Alucard's Cash Journal - 2NL to 5NL

  • Thread starter Thread starter Alucard
  • Start date Start date
Alucard said:
good fold?

PokerStars - $0.05 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4: http://www.pokertracker.com

UTG: 104.2 BB (VPIP: 18.75, PFR: 12.50, 3Bet Preflop: 13.33, Hands: 65)
MP: 100 BB (VPIP: 0.00, PFR: 0.00, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 25)
CO: 215.6 BB (VPIP: 27.72, PFR: 11.88, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 107)
Hero (BTN): 105 BB
SB: 157.6 BB (VPIP: 28.42, PFR: 22.11, 3Bet Preflop: 5.56, Hands: 98)
BB: 101.4 BB (VPIP: 26.00, PFR: 21.00, 3Bet Preflop: 2.44, Hands: 102)

SB posts SB 0.4 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.4 BB) Hero has Qs Ah
UTG raises to 3.4 BB, fold, fold, Hero calls 3.4 BB, SB calls 3 BB, fold

Flop : (11.2 BB, 3 players) As 2c Ts
SB checks, UTG checks, Hero bets 7 BB, SB raises to 20 BB, fold, fold

SB wins 24.2 BB
Click to expand...
What's his AF and flop Cbet rate?
 
Sorry if I was being rude rational. I didn't want to get anymore bullshit in my head that time.
I'm not chasing rakeback even though I easily gets it now.
But I'm done with your PS crap. I don't hate PS, I really like their tourneys. They give the best value per buyins.
But they've beenruining the game with their new crap & I've no reason to favour them.
Partypoker is a site where I enjoy playing due to the player field+ rewards etc. Their software is nice as well for me. And they've been increasing the value of the MTTs as well.
I'd rather play cash anywhere else than PS tbh. I'd be an idiot to only play at PS where I can earn more money + rewards in some other site. Do not argue about this again because I'm fed up of this nonsense.
It's you who cannot see the reality for what it is. You are highly delusional & ignorant it's not worth the time.
 
Update - Got back up to winning 5NL again. You'd be surprised the amount of fish during midnight to 6-7AM in the morning.
But I got tilted (again) and lost some buyins so the win rate wasn't that good.

Overall progress so far at 5NL. Most of the big drops are due to tilt/frustration.

RG3ENbp.png


Avi gave me a copy of the Mental game of poker. Will invest some time to it. The last 3 days have been really hard.
Expectations have crashed almost beyond recovery. But winning some money her n there is a good sign. Will take a bit of a break today.
 
Its the time of the day (night actually) when when we're off work/drunk. Lots of european recs probably.
 
Tight fold??? My intention was to trap him but should I lead the river?

PokerStars - $0.05 NL FAST (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4: http://www.pokertracker.com

BTN: 100 BB (VPIP: 17.65, PFR: 11.76, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 17)
SB: 97.4 BB (VPIP: 11.11, PFR: 0.00, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 10)
Hero (BB): 325.2 BB
UTG: 52.4 BB (VPIP: 20.00, PFR: 0.00, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 5)
MP: 165.4 BB (VPIP: 33.33, PFR: 29.17, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 24)
CO: 80 BB

SB posts SB 0.4 BB, Hero posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.4 BB) Hero has 9c Jc
fold, fold, CO raises to 3.4 BB, fold, fold, Hero calls 2.4 BB

Flop : (7.2 BB, 2 players) 7c 7h 3s
Hero checks, CO checks

Turn : (7.2 BB, 2 players) 8d
Hero checks, CO bets 2 BB, Hero calls 2 BB

River : (11.2 BB, 2 players) Tc
Hero checks, CO bets 7 BB, Hero raises to 25 BB, CO raises to 74.6 BB and is all-in, fold

CO wins 58.6 BB
 
That is a weird hand, without his stats I'm struggling to range him. The checked flop suggests one of two things, either he's very strong and wants you to catch up some or he's weak. I would expect medium strength hands like 55 66 88 99 TT JJ to bet the flop to prevent giving overcards a free shot at outdrawing.
His stack size suggests he's fishy so he really could have anything and be slowplaying trying to get you to bet. The small turn bet does look like he's trying to appear weak and trying to induce a raise. Id be inclinded to put him on 7x AA KK and maybe QQ. But I Don't think AA KK QQ shove over your check raise range on the river.
So what are his likely 7x. He could have A7 K7 67 78 79 7T maybe 96 J9. All of these hands are probably happy to gii on the end. Lets face it he's not putting you on an unlikely straight just like we dont think he has one.
Its close, so this is where you need the stats to judge just how much of a fish he is. We need to make the judgement on calling as to how likely he is to over value trip 7s and how aggressive he is generally.
 
