$30 to ?????? playing exclusively while at work

Cool idea, good luck! I have spent some time grinding online while at work recently as well.

Still need to work on my game a bunch but I enjoy learning and am good at being critical of myself, so should improve fairly naturally as I go. By far my biggest weakness so far is calling when I suspect I'm beat. Like, thinking "well he probably has it but I need to call just to make sure".

Thing is, I'd rather play more like this at first as it's a lot easier to see that you're making a mistake when you're calling too wide because you get to see villain's hand. Compared to folding too wide, where you don't ever find out whether it was a good fold or not.

So up until now I've been calling too wide but it's helped me confirm that I am in fact, never good in certain spots and need to start folding them. So from now on I'll be better at folding that sort of spot. Here an example of the sort of hand I'm talking about:

PokerStars, Hold'em No Limit - $0.01/$0.02 - 9 players
Hand delivered by Pokeit

UTG (Hero): $2.00 (100 bb)
UTG+1: $2.46 (123 bb)
MP: $2.43 (122 bb)
MP+1: $0.98 (49 bb)
LP: $2.53 (127 bb)
CO: $2.00 (100 bb)
BU: $2.77 (139 bb)
SB: $1.68 (84 bb)
BB: $3.53 (177 bb)

Pre-Flop: ($0.03) Hero is UTG with A♥ A♣
Hero raises to $0.06, 3 players fold, LP calls $0.06, 3 players fold, BB calls $0.04

Flop: ($0.19) 5♥ 2♦ 6♣ (3 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $0.14, LP calls $0.14, BB folds

Turn: ($0.47) 9♠ (2 players)
Hero bets $0.34, LP raises to $2.33 (all-in)

This is just a fold all day every day without any info about opponent and I think now I'm in a position I can let hands like this go.

Thanks! Good luck to you too 😀

By the end of Friday I'd hit €60 and had a couple hours free on Saturday so decided to try some 5nl. Shipped 2 BIs in the first 50 hands but ended up getting a bit of that back and BR currently sits at €53.

I've decided to commit more time to studying than I was originally planning on, and have been trying to fix my preflop game by using GTO Wizard. Turns out I had a number of flaws which I'm now gonna try and fix. Namely the following:

- Playing too many offsuit hands (e.g. opening A9o in early position)
- Playing too few suited hands (e.g. folding K3s even on the button when it folded round to me)
- 3betting nowhere near enough (basically just AQ+, JJ+ and a few suited Ax)
- Flatting pre way too often (e.g. with any PPs, suited connectors regardless of position)

Also moving from FR to 6max purely so there's less spots/ranges to learn. Gonna try 1 tabling 5nl 6max and focus on tightening up and being more aggressive preflop.

Setup for now. Ultrawide monitor coming in clutch! Think I'll just keep playing like this until I've got the preflop ranges nailed, then maybe move onto 2 tables and start studying postflop situations.

Hmmm just reading up on Pokerstars prohibited software page and I think GTO wizard probably falls into the category of "Permitted Tools and Services that are Prohibited While Our Software is Running" even though it's not explicitly mentioned anywhere.

Obviously I'm not using it while playing but quite often what I'll do is sit out after a big hand, plug in the situation, see what I should/could have done, then sit back in and start playing again. I want to make sure I'm not breaking any rules and that seems like it's probably fine to me, but perhaps I should be waiting till after the session to do that kind of analysis?

Well, 5nl has been going well. Still running like god though. BR currently at €105 so just over 11 BIs for 10nl. Time to take a shot!

Lol literally my 6th hand at 10nl. Hopefully my current winrate of -1600 bb/100 will improve. It can't get any worse, right?

