First month recap, Don't try to control the uncontrollable

My first poker month is over and it's not time for a quick recap of this month's goals. Overall January has been pretty mediocre poker-wise. My head wasn't in the right place, I didn't play enough volume and i've played scared, mostly because of a bad downswing. However, it hasn't been all bad ;

The Good

Poker aside, I like the way January played out. I spent quality time with family, friends & girlfriend, eating habits were good and I only missed 2 days of exercise in the whole month. I also got a good amount of writing done, something I hadn't really planned for. I have some ideas of where to next take the blog and I hope to develop it some more in the future. Regarding health, life and extras, i'm pretty satisfied and wish to continue doing the same in February.

The Bad

Sleeping habits were pretty shaky. For the most part I respected my 11pm bedtime when I worked the following day but other than that it's been all over the place. Hard for a nightowl to resist the temptation when there's no work the following day. However, going to bed too late drains my energy for exercise & motivation and an irregular schedule doesn't help my focus on poker days. Definitely something to work on.

The Ugly

My actual game has been pretty terrible this month. Ran 900$ under EV in my first 2 sessions and it really messed with my head. Playing scared, worrying too much about everything, not playing enough, all things that worsened my downswing. 

However, something good came out of it as i've finally figured out why it messed with me so much. Most of it came from the pressure of "going pro". Because of some arbitrary transition, I suddenly became worried about my game, tried too hard, began to focus on results and winrate way too much, which led to playing scared/losing motivation. 

Looking back at past months, I can see similar spots where I dropped just as many buy-ins yet it didn't affect me because I didn't "feel" the downswing. In the end, downswings are just illusions between two points in your graph but the consequences of "feeling" a downswing are very real. The only thing that materializes a downswing is when you happen to look at your graph at X and Y points. 

Thus, what is the solution? It's actually really simple ; don't look at your results, you can even block the stack amount on your screen to be completely in the dark (unless your opponent is deepstacked and you need to know how much you have, obviously). You only need a couple things to do this ; the confidence that you are a winner in your game (IE : if you have over 100-200k hands as a winner), and a sufficient bankroll.

I happen to have over 70 buy-ins and despite the recent swings i'm still in the green over my past 200k hands at 100NL. The only thing left is to accept the worse should it come. If I lose 40+ buy-ins before my next bonus (about 80k hands), then so be it and i'll either step down or stop poker altogether. I think coming to terms with the worse case scenario frees up a lot of unnecessary anxiety. It also leads to a very important point which is particularly vital in poker :

Don't try to control the uncontrollable. It will drive you nuts and increase the chances you cause, instead of avoid, the undesired event. In poker terms, this means you cannot control luck, variance or your winrate. Face facts, accept the worse case scenario, plan and aim for the best one, and then just play. The rest isn't up to you, and trying to do otherwise will lead to much unhappiness and most likely failure.

Overall, I think the lessons learned this month were worth the bankroll hit. Life-wise, a lot of what I do is already right and if I fix the psychological bankroll leaks, I should be right back on track for February and onwards. Current goal for February is 100k hands, which will give me a bunch of stellar rewards and my next big cash bonus. Onwards!

Getting your head straight during a downswing

Sometimes it feels like everyone you play with is outplaying you. This feeling is usually happens during a downswing and it can be very dangerous. Why? Because it can lead you to that dangerous zone where you try to outplay everyone and end up "fixing" what's not broken, which in turn worsens the downswing and creates a very dangerous vicious cycle. So, how do you get your head straight during these rough patches? The solution is simple, and it all has to do with confidence.

This is an area where I still struggle, even after half a million hands, because poker is a game that can really mess with your brain. However, here are some tips that can help solidify a shaken confidence ; practice solid bankroll management. When you have 80 buy-ins, that 20 BI downswing will be a lot easier to go through. If you only have 40 BI, the same swing will make you feel very uneasy (in which cases you should definitely step down in limits for a while).

Second, look back at times where you won. If you've won over 100k hands at any given limit, especially over 1ptBB/100, chances are very high that you are a winner in your game. This means even if you don't improve dramatically, you'll always win money playing your usual game at that stake (obviously, players improve overtime but this process can take many months, if not years).

Third, look at the graphs of successful players. Notice how some of them have 50k, or even 100k stretches where they break-even, with huge swings in-between. This can give you perspective, you'll notice that you're not alone and that even though it seems like the end of the world, your downswing is perfectly normal. Remember that everyone makes mistakes, and even good players still make some very stupid mistakes at times. This is why you don't need to be perfect to win, you just need to make a few less mistakes than your opponents and you're gold!

Finally, look through your database and appreciate your game. We often hear about leak-finding database-digging sessions, especially during a downswing. While it is true that the downswing may be caused by bad play and you should try to spot leaks that may have developped without you noticing, I think there's a delicate balance that must be achieved. Looking only at your faults or at the things other players do better than you can lead to a state where you feel your game is no longer appropriate for the stake you play, despite your proven winning record. This is poison to your confidence, especially when mixed with a downswing.

Thus, I recommend an appreciation session in your database. Look at all the hands you played well. That good barrel, the nice raise bluffs, that sweet hand where you extracted maximum value with an overpair, all those thin river bets you didn't miss, all the good laydowns you've made. Take some time to appreciate the player you've become and notice how your game, while not perfect, still has a lot of things right. This can really give you a positive outlook on your game, rebuild your confidence and break the vicious cycle a downswing can create. So get out there and play with your head high!

