New player, getting better.
Played my first hand of poker at a bar back in Sep 2024. I thought it was interesting--I've always liked cards and games, and decided I wanted to try to get good at it. I watched some youtube videos, learned about some theory, deposited some onto Ignition and started to play some 25nl. I ran hot out of the gate and one 40 buy-ins in 15k hands and then bled most of it back over the next 50k hands. I got some coaching during this, a few lessons, but didn't think what I was learning was worth the price and decided it was a better use of money to rent a dedicated server and run GTO+ for my own solves in order to try and understand what is actually going on in poker for myself. I've been doing that in my free time for the past 2 months and started playing again. Once again, I'm running hot out of the gate, but am waiting for variance to catch up with me, although I feel much better about my game at the moment.
Unlike the first time I started playing, I have a much clearer idea of what I'm doing with my range in most spots and what other people are doing/what they're supposed to be doing. I created a spreadsheet for every common SRP and 3-bet spot and decided on a strategy for different types of board textures, etc. I also thought about and wrote notes on when an alternative strategy might be good. Probably the most important thing I've done is look at turn strategies in the solver, both in individual solves and in aggregate reports to see what the solver like to do, mostly taking note of the bet sizing it prefers, and seeing how much simplifying strategies to only 1 flop sizing and 1 turn sizing (multiple sizes, but one a specific turn card) works and what your range looks like when you do that. I created different solves where I simplified each flop and turn spot to a strategy that is digestible and used the trainer extensively, mostly working on 3 bet pots, both as the 3bettor and more importantly imo as the 3bet caller. My study routine right now is 1-2 hours of looking at the solver every day, both in aggregate reports, and in specific solves, trying to abstract heuristics about different spots and looking at how Villian is supposed to play and trying to guess where they might deviate.
I'm going to try and update this every few days, would love to find a study partner or two since I've been doing everything on my own and it would be nice to hear a different perspective from someone else for things I could be overlooking.
2 Replies
To start, here's my graph so far on this second go around. I'm obviously running as hot as the sun, but I do feel like it indicated I'm playing better, even if it's a small sample. In my first 50k hands (database is on a computer I spilled water one and is getting fixed at the factory atm), I was losing massively on red line. What I noticed was that when I got good cards, I won a bunch of money, obviously, but what I was card dead I was just bleeding money, and when coupled with running into the nuts, lead to a big 30 buy in down swing over 20k hands.
Now, I think I just understand where to bluff more and am just consistently more aggressive across the board. Would be great to win at 30bb/100 for the rest of time, but I am waiting for that next 10 buy-in down swing to hit me at any moment.
Some interesting hands I've played over this small sample.
Hand History driven straight to this forum with DriveHUD 2 Poker Tracking Software
NL Holdem 0.5(BB)
HERO ($73.12) [VPIP: 23.6% | PFR: 21.1% | AGG: 34.5% | Flop Agg: 37.7% | Turn Agg: 33.4% | River Agg: 39.4% | 3Bet: 12.5% | Fold to 3Bet: 43.9% | 4Bet: 19.4% | Hands: 5870]
BB ($50) [VPIP: 31.6% | PFR: 26.3% | AGG: 25% | Hands: 19]
HJ ($48.75) [VPIP: 11.8% | PFR: 0% | AGG: 7.1% | Hands: 17]
CO ($49.25) [VPIP: 35% | PFR: 35% | AGG: 16.7% | Flop Agg: 50% | Turn Agg: 0% | River Agg: 0% | 3Bet: 0% | 4Bet: 0% | Hands: 20]
BTN ($151.70) [VPIP: 22.9% | PFR: 18.8% | AGG: 52.4% | Hands: 51]
Dealt to Hero: 8♠ 8♥
HJ Folds, CO Raises To $1.25, BTN Folds, HERO Raises To $5, BB Folds, CO Calls $3.75
Hero SPR on Flop: [4.21 effective]
Flop ($10.50): J♥ Q♥ 4♣
HERO Bets $3.25 (Rem. Stack: $64.87), CO Calls $3.25 (Rem. Stack: $41)
Turn ($17): J♥ Q♥ 4♣ A♦
HERO Bets $3.20 (Rem. Stack: $61.67), CO Calls $3.20 (Rem. Stack: $37.80)
River ($23.40): J♥ Q♥ 4♣ A♦ A♥
HERO Bets $14.65 (Rem. Stack: $47.02), CO Folds
Spoiler
HERO wins: $22.23
I haven't looked at a solver to see if this hand is good, but it seems fine to me. It's pretty hard for me to have bluffs here and I think this is a spot I would have given up on a few months ago. I think my old self would have checked turn and folded to a stab. I don't know how I feel about the turn bet, maybe the solver thinks it plays better as a check. I think it's close either way, but I like my river bluff regardless.
