Graph of 101k Hands of $50 nlhe FR at FTP since Nov 2009

I basically fought the urge to play higher and stuck with this stake since November. It kinda of feels good that I have the discipline to stick with a plan. I give credit to my online alarm clock system and the willingness to just quit when I don't feel like playing my A game. It's still tough to get up when stuck but it's best for my long term edge.

Toward the end of my 100k hand run, I tried Rush Poker and dropped 2 bi at $50 and 2 bi at $100 nlhe FR over 5k hands. Kinda of sucks to drop that cash when I hate Rush Poker. I hate that game, no read and history. I def plan to never play it again for anything significant. I might play it if I feel like messing around but nothing serious.

I also love the fact that FTP increased the min buyin for the regular tables from 20bb to 35bb. It has made a tremendous difference in table selection and dynamics. I'm hoping this will actually increase my win rate because it was tough to extract value from donkeys when short stackers kept shoving over my open raises. The donkey would limp, i iso r and sstacker shoves. They def ruined the game and made everyone's win rate go down.

I probably tilted around 3-5 times during this 100k hand stretch. I notice that I tend to call alot when I'm on tilt and push draws. It's kinda of weird way to tilt because villain's range is already tight and they tend to hero call with medium strength hands or better. If I can turn it down a notch and pick the right spots to semibluff or bet thin for value, it would def increase my win rate.

To tell you the truth, I don't know what I want to do right now. I didn't crush $50 nlhe FR like I wanted to. I played and ran terrible in the beginning but made a nice comeback toward the end. I'll probably just continue to play $50 nlhe FR during the week and play $100 nlhe FR toward the weekends. Once I feel very confident, I'll step it up and play alot of $100 nlhe FR.

Good luck at the Tables

80k hands of $50 nlhe FR and counting

I finally had the urge to move up to play $100 nlhe FR yesterday but I fought that urge when I saw that I had around 80k of $50 nlhe FR hands since November 1st, 2009. I'll stick out the 100k hands at $50 nlhe FR and I'll post my graph when I complete that challenge. Overall, I didn't run so good but I probably only tilted about 2-3 times. Nothing major because I set my online alarm for 1 hour and then check my mental status when it beeps. I've gotten strong enough mentally to go 2-3 hours without tilt now, which is nice.

I've also been watching alot of CR, Leggo, and Bluefire Poker Videos. My favorites are Niman Kenkre, Aejones, Leatherass, Brian Towsend, and Boywonder's videos. Boywonder is a new instructor at Leggopoker and his first video was amazing. I particular like his mental approach to the game. He has a cool thread at 2plus2 where he answers lots of questions about his approach to the game of poker. Check it out if you haven't , u won't be dissapointed.

I've also been analyzing my hand histories. I've been in contact with Damnringer, Peterpjames, and Jason (LuckySOB). I Aimed Jason but somehow he wasn't able to view weaktight. I'll have to resend him those hand history in text form because he's played millions of FR hands. I've also been talking with QQ-Q u a d s-QQ who plays $100 nlhe FR at FTP. He's been crushing it for over a year now and I was able to get in contact with him at 2plus2. He's agreed to coach me even though he has no experience coaching. I've sweated him a few times and I like his game. He does alot of things well and is very confident about his poker game.

As for 2010 goals. I just want to play my A game at all times and eventually just beat $100 nlhe FR. I'm just going to set my goals low and realistic because I want to reach my goal this year. My real longterm goal is to beat $200 nlhe FR. Who knows when that will take place because of my tilt issues.

Good luck

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

I just wanted to wish everyone who reads my blog a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. I've got many things to be happy about and I'm looking forward to 2010.

AlwaysLimp Q/A at CR FR Forum

I wanted to copy/past so i can read at work because CR is blocked.

Alwayslimp,

100bb deep for all situations

1) How do you combat light 3 betters OOP and IP? What variables do you factor in when you decide to call or 4 bet light?

