NL50, please not to FML!

I'm finally ready to move up to 50NL. Got my 30BI in the roll, worked on my game, polished the luckboxx.

So I'll be posting my progress over here and discussing noticeable hands.


Worst OP ever, huh?

GL sir!

Site? Goals? etc. etc.

Pokerstars.

As for goals, not having to move down due to bad play is a start. Beating the stake for 3ptbb is a nice long term goal.

And ofc, improving, working on the game , yadda yadda

oh hai der.

GL.

what's your SN?

If it's xx'tubbywon'xx I challenge you HU 4 rollz.

I'm newgosam.

Did the guy put some beat on you?

In other news, I've had my first ever winning sesh at 50NL (took some 4 shots before, all ended bad).

4BI in 2K hands let's hope it continues.

also for the lolz factor, this is a FR table breaking down.

$0.25/$0.5 No Limit Holdem
4 players
Converted at weaktight.com

Stacks:
CO Norman79 ($50.00)
BTN Dellex ($39.00)
SB mabedi ($53.65)
BB Hero ($61.65)

Pre-flop: ($0.75, 4 players) Hero is BB
1 fold, Dellex raises to $2, 1 fold, Hero raises to $6, Dellex calls $4

Flop: ($12.25, 2 players)
Hero bets $9, Dellex raises to $18, Hero goes all-in $55.65, Dellex goes all-in $15

Turn: ($100.90, 2 players)

River: ($100.90, 2 players)

Final Pot: $78.25
Dellex shows:
Hero shows:

Hero wins $98.90 ( won +$37.25 )
Dellex lost -$39

Yesterday was a nice sesh. Got "acquainted" with more regs. One of them probably hates my guts by now.

One thing I noticed is that I'm playing much more aggressive at 50NL compared to 25NL, like 14/12 instead of my usual 12/9. It's probably the more generalized nittiness that allows me to.

I got a whole bunch of hands to discuss, so here goes :


Hand 1

This hand just for the history with villain, he is 16/11 4.5% 3b
Apart from VPIP/PFR gap he looked like a fairly good reg to me, plays aggressive.
He stacks off here with QQ+ with a diamond along with flopped flushes.

$0.25/$0.5 No Limit Holdem
9 players
Converted at weaktight.com

Stacks:
UTG Sakh79 ($50.75)
UTG+1 syn87 ($50.00)
MP1 fred_fleck ($62.55)
MP2 Poker Drum ($44.20)
MP3 THe_RedLife ($65.90)
CO Hero ($97.50)
BTN Elbeto87 ($50.00)
SB Reggie999 ($55.85)
BB Th3 ZodiAc ($51.50)

Pre-flop: ($0.75, 9 players) Hero is CO
Sakh79 raises to $1.50, 2 folds, Poker Drum calls $1.50, 1 fold, Hero calls $1.50, 1 fold, Reggie999 calls $1.25, 1 fold

Flop: ($6.50, 4 players)
Reggie999 checks, Sakh79 bets $4.50, 1 fold, Hero raises to $17, Reggie999 folds, Sakh79 raises to $49.25, Hero calls $32.25

Turn: ($105, 2 players)

River: ($105, 2 players)



Hand 2

Same villain, though in a steal situation.

$0.25/$0.5 No Limit Holdem
9 players
Converted at weaktight.com

Stacks:
UTG Th3 ZodiAc ($51.50)
UTG+1 Sakh79 ($50.75)
MP1 syn87 ($50.00)
MP2 fred_fleck ($62.55)
MP3 Poker Drum ($44.20)
CO THe_RedLife ($65.90)
BTN Hero ($50.00)
SB Elbeto87 ($51.85)
BB Reggie999 ($56.35)

Pre-flop: ($0.75, 9 players) Hero is BTN
6 folds, Hero raises to $2, Elbeto87 calls $1.75, 1 fold

Flop: ($4.50, 2 players)
Elbeto87 bets $2.50, Hero calls $2.50

Turn: ($9.50, 2 players)
Elbeto87 checks, Hero bets $6, Elbeto87 raises to $15, Hero raises to $35, Elbeto87 raises to $47.35, Hero calls $10.50

River: ($102.35, 2 players)

I could see him doing a delayed resteal here, donking with most his range because the ace shouldn't hit mine hard. Also his flop bet size is WTF?