Hand History driven straight to this forum with DriveHUD 2 Poker Tracking Software
NL Holdem 0.5(BB)
HERO ($66.29) [VPIP: 23.6% | PFR: 21.1% | AGG: 34.5% | Flop Agg: 37.7% | Turn Agg: 33.4% | River Agg: 39.4% | 3Bet: 12.5% | 4Bet: 19.4% | Hands: 5870]
BB ($53.77) [VPIP: 24.7% | PFR: 16.4% | AGG: 40% | Hands: 74]
HJ ($50) [VPIP: 23.5% | PFR: 23.5% | AGG: 61.5% | Hands: 34]
CO ($58.80) [VPIP: 48.6% | PFR: 21.4% | AGG: 40.7% | Flop Agg: 29.6% | Turn Agg: 58.8% | River Agg: 50% | 3Bet: 0% | 4Bet: 0% | Hands: 71]
BTN ($49.75) [VPIP: 18.9% | PFR: 16.2% | AGG: 29.4% | Hands: 37]
Dealt to Hero: T♦ T♠
HJ Folds, CO Calls $0.50, BTN Folds, HERO Raises To $2.50, BB Folds, CO Calls $2
Hero SPR on Flop: [10.24 effective]
Flop ($5.50): 6♥ Q♥ 4♠
HERO Bets $1.70 (Rem. Stack: $62.09), CO Calls $1.70 (Rem. Stack: $54.60)
Turn ($8.90): 6♥ Q♥ 4♠ 5♠
HERO Checks, CO Bets $6.35 (Rem. Stack: $48.25), HERO Calls $6.35 (Rem. Stack: $55.74)
River ($21.60): 6♥ Q♥ 4♠ 5♠ K♣
HERO Checks, CO Bets $17.39 (Rem. Stack: $30.86), HERO Calls $17.39 (Rem. Stack: $38.35)
Spoiler
CO shows: A♣ 2♦
HERO wins: $53.57
An interesting bluff catching hand I played today. It's against a fish so I don't really care what a solver does here. I bet flop for thin value because I expect him to over defend A highs and not to be aggressive enough against the small bet. I also think checking is totally fine. On the turn I considered block betting planning to block most rivers again, trying to get thin value from underpairs, but thought that might be too thin and that I would check and block rivers against a check-back and decide what to do versus a stab depending on the size. Against his turn size, I don't feel great, but I think he has enough bluffs that I can call this and hope to get to showdown, but consider bluff catching on river too. I thought on this river, before he bet, that if he jammed I would probably fold, but that I would probably call against a smaller bet. I thought he would jam his value, but would bet smaller with his bluffs more often. I thought he would have too many missed flush draws and random spazzes that want to bet here, but that he wouldn't bet a Q this big on the K river. His bet just seemed really odd in its sizing, although I did expect to lose to some sets or straights some portion of the time.
