[pzhon]

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- Should i be playing cash even though i have to buy in half stacked in order to practice good BR management?


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Who told you that buying in half-stacked would allow you to practice good bankroll management? Discount any other advice from that source.

Buying in half-stacked to conserve your bankroll is like filling your car's tank half-way to conserve gas. You only get slightly better mileage because your car is slightly lighter. It doesn't cut the consumption (downswings) in half. If you could buy in for $1, this would not mean you could safely play NL $10 with a bankroll of $20.

It can be a good idea to buy in for half of a stack if you want to work on the types of decisions which are emphasized when the effective stack size is 50 big blinds, which happens when you play against people with 50 big blinds even when you later play with a deeper stack. It means you can correctly or almost correctly go to showdown more often, so you may learn more rapidly. It means the hand evaluations more closely resemble the hand evaluations in limit and in tournaments. However, don't expect buying in for 50 BB to cut your bankroll requirements in half. (On the flip side, buying in for more than 100 BB does not proportionately increase your bankroll requirements.)

The main problem is that you haven't been a winning player. A bankroll does not give you skills. You need to beat the game by a significant amount to overcome the rake, and it doesn't sound like you are doing it.

Also, your bankroll is not your balance. If you lose all of the money you have there, is it a disaster, or an inconvenience to replace it? Bankroll management theory is based on the assumption that losing it all is a disaster, but that's not accurate for most microstakes players.

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- Is it essential that i purchase tools like Poker Tracker or PaHUD at this point?


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No. They will be good investments later, and you can download PT before registering it and import a few hundred hands before registering, but you don't need them to win.

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- In an attempt to become more positionally aware i have been raising a MUCH wider range of hands from the btn and CO position when folded to me(any two suited, Qx, Kx, Ax, connectors, one gap connectors down to 6-4, usually a little narrower from CO). Is this range too wide?


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It's not necessarily too wide on the button (although it's likely to be too wide for the CO), but your reasoning is suspect. Raise the hands you think are profitable to raise, not to change your stats toward some ideal. If the table conditions do not favor raising with Q3o, don't do it.

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Should i not be trying to make so many steals at these low of limits? After one C-bet post flop should i be shutting down?


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Poker is a battle for the dead money. One source of dead money is blinds you can steal. In low stakes games, it is more common that people will defend the blinds too often and poorly, and this source of dead money is more valuable than the blinds, if you are outplaying them postflop.

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- Is it profitable at 10NL to occasionally be playing draws aggressively? Are most players at 10NL not actively thinking enough for this to be +ev?

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Some draws are favorites over weak made hands. Feel free to play those aggressively. In general, don't try to bluff calling stations, and semi-bluffs are part bluff.

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- What is the best way to build confidence during such a significant downswing?


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Excellent question. Toughening your stomach against variance is useful for the long run. However, at the moment, you should not assume that you are losing or breaking even due to bad luck.

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- Should i just be playing straight ABC at this point and only altering my play style when i move up?


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You should find some style that wins, and make sure you know why it wins. Playing ABC poker is more complicated than it sounds, but it might work. Do you know why it should work?

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- What is the best advice to someone who wants to be a winning player in the micro limits?


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I'm not sure it is the best advice, but it is good to learn to crush these soft games before thinking of moving up.