Road from NL10 to NL50

Hi everyone, I am starting this thread to document my endeavor from NL10 to NL50. The purpose of this thread is to keep m

Pretty brutal results today:

()

() Apart from the run bads (image 1 and 2), I could definitely fade away from losing more buyins (3). Also WWSF is only 46%. Not sure if variance or not aggressive enough.

() (1)

() (2)

() (3) Pretty unhappy about the third hand. I knew that turn shoving is extremely strong, literally no bluff. I called because I've seen people weirdly playing their AK in this way. However, villian simply has no AK, as all AK would've shoved preflop. Definitely could've dodged this one. Sad day 1, but hopefully we'll recover. BR: 562

() Played a little bit more in the night, where I just ran pretty well. WWSF is still horrible. Not aggressive enough. BR: 572

by SilverZZ m (https://www.twoplustwo.com/post?postId=59204199#post59204199)

WWSF is still horrible. Not aggressive enough.

i have 51 WWSF on pokerstars zoom 10 and 25. there's no need go out of your way to force aggression. pay attention to spots where their ranges are likely to be weak, and focus your aggression on those.

Thanks, makes perfect sense

Um we are sun running with.. GG's New Year Resolution Flipout. Coming 408th out of 14k free rollers. And that brought an additional +$194 in our BR. We'll take it with joy 😀)

() BR: 764

Day 2:

()

() Played a bit in the morning and in the night. The two biggest pots lost today are actually both against fish. Hand 1:

() Villian cold calls at SB and donks bet twice b75 and check the river. I called the two bets with my straight draw, and overbetted it as a bluff after villian checks. Honestly, I am not sure what I was doing. I thought he was full of **** and by betting big I can scare him away. I guess if I think he's complete air, then a small bet would work. I shouldn't be trying to get villian off of a T as well. I don't think fish folds their T even against my big sizing. If I play the hand again I would probably b40 OTR. So yea, highkey got outplayed by villian. Nice trap OTR. Hand 2:

() All standard play by me OTF and OTT. At least I think so. OTR I clearly needed to go for value. B40 and faced a raise. Again, I knew villian's line is extremely underbluffed. Couple reasons made me called the hand

1. I simply don't see any 2 in his range. It's hard to imagine how someone would b33 turn with a 2 especially when the A drops. Interestingly, solver does bet many 2x, and his combo mostly bets. Good job for finding the bluff, I guess. But only for overbets. For same reason I don't think his sets play in this way.

() 2. I saw an Ice cube next to his profile pic, thinking he might be tilted. But yea maybe I should just always fold to river raise idk.

() Dodged a pretty big pot. It was UTG vs LJ, and I really was feeling terrible after he 4bets. He is a 22vpip playing with like 6-7 3bet. I really thought he could only have AA. Was really to tilt fold if he goes triple barrell all ins. If I had shoved pre (solver mixes shoving and calling 50% 50%), I might have just taken the pot down. I dont know what to think. Barely did anything today in terms of BR. But felt pretty good playing especially during the night. WWSF was about 53% today, which is decent.

BR: 770

Day 3: Hella tough day again 😀

() Had a few hands where I over-valued my hand, few hands where I could make the folds if I think twice, few hands where I certainly overbluffed at spots where villian would not underfold. Glad that I fought through the tilt though, at most losing 5 BIs and recovering quite a bit by the end.

() Over this sample where I've played 32k hands and lose 2.5bb/100 post rake, my BB is a stunning -62 bb/100. But I think I've spotted my leak and will adjust my play from now on. Not super annoyed by my pathetic record recently, but feel pretty excited BR: 753

Day 4:

() Didn't play a lot today, but felt quite happy with what I did overall. Up the 3 bet a little bit, being more aggressive overall, and being able to not get tilt after losing 1.5 BI and finally be up 1.5 BI at the end of the session. I have found that starting this thread that literally is just me helps with my mental game, somehow. There are spots where I should definitely bluff my combo (solver approved and almost must do explotatively), but held back cause the pots are getting big. Yeah just bad mental game, afraid of failure, afraid of losing big pots, i dont know. I rationalize by saying that people my stakes underfold in big pots but, that's just not true, statistically proven, though I might feel like it. Yea anyways, not a bad day BR: 780 (post taking some rakeback)

Day 5: Whap.

() I mean yea run bad, bluff never seems to get through (solver dissaproves this combo to bluff, but as played OTR i think i must shove this, blocking AQ,JQ, unblocking flush draw, ran into the stone nuts that didn't 4bet preflop)

( coolers, AA decides to flat. I literally thought opponent's line have no bluff but gotta be AT.

() Preflop coolers:

()

() But I dont think I can just be unlucky and lose 25 BI in a row. Yea overcall sometimes:

() (villian snap bxb b75, thought AK at least needs to consider a bit before using this size) Overbluff:

() (tbh i dont think this is too bad of a bluff. First its good to overbluff at my stakes, and using 4x to bluff is not a horrible idea heuristically speaking. Solver doesn't bluff 4x on this board, but would do it on A74T. On a flush draw board would only use 4x of flush draw, but on rainbow board would use all suits. So I guess yes overbluff indeed but idk)

() Exploit 4b (thought timing tell) and thin value bet into set (thought villian never checks back a flush OTF and OTT).

() But yea despite trying to exploit and trying to overbluff and trying to overcall my redline is still bad and only win 49% of the pot when seen flop. Like there gotta be something wrong with my game but I feel like im trying to do the right things but it just never works out. Feel like the theoretical knowledge is there and ive learned some exploitative concepts, but man im just ass. Not angry or anything just, im kinda ass bro. very ass actually BR: 713

Im like still pretty calm I would say and while playing I think through my decisions while down a lot, and didnt feel like punting at all. just the **** am i losing all the time homie NL10 literally shouldnt be hard.

The most frustating part is not knowing whether im just running bad or playing bad. I am leaning towards playing bad, i think statistically speaking i can't be unlucky and lose, what, 25 BI in a row. but I simply cannot locate where im playing bad. Like two days ago i was pumped by figuring out my BB was losing that much and my BB sucks. but now im even losing more. GG blessed me with the new year resolution +180 on my BR but they cant bless me with a good brain that knows how to play the game 😀

yes, you ran bad. you're also spewing. on the matter of bad runs, i once had a 20 BI downswing as a 10 BB/100 winner, and a 100k breakeven sample as a 6 BB/100 winner. it's especially difficult to filter out the noise while you don't consider yourself established.

Hey thanks for the reponse. I do feel like all the plays i shared are not way out of the line. Like even after second hand thought. Maybe that's exactly why im losing though, hahah

you're making very extreme adjustments based on weak data points. he doesn't need to think for AK vs 65, what do you have checking behind the turn? flush? Tx? set that is scared of the flush? probably not. Q6o is very close to a fold pre, but it's generally effective to open wider from SB. but then... you take a hand that's not even bottom of your range, and you 4b it just because the opponent took a little too long? you need a strong read to do that. AJ and 43 i don't know, but i don't bluff the 43. when you take that line OTT, he has a strong range and can find many reasons to station the river. i'm not saying that it's "terrible", but i don't see it being clearly profitable, either. besides the technical reasons, you're also opening yourself to frustration and tilt. that's really bad when you're still trying to find your footing.

Yea, I agree with most things that you said. Q6o is like just very out of the line. I think I can exploitatively 4b more, combined with timing tells. But at least I need some sort of playability with suited hands/removal effect. 43 hand yea, overfolding must occur more OTT than OTR. I am not sure if he folds, say KJ, at certain frequency. If he does fold lots of Kx (which I think people do), then it could be profitable. AJ pure overbluff OTF, at least need flush draw blocker to barrell. 65 hand I still think it's not horrible of a call. But if I want to respect and study solver output then 65 is a pure probe OTT for merged reasons I guess, and would not get into this spot. So this hand is at the minimum still played with a mistake. About the call, I unblock all the bluff combos with A,Q, J, and solver does call hands like 98, pure, over A8 and QQ for the same reason. I also just tend to give bxb line less credit and I think it's overbluffed. Ive heard its overbluffed overall, but I am not sure if thats the same case in 3BP. And for the insta bet (like literally within 0.5second), yea most players wouldn't check back flush/sets OTT being IP, so I guess villain doesn't think about those. But I mean if I were in the spot I at least need to think about Tx before betting big, so I thought it was sus. And b75 quite literally puts him only on AK, while having so much air in his range. But maybe just 3bp big sizing is just so underbluffed overall at my stakes that calling is just losing long term. Tilt issue, yea. You totally right to point it out. I think there are variety versions of tilt, and my tilt doesnt come in the form of getting crazy and doing random plays, but in a general loss of confidence and increase of frustration which is definitely bad. Thanks for pointing it out. I will try to focus on each specific hand over the general result.

And 43 hand even if turn play is fine, river play is a bit too out of line. I think I still need to respect solver's result and use that as a guideline. Suppose I already exploitative barrell these mixing hands OTT as bluff, then OTR I will have so much good Jx combo to bluff. Yea don't need to be that extreme with my approach.

() (Turn barrell)

() (River barrell) How is my redline still this bad though I dont really understand.

by dissect m (https://www.twoplustwo.com/post?postId=59207358#post59207358)

you're making very extreme adjustments based on weak data points.he doesn't need to think for AK vs 65, what do you have checking behind the turn? flush? Tx? set that is scared of the flush? probably not.Q6o is very close to a fold pre, but it's generally effective to open wider from SB. but then... you take a hand that's not even bottom of your range, and you 4b it just becaus... See full post

I happened to read your thread as well - I really like the way you analyze your hands and deal with coolers. I really appreciate your comments as well.

Hi there, since we’re playing at the same stakes, I think it’s interesting that you’re using GTO Wizard to review your hands. Do you also do manual work, like using Flopzilla or Equilab for ranging during hand reviews?

by silentshowdown m (https://www.twoplustwo.com/post?postId=59207623#post59207623)

Hi there, since we're playing at the same stakes, I think it's interesting that you're using GTO Wizard to review your hands. Do you also do manual work, like using Flopzilla or Equilab for ranging during hand reviews

Yea I am reviewing my hand by GTOW to see if it is solver approved. I have a terrible grasp of GTO, and I also dont think GTO is the right way to play nl10, but it's always good to learn, and I am content when I learn. But I mean I am a losing NL10 player, so there has to be some mistake with the way I study though, haha. I dont know about these other things, would you recommend it?

Tilt recovery day

by SilverZZ m (https://www.twoplustwo.com/post?postId=59207713#post59207713)

by silentshowdown m (https://www.twoplustwo.com/post?postId=59207623#post59207623)

Hi there, since we're playing at the same stakes, I think it's interesting that you're using GTO Wizard to review your hands.Do you also do manual work, like using Flopzilla or Equilab for ranging during hand reviews

Yea I am reviewing my hand by GTOW to see if it is solver approved. I have a terrible grasp of GTO, and I also dont think GTO is the right way to play nl10, but it'... See full post

I highly recommend you breakdown the range manually using equity calculator like Flopzilla or Equilab. I highly recommend Flopzilla because the visualization is great 👍. The reason is because the way our opponents construct their range is quite different, and it is better we do it manually to estimate our equity. Or you can do something like Node lock using solver like GTO+ but it's going to be lots of work, and manual work is better.

Day 7:

() Today I just decided to be a punter. Was up 4BI due to sun run, and decided, nope, we gonna spread some love and give some free money away! To begin with, today I decided to play 4 rnc table. WTF. Just out of nowhere decided to do that. Let me put some of my spews up here.

() Preflop got raised 11bb to 28bb, thought: how this guy raising this big? Screw you! Yea, guess what?

() Preflop got raised 11bb to 20.5bb, thought: how this guy raising this small (and some non-existent timing tells. Maybe work in higher stakes, but if no one is trying to find 4b bluffs at my stake, tanking is just strong)? Screw you! Yea, guess what?

() Making like elementary level mistakes. What am I trying to achieve by raising here? Literally saying: screw this, i know im behind, lets see god's will.

() Clear turn overcall:

() Is there a stronger line than b50 flop b75 turn on such a dry board? And that summarizes my week 1: when running good, i can manage to waste it. when running bad, i can't manage to save it.