I'm going to give you a short, unsatisfying answer for this one right now since I think it's a tough subject and I want more time to think about it. Basically, if I'm up against a player who 3bets a ton (whether I'm in position or out of position) I just increase my 4bet bluffing frequencies and/or widen my value range for getting all in preflop. When you 4bet bluff you would like to create a good leverage situation for yourself, make sure you don't size it too big. For example say you open to 3bb and your opponent makes it 11bb. You only need to make it 25bb here. You've created a situation where you risk only 25bb but you've force your opponent into a decision for his whole stack. In theory he really can't call here (sometimes they do though which is bad for them) so you lay yourself a nice price since he can only fold or shove. If you make it any more than 25bb in this spot you are just creating more dead money for him to capitalize on if he 5bets.

Some of the variables I consider are my position, my opponents position, the hand I'm holding, what I think their tendencies are, and any dynamic we have. I'll explain all of these in more detail.

Position: I will 4bet bluff more often if I'm opening the button and get 3bet by one of the blinds. I will 4bet bluff slightly less often if I open in the CO and get 3bet by one of the blinds. And the trend continues.

Player tendencies: This is related to position. There are players that like to 3bet a lot in position but do it very rarely oop, and vice versa. You need to determine which type of player you are up against. Some players have a really high 3bet from the button but relatively low from the blinds. Against these guys I would 4bet more as a bluff if they 3bet from the button, but would proceed with more caution if they 3bet oop. If you have HEM you can look at someones 3bet by position to make some assumptions and then look to solidify them as you gain more knowledge.

Hand Selection: I am more likely to 4bet bluff with a hand like Ax or Kx. The reason is card removal. If I assume my opponent is 5betting for value with QQ+,AK, I considerably decrease the number of combinations he has of those hands if I hold one of the A or K.

Dynamic: A lot of players will 3bet with junk hands to create a dynamic with you. Then they tighten up their range when they sense you are ready to play back at them. Then all of a sudden you find yourself getting all in preflop with 88 against their QQ+,AK. This gets easier with some practice and experience but simply put, if it looks like you are ready to play back, don't bluff, wait for a good hand. If it doesn't seem like an obvious spot to play back then your bluffs will gain more credibility. Find out which players fold to a lot of 4bets. Find out which players are capable of 5bet bluffing. This kinda stuff is really hard for me to explain in a paragraph and maybe I'll revisit it later.

One last thing that I'll add is if you are playing 100nl and below, chances are people aren't getting too out of line with 3betting as a bluff. If it seems like you are getting 3bet a ton then it's probably just a variance thing. Some sessions it happens where everytime you raise someone behind you picks up a hand worth 3betting. I would take this rule to heart, generally people are 3betting with tighter ranges than you think. Make sure you don't over adjust as soon as a guy 3bets you a couple times. Trust me I've lost more money in the past two years over adjusting to people 3betting than I have from just folding to a lot of their 3bets, getting it in with a tight range, and occassionally 4bet bluffing.


2) What boards do you like to attack with 2 barrels or 3 barrels IP and OOP?

There are two times where you want to 2barrel. The first is when the board changes in a way that greatly increases your fold equity. The second is when the board changes on the turn to give you more equity. If you get both, well then you have a dream two barrel spot. Examples to follow:

1.) The board changes to give you more fold equity.

These are the obvious spots where you cbet a 725 board and the turn is an A or K (the best) or something like a Q (good). A lot of times your opponent will have a weak peeling range on this flop and you can easily rep the A or K on the turn. They will be put into a tough spot when you fire another bet into them.

2.) The board changes to give you more equity. Think anytime you turn a flush draw, some sort of combo draw, or even as little as a gutshot depending on board texture.

Say you have As5s on a Js4h6d board and the turn is the 3s. This is a great spot for a two barrel. Your pot equity is so high vs. almost any hand that you only need to generate a fold a small percentage of the time to show a profit. Even vs. hand as strong as QQ you have 18 outs.

3.) A combo of 1 and 2

Think something like As2s on 5s8h2dKs board.

You really want to avoid two barreling anytime a turn card comes that coordinates the board more. An example of a board like this might be 8h9h2sJd. The J brings an overcard to the board but it greatly improves your opponents range and gives him more equity he can continue with (lots of pair +draw stuff) or it already got him there (QT).

