Hi everyone

Having blown half my bankroll playing 5NL 6max on Stars, I'm going to play 2NL 6max to build my bankroll and confidence back up before trying 5NL again.

I will put some graphs and hands into this thread. Hopefully I will learn a lot (and maybe some others will too) and it will encourage me to play my best and stop tilting and playing like a reckless -ass.

This is the situation:

-Bankroll is now $102.
-About to get $100 in bonuses.
-Start with 2NL 6max then move onto 5NL 6max when I am beating 2NL.
-Dabble in 10NL when bankroll exceeds $250, dropping down if necessary.

Here is my 2NL graph so far:

I'll be looking at this thread for sure. Good luck.

GL, just wondering what country you are from ?

Hi, thanks guys. I'm from the U.K, will try and add it to my visible info

FTW!!

Have you ever played anywhere but stars?
Rakeback is going to be a pretty big chunk of increasing your bankroll whilst at super micros and Bronze works out at ~8% and Silver ~13% and these also arent cash sums they are bonus.

I used to play at PKR but mostly tourneys cos they charge 10% rake at 4NL and 10NL and I didn't have any rakeback. I had a few nice MTT wins then proceed to lose most of it playing 25nl like a donkey lol.

I really like the pokerstars VIP system, and with the welcome bonus my RB percentage is probably pretty high at the mo

vids please (i'm bored)

Will try and make a vid soon jbbb. I'm looking for a free screen recorder for Mac. How many tables can you show clearly at once? Just one I suppose?

Edit: It looks like I can use quicktime, will try later. Can you hide your screenname?

Originally Posted by micromachine

Will try and make a vid soon jbbb. I'm looking for a free screen recorder for Mac. How many tables can you show clearly at once? Just one I suppose?

Edit: It looks like I can use quicktime, will try later. Can you hide your screenname?

I have camtasia for mac as a free download but i'll let you find that for yourself. If I sent it over and turned out to be a virus that wouldn't be too cool of me.

You can probably play 4 tables max if the quality is good. Cafeman used to post vids with 4 tables they were very good to watch.

You can't hide your SN AFAIK.

Originally Posted by micromachine

I used to play at PKR but mostly tourneys cos they charge 10% rake at 4NL and 10NL and I didn't have any rakeback. I had a few nice MTT wins then proceed to lose most of it playing 25nl like a donkey lol.

I really like the pokerstars VIP system, and with the welcome bonus my RB percentage is probably pretty high at the mo

I wouldnt be bothered about screename at 2nl dude. I know you can blurr it but havent tried personally.

Yeah pokerstars VIP system looks awesome but the cash equivalent below platty is pretty rubbish compared to other euro sites but GL.

join the skype group if you fancy chatting

Subscribed.

Good luck OP. Judging from some of your other posts you seem to have a good grasp of the right questions to ask and a real desire to improve.

I look forward to reading your thread. These types of threads make for some of the best content on CC.

Good Luck. Just curious, how do you study to improve? I found that studying is an essential part in becoming a winning player.

Right, from now on I wont call any reraises with my TPTK type hands unless I have a read...I think I haven't given players enough credit at 2NL.

Poker Stars - $0.01/$0.02 No Limit Hold'em (5 players)
Poker Stars Hand Converter Tool from CardsChat.com

SB Hero: $2.16
BB: $10.46
UTG: $0.84
CO: $2.48
BTN: $5.09

Pre-flop: ($0.03) Hero is SB and dealt
UTG calls $0.02, CO raises to $0.10, BTN folds, Hero calls $0.09, UTG folds

Flop: ($0.24) (2 players)
Hero checks, CO bets $0.14, Hero calls $0.14

Turn: ($0.52) (2 players)
Hero checks, CO bets $0.28, Hero calls $0.28

River: ($1.08) (2 players)
Hero bets $0.51, CO raises to $1.96 (All-in), Hero calls $1.13 (All-in), CO returned $0.32

Final Pot: $4.36

Showdown:
CO shows (a full house, jacks full of threes)
Hero shows (two pair, jacks and threes)
Outcome: CO wins $4.15



Doing OK still at 2NL bit swingy though, here is the graph:

Originally Posted by Shwiggler

Good Luck. Just curious, how do you study to improve? I found that studying is an essential part in becoming a winning player.

