I'm so bad.. need advice.

[AlfieAA]

check this out, very good imo

http://archives1.twoplustwo.com/showflat.php?Number=8629256

 

[Poker_Student]

you need to put players on ranges so that you can decide whether you are betting for value or as a bluff....download pokerstove if you already haven't and play about with it.....also bet sizing depends on quite a few things...player type/tendencies, action pre flop, flop texture and if you are betting for value or as a bluff.......usually the wetter the board...i.e...ThJh9d v a tag reg who raised pre from utg and a vpip/pfr of 20/18, you would put him on a range of hands v the flop texture and his actions before.......so on pokerstove you can put in 18% and it will show you the hands he is most likely to raise with.....if say you have 88 and you called his raise then you can see that this board hit his range pretty hard....so if he checks to you then you need to be betting at this stage as a bluff...so you would size your bet to give him the wrong odds to chase a flush draw if he has QKh AQh AKh or if he's on an open ender straight draw....could be very well on the two draws so i would prob bet full pot....and if he calls then he's getting the wrong odds but he hits a scare card on the turn you can re-evaluate it and gtfo.....wouldnt reccomend betting in this example though, would be better to check and hope to get a free turn card that hits your set....obv not the 8 of hearts ..

So in order to chase a flush draw on the flop, one would need about 4:1 or a little better, right? I figured around 18% pot odds for the next card. I guess with implied odds it might be closer to 3:1 depending on how much money is left behind. So is a 3/4 pot bet enough to prevent people from profitably chasing flush draws with say a 12 bb pot and 88 left behind, or does it need to be pot sized? Would it ever be correct to over-bet the pot when I have, say, top pair on a double suited, possible straight draw board?

A big problem I have when considering hand ranges is that I normally try to isolate the fish who generally have 40 (on the low side) VP$IP. I think if I just memorize every hand in order of rank it would help me with this a lot. I do have poker stove and I need to study the preflop chart, too. To me, so far, the easiest way to tell if a fish has a strong hand is when he bets big completely out of character. I can normally tell that one has a big hand and can get away from it when I need to. I have been working hard on not paying off big raises/bets from loose passives and making a lot of headway in that area. I have also cut out bluffing against calling stations, but I try to see which fish will actually fold and to what size bet post flop and make a note of it.

I got aces today and re-raised from .05 to .30 and a fish called with 67o. He flopped a pair of sixes and moved the rest of his .70 in on the flop. I called and he rivered a 7 for 2 pair At least he only started with $1. Even after suffering some bad beats like that, I am up 1 cent from where I started with the deposit! The high point has been up 3.7 buy-ins and low point has been down 7.25 buy-ins. I still haven't played enough hands, though. I'm right around 9k hands in 11 days.

I think I have improved a little since I started and I'm considering adding another table since I've only been playing 1. For the last 2k hands or so I've seen a steady upward slope in my bankroll and haven't been running particularly good, either. I know it's not enough hands to evaluate success or failure on, but I think, if nothing else I can profit a little from grinding rakeback while breaking even in the worst case scenario.

Anyone have any good reading material, videos, or suggestions on how to approach multiway pots? I find myself in more and more of these especially during full ring games with lots of fish. When it comes to evaluating more than one player's range and tendencies, my brain gets seriously overwhelmed in the short time I have to take action. Thanks for the link, Alfie. It was an informative, well written guide on reading hand ranges.

 

[Poker_Student]

Well, I had a horrible morning and lost almost 5 buy-ins. Looking back at the big losing pots I don't think I played them well at all, but here are the big losses. Any advice is very welcome, thanks.


Z1aTkO3i(SB) $1.26 - VP:39 PFR:28 AF:2.0 W:40|0 STL:33| 3B:0| CB:50|100 N:-0.13 Hands:18
HiByes(UTG) $2.38 - VP:61 PFR:6 AF:1.4 W:29|50 STL:0|100 3B:0| CB:100|100 N:0.34 Hands:18
wisiceman(BB) $1.55 - VP:50 PFR:0 AF:0.8 W:50|75 STL:0|100 3B:0| CB:|100 N:0.82 Hands:18
Me(BTN) $2 - VP:27 PFR:27 AF:5.0 W:25|0 STL: 3B: CB: N:-2.09 Hands:15


Pre Flop: Me(BTN) with [9h,6h]
HiByes(UTG) calls 0.02, Me(BTN) raises 0.08, Z1aTkO3i(SB) folds, wisiceman(BB) calls 0.06, HiByes(UTG) folds