Taking my own advice

It's weird how we sometimes forget the most obvious things in poker and in life. Somewhere along the way, we get caught up in the elaborate bluffs, fancy plays and razorthin value bets. These things aren't inherently bad, that is as long as they don't obfuscate the solid foundation upon which they must rest. Ever since I got Supernova, something feels off with my game. I have trouble getting my target number of hands and even though i'm playing soundly for the most part, I feel rushed and stressed out. Although it didn't help that I ran 900$ under EV in my first 15k hands, I think what's wrong is deeper than that. It's certainly not a bankroll or winrate issue, as I still have over 80 buy-ins for NL100 and despite this last stretch I still have a very healthy winrate over my last 100k hands.

Somehow I just can't seem to pinpoint exactly what's shaking my confidence. Maybe it's the pressure of "going pro", although I have 0 financial concerns for the time being. Perhaps it has to do with my perception of what a pro is, with the bar being very high. In any case, I think I ought to take my own advice and, as long as things don't feel right, step down for a little while. As of today, I can't identify exactly what it is that's causing this state, but I think a nice stroll down with my beloved NL50 is just what I need while I sort it all out. In the end, there's no point to play if you're not having fun ; as a wise man once said : "a man whose only pay is his pay envelope is a poor man, no matter how much money is in the envelope".

Q&A-Workshop #2, player evolution, thinking in terms of ranges (draws, pocket pairs, turn, etc)

What is the Q&A-Workshop? It's basically a Q&A with me, Zapatos80 on Pokerstars. The difference between this and a normal strategy post is I want to take a more personalized approach to poker study. Micro players already have access to many amazing sources of information like the Concept of the Week series (http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/78...ntents-397190/) but the sheer amount of strategy and theory can be daunting to take in and at first and it can be very challenging to figure out exactly what applies to your game, so this is where I come in.

You might be wondering "who is this guy?" In short, a Supernova budding Small Stakes player that enjoys writing about poker and interacting with the community. For those who are interested in learning more about me and my progress, you can follow me right here on my blog. If you want to participate in a Q&A-Workshop, send me a PM with the following :

- Your poker progress (when did you start playing, what stakes you're playing, how you are doing)
- Your poker challenges (situations you find difficult, both on and off the tables, spots you're unsure of, various types of villains that give you trouble)
- Your poker goals (what do you want out of poker, what's the next step you're working on as a poker player). If you have 1-2 hands that gave you trouble, you can include them as well.

The goal here is simply to expand/simplify CoTWs and basically make them more accessible & personalized. I also think the Q&A format will make it easier to adress the real issues and challenges that micro players face, as we tend to take many strategies for granted as we move up. Finally, i'd like to divide my answers into two sections ; the quick fix & the more detailed explanation. If you just want to plug that leak or get a fast, pragmatic explanation to your problem, use the quick fix. If you want to take the difficulty up a notch, go with the detailed explanation. However, this particular Workshop is so vast that i'll be going with a more pragmatic, direct approach to every topic.


Q&A-Workshop #2


Hey! Getting right on to subject -

poker progress

*long, but explains importance of concentrated info in a way

I started playing with thoughts about moving up in stakes over time about 5 months ago. I played by following FPcoach (FPCoach is a simple "training wheels" free web app created by Athene (Chiren80) and is basically a simple, basic guide that you can follow to the letter to beat NL2 and can be found at his poker community site, friendly poker :http://friendlyp.ning.com/page/fpcoach-1) for ~2months showing ~125 BI profit by grinding 24 tables @ NL2. I desperately wanted to move up in stakes, started playing NL5 and it seemed much different. At 2NL, it wasn't uncommon to see all-ins with any two cards with a lot of people playing a lot of hands preflop. At 5NL, those all-ins seem much rarer and people also play a lot tighter preflop. I started looking for ways to improve my play and got lost in the immense amount of information available - read 2 harrington on holdem books, but in the end I didnt remember almost anything of it excluding psychology, and some articles I read/videos I watched also gave me some good info but I didn't know how the best way to use it.

Btw just now thanks to this I found COTW on 2+2, I think I will study it similiar to you and school subjects - taking notes.

After that, I started adding in some NL10 tables in place of some NL2 & NL5 tables. I also applied some things I had read about like raising flop cbet vs 1 player roughly 50-60% in all three stakes although I realized it's not that good to bluff in the micro NL2 and NL5 stakes I play.

I slowly lost ~ 20 BI's @ NL10 by my estimates (not including rake) using these things, stepped down to NL2 & NL5 and then raised my bankroll to the point where it was after 2 months of play and where I am now, by playing NL2 and NL5 again (all that in ~1month), then I stopped playing poker for a long while. Now I came back and i'm just grinding NL2 again.

poker challenges

There are quite a lot of situations where I dont know what would be the GTO play (Game Theoritically Optimal). Some of those spots include, but aren't limited to :

* Playing pocket pairs. For example I always folded my TT to a cbet on flop with lower cards. After that, I tried raising or 3betting in similiar spots and at first, I was amazed to see it working so well;

* Finding table balance. Adding NL10 tables to my 24-table setup when I was just starting at that limit tables wasnt good. Table selecting during play (how to concentrate on table selection when you're already paying attention to your own tables)

* Drawing. For example I raise the flop with a multi-draw with intention to go all-in, but then I have to fold on the turn because of bad odds (not including implied odds). What's a good turn play with these draws?