() Goals for week 1 [x] 10k in volume: 22k/10k. Not a good thing actually, because im just tilt playing [] Study 8 hours: 5.5h/8h. Got tilted and didn't want to study. Goals for week 2: [] 10k in volume, but need to stick to 2+2 (2 rnc and 2 reg). Cant just feel tilted and go 4 tables. Not goingt o help [] Study 4 hours, mainly exploit stuff and mda stuff [] Read The Mental Game of Poker 4 hours, because clearly that's where I am lacking the most.

BR: 718 post rakeback

by SilverZZ m (https://www.twoplustwo.com/post?postId=59209709#post59209709)

Day 7: Today I just decided to be a punter. Was up 4BI due to sun run, and decided, nope, we gonna spread some love and give some free money away!To begin with, today I decided to play 4 rnc table. WTF. Just out of nowhere decided to do that. Let me put some of my spews up here. Preflop got raised 11bb to 28bb, thought: how this guy raising this big? Screw you! Yea, guess what... See full post

The book, The Mental Game of Poker, is indeed a really good book. Good luck.

Day 8: Began reading The Mental Game of Poker and doing that before my play. Calms me a lot.

() Despite generally playing well, still losing some bigger pots to be barely up.

() Have to, Have to stop 4 betting light with 0 playability hand just because of timing tells. Timings tells were right : BB tank before 3betting with a very marginal mixing hand, 88. But that doesn't mean a hand like K7o can get the job done. K7s, on the other hand, is even solver approved! And would make my life a lot easier in finding the turn barrells. And I have 0 (literally 0) 4bp knowledge, so needs to study that quite a bit.

() I dont really hate this call. I think flop raise may be very strong, turn obviously not going everywhere yet, but river shove I will fold most of the time. But the Q pairing leaves his only combo that I dont beat KQ and Q9. I think he can go crazy with weird combos because he has ice cube, obviously tilted (supported by xr Q5 OTF), and he is a fish so he might shove with K9 and other Kx (maybe not). BR: 729 (Idk how I got to 729 because H2N says otherwise, but whatever(

Day 9:

() Had my best day in weeks! To be fair, sun running, but no tilt that made me lose all Ive gained. Started to read The Mental Game of Poker for 15 minutes prior to my session, which I found super helpful for my mental game. Also just had a session with a poker coach who taught me so much and I feel like having immediate effects. I hope I can keep it up BR: 771

Best of luck, followng.

by DeeKayBee m (https://www.twoplustwo.com/post?postId=59211734#post59211734)

Best of luck, followng.

Thanks!

Day 10:

() Breakeven day, up 1 BI in EV, but the majority comes from preflop AA vs AK and AA vs KK, didn't do anything spectacular by myself. Was down 2 buyins, glad that I was able to turn it around. I guess we made $2 in rakeback. What I have discovered these two days is that I am pretty bad at regular tables. The constant weird behaviors of fish just throw me off. I don't know what to do with donks, I am afraid of running bluffs, I can't steal as often as I could in rnc because they are people that just open alot and I don't know how to exploit them. Today I tried 3 rnc, and didn't feel overwhelmed. rnc vs reg post session:

() So yea I might will try 3 rnc again tmr, and hope that I don't get lost BR: 771

I have done this before, a few times now actually. Totally doable, two things though, first why GG? The high rake means your goal is to break even or slightly losing and then make your money through rake back and bonuses, I prefer sites with lower rake as i just don't enjoy leader board grinding, it's not as fun and tougher mentally to see a losing graph, plus you can still get rake back on other sites. Second if the goal is to move up I'd advocate for being more aggressive with the BRM, everyone has a different risk tolerance but if you feel you are capable of beating 50nl and are confident in your abilities then extra time spent at 10nl is just a waste. My approach when moving up was to allocate say a certain number of buy ins for taking a shot, if it goes well great you're now grinding your new stake, if you fall bellow your allocated shot take then move down. Say with 600 i would already be playing 25nl, I would allocate 8 buy ins to take a shot and if I fall to 400 then that's enough to grind back up at 10nl and try again. The last time I did this it was my third or 4th attempt that i broke through 25nl. I may be wrong in my approach, this is just how i think about it. Good luck in your journey. God speed!

Thanks so much for the support! I also think like a more aggresive approach is good for player development, but I just dont have enough evidence that I can confidently say that I beat NL10. I mean, at least post rake, after 110K hands i am losing at -2.2 - -2.5 bb/100. I want to find enough evidence that I can beat NL10 before moving up. For example today I got totally destroyed. Haha

On GG, that may actually be a positive indicator. Check out this video. He mainly grinds 1/2 Rush & Cash on GG. Over a 1 million hand sample, he was down about $23k, which depending on exact stakes works out to roughly -1.5 bb/100 (give or take). Despite that, he still made around $80k in profit. That’s essentially how the GG ecosystem works. The rake is extremely high and very few players are meaningfully positive over large samples purely from gameplay. Most of the profit comes from leaderboard grinding, promotions, and bonuses rather than raw winrate. Given that context, after 100k hands I don’t think being at around -2.5 bb/100 is particularly bad for GG at all. Bear in Mind his results are at 20x your current stake so the effects of rake are going to be hitting you much harder at the micros! It's worth watching the video, it’s useful for setting realistic expectations when grinding on GG. https://youtu.be/XvnF7SOiNJk?si=gdbksTrwtHyK-AoY

Day 11:

()

() I actually wrote so much but I wasn't logged in so it wasn't saved. Basically, the idea is that I am experiencing what the book calls entitlement tilt. I perform bad when I lose against recs + the idea of losing to recs make me unable to make good decisions. I also over-level myself and disregard the basic principles that at NL10, big bet from rec = strength.

() Against rec, I am unable to fold this, which is such an easy fold against any reg

() Against rec, I tilted shoved. I knew villian had no Kx, but I got angry at the raise that makes 0 sense, and shoved. Got snapped. I essentially fell into the same illogicality as villian. If I had Kx, why would I shove? I should've given up or floated.

() I should've paid attention to weird b85. I don't hate my line, and villians river bet just has so few value combos. Kind of run bad that I ran into the only straight combo. In hindsight, raise fold is probably better. Preflop was explloting villians high ATS and low 3bet. Had there not been a cold caller on BB, it wouldve went through most likely.

() I need to stop over-leveling myself. Villian snap checks flop, and delay big bet turn. Usually in NL10 this is bullshit. I was ready to give up until I saw the river b100. I knew he had no Jx, because no Jx would snap check flop. I over-leveled myself into calling KQ (a terrible bluff catcher in theory also, because villians bluff range probably have many Kx and Qx. I also lose to random Ax). Yea no ****, 77 makes so much sense to take this line.

() Yea probe big and river pot doesn't make any sense except for maybe 99. But people do crazy **** and they probe big with T8. I just need to respect big bets from rec, as simple as that!

() Villian's flop snap xr screams draw. I knew it was a draw. Why did I pay him off river? These 10 bbs matter a lot in the long run.

() I know I am able to make disciplinary folds. Villian is extremely nitty (20 vpip, 5 3bet), and he bets 3 streets multiway. I thought I would be the greatest nit in the world if I didn't raise river. I probably shoulve just called knowing he has 0 bluff and would probably not call a shove. As played, I think folding is almost right 100% of the time facing a river 3bet. WWSF is 54, and won when show down is 64. I am crushing the small pots but just losing the bigger pots, mostly due to the unwillingness to lose to fish/ over-leveling myself when seeing weird stuff. I need to remind myself to remember the basic principle that at my level, recs especially, big bets = strength. As simple as that, and I think I can be a winning player. I know my stuff, I know the exploits. There's no way im not beating this BR: 729

by The Dude Abides. m (https://www.twoplustwo.com/post?postId=59213520#post59213520)

On GG, that may actually be a positive indicator.Check out this video. He mainly grinds 1/2 Rush & Cash on GG. Over a 1 million hand sample, he was down about $23k, which depending on exact stakes works out to roughly -1.5 bb/100 (give or take). Despite that, he still made around $80k in profit.That's essentially how the GG ecosystem works. The rake is extremely high and very f... See full post

I think GG's microstake is actually pretty friendly: https://www.primedope.com/online-poker-rake-comparison-rake-calculator/ Primedope Online Poker Rake Calculator Updated 2026 (https://www.primedope.com/online-poker-rake-comparison-rake-calculator/)

. Given this is true I dont know about grinding leaderboard. Maybe I should try for one day hahahah to see how it feels. Maybe it will completely ruin my entire bankroll lol

by SilverZZ m (https://www.twoplustwo.com/post?postId=59213532#post59213532)

I think GG's microstake is actually pretty friendly: https://www.primedope.com/online-poker-rake-comparison-rake-calculator/ Primedope Online Poker Rake Calculator Updated 2026 (https://www.primedope.com/online-poker-rake-comparison-rake-calculator/)

. Given this is true I dont know about grinding leaderboard. Maybe I should try for one day hahahah to see how it feels. Maybe it will completely ruin my entire bankroll lol

If you scroll down that link, there are many comments complaining that rake displayed for GGpoker is wrong.

yeah it is very misleading, the "rake" is MUCH higher than 4.5%, in some cases you're paying more than 10% rake on GG, it makes the games almost unbeatable, you're forced to be a rake back grinder on there. If you're okay grinding leader boards for rake back and bonuses then perhaps it's a viable option. But i wouldn't expect to have a winning graph on win rate alone, even a very good player will at best be break even.

by dissect m (https://www.twoplustwo.com/post?postId=59204221#post59204221)

i have 51 WWSF on pokerstars zoom 10 and 25. there's no need go out of your way to force aggression. pay attention to spots where their ranges are likely to be weak, and focus your aggression on those.

What is the purpose of this stat?

by The Dude Abides. m (https://www.twoplustwo.com/post?postId=59213605#post59213605)

yeah it is very misleading, the "rake" is MUCH higher than 4.5%, in some cases you're paying more than 10% rake on GG, it makes the games almost unbeatable, you're forced to be a rake back grinder on there. If you're okay grinding leader boards for rake back and bonuses then perhaps it's a viable option. But i wouldn't expect to have a winning graph on win rate alone, even a ve... See full post

() From my own stats from Hand2Note, it says that the rake is about 7.3bb/100, which corresponds with what the website says (7.2bb/100). I will ask my friends that play on other sites what their rake is like, but I think this should be beatable. I would love to know if there are other sites with lower rake, I just can't find any information online except for the link that I attached, which claims that GG has one of the lowest rakes.

by DeeKayBee m (https://www.twoplustwo.com/post?postId=59213580#post59213580)

If you scroll down that link, there are many comments complaining that rake displayed for GGpoker is wrong.

Deekaybee do you recommend any other sites? I know you grinded microstakes for a challenge if I remember correctly

by HecklersKoch m (https://www.twoplustwo.com/post?postId=59213728#post59213728)

What is the purpose of this stat?

WWSF means the % of hands that you win once you see the flop. The higher the stat is means that the more aggresive you are post flop. It does usually mean lower WSD (won at showdown), because being more aggressive means that you need to bluff more and bluff catch more, resulting in losing at many showdowns. Winning players usually have at least %49+ in WWSF. Me personally is aiming for 52% WWSF.