PokerStars, Hold'em No Limit - $0.05/$0.10 - 6 players
Hand delivered by Pokeit

UTG (Hero): $10.15 (102 bb)
MP: $10.17 (102 bb)
CO: $10.34 (103 bb)
BU: $11.50 (115 bb)
SB: $10.00 (100 bb)
BB: $11.11 (111 bb)

Pre-Flop: ($0.15) Hero is UTG with Q♠ Q♣
Hero raises to $0.25, 1 fold, CO 3-bets to $0.80, 3 players fold, Hero 4-bets to $2.30, CO 5-bets to $10.34 (all-in), Hero calls $7.85 (all-in)

Flop: ($20.45) 8♥ A♦ J♥ (2 players, 2 all-in)

Turn: ($20.45) K♣ (2 players, 2 all-in)

River: ($20.45) K♠ (2 players, 2 all-in)

Total pot: $20.45 (Rake: $1)

Showdown:
CO shows A♠ A♣ (a full house, Aces full of Kings)
(Equity - Pre-Flop: 82%, Flop: 97%, Turn: 91%, River: 100%)

UTG (Hero) shows Q♠ Q♣ (two pair, Kings and Queens)
(Equity - Pre-Flop: 18%, Flop: 3%, Turn: 9%, River: 0%)

CO wins $19.45

While PS software is running I would not have gtowizard/icmizer/flopzilla/ etc. open.

Some years ago got kicked out from PS with a msg: We know you probably didn't mean it, but you cant have icimizer opened while playing. (forgot to close it before starting to play.

P.S. gl in 10nl shot, one unlucky hand won't stop you!

Okay, thank you! For both the info and the GL 😀

Just found out Hand2Note has a nice feature where you press F5 while playing and it marks the last hand for review. So at the end of the session I can close Pokerstars, fire up GTO wizard and go through all the marked hands to see what solver says.

Well, 10nl shot went well on Thursday/Friday playing while working. I was playing well and running well and by Saturday morning I was up 8 BIs.

Saturday I had the whole day free so started playing but lost a few BIs in quite short succession. All hands I couldn't have done anything about, but it got to me and I felt the need to get more volume in to "help smooth out the variance".

So instead of my usual one or two tabling, I started playing 4 Zoom tables and basically playing on autopilot. Bad decision. Ended up losing several more buy-ins and although I don't think there were any major tilt/spew punts, I definitely wasn't playing anywhere near my A-game. Towards the end of the session I started running better and made a decent chunk back, but I've definitely learnt my lesson and if I ever get the feeling that I need to play more to "beat the variance" or chase losses etc, I just need to take a break.

I really want to take things slowly and be as self-critical as possible, trying to nip any leaks in the bud before they become habits. And that applies to both my poker strategy but also the mental game. So going to go back to 1 tabling and just thinking as much about every possible decision, as well as making sure I'm only playing when I'm in a good state mentally. At this point, improving my game (and mental game) is more important to me than my bankroll as I want to set a good foundation to improve on.

Bankroll currently stands at €160, and here's the lifetime graph to this point:

Since the weird session at the weekend, decided to just not check my graph or bankroll and just play for the sake of learning for now. So no updates on how it's going, but just had this pretty sick hand I wanted to share. Straight flush > kings full feels like something that probably doesn't happen every day 😀

PokerStars Zoom, Hold'em No Limit - $0.05/$0.10 - 6 players
Hand delivered by Pokeit

UTG (Hero): $12.64 (126 bb)
MP: $10.82 (108 bb)
CO: $10.22 (102 bb)
BU: $21.57 (216 bb)
SB: $7.62 (76 bb)
BB: $26.95 (270 bb)

Pre-Flop: ($0.15) Hero is UTG with T♦ J♦
Hero raises to $0.25, 2 players fold, BTN calls $0.25, SB calls $0.20, 1 fold

Flop: ($0.85) Q♠ K♣ Q♦ (3 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $0.50, BTN calls $0.50, SB folds

Turn: ($1.85) 9♦ (2 players)
Hero bets $1.30, BTN calls $1.30

River: ($4.45) K♦ (2 players)
Hero bets $10.59 (all-in), BTN calls $10.59

Total pot: $25.63 (Rake: $1.44)