V value betting on river or bluffing???

PokerStars - $0.05 NL FAST (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4: http://www.pokertracker.com

BTN: 96.6 BB (VPIP: 14.29, PFR: 14.29, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 16)
Hero (SB): 165 BB
BB: 131 BB (VPIP: 18.18, PFR: 13.64, 3Bet Preflop: 12.50, Hands: 22)
UTG: 100 BB (VPIP: 22.73, PFR: 18.18, 3Bet Preflop: 10.00, Hands: 22)
MP: 177 BB (VPIP: 66.67, PFR: 0.00, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 3)
CO: 73.8 BB (VPIP: 0.00, PFR: 0.00, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 5)

Hero posts SB 0.4 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.4 BB) Hero has 5h 5d
fold, fold, fold, BTN raises to 2.4 BB, Hero raises to 10 BB, fold, BTN calls 7.6 BB

Flop : (21 BB, 2 players) Jd 8h Js
Hero bets 13 BB, BTN calls 13 BB

Turn : (47 BB, 2 players) Qc
Hero checks, BTN checks

River : (47 BB, 2 players) Tc
Hero checks, BTN bets 8 BB, fold

BTN wins 45 BB

Slow playing aces ftw! the raise might seem a bit too small. Never thought he's have aces. 7x likely.

PokerStars - $0.05 NL FAST (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4: http://www.pokertracker.com

Hero (BTN): 218.6 BB
SB: 115 BB (VPIP: 16.80, PFR: 15.20, 3Bet Preflop: 11.32, Hands: 129)
BB: 109.6 BB (VPIP: 23.08, PFR: 15.38, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 14)
UTG: 61.8 BB (VPIP: 9.09, PFR: 0.00, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 34)
MP: 196.8 BB (VPIP: 22.22, PFR: 15.56, 3Bet Preflop: 10.53, Hands: 46)
CO: 115 BB (VPIP: 22.22, PFR: 18.18, 3Bet Preflop: 19.05, Hands: 45)

SB posts SB 0.4 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.4 BB) Hero has 8h 8c
fold, fold, CO raises to 2.4 BB, Hero calls 2.4 BB, fold, fold

Flop : (6.2 BB, 2 players) Kc 7s 3c
CO checks, Hero bets 4 BB, CO calls 4 BB

Turn : (14.2 BB, 2 players) 7d
CO checks, Hero checks

River : (14.2 BB, 2 players) 8d
CO bets 11 BB, Hero raises to 26 BB, CO calls 15 BB

Hero shows 8h 8c (Full House, Eights full of Sevens)
(Pre 19%, Flop 8%, Turn 5%)

CO mucks Ah Ac (Two Pair, Aces and Sevens)
(Pre 81%, Flop 92%, Turn 95%)

Hero wins 63.4 BB

Update - I've considered going back to 2NL atm at party poker. Yesterday I was card dead the entire session & lost 1.5buyins with very smallish pots it was so annoying.
The reason is I want to get up to around $120 before becoming a regular 5NLer. Will think about it. But I hate playing 2NL so will think about it
But I'm playing much better without tilting now.
Doing a lot of meditation

And running well on both zoom/normal tables at PS although very hard to do bum hunting at regular tables

Today's session afternoon session

dMVXcYA.png


I've dialled down the aggression from the blinds considerably as per Figaroo's advice. Won't flat from the SB of course. So I've tighten up my range pretty much. Today even folded AJs from SB against UTG open & CO limp call.
From the BB I'm taking more flops than usual against BTN & CO instead of 3betting.
I think BTN, CO Vpip should ave increased as well.

position-wise stats from today's session

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B6yMSY4ZJFLsRldwSm4tRkxQQ0U

PS roll - $208.06
Glad to see it got back up after going down to 170s 2 days ago.

Party roll - $106.37
Couldn't catch any good fish in the morning session. Back to 2NL perhaps??

