From a poker player to trading and back. nl10 -> nl20 -> nl50 -> nl100

Poker still coming back to me bit by bit, every day I play I remember some stuff here and there, szng's, ranges etc...
I'm planning to play at least 35 hours a week in November, which is 140 hours a month. I'll be doing some theoretical work after sessions and one day for deep study every week.

ty!

Yesturday and part of today were a Study day: vods, solver, also looked at some hands of interesting nl50 players.
Played two short sessions at nl50. Regs seem a bit different here... I have wild west vibes so far =)

happy river )

Tomorrow I plan to play 7 hours and get to know NL50 better. Let's see if my first impression of this limit changes.

played 6hrs today, -4bi, run: KK😀

His flop bet looks pair-heavy to me, I think it's tough to play bluff/air by this size for him... KK, AA with heart, A4s, A2s, maybe 99s, but don't expect them to XBack Turn. Probably he can play this way AKo w/o hearts, I expect AK with heart in larger szngs. I like 50% here. He still can rebluff to 33% reping A of hearts. Though not this particular guy, probably as he seems to be on a tighter side playing 20/17 wtsd 30, wwsf 46, w$sd 55. So against him I think 33 will fold same hands as 50%...

I want to sleep, will come back to this hand tomorrow. I would love to hear your thoughts.

P.S. I remember how 5 years ago top high stakes regs were implementing 10/20% cb in 4bp, now this stuff at nl50....it's crazy )

What part of his range do you think folds to your river bet that AQss isn't beating?

that's a good question thank you.
Now I see check as a best option here. I've been thinking about this hand throughout the day, and I can't think of any significant reasons in favor of putting money into the pot.

Played 3.5k hands at nl50, with EV close to 0.
My redline went down under the water like a submarine. Have to find the cause and fix it.

Opp is regg'ish, aggresive wtsd 27 wwsf 52%, w$sd 46. On a board where all the air goes 33% on the flop, I can't see enough bluffs in this line. And you?

not sure about this fold vs rec, would u call here? 55/32 wwsf 42 seem aggressive enough to play this way 55-22, mb AQ but not sure how much of them will call 80% on Turn...

one more with rec:

40% to call... probably this is never a fold as he could play this way 65, 96... plus bluffs with AT. value: fraction of 87, T8, KT. slowplay JJ.

Today marks exactly one month since my return to poker!
Time to start drawing conclusions:

- About 10k hands played at nl 50 so far, ev close to 0.
Every day there are situations where I can't remember what to do, what size to use, or how high my hand is in the range.

- Yesterday played for the first time 8hrs/day! Hurray for me!

- Reviewed the monthly statistics. The biggest challenge I see right now is the general passivity of my game. I'll go to 2-tabling and try to squeeze the most out of my brain.

There is much work ahead of me. I feel confident.

Best of luck in your grind!

I think I'm folding both.
I think both spots are underbluffed and should fold most/all bluff-cathers. Would call there only if I think I can beat value bets.

Thank you, brother!
He showed slowplayed J9o. Which makes some sense, as he saw me triple barrelling air a few hands earlier.

On Tuesday I had my first session where I enjoyed the game and made some good decisions. It's a very valuable moment for me and I'm very happy that it's starting to happen.
Also today, for the first time since my return, my underpair killed an overpair in pre-flop AI, flopped quads with JJ against KK. I certainly need to celebrate this! xDD

Hello everyone!
Couple of hands:

vs. reg:

.

I really want to see myself fold here, but could not, I'll play better next time.
I had in mind a block of 10%/fold. I think from best to worst: XF > block 10%/fold > XC. Anyone against fold?
The more I think about this hand, the clearer the fold becomes. Like... don't see any bluffs here at all.
However, I didn't expect what he showed at SD.

vs aggressive rec:

I think this line overbluffed. Would you call here?

vs. reg:
23/19 wtsd 32, wwsf 46, w$sd 59, agg river IP 23%, 5k hands.

timed out river, i think bet/fold 50 or 66% ? is the best option, he rarely has a better hand. don't expect a lot of bluffs here. I think this one is a fold as played.

