What the heck is wrong with me?

[mookboi]

Dude. As of this morning, for the month, I was running at -9.75PTBB/100 at 50NL over 6300 hands.

Long run = really long. Stop stressing over small sample sizes.

[Abelardo]

yes the long run is really really long, you can't really conclude much about your PTBB/100 unless you got a massive sample, but you can check for obvious mistakes in other stats at least. Posting hands is the next thing to do once we rule out something is fundamentally wrong like high VPIP or extreme passiveness.

[kurto]

hand 1 - shortstacks, you're just going to lose your stack there.

Hand 2 - yep... you're going to go broke

Hand 3 - fold the flop. having not done that, turn is alright. At these stakes, don't think you're winning when he bets that river.

Hand 4 - IDK... you're trying awfully hard to get your stack in with a pair against a villain that raised preflop, raised your donk bet and then checkraised you on the turn....

I think the first two are reasonable and you had some bad luck.

I think the last two... I don't think you're even attempting to put your villain on a hand. I think the AQ hand is particularly bad.

[Pokey]

In looking at your numbers it seems clear to me that your problem is your PTBB/100. You should try to get that one up -- the rest are kind of irrelevant.

OK, serious comments:

1. Considering that you're playing 6-max, you look too tight. You're on your way to nitsville playing under 18% of your hands. Try to loosen that up to 22% or so, mostly by playing more hands in late position. If you don't feel comfortable with that, then don't -- it's not mandatory at $25NL to play loosely, but it will get you a bit more disguise for your big hands and a bit more winrate for your speculative stuff.

2. Hey, aggro-boy: consider calming down occasionally in postflop situations. You seem to have the common malady of "TA preflop, LA postflop": you have a good, controlled, tight range preflop, but it's left you so starved for action that when you actually GET something preflop you go all psycho-nutzo postflop. AKs is gorgeous, but when you miss and your LP calling station friend check-raises you on the flop, you're DONE. Let it go.

3. On a similar note, you don't have to bet every flop just because you hit. Consider trapping occasionally: CO raises preflop and you call in the BB with 77. The flop comes AJ7. What's your action? If you say "bet," you're wrong. It's time to check, either with the intent of check-raising the flop or (if villain is REALLY aggro) check-calling the flop and check-raising the turn. You've hit your gin card -- make villain pay for it. This is especially true if there's a two-flush on the board: now your opponent will have a powerful urge to "protect from the draw," and you'll have an even better chance to get a big pot built before you spring your trap. If you just lead out strongly, villain will fold. Winning pots is not the goal -- your goal is winning money.

4. Hands #1 is fine.

5. Against tight opponents I'd raise that 66 (in Hand #2), but against looser players, playing exclusively for set value works for me. In any case, you can check-fold this flop -- villain probably isn't c-betting into three players with air, and your hand plays VERY badly against his range. These "loose flop calls" will cost you a fortune in the long run, about $1 at a time.

6. Hand #3 preflop isn't terrible, but it's not great. Depending on your read on MP you might be making a good play, or you might be spewing. I can't tell from the information available. What I CAN tell you is that your flop call is crap. Again the preflop raiser bets into two opponents OOP. You've got naked overs and a backdoor flush draw -- that's not good enough to continue. Dump it on the flop and move on with your life.

7. Hand #4 I'd either raise or fold preflop, and usually I'd be folding. Unless Button is a REALLY big blind thief you just don't have the juice to be playing a weak and easily dominated hand out of position -- it's a recipe for disaster. With 33 I'd be FAR more likely to play. I don't mind your flop play, but at that point I'm shutting down. Given the turn action, I'd be MUCH more likely to check-fold rather than check-raise, and there's no way that I'm calling a three-bet all-in. This hand is an absolute train wreck, and you didn't have to lose more than $0.25. Given how often you fold your blinds to steals I'm assuming that this is not your typical play from the blinds. You were probably frustrated and tilting or something. Don't do it again.

Keep posting, keep asking questions, and keep learning. Oh, and knock it off with the "loose flop call" crap -- it's costing you oodles of money.

[iheartponeez]

[ QUOTE ]

2. Hey, aggro-boy: consider calming down occasionally in postflop situations. You seem to have the common malady of "TA preflop, LA postflop": you have a good, controlled, tight range preflop, but it's left you so starved for action that when you actually GET something preflop you go all psycho-nutzo postflop. AKs is gorgeous, but when you miss and your LP calling station friend check-raises you on the flop, you're DONE. Let it go.

