Fuck micro stakes

In the words of the great Borat, Wowwweee wowow!! So as I desperately try to self-analyze my HH's and sessions, my mood at the time (I tilt so easily), and what I remember from the CR videos I downloaded, after my 150k lifetime losing streak, there has been only 1 constant whenever I have done well. And that has been playing just ONE TABLE AT A TIME boys. Im not gonna lie, when the concept of multi-tabling was first revealed to me I simply assumed I could do it. Rather than starting off slow like everyone says, I just immediately loaded up about 18 tables. I didnt find it particularly hard to focus per se, I simply played a 10/7/3.5 game or so. I had a brief run of success at this but for whatever reason deemed it a waste of time and focused on a more LAG game and fewer tables. I have progressively continued to drop tables as I continue to get hammered, all the way down to 4, where I again just assumed this was plenty low enough to focus. But you know, I still find myself completely forgetting about 1-2 tables as I just auto-fold everything that isnt obviously raise worthy. Then I'll catch myself doing this, suddenly start trying to play looser at the table, but without any reads since I havent been paying attention I fail. I'll try to make some range estimation based on villain stats and go for a c/r allin or flop 3bet, and then get all pissed off when they call with some weird draw/PP and hit and feel like I got sucked out on, when I probably wouldnt have played the hand like that anyway if I had been focused.

So I took my shattered bankroll and decided to do the most boring thing on earth, grind 1 table of NL2. And for the last 3 days have actually been up. I've also played a silly 35/25/3 game, but my EV is in line and I have had the best hands. With one table running I find myself constantly analyzing every single action and trying to figure out what I can and cant get away with. I think I have a fundamental misunderstanding of how to read player stats, so I've been keeping them to a minimum to all but the most very telling ones. How often they limp or raise, do they ever 3bet, and how often they steal. This basically defines when they have a good hand vs when they have mediocre crap you can probably take away from them with on the flop.

You know my hero Daniel swears by one table poker. Whatever my fishy obsession with his style is (even though I dont think ive ever seen him win money), he too confesses that he just cant hack it at more than one table. So if I can run 30BB/100 playing 1 table, maybe I can offset the hourly earnings that some of you get when you mass-table at 6BB/100.

There is one last tidbit to consider regarding this "style". And that is enjoyment factor. I am ultra competitive, and I play to win, not for money. So even a game like NL2 can send me into a fury since I dont like losing, even though it's only $2 here or there. Whenver I multi-table I find myself tilting very easily. There is not 1 second of the game I even enjoy. I feel like it's some sort of damn chore that I'm being forced to do if I ever want to be able to make a living at this. But, whenever I one table, I thoroughly enjoy it the whole time, even when I lose. Usually I'm only losing when I'm trying some fancy, so when it doesnt work, I blame myself. When I mass-table I genuinely try to play straight forward, so when I lose, I feel I got cheated and get pissed.

I know everyone starts off at one table, so maybe Im just simply not ready for more yet. I might, MIGHT try loading up 2 tables just to see if I feel as involved or if I start staring at one table like a deer in headlights.

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Comments (2)

Threw some tokens at the FTP slot machine today. Man this game just puts my stomach in knots so bad. I literally get chills every time I go to sit down, even at NL2. It's not the money, it's just the shame of losing it. I'm an extremely competitive person. I dunno if these are coolers are what. I mean how can I put these donks at NL2 on the nuts every single time? Theres no way I cant expect these fish to have soooo much worse in every one of these scenario's. If this happened at NL200 or above, I'd be out a 24" flatscreen, a keyboard, and down at Lowe's buying some spackle for the new holes in the wall. I have issues.



Submitted by : NewbSaibot

Full Tilt Poker Game #12202954884: Table Access (6 max) - $0.02/$0.05 - No Limit Hold'em - 19:41:38 ET - 2009/05/13
Seat 1: Hero ($5)
Seat 2: eightnine89 ($5)
Seat 3: xmvc ($5.16)
Seat 4: Mukimaki ($7.50)
Seat 5: pytys ($0.25)
Seat 6: Mucka_Mucker ($6.89)
Mucka_Mucker posts the small blind of $0.02
Hero posts the big blind of $0.05
The button is in seat #5

Holecards
Dealt to Hero
eightnine89 raises to $0.15
xmvc folds
Mukimaki folds
pytys has been disconnected
pytys has reconnected
pytys has 15 seconds left to act
pytys calls $0.15
Mucka_Mucker calls $0.13
Hero calls $0.10

Flop (Pot : $0.60)

