10NL questions

[AdrienD]

One of the most important things I learned trying to move up from 10NL to 25NL is value/protection betting the turn and river ALOT more. Especially valuebetting like when you have top 2 pair on a 4 to straight board on the river and the guy checks to you after check/calling the turn and you know he would probably a) raise turn or b) donklead river with a straight, just shove it in!
Once people know you can make these thin bets you can OCASSIONALY bluff.
I used to bluff soooo often but not valuebet thin at all and thats a very bad combination (think Jamie Gold style)

[bobbaa2000]

Originally Posted by kegasus

Hi

I've been playing poker for about a year but I've been serious about this thing for some months. I feel like I went from a losing player to break-even / small winning player on the micros this time, though, I've got some issues.

First of all, we could say that this is my first time following all this bankrollmanagement thing. I've grinded rolls on 5NL and I played thousands of hands on 10NL. My bigges issue is confidence. Allways when I start to play on a new site I feel good about my game. I'm fully concentrated and playing just fine. I've had some good winningstreaks w/ like 10 buy-ins in some hours, but when things just doesn't go my way I start to play bad and start to do more advanced things that really doesn't work on 10NL.

So what I would like is to get some help by you 10NL grinders (and micro grinders) to get some tips and trix, and your most common problems grinding for hours. I'm currently on a $360 roll but let's say I've donked away maybe $40 this last sessions on stupid calls. My goal is to start grinding $20NL soon, and I guess that's why I'm a bit fraid that I will continue playing bad.

Don't get me all wrong, I've got much experience on this limit and it's not my first time thinking like this, though I think it would be great with all advice I can get to polisch my game on this donk-level.

Thank you!

i had same problems like you. but i sat up some rules that im following every pokersession. if i lose 3 buyins i quit fore atleast 4-5 houer and after that i write down some thing i dit wrong and right. and have a rule dont ever try to get fancy on microstakes. i know it"s harder to do then do say. but you just have to follow them evry session. even if u borded like hell. so you can try to write down some groundrules and se if that works for you to

ye i know my english is bad and im sry for that. just hoping u understand what im saying :P

[zayphod]

play with a HUD if possible. Start to put some faith in the stats after 60 or so hands. remember different villains play differently and your approach to them should be different. You can effectively bluff at 10NL but only those with high fold percentages.

In general, if you are aiming to play 20% of hands (from a chart or whatever) just remember that it may take 150+ hands for that to be reached e.g. their is no rush to hit the magic stats (their are no magic stats). For example you may find after 80 hands you have only played 12% of hands. Who cares if they think you are tight (this lets you bluff). But when that rush of cards comes that stat shoots up. Patients is rewarded most times.

Be really inclined to ditch marginal hands OOP (this has really helped my win rate) if you get played back at (AJ and the like). Position is key when we miss or when our opponent is weak.

Don't go broke on a single pair post-flop (most times).

Don't make weak c-bets: always go for 3/4 or more of the pot.

Don't be afraid to NOT c-bet the flop if you think it smacked them good and missed you (I have had villains try to be tricky by checking to me and I check behind and hit my gin card on the turn and kill their flopped set etc) or if your raise draws in 2 or more people and you miss.

Punish limpers when you are in position.

pretend that the cutoff is the button when you are in the cutoff. This works amazingly well if the button is not strong. (see below as well since you know have 2 buttons per orbit)

Really pay attention to the SB and BB fold to steal percentages. If they are high then hammer them until you get played back at (then go back to hammering them ). This ups your win rate a fair amount.

If up against other players who appear to be good or hard to play against....LEAVE THE TABLE! GO TO A NEW ONE! DON'T TRY AND OUTPLAY THEM!

Always be aware of your image. If you have been hammering the blinds a lot, or limpers then dont be afraid to slow down for a bit (2-4 orbits) as people will start to play back at you eventually. Slowing down helps to balance your image and lets you then proceed to start the punishment up again (refer to the point above though if good players start to harass you).

Have auto reload turned on if it is possible. No point winning a small amount with a monster because you didn't reload.

remember that you are betting for information just as much as you are betting to make $ (maybe even more so since we will miss a huge amount of the time).

Exercise pot control with hands that have showdown value. This has helped my win rate tremendously. Rather than try and blow the opponent out of the way (and get blown of the hand myself) slow down. Lots of small pots are still good for the win rate.

Don't slow play in almost most cases (only slow play when no card can help them but they think it can e.g. you have nut flush and their is an obvious str8 draw on the board). If they are going to fold to your bet on the flop then they will also fold on the turn (might as well get onto the next hand). We have all slow played monsters to have them turn into junk. DONT SLOWPLAY!

Go over your database (PT, HEM or whatever) and see what happened in those hands where you lost reasonable amounts. Look for those same patterns when playing (you will find most are when you are OOP and betting into them)

Bad beats happen! Dumb plays happens! Variance happens! Learn to distinguish between them when you are playing. If it is dumb plays happening then STOP playing and go do something else. Dont throw good money after bad.

Ok, thats it just some small bits-n-pieces that have helped me. general I know, but it really is a case of focus, focus, focus and attitude. I never expect to win. I like to win though and if my attitude and play takes me their then that's good, but if my attitude and play is crap then I cant really expect anything.

Cheers
Zayphod