I have spent a good amount of time studying Texas Holdem math, theory, and strategy. I still can barely beat .1/.2 cash on ACR as I just suck, but I have the fundamentals down, such as position, aggression, hand selection, planning a hand through every street, understanding how ranges work, and how to put opponents on a range, effective stack size, pot odds, implied odds, reverse implied odds, equity, fold equity, odds of hitting my outs as well as how to find and calculate all of that stuff at the table. Im still not super good or exact at it but I understand the math and can more or less do it in my head. I like to think I play pretty decently. I made money playing online every single day this week, a total of about $12, and then in 20 minutes lost all of that through bad impulsive decisions caused by tilting. Kind of unrelated but it pissed me off a lot and this is one of the reasons I struggle I think.
It seems like right after I come off like a four hour poker study bender, where I pop some Adderall and just pick one specific topic to really delve into and explore, I play a way better all around game, however even though I try to study the game a little bit every day, it seems that I always go back to playing shitty after a few days off of really studying my ass off. Im curious what it is that professional online poker players are studying EVERY SINGLE DAY to improve their game. I do review my hand histories on PokerTracker too, but it usually is just "yep yep shouldn't have gone all in there that was stupid" I don't know how to properly review my own hand history.

Any advice would be appreciated thank you. All I want is to become a winning player at .1/.2 cash online which probably sounds ridiculous to anyone who's good at this game but I'm not and willing to study my ass off too get there.

-PALMTREEPOKER9

Originally Posted by PALMTREEPOKER9

.....I don't know how to properly review my own hand history.

A

Hi Palmtree,

sounds to me you are doing a lot of the right things when it comes to studying. I found I reached a point when studying was not improving my game that much and I needed something else to improve my game. I think you can only get so far studying on your own and you need peers to bounce ideas off.
A good start would be sharing hand histories you'd like to review on here, as you mention you are not sure if you are doing that correctly. From there I would look at other forms of networking to discuss your poker game with others. It;s a great way to get to the next level.

All the best,
Big Red.


2.

Every day I ask myself what I should do to consolidate my game and become a winning player that I am not yet, and every time I am convinced that the problem is mental, moments where I lose focus or lose focus of what I am doing and I forget about it. end goal so I always try to review the hands I play and focus on analyzing what I did wrong mentally

Review hands that put you on important decisions. Take the time to do combinatorics and dissect the hand apart. What are they betting with and is that inline with your range you put them on for hand equity/calling reasons. The more of this you do the easier it is in future hands to make the correct decision, as you have already done it before.

You need to read Mental Game of Poker by Jared Tendler ASAP. There, you will find exactly what to review before playing a session. He also explains why studying and knowing a lot does not necessarily lead to success. In your case it is obvious that you can crush micros and have the right skill set. But these skills does not show up when you go on tilt.

Rake at 2NL is what usually kills a winning poker players win rate.

You listed a lot of things that you study, but one thing I didn't see is any study on exploitative play. You need to exploit the fish at 2NL to the max because the rake to pot ratio is so high.

You sound like you have a solid approach to the game, and you will need that when you move up, but at 2NL you are most likely thinking too far above the level in which your your opponents are thinking.

Check out this article it will explain what I mean a lot better than I can.

https://upswingpoker.com/leveling-in-poker/

Originally Posted by PALMTREEPOKER9

I have spent a good amount of time studying Texas Holdem math, theory, and strategy. I still can barely beat .1/.2 cash on ACR as I just suck, but I have the fundamentals down, such as position, aggression, hand selection, planning a hand through every street, understanding how ranges work, and how to put opponents on a range, effective stack size, pot odds, implied odds, reverse implied odds, equity, fold equity, odds of hitting my outs as well as how to find and calculate all of that stuff at the table. Im still not super good or exact at it but I understand the math and can more or less do it in my head. I like to think I play pretty decently. I made money playing online every single day this week, a total of about $12, and then in 20 minutes lost all of that through bad impulsive decisions caused by tilting. Kind of unrelated but it pissed me off a lot and this is one of the reasons I struggle I think.
It seems like right after I come off like a four hour poker study bender, where I pop some Adderall and just pick one specific topic to really delve into and explore, I play a way better all around game, however even though I try to study the game a little bit every day, it seems that I always go back to playing shitty after a few days off of really studying my ass off. Im curious what it is that professional online poker players are studying EVERY SINGLE DAY to improve their game. I do review my hand histories on PokerTracker too, but it usually is just "yep yep shouldn't have gone all in there that was stupid" I don't know how to properly review my own hand history.

Any advice would be appreciated thank you. All I want is to become a winning player at .1/.2 cash online which probably sounds ridiculous to anyone who's good at this game but I'm not and willing to study my ass off too get there.

-PALMTREEPOKER9

Originally Posted by PALMTREEPOKER9

I have spent a good amount of time studying Texas Holdem math, theory, and strategy. I still can barely beat .1/.2 cash on ACR as I just suck, but I have the fundamentals down, such as position, aggression, hand selection, planning a hand through every street, understanding how ranges work, and how to put opponents on a range, effective stack size, pot odds, implied odds, reverse implied odds, equity, fold equity, odds of hitting my outs as well as how to find and calculate all of that stuff at the table. Im still not super good or exact at it but I understand the math and can more or less do it in my head. I like to think I play pretty decently. I made money playing online every single day this week, a total of about $12, and then in 20 minutes lost all of that through bad impulsive decisions caused by tilting. Kind of unrelated but it pissed me off a lot and this is one of the reasons I struggle I think.
It seems like right after I come off like a four hour poker study bender, where I pop some Adderall and just pick one specific topic to really delve into and explore, I play a way better all around game, however even though I try to study the game a little bit every day, it seems that I always go back to playing shitty after a few days off of really studying my ass off. Im curious what it is that professional online poker players are studying EVERY SINGLE DAY to improve their game. I do review my hand histories on PokerTracker too, but it usually is just "yep yep shouldn't have gone all in there that was stupid" I don't know how to properly review my own hand history.

Any advice would be appreciated thank you. All I want is to become a winning player at .1/.2 cash online which probably sounds ridiculous to anyone who's good at this game but I'm not and willing to study my ass off too get there.

-PALMTREEPOKER9

While it's great you're studying and trying to improve, a huge amount of the concepts you're trying to apply to 2NL are going to go to waste. You ask how pros do it? Because they have to study, because most of their opponents are also pros and playing much higher stakes. And yes some semi-pros and even serious rec players need these concepts at higher levels of play.

But not at 2NL, and depending on the site, not up until a few stake levels up. Fold equity, range analysis of opponents based on position (is mostly useless at micros), reversed implied odds, trapping, etc etc...these things are useless mostly at micros. If someone at the micros is calling along when you have AA overpair, and river completes what appears to be a flush and they bet...you're beat. They aren't bluffing, they aren't being tricky, they chased and got there. They have cards and they're playing their cards.


Plus you're missing opportunities on how to learn to beat the worst players...which ideally you want to continue to play against. Go back to basics and foundational poker and you'll beat 2NL. I don't know about you but I don't really play poker to beat the best in the game, I play to beat those worse than me to get the money.

I'd recommend reading Blackrain79's Crushing the Microstakes.

'They aren't bluffing, they aren't being tricky, they chased and got there. They have cards and they're playing their cards."

This has got to be the truest thing I've ever heard honestly. I cant tell you how many times I've continued to build a pot only to think my opponent is bluffing his ass off and they never are.

Let go of all your thoughts, get into the flow and do what you have to.