* How to use implied odds. I practically never use them to estimate whether to make call or not

* A general understanding of things like position - one thing I hear often is "you can call in this spot because you will be in position on the flop". How can I tell when I will be given action first? And how does that affect preflop play? I usually fold low suited connectors to a raise because the price is too high, not because I will be out of position on the flop.

* Improving concentration - Mind Flow (http://themindflow.com/) helped a bit but I still tend to make silly mistakes in poker (and in other things too).

* How the average player evolves as the stakes go up - being more aggresive pre-flop is not the only alteration to be made etc.

poker goals

Becoming a Supernova would be absolutely amazing to say the least. In the short term, my goal is to play NL10 profitably, to study COTWs and hopefully to be able to use the information on a daily basis so I can finally move up without being scared.

GL!

Wow, this is quite a mouthful and touches on a ton of different subjects, all of which could be a Q&A-Workshop on its own. However, i'll try to go over everything by really boiling it down to the essentials so you can apply it to your game right away.

First of all, I want to mention something about your up-and-down progress ; this is completely normal. I say this because it's so easy to watch some of the super succesful players and think that if you don't succeed right away, you're a poker failure. Nothing could be further from the truth, and I would bet quite a lot that the vast majority of succesful small stakes players and above went to this process many, many times before making it. 

If you read about some of the extremely succesful men and women in any undertaking (business, acting, etc.), you'll see that more often than not, those people had to deal with a lot of failures before making it big, something we really don't hear or read about very often. Thus, keep your chin up and keep grinding. As long as you're determined to study and play well, success is guarenteed.

Player tightness in NL2 vs NL5

You mentionned one big difference between NL2 and NL5 ; player tightness. There's basically two ways to make money in poker. Having the best hand at showdown (value), or making people fold (bluff). When people are playing a lot of hands and getting to showdown very often, then playing premium hands only is a surefire way to make profits. In the loose NL2 games, this is the best strategy to adopt (tons of value betting, very little bluffs).

At the other end of the spectrum would be the hyper-tight guys who only play AK/QQ+. These guys are playing so tight that it becomes super profitable to raise ATC when you're playing against them (tons of bluffing, and only value betting when you have a supremely good hand). Those players are very rare, but if you find one, don't be afraid to steal their blinds very aggressively.

In most games however, you'll find players in the middle of these two extremes. The better the player, the more balanced your bets will have to be (need a proper balance between value and bluffs). At NL5, more players understand that playing tight preflop is good, so you'll have to adapt accordingly. As a rule of thumb, it's never wrong to tighten up yourself. Playing AJ in early position is great if people will call with A2-AT (like many people at NL2) but if the tight players are only calling with AQ-AK, you're going to be in trouble. 

You should also limp a lot less since raises are more likely. At the loose and passive NL2 games, it might be profitable to limp many hands, even in early or mid position, because many people will limp behind you, giving you good odds to hit your hand. If the players at NL5 are tighter and more aggressive, you should limp a lot less yourself or you're going to face a lot of raises you simply cannot call with weak hands. So if you change only one thing preflop, tighten up significantly in early and middle position and limp a lot less, if ever.


Thinking in terms of ranges/continuation ranges & why are you betting?


This is such a huge concept that it's going to be hard to sum up quickly, but I think it's a core piece of the answer to your questions here. A range is the hands an opponent can have in a certain spot. For example, if villain is raising 8% of his hands in early position, we can assume that if he raises UTG, his range looks something like this :

AA-88, AK-AJ, KQ

His continuation range is what he will continue with if he faces a bet. For example, if we reraise him, his continuation range might be :

AA-QQ, AK

This is a VERY important concept that is often misunderstood. For example, if you have JJ, you're ahead of his raising range. If he went all-in with his whole range against your re-raise, then you would be correct to call because you have 54% equity with JJ. However, if you reraise and he tightens up to only AA-QQ and AK, your JJ is not looking very good with only 36% equity.

This is so important that I want to emphasize this again ; when you're looking at a pretty good hand that's likely ahead of villain's range, don't bet automatically. Always ask yourself this ; if I bet here, what will villain continue with? Will he continue with a lot of weaker hands or will he fold everything I beat and only continue with hands that beat me? If you're not familiar with this stuff, it may be confusing at first so don't be shy about asking questions if you need more explanations.

By reading your questions, it seems likely that you haven't mastered thinking about ranges/continuation ranges. This is normal and takes a while to develop. However I can't give you direct answers to your more elaborate questions because it depends on so many factors. Instead of giving you a fish, i'll do my best to teach you how to fish.

Raising cbets

First of all, I highly recommend you never try to apply something in poker without knowing why you're doing it, especially if it's a play that seems uncommon or risky. Raising cbets 50-60% of the time is a good example of that ; what are you trying to accomplish? Remember that in poker, we're almost always betting for one of two reasons (for value, or as a bluff) and as a rule of thumb, we mostly want to bet for value and bluff occasionally for balance. 