Day 12:

()

() Tried to grind leaderboard for a day to see what it's like. Couldnt' finish till the end as I got tilted over some huge 4bp losses. Was sun running the entire day: set over set to my favor, preflop aces vs kings so many times, flush that hits, boats vs flush. Was up 10BI in the peak, and the session in the night was basically all waste. AA 4bp on KQ393 board. Could've definitely folded river b75 probe. It's almost an entire buyin! Villian showed JTs. -113bb KK 4bp on T953Q board, OOP, cbet flop, check turn, villian probe b50, cant fold yet, river shove. Fold, -70bb UGHHH so sad could've had my first 10BI winning day Also couldn't manage to grind leaderboard for a decent prize. It is much harder than I imagine. Past 12, I began to lose my focus. Next time I try I gotta start doing it in the morning. I have like 18000 points which is like the worst. Having a couple more thousands give you like 2-3 BIs, but now I would prolly just get 0.7 0.8 BIs. This week so far:

() I am amazed by how balanced I am lucky vs unlucky. Earlier in the week I was down by 4BI, and today it's now even. Absolutely horrendous redline btw. Don't know what's going on. WWSF 49% today with W%SD 64. Definitely not the stats that I am looking for. I am too afraid to pull the third trigger always. BR: 793

Feel so tilted even though today I am up 6BI. Don't know. Feel like I really wanted the peak at 10BI. I probably lost 2BI due to tilt. AA hand river was foldable, I also called a river raise to like 30bb (actually never seen a river raise bluff so far in like 110k hands if I remember correctly), and deuces 4b shoved 60bb pre cause I thought he 3bet me a little bit slow hahah. So that was 2Bi preventable. Other 2Bi that I lost were pretty much unpreventable. I have like AA or AK top pair, and I would bet in a big pot until villian decides to tell me he has the nut OTT or OTR. No bluff I am certain. Also EV at almost breakeven just makes me tilt. At the peak ev was up $50, which looks pretty good. At the end EV breaking even is so damn ugly. Tomorrow I will work on finding the third barrell more often and see if I can get my redline to be a little less steep. Also poker is such a game of discipline at the lowest level. There are spots where you know the villian have no bluff. I just need the discipline to always make the fold. I was making folds here and there today. I think they are good folds. It's just at the end I collapsed because I kept making those folds. Resulting in losing 2BIs.

DISCIPLINE DISCIPLINE DISCIPLINE btw this hand is pretty interesting

() QT might shove for value, I am not sure. Preflop was 250bb, so villian should have all the KJ and maybe AJ. I am not sure if AJ purely limpcalls. This might be a bad fold. I really dont know

Seen as you're posting hands I hope you're open to criticism! Haha. Feel free to give your thoughts on any hands or plays I post! I have noticed in your posts a few times you make a statement like "you feel someone" may be this or that based on something you've seen, in the 22 case you felt the slow 3 bet indicated weakness. In my opinion this is flawed thinking. I think it's okay at times to expend a range in some way if you have strong evidence that someone is deviating in a way that would allow you to expand it. I don't think a possible timing tell is strong enough evidence to do so, not that that timing tells aren't a thing, but I would want more evidence. Player notes, a large sample of hud stats, I also think expanding a 4 bet Jam range to include 22 is obviously far too wide. If you're going to expand a range it should be done naturally, first move hands that are mixes to pure, and expand around those hands if it's appropriate. I don't know the positions here but I'd argue that 22 may have been a fold pre, even on the BU 22 is a hand you can consider folding pure, it has bad reverse blockers and v a 60bb stack your implied odds are even further reduced, as stacks get deeper these low pocket pairs perform better but 22 at 100bb ef and below is a hand you can just consider not playing at all at the micros and low stakes especially v short stacks. Also you mention that in a big pot you continue to bet TPTK or strong hands like over pairs until your opponent tells you that that have a stronger hand. I don't like this thought process, instead you should be thinking in terms or your range vs their range and how those ranges are interacting with the texture. Strong hands don't always get to bet, there's a lot to consider when deciding whether to bet or not and for what sizing. So when you say getting stacked was unavoidable I would argue that although that may be true at times, perhaps go back and review those hands because they may be things you're missing. I think it's important to have a solid base and solid strategy and thought process and then build on top of that. Hopefully you don't think I'm being overly critical but I think it's important to be able to analyse your play and consider if it’s really the best you can do, what can you improve. Some changes are very simple like improving your pre flop strategy, others take more work like working on c betting strategies.

by SilverZZ m (https://www.twoplustwo.com/post?postId=59213808#post59213808)

Deekaybee do you recommend any other sites? I know you grinded microstakes for a challenge if I remember correctly

Depends where are you from?

by The Dude Abides. m (https://www.twoplustwo.com/post?postId=59214373#post59214373)

Seen as you're posting hands I hope you're open to criticism! Haha. Feel free to give your thoughts on any hands or plays I post! I have noticed in your posts a few times you make a statement like "you feel someone" may be this or that based on something you've seen, in the 22 case you felt the slow 3 bet indicated weakness. In my opinion this is flawed thinking. I think it's o... See full post

No of course! I really appreciate criticism and your comment! That's the point of the thread I would love yall to flame me. And I also recognize that you are trying to be as respectful as possible 😀, which is like the dream comment for me. Yea about timing tells, I've watched this course from Saulo Costa about timing tells and basically its is sort of supported by evidence that preflop timing tell is a thing. He does many out of line 3bet/ 4bet/ 5bet shove if villian shows weak timing, and according to him is doing great. When I am executing it, however, the 3bet part works great. 4bet works sometimes depending on villian. 5bet is almost always bad. In this case I shove against a 70bb short stack, 21 vpip 10 3bet guy, who probably has way too strong of a 3bet range from the BB given he is short stacked. Honestly, was up so much at that point I felt too confident in everything. So was definitely, defintely a punt. In terms of TPTK/overpairs, I think TPTK and overpair is supposed to bet most of the time, and let me just put couple hands that I was referring to, combining in perhaps lost of 1 to 2 BIs or so.

()

()

()

() I think these hands I definitely want to bet, and I think im doing a good job avoiding losing my entire stack. I am whining though because I am tilted, so this is bad. Again man thanks for the comment, I looked through some of your threads as well as seems like you are much of a crusher than what I could ever imagine to be 😀

by SilverZZ m (https://www.twoplustwo.com/post?postId=59214545#post59214545)

No of course! I really appreciate criticism and your comment! That's the point of the thread I would love yall to flame me. And I also recognize that you are trying to be as respectful as possible 😀, which is like the dream comment for me. Yea about timing tells, I've watched this course from Saulo Costa about timing tells and basically its is sort of supported by evidence t... See full post

Oh for the last hand, sizing is a mistake. On those low boards with flush draw there's no big sizing used. Without a flush draw I can go big bet, but with a flush draw I shouldn't use this sizing. Turn AA with a spade mostly bet but for b50 also. So yea I couldve lost more. I didn't know this and im glad that i learned this now And second hand maybe I should just xf OTT, or use a smaller sizing. Because he flat and cold call 3bet, so just PPs that want to rip a set. when he calls OTF he is actually already insanely strong for someone 16 vpip. Folding river is definitely correct imo

I can just use vpn to go on whatever website I think

by DeeKayBee m (https://www.twoplustwo.com/post?postId=59214386#post59214386)

Depends where are you from?

I meant to reply to this, i can just use vpn, so any website I think I have access

Saul is an amazing player, but i think there's danger in trying to replicate what has taken him years to master. Timing tells 100% exist and I use them in my own game, my point was they, in my opinion, shouldn't be a license to go crazy and start picking random hands to 4 bet bluff or 5 bet jam with. This is only my opinion, but i think instead a structured approach works better. I like to have a very clear image of what my range looks like from each position, i know exactly how i will react v each positions action and either stick to the baseline or deviate one way or the other based on the players stats, notes or population tendencies. i think trying to put too much emphasis on timing tells can get you off track building a solid base to work from when that's all you need to beat the micros. 90%+ of the player pool are absolutely terrible and have no clue what they're doing, there's enough edge to be gained playing a solid strategy that makes the normal deviations without having to play the timing tell guessing game. Perhaps if you ever reach mid to high stakes and people are looking for extra edge then there's a way to incorporate such things into your game a little more, but at the micros it seems a little crazy to me to think that way. Also if you are going to deviate pick hands that are natural expansions so it's not obvious what you are doing, people take notes, i am constantly taking notes and tagging players, if i see someone 4 bet rip 22 or some weird hand, regardless of whether I'm involved they'll get a note and I'll use that information for later, that's how you can go from trying to exploit to being the one getting exploited, maybe not now but later down the line. If however you say pick a hand that is a mix and choose to 4 bet it pure vs someone you think is being 3 bet heavy then you've disguised your exploit, anyone watching will know it's a 4 bet occasionally and won't know you've adjusted. This is the difference between a hard and soft exploit. i use both regularly but you need to be very careful doing so. the goal is to keep exploiting people over and over without them realising, if you start diving into random hands then you're in hard exploit territory and you're exposing yourself to be counter exploited later, you've also given the game away if you get caught. For the other hands, if I may offer some critique! haha. you folded the first three I read, so we never actually got to see villain’s holdings. You’re assuming these were good folds, but at the micros it’s entirely possible they’re jamming worse for value or even bluffing. People do some fairly non standard things at these stakes. My main critique, though, is more about the thought process than the specific decisions. Not to be rude, but framing it as TPTK is supposed to bet most of the time is fairly level one thinking. I think it’s much more productive to start from board texture, what villain’s range looks like, and how that range interacts with the board. From there, consider what your range and your perceived range looks like, and whether betting actually makes sense, and if so for what sizing. There are plenty of spots where checking an over pair, top pair, or even a set is optimal at some frequency, not just for pot control, but to protect your checking range and to allow you to check raise. In these 3 and 4 bet pots where ranges are narrower and the spr is low it's really important to have a solid strategy. i guess i just don't like thinking it was meant to be, was it? there's always something to learn. One final critique haha. i really wouldn't put a lot of weight on hud stats, not without a massive sample! especially on GGs Hud. Things like 3 bet stats take a long time to build an accurate picture, the smaller the sample the greater the noise, you need a very large sample to get an accurate reading. You aslo don't know if someone is playing a 3 bet or fold strategy or incorporating more flats, on GG you also don't get to see the 3 bet stats by position, you only get the total figure, so without a massive sample i think it's a huge mistake to make big deviations based on hud stats. Things like 3 bet and 4 bet stats take thousands of hands before you start to get anything close to useable. These are only my thoughts, feel free to disagree. hopefully even if you don't agree with all of it, some of it was hopefully constructive.

Totally. Your explaination about soft and hard exploits makes perfect sense. Shouldn't do that with 22 Yea simplifying as TPTK bet most of the time is really dumb. I think (i hope) I know more than that, I just worded it way too simplified. In the last hand for example, I know that AA with spade would bet but without would mostly check. But you are right that I can't think this way, and will remind myself about what you said. I do feel like those are good fold. I mean Ive grinded quite a bit micro stakes, and I just feel like the turn shove/xr are soooo underbluffed. I agree with your take on HUD, but I just dont think that people with 16 vpip or 19 vpip can all of a sudden pull out an 100bb bluff shove in the hands Ive shown above But yea! Thanks for the thoughts! They are definitely constructive!

Day 13:

() I think i grinded to much yesterday and today my brain is a mess. 300 hands in a realized i probably shouldn't play today. spewing around literally. taking today off Br:784

by SilverZZ m (https://www.twoplustwo.com/post?postId=59214574#post59214574)

I meant to reply to this, i can just use vpn, so any website I think I have access

Global Poker, WPT Gold, PokersStars, WinMax, PartyPoker, Ipoker, ignition. Pretty much anything other then ACR. But idk, how easy/hard its to get on those sites using VPN (I don't use it).

