No-limit is an art

"Limit poker is a science, but no-limit is an art. In limit, you are shooting at a target. In no-limit, the target comes alive and shoots back at you." - Jack Strauss

Ok instead of posting shit everywhere I'm going to keep it all contained in this thread.

My poker background - I've been playing for about 2 weeks and I usually play the smallest ($1/2) tables on Pokerstars for play money. This is helping me work out how the game works and experiment a bit. In 2 weeks I've gone from $1,000 to over $6,000 from trying to play good hands in good position (I am still learning about position).

I've entered 4 or 5 multitable freeroll tournaments. My first good result was 172nd and won 65 cents. Then last night I finished one in 99th place and collected $1.10. Today I played a lot more aggresively and finished in 20th place and collected $3.50

My long term goal is to make an average of $50 a day.

Once I've gotten up to 10 posts I'll start putting some hands up for evaluation. If I make a stupid play please tell me I've made a stupid play. Call a spade a spade. I'm serious about improving my game and dedicated to learning it.

I've read all the beginners digests in the articles section of the forum but I don't understand everything that was written. So, I'm going to work on 1 or 2 things every day, put them into practice on the felt then reread them and be 100% certain that it makes sense in my own head before I move on to a new concept.

I'm definately not the smartest person around, but I am dedicated to this and I appreciate everyones good advice so far.

I'm going to deposit $100 into Pokerstars this week and start making a go at the 0.1/0.2c tables.

Nice to have you here, good luck!

haha, I had to read that 3 times. He made 5k in two weeks, and now he wants to pwn 1c/2c ...


wut


good luck!

Sorry oskar I should have explained myself better.

If anyone else is confused, $1/2 are the lowest play money tables at Stars, whereas 0.1/0.2c are the lowest real money tables. I didn't want to put any real money down until I start winning reasonably consistently.

Thanks courtiebee!

I just had my first session for real money at microstakes. It took me a while to get past the mental thought of putting up real money, even on a 1/2 cent table. Pretty stupid, right?

I had the idea I'd play with 10% of my bankroll and if I lost that I'd stop for the night.

Anyway I played for about 30 minutes, and ended up just 2 cents down after winning a couple of hands, so I called it quits. I know I need to work my betting strategy first to get maximum profit from other my hands.

Good luck man, hope it goes ok for you. I'm playing 1cent 2 cent aswell so if you ever want talk or anything I'm here :) Just play solid tight poker and you can make money (well has worked so far). Anyway keep this blog going as it is going to help you in the long run.

Thanks, I really appreciate that! I'm sure I'll be taking you up on that as I get further into it.

Ok so now I can post urls (10 posts anniversery) I'd like to put up a couple of tonights hands for analysis.

Normally I wouldn't call with this hand but I was in position where it didn't cost me to check. I figured villan didn't have a 9 or monster hand because of the small size of his bets, and figured he was chasing a straight.

I would generally fold this hand preflop and also would have folded if he'd bet anything significant. Same if he checked raised me on the river. So what obvious mistakes have I made?

$0.01/$0.02 No Limit Holdem
PokerStars
4 Players
Hand Conversion Powered by weaktight.com

Stacks:
CO votrla ($0.98)
BTN SnieRi13 ($4.39)
SB xxxMFBxxx ($4.95)
BB Hero ($1.31)

Pre-Flop: ($0.03, 4 players) Hero is BB :5h: :6c:
1 fold, SnieRi13 calls $0.02, 1 fold, Hero checks

Flop: :2h: :9c: :4d: ($0.05, 2 players)
Hero checks, SnieRi13 bets $0.02, Hero calls $0.02

Turn: :9h: ($0.09, 2 players)
Hero checks, SnieRi13 bets $0.02, Hero calls $0.02

River: :6d: ($0.13, 2 players)
Hero bets $0.10, SnieRi13 calls $0.10

This is the other hand I feel I played a bit retarded. How should I have bet to get more value from it? Because people were just limping I felt pretty safe playing it.