Against people who peel the flop lightly, like your 60 vpip fish, you might have license to 2barrel the turn relentlessly. There flop calling range is so weak they often don't have enough strength to continue on the turn. Say the board is 42Q. Well it might not seem obvious but against really loose players you may want to 2barrel a J turn. There flop calling range will contain A2-A5, 56, 64, 53, 55-TT, hands like A9,AT,AK, etc. You can get your opponent to fold a lot of these hans on the turn even though the J might not seem like an obvious "scare card". All the better if you have a hand like AT which just picked up more equity.


Good 3barrels are tough. I'll be honest it something I'm still working on myself. I have lost a lot of money in the past running bad 3barrel bluffs. I'll give one example that I think is a good one to 3barrel.

In general, you want to 3barrel boards where your opponents are slightly loose and can have hands that have enough equity two call two streets but can't stand the 3rd barrel. Consider this board. Jh8d7hKc. You have AhQs. Your two barrel in this spot is probably only good if you are commited to betting the river as well. Your opponent is going to have a ton of hands like J9,T8,T7, 69, JT,Q9, weak flush draws, and the list goes on and on. He's going to peel the flop and turn with these hands since they have good enough equity. However, none of them can really call the river (unless he's a very poor player and won't fold a pair). And you can rule out that he has strong hands on this board if he calls twice. The drawy nature of the board would force him to raise sets, two pairs, and straights earlier in the hand. So you see what I'm getting at here? Look for spots where people are going to have a lot of weak pair+draw stuff in their range. If all teh draws brick on the river they are going to be left with a weak pair that can decide to fold or hero call. My guess is that they fold most of the time.

There are definitely a lot more spots you can pull off 3barrels but I'll leave those to someone else out of fear of giving bad information.

3) What's the biggest leak that you find $100 nlhe FR and below make?

I'll focus on mistakes that weak regs tend to make. It's obvious what the fish are doing that is really bad.

You are going to get a lot of players at 100nl that are either doing too little or too much of something. It's your job to find out which side they are on. Some guys fold to 3bets too much, some guys don't fold to 3bets enough. Too much cbetting or too little cbetting. Certain things like that.

Another big one is that people pot control way too much on the turn. They miss out on a ton of value that is there for the taking. I'll give two examples. Say you have KJ on a J65r board and the turn is a Q. This is a bet. Too many people check behind here. It's important for value and for balance. Ideally we'd like to fire this Q as a bluff (as I outlined earlier in this post). So if we check back here when we have KJ but bet it as a bluff we become extremely unbalanced. I can just c/r you everytime you barrel a scare card on the turn and you will always fold. A lot of people would prefer to check this on the turn and bet the river for value. That is wrong. Most weakish villains are still going to peel turn with a lot of hands we beat. By betting the turn we still get value, protect our hand, and balance our range more with bluffs and value hands. The only reason I could see for checking back is if the villain will blindly stab at a lot of rivers and is really prone to bluffing.

A second example is QQ on a T73K board. We need to be betting this again on the turn for the same reasons stated above.


One last leak I'll give is that people often dont' know why they are betting. There are two main reaons you bet; for value and as a bluff. Sometimes I see people make bets that don't fall into either category and it puzzles me. Say I cbet in position against a reg on KT2. They c/c and it goes ck/ck on a 4 turn. The river is a 5 and they lead with T9. What does this bet accomplish? I'm almost never call with worse and I don't fold any better hands here. This is an extreme example and I'm not saying it happens a lot. But, just start thinking about why you are betting. If it's not for value and not for a bluff, then you shouldn't be betting.

There are others. For example, people in general play too straight forward and their ranges are so defined by the time they get to the river. Typing all this out wore me down though so I'll take a break and maybe describe more later

Originally Posted By: never win 05

[quote=AppleSeed]Alwayslimp,


I play around 12/10 -- 14/12 style 3bet is very dependent on my opponents some people i 3bet all day others i can only 3bet them with KK+. Do I have to play more laggy like 20/17 in order to have a 4-6ptbb win rate at 50nl and 100nl or is it mostly just post flop leaks you think?

Well, first I should say that a 2ptbb winrate is not bad. I think more is achieveable at 100nl and below but showing that kind of winrate is still commendable.