Showdown:
UTG (Hero) shows T♦ J♦ (a straight flush, King high)
(Equity - Pre-Flop: 32%, Flop: 31%, Turn: 90%, River: 100%)

BU shows T♣ K♥ (a full house, Kings full of Queens)
(Equity - Pre-Flop: 68%, Flop: 69%, Turn: 10%, River: 0%)

UTG (Hero) wins $24.19

Okay, here's the graph after another week or so at 10nl. Way above all-in EV still but definitely been running pretty bad in other ways (hitting the top of ranges etc). So overall probably pretty neutral. Also some bad decision making at some points when playing while frustrated, but that aspect is definitely getting way better. Learning to just quit or take a break when things aren't going well.

HOWEVER, still by far and away my biggest leak is just calling too wide on turns and rivers. Like, being 90% sure I'm beat on the river because I have a bluffcatcher and it's a massively underbluffed spot at 10nl, but calling anyway to just to make sure. Or knowing I don't quite have the pot/implied odds to continue on the turn but just being undisciplined and calling anyway because gambling is fun. I feel like if I cut both of those out of my game then I'd be crushing 10nl. If you remove the 2-3 times per session where I call a 20bb+ river bet even when I know I shouldn't, then that's like 10bb/100 at least onto my winrate.

SO: today is the first day of the rest of my poker career. From now on I'll be disciplined, both in immediately stopping when not 100% at it mentally, and also by just folding when I know folding is the right decision. Am confident that barring running atrociously, I'll be comfortably beating 10nl from now on. Will be back in a couple of weeks with proof 😀

Haha.. yes call all the time for information until you develop the spidey senses.

Then test your spidey sense a couple more times to make sure it works better than "calling with blockers".

Now you have superhero power!

GLGL!

Hahaha yes exactly this. Although, maybe I'll call just a couple more times to make sure I definitely have the superhero power? And a few more times after that? I mean, what use is a superhero power if you aren't even sure it's working!?!?!?

So yeah.. Turns out it's a lot easier to say you're going to be disciplined than to actually be disciplined. I'm still spew calling several times a session. Almost want to start posting the horrible calls here as a reminder of how much money I've thrown away by being undisciplined. Need to hold myself accountable and maybe having a wall of shame of bad calls here will help?!

In fact, yeah I'm just gonna do that. From today's/yesterday's sessions, 2.6k hands in total, and I threw away at least like 3 buyins with stupid unnecessary calldowns. If I'd have just folded when I should have in these hands alone that would be like an additional 15bb/100 onto my winrate.

Pre-Flop: ($0.15) Hero is UTG with T♦ T♣
Hero raises to $0.25, 4 players fold, BB 3-bets to $1.20, Hero calls $0.95

Flop: ($2.45) 3♣ 3♦ 6♦ (2 players)
BB bets $1.17, Hero calls $1.17

Turn: ($4.79) 6♣ (2 players)
BB bets $2.29, Hero calls $2.29

River: ($9.37) 8♣ (2 players)
BB bets $12.96 (all-in), Hero calls $7.14 (all-in)

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

Pre-Flop: ($0.15) Hero is BTN with 7♣ 5♣
UTG raises to $0.30, 1 fold, CO calls $0.30, Hero calls $0.30, 2 players fold

Flop: ($1.05) 2♠ 3♣ 5♦ (3 players)
UTG bets $1, CO folds, Hero calls $1

Turn: ($3.05) 9♣ (2 players)
UTG checks, Hero checks

River: ($3.05) 9♠ (2 players)
UTG bets $2.91, Hero calls $2.91

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

Pre-Flop: ($0.15) Hero is UTG with A♣ J♦
Hero raises to $0.25, 3 players fold, SB calls $0.20, BB calls $0.15

Flop: ($0.75) Q♥ 6♠ T♥ (3 players)
SB checks, BB checks, Hero checks

Turn: ($0.75) 2♠ (3 players)
SB bets $0.24, BB calls $0.24, Hero calls $0.24

River: ($1.47) K♠ (3 players)
SB checks, BB checks, Hero bets $0.92, SB raises to $3.19, BB folds, Hero calls $2.27

