2/5 grinder dreams bigger

Ok here are some of the interesting hands from my downfall in the past week

Blinds: $5/10
Hero: LJ (A♠️ J♠️😉
Villain(s): SB
Effective Stack: $1,100

Villain is decent / weak reg. Seems to be relatively in line from what I've seen

Preflop ($15):
Hero raises $30, SB 3-bets $90, Hero calls

Never folding preflop here, even if they are 3betting tighter than GTO. given small size. No considerations for 4bet against a range that I am assuming is not folding as much as it theoretically should.

Flop ($190): A♥️ K♦️ 9♠️
SB bets $60, Hero calls

Standard. Too thin to raise, and beat value/a large portion of range bet.

Turn ($310): A♥️ K♦️ 9♠️ Q♦️
SB bets $300, Hero folds

I think when they bet pot here I beat no value (at best I chop with AJ). There also seems to be a large amount of value bets, and very few intuitive bluffs.

Villain will have all AA, KK, QQ, 99, AK, AQ, KQ , JT for value assuming he range-bets flop - which I think is very likely for this type of mediocre reg - whereas bluffs I think are harder to find. I think they are supposed to blast off with QTs, QJs, T9s type of hands that this player wouldnt be able to find.

I feel like a nit but what do you guys think?

Blinds: $5/10
Hero: BB (5♣️ 4♣️😉
Villain(s): BTN
Effective Stack: $1,500

Vs the other mediocre reg at the table
Preflop ($15):
BTN raises $30, Hero calls

Could 3bet but I prefer call to live players that underfold to 3b

Flop ($65): A♣️ J♠️ 4♥️
Hero checks, BTN bets $20, Hero raises $60, BTN calls

I think villain is lazily rangebetting this board, so I can get lots of overfolding and equity denial with a smallish raise.

Turn ($185): A♣️ J♠️ 4♥️ 4♠️
Hero bets $90, BTN calls

Was not expecting this card lolol but dream turn. Really unsure about what sizing to use. I feel like I went a bit too small in game, and should have put Ax in a tough spot betting like 140 or 150.

River ($365): A♣️ J♠️ 4♥️ 4♠️ J♣️
Hero bets $300, BTN calls

BTN mucks

Trying to get called by Ax, feel like too much bigger and they just snap fold their weaker Ax. What do you guys think of sizing here?

Those were the two most interesting pots from my recent session. Losing 100bb AA vs AK all in pre, and 99 vs JJ set over set in 3bet pot aren't that interesting but unfortunately were worth a bit more than these pots.

Preview of the first week
Let's start this challenge off with a bang. I'm taking the weekend to recover after aforementioned beatdowns at 5/10 before returning to the 1/2 and 2/5 streets in search of redemption, and more importantly bankroll.
Something notable is I also really want to frontload a lot of poker study. I feel very confident in my game being theoretically better than 90% of 2/5 opponents already, but becoming even more solid as early as possible will pay dividends throughout. Im going to start with preflop - I feel very confident with what ranges should look like in GTOwiz, but obviously different sizings are used in real life, and people have very different strategies involving limping and speculative flats on the button that change what your strategy should look like. I feel like previously whenever I wasnt sure I just leaned a pip tighter than what I thought was "right" but it would be good to have more confidence in these strategies. I will then move on to higher reach strategies on flop and so forth. To be clear, I have already studied a fair amount and do feel very confident in my game being sound in most areas, but there is certainly room for improvement. If anyone has advice on resources or where specifically to look that would be incredibly helpful.

With all that being said, I plan on getting started with the following goals for the week:
- 15 hours of poker
- 10 hours of poker study
- 4x gym
- Max 2500 calories/day
- 8 hours sleep/day
- no porn

Good luck, looking forward to following along!

I like the turn fold in the AJs hand. Definitely feels tight but I would expect that you are almost always against 2P+ there.

