Beat NL2 Challenge AMA

What sites will you be playing?
Fast Fold or regular?
Do you use a HUD?
If so, what stats do you find essential?

Originally posted by VorpalF2F
What sites will you be playing?
Fast Fold or regular?
Do you use a HUD?
If so, what stats do you find essential?

ATM I mainly play on 888 Poker.
I play fast fold tables to get more volume. Unfortunately PT4 HUD doesn't work on 888 snap tables.
I also feel if I beat the fast tables it is more of an indicator that I beat the population in general because I cannot really table select and play the weaker players solely.
The stats I mainly focus on ATM if available are VPIP, PFR, AttemptToSteal, FoldToSteal, FtFcbet, Fcbet, Ft3bet, Pf3bet. But with 28k hands total even on PokerStars I rarely ever had enough hands on players to make meaningful decisions. So I rely on player notes. But I cannot really recall that I ever used any of the notes that I made to my advantage, yet. One thing I do though, if BB and SB have > 67 FoldToSteal I raise any hand from BU and a lot from CO, too.

Originally posted by monteCarlol
ATM I mainly play on 888 Poker.
I play fast fold tables to get more volume. Unfortunately PT4 HUD doesn't work on 888 snap tables.
I also feel if I beat the fast tables it is more of an indicator that I beat the population in general because I cannot really table select and play the weaker players solely.
The stats I mainly focus on ATM if available are VPIP, PFR, AttemptToSteal, FoldToSteal, FtFcbet, Fcbet, Ft3bet, Pf3bet. But with 28k hands total even on PokerStars I rarely ever had enough hands on players to make meaningful decisions. So I rely on player notes. But I cannot really recall that I ever used any of the notes that I made to my advantage, yet. One thing I do though, if BB and SB have > 67 FoldToSteal I raise any hand from BU and a lot from CO, too.

I had heard that PT4 now did 888 Snap tables.
If you to to https://www.pokertracker.com/products/PT4/download.php and click the "View Release Notes" link you will see a page that includes this:

Added:
 888: Snap HUD: Added HUD support for SNAP fast-fold poker

I've only played regular tables recently, and so can't confirm it.
I know it doesn't work for snap tournaments though...

Originally posted by VorpalF2F
I had heard that PT4 now did 888 Snap tables.

Good to know, thanks!

Following! Good luck 888 is a great site

Is there an area you are focussing on atm to get better?

Originally posted by CptCap
Following! Good luck 888 is a great site

Is there an area you are focussing on atm to get better?
Thanks!

I went through the 6max micro stakes walkthrough by w34z3l and took notes on all the videos. Which I am revisiting frequently while analysing hands from basically each session I play. Hands that I am unsure if I played well I post in the hand discussion forum here.

I listen to a lot of poker podcasts. There is almost no real strategy content, but I like it mindset wise.

I meditate, but this is not poker related. However, it benefits poker.

I do not have much time for poker because of job and family. This makes it tough to get enough volume. The advantage is that I have to use the time dedicated to poker in the most efficient way possible.

Currently I am down by 10 stacks over 28k hands. I am also running exactly 10 stacks under All-in EV.
All-in adjusted I am only break even. Which indicates that I have a lot of leaks still. I feel that I am improving and start to become more confident in many spots.

I'm an NL2 fish myself, and cheers to your efforts.

Fast tables are not good for learning, I think. If you're losing, probably due to leaks, you're practicing how to lose, not how to win. More volume, more bad habits.

How about watching other confident players on the table? How they decide to call or fold at some spot, why they do not raise on the river and so on. One thing really helped was to adding check/call range in the Flop, for example.

Originally posted by monteCarlol
I went through the 6max micro stakes walkthrough by w34z3l and took notes on all the videos. Which I am revisiting frequently while analysing hands from basically each session I play. Hands that I am unsure if I played well I post in the hand discussion forum here.

Good idea -- I should go through that again, since I'm trying to re-learn NL Hold'em
I've been playing NL 5 and NL 10 though -- hopefully it won't be too far off...

Originally posted by londonsystem
Fast tables are not good for learning, I think. If you're losing, probably due to leaks, you're practicing how to lose, not how to win. More volume, more bad habits.

I hear you. When I say volume it should not be overrated. I play less than 2k hands per week. If I played on regular tables that would be probably more around 600 hands. I do not have much time and my study to play ratio is quite high. Also I believe that one can learn well in a slightly more competitive environment. I am confident that I will be able to beat NL2 fast fold.

Originally posted by VorpalF2F

Originally posted by monteCarlol
I went through the 6max micro stakes walkthrough by w34z3l and took notes on all the videos. Which I am revisiting frequently while analysing hands from basically each session I play. Hands that I am unsure if I played well I post in the hand discussion forum here.

