From Micros to Midstakes: Slow and Consistent Wins

It was 50% a joke, 50% me being harsh with myself 😃

I believe that what you know about these spots, what types of mistakes you're doing, is way more important than any score that you get from any trainer, to beat 25nl. With that said, I was pretty clueless on defense spots for a very long time before I got coaching and began using trainers, and I was still beating 25nl fr on stars for a ridiculous 1.8 bb/100 winrate haha (although I was doing other things right already, for example, trying to get rid of my other passivity leaks).

Day 9: End of the month.

Since I started this thread:

In bbs:

For the next month, I think I will start with some changes already:

I was mixing 25nl and 50nl, even though technically I didn't reach the shot taking point yet per OP's rules. Now, I want 15 days of playing, without looking at my results, exclusively 25nl. I nedd to play in at least 12 of those days, and at least 5 hours/day. If I don't achieve 12x5=60 hours of playing in those 15 days, I don't earn the privilege of being able to look at my graphs and bankroll, and to take another shot, and will have to try for another 15 days (and make up for the lag of the previous 15 days failure.

Not looking at my results might actually help with the focus, who knows.

I will still update daily with how things went, but I'm finished already with the daily graphs, sorry 😃

Cheers!

BB vs BTN turn facing a B75 after calling a flop B33:

*What makes this spot trickier to execute, in my case, is how easy it is to underestimate how polarized we should be checkraising in most textures. I played at least 3 hands where I thought I had a pretty decent well randomized bluff XR, but it wasn't good enough. At least with value I am controlling myself better nowadays 😀 The second one, in a minor note, is not forgetting that we defend a higher frequency on the turn broadway overcards with our second pairs. I think this should also be good exploitatively speaking by the way.

BTN vs BB on the flop facing a XR50 after cbetting for a B33:

*Was a bit overconfident and wasn't training much of this spot currently, which led to being rusty. Can't forget that we shouldn't be folding any pairs on textures like KK9tt for example.

Cheers!

Day 1:

205 minutes played/3,395 to go
1,072 hands played

Lagging behind on the first day.

Preflop Day:

BB defense vs 2.5x (UTG-BTN) or 3x (SB):

Facing an open from UTG-BTN, hero HJ-SB:

Hero open raises and faces a 3bet:

Hero 3bets and faces a 4bet:

Cheers!

Big fail. From my part, it is completely unreralistic to expect that I will manage 5 hours/day of playing, and I am dropping this goal right now. I think I can do 4, because I played this type of volume before and it was pretty much doable, with irl and also with off-the-tables poker work. Won't force anything, it has to come naturally.

Day 2:

190 minutes
1,013 hands played

Cheers!

Day 3:

265 minutes
1,345 hands played

Yes, much better to set a smaller but actual achievable goal. Doing good consistently, instead of aiming for the stars just to fail in a few days, or end up burnt out and hating life.

Cheers!

PokerStars, Hold'em No Limit - $0.10/$0.25 - 8 players
Hand delivered by Pokeit

UTG: $20.00 (80 bb)
UTG+1: $25.00 (100 bb)
MP: $25.20 (101 bb)
MP+1 (Hero): $27.23 (109 bb)
CO: $18.53 (74 bb)
BU: $15.24 (61 bb)
SB: $25.00 (100 bb)
BB: $24.75 (99 bb)

Pre-Flop: ($0.35) Hero is MP+1 with 6♠ 6♣
UTG calls $0.25, 2 players fold, Hero raises to $1.25, 1 fold, BTN calls $1.25, 3 players fold

Flop: ($3.10) 9♥ 3♥ J♦ (2 players)
Hero bets $0.74, BTN raises to $2.96, Hero calls $2.22

Turn: ($9.02) 2♠ (2 players)
Hero checks, BTN bets $8.61, Hero calls $8.61

River: ($26.24) 9♠ (2 players)
Hero checks, BTN bets $2.42 (all-in), Hero calls $2.42

Total pot: $31.08 (Rake: $1.40)