Thanks for the support! Exactly my thoughts for the AJs hand. Any ideas where I can find good resources for preflop study for free, I am already familiar with GTOwiz but it is limited in utility for high rake live environments with large RFI sizes

I think you’re studying too much. With soft live games, you’d be better off playing more.

ok maybe. I wanted to start off with a bunch of study because:
- it will increase my hourly for all future hours, especially against regs
- Gives me something poker-related to do on Wednesdays and Thursdays when the games are nitty and reg infested. Im sure I could beat the games at this time, but with rake and nits, I rather spend my time with study, or elsewhere
- i want to feel REALLY confident in my game before moving back up again

I already feel really confident in most basic spots, but could absolutely improve in more high-reach spots. If I feel like study is having diminishing returns, I will play more often, but to start off with I wanna frontload some study as much as possible.

Thanks for the support!

I know it might seem crazy but what are your thoughts on folding bad twopair (like KQ) on the turn as well? The same logic applies, although I guess we beat a couple combos of value. If they're underbluffing by a lot (I think in this spot they are) then it makes sense.

Depends on how tight your opponent is and what he 4bets. If he never has the hands you wrote "QTs, QJs, T9s" then it's good if you manage to fold KQ here. But then it is really important to know that he has no bluffs at al.

Don't know how good the regs are where you play, but if you always fold KQ here, some of the better regs will drive you over at the table.

Yeah this is obv a weaker/tighter reg. I think they under 3-bet ( meaning their 3bet range hits this board VERY hard), and its hard to have many bluffs in this spot, since you often have to bluff with a Q or 9 when tighter regs likely check back because they have "showdown value" with bottom/weak pair. I'm not saying I would fold KQ necessarily (definitely not in game at the time, but the idea came up more in hindsight), was just interesting to think about. I have no doubt this player is capable of bluffing, but it will happen in the more ABC way of barrelling with straight draws or flush draws than finding bluffs with bottom pairs.

Against a good aggressive reg this is an obvious call with KQ

Starting first session of 2/5 for the challenge now. Will update on hours played, profit, interesting hands and any general notes on how I played or things I was unsure about to improve on in future study, and will likely do the same for lots of future sessions. Have begun earlier today with a bit of preflop revision. Stole my friend's premium GTOwiz to study different sizes preflop with rake, feeling good and ready to get back to poker after the past week off.

Pretty uneventful session overall - no really big hands won. Lots of winning or losing small pots and paying the blinds, which is all you can really do when the best hand you had all session was KJs, and you can't find anything better than second pair good kicker all session , I literally only had top pair+ this session once, - frustrating hand history to go along with this, meaning value is obv very limited
That being said, won a decent amount of small pots with timely bluffs to keep myself afloat. It's amazing how often fish just tell you exactly their hand strength, with how long they think or how disinterested they are in the pot, and this certainly is something I should focus more on actively noticing in the future.

Overall played 8 hours and won 60 bucks.

Planning on playing one more session for this week on the weekend to hit the 15 hour goal. Really happy with the quality of my play, won more than my fair share of small pots. Certainly I think I should also be more observant at the table, especially of fish. Whenever I look to open, I should first look to my left every time (they absolutely telegraph their folds), and just little things like this can absolutely add to my winrate in the future.

Interesting hand history:
Blinds: $2/5

Hero: HJ (9♠️ 8♠️😉
Villain(s): BB
Effective Stack: $500

Preflop ($7):
Hero raises $15, BB calls

At the time this was standard raise size for the table, and with postflop edge this is certainly a standard open for me

Flop ($32): K♣️ 10♣️ 2♣️
BB checks, Hero bets $10, BB calls

This is the most speculative part of the hand for me. However, I think the typical live player defends BB too wide so happy to pure bet this and get way too many folds from hands that shouldnt be in there pre considering raise size and rake like A3o no club or 84hh

Turn ($52): K♣️ 10♣️ 2♣️ 7♠️
BB checks, Hero bets $25, BB calls

I think on the turn, picking up the OESD, this is a pretty decent hand to continue barrelling, although slightly annoying if we get raised (have to fold). Also I think live players will fastplay flushes FAR more than theory (If you've ever seen a sim of a monotone board it just loves being insanely trappy/cagey with even A high and Q high flushes that noone playing live will do) making their turn range a bit weaker and myself more inclined to continue betting.

