New player, advice would be appreciated - 2nl

Hey

I've been playing poker 'seriously' for the past month and have what I think is a good understanding of the game and have taken the time to study and read books. I have sound bankroll management and try and fit in 1,000 hands a day when possible. All my data is tracked using Poker Copilot on Mac.

Problem is, I've been starting from the bottom up at 0.01/0.02c cash games on pokerstars and I am finding it extremely frustrating and difficult to beat these games. I think I'm doing everything right, playing tight and aggressive, playing the right cards from each position and I'm either breaking even or losing a few BB/100.

If anyone here can take some time and offer me some tips or strategic advice I would be grateful.

Here is an image of my stats from Poker Copilot.

What are your stats by position? You definitely need to be 3-betting wider for value. 1% 3-bet is AA/KK. You're probably missing a ton of value postflop too and it would benefit you to ISO limpers more. Also,22,000 hands is not enough to say anything definitive really. Post some hands that gave you trouble.

You need more A in your TAG. 14/8 is too passive. 14/12 is more like it. Also 3bet more.

The biggest advice I can give you, is not to pay people off with the second best hand. Folding to people who raise you on the flop or turn is the best way to save money, and therefore MAKE money later on in the session when YOU hit your big hands.

Value bet with TPTK unless you are raised.
Do not call out of position.
Isolate limpers from the CO and BU and cbet the flop.
Set mine.

WVHillbilly said:

You need more A in your TAG. 14/8 is too passive. 14/12 is more like it. Also 3bet more.

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You're not playing TAG. Tight yes, but aggressive, no. Even though you play a narrow and thus relatively strong range, you call nearly half the time you voluntarily put money in the pot. That's tight passive.

WVHillbilly said:

You need more A in your TAG. 14/8 is too passive. 14/12 is more like it. Also 3bet more.

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+1.

gl.

You need to check raise more against opponents continuation bets.

Simple call and donk bet turn owns people with that irritating strategy ^

Thanks everyone for your helpful advice. I've been doing a lot studying over the past few days and with the advice here I hope I can start making a profit.

- I'm UTG+1 with KQs and raise to 4bb (8c) everyone folds apart from the button. Flop comes A 7 5 rainbow, I continuation bet 2/3rds pot and opponent calls pretty quickly (they always do). Now I shut down, I'm clueless on what to do. I check and opponent raises to half the pot. What should I be doing in a scenario like this? Check on flop and fold to a raise from the button?

- Should I only be c betting on a dry looking flop?

Thanks guys, glad I signed up to this forum

Lawrence87 said:

Thanks everyone for your helpful advice. I've been doing a lot studying over the past few days and with the advice here I hope I can start making a profit.

- I'm UTG+1 with KQs and raise to 4bb (8c) everyone folds apart from the button. Flop comes A 7 5 rainbow, I continuation bet 2/3rds pot and opponent calls pretty quickly (they always do). Now I shut down, I'm clueless on what to do. I check and opponent raises to half the pot. What should I be doing in a scenario like this? Check on flop and fold to a raise from the button?

- Should I only be c betting on a dry looking flop?

Thanks guys, glad I signed up to this forum

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These things depend as much on your opponent and his range as they do on your cards. In general this is a flop you should be cbetting and giving up when called. You can vary your cbet size down a bit closer to 1/2 pot on dry Ace high boards like this since it's generally going to be a spot where you're only getting called by an opponent with Ax.

My Advice is start at 10nl, make you learn a bit better poker, probably not getting any fans by saying this

WVHillbilly said:

You need more A in your TAG. 14/8 is too passive. 14/12 is more like it. Also 3bet more.

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I think this is looking purely preflop though. An AF of 3 post flop is really not passive at all.

crocops said:

My Advice is start at 10nl, make you learn a bit better poker, probably not getting any fans by saying this

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Not this. Never this. You need to learn to beat whales.

I would suggest posting your stats by position and we could give some better feedback, and definitely start posting (converted) hands as well as your thought processes and you will really start to learn a lot.

NoOneYouKnow said:

Not this. Never this. You need to learn to beat whales.

I would suggest posting your stats by position and we could give some better feedback, and definitely start posting (converted) hands as well as your thought processes and you will really start to learn a lot.

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Here are my positional stats, they were previously all in profit apart from the blinds but after a bad session last week the cut-off position is now also in negative.

Lawrence87 said:

Here are my positional stats, they were previously all in profit apart from the blinds but after a bad session last week the cut-off position is now also in negative.

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Have you got your EV stats? Should show how +/-EV your plays are.

First thing I see is that you're limping/flatting too much from late position. Your PFR from Button, CO, and HiJack should be higher.

EV Stats? Do you mean like my all-equity? :S

Yeah that's what he's asking for.

The positional stats just reenforce my earlier comments. Be more aggressive. Steal more. Iso more. Limp less (shoot for never). Can't believe the BB stat that you're seeing 40% of flops but your vpip is only 8%. SOOOOOO much limping going on at 4nl obviously. You really need to be raising those limpers much wider than 8% (I'd shoot for raising from the BB with limpers like 20% of the time and 90% of the time when it's folded to the SB who only completes).