On one hand you say you understand HUD stats and that you should not put too much weight on them. Yet in the very next sentence you try to correlate someone’s turn play with their VPIP. Even if the stat itself is accurate, it often has little to no correlation with how someone plays later streets. A player can be very tight preflop and very aggressive postflop. You keep making large assumptions about people’s ranges and tendencies based on very weak evidence, whether that is a supposed timing tell or a HUD stat that may have no relevance at all. This is exactly why I think it is important to approach spots from a theoretical baseline first, and only make big deviations once you have clear and reliable evidence that justifies it. Take the hands you shared as examples. I will not go through all of them, but focusing on the first two, there does not seem to be much planning or structure to how the hands are played. Starting with the first hand, on the flop you choose one third pot. Why that size? What is the underlying thought process? At this point you should already be thinking that your hand is strong enough to play for stacks by the river. The question should be how you are going to construct that line. Starting with one third can be fine, but are you planning to size geometrically on later streets? You get check raised on the flop, which is a great result for your hand. You are only losing to a very narrow part of the range, so you call. The turn is excellent, as it removes some combinations that beat you. You then bet one third again and fold to a jam. That implies you are assuming they never bluff raise or jam worse for value here. In my view this is a snap call, and you should already be planning to call if they shove. Your sizing may even encourage jams from weaker Ax hands looking for protection, as well as bluffs. What are you actually losing to? There is one combo of 33, which likely does not jam the turn. There are three combos of JJ, and some of those are removed because they sometimes get 4 bet preflop also are they really going to jam turn with a house or quads? They should not really have AJo, but a weaker player might, and even then that is only a few combos. Even if you are extremely generous and maximise the combinations that beat you, you are still looking at a very small number overall. Compare that to the number of Ax hands they can have, plus potential bluffs, and it becomes clear that AK is far too strong to fold here. You state with a lot of certainty that you were beat, yet you never saw their hand. You have to accept that sometimes when you call you will be behind. You are playing against their entire range, not just the top of it, and this hand is simply too high up in your range to fold given how the action played out. The second hand follows a very similar pattern. Again, how are you choosing your flop sizing? This is a board that often favours very large bets, sometimes even overbets, yet you go with a small continuation bet. Is that just your default in 3 bet pots? How are you choosing your turn sizing? It is not geometric. At what frequency are you checking AA on the turn here? You then reach the river and check fold, again assuming you are beat. This is another spot where the hand is too strong to fold. It is very plausible they are jamming worse for value or trying to bluff hands like AK. If you are folding AA on this line, you are massively overfolding. Once again you try to correlate their VPIP with their ability or willingness to bluff rivers, which is not a reliable connection. Anyway, do not take this personally. You said you were open to criticism. From my perspective there is a consistent lack of forward planning in these hands, combined with very strong assumptions about opponents that are not supported by solid evidence.

Yes, I think what you've said are definitely all theoretically correct. AK in the first hand and AA in the second hand are both "top of my ranges" that I should never fold. However, I'm making these folds exploitatively based my experience in the micro stake these lines are heavily underbluffed. For the first hand, the first problem you mentioned is flop sizing. I think range b20-33 is totally fine for A high two broadway. I think solver mix some AK for b75 if its OOP vs IP, but even that is way too complicated. For turn and river if villian xc and the board allows, then the only option for AK is to bet big OTT and shove river. Turn solver goes b125 but who does that haha. Just b75 turn, shove river. Focusing on the xr now, you said that I can beat some value such as weaker aces looking for protection. First, I don't think that it is intuitive at all to find hands like AQo as well as most Ax to xr. And second, my line in most people's perspective would be claiming to have an A. I don't think villian would xr jam any Ax. And how often does villian bluff here? Yea some obvious combos exist OTF, like KQ, KT for example. Maybe some other flush draws. But surely there would 1) not xr jam on a paired turn, and 2) the price is so good for them, especially the flush draw, to make an easy call. Perhaps the villian goes crazy and jam some 22 44. But i think it's so unlikely. Yes the value combos are very few, but so does this line occur not very often. I think villian purely has value here. I mean if he has a crazy bluff after my taunt he would show most likely. For the second hand, again the first problem you mentioned is flop sizing. Here there's no solver answer because the preflop is so weird. I am actually unsure about the theory here. It is definitely true that in a normal headsup situation, for example villian opens and calls 3b, then this board is for sure big bet or check. I just think this hand is different in 2 ways. First it's 200bb deep, I am not sure if AA is comfortable getting it in here. I've never studied 200bb. But I would assume AA would prefer betting smaller since it's far from the nuts that deep. And second villian range is not normal call 3b range. It's flat preflop + cold call 3b range, which is predominately PPs that's lower than JJ. many many 66-99, in my experience. On a board like this, against a weirdly constructed villian's range, I think AA is furthur away from being nuts, and even range vs range perhaps villian has the nut advantage. I don't have nodelocker, so I can't run it. But I suppose a smaller bet might make sense given its 200bb and that villian has a weird range. On the river, I decided to xf. Perhaps the better option is to block bet, now that I think about it. You said that villian might jam worse for value. What worse for value hand is he jamming? Is Nl10 players really jamming AJ OTR here for overbet? I am fairly confident that QQ is not even doing that, suppose villian have AJ and QQ is his range. And what bluff does he have on such a dry board, after cold calling 3bet? He doesn't have the natural bluffs, and even if those combos do exist, they are not calling flop and turn for big sizing. Is villian's 33 going to call flop and big turn, with the intention to bluff jam river? I simply don't think so. Yes, AA is my top of the range. But villian is not playing equilibrium strategy, and I also shouldn't be playing that. I agreed to your previous post that HUD shouldn't be given too much credit. However, based on my experience, players that have a 16 vpip after a decent sample of size, who has proven their passivity by flatting and cold calling, does not suddenly thin value jam nor overbet river. I am not sure which site you previously played on, and I do acknowledge what you've done in your own challenge, super impressive. I just haven't met such players on GG Nl10 yet. I am not taking it personally, I'm just sharing what I truly thought of these hands. I truly enjoy the conversation and the clash of opinions 😀

Day 13:

()

() Just kidding poker is too fun, there's no taking today off. I grinded another session tonight and realized the sad reality of rake. I thought I was doing so well in the end, and the GG graph would agree. I walked out finding out that my BR has decreased by 3 from where I started. I mean the rake isn't too crazy, 7bb/100, and I don't know if any other sites are better, but man, its dissapointing. I can't start my session punting around being 5 BIs down and then decide to recover from it. Had I make less punts I could definitely make this session such a profitable one.

() Folding to reg 3b shove next time, screw this.

() Thought villian 59 vpip is a fish and would call worse. Knew he definitely had a flush because lead turn. But yea, probably just call. Losing to straight flush is kind of brutal though ahha

() This is just straight up punt. Yea theory approves, but come on. 150bb deep, villian confidently 4 bets and b50 OTF. Not doing that with AK I don't think.

() Straight up punt. Yes again theory approves jamming at low frequency, but NL10 players dont find the correct turn bluff barrells. I had no fold equity there.

() I unfortunely lost the battle of 12th place by 30 points and didnt get that extra 0.5 BI :(. But I think im pretty talented in just sitting and grinding. That's a 9h30min straight grind. Maybe next time I should try a full 18 hour grind for that first place 😀 BR: 799 (I added the $20 leaderboard) I think I can get another 20$ from platinum fish haha. We'll count that in by the end of the week.

i'm loving this. i feel your pain with paying off the nits, i've been overdoing it myself. 😂 i'll keep my thoughts on the hands short: putting hero's bet sizings aside, i don't fold the AK, but i fold the AA on that particular runout and line. after that you fold a different AA to the fishy check/minraise of death, but you have a combo draw. emoting before folding could be a sign of accumulated frustration. the postflop assumptions i make based on VPIP/PFR are not about directly correlating them to aggression, but it's an important starting point for our hand reading. if we are having trouble finding the bluff combos in a tight player's range, we have to consider the possibility that they don't exist. it's very easy for wide fish to overbluff because they have a very high proportion of garbage combos.

by dissect m (https://www.twoplustwo.com/post?postId=59215329#post59215329)

i'm loving this.i feel your pain with paying off the nits, i've been overdoing it myself. 😂i'll keep my thoughts on the hands short: putting hero's bet sizings aside, i don't fold the AK, but i fold the AA on that particular runout and line.after that you fold a different AA to the fishy check/minraise of death, but you have a combo draw.emoting before folding could be ... See full post

Yes DEFINITELY accumulated frustration. I use that everytime I face a turn raise. It's the emote of disdain because there's no bluff. Tilt got nowhere to release but at my villian. A moral victory in my book. And it does have an additional benefit: Imagine you pulled a bluff and your villian emotes you, how do you not show him the bluff? imo if I emote and villian doesn't show hand, its value.

()

() WWSF is at 49% this week. Pretty bad imo. Stats wise, just comparing with something I saw in Saulo's video, I guess a baseline for good frequency. Turn barrell also on the lower end. the hands that I opened I only cbet flop 54% of time. 3rd barrell seems fine, but that's probably due to under barrelling OTF and OTT. I do use a big bet cbet strategy on most two tone flops, but yea still wayyyy too passive.

()

() Comparing BB stats, some pathetic xf and under xr. I think I overadjusted by BB strategy. Gotta be more aggressive here as well.

Day 14:

() Just a quick session today, feeling a loss of confidence towards the end, decided to end it early. That's it for the week: pretty good improvement from last week i'd say. But still so many punts, avoiding those could make the week so so so much more profitable.

() In terms of goals: [x] 27k/10k hands (yea played a lil too much) Next week school starts so I won't be able to play as much [] 1h/4h study (haha didn't study this week at all. feel like exploit and being aggresive is way more useful now than grinding solver) [] 1.5h/4h reading (yea lacking) Goals for next week: [] 15k hands. (I am doing 4 tables rnc now after learning some exploits. I feel it's manageable now)

• [] WWSF 51% [] 2h study (yea gto is not that useful at nl10, but I still need to improve my basic knowledge at some rate [] 2h reading (you know school is starting so I have excuse)

BR: 819 (i punted $10 in sunday $1 and $2 tourneys 😀

Punt of the day:

() I am again influenced by some trivial stuff (ice cube) and thought villian could pull some crazy stuff. Yes he is probably tilted, therefore he xr his QQ to a huge sizing and turn barrels pot. I put 77 to win 215, so I need 36% equity. I have 32% facing overpairs. I was thinking maybe he is on some draws and he is tilted. Nah. I talked myself into this call of bad equity

Classes got canceled today because of big snow. Grind leaderboard day~~ hope I can get top 6 and get that 5BI leaderboard reward

()

() For my time, leaderboard resets at 3AM. I have played for 10 hours and it's 3PM now. I might have taken 45-1h rest in total. What is the guys above me on???

()

() The session was super tough in half way through, with 2 topset vs straight, 1 set over set, one bombpot KK vs AA, one turn all in with flush blocker AA vs flush. but then in the afternoon couple recs slid in the groupchat and made many donations. We are currently at 2nd of the leaderboard, but I need to go eat dinner and take like 2 hour break. Goal is to maintain top 5 today and get around $60 in leaderboard. Then the rakeback would actually be quite decent! If ggflip goes well, you know.. 😀))

Day 15: I mean, the best day so far? I was to planning to grind till 32k points, but I got so tired. Also lost 150bb preflop bomb pot facing shove. Couldn't folded AQo. One guy all in 150bb and another 100bb called. Perhaps a fold? I don't know. It was AQ vs QQ vs TT.

()

() Stopping at 28K points means that I will probably only get, i dont know, $35 - $50 in rakeback. Damn it's tough to be grinding all day. Hella respect to those russians regs that I always see on the tables

() He seems like a nice guy too 😀 BR: 910 (let's pray we get some nice leaderboard rakeback and some ggflip rakeback plzzzz) Im closer and closer to my goal of 1050, which is 40+2 buyins for nl25. I have been stuck in NL10 for so long, and these couple days I've finally been playing quite well and understanding some general exploits.

() I am so sorry villian

BR: 955 ($45 Leaderboard, ggflip let us down)

by SilverZZ m (https://www.twoplustwo.com/post?postId=59217457#post59217457)

BR: 955 ($45 Leaderboard, ggflip let us down)

wait NO I actually got $25 from GGflip. I actually only ended up getting $20 from leaderboard becasue I missed the most important rush hour. bruh. Pretty unsuccessful leaderboard grind then. Nah i gotta run it back now because I am so dumb.

Day 16 & 17: School has begun and I am so busy lowkey. Didn't play, but studied quite some preflop exploits and went over my data base for leaks. I think I found a couple leaks and am pretty pumped.

by SilverZZ m (https://www.twoplustwo.com/post?postId=59216923#post59216923)

For my time, leaderboard resets at 3AM. I have played for 10 hours and it's 3PM now. I might have taken 45-1h rest in total. What is the guys above me on???... See full post

There are plenty of account sharing LB grinders on GG. GL with trying to reach their daily volume alone unless you start playing on meth. One of the many reasons I haven't played a hand there since the super user scandal that alone should've taken that site and it's douche bag ambassadors down.

by DeezedFourz m (https://www.twoplustwo.com/post?postId=59219571#post59219571)

There are plenty of account sharing LB grinders on GG. GL with trying to reach their daily volume alone unless you start playing on meth. One of the many reasons I haven't played a hand there since the super user scandal that alone should've taken that site and it's douche bag ambassadors down.