3. On a similar note, you don't have to bet every flop just because you hit. Consider trapping occasionally: CO raises preflop and you call in the BB with 77. The flop comes AJ7. What's your action? If you say "bet," you're wrong. It's time to check, either with the intent of check-raising the flop or (if villain is REALLY aggro) check-calling the flop and check-raising the turn. You've hit your gin card -- make villain pay for it. This is especially true if there's a two-flush on the board: now your opponent will have a powerful urge to "protect from the draw," and you'll have an even better chance to get a big pot built before you spring your trap. If you just lead out strongly, villain will fold. Winning pots is not the goal -- your goal is winning money.

[/ QUOTE ]

Word.

I've tighten up considerably post-flop, for what it's worth.

As for trapping with sets, a lot of advice I hear on this board is that a uNL, playing tricky is a bad move. People will call you down with bad hands, or with decent hands like TPTK, and so it's correct to just bet out with a good hand.

In your example, if I flop set on a board with 2-to-the-flush, do I bet if I'm checked to? What if I have to play first, and I check it, and he checks behind and out comes the 3rd flush card? Now I'm lost in the hand and in position to pay off a fair amount of money.

Does your experience contradict this?

[You're No Daisy]

My man...I posted last week complaining about a 1,700 hand downswing and a few members laughed at me as I had only played about 6,000 hands. Between hand 4,800 and hand 7,000 was aweful for me...a ton of variance. I won maybe 3 out 15 sessions over a 2 week period. My poker graph looked like a triangle. I have started to come out of the downswing which (like I said) lasted a couple of weeks. Stick with it. 1,400 hands is nothing...that's less than 2 weeks of play for me. Reevaluate after 10-12K hands. post a few hands in the mean time and if you're still down, post more hands.

AC

[Pokey]

[ QUOTE ]

As for trapping with sets, a lot of advice I hear on this board is that a uNL, playing tricky is a bad move. People will call you down with bad hands, or with decent hands like TPTK, and so it's correct to just bet out with a good hand.


[/ QUOTE ]

I'm not recommending that you automatically slowplay every set. Rather, I'm saying that if you are OOP and someone else raised preflop, check-raising is often better than betting out. When you bet out ("donkbet") you often tip your hand. Best case, villain shuts down and goes into calling mode. Worst case, villain folds to the show of strength. If you check, most villains will make a continuation bet, so you can at LEAST break off that bluff. Often, they'll call your raise, too, hoping to see "if he'll fire another barrel," so that's two extra bets in your pocket. And if he continues to call down, you've boosted the size of the showdown pot dramatically -- often, your flop check-raise will double the final size of the pot. You want that money.

[ QUOTE ]

In your example, if I flop set on a board with 2-to-the-flush, do I bet if I'm checked to?


[/ QUOTE ]

In position you should bet if checked to. In position when someone else raised preflop and you smooth-called, you should VERY often bet when checked to -- it's like they're giving you their c-bet, with all the profits that go along with it.

[ QUOTE ]

What if I have to play first, and I check it, and he checks behind and out comes the 3rd flush card?


[/ QUOTE ]

When you check, he will bet most of the time. If he checks, the third flush card will come about one-fifth of the time. All told, this is a pretty unlikely scenario, and I'm willing to risk giving a free card in a small pot 10% of the time for the chance of doubling the size of the pot right now and snapping off a bluff right now.

[ QUOTE ]

Now I'm lost in the hand and in position to pay off a fair amount of money.


[/ QUOTE ]

Risks and rewards -- you have to weigh them against each other. If the flush card comes after the flop was checked through, I'll usually bet out. If I'm raised I'll call if I've got the proper implied odds to hunt for my full house (I need about 3-to-1) and I'll fold otherwise. Yeah, it sucks, but that's why they call it "gambling." Building a pot that I'm going to win most of the time is worth a few risks, and being out of position sucks hot sweaty monkey balls.

[ryang]

just listen to pokey. do what he says, boi.

[iheartponeez]

[ QUOTE ]


I'm not recommending that you automatically slowplay every set. Rather, I'm saying that if you are OOP and someone else raised preflop, check-raising is often better than betting out.

[/ QUOTE ]

Usually, though, OOP, I'll be the raiser, correct? I mean, unless I'm in the blinds, because I raise pre-flop with pockets no matter what position I'm in. Should I stop doing this? Or, should I limp if there are limpers ahead of me and only raise if I'm first in?

[maciczka]

1 is okey
2 is okey
3 is very bad, just fold river
4 it's terrible. he minraises on flop, so a) he's a donky and what's your money b) he has air. ok You called it, that's good. You check-raise turn which IS TERRIBLE PLAY. You can check/call it to see what villain is holding, and what his minraising range is. he reraised You? commn?! You can't fold tpdk?