Thanks. I read websites and forums and have read a couple of the Harrington books (the tournament ones). Other than that I review my hands and think about how I could have played losing hands better or how I could have won more in hands I won.

Personally I would either 3 bet or fold AJ out of the small blind vs co raise.

As played, why did you bet the river?

Originally Posted by alaskabill

Personally I would either 3 bet or fold AJ out of the small blind vs co raise.

As played, why did you bet the river?

3bet or folding will fold out all his weaker Ax hands and get called or 4bet by better.

Id 3bet if you know he calls wider or 4bets wider

Originally Posted by Jurn8

3bet or folding will fold out all his weaker Ax hands and get called or 4bet by better.

Id 3bet if you know he calls wider or 4bets wider

You are probably right.

FWIW my thinking is that if he is opening wide from the CO for stealing purposes than we will get enough folds to the 3 bet to make it profitable. Also, with it being 2NlL I can see us getting called by a lot of smaller pairs that our overcards have outs to.

Mainly I guess I'm making assumptions on his CO range and how often he folds to 3 bets that I shouldn't be making.

Originally Posted by Jurn8

3bet or folding will fold out all his weaker Ax hands and get called or 4bet by better.

Id 3bet if you know he calls wider or 4bets wider

very much this. But yeah, why did you bet the river?

Originally Posted by alaskabill

You are probably right.

FWIW my thinking is that if he is opening wide from the CO for stealing purposes than we will get enough folds to the 3 bet to make it profitable. Also, with it being 2NlL I can see us getting called by a lot of smaller pairs that our overcards have outs to.

Mainly I guess I'm making assumptions on his CO range and how often he folds to 3 bets that I shouldn't be making.

i think you get value more from AT but lose more value vs AQ/AK if you 3bet but lose more value vs A2 - A9 as he will fold the bottom part of that range so you arent able to get 3 potential streets, you just get a 3x PFR . However if you know he flats smaller Ax then I agree with the 3bet.

Originally Posted by bgomez89

very much this. But yeah, why did you bet the river?

I know, its horrible. I can't remember whether I was just convinced that I had the best hand or whether I was trying to bluff a diamond flush. I see now that checking and calling his value bet or folding to a large bet would have saved me a lot of chips.

As for his 3 bet calling / 4- bet range, I had no idea. Having only played a few thousand hands at 2NL most villains are strangers. In future hands I post I will try to include some villain info if I have any

Should I have shoved the flop? Or is a reraise better? And how much would you reraise to? I thought one of them had AK or AQ by this point and my hand felt so strong I decided to slowplay and extract more value from it. Maybe not such a good idea with 2 others in the hand still.

Poker Stars - $0.01/$0.02 No Limit Hold'em (6 players)
Poker Stars Hand Converter Tool from CardsChat.com

SB: $8.41
BB: $0.60
UTG: $1.59
MP: $2.03
CO: $1.34
BTN Hero: $1.95

Pre-flop: ($0.03) Hero is BTN and dealt
2 folds, CO calls $0.02, Hero raises to $0.08, SB calls $0.07, BB folds, CO calls $0.06

Flop: ($0.26) (3 players)
SB bets $0.18, CO calls $0.18, Hero calls $0.18

Turn: ($0.80) (3 players)
SB bets $0.40, CO raises to $1.08 (All-in), Hero raises to $1.69 (All-in), SB calls $1.29

River: ($5.26) (3 players)

Final Pot: $5.26

Showdown:
SB shows (a straight, Ten to Ace)
Hero shows (a set of jacks)
CO shows (a straight, Ten to Ace)
Outcome: SB wins $1.16
Outcome: SB wins $1.92
Outcome: CO wins $1.92

You were a 90% fav when you got the money in vs 2 villains why would want to change the outcome

I raise flop because players at 2nl will call with any A and a lot of OESD/guttshots and even any J although thats unlikely in this hand because you have 2 of them.