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

Pre-Flop: ($0.15) Hero is BB with A♥ 5♥
3 players fold, BTN raises to $0.25, 1 fold, Hero calls $0.15

Flop: ($0.55) 5♠ 7♦ T♣ (2 players)
Hero checks, BTN bets $0.42, Hero calls $0.42

Turn: ($1.39) 4♥ (2 players)
Hero checks, BTN bets $0.53, Hero calls $0.53

River: ($2.45) T♦ (2 players)
Hero checks, BTN bets $0.70, Hero calls $0.70

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

Pre-Flop: ($0.15) Hero is UTG with Q♦ Q♣
Hero raises to $0.25, 1 fold, CO 3-bets to $0.85, 3 players fold, Hero 4-bets to $2.45, CO calls $1.60

Flop: ($5.05) K♣ T♥ 8♣ (2 players)
Hero bets $2.41, CO calls $2.41

Turn: ($9.87) 5♠ (2 players)
Hero checks, CO bets $3.11, Hero calls $3.11

River: ($16.09) 8♥ (2 players)
Hero checks, CO bets $4.26 (all-in), Hero calls $4.26

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

Pre-Flop: ($0.15) Hero is SB with J♦ J♣
2 players fold, CO raises to $0.26, 1 fold, Hero 3-bets to $1.20, 1 fold, CO calls $0.94

Flop: ($2.50) T♠ 6♥ 6♦ (2 players)
Hero bets $1.20, CO calls $1.20

Turn: ($4.90) 8♦ (2 players)
Hero bets $2.34, CO calls $2.34

River: ($9.58) 9♣ (2 players)
Hero checks, CO bets $15.33 (all-in), Hero calls $5.26 (all-in)

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

Pre-Flop: ($0.15) Hero is BB with J♦ 9♦
BTN raises to $0.25, 1 fold, Hero calls $0.15

Flop: ($0.55) 9♥ 6♦ 2♥ (2 players)
Hero checks, BTN bets $0.26, Hero calls $0.26

Turn: ($1.07) 3♥ (2 players)
Hero checks, BTN bets $0.51, Hero calls $0.51

River: ($2.09) Q♠ (2 players)
Hero checks, BTN bets $1.49, Hero calls $1.49

Okay so little update. Since the above session I've tightened up my turn/river calling ranges a LOT. Finally making a bunch of laydowns I definitely wouldn't have been able to make just a couple weeks ago. Also getting really good at just stopping the session immediately when I suspect I'm not playing my best. Like If I make one stupid bluff that I realise afterwards was not the ideal spot I'll just stop and take a break. Or if I run into a stupid cooler or something frustrating and notice myself having an emotional reaction to it, just stopping straight away instead of waiting and seeing if it makes me tilt or play worse.

So overall, really really happy with how I've been playing. However, been running extreeeeeeeemely bad. Like, I could easily believe that this was the worst 10k hand stretch that I'll ever experience, regardless of how many hands I play in my life. I could also definitely believe that the majority of poker players won't ever experience this amount of bad variance condensed into 10k hands ever in their life.

Obviously I might be wrong, but I'm partially commenting this so if I end up playing to 1m+ hands and beyond, I can come back to this and either laugh at my naivety or say "holy **** I was actually right, that sort of doomswitch just doesn't happen".

Anway, I'm still confident that I'm playing well enough to beat 10nl comfortably plus doing regular session reviews to make sure I wasn't spewing and it was indeed bad variance, so I'm not too phased. Even today and yesterday more hands seemed to go my way than not, so maybe this is the end of the downswing and it'll all be smooth sailing from here on 😀

Well, I'm tired and frustrated and quickly losing the enthusiasm I had when I started this. I honestly was not prepared for the amount of variance that's possible even over larger hand samples. Especially when you factor in the 11bb/100 I'm paying in rake.