Showdown:
BU shows Q♦ 8♠ (a pair of Nines)
(Equity - Pre-Flop: 45%, Flop: 40%, Turn: 23%, River: 0%)

MP+1 (Hero) shows 6♠ 6♣ (two pair, Nines and Sixes)
(Equity - Pre-Flop: 55%, Flop: 60%, Turn: 77%, River: 100%)

MP+1 (Hero) wins $29.68

PokerStars, Hold'em No Limit - $0.10/$0.25 - 9 players
Hand delivered by Pokeit

UTG: $28.75 (115 bb)
UTG+1: $19.45 (78 bb)
MP: $12.50 (50 bb)
MP+1: $15.25 (61 bb)
LP: $6.05 (24 bb)
CO: $25.33 (101 bb)
BU: $28.66 (115 bb)
SB (Hero): $25.35 (101 bb)
BB: $36.25 (145 bb)

Pre-Flop: ($0.35) Hero is SB with 8♠ A♦
1 fold, UTG+1 calls $0.25, MP calls $0.25, 2 players fold, CO calls $0.25, 1 fold, Hero raises to $2.25, 1 fold, UTG+1 calls $2, 2 players fold

Flop: ($5.25) K♣ 7♣ K♦ (2 players)
Hero bets $1.25, UTG+1 calls $1.25

Turn: ($7.75) 7♠ (2 players)
Hero checks, UTG+1 bets $3.70, Hero calls $3.70

River: ($15.15) 6♥ (2 players)
Hero checks, UTG+1 bets $12.25 (all-in), Hero calls $12.25

Total pot: $39.65 (Rake: $1.78)

Showdown:
UTG+1 shows Q♣ T♥ (two pair, Kings and Sevens)
(Equity - Pre-Flop: 44%, Flop: 30%, Turn: 18%, River: 0%)

SB (Hero) shows 8♠ A♦ (two pair, Kings and Sevens - higher kicker)
(Equity - Pre-Flop: 56%, Flop: 70%, Turn: 82%, River: 100%)

SB (Hero) wins $37.87

Day 4:

209 minutes
1,072 hands played

Cheers!

BB vs BTN, Flop facing a B75 Cbet:

While not the most frequent sizing sequence, the frequency is high enough for this to be important. I like to think about the adjustments as a calibration thing, and have no problem with doing it by feel (compared to the sizing/formation I actually train a lot) if the spot is very infrequent. On the other hand, if it's one that happens at a decent frequency, it means it is actually important to my winrate, and now, I prefer to know the spot as accurately as possible.

Cheers!

Day 5:

178 minutes
853 hands played

Played a bunch of 50nl also, but today the HH I would categorize as the biggest donation seems to have come from 25nl, vs a reg:

PokerStars, Hold'em No Limit - $0.10/$0.25 - 6 players
Hand delivered by Pokeit

UTG: $25.00 (100 bb)
MP: $27.63 (111 bb)
CO: $25.50 (102 bb)
BU: $28.03 (112 bb)
SB: $25.10 (100 bb)
BB (Hero): $26.26 (105 bb)

Pre-Flop: ($0.35) Hero is BB with K♦ J♦
4 players fold, SB raises to $0.75, Hero 3-bets to $2.25, SB 4-bets to $6, Hero calls $3.75

Flop: ($12) 5♦ 7♦ T♦ (2 players)
SB bets $19.10 (all-in), Hero calls $19.10

Turn: ($50.20) J♣ (2 players, 1 all-in)

River: ($50.20) 2♥ (2 players, 1 all-in)

Total pot: $50.20 (Rake: $2)

Showdown:
SB shows 9♥ T♥ (a pair of Tens)
(Equity - Pre-Flop: 38%, Flop: 3%, Turn: 0%, River: 0%)

BB (Hero) shows K♦ J♦ (a flush, King high)
(Equity - Pre-Flop: 62%, Flop: 97%, Turn: 100%, River: 100%)

BB (Hero) wins $48.20

Cheers!

