5NL Bovada Zoom - Any tips?
11 Replies
You are playing way too nitty. Losing lots and lots of EV preflop. I think your AFq WTSD and WSD stats are high because you just don't get to the flop without a really strong range. You might win some with these stats at 5nl because people are incredibly bad and will make up for all the EV you lose by folding profitable stuff preflop. But your sample is too small to determine if you're a winner or not.
If you want to get better preflop, here is a good resource. I'd say it's best to focus on opening, vs open and vs 3bet charts and then play tighter than suggested vs 4bets and 5bets because that's where the playerpool deviates the most.
Other than that you can post more stats for people to analyze. Something like these, the more the better. Positional stats are also good to analyze:
Hey, thanks for replying. You're right, I am playing nitty. I was under the impression that since the rake at 5NL is higher I should try to minimize how often I see the flop and attempt to take more pots down preflop. I also have a subscription to GTO wizard (ending soon). I have their 50NL RFI ranges down well. Should I loosen up because of the potential of playing pots with recreational players? I'm also thinking of shifting to reg tables because they're better for my win rate.
Hey, thanks for replying. You're right, I am playing nitty. I was under the impression that since the rake at 5NL is higher I should try to minimize how often I see the flop and attempt to take more pots down preflop. I also have a subscription to GTO wizard (ending soon). I have their 50NL RFI ranges down well. Should I loosen up because of the potential of playing pots with recreational players? I'm also thinking of shifting to reg tables because they're better for my win rate.
No worries. You should just follow the opening chart, maybe fold the ones that are mixed opens if you play 5nl and have the 50nl chart, opening them should also be fine if you feel you have an edge over the pool. By looking at your stats you probably aren't even close to playing the 50nl charts. But in general you want to defend a bit wider and also open a bit wider if you know you will be playing against a rec often.
You aren't cbeting flop enough, you could aim for 55% at least. Your range is way too strong which means your turn and river cbet% are huge because it's so value heavy. You are also folding way too much to cbets. What sizings do you use on different flops? Here is some rough guideline on how to defend vs cbets on flops and turns. What kind of hands to call and what makes for good raises etc.
A good rule of thumb for flop cbet bluffs: Bet a lot of hands with backdoor flush and/or straight equity as bluffs. If you don't you just won't have enough bluffs in your range. Cbeting alot is also a very good exploit because people fold way too much, especially vs small bets. So it's hard, especially for you, to cbet too much so it would become unprofitable. Here is a rough guide on bet sizing in single raise pots on different texture, much of it does also apply in 3b pots. It's not that important to be 100% correct on sizing, but it's good to remember roughly what sizings that make sense.
* You don't have to have 100%+ sizings, it's ok to shift those textures to the small bet category. Polarized strategies are hard to navigate in general.
I started tightening up my range because I'm getting into a lot of multiway pots postflop which also makes it difficult to cbet (mainly checking multiway). I've studied a decent amount regarding BB vs BTN SRP. I simplify and use a 33% and 66% bet and some 125% overbets (rarely like on AKx boards). I usually go small on boards where the BB's range becomes more polarized (paired boards / flopped straights / monotone) and larger on boards where the equity distribution is somewhat close but at a lower frequency ( Two tone / mid - low cards) and cbet a high frequency on high card boards in absent of two mid - low cards. I do have trouble postflop more than pre, especially choosing hands to barrel. I try to take blockers consideration. I know I should bet with hands that have backdoor potential (especially to the nuts) and good blockers to villains calling range.
Yeah, a lot of that makes sense. But you still should open and defend wider preflop. And just to give you an example of how tight you are cbeting the flop. TP+ hands usually make up 20-35% of your range OTF (probably even more so with tight preflop ranges), and that is very close to your actual cbet%. You should have more bluffs than valuebets OTF. Some old, outdated and rough advice is 2 bluffs for every 1 valuebet OTF.
Gotcha! Play more hands preflop, especially against fish to maximize EV. Increase my overall aggression on the flop by cbetting more IP and check raising OOP with strong hands and bluffs with high equity and backdoor potential.
Side note:
Do you think RunItOnce Essential ($25 monthly) is good for its value?
Gotcha! Play more hands preflop, especially against fish to maximize EV. Increase my overall aggression on the flop by cbetting more IP and check raising OOP with strong hands and bluffs with high equity and backdoor potential.
Side note:
Do you think RunItOnce Essential ($25 monthly) is good for its value?
Sounds good. And call more OTF especially vs small bets. Your fold vs F cbet is 50%, I think it should be around 40% especially if people often bet small OTF in your games. Since you've been so tight, I think you are on the right path when it feels like you are way too loose with cbets and defends OTF.
I'm not familiar with any paid training sites, so can't really help there. But I think most of the value from paid training sites come from clear step-by-step learning paths (and tools they provide), since most people don't have time or capability to pick the really good free content from the bad. But I'm not sure.
Alright, Sounds good. I'll start implementing this in my next session. I'm also going to to review hands from my database to see where I could have taken a more +EV line.
