that you tilt. Just be careful that you don't mistake aggressiveness for tilt.

Indeed that is something I have had to be careful of. Recently I feel like I've done a pretty good job of quitting and doing something else whenever I begin to tilt. In all likelihood in most cases I probably should have folded there. It was simply how over aggressive my opponent had been playing that caused me to bet in like that. Perhaps it was partly just dumb luck (lucky that he was dumb that is).

When donks collide!

You played this way too aggressively and got very lucky.

You will lose more of these situations than you ever win.

First, kudos to you for trying to build your br from nada. I did this myself and I've been playing micros for what seems like forever.
I fully understand the desire to play back with the donks that overbet everything. I've found myself playing cards that against better players I would not touch.

However, in this instance I believe you should have folded. You are quite frankly OOP with cards that are easily dominated. The fact that villain's range is so wide means they have an untold number of hands that beat yours preflop and also post flop.

Personally, if I was widening my range to take advantage of loose players, I would try to make sure I had position. I would not re-raise with drawing hands against players who have no concept of the cards they hold and are unable to put you on a hand. The most profitable way imdo to handle these types is to wait for something premium and let their aggressiveness do them in.

Just fold pre? Its a penny, and no one steals super wide at these stakes.

As I was going to bed last night the more I thought about it the more I realized just how lucky I got and how over aggressive I was in the hand. C9H, a lot of people do steal super wide at 2NL though. Yes, it's just a penny. But for someone building a bankroll from nothing that penny really is something.

I feel like that play is pretty standard overall. And it's actually pretty good from both players. I wouldn't be surprised to see it at the high stakes tables.

However you want a more reliable style at 2NL, just bet your big hands and be tight.

lol

Seriously the play is awful.

pre 3bets 79s against an "aggressive player" and at 2nl aggressive means raises a lot and wont fold almost ever.

So knowing he wont fold does the 3bet make any sense?

OK the flop hero hits one of the best possible flops for his hand.. other than 997 this is as good as it gets. So he leads out for under half pot.. now here is where it all goes really wrong.

If the plan was to exploit the fact that villain calls 3bets to wide preflop and villain is aggressive I would expect to see hero check raise all in on almost any flop .. basically no ace or king = CRAI. Of course this only works if villian can fold hands like AK and AQ unimproved postflop.. clearly villian isnt the type to do this so the CRAI makes no sense at all. So you cant really pass the 3bet of preflop as being part of a thought out plan.

In reality hero 3bet hoping villian would fold, but from heros description this was unlikely.

Then hero hits a pair and a FD and rather than check to induce a raise hero leads out for a tiny bet. Villian sees this tiny bet and raises over it. Hero then thinks F**K Y*U I have a FD and shoves.. villian then thinks .. well I put half my stack in and I do have AQ and calls.

The fact that villian can talk himself into a call with AQ in this situation means you can never 3bet suited gappers profitably against this villian because you will have to fold way too often when you dont hit and even when you do hit a pair he will still call an shove with over-pairs which will improve to TP about 25% of the time.

I could go on.. but seriously this wasnt played well at all.

Yes I left out the fact that the opponent was agressive, but otherwise it's a play you might see at the higher stakes.

I'm just saying:
-Three betting wide with those kind of hands is common
-The call with AQ OOP is decent as well
-the half pot bet with middle pair is standard
-The raise too, is good, since you have fold equity and you might force out a mid pair or even AK
-All in with middle pair was obviously ok, if you put your opponent on a draw
-the call with back door flush and straight draws and overs is a little loose, but not that bad, since he's ~30% to win vs a hand like JT

If you take the hand out of the context of 2NL it's pretty standard.

I've actually seen in 2NL that people fold far more often than you would think. Especially when you show a lot of strength.

The irony of that statement is unbelievable.

I'm looking at a hand history right now where someone playing 2NL didnt fold despite being shown a lot of strength.

So why didn't he fold AQo unimproved when you shoved over his flop raise? He stacked off with a pure bluff catcher.

More importantly, why am I not all that surprised that he could get all in on that flop after a re-raise with a hand like AQo?

Looks like a huge amount of unwarranted aggression on both sides. I certainly wouldn't have played it that way from either side of the table.

Pretty sure if I had been holding the AQo, I would have been out of the hand as soon as I saw the crappy flop and the bet.

Touche Stu.