I'm changing my time schedule a bit. Since I've been grinding hard late nights, I rarely wake up early. I want to change this but do want to get to the tables late night/morning.

So I'm changing my sleep from 6PM to 12AM from next week onward. 😀
Will take some time to get used to it but it's for the best to get most of the work done.
 
5-5 hand:


I think we should just flat pre, not 3b. We are bloating pot, and 5-5 doesn't flop well.

As for bluffing or value betting, 9-10 got there. Q-10 got there. A-K got there. He might be betting small because the board is so gross, he is just trying to get thin value. I dunno. I wouldn't call, but I guess once in a blue moon he shows up with some weird shit.


In my opinion, flat pre. C/F flop. Next hand. I know many of you online players are concerned about stats in SB and etc. I just call, setmine, miss, fold. Next hand. Exploit me for 2.5 BB. Zero shits given. This may not be correct, but that's how I play this hand.


8-8 hand:

I really do like the way you played this hand. You bet flop, for some value from FDs, and a little protection, I don't mind this.

Check back turn, standard. Sets us up for decision on river, if we need to bluff catch or not.


River, he bets, I like your raise size, cause wtf does he even have anyways. It seems like he is just stabbing cause you checked back. Super exotic way for dude to play AA.

Like if we are him, and we have AA, I bet flop, bet turn, and prob check call river. Super strange line he took. Maybe he was going for this line to under rep his hand. Maybe he just has no idea what he is doing and thinks AA is invincible. This hand is strange for sure. Well played man.
 
The reason I'm not flatting 55 is because I've completely stopped flatting from the SB period with the exception of some interesting scenarios.
As you said 55 doesn't flop well. So playing OOP when I could be bluffed 90% of the time isn't the best scenario IMO.
Here the small river bet could be a blocker as well.

That's the case the most of the time playing from SB. So I've stopped flatting totally, gotten a bit tighter & would just 3 bet or fold.

And this is what Upswing poker recommends & John is of the same opinion.

lol on 88. The least expected hand I thought he'd have.


Got back to a 2NL session.
Ran good.

BB/100 - 39.85
Net won - $8.24
 
Alucard said:
The reason I'm not flatting 55 is because I've completely stopped flatting from the SB period with the exception of some interesting scenarios.
As you said 55 doesn't flop well. So playing OOP when I could be bluffed 90% of the time isn't the best scenario IMO.
Here the small river bet could be a blocker as well.

That's the case the most of the time playing from SB. So I've stopped flatting totally, gotten a bit tighter & would just 3 bet or fold.

And this is what Upswing poker recommends & John is of the same opinion.

lol on 88. The least expected hand I thought he'd have.


Got back to a 2NL session.
Ran good.

BB/100 - 39.85
Net won - $8.24
Click to expand...

I respect what John has to say. I would listen to him. But me personally, I just setmine and fold. I am curious to see if the numbers from SB over a decent sample actually improve using this approach, like 3b or folding every time.

This should vary based on reads/tendencies right? Like are we gonna 3b some nit out of the SB when he opens UTG with 5-5, and then get blown off the hand when he 4b us? So, then if the opponent is too tight, we just fold 5-5 because this guy just has us crushed and we can't 3b him?

I think there has to be more to this 3b or fold theory.....


I would like to discuss it, because honestly maybe I can learn something here.
 
And also, what about our opponent adjusting to us, and recognizing that we never flat out of the SB? Wouldn't a skilled player know what you are doing, and just adjust? If a guy is 3b me out of SB all the time, I am flatting with monsters, and let him dust off his stack, or ramming 4b down their throat as well.

I need to read more about this. Give me some link or something please?
 
Not flatting sb is higher level, I assume because it's easy to exploit by 3betting from BB. In micros you can well call with relative wide range mostly. It's not even that common that button opens wide, if they do, they also do lots of agression errors post flop making flatting ok.

Tight tag opens I fold or 3bet (mostly fold) that is common logic, but there is no reason to make rules to stone.

Fish opens from button, 99% flat with small pair. Only reason not to flat is agro BB.

Relative wide range btw is tight.
 
