Back playing microstakes after 10 plus years

Go to gtowizard and get yourself free preflop ranges and then just bet 33% every hand every board IP as preflop aggressor.
Imo good way to start fixing the leaks.

Why?

People at micros call too much from the bb, so they will have to fold a lot to a flop bet. They are also super passive, so you are almost guaranteed to see a river card by betting small.

I have been playing closer to that lately. maybe CB 75% IP but will look to CBET more often IP

thanks. Recently, I've stopped limping in SB so much. In defending blinds more, should I be raising more against limps or 3-betting more? I do think I may be valuing my top pair, top kicker hands too much. I play 4 tables on GGPoker at the moment. I'm trying to get better at playing the player, I do struggle against the aggro villians with 50+ VPIP and PFR, who just bet and raise everytime.

Raising and 3-betting makes decisions easier and are rarely bad leaks. If at a loose table, use an almost pure value range for that. It doesn't make sense to leverage losses with many tables. Be a winner first and then add tables. Even with one table there is a lot of going on if you pay attention.

Make sense, I'll give two tables a go again.

Because its works (not losing EV, esp in 5nl) and would help OP become looser instead of being nit.

We agree on the principle but it's easy to make it more nuanced and squeeze more profit. E.g. bet more and less often on wet boards and against a capped range.

Don’t play RnC if you can avoid it like the plague.

Pokerstars is definitely a good site to practice on especially at 5z. You’re playing too tight preflop and your WWSF is extremely low so you’re just leaking money everywhere by not:

1) Investing enough chips relative to your hand strength in general
2) Being passive in I presume every line where aggression would net you a lot of EV
3) Due to the above, not getting anywhere near enough EV with your value bets which leads into:
4) Adapting by playing tighter preflop in every line as a form of compensation for those leaks which creates a feedback loop.

Love your story m8.

Some tips:
- 3bet looser from BtN vs CO only.
bet 33% on flop with 2 broadways and be prepared to 3 barrel bluff

- Stop calling 3 bets with mediocre hands. Just fold and only call pockets and suited connector.

- Overfold vs river aggression (population is not bluffing enough).
This means folding alot with 3th or 2nd nuts

- work on bluffing yourself vs the regs (start from BtN as pre-agressor srp)

- vs a whale (50 vpip +) don't bluff just bet harder for value if he keeps calling.

I just finished my challenge: from 25 euro to 100 euro on 2nl R&C on GG poker. With 10 bb/100. I would love to help you with your game if you are willing, just let me know.

Hi, makes a lot of sense and think you're right that I'm too passive. I'll have think about this. thanks

lots of good stuff here. I have called on the river too often, and I am trying to work on that. I don't bluff at all so again, something I need to work on.

For your preflop game, I would recommend the GTO wizard starter subscription - You can use the drills to become solid enough. Alternatively learn from preflop charts (just make sure they are fairly modern - I still see some ancient super nitty ones around).

For the lags, you want to 3bet them more with a fairly linear broadway range, and for 100bb treat TPGK+ as the nuts (obviously there are nuances but as your WWSF is very low you just need to up the aggression first). In single raised pots, you can play TPGK+ for three streets if no straight or flush lands, but I would recommend overfolding if you face any aggression back - turn and river reraises are very under bluffed in general.

If you are not bluffing at all, some easy spots to start:

• Turn and river barrels when an overcard lands that isn't connected to the board (549 KQ for instance).
  
• When you pick up equity on the turn. (even a gutshot)
  
• When your opponent calls the flop too wide and will land weak on the turn ( 36T for instance will have so many overcards and gutshots that have to fold turn).
  
• Checkraise dry flops (many players will range bet for 33% on every dry board - pick any kind of backdoors, for instance 89h on Q72 - your opponent has so much junk they have to fold)
  
• Multiway pots when both players check twice - Unlikely anyone has anything.
  

If you are feeling bolder, shoving the river on a 3 flush board, when you have the blocker to the nut flush.

Yes, I have some up-to-date range charts and have started following them.

Good advice around the LAGS, I think i probably don't believe the raises and call too much in later streets.

Yes, I do not bluff at all. I will look at this list and try and implement these. I will look and try to implement them one at a time. I feel that i c-bet a lot of flops and then just give up as soon as i don't hit anything

Hi OP. If you're currently playing in the PokerStars 5nl Zoom pool then we've probably played quite a bit with each other.
Since your stats are 17.5/12.5/5 I most likely have you marked as a nit.
That's not unusual. The pool is absolutely full of nits.
I think what happens is that people can play that kind of game profitably at 2nlz since there are a lot more absolute beginners and generally bad players in that pool. There they can be profitable by simply nut peddling.
That's not going to work as well in the 5nlz pool. Firstly anyone competent isn't going to pay someone with your stats off unless it's a cooler type scenario.
The nits never bluff turns or rivers and they don't value bet thinly enough either. If they bet on the river they pretty much always have 2 pair+.

So how can you improve?

• 1. You need to open more and 3bet more. As someone else suggested GTOWizard gives you ranges for these without needing to subscribe. You can set that to 25nl and get the ranges from that. At the very minimum know your opening ranges from all 5 positions.
  
• 2. Play a single table. If you're getting bored then that's a sign that you're not observing and thinking enough. It's fast fold poker - there should be enough to keep you engaged. Mostly you should be thinking about ranges, board texture and how your opponent's actions narrow down their ranges (and in many cases severely cap their ranges). You're not playing 5nlz to make a decent hourly. You should be playing it to learn and improve so that you can move up to higher stakes.
  
• 3. Being observant about your opponent's range will hopefully mean that you don't arrive on a river and have no idea where you stand. If instead you are confident about a general range that they likely have it will allow you to both value bet and buff with more confidence.
  
• 4. You need to call less preflop. Personally I simply don't call from any position apart from BB. Yes, this includes set mining from late position. The simple fact is this is a very high rake environment. When you also factor in the number of nits who won't pay you off with their 1-pair hands when you do hit it's simply not profitable from my experience.
  
• 5. Don't bluff catch. Opponents aren't bluffing enough. If you get raised on the turn and you've got a one-pair hand you can fold and not think twice about it.
  
• 6. Most regs are under 3betting but there are a small number who are the opposite with 3bet numbers of 14+. That's going to include lots of hands that will simply fold to any further raises. Feel free to bluff 4bet them with hands that have suitable blockers, e.g. low suited aces, KJo
  
• 7. There are many regs in the pool who have fairly solid preflop games but as you move into post-flop they become very unbalanced. For example pot sized bets (and larger) should in theory represent a polarised range. In practice it's almost always purely value. Check ranges from pre-flop agresors in general are not protected enough and can be attacked at will.
  

Apologies for taking so long to reply, again like all the replies I; 've had, some excellent advice here. I've been using it all at the tables and feel my game is much better for it.

Hi All,

I know the sample is tiny, but my stats are just overall better. I'm using a hand chart first of all for pre-flop and whilst my PFR could be higher, its going the right way. I've stopped calling 2bets unless in BB. I've also managed to 3 bet more. Obviously I still have a lot to do, but making my pre-flop decisions simpler has helped me tremendously.

Thanks to all who gave me advice, I've tried to take it all on board and have contributed to making my play better over this small sample size.

Definitely don’t use solver ranges pre in softer games imho: you can play looser pre the softer that the game is if you exploit correctly postflop 😀