These two hands occurred one after the other, against the same villain. The first hand made me think he was weak and aggressive so in the second hand I shoved over his flop bet with my top pair hand. In this case I was correct but I wondered after whether the play was actually a bit reckless since I knew basically nothing about him (had played 10 hands against) and based my play entirely on the previous hand.

What do you think?

I was lucky this time but I think I tend to form impressions about other players too quickly and then they take me by surprise. So how many hands do you think you need on a player to have any kind of read? Is 50 enough?


Poker Stars - $0.01/$0.02 No Limit Hold'em (5 players)
Poker Stars Hand Converter Tool from CardsChat.com

SB: $1.95
BB Hero: $1.66
UTG: $5.72
CO: $2
BTN: $0.72

Pre-flop: ($0.03) Hero is BB and dealt
3 folds, SB raises to $0.08, Hero calls $0.06

Flop: ($0.16) (2 players)
SB bets $0.20, Hero calls $0.20

Turn: ($0.56) (2 players)
SB bets $0.22, Hero calls $0.22

River: ($1) (2 players)
SB bets $0.30, Hero calls $0.30

Final Pot: $1.60

Showdown:
SB shows (a pair of threes)
Hero shows (a pair of tens)
Outcome: Hero wins $1.53


Poker Stars - $0.01/$0.02 No Limit Hold'em (4 players)
Poker Stars Hand Converter Tool from CardsChat.com

SB Hero: $2.39
BB: $5.72
UTG: $2
BTN: $1.15

Pre-flop: ($0.03) Hero is SB and dealt
UTG raises to $0.06, BTN calls $0.06, Hero calls $0.05, BB calls $0.04

Flop: ($0.24) (4 players)
Hero bets $0.17, 2 folds, BTN raises to $0.56, Hero raises to $1.91, BTN calls $0.53 (All-in), Hero returned $0.82

Turn: ($2.42) (2 players)

River: ($2.42) (2 players)

Final Pot: $2.42

Showdown:
Hero shows (a pair of tens)
Outcome: Hero wins $2.30

Originally Posted by micromachine

So how many hands do you think you need on a player to have any kind of read? Is 50 enough?

I don't color code anyone until I have near 100 hands on them but a real bad player can get tagged in less then 5 hands if I see a couple showdowns.

Both of these hands are folds preflop in the blinds without a good read on villain imo.

Starting to dabble in cash games. Subscribing, and GL to OP!

hand 1 - raise flop
hand 2 - call and note he overbets bottom pair then bets like 1/2 pot with hands with poor SD value
hand 3 - if you think he was weak flat to keep his bluffs in, hes basically committed so just call it off on the turn.

Originally Posted by micromachine

These two hands occurred one after the other, against the same villain. The first hand made me think he was weak and aggressive so in the second hand I shoved over his flop bet with my top pair hand. In this case I was correct but I wondered after whether the play was actually a bit reckless since I knew basically nothing about him (had played 10 hands against) and based my play entirely on the previous hand.

What do you think?

I was lucky this time but I think I tend to form impressions about other players too quickly and then they take me by surprise. So how many hands do you think you need on a player to have any kind of read? Is 50 enough?


Poker Stars - $0.01/$0.02 No Limit Hold'em (5 players)
Poker Stars Hand Converter Tool from CardsChat.com

SB: $1.95
BB Hero: $1.66
UTG: $5.72
CO: $2
BTN: $0.72

Pre-flop: ($0.03) Hero is BB and dealt
3 folds, SB raises to $0.08, Hero calls $0.06

Flop: ($0.16) (2 players)
SB bets $0.20, Hero calls $0.20

Turn: ($0.56) (2 players)
SB bets $0.22, Hero calls $0.22

River: ($1) (2 players)
SB bets $0.30, Hero calls $0.30

Final Pot: $1.60

Showdown:
SB shows (a pair of threes)
Hero shows (a pair of tens)
Outcome: Hero wins $1.53

I like this play. Raising any street makes little sense and your hand has great SDV so calling each street is good. The Q changes nothing. Always make a note about his holdings. BvB situations make good notes as people tend to play weirdly in these situations.