Last edited:
Small pairs in the SB

A couple of years ago in the polished poker thread John encouraged the group to post stats comparing flatting versus 3betting small pairs 22-55 in the blinds.
A few players myself included posted stats. Leakbuster also has a filter that directly compares the the win rates of the two strategies which makes it very simple to compare.
Personally and I think it was the same across the board flatting small pairs in the blinds is a small leak. Whereas when the hands are 3bet overall it was a small win.
When you think about it this is logical. You only flop a set 1 in 8 attempts so when you do flop a set you need to win a minimum of 12bb per set to make it better than folding. Of course most times you are calling a x3 raise and this totals up to an extra 4 or 5 bb per hand depending on SB or BB. Multiply by 8 and you need to win over 30bb per set. I can tell you from experience that doesn't happen. Its difficult to get fully paid from the blinds and most of the time no one has anything that can play back at you. Its reasonably easy to filter for small pairs in the blinds so have a look at how often you managed to stack someone. I guarantee it is a lot less than you think.

So when you 3bet small pairs from the blinds you are going to take it down preflop roughly 60-70% of the time and you are still going to hit your set 1 in 8 and you are more likely to win a full stack in a 3bet pot with a set as your opponents hands are going to be that much stronger when they flat your 3bet.
Just remember you are on a steal so if you get called you should be giving up regularly, if you barrel in 3bet pots it gets very expensive very quickly. You have to pick your barrelling targets very carefully.

Of course as Bean rightly points out you can't do the same thing all the time in poker or you become exploitable, you need to balance in some calling with your 3betting you gotta mix it up bro.
 
OK so I've been struggling with multiway pots, when & when not to cbet in any kind of board, what to do when facing a check riase etc.

example
Here's it's either a complete bluff or has a very strong hand. Some people are wierd. I just saw one player check raising from SB against UTG in a multiwaypot with middle pair of 4s

PokerStars - $0.05 NL FAST (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4: http://www.pokertracker.com

Hero (BTN): 118.2 BB
SB: 155.2 BB
BB: 116.2 BB (VPIP: 25.00, PFR: 25.00, 3Bet Preflop: 25.00, Hands: 5)
UTG: 76 BB (VPIP: 60.00, PFR: 20.00, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 5)
MP: 170.4 BB (VPIP: 0.00, PFR: 0.00, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 3)
CO: 236.8 BB (VPIP: 11.11, PFR: 11.11, 3Bet Preflop: 25.00, Hands: 9)

SB posts SB 0.4 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.4 BB) Hero has 5c 5d
fold, MP raises to 3 BB, fold, Hero calls 3 BB, fold, BB calls 2 BB

Flop : (9.4 BB, 3 players) 3h 2d Jd
BB checks, MP checks, Hero bets 5 BB, fold, MP raises to 14.6 BB, fold

MP wins 18.6 BB


And what do you think of this play??

PokerStars - $0.05 NL FAST (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4: http://www.pokertracker.com

BTN: 109.6 BB (VPIP: 7.69, PFR: 7.69, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 14)
Hero (SB): 136.6 BB
BB: 188.2 BB (VPIP: 20.00, PFR: 20.00, 3Bet Preflop: 33.33, Hands: 5)
UTG: 94.2 BB
MP: 105.2 BB (VPIP: 18.18, PFR: 18.18, 3Bet Preflop: 7.69, Hands: 23)
CO: 100 BB (VPIP: 21.05, PFR: 16.19, 3Bet Preflop: 3.26, Hands: 253)

Hero posts SB 0.4 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.4 BB) Hero has Jc Jh
fold, fold, fold, fold, Hero raises to 3 BB, BB raises to 9 BB, Hero raises to 26 BB, BB raises to 188.2 BB and is all-in, Hero calls 110.6 BB and is all-in

Flop : (273.2 BB, 2 players) Ah 2h 5h

Turn : (273.2 BB, 2 players) Jd

River : (273.2 BB, 2 players) 9h

Hero shows Jc Jh (Flush, Ace High)
(Pre 57%, Flop 8%, Turn 82%)

BB shows Ad Kh (Flush, Ace High)
(Pre 43%, Flop 92%, Turn 18%)

BB wins 261.8 BB
 
I agree with your opinion Alucard, after all we have other poker rooms where we can win more, where we have more promotions, crazy is who prefers a room only and ignore other options, good luck on your journey, I hope you really have great results
I'm not the owner of the truth, I usually learn whit everyone so I can be better in my game.
 
Back
Top