Day 6:

244 minutes
1,203 hands played

Cheers!

Day 7:

207 minutes
1,019 hands played

Cheers!

Day 8:

172 minutes
887 hands played

I'm gonna be implementing some important changes to my standard lines, which should definitely impact some of my stats (hopefully for the better, but may be for worse). Due to this, using the current sample for my next database analysis/check is useless, and I should wait until everything is ready and then I can grind a sample with the upgraded strategy. I will also drop the length of my playing hours to have more time to study.

Cheers!

Ended up looking at my results, so here they are. Running above EV, but you know, like they say over here, better being lucky than being unlucky*

*Super small sample.

Cheers!

Suffered a massacre at the 50nl tables yesterday (and lots of swings today) but managed to start the rebuilding process at 25nl and it's going well:

Also just found out that my winrate at 25nl FR finally got to 5 bb/100. I will do my best to move up, and stick to, 50nl, so that I don't have even more time to try and put it to 6 bb/100. But I will still force myself to have the discipline to follow the original plan: taking shots with 50+5 BIs. Patience, patience is a virtue.

Cheers!

Given that most of the sample for 50nl was made when it was still possible to table select, I always had the feeling that 50 and 25 were similar. Also due to an overlap of regs. While this overlap still exists, being forced into more reg-infested tables, or worse, 3-handed with regs, has not been a pretty experience so far. Although sure, I also ran bad yesterday.

So, my mindset is requiring a safer BRM, thus I will force the disciplined approach of 50+5 I mentioned in the OP and the previous post.

I faced challenges at all stakes while moving up, and it was a bloodbath at 10nl, and I still survived. The easiness of being too comfortable at a limit is probably the top 1 reason for my decreased motivation the last few years, so I'm looking forward for tougher and tougher challenges.

Impressive graph. What stakes did you start playing on the big upswing the last 500k hands ?

tyty ♥

There is a top in the aiev, a little after the 1.7MM mark (the point where the aiev peaks and starts dropping with the winnings still rising). That's the point where I moved up from 10nl to 25nl.

From there on it has been mostly 25nl, with my 50nl sample mixing up from time to time.

I was thinking about ishter's first runitonce video, 10 years ago, where he mentioned at the beginning how the recommended approach to beat 50nl was to play very aggressive, because population responds poorly to it. The biggest winners are the aggressive regs. He was right, and I think he's still right.

The thing is, most of us are wired to get stressed and be thrown out of balance and into a defensive state when we face any form of aggression, especially when it comes continuously and relentlessly. Any player who is not extremely confident and well trained at poker, when thrown at this state, will make more mistakes. This is just natural. Humans are not bots, capable of see the aggression for what it really is: just another strategic option of the game.

Lots of microstakes players, and I see it from reading blogs here and paying attention to some play styles at the tables, rely on being able to think thru hands in game, calculating deviations on the fly when needed, trusting that they are smart and good enough to do all of this in game in a limited time regardless of their mental state, how tired they are, and what we deliberately do to them.

I think this approach is flawed and is one of the main reasons exploits involving aggression still work very well. What we really need is a system. If we commit to memory how we will respond when they throw us onto these aggressive nodes, thru study and training, then even if we are stressed, we will be able to recall the correct answer more often than not. Facing stressful situations and always correctly handling them, with the consequent confidence that we will be able to keep handling them well, and most important, no feeling of uncertainty at all, is a quite healthy type of stress.

So yes, that's what I'm constantly trying to achieve here 😀

Not sure what approach youre suggesting here. Study and memorise exploitative responses to every deviation?

Heuristics that I train consistently and don't have to develop on the fly when playing. E.g. I definitely cbet more than equilibrium in SRP IP PFR BTN vs BB, and while I don't have full vision if pool over XR, I have that they are not under XR, so I want to at least know what are the equilibrium thresholds and have them in my heuristics, and train it regularly to keep it fresh.

Mid-October Graph Update:

And a cool song that I just remembered today:

Cheers!