My 2nl run

Ok, I realize that I need to improve my game both on and off the felt if Im going to be a winning player so I wanted to make this thread to document my progress through the micros. My starting bankroll is $50 and Im grinding the 2nls until I reach around $100 or so, then move up to the 4nl and so on. Here is my graph of my progress so far. I will also be posting notable hands where I won or lost money. I hope the good players at cards chat will welcome me and imbue me with their knowledge during my journey here.

Attached Images

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The crazy variance starting from about 1,552 is actually over two days. I got up to 18 but dropped to $11, grinded back up to $18 but then ran into some coolers and dropped again. More gridning to $16 but then dropped again and am now at $13. Hope to grind up to $18 again and finally cross that wall into $20+. Party poker seems to hate letting me win. Anyway, here are 3 of what I believe to me my most notable hands of the day (the rest are coolers and bad beats on both ends that no one wants to really see)


Party Poker - $0.01/$0.02 No Limit Holdem (9 players)
Party Poker Hand Converter Tool from CardsChat.com

SB: $1.20
BB: $1
UTG: $0.98
UTG+1: $2 (sitting out)
MP: $0.98
MP+1: $1 (sitting out)
MP+2 Hero: $1.66
CO: $2 (sitting out)
BTN: $1.70

Pre-flop: ($0.03) Hero is MP+2 and dealt
2 folds, Hero raises to $0.06, BTN calls $0.06, SB raises to $0.14, BB folds, Hero calls $0.08, BTN calls $0.08

Flop: ($0.44) (6 players)
SB checks, Hero checks, BTN checks

Turn: ($0.44) (6 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $0.30, BTN calls $0.30, SB folds

River: ($1.04) (5 players)
Hero checks, BTN bets $0.99, Hero calls $0.99

Villain hid his AKo well from me and later felted me with Aces which I think he got like 3 hands later when I had A8s. Did not expect him to have Aces especially when the board had an ace on the flop.


Party Poker - $0.01/$0.02 No Limit Holdem (6 players)
Party Poker Hand Converter Tool from CardsChat.com

SB: $1.05
BB: $3.07
UTG: $2
MP: $2 (sitting out)
CO: $1.78
BTN Hero: $2.49

Pre-flop: ($0.03) Hero is BTN and dealt
UTG raises to $0.06, CO calls $0.06, Hero raises to $0.20, 3 folds, CO calls $0.14

Flop: ($0.49) (3 players)
CO bets $0.47, Hero calls $0.47

Turn: ($1.43) (3 players)
CO checks, Hero bets $1.82 (All-in), CO calls $1.11 (All-in)

River: ($4.36) (3 players)

I think people may criticize my shove on the turn here after villain checked. Reason I did it was because villain seemed weak during the flop and spent quite some time when thinking of calling my first raise. I felt that my shove was the right play since I the pot was big enough for me to take down the pot, there were not major hands in my way, and I had significant outs to make the nut flush or the nut straight. Looking back, I had even more outs (could have won if I paired my Ace or King) so i had 18 outs and fold equity.

Party Poker - $0.01/$0.02 No Limit Holdem (5 players)
Party Poker Hand Converter Tool from CardsChat.com

SB: $1.22
BB: $2.18
UTG: $2
CO: $2
BTN Hero: $2.20

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

Flop: ($0.20) (3 players)
SB checks, BB bets $0.19, Hero raises to $0.57, SB folds, BB calls $0.38

Turn: ($1.34) (2 players)
BB bets $0.20, Hero raises to $0.94, BB raises to $1.55 (All-in), Hero calls $0.61

River: ($4.44) (2 players)

Hand I personally feel I played well. I hit my set after mining and it was well disguised since it was the middle set. I was scared of a flush but since this was shorthanded, I did not think villain was playing with a flush and felt I should take the risk.

Oops, sorry I forgot that I hid the results for a reason.

RAISE MORE THAN 3X AT 2NL
Why did you bet the turn and then c/c the river?

why are you calling the flop bet here? Just fold

raise more on the flop, shove the turn!

also

RAISE MORE THAN 3X AT 2NL

For the KQs hand, I bet the turn since I sensed weakness and called the river because I thought I had showdown value (put the opponent on QJ or something).

I should have folded the flop for AKs. I know that I need to be more disciplined and fold AK when I miss the flop but it sucks after waiting so long for a good hand and when I hit and bet, the opponent folds. This kinda explains why I did not shove the turn w/ 66 on the turn. I did not want to get villain to fold without committing most of his chips in and not generate fold equity in the process.