Good idea -- I should go through that again, since I'm trying to re-learn NL Hold'em
I've been playing NL 5 and NL 10 though -- hopefully it won't be too far off...

I would be happy to share my notes with you. Not sure about copyrights though. I literally transcribed most of the content (which is fine for personal use of course).

First thing you must do is move your bankroll over to Pokerstars. The 6.5% rake at 888poker will decimate your winrate. The rake at Pokerstars 2nl is just 3.5%. It's a massive difference which will add at least 4bb/100 to your winrate by switching over to 'Stars.

Originally posted by arthurbentley
First thing you must do is move your bankroll over to Pokerstars. The 6.5% rake at 888poker will decimate your winrate. The rake at Pokerstars 2nl is just 3.5%. It's a massive difference which will add at least 4bb/100 to your winrate by switching over to 'Stars.

🤔 I guess you are right. Thanks for the tip.
Any other sites you can recommend?
GG, Unibet, Party maybe?

Originally posted by monteCarlol
I would be happy to share my notes with you. Not sure about copyrights though. I literally transcribed most of the content (which is fine for personal use of course).

I appreciate the offer!
I think for learning purposes though, it would be better to go through them myself.
I watch videos a few minutes at a time, and mark down notes in a text editor than does html -- the notes get colour codes, sometimes ratings, sometime both.

I may even have my old notes from before, but I think that this time I won't even refer to those.
Maybe afterwards I'll compare my new and old notes.

Thanks again!

Originally posted by VorpalF2F

Originally posted by monteCarlol
I would be happy to share my notes with you. Not sure about copyrights though. I literally transcribed most of the content (which is fine for personal use of course).

I appreciate the offer!
I think for learning purposes though, it would be better to go through them myself.
I watch videos a few minutes at a time, and mark down notes in a text editor than does html -- the notes get colour codes, sometimes ratings, sometime both.

I may even have my old notes from before, but I think that this time I won't even refer to those.
Maybe afterwards I'll compare my new and old notes.

Thanks again!

Markdown is great. I use it, too.
I use mdbook which renders it as a book with links and table of content.. really neat. Everything in a private GitHub repository.

Originally posted by monteCarlol
Markdown is great. I use it, too.
I use mdbook which renders it as a book with links and table of content.. really neat. Everything in a private GitHub repository.

I'll check it out -- thanks
It may be a lot easier that what I'm doing now...

Originally posted by arthurbentley
First thing you must do is move your bankroll over to Pokerstars. The 6.5% rake at 888poker will decimate your winrate. The rake at Pokerstars 2nl is just 3.5%. It's a massive difference which will add at least 4bb/100 to your winrate by switching over to 'Stars.

Good point arthurbentley!
For those interested the full rake structure on 888 is here:
https://www.888poker.com/poker-software/limits-and-rake/ [1]
It drops to "only" 5% at NL 10 and up --
This *might* explain why I'm struggling to beat PLO8 on 888 (but stupid play probably figures in there somewhere too ♠_biggrin: )

[1] Even if you're not interested, the full rake structure is there

Todays result: 3,75 stacks down in a 419 hands sessions.

I am not complaining. I made some really terrible moves. Bluffing too much and one horrific call.
The reasons for the call was that I felt entitled to win the pot. Just as simple and stupid as that. It should have been a clear fold.
I am posting this incredibly embarrassing hand to remind myself that I should not fall for the non-believer fallacy again in the future.

Probably need to take a small break to recover mentally.

Pacific Poker - $0.02 NL FAST (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BTN: 120.5 BB
SB: 323 BB
Hero (BB): 176 BB
UTG: 278.5 BB
MP: 91 BB
CO: 122.5 BB

SB posts SB 0.5 BB, Hero posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has 6♦ Q♦

fold, fold, CO raises to 2.5 BB, fold, fold, Hero calls 1.5 BB

Flop: (5.5 BB, 2 players) K♦ 2♦ 9♦
Hero checks, CO bets 3.5 BB, Hero raises to 10.5 BB, CO calls 7 BB

Turn: (26.5 BB, 2 players) Q♠
Hero bets 20 BB, CO calls 20 BB

River: (66.5 BB, 2 players) J♦
Hero bets 17 BB, CO raises to 89.5 BB and is all-in, Hero calls 72.5 BB

I saw some of your comments in the hand discussion forums and i see how you learn here and I think it is not really optimal for nl. I have played 2 nl years ago, but the players are so bad that you don't need anything special and so deep thinking. To beat nl 2 you probably don't need bluffs. I think it's enough to bet more when you have good hands and fold more when they get aggressive and you wouldn't have problems.