River ($102): K♣️ 10♣️ 2♣️ 7♠️ 9♣️
BB checks, Hero bets $70, BB folds

I don't think my 9 ever has showdown value here, and villain will have a bunch of folds with hands like Kx and Tx no club, two pair. Also from a more theoretical view, apart from hands like this its really hard for me to have many bluffs here. A lot of my bluffs on the turn were one club hands (Ac X Qc X) or straight draws (QJs, J9s), and I can happily check back thinner value with top pair, so the only bluffs I have left on the river (based on how I would play the hand) are J9s and 98s, making this a slam dunk bluff.

I will keep a tally down the bottom here of my overall winnings and hours played from the challenge.

Hours: 8
Profit: 60
Hourly: 7.50 :(

Just checked the 98ss hand, largely solver approved for this hand, although solver also has some savage 0 equity bluffs that it just likes to triple barrel that I would never find like A2hh and Q8dd ( nor do I think I need to find these in a live game, just useful to understand when in the BB position and bluffcatching). Confirmed my ideas about whole range playing small bets and being very cagey and trappy on earlier streets on monotone boards, but much more than I expected. Also solver river sizing was much larger than expected (It liked to use mainly 150% pot and 300% pot) which was very unintuitive to me considering the amount of AcX and QcX I expected the BB to have making them largely uncapped. We do have much more of it and also much more air (polar), and BB does have much more low/middling flushes than us but the result was something I defiinitely was not expecting.

Nice to have a winning session even when you are card dead😀

Interesting hand. I wonder if overbet could be good on the turn. Depends on opponent ofc but i think it can fold out some bad FD hands and 2/3 pair hands. what do you think?

But i like the way you played the hand😀

Thanks for the support!

Tbh I like my smaller size on the turn still, I think it still does what you say of folding bad FD hands - I guess depends on the opponent. An overbet would be trying to get folds from decent paired hands with no club but I really don't trust the average live reg to fold their AT no club because they really don't understand how dead they are vs my value, and how much equity most of my bluffs have.

I do wonder if I could go even smaller on flop with same results though - go like $8 or $7 instead I imagine would produce close to identical folds. Doubt it makes too much of a difference but small edges add up over time!

Good 2/5 session last night. +9 hours, + 305

Played well overall, actually got dealt cards which was good, and have felt much more sure of myself preflop following my extra studying. The big pot that won me chips was an all in pre where I have KK vs AK and hold both runouts for 300 effective. Other than that pretty uneventful - no major coolers going for or against me.

Now I feel more sure about myself preflop again in 2 blind structure, I also want to go through playing in 3 blind (straddle) games - my current strategy is just play as if you were one street earlier (so BTN RFI would play like CO RFI), and be really nitty in SB, but it is all a guessing game where I'm leaning slightly tighter than I should. I still end up profiting off the straddle being there if I just play quite tight since I'm not straddling as well, but I want to squeeze out more edge in the fringe spots.

Blinds: $2/5
Hero: BTN (A♥️ 8♥️😉
Villain(s): BB, CO
Effective Stack: $600

CO is standard weak reg - slightly too loose, slightly too passive. BB is a relatively unknown live fish (as evidenced by cold calling the 3bet), no significant reads.

Preflop ($7):
CO raises $15, Hero 3-bets $50, BB calls, CO calls

Im largely playing 3bet or fold here due to rake, and A8s seems fine to 3bet or flat BTN vs CO, don't think this is really controversial at all.