WVHillbilly said:

Yeah that's what he's asking for.

The positional stats just reenforce my earlier comments. Be more aggressive. Steal more. Iso more. Limp less (shoot for never). Can't believe the BB stat that you're seeing 40% of flops but your vpip is only 8%. SOOOOOO much limping going on at 4nl obviously. You really need to be raising those limpers much wider than 8% (I'd shoot for raising from the BB with limpers like 20% of the time and 90% of the time when it's folded to the SB who only completes).

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Thanks for your advice.

I played a few hundred hands tonight and check-raised on the flop to what I thought were standard continuation bets, they folded every time I tried it so happy that I can include this into my game for these stakes.

I was also isolating the limpers more with solid hands. When 4 people have limped in behind me I don't want to put in a big raise in case one of them are slow playing a monster hand. These limpers seem to limp in with anything, whether it's 7-2o or AK suited, they are confusing to read.

Here are my EV stats which I was able to get from Poker Copilot...

This hand was my biggest loss tonight, it may seem like a bad beat but this sort of hand is all too common on 2nl and is seriously hurting any profit I do manage to make.

If I was the villain I would have folded to my continuation bet on the flop with such a scary looking board.

No Limit Hold'em $0.01/$0.02
PokerStars
6 players
Formatted by pokercopilot.com - Mac OS X hand history analysis and tracking

Stacks:
UTG - UTG ($0.71)
MP - MP ($3.03)
CO - CO ($7.46)
BTN - BTN ($4.14)
SB - Hero ($2.03)
BB - BB ($4.46)

Preflop: ($0.03, 6 players) Hero is SB with Q:diamond: T:heart:
4 folds, Hero raises to $0.06, BB calls $0.04

Flop: A:spade: K:club: Q:heart: ($0.12, 2 players)
Hero bets $0.06, BB calls $0.06

Turn: Q:spade: ($0.24, 2 players)
Hero bets $0.14, BB calls $0.14

River: 8:heart: ($0.52, 2 players)
Hero bets $0.34, BB raises to $0.68, Hero calls $0.34

Total Pot: $1.88
BB shows 8:spade: 8:club: (a full house, Eights full of Queens)
Hero mucks Q:diamond: T:heart:

BB wins $1.81

A hand like that is NOT hurting your profit. A hand like that is where your profit comes from.

Think about it like this:
1) Your opponent didn't 3bet preflop letting you see a flop with ~50% equity
2) Your opponent called 2 bets (although the turn bet was too small) with VERY little equity
3) Your opponent failed to try to get the rest of your stack when he rivered his 2-outer which is HORRIBLE considering all the strong hands you can have on that board after betting all 3 streets.

Hands like that should make you VERY happy.

Yeah I see where you're coming from and I agree that my turn bet was too small.

I know it's cliche to say that everyone seems to remember their bad beats more than their good wins but I keep getting sucked out on so many times at 2nl it's not even funny anymore. I know in the long term this should pay off, and it's good that people are making calls when the odds are against them but I am yet to reap any rewards!

Here's a funny one that happened the other day that put me on tilt.

No Limit Hold'em $0.01/$0.02
PokerStars
9 players
Formatted by pokercopilot.com - Mac OS X hand history analysis and tracking

Stacks:
UTG - UTG ($1.00)
UTG+1 - UTG+1 ($1.89)
UTG+2 - UTG+2 ($1.58)
MP - MP ($1.50)
MP2 - MP2 ($2.00)
CO - Hero ($1.87)
BTN - BTN ($4.57)
SB - SB ($1.58)
BB - BB ($2.08)

Preflop: ($0.03, 9 players) Hero is CO with A:spade: A:diamond:
3 folds, MP raises to $1.50 (all-in), 1 fold, Hero calls $1.50, 3 folds

Flop: 3:spade: 2:diamond: 6:spade: ($3.03" + BOLD_END + GREEN_END + ", 2 players, 1 all-in)

Turn: 5:heart: ($3.03, 2 players, 1 all-in)

River: K:spade: ($3.03, 2 players, 1 all-in)

Total Pot: $3.03
MP shows 4:diamond: Q:diamond: (a straight, Deuce to Six)
Hero shows A:spade: A:diamond: (a pair of Aces)

MP wins $2.92

Don't post bad beats.
Don't post results.

That (red line) sure is going down hill fast.This is 2nl though,but it still shouldn't be going down like that.

OP micro limits are almost impossible to win at, the variance created by loose players is a killer.

Suggest you join Carbon pick up a free Hud there and play double up and bounty tournaments.You get to know your opponents and it is relatively easy to win some money.

When you qualify there is a CC freeroll on Carbon with some quality opposition.

okeedokalee said:

OP micro limits are almost impossible to win at, the variance created by loose players is a killer.

Suggest you join Carbon pick up a free Hud there and play double up and bounty tournaments.You get to know your opponents and it is relatively easy to win some money.

When you qualify there is a CC freeroll on Carbon with some quality opposition.

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have you bumped your head ?

okeedokalee said:

OP micro limits are almost impossible to win at, the variance created by loose players is a killer.

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lol what?????????????????

JOEBOB69 said:

have you bumped your head ?

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I lol'd!