   
Mucka_Mucker checks
Hero checks
eightnine89 bets $0.45
pytys calls $0.10, and is all in
Mucka_Mucker folds
Hero calls $0.45

Turn (Pot : $1.60)

   
Hero checks
eightnine89 has 15 seconds left to act
eightnine89 checks

River (Pot : $1.60)

   
Hero bets $0.50
eightnine89 has 15 seconds left to act
eightnine89 raises to $1.65
Hero raises to $4.40, and is all in
eightnine89 has 15 seconds left to act
eightnine89 calls $2.75, and is all in

Showdown
Hero shows three of a kind, Fives
eightnine89 shows a flush, Jack high
eightnine89 wins the side pot ($8.87) with a flush, Jack high
pytys mucks
eightnine89 wins the main pot ($0.84) with a flush, Jack high
Hero is sitting out
pytys is sitting out

Summary
Total pot $10.40 Main pot $0.90. Side pot $9.50. | Rake $0.69
Board:
Seat 1: Hero (big blind) showed and lost with three of a kind, Fives
Seat 2: eightnine89 showed and won ($9.71) with a flush, Jack high
Seat 3: xmvc didn't bet (folded)
Seat 4: Mukimaki didn't bet (folded)
Seat 5: pytys (button) mucked - Ace King high
Seat 6: Mucka_Mucker (small blind) folded on the Flop
Full Tilt Poker Game #12203197402: Table Requa (6 max, deep) - $0.01/$0.02 - No Limit Hold'em - 19:55:54 ET - 2009/05/13
Seat 1: Jazzride ($4.44)
Seat 2: Rhythms ($2), is sitting out
Seat 3: Hero ($2.06)
Seat 4: ReverseTwilight ($4.07)
Seat 5: CjEnKsFL0PaA ($2.01)
Seat 6: ACRVC ($7.83)
ACRVC posts the small blind of $0.01
Jazzride posts the big blind of $0.02
The button is in seat #5

Holecards
Dealt to Hero
Hero raises to $0.10
ReverseTwilight folds
CjEnKsFL0PaA folds
ACRVC raises to $0.32
Jazzride folds
Hero has 15 seconds left to act
Hero raises to $0.75
ACRVC has 15 seconds left to act
ACRVC raises to $7.83, and is all in
Hero calls $1.31, and is all in
ACRVC shows
Hero shows
Uncalled bet of $5.77 returned to ACRVC

Flop (Pot : $9.14)

   

Turn (Pot : $10.14)

   

River (Pot : $10.14)

   
ACRVC shows two pair, Aces and Sixes
Hero shows two pair, Jacks and Sixes
ACRVC wins the pot ($3.87) with two pair, Aces and Sixes
Hero adds $2

Summary
Total pot $4.14 | Rake $0.27
Board:
Seat 1: Jazzride (big blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 2: Rhythms is sitting out
Seat 3: Hero showed and lost with two pair, Jacks and Sixes
Seat 4: ReverseTwilight didn't bet (folded)
Seat 5: CjEnKsFL0PaA (button) didn't bet (folded)
Seat 6: ACRVC (small blind) showed and won ($3.87) with two pair, Aces and Sixes
Full Tilt Poker Game #12203196227: Table News (6 max) - $0.01/$0.02 - No Limit Hold'em - 19:55:49 ET - 2009/05/13
Seat 1: connmanJ ($2.11)
Seat 2: Hero ($2)
Seat 3: minirake ($2.04), is sitting out
Seat 4: go1975 ($3.82)
Seat 5: kefiros ($0.76)
Seat 6: ksantillie ($2.02)
connmanJ posts the small blind of $0.01
Hero posts the big blind of $0.02
The button is in seat #6

Holecards
Dealt to Hero
go1975 folds
kefiros folds
ksantillie calls $0.02
connmanJ folds
Hero checks

Flop (Pot : $9.19)

   
Hero checks
ksantillie bets $0.02
Hero has 15 seconds left to act
Hero raises to $0.11
ksantillie calls $0.09

Turn (Pot : $10.41)

   
minirake has returned
Hero bets $0.27
ksantillie calls $0.27

River (Pot : $10.95)

   
Hero has 15 seconds left to act
Hero bets $1.60, and is all in
ksantillie calls $1.60

Showdown
Hero shows two pair, Aces and Fives
ksantillie shows a flush, Ace high
ksantillie wins the pot ($3.75) with a flush, Ace high
Hero adds $2