If you're raising 50-60% of cbets, that means that a very high % of the time, you're raising complete air. This is bad in any situations, but it's a particularly expensive play at the micros since people don't fold very often. At the smallest stakes, I would recommend raising for value only. If you have a really solid hand and villain is likely to continue with worse, then raise. Don't raise-bluff much, if ever. Remember that you only need to raise-bluff to balance your value and that balance is defense. If villain calls a ton and rarely folds, why bluff?

Playing pocket pairs

This is basically impossible to cover in a short post but here's the gist of it : small pocket pairs (22-77) mostly rely on set value. The cheaper you can see the flop the better. If preflop raises are very rare, then consider limping with those hands. If preflop raises are common, then tighten up and just fold them in early/mid position and look to raise yourself in late position if everybody folded to you.

For beginners, I recommend you play 88-JJ exactly the same way as 22-77 preflop. The reason behind this is that although they have more value postflop, those mid-pocket pairs can be really tricky to play postflop and it's very easy to make expensive mistakes with them. Thus, if you're not sure how to maneuver complex postflop decisions, you're much better off playing them exactly like 22-77 and only continue if you hit your set. Tight is right and it's much better to sacrifice a small amount of EV than to spew massively postflop.

Finally QQ-AA should be played very aggressively for value. Against most people you can reraise and shove QQ-AA preflop. Be careful about QQ though, especially if the reraiser is very tight. Nothing wrong with folding QQ preflop if the reraiser is so tight that he's only reraising KK/AA. 

I really can't do justice to this subject in a few short paragraphs but my goal here is to help you patch up your game and if you follow the above, you should be ok preflop. For postflop play, I would recommend playing 22-99 purely for set value. If you hit your set, bet and raise and look to get all-in on all but extremely dangerous boards (4-straight or 4-flush on the board). With TT-AA, look to bet/raise and get all-in against loose opponents if you have an overpair. Against tight opponents, be careful, especially with TT-QQ, since a raise from a tight opponent usually means 2 pairs or better. Pocket pairs can be some of the trickiest hands to play well postflop, especially out of position, so until you have a very solid understanding of ranges, continuation ranges and opponent tendencies, stick to the "tight is right" strategy.

Table balance

Here's my rule regarding the number of tables ; if you're routinely in medium/big pots with marginal hands, with no idea what to do and how you got there or why, you're playing too many tables. Focus on quality and speed will come naturally. This is especially true when you're first moving up to a new stake because you need to build your confidence and get an idea of how people are playing.

Also, never underestimate the importance of table selection. At NL2, most tables are filled with loose players so table selection doesn't matter much. However, the higher you move up in stakes, the more important table selection becomes. Obviously, you want loose tables filled with fish. However, table selection works both ways ; finding fish is good, but avoiding tough regs will also improve the quality of your tables. If you don't like the players at your table, for whatever reason (is a good player constantly reraising you? is someone playing in a way you don't understand and is giving you trouble?), then leave the table and find another one.

Draws

This is another group of hand that can be tough to play and is another huge subject on its own. When you have a good draw (flush draw or open-ended straight draw), there's two important things you need to figure out ; fold equity against your opponent(s) and implied odds. If you bet/raise, will your opponent fold? This is your fold equity, and the more likely villain is to fold, the more you should consider betting/raising with your draw. If villain is very loose, as is likely at the low stakes, then consider checking or calling instead. 

Check for a free card, or call if you're getting a good price. The looser your opponent, the better your implied odds. This means even if you're not getting the proper price (roughly 4-to-1 for a flush draw on the next card), you can call a bet if your loose opponent will give you action on further streets. Unfortunately there's no recipe for this and fold equity/implied odds are very villain-dependant. At the low stakes however, you should always assume your fold equity is low and your implied odds are high as a rule of thumb. Don't vastly overestimate your implied odds, but as long as you reasonably stick to that you should be allright.

Position

Poker is war, and in war you want all the advantages you can get. Here are the three main advantages in poker :

Hand strength
Skill edge
Position

Position is simply one of three advantages you can have over your opponent. Basically, if you are skilled and have position, you can play more hands (weaker hand strength) and leverage your skill and position to make up for it. That's why you'll often hear advice such as "play more hands in position". Skill edge is a big factor however, so make sure you have a good grip on your opponent before calling raises, even in position. 

For example, if your opponent is loose and will give plenty of action, consider calling with low pocket pairs in position to setmine. Plenty of speculative hands with decent high-card strength are also fine to play in position, especially against villain who raise a lot of hands in mid/late position. Hands like ATs, KTs, QJs, JTs, etc are all good enough hands when you have position on your side. However, don't play trash or weak speculative hands like 45s unless you have a solid grip on your opponent : (will he fold easily if I raise postflop? or will he give me so much action that I can rely on flushes and straights to make up for those times I miss). Notice that without a good reason to play those hands, you should fold them. It's very hard for me to go in-depth about position in such an abstract way, so feel free to ask more precise questions if something is amiss.

Concentration

I don't think there is one right way to go about it. A healthy lifestyle, balance between work & recovery, fitness, mind exercices like Mindflow, everything can work. Most of it is common sense, and the rest is up to you. The best way to get it right is to test out new things and see how they work out, a process i'm still engaged in actively to this day. 