I checked with a variance calculator though, and if I give myself an expected winrate of 5BB/100 after rake which seems fair to me (if maybe a little conservative but I'm gonna assume I'm not actually as good as I think I am because most people tend to overestimate their own ability at things), there's actually a 30% chance of being breakeven or worse after 50k hands. And a 5% chance of being down like 20 BIs or more. Which just seems absolutely insane to me.

I'm not really sure how anyone is supposed to get out of 10nl other than running like god or just multi-tabling for hours a day until you've got an absurd amount of volume in.

So, new plan. Bankroll at around €100. Just gonna yolo into 25nl and either busto or run good and get something going. Either one is preferable to another 100 hours of breakeven at 10nl.

edit: for clarification, I'm not making this decision mid-session while tilted or anything. Been thinking about it for a couple of days now and honestly think it's the best idea. Just really cba to put in another 100 hours and potentially still not have even made any money.

Hahahahah okay well that didn't take long. Lasted a few hundred hands. I guess the gods are trying to tell me that poker is just not for me. I gave it a shot and learnt a lot along the way, maybe I'll try again when I'm not broke and can actually afford a decent starting roll.

Pre-Flop: ($0.35) Hero is BB with K♠ K♣
UTG raises to $0.50, MP 3-bets to $2, 3 players fold, Hero 4-bets to $5, 1 fold, MP calls $3

Flop: ($10.60) 6♣ Q♠ 5♦ (2 players)
Hero bets $3.34, MP raises to $8.50, Hero raises to $21.04 (all-in), MP calls $12.54

Turn: ($52.68) Q♣ (2 players, 1 all-in)

River: ($52.68) 4♠ (2 players, 1 all-in)

Total pot: $52.68 (Rake: $2)

Showdown:
BB (Hero) shows K♠ K♣ (two pair, Kings and Queens)
(Equity - Pre-Flop: 68%, Flop: 80%, Turn: 5%, River: 0%)

MP shows Q♥ A♥ (three of a kind, Queens)
(Equity - Pre-Flop: 32%, Flop: 20%, Turn: 95%, River: 100%)

MP wins $50.68

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

Pre-Flop: ($0.35) Hero is SB with 8♦ 8♥
3 players fold, BTN raises to $0.60, Hero 3-bets to $3, 1 fold, BTN calls $2.40

Flop: ($6.25) 9♦ 3♣ 8♣ (2 players)
Hero checks, BTN bets $3.98, Hero raises to $8.58, BTN raises to $22.64 (all-in), Hero calls $14.06

Turn: ($51.53) 7♣ (2 players, 1 all-in)

River: ($51.53) 4♥ (2 players, 1 all-in)

Total pot: $51.53 (Rake: $2)

Showdown:
BU shows T♣ K♣ (a flush, King high)
(Equity - Pre-Flop: 49%, Flop: 27%, Turn: 77%, River: 100%)

SB (Hero) shows 8♦ 8♥ (three of a kind, Eights)
(Equity - Pre-Flop: 51%, Flop: 73%, Turn: 23%, River: 0%)

BU wins $49.53

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

Pre-Flop: ($0.35) Hero is BB with Q♠ Q♦
1 fold, MP raises to $0.62, 3 players fold, Hero 3-bets to $3, MP 4-bets to $6, Hero 5-bets to $25 (all-in), MP calls $19 (all-in)

Flop: ($50.10) K♠ A♦ 5♣ (2 players, 2 all-in)

Turn: ($50.10) 2♦ (2 players, 2 all-in)

River: ($50.10) T♦ (2 players, 2 all-in)

Total pot: $50.10 (Rake: $2)

Showdown:
BB (Hero) shows Q♠ Q♦ (a pair of Queens)
(Equity - Pre-Flop: 18%, Flop: 2%, Turn: 0%, River: 0%)

MP shows A♠ A♥ (three of a kind, Aces)
(Equity - Pre-Flop: 82%, Flop: 98%, Turn: 100%, River: 100%)