Summary
Total pot $4.01 | Rake $0.26
Board:
Seat 1: connmanJ (small blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 2: Hero (big blind) showed and lost with two pair, Aces and Fives
Seat 3: minirake is sitting out
Seat 4: go1975 didn't bet (folded)
Seat 5: kefiros didn't bet (folded)
Seat 6: ksantillie (button) showed and won ($3.75) with a flush, Ace high
Full Tilt Poker Game #12203140312: Table Epson (6 max) - $0.01/$0.02 - No Limit Hold'em - 19:52:22 ET - 2009/05/13
Seat 1: Erycka23 ($2.16)
Seat 2: Hero ($2.53)
Seat 3: Scabo ($0.80)
Seat 5: jphaynes4 ($2.30)
Seat 6: lilradar21 ($0.43)
Erycka23 posts the small blind of $0.01
Hero posts the big blind of $0.02
Scabo posts $0.02
The button is in seat #6

Holecards
Dealt to Hero
Scabo checks
jphaynes4 folds
lilradar21 calls $0.02
Haleb sits down
Haleb adds $0.80
Erycka23 has 15 seconds left to act
Erycka23 folds
Hero checks

Flop (Pot : $10.84)

   
Hero checks
Scabo checks
lilradar21 checks

Turn (Pot : $12.06)

   
Hero has 15 seconds left to act
Hero bets $0.07
Scabo folds
lilradar21 calls $0.07

River (Pot : $12.74)

   
Hero bets $0.21
lilradar21 raises to $0.34, and is all in
Hero calls $0.13

Showdown
lilradar21 shows three of a kind, Sevens
Hero mucks
lilradar21 wins the pot ($0.84) with three of a kind, Sevens

Summary
Total pot $0.89 | Rake $0.05
Board:
Seat 1: Erycka23 (small blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 2: Hero (big blind) mucked - two pair, Eights and Sevens
Seat 3: Scabo folded on the Turn
Seat 5: jphaynes4 didn't bet (folded)
Seat 6: lilradar21 (button) showed and won ($0.84) with three of a kind, Sevens

0 votes

So before I tilted off the last of my roll furiously attacking micro stakes players with the false assumption that if my hand is 2% better than theirs then I stand a good chance of winning at showdown, I decided to do something even more stupid, play HU baby. Now HU has always fascinated me, even though I have like a total of 500 hands in my lifetime at it. What few adventures I have stepped in have left me feeling like this could be my bread and butter one day, mainly because I get so hyper involved in every hand (which is what tilts me) that a game like HU feeds off my desire to really probe each and every single hand played. I had been warned the game is a variance fest, and now I see why. I decided to take my 3 BI's to the NL50 HU tables, and I courageously grinded my way up to 1.2 BI's vs some guy, feeling like I was doing everything right. Unfortunately I got coolered to hell twice in a row and BAM, bye bye chiplead. Wow, all your opponent need do is double up once, and suddenly he is a tremendous threat to your stack. So I left with like 9 bucks to my name, however not depressed. Whenever I blow my roll like this I suddenly get this new found level of respect for the game, and a sudden desire to regrind from the bottom up.

So back I am at NL2. I'm only playing 4 tables sine well, thats all I can afford heh. I definitely looked over the responses to my last blog, looked at what I was doing, and literally just straight out reversed it. Everyone basically said "do the exact opposite of everything youre doing now". Interestingly I'm not finding myself getting bored, nor am I pissed when I see ATo was the best hand in a 4 way pot against a bunch of idiots who got it allin on a gutshot and bottom pair. I simply abide by the motto of JLIG, "just let it go". I've had 5 winning sessions since, most of which are less than 1 BI days, however this also does not bother me. I used to be obsessed with the idea that I needed to piledrive my way through the limits the way you 10k hand-a-day grinders do it. Now I am simply satisified if I had a winning session. I even quit after a few hundred hands only being up about 15-20BB's, and oddly I felt proud about this. My goal at this point is to simply have winning session's.

So I've doubled my mighty bankroll to $18, which I guess if you think about it is pretty oustanding, because it's DOUBLE my bankroll. And im not shortstacking or anything like that. If I could double my bankroll at NL200 in a week that would be pretty brag worthy, so why not at NL2? Oh well. With a certain rakeback affiliate I use they now autocash your RB to your account every week regardless of the amount. At NL2 this is a godsend as it really helps replenish those micro losses. I should probably keep this to myself, but I also intend to embark back on that Negreanu 5 BI strategy where I move up every 5-6 BI's at the low limits. This could result in another "humbling blog update" in a few weeks but heh, so be it. I think as long as I can keep chill, and realize better hands in better spots will come better days, I can stay afloat.