I was looking at the hands of a good NL100 reg, and found an interesting one, played against a good reg as well:
Hero has K ♠ K♦

iPoker, Hold'em No Limit - €0.50/€1.00 - 6 players
Hand delivered by Pokeit

UTG: €128.86 (129 bb)
MP: €365.96 (366 bb)
CO: €107.65 (108 bb)
BU: €130.29 (130 bb)
SB: €249.11 (249 bb)
BB: €132.42 (132 bb)

Pre-Flop: (€1.50)
1 fold, MP raises to €2.20, 3 players fold, BB calls €1.20

Flop: (€4.90) J♣ 3♣ 7♥ (2 players)
BB checks, MP bets €2.45, BB raises to €8.58, MP calls €6.13

Turn: (€22.06) 5♥ (2 players)
BB checks, MP bets €18, BB raises to €41, MP calls €23

River: (€104.06) T♥ (2 players)
BB bets €80.64 (all-in), MP calls €80.64

This is fun! So, lets think...
BB's value here is 77, 33, 64s clubs and hearts, low freq 64s diamonds and spades, some Axs of hearts like A6s high freq, A4s, A8s is probably just a turn bet, also K6s of hearts. So about 10 combos, maybe less, because he will sometimes OB Turn with 77 and 33. He needs 30% bluffing to make MP's bluff catchers indifferent to calling. I think he has 65s, 54s clubs in this line, from preflop he can have a fraction of 65o and 54o, he will raise the flop with club or heart in hand I suppose, again with some freq... but still he only needs 4-3 combos of bluffing. I can see how BB could easily overbluff the river by just continuing with all 54, 65. For MP K♥ in hand is not very important, since it does not block much of BB's value. I like the call here. What do you think?

One more reason for call is BB's Flop raise size. It's way way too small 130bb deep. It's also easy to raise bigger with sets, because on flop he will be measuring MP's stack with value always. But with bluff he can just go for a regular 3x+1bb raise coz he used to it. Our brains tend to take the path of least resistance.
Nice call by MP!

Now let's look at what the solver does:

1) Flop. BB folds almost all BDs, calls only AT of hearts, no XR. We don't need to defend BDFD on this board.
My first assumption was that it's because all offsuit connectors hit this board hard: T9o-54o all have at least a GS, and I thought that in tighter ranges, e.g. in a scenario where MP opens 2.5bb, BB has no T9o-54o, BD FD would become an XR. Which turned out wrong:

BB just don't need to defend them. Great.

2) Turn.
- No little XR on the turn, just XShove.
- When I put 25% of BDFD into the flop raise, Solver bets it all on the turn for 124% of the pot, no X.
- Really interesting that Solver XCalls all 33!
- 65o and 54o are either OB or XF. No XR here.
3) Aaand, ladies and gentlmens: River!...
after deleting XShove on the turn and forcing BB to XR as played:
BB:

MP:

To summarize. I still think calling 100% with KK is the best option here for the reasons I mentioned earlier.

Now it's time to play!

nice River "three pair" valuebet )
Not my hand. However, I think it was played OK by BB and god-like by the CO )

dodging bullets... too trappy, brother )

Hello everyone!
Hola amigos!
Привіт!

One more limit, nl50.... is Beaten! It was a wild ride. At first, I was puzzled by the aggression of the local regulators. The best word here is "often inappropriate aggression", I was sometimes very surprised to see showdowns from opponents whose stats looked solid at first glance. A lot of regs here are looking for their own style, you could feel that they are serious about the game, but they lack a basic understanding of the game, most of the lines are designed for one street, and the game already falls apart on two streets.
I would like to thank all my opponents, it was interesting to play, I enjoyed this journey, GG! GL!

Meanwhile, my game gets better and better with each hand, with each mistake I analyze and the incomprehensible situation my opponent's actions put me in.