$0.01/$0.02 No Limit Holdem
PokerStars
4 Players
Hand Conversion Powered by weaktight.com

Stacks:
CO Hero ($1.25)
BTN votrla ($0.98)
SB SnieRi13 ($4.43)
BB xxxMFBxxx ($4.97)

Pre-Flop: ($0.03, 4 players) Hero is CO :3d: :ac:
Hero calls $0.02, 1 fold, SnieRi13 calls $0.01, xxxMFBxxx checks

Flop: :3h: :6s: :ts: ($0.06, 3 players)
SnieRi13 checks, xxxMFBxxx checks, Hero bets $0.02, SnieRi13 calls $0.02, xxxMFBxxx folds

Turn: :ad: ($0.10, 2 players)
SnieRi13 checks, Hero bets $0.10, SnieRi13 folds

Final Pot: $0.20

Hero wins $0.20 (net +$0.06)

fold pre.

Alright, so hand 1 is really just ehh. For the most part unless you hit a flop hard in a limped pot you should probably just be content getting to the showdown as cheaply as possible. As played I guess it's okay since you had a gutshot and .02 is basically a check but I think I would have been content to check the river as well.

Hand 2 should be a fold preflop since A3o is just not a very good hand and also limping from the cutoff is pretty bad. There isn't really a way to get more value out of this hand because once again it is a limped pot.

I highly recommend reading a couple articles on starting ranges and position play.

Hand 1. It would have been completely retarded to have called even a 2c bet on the flop, if you had not had a draw to a gutshot straight. Without the gutshot, 6 high is unlikely ever to win the pot and you might not have the best hand even if you hit a 5 or 6. However, as you did have a gutshot draw, your play on the flop and turn might have been OK due to implied odds. ie had a 3 come, if you thought you could have made a lot of money from someone with a 9. Try reading some posts/articles about implied odds.

If you were calling because you thought he had a straight draw, that is retarded. You are losing to every hand possible except 53 and 63. And 53 has 8 outs to beat you. He could have 77 or A4 or even KQ. Nearly his whole range has you crushed.

Hand 2. A3o might look pretty, but it is mostly a poor hand. If you hit a 3, then you generally have third pair top kicker as you did here on the flop. Hitting an Ace is even worse, since at a 9 handed table the chance of someone having a better Ace is 57%. ie better than 50/50. So you will generally either win a small pot because everyone else has nothing, or lose a big one to a bigger Ace when an Ace hits or bigger pair when you hit your 3.

Having said that, A3o is better 4 handed, because the chances of running into a bigger Ace with only 3 opponents drop to 27%. But even then, it is probably better to fold pre flop than get into big trouble post flop, if you don't know what your doing.

As played, I don't like the pre-flop limp. I would have either folded or if the opponents were right (ie tight passive), raised and hoped to steal the blinds. I do like your turn bet. Its a little bit big, but you could have made some good money out of another Ace or Tx.

Yeah I'm annoyed at myself for playing both those hands because I wouldn't normally. Thanks for the advice. I'm having a day off playing today so I'll use it to read up on the concepts you both suggested.

Note to self - don't play retarded starting hands

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by iloveaces

Yeah I'm annoyed at myself for playing both those hands because I wouldn't normally.

---

:D
We really got to work on your thought process there.

well it doesn't take much..

In my tradition of asking the bleeding obvious, can you please take a look at this hand I played tonight? I promise I folded all other bad starting hands unlike previously.

My thoughts regarding how I played it are that I shouldn't have raised 3 x bb with a pair of deuces UTG. As soon as I did it I thought "that was stupid".

When the flop came, everything had me beat. I should have folded here. I just got lucky to get a 3rd 2 on the turn.

Is that right? Any other mistakes?

I haven't had as much time to play/study as I would have liked because of work being busy.