I would imagine that most of your leaks are coming post flop. You certainly don't need to have a laggy game to be a big winner. One of the most steady winners at 200nl over the past two years plays a 12/10 style preflop. Sure, you could maybe increase your winrate by playing more pots in position vs. fish and limpers (more isolating) but you want to make sure you don't over do it. It is easy to over adjust and play too many hands. All of a sudden you are playing a ton of hands and getting in marginal spots without the postflop experience to navigate those spots and play them profitably. You could open up a little bit by finding some more spots to play in position vs. bad players but don't go too far. You could probably relax your opening standards a little bit from the CO and button too. Stealing a ton in late position is either going to win you the blinds or get you in a "bread and butter" type situation (where you make the most money playing poker). That is playing raised pots in position vs. bad players with weak ranges.

Keep in mind that small leaks add up post flop. At 100nl the difference between a 2ptbb winner and someone who is crushing (6ptbb) is only 8 dollars every 100 hands. Thats 40 bucks a session if you play 500 hands. Go back and look at your latest session. I'm sure you can find tons of spots where you made a tilty river call or tried to bluff a fish that was never going to fold a pair. Maybe you could have bet sized a little bit better to squeeze out a few extra dollars on the flop, which leads to bigger turn bet sizes, which leads to even bigger river bet sizes. There are so many spots where we all aren't playing optimal. The guys that crush are the ones that are most aware of that and are achieving it the most often. Focus harder when you play, review your sessions afterwards, and you will find that there are a lot of spots where you are giving up a few dollars (or chunks). Cut those out of your game and you will see the WR start to rise.

Also, it is so important to never tilt. Tilting off a 100bb stack is about the most detrimental thing you can do to achieving a high winrate. I can bet that the guys who crush are also the ones that tilt the least amount. Their dollars lost to tilt are lower than the averge reg. That all affects the bottom line.

November Review

I basically broke even after getting rake back and bonuses at $50 nlhe FR. I played a little over 30k hands. I've been experimenting with a wider 3 betting range preflop and expanding my c/r range on the flop and turn. I probably don't double and triple barrel enough when I suspect my opponents are floating or calling down light.

I also bought Tri Nguyen's NLHE Workbook. I read it and I have tried out a few things that worked. It was def interesting to be able to recognize some great bluffing spots on the turn and river. Awesome book, I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to think outside the box.

As for this month, same thing as last month. Just grind a ton of $50 nlhe FR and regain my confidence. I want to beat $100 nlhe FR and go up from there.

Back on the Grind

I'm back on the grind. I plan to play 1 hour per session. I'm using an online alarm clock and setting it at 1 hour. When it beeps, I play until the BB and start sitting out. It will be a great way for me to not tilt and lose 10 bi per session.

I plan to 16 table $50 nlhe FR. I need to refocus and start playing my A game at all times. So far I've played 4 sessions and it has been fun. I haven't said that about poker in a long time. It's actually fun to play poker again. I had to look deep down and figure out why I'm playing this game. I def want this to be a big part of my income so I have to take this game more seriously.

I plan to play 100k hands of $50 nlhe FR and then reevaluate wether to move up to $100 nlhe FR. This will be a test of tilt and discipline. If I can't stick to that plan, I guess I just suck at that part of my game.

Self Ban until Nov 1st

I tilted like a monkey on Oct first after dropping about 13 buyins to the sickest coolers/beats that I could remember. I'm not proud of it and lost close to 2k playing high stakes limit hold em. It's so embarrassing writing about it. I'm just going to think long term and regroup on Nov 1st. I still got close to a 5k roll and I'm going to drop down in November.

I just looked at my long term results and it makes me feel better. I know I'm a small winner overall since I started playing online poker in summer 2005. I'm up a little over 10k (over 400k hands with bonuses/rakeback) but it's nothing to brag about.

I really do think tilt is the biggest edge in this game. I know it too, I love playing against people who are on tilt. Strange thing is, I go on tilt too.

When I come back, I'll probably just play 100 k hands of $50 nlhe FR and get my confidence back and just go from there. I really do think I'll be stuck grinding out low stakes forever until I get my tilt under control.

As for life, I've been working out alot at the local YMCA. Fifteen minutes of cardio and then stretching. Playing pick up basketball and the touch football league. We're getting killed in the football league but it's still fun to compete. I feel alot better physically and mentally. Hopefully, it'll transfer over to my poker game.