Playing on meth sounds like a incredible idea. which other sites do you use?

Day 18:

() Played a little bit today early morning and late afternoon. I always make some mistakes early on and then start getting into the flow. Tomorrow I need to remind myself to get in the zone quicker. Not extremely happy with what I did today, but definitely not upset either. I think my preflop adjustments are good. BR: 971

Tomorrow I think I can play 10+ hrs because I have no classes. Got something in the afternoon but hoping to do the leaderboard right this time, not missing 1AM to 3AM

by SilverZZ m (https://www.twoplustwo.com/post?postId=59219664#post59219664)

by DeezedFourz m (https://www.twoplustwo.com/post?postId=59219571#post59219571)

There are plenty of account sharing LB grinders on GG. GL with trying to reach their daily volume alone unless you start playing on meth. One of the many reasons I haven't played a hand there since the super user scandal that alone should've taken that site and it's douche bag ambassadors down.

Playing on meth sounds like a incredible idea. which other sites do you use?

Yeah 10/10 idea to play on meth, can't think of any long term -EV in that. Any site that is not GG is better, as long as you have options ofc.

Day 19: Faq the grind ended early because of tilt.

() ] Quite unhappy with my play today. Again, the problem is taking hands for granted and not exploitatively folding enough. Yes, on the one hand it's run bad. But your villian gives you every opportunity to avoid. You can't play like a sheep and you gotta use your brain bro. AA 4bp, river flush complete river donk shove 80 bb. Yes you have the nut flush blocker. But what do you expect a player with reggy stats to have except for flush? Shows JTs. - 130bb BVB 120bb effective villian 5b not shove (what could it be??). Villian has 3% 3bet but you dont want to check. You see AKo and you go **** it lets go. Villian of course has AA. -120bb Other big pots lost: AA 4bp lose to KT. Flop TTx villian fast xr and shove turn. Couldn't dodge this imo. Or can I? does it population fast play JJ QQ often enough to justify the call? Perhaps I can fold? -100bb Preflop villian 80bb effective AKo vs AA -88bb 80bb effective bvb JT629 river flush complete AKo with flush blocker ran into 86s flush. - 65bb The small pots are feeling better and better though. WWSF 52% for the day. I can't be playing half-asleep and making mistakes like this. Nono. BR: 959.6

On flush completing rivers, blocking the nut flush is not great for bluff catching. A lot of your opponents bluffs are going to come from the nut flush blocker, so when you hold it you block a large portion of potential bluffs and don't block that much value at all. A hand that contains a diamond but unlocks the Ax would actually make a better bluff catcher in these spots. Of course it depends a lot on how the hand played out, it's just a gebral heuristic for bluff catching when the flush completes. People often have it backwards, they think blocking the nut flush is good, well no not really, you block bluffs and don't block much value.

by The Dude Abides. m (https://www.twoplustwo.com/post?postId=59220558#post59220558)

On flush completing rivers, blocking the nut flush is not great for bluff catching. A lot of your opponents bluffs are going to come from the nut flush blocker, so when you hold it you block a large portion of potential bluffs and don't block that much value at all. A hand that contains a diamond but unlocks the Ax would actually make a better bluff catcher in these spots. Of c... See full post

Yea I think that makes a lot of sense. Why does solver still prefer having the blocker though?

I don’t really know the exact spot you’re looking at, so it’s hard to be specific. But it could just be that in that situation the solver cares more about blocking value than unblocking bluffs.

Paradox of the Flush Draw Blocker - YouTube

Tap to unmute

Paradox of the Flush Draw Blocker (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmNuswaiDoo)Poker Giraffe (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJln-UR5qim3VvDfeQxYZKw) Poker Giraffe17.8K subscribers

by dissect m (https://www.twoplustwo.com/post?postId=59220594#post59220594)

This is a great video, thanks for sharing! It seems like this video is focusing on bluff catching when potentially there is a busted flush draw. I guess in my situation though, having the nut flush blocker is like a neutral thing. I both block villian's AKo bluffs and villians Axs value. I do think theres more value combos than AKo combos. But yea this is all theoretical. I should fold 100% against reg taking this line.

by The Dude Abides. m (https://www.twoplustwo.com/post?postId=59220588#post59220588)

I don't really know the exact spot you're looking at, so it's hard to be specific. But it could just be that in that situation the solver cares more about blocking value than unblocking bluffs.

Yea it is pretty case dependent.

()

()

() I was looking at BTN vs BB triple barrell all in scenario when flush completes. The AJo is always fold, but having A of flush is actually hugely detrimental to EV. In this case many of the BTN's bluff comes from A with flush blocker. So you are absolutely right. Thanks for this knowledge!

You are muchly welcome, although yes very case dependent. Also it's worth remembering that the machines create these solutions by playing perfectly against themselves until they reach an equilibrium, people at 10nl or 25nl will not be playing perfectly obviously. Often when looking at bluff catching spots on the river the machine assumes that range is constructed in a balanced way, the opponents we face in reality will be massively unbalanced. For example the solver may choose to bluff complete air on the river in some spots, hands that don't interfere the folding range, I don't think you see that often at the micros. If you have the ability to nodelock on yours it can be interesting to play around with what you think the perceived bluffing range is of your opponents in spots and not just what the machine chooses to bluff, it can change the answer drastically at times. I can't afford to pay for a subscription atm, I've been travelling a few months now so I'm trying to grind up a roll. But yeah I'm just saying don't assume what the solver says can be directly applied to every situation. It's useful and you can take some good stuff away from it, but also try to consider if that's actually how your opponents play and play around with the frequencies and hand selections. Also whether you think your opponent is likey to over bluff or under bluff in a spot. The exploit in some situations is to take a solution that heavily mixes and fold pure or call pure. All it takes is for your opponent to sway one way or the other just a little, say 1% to move the answer to a pure fold or pure call. Perhaps I'm rambling! Haha. But I guess I think often you can simplify. The solver will often mix calls and folds with certain hands, pure call others, per fold some. When in reality if you think your opponent is under bluffing a spot it just becomes a pure fold, you fold every bluff catcher. Or if it's a spot and player who's likey to over bluff you can call every bluff catcher, that's the exploit. People aren't machines, it's impossible to play like them and they won't even be trying at these stakes. 95% of the people I encounter atm at 25nl have absolutely no clue what they're doing. But yeah play around with the hand selections or bluffing frequencies in the nodelocking feature, it's surprising how drastically things change just from slight adjustments in frequencies.

Yea what you said makes perfect sense. I've seen 2cardconfidence doing nodelocking and small deviations can change the entire strategy like rangebetting in some cases or extreme overcall/overfold. And yes, human play extremely different from solvers, and blindly following solver is definitely bad. That AA hand, will definitely fold next time 😀

() Pretty great day 😀) Played two short sessions, one in the afternoon one in the night. The afternoon one was so good, being hella agressive. The night one I wasn't doing as much overbluffing, and the WWSF was only 48%. For the entire day combined, the WWSF is 49%, which is on the lower end for sure. I wanted to grind leaderboard today, but I just can't get any substiantial rakeback since in the morning I have stuff to do. I don't think a LB grind will happen in a while... :( The GG update changed the rakeback system, and Ive done some calculation and my flat rakeback is at 6.5% (due to PVI, calculated to be ~ 0.25which I don't understand because I'm not even profiting that much bro) despite as the crab GG claims there will be around 30% rakeback. So pretty much rakeback is 0 except for being lucky in GGflip and LB. It's quite sad that I won't have time to grind LB.

BR: 1021 We are so close to shot taking at NL25.

in response to your last post about the GG rake back, why GG again? Are you not able to play on other sites? Stars for example has a very clear rake back structure, you know exactly what you're going to earn and it's paid directly in cash once you unlock it. There's no ambiguity with how it works. they also have one of, if not the lowest rake structures out there, and in my opinion the games are super soft. Even at 100nl and 200nl I have observed games and seen a lot of the same player styles. I just don't get the attraction of GG. it will never be somewhere I choose to grind. here's a picture of their rake structure, it's very clear. Even the lowest level is outperforming what people actually receive from GG, and there's no ambiguity. Now I'm at 25nl i'm unlocking them quicker and about to move to Silver, i just like to know exactly where i stand. with this structure you can calculate based on volume and stakes how much you're going to earn in rake back, on GG it's not clear at all.

()

GG rakeback before the update is not horrible. GG's rake for micro is also one of the better ones. But after the update the rakeback got a lot worse so i am trying to look for better options. I can't play stars from Massachusetts which is where I live in :(

well that sucks. Can you play on acr? I don't know what the games are like on ACR at the moment, but i used to grind on there and you could earn decent bonuses! you seem to put in a lot of volume so I'm sure you could hit them. if i remember correctly if i managed around 30k hands a week at 50nl, that would usually be enough to hit a $500 dollar bonus, and they were higher levels also. No idea if the leader boards are as good now as they used to be, I haven't played on there for a long time. The games used to be very soft though and good bonuses. this was during covid times.

by DeeKayBee m (https://www.twoplustwo.com/post?postId=59214746#post59214746)

Global Poker, WPT Gold, PokersStars, WinMax, PartyPoker, Ipoker, ignition. Pretty much anything other then ACR. But idk, how easy/hard its to get on those sites using VPN (I don't use it).

Heard bad stuff about ACR lol I think microstakes at GG is definitely doable. Once I hit nl50 I will definitely consider switching website because GG rnc rake doesn't decrease as you move up the stake. It's still around 7bb/100

Day 21:

() Again, a decent day! Didn't put in too much volume because I need my rest of the day to do work from school. Really happy with today: Had a couple 3bp all in shove bluff based on opponent's snap call OTF+OTT stuff like that. I previously pretty much never had any river all in bluffs. Glad to execute that today, which also shows on WWSF and and redline. Week 3 Summary:

()

() Definitely the best week I've ever had for a looooongggg time (never felt comfortable in NL10 like this week). In terms of goals [x] 25k/15k hands. (15k of which comes from day 1 of the week lol)

• WWSF 51%/51% (yay) [x] Study >2h/2h (mainly exploit stuff. didn't do GTO this week) [x] Read ~2h/2h (Didn't time, but I think I hit it haha) Goals for Week 4: [] I won't set a goal for volume because I will be shot taking at nl25. If I bust, then 10k will be the goal (school starts, no time) [] Study 2h [] Read 1h BR: 1055!! SHOT TAKING AT NL25 TMR!!! (If have time)

()

by SilverZZ m (https://www.twoplustwo.com/post?postId=59221939#post59221939)

by DeeKayBee m (https://www.twoplustwo.com/post?postId=59214746#post59214746)

Global Poker, WPT Gold, PokersStars, WinMax, PartyPoker, Ipoker, ignition. Pretty much anything other then ACR.But idk, how easy/hard its to get on those sites using VPN (I don't use it).

Heard bad stuff about ACR lol I think microstakes at GG is definitely doable. Once I hit nl50 I will definitely consider switching website because GG rnc rake doesn't decrease as you move up th... See full post

In what universe is GG RNC rake 7 bb/100 with a VPIP higher than 20? That's the amount of rake I pay at a site with 3.33 % rake and 5 bb cap, no preflop rake. GG RNC is 5%, 8 bb cap, and raked preflop once there is a 3bet. I'm almost 100% certain it won't be 7 bb/100 at GG even net after getting whatever the fuck they call rb, BBJ, and promo EV back. Make it 9 plus and we are closer. Some trackers don't calculate it right or present the information in a misleading way. If you wanna get the actual numbers, just do a grind day, compare your account balances before and after, and then compare them to what the pokercraft thingy says about your results. If you have PT4, there is also a downloadable custom stat on their site that gives the actual number in bb/100 right away. Edit: I see you use H2N and it says what the rake has been in bb's. With a VPIP of 28 that number is 100% BS, or a number that has been constructed in a way that has little or nothing to do with how much higher your winrate would've been if the games were not raked.

by DeezedFourz m (https://www.twoplustwo.com/post?postId=59221995#post59221995)

In what universe is GG RNC rake 7 bb/100 with a VPIP higher than 20 That's the amount of rake I pay at a site with 3.33 % rake and 5 bb cap, no preflop rake. GG RNC is 5%, 8 bb cap, and raked preflop once there is a 3bet. I'm almost 100% certain it won't be 7 bb/100 at GG even net after getting whatever the **** they call rb, BBJ, and promo EV back. Make it 9 plus and we are cl... See full post

Oh are you being for real? I genuinely thought the rake is as displayed as H2N. Yea I will pay attention next time. Thanks for the information!

by SilverZZ m (https://www.twoplustwo.com/post?postId=59222072#post59222072)

Yeah no bamboozle. Primedope rake calculator says the same, and I believe they show the average net rake after average rb. Feel free to confirm that yourself manually if you want to.