$0.01/$0.02 No Limit Holdem
PokerStars
5 Players
Hand Conversion Powered by weaktight.com

Stacks:
UTG Hero ($1.45)
CO BIVVV ($2.97)
BTN lelei30 ($1.21)
SB marco1909 ($1.24)
BB SandmanJK ($1.03)

Pre-Flop: ($0.03, 5 players) Hero is UTG :2h: :2s:
Hero raises to $0.06, 1 fold, lelei30 calls $0.06, 1 fold, SandmanJK calls $0.04

Flop: :7h: :ks: :qs: ($0.19, 3 players)
SandmanJK checks, Hero checks, lelei30 checks

Turn: :2c: ($0.19, 3 players)
SandmanJK checks, Hero bets $0.06, lelei30 calls $0.06, SandmanJK folds

River: :4d: ($0.31, 2 players)

why haven't you got a full stack?? buy in to $2. If are going to raise pre-flop raise to 4x plus 1 for every limper. so should of been $0.08. I like to raise these pairs UTG, as easy to get money in when hit set on flop, and can get rid i dont or if heads up made a c-bet on most flops. Flop check is fine I think, bet more on the turn as played maybe around $0.15? and make another bet on river close to pot. hope it helped.

Stack size is completely fine. He's out of position against the only one who has him covered.

Preflop is fine - you could raise or fold... prolly doesn't make a huge difference, but you should be able to profitably open any pair 6 handed.
flop check is fine with 3 players.
Bet A LOT more on the turn. So much worse will call. tbh I would bet two or three times the pot... might not be a habit you want to get into early on... but at low stakes players are absolutely terrified of the thought of laying down the best hand. That and it doesn't make a lot of sense that you would play a pair of kings that way.
So bet a lot on the turn and a lot on the river, and you're fine. Whether you stick with about a pot sized bet or overbet - but the smallest I would ever bet there is ~4/5 pot.

Thanks guys, that all makes sense.

Regarding my stack size, my bankroll is only $5.44. I'm playing with money I won on freeroll MTTs and trying to grind up. I've been wanting to put $100 into my account, but my girlfriend is having a small operation this week which I'm paying for (no she's not having her penis removed so no jokes kthx), anyway, I'll keep trying to grind away until I know how much that's going to cost me.

Oskar I found it interesting that you said

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by oskar

you should be able to profitably open any pair 6 handed.

---

In articles I've read on FTR about starting hands, I've read things like

UTG (1st to act preflop)- I typically raise pocket pairs 99 and up (Rentons guide)

and

For these Group 5 hands, I may raise small ($1-$2) only from late position, only against no opposition or very little opposition. In early position, I will limp in with the pocket pairs (Starting Hands Rankings Group 5 Guide)

So, I just want to get this clear in my mind. You are saying it's ok to raise with any pocket pair preflop regardless of position (on a 6 max table)? Or have I completely misunderstood your point?

In other poker news, I found out the Australian Poker League runs a multi tale tournament at the local pub once a week. It's free to play and I wouldn't mind taking part but I'm worried my online microstakes strategy (folding faster than a Chinese woman on laundry day if I don't get a good starting hand) won't translate well into a live game and people might get annoyed if I have a bad run of cards and keep folding every hand.

I think (not positive) that renton's guide is about full ring as opposed to 6max. So thats with 9 players, which I play so I don't really know about 6max opening hands. And ok fair enough with a bankroll that small, not ideal but I started out with $6 so with some luck (like i got :P) some be able to get it to a decent amount. And no i would just go for the poker league, whats the worst that can happen if its free but I would read a couple of articles in MTT section as they are different from cash games, when blinds get high going to push/fold etc. Btw what site do you play on?

no, andy.. it IS ideal. I think it would be a mistake to reload in that spot, and I wouldn't do it either.
Money tends to flow to the players in position. If there are small stacks to your right and big stacks to your left, it is better to buy in with no more than what the biggest stack 3 or so positions to your right has in front of him. Likewise, it is always best to wait for the button to reload if you're going to.

99+ sounds is awfully tight even for 9max, but it's not a big mistake - especially when you're just starting out.
Limping small pocket pairs UTG is not something I would want to do either. It can be profitable - maybe even more profitable than raising in loose weak-passive games, but it can quickly become a costly mistake against players who realize that that's all that you're limping with. And at 6max I would recommend you just don't open limp ever for a start.

Put yourself in the spot of your opponent. He knows you're raising most of the hands you're playing, but about 3.16% (or 42/1326) of the time you're limping - how would you exploit that?