I was wondering how much I should bet on 2nl. Should I open AK with 15? More?

Hi ClubArrow

I think 7.5BB to open is too much...it is better to open to a standard amount regardless of the hand, to keeps your monsters disguised.

My standard opening raise has been 3BB at 2NL but I agree with bgomez, it isn't enough. You don't want to be getting called by 3 players when you raise 3BB in MP with KK for example.

Im going to try randomly switching between 4BB and 5BB from now on.

Good luck

Why would you want to draw out hands with monsters like A,K by betting 15cents?

All this achieves is folds most times and losing massive value for when you do hit and someone is holding A,10+K,10+ hands and are very willing to stack with such hands if top pair hits.

Thanks for the advice. Ill make my raises 4x I guess. What I find crazy is that too many people now minraise with AA or KK. Sadly, I just happen to get AK or QQ in those cases and lose money. I just dont get the reasoning behind this. It loses value if i didnt have a premium hand.

Heres the beauty thing about 2nl/5nl. Hardly anyone notices anything!. You could raise more with your monsters and less when your stealing and no one will either notice or adjust. Thats one of the reasons its easy to beat.

What brank said. Typically my standard raise was 4x-5x at 2nl.

The kq hand you said you had sensed weakness so you bet. What range did you put the btn on? Fwiw I think I liked the way you played it but want to see your thought process.

In the 66 hand I agree shoving turn might not be so good with the stack sizes but if you had raised the flop more it would have been set up mich nicer. .75-.80 sounds nice

On the KQ hand, I raised to semi steal and at least reduce the number of players in the pot, hoping to hit a flush draw or one of my two broadway cards on the flop. I got the worst case scenario where I got no draw, no pairs, and an Ace on the flop. I had nothing so I checked but noted that the two other villains also checked.

This made me suspicious since I assume anyone with an ace against 2 other players would at least raise half pot to limit to one opponent. The turn seemed to not change the hand much so I bet out about 80% of the pot to see where I was and if I could take it down. SB folded but BTN just called. I assumed then that BTN could have Kx or possibly paired his 9 so K9, 89, T9.

The river came a Q which gave me top pair in my view. BTN bet .99 which I did not like but felt that I needed to call since I did have some showdown value and wanted to see what villain played since I had little info on him. I could not put him on premium cards like AK because he slowplayed the hand for so long so I thought he either floated the turn and hit his Q which in that case, I would likely be ahead, or he hit 2 pair w/ Q9 which is a really bad starting hand to reraise with.

For 66, I understand raising more on the flop would be better but I feel that overbetting the flop might not maximize value. Yes the flush draw was there but Im not too sure how to estimate the liklihood of a flush draw. Flush draws are pretty rare as are made flushes by the river and since a set is only made 1/8 of the time, I want to maximize value when I do hit that set. I might be too greedy in that sense though.

Ok so you put him on a lot of 9s but no aces. So by the river I assumed you figured you were ahead so why not just bet out on the river? Did you feel he doesn't call ANY bet with a 9?
What do you think he calls your raise with that wouldn't call 10-15 cents more?

I didnt bet the river because I wasnt really sure about the strength of my hand. I guess I could bet to gain some fold equity and I did play the hand quite passive but Ive had times where my aggression has cost me so Ive been dialing it back a bit fir maginal hands in 2nl where bluffing is not a practice to adopt. I bet strong with AKo, AQ, and AJ hitting top pair and call all ins from short stacks but become a bit more passive when im not proud of my hand.

I guess since I measure my stack in terms of bets instead of money when I play, I dont like overbetting the pot much especially when I want a call. I know sets are not unbeatable but they are a really good hand to get someone's stack in my opinion since they are relatively common compared to full houses or better and sets made with lower pps are hidden. Here are two hands I played today, one where I got beat and one where I did not get as much value as I wanted (but not complaining).