We turn two pair, making us ahead of most his TP hands.
when he checks, the turn, I'm weighing his range more towards bluffs/semibluffs. But I'm still totally lost on what to put him on here.

After the check raise, I'm back to putting him on a hand trying to extract {A9+, 44, TT, 99}, maybe some turned combo draw, like QdJd.

This hand just totally lost me. I still don't know if I should have raised or flatted and let him fire again.

Hand 3

And again same villain. I'm wondering here about best line for maximum extraction.

In retrospect, the turn c/shove was bad, it gave villain horrible odds. I think a minraise would have been nice given history. Or maybe call and fire a small value bet on the river, some thing like 12$.

$0.25/$0.5 No Limit Holdem
7 players
Converted at weaktight.com

Stacks:
UTG Reggie999 ($70.50)
UTG+1 Th3 ZodiAc ($76.35)
MP Sakh79 ($50.00)
CO b&mAKQJA ($49.25)
BTN THe_RedLife ($65.65)
SB Hero ($147.50)
BB Elbeto87 ($50.00)

Pre-flop: ($0.75, 7 players) Hero is SB
2 folds, Sakh79 raises to $1.50, 2 folds, Hero calls $1.25, 1 fold

Flop: ($3.50, 2 players)
Hero bets $3, Sakh79 raises to $9.50, Hero calls $6.50

Turn: ($22.50, 2 players)
Hero checks, Sakh79 bets $12, Hero raises to $41.50, Sakh79 folds

Final Pot: $76

Hero wins $73.75 ( won +$21.25 )
Sakh79 lost -$23


Hand 4

Here villain is 15/12 3% 3b over 1.5k hands. Never seen him do anything retarded.

Flop bet is standard and I expect villain to call me with a lot of underpairs. On the turn, I go for a check to be able to extract another bet out TT-JJ on the river. I believe this bet/check/bet line looks like a bluff a lot.

His river shove is WTF? he's repping 77/88/QQ, maybe AQ too.

$0.25/$0.5 No Limit Holdem
9 players
Converted at weaktight.com

Stacks:
UTG TigerDP ($75.40)
UTG+1 Hero ($50.75)
MP1 capaneo ($67.25)
MP2 cee23 ($74.10)
MP3 Elbeto87 ($52.25)
CO Matt242 ($67.70)
BTN MSniper79 ($15.75)
SB gorozito ($50.00)
BB Jompatan ($50.00)

Pre-flop: ($0.75, 9 players) Hero is UTG+1
1 fold, Hero raises to $2, 1 fold, cee23 calls $2, 2 folds, MSniper79 calls $2, 2 folds

Flop: ($6.75, 3 players)
Hero bets $4.50, cee23 calls $4.50, MSniper79 folds

Turn: ($15.75, 2 players)
Hero checks, cee23 checks

River: ($15.75, 2 players)
Hero bets $9, cee23 raises to $67.60, Hero folds

Final Pot: $92.35

cee23 wins $90.70 ( won +$16.60 )
MSniper79 lost -$2
Hero lost -$15.50


Now for the lulz hand of the day :
Villain is the table's drooler

$0.25/$0.5 No Limit Holdem
8 players
Converted at weaktight.com

Stacks:
UTG fer86 ($50.00)
UTG+1 Hero ($61.60)
MP1 Cracy_Iceman ($81.35)
MP2 syn87 ($55.10)
CO Min9 ($63.20)
BTN ffattonyy ($50.30)
SB NOWOW ($56.40)
BB Elbeto87 ($58.45)

Pre-flop: ($0.75, 8 players) Hero is UTG+1
1 fold, Hero raises to $2, Cracy_Iceman calls $2, 3 folds, NOWOW calls $1.75, 1 fold