Most of preflop selection comes down to experience. Some situations you can figure out with a little bit of math, but most you can't.
I just did a filter for 22-88 from EP with 5 or 6 players, and I'm showing a ~100bb/100 profit... not a huge sample though.
Most of that comes down to how easy those hands are to play post flop imo.
That and the boards that you hit your set on most often are the ones where a c-bet has the least amount of fold equity.

I understand what you're saying, thanks for the advice. I just find it confusing when I read contradictory information in articles, but I know part of that is because I don't have relevant experience and knowledge to understand everything I'm reading.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by scfc_andy15

Btw what site do you play on?

---

Pokerstars is the only site I'm playing on.

And now for todays stupidity by me

0.01/$0.02 No Limit Holdem
PokerStars
6 Players
Hand Conversion Powered by weaktight.com

Stacks:
UTG PODCOCHuK ($1.08)
UTG+1 exxxe619 ($2.98)
CO Aarotti ($1.87)
BTN Bratwurst25 ($1.19)
SB Hero ($1.55)
BB DV0707 ($0.11)

Pre-Flop: ($0.03, 6 players) Hero is SB :ac: :qc:
PODCOCHuK calls $0.02, exxxe619 calls $0.02, 1 fold, Bratwurst25 calls $0.02, Hero calls $0.01, DV0707 checks

Flop: :2c: :as: :8h: ($0.10, 5 players)
Hero bets $0.10, 1 fold, PODCOCHuK raises to $0.24, 2 folds, Hero calls $0.14

Turn: :5c: ($0.58, 2 players)
Hero bets $0.10, PODCOCHuK goes all-in $0.82, Hero calls $0.72

River: :ad: ($2.22, 2 players, 1 all-in)

Final Pot: $2.22
PODCOCHuK shows a full house, Aces full of Eights
:8s: :ah:
Hero shows three of a kind, Aces
:ac: :qc:

PODCOCHuK wins $2.12 (net +$1.04)

DV0707 lost $0.02
exxxe619 lost $0.02
Bratwurst25 lost $0.02
Hero lost $1.08

I did win back $1.18 a few hands after with 3 x 10s but it hasn't been a good day. My own fault, I've been looking at Nissan Skylines too much and thinking "jeez, I'd really like to buy one of those" instead of studying up on my game

So I got totally sick of my playing style. I was multitabling using aokronglys 19 starting hand chart and not making enough to buy a cheeseburger then I realised I didn't understand anything about the game.

After that lightbulb moment I read Rentons 169 preflop article on this website. One thing that confuses me though is..

http://img710.imageshack.us/img710/6731/61327233.jpg

In the picture above, I'm assuming qwer1456 is on the button (cos thats where the button is..der..) and therefore last to act (preflop..according to Rentons article), but really the players who posted the blinds are last to act. Am I missing something obvious? Have I taken too many blows to the head during my boxing career? I really dont understand this.. or have I got it right? Can someone please clear this up for me?

Preflop the blinds are last to act. Post flop the button is last to act.

Thanks Courtiebee!

Ok so with that in mind, what I don't understand is this part in the guide..

Button (last to act)- The button is obviously where your hand range should be at its widest

Small blind- Be vary wary of playing too many hands from the small blind. Sure it’s only half a bet sometimes, but it’s the worst position at the table to play at.

Big blind- Your raise-calling range and reraising range should be similar to the SB

It seems to contradict itself unless I'm completely misunderstanding it (very possible).

Plus it says the button is the last to act (this is the preflop guide I'm reading). This really confuses me. I understand what you are saying in that the BB is last to act preflop, so why does the guide say otherwise? Sorry if its a stupid question, I really want ot understand these basics things and I don't have anyone else to ask

Because the button is last to act post flop, it is the best position at the table. This means that you want to play more hands from the button since having position gives you an advantage. The small blind has the worst position at the table because after the flop, it must act first every single time. This means you should limit the number of hands you play in the small blind (same with the big blind).

So yes it is a preflop guide, but Renton is basing his hand selection on what will occur post flop. Preflop he wants to play more hands from the button because post flop it is last to act.