Flop ($152): 9♥️ 9♠️ 2♣️
BB checks, CO checks, Hero bets $50, BB folds, CO calls

I think I can get lots of random offsuit broadway hands, suited connectors, suited hands with no bdfd or **** overs to fold from both opponents. Also have a hand that picks up equity on a heart, and can get to showdown on an A or 8.

Turn ($252): 9♥️ 9♠️ 2♣️ 10♦️
CO checks, Hero bets $150, CO calls

This is where I'm least sure about my play. I'm trying to get some underpairs and any remaining AQss type hands to fold from CO, but I'm not sure what sizing I should go here for that to happen. Should I go small and just get overcards to fold? should I go bigger to ensure all underpairs fold? should I check back ever (I think probably not given the abundance of stuff to fold out, and still having a cleanish out in an A after barrelling turn)?

River ($552): 9♥️ 9♠️ 2♣️ 10♦️ 8♠️
CO checks, Hero checks

Do I have showdown value here ever? It's kinda hard to have a worse hand calling the turn (if he ever floats flop with QJ i guess?)
But I'm questioning how often they ever fold on this river card after calling turn. Feels like they have a lot of 9x, Tx and not much else.

Villain shows 10♣️ 9♣️ (lol) and wins.

The other interesting spot:

Blinds: $2/5
Hero: LJ (A♥️ K♥️😉
Villain(s): HJ, BTN
Effective Stack: $800

No reads on BTN or HJ, both new players

Preflop ($7):
Hero raises $15, HJ 3-bets $50, BTN 4-bets $125, Hero folds, HJ folds

Standard open. Was really unsure what to do here. I think I want to play just 5-bets and folds here, it's kinda a shitty spot to call, pricing in HJ, and HJ can still 5bet behind and put us in a terrible spot. I think BTN range ( averaging for an unknown live player who potentially also has cold calls here) is JJ/QQ+, AK+ with the HJ still uncapped behind this seems like a shitty time to either 5bet or call OOP, so I just fold.

Call me a nit I don't care.

Totals
Hours: 17
Profit: 365
Hourly: 21 :(

Actually here are a couple more interesting hand histories:

Blinds: $2/5
Hero: SB (Q♣️ Q♦️😉
Villain(s): HJ
Effective Stack: $800

Preflop ($7):
HJ raises $15, Hero 3-bets $60, HJ calls

No reads on villain at this point

Flop ($125): 5♠️ 6♣️ 7♣️
Hero checks, HJ checks

This is the crux of where I am unsure. What should my cbet strategy look like here with my hand? what about my range?

I came to the conclusion that I'm going to be doing a lot of checking here with my range, and my hand doesnt mind checking either. It seems that villain will have LOTS of 56s, 67s, 78s, 55, 66, 77 that I can't have as much of, and so I don't think I have significant range advantage here, so will use big bets and high frequency checks.

Blinds: $2/5
Hero: BTN (K♥️ 4♥️😉
Villain(s): BB

Effective Stack: $500

Preflop ($7):
Hero raises $15, BB calls

No reads on villain, apart from assuming standard live populaton leak of calling too wide from BB

Flop ($32): 9♥️ 5♠️ 2♣️
BB checks, Hero bets $40, BB folds

I think my hand makes a pretty intuitive bet. We have a bdfd, bd straight draw shenanigans, can fold out a lot of dominating Kx, and have 3 outs to a strong top pair..
Any opinions on sizing? - was unsure between going small bet with close to range or going overbets and checks.
I know solver likes this sizing to leverage the BTN's overpair advantage. Main reason I chose it was I think vs small bet villain floats a lot more overcards and bdfd hands, and we have a lot of annoying spots on the turn with this specific hand when we dont pick up equity and have to give up.
Am certainly open to criticism about how I played in game and my thought process.

First week Summary

A successful week not just in poker but in life. Went gym 4 times, ate healthily , socialised a bunch, played a bunch of poker, studied a bunch of poker. A good start to the challenge!