Personally, fitness, healthy eating and a proper sleeping schedule goes a long way. Time off, a balanced lifestyle and recovery time also help tremendously. The most important thing to remember is don't beat yourself up. Making mistakes is the price we pay for learning, everybody makes them and mistake-free play is impossible, so don't feel bad if you're making mistakes. Instead, try to learn from every one of them and think of ways to make less of them in the future. Remember also that poker is a battle of mistakes, so you don't need to make 0 mistakes to win, you only need to make less than your opponent.

Player evolution

Finally, the evolution of a poker player is basically mastery of all the above and more. At it's very core, poker is basically hand-range analysis and mathematics. You evaluate villain's range given his actions thus far, and what is range will be if you check/call/bet/raise, and pick the option that yields the most EV for you. If I had to recommend one "progression" path, it would be something like this :

- Start out very tight in all positions. Raise only AQ+ 99+ in early and middle position and add AJ/KQ in late position and only continue if you hit top pair or better postflop. At NL2, this should be plenty enough to grind out a good profit.

- Start by opening up on the button. When nobody raised, open up to 20% of your hands and see how it goes (all pocket pairs, all suited aces, any 2 broadway cards). Add a few simple, basic bluffs to your range. When you raise preflop and miss the flop, try a cbet of 2/3 of the pot even if you miss, especially in position.

- As you get more comfortable, open up on the cut-off as well. Try opening up to 15% of your hands there and see how it goes. You can try adding more hands on the button as well. Focus on putting villains on a range and try the occasional small bluff-raise when you detect weakness.

- Once you're more comfortable with your game and your bankroll, buy a hand-tracking software like Pokertracker or Hold'em manager. Having stats to analyze opponent stats is crucial to multi-tabling and is a tremendous help.

- Once you're mastered all this, you're ready to move on to more advanced concepts, tools that will be covered in a future Q&A :)

The more comfortable you get, the more you'll be able to add hands in your ranges and the more tools you'll have. The more options you have in your toolbox, the better equipped you will be to face the various situations you'll find yourself in at the tables. Anyway, this is already getting pretty long and I hope i've done a good job of getting right to the essentials without being overwhelming. As usual, feel free to post questions in the thread. Good luck at the tables!

Q&A-Workshop #1 with Zapatos80, the transition from 5NL to 10NL, 3bet adjustments

What is Q&A-Workshop? It's basically a Q&A with me, Zapatos80 on Pokerstars. The difference between this and a normal strategy post is I want to take a more personalized approach to poker study. Micro players already have access to many amazing sources of information like the Concept of the Week series (http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/78/micro-stakes-full-ring/concept-week-schedule-table-contents-397190/) but the sheer amount of strategy and theory can be daunting to take in and at first and it can be very challenging to figure out exactly what applies to your game, so this is where I come in.

You might be wondering "who is this guy?" In short, a Supernova budding Small Stakes player that enjoys writing about poker and interacting with the community. If you want to learn more about me and my progress, you can read more right here on my blog. Also, if you like this blog, don't be shy, register and follow me as a member! If you want to participate in Mini-Coaching, send me a PM with the following :

- Your poker progress (when did you start playing, what stakes you're playing, how you are doing)
- Your poker challenges (situations you find difficult, both on and off the tables, spots you're unsure of, various types of villains that give you trouble)
- Your poker goals (what do you want out of poker, what's the next step you're working on as a poker player). If you have 1-2 hands that gave you trouble, you can include them as well.

The goal here is simply to expand/simplify CoTWs and basically make them more accessible & personalized. I also think the Q&A format will make it easier to adress the real issues and challenges that micro players face, as we tend to take many strategies for granted as we move up. Finally, i'd like to divide my answers into two sections ; the quick fix & the more detailed explanation. If you just want to plug that leak or get a fast, pragmatic explanation to your problem, use the quick fix. If you want to take the difficulty up a notch, go with the detailed explanation. Without further ado, here's the first Mini-Coaching.


Q&A-Workshop #1


Hey, I'm not entirely sure what it is that you're wanting sent, but as a basic overview, I have been playing online for about 8 months now and feel a lot better than when I started, but I seem to have a horrible time in stepping up levels when I build up enough of a roll. The first time I stepped up to 5NL I completely crashed most of my roll but when I came back to it it seemed fairly comfortable. Recently stepped up to 10NL and lost about $150 there, I just seemed to be getting 3-bet every time I opened and getting bullied about, and any time I stood up to it I seemed to be against Aces or Kings, and I don't have a big enough sample size to know whether they were standard spots or whether it was big mistakes on my part. Any help would be great, because I find it so demoralizing having such problems stepping up in levels.


I'm really glad that 3-betting issues is the first question to be answered because I think that learning the 3-bet game can be one of the most challenging step when moving up and it can quickly get very expensive if you don't adjust properly. First of all, I think a lot of the difficulties that come up when learning to deal with 3-bets are psychological in nature. When transitioning from a game where you never get 3bet to one where it comes up more often, it's easy to think you're getting bullied and that you have to take the fight up a notch because you don't want to be outplayed.