I hope this made some sense, It's 4 am here and I have a headache, so I'm sorry if it didn't :P

That makes perfect sense. Thanks for your help and I hope you feel better soon.

Good luck, iloveaces - I'm in a similar position to you, grinding my way up from the microstakes.

I don't know about you, but one of the main downfalls of my game is being too tight. It seems to be an easy trap to fall into and one that takes a considerable amount of effort to climb out of.

I have one question. What does AQo mean? I don't understand the meaning of the little 'o'

Thanks Shifter, good luck to you too. Where do you play?

I know what you mean about being too tight. Using the aok starting hand chart I had the same problem, but after reading Rentons article on preflop play then putting it into practice this morning I noticed the following

- I'm playing a wider range of hands depending on my position at the table and hitting straights more often.

- I'm winning more often (and opponents are folding before a showdown more often)

- The amounts I'm winning are larger. Of course, the amounts I lose are larger too but I'm not losing as often as I was (only lost 1 hand today, AQAA to AKAA) My raising strategy pre-rentons guide allowed too many players to see the flop cheaply.

AQo means offsuit, as in not the same suit. Similarly AQs means suited, as in the same suit.

I'm playing at Full Tilt, though unfortunately not as much as I'd like - things are fairly busy for me at the moment.

I'm gradually ploughing my way through a lot of the theory and math that FTR, Grinderschool and similar online resources provide. Renton's article will be the next stop - thanks!

Dear Pokerstars.com

Lately you have been dealing me terrible starting hands. I mean Q5? 104? What am I supposed to do with that? Why have you been giving me awful starting hands for 2 days straight? Don't you realise my lack of knowledge of poker is enough of a handicap without you giving me these awful starting hands too?

Does someone @ pokerstars.com hate me?

I can play piano very well. If you would quit giving me bad starting hands I would be preapared to play soothing piano music to you over the phone while you go to sleep every day for a year. I can play piano very well and my singing is ok (not great but ok) so I think this is a fair trade. I could even play ne-yo or justin timberlake covers if thats really what you want. This is how desperate I am to fix this problem.

If you could fix this up asap I would appreciate it.
Thanks,

Neil

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hello Neil,

We are sorry to hear you have had a few bad beats recently. We appreciate your offer to play us piano music, and I can assure you that no one hear hates you - we have many piano music fans at PokerStars so that could not be the case!

Please keep in mind that bad beats are a part of poker, and happen to all players, whether they play poker in a casino, at PokerStars or any other online site.

It is important you understand that PokerStars only runs its games by dealing the cards, which we do in a fair and honest manner. Once the deck is shuffled, it is set, and the order in which the cards are dealt cannot be changed. The software that shuffles and deals the cards cannot control who wins and loses. It just deals the cards and the rest is up to the players in the game.

The fact is, our software produces a shuffle that is completely random, which favors no player over any other. The methods we use ensure complete randomization of the cards, and complete unpredictability of the cards to come. You can see the description of these methods at:

http://www.pokerstars.com/poker/room/features/security/

In addition, we analyse hands dealt daily to see if there is any statistically significant variance from expectation.

We even gave the software source code to two independent analysis companies, BMM International and Cigital, who reviewed PokerStars' shuffle and found it to be fair and random. You may read about these analyses at:

http://www.pokerstars.com/poker/rng/

We have dealt over 36 billion hands, and have freely given out individual real money hand histories any time somebody has requested them. Not once has anybody found any indication that our shuffle is not 100% random, and many who have undertaken such studies have posted their findings to the Internet. You can find two of them here:

http://tinyurl.com/4lfeg

http://tinyurl.com/2nvav

We hope this information helps you to understand that PokerStars' games are fair. We value all of our players, and take the integrity of our site very seriously.

Regards,

Joanne

PokerStars Support Team

PokerStars Tournament #227298921,
No Limit Hold'emBuy-In: 10 FPP2813 players
$500.00 USD added to the prize pool by PokerStars
Total Prize Pool: $500.00 USD
Tournament started 2010/01/25 11:40:00 AWST [2010/01/24 22:40:00 ET]

Dear ***********,

You finished the tournament in 175th place. A USD 0.60 award has been credited to your Real Money account.