Poker went ok this week - I feel like I was playing really well in most spots and I continue to feel like I am in the top 1-2 players at any table in 2/5 at my current venue and taking some winrate from weaker regs. This is not necessarily a product of me playing high level poker, but rather having solid fundamentals and basic exploits.
However, there are certainly things to improve on:

1. Start coolering people!! This is essential to a high winrate, and playing strong ranges preflop and disciplined multiway postflop should mean that I theoretically cooler my opponents more than they cooler me, this just needs to stop being theoretical and start actually happen

2. Focusing more at the table - I need to get into the habit of more often focusing at the table. Whenever I do I seem to notice small things that help me out, especially with people telegraphing ahead of time with chips in hand or cards in hand whether they are raising or calling or folding. Same thing with a lot of timing tells postflop. Alongside this I want to be much more scientific about building reads on opponents, and so will be taking notes from now on

3. Learning straddle ranges - Learning preflop straddle ranges is where I will target a lot of my study in the coming week. My current strategy of being a nit when there's a straddle is effective considering that I don't also straddle so insta profit, but obviously significant room for improvement.

Second Week Plan
- At least 15 hours of poker gameplay.
- Begin to make notes on reads for specific common opponents
- 5 hours studying straddle preflop ranges

Let's get it done!

+5 hours, +$1400 in a monday night game certainly isnt bad

Yay finally coolers starting to go my way. Some good interesting spots and finally got to play some real deepstacked poker - I usually buy in for the 1k max so had over 2k in front of me close to the end, and the whole table started to get deeper as well which was fun and got to play some interesting deepstacked hands. I wont bore you with the standard cooler spots but here is an interesting hand:

Blinds: $2/5
Hero: BTN (A♥️ A♦️😉
Villain(s): CO - ok reg, played many hours with him over multiple sessions, seems to be relatively solid, doesn't get out of line, plays reasonable in all showdowns I've seen
Effective Stack: $1,000

Preflop ($7):
CO raises $15, Hero 3-bets $50, CO calls - Standard obv

Flop ($107): J♥️ 9♦️ 2♥️
CO checks, Hero bets $35, CO calls - gonna cbet 1/3 with range here

Turn ($177): J♥️ 9♦️ 2♥️ Q♦️
CO checks, Hero bets $125, CO raises $450, Hero folds

Thought about checking back turn here as well considering villain can have a bunch of KTs, QJs, (maybe T8s), QQ and lots of hands that although technically behind have so much equity with many pair + straight draws, pair + flush draws, pair + straight + flush draws. After I get raised I think villain is underbluffing this spot for sure (especially when I hold Ah and Ad), and his bluffs will have so much equity anyway that he needs to have LOTS of them to price me in to call. It's not as simple as just calling because he can have bluffs, if his bluffs are something like T9hh he has inf equity. Shitty spot but seems like a fold.

Totals
Hours: 22
Profit: 1765
Hourly: 84 😀

I wonder why there are more regs on Wednesdays and Thursdays than other days of the week in your poker room? Good luck !

thanks for the support! It's largely because the big games 5/10 and above run somewhat infrequently on these days but run pretty much all the time on other days, and so a couple of the good 5/10 regs, as well as some more competent fish from the 5/10 game hop into the 2/5 games. Also for some reason way fewer really bad fish play on wednesdays and thursdays than mondays and tuesdays, not sure why

Likely won't hit volume targets this week because of life **** and actually having friends :( but will get very close, and still average above the goal for the past two weeks by playing one more session and hitting 13-14 hours total for the week with a 8-9 hour session on Saturday night.

Also it seems like ranges when a straddle are in play is just tighter, except for in the straddle where you can defend fairly wide with improved odds. Will still continue to learn anyway but seems like it should be relatively intuitive to understand how ranges work just transferring knowledge over from 2 blind games, and guessing of vibes/intuition.

Eager to keep the good run going and maintain the highly realistic 80/hr at 2/5. If hungry horse can do it so can I!!