Day 22: No poker today, no time :( Tomorrow morning will shot take for like an hour or so.

Day 23:

() Just played a bit in the morning. Was up 1BI because of rec, but had a bad read on rec's sizing and lost quite a bit. Didn't feel too stressed about the 2.5x betting size that I was used to, which surprised me. I think knowing that I have 2BI for me to play around and that busting it's totally fine gives me a sense of security. Was still over tight regarding thin value bets/raises and 3bet (only 6% lol, what a nit!) I've seen more reggy stats across the tables, which means my 3bet should get closer to equilibrium as well. Tomorrow morning I'll see if I can shot take a bit more. As school starts, I've been having trouble finding time to play. And afternoon/night at my time is just not a good time to play because most recs play during my morning. BR: 1068

Day 24: Whap. Shot taking meant to be hard no?

()

()

() Lost 2 BI to bullets I couldn't possibly dodge. Did run very good with flips and at NL10 (I got tilted and I played nl10 and i ran so good), so not losing too much. Tomorrow maybe try again 😀 Not busted yet haha BR: 1050

In hindsight, maybe I can fold TT bvb. Yea super nitty but I think it's a losing call if villian doesn't have AQo and A5s in jam range and have all the AA and KK in jam range. Yea, definitely a losing call in fact. That runner runner trip just is setting me up for death bruh

Yea to be fair 2nd hand river maybe just call. Can't really find anything that I beat that would take this line really. AAw/ heart is the only combo that I can imagine taking this line. And I have to discount this possibility as well because people fast play AA preflop too much. Perhaps even folding river is most exploitative hahah. But come on now how am I not shoving runner runner trip bro :((((

One quick comment about your TT hand bvb. Calling is fine, you're thinking about it in terms of hand v range instead of range v range. If you assume they never five bet jam as a bluff and only have TT plus and AK, then TT by itself is losing, but when you look at your whole continuing range against that range it comes out exactly break even, so it is not exploitable. On top of that, people will sometimes trap with aces and kings, so those hands are not always at full frequency anyway, which makes calling even more reasonable. If you start folding TT, your range only gains around two percent equity, if you assume the range you suggested, but their range overall gains equity from your fold if they do incorporate bluffs. You are assuming nobody is ever jamming hands like AQ or A5s at 25nl, and that just is not true. There are definitely players who five bet jam bluffs. Also on top of that random spazes with other pairs or random hands. It's best not to over think it. Calling TT+ AK is not exploitable. That is why in spots like this you need to be careful not to deviate too far, because you can easily be the one who gets exploited. It's a snap and move on, you should be 4 betting with the intention to snap if they jam, if you lose you lose. But you can't make big assumptions. You see too much random stuff at the micros.

TT either you 4b-call, or you flat the 3b, depending on your set of assumptions. 4b-folding takes a very specific set of assumptions that is rare... V 3-betting at a high frequency, but only jamming premiums. players who 3-bet enough are not likely to be nits when it comes to the jams, imo. by The Dude Abides. m (https://www.twoplustwo.com/post?postId=59224553#post59224553)

If you assume they never five bet jam as a bluff and only have TT plus and AK, then TT by itself is losing, but when you look at your whole continuing range against that range it comes out exactly break even, so it is not exploitable.

i disagree with this part only. if we don't have the pot odds to call against that range, it's just losing, we don't add -EV hands to our ranges. but, in that case, we have to evaluate if we didn't just 4b into a range that's too strong to begin with, thus dropping some EV in practice.

I can't see the full pre flop action for some reason, but I'm assuming normal 3 bet and 4 bet sizes, given they're 100b deep it's a snap v jam. I'm not over thinking these spots. I think it's a mistake to make big assumptions about peoples play or what their range may look like without very hard evidence. And how are you going to get that? In this case it's impossible for him to know what this players range looks like, why over think. I see soooo much random stuff at 25nl. It's incredible, this isn't a spot to over think and think you're exploiting someone by over folding, when in reality you don't know enough about this player. Even if they are a super nit and you call the jam with TT+ AK it's a flip. There's more to be lost by making big assumptions and deviations without hard evidence than there is the extra 2% equity you think you may gain if you happen to be correct and think it's a super nit jamming range.

to be clear, i agree with your conclusion! 4b-folding is very unlikely to be correct. but if we somehow knew for a fact that villain jams like a nit, then we can't call the jam. the point is exactly that we usually can't know that, so just don't overthink it.

exactly my thoughts. You can not know, it's also a mistake to make assumptions on people's play based on Hud stats, not that you have detailed one's on GG, but if he did, which he doesn't, as he just started shot taking 25nl. i can't count the amount of time's I've thought about deviating, or have made a deviation in some way based on a hud stat, only to be completely surprised to see this person going crazy with a random hand or opening super wide compared to what I'd expect from their stats. it's just so hard to predict people's behaviour, hud stats are not reliable. You need huge samples on people to get anywhere close to accurate information, there's a lot of variance in small sample sizes, and even then you can't trust it. In this situation it's a 100bb effective bvb spot v an unknown opponent, you can't make any assumptions about what you think they may or may not 5 bet jam in this spot or what other players at 25nl are doing. I'm about to start a session at 25nl now, I guarantee i will see some wild and weird hands, people play so odd at the micros. I'm not saying I don't make pre flop deviations, there's some spots where i am deviating massively, some spots are massively under bluffed or require big deviations from what the machine would do, but this is certainly not one of them.

I've played 12 hands and stopped to show you this hand, tell me people aren't spazzing at 25nl? Everything about this hand is weird. First you get the small 3x sizing OOP pre, i randomise between 2 bet and flat flop, and you'll see how the rest plays out. He shows down 99 on this texture, WTF. 25nl is a shit show. you can't be making big assumptions about people's play without very strong evidence to back it up. PokerStars - $0.25 NL FAST (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players Hand converted by PokerTracker 4: http://www.pokertracker.com BTN: 86.36 BB (VPIP: 100.00, PFR: 100.00, 3Bet Preflop: -, Hands: 1) SB: 155.48 BB (VPIP: 22.22, PFR: 22.22, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 9) BB: 273.64 BB Hero (UTG): 100 BB MP: 95.84 BB (VPIP: 25.71, PFR: 11.43, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 36) CO: 298.36 BB (VPIP: 29.91, PFR: 23.08, 3Bet Preflop: 13.95, Hands: 119) SB posts SB 0.4 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB Pre Flop: (pot: 1.4 BB) Hero has 6d 6s Hero raises to 2.28 BB, fold, fold, fold, fold, BB raises to 7.24 BB, Hero calls 4.96 BB Flop : (14.88 BB, 2 players) Qd Ts 6c BB bets 7.12 BB, Hero raises to 18.48 BB, BB calls 11.36 BB Turn : (51.84 BB, 2 players) Ac BB checks, Hero bets 19.8 BB, BB raises to 108.92 BB, Hero calls 54.48 BB and is all-in River : (200.4 BB, 2 players) 4s BB shows 9h 9c (One Pair, Nines) (Pre 81%, Flop 14%, Turn 5%) Hero shows 6d 6s (Three of a Kind, Sixes) (Pre 19%, Flop 86%, Turn 95%) Hero wins 192.4 BB

@dissect here's another one for you. This is a player I have a 2k sample on, he has a 4 bet frequency of 6% that is over a sample of 66 spots, so it means absolutely nothing. I'll share the hand, it's easy to overthink these spots but i think instead of overthinking reduce it to what matters most, i think i have a good bluff catcher, I block JJ which may choose block on river, but what matters more than that is his river sizing. He leads for 1/3 pot, do i win more than 25% of the time, if I think the answer is yes then call. He shows up with J6s, a hand that is a pure fold pre. I constantly see this, people making massive mistakes or spazzing out. Perhaps he wants to fight back but he's not studied enough to know which hands go into the 4 bet range so he picks a random hand, his sizing pre is also fishy, what i'm saying is making assumptions about people's play without super strong accurate information is a big mistake in my opinion. People spaz out at 25nl all the time. PokerStars - $0.25 NL FAST (6 max) - Holdem - 5 players Hand converted by PokerTracker 4: http://www.pokertracker.com BTN: 40.6 BB (VPIP: 0.00, PFR: 0.00, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 9) SB: 105.36 BB (VPIP: 19.85, PFR: 15.56, 3Bet Preflop: 5.68, Hands: 2, 333) Hero (BB): 224.48 BB UTG: 104.28 BB (VPIP: 27.27, PFR: 9.09, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 11) CO: 107.24 BB (VPIP: 27.84, PFR: 23.86, 3Bet Preflop: 15.07, Hands: 186) SB posts SB 0.4 BB, Hero posts BB 1 BB Pre Flop: (pot: 1.4 BB) Hero has Ac Jc fold, fold, fold, SB raises to 3 BB, Hero raises to 10.48 BB, SB raises to 27.24 BB, Hero calls 16.76 BB Flop : (54.48 BB, 2 players) Qh 9c 2c SB checks, Hero checks Turn : (54.48 BB, 2 players) 5h SB checks, Hero checks River : (54.48 BB, 2 players) 8h SB bets 17.16 BB, Hero calls 17.16 BB SB shows Jd 6d (High Card, Queen) (Pre 28%, Flop 7%, Turn 5%) Hero shows Ac Jc (High Card, Ace) (Pre 72%, Flop 93%, Turn 95%) Hero wins 84.8 BB

by The Dude Abides. m (https://www.twoplustwo.com/post?postId=59224612#post59224612)

@dissect here's another one for you.

i can definitely confirm the "people construct their ranges randomly" part, which only makes running bad against their ATC more frustrating 😂

they do indeed, people at the micros are very random. I think keep it simple, don't overcomplicate things haha.

by dissect m (https://www.twoplustwo.com/post?postId=59224573#post59224573)

TT either you 4b-call, or you flat the 3b, depending on your set of assumptions.4b-folding takes a very specific set of assumptions that is rare... V 3-betting at a high frequency, but only jamming premiums. players who 3-bet enough are not likely to be nits when it comes to the jams, imo.i disagree with this part only. if we don't have the pot odds to call against that range, ... See full post

Hey guys thanks for the discussion - this is super helpful Just general reflection on my post yesterday - I think I was pretty tilted tbh after losing 2 BI over spots where I'm just meant to lose my entire stack without massive deviation. I think what Mr. Dude is saying is that yes folding TT might be profitable (provided that villian doesn't do crazy stuff, which is very possible to be untrue), in this specific hand, but if I fold TT every single time, then I will become so easily exploited as villian can just jam so much **** and I will fold everytime. So in a theoretical sense it makes perfect sense that I should be calling. As for the 3bet range, villian actually has a very aggro reg stats with 11-12% 3bet. So 4betting that I think is great. I thought more about it though, when I 4bet him I only had 7% 3bet. So my perceived 4bet range is incredibly strong. I think taken that into consideration, my TT will most likely be a -ev call. But regardless, I do agree with Dude that I simply can't fold this hand. At least I cannot constantly fold this hand and somehow let people know, because that will make me so exploitable.

by The Dude Abides. m (https://www.twoplustwo.com/post?postId=59224620#post59224620)

they do indeed, people at the micros are very random. I think keep it simple, don't overcomplicate things haha.