Quick fix :


IMO, this is one of the biggest mistakes you can make when you first start dealing with this. There's two reasons for this : 1) You're probably not getting 3-bet light as much as you think. 2) Even if you're getting 3-bet light a fair amount, it's never that wrong to fold. What does this means in exact terms? 4b/call AA/KK in EP/MP and AK/QQ+ in HJ/CO/BTN/SB/BB and fold everything else to a reraise! This really bears repeating for players who are just starting to deal with 3bets because if I had only one piece of advice to give to micro players, it would be this : you really can't go far wrong if you fold all but premiums to 3bets! 


Taking it up a notch :


Blanket statements will keep you out of trouble, but I want to delve into the subject a little deeper and recommend some adjustments you can make if you want to take your game to the next level. First of all, you need to be absolutely sure that you're indeed getting 3-bet light quite a bit before adjusting. In case of doubt, fold. In exact terms, this means the reraiser needs to have at least 7-8% 3bet in a particular position for it to be worth adjusting, a stat you can get from your HUD (3-bet% vs steals in SB/BB, or simply 3bet by position CO/BTN, etc).

Looking at it another way, if your opponent is reraising 5% of the time then yes, he's reraising more than pure premiums, but his range is still much too strong for you to do much about it. 5% is roughly 99+/AQ+ and there's really not much you can do against that range. 4-betting light is out of the question since even if he only continues with AK/QQ+, roughly 50% of the time he'll fold and 50% of the time he'll shove, meaning if you raise 3bb, he reraises 9bb and you 4bet light to 23bb, 50% of the time you lose 23bb and 50% of the time you win 9bb, a clearly losing proposition. Calling is also bad because his range is so strong you simply won't have room to maneuver postflop. Remember that calling 3-bets planning to only continue with a made hand is a HUGE leak. The price you're paying pre-flop is simply too high to rely on implied odds, even against such a strong range. As an aside, this means that calling with a low/med PP to setmine is almost certainly -EV unless you have a very good reason to believe otherwise.

Let's say your opponent reraises 10% out of the blind but only continues with AK/QQ+ if you 4bet. Now you have some profitable 4bet bluffing opportunities. AK/QQ+ is 2.6% of hands and he's reraising 10%. This means roughly 75% of the time, he will fold to your 4b. Taking the example above, this means you'll win 9bb 75% of the time and lose 23bb 25% of the time for an average profit of 4bb per 4bet. Keep in mind that the alternative is losing 3bb, so that's a 7bb swing in your favor, quite a tidy profit. Obviously, do not overuse this play and tend to 4b light with your trash AX hands, since if you hold an ace, he's slightly less likely to have AK or AA, which slightly reduces the chance he will shove.

Calling is also an option but ONLY if you have a plan to steal it away postflop. Again, calling a 3bet and playing fit/fold postflop is a HUGE leak. Calling and taking it away postflop is especially attractive against people who reraise very wide and cbet almost every board. What they're doing is basically creating a very big pot with a very weak range, leaving them especially vulnerable to a steal. Look for holes in your opponent's game. Does he fold often to raises? Does he cbet flop and gives up on the turn if he doesn't hit? Does he cbet the flop at all? There is simply no one way to go about this, and you need to have a good grip on your opponent to call a 3bet profitably. The simple rule of thumb to remember is this ; fold preflop if you don't know what to do postflop, but if you do call make SURE you have a solid plan to take it away postflop.

Obviously, we could go quite in-depth in this subject, but I think this should get you started well in dealing with 3bets. If you have any questions/comments, please post them here, and good luck at the tables!


Cliff's notes :

Quick fix : Fold all but premiums to 3bets (AA/KK only in EP/MP, AK/QQ+ in LP/LPvsBlinds)

Taking it up a notch : If the reraiser is really getting out of line, add some 4b light. Call the 3bet only if you have a solid plan to steal it away postflop, no fit or fold!

How many tables you should play, My setup, Vigilance in table selection and note taking

How many tables you should play

A question that seems to come up often at the micros is "how many tables should I play?" The short answer is my rule of thumb ; If you're often in marginal spots and you're unsure of why and how you got there, you're playing too many tables. The long answer is that it depends on a lot of factors. I firmly believe that quality is more important than quantity in poker. All things being equal in terms of $/hour, focusing on quality will make your poker experience much more enjoyable and satisfying, not to mention much easier on your mental, emotional and psychological bankroll. If you go busto in mental & emotional energy, no amount of $ bankroll will save you.

With that being said, you want to play enough tables to keep up a good pace and get that hand/hour & $/hour up. The actual number of tables should be decided entirely on a case-by-case basis. For example, if you're a complete beginner, you'll of course start with 1 table while you learn the very basics of the game. As you get better, you may start adding one or two more. What's really important to remember with the number of tables is the principle of diminishing returns, as illustrated in this beautiful artist rendering :






In short, this means that at first, every table you add will almost multiply your winrate but you will soon reach a point where each subsequent table earns you less and less up to the point where you may even decrease your $/hour by adding more tables. Thus, what you want is to hit that sweet pot, right where the curve starts going horizontal. That exact spot will differ for various people. As an old-school gamer, i'm used to twitchy and rapid decision making so mutli-tabling came easier to me. Whatever your situation, don't bother yourself about what others are doing and focus on your strengths. In the end, there is no right or wrong number of tables to play.