Party Poker - $0.01/$0.02 No Limit Holdem (9 players)
Party Poker Hand Converter Tool from CardsChat.com

SB: $2
BB: $1.89
UTG: $2.13
UTG+1 Hero: $1.97
MP: $0.75
MP+1: $0.77
MP+2: $1.95
CO: $0.73
BTN: $0.80 (sitting out)

Pre-flop: ($0.03) Hero is UTG+1 and dealt
UTG calls $0.02, Hero raises to $0.10, MP calls $0.10, 2 folds, CO calls $0.10, SB folds, BB calls $0.08, UTG folds

Flop: ($0.43) (5 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $0.40, MP raises to $0.65 (All-in), 2 folds, Hero calls $0.25

Final Pot: $1.73

Showdown:

raise w/ AK is standard I think and I hit top pair on the flop so I bet out pot. During this time, I though I was ahead since villain called raise, I was expecting AJ, KQ-K8, or possibly Asxs or Ksxs but unlikely. Since the villain was shortstacked, the shove also did not cost much more so I was surprised when villain turned over 44. Did not expect anyone to call my raise with that. Maybe I put too much emphasis on TPTK but when heads up w/ a premium hand, its not one I feel too badly about.


Party Poker - $0.01/$0.02 No Limit Holdem (8 players)
Party Poker Hand Converter Tool from CardsChat.com

SB: $0.87
BB: $2
UTG: $0.87
UTG+1 Hero: $1.78
MP: $1.97
MP+1: $4.03
CO: $1.06
BTN: $1.97

Pre-flop: ($0.03) Hero is UTG+1 and dealt
UTG folds, Hero raises to $0.06, MP calls $0.06, MP+1 folds, CO calls $0.06, 2 folds, BB calls $0.04

Flop: ($0.25) (4 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $0.15, MP folds, CO calls $0.15, BB folds

Turn: ($0.55) (2 players)
Hero bets $0.30, CO folds

Raising only 3xBB was bad on my part but since I was card dead and folding alot, my raises were often quickly folded to so I didnt think much of it until I got the calls. Flop was a miracle for me since I hit a set w/ a premium hand. There was a potential flush draw though so I bet into the flop. Originally thought of betting 20 but decided to make it 15 to induce a call but only got one caller. Turn was a safe card so I bet again and took down the pot there. Not sure if I missed value by not raising to 8 preflop and betting 20 on the flop. Any thoughts?

how were not about the strength of your hand? You told me that you thought he just had a bunch of 9s in his range. The Q on the river doesn't change that so you should feel pretty good about it and bet.

I guess what I'm saying is he's not going to fold top pair or a flush draw for a .10-.15 cents more

Its been about a month and although I havent had a major streak, Im slowly building my roll. Im not sure if Im missing value on my hands so I have started to overbet pots on the flop, especially against loose opponents and have been doing better. Im not sure but I might be missing value off my AQ now. Love to hear some comments on how I should play AQ in these cases.


Party Poker - $0.01/$0.02 No Limit Holdem (8 players)
Party Poker Hand Converter Tool from CardsChat.com

SB: $1.99
BB: $2.19
UTG: $1.81
UTG+1: $1.80
MP: $2.14
MP+1: $2.10
CO: $1.96
BTN Hero: $1.97

Pre-flop: ($0.03) Hero is BTN and dealt
UTG raises to $0.08, UTG+1 calls $0.08, 2 folds, CO calls $0.08, Hero folds, BB folds

Flop: ($0.27) (3 players)
UTG bets $0.02, UTG+1 calls $0.02, CO calls $0.02

Turn: ($0.33) (3 players)
UTG bets $0.04, UTG+1 folds, CO raises to $0.12, UTG calls $0.08

River: ($0.57) (2 players)
UTG checks, CO bets $0.41, UTG folds

UTG is loose but usually limps in the pot with his hands. Seeing the two calls infront of my had me believe though that one person is very likely to have AK which has me dominated or a mid pp which im a coin flip or worse against so I folded pre.

Attached Images

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Party Poker - $0.01/$0.02 No Limit Holdem (9 players)
Party Poker Hand Converter Tool from CardsChat.com

SB: $2
BB: $1.60
UTG: $1.14
UTG+1: $2.08
MP: $3.95
MP+1: $1.80
MP+2 Hero: $2.04
CO: $0.70
BTN: $1.86

Pre-flop: ($0.05) Hero is MP+2 and dealt
UTG calls $0.02, UTG+1 folds, MP raises to $0.12, MP+1 folds, Hero folds, UTG folds

MP is relatively loose (VP$IP of 30) but is a decent player. He doubled his stack against another player in a prior hand with TT v AK after hitting a set on the flop and getting the player pot committed I think. MP has also never raised to 12 every during the hand so I put villain on a strong hand like AK or JJ-QQ. This might be too weak for me though.