Thanks bro, I read all your comments and they make perfect sense. Especially the range vs range part, and how folding TT constantly will be a HUGE deviation, never thought of that This time I have no rebuttals for your comments hahaha. 😀

by DeezedFourz m (https://www.twoplustwo.com/post?postId=59221995#post59221995)

In what universe is GG RNC rake 7 bb/100 with a VPIP higher than 20 That's the amount of rake I pay at a site with 3.33 % rake and 5 bb cap, no preflop rake. GG RNC is 5%, 8 bb cap, and raked preflop once there is a 3bet. I'm almost 100% certain it won't be 7 bb/100 at GG even net after getting whatever the **** they call rb, BBJ, and promo EV back. Make it 9 plus and we are cl... See full post

()

() I think H2N is quite accurate with rake

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7u5fowAS... (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7u5fowASN6s) Coinpoker just seems like such a better option now:

By coincidence I watched this exact video yesterday. It does seem like a good option considering where you're based. Perhaps if you were able to consistently put in a lot of volume GG would be a good option, but for low and medium volume grinders the rake really gets you. Personally I don't think I'll ever be a high volume grinder, I like 4k hands a day max usually. I prefer shorter quality sessions with frequent breaks, so GG isn't the place for me.

Day 25:

() Sort of a confidence reboot day at nl10. Great aggression (WWSF 53), terrible discipline that lost me huge pots. I think i will grind nl10 for like 10 buyins and then shottake 2 of them and repeat. So if I hit 1100 I will shot take 50, and then I will start 1050 and once I hit 1150 I will shot take 50 again. Yes coward move, but getting used to 2.5x bet size is just a bit intimidating for me. Plus I want to get used to 3betting wide at BB against later position and see if its profitable. My HH tells me that BTN overfold + underraise massively to BB 3bet, and CO overfolds+underraise by a bit. I guess staying at NL10 for a bit longer could be justified as I've only had a 50k winning streak at NL10. My career win rate is still in the negatives (-0.5bb/100). Yea but definitely do want to shot take still BR: 1069

Day 26:

() Really got the feeling of "I understand it now" at NL10. WWSF 54% which is awesome! BR: 1120

Day 27:

() Just kidding I dont understand it now 😀)). WWSF is good at 52%. Maybe just run bad a bit? maybe i will understand it tomorrow. BR: 1100 Got my soul owned in bomb pot:

()

Day 28:

() Whap Today I felt that tilt actually got into my mind. You are NEVERRRR calling ham with QQ EVERRR again!!!! Lost at least 300bb today because of this single hand BR: 1050

by silentshowdown m (https://www.twoplustwo.com/post?postId=59208481#post59208481)

Can you explain how you use Flopzilla to review hands?

by ildrugo m (https://www.twoplustwo.com/post?postId=59227873#post59227873)

Flopzilla is a poker equity and range analysis tool, similar to Equilab. You manually construct ranges preflop, then refine them postflop based on the action, board texture, and either population tendencies or specific reads on your opponent. For example, against a calling station you would include weak draws, A-highs, and bottom pairs in their continuing range, while against a nit you would use a much tighter, more value-heavy range. This approach used to be called hand-reading practice. Some consider it old-fashioned, but I think it’s still one of the best ways to build strong intuition for ranges and decision-making.

Day 29: Tilt recovery day + weekly recap

() Definitely not the best week lol but I don't hate it. The last two days were rough but figured out what works and doesn't work. One thing I noticed is how much more often I get 4bet once my 3bet reaches 9% - 10%. It feels drastically more than when my 3bet stat shows 7%-8%. Goals for the week of 2.2 [x] 13k/10k hands WWSF 51% (good) [x] 2h/2h study (mainly MDA stuff, messing around) [] 0h/1h reading (did not read lol) Goals for the week of 2.9 [] 10k hands. I will probably stay in NL10 for a couple days because of how bad the previous two days went. This week I will be extremely busy with school, so I can't spend too much time on poker sadly. BR: 1050

It's one month since I started the thread, and I am making progress at the very least I'd say

Day 30:

() Decent day! End the session with KK scooping against AA 😀 BR: 1088

Day 31:

() Whap. Ran bad in the beginning, didn't give up and ran good later. But towards the end I somehow forgot my principle of overfolding to shove and began to bluff catch. Quite tilting to be fair BR: 1055

Hey bro, do you have a discord? I’d love to chat and discuss a few things. I’ve read into your thread and i find it very valuable

Hey bro, do you have a discord? I’d love to chat and discuss a few things. I’ve read into your thread and i find it very valuable

by donthedreamer m (https://www.twoplustwo.com/post?postId=59231221#post59231221)

Hey bro, do you have a discord I'd love to chat and discuss a few things. I've read into your thread and i find it very valuable

I appreciate the support. My discord is zhuzhuzhu

Love to chat

by SilverZZ m (https://www.twoplustwo.com/post?postId=59230907#post59230907)

Day 31: Whap. Ran bad in the beginning, didn't give up and ran good later. But towards the end I somehow forgot my principle of overfolding to shove and began to bluff catch. Quite tilting to be fairBR: 1055... See full post

Cleared my mind for a bit - not a terrible day to be honest. Tried out somethings that seemed to be working, aggression is great WWSF 53%. The bigger pots I lost were mainly due to my misapplication of MDA (in short, shoving is still strong). I was tilting in the morning because I thought how the **** am i making the same mistakes again and again. But not really, it just turned out to be that I misapplied MDA. So I learned quite a lot - making this a valuable day. Aight no more tilt!

Month 2, Day 1:

() Variance is a such a huge thing. Despite playing objectively **** throughout the day (Still bluff catching. I am mainly unhappy about that. Yes you underrepped your hand. But when your villian is bluffing to equilibrium, it all doesn't matter. Yes you have bottom set. But when there are 4 better sets and A5 to make straight and villian shoves 2x pot, you are likely beat), sun was purely shining on me during the night. I was simply clicking buttons, doing this and that, and sets and straights and flushes just get there. I cannot remember the last time I see villian shove all in OTR (around pot size or more) and I click the call button with some sort of uncertainty and winning. Sorry this is horrendous english. All I mean is my bluff catchers (pure calls in GTO land often) are always no good. I have to be more disciplined. Just no good today Good thing I didn't tilt when I was down 4BI in the morning!

BR: 1120

Month 2, Day 2:

() Just an extremely quick session today - so tired from yesterday becasue I was playing until 3 A.M. Ran pretty good again. Just variance man, variance. BR: 1150 Time to shot take again for 2BIs?

Month 2, Day 3:

() Super busy day. Quick session. Definitely shot taking next time I play for 2BI BR: 1166

Month 2, Day 4. End of Week 5.

() Played 30mins of nl25 today, huge up and downs haha. Got shoved on (left himself with 0.2bb and folded to my shove..) after I check back my flush draw and river flush hit by a crazy villian, up 1ish BI, and then preflop AK vs KK then bvb triple barrel bluff shoved into JJ that didn't 4bet me pre and hit a top set. And then just played some good poker and got good flops, ended up 1 BI. Week 5:

()

() That concludes the week very solidly, and love to see how my WWSF this week is at 54! (sacrificing W@SD, of course, but I like it). Goals: [x] 16k/10k hands (the volume always hit lol I just keep playing) Goals for next week: [] 10k hands (next week i think i will be truly busy)

• [] WWSF 52% BR: 1195

Quite discouraging and scaring to be fair, that the one time I go for a triple barrel bluff, villain has that top of the range (which doesn't even exist in theory. def taking notes on his pre action and post timing.) I think I need to attack more snap call timing instead of normal, even a bit long tank call timing.

() Proud to be solver approved btw

()

()

()

Month 2, Day 5:

() Today I ran like an ice cube early on. And at this point I sort of figured out what it feels like to run cold and run hot and what it feels like in between.

() **** like this snatched my soul. I think I should fold this tbh. I knew villian was never bluffing and I'm only calling for a chop. Plus I could totally have KT so villian's mere Tx would probably not shove. And they would not shove mere T because they want to get called, and shoving would isolate them against KT. So I should be able to fold this. And I can. I saw villian's 4% 3bet at that point (only 120hands) and thought he would never have KT 3b from BB. Ugh

() What do we think about this hand? TUrn villian tanks super long before overbetting. River snap overbet shove. We ended the session super lucky with bomb pot villian goes crazy when I hit a full house, and 66 decides to hero call against my triple barrell when river comes K and I shove. I had AA. Anyways we'll try again tmr. Glad that I sticked around for a bit more and didn't exit down $85 haha. Money feels like real money a bit now. BR: 1200 (+ mincash from LB)

Month 2, day 6: Didn't play today. Not sure if I will play tomorrow. Been resting quite badly. Bought a leak plugger to use in accompany with H2N and found out some MASSIVE MASSIVE leak. Super pumped to get those fixed!!!

Month 2, Day 7 Playing in my NL10 playground because I'm sick today and don't want to play nl25 while I'm sick. Trying out some new stuff as well.

() Ran 3 BI below EV. Hopefully we are saving my fortune for nl25~ BR: 1215 (LB + flip)

Great job mate! But why are you thinking about your session by session WWSF that much? Getting fixated to a single stat like that in a vacuum seems kind of counter productive to me, and I'm a pretty significant redliner myself. Even GTO vs GTO WWSF is lower than 50 due to not all spots being heads up post flop, and as far as I know, the vast majority of significant winners are losing red liners at most stakes. Also there are many ways to increase your WWSF if you think that's necessary. One of them is to reduce your VPIP and therefore on average see flops with a stronger range, not really that much need to sabre rattle more post flop. Not saying it's not good to fight for even the smallest pots more, but I think doing that to chase some stat goals can quickly become kinda dicey.

by DeezedFourz m (https://www.twoplustwo.com/post?postId=59237026#post59237026)

Great job mate! But why are you thinking about your session by session WWSF that much Getting fixated to a single stat like that in a vacuum seems kind of counter productive to me, and I'm a pretty significant redliner myself. Even GTO vs GTO WWSF is lower than 50 due to not all spots being heads up post flop, and as far as I know, the vast majority of significant winners are l... See full post

Thanks for the support and the comment! Also your own challenge is so sick and you are doing such an insane job. Yea you are making perfect sense. I am a naturally more timid player and afraid to pull big bluffs. I am paying attention to WWSF to keep my aggression at a decent level, and I do think that fighting fore many many small pots and keeping that WWSF high is the key to crushing microstakes. It's like a baseline that tells me whether I'm playing really **** or fine, and it's just a remindar for me to be aggressive at least in those smaller pots. I have a tendency to underbluff river so much in 3bp though. Guess that's why my redline keeps tanking despite decent WWSF

() You just gave me a throwback to when I first started to play nl10. I posted here fore the first time because I was a sad -5bb/100 player. Here is also when I found the beauty of the community as I received some fantastic advice. The most notable one was to increase the aggression in small pots.

() My current WWSF is exactly at 51% hahah He does also echo your point by reminding me not to focus too much on stats alone.

by SilverZZ m (https://www.twoplustwo.com/post?postId=59237049#post59237049)

Thanks for the support and the comment! Also your own challenge is so sick and you are doing such an insane job. Yea you are making perfect sense. I am a naturally more timid player and afraid to pull big bluffs. I am paying attention to WWSF to keep my aggression at a decent level, and I do think that fighting fore many many small pots and keeping that WWSF high is the key to ... See full post

Well if that helps you improve then for sure why not. Which ever way makes you play better, I personally just listen to death metal when I play 😃, and I don't really even like metal that much. My WWSF has been a bit less than 50 for quite some time, and don't think it's a problem and honestly don't really care anymore. There are people who obliterate any stake bw 5NL and 200NL with a WWSF lower than 45. But yeah we might come from different mindsets. For me, controlling my I guess natural over aggression better was the key, for some others the aggression might be the thing that needs to be learned. 😀

by DeezedFourz m (https://www.twoplustwo.com/post?postId=59237749#post59237749)

Well if that helps you improve then for sure why not. Which ever way makes you play better, I personally just listen to death metal when I play 😃, and I don't really even like metal that much.My WWSF has been a bit less than 50 for quite some time, and don't think it's a problem and honestly don't really care anymore. There are people who obliterate any stake bw 5NL and 200NL ... See full post

Hhahaha i listen to house music when I grind and likewise, those would usually not appear in my playlist. And you are totally right.