MP wins $48.10

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

Pre-Flop: ($0.35) Hero is UTG with 7♦ 7♠
Hero raises to $0.60, 2 players fold, BTN 3-bets to $1.82, 2 players fold, Hero calls $1.22

Flop: ($3.99) 7♣ 8♦ 3♠ (2 players)
Hero checks, BTN bets $1.91, Hero calls $1.91

Turn: ($7.81) A♣ (2 players)
Hero checks, BTN bets $3.73, Hero raises to $8.65, BTN calls $4.92

River: ($25.11) Q♥ (2 players)
Hero bets $12.62 (all-in), BTN calls $12.62

Total pot: $50.35 (Rake: $2)

Showdown:
UTG (Hero) shows 7♦ 7♠ (three of a kind, Sevens)
(Equity - Pre-Flop: 20%, Flop: 91%, Turn: 2%, River: 0%)

BU shows A♥ A♠ (three of a kind, Aces)
(Equity - Pre-Flop: 80%, Flop: 9%, Turn: 98%, River: 100%)

BU wins $48.35

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

Pre-Flop: ($0.35) Hero is SB with A♥ A♣
1 fold, MP raises to $0.75, 2 players fold, Hero 3-bets to $3.10, 1 fold, MP calls $2.35

Flop: ($6.45) J♠ 7♠ K♦ (2 players)
Hero bets $3.08, MP raises to $8, Hero raises to $21.90 (all-in), MP calls $13.90 (all-in)

First Turn: ($50.25) 2♥ (2 players, 2 all-in)

First River: ($50.25) 5♠ (2 players, 2 all-in)

Second Turn: ($50.25) 7♣ (2 players, 2 all-in)

Second River: ($50.25) 6♠ (2 players, 2 all-in)

Total pot: $50.25 (Rake: $2.50)

First Showdown: Board: J♠ 7♠ K♦ 2♥ 5♠

SB (Hero) shows A♥ A♣
MP shows T♠ 8♠
MP wins $23.88

Second Showdown: Board: J♠ 7♠ K♦ 7♣ 6♠

SB (Hero) shows A♥ A♣
MP shows T♠ 8♠
MP wins $23.87

Unlucky, GG.

******CHAPTER TWO******

Okay, so 2 weeks post-busto and I've been thinking a lot about what went wrong, whether I want to keep playing and if so, in what form. I'm someone who likes to optimise life-decisions as much as possible anyway so needed to think carefully about whether it's worth continuing to spend any energy on poker and if it is, what's my best path forward (taking everything I've learnt so far into account). Ultimately I came to the conclusion that I really really enjoy both playing but also learning the strategy and it stimulates a part of my brain that's been sitting dormant since I finished my Maths degree 10 years ago.

I wouldn't be satisfied if that was the only shot I gave it, and I DO want to continue.

The main takeaways from shot number one are:

- I was massively underestimating how much variance is involved, even at micro stakes where your edge should be fairly large over the field
- My mental game is my biggest weakness, and if I want to continue I need to figure out how to not let the amount of variance get to me
- I need to be much more disciplned both regarding in-game decisions and decisions on when/how/what to play
- I need to commit a decent amount of time to improving my game

I studied a LOT over this week or so, including reviewing a bunch of hands from shot #1, and I've identified not only a few leaks of my own, but also some spots where a big chunk of my pool seem to be making similar mistakes which I can exploit. First time round I was a bit overly obsessed with the idea of playing the perfect equilibrium strat and making myself completely unexploitable, but I'm now realising that not only is that impossible, but also that carefully thought-out deviations from ES to exploit observed mistakes are an essential part of any decent poker player's game.

Regarding my mental game, I'm trying to see the silver lining of experiencing an extended period of runbad right at the start of my poker "career". It shifted my expectations to a more realistic point and I think I'm now much more aware of how long it might take me to get out of micros, and am able to accept that. What helps is thinking about it as more of a chance to practice the fundamentals in a field where I won't be punished too much for my mistakes. The longer I stay at 5 and 10nl, the more prepared I'll be for 25nl+ where I imagine it's much less forgiving of any major leaks.