Hand History driven straight to this forum with DriveHUD 2 Poker HUD and Database Software
NL Holdem 0.25(BB)
HERO ($56.58) [VPIP: 23.6% | PFR: 21.1% | AGG: 34.5% | Flop Agg: 37.7% | Turn Agg: 33.4% | River Agg: 39.4% | 3Bet: 12.5% | 4Bet: 19.4% | Hands: 5870]
SB ($25.94) [VPIP: 32.1% | PFR: 20.2% | AGG: 30% | Flop Agg: 30.4% | Turn Agg: 40% | River Agg: 16.7% | 3Bet: 20.7% | 4Bet: 0% | Cold Call: 27.3% | Hands: 87]
BB ($46.09) [VPIP: 24.6% | PFR: 10.6% | AGG: 37.1% | Flop Agg: 38.2% | Turn Agg: 50% | River Agg: 33.3% | 3Bet: 7.4% | 4Bet: 0% | Cold Call: 18.6% | Hands: 144]
UTG ($25) [VPIP: 13.5% | PFR: 9.6% | AGG: 0% | Hands: 54]
HJ ($103.80) [VPIP: 25.7% | PFR: 2.9% | AGG: 26.1% | Hands: 37]
CO ($53.92) [VPIP: 35.4% | PFR: 22.5% | AGG: 33.9% | Hands: 179]
Dealt to Hero: 7♣ 7♥
UTG Folds, HJ Folds, CO Folds, HERO Raises To $0.60, SB Calls $0.50, BB Calls $0.35
Hero SPR on Flop: [14.08 effective]
Flop ($1.80): K♣ 6♣ 4♣
SB Bets $0.86 (Rem. Stack: $24.48), BB Folds, HERO Calls $0.86 (Rem. Stack: $55.12)
Turn ($3.52): K♣ 6♣ 4♣ 8♠
SB Bets $1.68 (Rem. Stack: $22.80), HERO Calls $1.68 (Rem. Stack: $53.44)
River ($6.88): K♣ 6♣ 4♣ 8♠ 6♥
SB Bets $3.27 (Rem. Stack: $19.53), HERO Raises To $53.44 (allin), SB Calls $19.53 (allin)
Spoiler
SB shows: 8♣ 8♥
SB wins: $50.48
I'm sure it's not theory approved and I think you want an 8 to do this, but in general my thinking against most people I'm playing is that they're betting to merged for value in the majority of spots, so I expected to see some Kx here and I'm trying to raise players in these spots more often. As for this specfic spot, in hindsight I don't think it's great, I think he probably needs to fold some flushes against this to be good and I don't expect him to.
Hand History driven straight to this forum with DriveHUD 2 Poker HUD and Database Software
NL Holdem 0.25(BB)
HERO ($37.65) [VPIP: 23.6% | PFR: 21.1% | AGG: 34.5% | Flop Agg: 37.7% | Turn Agg: 33.4% | River Agg: 39.4% | 3Bet: 12.5% | 4Bet: 19.4% | Hands: 5870]
UTG ($21.98) [VPIP: 17.4% | PFR: 17.4% | AGG: 71.4% | Hands: 24]
HJ ($50.33) [VPIP: 15.3% | PFR: 13.9% | AGG: 25% | Hands: 74]
CO ($35.02) [VPIP: 33.3% | PFR: 29.9% | AGG: 37% | Hands: 87]
BTN ($14.90) [VPIP: 20.5% | PFR: 15.4% | AGG: 37.5% | Hands: 40]
SB ($47.02) [VPIP: 77.1% | PFR: 11.4% | AGG: 24.1% | Flop Agg: 28% | Turn Agg: 18.8% | River Agg: 37.5% | 3Bet: 11.1% | 4Bet: 0% | Hands: 38]
Dealt to Hero: T♣ T♥
UTG Folds, HJ Folds, CO Folds, BTN Folds, SB Calls $0.15, HERO Raises To $1, SB Calls $0.75
Hero SPR on Flop: [18.33 effective]
Flop ($2): 7♠ 5♥ 7♣
SB Checks, HERO Bets $0.63 (Rem. Stack: $36.02), SB Calls $0.63 (Rem. Stack: $45.39)
Turn ($3.26): 7♠ 5♥ 7♣ 4♠
SB Checks, HERO Bets $1.55 (Rem. Stack: $34.47), SB Calls $1.55 (Rem. Stack: $43.84)
River ($6.36): 7♠ 5♥ 7♣ 4♠ 4♥
SB Bets $1.13 (Rem. Stack: $42.71), HERO Raises To $5.28 (Rem. Stack: $29.19), SB Calls $4.15 (Rem. Stack: $38.56)
Spoiler
SB shows: 8♦ 4♦
SB wins: $16.08
Thin value raise on river. I think it's okay, but I do expect to get called by better some of the time. I think one of the biggest mistakes I was making was under-raising these small bets. If I run into it sometime, so be it.