In numbers:
15k hands
4.7 ev/bb

Start:

Finish:

♥♣ NL100 I'm coming! ♦♠

few fun hands:

$0.50/$1 No Limit Holdem
iPoker
6 Players
Hand Conversion Powered by WeakTight Poker Hand History Converter

Stacks:
UTG ($100) 100bb
UTG+1 ($72.79) 73bb
CO ($100) 100bb
BTN ($100) 100bb
SB Hero ($63.99) 64bb
BB ($100) 100bb

Pre-Flop: (1.50, 6 players) Hero is SB A♠ K♣
1 fold, UTG+1 raises to $2.40, 2 folds, Hero raises to $9.80, 1 fold, UTG+1 calls $7.40
Flop: 2♦ J♥ 2♠ ($20.10, 2 players)

Hero bets $4.12, UTG+1 calls $4.12

Turn: J♦ ($28.34, 2)
Hero checks, UTG+1 bets $58.87, Hero goes all-in $50.07

River: 10♦ ($137.28, 2), 1 all-in

Final Pot: $137.28
Hero shows
A♠ K♣
UTG+1 shows
10♥ 8♥

UTG+1 wins $124.98 (net +$52.19)

Hero lost $63.99

me on the Turn:

rec on the River:

missclick-raise 4th pair for thin value )

$0.50/$1 No Limit Holdem
iPoker
6 Players
Hand Conversion Powered by WeakTight Poker Hand History Converter

Stacks:
UTG Hero ($111) 111bb
UTG+1 ($102.48) 102bb
CO ($101) 101bb
BTN ($100) 100bb
SB ($112.91) 113bb
BB ($76.64) 77bb

Pre-Flop: (1.50, 6 players) Hero is UTG 8♠ 8♥
Hero raises to $2.10, 3 folds, SB calls $1.60, BB calls $1.10
Flop: 3♠ 5♦ K♦ ($6.30, 3 players)

SB checks, BB bets $3, Hero calls $3, SB folds

Turn: Q♠ ($12.30, 2)
BB bets $3, Hero calls $3

River: 9♥ ($18.30, 2)

BB bets $3, Hero raises to $9, BB calls $6

Final Pot: $36.30
BB shows
3♥ A♠
Hero shows
8♠ 8♥

Hero wins $34.49 (net +$17.39)

SB lost $2.60
BB lost $18.10

Hello guys!
Want to share some things with you.

$0.50/$1 No Limit Holdem
6 Players
Hand Conversion Powered by

https://www.weaktight.com/h/67793f7cd39043d7708b45a1

weaktight

$0.50/$1 No Limit Holdem | Hand | weaktight

Stacks:
UTG ($100BB) 100bb
UTG+1 ($227.19BB) 227bb
CO ($100BB) 100bb
BTN ($104.89BB) 105bb
SB Hero ($97BB) 97bb
BB ($104.49BB) 104bb

Pre-Flop: (1.5BB, 6 players) Hero is SB Q♠ 9♥
4 folds, Hero raises to 3BB, BB calls 2BB
Flop: K♠ 7♣ A♥ ($5.5BB, 2 players)

Hero checks, BB checks

Turn: J♦ ($5.5BB, 2)
Hero bets 3.96BB, BB calls 3.96BB

River: A♣ ($13.42BB, 2)

Hero checks, BB bets 10.44BB, Hero raises to 51.88BB, BB folds

Final Pot: $75.74BB

I thought this hand was a good frequency bluff, but now I see that this hand blocks T9o, which is most of BB's river betting range, making it worse.
However! solver would XR T9 here, a hand that blocks BB even more from an autofold if he bets. And it seems that in situations like this, the priority is to block calls and then unblock folds. BB has to call with AT, QT here, which incentivizes SB to bluff with a Tx hand.
The theory is not the reason I spent a day thinking about this hand. The reason is that my opponent proudly showed me Kx before folding (99.999999% it was KQo). Which is a good frequency value bet according to a solver and could be a disaster in real life. And it was) Because I overbluffed and he sometimes has to call with this hand and he obviously folded 100% of KQ here. Otherwise he wouldn't be so proud of himself as to show me his hand.)) Nobody would show frequency fold, coz it's like saying "Look at me! I have an RNG, I know how to use it! What a good poker player I am! I'm disciplined!" LOL.
This hand reminds me of a rule I heard in a conversation between KakiTee and Matt Marinelli. Matt said: @our hand needs to block value in the first place and after that - unblock autofolds @. Cheers to both Matt and Kaki for doing that. I actually follow the coverage of the CGWC at Coin Poker, it's very entertaining and interesting to listen to. I think Kaki is doing a great job! Much respect to all the regs who shared their thoughts on the hands.

Good luck at the tables!