Party Poker - $0.01/$0.02 No Limit Holdem (9 players)
Party Poker Hand Converter Tool from CardsChat.com

SB: $1.78
BB Hero: $2.04
UTG: $0.71
UTG+1: $1.86
MP: $2
MP+1: $1.22
MP+2: $1.53
CO: $2.05
BTN: $4.02

Pre-flop: ($0.03) Hero is BB and dealt
UTG raises to $0.08, 3 folds, MP+2 calls $0.08, 2 folds, SB calls $0.07

Flop: ($0.26) (3 players)
SB checks, UTG checks, MP+2 checks

Turn: ($0.26) (3 players)
SB checks, UTG checks, MP+2 checks

River: ($0.26) (3 players)
SB checks, UTG checks, MP+2 checks

Final Pot: $0.26

Showdown:
SB shows (a pair of tens)
UTG shows (a pair of deuces)
MP+2 shows (high card ace)
Outcome: SB wins $0.25

I thought UTG raise should be respected because he seemed like a nit (did not expect 22, more like AA or KK, possibly JJ). MP call and SB call made me wonder if one of them had a decent hand. I thought about calling but also know that I would have really bad position postflop if my hand did not connect to the flop well.

Damn it. I just when through a huge cooler and lost $5. TT broken by AQ, AQ meets QQ and AA. My nut flush shove on the turn gets called by trip Kings who makes his full house by the river. Damn, all my hard work just gone in 2 hours.

wow, I just lost another 3. I suck so much. What the hell is going on???

Damn, it seems that Party just hates me so much. I pretty much lost all my draws and get to go card dead. I call a maniac who was shoving preflop every hand w/ A8o, ran into 56s and donk hits 2 pair on the turn and river. Ran into a heads up maniac who just seemed to hit every time and raise my blinds which lost me another 1.50. Im definately quitting for today and probably taking a break cause this was just too painful. Any advice on when to stop? I doubt I was running hot for the 1000 hands before this crisis. Wow, I pretty much ended up losing 4BI in the span of 4 hours or so.

Attached Images

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Saddest thing is I wasnt even planning on playing after reaching the $30 for today.

Ok, now at -10. I am at $20 after losing God knows how many coinflips. I had my jacks cracked after shoving into AKo who just happens to hit is A on the river and I had my QQ cracked by the same hand after shoving into a low flop. Was a 75% favorite but nooo, AK breaks again. Yet this never happens to me. Im actually losing money on AKo, AJs, KQs, and JJ (im -4.75 with JJ despite shoving with JJ in pretty on low flops or pre).

Sample size?

over 4,000 hands. Total is still +20 but as you can see on the graph, it took me about 900 hands to get to +30. Only took about 200 hands to lose those 10. I think for the first 4, I might have been playing too loose by trying to set mine and hit some nut flushes. The other -6 I feel was really variance for me though since I kept losing to coinflips and getting my money in good and somehow still lose.

In first graph from today it looks that your BB/100=21.95? not sure because is really tinny, but if number is correct you probably was on a superheater and maybe variance is taking his part to even things. anyway 4000 hands is not much, just keep playing your best and things should be ok, if get on tilt because so many beats better to take a break. If you set a goal to stop with X number winning also can set that goal for loses and stop no matter what.

my BB/100 is 15.42 so that might be a heater but im not sure. I did have some suck outs on villains (like QT vs 77 and hit fullhouse on the river) but I also got good hands where I was able to get villain to put his entire stack in with middle or bottom pair while I had top pair. The reason why I think I was on a cooler was because I kept on losing despite getting my money in with the best hand. I hit the nut flush on the turn and got all the money in against a set of kings (only had 20% chance to make fullhouse on river). I also got all my money in with QQ against AK on a low flop (75 to 25).

It sounds from you recent posts like you might be getting into marginal situations too often and coin-flipping for your entire stack...

-You shoved JJ preflop...I don't generally shove JJ preflop unless I think the villain will call light. You normally get called by AK and are flipping (not good) or by TT+ (you only beat TT). I would 3-bet with JJ, then fold if they shove.

-You shoved JJ and QQ on low flops....I have done this before and a lot of the time I run into KK or AA or a low set. I think it is safer to bet around 3/4 pot and consider folding your QQ if a solid opponent reraise shoves.