The important thing to remember is that you need to learn to play properly before thinking about multi or mass-tabling. If you become really good, speed will come naturally and more tables will only increase your profitability. However, if you try to force the number of tables before you're ready, those extra tables will only yield a marginal profit and worse yet, they may even severely limit your growth as a poker player. So take your time and don't rush through this process. Remember that you can always add or remove tables as you wish so don't get stuck into a "i'm a X-tabler" mentality.

My Setup


My personal setup is 24-tables stacked. For me, 24 tables is that sweet spot where I feel challenged by the speed but never overwhelmed by the number of decisions. I have time to take notes and even if I take more time on a difficult decision, I can usually catch up quickly (TableNinja's auto-time bank really helps in those spots). It's also extremely rare that I misclick, something that started to happen a lot during my monster marathon sessions of 40+ tables when I finished Supernova.

I prefer to play stacked because I feel it helps reduce eye & mouse movement. It also allows me to ignore all-in results, especially when it's a very standard all-in that's clearly correct (IE getting it in with KK preflop, a set on flop, a huge combo draw, etc). A typical session starts with me firing up Hold'em Manager (http://www.holdemmanager.com/), TableNinja (http://tableninja.com/) and Pokerstars. I play 40-100bb tables of 100NL at the moment so I select the appropriate filters and start opening tables.


Note Taking


We have so many tools at our disposal in online poker that sometimes we forget to use many of them. It's funny how I went an entire year on Pokerstars without even realizing I could color code people right on the tables (I thought yellow was the only color available). Previously, I exclusively used HEM to take notes, which was fine for actual note-taking, but cumbersome to quickly recognize people. Now there's two kind of notes I use ; Pokerstars color & HEM detailed notes.

The HEM detailed notes are pretty straightforward. I click the little HEM note tag and I write whatever I deem necessary IE "donks 3x with set", "played set very passively" "will stack off with X in Y position" etc. Those notes are important when you have a close decision at the tables, but they really don't help that much with table selection. Not only do you not have time to read all those detailed notes everytime you open a new table, but even if you could the HEM HUD doesn't open until you played at least one hand at the table.

Now, that's a thing of the past with my newfound use of Pokerstars colors! It's amazing how smoother table selection is now with that simple feature. I have a pretty basic color code :

Red : Dangerous reg, avoid at all costs
Orange : Good reg, avoid if possible
Yellow : Meh reg, easily exploitable
Green : Fish, rub moneyz on titties
Purple : Rock, free blinds on the table

As soon as I have around 150-200 hands on someone, I color tag them. Sometimes i'll tag with less if I have a very strong read but below 150 hands there's always the chance that i'll have to adjust my color based on future reads, which is fine. This simple system improved my table selection tenfold.


Table Selection


The more tables we play, the easier it is to become complacent with table selection. We have our hands or VPP objective for the day, we just load up our tables and start grinding away. Unfortunately for us, in poker, complacency is a very dangerous thing. In terms of our game, this can cause bankroll-draining drifting (a very important concept i'll develop in a future blog). In terms of table selection, what could be a very profitable session can easily turn into a break-even, or even losing session!

Our edge in poker is usually fairly small, so every ounce of EV we let go can quickly become costly. Thus, why sit in a table full of dangerous regs when there's a perfectly good tables of meh regs and rocks to exploit. I play 40-100bb fast tables of 100NL exclusively and it's extremely rare that the tables are so reg-filled that there are simply no better tables to sit at.

This is why coloring made table-monitoring easy and painless. My personal table selection criteria are :

- The more green/yellow, the better
- No red reg two seats to my left, unless I have a very good reason to stay (massive fish at the table or otherwise very profitable table conditions)
- No red reg two seats to my right if possible (some of my red tags are aggressive shortstackers, some of whom I don't mind on my right. However, red regs usually steal widely and won't give up easily with position so why bother fighting them when I could have a passive villain instead)
- No solid orange regs to my left is possible. Sometimes i'll stick around with an orange reg to my left if the table is otherwise good and/or the reg isn't too threatening. I'd rather have a rock to my left, but if the reg doesn't tango with me too much and isn't otherwise a pain in the ass I don't mind sticking around until I find a much better table.
- The more purple to my left, the better. I always welcome free blind money.
- The more yellow to my right the better. Meh regs usually play poorly out of position and have big holes in their postflop game, so position allows me to constantly pounce on them and exploit their weakness.

All this is fairly straightforward but it ends up making a huge difference on your bottom line. As soon as a table becomes too orange/red, I close it next bb and start looking for a better one. Yes, it's a little more work and it might mean playing with a few less tables for a certain amount of time (although it's very rare that I have to play less than 24 tables for an extended period of time), but in the end, your bankroll will thank you. If you have any questions, leave them in the comments and i'll get back to you shortly. Good luck at the tables!

Happy new year! Poker is a sport. The importance of goal setting.

Happy new year 2011! It's with great emotion that I write this blog on the first day of the year. This year marks the beginning of a new chapter of my life and I am very excited to get back to poker after a short 10 days break. I had a great time celebrating the holidays with family and friends and i'm now really pumped to get back in the game! I wouldn't be anywhere close to where I am today if I didn't have the help of the poker community and so I want this blog to not only be about me and my poker progress, but also a place where I can give tips, post strategy & various ways to think about poker both on and off the tables. Make no mistake, poker is no different from any other sport and to win seriously, you need to take serious care of yourself, just like any athlete. In competition, one of the most important part of an athlete's progression is his training. In poker terms, that means goal setting, preparation and focus. You're much less likely to reach your goal if you don't have a very clear picture of what it is you want. If you don't know exactly what you want yet, here's a few steps that may help you.