Flop: (Js,9s,6c) (2 players)
wisiceman(BB) bets 0.19, Me(BTN) raises 0.38, wisiceman(BB) calls 0.19


Turn: 3c (2 players)
wisiceman(BB) bets 0.86, Me(BTN) raises 1.54, wisiceman(BB) calls 0.23


River: (As)



Final:
Returns 0.45 to Me(BTN)
Me(BTN) shows [9h,6h]
wisiceman(BB) shows [Ks,3s]
wisiceman(BB) wins 2.82


Hand 2:

HiByes(SB) $1.05 - VP:63 PFR:15 AF:2.1 W:25|33 STL:30|67 3B:0|100 CB:83|100 N:-2.03 Hands:54
wisiceman(BTN) $2.73 - VP:44 PFR:2 AF:1.4 W:33|75 STL:0|80 3B:0| CB:0|100 N:2.49 Hands:52
Me(BB) $2.13 - VP:27 PFR:23 AF:2.2 W:36|25 STL:50|100 3B:10| CB:33|0 N:-4.31 Hands:44
Huskon(MP) $2.50 - VP:23 PFR:19 AF:2.0 W:33|100 STL:67|67 3B:0| CB:100|0 N:0.50 Hands:31
chechyeah(CO) $1.92 - VP:43 PFR:24 AF:4.0 W:25|50 STL:60|0 3B:0|0 CB:50| N:-0.08 Hands:21
bar25(UTG) $1.98 - VP:0 PFR:0 AF: W: STL: 3B:0| CB: N:-0.02 Hands:2


Pre Flop: Me(BB) with [As,5c]
bar25(UTG) folds, Huskon(MP) folds, chechyeah(CO) folds, wisiceman(BTN) calls 0.02, HiByes(SB) calls 0.01, Me(BB) checks


Flop: (3s,Kh,Th) (3 players)
HiByes(SB) checks, Me(BB) checks, wisiceman(BTN) checks


Turn: 5s (3 players)
HiByes(SB) bets 0.04, Me(BB) calls 0.04, wisiceman(BTN) calls 0.04


River: Ac (3 players)
HiByes(SB) checks, Me(BB) bets 0.12, wisiceman(BTN) raises 0.24, HiByes(SB) folds, Me(BB) raises 0.24, wisiceman(BTN) raises 2.43, Me(BB) calls 1.71


Final:
Returns 0.60 to wisiceman(BTN)
Me(BB) shows [As,5c]
wisiceman(BTN) shows [Jd,Qd]
wisiceman(BTN) wins 3.89


Hand 3:

HiByes(CO) $1.13 - VP:57 PFR:11 AF:2.2 W:26|43 STL:33|69 3B:0|100 CB:90|67 N:-1.89 Hands:118
Me(BTN) $3.67 - VP:26 PFR:22 AF:2.4 W:40|40 STL:50|100 3B:10| CB:73|50 N:-4.74 Hands:103
Huskon(BB) $3.27 - VP:22 PFR:20 AF:5.3 W:24|75 STL:50|82 3B:3|100 CB:100|0 N:1.25 Hands:95
06SEAGER06(SB) $0.40 - VP:63 PFR:11 AF:1.1 W:27|33 STL:17|29 3B:0| CB:100|50 N:-1.61 Hands:46
ufo chaser(UTG) $2.10 - VP:21 PFR:7 AF:2.3 W:33|100 STL:0|0 3B:8|0 CB:50|50 N:1.81 Hands:28



Pre Flop: Me(BTN) with [Ah,Kc]
ufo chaser(UTG) raises 0.06, HiByes(CO) folds, Me(BTN) raises 0.17, 06SEAGER06(SB) folds, Huskon(BB) folds, ufo chaser(UTG) raises 0.31, Me(BTN) calls 0.20


Flop: (4s,8h,Ac) (2 players)
ufo chaser(EP) checks, Me(BTN) bets 0.36, ufo chaser(EP) calls 0.36


Turn: 6h (2 players)
ufo chaser(EP) bets 0.67, Me(BTN) calls 0.67


River: 4d (2 players)
ufo chaser(EP) bets 0.70, Me(BTN) calls 0.70


Final:
ufo chaser(UTG) shows [Ad,As]
Me(BTN) shows [Ah,Kc]
ufo chaser(UTG) wins 3.81