******THE PLAN******

First and foremost: put in much more volume. I think my previous strategy of just one tabling and thinking as much as possible about every decision was flawed. I think I've got my preflop and flop strategies to the point now where I don't have to think about 95% of decisions, so by one-tabling all I'm really doing is massively restricting the amount of interesting spots I get into. I'll still be 1-tabling while working for all the reasons outlined in my initial post, BUT...

For any sessions outside of working hours where I can focus completely on poker, I'm gonna be 4-tabling Zoom and using H2N's "mark last hand" feature to mark every single hand where I wasn't 100% sure what to do. Even if it's something small like "is flatting this preflop fine" or "should I be cbetting this flop", I'm gonna mark the hand and review it afterwards with help from a solver.

The other advantage of this is that the effect of variance will feel less extreme as it'll take much less time to reach "the long run" and the chance of running bad over an entire session or even multiple sessions will be drastically reduced (but still not impossible, and I need to prepared for that!).

I still had €12 left in my Pokerstars account and after doing some freelance work on top of my normal job this last week, I had a bit of cash spare and managed to budget out €20 to top my account up into a 6-7 BI roll for 5nl. I know that's nowhere near enough and there's a decent chance I'll just busto again, but if I ever drop to the point that I can't 4 table 5nl then I'll move down to 2nl until I can again. If I manage to have a 10 BI downswing at 2nl and do indeed go busto again then it's no biggie, I'll wait until I have enough for another deposit and try again. The break might even do me good, giving me chance to review what went wrong and continue improving both my strategy and mental game.

So, here goes shot #2. Starting at 5nl with a roll of €32. I feel good about everything. It feels like I have a solid, thought-out plan and the foundations are there to enable me to both get in volume and also keep improving my game. Looking forward to playing and learning, and feel more ready to deal with any setbacks I might meet. Wish me luck!

Hi, I saw in your last post while trying to climb the micros your were as you say "trying to play the perfect equilibrium strat." I'm also trying to climb through the stakes, and perhaps you've realised but don't do that lol not at the micros, even at mid stakes. People play so far from what is optimal.
These equilibrium ranges and strategies are created by a computer that knows it's opponents complete strategy and plays perfectly. People just don't play like that, there's so many spots where you are losing money and others where you will be not winning as much as you could if you stick to these GTO ranges.

Pre flop for example, bb v UTG, bb is supposed to be raising all kinds of hands at a pretty high frequency, people at the micros just don't do that. You think bb at the micros is finding the 20% raise with 75s, 64s, or the 10% raises with 96s or 86s. No they're clicking call. That means when they do 3 bet they have a stronger range than in theory. If the range is stronger and you're 4 betting or calling what is considered "optimal" then you are exploiting yourself and making a big mistake. You'd be amazed at how drastically the UTG ranges change vs a tight 3 bet range from the bb. You do hardly and 4 betting and a lot less flatting. Theory would have you 4 betting all kinds of hands vs an optimal opponent, AKs and off suite nearly always 4 betting but this is completely wrong vs opponents at the micros as they're human, not computers. Just flat AK and QQ 4 bet extremely tight and call tight.

There's other spots where instead of tightening your range you can make more by widening it. For example vs a bu open bb is supposed to defend by raising around 14% of the time and sb 3 betting around 15% of the time. If you customise your hud to show the 3 bet stats for each position vs bu there's huge ev to be gained here. Most people play way too passive from the blinds, it's just too easy to click call. By just one position playing too passively either sb or bb it can become correct to open any 2 cards, that's how drastically the ranges change when someone strays from theory. At the micros if someone sees you open a weird hand it has the added benefit of them perhaps thinking you're a bad player, not that they're being exploited for being too passive. Vs smarter opponents you may need to be a little smarter to hide the exploit and perhaps just widen your range a little.