That, is all....

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Comments (1)

The following recent history of losses is a prime example of the legitimacy of moving up limits where players respect your raises. This is how I have lost most of my roll at NL2 recently. These are the hands that beat me.



This is why I cant beat NL2. Keep in mind I rarely limp, so these are all raised pots, meaning this is what is calling me preflop. Im sorry but this is just too damn loose. Who can compete against this? If this isnt a legitimate reason to move up limits where people respect your raises then I dont know what is. Cmon, not even Durrr shows up with this trash. #1 answer given when I ask someone about their hand "this is 1/2cent man". This isnt poker. I dunno what the hell you call this, but it sure as hell aint poker. Funny, I'm down like 2 grand in my lifetime playing NL2-NL50, and I'm up $1200 at NL200.

Oh, and LOL at newbs trying to slowplay AA/AK.

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Comments (12)

Ok so one of the most important aspects of poker is understanding where you are at in the hand. How players react to your bets is probably the #1 way of finding this out, when somebody isnt trying to be creative. I once stipulated that the only way to actually get any info out of a penny stakes villain is if you simply make the bets too big for him to call without having a legitimate hand, i.e. overbetting. Typical poker theory suggest betting the minimum possible to get this information, usually 75% of the pot for most people is enough to get them to give up if they dont really have good odds to hit anything. It also saves us money when we are wrong about our assessment of the situation. Betting less to get the same info is tactically smart. But I have long since believed this is simply not possible using normal poker theory at NL2. Villains calling cbet range is any PP, any pair, any draw, and AJ+. On the turn you can rule out AJ+ and thats it. This range is far too wide for us to ever be able to put villain on anything, since thats like half the deck (somebody do the math for me). This is why it's always said to be imperative that you have showdown value, because too often you cant really put villain on something without the insurance that your hand can win at the same time, in which case it doesnt really matter b/c youre already playing the best hand. As soon as villain calls your strong holding THEN you can start to put him on a range. I.E you have AA and he calls 2 streets on a King high board, villain almost always has the king.

So what kind of leverage must we use to curb villains into playing like you expect at higher limits? Well, if you play hard, and i mean HARD against them, it seems they WILL fold out all but top pair, and OESFD's, and the nuts. They also seem to interpret your strength as a hand you are willing to stack off with, so they frequently shove with TPNK and the nuts, giving you an easy fold, albeit you paid a lot to find out in the process. But so long as you stick to a relatively strong starting range of hands you arent going to be frequently behind on the flop spewing away with "information gathering bets". So now the question becomes how much money are we winning in the long run risking so much to achieve a certain result pending villain will fold. Is our FE through overbetting really worth not playing the top 5% starting hands. Can we ever play a LAG game at NL2 if we simply make it near to impossible for villains to play their rag hands? Well, I think the answer is yes.

I am going to attempt to really fight villains by hitting the POT button every single time I intend to bet. TPTK, OESD, FD, multi-way pots, IP/OOP, etc etc. In fact, I will probably only value bet less when I have the absolute nuts and I dont think villains will notice that my bet size has suddenly decreased (as I have been folding too many people on the turn/river when I hit and they donk out for .20 and I raise to $1.50)

I expect variance will be higher than normal, but nothing that I cant outlast with enough BR to cover the swings when someone is crazy and stacks off with bottom pair. It WILL happen, but not as much as I originally thought.

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Comments (3)

FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU goddamnit I hate fucking minraises so goddamn fucking much. Someone please tell me I should just fold every single time. It's like I always have some massive overpair on a drawy board and some cocksucker check minraises me when the draw hits, or just minraises me flat out at some point in the hand. I CANNOT FOLD TO THIS. I am priced in to calling every single fucking time. But goddamnit all it does is price me into calling river shoves and shit b/c the pot is always structured in such a manner where I have to fucking call. But these fags ALWAYS FUCKING HAVE IT.

Right? Do I have to fold to minraises? Jesus christ wtf can I do to combat this, it's like the only fucking big bet fish know how to make. Just fuckin spaz out and throw their mouse to the corner of the table and hit RAISE. Dont even think about adjusting that slider or typing in a number, just hit RAISE. HOLY SHIT OMFG I HAVE SUCH A GOOD HAND I CANT EVEN BEGIN TO KNOW WHAT TO DO........CLICK RAISE, whatever it says CLICK RAISE!!!!!

