scubatim84

I believe a + red line is very possible below 200 NL on Bovada specifically...very weak regs and the fish are just lol easy. Too bad most you can get in is 250 hands/hour.

I used to play Bovada but had my bankroll totally obliterated playing 100 NL...lost about 27 BIs running KK into AA, regs happening to call every time I triple barrel bluffed, getting KK-AA in vs underpairs to have them cracked, etc.

So I realized that fish are great for your win rate but they don't do a damn thing to protect you against variance. In between that and the hideous software I just decided it was time to switch.

At the end of the day maximizing our hourly rate is what our goal should be if we're trying to make money. So on Bovada figure you can average 250 hands per hour 4 tabling. If you can beat the games for an 8 bb/100 win rate, which is great, you make 20 bbs per hour. If I 12 table ACR and average 1000 hands per hour I only need to make 2 bb/100 to match Bovada and RB + beast is more than that.

Two different ways to skin the same cat but for example this month at 25 NL I'm down -$81 but with RB that's only -$41 and my AI adjusted is like +$8.00 for 15k hands or whatever it is this month. So RB has lessened the blow of running bad by half, and if I at least just break even at tables in long run, I make more money.

I still stack the occasional fish too. Although not lately with how I've been running lol.

When you're grinding rake back nothing is too much lol. I don't understand how everyone can 20-table and 24-table or whatever the site cap is because with the lag I'm getting at 16 I think I'd get in more hands/hr with 10-12 tables....16+ I'm timing out trying to get it to register my hotkey or mouse click.

I think you have a better chance of him riding into court on a unicorn than that happening.

Yeah if you can get in say 60k hands per month mass multi tabling 15-20 with a win rate of say 2bb/100, that means you're getting 1200 BBs per month. If you can only get in 40k hands say 10-12 tabling with a win rate of 4 bb/100 that's 1600 BBs per month assuming both WRs are net of RB. Most likely the difference would be bigger than that anyway but yeah it's definitely a balancing act between not having enough tables and having too many.

I think that's part of why I was screwing myself in the blinds...I play pretty well post flop, so when I was choosing not to defend my blinds to get in more tables, I was just sacrificing a ton of EV.

So I dialed down from 15 to 12 tables since it got to be too much defending my blinds with over 12 tables and I did notice a big increase. 4k hand sample so puny but since 3/22 my Fold to SB open is 30.5%, fold to CO open is 58% and fold to BTN open is 48% for a fold to steal stat of 46%.

For SB I am stealing 58% of the time...opening range depends on the fold to steal stat of villain. If they fold 90% of the time I'm opening very wide, 50% of the time I'm tightening up to CO range or whatever, etc.

However my fold to CO open is 88% from SB, 85% from BTN and 86% fold to steal stat...almost all of my range I 3-bet from SB so I'm assuming this is reasonable right? I only flat pairs and hands with good potential in SB like suited broadways...some of those I 3-bet too sometimes such as KQs and AQs.

Fair enough. I was thinking I was probably giving up my blinds too easily but guess this confirms it. FYI the preflop advisor actually contradicts Snowie sometimes, so I have discontinued using it, but I can run a scenario where CO, BTN or SB opens to analyze the range it thinks I should call with. More commonly I see a 3x open though but I see what you're saying.

Yeah I was afraid of that. I already have an account on photobucket so I just used that.

Photobucket link of positional stats

Great comments guys, please see attached for stats. That graphic is hilarious btw lol but so true.

Yeah my fold to steal is definitely way too high then because it's slightly over 70%. I see a mixture of open raise sizes...mostly 3x with a few min raises from the sharper regs.

So far I think I have been folding too much because I'm thinking "oh, I'm out of position and everyone plays like a nit on this site so it's ok" but this data really illustrates that it's not ok.

Yep, good thought. We dominate a lot of the 9x hands that BB defends with and it also has a chance to hit a straight too. Not terribly difficult to play on K high boards either because we can check through flop IP or check call OOP to get bets out of air, low equity hands and 2nd pair.

I am using Snowie too and I have noticed that it is very heavily skewed towards Ax hands for 3 betting and for 4-bet bluffs it has virtually nothing but suited A rag and suited K rag in the range. Obviously Snowie is taking advantage of the blocker effect, but given the rag itself varies, I'm not sure that it's a problem. For example, if flop is 258 rainbow, CO opened and we 3B from SB and CO flats with AQs, they have no idea if they're good or not. We could have 3B AA, maybe A2s, maybe A5s, so there is still the fear that any flop hit us because now if an A does come on turn or river then villain will just value own themselves when they think "oh, he has a weak ace here because that's most of his range, so I'm good."