Flop: ($6.50, 3 players)
NOWOW checks, Hero bets $4.50, Cracy_Iceman raises to $9, NOWOW folds, Hero calls $4.50

Turn: ($24.50, 2 players)
Hero checks, Cracy_Iceman bets $67, Hero calls $50.60

River: ($142.10, 2 players)

Final Pot: $142.10
Hero shows:
Cracy_Iceman shows:

Hero wins $122.70 ( won +$61.10 )
Cracy_Iceman wins $16.40 ( lost -$61.60 )
NOWOW lost -$2

For a while there, I was seeing myself as an "established" reg at 50NL. The BR licked the 2k mark, I was making a steady 3ptbb/100, and all was fine.

Then this little swing happened, and I lost 10BI to be back where I started. Really makes you think.

One thing I realized, and which hurts, is that I'm never making money when the fishes aren't around. I guess I got overconfident and neglected to study reg's play.

Apart from this I did some math on the 3bing ranges of the different villains I encounter, and worked out on my 3bing.
But I'm having some sort of psychological problem with that. I can clearly see that a light 3b is +EV, but I just don't find enough spots when on the table to do it. There's also the fact that the last light 3b attempts backfired, but it's not a reason.

The IRC chan has been very helpful, helping with though spots and highlighting some flaws.

I'll be posting some hands for you to publicly ridicule me later.

Originally Posted by gosam

Apart from this I did some math on the 3bing ranges of the different villains I encounter, and worked out on my 3bing.
But I'm having some sort of psychological problem with that. I can clearly see that a light 3b is +EV, but I just don't find enough spots when on the table to do it. There's also the fact that the last light 3b attempts backfired, but it's not a reason.

I'm not a 3 bet expert and for the most part believe it is an overrated concept that should basically be ignored full ring $2NL through $25NL. However, just thinking about it out loud, I would think the best spots to 3 bet light would be when:

1) You have position
2) You put your opponent on a steal
3) You put your opponent on a small pocket pair or other hand that can't stand a raise
4) You can isolate

The best guys to light threebet all play positional, have a wider range OTB or in the CO. They all have a fold to 3bet in the 75% range or higher and you want to be 3betting hands that aren't good enough to raise/call but can still flop great with blockers vs there possibility of having AA KK and AK, or will flop better on raggy flops like suited gappers.

Lastly, look for those guys that don't fold to 3bets often and cll a ton, but tend to fold to any flop that misses. thses guys are huge for the winrate.

gosam just checking in looks like your working it out. Good luck!

G/L going to $50 NL

H2- Turn is sick. Mostly depends on what you think he stacks off with.

H3- Yea lol minraise.

H4- Bet flop more, bet turn.

GL on the tables. 50NL is really not a difficult game. Learn to 3bet and just focus on ranges and extracting value.

Time to dust this off!

As you notice I took (forced) time off poker for a while. It started with a new job in early Sept '09 which forced me to relocate to Casablanca, the economic capital of the country. I had to commute for a while whole searching for a flat, then I had to wait for the ISP to hook things up, which they did late. Then the internet sucked so bad I couldn't play with getting timed out every other hand.
Around mid February, the connection got a bit better allowing me to play without problems. I grinded some 50k hands of 25NL mainly 14 tabling. But I've decided to switch to 8 tabling to better focus on the game.



Roll is at 1500$, winrate has been a decent 2.2 PTBB. Not great, but enough. Will it be enough for 50NL? I hope so.

Objectives are :
- Clock in 2hrs per day of playing time.
- 2:1 study: play ratio.
- Keep a 2ptbb winrate at least.

I will be mainly 8 tabling which will restrict the amout of hands I put in, but hopefully it'll be offset by a higher winrate.

So GOGOGOGO!

gl sir be sure to play lots of hands with roheni and BigMEarth - this alone is enough to make 3ptbb/100 at 50NL on stars imo.