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Comments (4)

So I decided to embark on a little experiment in curiosity, exploring villains' true range. I frequently get tilted at the situations I encounter, and feel I often have no idea wtf villain has. The only times I get to see are when we are stacking off or other typical showdown scenario's. But this has not been enough for me. I really really wanted to know what cards people are playing. So I gave myself a superuser account and simply elected to check/call all rivers if I had the nuts. If I was an obvious dog well then I folded when appropriate.

What I did was play a 0% AG postflop game. The idea here was using the best hand as insurance to see frequent showdowns. Forget about EV or making money, I need information. No this was not spewy tilt calls like "zomg you hit the flush, CALL". If I had quad aces I was checking flop/turn/river just so I could see what other people were limping, raising, minraising, and betting with.

Basically any hand I would normally bet, I checked. No matter what. Preflop was a different matter. Preflop I made my standard 5xBB open, because I still need to see what people are calling with preflop to better understand their postflop range. I cant learn anything by getting coolered from the blinds if I limp AA preflop.

Holy stromboli this game is weird, at least at MSNL. I would say there were 2 types of plays that I most frequently encountered

1) Massive slowplaying. I.E. players raising preflop and then checking back AA.
2) Massive bluffing. Players bluffing rivers with air was quite common.

I know most players at MSNL are limping damn near any two preflop, but it's how they play later streets that has me most concerned. It seems like everyone is always trying to do something fancy. I figured most players were always drawing out for a gutshot straight or calling off any pair. Maybe thats how it is perceived when you are the aggressor, otherwise what else can they be doing? But if you just check back every hand suddenly these guys have some sort of playbook.

Anyway, the only thing I really learned was that you absolutely positively must have showdown value at MSNL. While you might not be able to bluff fish out of pots, they sure as hell will try to bluff you.

0 votes

Comments (9)

So I never liked playing on FTP due to horrid interface + limits were too high, even though I had a rakeback account. I caught a horrible virus the other day and had to restore my pc from a backup months ago and I had my little FTP icon still on the desktop, so I fired her up just to take a peak at the nosebleed stakes, and what do I behold? They now offer NL2 tables! I think everyone agrees that with rakeback you can actually self-sustain and be break even for quite some time even during a downswing. I'm like $2 from being able to cash in $50 in rakeback to my account so I'm going to try and make FTP my new home for awhile. Back then I used to 20 table FR and doing this on FTP sucks. I think they limit you to 16 or something (I 2-6 table 6max now), there were zero quality multitable tools available, and I was constantly finding myself sitting out on tables from missed action b/c their crappy software never brought the table to the front. The whole experience was just too tilting so I stayed on stars, who's FPP + T$ cashout courtesy of TL.net is just as good (hell maybe even better. Every week or so I can cashout 10 bucks through here playing those Sunday turbo's that payout the top 6 winners).

So my FTP BR is $50, and my stars BR is $110. I might, MIGHT dump my stars roll over the FTP so I can donk it up again playing NL25 or some retarded shit. But for some reason whenever my roll reaches critical mass like $20, I suddenly go into smart mode and only play limits I can afford. I grind myself out of the hole, then take 3-4 buyin shots at higher limits and pray for a good streak to lift me out of uNL for good. Hasnt happened yet. But it will still be interesting to see how long 27% rakeback can keep me afloat even during hard times.

0 votes

Comments (5)

so I can grind while I grind!

So I covertly snuck around the company network and accessed my stars account from work today. This means I can play poker while at work! While they pay me $15/hour to do meaningless boring bullshit, I can also make $15/hour playing meaningless boring poker! It's win win!

So how long until I get fired?

And what might be a few good excuses to use for why I'm using remote desktop? Researching medical advice for inverted penis disorder? Considering transgender operation? I've recently become depressed and am seeking help for fantasies of stalking from office to office with an Armalite AR-10 carbine gas-powered semi-automatic rifle, pumping round after round into colleagues and co-workers?

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Comments (6)

How? How is this fucking possible? HOWWWW??!!??! How can you play any two cards every single hand and actually win?!?!?!?!?! I saw him limping AA and KK a couple of times, so obviously this faggot has a "system". Never raise preflop, but he wouldnt trap post flop. He would always start minraising and checkminraising if he had a hand.

I just dont see how variance can be in this guy's favor for this long. 100 fucking hands at near 100% vpip and holding +300bb's are you fucking kidding me? This just seems to defy all mathematical odds.

So wtf, how do you play against some piece of shit like this?

edit: DOH this is NL25, should have mentioned that

0 votes

Comments (20)