I think the reason that Snowie prefers K9s or KJo to 89s UTG is because when we open UTG our range is obviously very strong. What hands will flat behind us IP? SCs right? What are the chances that villain will flat SCs weaker than 89s? Not super likely since most GTO strategies and the gap concept will state that you need to have a pretty strong hand to call which will likely be suited broadways. So the problem with 89s is if a lot of money does go into the pot we may be drawing dead. Far more likely if there is a flush over flush we have the better one if we're holding K9s. KJo made me scratch my head at first, and ATo is in there too, but they're really not that bad because for KJo you really only fear AJ if you hit a J and KQ if you hit a K. Why did I not mention AK? Virtually everyone will 3B that hand so they cap their range when they flat IP behind you. ATo you do have to worry about AJ and AQ, but you also can draw to the nut straight, and if you hit a T then you can get 2-3 streets of value if villain calls with JT/QT/KT/9Ts, etc.

I have been adopting Snowie's strategies, running a ton of challenges, scenarios, etc. over the past week and honestly I feel like my game has improved so much more over the past week than it has over the past month or two with coaching. The key though is to understand enough about the game to understand why Snowie is telling you what it is. I can't get behind doing what it says simply because it says it, so if I don't understand it, I'm probably not going to follow it personally.

A good example is for a couple days I was puzzling over why Snowie says to 4B AKo but then fold to a shove in most situations. My question is why 4B it then if we're turning it into a bluff essentially? Doesn't make any sense. However, if say we open in MP and button 3-bets us, we're OOP so if we can take it down now that's ideal hence the 4-bet. Also, if they flat with AQs and we do flop an ace, good things happen (for us). Button isn't going to be attacking MP super light, so realistically once they 5B jam they have QQ+,AK and maaaaybe A2s-A5s a small sliver of the time if they're good enough to 5-bet bluff. AKo does really terrible against that range because we only are in good shape against their 5B bluffs if they even exist. Hence in that specific example I believe Snowie recommends just calling a 5B jam with QQ+ and AKs. Check Snowie on that to be sure though because this is off the top of my head and I've only been using it a week.

I think cold calling a 3B is more likely going to be a middle pair or good suited broadway hands like AJs, KQs (although you heavily block that), AQs, etc. One thing to consider is if BB is a thinking reg he should know you are going to be 3-betting a wide range from SB vs. LP.

That being said, I like the idea of check calling flop and turn because you give his zero equity hands a chance to bluff at the pot. However, I like raising turn actually and getting it in if possible because villain is either way ahead or way behind your hand. If he has TT, he may get suspicious and make a bad hero call. If he decided to cold call your 3B with QQ (unlikely but have seen it before), you have him crushed, and you allow him to GII with a lot of his draws such as Axss and 9T.

Also, he only bet 1/3 on turn, so it kind of looks like he's setting his price for a draw since his bet doesn't exactly scream strength. He has to know that you have QQ+ in your range, so if he has Jx, I would think he would size bigger especially with a flush draw on the turn.

As played I think river is a fold. He bets small on the flop, bets small on the turn and then blasts it for 3/4 pot on the river after most of the draws come in. Does a Jx size this way on the river after you check call 2 streets? He has to know the draws were in your range too which is uncapped when he makes this bet. This bet just smells of a nutted hand trying to get value out of Jx or overpairs.

At first glance your play seemed reasonable. I like the call on the flop to keep the fish in, particularly since we don't have a super strong draw as of yet, but on the turn yeah with 3 people in the pot I don't think our hand works too well as a semi bluff and here's why:

1) If fish has NFD, he also has top pair if he limped then called a raise, and even if it's Ad2d he is never folding top pair and most of our outs are destroyed.

2) MP is a thinking reg who iso raised fish in EP, so he has a lot of broadway hands here and pairs like 77+, so he either has two pair, the nut straight or a set. Two pair and sets probably won't fold because they will figure that you wouldn't jam with KQ, because why try to chase the fish out, so you have no FE vs. those hands. He'll figure you're on a draw and will snap it off. Also, if he has KQ, he's obviously not folding and also in this case most of your outs are gone.

OTT it's just a fold sadly.

You bet flop, barreled again on turn and then he stuffed it in your face. With the sizing you chose, he has a lot of two pairs and sets in his range, so it's a clear fold.

Why are we betting 3/4 pot on the flop though? I think $10 accomplishes the same thing since we can get value from JJ and AQ/AK if they decide to float because of equity beyond overs such as AdKd, AdQx, etc. With your bet sizing I don't think anything less than JJ calls.

On turn you blast it again for like 3/4 pot, so you have forced villain to abandon all of their marginal hands and only continue with monsters, so as played it's a clear fold but I think we could have avoided putting ourselves in a gross spot by betting 1/2 pot on both streets.

I agree...fold OTR seems legit especially since its close to pot size. With 2:1 odds, I think its unlikely on this runout he will be bluffing 33% of the time or more especially given that he led into 2 players on the flop including a fish.

It's very likely he has AQ/QQ when he checks on turn and he's trying to get AK or a draw to bet, however, I think it would be reasonable to bet small on the turn given our SPR. The turn brings broadway and flush draws, and if villain is 3-betting that often it's most likely with a merged range, so even if all the money goes in on the turn its likely that you may have the best hand.

This one definitely comes down to your read on villain but I do like flatting the 3B to keep the fish in.

Agreed, OOP vs. LP AK is stuff central pre flop all day long.

