Micro Stakes: Take 2

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hapahauli United States. Dec 24 2010 19:56. Posts 24

I made an account here a while ago when I first learned how to play Texas Hold'em. Fresh off a nice live-table win with a group of friends, I thought crushing micro-stakes would be a mere speed-bump in my road to poker stardom.

One lost $20 poker-stars deposit later, I ragequit online poker and swore to never play again. Well, that didn't last too long, and I put another $20 onto pokerstars to see what I could do.

Less talk more pictures - to the chart!

...and watch that blue bar drop in the beginning!

Until two days ago, I was the classic fish - I thought everyone else at the table was a fish and never had good hands. Combine that with one horrid downturn of luck around hand #5000 and you have a pretty bad poker player.

Over the last few days, I've been on a tear, more than doubling my bankroll and playing nice tight poker. And for all the articles I've read online about becoming a better player, I never got better until I became a lot more disciplined. Although, these tips have helped me out enormously:

1) Choose Fishy Tables: I've been paying extra care to choosing better tables and switching out of slower ones. It has helped my winnings so much thus far.

2) Don't overplay marginal crap: One of my biggest leaks (and a reason for the downswing in showdown winnings) has been to overplay my hands if I felt my opponent was bluffing (sometimes yes, usually no.) I would take the A7s I raised on on the button and play, and when the flop hit K76 rainbow, I would be calling down bets, re-raising, and doing some crazy insane shit. Thankfully, I've now found the fold button.

3) Don't do insane things with top-pair: This has been another one of my major leaks. I would be shoving all-in with top-pair weak kicker and be losing a lot of money to bigger hands, which brings me to my next point...

4) If the re-raise you post-flop, be very afraid: 10,000 hands too late, I'm finally noticing some betting patterns. Players are often very willing to call and re-raise pre-flop with just about any decent hand, but post-flop is a different story. I've lost so much money on high pairs by betting on the flop, getting called, betting on the turn, getting min re-raised on the turn, calling their re-raise, and getting stacked by a two-pair, straight, or higher kicker.

5) C-bet wisely: I think only today, I've learned how to cbet wisely. I used to cbet on just about any flop and get called on any sort of draw another player would have. If they hit that draw, I lost a lot of money. I'm still learning to cbet dry flops while staying away from the drawy ones.

Atleast I'm plugging up some of the bigger leaks, but there is plenty of work to be done. At this rate, maybe I'll be moving up stakes in a week or two!

I'm always looking for advice/help/pity, or anything that will help yet another poker newbie.

And to wrap things up, a collection of schadenfreude over the last few days. May you laugh at my misfortune! (The first one is rather cute.)

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Hapahauli

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Last edit: 24/12/2010 20:05

K40Cheddar United States. Dec 24 2010 20:07. Posts 2202

Im gonna guess this is NL 5. Best strat is just to play smart and solid and don't go crazy. The instance you mention calling down with A7 on K76 can be a huge leak. I wouldn't call down with hands like mid pair but instead up the power to something like top pair with a decently strong kicker in your call down range unless villain takes some very strong looking line. Tightening up can help you prevent potential cooler situations (having a worse flush/straight) which can be a big help too.

r0mx0 Slovakia. Dec 24 2010 20:16. Posts 1581

way too agro sir, u need to tighten up thats best way u can win there, people will call u down with worse + dont bluff + dont make hero calls with 2nd pair on the river when people bet potsize into u and u were opener preflop, i remember when i watched a vid about 3bets i started to 3b like crazy monkey and soon i realized it wasnt a good idea cause people want fold to 3bets , so u better 3b AA KK QQ AKs AKo ... GL

You gotta plow through that shit !

GoTuNk Chile. Dec 24 2010 21:36. Posts 2860

Nice improvement, remember to maximize ur value bets

superfashion United States. Dec 24 2010 23:36. Posts 918

reeeeeeeeeeeally sick redline for microstakes...if you could win a showdown occasionally you'd be crushing

shoving here as a bluff at 50NL is like explaning calcalus to a 6 month old cat wtf are you thinking - TalentedTom

terrybunny19240 United States. Dec 24 2010 23:56. Posts 13829

redline is cracking me up

don't put much importance on it tho

hapahauli United States. Dec 25 2010 03:51. Posts 24

Thanks for the comments guys! I just played a session with a bit more emphasis on value-betting. Chart below of course:

So this looks a bit more normal... and I think I'm playing pretty well overall, save a few tilts here and there...

(Horribad play below)

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r0mx0 Slovakia. Dec 25 2010 05:09. Posts 1581

+ if u get checkminraised on any street its usually nuts

You gotta plow through that shit !