Poker Stars - $0.01/$0.02 No Limit Hold'em (4 players)
Poker Stars Hand Converter Tool from CardsChat.com

SB Hero: $2.39
BB: $5.72
UTG: $2
BTN: $1.15

Pre-flop: ($0.03) Hero is SB and dealt
UTG raises to $0.06, BTN calls $0.06, Hero calls $0.05, BB calls $0.04

Flop: ($0.24) (4 players)
Hero bets $0.17, 2 folds, BTN raises to $0.56, Hero raises to $1.91, BTN calls $0.53 (All-in), Hero returned $0.82

Turn: ($2.42) (2 players)

River: ($2.42) (2 players)

Final Pot: $2.42

Showdown:
Hero shows (a pair of tens)
Outcome: Hero wins $2.30

Don't really like this play he's rarely going to call your flop 3bet with worse than JT. I'd be tempted to fold pre rather than play a really dominated hand OOP multiway, although the immediate odds aren't bad.

Originally Posted by micromachine

Pre-flop: ($0.03) Hero is BTN and dealt
2 folds, CO calls $0.02, Hero raises to $0.08, SB calls $0.07, BB folds, CO calls $0.06

Flop: ($0.26) (3 players)
SB bets $0.18, CO calls $0.18, Hero calls $0.18

Always raise this flop, 100% of the time.

Hi there,

Had a few interesting hands last night that I marked for review, any comments on my play are appreciated.

Hand1-Should I have folded that set?
Hand2-Good call by me? Or dangerous?
Hand3-Don't really need comments here lol
Hand4-Should I have bet more one the river?

Thx

Hand 1)

Poker Stars - $0.01/$0.02 No Limit Hold'em (6 players)
Poker Stars Hand Converter Tool from CardsChat.com

SB Hero: $3.05
BB: $1.93
UTG: $3.48
MP: $2.08
CO: $2.10
BTN: $1.72

Pre-flop: ($0.03) Hero is SB and dealt
4 folds, Hero raises to $0.06, BB calls $0.04

Flop: ($0.12) (2 players)
Hero bets $0.09, BB calls $0.09

Turn: ($0.30) (2 players)
Hero bets $0.21, BB raises to $0.42, Hero calls $0.21

River: ($1.14) (2 players)
Hero checks, BB bets $1.02, Hero folds, BB returned $1.02

Final Pot: $1.14

Showdown:
BTN mucks his hand
Outcome: BB wins $1.09

Hand 2)

Poker Stars - $0.01/$0.02 No Limit Hold'em (5 players)
Poker Stars Hand Converter Tool from CardsChat.com

SB Hero: $1.94
BB: $2.42
UTG: $5.45
CO: $2
BTN: $3.72

Pre-flop: ($0.03) Hero is SB and dealt
2 folds, BTN raises to $0.09, Hero calls $0.08, BB folds

Flop: ($0.20) (2 players)
Hero checks, BTN bets $0.18, Hero calls $0.18

Turn: ($0.56) (2 players)
Hero checks, BTN bets $3.45 (All-in), Hero calls $1.67 (All-in), BTN returned $1.78

River: ($3.90) (2 players)

Final Pot: $3.90

Showdown:
Hero shows (two pair, aces and threes)
Outcome: Hero wins $3.71

Hand 3)

Poker Stars - $0.01/$0.02 No Limit Hold'em (6 players)
Poker Stars Hand Converter Tool from CardsChat.com

SB: $2.03
BB Hero: $1.98
UTG: $6.78
MP: $3.30
CO: $7.44
BTN: $6.87

Pre-flop: ($0.03) Hero is BB and dealt
UTG calls $0.02, 2 folds, BTN raises to $0.06, SB folds, Hero calls $0.04, UTG calls $0.04