Month 2, Day 8 I am having a fever today, and my fever dream yesterday night and this morning has been grinding nl25. I felt like I played for the entire night straight. And looking at poker makes me sort of nauseous today. I played for like 20 minutes today and ended up breakeven cause my stupid ass is not locked in. However..

() We got a share of BBJ! Ive never been a part of it for my >400k hands, and it seems pretty sick hahaha. Don't what whether im running above or below ev on this one, but always nice to get free money. 2 free BI for Nl25!! BR: 1280

Skipped Month 2, Day 9 due to fever. I was like a vampire for the past two days. Month 2, Day 10

() Extremely short session. Just won a flip and hit flushes. Stopped because it was 3 P.M and there's less fish and my ass is too scared to play nl25 regs lol. BR: 1328

Skipped Month 2, Day 11 due to fatigue. End of a eventless week 6 apart from the BBJ sidepot

() Obviously didn't hit the hands target cause i skipped 4 days. Ok i will actually be incredibly busy next week so lets hope i can get some hands in. Will skip the goals this week.

Month 2, Day 12: Not very eventful. Ran a bit below ev but not a very great day overall. Fine though.

() BR: 1328 (some RB)

Are you playing on GG 6max reg tables? Gl mate

by blazar m (https://www.twoplustwo.com/post?postId=59241530#post59241530)

Are you playing on GG 6max reg tables? Gl mate

I'm mainly playing GG RNC. Thanks!

Month 2, Day 17: Sat out a couple days due to school stuff. I deposited 520 for coinpoker as they are about to have rakeless march. I will separate GG BR and Coin BR from now.

GG BR: 1347 Coin BR: 571

Coinpoker doesn't have hand history it seems. Seems like I need to send them a text to receive my HHs. Haha hope they will get better with the March update.

Month 2, Day 18 Huge day up 5 BI on coin 😀) People shoving 45o is definitely something that you don't see on RNC 😀)) GG BR: 1347 Coin BR: 697

Month 2, Day 23: I played a couple days, where I ran super hot in the first couple and played awful the next couple. I'm flatting hella due to 100% rb, resulting in my VPIP being 35. I think because this, I get marked as whale, and my super polarized bluff in 3bp when villian is capped just gets called down so lightly. I punted many BI due to this in the last two sessions. Also having trouble playing OOP against IP flatter, which is super frequent now. Also delay line doesn't work well at all for the same reason. Also I tried 9 tables and I miss sooooo many things including not seeing villian open already -> minclick pre, or donk bet because forgetting I flatted. 100% rakeback be saving my ass rn. Aleady gained like 10bi in RB already. Without that I'm literally breakeven the past couple days lol. GG BR: 1347 Coin BR: 997

Also I was able to get away from 3bp caller from GG constantly because the high rake structure encourages 4b/fold in a lot of scenarios, combined with normal sizing + under 3bettors, I get to overfold a lot preflop. So i don't have much experience in 3bp being the caller On Coin, the average 3 bet frequency of regs is actually close to GTO (10.5, 11.5 ish), but they tend to use a smaller sizing (in ante games, gto suggests 9bb from IP (which is like 4- 4.5 x)where people mostly use 3x. And the fact that it is 100 rb makes me call so much pre. But because I have so little experience, I just feel extremely uncomfortable. So I need to work on that.

Month 2, Day 24 Not going to play today, which feels terrible because it's sunday and it's still within the 100% rb. I'm not feeling too well from the couple sessions before, and i'm taking a break today. ps: i didn't notice a traffic increase during the weekends tbh. probably mean there's so many regs and not many recs? haha GG BR: 1347 Coin BR: 1047 (+RB from yesterday) Still the single biggest win week since I started to play (despite playing quite ****. All due to the rb!)

Month 2, Day 25 Yurrrrr up 4bi pre rb. Mainly played bomb pot because ante table is really all regs (like not exaggerating, i opened all the tables and there would only be so few people with weird preflop. and half of them are like that because they do 1v1) that i've tagged to have normal preflop stats. bomb pot however has rec way more often 😀)). Don't know any bombpot strategy, probably should think about that. GG BR: 1347 Coin BR: 1147

Month 2, Day 26: Yurrrrr extremely deprived of sleep so only played 20 minutes but up 2bi!! I am running gooood! GG BR: 1347 Coin BR: 1230 (+40 from rb yesterday)

Month 2, Day 27: Yurrrrr solid session again. Probably lost too much overbluffing against 5 people by overbetting in bombpot lol. Need to adjust my bomb pot strategy. Honestly clueless. Also overplayed a two pair and skrrrtttt 130bb byebye! GG BR: 1347 Coin BR: 1305 (+7 rb)

Month 2, Day 28: Whap Whap not solid session. Lost 2 buyin, including one JJJTx board and villian SRP donk shove 4x pot. I didn't think too much before calling AA. Realistically, should've folded. Rakeback gets us breakeven though. I feel hella insecure and the feeling of "im due to lose" after playing good sessions. Now I feel good for some reason. This gotta be a mental leak GG BR: 1347 Coin BR: 1292 (added yesterday RB, didn't add today RB)

I haven't reviewed my game for so long since playing coin. One part of the reason is i've been winning overall, but also because coin just don't have a convenient way of reviewing hands. Fahhhh

Month 2, Day 29 Whoops Tragic Day -5bi biggest losing session ive played ever -125$ haha kind of run bad, including a 150bb AA postflop, river jammed against villain's flopped set K. -150bb 3bp x-jammed AKw/ backdoor flush on an all-low board, seeing villain stab b50 OTF. Thought it was a weird sizing because in theory it doesn't exist, but meh that only means they are stronger. This one is punt. -100bb 345 flop one dude donk, another dude raise, I jammed top set -100bb. I guess this is fine. Ran into flopped straight. One hand K23 3bp I 3bet K5s BB vs BTN, got raised by IP villian OTF, called with, turn is 6 brought me flush draw. Villian bets small I had to call. River 40bb left he jammed I sadly called. Should've folded river there despite the odds. Just no bluff at that point. Showed 45. Flop read was right that it was bull ****, maybe should've clicked it back. -100bb GG BR: 1347 Coin BR: 1248 (+25 rb from today yes I have to add it in to save my broken heart and make the number look somewhat better heehee)

Month 2, Day 30. Mental Health day from big loss yesterday Studies some since a long time. Also came up with precautionary procedure of terrible session due to lack of sleep. I usually do at least 8 reg tables. Now I will follow strictly that if I lack sleep, max table = 6. GG BR: 1347 Coin: 1248

Actually Coin BR 1235. let my friend to play nl10 for a bit, didnt end well

Ughhhh Coin BR 1196 post rakeback running bad... Dude i can't even have access to stupid ass HH and review! Tilt

Month 2, Day 31. Slack day because yesterday I decided to play in the night and not go to sleep and today I feel like a pig. End of Month 2! Well this month I am not too happy with, to be honest. I didn't play as much as I wanted but honestly I shouldn't blame myself too much I was sick for couple days, spent many days traveling, school work was on my ass as well. I got my GG BR from 1050 to 1347 and Coin BR from 530 to 1196. By results, it's actually quite good, compared to the first month, it was GG BR 600 -> 1050. But so much of coin's br is from rakeback, and I am only slightly winning a bit more than breakeven after 15k hands on Coin. The results of the last couple days pretty much tanked all of my win rate. I guess i should look at it more positively: it's my first shot at nl25, and im still getting used to reg tables, figuring out how many tables I can play under what condition etc. Let's get back to it tomorrow, hopefully! I am on spring break, visiting a friend, so I'm not living according to my normal lifestyle. So we'll see haha. GG BR: 1347 Coin BR: 1196

Month 3, Day 1 Got Butchered Again :( GG BR: 1335 (played some PLO yesterday night with friend lol) Coin BR: 1111

Putting a pause at month 3 day 1 as I need to find an internship. Can't play happily with too much stuff bothering me.

Yea I lied I still played some hands during the past month. This would be Month 4, Day 5? GG at 1800 and Coin at 1400 right now after running insanely hot for the past couple days. I do have a close to breakeven win rate, so my math isn't really mathing where the money came from. Might be rolled for nl50 soon? Will probably spend some more time to ensure I'm beating the stakes GG BR: 1800 Coin BR: 1400

Month 4, Day 13: GG BR: 1800 Coin BR: 1797

Month 4, Day 15: GG BR: 1800 Coin BR: 2128 Shot taking nl50 and mixing limits soon!

by SilverZZ m (https://www.twoplustwo.com/post?postId=59203770#post59203770)

Sad day 1, but hopefully we'll recover. BR: 562

Progress eh? 😀

Month 4, Day 19: GG BR: 1845 Coin BR: 2330

Month 4, Day 25 GG BR: 1972 Coin BR: 2310 Travelling and on vacation these days ~

Month 5, Day 7 Pretty much didn't touch poker while I was back home during summer break. Now im back and the game feels so fun still Just gonna arbitrarily name this time Month 5, Day 7, feels appropriate enough.

() First shot take at nl50 rnc, mixing with 25z when i feel like I just want to chill. Turns out my 50z results has been way better than my 25z this past week. Partially could be lack of focus. GG BR: 2593 Coin BR: 2218

GG BR: 2625 (rakeback) Coin BR: 2218

Month 5 Day 9 Two days of close to breaking even at 50z and 25z. GG BR: 2655 Coin BR: 2218

Month 5, Day 11

() Huge day for the BR... hitting the Jackpot feels so unreal... 0% equity on the turn to hitting that one ace... Will keep playing same stake until my GG BR gets to the required BIs i needed, not counting the BBJ GG BR: 5958 Coin BR: 2218

love to see it mate, congrats!

Month 5, Day 14 Mid Week in terms of performance, excluding the BBJ.

() e...] GG BR: 6270 Coin BR: 2222

by shanefez1992 m (https://www.twoplustwo.com/post?postId=59401701#post59401701)

love to see it mate, congrats!

Thank you!

Month 5, Day 21

() Definitely the hardest week results-wise ever since I started playing poker - was down $1k at one point. It was partially running quite bad and partially just playing really bad after getting tilted. I think though, I learned so much this week, as the results made me reflect upon myself, my game plan, and the importance of discipline. GG BR: 6003 Coin BR: 2222

Plus, will begin to study starting tomorrow!

Month 5, Day 28 Pretty solid week, started to play 6 rnc tables at a time, 4 of 50z and 2 of 25z. I really like the pace Ran really good, up $200 comparing to EV. Bless

() GG BR: 6930 Coin BR: 2222

Month 6, Day 1 Decided that today was gonna be the last day before shot taking, and boy we ran incredibly hot to win 6.5 bi in slightly over one hour

() Shot take for nl100 begins tmr, and I will use this strategy: I give myself 2bi to lose, and once I hit that, I go back down and grind back 3bi for nl100. GG BR: 7390 Coin BR: 2222

The above screenshot is full nl50, slightly under 100k hands

Month 6, Day 4 End of this week, with me just running very, very hot. The ev line tells you a different story but im just running bad when i go non-river all in. The amount of times that I just bink was incredible. The volume was bad this week as we are having a break in school, and I am hanging with my friends a lot. Started building the habit of no phone/scrolling during the session Had one session in 100z where I did quite decent. The pool seems very similar to nl50, though I am not sure because I only played one session Results for the week:

() e...] GG BR: 7938 Coin BR: 2222 This brings us over $10K in BR! (before counting for investments, heehee)

Woke up in the middle of night, decided to play some coin to finish the week. Pool a lot stickier GG BR: 7938 Coin BR: 2449

Month 6, Day 10 First few sessions in 100z is just the hottest run ever in my life. I would just end the session at 1 hour because I was sunrunning and I wanted to save my winnings. Super bad, this is a form of winner's tilt, and I don't know how to overcome it. When I am breakeven/losing I can play for 10 hours sessions, but when I am winning I just want to stop As a result volume this week is horrible, with the highest win-rate I've ever had. Today I can't play anymore and I will probably also not play tomorrow due to the drinking tonight that will happen. Also had a coin nl50 session where I decided to 14-tables and lost $600 in NL50 in 2 hours haha.

() GG BR: 9608 Coin BR: 2075

Image is nl100 shot-taking so far. Sun run, sun run.