Hand 4:

pete1936(SB) $6.89 - VP:37 PFR:0 AF:1.7 W:18|50 STL: 3B:0|0 CB:|50 N:1.98 Hands:30
chechyeah(BTN) $2.08 - VP:47 PFR:27 AF:1.7 W:0| STL: 3B:8|100 CB:14|100 N:-0.81 Hands:30
OldTyro(MP) $7.59 - VP:20 PFR:3 AF:0.3 W:14|0 STL:0| 3B:6| CB:100| N:-1.18 Hands:30
BDes(MP) $3.58 - VP:33 PFR:10 AF:5.0 W:36|100 STL: 3B:8|0 CB:100|67 N:1.18 Hands:30
Nutzgood(UTG) $5.59 - VP:33 PFR:20 AF:1.8 W:20|50 STL: 3B:0|50 CB:40| N:1.73 Hands:30
Me(LP) $2 - VP:23 PFR:18 AF:4.0 W:25|0 STL: 3B:0| CB:100| N:-2.30 Hands:22
lenadil(CO) $1.67 - VP:33 PFR:0 AF: W:0| STL: 3B:0|100 CB: N:-0.33 Hands:21
aces462(BB) $0.70 - VP:33 PFR:8 AF:Inf. W:20|100 STL: 3B:0|0 CB:|100 N:-0.04 Hands:12

paukie(MP) $1.63 - VP:67 PFR:33 AF:4.0 W:50|100 STL: 3B:0| CB:100| N:1.03 Hands:3


Pre Flop: Me(LP) with [Ac,Jd]
Nutzgood(UTG) folds, paukie(MP) calls 0.02, BDes(MP) folds, OldTyro(MP) folds, Me(LP) raises 0.08, lenadil(CO) folds, chechyeah(BTN) folds, pete1936(SB) calls 0.07, aces462(BB) folds, paukie(MP) calls 0.06


Flop: (8d,8h,Jc) (3 players)
pete1936(SB) checks, paukie(MP) bets 0.06, Me(LP) raises 0.12, pete1936(SB) folds, paukie(MP) raises 0.12, Me(LP) calls 0.06


Turn: Ah (2 players)
paukie(EP) bets 0.28, Me(LP) raises 1.74, paukie(EP) calls 1.09


River: 4h (2 players)



Final:
Returns 0.37 to Me(LP)
Me(LP) shows [Ac,Jd]
paukie(MP) shows [Qs,8s]
paukie(MP) wins 3.03

 

[tryin2winM]

Sort out the small errors in your game play and make note of that, Mayeb try using tracker for hand history and see what yer betting patters are like. Focus on winning bigger pots and learning to let the little ones go. Its hard to have the winning hand every time

 

[gunburger]

There are some fairly large errors that I'd like to point out in these recent hands. Sorry if this sounds tough but I think you'll get more out of these types of answers than being told fairly glib responses such as "just take notes" or "find the errors and fix them".

Hand 1: You MUST raise bigger on the flop. When you simply double the size of his bet, you give direct odds to call to hit his flush. When he makes it .19 in this spot, you need to make it close to .60. Then when the turn brings a blank (not good or bad for either of your ranges) and he bets, you need to be jamming it in. I can tell by some of your other hands this is a mistake you are making over and over.

Hand 2: Given that the villain in this hand almost never raises preflop, he can have a LOT of hands that beat you. When you are playing guys like this (fish who play a ton of hands but rarely raise), you can't think about their ranges. Their ranges are way too wide. So all you can do is play the strength of your hand. When deciding to call off your stack, just take a moment and think about all the hands you lose to. AA, KK, TT, 55, 33, AK, AT, QJ, 42. So you lose to quite a few combonations of hands. Just call the first raise on the river. Don't ever re-raise in a spot where there are that many combos of hands that beat you.

Will take a look at the rest later.

 

[Poker_Student]

There are some fairly large errors that I'd like to point out in these recent hands. Sorry if this sounds tough but I think you'll get more out of these types of answers than being told fairly glib responses such as "just take notes" or "find the errors and fix them".

Hand 1: You MUST raise bigger on the flop. When you simply double the size of his bet, you give direct odds to call to hit his flush. When he makes it .19 in this spot, you need to make it close to .60. Then when the turn brings a blank (not good or bad for either of your ranges) and he bets, you need to be jamming it in. I can tell by some of your other hands this is a mistake you are making over and over.