You only lost 5BI's, I find this can easily happen through suckouts and couple of bad decisions. The key is not to tilt. GL

4BB +1 for every limper. It is not just a way to isolate fish but also it is a way to make profit on the long run when playing strong hands.
Do not slowplay sets when the board has obvious draws.
Educate yourself to have the discipline to fold when the odds are against you. I think you got some bad beats but also i saw hands played like c...p and calls when the odds were not on your side.
Even if it sucks when you do not get hands for a while remember that you do not play for immediate profit. That is gambling. You play poker and what you have to do is to take everytime the correct decision. Like chess. That is all that you have to think of. Not money but correct decisions everytime.
My advice. Try to play some Fixed limit poker untill you learn the odds. Play tight, play pocket pairs, suited connectors(be carefull in what conditions is profitable to do that), play agressive when you have it, fold when you do not have pott odds. You will have to read some articles (pokerstrategy is a good site for this). It may take 2-3 mounths untill you'll get confortable and start grinding but it will be a good lesson and you wil have the bankroll to do that. And final advice. Never tilt. A bad beat is a bad beat .. you took the right decision. That's all. It takes years for a beginner to grind up to a bankroll of 1k. It is that hard because it takes a lot of time untill the beginner grinds to that 100 dollars.

You gave some good advice but I'm not sure it is necessary to switch to FL...could that not be detrimental as implied odds etc are vastly different when the pot can only reach a limited size?

Thanks for the advice. I guess one problem is that I hate folding premium hands since I wait for them often although I am avoiding tougher situations. I dont bluff, bet aggressive when I hit TPTK or if I hit 2 pair, and dont slowplay with sets (I may bet 3/4 pot instead of pot but thats about the extent of my slowplay).

I always thought that JJ played alot like QQ against AK which is why I thought it was fine to open shove since you get both fold equity and are a small favorite against AK. I guess I might tighten up and only use JJ to steal blinds unless I hit a set on the flop or no over cards. I think the prob of meeting a higher pp with JJ or QQ is not too high since KK against AA is like 1/18. There are some hands I think I played well but maybe these hands are more marginal than I thought.


Party Poker - $0.01/$0.02 No Limit Holdem (9 players)
Party Poker Hand Converter Tool from CardsChat.com

SB: $0.60
BB: $1.81
UTG: $2 (sitting out)
UTG+1: $2 (sitting out)
MP: $1.72
MP+1: $1.29
MP+2: $2.39
CO: $2.37
BTN Hero: $1.97

Pre-flop: ($0.03) Hero is BTN and dealt
MP folds, MP+1 calls $0.02, MP+2 calls $0.02, CO calls $0.02, Hero raises to $0.15, SB calls $0.14, BB folds, MP+1 calls $0.13, CO folds

Flop: ($0.51) (5 players)
SB checks, MP+1 checks, Hero bets $0.60, SB folds, MP+1 raises to $1.14, Hero calls $0.54

Turn: ($2.79) (4 players)

River: ($2.79) (4 players)

My QQ hand. I think I played it well since the odds were significantly in my favor after the flop. I also did not put my opponent on AK since he was a loose player and limped UTG.


Party Poker - $0.01/$0.02 No Limit Holdem (9 players)
Party Poker Hand Converter Tool from CardsChat.com

SB Hero: $1.79
BB: $2
UTG: $2.20
UTG+1: $0.98
MP: $1.31
MP+1: $0.80 (sitting out)
MP+2: $0.55
CO: $1.76
BTN: $1.12

Pre-flop: ($0.03) Hero is SB and dealt
UTG folds, UTG+1 calls $0.02, MP raises to $1.31 (All-in), 3 folds, Hero raises to $1.79 (All-in), UTG+1 folds

Flop: ($3.14) (3 players)

Turn: ($3.14) (3 players)

River: ($3.14) (3 players)

Final Pot: $3.14

Showdown:
Hero shows (high card ace)
MP shows (two pair, sixes and fivees)
Outcome: Hero wins $0.48
Outcome: MP wins $2.53


Normally, I would never dream of calling a shove with a hand as weak as A8o. But I saw villain literally shove every hand preflop and stealing the blinds. I knew he was shoving ATC literally and felt that Ace high would be a good chance to take his stack. After checking on Pokerstove, my hand was a favorite 60 to 40 against ATC and was about the same against his actual hand. I may have wanted to wait a little more patiently for a better hand but I thought this was a good chance to take the maniac's stack.