Yeah I don't really see any issues here. Villain will also be calling with suited aces like As3s, As4s, etc. which would explain his flop and turn actions quite well. He may also play JJ-QQ this way (not that I'm saying betting flop is good with those holdings) because on the turn he figures even if you do have Kx he has a gutter along with his 2 outs. Unlikely though, suited aces and AsJs especially would make a ton of sense here. He's not getting the right odds to call for a flush draw on the turn but that never stopped a villain at 2 NL before.

I second the suggestion to get an essential membership on here. So far I have found the videos very useful.

Hey David,

A player had posted, so I increased my iso by 1 BB to compensate for that. Villain can't have KcQc here since Kc is on the board, so maybe he has KxQc but it wouldn't make sense to raise with 1 club. My range I've given him is 22, 44 and 3c5c since only a combo draw makes sense to raise here since we block the NFD. Ac3c would also make sense but due to us having the Ac that draw is removed as well. We do block most of his draws with the Ac and it's unlikely button would call as wide as 3c5c anyway to an open raise even IP.

I don't necessarily like checking the flop because I want to get value out of KQ, KT and flush draws, but Snowie is probably taking into account us having the Ac so we're not as worried about the flush coming in as we otherwise would be because we still have outs even if they do hit their flush. I don't think WPN is supported for HHs so the call amount being off I guess is highlighting that fact.

I do agree when he raises us to $28 on the flop we're just dead in the water and should fold then. Checking would be optimal because if we adopt a x/c line then we can get bets out of weaker kings, maybe middle pairs such as 99 or TT and we can make a play for pot control if they do have a set because if flush comes in on turn we can apply significant pressure by check raising their turn barrel if we feel convinced they do have a set and otherwise check calling it down to get bets out of a much wider range.

I like it. So do you feel Snowie is worth the money? I've been using a live coach but I'm starting to wonder if Snowie wouldn't be better for me on ACR, particularly since they're so aggressive on that site.

Good idea Lion, will keep the results out of future HHs for that reason. So say we bet $10 on flop to size 2/3 to deny correct odds for draws to call, and he pops it up to $32 or $34, I think this is just setting money on fire if our intent is to call flop only to fold ott. If he has a bluff, he may figure with one more shell when he jams for 2/3 pot on turn which is roughly what it would be I believe it will get through and if he has value he's definitely jamming. Given what we have specifically, the likelihood of villain being on a draw is not very high anyway.

I can get behind a bigger flop bet say $10 for 2/3 but I don't see how it's good to call his flop raise if we're just planning to fold to a 2nd bet on the turn anyway when it's a brick for all the draws.

Totally depends on the table bdon. We don't open 56s,67s,etc. simply to hit flushes but also because we can hit a well-disguised straight and stack fish. We can also hit two pair, pair + draw, etc. which makes it a good hand to open so long as hero is willing to check fold if he totally misses and is facing a call station who won't fold to one or two shells.

For a beginner I don't see any big error in stripping low SCs such as 56s,67s and arguably 78s out of an EP opening range though, but I'm not sure opening QTo or ATo is a good replacement. We are fighting not only the fish at every table but also the regs and I think if any reasonable money goes into the pot we are going to be out kicked a lot of the time. I think a more advanced player can navigate through the various post flop spots that will come up from playing those hands but I think opening those is even looser than 56s. For a beginner I would advocate simply opening a tighter range that they feel comfortable with from EP since they are almost always going to be OOP post flop.

+1 to what bdon said. :) especially on Bovada they seriously will call everything so if you just pot your good hands and fold to raises you really can't go too wrong. Just make sure your opening ranges are reasonable. Here's a sample you may want to go with:

EP: 56s+,22+,AJo+,KQo+,any suited broadway, can strip out AJ if you're worried about kicker issues and add in J9s, same with KQ
MP: 56s+,22+,AJo+,KQo+.any suited broadway and a few 1 gap SCs like J9s, 8Ts, etc.
CO: 56s+,22+,A9o+,A2s+,K9s+,any suited or unsuited broadway,suited 1 gappers like J9s,79s,etc.
BTN: Everything from CO, add in A2o+, more suited gappers like Q8s,J7s,etc.

Hey Varrianda,

I'm a 100 NL player on Bovada myself and would be happy to take a look at your game. I think only 1-2 hours (probably just an hour honestly) would be enough to see the big leaks in your game and plug them. 5 BIs over 2500 hands doesn't say much though because sample size is so small.

A lot of 2/5 NL is really just abc play as others have said, and while I'm happy to help you out for 20/hr, I absolutely agree that strengthening your fundamentals is all that is needed and coaching is kind of like taking a cannon to a mosquito.

What I would focus on, whether you want to coach with me or research it yourself, is developing reasonable ABC TAG opening ranges from each position and until you become a winner don't deviate at all from them. Research what kind of boards you should be c betting. If you don't have a HUD, get one. Don't run multi street bluffs...most villains at bottom stakes call everything, so along those lines, generally you want to bet when you have it and check fold when you don't.