Hand 2: Given that the villain in this hand almost never raises preflop, he can have a LOT of hands that beat you. When you are playing guys like this (fish who play a ton of hands but rarely raise), you can't think about their ranges. Their ranges are way too wide. So all you can do is play the strength of your hand. When deciding to call off your stack, just take a moment and think about all the hands you lose to. AA, KK, TT, 55, 33, AK, AT, QJ, 42. So you lose to quite a few combonations of hands. Just call the first raise on the river. Don't ever re-raise in a spot where there are that many combos of hands that beat you.

Will take a look at the rest later.

First, I want to say, that I'm up 3.25 buy-ins. This is the first time I have been up in about 2 1/2 weeks and it has been a steady upward slope minus a few hiccups and noob mistakes. I know the sample is small, but I feel like I am improving in my decision making.

Thanks for this advice, gunburger. You are right, it is a mistake I have been making repeatedly. I have adjusted my raise sizing depending on whether I want to chase out draws or sometimes if i have a monster, I still use the min raise if it is unlikely I could be drawn out on. I need to start putting in more volume if I am going to reach my goal of 100k hands in 4-5 months. I've only played 9344 hands since Nov. 6th 1-2 tabling. I started playing 4 tables at a time, 2 full ring NIT style (I folded ATs from EP and JQs from MP today when it was folded to me), and 2 6max with about a 20-24% VPIP. I found that it's less likely I will make mistakes out of boredom at 4 tables rather than 1 or 2. I still make notes when I see someone do something a little crazy, but it's a bit more difficult to catch everything going on at 4 tables.

Some adjustments I have made are: I stopped c-betting against calling stations when I don't hit anything, but occasionally I will c-bet them when I have A high with 2 over cards and/or backdoor draw(s). I never open limp, but if I have a maniac who raises every hand behind me, I have started to limp/re-raise QQ+ / AK. I also have started over-betting with the nuts. I hit an ace high flush the other day when on the flop I had a pair of aces with queen kicker and 4 cards to a flush draw. I 3/4 pot bet 2 streets (hit the flush on the turn), then bet about 1.75x pot on the river and got called by a fish with AQo. I did the same thing on the river after flopping quad kings, and got called by a pocket pair of 9s for like 2.5x pot shove. This has done good things for my win rate. I now have alarm bells going off when I see a fish raise or bet big, and unless I have a monster, I fold and save the money. Sometimes I come across super aggressive players who bet/bet/bet with whatever they have. In these cases, I sometimes check/call every street with mid pair+ and hope I'm good at showdown. It has worked more than failed.

One hand where I got the money in good was the following, but I'm not sure if I should have played this differently. If anyone thinks I should have, please let me know.

Me(BB) $2.83 - VP:14 PFR:11 AF:3.6 W:28|40 STL:33|100 3B:0| CB:67| N:-0.95 Hands:72
Dipswell(MP) $1.66 - VP:37 PFR:5 AF:1.5 W:24|33 STL:6|60 3B:0|100 CB:67|40 N:-0.36 Hands:59
DLC4Life(SB) $2.31 - VP:52 PFR:12 AF:0.8 W:31|75 STL:0|100 3B:0|50 CB:0|67 N:0.27 Hands:25
Get_Crunk(BTN) $1.09 - VP:90 PFR:30 AF:5.0 W:50|50 STL:0|0 3B:33| CB:100|100 N:-0.75 Hands:10
SkullClnr(CO) $1.97 - VP:0 PFR:0 AF: W: STL: 3B:0| CB: N:-0.03 Hands:4
johnny h(UTG) $1.96 - VP:17 PFR:17 AF:0.5 W:50|100 STL: 3B:0|0 CB:|0 N:0.96 Hands:6


Pre Flop: Me(BB) with [6h,4h]
johnny h(UTG) folds, Dipswell(MP) calls 0.02, SkullClnr(CO) folds, Get_Crunk(BTN) calls 0.02, DLC4Life(SB) calls 0.01, Me(BB) checks


Flop: (3c,5h,4d) (4 players)
DLC4Life(SB) checks, Me(BB) bets 0.04, Dipswell(MP) folds, Get_Crunk(BTN) raises 0.24, DLC4Life(SB) folds, Me(BB) raises 2.77, Get_Crunk(BTN) calls 0.83


Turn: (8c)



River: Ah (2 players)



Final:
Returns 1.74 to Me(BB)
Me(BB) shows [6h,4h]
Get_Crunk(BTN) shows [2c,Qs]
Get_Crunk(BTN) wins 2

Here's a hand where I flopped a royal flush and failed to get full value for it Should I have 3 bet him on the turn or just made a 3/4 pot bet on the river? Any way you would play the following hand differently? I was in such shock at the time when it happened that I wasn't playing my A game.