Flop: ($0.19) (3 players)
Hero bets $0.10, UTG calls $0.10, BTN folds

Turn: ($0.39) (2 players)
Hero bets $0.20, UTG calls $0.20

River: ($0.79) (2 players)
Hero bets $1.62 (All-in), UTG calls $1.62

Final Pot: $4.03

Showdown:
Hero shows (a full house, tens full of queens)
UTG shows (two pair, queens and sixes)
Outcome: Hero wins $3.83

Hand 4)

Poker Stars - $0.01/$0.02 No Limit Hold'em (6 players)
Poker Stars Hand Converter Tool from CardsChat.com

SB: $1.75
BB: $2.66
UTG: $2.33
MP: $2.14
CO: $0.27
BTN Hero: $2.19

Pre-flop: ($0.03) Hero is BTN and dealt
3 folds, Hero raises to $0.06, SB folds, BB calls $0.04

Flop: ($0.13) (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $0.09, BB calls $0.09

Turn: ($0.31) (2 players)
BB checks, Hero checks

River: ($0.31) (2 players)
BB bets $0.30, Hero raises to $0.75, BB calls $0.45

Final Pot: $1.81

Showdown:
Hero shows (a straight, Ten to Ace)
Outcome: Hero wins $1.72

Hnad 1. Never folding here. I'd 3bet/shove the turn cause we get a lot of calls from 2 pair hands and combo draws like pair + FD hands or pair + straight/FD.

Hand 2. 3 bet preflop. /hand

Hand 3. Lol. Id bet more on the flop though since board is so wet. Like .16-.19 or something.

Hnad 4. Nh. Nitpicking... I'd always raise at least 4-5x with value hands at nl2 since people generaly dont fold much and we dominate a lot of hands that will be calling from the blinds.

Hand 1 - If we say he has a completed flush 100% of the time we have 10 outs to boat up which we need 3.6/1 and he is giving us 5.43/1 so flat and boat up ftw!
Fine as played

Hand 2 - 3bet pre, what was your plan for calling flop ?

Hand 3 - donk bigger like .14 or .15, nit picking but more value as he will still peel naked diamond hands. and wtf at outcome lol

Hand 4 - No its thin enough

Originally Posted by brank

Hnad 1. I'd 3bet/shove the turn cause we get a lot of calls from 2 pair hands and combo draws like pair + FD hands or pair + straight/FD.

min raise turn, vbet river is a standard screaming strength line from a weak/passive player

3b jamming turn is an absolute spew

Originally Posted by Jurn8

Hand 1 - If we say he has a completed flush 100% of the time we have 10 outs to boat up which we need 3.6/1 and he is giving us 5.43/1 so flat and boat up ftw!
Fine as played

Hand 2 - 3bet pre, what was your plan for calling flop ?

Hand 3 - donk bigger like .14 or .15, nit picking but more value as he will still peel naked diamond hands. and wtf at outcome lol

Hand 4 - No its thin enough

Thanks 4 the feedback brank and Jurn. I have a couple of questions...

- For hand 1, I see that flat calling in hope of making full house is a good play, and it is basically what I did. I didn't quite get where the 5.43/1 odds come from though? I can't see any point in the hand where my odds are that good.

- For hand 2, I agree a 3-bet preflop would have been good here. My thinking for calling his flop bet was basically to float - quite often they give up and check the turn, I make a 1/2 pot bluff bet and they fold. I think it works especially well here as my hand is strong and could still make a nh on the turn or river. In the end he just had 52o lol, maybe he was trying to use the ace as a scare card?

Originally Posted by Jurn8

Hand 3 - donk bigger like .14 or .15, nit picking but more value as he will still peel naked diamond hands. and wtf at outcome lol

Lol
What is J6o not a reasonable UTG hand to open w/. . .lol. . .
btw. . .good thread!

subscribin, good luck MM, im doing the same as you, having come from a mtt/sng background.
KD's cash thread, gonna run up thru the levels!