You earned 24.61 tournament leader points in this tournament. For information about our tournament leader board, see our web site at

http://www.pokerstars.com/poker/tour.../leader-board/

Congratulations!

Thank you for participating

I'm fucking sick of the micros, and almost out of money too. I lost almost my entire bankroll (bar about $1.50) over the last two days from assclowns calling my raises with hands like A4 when I have KK then hitting their cards on the flop.

It's been happening every damn time! I'm following Rentons preflop guide, but I'm still heamorrhaging money every time I play a hand.

()%&$(*%&$(*w&

I've gone from $0, to $13.50, and back down to $1.50 now.

I hate this game.

Heres my BR for this month. I lost more this morning since I did the graph after I raised pf with KK and someone else had 59 and called me and the flop came down 952

http://img402.imageshack.us/img402/8530/bankroll.jpg

Im in cutoff position with AJo, someone in front of me raises 5 x bb. Is it right to fold?

This is the hand below. I folded, but I want to make sure I did the right thing. I went through my hands from when I had that horrible day and lost almost all my BR, and I think most of it is not knowing what to do when I have a strong hand and someone in front of me raises.

$0.01/$0.02 No Limit Holdem
PokerStars
9 Players
Hand Conversion Powered by weaktight.com

Stacks:
UTG mandraxx888 ($1)
UTG+1 molecooola ($2.37)
MP1 imawannabeto ($3.10)
MP2 7Ruthless ($0.97)
MP3 Norwichyub ($1.97)
CO Hero ($1.40)
BTN callbest ($2.66)
SB Eagle727s ($2.09)
BB Ded4EteRNiTy ($0.73)

Pre-Flop: ($0.03, 9 players) Hero is CO :as: :jd:
1 fold, molecooola calls $0.02, imawannabeto calls $0.02, 7Ruthless raises to $0.12, 1 fold, Hero folds, callbest calls $0.12, 2 folds, molecooola folds, imawannabeto folds

Flop: :3d: :ks: :kd: ($0.31, 2 players)
7Ruthless bets $0.06, callbest calls $0.06

Turn: :ah: ($0.43, 2 players)
7Ruthless bets $0.12, callbest folds

Final Pot: $0.55

7Ruthless wins $0.55 (net +$0.25)

molecooola lost $0.02
imawannabeto lost $0.02
callbest lost $0.18

PokerStars Tournament #227298926,
No Limit Hold'emBuy-In: 10 FPP
3866 players
$500.00 USD added to the prize pool by PokerStars
Total Prize Pool: $500.00 USD
Tournament started 2010/01/27 8:40:00 AWST [2010/01/26 19:40:00 ET]

Dear ************,

You finished the tournament in 11th place. A USD 2.75 award has been credited to your Real Money account.

You earned 115.08 tournament leader points in this tournament.

For information about our tournament leader board, see our web site at http://www.pokerstars.com/poker/tour.../leader-board/

Congratulations! Thank you for participating.

January wrap up

So it wasn't a bad first month I think. I didn't deposit any money, but from entering freerolls I won about $13 on pokerstars then lost most of it after not adjusting from MTT tournament play back to ring games.

This month I learnt about starting hand selection, raising your opponent preflop, bankroll management and why position is important. Currently I'm working on putting your opponent on a range, which I'm finding tricky at the micros because people just call you down with any damn cards.

I don't have enough money in my stars account to play ring games anymore so I've moved on to Players Only until I can sort out my Neteller account. They're proving to be a real hassle to deal with though. I sent them copies of my bank statement and drivers licence last week as they requested and I'm still waiting 1 week later to get the ok to transfer money from my bank account.

Players only seems to have an easier level of play than stars at the micros, although the lowest level they offer is 0.02/0.04 NL. The graphics are uglier than my first girlfriend though.