Me(MP) $2.98 - VP:27 PFR:20 AF:3.5 W:22|100 STL:38|75 3B:9|100 CB:50| N:1.48 Hands:45
SDMade(UTG) $3.32 - VP:60 PFR:50 AF:3.3 W:40|33 STL:80|0 3B:0|100 CB:100|50 N:0.35 Hands:30
Know$hit(SB) $0.90 - VP:40 PFR:0 AF:0.9 W:57|25 STL:0|100 3B:0| CB:|50 N:-1.68 Hands:15
Mike1410(BTN) $1.06 - VP:25 PFR:0 AF: W:0| STL:0|67 3B:0| CB:|100 N:-0.12 Hands:8
mjmyt(BB) $2 - VP:0 PFR:0 AF: W: STL: 3B:0| CB: N:-0.02 Hands:1


Pre Flop: Me(MP) with [Ac,Qc]
mjmyt(BB) checks, SDMade(UTG) folds, Mike1410(BTN) calls 0.02, Know$hit(SB) calls 0.01, Me(MP) raises 0.10, mjmyt(BB) folds, Mike1410(BTN) folds, Know$hit(SB) calls 0.10


Flop: (Kc,Tc,Jc) (2 players)
Know$hit(SB) checks, Me(LP) checks


Turn: Kh (2 players)
Know$hit(SB) checks, Me(LP) bets 0.13, Know$hit(SB) raises 0.26, Me(LP) calls 0.13


River: 8s (2 players)
Know$hit(SB) bets 0.02, Me(LP) raises 0.20, Know$hit(SB) calls 0.18


Final:
Me(MP) shows [Ac,Qc]
Me(MP) wins 1.08

 

[newbie in training]

The firdt hand I think you shouldent have gone all in for some pretty obvious reasons...if someknes calling with a flush draw they are very very likely to have you beat even if you hit the flush draw...if you dont hit its likely someone will have a A6o or s the 2nd hand I think you should have bet flop bet turn reraised him on turn and bet big on river tk make it look like a busted draw and assuming hes got three of a kind kings atleast or full house itd be pretty easy to get an all in....

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[Poker_Student]

I had a horrible down swing today. I lost 7 buy-ins and I had to stop playing when I got all in with KK after someone limp/re-raised me with AA. I spend a lot of time trying to get better at poker, and I understand a lot of the concepts, but I am horrible at applying them while playing. It's so frustrating, and I feel like I'm never going to improve. I'm terrible at hand reading, and it seems like every time I try to adjust to my opponent I end up screwing myself over one way or another. When I play against very aggressive players, I feel like I'm getting bluffed a lot, but I still fold 99% of the time without a very strong hand. I think other players notice this and don't give me action when I bet, but otherwise they run me over. I have noticed players calling my cbet a ton even when my cbet% is only around 50-65 depending on the table. Once they do call, I never know if they're floating me or they have a strong hand since I'm clueless on hand reading. I try to think about their range and what they could have but I can almost never make the right decision based on that. Well, tomorrow's a new day, and I'm going to keep at it until I lose another 46 buy-ins which would bust me out of 2NL. That might qualify me for worst hold'em player in the world.

 

[newbie in training]

If your plauing micro cash my suggestions are reraise more than pot with monster and hope for a call dont c bet nit up a whole lot limp in eith msrginal hands and you can play them accordingly but thats only if yoir good at postflop kk is an obvious no brainer you want an ai preflop the only hand that beats you is aa and you have anything from qq to 22 absalutly dominated not to mention your dominating most other hands

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[DunningKruger]

Try not to get too down on yourself. Take a small break if you need to but when you get back at it I think a return to basics is in order. No need to wonder if the 2NL player calling your cbet is floating light or doing any other over complicated maneuvers on you. Understand position, tighten up if necessary, don't call off buy ins too loosely, try to respect raises post most of the time, barrel when you're (likely) good, blah blah. The KISS approach is pretty effective at 2NL. Your biggest obstacle is yourself.

Lots of great comprehensive material out there for playing and beating the penny games. I only read the last post in this topic so maybe you've been linked to some of it already. If not then one of our fine citizens will step up to the plate for you I'm sure.