There's also other spots where say you're 4 betting a 3 better, they may have studied the gto ranges maybe not, but they probably haven't studied what happens when you use a slightly different size to what the solver would. Say OOP instead of 4 betting 2.5x you add on a couple of big blinds, those extra big blinds completely change in positions strategy and they may not realise it, vs a slightly larger sizing they're supposed to play hardly any flats and play a shove or fold strategy.

Anyway these are just a few of the spots I've identified for exploiting the weaker opponents. It goes on and on, people do not play like a solver. I think study theory sure, but then look at the population tendencies and how they actually play and adjust your strategy accordingly.

Once you realise how many spots they are for exploitation it in my opinion makes the game way more interesting and fun. Post flop for example there's soooo many spots. Like x/r flop vs c bet but adjust to a slightly smaller size than in theory totally changes IP strategy. They're supposed to float super wide some very non intuitive hands that only a solver will find, hands that have absolutely nothing not even back doors. So by adjust sizings in spots you can gain a lot of ev.

Hopefully your eyes can be opened to all the exploits that are out there and forget trying to play gto. It's a tool to learn the game, but not how the game actually plays in reality.

Good luck ��

Thank you for the comment! I absolutely agree with the overall sentiment of your post, and it's exactly what I meant when I said I'm paying more attention to mistakes the pool is making and trying to adjust to exploit them.

However, not sure I agree with the idea of "forgetting trying to play gto" or your comment on being exploited by playing an equilbrium strat.

If I play an ES then I'm not allowing myself to be exploited, I'm just not exploiting my opponents as much as I could be. If I follow an ES exactly then although one specific decision might end up being -EV vs a specific reg (e.g. stacking off with JJ pre vs a nit), you more than make up the amount lost by that "mistake" by all the times you 4bet them light and they fold, or the times they miss value by flatting preflop when they should be 4betting etc. So I personally don't really see them as mistakes, more just a missed opportunity to make an exploitative play and earn even more than you could've by following an ES.

I'm happy to keep aiming to mostly play as close to an ES as I can, and the majority of my deviations just being to apply a pure strat when I should be mixing (e.g. pure folding a bluff catcher to a river x/r because in my experience, my pool is not finding those bluffs anywhere near enough to actually make me indifferent between calling & folding).

However, every now and again I will deviate from a pure strat in spots where I'm very confident that the pool is playing a certain way. An example of that would be on a 4-straight or 4-flush board once the opponent has made a non-procedural check on the river, as the players in my pool seem to be almost always betting their straights and strong flushes, and very rarely check/calling with any of their bluffcatchers, so hands which were pure check-backs at equilibrium can become profitable bluffs.

I don't currently have access to a solver capable of node-locking but after reading your post I'm thinking I should probably get one as you bring up loads of interesting points and spots and I'd love to see what a MES might look like given the tendencies of the players in my pool. Thanks again for all the info and good luck to you too!

I'm afraid I completely disagree, I didn't say forget gto, I said forget playing it. Plenty of pros have done the mass data analysis already, it's no secret even at mid stakes you do not want to stick to these GTO ranges and strategies. You seriously need to get access to a course that will point out just how drastic these effects are, or gain the ability to node lock and look at the effects on the ev of specific hands.
I think you're misunderstanding GTO. It sounds like you think by playing somewhat close to it you aren't exploitable, well you absolutely are! You're exploiting yourself. The solvers are playing against another solver. They are clairvoyant and know the others strategy and play every street perfectly. You're playing against people who have massive imbalances in their game and that completely changes the ranges and strategies. If you input what your opponents are actually doing the solver would adjust to something completely different to what you're playing. This isn't my theory, this is absolute fact and known by every pro. I have seen the it for myself and seen how drastically things change. In my opinion to succeed you need to be more open minded to seeing things from a different point of view. GTO isn't this unbeatable strategy that can't be beaten, it's the result of a computer playing millions of hands vs another computer. You can use it to see how the game should be played and understand spots better, but when it comes to beating low stakes you need to adjust.

Okay thanks for your input, good luck!