So, not a bad starting month, still getting a grasp on the basics but importantly I can notice improvements. This coming month I want to start playing live games down at the local pub just to mix things up, get my range reading down, get bankrolled properly and get hold of poker tracker 3 or holdem manager and start working with stats.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by iloveaces

The graphics are uglier than my first girlfriend though.

---

lol

What kind of games run at your local pub?

The Australian Poker League run a free NHLE tournament there every Tuesday night and Sunday arvo.

http://www.playapl.com/

Crossed off two of my poker goals today. I got bankrolled properly and I bought the book Harrington on Holdem Vol 1. I'm only a few pages into it though.

So after playing 2NL for about 3 hours, I finished $7 up. I'm happy with that. Someone drew 2 pair to my pocket aces but when I poker stoved it I saw I had 85% (aprox) to win the hand anyway so I still think I played it well.

I am still having a problem trying to put people on ranges. I read the articles in the beginners circle but people at these small stakes will call with Ax offsuite, or any two suited cards. It makes it a little harder to do it with any accuracy.

My first KK vs AA. Did I play this ok?

$0.01/$0.02 No Limit Holdem
PokerStars
9 Players
Hand Conversion Powered by weaktight.com

Stacks:
UTG ElliottMitch ($3.22)
UTG+1 Jullemester ($2.58)
MP1 Hero ($3.98)
MP2 sdrawkc@b$$@ ($4.92)
MP3 jan1331 ($1.27)
CO naBowman ($1.07)
BTN jrust ($3.28)
SB DaStatue ($1.56)
BB stretch1221 ($2.83)

Pre-Flop: ($0.03, 9 players) Hero is MP1 :ks: :kd:
2 folds, Hero raises to $0.08, sdrawkc@b$$@ calls $0.08, 2 folds, jrust raises to $0.20, 2 folds, Hero calls $0.12, sdrawkc@b$$@ calls $0.12

Flop: :3h: :qd: :3s: ($0.63, 3 players)
Hero bets $0.42, sdrawkc@b$$@ folds, jrust calls $0.42

Turn: :9d: ($1.47, 2 players)
Hero goes all-in $3.36, jrust goes all-in $2.66

River: :7d: ($7.49, 2 players, 2 all-in)

Final Pot: $7.49
Hero shows two pair, Kings and Threes
:ks: :kd:
jrust shows two pair, Aces and Threes
:ad: :ac:

jrust wins $6.49 (net +$3.21)

Hero collects $0.70 (net -$3.28)
sdrawkc@b$$@ lost $0.20

Looking back I should have guessed he had aces when he reraised me, but I thought he would have shoved so I guessed he had some broadway pair

Two interesting things happened lately. One is I downloaded Holdem Manager and got the HUD working. I have absolutely no idea what the stats mean right now but I'll look at that over the next few days. I mostly wanted to start logging my hand histories as soon as I could.

The other thing is my playing seems to have improved and some things have finally 'clicked'. I'm getting better at reading peoples hands based on what they went in with previously and their betting patterns on all the streets. I read a lot about value betting and I've started to c-bet sometimes which has won me the pot sometimes when I've flopped air but held position.

I've really been enoying playing the last couple of days, of course winning might be the key to that but I feel at least now I'm playing with some level of intelligence, even if it is only 1 rung off the bottom of the ladder.

the KK hand:

Why are you calling pre instead of raising or folding?
Why did you decide to lead the flop?
Why do you shove the turn for 2x pot instead of betting smaller and shoving on the river, check/calling, or check/raising.

You can just answer those for yourself.

Thanks oskar, I've been thinking about your questions for a couple of days. I can't answer the question about the (lack of a) PF 4bet yet, but I think that will come with more experience and reading.

To be honest I've had a rough couple of days, and I've been spewing a lot of money. Not so much on my main account at stars but still not running so well. I don't know if I should pay some money for one of the websites like grinderschool or get some coaching or w/e. A lot of the things I read just go over my head, even when I read them over and over. FML

Here's my graph from the last 2/3 days. The dip from hands 460-480 is where I went to 5nl just to see what it was like and very quickly realised I don't belong there. Moved back to 2nl and started winning again, then rapidly losing again.

http://img15.imageshack.us/img15/8847/graphament.jpg