Party Poker - $0.01/$0.02 No Limit Holdem (9 players)
Party Poker Hand Converter Tool from CardsChat.com

SB: $2
BB Hero: $2.19
UTG: $0.56
UTG+1: $2.01
MP: $1.58
MP+1: $2
MP+2: $0.47 (sitting out)
CO: $1.95 (sitting out)
BTN: $1.56

Pre-flop: ($0.03) Hero is BB and dealt
UTG calls $0.02, 3 folds, BTN raises to $0.04, SB folds, Hero calls $0.02, UTG raises to $0.06, BTN calls $0.02, Hero calls $0.02

Flop: ($0.19) (5 players)
Hero bets $0.20, UTG calls $0.20, BTN folds

Turn: ($0.59) (4 players)
Hero bets $0.30, UTG calls $0.30 (All-in)

River: ($1.19) (4 players)

Final Pot: $1.19

Showdown:
Hero shows (ace-high flush)
UTG shows (a full house, kings full of sixes)
Outcome: UTG wins $1.14

This hand was really weird for me since I did not put villain on such a strong hand. Villain limped UTG so I put him on maybe a suited connector or decent broadway like KQs. I may have been a little loose calling the raise and reraise but the raises were small so I wanted to see a flop since I was against loose opponents and thought I could get paid off big if I hit my nut flush. The flop gave me a draw so I bet into it (would not have minded if I took the pot down right there). Got one caller and the turn gave me my nut flush. There were no pairs on the board and I put villain on possibly a lower flush or 2 pair, maybe even TPTK so I bet to put him all in. He called and the board paired, giving him the full house.

Why don't you have auto rebuy on?

I went over PT to see the hands that cost me the most money (BB/hand) and my worst is JJ, followed by A8s and KQs. I think TT is up there as well but is a little skewed since I actually sucked out once with TT against AA. I think I overvalue decent PP like JJ, TT and potential draws like KQs. Im also losing money with AKo but looking back, there are some stupid plays (bluffing when I did not connect w/ the flop and then calling, firing another barrel and then having to fold when villain goes all in) I did and one time when a person hit their set when I made TPTK.

I guess Im having a hard time both playing good but not great pp and putting my villains on a range. Ive seen too many people limp with KK, AK, or even AA as well as people raise and reraise w/ KQs or JTs. I make notes but its hard to get a read sometimes but I dont want to then play scared poker. Any advice on playing these hands or should I even leave these hands out of my range for a while?

My range is currently about this:
early position: raise AA, KK, AK
middle position: raise with JJ, QQ, AA, KK, AK, AQ, AJ, KQ, KJ if no raise before me.
reraise w/ AA, KK, AK
consider calling or folding to reraise w/ AQ, AJ
late position: raise w/ KQ, KJ, QJ, possibly JT if villain is tight to take blind
limp with 55+, 78s, 89s, Axs+ if I feel lucky (maybe this might be a bad thing but I also feel I need to create a looser image to get more calls on my raises).

I dont play sc much since I often do not get enough straight draws that lead into made straights if I play them (I look at the flop and pretend to see how I would play my hand had I hit) and am not comfortable playing flush draws with them since I feel they can get crushed (people play Axs or Kxs to hit flushes)

I tried to study up on pps to see how to play them and tried practicing hitting sets (I know the odds are 1 to 8.5 so they really rely on implied odds to be worth hit) and that sort of began this huge downfall I experienced today.

I also really do not like calling since I get no fold equity and find that most loose players are often calling stations rather than maniacs (I purposely go to tables where % of players/flop is >60% which is common in fr 2nl) since I think if I play tight against these players, I can get paid off with my hands. Maybe I need to readjust my opponents? Since I try to play a TAG game, I dont want to sit at a table where plr/flop <= 20.

Read Edd Miller's book "Small stackes strategy" and take the starting hands chart from there. Second. Improve your postflop play. Raise hard in position with strong hands to clean the table from weak hands and cbet after if the flop is not verry funny (Sloplaying top pair is a bad mistake).Depending on the opponent profile you have to consider folding even top pair postflop. Do not limp with small pocket pairs. Fold early position, standard 4 BB raise from middle and late position. You want to do that so that you cbet after . Only call with pocket pairs when there are several callers in front of you. But all this is in the book.
This is just the beginning. The theory is an entire book. Take a weak break and read 2-3 times and the same time try finding some videos with players playing at micros and watch them careffully. Do not think you are a decent player cose you are not. But you can become one.
I myself know what my leaks are but is not easy to close them. All comes with work and experience we all have a lot to learn. Even Phil Ivey said he still has a lot to learn. Is hard enough to be a break even player. To be a winning player is even harder.