First, think long and hard about what it is you want and cultivate a burning desire for its attainment. Perhaps you want to get a certain VIP level or beat a new limit. Whatever it is you want, be very specific. "I want more money" does not qualify as a specific goal. First, fix in your mind the exact goal you want to achieve (IE : I want to be Supernova). Then, determine exactly what it is you will do to attain that goal (I will play X hands on Y days every week for Z weeks) and establish a definite date for its achievement (December 30th). Once you've figured that out, write a clear, concise statement with your goal, the time limit for its achievement and describe clearly what you will do to get it. Finally, read your statement aloud twice daily ; once just before retiring at night and once after rising in the morning. Perhaps most important of all, as you read, SEE, FEEL and BELIEVE yourself already in possession of your goal. If you are not used to think this way, it may seem strange but if you're not getting the results you want, why not give this a try?

Second, plan every step very carefully, from the first day all the way to the finish line, write down everything you plan to do in as much detail as you can. As you go along, you might adjust this plan based on your observations, and that is fine. But always having a detailed and solid plan will make it that much more likely that you will reach your goal. One way to ensure you're progressing is to have a "To-do List Template" as it will make the process of time management quicker and easier and makes it that much more probable that you will actually do it. Try to include everything in that list (meals, travel, workouts, work, poker study, poker sessions, daily errands, snacks, shower, meditation, sleep schedule, exercice, etc.). The psychology behind this is that the more things you check off, the less likely you'll want to leave 1-2 things out of 20 unchecked. Plan everyday of the week and print out TDLTs for the whole month at the first of every month. Again, this may seem cumbersome at first but if what you're currently doing is not working, give this a try!

Third, take care of yourself. This step is not directly linked to poker like the first two, but it's probably the most important of all. In my opinion, the three primary pillars of health are ; a proper sleeping schedule, a healthy diet & proper exercice. Don't forget that in the sport of poker, you need to treat your body the same way any other athlete would. Plan this area carefully as well and you will see massive improvements in every aspect of your life, from poker to general well being and happiness. One could easily write a whole book on this subject alone but in short, here's some suggestions of things to work on ; Nutrition, Resistance Training, Cardiovascular Training, Recovery, Mental health (meditation, social activities, achieving balance in your life) and the list goes on. Take a few minutes to think about what aspect of your health you've been neglecting in the past and how a few small changes could end up making a big difference in your overall quality of life, not to mention the overall health of your bankroll!

And so, at the turn of the year, it's time for me to set new goals. I've already accomplished my first major goal of Supernova last year (see : http://zapatos80.blogspot.com/2010/12/end-of-beginning-start-of-career-as.html) and now it's time to reach even higher. As of now, I have no plan to get Supernova Elite this year. If my marathon sessions to finish Supernova taught me anything, it's that playing mass volume is terrible for my game & mental health. The former is pretty obvious ; if you play marathon sessions day in day out, you will obviously start making more and more mistakes which quickly decrease your already small bb/100 edge. But for me, the latter is even more destructive ; feeling "forced" to play a very intense schedule just takes all the fun out of the game. Right now i'm super psyched to get back in the game and play some more and I want to do everything I can to maintain this state of mind all year long. Furthermore, I get very little satisfaction out of playing like a robot. I'm a very competitive person by nature and outplaying my opponents in any game is more than half the fun, something you obviously don't get when playing like a zombie.

Thus, for the time being, I want to really focus on the quality of my game. Obviously I will need to put in reasonable volume since poker will be one of my main sources of income but I want to make sure I keep ample amounts of time to relax/enjoy life, study, work on my game and post my findings in this blog. If everything goes superbly and I climb up in stakes enough that making SNE on a reasonable schedule becomes possible, I may reconsider. But overall, I will be much happier if I "only" get 400-500k VPP but am able to maintain a very positive attitude with poker (and a very positive bb/100 would be great too!).

Since I can't plan out the whole year yet, I will do what I can for now ; plan this month. Here are the goals I want to achieve in January :

Poker :

[ ] Play 30k hands per week.
[ ] Spend at least 3 hours studying my game (reading strategy threads, watching instructional videos, digging in my HEM database, do equity calculations & sharing my results on the forums and in this blog so other people can benefit and/or add/correct my findings)
[ ] Post at least 1 poker strategy blog every week.

Health & Exercice :

[ ] Go to bed no later than 11pm every night.
[ ] Get up no later than 9am every morning.
[ ] Eat at least 2 healthy meals and 2 healthy snacks every day
[ ] Kung-fu classes 2 evenings per week
[ ] Resistance training at home 3 times per week, mostly for my back and knees

Life :

[ ] Maintain a positive attitude by starting every poker session by looking through inspirational pictures & performing a quick meditation for focus.
[ ] Spend at least 1 full evening per week completely off work and enjoying quality time with girlfriend, friends and family.
[ ] Maintain and update this planning schedule at the first of every month to ensure progression both as a player and in life.

There may be other goals that I have forgotten but if I succeed in all this I will consider January to have been a  great first month. I look forward to share this poker year with you, and good luck at the tables!